Hey guys! Less of a wait this time, how 'bout that?! I've been entirely too bored over the past couple of weeks and got in some good writing time, which I'm sure you are happy to hear! ;)

Anyway, I would just like to say that this chapter is for Deyse! Sorry I didn't get it posted before you had to go to sleep last night! Hopefully you'll forgive me after reading it though! To my Sissy, Kim, and all my other faithful readers – get EXCITED 'cause this is a good one!!

The food that Tess had prepared for Thanksgiving dinner was fabulous, from the amazing fried turkey, to the stuffing, potatoes, and exquisite pumpkin pie. Monica couldn't recall ever being as stuffed in her entire existence, but it was quite a good feeling. She couldn't help but think that the next order of business was a nap, curled up by the fire. She yawned loudly, which drew an irritated look from Tess, and a grin from Andrew, who caught the contagion and yawned quite loudly himself.

"Well, I'm glad to know that my cooking makes you both sleepy. That's a good sign," Tess said with a smile and a shake of her head. Tess was pleased to see that Monica's earlier upset had seemed to resolve itself before dinner, for she had been her usual chatty self throughout the meal. Although, she recalled, if anyone was good at concealing problems, it was Monica. She hoped for her sake though that whatever it was had been resolved.

"Thank you, Tess. It was really wonderful, the best turkey I've ever had," Monica said cheerfully, "and that pie … wonderful isn't good enough of a word to describe it." She patted her stomach and groaned jokingly, wondering how she was going to move at all. Andrew agreed with her,

"I think I side with Monica on this one," he said with a nod, "the best ever." Tess looked pleased with both his and Monica's words of thanks and began to think to herself how nice a nap would be indeed.

"I'm happy that you enjoyed it. Now, I think you both need a nap. Something tells me that neither one of you got much sleep last night. So why don't you …" but she trailed off suddenly, and looked upwards toward the ceiling. A moment later, she returned her gaze to the two of them at the opposite end of the table and said,

"I'm being called away. I have to leave now." Monica started protesting immediately,

"Tess, no …" she said stubbornly, "none of us are supposed to get called, it's Thanksgiving, He promised …" But Tess shook her head,

"Angel Girl, the world doesn't stop just because it's a holiday. Humans still get themselves into trouble, and God knows accidents happen and problems arise just like any other day. I don't mind going. The Father says I won't be gone long, maybe just a few days. And I'll be close, just down the mountain in the city," she said humbly, not upset in the least for a chance at something constructive to do. All this lying around wasn't Tess's cup of tea. As she stood up to leave, she gave them some instructions,

"If you wouldn't mind, the kitchen needs to be straightened and the dishes need to be done. Oh yes, and depending on how long I'm gone, there's a box of Christmas ornaments in the front closet. Why don't you two find a tree, and decorate it? That would give you something to do while I'm gone," she said, hinting at the fact that they had done little else but lay around in the week that they had been on vacation. They both agreed to both tasks immediately, and with a wave, Tess disappeared from the dining room before their eyes. Monica looked at Andrew, slightly bewildered by how fast that Tess's departure had occurred, when only moments before they had been enjoying a delicious meal.

Andrew leaned back from his chair, and as sad as it was that they allcouldn't be together on Thanksgiving, he couldn't help but think that he and Monica could use this time to explore what was going on better without being under Tess's watchful eye. He figured that Monica would be able to relax a little bit and let go of some of the anxiety that had been building up in her over the course of the last two days. Andrew found himself rather looking forward to spending the next two days or so alone with her.

"I guess we should get the dishes done and out of the way," Monica suggested, turning up her nose slightly at the thought of the mountain of dishes waiting for them in the kitchen. "And what else was Tess saying … something about a tree?"

"Yeah, she said we should find a tree and decorate it with ornaments and lights and stuff. I think she said that there's already a box of those things in the front closest, but that we would have to find a tree for ourselves. We could find one … go traipsing through the woods, locate a perfect one, and find a way to cut it down and get it back here … or we could buy one …" he said, thinking of all the work either one of those options would entail.

