A/N Once again, I'm late (or early depending on how you look at it) for another 'holiday'. First Christmas, now this. I hope you enjoy it because I actually really enjoyed writing this one, it's different to how I usually do things. You can possibly tell that I totally share Temperance's viewpoint on valentines day. And I think the reason I wrote so much about Brandon is because I'm like him, in a way – I guess there's a little Brandon in all of us (make of that statement what you will...). Anyway, reviews are immensely appreciated, as are all of you who are reading this. Not long until the end! Thanks for reading!

- - - - Temperance and Seeley - - - -

For her, the notion of Valentines day was utterly pointless – if you feel a certain way about a certain person, then you should make the effort to show them that every single day, not just on one day of the year that's designated by a greeting-card company. To her, the "holiday" embodied everything that she hated about corporate America and the commercialisation of one of the most basic human emotions. Much like her feelings about similar topics, she wasn't too afraid to let others know just what she thought about Valentines day.

Conversely, he thought the idea of a holiday devoted to the love one feels for another was actually quite nice – in today's society people were increasingly expected to hide their feelings and not display them publicly, which he felt was even more the case for men. He also liked the history behind Valentines day, and enjoyed hearing the story of Saint Valentine himself.

In their house, it wasn't an easy thing to celebrate. She would barely acknowledge it as a legitimate holiday, and he was stubborn enough to try to get her to unwittingly agree to doing something romantic. It was not the kind of holiday one could, or should, celebrate alone. Even Brandon and Bea had plans for Valentines day, but their own father couldn't get their mother to agree to go on a date with him. "If it will make you happy, we can go out tomorrow night. Just not tonight," she had told him. "Everyone will be out tonight."

"Because it's the day that you're meant to go out with the one you love. That's the point of Valentines day."

"I'm not going to win this one, am I?"

"Nope."

"Well how about we go somewhere distinctly unromantic? Like the aquarium or a museum."

"So long as I'm spending the day with my wife, then that's fine."

- - - - Angela and Jack - - - -

In the eleven years that they had been married, they had spent every Valentines day at the same restaurant down the street from their house, enjoying good wine and even better food. Valentines day was always extra special for them, not just because they were both hopeless romantics, but because it was the day that they had found out they were expecting Daisy. Since they had become parents, the day had become even more important to them – it was one of the rare opportunities that they had to spend an evening alone together. Thanks to their wonderful babysitter, Melinda (who incidentally never seemed to have plans for Valentines day), they actually managed to get out of the house for a few hours.

As they discussed their plans for that year, talk turned to two other people who were feeling the effects of Cupid's arrows.

"Bea and Brandon have dates for their school dance, how cute is that? Although I didn't get asked to dances when I was that age..."

"I didn't talk to girls when I was that age. I don't think I even knew any girls."

"Stop pretending that you never had any luck with the ladies, you got me didn't you?" She went over to help him with his tie, kissing him on the cheek as she did so.

"Yeah, and that was the only time I had any luck with a lady."

- - - - Bea - - - -

Ryan Mayer had actually asked her to the Valentines Day ball, and she couldn't quite believe it. She now had an ugly red mark on her arm from where she kept pinching herself, but she still hadn't woken from the dream. He had come and sat opposite her in the cafeteria, and just asked her. He seemed pretty calm about the whole thing, but she thought she might blush so much her head would explode. Her two best friends, May and Samantha, were understandably totally jealous that she had been asked by the hottest guy in school, but she had decided she wouldn't keep talking about it for their benefit – no one had asked them yet, and she didn't want to seem like she was bragging. It would be difficult though, because all she wanted to do was shout it from the rooftops – Ryan had asked her!

She knew most of the girls had a crush on him, and with good reason – he was athletic, and smart, and just all around gorgeous. He had dark hair that he was often sweeping out of his deep blue eyes, a great smile, and even his ears were cute. They would look great together at the ball.

If she had a relatively normal mother she would have gone straight home to tell her about it. She didn't have one of those, however, so instead she went up to her bedroom as soon as she got home and called her aunt Angela. She wasn't a real aunt, more like a cool big sister, even though she was the same age as her mom, but she and uncle Jack were still going out on dates together and even had plans for Valentines day. She was the one to go to for love advice. Brandon had even asked her something about a girl, although she wasn't sure who it was. Angela knew everything there was to know about boys and relationships, and she had been certain that her god-daughter would get asked to the ball by Ryan. And she was right!

- - - - Brandon - - - -

He had been nervous all week – he even got a sick feeling in his stomach thinking about it. He had tried asking his sister for advice, but she wasn't much help. He had asked his aunt Angela, who made him cringe by giving him the 'you're getting so grown up' speech. He had even tried asking his dad, and he was even less help. And his mom probably wouldn't even know what he was talking about.

Her name was Samantha, and she sometimes sat next to him during the science club meetings. He liked everything about her – her long blonde hair that hung well past her shoulders and halfway down her back, her bright green eyes that she kept hidden behind her glasses, and he especially liked her smile. When she was happy, everyone knew it, because she seemed to smile with her whole body. Her eyes would light up, her nose would wrinkle, and if you really made her happy she would clap her hands a little. Besides all of those superficial things, he just liked Samantha in general. She was an intellectual like him, so she wouldn't tease him. She was kind to everyone, even when they weren't particularly nice to her. And best of all, she liked him.

The reason he felt so sick right now, the reason his hands were shaking? He was about to ask Samantha to the Valentines Day ball at their school. He knew she wouldn't say yes, but like his dad always said, "If you don't try, then you'll never know." A ball to him sounded like the most dismal, dreary thing on the planet, but she was excited about it. He had seen her talking to her friends about dresses and shoes and hair and make-up, all things that he didn't know much about but had learned (from Bea) that girls were very fond of. He had been psyching himself up for the past five minutes, but when he saw her walking down the hallway towards him he lost what little nerve he had and nearly chickened out. But he managed to pull himself together for long enough to blurt out the barely coherent and very mumbled sentence of: "D'you wanna go to the dance with me?"

He was so proud that he had managed it without saying or doing something completely stupid that he was about to walk away and hide in the bathrooms without waiting for an answer.

And when she said yes, he felt like he had won the Superbowl and the Nobel Prize all on the same day. He knew he didn't exactly take after his dad when it came to talking to the ladies, but right now he felt like a total babe-magnet.