A/N: hey guys! This will be part 1 of 2 of the last chapter! I was originally going to make it a mega chapter, but it's really tough finishing the last section. The last chapter is going to be epic. No loose ends!

Before I begin, I'm going to call out every single reviewer for their commitment in reading this and leaving me a kind comment or few. Thanks so much, everyone!

:: Xxxx4evaSummerxxxX, FreeToLive603, xMarchsax, .Love01, Demi909Lovato, LadiiLautner, sd, Titanlvr4evr, Finally Falling, xXBeckyFoo, Red-Delicious Victory (thanks for your review about Jade/Cat friendship, I didn't realize that it needed that aspect until I read your review) Karajeannex, theworldismyoyster, SpaceAgeUnicorn (: you all are fantastic, and I truly appreciate it, THANK YOU!

Chapter Ten: Christmas Is Magic

Christmas Eve.

I was at my grandparents' house from about lunchtime to early evening. I sat on the edge of my seat as my little cousins ran around me. They were excited for Christmas, and honestly, I couldn't say any different.

I constantly asked my parents when we were going home to the point that I pushed them out the door.

As soon as I got home to my trailer, I texted Cat.

Hey, how's your Christmas Eve going?

It's going, I guess. Mom called. She said that she'd love to be home but she can't. She says she's sent money; I should get it on Monday. Dad came home earlier and said don't wait up. He also mentioned that I don't deserve any presents, so "don't bother expecting anything."

I miss my brother; he wouldn't let me be sad on Christmas.

I can feel the sorrow and disappointment in through her text.

I'm so sorry Cat. Go make some hot cocoa, and watch a Christmas movie?

I will. I'm in my candy jammies too. Thanks though. When can I see you next?

I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know, okay?

I looked up at the clock – 11:03 – and then I started. I made sure everything was hidden, turned off all the lights, and got into the car.

Ten minutes later, I parked my car and stealthy got out.

"Beck? Why are you calling me?"

"Hey Kitty Cat, look out your window."

The curtains are pulled open and Cat's gazing out, but of course, her eyes don't look below.

"Look down!"

She finally does. When she see sees me, I see her jump up and down, excitedly.

"Beck! Beck, can you see me! Hi Beck!" She sounds so excited.

"Alright, Cat, let me in. It's chilly out here." The light goes off in her room and it's a matter of seconds before she's down at the doorstep, pulling me inside.

"What are you doing here?" She asks, her eyes wide and amazed.

I shrug, semi-bashfully.

"You're wearing your jammies! And you're wearing a Santa hat! Yay!"

I smile, telling her I like her candy jammies too, and pull out a pink Santa hat to stick on her head.

"Beck, oh my gosh, wow! Thank you thank you!"

I laugh at her expense, because, well, who wouldn't? She's just so happy.

"What are you doing here? It's almost eleven thirty!"

I nod, and tell her to pack up a few things for the night.

Shockingly, she doesn't even ask why, just goes ahead and does it.

We get back to my trailer after bouncing along to various Christmas tunes (I even circled around the block twice so we could get all the singing out of our system.) and I guide her into my trailer.

"You know, Cat, you have a beautiful voice. You should really sing more often."

Her cheeks blush, and she mumbles a thank you as she sits on the couch, tapping her fingers against her thighs.

"So what now?"

I pull out a blanket, a thermos of cocoa, and a stack full of Christmas movies – vhs and dvd for her to choose from.

In the middle of Mickey's Christmas Special, I pause the tape, and grin wide.

"Merry Christmas, Cat."

She squeals and hugs me tight, so tight I can hardly breathe.

"I'm your secret Santa, now that you can know." I shrug.

Her eyes open up a little wider. "It's okay, Beck, you're mine too! Can I give you your gift tomorrow?"

I nod, of course.

When her head on my shoulder is nodding off with intermittent yawns, I realize that we need to get some sleep.

"C'mon Cat. Come sleep with me. I promise I'm not trying any funny business or anything, I'll just keep you warm and safe."

She is a little hesitant, but crawls in with me, with blankets upon blankets.

I lean into her ear, and say, "No one should be alone on Christmas."

She snuggles up to me, sleepily saying, "Thank you, Beck. I wouldn't be okay if it wasn't for you."

