Disclaimer: I certainly don't own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters. Just Heather and the plot.

Inside Summary: I feel that this is necessary, since the story summaries don't give you much room. So:

Stefan's still seething over the loss of his girlfriend, whom had her neck snapped Enzo when everyone was still looking for a way to bring Damon and Bonnie back from the other side.

Damon's still getting used to the real world after being legitally dead for almost a year.

Jeremy's still shaken up over Bonnie not coming back from the other side.

Elena, Caroline and Heather are holiday spirit crazed, Christmas pushing junkies set on making this Christmas perfect for the boys that they care about.

"It's December!" Heather said gleefully as she flung her arms out and spun around in the middle of the Salvatore's driveway, her long bronze hair fanning out around her. She stopped abruptly and put her hands on her hips as Jeremy just stood there, unenthusiastic.

"What's the big deal about December? It's just a month." He declared dully. Heather tilted her head and raised an eyebrow as she stared at the brown haired boy.

"What's the big deal about December?" She asked, her voice high and squeaky. She skipped over and took his gloved hand in hers, then looked around. "December means Christmas, Jeremy. And look at this!" She exclaimed, throwing her free arm out to gesture around them. "This snow is absolutely—"

"If you say 'a winter wonderland', I'll be forced to shove a snowball in your face." Jeremy interrupted, half joking, half serious. Heather gave him a look and scoffed.

"I was gonna say, it's beautiful. It's all sparkly in the sun. And the tree and presents and cookies and stockings and Christmas carols and the food—" She stopped when she saw Jeremy was just blankly looking out over the snow covered property. Her shoulders slumped and she dropped his hand, taking a step away from him. she clasped her hands behind her back and bowed her head, trying to think. It suddenly dawned on her as she raised her head to look around and caught sight of the bedazzled porch. A grin spread over her face and she turned to Jeremy again. "There is one thing about Christmas I've always taken for granted until now." She said. Jeremy gave her a blank look and her smile widened as she reached out and took his hand again, tugging him towards the porch.

"Heather, what are you doing?" He asked, but went along with her anyway. If he had learned anything from living with Elena, it this: the more you smile and nod and agree with whatever is said, the easier it'll be.

Mistletoe, Jer. I've always taken mistletoe for granted." She gave him a teasing smile as he gave her his half- hearted Jeremy smile.

"You drug me under the mistletoe, didn't you?" He asked. She pointed up and he looked in the direction her finger was pointing, his face flushing a little bit.

"You have to kiss me, Jer. It's the rules." Heather said in a playful, scolding voice. He raised an eyebrow.

"The rules?" He asked. She grinned like a little kid in a candy store and nodded.

"Yeah, the Christmas rules." She clasped her hands in front of her, then raised them and tucked them under her chin, tilting her head slightly. "Come on, Jer, don't act like you don't want to." He raised his eyebrows and thought about it for a minute. Then shrugged.

He muttered something about how he was the one that was supposed to be seventeen and they leaned forward. Their lips had just grazed when the front door flew open. "Well, what do we have here?" Damon Salvatore asked snidely. Heather opened her eyes and glanced at Jeremy, then bit her lip and turned to Damon, her mouth open and ready with an insult, when Damon kept talking. "Are you going to come in or stand out here and make out on my front porch?" He asked, an eyebrow raised.

"We had hardly made it to the making out, thank you Damon." She responded, crossing her arms. "It's Christmas. There's mistletoe. And when you're under the mistletoe, you kiss. You're how old and don't know this?" She asked.

Instead of responding with a snarky remark, Damon closed his eyes and mumbled, "I really hate Christmas."

"Me too." Jeremy added. Heather hesitated, then turned to Jeremy, her eyes wide with hurt. Jeremy lowered his eyes, not being able to look at her. She stared at him for a minute, then turned and stomped past Damon into the house. Damon let out a low whistle.

"Look at you, little Gilbert. Breaking hearts." He smirked. Jeremy jerked his head up, narrowing his eyes. He was about to say something back, but stopped when both boys heard their names being spoke inside.

"Elena!" Heather whined, stopping in front of Elena and Caroline, who were hunched over a clip board. Elena glanced up and saw Heather's pouty face, the noted Damon and Jeremy standing in the doorway.

"What did Damon do now?" She asked with a sigh. Heather shifted her feet and crossed her arms.

"Your boyfriend and brother are tryin to form a bromance." She whined. Caroline raised an eyebrow and looked over Heather's shoulder at the two boys. Jeremy had stepped inside, but neither of them had made a further move.

"Funny. I always pictured him with Stefan." Caroline mused. Elena squeaked and smacked Caroline.

"Ew. Care, come on. that's my brother." The brunette responded, making a disgusted face. Heather laughed and turned to look at them.

"I don't know, Care. Jeremy is kind of all dark and dangerous nowadays. Very Damon like." Heather said, looking the two up and down. They burst into a fit of giggles as Damon and Jeremy made their way into the foyer.

"Ha ha. You're hilarious." Jeremy muttered, throwing his coat on the couch, still not looking at Heather. Her shoulders sagged once again as she noticed this and she turned to Caroline and Elena.

"What are we doing and how can I help?" She asked, trying to focus on the task at hand.

"Well, I'm doing the lights, Elena's doing the stockings and we're all going to do the tree later when we're done with everything else. Heather, you can do the mistletoe." Caroline gave the boys stern looks, to which they just rolled their eyes. heather's eyebrows shot up and she darted a glance at Jeremy when Caroline handed her the bunch of mistletoe.

"Yeah, mistletoe. Right." She muttered, then looked at the other two girls. "Speaking of mistletoe." She added, an eyebrow raised.

"Uh-oh. What happened?" Elena asked, then added, "What did Damon do?"

"Hey!" Damon called from the kitchen, where the sound of ice against glass could periodically be heard.

"Surprisingly, nothing. I'm blaming whoever put the mistletoe on the porch." She said, giving Caroline a pointed. Caroline froze briefly, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. "Bad place for it, just throwin that out there." She said, casting a quick glance at Jeremy. A glance she hoped went unnoticed. And it did, until Elena's eyebrows shot up and she lowered the clip board.

"Heather, did you and my brother get caught under the mistletoe?" She asked. Heather nodded wordlessly. Elena tried not to look amused, but failed. "Did you kiss my brother?" Heather looked down and shook her head softly. She glanced over her shoulder at Jeremy, who was in the process of putting his headphones in and still avoiding her eyes.

"No." She said in a soft, sad voice. "Damon pretty much killed that." She raised her head and looked at the girls, tears in her eyes. Elena bit her lip and hugged the girl, knowing how she felt. Caroline put on her determined puppy eyes as she looked over at Jeremy. "Care, don't. It doesn't matter. It was dumb, it doesn't matter." She mumbled and took the mistletoe. She sighed as she turned around and started for the living room, but promptly stopped and headed towards the stairs. Caroline and Elena exchanged looks, then looked at Jeremy, then Heather's retreating form.