AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I forgot to mention this before, but this story takes place after TDA. It is now added on to my note in the first chapter.

I held out my arms. "Merry Chri-"

He swept me off my feet into his arms, knocking the breath out of me. "Merry Christmas Izzy! Oh, how I'm so glad to see you!"

"Glad to see you too, Big O!" I said into his arm.

Owen loosened his grip and looked at me, tenderness in his eyes. "You should really come visit more often, y'know? My family enjoys having you, as do I."

A thought trickled into my mind without my consent: If I came too often, Mom and Dad would question my absence. "Really?" I snapped my fingers. "Darn. I wanted your brothers to be freaked out by me."

Owen chuckled. "Don't worry, they kind of still are."

"Owen! Why are you hugging Izzy outside when we have a warm house?" Mr. Nickelson came up behind Owen as he let go of me, and I waved at him. He and Owen share the same hug-able girth and heart-warming smile. "Welcome to our humble home, Izzy. Now come inside, both of you."

We stepped inside, Mr. Nickelson closing the door behind us. Owen's house always smells like delicious food- this time it was bacon. The living room glittered with flashing lights strung all over the place. A tree stood in the middle, dominated by gold and loaded underneath with presents. We have a tree too, but it's a fake one for 'less mess', as Mom says. It's also tiny so it takes up 'less space'. It's just lame, period.

Mrs. Nickelson scurried out with a plate of chocolate chip cookies. I recognized her by her bright blonde hair and round petiteness. She's adorable, really. "Oh, hello Izzy! Merry Christmas Eve! Here, you and Owen can help yourselves to these." She gave me the plate of cookies, and the divine smell wafted into my nostrils. "We also have BLT subs in the kitchen, if you want any."

I swear I was put under a spell by those cookies. My eyelids were getting droopy. "Mmm... Thanks, Mrs. Nickelson."

"Anytime, sweetheart." She nudged Owen, whose eyes were half-closed as drool went down his chin. I put a hand over my smile- he looked like a baby. "Owen, why don't you escort Izzy to your room?"

Owen blinked at the cookies. "Huh- wha?"

"Take Izzy to your room," she said in a sterner tone. "No funny business."

He saluted her. "Yes ma'am!"

Before he could place a foot on the step, I cut in front of him. "I know where your room is. Come on!" I grabbed his hand and barreled up the stairs, occasionally glancing back to make sure he was keeping up. The railing was strung with rainbow lights, something I wished existed in my own house. Mom and Dad don't put up decorations (besides the lame Christmas tree) because they don't see the point if we're always celebrating Christmas at other places. But I hadn't heard that we were going anywhere this year, so I thought they were just being lazy.

I hopped the last two steps. The second floor was basically a narrow hall with four doors, one right in front of me. I shouldered it, and Owen tried to pull away. "Iz, that's not-"

One of Owen's brothers (the skinny one) stood in only pink plaid boxers. His eyes bugged out at me, and he leaped back five feet. Actually, I have no way of knowing how far he jumped, that's just an educated guess. "AH! What the hell is she doing here?"

"She's my girlfriend, remember? And you could be more poli-" Owen's brother slammed the door in Owen's face with a splintering CRACK!

Owen stared at the door, the skin wrinkling around his eyes as he squinted. I laid my hands on his shoulders and massaged them. It was a sure-fire way to fend off his spouts of anger. And how did I know one was coming? Girlfriend intuition, boo yeah. "It's okay, Owen. He just can't take a joke, that's all. I've dealt with many of those people."

The tension leaked out of his shoulders, and he huffed. "Luke can just be so rude sometimes. I'm sure if you opened Riley's door, he would actually greet you properly."

"That's because he's more like you, big and lovable!" I opened the next door to the only brunette in the family lying down, mouth wide open in a snore. "Yup, definitely like you." We snickered. This is one of the reasons I like Owen- he actually appreciates my teasing. So does Noah, which is why I like him as a friend, but he's sensitive if he's the one being teased.

Anyway, we finally stepped inside Owen's room. It was fairly bland, with white walls and a uniform blue bed. I never would've guessed that it belonged to a bright personality like Owen! I mean, of course I knew it was his from my once-in-a-while visits, I was just barging into his brothers' rooms for fun. The open floor was clean, but I saw a few wrappers under his bed and desk, spots he must have missed.

