Kaitlin woke up, her mind taking a moment to process her surroundings. She was still curled up on the couch, a blanket covering her. She sat up, adjusting her glasses. Her hair had long since freed itself from the cumbersome bun and was now, she imagined, sticking straight out from her head.

Once her vision cleared, she saw Alec sitting in a chair, watching her. To her surprise, she saw a few rays of sunlight stretching to reach through the window. "What time is it?" she asked sleepily, willing her eyes not to close again.

He looked at his watch. "About seven o'clock."

"Seven o'clock?" she repeated. "In the morning?" Sleep was quickly draining away, to be replaced by panic. "I told you to wake me up at eleven last night!"

He shrugged, apparently unaffected by her growing hysteria. "You were sleeping."

"Yeah, that's where the whole 'wake me up' part came in!" Sighing, she looked at the empty space beneath the Christmas tree. Except that it wasn't empty. The presents were there. She looked at Alec. He was sitting there, a small smile on his face, waiting for her reaction. "You did this?" He nodded.

She looked at the presents again, then back at Alec. Slowly, a smile spread across her face. "Thank you," she said simply.

I can't believe he did that for me, she thought. Then her thoughts took an unexpected turn, causing her to blush and avert her gaze as she realized where her thoughts were going. "Thank you," she murmured again.

Alec, sensing a change in mood, was about to say something, but then they heard Saul upstairs yelling, "It's Christmas! Wake up, everybody!" He clambered down the stairs and bounded into the room. "Santa came!" he yelled happily.

Kaitlin ran over and picked him up before he could attack the presents. "Just a second, mister. We have to wait for the others. Then you can start opening presents."

Luckily, Saul didn't have to wait long. Soon the others were heard coming down the stairs. Beth and Jesse entered, yawning and rubbing their eyes blearily. Sola followed them, her face expressionless, but her eyes taking in everything. Mum came in soon after, appearing not only awake, but energetic besides.

"Merry Christmas!" she said cheerfully.

"Merry Christmas, Mum," Kaitlin replied, smiling.

"Merry Christmas," the others chorused dutifully.

"Everyone accounted for?" Mum asked.

Kaitlin nodded. "Yup, everyone's here." She picked up a present and looked at the tag. "For Saul." She handed it to him.

Saul made short work of the wrapping paper, tearing it off excitedly. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "A truck!" He promptly sat down and started rolling it back and forth on the floor.

Kaitlin picked up another present. "For Beth. Merry Christmas, Beth."

"Merry Christmas," Beth answered shyly as she took the gift from her. She unwrapped it neatly, laying the wrapping paper and bow to one side. "Little Women." She looked up and smiled. "Thank you, Kait."

"You're welcome," Kaitlin answered, returning the smile. "Would you pick out the next one?"

Beth nodded and selected a present. "For Mum."

And so on and so forth. After all the presents had been opened, Mum asked if anyone was hungry. "I am!" Saul announced, still rolling his truck back and forth quite happily.

"To tell you the truth, Mum, so am I," Beth spoke up. The others voiced their agreement.

"All right then. How do pancakes sound?" Mum asked, smiling. There was a unanimous vote of approval to this proposal, and she left, humming a Christmas carol to herself.

Kaitlin was leaning against the door, a faint smile on her face, watching the others. Alec stood up and crossed to her. "Hey, Kaitlin."

"Hey, Alec," she said. "Sorry if you feel a little left out."

"About that. I was thinking, I should probably get going. I don't want to wear out my welcome."

"Is anyone expecting you at home?" she asked.

"No, but--"

"Then stay." He looked at her curiously, but she wasn't looking at him. In fact, she was steadfastly staring at something on the other side of the room.

Just then, Saul yelled, "Kait and Alec are underneath the mistletoe!"

Both of them looked up. Sure enough, there was a sprig right above their heads.

"Why? What does that mean?" Alec whispered to her.

She seemed embarrassed as she explained, "It means -- well, traditionally -- when two people are underneath the mistletoe -- they're supposed to."

"Kiss," Beth finished, having heard their exchange. She smiled as they both looked at her. "Sorry, Kait, but it seemed like you were never going to spit it out."

"I wasn't," Kaitlin muttered under her breath. She looked around for help, but found none. Even Mum was standing in the doorway, grinning broadly.

She looked at Alec. He smiled and raised his eyebrows. "If it's a kiss they want, it's a kiss they'll get." Before she could ask what he meant by that, he dipped her backwards and kissed her. When he finally let her go, her face was scarlet, and she quickly moved to the other side of the room.

Alec frowned. That was not how most women usually reacted after he kissed them. Not that Kaitlin was like any of the other women he'd ever kissed, but still.

From across the room, Mum watched the two young people, and smiled knowingly.

~*~

After breakfast, they all went outside, except for Mum, who claimed her arthritis was bothering her. Once outside, it wasn't long before a snowball fight ensued. It was every man for himself, as Alec soon found out after being the victim of a few well-aimed snowballs.

