A/N: So, this is part of a series I actually started in 2009, writing a happy family Christmas for the characters in various fandoms. This one really was just supposed to be team-as-family fluff, but somehow a little Cassie/Jake vibe got in there too. Whatcha gonna do?

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Dean Devlin, John Rogers, and other folks who aren't me.

A Librarians Family Christmas

Cassandra was never the religious type but she always loved Christmas as a child. The family all together, warmth and fun, thoughtful gifts and all the best food. When she grew up and learned she was different, that she had a gift and a curse all wrapped up into one, she stopped expecting nice things, including happy Christmases. She figured she was done with family altogether, any kind of traditional family set-up anyway. The team she had joined at The Library were great, but the synesthete Librarian, no longer hampered by a brain grape, was greedy enough to want more.

"There, perfect," Cassandra said to herself as she hung one last ornament on the bannister rail of The Annex.

She had to say it to herself because there was no-one else around to hear. Everybody had a home to go to, even her. They didn't live at The Library, that would be ridiculous, but Cassandra had been there more often than she hadn't recently, especially in the last few days.

Christmas was not a time to be alone. It was why everybody had gone to their family for the special holiday. Ezekiel had a lot of issues with his mother, biology stated she wasn't even his mother at all, but that didn't mean he didn't love her.

"I know you all think I'm crazy, but I just feel like I need to try again," he had told his fellow Librarians and Guardian. "Everybody deserves a second chance, and okay, maybe this is more like her hundred and second chance, but she is my family."

They all understood and told him as much, waving goodbye as he stepped through the magic door that whisked him away to Australia for the holidays.

Next it was Jacob. The door was duly altered to Oklahoma but even then he hesitated before walking through.

"It's like the thief said." He shrugged, looking at Cassandra in particular. "People deserve a second chance. They're not bad folks and it's been a while. I owe 'em a Christmas at least."

He had taken a deep breath and pushed forward through the door, back to a place and a life he used to know.

Cassandra had thought about her own family, for all of a minute, but then dismissed the idea again in a second. She couldn't do it, just couldn't think about going back there, not after everything, not just because everybody else was doing it. That wasn't how these things ought to work.

Of course, when Eve and Flynn declared their intention to take a sort of overdue honeymoon after the ceremony that tied them forever to each other and The Library, Cassandra had thought about it again. She watched them disappear through the same door to a happy place of their own for the holidays and her heart ached. She didn't miss her family, the mother and father who couldn't understand who and what she had become and probably wouldn't even want to. She missed her real family, the people who she belonged with at The Library.

With Mr Jenkins having announced days before that he intended to use the time while everyone else was busy or gone to do a complete inventory of so many of the rooms that he never usually got around to, that left Cassandra alone with her thoughts. She didn't have a want in her to be anywhere by her beloved Library and Annex, that was for certain. She spent a lot of time decorating, redecorating, perhaps even overdecorating, talking with the artefacts who actually understood her, like Cal, and others who didn't, but that didn't matter. She read books and refiled things that others had left lying around, but she still wasn't happy, not entirely.

Standing in The Annex by herself, Cassandra looked around at all her hard work, at the tinsel and the twinkle lights, the ornaments and bows. It was wonderful, all of it, but it was missing something, four or five particular somethings, or someones, to be more accurate.

"When you wish upon a star," she said to herself, smiling sadly as she peered up to the top of the tree that stood proudly by the stairs. "I wish I may, I wish I might," she whispered, closing her eyes and really wishing, just as she had as a child.

Of course, for all that she knew now that magic truly was real, that wasn't how it worked. When Cassandra opened her eyes, she was still alone. It was still Christmas and her family, the only family she truly cared about, were still scattered to at least three corners of the globe, and the deepest bowels of The Library in Jenkins case.

"Oh well," she said with a sigh, turning to head up the stairs.

She stopped only two steps up when she heard a noise. Turning quickly, she realised the door had come alive with magic and suddenly it swung open, a familiar figure stumbling through into The Annex.

"Jacob?"

"Hey, Cass," he said, smiling at her as he steadied himself against the table. "Somehow that hurt more than usual," he noted, glancing back at the door. "Maybe Jenkins need to smooth out some kinks."

"What are you doing here?" asked Cassandra as she moved towards him, wincing when she got a proper look at his face. "Your eye," she said, her hand raised towards the bruises but never quite making contact. "What happened?"

"Oh, that's nothin'," Jake assured her, literally waving away her concern. "It's not home if there's no bar fight."

He grinned when he said it, like a kid at Christmas. Cassandra almost literally face palmed as the thought ran through her head. Jake may not be a kid, but it was Christmas, and just when she had been wishing for some company, here he was. Her eyes flitted to the star at the top of the tree, but she immediately dismissed such a silly notion. After all, if her wish had come true, her whole family would be here.

