Julie fiddled with the paper in her hand, white teeth biting into soft red lips. It was still Christmas; they had just finished dinner. A time mostly filled by tipsy laughs and giggles; peals of happy children and growls of irritated adults who had hit their limit for the day. She'd excused herself politely, leaving the table behind before she had a full drawn out melt down. There was someone out there looking for her and Mark, someone who had threatened her family.

You could not mess with Julie's family and expect to get away with it.

She sighed, tucked the paper back into the top of her black boots. Out of sight. Out of mind. Or so the saying went, but even out of sight; the looming threat of danger hung in the air. Julie reached up to tug on one of her curls that was falling out of the pinned back hairstyle she'd managed to assemble this morning. Frustrated, she began tearing out pins one by one until her elegant hairstyle was completely mangled into a mess of tangled curls.

For some reason, just this one little thing was enough to set her on edge; and make her feel as if she was about ready to cry. She dropped the pins on the coffee table in the center of the room and began threading her fingers into her hair, drawing out the curls and tugging out the knots by hand. A few minutes later, it was decent enough and she dropped her hands to her sides.

It was times like this when she would turn on a freezing cold bath, fill the tub with ice cubes; and dive into an arctic wonderland in her animagus form. Her Adelie penguin was resistant to the cold, she even found it to be a relaxant when she tensed up like this. That, or falling asleep with her head on Mark's chest; there was something about the consistent rise and fall, the steady pace of inhale and exhale... something that calmed every nerve in her body and put her at ease.

But James was here, and he would most definietly cry if Julie was a penguin. And Mark was spending good, quality time with his friends and loved ones. Time that he probably hadn't gotten all too recently with his current occupation. And of course, the occasional death threat. That always put people into a cheery mood.

The thought dragged Julie back to the note, and the idea of not knowing where she came from. "C'est insensé.[1]" She whispered to herself. "Comment puis-je être tellement travaillé sur une petite note! Je sais qui je suis!"[2]

She paused, beginning to pace back and forth, her native language bubbling over in the midst of her fiery temper. "Je suis français! Personne ne peut me faire que remettre en question! Surtout pas un lambeau de parchemin défectueux![3]"

Julie stopped and returned to her position by the window, looking outside to see the bright, waxing moon glisten over the new fallen snow. "Oh mon dieu,[4]" she sighed. "I need to relax."

1.	This is insane.
2.	How can I be so worked up over a tiny note! I know who I am!
3.	I am French! Nobody can make me question that! Especially not some faulty shred of parchment!
4.	Oh my god.

Mark had just finished cleaning off the table, and hadn't seen Julie. He was able to slip away to go find her looking out on to the backyard, whispering to herself. For the first time all day, the little black box felt like lead in his pocket. He took a deep breath as he entered, walking closer to his girlfriend and hopefully, soon to be fiancee.

"Hey there," He said with a smile, standing next to her, his hand dug deeply into his pocket, fiddling with the black box. "A penny for your thoughts?" He asked looking over to her profile. She looked so pretty that day, the way her hair fell, and the way she made herself up. He wanted her to be his wife. Though every time he thought about marriage, he felt guilt. Mark was keeping something from her.

Earlier that week, he had made his way to france to ask her father for her hand in marriage. After a few questions, he had said yes, and joy had overfilled him, just as dread did now. What if she said no? What if she didn't want to marry him? What if she was cheating on him? What if she was into James? The 'what-ifs' were killing him at the moment.

Her mind still clouded with mostly negative thoughts, Julie almost jumped as Marks came to stand next to her. The tension in her shoulders eased though, and she relaxed; realizing she was way too tense for her own good. She tried to smile, but it was a grim smile at best. "You probably don't want to hear what I'm thinking about."

She barely noticed that he was tense as well; and that he looked worked up. Later on, she would berate herself for being so shallow; but she just felt engulfed in problems. She leaned her head on his shoulder, glad that her heels gave her a bit more height so that she didn't have to go on her tippy toes to do so.

"Everything all right with you?" She asked, more out of the fact that she was making conversation than anything. "Is everything all set out there? Or did you ditch because your sister was flirting with Mr. Handsome?" She was trying to joke about James and Jane, and didn't realize that Mark could take it the wrong way.

