Title: It Must Have Been the Mistletoe
Part: 03/03
Author: Calic0cat
Archives: At calic0cat.freeservers.com (my site) and at Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone with archive permission for my other fics can help themselves; anyone else, please ask.

Notes: See Part 1 for warnings, pairings, etc.

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Hanging up his call, Trowa turned to face Quatre. "Well, I may not have to worry about deserting the circus. That was Cathy. The by-law passed council last night and the animals will no longer be allowed within city limits as of the first of the year. So the circus no longer has a home base. They can't last long travelling *all* the time. There has to be somewhere safe and stable to raise children, allow injured performers to heal, raise and train young animals, perfect new acts, and so on. Even during the worst of the war, they always had a 'home' to go back to. Now they won't."

"Not necessarily," Quatre said slowly, his thoughts quickly darting through myriad possibilities. "It will take a little research to find out which estates would be possibilities, but surely there's at least *one* Winner property that could host them and *also* be in a suitable location to act as *my* home base for WEI business... That way, you wouldn't *have* to completely give up working with the circus and being near Cathy in order to stay with me..."

Grabbing the blond by the shoulders, Trowa looked him straight in the eyes and demanded, "Quatre, are you *serious*? I never... I mean... God, Quat, that would be *perfect*!"

"Of course I'm serious," Quatre responded, tilting his head slightly to one side and giving Trowa an angelic smile. "As long as you promise not to make me eat Cathy's cooking..."

Snickering, Trowa promised solemnly, "Never."


************


Heero realized that someone was watching him just as that someone started to back out of his bedroom. "Come on in, Duo," he urged without turning around.

"I didn't want to bother you," Duo answered. "You're busy, I can come back later."

Turning away from his laptop screen, Heero gave Duo an exasperated look. "Duo, get *in* here. You are *not* bothering me and there's nothing new here anyway."

"Still no luck, huh..."

"No. I'm beginning to think there never *will* be. I don't have any memories before Odin, and if I can't track him back any farther than what I have so far, I won't get much further."

"Maybe the lead that J mentioned will pan out," Duo offered, moving to stand beside Heero's chair.

"I'm not holding my breath."

"Why does it matter so much to you anyway?"

Shaking his head slightly, Heero admitted, "I don't know. Maybe I just want to know that there isn't someone else out there looking for *me* because Odin took off with me. I'm not even sure whether I'd rather find out that he really was my father or that his 'contract' story was the truth. In fact, I don't know whether I even care *what* the truth is. I guess it's just the whole 'not knowing' thing."

Duo made a noncommittal noise in response, leading Heero to ask, "Haven't you ever wondered? Ever wanted to trace your own past?"

"No," Duo answered, shaking his head quite definitely. "Considering that the options basically boil down to orphaned and no extended family to look for me, lost and no one looked for me, or abandoned, I'd rather live *without* knowing for sure which of those oh-so-lovely options it is. Small children do not end up on the street 'by accident', Heero. My own private little fantasy of being the only child of a runaway marriage between two deeply in love - and disowned for it by their families - people who were tragically killed while visiting L2, leaving their beloved child alone on the streets is preferable to what I *might* find out if I went looking. I'll live with G and Howie as paternal/avuncular figures; Hilde, 'Lena, Dot, and Cathy as sisters; and Q, Tro, and 'Fei as brothers."

"And just where do *I* fall in your little adopted family?" Heero asked curiously.

Duo dropped his gaze, retreating into that subdued version of himself that Heero was learning to dread. He mumbled something too quietly for Heero to understand what he said.

"I didn't quite hear that, Duo," Heero said, "but I'm sincerely hoping it *wasn't* 'brother' because then I'd feel awfully odd about doing *this*." With that, he surged to his feet and pulled Duo into his arms. Wrapping one arm behind his back, Heero slid his hand up under Duo's sweatshirt while using his other hand to lift Duo's face to his for a kiss. With one hand firmly pressed against the bare skin of Duo's back, Heero had no difficulty feeling the exact moment at which the tension went out of his partner. Duo's hands came up to bury themselves in Heero's hair and, for the first time since they'd put their fledgling relationship "on hold" five years ago, Duo took the initiative and ran his tongue along Heero's lips, requesting entrance. Heero readily parted them, a rush of relief at Duo's small show of confidence in their relationship filling him. For several long, blissful moments, Heero simply relaxed and allowed Duo to explore his mouth freely. As Duo began to pull back again, Heero caught his tongue and sucked on it gently for a moment before letting it go. As they parted slightly for air, Heero's cobalt gaze caught Duo's warm, slightly hesitant, violet one. "You never wanted to put our relationship on hold, did you?" he asked very gently, cautiously broaching a subject that he had been avoiding since first suspecting it days earlier. "I was the one who brought it up and you only agreed to try and make me happy..."

