I know it's already after Christmas, but this one took me about a month to write and I couldn't wait until next year. This one is a bit heavier than the last one, but the idea kept bouncing around my head so here it is!

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of The Magic Thief, nor do I financially profit from work that I publish on fanfiction sites.

Connwaer.

I'd never seen someone look as nervous as Embre did as we sat in his office. Well, I sat, and he continued to pace with a cup of tea in his hand. He'd sent a letter to Heartsease and told me he needed to see me and that it was about an urgent matter. The whole walk to Dusk House I kept wondering if something had gone wrong with the magics again.

"I don't see how I could help you." I said as Embre continued to pace. If he didn't stop soon he would wear a hole into the carpet.

"You two are best friends and she trusts you to advise her from time to time. Surely you could tell me how likely my plan is to succeed."

"Well, I mean, she really likes you. She looks less tired when you're around, and you smile more when you're with her." Embre nodded, a grin on his lips that I was sure was from thinking about Rowan. Over the past year, their relationship had become more serious and some of the courtiers had started to whisper about it.

"She makes me happy, I'm sure you can understand it."

"Yeah." I nodded, hoping that didn't make him want to ask about Jo and me. She hadn't seemed herself when I left to go see Embre. She'd been quieter lately too, but when I asked her about it she told me she was fine. I knew she wasn't telling me everything, but I didn't know what questions to ask her to make her tell me the truth.

"Conn?" Embre asked. Drats, he'd probably still been talking. "Is something wrong?"

"No. It's…everything is fine. I think Rowan is really going to be surprised."

"But do you think she'll say yes? I don't want to push her, but I also can't imagine giving this to anyone else." He picked up the small box and opened it, glancing at what was inside. "This ring belonged to my grandmother from my mother's side. I can't believe that Sparks kept it for all this time, but perhaps I should take that as a sign."

"Did you think of how you're going to ask Rowan?"

"I want it to be semi private, if that's at all possible during this time of year. I love Christmas, but I hate all the hustle and bustle that comes along with it." He wasn't the only one who wanted more peace and quiet during the holidays. Ever since I'd come to Embre to talk about building a school in the Twilight, I'd been at more meetings and seen more drawings than I thought I would. I wanted the school to be perfect, a place where the kids of the Twilight could learn how to read and write; and keep warm during the winter months.

"Are you sure there isn't something going on? You seem more distracted than usual."

"I'm not distracted that often."

"Oh, really." Embre grinned, sipping his tea. He wasn't saying it, but I could see from the look in his eyes that he knew something was going on. I finished my tea and stood, reaching for my coat before I said anything I didn't want Embre to hear.

"Oh, don't leave. Come on, I'm just messing with you." I froze with one arm already in my jacket sleeve. "You know that if something is bothering you, you can tell me. Does it have something to do with the school?"

"Not exactly, but I am also worried about that. The building is taking longer than I thought and the workers are going to be off for Christmas soon."

"You did change the design for half the building twice." I sighed, I knew the changes set back the workers and I doubted they would have agreed to it if it was anyone except me asking them. I'd spent hours trying to design the rooms with Jo and even after we were done I wasn't sure it was right.

"I have to go, thanks for the tea." I said, quickly grabbing my hat and gloves before he could stop me. "By the way," I spoke as I tied my scarf around my neck. "I think she's going to say yes, sure as sure." I didn't miss the smile on Embre's face before I made my way out of Dusk House.

Snow had fallen while I had been inside, and it didn't show any signs of stopping. As I walked through the streets back to the Night Bridge, I passed by shops and homes that looked more than ready for Christmas. Wreaths hung on some of the doors and a few shop windows looked cleaner than usual.

In one of the shop windows, a girl was arranging shawls for a display. Not one of them looked the same, each with its own set of patterns and colours. I felt in my pocket for my purse string and found that it wasn't as light as I thought it would be.

"Good afternoon, how can I help ya?" The girl called as I stepped into the shop. A few others were milling around in the dimly lit shop.

