The Twelfth Day of Christmas

Theme: Christmas Morning

Title: The Best Christmas Ever

"You know," Jake began, "it's not too late to go back to the Huntsclan and spend Christmas there."

"Oh come on, Jake," Rose rolled her eyes. "Christmas here can't be that bad. I've already been here for the whole day and it's been a blast!" She continued. "We went to the mall, listened to some animals singing Jingle Bells,-"

"Barnyard Jingle Bells," Jake cut in rolling his eyes.

"And I got to watch you burn gingerbread men," she ignored his interruption and gave him a mocking look.

"Hey!" He shouted back defensively. "Haley distracted me!"

"Mmmhmm," Rose crossed her arms and smiled victoriously. "Besides, I like your family! I think they are sweet," she smiled sincerely. "I'd much rather spend Christmas here with you then with the Huntsman, who by the way doesn't even acknowledge Christmas."

"If you insist," Jake sighed. "But don't blame me if you leave this house thinking that my family is completely nuts."

"Whatever," Rose rolled her eyes.

"I think dinner's almost ready," Jake changed the subject and peeked into the kitchen. "Dad?"

"Ah, Jake!" Jonathan walked toward the two teens with a smile. "There you are, son!" He patted Jake on the back. "Rose," he nodded his head toward the young girl in acknowledgement.

"Hi Mr. Long," she smiled back.

"I'm glad you kids came in here," he turned around and grabbed a small package off of the table.

"This is for you, Rose," he held it out for her. "We were going to give it to you tomorrow, but we just couldn't wait any longer."

"Mr. Long, you didn't have to-"

"Well go ahead!" Jonathan interrupted her. "Open it!"

Rose hesitated before she ripped open the package.

"Isn't that awesome!" Jonathan exclaimed as she finished unwrapping the present. "Now you have one too! Kind of a "welcome to the family kind of" kind of thing. Kind of."

Rose pulled out a reindeer sweater identical to the one's Jake's family was wearing.

"Oh," she held it up to examine it. "It's great! Thank you so much!" She ignored the sound of Jake laughing in the background. "In fact, I'll go put it on right now," she turned to walk out of the kitchen and up to the guest bedroom she was staying in.

She came back down into the living room wearing her new sweater a few minutes later. Jake was sitting on the couch watching a football game, and the rest of his family was nowhere in sight.

He turned around to observe her new outfit. "Nice," Jake chuckled sarcastically. "See what happens when you stay with me for Christmas?"

"Oh stop!" She sat down next to him and slapped his arm playfully. "I personally think it's cute and festive. It almost makes me feel like I'm part of a real family," she added softly.

"Well," Jake softened his expression a bit, "I will admit that it looks a hell of a lot better on you than it does on me. I bet you could make the most hideous thing ever look stunning."

Rose blushed. "I bet I couldn't…"

"Kids, time for dinner!" Jonathan shouted at them from the kitchen before Jake had a chance to reply.

"Come on," Jake helped her off of the couch. "The food should be good…minus my gingerbread men cookies."

Rose giggled as he led her to the kitchen.

He had been right. The food was amazing. Especially all of the desserts. As it turned out, Haley's apple dumplings were delicious, not at all like the raw French toast Jake had accidentally eaten earlier. In the end, Rose was the only one that ate Jake's cookies. After all, he had been nice enough to invite her over to his house for the holidays. The least she could do was pretend that his cooking skills weren't that bad.

After dinner, the five of them migrated to the living room in order to watch their annual Christmas Eve movie, and then they all headed off to bed.

"Night kiddos!" Jonathan shouted towards the three. "Better get to sleep because Santa's coming," he winked and walked toward his own bedroom.

"Night Jake! Night Rose!" Haley called to the two as she closed the door to her room.

"Night," Jake gave Rose a quick peck on the cheek and turned to head toward his bedroom.

"Night Jake," she smiled and touched her cheek where he had kissed her. This was definitely going to be the best Christmas she'd ever had.

XX

Jake had only been in bed for about ten minutes before he heard his door open and someone step inside.

He shot up in bed to see who had entered his room.

"Rose?" He whispered.

"Hey," she responded quietly and plopped down on his bed. "Is Santa Clause real?" She asked curiously as she wrapped her arms around her legs.

Jake laughed as he moved a little to get a better look at her.

"Yes, actually," he smiled slightly amused, "he is real. You woke me up just to ask me that?"

"You weren't really asleep where you?" She eyed him curiously.

"No," Jake hesitated. "But I still don't understand where this is coming from."

"Meh," she shrugged and looked down. "Just curious. If magical creatures are real, why not Santa?"

Jake smiled back wordlessly.

"So then," Rose continued as she looked back up at her boyfriend, "why doesn't he deliver the presents?"

"Well," Jake began not really knowing how to answer, "he exists, but that doesn't mean that he isn't a lazy pile."

Rose giggled.

"Besides," he continued, "if people knew that Santa was real then they would know that magic exists."

"I guess that's a pretty good explanation," Rose nodded.

"Now," he looked her in the eye, "you better go back to bed now. If you fall asleep here and my parents find you in here with me in the morning, it ain't gonna be pretty," he smiled playfully.

