AN: I'm sorry this took me again a while to post but I was sick. Hope you enjoy!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me…

Twelve Happy Endings

Joss felt nervous. She had her dessert in one hand and John's gifts resting at her feet near his door as she stood at the door waiting for him to open up. She had gone through her entire wardrobe and back until she settled on a long sleeve velvet crimson dress, with a scoop neckline which gave a hint of cleavage, and knee-high stiletto boots. She used a long gold chain and a black belt to add a little something to her simple ensemble. That and her Santa hat she was wearing.

The door opened and she smiled as she came face to face with John. "Merry Christmas!" she spoke softly as she eyed John in his tight blue jeans and sapphire blue sweater. He looked like a regular Joe that was so sexy it physically hurt to look at him.

"Merry Christmas Carter," he replied quietly before bending to pick up the two Christmas gifts on the floor beside her. He frowned as one was relatively large and somewhat heavy. He hoped she hadn't spent a lot of money on whatever she got.

John stepped back to let Carter in. He was still unsure of himself around her since their kiss at his office party. He had stayed away to mull over what it meant; he never got caught up in a moment as he had at that office Christmas party. Shaw and Root, who he was still angry with, for faking Leslie's number, presented a reasonable explanation of why he should stop denying how he felt about Carter.

"Carter makes you sickeningly happy, Reese. Don't you want to be happy?—you've been sappy Sal for practically forever, ever since I've known you. Go for it; you two already played tongue wrestling and she was into it so what do you have to lose?"

John shook Shaw's words off as he realized he was staring at Joss, holding her gifts, and the door remained wide open. "Dinner's almost ready," he said as he kicked the door closed behind them carrying the gifts to the tree that she had helped decorate.

Joss watched him from near the door as she set her dessert down on the table next to her to remove her coat and hang it up next to his on the hook. Her eyes lingered on his backside as she smoothed imaginary lines on her dress before flipping her hair over her shoulders and grabbed the dessert once more. The elephant in the room of the kiss he laid on her and the swirling tension was thick and heavy between them. She hadn't known what to expect the moment they came face to face; hadn't known what to expect from John in particular, but all her worries were for naught. John wasn't distant but rather seemed to be pretending the kiss never happened…again. For now she would let him but when the right time came tonight she was going to bare what her desires were for their future that had nothing to do with friendship.

She inhaled the delicious aroma seeping out of his kitchen making her stomach growl. "What are we having?" she asked as John still had yet to turn around, he was taking an awful long time setting those gifts under the tree. John just couldn't take a surprise could he?

"I made Thai green curry chicken with a side of baked sweet potatoes and yams." he answered slowly as he tried to figure out the gifts.

Her brows rose as she had no idea he knew how to make anything Thai. "You can cook Thai?" she asked incredulously.

He laughed as he turned around and his smile froze on his face as his gaze went from head to toe on her and she shivered at the slow but very appreciative gaze. Joss felt warmed by his eyes' sweet caress. "Making Thai might be a big mistake, John, because if it's better than my favorite Thai restaurant's food I'll be hitting you up whenever I get a hankering," she teased which broke John out of his trance-like state.

"Yea," he said with a loud clearing of his throat.

She liked that she rendered John speechless. "Well now my dessert seems to pale in comparison to what you made but I hope you like fudge brownies with chocolate icing and M&Ms on top."

Joss never saw the look that crossed John's handsome face before. And he didn't wait long to explain it to her. "Who needs dinner," John murmured as he licked his lips, moving close to her as he took the plateful of brownies and lifted one end of the tin foil up before she smacked his hand.

"Do I need to hide these?" she remarked with a smirk. "Or do you have enough self-control to leave these be until after dinner and presents?"

"I guess we'll see," he said pouting a little as he carried the brownies to his kitchen.

Joss swallowed back a laugh at John's literal pout at not getting to snack on a brownie before dinner. She itched to get her hands on him but she had to remind herself that if she remained patient maybe good things would come of it. John reappeared carrying two glasses of champagne holding out one for her which she happily took.

They sat down together on his couch with respective space between them and she sipped the champagne slowly. "Did I tell you that you look nice Carter?" he asked.

She sighed as she leaned back. Nice. That was all? Well it was better than hearing that she looked badass. "No. But thank you," she muttered. Silence blanketed the room. It felt different between them. She was struggling with her own personal vow to wait for the right moment to broach the subject of his kiss and that he said he wanted her. But she didn't want to ruin this evening before it began. "Present time!" she announced, breaking the silence, causing John to look at her strangely. "What?—we're adults and can open presents first."

