"Linds, you have to wait. I promised Quinn you wouldn't mess up the snow in the back yard before she got here," Artie said, looking for his scarf.
"Artieeeee, I want to GO!" the little girl said, throwing herself onto the couch. "Can't I just play a little in one corner? Quinn won't even see it."
"No, let's wait," he said, "She'll be here any minute. I think you can wait just a little longer."
"I can't! If I have to wait any more, the snow is going to be gone," she said, sulking and reaching for the nearest couch pillow. "I just wanna go out now."
"Linds...have you BEEN outside? The snow isn't going to be gone for a long time...and it definitely won't be gone in the next ten minutes!" He tried not to grin, failing miserably.
"Don't laugh at me, I'm serious!" she said, throwing the pillow at him.
"I'm not laughing at you...I'm laughing at that kitten on tv," he said, pointing in the general direction of the television.
"There is no kitten. The tv is off."
He grinned. "I see it in my mind."
Lindsay looked like she was about something, but before she could get another word in, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it, I'll get it!" she said, jumping up and running towards the door.
"QUIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNN," she squealed after throwing open the door. "Let's go! Artie said we had to wait, but you're here now, so let's go! Come on!" she said, dragging Quinn in the direction of the door to the back yard.
"Hi Artie," Quinn said, as she was being pulled away from him by the youngest Abrams. "It looks like I'm going outside..." her voice trailed off as they made it to the door.
Artie returned to the closet to rummage around for his scarf. He found several, but not his. Most of the ones he found appeared to belong to Lindsay or to his mom, and, after examining all of them, he decided that the hot pink one belonging to his mom would be the warmest.
As he finished bundling himself up, he heard the back door open.
"Artie, are you coming? Lindsay refuses to touch any of the snow until you're out there. Oh...except for the snow on the path, she's pushing that out of the way with a little shovel so you can get past the edge of the porch."
He glanced up. Quinn's cheeks were rosy red from the cold outside, and she had the fur-lined hood of her jacket pulled tightly over her head.
"I'll be there in a second," he said. "I was just looking for a scarf. I have one somewhere, but I can't find it, so Mom's hot pink scarf it is."
She smiled. "Well, I think it looks great. Pink is definitely your colour. It matches your eyes."
"...My eyes are pink?" he said, suppressing a grin.
"No. Ok...it compliments your eyes? I don't know. I was trying to think of something I could say so you wouldn't be self-conscious about the fact that you're wearing a hot pink scarf."
"Very funny," he said, "Self-conscious? Only real studly men can wear pink scarves. Get with the program, woman!"
Quinn rolled her eyes, and threw his coat at him. "Put this on. We have to go now. I don't want to leave her outside by herself for too long."
Artie followed her orders, and was in the process of zipping up his jacket when she started pushing him towards the door.
"Too slow, had to make you go faster," she said, as they reached the door. She glanced out the window, and noticed that Lindsay had cleared the little path about halfway out into the yard. That would do, for now.
"Artie, I cleared the path!" Lindsay yelled, as they opened the door. "Can you help me make a snowman?"
"Great job, Linds," he said, wheeling down the slightly sloped ramp leading off the porch into the yard. "A snowman? Why don't you see if Quinn will help you get started with it?"
At the mention of her name, Quinn came up behind the pair. "Linds, I haven't made a snowman in forever! You'll have to tell me what to do."
Artie watched, grinning, as his sister directed Quinn's efforts to make a large snowball for the snowman's base.
"It has to be bigger!" the young girl cried, pointing at the ball of snow.
"Linds, it's kind of falling apart. I don't know if we can make it bigger!" Quinn said, struggling to get the snowball to hold together. "Maybe we can pack some more snow around it, but I don't think we can roll it any bigger here."
"Fiiiine," Lindsay said, walking towards her brother. "Artie, can you make it bigger?"
"Quinn's right, Linds," he started, "I don't think we can make it any bigger. Why don't you guys make another ball for the body? Maybe we can make a bunch of little snowmen instead of one big one."
His response seemed to satisfy her, and Lindsay went back to work. Artie watched, as Quinn lifted the second ball onto the base. Making large snowballs for snowman bodies wasn't something he was particularly good at, and he was glad that Quinn was there to give Lindsay a hand.
He watched as Quinn straightened up, surveying their work. He grabbed a handful of snow off the picnic table to his left, and formed it into a loose ball. As she turned to say something to him, he threw the snowball at her as gently as he could, hitting her in the stomach.
