"It's going to be a cold day today in Trenton, with winds going fifty miles an-"

Zac Hanson clicked the tv off and let the remote fall from his hand, where it hung over the edge of his bed.

He sighed and rolled onto his back, starring up at the ceiling of a room that he could not accept as his own.

"I hate it here!" he let out, not quietly.

Older brother Isaac swung the door open.

"Do you?!" he questioned in the same loud tone, "Shut up!" he snapped the door shut again before Zac could respond.

He rolled his eyes. "Wanker." he muttered, about his older brother.

Bored with this session of ceiling gazing, he got to his feet and exited.

"Please explain to me, one more time, why moving to Trenton is a good idea." he called, to whom ever might hear, as he walked down the stairs.

His father poked hie head out of the kitchen and surveyed Zac.

"A fresh start." he answered, disappearing again.

"Right." Zac muttered, "An escape."

Ever since his wife died, six months earlier, Walker Hanson had been struggling to keep his head above water. It was the memories that got to him. With each passing day, Walker had found it more and more difficult to live in their Tulsa home with memories of his wife in every room, down every hall, and dancing upon every wall.

As time passed, and the pain did not ease as he had been assured it would, Walker came to realize that him and his children would have to leave their much loved home. So, here they had landed. A suburb in Trenton, New Jersey, where not a single one of them knew a soul.

Zac ploped down on the couch and picked up a magaine.

"Zac, what the hell are you doing?" asked Taylor, jogging down the stairs.

"Reading." he answered, "Did you know Angelina Jolie had a kid named Maddock? I didn't know that. Maddock. What is that? That's not a name."

Taylor dismissed this without thought, continuing into the kitchen.

"Get off your ass. Sitting in one spot is not going to help you get used to this house. All you're gonna know your way around is the dent you're leaving in that cushion."

"Sure," Zac said, unintrested. "Hey, there's something about us in here."

"Woah now." Taylor said, turning on his heel and coming back towards Zac.

He grabbed the magazine and read through the article.

"What's it say?" asked Walker, who had shown up on the threshold of the kitchen at Zac's words.

"Just that we left Tulsa for some new scenery. Doesn't even say where we went...It's a mystery.." Taylor kidded.

"New Jersey!" Walker cheered, disappearing into the kitchen again, "The land where you don't have to pump your own gas!"

"Woo hoo!" cheered Isaac, trotting down the stairs, "Who could resist that?"

"Easy." came the sulky voice of a young girl, "I don't drive yet." they all turned to see their twelve year old sister, Avery, coming in from another room.

"Oh, enough of this!" said Taylor, swinging his legs over the back of the couch, landing himself on the end cushion. "Zac and Avery you may not converse until you accept the fact that this is home now. You're a bad influence on each other."

Zac looked at him.

