Twelve Days of Christmas

Friday, December 22nd

(Three days until Christmas)

Sam spent nearly a full day trying to wrap her mind around the idea that her secret admirer could be female. She didn't really have a problem with the idea or, if it happened to be true, the fact of it. In truth, Sam had no problems with girls on the romantic front. She'd kissed one or two experimentally before deciding that she'd much prefer kissing Danny. But the experience hadn't left her horrified and scarred. (It had scarred Tucker though, because he couldn't deal with the idea that girls wanted to kiss her and not him. Danny had stayed unusually silent which, in retrospect, made Sam continue over-thinking her secret admirer.)

Tucker, of course, spent the entire day making pointed comments. Danny had looked mildly intrigued at the idea, though she thought amused would be a good substitute word for the look on his face every time Tucker said something. Even now as she was collecting her things and shoving them in her fuzzy spider backpack Tucker couldn't help himself. And neither could she; Sam deliberately smacked him with the backpack as she slung it across her shoulder.

"Shut up, Tucker," she ordered. "Just because you can't get any girls to make out with you doesn't mean you can make fun of the girls who want to make out with me."

Tucker's jaw dropped and he stared at her with eyes as big and round as saucers while Danny cracked up with her at his reaction. He gasped and gaped and as he floundered for a retort Sam grabbed Danny's hand and dragged him out of the classroom with a near hysterical giggle.

"He had it coming," she chortled, "so don't ruin my revenge buzz."

Danny trailed after her, completely unable to avoid being dragged as Sam ducked around people on her way for the main entrance. "Can I ask you a question, Sam?" he asked as she glanced back at him.

She shrugged as she separated two freshmen from each other and exited Casper High with a rush of freedom. "Go for it."

"Do you want it to be a girl?"

Where she might have laughed if the question came from Tucker, or more likely kicked him again, Sam didn't do either of those with Danny. She bit her lip and tilted her head to the side. "Would it matter if I did?" It was low, she knew, turning the question on him, but she didn't know how to answer him at the moment without telling him what she actually wanted.

"No, Sam, and you know it," he told her without hesitation. The sincerity in his blue eyes made her want to choke on the whole situation.

She gave him a smile that didn't feel very cheerful. "I want it to be someone, and that someone isn't a girl," she temporized. Better that than saying she wanted it to be Danny, and unless he had a huge secret… The thought made her smile more genuine. "Besides, it's not like I'm promising myself to whoever it is."

"Jesus, Sam. You can't say that to a guy and disappear. If you're making out with chicks I want to watch!" Tucker exclaimed as he draped himself across his two best friends' shoulders.

Sam writhed underneath his arm to glare at him before smacking him upside the head. "Jesus, Tucker. The next time you make out with a guy I want to watch."

"So… wrong…" Tucker gasped, one hand clutching his chest while the other tried to push her away. "We're finally on Christmas break and you try to kill me first thing! Cruel, woman, just cruel."

"So's having to put up with you," Sam muttered and smiled sweetly when he demanded she repeat what she said. "I said nothing, Tucker. You can't prove a thing."

He looked pleadingly at Danny, but Danny refused to help. "Dude, you've been mocking her all day without asking her if she wants it to be a girl."

"You're right," Tucker said solemnly. Sam eyed him suspiciously as he turned to her, his hands clasped and his face sober. "Sam, which girl do you want it to be? Cause I hear the Star's around every time—Hey! I need to live!"

Sam growled at him. "No. no, you don't. You really don't." She swiped her backpack at him again once before Danny grabbed her arm and stepped between her and Tucker.

"Sam, you need to forgive him. He's male, he's stupid." He glanced back at Tucker. "Tucker, you need to beg for your life."

"But it's a valid question," Tucker retorted. "Star's been there almost every time. It could be her."

Sam sighed and all but crumpled to the stairs. Being the last day of school, the majority of the students had vacated as quickly as possible while Tucker courted imminent death. The ones that remained were mainly seniors, like they were, and none were anywhere near enough to hear the current speculation. Had they, Sam was sure she'd be mortified. And there was a very good chance the lesbian rumors from junior high would make the rounds once again.

"I'll concede the possibility," Sam said stiffly. There was no way around it since she had no proof her secret admirer was a he. In fact, given that the gifts thus far had been in good taste, the jewelry elegant and stylish, and the flowers picked with an eye to her tastes, Sam could almost believe that her admirer was indeed a female. The thought wasn't pleasant, because that only cemented Danny far, far away from the list of suspects.

Boots thudded to a stop next to her, and Sam shivered at the snow on them. Sure, the stairs were cold and possibly ice coated in spots. But they were all snow free. She looked up, squinting at the sun glare and holding back the groan at her now familiar deliveryman.

"Miss Manson," he said with a grin.

She held her face expressionless. "You can call me Sam. We've seen each other often enough."

He laughed and she stood to accept the package he proffered. "Merry Christmas," he told her before disappearing down the stairs with a chuckle. He was laughing at her, she just knew it.

Danny dropped down beside her as she began opening the package. This time the paper was plain brown, as if the admirer had gone with nothing more than the shipping wrap, but once she had it in her hands she could see that across the plain café color were smooth black lines, simple and sleek and the illusion of bodies and feet and a single line of ground far beneath the ten sketched bodies.

"So he strikes again," Danny said as he ran his fingers across the paper. Sam could practically hear him counting them in his head. "What is it?"

The paper fell away easily and Sam absentmindedly shoved it at Tucker, her irritation not forgotten even in the face of a new gift. The box was black and shadowy, but the title across the top and the single technomonster on the front weren't at all unfamiliar. Sam clutched the box to her stomach as she leaned forward and pressed her face to her knees, trying to fight the need to suddenly cry. Danny's hand on her back and Tucker suddenly hovering at her side made her breathe in deeply, suck it up and get over it.

"It's the new edition of Doomed," she said clearly as she sat up. "It's not out till after Christmas."

"Wow," Tucker breathed reverently as he reached out to touch the box. Sam let him take it, her mind focused on the newest clue, and Danny's warm hand on her back utterly forgotten as she faced reality.

Her secret admirer was male. She simply couldn't imagine another girl giving her Doomed as a gift, not with all of the other meaningful things going on. And her male secret admirer had the pull to not only afford all of this, but to get his hands on to not one, but two things that were out of the average guy's reach. Which meant he wasn't Danny.