CHAPTER 60: A Merry Christmas Indeed

A/N: Okay. So . . . earlier on, in the production of this story, I wrote a couple of chapters that I originally intended to slot in when I thought it was perfect. Problem is, I forgot about them, and by the time I had looked back at them, they wouldn't fit in too well ANYWHERE! So I saved them for later . . . and now, I decided to plunder them for inspiration for thisChristmas thingy that I decided to write just because I felt like it. :P

WARNING: It happens to be quite cheesy and fluffy, so . . . yeah.

(Go ahead and kill me, haha :P)

Enjoy! ;-)

Ri-i-ip!

I gritted my teeth in annoyance as I tried to shut out all of the negative thoughts that were drowning me in agony. Was there something in that God knows what that Eric made me inhale? Then again, how would I know, after all, I wasn't some sort of chemist. The world once again began to twist and turn in terrifying ways ― the plants surrounding me turned into fiery demons that threatened to bite into me, the walls started oozing with blood, and snakes were slithering up the side of my bed, longing for the taste of fresh blood. I let out a few shrieks of fear, before I submitted myself to the dark.

It was very dark when I woke up. I was on Bay Street, bloody and battered.

"Hello?" I called out, only to have my voice echo and echo.

"Thanks for alerting us, girly. Now come with me ― you're going back to the Don Jail, and sure as hell you won't come out!" a voice growled from behind me.

That voice sounded hoarse, as if the being to whom it belonged to had done a lot of shouting in the recent hours. I turned around, only to see a zombie with a knife in one hand.

"No! Get away! Away, I say!" Peater was yelling.

I glanced behind me, only to feel something dig into my right cheek. It didn't take me long to realize that the zombie had stabbed me, for at this point, blood was streaming down my face and into my mouth. Seeing this, Peater let out a low growl and charged towards the zombie. Just then, there was a blinding flash of white, and for a short-lived moment of time, I saw Peater running along Bay Street, not to call for help, but to save his damn ass.

This shall happen in its own good time . . .

I began to scream and howl at those words, for they left me very distraught.

Then I blacked out.

"PEATER! PEATER! WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?!" I screamed as I woke up.

"WHY?! WHY?!" My screams and howls of melancholy increased in volume as tears streamed down my face, leaving salty tracks in their wake.

"Elyssia! Elyssia! Calm down!" I heard someone whisper.

I looked to my left, and saw Peater right there, squeezing my leaf.

"It's all right, Elyssia. I'm right here. Every little thing is gonna turn out all right. No need to cry." he reassured me.

The next day dawned beautiful and snowy. It was perfect in my eyes ― it wasn't a blizzard, and it wasn't flurries. The amount of snow that the sky was shedding was flawless . . .

"Hey! Wake up, Elyssia! It's Christmas!" Peater cried as he whacked my head hard with a pillow.

I groaned and turned around to look at him.

"Couldn't you see that I was already awake?" I griped as I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder.

Peater giggled mischievously and nodded. "I was doing it just to pull your strings!"

I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Come here, you!" I shrieked as I chased him around the room with my pillow, attempting to strike him every few seconds. Finally, I had thrown aside my pillow and chased him out of the room.

"Neener, neener, you can't catch me!" Peater teased.

I only laughed at his taunting. When he had reached the stairs, I playfully tackled him with a yell, and there we went, tumbling down the stairs in a greenish-bluish blur. When we had finally stopped moving, I found that we were a tangle of roots and leaves. We looked into each other's eyes and giggled, before untangling ourselves. Peater pointed upwards, and I looked up, only to see a sprig of mistletoe hanging above us.

"Oh, no you don't!" I laughed, before making a run for it.

Now it was Peater's turn to chase me all over the base. We bumped into various plants (who looked at us as if we were crazy), before ending up in the food court. Plants stared and stopped what they were doing as Peater raced after me. Finally, he managed to tackle me, before tickling me into submission.

