Sorry I missed a month! I was in Peru and just really did not have time! Arg...but I still think ya'lls will enjoy this chapter ;)

Thanks to all of you who reviewed: Chloe0x0, victoriaalexington, NameNature, Ava and Guest!

NameNature: Glad to make reading fanfiction a little awkward to do around family members!

Ava: Ahaha as much as I'd love to get a book published, it probably won't be this one (I think RAS might sue me and all) but I do have original stuff I'm working on between fics! As for the answer to your question, no. Her name is more or less via the connection of other names of characters.

Guest: Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Song for this chapter is Silent Night in a Minor Key. The ones on Youtube by Chase Holfelder, Myuu, or Oleg Berg are all fantastic if you're looking for a creepy sinister XMas melody.

December 17th, 2018

They weren't pretending it never happened, thank God. They weren't talking about it, but deciding to collectively wipe it from their memories was a step back, which wasn't the case this time. She was pretty sure this wasn't a step forward, maybe it was just a stagnant motion, but it was hopeful of the future. She sure as hell knew she wouldn't be able to forget how he'd made her feel, so that had to be something, as solid and unmoving as it was.

Though, well, no. It was a step forward, at least in strange ways. Ways that Betty hadn't picked up on until she really started thinking about it.

They touched each other a lot more now. Not sexually (unfortunately), but casually. It seemed like the 'personal space bubble' had popped out of existing for both of them. Even without meaning to, they both were drawn to each other like a magnet.

It was Sweet Pea patting her head as a joke while he half-heartedly insulted her but grinned all the while, it was Betty leaning down on his back when he was focusing on something just to annoy him, it was Sweet Pea grabbing Betty's arm, it was Betty's need to run her hands through his hair at all times. And neither complained. If anything, they enjoyed it.

People needed human touch. It was shown that babies especially needed it, so why would that suddenly vanish as people got older. If anything, adults needed it more, because it came so rarely. Is that why people sought out partners for life? Was all someone truly needed a companion to curl up next or reach for your hand when you were working?

Betty was unsure.

What she did know was this; she was thinking a lot about the human condition of late, and what it meant to be together and alone. If the world hadn't gone to shit, and she was still convinced one day it might flip onto the right side again, she could probably write a very successful book or paper or something.

December 19th, 2018

The little piano down in the basement doesn't make a lot of noise. They also picked a location for it that couldn't be heard from outside, but also was muffled when someone was upstairs. It's a nice break for both of them. As much as Betty enjoys her time together with Sweet Pea, there are times when they both just need to relax.

It's the end of the world. They can't make mistakes about this. They're all each other has.

Betty will try to go find her name in her spare time, still to not much avail. When she has gotten frustrated with combing through books, she'll write. She'll sit on the couch and mentally write news articles, and then go back through and obsessively edit them. She'll stare out the window to the winter inkinesss, chewing on her nails, as she tries to think of the perfect way to scribe her thoughts.

Extra! Extra! Apocalypse Encourages Two Frenemies Into Something More!

Read All About It! A Can of Plums Will Still Be Edible After Eight Months, but Won't Taste Good!

Fresh From The Press-Need To Get Away From All the Stress of Life? Try An Apocalypse!

Sometimes, she makes herself fall over giggling about all of it. About the news articles she'd write and edit if she were alive, for the Blue & Gold. She'd be nearing the end of her fall semester. She'd have gotten all her College essays and applications in by now. She would be going out and picking out presents for everyone. She'd be looking forward to her last and final semester.

And Sweet Pea? She's unsure, but she has a sinking feeling that he'd be pulled more into the crime of the Serpents, having graduated with no prospects.

Her life might have been completely obliterated, but sometimes, she thinks it's a miracle this happened for him.

On that note, she decides to find him.

