This is a Kelly and Ryan FanFiction. I love this couple so much but all the characters belong to The Office (US) and not me. If they did, Ryan and Kelly would have soooo much more air time!!! LOL!!! I don't know why, but I get the feeling that something big is going to happen between these two this season. This is a short fic set at the time of the Christmas Party. I know, it's a little early, but I just got inspired to write it. I really hope you enjoy it and please read a review it. I really appreciate all comments. DDF xXx

Ridiculous

Ryan couldn't take his eyes off of Kelly as she bounded into the conference room for the annual office Christmas party. As usual, she looked immaculate. She was wearing a deep red figure hugging dress which made everyone else look bland in comparison. Ryan forced himself to look away. Every time that he found himself thinking that it wouldn't be half bad to date Kelly again, he reminded himself how clingy, annoying and high-maintenance she was.

He was well out of it. He knew that. But sometimes, just sometimes he would think about what it would have been like if they had never broken up. Would they have done the long-distance thing like Jim and Pam? Because if they had, he was sure that that he would have cheated on her in the first week. What if Kelly had transferred her job to New York? He knew that she would have driven him crazy. But some nights, as he lay in his apartment in the Village, it would be hard not to imagine Kelly cuddled up to him, stoking his chest, telling him that he was perfect and doing things to him that only she knew how to.

It was just lust that he felt for her. Nothing more. Life with Kelly Kapoor was a distance memory that seemed like a lifetime ago.

"A bit too dressed up for an office Christmas party, aren't we Kelly?" Angela sneered at Kelly in a demeaning way but Kelly took it all in her stride. As the rest of them, Angela was dressed in work attire.

"Well some of us like to make an effort with our appearance Angela." Kelly smiled sweetly albeit sarcastically and headed over to Jim who greeted her with a nod.

Ryan could help but smile. He always loved Kelly when she acted all sassy. Not loved, just attracted to, he corrected himself mentally.

Ryan looked around the room. There was no Darryl. Technically, Darryl wasn't part of the office, but for some reason Kelly always dragged him to these events. As if Jim read his mind, he asked Kelly about her boyfriend.

"Oh, he has to look after his daughter tonight. She got a cold. He's such a sweet dad. It really says something about a guy. That and being great in bed," she laughed light-heartedly. Ryan noticed that is shifted her eyes in his direction for a moment before carrying on the conversation with Jim.

Something inside Ryan twisted. It was no secret that Kelly wanted to get married and have kids, something that Ryan tried to resist all of his adult life. It was also common knowledge that Kelly and Darryl had been dating for the best part of a year. But Ryan had never thought of their relationship as a sexual one. He felt nauseous at the thought of Darryl and Kelly in bed together and wondered if she ever thought of him while she was with Darryl. The knot in his stomach grew at the thought of Kelly being happy with another guy. Sure, in New York there had been a string of girls, but they were all more or less one night stands. There just wasn't the chemistry that he had had with Kelly. None of them felt right in his arms.

Not that Kelly did. Like he said before, he and Kelly were all about lust.

As more and more people started to dance, Ryan remained seated. All of a saddened he wanted to be anywhere but in the conference room. Hearing Kelly's laughter while she danced with Jim, Kevin and even Creed was just too much. He found himself wanting to ask her to dance with him, but he knew that she would shoot him down, like on his first day back at the Scranton branch.

"Now here's a song for all those love-birds out there. Except for Jim. His bird just flew too far away this Christmas," Michael laughed at his joke oblivious to the fact that, apart from Angela and Andy, everyone had found themselves a seat. Ryan's heart stopped beating for a second as 'We Belong Together' started to play. Déjà vu hit him. Was it not only a could of Christmases ago, that Kelly had sung this song to him, in front of the whole office He remembered drinking as much alcohol as he could find and wishing that the ground would open up and swallow him. Ryan scanned the room for Kelly but she was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't sure why, but he needed to find her.

Ryan found Kelly on a bench outside in the freezing cold snow and saw that she was crying into a crumpled Kleenex. His steps made a crunching noise with the snow on the ground.

"Kelly?" he asked in what he hoped sounded like a casual tone.

"Ryan? What are you doing here?" She quickly pocketed the Kleenex in a hope that Ryan hadn't seen.

"I just came out for some air," he lied, sitting himself down on the other side of the bench, making sure to leave a large gap between them. "How about you?"

"Same."

There was silence. Ryan was unsure of what to say next. Was he meant to confront her about the crying? Or pretend that he had never seen her upset?

Fortunately she spoke. "Darryl broke up with me," she stated refusing to meet Ryan's gaze as he whipped his head in her direction. "Kelly Kapoor. The girl that always picks the wrong guy." She laughed bitterly which Ryan thought was odd coming from Kelly of all people. "Maybe my mom was right. I should marry that doctor that she was trying to fix me up with. She thinks I'm being unrealistic when I say that I want to find someone to love and who will love me back."

What was Ryan meant to say to that? He had a weird urge to tell her that he could be that guy. The guy that would love her back. But he came to his senses just in time. Ryan Howard, in love with Kelly Kapoor? That would just be Ridiculous.

"Maybe your mom is right," he said instead.

"Yeah."

More silence fell between them. Ryan's fingers began to go numb with the cold. Small flakes of snow started to fall on the already white ground.

"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if we never broke up?" she asked out of the blue.

Ryan was caught off guard but maintained his composure. "No," he lied again. There was no point in trying to get her hoped up again. She might think that this conversation actually meant something. He didn't want to hurt her unnecessarily.

"So what was working in New York like? Did you have many girlfriends?" Kelly's tone was light and airy, but Ryan could tell that she was dying to know the answer.

"There were girls, if that's what you mean." Technically Ryan hadn't had any girlfriends. He hadn't wanted one. Why would he want to go into another long-tern relationship when he had just ended one?

"Right." Kelly shuffled in her seat uncomfortably.

"Want to go back in? I'm freezing my balls off." Ryan tried a bit of humour to lighten the mood.

"Yeah."

Ryan found himself being unnerved by Kelly's lack of words. What happened to her motor-mouth? He got up before helping Kelly to her feet, ignoring the tingling sensation he got as his large hand enveloped her small one. It was just pins and needles. Everyone knows that you get pins and needles when your hands go numb. Nevertheless he let go abruptly.

Before they reached the elevator, Ryan noticed something dangling above his head. He looked up. "Mistletoe," he said to Kelly before he had even had a chance to think about it. He wasn't stupid. He knew what he was suggesting. He just wasn't sure why he was.

"I don't think its appropriate Ryan," she said bowing her head.

Ryan was shock and felt dejected. He wasn't expecting that. Ryan felt the need to back-track, and started to babble. "No…I'm sorry. You are right. I don't know what I was thinking. It's totally-" But he couldn't finish what he was saying as he felt Kelly's warm, soft lips on his. He closed his eyes and pulled her close, kissing her back tenderly. He shivered slightly as they pulled away from each other.

It was the pins and needles, he told himself.

Ryan was just glad that everyone else was drunk. At least he wouldn't have to explain why he was holding hands with his ex-girlfriend as he lead her to a corner of the room with a small table. They squeezed into a couple of chairs, thighs touching, hands still laced together.

Ryan looked at Kelly. Her lipstick was smudged.

It's not love, he told himself.

But he couldn't explain what made him wipe away the stray lipstick with his free had all the while gazing into her large, sparkling eyes. Nor could Ryan explain why no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop grinning every time he looked at her.

No, he wasn't in love. Because he, Ryan Howard in love with Kelly Kapoor?

That would be ridiculous.

So that was it!! :D I hope you liked it.

Please leave a review!!! xXx