Christmas Eve comes around four days later, with the warm welcoming of several families arriving on the doorstep of Rae's house. Both her and her mother were under the impression that it would just be the five boys, and instead got a pleasant surprise when they showed up with their families. MaryAnn answers the door, sliver blouse sparkling beneath the Christmas lights on the porch. She greets them all warmly, turning to shoot her daughter a surprised look over her shoulder. Rae had stood there in the foyer, one red boot in her hand, and the other holding Ronan's. She had shrugged, then followed her mothers example and introduced herself.

"I thought you said it was only the five of them." MaryAnn mutters under her breath to her daughter.

"I thought so, too." Rae responds, releasing Ronan's hand once Liam comes to scoop him up.

"I haven't prepared enough food."

Before Rae can answer, Niall, Zayn and Louis all come through the door, arms full of pots and containers of food. Louis sends a bright, cheeky smile towards Rae, following behind his band mates. MaryAnn quickly leads them to the kitchen. Rae however, stops Louis with a hand on his shoulder.

"Louis, is-is that a ham?"

"Honey baked ham, to be exact." He smiles. All too bright and Rae isn't sure if the Christmas lights are on her roof, or in Louis' expression.

Their smiles linger on each other for so long, that Zayn has to come out from the kitchen, pulling the ham away from Louis. He claims it'll be cold by the time they both stop throwing heart eyes at each other. With that, Louis quickly follows Zayn as Rae speeds off towards the living room, cheeks a bit more pink than a moment before.

***

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yule-tide carols being sung by a choir, and folks dressed up like Eskimos."

Rae closes her eyes, reveling in the rich, warm tone of Harry's singing voice. She snuggles Ronan closer to her chest while he stares at Harry with bright, blue eyes. At the word Eskimo Ronan turns to rub his nose against his sisters.

"Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe, help to make the season bright."

She begins to mouth along to the song as Liam and Zayn harmonize the next verses. Unknown to her of someone sitting across from her carefully watching her.

"Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
Will find it hard to sleep tonight."
"They know that Santa's on his way
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
"And every mother's child is gonna spy
To see if reindeer really know how to fly."

Niall plucks the strings of his guitar while he picks up singing the next line. Smiling during his singing when he notices Louis' eyes glued to Raelyn. She starts swaying in time to the music, when Ronan turns to whisper in her ear. Rae opens her eyes, smiling down at her brother, and shakes her head. Ronan sets a mock stern look on his face and nods. He points over to Louis, nods once more, then seems satisfied when Rae chuckles quietly and agrees to whatever he wanted. Which had to be a request to sing, for Rae's voice automatically harmonizes the moment Louis begins to sing the last verses of the carol.

"And so I'm offering this simple phrase, to kids from one to ninety-two.
Although it's been said many times, many ways. Merry Christmas to you."

Her voice has a touch of soprano. An angelic pitch that makes Louis' heart surge with warmth and the overwhelming urge to suddenly curl up next to the fire with nothing but her beautiful voice filling his ears, lulling him to sleep. Louis' focus on her diverts when her brother catches his attention. Ronan is twisting his small body around to face his sister, a delighted smile on his lips and a face brighter than the star atop their tree. Rae scrunches her nose, bopping Ronan's own right as they finish off the song.

Once the final chords of the guitar fades out, Louis notes the almost tranquil expressions of his best mates, aiming straight at Rae. Her gaze, however, shifts to Louis; her eyes bright and admiring. Louis' heart sputters the longer they continue their little staring contest. Realizes that she's looking at him like that. The heavy air in her room those few nights ago had completely changed something between them, transferring over into this moment.
Their look lasts a few seconds more, before Ronan steals her attention back by gently patting her cheek. Louis simply becomes a spectator to the siblings interaction, realization dawning on him as Rae smiles down at Ronan, placing a kiss on his bald head. He doesn't think he's ever seen Raelyn this happy. He lets his own smile take over and feels his heart strings pull again. The blissful moment is interrupted by Niall.

"Didn't know you could sing like that, Rae." Niall says, something like awe laced in his lilt.

Rae shrugs nonchalantly, wrapping her arms around Ronan a bit tighter. "I usually only sing to Ronan." She smiles at Niall. "Plus that's my one of my favorite Christmas songs. Isn't that right, Ro?" She pecks his cheek.

"Yeah!" Ronan giggles, leaning back into his sister's embrace.

"Ronan sort of, requested- well, demanded-" Ronan giggles- "that I should sing. Couldn't say no."

The other boys soak in their moment, all hoping that something like this will happen again the next year. But it's Christmas Eve now, in the present. It is all warm and bright and happy, filled with friendship and love and the smell as of sugar cookies, and fresh balsam. All beautiful with twinkling lights in the dimmed room, with snowing falling freely beyond the window. Its soft piano notes and light guitar strums and pretty carols, with a crackling fire, surrounded their by families and friends. With pretty blue eyes that keep finding his the same time his finds hers.

