A/N In honor of the holidays, I put together this little one-shot. Happy Holidays! Love, Noel

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Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since we've no place to go, let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

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“Look at the weather outside,” Maria commented, kneeling at the window to the outside. It was snowing outside, hard. Any little kid would be grinning to themselves at the weather. The blizzard would close the roads off, which meant that the next morning, a Monday, all the little kids would at least get a delayed start at school, not to mention the likelihood of the schools just cancelling classes altogether.

“Definitely pretty,” said Chris sarcastically, causing Maria to laugh. “Look at how hard it’s pounding down,” he added as he sat down next to Maria. He wrapped his arm around her as they looked out the window.

“At least we’re inside, warm and cozy,” Maria mused with a small smile, placing her head on his shoulder. At that moment, her phone buzzed. She pulled it out and checked it. “Plus, my night class got cancelled, because of the weather,” she told him, smiling.

“So, neither of us has anything to do,” Chris smiled a bit, hearing that.

“Yup,” Maria smiled. “So we can just stay in here all we want.”

Chris smiled. “Here, let’s go watch a movie. I have some popcorn if you want it,” he offered, standing up. He offered his hand to help her up.

“The Polar Express?” Maria asked, taking his hand and standing up. “It’s my favorite,” she pointed out. “Plus I haven’t seen it all season, and Christmas is in two days!”

“Fine,” Chris said with a smile. “As long as you go and put a log on the fire. The heater went out, so we have to go back to using firewood,” he explained.

“Alright,” Maria said, and went to do just that, as Chris went to put in the movie for her. As the movie went through the previews, Chris went to the kitchen and put in some popcorn.

After about five minutes, Chris came back with the popcorn in a huge bowl for them to share. Maria had turned the lights down in order to view the movie easier, and was sitting on Chris’s couch, waiting for him. “Ready?” he asked her, sitting down on the couch next to her and offering the popcorn bowl to her.

“I’ve been waiting,” Maria said, taking a handful of popcorn and pressing play on the movie. She snuggled into his side and watched the movie happily, smiling.

Chris looked down at Maria and smiled a bit, seeing her so happy. He was glad that they could spend the holidays together. A little while in, just before the Hot Chocolate song, he got up and said to Maria, “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay. Hurry though. My favorite part’s coming up,” she reminded him, smiling. Her favorite part of the whole movie was that song.

“I’ll hurry,” Chris assured her, and went to the kitchen again. He warmed some water and grabbed out the hot cocoa mix. He prepared two mugs of cocoa, one for each of them, adding just the right amount of marshmallows that Maria loved in hers. Maria always liked having just six mini marshmallows in hers, while Chris always loaded his cup up so you could hardly see the cocoa they were floating on. He even put them in their favorite mugs: hers a Wonderwoman mug (which really belonged to Chris’s mother, but was never used since she didn’t really find the joke all that funny) and his being an old Grateful Dead mug, with the teddy bears in a spiral along the side.

He carried their cups of cocoa out just as the conductor began to sing. “Hot! Hot!” he sang along, and Maria’s head spun around to face him. “Ooh, I got it,” he added, changing the lyric only slightly to make it realistic, as well as to make her smile.

“You, Chris, are the best,” Maria said, laughing a bit as Chris sat down next to her. As Chris passed her the cocoa, she grinned. “And six mini marshmallows!”

“So you don’t choke-oh,” Chris joked with her, quoting an old episode of Hannah Montana, which Maria had loved when she was younger.

Maria smiled brightly at him, laughing. “You’re the best boyfriend ever,” she said, kissing his cheek. “Thank you,” she added, and sipped her cocoa.

“Anything for you,” Chris said with a smile, and sipped his cocoa as the movie continued. He could hear Maria humming the music as it continued. The Hot Chocolate song came to an end, but the movie still was going. They sat together, sipping their hot cocoa and eating popcorn as they watched, enjoying each other’s company.

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The clock struck midnight. They had gone through three movies now: The Polar Express, Miracle on 34th Street, and The Santa Clause, and had gone through three cups of hot cocoa and five bowls of popcorn. The fire that Maria had stocked up at the beginning of The Polar Express had been re-stocked throughout the movies, but the fire was beginning to die. The wood was burning low, and it was late. It was time for them both to part ways, no matter how much they didn’t want to.

“It’s midnight,” Maria sighed. “Mom probably wants me home soon,” she added.

“Do you really have to go?” Chris asked her, but knew that she did. He knew Maria’s mom. She was strict on curfew. Maria was going to be late if she didn’t leave soon.

“Yeah, I have to go,” Maria sighed, getting up and placing the mug on the little coffee table in front of her. She started off towards the door to get her winter things on.

Chris sighed, getting up and setting his mug and the popcorn bowl on the coffee table as well. He followed her over to the door. “I wish you didn’t have to go,” he said with a sigh.

“I have to, though,” Maria said, slipping her jacket on over her snow-white sweater. “I’m sorry, Chris,” she added, and Chris could tell just by her eyes that she meant it.

“It’s okay,” Chris assured her. “So, see you tomorrow?” he said softly.

“Maybe,” Maria said, pulling her hat on over her head.

“What do you mean, maybe? What’s going on tomorrow?” Chris asked her.

“I’m volunteering with my family to make cookies for the people at the homeless shelter. I might not be able to do much,” Maria admitted.

“Well, that’s a good reason,” Chris said, smiling a bit. “I’m proud of you,” he said, kissing her forehead.

“Thanks,” Maria said, smiling a bit when his lips met her forehead. “So, I’ll hopefully see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, tomorrow,” Chris said. “Maybe I can help you make those cookies tomorrow?” he asked.

“That’d be great,” Maria smiled a bit. “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said.

“Yeah,” Chris said, pulling her into his arms. “Night,” he said, giving her a gentle kiss as his arms wrapped around her small waist. Maria smiled, kissing him back and placing her hands on his shoulders. Their lips moved in sync as they stayed there. As the cold snow beat down on the ground outside, Maria and Chris felt warm as they kissed and stayed in each other’s arms.

Finally, Maria broke away. “Bye,” she said.

“Bye, darling. I love you,” Chris said, the last part a bit softer.

Maria’s eyes widened, hearing Chris. He had never said that he loved her yet. She hadn’t told him that she realized she loved him either. She smiled a bit. “I love you too,” she said, and kissed his cheek. “Bye,” she said, and hurried out the door.

Chris shut the door, and leaned against it, smiling. Maria loved him. This definitely was the best holiday ever. He smiled, and went to go clean up, nothing able to bring him down.

As Maria walked down the street towards her house, she couldn’t stop smiling, no matter how much she hated going out into this horrible weather. The way that Chris had held her though, so close to him as they kissed, it made her feel warm inside. The way he held her made her feel like she would be warm all the way home. Considering the fact that she lived only six houses down or so, it wasn’t that hard to feel warm as she walked that quickly.

Not only that, Chris had told her that he loved her. Knowing that, she didn’t care if she got caught at home in the storm when she got inside. As long as she knew that Chris loved her, she’d let it snow any day.