Note: This chapter has a major emphasis on Rydel and Ellington. First time ever writing them. Let me know how I did, okay?

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Snow, snow, snow, snow. There was just so much snow.

A California girl through and through, she hadn't experienced much snowfall but after Ross's instructions and Rydel's insistence, Laura ended up buying what she thought was the best winter coat, the best winter boots and many many cold weather accessories to keep the cold out and warm in. But she was wrong. So wrong.

Instead of wearing her gorgeous ebony, fleece-lined, nylon shelled coat that supposedly withstood moisture and strong wind gusts, she was in Ross's. She was bundled up in his steel colored coat that ended just above her knees, two scarves wrapped around her neck and face and was rooting for him as he played some two on two hockey with Riker, Rocky and Ryland. She kept a cup of warm cocoa in between her gloved hands, careful not to spill it and watched the Lynch boys skate from one end of the frozen pond to the other in attempt to get as many goals as they could.

November and December had come and went just as quickly as they arrived. After Halloween, Laura had ventured up to San Francisco to visit her sister before she got to work on her new TV movie, and before she and Ross returned to the Disney Channel set for Calum's show. As promised, the episode on Calum's new show did feature Austin Moon and Ally Dawson almost everywhere except the girl's dream. They were on posters, their voices on the radio and if you paid close attention could see them walking through the crowds of a New York City set and trying to go incognito and failing miserably.

The episode did well after it's first airing on the network a few weeks ago. Laura remembered making Ross watch the episode with her before he flipped the channel to an old hockey game that was playing. She didn't mind, just as long as they got to watch the episode. While he was watching the game, she was trying to memorize all her lines for the movie, but it wasn't working. Laura was never that big of a sports girl either, but Ross was rubbing off on her. In the middle of the game, while she was rooting for one team and him the other, he was asking her to join the family for the holidays.

It was an annual thing with the entire Lynch family - cousins and second cousins and even third cousins - heading to Keystone for the Christmas and New Year's holidays. While she still wanted to spend Christmas with her own, she did make him a deal for New Year's. So, here she was, two days before the last day of the year, trying to stay warm underneath two sweaters, his coat, two scarves, three pairs of socks and one pair of the best winter boots money could buy, and watching him trying to beat Rocky and Ryland. By her calculations though, Ross and Riker were losing by three.

"They are just going at it today," Rydel popped up by her with her own cocoa in her hands, trying to keep warm. It wasn't just Laura, it was everyone. It was freezing and yet, they were both outside, watching the guys fight it out on the ice.

"Why are they going at it this hard?"

"Apparently the top floor master is up for grabs. They all want it," Rydel informed her and they shared a laugh. "So, want to do a tea party later? My mom has all the cousins coming over to bake and I thought it would be the perfect time."

"That actually sounds like the best plan ever," Laura put the warm cup to her lips before turning back to the game. "Think he'd notice if I'm not watching?"

"When they're pummeling each other to the ice? Not likely. Come on," Rydel nodded her head and Laura followed her back up to the house the family was renting.

It was a gorgeous home with a spacious dining, living and kitchen combo where if you stood in any part of the main floor, could see the gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains. It was stunning and something Laura had stared at for at least an hour after she arrived along with Ellington and his parents earlier in the day.

There were six full bedrooms with lofts on each floor, a game room, an additional family room and the two jacuzzi's on the patio? Those had her name all over them. Speaking of Ellington...

"Where is Ell anyway? Did he disappear as soon as he got here?"

Rydel smiled at the mention of her boyfriend's name. "He's up at the resort with my dad and his dad. Apparently he wanted to teach his dad how to ski...I have no clue."

"Sounds about right. What teas are we having?" Laura quickly changed the subject back to the tea party. As long as she had known Rydel, she'd only been to two of her parties, but it had been a while. From what she remembered, they were nice and she couldn't wait to participate in another with Rydel and all her cousins. As soon as they stepped inside and Rydel helped her unwrap herself from the many layers, the girls headed to the main level where Stormie and Cheryl, Ellington's mom, were already prepping for the cousins coming over with a baking extravaganza. There were yummy scones and cookies and cakes and little utensils were all over. Yea, her inner child was coming out now; all she needed was an apron and she'd be set.

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He felt like it was burning a whole in his pocket...and it was. The tiny piece of jewelry had been burning in his pocket since he cornered Mark and bought it three months ago, since right at Halloween when she looked so good as Topanga, since he boxed in each and every one of her brothers and asked them a question that would decide his, since he passed through airport security and since he had taken it out and stared at it through his entire flight to Denver.

Ellington now sat between his father George, and his manager, Mark Lynch, drinking to whatever they could and talking about the awesome trail they had just finished skiing down, and while he wanted to jump in on the conversation about hitting up the trail again - because, you know three times wasn't enough - he wanted to get back to Rydel more. If he was being honest though, he really wanted it to be New Year's Eve now, so this tiny piece of jewelry wasn't burning a hole in his pocket. He wanted it on her hand.