"ARTIE!" she squealed, attempting to jump out of the way. "This means war!"
She grabbed a handful of snow off the ground, and threw it at him without bothering to form it into a ball first.
He sat for a second, covered in the fine, cold white powder. "I threw a snowball. You threw the equivalent of confetti in snow form. No fair!"
"Quinn, don't throw snow at Artie!" Lindsay said, running up to them. "He makes the best snowballs ever, and he ALWAYS hits whatever he's throwing them at! He will beat you! Last year he threw one at my butt!"
Quinn grinned. "That wasn't very nice, Linds, was it? What do you say? Should we get him back?"
Lindsay jumped up and down, before picking up a small handful of snow and tossing it gently into Artie's lap.
"Mom said we're not allowed to throw too much snow on Artie. Once Michael put snow down Artie's pants. He can't feel when his legs are cold or wet, and Mom said that's bad."
Artie's face flushed slightly, and he averted his eyes so Quinn wouldn't see that he was embarrassed.
Quinn, noticing Artie's red face and averted eyes, gave Lindsay a small smile. "That's ok Linds. The good news is that it's perfectly safe to throw snow at his chest and arms. Just don't throw it at his face, ok?"
The little girl looked reluctantly at her brother, before making a small snowball and placing it gently on her brother's head.
Artie just sat there for a moment. "Linds...I'm not going to break. You can throw a snowball at me...it won't kill me."
"But Artie, Mom said no!" the little girl exclaimed, looking worried.
Artie grinned. "Mom also said you weren't allowed to sit on the kitchen counter, and what did I catch you doing less than an hour ago?"
"I needed poptarts!" the girl exclaimed, looking scandalized. "I can't reach them if I don't sit on the counter. And then I was hungry, so I just ate them there."
Quinn laughed, reaching down to grab more snow for another snowball. She formed it with her hands, and tossed it at Lindsay, hitting her square in the chest.
"Quinn! No fair, I don't have one!" she cried, grabbing a handful of snow and tossing it in Quinn's general direction. "I don't know how to make one!"
"Linds...you made one yesterday and threw it at Michael," Artie said, reaching for more snow.
"Nu unh! Michael had made some and put them beside the house so he could throw them at you. I sat on all of them except for one that I stole so I could throw it at him. He was going to throw them all at you!"
"You...sat on them?" Artie asked, looking perplexed.
"They looked like eggs in a nest, and I thought I could play with them, but then when he said he was going to throw them at you I sat on them and jumped up and down so they would be broken. He isn't allowed to do that!"
Quinn bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Lindsay's gesture was so sweet, and she could picture the scene she had just described in her head perfectly.
"Oh...I have to pee. Quinn, can you help me get my jacket off?" Lindsay suddenly burst out, a look of urgency on her face.
"Sure Linds, let's go on the porch and do that," she said, taking the small girl by the hand. "Artie, we'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."
"If I go anywhere, you guys will see me," he said, "I'm pretty much restricted to this path or the porch. Although...I think I could probably get some pretty good speed happening if I slid down that little hill." He pointed in the direction of the hill down to the garden shed.
Lindsay's eyes widened at his comment. "Don't do that, Artie. Quinn, I REALLY have to pee."
Quinn shook her head in Artie's direction, grinning, before ushering Lindsay into the house.
While he waited for his ladies, as he had dubbed them in his mind, to return, Artie made a couple of snowballs, and placed them onto the bench of the picnic table. He was really glad that Lindsay and Quinn were both having a good time, but he wished that he could have been a bit more involved in what was going on.
He was thinking about what he could do to get around the two foot deep snow, when he heard the house door open.
"Artie!" Lindsay yelled, a bit louder than necessary, "Quinn said I could make a snow angel!"
"That's great, Linds!" he said, grinning at Quinn, who was standing behind a beaming Lindsay. "Did you tell Quinn she had to make one too?"
"Quinn! You have to make one too! Artie said!"
Quinn laughed. "I don't know, Linds..."
"Please, Quinn? Please?" Lindsay pleaded.
Quinn hadn't really noticed how much Lindsay's eyes were like Artie's, but when she looked down at the little girl's face, any resistance she might have had to lying down in the snow faded away.
"Ok, let's go," she said, pulling Lindsay towards one of the only parts of the yard in which the snow was untouched.
Artie watched as the two girls made their snow angels. He touched his face to wipe off some snow that had fallen, and realized how cold he was.
