Kara never saw herself as a cook. She had tried a cooking class in school, but her french toast was a little on the burnt side. Heck, she didn't even want to take up cooking, only doing so after she was failing in other subjects and this could get her grades up.

However, right now, she was in the middle of making cookies.

It was Christmas, and Metropolis's streets were filled with snow. Waking up at 6:00AM, she had eagerly unwrapped the presents from her parents. Headphones, some new leather clothes, Summer Of Danger: The Video Game… all great stuff. She had to admit, her excitement for Christmas felt a bit 'kiddy' for her, but she didn't mind it that much. In the evening, she was going to be going down to the Super Hero Girls base for their own Christmas party. She had agreed to bring some cookies for the party, and she had already bought a gift for a certain someone…

Kara sighed as she stopped rolling the dough. "Alright, next step…" She grabbed her phone and opened up the recipe she was using. "Let's see here… preheat oven… make the dough… flatten it… Ah, cut them out!" She looked under the sink and pulled out a box of cookie cutters. Alright, which one was the least lame?

"Oh, how sweet!"

Kara yelped and jumped into the air. Grabbing the nearest 'weapon' (a rolling pin), she turned around to face the mystery person.

"Woah, calm down!"

Kara stopped as soon as she got a good look at the man. It was her dad. He was still wearing the elf costume he had gotten into that morning, much to her dismay.

"Oh, it's just you." She placed the pin down. "Aren't you and Mom at the market?"

"Oh no, only Mom left," Dad said. He looked past her. "Ooh, making cookies for your friends?"

Kara folded her arms. "Yeah. What of it?"

Dad placed hand on her shoulder. "It's nothing. It's just… I'm really happy you've made really good friends. I mean, back in Smallville, you didn't have too many and, to be honest, I think it affected you more than you let on."

Kara scoffed. "Nah."

"Whatever you say. But…" Dad sniffled, his eyes growing a little misty. "I just want you to know I'm very proud of you. So is Mom." He hugged her. Kara blinked, before awkwardly patting him on the back.

"There there, Dad." She paused. "Um, do you need…"

Dad pulled away, wiping his eyes. "No, no. It's fine." He smiled at her. "Speaking of which, did you get a present for your 'special someone'?"

Kara's eyes widened. "Yeah?" She didn't know where this was going.

Dad's smile grew into a grin. "Well, I hope she likes it. And watch out for the mistletoe!"

Kara felt her face grow red. "Dad!"

Dad just giggled. "Sorry. I'll leave you to your baking." He walked away. "Thanks for the book, by the way!"

Kara sighed, looking down at the cookie cutters. "Right. Back to business." She grabbed the Christmas tree one. She was looking forward to getting to the party. She just hoped she was doing this whole cooking thing right.

And she really hoped Babs liked her gift.

Kara walked into Sweet Justice, holding the present under her arm and the tray of cookies in her hands. She quickly sat down at the table she needed to use. She looked around. It surprisingly wasn't too packed, and all the people there were too preoccupied with their meals. Perfect. She pushed the container of straws up and down, causing the trap door beneath her to open up. As she slid down, she heard Christmas music grow louder. She had already texted them that she'd be a little late, on account of the ice and it being too busy to fly.

Soon, she landed on the mattress, to be greeted by the base lit up like… well, a Christmas tree. Lights covered the walls, there were a few Santa figurines up on the shelves, Zee's phone plugged into a speaker, currently playing 'All I Want For Christmas' (she was always more of a 'Carol Of The Bells' person), an actual Christmas tree in the corner, and other stuff. The first person who noticed her was Zee herself, who was wearing a red and green version of her usual attire. She grinned and sat up from the sofa to help her up.

"Kara, you're here!" She said. "Wondered when you'd show up."

Kara brushed herself off. "Yeah, yeah. Be glad I'm here, at least." She held up the tray. "Also, here are the cookies."

Zee's eyes lit up. "Oooh, thanks!" She grabbed one and shoved it into her mouth. After a few seconds of chewing, her eyes shot open. "Ow! Kara, why are these so hot?!" She hissed as she started to fan her tongue.

Kara awkwardly shrugged. "Yeah, I had over-preheated the oven. You should have felt them when they came out of the oven."

"Noted." Zee quickly ran over to the sofa again and quickly began drinking from the bottle of water. Kara couldn't help but laugh, hoping that Zee didn't see it and get angry with her.

"Hey, you're here!"

Kara turned around, smiling when she heard the voice. It was Babs, who was wearing a purple sweater with a yellow bat in the middle and a traditional Santa hat. Some bits of snow were in her hair and on her face, and a gold medal was wrapped around her neck.

"Good to see you," Babs said with a grin, grabbing one of the cookies off the tray. "I got here only a few minutes before you. I entered a snowball fight with Harleen as my partner. We won!" She blew on the cookie to cool it down before popping it into her mouth. "Harleen also got her tongue stuck on a pole, and we had to get her parents to help her."

Kara smirked as she placed the tray on the table. "Sounds like it was fun." A thought crossed her mind. "Wait a sec…"

Babs lifted her head up. "Yeah?"

