Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Author's Note: This is my first time writing this couple so…Merry Christmas, or Happy Hanukah or whatever it is that you celebrate at this time of year. I got help with the ideas from Meloda26 and my sister. The idea for this came from the song Let it Snow.
Let it Snow
Theo stepped on the brake yet again. The car in front of him was driving him crazy. He just had to relax and channel his frustration and anger until it was gone. He felt a hand on his shoulder that caused him to relax more. Looking over he smiled at his wife.
"You okay Theo?"
"Yeah Lil, it's just…the weather is crazy and these people can't seem to drive in it."
She smiled at him, "Better that they're breaking then getting into an accident."
He had to smile at that, "Yes, good point."
"Are we there yet?"
Theo looked in the rearview mirror and spied their oldest son who was only seven. He was looking out the window and Theo could tell that Ben wanted to get out and play in the snow. "We have to finish getting through this town first."
"But are we there yet?"
"There is a lot of traffic sweetie, so it'll take a bit longer than we thought to get there."
"Will Uncle Luan be there already?" Their five year old daughter asked.
Theo looked over at Lily before resuming his attention back to the road, "I assume so."
"That's not fair."
He frowned, "Why is that not fair?"
"I told him I would get there first."
Theo shook his head. Luan and his girlfriend Sara were going to meet Theo, Lily, Ben and Staci at a cabin just outside of this town. It was near enough to some hills that the kids would be able to sled and Luan had told Theo that there was a pond and lots of things to do. The point was them spending Christmas together. And Theo was sure it would be a good thing.
Lily had suggested they start out once the kids were done with school but Theo thought it would be a better idea to wait a day after their school was over with. Seeing as how the weather had taken a turn for the worse and the traffic was not the best he figured that Lily was right as usual. He knew that she wasn't going to say anything though; she knew that he knew she was right and that was enough for her.
"Who knows we might beat Luan and Sara there." Lily said turning around and smiling at their daughter.
"Do you really think so?" Staci asked getting excited.
"We might. Daddy is doing his best."
"It's boring in here." Ben said. Theo glanced in the mirror and saw that he was pouting.
"No pouting."
"I'm not pouting. I'm just showing my feelings."
"Ben."
"Alright Dad."
"I have an idea." Lily reached to the radio and turned it on. She turned up the volume and a familiar Christmas song filled the car.
"I love Rudolph. Let's watch his movie when we get there!" Staci exclaimed.
"We'll see. We need to first get things settled, but it'll be one movie we can watch." Theo promised.
He glanced back at his daughter who smiled at him. Her smile was just like her Mother's which he loved. Looking back at the road he stopped at another stoplight. The snow continued falling around the car. It was getting worse as their drive continued. He only hoped that Luan and Sara were already there or very close.
"Lil, can you call Sara and ask about food. If neither of us have anything and the snow is falling like this…" He trailed off not wanting to fully say everything in case either of the kids in the back picked up on his fear. But as he fell silent he only heard the two singing in the back.
"Sure."
Lily got on the phone, "Hey Sara, it's Lily…really? Yeah we're still driving…oh, well that will work….No Theo had a question about food…" Then whatever Sara said caused Lily to laugh before she continued, "Luan guessed right….nope…that makes sense…okay…sure…sounds good. See you soon. Bye."
Theo looked over at Lily who shook her head. "Alright, we'll stop at a store real quick."
Lily looked out her window and only a few minutes later replied, "Found a store. And there are still lots of cars, so I think we'll be good."
"Good." Theo maneuvered the car into the parking lot and parked as close as he could to the store. "Should we all go in?"
"I think that would be a good idea. And it'll be fun. We can have Ben and Staci help pick out some things."
"Alright, sounds good."
Theo turned off the music, "Alright lets get our jackets, hats and gloves on."
"We're there!" Staci exclaimed peering intently out the window, "Hey, this looks like a store."
"It is a store." Lily said already turned around in her seat. She handed Ben his coat and he put it on immediately.
"Why are we at a store? Are we lost?"
"No we're not lost." Theo said as he picked up one of Staci's gloves. He handed it back to his daughter.
Lily handed Ben his hat, "We're going to go inside and pick out something to have for tomorrow's snack!"
Ben eyed his Mother unsure of what to say before he shrugged his shoulders and nodded. Staci meanwhile thought about it as Theo put on the other glove before she smiled, "Okay. I want crackers."
Lily laughed, "Of course. But you get to pick what kind of crackers."
The family of four made their way into the store which was completely crowded. Lily was able to get a cart from a shopper who was bringing it back after depositing their groceries into their car. The four of them made their way down the aisles. There were a lot of empty shelves but they were still able to find things that would sustain them.
They still hadn't found any crackers and Staci was getting disappointed. "I'm sure if we look down this next aisle we'll find some." Lily said ushering the family forward.
Theo loved Lily's optimism but he knew that he was on Staci's side. They had already passed the aisle with where the crackers should have been and if they weren't there, the odds of them being elsewhere just wasn't any good.
