Kiss Me, It's Beginning to Snow

December 24, 1996, 5:45 P.M. GMT

As soon as the London Clan and their visitors broke from stone sleep, the first thing they saw was the thick, white snow that had fallen during the day.

"It snowed! It snowed!" the youngest ones clammored excitedly.

"Can we go play in the snow, Una?" one young gargoyle asked the clan's matriarch.

"Yeah! Let's play in the snow!" several others agreed.

"Please?" Lunette asked her mother sweetly.

"Alright." said Una. "Take some of your elder siblings with you."

"Griff! Griff! Will you come play with us?" A few of them ran up to Griff, who happily offered the smallest one a piggyback ride. A set of identical twins who looked like flying monkeys took a young gargoyle under each arm and sailed off over the snowy pines. A young gargoyle who looked like a snow leopard bounded into the arms of a gargoyle who bore a resemblance to a brown bear. His girlfriend, who looked a lot like a golden eagle, followed them.

"Staghart!" Lunette jumped into the arms of her favorite elder brother. "Will you come play with us? Please?" She batted her big blue eyes.

"Well, all right." Staghart turned to Lexington. "Lex, do you like playing with kids?"

"Sure do!" Lex had sort of missed Alex.

Lunette pouted. "You play with him more than you do with me!"

Coco laughed. "I'll explain this to you when you're older, luv." she said to the younger gargoyle. "C'mon. Let's get out there 'fore Castor and Pollux have time to set up a prank for us!"

Eight young adult gargoyles and two dozen child gargoyles landed in a clearing in the woods. "So," said Staghart. "What do we play?"

"Snowball war! Snowball war!" chorused many of them.

"I wanna be on Sir Griff's team!" stated a boy who looked like a fox, standing beside his idol. "He's fought in a war! He's a knight! He knows how it's done!"

"Connor, you flatter me!" Griff ruffled the small one's shock of red-brown hair.

"Bernard's stronger!" The snow leopard gargoyle stood by the bear gargoyle.

"Castor and Pollux are the fastest!" said a girl with a (literally) horsey face.

"Yeah, and there's two of 'em!" said a boy who looked like a white calf.

"Right then." said Griff. "I'll take Staghart, Coco and Lexington for my team. Castor, Pollux, Arline and Bernard can make up the other. You nippers take sides. See that there's twelve to a team." Some of the children knew exactly whose team they wanted to be on. Some had to decide with "Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum In a Dish". Once they were all evenly split up, Griff had more to say. "Right. Rules of engagement. Just snowballs. No rocks, no ice, no sticks, no bloody pine cones."

"Oi!" snapped the golden eagle. "Watch yer beak 'round the little 'uns!"

"Sorry, Arline!" said Griff.

"And if anyone gets hurt," said Bernard. "You stop right away. And if one of the adults says to stop, you stop."

"Right!" said Griff. "It's war then." He offered his hand to Bernard. "See you in Hell, Bernard!"

"See you in Hell, Griff." Bernard responded, shaking his hand.

"Yeah!" the snow leopard pointed at the opposing team. "We'll see you in Hell!"

"Aiden!" gasped Arline. "See what happens when you use fowl language around hatchlings?"

The two groups split up and got to work building their forts, making snowballs and planning strategy. Lunette and a black feathered girl named Branwen made snowballs while Connor and a porcine boy named Culwich built the walls of the fort. Griff knelt down and drew a diagram of X's and O's to illustrate his attack strategy.

"Right, we'll surround them!" Griff was saying, as he drew in the snow. "Coco will lead Culwich, Branwen and Prudence to the left flank. Lexington will lead Tabitha, Nigel and Blaine to the right. Connor, Beverly and Humphrey will accompany me on an aerial assault. Staghart will lead Lunette, Gwendolyn and Astor on a frontal attack."

"Or," said Staghart. "We could go here and we'd win!" Staghart drew an X next to two close X's and drew a line through them.

"This isn't noughts-and-crosses!" Griff scolded, taking back the twig.

