In the state of Minnesota, when winter came, it came on strong and fierce, and somewhat early too. It was now a few days into December. Although today's temperatures weren't unbearable, the first day of the month had actually brought a fairly big snowstorm. Big enough where the students of Sparkyville Junior High got to enjoy their first snow day.

As he was walking home for school, decked out in cozy winter clothing, Linus was able to see large piles of snow in various locations from when the plow trucks had taken to the streets. Normally, he would've decided to take the bus home, but for some reason, he felt that he needed a little "me" time, and hence, he decided to walk instead.

A couple of minutes later, he passed by the playground. He looked and saw that the swings had now been taken down for the winter. This made him think of a certain someone who, when she still lived in Sparkyville, loved to swing on the swings. And she always enjoyed it even more when Linus was there to push her. Such a basic and simple activity, yet it was one of their favorite things to do together.

Linus and this girl would then spend the rest of the school year finding other ways to play together. But soon after that summer came, Linus got the sad news that she was moving far away. All the way to Texas. After she had gone, Linus found himself undergoing borderline depression for pretty much the rest of the summer. He had missed her since the day she had left, and in honesty, he still missed her to this day. Even though they had only known each other for about eight months, Linus was closer to her than any other girl he knew. He cared a lot about her... and although nobody knew it, she was his longest-lasting crush. His crush who, for a few years now, he had not been able to see, and he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to see her again.

With a soft sigh, Linus stuffed his hands into his coat pockets and continued on his way home. I miss you so much, Janice. What I would give to be able to see you again...

Little did he know that he was in for quite the thrill...

As Linus was approaching his house, he noticed that the mailbox's flag was up. He walked over to it, opened it up, and retrieved its contents before proceeding to go inside.

Currently, Lucy was not home yet due to being at Schroeder's club. As Linus walked inside and into the living room, he quickly scanned through the decently-sized stack of mail that had come in. There were the electric and cable bills, some random junk mail, and finally, a letter...

...for Linus.

Linus looked rather surprised as he then flipped the letter over to look at the back of it. Interestingly, there was no return address on it. Curious as to who would be mailing him, Linus placed the other pieces of mail on the living room table before beginning to make his way to his bedroom. He opened the letter as he was walking and began to read it.

Dear Linus,

I hope you have had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was pretty good as well. I know it's not quite Christmas time yet, but I have an early Christmas surprise for you. After you're through reading this, I want you to close your eyes. And then I want you to ask yourself: how would you feel if there was a certain someone whom you loved to play with, but who had to move away, would get to be reunited with you? You'd probably be very happy, right? Well, I have some great news for you. My family and I are moving back to Sparkyville! You won't need to respond to this letter as by the time you get it, it will be just a week, if that, before I've returned. My date of return is Saturday, December 10th. I can't wait to see you again. You don't know how much I've missed you, and I'm anxiously awaiting the day you and I can be together again. See you soon!

Yours truly,

Janice Emmons

Linus was briefly paralyzed in shock as he finished reading the letter. There was no way, was there? If Linus was dreaming, boy did he not want to wake up right now!

But upon doing the pinch test, he concluded that he wasn't dreaming. Nope. This was for real. Janice Emmons was moving back to Sparkyville. She and Linus were going to be reunited! All of a sudden, Linus made a dash for the phone. He had to inform Charlie Brown of the news right away!

From inside the Brown residence, the phone began to ring. After a few rings, it was answered by Sally.

"Hello?" she greeted. "Who is this?"

"Sally?" came Linus' voice from the other end.

"Yes, this is Sally," Sally said, a grin spreading across her face as she anticipated what she thought was coming. "Is this my Sweet Babboo?"

"No, it's Linus, and I'm..." Linus said, but was interrupted.

"Have you called to ask if I want to go to a movie with you?" Sally asked sweetly.

"Good grief, no. I want to speak to your brother," Linus said, a bit of annoyance in his voice. "Is he home?"

"You've called at a good time. I have almost no homework tonight, meaning I have plenty of time to go to a movie," Sally told him, completely ignoring Linus' question.

Linus found his excited mood steadily dwindling as the usual annoyance from Sally's advances on him began to take hold.

"I don't have time to go to a movie. I need to talk to your brother. This is important," Linus insisted.

"Well, unfortunately that's not possible right now. He's out right now hanging around with that Heather girl," Sally responded. "But if you decide you want to take me to a movie, you know my number!"

Sally then hung up before Linus even had a chance to retort.

As Linus placed the phone back on the receiver, he massaged his temples in annoyance. For five-plus years now, Sally had been going on nonstop with this whole "Sweet Babboo" nonsense. It was complete delusion at this point. One would think that after the hundreds and hundreds of times he had turned her down that she would wake up and get the hint. But she was still just as smitten on Linus as ever. What, oh what was it going to take to get that blockhead sister of Charlie Brown's to stop obsessing over him?

