There was nothing but clear, blue skies while Nina flew her airplane back to the North Pole. She had just finished making her first delivery for Santa and Mrs. Claus's new charity and was returning home. She couldn't wait to see Snow Miser, but she had to meet with Santa, first.
As she approached the North Pole, Nina was caught in a blizzard. She became worried that this was connected to Snow Miser's emotions. He must have missed her a lot. She had only been gone for a week, but it wasn't anything new; she had traveled before. Making a change of plans, she headed over to Snow Miser's castle, first, managing to keep control of the aircraft.
After she landed in the front yard, Snow Miser ran to Nina before she even exited her emerald green plane. When she got out of the cockpit, he greeted her with a passionate kiss. "Welcome home, angel!"
Nina smiled, gently, at her boyfriend, after kissing him back with just as much passion. "Hello, my love. I missed you."
"I missed you, more."
"I can see that." Her voice was soft. "I had a bit of trouble getting back."
"Oh, that?" Snow laughed. "I just wanted to spice things up around here."
"Darling-"
Snow cut her off. "Sorry about that. The North Pole needed a good blizzard. It's been too quiet around here, lately. So, tell me how your trip went."
Nina looked at him, skeptically, then told him, "I'd like to wait and tell Santa and Mrs. Claus about it, if you don't mind. Can we go together so I can tell the three of you at the same time?"
"Absolutely, sugarplum." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "I'd love to see Mr. and Mrs. C."
"One second," Nina told Snow, getting back into the cockpit. She grabbed a folder and came back out.
"What's that?" Snow asked.
"Inventory papers and records. I've got to give these to Santa."
"Okay, angel. You all ready to go?" When Nina nodded, Snow teleported them both to Santa and Mrs. Claus's house.
Nina knocked on the front door when they arrived. Mrs. Claus answered and smiled, brightly, at them. "Nina! And Snow Miser! How good it is to see you both! Come in! Come in!"
When they entered the house, the elderly woman told them, "Make yourselves at home. I'll go get Santa." She left the room and came back with Santa.
"So, how did it go?" Santa asked Nina after the four had greeted each other and sat down. Mrs. Claus went to the kitchen to bring in some refreshments.
"It was great," Nina replied, handing him the folder. As he looked over the papers, she said, "Everything should be in order. All the packages were given out."
Santa nodded, thoughtfully. "We hope it will help those people out, at least a little bit."
"It felt great to do some good. Now I kinda understand why you deliver Christmas gifts every year."
Mrs. Claus reentered the room with a tray of cookies and hot chocolate and set them down. As the four began eating, Nina asked, "When do you want me to make the next delivery?"
Snow Miser put his arm around her. "Hey, what's the rush? You just got back."
Santa stated, eating a chocolate chip cookie, "We have others making deliveries, so you can wait as long as you need to."
"How about another two weeks?" Nina asked the three.
Santa and Mrs. Claus nodded, while Snow responded, frowning slightly, "Two weeks? That doesn't give us a lot of time."
Nina noticed the agitation in Snow's voice. She held his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Okay. How about three, then?"
This seemed to relax him a bit, and he nodded, agreeing.
"Three weeks, it is," Santa smiled. "I'll let you know closer to time some places you can choose from, then we can go from there."
Nina accepted the offer, then the subject was changed. The four of them chit-chatted, pleasantly.
Nina always enjoyed visiting with Santa and Mrs. Claus; they were a second family to her. They were so kind and hospitable, and they had done so much for her that she didn't think she could ever properly show them her gratitude. It was even better when Snow Miser was with her because he livened up everyone's mood, even if they were already in a good one.
Today, however, he wasn't as chatty as usual and mostly listened to the other three talk. He sat extremely close to Nina, keeping his arm around her almost the whole time. Ordinarily, she would enjoy the closeness, but something wasn't right. However, she didn't want to bring it up in front of their hosts and just sat, trying to focus on the conversations.
When Mrs. Claus got up to get more cookies and drinks, Nina offered to help her carry the drinks in. After the two women entered the kitchen, Nina asked her, quietly, "Has there been any bad weather here lately?"
"Oh, goodness, yes," the elderly woman replied, setting more cookies on the plate. "There were blizzards almost every day for a week. I'm glad we're starting to have some good weather, now. Why do you ask?"
"I was just curious," Nina replied, pouring the hot chocolate into the cups. "There was a blizzard when I came back, so I wondered if it's been like this the whole time I was gone."
"Nearly," said Mrs. Claus. "I'm glad you made it back, safely."
"I am, too," Nina said, then went back to the big room. Mrs. Claus followed with another tray of cookies.
Santa was talking to Snow Miser in a hushed tone. Nina heard something about a gift for Valentine's Day but decided not to bring it up in case he was planning a surprise for his wife.
Nina had almost forgotten about Valentine's Day. This would be the first one she'd have with Snow Miser, and she decided that she'd have to do something special for him, though she couldn't figure out what at the moment. What could she get Snow Miser for a gift that would be special enough for him and show him how much she cared about him? Was he even planning to do anything for her? She guessed she'd have to discuss it with him some other time when they were alone.
Snow Miser and Nina stayed for another hour talking and eating with the couple. When it started to get dark, they said their goodbyes to Santa and Mrs. Claus and went home.