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

Note: This is how I'd hoped Sue & Sean would get together during the show. Since it didn't happen there, it's happening here! Thanks to everyone who's read along so far! I hope you've enjoyed it. There may be one more chapter after this. If you have any ideas you'd like to see included, let me know in a review.

"Is it usually this busy on a Sunday night?" Sean asked, as they drove into the inn's crowded employee parking lot.

"Um, no." Sue looked confused, but quickly recovered. "I guess Brooke called everyone in."

"If she has this much help, maybe we'll be out of here pretty quickly," he said hopefully.

"We're staying for supper, too, remember?"

"I remember. But maybe we'll still have time…" He paused as he spotted a familiar car in the lot. "Hey, isn't that your car?"

"Yes! I told my parents we were having supper at the restaurant, so they said they'd leave my car here." She smirked, "I'd promised to bring them one of Marsha's cakes as a thank you; I think my mom wanted to go ahead and collect!" They both laughed.

Sue and Sean walked hand-in-hand into the lobby, where they were met by some of Sue's co-workers. Then came more people who popped by to greet them, then disappeared. Sean noticed that many of them seemed to be a bit…loud. And giggly. And a few made comments that he didn't quite understand. But he didn't have much time to think about it, since he kept being introduced to new people.

Then Brooke appeared. "Sue! Hello! This must be Sean!" She shook Sean's hand. "It's wonderful to finally meet you!"

"You, too. Sue has told me a lot about you."

"And we've heard lots about you! I'm so sorry for this…interruption in your date. Hopefully we'll have you two back on track in no time!"

"Speaking of which, is everything ready?" Sue quickly added, "For the work I need to do, I mean."

"Not yet. Why don't you show Sean around? I'll find you when we're ready." Brooke started to walk off, then turned back. "Oh, just remember. There are some areas that we're still working on."

Sue gave Sean an abbreviated tour. As they approached the restaurant, he asked, "Should I get us a table?"

"Oh, no! That's not necessary!"

Brooke appeared in the hallway, past the restaurant. "Sue! We're ready for you now. Sean, why don't you go wait in the lobby." She smiled reassuringly at him. "This won't take long." Sue kissed him on the cheek before hurrying after Brooke.

"Okay, then," Sean said. He walked back to the lobby. "That was…strange," he thought. Then the night got even stranger. An elderly man, wearing dirt-streaked clothes and carrying a basket, appeared in front of him.

"You there. Come with me."

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Come. With. Me," the man enunciated.

The desk clerk, Jack, hurried over. "Ray, are you taking Sean out to the greenhouse?" When Ray nodded, Jack continued, "Don't cut through the back garden. We're still working on it, remember?"

"I know how to get to the greenhouse," Ray snapped. He motioned to Sean, "C'mon."

"Okaaaaay," Sean agreed. He looked to Jack, "Please tell Sue…" Jack nodded, so Sean followed Ray out the front door.

They seemed to be taking a circuitous route to the greenhouse. Sean tried to make conversation, but Ray mostly answered with grunts. When they finally entered the greenhouse, Ray shoved the basket into Sean's arms before picking up a pair of garden shears. Motioning for Sean to follow him, he quickly started snipping off flowers and handing them to Sean. "Red and pink. She'll like them."

"Wait…these flowers are for Sue? That's so nice!" Sean exclaimed.

"Who else would they be for?" Ray looked Sean up and down. "You can't take a lady on a date and not give her flowers."

"Oh, I did give her flowers earlier. A bouquet of roses."

Ray glared at him. "You were gone for 3 months. You think one bouquet is enough?"

"Uh, no sir." Sean smiled. "I see your point." Ray resumed cutting flowers. Sean noticed some beautiful flowers in yellow and white and moved towards them. "How about some of these?"

"Red and pink for dates," Ray responded. "Not white and yellow."

"I know. But I call Sue my 'special snowflake' and 'walking sunshine', so…"

Ray paused and looked at him. "'Walking sunshine,' huh?" He nodded. "Sounds about right." He walked over and snipped the flowers Sean pointed out. Once the basket was overflowing, Ray said, "The greenhouse flowers are only for special occasions. And special people."

"And Sue is very, very special!" Sean responded. Ray shrugged, then led Sean outside.

They took an even slower route back to the lobby. When they finally arrived, Sue was waiting. "There you are! Did you enjoy…" her voice trailed off as she saw the basket of flowers. "Are these for me?" She looked at Ray. "Greenhouse flowers? For me?" When Ray nodded, she threw her arms around him. "Thank you so much!" He patted her awkwardly on the back. Sue finally pulled away, then took the basket of flowers and admired them more closely.

Jack walked over. "I can take these and get them bundled up. Brooke says that everything is set."

"Oh, right!" Sue grinned. She handed him the flowers, then turned to Sean. "Are you ready?"

"Just a minute," he responded. He turned to Ray and shook his hand. "Thank you, sir!"

"Go on, now," Ray replied, with the faintest hint of a smile.

Sue took Sean's hand and led him toward the restaurant, then past it. Sean pulled her to a stop. "Wait? Aren't we going in here?" He motioned toward the restaurant's entrance.

"Nope! Follow me!" She walked further, pausing outside a set of double doors at the end of the hallway. Sue moved in front of him, blocking the doorway. "Um, Sean. I have to confess something." She took a deep breath. "I've been lying to you. All evening."

