Tino woke up stretched out on a sofa with a blanket thrown over him and Snowball curled up on his shoulder. A hearty slice of sandwich cake was sitting on a plate atop the coffee table beside the sofa.

"Yummy!" Tino exclaimed, causing Snowball to wake up and wander down from the couch. He sat up and took the plate into his hands "Though I wonder if I should be a little bit worried that I keep waking up to food of an undetermined origin…"

He paused to consider it "Though really, it's not that hard to figure out. There's only one in this house that could be the possible creator of this food, so the origin is kind of obvious…"

Tino turned to the small white dog and smiled "Thank ya for all the food Snowball! You're a wonderful cook!"

"Arf," replied Snowball, who was looking at Tino like he was a complete fool as he gobbled up the sandwich cake.

"Yah! That was super delicious. Thank ya girl!" Tino knelt down on the floor and held his arms out towards her. The dog's attitude quickly changed as she came running up onto his lap.

"Aww, you're a cute little cheese castle, yah ya are! Who is such a fluffy flower egg? My sweet sardine picnic, so adorable! Yah I know ya were the one who cooked it, because it doesn't taste anything like brains! Want to know why Berwaldo oxenstiernas hasn't eaten my brains yet? It's because I used a super sneaky trick that involved putting on a pair of his pajamas that way he thinks I'm just a clone of him! Pretty good trick yah?"

You have to be the most clueless organism alive… Snowball thought to herself as she rolled around on her back with her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth. But you give really great belly-scratches, which is all that really matters.

"Oh, speaking of your master, I best get back to observing him. It's my job ya know. Ah but ya are really, really cute! I can see why he likes ya so much," Tino gave her one last belly scratch and a kiss on the forehead before setting her down and heading back to Berwald's workshop.

Berwald did not like the idea of leaving Tino alone after the little guy had gone into some strange trance a while ago, but seeing as he was already behind quota and his boss was literally a demon that had it in for him and Snowball, he really didn't have much of a choice.

Nh, Snowball will come get m' if things get worse. Besides, left him with food 'nd everything. Rest is probably what he needs in any case.

That said, Berwald was sanding with a lot more ferocity than he normally did, and he couldn't say that this was completely unrelated to his desire to return to Tino's side as soon as possible. Although this was really unnecessary because moments later Berwald discovered that Tino had apparently decided to return to him.

"Hey Big Guy!" Tino greeted him with a sunny smile "Ya look surprised to see me! I told ya I would be right back after these messages, didn't I?"

Berwald grunted in response as he desperately tried to focus on the task in front of him instead of Tino's sweet smiling face.

"So would ya be able to answer another question for us?"

No! responded Berwald's sense of logic.

"Yah sure," Berwald replied aloud. Clearly the influence of logic on Berwald's mind was rapidly diminishing.

"I noticed ya don't seem to have a helicopter pad or a car, so how do ya deliver furniture to the people who order it?"

"Mm," Berwald grumbled "That's a good question. Guess I can show ya. Follow m'."

Tino followed Berwaldo oxenstiernas over to the other side of the workshop where a brightly painted trapdoor was stuck in the floor.

"Stand back," Berwald cautioned as he softly knocked on the trap door and then stepped away.

Tino gasped as all the lights in the room dimmed and the trap door flew open. A dark shape started to emerge from below the floorboards. Once Tino's eyes adjusted to the light, he could see that the dark shape was actually a floating straw statue of a goat with red glowing eyes.

"Am, am I going crazy?" Tino asked with a shaky voice, "Or is thatJoulupukki?"

"Nh," Berwald couldn't offer much assurance about Tino's sanity in general, but he could confirm what was actually in front of them. "Yah, that's the Yule Goat. He's m'... employer..."

Tino's facial expression changed from one of worry to one of delight. "You're employed by the Yule Goat? That is so neat!"

"Hmm..." Berwald stared warily at the straw goat as it descended back under the floorboards "Yah I guess it's 'lright. Anyways, he's th' one who delivers everything...since he can teleport places 'nd stuff."

"This has to be one of the most spectacular things I've ever reported on! I love stuff like that, Christmas is my second very favorite, the first being cute animals of course!"

"Ya like Christmas huh?"

"Yah! I love it!"

Like a replacement bulb being twisted into place on a string of holiday lights, an idea started to flicker to life in Berwald's brain.

"I see..."

Think there might be a nice way t' get Tino out of m' workshop for a while so I can finish m' work 'nd avoid having m' grandchild's soul and m' own soul being taken by m' crazy boss.

Forty minutes later…

Tino skipped to Berwald's side when the creature called him over to a room down the hall. He took a look through the doorway and gasped when he saw that the bedroom was strung up with strings of rainbow holiday lights, garlands were wrapped around the bedposts and a huge snowflake bedspread was laid out across the bed.

"This is holiday-tastic! It makes my heart so happy and warm inside!" Tino ran up to the bed and jumped into the middle of the snowflake comforter. He was so pleased that he didn't hear the bedroom door close behind him and Berwald slip back away to his workshop.

Tino rolled himself up in the fluffy snowflake comforter and smiled up at the glowing Christmas lights. "Hah, this is so festive! It makes me want to sing every holiday song I know by heart twice, and then backwards!"

Five and a half hours later…

"…night holy night silent! Yah, I think that's about all of it." He nodded to himself and returned to quietly gazing up at the bright lights.

…

"Hey!" Tino sat up "Where did Berwaldo oxenstiernas go? I can't believe I let myself lose track of him for so long! What kind of wildlife investigator am I?"

He rolled back out of the blanket and tucked it under his arm as he opened the door and started to wander down the hall. "Stupid spaciness! Well, to my credit that Christmas bed was really comfy-" Tino stopped suddenly when he reached the living room.

There lay the fearsome predator Berwaldo oxenstiernas, sprawled out across the living room sofa in a peaceful slumber. One of his muscular arms hung over the side of the couch while the other clutched Snowball to his side as her tiny front paws rested on top of his giant hand.

And there went my brains turning into whale blubber again, Tino noted as he, against his better judgment, started slowly stepping towards the sofa.

"Somehow…this looks even more comfy," Tino hesitated for a moment, looked around the living room to make sure nobody was watching, and then quietly slid onto the sofa and under Berwald's massive arm. Tino was quivering as he softly spread the snowflake blanket over the three of them. He froze as he felt Berwaldo oxenstiernas stir in his sleep and Berwald's warm strong fingers wrap around Tino's shoulder.

Well, I did always imagine that I'd meet my end while on a risky assignment, Tino thought to himself as he closed his eyes and curled up closer to the fearsome creature's side. And I can't think of a better place to die than in this dangerous beauty's arms.

Thus, Tino fell asleep not particularly caring if he ever woke up again, and Berwald was having some of the best dreams of his life for reasons that wouldn't become apparent until the dreams ended.