A World Apart
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on, our troubles will be out of sight . . .

25th December, 1996

Dear Percy,

Happy Christmas!!! I hope you're having a blast! It's 9:30 AM here in America, which means it's about 2:30 in England so you already opened all your presents. Lucky!!! I hope you got lots of good stuff! I have your present sitting next to me waiting to be delivered to you. You'll get it when I come home.

Aleta, Pierce, and Evan are all in the kitchen making breakfast. Pierce said something about PANCAKES WITH CHOCOLATE SYRUP!!!!! (As if I need any more sugar.) Rees says we have to eat before we open presents which really stinks. There's this HUUUGE package under the tree and Antares hinted it was for me!!! It's probably a rock or something, knowing Antares, but I don't care it's a PRESENT!!!!!!

Okay, now that Lana has stopped hovering over my shoulder, I can actually write what I want to.

I really miss you, Perce. I wish I could have spent Christmas with you this year. Don't get me wrong, I love my teammates, but I love you more. The twins have told me so much about Christmas at your house that I was really looking forward to being there this year. Maybe next year we'll have a crappy year and we won't be going to the Christmas Day Invitational.

No, that's a bad thing to say. I want us to do well, but I want to spend Christmas with you.

Anyway, I'm sitting by the window in our hotel room, and I can see the Rockefeller Center from here. They've got an ice-skating rink set up in the courtyard in front of it, and I can't look at it without remembering that one time in our fourth year when the lake was frozen over and I was able to drag you out for some ice-skating. Remember that? I've never seen anyone take to ice-skating so quickly.

You'd love New York in the winter. I'm bringing pictures, so you'll get to see it. Hey, maybe we can come here for Christmas next year. That'd be great. I'll have to ask your mom about that.

Aleta just yelled something about breakfast, so I better go. I'll see you soon. Think of me fondly.

Love,

Oliver

PS. Tell the twins Happy Christmas and hit them upside the head for me.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
From now on our troubles will be miles away . . .

perce and ol belong to jkr. the song belongs to god knows who. now go read the next chapter, you know you want to . . .

oh! i almost forgot. rees, lana, aleta, pierce, antares, and evan are all original members of puddlemere united. they'll be featured slightly more prominently in another percy/oliver story i'm working on. so yeah, they're (c) me.