Dancing Snow
–-:epilogue.
\\.Tennyo
---
Serena awoke with a horrible headache that grew increasingly hard to ignore. She groaned and got up, blinking at the lights shining from her window. She stumbled a little as she made her way into her bedroom. She must've had a wild night or something, she felt like she was having a hangover.
Serena's mind was a little bit fogged up. It must've been a strong shot she downed; otherwise, she would have remembered something. However, as she got herself ready for the day, her mind didn't clear up much. The pounding headache receded to a slight ebb, but nothing else improved.
She made her way into her bedroom, tripping over a few articles of clothing. Really, she needed to clean her room one day. Who knew how long it would take for someone to find her if she accidentally lost her footing and broke her neck?
Oh never mind her pitiful life.
Serena glanced at the calendar hanging next to her window. Crap! It was Christmas Day! She was supposed to spend the evening with her family and she hadn't even bought presents yet!
Serena dressed hurriedly and ran around her room, trying to find her shoes. God! Nothing ever went right for her! Why can't something just happen the way she wanted to for once in her life!
When Serena entered her living room, she slowed her pace until she came into a full stop.
What… in the world…?
Her usually sparse living room was teeming with Christmas decorations, complete with a bulging Christmas tree tucked into the corner. There were boxes of presents flowing at every available space, but the centerpiece- the centerpiece was what had stopped Serena in her tracks.
Sitting on her sofa was none other than Mr. Darien Shields dressed in a larger version of his former clothing, but with a red dress-shirt on instead.
"Surprise?" he grinned.
Serena opened and closed her mouth several times, not really acknowledging the fact that she must look like a fish to this gorgeous man.
"What…?" she stumbled, "How did you…?"
Serena noticed that his voice was much deeper than his young former self had been. Wait a minute, this was entirely too weird. His young former self? It was one thing to get over the initial shock of finding her living room completely changed overnight, but it was quite another to find such a striking man sitting in the middle of it all.
Darien got up and led her towards the sofa. He sat next to her and peered over her head. "You know, you look a lot shorter than I remembered."
She gulped and looked at him, "Well, you're a whole lot taller."
Serena has a sudden uncontrollable urge to laugh. And laugh she did, in a most unladylike way that oddly resembled that of a braying donkey. But it was all right, everything seemed all right at that moment.
Surrounded by the warmth of a gorgeous man sitting next to her, Serena could definitely get used to this.
Just as quickly, her laughter died down and her eyes brimmed with tears.
"What's wrong?" Darien asked in concern.
"I don't know," she rambled, "I don't' know what's going on. First you were this little boy. Now you're this handsome man. But he took you away. I don't know how, but Santa Clause took you away just when I thought I would be happy with the idea of taking care of a little kid. But now look at you! You're all grown up. I don't know if I should be proud in a motherly sort of way, or be freaked out in a normal sort of way. I just-" Serena shook her head and flapped her hands onto her lap, "I just don't know anymore."
Darien got up and offered her hand. Uncertainly, Serena took it. The shock was making her do this. Really, it was the shock that made her look like a fool. If she was given a day, or two, or maybe just a week to absorb all of this, then she'd be much better than she was now.
However, when Serena took his hand, all her worries were left behind as she was enthralled by his midnight blue eyes. He was a good head taller than she was now, but she didn't find anything wrong with that.
Slowly, he led her outside. It was snowing again, but not as hard as it was before. The gentle snowflakes were slowly dancing in the air to its own music, waiting to rest on the white blanket of snow. Darien led her by a path to a circle that was cleared of snow.
Out of nowhere, slow music echoed throughout the courtyard behind Serena's apartment. Darien pulled Serena close to him and pulled his overcoat over her. Together, they swayed back and forth, back and forth.
Serena leaned her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist. All worries and thoughts had escaped her, and the only thing left was a sense of belonging that consumed her senses.
Serena snuggled in closer and continued to dance with him.
She was home at last.
---+
Old Lady Waltham whacked her grandson on the head. "Johnny! What do you think you're doing letting Serena go out there in the cold like that!"
Mr. Waltham winced. He was glad, at the very least, that his wife wasn't here to nag him as well. She was still in their factory, taking care of things. Mrs. Santa Clause was really the one that made Christmas happen.
Sure, he took care of the delivering on Christmas Eve, but before then, she was the one that hustled about, making sure every single child received a present come Christmas time.
"Look!" he insisted, "It's more romantic that way. See how he wrapped her coat around her? I think that's sweet."
"I don't think so! Why won't you just make him buy her a jacket?" Old Lady Waltham complained, "She bought him one!"
"Well look at all the presents he bought her!"
"Are any of those a jacket?"
"…Probably!"
Together, the two old farts looked on lovingly at the sight before them. From their position on top of the roof, they had a pretty decent view. Good thing the elves were here, otherwise there wouldn't be any of that lovely music that the two tots were dancing to.
Speaking of which, old Grumpy was still complaining about Serena's "rude" behavior at the mall. Really, Mr. Waltham had chided, he needed to keep his temper in check. Happy agreed with Mr. Waltham, saying that the beautiful Serena had been a delight to be around at the supermarket.
Grumpy and Happy bickered for a while longer, but when the music stopped, everyone fell silent.
Serena and Darien danced to their own tune for a while, then Darien pulled away.
"Darnit!" Grumpy complained, "Why didn't anyone bring in the sound amplifier? Now we can't hear what they're saying!"
"Hush!" Old Lady Waltham said, "We need to give them their privacy!"
The audience looked on as Darien probably said something romantic that Serena blushed to. Then, he brought her closer and planted a soft kiss on her lips.
The audience just couldn't contain themselves here.
"Awwwww!"
Serena quickly broke away and looked around her. Finally, she saw the culprits who had disturbed one of the most romantic moments of her life.
"Santa!" she yelled, "STOP PEAKING AND GO BACK TO MRS. SANTA CLAUSE!"
Mr. Waltham and crew had the decency to blush. Slowly, they piled back into the sleigh; taking care to look back a few times to see if anymore had happened. Unfortunately, Serena was staring daggers at them. They were all sorely disappointed to find there were no more mushy displays left to be seen.
When the last of the jingles died away, Darien pulled Serena back to him.
"Merry Christmas, Serena," he whispered while leaning his forehead on hers.
"Mer-"
Serena was interrupted by a sudden onslaught of jingles. Overhead, Santa and the elves came rushing back to the scene.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL," they bellowed, "AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!"
Quickly, Santa led the reindeers away before Serena could hit them with her ice-packed snowball.
That girl got a good aim.
~el fin~
Merry Christmas everyone!
*tosses cookies*
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