"OR," Monica said with her eyes bright and widened like a child's, "we could just ask for one. Don't you think that would be much easier?" She grinned wide and ran from the room through the swinging kitchen door, only to stick her head back through a moment later, "Come see …" she said, in a voice that Andrew thought was slightly seductive, although he knew she probably didn't mean it that way. Sure enough, there in the corner of the family room, right by the fireplace, stood a magnificent pine ready to be decorated. Andrew shook his head and threw a smile in her direction,

"That's amazing. Although … I was sorta looking forward to a walk in the snow with you," he said, his green eyes twinkling, "but since we already have a tree now…"

"We could still go for a walk," she said quickly, looking out the window at the afternoon sun sitting low in the sky, "but let's wait until it's dark. I love the way snow sparkles in the moonlight." Andrew smiled again, loving her use of words. It was almost poetic.

"Well, I don't think waiting for the sun to set will be much of a problem. We still have the kitchen to clean, and all those dishes to do. We should probably get started anyway." Monica just smiled again, and Andrew found that slightly strange. Usually, she wasn't so excited to do housework. He nodded back towards the swinging door, and as they arrived in the kitchen, Andrew found himself smiling yet again, and understanding Monica's excitement.

"How many favors did you ask for, Princess?" He said, looking around at the spotless kitchen. The table had been cleared, the food put away, and there wasn't a dirty dish in sight. Monica grinned mischievously, her maple colored eyes glinting in the sunlight that was pouring through the window.

"Three," she said casually, turning away from him and walking to the counter to turn the coffee brewer on. Andrew thought for a moment, about the tree and the dishes. That was two …

"Ok so, what's three?" He asked. She turned back around, shook her head and threw a wink in his direction.

"Three is a surprise," Monica said, her eyes glittering in the light again. She got a mug down from the cabinet above her head and poured some coffee, taking her time to prepare it just the way she liked, with three creams and one sugar. She offered a cup to Andrew, but he shook his head and thanked her anyway, not that she was surprised with his response. She tried to imagine disliking coffee as he did, but she just could not wrap her mind around the thought.

Andrew cleared his throat then and suggested that they get started on the tree. She agreed and pointed out that by the time they were finished decorating, it would be dark and they could go for their moonlit stroll in the snow. The thought of their walk in the frozen forest kept a smile on Monica's face the entire evening as they decorated the tree. They had every possible ornament to decorate with, even multi-colored lights and strings of popcorn.

Two hours later, they both flopped on the floor exhausted, but thoroughly satisfied with their decorating job. They had spent the time laughing and talking as they hung ornaments on the tree's branches, and Andrew was so very glad to see that Monica's eyes were sparkling and her smile was bigger than it had been in days. He glanced out the window, noticed the inky blackness in the sky, and smiled, hoping that she wasn't too tired now to go on a walk.

"It's dark, Princess … you're not too tired to go out are you?" He asked, hoping that she still wanted to go, as he had been looking forward to it as well. She looked at him as if he was crazy and replied,

"Of course not! I would never pass up a chance to go for a walk with you, with or without snow," she said with a grin, giggling at the slight blush coloring his cheeks at her words. "Come on, let's go now …" she said, standing up and extending her hand to help pull him up off the floor too.

They spent the next few minutes in silence, bundling up well against the cold, with heavy coats and gloves. As soon as they were ready, they headed out the back door. The clouds had rolled away from one patch of the sky, and a few stars could be seen twinkling in the night sky. The scenery was breathtaking with the soft blanket of snow, and Monica's breath was literally taken as she took in the beauty of God's creation. There was something to be said about snow anytime, but in the moonlight it was … and the word came to Monica as a thought, but she accidentally whispered it out loud,

"Magical …" And as she looked around again, she decided that the little forest on the edge of the mountain, with it's tall trees and perfect blanket of untouched snow really was a magical place.

