AUTHORS NOTE: The San January Ballet is not a real company, I just made it up. Once again I don't own any Degrassi Characters, just Callie.

Craig opened his eyes slowly, letting the bask of the morning light naturally awake him. He stretched his arms out to soothe over Callie's hair, only to find a large fluffy pillow and a note.

Dear Craig –

Thank you...so much. That meant a lot to me last night, you're great. But I really had to go...consider this an I.O.U...IOU one galaxy, because I don't know anyone who would have ever done that for me...

Yours Always,

Callie.

He was sad that she had left and walked over to the table. It was almost 7AM and he noticed a large plate of toast and eggs on the table, accompanied by a small vase of the daises Angie had planted. Craig smiled and took a bite of the toast. He called Spinner back, leaving a message on his machine about what happened last night. As he was leaving the message, he saw a large ad in the newspaper. "The Sans January Ballet Company presents 'The Nutcracker'. One night only." A lightbulb clicked, and he finished his message. About an hour later he called Callie on her cell phone.

"Hello?"
"Callie?"

"Craig?" Silence. That was pretty rude about the note. I hope he's not mad.

"Did you go home? Where are you?"

"At home. When I came back I found a note on my door that Brooke and Paul went to Stoufville to work out...some things. Its just me and Aaron here for a whole week."

"Great. Tonight. I'm coming to pick you up at 7pm. Think of it as a belated, belated, belated birthday gift. Wear something nice."

"Where are we going?" Craig hung up the phone and smiled.

6:49. 6:50:15. 6:51:22. 6:55:44. Callie couldn't stop looking in her mirror and at her clock. She decided on a soft black lacey mini dress with strappy heels and a silver hand bag. Her hair was down and curled – she spent hours perfecting every curly tendril to fall perfectly on her face. Aaron was walking by and peaked his head in her room.

"You look hot. If you weren't Brooke's daughter I'd jump on you. You don't have the legs for it though. You look like a hooker!" He laughed.

She looked down at her thighs unhappily. How can you be a dancer with this figure? The doorbell rang, and Callie jumped. She put on some lip-gloss and walked down the stairs. She grabbed Craig's leather jacket (which she had claimed as her own) and opened the door. The second she opened it, Craig was in amazement. She looked absolutely stunning.

"Hey."

"Hey." Callie shut the door and turned around, brushing the snow off her curls. Craig smiled and reeled her into his arms, not even realizing she didn't have his coat on, and started to kiss her. She started to kiss him back and wrapped her long arms around his neck.

"We need to go, or we'll be late." He grabbed her hand and took her to his car. She made her shut her eyes the whole way there, and when they finally go to the theatre, he led her out of the car and in front of a large lighted sign, hands covering her eyes.

"I know your birthday was a while ago, second day of school, but..."

He released his hands off her eyes, and when she opened them she smiled profusely. Before her, all she could see was a large sign with glowing lights around it that read 'The Nutcracker', and hear variations of classical music blasting as people entered the theatre in hordes. She screamed and threw her arms around Craig with happiness. He lifted her in the air and spun her around, kissing her.

"Happy Birthday."

After the play was over, Craig walked Callie up to her door, holding her hand. She unlocked the door and stepped inside.

"Wanna come in?" She said, taking off his jacket and putting it on the coat rack. They walked upstairs into Callie's room, and Craig was in shock. There was a piece of bloody glass in the corner. He decided he wouldn't ask about it.

"I'll be right back." Callie said, walking into her bathroom. Craig walked over to her computer and turned on the monitor, where an AIM instant message screen was up.

It said: IM to SmileyGurl in a blank box. His heart sank. WHY IS CALLIE TALKING TO MANNY? He turned off the monitor when he heard her footsteps, and decided to turn her radio. "Everything" by Lifehouse was playing, and when Callie came out of the bathroom, he took her hand.

"Dance with me." They started to slow dance, and Callie felt Craig's warm breath on her ear.

"You are the light that's leading me, to the place, where I find peace again – you are the light to my soul – you're my everything – you calm the storms and you give me breath - how can I stand here with you and not be moved you? Would you tell me how could it be any better than this."

She loved his voice. She kissed him, and they somehow fell onto her bed. She rolled over on top of him, strattling him. He wanted to do this, but he always had the thought in the back of his mind about what happened with Manny could happen again. So they kissed – and he did like the way she felt on top of him. He started to undo his belt, and Callie saw where this was going. She put her hand over the belt buckle and started undoing it herself, laughing.

"I Love You," She said, stopping. He shut his eyes and gulped. Maybe he didn't hear me. "Umm, I love you."

Why do girls always pick the worst times to say this? First with Ashley, now like this. I can't say it when put on the spot.

"Callie...I...I..." She knew were this was going. He wasn't going to say it.

"Do you love me?"

"Its just that –" Why do I always freeze under pressure? Just say it. Why can I say it to her any other time but now?

Callie's mouth dropped and she got off of him, throwing his Northface coat at him.

"You need to go." She said, throwing the jacket at him roughly.