The room was an icebox as it usually was, but the past few mornings when Vaike had woken up, he hadn't been so darn cold. It had typically been him waking up, arms wrapped around his companion to keep her warm, followed by him rolling onto his side of the bed and regretting what he had done in his sleep. But this morning, this lovely and fantastic morning that should have been being spent waking up anywhere but there, he was alone in the bed with the covers thrown down to the far side.

There was one other notable thing about the situation that came to him as he was getting up and making sure he looked at least somewhat presentable in the clothes he'd been wearing for a week—the air smelled incredibly strongly of something burning. Even with the door to the bedroom closed tightly, it seemed like smoke was seeping in from underneath it, which was only moderately worrisome. Had he forgotten to turn the lights off on the tree the night before, and had they caught fire? Was he responsible for the house that had kept him safe for a week being burned to the ground? Was that why he had woken up alone?

The fear of a fire happening in the house was enough to make Vaike quite literally run out into the main part of the house, where the air was thick with smoke but there seemed to be no source of flames. "What's goin' on out here?" he asked, head turning wildly to investigate the scene. "Where's the fire?"

"Oh, great, you're awake." Her voice flat and unimpressed, Sully spoke from somewhere in the black cloud that was filling the room. "Then again, should have expected that with how many damn times I've set the alarms off in here. Told you I can't cook."

He coughed a bit as the smoke began getting to him, but through hearing her voice and knowing the layout of the house a bit, he soon came to be standing beside her. She had something cooking in one of the pans on the stove, although what it was couldn't even begin to be made out. "Er, yeah, ya kinda did do that. So why bother tryin'? Feel like ya gotta impress ol' Vaike or somethin'?"

"No way. Impressing you didn't even come close to crossing my mind." Inhaling deeply and choking on the smoke, Sully tossed whatever it was she had been trying to cook aside and shook her head. "I was just trying to make your birthday a bit more bearable. You know, since you're up here with me and not where you want to be? Thought it would be a nice thing to do and I screwed it the hell up."

"Comin' from the woman who's managed to burn toast, it ain't that surprisin' that you weren't able to make anythin' edible here today." Without thinking, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gave her a little pat. "But it's okay, the effort's what matters. Now how do we get smoke outta a house like this?"

She tried to shrug him off, but he wouldn't move. "I don't know, okay? Not like it matters. I'm cooking you breakfast today and that's the end of it. So let's just let it stay smoky in here, because we damn well know that I'm just going to make things worse." Putting her pan back on the stove, she reached blindly towards the counter for something and, after getting her hand on it, brought it close to her face for inspection. "I was never aware that making these damn things would be so hard."

"What even is it?" he asked, leaning in closer so that he could see the mystery item, which was just a plain egg. "Eggs? Ain't got the slightest clue how to make eggs. Never done it."

"Some help you are," she replied, once again trying to get out from his grasp. He obliged to her body motions, stepping back a bit so that everything in front of her was completely obscured by the smoke. "I'll figure it out myself, I suppose. Just thought that it would be a nice change of pace from toast and your pancakes yesterday."

"It would be nice, if either 'a us knew how to make 'em. Why don't you—" He was going to suggest that she try making something else, but the sound of an egg forcefully hitting the bottom of something metal caught him off guard. "—didja just throw the whole egg into the pan?" She gave a small grunt of agreement. "Without crackin' it?" Another grunt. "Well there's the problem then, Sully! Everyone knows that you've gotta crack the eggs before cookin' 'em!"

After that revelation, which she swore up and down she'd never heard before ("Why are boiled eggs a thing then?" she asked multiple times, to which Vaike could only laugh), they were able to make a somewhat edible breakfast of scrambled eggs that tasted only moderately smoky and had only a few pieces of shell scattered throughout them. She was a bit bitter that she hadn't been able to do it on her own, but he seemed more than happy to have been able to help her out. "So, okay, gotta ask. Why'd ya decide you were gonna make breakfast today? It ain't anything special like yesterday."

"Has the time away from others messed with your head or something?" She pointed the tines of her fork towards him, and he shrugged. "Today's the twenty-sixth. Day after Christmas. Pretty important day for one of us."

