Hi All! I wrote this as a secret santa present, but I wanted to share it here as well. I hope you enjoy!

Kaden paced nervously in front of his bedroom door.

He was sixteen years old, sixteen! He could speak six different languages and graduated high school. He could figure out almost any math problem put in front of him, but what he struggled on, what drove him crazy, was not knowing whether his girlfriend would like her Christmas present.

The annual Christmas ball began hours ago. Josie helped plan the party with Neena, his mother and sister, along with Miss Marlee and Lucy. This year, it was a whole family affair. Ahren was home from France with Camille, which only added to the excitement. Eadlyn was dealing with Kerttu, his newborn Niece (and pushing it, according to their mother). Honestly, Eadlyn was too proud to let anyone help her with Kerttu besides Eikko and their mother. His mother explained that it was just different when it was your child, especially when they were still that small. Still, his sister and brother in law looked beyond tired.

Josie, seeing the need for an extra set of hands, readily volunteered herself for more responsibility with the party, which meant that he'd hardly seen her in the past couple of weeks. It still seemed insane to Kaden that you could live in the same house with someone and barely see them. Granted, it was a very big house...

"Kaden?"

His mother's soft voice drifted through the crack of his bedroom door before entering. She wore a simple but stunning pine green dress, her hair pinned back with a sprig of holly. The whole royal court incorporated holly into their outfits. Kaden had a bunch instead of the traditional boutonniere.

"I'm coming, Mom." Kaden grabbed the small box from his desk, fidgeting with the bow. He wasn't the best at wrapping. He could have had one of the staff do it, but something just didn't seem right about that. Kaden wanted to do it himself, even if it wasn't up to his usual standard of perfection.

"No rush, Kade," she mused as she took a step towards him. "Did you wrap this yourself?" she questioned as she pointed towards the present with a wry smile.

"It looks bad, doesn't it?"

"Not at all. Nothing a little retying can't fix," she responded with a wink. His mother took it from him and set it on the desk, quickly retying his bow. She worked swiftly, making one a lot more impressive than his. "There! Now it's perfect."

"Thank you, Mom." Kaden whispered as he took the box back from his mother.

"Anytime."

"I didn't know you could tie bows like that," Kaden remarked. She wrapped his arms around his, leading him to the door.

"Well, once upon a time, I didn't have a staff that could do it for me. I usually wrapped everyone's presents but my own. May was always too distracted," she laughed.

"You wrapped our presents, didn't you?"

"Your father helped. He always let me tie the bows, though. Said that being a King was easier." Kaden closed the bedroom door behind them before heading to the landing. "I didn't wrap all of them, though."

"Can you teach me? For next year?" Kaden asked. He loved to learn, to know things, and to be able to wrap presents like that seemed to come in handy.

"Of course, I can." They reached the second floor landing, walking down the next flight of stairs. "She's going to love it, Kaden."

"You seem so sure," he huffed. Sure, Kaden knew that Josie liked sparkly things, but he wasn't sure if it was too much too soon. They'd been officially dating almost a year now. As far as Kaden was concerned, he should know things like this and not knowing was incredibly frustrating.

"You got it from the heart. I'm sure."

His mother leaned forward to place a quick kiss against his cheek before the doors to the ballroom were opened by the attendants. Everything was decked out in green, red, and gold, lights and candles everywhere. Eadlyn walked towards them, clad in a pewter dress with a screaming baby in her arms. The smell hit them before she did.

"Someone has decided to leave me an early Christmas present," Eadlyn explained before giving her daughter a loving smile. "I'll be right back."

"Good Luck," their mother offered. Kaden scrunched his nose. Already, he knew how potent his niece's gifts could be.

His mother turned to face him, quickly cleaning off the bit of lipstick she must have left. "Go find Josie. I'll handle any party catastrophes that come our way. Kerttu's is probably the most eventful of the evening."

"That and father doing whatever that is under the mistletoe."

The Queen mother turned towards where Kaden was pointing. His father was gesturing towards his mother with a teasing grin, pointing suggestively to the mistletoe he was standing under.

"I think I can manage to handle that," she replied, fighting laughing.

"Ew."

His mother gave him a brief hug before heading to join his father. Kaden headed deeper into the ballroom, looking for Josie. There were people from all over the world and country. Almost all the members from the newly elected council had come, with various members of his family scattered throughout the room. Osten ran past with the Prince of Italy, no doubt up to trouble. Eikko spoke with a few dignitaries and his parents quietly, a beaming smile on his face. Camille and Ahren were by the drinks, loudly telling a story mixed in French and English. A few people stopped to speak to him, but the conversations were short; his focus was somewhere else.

