Well.... er.... ummm.... I don't have a whole lot to say this time around except that... wow.... Christmas was over pretty much a month ago and I still have more of this story to type up....

Well, enjoy!

I don't own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.


Chapter 2

It wasn't long until Finn, Junko, and Stork had finished with the lights, and were standing around the tree, watching as Aerrow, Radarr, and I put the finishing touches on it.

"Well," I told the others as I backed up from the tree to admire our work. "I think it looks great, but it's just missing one thing…"

I could feel all of my team-mates' eyes on me as I walked over to a box and pulled out the last ornament to be put on the tree. Holding it up for the others to see, I heard Aerrow whisper, "The angel - of course!"

Bending down next to Radarr, I whispered some instructions in his ear before I handed him the angel with one final warning of "Be careful!" before Radarr climbed the tree with ease, setting the angel atop it with care.

A smile came to my face as Radarr jumped down from the evergreen and landed on Aerrow's shoulders. As we all stood around the tree, admiring our handiwork, I glanced up at the clock and saw that it was getting late.

Following my gaze, Aerrow wasted no time in telling everyone, "It's getting pretty late, how about we all go get our presents from our rooms and put them under the tree before calling it a night?"

Everyone nodded, and soon Aerrow and I were the only ones left on the bridge as Junko, Finn, Stork, and even Radarr had left for their rooms.

Heading towards where I had left the squadron log, I heard Aerrow ask, "Why aren't you going to your room?"

Turning around and grinning as I pointed towards the base of the now decorated tree, I told him, "My presents are already there."

Aerrow chuckled as he said, "I should've known earlier when I was putting mine under the tree that it was your presents for everyone that were already there."

I continued to grin as I sat down on a chair and set the logbook on the table. I began to open the log in order to continue my entry from before I was interrupted by Finn's over the top yelling.

Just as I was about to begin writing, Aerrow leaned against the chair next to me. Looking down, he questioned, "What are you doing?"

Not bothering to look up, I replied, "Well, it's more of a question of what I was doing."

"Meaning?" Aerrow asked as he sat down in the chair he had just been leaning on.

"Meaning I was writing today's squadron log entry when I had to stop to 'rescue' the rest of the guys from the mouse."

"I see…" Aerrow began before he leaned over to try and see what I was writing. He had to lean over so far that I soon felt his shoulder leaning into mine.

Laughing, I closed the book before I looked at him and asked, "Aerrow, what are you doing?"

Holding his hands up in front of him in a gesture of innocence, Aerrow replied, "You never know what could be written in there!"

"Like?" I questioned my friend as I got up and returned the squadron log to its spot on the shelf as I knew I wasn't about to get the daily entry done anytime soon.

Getting up and following me, out of the corner of my eye I saw Aerrow shrug his shoulders before he stated in false seriousness, "You could've had everyone's 'Secret Santa' written down in there for all I know."

Once again laughing, I teased, "You can't wait until tomorrow to find out? I figured Finn would be asking me questions like this, not you!"

"Are you trying to compare me to Finn?" Aerrow asked of me, a fake flabbergasted expression pasted onto his face.

"Possibly..." I replied in jest as I walked towards the bridge door.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Aerrow exclaimed as he cut me off by standing in the middle of the pathway between where I stood and the doorway in an attempt to stop me from leaving.

"And how do you suppose you'll stop me?" I asked as I began to sidestep him only to feel his hands brushing against my ribcage and stomach.

As I fought to control my ever growing giggles Aerrow whispered in my ear, "I think I've managed to stop you pretty well, thanks."

I was about to reply when Aerrow began to tickle me more, my giggles turning into helplessly uncontrollable laughter.

Just when I thought my lungs would burst from laughing so much, Aerrow stopped and as I composed myself, he asked, "Now will you admit that I'm not like Finn?"

Finally having caught my breath again, I crossed my arms before saying, "I don't know… you have to admit that tickling me was pretty Finn like…."

"Alright, have it your way..." Aerrow said as he shrugged his shoulders.

I once again began to sidestep my friend before he dove in, tickling me with a vengeance as I squealed, "AERROW!" before I let myself collapse to the ground, hoping that he might give up.

Unfortunately when I fell, I rolled which caused Aerrow to trip over me before he fell as well, except that unlike me he landed on something softer than the bridge floor. In other words, he landed on me.

Opening my eyes that I had automatically closed when Aerrow began to fall, I blinked several times at the sight that met me before my brain finally registered that Aerrow's face was just above mine.

As an awkward silence passed between us, I began to blush slightly because of Aerrow being so close to me, and because I hadn't really thought about it until now, but Aerrow's eyes were a very mesmerizing green colour.

After another moment or two of staring at each other, Aerrow turned his head away and I noticed that his cheeks had turned a slightly pink colour as well.

I saw Aerrow look at me from the corner of his eye before he gave me a lop-sided grin and asked, "Are you going to take it back yet?"

Returning his grin, I replied, "And what happens if I don't?"

