Chapter 20: Sunrise

Sunrise, Sunrise

Looks like morning in your eyes

But the clocks had nine fifteen for hours

Sunrise, Sunrise

Couldn't tempt us if it tried

Because the afternoons already come and gone

And I said

Oooh

Oooh

Oooh

Do you?

Sunrise – Norah Jones

It was Christmas Eve. Aeris and Vincent on the balcony of his apartment. The air was cold and the sky was dark. Aeris huddled deeper into her coat and leant against him for warmth. He put his arms around her, staring up at the sky.

"Do you want to go inside?" He asked her.

"No… it's nice out here." She murmured. She looked up at the dark sky. "D'you think it'll snow?"

"It's cold enough to. A white Christmas."

"It used to snow every year in Kalm. There was a lake and all of the kids used to go ice-skating on it. I remember once my parents took me up to the Icicle Village, on the Northern Continent. It's snowy all year around there."

"You like snow?"

"Who doesn't like snow?" Aeris asked. She looked up at him. He smiled down at her.

"We don't tend to go a lot of snow in Midgar. But we might this year."

"I hope so."

They fell in comfortable silence. But it was shattered by the phone ringing. Vincent went inside to answer it. Aeris lay back on the chair they were sitting on. Vincent came out, carrying the cordless phone.

"Aeris… it's your parents." She took the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey sweetheart."

"Mom! How are you? Are you having a good time?"

"Fine and yes. The conference has been most… enlightening. Your father and I just wanted to say Merry Christmas."

"Oh, Merry Christmas. Put Dad on."

"Hello Aeris."

"Hi Dad. Hey, how did you know where to call?" Aeris said, as Vincent joined her on the chair.

"Oh, we rang your room but Tifa said you'd be here."

"OK then. So what's going on with you guys?"

"Aeris, do you want a hot chocolate?" Vincent asked. She nodded and listened to her dad talk about the conference.

"Your Mother wants to talk to you again." She heard him say. Her mother took the phone and said,

"Tifa said that James has been bothering you."

"Yeah, but I just ignore him most of the time. Plus, whenever he tries to talk to me Vincent gets this really crabby look on his face and that normally scares him off."

"Oh! So are you and Vincent…?" her mom asked delicately. Aeris smiled.

"Yes."

"Oh, how lovely! Matthew, Vincent and Aeris are going out!"

Her dad took the phone.

"Aeris, is that true?"

"Yes."

"Vincent's a good young man."

"Dad, please. Anyway have a great Christmas ok?"

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Matthew asked in some concern.

"Barret's invited us all over for Christmas dinner. What day do you get back?"

"The 2nd of January. The conference is on the 5th."

"OK. I'll take the train up to Kalm and meet you guys there."

"Bring someone with you. I don't want you travelling alone."

"I will. Hey, how's Nanaki? Is he enjoying Cosmo Canyon?"

Infalna Gast refused to leave Nanaki in a shelter and always took him with her whenever she went away. Matthew laughed.

"He's loving it. It's like he's returned to his childhood home or something. He comes into all the conferences and sits there with all the other people. He's a born scientist!"

"Probably been hanging around with you and mom too long. Has he grown out his highlights yet?"

"Yes. But I think your mother wants to put them back in."

"Fine… although I'm pretty sure that accounts to animal cruelty."

"I can hear every word you're saying!" Infalna called from the background. Aeris laughed.

"We'll call you soon, Honey." Matthew said.

"OK. Love you both."

"Love you too. Bye."

The phone went dead. Vincent came out with the coffee. He handed her a cup of hot brown liquid.

"Are they alright?"

"Yeah. Just ringing up to wish us a Merry Christmas." Aeris said, blowing on the hot chocolate. Vincent settled back down on the chair and she snuggled up next to him. Their breath came out in white clouds. Vincent yawned.

"Sleepy?" Aeris asked.

"A little. I've been staying up late the past couple of days. I always seem to get inspired late at night."

"I've noticed." Aeris said wryly.

More than once she had woken to find the bed empty. Once she had gotten up and had found Vincent drawing frantically. But she hadn't wanted to disturb him and had gone back to bed.

"Just make sure you get plenty of sleep for tomorrow. I'm a five-year-old when it comes to Christmas Day!"

"Well, since we're not opening our presents until we get to Barret's anyway, I don't plan on getting up at 5 AM." Vincent told her. Aeris pulled a face.

