I started this, like, two days ago, and it was a race against time to have it down by Christmas, so sorry for uploading late today. And sorry if there are any errors, I didn't have time to proofread. :/ But at least it's the same day. :) Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day!

"Dad, please!"

Emma Alonso was having some trouble. She was currently begging her father, Francisco, to let her boyfriend, Daniel Miller, come to their Christmas party. It didn't help that Francisco was all too eager to let Jax Novoa come, invited Maddie Van Pelt, Emma's frenemy, and told the entire neighborhood they were welcome – everyone except for Daniel.

And that was just one of Emma's difficulties.

Her best friend Andi Cruz was boycotting the whole party, just because of Maddie. Well, not just because of Maddie; where one Panther was, the others would surely be there, too. Katie Rice, Sophie Johnson, AND Maddie all at one party didn't seem like a very merry Christmas for Andi.

Along with that, Emma had to plan the entire party herself. Sure, Francisco had offered to help, but with his principal duties . . . and then there's the fact that Emma didn't trust him with anything fashionable . . . she was in this one alone.

"No way," Francisco shook his head, bending down to grab a box of Christmas decorations. While Emma would be creating the party's appearance, Francisco still had a part in the overall house décor. "That boy is not welcome in my house, and besides!" He stood, handing the box over to his daughter. She took it, frowning, and set it down on the couch instantly. "He'd probably spray chocolate all over me before the party even starts!"

Emma shook her hands. "Dad, trust me! Daniel really isn't like that. All of the pranks were because of his younger siblings! You know, the Terrible Three?"

"Emma, don't lie to me. And really, the T3? What is WITH that family?!" He groaned and walked into the back room.

She sighed and dropped onto the couch, moving the box to her right side. And to top everything off, Andi walked in, holding a rope.

"Hey, Em," she started, stretching out the rope. "Do you think this is enough to tie The Panthers up so they can't come tomorrow?" Andi looked up, only to see Emma cocking an eyebrow at her in disapproval. "What? You SAID that you wanted me to come to your party, and I'm only coming, if they aren't."

Emma groaned. How was she supposed to deal with all of this?

Well, there was one more alternative.

Andi was still talking. "Come on, Em, what do you thi–"

Emma was already thinking in her head. I have way too much to do, And Andi's not really funny, Make her go to the party, Acting as timid as a bunny. She snapped at her best friend, and instantly Andi made a quirky expression.

"What am I doing here with this rope?" Andi asked, her eyebrows drawing together.

Emma blinked in fake confusion. "You were just telling me how you wanted to do a prank with T3 using that rope."

"I was?"

Emma put out her hands and stood up, acting innocent. "Yeah, I didn't really understand it either. But hey! You're coming to my party, right?"

Andi's expression was blank, leaving Emma to worry that spell didn't work. But right before she said anything else, Andi nodded and replied, "Of course."

Emma grinned. "Great."

There was a knock on the front door, but before Andi could go to open it, Daniel charged in. "So?" he asked, trying not to show how nervous he was. "Does your dad allow me to come to the party?"

The witch bit her lip. Some part of her mind told her to tell him the truth. Eventually, he was going to find out. But instead of doing the reasonable thing, she smiled and nodded excitedly saying, "Yes! He said yes!"

"Wooo!" Daniel celebrated, picking Emma up off her feet and holding her tight. She giggled.

However, Emma heard her dad before she saw him. "Emma…"

She scrambled out of Daniel's arms, and spun around to see her dad. "Dad!" Emma raced to Francisco and threw her arms around him. "Thank you so much!" She was kind of shocked how easily all this acting came to her. Apparently all of her rebellious side was too pent up lately.

Francisco almost fell over, but hugged his daughter. "Whoa! Honey, what's going on?" He looked and saw her unfortunate boyfriend. "Emma, why is h–"

Emma shut her eyes tightly and snapped at her dad behind his back. Instantly Francisco smiled and said, "You're welcome, Emmy." He pulled back and pointed a finger at her. "But he's only allowed here once."

Emma couldn't help it – she pulled Jax's smirk. "Perfect."

The next day, Emma raced home from school. She had to get the decorations set up before her dad came home, otherwise she'd have MANY questions to answer.

She bolted to her room and threw her backpack onto the rack in her room. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she stared at herself in the mirror before casting a spell to transform her into 'work clothes' (they were still glittery, don't worry). Emma grinned, and then walked back into the living room.