Trying to get Sola involved, Kaitlin threw a snowball at her. The little girl just looked startled and didn't respond. Kaitlin waited for her to do something, anything, even break into tears, but there was no reaction. Finally, she turned away, intending to retaliate for the snowball Jesse had just thrown at her.

She felt something hit her in the back, and turned around. Sola was standing there, a big grin on her face. Kaitlin laughed and threw another one at her. This time, Sola didn't even wait for her to turn around.

Meanwhile, Alec was dealing with a little problem of his own. He had seen Saul a few feet away, staring at him. Trying to be friendly, he said, "Hey, kid. You're Saul, right?"

The little boy nodded. Suddenly, a snowball flew out of nowhere, straight at Saul, and he dove behind Alec, clutching his leg. "It's okay, kid. The snowball's gone. You can let go now," Alec told him.

But Saul didn't budge.

"C'mon, kid, let go," Alec said desperately, trying to shake him off.

Still he didn't move.

"A little help here!" he called, still trying to shake him off. "Please! Someone. Anyone."

Seeing no one rushing to his aid, he sighed. He didn't want to have to do this, but it looked like there was no other way. He pulled out his wallet. "Okay, here's five bucks, kid. Scram."

But Saul ignored the money, didn't even lift his head.

"Hey, Kaitlin!" he called. "Can you get this kid off me?"

She looked up when she heard her name called. Upon seeing his predicament, not to mention the pained expression on his face, she started laughing.

"Thanks, that helped," Alec muttered.

As soon as she had stopped laughing, which took a surprising amount of time, she made her way over to them. "Looks like Saul's gotten quite attached to you," she said, trying not to smile.

"Ha ha, very funny," Alec said dryly. "Just get him off me."

Still biting back a smile, she knelt so that she was at eye level with Saul. "C'mere, Saul," she said lightly. Saul shook his head and clung tighter to Alec's leg. She looked up at Alec. "Sorry, Alec, I don't think he's coming off."

Just then, they heard someone yell, "Fire!" and a barrage of snowballs assailed them. That started another snowball fight, except this time there were teams: Kaitlin and Alec-n'-Saul vs. Beth, Jesse, and Sola. Saul wasn't too helpful, seeing as how he refused to let go of Alec's leg, and that in turn inhibited Alec's ability to throw and dodge snowballs. So Kaitlin pulled the weight for her team, which turned out to be a good thing, considering that she had a good aim and a better throw.

When they headed in two hours later, they were exhausted but in high spirits. Once inside, Mum finally got Saul to let go of Alec. ("He's taken quite a liking to you." "Yeah, he's also taken quite a grip.") For while Saul might not have listened to the others, not to listen to Mum was sacrilege.

After they cleaned up, they settled down to watch It's a Wonderful Life. After returning from a talk with Mum, Kaitlin found that the only free seat was on the couch. Next to Alec.

It's no big deal. You're just sitting next to him. It's not like you're. She remembered the scene under the mistletoe and blushed. Well, never mind. Anyway, you're just going to be sitting next to him, so don't have a nervous breakdown.

Hoping her face had returned to its normal color, she sat next to him as the movie began. See? Not so bad. Despite all the self-coaching, she sat rigidly, staring at the television screen but not really seeing what was on it.

Eventually though, it passed, and she was able to watch little Mary sitting on the stool while little George asked her if she wanted coconuts on top with as much enjoyment as she ever had. That is, until Alec decided to rest his arm on the back of the couch. She could feel his arm brushing her shoulders.

Movie, she directed herself. See George. See George argue with Mr. Potter yet again. Isn't this exciting?

She sighed inwardly. It was going to be a long movie.

~*~

Alec caught himself looking at Kaitlin out of the corner of his eye, and once again wondered how he could have ever thought she was only moderately pretty. The light from the television screen cast a soft glow on her face, giving her an ethereal appearance. She had a natural beauty, so unlike any of the women Alec knew.

He had only known her for two days, but it felt like forever. She sighed, and Alec wondered what she was thinking about. Not the movie, certainly; he had never seen anything so boring in his life. He could feel her back brushing against his arm. The casual contact sent shivers up his spine, and not for the first time, he wondered what she was doing to him.

~*~

Afterwards, Alec and Kaitlin found themselves sitting together alone. She had an odd feeling that it had been deliberate. Which meant that there was a good chance that there were five pairs of ears outside listening at the door right now. Oh, well.

Suddenly, Alec said, "Do you get the feeling that they did this on purpose?"

"You got that feeling, too? I thought it was just me," she replied with a smile. After a while, she ventured, "So.did you have a nice Christmas?"

"Yeah, I did," he answered, smiling at her.

She smiled back. "Me, too." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, Alec."

"Merry Christmas."

He was starting to understand what that meant.