Chapter Six- Warmth

"So, do you feel better now Meg?" Lucy asked, pouring the woman a cup of her own tea.

"I think I do…." Meg sniffed "I-I'm sorry for acting like a child back there. I know better than that."

"Hey, not all kids act like that. Give us some credit, ma'am." smiled Snowanna, seeing Meg giggle a bit.

"I'm sure you don't." replied Meg "I can tell you'd never let love overtake you like that."

"Urgh, all this mushy junk! I know it's Christmas but GEEZE!" snorted Lucy "You're layin' it on kinda thick guys."

"Gracious, I hope this means that things are back on schedule…." Crumbellina said as she looked at the wall-clock "I was hoping that the party would have begun by now. Where is everyone?"

"Well, from what I remember…." Adorabeezle began "I thiiiiink Ms. Mary took Calhoun off somewhere to cook, a bucnha people are outside fighting in the snow an' Taffyta an' Miss Nel went out to the roof with shovels!"

An explosion of tea BLASTED across the room, Norwood choking horribly.

"Ack, WHAT?!"

Adorabeezle ducked a bit, afraid she had upset the red-headed Nicelander "Um, I said that Taffyta and Miss Nel were on the roof with shovels. Is that a bad thing?"

Norwood didn't say a thing. Instead, he dropped his cup and saucer and ran out of the apartment, his footsteps disappearing down the hall.

"Guess that's another one gone." Said Snowanna.

"What in tha world think got him worked up so badly?" asked Lucy.

"I have no idea…." Said Meg as she got up "But if NEL is concerned, it must be something bad."

"Hey, where are ya goin'?"

Meg stopped at her door, looking at the others but from the smile on their faces they realized they had nothing to worry about.

After such a pep talk, Meg felt as if she could take on the world!

Or perhaps, she could actually talk to Don for once instead of shrinking away in the corner.

"I'm…I'm going out to find Don." The woman blushed, taking both her gift and his into her hands "I wouldn't want the dear to worry like this over me. After all, it IS Christmas."

"Is he DEAD?" asked Gloyd, poking the body on the ground with a stick.

"BLURTH."

"Dead people don't breathe…." Said Sticky, smacking the stick away "And I think I can see him breathing!"

Who were these voices? Who were making these sounds?

"Urgh, what?" mumbled a snow-covered Nicelander, seeing nothing but clouds of grey and bright, sugarfied colors.

"Oh! Not my fault!" Vanellope said, jumping back "This was not my fault, sir!"

Don felt as if his entire body had been pelted by frozen apples, his body sore and his head pounding.

"F-Felix?"

"A-ah-ha…." The repairman laughed nervously "W-Welcome back, sir."

"W-what the heck happened?" the sailor asked as he stumbled to his feet.

"Uh, ya should have SEEN it Captain Don!" Vanellope blurted "These purple monkey people came outta NOWHERE an' threw snowballs at ya an-!"

"Lay off kid…" Ralph said, putting a hand over the racer's mouth.

Don shook his head "Brrr! At least you guys were brave enough to chase those monkey fellows away! But I can't stop now, I have business to attend to!"

"Well, SOMEONE recovered quickly…" huffed Swizzle.

"Wait, Don! I have you hat!" Felix waved, the hat clutched in his hands but it was too late. Don had already gone into the apartments "Well, foo. Guess I'll just hafta give it to 'im later."

"Later?" Vanellope said, a brow arched a devious little smile on her face. Felix looked down, oblivious to the look.

"Yeah. Hope he doesn't get TOO upset without i-!"

"DOG PILE ON FELIX!"

"Wait, EXCUSE M-AAAURGH!"

There were cheers, there were laughs.

There was so much snow.

And all of it was aimed at Felix, the man pelted from every angle.

"Ack! Blarugh! I thought we were on TEAMS! I THOUGHT WE WERE ON TEAMS!"

A snowball fight never ends, it only GROWS.

"CANDLEHEAD?!" Gene gasped in shock as he looked down at the tiny, sobbing racer "I-! What-?!"

Eyes met eyes as the two characters looked upon each other, neither of them sure of what to say.

Of all the people Gene had suspected of lifting the treats, never in his life had he thought of CANDLEHEAD!

Wait, check that. The girl was KNOWN for having an appetite as voracious as his own. Maybe it WAS possible for her to eat the snacks but STEAL them? STEAL THEM?!

Gene was dumbfounded as he gazed down at the girl "I-! I don't know what to say!"

Candlehead whimpered, shrinking back towards the floor. Gene was still surprised at how things had turned and while he was glad to find the reason as to why all the party goodies had disappeared, he wasn't too happy who was behind it.

But if he wanted answers, he had to say something.

"Young lady!" the man said in a stern voice "I want an explanation, and I want it NOW!"

The little racer gulped. She knew she was in trouble and there was no running away now.

"I-I was-!"

Tiny feet tapped upon the floor, Gene crossing his arms against his chest "Yeeees? I'm waiting."

This was starting to be too much for poor Candlehead, the girl's eyes spilling over with tears as she finally broke down, wailing loudly.

"I JUST WANTED PEOPLE TA HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS! THAT'S ALL!"

Gene jumped back in shock at the crying child. He looked around, dreading the thought that people would come in and blame him for causing her such grief.