"Did you get a gift for me?"

Babs just smiled. "Well, of course."

Kara leaned in, a smirk appearing on her face. "Do you think that you could, y'know, give it to me early?" She walked her fingers up Babs's arm, her smirk growing wider.

Babs awkwardly drew back. "Unfortunately, you have to wait. Y'know, for the main gift-giving session."

Seriously? Why did present-giving have to be scheduled? Wouldn't it be better to just get them straight away?

"Come on!" Kara said. She knew she was sounding a little whiny, but she didn't care. "Look, I'll give you your gift and-"

"No, no. We gotta wait." Babs folded her arms. "It's only fair."

Kara groaned as she flopped down onto the couch. "Fine." She grabbed a cookie off the tray and took a bite out of it.

"Hey, Kara." Kara looked up to see Jess examining the tray. "Did you remember to bake some vegan cookies?"

Kara blinked. "Huh? Oh, yeah." She moved over to the tray. "The vegan ones are labelled with your name."

Jess smirked. "That explains it." She threw one into her mouth, before washing it down with some water. Babs took a seat next to Kara, right between her and Diana, who was looking something up on her phone.

"So, how's your Christmas so far?" Babs asked Kara, resting her head on her shoulder; an action that always managed to make Kara feel flustered, yet happy.

"Oh, you know." Kara shrugged. "Pretty good, actually. Got those headphones I wanted."

"Awesome!" Babs smiled. "I got soooo many things I wanted. Like, there was this super cool gadget that I know Batman would have…"

Kara listened as Babs chattered on, going in depth about the gadget she'd gotten. Honestly, Kara didn't fully understand the ins and outs of it (she could ask Babs to explain it, but that explanation always ran the risk of leaving Kara more confused than she was before) but that didn't matter. It was interesting, and besides, seeing Babs's face light up the way it did when she talked about these things made her happy.

"And it even produces coffee!" Babs finished. "Impressive, right?"

Kara just nodded. "Totally." She looked over at Diana, who was still staring at her phone. "What're looking at, Diana?"

Diaan just looked at her, showing her the screen of her phone. "I am confused about this… Christmas. Apparently, it started when a baby was born as the son of God."

Kara raised an eyebrow. "And…"

"Then why is the red man considered the face of Christmas?" Diana asked. "Should it not be the baby?"

Kara rolled her eyes. "Diana, don't overthink it. You'll just confuse yourself more."

Diana shrugged. "Very well. I must say, Christmas is a very enjoyable time of year. In fact, my mother sent me one of my old swords after I told her of this holiday. And Julia gave me some classical pieces to play!" She smiled.

Kara smiled back. "Yep, Christmas is pretty awesome."

Babs chuckled. "That's an understatement!" She jumped onto Kara's lap. "Speaking of which, when's the gift exchange?"

Zee walked over to them. "Soon, I think. You missed out on a lot here, actually. Diana nearly yanked Karen into her when we were doing the Christmas crackers." She snapped her fingers. "Oh, that reminds me!" She produced a paper crown from her pocket and placed it on Kara's head. "This was a spare."

Kara frowned as she looked up at it. "Looks dumb."

"They have a certain charm to them," Jess mumbled.

Kara sighed. "Whatevs."

Babs suddenly pulled her up to her feet. "Come on, Kara. Don't be a sourpuss. Look, how about I show you some photos of how Christmas has gone for me so far?"

Kara shrugged. "Well, okay. Anything to pass the time until we get to the good part of this party."

Babs smiled as she pulled out her phone. "Okay, so this one is me at 6 AM, when I was debating whether or not to sneak downstairs and unwrap my presents early…"

"It's time for the present exchange!"

Kara looked up from Babs, who was currently explaining the context of her hiding in a snowman, to see Karen, who had spoken.

Kara smirked. "Finally." She stood up. "So, who's going first?"

Jess stepped up. "Me." She pulled out a present and handed it to Karen. "Here you go. Make sure not to tear it. Y'know, for recycling purposes."

Karen eagerly unwrapped it. Once she fully unwrapped it, her eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh!" She squealed. "I needed more tools to improve my suit! Thanks!" She pulled Jess into a hug.

"It was nothing," Jess responded.

The other girls followed suit. Diana gave Jess some art supplies for her protests, Karen gave Zee some 'Fragrant Forest' perfume to Zee, and Zee gave Diana some fantasy novel Kara had never heard of. All of them were happy with their presents, giving out thanks all the while. Now it was just Kara and Babs.

"You give it first," Babs said.

Kara smiled. "No, you give it first."

Babs smiled back. "You really want to get a present, don't you?"

Kara rolled her eyes. "Screw it." She grabbed the present, ignoring how badly she had wrapped it, and handed it to Babs. Babs quickly began ripping the wrapping paper off. Then, once it was fully exposed, Babs just stared. And stared. And stared. Her eyes slowly grew wide and starry as her mouth dropped open.

