Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 37th cycle. Now cycle 38!

PRE-CHRISTMAS NON-CHRISTMAS: It's already my third holiday season of Gleekathon, woo! So happy about that :D Anyhoo, just to explain what I'm doing for it this year: How it goes is I always have a set of stories with Christmas-y titles but non-Christmas-y plots, so to give an air of the season but not too much ;) First year was '12 Days of Christmas', last year was 'Reindeer'. This year's theme is "Christmas Movies" :) It'll run from December 8th to 19th, after which I have a slightly bigger undertaking to take us to Christmas Eve (stay tuned and find out, ha! ;)). So here we go!

"Love Actually"
Artie/Lucy (OC)
Sequel to "Progressions"

After their post-inventory dinner date at Breadstix, and the two kisses that had preceded it, Artie was a man declared… his heart was squarely in the hands of one Lucy Collins. And after that day, a lot of things began to change, bit by bit, and the further they got in, the better it got. Neither of them was looking for some big difference; what they already had was pretty good, and this was just about filling in the missing parts. He got to see her smile even more than he ever had, and knowing that this was in part thanks to him just made it so much better. But then it wasn't just about them.

He'd been going more often to the Collins' house, something he realized in the way they weren't surprised to see him there anymore, he was a regular. Her parents had been sold from the start, but it was to see how different things were now with him and Lucy's little sister Stella. It had taken time for the girl to start talking to him, but now she greeted his arrivals with the biggest of smiles, wheeling her own wheelchair up to his so they could fist bump, like he'd shown her. When he'd gifted her with gloves like his own, she'd gone so far as to call him a friend.

It was around that time both he and Lucy realized she had never been at Artie's house, or at least never at a time that had led to her meeting his parents, and that maybe it was time to rectify that. She had already been amused to hear how she'd been nicknamed his 'ghostfriend,' as they had no way to tell whether or not she was real.

"So does that mean… dinner?" she asked as they headed down the hall toward Glee Club.

"If you want to," he nodded, not wanting to force anything.

"Of course I want to," she laughed. "You know you're very kind of… unsure sometimes?" He looked at her – busted. "I think I know what it is."

"You do?"

"Artie, I've been there, back there, with the band… I've been there, and they've been there… We know a lot more than you think." He wasn't sure whether to be scared or intrigued about that concept. "Is this about your exes?" He froze a bit; was she that aware? "It's not like I don't know they exist, that they're right there in the room with us. It's fine," she promised. Okay, so she didn't know all of it, not his fears about screwing things up with her…

"Right, I'm sorry," he nodded. "So I'll make sure about Saturday and let you know?"

"Sounds good," she agreed. "Now I just have to figure out what to wear. I do have this great white sheet, holes for the eyes," she motioned to her face, and he frowned in confusion for a moment before he remembered the bit about being his ghostfriend instead of his girlfriend.

"Maybe go with something a bit more standard," he told her with a smirk.

"Yeah, maybe you're right," she consented, throwing him a smirk.

Glee Club went by in a flash, up until the end, when Mr. Schuester had dropped a surprise on them, or particularly on Artie, Lucy, and the band: he wanted to feature them at Sectionals. He thought the whole idea of Lucy's crossover from one 'world' to the other could be made into the perfect set up for their first song. When he'd said it, Artie had looked over to Lucy. Shell shocked was a good description for her face in that moment. He took her hand and she finally blinked. The reaction from the rest of the room was mixed, with some of them congratulating her, and others voicing 'uncertainty' about the maneuver. Nevertheless, it was settled.

"Sectionals… Sectionals…" she seemed to be repeating under her breath the whole way after they'd left the room when the club let out for the afternoon. She seemed to be reverting to that pre-audition nervousness.

"You'll do great. We'll be right there with you," he promised.

"I know you will," she nodded slowly. "It's fine, it's just… I don't know… I'm not usually like this," she shook her head. "I can't help it."

"Breathe, you'll pass out and I can't catch you," he was glad to see this helped calm her down, even making her chuckle. "By the way, we're on for this Saturday. I texted my mother and she said she'd be happy to meet Casper."

"Ah, I see you and your mother share the same sense of humor," Lucy teased.

On Saturday afternoon, Artie was laying waste to the computer-generated games on the television screen as he pressed furiously at the controls to the video game. He didn't hear the doorbell, didn't hear his mother let their guest in, didn't hear her come in until her hands pressed at his shoulders and he startled, almost dropping the controller.

"Seriously, you need to look into this jumpiness," Lucy laughed, stepping out from behind him.

"Well what else did you think was going to… happen… You're wearing a dress," he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Observant," she bowed her head. "Decided to make an exception. What do you think?"

"You look amazing," he was absolutely honest. She smiled, kneeling beside his chair so to lean in and kiss him. "Really, really amazing," he added and she laughed.

"One thing at a time, ghostlover," she shook her head.

"Worth a try," he confided and she beamed, looking back at him. She was even more stunning from up close. It was her look… Not just in the sense of 'how she looked,' but just 'how she looked… at him.' In all the time he'd known her, he'd never seen her eyes look at anyone the way they did at him. He supposed it was normal, since she'd been single since he'd known her, but it wasn't even that. It was a look she had only ever given him…

If he ever doubted just how he felt about her, that day it was cemented. He liked her, didn't just like her… he loved her. And now he was even more terrified to lose her.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!