"I love you," Olli whispered in Finnish as he stroked a still sleeping Hannah's hair.

"Speak English..." Hannah muttered as she woke up. She rolled over to look up at him, resting her head on his chest. "It's hot, but I have no idea what you're saying."

"Then maybe I'll have to teach you Finnish," Olli smiled back down at her.

"Yeah, I'll need some coffee first," Hannah slid out of bed and into the shower, and Olli took that as his hint to make her some coffee.

He had just finished making breakfast when Hannah emerged from her bedroom in a shirt that was probably meant for children, and some tight black pants.

"Hey Olli, what did your parents mean by 'compulsory military service' whatever? That's optional, right?" She asked as she sat down in front of a mug of coffee at the table.

"No, 'compulsory' usually means it's required, though English isn't my first language," Olli teased as he sat down across from her.

Hannah rolled her eyes and smiled. "But does that mean you have to join the military?"

"Yeah, everyone does it," Olli replied casually.

"But what if you had to fight? Like if Finland went to war?" Hannah was wrought with fear and worry, little crinkles forming at the outer corners of her eyes, and Olli thought it was adorable.

He laughed, "nobody wants to go to war with Finland, don't worry."

"When's the last time they even fought a war?" Hannah asked, sounding a little doubtful.

"WWII."

"Finland was in WWII?" Hannah raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Not exactly. Before Russia got involved in the fighting in Europe, they decided to invade Finland in what became known as 'the Winter War."

"What happened?"

Olli gave a smug chuckle, "Russia had their asses handed to them."

Hannah couldn't help but laugh too, feeling slightly proud for little Finland standing up to the massive Soviet war machine. But then she pictured Olli in a military uniform, carrying a gun, and her smile dissolved into a dissatisfied frown.

"What would you even do? Since you won't be fighting."

"Drills and stuff, patrolling the border, I don't know. Nothing scary, don't worry about it," Olli replied casually, but Hannah was still tense.

"And when are you going to do this? Don't you have to do an entire year?"

Olli shrugged, "They're pretty lenient about it; I can do it a couple months at a time over a few years."

"So every summer for the next four years, you're going to be in the Finnish military?"

"Maybe, but it wouldn't the whole summer, I just have to get it done by the time I'm thirty, and I've got a few years until then," Olli added with a smirk.

"Thanks, I'm well aware of how old you are," Hannah replied sarcastically, and then changed the subject. She didn't want to talk about summer, or their future plans, unsure of what might happen. She'd tried to ignore it, but she had pictured herself going to Finland with him, or taking him back to Oregon to spend the summer at her family's lake house. And although things looked like they were getting serious, who knows where they'd be in June.

Hannah spent her day editing the Penguins holiday video, recalling the painful memories of trying to get the guys to say their lines right (and sound believable). She tried to find the best take of each segment, and regretted volunteering to help direct this back in November. But as tedious as it was, she needed a good distraction. She needed to find a Christmas present for Olli, and to figure out what exactly they were doing for Christmas.

She would be traveling with the team again for their game before Christmas against the Senators on the 23rd and the next three games after Christmas. Since Olli wasn't going home for the holiday, and Hannah didn't feel like flying back to Oregon to see her family for one day (since she'd just seen them), she decided to surprise Olli with a vacation.

After their devastating loss against the Senators, Olli and Hannah definitely needed a break from hockey.

"Are you sure you can't tell me where we're going?" Olli asked as they boarded the plane in Ottawa.

"Don't worry; I've packed everything you'll need. Besides, we'll only be there for two days, and then you have to get back to Pittsburgh for practice," Hannah explained as she sat down next to him on the plane. "You just go to sleep and relax; I'll wake you up when we get there."

Olli fell asleep instantly, missing the pilot's announcement that they would be landing in Charleston, South Carolina, in a few hours. And soon, Hannah was asleep too. Once they landed, they groggily found their baggage and wandered outside into the warm, humid air to find a taxi. Olli was still not 100% sure where he was, but it was warm and there wasn't snow, so he was happy.

He woke up the next morning, Christmas Eve, to the sound of Hannah making breakfast, or at least trying to. He rescued the pancake she was in the process of scorching and took over making the rest of them for her. She opened the door to the small balcony in the living room and looked down at the street below.

"So, I've guessed we're in the South somewhere, since it's not cold," Olli said as he brought breakfast over to her. They sat at the small table and looked down at the people walking below on the historic street.

"Charleston South Carolina," Hannah explained.

"And this is..." Olli asked, gesturing toward the house.

