AN: Set in the same AU-verse as this year's Christmas episode "Silent Night" and therefore pretty much AU from the series. But hey, if they can write Christmas fanfics for their own story, I figure a nerdy Haven-lover like me can get away with it too, especially for the sake of spreading Christmas cheer.

Happy Christmas to all of you, and thank you all for the support and encouragement that you've given me over this last year. I say it every year, but it's still true: you all made me into the writer that I am today and I truly appreciate the time you've sacrificed in helping me reach for my dreams. I hope this in some small way shows my gratitude.

Happy Christmas Havenites!

Parker's First Christmas

Audrey hummed along with the Christmas Eve broadcast on the radio as she threaded a bent paperclip through the ornament in her palm, and then walked pensively around the evergreen tree to find a place to add the bauble. After finally locating an open space on the right side of the branches, she hung the ornament and then stepped back to admire her handiwork.

She didn't have very many ornaments, only a small collection of them that she'd bought at the general store along with a handmade one from Laverne, and a handful of ancient felt reindeer and snowmen that the Teagues had given her. Still, with a bit of gratuitous placement of tinsel and a heavy dose of blinking fairy lights, she had managed to make the little fir tree look festive and she was proud of her accomplishment. For someone who had never really celebrated Christmas before, she thought she'd done a good job decorating her flat.

As a Bing Crosby song came over the station – one so classic that even she knew it by heart – she noticed that a strand of garland had come loose from the doorway to her bedroom and she clambered up onto a dining chair to refasten it. She wrestled to get the prickly green strand back onto the plastic hook but was interrupted by the sound of a light knock on her door. Twisting awkwardly as she tried to stop the garland from falling again, she saw Nathan pushing open the door to her flat with a vague smirk on his face. "Hey Parker," he said, regarding her unusual position with amusement sparking in his blue-gray eyes.

"You could be helpful here, you know," Audrey informed him, struggling to keep her balance on the chair as she tried to secure the garland just out of her reach. Nathan's lips twitched but he crossed the room and took the garland from her hand, easily looping it around the hook. "Thanks," Audrey said gratefully, using his shoulder to stabilise herself as she jumped down off the chair.

"Nice decorations," Nathan said, glancing around the living room appraisingly.

"They're not much," Audrey said, shrugging uncomfortably. "I don't really have a lot of decorations, I never had much need for them. I was never usually in one place long enough to decorate, really. And I don't have anything with memories, like you've got." Nathan nodded as Audrey wistfully thought of the collection of antique gold and glass ornaments that she'd helped her partner carry down out of the attic the week before, which he'd apparently inherited from his great-grandparents.

"Still looks nice," Nathan answered simply.

"Thanks," Audrey said, giving him an appreciative smile. She wiped her hands against her jeans in an attempt to get rid of the glitter that had clung to her skin – to no avail, really – and then cast a curious look up at Nathan. "So, what brings you to this side of town, Wuornos?"

Nathan plunged a hand into his pocket and then withdrew a little paper-wrapped package. "I was just bringing this by," he admitted and for the first time he looked slightly sheepish, averting his eyes.

"You got me a present?" Audrey asked in surprise, and when he nodded she carefully took the package from his palm. "You didn't have to."

"Well, you got me one," Nathan said and shrugged uneasily. "You know, back in July."

Audrey chuckled, thinking of the summertime Christmas party that she'd thrown. "Did Duke ever share that with you?" she asked with a grin.

"Yeah, it's actually in the back of my truck," Nathan said and he sounded as shocked by the trade off as Audrey was. "But anyway, you got me that great gift and I just wanted to get you something too."

"Thank you, Nathan," Audrey said, touching his hand gently to show her appreciation. The corner of her partner's lips turned upward at the contact and he kept his hand pressed against hers for a long minute before finally pulling it away and jamming it into his jacket pocket. Turning her attention to the package in her other hand, Audrey slit the folded end with her fingernail and then pried the gift open eagerly. When the paper fell away she was holding a little square box, which she opened with shaking hands.

Resting on a bed of cotton inside the box was a little ceramic lighthouse. The off-white paint around the column was crisp, the bottom was wrapped in detailed blue waves, and there was even a miniature spotlight inside of the glassed top. A golden loop protruded from the top, marking the lighthouse as an ornament. She lifted it from the box in awe and that's when she noticed something else. Etched into a smooth portion of the ocean waves beneath the lighthouse door were the words "Parker's First Christmas."

"Nathan, this..." Audrey trailed off, brushing her fingers gently over the beautiful decoration as she tried to come up with appropriate words to describe her feelings.

"I just thought since this is your first real Christmas, you might want something to mark that," Nathan said, rushing to explain. "Since you loved the ones at my house so much, I thought maybe you should have one too. Although I screwed up so it says Parker instead of Audrey. Leonard said he could fix it but it wouldn't be done 'til after Christmas, and I wanted you to be able to hang it up. You know, if you want. We can take it back and fix it later so it's – umph!"

The rest of Nathan's sentence was drowned out as Audrey collided with him, throwing her arms around his neck in a grateful hug. He hesitated for a second, clearly confused by the situation, before he wrapped one arm around her and used the other hand to pat her back uncertainly. "Thank you Nathan," Audrey said again, finally dropping back down to her own feet and looking up at him with eyes brimming with tears.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked, half-reaching toward the tear perched directly at the corner of her eye before withdrawing.