His face, which had been wearing a bit of a smile, fell into a deep frown. "Oh, you remembered what today is. Figured you'd have forgotten like everyone else seems t'have."

"Why are you acting like me remembering your birthday is a bad thing? I figured it would be a damn fine thing for me to make you breakfast, since you did so for me yesterday, and the fact that it's the big day for you means that it should just be better?" His frown managed to deepen a bit more, and she slowly realized what was getting him so down. "It's because she hasn't called to tell you anything, isn't it?"

"It ain't too much for a guy to wanna get to talk to his girl on his birthday, is it?" He turned his head so that she couldn't see his face. "Y'know, after having spent a week up here, you'd think that the Vaike would get it that she just doesn't want anythin' to do with him anymore, but he's still holdin' on to the hope that she does."

For a moment, it seemed like Sully was going to say something to crush his dreams on the matter forever. She opened her mouth and drew in a sharp breath, but let it linger a moment too long and the words fizzled out before they could be said. "I…hope she does too," she said, shifting her eyes up to the ceiling as if she were pleading to some above deity for strength in the situation. "I don't like seeing you down like this. You really love her, and she better love you back even half as hard. Otherwise, I am kicking her ass so hard she wishes she never messed with you."

"Thanks, but ya know why you can't do that. Can't lift a finger towards her without gettin' Chrom's wrath, so just let her be. I'm sure she's," he gave a cough, trying to mask whatever he had originally wanted to say, "well, havin' fun with whatever she's doin' to keep her mind off 'a me."

"I'm sure she isn't having much fun at all." There was something about the way that Sully spoke that made Vaike believe her, something about how real and truthful she sounded, but when he looked back to her and saw her with her eyes closed and fingers crossed, he knew that she was just making guesses.

"Okay, ya don't have'ta tell lies to try and cheer a guy up on his birthday. You think she's doin' things she shouldn't be? Don't be sayin' things that'll get ol' Vaike's spirits up. Just gonna make seein' her again that much harder." He watched as she uncrossed her fingers and moved her eyes to being fixated on him once more. Once they were holding eye contact, he added, "Please don't make it harder than it's gotta be."

She set her fork down at the same time that she used her other hand to grab her phone. "Oh, I could make it a hell of a lot harder if I wanted to. Thing is, you've grown on me as a friend and I don't want to see you hurting. Trust me, if I had every intention of making a damn scene out of this drama, I would tell you what all these calls I've had in the time we've been here have been about."

The determined and serious expression she took on as she started scrolling through her phone's call list made his heart sink. "Y-ya mean that you ain't been chattin' up with Maribelle about her man and how he ain't right for her?" he half-seriously asked, knowing that it wasn't what had been talked about at all. He may not have known specifics about any of those phone calls, but he knew enough to know that thinking it was Maribelle calling to complain about her husband cheating on her was only lying to himself. "C'mon, just give it to me straight. The Vaike can handle a bit of bad news."

She shook her head. "Not today. Maybe tomorrow if you really want to hear it, but I'm not putting a damper on your birthday because I can't keep my damn mouth shut about news I shouldn't even know."

"Day's already got a pretty big damper on it, but thanks for carin', I guess. Means that, rather than worryin' about if she's gonna call or not, I can think about what there is you could possibly have to say, but I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad one." He gave a forced laugh, trying to bring himself to be happy. "We ain't got that much longer up here, do we?"

"As long as things haven't gotten worse out in the real world, they should be coming to plow the road tomorrow. We might be going back to our lives in the morning, and it's about damn time that it happens." Casting her phone aside, Sully gave it a side-eyed glare. "I don't know if I'd be able to handle much more of being told everything through a middleman. Rather enjoy hearing all the events for myself, not by someone who was told them."

He didn't immediately respond to her, not out of not hearing her but instead because he was so wrapped up in trying to figure out what was going on for himself. He knew she'd been talking to Maribelle, who was most likely spending all her time with Lissa, so in this situation, he could only assume that Maribelle was the middleman. But what was it that she could possibly be passing along to Sully, and what made it so important that he didn't need to be told it on his birthday? After mulling this over for quite some time, during which his food went cold and there was enough time for his companion to go out and feed the horse, he realized that, deep down, he knew what was up. He knew that there was some sort of infidelity going on with one side of the relationship, but he didn't know if it was real or just being assumed.

