"Persistence Christmas"

A Melody/Alexandra drabble inspired by Biesiuss' illustration 'Mistletoe 1' art found on Deviantart. :)

**Note I am basing all the characters' personalities/mannerisms off their original comic book versions because it better suits this story.

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Ever since Josie first knew the Cabots the one time of year she could honestly say she looked forward to spending time with them was on Christmas Eve. Every Christmas Eve at the Cabot mansion, limousines and expensive sports cars were parked all around the lavishly decorated home where crowds of Mr. Cabot's clients, family, and friends gathered inside for the annual party. It was also the one time of year both Alexander and Alexandra appeared to be on their best behaviors.

"Come on, it's tradition!" Alexander begged.

[Well, almost,] Josie thought as she watched Alexander begging a beautiful young brunette girl at the door.

"I don't care if it is, Alexander Cabot!" the girl huffed as she stormed away. "I'm saving my first kiss for someone special!"

Valerie had her hand planted on her forehead, watching the scene in exasperation. "Nothing is traditional about THAT."

She nodded up at the ceiling and almost all at once, Melody, Alan, and Josie looked up. A field of mistletoe was attached to the ceiling. Each year Alexander added more and more mistletoe, and began putting it in random places so he could carry out the kissing under the mistletoe "tradition" almost anytime he felt like it. What had also become a tradition was Mr. Cabot throwing a fit when he saw what his son had done.

Alexander turned his attention to the band. "Hey you're here! Merry Christmas, girls!"

"Fleece navy dad!" Melody exclaimed happily, completely unaware how she messed up the phrase.

Alan smirked and crossed his arms. "When are you going to give up this crazy tradition?"

Alexander scooted uncomfortably close to Valerie. "How about when you girls give me a kiss?"

He leaned in, lips puckered, only to be greeted by Valerie's hand pushing his face back. "Sorry, I suddenly converted to Judaism."

Alexander wasn't deterred. "How about you Josie?"

Josie sighed, not wanting to let her friend down. "Okay…" Alexander leaned over, his lips almost touching Josie's until she pulled back defensively. "On the cheek! On the cheek!"

Alexander seemed satisfied and kissed her on the cheek. Alan crossed his arms but didn't say anything, although his face clearly showed his disagreement with Alexander's tradition. Alexander then turned his attention to Melody who was watching the scene with a warm smile and bright blue eyes.

"Melody…! You'll let me kiss you, right?" Alexander sang with a wolfish grin.

He leaned over with puckered lips. Melody's face grew serious, a rare sight to behold. "No."

Alexander jumped back in surprise as the other friends stared at Melody with equal expressions of surprise. "NO?!"

Melody smiled brightly again. "You're the wrong one."

Alexander was silent for a few moments, mouth hanging open. He lifted his sunglasses off his face, as if he was convinced his glasses were making him see and hear things. "I'm the wrong one?"

Valerie couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. "I think that's a Melody way of letting you down easy!"

Josie and Alan also exploded into laughter. Then, another sound exploded from across the room.

"Alexander, what are you doing?!"

They turned to see Alexandra marching over to them, death in her steely gaze. Luckily for her, the guests were used to seeing the twins fight like cats and dogs. Many would watch the spats for entertainment.

"I'm greeting our guests, dear sister of mine," Alexander explained calmly, putting on hand in his pocket. "I'm gracing them with my presence."

"…Oh brother…" Alan groaned to himself.

Alexandra's face turned red in anger. "Greeting them?! Stephanie just came up to me in tears saying you were trying to force her to kiss you! Do you know who she is?! She's the daughter of Daddy's new client for-!"

"Merry Christmas, Alexandra!" Melody practically screamed, hopping up and down excitedly.

Alexandra stopped in mid-rant and turned to Melody. Josie and Valerie readied themselves to defend Melody from Alexandra's wrath. Alan sucked in a breath, hoping Alexandra wouldn't hurt Melody's feelings too badly.

"…Merry Christmas, Melody," Alexandra said in a surprisingly sweet voice. She turned her attention back to her brother. "Now if you'll excuse me, Melody dear, I'm not done giving my lazy brother a piece of my mind!"