"I'm fine," Audrey said, quickly rubbing her eyes with the back of her free hand. "I'm great. Just – thank you. This is an amazing gift."

"And like I said, we can take it back to Leonard after Christmas and he'll change it out for one with the right name," Nathan added, shuffling his feet in embarrassment.

Audrey smiled, tracing a finger over the surname on the ornament, and then shook her head. Stepping around her partner, she hung the lighthouse in a place of honour on a branch near the top of the tree. A blinking blue light illuminated it, making the waves look like they were moving, and she nodded. "No, I like it the way it is," she announced. "Besides, you're the only one who calls me Parker, so this way I can always remember who gave it to me. It's perfect."

Nathan was smiling but his ears had gone brilliantly pink as he searched around for the right words. Finally he settled for a mute nod and then glanced outside. "Anyway, I just wanted to give that to you. I should probably get home before the storm gets too much worse."

"Oh, right, yeah," Audrey said, looking passed him at the snow piling up on the windowpanes. She followed him toward the door, meaning to see him out, but when he abruptly stopped she ran into him from behind.

"Parker," Nathan said, clearly not noticing the collision, "is that mistletoe above your door?"

Audrey leaned around Nathan to look and was surprised when her eyes landed on the collection of white berries and leaves pinned above the doorframe. "I didn't put that there," she said.

"Duke," Nathan concluded with a shallow laugh. "Probably trying to sneak a kiss out of you."

"That sounds like Duke," Audrey agreed, shaking her head. She glanced up at her partner, the white berries visible just above his dark hair, and felt a strange sort of leaping inside of her stomach. She was standing beneath the mistletoe with Nathan Wuornos. Her partner. Her incredibly attractive partner, who also just happened to be her best friend in the entire world. Her attractive partner and best friend who she might have started developing even stronger feelings for.

Oh hell, if you couldn't do it at Christmas, when could you?

Standing up on her toes, Audrey caught the back of Nathan's neck in one hand and pulled him down to meet her lips halfway. There was one hesitant and awkward second where they stood with their lips mashed together, and then abruptly Nathan's hands were on her face and he tilted his head for better access. His fingertips were still cold from the snow as they rested on her cheeks, sending little thrills into the gigantic whirling mass of exhilaration coming from their warring mouths. After far too long a time for a simple mistletoe kiss – and much too soon for Audrey's liking – they broke apart, both breathing heavily.

"Sorry," Nathan said, hastily pulling his hands away and straightening up. "I didn't – I mean–"

"Yeah, me too," Audrey said, dragging a hand back through her hair anxiously. "I sort of got – Sorry."

"Sorry," Nathan repeated. Their eyes met again, stormy blue against blue, and quite abruptly they moved at the same time and met in another fierce kiss. Audrey nipped at his lower lip and Nathan obligingly parted his lips to allow her access. As they thoroughly explored each other's mouths, Audrey's hand dove beneath the collar of Nathan's coat and shoved it back over his shoulders where it fell into a heap on the floor. Two stumbling steps later, Audrey's jumper and Nathan's over-shirt had joined the coat.

Nathan carefully lowered Audrey onto the sofa without breaking their kiss, although she broke it seconds later when she tugged his teeshirt over his head and tossed it aside. He shuddered as she ran her fingers across the lean planes of muscle through his torso. His hands were trembling slightly as his they determinedly surveyed her body, from the lines of her neck to where her stomach vanished beneath the waist of her jeans.

"Audrey," Nathan said huskily, his hand hovering just below her bellybutton. Audrey pried her eyes open and looked up to meet his intense blue gaze. "Do you-?" He didn't finish the sentence, but he slid his fingers low pointedly and she understood and nodded. "I just – you're not just my partner anymore, you know."

Audrey cocked her head, taking in the sincerity of his tone, so much more emotional than she had ever heard it before. A smile crept across her lips and she laid her palm against his cheek tenderly. "I know," she agreed. "You're not just my partner anymore either."

A genuine Nathan Wuornos smile claimed his lips and he hastily leaned down to kiss her again. It took a few clumsy movements but they were quickly divested of their last scraps of clothing and Nathan hovered above her on the sofa. His eyes never left hers as they joined together in the glow of the fairy lights.

Hours later they were dozing on the sofa, draped in a thick afghan and wrapped in each other. Audrey snuggled herself closer to his warm body and let out a contented sigh. In response, Nathan's arms wrapped more securely around her and he burrowed his face into the side of her neck. Audrey's eyes landed on the lighthouse ornament among the tree branches and she threaded her fingers with the hand resting on her stomach.

"Sorry I didn't get you anything," Audrey said quietly so as not to startle him.

Nathan chuckled, the deep sound vibrating through her body. "It's okay, I think I'll live," he said and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "I'm good with what I've got."

Smiling, Audrey twisted her head to kiss him once more before settling down in the comfort of his secure embrace. She tucked the afghan more snugly under her chin and looked up at the glittering evergreen tree in all of its Christmas glory. It was funny to think that a misprinted ornament and a mischievous landlord were the cause of the greatest Christmas she'd ever known.

"Happy Christmas, Nathan," she murmured and then drifted off to sleep, but not before she heard the whispered reply of, "Happy Christmas, Parker."