It would be Christmas soon in a couple of days. The college had given us a two week winter break for the holidays and then it's back to work overload.

Oh, joy to the world. But not to me.

I've finished my Christmas shopping for my family and friends. Friends was easy, but family, was a nightmare.

Jackie had a list of what she wanted. Pony was still on there ever since she was three. And John Travolta ever since her hormones. My family was impossible to buy for. My mother, especially, because nothing could ever make her happy. But if she was drunk, she'd be happy with pretty much anything you'd get.

I thought I was done, but I wondered if I should get anything for Laurie.

We didn't have the best friendship, but we learned to tolerate each other. That was better than nothing. Despite everything we went through, she still meant a lot to me.

And...I guess I have a soft spot for her.

That's something I would never admit to anyone.

So that led me to wonder if I should buy her a Christmas present. Nothing too big. Just a little something. Whatever that something was. I've spent most of the time driving myself crazy over what I can give her.

The only person I talked to about it was my sister, Jackie. I could never open up about it to my mother. So I went to Jackie's pink bedroom and softly knocked on the door that was wide open.

"Hey, Jacks, can you help me out with something?" I asked walking into her room. "I need to get a gift for a girl-"

"Oh my god, Robbie, you have a girlfriend?!" Jackie squealed excitedly. Then she slapped me on my shoulder in annoyance. "Why didn't you tell me anything about her?!"

"I don't have a girlfriend, Jackie!"

Her smile fell and was confused. "Then who's the girl?"

"Just some..." I thought up of a lie quick. "Girl I met at college."

"Do you even her know her name?" She rolled her eyes, fishing for more details, but I tried not to give her a lot.

"Tammy." I randomly blurted.

"So what kind of gift do you want get Tammy?" She sang in a teasing voice.

"Something small. Not too expensive, alright? Just to let her know..." What did I want Laurie to get out of this gift? Just a simple gift that meant nothing? Or was there something more to it? But it's not like I wanted to date her. "I was thinking of her."

"Awww, that's so sweet, Robbie, but you cannot buy something cheap for Tammy. We are Burkharts. We are not cheap." Jackie reminded me. Something our mother always said to us.

"I know, but I just don't want her to get the wrong message about us. We're still...friends." Could I even call Laurie a friend? Maybe...

"Hmmm..." Jackie looked like she was thinking hard about it. "Well, maybe a Christmas card will do, but they're just always so cheesy," Then she beamed in excitement. "Think of something that she likes that's simple and affordable. It can be a favorite of hers."

I thought about what Laurie likes that'll be small. I really like Jackie's idea. "Sounds good. Thanks, Jacks."

"No problem. So the Formans are going to have a Christmas Eve Party and Eric will too in the basement. It sounds lame and boring, but do you want to go?" Jackie offered.

I thought about just dropping off the gift to Laurie, but that worked out perfectly. I had nothing else to do. Plus since Jackie was over, I didn't want her to see who I was giving the gift to. So I somehow have to be sneaky about that.

"Sure."

"But first I need to finish making the gift baskets with my friends for the less fortunate." Jackie always did that every year with them. It was one of the nicest things she ever did.

"Don't you mean for the misfortunate?" I was unsure of the correct term.

"No, Donna told me it was the less fortunate. I think," She second guessed herself then shook her head as if it didn't matter. "Anyway, I'll ask Michael if he could drive us around."

As much as I didn't want them to date, I couldn't picture Kelso doing that.

"If he doesn't want to, just come to me. I'll drive you." I assured her.

Her eyes lit up hopefully. "Really? Then maybe you can drive us. When we're done, we can stop by at Eric's for the party. So everything is perfect!" She smiled at her plan.

The next day I went shopping and it reminded me why I hate it. Other than family gatherings. The stores was packed and it was like going through a stampede.

I'm just happy that I got Laurie a present. Hopefully she will like it. The Eagles band released their new record and I know that's one of her favorite bands. My friend, Kevin, who worked at the WFPP Radio Station as a DJ said that he probably could have the record autographed by the band because the host, Jerry Thunder, was going to interview The Eagles. Since they could promote their newest album and tour. I'd give the record to Kevin so he would have all the band members autograph it. Right after that work day was over, he gave the record back to me with all of the Eagle member's signatures. I was in awe that he actually made it happen.

Laurie would love that, won't she?

