With Hope for Christmas - short story.

I Do...

You know this feeling when your world seems to stop in its tracks and everything around you seems irrelevant, and only this one person, can change everything? That was something I felt when this unknown was slipping through my fingers. And the only person that could have helped was her. Thankfully my plan worked and she saw everything that I thought about and all that I thought wouldn't be able to tell her. And now she was here, in the north pole with me and we were about to start exploring the future together. One step at a time. It was already New Year's Eve, we have been at home for 6 days now. During that time, the most important thing was Hope's recovery. When she woke up that day on Christmas from her coma, the first thing she did say was 'I want to stay", and she did. Her vitals came back, it truly was a miracle. And I was so grateful. After that, she met my eyes and she smiled holding my hand and she said, almost whispering so only I could hear her at that moment. She said "I saw you, I saw everything" and then fighting through tears she said the last sentence that resulted in us taking both her and Joy back to the North Pole. "I want to see it all," she said and she grabbed my heart with it. For the last 6 days, I tried my best to show her around. We started from my tower, obviously, the moment she noticed the snowflake combination on the door and found out why it is there she was surprised, to say the least. But also felt honored that she was an inspiration for these doors. She was taking everything in, my family fell in love with her instantly. My heart was full. I'm sorry that this might seem too sugary sweet like every other love story out there. It's not though, because we haven't magically fallen in love with each other. We both agreed that what happened during this past week is a story good for history books but at the same time, the information that she found out all at once would be way too much to absorb. Especially if we would rush into things too much. And trust me, I was just happy that she gave me a chance to show her that being a part of this family wouldn't mean that she will be a prisoner like, I was feeling at times when I was not going outside our village at all.

***

There were about 3h left until New Year will arrive. The kids were running around the house, most likely suffering from the sugar rush as my mom made again, way too many sweet goodies. My brothers sat around the dining table, some with their wives, others with girlfriends. They were all deep in the conversation about new projects for toys and other objects. It was all about work to them. It was funny because you could have thought that, after all, we have a whole year for that, but with everyone's lives and kids and other jobs that we had, this business was pretty tough. I popped my head in the kitchen, hearing my mom's and dad's voices. They were talking with Noah and Joy. Joy was standing in the center of attention, getting excited about their wedding. They decided to elope next year, in wintertime. I noticed faith standing up and she started walking in their direction, she walked like a little ducky, it was hilarious, I started chuckling and she heard it. Turned her face to me and she was about to say something when I realized that her water broke.

"Aaaahhh!! No! Not now!" she shouted making every member of my family either panic or rush to her side. The only calm person was her husband who made sure she won't panic herself and he came to her side, and with John's help, they took her out back and helped her get into the car and they rushed into the hospital. It was going time. Another Claus wanted to join us. And we couldn't be happier. Noel cleaned the puddle before the toddlers would be able to start playing in it. Gross, I thought. I looked everywhere, but I couldn't see Hope. She wasn't in her room, not in the attic, or guest room, nowhere. I started panicking. Noah saw me and he started walking in my direction and seeing my behavior he handed me a package.

"Hope told me to give it to you," he said and walked away. When I opened the package I knew exactly where to look for her. I put on my boots and jacket and I went out of the house in the direction I knew all too well.

HOPE'S POV

I left Claus's house around 11 pm I knew where I wanted to go. Before then, I asked Noah for directions. During these few days, I found out so much about Peter, his family, and all that happened throughout the years. At first, I thought I would be mad, but I realized that finally everything that I endured during my life came into place, and it happened just because this magical Snow Globe was passed from generations. To think that Peter could have become a new Santa Claus was unbelievable, but what was, even more, is that finding his path and us being destined to each other was much stronger than him becoming one. When he and Noah mentioned the story behind the snowflake necklace, I knew that I want to visit this lake myself, just to find out how I was connected to it. And as soon as I stepped into the clearing it shot me like a freaking deja vu.

Flashback, 14 years ago, the day before my parent's accident.

"Come on Hope, faster!"

"Don't rush your sister Joy, she's younger than you".