Ducking his head against Heero's shoulder, Duo admitted softly, "No, I didn't want to wait. But you obviously weren't prepared to handle juggling a beginning relationship and all the other things that were going on, and I thought it was better to agree to put things on hold than to refuse and end up destroying any chance we had by forcing things to happen before you were ready. But I thought it would only be a year or maybe two at most... I never dreamed that the five-year mark would come and go and we'd still be 'on hold'. I just kept waitin' and waitin' and you never said anything. I was startin' to think maybe you'd changed your mind completely and just didn't want to tell me..."

Heero sighed, dropping his own forehead to rest on Duo's shoulder. "I'm sorry. At the time, I thought I was making things easier on both of us. It was so damn hard spending all our free time together, then turning around and having one or the other of us gone on an undercover assignment for weeks or even months at a time. We were so close to crossing that boundary between friends and lovers and I didn't think I could stand that kind of separation once we did. I never intended to let things go for so long. But I was so used to letting you be the one to take the initiative where anything emotional was concerned that *I* just kept waiting, assuming that when *you* were ready to resume our relationship, you'd let me know." Lifting a finger to Duo's lips as he raised his head in protest, Heero continued, "I know, I know. You *did* finally try to let me know, I just didn't pick up on the hint. I did *eventually* figure that much out, but only at dinner the night we left for vacation. I guess part of me expected to just come home from an assignment some day to find you standing in my apartment, hands on your hips, demanding to know when the hell we were finally going to make the time for *us*, maybe even find that you'd moved yourself in already. I wasn't expecting something as subtle as notes suggesting simple friend-type get-togethers, notes that didn't even use the word 'date' to clue me in. And I sure as hell didn't realize that in asking to put things on hold, I'd given you the impression that *I'd* let *you* know when *I* was ready to pick up where we'd left off. After all this time, I'm still not any good at 'subtle', love."

Duo went completely still at that word. Answering the unspoken question, Heero told him, "That's what you are, you know. My love. Spending all this time together over the past few weeks has only confirmed that for me. I was pretty sure of it back before I suggested putting things on hold and I became more certain of it over the time we were apart. I missed the other guys, sure, but nothing like the way I missed you. I thought I was making things easier by calling a time out on our relationship, but all I really did was leave us both with the loneliness and emptiness *all* the time instead of just when circumstances forced us apart." Drawing a deep breath, Heero admitted, "I fucked up and we both spent five long, productive, but generally pretty damn miserable, years alone as a result."

As Duo's arms tightened around him convulsively and a choked noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob reached his ears, Heero moved them over to the bed he hadn't used since that first night there. Propping himself up against the headboard, he pulled Duo against him, rubbing his back soothingly. "I'm sorry, love, so sorry," he murmured softly. "I love you and I promise neither of us will have to be alone again. We'll talk to Une, get her to take us off the undercover work the way I should have done earlier. Five years ago she might have had a hard time covering those assignments without us, but there's been more than enough other qualified agents to handle them for some time now. I think we've earned our chance to enjoy peace by now; we don't always have to be the ones in the front lines."

"Support staff sounds good to me," Duo responded in a choked voice. Lifting a still-dry face from Heero's chest, he kissed Heero fervently before pulling back to tell him, "I love you too. Have since long before you ever made that request. Agreein' to it just about tore me apart, but I knew pushin' you into something you weren't ready for would just lead to even more pain in the long run. That's why I kept waitin' for you to make the first move towards resuming our relationship - I didn't want my own impulsiveness and impatience wreckin' things. Eventually, though, I couldn't stand the wait anymore and started tryin' to give you a gentle nudge with all those invitations to watch a movie or go out for dinner or whatever. I didn't wanna use the term 'date' 'cause that would seem too much like pushin' you if you weren't ready yet. When you kept beggin' off as too tired or too busy, I didn't know *what* to think, 'specially since you *did* accept a few times..."

