Catching Snowflakes.

To the Frenny crew. Love you guys!

Frieda Petrenko sat at the window of her flat watching as snowflakes fell onto the pathway below, making sparkling patterns on the concrete under the light of the streetlamps. Children skipped along in their wellies as the dusting of snow fell from the clouds, holding their parents hands, so excited that Santa would be coming in just a few hours; bringing the magic of Christmas with him. A magic that she truly missed.

When she was younger she had loved Christmas. She remembered sitting by the fire with her family on Christmas Eve back home in the Ukraine, singing Christmas songs and listening intently as her father told her stories of Santa and his reindeer, speaking so softly that she was lulled into sleep only to wake up excitedly on Christmas morning, looking forward to spending the day with her loved ones, opening gifts and playing in the snow outside. Now however, now she felt lonely. The magic was gone and as she looked around her flat, clear of any decorations and with no one to share the holiday with she wished for those days. She wished she was back at home. She wished she wasn't so alone.

Sighing she thought back over her day on AAU; Michael calling her the Grinch because she was grumpy while everyone else around her seemed uncharacteristically happy and filled with seasonal cheer, and patients remarking that she looked more like someone out of a Nightmare Before Christmas than a nurse . One person though had really been concerned for her. Had seen her loneliness through the tough facade that she so often built up like a wall around her...had sat outside the toilet cubicle door while her friend softly sobbed, not wanting to talk about her homesickness and loneliness over the festive period but drawing comfort that someone was there with her. It was that one person who she couldn't stop thinking of now. Who she would give anything to share her holiday with. Who she actually thought she loved. The one person who could comfort her and make it feel like Christmas rather than some blackened void that she was battling her way through. The person who had left to spend Christmas with her family after their long shift had finished.

As children's peals of laughter permeated the air outside Frieda resigned herself to a Christmas Eve alone in front of the television, wondering to herself if she would ever have children of her own to put to bed on Christmas Eve, telling them stories of Santa and kissing them on the forehead as they drifted off into the land of sleep knowing that they had two mothers who loved them very much. It all seemed so far away from her. So out of her reach. Suddenly she found herself feeling even lonelier. Gently getting up she made her way to the kitchen where she grabbed a bowl of popcorn off the counter, deciding that The Grinch was truly the only way to go. She had just sat down and started the DVD when the doorbell rang.

Murmuring to herself in her native language Frieda made her way to the door, wishing somewhat that no matter how lonely she was, she could be grumpy about the holidays in peace. When she opened it however she got a shock for standing on the other side of it was Penny, her hair damp and wavy with snowflakes, her cheeks rosy with cold and a long coat pulled tightly around her as she shivered; her hands full with shopping bags.

"Valentine?" Frieda said softly, watching as the redhead entered her flat and took in her new surroundings with a frown on her face.

"Very Christmassy." Penny muttered sarcastically as she glanced around the sparse room, then turning to Frieda and giving her a warm smile. "It's lucky I brought provisions." She added pulling tinsel out of one of the bags, wiggling her eyebrows in such a way that made Frieda smile.

"What are you the Christmas Police?" Frieda asked watching as Penny pulled off her coat; then trying unsuccessfully to suppress a giggle. "Valentine?"

"Mmmm?" Penny muttered as she set about decorating Frieda's flat.

"What are you wearing?"

Penny turned around, her cheeks now rosy from blushing. She glanced down at her attire, a deep purple period corseted dress that fit her figure perfectly.

"My family's hosting a costume party. They do it every Christmas Eve. I drew my inspiration from The Tudors. Ollie's there in tights." She added smoothing down the dress and looking at the floor.

"You look rather beautiful." Frieda answered truthfully, a blush mirroring Penny's appearing on her own cheeks as her eyes took in the normally unseen curves of the woman that stood before her. "Why aren't you there with family? It a stunning dress to waste."

"If you like it it's hardly wasted." Penny replied, walking over to Frieda and placing a hand on the back of the dark haired woman's neck, caressing it softly with her fingertips. "Besides I thought you seemed lonely. I don't want you to be lonely at Christmas."

Penny began walking around the flat again; her gown absolutely breathtaking to Frieda, and continued to decorate. Soon there was tinsel adoring every surface, a little tree up in the corner, and Penny standing at the window watching the snow.

"I'm thinking we could put some fairy lights here. What do you think?"

"I think it look like Santa threw up!" Frieda commented, but she smiled warmly as she placed a hot chocolate covered with marshmallows on the table for her friend.

"Very funny." Penny replied, fishing around in one of the carrier bags for a box of white fairy lights. "I love watching children on Christmas Eve. They're all so excited." She commented, pulling open the box she was now clasping in her hands and carefully taking out the lights.

Frieda walked up behind the red haired beauty, following her gaze to twin girls who were dancing in the snow under the streetlamp below.

"Do you think you'll ever have children?" Penny asked softly, turning to face the dark haired woman and handing her some of the mass of tangled up lights, a slight blush pinking her cheeks.

Frieda looked at the floor.

"I like to." She answered honestly. "It will not be by conventional mean though because I..I uh..."

Frieda could see Penny nod.

"You'd be a good mum I think. Very protective."

"Even if I raise with woman and not man?" Frieda asked shyly, realising this was the first time she had made any reference to her true sexuality out loud to anyone from the hospital.

"Even then." Penny replied with a warm smile. "You are after all already the epitome of unconventional. What difference would raising them with a woman make? It's the only way I'd consider having children...with the woman I loved." Penny replied and Frieda felt the breath catch in her throat even more than it was already doing as she watched shadows pass over her friends dress, drawing her attention to every gentle curve of her body.

The pair worked in companionable silence, tacking the lights up to the window frame where in moments they filled the room with a gentle glow.