"Well…" Aerrow began as he lowered himself down slightly so that he was supporting less of his weight compared to earlier before he continued, "I could crush you into taking it back."

"Or you could just forgive me…" I challenged Aerrow as I felt myself being forced to support more and more of his weight as he slowly squished me, but it suddenly stopped as I saw that Aerrow was actually looking thoughtful. Taking advantage of his distracted state, I managed to roll myself over, with Aerrow along for the ride until I had him pinned down on the floor.

Aerrow just grinned as he asked, "I suppose I don't have a choice now, do I?"

"Nope." I replied, my grin growing as well.

Shaking his head slightly Aerrow whispered, "Fine, I forgive you Piper."

"Now was that so hard?" I asked my friend, smirking.

"I suppose not, but do I get to stand up now?"

Grinning a little I pretended to think about whether I should let Aerrow up or not, but I squeaked in surprise as Aerrow quickly pushed me off of him and onto the floor before he stood up.

Looking down at where I was still sprawled out on the floor, Aerrow asked, "Are you getting up anytime soon, or did you want Stork's speech about how many germs collect on the ground?"

Rolling my eyes, I replied sarcastically, "But I've always wanted to hear that one on Christmas Eve!"

Aerrow just shook his head before he stood at my feet and offered me his hands, saying, "Do you want some help up or not?" I shrugged my shoulders as I grasped his hands with my own. Chuckling, Aerrow said, "I guess that's a yes!" Before he pulled me to my feet with ease.

Unfortunately since when Aerrow pulled me up he was standing so close to my feet, I now found myself abnormally close to my Sky Knight again who for some reason was still holding my hands.

Looking up, I was about to ask him to let go of them when I soon found myself lost in his eyes once more, but after a few moments I finally realized what I was doing.

Taking a small step back from Aerrow, I quickly averted my eyes from his as I tried to push down the heat that was beginning to spread across my cheeks again as I said quietly, "Thanks for the help."

I took another small step backwards, and my hands finally slipped out of Aerrow's before he began to rub the back of his head, saying, "No problem Piper, I guess it was my fault you were on the ground anyways."

"I guess so." I replied, laughing nervously, with Aerrow soon joining in.

As our laughter faded, another awkward silence was avoided as the rest of our team filed onto the bridge, each with a few presents in their hands.

Setting his gifts underneath the Christmas tree first, Radarr quickly ran over to where I stood next to Aerrow, and Radarr wasted no time in jumping onto the redhead's shoulder.

Giving Radarr a quick pat on the head, I turned around to see Stork place his gifts on the table, no doubt trying to avoid any germs that may have been still lurking on the floor that hadn't been transferred to mine or Aerrow's uniforms, but Stork of course didn't know that.

Stork turned around and looked at Aerrow and I for a moment with a raised eyebrow before muttering "Mindworms…." As he turned away from us and began to walk over to the helm of the Condor.

Aerrow watched Stork go before he also turned around and looked at me with a confused look on his face. Shrugging my shoulders in reply, I turned around and faced the tree when I heard Finn cry, "I was looking for this!"

It was now Aerrow's turn to shrug after he saw my confused face. Walking over to the Christmas tree, Aerrow called, "What did you find Finn?"

As I began to walk towards where Finn was kneeling on the ground with his head hidden underneath the lower boughs of the tree in order to grab something, he exclaimed, "Only the best Christmas decoration ever invented!"

"Even better than gingerbread men cookies you hang on the tree?" Junko asked, perplexed.

"Way better than that my good buddy." Finn answered, his voice slightly muffled due to being under the tree.

Still not being quite sure what Finn was talking about, everyone on the bridge exchanged confused looks with each other until Finn's head reappeared from beneath the tree and moments later he revealed what he had found with a flourish - a cardboard box.

Eyeing Aerrow, I asked, "Is that the box of decorations for the Christmas tree that we lost?"

"I think so," Aerrow replied before adding, "But I don't think we were missing any decorations, if anything we have more than last year."

Glancing up at the tree, I realized that what Aerrow had just pointed out was true. I began to nod and was about to voice my agreement before Finn cried, "But it's not tree decorations!" Enjoying the puzzled looks on our faces for a moment, Finn squealed, "It's mistletoe!"

"Mistletoe?" Aerrow, Junko, and I chorused together dubiously.

"Yup!" Finn exclaimed happily. "Now if any cute girls show up on the ship tomorrow, I can 'accidentally' end up underneath the mistletoe with them, and you know what that means!" Finn concluded, wiggling his eyebrows.

"I think I'm going to hurl." I muttered to myself as I quickly turned away from Finn and slowly headed off of the bridge and towards my room. Just when I had made it halfway down the hallway, I heard footsteps approaching from behind me.

Turning around, I saw Junko, Finn, and Aerrow with Radarr on his shoulder leaving the bridge, and I assumed they were all heading to their rooms to turn in for the night as well.

As the group of guys walked down the hallway towards me, it became smaller in size as Junko and Finn both went into their respective rooms once they reached them, so soon it was just Aerrow and Radarr that were headed towards where I stood, just a few feet away from my bedroom.

