In the state of Minnesota, when winter came, it came on strong and fierce, and kinda early too. It was now a few days into December. Although today's temperatures weren't unbearable, the first day of the month had actually brought a fairly big snowstorm. Big enough where the students of Sparkyville Junior High got to enjoy their first snow day.

As he was walking home for school, decked out in cozy winter clothing, Linus was able to see large piles of snow in various locations from when the plow trucks had taken to the streets. Normally, he would've decided to take the bus home, but for some reason, he felt that he needed a little "me" time, and hence, he decided to walk.

A couple of minutes later, he passed by the playground. He looked and saw that the swings had been taken down for the winter. This made him think of a certain someone who, when she still lived in Sparkyville, loved to swing on the swings. And she always enjoyed it more when Linus was there to push her. Such a basic and simple activity, but it was one of their favorite things to do together.

Linus and this girl would then spend the rest of the school year finding other ways to play together. But soon after that summer came, Linus got the sad news that she was moving far away. All the way to Texas. After she had gone, Linus found himself undergoing borderline depression for pretty much the rest of the summer. He had missed her since the day she had left, and in honesty, he still missed her to this day. Even though they had only known each other for about eight months, this girl was Linus' best female friend. He cared a lot about her... and although nobody knew it, she was his longest-lasting crush. His crush who, for a few years now, he had not been able to see, and he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to see her again.

With a soft sigh, Linus stuffed his hands into his coat pockets and continued on his way home. I miss you so much, Janice. What I would give to be able to see you again...

Little did he know that he was in for quite the surprise...

As Linus was approaching his house, he noticed that the mailbox's flag was up. He walked over to it, opened it up, and retrieved its contents before proceeding to go inside.

Currently, Lucy was not home yet due to being at Schroeder's club. As Linus walked inside and into the living room, he quickly scanned through the decently-sized stack of mail that had come in. There were the electric and cable bills, some random junk mail, and finally, a letter...

...for Linus.

Linus looked rather surprised as he then flipped the letter over to look at the back of it. Interestingly, there was no return address on it. Curious as to who would be mailing him, Linus placed the other pieces of mail on the living room table before beginning to make his way to his bedroom. He opened the letter as he was walking and began to read it.

Dear Linus,

I hope you have had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was pretty good as well. I know it's not quite Christmas time yet, but I have an early Christmas surprise for you. After you're through reading this, I want you to close your eyes. And then I want you to ask yourself: how would you feel if there was a certain someone whom you loved to play with, but who had to move away, would get to be reunited with you? You'd probably be very happy, right? Well, I have some great news for you. My family and I are moving back to Sparkyville! You won't need to respond to this letter as by the time you get it, it will be just a week, if that, before I've returned. My date of return is Saturday, December 10th. I can't wait to see you again. You don't know how much I've missed you, and I'm anxiously awaiting the day you and I can be together again. See you soon!

Yours truly,

Janice Emmons

Linus was briefly paralyzed in shock as he finished reading the letter. There was no way, was there? If Linus was dreaming, boy did he not want to wake up right now.

But upon doing the pinch test, he concluded that he wasn't dreaming. Nope. This was for real. Janice Emmons was moving back to Sparkyville. She and Linus were going to be reunited! All of a sudden, Linus made a dash for the phone. He had to inform Charlie Brown of the news right away!

From inside the Brown residence, the phone began to ring. After a few rings, it was answered by Sally.

"Hello?" she greeted. "Who is this?"

"Sally?" came Linus' voice from the other end.

"Yes, this is Sally," Sally said, a grin spreading across her face as she anticipated what she thought was coming. "Is this my Sweet Babboo?"

"No, it's Linus, and I'm..." Linus said, but was interrupted.

"Have you called to ask if I want to go to a movie with you?" Sally asked sweetly.

"Good grief, no. I want to speak to your brother," Linus said, a bit of annoyance in his voice. "Is he home?"

"You've called at a good time. I have almost no homework tonight, meaning I have plenty of time to go to a movie," Sally told him, completely ignoring Linus' question.

Linus found his excited mood steadily dwindling as the usual annoyance from Sally's advances on him began to take hold.

"I don't have time to go to a movie. I need to talk to your brother. This is important," Linus insisted.

"Well, unfortunately that's not possible right now. He's out right now hanging around with that Heather girl," Sally responded. "But if you decide you want to take me to a movie, you know my number!"

Sally then hung up before Linus even had a chance to retort.

