Summary: Lex is not feeling the Christmas spirit this year, and after she gets into a terrible fight with her father, she and Fred decide to leave the city and runaway.
Rating: PG-13
Genres: Romance/Drama
Timeline: Unrelated to other stories. Fred and Lex are both eighteen.
Dedicated To: Written entirely for Kristine as her yearly Christmas fic of 2005.
Disclaimer: Lex, Sammie, Jeff, Matt, Anna, Anthony, Chris & Suspended Motion belongs to nygoldfish54.

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    “What kinda Christmas will it be if there’s no sign of snow anywhere?” Lex asked with a sigh. She was staring out through the big windows in the coffee shop, her arms on the windowsill and her chin resting against them. “Winter just won’t be the same without a snowfall. You know?”

    Fred smiled at her, watching her reflection in the window. “Lex, it’ll snow eventually. It’s not even Christmas yet.”

    “I’m used to it, that’s all. This was the first birthday in years that was completely snow free,” she mumbled. “I get depressed when all I see is puddles and the sky is gray. Is it too much to wish for a white Christmas?”

    “No, not at all,” he said. “Hey, the city has gotten enough of your sad face. Your cocoa is getting cold.”

    She knew that he was only trying to cheer her up – he’d always considered it has his duty to make her happy when she was gloomy – but it didn’t help her feel any less apathetic. She hadn’t thought snow was that big of a deal until now, when all she was met by was a gray and empty world.

    They were home from school over Christmas Break, Fred and she, staying at her place in New York. It was really no different from any other year; for the past three years they’d done the same thing – it had almost become a bit like a tradition. But Lex couldn’t feel excited about the upcoming holiday at all. It just wasn’t the same.

    The snow had only a small part in it, actually. Yes, the lack of the year’s first snowfall had been the initial trigger, but the reasons had increased gradually. Everybody around her seemed to be so caught up in the stress of the season that they’d forgotten the true meaning behind Christmas. Her parents were working more than ever, barely home at all – Lex had been home for several days but had only seen her mother once so far.

    Lex and Fred went to a private school out-of-state – Jeff, Lex’s best friend, did too – and were let out a few days earlier than Lex’s friends in New York, so whenever her friends weren’t in school they were busy with their last assignments before their Christmas Break. Lex knew it was all important but couldn’t help but feeling a bit neglected.

    She simply hadn’t achieved any Christmas spirit yet. And she was beginning to think she never would. Between her mother being too busy to help Lex and her younger siblings to decorate a tree and bake cookies, as she usually did, and Lex’s older siblings being too caught up in their own lives, Lex knew the most important parts of the holiday would lack this year. Everyone seemed to have fallen for the commerciality that surrounded them every time they stepped outside – Lex thought Christmas gifts was important, too, but everything wasn’t supposed to be about buying things, was it?

    Fred was right, though. Her cocoa was getting cold – while she was staring blankly at the sky, hoping for some snow to fall, letting the time fly by for no reason other than pure melancholy.

    She straightened up and turned around in her seat. “I guess it is. I don’t really care. You can have it if you want.”

    “I thought you hated it when I take food from your plate,” he pointed out, leaning forward and placing his hand on her cheek. “It’ll get better, I promise. I’ll find you some snow, Lex.”

    This finally made her laugh shortly. “Fred, I know money can buy almost anything, but not even you can make it snow.”

    Fred shrugged and grabbed her cup of cocoa. “Don’t underestimate me, girl. I’d go to great lengths to see you smile again. Have I ever let you down before?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrow at her while finishing her drink.

    Lex smiled weakly, throwing a quick look out the window to see if the snow had started to fall yet.