Quinn noticed the slightly panicked look on Artie's face as he placed his hand on his thigh, checking to see if his legs were as cold as his face was. She sat up, and said, "Artie, I think this snowman needs some clothes. Can you go inside and see if you can find some? We need a hat, scarf, a carrot for the nose, and that sweater you were wearing the other day. It'll probably take you a bit to find all that stuff, right?"
He looked like he was about to protest, but then decided against it, nodded his head, and headed off in the direction of the house.
Artie was rummaging around in his closet, looking for a hat to go on the snow man, but not being very successful. When he had made it into his room, the first thing he had done was put on an extra pair of pants, cursing himself for not realizing how cold it was outside. He could almost hear his mother's voice in the back of his mind, lecturing him about the dangers of exposure to extreme cold, but he pushed that out of his head when he found the hat he was looking for.
He gathered up the hat, a small scarf that was full of holes, and the snowman sweater Quinn had requested. He wasn't sure how they were going to get that to stay on, as the snowman didn't have arms, but he decided that they could figure something out.
Rolling into the kitchen, he opened the fridge in search of a carrot. There were none anywhere, but he did find one old, shrivelled up beet, and decided that would have to do. He cut off the top, and added it to the pile in his lap. He peered out the kitchen window, curious as to what Quinn and Lindsay had been doing in his absence. The first thing he noticed was that there was a rather large snow wall at the end of the garden path. Those two moved fast!
As he wheeled himself out on to the porch, he glanced around the yard. Quinn and Lindsay were nowhere to be seen.
He moved down off the porch, when he suddenly heard Quinn say, "Linds, NOW!"
Lindsay popped up from behind the snow wall, two snowballs in her hands.
"Artie, I'm going to get you!" she yelled, holding one of the snowballs out in front of her. "Quinn said you have to make one too, otherwise it's not fair!"
He grinned, grabbing one of the snowballs that he had lying on the picnic bench. "You throw yours first!"
As she prepared to throw her snowball, Artie lined his up with where he knew hers would fly. When she released hers, he threw his into its path. The two snowballs collided in mid air, exploding and showering Quinn with a fine mist of snow.
"That's cheating!" Quinn exclaimed, grabbing a snowball from the pile in front of her. "Bet you can't do it again?"
The girls took turns throwing snowballs at Artie, and he hit every single one with one of his own.
Once they had tired of this game, they turned their attention back to the snowman.
Artie watched as Quinn wrestled his sweater over the snowman's head, tying the sleeved behind its back. Lindsay placed the hat on top of the snowman's head, before turning and demanding the carrot.
When Artie handed her the beet he had found in the fridge, she held it for a second, unsure of what to do with it.
"Artie, this is too big. Herman can't have this as a nose!"
Artie looked at his sister. "...Herman?"
"I named him. Quinn said it was a nice name," Lindsay said, gesturing towards Quinn.
Quinn laughed. "Yes, Herman. And a beet? Seriously? This isn't going to work."
"Not my fault! There are no carrots or anything else nose-esque. I tried!"
Quinn shook her head, holding up the beet. "Linds, I guess we're going to have to make it work. Here, let me do it." She shoved the beet into the snowman's face, and stood back, surveying her results.
"Looks amazing," Artie said. "Now...you guys look kind of cold. Hot chocolate?"
"Yaaaay!" Lindsay exclaimed, jumping up and down before running towards the house.
Quinn turned to Artie. "You ok?"
He grinned. "Yeah, it's all good. Can I offer you a ride to the door?"
She sat on his lap, leaning back and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Thanks for letting me play in your yard today," she said, turning her head and placing a light kiss on his cheek. "I had a great time, and Linds did too, judging by how excited she was the whole time.
"Yeah...she loves the snow. I just wish I could do more stuff in it with her." He stopped in front of the door, and Quinn reached out, turning the knob.
"I think you did pretty great today. She said she was going to tell all her friends at school that her brother can stop any snowballs that get thrown at him like a superhero."
"Yeah, I guess I am pretty awesome," he said, trying not to laugh.
Once they were inside, he was just about to kiss her when Lindsay ran into the room and announced that she had just spilled a bag of marshmallows on the floor.
"I guess we'd better go get that cleaned up," he said to Quinn.
She turned to face him. "I want a rain check on the kiss you were just about to give me."
He grinned. "Deal."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed more of my holiday fluff!
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