Wintumn Wonderland

Walking In A Winter Wonderland

As always - I'd like to thank the council and the fine folks of the TNN discord for their support and their assistance with this fic. Couldn't have done it without y'all, so thank you.

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It was a beautiful and crisp Friday afternoon in December. Christmas was approaching and all the shops were decorated with all the typical holiday cheerfulness one would expect during this time of year. The nursery had garlands and trees abound as the holiday season seems to have exploded in the halls. Autumn secretly loved this time of year – she loved the music, she loved the cheer, she loved the idea of families coming together. She never had that feeling around the holidays living in the Knight household where the holidays were a chance for Roger to parade his children around pretending to be a caring father, raising his children alone. Far from the reality of the terror he reaped in this home, leaving Reece, and later Mia, to act as more of a parental figure to Autumn than her own father. At least that's the way it was for the first decade or so of her life.

She put all of those thoughts out of her mind, however, because she could see the clouds gathering in the sky and she knew what that meant. As she stared out the window, Christmas music quietly playing in the one earbud she secretly had in as she filled out paperwork, she saw it. The first snowflake of the winter season. This was Autumn's favorite part of winter – the first snowfall. It was like a secret holiday that was hers and hers alone. But this year, her secret holiday was much happier. She was going to be able to share this with the love of her life and she couldn't wait.

Later that evening, as she and Winter were the last ones to leave the building before the weekend, they paused, just looking up at the sky and the flurry of beautiful icy flakes falling down on them. Winter smiled as he looked at the barely concealed excitement and anticipation radiating from Autumn. He could tell that this wasn't a side of her she was ready to have on display yet, so he chose not to comment. As they got closer to Autumn's car, Winter looked around to make sure they were alone before pressing his body against hers and pinning her to the driver's side door of her car as she giggled, grinning at him. He smiled at her, admiring her beauty as the snowflakes surrounded her face, almost like an ethereal angel. He pressed his lips to hers, simply enjoying this moment of peace after a chaotic day at work.

Autumn beamed wider as she felt Winter's warm lips against hers, providing the perfect contrast to the frigid air around them as icy flakes fell on their cheeks. Autumn wrapped her arms around Winter's neck as he slipped his hands inside her unbuttoned coat, wrapping them around her waist, pulling her closer to share in her warmth. They stayed like that, pressed against each other, wrapped up in each other as the entire world faded away to nothing more than a whisper of a leaf in the wind. They stayed like that, close and connected, until their breath ran out. Winter pulled back slightly to allow them to catch their breath and once again, for what was probably the millionth time since they started secretly seeing each other, was captivated by the sheer beauty and radiance that was Autumn Knight. He couldn't help but stare at her as the snowflakes landed in her hair and on her eyelashes. He couldn't help but stare at her kiss-swollen lips and her beautiful gray eyes. He couldn't help but stare at her pale skin as a slight blush appeared on her cheeks as she realized exactly what was going through his head. He had no idea how he had gotten lucky enough to have a woman this stunningly gorgeous look at him with as much love in her eyes as he had in his, how he had gotten lucky enough for a woman this striking to love him, but he was never ever letting her go. "My sweet, as much as I'm enjoying this moment, I'd very much prefer to continue this somewhere a bit warmer," Autumn said in her characteristic whisper-like voice. As much as Winter wanted to continue standing there with her, he had to agree. It was definitely below freezing, and his hands were starting to get numb.