My internet is down so I thought, Why not write on Sparrow? So here I am, writing. It's been so beautiful lately. I've been practically bounding around the house cleaning (for money, of course, ha!) and calling friends and getting out of the icky, dreary, blah mood of winter. God, now that spring's here, I realize how utterly crappy winter is. And also… I am so scarily behind with this story. It's still their Christmastime. And I just realized something horrible about what I wanted to end the story on, and I realize now there is no way I could possibly end it like that. I am really mad about that. Anyways, enjoy.

The Sparrow Sings
Chapter Nine
Yuffie sipped a mug of stale hot chocolate, and though old, it was warm and good to her chilled hands, which, through their numbed cold, could barely feel the heat of it stinging her fingers. It had been forcefully shoved into her hands after someone had draped two layers of thick, itchy wool blankets over her shoulders. The same treatment was given to Squall, who was looking far worse off than she was, though she was the one that had had the head injury.

The men who had pulled them out of the ditch hadn't asked any questions other than the usual, Are you badly hurt? Is anything broken? and uttering a few words on how to stay safe while skiing before leaving them in the lobby of the hotel.

She felt her cheeks thawing slowly, and the warmth of the fire in front of her stung her cheeks more than it should have. Squall had tossed his blanket aside and hadn't even touched his hot chocolate. Yuffie stared at her almost empty cup and held back the intense desire to take a sip of his, which was steaming delectably.

"Aren't you going to drink that? God, you look a wreck," she said, raising her eyebrows. It was true; his lips were slightly blue and he had spent a long while in the snow without much of a shirt.

"I don't want…" he said, not finishing the sentences. Yuffie almost spit the last sip of her hot chocolate out of her mouth when she realized he was trying to hold his chin straight, which was trembling against his will.

"Are you okay? You look like you've got hypothermia or something," she said, not one ounce of sarcasm in her voice.

"No, I—" he started to say, but Yuffie had set her empty mug down and was standing next to Squall, her arms on his shoulders, forcing him to sit on the couch in front of the fire. His legs gave way and he sat down on the couch, but she was sure he would have resisted if he wasn't so cold. Wouldn't he have warmed up by now?

"Drink," she ordered, pushing his mug into his hands while draping his and her blankets over his shoulders. He glared but obliged, taking one sip, his face screwing up when he tasted it.

"I knew you weren't over your sickness," she commented, shaking her head. "Now you'll just have to suffer a relapse."

"You guys! What happened to you?" Aerith called, her green eyes large and worried as she ran over to them. "We were looking all over for you until we finally filed you as missing… I thought you guys were responsible… oh no, what's happened to Leon? What's wrong with your head!"

Yuffie sighed. "We—I—fell into a ditch and bumped my head. Squall had to come after me. It was all my fault for thinking I could do the black diamond mountains."

She furrowed her eyebrows together. "Oh no. Will you be okay? Leon looks a wreck, look, his lips are blue."

"He's getting better," Yuffie said simply. Aerith shook her head.

"No, Yuffie, that isn't normal. He needs to see someone here," she insisted, grabbing Squall's arm and lifting him up. He stood stiffly, as if it hurt him to do so. Yuffie was surprised he was letting himself be dragged around.

"He was fine before!" she said, watching Aerith drag him away. Great.

She sat by the fire a few moments more before getting up and searching for the room key in her jean pockets. She put a hand over it and climbed the stairs to their room before sliding the key card in and stepping inside.

She shut the door behind her, not bothering to put the chain lock on in case Aerith brought Squall back later and used his key. She pulled off her wet clothes and dressed in one of Squall's long shirts and a pair of pajama bottoms, flicking on the T.V. and surfing the channels.

"Christmas tomorrow folks, and the snow is falling like crazy," said one weather man as she passed channel seven. She flicked onto the next channel, then stopped and went back to channel seven, her eyes widening. It was Christmas Eve already, and she hadn't even realized it? Oh, man.

Yuffie frantically reached for the phone, dialing zero and waiting for the operator at the front desk to answer, telling her she would "like to place a call, please." She provided the number and waited for the operator to connect her. Soon, the phone was ringing. Twice, three times…

"Hello?" answered a familiar motherly voice. It was tired, older sounding, but the same perfect mixture of comfortableness and openness that Yuffie had grown to love in her mother.

"Mom!" Yuffie exclaimed, surprised at the overwhelming sense of homesickness and loneliness she felt, wanting to go back home, run into her mother's arms, and open presents under the Christmas tree. Her eyes ached with tears that wanted to force its way to the surface, but she pushed it down.

"Yuffie? Is that really you? My, I thought you had forgotten about me," she laughed, but Yuffie could tell she was hurt.

"I'm sorry, Mom, I… got caught up with the job, and I… I moved in with someone…"

"Really? What happened with Aerith and Kairi?"

"Oh nothing, but it's a man I'm living with now…"

"Really!" she exclaimed, and Yuffie could tell there was a slight bit of agitation to her voice. "I trust you to make the right choices, Yuffie."

