To You The Truth

"I. DETEST. YOU."

"I have similar feelings towards you."

"I hate this."

"I hate this more."

She stomped her foot and huffed out a breath, looking very much like a four year old getting ready for a good temper tantrum.

"I can�t believe you got us lost. LOST! You�ve been here a million times before!"

He shook his head, his mop of blonde curls bobbing all over the place. "I was a little preoccupied with you yelling at me to turn left every five seconds. Plus, if you remember correctly, YOU were doing the navigating, not me."

For lack of anything better to do, she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Very mature, Morgan."

"Shut up, Aaron."

"Listen, let�s just find someplace to stay. It�s freaking freezing out here." For emphasis, he rubbed his arms and shivered inside his very warm jacket.

Morgan scowled at him. "I�m not staying with you."

Aaron sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair in a very aggravated way. "Where do you think you�re going to stay, then? Behind that tree there? Or maybe you can find a nice bear to shack up with."

"Oh�.shut up."

He rolled his eyes and opened the trunk of the car.

"What are you doing?" Morgan questioned, shuffling herself through the snow towards him.

"I�m getting my bag out of the trunk and I�m going to walk back to that hotel we passed a couple miles back."

"It said �No Vacancy.�"

"No, it said �Vacancy.�"

Morgan shoved her hands in her pockets and watched as her breath came out in puffs. "Oh."

Aaron nodded angrily at her and closed the trunk, hoisting his bag and hers over his shoulder. "Are you coming?"

Morgan stared at him. "No, I�m not coming. Put my bag down!"

Aaron set the bags down and took a step back towards her. "Morgan," he said, his voice gentler than before. "You can�t stay out here. You�ll freeze."

In defiance, she took a step towards him. "I hate your parents. And mine."

"Me too," Aaron replied quietly, pulling a winter cap out of his bag and shoving it over his untamed hair. "Come on."

Morgan shook her head, her brown curls shaking themselves out of her loose bun (which had been held together with chopsticks - chopsticks that were now in the snow). She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket (of a jacket which was more for fashion than warmth) and started fruitlessly dialing numbers, cursing every so often.

"Hey," Aaron said softly, pulling the phone from her hands and setting it in his own pocket. "There�s no signal out here. Remember?"

"I was thinking maybe there had been a miracle and a signal had appeared."

Aaron smiled wanly. "Let�s go, okay? Our parents wouldn�t want us to stay out here fighting all night."

He turned around and grabbed the bags, putting them over his shoulders once more, and starting off down the empty highway.

"Aaron, it�s Christmas Eve," Morgan stated, her voice thick with emotion and pent up tears. "I�ve never spent a Christmas Eve away from my parents."

Aaron turned around and looked at her. "Neither have I."

"I really hate Colorado," she muttered, kicking up some snow with the toe of her boot and glancing around at all the snow covered trees that surrounded them. "I�ve never wanted to come here. Not one year. But every year, my Dad was always like �Come on, Sport. It�ll be good for you to get out into the crisp winter air.� It never was. I always hated it. I�d rather spend Christmas around palm trees, back home. Not skiing and breaking my leg and freezing to death in the middle of nowhere."

Aaron nodded. "I know. Can we go now? I think my toes are going to fall off."

Morgan smirked. "Sorry."

"It�s okay." He started walking off, listening carefully to make sure she was following him.

Looking back on childhood days
I can�t believe my foolish ways
Thought that Christmas only came from a store
Had to know what was there for me
Underneath the Christmas tree
I didn�t know that there could be so much more

Ever since Aaron and Morgan were kids, their parents had been dragging them away from California and to Colorado for Christmas break; this was mostly because their mothers wanted to be around snow, and because the fathers were addicted to skiing. Even if they weren�t very good at it. Most of the time, they returned back home on December 27th with two badly beaten fathers in tow; normally one of them was wearing a cast somewhere.

Aaron enjoyed this tradition only because he liked watching his father attempt to sky; Morgan, however, had hated it ever since she was ten and had been duped into skiing by her dad; she�d ended up with a broken leg for her troubles. Normally a broken leg wouldn�t upset someone as much as it did her, but since it hindered her ability to swim for quite sometime afterwards, she had to drop out of the swim program.

