AN: First order of business. This entire fic is officially dedicated to Mr. McLean and his ability to live with our credo of "No Day but Today." Oh, and I noticed when I was looking back through my chapters that I misspelled his name a couple times. It is spelled as it is above. Blame my spell-check. An evil and a blessing.
Next order of business. I was inspired by MiSs HoLlYwOoD's AN at the beginning of her last chapter. Now don't get me wrong, you are all amazing reviewers – those of you that do review! My ratio of reviews to hits for this story is about 1 to 61. That means only one person out of every sixty-one people who read this fic say anything to me. What's up with that? This is a ratio I am willing to live with, however, on one condition. That ratio never gets past 1 to 200. Should that happen, I warn you now; someone, a la Mean Girls, is getting hit by a bus. No joke. One of these lovely nine characters you are reading about will walk out on the street and get hit by a bus. At 1 to 100, I will start the warnings. Please don't make me do this. I would be very sad. It would screw with my plotline a good deal. But I promise you right now, I will do it.
On a happier note, thank you for all the lovely reviews I did get! Here's to the anons:
socogal – I'm very, very sorry. Tell your doctors I'll try, but I can't promise anything. I feel the same way about C&A, which is why it was hard for me to decide to give Collins a boyfriend, even though I felt, given his character, he'd be the type of person to be in love. He's just too loving to keep it to himself. But I still felt hesitant until Dave popped in my head, and I knew everything would be ok. Yay for clumsy Jewish girls! I'm not one (well, I'm not Jewish at any rate), but I have enough Jewish friends for me to pull funny stories from for Abby's character that I know exactly what you mean. Also, I find they make really great, consistent reviewers. (winks)
Andrea – Perhaps. But it got you to review, didn't it? And that was part of the point. The part was that I thought it was funny, but that's probably not a view widely shared, huh? I'm happy to hear you like my fic. I'm having fun writing it. I've never done this daily update thing before, and since I think this is going to be fairly long, I'm interested in just how long I can keep this up. Best of luck, huh?
alison – Hey! You rock for reading my fic! I sent my reply to you, so that's all good.
Disclaimer: I have a question. If I forget this, who is going to sue me? The studios that made the film? The people who own the script? The people who own the soundtrack? The Larson family? The people producing the play on Broadway right now? It's an interesting question. I think someone should test it. It won't be me. I don't own Rent, and I have less than two bucks in my possession right now. Don't sue me!
A Kiss in the Snow
"December 25, 8 pm, Eastern Standard Time. Maureen says Merry Christmas with," Mark zoomed down on his gift, "anarchy symbols. Way to spread the holiday cheer, Mo."
"Ok, ok, I get it! Next year, stick with wreathes." Maureen rolled her eyes and added under breath, "Even if Collins liked them."
Collins shook his head furiously and laughed. "Don't lump me in with you! I'm not getting in trouble this year. I didn't push my belief system on my friends on Christmas, and I refuse to get in trouble because you did!"
"Enough, you two!" Joanne sounded stern, but she was wearing a big smile. She had saved up and gotten everyone a pair of wool mittens as a surprise. They had gone over much better than Maureen's gifts and it was obvious she was having fun holding it over Maureen.
They had been handing gifts around for the past hour. Roger and Mimi had gotten everyone coffee (apparently Mimi had gotten a deal in bulk), beer (Roger had also gotten a deal) and little hand and feet warmers to go in mittens, gloves and shoes. Mark had gotten everyone a scarf of some sort of striped variety. Abby, who felt she should give something, ended up passing out a bunch of candy she found left over in her purse from multiple Hanukah parties.
"I guess I should go." Benny (who had gotten there an hour earlier) reached behind him and pulled out a large sack. "I got this stuff before I went broke, so..." he shrugged uncomfortably. He started to hand around gifts, including clothes, new instruments, camera equipment, books and more. Every looked at each as a stony silence filled the room. Mark could see Abby looking confused at everyone else's reactions and realized that she really didn't yet understand what life was like for those without much money. Maureen had told him she had been rich, but it hadn't really sunk in with him. Then he realized that Benny probably thought he remembered what it had been like to be constantly broke, but he really didn't. So he stood up and dumped his presents back in Benny's lap.
Benny gave him a strange look, but Mark chuckled. "It's ok. Return them and get something smaller. You'll need the money more than I do. Because, for once, I have a job and you don't," he added reflectively.
Benny frowned. "I can't take this back. It's not fair. I'm going to be living in your loft. You invited me back. I can't just..."
Roger grinned and tossed back his stuff as well. "What do I need a new guitar for anyway? You know I'm never giving mine up!"
One by one all the friends pilled their presents next to Benny, requesting smaller, more affordable things. As soon as everything was returned, Dave shot up. "Our turn!"
Mark protested. "Come on, guys! You got food and the tree. You're done!"
Dave shook his head. "Not quite." He held up a bundle of something. Mark squinted. It looked kinda like ... "Mistletoe!"
It was official. Mark was dead. He was dead, and they were going to take down Abby as well. It wasn't fair. She was a nice, innocent girl, who didn't deserve...
"Mine!" Abby lunged towards Dave, whisked the mistletoe out of his hands, then grabbed Mark and pulled him out onto the fire escape, closing the doors firmly behind her. "Finally," she grinned.
Mark laughed at her. "You've been waiting for that? What, did you think I wasn't going to kiss you unless you had an iron-clad reason or something?"
Abby looked at him plaintively. "Well, you haven't yet. And anyway, I needed a way to get you away from the crowd," she added, gesturing towards their friends, who were now trying to pretend that they weren't looking at them through the doors, which were really nothing more than large windows.
Mark grinned. "If you're trying to get me away from 'the crowd', you'd better follow me." He took her hand and led her down the fire escape (ignoring the cries of indignation), until they were in front of Dave and Collins' apartment. Then he pulled her to him. "As for needing a reason for me to kiss you," he leaned down and locked his lips with hers. He pulled back slightly. "See? No mistletoe required."
"But it did get us out here, didn't it?" Abby pointed out with a giggle, running her thumb up and down the side of his face.
"Point taken." He kissed her again, longer this time. Snow began to fall on them, and he finally ended the kiss. "We better get in or we're going to get soaked."
She shook her head. "I like the snow. It's cute. Like you." She grinned at him. "Did you know the Parthenon's in Greece?"
He wrinkled his nose. "Really?"
She laughed at him. "Yeah. Get it right next time," she said in a mock stern voice, poking him in the chest. He caught her hand and pulled her back in for another kiss. Mark was deciding he also liked snow if this was what it led to when he heard whistles.
"Collins and Dave have a key to this apartment," he murmured to her as he placed his forehead on hers.
She pouted. "You don't want to go in do you?" She slid her hand down his back and locked her eyes with his.
After a moment's hesitation, Mark shook his head. "As much as I've watched Roger, Mimi, Collins' and Dave ... they owe me," he whispered. They ignored the cheers as their lips met again.
AN: It was kind of short, but I think it was kinda cute. Hope you thought the same! I felt it was time for some Abby/Mark time. Yay! Love? Hate? Please review!