"Sorry mommy"

We were out with our parents during our monthly adventure. We went away a bit further from the main city, every time we're looking for different attractions. One time, we found an abandoned amusement park which was pretty creepy especially since we're barely kids. This time we found something much better. All of us loved ice skating. But we wouldn't expect that we would need our skates then. I was getting pretty tired with all the running, so daddy took me to piggyback and when we arrived where Joy and mom were already waiting for us, we saw a beautiful frozen lake. It was huge, surrounded by trees and bushes. During winter when the trees were white with snow, it looked almost magical in the middle of the lake it was a part where the sun rays were shining and the ice surface was shining so pretty. I jumped out of my dad's back and I rushed to the surface but I was stopped by my mom.

"Not so fast little girl, it might not be safe"

"But mommy I want to go see, it looks so pretty"

"Wait baby girl, I will go first and check if it's safe for you to go there," my dad said and stepped onto the ice. After he slid a bit further and realized that the surface is perfectly strong, he signaled to mom, Joy and me, that we can join him. I immediately started sliding into the center of the icerink where I saw the sun giving its light the most. And when I reached it I found myself again in this place only this memory was just a memory again.

End of flashback...

***

It was so weird. Could this be the same place? But how? The memory of my parents was fainting. And yet, they seemed so real. Before I left the house I gave Noah a package for Peter. Inside I left the necklace that was made out of a diamond that they found here in the lake so, he would know where to find me. When I stood there, in the same place where I was all these years ago I realized that the sun started to give it's light the same way again. It was making me shiny. And then I saw Peter on the other side of the lake. He was already putting his skates on and in a matter of seconds, he was standing before my eyes. And my heart skipped a beat.

PETER'S POV

I found Hope at the frozen lake where the whole story about snowflake started. She became my everything. And I was so ready to ask her something that I wanted for such a long time. When I arrived at the destination I noticed her straight away, she was standing in the center of the rink, in the place where we found the resource for the necklace. It looked almost like she fit there like no one else. Before I reached her, I noticed the sun shining through the already dark sky. After all, it was almost midnight. The whole scene looked like out of this world. Her beautiful lavender hair shined like an actual diamond, she gave me one of the most beautiful smiles I've ever seen in my entire life, and then she said.

"Can we dance?"

"There is no music though" I answered.

"We don't need it".

And I did as she asked. I hold out a hand for her. She took it and placed it on my arm, I placed my palm at her hip and then took her other hand in mine and started swaying my hips to the sound that nature started giving us. We both closed our eyes and all we could hear was the beating of our heart, the whistle of the wind, and the rustle of the tree leaves. And that was our music. Not knowing when we came much closer and now we were already hinging each other. She put her head on my chest and my head landed on her shoulder. Finally, she whispered.

"Your heart is pounding"

"Because I'm happy"

"You are?"

"Hope..." I said while stopping the dance. I hung my head down for a moment. Then I looked at her and continued. "Hope, you were my Christmas wish, since the moment I saw you again, and then when I found out that I was supposed to meet you. But I didn't want to leave you without an option to choose your path. But when I was holding you in my arms, lifeless, and I thought that I would never be able to see your eyes and hear your voice, it broke me. And trust me, I was never one for any sappy confession. But dreaming about you, changed me, you changed me. And I just wanted to ask you something".

"Wait Peter, I don't think we're there yet. We just met, technically".

"What did you think I was about to ask you?" I asked slightly confused.

"I thought..."

"That I'm gonna ask you to marry me? God, no, Hope, that's way too fast. This isn't some epic love story out of the movie or something".

I started laughing and she just smacked my head. But then burst out laughing herself. I took both her hands in mine and as I was about to say what I wanted to say. My phone started to ring. I looked at it and it was 11.50 pm, only 10 more minutes to new Year. I picked out the phone and all I heard was Faith's happy voice telling me that I have another niece and that she was born just 10 minutes ago, so she managed to make this year even better than it already was. I congratulated my sister from both me and Hope but said that I need to go and that I love her. I put the phone quickly in my pocket and when I was about to say something to Hope, she put the index finger on my lips and smiled at me. And instead, she started saying something to me...

"I DO, I do want to explore this life with you, doesn't matter where, either here or anywhere in the world. I think we waited long enough to find each other. And even if it was destiny then I'm grateful, because it led me to something worth any obstacle that we will have to face. And thank you that you were next to me when I thought it was the end. You brought me back."

And then I felt her grabbing my neck and pulling me closer to her and a few seconds later she kissed me. And the kiss itself was like a lifeline that I needed all my life. We haven't even realized all the fireworks blowing the sky above us. We found each other just in time for the new year and all the new adventures that we will be able to live through, TOGETHER...