Teddy didn't show up until after they'd all eaten. He immediately took to Andie's side, and he was shy for once.

"Delia," Aunt Marian called from the kitchen. "Will you bring the egg nog out to the living room for me?"

Rolling her eyes, Delia set her empty plate down on the floor and stood up, dusting crumbs off her clothes.

"Want help?" Dexter asked her.

Smiling to herself as she looked down at him, she knew that he probably wasn't really interested in lending a hand, he just didn't have any other friends. He was out of place being the oldest in the group. "I would love some." She helped him get to his feet and led him to the kitchen. In his own home, he moved around as effortlessly as a sighted person, but he had never been to the Chambers' home, so he was pretty helpless.

Taking up the punch bowl in her arms, she asked Dexter if he minded carrying the plastic cups.

"Egg nog?" Tabitha cried. "Yum!"

She and Vern immediately poured themselves glasses, filling them to the top.

"Delia," Dexter said softly, holding onto her familiar arm. "Would you care to show me where your bathroom is?"

"Sure," she said, guiding him down the hall, not talking so that he could count the steps to find his way back. She decided she liked taking care of him even if he didn't like being taken care of. "Oh my."

"What?" he asked. "Did we lose the bathroom?"

"No. Mistletoe."

A grin spread across his face. "Is this just an excuse to kiss me or are we really standing under mistletoe?"

She smiled her distantly aloof smile. "You'll never know."

Dexter's hand touched her shoulder, and then moved up to her cheek until his fingers brushed her lips.

He was very close now. She closed her eyes and felt a softness on her lips. The muscles in her back and shoulders tensed up as her arms went around him.

Delia kissed him back.

Teddy's first reaction when he saw Dexter and Delia together was, "This is the second time in two weeks I've had the pleasure of walking in on someone."

Teddy's second reaction could only be construed as jealously. He lunged forward as they pulled away and saw him. Under other circumstances it would've been funny because he looked like an enraged Superman minus the cape.

But it wasn't funny when one of his clenched fists connected with Dexter's nose. Delia screamed as Dexter went down limply. "Teddy! What the fuck!"

"Oh damn," Teddy muttered, berating himself silently.

"What is wrong with you?" she yelled.

"With me? What's wrong with you? What are you doing with the blind wonder?"

"Don't you dare condescend to Dexter!" she shouted, and he flinched. Delia never really shouted or became angry. She was the type to deliver a few cheap shots guaranteed to alienate and hurt feelings to spare her own. "And don't give me some crap about you being jealous!"

Since Teddy and Delia were busy yelling at each other, Andie was the first to run down the hall and kneel at Dexter's side. The others were laughing and listening to music. She was being excluded from the conversation, so she was the only one to hear the fight. "Hey," she murmured. "You okay, Dex?"

He sat up, holding his nose. "Ow."

Delia looked down at the brother and sister. Andie was softly reassuring him that he wasn't bleeding. Dexter was holding onto her arm. Delia shook her head angrily at Teddy and dropped to her knees, running her fingers through Dexter's soft brown hair.

Andie glanced up, noticing Teddy for what seemed like the first time. "What exactly happened here?"

"I had to pee," Teddy said. "I come down the hall and these two are making out.

Andie grinned and mussed up her brother's hair affectionately. "Atta boy."

"Thank you Andie," he said back mildly.

"I didn't even know you liked Delia," she giggled.

"Well, I do," he admitted. "That, and there's mistletoe."

"Mistletoe?" Andie looked around. "Where? I don't see any mistletoe."

"Andie," Delia growled, blushing. "Shut up."

"Oh!" She grinned. "THAT mistletoe!"

Teddy raked his hands through his hair. "I have to go."

"Teddy," Delia sighed. "You don't have to."

"Yeah I do. Enjoy your party. No hard feelings."

Dexter called out cheerfully, "Merry Christmas, Teddy!"

Delia and Andie both looked at Dexter tenderly. Maybe the girls actually had something in common. They both loved Dexter.

"Hey," Libby called when the three of them returned. "Teddy left."

"Yes, we know," Delia said. "He hurt Dexter's face."

Abby beamed. "It's not a party until something gets broken."

"But I'm just fine," Dexter said. "Nobody get up or anything."

Tabitha found out that she loved egg nog and it made her very happy. She had finished most of the bowl on her own, with some help from Vern.

"I wanna go home with Teddy," she decided, already slurring.

Gordie glanced over at Libby. "She gets drunk this fast? She's only been drinking for seven minutes."

"I guess so. She's never been drunk before so this comes as a surprise to me too."

"I'm not DRUNK," Tabitha exclaimed, going to pour herself another glass.

"No, no, no," Gordie said, taking the glass away. "I'm cutting you off."

Tabitha stared at him in confusion and then looked at Chris, wide eyed. "Your boyfriend is very stodgy."

Libby buried her face in her hands.

"This is a terrible party," Abby announced. "The blind guy got hurt, the best partier among us went home at seven o'clock, and only one person is drunk and she's not even dancing with a lamp shade on her head."

"Sorry, Abby," Gordie said, not very sorry at all. "Would you like me to dance around with a lamp shade on my head?"

"Will you be naked when you do this?"

Chris buried his face in his hands.

"No, probably not," Gordie replied.

"Then I probably don't want you to dance."

Libby got off the recliner she and Chris were squeezed into. She patted him on the head. "I'm going to go get a glass of milk."

"Why?"

"Don't question me." She smiled at him. "Delia, I need your help with the milk."

Delia eyed her strangely, but followed her to the kitchen.

"Hello, don't' mind us," Delia said cheerfully to her aunt and uncle, who were talking over a bottle of wine. She opened the fridge door and peered in. "What's all this about?" she whispered to Libby behind the fridge door.

"I never knew you knew how to blush," Libby whispered back.

Delia stared at her in disbelief. "You're too damn smart for your own good, Libby."

"I am not smart," she said firmly, grinning. "I'm just very observant."

"I should stop hanging around. I'll never be able to keep a secret."

"I kinda thought you liked Andie's brother."

"He's not 'Andie's brother,' Libby, his name is Dexter."

"Are you trying to refrigerate the whole neighbourhood?" Delia's uncle asked pleasantly.

"Yes, sir," Delia replied.

"So what happened?" Libby asked eagerly.

"I was showing him where the bathroom was--"

"Doing it in the bathroom," Libby said appreciatively. "I approve!"

"No, you sick monkey!" she laughed, and slapped her when she began to giggle so hard that she choked. "Shh!"

"It's so ROMANTIC though!" Libby cried. "Two sweating bodies amid the potpourri and toilet paper--wait, it was just the two of you, right?"

"No. Andie and Teddy got in on it too," Delia said sarcastically. "Anyway. I told him we were standing under mistletoe."

Libby's laughter was so out of control that all she could was snicker and convulse. Sex in the bathroom was funny. "Sex in the bathroom is funny," she said out loud.

"I didn't have sex in the bathroom!" Delia snapped.

"Good to know!" Aunt Marian called.

Delia glared at her friend.

"Sorry." Libby held up her hands in surrender, although tears from laughing streamed down her cheeks. "Tell me about your mistletoe now."

"Thank you." She sighed, frustrated. Libby had too much energy for her liking. "Okay. I told him we were standing under mistletoe."

"But there really wasn't and you made it up because he's blind!" Libby began to cackle again.

"Shh, it's not very nice to make fun of blind people."

"It's not very nice to lie to them either just so that you can MAKE OUT with them either."

"Granted." She grinned. "He didn't put up too much of a struggle though."