Nevertheless Theo followed his wife and kids down the aisle and to the next one. Ben picked up a package of cookies, "Can't we get these? Please"
Theo looked up at Lily who shrugged her shoulders. Looking back at his son Theo nodded, "Sure, go ahead and put them in the cart."
A squeal caused Theo to turn to his daughter, "Staci are you alright?"
"I found them!" She raced to a shelf and quickly pulled a box of crackers out. The crackers were in shapes of snowman, snowflakes and Christmas trees. The little girl hugged the box and then placed it gingerly in the cart. "Okay, we can go now."
Theo and Lily looked at each other and nodded. Then Lily looked down at their daughter and held up her hand to which Staci slapped a high five, "Great eye Staci."
The four of them checked out and then got back in the car. The snow had continued in a steady pace and it didn't look like it was slowing down. Theo had turned on the heat but they knew that it would be a little while before they could feel it.
Slowly they began their journey through the snow. There were many starts and stops, a few close calls but eventually they made it to the cabin that they were staying at. As they stopped and looked in the backseat they noticed that both of the children had fallen asleep.
Theo got out of the car and hurried up the cabin; the door was locked so he searched for his key and quickly opened the door. Once inside he went and made sure the heat was on. He looked at the fireplace, he wanted to start a fire but he wasn't sure how long it might take and he didn't want to leave his family in the car for too long. With a mental note to take care of the fire once they were in he hurried out into the snow that was falling faster.
As he opened the door behind the driver's side he wished that the snow would stop falling, it would be nice for a bit of a respite. He picked up Ben who woke up as soon as his face felt a few snowflakes. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, "Are we there?"
Theo looked over at Lily who had already picked up Staci, "Yes sweetie, we're there."
Staci lifted her head and after looking around asked, "Is Uncle Luan here?"
"No, we're the first." Theo said.
She grinned, "I knew we'd beat him."
Lily and Theo rushed their children inside and set them on the couch. The cabin was still cold so Lily took a blanket that was on the back of the couch and wrapped it around the kids. Together she and Theo went back out and after a few trips had everything from the car inside the cabin.
Once they had everything in Theo went over and began working on the fire. Lily started taking off the kids coats and pulling sweaters from their bags. "We're going to have these on until it warms up some more in here alright?"
Just as the fire started going the front door opened and Luan and Sara walked in. "Bro! Sis! Niece! Nephew!"
"Uncle Luan!"
"Sara!"
Staci ran over to Luan and he picked her up, "I bet you here."
"You sure did. Guess you win."
Lily smiled at Luan and Sara, "Glad you guys got here safe. It's getting crazy out there."
"Even more so now," Sara said. "We have to get the stuff before it gets too bad to go out and get it."
Theo looked at Ben and Staci, "You two stay here, we'll get the things and bring them in."
Luan waited until Theo joined him by the door, "Nice to see you bro."
Theo smiled, "And you as well."
The four went out and brought in the bags that Luan and Sara had in their car. After they made their last trip in Theo looked into one of the plastic bags, "You brought food too?"
"I knew you guys were going to stop, but it's not a bad thing to have more."
Theo nodded, "I see your point."
Once everything got put away, dinner was made and soon the table was set. There was roast beef, potatoes, bread and green beans. They all sat around the table and ate the delicious food. When dinner was done Luan and Sara started cleaning up while Theo and Lily got Ben and Staci ready for bed.
After they read a few Christmas stories and sang carols the kids put milk and cookies out for Santa and soon they were in bed. Luan, Sara stayed up a bit longer with Theo and Lily, however they had driven longer to get to the cabin so they both decided to go to bed.
As Theo and Lily sat by the dying embers of the fire they heard the wind howl around the cabin again. "It's a good thing we got here when we did. It sounds like things have just gotten worse. It was good that we left when we did." Lily said.
Theo nodded, "When you're right, you're right." He had wanted to wait a bit and see if the storm slowed down a little but Lily had suggested they go ahead and head out just in case if it didn't let up.
The two snuggled closer together, "I do love snow." Lily said before leaning up and kissing Theo.
"Just snow?"
"Well you too I suppose." She grinned and glanced out the window, "The kids will love playing in that."
He nodded, "I do wish it had let up on the way here, but it'll be fun tomorrow."
"Exactly."
Theo once more kissed his wife and then the two headed to their room. Before Theo got into bed he looked out at the snow, they were able to stay nice and warm in the car and then here. His family was safe and sound so it could snow as much and as long as it wanted to. He was quite content as he climbed into bed.
"Merry Christmas Theo."
"Merry Christmas Lily."
Theo smiled and the two shared one more kiss before settling into the bed. Let it snow. They had a warm fire, they were nice and warm. The weather could get as fierce as it wanted but as long as he had his family safe and warm, as long as he was holding his beautiful wife close to him he was fine with that. He closed his eyes and let sleep take over as the snow continued to fall around the cabin.