"Oh, but I'm thrilled to be here, Taylor." he said in the most unenthusiastically flat voice he could.

~~~~

Zac listened, numbly, to the sound of his family joking loudly as they cleared away the dinner dishes.

He had retreated from the table, half way through the meal, to lay dis-spiritedly on his bedroom floor. The room was dark, as he had prefered it lately. Dark, like he felt inside.

'What's wrong with me?' he thought. 'I'm supposed to be happy and crazy and fun. That's me. I liked me that way. How do I go back to that?'

"Well, laying on the floor is not the key." he said, out loud, so to pull himself together.

He turned on the light then switched it off again, deciding he didn't want to see the surroundings of his new room right now. Instead, he moved over to the window and sat down on it's wide sill, pulling his knees in.

Through his window on the side of the house, he could see across the lower roof of the adjacent house, the edge barely two feet from his window. It was flat and led up to a dimly-lit window, which was topped of by a second roof of the traditional triangle style.

Zac stared into the window, unfocused, as his mind drifted off to some other world.

A few moments later, Zac snapped to attention as he realized he had been staring into a face.

At some point, without his notice, someone in the dim room had come to the window.

It was a girl, Zac noted, and she looked amused and aloof at the same time to have found her new neighbor staring into her window.

"I'm sorry, I.." Zac stammered, straightening up and coming crashing back to Earth.

"Not the best of manners, is it," she said, watching Zac search himself for excuses.

She smiled cooly at him. "What were they thinking, building ajacent houses with windows that look right knto each other....it's nice to see life in that window again, though."

She boosted herself up and swung her body out of the window, coming across the roof towards him.

Zac had never been one to choose looks over personality, but he had never seen anyone show so much personality in the way they looked alone.

The girl walked with a cool stride that expressed, undoubtably, she was nowhere near ordinary. She dropped into a cross legged sit on the edge of the roof and surveyed him.

"Well, you're an interesting one, aren't you." she said.

"Why is that?" he questioned.

She just stared at him for a moment too long to be comfortable.

"Ah. You're a Hanson." she stated, "Zac, right?"

He nodded.

"Hah." she said.

"This is funny?"

"To me." she answered, "About three years ago, I'd have dropped where I stand."

He raised his eyebrows.

"I was a fan. Damn, was I a fan." she laughed lightly to herself.

"Oh. Well, good thing you're not anymore, you'd be disappointed. I think we're gonna be laying low for a good long while." he half-smiled at her, weakly.

"Oh yeah?" she was intrigued, "Mind if I inquire?..Lets see, I remember enough of my fan facts to know you're a Tulsa boy."

He huffed out a 'heh' and shook his head, "Ex-Tulsa boy." he corrected, "...my Mom died six months ago and my father was somehow inclined to drag us up here."

He looked at the girl to see her smile sadly as she shook her head and moved her gaze to her hands, clasped in her lap.

Zac looked at them too. They were small and very white, with rings on several fingers and long but unpolished nails.

"I'm sorry." she said, "I've seen those rains before."

He nodded in surprize and realization.

"Yes. That's exactly it." he stared at her, "It's like rain."

She didn't have to say anything. He could tell she understood somehow.

~~~~

Taylor turned off the tv, boredly, and threw the remote control behind him.

"Hey!" scolded his wife, Natalie, coming out of the kitchen, "You could have hit someone!"

He smiled at her.

"Sorry, honey."

"Well, you can make up for it by helping me pack up some stuff for Ezra."

He frowned.

"I hate that we're spending our first Christmas as husband and wife apart."

"Ohh...I do too, but I promised my mom I'd go."

"I know, I know...I wish I could go with you, but..the first Christmas without Mom..my father really-"

"It's okay, baby, I know." she assured him.

"You're so great." he kissed her.

"Oh God." said Zac, who had been coming down the stairs. He turned around and went back up.

Inside his room, he went to the window.

Vienna was laying on her roof, outside her open window, on her back. She was wearing headphones and staring up at the starry sky of black velvet.

Zac opened his window.

"Hey!" he called to her.

She turned her head, looked at him for a moment, then turned off her walkman, sitting up.

"Do you remember me?" he asked, commenting on the blank stare she was giving him.

She rubbed her head. "God, I don't know, yesterday was so long ago.."

He laughed, "You win, that was a really dumb question."

"Yes." she agreed, flatly, "Whatcha doin'?"

"Just hanging out." he shrugged.

"And ruining my thoughtful starry moment." she shrugged back, mocking him.

"You know something?"

"I know plenty of things."

He let her sarcastic comment roll off of him and continued his train of thought.

"You never told me your name." he stated, simply. He gazed at her, feeling a great calm in her presence, as he waited for her response.

She looked straight into his eyes for a moment then let out a breath that he could see in the mid-December air.

"Vienna." was her answer.

"Vienna." he repeated. It was like music. "It's cold." he reached out his hand to her, "Come here."

She stared at him in wonder for a moment then took his hand, giving him a sideways glance, and stood up as he pulled her across the gap between their homes, and in though his window.

He flipped on the light and glanced over at her, standing before him.

She had green eyes that stared up into his from at least six inches below. Her hair was not blonde, as it had appeared from a distance, but like fine spun gold that fell in layers down her back. To his eyes, in that moment, she seemed the most beautiful thing in the world.

She shrugged her shoulders slightly, still not letting go of the odd look she'd been giving him. "You're strong." It was a fact, not an opinion.

For a minute, he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Vienna." he finally stated, a thoughtful tone to his voice, "I love that."

She laughed. "My parents were Austrian."

"Were?" he asked.

"Yeah," she breathed, smiling sadly, "I lost my family in a car crash."

He blinked a few times, caught off guard, "I..I'm sorry.." he stuttered. "How long ago?"

"Two years this Christmas." she shook her head, softly, at his sympathy to dismiss it as unneccesary.