"We ain't a thing, are we?" he finally asked out loud, catching Sully by surprise as she had moved on from the conversation they'd been having over breakfast. "Them back home, they don't think we're together and that I'm cheatin' on Lissa with you, right?"

She could only shrug. "Can't say I know the answer to that second question, Vaike, but I do know that we definitely aren't together. Just friends."

"But d'ya think Lissa thinks that I ain't happy with her, and that I wanted to get with you instead? What if she's moved on 'cause she thinks I have?" Again, all Sully could do was shrug, unsure of how to answer what was bringing Vaike down. "C'mon, you've gotta know somethin' to help the Vaike figure out what's goin on! You're tellin' me you've had all those calls with Maribelle and she ain't said a word about why Lissa's not answerin' me?"

"Still not telling you any of this because it's your birthday. Just because you're getting passionate doesn't mean that I'm going to cave in like a little bitch and spill all the secrets. Even though, really, she never said much." With where she was standing, looking out a frosty window, it was impossible to see what sort of expression Sully was wearing as she spoke, so Vaike got up from his chair and got right next to her. That way, he could see that she was sort of absentmindedly staring in no real direction, the bright reflection of the window shining on her. "You don't have to get into my face to see if I'm lying."

He stepped back a bit, before sighing. "I know. It's just hard, knowin' that you know more than I do, when it's me that this all deals with. I just wanna know why she's ignorin' me. That's all. Kinda wanted a birthday wish from my lady, y'know."

"No matter how many times you try, I'm not going to give in and tell you things. Just keep hoping that she just broke her phone or something, and that—" She was cut off by his phone ringing, playing a ringtone that she hadn't heard since their first night there, and that he hadn't heard for even longer. It went on for only a split second, during which he quite literally made a mad dash for where his phone was sitting, but when he got to it, the tone had long since been over. "—did she just call you?"

He stared at the phone he now held in his hands. They both had heard it, hadn't they? The ringtone he'd set for when Lissa called had most definitely gone off, and they had both heard it when it did. So why was his phone not showing any missed calls or messages? "Er, guess she didn't," he choked out, cringing when he heard himself speak. He wasn't going to let himself get emotional over this. "Guess the phone must've just had a hiccup or somethin', and that ain't much of a big deal."

"If it weren't such a big deal, you wouldn't have ran like a madman to check it." She sighed, seeing how distressed this phantom phone call was making Vaike, which inspired her to come up with something to help him get his mind off of what had just happened. "Hey, why don't you put the damn phone down and forget about her, just for today? She's not worth your time or energy and I don't want to see you hurting like this."

He reluctantly did as she said, setting his phone back on the table it had been resting on, mumbling something under his breath as he did. Once he was back to standing straight and tall, he gave a long, drawn out sigh and rubbed at one of his eyes. "There. Phone's down. Ain't touchin' it again today. Not worth my time."

"Wasn't expecting you to listen to me so quickly, but…hey, don't just collapse into the chair and call it a day." Sully was going to suggest that they spend their time talking like the first days they'd been there, but her idea had gotten tossed aside when she saw just how hurt Vaike was by the fact that he wasn't getting to talk to his girlfriend. She felt compelled to honestly tell him why that was, but she couldn't bring herself to break him more than he already was. For being such a strong and reckless guy, he really knew how to attach himself to someone and become dependent on them.

And because that person wasn't responding to his attachment, he was crumbling before her, and was there anything that Sully could even do at that point? It had been a week since they'd gotten stuck in that cabin, a week since they really started getting to know each other beyond the required work interactions. She knew he was hopelessly in love with someone back home, someone who quite possibly didn't love him back, and she also knew that he was trapped in this cabin with someone who might just care about him more than that disgusting little—no. Those were thoughts she wasn't meant to be having. Not there, not while watching him sit in a chair and stare blankly out into the room, when all he wanted was his girlfriend that he loved so dearly.

