Disclaimer: I don't own any familiar characters from Arthur Christmas. They belong to Aardman which I'm not a part of so I get no money off this fanfic!

North Pole Headquarters, 11:10 am

Peter gave a frustrated groan as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. The few strands of hair that stood up at the front of his parted hair, refused to stay down. After spending a moment or two trying to flatten them down, only for the stands to spring back up, he sighed in defeat. "Forget it." He grumbled and smoothed out his orange polo shirt. Orange wasn't exactly his favorite color, but his mother liked it and if it pleased her, then he was happy.

He stole one last glance at himself in the mirror before leaving the room. 'It's been a couple of weeks since I've visited her…I hope she won't be upset.' He thought as he made his journey to his mothers' quarters.

"Nice shirt Peter." An elf snickered as she walked past him in one of the halls. Peter ignored her, he wasn't in the mood to argue with a rude elf and the last thing he wanted was to show up on his mother's door step in a bad mood. He wanted to spend his Saturday having a peaceful chat with his mother instead of ranting on about how nobody listened to him and what not.

Just then, an elf ran around the corner that he was about to turn, and crashed into Peter, sending them both crashing to the ground. Peter shook his head and glared up at the elf who was none other than Bryony.

The female elf stared down at Peter in surprise, "Sorry I didn't know you were around the corner." She gave a sheepish grin.

"Get a room you two!" A passerby elf called while he and his friends wondered past them. Peter and Bryony looked over each other and saw how they were in a very much suggested position. Peter was lying on his back while Bryony was on top of him, so that their bellies were touching. 'This looks so wrong! Wait…what's that?' The wrapping elf thought and looked back into Peter's face with a confused and suspicious look.

"Peter…I think something of yours is poking me…" She said slowly.

The assistant elf blinked, "Oh it's just my HOHO." He said casually.

"Your what?" Bryony asked while pulling her head back.

Peter squirmed as he reached into one of his hip pockets and pulled out his red HOHO phone, "See? My HOHO. What did you think it was?" he asked with a raised brow. Bryony's blush didn't go unnoticed and Peter's mouth formed a small 'o' of shock before he gave an uncertain smirk, "Having dirty thoughts about me Miss Shelfley?"

"Not even in your dreams Jones." Bryony grumbled with an unimpressed look.

The assistant gave her a 'whatever' expression, "Well, now that we have that all settled, would you mind getting off me?" He requested. Bryony scrambled off the male and watched as he stood up as well while adjusting his shirt. "So Bryony, where were you off to in such a hurry?" He pondered out loud.

"If you must know, I just left my parents room and I was going to go meet up with my friends. That is unless Steve and Arthur would like to speak to me about what happened last night…" She trailed off. She had totally forgotten about Peter saying he was going to the Claus boys about last night's events.

Peter shook his head, "No they're really busy today so I decided not to tell them about it. Just consider last night a warning." He said with a wave of his hand. Bryony blinked a couple of times, "Really?" She questioned. "Would you rather I go tell them right now?" Peter retorted while crossing his arms and the female elf shook her head quickly. "No, no a warnings fine thank you."

"Good, now if you don't mind, I've got to go meet up with my mother." He stated and continued to walk around the corner while Bryony ran off in search of her friends. As soon as he heard her footsteps fade away, Peter let out a small groan and doubled over slightly as his pointy ears drooped. "Her leg hit me right in the nu...crotch!" he whimpered, "Oh gods that hurt like hell." He added while taking a deep breath and relaxing. When Bryony knocked him over, her leg hit him in his most sensitive spot as she landed. It had taken everything in his will power to keep from crying out or doubling over in pain in front of her.

"Alright, I'm okay." He said and began to walk the rest of the way to his mom's room.

It didn't take him long to reach the door that read, 'Mrs. Jones'. Despite being a widow, Mrs. Jones had refused to give up her husbands name and rejected any suitors that tried to court her after her husband passed away.

He knocked and the door opened to reveal a copper haired female elf. Her face lit up when she saw who was at the door. "Peter, what a pleasant surprise! Come in, come in!" His mother ushered him in before closing the door.

"So what brings you here love?" She added after giving her son a loving hug.

"Oh nothing, I just thought I'd stop by and say hello." Peter replied with a shrug. His mother beamed at him. "Thank you Peter, you know I always love seeing my baby boy." She placed her hands on his cheeks as her eyes roamed over his face.

