"There!" Becky huffed with satisfaction, pulling down the oven door and removing a hot tray of fresh chocolate chip cookies from inside and setting them aside. "Not too shabby huh, Huggy?"

Huggy, who was sitting nearby at the kitchen table while wearing a chef's hat and gorging himself on candy canes, gave her a toothy grin and a thumbs up.

"Thanks for your help, by the way. I don't think they would have come out as good without you assisting me. I'm glad Inez had that recipe of her grandmother's for us to use."

Huggy nodded, hopping up from his seat and grabbing one of the cookies before making his way towards Becky's room.

"Where are you going?" Becky asked, untying the apron and pulling off the oven mitts she had been wearing and setting them aside. "You don't want to stick around?"

Huggy turned back and squeaked, pointing down the hall.

"Oh, right. I did interrupt you, didn't I? That's fine, go ahead back to your online solitaire game now. Thanks again, Huggy."

Huggy smiled and waved dismissively before taking off back towards the computer in Becky's room where he had been playing his game.

Becky sighed contentedly and glanced over at the window. The snow was still coming down quite strongly, as it had been since yesterday evening. Elwood City was in the middle of its first major snowstorm of the year, which had forced school to be closed on Friday, and Becky was thankful to be sheltered from it inside her warm house. She could hardly wrap her head around how fast time felt like it had gone over the past couple months, and that winter was already there and Christmas was right around the corner. But then again, it probably flew by so fast because of how much she had been enjoying herself.

Her relationship with Fern was still going strong, and she couldn't have been happier with her. It had been a tad daunting at first, being open about being in a relationship with another girl at school, as well as telling her parents about it. Thankfully though, very few people at school appeared to care very much, and the only remarks she had ever received regarding it had been positive. Her parents had also taken it quite well and been supportive of their relationship, and Fern's parents had as well. On top of that, she hadn't gotten the least bit tired of spending time with her. Obviously Becky had very little to complain about.

Her thoughts of the approaching holiday were interrupted by the sound of a loud knocking at the front entrance. Surprised someone had made their way to her house in the storm, Becky adjusted her hair a bit and brushed some stray flour from her cheek before walking towards the door. Who the heck could that be?, she wondered. Is it the mailman? He's here kind of early.Turning the knob and pulling the door open though, she quickly realized her guess had been quite off the mark. On the upside, it was someone she was much more happy to see.

"Fern! Hi!" she greeted her girlfriend excitedly.

"H-hi, Becky!" Fern greeted in reply, shivering as she stood on the front step. She was wearing a thick, puffy winter coat over her normal clothes along with earmuffs, mittens, a scarf and boots. She also held a small brown paper bag in her hand, which blew around slightly in the cold, harsh December wind along with her ears and scarf. Just looking at her made Becky feel colder, but at least it seemed she had planned ahead enough to wear pants on this day instead of a skirt.

"Quick, get in here before you freeze to death!" Becky insisted, gently pulling Fern inside and shutting the door.

"T-thank you," Fern said gratefully, tossing all her winter gear aside and setting her bag down before vigorously rubbing her arms, hands and red cheeks to try and warm them back up a bit. None of this was an issue for her anymore, as she had been allowed to stop wearing the sling a few weeks prior, and her arm was now healed up nicely. "I'm g-glad you guys had your lights hung up outside, otherwise I'm n-not sure I could have seen your house through all the s-snow," she joked with a chuckle, which she immediately followed up with a large sneeze.

"Bless you!" Becky said, picking up Fern's bag for her and leading her towards the bright living room. "What were you doing out there?! You know there's a no-travel advisory, right? It was still below zero outside last time I checked, and the snow isn't expected to stop until Monday!"

