Its about 8pm, and they're both standing in the snow beside their donation box, while Rory, feeling like an idiot, rings out a loud bell in hope that people will become attracted to the sound and donate. He's been quiet, hoping that Sam isn't bitter from their scene in the auditorium.

Trying to break the silence, Rory sighs, "These bells make me homesick."

Sam stops concentrating on the footpath and looks over to him, smiling. "What like church bells and stuff?"

"No! My brother Seamus gets lost all the time, so my dad made him wear a bell 'round his neck, so we could always find 'im." He looks over at Sam, inwardly cheering because they're actually speaking and Sam is obviously not the type of person to hold a grudge.

This sparks a new burst of affection in Rory, and he asks if Sam would like to be his Valentines Day sponsor as well. Sam looks confused, but agrees to it anyway, in return for help on his Sean Connery impression or something like that.
He's about to ask his friend what his family is like when a snowball hits Sam in a place that probably shouldn't be hit by anything, but Sam, just laughs and nudges Rory when he doesn't get what's going on, pointing to Finn and Rachel who have randomly appeared on the other side of the road.
The four of them exchange friendly words as Rachel contributes to the donation box, and then Rory offers if she and Finn would like to join in with their bell-ringing.
There is a lot more clanging noise when Rachel and Finn help out, but it attracts more people to their box.

Sam leans over to Rory and says, "Best. Christmas. EVER."
Rory grins and wonders whether or not he thinks the same thing.


It's about 10 pm when Rory and Sam decide to pack up and head home.
"Come on," Sam beckons Rory with his head and makes a gesture with his hands. "It's a short walk from here to my car."

Rory nods and jogs after Sam, who's already started walking off down the footpath. He almost falls over when he's reached his friend and attempted to slow down, which makes Sam toss his head back and laugh loudly.

Sam has a nice laugh, Rory thinks before he can stop himself.

Soon they're both warming up in Sam's car. Rory sits on his hands in an attempt to get the feeling back in his fingers.

"You want to put the radio on?" Sam asks as he starts up the car.

Rory nods, but doesn't remove his hands from underneath him. "You do it; I can't feel anythin' from my wrists down."

Sam laughs at him again, which Rory goes a bit red at, and fiddles with a few buttons at the front of the dashboard. The car is suddenly filled with the sound of some catchy 80's song which Rory doesn't recognize but Sam obviously does, because now he's singing, almost shouting, along with it, and Rory is just staring at him incredulously and laughingbecause its so late and cold and nearly everything is hilarious right now.

After they've gone to Brittany's to say goodbye and pick up Rory's things, the first half of their drive to Sam's home is filled with comfortable silence and random songs, courtesy of the radio, until Sam asks, "What was it like back in Ireland?"

Rory, who was leaning against the window and trying to sleep, sits up and blinks a few times. "It's grand, Sam." He answers in the middle of a yawn. "I wasn't bullied there."
Sam frowns and glances at him for a second. "Wait, were you bullied here?"

Damn, Rory mentally scolds himself. Shouldn't have told him that.

He shrugs it off. "Not too badly, though. Just name-callin' and gettin' shoved into lockers."

He shouldn't have said that either, because now Sam's frowning even more. "That's still bullying though, Rors."
Rory yawns again.

"You can go to sleep if you want; we've still got a bit of a drive." Sam offers.

"No, it's fine." Rory stifles another huge yawn and tries to look awake. "What's your family like, Sam Evans?"
Sam chuckles at the use of the last name, and answers jokingly, "I know they'd like you a lot more when you're alive. Seriously, you look half-dead, just go to sleep."

Rory folds his arms across his chest and shakes his head. Sam smiles, because Rory has just transformed from a teenager to a pouty three-year-old.
"Really, do you think I'm going to draw a moustache on you? Just go to sleep."
"What if you crash the car?" Rory asks, his eyes very wide.

Sam gives him his best 'are you actually serious' look, complete with raised eyebrows.
Rory sinks a bit in his seat and mutters, "Okay, wake me up when we get there."
He closes his eyes and drops off quickly, but not before he hears Sam say sarcastically,
"Nah, I was actually going to leave you in the car to freeze."


"Rory? Hey, Rory, up. Come on, up."
Rory lifts up a hand instinctively and whacks away whatever is disturbing his rest. When he hears Sam's annoyed 'oof', he immediately sits up and nearly shouts an apology, but then he sees that Sam is actually laughing.

"Gosh, Rory," He manages to snort, "The look on your face when you hit me, I've never seen a sleeping person look so enraged!"
Rory ducks his head and smiles, cheeks tinged red.

When they walk into Sam's house, which Rory notices is a bit small, they're immediately greeted by two cheerful parents and warmth.

"Sam, good to see you!" Sam's dad greets loudly, throwing his arms around his son, who returns the embrace instantly.
Sam's mother rushes up to an embarrassed Rory and shakes his hand so hard he's almost convinced that she's gone and broken his wrist.

Greetings and names and backstories are all exchanged, and it takes nearly half an hour before they notice that Rory has that 'I am going to pass out' look on his face and Sam's mother has practically steered him upstairs into the guest room and told him to sleep.

Sam waits at the doorway until his mother is gone, and then steps into the room to wish Rory a goodnight.

"Your ma is awesome." Rory comments sleepily.
"I know, I live with her." Sam chirps; a false superior look on his face.

Rory rolls his eyes."Go away, I'm tired." He grumbles, lying down on the bed without even getting underneath the covers.
Sam disobeys this order, and leans down to wrap and arm around Rory in an awkward hug. Rory lazily lifts a hand and "returns" the hug by slapping Sam on the shoulder.

"Goodni-ight!" Sam sings, drawing his arm away and prancing out of the room. When he reaches the doorway, he turns around and looks back at Rory, who's still sprawled out on the bed as if he's been run over, smiles, and turns off the light.

He is pretty sure that this is going to be one awesome Christmas.