For some reason, she associated Aaron with swimming (probably because he was a swimmer) and therefore tended to take out her anger on him. Of course, she got over it in time but she still hated the tradition. Just because she could.

She was quite sure she was going to stay home this year except her mother was amazingly good at the guilt trip�and Morgan had a weakness for guilt. Which was to say she couldn�t handle it. At all.

"I�m surprised they had one room left," Aaron commented, checking the number on the key he was holding as they strolled down the hotel hallway.

Morgan sighed and reached to push some of her thick hair out of her face. "Do you think he was lying when he said the snow wasn�t supposed to let up until Wednesday?"

Aaron glanced back at her, his face grim. "He didn�t seem to be the lying type."

Morgan considered this. "True. He was a bit elderly for that."

"Here it is," Aaron announced, sticking the key in the lock and pushing the door open.

He motioned for Morgan to go inside first, so she did, but she ended up coming right back out again.

"What�s the matter?" He asked, his brow furrowed. All he wanted to do was take a hot shower and climb into bed. It had been a long day; the two of them had taken the last flight out of California earlier, whereas their parents had already arrived in Colorado two days before. He was exhausted, and definitely not in the mood for her dramatizations.

"There�s only one bed."

Aaron�s eyes widened; he pushed past her into the room and dropped his bag on the lone bed.

"Oh, shit."

Morgan leaned against the wall, surveying the bed with distaste. "I�ll sleep in the bathtub."

Aaron rolled his eyes. "Stop it. I�ll sleep on the floor. No biggie."

"You�re not sleeping on the floor," Morgan stated, kicking the door closed and walking over to him. "That wouldn�t be fair. You�ve been driving for like two hours. I�ll sleep on the floor."

"Seriously, I don�t mind."

"Will you shut up? I don�t want to fight with you. I�m exhausted. And starved." She began rummaging through her bag; Aaron dropped down onto the bed and laid back, staring up at the ceiling.

"I found some gum," Morgan said after a minute, and Aaron heard something drop to the floor and then her weight shifting the mattress slightly as she sat beside him. "Want a piece?"

Aaron sat up beside her, smiling wanly. "Yeah. Thanks."

"There�s no TV," she said suddenly, staring straight ahead of them to the empty desk.

"Bummer."

"I�ll have to do card tricks to entertain you."

He laughed. "Riiiiiight. You can�t even shuffle."

"I can too shuffle. I shuffle very well."

Aaron raised a doubtful eyebrow and she elbowed him.

"It�ll be okay, you know," he said softly while her eyes drifted to the window, watching as the snow came down, blanketing everything in sight.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I�m sorry about what I said. You know, before."

"You were only stating the truth."

Morgan laughed a little. "I don�t detest you."

"I know. I don�t detest you either."

"Hey, thanks."

He smiled over at her. "I think I saw a vending machine at the end of the hall. Let�s have a dinner of fatty processed food filled with preservatives!"

Morgan bounced up off the bed. "Yay."

~*~

"I hope you have quarters," she said as they walked together down the hall.

Aaron made a face and reached into his pocket, pulling out a stray piece of crumpled up paper, a bathing cap, three pennies and a purple pen.

Morgan stopped walking and stared at him. "Why do you have a bathing cap in your pocket?"

He shrugged. "I�m a swimmer."

"Oh, right. I forgot." She rolled her eyes and chuckled. "And a purple pen for the same reason?"

"No, some girl gave me that at the airport."

"Ah. After she gave you her number?"

Aaron shoved everything into his pocket and reached into the other one. "Maybe."

After several seconds, he pulled three quarters and a five dollar bill out with a triumphant shout of glee.

"Wooooot," Morgan commented, taking the five dollars and starting off down the hall again.

"I hope you�re sharing," Aaron said, running to catch up with her.

"I am, but I have to be in charge of the money because if YOU are, then you�ll just get candy bars and those will rot your beautiful teeth."

"I didn�t know you were so concerned with dental hygiene," Aaron stated as they stood in front of the vending machine, staring at its very few contents.

"Only yours, �cause you have to be on camera," she said offhandedly, slipping the five dollars into the machine and pressing several buttons. "So, Cheetos, Oreos and a thing of peanuts?"

