It was a great party. They saved the world. They had a president. And it was practically Christmas. Everything was on the up. It was a world full of optimism.

For Rachel, it had been particularly good to be pardoned for her crimes aboard the Nathan James from the President. And he wanted her to do more cures missions around the country, something that was now possible given the pure potency of the contagious cure.

She wished that she was more in the spirit of things, but she wasn't. She was going to go back to her room really, get some rest, after all she had a packed schedule starting tomorrow, but something in her made her stay. She didn't really know what it was, but it was good to watch all the other people having an absolute ball for themselves.

There was dancing, eating, drinking, and then there was singing some sort of sea shanty, she guessed, Tex was the one who brought it up and everyone seemed to know it. She chuckled a little.

She saw Danny propose to Kara and smiled. That was a good one. Kara deserved to be married to the person that made her the happiest in the world. And she knew that Kara loved Danny. They loved each other. And that's what marriage was supposed to be about anyway. She wished them all the best.

She saw Tex come over and shook her head. "You should be enjoying the party," She said to him.

He nodded. "I could say the same to you, Doc," He said, extending a hand for her. He was going to be like this.

She shook her again and stood firmly where she was. "You go, I like people watching, I swear," Rachel said.

"You're going to regret that," He said. And she noticed that everyone was coming closer to the two of them. She wasn't sure what that was about, but she wasn't sure that she liked it.

"What do you-" And before she even got out the last of her sentence there was a chorus chanting 'Kiss' at her and Tex. She looked up and there it was. Mistletoe. Stupid silly mistletoe. She'd been standing under it the whole time. She looked at him and looked at the crowd and thought this was silly. She didn't have to do anything just because a twig told them too.

Tex took her hand and smiled, "So what about it? What do you say we give the people what they want?" He asked.

And just because he was so generous with the ask, instead of just doing it outright, she relented. He would have been fine with either answer. No one should be pressured into anything they didn't want, but when she put her hand in his, he twirled her into his arms like something out of a fairytale.

Then it was onto the main event of mistletoe as it were, the kiss. The crowd would have been satisfied with a gentle kiss, a peck on the lips, but they were both overachievers in that regard, when their lips came together, they froze for a second and then they got into it.

Tex thought that this was the most magical the night had been for him. He loved the girl. He had told her a bunch of times in a thousand different ways that he was in love with her. She had never seemed to have gotten it before, but this kiss, it said something different. It said I hear you and I like you back. The way that she froze when the kiss started, he was worried that he misplayed the whole situation, but then as her mouth moved and they started to find their way through it, he relaxed.

Rachel was in a spectacular wonderland of emotions. She wasn't quite sure why she had never considered Tex before, but she was certainly considering him now. She always regarded him as one of her closest friends and now with this spark of chemistry, she thought they could be unstoppable. Maybe she should ask him to come with her after everything was done here.

When they came apart, he laid his forehead on top of hers and smiled at her. She smiled back. How could they not be happy after that? It was magical. "You okay there, doc?" He asked, quietly.

"I, uh, I'm fine," She said, hoarsely as she looked around. "You want to get out of here?"

He looked over to Kathleen and smiled a little sadly, "I wish I could, but fatherhood?" And honestly, that made him all the sexier to her. He was forgoing what could have been a great night for him because he had obligations bigger than himself.

She took his hand and led him into the ballroom. "Then, we should at least enjoy the party with her."

And he agreed. They would work out what this meant later. They would always have time to do that. But Rachel thought, maybe they could stick together for longer than just the memories they had on the Nathan James together. Maybe they could have something real.