Disclaimer: Don't own them :( Marvel does. Don't sue cuz all you'll get is my debts

A/N: This was written in exchange with Shini02 for Christmas, I made her request something since she wrote something for me. psst I suggest you check it out. It's called I'll take that be...check it out! Alright on with the show.

Foot Prints In The Snow

The faint sound of carolers could be heard wafting through the chilled air as a lone brown haired girl made her way through the cheerful street of her hometown. Adjusting her scarf around her neck, she clutched the front of her winter jacket to keep the nippy windy from kissing her skin.

The day was cold, but not unbearably so. It was the noel season in Cumberland, Kentucky and all said so. The main street in town was decorated like a winter wonderland minus one key ingredient…the snow. The street lamps wrapped with red and silver garland giving the illusion of 10-foot candy canes shining their lights on the patrons of the street once night came upon them. The trees in front of the business twinkled as they were wrapped in lights of white and the colours of the rainbow. Storefronts were also decorated as such to give street goers something to lure them into their shops with anything from a gingerbread village at the local bakery, to a mini snow scape painted on the markets front windows.

Julia Cabot was greeted with cheerful smiles and the occasional "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holiday" as she walked along the sidewalk in town. Maybe it was the time of year but it seemed that everyone was kind and caring to others, not that Julia was complaining. She hated to see when innocent people were picked on or made fun of, no matter who they were.

Finally passing the gas station that told her she had made it through town, she took an immediate right and walked along the worn out path to her special place. It was a spot just outside of town that Julia frequented often, a place she called her own. It wasn't that much of a secret as she had fallen asleep there many of times and was found by either her brothers or someone else. If ever she was missing, it's the first place her family would look for her.

Passing the old pine tree with a few missing branches, she veered to the right and came through the low hanging branches out into the open field. Taking a deep breath of the crisp air she smiled and continued on walking to the small pond located not far from the tree's edge. Finally she had reached her destination and took a seat on the hard ground, leaning back on her gloved hands.

A thin layer of ice had formed on the top of the pond water, as it hadn't been cold enough to get more then just a sheet of ice to form. A small sigh of disappointment escaped her slightly parted lips as she took in the scene.

"Still not the same without snow," she more or less mumbled sadly to herself.

"Ah always knew you was nuts. Talkin' to yerself," a teasing chuckle sounded alerting Julia that she wasn't alone like she had thought.

Her head snapped to the side in order to see who the intruder was only to find with her eyes a mop of red hair. Josh. "It's not nice sneakin' up on people," she retorted as she tried to shake off the sudden startled state she was in.

Josh Guthrie, a boy by nature she was supposed hate but couldn't bring herself to do so, came walking up and stopping a few feet away from her. "Yer not supposed to be here," he said looking down at her.

"It's a free country. Ah can go where I want," she replied trying to sound bolder then she felt.

A grumpy "humph" sounded as Josh tried to think of another way to get the girl to go away. This was his spot and he wasn't going to have girl cooties at his special spot. He crossed his arms over his chest as she tried to stare the girl down, seeing if he could intimidate her. Which of course didn't work because Julia just smiled and closed her eyes, tilting her head back as if she was looking at the sky.

"Go away," he mumbled after his latest attempt didn't seem to phase her.

"Nope," she chirped happily.

"Yes."

"Nope."

"Yes!"

"No."

"Argh," he growled as he stomped his foot. It was bad enough that he had left the house on bad terms, having had a shouting match with his brother. But to come to the spot he called his own only to see her there. She always seemed to be in the places he liked to go and she would never go away unless he would throw something at her. Taking a quick look around he sighed, as there was nothing within reach that he could use to chuck at her.

A soft giggle sounded as Julia peeked through her lashes over at Josh. He looks cute when he's mad. She felt her cheeks flush red, not from the chill but from embarrassment, as that thought came back to her. She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest as she made a futile attempt to hide her face from him. She wasn't supposed to like boys, especially not a Guthrie…especially not this Guthrie. But there was just something more to him then other people would let themselves see. She may be young but she was more intelligent then most of the people that lived in town. She saw Josh for who he was…a young red headed boy who liked to throw things at her. Nothing more nothing less. She didn't comprehend why grown ups were so mean to the Guthrie's, they were nice from what she could tell.

He tilted his head to the side, as he looked at her, wondering suddenly why she was trying hard not to look at him. He knew that the towns folk hated him and his family, just by reputation alone. They were the freaks of Cumberland, Kentucky.

There was a silence that hung over them, neither kid wanting to talk to the other for some reason or another. It wasn't until Julia couldn't stand it anymore, that she finally spoke up. "Tomorrow's Christmas," she blurted the first thing that came to mind.

"So?" he replied in an uninterested voice.