Andrew, who had been just as mesmerized by the beautiful scene before them, didn't hear Monica, although he had been thinking quite the same thing. He slipped his gloved hand into hers easily, not hardly noticing the warm tingly shock that spread through his body at the contact. It was normal now, after all. They started walking down the path then, stepping gingerly to not disrupt the snow too much with their footprints. The scenery around them was so beautiful that they felt privileged to just be in it, and they didn't want to do too much harm by walking through it haphazardly.

They walked in silence for a little while, which suited Monica perfectly. It gave her time to think, and while they walked, she decided it was time to cash in on favor number three. As soon as she thought it, the snow, which had stopped falling hours ago, began to fall to the earth again in big fluffy flakes. It had been beautiful before of course, but now their winter wonderland was complete. There was no denying the magic in the air now.

Andrew sighed contentedly, and somehow he knew that Monica was responsible for the falling snow. He squeezed her hand tighter and asked softly, with a sweet smile pulling at the corner of his lips,

"Three?" She nodded and smiled, and all of the sudden, he stopped walking and pulled her into his arms unexpectedly for the second time that day. He didn't say anything, just held her tight. He knew exactly what was happening, and he was through denying the feelings that wanted to explode from his heart. Everything that he had been trying to hold back for the last few days suddenly came rushing to the surface in an almost overwhelming blur.

With the stillness in the air and the snow falling all around, it set the perfect scene. He pulled away just enough to look into her face. In that moment, he wanted to kiss her more than anything that he had ever wanted before. He didn't want to upset or scare her though, so for a moment he just looked into her eyes and tried to come up with something to say, but nothing he thought sounded right, so he said nothing.

He was about to just let go of her and suggest that they continue walking, but a delicate flake of snow landed on Monica's eyelash. She turned her face away from his slightly and blinked it off, her nose wrinkling up. Andrew noticed that her cheek was now accessible with her face turned away, and decided to settle with kissing it instead, as he often did. As he leaned in to kiss her though, she turned her face back.

Monica sucked in a breath of air. The kiss was technically on her cheek, but it was close enough to her lips that she could feel the brush against them. She lowered her head a little and shut her eyes, her mind rushing so much that she was almost dizzy. A million things were going on inside her brain, and she wondered if he had meant really to kiss her, and he just missed. She suddenly hoped that that was the case, but she knew that as she lifted her head and kissed him, that it would be too late for hoping anyway.

Time seemed to stop, and it felt like everything was happening in slow motion. As soon as the kiss ended, Monica looked into Andrew's startled eyes searchingly, hoping that she didn't just make a terrible mistake. The corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly in a smile and she asked,

"Is that what you meant to do?"

Andrew, who couldn't quite believe what just happened, didn't answer right away, for he was at a complete loss for words. He didn't think anything he said would be a good enough response.

"Uh, I … well, yes and no …" he said, stuttering a little from the shock, "At first, I meant to … well, you know it doesn't really matter what I meant because … I liked that much better anyway." He forced himself to breathe normally, and returned her smile. Relief flooded through Monica like a river, and she let out a huge sigh, finally feeling like she understood a thing or two.

They stood in awkward silence for a moment, neither one really knowing what to say to the other. After a few minutes, Andrew's smile turned into a laugh,

"I'm glad you had the guts to do that, Princess," he said, pulling her close and hugging her tight again. "You want to go back yet?"

She nodded her head against his chest and yawned. She was getting sleepy, and thought that going back and curling up by the fire was the perfect idea. They headed home after a few more minutes in the silent woods, and when they got there, the first thing Andrew did was light a fire in the big stone fireplace. After they shed their coats and boots, they sat together on the sofa laughing and taking a trip down memory lane of past holiday seasons.

As the fire died down to a faint glow, Andrew thought it was best to call it a night. They both had had a long and somewhat emotional day, and were exhausted to say the least. Andrew rose from the sofa and extinguished the remains of the fire before they both headed up the stairs. As they reached Monica's bedroom door, Andrew took her face in his hands and kissed her goodnight, hoping that when he woke tomorrow, he wouldn't find this all to be a dream.

Now please, exhale.

Love,

A