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kazoosandfannypacks · 8 days ago

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"that's christmas to me" cygnet scholar fanfic for @all-fandoms-christmas-festival

summary: when gideon tells hope he got her a very special christmas present this year, she obsesses over what it might be a/n: for those wondering, this fic is standalone from my other cygnet scholar fics, but it does contain references to some of them! also, since you already have to rejigger the timeline just to make cygnet scholar work, i figured i may as well canonize my other favorite rarepair too. i don't go into much detail about it in the fic, but this is set in an au where rumple dies so that gideon can come back as a baby at the end of season 6, and sometime several years later belle remarries and august becomes gideon's stepdad. taglist: @accidental-spice @kanerallels @ouatnextgen @booksteaandtoomuchtv [let me know if you'd like to be added to or removed from the cygnet scholar taglist!] also on ao3!

That's Christmas To Me

"So, what do you think your parents got you this year?"

Gideon looked up from his textbook and raised an eyebrow at the girl across the living room floor.

"Is this a genuine question, or just an attempt to distract yourself from the algebra homework?"

"Can't it be both?" Hope asked.

Gideon rolled his eyes. "You know my parents."

"So I'm guessing more books than you can carry," Hope said, "and another hand-carved ornament for the tree?"

"Bingo," Gideon nodded, "and it's only fair, since mom's getting a book from me, and my stepdad's getting a new roll of typewriter ink."

"That sounds horribly practical," Hope laughed.

"Oh yeah?" Gideon asked, "what did you get your parents?"

"Come on, Gid," Hope said, "it's a week before Christmas. Do you really think I already did my Christmas shopping?"

"It's four days until Christmas," Gideon said, "and unless you plan on shopping on Christmas Eve, that's only three shopping days, counting today."

"I'll think of something," Hope shrugged.

Gideon shook his head and rolled his eyes, then fixed them steadily on her for half a second, watching the glow of the fireplace illuminate her carefree smile. What would've sent him into a tizzy of a panic attack rolled off her shoulders like it was nothing.

"How's studying going?"

Gideon turned to see Hope's mom behind him with a tray in her hands.

"It'd be better if someone didn't keep getting distracted," Gideon said.

"Yeah, Gid, what's wrong with you;" Hope mockingly deflected, "we gotta focus!"

"Oh, sorry, my bad," Gideon joked in return.

"Maybe some cookies and cocoa will help," her mom said. She set down a tray of sugar cookies and two festive mugs of steaming hot chocolate.

"Thanks, Mrs. Swan," Gideon said.

"You're welcome, kid," Emma said, then looked to her daughter, "and, Hope? Stop distracting the poor boy and let him study, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," Hope sighed and mockingly saluted.

As her mom left, Gideon picked up one of the mugs set before them, one with a somewhat ridiculous-looking festive moose on it, which he'd mentioned once or twice was his favorite of her family's odd assortment of Christmas mugs. He took a sip and sighed with contentment.

"What's your mom's secret to such perfect hot chocolate, anyways?"

"Cinnamon," Hope smiled, as she reached for a present-shaped cookie, overflowing with frosting and decked out in red and green sprinkles.

"Fabulous," Gideon said.

They both returned to their work, but only for a few minutes, before Gideon spoke up again.

"Have you even started Christmas shopping yet?"

"Now who's distracting who?" Hope asked. "But, of course not. Why, have you finished already?"

"Yup," he smiled, and after a pause he added, "I even got a special gift for a certain friend of mine this year." He then took another sip of cocoa in hopes that his expression wouldn't give away his surprise.

"Which friend?" Hope asked.

"A certain girl in my algebra class," he smiled behind his cocoa mug.

"Which girl?" Hope's eyes narrowed.

"A longtime friend," he said, "a girl who owns an armload of friendship bracelets, and whose mom makes hot chocolate with cinnamon in it, and who I'll be seeing at dinner on Christmas Eve." He took another sip of cocoa, but he didn't get much chance to enjoy it.

"Charlotte?" Hope asked, her tone a not-so delicate balance of confused and offended, "you got a 'special Christmas gift' for my best friend Charlotte? My aunt Charlotte?"

In an involuntary response to her startling misunderstanding of his hints, he quickly spewed his sip of cocoa out of his mouth, hoping most of it ended up in the mug, and later hoping her dad wouldn't ask where these brown stains on the living room rug came from.