He needed his space, and so did she. Before she could say or do anything to make the situation worse, Sully silently walked over to the connecting door to the stable and went outside, finding companionship in that horse that was the entire reason they were stuck there in the first place. Knowing that there was no way anything she could say would be heard by anyone aside from the horse, and that the horse wouldn't spill her secrets to the world, she began to talk out what she thought of the situation. Curses were thrown in the direction of the wayward girlfriend back home causing so much trouble. Laments of how she was unable to do anything were directed towards Vaike. And reluctant confessions of muddled feelings were made to all; how could Sully have gotten herself involved in this whole mess if she didn't feel something towards at least one of the people?

After she fell silent and began focusing on the horse, brushing its mane and making sure it was still in good health, she heard the door open and footsteps approaching. "Guess I've gotta come say you're right," Vaike quietly said, poking his head around the wall to look into the stall. "She really ain't worth my time, no matter how much I wanna think she is. A real girl would at least talk to her man once while he's gone, yeah? And she couldn't be bothered to do that even once, not even yesterday or today! She's not gonna get to say she's broken the Vaike's heart, no way. She ain't gettin' that sort of pleasure outta this."

"So what are you going to do? Go tell her you guys are done being together? I'd love to see how that goes over." Sully laughed at the idea, although on the inside she was completely for it. "Especially if her phone really is broken and she hasn't been able to call this entire time."

"No, I couldn't ever tell her we're done. Just gotta remind her that ol' Vaike loves her, and that he wants t'be with her forever. She'll love hearin' that and it'll all be good from there, pretty sure." He gave a smile that was incredibly fake, making it glaringly obvious that he was lying to himself. But despite how hard she tried, Sully wasn't able to get him to fess up to the lie he was telling, not for as long as they sat around that day, just talking about what was going to happen when they got home and back to reality.

They fell asleep sitting on the couch that night, her head laying on his shoulder and his hand resting on her leg. It was definitely not a comfortable position to sleep in, but it made waking up to the sound of engines roaring outside the cabin that much sweeter. They'd managed to survive a week up in a cabin, with each other as their only company, and now it was time for them to go out and head home.

After getting the house mostly back into the state it had been in when they arrived, and after making sure that the owners were coming back up to get their horse themselves, the duo trekked out into the snow for the last time, climbing into the truck that had brought them there. "Let's hope them plows did a good job at gettin' the roads clear, yeah? Don't need to be stuck somewhere on the road this time." Starting up his truck, Vaike took in a deep breath and gave himself a nod. "We've got things we've gotta get t'doing, so no more bein' stuck."

"Yeah, things we've got to do," Sully repeated, staring out at the cabin and mentally going over all the things that happened inside its walls, her eyes eventually drifting to just staring at the dash of the truck once there wasn't anything before her to focus on. The journey home was going to be a long one, and she knew it was going to be filled with him excitedly talking about getting to see his girlfriend and setting things straight with her, which was not anything she wanted to be hearing about. So, whenever the topic would be brought up, she would roll down the window, pull out that pack of cigarettes, and start burning the ends of them for as long as he'd talk. Burning away her worries helped her clear her mind, so maybe the symbolic act of her burning his worries would help him.

It clearly didn't, because when they got into the city limits of Ylisstol, he was driving them straight towards the house belonging to Chrom. No amount of rapidly lighting and destroying cigarettes could destroy the thoughts and worries about that other woman, it seemed, which made it look like it was about to be time for this messy situation to solve itself once and for all.

She lit the last one as they pulled up in front of the house.

Maribelle sat on one of the couches in the living room, Brady playing with one of his new toys on her lap, when she heard the rush of people coming down the stairs. It not only caught her attention, but the attention of the child sitting with her, but there was nothing that either of them were going to do about what everyone else was doing. As far as she was aware, they were just moving luggage and bags down from the bedrooms to by the front door, so that when the time came to leave later that day, everyone was ready and not scrambling to get things together. But the sound of the front door swinging open, plus a voice that she hadn't heard properly in over a week yelling for someone who wouldn't want to hear it, made her curious about what was going on after all.

"Come along, Brady," she said, picking her son up and listening to him whine about being interrupted from his playing. "We need to see what they are up to. If the others are back, that means that very ugly things are about to happen, and I want to be prepared for the fallout of what's to come." Together they went out into the hall, where the front door was sitting wide open, all the bags from upstairs right next to it, and Chrom was looking wildly from the bags to the stairs, as if he was confused about something that had just happened. She didn't bother asking him what was going on, because she could definitely assume what had just transpired—instead, she poked her head out the front door and saw a very familiar redheaded woman sitting in the passenger's side of a truck in front of the house. "Oh! What a surprise! Come in, will you?" she called, catching the woman's attention.

