Megan woke on Christmas morning to the sounds of music wafting up the many sets of stairs. She sat up and stretched, her face breaking into a smile already. Without even stopping to dress, She pulled a robe over her long nightgown, and headed out the door.
Her long hair flew out behind her, still tangled and mussed from sleep, as she took the steps two and three at a time. Excitement flooded through her, as she anticipated one of the best days of all her eighteen years. It was the first Christmas that they had been able to spend completely together; now that she was an official adult, she'd finally been allowed to spend the break at Duelist Kingdom.
Megan rounded a corner, and the music grew louder. She could place it now, Charlie Brown. She smiled. It was fitting that he'd pick a cartoon, amid all the usual tunes.
The marble stairs were cold under her bare feet. Megan wished she'd thought to put on her slippers.
Finally, after two wrong turns and another set of cold stairs, She came to the end of a hallway to find him.
She stood at the top of yet another set of steps, these with a highly-polished wooden banister, nearly buried in tinsel and fake pine. The room before her was huge, and so was the tree. He had really outdone himself, she thought. It almost reached the ceiling, and was covered in lights and ornaments. He himself stood at the bottom of the stairs, with a sprig of holly in his lapel. He was grinning. So was she.
She started down the stairs (now wincing at the cold, and longing for the carpet she saw in the room), one at a time. Then two. She reached the middle, and took three. Two more. She was almost at the bottom when he opened his arms, and she nearly jumped into them. He whirled her around, placing her gently on the carpet and holding her tight in an embrace.
"Merry Christmas. I thought you'd never wake up."
"Have you been waiting long?"
"Oh, not that long. I'm sure it felt longer than it was." He gave her a quick kiss. "I have a present for you."
"I had hoped," she replied with a smile. They walked together to a small sofa next to the tree.
They sat down, and he took both of her hands. "Megan, these last two years have been wonderful. You've grown so much, you've made me smile, you've made me laugh. You made me happy, when I was starting to think I would never be happy again. And I hope I've done the same for you."
"You have. Always."
"That's good, I'm happy to hear that. There, see? You made me happy again." He smiled at her, and took a deep breath. "I'm about to ask you something that I've only ever asked once before. I thought for a long time I would never want to ask it again. But I can see now I was wrong."
Megan's heart fluttered. He couldn't mean...
"I've been thinking about this, it's nothing I would take lightly. I reached the decision about a month ago. It doesn't seem like that long, but I can't imagine that I would want to change my mind. And now I can finally ask you..."
He slid himself off the couch, still holding onto her hands. He removed one of his, and pulled a small box out of his pocket, his gaze never leaving her face. She began to giggle nervously, knowing what was about to come.
He opened the box. Inside was a beautiful diamond ring.
"Megan, will you marry me?"
Megan sat happily stunned for a few moments, chuckling without any sound coming out. She put a hand to her mouth and fought back the happy lump forming in her throat.
"God...I mean, I love you...I'm eighteen...who'd have ever thought I'd get engaged at eighteen...oh my god, this is...Yes, of course I will!"
He stood up with a huge smile to match hers, and they threw their arms around each other again. A few tears of joy soaked into the front of Pegasus' shirt.
He tapped her on the shoulder and pointed up, with another grin. Megan looked above them to see mistletoe hung high on the ceiling. He'd placed it there himself the night before. She laughed, and kissed him.
Never in her entire life would she get such a wonderful gift again.