"Stop!" I giggled as I finally managed to squirm away from him.
I was about to get the hell out of there when he had pulled me back. At this point, the other plants were snickering at us, causing me to blush.

"Hey, so . . . uh . . . nice game of tag! Why don't we just . . . sit down and eat! Or go outside! It's nice outside! Actually, why don't we get some coffee! Or hot chocolate . . ." I stammered, uneasily glancing at the witnessing plants every so often, hoping that something else would distract them.

No such luck.

I looked back at Peater, and I could see him blushing as well.

"It's okay, Elyssia . . . I got you." he whispered as he put a leaf on my cheek.

I wrapped my arms around his stem, and in return, he put his arms around mine. Then, some kind of instinct told us to lean in. Closer and closer we came . . . until we found ourselves kissing.

Oh my God. This. Is. Not. Happening!

I barely heard the roars of the watching plants as I wrapped my arms around Peater and returned the kiss. I didn't want the moment to end. But most of all, I wanted him. No matter how potentially embarrassing it would be, I wanted us to stay glued to our spots. Forever.

We did eventually break apart, silly grins imprinted on our faces. We were both blushing furiously, and the crowd of witnessing plants were going crazy, hooting and hollering.

"So . . . uh . . . wanna go on a walk?" Peater suggested.

"Not without food in my stomach!" I replied as I pulled him over to the tables.

After an amazing breakfast of waffles, pancakes, French toast and bacon, Peater and I had a whole day ahead of us.

"So . . . where are we gonna go?" I asked as we walked out the doors.

"The Financial District. Peace Gardens. That stuff." he answered as he slipped his leaf in mine.

Bay Street looked just as lovely as it ever did, with the slight disadvantage of the buildings being in disrepair thanks to the apocalypse. But the glistening snow and ice made up for that by a mile. We silently walked down the street, before going to the Peace Gardens.

"Peater . . . isn't this place lovely?" I breathed as I reached out to touch a frozen spray of water coming from a fountain.

"Yeah . . . it's amazing . . ." he murmured.

We continued walking around, until we found ourselves under a canopy of frozen trees.

"God . . . this place is beautiful!" I gasped as I touched a frozen branch.

"It may be pretty, but it ain't as pretty as you are!" Peater replied with a grin.

I nodded, before asking a question that I've been meaning to ask him for so long.

"After this war's done . . . what are we gonna do?"

Peater shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe we'll live together . . . get partnered . . ."

I looked at him and smiled broadly. "I was hoping you'd say that . . ." I whispered as we wrapped our arms around each other's stems.

"Hey . . . uh . . . I just wanted to know . . . will you . . ." Peater stopped dead in his sentence and blushed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Uh . . . never mind . . ." he mumbled, his face turning an even darker green.

"Hey ― it's fine. Honest." I said as he pulled me closer.

Knowing what was going to happen next, I wanted to say, "Hey, let's go back and make some hot chocolate!" or something stupid like that. But I kept my mouth shut, and let the moment proceed like it was supposed to, and before we knew what was happening, we were kissing again, and thankfully, we had no witnesses . . . unless the birds counted. We broke apart after a few minutes, blushing and smiling.

"Now this is a secret we're gonna keep. Right?" I asked as I poked his cheek.

"Right." Peater answered, before he pulled me into a hug.

"You're mine, Elyssia. And nothing's gonna stop that."

I grinned as we pulled away and headed back inside.

The base was decorated with Christmas decorations, left, right and center. Everyone met near the fountain to open presents later that day. I got a box of chocolates from Eric, a charm bracelet from an "anonymous plant" (although it was obvious that it was Peater), and cards from everyone. We wrapped up the festivities by making hot chocolate, singing Christmas carols, and, of course, eating till we were stuffed.

All in all, it was a very merry Christmas indeed ― probably the best I've ever had in my life.

A/N: Aannnd . . . CUT! Okay . . . maybe it was pretty dang cheesy and fluffy, but I warned ya! XD

See ya round!