"I swear you look more like your father every day." She breathed as her eyes teared up. The two elves turned to look at the small picture frame on the table. The picture displayed a male field elf that looked very much like Peter. He had brown eyes and the same chestnut brown colored hair as Peter. The only difference between Mr. Jones and Peter was that the elder male had a round nose whereas Peter's was long and pointy. This was the second trait the assistant elf picked up from his mother; the first was the long fingers with sharp nails.

Mrs. Jones smiled at the picture, "Zane was so happy when you were born, he was so excited to be a daddy. I remember he told me, 'Look at him Lydia, he's perfect!'" She dabbed her eyes with the hankie she carried in her pocket.

Despite having heard that story thousands of times, Peter still smiled and nodded. He remembered how his father used to play with him after work or during the weekends. His mother told him stories about how his dad would pick him up and hold him above his head and make airplane noises while saying stuff like, "Look Peter's flying!" and Peter would giggle with excitement.

While Peter didn't remember those memories, he did remember the times he had with his father when he was five. He remembered how his dad would lay down on the floor and Peter would crawl all over him and the two would 'wrestle' and roll around on the floor. The game would always end with Mr. Jones 'losing' to Peter. Zane would lie on his back while Peter climbed on top of his stomach and his mother would count to ten in which she would declare Peter the winner. Having 'won' the fight, Peter would give a proud, satisfied smirk.

Unfortunately, the assistant also remembered the day he was told that his father wouldn't be coming back to the room they all shared. Peter had been coloring at the table while his mother lay in bed reading a book. His father had gone out with a battalion for field training and a hungry polar bear had attacked them. It was sad to say that Zane was fatally injured and passed away before the paramedic elves could get him to the hospital.

An elf had come by the room and informed the newly widowed elf and the now fatherless elfling, the tragic news.

Peter gently shook his head to rid himself of the memory and smiled down at his mother. "Well what have you been up to mother?" He asked. Mrs. Jones blinked and gave a small smile at her son, "On nothing much, I've just been here working on different arts and crafts projects." She said while looking around the room. Peter glanced around too and noticed the little projects his mother had finished or was currently working on.

"They look nice." He said and turned back to his mother, was holding out a cup of tea for him. He politely declined with a shake of his head and the two sat on the 'lovebird' couch his mother had. "So what have you been up too?" She asked while sipping her own tea. "Oh nothing much, just working and helping Steve." He replied while leaning back comfortable.

"Have you met any girls?" His mother questioned with a sly look.

Peter sighed and leaned his head back, "Moooom!" he whined with embarrassment. Mrs. Jones giggled behind her hand, "I'm sorry Peter, it's just that you're such a nice boy and I want to see you happy with a young girl and have little babies of your own." The elder female's eyes lit up at the thought, "Imagine you becoming a daddy Peter!"

"Sorry to say this mum, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon." He pushed a strand of hair back with a frown.

His mother gave him a small smile, "That's not true Peter, you'll find a pretty, loving girl soon. You just have to know where to look." Peter really didn't feel comfortable talking about these things with his mother and he changed the topic. "So mum, lunch is coming up soon and I was wondering if you wanted to come eat with me. Unless you had a big breakfast or had other plans in which I'd understand if you didn't want to come." He invited hopefully.

Mrs. Jones shook her head, "I'd love to join you for lunch. I had a small breakfast and I don't have any other plans for the day." She replied with a shrug in which Peter beamed. They spent the next half hour having small talk before taking off for lunch.

A/N: And there you have Peter's mother. She's a lot nicer than Bryony's parents and while she does want her son to get married and have kids, she doesn't force it on him like the Shelfley's. Anywho, she, as well as Bryony's family will make some more appearances in later chapters.

I think I'll have the next chapter focus on Bryony's friends just to give them a bit more background. Since I've already given a lot of Peter's background, I'll be doing a chapter on Bryony's history. That'll be in chapter 11. After that, we'll see what Kevin and Tanya are up too and then the story will really get moving with the romance and drama and what not.;)

Oh and before I forget; I mentioned in this chapter that Peter had sharp nails, this is actually true! I was looking at a screen cap with him and I noticed that his nails were sharp. Instead of being round like all the other characters, his were pointy. Quite an interesting find:)