"What, no!" Gideon said, stumbling to regain himself, "Hope, I got a special Christmas gift for you."

"You did?" Hope asked, her mood instantly changed, the usual sparkle returning to her crystal blue eyes, "what did you get me?"

"Now," Gideon said, "would it really be much of a special gift if it wasn't a surprise?"

"I can still act surprised," she said, with a hint of a frown and large, blinking eyes which he almost gave into.

"Sorry," he said, quickly looking back down at his algebra textbook, "you'll have to wait until Christmas Eve."

"This is cruel and unusual punishment," Hope grumbled.

"Yup," Gideon smiled.

"You do know this is gonna make it even harder for me to study now," Hope said.

"Yup."

"And I'll never get this homework done if I'm distracted."

"Yup."

"And then I'm gonna fail algebra."

"Yup."

"And then I'm gonna get held back a year."

"Yup."

"And then we won't be in the same class anymore."

"Yup."

"And then you're gonna have to find a new special girl in next year's algebra class to give a special Christmas gift to."

"Yup."

"Gideon!"

He knew he'd carried that bit a bit too far when Hope called him "Gideon" instead of "Gid."

"Would you like some help with your homework, Hope?"

"I'd like to know what a certain special boy got me for Christmas."

"Can't help with that," Gideon said, hoping she couldn't tell his face was red as a Christmas bow at how she'd just called him "special" without meaning it as an insult.

"Why'd you even go and tell me if it's supposed to be a surprise anyway?" Hope said. "Taking a new form of torture for a test drive?"

"I have my reasons," he said.

The reasons, of course, were that he'd never given her a gift before, and if she didn't know he was giving her a gift, she'd have no time to pick out a gift for him. He didn't necessarily need a gift from her, or expect one, but it occurred to him that she might feel bad if he gave her a gift and she came empty-handed, so it was only fair to give her warning.

And also, a part of him enjoyed watching her obsess over it. It wasn't that he wanted to torment her or stress her out for once in her life, of course, but her attempts to goad the answer out of him were, as predicted, delightful and charming.

"Now," he continued, "would you like some help with the homework?"

"Only if you tell me what you got me."

"Fine," Gideon said, "looks like you'll fail this class and I'll have to give a special gift to some other girl from my math class next year."

"Alright," Hope said, with an exaggerated eye roll, "I guess if it's the only way."

They both slid a little closer to each other so he could see her textbook, and then Hope slid closer still.

As she started explaining how the answer she got was twenty-seven point five percent while the correct answer was two, Gideon glanced behind her at the mountain of gifts under her family's tree. Given that she hadn't begun to shop for her parents, and her brother was still off writing his own adventures, he had a hunch that most of those presents were for her. With all those gifts awaiting her, he suddenly felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. What if his gift didn't live up to her hype? What if it got metaphorically lost in the sea of brightly colored packages that awaited her the morning after? What could one gift, no matter how "special," really mean in comparison to all that?

He shifted his attention away from the assortment of red and green parcels across the room and the little parcel under his own tree back home, putting them all out of his mind so he could instead focus on how to explain to Hope that in no world could x equal four-hundred and ninety if x minus fifteen equaled twenty-five.

🤍💙🤎🩵🖤

"It's horrible, Charlotte," Hope complained as she waited in the lunch line.

"What, that algebra pop quiz?" Charlotte asked, "or Merry Mystery Meat Friday?"

"Neither," Hope said, "Gideon. He's been absolutely tormenting me."

"Oh, right," Charlotte said, as the lunch lady poured some gloop on her plate, "it's absolute torture that you're getting an extra Christmas present this year."

"You don't understand," Hope said, wincing at the smell of the food on her tray, "at first, I kept asking what it was to be dramatic."

"And you're not being dramatic now?"

"No, no, I still am," Hope said, "but now I'm being dramatic with purpose. I can't just let him give me a special gift without giving him anything in return."

"So buy him something?" Charlotte suggested. "You haven't started your Christmas shopping yet anyways."

"Yes, but what do I get him, Char?" Hope asked as they made their way to their usual table. "What if I show up with a gently used toaster and find out he got me a gently used convertible? Or I get him a PS5 and he got me a pencil sharpener?"

"Those are vastly overexaggerated scenarios," Charlotte said, then sighed, "but I get the sentiment. Did you tell him that's why you want to know?"

"That would ruin the surprise."