"What are you talking about?" Sean asked, stunned.

"Well, you know at the zoo, when I said Brooke had insisted that I come into work tonight?" He nodded. "That wasn't true. I was the one who contacted her, asking for a favor. And all of that texting I was doing….that wasn't about work, either. It was about this." She pushed open the doors to the room and stepped inside. He followed behind her, and quickly caught his breath.

The room had a wall of windows that looked out over the back garden. It was used for small events and typically contained numerous tables and chairs. That night, it had been transformed. All of the furniture had been removed, except for two chairs and a table that had been set for a romantic dinner for two, including candles and flowers. White Christmas lights stretched across the ceiling. LED candles sat in the window frames, all of which were draped with garlands. A fully trimmed Christmas tree sat in one corner. It had chains of paper snowflakes wrapped around it. Sean stood silently, taking it all in.

"I hope you're not mad. About me lying, I mean. I got the idea for this after you said you wanted us to dance. We were going to leave the zoo anyway to get supper, so I thought, 'Why not here, where we can have our own private dance floor?'" She twirled around in the middle of the cleared floor. When Sean didn't comment, she grew anxious. "You don't think it's too cheesy, do you? I wanted us to have a chance to get Christmas right." She paused for a moment, waiting on a response. "Um, Sean? What are you thinking?"

He cleared his throat. "I'm thinking…that I'm the luckiest guy in the world." Sue barely had a chance to smile before he reached her. He lifted her off her feet and kissed her deeply. When that kiss ended, he let her slide back down to her feet before he pressed several shorter kisses to her lips. Finally he pulled back and shook his head. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

Sue gripped his arms. "Sean, you deserve this. You deserve so much!" She smiled. "You have done so much for me. And I don't just mean missing your flight to Ghana so you could tell me you loved me, or even scaring off that squatter professor, even though those things were amazing!" She sighed. "My entire life…I've felt invisible. But you," she touched his cheek, "you've always seen me. You've always been there for me, ever since we were kids and you used to return my toys when Axl hid them from me. And when you'd drop me off for babysitting jobs, and you'd always say, 'It's on my way,' even though it was never on your way! And then, of course, there were my proms." She shook her head. "After the way I handled that first one, I can't believe you showed up the second time!"

"I'd do anything for you, Suzy Q. You know that." He kissed her forehead.

"And I would do anything for you. I love you. And if you want to dance, then we're going to dance!"

He laughed. "I think we need some music first!" On cue, soft music started to play. Startled, Sean glanced around. That's when he realized that the doorway was now crowded, with Brooke and several of Sue's co-workers, Frankie and Mike, and his family. "What?!"

Sue motioned to their audience. "They arranged all of this for us!"

Sean thanked each helper with a handshake or hug. He was regaled with anecdotes about the prep work, from his sisters making the snowflake chains to all the efforts to stall for time. Eventually everyone but Brooke left them, although Frankie and Nancy took several pictures before they departed.

"I've already told your dads that I want them to come back and help decorate at Christmas. They hung many of the decorations without a ladder!" Brooke smiled. Then she glanced warily at Sean.

"It's okay! I told him you didn't actually ask me to come into work tonight," Sue said.

"Oh, good!" She turned to Sean. "I would not have interrupted you today! Everyone who works here knew how important this date was. In fact, most everyone you've met tonight volunteered to come help surprise you and Sue!"

"It was a surprise!" Sue turned to Sean. "I knew our families would be here, but I wasn't expecting most of the others."

"Well, Sue, you wanted to surprise Sean because of everything he's done for you. And your co-workers wanted to surprise you because of everything you've done for them. You're always willing to help with any assignment, or to cheer anyone up when they're having a bad day." Brooke said to Sean, "Did she tell you it was her idea yesterday to have the water balloons and super soakers?" Sean shook his head. "Our guests loved it! Several said they wanted us to do it again during spring move-out weekend!" Brooke handed Sue a remote to control the sound system, then said more formally, "Please take your seats. Your server will be with you shortly."

As they sat across from each other at the table, Sue asked, "So, what do you really think about all this?"

Sean said thoughtfully. "It's pretty much perfect. There is one thing I'd fix, though."

Sue looked around anxiously. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Sean stood. He moved his place setting and his chair to Sue's side. He sat back down, draped his arm over the back of her chair and leaned in for a kiss. "Now it's perfect!" Sue giggled.

After their server took their orders, Sean pulled Sue from her chair and onto their dance floor. "Don't you want to wait until after we eat?" Sue teased.

"Nope!" Sean pulled her close and they swayed in time to the music. "You know, you promised me months ago you would tell me what happened with the snow globe."

"Oh, right! Well it started that spring, when I threw some trash in the hallway bin. Suddenly, I heard music playing. It's like it was calling for me!"

As Sue continued with her story, Brooke stood in the doorway filming them. Ray appeared at her side, giving her a disapproving look. "Hey," Brooke whispered, "I promised their moms!" Ray didn't look impressed. Brooke sighed and ended the video. "I was about to stop filming, anyway. They deserve some privacy." She turned and headed to the kitchen. Ray smiled at the dancing couple, then followed Brooke. Sue and Sean continued to dance and talk, oblivious to everything else.