Lexington took up an armload of snowballs and faced the three "troops" he had been given command over. He decided to say something he saw in a movie once, with the language cleaned up so Arline wouldn't get mad at him. "Now, I want you to remember, that no one ever won a war by dying for their country. They won it by making the other poor dumb jerk die for his country!"

"What's that mean?" asked Tabitha, a girl with horns like an antelope.

"Uh...just follow me." Lexington led the children around some trees. He motioned for them to stay quiet and keep low as they snuck through the trees. Soon, Lexington pointed out some tracks in the snow and winked at the children. They followed him as he followed the tracks. The tracks looked vaguely like clawed, three fingered hands with the thumb far to the side. The tracks belonged to one of the twins, he was sure. He followed the tracks to the base of a great pine, where they stopped.

"Death from above!" shouted a voice, as Lexington was suddenly pelted with a barrage of snowballs from above. The force caused him to fall and drop all his snowballs. In between trying to wipe the snow from his face, Lex could see his three tossing snowballs at three other child gargoyles, who were tossing snowballs right back at them. Just as Lex was trying to scoop up some snow to make a snowball, he was grabbed by a pair of slim, hairy arms. "I caught a prisoner!" shouted Castor. (Or was it Pollux? Lex wasn't sure.) His three troops covered his escape by throwing snowballs at Lex's troops, who were clammoring "Give him back!"

"Oh, this is real funny!" Lex said, finding himself behind the lines of the "enemy" fort, his hands tied with a jump rope.

"The prisoner will not speak until he is spoken to!" snapped Pollux (or was it Castor?) as he paced before Lexington.

"Can we torture him?" asked Aiden. "Pretty please?"

"Uh...Geneva convention applies to snowball fights!" said Lexington.

"We caught a prisoner! We caught a prisoner!" sang the white calf and horse faced girl. "We caught a prisoner! Na na na na naaa na!"

"Morgan! Fintan!" scolded the monkey. "You've been singing that ever since we caught him. If you're trying to torture him with that, it's not working." He looked into Lex's eyes. "We have ways of making you talk!"

"You've been watching too many movies, Banana Breath!"

"Who you callin' Banana Breath, Melon Head?" Suddenly, a snowball smacked into his face.

"Step off, Castor!" Staghart had shown up, with his three and Lex's three. All were armed with snowballs.

"I'm Pollux, you bloody git!" Pollux barely had a second to wipe the snow off his face before Lunette hit him with another one.

"Don't say bad words!" Lunette scolded.

"Don't tell Pollux what to do!" Morgan threw a snowball at her.

Soon, all of the children and Pollux were throwing snowballs at each other. In the chaos, Staghart untied Lexington, picked him up and ran away.

Staghart carried Lexington off and hid behind an immense pine with him. "We'd best lay low for awhile." he suggested.

"Uh, yeah!" Lex chuckled. "Um...you can put me down now."

"Now, why would I want to do that?" Staghart asked with a cheeky smile. Ever since he held a stunned Lexington in his arms for all of three minutes more than a month ago, Staghart had wanted more. He wanted to hold that warm, compact body and feel that smooth, suede-like skin. He had taken every opportunity he could find to touch Lex, usually offering a shoulder rub while he was at the computer. Lex never refused being touched, but sometimes he could be very skittish about it.

Lexington gulped. He felt himself blush as a nervous sweat started to form on his flesh, giving him goosebumps in the cool night air. "Uh, so, um, think the kids are enjoying the game?"

Staghart gave a sad smile and stood Lex on his feet, but not quite letting go. He looked up at the branches over them. "Mistletoe." he commented.

Lexington looked up to see the green growth twined about the branches. "Uh, yeah. I hear it's bad for the tree."

"But a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it." Staghart replied.

"Uh...huh?" Lex could kick himself for sounding so stupid.

"Sounded better in that Batman film." Staghart admitted with a frown. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kiss you!" He pointed at his muzzle. "Can't. Deer face."

