The park was absolutely the best place in the whole city. The big fountain was always running somehow, always looking beautiful. There was a bench in front of it, and a few big paths that led all around the park. There was a dog park, a playground, a pond. Caitlyn loved it there. She took a deep breath and just took in the wonderfulness of it all for a moment. It had begun snowing while she was at the theater, and there was now an extremely thin layer of snow on the ground, snow was drifting down from the sky. And snow makes everything seem magical.

Caitlyn wondered what she was supposed to find. This was the only clue that had no specific instructions and it kind of scared her. Maybe there would be something obvious she had to find, that was so obvious Nate wouldn't even bother giving her a hint.

She began walking one of her favorite paths, keeping an eye out for the obvious. She saw couples walking hand in hand, little kids running after each other, old ladies out walking their many little dogs. She scanned the trees and studied the benches, not finding anything out of the ordinary. She smiled and greeted the other cheery people on the path, but inside she was close to panic. Had she got it all wrong? Had the popcorn buckets actually stood for something else? Had they actually had something to do with Pennsylvania?

Maybe she had got it all wrong. And maybe she'd never be able to fix it because she'd thrown the popcorn buckets away, so she'd have no more hope to look at them again for a secret code or something.

When she got back to the entrance of the park, she went to the fountain and sat down on the bench. She took a deep breath and looked around again, praying to find the smallest bit of obviousness she must've missed.

She put her head in her hands, thinking. Her mind whirred like a crazy machine, trying to remember the tiniest clue that could help her out now.

"Hey, Caity."

Caitlyn's head snapped up. Her jaw dropped. Her eyes widened.

Right in front of her was none other than Nathaniel Black, drummer, guitarist, and backup vocalist for the band Connect 3.

Also known as Nate, Caitlyn's sweet and handsome secret admirer.

"How ya doin'?"

"Nate!" Caitlyn squeaked and shot up off the bench, throwing her arms around his neck.

"I've missed you, Caity. How are you?" He asked into her hair, holding her tight.

"I've missed you, too, Nate! I'm wonderful. How'd you get here? Aren't you touring or doing something big like that?"

Nate let go of her, not wanting to suffocate her right after reuniting. "No. Tour just ended last week. I've been planning this since September." He smiled deviously at Caitlyn whose eyes widened in astonishment.

"Oh, here. This is for you." Nate added before Caitlyn could say anything. He handed her a single red rose and smiled shyly.

Caitlyn's shocked expression melted to one of adoration as she took the rose. "Nate…"

She didn't get a chance to finish. He bent down and kissed her. Right there in the middle of the park, with everyone able to see. If it was any other boy, Caitlyn would have pushed him away and whispered how she didn't feel comfortable kissing in public places. But this was Nate. And Caitlyn wouldn't care if the whole world saw him kiss her. In fact, she would have liked letting the whole world how she felt right then.

They pulled away, both blushing profusely with excitement. Nate's brown eyes seemed to twinkle as reached into his pocket and pulled something out of it.

"And this, too." He handed her a ticket to a new movie showing at the Great Nate. "It would have been in the popcorn bowls, but I forgot and when I went back to put it in there, the bowls were already gone so I figured you must be here already. And I'm assuming you've been here for a while. Sorry about that."

"It's okay. It was worth it." Caitlyn said, beaming. A moment later a thought dawned on her.

"Wait, rewind a little, you said you've been planning this since September? How?"

Nate laughed at her sudden mood swing. "Your parents know all about this. I called them and asked if I could borrow you for a day over your winter break and they said, 'Why not stay with us for the whole two weeks? You're practically family!' Then we came up with the idea of surprising you and I just gotta say, Caity, your parents are the best."

Caitlyn gasped. "You get to stay two whole weeks?! I love my parents." Nate caught a hold of her hand and they began walking down another path.

"Hey, I'm sorry I didn't call you. Ever…" Caitlyn said after a few moments of comfortable hand-holding silence.

"Don't worry about it, Cait. I would've only been able to talk for like three seconds anyway. We've been go, go, go, go, go for the past four months. Completely non-stop. It's great and all, but this is the first week I've had to do whatever since I came here to visit you last time."

Caitlyn looked up at him, smiling slightly. This was almost too good to be true. Nate. Here. Why hadn't she been expecting that? It was such a Nate thing to pull.

"You know, Nate, this afternoon I didn't want to do anything but go home and be cheesy, sit next to the Christmas tree, listen to Christmas music, eat fudge and drink hot cocoa."

"Really?" Nate chuckled at her confession. "Sorry I ruined it for you."

"No need. This tops that by like a million times."

"Good." Nate squeezed her hand and they entered another comfortable silence, both of them happy to just be with each other.

"So, Caity, just out of curiosity… What was your favorite gift?" Nate asked, breaking the silence.

"The best gift?" Caitlyn pondered the question for a moment. "You." She said simply.

Nate shook his head and smiled as he bent down to kiss her again.

The End.

Awww. Wow, I had a lot of fun writing that. I love Naitlyn. It's just sososo sweet, you know? I'm not sure that I'm totally thrilled with the ending, but it ends... Thanks to all you loverly reviewers and readers! I love you guys. I hope you had the merriest Christmas ever! And I'm sorry for making you wait... Pretty

please review and tell me what you thought about the ending. Too abrupt? Too cheesy? Awful? Good? Perfect?

Thank you so much for reading! Hopefully I'll see you again! (Well, you know what I mean....) :)