Snow and sleet rattled the windows of the old dorm building, and Cornelia shivered. She was trying to study for her history exam, but the cold wasn't helping her stay focused.

Pulling her blanket tighter around her shoulders, she wondered if it was also snowing in Meridian. Even after all these years she was still not exactly sure of the weather patterns as they corresponded to the other worlds.

In her experience, storms on Meridian were usually caused by magic, so she assumed that the weather was currently calm. The peace that she and her fellow Guardians had achieved had held, for the most part.

There were the occasional issues that had to be dealt with, but she had been able to get through high school as a relatively normal teenager.

Normal, except for the occasional trip to another world where she and her friends sometimes transformed into magical winged beings. For Cornelia, those trips were more frequent than the others.

Now as Cornelia cursed the building's lack of proper heat, she wished she had a certain someone to help keep her warm. Smiling, she took out her phone and flipped to the most recent photo she had taken of Caleb. He had spent her winter break with her at her parents' house. He had gotten used to Christmas over the years, but it was still amusing to see the former rebel leader and now commander of the Queen's Guard in a festive ugly sweater that matched her own.

"I don't understand, these are ugly on purpose?" He had asked after unwrapping his.

While he didn't understand some traditions, others he embraced. This included mistletoe, which Irma had filled him in on. He had thankfully waited until her family was asleep to pull out the sprig and hold it above her head before kissing her thoroughly.

Feeling her face heat with the memory, Cornelia sighed. It had only been a month since she had been back at school, but she wished she could call her boyfriend like a normal college student. But nope, he wasn't in school in California as she told her friends here. They didn't exactly have cell phones in Meridian.

Sometimes she wished that she and Will had ended up at the same college. The other girls were still in high school, and Will and Matt had ended up choosing to stay close to Heatherfield, so they still saw the other girls, and each other, often. Matt was pursuing his music and Will was still figuring out what she wanted to study, so she was taking some community college courses in the meantime.

This meant that Cornelia was the first of them to really leave home. Her first semester had been fine enough. She had made some friends, especially with her suitemates, but it was hard feeling so far away from the people that knew her the most.

Cornelia was jolted back to the present by a sudden knock at her door.

"Come in," she called, confused. Her door was rarely locked and the other girls usually just walked in when they wanted something.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," came a very male, very unexpected voice.

"Caleb!" She jumped up and threw her arms around him, then pulled back when she realized he was covered in snow.

"What are you doing here?" She exclaimed, brushing the snow out of his dark brown hair. She pulled him inside and closed the door to her room to retain what little warmth there was.

"Sarah let me in," he said, naming one of her suitemates as if that explained everything.

"To Earth? I thought you weren't visiting for at least another month," she said, sitting back down on the bed and motioning for him to join her.

Taking off his cloak, he carefully draped it on her desk chair. She realized that he was still wearing his Meridian clothing, so this had been an unplanned visit.

Sitting down and kicking off his boots, Caleb sighed. "Aren't you happy to see your boyfriend?" he asked, emphasizing the last word. He had long become used to the words Cornelia and her friends used to describe relationships, but he still teased her about it. She didn't care what words he used anyway, and didn't exactly mind when he called her his "beloved."

"Of course I am! I was actually just wishing you were here. Wait a minute," she paused. "I didn't summon you here did I?" That wasn't one of her powers, but stranger things had definitely happened in the five years since she had become a Guardian.

"Not exactly," he said, a ghost of a smile on his lips. He reached out to cup Cornelia's cheek, but she reeled back.

"Your hands are freezing!" Taking both of Caleb's hands in her own, she rubbed them until they slowly began to warm.

"Yes, well, Blunk isn't exactly known for his accuracy with folding, and I didn't want to wait until Will and the others came to Meridian."

"You still haven't told me why you're here or why you were in such a rush! Did something happen? Is Elyon in trouble?"

"Nothing happened, Elyon is fine." Caleb withdrew one of his hands from her grasp and ran it through her blonde hair. Reaching just below her shoulders, it wasn't quite as long as it had been when they had met. "She actually sent me here. I guess I was getting, uh, grumpy, to use your word."

"So there's no crisis on Meridian or in Heatherfield. And Elyon suddenly decided she could spare her Captain of the Guard so you could...visit your girlfriend?" Cornelia's eyebrows went up.

"The Queen is very wise," he said, laughing softly. "Now, do you want to know why I'm really here?" He shifted so they were face to face on her small dorm bed, lips inches apart.

"To finally take advantage of the fact that I have my own room here?"

Caleb pulled her towards him then instead of answering, feathering his lips over hers before claiming them.

She sighed into his mouth, pulling him closer as he deepened the kiss. Outside, the storm continued to rage, but the young couple was oblivious to anything going on in that world or the others.

Breaking apart to catch her breath, Cornelia leaned her forehead against his.

"You look tired," she observed quietly, reaching out to trace the dark circles under his deep green eyes. "Have you been sleeping?"

Caleb closed his eyes at the concern in her voice. Gently, she nudged him so that he was laying down and rested her head on his chest.

"The nightmares, they...get worse the longer I'm away from you," he admitted after a few moments, pain lacing his words. Wrapping her arms tighter around him, Cornelia waited for him to continue. He rarely talked about his time in the rebellion or what he had been through with Nerissa. He refused to call her his mother.

"Sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm not fighting anything anymore. That everything good in my life is not going to disappear." Caleb swallowed thickly. "I needed to see you," he finished simply.

"Caleb..." she whispered, bringing her face to his again. "I'm not going anywhere. I love you."

He nodded, kissing her again. "I don't doubt you, my love. I doubt myself-" Cornelia cut him off with a finger to his lips.

"None of that talk now. You're here with me, that's all I care about in this moment."

Caleb flipped them over, covering her body with his. She relished the feeling of him, warm and solid and real.

"You know, you do sleep better when we're together," Cornelia teased.

"Sleep is not what I want right now," he whispered before capturing her lips again.

She knew that the next few years wouldn't be easy, but nothing had been easy since they had met. Being of two different worlds didn't matter, she realized. She would happily make her home wherever Caleb was, and vice versa.

For now, Cornelia was content to enjoy any time she had with him, however brief, and the warmth they created together.