As Linus was boarding the school bus the next morning, Charlie Brown noticed that he appeared to be in a very cheerful mood. He took his usual seat on the opposite site of his friend. After Lucy had gone and taken her seat, Linus turned to face Charlie Brown.

"Charlie Brown, you're never going to believe what's happening!" Linus said excitedly.

"What's that, Linus?" Charlie Brown asked.

"I just got a letter from Janice," Linus said. "She's moving back to Sparkyville! Can you believe it?"

"Janice..." Charlie Brown whispered to himself as he tried to remember who this girl was.

"You know, Janice Emmons? The girl who got leukemia and had to go to the hospital?" Linus said.

"Oh! That's right. She was the one who really liked it when you pushed her on the swings," Charlie Brown said, now remembering.

"That's the one!" Linus said with a bright smile.

"Well, I'm happy for you. I know that you've really been wanting to see her again," Charlie Brown said, giving a small smile back.

It was now finally Saturday, the day that Janice and her family were due to arrive back in Sparkyville. Currently, Sally Brown was sitting in the beanbag chair watching television.

Seconds later, Charlie Brown, who was accompanied by Heather, came into the living room and approached Sally.

"Come on, Sally. It's time to meet up with Linus," Charlie Brown said.

"Do we really need to go? Not that I would object to spending more time with my Sweet Babboo, but I'd much rather be here today," Sally said, keeping her eyes on the screen.

"But Sally, you haven't seen Janice in years. I'm sure she'd like to see you again," Charlie Brown reasoned.

"And I look forward to meeting Janice," Heather added. "From what Linus said about her, she sounds like a really great person."

Sally said nothing, but gave a light scoff. Great person indeed. Sally didn't budge from her seat, causing Charlie Brown to give off an exasperated sigh.

"Come on, Sally. I don't understand why you're acting like this right now. You're not going to school or anything," Charlie Brown said.

"And I don't think Linus would feel very good if you blew him off like this," Heather added.

Sally gave a light groan and shrunk deeper in her seat. Of course, Heather just had to go there, didn't she? Finally, after a few seconds, Sally slowly worked her way out of the chair and rose to her feet.

Charlie Brown and Heather smiled, glad that Sally had decided to come along. The three of them then grabbed their coats and began making their way out the door.

The three of them, who were now joined by a very excited Linus, were now making their way towards the house that Janice and her family were moving into. As they were walking, Heather noticed that Sally had seemed to keep a look on her face that suggested to her that Sally for some reason really did not look forward to seeing Janice. A little concerned by this, Heather looked at Charlie Brown.

"Is everything okay with Sally?" she whispered to him.

"I really don't know. Usually, she only acts like this when she thinks she's going to have a bad day," Charlie Brown whispered back.

A few minutes later, the group was approaching their destination. The area was very busy, with a moving truck in the driveway. A couple of uniformed workers were busy bringing what were apparently the family's belongings into the house.

But what ultimately caught the eye of the group was a girl with bobbed orange hair coming out of the house. Seemingly, she was also helping with moving things in. Once she caught sight of the group though, she sped back into the house.

"Whoa, did you see that?" Charlie Brown asked Linus.

"I did," Linus said, not taking his eyes off the entrance to the house. "She's here..."

About a minute later, the girl reappeared, this time accompanied by someone else. It was a girl with silky yellow hair that cascaded down her back. She was wearing a cute sky-blue dress with puffed short sleeves, and a matching color headband was atop her head. Upon seeing Linus, a huge smile spread across her face and her little eyes lit up.

"Linus!"

She then began making a dash towards the boy who loved to push her on the swings when they were younger.

"Janice!" Linus yelled excitedly.

Janice kept running, until seconds later, she was in Linus' arms. The two of them shared a great big hug, beyond ecstatic to finally be able to see each other again.

Charlie Brown and Heather watched the scene in front of them with warm grins on their faces, and Heather had her hands clasped together close to her chest. It truly warmed Heather's heart to see how close Linus and Janice clearly were, despite having now spent several years apart.

Not everyone looked too thrilled though to see Linus and Janice in their current state. Sally had her eyes narrowed specifically at Janice, and with each second of Linus and Janice still hugging, the green-eyed monster was manifesting itself more and more inside of Sally. Why had Linus never hugged her like this? In fact, she couldn't remember the last time Linus had hugged her at all. Had he ever?

Finally, Janice and Linus broke from their hug and the two of them faced the rest of the group.

"Janice, you remember Charlie Brown, right? My best guy friend?" Linus then asked Janice. "And his sister, Sally?"

"Oh, yes. How could I forget them?" Janice replied, smiling. "It's nice to see you both again as well."

"Thank you. It's nice to see you too," Charlie Brown said.