He's been at the piano a lot lately. She doesn't bother him a lot down here. When she approaches, however, she can recognize what he's trying to hammer out. This, she feels, is pretty impressive. Betty's mother had paid for piano lessons when she was young, but she dropped it. She just didn't enjoy it with the zest that Sweet Pea so clearly does.

She recognized the jingle; it's the opening piano part from The Office theme. He's clearly working through it himself, he can about five seconds in perfectly before it's Sweet Pea humming and tapping different ivories, trying to find just the right combination of notes.

Betty comes up behind him, curling her arms over his shoulder and resting her cheek against his neck.

"Sounds cool."

"It will be, eventually." Sweet Pea says through a pen, the sound muffled.

Betty scrunches her nose when she looks at the scrap paper he's working on.

"What in the name of holy hell is that?" She says, pointing at what would be insulting to chickens to call it chicken scrawl.

"It's my sheet music."

It's no type of sheet music Betty has ever seen in her life. Loads of strange symbols, confusing arrows to other bits, and wholly unorganized. It makes the obsessive-compulsive part of Betty's heart die a little looking at it.

"Uhm…" Betty takes a step back, frowning and rubbing her chin.

"Well," Sweet Pea spins around, "I didn't have fancy piano lessons like you, Miss Richy." He teases, but there is a hint of hurt underneath, "So I make do. If I can read it, it works right?"

She can't argue there. It's not like anyone else will be reading this. And hey, maybe if they do, Sweet Pea has just re-made the wheel. Reinvented sheet music. Who knows?

Betty motions for him to scoot over on the seat. She hasn't touched a piano in years, not something that wasn't the crappy music room dinosaur, but this feels familiar. She has a good enough memory to recall how to play. Without even knowing it, her fingers start to dance out a Mozart.

"Show me what you've got?" Betty asks, motioning to the keys. Sweet Pea presses his fingers down. Betty, without thinking, settles her palms over the back of his hand, piggy-back playing the music.

She hummed as she trails him, thinking the notes in her mind.

It's not like she's going to ruin this, his strange way of marking patterns.

"I could teach you piano the way I learned it." She's careful not to say something assholish like 'the real piano way', because isn't this a way to play? How is hers any more valid than his?

"Maybe one day," Sweet Pea shrugs, "We still have a long winter ahead of us. And then the rest of time."

Betty withdraws her hands.

"Do you mind?" She motioned to the piano, "If I...watch?"

"No commentary?" Sweet Pea asks warily.

"No. I just want to sit here."

"Yeah, I'd like the company."

December 20th, 2018

That boy is beautiful, Betty finds herself thinking one afternoon. Not beautiful in the sort of model way, in the sort of way they may talk about a girl, but beautiful everywhere. In his features, in his laugh, in the way he so precisely focuses on the task at hand. Right now, it's deciding meal plans for basically forever. She knows it's boring af. She finds it hard to keep the focus, so it's a miracle Sweet Pea can at all. Still, he asserts himself into it with the same 'go-at-it' he does most everything.

But of course, no one is absolutely perfect, but Betty thinks he's pretty darn close.

"What are you looking at?" Sweet Pea scowls, glancing up at her.

"You need a haircut," She mumbled absently through her fingers, "When was your last one?"

"Well, before the world went to shit."

Betty has been cutting her own hair, just trims, for awhile now. She did it before the apocalypse, so there really was no reason to stop. She knows that it probably wasn't high on Sweet's list of things to do, which is fine. Missing a haircut is hardly gasp-worthy. Still, it's getty really shaggy and long.

"Do you trust me to cut it?"

Sweet Pea blinks long and hard at her.

"Well, I guess. I trust you in pretty much any other way, so…" He trails off, face contorted into deep thought, "If you really feel the need."

Betty grimaces, humming a single tone of amusement, "I do."

They need a break from this anyway.

Betty does the whole thing. She knows from her mother that you can't really cut dry hair. Not as well, anyway. So, she forces him to go and take a quick shower, if only that means dunking his head and scrubbing up. In all honesty, it's not the worst thing.

