Date:         Fri, 10 Dec 1993 16:40:42 -0330
 
 
 
Rising to Susan's Xmas story challenge, I submit the following incredibly
sentimental, sappy, short work of fantasy..uh fiction...
 
 
 
 
A FOREVER KNIGHT CHRISTMAS EPISODE:  A Christmas Wish!
 
Copyright 1993, by M.J. Farrell (Cousin Mary, Janette's side)
 
 
 
 
It was Christmas Eve, and Natalie's plane back home was scheduled to leave
in three hours.  She and Nick had gone for a walk to admire the Christmas
lights in people's windows.  They were proceeding up the street towards
her apartment, at a leisurely pace, arm in arm, when a heavy snow flurry
started.  Natalie laughed and ran ahead, delighting in the gusts of wind
that turned the world into a Christmas paperweight.  Nick grinned, and only
his vampiric reflexes saved him from being hit square in the chest with the
snowball Natalie let fly.  He laughed and made a comment about hitting the side
of a barn.  The next time he wasn't so lucky, as the following missle hit
him square on.  He growled, "Natalie!" and retaliated, so by the time they
reached her entrance, they were both laden with a fluffy white frosting
that made them look like Christmas cupcakes.
 
She leaned against the building door and tried to catch her breath.
"You look like a snowman!"
 
"You're not much better off!", he said, fluffing most of the snow out of
her thick hair, "and *I* don't have to change and be at the airport in an
hour!"
 
Natalie's eyes widened.  "WOW!  You're right!"  She turned to unlock the
door, but Nick's hand on her arm stopped her.  He smiled impishless and
produced a small, beautifully wrapped box.
 
"What's this?  I thought my brass nameplate was my Christmas gift?"
 
"It is...it was!  This is just something I saw in the store and had to buy
for you!"
 
She opened the box, and took out a beautiful necklace with what looked like
a figure eight at the end of it.
 
"It's the symbol for infinity."  At her quizzical look, he continued
self-consciously, "I guess it means we'll be friends forever, or that you
should never give up on me, or that I'll never stop trying....I dunno!  Do
you like it?"
 
"It's Gorgeous!"  She turned away and moved towards the door, to let the
inside porch light catch the pendant. "Help me put it on?", she said,
turning around so her back was to him.  He did, raising her hair out of
the way and clasping the necklace carefully around the neck of the sweater
she wore.
 
She turned back, meaning to kiss him on the cheek and thank him for her gift.
By accident or subconscious design, Nick turned his head slightly as she moved
forward with the result that she kissed him on the lips.  She pulled back
quickly and they froze, staring at each other, realising that in that second
they were in imminent danger of crossing that line they'd maintained
steadfastly ever since they met.  Natalie looked away and tried to think of
something...anything, to say to break the incredible tension that was now
between them.  A self-deriding, sarcastic comment about her aim and the
previously alluded to barn doors came to mind, but it died on her lips, as
Nick, seeming to make up his mind, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her
full on the mouth.  She froze again, but only for a fraction of a second,
giving in to what turned quickly into an incredibly passionate kiss.  When
their lips finally separated, Natalie buried her head in his left shoulder and
Nick wrapped his arms tightly around her.  Natalie didn't know how long they
stayed like that, silent, standing in front of her apartment building, each
not willing to let the moment end.  Nick released his arms slightly, and
kissed her on the left temple.
 
"Natalie."  He said with such emotion that she thought her heart would
burst right there.  "I didn't..."
 
"Shhh!"  She took off one of her gloves and pressed a finger to his lips.
"No words!"
 
He smiled then, an incredibly sweet, infinitely sad smile, and backed away,
taking the palm of her gloveless hand and kissing it.  "Merry Christmas,
Natalie", he said, and turned and disappeared quickly into the swirling,
heavy snow.
 
"Merry Christmas, Nick," Natalie said, holding the pendant tightly with both
hands and then looking down at it.  Infinity.  Forever.
 
..........................