DISCLAIMER: owned by those other people of there who are rich. You know the ones, Bandai and those people over there. OVER THERE.

No Red Letters
Chapter 6: I am so tired of Christmas commercialism! I want pure commercialism, dammit!

"Jingle bells, jingle, jingle bells-bells, jingle, jingle all the way!"

"Shut. UP!"

Five seconds of blissful silence later…

"Sigh-lent nigh - "

A very loud whack was heard as Dorothy hit Bethany on the back of the head.

"Oww! What was that for?" Bethany densely asked, rubbing her head.

Dorothy glared at her incredulously. "If you sing one more Christmas song I will throw you out on the sidewalk and order the guards to shoot you on sight if you come ten feet from my house."

Bethany 'hmphed' but wisely said nothing. The rest of the car trip was spent in icy silence as Dorothy's gold limo-tank wove its way through the heavy traffic and snow.

"Thank you Azad." Quatre waved off his limo driver as he quickly made his way into the Peacecraft Mansion; the snow was beginning to fall heavily now. He nodded thanks to the coat attendee as he shrugged the snow off his long jacket.

"Oh wait." Quatre removed a small wrapped present from his jacked pocket. He had managed to get at least one gift for -

"Q-man!"

"Duo." He smiled cheerfully at his friend. Duo looked like he'd already drank quite a few eggnogs.

"Good to see ya! Merry Christmas!" Duo slapped Quatre heartily on the back. "You won't believe what happened today - "

"Quatre. You made it."

Quatre smiled at the familiar cold monotone voice. "Merry Christmas, Heero."

Heero nodded to him before turning a death glare to Duo. "You drank all the eggnog."

Duo giggled and smiled his trademark 'innocent puppy dog smile'. "You'd think the catering would stock more than 150 litres of eggnog."

Quatre gave a start, "You drank 150 litres of eggnog!"

"No. He hooked it up to the fountain in the ballroom. Then started drinking from it."

"Trowa! Good to see you again!" Quatre hugged his best friend who had just entered the foyer.

"Hey man, it was a good idea!" Duo exclaimed. "Where's Wu-man? He's the only one not here." Duo didn't notice the already dark look on Heero's face get darker.

"He is head of security tonight." Four heads swiveled towards the person who had spoken.

"Miss Sally, merry Christmas." "Quatre kissed Sally's extended white gloved hand.

"So, what are you hiding under that coat, Sal? Bet Wu-man's eyes are going to get knocked out." Duo winked suggestively at Sally who playfully punched him on the shoulder.

From the top of the staircase, Hilde cleared her throat. "How about us dear?" she called out, linking arms with Midii as they slowly descended from the top of the marble staircase. Duo whistled appreciatively as the two walked down the stairs. Just as Hilde reached the last step, Duo grabbed her hand and planted sloppy kisses all the way up to her ear before growling playfully. Hilde swatted him away gently, rolling her eyes though she couldn't hide the smile on her face. Midii smiled awkwardly at Trowa; the dark blue chiffon, off the shoulder gown looked excellent on her but she still couldn't help feeling that she was imposing on Trowa's friends - even with Relena's repeated reassurances.

Trowa sensing Midii's reserve, kissed her hand and whispered with an almost reverence, "You are beautiful, Midii." That alone made her smile brighter and she felt more at ease. What did she have to worry about? Trowa was here. Hilde, Sally and Duo were becoming her friends and Relena Peacecraft was extraordinarily generous to lend her the gown…Midii shook away her fears as she returned Trowa's compliment; playing absentmindedly with his jacket lapel.

"Ohmigod! Sally! That gown! That's the one I saw. The one that …." Hilde trailed off, winking conspiratorially at Midii.

Midii had noticed at the same time as Hilde and smiled back knowingly. The gown suited Sally to a tee. They both thought, "Thank goodness I hadn't bought that gown."

Sally tried in vain to get Hilde to finish her sentence but Hilde and Midii wanted to put the department store fiasco behind them even if that had been the start of their friendship. "What's the big secret?" Catherine had snuck up on them; not coming down the stairs but from the elevator on the left of the staircase. She looked quizzically at Midii and Hilde but neither said a word.

"You look lovely Catherine." Trowa held out his other arm for his sister.

"Doesn't Trowa look great in his tux?" Catherine asked Midii who held Trowa's other arm. "Told him the dark green vest would look devilishly sexy."