Emma thought for a moment, then pointed at multiple sections of the room. She and Francisco had already put up a Christmas tree and decorated it, but a few more (glitter) accessories wouldn't hurt anything, right? The tree looked even more beautiful, garland was around doorframes, snowflakes were spaced out hanging from the ceiling, mistletoe was over the doorway, tinsel was on doorknobs along with the fridge, there was glitter everywhere, in and little presents were now underneath the tree. Emma smiled, relieved. That was good. At least one part of the night would go well.

Just as she rearranged a few of the tree's branches, there was a knock at the door. Emma took a glance around the room and sighed, but went to open the door. "Mrs. Miller?" She was surprised to see her boyfriend's mother at her doorstep.

Christine Miller smiled genuinely. "Emma, I've told you to call me Christine."

Emma smiled back. "Sorry, Christine. What's up?" She rested her hand on the doorknob and cocked a hip.

She fiddled with her bracelet. "Well, Daniel told me your father allows him to the party tonight."

Emma swallowed hard, then forced a smile. "Uh-huh . . . He does."

"Great, great…Well, you see, I…" Christine stopped, trying to gather her thoughts. "I just wanted to ask: is Francisco alright?"

Her eyebrow's furrowed. "What do you mean? He's completely healthy."

"Really?" Mrs. Miller was shocked. "No fever? Cold? Flu? Nothing?"

Emma laughed, finally understanding what she was getting at. "No, he REALLY did agree to have Daniel over tonight."

Her face wasn't as white now. "Oh!" She breathed, giggling a bit. "That's good! So nothing bad is going to go on tonight?"

Emma grinned. "Well, I hope not! I just have to keep Daniel and any liquids away from my dad."

Christine laughed. "That's probably for the best." She glanced up and saw the mistletoe. "You, uh, you might want to change the location of that."

Emma nodded awkwardly, "Good idea."

Two hours later, Andi was stopping by The 7 before the party.

"Hey Diego, can you give me a Coke to go?" she called as soon as she set foot in the place.

Diego Rueda turned around, saw her, and pointed at the girl. "Gotcha." He got a cup and started to fill it while Andi took a seat on a counter stool in front of him. "You going somewhere?" he asked, glancing up at the future Guardian.

Andi gave the Kanay a funny look. "Yeah. Emma's party." Diego looked at her strangely. "Why, aren't you?"

Diego nodded and finished up the Coke, handing it to her. "Yeah, I'm going with Maddie."

Andi's face was pure terror. "Maddie's going?"

He nodded again. "So are Katie and Sophie."

She shook her head. "No, no way. Emma would have TOLD me if they were coming."

Diego stared at her. "She did. I was there. It was at school two days ago, remember?"

Andi looked like she was going to be sick.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned. Andi never acted this weird; sure, maybe a little aggressive here and there, but never weird.

She wagged a finger at Diego. "Emma did something. And I'm gonna find out what!" She began to run out of the establishment, with her Coke.

"Wait, Andi, that's one-fifty!" Diego called after her.

Andi threw two bucks back and hightailed it out of there.

Right as Diego tried to catch the money, his Kanay powers glitched and it disintegrated in thin air. He sighed. "Awe man!"

The party was underway.

Francisco was unwillingly dressed as Santa Clause. Somehow, Emma had managed to convince him into doing that without the help of magic.

Emma was wearing a red velvet sweetheart dress with white trim at the bottom, along with a cute Santa hat. She and Francisco were matching.

Emma's nerves were already pretty bad, but as soon as people actually started arriving, she was a wreck. First, Ursula Van Pelt showed up, as she was bringing The Panthers. Maddie was dressed as an elf – an elf.

Emma tried not laugh, but the smile just slipped. "Hi, Mrs. Van Pelt," she greeted, the grin slowly starting to morph into Jax's smirk.

"Hi Emma," Ursula smiled nervously, twisting to try to see Francisco. "I thought Maddie could help the party out by dressing like an elf," she explained, craning her neck.

Emma turned to Maddie with a smug look on her face. "Hi, Maddie. How are y–"

Maddie held up a hand. "Don't say it," she warned, sticking one pointed shoe after another into the house. Katie and Sophie, who were also dressed as elves, followed after the Head Panther quickly.

Francisco came up from behind his daughter to see the powerless, obsessive witch that was Ursula Van Pelt. "Hello, Ursula," he greeted her politely, while maintaining a safe distance away from her.