If I would give Laurie's present now before taking Jackie to the party, she wouldn't suspect a thing. That would give us some privacy.

On Christmas Eve, I told my parents that I'd be out and drove to the Formans. I spotted Laurie who was inside the kitchen and caught her pouring a whole bottle of rum in the fruit punch. She was obviously up to something...devilish. The way she looked was so evil like Krampus.

"And what do you think you're doing?" I asked in amusement with my arms crossed, entering the kitchen. I surprised her making her jump a little at my voice. Laurie turned around and sees me, smirking. "Only naughty girls get coal for Christmas."

"But if I'm a naughty girl, shouldn't I get spanked?" Laurie asked innocently. Her eyes was almost daring me to do it.

Before I could make some smart aleck comeback, Laurie's mother, Kitty, and Laurie's grandmother entered the kitchen carrying Christmas party supplies.

"Kitty, if only you have more money, you can be able to afford better holiday decorations." Laurie's grandmother advised offhandedly. Well, she wasn't wrong.

"Red and I do work, Bernice." Kitty pointed out.

"Oh, yes. My poor Red is slaving away on Christmas Eve while you're preparing parties," She tsked in disapproval while shaking her head. Laurie's grandmother looked at me and clearly didn't know who I was. "Who the hell are you?"

"This is Laurie's...uh..." Kitty looked at her daughter not knowing what to refer to me as. The memory was still fresh in my poor mind when she walked in on Laurie and I having sex. It was still hard to look at Kitty right in the eyes to this day. Thank God she said nothing to Red. He'd kill me.

"Rob Burkhart is my friend, Grandma." Laurie friendly introduced to her.

At least I was a friend to her. That was a good start.

"Oooh, a Burkhart," She immediately became interested to me, her eyes beaming. "You come from a lot of money, don't you?"

"Uh, yeah." I nodded.

"Laurie, don't you have good taste in men?" Bernice proudly smiled at her and then sighed. "If only your father went after wealthy women."

Kitty scowled after her as the old, bitter woman left for the living room. She unwillingly followed her.

Once they were out of earshot, I told Laurie. "Your grandmother seems...nice." Honestly, I didn't know how to describe her.

"Oh, please," Laurie scoffed, rolling her eyes. She was able to see through my lie. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to give you your Christmas gift." I handed her the present. Only Jackie was skilled with the gift wrapping. "It's just a little something. Nothing special."

She looked at the bag then at me with a raised eyebrow. "A gift? Rob, you really didn't have to."

Laurie looked like she was contemplating if she should open it and I hoped she would. She stared at the bag for a while then retrieved it out of my hand. Her hands unwrapped her gift seeing it was the new Eagles record with a Christmas card. The record made her jaw drop in amazement.

"Wow, Rob. You seriously got me the Hotel California album? With their autographs? How did you managed to do that?" I've actually impressed Laurie.

"A friend of mine is a DJ at the radio station and worked things out," I bragged like it was no big deal I got connections. "If you open it, you can see that Anton LaVey is on the inside cover."

I pointed the Satanist out who stood in between the arches of the hotel. You could barely see his dark figure. The Eagles and other people were down below.

"Anton who?" She asked cluelessly, not knowing who I was talking about.

"No one important..." I mumbled and closed the record.

"You didn't have to do this." Her voice was soft and gentle. It's been a long time since she spoke that way to me.

"But I want to. It's Christmas and you should get something."

"Why?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I want to improve our...friendship and I was just thinking of you," I chose my words carefully. Boy, that was hard. "I just know you love the band. Anybody could've given you this. Means nothing-" Dammit. Poor choice of words.

Her blue eyes flashed daggers at me and narrowed to slits. "You're right. It does mean nothing to me."

"I didn't mean that-" I tried to quickly correct myself, but she cut me off.

"What do you mean? You want to improve us or this stupid record means nothing? Which is it?" She demanded and it was way too many questions for me.

Thank God when Kitty came into the kitchen again. She put her oven mitts on to take the cookies out of the oven and set the pan on the stove. Kitty carefully placed them onto a Christmas themed plate.

"Laurie, can you help me take the punch to the basement while I bring the cookies?" Kitty asked her.

"Sure, Mom." Laurie muttered.

"Are you going to stay here?" Her mother looked at me. I could tell she was secretly hoping I'd go.

"No, Mom, he's just leaving. Isn't that right, Rob?" Laurie patronized me.