I crashed onto the bed, landed sprawled-out, then scooted over for Owen. He fell back as well, and our legs touched as they hung off the bed. I put the cookies between us. "So, what do you wanna do?" he asked.

I voiced what we were both thinking. "If we made out now, it'd be tacky."

"True... Are you doing anything fun tomorrow?"

"Probably not. You?"

"Nope."

I sat up and looked at him. "Really?"

Owen grabbed a cookie and stuffed it in his mouth. I did the same. "Yup, we like to hang at home for Christmas. Eat and watch TV basically. My uncle's sure to tell some of his hunting tales..."

"Ohoho, I wish I could hear those."

Owen lifted his head. "Maybe you can come again tomorrow! Perhaps you could bring along your family too, for a Christmas feast. It'd be fun! I mean, I know it's a long shot, your parents probably want you home for Christmas, but if they were willing..."

'Fun' is my true middle name, not Josie. It's the one I actually respond to. "I'd love to! But they'd never come along with me, and they'd definitely notice if two of their kids were missing. They baby Seb more than me anyways."

One of Owen's eyebrows dipped like a spoon. "Why wouldn't they come?"

Crap, I thought. I didn't want to tell Owen what my parents thought of him. I didn't want to see any hurt on his face whatsoever, caused by me. And there was a small selfish worry, existing in the form of a pit in my stomach, that Owen wouldn't want me as his girlfriend without my parents' approval. "Because our car isn't working."

He stretched his lips in a downward slant. "Oh, that's a shame. We have two cars, maybe we could pick you guys up?" His expression unraveled, and he shot up. "Wait a second, did you walk all the way here?"

"Yup. Or more like ran." That much was true.

"That must've taken a long while! And in negative thirty degree weather? That's insane, Izzy! Oh wait, that word doesn't have any effect on you. That's... something you shouldn't do!"

I looked sideways on the floor. "I'm not in the mood for another lecture."

"I'm not lecturing you, but do you need a blanket?" I shook my head hard while shutting my eyes, trying to suppress the frustration bubbling up inside of me. "Hot cocoa? A heat pack?" I shook my head once more, and I felt Owen's gaze on me. "What's wrong?"

There were two armies warring in my mind: The Truth, and My Hopes and Dreams With Owen. "I... I just wish you could come over. But my parents don't like having me and my brother's friends at our house." Actually, they were fine with that, as long as our friends fit their cookie-cutter model. Oh gosh, I remember what Noah did to appease Mom and Dad into letting him in our house, it was hilarious! I nearly blew his cover. I HAVE to tell you that story later if I don't forget, which I tend to sometimes.

"Oh, I see. I wondered why you never invited me back. Well, it's good to know that it's a different reason than I thought it was," Owen said.

"Owen, I'm dedicated to you like you are to donuts!" I placed a hand flat against my chest. "I swear I would never lose interest in you, unless you suddenly became the most boring person on the planet."

He laughed for a short while, and I drew a blank on why. "Oh no, I was just worried that you were worried I might fart and embarrass you at your house!" Laughter seeped back into his voice, and we both started cackling and fell back on the bed. Can you imagine the possibilities of Owen farting in front of my parents? That just cracked me up!

After a minute, our laughter dissolved into giggles. Owen looked at me sideways with a twitching smile. "On a serious note, I'd never lose interest in you either because I know you'll never become boring."

"Aww, thanks, Big O." I rolled over and kissed him on the cheek. "So, is there anything you wanna tell me?"

Owen stuffed his second cookie in his mouth, and I copied him. "Well, I do have a few minor confessions. I had my Christmas present for you when you brought me that box of delicious donuts, but I kept it because I wanted you to find it in your mailbox on Christmas. Dang, I should've kept it so I could give it to you tomorrow!"

"Don't worry about it! I love getting gifts in the mail." Of course, my favorite form of gift transportation is by dog. My uncle had his Siberian Husky hand me a present in his mouth when they visited last year, it was super adorable!

Owen pumped his fists in the air. "Whoo hoo! Boyfriend intuition, boo yeah!" See how alike we are? "Oh yeah, I have something else too. I invited Noah's whole family to Christmas dinner. I thought having all of our families here would be whole new levels of awesome, especially as a surprise."

"But I thought Noah didn't like surprises."