It took a few moments of hesitation, plus the casting aside of something that was smoking, but Sully eventually heeded Maribelle's call and came up to the open door. "What do you mean, 'what a surprise'? You should've known I'd end up here somehow."

"Yes, well, I had some faith that Vaike wouldn't try and come talk to Lissa, but I guess that faith was wrongly placed." Stepping back, and stopping her child from reaching out to the newcomer, Maribelle motioned for Sully to come into the house. "We have so much to discuss now that we can see each other, rather than only communicating through the phone. I feel we can get much more done face-to-face than how we were talking before."

"Damn straight, although," Sully glanced at Chrom, who was staring at her with nothing but confusion in his eyes, "maybe it'd be best if we did it somewhere that people who don't know what's up aren't watching."

Maribelle nodded, leading her new companion back to the living room. Once there, they sat down on the same couch as each other, the child being sat between them so he could resume playing with his toy, and the conversation began. "I can't believe how much has happened since I first called you with that message!" the blonde gushed, putting her hands on the sides of her face and looking at Sully with wonder. "It's been a hectic week, that's for sure!"

"Hectic doesn't begin to cover the half of it. You could have done him a favor and dropped those bombshells on him instead of me, you know." Sully watched as the excitement drained from Maribelle's face a bit. "Well, it's true. Should have figured that I wasn't going to be the one breaking his heart, not when I didn't know what the hell was actually going on."

"It's gone a lot worse than I could have ever imagined it." Giving a small sigh, Maribelle shook her head. "Lissa must have become convinced that she was being cheated on—despite there being no reason to think that—and she started getting very close and personal with the Feroxi guest that Chrom and Olivia invited into their home this holiday. So close, in fact, that they have been simply inseparable since Christmas!"

The gesture Maribelle made was not one of any naughty nature, but it still didn't sit right with Sully. Here this woman was, getting upset that this other girl was getting cuddly with a new guy, when her old guy had been getting cuddly with someone else. "Er, yeah, that's a shame. Can't believe they'd do such a thing."

"You do know what Vaike had waiting for her under the tree, yes? It's simply disgusting that she went through with this plan, especially on a day when the man who loved her was going to ask for her hand in marriage." Maribelle ceased her gesturing and put her hands back on her face. "But, the past is the past! Now they're no longer together and you can—"

"I'm not dating him." The words came out harsh and fast, as if Sully was speaking just to fill the air, not to say what she meant. Maribelle looked offended to be cut off, but gave a quick nod, understanding what was going on. "I've told you this. I'm not the kind of woman for romances, especially not ones with guys who've been through this sort of hell."

"That's what they all say, but you've got a better chance with him than anyone else would, and I think you should go for it. It'll make all this worth it."

"I'm not doing it, Maribelle! I've said it before, and will say it again a million times again, I'm not going to give in to what everyone thinks I would have done, and I'm not dating him!" Sully banged her hand on the back of the couch, startling the kid sitting next to her. He looked to her with his gray eyes filling with tears, and before she could even apologize he was bawling. "Damn it, I didn't mean to make him cry…"

Maribelle didn't say anything, instead picking up her son and beginning to comfort him, but a new voice entered the room. "Ooh, is that the baby crying?" The two ladies looked to the doorway, Maribelle scowling and Sully unsure of who was standing there. Noticing that all the attention was now on him, Henry laughed, approaching them and dropping to his knees before them. "Lemme play with the kid! I love children! Especially ones like him who cry all the time!"

"He does not cry all the time, and besides, I would not let someone like you touch my precious child." To prove her point, Maribelle held her son a bit closer to her chest, wrapping him up in her arms as tightly as she could. "Now leave us be, will you? Shouldn't you be going away soon, anyway?"

