To all of my reviewers: THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! What else can I say? You have been so supportive even when the story hasn't gone quite the way you would have liked. Some of you have reviewed almost every chapter and I can't tell you how much I appreciate your loyalty. To the new reviewers, thanks for coming on board. The reviews really encourage me to write more. I've also had some reviews lately for my old stories. Thanks to those of you who have gone back and read and reviewed my old stuff. It's nice to know they are still getting some hits and someone is still enjoying them.

Personal to Amy: I know you would like me to rewrite First Date from the opposite POV. I have tried it and found that I just seemed to be rehashing what had already been said. I'm not ignoring you and when you suggested it I thought it was a great idea. I just can't seem to make it work. Sorry!

Anyway, on with the story.

Chapter 10

Michelle awoke that morning and without even opening her eyes, she knew that Jack was lying next to her. She could sense him, feel the warmth of his body, smell the musky scent of their love. She rolled over and opened her eyes and she wasn't disappointed. Jack lay still sleeping beside her. She looked across him at the clock on the nightstand. It was 10:15. She hadn't expected to sleep this late, but then again, she hadn't expected to be awake until almost 3a.m. making love with Jack.

She smiled as the thought. She made love with Jack. She spent hours last night kissing and touching and becoming one with this man whom she had fallen hopelessly in love with. It was beautiful. The love they made was intense and tender and passionate and kind. She couldn't come up with enough adjectives to adequately describe it.

Jack began to stir. He stretched and slowly opened his eyes and smiled as soon as he saw her. "Good morning," he said as he stroked her face. "Do you always wake up this beautiful?"

"Only on mornings that you're blinded by love," she told him.

He kissed her sweetly. "Oh God, that was good, Honey. And I got the distinct impression that you might have enjoyed it, too."

"Every minute of it," she assured him.

"Good," he whispered playfully. "Want to do it again?"

"Absolutely."

"I'm glad," he said as he kissed her, "because I kind of woke up ready."

Michelle laughed and they began kissing in earnest and Jack climbed on top of her. Michelle loved the feeling of his weight on top of her. Their kisses had become slow and deep when a ringing phone broke their concentration.

"That's mine," Jack said with a sigh as he slid off of Michelle's body. He found his pants in the pile of clothes on the floor and dug the phone from his pocket.

"Don't answer it," Michelle suggested. "They can leave a message."

"Let me see who it is." Jack looked at the caller ID. "It's Kim," he said to Michelle. "Hi, Sweetheart," he said into the phone. "What are you doing calling so early? It's only 7:30 in LA."

"Hi, Daddy. I just wondered if you and Michelle were going to get a flight out of DC today."

"Not today, Honey. Jim Heller is having a party tonight at his house. Michelle and I are flying out tomorrow."

"Dad, haven't you heard any news this morning? DC is expecting 30-36 inches of snow by tomorrow. All of the airports will probably close later today."

"When did you hear that? The last I heard, we were supposed to get a couple of inches. When did the forecast change?"

"Have you looked out your window? The reports that I've seen show 8 -10 inches already on the ground in DC. The storm front that was coming up from the south stalled over the Chesapeake Bay. The meteorologist on the news said that they don't expect it to move out until Christmas Day."

"Are you kidding? I just woke up a couple of minutes ago. I haven't looked outside." Jack got off the bed, pulled on his boxer shorts and walked to the window.

"You just got up? You're usually up by 5:30."

"I know. We had a late night," he said winking at Michelle. He pulled back the curtain and looked out at a snow covered city. "Wow! Where did all of that come from?"

Jack peered out at a veritable winter wonderland. The entire city was blanketed in white. By now Michelle had put on a robe and was standing beside him at the window marveling at the beauty of the scene before her.

"Look, Honey. I'll call you back. I'm going to call the airlines and see if I can get us flights out. I'll talk to you later." Kim said goodbye and they disconnected.

"Do you think we can get a flight?" Michelle asked.

"I'll try. The storm came up from the south. If I can't get a flight out of DC or Baltimore, maybe we could drive north and get a flight out of Philadelphia or Newark. Why don't you get dressed and I'll see what I can find out."

Jack spent the next hour on the phone trying to find a flight to almost any point on the west coast from any airport in a 200 mile radius of Washington and found that it was hopeless. Christmas travel had all of the airlines booked to capacity and the knowledge that the airports would likely close by 5pm had would be travelers scrambling for any available flights. Jack was simply too late. Even flights from airports as far north as New York City were booked. There was no way for them to get to LA by Christmas and Jack wasn't sure how to break that news to Michelle. She was close to her family in LA and he doubted that she had ever spent a Christmas away from them. He hoped that she wasn't too upset.

Michelle stepped from the bathroom looking like she had lived her entire life in the Snow Belt. She had on a tight fitting turtleneck covered by a fleece vest, a pair of straight legged jeans and a rugged looking pair of ankle high boots. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail and she had a scarf draped around her neck.