Fern nodded. "I-I know… I wasn't planning on it, b-but my mom realized we were a b-bit low on a few things that we needed. She was going to d-drive to the store, but I offered to g-go instead so she wouldn't risk getting int-to an accident. It's k-kind of a long walk though, and I knew your house was c-close by, so I thought it'd be ok-kay to stop here…"

"Well that was awfully nice of you to do for her," Becky observed, sitting down on the couch with the shivering girl next to her, keeping an arm wrapped around her. "I sort of wish you hadn't done it, it's just so nasty outside… but I'm happy to see you and know you're okay," she acknowledged, leaning over and kissing one of her cold cheeks.

Fern giggled. "I'm g-glad to see you too…"

Becky stood back up and grabbed a nearby throw blanket, draping it over Fern's legs. Then, after promising to be back in a few minutes, she went to the kitchen, piled some of the cookies onto a small plate, and filled up two mugs with herbal tea. "Here," she said as she returned to the living room, setting down all the treats which she had placed into a tray. "If these don't help you warm up, I don't know what will."

Fern smiled widely and took one of the mugs and cookies. "Ooh! Thanks, Becky!"

"No problem!" Becky replied, sitting back down and getting under the blanket with her. "But Huggy also helped me, and they're Inez's grandmother's recipe, so don't just thank me."

Fern nodded as she listened, biting into her cookie. She had been over to Inez's apartment a few times by then and had been able to meet Maria. She was a nice old lady, and it was a shame that she was getting sick. As unlikely as it was at this point, she hoped she'd be able to pull though. Even if she didn't, though, at least her legacy would live on through her cooking, which Inez was becoming remarkably adept at. "Mmm! These are so g-good! Did you just bake these?" she asked.

"Yep! I just pulled them out of the oven a few minutes before you got here," Becky answered.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything by sh-showing up unannounced," Fern said apologetically.

"No need to worry," Becky assured. "My parents are sleeping in since they have the chance, and TJ went down the street to see a friend. I hope he's doing alright."

"Me too. I'm sure he's ok-kay though. He didn't have to walk nearly a mile like I did… Oh hey, since I was at the store and figured I'd be seeing you soon, I picked something up for you. I might as well give it to you now," Fern supposed, reaching to grab her bag and rooting through it.

This perked Becky's interest, and she watched as Fern searched through the bag's contents. "Oh? What's that?"

"You'll see in just a second... Let's see… milk, eggs, toothpaste… Here it is!" Fern said, reaching towards the bottom of the bag and pulling out a DVD. She handed it to Becky, who examined the cover and realized it was the first volume of the first season of Pretty Princess. "I figured you could use something to help keep you entertained while you're cooped up here during the storm," Fern explained.

Becky smiled and gave her a grateful hug. "Aww, thanks, Fern! That was really nice of you! I'm sure I'll enjoy this! I wish I'd known you were going to get me this so I could have gotten you something…"

"It's alright, Becky. It was no trouble. Consider it an early Christmas gift. Don't worry though, you'll get your actual gift too, when the time comes," Fern promised with a chuckle.

"And you'll get yours too. I want to give you SOMETHING now, though. But since I don't have anything material, I think some snuggles will just have to do," Becky said with slight flirtatiousness.

Fern blushed and shrugged, playfully rolling her eyes. "Oh well, if you say so…"

"I do say so," Becky said definitively, reaching over and pulling Fern down so they were both lying flat on the couch. She then held her on top of her so they would fit better and cupped her hands around the small of Fern's back while nuzzling her face with her own. "You wanna just stay the whole weekend? I wouldn't mind a bit."

"Me neither..." Fern replied sleepily. The combination of the warm house, the blanket, the cookies and tea, and Becky's embrace had already worked wonders warming her back up. "...but I need to go home at some point. My parents will eventually want me back with the milk and stuff."

Becky sighed. "I know, you're right… I guess that just means I have to appreciate this while it lasts…" They laid there together for several peacefully quiet minutes, simply enjoying the warmth radiating between them and the sounds of each other's breath before she finally spoke again. "So hey, have you still not gone back to Cyberspace at all since the last time we were there?"

Fern shook her head. "No, and the others say they've never been away from it for so long. They say they went really often before. Hacker must have caused even more of the problems in Cyberspace than I thought."

