full summary: In London, Scott McCall-Hale writes a column in a newspaper and nurtures an unrequited love for his colleague, Lydia Martin. Near Christmas, he is informed that Lydia is engaged to marry another colleague, and his life turns upside down. In Los Angeles, the movie-trailers maker Stiles Stilinski has just split with his unfaithful boyfriend Danny and wants to forget him. Through a house exchange website, Stiles impulsively swaps his mansion for Scott's cottage in Surrey for the holidays. While in Surrey, Stiles meets Scott's brother and history teacher, Derek, which results in a one night stand. Meanwhile, Scott meets a stunt double actress named Allison, who seems to be going through the same troubles Scott is in the relationship department.

aka The Holiday AU no one asked for or wanted.

a/n: Alright! So I'm going to try one of these work in progress things and hopefully I can get this finished by the end of December. That's my goal, at least, and (believe me) feedback would be the most helpful way to keep my butt in gear. One quick note: throughout this fic, there will be direct quotes from the movie. Keeping some lines from the movie will keep me grounded and able to stick to as close to the movie as I want. This is unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine and mine alone. If there's anything glaringly obvious, be sure to let me know!

Now, without further ado, I encourage you to read on!

I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said, "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said, "Love is blind." Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. It's called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded.

Scott sighed, saved the word document, and exited out of the word processor. He put his head in his hands. He needed to stop doing this. No, he really, really needed to stop doing this. He needed stop writing all this...whatever it was. It was all because of Lydia, yes, oh God, it really was but he needed to stop. Derek told him how completely ridiculous he was being but he couldn't help it.

He and Lydia were meant to be together! He could feel it. So what if they originally 'didn't work,' or if they weren't officially together anymore. She needed him. She said so herself. Even if she wasn't in love with him. And couldn't be in love with him. And wouldn't be in love with.

Especially after he found out that she was also having sex with that guy from upstairs. But it didn't matter! He loved Lydia, and they were destined to be together.

Scott sighed again. What was he doing? Writing confessions on his computer during a work Christmas party. He was hopeless. He needed to get away from himself, get away from his computer, and the hidden Christmas gift he has for Lydia hidden in one of the drawers in his desk. Shit. He has a problem. This amount of unrequited love couldn't be healthy in any way, shape, or form.

Scott pushed away from his desk and made his way out of his office. Joining the party would be a good distraction, right?

As soon as he stepped out of his office, he saw Lydia. Of course he did. It was like his eyes were drawn to her. Not to mention she had the most striking red hair Scott had ever encountered. She was gorgeous. She was beautiful. She was...looking in Scott's direction. He quickly moved, working to find his friend Boyd who would no doubt have some type of alcohol in his hand. Boyd didn't disappoint.

"Woah, now," he said, still holding the class as Scott held it up to his lips and drank. "Can I ask what brought this on?"

Scott made a noncommittal noise in the back of throat, still working on drinking.

Boyd looked around the office, and then spotted Lydia. "Ah," he said. He pulled the drink back from Scott, even though he wasn't exactly finished with it. "No more for you, at least not right now. I thought you and Lydia broke up?"

"We did, completely did, that's over. Well," Scott hedged. He weakly reached out for the drink again, which Boyd held out of his reach.

"Well? There's a well now? I remember you guys having sex but I thought that was it."

"No! There was...dating. Sort of. Until—"

"Until you found out she was sleeping with Jackson, that's right," Boyd said, a tone of recognition in his voice.

"I mean, I still love her—"

"You still love her? I can't do this." Boyd looked around the room again. "You need...oh, perfect. You need Erica. Reyes!" he called. He pulled Scott with him as he walked over to Erica. She turned around to face Boyd and Scott, ending the conversation she was having with one of her colleagues. Boyd kissed her on the cheek and walked away, leaving her to deal with Scott.

"Thanks, sweetie, leave me to deal with the lovesick Scott," she murmured, even though Boyd couldn't hear her. She licked her lips and smiled. "Scott, what is it? Lydia?"

Scott made a gesture with his hands as if to say, "Who else?" "I still love her, Erica."

"Well of course you do, she's hotter than the son. I may be with and in love with Boyd forever and always, but I remember my college years, Scott," she said to his baffled look. "She's hotter than about all of my sorority."

"Yeah, but I bet your sisters have a much better personality than her," Scott muttered. He ignored Erica's exclamation of, "That's a start!" and said, "No matter what I do, no matter what I write, no matter who I see, it's always Lydia. Lydia, Lydia, Lydia."

"You see other people then."

"No." Scott put his head in his hands. "Oh God, I'm pathetic."

Erica bit her cheek and placed a comforting hand on Scott's shoulder. "You're not," she began, then paused. "Okay, maybe a little. But I wouldn't exactly say you're pathetic just more of...blinded by your love for Lydia Martin."

He pulled his head out of his hands. "You mean I'm pathetic."

"...Yes."

Scott groaned and buried his head again. This was what he meant. The Lydia thing was getting out of hand. It needed to stop. It needed to just...evaporate, into thin air. Even though Scott knew that wasn't how love worked. Love was weird, love was fickle. Love—

"Hello, Scott."

Shit. Shit, holy mother of Earth, that was Lydia's voice. Which then continued to say, "Hello, Erica."

