-The gates were closes, the sun had gone down, and there was no beauty... where [their] winter dreams flourished- (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

"And remind me why we are going to this dinner again?"

"It was DJ's idea Scarlett. He wanted us to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner together to start off the holidays."

"You said the same thing when Geoff threw that Halloween party a month ago. Remember how that went, Cody?"

"I never knew that you and Sierra could get into it so badly, but at least she was the one charged with attempted murder and is serving a six-month sentence, and she can never come near us again. Don't you agree?"

"I guess so."

Scarlett turned away from her husband as she placed her diamond earrings on. As she was finishing her final touches, Scarlett saw an elegant lady in front of her. An elegant lady wearing a floor length long sleeve gown with white lilies in the center. An elegant lady wearing contacts instead of glasses. An elegant lady with her hair up in a classic bun. An elegant lady with emerald eyes and ruby lips.

An elegant lady who was miserable.

Scarlett was not in the mood to spend an evening with mostly campers from a nostalgic past. Although Cody assured her that she wouldn't be murdered the moment they arrived, Scarlett knew that she was going to be isolated from everyone. She had been isolated from everyone for a while, particularly Cody.

Their relationship was almost a nostalgic past in the present. While their early days were youthful and wonderful, Cody kept trying to live those days when they had clearly passed and would never come back. They were still together, but Scarlett's focus on him started to wane, and he tried to keep that from happening, but nothing worked. This was where he hoped the dinner would be a last minute miracle. A last-minute hope of saving their relationship.

A relationship that was doomed from the start.

"What if this evening turns out to be a disaster?"

"I know that you don't want to go, and I wouldn't blame you, but DJ kept asking so nicely with those pastries so it was hard not to refuse."

Scarlett rubbed her head. "Although the pastries were good, I still think I am going to have a miserable time."

Cody went behind Scarlett and kissed her cheek. "Maybe not. Who knows, everyone may enjoy you, but we better go if we're going to make it on time."

Scarlett sighed. "We might as well get this over with." She placed on her coat.

Cody opened the door. "It won't be that bad." He followed behind her.

It wasn't a long drive to DJ's house. The distance was marked by half of an hour. A half of an hour that they sat in silence. During that time, Scarlett saw that it had started to snow. Canadian winters were brutal and reflected the dreariness people had this time of year.

The frost and ice outside reminded Scarlett of the question Job asked in Job 38:29, "Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?" While no means a theologian or a believer of the scriptures, Scarlett couldn't help but question who was the mother of the frost and ice on this particular night. She couldn't recall a night that was as cold and as snowy as this particular one.

Did this indicate a sign? She thought about it but gave up when an answer didn't come to her. She was relieved when Cody turned on the heat. Although the warmth would make her fall into a dream-like state, Scarlett wanted the heat as a barrier from the cold.

From the coldness of their relationship.

As projected, they made it to DJ's mansion right after driving for half of an hour. They walked up to the steps of the mansion and rung the doorbell. Moments later, a servant opened it and took their coats and placed them in an adjacent room.

"Cody, glad you made it man! Everyone's been asking about you."

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world. Have you meet my wife Scarlett?"

"No I haven't, but it's a pleasure to meet you."

"I extend my gratitude and let me say that you are as wonderful, if not better, the cook Cody told me about."

"I take it that you guys enjoyed my pastries?"

"We certainly did."

"They were wonderful, although my husband did end up eating most of them."

"You still have your sweet tooth man. Some things never change."

While Cody and DJ started talking and catching up on old times, Scarlett went into the adjacent room where everyone else was and sat down in a chair. She accepted a martini and took a drink to calm her nerves. Looking around the room, she noticed that other than Noah's wife Emma, she was the only non-first-generation member her. This indicated that most of the cast had found love and married amongst each other, with almost no outside members being considered.

No one came up to talk with Scarlett. This made her become bored rather quickly. She looked around and found Cody joking and laughing with his friends and their wives, but forgot to even invite Scarlett over to join in. This was why their relationship was all but over. Although he said that he loved her, Cody never included Scarlett at the events that they attended. This was one of many nights that she ended up feeling isolated from everyone.

She was determined to make it the last night.

Scarlett didn't know what to do, so in defeat, she just sat in the chair with her half-empty martini glass. However, she smelled a new scent, a foreign exotic scent. She looked around to see where it was coming from, only to realize that it was behind her.

Turing her head, she saw Heather's husband looking down at her. He didn't need an introduction. Scarlett knew it was. None other than Alejandro Burromuerto.

"Mi amour, it's a shame that a lady like you has been deserted by your husband."

"You can't fool me that easily. For one, I'm not married, and two, my boyfriend has told me all about you."

"And who would your lover be señorita?"

Scarlett turned her head toward Cody. "That would be him."

Alejandro shook his head in disbelief. "It's such a shame that Cody left you alone. Why you're the loveliest lady in the whole room."

"What about your wife Alejandro? Wouldn't she be the loveliest lady in the room?"

"Oh Scarlett, you don't understand. While Heather is beautiful and charming, she lacks a certain level of elegance. You have more elegance than anyone else and I'd give you not only the attention and happiness you seek but so much more."

"If you're trying to get me to consummate with you, forget it. You can just keep your eel to yourself. I am not going to be made a mistress. I wouldn't want your wife or my husband to think of me as a tramp. Even if I did so, enough women have seen your eel to last you a lifetime."

Before she allowed Alejandro to continue the decking conversation, she got up and walked out of the room. She went down the hallway where no one else went and found an empty room. She laid down on the couch and looked out the window.

The snow outside had picked up since they arrived. Although the temperature was falling as fast as her heart, Scarlett couldn't help but be awed by the sight in front of her. Going back to her earlier thought, although she was not a religious person, she couldn't help but wonder if there were angels taking flight on this particular night. Angels that made it snow. Angels that made a season of dread and sorrow lively and beautiful.