He smiled a little. John was grateful since it would be a diversion from the uncomfortable silence but also because it was gnawing at his curiosity to know what she got him.

They both got up and grabbed their gifts to each other. Once they sat back down he set his aside to watch Carter open hers first. She eyed him with a frown. "Isn't a Hawaiian vacation enough of a present?" she demanded.

"It's not much, Carter."

Joss looked down and tore into the wrapping paper of the large but rather light box. She opened it and grinned. Inside the box was a large beige straw floppy hat with red embroidered roses, and lying aside it were Gucci sunglasses.

She looked up as she pulled out her gifts. "I figured any self-respecting Hawaiian vacationer has to have a straw hat and sunglasses," he murmured as an explanation.

She didn't respond as she set the gold and black Gucci sunglasses on her face before removing her Santa hat to replace it with her new straw hat. She struck a pose as he stared at her. "How do I look?" she asked.

"Beautiful," he breathed. Joss smiled at the natural and honest answer. He cleared his throat. "I meant you look beach bound."

"Uh-huh, sure you did," she replied with a smirk before plopping the large heavy gift on his lap. "Now it's your turn to open my gifts."

John ripped into the wrapping paper and smirked now that his curiosity was finally whetted because the large heavy gift was a large bulletproof case meant to house some of his hardware. "Thank you, Carter."

She shrugged. "Since you liked my mobile gun collection I figured you could use your own case since it would be much better than that duffel bag of goodies you lug around." she retorted. Joss had purposely had him open this gift first because she was far more excited to see him open the next one. It really held more sentimental significance than a bulletproof case for his guns. She hemmed and hawed over buying it but ultimately couldn't resist as she set the much lighter gift on his lap.

John gave it a little shake to figure out what it was which seemed to annoy Carter. "Open it!" she huffed as she took off the sunglasses and hat setting them beside her.

"Patience, Carter," he admonished teasingly which earned him a scowl. After a moment he gave in and ripped into the present that resembled something you'd put clothes in. Maybe she got him a jacket and was itching to see if he liked it?

He opened the box and pushed through the tissue paper and froze as he saw the camo waders.

Joss felt nervous as she watched John stop immediately as he eyed the gift. "I know you don't fish anymore. But, like you, I remember everything you tell me. And sometimes it's the things you don't say that mean more than what you do. When you told me about getting camo waders just like your dad I could see how much that moment meant to you; to be like your dad and when you grew up you wanted to be a good man like him," she rambled her explanation as he sat there staring at the waders, fingering them. "I noticed when I came over while you were sick that you didn't have any personal items so I wanted to give you a little piece of your childhood back; to give you a little piece of your father back."

He looked up and Joss couldn't read his expression. She licked her lips before trying to joke; "You could trade in your suit and gun for these waders and a fishing pole. Instead of being the man-in-the-suit you could be known as the man-in-the-waders that's a threat to the local bass population rather than kneecaps."

John leaned forward and kissed her to shut her up. This gift meant more to him than anything and he couldn't explain how much it meant to him so he'd show her. He pulled back after kissing her tenderly but briefly. "Thank you," he whispered, to hide how moved he was. "These mean a lot to me."

She licked her lips. They were on the cusp of something more and she had to tread carefully here if she wanted what she truly desired for Christmas: John, to admit to what was between them so they could go from there.

"Your gift is pretty special too," she said softly. It wasn't every day she was gifted with an all-expenses paid vacation, for two, to Hawaii.

"I know Taylor is growing up fast and this will probably be your last chance to have a vacation together," John murmured. It was why he wanted to give her a vacation as a present; he knew how much she loved her son and how much Taylor loved her. Joss would never take a vacation and he wanted to give her something he knew she'd never give herself.

She smiled. "About that…Taylor isn't going." she admitted. John eyed her questioningly. She shrugged. "Taylor and Hayley want to spend New Year's in Times Square. As much as a Hawaiian vacation with his mom sounds like fun he much rather be with the girl that he's falling in love with to ring in the New Year," she explained.

"Oh." John sounded as he frowned. He hadn't anticipated that Taylor had plans already made with his girlfriend. "Well, I can try to change the date to sometime in January…"

She shook her head. "Don't. I have someone else in mind to come with me and Taylor thinks it's a good idea."

"Your mother?"

She rolled her eyes at that; her mother hated flying even if it was to a sunny destination rather than cold ole' New York, but did she really have to beat it over his head as to who she wanted to come with her to ring in the New Year with. "Not my mother, John; I want you to come with me," she stated simply.

