Since I did not write my Christmas oneshot, I felt it necessary to write one for New Year's. I am infamous for my holiday oneshots, I hope this will be one of the better ones. This is EXTREMELY short. Especially for me. But it's extremely fluffy.

Dropping the Ball

Lilly stared into the bottom of her glass of champagne. Well, it wasn't so much champagne as it was amped up apple juice.

She was supposed to be celebrating. It was the end of one year, the beginning of another; a new beginning hopefully.

The doorbell rand, and to Lilly it echoed around the house, but no-one else seemed to notice. Their eyes were all fixated on the television set, awaiting the final countdown into the new year. She rolled her eyes before getting up to answer the door.

She got out to the foyer and opened the door without thinking. When she saw who was on the other side, she dropped the glass of bubbly liquid. She waited to hear the shattering of glass, but it never came.

Nick handed her the glass, which she set on a table next to the door, not trusting her ability to hold it any longer. She had to hold onto the doorframe for support, because her knees felt like buckling. And that would have been perfect, to fall and force Nick to catch her; and he would too.

"You're here? You're back? Now?" he nodded and opened his mouth to explain, but she continued to rant. "We talked for four hours last night and you never thought to mention this?"

"I guess not. Must've slipped my mind," he grinned as she shook her head. "Or maybe I just wanted to surprise you. Are you surprised?"

"Very," she answered before remembering her manners. "Do you want to come in? We have more juiced juice and the ball is about to drop. You wouldn't want to miss that!"

She moved aside to let him in, but instead he pulled her out to stand with him. Her hand remained in the door, but she didn't move to go back inside.

"Actually Lilly, I kind of have a ball to drop of my own. You know how a new year is supposed to be about new beginnings?"

She nodded her head as she heard the countdown from inside.

8…7…6…5…

"Well, I sort of wanted to get ahead on my New Year's Resolution," he said, leaning closer to her.

"What is it?" she asked as they heard the final digit of the countdown.

"To have the courage to do this," he said, crashing his lips on hers as the people inside cheered "Happy New Year" and sang Auld Lang Syne.

It took them almost two minutes into the New Year to let up. Nick bit his lip to try to taste the kiss again, and Lilly bit hers simply because she was nervous.

"I hope you know it took me an entire year to get up the nerve to do that. I've been putting it off since I met you, at that party last New Year's. I didn't want to keep a girlfriend when I couldn't see her as often as I wanted. Then, in that conversation last night, I decided you were more than worth it."

He leaned over and swept his thumb over her cheekbone before kissing her again.

"That's funny. My resolution was to get a boyfriend."

"Check," he said, kissing one cheek, then the other. "And check."

"This is so much better than the cruddy family party I've been havin' for the last three hours. One moment of this is better than all my New Year's combined."

"Not for me. There was last year, when I was at this horrible party and I fell in love with this beautiful blonde, even though my brothers have established I'm a brunette guy, and I felt like I had to have her, but it took me a year to actually ask her out…crap, now I'm rambling, you're such a bad influence, and, the point is…I really like you, a lot, and I can't take another year of not being able to call you mine."

"You can call me whatever the hell you want," she said, going up on her toes to kiss him again.

"So, are you going to introduce you to your family? I heard that's one of those things you're supposed to do. Especially when you can hear the party from out here."

She grinned and shook her head before dragging him inside into the party, handing him a glass of sparkling apple cider and taking another for herself.

"Hey everybody, this is my boyfriend, Nick," she said, warning him with her eyes.

"Lilly you didn't tell us you had a boyfriend!" she heard her grandmother yell, and soon Nick was covered with spectators.

"Must've slipped my mind," she said, winking at him through the crowd.

Lilly dove through the crowd to make it to him and kissed him again. Finally the crowd receded and she went up to him and whispered in his ear, "Happy New Year."

He spun her around and kissed her forehead, "Happy New Beginning."

Happy New Year and happy new beginnings. Love you all!
xxaccebxx