I watch him solemnly from across the room.

He doesn't see me watching.

He doesn't think too well of himself, especially this time of year. This is the time of year that his parents died.

He was extremely young when it happened, so he told me. Barely five years old. Some homeless bastard had lit a fire in the basement of their apartment building. He and his brother were two of six survivors. Out of 364 tenants. His parents didn't make it.

The fire happened two day before Christmas. Some present, huh? And to make things worse, he told me, his brother Joseph decided their parents' death was his, Skittery's, fault. Joseph would beat on Skittery until the tears flowed as much as the blood.

Rivers were flowing from his eyes when he told me this.

I can see his mournful gaze turning from the night's fire to my face. He likes to look at me. I can see the corners of his mouth turn up when our eyes meet. Then he looks away, and that slight smile disappears instantly.

He loves me. He doesn't know that I know, but I do.

I love him too. I have for a while.

It's the week before Christmas and I have to declare my love for him soon. I've seen Jake eyeing him, and I don't want Jake to get there first. Skittery would say yes to anything in this depressed state. I have to leave for a while, go to a richer part of town, where I can find something for him, something that will declare my unsuppressed love for him.

I don't have much money, of course.

But I have magic fingers. Like little magnets. I can steal anything. I've stolen just about everything I own, from the shoes on my feet to the hat on my head.

I can do it. I'll find something.

I'd do anything to make that mournful gaze fade away, and transform it into one of those magnificent Skittery smiles, the kind that he saves just for me.

I'm leaving tonight. I hope to be back before Jake makes his move.

And I think I will be.

***AUTHOR'S NOTE***

Whee…that was fun. Okay, yeah, um, this was a sisterfic to something I'll write later, called 'Where Are You Christmas?'. That one will be Skittery's POV. A little more angstyish. ^^;; WHEE for angst.

I must go. Tis almost time for the Annual Piccaflute Non-Denominational Winter Extravaganza…aka the last flute/piccolo section party of the year. YEAH!

CHOW