Yuffie grinned. Her mother had always given her space, signed the papers to allow herself to live with Aerith and Kairi when she had been underage, and let her learn from her own mistakes. That was one reason that she felt really made her love her mother.

"I know, Mom. See, it's more of a bet. If I live with him for just a little while longer, like a… married couple, but not doing that of course, then we get… well, something around six hundred maybe. I forgot."

"Sounds like quite a bet."

"It is, it is. But I really called because the holidays kind of crept up me and I haven't talked to you or Dad in ages."

"I know, honey. This is the first Christmas that you haven't gotten gifts under the tree," she said, sounding like she was laughing, but with an undertone of sadness under her tone.

"I've grown a lot. I think I'm a better person after this bet, I really do."

Yuffie could almost feel her mother smiling on the other end. Before she could reply, she asked, "How's Dad anyway?"

"He's doing all right. You know how he gets. He's all in a huff over you. I wouldn't be surprised if he was listening on our conversation right now."

There was a cough on the other end that had certainly not come from Yuffie's mother. She rolled her eyes. "Daddy!"

"Hey, Yuffie, how've you been?" he asked, his voice rough.

"Good," she replied awkwardly. How much had he heard?

"That's good."

There was an extended silence over the phone. "So."

"So."

"Well, I think I should be going. I'm waiting for Squall to get back and it is getting late. Merry Christmas!" Yuffie said cheerfully.

"Merry Christmas, dear," her mother replied.

"And don't buy any mistletoe," her father said.

"Love you," she said, waiting for their chorus before uttering a farewell and hanging up the phone. That had gone well.

She settled back onto the bed, her hands on her stomach. Maybe this year she wouldn't give anyone buyable gifts, only because she would be too embarrassed to give them gifts late and also because there were no stores around the ski resort that she could buy anything. Then, a genius idea hit her. Why not buy them all something from the gift shop?

Her problems resolved for the moment, Yuffie closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift into a light sleep.

Yuffie opened one of her eyes, letting it drift around the room, trying to find the source of her disturbance. She heard a sound next to her, and felt pressure on the bed. She rolled over onto her side to face the person intruding the bed: Squall.

"Are you any better?" she asked groggily, squinting her eyes, realizing it was now in the middle of the night.

The moonlight reflected against half of his face, and Yuffie could see he had warmed up. His face was paler, not as pale as it had been the first time he had been sick, and he looked exhausted, but at least he didn't look like he would keel over.

"Yeah," he replied in the same groggy voice. Yuffie smelled something odd on him, but in her tired state, she didn't pay attention. "Merry Christmas."

Yuffie turned back on her side, glancing at the clock, watching it change from 11:59 to 12:00 A.M.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way…" sang a chorus of little children running down the hall, their voices steadily growing louder then drifting away as they went around the corner, no doubt staying in a hotel to visit relatives during the holiday.

Yuffie lifted her head, then dropped it back onto the pillow with a tired groan. She waited a few seconds, and when she realized she couldn't fall back to sleep, she threw the covers off of her and sat up, running her hands through her sleep matted hair.

Squall was sitting at the small table by the wall, reading a newspaper. He was looking almost back to normal, and the weird smell was gone, but his eyes were hazy and he seemed to be drifting back and forth unknowingly.

"What'd they do to you?" Yuffie questioned, standing up and pulling clean clothes from the closet. A long sleeved, cashmere sweater and a pair of beige dress pants that clung to her like a second skin. Together, the outfit looked very complimenting, especially the maroon of the sweater.

"They gave me a bunch of pills," he answered absently, raising his eyes. She raised her eyebrow and took the paper from him, turning it right side up.

"Nice one," she said, eyeing him. "Maybe you should stay in here today. What'd they give you, morphine or something?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"I don't know what it was, but I think it was a bunch of sleeping pills."

"Remind me to tell you never to come here again when you want to go on a ski trip," she said, and right after was a flurry of knockings on the hotel door. Yuffie sighed, clothes bunched up in hand, and opened the door. It was Kairi, Aerith, Riku, Cloud, and Sora, dressed in red, green, and silver, gifts in hand.

"No, no, no!" Yuffie said, shaking her head. "Not ready!"

She slammed the door on their smiling faces and darted into the shower as she heard more knocks coming on the door, but figured Squall wouldn't answer it. Although he was disoriented, he had the mind to know when he wasn't himself, a wonderful opening for Sora, Riku, or Cloud to poke fun at him.

She showered quickly and blow dried her hair, turning on the straightener and straightening her short black locks perfectly. Dressing in the clothes, she ran out of the hotel room and grabbed her jeans, which were still soggy, and searched for her wallet, which she retrieved quickly.

"Got to go, Squall, see you later!" she called, kissing him on the cheek and running out the door. By that time, the crowd had left, leaving her with at least ten or fifteen minutes to buy gifts at the shop and wrap them.