"The Ultimate Batman v. Joker Compilation Comic?!" Babs gasped. "I… I thought these were sold out! They're super rare and…" She placed a hand on her chest, breathing heavily. "I think I'm going into shock…"

Kara ran over to her and stopped her from falling over. "Dude, calm down. I just saw the last one in store and-"

Babs quickly pulled her into a hug. One that, if Kara wasn't a Kryptonian, probably would have been literally bone-crushing. "OhmygoshKaraIcan'tbelieveitthisisthegreatestthingI'vegotteninsolongohmygoshohmygoshOHMYGOSH!" She started jumping up and down in joy, making Kara laugh.

"Okay, okay," Kara said.

Eventually, Babs calmed down and grabbed the comic, her eyes practically shining from pure happiness. "Thank you so much!" She quickly held the comic up to her face. "I will read you every night!"

Kara walked up to her. "Cool, cool. So…"

Babs blinked. "Oh, of course!" She quickly kneeled down to pick up her bag, and she started rummaging through it. "Come on, it's in here somewhere. Gift for Harleen… printed Christmas selfie… That weird tree decoration I found in the store and thought would be cool… Aha!" She quickly shoved something into Kara's arms. "Here you go!"

Kara looked at it. Whatever it was, it was wrapped up in purple and yellow paper and was adorned with a neat yellow bow. It was large enough, as well.

"What is it?" She asked.

Babs just giggled. "Open it and see!"

Kara didn't need to be told twice. She quickly ripped it open, throwing the paper over her shoulder. Soon enough, she saw what it was. It was a guitar. A rather… unique guitar, to put it into words. It was dark blue, with maroon stripes decorating it. There were several buttons on the front and, turning it over, more on the back. There was also a small port on the neck.

Kara smiled widely. "Woah, this is great!" Then her brow furrowed. "But, what's with these buttons and stuff?"

"Oh, that?" Babs pressed one, then strummed a chord. "You use it to change the sound. So, whatever you're looking for… there should be a button! And this little black and white one…" She pressed it, causing the port to open up for a folded up piece of paper to slide out, with it being on a little 'stand' of sorts. A few small metal poles pulled the paper open, revealing it to be… sheet music? Wait… For the song 'Hellraisers'?

"Press that button, and you'll get a song to play! You know, if you forget one at any point while playing."

"Wow!" Kara stared at it. She'd never seen one like this before. "Babs, I love it, but this is too much. It must have cost you a fortune!"

"Well…" Babs looked down, her cheeks turning pink. "Funny story, actually!"

Kara groaned. "Please don't tell me you stole it. Jessica will have a panic attack and make you return it and don't say she won't find out because you know she will -"

"No, no!" Babs furrowed her brow. "Superheroes don't steal."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Anyway…" Babs tapped her feet on the floor. "Thing is… I kinda… made it myself."

Kara's mouth dropped open. "You… you what?"

"I made it!" She was talking faster now. "It kind of took me a while, but I knew what I was going for, and it went pretty well actually, except for the part when I dropped it and thought it would break into a million pieces -"

"Babs." Kara couldn't take her eyes off the guitar. All she could think of was Babs, working away on this for weeks like one of Santa's elves or something, knowing that it was exactly what Kara would want. She tried to think of any other time someone had done something like that for her, but she was coming up short. This was one of a kind, just like the guitar. "This is… I mean… It's just…" She couldn't come up with a proper sentence, and just kind of stuttered and mumbled.

Babs chuckled. "Lemme guess. You love it?"

Kara scratched the back of her head. "Well, I… Totally and… Also-"

Babs just hugged her. "I love you too."

Kara smiled. "It really is one of a kind. Just like the girl who made it."

Colour rushed to Babs's cheeks, making her look cuter than Kara previously thought possible. "Thanks." Suddenly, she looked to her right, and her face lit up even brighter. She quickly grabbed Kara by the arm and dragged her over to a corner of the room.

"Babs, what the heck are you doing?" Kara asked, placing her guitar on a nearby beanbag. Babs didn't say anything. She just cocked an eyebrow, smirked, and pointed upwards. Kara looked up, her eyes widening when she spotted it.

"Huh. Mistletoe."

Babs just pulled her town by the collar to her level. "You know the tradition, right?"

Kara smirked back. "Of course." She didn't hesitate to plant one on Babs's lips. She backed up against the wall as Babs jumped up and wrapped her legs around her to hang onto her and keep the kiss going.

"Hey," Zee said. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to just kiss, not full on make out. Not stopping you though, just pointing it out."

Kara didn't pay her any attention. All she could think about (well, besides how good a kisser Babs was) was how this was one of the best Christmases she'd ever had.

Silver The Archer: That's all on the Kabs front for this year, but there'll be plenty more in 2022! MOF and I have loads of ideas for which we'll publish (while keeping on top of our own respective works too), so keep an eye out. Until then, happy holidays to you and yours and hope you all enjoyed the chapters so far!

ManOFiction245: Pretty much what my co-author said. Really hope you're looking forward to whatever's coming next for this compilation, and also hope you enjoyed this collection. However, I believe I have an early holiday present. What is it? Check my story list by the time you read this. There will be a surprise, I promise…