Ursula took in his attire and smiled sheepishly. "W-why, hello, Mr. Clause," she joked, snorting.

Emma made a face and took a step back into her dad.

Ursula didn't mind; she leaned forward. "Would you mind if I told you what I want for Christmas?"

Francisco cringed. "Santa's off duty right now, Mrs. Van Pelt."

She frowned and backed away sadly. When he called her 'Mrs. Van Pelt' it usually meant he thought she was breaking some part of the restraining order. "Well, uh, I guess I'll just pick the girls up later." She waved – about three times – and walked out to her car, clutching her purse longingly.

Emma closed the door and looked at her dad with a raised eyebrow.

He sighed and rubbed his fake belly. "The sad thing is that was allowed by the restraining order." He groaned and went to take a seat in a living room couch, ready to play Santa.

Maddie looked around. Since she and her Panthers were the only guests there at the moment, now seemed like the best time to 'change' outfits. "Where's the bathroom?" she asked, walking back over to Emma with her arms crossed.

Emma smirked. "Down the hall, second door on the left."

"Oh! Right. Because your house is so tiny." Now it was Maddie's turn to smirk.

A jingle bell sounded, which meant another guest had arrived. Emma walked to the door and opened it, glad to see that Jax stood on the other side. He wore all black, except for a gold halo above his head.

Emma pointed to the seemingly floating halo. Jax just grinned. "What can I say? I'm a rebel with a halo."

She almost smiled, but she had to ask someone the question. "Do you think my house is cheap?"

Jax's smile dropped momentarily. "Of course not." He pulled her into a hug and rested his chin on her head, playing with her hair. "Your house is perfect, just like you," he whispered.

Francisco smiled, giving the wizard a thumbs up and nodding from across the room. He hadn't heard what their conversation was about, but their current stance was pleasing enough for him.

They left the embrace, but Jax kept his arm around Emma's shoulder as they walked deeper into the living room. Emma smiled up at him. "You know, maybe you really are an angel."

Jax looked down at her, smiling back.

The Panthers reentered the room, two looking different: Maddie had a light green dress on, Sophie was dressed as a kangaroo/koala, and Katie looked exactly the same.

Francisco looked at the trio. "Did you girls change clothes?"

Jax laughed. "What are you wearing, Katie?"

Katie glared at him. "Maddie couldn't change my outfit for some reason."

Emma covered her mouth to stop from giggling.

Mr. Alonso stood. "Sophie, why are you dressed like that?"

Sophie hopped towards Jax. "I wanted to be like Jax, the koala/kangaroo!" she exclaimed in an Australian accent.

Daniel entered right then. "Hey E–" As Jemma turned around he examined how Jax's arm was around Emma.

She didn't even catch on at first, but when she did she pulled away and went to Daniel. "Jax was just giving me a hug, Danny."

"It should be more than tha–" Francisco called.

"DAD!" Emma screeched, blushing the color of her dress.

The Alonsos' house was pulsing less than an hour later, and it wasn't just because Andi had almost brought in her chain saw.

Diego had just arrived and he and Maddie were currently cuddling on the couch; Sophie was in a mad search for her wish list for Santa, but she couldn't remember if it was in her kangaroo pouch, or behind her koala ears; Katie had thrown her hat with the elf ears out the window a long time ago, and was currently trying to make herself look decent in an elf costume; and Francisco insisted on Emma being with Jax so they could 'check over the naughty and nice list' (i.e. do nothing but flirt), forcing Daniel to grumble to Andi for the night.

Emma was on both her boyfriend and her best friend's bad side at the moment, only one of them knowing why.

Daniel frowned and crossed his arms. He and Andi were in a corner by the front door, scowling at Emma. However, she was too busy checking Jax out to notice. "This just isn't fair. I mean, Emma actually got Mr. Alonso to let me in to the party – or HIS HOUSE for the first time – and now she's just flirting with Jax!"

Andi looked up at the tall boy. "What ARE you, the Grinch?"

Daniel glared down at her.

"Look, I just want to know why I don't remember Emma telling me the Panthers were going to be here," Andi explained, smacking his arm. "I don't care about your problems."

"Well, excuse me." He frowned, but something clicked in his head. "Wait, why would Mr. Alonso even allow me into the party? It's not like his opinion of me changed," Daniel pointed out, nodding over to Francisco. He was currently giving the Miller a death glare across the room while some big kid was on his lap, whispering in his ear.

