A/N: Hey-o! This is AC, co-pilot for this story here with the usual disclaimer & such. 1st off, good news- we're almost done writing this particular co-op! Now, lemme see, I own AJ, LB owns Beth, & NBC owns everyone else, unfortunately. Thanks for the awesome reviews & support, & don't forget to check out the other 2 parts of this series, CVTCS: Beth & CVTCS: AJ; it'd make understanding this story a whole lot easier. Enjoy!

As a rule of thumb, AJ wasn't much for dressing up, generally choosing comfort over style, but she always made a point of looking her best for Christmas. After her shower, she dressed in a newly bought strapless green dress, closed red heels, and some of her nicest jewelry—matching white gold moon earrings, necklace, and bracelet. She ran a straightener through her hair so that her general mess of brunette locks for once looked neat and orderly; more so when she pulled her hair back into a bun, leaving just enough hair loose to frame her face.

She had just finished applying some lipstick when her cell phone rang, playing the opening lines of a Lady Antebellum song.

"Hey, Beth. Fröhliche Weihnachten!"

"Merry Christmas to you too! Listen, Ellie just called to say you needed some pecans, do you want me to come drop them off?"

"Yeah, that'd be perfect thanks."

"No problem, I'll be there in a lil while."

"Sounds good."

Hanging up the phone, she continued getting ready until there was a knock on the door. Assuming it was Beth, she pulled the door open without much thought and stopped when she realized it wasn't Beth at all, but actually Morgan.

"Whoa," he said in greeting, looking her up and down.

"Hey, Morgan, my eyes are up here. Hi. Buone Feste Natalizie."

"Oh, hi, Merry Christmas. You look great."

AJ smiled. "Thanks. So, any reason you're here instead of raiding the Bartowskis' pantry?"

"Well, I was wondering if I could ask your advice on something."

"Sure, come on in. I was just finishing getting ready."

He took a seat on the couch while AJ threw some extra makeup into a purse, then came and sat down next to him. "So what's wrong?"

"It's Anna, man; she's cheating on me with Lester!"

"The way I heard it, it was just a kiss," AJ said.

He nodded reluctantly. "That I know of for sure. But, c'mon, if they're kissing like that, it's because there's something there, right?"

AJ shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Things did get pretty wild yesterday after all. I think you should talk to her about it before assuming the worst."

"Okay, thanks. I'm going to call her right now—"

"No!"

He tilted his head to one side. "Why not?"

"Um, because you're mad and she's mad and you both need to cool down before you can have an honest and productive conversation," AJ improvised. "Better to wait a few days, maybe until after New Year's and talk then."

"You think?"

"Definitely."

He nodded. "Okay. Oh, by the way, I ran into Beth on the way over here, she told me to give you these." He pulled a bag of pecans out of his pocket, slightly smashed but still edible, and handed them over.

"Oh good, that means we can head over to the Bartowskis' then; I promised Ellie I'd help with dinner. Let's go." Standing, AJ held out her arm to Morgan playfully, and was surprised when he actually accepted it.

They remained with their arms linked all the way across the courtyard, but pulled apart before knocking at Casa Bartowski. Ellie let them in, and AJ was surprised to find Morgan following her and Ellie into the kitchen.

"How can I help?" he asked before AJ could.

Both girls shot him a curious look. "You cook?" AJ asked.

He nodded. "Dude, have you never tried my paella?"

"Um, no. But now we're going to have to."

Ellie nodded. "So, I'm going to take care of the pecan sauce for the chicken and the mashed potatoes, why don't you two start on the pasta?" She passed over the recipe and excused herself for a moment to go make sure Devon and Chuck had everything else handled for the evening.

"Alright, Morgan, you probably know your way around this kitchen better than I do. So how about I read out the ingredients and you set them out?"

Once everything was set out and Ellie had returned, Morgan got to work mixing the Alfredo sauce while AJ got the noodles on the stove. As they worked, Morgan asked her, "So where were you this time last year?"

