A/N: Feliz Navidad, people! Rightio, so, this is a gift fic that a wrote for all the wonderful readers of my other fics First Patrol and Fire Light. I kind of wrote it over the course of...seven days maybe...and it's really meant to just be a fun little story. Or it was, I'm sort of pissed at myself, because this story is roughly 60K, 39 chapters, and I kind of just wanted to write this short little fluff piece maybe 15 chapters, 20 at the most. I'm still wrapping it up as I write this...but...eh...sorry, brains off.

This story was inspired by a moment in Fire Light in which Jimmy and Ben lie in bed and fantasize about a future in a world where the 'skies never fell'. I thought it might be fun to write a quick AU ficlet about that very thing, their lives together had the skies never fell. This story draws on the background stories I've established for both boys in my previous two fics, and it contains some minor (very minor) spoilers for things that haven't been introduced into Fire Light yet, so it kind of is a Non-Cannon Fire Light, AU Future Fic...is the tag, anyhow.

Summary: In a world where the skies never fell, a college-aged Jimmy and Ben spend their first Christmas together at home meeting one another's families.

Warnings: Both established Homosexual and Heterosexual relationships, the main pairing of the story is established boyxboy, and there is a shmex scene (yes, of the intercourse variety) near the end of the story, but otherwise, much of this is very PG-13, kiddies, except for their mouths. Jimmy's friends from the First Patrol flashbacks do make appearances in this and, if you've read that story you know, they are foul-mouthed little fuckers. Also, keep your eyes peeled for cameos from most everyone's fave Falling Skies characters. One didn't make it in, and I'm very upset with him...very, very upset...

Credit for the title of this goes to Greg, because I suck at titling things, otherwise you would've gotten something like "A Falling Skies Christmas", or something equally as lame.

Please, read.

Falling Snow

I.

The season was evident all around the airport. Employees were dressed in ugly Christmas sweaters, bells and holly and colorful strings of lights were strung from signs and flight boards, wreaths hung off the fronts of information kiosk counters, and the gift stores were all selling eggnog flavored chocolates and singing-dancing Santa Clause dolls. Ben strode eagerly from the luggage claim carousels with his large rolling luggage and a duffle slung over his shoulder, bearing a cheerful smile and wearing an ugly Christmas sweater of his own. It was argyle in red, green, and gold, featuring a jolly Rudolf on the right breast. His eyes were like that of an excited puppy dog, shimmering playfully and swallowing the surrounding scenes whole. He paused momentarily to help an elder couple lift their own rolling luggage off the carousel, nodding pleasantly and accepting their happy holiday wishes.

"Such a polite young man," the woman praised to her husband, who grunted something like an agreement.

At the edge of the luggage claim, near passenger pick-up, Ben found Jimmy waiting with a disgruntled scowl, his arms folded tightly over his chest. He was swamped in a black overcoat and gray scarf, and beneath his shaggy brown locks appeared to be nothing more than a pair of bright blue eyes against stark white. He slung the duffle up on his shoulder, joining it with his carry-on – a tattered green backpack, and then handed over Ben's laptop bag.

"I love this season," Ben declared, absently pushing his silver-rimmed glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose, and shouldering his laptop.

"You would," Jimmy returned bitterly, snuggling deeper into the security and warmth of his coat and proclaiming, "The holidays suck. Why did we have to come back to Boston for this shit? You know, it doesn't snow in California."

"It does too snow in California…just not where we live and I thought you liked the snow," Ben said, leading the way to car rentals.

"I like the look of snow. I don't like snow itself. I don't want to touch it. I don't want to be in it. I don't want to shovel it. If either of our parents make me shovel snow, I'm taking a red eye back to Berkeley that night. Just so we're clear," Jimmy griped.

"Okay, Mr. Scrooge," Ben teased.

Jimmy stopped dead and sent a threatening glare Ben's direction.

"Don't call me that," he grumbled.

Ben smirked, "Fine. Grinch."

"Oh, go to hell," Jimmy muttered, continuing walking again as he complained, "And keep your hands to yourself tonight. I'm still not sure how mad I plan on being at you for going behind my back and buying the plane tickets but you better believe it's somewhere in the astronomically huge category."

"What are you talking about 'behind your back'? We agreed to this," Ben protested.

They stepped in line at the car rental counter behind a young woman with a gracile frame and notes of Hispanic ancestry in her delicate elfin features. She was speaking on her cell-phone in Spanish, another college student home for the holidays it seemed.

"We did not," Jimmy scoffed indignantly, "I think I would remember scheduling the trip from hell for my winter break!"

"We agreed that we would introduce one another to our families before the end of the year," Ben insisted, "And this is the last couple weeks before the end of the year."

"I agreed to no such thing. You just decided on your own that we agreed on it. If I remember correctly, my exact words on the subject were 'when I'm making snow angels in hell'," Jimmy countered.

"Well, then, I misunderstood," Ben replied cheekily, "I thought you said you wanted to make snow angels while you were in hell and you constantly refer to Boston as hell, so you see how I could become confused with that."

Jimmy buried his face in his palm and groaned, "You are such an asshole."

"I love you too, babe," Ben grinned.

The young woman in front of them stepped up to the counter and told the clerk her name, "Lourdes Delgado.