Josie, Valerie, and Alan nearly fell over. They exchanged confused glances before silently coming to an agreement that it must have been Christmas that stayed her wrath. When they turned back to the argument, the twins were nose to nose in the middle of a heated shouting match.

"Oh please! You'll do it too!" Alexander proclaimed.

"Do what?!" Alexandra demanded.

Alexander pointed to the ceiling and then pointed at Alan. "You and Alan are standing under the mistletoe right now!" Alexandra's eyes widened and she looked over at Alan. "Ah ha! That got your attention! Now what do you think about my tradition? Want to start one of your own now, huh?"

Alan looked over at Alexandra's face before gulping. He readied himself for the well-known "she-wolf" (as Josie called her) to make her move. Instead Alexandra looked flustered and looked at the ceiling before glancing at Melody whose expression was unreadable to him.

"T-that's a dumb tradition!" Alexandra finally spat. "Kissing under the mistletoe? What a ding-a-ling idea!"

Alexander seemed hurt. "It's not! It's a beautiful tradition for beautiful people such as myself."

Josie seemed equally hurt. "It's a romantic tradition, Alexandra!" She looked up at Alan sweetly. "Right, Alan?"

Alan grinned bashfully down at her. "Yeah, Josie."

Alexandra snorted. "Please. I bet some peasant who couldn't afford to decorate his house like we can ran outside and gathered some plants and hung them on the ceiling. When everyone laughed at him, he began this kooky 'tradition' to cover up his poverty!"

"Actually the tradition began in-" Valerie began to share her knowledge.

Josie cut her off by holding her shoulder. "Don't bother, Val."

Melody's face was red. "Alexandra Cabot, you don't really mean that, do you?"

Alexandra turned her nose up and put one hand to her hair and the other on her hip. "I do." She looked back at the glares she was getting from her friends. "Oh come on! You all were just making fun of Alexander for making out with everyone and now you're mad at me?"

"I'm not mad," Josie retorted. "I just feel sorry for you."

Alexandra rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Have fun slobbering all over each other. I have to get back to our guests."

With that, Alexandra disappeared back into the crowds. The others waited until she was completely out of sight before turning to each other with puzzled looks.

"I never figured Alexandra Cabot as an anti-romantic," Josie wondered outloud.

Alan agreed. "Yeah… That whole thing was pretty weird. I came out from under the mistletoe untouched!"

Alexander waved his hand dismissively. "Just ignore her; she's the black sheep of the family. All that crazy female understands is lust. However, I, Alexander Cabot III, understand the true complexities of love."

"Hello, Miss Cheryl Blossom!"

Alexander's head turned so fast that it nearly snapped off his neck. "Cheryl Blossom is here?! Get her under the mistletoe!"

Alexander dashed off with his tongue hanging out, leaving a rain of drool in his wake.

Valerie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes with a smirk. "The true complexities of love, huh?"

Alan laughed. "I guess there's wolf blood in this family!"

Josie suddenly noticed Melody was unusually quiet. She turned to check on her friend only to see an empty spot where she once stood. "Hey, where did Melody go?"

Meanwhile, Alexandra found herself alone in the kitchen. Mr. Cabot sent her in to put his glass away before he could drink anymore. Not that he had a problem, but the always careful millionaire didn't want to find himself not sober and making business deals or offending any cliental that was there. She heard the door close behind her.

Ever since they began seeing each other in secret, Alexandra found herself with a weird sixth sense about when her girlfriend was around or was about to appear at her house. It also helped that her girlfriend loved to wear strong, sweet-smelling body mists and lotions.

"Alexandra Sherry Cabot the First!" Melody's sing-song voice always failed to make her sound stern, so she would use everyone's middle names when she wanted to let you know she was serious.

Alexandra smirked and turned calmly to her lover. "That's not my middle name, Melody."

"Well you look like a Sherry," Melody retorted. "So I'm going to remount your middle name!"

Alexandra stepped close to Melody, a feline gleam in her eyes. "Mmm… Can't we wait until everyone's gone until we mount each other?"