"Well, have you tried asking around?" "Syd doesn't even know this one," Hope said, "and if she hasn't heard about it, no one has."

Before they could continue the conversation, Gideon took a seat next to Hope.

"So glad to see you're both present, right now," he said, "it sure is special to share such a moment with you guys."

Hope tried to ignore him in an attempt to hide her frustration.

Gideon looked at the girls' lunch trays and smiled.

"What's that?" Gideon asked, "hamburger surprise? Mystery meat?" He pulled a paper bag out of his backpack and continued, "it sure is a gift to have a mom who packs you your own special lunch every day. It's almost like a Christmas present you don't have to wait for."

"You're a real jerk sometimes," Hope said, "you know that, right?"

"It's an inherited trait, I'm told." Gideon said, pulling a sandwich out of his bag. 'Some might call it a gift."

"And if you don't stop it soon," Hope said, "there'll be a special surprise in it for you," and she scooped up a big spoonful of the gloop in front of her and brought it closer to Gideon, "mystery meat on rye, perhaps?"

"While putting the school's excuse for 'food' on my sandwich is a truly terrifying threat," Gideon said, holding his sandwich away at arms' length until Hope put down her spoon, "that's not much of a special surprise if you tell me about it first."

"Speaking of 'not much of a special surprise because you tell me about it first,'" Hope changed tactics, leaning toward him with a doe-eyed expression she'd kept on reserve for just such an occasion, "it sure would be nice if a certain boy told me what he got a certain girl for Christmas."

"I already told you," Gideon said, "I got my mom a book."

Her doe eyes were wasted on Gideon, who smugly took a bite of his sandwich.

"I give up," Hope said.

"Good," Gideon said, "because I'm not telling."

"Fine," Hope said, then mumbled under her breath, "hope you like your toaster."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Anyways," Gideon said, "did you guys want to meet up to work on homework later?"

"I'm busy," Charlotte said, which didn't come as a surprise. She'd been too busy to do homework with them a lot recently.

"I've got Christmas shopping to do this afternoon," Hope said.

"Oh, starting early, are we?" Gideon asked.

"I'll have to start early if I've got an extra gift to get this year," Hope said.

"An extra gift for whom?"

"No one special," she quickly recovered.

"Well," he said, "maybe we could do homework afterwards?"

"Sure, but not at my house." Hope said. "Mom and dad are working, so I can't have friends over."

This was true, but it was also an excuse. If they studied at his house, she might have the chance to do a little snooping and figure out what this mystery gift was.

"I told my mom I'd help her at the library this afternoon," Gideon said, "maybe we could study there?"

Dang it.

"Sounds great," Hope lied.

🤍💙🤎🩵🖤

"You know the real reason we met at the library?" Gideon asked as they sat down in a side room of the library.

"Because you know if we're at your house I'll try to sneak a peek at my Christmas present?"

"You know, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind," Gideon smiled, "but I also thought the library would help minimize distractions."

"Oh, sure," Hope said.

His plan was secretly foiled, though, by Hope's own mind. She brought plenty of distractions with her. Not only did she have the usual to distract herself with, she had plenty of other things to think about, like "what could he have gotten me?" and "I hope what I got him is good enough," and eventually, "why did he even get me a special gift this year anyways?" and on occasion before she could stop herself, "Gideon looks especially nice today."

Sure, he didn't look much different than normal. He wore his trademark style of a flannel over a t-shirt with a corny slogan (though in place of a science pun, today's read "MERRY CHRISTMOOSE" over an image of the stupidest moose Hope had ever seen.) Gideon's deep golden hair was parted the same way it always was. His smile was the same and his laugh was the same and his eyes bore the same combination of intelligence and innocence that always made Hope catch her breath when they fixed themselves too hard on her. But today, she noticed it all at once, and it only added to her usual level of distraction.

They'd hardly been working for half an hour when another distraction came along, this time in the form of Gideon's mother.

"How's it going in here?" Belle asked, looking over her son's shoulder at the senseless arrangement of letters and numbers and symbols.

"About as good as always," Hope said.

"Almost, anyways," Gideon said.

"Almost?" Belle asked. "Any particular reason why that is?"

"You know," Gideon said, "now that you mention it, when we study at Hope's house, her mom always has cookies for us."

"Does she now?"

"Yes ma'am," Hope said, catching Gideon's drift and quick to help him out, "she says cookies are a sort of brain food. If they weren't, dad wouldn't let us keep them around the house."