As Linus placed the phone back on the receiver, he massaged his temples in annoyance. For five years now Sally had been nonstop with this whole "Sweet Babboo" nonsense. It was complete delusion at this point. One would think that after all the times he had turned her down that she would wake up and get the hint. But she was still just as smitten on Linus as ever. What, oh what was it going to take to get that blockhead sister of Charlie Brown's to stop obsessing over him?

As Linus was boarding the school bus the next morning, Charlie Brown noticed that he appeared to be in a very cheerful mood. He took his usual seat on the opposite site of his friend. After Lucy had gone and taken her seat, Linus turned to face Charlie Brown.

"You're never going to believe what's happening!" Linus said excitedly.

"What's that, Linus?" Charlie Brown asked.

"I just got a letter from Janice," Linus said. "She's moving back to Sparkyville! Can you believe it?"

"Janice..." Charlie Brown whispered to himself as he tried to remember who this girl was.

"You know, Janice Emmons? The girl who got leukemia and had to go to the hospital?" Linus said.

"Oh! That's right. She was the one who really liked it when you pushed her on the swings," Charlie Brown said, now remembering.

"That's the one!" Linus said with a bright smile.

"Well, I'm happy for you. I know that you've really been wanting to see her again," Charlie Brown said, giving a small smile back.

It was now finally Saturday, the day that Janice and her family were due to arrive back in Sparkyville. Currently, Sally Brown was sitting in the beanbag chair watching television.

Seconds later, Charlie Brown, who was accompanied by Heather, came into the living room and approached Sally.

"Come on, Sally. It's time to meet up with Linus," Charlie Brown said.

"Do we really need to go? Not that I would object to spending more time with my Sweet Babboo, but I'd much rather be here today," Sally said, keeping her eyes on the screen.

"But Sally, you haven't seen Janice in years. I'm sure she'd like to see you again," Charlie Brown reasoned.

"And I look forward to meeting Janice," Heather added. "From what Linus said about her, she sounds like a really great person."

Sally said nothing, but gave a light scoff. Great person indeed. Sally didn't budge from her seat, causing Charlie Brown to give off an exasperated sigh.

"Come on, Sally. I don't understand why you're acting like this right now. You're not going to school or anything," Charlie Brown said.

"And I don't think Linus would feel very good if you blew him off like this," Heather added.

Sally gave a light groan and shrunk deeper in her seat. Of course, Heather just had to go there, didn't she. Finally, after a few seconds, Sally slowly worked her way out of the chair and rose to her feet.

Charlie Brown and Heather smiled, glad that Sally had decided to come along. The three of them then began making their way out the door.

The three of them, who were now joined by a very excited Linus, were now making their way towards the house that Janice and her family were moving into. As they were walking, Heather noticed that Sally had seemed to keep a look on her face that suggested to her that Sally for some reason really did not want to see Janice. A little concerned by this, Heather looked at Charlie Brown.

"Is everything okay with Sally?" she whispered to him.

"I really don't know. Usually, she only acts like this when she thinks she's going to have a bad day at school," Charlie Brown whispered back.

A few minutes later, the group was approaching their destination. The area was very busy, with a moving truck in the driveway. A couple of uniformed workers were busy bringing what were apparently the family's belongings into the house.

But what ultimately caught the eye of the group was a girl coming out of the house. Seemingly, she was also helping with moving things in. Once she caught sight of the group though, she sped back into the house.

"Whoa, did you see that?" Charlie Brown asked Linus.

"I did," Linus said, not taking his eyes off the entrance to the house. "She's here..."

About a minute later, the girl reappeared, this time accompanied by someone else. It was a girl with silky yellow hair that cascaded down her back. She was wearing a cute sky-blue dress with puffed short sleeves, and a matching color headband was atop her head. Upon seeing Linus, a huge smile spread across her face and her little eyes lit up.

"Linus!"

She then began making a dash towards the boy who loved to push her on the swings when they were younger.

"Janice!" Linus yelled excitedly.

Janice kept running, until seconds later, she was in Linus' arms. The two of them shared a great big hug, beyond ecstatic to finally be able to see each other again.

Author's note: And there you have it. The character to come into the story is Janice Emmons (and for some reason that will be explained later, Sally is not thrilled that Janice has returned). Those guessing that it was Janice were correct. After watching Janice's special, I fell in love with the character, and instantly began shipping her and Linus. Now, hints and moments between the two of them will be kinda relaxed for the time being due to their age, but it is now confirmed that Linus and Janice will be an eventual secondary pairing and will get together probably sometime during the sequel story.

Stay tuned for the next chapter! Some Linus and Janice interactions are to be featured. And I'll be kicking off something involving Lucy that's going to serve as major progression in her story arc.