The boys shuffled to the front of the line, waiting for the next available clerk as 'Lourdes' was checked-out for a rental and then led into the parking lot by the clerk.

"Have you talked to your parents, yet?" Ben wondered, "They know we're in town, right?"

"Yeah, I called the other night at Rick's party," Jimmy muttered.

Rick was a classmate at Berkeley. He and Ben were members of the same fraternity, Psi Kappa Theta Theta Rho, otherwise known as the "SKTTR's". Rick always held a large party after finals, a sort of end of the year bash, at the house he shared with a few of the other frat brothers. He was trying to make the party a campus tradition, but it usually only consisted of SKTTR members sitting around playing a drinking game to pen-and-paper style Dungeons and Dragons. They were less the usual type of fraternity that were all around obnoxious rich kids, and more a fraternity ala Nerds the movie. Jimmy usually opted out of the game, choosing to just drink instead.

"You were…drunk…at Rick's," Ben slowly pointed out.

Oh boy, was drunk an understatement. Jimmy was wasted. That night, after the fifth beer and three shots of tequila he became embarrassingly proud of Ben for having the only character on the game board – or map, they called it – over level 30, which he only understood was a good thing and not a whole lot else about the game, but it didn't stop him from bragging to every new arrival at the party, "thas my boyfriend, Ben. No the cute one…no the cute one. He's a level thirty something sword person thing…he's winning. Tha means th'he's the best hero…better than you and you and definitely you…"

They had ended up calling it a night early and Jimmy spent the next morning in the bathroom slumped over their toilet.

"So?" Jimmy challenged, he sighed and casually explained, "I need a little alcohol in my system to deal with my parents. Which reminds me, I got to call a man about a bottle of whiskey later."

Ben rolled his eyes but made no comment. Jimmy didn't exactly share many stories about his family, or any for that matter. He only made sarcastic insinuations about how horrible they were, and Ben was inclined to believe Jimmy was just exaggerating, complaining the way everyone did. Of course, Ben didn't complain nearly as much about his own family, and he usually had good things to say about them too, which fostered a small, doubtful part of Ben that was reluctant to meet the Bolands out of fear Jimmy wasn't exaggerating.

A clerk reappeared behind the counter and motioned the boys over.

"Rental for Ben Mason," Ben stated. The clerk punched the name into his computer.

"Ah…here you are, Mister Mason, we've got you in a Ford Taurus, four door sedan for the next ten days. Will that be alright for you?"

"Yes, perfect," Ben told the man even as Jimmy made a face and grumbled, "A Ford? That's the best they could get us?"

"If I could just see a picture ID," the man asked, sounding slightly offended. Ben tugged out his wallet, handing his license over and the man skimmed it, punching more information into his computer.

"What hotel are we booked at?" Jimmy wondered.

Ben drew his breath in sharply, "About that…"

"What?" Jimmy demanded, narrowing his eyes on the other boy, "We are booked at a hotel right…?"

"Well…"

"If it's a Motel 6, I'm leaving you," Jimmy growled.

"It's not a Motel 6," Ben carefully explicated, "You see, when I mentioned to my parents that we would be staying at a hotel, they…uh…"

"No," Jimmy gasped.

"They were really offended that we would even think about not staying with them, Jimmy, I had no choice," Ben rambled off.

"No," Jimmy groaned, rubbing his face out of agitation, "The one saving grace you gave me for this entire trip was your promise – and you fucking promised me, asshole – that at the end of the night we got to go to our own room, in a place far, far away from both of our families and…"

"Come on, it won't be that bad," Ben said, "My family is…well, they're okay once you get used to them. And they're going to like you and I think you'll like them…"

"I thought you said that us staying in a hotel would work for everyone because your parents were going to have a full house anyways, what with your brother in town with his wife and their brat," Jimmy argued.

"I really wish you wouldn't refer to my nephew like that," Ben sighed.

"It shits, it pisses, it eats, it cries, and that's it," Jimmy seethed, "When it learns to complain about what I call it itself, I'll reconsider, but for now it's a brat. And if it screams all fucking night, I swear to God, Ben, I will check into a hotel by myself, and I will spend the rest of this trip there and you can spend the rest of the trip at your parents'…"

The clerk behind the counter impatiently jangled a car key chained to a security device to get the boys' attention, and Jimmy faltered, flustering as he realized where they were still standing and that quite a few eyes were on the arguing couple now. Jimmy ducked his head and covered his face, his pale cheeks now blistering a bright red, while Ben just smiled apologetically at the people in the line.

"If you'll, please, follow me," the clerk tentatively ushered the boys into the parking lot. He showed them the maroon colored car, pointed out the dents and scratches on the vehicle, showed them how much gas was in the fuel tank and where it would need to be when they returned the car, then gave Ben the paperwork to sign, the car keys, and wished them in a falsely cheery voice, "Have a happy holidays."

"Well he was a prick," Jimmy commented, as soon as they were in the car pulling out of the lot. Ben smirked, settling back in his seat with one hand on the wheel, and taking Jimmy's hand in the other.

"This is going to be a good trip, you'll see," Ben promised, muttering under his breath, "I swear, sometimes you get so worked up over nothing, you act like the skies are falling."