Gently cupping one hand along the curve of Duo's jaw, Heero regretfully repeated, "I'm sorry. You seemed to be suggesting 'best friend' activities and I could only handle a couple of those before I started wanting more... And since you seemed to be doing okay with the way things were and I expected you to give me some sort of obvious sign if you wanted more, I'd refuse the next few invitations to give myself time to wrestle my emotions back under control again. Face it, love, I'm a completely clueless baka where social situations are concerned. If there was some way I could just magically make myself better at picking up hints, I'd do it in a heartbeat. All those little subtleties of social interaction just slip right by me and most of the time I don't even know I missed something. Promise me you won't *ever* rely on hints again to get something important across to me, please Duo?"

"Promise," Duo swore fervently.


************


Leaning into the arm wrapped around his shoulders, Wufei said quietly, "We're going to have to stop making out and actually *talk* about this sooner or later, you know."

Reluctantly, Zechs replied, "I know. If there was one thing I would never have believed would happen during this enforced vacation, *this*," he pressed a quick kiss to Wufei's lips, "would be it. We've always struck sparks off each other, I guess we were just never in a situation that let us discover the real nature of those sparks. And I've done nothing but fight against my sexual preferences over the years since I first discovered them. As the last male Peacecraft, it was my duty to continue the Peacecraft line, or so tradition said."

"You think *you* have pressure that way - I'm the last of the Dragon *clan*, something Master O mentions virtually every time he sees me," Wufei reminded him. "It's only been recently that I finally decided no amount of rationalization that I was 'carrying on tradition' could make up for a loveless, passionless marriage. So up until a year or so ago, I wouldn't have even been willing to admit to the *possibility* of, as you so succinctly put it, *this*," he concluded as he pulled the other man's face down to his for a deeper kiss than the one he had just received.

"So - get Une to transfer you to Relena's security staff for a while and see where all this leads us?" the tall blond asked when they finally parted.

"I think that would be the wisest move, yes."


************


"I overheard Iria talking to Rashid. All three of them are coming by this afternoon to 'check up' on us," Duo told Trowa in a low voice. "Heero and I have an idea... They all wanted us to spend a month actin' like teenagers, right? Well, here's what we're gonna do..."

Heading off to pass the plan on to Quatre while Duo went off to relay it to Wufei, Trowa allowed a very, very tiny smirk to creep across his face. This was going to be fun. How very convenient that it had finally started snowing two days ago and hadn't stopped since. And that it was absolutely *perfect* packing snow...


************


Halfway between the car and the house, Sally stopped in her tracks. "What's wrong?" Une asked. Ahead of them, Iria stopped and turned back as well.

"I think we're about to be ambushed," Sally answered, flicking a quick glance back at the car and debating which direction to run.

"What?" Une asked. The snowball that splatted against her shoulder just as she spoke answered that question quite neatly.

Shrieking with laughter, Relena and Dorothy popped up from behind some bushes and flung a barrage of snowballs at the three older women before turning and running under the covering fire provided by Zechs and Wufei.

"I hope you all realize that this means *war*," Sally mock-threatened, shaking her fist dramatically. The effect of her speech was somewhat ruined by the slushy snowball that struck her waving hand with perfect accuracy.

Ducking and running for cover from the fresh barrage of snowballs pelting down from the roof , the three women exchanged happy smiles. Obviously, this vacation had done wonders for the eight young adults whose welfare they had been so concerned over.


************


Curled up on the rug in front of the fireplace, Duo pushed his sopping wet bangs back from his face and waited as Heero removed unmelted snow from his long hair. Flicking the last flakes of snow from Duo's braid and untwisting it to start brushing it dry, Heero said firmly, "Tell me what's wrong, Duo. I know that *something* is bothering you and that it has something to do with our relationship, but I haven't been able to figure out what it is." Catching Duo's chin and turning his head so that their eyes met, Heero told him, "You *have* to start telling me when I do something wrong or simply miss out on something, Duo. If you need to know something, for god's sake, *ask* me!"

'But what if I don't *want* to know the answer,' Duo thought silently. 'What if I'm afraid that I already *know* the answer and I just don't want you to confirm it and end any hope of us ever being more than best friends? What if this is one of the fears that started when you first put "us" on hold and just kept growing as time went on without that changing?'

"Duo..." Heero insisted. "Tell me."

Turning his head away from Heero, Duo started hesitantly, "I... I need..." Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes in a silent plea that he was wrong, Duo said in one long rush of words, "I need to know why you've never made love to me. Is it that you don't desire me in particular, or have you realized that you aren't really attracted to guys after all? Is that why you never offer to go beyond kissing and cuddling, or is there some other reason?" 'Please, please, let there be some other reason... I don't know what the hell it could possibly be, but please let there be one...'

