I don't own The Middle nor will I ever. No copyright infringement intended.

When Sue and Sean finally stopped kissing, she pulled back with a dazed look on her face. "Wow," she murmured, so happy she started laughing and couldn't stop. She been terrified to take the next step with him but in this moment, she couldn't figure out why.

Sean grinned at her. "Wow definitely covers it. You know how I feel about you, right, Sue?" he asked, trying to calm down so his heart would stop pounding.

Sue radiated happiness and that definitely extended to him. She hesitated for a second. "I think so," she answered, trying to calm herself down so she wouldn't start shaking (the last thing she wanted to happen).

He wanted to be honest with her, even though it scared the shit out of him. There had been several missed opportunities between them recently and he wanted to do this right - he couldn't hurt her. Sean willed his hands to stop trembling and took a deep breath. "I'm in love with you," he told her with an air of confidence.

She squeaked and started crying. He eyed her in concern but she waved him off as she tried to pull herself together. "I'm in love with you too," she replied.

Sean let out a whoop and kissed her again. "We wasted so much time. Are you sure you're okay?" he pressed, noticing Sue was still crying. He wiped the tears off her face.

Sue nodded. "These are happy tears," she assured him.

"Good." Then he checked his cell phone and winced upon noticing the time. "We should probably head to church." Now that he and Sue had finally taken the next step, going to church was the last thing he wanted to do - all he wanted was to spend some more time with her, and he was sure she felt the same way.

She did and groaned. "Church is extremely important but I don't want to go right now. Why do we have the worst timing?"

"Because it's us?" Sean guessed.

She laughed and bopped her head in agreement. "I'm probably going to feel guilty about this soon - actually I do now - especially because of the Axl situation, but why don't we stay home and talk some more?" Sue suggested, practically vibrating with excitement now.

"I think it's better if we skip church," he agreed. Sue, not church, was his number one priority at the moment, especially after months of missteps.

Sue giggled, and entwined their hands as they stood up to tell her parents. "Why aren't you two in the car?" Frankie asked them as she tried to rush out the door.

"Because we're not going," Sue tentatively replied.

Frankie stopped dead in her tracks and groaned. "Not you too! I finally convinced Axl to go!"

Sue held her hand up to stop her mother from ranting. "Mom, relax. Sean and I need to talk some things out and that's a little more important right now. I promise we'll go next week," she vowed.

Frankie narrowed her eyes, suspicious. If she wasn't running late, she would have interrogated her daughter but didn't have the time. "We're going to talk later!" she called as she flew out the door.

Now alone, a giddy Sue and Sean turned to face each other. Unable to wait another minute, she rushed into his open arms and the two of them started hugging. "I can't believe I get to tell you whenever I want how I feel about you from now on," he murmured.

"Me too. Can you believe I kept freaking out and sabotaging us? I am pretty sorry about that. I panicked," she told him.

He shrugged. "I panicked too, Sue. You're not the only one who sabotaged us. I wanted to surprise you by showing up at your door when we agreed to set each other up and then you weren't there. I was so close to giving up hope," Sean admitted.

"I'm sorry," Sue wailed, throwing her arms around him once more.

"You have nothing to be apologize for. Clean slate as we start over." Excited about finally being able to tell the woman he loved the truth about everything, he caressed her cheek and then kissed her.

Sue quickly grabbed her cell phone and turned on some Christmas music. "Let's go," she urged.

He grabbed her hand and then twirled her around before they started dancing around the living room. Neither of them could hold in their laughter because they were so happy. "Thank you for cheering me up," he whispered half an hour later, sitting on the couch after they exhausted themselves dancing to several songs.

"Well, it was nothing, Sean. I just don't like seeing you upset. Glad I was able to cheer you up," Sue teased.

"You can always cheer me up," Sean reassured her. He didn't even feel guilty for skipping out on church and hoped it stayed that way.

"Same here. You're one of my best friends." Sue yawned and then moved in closer so she could snuggle with them.

That's how the rest of the family found them when they came home from church. Frankie froze. "What's going on?" she asked, feeling the excitement starting to build.

"Sean and I are together now. He loves me!" Sue explained to her mother.

Frankie shrieked and started jumping up and down. Poor Mike, Axl, and Brick had to hurry to the kitchen to avoid the conversation. Sue stood up and started jumping with her mother. The two of them began squealing and talking so fast Sean couldn't understand them at all but he still stared at the two women in awe. "We just wanted some time to ourselves," Sue explained to her mother, finally calming down.

"Completely understandable. Sean, are you hungry? Can I make you something?" Frankie prodded.

"No thank you, Mrs. Heck," Sean replied as Sue sat back down next to him.

"You two are so cute," Frankie raved, whipping out her cell to take a quick picture of the new couple. She ran back into the kitchen afterwards to give them some privacy.

Sue and Sean would never forget this Christmas and them finally taking a step forward made the holiday even more special in their eyes. Celebrating got a lot more fun in the years ahead.