Here we are: Part One of my YARIAT Christmas Special. It's a two-parter (surprise, surprise). Initially it was going to just one longer chapter, but the last bit of it got away from me and is now much longer than I expected...

I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think and have a lovely Christmas/Hannukah/New Years/December :)

Disclaimer: All recognizable material belongs to Schneider's Bakery.

In his groggy haze, Beck heard a distinct chirping noise near his ear. And chirp that sounded exactly like the one from the crick-

"Ahh, NO!" Beck yelped as he sat up straight. God no, not another cricket, he thought. But instead, he just saw Jade kneeling next to him, holding her pear-phone to his ear. It was just a sound app she had downloaded. He breathed out a sound of relief.

"Have a nice nap?" Jade asked, with raised eyebrow. She was still in her Christmas costume, her very hot Christmas costume, he noted. The rest of the corridor had emptied out, since most people had gone home.

"Sorry. You were great!" he said smiling, as he leant back against the lockers.

"You literally fell asleep."

"Only at the end," he said. When she didn't reply, he put his arm around her and pulled her onto his lap. "It was a great idea. You really helped Tori and Andre out."

"Yeah well, at least I didn't have to spend money on her."

"So... what'd you get me?" He asked, nudging her with a lazy grin on his face.

"I bought you coffee yesterday... And you're not getting your present until actual Christmas."

"Fine then, I'll save my little gift for then as well."

"Fine!" she groaned, opening her bag and pulling out a small parcel wrapped in dark green paper.
"Here!",

"Merry Christmas babe!" He grinned and pressed a kiss to her cheek. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small red card.

"It's the first week of December," she corrected, taking the card from him and looking at it dubiously.

"Happy first week of December, babe," He said without missing a beat, reaching around her so he could use both arms to unwrap his present.

"It's a coffee card?" Jade asked, turning over it over in her hands and reading the back.

"It's not just a coffee card," Beck looked up at her proudly, "I talked to the crew at the Asphalt cafe, and it's programmed with your regular order. So in the mornings you can just give that to them and you don't even talk to them."

"Really?" Her eyes lit up a little. The coffee crew loved Jade because she probably made up a quarter of their revenue. But still, before her first cup, she could be a little hard to handle. She'd grunt out her order and then yell at them when they got it , if they were lucky, all she would do was yell at them.

He nodded, then focused back on his present. When he opened it he saw it was a case for his pearphone. Jade had broken his last one a couple of weeks about when she kicked his backpack in a fit of anger. Luckily his phone had been okay, but his case had taken most of the force, cracking down the middle.

He turned over the black case and saw that on the back there was a picture of a maze, drawn with scratchy lines. At one opening there was a B, and at the other there was a J. The letters both looked like Jade had written them, since he could recognise her scrawl anywhere.

"Do you like it? I had it made..." Jade mumbled, biting her lip.

He smiled at her, "It's perfect."

She began to smile back but remembered something, "Wait, check this out!" She said, and covered her hands over the back of the case, leaving a small opening for him to look through. Beck peered in and saw that the maze now had a glow-in-the-dark line running though it, joining the B with the J.

"That's awesome," he grinned and leaned up to kiss her gently on the lips. She returned it eagerly, moaning slightly when he pulled away after a moment.

He pulled his pearphone out of his pocket, waving it in front of her face before fixing the new case onto it. It snapped on with a satisfying sound and Jade smiled proudly and pushed herself up onto her feet. He did the same, and took her hand as they moved to walk out of the school, stopping so Jade could pick up her trench coat. That Christmas dress wasn't really appropriate for outdoors. Although, indoors... well, Beck might have to talk to her about keeping it for special occasions.

Beck sat in his car, waiting for Jade to come out. He was tapping his fingers on the steering wheel nervously, unsure how she was going to take this. He'd been pretty angry as well, before he managed to fix the situation. He hoped.

Jade opened the car door and took him by surprise. He gave her a weak smile, and she frown immediately.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her tone wasn't so much concerned as it was confrontational. But he knew she meant it.

He let out a short breath, "I've got bad news and bad news."

"You know that's not how it goes, right?" She asked, staring at him. Her eyes did look kind of worried now. "Well, spit it out."

"My parents decided to spend Christmas in Vancouver this year," he said in one quick breath, immediately reaching out his hand to place on her thigh.

"What!?" She yelled, eyes wide, "That is so unfair. You went the last two years! Why can't you just not go?"

"Jade, you know my granddad was sick. I do have to go..."

"And I'm your girlfriend! I have rights. I deserve to spend stupid Christmas with my boyfriend!" She said, her voice cracking on the last word. She did look quite upset.

He squeezed her thigh, "Do you want to hear the other bad news?" he asked before reaching into the glove compartment in front of her and pulling out an envelope.

"Like it could get worse!" She scoffed. He just waved the envelope in front of her face.

