Season's Greetings

Chapter 1

He stood near the back of the room, watching carefully the girl singing center stage. She had a holiday solo, her voice resonating and hitting each voice with great precision and care.

"Santa can't bring me

What I need,

'Cause all I want for Christmas is you."

He smirked, shifting, holding a red rose near his heart. It had been three long months since he had seen her, and he wanted tonight to be perfect.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The red-head English girl closed the door of the dressing room, taking a long drink of her nalgene water bottle.

"Leah, baby," an English rock-star-like voice greeted.

Leah sighed. "What now, Kevin?"

"You were amazing, doll." He smiled. "Let's go out and get a drink, yeah?"

"No."

"Fine, but you'll come around soon." He leaned down and kissed her cheek lightly, then walked off.

"So, you let other guys kiss you when I'm not around, eh?" A Canadian accented voice came.

Leah looked to the familiar voice's source, finding a brown haired boy with red framed glasses covering brown eyes with an adorable smile. "Toby!" She cried, eagerly hugging her boyfriend. "What are you doing here?"

He laughed, handing her the rose. "Well, I was in the neighborhood…" he joked, kissing her. "Kidding. I know how important this concert is to you, and I wanted to be here. You sang beautifully, by the way."

Leah squealed with glee. "I can't believe you came all the way just for a concert!"

"No just for a concert," Toby laughed. "I found a host family—well, bachelor, really—I'm a foreign exchange student."

"Host bachelor? Who?"

"Me." Fredrick McNichol rounded the corner, looking fondly on his daughter.

"Pops?"

"I'm moving back to Liverpool. And Toby's moving in with me."

Toby smiled broadly. "We'll be together for good—at long last."

Leah nodded, hugging her father. "Pops…I thought you were teaching back in Toronto."

"They decided o move me back to HQ. I'll be here for a while." He smiled, stroking his daughter's hair. "And Toby was right. You sang beautifully."