Title: Mistletoe Kiss
Disclaimers: The Vampire Diaries, Stefan and Damon belong to L.J. Smith. The rest are mine. No profit is being made yadda yadda.

This is nothing but pure pukey teen crushes and budding relationships. No supernatural storyline at all. It was the setup for the unfinished bigger sequel to TCATF, 'Loyalties', but I'm not inspired to finish it. If you want to read what I have of Loyalties, though, it's on my site. http://windiain.n3.net


Mistletoe Kiss. (One)

Christmas. A red-gold-green holiday that embodied the love and closeness of family relationships. Stefan Salvatore hadn't enjoyed Christmas since his childhood in Florence, and even then it had been a somewhat cold affair. Now, for what was possibly the first time ever, Stefan felt some of the glow of family warmth, and found himself feeling a little excited as the excitement of the younger Webbers grew as the day itself drew closer.

He sat curled up in an oversized and overstuffed chair by the fire in the family room, the orange blaze bathing him with a pleasant heat, causing him to feel drowsy. He felt like, and perhaps resembled, a contented cat. If cats wore grey woollen socks, baggy black sweaters and held mugs of steaming hot-chocolate in their paws. The television was on, but he was only half watching it. He may not have enjoyed Christmas much in the past, but he knew all too well the season's film schedule. He'd already seen Star Wars several times, and most of those had been at Christmas.

The whine of a TIE fighter was drowned out by a sudden shriek from outside, and Stefan grinned to himself without even flinching. One of the girls had probably suffered a snowball, if the following laughter had been anything to go by. He assumed it was Kirby, Jess's younger sister. The fact that there were no sounds of the perpetrator being executed a few seconds later confirmed it. He'd been out earlier on in the snow, and cornered Jess with a handful of snow, stuffing it down the neck of her jacket. He still wasn't sure how he'd ended up winded and on his back in the snow. He hadn't really expected Jess to retaliate like that, although the snow dumped on top of him was predictable, if not expected. The mischievous grin plastered over Jess's face as she did it told him she meant no malice, and considered them even again. Stefan didn't agree, and had spent the next hour trying to corner her again to pay her back. He'd given up for the day after Damon had asked him if he /liked/ being floored by the red-head, finding the question a little too embarrassingly uncomfortable.

So now he sat in the front room, the ceiling and walls covered with holly, ivy, and red, gold and green streamers, the tree in the corner filled with decorations. Most of them had been made by various Webber children throughout the years, and all of them hung there, including a strange mangled mess that Mike had protested to it's going up every year since he'd made it. Art was not a strong point of his.

Stefan looked up from the screen as Mike walked into the room rubbing his hands, and making a beeline for the fire.

"I'm freezing my balls off out there." He commented, a grin on his face despite the complaint. "It's not been this cold for years. I don't know how he can do it."

"Who can do what?" Stefan yawned, handing Mike his mug.

"Damon. He's still out there playing with the kiddies. You sure you don't want this?" Mike asked, pointing to the chocolate.

Stefan shook his head. "I won't finish it."

"Jess and Damon still forcing this 'get back to eating' issue, huh?"

Stefan grimaced. "It's not so bad. I actually /wanted/ the hot-chocolate. I just don't get /why/ I need to start eating and stuff again after all this time."

"Such is life." Mike shrugged. "Full of little things we don't understand."

"Yeah." Stefan snorted with laughter. "Like why the kids actually /like/ Damon so much."

Mike chuckled, sitting on the chair opposite. "I think kids are like cats. They /know/ when someone doesn't like them, so they deliberately choose to sit on them to spite them."

"But Damon likes /them/."

"Hey, I never said the theory wasn't flawed. Maybe they know he likes them, then. He's good with kids. Mothers world wide would be clamouring to get him to look after their kids if they knew about him."

"Not when they got older, they wouldn't." Stefan grinned, changing the channel with the remote. "It'd be a case of lock up your daughters and hope that he doesn't get to them."

"Not to mention securing the chastity belt."

"I don't think they ever /invented/ a chastity belt that Damon couldn't get open...why are you grinning like that?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"No reason." Mike said blandly, biting back laughter.

"I never went for women who wore chastity belts." Damon said from behind him, and Stefan leaped up with shock as cold, wet snow trickled down his back.

