Disclaimer: I am not Uncle Rick and I do not own the rights to these characters. I just ship them immensely.

A/N: Merry Christmas or happy holidays or whatever you celebrate around this time! :P A few "flash-forward" bits here to skip some downtime! It's at least 6 months after the last chapter. Luke and Thalia are still together, and are secure enough in their jobs to have moved in together to Thalia's apartment, despite Luke being gone frequently for flights. He managed to get several trips that were close enough to New York, but occasionally he was gone for about a week for a longer shift. That's about all you need to know for now ;) And what's a good story without a Christmas chapter or two? It's a few hours late, but who cares? :P

"This is fun," Thalia said with a grin. She had just wrapped up work for the day and Luke had picked her up by surprise. Now, she and Luke had decided to take a walk down Central Park before grabbing dinner and taking it back to their apartment. She wrapped her scarf more tightly around her neck, and zipped her jacket a little tighter. It was only one of the starting days of fall, but it was bound to be a cold one if today was to be anything warmer than a few weeks from now.

"Yeah," Luke said. He seemed preoccupied. Thalia stopped walking. "Something on your mind?" she asked him curiously.

"Hmm? Oh, I've just been thinking," Luke said with a shrug.

Thalia quirked an eyebrow and studied him. He chuckled when he noticed her scrutiny.

"It's nothing. Really."

"After six months, I think you know I know you better than that."

"I'm fine. We're fine."

Thalia didn't press him further. Instead, she led him to a bridge, stopping in the middle just to relax. Luke wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head-something he'd grown fond of doing ever since he realized that Thalia couldn't (or wouldn't, in some cases) do anything about it. Thalia smiled slightly, truly content for the first time in a long time, and turned her head so that she could kiss his cheek if she reached up onto her tiptoes. His flesh was cold from the wind, due to his stubborn refusal to wear a scarf or hat. She watched a few ducks make rounds around the water off to her left, and watched the amber and crimson leaves rustling. They remained still in tranquility until Luke's stomach grumbled for immediate attention.

Thalia smiled. "Let's go pick up some Chinese before we go home, hmm?" She suggested.

Luke chuckled with her, the opaque puffs of their breaths rising quickly. "I think you know that answer. Come on." He laced his fingers through hers and guided her back through the park to his car.

Forty minutes later, they were settled in front of the TV, eating from Chinese take-out boxes on the couch. The Christmas movies had already started on the Hallmark channel, and Thalia had insisted they watch one, to call out the predictable material and laugh at "convenient coincidences".

"Thals?" Luke said when the commercials came on halfway through the movie.

Thalia looked up at him curiously.

"I got a call this morning," he began, rubbing the back of his neck with a pained expression. "My flights are being transferred to the west coast. I already checked the schedule, and I won't be close to New York for a few months." He watched her as he spoke, his eyes wide and filled with emotions. All of these emotions mirrored regret, regret for something that he had no control over.

Thalia couldn't help it, her expression became crestfallen before she had the opportunity to think and to monitor her reaction. "Oh," was all she could squeak out.

"I have to leave in a week," Luke continued. She could see plainly that it nearly physically pained him to even have to say that. Things had been so good for them, they'd had so much luck. She should have known that their luck was bound to run out. Calm before the storm, she thought. That's what they had been taking advantage of for the last few months.

"Okay, well...we just have to make this last week count," Thalia said, kissing his cheek affectionately.

"I'll miss the holidays," Luke said, his eyebrow raising as if to ask how they could make it count when that was such an obstacle.

"We'll work things out. Thank goodness for cell phones and Skype, right?" Thalia smiled softly, her eyes bright.

"His eyebrow quirked again, this time with a half-smirk. Thalia elbowed him playfully. "Not like that!" she exclaimed with a laugh. "Jerk."

"Luke chuckled. He pulled her tightly against him, their movie long forgotten now. He began to tickle Thalia while she squirmed helplessly and giggled uncontrollably. She turned so that she was facing him and tried to bat his arms away and to pin them against the couch.

Luke went slack purposefully, and she fell against him with a surprised yelp. She smirked and drew her face close to his, watching him with bright eyes. Thalia leaned in to kiss him, their lips just barely brushing. Now in control of his arms again, Luke pressed one of his palms against the back of her neck and kissed Thalia with more pressure in reply.