Trowa felt like a tennis spectator as his sister and his girlfriend began talking about everything and anything.

"Where'd Heero go?" Duo asked Quatre who had just noticed that Heero had vanished and was about to ask the same question.

"Right here." Heero had gone to Relena's room when Sally had made her entrance. Relena wrapped her white gloved hand around his arm as they both descended down the staircase. She was wearing a long white cape that covered her gown completely.

"I'm so glad all of you are - Sally!" Relena exclaimed. Sally looked surprised at the outburst. She looked around her quickly before looking down at herself. 'Was there something on her face?'

Relena gave a defeated sigh and shook her head. "I can't win, can I?" she mumbled to herself, before slowly taking of her white cape.

"Oh…" Hilde uttered. They were wearing the same gown.

Sally was about to ask where had she gotten the gown from when the butler walked in to introduce the first arrivals of the official guests.

"Hello!" Bethany waved at Trowa. Midii wondered who she was and why did she wink at her boyfriend?

"Bethany." A voice used to using 'that' tone said behind her.

"Was everyone waiting for - " The smirk died on Dorothy's lips as she spotted Relena and Sally. She had been in the process of taking of her fur coat but closed it up again, glaring at the butler who was waiting to receive it.

Maybe she could go back home and change…

"Hey Dory, they both have the same gown as you do!" Too late. Bethany looked up at Dorothy's murderous gaze and realized she probably shouldn't have pointed out that fact.

A chuckle broke the icy silence. "Dorothy I'm guessing you're wearing the same gown as Relena and I?" Sally at Dorothy's flushed face and nodded to Relena, "Cinq's biggest Department Store?" Relena seeing the humor as well nodded with a smile.

"No. I'm going to personally prosecute my dressmaker. "Dorothy sighed in resignation, taking off her fur coat which the butler gladly received. Midii and Hilde silently thanked above for stopping them from buying that dress.

"Who is that girl, Trowa?" Midii took a small sip of the punch Trowa had just given her. That girl, who had come in with that other woman wearing that red gown, Dorothy Catalonia, head of Romefeller. She had done some freelance work for them. Midii recalled Dorothy calling that girl 'Bethany'. Duo seemed to know her but she wasn't continuously looking at him or giving Hilde glares.

Midii looked expectantly at her boyfriend, who if she didn't know better seemed to be ignoring her questions.

"Trowa? Who is she?"

An imperceptible sigh escaped his lips before he answered. "She's Dorothy Catalonia's cousin."

"That's not what I meant. Why does she keep looking at you like that?" Midii silently added, 'And why does she keep glaring at me?'

"I don't know what you mean." Trowa took the glass she was holding and set it down on the buffet table.

"Care to dance?"

Bethany glared at the petite blond woman in the dark blue gown. Didn't that blond hussy know Trowa was already taken? Not that Trowa was discouraging her. She had thought Trowa was the strong, silent, one-girl type of guy. Obviously she had read him wrong. He seemed rather suave and a ladies man right now. Did Lady Une know this about her boyfriend? Bethany checked her watch again; the ball had officially started 20 minutes ago but there were only a handful of guests including those that had been in the foyer. She had heard one of the valets saying that the snow was nearly covering the tires of the cars. Taking another sip of the non-alcoholic punch (Dorothy had forbidden her to drink anything alcoholic), Bethany muttered, "Well! I guess when the cats away the mouse will play." She muttered to herself as Trowa began to dance with that blond woman. Finally catching Trowa's eye, she glared and stalked off to the entrance to the ballroom. She was going to have a word with him.

Trowa noticed the move. How was he going to follow Bethany without inflaming Midii's already smoldering suspicions? His answer came in the form of his sister.

"Midii, do you mind if I dance with Catherine?" He gave her a smile that never failed Duo. "I think she wants to dance." Indicating with his head where Catherine was, talking to some politician who seemed to be hitting on her. Midii nodded reluctantly. "Go save your sister." Smiling outwardly but inside she was relieved he wasn't going to dance with that glaring blond bimbo.

Catherine looked surprised and thankful as Trowa swept her onto the dance floor. Why was it that she always got hit on by everyone over 50? Trowa swirled her around, getting closer and closer to the entrance, before Trowa spying Midii across the floor talking to Relena excused himself from Catherine and was gone from the ballroom in a matter of seconds. Catherine looked bewildered but shrugged it off. Must have been too much eggnog for her little brother.