"Ehe, d-don't cry!" the man said in a poor attempt to calm the racer down. He patted her on the shoulder but she continued to blubber and sob "Aaww, th-there's no reason to be this upset, Candlehead. I just wanted you to tell me the truth! Not THIS!"

Candlehead finally managed to stop the deluge of tears, her lip quivering as she looked at Gene.

"See, all those tears for nothing." The man said with a weak smile, handing the girl a tissue. Candlehead dabbed the tears away but she looked as sad as ever.

"Th-thank you."

"Now, that that is over….." the man sighed, leading the girl to the couch "Please. Tell me why you took all that food. I know you ENJOY our cooking but-!"

Candlehead nodded "I-I just wanted ta take some snacks over ta some of tha people in tha arcade…." She began, a few more tears rolling down her cheeks "I-Its Christmas!"

Gene nodded "Ah-huh. You told me that."

"N-Not everyone is havin' as much fun as WE are, Mr. Mayor Gene…" Candlehead sniffled "I've been watchin' them since everyone started gettin' ready for tha holidays. An' tha more I thought about them, th-tha more upset I got."

To hear such words from the racer, to hear the confession, Gene found himself speechless but he couldn't remain quiet for long. He handed Candlehead another tissue.

"Go on, sweetie."

"I-I didn't think it was FAIR! There's so much stuff goin' on but….but I still can't make everyone happy."

After all this time, Gene had thought the culprit was once again ANOTHER arcade residence who made it their mission to mess with and harass the Nicelanders but to hear the truth….

He just couldn't muster up any will to be angry. How could ANYONE be angry at this point?

He looked down at the ground, feeling a little guilty that he had thought the worst because of what had happened and as he took another look at the saddened Candlehead.

"Sweetie?"

All of this effort because Candlehead wanted to make some people happy.

The racer sobbed softly, her face turned away from Gene "I-I know it was wrong of me a-an-an' I SHUDDA asked, but-!"

"Yes?" Gene asked, shaking his head "But WHAT?"

"But…. I didn't want ya ta be MAD at me."

"MAD?!" Gene said, surprised "Why-? Why would you think I would be MAD if you had just ASKED me to give you some cakes to give out? I would have said YES, no doubt!"

"Really?" the girl said, her eyes finally lighting up and a small spark appearing on her wick "Y-ya would have!"

"Of course! Why…" Gene put a hand behind his head, looking a tad nervous "Why would you think otherwise?"

Candlehead said nothing, looking down at her feet as she sat next to the Nicelander "I…I guess I was scared because of what everyone else said around tha arcade?"

"Hmmm?"

"'Bout ya still bein' kinda grumpy…" the racer said "I-I know I shouldn't have believed it an' all, PLUS! I know you're not as GRUMPY as ya USED ta be but I didn't wanna ruin your party but-!"

"Candlehead, dear." The man sighed. He was aware that talk still went around the arcade about how he and the other Nicelanders conducted themselves but he wasn't going to let such talk ruin what time was left before the party.

So Candlehead wanted to spread joy to others?

Fine, that's what he was going to do.

"Candlehead, I want you to understand one thing young lady."

The little racer felt a twinge of nervousness hit her as she heard Gene's tone.

"A-ah-huh?"

"While I would have PREFERRED that you ASK me before taking all those snacks, I am not made what your REASON behind what you did."

"You're not?"

Gene nodded "No. But, I still cannot let you walk away scott-free like this."

"Oh NOOOOOO!" wailed the racer, crying once more "I-I knew I was in trouble! I always mess things up because I'm so stup-!"

"Let me finish, let me finish." Gene said, putting a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder "In light of what has happened and because we STILL need snacks for this party AND your friends, as punishment you-"

Candlehead's eyes grew huge, looking like two ENORMOUS green saucers.

But there was something strange happened. As Candlehead looked on, she noticed the look on Gene's face.

The way his mustache was curling up.

He was….SMILING?

"And I shall prepare the missing goodies for this party was well as anything required to hand out to the rest of the arcade."

It was if the heavens had opened up right there in the penthouse, Candlehead stunned into complete silence as her eyes and wick glowed brighter than ANY star.

She was floored by the offer she had been give.

"Y-You-?"

Gene shook his head with a smile "Yes."

"W-w-want ME?"

"Mm-hmm…."

"TA COOK WITH YA FOR YOUR PARTY?!"

"Consider it a Christmas gift from me to you, young lady." The mayor smiled.

"EEEEEEE-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Candlehead squealed in delight, fireworks ERUPTING from her candle. Gene had to take a step back from the girl, a little worried that someone would be set ablaze from all the sparks.

"Calm down, child!" Gene laughed nervously, brushing off his sleeves "Wow. Never thought I'd see you THIS excited since the wed-URGHTH!"

And then came the hugs.

The BONE-CRUSHING, LUNG-FLATTENING hugs.

"Oh, Mr. Mayor Nicelander Gene, THANK YOU!" Candlehead beamed, shaking Gene in her hold, ignoring that he was turning blue in the face.

"Can't….BREATHE!"

"Oh, we don't have much time do we?!" the girl gasped, dropping the Nicelander to the ground. Gene gasped for air, his short arms and legs reaching in the air.

"W-We will once we get all the ingredients back in o-our apartment!"

"Right!" Candlehead beamed "TA THA MASTER KITCHEN!"

And with that, Candlehead was gone.

But Gene?

"Young lady? YOUNG LADY?!" the mayor wailed, still trapped on the floor "Please come back! I can't get up!"