Sally said nothing, but gave a curt nod. The smile on Janice's face faltered a bit at Sally's current behavior. She thought that Sally would be at least a little more enthusiastic to see an old friend than that.

Janice shrugged it off though and turned at last to the pretty redhead that was with the group.

"Hello. I don't think I've ever met you before," Janice said. "I love your hair bow by the way."

"Awww, thank you. And I love your dress. I think that color looks really pretty on you," Heather replied.

"Thank you. I just got it a few weeks ago," Janice replied with a smile.

"By the way, my name is Heather Wold. I'm a good friend of Charlie Brown's," Heather then told Janice before glancing at Charlie Brown with a smile.

"It's nice to meet you," Janice said. "I think I remember, Charlie Brown and Linus have both mentioned your name to me a few times."

Janice though was not about to mention to Heather that Charlie Brown, when they were younger, still often referred to Heather as "The Little Red-Haired Girl". It had always sounded kind of odd to Janice to hear him refer to Heather like that when Heather wasn't even younger than him.

Seconds later, the group heard a voice calling out to Janice. They all looked and saw that it was the same girl whom the group saw just moments ago. She was running up towards everyone.

"Sorry, guys, I gotta get back and finish..." Janice said, but she got interrupted by the other girl.

"No, no, Janice. I was actually just talking to Mom," the girl said, now having reached the group. Linus immediately recognized the girl as Janice's older sister, Janette. "She said that you and Linus can go and spend a little time together."

"Are you sure about that? She's really okay with it?" Janice asked.

"Yep! You just leave everything to the rest of us for the time being. Go and take a little time to catch up with your friend," Janette said.

She then gave Janice a sly smile and a wink, causing Janice's face to go slightly red.

"Well... okay. If she really said it was okay," Janice then said.

Janette nodded before making her way back to the house. Janice then turned to Linus, who now had a hopeful look on his face.

"Well, Linus, Mom apparently said we can go and hang out for a little while," Janice said to him before fondly smiling at him.

"And you don't even need to ask me. Of course I'm willing to spend some time with you," Linus told her, returning her smile. He then turned to the others. "If it's alright with you guys, could Janice and I have this time just to ourselves?"

"Sure, Linus," Charlie Brown agreed.

"Of course. We don't mind at all," Heather replied.

Linus smiled, satisfied with their responses.

"Oh!" Janice then suddenly said. "But first, I should probably get my coat, hehe."

And so Janice, real quick, rushed into the house to grab her coat. A moment later, she came back out and positioned herself next to Linus.

"Ready?" Janice asked her stringy-haired pal.

"Ready!" Linus answered.

Then, with a nod to the group, he and Janice began walking away together.

The rest of the group watched Linus and Janice until they turned a corner and were out of sight.

"Okay. I think I've been out here long enough. Can we go home now?" Sally asked, unable to suppress the irritation that was in her voice.

"Um... sure, Sally," Charlie Brown answered, not sure what to make of Sally's mood.

Likewise, Heather was also quite curious as to why Sally was currently acting this way. But by this point, she was beginning to have an idea.

I think Sally might be jealous of Linus' and Janice's relationship... she thought.

Together, Linus and Janice were currently walking down a sidewalk that to Linus, was particularly familiar. Linus had an idea as to where Janice wanted to visit first, but he decided to keep silent for now until he was sure.

Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, the two of them arrived at the playground. They stopped short though when Janice saw that the swings were no longer up.

"Oh..." she said, slightly saddened by this.

"I'm sorry, Janice, but they just put them away for the winter after our first snowstorm," Linus told her apologetically. "I know. I would've loved to be able to push you on the swings again, just like old days."

Seconds later, Janice shook her head and gave a small smile. "No, it's alright, Linus. I think I'm starting to get a little old now anyway for us to be doing that."

Linus nodded, though he wasn't really sure if he agreed with Janice here. He wasn't sure he cared that they may be getting too old for the swings. The fact that he still didn't intend on completely giving up his blanket was evidence that he didn't really care if he was "too old" for something.

"So... what do you want to do instead?" Janice asked Linus. "If you need a suggestion, I'm kinda hungry. The move in so far has been a lot of work."

"Me too in fact. I've got an idea. There's this new restaurant here now that had just opened a few months ago. I went there once with some friends; the food there is really good," Linus suggested.

"Sure. I have nothing against that," Janice agreed, knowing what he was about to suggest.

And so the two of them began making their way to Nelson's Nourishments to grab a quick bite to eat. A little while later, the two of them were seated at a small table that was located not far from where the heating system was.

After placing their orders, the two of them were silent for a moment as Janice took in her surroundings. The place was pretty nice for being what she thought was a relatively casual restaurant. She noticed though that a lot of the patrons here today appeared to be young and/or married couples, and a thought ran through her head.