"Yeah, well, it's just some dumb thing humans do."

"You ever been kissed, Lex?"

Lex blushed. "Um...Angela gives me cheek kisses sometimes. I don't think it counts. She'd probably kiss her brothers the same way. Raised by humans, y'know."

"Do you like it?"

"Uh...I guess."

Staghart caressed Lex's cheek with one hand. "If I could kiss you, would you let me?"

Lex's heart hammered against his ribs as his stomach dropped. He found his mouth too dry to form words. He did find himself pressing his cheek into the fond caress. He closed his eyes as he felt Staghart's thumb brush over his eyebrow ridges. Staghart pulled him closer and ran his talon tips lightly over Lex's scalp. Lex trembled as he felt his body heat up. He put his arms around Staghart's waist and nuzzled the bigger gargoyle's powerful chest. This was so nice. Why fight it? Strong arms held him. He had wanted to feel those arms hold him securely ever since he first woke up in them, but was far too nervous to ask for what he wanted. Snowflakes began to fall upon them, ignored. Staghart was nuzzling the side of Lex's face. /Yes! This is what I want!/ Lex thought as silky fur sensuously brushed his cheek. The fur tickled his ear and made him giggle. He reached up and caressed a velvety ear between his thumb and forefinger. Staghart gasped and made a feral noise Lex liked.

"That...doesn't hurt, does it?" Lex asked.

"Oh, no." Amp gasped. "Not a bit!" Lex used his thumb to caress the ear again. Staghart shivered and let out a growl that made Lex's blood sing. He paused in playing with Staghart's ear to run a finger over silvery antlers that glistened in moonlight. Snowflakes twirled about the prongs and clung to snow white fur. Lex ran his fingers through the fur on the thick neck, running sharp talon tips lightly over Staghart's flesh. Staghart's embrace became tighter. His feathery wings began to encase Lexington.

/They're so soft!/ Lex thought appreciatively. As Staghart pulled him closer, Lex could feel something that definitely was not soft. He also noticed he himself was very aroused. The hands were trailing down his back, over the base of his tail and back up again. He could hear Staghart gasp for breath as the fuzzy muzzle nuzzled his neck. Lex was feeling lightheaded and short of breath himself. But it wasn't at all unpleasant. He was warm and floating in sensation. He shut his eyes and willed himself to simply feel.

The mood was ruined by the sound of high pitched giggling. "Staghart has a boyfriend! Staghart has a boyfriend!" sang Lunette.

Staghart immediately let Lexington loose. "Lunette!" he cried out.

The child gargoyle skipped away singing "Staghart and Lexington, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Staghart gave an embarrassed laugh. "Er, sorry about that. We'd uh, better go."

"First comes love," Lunette sang as she skipped along. "Then comes marriage! Then comes Staghart with a baby carriage!"

"There's a biological impossibility." Lex muttered as he and Staghart followed the young gargoyle.

"There you are!" Coco met up with them, looking like she had been pelted with several snowballs. "War's been called on account of snow. C'mon!"

"Coco! Coco!" Lunette said excitedly. "Staghart and Lexington were snogging! I saw 'em!"

"Really now?" Coco smiled at the two, who were looking more than a little sheepish. "Were they? Well, they can snog later. It's time to go home."

"Um, Amp?" Lex whispered as they made their way back to Knight's Spur. "What's 'snogging' mean?"

"It means what we were just doing." he whispered back.

"Aiden!" shouted Coco. "You put that dead thing down right now!"

December 24, 1996, 11:27 P.M. GMT

Lexington found Hudson in the grand sitting room in a chair by the fire, nursing a cup of hot chocolate. "Hey, Hudson?" The old gargoyle looked up. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"What is it, lad?" he asked.

"Well...um..." Lex took one of the chairs. "Hudson, you were in love once, right?"

For a few moments he said nothing. Lexington wondered if maybe he said the wrong thing. "Aye, lad." Hudson finally said. "A long, long time ago, I fell in love with a wee lass as fair as any bluebell that ever grew on the moor. She was my Bluebell."

