Somewhere in the lower mountains, miles from any city or town, sat two modest dwellings surrounded on almost all sides by vast fields of trees. At the window of the slightly smaller home sat a young woman staring at the stars in the midnight sky with such earnestness that one might think she was searching for the answers to all the riddles of the world. Her features betrayed emotions she had thought were buried deep inside.

She let out a small sigh, and repositioned herself to once again face the inside of her home. She gentled scolded herself to ignore the emptiness of the outside and focus on the warmth of the modest dwelling. Almost directly in front of her stood a beautiful tree decorated with soft white lights, tinsel, and silver and gold ornaments. The entire home was decked out for the holiday season, almost to the point of being garish. She wanted her first Christmas with the love of her life to be a special one. It was the first Christmas she had been able to celebrate the way she had always dreamed. It would have been perfect if only her new husband had not made one simple suggestion.

One more quick glance outside, confirmed what she had known was reality earlier. There was not one cloud in the sky. It was a very cold, but crystal clear night. The one last thing that would have made her Christmas perfect was going to come up missing. She knew she had nothing to be sad or disappointed about, but something about what she had been told had sparked childlike hopes that were unconcerned with rationality.

She unconsciously let out another sigh. To the trained ear, this one sounded even more disappointed than the first. Oh, Gohan, why did you even have to mention it? She had been so excited at the time, but now she wanted to reprimand him for getting her hopes up. They had been shopping in the city for the last few Christmas presents. Buying something for Goku had been especially difficult. What do you get for the man who has saved the world, keeps dying and being brought back, and is always hungry?!! They had finally decided on fruitcake thinking that the unpalatable looking mass would be around for weeks before Goku figured out it was food.

But when Goku ate the entire thing in one gigantic bite, they quickly discovered that Goku loved the odd concoction. Apparently King Kai received the popular gift by the truckload during the holidays and had been saving it to re-gift to one of the other Kais. Goku discovered the storehouse during one of his training stays and cleaned King Kai out in two hours. Upon returning to the living, Goku had tried in vain to explain to Chichi the cake full of little colored pieces that he loved. When finally given his opportunity, he swallowed the evidence whole leaving his loving wife a meager amount of little crumbs to try to replicate. After realizing that his wife was still clueless, Goku had pleaded with Gohan and Videl to lead him to the storehouse. The image of her father-in-law on his knees in front of her with such a plaintive look on his face, made Videl struggle to keep from laughing out loud even now, hours after the event.

With a smile on her face for the first time since looking outside, Videl remembered what happened after they had left the store with Goku's gift. They had stepped into the crowds of people that filled the sidewalk in front of the specialty stores. Gohan laced his fingers behind his head, which was quite a feat considering the number of bags hanging from his arms, and looked up into the sky.

He glanced over to Videl and innocently asked her, "Does it ever snow in the city for Christmas?"

Videl unconsciously cringed at the thought of the chaos snow brought to the city in the form of cars sliding all over the roads, power outages, and general panic because of people who did not know how to handle the ice that snow brought. After a moment she replied, "Fortunately, it hardly ever snows here. People just don't know what to do with snow."

Gohan looked at her quizzically, "Not know what do to with snow? Why you play in it! You make snowmen, have snowball fights, and go sledding. There are all sorts of stuff you can do with snow!"

"I know that, Gohan!" Videl lightly scolded him. She knew what you could do with snow, but had never really had the opportunity to partake in the events herself. "You see, the snow we get here is mushy most of the time, so it doesn't make good snowballs. And it gets dirty so quickly that no one wants to touch it, let alone play with it. They just want it to go away."

He considered her words for a minute or so. "Well, in the mountains, it almost always snows for Christmas. When I was younger, dad and I would spend hours playing in it until mom would make us come in for dinner. She was always afraid that we would either freeze to death or suffer from heat exhaustion because of all the clothes she bundled us in. When Goten was old enough, I would take him out and play in it like dad used to with me. There is this great hill behind my house that is just perfect for sledding!"

The excitement in his voice made him sound like a little kid, and Videl couldn't help but get swept up in the joy of snow for Christmas. Suddenly snow leapt to the top of the list of things she wanted for her first Christmas married to Gohan. Being the daugher of "The World Champion", Mr. Satan, had meant holidays not only filled with but also defined by crass commercialism. Her father was arguably more popular than Santa Claus, which made it even more difficult for her to be able to spend time with him. She wasn't even allowed to hang a wreath of her choosing, because decorations were carefully selected and coordinated by interior decorators intent on making the right statement for the most famous man in the world. Apparently, being an ordinary man with a daughter was not part of that statement.