"Yeah," I nodded. Obviously I wasn't wanted here. "Yeah, I'll go."

Jackie's friends was in the kitchen and gathered their gift baskets for the unfortunate. Her friends ogled at me and I heard their whispers and giggling at how hot and handsome I was. I liked the attention. They thought I was a celebrity because I'm a college guy. But they annoyed Jackie and she loudly announced that we had to go.

After dropping the gift baskets off, we went to Eric's. Jackie went downstairs to the basement, but I stopped her quickly to warn her about any alcohol.

"Don't drink the fruit punch, Jackie."

She raised a confused eyebrow at me. "Why? It's just punch."

"Yeah, but Laurie spiked it with rum. I saw her do it."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Typical the slut would do it..."

I got a bit offended when Jackie called her that, but didn't lash out at her in Laurie's defense. That would look suspicious. She didn't know my feelings for Laurie. I could probably trust Jackie with anything, but not totally sure about this. Neither of them were big fans of each other's.

"Wait a minute, how do you know Laurie spiked the punch?" Jackie asked skeptically.

"I told you. I saw her do it."

"But when?" She crossed her arms, giving me a look that she wanted more details.

"Uh...sometime today." I answered casually so Jackie wouldn't suspect a thing. But I should know my sister better.

Then it was like realization have dawned on her. "You left earlier today, didn't you? And then you went here and-"

"Okay, okay, just go downstairs with your little friends, alright?" I nervously laughed it off as I guided her down the stairs. Jackie glared at me being annoyed while she went down.

The adult's party was upstairs and I found Laurie, her mother, grandmother, and Donna's mother at the piano singing Mele Kalikimaka by Bing Crosby. That made me almost laugh aloud when I saw her singing with them and her grandmother was playing the piano. After they were done with the song, Laurie turned around and saw me. She was surprised just like I expected she would be and angrily marched up to me.

"You're here? Why?" Laurie scowled.

"It's Christmas Eve and I dropped Jackie off for Eric's party," I explained. "And I want to apologize for what I said to you earlier. The gift didn't mean nothing to me, Laurie. I really meant by us improving our relationship. Let us be friends again, okay?"

Laurie was considering my words. I hope her response would be a good one and not shut me out. Again. It may have been my fault for the first time we split up and I didn't want to make another mistake.

We could've had something and kept it up if I didn't screw everything we had.

"Come upstairs to my bedroom with me, okay?" She asked pleasantly and oddly sweet. I followed her being unsure and cautious of what she had up her sleeve.

We went into her bedroom, and as soon as Laurie closed the door, she attacked me with her lips. It caught me off guard, but I definitely don't mind. I tried not to think too much about why this was happening. Didn't want to take this moment for granted. Why not savor it?

Before I knew it, Laurie moved us down to her bed while we heatedly made out. She was on top of me and I already knew how much she likes to be in control. Always the dominant one.

Laurie started to take my clothing off, but I didn't want us to take it that far. And, besides, it's Christmas. There were two parties with people below us. Her mother, Kitty, hates me enough as it was.

I grabbed hold of Laurie's shoulders to stop her from stripping me of my clothes.

"Laurie," I panted from the intense make out. "We have to stop," It pained me to see the look on her face. How sad and rejected she was. "It's Christmas and there's a lot of people downstairs and-"

"So?" Laurie asked rudely and made a face to me. She started kissing my neck and resumed to take my clothes off.

Her succubus like powers were too strong for me to resist making me cave in. After we finished, I put my clothing back on. Laurie was already dressed and she was reapplying her make up.

I couldn't believe I just had sex with Laurie Forman. I didn't believe that would ever happen again in, like, a million years. It did confuse me what this meant for us. If it changed anything or...not.

"So, uh...about what happened-" I began.

"You don't have to thank me for it, Rob." Laurie smirked, turning her head to me then to the mirror so she can put her red lipstick on.

"I mean...what does this mean for us?" I wondered, getting off her bed.

"Nothing," She replied simply, turning around to me. "You gave me a Christmas present, so I decided to repay you. Give you a holiday special."

"We're not like...dating or whatever-"

"What?" She laughed as if that idea was ridiculous. "Of course not! I still hate you."

I felt like I should appreciate what Laurie did, but I also felt...used.

We went downstairs, but stopped in our tracks when the state troopers was here. Laurie's father, Red, was talking to one of them.

