Happy 2nd day of Christmas, or Boxing Day or whatever you want to call it! Hope your Christmases were good. Anyway, I have a story called "Chandler in Love" taking place in a universe where Chandler is in Love with Linka, Today's story fits with that, but I didn't want to mess up the continuity of that story so, it's here. I' hope you enjoy!

Story 20: Sleigh Ride

Prompt/Premise: Chandler takes Linka out on a sleigh ride

Linka got up from bed and got dressed in a long-sleeved orange shirt, jeans, a skirt over her jeans, a scarf, and coat. She ran downstairs to the pile of the family boots and grabbed her brown ones from it. It was the day before Christmas, the Loud house was busy with everyone doing their own Christmas things. Rita was finishing her decorating, Lynn Sr. was cooking etc. There was a ring at the doorbell.

"I'll get it," Linka sung.

There behind the door was Chandler, the red head had a smile on his face.

"Merry Christmas eve, Linka," he said.

"Hey Chandler, what are you doing here?" she asked.

The boy rubbed the back of his head, slightly nervously before he asked his question.

"I wanted to ask if you, I mean, I wanted, My Dad rented a sleigh ride, and I was wondering if you would like to take a ride with me, I mean if you want to," he said.

"A real sleigh with a horse?" Linka asked.

"Yep, there's a guy who guides it and stuff," he said.

"That sounds like fun, uh, yeah sure, let me tell my parents first," she replied.

Chandler stood at the door waiting for her to come back. He wasn't shivering because it was cold. He had at least worked up the nerve to ask her to ride with him; he could figure out how he still got so nervous around her, but he always did. She came back out, her warm smile made him feel always good inside.

"Yeah, my parents said I could go!" she said with excitement.

"I'm glad, we are going to have fun," Chandler said.

"Are any of your other friends joining us?" Linka asked.

"Huh? Uh, nah, everyone is busy, I guess, Christmas Eve and stuff," he replied.

"Oh yeah."

She followed Chandler to the sleigh it was one a person would see in a card of a classic Christmas. It was a red sleigh, there were two horses hooked to the front, and a man wearing a trench coat with a suit underneath, and a top hat.

"It's alright to talk to the horses, right?" Linka asked the man.

"Sure, do you want to feed them?" he asked.

"I get to feed them?" she asked.

"Sure," the man replied.

The white-haired girl took off her glove and petted the horse on the nose. Chandler was amused at how she was interacting with the creatures as she gave them horse biscuits.

"Are you ready to go?" he eventually asked.

"Yep, where are we going?" she asked.

"Where would you like to go?" he asked.

"We should go to the park," was her response.

Chandler helped into the sleigh and she grabbed his arms to help him in. They rode through the neighborhood then through the roads around town. The streets were covered in fresh snow and the blue sky and sun made the snow look like crystals. Even with the sun, it was still below freezing. Linka had a large smile and her eyes seemed to beam looking at the sights. Everything that was just normal locations were somewhat more impressive from a horse-drawn sleigh.

"Would you like some lunch?" Chandler asked.

"You brought food?" she asked.

"Yep, here's a lunch box full of food," he replied.

They rode through the park and had soup that was kept warm. The juice cans had amore a difficult time as, they had been out in the below freezing weather to be well, frozen. They laughed a little, but they were thirsty.

"Hey could we go to Flips, and get some flippies?" Linka asked.

"Sure, that sounds good," he said.

Both got their favorite flavor, that being watermelon-lime. Royal Woods was covered in thick snow, but that wasn't stopping last minute Christmas shoppers. They saw the town Christmas treet lit and adorned with decorations. They had taken a ride for a few hours with times they would go see the lake, couldn't ice skate, though, and walk around different spots so their legs wouldn't feel like jelly from all that siting.

"Chandler, you look a little cold," Linka replied.

He was slightly shivering.

"I'm fine," he replied.

Linka scooted closer to him.

"I'm a little cold, mind if I sit a little closer?" she asked.

"I don't mind," he said.

Her embrace made him feel warm he was shaking, unknowing what to do with his hands. She grabbed his right hand and held it. He didn't try to squirm out of it he relaxed a little. He did feel like it wasn't 27 degrees outside and dropping.

"I do have to remind you, that the rental time is about up," the man told Chandler.

"Oh, guess I was losing track of time, how much time is left?" he asked.

"You have about 36 minutes left," the man replied.

"We have 36 minutes, anywhere you want go?" Chandler asked.

Linka got up from Chandler and whispered something to the man, he nodded, and she sat back down, still close to Chandler.

"What did you tell him?" he asked.

"You'll see," she replied

They rode to another park where there was a pond that had frozen over and a frozen waterfall. The light from the sun made it shine in great brilliance.

"Thanks, this is the spot," Linka said.

"You're welcome, miss, uh will you two be alright?" the driver asked.

"Oh yeah, we know the way back, thanks for everything," Chandler said, slipping the man a tip. He took his belongings from the sleigh and checked to make sure. "Merry Christmas," the Sleigh driver said. "Merry Christmas," they both said back.

Chandler looked over at Linka and asked, "So, what are we doing here?"

"I thought it be fun to sit and look around the scenery, before we have to get back to our homes," she replied.

They walked over to a bench that faced the pond and sat down.

"It's amazing isn't it, Chandler?" Linka asked.

"It's frozen," he replied.

"Well of course," she said with a giggle following.

He grabbed something from the bag he had brought with him. It was a gift-wrapped package.

"Uh, Merry Christmas, Linka," he said.

The girl smiled as saw the little package.

"That's so sweet of you, you really are a nice friend," she replied.

"You can open it now," he said.

She tore open the packaging and saw there was little necklace made with little white spheres, they weren't real pearls.

"Thank you, it's so pretty," she replied.

"Glad, you like it, I got you blue so, it would stand out with your hair more, "he said.

"You sound like you learned some fashion tips; hey, do you want to help put it on me?"

Chandler gulped. He leaned over her, pushed her hair over a little, and put the necklace on, it was less painful than he thought.

"Your hand is on my leg," she said.

"Huh, What, I'm sorry, I didn't mean, I was trying lean over to, uh..."

"Oh, it's alright, I know, I just like seeing your reactions."

"Do you like the necklace?"

"Yep, it's really nice, I wish I had given you a gift."

"It's alright, really."

"We should be going, before it gets dark."

They got up from the bench and Linka grabbed Chandler's left hand. "Walk me home?" she asked.

The red head stumbled out words to the effect of yes. He grabbed his bag with his right hand and they walked the way to the Loud House.

"Thanks, Chandler today was a fun Christmas Eve, I hope you have a good Christmas, and if you can, come by for your other gift when you can," she said.

"My other gift?" he asked.

Then she grabbed him and kissed him on the cheek.

"That's you first gift," she said.

Chandler was frozen, she loved that reaction from him, as she said good night. He stumbled out some words and walked to his house in a daze.