"You're not fun."

"Maybe not. But at least I'm mature." Aeris stuck her tongue out and pushed her face into Vincent's chest, enjoying the warmth of his body.

"Fine. I won't wake you up early."

"Good."

It wasn't long before both of them were struggling to keep their eyes open. Vincent shook Aeris gently.

"Let's go inside."

"Kay…" She yawned. They collected the cups and blankets and moved indoors. But if they'd stayed outside just a few minutes longer they would have seen the first few white shapes floating down from the pitch-black sky.

Aeris must have been a lot more tired than she'd thought, because when she eventually stirred out of sleep, sunlight was pouring through the window. She screwed up her eyes at the harsh light and looked over Vincent's sleeping form to see the clock. 9:30.

"Vincent, wake up. We're supposed to be at Barret's in an hour and a half." She mumbled, shaking him. He muttered sleepily and rolled over. Aeris sighed and got up, puling on her dressing gown. Walking into the living room, she glanced out of the window and did a perfect double-take.

Snow was lying on the balcony, nearly a foot deep. Aeris ran to the door, opened it and looked around. In every direction was a white blanket of snow.

An evil thought crossed her mind and she smiled. Picking up a handful of snow, she went inside. Vincent was still lying in bed, with his back to her. Gingerly, she crept across to him and pulled at the collar of his shirt. And then she stuffed the snow inside his shirt.

The following scene was one that would make Aeris laugh for years to come. Vincent's eyes snapped open and he sat up with a yelp. Scrabbling desperately, he pulled the shirt off, but a large amount of the snow was still stuck to his back. Aeris bent over laughing as he tried to get it off. When he had finally shaken it off, he turned to her, a murderous look on his face. She smiled sweetly.

"Hi Vincent."

"Aeris…"

"I love you!" Aeris said, kissing his cheek quickly and dashing into the kitchen. He came after, still looking threatening. Aeris hid behind the coffee machine, grinning at him.

"In my defence, I did tell you to get up before!"

Vincent stared at her and then a smile spread across his face. He shook his head.

"Fine. Just… don't do it again, OK?"

"OK. What do you want for breakfast? We're supposed to be at Barret's in an hour and a half."

"Whatever you're having. I'll go take a shower."

Aeris flipped some bacon into a frying pan and watched it cook. She had a craving for a bacon sandwich. Vincent came back from the shower, towelling his long black hair. She passed him his sandwich and he poured himself some coffee.

"A White Christmas." He commented, looking out of the window. Aeris smiled.

"Yeah… you know what this means?"

"What?" Vincent asked, looking as if he were dreading the reply.

"It means we have to go and play in it."

"Well… we could do that. Or… we could not." Vincent told her. She laughed and sat down to eat her own breakfast.

"Merry Christmas!" Tifa and Cloud shouted, as they answered the door at Barret's. He lived in the two floors above the café and that was where they were spending Christmas Day.

After the standard hugs were given, they all went into the living room. Barret grinned at them.

"Merry Christmas guys. Hey, have you met Marlene?"

A woman, probably around 25 years of age, came in smiling. She had pale skin and dark brown hair and was very pretty. Barret put an arm around her shoulders.

"This is my daughter, Marlene. Well, not MY daughter, obviously. She was the daughter of two of my friends. Geez, what with these two around I feel like I'm running a damn orphanage!"

"Aw, I love you too, Dad." Marlene said. Aeris looked at Tifa.

"So you two are sisters?"

"Adoptive sisters, yeah. But we always got on surprisingly well despite that!" Marlene said, standing next to Tifa.

"Yeah, Barret and Marlene had been living together for six years before I arrived."

"And you never told me about it! What kind of friend are you?" Aeris demanded of Tifa. Tifa shrugged and grinned.

"Hey, she's just my sister! And what kind of friend are you if you don't even ask if I have a sister?"

"Good point. Just as long as you don't have a husband locked up in the attic."

"Bloody well hope not!" Cloud said. Tifa rolled her eyes.

"Come on! I want presents! Barret won't let us open them until everyone is here!"

Ten minutes later the scene resembled a bombed out gift-wrapping shop. Paper, ribbons, tags and cardboard littered the floor. Cloud unwrapped the comic book from Aeris and launched himself at her, hugging her tightly.

"You are only the best friend in EXISTANCE!" He told her joyously. Aeris laughed and pushed him off her.

