Early Saturday morning, while the snow is still fresh . . .

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Jamie was used to getting up at the crack of dawn. Actually, during the winter, he was used to getting up significantly before dawn; the sky was just starting to get light when he hopped out of bed, looked out the window, grinned, and tore (very quietly) downstairs. This would be the absolute most perfect time for a snowball fight, if somebody was . . . and somebody was; the back of a little blonde head was peeking over the couch in the TV room, and a cartoon Jamie didn't know was playing. He hopped over the back of the couch to plop down next to 'Yana, still grinning. "Hey, kidlet. Wanna have some fun?"

'Yana looked up from the television -- where an obscure Nikolodeon character was making its Saturday morning debut -- and grinned at Jamie. "Yes!" she declared unnecessarily -- it wasn't very often, after all, that she turned down an opportunity for fun -- and beamed at him.

"Excellent. Here's what I'm thinking. Nobody else has been out in the snow yet, and we're probably close to the only two people up this early. Wanna go have a snowball fight before everybody else tears up the place?"

Illyana's face lit up. "Yes! In Russia, we fight with snowballs also! And the snow is so -- " she motioned to an improbable fight with one hand, swinging it up enthusiastically -- "how you say, tall, and whole village goes outside!"

"Well, it's not that tall out there right now, but I bet we can still have a lot of fun. Where's your snowsuit? Front hall closet?"

She thought for a moment and nodded. "I think so. From last time with snow," she said after a moment, and jumped up, grabbing his hand. "Let's go!"

Jamie followed 'Yana into the front hall--it still boggled him how hard it could be to keep up with somebody that short--and they were both soon suited up and out on the front steps looking out over the vast expanse of untouched snow. Jamie grinned and jumped off the steps. "Last one with a snowball in their hands is a rotten egg!"

'Yana giggled and flung herself down the steps, landing none-too-gracefully at the bottom -- of course, being an old hand at any kind of winter activity requiring snow and chaos, this didn't faze her at all, and she kept moving. Grabbing a handful of snow, she flung it at Jamie with both hands, less concentrated on the technique than on achieving maximum volume of snow thrown.

Jamie, turning to follow the girl's movement, caught it in the face. "Argh! You made me the rotten egg!" He flopped over onto his back theatrically, then rolled over and let loose with a snowball of his own.

Yana giggled, and, caught off-guard, the snowball caught her square below the chin. She gawped at the patch of air where the snow had come from for a short moment, and then, determined to avenge herself, scrabbled in the snow with her mittens and fired off two in rapid succession at him.

Jamie ducked the first one, and caught the second, tossing it back at 'Yana. "Ha! Juggling practice!"

It hit an again-surprised 'Yana in the shoulder and she shrieked in surprise. The concept of throwing snowballs back at someone had never occured to her. She grabbed another handful of snow and animatedly raised her hands over her head before throwing it.

Jamie caught this handful in the face as well; he wiped snow out of his eyes and grinned at 'Yana through a white mask. "Oh no, now you've done it! You woke up the Snow-Tickle Monster!" Hands outstretched and feet kicking up huge plumes of snow, Jamie charged.

Shrieking and giggling at the same time, 'Yana ran, hindered by her snowsuit and her winter boots, not to mention the considerable amount of snow on the ground.

Jamie drew out the chase for a little while before pouncing, sweeping 'Yana up onto his shoulder, and attacking her vulnerable ribs. "Ha! Gotcha now!"

'Yana, however, had a contingency plan -- and, both protesting and laughing the whole time -- she shoved a handful of snow down the back of Jamie's jacket.

"Yeep!" Jamie straightened with a jerk as the snow came to rest somewhere around the small of his back, and managed a surprised (and not a little bit proud--sneaky girl!) grin. "Oh no! Snow down the back! The tickle-monster's only weakness! How did you know?" He set 'Yana down carefully, then flopped and twitched until he was lying flat on the ground, perfectly still, eyes closed. He cracked one eye barely open, the better to see how she'd react.

'Yana giggled and, when he didn't get up immediately for a counterattack, stared at him uncertainly for a few moments before moving to look a little more closely. "Hey, be getting up!" she said, peering at him. "Are you okay?" The thought that she had knocked him out sent her into a panic, and she leaned down, wailing, "I don't mean to make you sleep! Wake up!" and shaking his shoulder vehemently.

"Arrgh!" Jamie sat up suddenly and tumbled 'Yana into a handy snowbank. "The monster lives again!"

'Yana fell back with a piercing indignant squeal and landed squarely on her bottom in the snow, open-mouthed in astonishment.

"Whoops--sorry," Jamie said shamefacedly. "Didn't mean to scare you, kiddo, it was just a joke." He stood up and shook himself off. "See? I'm fine."

'Yana blinked, beamed, and did what was really the only thing to do in the situation: "Don't being silly!" she said, recovering from her shock and picking up a snowball, flinging it at him with more energy than accuracy.

It hit anyway, square in Jamie's stomach, and he oofed slightly. "Phew. Tell you what--how about we go inside and I'll make hot chocolate, and we can see if anybody else is awake yet? And maybe we can gang up on your brother later."

The mention of sugar was enough to make 'Yana spring up and beam at him. "Okay!" she said, clinging to him (he was, afterall, the provider of hot chocolate). "Piotr is very easy to be hitting with snow because he is so big," she confided seriously.

"See, that's why I think we should start with him," Jamie replied equally seriously. "And then we can work our way down to Doc McCoy, who's big but really fast, and Doug, who isn't big but is easy to distract, and then we can try to sneak up on Kitty, who's small and fast and very hard to hit. Sound like a plan?"

She nodded, grinning brilliantly.

"Cool." Jamie returned her grin. "C'mon, I'll give you a piggy-back ride back up to the house."

"Okay!" Dripping with snow and flushed from both the cold and the exercise, she happily aquiesced.

Jamie hoisted her up and bounced back toward the mansion, hoping the rest of the day would prove to be half this fun.