"Sir, we believe your vehicle was involved in the unlawful removal of state property."

"What?" He was obviously shocked and so was everyone else.

"We're gonna have to confiscate that tree." The cop pointed at it.

"The tree?" Kitty was mortified and went to her perfectly decorated tree. "No, I mean, it's all done. I mean, look at it. No!" She guarded it away from them with her arms to protect it.

I looked at Laurie, but she was taking it all in with pleasure.

"Who got the tree?" I asked her.

"Oh, the little drummer boy and his two elves." She made an evil smirk.

It didn't make any sense to me.

"I don't think the drummer boy has any elves," She gave me look, but it was a long time ago since I saw that movie. Then it dawned on me that she meant Eric and a couple of his friends.

"Why would he steal? Didn't he have money?"

"Eric wanted to have a cool little party like a big shot," Laurie clarified. "He used the money Dad gave him to buy the tree, but blew it on beer instead."

That would've made me laugh if it wasn't so serious that the state troopers had to show up and confiscate it.

Red had to shut down the party so Kitty could give up the tree. She really didn't want to and was very upset. When Kitty was upset, Red got upset. Laurie, her family, and the Pinciottis helped her take the decorations down so the state troopers could confiscate it.

"I'm gonna check on Jackie." I informed Laurie and she acted as if she didn't hear me while removing the decorations.

"Whatever. Like I care." She grumbled.

Back to the same old Laurie.

I sighed and went to the basement anyway. Red said he was going to have all of them go home, too. When I got there, everybody had a beer can in hand. The fruit punch bowl was still full which was good so I figured Jackie warned to the guys about it being spiked.

"Robbie, what took you so long to get down here?" Jackie asked.

"I was, uh, just talking to the adults," I lied casually then put a hand on her shoulder in warning. "Listen, we should leave, like, now."

"Why?" Her and even her friends were confused because of how urgent I was.

"Well, state troopers showed up here and took away the tree. Red's pissed."

"What?" Eric asked in shock and his face had paled because he'll be dead soon. He was sitting next to Donna on the couch.

"Eric," Red called his name as he walked downstairs. The guys tried to hide their beers. "Before you explain the beer, maybe you can tell me why there are two state troopers in the living room confiscating our Christmas tree?"

Eric stood up and was jittery in front of Red, but tried to act cool about it. He really wasn't much of a great actor.

"That...funny story and a true story. You're gonna laugh-"

"Get to the point." Red was losing patience.

"We cut the tree off the side of the interstate."

He angrily sighed. "That's just great, Eric. Now the party's over, you're grounded, and I want what's left of my forty bucks."

"Kelso, give it to him." Eric ordered.

Jackie's boyfriend walked up behind Red who groaned. I knew how he felt. Kelso was never to be trusted with money. I didn't expect Kelso to get anything grand for my sister.

"Oh, no..."

"Yeah, I sort of spent it on Jackie's gift." Kelso sheepishly confessed.

"Oh, Michael, you got a gift for me?!" Jackie happily squealed. "Oh, you shouldn't have! What did you get me?" She was bubbling with excitement.

"Yeah, Elmo, what did you get her?" This should be good.

Kelso grabbed a brown paper bag off of the washing machine and pulled out a box of...hot rollers.

You've got to be kidding me...

Why not just get her a shower cap while he's at it?

Kelso handed the gift to Jackie and she was pissed. He might as well gave her socks.

"You give me...hot rollers, Michael?!" Jackie asked angrily. She swatted the box at Kelso making him flinch.

"It comes with steam." He replied gingerly as if to placate her of the disappointment with the gift.

She ferociously growled and threw the box at him having it land on the floor.

"Nice going, Dumbo." I chuckled at how he failed.

Red glared at Kelso and then at his son. "Robert, take your sister home and the pep squad sisters," He ordered. "Eric, clean this place up and the rest of the beer goes in my fridge; Donna, your Dad's upstairs, I suggest you join him; Kelso, go home."

Red went back upstairs while everyone started to leave.

"Jackie, about the gift-" Kelso tried to explain, but she wouldn't hear any of it.

"Oh, forget it, Michael! You obviously don't care!" She angrily huffed and stormed out of the basement with her friends.

I clapped Kelso on his shoulder with a grin at his misery. "Feel free to break up with my sister any time you like."

Then I left with Jackie to take her friends home.