"*WHAT?!*" Horrified, Heero dropped the brush and scrambled around to kneel facing Duo. "Duo! Why the hell would you think something like that?! Duo, I... Open your eyes and *look* at me, love!"

As Duo reluctantly lifted his lashes to meet Heero's eyes, he fought to hold back the tears welling up behind them. 'I will *not* cry, no matter what he says, I will *not* cry,' he swore silently. 'Oh *shit*, too late...'

Gently wiping away the damp trail trickling down Duo's cheek with a shaking hand, Heero swore, "Dammit, I've fucked up *again*. Duo, love, I'm sorry you thought that. I..." Pausing, Heero shook his head. "Duo, I didn't intend to mention this till early on the day of Christmas Eve. I wanted to surprise you. I talked to Relena and Dorothy and they said it would be okay with them if it was a *double* wedding. I'd assumed, based on your background at the church and the fact that you still wore *this*..." Reaching under Duo's chin, he snagged the chain around his neck and pulled the cross out in view before continuing, "...that you would probably prefer to wait till our wedding night to make love for the first time. I thought I was being romantic - I never, *ever* imagined that you'd think I didn't desire you!"

Flinging himself into Heero's arms, Duo let the tears of relief pour down his cheeks. "It was just... after all the delays... I thought..." he tried to explain.

Holding him close, Heero reassured him, "It's okay, I can see why you were worried." Trying to lighten the mood, he continued in a half-playful tone, "I never realized it before, but while I've told you how much I love your sense of humour and your intelligence, how much I value your friendship and your loyalty, I've never told you how heartbreakingly gorgeous you are, how breathtakingly beautiful you look with your hair down, how devastatingly sexy..."

Heero's list was abruptly cut off as Duo captured his mouth in a passionate kiss. While Duo wasn't about to spoil Heero's romantic gesture now that he knew what was going on, there were plenty of other things that they could do between now and Christmas Eve...

Later, lying on the rug in front of the fireplace, Heero stroked his hand gently through the still-damp chestnut tresses spilling over his unbuttoned shirt. He dropped a tender kiss on the top of Duo's head, provoking a tiny, sleepy murmur and a wriggle to snuggle closer. 'God, Duo, I'm so, so sorry,' he thought. 'What have I done to my confident, irrepressible Shinigami? If I'd just set a time limit when I made that idiotic request five years ago, we wouldn't be in this mess now. You'd have been waiting for me on the day the time limit expired, ready to insist on picking up where we left off. By leaving things "on hold" indefinitely, I left us each expecting the other to signal when it was time to resume our relationship and so delayed that resumption by years. I've managed to wreck your confidence in me and in yourself where our relationship is concerned by misinterpreting your uncharacteristically cautious attempts to clue me in that you*were* ready and waiting. And now I've gone and worried you again by not making it clear that I want you as well as love you.' Tugging a blanket off the couch and flipping it over the pair of them, Heero silently hoped that all of those needless fears would be taken care of once they claimed each other on Christmas Eve. Claimed each other both legally, in the wedding ceremony, and physically, in their marriage bed. 'And I swear love, I'll do everything in my power to make sure that you never have reason to doubt that you're both loved and wanted ever again...'


************


The sound of church bells ringing out Christmas carols in the nearby town was faintly but clearly audible as the wedding guests arrived at the estate. Brightly burning candles enclosed in glass globes to shield them from the wind lit the driveway and the wide path leading to the house with a much warmer light than the harsh security lights normally in use. Une nudged Sally and pointed at the *three* sleighs lined up off to one side. "Guess that explains why Iria was so excited when she called to say she'd meet us here," she observed.

"You never know, it could be for the *other* pair," Sally responded semi-seriously.

"Don't even joke about that," Une said, shaking her head. "Those two are almost definitely going to have a very bumpy relationship for the foreseeable future. They're both extremely headstrong and opinionated; just learning to get through the day without squabbling continually is going to take a major effort. I can't imagine *either* of them being foolish enough to make such a serious commitment just yet."

"And that would be a very correct assumption," Zechs said, greeting the guests as they entered the mansion. "Merry Christmas, Une, Sally." Pointing to the ever-present mistletoe in explanation, he gave each of the women a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "G and J arrived earlier along with Howard. I think Duo was a little bit nervous about having invited J without telling Heero until they were getting out of the car, but other than a raised eyebrow Heero didn't say a thing. He just accompanied Duo to the door and greeted them all quite politely. The two of you were the last to arrive, so since everyone is here now, the ceremony will be beginning very shortly."