"I see," Belle said, "well, I'm not about to spoil your supper, but how about I bring you guys some hot cocoa instead?"

"Close enough," Gideon shrugged.

"I'll be right back," his mom ruffled his hair.

As a dangerous Christmas miracle, Hope got an idea.

"Can I help you, Mrs. Booth?" Hope asked.

"I'd like that very much," Belle said.

"I can help too," Gideon said, starting to get up himself.

"We got it, don't worry," Hope quickly got up. She placed a hand on his arm and said, "we'll be right back."

"Okay," Gideon said, with that calculating look on his face he often got when he was trying to get to the bottom of one of Hope's brilliant ideas.

But as it stood, he hadn't caught onto this one, because he made no attempt to thwart her time with his mom.

"I'm glad to see you two getting along so well," Belle said, as she and Hope found themselves waiting for the library's Keurig to heat up.

"Yeah?" Hope said, already pleased at how quickly she could shift this conversation to suit her needs. "Does he talk about me much?"

"A bit," Belle smiled.

"What kind of stuff does he say?"

"Well," Belle said, "just a few things here and there. A few things I can't say."

"Does one of them have to do with a special surprise Christmas present?"

"Maybe," Belle said, with a wink and a lower tone of secrecy as she loaded a hot chocolate K-cup into the coffee machine.

"What is it?" Hope whispered.

"I can't say," Belle responded.

"Well, you're no help." Hope grumbled.

"Is there," Belle paused, "a special reason you can't just wait until Sunday night to find out?"

Hope nodded.

"Well, what is it?" Belle asked, as she changed out the used hot chocolate pod for a new one.

"Can you keep a secret?"

Belle turned away from exchanging the styrofoam cups in her hands to give her a knowing glance, one she'd clearly been the one to pass down to her son.

"I got him a Christmas present too," Hope whispered, "and I wanna make sure it's not a toaster or a playstation."

"A toaster?"

"It's a metaphor." She said. "Long story. I just don't want to give him something too big, or too small, or too stupid."

"I see," Belle nodded, "Well, I'm not about to breach my son's privacy, but I won't breach yours either. If you tell me what you got him, I'll tell you if yours is too much or too little."

"You'd really do that for me?" Hope asked.

"Of course." Belle said, taking both cups of cocoa in her hands.

Hope motioned for Belle to come closer, then whispered in her ear.

Belle smiled.

"Hope," Belle said, "I don't think that gift will be too big or too small at all. It sounds perfect."

"Really?" Hope asked, feeling a massive weight of anxiety float away in a mere moment.

"Yup. Now, you take these," she handed Hope both cups, "and, wait just a second."

Belle took a bottle of syrup from the counter, clearly meant for the coffee, but apparently multi-purpose.

"French vanilla?" Hope asked.

"Your mother has her way of dressing up hot cocoa," Belle said, pouring a squirt of syrup into each cup, "and I have mine."

"I'll have to remember that," Hope nodded, "And, thanks. Thanks for, well, everything."

"Better get back to your studies," Belle winked.

Hope took a sip of her cup of cocoa on the way back to their table. It was perfect.

🤍💙🤎🩵🖤

"So, Gideon," Hope said, as they sat down together for their Christmas Eve dinner, "are you gonna tell me what you got me for Christmas yet?"

"You'll find out soon enough," he smiled, "and, uh, did you end up getting that 'extra gift for no one special' yet?"

"Maybe," Hope winked.

"Oh, how adorable," Charlotte said, taking a seat in between Hope and CJ.

Gideon's mom soon filled the seat next to him, followed by his stepdad, then Hope's parents, then Charlotte and CJ's, and finally the Mayor and her sister, with her daughter, Robin, next to CJ.

Gideon tried his best to enjoy the ham and scalloped potatoes set before him, though his mind was on what would happen afterwards, the real meat and potatoes of the evening for him: when those gathered would start exchanging gifts, followed by singing carols, and the space in between those traditions when he'd find an excuse pull Hope aside and give her her gift. Sure, he could just give it to her now, or when everyone else gave gifts, but this one was different, special. It was a gift from him to her, simple as that, and it didn't need anyone else's attention.

After the meal, as the family gathered around the tree to open presents, Gideon pantomimed joy as he thanked Mrs. Nolan for the book she gave him that he already had two copies of, and he was polite and respectful and didn't lie too much as he told the Mills sisters how much he liked the sweatervest they'd given him.