"My parents'. They come down here in the winter sometimes, but lately they've been spending their winters in California, near Beth," Hannah sounded a little resentful as she explained this, although she had nothing against the cute little house in Charleston, or her parents for that matter. She just didn't like people knowing she came from money, or that her parents had money. They weren't exorbitantly rich or anything like that, but her dad was an investor and had accrued a decent amount of money over the past few decades. And of course, Hannah was the liberal minded type college student who hated upper class people who made money by having money.

She really couldn't complain, though, since they'd paid for her college tuition, and given her a nice place to live in Pittsburgh.

After breakfast the two set out to explore Charleston. They took a horse-drawn carriage tour of the city and about all the cool historical places. Then they spent the afternoon walking on the beach, looking for cool seashells, before getting dinner.

Christmas day was pretty relaxing for Olli and Hannah. They slept in and had brunch before taking another walk on the beach. It was too cold to swim, but they took off their shoes and let the water tickle their feet. Hand in hand they stared out over the ocean.

"What are you thinking about?" Hannah asked after a minute.

"I'm thinking that somewhere over there," Olli pointed in a general north-east direction, "my parents are having Christmas dinner."

"It must be weird for you, being without them," Hannah leaned on his arm and held his hand tighter.

"It's not my first major holiday without them, and I get to spend it with you instead, so I guess it's okay," Olli smirked and looked down at her. "I was actually thinking that maybe we should start dinner, since we went grocery shopping yesterday, and I want to make you something special."

"Oh really? Like what?" Hannah perked up at the mention of food.

"It's a surprise, but I should start it now if you want to eat at a reasonable hour," Olli said and they started to walk back home.

Hannah curled up with a book on the couch while Olli busied himself in the kitchen for a few hours. When he finally finished making dinner at 7:30 he called Hannah in. He had set the table and even had candles out!

"This is beautiful Olli, and what is that?" Hannah pointed to the delicious smelling food in the bowl in front of her.

"Mushroom soup. My billet family used to make it, and it's one of my favorites now," Olli smiled at her from across the table as she started eating, and waited for her approval.

"It's fantastic! And why do you know how to cook so well? That's not fair," Hannah laughed, mostly at her incompetence at cooking.

"My mom taught me a little, and I learned a lot from my billet family," Olli shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I grew up around it."

"So, is there dessert to go with this?" Hannah asked after she finished eating.

"Actually, there is. I made some Finnish Christmas cookies, I hope you like them," Olli handed her a plate of cookies, a kind Hannah hadn't seen before, so she apprehensively tried one.

"Wow. You can bake and cook. And play hockey, of course," Hannah added while reaching for another cookie.

"Well, I can't wrap Christmas presents, so I had the lady at the store do it," he said as he handed her a small box.

"What is it?" Hannah grabbed the box and carefully tore the paper open. Inside the box was a unique, yet pretty, pair of earrings. They were black with a light green gem stone encased in black strands of wire that fanned out into intricate designs. "These are so beautiful." Hannah held them up to look at them closely before trying them on. She walked over to the hall mirror and inspected them carefully before smiling at Olli. She walked back to the table and left a box on the table next to him before sitting down.

"I have something for you too," she said, sounding a little embarrassed, and she curled up on the chair, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her head on them. Olli tore the paper off the box and opened it with a puzzled expression. He slowly took something out of the box before looking back at Hannah.

"It's my manuscript," she said quietly. "For the movie I made in college."

Olli looked back at it and flipped through a few pages, still not sure what to think of it. "I saw the poster in your bedroom for 'Painted Flowers.' What is it about?"

Hannah smiled. "You're going to have to read it if you really want to know. But not around me, that would be embarrassing."

Olli closed it and looked back up at her. "Do I ever get to see the movie?"

Hannah laughed, "Yeah, maybe later. I hope you like it; I wasn't sure what to get you."

"I don't know if I like it or not, I haven't read it. But if you wrote it, I'm sure I'll love it," Olli smiled back at her, and Hannah climbed off her chair.

"Why don't we watch a movie or something? What's your favorite Christmas movie?" She asked him as she pulled him over to the couch.

"I don't know if I have a favorite," Olli replied, trying to think of one.

"I love Charlie Brown's Christmas; it's one of the things I look forward to watching each year," Hannah smiled and sat next to him.

"I don't think I've seen it," Olli said.

"What?!?! We have to watch it now," Hannah replied excitedly and turned on the tv to find it. They curled up together and watched Christmas movies all night with hot chocolate until they eventually fell asleep. While Olli had never spent a Christmas without snow, he didn't mind this one at all, in fact, it was one of the best Christmas's yet.

A/N: Want to keep reading? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z7DW6JS?*Version*=1&*entries*=0