"Joanie! Play for us at the piano!" Hazel called as she turned off the radio. Joan quickly went to the piano and began playing Jingle Bells. Some gathered around her and sang while others sang from their seats.

Joan played O Come All Ye Faithful and Hark the Herald Angels Sing next and Flynn and Lucy sang along with everyone else.

"I've never heard you sing before," Flynn commented. "You have a lovely voice."

"Thank you and so do you," Lucy smiled.

Sarah looked over at Ruth and Maynard talking by the tree. "Ruthie!" Sarah called to her, "Come and sing for us, please!"

"Yes, come on Ruthie!" Charles urged, taking her hand and leading her over to the piano. Maynard went and sat next to Lucy on the couch.

Joan played the intro for O Holy Night and Ruth began to sing in a beautiful, warm, mezzo-soprano, filling the room with the lovely song. Flynn put his arm around Lucy and she rested her head on his shoulder. Ruth sang all the verses in such a captivating way, that some started to tear up. Lucy gestured to Maynard. Flynn glanced at him and saw that Maynard was hypnotized by Ruth.

Lucy smiled softly, "Mission accomplished." Flynn returned her smile.

Ruth came to the end of the song, holding the last note with a richness that touched their hearts. Everyone cheered and applauded as Ruth did a little curtsy and went to sit by Maynard.

"You sing beautifully," he praised her.

She blushed, "Thank you."

Joan launched into Here Comes Santa Claus. Suddenly everyone was getting up, singing and dancing. Flynn rose from the sofa, pulling Lucy with him over to a clear spot near the front window. He took her in his arms, and then spun her around as he started singing the song. Lucy laughed as she spun back into his arms and joined in singing with him.

They danced and sang to a number of fast Christmas tunes, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.

Then Joan played The Christmas Song and couples began slow dancing around the sitting room. As they danced, Flynn deeply and softly hummed the tune while Lucy laid her head against his chest with her eyes closed. As she listened to him, she felt so warm and safe in his arms, she wanted this timeless moment to last forever.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas melodiously began playing from Joan's skilled fingers and they comfortably swayed to the song. Lucy held Flynn's gaze as she quietly sang to him, which warmed and filled his bruised, lonely heart. The song came to an end with Lucy's voice beautifully trailing off.

"Lucy…I'm here because I love you." Lucy went still and blinked. Flynn searched her stunned face as he repeated what had been in his heart for quite some time, "I love you, Lucy-."

Lucy gently pressed her lips to his in the sweetest kiss yet with her heart soaring at his declaration. Both her hands went to his face, "I love you, Garcia Flynn," she smiled tearfully. Flynn wrapped his arms around her and they kissed each other deeply.

"Well it looks like they're having a good Christmas," Maynard observed, looking at Flynn and Lucy as he and Ruth danced to the music. "I am too," he added, looking down at her.

Ruth cleared her throat, "There were times when I thought that you may have wanted to ask…if you could take me to lunch…or dinner."

Maynard was embarrassed. "I admit, I did, but I wasn't sure if you were married. Also, lately I've been in a situation with my boarding house. The lady that owned it passed away and her son is kicking us out by the twenty-seventh."

"That's horrible!" Ruth exclaimed.

Maynard nodded, "So I've been looking for a new place. If I don't find one, I'll be out on the street."

Ruth's father Charles, who was dancing with Hazel nearby overheard and leaned over to them, "We have a basement here that you can rent. It's the least we can do for the gift you gave Danny."

"That was from Santa," Maynard clarified.

"Yes, Santa, and the basement apartment is available," Hazel laughed.

"Do you mean it?" Maynard asked surprised.

"Of course!" Charles answered as he spun Hazel, took her back in his arms and moved them away to the other side of the room.

"Your parents are wonderful." He gazed in Ruth's eyes, "How do you feel about it?"

"I think it's a good idea," she replied with a sweet smile.

"This is terrific! I'll be closer to work and I'll be able to work on what I've always really wanted to do," he exclaimed.

"What do you want to do Maynard?"