"Wee lass?" Lexington quirked a brow. "If I remember your mate correctly, she was kinda big. But, that might of been because I was really small."

"She had some meat on her bones, aye." said Hudson. "Not like those nearly naked starvelings the humans put in their magazines. She was a fierce warrior and a lovely individual. Do you remember her much? You were but thirteen when she...." The old gargoyle sighed as he trailed off.

"She's part of us forever." said Lexington. "You said so yourself at the Wind Ceremony."

"What makes you bring this up all of a sudden, lad?" Hudson said, a trifle crossly.

"Um, well...Hudson...how do you know when you're in love?"

"Oh, by the dragon!" Hudson groaned as he laid back in the chair. "Ye really gonna make me have this conversation with you, lad?"

"Well, you're the only one here I'd feel right asking this about."

"Why do ye ask? Ye been eying one o' the lasses 'round here at Knight Spur?"

Lexington blushed. /Actually, one of the lads./ he thought to himself. "Well, what it is...is, well there's this gargoyle who's been paying a lot of attention to me. And I like it! I mean, I get over-looked so much and this gargoyle makes me feel like someone special. We both like computers, electronics and sci-fi and comic books." Lex chuckled. "Yeah, we're both nerds."

"Nerds? Ye mean those little sweeties that look like pebbles?"

"No, a nerd, someone who likes, y'know, weird stuff and is kinda weird in a good way. Nerds are socially awkward people with unusual interests, but they're basically good people, even if they do get irritated with others who don't understand them."

"Ach! Like the Magus!" Hudson guessed.

"Uh...yeah, I guess you could say that."

Hudson laughed. "If he had nae been such a powerful wizard, I'd have dunked his head in a chamberpot time and again! Lads and I called him 'Make arse' behind his back!"

"Anyway," sighed Lexington. "This gargoyle, I know we won't have much time together. And, I think I'm in love but I don't know and even if I am I'm not sure I wanna be and I'm just plain scared and I'm rambling like an idiot!"

"Lexington, lad." said Hudson. "Love won't obey our expectations; it's mystery is pure and absolute."

"Wow. When you put it that way, it kinda makes sense."

"Aye. I learned it from watching /Bridges of Madison County/."

"Hudson, I'm being serious!"

"Ye want serious lad? The serious thing to do would be to forget the whole blasted thing. We'll be gettin' home to Manhattan in less than a month tops an' yer mystery lover'll most likely be stayin' here. The serious thing to do would be to spare yourself a broken heart and don't start something ye can nae follow through on."

"Well...I guess I kinda knew that was the most realistic approach." Lexington sighed. "Thanks for talking with me about this, Hudson." Lexington got up to leave.

"Lexington!" Lex halted as Hudson called his name. Hudson left his chair and approached the younger gargoyle. "I did nae have my Bluebell in my life as long as I wanted, but I do nae regret a single moment I shared with her. Not even the last ones. One of these days, lad, Fates willing, ye'll be an old gargoyle like me. See that you don't have any regrets. Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it."

"What movie did you steal that from?" Lexington asked.

"/Braveheart/." Hudson confessed. "But it does nae mean I don't mean every word."

Lexington smiled. Everything seemed so much clearer now. He knew what he wanted. Knew what he had to do.


A/N: I won't post the lyrics of the song I got the title from. They only make sense in the context of the show.
If you want to see some hot Lex/Amp art, check out Galax on DeviantArt. Galax also has a website, if you don't mind reading in either German or poorly translated by BabelFish.
I had the characters using a lot of movie quotes, didn't I? Lexington quotes the opening lines or /Patton/, cleaned up for minors. (Ironically, the speech in the movie is itself a cleaned up version of a speech given by the real G. S. Patton.) Staghart quotes a line from /Batman Returns/. Pollux quotes every bad war movie ever made. Hudson quotes /Bridges of Madison County/ and /Braveheart/.
If you're following "I'll Cover You", I have one chapter to go before it's finished.