It's not like Sweet Pea doesn't shower or bathe. It's just that in this climate, in this world, an extra scrubbing can never be a bad thing.

Betty bites her lip, trying to recall what his hair length was when the first met. She's gotten so used to seeing him like this that she only recalls it shorter, but not how or what length. It's a weird realization. If Toni were to waltz in right now, she could remember. It's that weird thing...where you look at someone everyday and realize they've changed, but it was so incremental to you that you hardly notice. He looks a little older. Starving will do that to a person. Besides that, he has a good five o'clock shadow on his face, spotty and clumpy like most 18-year-olds do. He was always fresh-faced in highschool. But this suites him. Or will suit him, she thinks, recalling her dream.

"Uhhh, you gunna actually cut something?"

Betty blinks, "Sorry. Yeah. Just trying to remember how short it once was."

"Well, if you cut it a little short, no biggie, eh? I mean, it grows out. Hair is magic like that," He said, voice highly sarcastic. Betty's lip twitched with the hint of a smile.

Betty tilted her head, realizing that she had a way to figure it out. She grabbed her phone from the sink and scrolled through her photos until she found the one she was looking for. Her and Jughead with Sweet Pea and Fangs in the background. It was only as she was setting it down to use as a reference that she thought about the fact that it was a picture of her and Jughead, her first true love, not just some random person.

"You okay?" Sweet Pea noticed the photo.

"Yes," Betty said, "No. I mean," She set the scissors down, not wanting to start while trying to explain this, "I look at this photo and just feel strange. I feel a little upset I'm not as emotional by it. I look and it and I don't feel the same things I used to for Jughead. It's just a good memory." She murmured.

Sweet Pea's adam apple bobbed, but he turned around. Betty inhaled, picked up the scissors, and started cutting.

Glancing back to the photo brought up a lot of thoughts. Perhaps if Sweet Pea had offered up some conversation, Betty may not have said something. But she felt pressured to say something. This photo had been taken only about two weeks before the day she'd woken up alone in the Lodge's house.

"Have you ever thought about what would happen if you had never gone to kill Hiram?"

Sweet Pea startled. Luckily, Betty had paused, her scissors lowered.

"You mean the day the world ended?"

"Yeah. That one." Had Sweet Pea gone and tried to kill Hiram more than once? Either way, she thought his response was just surprise, not necessarily that he was confused.

Sweet Pea was very quiet for a long time again. Betty wondered if at first this was only something she'd ran through.

"Of course I think about it," Sweet Pea's voice was rough, incredulous, "I think about that you'd likely be...be...dead." He whispered. It was obvious he'd almost tried to insert a joking tone into it, but unable to. Even without saying it, Sweet Pea imaging her gone distressed him.

Betty pursed her lip, tears at the edge of her eyes but she wasn't sure why, "Yeah." She knew this. She could come to terms with the inevitability of her fate had she not run into Sweet Pea. She recalled cowering in that car, just trying to breathe normally but unprepared to kill things she couldn't figure out. Her brain had still been in the old world, not this new world. Not the one that Sweet Pea so easily slid into, how he came like a knight on a white horse, riding through and killing the walkers in the path.

"I'd be too though."

Betty gave a sort of watery laugh, "Bullshit. You'd survive." She said, warmth seeping into her voice.

"I dunno. You've saved me a lot, Betts." Sweet Pea said reasonably, "And I don't think I could have done this without a partner."

"You could have still teamed up." Betty scoffed, "I'm sure the path would have been different and you may have seen someone."

"I honestly don't think I would have given many else the chance I gave you. And it's worked out...hasn't it?" He sounded so unsure, so needing. Betty rubbed his shoulders gently.