************


The brief, simple civil service over with, the three newly-married couples were kept occupied accepting congratulations while the sleighs were being brought around to the front door. Cabins at a nearby ski lodge had been rented to give the newlyweds some privacy to start their new lives together. They would return to the estate for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, after which everyone would have to make a reluctant return to everyday life. Meanwhile, however, they all intended to make the fullest possible use of their remaining vacation time.

Having been thoroughly lectured by first Howard, then G, on his responsibility to make Duo - referred to by each as simply 'my boy' - happy, Heero had to wonder exactly what J was busy discussing with Duo, who was listening with a very serious look on his face.

"Look after him, Duo," J said earnestly. "You're good for him - you broke through that detached shell created by the damn training and taught him to care, to make friends, to love. I made a lot of mistakes raising him, but he's the closest thing to family I've got. G and the others told me at the start that treating a child as a science experiment was a mistake, but I was so determined to create the 'Perfect Soldier', a weapon capable of finally winning justice for the colonies, that I wouldn't listen. By the time I realized that compact bundle of power and determination had worked his way into my cold, bitter heart, it was too late. I'd already permanently destroyed any chance of him seeing me as anything more than a mentor at best, and a cold, manipulative, calculating bastard at worst."

Shaking his head slightly, Duo told the old scientist, "It's not the training that he can't forgive and forget. If anything, he's grateful that the abilities you taught him got him through the war in one piece. The problem is what he sees as your total detachment in ordering your 'weapon' to self-destruct. He can't reconcile that with what he sees as your sudden, out-of-the-blue, desire to be 'family'."

J sighed, slumping. "His previous capture - that time that you broke him out of the hospital - led me to believe that if he was caught again, he really *would* be treated as a science experiment once they finished trying to get information out of him. I knew there was very little chance of them getting anything out of him - not that any of you really had any information beyond your own immediate mission anyway - and suspected that, particularly since he was known to be the one that shot down that shuttle, death would be preferable to whatever they had in mind for him. It was far from an easy decision to make and I've questioned it many times over the years. I was overjoyed to find out that he had survived *and* remained free, though I suspect he would believe it was only because my 'weapon' had exceeded expectations..."

"No, not now that I know what your reasoning was," Heero spoke up from behind J. He reached out to steady the startled old man as he tried to whirl around only to be betrayed by the inflexibility of his prosthetic leg.

"Heero!" J exclaimed in surprise.

Studying the scientist for a moment, Heero inclined his head slightly. "Perhaps you would like to join Duo and I for dinner from time to time," he offered. More than that, he wasn't prepared to give just yet, but he was willing to give J a chance to prove the truth of his words.

Caught by surprise, J managed to reply, "Yes, I would enjoy that."

An awkward silence fell for a few moments. "We'll give you a call in a few weeks, then," Duo contributed in response to the uncertain, questioning glance Heero directed his way.

Heero gave him a small smile of gratitude before holding out his hand and saying, "I believe our ride is waiting, love."


************


Moonlight gleaming off freshly-fallen snow made the night almost as bright as daylight. The swish and squeak of sleigh runners over snow and the bright jingle of sleighbells added to the distinctly unreal, dreamlike feeling of the experience, though the bitter cold was enough to convince Duo that this was no dream. Shivering, he pulled the pile of heavy blankets higher around his neck and tried to snuggle even tighter against Heero's warmth.

"Cold?" Heero asked, concerned.

"Y-y-yes," Duo responded, teeth chattering.

Pulling Duo completely onto his lap in the tight confines of the sleigh without letting any cold air sneak in under the blankets was a bit tricky, but Heero managed. Wrapping his arms around his spouse and holding him tightly to his chest in an attempt to share his own body-heat, he called to the driver, "Are we almost there?"

"Another five minutes or so," came the response.

Wishing that he'd thought of Duo's sensitivity to extreme cold when Dorothy suggested the romantic-sounding sleigh ride, Heero asked softly, "Would it be better if we got out and walked? There'd be less wind and the activity might warm you up."

"N-no, n-not d-dressed w-warm enough. N-not w-waterproof b-boots."

'Damn. And here we have fuck-up number what? I'm losing track, I'm screwing up so often. I hope the damn cabin has a jacuzzi so I can get him warmed back up again...'

When they finally came to a stop in front of the cabin a few minutes later, Heero lifted Duo off his lap, jumped down from the sleigh, then turned and lifted his shivering companion into his arms and quickly carried him into the cabin. Ignoring everything else, he headed straight for the bathroom, spotting the filled and steaming jacuzzi with relief.