Finally, he spotted her.

When Kaden looked at Josie, it was like the earth stood still for a few moments. He wasn't exactly sure when his feelings morphed from acquaintances to friendship to something infinitely more. Maybe it was around the time Eadlyn took the throne, when Josie seemed to grow up so much. Maybe it was that night she offered to help Kaden with a project he was working on, how smart she really was, that way her eyebrows would scrunch together when she was trying to figure something out. She was gracious and kind, sarcastic when she needed it, and an excellent covert. The more he learned about her, the more he fell for her.

Josie wore a deep crimson dress that flowed out at her waist with a simple jeweled belt. Her blonde hair was half swept back, a line of holly nestled along the twist. She was gorgeous no matter what, of course, but he'd meant to tell her earlier. Kaden made his way towards her, gently brushing her elbow. She turned in his arms, a bright smile on her face.

"Kaden! I've been looking for you!"

He placed a soft kiss on her check, lingering just long enough to whisper quickly in her ear. "You look stunning tonight."

Josie blushed beautifully as he pulled away. She was talking with her brother and his new girlfriend, Alice. Kaden had always respected Kile, but things were a little different between them now that he was dating Josie. Now, he had this glint in his eye that conveyed something like I don't care if you are a prince, you better not hurt my sister.

"How's school?" Kaden asked.

"Good, getting close to my last year. I heard you were starting classes this spring."

"That's the plan."

"Such a show-off," Josie scoffed with a grin. Kaden smiled in response.

"Mind if I borrow Josie for a moment?"

"Sure," Kile responded, his voice just a tad tense. Kaden noticed that Alice nudged him, a sly smile on her face.

"We'll catch up later," she added.

Kaden offered Josie his arm, which she readily took. He walked around the edge of the ballroom, to the doors that led outside to the garden. The air was cool but comfortable, the temperature a little warmer than normal. The whole garden was decked in Christmas lights, different sections decorated in different themes. The first looked like a gingerbread house, full of bright colors.

"Where did you run off to?" Josie asked, her tone suspicious.

"Just had to get something from my room. You know I'm not a fan of all the noise."

Josie nodded her head as they moved into the snow section. Since snow was almost impossible in Angeles, they added flocking with blue and white lights to the bushes, even had little snowflakes hanging from the trees.

"Everything looks great, Josie," Kaden mentioned.

"Thanks. I just helped, that's all."

"Mom said you took on most of the organization. That's impressive."

They'd just made it to Josie's favorite area of the garden. White lights covered the bushes and flowers, with sparkles of silver and gold covering the greenery. Josie smiled while she brushed her fingers along a white rose dusted in gold. "Everyone helped. Thank goodness Eadlyn told me that we would need extra wine. We've already been through what I was planning on ordering, and-"

Kaden pulled the small box out of his pocket, just before she turned back to face him. He held it out to her, trying to keep his hand from shaking. He was sure she could hear how loud his heart was, that the way it was thumping was hard enough to make his whole chest move.

"Merry Christmas, Josie."

She took it from him, a wondrous look on her face. Her fingers brushed the bow, admiring it. "I thought we were waiting until tomorrow."

"I k-know," he admitted. "I wanted you to have it tonight, and I just couldn't find the right time to give it to you earlier. You were busy and had a lot to do." Josie pulled the bow apart before lifting the lid, reveling a little jewelry box. Kaden waited for her to open the box, anxiety flooding him. She stared at what was inside, her mouth slightly open and eyes wide. Terror flooded Kaden. "I wasn't sure if you'd like it or not. I know you said that you loved rose gold, and I thought after we all went to the beach this past summer that you'd like it. I know it's not big, but you don't really do big jewelry anymore, and…Look, I can take it back, get you something else-"

Kaden was cut off by Josie throwing her arms around him, kissing him long and hard. Kaden took her in his arms, pulling her in close. His heart stopped for a moment, taken over by the girl in his arms.

"It's perfect, Kade. Just perfect." Josie pulled away, an ear to ear grin on her face. She bounced on her feet. "Will you help me put it on?" She offered him the box, which he took from her.

"Of course."

Kaden carefully removed the necklace. It was simple chain with a tiny seashell and diamond charm. Josie turned around so Kaden to clasp it around her neck. She spun back around, adjusting the necklace to her liking. Her fingers brushed his arm before Josie took a step forward and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Merry Christmas to you, too, Kaden."

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