"Any luck?" she asked.

Jack walked over to her and put his hands gently on her upper arms. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart," he said softly. "There are no available flights. I'm really sorry."

Michelle gave him a confused look. "Why are you sorry? It's not your fault that it's snowing."

"I'm sure you'd rather be at home for Christmas than stuck here under a couple of feet of snow."

"Jack, 'home' is a relative term," she said putting her arms around him. "I consider 'home' to be any place where I'm with people I love and right now, 'home' is with you. If I were in LA and you were snowed in here, I'd be miserable. I'm just happy that we're together. Besides, I've never seen a white Christmas before. This is a whole new experience."

Jack smiled and kissed her. "You're something special. Do you know that? I'm going to make sure that you have a Christmas that you'll never forget. Give me a few minutes to get dressed. That will give you time to pack up and we can check out of the hotel."

"Where are we going?"

"To my house."

"Can we drive through this? It looks awful out there."

"We'll do fine. Don't worry. Just get ready to go."

Soon Michelle had checked out of the hotel and the two were on their way. Jack wasn't exactly dressed for the weather. He didn't have a change of clothes, so he put on his shirt and pants and dress shoes from the night before and slipped a wool top coat over it. Michelle put on the quilted jacket that she had bought along with gloves and a pair of earmuffs. Jack was grateful that he had parked his SUV under cover so that they didn't have to dig it out from under nearly a foot of snow that had already fallen.

Jack put his car into four-wheel drive and the two were off. He made his way slowly over the snow covered streets. The main roads near the center of the city were clear, but secondary roads near his house hadn't been plowed yet. They were still several blocks from his house when Jack turned into a shopping center.

"Where are we going?" Michelle asked.

"Well, if you plan to eat, I think we better stop at the grocery store," Jack said as he pulled into a parking space.

"I hope you can cook, because you know I can't"

"It may not be a traditional Christmas dinner, but we won't starve," he told her as he gave her a light kiss. "Come on let's see what we can find."

They made their way through the blowing snow and into the store. Michelle pushed the cart though the almost deserted store while Jack picked out a variety of fruits and vegetables. Next he stopped in the bakery section to pick up bread and cinnamon rolls and a decedent looking cake. Then they moved on to the meat counter. This was a little like shopping with Tony, Michelle thought. She always walked along while he made the choices. The difference, she knew, was that Tony was virtually a gourmet cook while Jack had simply learned out of necessity to cook enough so that he wouldn't starve and he didn't have to eat every meal in a restaurant.

They finished quickly and Jack paid for the purchases and they were again back in the SUV driving through what was turning into a near blizzard. Just a few more blocks and they would be at Jack's house and Michelle couldn't wait. She found driving in the snow nerve wracking. She noticed that Jack didn't seem to mind.

"One more stop and then we'll go home," Jack told her as he made a right turn onto a side street.

"Where else do we need to stop?" Michelle asked.

"On the next street. We need a Christmas tree," he told her. "And there's a guy on the next street that's been selling trees since Thanksgiving. With any luck, he has a few left."

"I thought Christmas trees came out of a box in the attic," Michelle told him.

"Not a chance. This is our first Christmas together. We need a real tree."

Jack pulled up in front of a young man who was trying to warm himself next to a fire he had burning in a barrel. He still had a couple dozen trees under a canopy that he had erected and he apparently planned on selling them before he closed up shop. Wishful thinking, Michelle thought with amusement. We are probably the only people out looking for a Christmas tree today.

Jack opened the driver's side door. "Are you coming?" he asked Michelle.

She rolled her eyes. "I guess so," she sighed as she got out of the car once more.

Jack talked to the man and told him what he was looking for: a Douglas fir about six feet tall. The man showed Jack and Michelle four different trees that filled the bill. As he held up the fourth tree, Jack smiled.

"What do you think? I like that one."

"Your choice," Michelle told him. "I don't know a thing about picking out a Christmas tree."

The man baled it with netting and helped Jack tie it to the top of his car. He got back into the car looking very pleased with himself.

"Now we go home," Jack told Michelle as he put the SUV into gear.

"Jack," Michelle said with a hint of amusement creeping into her voice. "Do you have decorations for a Christmas tree?"

"Sort of," he answered. "Last year Audrey put up a tree for me. So I have a tree stand and lights and a few ornaments. The rest we'll have to improvise."

"Improvise?"

"Yeah, improvise," he said with a smile. "Michelle, my mother was the queen of making something out of nothing. My dad had a decent job, but he usually ended up drinking most of his take home pay. My mother was left to siphon off what she could and make due with it. Christmas tree decorations were never in the budget but I never remember having a tree that wasn't covered with decorations." He smiled wistfully. "Ma was incredible. I wish you could have met her. She would have liked you."