Trowa found Bethany waiting at the bottom of the staircase. "I need to talk to you." With that clipped sentence, Bethany walked briskly down the hallway before reaching one of Relena's parlor rooms; a frowning Trowa right behind her.

"Are you serious about her?" Bethany asked before Trowa could say anything. They were in the blue room; relatively small in regards to the other rooms at the Mansion.

"What?" Trowa shook his head. "About her? Of course I am! Can you just give me the gift Bethany."

"Really? Then why flirt with that blond floozy?" Bethany was rummaging through her purse looking for the gift.

"Trowa looked at her confused. Blond floozy? Who was she talking about? "Listen, Bethany can you just please give me the gift? I have the money here." Trowa took out his wallet just as Bethany found the gift. She held it tightly in her hand.

"I don't think you should give her something like this if you're not entirely serious about her. Leading someone on like that is very wrong and on Christmas as well! Have you no shame?" Bethany hugged the gift to her. She wasn't going to let him have it until he promised to do away with his womanizing ways.

Trowa's patience was running thin. Midii might have already noticed he was missing since there wasn't much of a crowd. If she walked in on him and Bethany together…It would definitely hinder their relationship. "Bethany. I love her. I would never do anything to hurt her. Now can you please give me the gift."

Unbeknownst to the couple in the blue room, Midii had indeed realized that Trowa was missing but that Bethany was also not there. Now she didn't want to be one of those paranoid girlfriends always convinced that their boyfriend was cheating on them. She wasn't insecure and she didn't doubt Trowa…but damn it! She didn't trust that blond floozy! Maybe she was one of those predatory people out to break up happy couples. Midii felt slightly stupid as she walked down the hallway. "What am I doing?" she asked herself out loud. Trowa loved her, though he had never said it…but all the looks and all the words he did say made it clear that he loved her, right? Midii whapped herself lightly on the head and went back in the direction of the ballroom. He was probably there wondering where she was! She quickened her steps but stopped abruptly when she had a small thud. It came from one of the parlor rooms. Silently walking up to the door, she pressed her ear to the cool mahogany. It sounded like two people arguing. She was about to step away from the door when she realized who's voice it was. Trowa! Then who was that other voice? It sounded like a …girls voice. Midii frowned, anger was slowly rising and face was becoming slightly red. 'I can't believe this!' She placed her hand on the door knob and with a strength she didn't even know she had swung open the door.

Bethany stubbornly held onto the gift. Trowa had placed the money on the coffee table and had his hand outstretched in front of her. "No. I don't think so." That was when Trowa tried to grab the gift and Bethany hit the side table and knocked over a lamp (thankfully it didn't break). Using the distraction to his advantage; he managed to wrench the gift out of Bethany's hand.

"Hey! You give that back!"

Trowa looked at her like she was crazy. "I never should've listened to Duo." He held the gift high over his head as Bethany tried to grab it back.

"Trowa, give it back!"

Trowa just shook his head and turned away from her to the door - big mistake as soon as his back was turned Bethany jumped on him, not realizing how difficult that would be in high heels and a gown, she managed to topple him over and he landed on her. Then the room got suddenly very bright and Trowa and Bethany simultaneously turned to look at the door. There was that blond floozy staring at them in shock and anger.

Trowa scrambled to his feet, only just realizing how very, very bad it must look to be on top of a girl who wasn't your girlfriend. "Midii I can explain." He cringed at how awful that sounded.

Bethany gingerly got up. She had torn the gown - Dorothy was going to kill her. "Geez, you're heavy Trowa." She turned to the blond bimbo framing the doorway. "Oh don't give me that look! It's you who should be ashamed!"

Midii glared at the girl. "You're lecturing me on being ashamed! You have some nerve, trying that with my boyfriend!" She walked into the room and stood inches away from Trowa. "And YOU! I can't believe you!"

Bethany cringed as that girl slapped Trowa. 'He's going to feel that for days.' A red handprint was already forming on his face.

"Midii - " Trowa was cut off as Midii faced off with Bethany.

"I know your name, Bethany; you're going to regret ever hearing the name Midii Une because when I'm through with you - " Midii was cut off when Bethany exclaimed, "What!"

"You're name is Midii UNE?" Bethany's eyes grew three sizes larger. "Oh dear…" She smiled apologetically at the confused face Midii was giving her and Trowa's now swelling face.

