"Jasper, it's Christmas Eve."
"So?" This…discussion had been going on for ten minutes now, and Jasper was surprised Alice was still at it. Well, not really surprised that she was still at it, more that he hadn't been persuaded to see her side by now. Though really, he couldn't understand her side at all. Why get into the showy commercial Christmas? His Christmases - his human ones, anyway - had always been small and mainly religious. He couldn't remember if his family even had a Christmas tree, but he did know that much of Christmas Eve and Day had been spent in church, agonizing when he was a little boy.
But Alice hadn't been raised religious - at least, not that she remembered. She had no interest in even going to one of the midnight Masses. So why was she so resolved that they spend tonight festively celebrating?
"So come on! Have a little holiday sprit! Give a million dollars to a homeless person! Eat the snow!"
"Eat the snow?" Jasper questioned, eyebrows raised and nose wrinkled.
"You're such a Scrooge," Alice said playfully.
"Bah, humbug."
Suddenly, "I've got a great idea," Alice said. "You'll love it. Come on!"
She got up off the bed of their apartment and grabbed his wrist, towing him towards the door.
"Alice!"
"What?" she said, throwing him his coat and gloves. He probably would have forgotten them without her. She was much better at remembering the human charade than he was.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see!"
He was struggling to don his coat whilst being tugged along, and complained half-heartedly: "Alice…"
"Methinks you doth protest too much!" she squealed, throwing on her coat and leading him out the door. "You know you're interested. Admit it."
"I never denied it," he pointed out, as she smashed the elevator button excitedly.
They walked toward their unknown destination, Alice hurrying him along as the snow came swirling down.
Snow never ceased to amaze Jasper. After spending so many years in the South, he'd never seen it even once; during his nomadic years, he'd done his best to stay in the land he knew, though occasionally he'd accidentally drifted too far North and the unfamiliar white flakes would surprise him.
That day in Philadelphia, for example, four months ago – he was much farther North that day than he'd ever intended to be – the long, nightmarish run from Louisiana or wherever he'd been and had killed that woman…It wouldn't have been so upsetting, except he had just killed two days before, and had hoped that would give him strength enough to resist for at least a few weeks.
Though now, shamed though it made him feel, that woman, that woman he'd left bleeding in an alley, he viewed as collateral. If she had not died, he would not have run. If he had not run, he would not have met Alice. And if he had not met Alice…he didn't even want to think about that.
The burn in his throat began far before even he could see the humans.
The apartment he and Alice lived in was right on the outskirts of Philadelphia; Alice had suggested they move a few weeks after they'd met, but it had been Jasper's idea to stay. If they were to find the golden-eyed family, he needed to perfect his self-control first, and running away from the humans was not the way to do that. So he tried to stay in the vicinity of the humans most of the time, but during the day most of the residents of the apartments were out working and all that was left was their scent sticking to everything - hard, but not as hard as when they were there.
Judging from the intensity of the fire, there were far more humans here than in the apartment.
It was unlike Alice to lead him to a place saturated with their scent with no warning. He hadn't prepared himself. He squeezed Alice's hand hard, and she squeezed back.
The place she had led them was a skating rink.
"You've never ice-skated before, Jasper," she said, not a question.
"No, I haven't," he agreed amiably.
"But did we have to go to someplace like this?" he questioned. "With all these people? Alice, I'm not sure-"
"You know, the person who thought up the idea to add metal to the bottom of skates was from Philadelphia," she said, ignoring him.
He smiled hollowly, but his brow was still furrowed. His eyes were just barely going back to gold after his slipup seven weeks ago…this was all his self-confidence needed, to kill again. And on Christmas Eve.
"It's okay, Jasper," she said, reaching up on her tiptoes to touch the wrinkles on his forehead. "You won't hurt anybody. Trust me."
"I do."
"Good." She kissed his chest, a habit she'd gotten into because she was too short to reach his lips, even on her toes.