Thalia felt chills rise over her skin when he kissed her, and when he gently wrapped his other arm around her slim waist. She coiled her fingers into his hair, grateful that Zoë had let her take the day off earlier than usual. When they parted, Thalia smiled at him and he gave her a goofy grin in response. For the rest of the evening as they watched another few movies, Thalia lay across his lap with one arm around his shoulder, playing with his hair. Luke had his arms wrapped loosely around her waist still, unconsciously brushing circles against her hip.

-x-

"I'll miss you," Thalia said with a pout that was only half ingenuine.

Luke took a luggage carrier on wheels with him, but it was packed lightly. He didn't bother bringing too much, most things he needed were paid for by Olympic Airlines.

"I'll miss you more," he teased with a grin.

Zoë groaned audibly. She smirked at the two and pretended to check her watch. "I'm not getting paid to drop you off, and I'm sure you don't want to miss your flight and not get paid for a few months," she joked.

Thalia smiled. "Text me when you land," she said. She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a peck on the lips before she backed away to where Zoë stood and they waved him farewell.

"I'm starving. Should we go get lunch?" Zoë said when Luke had disappeared into the throng of early arrivals.

"Sure. I'm in the mood for a burger," Thalia said. She followed her out to the car that Zoë had recently purchased.

Three hours later, at work, Thalia's phone buzzed. It was from Luke, sending her a picture of the view of mountains from his hotel room in Utah. She smiled and typed out a short reply before she got back to her work. The days were sure to seem long from today until he returned, but she told herself that they would manage.

As it turned out, with the holidays rapidly approaching, Thalia was busier than ever. She visited with Piper at least once a day, saw her father once a week (if he was home), and went eye-shopping with Zoë after work every day to find the perfect holiday gifts. And it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet. Octavian wasn't around much anymore, which was an early Christmas miracle of itself, and the other higher level designers were especially chummy and approving of ideas by both Zoë and Thalia.

When Thanksgiving did arrive, Thalia and Piper met at Zoë's home for dinner. Piper was going to bring Jason with her, but he was still stuck with training for entering the military. Piper seemed unusually distraught about this, but Thalia didn't want to press the poor girl. It was small, but the three of them had more than enough food to go around, and Thalia took home more leftover containers than she could stack in both arms. Thankfully, her father was in New York for Thanksgiving, so they had a nice meal (using the leftovers) with just the two of them.

When Christmas rolled around, it smacked Thalia in the face like a bowling ball struck at the pins. December 23rd glared her on every calendar screen. She and Luke had been able to talk the previous weekend, but it still sounded like he was going to be stuck in Seattle on Christmas. He did hint at a gift that was on its way, but despite her pleas, he wouldn't say anything else on the matter.

""Thals, you coming?" Zoë hovered by her office door with a grin. They had just a few more presents to wrap that they'd do together, and then Thalia had Christmas Eve to wind down before the big day. She shut off her computer and locked up the office before walking out with Zoë, nearly skipping out the doors.

-x-

p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"One more day was crossed off the calendar. It was Christmas Eve. Thalia and Zoë were at Zoë's home drinking hot cocoa and watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The day had gone by slowly, which was a relief to Thalia. One more stress-induced winter day and Thalia would surely have unraveled at the seams. Well, who was to say she hadn't already?

Thalia's phone chimed halfway through the film. It was Piper. "Strange," she muttered. Piper never called her if she could help it. She usually just texted her these days since Thalia typically had her phone around her. "Hey, what's up?" she said into the receiver.

"Thals, it's not good. It's Jason. I'm at your apartment. How quickly can you get here?" Piper sounded panicked, and that put a hard lump in Thalia's throat. She just stared at Zoë while her brain jumped to the worst conclusions imaginable.

"Give me five minutes." Thalia clicked the call off and sprang off the couch, her cocoa forgotten. She spluttered a few words of explanation to Zoë that she hoped made sense. Apparently they did, because Zoë was beside her in a matter of seconds, and then they were on the road.

Four minutes later, Thalia was ascending the steps to her apartment, the world around her a blur except the path directly in front of her. She reached the apartment and flung the door open, silently mouthing her brother's name on her lips in preparation of freaking out. But it wasn't her brother who stood in the doorway.

[To be continued...? Well...I think that time has come for me to announce that the next chapter is probably my last! I've enjoyed writing this story and I hope you all enjoyed reading it! I would love to hear ideas for other stories you may like to see (especially Thaluke because they deserve the love!), so please review with these suggestions or message me privately! Thanks guys!]

Please follow and review! This is my first published fic, so I'd love some feedback! Critiques are welcome, rudeness is not.