"Uh, it's finally great to meet you Midii UNE. You see, I'm not wearing my contacts and from far away I thought you were someone else and well I also thought you had darker hair and - uh never mind! You see Trowa and I were just arguing about your Christmas GIFT, because, well you see, I bought it for him so it would be a surprise for you and I thought he was seeing someone else that wasn't you but turned out to be YOU and well now here we are!" Bethany inhaled and continued, "So really nothing is going on between Trowa and I and to prove it, Trowa give her the gift!" She motioned to the gift in Trowa's hand.

Trowa smiled hopefully at Midii who looked at Bethany and then Trowa with a 'what the?' expression on her face. The gift box was slightly dented but the actual jewellery box was fine as Midii opened it to reveal that beautiful ring. She gasped in surprise, gazing at Trowa who was smiling crookedly at her. "Read the inscription." He said simply.

Midii took out the ring and read what was written on the inside of the ring. "e…Lady Une." Midii said the last part of the inscription out loud.

Bethany interjected before Trowa could say anything, "Yep! Lady Une! You see to Trowa you are his LADY and Trowa is uh, your KNIGHT in shining armour?"

"Oh." Midii looked at Trowa for confirmation, he only nodded vigorously.

"May I have the honour of putting thy ring on my Lady's hand." Midii giggled at how serious Trowa said that.

"You may good Knight."

Bethany thought it would be a good idea to slip out now and as she closed the door to the blue room, she mouthed 'sorry' to Trowa as Midii was kissing away the slap on his face.

"This must be the worst Christmas party I've thrown since, well last year." sighed Relena, sipping on her eggnog (it was the only drink available, all the champagne that was supposed to have been served was stuck in traffic along with most of the guests). Relena glanced around the room; only a handful of her guests had made it. She had heard reports of a sudden blizzard, explaining why most of the dignitaries invited weren't there. At least she wasn't stuck in traffic or the airport. Relena cringed as more taped music blared out of the surround sound speakers.

"Fantastic turnout, isn't it, Relena?" Dorothy had sneaked up behind her; both of them looking like two giant red stockings by the spray painted Christmas tree. Relena nodded and clinked glasses with Dorothy's eggnog glass.

"Oh! Before I forget, I have to thank you for your gift. Duke Graht gave me the same thing this morning but I accidentally broke it." Relena smiled at Dorothy, not realising her friend was gripping her wineglass a little too tightly. "I knew he would ask me about it and I thought I would have to buy another one but you did it for me! I hope you don't mind if I say it's his gift, do you Dorothy?"

"No. That's fine. Excuse me." Dorothy snapped the wineglass as she walked away from Relena. All that Department Store HELL for nothing! Dorothy felt like hyperventilating but she managed to make it to the farthest corner of the balcony before throwing her now useless wineglass over the edge; covering her mouth with her white-gloved hand, she screamed and stomped her feet for good measure.

"Dorothy are you ok?" Dorothy whipped around, her hair hitting Sally in the face.

"Ow! I take it you're not ok, then?" Sally smirked, it was a bit chilly outside on the balcony but they were standing under a clear awning that was set up for the ball. It was all covered in snow with more snow steadily falling. The gardens must have been covered in more than a metre of snow. "Sally, you have no. Idea. How. NOT. Ok I am right now." Dorothy shivered slightly. The giant gas heaters situated in the middle of the balcony didn't quite reach the far end, where they were standing.

"The only thing that could possibly make it worse would be - " A loud crash stopped short what Dorothy was saying; the two blonds peered through the spray-painted-with-fake-snow French windows to see Bethany helping a waiter up from the ground. The dessert tray he was holding was now decorating the ESUN L3 Ambassador's head. " - Her." Dorothy finished. "Excuse me Sally, before my cousin causes another PR nightmare."

Sally nodded, hiding a smile behind her eggnog. Before enquiring after Dorothy, she had been looking for Heero. He had the security pass to access the monitoring rooms where Wufei was probably sitting around, bored out of his skull. Since she was off-duty she had left her security pass (she couldn't cram it into the purse that matched her gown) and when she couldn't find him around Relena, she had gone to the balcony to see if he was there checking the perimeter.

"Not here either." Sally murmured to herself. Well, the hallway was next then.

Heero swiped the security pass and punched in the 10 digit code. The door unlocked and he entered a room, where the only light was coming from a dozen monitor screens.