Videl longed for the days when her father wasn't famous and her mother was still alive. Things had been simpler then and Christmas had held more meaning. Everything from the modest tree decorated with handmade ornaments to the holiday feast made from scratch had meaning. Until she had met Gohan, Videl thought she would be doomed to the carefully orchestrated holiday that Christmas had become. After she officially became part of the Son family, she had unconsciously started compiling a list of things she wanted Christmas to be for her again. The thought of a snow held so much appeal for her mainly because she had never had a white Christmas, and the way Gohan described it made it sound wonderful.

Stop being so childish! She scolded herself. She pushed herself up from the chair in front of the window with the intention of finally going to bed. A quick look at the clock on the wall revealed that it was exactly seven minutes before Christmas. But instead of making her way to the bedroom, she found herself taking one last look out the window.

Going over the events of the day in her mind, she would have not changed anything about the Christmas Eve spent with the Son family. She and Chichi had spent most of the day preparing food for the Christmas Eve feast. She had done more cooking in that one day than she had in her entire life. Chichi had been so wonderfully patient with her lack of cooking skills. Her sometimes overbearing demeanor changed to that of a gentle teacher when showing her new daughter-in-law the basics of cooking and keeping a Saiyan and two demi-Saiyans well fed.

The three Son men and the Ox King devoured the feast in an almost immeasurable amount of time. Four satisfied grins were all the thanks the two hard working women had needed to make their labor of love rewarding. After eating, or gorging as the case may be, they gathered around the tree to exchange presents. Watching Goten so excited over everything he received, including the large textbook from his mother, was one of the most delightful things Videl had ever seen. She reveled in his childish joy and excitement over Christmas.

After opening presents, they had sung carols at Videl's request. Chichi had a wonderful voice and Goku could sing surprisingly well if you could keep him focused on the task at hand. He was still intent on Gohan taking him to the colored cake store immediately. The Ox King had a beautifully baritone timbre to his voice and Goten's childish singing was perfect. Singing "Silent Night" in the candlelight had brought a perfect close to a perfect day.

Videl could not have wished for anything more, but she still found herself looking longingly out the window. She was startled out of her thoughts by the voice of her husband.

"What are you watching for, hon?" He came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist. He placed his chin on her shoulder trying to see what she was looking at.

She sighed for the third time that night. "Oh, Gohan, it's nothing really."

He could tell by the tone of her voice, that it was more than nothing. "Hey, why don't you grab your coat and we'll go outside for the first few minutes of Christmas." He had been watching her by the window for a while and thought he knew what was dampening her spirits.

She glanced at him uncertainly and then down at the jackets he held in the hand not wrapped around her waist. "Um… okay, but only for a few minutes."

He smiled at her and helped her into the jacket. Once outside, Videl quickly realized how cold it had become since the sun had set hours before. She stayed close to her husband and the heat that seemed to naturally radiate from him.

"Gohan, how long do we have to stay out here? It's so cold!" Videl rubbed her arms with her gloved hands to further emphasize the point.

Gohan placed an arm around her shoulders. "Just for a few minutes. It's so calm and peaceful out here in the middle of the night. The night really is beautiful in its own way."

Videl looked up at the stars in the cloudless sky and reluctantly had to agree with him. Even if there wasn't any snow, it was still beautiful. She stared up into the sky for a few moments, and just as she was about to turn to Gohan and ask to go inside, she felt something wet touch her cheek. She put a gloved hand up to the wet spot and looked up to the sky to try to figure out where it came from. She couldn't figure it out.

Then she saw it. From the seemingly cloudless sky, there it was. She looked around her and could see it, but she couldn't believe it. She threw her arms out and spun around like a small child. "Look, Gohan! It's snowing!" She laughed out loud. "It's snowing!!!"

"I know sweetheart." He smiled at her. "Merry Christmas."

She stopped in mid-spin and looked at her husband. "But where is it coming from? There isn't a cloud in the sky."

"Yes, there is." He pointed upward, "Just look."

She followed his outstretched arm and saw the clouds that she knew had not been there before. "But how? Where did they come from?" She was now beginning to doubt herself. She looked into her love's eyes and suddenly understood something. "You did this? How?"

Gohan reached out to her and kissed her tenderly amidst the falling snow. When he pulled away, he looked her at her a moment before replying to her questions. "I have friends in very high places."

She still did not understand, but the glint in his eyes and the smile on his lips made her believe that what he said was true.

***

Miles in the sky a small green guardian peered down at the Earth at a happy couple walking arm-in-arm to their home. He smiled and wished his childhood friend a Merry Christmas before turning and walking back to his own dwelling.