"I like this life," She said, looking up at the high ceiling, at the snow piling up outside, at the house that she had felt like they had made a home. There in the corner were their favorite books near the couch, with the soft blanket that Betty had knit with her arms and large yarn a week ago (it was a little wonky, but Sweet Pea insisted it was hella comfortable), with Sweet Pea's cooking supplies and Betty's notebooks near the table. She liked where she was, "I'm happy."

Sweet Pea rested his cheek on the top of her hand that was on his shoulder just for the quietest of seconds, "Me too."

December 22nd, 2018

Christmas season snuck up on Betty, although she couldn't claim that the holiday season in the previous years had been on her mind. To be honest, last Christmas had been horrendous, and she'd rather forget much of the events that circled around it. She'd been so busy searching for The Black Hood that by Christmas Eve, Betty felt as though she'd been caught off guard.

Betty was woken up a few days before Christmas by Sweet Pea throwing a coat in her face.

"Get up slow poke! We're going on an adventure."

Betty groaned, blinking groggily to him.

"What?" She finally asked, staring up at him. He was in his complete winter outfit, along with his faithful baseball bat strapped to his back, plus a gun and a knife in each boot.

"Christmas!" Sweet Pea said excitedly, looking more like a golden retriever or a happy child than a gang member.

"Sweets, it's three days 'till."

"Well, it won't come at all if we don't move our asses into gear," He scoffed, "What is something that makes the world turn and feel like Christmas?" He asked, shifting his hands around.

"Uhm, supermarkets playing Christmas tunes the day after Thanksgiving?"

"No," Sweet Pea pulled the blanket off of her, throwing more warm items her way, "Try again," He sing-sang.

"Snow?"

Sweet Pea gave an exasperated sigh, "Christmas trees," He said, grabbing an oversized saw from near the threshold of the door. Betty faintly remembered seeing it in the tool shed. She sat up, and despite it all, couldn't help but smile widely.

"Give me like ten, m'kay?"

Sweet Pea left her with a 'be quick' in a springy tone, all but bouncing out of the room.

The air outside was crisp. It smelled exactly like winter to Betty. She hadn't been outside since the walker had nearly killed her, Sweet Pea had taken over most of the hunting. Whether or not he'd meant this to be a gentle nudge and restoration of her courage, she couldn't tell, but she realized he'd gotten her outside without her mind thinking of that moment until they were outside the gates.

"We need to find the perfect tree," Sweet Pea said, holding up his fingers into a square, licking his lips, "Our first Christmas together." His blush spread across his face, "Well, not like we're 'together', but just that we're...I mean, we're a family, but not that we're a 'family' like I'm you're my...you're my…"

"Our first Christmas," Betty spoke over him, assuring his blunder. Somewhere deep, fluttering in her heart, she wanted it to mean all those things. However, she'd take it how she could get it.

Sweet Pea nodded, running his hand over his beanie, inhaling. When he breathed out, Betty could see his breath suspended in the air. With just a few wisps of his newly-cut hair peeking out, and his flushed red cheeks, Betty was so close to reaching up to kiss him. The urge just came over her, like a tidal wave, like an avalanche.

"There!" She said, spying something out of the corner of her eye, glad that fate had showed her a wonderful looking speciman right before she did something stupid.

Sweet Pea bounded over to it, circling it and sniffing deeply, "Yep. Smells like Ole St. Nick and carols!" He announced, offering one half of the saw to Betty. Together, they worked quickly to fell it, only having to kill one walker that moaned by. Betty also managed to shoot a snow rabbit bounding through the drifts, assuring a delicious dinner for them.

They worked together to drag that gigantic tree back through the forest, feeling acutely vintage. Like something out of one of those 'Little House in the Big Woods' books, something not apocalyptic but simpler. Sweet Pea sang horribly wrong Christmas songs, some inappropriately butchered version of Jingle Bells, causing Betty to laugh so hard she almost cried. Then he convinced her to join in, and the pair whispered the lyrics in tandem to make sure they didn't attack walkers. They almost couldn't get through a full verse without dissolving into giggles, so by the time they made it home, they'd only almost managed through the song.

