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Thanksgiving had passed without any issues. Pat had actually spent the long weekend with his dad in his hometown since Fiona was spending the holiday with her folks. It was a bittersweet holiday but at least they would be able to spend Christmas together. That meant they would be able to do all the Hallmark holiday stuff like looking at holiday lights and decorations, holiday dinner, decorating the Christmas tree, and the one they were doing that night… buying a tree.

The lot was surprisingly large and pretty well stocked, the only reason they weren't elbow to elbow with other shoppers and the lot wasn't picked over was because they were a hair early on getting a tree. It was not quite the second week of December which meant they had their pick of trees. It also didn't help that it was cold as hell out, the mercury hovering around freezing, and the new called for snow later that night.

It wasn't meant to be a very large amount but it would be the first real snow of the season and it would be snow before Christmas in quite some time so everyone was watching what Winter Storm Benji was doing. It didn't help that it dropped snow on Texas and was predicted to hit basically every state on the eastern seaboard. If his schedule wasn't packed full to the gills, or if Fiona’s wasn't as well, Pat would have suggested they spend their date night inside… in bed preferably. But if they were going to get a tree that wasn't going to beat Charlie Brown’s tree for ‘saddest ever Christmas tree’ tonight would be the only night, at least with them both spending time together..

“Hey Fi, what about this one?” His breath puffed in the cold air as he stood in front of a particularly conical shaped tree. The tree he had been eyeing should be the right height, decent branch coverage, and everything but he wasn't sure any of the ornaments would actually be able to be hung on the tightly packed branches. It would look fantastic covered in white twinkle lights though.

((They really did call the snow storm Benji >.< ))

Pat smiled down at the pretty lady who wormed her way under his arm and against his side, a action he gladly accepted. In fact he tugged her a little closer and tucked her against him, her extra body heat a bonus as the cold
winter air tugged at their jackets. Besides he really liked it when Fi was snuggled up against him like this. As if they were two puzzle pieces that fit together… well maybe not puzzle pieces since they both were so individual but Pat liked to think that they really were well suited to each other. She seemed to fit just right at his side. “Yeah, I’m sure there is a better one here.” Pat eyed the tree again. It was a little scraggly at the top, the branches not so full or as closely packed as the bottom. It was nitpicky and honestly no one would notice one way or the other but anything that would stretch out the date was A.okay in his book, between work and family and ‘other stuff’ finding time to just be themselves wasn’t easy.

“Lead the way Ceann daor” Since ultimately it was her tree, his was a rinky dink artificial tree that was easy to carry up three flights of stairs, he wanted to find the tree she liked. As the wound their way through the man made grove of evergreens, the air seemingly getting colder with each breath, Pat struck up a conversation. “So you never really did finish our conversation from the truck.” The drive ended a lot faster than either of them expected so beyond the typical ‘how was your day?’ conversation they didn’t really have time to really talk. “Something about a group? I know people tend to team up, but a group of more than three people?” It was not going to be easy! Pat kept his voice low to keep from being overheard from the few people who were there, a grand total of like five including Pat and Fiona. He was careful to keep anything too telling from what he was saying but it never hurt to be careful. Lady Luck was pretty fickle afterall.

Pat let Fiona say her peace, pulling her closer when she snuggled up to him. It hurt to see her hurt, god help him if she started to cry. Pat had no clue how to handle tears. “You be Peter. I’ll be Tink. You've only to ask and I'll do what I can to help.” He tried to lighten the mood a bit with some levity. “Although if ever there is a Wendy I can't promise I won't get jealous. Fairies bodies aren't all that big so it's hard to have so many emotions at once.” He was pretty sure that's how the Mouse House explained why Tinkerbell went off her rocker when it came to Wendy Darling. Then again it had been years since he had seen that movie so maybe he was wrong.

“Fi sometimes things don't work out. It sucks and it hurts but your right. It takes all parties really working at it to make a group work. We live and we learn and we grow.” Pat shifted her so he could look down into her eyes, her beautiful mismatched eyes, his arms around her waist holding her snug against him. “I'll help out wherever and however you need.” He might have said more, probably put his foot into it as well, if something hadn't caught his attention. A little spot of white lightly landing on Fiona’s hair before rapidly melting. Snow? Violet eyes drifted towards the sky and a brow rose in surprise as he saw snow slowly drifting down.

That explained the feeling of the temperature dropping even further then expected, the snow was showing up hours early. “Ceann daor, you will figure it out, that's pretty clear. And you’ve got us to help so we will at least make it interesting.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead and wondered just how much help he could actually give her… and what her ‘higher power’ was because he didn’t think that senshi had the Code like knights did. Not that the ball of info was actually all that useful as far as Pat was concerned. “It's snowing by the way. The perfect backdrop for a tree search.”

He liked her smile and her laugh so when his little joke seemed to ease the pain she had felt he was proud. Pat wasn’t exactly what one would call a Romeo. He wasn’t great with women, often didn’t understand them, and heaven forbid one starts to cry in front of him. He probably would never know what to say to make Fi ‘swoon’ but as long as he can get her to smile he wasn’t too worried. Especially when she snuggled up into him like that!

After obliging her obvious request for a kiss, and sort of wishing they weren’t in a public place, Pat cheekly said, “I think your lucky to have me too.” He grinned and stole another kiss before adding, “Who else do you know with a Truck thats big enough for the huge tree we are going to get you?” With a careless swipe he dusted off the couple of flakes that had started to accumulate on her jacket. Unless he was mistaken it looked like they would be getting at least a inch so the sooner they picked a tree the better. “Let's find you the perfect Christmas tree. Then we can head back and you can put ‘Tink’ to work. My fee however is some hot chocolate and a kiss, half up front half later.” With that he stole yet another kiss before letting Fiona go. He didn’t particularly want too but they were here for her, it was cold as hell out, it was snowing, and it was most definitely a public place since he could hear more cars pull into the parking lot. Further talk about her group, and he did want to hear more, was going to be risky with more people there. “Deal?”

“We don’t have too, we have time.” Pat was having fun looking for trees with Fi but he rapidly agreed when she presented her counter to his offer. “But I won’t ever say no to that.” His grin was more goofy then devilish but the look in his eye definitely counterbalanced the smile. As if there was any man in his right mind who wouldn’t take her up on that offer! So with little more than a nod of agreement the tall redhead let his beautiful girlfriend drag him back to the first tree she liked so they could buy it and strap the sucker in the bed of his truck.

The romantic tree buying endeavor was ending quicker then he expected but there was no way in hell Pat was going to complain. Any time with Fiona was better than none at all.