"I'm not surprised," Becky said contemptuously. Even two months after the fact, she still had no intention to forgive Hacker for what he had done, neither to the city nor to Fern. "I guess that's a good thing though, right? Things must be a lot more peaceful there without him around."

"I guess that's true. I miss Delete though. I haven't seen him at all since then. I hope he's getting along okay at Control Central and getting used to it."

"It's been a couple months. I'm sure he's had plenty of time to get accustomed to things. It's probably good you haven't heard anything from Motherboard. No news is good news, right?"

"I just wish I could see him is all. I feel like a lousy friend not being there for him. I also feel kind of useless being part of the Cybersquad now and still never being able to go on any missions."

"I'm sure you'll get your chance," Becky assured. "I WISH I could call myself a hero and not constantly have to go stop bad guys. Consider yourself lucky."

"I did ONE thing, Becky, ONE time. You've been fighting crime as WordGirl for the better part of a decade now, and you've fought so many people so many times. I'm not much of a hero compared to you."

"Oh hush," Becky said kindly but dismissively. "You helped stopped someone from taking over the planet, there was a big ceremony for you and the others for what you did where you all got keys to the city, and now almost everyone around here knows who you are and has given you praise either directly or indirectly. People clearly appreciate you, as well as the others. That sounds like a hero to me. And hey, at least you've gotten to spend time with Matt, Jackie and Inez and get to know them," Becky pointed out.

"They're all great," Fern remarked. "I've gotten along well with all of them. They're all pleasant to be around in their own ways. You know Inez likes Sherlock Holmes too? She's not QUITE the fanatic that I am, but she's up there."

"No kidding?"

"Definitely. And I know you know how cool Jackie is. She does really well at track and cross country. She convinced me to try running with her one time a few weeks ago, but we had to stop because of how tired I got..."

Becky giggled. "You never told me that! You poor thing!"

"Well, I lived, at least," Fern joked. "Honestly though, if I had to pick a favorite, I might have to say Matt."

"That makes sense. He seems to be the one you talk to the most."

"He makes me feel like a little sister or something, with how much he teases me and all, but it's friendly teasing. He's cool too, though he can be a bit goofy at times. Remember when we went on our camping trip and he was so confident he could put up the tent himself, but he just got everything tied up in a giant mess and Inez and I had to bail him out?"

Becky laughed heartily. The incident Fern recalled was absolutely hilarious for her to witness at the time. "How could I forget? I don't know if I've ever laughed so hard in my life. If the best part of that night hadn't been looking at the stars with you, it totally would have been that."

Fern smiled, adjusting herself on top of Becky. "That was my favorite part too. I enjoyed the whole trip though, even if I was a bit nervous at times. You made me feel a lot safer, though."

"Well don't let me take all the credit for that. I'm so proud of how well you've been recovering from everything, Fern. You went through a lot, but I was so happy to see you pick yourself up and dust yourself off as well as you did. But I'm still glad I was able to help."

"It would have been much harder to do without you," Fern pointed out. "Not that you're the only person I have - my parents, George, and now the rest of the Cybersquad are always happy to help me, but I really feel like you've been my rock, Becky."

Becky beamed and snuggled Fern closer. "That means a lot to me, Fern. And I swear I'll keep being your rock as long as you need," she promised gratefully.

The two girls remained lying together on the couch for a while longer, having to struggle to keep their eyes open due to how relaxed they had become there. As much as Fern would have loved to stay the whole rest of the day, she knew she had to get her bag of supplies back home to her parents, so she bundled herself back up a couple hours after arriving and chatting with Becky and was about to begin the cold walk back home, when Becky suddenly stopped her.

"Wait! I have an idea! I don't want you to have to walk all the way home in this weather, Fern, and I know just how to speed it up."

"How?" Fern asked curiously, adjusting her scarf and earmuffs.

"You've got a good hold on your bag?"

"M-hm," Fern replied, holding it up with her mittened hand.