"Hey, Lyds," Erica replied. Scott elbowed her, head still in his hands. She grunted, then said, "You know, I'm going to go find Boyd. The man is hopeless without me, but, of course, you know how men are." The girls laughed, and Scott managed to raise his head from his hands and tried to smooth his hair a bit. He smiled at Erica's retreating backside, and turned his head to Lydia. Who looked even more stunning up close. His smile widened.

"Hello, Scott," she said again, that small, private smile that she saved for him in place.

"Hey. Hi. How-how are you? How's the party?" Scott mentally face palmed. He should have just stopped when he was ahead, which was, "Hey."

Lydia's smile widened. "I'm wonderful, Scott, and the party seems to be amicable. How are you?"

"Good." Scott nodded. Lydia nodded with him, her lips twitching as if she wanted to laugh. Oh holy God, why did I say good? "You can laugh at me, you know," Scott said.

Lydia let out a little giggle, stifled behind her hand. "I'm not laughing at you, I promise. You're just very adorable, sweetie." She sighed. "Oh, this holiday just makes me feel so...happy. You know?"

"Definitely."

"Can I see the article you wrote today?" she asked after a moment. "I can only imagine that it's brilliant."

"Ah, ah, ah, not as brilliant as yours. I read it, and that one line: 'The onrushing stripping of dignity and thought from British lives.' Wonderful."

Lydia flushed lightly, following Scott into his office. "Thank you," she said.

Scott sat down and pulled up the article he had been working on, only to realize it was the one in which he was talking about unrequited love. Shit. "Uh," he stalled. He closed out of everything and shut his computer down. "I guess, uh, I guess my computer got a little overheated. Had to shut it down. Maybe another time?" he suggested. Lydia nodded and then perked up. Scott made a, "What is it?" face.

"I have a Christmas present for you!"

Everything was working out. Lydia had a gift for him. He had a gift for her. They'd exchange and share a pre-Christmas kiss. It was perfect. It was wonderful. It was all he ever wanted. "That's so convenient," he said, reaching into his drawer, "because I have one for you. Ha!" He pulled it out and presented it to her.

Lydia's smile dimmed. "Oh. I don't...I don't actually have it on me, Scott. I believe it's at home. But," she rushed to say, "you can believe I'll get it to you as soon as possible."

He shrugged, covering up how stupid he actually felt. "Here, just...have yours, then," he said, handing off the present. "Remember last Christmas, we exchanged gifts in March. This is good. We're getting...better." He was pathetic. Yeah, Lydia 'had' a present for him that she 'left at home.' He couldn't believe how idiotic he was being. Shit.

He distantly heard Lydia gasp, too wrapped up in his thoughts. "Scott, where did you—"

"Oh, um, it was just. I found it in that old bookstore we went to, remember?"

Lydia looked up at him. "Yes. But, Scott, this is first edition, I—"

"Happy Christmas, Lydia." She beamed at him, cradling the book. Okay, so maybe he wasn't totally pathetic. "I wanted to ask you—"

He was interrupted by his boss asking for everyone's attention, back out in the main room. "Well, first of all, a very happy Christmas to every one of you," he was saying as Scott and Lydia made their way out of Scott's office. Lydia offered Scott a parting smile before she walked into the crowd. Scott made his way to Erica and Boyd, who gave him questioning looks. He waved them off and looked to his boss.

"Now, we're not officially closed, as you very well know. But we are going to try and get by this week. with a smaller-than-normal staff," he continued. "Now, before some of you rush off on holiday, I do have one rather important announcement."

Scott perked up. An announcement before Christmas holiday meant either someone was getting a raise or someone was getting fired.

"Now, can I have our own Lydia Martin and Jackson Whittemore up here with me, if you please. Now, these two would like to make the announcement themselves, so, go on."

Lydia and Jackson looked at one another before wide grins broke out on their faces. "Oh no," Scott whispered. Erica moved from next to Boyd to right behind Scott, grasping both his shoulders as if to comfort him. But if what was about to happen that Scott thought was about to happen, nothing, absolutely nothing, could comfort him.

"We're engaged!" Lydia squealed, throwing up her hand. Everyone around them clapped, except for the trio. Jackson made some stupid, off-handed comment about his suit that got everyone laughing, but Scott was ready to curl up into a ball, in a hole and just die.

"Can you two, uh, help me? Get me out of here," he added when neither Erica nor Boyd moved. Both of them quickly flanked him and quickly escorted him out of the office. They all stepped outside, but Scott walked ahead of them, heading straight for a lamp post—that he then kicked. He cried out in frustration, but mostly pain as that actually really hurt.

Erica walked up to him and grabbed his arm. "Come on, we're going to the bar. You need to get drunk." Scott just nodded, letting Erica and Boyd lead him to the nearest bar.

The bar was warm, but the beer was warmer and soon Scott almost couldn't quite remember how beautiful Lydia was. He complimented Erica's cleavage once, which resulted in a glower from Boyd, but peels of laughter from Erica.

It was also when they decided it was time for Scott to go home and pass out.

After the taxi dropped him off, Scott walked into his house, kicked off his boots, and then went upstairs to collapse on his bed, sobbing. He wasn't going to sleep. He had to drink so much water to make up for tonight.

He was wrong. He really was terribly pathetic.

Tada! Kind of short, I know, sorry about that. The way I'm writing this, it seems each chapter is going to change between Scott and Stiles. I'm really following to movie on this one. If you want to check up on my progress (or just say hey or if you just want it), my tumblr is adelaidebabe. Hopefully this isn't half bad, and people are actually interested.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned!