~~~~~~~~~
 
 

Jarod woke up early the next morning, too early in fact, and was onlybarely aware of his surroundings, or at least the soft arm comfortablywrapped around his chest, the hand coming to rest on the pillow, near hisface. He'd smiled tiredly, not even giving the situation a second thought,and taken the hand in his before drifting back off to sleep.

Nearly an hour later, but still rather early, the door to Jarod's bedroomslowly slid open, just enough for a small face to poke through to studythe results of last night's work. Grinning like the Chesire Cat, and quitepleased with her handiwork, Samantha removed her head and carefully closedthe door.

It was the soft click of the door shutting that brought Miss Parker-always a light sleeper- out of her slumber. The first half second afteropening her eyes Parker spent taking in the sight of her arm secured aroundJarod, and oddly nice feel of his slow, warm breaths on her hand. The otherhalf of that second was used to actually grasp the fact that it was Jarod,that her father would disown her if he should come upon this unique situation,and other Parker-appropriate reactions. And the next 30 seconds were spentslipping her hand from Jarod's, cautiously so as not to wake him -thoughhis tight grasp proved him unwilling to let go, she noted wryly- and sneakingout the door, finding time to mouth 'Oh my god' a good few times.

~~~~~~~~~

"Why not seize the pleasure at once?
How often happiness is destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!"
-Jane Austen
 

Back in her room, Parker changed into jeans and a navy blue cashmeresweater, checked the ceiling quickly for any signs of a leak, then headeddownstairs to a cup of coffee and a couple of bangs of her head againstthe table. After all, she berated herself as the coffee machine went towork, there was a reason she'd slept as far from Jarod as a bed could possiblyallow. Was it that she didn't trust herself? Of course not. When you workedat the Centre, the only person you could trust was yourself. So what wasit? The situation, Parker decided, as she poured steaming black liquidinto a mug and added creamer. She was too relaxed in this setting, though,she pointed out to herself for reassurance, she had agreed to play a part,for Samantha's sake. Still, she shouldn't have let her guard down too much.

"I'm a Parker," she muttered as she carried her coffee out to the diningroom table. "It's not like a cold floor would've killed me."

"Hi," came a voice from her side. Parker looked over at the young girland smiled.

"Hi yourself. Sleep well?"

"Mm-hmm." Sam took a seat and looked at her innocently. "Did you havea good night's rest?"

Parker nearly choked on her coffee, but kept her poker face in place."Yeah, not too bad," she shrugged nonchalantly. A brief look of disappointmentcame and went on Samantha's face, too fast for Parker, absorbed with herown thoughts, to notice.

"So," Sam spoke up after a few moments of silence, "what're we gonnado today?"

"Well, I don't think Jarod or I have any pressing engagements, so you'vegot us all to yourself. Would you like to make a game plan?" Samantha wrinkledher nose in response. This lady was still too work-oriented. Parker laughed."I'll take that as a no. What would you like to do?"

Sam gave a look of consideration, then replied, "I'd like to decoratethe house. And," she added hopefully, "if the snow isn't too bad outsidelater on, could we maybe play outside?" Parker glanced up, at the largewindows at the far end of the living room, and sighed. She'd checked onthe weather on her way into the kitchen, and the rapid snowfall and blusterywind hadn't done much to lift her mood.

"We'll see."

"I'm gonna go change," she said, squirming down from her seat and headingto the staircase.

"OK." Samantha stopped, then turned around to face Miss Parker.