"Freaking hell!" Stefan laughed, and launched himself over the back of the chair, landing on top of a startled Damon. "I just took a shower to warm up, now I'll have to take another." The pair rolled around the floor play fighting, jabbing and punching each other with a force that would bruise most humans, but hardly hurt them.

"Kids!" Mike laughed as they rolled precariously close to the tree.

"Hey, hey!" Hazel Webber poked her head around the door and fixed the pair with a stern gaze. "Not in the house, guys."

"Sorry." Stefan mumbled, rising to his feet, and offering an arm to help Damon up with.

Damon's lips kept twitching with laughter. "Sorry, M'Lady." He smiled, bowing deeply. "It won't happen again."

"That's what you said the last time." Hazel muttered, but grinned anyway. Damon's charm always seemed to get him out of trouble.

"What was that for?" Stefan asked, turning to his brother when Hazel had gone.

"Jess bribed me. Not that it took much bribing. I thought it seemed like a good idea." He turned his smile on to Stefan, who in turn arched a brow, then shook his head grinning, unable to keep the stern act up.

"What did she bribe you with?" Mike asked. Stefan sat back down opposite him, curling his feet up again.

"Wouldn't /you/ like to know." Damon laughed.

"I could just ask Jess." Mike pointed out.

"Oh, you do know how to take the fun out of things."

"I'd like to know what she offered. Or more to the point, what your price was." Stefan asked, suspicious.

"Nothing like /that/, little brother." Damon laughed. "It was all very innocent. Something about doing my chores for next week."

"A whole week?" Mike was surprised. "She'd be better snowballing Stefan herself, if that's the price."

Damon turned to Mike, a bemused expression on his face. "But would she have been able to creep up on him? I think not. Nothing better than a vampire for stalking another vampire. No, I think I was very generous with my fee."

"Could have been worse." Stefan pointed out. "At least he didn't demand a pint or so of blood."

"That was tempting, but I don't think she'd fair well from that much blood loss. Last thing I want is an ill or unconscious diabetic on my hands."

"Very wise." Mike nodded.

"Speaking of whom, where is Jess? I think I need to dole out some payback." Stefan stretched lazily, and put his feet on the floor.

"She was in the kitchen when I saw her. Lurking over the mince mix." Damon supplied.

"In the basement." Mike said absently, then laughed at Damon's annoyance. "Twin thing."

"I hate it when you do that. You never do it when it's useful, either of you." Damon growled.

"Hey, it's not always a hundred percent certain thing. We're not identical, you know."

"No, /really/. I'd not noticed. You really can't tell one from the other. How /do/ you tell the difference?" His voice was filled with sarcasm.

"I'm the good looking one." Mike grinned.

"Oh, so where's Mike, then?"

"Hey! I'm better looking than you."

"You wish."

"Am too."

"Oh, so how come I have no problems picking up the girls?"

"Vampire Powers persuading them."

"/I/ don't need Powers for that."

Stefan laughed quietly to himself and headed off to the basement. The pair of them would keep on in this manner until one of them backed down, and /that/ could take quite a long time. Experience told him so.

***

Jessamyn Webber swore and pulled her hand back sharply. The old wooden box was riddled with splinters, and she frowned in annoyance as she pulled one from her finger, then stuck the wounded tip into her mouth to staunch the bleeding. She eyed the box warily for a moment, then cast her gaze around for something to protect her hands with. Nothing was forthcoming, and she sighed.

"Need a hand?"

"Uh?" Jess asked, whirling around, finger still in her mouth. Stefan stood there, the light from the small window at the top of the wall lighting up the grin on his handsome face. He was lounging against the wall by the steps, hands in pockets, and Jess felt a small pang of longing go through her. She hoped that his vision wasn't so good that he could see her flush in the half-dark, that he couldn't hear her heart beat that little bit faster. Normally everything was under control, she could hide her feelings. It was when he caught her off guard like this, when she was least expecting it, that she had problems. Not that Stefan seemed to notice. She guessed that he thought caught her at moments when she was wrapped in her own thoughts, which was, she supposed, what she was. It was when he caught her thinking about /him/ that she got a little flustered.