Andi looked and grimaced. "That's just screwed up. But you're right. Something's up." She dug in her bag and took out the Spell-O-Vision goggles, holding them up to her face. She turned to look at Francisco, and sure enough, there was a spell on him. Andi lowered the goggles and turned to Daniel. "I don't get it. If Francisco's under a spell, then why is he still acting like he hates you?"

Daniel groaned. "Maybe because he does hate me."

"That's not what I meant." She thought of something. "Hey, look at me through these goggles."

Daniel took the goggles from her grasp and looked at her through them. He gasped. "Andi! You're under a," he leaned down to her level and whispered, "spell."

Andi nodded and snatched the goggles back, putting them away quickly. "Exactly! Emma wanted both you and me here, so she had Francisco let you come, and made me forget that The Panthers were coming!"

He snorted. "The Panthers are coming."

Andi smacked his arm repeatedly. "You," smack, "don't," smack, "even," smack, "know," smack, "what," smack, "the," smack, "saying," smack, "is!"

Daniel held up his arms and said, "Alright, quit it!" The smacking ceased. "Well what are we gonna do?"

Andi closed her eyes and tried to think. "Um…"

In the kitchen, Jax and Emma were eating cookies and flirting.

Emma bit into a cookie. "So what do you think of these cookies? Did I do a good job?" she asked, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

Jax grinned. "They're as amazing as you, Emma. Especially with this glitter." He held up a Santa cookie covered in glitter, and they both laughed.

Andi and Daniel stomped over. "Excuse me," Daniel butted in, ripping the cookie out of Jax's hand. "She's my girlfriend."

Jax held up his hands and said, "And what did I do that stated otherwise right now?"

He blanked already. Waving the cookie at the Australian, he tried, "You ate this cookie, so…"

Emma stared at him. "Daniel, are you okay?"

Daniel threw the cookie down and turned to Andi. "Andi, you told me to say something rude to them! What am I supposed to say?" he hissed.

A pained look crossed her face. "That they're beautiful together?"

Jax threw his arm around Andi, grinning. "Why thank you, Andi."

Andi really wanted to wipe that smirk off his face, but due to Emma's spell on her, she couldn't be rude that night. But for whatever reason, she was allowed to insult Daniel.

But she didn't have to. Because Santa (Francisco) was off his chair and coming towards the group quickly. He grabbed a hold of Daniel's shoulder and held him in his place. "Jax! What are you doing? You shouldn't be putting the moves on Andi," he scolded.

Daniel crossed his arms. 'See' he mouthed at Jax.

"You should be putting the moves on my daughter!" he finished.

"WHAT?" Daniel exclaimed, shaking Francisco off his shoulder.

Jax smirked and mouthed at the boy 'See'.

"Dad!" Emma screeched, putting her own cookie down and stepping towards her father.

Francisco shook his head. "I KNEW this was a bad idea. I don't even know why I agreed," he grumbled. "You know what? I'm just going to escort our non-guest out."

Daniel snapped his head to his girlfriend's father. "What?! No!"

Francisco's grin was so genuine it hurt. "Yep. I never liked you; and I still don't, even though it's Christmas." He spun Daniel around and marched him to the door. Emma, Jax, and Andi followed closely behind. "Merry Christmas LEAVE, Daniel!" he exclaimed, literally kicking him out the front door.

Emma jumped up to her father. "Dad, you can't do that!"

Francisco nodded. "You're right. I should walk him across the street and make sure he gets locked in."

Jax was clapping, Andi was laughing, and Emma was disturbed as Santa forcefully shoved Daniel across the street slowly, almost getting them both hit by a car. A few kids were out on the streets, and if this didn't ruin their Christmas experience, then nothing would.

"Ugh!" Emma cried, throwing her hands up. Somehow a spell came out from her hand being pointed upwards, and when she looked up, she and Jax were underneath the mistletoe. "Umm."

Andi felt like she was going to puke, so she walked away without a word. If she opened her mouth, something along the lines of 'rooting for Jemma' would come out.

Jax grinned. "So, Emma. Is this a Christmas wish come true?"

Emma rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the collar, smashing her lips against his. She broke free but stayed pressed up against him.

Jax raised an eyebrow. "Well?" he asked, reminding her of his unanswered question.

Smiling, she whispered, "Shut up."

Now, as you can see, all he could do was kiss her again.

Review if you loved the ending as much as I do. *heart eyes*

Or Francisco. XD Whichever works for you.