Aaron made a face at the interior of the vending machine.. "I guess we don�t have much choice. Better make that three things of peanuts. It�s going to be a long night."

But in all of the rush
I was missing so much
You made me finally see
That I never knew the meaning of Christmas
Till you came into my life

Armed with a couple of sodas and bags of food that weren�t good for you, Morgan and Aaron went back to the room; they opened the sodas, drank some, dropped the bags onto the bed and then sat quietly, staring at the blank, cream colored wall.

"I�m bored already and we�ve only been here twenty minutes."

Morgan glanced at Aaron, grinning. "You always did have trouble occupying yourself." She pulled a hair elastic off her wrist and pulled her long hair into a ponytail. "Remember when we were kids and our parents would have parties and they�d instruct us to stay in your basement playing quietly while they had �grown up time?�"

Aaron groaned and leaned back on his elbows. "Yeah. I remember. We hated the torture chamber."

"Yeah, but I was always content to just sit quietly with my doll or a book or something, and you were always running around in circles yelling that you were bored until I finally gave in and played with you."

He cast her a cursory glance, his lips twitching in amusement. "You�d say �Alright, you little twit, let�s play checkers.� Even at ten, you were a bit of a wench."

Morgan opened her mouth in horror and slapped him gently on the arm as he laughed.

Twenty minutes later, they were both laying on the bed side by side munching on a bag of mini Oreos.

Aaron passed her the bag as he sat up slightly. "Did you bring anything to do?"

She chewed for a second before answering. "Do you remember what my mom used to say to me when I packed for this trip?"

He thought a moment and then groaned loudly, dropping back against the pillows. "She always told you not to bring any outside entertainment except a book in case you break your leg."

"Yup." She changed her voice a bit, bringing it somewhat higher in a perfect imitation of her mother. "This is family time, dear."

Aaron took the bag back, pulling an Oreo out and popping the whole thing into his mouth. "I take it you only have a book, then."

Morgan nodded, sitting up on the bed Indian-style. "That would be the correct assumption."

"So you�re saying we have to entertain ourselves?"

She turned her head slowly to look at him. "What, you want me to do an Irish jig?"

Aaron burst out laughing so hard that he nearly fell off the bed.

"Hey, I�m not that bad a dancer!"

He shook his head, covering his mouth with his hand. "No, but in sixth grade when we had to do those reports on different countries and you chose Ireland and did a jig for the whole class? That was hilarious."

Morgan crossed her arms across her chest, scowling. "I got an A for that."

Aaron nodded, continuing to laugh.

"Stop it," Morgan replied, trying not to snicker. "It�s not funny."

"You dressed up as a Leprechaun!"

"I did not! It was a traditional Irish�dancing outfit thing!"

He started laughing hysterically again which prompted her to plummet him with her pillow until he fell back onto the bed in surrender.

She leaned over him, the pillow poised for another couple bashes. "Give up?"

Aaron smirked up at her. "Never."

Morgan was about to raise the pillow and hit him again, but she realized she was completely on top of him, and rolled off to the side instead, brushing hair out of her face.

"So, um," she cleared her throat, "Maybe we should just�play 20 Questions?"

Aaron sat up beside her, tactfully ignoring her bright red face. "What about Truth?" He asked as she tucked her feet underneath her and sat facing him.

Morgan blinked at him. "You hate that game," she said carefully, an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, but I�m bored. And you hate it too. So at least I won�t be alone in my�.hating it."

"I love when you�re articulate," she commented lightly. "Alright, fine, but only because we really have nothing else to do and it�s too early to go to bed."

"I�ll start," he announced several seconds later, tapping his chin in thought. "Why do you really hate this yearly trip?"

Morgan sighed, having trouble looking him in the eye; to the headboard, she said, "It was always uncomfortable for me."

"Why?" Aaron questioned softly, his voice more curious than anything.

She looked at him. "Because being around you�it hurt."

Aaron tipped his head to the side, peering at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Morgan shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Well, I was in love with you."

"Uh, what?"

"My turn; you�ve had your question and your follow up. Let�s see�what�s your favorite part about being a famous swimmer."

Aaron shook his head, leaning forward a bit so she had no choice but to look at him. "Morgan, I had no idea. Is that why�"

"I started being a bitch to you? Yup. Pretty much. I thought if I didn�t let myself be nice to you, my feelings for you might go away. No such luck, unfortunately."