"You'll have to buy a warmer jacket, because you're spending Christmas in Vancouver as well."

She tilted her head in surprise. She had definitely not been expecting this. "What? Lemme See. Are you serious?" She asked in succession, grabbing the envelope from him.

"Yup," he said, trying to hide a satisfied smirk.

Jade opened the envelope to reveal an airline confirmation for four tickets to Vancouver, not three. In the last line her name was printed. She gazed from the sheet of paper to him, "How did you convince your family to let me come? They hate me."

Beck wondered for a moment whether to deny that. But his father had made it abundantly clear how he felt, and his mother kind of minded her own business. So instead he just shrugged, "I told them that last time they said you couldn't come with me we got locked in a Yerbanian prison."

Jade said nothing, just nodded. After all, that point was hard to argue with.

He continued, "And I may have threatened to not go with them if you couldn't come."

She looked up at him and met his smile with a tiny one. "Aww, you threw a tantrum for me." She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips firmly. He twisted his body immediately, as if on automatic pilot, so he could wrap an arm around her and pull her closer. His other hand rested o her cheek.

When they pulled away, he looked her in the eyes, "Promise me you'll try to get along with them though."

"I promise," Jade replied, not even bothering to argue.

"At least my grandparents," he added, stroking her cheek with his thumb again.

"Okay, okay!" Jade said, impatience running through her voice. She lifted her hand up to rest on his. "Now can we go, we'll miss the movie!"

Beck just chuckled, and nodded. It was the latest holiday flick, and he wasn't even sure why Jade was so insistent on seeing it. But he didn't really mind; he probably wouldn't spend too much time concentrating on the film anyway.

"Jade, you can't give my mom that!" Beck sighed, and repeated for the fourth time. He leant his back gently against the shelves next to them. They were at the mall. Jade had insisted that if she was joining his family for Christmas she would buy them all presents. He had agreed, not seeing the harm at first. But they had been here for four hours and all they'd bought so far was a set of candles for his aunt. He hadn't realise Jade's nice gesture would double as torture when he had to veto everything she suggested.

"Why not?" Jade asked, annoyed.

"Because she really wouldn't like skull-shaped salt and pepper shakers," he said gently, taking them out of her hand and putting them back on the shelf.

"I think they're cool!" Jade argued, looking at him pointedly.

He nodded, "they are. But my mom kinda isn't. She rather have something more... traditional."

"Fine," Jade groaned and walked off, before stopping a few feet away. "What about this?" She asked, holding up a tea-towel with tiny flowers on it. Well, he thought they were tiny flowers; as he stepped closer, he realized they were tiny anatomically correct hearts.

"Jade," he sighed, "Why are we even in this store?"

"I love this store!" Jade said, offended. He knew this because they came here often. The back corner was entirely scissors and scissor related accessories (yes, those exist). So he definitely he knew how much she loved it.

"This is stupid!" Jade said after a moment. She'd turned away from the shelves and crossed her arms. From the counter. The sales assistant looked up, but said nothing and left them alone. "Why should I even care what they think of me?"

"Hey, it means a lot to me that you care," he said, stepping closer to her. Without saying anything more he grabbed her hand, and pulled her gently out of the store.

Halfway through the South wing of the mall, Jade stopped suddenly. "Wait!" She exclaimed, her eyes bright, "Meet me at the food court in half an hour!" She said turning the other way and pulling her hand away.

"Hey, where are you going?" He asked, concerned whether everything was okay, as well as curious.

"Just be there!" Jade answered over her shoulder, her tone annoyed again.

"Ja-" he started, but it was no use. He was left alone in front of an arts and crafts store that was playing Jingle Bells far too loudly, watching as his girlfriend ran off to the other end of the mall. He might as well put this time to good use and finish his own Christmas shopping.

...

45 minutes later, Beck was sitting at the food court sipping a soda as he waited for Jade. He had a couple more bags on him than when she left because he found gifts for his cousins, as well as another present for Jade. People assume she'd be hard to buy for, because she dislikes so many things, but once you know her well enough you know exactly what she'd like.

"Hey," Jade said nonchalantly when she walked up to him, her hand full with shopping bags.

"You're late," Beck mused, a lazy smile on his face. Jade simply raised an eyebrow and took the soda out of his hand so she could have a sip.

"So what'd you get?" He asked, gesturing to the numerous bags. They looked heavy. To be honest, he was little worried. Given Jade's previous gift suggestions, he wouldn't be surprised if his grandparents ended up with vials of fake blood.

"That's for me to know and you to find out on Christmas Day," she smiled at him, looking pleased with herself. He couldn't help but let a look of panic escape and she sighed, "Don't worry, they'll love them."

"I'm not worried," he lied. But she just raised her eyebrow again, because she could read him like an open book. He'd just have to wait till Christmas and hope for the best.