Walking up to me, Aerrow smiled as his co-pilot jumped from his shoulder to mine before Radarr proceeded in wrapping his arms around my neck in a loose hug.

"Hey Piper," Aerrow began cheerily until he must have seen the annoyed look in my eyes. Aerrow was about to say more when Radarr yawned in my ear. Smiling, I took the drowsy Radarr off of my shoulder before handing him over to Aerrow without too much protest on Radarr's part.

Smiling a little as he set his furry blue companion on the ground, Aerrow said quietly, "You go on ahead buddy; I'll be there in a minute."

Looking at Aerrow for a moment as he blinked blearily, Radarr made a tired sound of agreement before he walked down the hall towards the room that he and Aerrow shared.

Turning my head away from Aerrow, I smiled as I watched Radarr slowly make his way down the hallway before I felt a weight on my shoulder.

Turning around, I was surprised to see that Aerrow had placed his hand on my shoulder and was now looking at me worriedly. Once he saw that he had gotten my attention, Aerrow lifted his hand from my shoulder before it fell limp at his side while his other hand rubbed the back of his head.

"Piper, are you feeling okay? I mean, you didn't seem all that happy when you left the bridge." Aerrow questioned, a hint of concern I his voice.

Shrugging my shoulders in reply, I gave a mumbled answer to Aerrow's question before I looked down at my feet, my arms crossed.

"Pardon?" I heard Aerrow ask.

Letting out a quiet sigh, I looked up at my friend as I said, "I don't know Aerrow, it's just I hid the mistletoe last year for a reason you know."

"You hid it?" Aerrow asked with a raised eyebrow, a smirk forming on his face.

Grinning a bit, I replied, "Okay, so maybe I didn't hide it, but I did purposefully leave it in the storage room. I guess I forgot about it this year when I sent you guys to go get the decorations."

Aerrow chuckled quietly before he said, "Yep, I suppose you did." Once he had finished chuckling, his face sobered slightly as he asked, "How come you don't want mistletoe up? I thought you were all for Christmas traditions."

I shrugged my shoulders again as I answered, "Of course I am, it's just -" Seeing an expectant look on Aerrow's face, I crossed my arms and looked down at the floor once more as I said quietly, "It's just this tradition is different to say the least I guess. It probably doesn't help that out of the six people living on the ship, I'm the only girl…"

Glancing up at Aerrow from the corner of my eye, I saw his confused face soften a bit, understanding appearing in his eyes before he mumbled, "I'm sorry Piper, I didn't know you felt like that."

Smiling a bit, I told him, "Don' worry Aerrow, I doubt Finn managed to put any up tonight, he just went to bed after all."

Chuckling nervously, Aerrow began to rub the back of his head yet again as he said, "Yeah… about that…"

Glancing at Aerrow, I raised one of my eyebrows in question before he continued, saying, "You're right, Finn didn't put any up tonight because I told him it was too late. But I did tell him that once he gets up tomorrow he can hang up as much as he wants…"

Looking at me sheepishly, Aerrow quickly added, "I'm sorry! I wouldn't have let him hang up any at all if I had known what I know now."

Grinning, I replied, "Don't worry about it Aerrow, I'm sure I can handle a little mistletoe."

Returning my grin, Aerrow said encouragingly, "Besides, we might actually get some decent sleep this year if Finn is going to be busy putting it up for awhile in the morning."

I couldn't help but laugh as I told Aerrow, "Too bad Finn is doing it for nothing! I doubt we'll have any visitors tomorrow let alone any 'cute' girls crazy enough to let Finn kiss them, mistletoe or not."

Aerrow joined in my laughter before he said, "See, that's where Finn's blind."

"What do you mean?" I asked, searching Aerrow's face for a moment, trying to find a clue as to why he had just called our team's sharpshooter blind.

I saw a tad of pink appear on Aerrow's cheeks before he looked at me and said quietly, "He's too busy looking for a 'cute' girl that he doesn't realize that there's a smart, beautiful, independent girl on the Condor already."

I couldn't find anything to say when I realized that Aerrow had just been talking about me, and that he thought that I was smart and independent. He even called me beautiful!

When I was finally able to shake off the surprise, I felt my cheeks grow warm, but before I could even give Aerrow a mumbled thanks, he said, "See you in the morning Piper."

As Aerrow passed me, he gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder, and before I knew it, I was standing alone in the hallway, stunned.

Turning towards the door of my room, I stared at it for a moment before I shook my head to clear my confusing thoughts. Pressing the button on the wall next to my door, it opened with a quiet whooshing noise.

As I entered my room, I couldn't help but think, 'This is going to be an interesting Christmas....'


So, I hope you guys liked this MONTH late addition to this story.... hopefully now that exams are over I can get the rest of this story typed up fairly quickly, but I'm sure real life will intervene like it always does ;)

Anyways, thanks for being so patient with me everyone!

Crimson Fox4