Author's Note: This is my first Ballykissangel fanfic, and only my second one ever. I've loved this show since I first found it on Amercan Bribox about two years ago; well, I love Series 1 -3, minus the last horrible bits in Episode 11. After the end of Series 3, I couldnt bring myself to watch any subsequent series of the show. I had fallen in love with the idea of Assumpta and Peter being in love. This story comes from that place of love. It begins in Series 1 Episode 6 " Missing You Already" and then departs from canon. I've borrowed a scene and some lines of dialogue from the episode, and that means from Kieran Prendiville, BBC Northern Ireland, and BritBox. They are not my characters, but they are my friends and I want them to be happy. All usually disclaimers apply.

See NOTE at the end of this first chapter.

Chapter 1: Ouchies

It started as a joke, really. Definitely not flirting and not even in the category of teasing. Peter only meant to make Assumpta smile, or to perhaps chuckle at his bit of silliness. Yes, that's what it was — Peter being silly to make Assumpta feel better. Just to make it better.

After his meeting with Niamh about her upcoming nuptials, Peter hurried back to St. Joseph's to see if Assumpta was still there enjoying the "peace and quiet" same as anybody else might. As he entered the sanctuary, he saw that a rock, probably thrown by one of Ballykissangel's few hooligans, had broken a window. Assumpta was no where to be found. Peter was quite miffed at the vandalism. He was also miffed at Assumpta for walking off, leaving the church empty and unlocked. "What if the wee buggers came inside to wreak havoc, too?" Peter mumbled to himself as he locked the door. He headed to Fitzgerald's to ask the landlady just what she had been thinking.

"You could have waited, Assumpta! And the least you could have done was shut the door behind you."

"I had to go!" Assumpta yelled back in reply from the kitchen.

"Of course you've got a pub to run, right?!"

Peter could hear the eye-roll in Assumpta's voice when she quipped, "Right, Father, it's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it."

"Oh, my God." When she entered the room Peter could see for the first time a poorly placed plaster covering a wound on Assumpta's head. It was obvious she had been hurt by the thrown rock. Peter's anger was immediately replaced with contrition and an urge to make sure Assumpta's injury was well taken care of, by him if necessary. "Did you see the doctor?"

"No, was definitely kids. They were running off."

He had to insist, but even then Peter was surprised Assumpta let him clean and bandage the small injury on her forehead. Well, she protested vehemently at first, causing Peter to feel more than a little bad about ripping the original plaster off so roughly. So, he proceeded more gently.

When Peter placed his hands on Assumpta's face to examine the wound, he noticed his hands were shaking a bit. Of course his hands would shake under the circumstances; it had been awhile since he had cleaned someone else's injury, even if this one was barely bleeding. He pushed her hair off her forehead finding the strands were softer than he expected, being so thick and curly. As he cleaned and bandaged her injury, he wondered what Assumpta did to make her hair so soft. He only wondered for a moment though — just a passing, inconsequential, thought really — because it only took a couple of minutes for him to play nurse with the bandage. He ran his fingertips across her forehead one last time to make sure the plaster was sealed.

For his troubles, Assumpta did give Peter a small smile of thanks, or derision, he wasn't sure which. Her smile faded quickly and it was replace with a smirk she could have learned from Mona Lisa herself, but not before Peter saw the slip in her happy facade. What he saw worried Peter, just as her mood had been earlier at St. Joe's, there was an underlying, weary, sadness in her eyes and behind her smile. Whenever Peter saw Assumpta with that look, he felt a stab of … empathy? … concern? He couldn't quite say what he felt when he saw her look of hidden pain, but he certainly felt something — something he was sure in the moment was perfectly appropriate for him to feel for one of his parish, even if she wasn't a practicing Catholic. Without any conscious thought about what he was doing, Peter leaned forward, once again brushing an Auburn curl out of the way, and gave Assumpta the lightest of kisses where the plaster lay.

Assumpta suppressed a gasp and instead lifted her eyebrows in an unspoken question. Her face was flushed and she narrowed her eyes at Peter waiting for him to reply. Peter felt his own face begin to warm. He gave her a one shoulder shrug along with a lopsided grin as he explained, "A kiss to make it better. You know. A kiss on the injury to help you feel better. Didn't your mum give your ouchies a small kiss when you were hurt as a child?"

"No. I mean, yes she did. Sometimes. When I was still in pigtails."

"Oh. Right. Well. I think you could still pull off pigtails if you wanted to, quite well, actually! I, I, uh … It's time for me to get back to St. Joseph's — I, erm, must check out the window damage. I'm sure Father Mac is going to have something to say about this … erm, I mean, something to say about that window." He gestured his intention to go with thumb toward the door.

Assumpta stood watching Peter turn to leave the pub. Then, touching the tips of her fingers to the plaster, she murmured, "Ta, Peter. It does feel better now." Assumpta shook her head and smiled a smile that could have only come from her heart. Peter looked over his shoulder just in time to see it, and returned her smile. In fact he smiled all the way up the hill to the church knowing that he had done one good thing, and it had made it better.

NOTE: This isn't a Christmas story but I am hurridly writing it on the eve of Christmas Eve. It's meant to be a little present for all my fellow Peter and Assumpta shippers. I hope you are still out there. I plan to post the next chapter soon after Christmas, and I have it plotted for 3 chapters. Please read and review. Being a novice fanfiction writer, I really need feedback!