"Snap out of it Ell," his father nudged him in his shoulder.

Shaking his head, Ellington was brought back into the conversation again. But they weren't talking about the trails anymore. They were talking about music and future gigs Mark was planning for the group and working around everyone's schedules. With Rydel's studies, Riker and Ross's acting careers, Rocky's producing and his own music lessons, getting them all together in the next year for performances was going to be difficult.

"How are those lessons going, by the way?"

Ellington cleared his throat. "Good. I've got a few that I think would be better with Rocky teaching them, but all in all, they're good."

"Showing more interest in guitar?" Mark questioned about the students.

Ellington nodded. "Yea. There's one that just wants to kick the drums. I'm working on him." Taking another breath, Ellington leaned forward, ignoring any other question about his students and heading straight for the only thought that was on his mind. "She's going to say yes, right?"

Mark and George exchanged looks with each other, smirking at the drummer.

"I can't predict my daughter's answer, Ell, but," Mark laid his hand on Ellington's shoulder. "I don't think she's going to say no."

"Why are you this nervous?" George asked, taking a sip of his drink. "You should not be nervous."

"Nervous about what?" Riker came up behind Ellington and took a seat, along with his brothers tagging behind.

"What are you four doing here?"

"Mom kicked us out," Ryland sat down, a bit defeated by saying that.

"Something about us eating all the treats."

"To be honest, we were. They were good," Rocky said. "They're having a tea party with Del and Laura and pretty much every female member of our family to ever exist."

"Nervous about what?" Riker asked again, his head turning from his dad to Ellington once again.

Ellington leaned back in his seat as Ross took the last chair in the grouping in the resort's lobby. "Nervous about asking your sister to spend the rest of her life with me."

"You shouldn't be," Ross shook his head. "She loves you, you love her. Rydellington is about to become very very official. All is right in the world."

"You say that like it's going to be easy. Have you met your sister and how she always seems to foil my surprises and plans? Every single time."

Ryland and George laughed at him then, but he wasn't kidding. He remembered planning a romantic date on the top of the Eiffel Tour while they were in Paris, a private and even more romantic tour while in Rome and don't get him started on what he had planned when they were in India. Every time, every city, she had found out and topped him. Top of the Eiffel Tour? She took him underground to the creepy, but cool ass catacombs. Romance in Rome? She one upped him in Florence by booking a private house in the country side since they had a few days in between shows. And India? Two words: Taj Mahotsav.

For New Year's Eve, he wanted everything to go right. He needed the dinner to be light, the actual lights to be perfect, the music to be all of her favorites, her to be just her, her brothers to do their jobs he had planned them to do, her mom to make sure she had her nails done...everything. He needed everything to be just about perfect...and that included him completing this amazing speech that he had written down. Ellington had it memorized but he wasn't sure if he would have it memorized then when he was actually asking her the most important question in both of their lives.

"You shouldn't be nervous though," Rocky said, taking his drink from the server who brought them all refreshers. "All you have to do is be Ell and she'll say yes."

"I sure hope so."

"Lemme see that ring again," Ross nudged him and Ellington pulled out the box from his jacket. The same box that he'd been tapping every few minutes to make sure he still had it in his pocket. He had even taken it skiing with him earlier in the day and was thankful it hadn't slipped out from the inside of his jacket then.

Ellington flipped open the box and handed it over to hopefully, his future brother-in-law. He had purchased it back in the summer, when he knew that even after only a true 6 months of dating, she was it for him. Truth be told though, he knew the first moment he kissed her when they were eighteen. They had went back and forth being together and being apart, from being insanely happy, to being insanely miserable. It was only during the last leg of the tour that he had called himself out on all the bullshit. He loved her and that was that. Ellington was still counting his lucky stars that she loved him in return.

And tomorrow, he'd be sealing it all up with just one tiny piece of jewelry - the tiny piece of rose gold metal that held three diamonds up on a pedestal. He hadn't cared how much it cost him and he would remain tight lipped about how much it actually did, he just wanted it on her hand at the stroke of midnight tomorrow. He wanted to become Mr. Rydel Lynch.

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"My mom is acting strange, right? It's not just me..." Rydel darted her eyes from Laura to where her mom stood with Cheryl as they instructed the younger cousins on how to decorate their cookies and mini pies that were spread on the counter.

The more Rydel thought about it, the more certain she was right. Stormie was always upbeat and bubbly, and spreading positivity and good vibes around was in her nature. Just today though, even more this past week, she had been even more so...and it was kind of freaking Rydel out a bit. Every time she looked over at her mom, she was beaming and anxious about something. It was normal for her to be excited about the holidays with all the family around, it was normal for her to be baking up a storm to feed them all and it was definitely normal for her to kick all the guys out for a complete girls day.