"He doesn't, but I figured he'd like this one since you two are friends." We sighed, imagining a picture that would never happen. Then we ate another cookie. Then I locked the door, and we began making out. Do you really think I'm going to describe the details when kids might read this someday? Haha! Silly geese. But Owen only ate four cookies throughout our time together, which was a huge accomplishment for me. It proved that I really grabbed his attention! Boo yeah.

Sebastian's POV (We give you a break from Izzy's insanity through Seb's sanity.)

I don't know what I was thinking, building that snowman with Izzy. It was inevitable we would get caught. I mean, who sleeps through a sudden huge drop in temperature unless they're drunk?

Not that it wasn't fun. It would've been nice to finish the movie, but I thought it was really cool how we were doing something that actually happened in Frozen, and didn't even need ice powers for it. If there's one thing that makes my sister unique (though there's many), it's her ability to defy reality, something I can never do. That is, without her assistance. She also tries really hard to make me try new things, not that I did any of them- that is, until now. I thought she was just being insane, but when she expressed that she cared about me, I felt like I owed her all of a sudden. It was like all of her attempts to drag me into crazy experiments turned into metaphors for love in my mind. Is that weird or what?

Don't get me wrong, I love her as my sibling too. It just became clearer once I realized there was a reason behind all my annoyance.

Sitting in the dining room, I heard Mom's clipped tone and knew Izzy was definitely getting a timeout. Sure enough, I soon heard Izzy going upstairs. I can identify without looking whoever climbs the stairs somehow- Izzy's the lightest one on her feet. I waited a minute after Mom and Dad went up, then took the steps as quietly as possible. Unfortunately, I'm not a very good stealth walker, so I made a light thump with each step, loud enough for Mom to hear me.

"Sebastian dear?" Mom tends to pull out different voices with different people, and the one she used right then made me feel like a little kid. She met me at the top and pulled me into a hug. "Hopefully this warms you up. Sorry it's so cold in here, Izzy turned down the thermostat to freezing."

A conflict was going on in my mind. I adore Mom and Dad, but I didn't adore their punishment of Izzy when she was just trying to do something nice for me. But if I told them that, they might have asked me if I got involved, and I had never lied to them before. And I'm hardly ever one to break old patterns. "It does, Mom, thank you. The cold's not your fault."

Mom squeezed me tighter. "Oh, you're so sweet. How come only you have such manners?"

"I paid special attention to you and Dad." Okay, so I'm a parents' pet. It's just easier when you have parents like mine.

She nuzzled my face, which felt good (don't judge me). "You're just a blessing to me and your father. Make sure to put on a coat!" She walked down the hallway to her and Dad's room and closed the door, freeing me to check on Izzy.

Now, I don't usually check on Izzy when she's on a timeout, Mom and Dad would disapprove. But I had to return the favor for her taking all the blame. I walked to her door and opened it a crack. "Izzy? It's me, Seb."

No response. I looked toward my parents' bedroom and sighed, then went inside and shut the door. I swear, the only reason her room is spotless is because Mom does a room check daily to make sure we aren't holding anything dangerous (Iz is usually caught for this one), inappropriate, or just plain gross (Iz again). Still, it's a virtual kaleidoscope. I scanned the room once, twice, three times, and still I couldn't find her. My mind inflated with thoughts, questions, and the general fuzziness of confusion. What if she pops out and scares me at any second? Gosh, it's impossible to find her in this mess of color. Wait, what's that hanging out the window?

I walked over and discovered part of a rope ladder wedged in the window with Dad's weights tied on it. Immediately, I knew what she did and palmed my forehead. For the first time ever, she had broken out of a timeout (I know, surprising). She was in for a world of trouble.

The door opened, and I tensed up, looking for a place to hide. But I knew it was too late, and turned around to face Mom and Dad.

"Sebastian, what are you doing here?" Mom asked. "Where's Isabelle?"

I backed up to the window, though it was futile, they would've come to the same conclusion anyway. But they didn't have to know Izzy got out through the window, at least. I stayed silent, since I was not about to tell the truth OR a lie.

Dad looked around, then at me with a piercing stare. "She's not in here?"

I felt my resolve fly away like sand does with the wind. I closed my eyes and nodded.

Mom threw her hands up, clapping them back to her sides. "Great. Now we have no clue where our daughter is or when she'll come home. If she'll come home."

Dad put his hands on her shoulders. "She'll come home, honey. She always does. What I'm wondering about is how we should deal with her when she comes back."

