For those on the East Coast, sorry this is a little late... I got a little distracted.

Oh, but sorry this day is a little shorter than the others.

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers... if I did, Merrick and Alyssa would've gotten together for sure!-

Merrick taped the letter he'd written and put in an envelope onto the front of the Roadhouse addressed with; To: Special Friend.

"Now….. to wait." He sighed, sitting by the pool table and started tapping his fingers softly.

The door suddenly opened, revealing Alyssa as she slowly walked into the Roadhouse, holding the letter.

"What'd you do this for?" She questioned as she got up to him.

"I figured it'd only be right to give a letter to whoever's doing the Twelve Days of Christmas for me… I know it's not much… but I figured I should give it to them…"

"Her."

Merrick blinked, "Come again?"

"Well… I… I'm just… assuming it's a girl… it must be a her." She let out slowly, "But… either way… why would you wanna write her a letter?"

"I don't think I can get her anything special for Christmas… or do anything for her… especially since I don't know her." He sighed, leaning back, "Maybe it's fate that I never will."

"Don't say that." Alyssa reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, but froze midway, "I'm sure she wants to tell you… maybe she's too shy?"

"Well… it's only day four anyway." Merrick relented, "I've still got eight days to figure it out…"

"That's the spirit." She nodded.

Merrick smiled softly before he reached out and put a hand atop hers…

Right as Deeg came barreling to the front, holding a box of chocolates Merrick had bought just after sunrise that morning after playing for the DeerZord.

"Oh… I wanted to give you something…" He took the box from his pup and held it out, "Willie had told me about it about a week ago… it's an Advent Calendar… filled with different chocolates for each day."

"Thank you." Alyssa accepted it kindly, "Why give it now, though?"

"Well…. I just…. I wanted to do something nice for you since you're always doing nice things for everyone." Merrick relented simply.

"Well… thank you, Merrick." Alyssa smiled, then slowly stood up, "Do you want me to put this back up for her?"

"You're welcome… and yes, please."

Alyssa smiled and nodded before she patted Deeg's head and walked out.

Though, instead of putting the letter back, she pocketed it, since it was still for her in a way.

As she walked, she looked down at the chocolates and sighed heavily.

"He'll figure it out…" She whispered, "He'll figure it out."

##########################################################################################

Alyssa walked into the craft store and saw the gift the Princess had mentioned before.

She looked over the four pictures she'd picked out… one of them actually being from their picnic after defeating the Mutorgs.

She was sating next to Merrick, who was up against a tree, reading to him.

It was one of her favorites… and it'd help narrow down who his 'Special Friend' was.

She could only hope…

Merrick was playing with Deeg while on break before he heard something outside.

Frowning, he got up to see what it was.

When he did, he saw the silhouette of someone heading away as quickly as possible.

"Hey! Wait!" He called out, but they kept walking.

He sighed and looked down at what they'd left.

The practically traditional letter and the gift, this time with the number 4 on the cover.

It was small and thin.

As he picked them up, he looked the gift over before walking inside.

"Alright… what's the Four Calling Bird gift?" He asked as Deeg sat on a table, ready to jump into the leftovers from the gift.

Merrick smiled as he sat down, then rubbed his pup's head softly.

"Let's see what the letter says first, boy." He smiled.

With that, the Lunar Ranger opened the letter to read it.

Dear Merrick Baliton, walking by your home, I noticed a letter taped to the side of the door…

While I would love to tell you who I am, it's only day four… and you needn't know if you can't guess.

But, as today is Day four, here's the gift for four Colly birds.

Signed, A Special Friend.

Now feeling depressed, Merrick opened the gift.

Deeg practically pounced onto the wrapping paper as it was tossed his way as Merrick looked over the gift.

It looked like a picture frame… but every ten or so seconds, it changed with the sounds of a Raven, a Crow, a Jackdaw, and a Rook all at the same time.

There were four pictures of Merrick and the wild force rangers all together.

But one stuck out.

That one being of Merrick and Alyssa, with her reading to him under the tree.

That one picture made him grin softly before he turned down the volume and held the gift close to his chest.

"At least it narrows my search… it's definitely a ranger."

Alyssa was, once again, looking over gifts for Merrick for the fifth day.

"This has to be big… this line is the only one exclaimed through the entire song after it's introduced." She whispered in thought.

"Five gold rings?" Max looked over her shoulder.

"Max!" Alyssa quickly hid the ideas, "Uh… what?"

"Five gold rings…. you're doing that Twelve Days of Christmas thing, right?" He raised a brow.

"Yeah." She nodded, "But… I don't think gold would work so well with this person…"

"Well… why don't you get one of those magic ring sets? They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes… and they're really fun." Max noted simply.

Alyssa thought about it, then nodded as she smiled lightly, "Yeah… yeah, that would work… I'm sure he'd love that… thanks, Max."

"It's what I do." Max popped his collar then walked off.

Alyssa chuckled before she turned back to her work.

As she did, the letter Merrick had made for his secret admirer fell from her bag.

She quickly picked it up, but not before Princess Shayla saw it.

"What's that?" The Princess questioned.

"Just a letter… from a friend." Alyssa assured simply.

"I'd know that handwriting anywhere." The Princess reasoned, "That's Merrick's… not that it's any of my business… but why did he write you a letter?"

"Well… it's not really for me… I'm holding it for someone else… some secret admirer." Alyssa picked up her stuff, "Excuse me, Princess…"

With that, she quickly walked to her small sleeping area to look everything over.

####################################################################################################################################

It was the middle of the night, the fires were crackling heavily with no one to attend to them.

It was at this time that Alyssa got up to read the letter from Merrick…

As she got up, she was sure to carefully open the envelope from the steam from the fire.

Once that was done, she pulled the letter out and gently put the envelope down so she could read what was written on the inside.

Dear Special Friend, thank you for your gifts, and your letters. You are very sweet for giving them to someone as undeserving as I am…

But, I'm not writing this just to thank you.

I'm writing this to ask you… to meet me at the Roadhouse, face to face, on the last day of these 12.

Please, I'd love to meet you… whoever you may be.

Signed, Merrick Baliton.

P.s… Thank you so much for your kindness… I look forward to your gifts every day.

Tears came to Alyssa's eyes as she read that.

She put the letter close to her heart as they fell.

"If you only knew…"

If he only knew indeed...

But, at least he's narrowed down the possible 6 million people to just 5 girls.

Now if he can only narrow that list down further...well... the question is... can he?

Find out tomorrow.

In the meantime, please review... and please no hate!