As she leaned on his shoulder, he couldn't help but smile. Mark draped his arm around her, placing a peck on the top of her head, before returning his gaze to the snow on the swing set. He had played on it when he was little, but now he was older. Now, he was going to ask the biggest question of his life, to the one person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. His heart started beating faster and faster and faster still.

"Is everything all set out there? Or did you ditch because your sister was flirting with Mr. Handsome?"

Mr. Handsome? Mr. Handsome? Mr. Handsome? The name echoed in his head, causing him to question everything about that night. What if she didn't love him enough? What if she wasn't ready? What if it was just too soon? He immediately tensed up, and he spat out the first thing he thought of. "Do you love me?" He clutched his eyes shut, wanting to shove his foot in his mouth. "I- uh, I didn't mean it like that. I meant to ask if you knew I loved you. Because I do, with all of my heart." He spat out quickly, not knowing what to say.

Julie startled inwardly with Mark's random outburst of 'Do you love me?' Did he not know that she adored him with all her heart? And that he was the first person she thought of when she woke up and the last thought on her mind when she fell asleep?

She turned to face him, taking his hands in hers. "Mark, that's the stupidest question you have ever asked me." She stated, looking into his eyes as she said it. "I love you so much, how could you ever question if I did? I think the general logic is that when you're with someone for so long and you move in with them, you probably love them more than you love chocolate. And that's a lot of love."

She smiled, her heart fluttering the slightest as she thought about how insecure Mark was. It was adorable, and he was hers; perfect insecurity and all. "Why would you ask that anyways?"

"I love you so much, how could you ever question if I did? I think the general logic is that when you're with someone for so long and you move in with them, you probably love them more than you love chocolate. And that's a lot of love."

He couldn't contain the smile that appeared on his face. She was joking, and she didn't even know what was coming next. "Well, aren't I lucky then?" He replied, his heart finally calming. She wasn't cheating on him. How could he ever even think of that?

Mark sighed a breath of relief, as he finally realized what he had to do. This was it. It was time. Time to ask the big question. His heart threatened to leap out of his chest, as it banged against it's cage, as he found himself bending down to one knee. Time began to crawl. He flashed back through memories, potions, tears, smiles, laughter, all of it concluding to this one moment. To the most important moment in his life. His mind jumped, was he ready? Was it time?

As his knee hit the hardwood floor, he swallowed hard, as he got a surge of adrenaline. It was time. No going back. He took a deep breath, as his mind threatened to throw him into a pit of regret. But no. Not now. "Julie," He asked, as he withdrew the black box from his pocket. the velvet seemed rough in his hands as his heart sped up. This was it. It was show time.

"Julie Jehanne Lafevre, will you marry me and make me the happiest man alive?" He asked. The words slid over his tongue from the hours of practice in the mirror. He slid open the box, to reveal the diamond ring.

Julie smiled, "Of course you are lucky, you've got me and I've got you. There's nobody luckier than us." She said, her stomach full of those little butterfly's that you got when you felt nervous or excited.

Then her heart basically stopped as he got down on one knee, and she started crying. It was happy tears, tears of joy because she knew what the next thing was that he was going to say. "Oh my god," she whispered, one hand going to cover her mouth as her eyes continued to tear.

"Mark," she sighed before he continued on to ask her to marry him. She wanted to scream, she wanted to shout it from the rooftops that as of this moment, she might just have been the happiest girl in the world. Julie tried to say yes, but her voice failed her. The best she could do was nod and start crying uncontrollably as she finally said, "Yes."

Her heart was going a million miles an hour, she couldn't believe what was happening right now. With a start as a terrible day, it was turning out to be perfect; and this would be one Christmas she would never forget. Because today would be the day that she would fall in love all over again with the same insecure, adorable man who ruined her favorite white dress with a multi-colored, almost poisonous potion. And who ever would have thought that such an unlikely couple could make it in their unlikely little world?

Mark slipped the ring on to her left ring finger, his heart still beating a mile a minute, no longer from fear but happiness. As the diamond ring went over her knuckle, he smiled, as he stood up, and felt like tears threatened to overflow. But not now. He hugged her in happiness, as he lifted her off of the ground and spun her, as he pressed his lips to hers, smelling the sweet smell of Julie that he loved. The one smell that would remind him everything was going to be okay.

