Disclaimer: All characters belong to Square Enix EZ sony whatever blah blah yakkkety schmacketyzzzZZZZzzZZ!

JINGLE ZELL!! by HCR

The Gathering

She hadn't stopped moving for the past three hours straight. All that Lulu and Rikku could do was sit there and watch her in rapid motion. It was more than enough to outdo the energizer bunny, and probably secure a spot in the book of world records. Martha Stewart would abandon cooking if she saw what type of storm Yuna was cooking up.

Her brown hair flung in every which direction as she turned to regard one dinner tray and then the next, panicking if she had even seen a single puff of smoke rise out from the oven. There was no need to remind her of the time, She would probably finish with hours to spare, but other cooks could faint or blackout under such pressure.

Squall and Seifer had learned their lessons for peeking into the kitchen uninvited and almost trying out one of her chewy Christmas cookies. They were reprimanded with a hard slap across the backs of their hands with a wooden ladle that meant business. Seifer swore to himself as he jumped around rubbing his 'injured' hand that the wrath of a katana, he would have preferred even more. At least he wouldn't even feel the pain.

" Whoa. Looks like someone seems to be losing their temper." Squall commented as he laughed casually and challenged her with his eyes daring to reach over and grab another cookie. He didn't even realize what sort of example he was setting for the children. but she gave him that look. A look that simply said " Keep it up and I'll beat you like a school teacher."

"Ooh goodie! Please do!" Seifer jumped up and clapped his hands begging with excitement in his eyes. Yuna was on the verge of undoing her apron and beating him silly with her gloves, but he continued. Finally Squall stopped him.

" Now that, Seifer was really low...anyhoo Come hither my 'arch nemesis. We cannot upset the 'master chef's' concentration. For such meddling could cause the destruction of the world as we know it." He joked and they both walked out laughing. Lulu turned to Rikku who merely shrugged and they joined the others in the living room.

Wakka chased his crawling son around the living room amused by the little bugger's interest in the toy truck he bought him a year ago. Cloud and Cid stopped in the middle of their Christmas prank phone calls to old friends just for the sake of getting on TV to send a fake money pledge to the Comedy Central telethon. Auron sang peacefully to himself to the sound of Nat King Cole renditions of Christmas songs. His voice wasn't all that bad. In fact he had just gotten back from a performance in the park and was due to perform one more number for the New Years Eve celebration in the city plaza. Tifa warmed up to his voice.

" Wow I never knew you had it in you." She stared up at him with serene eyes while moving closer on the sofa

" That's because you never bothered to watch." He reminded her without even turning his head. He looked down and pretended to pay more attention to Rover as he stroked the dog's fur and rubbed his nose.

" I'm sorry work's been a pain, but I promise I'll be there in the front row on New Years Eve." It was in her voice. Soft, deep, and meaning it with every word.

" For real?" He turned to ask her, raising an eyebrow.

" SURE SHE WILL!" The shadow fell over both of them as the blond interrupted. She will be cheering her heart out for you while she stands next to 'MOI' a.k.a. 'HER boyfriend. We clear on that geezer?" Cloud crossed his arms and exchanged Auron's causal look with a sharp eye of his own. Auron sighed and rolled his eyes.

" I was going in for the kill man. Why on earth did you hafta ruin it for me?" He asked Cloud with not one bit of shame.

" Kill? KIILLL!!??? Now you lis-"

Auron laughed as Cloud's temper reached 100 degrees Celsius, and made his face red as a beet with anger. Tifa rushed out of her seat and over to calm him down.

" Honey. Please stop. You have to understand he was just joking."

"-but THAT old fart has no respect for me-" He pouted to his girl then turned to Auron " You listen here Burt Reynolds. I got no time for mofos like you that can't keep their dick in their pants around another man's woman see?...I....eerrrgh....I so wanna just strangle y-"

" Pistols at dawn?" Auron supplied. He waited to see if the kid had no idea what he was getting so fussy about in the first place.

" MAGIC MISSLES at dawn bitch!"

"uh Cloud?" Tifa looked over to her left

"MAGIC MISSLES up your friggin ass! I've got half a mind to-"

"Cloouud. Heeellllo?"

He finally stopped when he saw the kids looking up at him silently. There was no making an excuse for that one. Tifa gave him a curt look as the young'ns celebrated the new words that they learned all the way upstairs.