Together, we drift off to sleep.

I roll out of bed at eight o'clock, carefully removing Cat's hands from me, and placing them around Mr. Longneck, her loveable stuffed giraffe.

First step, I changed into Santa-like pajamas, slippers, hat and all.

Next, I start to decorate. I pull out the tree from the only closet I have, I pull out the pre-made decorations I worked on so hard, and I set Cat's Christmas presents all underneath the tree. I set a pot of coffee on, pull out the tray of cookies on from last night, and turn on, but mute, the radio on the Christmas station.

All the lights in the Silver Streak are still out, and once my decorating is done, I notice that lights are on in my own house.

Go time.

I carefully sit on the bed next to Cat and nudge her.

"Cat, wake up." I say softly, hoping it's enough to wake her.

"Hmm? Beck?" her sleepy voice is adorable, but I can't just ignore everything else.

"Wake up, it's Christmas!"

She sits up when she notices me sitting there, so I flip on the light switch and everything turns to light.

I take a few seconds to admire my own handiwork while Cat sits next to me, soaking it all in.

"Oh my gosh." She whispers it, and I look over to see tears in her eyes.

"Hey, hey. No crying on Christmas!" I fake lecture, wiping away the tears that threaten to fall.

"What is all this?" She's in awe, which makes me feel like all my effort had paid off.

"Merry Christmas, Cat. I'm your secret Santa."

She grabs me and pulls me into a deep hug, and I melt.

"This is the most incredible thing anyone has ever done for me!"

I smile, "well, it's not done just yet! Come on, come open your presents!"

She jumps up, taking a look at the gifts under the tree.

"There's so many." She says softly; I notice she's a little overwhelmed.

We sit on the floor as I hand her wrapped Skystore products, stuffed animals ("A MRS. LONGNECK?"), and various girly things I picked out.

"Beck! This is too much." She's looking up at me in amazement, but also in happiness.

"I'd be lying if I said Christmas was over. Come on, we have to go into the house."

She nods, jumping to pull a pair of shoes on and grabbing a bag, which I presumed to be a secret Santa gift from her.

Cat cautiously enters the house, and my mom immediately is hugging the both of us.

"Merry Christmas!"

Suddenly everything is a rush, and I'm shamelessly acting like a child, tugging on Cat's sleeve and dragging her to the living room.

It's always a winter wonderland, but Christmases in the Oliver household have a greater sense of wonder to them.

"Oh, Beck." She's touching her filled stocking, stuck under the fireplace's mantel and swinging aside my own.

"Ah, Merry Christmas!" My dad's next to bring cheer – a plate full of cookies and hot cocoa/Christmas coffee.

For a brief moment, Cat just stares at us.

I tell her to take her stocking down as I grab mine, and the pair of us pulls out each item piece by piece.

My mom gushes out details about what we find as my dad takes pictures.

Picture perfect.

"Go ahead, open some presents!" My dad instructs, and as I reach for one of mine, Cat sits across, watching to see what I received.

"Didn't you find one?" I say to her, and she wrinkles her nose in confusion.

I smile, handing a square package in her direction.

"Wh-what? For me?" She squeaks, reading and rereading the gift tag.

"Sweetie," My mom offers, "you know how much fun it was, shopping for a teenage girl? No offense Beckett, but they always say two is better than one. Boy and girl gifts are twice as fun!"

Cat's speechless, and that's exactly how it should be.

"I don't know how to thank you…"

My dad interjects right away. "Thank us? Nah. If you want to thank us, you can go ahead and open these gifts!"

One by one, we open up our Christmas gifts. Each time, Cat is more thrilled than the last. My mom 'splurged' on a pricey purse and pair of boots for her, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone so grateful.

After we opened all of our gifts and my parents open mine, they disburse to get the day off to a start as we sit, enjoying our presents.

"Beck? Can I give you your presents now? It's not nearly as much as this…"

Her face turns red, and I stop her there.

"Listen here. You didn't have to spend a dime on me. You being here on Christmas and being happy as you are is my Christmas gift."

She shrugs, pushing 3 packages my way.