"Better now?" Heero asked several minutes later, holding his no-longer-shivering spouse against his side as they sat in the warm tub.

"Much," Duo sighed, leaning his head back against the edge of the tub.

"Sorry. Again," Heero said, thoroughly disgusted with himself. "I never even thought..."

Twisting around, Duo pressed his fingers to Heero's lips, "Stop it. It's not your fault. I didn't dress warmly enough. Relena warned me that riding in a sleigh was colder than just walking around outside. I underestimated just how *much* colder it would be. And if I'd admitted my error sooner, we could have turned around and went back before I got so chilled."

Resting his hands on Heero's shoulders, Duo drew himself around to half-float facing him. "Heero, everything that goes wrong *isn't* your fault. I make my share of mistakes too. If I'd been more honest with you about my feelings back when you asked to put our relationship 'on hold', things would have gone a lot smoother. Even if I wasn't prepared to refuse, I should have asked for a specific time limit or at least a date that we would re-evaluate the situation." Seeing the startled look on Heero's face, Duo said wrily, "Hindsight is 20-20, huh? I see the same thing has occurred to you. We *both* made mistakes, love, and we *both* paid the price. We just have to learn from those mistakes and try not to make them again. You're getting better at picking up on when something's bothering me even if you still can't tell what it is. I'm trying to remember that I need to come right out and tell you things, not rely on you guessing them based on subtle clues in what I say or do."

Pushing himself away from Heero, Duo stood and climbed out of the jacuzzi. Unfastening his braid, he shook his hair loose to hang around him in waves before bending to offer Heero his hand. "Just in case I'm being too subtle now," he whispered huskily, "I do believe that you promised to show me just how much you wanted me on our wedding night. Well, this is our wedding night - so what are you waiting for? Make love to me, Heero."

The water was still sloshing wildly in the jacuzzi, waves splattering over the edge of it, as Duo's startled laughter at being flung over Heero's shoulder, carried through to the bedroom, and tossed onto the bed was replaced by murmurs of growing passion.


************


Looking around the gathered friends - no, not just friends, *family* - counting down to the New Year, Iria smiled in satisfaction. The month-long "holiday house party" had succeeded even beyond her wildest dreams. Her baby brother was unlikely to work himself into the ground with a handsome husband to go home to - and the same applied equally to said husband. Having a circus headquartered at a previously staid Winner estate was going to take some getting used to, but her nieces and nephews would be delighted. Her smile grew as Duo bounded across the room to glomp her and thank her for "the vacation - and all the mistletoe", he added with a wink, pointing above her head before pressing a brotherly kiss to her cheek and dashing off to attach himself to his husband again. Her gaze passed over the quietly glowing faces of Dorothy and Relena, both completely free of tension despite the knowledge that in just two days they would be announcing their marriage to the entire Earth Sphere. Reaching the last, most surprising and unlikely couple of the group, she couldn't help shaking her head slightly in disbelief. "Zechs and Wufei. Never in a million years... There must have been something in the water..." she murmured to herself.

"No, don't blame it on the water," Rashid told her, materializing at her side with surprising quietness for such a large man. "Blame it on the mistletoe." As the countdown reached zero and couples kissed to start the New Year off right, Rashid pointed above her head and reminded her, "Mistletoe," before bending to press a kiss to her startled mouth. Relaxing into a warm kiss from a man she had spoken with at length every day for the past month, and not just about his eight young charges, Iria had to agree, 'It must have been the mistletoe.'

OWARI

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Lyrics to "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe"

It must have been the mistletoe
the lazy fire, the falling snow
the magic in the frosty air
that feeling everywhere
It must have been the pretty lights
that glistened in the silent night
It may be just the stars so bright
that shined above you
Our first Christmas
more than we'd be dreaming of
Ah, Saint Nicholas had his fingers crossed
that we would fall in love!
It could have been the holiday,
the midnight ride upon sleigh
the countryside all dressed in white
the crazy snowball fight!
It could have been the steeplebell
that wrapped us up in its spell
It only took one kiss to know
It must have been the mistletoe!
Our first Christmas more than we'd be dreaming of
Ah, St. Nicholas must have known that kiss
would lead to all of this!!
It must have been the mistletoe
the lazy fire, the falling snow
the magic in the frosty air
that made me love you!
On Christmas eve our wish came true
That I would fall in love with you
It only took one kiss to know
It must have been the mistletoe!
It must have been the mistletoe!
It must have been the mistletoe!