"D'you think I could look at some of those shawls you've got in the window?" She nodded over to where they were and left me alone. I didn't know what colour Jo's old one had been, but I knew she wasn't into fancy patterns. "How much for one?"

"A copper each for the ones that look like the one ya got there and two for the rest."

"I'll take two of these then." She put the shawls in a paper bag after I handed her the coins. I was sure Jo was going to love it when she opened it on Christmas. Perhaps she'd even smile, something she hadn't been doing a lot of in the last while. As I made my way down to tunnels that connected the wizards' islands, Pip spiraled down, and flap landed on my shoulder.

"Out hunting pigeons again, were you?" As an answer, Pip glanced at me with one of its red eyes before sticking its snout towards the first lock. The walk back to Heartsease was quiet, not that I expected to see anyone as I made my way through the tunnels. It was a week before Christmas and it seemed that everyone was rushing around trying to prepare. I'd barely seen Rowan all month because of how busy she was trying to run the city and plan the annual Christmas Ball at the Dawn Palace.

"I'm home!" I called out as I walked into the kitchen. Benet looked up from his knitting and nodded. Pip stalked towards the basket that sat by Benet's feet and pulled at a string of yarn. "We talked about this Pip, it's not nice to play with the yarn." As an answer, Pip snorted and sat beside the basket. No doubt it would go back to playing as soon as I wasn't looking.

"So, what was this urgent matter that had you running out of here without eating breakfast?" Benet asked.

"Oh, Embre just needed some advice on something."

"Couldn't he have asked you in the letter he sent?"

"It's special advice."

"You two all right?" It wasn't that I didn't want to tell Benet about Embre's plans, I just didn't know if I should.

"We're fine, it has something to do with him and Rowan." Benet looked liked he was going to ask more questions, but Nevery walked in. He glanced at Benet before realizing I was there.

"I didn't expect you back for some time, boy."

"I wanted to be back in time for lunch." I said.

"Where's Jo?" He asked. I stared back at him, I hadn't seen her since I left.

"Isn't she here with you?" The look on Nevery's face gave me my answer. It wasn't like Jo to suddenly leave without leaving a note or telling someone where she was going. I had a feeling she'd told Nevery that she had been on her way to meet up with me. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach thinking about where she could have gone.

"Nevery, when did she leave?"

"About an hour ago. Boy, is there something going on between you two that I should know about?" Maybe once I'd figured out what had been bothering her so much that she left I could explain it to him. I tried to think back on the past few days, trying to figure out if I'd missed something. I hadn't been spending as much time with her, but that was because of the school. She knew that, at least, I thought she did.

"I'll be back, don't wait for us to come back to eat." I rushed out of Heartsease and back through the tunnels.

The snow had made getting down to river tricky, but I managed. It was quiet, but I hadn't expected many people to be out searching through the mud at this time. As I neared the shack, I saw the small trickle of smoke from the chimney. I knocked on the door and waited, hoping that I knew the person who answered. I heard the click of a lock opening and the door opened to reveal exactly who I was looking for.

"Can I come in?" She didn't say anything, but she did open the door wider. The shack looked the same as it always had, except for the blankets spread out on the floor. I recognized some of them but stayed quiet as Jo walked past me to sit by the makeshift hearth. I opened my mouth, but the words I wanted to say wouldn't come out.

"Kinda figured you'd find me at some point." She said, not looking at me, but staring at the fire she'd built. She sounded the same as she had in the morning.

"I was worried I'd come here to find it empty."

"Coulda just used a spell to find me, you are a wizard."

"It's a bit more difficult than you think." At that she let out a sigh and wrapped one of the blankets around her. "Jo, I know something is wrong. You've been too quiet lately and even when we are together it's like you're somewhere else." She nodded, and I waited for her to say something. Instead, she just rearranged the blanket and added a piece of wood to the fire.

I'd never known her to be quiet, not around me at least. Even when we were friends Jo had been curious and asked me questions about magic and what it was like to be friends with the Duchess. The way she had smiled when I asked her to be my girlfriend was still fresh in my mind even though it had been quite a few months since we'd made it official. I hadn't seen her smile or heard her laugh in weeks, and she'd stopped asking as many questions.

