Hey everybody! I'm ba-ack! Shocking, no? Anyway, here's my latest addition to the Fillmore section of this site. I like it better than my other one, but maybe I'm being presumptuous. Yes, I am aware that this is a Christmas story. Yes, I am aware that Christmas was about 2 months ago. And yes, I am aware that I am insane. Deal with it. I do all of this for you, my dear readers. This is another one of my "one-shots that got REALLY long so I'm posting it as a chaptered story". Again, this story is all fluff, but I swear, soon I will start writing a story with a REAL PLOT! Exciting, isn't it? Now enough with my ramblings; on with the show!

On a Cautionary Note: Even though this fic is slightly, (and I mean very, VERY slightly), more romance-y and angsty than my other fic was, it is still pretty tame. If you are worried about this, e-mail me and I'll let you know what's going to happen (vaguely) so you can judge for yourself. If you are a member, just go to the "create story" part of your page and read the descriptions for the ratings to decide. I'll stop babbling so you can read now, sorry.

Dedication: This is once again dedicated to my editors Nia and Ellie. Nia for telling me when I get to babbling, and Ellie for understanding the necessity of fluff. Luv ya girls!

Disclaimer: I still don't own it. My plans have failed. I-I'd rather not talk about it. :sob:


Around Christmastime, people are swamped with corny love songs involving sleigh rides, snow, and mistletoe. Especially mistletoe. However, for some reason, mistletoe incidents seem to be getting more and more rare. So, despite the fact that kids love hearing about the mistletoe tradition, very few actually believe it is as big of a deal as it is made out to be. Most will giggle at the thought of mistletoe, or laugh at it, convinced that its impact on their lives is inconsequential. And, many will be right. The majority of those kids will probably never find themselves in that kind of situation.

But, of course, there are always exceptions.

On the last day of school before Winter Break, right when the last bell rang at 3:00, all of X Middle School's Safety Patrollers reported to their office headquarters for their annual holiday party.

Well, almost all of the officers…

It was 3:40 before the last two patrollers made their entrance. The pair went by the names Ingrid Third and Cornelius Fillmore. And judging by both their stances, neither looked particularly concerned about their tardiness. However, not everyone shared that sentiment.

"Fillmore! Third!"

Only one person in the world had that distinct bellow. Junior Commissioner Vallejo had stamped out of his office upon seeing their arrival, his brown eyes showing irritation.

"Snap," Ingrid murmured wryly.

"Don't worry about it. Vallejo's a softy around Christmas time," Fillmore whispered as Vallejo approached them. It was true; most of the time, Vallejo's bark was way worse than his bite.

"You two were supposed to be here 40 minutes ago." Despite Fillmore's claim of his forgiving attitude, Vallejo was the kind of person who appreciated it when everything ran like clockwork. Having his two most talented (and irritating) officers unable to do something as simple as show up on time, even for a party, threw a wrench in the works.

Fillmore chuckled. "Chill Vallejo. We just had to deal with a few minor issues."

Vallejo held up one hand while combing the other through his short black hair. "It's officially winter break. Folsom is already on a plane bound for the Caribbean. I don't want to know why you were late; you're here now. Although, maybe you two could use the vacation to make a New Year's resolution. Like being on time, or only destroying 100 dollars of school property all year…" Vallejo turned around and walked back to his chair.

Ingrid and Fillmore set down their backpacks and sat on top of their desks as three other safety patrollers approached them.

"Planning on passing your bad habits along to Ingrid, Fillmore?" Karen Tehama asked him.

Fillmore and the other two boys laughed while Ingrid just looked amused. "What does she mean?" Ingrid asked the others.

"Fillmore has this tendency to be late to every safety patrol event," Joseph Anza supplied with a smile.

"Yeah," Danny O'Farrell giggled, his blue eyes gleaming with mirth. "He's been late to just about everything we've done since I've been on the force!"

"Last year, right after school, the day we got out for spring break, he busted some kid for running in the halls and wrote him up as having a minor offense," Tehama detailed in an amused tone. "When he finally got here, he spent the first half hour of the party setting up the paperwork."