Scarlett got up after looking out the window. She grabbed a lily from a nearby vase and held onto it. She walked around the room, lost in her thoughts.

She paused. She questioned. She agonized. She cried. She died. She was lost. She was confused. She was miserable. She was depressed. She was dazed.

She didn't know what she was anymore.

Scarlett sat back down and discarded her lily. She couldn't understand where things went wrong with them. All of their memories were haunted, being part of a past that would never come back. She couldn't kiss him anymore. Every time they kissed, the poison settled in little by little, drowning her. She couldn't look at him anymore. Seeing his face made her burn out, lacking a will to continue on.

All she could do was bury her head amongst her hands.

She leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling for a while. She didn't move and started to fall into a drowsy state. She would have fallen asleep if she hadn't heard a knock.

"There you are, Scarlett! I've been looking for you. Dinner's about to start."

"Oh, I'm sorry Cody. I just needed some alone time since I was starting to have a headache and the conversations didn't help."

"Well do you feel better now?"

"A little bit."

"Good. I hope you're hungry since DJ has enough food to be the equivalent of aristocratic parties."

"So if we can think of it, he has it?"

"Yep."

"Well if we're going to eat, we better head that way. I'm sure we don't want to keep everyone at bay."

"Especially Owen. You don't want to see him angry when he has food withdrawals."

During dinner, Scarlett didn't say a word. Although she ate quite a bit and was pleased with the meal that had been prepared, she decided not to contribute to the conversation. All around her, people were having a good time. She didn't want to be here. She didn't belong here. She didn't belong with these people. They weren't her group of people.

She looked at Cody. He was busy talking away with the guys and not paying her attention. The more she looked at him, the more the truth came out. Scarlett finally knew why he was a hopeless romantic. He could never keep a long relationship. His interest would be on a woman for a while before it burned out and he moved onto another. She thought about their relationship and wondered about its fate.

She realized that it would never survive. It would have to end.

Scarlett knew that ending it would be rough, but she could not stay with Cody. She had to let him move on and allow herself a new chance. Their relationship was dead. She was at the fork in the road. He was going in one direction while she went in the other.

Scarlett was so busy amongst her thoughts that she didn't realize she nudged the table. Her wine glass fell into her lap and poured the red wine all over the dress. It rolled over and fell to the floor where it broke into pieces.

Everyone was concerned when the glass broke. "What broke?" "Are you alright?" "What happened?"

Scarlett grabbed a napkin and tried wiping the wine off. "My wine glass fell and caused my drink to land all over my gown. I'm sorry that it broke. I'll be willing to pay for a new one."

"Oh don't worry about it, Scarlett. Accidents happen all the time."

"Are you sure DJ?"

"I'm sure."

"Alright. Will you all excuse me, I have to get the wine off of my dress."

Scarlett went into a bathroom and spent a few minutes wetting a cloth and cleaning up as much of the dress as she could. After doing as much as she could, she started to head back when she noticed the stain on the lily. Seeing how the perfect lily was ruined, reflecting their relationship, Scarlett changed her mind. She went to the coat closet, grabbed her coat and car keys. She walked outside amidst the snow and got into their car. She started it up and drove off.

She was going home. She was going away.

A few hours later, Cody got out of Trent's car. He felt bad for deserting Scarlett and hoped that she was still up. After realizing that she took the car, he was furious at first, but after thinking and talking with some of his friends, realized that he hadn't been giving Scarlett the attention she deserved. He decided that he would make it up to her.

He opened the door. It was dark in the house and he didn't hear anybody. He turned on the light and found a note on the table in the hallway. It was addressed to him. He paused to wonder what it was about. He opened it and read the following,

Cody,

By the time you read this, I'll be far away. I'm not seeing anybody. I've decided to end our relationship. I know that you wanted it to work, but someone had to go. It wasn't working and it was doing more harm than good to the both of us. You could not have loved me any better, but the love we had was gone. It's best if we never see each other again. We have our own lives to live.

I hope you can understand this someday.

-S

After reading her note, Cody slid onto the ground and wept. He couldn't believe it. He blew the deepest relationship he ever had and didn't realize it until the end. The snow was no longer beautiful. It was agonizing. It represented the distance they were now, and how they would never see each other again.

He cried because she left him. He cried because he was reasonable for this. He cried because he didn't know what to do.

He cried because his winter dreams were already gone.

So you guys may wonder why I've written a shorter Scarlody after writing the 16,000-word oneshot a few weeks ago. The answer is that I'm experimenting with different writing styles. "Only Time" was done in a manner that paid ode to Henry James, Kate Chopin, and Edith Wharton, with its descriptions and exploration of the psychology of the human mind. This oneshot pays ode to William Faulkner, Katherine Porter, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, with its simplicity, short dialogue, lack of detailed description, and straightforward action. I like to test the waters with different styles from authors that I'm reading in my American Literature class.

This is also the first oneshot for the first annual Scarlody week. For those who may want to do it, it'll be the week of Thanksgiving each November, starting this year. I apologize for only having one story for this new event, but I've been so busy with college papers and assigments that I've not had time to write much. I also hope that Scarlody week will get people to notice this ship and to have more works in the fandom about this couple. Maybe by this time next year, we can have more amazing authors writing this ship. That's the goal I have for 2018.

But what did you guys think? I liked it since it threw a punch in the short amount of time the story goes. I almost named it "Winter Dreams" from the F. Scott Fitzgerald story of the same name, but I decided to change it after realizing that some people may think that I wrote a copy of the story.

So until next time! Please read, review, favor, alert, and spread the word.