"It was fine, seein' the folks and all," Jake was explaining as she turned back to him, "but... I don't know, Cassie, it's just been too long I guess. I'm not so sure I ever belonged there before, but now? Well, this place has just got under my skin, I guess," he said, patting the work table as if it were a trusty dog. "When I'm gone, I miss it. Miss the work, miss the people," he said, meeting her eyes and smiling that charming Southern smile that had melted many a woman's heart over the years, Cassie knew.

It sometimes had a strange effect on her too, maybe today more than ever.

"I'm very glad you're here," she admitted, throwing caution to the wind and flinging her arms around him in a big hug.

"Woah. Well, me too," he agreed, hugging her back.

They were still wrapped up in each other's arms when the door burst open again and two more people rushed into The Annex, bickering playfully, the way they often did.

"It's not my fault that the hotel appeared to be haunted."

"Maybe not, but you didn't exactly hate the fact you had a mystery to solve, to the point where you almost forgot I was even there."

"Pish-posh, as if I could ever-" Flynn stopped mid-sentence when he realised they had an audience. "Cassandra, Stone," he greeted them both.

"You're both here" said Eve pointlessly. "We thought you went home?"

"I did." Jacob nodded, realising he still had an arm around Cassandra up to yet and suddenly letting go, looking a little awkward. "I, er... I came back."

"And I never really went anywhere," Cassandra admitted. "But I'm glad you're here," she said, grinning. "Unless you're not glad you're here?"

"It's an improvement on where we were." Eve rolled her eyes. "Haunted hotels, not recommended."

"Technically, it wasn't haunted-" Flynn began again until Eve threw up a hand to stop him. "It's not important," he told Jacob and Cassandra, shaking his head. "So, since we're all here and it is Christmas Day..." he said, double-checking his watch in case he was wrong.

"Well, we're not all here," Cassandra noted.

No sooner had she said it than the magicks sparked in the door for a third time and suddenly all The Librarians were present and correct.

"Alright, mates?" Ezekiel grinned. "So, turns out giving Mum a second chance was asking for trouble. Long story short, never again," he said with a sigh. "But what's everyone else doing back here?"

Jacob glanced at Cassandra as Eve and Flynn shared a look.

"I guess you could say we all just... came home for Christmas?"

"You did say you wanted to spend the holidays with family," said Cassandra, speaking mostly to Jacob but also Ezekiel now as she shrugged her shoulders.

"And what closer family can we find than this?" said Flynn, smiling almost as wide.

"To paraphrase Shakespeare," said Jacob, "'I would not wish any companions in the world but all of you.'"

Cassandra had happy tears in her eyes as she reached to take his hand, and she laughed even as she cried when Eve moved to hug her close.

"Right then," said Ezekiel, clapping his hands together. "Before this gets any mushier, let's break out the egg nog and the mince pies and make this a real Christmas party!" he declared.

Just as plans began to be made, with everyone present all talking at once, one voice broke through above all others.

"I hope you appreciate my sacrifice, Miss Cillian!" Jenkins voice boomed before he quite made it into The Annex proper. "As important as my inventory may be, I shall admit it can be delayed for the day, so if you are still determined to celebrate, I suppose I might... be a part of it," he ended much more quietly, looking around at the assembled group.

"Jenkins, you're right on time." Eve smiled at him. "We've decided to have a family Christmas of our own and it really wouldn't be complete without you."

"Sure," Ezekiel agreed. "Gotta have the crabby grandpa at the end of the table."

Jenkins glared at him, but Ezekiel only grinned and assured him he was joking.

"Come, come, fellow Librarians, Guardian, Caretaker all," said Flynn then, in truly theatrical style as he ran up a few steps of the staircase and took charge. "Let us dally no longer and make this a Christmas to remember!"

There was very little planning involved given how last-minute the whole occasion was, but Cassandra didn't care and simply could not stop smiling as her team, no, her family ran around, gathering food and drink, talking about games they could play and fun to be had. It all sounded wonderful, but truth be told, just being there in her favourite place, surrounded by her favourite people, it was all Cassandra had really wanted for Christmas - just her true family.

"You okay there, Cass?" asked Jacob as he walked by her, arms full of things with which to set the table up for a meal rather than the usual work and research.

"Yeah," she said, nodding her head. "In fact, I'm more than okay," she admitted, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "Merry Christmas, Jake," she told him, amused to see him actually blush.

"Merry Christmas, Cassie," he replied, smiling as much as she was.

Maybe it was okay that they weren't all real family, Cassandra thought, but she really did love them all very much.

It was going to be a wonderful Christmas this year, she just knew it.

The End