"Me?"

"Yea, I think you could stand having a vacation yourself. And it will give us plenty of time to explore these feelings we have for each other without any nosy friends around or dead bodies and numbers to work." she replied. Joss wouldn't mind ringing the New Year with John in bed making love for the first time…go out of 2013 with a bang, as Shaw would say, quite literally.

John got to his feet setting the waders on the couch. "I don't think us sharing a Hawaiian vacation is a good idea, Joss." His calling her Joss, not Carter, did not go unnoticed.

She climbed to her feet too. "Why not?—Finch has Shaw to help him with the numbers. He even has Root to help if need be. New York can stand to have the man-in-the-suit on hiatus for a little while," she reasoned.

"It's your Christmas gift."

Joss laughed. "And I want to share it with you," she insisted. "Perhaps the reason you feel like you can't come with me has more to do with you being unable to shy away from the fact that you want me."

"Joss…"

Her lips thinned. "John we aren't just friends anymore. You lost the chance to convince me of that when you kissed me at your office Christmas party."

John ran a hand through his hair. "I wasn't going to try to convince you of anything, Joss. I don't know what to do anymore; staying away and ignoring how I feel isn't working," he whispered avoiding eye contact. "There's just something about you, Joss."

Joss felt a ray of hope eclipse her heart at the honest answer. She stepped forward and grabbed his big hands. "I know what we should do: we should go for it. Take a leap of faith with me, John."

"I can't lose you. Everyone I ever got close to is gone, Joss," he spoke softly as he gently squeezed her hands.

She stared at him. Fear was a powerful emotion but so was love. "You think this doesn't scare the hell out of me?—then you lost your beautiful mind, John. No one has meant as much as you do to me. The thought of losing you is unfathomable. I failed twice at love but somehow I feel like those past experiences have led me right here, to this point…to you. With Paul I was too weak; I was young and thought love would conquer all. With Cal I was too strong and let my trust issues of past come between us. But with you; I'm not strong or weak, I'm just me."

John felt all the reasons of why they couldn't ever possibly work crumbling around him except one. "Joss, how can we work? I live in the shadows, without a name, without a life," he whispered.

Joss let his hands go to slowly weave hers around his neck. Her answer to this needed to be perfect as somehow in her heart she knew this was what was keeping that barrier between her and John erected.

"I know you, John, the real you; the one that no one sees. And he does have a name; it isn't the dark or a monster but rather just a man with a past that has haunted him. I know you won't agree with me but you're a pretty damn amazing man. You have a life, John; one that's filled with saving lives at risk of your own, with friends that are your dysfunctional family, and you have a woman that's falling hard for you and wants more than friendship," she explained wholeheartedly. "It won't always be perfect; we'll fight and makeup, have good days and bad because we are both stubborn. But it's worth a shot; love is always worth a shot. Just the question is: are you willing to try?"

John stared at her before he bent down and kissed her. She moaned in the back of her throat because she felt the invisible barrier between them crumble down around them. This kiss was different from the previous two; the first was tentative, the second was explosive, but this third was liberating. It felt freeing. They weren't pretending anymore and the weight of their disguise was lifted. She kissed him back with eager anticipation of what was to come. His kiss was the fuel to light a fire inside her that began in the pit of her belly that slowly expanded throughout her entire soul.

John pulled back with a shaky breath. "Dinner is going to burn." he said raggedly. Each time he kissed her was better than the last. Pretty soon just kissing her wasn't going to be enough.

"It can burn for all I care. Who needs dinner?" she muttered what he said earlier.

He chuckled a little at that as he leaned his forehead against hers. "Do I need to hide?" he wondered.

She smiled as she stared at his chest where skin peeked out from under his sweater as if taunting her. "With the way you kiss you just might," she replied honesty. Her lips were tingling, swollen, and thoroughly kissed. That kiss sure summed up how he felt on whether or not he was willing to give them a try. Maybe after dinner and dessert, in place of opening presents since they already did that, they could curl up on his couch and make out. "Come with me to Hawaii, so we can begin the new year right: together."

John's hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it remained on her hips and gently massaged there. "Yes," he said.

She leaned her head back to look up at him. "Yes?" she repeated. He smiled a little shy smile as he nodded. Joss hugged him and he returned the embrace warmly. "Thank you for giving me the greatest gift," she whispered in his ear.

"I'm no gift, Joss."

"You are to me."

AN: Welp, this was where I was going to say 'Merry Christmas' to everyone but since I barely finished posting this before Valentine's Day I'll just say: hope you enjoyed.

Thank you for reading!