"Now it feels like Christmas in here." Penny remarked, looking around the room at her handy work, her gaze falling to Frieda whose olive skin was now lit up by the twinkling bulbs, making her look almost ethereal.

"Thank you so much...for this. When you alone and missing home it not feel right to decorate. To celebrate." Frieda replied a little tearfully, touched by Penny's actions.

"It's a good thing you're not alone then." Penny replied, moving closer to Frieda and taking her hand in her own; giving it a reassuring squeeze. She moved her thumb in circular motions over the soft skin of Frieda's hand.

"So you...like girls?" Frieda then asked, Penny giggling at her bluntness.

"Yes I have come to realise that I do like girls. A girl actually." She replied moving a little closer to Frieda. "And you. You like girls too?" she asked, an expression of mock confusion on her face.

"A girl." Frieda cut in quickly. "Someone very thoughtful and beautiful. Very talented at her job though she doesn't always believe it. Some wonderful woman who not like me being alone at Christmas for which I very touched and grateful." She added, running her fingertips over Penny's soft cheek.

"She must be pretty special for the stunning Frieda Petrenko to be so besotted." Penny remarked, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

"Oh she is because I am besotted. I just been too afraid to tell her. In case she does not feel the same way."

"You should have told her; because she does. Every inch of her feels exactly the same." Penny replied, placing a hand over Frieda's heart which Frieda then clasped tightly in her own, sighing softly as Penny's lips found hers and kissed them tenderly.

Reluctantly their lips finally parted and Penny looked down at the hand entwined in her own, bringing it to her mouth and kissing the smooth skin gently.

"Just so you know. I'm ever so slightly besotted with you too." She whispered, running her fingers through Frieda's long and silky hair and thinking to herself as she did so just how beautiful the dark haired woman was. "In fact, I might be even more so if you were to look in that big bag by the door."

Frieda frowned, slowly letting go of Penny's hand and making her way to the door. Leaning down she reached into the bag, pulling out an ornate midnight blue gown in a similar style to Penny's. She gasped at its beauty, holding it against her slim frame.

Penny smiled, walking towards her and then placing her hand on Frieda's arm.

"Are you sure this not some kind of fetish?" The Ukrainian woman teased so much emotion in her voice regardless of the humour that Penny's heart beat doubly fast.

"I left the party on a condition." Penny whispered, wrapping her arms around Frieda and looking deeply into her eyes. She gave her an Eskimo kiss as she noticed the tears sparkling behind them.

"What was that?"

"That I come back with the woman that I care enough to leave my family for. That we go as a couple and stay over Christmas. I'd understand if you don't want to...meeting someone's family is scary at the best of times...let alone on the night you realise that you care for each other in some lame gown..."

"It not lame. Look at you. You look beautiful. It just different...expensive. " She responded raising her eyebrows.

Penny shrugged, studying Frieda nervously, who was examining every inch of the deep blue gown.

"Excuse me for moment." Frieda then remarked, kissing Penny softly on the nose before walking into her room and closing the door behind her.

"Smooth move Valentine. Tell her you're besotted and that you want her to meet the parents on the same day."

Penny sat down on the sofa, cradling the hot chocolate in her hands and smiling as she noticed the marshmallows; reminded of the days when she was young and carefree, watching Christmas movies with Ollie and sat with a box of chocolates and marshmallow hot chocolate by the fire. If only things could stay that simple. If only matters of the heart didn't complicate things so much more.

Before she knew it twenty minutes had passed and inwardly cursing herself for blowing it she walked over to the windowsill where she had lay her coat and pulled it back on. Taking one last look around the now Christmassy room she sighed softly.

"Merry Christmas." She whispered quietly as she made her way to the door.

"Merry Christmas to you too." Came a reply.

Penny turned to see Frieda standing in her bedroom doorway looking absolutely breathtaking in the deep blue gown which was currently covered by a long fake fur coat. Her hair fell in curls down her back and her customary gothic make up had been removed and replaced with more feminine hues, accentuating her piercing eyes and her cheekbones.

"You have your coat on. Good. I almost ready to go." She told the Doctor, picking up a rucksack with some toiletries and spare clothes that she had packed, and then walking over to Penny and kissing her; her fingers tangling in Penny's tousled curls. "I just wanted to do that first." She added with a shrug, running her fingers over Penny's cheek.

"You're coming to my families?" Penny asked quietly, her lips forming a smile, mirroring the one her partner was now displaying.

"Of course. You do not wish for me to be alone at Christmas and I do not wish for you to be without your girlfriend."

"G...girlfriend?"

"If that what you want." Frieda replied nervously, fiddling with a ring that she wore.

"I do want. " Penny replied, unable to hide her joy. "If you do I mean...I."

Penny was silenced by Frieda's finger on her lips.

"It not going to be easy. I very hard work. Even more so than you." Frieda commented with a smile.

"Funny. I always did like a challenge." Penny replied, kissing Frieda on the forehead softly.

The dark haired woman looked around the room a little sadly.

"It seem a shame you decorated this so beautiful and it gone to waste."

Penny smiled, cupping Frieda's cheeks in her palms.

"I don't think it has gone to waste. It brought me you. To me that's the best Christmas present I could wish for. Besides, we have some time after Christmas to enjoy our own festive delights."

Penny grinned, turning all the lights off and watching as the snowflakes, lit up by the streetlamps outside made fleeting patterns on the wall.

"I'm holding you to that Valentine." Frieda teased, pulling her bag onto her shoulder and reaching out her arm so that Penny could take her hand. "Thank you for bringing back into my life some Christmas magic." She told her quietly and sincerely.

"Thank you for letting me." Penny replied, placing her hand into Frieda's and letting the raven haired woman lead her outside and into the first day of the rest of their lives.