"How long?"

"Probably since we were about sixteen; had a crush on you before that, though. Want another soda?"

"I wish you wouldn�t do that."

"What, drink soda?" She asked, the can halfway to her lips.

"No. I wish you wouldn�t change the subject."

Morgan set her can down and stared at him, hard. "I don�t want to talk about this. I didn�t want to tell you, but the game is all about the truth, and if anything, I�ve never lied to you."

"I know."

"Can we just forget it? We could play the license plate game. Of course, we�re inside and we can�t see the cars outside, but we could pretend."

"I wish I had known," Aaron said, more to himself than Morgan. He started playing with a bit of fabric that was coming loose from the bedspread.

"It doesn�t matter," she said offhandedly.

"No, but it does," he said, looking up at her. "It matters a lot."

I was lost in the dark
Till you opened my heart
Like an angel shining bright
I wished on a star and here you are
Suddenly I realize
That I never knew the meaning of Christmas
Till I looked into your eyes

"I guess you�re not going to talk to me," Aaron stated, picking up his cards and fanning them out.

"Only about the rules of the game," she replied briskly, picking up her own cards.

"Are there rules?" Aaron wondered curiously, mentally flipping through his memories trying to figure out if there ever had been when he�d played as a kid.

"Just no cheating," Morgan said, looking up at him at last. "You go first."

"I have an idea," Aaron stated, raising an eyebrow. "Have any 7�s?"

Morgan groaned and tossed a seven across the bed to him. "Okay, now each time I get a pair, you tell me a Truth."

"No way, you can�t mix games like that."

"Who says?"

She blinked and sighed. "I don�t know; the Game Gods."

"Come on," he coaxed easily, smiling a little at her. Things had been uncomfortable for about a half hour after her confession, but they�d moved beyond it now. Morgan figured it was over and done with, the discussion, but Aaron wanted answers, and he was determined to get those answers, whatever it took. "I know you can�t pass up a challenge."

And she couldn�t; he knew that, so he had her exactly where he wanted her. Figuratively speaking, of course.

Morgan made a face at him that was both a.) annoyed and b.) a silent assent.

"Are you still in love with me?"

She looked down at her handful of cards, a blush creeping onto her face. "I hate you."

"No, you don�t," he said softly, reaching out and putting his hand on hers. This little gesture, something that normally would have made the butterflies in her stomach have a wild party, made her want to jump off the bed and run for her life. She hated the effect he�d always had on her, but at this point there was really nothing she could do about it.

"Yes, I�m still in love with you," she stated angrily, defiantly bringing her eyes up to lock with his; his expression, for once, was unreadable. "Do you have any 2�s?"

Aaron glanced down at his hand, pulling a card out and handing it to her.

"Ask me something," he prodded gently, setting his cards in his lap and waiting patiently.

"I don�t want to."

"Yeah, you do." Aaron pursed his lips together, waiting. "Why don�t you just ask me everything I ask you? That way you�re playing, but you�re playing out of protest."

She shook her head. "I really don�t know what you�re saying half the time. Fine." She lowered her voice a bit and tried to emulate him. "Are you still in love with me."

"Yeah. I am."

Morgan glanced up from where she�d been staring (her toes) and fixed an unrelenting gaze on him. He stared back at her, unmoving. It was so quiet that it was like neither of them were even breathing.

He watched her as she swallowed, hard, and as her face flushed a deep crimson. She never blushed as much as when she was around him.

"Do you have any 5�s?" Morgan questioned a moment later, her voice slightly hoarse.

Aaron smiled warmly at her. "It�s my turn."

"Oh," she said faintly, "right."

"Hmmm. Any kings?"

Morgan deftly handed over a king and waited; she didn�t realize she was holding her breath.

"Did you know I was in love with you?" Aaron questioned, his eyes fixed on his cards as he moved them around in his hand; his voice was nonchalant, but serious.

She stared at him, breathing slowly in and out as if she had forgotten how to breathe, and had to teach herself to calmly inhale and exhale. The room was silent except for the sound of their breathing, and the shuffling of Aaron�s cards as he placed them in some sort of order, his eyes never leaving them.