"Yeah, I guess I should be," he replied, still laughing. "Kinda why I wanted to come see the kid before I left! Kids make everything better, even the sadness of leaving somewhere that's been so great to me!" He remained kneeling there for a moment, contemplating what to do, before he shrugged and reached out towards Maribelle. She screamed and turned her upper body so that he couldn't reach Brady, but touching the child didn't seem to be his intention. He placed both hands on her stomach and grinned. "You be good in there, little baby, and you better be big and strong next time I come around!"

His cackling when Maribelle yelled for him to leave, accompanied with her kicking at him, made the scene worth it, even though Sully was quite confused at what had just happened. "Uh, anyone going to explain to me why some guy was just touching up on you and talking about babies?" she asked, hearing Maribelle cursing under her breath about everything. "You telling me some stranger knows something about you that—"

"He knows nothing! That crass man thinks it's okay to interrupt a couple while they're having some private time and then it's okay to make rude assumptions like that! What nerve!" She cursed a bit more, making sure to cover her son's ears while she did, and once she seemed to have all her frustrations out, she looked to Sully and exhaled deeply. "That man, Henry, he's some Plegian runaway who got trapped here for the holidays, and Chrom was so polite as to let him and his friend stay at the house with us. He's terribly strange and has done nothing but be weird the entire time he's been here."

"And he walked into your bedroom in the middle of the night, but still has two working legs and can breathe on his own? Maribelle, I'm impressed." Sully didn't notice the expression Maribelle was making, one that showed she was hearing an incorrect retelling of events, but wasn't going to correct them. "Still doesn't explain why he thinks there's another brat growing inside you, but I'll take what I've been given."

"As I said, he's terribly strange. Didn't you hear him talk about babies? It's as if that's all that runs through his mind, that and terrible jokes. But enough about him and his interruptions. Let's get back to discussing this past week in regards to you and Vaike, shall we?" Maribelle was clearly trying to rush past their current topic, and as Sully couldn't be bothered to care enough to keep it where it was, they went back to talking about what they had been before. "Yes, I get it that you don't want to be dating someone, but couldn't you at least give him a chance? I mean, he's been abandoned by his girlfriend after being with her for years."

"It doesn't matter if he'd been alone for years, I just don't have any interest in dating anyone." Her cheeks were beginning to light up, not out of embarrassment but rather out of the first hints of anger. "And if you keep insisting that I do something I'd rather not do, there will be hell to pay."

Rolling her eyes, Maribelle shook a finger in front of Sully. "Not so fast, my dear. Remember when you called me out of the blue one of those nights and we began getting serious into our discussion of all this nonsense? Remember how I chose to tear you down, to drag everything about you as if you were nothing compared to me or Lissa, all because you'd never been in love? And you were getting frustrated but you knew I was speaking the truth? Don't you remember that?"

"Yeah, hard to forget that when you were going so hard at me that you almost brought me to tears. But then that kid of yours decided your arm was a teething ring and he bit you, and your scream was so hilarious that I couldn't help but laugh until I cried." As if he knew he was being talked about, Brady chose right then to start gnawing on his mom's arm again, and she shook him off, giving a small scream when she did, which made Sully snort in laughter. "Damn, kind of like that. Kid just likes chewing on you when you're talking to me."

"Clearly he does. That's a habit I need to break him of. But enough of this distraction, because I have something very important to ask you." Separating her arm from her son's mouth, and having him whimper because of it, Maribelle looked Sully dead in the eyes and asked: "Why would you get upset from me making fun of your lack of love, if it has never seemed like a problem before this week?"

The answer, which Sully did not seem eager in the slightest to give, was put on hold when a few people came walking into the room, halting the conversation. "Hey, figured I should come say goodbye before I got out of here," Robin said, waving at Sully while smiling at Maribelle. "Got to take the Plegians out to the airport so they can finally get off to where they've been meaning to be. It's about time, really. Just wish I didn't have to go alone."

"Oh, Robin, why would you say such a thing?" the sultry voice of Tharja chimed in, which brought narrowed eyes to one of the women and a confused look from the other. "You and I both know that you have waited for this moment for our whole lives, and if we can just ditch Henry somewhere then everything will be perfect."

Robin cleared his throat and turned around to look at the dark-haired woman behind him. "No, Tharja, we aren't ditching Henry anywhere alone. Wherever he goes, you're going with him. While I can't say I've enjoyed your fanatical obsession with me, I can say that I will miss the unnerving feeling of you always around watching me."

