That night, as I curled up with Henry in a room lit only by the light of the TV and the Christmas tree, I tilted my head and looked up at him.

"What are you thinking?" Henry asked, when he glanced away from Miracle on 34th Street and down at me.

I forced a smile, "Just that I am really lucky. I thought Christmas was ruined when I got stuck here but...it really hasn't been."

"Are you being all mushy?" Henry teased, the hand resting on my bare thigh squeezing slightly.

"Maybe," I sighed, "Don't you think the time has gone quickly though. I didn't realise you could change so much in two weeks. Didn't realise I could change so much in two weeks."

"You haven't changed a bit, you're still the silly Christmas-obsessed person you were when you first got here." Henry brushed my hair back from my face with a fond smile.

I swallowed hard. "I feel changed."

Something about my tone refocused Henry's attention fully on me. "In a good way or a bad way?" He asked softly.

"I don't know. A good way I think, just different." I shrugged. I couldn't really explain the feeling to him.

"I can tell you, you've changed me for the better. In so many more ways than you know." Henry shook his head in disbelief.

I could see it too. The person he had been that first night was so very different to the much more relaxed one he was at my side tonight.

I wanted to say I hadn't wanted to change him, but that would be a lie. I had wanted to change him, to help him rediscover Christmas and enjoy it again.

I wanted to bring back the magic I thought everyone deserved this time of year, but in the process of trying to do that I had changed him. Although, was it a change or an unveiling? A pulling back of the curtain he used to hide his softer side. The man before me was less gruff, smiled more, and treated me like a queen.

It was the sort of slight change I had dreamed of with boys in the past. Emphasis on the boys. The person before me was a man. A man who had been hurt. A man with a past of his own. But a man who I had watched grow before my very eyes and had stolen my heart without even knowing it.

God, did I love him? Ayla was right. I fell hard and fast and I just prayed I wouldn't live to regret it.

"Is there anything I can do?" His eyes searched my face.

"Kiss me?" I asked.

"Gladly." Henry leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.

Ever confident and ever the leader, he guided me to my feet and back towards the hallway. My hand fumbled for the remote to pause the movie, but I dropped it and giggled as my back bumped the Christmas tree.

The baubles clinked together and the tree nearly overbalanced with the impact, but I couldn't bring myself to care as Henry carried on kissing me and we stumbled into the hallway.

My back hit the hanging coats, and my head narrowly missed being impaled on one of the hooks. Something was caught around my arm and I growled in annoyance as I struggled to free myself.

Henry broke our kiss with a laugh. "Careful!"

As I stepped forwards I managed to bring down the majority of the coats in the process and Henry could barely hide his amusement as he helped me untangle myself from them.

"Come on." I said, tugging him towards the stairs and encouraging him to leave the mess to deal with another time.

Henry took a step before stopping and looking down with a frown. "Hey what is this?"

I glanced down and my heart dropped as I saw the letter to his parents on the floor. It must have fallen from my coat pocket in the scuffle. Though it had landed address side down, I was too late reacting as he reached and picked it up.

As soon as he turned it over in his hands and took in the names, his face changed from playful curiosity to a blank look. "What is this?" He repeated, his voice dangerously calm now.

"I-" My words died in my throat as I fought for a way to explain away that empty look in his eyes.

"Well?"

I took a deep breath. He was just surprised by it. Once I explained, he would understand. Wouldn't he?

"I wanted to write to your parents and ask them to consider mending their relationship with you. I just said what you had been through and asked them to reach out." I admitted quietly.

"Do you know them?" He asked in an odd tone.

I frowned before smiling uncertainly, "Not yet, but-"

My teasing voice died in my throat as his expression hardened and I caught the first hint of real anger in his eyes. "Did I ask you to?"

"No, but-" I tried to speak but he cut me off with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Then why the fuck did you think it was any of your business?" Henry snapped, crushing the letter in his other hand as I watched helplessly.

I had overstepped. I should have asked him. Maybe encouraged him to write the letter himself.

Tears filled my eyes as I fought the wave of guilt, "I'm sorry. I just wanted to help you." I tried desperately to hide the tremble in my voice.

"I don't need your help, I don't need anything from you." He stepped back as my hands reached out for him, and the distance between us felt far more than just a few paces.

I had made a mistake, a huge one and I wasn't sure how to make him see I hadn't meant any harm.

"Henry, please-"

"Goodnight Susie." He swept past me, close enough to touch, but the furthest away he had ever been from me emotionally.

Something inside me broke and a sob escaped before I could stop it. If he heard it, it didn't stop him from walking away and there were no words I could say right now to repair this situation. I allowed the tears to roll unchecked down my cheeks as the gravity of my mistake sank in.

My hand remained outstretched towards him, staring up the stairs long after he had disappeared from view.

Slowly, almost mechanically I returned to the living room and retrieved the remote from the floor. It had only been minutes since I had dropped it, but it felt like a lifetime as I switched the TV off.

My movements were jerky as I turned off the Christmas tree lights next and then headed to the bottom of the stairs. I could hardly believe how quickly things had gone so wrong.

Legs heavy and tears still rolling down my cheeks I stumbled up the stairs and stopped outside the spare bedroom door. His bedroom door was closed, and it was very clear that I was not welcome.

Heart heavy I opened my door and slipped into the room, making my way to the bed. I couldn't quite process what had happened in my head, but my heart understood that we had pushed him away now. Perhaps forever.

Curling on my side, still fully clothed, I let loose the first sob. The next one followed quickly and it was like a damn breaking as the pain poured out.

I cried for the pain I had seen in Henry's face again. For the moments lost together this evening and for the future I had half begun to imagine a possibility of. He had been so angry, so cold. All the changes I had seen in him this week, vanishing in an instant.

Some people never changed.

How could this have gone from one of the most magical evenings with a man I was pretty sure I was in love with, to this?