Note: I do not own The Middle. No copyright infringement intended.

Note: There are references in this chapter to things that happened in "Sue's Story Continues." It might be helpful to read that story first.

It was the first Saturday in December. Sue, who'd been asleep on the sofa in her apartment, was awakened by activity in the kitchen.

"Stop making so much noise! You're going to wake her up!" Dotty hissed.

"I'm not making all the noise! You are!" Shelly responded.

Sue sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Morning! What's going on?"

Shelly brought her a glass of juice. "We're fixing breakfast! Mom's danishes are warming in the oven, and Dotty's cutting up some fruit."

"That sounds wonderful! Thank you so much!"

"I'm making coffee, too. We figured you could use it. We know you were up late last night!" Dotty looked at her sister and both girls giggled.

The previous night, Sue had worked at St. George's Inn. Sean and his family had met there for supper at the restaurant. Afterwards, Nancy and Ron had returned to Orson, while Sean had taken his sisters to stay at Sue's place for the weekend. There'd been a bit of a snafu when Sue had realized she'd forgotten to bring the spare key for Sean to use, and she'd ended up having to loan him her key.

When she'd arrived home, she'd found Sean and his sisters playing board games and chatting. As tired as she'd been, she'd happily joined in. While the Hecks and Donahues had recently celebrated Thanksgiving together, Sue hadn't gotten to spend much quality time with Dotty and Shelly then. And since Sean had recently taken on several tutoring jobs, she'd been spending even less time with him than usual. The four of them had hung out for a couple hours, until the girls finally went to Sue's room for the night. Sean had stayed with Sue a while longer, but when Lexie arrived home from her waitressing job, he'd left for his apartment.

Sue had assumed Sean's sisters had slept through the rest of his visit, but based on their giggles and Dotty's remark, she realized they'd been very aware of his presence. Even though she and Sean hadn't done anything particularly "adult" (they'd been very aware of his sisters down the hall, after all), Sue still flushed with embarrassment.

"It's okay!" Dotty quickly reassured her. "We know nothing 'scandalous' was going on." She and Shelly giggled some more.

"Yeah. We promise not to tell Mom how late Sean was here." Shelly gave Sue a pointed look. "We also won't mention that Sean has clothes and stuff here."

Sue's jaw dropped. She thought she'd done a good job of hiding his belongings before she'd gone to work. "Well, that's just because, um, I like his shirts. They're super comfy. To sleep in. And wear. And so on and so forth…" Fortunately, the oven timer chimed, and the focus turned to breakfast.

After they ate, the trio browsed through booths at a nearby Christmas market. They were each able to find presents for several people on their Christmas lists, along with gifts to use for the Yankee swap at the Hecks' Christmas Eve party. Sue was especially captivated by one booth, where a local artist was selling glass pieces. When she couldn't decide which of two snowflake designs she liked more, she bought both.

At one point, Sue stopped to chat with a classmate while Dotty and Shelly moved on to the next row of booths. When she finally went to look for the girls, Shelly – who'd apparently been serving as lookout – hurried over.

"Dotty will be done in a minute. We can just wait here. There's not anything on that row you'd be interested in."

"Maybe not. But I'd like to check on her…" Sue took a step, but Shelly stopped her.

"No, really. She'll be here any second now."

"What are you two up to?"

"Ugh! Fine! You caught us. Dotty's buying Sean a Christmas present."

"Why is that a secret?"

Dotty, carrying an additional bag, joined them. "Sue knows you were buying Sean a Christmas present," Shelly explained. Dotty gave her sister a sharp look before nodding her agreement.

"What did you get him?"

"We're not telling!" Dotty replied. Sue smiled as it occurred to her that the purchase might actually be for her. But Dotty dispelled that notion. "Look, Sue. You and Sean used to have problems communicating with each other. But since you two started talking, you haven't stopped talking."

"You tell each other everything!" Shelly agreed.

"Every. Single. Thing." Dotty concurred. "So we're keeping this a secret."

"Fine!" Sue sighed. But as they walked away, she tried to sneak a peek down that row to see if she could guess which booth the girls had been at. When Shelly and Dotty realized what she was doing, they each took one of her arms and pulled her away.