"Um, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"I know this isn't how you usually are--" Parker's eyes shot up fromher cup. "--around people. Jarod says that it's because you have to bereally serious where you work. But I just wanted to let you know that I'mglad you're just being you." Sam leaned her head forward a little, placeda hand to the side of her mouth, and added in a hushed voice, "And I thinkJarod likes it, too." Another innocent smile, and she bounded off up thestairs, leaving Parker to stare in disbelief.

~~~~~~~~~

After breakfast (this time safely prepared by Jarod, in one attempt),the rest of the morning was spent decking the halls. Everything from paperchains to pine cones was utilized, and by noon the entire cabin was festiveenough for even the worst scrooge -and yes, even Miss Parker- to appreciate.At first, Parker had done her best to avoid Jarod as much as possible,but soon realized that he remembered nothing of their nighttime cuddling,as it were. Nothing more than the usual grins and teasing only naturalwhen someone like Parker unexpectedly crawls into your bed.

After lunch (again whipped up by Jarod), the girls volunteered to putaway the dishes while he went outside to see if it was calm enough forSam to play for a little while. He crunched around for a moment in thefrosty air, seeing with dismay that the snow had now all but covered thetires of his car. Thankfully he'd had the presence of mind to keep a goodlayer of salt (courtesy of the garage) along the sidewalk leading to thehouse, or they'd have been stuck in the house for goodness only knew howlong. He turned to go back inside, ready to tell Sam that she could play,since the snow was back down to the lazy fat flakes untouched by hurriedwinds, when a thought came to him. Jarod grinned as he reached down intothe snow. Payback.

Parker heard the front door open, and looked up from where she stoodreaching for one last cup, just in time to see the snowball coming rightat her. The instinct to duck came one second too late, and though her facewas saved a temporary freeze, the snowball made direct contact with thetop of her head, covering dark hair with a layer of snow, which slowlyfell off, only to slide under her sweater and down her neck.

Jarod and Sam burst out laughing, but his grin quickly disappeared ashe realized that Parker was advancing with that look of a tiger about topounce on its prey. With a humored shout of alarm, he ran outside, trippingon a random patch of ice that had escaped the salt, and sailing a few feetthrough the air into a snowdrift. As his head popped out, she started laughing,but as he jumped up she ran -thankful for the shoes she'd put on earlier-into the snow to avoid him. Samantha joined in the chase too, and soonit was a giant snowball fight, everybody running from each other, scoopingup balls of powdery snow and throwing it at whomever they had the clearestshot at.

In the end, there was no clear victor, just three extremely tired peoplesitting down in the snow to catch their breath. With a sigh, Samantha madean imprint in the snow with her hand, and thought came to her. "Jarod,do you know how to make snow angels?"

He and Parker exchanged a small smile, eyes acknowledging some sharedthought, before he broke the moment to answer Sam. "As a matter of fact,I do. Miss Parker was the one that taught me." Her eyes got wide, and Samanthastuck this little piece of knowledge away for use later on.

"Tell me about it?" she asked.

"Another story for another day," Parker smiled. She plopped back intothe snow, and spread her arms and legs out, brushing them back and forthto create a snow angel. Jarod and Samantha did likewise, both in silence.As she continued to grow the angel's wings with her arms, Parker staredup into the cloudy December sky, and the flakes falling down towards her.Already, the flakes were coming closer together, and a small breeze waswhistling through the empty tree branches.

"We should probably go inside," Jarod echoed her thoughts. They stood,all careful not to ruin their angels, and headed into the cabin, brushingsnow from their pants and arms.

~~~~~~~~~

"So, did you have a good time today?" Jarod asked as he tucked the coversin around Samantha.

She nodded. "It was fun. And I can't wait for tomorrow--Christmas Eve."

"That's right. Are you excited?"

"Yep."

"Good. We've got a lot to do to get ready for Santa."

"I really like it when Miss Parker plays with us," Sam said suddenly."She's great."

"She sure is. Anyhow, you should get some rest, so sleep well. We'llsee you in the morning." He headed over to the door and flicked off thelight, but was only half way out the door when Sam whispered his name."Yeah?" he replied, moving back to her bedside.

Smiling, she leaned close, and whispered into his ear, "I know yoursecret."

"My secret?" he whispered back.

"Uh-huh. About Miss Parker."

Jarod bunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Miss Parker?"

"You know, that you like her."

"Of course I like her," Jarod smiled patiently.

"No, I mean really, really like her." His eyes widened in sudden realization.

"You mean, love Miss Parker."

"Right," Sam nodded happily. "But don't worry. Your secret's safe withme."

Jarod didn't reply, merely secured the covers more around the smallchild and walked out, making sure to leave the door cracked behind him.