Of course, there were genuine joys too, as there often are at Christmas. The younger generation oohed and awed as they each unwrapped a set of dice sent from Hope's brother in the Enchanted Forest. The house filled with laughter as the mayor gave Hope's grandma the annual gag gift of a perfect red apple. There was a type of mischievous joy passed between both parties as Hope unwrapped a present and stuck the bow that it'd been adorned with squarely on Gideon's forehead.

And still, Gideon's focus was on the one gift that still had yet to be given. After all the packages beneath the tree had been unwrapped, Gideon excused himself, and quietly made his way to the front room of the house, where his jacket hung on a hook by the door.

"Trying to make an escape before you can give me the elusive special Christmas present?"

He turned and saw Hope standing in the doorway behind him, the lights of the merry festivities behind them reflecting off the sparkles on her red velvet dress.

"Not at all," he said, as he slipped his jacket on and put his hands into the perfectly oversized pockets. "I just had to come grab a special gift for a special friend of mine."

"Oh?" Hope asked, "she must be something pretty special if you had to leave all that excitement just to give her a gift."

"Excitement?" Gideon asked. "Well then, I guess I better head back in now then. I'd hate to miss whatever festivities are happening without us."

Hope took a step in front of him, blocking his path. "We can watch my dad and grandpa sing a rousing duet of All I Want For Christmas is You anytime."

"Can we really, though?" Gideon asked, sidestepping past her. She mirrored his step.

"Charlotte's recording it," Hope said, "now, what'd you get me?"

He sighed. As much as he loved the look on her face as she awaited his gift, he couldn't keep this up for too much longer, not without giving such a small gift too much hype and a huge letdown.

"Fine," he said, pulling a wrapped square box, slightly larger than the palm of his hand, out of his pocket.

"Oooh!" Hope said. She reached for it, but he held it up in the air above their heads.

"What's the magic word?" He asked.

"Um," Hope said, jumping up to try and reach it, "if you don't give it to me now I'll kick you?"

Her idle threats didn't scare him anymore.

"How about please?"

Hope rolled her eyes, but they stopped halfway, the spark in her eyes frozen as they refracted onto his.

"Please?" she asked, softly, and she almost seemed genuine rather than annoyed. He nodded and handed the gift to her without a word or a breath left in his mouth, acted upon by something almost beside himself, outside of himself, larger than himself.

She tore the paper off the package with a careful excitement, and opened the box inside.

"A charm bracelet," she whispered.

"I hope you like it." He said, pointing to each charm on the bracelet in the box. "I picked out the charms myself. There's an angel for the snow angels we used to make in the backyard, and a music note for the caroling karaoke every year."

"Especially the time we turned Silent Night into, well, the opposite of that," Hope added.

"Exactly." Gideon smiled, "and the reindeer's for that time we tried to wait up to catch Santa Claus."

"Hey, that snare trap worked perfectly!" Hope defended.

"A little too perfectly."

"Yeah," Hope laughed, "he was so mad at us."

"And then we got coal in our stockings for the next three years," Gideon said, with a chuckle.

Hope looked back down at the bracelet in her hand.

"Is the candle for the time you burned the gingerbread cookies?" Hope asked.

"Actually, the fireplace is," Gideon said, "The candle's for the time you set your hair on fire."

"I'd almost forgotten that one," Hope said. "And what's the present for?"

"For this," Gideon said, taking the box from her hand, "the first present I ever gave you that I bought instead of my parents."

"I love it" Hope shook her head with an amazed disbelief. "Can you help me put it on?"

"Sure," he said. He took the bracelet out of the box, and handed the box back to her. He then clasped the bracelet around her wrist.

"How did you even come up with all these?" Hope asked.

"Those are all my favorite Christmas memories, Hope. When I think of a Merry Christmas," and his hand slid from her wrist to her hand, and his tone lowered, and he continued, "I think of you."

He watched her expression closely for any sign of discomfort, but instead saw a smile, and the red of her cheeks brought out by the red of her dress.

"I have something for you too," Hope said, letting go of his hand so she could dig through her purse.

"For me?" Gideon asked.

"Of course," Hope said, "you didn't think I'd show up empty handed, did you?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," he said.

"Well, it was a silly thought," Hope said. "Here."

