A/N

Merry Christmas people, I decided to make a one-shot about, you guessed it, Christmas, you know, just in time for the holidays and stuff. (You know how I go crazy and write about my favorite holidays!) Anyway, there will be a whole bunch of couplings in this one, but it still will be centered on my favorite couple around. Tina/Gray! (Tina is the main character in More Friends of Mineral Town.) A little bit of Doctor/Elli, Maybe a taste of Ann/Cliff, and just a teensy bit of Rick/Karen. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

See you at the end of the story!

Kisa-chan-2006

Of Santa Hats and Mistletoes

Tina wiped the greasy sweat off her forehead and looked proudly at the half full basket of newly mined gems. It was almost worth it to slip and slide on her butt, and to hit her head on the rock-hard surface of the ice just to get to the mine in the middle of the frozen lake. Eyes sparkling and her cheeks a rosy red color, she took a deep breath and hit one of the rocks as hard as she could, splitting it in half. She exhaled, a puff of warm air rising towards the roof of the mine. Picking up the amethyst geode, she dropped it in her almost full basket. Deciding that this was enough for today, she picked the basket up and lugged it, her hammer and herself to the entrance of the cave, from where she had entered from.

Taking a wary step on the ice, she breathed a sigh of content. Foolishly thinking all was well, she went running towards the snow laden ground, and clumsily tripped on a rock embedded in the ice and fell on her stomach. Meanwhile, the basket and the hammer and the gems flew out onto the cold surface of the ice and were sliding everywhere, tripping an unaware passerby, by the name of Gray. He was just coming up from Mothers Hill, having enjoyed a well needed lunch. And he decided he was going to go to the mine and try and find a gem to make a bracelet for Tina. --Unknown by her of course. -- But alas, while on his way to the mine, he was tripped up by an ice skating hammer, And a blonde haired girl sliding on her stomach right at him. Oh wait…That was Tina sliding towards him.

A look of confusion briefly crossed his face before he was ran into by none other than Tina, Falling on top of her, she was now lying on her back, both descending down the slightly sloped ice. Five seconds later they made contact, with a large rock protruding from under the water.

He groaned and rolled off of her, and then he sat there for a second, trying to comprehend what and why she and her hammer were both sliding on the ice. Looking over at an unconscious Tina, he poked her arm. To no avail did he even see a hint of a sign that she was to wake up any time soon. Giving a very audible grunt, he lifted her off of the ground, which in his case, wasn't an easy chore, considering she was laden with two snowsuits, a thick wool sweater, and a very large and puffy, light pink down coat. Struggling to keep her in his grasp, he pondered for a quick, brief minute if he should come back with her basket and the hammer, plus with her in his arms…

Tapping her fingers loudly on the wooden surface of the desk, Elli thought to herself and wondered if anyone was going to come in and visit her today. No ever seemed to come in at all, except for Jeff, the owner of the Super Market. That didn't count did it? I mean…he was already married. A disturbing vision of herself and Jeff standing under the mistletoe about to kiss invaded her thick stream of thought. Shuddering in sheer disgust, she replaced Jeff with Doctor Tim's' image. She closed her eyes and breathed a love-sick sigh. If only he had the same feelings for her as she had for him. Anyway, he was a million times better than always complaining Jeff.

"That's much better."

She quietly mumbled to herself and the picture of the Doctor she held in her hand.

A loud crash awoke her from dream land. Looking frantically around the room for the source of the sound, she realized it was somebody pounding on the thick doors that led to outside. Setting the picture gently down on the desk, she sat up from her chair. Grumbling to herself, she lazily dragged her feet across the room.

"Why can't they just open the doors themselves, they're not lame for heavens sake."

Opening the door, A Tina laden Gray dragged himself into the room, dropping a large bulky hammer on the ground, which made a dreadful large booming sound when dropped on the white tiles.