"I want to start an orphanage, here in New York."

Ruth looked at him with awe and admiration. "You're an amazing man, Maynard Nesmith." Maynard blushed as she continued, "I know you'll succeed. I'll help you…if you'd like."

Maynard smiled and pulled Ruth in closer to him, "Thank you, Ruth. I would like that."


The grandfather clock in the hall chimed eleven times.

"It's eleven," Flynn whispered, softly kissing Lucy's cheek, "We need to get back to the Lifeboat." She reluctantly nodded as he reluctantly let go of her.

Lucy took Flynn's hand and led him over to Hazel and Charles who were dancing, "We're going to have to leave, but we want to thank-."

"Oh no, already!" Hazel exclaimed as she let go of Charles and took Lucy's hand. "Come, now, it's only eleven!"

Flynn smiled warmly, "We need to be getting back home."

"We understand," Charles replied.

"Goodbye Sarah, Frank, Mary, Willis, all of you! Merry Christmas!" Lucy called.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Goodbye!"

"We loved having you both!"

"Happy New Year, too!"

Flynn and Lucy smiled at everyone and made their way to their coats.

Hazel hugged Lucy as Charles shook Flynn's hand. Ruth came over and hugged Lucy and then Joan, Mary and Sarah hugged Lucy too.

"It was so nice having you this evening!" Ruth said warmly. "We'll be having a New Year's Eve party as well; won't you join us?"

"Yes!" Joan squealed excitedly, "It'll be ever so much fun!"

"Thank you. Unfortunately, we'll be out of town," Lucy replied.

"Awww!" Joan replied mournfully.

Maynard went and shook Flynn's hand. "I'll pay you back for the train set," he determinedly stated.

"Do two things for me instead," Flynn responded. "Stay here, at this house through Christmas. And don't let anything stop you from starting that orphanage."

Maynard was surprised. "How did you know-?"

"Santa," was all Flynn said as he smiled and firmly shook Maynard's hand again.

Little Becky ran up to Lucy and hugged her around her waist. Flynn put on his coat as he watched Lucy squat down and give the child a sweet hug. "Merry Christmas Becky. You're a pretty little lady." Lucy kissed her on her cheek.

"You're a pretty lady, too," Becky replied, hugging her around her neck.

Lucy stood and Flynn helped her with her coat and they put on their scarves and hats.

"Thank you for having Lucy and I in your home," Flynn smiled at the family, taking Lucy's hand. "You've made this Christmas quite special for us."

Lucy squeezed Flynn's hand as she blinked back tears and added, "Thank you so much for allowing us to come in and share this night with you. You'll never know how much joy you've brought to our hearts."

"We're honored that you were able to put up with us!" Mary chimed in giggling, but wiping tears from her eyes.

"And shocked that you survived the eggnog!" Frank exclaimed.

"Frank!" Hazel yelled, rolling her eyes. They all laughed as Flynn opened the door.

"Thank you again for the coal!" Charles said gratefully.

"Yes!" Lucy replied, "All of you stay here through Christmas! There's enough coal to last through the snow storm!"

"What about you two?!" Hazel asked concerned.

"We'll keep each other warm," Flynn replied, smiling at Lucy.

"How romantic!" Joan sighed heavily.

"Merry Christmas!" Flynn stated warmly as he gently tugged on Lucy's hand.

"Thank you! Merry Christmas and may God bless you all!" Lucy exclaimed.

The family replied loudly with their Merry Christmases and God bless you's as the two waved, hurried down the steps and went off into the chilly night.


"TAXI!" Flynn yelled. It had been twenty minutes so far to get a cab. It was already eleven forty-five and it was cold. They had walked hand in hand down 37th Street toward the river where the Lifeboat was parked, but they still had a ways to go.

"TAXI!" Flynn shouted and a cab finally pulled to the curb. Flynn opened the door, Lucy climbed in and he got in after her.

"Take us straight, all the way to the river," Flynn ordered as he pulled Lucy over and cradled her in his arms and began kissing her. She wrapped her arms around him welcoming all the kisses he had to give her. She kissed him on his neck and nibbled his ear, making him chuckle softly.