Ingrid raised one eyebrow as she looked at Fillmore. "Okay, I've heard of people working too hard, but setting yourself with paperwork at the start of spring break? For a hallway runner?"

Fillmore shrugged one shoulder and grinned. "Hey, I would have let him off, but the kid was sprinting down the halls. Knocked some kids down pretty hard. So I decided to make use of the phrase 'rules are rules.'"

"Yeah, what else is new?" Anza asked, rolling his eyes.

Fillmore decided it was best to change the subject. "Dawg, the office decorations actually look pretty good this year." Strings of Christmas lights had been strung around the room and around the miniature Christmas tree in the corner. Here and there from the ceiling hung bunches of holly. Without the usual line-up of delinquents in there being questioned, the office actually looked festive. Fillmore admired the room a few seconds more before asking, "Who set them up?"

"That would be me," Tehama replied.

"Hey, I helped!" O'Farrell protested. Judging by the Christmas lights still knotted about his hands and the holly leaves nestled in his hair, it was pretty obvious as to how much "help" he had been. O'Farrell continued, unaware of the other's amused skepticism. "I was the main coordinator for the holly garlands—"

"Which is why the holly is falling down," Tehama whispered to Ingrid who laughed softly.

"—And the official Christmas light bulb-replacer and—holy fish sticks! I almost forgot!" And with that, O'Farrell stumbled quickly to the door, managing to knock over three plastic Santa decorations and tripping over some wires.

The four remaining patrollers just shook their heads. "So what's your excuse this time?" Anza asked.

"Nothing much," Ingrid answered. "A few of my teachers just wanted to wish me a merry Christmas. They thanked me for putting so much effort into my final tests."

Fillmore laughed. "A few teachers? Try just about every teacher in the school. Some were so grateful that you did well on their tests, I think they would have promised you their firstborn children."

"He's exaggerating," Ingrid interrupted quickly.

"Not by much," he said, for all purposes ignoring Ingrid's statement. "I think some of the teachers that congratulated you don't even have you as a student. You just managed to give them hope."

Ingrid grinned and lightly hit Fillmore on his shoulder. He rubbed his "wound" in mock pain.

"Well, that's what you get for being the smartest kid in school, Ingrid," Tehama teased lightly.

"She's right," Anza agreed. "But what's done is done. We'll see ya around." Fillmore and Ingrid nodded as Anza and Tehama walked away to join another group of patrollers.

"You know, my teachers were not the sole reason for our being late. Must you embellish everything?" Ingrid asked in mock exasperation.

"Like I said, I didn't exaggerate by much. And no, it wasn't only your teachers that made us late. The rest was us trying to shuffle past all these kids who were glaring at you because you had set the curve too high on the finals," Fillmore said in a know-it-all voice.

"Well, I'd love to know what they expected me to do. It's not like I'd fail those exams just so they could do better. And, need I mention that we could have gotten out of there sooner if you hadn't started that confrontation against that kid who called me a teacher's pet. It wasn't that big of a deal."

"What else was I supposed to do? You got those grades fair and square, and anyone who can't deal with that—." Anything else Fillmore planned to say was cut off by a rather loud CRASH that signified O'Farrell's triumphant return.

The red head got up and dusted himself off. "I've got it!" he proclaimed to anyone in the office who would listen. "The only missing decoration!"

With the crowd that was gathering around O'Farrell, Ingrid and Fillmore couldn't quite make out what it was that the boy was holding. Shrugging, they got up and walked over to get a better view.

Meanwhile, O'Farrell, with the help of a few others, managed to string a sprig of mistletoe so that it hung in the center of the room. The missing decoration.

"See, this year, I'm gonna get a kiss from every girl on the force," O'Farrell told Anza with a grin. "Hey Ingrid! Tehama!" he called to the girls who hadn't seen his "decoration" yet. "I've got something to show you!"

"I heard what you said to Anza, you little sea monkey. I'm not falling for it O'Farrell!" Tehama called back, without even looking up from where she was.