The top one, as I see, is a box double layered full with Cat's special red velvet cupcakes, yet decorated with authentic green icing and Christmas sprinkles. I eagerly take a bite, and they're moist and delicious; she smiles at my reaction.
The next one shocked me: a pair of really nice studio headphones - very high in demand and pretty expensive. "Wow, Cat. You spent way too much!"

She giggles. "It's Christmas! I was supposed to be your Santa and Santa hardly looks at the price tag."

She watches me carefully as I tear away the wrapping paper on the last gift.

I'm speechless.

Inside is the most perfect leather jacket I've ever seen. I had wanted a new one for a long time, but I didn't want to feel greedy in asking for one from my parents. This alone must've cost Cat a fortune!

"Uh, I mean, if you hate it I can find something else better for you I just thought you might want a new one after your old one was pretty beat up and Jade tried seeing if she could cut leather with scissors and I thought this one might fit your personality kind of well, but I mean if you don't like it I understand cause I looked and looked to find which one looked like Beck the most and I thought that maybe this one would work well and maybe I picked the wrong one."

I realize after moments of confusion that I haven't reacted because this is just so… perfect.

Without letting her think otherwise for any longer, I grab her any pull her into a hug, whispering everlasting "thank you" in her ear.

"You like it? Honest? You're not just saying that?" Her doe eyes look up at me in search of confirmation.

"I promise, I love it so much!" I slip it on and it fits perfectly. How she even guessed my size, I don't know. "Mom! Look what Cat got me!" I rush into the kitchen to show off my new prized possessions; Cat is glowing.

"You and Mr. Oliver can have some cupcakes too – I baked plenty!"

My mom takes a cupcake from the box and literally ogles at it. "Cat, this is beautiful! These cupcakes are wonderful looking, and," she takes a bite, swallows enthusiastically, "delicious! You should consider going into the bakery business."

Cat claps her hands, thrilled that my mom is giving her an approval of sorts.

"Mom, look!" I hold out my arms and turn like a model, showing my mom my new most favorite thing.

"Oh, it's very handsome! Darling, you seem to know my son perfectly. He may never take that jacket off!"

She's grinning big, and we're both so happy, it's perfect.

My mom makes us breakfast, and we continue the rest of the morning, lazy and in our pajamas, happy as can be.

"So what do the Oliver's usually do the rest of Christmas?"

I smile, telling her that we'd be going to one of my aunts' houses for dinner and festivities, and she asks me, "So, what time will you be leaving, since I'll need to be going back home?"

I immediately shake my head, n-o. "Cat, you're coming with me. There's no way you're going to be alone on Christmas. Plain and simple.

While Cat showers and gets ready, I sit and talk to my parents, telling them how thankful I am for them and what they've done for Cat. They insist that everyone should have Christmas, and that Cat deserves it more than anyone. My dad spends moments slandering her dad while my mom keeps pondering on the fact why her mother didn't just take Cat with her. I stop them midway and tell them that if my plans were going to be in action, we have to leave my aunts early. My dad kind of grumbles at it, but I look at the time and then realize that after Cat's done getting ready and so am I, we have enough time to go there and get back before we go to my aunts.

"Why don't you go there and after, meet us at your Aunts?" I nod, already sprinting up the stairs to get ready.

"Beck!" Cat squeals, as I almost knock her over.

I steady her, and automatically my stomach sinks.

Wearing just a camisole and jeans, there are bruises everywhere. I thought he only got to her a few times?

Why would someone want to damage something so beautiful? Especially their own flesh and blood?

"Cat," I start to say something about her injuries, but stop myself. "We need to go do something before we go to my aunts, can you be ready in ten?"

She knows I've been eyeing her damages, immediately putting on the sweater that was in her hands on, anxiously tugging it over her skin.

"S-sorry Beck. I didn't want you to see those. I'm thinking of covering them all up in the stickers that were in my stocking!" Despite the obvious pain, this girl has such high spirits that I don't want to ruin her good day.

"Okay, well I'm going to jump into the shower and then we're going to go. Be ready in ten!"

If only she knew what the rest of the day really entailed…

_ Any guesses? I decided to make this a 2 parter, because I feel like you guys would lose interest due to how long that both together would be. Like I said, everything will tie together in the end. Cat's family life, Jade, and where things stand with Beck. I hope you guys are happy with the results! Let me know what you liked/disliked?

*iHearU