"I love when you talk negatively towards me. It makes my lower parts quiver and tremble." Tharja winked at him, before peeking around where he stood to see the ladies on the couch. "You two as my witnesses, let it be known that Robin's constant denial of his true love for me turns me on more than anything else in this world could."

He groaned and she laughed, and once they were both out of the room (after Robin told Sully that he would explain everything to her the next time they saw each other at work), Maribelle gave a small shake of her head. "This week has been almost as strange here as it must have been for you up in the mountains. Those Plegian visitors, plus the multiple times we were trapped within places…it's been an adventure here."

"I think we're going to be discussing a lot of things. You guys got snowed in too?" That was news to Sully, and just asking about it brought up a whole new realm of conversation that they went into, the previous question being tossed aside for the time being. It never really left either of their minds, though, not when there were voices and conversations happening outside where they were that would occasionally be overheard. Accusations could be heard flying, mostly in regards to what had happened up at the cabin, and every single time she heard Chrom begin to accuse her of making Vaike be unfaithful to his girlfriend, Sully would feel like shrinking back a bit. She hadn't done anything of the sort, and Vaike definitely had remained true to his girlfriend until the very end, something that she hoped would become clear as the situation was explained to everyone.

But the person who needed that reassurance most was the one who came into the room and initially made a beeline for the Christmas tree in the corner, picking up the sole present from underneath it. "She didn't even bother openin' it, just like she told me," Vaike said, picking at the wrapping paper on the box as he approached the two ladies on the couch. "Didn't wanna think that she really did find someone better, but guess she did."

"I wouldn't consider him better," Maribelle added, hoping that what she could say would help the situation a bit. "He's just foreign and an old friend of Olivia's that seems like a real charming fellow. Lissa must have just wanted to try something new."

"Huh, that's funny, 'cause she said that a l'il birdy named Maribelle was totally approvin' of what she was doin', not once tellin' her to stop once she started." Vaike gave a sniffle, collapsing on the couch so close to Sully that he was virtually on her lap. "But then again, the Vaike ain't dumb and he knows that same l'il birdy was tellin' Sully everythin' she could about the situation, for some reason."

"How do you figure that?" the two ladies asked simultaneously, looking between each other.

"Easy. Frederick ain't a liar when it comes to tellin' pals what's up. He says his wife's been takin' part in sketch behaviors? Clearly she's been pullin' strings in regards to Lissa cheatin' on her boyfriend and gettin' with the new guy."

Sully raised an eyebrow as she was still looking at Maribelle. "Oh, I wasn't aware of that part of things. Thought you were just commenting on what you saw and trying to get me to take action because of it."

"I, er, didn't tell her to get with him. I was not even here when she made her move on him, so you can't place any blame on me for it." Maribelle gave a sheepish smile. "However, I will take all the credit for trying to give you a new person to get with, Vaike, even if the person didn't take any action whatsoever."

"Why'd you be tryin' to get me with someone else when…" The question faded into thin air as he looked between the two ladies, the realization of what was happening hitting him quickly. "I get it now. Guess that explains a lot of those phone calls, doesn't it? Didn't know that we were tryin' to get me with the person I was sharin' a bed with."

Maribelle gasped. "You two shared a bed while up at the cabin? How scandalous! I mean, I cannot place any judgment against you both, but that's still a mighty big revelation!"

"We did it to not freeze in the middle of the night. There was nothing else to it." Sully frowned, turning her head to look at Vaike, who immediately changed where he was looking. "Oh come on, Vaike, you know that's all that was about. I didn't like you as more than a friend when we went up there and I still don't like you now."

"I know, you ain't the kind of lady to do that sort 'a stuff to someone. Just kinda wish someone woulda warned me that she was movin' on while I was gone. Woulda made this a bit easier." He tore through the wrapping paper on the box and cast it aside, opening the box once he could. "Wish she hadn't done this. This ring would look gorgeous on her hand."

"Why don't you save it for when you find someone new to love?" Nudging Sully a bit, Maribelle looked at Vaike with a slightly suggestive look. "I'm sure you can find someone who would wear that ring better than Lissa ever could."