Alexandra reached out to take a piece of Melody's hair between her fingers, only to have the blonde take a large step backwards. Melody crossed her arms and glared at Alexandra with a pout on her face.

Alexandra sighed, her huge wolfish smile still on her face. "Still mad?"

"You didn't mean that mistletoe thing, did you?" Melody asked.

Alexandra found herself feeling guilty about upsetting her girlfriend. However, with years of practice she had mastered the art of not letting anything she felt (except for anger) appear on the surface. Alexandra looked away with a now smaller smile and then glanced back at Melody. Melody was still waiting for her to reply, her blue eyes shining with unusual brightness.

"Don't be upset, lover," Alexandra finally said, stepping closer to Melody. "I did mean it though – it's a silly tradition."

Melody looked away. "It is not."

Alexandra rolled her eyes. "Oh look, honey, a little green plant is hanging above us! Oh sweetie how romantic! Let's make out! Mwah mwah mwah mwah…!"

Melody snapped her head back to Alexandra, now visibly blushing and eyes filled with tears. "You're a terrible person, Alexandra Cabot! It's about sharing love! There needs to be more love in this world – and mistletoe helps! It's a happy tradition where even strangers can't help but spread love to people they would never give a second glance at if it wasn't for mistletoe!"

Alexandra was taken aback. For someone who proudly messed up malapropisms, constantly used the wrong words to make her point, and was generally appeared just plain dumb, when Melody spoke about love and kindness, she was the wisest person in the world. Right now, she felt like she was the dum-dum of the relationship.

"I-I'm…" Alexandra mumbled. Ugh, she had to say it. She peeked at Melody who was giving her the 'I'm waiting' look. "…I'm sorry. Okay?"

Melody instantly perked up, the childish gleam returning to her eyes. "Then you'll kiss me under the mistletoe?!"

Alexandra unconsciously looked around. "What? No! We can't."

Melody waved her off. "Oh fish-posh, Alexandra! I know you're shy so I have something here!" She began to reach into her pocket but noticed Alexandra was now watching with interest. "You have to close your eyes!"

Alexandra sighed loudly to express her disinterest in Melody's game but closed her eyes anyway. "Can I open them yet?"

"You just closed them, silly!" Melody laughed.

"You know how impatient I am."

Melody didn't respond to that. She knew. Everyone knew Alexandra Cabot's infamous impatience with everything. She giggled to herself.

Alexandra's patience was wearing thin as her head began to count the seconds. Patience, she reminded herself, good things happen when she tells you to close your eyes. Very good things. A perverted grin briefly appeared on her lips before Melody's voice made it go away.

"Okay! You can open them!"

Alexandra opened her eyes and did a double-take. Melody had a headband around her head with a wire holding up a piece of mistletoe high above her face. Alexandra gawked for a few more seconds before bursting into hysterical laughter.

Melody laughed too, although not as hard and loud as Alexandra. "Now THIS is silly!"

Alexandra finally stopped laughing, wiping away streams of tears from her cheeks. "What sort of contraption is that?!"

"This way we can kiss in private! Or anytime I have you close to me," Melody added with a hint of seduction in her voice.

Alexandra grinned and put one hand on her hip. "Oh really?" She stepped closer to Melody, one foot close to her lover and the other further away to make her hip jut out. "Now it's time to close your eyes."

Melody quickly closed them. "You're the right one for this!"

Alexandra blinked. "What?"

"Nothing!" Melody joyfully sang. "Wait, let me get into position!"

Melody leaned over, put her legs close together, and spread her arms apart behind her like she was going to soar directly into Alexandra. Alexandra wanted to laugh again, but held it back, opting to let a huge, toothy grin spread across her face.

Melody puckered her lips and spoke through them. "Mmokay Immh mremy!"

Alexandra lightly laughed, curling her fingers under Melody's chin. "Okay."

She brought her lips dangerously close to Melody's, letting her hot breath sweep across the pink flesh. "You're persistent."

Her mouth hovered just above Melody's so when she spoke their lips brushed against each other.

With each syllable, Alexandra's lips got closer and closer, sending shivers up Melody's spine.

"I like that."