"What's she talking about?" Ingrid asked as she and Fillmore were finally able to make their way through the crowd surrounding O'Farrell.

"Just step over here Ingrid, and I'll show you," O'Farrell said, trying to hide his glee.

Ingrid looked at him suspiciously, but then took the two more steps so she was standing next to him.

"Okay. Now what?" Ingrid asked, trying to humor the boy.

"Look up," O'Farrell said as he grinned.

She frowned at him in confusion, then looked up and finally saw the mistletoe hanging above her. Her eyes widened briefly while some of the other patrollers laughed good-naturedly at O'Farrell's antics.

"See Ingrid?" You've gotta kiss me now!" O'Farrell crowed. "And that'll be one down for the count!"

Suddenly, Ingrid looked at him with a mischievous smile forming on her face. "Okay O'Farrell. I'll give you a kiss," she said innocently. O'Farrell brightened while Fillmore and the other officers looked…shocked, to say the least. "Close your eyes," Ingrid continued.

O'Farrell obeyed, leaned forward, and pursed his lips. At that moment, Ingrid reached into her pocket and pulled something out of it. When O'Farrell was leaning forward enough to fall over in eagerness, Ingrid took the opportunity to pop the object from her pocket between his lips.

"Bleeech!" O'Farrell sputtered, trying to get the object out of his mouth while the crowd around them laughed. "What did you do?" he asked, gasping at Ingrid who was still smiling innocently.

"I just did what you said O'Farrell," Ingrid supplied. "I gave you a kiss. A Hershey's Kiss." And the crowd laughed again.

After recovering from the experience of eating tin foil, he said, "Alright. Despite this minor setback, I swear, I will get a kiss from every girl on the force even if I have to stay till midnight!"

"O'Farrell?" Vallejo interrupted, massaging his head like he had a headache. "The party's over at six."

"Oh? Oh! Okay, I will get a kiss from every girl on the force before this party's over, or my name isn't James O'Farrell!" And he stomped off, presumably to work on a plan of action.

"Isn't his real name Daniel?" Fillmore quipped as the crowd dispersed around them.

"Yeah, it is," Vallejo said while walking over to him. "He's probably thinking James as in 'James Bond', or something." Ingrid chose that moment to walk up. "Good way to dodge that bullet Third. How'd you think of it?"

Ingrid gave a one-shouldered shrug as she answered. "Couple years ago, at one of my old schools, there was this kid who liked me, but was misguided enough to press that point, even after I had clearly told him what I thought of him. And you two know how clear I can be about something like that," she told the two boys.

They just nodded. Yeah, they knew.

"Anyways," she continued. "One day, it was at another holiday party, he managed to get me under some mistletoe. I was caught off guard and didn't know what to do. I though for one awful second that I was actually going to have to kiss that slimy toad, but thankfully, one of the girls there who didn't think I was 'weird' handed me some Hershey kisses to give to him. And it worked. The mistletoe rule only says you have to forfeit a kiss. It doesn't specify what kind. I got kicked out of that school two weeks later, so I never saw 'toad-boy' again, but now I always know to carry some of these around with me during the Christmas season."

Vallejo smiled and shook his head. "Points for being prepared Third. Now, enjoy yourselves. I've gotta go make sure O'Farrell doesn't electrocute himself on any Christmas lights." Heaving a long-suffering sigh, the Junior Commissioner walked off.

When he was gone, Fillmore said with a challenge in his tone, "O'Farrell's pretty set on his goal. You sure you're up to escaping him?"

Ingrid gave him an are-you-kidding-me look. "I've been your partner for how long, Fillmore? What do you think?" She gave a small smile. "Now let's listen to Vallejo for once and enjoy this party.


Well, what do you think? Please review and let me know. Also, let me know if super-fluff stories (like mine) bother you. I won't apologize for posting fluff, because fluff is what I like. However, I like to write for my audience, so I need to know what my readers like. So get to reviewin'!
Peace out and till next time-
AlwaysWrite

P.S. I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP, but no promises; I have LOTS of school stuff to do. (But it shouldn't take that long. Fanfiction's more important anyways;)