Michelle smiled back at him not quite knowing what to say. His mother had died of breast cancer when he was only seventeen. He left home a year later unable to get along with his alcoholic father. He rarely spoke of either of them. It was obviously too painful.

Fifteen minutes later they pulled up to Jack's brownstone. There was no point in trying to get in the driveway. He would have to shovel before he could do that. So instead he pulled up to the curb. The street really hadn't been plowed, but enough other cars had gone over the snow to pack it down on the street.

Jack smiled when he saw the house. He loved this house from the moment he saw it. It was old and had wonderful character. The ceilings were high and big windows allowed in lots of light. The hard wood floors were shined to a high gloss and the cherry paneling in his study was dark and masculine. He knew that he paid too much for it, but he really didn't care. He was at a point in his life where he could be extravagant if he wanted to. His only child was educated and had a family of her own. He had no one to answer to but himself.

They unpacked the car and made their way to the porch where they stomped their feet to rid them of snow before going inside. Once inside, they put away the groceries and made a quick lunch. Jack changed clothes and the two went outside to begin shoveling.

"Okay, Miss Southern California, this is a snow shovel," Jack said as he handed her a broad, flat shovel.

"Really, Jack? I would have never guessed," she said back sarcastically.

The two went to work clearing the driveway and the sidewalk. They fell silent and worked quickly. The process eventually left Jack at one corner of the short driveway and Michelle at another. Michelle leaned over a scooped up a handful of snow to make a snowball. She spotted a tree not too far away and aimed for it. Michelle had been a softball pitcher in high school and college and her form was good. The snowball hit the trunk of the tree. She repeated the action making sure that her aim remained true. Finally, she scooped up a third handful of snow, but this time she turned to face Jack who currently had his back to her. Smiling a mischievous smile, Michelle called out his name as if in trouble.

"Jack!" she cried.

As she predicted, Jack stood upright and turned quickly. She reared back and aimed the snowball at his chest. The snowball hit its mark and Jack, who was taken fully by surprise, played along.

"Oh, I've been hit," he cried as he staggered a few steps and fell backward into a pile of snow.

"I'll save you," Michelle offered as she ran to him and fell into the snow next to him. "This might require mouth to mouth resuscitation."

Jack pulled her into his arms and kissed her. As he did, he allowed one hand to gather up a good sized snowball. "You're going to pay for that, you know," he told her playfully.

"I kind of had that feeling," she answered as she started to stand up and brush herself off.

With that Jack jumped up and began chasing her with the snowball. Michelle squealed and ran through the snow along the side of Jack's house. As she passed the house and entered the back yard, she was surprised to find a short but rather steep hill. She slipped on the hill and Jack caught her as she fell into the snow. Together they rolled downthe hill. They finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill covered with snow and laughing until their sides hurt.

Finally able to stand up, Jack helped Michelle to her feet. "Truce?" he asked.

"Truce," Michelle agreed. "Can we go in now? I think I have snow down my pants!"

"That's what you get for savagely attacking me!" Jack told her.

Jack took Michelle's hand and pulled her up the hill. The sun had just sunk below the horizon and darkness was settling over the area. Michelle usually hated the winter months. She hated the long hours of darkness. But winter suddenly didn't seem so dark or so lonely. She liked the serenity of the night and the extreme quiet that came with the snow. At the top of the hill Michelle put her arm around Jack's waist and he did the same. They walked slowly to the house concerned with nothing but their new life together.

"I'm freezing!" Michelle said as she stripped off her coat. She sat down to take off her boots which were only ankle high and were no match for18 inches of snow. "Look at the snow in my boots! My socks are soaked. No wonder I'm so cold."

"I know how to warm you up," Jack said with a playful lilt to his voice.

"Oh really? How do I warm up?"

"Take a hot shower."

"That sounds like a good idea, but, you know, I've never showered at your house before and I might be scared if I'm all by myself," she said dramatically.

"I wouldn't want you to be scared. I could shower with you and protect you."

"Really? That would make me feel so much safer."

They laughed as they ran up the stairs and within minutes they were standing together in a steaming hot shower. They tenderly washed each other's body and hair. And, after much kissing and caressing, dried each other and made their way to Jack's bed. Any shyness or nervousness either of them felt last night was gone now. They both relaxed and enjoyed the love they shared.

"Thank you, Jack," Michelle said softly as they lay together. Their bodies were intertwined under the flannel sheets and warm quilt that covered Jack's bed.

"You don't need to thank me," he told her. "I enjoyed that as much as you did." Jack rubbed the tip of his nose against hers.

Michelle smiled. "I wasn't thanking you for the sex. I was thanking you for bringing me back to life. I've barely existed for as long as I can remember now. Nothing made me happy. I got up each day and went through the motions, but I wasn't really living. Since you came into my life, I'm alive again. I'm happy; I've got a reason to get up every morning. Thank you, Jack for giving me my life back."