If Elli could have written the sound down on a piece of paper, this is probably what it would look like. " " . Anyway, He handed her a basket of rocks to her and sluggishly carried a very unconscious Tina to the other room. Curiously looking at the basket, she hurriedly put it on the floor next to the hammer, and quickly walked into the room Gray was in. Helping Gray get Tina on the bed, he Thanked her and said he would be back to check on Tina later. He walked out the door while she cleaned things up a bit before the doctor came back. Just in time too, for the doctor walked in carrying two large bags of who-knows-what. Coming up to her, he handed her a tiny wrapped box, that had an adorable bow with some ribbon on it, it also said, To: Elli, From: Tim.

"This is for you Elli! You can't open it until tomorrow though okay!" She stood there stunned before running up to the doctor and giving him a very large bear hug. It was a good thing to do at that moment, wasn't it? Smirking slightly, he set to work decorating the clinic with various decorations that he had bought at the supermarket. Giving her a mischievous look, he motioned for her to come over to where he was standing.

"What is it?" She asked quizzically.

You'll find out, just come here."

She warily walked over to him and stopped right when she was about to collide with him. He flashed her boyish grin and quickly covered her eyes with a kerchief. Of course, being that her eyes were covered with it, she could not tell what color it was. She sniffed slightly; it smelled like the cologne she had given him for his birthday. At least he was using it. Oh, never mind that, why was he blindfolding her like this, was he going to give her another surprise. She felt his hand on her shoulder. And he led her towards…somewhere in the room. Taking her kerchief off, he stood there, a mysterious look in his eyes. She looked around for a bit.

"Uh…Tim…Why are we standing under the doorway?" He just smiled and pointed up.

She looked up; a fresh sprig of green leaves and little red berries was hung up in the doorway. Her breathing quickened. 'Oh gosh…what the heck…has the Doctor gone stark raving mad?'

Doctor took his hand in hers and aid quietly.

"Before you ask, this is just a little early Christmas present."

He closed his eyes and gave her a deep kiss. She began to close her eyes when, the door was swung wide open and a very bewildered Gray was standing there with a box of chocolates and a rose in his hand. Might I say, he was also holding a much decorated "Get Well" card too. Too stunned to make a move to keep the door open, he just stood there while the door slammed in his face. She looked up at the doctor, who seemed to be holding in a very large fit of laughter. While at the same time, looking equally embarrassed at the whole situation, and the most unfortunate turn of events. Timidly looking down, she grasped the frilly fabric of her apron nervously in her hand. He kissed her on the forehead and said something that was quite unexpected.

"Well, I guess that means we're going out then!" Her heart skipped a beat as he walked into his office.

"By the way Elli, Gray is still standing out there in the cold. You might want to think about letting the poor chap in for a while. Besides, he looked like he had some delivering to do." Realizing she had left Gray in the cold, she hurriedly opened the door and let him in. Staring at her for a minute or so, he began to have an amused look on his face. Finally he spoke, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Well, at least I can tell Tina when she wakes up that you guys are officially on "Good Terms." She was worried you know."

Then he proceeded into the other room.

She peered through the light blue curtain that led to the doctor's office and the little bed that Tina was accommodating. "Just call me if you need anything.

"I don't think I'll need anything for a while."

"Uh…okay then."

"Go say "Hi" to Doctor for me okay."

"Shut-up."

Meanwhile on the other side of town, Rick and Karen were having the time of their lives, chasing very disobedient chickens into their shed.

A very flustered Karen rounded the corner, right on the tail of a very annoying chicken.

"Rick! I hate your chickens…They suck!"

Rick stopped and quickly grabbed the chicken that was running away from her. Karen gave out a sigh of relief.

"So…how many more are there?"

Rick looked around, his breath clearly visible in the cold crisp air.

"Um…about…twelve more…"

The disappointment clearly was shown on Karen's face.

"Did they suddenly have babies during our honeymoon? Geez and I was hoping we could go inside and I could make us a nice of cup of coco and we could snuggle on the couch, while watching Christmas classics."

Rick walked over and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "I promise we'll do that…after we get those chickens."