"Good, now just hang tight," Becky directed, reaching down and lifting Fern up snugly into her arms, carrying her bridal style, before stepping outside and closing the front door behind them. Fern was confused where her girlfriend was going with this until she quickly brought one fist to her own chest and cried, "Word up!," taking off from the front step into the dark sky of the blizzard, now wearing her WordGirl outfit.

Fern gasped, shrieked, and held on tightly as she was flown above the houses, through the thick curtain of falling snow. This was a development she hadn't been expecting. She was at least glad she wasn't Inez right then, though. Inez was to heights what Fern herself had become to feeling trapped.

Becky giggled lightheartedly at Fern's reaction, her cape blowing about in the harsh winds. "Don't worry, I've got you!" she assured, holding onto her tightly. She rarely carried such precious cargo while flying, and she focused much of her energy on not letting go despite having more than enough confidence.

Once Fern had relaxed from the initial fright of being high up in the air, she looked around at the scene before them was able to appreciate the beauty of it from this new perspective. "Wow…" she said in awe, looking down at the streets and houses being blanketed in white as large, puffy flakes of snow fluttered around them. "No wonder you enjoy flying so much…"

"I haven't gotten tired of it, that's for sure," Becky confirmed. "I should take you for more flights like this. You're kind of cute when you get all startled like that, you know," she remarked playfully.

"Oh, be quiet," Fern pouted, blushing and crossing her arms, only increasing Becky's amusement.

Within minutes, they arrived at Fern's house and Becky touched down onto the ground, allowing Fern to return to her feet. "Thanks a lot, Becky. That would have been a long, cold walk," she said, checking inside her bag to make sure nothing had been damaged. "Aren't you cold, though?"

"Nah, I'm good," Becky replied, shaking her head. She gestured to her costume by pinching and lightly pulling on one of her sleeves. "I knew I'd only be out here a few minutes, and you'd be surprised how well spandex can insulate your body heat."

Fern chuckled. "Good, I'm glad."

"I'd love to stick around, but I should get going before anyone spots us together. Most people are probably also cooped up in their houses, but I still hate taking chances. I'm sure I'll see you when school is able to start up again, whether it's Monday or Tuesday. Maybe you can come by the house next week. We're planning on putting our tree up then, if you want to help."

Fern brightened up upon hearing Becky's offer. "I'd like that! Inez is also going to be doing some holiday cooking this week, and Matt, Jackie and I were going to help out, and you can come to that. I'm sure they won't mind."

"They'll mind once I ruin all the food. You know I'm a bit of a klutz sometimes and that I'm no good with cooking or anything like that."

"Those cookies you made earlier say otherwise," Fern retorted jokingly. "And even if that happened, it'd still be fun to have you there."

Becky smiled and rolled her eyes. "Oh, alright… Don't say I didn't warn you, though."

Fern laughed a bit, and there was a moment of silence before the girls gave each other a quick hug.

"Stay warm, alright?" Becky asked.

"I will, don't worry. And you do too. I'll probably just do some reading and writing while I wait out the storm."

"Well if you do write anything, show me your journal when we see each other again," Becky directed, giving Fern a light smooch on her cheek before letting go. "You know how much I love reading your stuff…" She paused a moment, taking a cleansing breath before finishing her thought. "...just not as much as I love you."

Fern was at a loss for words, and she stood there speechless with wide eyes and flushed cheeks on the snow-covered sidewalk. Becky had never told her she'd loved her before.

Becky giggled. "You don't have to say anything. That's just how I feel," she explained. She turned back in the direction of her house and got into her takeoff stance but, before flying away, she turned her head and added sweetly, "See you, Fern." Only then did she soar back up into the sky, disappearing from sight within seconds.

Fern remained rooted in place for several seconds, still amazed by what had just happened. When she finally regained her senses and allowed what she'd heard to sink in, she covered her mouth in shock and ran to her front door, thinking to herself, Oh my god! That just happened! I… I… I have to call George!