Rose laughed again. "You're right," she climbed off of his bed and walked toward the door. "Night Jake," she called back to him.

"Goodnight Rose," he smiled back and drifted off to sleep.

XX

The next thing he knew, Jake was being awakened by someone hitting him over the head with a pillow. He groaned and buried his face into the pillow. Since he had been up late the previous night, he was still extremely tired, and he did not feel like getting up.

"Wake up, Jake!" A voice Jake recognized as Rose's rang in his ear. "It's Christmas!"

"What time is it?" Jake managed to ask but kept his eyes shut.

"7:00 am sharp," Rose beamed. By the sound of her voice, Jake realized that she hadn't seemed this happy in a very long time. "And," she continued as she started to shake him, "there's no time to waste! Christmas is here."

Jake finally opened his eyes, and when he saw the bright smile on Rose's face and the sparkle in her eye, he couldn't help but do what she told him to.

He groaned and rolled out of bed rubbing his eyes.

"Come on!" Rose giggled as she grabbed his arm and dragged him out into the hallway and down the stairs where Jake's family was waiting.

"There you are, Jakers!" His father grinned happily. "Merry Christmas, kiddo!"

Jake plopped down sleepily on the couch as Haley began to open her presents.

The five sat in the living room for the next half hour or so opening up presents from each other and Santa. Jake's parents had been kind enough to give Rose a few presents as well, and she also received a present from Jake and one from Haley. As the morning progressed on, Jake woke up a little more and got into the Christmas spirit. Who, after all, could be so crabby on Christmas day?

After they had finished opening presents, they proceeded into the kitchen to make a Christmas breakfast.

Jake, Rose, Haley and Jonathan sat at the kitchen table while Susan ran around looking for all of the ingredients she needed.

She set the syrup and butter down on the middle of the table as well as plates, forks and knives.

"Would someone mind pouring the drinks?" Susan turned to ask her husband and children.

"I got it," Jake hopped up and walked over to the fridge. He took out the milk and the juice and set it on the table, and then he proceeded to make the coffee.

"Hmm," Susan peered into the refrigerator, "that's funny. I'm missing a French toast stick," she observed the pan as Jake shot Rose and Haley a pleading look. "I could have sworn I filled this pan full."

"Jake ate it," Haley replied simply.

"Mom!" Jake shot his hands up in defense. "Haley tricked me into eating it!"

"Did not," Haley shot back.

"Did too,"

"Jake," Susan shook her head and laughed, "I have no idea how you managed to do that, but I hope that you aren't sick."

Jake shrugged. "I feel fine."

"Well," Susan started, "just don't eat anything else raw, okay?"

Jake nodded in agreement, and the family sat down to eat their breakfast.

"Now what?" Jake asked as they finished cleaning up the mess.

"I dunno," Jonathan shrugged. "How about we all migrate back to the living room and play a Christmas game or something?" He suggested. "Oh! I know! We could play a game while listening to Barnyard Jingle Bells! Perfect!" He ranted excitedly and walked toward the living room.

The rest of the family followed him as they sat down on the couch.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Haley said as she ran up the stairs.

"I'll go get the game," Jonathan smiled and followed his daughter.

"Yeah," Susan looked back into the kitchen, "I'll be right back. I'm going to go make some tea. Would you two like some?"

"Sure," Jake replied, and Rose nodded along with him.

Susan turned back and headed into the kitchen leaving Jake and Rose alone on the living room couch.

"Jake," Rose turned to him as soon as Susan was out of sight.

"Yeah?" He flung his arm around her shoulder.

"I just want to say that this is the best Christmas I've ever had," she smiled happily. In fact, Jake rarely saw her this happy. It was nice to see that beautiful glint in her eyes.

"I agree," he nodded back with a smile. "This has definitely been a good Christmas so far," he added. "And it's even better that I get to spend it with you," he whispered softly.

"I hope we have more in the future," Rose tried not to blush, but she felt the heat rise instantly to her cheeks.

"We will," he promised. "And by the way," he started seriously, "we've been sitting under the mistletoe for a few minutes now, and it concerns me that you haven't kissed me yet."

Rose looked up, and sure enough, they were seated directly beneath the mistletoe.

"Well maybe," she grinned flirtatiously, "I was waiting for YOU to kiss ME."

"Whatever," Jake muttered as he leaned in to give her a kiss on the lips.

"Merry Christmas, Rose," he smiled and looked her deep in the eye.

"Merry Christmas, Jake," she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his shoulder.

This was definitely the best Christmas ever.

XX

Merry Christmas Everyone! :D Hope it is absolutely amazing and happy! I do love the Christmas spirit…

Well, this has certainly been a fun little project! Perfect for a short little Christmas fic! I had a fun time writing all of these and dragging Noble6 into it with me. HAHA! Ohh the things I drag her into…Well I hope she enjoyed writing these as well!

And of course I would like to thank all of my reviewers! Noble6, Major Simi, Luiz4200, and anonymous reviewers! Your support through all of this was fantastic. And thanks to everyone who read too. Hope you all enjoyed!

Once again, Merry Christmas!

~ada