A half-hour later, they were still grabbing chickens and putting them in the shed. It had grown dusky in the time they had spent grabbing chickens, and Karen was at that time, leaning up against the wall of the house catching her breath after chasing a very rambunctious chicken up the street and back. Rick still ran around in the snow, making a very humorous attempt at grabbing one of the more rebellious chickens. Yawning loudly, Karen felt a slight pain in her right calf. Looking down, she saw that one of the roosters was happily gnawing away at her pants leg.

"Oh my gosh, Rick! The chicken is trying to eat me!" Running away from the chicken, Karen made a feeble attempt to grab it while it was chasing her. The next thing she knew, there were all six chickens, trying to chew on her pants. She screamed and fell on the ground, her butt becoming soaked with melted snow.

Rick cautiously made his way towards her and motioned for her to be quiet. She whimpered and stood back up off the ground.

Rick whispered quietly.

"Karen, if you can get them to follow you then we could get them all into the shed really easily."

She gave a quiet nod, and walked slowly to the shed. Amazingly, every single one of them followed her into the shed, of course while taking pecks at her blue jeans. 'These sure are some weird chickens…' Karen thought. Finally they got them nestled snuggly in their own individual pens. Sighs of relief could be heard from the couple as they made their way into the house, with Ricks arm around Karen's shoulder.

"Rick…"

"Yes Karen, what is it?"

"Do you want me to make the hot chocolate?"

"Sure, just this time, don't put it in the oven, okay."

"Okay…I won't."

Rick smiled, pleased that she wasn't going to try and boil hot chocolate in the oven this time. How he was looking forward to cuddling up with her on the couch, sipping hot chocolate while watching boring old classics. Maybe Mom will show her how to put mint flavoring in it. He licked his lips in anticipation, Hot Chocolate with mint sure sounded delicious.

"Besides Rick, I was going to try a new method tonight. I'm sure this one will be good tasting, unlike the others."

"What kind of method is this?"

"It's a secret!"

They were in for a quite eventful Christmas Eve.

Back at the clinic, there was quite a commotion with Jeff and a very, let us just say, angry wife.

Sasha was angry at Jeff because Jeff burnt the turkey that Sasha told him not to burn, but he spaced out when cooking it so now the turkey was burnt and they had to take one from their own store. Then she burnt the turkey because Jeff asked her help because a customer needed something off of the top shelf and Jeff couldn't reach it, so of course she had to get it. Then when she got it down the person said they really didn't need it and left. Then a whole pile of red Santa hats fell on Sasha's head, so the turkey burnt, because they had to clean the huge pile of hats. And somehow it was all Jeff's fault, which it kind of was.

While Elli was listening to this…baffling story, Gray had migrated into the room Tina was in, and had settled in the nearest chair, while busily wrapping a present he had snagged for her from the store, while buying a get well card with lot's of glitter, five red roses, and a box of those French chocolates…and a Red Santa hat for himself. When he was done wrapping it, he set all of the things he had bought her on the small table next to her. Then he drifted off into a very light sleep. Because he could still hear Sasha yelling at Jeff who was whining to Elli, who was trying to talk to the doctor, who was trying get out of there.

At the inn, something quite interesting was going on. Doug, who was Ann's father, was having a very detailed talk to Cliff, who was at the time, Ann's boy friend, about saving it for marriage. Now Cliff, was all very flustered to talk about this subject, with his girlfriends dad, which in all actuality, made it worse. After the talk from hell, Cliff went to sit at a nearby table, which was soon joined by none other than Ann. She reached her hand across the table and grabbed his hand tightly.

"Was it bad?"

He gave her a petrified look and than smiled.

"I shall have to admit, it was quite frightful."

She chuckled and squeezed his hand tighter.

"Well, it's all over now!"

Leaning over the small surface of the table, he captured her in a loving kiss, but as fate would have it, he spotted Doug out of the corner of his eye, and he was vigorously shaking his finger as if to say "What do you think you are doing young man?"

Which, as Cliff came to realize that as soon as Ann broke away, because her father really was coming over to the table, and, he was saying that right now."