"I love you, my soon to be wife." Mark said softly, as he placed her back down. He heard a soft song come on, as he took her hand, dancing around in a circle, watching her dress sway. "You are amazing, and great, and beautiful." He said, as they continued to sway, a smile not faltering from his face.

Julie admired the ring as he slipped it onto her finger, and she smiled brightly, throwing her arms around him as he stood up. He lifted her off the ground and spun her around; kissing her gently and she kissed him back. Her smile was never going to fade, at least not in the next few moments that they had alone, just the two of them together.

"I love you so much," she said, her head resting on his chest, arms wrapped around him tightly. She never wanted to let him go; she could stay hear forever in his arms, with the beat of his heart a gentle noise in her ear and the feeling that they'd finally gotten to where they were supposed to be. Together, and promised to be each other's forever and ever. At least, in theory. Vows always solidified the promise, but Julie wouldn't break this promise; not for the world.

She looked up at him, "One question," she started, biting her lip. "Did you... did you ask my father for permission?" At this point, and because it was Mark; she wouldn't have cared if he didn't. But she liked the traditional way, or at least parts of the traditional way; and it would be nice to know that they had her father's blessing going forth.

"And the other thing, you do know this means you're going to be hearing from my mother quite a bit, right? The whole, I'm her only daughter and she's a socialite with connections means we can't just elope. She would kill me if we eloped... Wait, does your mom know! Does Alice know? Did you tell her ahead of time?"

Mark and Julie continued to sway, as he smiled at her questions. "I did ask your father. And he said yes, and I told my mother. Alice doesn't know, and no one knows except us. And our parents. That's it." He said. As they gently swayed. "So, Julie Hunter. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" He asked with a smile on his face.

Hearing himself say ring, he thought to the ring that was now on her hand. "You do like the ring, right? If you want a different one, we could get you it. You know that, right?" He said nervously, hoping that she liked it. It had cost him two month's pay, just as the urban legend said, and he thought it looked like a Julie-ring.

Julie leaned her head back against Mark's chest, reveling in the perfect moment he'd created for them. A warm, bubbly feeling filled her at the thought of him actually braving the daunting trip, by himself, to France of all places; to ask for her father's permission to marry her.

"Will you shut up? Please? I love it, and you need to stop asking questions. Just be adorable with me for another minute before somebody walks in and bursts my bubble," Julie said, squeezing him in a tighter hug. "I want to stay here forever."

James had one empty glass of eggnog in one hand, and another half-spilled glass in the other, his dad was yelling at him from somewhere else in the house, but Jim needed to take a leak, and this house was so damn big, he sometimes forgot where everything was. He walked through a hall, and then took a few steps back. Craning his neck to see Mark and Julie...cuddle-dancing?

"Hello Christmasers!" Jim said, a little more than warm from the alcohol content in the eggnog. "How we doing, to-night?" Jim walked into the room and held out his empty cup. "Reggnog?" He asked, his diction not the best under the circumstances.

Julie growled, honest to goodness growled. The bubble had been popped. She let go of Mark rather quickly, cheeks flushing red from being caught dancing so close together. It wasn't that it was embarrassing, it was just awkward with a slightly drunken James stumbling around.

"Doing just fine James, I don't think we'll be needing and eggnog. I don't drink, remember?" She said condescendingly, the way a mother would to a child who was stupid enough to run into a wall or something along those lines. She twisted the new ring around her finger, as if to remind herself of what had just happened; and it brought a loopy grin to her face.

Suddenly the partial silence in the room was broken by a very upset twelve year old. One who obviously didn't take well to being harassed about her full moon issues. "Mark, the bubble is officially broken."

Mark was just about to kiss her again, when James stumbled in unbalanced and with his father yelling after him. He put his arm around Julie reassuringly. "Sorry James, buddy, egg nog is in the kitchen, not in here. We're fine though." He said, squeezing Julie's arm happily. He watched as Jane stumbled into the room, with a lazy smile fumbling over to James. "Let's go, James! Come back out." She said, grabbing his tie and pulling James towards the kitchen.

"Yup, bubble's gone. Completely gone." Mark said with a smile. He kissed her once more, as he guided him and his fiancé out of the living room.