He hugged her. It was hard to believe how completely he adored her after only four months. Just being in her presence was enough to make him smile, and touching her…his mind nearly exploded in ecstasy.
He wondered if the intensity of his feelings for her would ever lessen. Somehow he doubted it; when Peter had come back for him with Charlotte, he had eyes for no one but her, and they were already several years into their relationship.
Alice pulled him along again, excitement bursting at the seams. She bought their skates, and within minutes they were on the ice.
He was good, even though he'd never done it; of course he was. She was, too - it was obvious she had done it before; her gracefulness and confidence made it obvious. But when?
"Alice, when have you skated before?" he asked, delighting in saying her name.
"Oh…well, you know," she said delicately. "I've had a few years by myself…a few winters. I love coming at Christmas. The humans are all so happy…it radiates off them. Of course, it must be so much better for you…"
She sighed, and her breath wafted back to him on the wind. He clutched her hand tighter.
There were going fast, probably faster than was truly safe. Suddenly, Alice let go of his hand and darted out in front of him, jumping in a perfect spin. Instinctively, he caught her. The humans around them gaped.
They skated on for a few moments, until one of the humans, a wide-eyed girl around Alice's age, asked breathlessly, "Excuse me, but are you Karol and Peter Kennedy?"
Alice laughed her silvery laugh. "No, we're not. Sorry to disappoint you. Actually, Jasper is my husband. See?" And she held up her left hand and waggled her ring.
Jasper beamed at the words "my husband". Almost two months ago, now. Actually, it had been the night after his slip; as he sat mentally berating himself, telling himself how he wasn't good enough for Alice, how she deserved so much better than him, she had come up, perched herself on his lap, and suggested they get married.
"Besides," she had laughed, "I know you're probably about to explode from the sexual tension."
He had sat, shocked, at how lightly she could bring it up. He knew his ideas of marriage were far outdated, over eighty years old now, but when he was human, women would never even had said the word sexual. Had times really changed that much, or was Alice just bolder than most?
Of course it was the latter, he decided, watching her smile as he accepted her suggestion. Since when was cocky, elfish little Alice ever not bold?
They hadn't actually been married for another three weeks; though Alice would have appreciated more time, there wasn't much she could do. Jasper knew she had wanted a big white wedding, but they had no one to invite to it. Instead, she had settled for a church decorated herself and witnesses from off the street. She had had a beautiful dress, though; she made the poor dressmaker work long past hours for days to finish in time for her deadline, but she had paid the dressmaker generously for her trouble.
And now, here they were, with Alice proclaiming him as her husband for all the world to hear.
He thought he would burst with joy.
The girl went on her way, cheeks bursting into red at her mistake, and the fire in Jasper's throat licked its way into his mouth, making venom flood onto his tongue. It tasted sickly sweet.
"Come on, Jasper," Alice said, sensing his discomfort. Even without his power, she knew him amazingly well. "It's okay. Look at her with her family. You don't want to hurt her."
If anything, this made Jasper feel worse. He knew how happy she looked, and yet he still wanted her blood.
She pulled him away from them, skating abnormally fast. As they whizzed by the humans, he felt sure he caught the names Peter and Karol whispered again. The resemblance must be striking, he thought, though he'd never seen either of them to know for sure.
The problem, Jasper soon realized, with ice skating was that it made the humans sweaty and flushed. Their blood rushed to the surface of their skin and then boiled away there, taunting him.
He tried to close his mind to everything and just let Alice lead him, but there were too many of them, and they all smelled so good…
Just a few minutes after their arrival, Alice turned to Jasper.
"This isn't working, is it?" she asked sadly.
He wanted badly to lie, to say that it was fine, he was fine, and they could stay, but it was pointless. She already knew how he felt. Sometimes it seemed like she could read emotions better than he could.
He shook his head.
"That's okay," she said, perking up again. "I have another idea."
And they were off again, stepping out of their skates, not bothering to return them in Alice's excitement.