"Um, let's see. I was in…Tokyo. Gran flew over like she always did for the holidays and we spent the week traveling Japan. It was really interesting; I don't speak a lick of Japanese, so we had to rely on a translator, who kept hitting on Gran."

"Finally, a language you don't speak," Morgan teased.

AJ stuck her tongue out at him. "I don't know that many fluently, just bits and pieces of a lot of them. But I've never had an ear for East Asian languages."

"Well, at any rate I'm glad you here with us this year," Ellie said.

"I am too; it'll be nice to enjoy a home cooked Christmas dinner for once."

Morgan nodded. "And it smells delicious. Pasta's done, Ellie, do you need help with anything else?"

She shot Morgan an incredulous look. "In all the years you've celebrated Christmas with us, this is the first year you ever volunteered to help."

"That's not true!"

"Sorry, buddy, but it is," Chuck called from the living room.

Chuckling, AJ patted him on the back and said, "It's alright, Morgan, how about we set out the silverware? You do folks and napkins and I'll do spoons and knives."

They started at the head of the table and went in opposite directions around the table, setting everything up. Caught up in their jobs, when they reached the foot of the table they bumped right into each other, headfirst.

"Ow." "Umph."

Their faces unnaturally close to one another, both shared a nervous laugh before pulling apart at the ringing of the doorbell.

"Showtime," AJ said.

Beth stood at the door, holding tight to John's hand. Her excuse was she was making sure he wasn't going to dart away. Inwardly, she wasn't so sure if it was that or if she liked the feel of his hand in hers'. But he hadn't tried to take his hand back, so that must have meant something, right? She didn't have time to debate it further, though, because the door opened and Ellie ushered them in.

"We're so glad you both could make it! Morgan and AJ are setting the table, Devon's doing heavens-knows-what, and Chuck's getting drinks. What would you two like?"

"Just punch for us both—John shouldn't drink with the meds he's on."

"Ignore her; I'll have scotch, if you have any."

"He will not. Drinking while on medication is bad for your health."

"Good thing I didn't take the meds, then."

Beth sputtered. "You didn't, but you, I, you, John Casey! I told you to take them!"

"Didn't need 'em."

"Why you! I don't care how strong of a manly man you are or think you are, you should have taken those pills! They're meant to help you, and just because you want a scotch with your dinner doesn't mean…"

As their arguing continued, neither of them noticed the knowing glance Ellie shot at their entwined hands, which, she noted, stayed attached as they walked into the apartment. John only let go of Beth's hand to grab their drinks; meanwhile, Morgan and AJ had left the dining room to greet their newest guests.

"Hey, Beth, you're right on time," AJ said, giving her a one-armed hug. "Casey, good to see you on your feet," she added as an afterthought.

"Yeah, how's your toe?" Chuck asked, looking guilty.

Casey answered with a menacing growl, so Beth grabbed and squeezed his hand in warning. "Apparently he's feelin' well enough not to take his meds."

Before there could be further discussion of Casey's missing toe, there was another knock on the door and Sarah arrived. The group complete, Ellie declared it was time for dinner. The gang crowded around Woodcomb's table where Morgan and AJ had set out all the dishes they and Ellie had prepared. Like every other time the whole group ate dinner together, Ellie sat to the left of Devon, who sat at the head of the table. Next to Ellie was AJ, and next to her, Morgan. Across from Ellie sat Casey, and next to him, Beth. Rounding the end out was Sarah, and opposite of Awesome was Chuck. After heaping their plates full of chicken, spaghetti, green beans, and the like, conversation turned towards the holiday season.

"You seem to really love the holidays, Beth, if your hat's any indication," Ellie said with a smile.

Casey guffawed and Beth mock-slapped his arm. "Just because I had to practically force you to put up a tree…and a nativity set. And a wreath. And…"

"The baking?"

