Christmastime in the City
By April French

Epilogue

December 25th, 1995

Using the key Schanke had given him months ago, Nick unlocked the front door and let them in. "Hello?" he called tentatively. "Merry Christmas?"

A small figure in plaid dress and braids appeared in the living room doorway. "Uncle Nick!" Jenny shrieked, running over and welding herself to his legs in a shin-breaking hug.

Natalie looked at him. "'Uncle'?"

A little embarrassed, Nick smiled. "The first time I came over, she adopted me."

"She is her father's daughter," said Natalie dryly.

Jenny grabbed both of their hands. "Come see what Santa left me!" she exclaimed, dragging them into the living room.

Myra Schanke was sitting on the couch, still in her bathrobe and slippers, staring at the Christmas tree and the gleaming pink-and-white bicycle resting beneath it. "I don't understand," she said, over and over again as Nick and Natalie greeted her. "Where did it come from?"

"I told you, Mommy!" said Jenny, planting her hands on her hips and rolling her eyes in childish exasperation. "Santa brought it!"

"That was not there when I went to bed!" she hissed to Nick. Then she saw the grin tugging at the corners of his lips. "What?" she asked suspiciously. From inside his coat, Nick pulled out a photocopied toy store flyer, and a small house key, and laid them in Myra's hand. "Oh, Nick... you didn't."

Nick held a finger in front of his lips and motioned to Jenny, who was happily spinning the wheels on her new bicycle. "Let's say I didn't," he whispered. "We all need a little magic in our lives now and then."

Myra pulled him into a tearful hug. "Thank you," she whispered. Then, to Nick's surprise, she kissed him on the cheek.

"What was that for?"

She gave his arm a playful smack. "If you have to ask..." Then she winked. "Besides," and she pointed upward. Nick looked up; he was standing under a sprig of mistletoe. "You two make yourselves comfortable; I need to go get dressed. God, five in the evening and I'm still in my nightgown!"

They watched her go. "She really is a force to be reckoned with," Nick commented.

"Yup. Learn to deal with it; it's a woman thing."

"Huh?"

"Excessive emotion. We females tend to deal with it by either jabbering incessantly or by plying everyone with mountains of food."

"Hmm." Nick pretended to frown. "I think I'd rather contend with the food." He cocked an eyebrow. "Why do you and I always get stuck under the mistletoe?"

Natalie put her arms around his neck. "Magic?" she suggested with an impish smile.

Nick returned her grin, and kissed her softly. And then again. The kiss deepened--

"Are you guys in love?"

They broke apart, Nick leaning his forehead against Natalie's hair. "Y'know, munchkin... I think we are."

"Yay!!!" Jenny clapped her hands. "Are you gonna get married?"

Nick pulled back and looked down at Natalie questioningly. After a moment, a slow smile spread across her face. "Y'know, Jenny," she said, "I think we are." She kissed Nick's nose, making him twitch and grin sheepishly. "But not for a while yet, so don't tell anyone."

Jenny made a gesture of turning a key in front of her lips. "I haven't heard a thing," she vowed.

At that moment, Myra came bustling back into the living room, affixing her earrings. "You'll stay for dinner, too, Natalie," she said. "No, no, I insist! I'm Italian, I have to cook a big meal. Jenny, come and help me get the turkey ready."

Reluctantly, Jenny abandoned her new bike.

"Do you want--"

"No, Natalie, that's okay. You and Nick just sit down and take it easy. By the way, that is a gorgeous necklace!"

And then they were alone in the living room, with the softly glowing Christmas tree. And the mistletoe.

Nick stroked Natalie's face with his cold, silky finger tips. "I'm afraid, Nat," he admitted.

"So am I," she confessed, hugging him tightly. "But you know what I think?"

"What's that?"

"I think that sometimes, fear can feel a lot like hope."

"Maybe." Nick exhaled when he realized he was holding his breath. "I don't know how we're supposed to go about this... what I am... what we're doing... it's dangerous. And I don't believe in magic anymore."

Natalie thought of Jenny's smile, of Myra's happiness over Nick's unexpected generosity. "But I do."

"You, Nat? The pragmatic, skeptical scientist?"

"There are all kinds of magic," she murmured, before kissing him deeply.

Her warmth permeated Nick's being, breaking through the barriers he had created to hold back the emotions of the past tumultuous months, and beneath that sprig of mistletoe, the vampire slumped into Natalie's comforting embrace, and cried.

~Finis—December 14th, 2003~

Notes: I don't remember if "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls had been written in 1995, but it was the song that inspired this story in the first place, so I stuck it in anyway. It just wouldn't have been the same story without it. Also, many thanks go out to the Patrick Stewart and Alistair Sim versions of "A Christmas Carol," which I watched many, many, many times as I was writing this thing.