"It's not something to do with you, it's just…" She sighed again, shaking her head. "I just needed some time by myself, nothing is wrong."

"What's got you being so quiet then?"

"You want me to start shouting at you or something?" She was avoiding the question. I shuffled a bit closer to her, taking one of her hands in mine.

"No, I just…please talk to me."

"You'll laugh."

"Promise I won't." I squeezed her hand, trying to show her that I meant what I said.

"It's just…Conn, you know I care about you a lot. A lot more than I think I've ever cared for someone. And I like being around you too, but I ain't ever done this before…be involved with someone like this. I've learned a lot of stuff from you, met a lot of new people and I guess I'm just not used to that."

"Why didn't you say something? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable or agree to something because I do."

"I thought about it, kinda hoping the feeling would go away or something. Then you got all excited and busy with the school and I wanted to be supportive and all." I could see the weight lift from her shoulders as she told me everything. I had been busy and, to spend more time with Jo, had brought her to every meeting. I hadn't been paying attention, clear as clear that maybe I was pushing her too hard.

"Conn, I do love you, you know that. And I like to hear about your plans and ideas, but I just need more time to get used to this."

"Of course, we can go as fast or slow as you want." I slipped my hand out of hers so that I could move closer and wrap my arm around her shoulder. She wrapped her arm around my waist, as content as I'd ever seen her. "I don't pay attention sometimes and I still gotta work on that. I do love you though and I promise I'm going to try harder." I felt her relax as I spoke. She'd been so tense every time I'd tried to touch her before and I told myself I never wanted to see her like that again.

"We haven't sat like this in a long time, I missed it." I kissed the top of her head. Sitting like we were made me forget about everything else. It was just the two of us, sitting on blankets in the old mudlarks shack.

"Did you tell Nevery when you'd be back?"

"No, why?"

"Good." She tilted her head to look up at me, a familiar glint in her eyes.

"I cannot imagine how you knew about this the whole time and stayed quiet about it." Rowan gave me her best slant eyed glance. Around us, the ball room at the Dawn Palace was filled with talk and laughter. Ladies in fine dresses and men in tailored suits drank and ate as Christmas day came closer to ending.

"You may have asked me a lot of questions in the last week, Ro, but I don't remember you saying anything about this."

"Mhm, well I am glad that it was a surprise." She said, staring down at the ring on her finger. Embre stood beside her, smiling. "I suppose we'll have to have a toast, I believe a few people here noticed our disappearance." She was right, though Jo and I had tried our best to sneak the both of them away without too many people noticing. I caught a few people turning to stare and then leaning to speak to their friends. No doubt the news of an engagement would be the topic of gossip until a date was announced.

"As long as I don't have to give a speech, I think it's a good idea."

"Well Conn," Rowan began. "Now that you mention it, I think it would be excellent if you said a few words."

"Or a lot, you know, tell them in detail what this engagement means to you." Jo said, her attempt to keep a straight face failing.

"I'll do it if you do." At that, we all burst into laughter which didn't help us avoid the attention of the other partygoers. With a parting glance, Rowan and Embre left us to proceed to announce news I was sure a few people had been expecting to hear. Jo wrapped her arm around me, her other hand coming to rest on my chest.

"Merry Christmas, Conn." Jo reached up to give me a kiss. As she pulled away, I leaned in closer, capturing her lips for a second before my grin took over. She stared at me, amusement written across her face. I barely heard the ringing of glass as Rowan called for everyone's attention, my focus was on the girl in front of me. I'd spent too much time worrying about making everything perfect that I forgot about everything else in my life that made it better than perfect. I had a family, a safe home, good friends and someone who still managed to love me even when I hadn't been worthy of it.

As servants offered glasses of a bubbly liquid to the guests for the toast, I thought about everything that had happened since last Christmas. I couldn't have imagined the way my life would continue to change, but I had no doubt in my mind that this upcoming year would be even better.

End.

Wow! I know it took four years to get this one done but I hope you enjoyed reading this one-shot. I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year :)

-DarkAngelz200