In one of the garages, Sweet Pea found a slightly dusty box labeled 'Ornaments' and they spent the rest of the day sorting through the box to find things they felt were worthy to hang on their tree. The tree stood proudly in the living room, making it actually look complete. They discarded about half of the ornaments due to various reasons and spent the night sourcing the house for items to make into weird ornaments. It was the most bizarrely decorated tree Betty had ever seen, but it was theirs and that's what made it great. They did have a star on the top, one that looked so unlike the one that Betty's family used to have. Sweet Pea admitted he'd never had a real Christmas tree, so this felt significant for both of them.

By the end of the night, Sweet Pea had dragged an instrument upstairs and was having Betty guess Christmas songs.

As they collapsed into bed, having done nothing to further their survival but everything to further their thriving, Betty turned to Sweet Pea, searching for his fingers, "I'm excited for Christmas now."

December 25th, 2018

Just as Sweet Pea had woken Betty up, Betty poked Sweet Pea awake Christmas morning with a cup of hot chocolate for both of them. She'd done Sweet Pea's just how he enjoyed it; extra marshmallows, a pinch of cinnamon, and a pinch of hot pepper.

"This my gift?" Sweet Pea asked, sipping it reverently, savoring every mouthful.

"One of a few," Betty said with a nonchalant shrug. She didn't ask him about a present to her. She hadn't decided if she would be upset or not if he didn't give her one. It wasn't like he had the chance to run out to the local mall, so if he gave her anything, she'd be impressed. She told herself she sort of counted the whole lead-into Christmas day, the tree-hunting excursion, as a pretty good gift.

They had agreed that this day, as well, would be no thoughts of their possible impending doom, of death, of walkers, of any of that. It would be a goddamn good Christmas day. It didn't feel so much as stopping the world, like Christmas before had, but maybe more like re-starting it. Pushing the wheel to move again. Trying to capture a hint of the world before, as different as this would always be.

Betty had been wracking her brain since they got the Christmas tree for a gift for Sweet Pea. She couldn't imagine not getting him one. Not a question in her mind, he was getting a gift.

But, what?

It was even more difficult than getting Jughead a gift post break-up. They had loved each other deeply, passionately, painfully. The love hadn't vanished as they had separated, and some part of Betty knew they'd come back to each other.

But what do you give a boy that you're in love with, who doesn't love you back, but is still the most important person in your life? How can any gift seem significant enough? How can she tell him all she wants to say without overwhelming him or making him feel pressure to reciprocate something he does not feel back?

In the end, she'd made him a mixtape CD. It was something she knew he would enjoy, and she could only hope he didn't make fun of her music choices. Sure, it wasn't the most difficult gift to make out there, but Betty had spent hours scrolling through the music category of their two iPods and the CD's they'd gotten from town to pick just the right songs. Then, she'd found a CD that she thought no one would miss (from what she could tell, it seemed to have been an intro for a pyramid scheme) and burned it over it. She drew on the top of the CD with a whole abundance of Sharpies that had been found in the various junk drawers and well, Betty was pretty darn proud of what she'd made.

Then, she'd wrapped it.

They spent the day playing some board games and listening to Sweet Pea play piano. He'd accumulated quite the repertoire of almost-perfect sounding Christmas tunes, usually getting them right enough for Betty to guess. His favorite was Celion Dion's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You', which he would play very aggressively.

Around dinner they decided to exchange gifts. They were both bundled up to the neck, the air outside whipping around the whole house. If Betty just listened to the noise, it was downright eerie.

But, if she looked at the Christmas lights and the tree and the mugs of hot coco downed, she felt alright.

"I have two gifts," Sweet Pea admitted, "One's...well, I mean, you'll see I guess. Don't feel like you had to get me two or something or-," He scratched his head, "One doesn't even really count."

