Connie looked around her in surprise. Where on earth was she? One moment she had been walking to her apartment, and the next she's here. But where was here exactly? Glancing around, she soon realized she must be on a mountain. A colorful village with a Christmas tree so tall she could easily see it from way up here lay below in what appeared to be a valley. The town was surrounded by mountains on all sides. Since she was looking down on the village and mountains surrounded it on all other angles, logic would dictate that she was on a mountain herself.

But why?

Connie turned around and saw a man. But not like any sort of man she'd seen before. For one thing, he had hair everywhere. And no clothes. It would seem that his hair kept him warm and substituted as his clothing.

And he was green. All over.

His nose turned up slightly from his - snout, she supposed - and his eyes were yellow where they were supposed to be white. The iris' were green. And widened so much in surprise she wondered how they managed to stay in his head at all.

"What are you doing up here?" he snapped at her, his eyes narrowing to slits. Connie jumped to attention.

"I... I don't know. I was just walking..."

"Up to spy on the Grinch, I suppose." Bitterness tinted his words, but Connie felt her confusion leave her face as she accepted the man before her.

"You're the Grinch," she said, remembering the story she'd heard of him. It was her favorite Christmas story, actually. Funny she'd turn up in this one out of all of them...

"Yes, I'm the Grinch and you should run along and tell your friends you won the bet. You saw me. Now LEAVE."

"I would... but I still don't know how I got here. Or where I'd go. I'm not from here, you see..."

"I can see. You don't look like a Who." He approached her, and Connie had to crane her neck to keep eye contact. "Your nose is different. And your proportions... They seem rather small... Where are you from?"

"New York."

"And how did you get here?" She shrugged. "Oh, come," said the Grinch, starting to get annoyed with the few answers the girl was giving him. "Surely you know something. What were you doing before you ended up here?"

"Well, I was out for a walk. My dad and grandpa were arguing, again, and I wanted to get away from it. I was just wishing I could be somewhere else for Christmas, somewhere far away from there, when it started to snow and I was pulled here."

The Grinch seemed to believe her. He crouched in front of her, his eyes holding all seriousness.

"And what do you think about Christmas?"

"I don't know. I mean, it's great to see my family, but my dad and my grandpa always fight... They never stop. So, it's not my favorite holiday. I usually wish that we could skip it altogether."

The Grinch suddenly reached out and gripped her shoulders tightly. Connie's eyebrows shot up as she observed the Grinch.

"Do you mean that? Really and truly?" His teeth were crooked. How did the song go? Something about "termites in his smile"? Connie hoped this wasn't really true.

"Yeah." Her voice sounded so soft.

"You hate Christmas?"

"Not hate so much as dislike."

"Well it's a start." The Grinch stood, removing his hands from her shoulders only to place them on his hips.

"Since you hate Christmas, I find I cannot throw you out."

"You mean, I can stay?" Connie's hopes lifted. Perhaps she wouldn't be alone in this strange land that was so far from New York.

"Yes, you can stay." Connie smiled and threw her arms around the Grinch's waist. Then she suddenly realized what she was doing and dropped her arms to her sides, looking down at the snow.

"Sorry, Mr. Grinch. I just... I'm glad I have someone to stay with," she glanced up at him. Surprise was still etched into the lines of his face but he was able to hide most of it.

"If I let you go, you'd just tell the Who's and then they'd all be up here bothering me about how I let a child stay out in the cold... This is for my benefit, not yours, got that?" He pointed a finger in her face. Not even flinching, she nodded, another smile starting.

He led her into his cave then, not realizing how attached he was already becoming. How attached he would become. To such a small girl.