He hated this, he should have said he was busy, he should have stayed on base. But no.

He had to let his mother rope him into coming home for Christmas, and it never just meant coming home for Christmas it also meant dealing with all sorts of family friends, young conusines and old relatives. Setting up the decorations his mother couldn't reach, wrangling kids to stop them finding a way to pull down said decorations. Helping in the kitchen cook and cleaning the place up in time for everyone to arrive

By the time the party was in full swing and the guests had arrived, Price was already done. He didn’t want to be here anymore, he didn't want to deal with this. He wanted to be back home with a bottle of whiskey, a cigar and a good christmas film, but he couldn’t be rude, it's not like he could escape as his mother insisted on gushing over her soldier of a son.

Until he found his break, a gap in the conversations as the older relatives were distracted by some of the younger kids ‘putting on a show’ and he took the opportunity to slip into the kitchen under the excuse of getting another drink and made his move out of the back door. Taking solitude in the quiet, peaceful garden as he sat down on the edge of the porch. Taking a deep breath of the chilly night air and watching as the snow began to fall. The first snow of the season, and he was there to watch it.

His silence was disturbed as a figure he had seen around the party burst out of the door needing a break from the endless questions and noise and people. A family friend's child, around the same age as Price was and wanted to be at this party just as little as Price did.

“You too?” he muttered, taking a drag from the cigarette he had snuck in and lit up in the cold night air and so they stood in silence for a moment, staring out into the dark night as the snow of softly fell, collecting on the ground in a white blanket, calmly dampening the noise of the surrounding neighbourhood.