A/N – "Thoughts"

Chapter 6 – Christmas Promises

It was Christmas Eve and Miranda and Gordo were sitting in the Sanchez's living room. Miranda was sitting on one end of the couch and Gordo was lying down on the couch with his head in Miranda's lap. They had shut off all the lights so the only light in the room was from the decorated Christmas tree.

Last week, Miranda had gone with Gordo and his family to Hanukah services and tomorrow, Gordo was going with Miranda and her family to Christmas mass.

Miranda stared off into space, thinking, and absent mindedly played with Gordo's hair. Gordo looked up at her, "You ok Rand?" he asked softly.

Miranda snapped to and blinked a few times, "Uh?" Looking down at him, "I'm fine."

"You've been really quiet."

"So?" she asked him, slightly annoyed.

Gordo just grinned at her, reached up and brushed her cheek, "You only get really quiet when something is bothering you."

Miranda opened her mouth to say something but then paused for a moment, thinking again. "Can we survive a long distance relationship?"

Gordo sat up and looked at her, "Is that what's bothering you?"

"Part of it," Miranda said.

"Do you even know where you're going to go to school?" Gordo asked.

"No."

"Than why are you worried about this now?" The second the words left his mouth, Gordo knew he was in trouble.

Miranda glared at him furiously. "Cause unlike you, I care about our relationship," she shouted at him standing up. "Like it or not, this is something we're going to have to face," she yelled as she started to pace around the room, gesturing wildly.

Gordo tried to pick his words carefully. When Miranda was really mad, you do not want to provoke her. "Mir." Miranda glared at him, regarding him cautiously.

Standing up, he walked over to her. Gently but firmly cupped her face, he made her look at him. "Don't you ever say I don't care about our relationship," he said evenly but made sure he got his point across. "Ever since I found out I got into Harvard, I've been worried about what's gonna happen to us."

"You don't show it," Miranda said as her face slowly softened and she put her hands on his wrists.

Gordo let go of her and scooped her up in his arms and sat back down on the couch, with Miranda in his lap. "Its cause I don't want to make a mountain out of a mole hill. While I am scarred about our future, I'm waiting for all the facts before I start bouncing of the walls," Gordo joked as he finished.

Miranda smiled at him and rested her head in the crook of his neck. "Can we still talk about it?"

"Sure. If you want to."

She stayed quiet for a few minutes, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. "I'm scarred that if I go to school out east, I'm only going just because you're out there and I'd just be following you. While I want to be with you, I still want to live my own life. I'm scarred of making the wrong decision."

Hugging her, he gently nuzzled her hair. "I don't know what to tell you. While I would love nothing more than to have you out there with me, I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do or may regret later. I just want you to be happy."

Miranda stood up and started pacing again. "That's the problem. I don't know what'll make me happy. You make me happy and that's why I love you but I don't know if I should go with you out east or go to school here."

"Wait a minute. Back up," Gordo said suddenly and he stood up. Walking up to her, he stopped right in front of her. "What did you say?"

"I don't know if I should go out east or stay here," she said a little confused.

Gordo shook his head, "Before that."

"You make me happy and I lo," Miranda stopped mid-sentence as she realized what she had said. She slowly looked up at him, "I love you."

Looking at her with a mix of surprise, shock, and incredible happiness. Miranda quickly looked down embarrassed and a little uncomfortable.

"Rand," he softly called her. As she shyly looked up at him, Gordo gently caressed her check, "I love you too."

They looked at each other, neither really sure what to say or do next.

After a few minutes, Miranda broke the silence, "You know this just makes things even more difficult."

"I know," Gordo said as he nodded. Miranda stepped forward, threaded her arms around his waist, and hugged him tightly. Miranda rested her head against his as Gordo hugged her back.

The next morning, Christmas morning, the Sanchez's were flying around the house, trying to get ready for mass. Gordo just tried to stay out of the way. Standing in the living room, waiting, he kept adjusting his suit.

"Will you stop fidgeting?" Miranda scolded him with a smile as she walked into the room.

"Hey. You feeling any better?" he asked as he watched her walk towards him. She was wearing a simple dark purple dress and a pair of same color heels.

She shrugged, "A little. You?"

"Eh." Gordo reached back to the couch and picked up a wrapped package. "This is for you. Merry Christmas."

Miranda took the package and quickly unwrapped it. They had decided that Miranda would give him his gift during Hanukah and Gordo would give her her gift on Christmas.

She found a burned CD with her favorite songs on it. She smiled at him, "Thank you," she said to him and kissed him.

Gordo smiled too, "I wanted to give you something special but I kinda broke the bank a few weeks ago."

As they started walking towards her room, Miranda glanced at him. "What did you buy?" Walking into her room, she watched Gordo start to get really nervous. "What is it Gordo?"

"I wasn't sure if I wanted to give this to you for Christmas, or for Valentines Day, or your birthday, or even wait till Graduation. I bought it when I first realized that I really loved you, a little bit after Thanksgiving. We were outside, looking through my telescope. I knew you really didn't want to be out there and that you were really cold but you didn't complain about it like you normally would've and it meant a lot to me. That night I was just lying in bed thinking of how cute you looked huddled up in your sweat jacket with the hood up and pulled tight. I realized I didn't want to be with anyone else and I figured that's what love is. When you see a person's faults along with the good stuff, and you don't care and just want to be with them. So I went out and bought this. I know I wanted to give it to you, I just wasn't sure when. Than last night, when we were talking and you told me you loved me too and were stressing over our future, I decided to give it to you. I just wanted to make sure you knew how much you really mean to me," Gordo said as he fidgeted with his hands and bounced slightly.

Miranda grinned; she knew that when Gordo was nervous, he got twitchy and started to bounce around. A part of her was touched at what he was saying and now she really wanted to know what it was that he had spent so much money on.

"Its kinda simple but," Gordo started again but she stopped him.

"Gordo, you're rambling. What is it?"

Taking a deep breath, he reached into a pants pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box. Nervously, he handed the box to her.

"Its too small to be a necklace. Earrings? A ring maybe." Opening the box, Miranda gasped and a wide smile broke out on her face. "Its beautiful," she whispered. Inside the box, was a ring; it was a gold band and had a small diamond sphere intertwined with a small aquamarine sphere. The diamond was her birthstone and the aquamarine was his.

Gordo took the box out of her hand and slipped the ring onto her left ring finger. "I hope it fits, I wasn't sure about the size so I used your class ring as a measurement." He paused, stopping himself from rambling anymore and decided to just get to the point. "I just want you to know that I really care about you as a boyfriend and as a best friend. Now matter where we end up, I'll always be there for you no matter what."

Miranda started to tear up a little bit as she heard him. Gordo looked at her nervously but slowly relaxed has she reached out and took his hand. "Gordo." she said softly, "I love it and I love you."

Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around him and started to kiss him. They probably would've gone farther than just kissing but Mrs. Sanchez yelled up at them. "Hija! David! Time to go!"

Miranda pulled back and quickly checked her makeup but kept the huge smile on her face. After making sure everything was all right, she reached out with her left hand. Gordo smiled back and took her hand.

As they walked downstairs hand in hand, Miranda glanced at him. "David." She only used his real name when she was pissed at him or wanted to say something really serious. Gordo looked at her and Miranda continued. "I'll always be there for you too. No matter what."