This did not make Betty feel any better.

"Sweets," She sighed, "Stop trying to one-up me."

"I'm not! Honest. One just came to me yesterday." He said, picking up a parcel from the ground, "Here it is. I mean, I almost just handed it to you, to be honest."

Betty carefully undid the tape. Back before, she'd always been unduly careful with wrapping anyway, re-using it if she could. The apocalypse gave her no good reason to stop now.

Inside was...a book. A book that she knew for a fact had been on the shelf downstairs, because she'd leafed through it many times before.

"Erm, thanks?"

"You're killing me with how slowly you're making progress, Arianrhod. There. Ta-da." He said with a slight wave of his hand. Betty examined it again. Celtic and Welsh Mythology: A Complete Guide.

"So this is...this is where to find my name?" She asked.

"Yep." The 'p' popped off his voice, "Enjoy. Ack! Not now. Don't I have a present?" Sweet Pea said with puppy-dog eyes as Betty tried to leaf through it.

"Right. Yes, of course." Betty said. She stood up to where only two more presents lay under the tree and picked up her small one.

Sweet Pea shook it near his ear, "Now, I could be wrong, but I think I know what this is?"

"Oh?" Betty asked, a little afraid he'd guessed it.

"A puppy, right?" He teased, holding the package, which barley was bigger than his palms.

"Damn. You got me," Betty replied dryly, "How did you ever know?"

"I'm just that good." Sweet Pea said, tearing into the paper with abandon, leaving nothing salvageable. Inside was the disc. Betty gnawed on her lip nervously as Sweet Pea's face shifted to curiosity as he examined it. She let him look on in silence for about three or four minutes before she couldn't take it anymore.

"It's a mix-tape," She burst, "I mean, I know you've probably heard most of these songs and maybe you don't think it's a good gift, but I-,"

"I love it," Sweet Pea said sincerely, his face bright, "This is fantastic, Cooper."

"Well, good." Betty felt her stomach deflate. He was grinning at it in such a way that made her heart flutter.

"I hope you like these songs, because this is the only thing that's going to be playing on repeat for like...the next year or so," Sweet Pea informed her.

"We'll be sick of the songs then," Betty groaned.

"I never could."

There was a quiet moment, one where he blinked back, like he hadn't meant to say that. Betty wasn't sure how to process this, so she just looked to the one gift remaining.

"So, uh,"

Sweet Pea's eyes snapped toward it. He swallowed uncomfortably. With a slowness in his step, he put the gift reverently in front of her, like he was offering her the holy grail.

Betty looked at it. The box was standard gift size, about big enough to fit a couple books or a shirt. It was wrapped with more precision than the book he'd first given her, something said that he'd handled this with care.

Fully intrigued, Betty unraveled the bow on top. Then she undid the wrapping. When she got to the plain white box, she realized that Sweet Pea was practically boring holes into her skull. She waffled between making some joke right now or just opening it, but any laughter she had died on her lips the moment she opened it just a peek and that terribly familiar gray wool caught the corner of her eyes.

She almost didn't believe it.

Her throat clogged, she lifted the crown beanie hat into the light, her fingers tracing over the fabric which she'd touched so many times before.

"I thought I had…" One of her biggest regrets had been throwing the hat as far as she could into the woods all those months ago.

"I went and got it." Sweet Pea admitted, "And I wasn't sure when I'd give it back to you. It seemed like if I did it too soon it would just hurt. And I guess maybe this seemed like a good time. It's nice to be reminded of people during the holidays," Sweet Pea mumbled, looking anywhere but where Betty sat cross legged, tears on her cheeks as she held the hat close to her chest. It was dirty and bloodstained and probably the remainder of something awful, but Betty couldn't let it go.

"You could have left it there."

"Naw," Sweet Pea said, a sad hint of a smile, "I couldn't have."