Someone clears their throat, pulling Louis from what he is hoping isn't an embarrassingly fond look on his face, breaking his eye contact with Rae. Zayn's the one who cleared his throat, and is now smiling knowingly at Louis, wiggling his eyebrows twice. Sometimes, Louis hates him. Instead he just shoots Zayn nonthreatening glare; it is Christmas after all.

"So you take requests?" Harry suddenly asks, after his mum had given him a quick peck on his cheek when she passes by.

"Erm...maybe?" Rae questions, wincing some. She fiddles with her hair, twirling a piece around her fingers nervously.

"Would you mind singing 'O Holy Night?" Harry continues, "I would just like to hear you sing it. Think it would fit your voice nicely." The other boys mumble their agreement, while Louis decides to voice his own opinion.

"Your voice is quite lovely." Louis confesses softly, basking in the sight of Rae's pale skin tinting pink once again. "Plus...it's me birthday."

"Oh, so you're going to guilt trip me into it then, are you Birthday boy?" Rae teasing, but shifts uncomfortably. Louis nods enthusiastically. "Well...if you all really want me too..."

"Sing! Sing!" Two voices abruptly speak up from nowhere. Louis knows those voices and braces himself just in time as his twin sisters seemingly appearing out from thin air, jumping into his lap, each girl one each of his legs.

"Girls." Louis warns lightly, placing a kiss on each of their heads. "If Rae doesn't want to sing, we shouldn't really force her-"

"But her voice is pretty!" Phoebe exclaims, smiling up at her older brother.

"Yeah, very pretty!" Daisy agrees, smiling over at Raelyn. "We want to hear her sing."

Louis shoots an apologetic smile over at Rae, who in turn, shrugs in defeat. Ronan wiggles around in her lap before sliding down her legs, his socked feet hitting the wooden floor. They all watch him wobble unbalanced for a moment, panic flashing across his sister's face. He steadies himself by gripping her pants, then makes his way over to Liam.

"Alright then." Rae quips as Liam helps Ronan climb into his lap. Ronan beams brightly at her while Liam smiles in apology.

"Right, let's vote." Zayn speaks up. "All in favor of the musical styling of Raelyn Elizabeth White?"

Louis' raises his hand up, despite his previous words. Then notices everyone, even their parents sitting on the couches in the far end of the room, raise their hands, all siblings included.

"I bet Louis'd fancy your voice, Rae." Lottie teases lightly, winking at her brother. She pulls the other Tomlinson sister along with her, both sitting down by Louis' feet. Louis shoots her an annoyed glare, which she retaliates by sticking out her tongue.

"I think we all do." Harry agrees, knowingly saving Louis. They share a quick look of gratitude and welcome.

"Alright, alright." Rae sighs, standing up and moving towards Harry at the piano. "D'you know how to play it?"

Harry nods, then leans his ear up as she leans down to whisper to him. By now, all families are paying attention, unknown to an unsuspecting Rae. As notes being to flow from the piano, Rae exhales a shaky breath, fiddling with the long sleeves of her cream colored knit dress nervously. She then closes her eyes, clasping her hands front of her.

"O' Holy night, the stars are brightly shinning. It is the night of our dear Savior's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pinning, til he appeared and the soul felt its worth."

They're all pleasantly surprised by her beautiful voice. Rae starts off quiet and low, slowly building up, notes flowing from her lips resting angelically in Louis's ears. With great effort, he tears his gaze from Rae to look around him. The children gaze upon Rae with doe-eyed wonder. His mum's smiling softly, gently nudging Niall's mother in silent appreciation, while the other three mothers wear the same smile. The fathers, Niall's brother, and Harry's sister sit quietly, enjoying the soft music, with slight impressed expressions.

MaryAnn looks absolutely delighted, pride shining through her smile at her daughter's singing. Her eyes gleam against the lights the tree is reflecting around the room. Her hands rest together over her heart, as if this moment- with both her children home with her, surrounded by loving people, is one of those life moments one never forgets. Always to look back on, come what may.

Louis refocuses on his best mates, who look like they're all trying hard not to melt into boneless puddles. Zayn's eyes are shut, chin in his hand taking in her voice. Niall rests his head on the side of his guitar perched on his lap, gazing up at Raelyn like she's an actual angel. Liam gently rocks Ronan side to side. The little boy's eyes fluttering between sleep and awareness, while Liam matches expressions with Niall. Harry, fingers still pressing down on the ivory keys, is fighting a losing battle of attempting to make sure he hits the right keys, to closing his eyes. Only to reopen them to glance at the beautiful girl singing beside him.