"Nothing unusual?"

"Nothing. If they were planning on something, the weather would have frozen them to death by now." Wufei folded his arms across his chest. This was the best Christmas yet - no Duo, no costumes, no Wufei bashing at all.

"Good." Heero leaned forward until he was right in front of Wufei's face. Wufei was leaning back on a swivel chair and he reclined as far back as he could without toppling over.

"What?" A sudden uneasiness swept over him. Heero couldn't have known, right?

"I know." Was all Heero said before straightening up. He walked to the door but before he opened it, he turned back to Wufei and with a truly evil glare said, "Get it back or Duo will know you drove around town in a pink Vespa."
Wufei swallowed hard. He looked at the now closed door, tiny sweat beads had formed on his forehead. He had to get that stupid scooter back now! Turning to his laptop, he started looking for the number of that damned Department Store, not noticing that a certain blond, in a fire truck red gown was coming up the stairs.

"Stupid shop. Stupid scooter. Stupid pimple faced teen - "

"Preventer Chang? I have - " Wufei turned muted his earpiece. Why did he have to get all the newbie recruits? Granted most of the experienced Preventers were in the ballroom or on the ground level, did he have to be stuck with Preventers just out of the Academy?

"Wufei."

Wufei swivelled around on his chair so fast that he nearly toppled over. "Relena! How did you get past security?" He needn't have asked as the two Preventers guarding the door looked sheepishly on.

"Wufei, this is my house." Relena waved off the two Preventers and they close the door behind them. "Besides Heero gave me his spare security card."

Wufei eyed her suspiciously. Reading between the lines, 'gave' meant taken while Heero was preoccupied with her. "Relena, the hostess should never leave her own party." Wufei stood up to escort Relena back to the ballroom but the cold glare that had suddenly graced her feattures stopped him cold. How eerily alike Heero and Relena were when they glared at you. 'Heero must be giving her tips.' Wufei thought warily, 'Did Heero tell Relena about the scooter? Damn him!'

"Wufei, since it is Christmas Eve I'll let this little indiscretion go." Wufei waited for the 'but'.

Relena gave a smirk Dorothy would've been envious of. "But if you ever touch one of my things - especially a gift from Heero - I'll make sure you're an instructor at the Preventor Academy for the rest of your working life." Relena turned to the door, "I expect it to be in my garage by tomorrow afternoon. Merry Christmas Wufei." With that she closed the door softly behind her.

Wufei wondered if it was possible to be more afraid of Relena then Heero. Most definitely fear Relena - Heero could take his life away but Relena could make it hell. He shuddered at the thought of teaching newbies for the rest of his life. "Damn that stupid pimpled face teenager!"

"This year's Christmas party isn't much fun without Wufei to tease." Duo gulped down more eggnog, managing to twirl Hilde around the dance floor while maintaining his nearly half full glass.

"After last year's party, I'm surprised he didn't have a restraining order placed on you." Hilde took a sip from the glass Duo was holding. "It is kinda quiet though."

The happy couple looked around the sparse ballroom. Considering that 50 out of the 250 VIP guests that made it through the blizzard, the ballroom felt very, very large and empty. At least most of the catering had made it through. With the one exception of all the Champagne, Duo thought it was a good thing the eggnog had made it unscathed.

He smiled at Hilde, who took that opportunity to take a sip from his glass of eggnog.

"I know what you're thinking; don't do it."

Duo feigned an innocent look. "I wasn't thinking about anything to do with Wufei."

"Which reminds me, thank Christmas that I didn't buy that dress. Sally looked gorgeous in it." Hilde scanned the room, looking for Sally. "Where is everyone?"

They could only spot Catherine, while the telltale signs of that red dress were no where to be seen. "I can't even see - oh wait, there's Relena..."

"And there she goes again." Duo finished, as they watched a familar mop of unruly brown hair pull the hostess out of the ballroom.

"Relena, didn't I tell you to stay in the ballroom?" Heero looked slightly annoyed. Why did she always ignore his security warnings?
Relena rolled her eyes. Heero looked adorable when he frowned. That wasn't the reason she constantly ignored his warnings...

"Heero, Iwas just checking up on a few things. Stop worrying." She kissed him lightly on the lips, just noticing they were standing under the many mistletoes decorating the mansion. 'One down, how many more to go?' Relena thought as she spied more mistletoe under another archway. She pulled him towards the next mistletoe and gave him a deeper kiss. 'Two.' She was about to kiss him again, under mistletoe three when someone behind them cleared their throats.