Morgan seemed to be able to form words after a couple of minutes of labored breathing. "No," she said suddenly, and Aaron looked up at her in surprise. "No, I never knew you were in love with me."

Aaron raised an eyebrow, setting his cards in front of him on the bed, face up. "Well," he said brightly, his eyes on her, "Here are all my cards."

She looked down at said cards, and then back up at him, not really understanding what he was saying. She seemed to be slightly in shock and was grasping her own cards so hard that they were bending on the edges.

He leaned forward a bit, and when he spoke it was in a voice that was deeper than usual, and extremely serious. "It�s your move, Morgan."

While the snow�s falling down
There was joy all around
�Cause your love has shown me the way
I never knew the meaning of Christmas
Till you came into my life

The silence was deafening as they sat there facing each other on the bed, unmoving. He was waiting patiently for her to speak, or for her do anything, really, but she was staring at him like she�d never seen him before.

Though, maybe she just hadn�t seen this part of him before. In all the years she�d loved him, she had never thought, not once, that he could possibly love her back. There were times when she did hate him, because no matter how hard she tried she couldn�t shake the feelings she had for him.

So, naturally, it was quite a surprise to find that he�d felt the same way all along.

Aaron, however, wasn�t surprised in the least that this was how this Christmas had turned out. He�d been planning all along to make his move, to tell her, finally, how he felt. He just hadn�t expected it would turn out quite so wonderful. He hadn�t expected her to be in love with him, of course, but he had hoped.

Morgan, on the other hand, had absolutely no intention of ever telling him she spent her nights crying because she thought he could never love her.

Things changed, though.

She swallowed, hard, and looked away from him to study her cards. "Do you have any aces?" Her voice was thick, like she was trying not to cry.

Aaron seemed surprised by this response, but looked down at his cards and shook his head.

"What would you do, if you could do anything?" She asked, ignoring the fact that he was staring at her in confusion.

"I have no aces," Aaron said slowly, "You can�t ask me a Truth."

"I�ve changed the rules," she replied, staring him down. "Deal with it."

"Morgan," Aaron sighed, running a hand though his hair.

"Don�t you want to know what I�d do?" She set her cards down, face up on the bed and leaned closer to him.

"I guess."

It took Morgan two seconds to press her lips to his, and then four seconds for Aaron to stop being shocked and respond; soon the cards were forgotten (having been tossed onto the floor) and the whole situation with the one bed didn�t seem to be such a problem anymore.

I was lost in the dark
Till you opened my heart
Like an angel shining bright
I wished on a star and here you are
Suddenly I realize
That I never knew the meaning of Christmas
Until I looked into your eyes

Aaron woke up the following morning feeling groggy and lethargic; when he tried to turn over to go back to sleep he found that he couldn�t move one bit.

"Oh, God, I�m paralyzed," he muttered, squinting into the darkness of the room to see if he could wiggle his toes (he�d read somewhere that you�d know if you were paralyzed from the waist down if you couldn�t wiggle your toes).

"You�re not paralyzed," Morgan grumbled, rolling off his arm; suddenly he could move and felt a huge relief sweep over him.

Aaron laughed tiredly and kissed the top of her head.

"You always were dramatic in the mornings," Morgan replied, snuggling against him and sighing.

He slipped an arm around her. "Hey, I think it stopped snowing."

"Is it Wednesday?"

Aaron looked down at her in confusion until he realized what she meant. "No, I don�t think so."

"Ah ha, so the old man WAS lying."

He chuckled and turned over to face her. "So�what now?"

"I�m kind of hungry," Morgan replied, and on cue her stomach grumbled. A bag of Oreos the night before had obviously not been enough to hold her over.

"I mean with us," he stated seriously, tenderly pushing some hair out of her face.

"We should probably call the parents so they don�t have coronaries and then possibly we should attempt to get to the cabin�wherever the hell it is."

"Yeah, I�ll be navigating this time."

She made a face at him and then smiled. "Did you mean what you said?"

Aaron nodded enthusiastically. "You�re a horrible navigator."

"No, I mean last night."

He thought a second and then kissed the tip of her nose. "I�ve always told you the truth. Of course I meant it."

Morgan grinned at him and leaned forward to kiss him quickly. "Good. Because so did I."

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