She pulled a wrapped gift out of her bag that was only a little bigger than the box he'd given her. He opened it to reveal a small leather journal.

"It's very nice," he said, unsure if his gift seemed too much in comparison.

"Open it up, stupid," she said with a smile.

He opened the notebook to the first page, which had a handwritten note.

"Hey, Gid!

I didn't know what to get you for Christmas, but I saw this notebook and thought it was missing something. Don't worry, I fixed it for ya.

-HSJ"

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"Turn the page," she said.

He turned the page to see a picture of them at Christmas when they were kids, pouring frosting that was meant for a gingerbread house directly into their mouths. Next to it was the recipe for gingerbread, with the temperature to set the oven to circled with red glitter ink multiple times.

He turned to the next page: a drawing of a massive snow fort with four tiny stick figures on top. "EXPECTATION:" some writing above it said, and the facing page said "REALITY:" and featured a photo of them as kids, cramming next to Charlotte and CJ inside a circular wall of snow not even six inches tall.

A few pages further, he found a drawing of his favorite mug with the moose on it, and two recipes for hot chocolate: Mrs. Swan style and Mrs. Booth style.

"What's all this about anyways?" Gideon asked.

"You're always filling your brain with all that useless school junk," Hope said, "algebra, Shakespeare, Washington, it's exhausting. I don't wanna see that pretty little head of yours get so full of numbers and names and dates that you forget what really matters."

"Like what?" Gideon asked, with a smile.

"Stupid intangibles like family and friendship and love and all that crap," Hope said, "I know, it's no charm bracelet, but…."

"It's perfect," Gideon said.

"Really?" Hope asked.

"Really." Gideon said. "Of all the things I want to remember, you're the most important one."

"Thanks," Hope said, that red flush creeping again along her cheek, "now, we'd better get back to the rest of the party before our dads start wondering what's taking us so long."

"Yeah," Gideon said.

But, apparently, they were too late.

"Well, well," Gideon and Hope both froze as they heard his stepdad's voice across the room.

He turned to see August smiling and calling to the other guests.

"Belle, Killian, Emma," August called, "it looks like someone's under the mistletoe."

"Huh, wonder who that could be," Gideon thought, before he noticed the guilty look on Hope's face. She looked up at the ceiling, and his eyes followed her gaze.

Hanging above them like Damacles' sword was a festive assemblage of green leaves and holly berries, tied together with a bow, a scarlet letter that spelled trouble.

"I'm sorry," Gideon said, "honest, I didn't realize it was there."

"I know you didn't," Hope said, with an eye roll.

Despite how fast his heart was suddenly beating, time seemed to hold still. He noticed several things very clearly— the looks on the faces of the parents gathered around them, ranging from the smile of his mom to the deathly glare of her dad. He noticed the way her eyes reflected the fairy lights that surrounded them, and the hint of a smile under her reddening cheeks. He noticed how sweaty his palms suddenly were, and he regretted wearing such a warm sweater, and his jacket as well now, and it dawned on him all at once that he'd never kissed a girl before, and that the number of people watching them had gone from zero to one to four to eleven in seconds, and that most of them probably expected him to kiss her, and that at least one of them would probably be very upset at him if he did.

He also knew that, as far as he knew, Hope had probably never kissed anyone, either, and that if she wanted him to be her first kiss, that was great— but on her own terms. And if she didn't, well, she couldn't get mad at him for this.

He bent down ever so slightly, leaned closer to her, then turned his head and planted his lips on her cheek, the cheek that wasn't as visible to their uninvited audience, but that, although his eyes were closed, he could tell had reddened by how it warmed at the touch of his kiss.

He then pulled away from her, and they stood apart, merely looking at each other with a smile, and a nod to indicate there was no more left that needed to be done. This was met with the rest of the gathering shuffling back to their places, a few with a sigh, though Captain Jones with a smile that made Gideon fear much less for his life.

"Hey, Gid," Hope said, as they walked back to the party, trailing along behind the rest of the group.

"Yeah?"

She slid her hand into his, and he looked down at her.

"Think you can get me a mistletoe charm for the bracelet?"

"I think so," Gideon said.

"Thanks," Hope smiled, and stepped up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek, this one spurred on not by mistletoe or tradition or expectation of others, but simply by merit of the spirit of Christmas that hung in the air, and of the love carried between two friends who were well on their way to becoming so much more.

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