"What did ya ask Santa fer?" she asked tentatively. The silence had been grating on her nerves and talking about anything was better then nothing.

A dry chuckle came from Josh as he finally got sick of standing and sat down on the ground. "Nuttin'," he said plucking at a few blades of grass. "Since there isn't one, why ask him fer somethin'?" he now asked her a question.

Her cheeks once again were stained red as she was caught being a "baby" and still holding hope that there really was a Santa. "Because ya neve' know if he's real or not," she said trying to sound mature for her age.

"Yah mean ya still believe in 'im?" he asked sounding amused.

"No!" she shouted before clamping her mouth shut. "Well not really," she admitted.

Josh chuckled again as he shook his head. "Baby's stuff," he teased her.

"Stop it," she grumbled as she felt her cheeks burning even brighter.

"No," he now retorted with a cheeky smile.

"Fine," she humphed as she leg her legs cross in front of her and she crossed her arms over her chest. Well that when no where. "Okay if ya don't believe in Santa. What did ya ask fer Christmas?" she asked him trying to steer to topic of conversation away from her.

A shrug of the shoulders was the vague answer he gave her. He didn't like to talk about the fact that his family wasn't as well off as hers, not to mention his family was large and there wasn't money to spend for everyone. "What about you?"

She was quiet for a few moments before speaking up. "Snow," she said plainly.

This caught Josh's attention and he looked at her with a confused look. "Snow?" he repeated.

"Yes, snow," she nodded her head with a small smile.

"Why did ya ask fer snow?" he found himself wondering why a person with as much money as her family had she asked for snow of all things.

"Because it's not Christmas without snow," she explained simply.

"I knew it. Yer nuts," he exclaimed as he shook his head.

"I'm not nuts," she retorted with a chuckle. "I just would like ta have a white Christmas s'all," she shrugged and sighed. The forecast said nothing about snow for at least a week so Julia's hope had all but dwindled. Josh looked at Julia for a moment, his green eyes exanimate before he turned his attention towards the small pond.

There was another bout of silence that didn't seem to be as uncomfortable as the last one. The night was coming upon them, the sun slowly setting in the horizon casting a warm glow on the quiet town. The occasional glance between the two was the only sign that either knew the other one was still there. The glances soon became longer and longer with each look. Neither would admit it because of the innate fear of the unknown, but they both liked each other.

Josh would always pick on Julia and Julia would always yell at Josh…classic kids showing that they like each other. It was quiet amusing to watch actually. They would always get on each other's nerves with out ever really putting any effort into it.

Suddenly standing up, Josh looked down at Julia and jerked his head to the side.

"What?" she asked confused as to what he was trying to tell her.

"C'mon," he said offering her a hand to stand up. No matter what Josh was always a gentlemen or else his mama would whoop him something good.

She blushed slightly and took his hand, pulling herself up and brushing off the stray pieces of grass of her jeans. "Where are we going?"

"Just c'mon," he said with a hint of a knowing smile.

"Um…alright," she said tentatively as she began to walk in step with him unsure of where they were heading.

Josh led her through the trees off the worn down path as he made for the direction of the town. He never gave a hint of what was to come, yet Julia followed behind him. Never once did she even think that he would ever do something to her...he was Josh was her explanation that was supposed to explain everything. Which it did to her and that's all that mattered.

Soon they came to a clearing and Josh looked back to make sure that she was still behind him before going on his way. The town was just about empty, no cars or patrons as most of them were now tucked away in their warm houses celebrating the arrival of Christmas day.

Stopping now on the sidewalk, he turned around and faced Julia who hadn't been paying much attention and soon came face to face with a solid mass otherwise known as Josh's chest. "Oof," the struggle sound came from her before she took a step back. "Sorry," she mumbled as she forced herself not to blush. She didn't want to tell him the main reason for her slight lack of attention was because she had been thinking of him.

"S'all right," he said offering her a small smile. "Okay now close yer eyes," he commanded her.

"Wha-…um okay," she said as she let her eyelids close over her brown eyes. She suddenly felt Josh step behind her and place his hands on her shoulder. He began to guide her to wherever it was he had planned on showing her or wherever it was that he was taking her.

"Almost there," he reassured her as he gently pulled back on her shoulders to tell her so. Soon after that Julia felt Josh grasp her shoulders and halt her from going any further. Keeping her eyes closed, she turned her head to "look" over her shoulder. "Where are we?"

"Just one more sec," he told her as his footsteps were heard and jingles of a bell as well, like the ones when you walk into a shop. A faint mumbled conversation was heard and then one more jingle of the bell before she felt a presence beside her. "Alright now on the count of three, open…okay?" he told her and received a nod of Julia's head to tell him she had heard and understood him.