"I don't know if anyone'll be able to wear this thing, honestly. She's got tiny fingers and all that." Missing the point entirely, Vaike kept looking down at the ring in the box. "Really wish this all woulda gone accordin' to plan. Was that too much t'ask?"

The sassy response that Maribelle was going to give caught in her throat, her realizing that saying it wasn't going to help the situation at all, and she gave in to simply sigh and nod. "It must have been, yes. Lissa didn't mean harm when she fell for Lon'qu, I'm sure, but she did nothing but harm you with that decision. Surely you will find it within you to forgive her, and to forgive everyone who knew about this but didn't warn you."

"I've already done my forgivin'," he quietly said, reaching over Sully to push the box towards Maribelle, "and I think I want you to take this off my hands."

Her eyes went wide and she glanced from the box to Vaike's serious face and back to the box. "I could never take such an important thing from you! All I did was get involved in a situation that I must have made much worse than it already was, so you keep that for yourself and wait until you have someone else to give it to."

"I don't wanna keep it, though, not for as long as it's gonna take to find someone else to take it from me. 'sides, if what everyone told the Vaike is correct, sounds like you'd find more use from it than me anyway. Chances are you'll have yourself a kid who can appreciate it 'fore I get around to find a woman who can." He pushed the box at her again. "Now take it, Maribelle. It's the least I can do after ya got involved in lettin' Lissa find what made her happier than me."

After hesitating for a second, Maribelle grabbed the box and nodded. "You're right. Thank you for being so understanding, Vaike. Although I'm sure I'll be giving this back to you when you realize you need it to tell someone else you love her." At that, she stood up, taking with her both her child and the ring box, turning to give the two still seated a farewell wave. "I should stop holding up Frederick and get on out of here," she said, smiling. "We will all have to meet together soon and discuss things more. Not at a family dinner, mind you, but somewhere else." Her smile got a bit bigger. "I sense that this will be the beginning of a strong relationship between the three of us!"

The two on the couch laughed and soon she was gone, leaving them sitting there together in the quiet room. The moving around outside had long since ceased, and it seemed like almost everyone there had left or gone to do things on their own. "So, uh, gotta ask you somethin', Sully," Vaike started, before seeing that she had turned to give him a concerned look. "Okay, maybe not. What's the look for?"

"You gave the ring to Maribelle." It was said softly, whether Sully intended it to be that way or not, and once she realized she'd said it her face was lighting up. "Not like I care. It was gaudy and nothing that I'd even begin to care about."

"Sounds like someone's a bit jealous. What was that about you sayin' you still didn't like me as more than a friend?" He watched her begin to blush harder, telling him to shut up under her breath. "Oh, c'mon, you've gotta admit to it now. You and Maribelle were talkin' about me every time she called you, and now that I'm, well, back on the market…"

"I'm not dating you, Vaike. Not now, not ever."

He scooted a bit more onto her lap and wrapped his arm around her. "Yeah, I hear ya. Not the datin' type or somethin'? Somethin' tells me you'll be changin' your mind about that eventually, and I'd like to let'cha know that when you do, I'll be here for ya."

There wasn't anything she could do with him on top of her, so she sighed and accepted that he was going to be affectionate towards her, regardless of if she wanted it or not. After the week he'd had, pushing affection towards someone who had moved past wanting it, maybe it was for the best that he got to cope through showering someone new with that wasted affection. So she let him cuddle her, and by the time they were kicked out for not having any reason for being there anymore, she might not have felt it was being wasted on her after all.

A/N: And that's the end! I'm sure that some of you are disappointed in the ending, but I've written it this way so what happens next can kind of...be decided by how you think it would go. I hate forcing endgame relationships on people in my stories, but if you wanted there to be one, you could totally headcanon that.

I began writing this as a Christmas present to some of my friends on this site who are into FE:A, and along the way it turned into less of a group present and more of a present for just a few people. I didn't intend for it to be that way, but that's how life shakes out sometimes. So if you're one of those people who know this fic was written for you, I really hope it was worth the three weeks of hectic posting. It sure was worth the almost two months of rapid-fire writing. To say I started posting this on Sully's birthday (not originally intended) and then ended it on Vaike's birthday (completely intended) is amazing to me.

But, in the end, I hope everyone who's read this fic enjoyed it!