"OK, enough!"

"Here." Tifa said, passing her a flat package. Aeris unwrapped it excitedly.

"Tifa!" She cried. Inside was a leather-bound notebook. When she opened it she found it filled with sheet music paper. On the cover, written in gold text was 'Aeris Gainsborough'.

"Well, I figured your old one would be filling up by now." Tifa told her. Aeris hugged her.

"Oh my god, thank you SO much!"

Yuffie had left presents with Tifa, as she had gone home for Christmas. She had given Cloud a box of blank videotapes with the label saying 'I want to see lots of movies about me!' She had given Aeris a black ski-cap and glasses in order to 'Avoid the press', Tifa had received a new apron to use in the café, Barret had a chef's hat and she had given Vincent a bottle of spray-on tan, because he was too pale.

"Should we thank her or hurt her?" Cloud wondered aloud. Vincent looked very keen on the latter.

Aeris piled all her presents together, noting down who had given her what.

Cloud – Songbook, signed by the Turks. (She had spent several minutes staring at it in disbelief.)

Yuffie – ski-cap and sunglasses

Tifa – Music book

Barret – Book Set of autobiographies of the Turks.

Mom and Dad – New guitar case and strings, plus jewellery box.

Aeris had given Tifa an enormous make-up kit, Barret a set of Die Hard videos after a lengthy discussion about them, Yuffie some mixed CD's and she had given her parents some scientific books she had heard them talking about.

As the others cleared away the paper, Aeris sought out Vincent. He smiled at her.

"Having fun?"

"Yeah… Merry Christmas." She said, holding out a wrapped present. He frowned and took it from her.

"You didn't have to get me anything."

"Of course I did, dummy." Aeris told him crossly. He smiled again and unwrapped the present. Inside was the large wooden box from the Art Shop.

"Open it." Aeris urged him. He did and his eyes widened.

"Aeris…" he said in disbelief.

Inside the box was an array of artists' equipment. Brushes of many different sizes, sets of pencils and oils, pens and crayons and much more. All of this was sitting in wooden tray. Vincent knew what exactly made this equipment so special. It had been created in Cosmo Canyon, of the rarest materials on the planet. But that also meant it was extremely expensive. He had been eyeing for several months but hadn't been able to afford it.

"Take out the tray." Aeris said. Vincent did so. He hadn't realised that the tray came out. But underneath was a space. On the wood were painted patterns. It took Vincent a moment to figure out what they made. It was the image of a tree. The seemingly-random swirls and spikes created an amazing image, which seemed to pulse with life.

"It's a tree." Aeris said. Vincent nodded.

"I can see it."

"Vincent, it's a live tree. Not dead among the living. Live." Vincent looked up at her. She was watching him intensely with her green eyes. Vincent was speechless for a moment and then he swallowed.

"Thank you Aeris."

"You're welcome." She whispered, smiling. Vincent closed the box and reached into his pocket. He held out his hand to Aeris.

"This is for you."

Aeris glanced down and saw a small jewellery box in the palm of his hand. She took it and opened it. Inside was a ring. It was silver and had a jet stone set on top, in the shape of a diamond.

"It's a promise ring. I promise to… to stay with you and love you and… I don't know. I just promise." Vincent said, seeming nervous for the first time in his life. Aeris felt herself choke up. She looked up at him, eyes shining with tears.

"Vincent, thank you. I love you so, so much." She whispered, barely able to speak due to the lump in her throat. Vincent smiled and slipped the ring onto her finger. He kissed her and a tear leaked out from her eye. She wiped it away.

"Merry Christmas Vincent."

"Merry Christmas, Aeris." He whispered.

Christmas dinner was delicious. Afterwards they sat in the living room, all full to bursting. Barret grinned at them all.

"Who's up for charades?"

He was answered by the throwing of several cushions in his direction. Tifa stretched.

"I am so full!" She said. Cloud nodded, rubbing his stomach.

"Yeah, me too."

"Let's go for a walk in the snow." Aeris suggested. They all nodded. Marlene yawned.

"I need to build up to it."

It was another half hour before they were ready to leave.

A/N: OK, most of that was pure fluff, right? Well, I'm addicted to fluff! Every fic needs some. Anyway, not sure when the next chapter will be up, because I'm going away to France next Friday and I need to pack. But I'll try to get another chapter up before then!