a/n: The slow burrrnnnn

Christmastime came faster than Leah had expected.

She had procrastinated her gift shopping until the week before Christmas and had shamefully forgotten until Quil started asking her what size "sweater" she was. Her Christmas this year was going to look a hell of a lot different than her Christmas last year.

Last year she bought exactly three gifts. One for her mother, one for Seth and one for Sam. Sam had only wanted one thing and she was happy to oblige him. And yet when they woke up well after the rest of the world on Christmas morning (more like Christmas afternoon) and he opened up the box with his new fishing pole, he hugged her tight like she'd given him a winning lottery ticket and forced her to take pictures for Jacob.

This year she was getting more than three gifts. The roommates had decided on exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve, which also happened to be Jacob's birthday. He didn't want to make it a big deal because he claimed he didn't want to be reminded that he was "26 and still living with roommates" but if Quil had anything to say about it, they were making it a big deal.

"Jake's dumb, this is a big deal!" he scoffed, crunching down on a candy cane. "Every year he tried to play off his birthday and every year I won't let him."

"And every year he finds out your plan and foils it," Embry laughed.

Quil waved his hand. "Whatever. Not this year okay. This year, he won't expect it. This year it's gonna be bigger and better."

"What do you have planned?" Seth questioned.

"I have no idea," Quil groaned, flopping back on to the couch and wincing when Beast came over to lick his face. "Maybe we'll get him a puppy?"

"What if you do something he won't expect," Leah suggested, ignoring Quil's suggestion.

Quil scratched the top of the dog's head and raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"Meaning, if he wants something calm and quiet, we give him that. Just get him an extraordinary gift."

Embry shook his head. "I don't know Lee. Jake has a bizarre knack for gift giving. Like really good."

"Yeah one year he got sick of hearing me complain about my mattress and he got me a new bed. Who gets someone a bed?!" Quil grumbled.

"One year he gave my parents a 4 night cruise for their anniversary. I got them a new crockpot," Embry chuckled.

Leah knew that Jacob could be kind behind his tough exterior but hearing that he was even a good gift giver meant that they needed to come up with something good. "Guys, this just means we need to one up him."

They heard the stairs creak and Jacob came jogging down them, his eyes suspiciously focused on his roommates.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Nothing," they said in unison.

Jacob rolled his eyes and squeezed his way into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. "Quil, you better not be trying to plan another surprise birthday party this year," he warned.

"Never," Quil crossed his heart with a wink. "Just talking about our gift exchange."

"Speaking of," Leah spoke, wanting to change the subject. "What do you guys typically do every year? Just give each other gifts?"

Quil sat up with a smirk. "Glad you asked young padawan. Every year we let someone pick their favorite Christmas movie and we order out and exchange gifts. Normally we try and celebrate Jake-"

"-don't you dare," Jacob cut him off.

"But! Since Jake is a scrooge, it's yours and Seth's first year with us, you guys get to pick."

She looked at her brother and knew immediately what their movie would be.

"Definitely It's A Wonderful Life," Seth answered with a nod. It was their father's favorite movie and they watched it every year on Christmas Eve. Leah hated most old movies but it was the memories attached to being a little girl, sitting on her dad's lap and listening to him recite the lines of the movie as if he was George Bailey himself.

"Perfect!" Quil clapped. "It will be a Christmas for the books. Now, if you will excuse me, I have more shopping to do."

"Mind if I tag along?" Embry asked.

"Same, I need to grab one more thing," Jacob spoke.

Quil nodded his head. "The more the merrier. Clearwaters, you trying to pile in?"

"Cant," Seth said. "We have family dinner."

"Oh well, kiss your mom for me," Quil winked, earning a punch in the arm from Seth. "Ow! On the cheek, Jesus!"

Leah unbuckled her seatbelt as they pulled up in front of their mother's house and noticed that Charlie's truck was there as well.

"Hey, did you get a gift for Charlie?"

"No," Seth shrugged. "I mean I didn't think he'd be spending Christmas with us."

"Yeah me neither," she said. "But I mean have you noticed that he has been to every sunday dinner since like May?"

Seth looked at the house nervously and bobbed his head. "Yeah. Now that you mention it the only time I remember him not being here was that one time he had to work… do you think we should get him something?"

Leah didn't have an answer. Charlie was around more, sure, and he had, in a very bizarre way, made himself a part of their family but he wasn't really family, was he?

"I mean Mom wont call him her boyfriend. I tried to get her to last week and she nearly smacked me."

"Yeah," Seth nodded. "He's just her… whatever."

They both shivered in disgust. "Either way, it's not weird if we don't get him a gift, right?"

"No?" Seth shook his head. "No. It's not weird. It's not like he'll get us gifts."

They sat in the car for a few more moments of silence, staring at the house.

"A car wouldn't hurt," Leah finally spoke.

"Yeah and like a tie?" Seth added.

"Yeah. Nothing big. Chill present," she agreed. She went to open the door but felt Seth stop her with his hand. "What is it?"

"Are you okay?"

She scoffed. "Yeah Seth, I'm fine."

"No I mean… it's Christmas. I know that the Christmas after Dad died, we were all a wreck so I just wanna make sure you're okay."

Oh.

Of course Sam had crossed her mind in the last few weeks when she'd decided not to call Emily but she hadn't bothered to check to make sure that she was okay. Maybe it was because she was so busy getting ready for Christmas and she'd forgotten or maybe what really happened is that she wanted to not think about Sam right now. She was trying to move on and that was going to be impossible if she thought about him every day.

"I'm okay Seth."

"Leah," he frowned. He didn't believe her. Hell, if she were him she wouldn't believe her either based off of the rollercoaster of a year she'd had. "You don't always have to be so tough ya know?"

"I know. But I promise, I'm okay. Now let's go inside so I can stuff my face with chili."

Seth nodded and finally unbuckled himself from his seatbelt.