She hadn't meant to fall in love with him. When they first met, it had been the last thing on her mind. She knew he was a great guy, and she liked him as a friend. He was a good friend, and after he moved in, when she got to know him better, she started falling in love. She'd rebelled against it at first, reminding herself of what he was, that things couldn't work out. It hadn't worked out with him and Elena, and he was head over heels in love with her. Why should it work out with her, with a girl he probably thought of as one of the guys? She knew she was better off not taking her feelings anywhere, but it didn't make her stop wanting him. So she kept it a secret, even from Mike. Although she suspected her brother knew, and Cookie had been giving her strange and thoughtful looks lately. That didn't worry her too much, but the sudden grins did. Like her friend /knew/ something she didn't, something she wouldn't elaborate on when questioned. She supposed it didn't matter, so long as Stefan didn't know. She'd die if he found out, and be devastated if she lost his friendship because of it.

"You need any help?" Stefan asked again.

Jess pulled her finger hastily from her mouth. "Um. Yes and no." She grinned. "Mom needs a box of Gran's old dishes. She's run out of crockery for the party. Problem is it's in a stupid box that's fighting back." She sighed.

"You can see it in this darkness?" Stefan seemed a little surprised.

"It's not /that/ dark. Human eyesight isn't that bad. There's enough light from the little window." She said. "Although it might be nice if someone replaced that broken bulb at some point."

Stefan laughed. "What's the problem with the box? You can lift it okay?"

"I would if I could get to it." She snorted. "Damn thing is covered in splinters and I can't get a grip."

"That explains the finger."

"Yeah." She grimaced.

"You might want a Band-Aid on that. It's still bleeding."

"Huh?" She looked closely and realised he was right.

"I can smell it." He explained, shrugging. "Tell you what, you go get a light bulb and a Band-Aid, and I'll bring the box." He suggested.

"Thanks." Jess replied, grinning with relief. "You might want something for your hands, though."

"Nah. I'll be fine." He smiled.

"Okay then, if you're sure. It's this one." She told him, pointing. She moved for the steps and slipped past him, her sweater brushing his as she climbed the stairs into the kitchen.

"You have the box, honey?" Her mom asked her as she came through the door.

"Stefan's bringing it up. The box is too splintery to carry without gloves. I think we should pack the stuff back up in a new box when we're done. Use the old one for fire-wood or something." Jess told her mom as she stuck a Band-Aid on her finger and began hunting through the cupboards.

"Okay, we'll do that. Last thing I want is any of the kids playing down there and getting injured from it."

Stefan emerged a moment later from the basement, sweater covered with splinters. "Where do you want this?" He asked, placing it on the table at Hazel's direction, then brushed the splinters from his hands, and /tried/ to remove them from his clothes.

"Hey mom, have we got any spare light bulbs?" Jess asked, opening another cupboard.

"Top left-hand cupboard."

"Cool." Jess said, and began to climb the counter to get to it.

"Jess, why don't you use the step ladder?"

"It's too easy, mom." Jess laughed, opening the cupboard and grabbing a bulb. One of the cats chose that moment to jump onto the counter. The shock from the contact it's fur made with her bare ankle caused her to slip and lose her footing. She tumbled from the side to her mother's dismay and fear, only to find herself land safely in Stefan's strong and gentle arms. Her breath caught in her throat, more from the contact with Stefan than the shock of falling.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concern written all over his face.

"I'm fine." Jess smiled. She had no idea how she said that so steadily. "Thanks for saving me."

"Anytime." He smiled back, putting her gently on her feet. Was it her imagination, she wondered, or did Stefan hold on to her a little longer than necessary?

"Next time, young lady, you use the step-ladder." Her mom told her in a stern but relieved tone.

"Sure, whatever, mom." Jess sighed, then turned to Stefan and waved the light bulb at him. "Hey, I didn't drop it." She grinned.

"Where's the light?" Stefan asked, plucking it from her fingers.

"I can do it." She protested.

"Not shaking the way you are you're not." He told her, and she frowned as she realised he was right. She /was/ shaking a little. She felt a twinge of annoyance with herself, then pushed it to one side as she directed Stefan to the bulb socket at the top of the steps. She couldn't help admiring his body as he stretched up to twist the bulb in place.

"Let there be light." He said, and flipped the switch. The bulb lit the basement up like it hadn't been for at least a year. Jess blinked in surprise as Stefan's dilated eyes suddenly reduced to a more 'normal' size. "Whoa. So /that's/ what the basement looks like." He laughed, and Jess laughed with him, sharing a silly joke that was just theirs. It made Jess feel light headed and happy, and the buzz stayed with her for the rest of the day.