"It's not Christmas without cookies! What're you gonna feed Santa?" She ignored John's eye roll and addressed the rest of the gang. "Where I grew up, Christmas was a huge. It was a time of family and friends and visitin' and bakin' and general merrymaking. It's my favorite holiday."

"It's my favorite holiday too," Ellie agreed. "Dad used to always go all out with the decorations, do you remember, Chuck?"

"I remember almost falling off the roof when I was seven, helping him put up the Christmas lights," Chuck said with a laugh. "What about you, Casey, what do you remember about Christmas when you were a kid?"

"…Decorating Christmas cookies."

If anyone was surprised Casey offered up something so candid, they didn't say it.

"What about you, AJ?" Devon asked after a moment. "What were your childhoods Christmases like?"

She shrugged. "Quiet."

"How come?" Morgan asked. Seeing the look on her face, he backtracked slightly. "If you don't want to talk about it, AJ, that's okay."

"No, it's fine. Mother always threw a big party for Father's clients; I always spent the night hiding out in my room. If I got lucky, one of the maids would slip me some custard."

"Custard? That's all you ate for supper?"

AJ shrugged again, and Beth shook her head. "That's terrible! Not a kind of supper at all! What kind of parents did you—those assholes." Realizing what she'd said, she apologized. "Sorry, I just…parents like them…they…irritate me. It's ridiculous. Reminds me of this one time—"

"Beth, it's not story time."

"Hush up, John, this story has a point. Now, where was I? Right—reminds me of this time Daddy was called to rescue this kitten. Y'see, this cat had a litter of kittens, but the lil'est one didn't get a lot of love and affection—he was scrawny and lame in one leg, so the other siblings picked on him. And the mama already had seven of eight babies, so the kit didn't have anybody to take care of it. He was neglected and unloved. But then Daddy took him home, and we bottle fed him, and he grew up to be one of the best cats we ever had. His environment didn't allow for him to grow, but once he was put in a place where he was loved and cared for, he flourished."

AJ smiled. "A toast then, to being in a good environment for the holidays, with friends old and new. Cheers."

Glasses clinked together and the dinner continued with all sorts of chit chat about this and that. Eventually, the topic of conversation turned to what had happened at the Buy More, and how the half of the guests who worked there really should consider finding a safer place to work.

"It's an electronics store, sis; it's not exactly dangerous."

"Not dangerous? There was a man waving a gun around! Casey lost a toe."

The aforementioned man growled. "Sorry, John, I know it's a sore subject."

Beth bit her lip, and the table could hear her mumble under her breath, "Probably a sore toe. Or lack thereof."

"Anyway, after what happened yesterday, you can't argue that it's safe," Ellie concluded.

Sarah and Beth exchanged a look.

"What happened could've happened anywhere, Ellie," Sarah said finally. "He could have just as easily run into the Orange Orange or the hospital or anywhere else."

"Sarah's right, Ellie. Besides, after what happened, I'm sure the Buy More will implement protective procedures to ensure something like that doesn't happen again. Right, John?"

Beth glanced over at John, giving him a 'make this situation better' look. "Beth's right. The perimeter will be watched closely, as will the potential perps. They'll probably install EB-52s and their own set of DW85s."

Ellie raised an eye, and Beth sighed in exasperation. "John, next time speak in non-Marine talk—not all of understand what that heck those are. Now, what he means to say is that Buy More will probably install a better security system—EB-52s are a type of recording video device and DW85s are a sort of…actually, what are DW85s?"

"Aren't they a sort of catch-all audio system?"

John raised an eye at Morgan. "Maybe you're not a moron, moron."

"Thanks, Casey," Morgan said, not at all offended.

LB here, just wanting to throw in a big THANK YOU! for all our readers and reviewers-knowing y'all like the story is one of the greatest feelings on the planet. So let us know whatcha think. Oh, by the way, EB-52s and DW85s are completely fictional to my knowledge (I pretty much just stared at the keys and started choosing combinations at random). So, that's it; we'll have the next part up soon. Reviews make us smile. :) Much love!