Parker looked up as he stepped off the stairs and smiled. "She asleep?"

"What? Oh, yeah." She raised an eyebrow in question, but didn't comment."So, what's on for tonight?"

"Well, we've got the gift taken care of. Now all that's left is thestocking stuffers. But I can't think of a single--hey!"

Jarod's head jerked up. "What?"

"What am I saying? I'm snowed in with the Pez Master himself. Jarod,you can't tell me there's no junk food in that car of yours."

He slapped his head. "Why didn't I think of that? Of course there is--Twinkies,Pez and HoHos. Oh, wait, no, nix the HoHos," he realized sheepishly.

"Why?"

"Well, we sorta ate the whole box on our way up here."

"Did she ever see the Twinkies or Pez?"

"Nope."

"Great. Well, that's a partial stocking. Now, I was thinking that maybe--"Parker's sentence was cut off by a short, high-pitched buzz, ending inmid-darkness, the only illumination coming from the stairway light andfireplace. They groaned in unison, but Jarod was surprised to hear hergroan turn to laughter. He turned to her.

"Oh, come on," she chuckled, "like you don't find this funny." Her giggleswere contagious, and it wasn't long before he was laughing right alongwith her. As their chuckles simmered down, they hunted around in searchof a light bulb, eventually finding one in a cupboard in the kitchen. Nowcame the task of inserting it.

"No problem," Jarod insisted. "I'll just climb up on a chair, and switchthe old one with the new one."

"I don't know," she replied dutifully. "If you fell, it doesn't seemvery likely that I could catch you without breaking my back. Why don'tI replace the bulb, and you stand by, just in case." Before he could answer,she was on her way to the dining room to grab a chair.

A few minutes later, Miss Parker was on the chair, on the tips of hertoes, struggling to keep her balance while unscrewing the old light bulb.

"Careful!" Jarod laughed, amused at the sight. "Okay, got it?"

"Yep." She knelt down and they exchanged bulbs. Reaching back up, shetilted a bit side to side as she struggled with the light. Biting her lowerlip, Parker reached her arm just a little higher, determined to get thebulb in. A tip a bit too much to the left for his liking sent Jarod's handsto her waist by instinct, but he stopped himself before contact was made,knowing how help of any kind annoyed her. Still, his hands hovered closeto her body. Giggles arose again in Parker's throat as she glared at theempty socket.

Her eyebrows knotted with concentration, Miss Parker tried to lift herselfup on her toes just a little further. Her blues eyes widened in surprise,however, as gravity suddenly seemed to turn against her. Only Jarod's quickhands kept her from a face-to-face confrontation with the floor.

They stood, his hands comfortably set onto her waist, looking up atthe still-empty socket and laughing. Slowly, however, as their sights turnedback down to each other, they both became aware of their actual position.Brown eyes met blue, and the laughter melted away.

"Umm..." Parker murmured, slipping out of his grasp.

"Oh, yeah," Jarod smiled uneasily, moving his hands to his sides. "Sorryabout that."

"Oh, no, really. I mean, if you hadn't caught me, I'd be flat on thefloor right now," she laughed uncomfortably. They looked away, and Parkersighed.

"You know, we can fix that in the morning," Jarod spoke up. "It's late.We'll find something tomorrow to fill the rest of her stocking."

"Yeah," Parker agreed, "all right." They headed towards the stairs simultaneously,reaching them at the same time.

"Oh, uh, after you."

"Thanks," she muttered. Silently moving up the stairs and to their separaterooms across the hall from each other, they both paused and turned.

"Um, 'night."

"Yeah, you too," Parker said, then hurried into her room. Inside, shechanged into a nightgown, then thought to check the bed. No wet spot. Sheraised an eyebrow at this, but chose not to question it. Enough problemsalready.

~~~~~~~~~

Over in his room, Jarod stripped down to his boxers and slipped intobed, sure that sleep would make everything far more clear to him. It wasas he was drifting away that Jarod suddenly realized he'd never deniedwhat Samantha had said earlier.
 

Please send any feedback to: angelheart15@hotmail.com
 
 

Part 5