However, it was not normal for her to be hanging on Rydel's side all day long. The last time she was like this was when she was in the fourth grade, and that was all because she had won the school's spelling bee...which was quite a long time ago. This time, this was different. This was Stormie being super bubbly and she knew something was up.

Laura shrugged her shoulders. "She's always this upbeat though."

"Yea, but it's like she ate that whole bag of sugar that was on the counter before the crack of dawn." Rydel laughed along with Laura then, realizing how ridiculous it sounded but before she knew it, Stormie was back by her side just as they finished up setting up the tea table for the adults.

"I was thinking," Stormie announced, while setting the mini menus she had made up real quick on the plates, "We should get manicures tomorrow. Just us girls, make our nails all nice and pretty for the party."

Rydel glanced back at Laura. "I told you, weird."

Laura shook her head with a close lipped smile. "I know Ross wanted to take me skiing tomorrow..."

"Oh, it wouldn't take long. He can have you back here by the afternoon and we can go into town. What do you say Rydel?"

She looked between her mom and Laura. It wasn't that she didn't want to go, she did. It was a free manicure, but she also wanted to spend time with Ellington and chill out before getting ready and roped into setting up the party they were hosting for New Year's Eve. She had a gorgeous dress sitting up in the closet of the room she had laid dibs on, amazing shoes that she'd been lusting after for months and yea...a manicure to go along with those shoes and the dress was looking better by the second; even if her mom was acting weird.

"Sure."

"Wonderful. It will be just us and Cheryl. We'll steal you two away from your guys and have a mini-glam session."

"Glam?" Rydel said. "Okay, what's going on? Something is up."

Stormie stared back at her only daughter. "What? No...nothing, nothing is going on. Did I hear a ding? I heard a ding..."

It took two more seconds before Stormie was gone from their side and back in the kitchen with the other female cousins and Cheryl. Rydel and Laura both heard NO ding whatsoever.

"See, weird."

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Her dress made her look like a Disney princess and he suddenly felt all the oxygen around him disappear. It was New Year's Eve and the home they were all staying at was redecorated and done up to celebrate the coming of the year ahead. Gold and silver balloons were all around them, and a disco ball hung in the middle of the grand room refracting each and every light that it caught as couples and little kids danced about to the music playing.

Rydel wore her hair down, the short blond strands just brushing the bare skin of her shoulders and had wrapped her body in a dark dress that, as your eyes went down it, got warmer and by the end of the long skirt, had turned crimson. A tiny belt cinched at her small waist and Ellington was itching to pull her away from Riker, who she was dancing with, and dance her back to their room.

No, he had to stay there and wait. Wait for the next hour to pass by, for her brothers to make sure everything was in place and wait for his mind and heart to stop racing like a horse around the track. There were seldom things he got nervous about, but taking this step - a huge step that would decide his future with Rydel...yea, it made him nervous. He thought of all the things that could possibly go wrong - the lights could short out, they wouldn't have enough candles to light the room back up, he could trip over his own two feet instead of hers while dancing, he could fumble his own speech he had memorized once again earlier in the day, Ross could miss the shot he had asked him to take, Rocky could photobomb it, Ryland could...well, be Ryland...there were so many things that could go wrong and if she said no. If she said no...Ellington shook his head. He wasn't going to think about if she was going to say no, because she was going to say yes. She was going to say yes.

"You look lost in so many thoughts," Laura came to stand beside him, sipping on a flute of sparkling champagne.

He nodded. "I am."

"Let them go and come dance with me," she pulled at his hand.

Ellington knew a few things about Laura. The first was that she had made Ross go insane; the second was that she looked good in anything red; and the third was that she was not the best dancer in the world. Sure, neither was he, but she was a bit worse. Stepping on toes, tripping over phantom feet, that was her specialty. She had a good teacher in Ross, but Ellington did not know how much she better she had gotten, or if she had at all. Then again, he had an hour to go and it needed to pass by fast.

He shrugged and grabbed her hand, making her twirl around and leading her into a dance in the center of the room where Ross was trying to dance with three of his younger cousins at once, Riker was still spinning Rydel around like he was a pro now since his run on Dancing With The Stars years ago, and Rocky was trying to keep up with his mom. He was getting the hang of it, but it was a process. A slower beat was what Rocky needed, and they both were lucky that the playlist echoing in the room just switched to a slower beat.

Ellington led Laura around the room for the song, his eyes still concentrated on just how stunning Rydel looked and how fast his heart was going. He spun Laura around to glance at the clock and was surprised when Ross stole her away and replaced her with his mom.

"Stealing her away," Ross said in passing. "Oh, and breathe."

Cheryl wrapped her arms around her son's neck. "He's right. Breathe. Deeply."

Ellington closed his eyes for a beat. "I'm trying."

She rubbed her hands over his back as the beat changed again with a new song. His felt his heart rate go back to a normal beat and he let go of all the worry in his mind and body. Maybe this was all he needed - for his mom to reassure him that everything he had been planning for six months time would go off without a hitch and there would be no distractions of any kind. None.