"That says so much about you, Sweets," Betty whispered, "I'm glad that I got this. I'm crying because it's nice to have this memento of him, but he's just that...something that's a memory." She wasn't sure what she was trying to say. No, wait, she was. She wanted to express to Sweet Pea that getting this wasn't like getting something of her boyfriends, it was like getting any lingering memory, something in the past and ultimately not entirely part of who she was anymore.

She wasn't at all sure that Sweet Pea understood.

"I'm going to put this right here, if that's okay with you," Betty decided, standing and setting the hat on top of a lamp like it was a mannequin head.

"I thought for sure you'd bring it into bed with you," Sweet Pea stood, crossing his arms over his chest, a hint of bitterness seeping into his voice. Betty was hardly fazed, however.

"No," She said simply, un-complicatedly, "It has no place with me there."

December 28th, 2018

Betty stood at the countertop, eyes scanning the lists with a sense of terror. Now that the Christmas festivities were behind them, she had to return to keeping the pair of them alive.

As it was, that was shaping up to be more difficult than she'd anticipated.

A cold frost has swept in and ruined some of their stock for the winter after a particularly nasty storm had broken down the door. Fixing the door and clearing out the snow and ice wasn't hard or something they didn't have time for. They had an abundance of time.

Unfortunately, this left Betty with far too much time to consider all the gruesome ways they could die, starvation included.

She didn't entirely think they were in danger of that, though not by a wide margin. They could survive on what they had left if they made a bigger effort to hunt. It was just unfortunate that a lot of what Sweet Pea had accomplished had been ruined. He'd cussed and kicked some stuff, which was pretty fair. He was downstairs right now, trying to figure out what was salvageable.

She didn't want to tap too much into their canned and boxed foods. They may need that other winters. She also didn't want to make an excursion to town. Something in her gut told her to stay put and she wasn't about to just ignore that.

Too bad her stomach was growling like a tiger.

So they'd pretty much be always a little hungry, she had decided, but they wouldn't die...would they?

That had been the entire cause of her anxieties for the past five days. Going over the numbers, recounting the stocks, anticipating and guessing for the future...she could not afford to be wrong on this.

She wished she had literally any other issue to take her attention away. Even trying to keep the pipes from freezing couldn't hold her mind for long, not before she was distracted back to this damn list again. It was driving her insane.

She stood with her elbows on the counter, supporting her cheeks as she sighed. She stared and stared at the sheet of paper as though some magical solution she'd overlooked would jump out at her.

She had the basement door shut behind her. She registered that Sweet Pea was the one coming up the steps, duh, but she wasn't really thinking about him. Not until he enclosed her, standing directly behind her.

"Do you need to grab something?" Betty realized she was blocking a cabinet. She made a motion to step back, but Sweet Pea's chest was an inch away from her. His arms were on either side of her body, caging her into the small space she'd been occupying.

"Christ, if you worry about this anymore, you'll turn gray at the age of seventeen." He said, looking over her shoulder.

"It's not exactly something I can just ignore," Betty replied, grimacing.

"I get that, I know, but," Sweet Pea's breath was warm on her neck, "I think you need to calm down a bit. Relax. Un-tense."

"Easier said than done." Betty grumbled, wishing more than anything that Veronica would sail in right now with a car to take them off to a day spa.

She felt Sweet Pea grasp her hip, pulling her against him. She opened her mouth to say something, though what she couldn't guess (it would have been as much a surprise to him as it would have been to her), until she felt Sweet Pea run a nose down her neck.

"Well, let me help."

"What do you mean help?" Her voice shivered and she knew she should have scurried away, but she couldn't move.

"Just let me," He said, which didn't exactly answer her question, "I feel like I owe you something else too. I got you a book you already own and angst for Christmas, I should give you some…" There was a prolonged pause and Betty stood, not even daring to breathe, "Pleasure."

"You don't have to." Betty's voice was small and she didn't even really want to be protesting. Sweet Pea kissed her neck, pulling her ever closer against him.