And again the cycle repeats itself, even though, the second encounter is always more frightening then the first because the father explains it in yet more explicit detail then the first time, because he recons that the ignorant young chap turned on his selective hearing when listening to him the first time. Cliff decided after that, that two encounters was enough for one night and he was just going to "Hang-out." Instead of giving his fiancé an innocent kiss. For heavens sake, they were in public anyways. Why would they even want to do something that…revealing in front of other guests? Just the very thought of it was positively horrid. It mad the tea he had enjoyed with Ann earlier that day, want to just go rotten and curdle itself up in his stomach. Which in his case I assure you, was not a very pleasant thought at all.

Well, it was late and he would go to bed. Besides, tomorrow was Christmas and that was the last day that they would be officially "Fiancés", the next day they would be married, and Cliff, Well, he wouldn't have to hear all of those "before marriage talks." Instead, he would be giving them to his kids and their boyfriends in the future. Which that thought totally froze him in his tracks. Having children was a scary thought. He shook his head forcefully, telling himself to just take it one step at a time. He could handle kids…yes he could. His heartbeat quickened, and he blacked out. The subject "Kids" was apparently too much at this present time.

Ann rushed to his fallen body and heaved him up the staircase, Popuri and Kai were also on their honeymoon and Kai had walked into the hallway to see what all the uproar was about. He looked at Ann carrying Cliff, and snorted a bit. This was a Kodak moment if he had ever seen one. 'I wonder if the same thing will happen at their wedding…feel bad for Ann, and for Cliff, it must be terribly embarrassing to be carried around by your girlfriend…wow…'

And so Kai sleepily walked back into the hotel room and left poor, poor, Ann to Carry Cliff all the way to his room. When he wasn't awake he sure was heavy.

Ann Humorously thought.

'I hope this doesn't happen at out wedding…poor me…though, it would be kind of embarrassing for Cliff, having to be carried around like a woman…wow…'

And so, Christmas Eve came to a close and Christmas day showed its brightly shining face. Tina woke up to quite a surprise with Gray sleeping in the chair next to her and a pile of presents stacked up on the tiny table before her. Gray woke up and smiled softly, while giving her a little peck on the cheek. "Morning, you were out all Christmas Eve, so, Merry Christmas!!"

She gave him a huge hug and proceeded in opening a tiny box, in the box was a fluffy blue feather, resting on a red cushion of velvet. Four gasps could be heard from behind the curtain. Sasha, Jeff, who was holding a red Santa hat in his hand, Elli, who was also holding a blue feather in her hand, and Doctor who was practically beaming in joy at the sight of Elli with a blue feather in her hand.

Gray laughed and so did Tina.

"Wow…this is…wow…"

Tina looked very surprised and confused with all the people standing there. Gray held her hand a said.

"So Tina…uh…will you…see…I really Love…uh…"

Tina pounced on him and gave him a warm, kiss, while in the process of knocking both of them down on the floor, which caused the blue lamp to fall and break on the tile.

Tina looked at Gray and cried.

"No!!!! I am really sorry!"

Stunned by her words, Gray felt boiling hot tears coming to the surface of his eyes.

"What do you mean "No"…?"

Confused by the tone in Gray's voice she looked at him.

"I meant no, about breaking the vase, not about marrying you. Of course I will marry you! But not right here, in the church you big silly. But please don't wear that Santa hat with a tuxedo, it looks weird. But it looks okay now. So what is everybody else doing here? Why is Elli holding a blue feather? Did you try to propose to her first? Why would you do that? Oh never mind, I get it, Tim Proposed to her. Oh my god Elli! Did Tim propose to you or something?"

Gray sighed; this was the ditzy Tina he knew. He looked at the befuddled faces of Jeff and Tim before shaking his head in quiet laughter. They sure do make an interesting couple. Tina squealed loudly in the background. "Tim, did you propose to Elli? Wait of course you did, why did you though? So soon too, why did you propose to her again?"

Gray smirked and yawned loudly.

Yes, this would be a very interesting Christmas indeed.

The End

A/N

Hey, so, how was that. Sorry it wasn't as long as Surprises. I will make another one some time soon okay! Review and tell me what you think. Well, I hope you all enjoy Christmas! See you soon!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Kisa-chan-2006