Christmas of 20.

This Is My First Fanfic, So Bare With Me Please. This Idea Came To Me While In The Car- I Still Have No Idea Where A Christmas Party Came From In The Middle Of Summer, But Oh Well. I Wrote This At 2AM- Bad Spelling/Grammar May Be A Side-effect. :D There Isin't Alot Of Dialogue- Never One Of My Strong Points.

If This Story Is Decent Enough For Dedication, I'd Like It To Be For Joe's Girl. For Giving Me That Support To Actually Write. :D Thank You Again. ^_^

I Need One Of These Right? :P Disclaimer: I Don't Own 24, Nor Any Of The 24 Charaters Used in This Fanfic.

Christmas. Bill used to barely even care for the holiday. But this year was different; he had someone to spend it with. Karen. He smiled to himself as he grabbed his keys off the small table by the door and headed for his car.

It was only a week before Christmas, and it was the night of the CTU Christmas dinner. Bill and Karen had been dating for a couple months now, but the both of them had maintained to keep it exclusive from their co-workers.

Karen almost instantly opened her door when Bill knocked. He smiled at her as she wrapped her arms around her neck. Bill gave her a deep, passionate kiss and rested his forehead against hers when the kiss broke apart.

"Merry Christmas Karen." He said with that adorable grin spread across his face.

Karen returned the smile. "Merry Christmas to you Bill."

Bill and Karen were laughing as they walked into the dining hall where the dinner was held. The hall was rather large, with a hardwood floor and many tables set near the walls, making the middle more than enough room for dancing. Karen and Bill looked at each other nervously; neither of them knew there was going to be dancing.

Karen and Bill took their seats at the same table with Chloe and Morris, who were happily laughing and chatting with each other.

Dinner went faster than either Bill or Karen wanted. Both were unsure whether they were willing to let everyone know about their relationship by dancing together. Was it worth it to throw away months of hard work just to dance? Karen was shaken from her thoughts as the music started.

As Expected, Chloe and Morris stood up and headed to the dance floor, hand in hand. Out of the corner of her eye Karen spotted Audrey and her Father, along with the many other couples from CTU joining Chloe and Morris.

Karen sighed. Maybe she was willing to let them know. What should she be afraid of? She loved Bill, with everything she had. Now why was she hiding it? They had to let them know sometime, not that their co-worker's opinions was the deciding factor on their relationship. Maybe I should just ask him-- Karen's thoughts were interrupted for a second time; Bill had grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the table.

Karen pulled back, "Bill, what do you think your doing?"

"Letting the secret out." Was the only response she got, the only response she needed.

Almost instantly after Bill and Karen wrapped their arms around each other on the dance floor, they could see their co-workers staring at them- whispering to whomever they happened to be dancing with. They smiled at each other; they knew this reaction would happen. "Too predictable Bill," Karen whispered to Bill. Bill let out a small chuckle and pulled Karen closer to him.

Almost half an hour later, people seemed to stop looking over at Bill and Karen, accepting it for what it was. Karen felt a huge weight lifted off her shoulders; they didn't have anything to hide from them now.

Karen noticed Chloe and Morris moving closer to them, dancing along the way. Chloe spoke up first when the 4 of them were dancing close together.

"How much Bill?" Chloe was looking directly at him now, scaring him even more. The first thing Bill thought to himself- 'Is she really thinking Karen paid me to dance with her? And now asking how much?!?' Bill turned his head to Chloe, "What?" the only thing he could say without showing how upset he was getting at her.

"How much do you love her?" Chloe was smiling at him, a rare occurrence in itself. How does she know its love? Was he really that obvious? Then it came to him- every time Karen was within even 20 feet of him, Bill would feel like he was on top of the world, like nothing could go wrong. Bill chuckled slightly, then turned back, staring into Karen's eyes, those ever so green eyes of hers.

"What scale do I have?" He asked, still looking at Karen, but obviously addressing Chloe.

"One to Ten."

"Twenty." He answered almost instantly. He knew he loved Karen more than any scale, anything in this world, more than himself, more than life. Karen closed her eyes as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Bill put his hand on her cheek and brushed the tear away, Karen leaning into his hand as he kissed her forehead.

Bill looked right next to him, but noticed that Chloe and Morris were gone. He looked around and met eyes with Chloe across the room, she had a small smile on her face. It was brief, ending with Chloe giving Bill a single nod, then turning back to Morris.

"I guess our secrets out Karen," Bill said to her, arms still wrapped around her.

"I love you Bill." She said while staring into his eyes.

"I love you too Karen."

They allowed themselves to finally get lost in the music, in each others arms.

Hope You Liked It, Please R&R. I'd Really Appreciate It :)