"But I want to."

If she even had anything to stop him, her lips had pretty much stopped forming words, so it didn't matter. She closed her eyes, letting out a little breathless moan as Sweet Pea kissed and nipped at her neck, all the way down to her collar-bone and back up to her ears. One hand edged under her shirt, creeping to her bra and the other moved downward towards her leggings. Betty was nearly sure this was a dream. She would be so damn disappointed to wake up.

She understood what he was doing just before he did it, his fingers disappearing beneath her pants and underwear. He was hard at the small of her back, rocking into her as he pitched them forward, just a little. Betty's hands gripped the counter, allowing them the right leverage.

He wasted no time. His fingers went right for her center, where she was already a little embarrassingly wet. She had been since he had cornered her, back when she assumed he was just in his way.

One finger teased along her entrance, back and forth and never quite entering, enough to drive her mad. By the time that he slipped one digit inside, Betty had been humping his hand enough so that there was little mistaking that she wanted this too. She couldn't remember the last time something other than her own minstrations had gotten herself off or that anything had touched the inside of her, so even just one finger was such a breathless feeling.

"More," She whispered hoarsely, "Please."

She didn't care she was begging. She didn't care that her limbs were so jelly-like that if Sweet Pea wasn't holding her up, she'd surely crumple on the floor. She didn't care that she was thrusting against him like a dog in heat. Betty, who was just as sexually frustrated as she was regular frustrated, had not realized how badly she needed this until he'd given it to her.

The sound she made when he pulled his finger out was pathetic. A low, plantative moan from her throat that was mixed with Sweet Pea's throaty chuckle.

He went straight to three fingers, digging up inside of her in a way that she hadn't felt in so long. She was sure she couldn't take anymore feeling, not until Sweet Pea flicked his thumb against her hooded nub at the same time he did one of her nipples under her shirt.

Betty groaned, dropping her head back against the support of his shoulder.

"Feel good?" He asked, sucking near her ear.

"Just...don't stop…" Betty couldn't form full thoughts, much less a reply. Sweet Pea nodded. She felt his response against her neck.

He began to manipulate her body to his wills, pulling her impossibly close to him as he rubbed against her. Betty felt her climax rising faster than it had before, and wished she had more stamina so she could remain his this moment forever. She got the feeling from Sweet Pea's sharp intakes of breath that he was getting off from this too, and began to take her farther faster.

By the time Betty came on his fingers, her mind was bursting with white and she was entirely boneless on him. Sweet Pea may or may not have finished; Betty was unsure. All she knew was that when he stepped back, he had a falter in his steps like his legs didn't really work right.

Betty sort of slipped to the floor.

"You more relaxed now?" he asked, his voice wheezing.

"Uhm, yeah?" She blinked, "You didn't...I should-"

"None of that," Sweet Pea said firmly, "That was part of your Christmas present. No reciprocation required. Erm, I gotta go...do...stuff…"

Betty, sitting on the ground and trying to catch her breath, was too dazed to argue.

Merry fucking Christmas indeed.

Huzzah! The return of Jug's hat, all the way from, oh god I don't even know what chapter. I always did plan to bring it back. Couldn't really just leave it to the woods.

Lol I promise that not all the smut scenes happen at the end of chapters. This was actually supposed to go until New Year's, but it got too long so I had to cut it off.

In other news, I'm so starved for SweetBetts content that at Hot Topic they have a 'Southside Serpents' eyeshadow pallet that's on my buy-next list and in the pallet Betty's color and Sweet Pea's colors are right next to each other while Jug's is at the bottom. I'm sure unintentional, but that made my day when I saw it.

I'm also intentionally not telling y'all the track list for Betty's mixtape to Sweet Pea, because that's probably what the chapter titles will be for the sequel to this.

Anyway, if you think it was a merry f'n xmas chapter, leave a comment, even if it's just inhuman screams!