"Sorry to intrude but, Heero can I borrow your security card?"

Heero snapped out of his dreamy state, with a glare and a "What?"

Sally was about to explain but Relena pulled out 'her' security pass and tossed it to Sally. "Here Sal, you can use mine."

Sally winked at them and left. "Now where were we?" Relena turned back to Heero about to continue their mistletoe counting game but stopped short. Heero was still glaring. At her? Whatever for? Relena mentally slapped herself. The security card!

"I didn't give you a security card."

"Heero! It's my home and you didn't give me one!"

"That's because last time I gave you one, you left it on the coffee table - anyone could've stolen it and copied it and -"

"Heero! I was still in the room! I put it down for two minutes and you're never going to forget it, are you?" Relena sighed and looked skyward. The mistletoe smirked back at her. She tried a different tact. "I only took that security card so I could talk to
Wufei about taking my Vespa. I really love that Christmas gift you gave me."

Heero unfolded his arms. "So what number is this mistletoe?"

Relena smiled. "Number three." She wrapped her arms around Heero and kissed him. "I think there's another one in here." Relena said between breathless kisses from Heero. She managed to open the door to the blue room, and they stumbled towards the sofa.

"Uh!" Four rather horny and embarressed people stared at anything but each other.

"Well. Heero its not in here." Relena gave as small smile. "Lets go check the other rooms." Heero closed the door to the blue room but not before smirking at Trowa.

Midii buried her head in one of the throw pillows and suppressed a moan. "Why do I keep making a bad impression to your friends?"

Sally waved at the two Preventors at the door. "So hows the taskmaster?"

The two guards looked at each other nervously. You don't want to go in there, ma'am." But they both saluted her and stood aside.

She found Wufei typing furiously away on the keyboard. He was so hunched over that he didn't notice Sally walk up beside him.

"Cinq's largest department store?"

Wufei was so startled that he jumped out of his chair, banging his legs against the desk. A few monitors jumped with him.

"Are you ok?"

"Sally! Yes! Of course I'm fine! What are you doing here." Wufei cleared his throat. He sounded squeaky. "You're supposed to be at the party." He shut off the monitor he was looking at.

"I just wanted to see how things were doing up here. The party is pretty dull." Sally gave him a quizzical look. Wufei was acting strange, well stranger than usual.

Wufei was just noticing what Sally was wearing. She looked beautiful in red...Which looked familarly to him but he couldn't remember from where. "Sally you...look beautiful." He fished out a small box from inside his jacket pocket.
"Here." He threw the box at her which she caught in her gloved hand. "Well. Open it!"

Sally hid a smile. So he had gotten her something anyway. The box wasn't wrapped and when she opened it she realised it wasn't a box but a miniature music box. It began tinkling 'Ode to Joy'.

"Thank you, Wufei. Its a lovely gift." She kissed him on the cheek. Carefully closing the lid of the music box, she gestured to the turned off monitor. "Why were you looking up Cinq's largest department store?"

Wufei blushed slightly. Thank goodness the light from the other monitors didn't highlight his face. "Long story." When he didn't say anything else, Sally pulled up a chair and sat down next to him.

"Since the party's dull right now, you don't mind if I help you out?"

"You won't get paid."

"I don't mind. I think you could use some Christmas company."

Before Wufei could protest again, Sally kissed him. "Mistletoe." She explained as they broke off. Wufei had a "What?" expression on his face. "Fei, focus on the screens."

"Can you be any more embarrassing?" Dorothy held a vice like grip onto Bethany as she dragged her all the way to the balcony without incident.

"Embarrassing? Dorothy it was an accident. The Ambassador didn't seem to mind." Bethany felt her fingers go numb and tingly. "Dory could you loosen the grip, I can't feel my fingers."

Dorothy let her go but not before swinging her around so they were face to face. "Stay here. Don't move from this spot. I don't care if you get cold. But you're not allowed back into that ballroom until you can function properly for two minutes!"

"When you say function - "

"Shut up! Just. NO. MORE. TALKING." Dorothy felt the migraine press against her skull. She walked a few metres away from her cousin before stopping and she turned back and glared at Bethany who's mouth was half open. "No singing or humming either. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. NOT A WORD." She turned back towards the ballroom to stomp away from Bethany for good measure instead she stomped on someone's foot.