Entering the store, she quickly found what she needed. It was almost as if there were nametags on each gift, screaming, "Aerith!" (a pink and silver hairbrush with her name on it and the emblem of the resort) or "Kairi!" (two silver, jewel studded barrettes) or "Riku!" (a shirt with a witty comment on it and the emblem) or "Sora!" (a spinning silver gadget, guaranteed to keep him entertained for hours) or "Cloud" (a book of poetry) or "Squall!" (a bunch of little trinkets that she thought would remind him of her).

"Would you like these wrapped?" the cashier woman asked, pointing to her things.

"Oh, could you?" Yuffie asked, gratefully relieved. The woman nodded and expertly wrapped the gifts, handing them to her in two bags. She nodded her thanks and paid, not paying much attention to the price, and stepped into the lobby, where she ran into the crew opening gifts by the fireplace.

"Hey guys," she said, sitting on the couch where she had been the other night. "I guess everyone else knew about Christmas coming but me."

"Guess so," Cloud replied, handing her a wrapped package. She grinned and opened it, tearing the paper into shreds (it was only newspaper after all). Inside was a teddy bear, just like Cloud to give her something thoughtful.

"I can add it to my collection!" she cheered, thrusting her package into Cloud's hands. He opened it, and a small smile crossed his lips, his eyes betraying how much he really liked the gift. It was just like Cloud to be quiet about it.

"Thanks," he replied.

Everyone else exchanged gifts (everyone liked, or in Sora's case, loved, their gifts) and Yuffie's stash was something to look at as well. A teddy bear from Cloud, a hair band from Aerith, bracelets from Riku, a T-shirt from Sora, and a huge candy cane from Kairi.

Yuffie hugged them all, grinning. "Thanks. I love my gifts."

"Hey, what's up with Squall anyway? We heard what happened last night," Cloud said.

"Oh, I think he got sick again. They doped him up on sleeping pills," Yuffie said, rolling her eyes.

"Give this to him, then," he replied, handing her an envelope. "It's part of your gift, too."

Yuffie studied it. "Thanks, but… what is it?"

Everyone exchanged secretive glances then grinned back at her. "Well, wait for Squall to open it. You'll like it though," Kairi said in reply to her question.

Yuffie shrugged in stuck it in her back pocket. "I'm gonna go upstairs and see what Squall's up to, and have him open this card," Yuffie said, standing up and walking off without waiting for their replies.

She took the elevator and slipped the key into the slot, watching the dot turn from red to green and opening the door.

"Squall?" she called, stepping into the room. He walked out of the bathroom, dressed in a white shirt and pants, his hair partially dried and the sweet smell of his aftershave touching her nose.

"Hey," he replied, sitting back down in the chair at the table and picking up the paper. She sat on the other side of the table, pulling the envelope out. "This is our gift from everyone, according to Cloud."

He rubbed his eyes, which looked slightly more intelligent than earlier. "What is it?"

"That's what I would like to know," she said, grinning. "Why don't you open it and find out?"

Yuffie had a gnawing feeling in her stomach of what it could possibly be, but she didn't want to say it out loud, just in case she was wrong. It would be horrible if she said it and it turned out to be something entirely different. For all she knew, they could have bought them fake marriage licenses.

He opened the envelope slowly, and pulled out a letter. Out fell an assortment of bills, a fifty… two hundreds… and more.

"I'll… read it out loud," Squall said, his eyes skimming the paper. "You've somehow managed to live up the right amount of time and now here is your pay for winning the bet..."

He went on reading it, skipping some parts, until he dropped the letter and counted the money. He shook his head. "It's six hundred, exactly."

Yuffie's jaw dropped. She knew that eventually it would be time, but so soon? It felt as if they had only just started. And it was so much money…

Squall counted out some bills and handed it to her, which she counted to three hundred dollars. Her eyes filled with unshed tears, studying the face of her ex-partner in the bet.

"This is too much for me…" she whispered, dropping the money back on to the table. A heavy silence filled the room. She was free to leave. She could just pick up and go now, any time she wanted. And yet, she didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay here with him… everyone.

"Yuffie, you don't have to get upset…" Squall said hesitantly, looking torn, which only made her want to burst into weeping sobs.

"No, no, no…" she choked, her tears finally spilling over onto her cheeks. She didn't even understand why she was crying. She just felt, simply stated, loss.

"You don't have to cry…" he said, almost repeating what he had said before, standing up. She didn't know if it was the effect of the sleeping pills on him, or her emotion that was affecting him, but he drew her close, wrapping his arms around her, brushing his lips softly against hers under the crystal snowflakes falling slowly, slowly, from the sky…

"Merry Christmas…"

I didn't intend to leave it off here, but I did. After this, there may be one or two more chapters and an epilogue. I don't know! This is the last of the ski trip stuff, but the ride home will be in the next chapter. Hehe. I scream, you scream, we all scream for review-creams! Or not.. hah.