"One, two…three," he whispered the numbers and waited for her to open her eyes and smiled a little more when he saw the expression on her face.

"Oh my word," she gasped as a hand slowly moved to cover her open mouth.

Before her was a window display that she must have passed by many times but never actually stopped to look at it. They were standing in front of the local antiques shop that didn't get a lot of business but still managed to stay open. The display of the shop was breathtaking to say the least. It was a snow-covered village that looked right out of one of those winter wonderland post cards or something. Each house was lit from the inside casting a warm glow onto the fake white fluff snow. There were carolers stationed on the street corners dressed in costume under the decorated lamps. Wreaths hung on each door added the little touch to the whole scape. That part wasn't what made her gasp, as beautiful as a sight it had been. What caught her attention was the fake snow machine sprinkling white dust over the town. It was covering the whole village in a blanket of white.

"S'not the real thing," he said with a shrug of one of his shoulders. "But it'sall we got."

Slowly her face turned to the side and flashed Josh a bright and thankful smile. "Oh it's perfect," she said with all honesty.

Josh looked to Julia to the store window, where the old man who owned the store gave Josh a little wave and a wink from behind the display, to the ground where he began scuffing the toe of his shoe on the pavement. He really didn't see what the big deal was. Julia wanted snow for Christmas, the storefront had snow albeit not real. She was probably the only person in the town that was nice to him so he thought he'd at least do something nice for her.

"Thank you Josh," she told him as she took a step closer to him and placed a chaste but soft peck on his cheek. She had been so warmed that he would do something like this for her, it's the first thing that she could think of to give him in return.

His eyes snapped up and he studied her for a moment to make sure he hadn't just played out that in his head. When he saw the redness returning to her cheeks and the way her eyes were twinkling, he knew that she did in fact just kiss him. A now happy smile graced his lips as he waved it off. "S'nothing," he said with a soft chuckle as he felt his own cheeks starting to burn and he nervously rubbed the back of his neck with a hand.

Something off to the side had caught Julia's attention and made her jump in surprise, the giant candy canes began to flicker on. She looked down at her watch and grumbled in annoyance. If she didn't leave now then her mama and papa would be sending her brothers out to look for her, and if they found her with Josh…she didn't want to think of it. But things are goin' so good.

"Ah gotta go," she said almost saddened by the prospect as she looked from her watch over to the direction of her house. When she glanced at Josh, she thought that there was just a hint of sadness in his face but it was such a quick flicker it could have been wishful thinking on her part.

"Alright," he shrugged it off, or at least he tried to. "Well c'mon," he said tugging on the sleeve of her jacket to get her walking. Again the gentlemen in him wouldn't let her walk home in the dark alone. Even though he wouldn't be able to take her all the way home, he'd at least take her as far as he could.

"What? Wait…no you don't hafta," she stumbled a bit before gathering her footing.

"Ah know ah don't hafta."

"Oh," she said with a small grin tugging on the corners of her mouth.

Reaching the edge of the town before it would be visible to the Cabot house, Josh stopped and glanced up at the large building. He didn't want to have to deal with those people and he didn't want Julia to have to answer questions as to why she was with a "freak".

The two kids began to look around at anything else besides the other person, often resorting to looking nervously at their feet.

"Ah betta go," she mumbled, as she made no move to go.

The sound of shuffling feet made Julia's attention be drawn to the boy who was now leaning towards her. She felt her heart begin to beat rapidly within her chest so loud, she was sure the whole town would be able to hear it. A pair of lips made quick contact with hers and before she had time to properly react, she heard those same feet begin to shuffle again in a quicker pace. She blinked in shock only to see the back of Josh as he was running away.

Her mouth gaped open and shut, making her look much like a fish out of water. She brought her gloved fingers up to press against her lips and smiled. She saw the distant figure stop at the end of the street, look at her and she was sure she could see a tiny smile, before he turned and vanished.

It took her a few minutes to realise that she had come all this way to actually go home. It wasn't until she heard some bellowing in the distance that she realised that her family was calling for her. She hurriedly began to run jog towards her house and was greeted by her father on the front steps.

"Where were ya?" he asked of her.

"No where. Just around," she said giving her dad a smile.

Feeling something drop on the tip of her nose, she looked skyward and thought it was just her imagination.

That night Julia fell asleep to the wonderful dreams of a kid who had gotten already what she wanted for Christmas. However when she awoke in the morning her eyes were met with a soft white blanket of snow that covered the whole town.

"Merry Christmas Josh," she whispered as she traced the thin sheet of ice forming along the window edge.

"Julia!" her mother called from behind the door. "Wake up sweetie, it's Christmas."

"Coming mama," she said grabbing her robe and heading down stairs.