Harry's eyes drift over to Louis' and he smiles, motioning for Louis to focus back on Rae. Louis' heart swells and chills spread throughout his skin. Flowing deep inside him warming his bones, as Rae hones in on the end of the song. Her voice flowing smoothly, rising higher with pure notes.

"Fall on your knees. Oh hear the angel voices. O' night divine
O' night, when Christ was born, O' night, divine, Oh O' night divine."

Rae finishes off with a strong, controlled volume of her voice as she belts out the last few words. She comes down from her last, lingering note, fading it away like a caressing summer breeze. Inhaling deeply, finally opening her eyes and zoning straight to Louis' blue irises. Louis' stomach dives off in somersaults, when he realizes just how much their eyes keep finding each other's. Anchor, he thinks.

The room is silent for several long moments, during which Rae anxiously dances her fingers over her collarbones, bites her lip in anticipation. She's so nervous, awaiting the opinions of her friends, of the new ones she just made; keeps shifting her weight from one leg to another.

Finally, a soft "Holy shit" is uttered with an Irish lilt to it.

The cruse goes unheard to the younger children who had fallen asleep towards the end of the song, along with the scolding from Niall's mother. Rae clears her throat awkwardly, resting a hand on Harry's shoulder as if bracing herself from critics. Harry stands, wrapping his arm around her waist, and leans down to whisper nothing short of encouraging praise in her ear. For Rae's lips spread into the warmest of smiles, eyes shining in delight.

"That was bloody brilliant." Zayn praises her, as Liam nods in agreement.

"Thank you." Rae nearly whispers, clear gratitude in her voice. She's still smiling from whatever Harry said to her.

Louis wants to compliment her, wants to say how beautiful her voice is, how beautiful she is. But the words are lodged in his throat, struck with the sudden moment of it all. Before he can actually open his mouth to just say something, MaryAnn speaks up.

"That was so lovely, sweetheart." Her mum smiles, something like pride in her eyes. "But I think it's time for the little ones to be put to bed." She gently takes her son from Liam's arms, carefully shifting Ronan into a comfortable position.

"You're welcomed to use Rae's room for the girls, if you'd like." MaryAnn informs Louis' mother. "You are all welcomed to stay as long as you want."

***
Louis loses sight of Rae while helping his mum carry the twins to the Rae's room. She had escaped from her seat next to Harry; has been missing ever since. He searches around the house, catches Liam chatting with Gemma, questioning Rae's whereabouts. Liam is of no help, shrugging and suggesting to check upstairs (to which Louis had just came down from).
He finds Niall, merrily drinking spiked eggnog with his brother Greg and Zayn, asking if they've seen Rae. Niall barks out a laugh-"Can't leave your sight for long, can she?"- Before clapping his hand on Louis' shoulder, shoving him towards the sliding glass door.

He sees her then, standing on the back deck, snow falling and catching in her wavy hair and on her clothes. Louis quickly back tracks, grabs his coat by the front door, before making his way to where the girl who gives him irregular heartbeats and butterflies in his stomach on a daily. He quietly slides the door shut behind him. It makes a soft thud but doesn't pull a single reaction from Rae. He watches her for a moment; night soft and silent, just watching her tilt her head towards the sky. Louis realizes that her white, body-fitting jumper dress with thin long sleeves, dark leggings and red boots are not snow appropriate apparel. She's not dressed to be standing outside for this type of weather, for God knows how long.

"Raelyn, what are you doing out here? It's freezing." Louis says, placing his coat around her shoulders.

"It's a bit loud in there." Rae answers, crossing her arms to pull his coat tighter.

Louis slowly turns her to face him, gently brushing away the snowflakes that just landed on her eyelashes. He can't help the smile spreading across his lips as another flake lands on her nose and immediately melts on her skin. She scrunches her nose up, shivering from the contact. Louis laughs under his breath, puffing visibly in the air as he dries the damp spot with the sleeve of his shirt. He releases the sleeve, wipes away one last rouge snowflake, then rests his hand on the curve of her jaw.

Rae shakes her head, barely jarring his hands. "I couldn't see." She defends weakly, blinking open her eyes and staring straight into Louis'.

Louis can feel his heart rate begin to pick up as time passes and he realizes she isn't looking away. He watches her lips form a soft smile, one of those secret ones she keeps hidden from mostly everyone. Expect him. It's then, when Louis swipes his thumb along her cold cheekbone does he finally remember both hands on her cheeks. Clearing his throat, Louis slowly drops his hands, wills his heart to stop with the drum line against his chest, hopes that Rae can't hear it. But it just keeps getting louder the longer she keeps those incredible blue eyes on him.

"Right." Louis says after a small delay. "You have a beautiful voice, Raelyn. Absolutely beautiful." He decides to go with the reason why he originally wanted to find her. So what if that last part Louis muttered was not just solely to compliment her voice.