By early afternoon, they were back at Sue's apartment, waiting on Sean to arrive. He'd spent the day juggling multiple tutoring gigs, but was coming to stay with his sisters while Sue went into work for a few hours. When he arrived, Shelly was so engrossed in a Netflix show that she barely noticed.

Sue motioned for Sean to follow her to her room. Once they had some privacy, Sean asked, "That show she's watching…isn't that one Mom doesn't approve of?" Sue nodded. "So, why…"

"She found some of your stuff here."

"Ah!" Sean said. "But Sue, we've been together more than 6 months. At this point, I'm pretty sure our parents are all aware that you and I sometimes stay at each other's apartments."

"Your mom is certainly aware. She warned me Shelly might try to find something of yours to use as leverage." Sean shook his head. Sue continued, "She's also aware that Shelly comes here to watch stuff that's banned at your house. Which is why she prepared this." Sue used her phone to forward Sean an email. "That email has a list of talking points and follow-up questions for the show she's watching, and a few others she might try to watch later." Sean pulled out his phone and opened the email. As he skimmed through it, Sue continued, "You're supposed to find a way to use all that organically in a conversation, so Shelly won't realize it's coming from your mom." Sue smirked. "Your mom wants to bust her once she gets home." They both laughed.

They returned to the living room, where Sue told the girls goodbye. This time she remembered to give Sean the spare key before she kissed him and left for work.

When Sue finished her shift, she met Sean and his sisters for a late supper and a Christmas lights display at a local park. They stopped at a concession stand, where Sean bought an enormous bag of caramel popcorn, one of his favorite treats. His sisters teased him, asking if he planned on eating the entire bag himself. When they finally got back to Sue's apartment, Sean and Sue divided the popcorn into several smaller bags. Dotty and Shelly took one of the bags and curled up on the sofa.

"Can't you stay for a while?" Sue asked Sean.

He hugged her. "I really wish I could. But I need to study, and I've got some prep work to do before my tutoring jobs tomorrow. I promise, I will be here in the morning for breakfast." He told his sisters goodbye, gave Sue a quick kiss, and left. Shelly went to take a shower, while Sue sat next to Dotty and took a handful of the popcorn. Just as she was about to take a bite, she and Dotty looked at each other.

"He forgot the popcorn!" they said simultaneously. Sue jumped up and ran to the door, intending to chase after Sean. But when she threw the door open, he was standing there.

"You forgot…"

"I forgot…" He handed her back the spare key and laughed. "I'm sorry! We always forget the key exchange!" Sue took the key and put it in its usual hiding spot. Sean kissed her again before waving to Dotty and leaving.

After the door closed, Dotty said, "He forgot the popcorn again."

"Argh!" Sue cried, then rushed to the door. Sean was halfway down the hall, but he turned when Sue called his name. As he approached, she said, "You forgot…" She was interrupted by Sean taking her hand and pulling her into the hallway with him, closing the door behind her. A few minutes later, she re-entered her apartment, a contented smile on her face.

Dotty didn't even look at her. "Popcorn!"

Sue groaned, then snatched up a couple of the bags and hurried after Sean. When she finally returned, with an even more contented smile, she sat next to Dotty.

"Did he get the popcorn this time?"

"Yes!" Sue laughed. Then, more seriously, "I'm really sorry about how chaotic things have been this weekend, with Sean and me being in and out, and the confusion with the key and the popcorn, and…"

"And Shelly's blackmail attempts!" Dotty reassured her, "Sue, it's okay. We know how busy you both are. We're just glad that we've been able to spend any time at all with you! And Sean!" She shook her head. "I don't know how he keeps up the pace that he does."

"I don't either," Sue sighed. "Truthfully, I'm worried about him. He was already so busy, and now that he's taking on all these tutoring jobs, I don't know how he's getting any sleep!"

"Isn't the tutoring thing only temporary? I thought he was just doing it to get some extra money for next semester and for Christmas presents."

Sue rolled her eyes. "Don't get me started! I told him he didn't need to spend a ton of money on presents, especially not for me, but he just did that thing he does, where he smiles and kisses me and it's not until later that I realize he didn't actually answer me!" Remembering that she was talking to Sean's sister, Sue apologized. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be talking to you about things like that."

