Halloween Surprises

"God, we look good." Katie said matter-of-factly looking at their reflections in the mirror. Jessie giggled.

"We are kinda cute, aren't we babe?" She said, wrapping her arm around Katie's waist. It was Halloween and the girls had decided that they would attend the school masquerade ball as Raggedy Ann and Andy. Karen had made the costumes for them, she was absolutely thrilled to be able to participate more in Jessie's life again.

"Well, are you ready to go Ann?" Katie asked, while tugging on her curly red wig.

"Only if you are, Andy." Jessie replied, grinning and reaching up to help Katie fix her wig. After the wig was firmly in place, Katie bowed playfully to Jessie, and then offered her girlfriend her arm. Jessie took it readily and the two girls headed down the stairs. Karen and Henry were sitting on the couch in the living room when the girls made their grand entrance. Karen grinned proudly at her handiwork and her beautiful daughter.

"Wow," Henry said, smiling, "You guys really look great!" Jessie flashed him a warm smile.

"Yeah. Mom really did a great job on these costumes." She said turning to Karen and smiling at her. Karen blushed with pride at her daughter's complement.

"Come over here girls." Karen said, standing up and grabbing her camera off of the coffee table. "We have got to have a picture of the two of you." Jessie used to hate to participate in family photo sessions, but ever since she had been with Katie she had become much more cooperative and easy going. Besides, she could never get enough pictures of her with her beautiful girlfriend. Karen, in her infinite motherly wisdom knew the source of Jessie's cooperation and had no qualms whatsoever with using Katie to get a few pictures of her daughter. Henry got up and stood over by Karen as Katie plopped down onto the couch pulling Jessie onto her lap.

"Say cheese!" Karen said, smiling at the cute couple in front of her.

Ten minutes, and a roll of film later, the girls were finally in Katie's car and on their way to the dance. Katie couldn't help but notice how incredibly happy her girlfriend had been all evening. In fact, now that she thought about it, Jessie hadn't sopped smiling all evening. Something was definitely up.

"Whatchya thinking about Jess?" Katie asked, unable to control her curiosity any longer. Jessie looked over at her and smiled.

"My dad called me last night." Jessie said in the tone of voice that let Katie know she was leading up to something big.

"Oh yeah." Katie asked as she pulled the car into the school's parking lot. She was trying her best to sound nonchalant.

"Yep." Jessie responded. She knew that Katie knew something was up, but she was having a little bit of fun with her for the moment.

"So what did he say?" Katie asked, as she pulled into a spot and turned off the car, turning to face Jessie. Jessie grinned at her girlfriend and spilled her story.

"He wants me to go to Australia for Christmas!" She exclaimed happily.

"Oh." Katie said, trying to sound happy for Jessie, but the idea of Christmas without her was not a happy one. Jessie knew right away that Katie wasn't thrilled, but her grin just broadened as she continued.

"And," she began slowly, "He wants you to come Katie." Jessie's eyes sparkled as she saw Katie's jaw drop open. Katie stared at her, speechless.

"Are you serious?" She finally managed to ask, still in shock.

"You bet I am." Jessie said with a laugh. "For two whole weeks. He's getting our tickets on Monday. If you want to come that is." Jessie said the last part a little slower. Katie's shock was finally wearing off and her misty green eyes lit up.

"Damn right I want to go!" She practically cried. "Omigod! This is going to be so cool! You and me in Australia for two weeks!" Something in Katie's mind finally clicked and her smile faded, her eyes dimming again.

"Jess, I thought that you're dad did not like the idea of the two of us being together." She said, questioningly.

"That's what I thought too. But then he called me last night and asked how everything was going, and then he asked about you. Then he went on to tell me that he has spent a lot of time thinking and he's decided that he hasn't been fair to us and that he wants to have the chance to get to know you better. Which in translation means that Lily finally knocked some since into him." Jessie's eyes gleamed from the happiness that her dad's words had given her, and the sincerity she was speaking with lit up her entire face. Katie's eyes began to glow again as she absorbed what Jessie had just said.

"This is going to be so cool." She said with a sly grin, leaning across the seat to kiss Jessie softly. Jessie's eyes closed and she lost herself in Katie's kiss. For a moment she was totally gone, breathing in the scent of Katie's perfume and tasting the lip gloss on her lips. Finally, Katie pulled away and smile at Jessie, reaching her hand up and running her thumb along Jessie's bottom lip. "Well, are you ready to make our grand entrance now?" She asked quietly, glancing over at the gym. Jessie simply nodded, smiling. The two girls got out of the car and walked toward the gym, holding each other's hand tightly.

As they stepped inside of the gym they were met my a hundred ghosts and goblins, witches, warlocks, and every other Halloween creature that you could possibly think of. The gym looked amazing, with spider webs drifting down from the ceiling, and fog floating along the floor. The music was thumping away and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

"Oh my god." Katie breathed slowly, in disbelief. Her eyes locked on something across the room.

"What?" Jessie asked, her eyes searching for what had caught Katie's attention. Katie just pointed and Jessie's gaze followed Katie's outstretched hand and finally landed on the giant, red crayon that was making it's way toward them.

"Tad?" She choked through laughter and surprise. Katie's sides were shaking already with laughter as Tad sauntered up to them.

"Ladies." he said smoothly with a charming smile.

"Hi Tad." Jessie said smiling, trying to hold back her amusement. Katie couldn't speak she was laughing so hard, so she just reached out and slapped Tad's arm in greeting. Tad looked at her strangely, trying to figure out what was so damn funny. Finally Katie took a deep breath and tried to make her face serious.

"Tad, you are like one of my best friends, and I love you, but honestly, a crayon?!" She was laughing again as Tad glanced down at her, trying his best to look offended, but he couldn't hid the grin that spread across his face.

"Hey, it's original isn't it?" he said grinning.

"That it certainly is." Jessie chimed in, slipping her arm through Katie's.

"Yeah," Katie added, cocking her head to one side, examining Tad's costume. "Only you could pull off Crayola." She said slyly, regaining some of her composure. Just then the DJ's voice came over the microphone.

"Alright all you boys and ghouls! I'm going to slow things down here a little bit, so grab that special goblin and make your way out onto the dance floor!"

Katie felt Jessie lean into her as she brought her mouth up to Katie's ear.

"Dance with me?" She heard Jessie ask softly. Katie turned her head and smiled warmly at her.

"Excuse us Tad." Jessie said politely as she laced her fingers into Katie's and led her out onto the dance floor. The familiar sound of Savage Garden's "Truly, Madly, Deeply" drifted out through the speakers as the couples started to sway.

"You know, this band is from Australia." Katie said thoughtfully, wrapping her arms around Jessie's waist. Jessie simply smiled at her as she ran her fingers along the back of Katie's neck. She was too lost in Katie's eyes to think about anything but the moment they were in. Katie smiled back at her, feeling exactly that same way as Jessie softly started to sing to her.