Jack smiled at her and then shifted his gaze. He didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular. "When Teri died, I completely lost it. You met me 18 months later and I was still dazed. Then I met Kate and I felt the same way you feel now. I felt like I had something to live for again. It was as if I came to life again, but even then I knew that I wasn't as happy as I had been with Teri. Don't get me wrong, I loved Kate, she's a wonderful person, but it wasn't the same love that I had for Teri. At the time I just assumed that I would never love anyone the way I loved Teri. Now I know that I was wrong. I love you the same way I loved Teri. You light up my world, Michelle; you make the sun rise in the morning. I thank God for you every chance I get."

Tears filled Michelle's eyes and they held each other without talking for a long time. They eventually decided that they were hungry and dragged themselves out of bed to find something to eat. They ended up with grilled cheese sandwiches and French fries and beer. They carried their feast back to bed to eat. Jack dug the remote control out from under his bed and they turned on the television. After much deliberation, they spent the evening watching the movie "White Christmas" and snuggling together.

Jack and Michelle awoke the next morning ready to spend their first Christmas Eve together. Their first order of business after eating breakfast was dressing warmly and going outside to shovel again. Another foot of snow had fallen since they last shoveled to make a total of nearly 30 inches. The snow was expected to taper off over the next few hours. It only took them about an hour to clear Jack's short sidewalk and driveway. After that Michelle decided that they needed to build a snowman. There was certainly plenty of snow to work with so they each started rolling a large snowball to use as part of the body.

Jack rolled the bottom part and helped Michelle to put her snowball on top of it. Soon their snowman had a head. They added short, sturdy branches for arms, a carrot nose, cucumber slice eyes and a mouth made out of black olives. They finished him off with a hat and scarf. Michelle went inside to get Jack's digital camera while Jack asked his neighbor, Eric, to come outside and take a picture of them with the snowman. Eric reluctantly dragged himself from a warm house, but afterward he was glad he did. He and Jack played tennis every week at a local tennis club and Jack frequently joined Eric and his wife Gretchen for dinner, but Eric had never seen Jack as happy as he was that day posing for pictures with Michelle.

Jack and Michelle went back in the house and emailed the pictures to all of their family and friends with the caption "Merry Christmas from Michelle and Jack and our new best friend!"

Now it was time for them to put up their Christmas tree. Michelle found herself feeling just like she did when she was little girl on Christmas Eve. Putting up a Christmas tree should not be making her this excited and the rational part of her mind knew that. But the rational part of her mind was clearly not in control right now. She couldn't suppress the excitement that bubbled through her.

They decided that the tree would look best in front of the bay window in Jack's study. Jack directed Michelle to a closet in a spare bedroom where he was storing the lights and ornaments for the tree. As she came back downstairs with the boxes she could hear and smell popcorn popping in the kitchen.

"Ooh, Jack! How did you know that I was hungry for popcorn?" she queried him.

Jack made a face at her. "This isn't for eating, Honey. Remember when I told you we were going to improvise on the Christmas tree decorations? Well, while I put up the tree and put the lights on it, I thought you could string popcorn and cranberries." He handed her a bowl full of cranberries.

"Can't I eat any of the popcorn?" she asked sounding disappointed.

Jack kissed the tip of her nose. "String this and I'll make more for you to eat." He handed her a needle already threaded with fishing line.

Michelle took the bowls of popcorn and cranberries and went into the study. She plopped into a soft leather chair, set the bowls on the table next to it and went to work stringing the popcorn and cranberries. Jack brought the tree in and set it into the stand. Michelle giggled as he struggled to get it straight but he was eventually satisfied with it. Next he put the lights on it. By late in the afternoon, the tree was covered in tiny white lights, a few dozen ornaments and long strings of popcorn and cranberries.

"What do you think?" Jack asked Michelle.

"I think it's the most beautiful Christmas tree I've ever seen and I think this is the happiest I've been on Christmas Eve in a long time." They stood in front of the tree kissing. "Now," Michelle said as the kiss broke, "you owe me some popcorn!"

They spent the rest of their Christmas Eve snuggled under a blanket on the sofa in front of the Christmas tree. Jack built a fire in the fire place and they drank wine and talked and kissed and listened to hours of Christmas music on the radio. It was near midnight when they turned out the lights and made their way upstairs to bed. They made love quietly and then wished each other a Merry Christmas. Michelle drifted into a peaceful sleep while Jack watched. When he was sure that she was sound asleep, he slipped out of bed and put on a robe and slippers. He padded silently down the stairs. He was going to make sure that Michelle's Christmas was perfect, and to do that, he needed a time to get some things ready.

Just one more chapter, so I'm hoping that you'll stick with me.