" Oh he's a real natural with the kids." Auron commented sarcastically.

" Shaddap you fuck." Cloud silenced him as the children were unable to hear much to the disappointment of everyone else in the house except Squall and Seifer who were still laughing and Yuna who was too busy off somewhere else to care.

"Now now Schnookums (I can't spell it properly. So leave it alone) you shouldn't be laughing." Rinoa scolded ever so softly.

"Will ya knock off the maternal act already?" He asked her with a perturbed voice then added with a bit more stubborn sensitivity".......and don't call me 'schnookums'."

The usual tensions amongst the group turned into laughs in under a few seconds. They knew that all of them had traveled for too long and too far to come home and bicker. Hugs were exchanged, and the aura of happiness had finally come over them all before they returned to the their usual chit chat. There was only one person who couldn't join in their happiness. She worked madly in the kitchen hoping to block out the fact that she was feeling a little less than joyful, but the truth could not be hidden from two pairs of eyes. Rikku went back to see her cousin for fear that Squall or Paine going to console her would result in them being torn to bits.

The atmosphere was cloudy and somewhat dirty in a kitchen full of clutter from heavy preparing but featured a few well done sweets and dinner specials for what was going to be a big day tomorrow. Under the brightness of the kitchen lights, a pale hand reached over a pot on the stove to drop in the final ingredient for the night. Then an exhausted young woman with moisture across her face divided between the few tears she tried to hold back and the perspiration across her neck finally gave up cooking. She rubbed under her sweater around the wide collar of her shirt to dry herself but to no success. Surprisingly, it was not the work that had her upset and weary on what would be any other year, one of her most joyful times of the year. Often such things would happen when a persons' world was nowhere near complete. Reaching to pull up her long skirt from it's slit she rubbed her bare legs longingly, hoping to restore a small bit of comfort as the person who usually had that task listed in his job description was not there to do so. It would all suggest that the last few weeks before Christmas Eve were not all that merry to her. She got up slowly to straighten out a few things but then walked over to the window looking out to the blue evening sky with heavy anticipation. Time passed and she had expected him to finally go out of his way to impress her with something more than his usual wit, jokes, kisses, and simple gifts. This Christmas she wanted something more than Victoria's Secret. It was interesting last year but not now. She wanted nothing more than the one she loved and hoped that he would come home to her after a long time of disagreements to finally commit to her, and return home with a certain object signifying his dedication to her. Shaking it off, she tried to realize that the odds of it ever happening were in truth a million to one. Careful not to slip with her stylish boots on a freshly mopped floor she gathered all her cleaning utensils and slowly walked out of the kitchen.

"Hey Yunie." a familiar soft voice entered the kitchen and stopped her dead in her tracks. She looked up to stare with pale, dead eyes at a cousin who (waving her hands to affirm that she came in peace) greeted her with a friendly smile, and attempted to console her after dusting off the unfriendly mist of a rare kitchen mess from her suit jacket and orange skirt.

" Work getting you down?"

" Don't even start." The monstrous administrator of the kitchen rolled her eyes towards the ceiling diverting her face away from her nosy cousin.

" Hey" Rikku came in to stop and pat her back "This is supposed to be a season of joy. How come I'm not reading any on your face? Everyone else has thrown away their stress for a few hours." She asked and offered another one of her unavoidable smiles, prone to draw another smile out of most people that she talked to.

" Doesn't mean that I have to be happy to fit the crowd." Yuna told her off and began to collect more of her things, pretending to not even pay attention to Rikku. She was as cold as ice, and refusing to give in to the charm of Christmas. It would only be awhile before the words 'Bah Humbug' slipped out of her mouth, and they did.

" Honey. You are not Scrooge. For the record okay? Now come on out and lets listen to Cloud and Cid's dumb campfire jokes and stories before you go mentally unstable again and swear that three ghosts came to visit you in the night or something." She put her arm around Yuna to guide her out of the kitchen. Yuna stopped right there staring down at the floor.

"Rikku." Her voice transformed into a soft pout as she turned up to look at her faithful cousin.

"Yeah?" Rikku answered.

"Why can't he just come home?"

"I've got faith. Come super blizzard or the apocalypse your beloved idiot will be at the doorstep waiting for you now dry those eyes.