Rae's shyly bites her lip, glancing down for a moment like the comment is too much for her to handle. Her cheeks flush a rosy pink, and Louis thinks it made her look more radiant than ever. Even though it could be caused by the standing out in the cold for too long, but, details. He'd like to think he's the only one to actually succeed in making her blush like that.

Rae looks back up and smiles. "Thank you." She mumbles, pulling his coat around her tighter. "Thank you all for coming tonight. You honestly didn't have to. I know you don't get much time for the holidays."

"Honestly, Rae, it's no problem. We were all excited to come, we wanted to come. Especially Niall when he heard how much baking you and Harry had done." Louis admits.

Rae snorts softly, then frowns up at him. "But...Louis. It's your birthday, yeah? You could've been doing other things. Having a party or, I don't know, just spend some quality time with your family."

Louis simply shrugs. "I wanted to spend it with you...and everyone else." He adds slowly, like he thinks it can get rid of the meaning of those first few words. But the way Rae bites her lip again and fiddles with a loose strand of her hair tells him it's a lost cause. "You, my dear, could have said no, and just spend time with your mum and Ronan. Didn't need all these wild people."

"As if Ronan would turn down this kind of attention." Rae laughs. "Think mum really enjoys it too, since we can't really travel to see her family. We just don't like to be alone, just the three of us around this time, you know?"

"Yeah. I know." Louis responds softly. The quite lingers in the air between them for a few moments. They pause to watch the snow fall for a while, before Rae breaks the peace.

"So you're having a good time then?" She questions, carefully analyzing his expression.

"Of course I am." Louis scoffs, rolls his eyes playfully, and that's when he catches sight of what is currently hanging above their heads, tied on a low branch of the oak tree that stands in the backyard.

Mistletoe.

God. How horribly cliché can this moment get; or rather, about to it? Louis swallows hard when thoughts of Rae's soft lips on his suddenly snakes its way into his brain. Like some sort of cruel ninja throwing those sharp little Chinese stars. Sticking the image into the back of his eyes; stupid ninjas.

His heart rate picks back up as each metaphorical star adds a new thought; he would probably feel her warmth breath against his cheek. How he would gently caress her face, lit up and glowing beneath the soft Christmas lights, before sliding his bare fingers through her long, dark hair. How he would more than likely pull her closer to his chest so she can feel just what she has been doing to him for the past couple months. How he would hope that when he does kiss her, Louis would be the one to make her forget everything; kiss all her fears, panic, nightmares away, until nothing's left but light. Nothing's left but him.

"Lou...Lou. Louis? Lewis. LouBoo...Louis?" Rae's curiously concerned voice pulls him from the confines of his mind. Deep, dark confounds because where in the world did all of that just come from.

He blinks as a response.

"Louis? What are you staring at?" Instead of waiting for an answer, Rae looks up to see what he was gawking at. "Oh."

This is it. It's all going to come down to that tiny, poisonous plant. Bloody plant. When Louis finally tears his eyes from the green leafed and white berried plant, his breath abruptly leaves his lungs. Rae is stunning. Although she's currently staring at him with a rather unreadable expression.

What is she expecting of him, if anything? He is a twenty-two year old man, who isn't going to let some useless plant and big, tropical eyes doom him to hell. He isn't going absolutely weak in the knees and his heart isn't beating wildly in his chest. Nor are those damn butterflies tying knots in his stomach again, or how there's this suddenly warmth spreading through his body. He isn't. But then Rae takes the tiniest step forward, and who was Louis kidding? Damn it all. He gets slammed with his own realization; He is so in love with her.

Before Louis can react, (his brain is wounded with those stars) Rae braces her hands on his shoulders. She lifts herself on her toes, lingers her eyes on Louis, who can do nothing but gaze back. Then places a soft, warm- despite the cold tickle of her nose- kiss just past the left corner of his mouth.

She leans forward so her lips just graze the shell of his ear. "Thank you, Louis." She's whispering, "For everything. Happy Birthday."

Rae places one more kiss on his cheekbone, just a soft press of her lips against his skin. Releasing her hold, Rae lowers back down, then flashes Louis a genuine smile, all white teeth and eyes that reflect the glimmering Christmas lights. "I could go for some hot cocoa, couldn't you?"

Louis just nods.

Rae shrugs off his coat, handing it to him with her fingers lingering on his knuckles longer than normal. He watches her twirl gracefully, stumbles a little at the end and shoots him a sheepish smile, before sliding open the door. Rae's pulled in instantly when Liam spots her, already shoving a mug in her hands, before he leads her further into the house.

Louis is still standing outside in the freezing weather as snowflakes continue to fall all around and on him. He slowly brings his trembling fingers, (trembling from being out in the cold for too long, mind you) to the spot by his mouth where he can still feel soft lips on his skin.

Fucking mistletoe.

**********************************************************************************************************

Notes