Mom's stare at him was unsettling, like there was a storm behind her eyes. "Oh, I have a way in mind." They walked out of the room, and I waited a few moments before grabbing a swivel chair in the corner and pulling it in front of the window. It would conceal the ladder until Izzy came back, and she could easily push it out the way. My job here was done.

I went back downstairs to check on the snowman. Mom and Dad hadn't gotten rid of it yet, but the readjusted heat was already diminishing it to a pile of slush.

I pushed the snowman and all my emotions with it to the back of my mind. Time to resume my movie.

(And now, back to Izzy's POV.)

It pained me to tell Owen I had to go after only an hour, but Mom was probably already waiting for me with a club. So I put my puffy gear back on and headed downstairs, with Owen following behind me.

A tubby man with a curly brown beard approached me at the bottom, pale blue eyes glistening with his smile. "Uncle Wendell! Where were you?" Owen said.

"I was just in the bathroom. Ate a few too many of your mom's subs." He turned around to Ms. Nickelson. "You make a mean BLT, sis!"

Ms. Nickelson brought her lips into a frowning pucker. "You should have left some for Owen and Izzy. That way, you would have been able to greet our guest when she arrived."

He winked at me and shook my hand in both of his. "Well, I'm doing it now, aren't I? Nice to meet Owen's girlfriend at long last. He always talks about you on our trips to the great outdoors. And I must say-" He clicked his tongue- "you're just as fine-looking a lady as he said you were."

I smirked back at Owen, whose face had turned red. "Uncle, please!"

"I have lots more that he said about you, but I'll preserve his privacy for now. Say, Owen, what do you say to going hunting with me and your grandpa on New Year's?"

Owen gave him two thumbs-up. "Sounds cool!"

Ms. Nickelson marched up to Uncle Wendell. "Hold on, we didn't discuss this yet. What if I want my kid home this New Year's, huh?"

He gave a serene smile. "Can't break the tradition of us men, sis."

I cleared my throat. "I gotta go now."

Ms. Nickelson blinked at me. "Already? Well, I suppose your parents want you home early on Christmas Eve. Let me go get Owen's dad to drive you."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," I said. "I live close by."

Her eyes enlarged and caught the light. "But it's too cold out there to walk! I don't want you catching a cold, or worse, pneumonia." She ran off to the kitchen, and Uncle Wendell, Owen, and I sat on a couch in the living room.

Soon she came back with Mr. Nickelson in tow. "Why can't you drive? I don't drive well on snowy roads," he said.

"You handle them just fine. I need to convince my brother to let Owen stay home for New Year's for once."

"Why does he need to stay home?"

Mrs. Nickelson pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just- drive Izzy home, okay?"

"Ah, fine. Izzy, come along." And so, I ended up in Owen's van with Owen and his father as company, wondering what the heck was going to happen if my parents saw me coming out of the van near our driveway. Best case scenario: They'd ground me for a month. Worst case scenario: They'd chase the van, find Owen in there, and ban me from contacting him ever again. Then I realized an easy solution: Get Mr. Nickelson to drop me off at the end of our street.

"Izzy, you okay? You're unusually quiet," Owen said.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I winked at him. "Just tired after our time together." He winked back and chuckled. "Mr. Nickelson, would you mind dropping me off when we reach my street?"

"You don't want to be dropped off at your house?" Mr. Nickelson said.

"Nope, I like running."

"Izzy's a hardcore gal," Owen said slowly, and I sensed pride in his tone.

Mr. Nickelson chuckled and looked at the GPS in front. "Maybe she could toughen you up, eh Owen? We're just about at your street. Kreewood, you said?"

"Yup! I can get off here." We reached the corner, and Mr. Nickelson stopped the car.

I reached across and hugged Owen before jumping out. "See you tomorrow!" he said.

"See ya Big O!" I waved at the car as it turned around, then sprinted back to my house. I took the ladder and climbed up to my window, and there I saw half the back of my swivel chair. Hm, that wasn't there before, I thought. Did Mom and Dad put it there?

I opened the window and climbed over my chair, imagining myself as a cat. It really helps me to be agile! I pulled up my ladder and silently shut the window. Tossing my ladder deep into my closet, I curled up in bed so I could at least be well-rested when Mom and Dad came to issue my extra punishment.

It was all a matter of waiting.