They ran back to their apartment and Alice dashed to their car, wrenching the driver's side open. Jasper obligingly went around to the passenger side.
"Alice, where are we going?" he asked finally, after a few minutes of peaceful driving.
"We're finding our own," she said only, keeping her eyes on the road.
"Our own skating rink?" he said incredulously. "Where?"
"Wherever. Anywhere we find one."
He immediately thought of skating on a frozen pond with a dark farmhouse in the distance, before the farmer came out with a pitchfork and a shotgun. He laughed.
Her lips twitched too; he wondered if, in the future, he shared his fantasy with her.
They drove a long time. Who knew there were no frozen ponds near Philadelphia?
Finally, when the sunrise was just beginning to crack through the horizon, Alice stopped the car. The engine crackled.
"Let's go on foot from here," she said. "It won't take but a minute. I know where to go now."
"Okay," he said amiably, but made no movement toward the door.
"Our first Christmas," Alice said, almost to herself. "I should get an ornament."
"But we don't have a Christmas tree."
"For next year, then. I'll hit the after-Christmas sales. And next year, we'll have the prettiest tree in the world, because we'll be with the golden-eyed family, right?"
She got out the car, and he followed, sighing as he watched her beautiful form seemingly glide over the snow . He wanted to find the family as much as she did, if only because she did, but it was Christmas, and they were alone, and the last thing on his mind was familial love…at least, not when she saw his intentions and turned back to him, leaping into his arms, knowing she would be caught.
A few minutes later, Alice pulled away. "Come on, Jasper," she said. "Ice skating, remember?"
"I can't distract you?" he asked wistfully.
"Nope!" she said cheerfully, extracting herself from his arms and pulling him away the car. "This way."
And in a few minutes they were on the ice again.
"Alice, is this someone's property?" he asked.
"I don't know," she giggled, "but if it is they won't bother us."
And so they skated, for hours. Alice spun and jumped and did complicated twirls, and Jasper caught her and tried a jump or two himself. They raced. He won.
And then, as Jasper came down from a jump, the ice cracked and he went straight through.
When he came up spluttering, a few moments later, Alice was doubled over at the waist, laughing.
"I'm - sorry - Jasper!" she coughed out between shrieks. "I - wasn't - watching!"
He rested on his elbows on the ice surface, careful not lay his full weight on the edge lest it break again.
"That's very funny, Alice," he said, though he was smiling too. His hair was already frozen. He hadn't realized it was that cold outside.
She snickered once more, than skated over and offered him her hand. He pulled himself up out of the water. Then, as she was still laughing to herself, he picked up and threw her in.
And then he was the one laughing too hard to speak, and her with frozen hair dangling in the hole in the ice.
"That's very funny, Jasper," she said, mimicking him from moments before. He pulled her out and set her on her feet.
"Well…" Alice said mischievously, "We could keep skating…"
"Or?"
"Or…we could go home and…warm up."
"Warm up?" he asked.
"Yes…I'm kind of cold, aren't you?" She raised one eyebrow.
"Oh yes," he said. "Freezing."
"Oh, and Jasper?" she said, as they started hand in hand back for the car.
"Yes?"
"Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Alice," he whispered.
It was by far the best Christmas he had ever spent, he decided later that day. Better than the lonely ones spent by himself, obviously, and better than the ones with Maria - she viewed Christmas as a day of feasting like everyone else, because so many found themselves happy, drunk, and a little too carefree.
It was even better, he decided, than the precious few he had spent as a human, though those were so hazy now he couldn't really remember them. But he couldn't imagine anything better than this. Because he had Alice.
Because most of you probably aren't familiar with obscure American figure skaters, Peter and Karol Kennedy were a brother/sister pairs team who won the US Figure Skating Championships in 1948 and sporadically before and after that.
Anyways, much thanks to TheSingingGirl for the awesome betaing, as usual! And a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for all you people out there!