"Argh!" Quatre cringed. He probably shouldn't have stood right behind her.

Dorothy stared at Quatre in horror. Someone really, really hated her in cosmos.

"I was about to warn you." Bethany muttered behind her.

"Its fine, Miss Dorothy. I was just looking for you." Quatre glanced behind Dorothy. Her cousin was staring rather intently at the sky.

Dorothy resumed an icy demeanour. "Really? Come to apologise for leaving me in that holding cell?"

Quatre cleared his throat nervously. "About that...I apologise for leaving you there. I came looking for you here to give you a peace offering." He pulled out a small box. "Please accept this Christmas gift."

Bethany had quit pretending to not notice the two blonds and was craning her neck to look at what that cute guy had given her cousin. Dorothy hid her surprise. He had bought her a gift? And he'd apologised even though it was half her fault. Damn him for being this nice!

"Mr Winner, if you think buying my forgiveness is going to work - "

"Open the gift!" Bethany said excitedly. She had moved from her designated spot and was standing right behind Dorothy.

"Bethany." Dorothy grinded her teeth together. "Go back to the ballroom."

"But you said - "

"Will you JUST.GO."

"I don't think I'm functioning properly yet - "

"You can drink alcohol."

"Ok then. See you inside."

Bethany smiled up at Quatre before skipping back inside. Dorothy glared at her retreating form until she had gone inside the ballroom. Looking at the small red box in her gloved hand, she smirked. "I guess this can be a small step towards reconciliation, Mr Winner." Carefully pulling at the gold ribbon around the box, Dorothy opened it to reveal…A small crystal figurine of a reindeer. Two small blue stones for eyes and a red stone for its nose.

"I thought it would serve as a sort of reminder, never to go shopping on Christmas Eve." Quatre said with a smile. Dorothy surprised him by laughing out loud.

"After that debacle with the singing reindeer, beheading Santa and finding out my dress is not designer made, I think I've learnt my lesson."

"I think I'll hole myself up in one of my desert mansions for next Christmas season." Quatre glanced up at the sky, the snow was still falling but more lightly now.

"I think I'll join you." Dorothy sighed, she turned to Quatre to say something else when his lips lightly brushed against hers. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. Quatre pulled back almost as quickly; he was turning as red as her dress.

"Uh, mistletoe." He pointed at her head. Dorothy looked up and realised there was mistletoe in her hair. Bethany! Damn her, how'd she put this in her hair? Part of Dorothy's mind ticked over how she would torture her cousin, the other part felt slightly happy and tipsy which would explain why she plucked the twig out of her hair and placed it on Quatre's head.

"I believe I owe you a kiss, Mr Winner."

While Relena's annual Christmas Ball, didn't turn out exactly as she had planned, everyone got exactly what they wanted, with the exception of Duo who didn't pull a prank on Wufei, much to his disappointment. Midii never did find out that it was Duo's luggage that had destroyed her own. Dorothy decided not to prosecute her dressmaker, instead she recommended her to Bethany. Quatre's secretary managed to get all the gifts for the Winners and Quatre was saved from any family disputes. Wufei got Relena's Vespa back without killing that oily faced teenager and not incurring any wrath from Heero or Relena – well a little from Heero but it was Christmas so it wasn't too painful. Hilde and Catherine decided for next years Christmas Ball, all the girls would go shopping together to avoid anything unfortunate happening again.

And they all learnt never EVER to shop at Cinq's largest department store on Christmas Eve. (Well some were banned from the store so they didn't really have a choice).

THE END.

Person who can't believe it taken so long: BELATED MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!
I really really really am sorry for taking over two years to finish this! My goodness. Yes I know the ending is strange – I never ended any story like this but I really didn't know how else to!
With so many computer issues and losing drafts – it may seem like this last chapter is patchy mainly because I wrote parts or it years ago!
BTW for those who are curious (no one), its called No Red Letters because I used to work at Australia Post as a Christmas casual. Where the machines being fed the letters (hundred thousands of xmas cards) couldn't read mail in red envelopes (because machines are dumb…not you my computer! Don't you dare break down on me again!) So that's why its called No Red Letters. Anywho! If you'd like please criticise and criticise! Er, read and review? Anyone?
As you can see I am going to finish my other fics just like this one! Hopefully I another two years I'll be done! Really I'm kidding! I really need to stop procrastinating…