"Are you kidding? I love that you talk to me like I'm your sister! And an adult!" She patted Sue's arm. "And it makes me happy to see the way you care about Sean. He's always spent so much time trying to take care of other people. I'm glad he's got you to look out for him!"

"We rescue each other," Sue murmured. When Dotty looked confused, Sue explained, "It's something he told me, before we started dating. He said that he and I rescue each other."

"Aww! So…what are you giving him?"

"I haven't got a clue!"

Shortly after Shelly rejoined them, Lexie returned home. The four of them settled in for an hour of popcorn and chit-chat.

On Christmas Eve, the Donahue and Heck families gathered for another Yankee swap party. Axl was home for a few days, so Lexie joined them. Before the swap started, Dotty and Shelly presented Sue and Sean with gifts.

"You have to open them at the same time!" Shelly pronounced. Sue and Sean smiled at each other before opening their packages and finding snow globes.

"There's one to make up for the one that was broken, and another one for this year," Dotty explained.

"It was my idea. Sue, I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time about returning that snow globe. If I had known…"

Sue jumped up and hugged her and then Dotty. "It's okay! I love these! Thank you!" Sean hugged his sisters, too. Sue said, "Wait! Are these what you were really buying at the Christmas market?" The girls giggled and nodded. Sue hugged them again.

Later, Sean and Sue sat on the picnic table in the backyard. "We should make an annual tradition out of meeting here," Sue suggested. "But if you ever apologize after kissing me again…"

"Won't happen," he assured her. He pulled a small package out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Sue held it for a moment. "Sean, whatever this is, I'm sure I'm going to love it, but…"

"But you'd rather have more time together instead. I know!" He brushed her hair from her face and kissed her. "I feel the same way! But when I saw this," he shrugged, "I wanted you to have it." She opened the box, stunned silent when she saw a beautiful ruby ring. "It reminded me of your grandmother's necklace that you always wear." Sue's eyes filled with tears and she threw her arms around him. After a moment, he pulled back and took the ring, sliding it onto her right ring finger.

"I really do love it!" She stared down at it, twisting her hand to see the way it sparkled in the light.

"I'm glad!" he replied, stroking her back. When she remained silent, he joked, "So, is that present beside you for me?"

"What? Oh, yes!" She handed it to him. "But I have to warn you, it's not a ruby ring!"

"That's a good thing!" Sean assured her. "I think a ruby ring would be too ostentatious when I'm doing rounds!" Sue made a face at him. He opened the package and discovered one of the snowflake art pieces Sue had bought at the Christmas market.

"It's a suncatcher," Sue explained.

"A suncatcher shaped like a snowflake! How appropriate! Although," he said, as he leaned close, "I've already caught my sunshine!" He brushed his lips over hers.

Sue whispered, "There's something else in the box."

Sean looked again, this time noticing an oddly-shaped bundle wrapped in tissue paper. He unwrapped it, discovering a key. "Your spare key?"

"No. Your key. So you can come and go, and stay, whenever you want."

"We want," he amended. He smiled as he stared down at it. Then, "Is Lexie okay with this?"

"Yes. She said it makes her feel safer to know you're around. Besides," Sue shrugged, "it's not like she can complain. Axl has a key." Sean smiled. Sue continued, "I thought this would make it easier, for us to spend as much time as possible together."

Sean nodded, then slid the key into his pocket. "Merry Christmas, Suzy Q!"

"Merry Christmas!" She curved her hand around his neck and leaned in for a kiss.

"Ugh! Gross! There's not enough spiked eggnog in the world to make this acceptable!" Axl declared.

Sean rested his forehead against Sue's. "What do you want, Axl?"

"It's time for church. Our moms will freak if you two are late."

Sean stood and picked up his present, handing it to Axl. "Take that inside for me, will you?"

"Fine. But I'm not coming back out here to warn you again!" Axl disappeared.

"Sue, I'm sorry," He grinned at Sue's outraged expression. "I'm sorry we were interrupted," he clarified. "I love my gift. Both my gifts! And I love you!"

"I love you, too!" They walked inside, hand-in-hand.