She was halfway through a commercial-filled viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life" when there was a knock on the door. Irritated, she rose from the sofa. Most likely it was her annoying neighbor, complaining about the volume of her television set again. The man must have had extremely sensitive hearing since Daphne never turned her television set louder than the recommended factory set volumes. There was no need to, when she was the only one who was listening. The harsh reminder brought threatening tears and once again she pushed the tears away.

The knocking continued, louder this time and she crossed the room, thrusting the door open. But it wasn't her neighbor at all. Her hand flew to her mouth and tears spilled from her eyes. "Niles…"

"I'm sorry to bother you like this, Daphne but I couldn't let Christmas Day go by without-."

Her mouth was on his, kissing him repeatedly with a passion that she didn't know existed. His mouth was sweet and warm and she kissed him until she could barely breathe, unable to take her lips off of his. She could feel his hands on her cheeks and heard the soft thud of something hitting the floor. And still she couldn't pull herself away.

"Daphne…"

When finally they parted, trying to catch their breath, she stared into his beautiful eyes and fell softly into his arms. "I thought… I thought I'd never see you again. I thought…"

"I could never be away from you, Daphne. I thought I'd go crazy last night without you." He said, kissing her once more.

"What's that?" she asked innocently, eying the gifts and bouquet of roses on the floor.
He grinned shyly and picked up the flowers, handing them to her. "These are for you, my love."

She blushed, her heart warming at the sight. "Niles… You've already given me a gift; the most beautiful necklace I have ever seen."
"I'm glad you like it, Sweetheart and I hope you like these gifts as well."

She took the beautifully wrapped boxes from him and carried them to the sofa. As they sat down, she slowly and carefully began to unwrap them.

"Niles, this is too much!" She said, unwrapping the third gift. She looked around at what he'd already given her; a pair of suede gloves, a beautiful wool scarf and a blanket in the softest robin's egg blue fleece she had never felt. And she couldn't help kissing him tenderly. "Thank you." "

"There's more." He said, gently pushing the unwrapped gifts toward her.

"Niles, this is..."
"Nothing is too much for you, my love. I just wanted to show you how much I love you and how much I hated being away from you last night. "

She smiled and kissed him softly. "Then stay with me tonight… please? I need you. Please…"