Tis the Season

Rated: PG

By Usako-chan

I have never really been the type of person to feel all cheery and warm inside from sights like a child in Santa's lap or a beautiful Christmas tree covered in countless white lights. The point is, is that I'm not a Christmas fanatic. Maybe it stems from the fact that I don't have fond memories or traditions of Christmas. I don't have the warm memories of sitting on my father's lap on Christmas morning, reminiscences of my mother baking warm gingerbread men in the kitchen, or even memories of me staying awake at night trying to listen for Santa. I never had the kind of childhood that had stockings that "hung by the chimney with care".

This brings me to my current surroundings.

Both of my hands are full with packages that have just been purchased for ungodly amounts of money on crap that should never have been bought, much less sold. And for the thousandth time in the last hour, I'm wondering how I was put into the situation so easily, without much protest from me.

I swear, I don't remember agreeing to this. Things can't get much worse. I can hear the latest stupid jingle being played loudly from somewhere over a loud speaker, shoppers are chatting so damn merrily that it has to be fake, and I've lost the woman that coerced me into this. The last line of the song playing loudly in my ear just went something like "all I want for Christmas". I finish the line with "is to poke my damn eyes out".

I shift the packages in my arms, trying to arrange them so they don't fall all over the floor and give me something else to gripe about.

"Spike!"

I turn my head to the cheery voice to the left of me. Faye is weaving her way through the enormous crowd of holiday shoppers, trying to reach me. I feel my heart flutter and despite my best interest, I feel a little less grumpy.

"I was wondering where you went to." I mutter accusingly at her.

She grins while looking at me and I start to feel a little self-conscious.

"What?" I nearly snap at her.

She laughs and then, "It's just that you looked so lost from way over there." She indicates 'way over there' with a flick of her wrist. Her eyes are full of mirth and I'm tempted to grin in spite of myself.

"Yeah, well, I don't like shopping, much less Christmas shopping." I say as I look down at her. I really want to kiss her, but then, suddenly, everything is clear and I remember that she is the reason that I'm here.

She laughs again. "Stop being such a humbug," she slaps me on the arm. "I can't see how you don't get swept up in the all the joyfulness and the holiday stuff. It's my favorite time of the year." She starts to make her way out of the store, but not before taking, a few of the many packages still stuffed in my arms.

I follow her, eager to get out of the stuffy environment that has managed to give me a headache. We reach the outside and I fall into step with Faye. It's then that I notice that snow has begun to fall. I must have extremely bad karma. I hate snow.

"I love snow," Faye sighed, contradicting my thoughts. I look over at her and see the little puffs of breath issuing out of her slightly parted crimson lips. There goes the thought of kissing her again. Her nose, I notice is a little red from the bite of the cold. The snow that is lightly falling around us is landing quite gracefully onto Faye's sleek hair. "Do you?" She looks over at me and I notice that a few flakes have clung to her eyelashes. Her eyes are so green and I suddenly forget about the snow that I supposedly hate so much.

She watches me shrug and she doesn't reply, apparently not worrying in the slightest that I didn't have a verbal answer for her. She moves over to a bench near the end of the street and sits down, waiting for me to follow suit.

I gratefully put down the many packages that have made my arms begin to slightly ache before joining her on the bench. She moves to lay her head on my shoulder with a content smile on her face and I suddenly feel satisfied myself.

"I don't see how Ein will be able to tell that the dog collar you bought him is so much better than the one he already has," I say commenting on her ludicrous spending on a leather dog collar. I find that my arm has made it's way around her shoulder and my hand has found her hair.

She looks a little offended before she retorts with "Well, even dogs deserve nice things."

I smile, because it's a typical Faye thing to say. "There's really no need to worry about the cost anyway, since I'm the one who paid for it."

Faye snorts. "We paid for it you mean." She says a little defensively. I roll my eyes.

"You know if we sit here a little longer, I reckon we could turn into nicer snowmen than the ugly ones you bought to decorate the Bebop," I tease.

Faye sits up in the blink of an eye and rounds on me, looking a little offended. "What's that supposed to," before she can finish her sentence, I lean in towards her and press my lips to hers, doing what I'd been longing to do for over an hour.

Faye's eyes flutter shut and her protest dies at my kiss.

I can feel her arms move up to wrap themselves around my neck and her hands press together on the back of my head, moving to stroke through my hair. She shudders when I run my tongue over her bottom lip, asking for entrance. When her lips part, I can feel her moan a little into my mouth. I love kissing Faye more than anything else.

When I pull back for air, I see her eyes still closed and her head tilted back slightly. Her eyes flutter open slowly and it's then that I realize that I really don't hate Christmas so much anymore. I run a hand over her hair and then release my hold on her waist, standing up and offering her my hand. She smiles.

"Well, there's a new way to shut me up," she jokes, getting to her feet.

This makes a smile break out on my face. "Oh, I don't know. I think we've done other things that have very successfully shut you up before."

She snorts, but I see her blush all the same. She bends down a retrieves some of the packages, replacing them onto my arms. "Well, let's just hope that I let you continue doing those 'other things that have very successfully shut me up before'." She grins and starts to walk off.

We continue on the way back to the Bebop, where Jet, Ein and Ed are waiting for us. I look at the back of Faye's head as we continue walking. So much has happened in the past year. I'm not the same man, not anymore. With Faye in my life, it's hard to remember why I wanted so much to live in the past. I jog a couple of steps to keep up with Faye's quick pace.

"You know," Faye says. "I bought myself a little present, involving lingerie." She sees me raise my eyebrow, and then continues, "You might like it." She grins mischievously. "It might aid you in helping shut me up."

A/N: Wow.that was totally and completely plot less. lol In my defense, I just love Faye and Spike and I love Christmas. So in a fit of high spirits I decided to write this fluffy thing. ^^ I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!! And Happy Holidays! Please Review!! It'd make my Christmas. (