A/N: This was written really quickly. There's probably a stack of mistakes but it was an idea that came to me in the middle of the night and I just had to get it down.

Merry Christmas, Love

"Now, why are you not at home like all the other good little boys and girls waiting for Santa to come?" He idled up to where she was sat, bottle of champagne in hand.

It was a little past 3am on Christmas Eve; the town was dead, not a soul in sight aside from the two vampires now occupying a bench in the square.

"When I was a little girl, my Dad used to let me stay up at night to wait for Santa." She continued staring up at the stars as she spoke. "I never made it past 10 o'clock. As I got older, it became less about seeing Santa and more about spending time with my Dad." A small, sad smile crept across her face and tears threatened to fall, "We'd old Christmas movies and play games. Then he left. But we continued our little tradition by phone. I was always his little girl."

Then it happened. It was only a single tear, and she quickly swept it away. He had seen many girls cry over the centuries. And made even more cry. But he had never been able to bring himself to comfort them. It was made worse when he cared for the girl crying.

"And now he's just gone."

He slowly set his bottle on the floor, giving himself chance to choose his words carefully, "Wherever he is, I am sure he loves you and is proud of you."

She shook her head, "Love, maybe. Proud? No. He hated what I am. So much so that he chose to die instead of becoming like me."

"In that case the man was an idiot." For the first time since he had sat down, she turned to look at him. She opened her mouth to interrupt him but he didn't let her. "If he didn't want to spend the rest of time marvelling at what a beautiful and strong woman his daughter had grown into, then the man an clearly idiot." He reached to reclaim his alcohol before rising from the bench. "Being alone at Christmas isn't so bad, Caroline. It gets easier." He turned to leave.

"Thank you."

It was whisper, and when he turned around to reply, she was gone, "Merry Christmas, Love."