Wow, Linus and I are all on our own here. And with all these couples here, it almost feels as though... we're out on a date!

Janice's face went red after this thought went through her mind and she began to fidget. Linus took notice of this.

"Janice? Is everything okay?" he asked, looking confused. "And why is your face now red?"

This caused Janice's face to go redder as she quickly tried to think up an excuse.

"I... sorry. I think I think I'm just getting hot," she said nervously. She then proceeded to take her coat off, hoping that by doing this, she would make it more likely that Linus would believe her.

If Linus didn't believe her, he wasn't showing it and he merely gave a nod in response.

"You're right. It is a little toasty in here," he agreed as he began taking off his own coat.

Janice inwardly gave a great sigh of relief. That could've turned out really awkward!

"So... do tell me, how was it that you and your family were able to move back to Sparkyville?" Linus asked Janice after a moment.

Janice grinned. "I knew from day one that when Dad said that we were moving that we wouldn't be gone forever. He had planned everything out from the beginning. The quick version is: we were going to move to rural Texas for a few years, where Dad could run his business with fewer government regulations and lower operating costs. And then once he could fetch a high enough price to sell the business at, he would do so, and we would buy a new house and move back here."

Linus was fairly impressed. "I have to say, it must have sold for a lot then, because that's a really nice house you guys are moving into," he remarked.

"It was definitely enough money for Dad to achieve his goals as planned," Janice said.

"So, what's he going to do for work now, now that he has sold this business of his?" Linus asked curiously.

"Well, for now, I think he's just going to unwind for a little while to get used to living in the suburbs again," Janice replied. "After that, I think he might see if any bars or something are hiring."

"It sounds like everything went very well for you guys," Linus said.

"I knew that when Dad said that we were going to be moving that it wouldn't be forever. He himself said that we would be back here someday, and I promised you before I left that we would be reunited one day," Janice said with a bright smile. "Dad loves it here in Sparkyville and so do the rest of us. This is our home, and it's where my friends are. Especially you Linus. I'm so glad to be with you again."

Linus returned Janice's smile and even found himself going a bit red. Linus really liked and admired her optimism. And at this point, he had come to realize that it was pretty evident that Janice had adopted this part of her personality from her dad.

"I'm glad to be with you again as well, Janice," Linus said fondly. "I hope and pray that we'll remain together forever."

Janice blinked and felt herself going red again. That was actually quite a strong statement that had just come from Linus. Was he even aware of how that might have really sounded?

It seemed as though that he just might have, and he stuttered while uttering out his next words.

"I-I... what I meant was... I hope and pray that w-we don't have to be separated again. That nothing will get in the way of our friendship."

Janice had to work hard to hold in her giggles at how flustered Linus suddenly was now.

Finally, to Linus' relief, the waitress had now arrived with their food. Perfect timing too. The situation by this point was really starting to get awkward!

For the next half an hour or so, Linus and Janice continued to eat and chat, and overall just enjoy each other's company. No more awkward moments crept up between the two of them, which was a relief to both of them.

A little while later, Linus and Janice came out of Nelson's.

"I think I should be getting back to the house now," Janice said. "I know that my parents are going to want me to have my room as fully set up as I can before bedtime tonight."

"Already?" Linus said, giving a small pout.

"Oh, silly Linus. We now have the rest of who knows how much time to hang out together," Janice assured him. "I'm back in Sparkyville, and for good this time."

Linus felt better upon hearing this and he smiled up at her. "Would you like me to walk home with you?"

Janice gently shook her head. "No, that's okay. I think I'll take this trip back alone to help myself get my footing around here again. But thanks anyway."

"Oh, okay," Linus said. "I'll see you again soon."

"Very soon," Janice told him with a warm grin. She then gave Linus another hug before beginning to walk away.

Linus kept his eyes on her as she walked in the direction of her house. A bright smile remained on his face as he looked forward to a future with Janice back in his friend circle. He eagerly looked forward to whatever it was that they might start doing together.

Author's note: And there you have it. The character to come into the story is Janice Emmons. And for some reason that will be explained a little later in the story, Sally is not thrilled that Janice has returned. Those guessing that the returning character was Janice were correct. After watching Janice's special, I fell in love with the character, and instantly began shipping her and Linus. Now, hints and moments between the two of them will be kinda relaxed for the time being due to their age, but it is now confirmed that Linus and Janice will be an eventual secondary pairing and will get together probably sometime during the sequel story.

Stay tuned for the next chapter! I'll be kicking off something involving Lucy that's going to serve as major progression in her story arc. It will surely be an interesting dynamic to write as it's going to feature a Heather and Lucy matchup. How's Lucy going to fare with this new program I'm going to be having both her and Heather be participating in. Can Heather, who will act as a sort of coaching figure to Lucy, help to soften her heart and help her become a better person? Find out soon!