Zac bit his lip, uncomfortably.

"I never know what to say in these situations." he admitted, "Do you wanna talk about it? I mean...how did it happen?"

"I was walking my dog while they got ready to leave." she explained, "That's why I wasen't in the car...we were going to my Aunt's house, and we were late." she smiled in irony, "Can you believe anyone would be drunk on Christmas morning? And they had to collide with the car that held my entire life...Everyone died instantly, in both cars..except me. I just watched." she paused, deep in her memories, "I was in such shock...I can't even remember what happened next."

"That's...horrible." he said soflty.

They were quiet for several long moments as Vienna ducked her head, shaking softly. It took Zac a minute to realize she was crying.

He put a finger under her chin, raising her head so he could see her face. Her eyes met his, shinning with tears that slipped away down her cheeks.

"Don't." he stated.

"Don't what?" she asked, masking her pain with a whisper.

"Don't hide your tears from me." he said, gently.

For a moment he just stared directly into her eyes as she stared back, taken a little by surprise at his sensitivity towards her when he hardly knew her at all.

Abruptly, her confusion peaked, as he pulled her into a hug.

Nevertheless, the gesture shattered her resolve and she broke down completely, her shoulders shaking softly with her tears.

Zac wasen't sure how long they stood there, him holding her as if he were the only thing holding her in this world, and her letting out the tears she'd been holding for who knows how long.

Eventually she stoped crying, and he loosened his grip on her so she could move back enough to look up at him.

"You must be cray." she sniffed, her eyes still bright, "You don't even know me." she shook her head and pulled completely out of his arms.

"I'm sorry," she said, softly, "I shouldn't have..."

"Please don't apologise to me." Zac interupted, "I feel a lot more like I know you now."

She laughed a little. Zac looked around.

"It's suddenly occured to me that we've been simply standing here for, like, fifteen minutes. Sit."

She sat down on the bed and he did likewise, watching her. Noticing this, she atempted to avert his attention.

"What will you do now?" she asked, "Here in Trenton...what now?"

Zac thought for a minute.

"I really don't know." they looked at each other, "I guess...I guess we're just gonna...wing it."

~~~

Zac galloped down the stairs into the living room.

"Good morn-ING!" he called.

Isaac looked up from the television set, briefly.

"Alright, who drugged Zac?" he asked, dully.

Taylor glanced at him too.

"Yeah really...what's up, Zac?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're acting all...Zac."

Zac just looked at him for a moment to make sure the stupidity of his own words slapped him right back in the face.

"Okay." he shrugged and went into the kitchen.

"Hey look, they got Robin Williams on Whose Line." Isaac said

Zac emerged from the kitchen again, holding a bag of oreos.

"Do you think this show is fixed?" he asked, poping a whole cookie in his mouth.

"Eh...sometimes it seems like it." Taylor said, "But other times it's really obviously unrehearsed."

"They're all professional comedians." said Walker, coming into the room, "It's not fixed, they're just naturally very quick and.." he looked at Zac, "And oreos are not part of your complete breakfast."

Zac bit into another oreo in response, as Taylor and Isaac both reached for them as well.

Walker sighed, "Don't let it be said I didn't try." he walked away, "Just, you three, stay away from my other children. Maybe there's still hope for them." he called after him.

The boys turned back to the tv screen. Zac sighed.

"God, I'm so tired of tv. Have we done anything else since we came here?"

Taylor shrugged, "What else is there to do? we don't exactly have friends here. And come on, it's cold out there."

Zac shook his head and headed off back upstairs again.

"Where are you going?"

"The nothing I can do in my room seems more appealing than the nothing going on down here."

Up in his room, Zac clicked the door shut behind him. He glanced around the room then walked over to the window.

There was a light snow falling outside. He could see it begin to collect on the long, tile rooftop, leaving a dusting of white powder in all the spots Vienna had graced on the night he met her, a few days earlier.

His eyes traced across the roof, then up to her window. He could see her standing inside her room. He looked closer, noticing the tension that stiffened her posture. She was talking to someone he couldn't see. She looked angry and was gesticulating in more of an argument manner than a conversation.

All of a sudden, the man she was arguing with was a lot closer to her. He was tall and large, towering over her. He grabbed her arm roughly, and then they were both out of view of the window.

Zac watched the window for a long time, waiting for a sign of either of them, but the room remained still.