"Lucy," he whispered, kissing her lower lip, then her top one.

He loosened his hold and gazed down at her. "I started falling in love with you when you first gave me your journal, I memorized every page. After prison, I began to hope that you would forgive me and allow me to show you that I'm not a bad man. You were there at my worst and believed I still had some good in me when I knew I didn't. You trusted me when I first came to the bunker, trusted me to protect you, but the one other thing I wanted was for you to trust me with your heart. And you can trust me, Lucy. I want the rest of my Christmases with you…because I love you. I have for a long time."

Lucy placed her hand on his face, softly tracing her thumb over his bottom lip. "I've had the most wonderful Christmas that I've had in a long time. You said that you want me to be happy." She looked at the man that she loved and smiled, "Being with you has made me happy. Believe me when I say, I want to spend many, many more Christmases and all the rest of the days with you. We've seen each other when we were definitely down and at our worst. Now, let's balance it out and see more of each other's best. The downs will come, but so will the ups, and I want to continue being right there with you through it all. I love you, Flynn." She reached up and hugged him as she breathed softly into his ear, "I love you, Garcia."

Hearing the words he had wanted from her for so long made his heart overflow. He tightened his arms around her and they held one another all the way to their stop. Flynn paid the cab driver as they exited the car, then took her hand as they hurried down two blocks to the Lifeboat, still hidden behind an old meat packing building.

They walked over to it and Flynn gently pulled her into his arms one more time and sweetly kissed her lips. It touched every part of her lonely heart, wrapping it warmly with promises of more to come. The kiss gradually deepened to the point of making Lucy dizzy as he finally loosened his hold.

"Merry Christmas, Lucy," he breathlessly whispered.

"Merry Christmas, Flynn," she gasped softly and smiled.

Stepping out of each other's arms, he tapped on the outside of the silver ball. "It's us!" he whispered loudly, and the door opened. Rufus and Wyatt were both waiting as Flynn helped Lucy in and climbed aboard right behind her. They sat in their seats, next to each other. Flynn quickly helped Lucy with her seat belt and then fastened his as Wyatt spoke.

"We were able to get the Rittenhouse agent," Wyatt informed them as he looked at Lucy and then Flynn. His mouth fell open in surprise as Rufus spoke.

"Yeah, that was a whole lot of fun," Rufus added as he fired up the machine. "Turned out it was the guy at that lamp post we'd been talking to all along." Rufus turned around in his seat, "Were you guys successful-?" he asked and stopped short, looking at Flynn.

"What?" Flynn frowned, looking at Wyatt and Rufus.

Lucy looked at Flynn and figured out why the guys were staring at him. His face bared all the telltale signs of her kisses. She reached over and gently began wiping away the red lipstick from his lips, cheeks and neck as they held each other's gazes.

She smiled and winked at Flynn and replied to Wyatt and Rufus, "We were very successful, and it's going to be a very Merry Christmas."


WRITER'S NOTES

Hi all!

I would like to thank a-bit-of-madness for her awesome work, time and effort on beta-ing this fanfic! THANK YOU, XOXO!

This was just a little quick Christmas fluff that I wanted to do with Garcy. Just something with the feel of the most wonderful time of the year!

There was actually a blizzard in New York City on December 25, 1947 so, I incorporated it here just a little bit. I had to Google all the Macy's New York info and streets of New York City and distance between Central Park Zoo and 34th Street, etc. Didn't realize that Macy's and the Empire State Building are on the same street! I definitely now want to spend Christmas in New York City someday, haha! AND I want a train set!

I looked up The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire…) which was written by Mel Torme and Robert Wells. The last words of the song are Merry Christmas to You, so that's where I got the title for this fanfic.

I hope you enjoyed the fluff and angst between our Flynn and Lucy as they confessed their feelings for one another promising many more Christmases in each other's arms. And I hope you had a great time with the wonderful friends they met in 1947.

God bless you all!