A/N: As far as I know, Cedar Springs is a fictional town and lake. But if it's not, please correct me. :-)

The Christmas Cabin

Thirty minutes later, the couple's car slid to a stop. Rose, still anxious to know where they were, opened the door. Before she could climb out, however, Mack seized her elbow and tugged her back to her original position. "Please, Rose, let me do this my way."

Having convinced Rose to stay put for the time being, the former ranger leader opened the compartment between the seats and pulled out a pair of thick red gloves. He fitted them over his hands before looking over at Rose. "You might want to put yours on, too."

The petite pink ranger took a pair of white gloves from her purse and slipped them on as Mack got out and went around the car. He opened the passenger side door for Rose. As she stood, her legs protested slightly because they'd been stationary for so long, and she groaned softly. Mack placed a gloved hand over Rose's brown eyes.

"Oh, honestly," she grumbled. Mack laughed as he guided her slowly, his other hand on the small of her back.

"You can see now," he told her once he'd placed her where she could see everything. He removed his hand to keep his promise, watching with a smile as Rose looked around in wonder.

She let out a tiny gasp of surprise at the scene. They were standing a few yards away from a perfectly square cabin, complete with a snow covered roof and frosted windows. The little cabin was in the middle of a semi-circle of towering pine trees, which had many glittering icicles dangling from their branches. "This is so beautiful," Rose breathed, fogging up the air in front of her.

"Merry Christmas," Mack offered, grinning. "You know, I was just so tired of us being followed around by the media back home, and I just wanted us to have a nice, quiet Christmas. I mentioned it to Dad; he suggested this place." Mack reached for Rose's hand, lacing their fingers together just as he had in the car. "It is our first Christmas together and all."

The petite pink ranger smiled widely. "This is perfect. Thank you for sharing it with me." Rose took a few steps towards the front door, dragging Mack with her. "Let's go inside. I'm chilly."

"I will fix that." Mack found his key ring in his jeans pocket and searched through it for a moment before singling out a tarnished silver key. He slid it into the lock and turned it to the right. The door clicked as it was unlocked, and Mack pushed it open.

Rose flitted past him, eager to be able to feel her toes again. She scrunched her face slightly when she found there was no added warmth in the house. "I could have stayed outside for this," she muttered.

Mack couldn't help but grin. "I promise I will fix it." The curly haired man closed the door and ventured further into the cabin, taking off his gloves as he went. He crossed the little hall into the bigger room at the back of the house. Rose followed her boyfriend, hoping he was directing her to a warm bed.

He was not. In the big room at the south end of the cabin was a large stone fireplace that took up most of the wall. It was not better than a bed with flannel sheets and a thick comforter, but definitely fitting for cuddling. "I'll have this lit in no time," she heard Mack call, already arranging logs from the neat stack on the hearth.

Rose pulled her gloves off as well and sat next to Mack, helping him. When they had enough logs in the fireplace, Mack produced a small red plastic lighter and a container of starter fluid. He busied himself with these items as the pink ranger next to him stood again. She started down another little hallway, discovering an additional three rooms. The cabin was a lot bigger than it looked from the outside.

As she wandered, she heard Mack loudly proclaim, "Victory!" At this triumphant statement, Rose went back the way she had come to see Mack standing in front of the stone fireplace, clearly proud of the roaring fire he had made. "It's a nice fire," Rose said truthfully. The heat from the flames had already filled the room, for which Rose was immensely thankful.

"I know. I'm amazing like that." Mack crossed to where Rose was standing, pulling her close and kissing the top of her dark hair. "I'm going to get our stuff."

Rose had forgotten all about the fact that they had luggage in the trunk of the car. Mack, when he had told her they were going away for Christmas, had also told her to bring the gifts she had bought for him…which were all unwrapped. Though she loved Mack dearly, Rose had no doubt that he would peek if left alone. Reluctantly, Rose left the now warm cabin and ran after Mack.

"Dang," Mack called as he heard Rose crunch through the snow to stand beside him. She pushed him playfully as she selected her shopping bags from the piles of suitcases. "You are no fun," he whined.

Rose smiled, shaking her head. She then deposited her bags on the snow covered ground before standing on her tiptoes and reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck, pressing herself close. "Maybe later I can change your mind," she murmured in his ear.

With that, Rose bent down to pick up the bags and turned away. She had gotten halfway back to the house before Mack caught her. He pulled her backwards to lean against him, his arms around her waist. "Tease," Mack complained as Rose laughed.

Rose broke free and turned to face him. She stood on her tiptoes again to kiss him briefly and then ran back to the cabin. Mack followed her in, going into the kitchen off the front hallway. He was hungry, and it was nearly seven o'clock. "Rose?"

The petite pink ranger has found what she assumed was to be their bedroom during the trip and was looking for a place to stash Mack's gifts. She eventually decided on a bedside cabinet and then followed the direction Mack's voice had come from to a kitchen. As usual, Rose found Mack standing in front of the refrigerator.

"Hungry?" Mack asked as Rose crossed the highly polished wooden floor to stand next to him.

"Yes."

"Well it's lucky for you Dad occasionally has the local cleaning service tidy up and leave food whenever someone's staying here. There's a whole grocery store's worth of food in the fridge." Mack opened both the refrigerator and freezer doors to prove his point.

"Let's have raviolis and garlic bread." Rose examined the frozen bag of pasta and turned to Mack. "Where would I find a pot to boil water in?"

Instead of answering, the red ranger opened the nearest cupboard and found the item his girlfriend had asked for.

As dinner cooked, Rose looked around the cabin, appreciating it more now that she was warm and knew dinner was on the way. The little log house seemed like it was bigger than most others of its kind, but then again, the Hartford name had quite reputation to maintain. If there was a family motto, it was probably "Go big or go home."

The cabin played on the rustic motif nicely. The table and chairs in the kitchen were made to look like they had been carved straight from a tree, and so were the cabinet handles. The big room, seen clearly from the kitchen, had a big rug on the hardwood floor and it appeared to have been made from some animal. Next to the fireplace was a big leather couch with a thick brown afghan draped over it.

"Dinner," Mack announced, and Rose went to sit at the table. Mack brought the pasta over to the table along with the garlic bread. Rose served both and them and then took a bite. "So," Mack said after she had swallowed, "Do you want to know where we are?"

"I thought we were in a cabin."

Mack had to laugh. "Clever. But really, the cabin is just outside Cedar Springs, if you're interested in knowing. We can go ice skating and cut down our own tree and make Christmas cookies…"

"Tradition," Rose summarized before taking another bite. "It's a brilliant idea." She beamed at Mack, once again happy that he had wanted to share this with her,

After cleaning up dinner, the young couple went to enjoy their fire. They cuddled under the afghan, content just to be together.