Disclaimer: Um, haven't we been through this? I mean, really now, we've been through this, haven't we? But, whatever. I only own Wren, please do not steal her. Thank you.

DanikaLareyna: Heh, I forgot you were sick during the last chapter... I must have caught my cold from YOU! Aha! An... e-cold? Is that even possible?

Anij: Yeah, I can concede that… I'd probably caress him, too. He is, after all, HAWT!

Contraltissimo: Yes, Zelda does wear a white dress, but a great friend of mine showed me a drawing of Zelda in which her dress was pale green... Allie seems like a green kinda person, so I opted to go a little less traditional.

Notwritten: Oh, you are very welcome, my friend! Thank YOU for reviewing! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Yami Moon: Don't worry, I don't think gamers will get too confused. Hee.

Sammi C: Hmm, Jack and Sally... I like that idea! Wren will have to lose weight, though, if she's to go as Sally.

Nikki: Unfortunately, I can't play video games… I always, somehow, manage to kill myself. –sigh-. But I do like them. I like to watch others play! Alternative lifestyles? Oh, I'm sure there are. They're elves, after all. Kind free spirits, a lot of them are.

Opaaru Tsuki: Yes, Elvis. He DID ask for something royal/regal, didn't he? Well... what better than the King? Hee!!

Miharu Kawashi: Jareth's parents? Ah, they've already passed on, unfortunately. But... he -does- have a living blood relation... she may show up again, eventually... heh...

Music Recommendations:

Believe by Josh Groban – one of my very favorite new Christmas songs. Oh, I love it.

Christmas Eve by Celine Dion – Hee. Very fluffy. Very nice.

Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy by David Bowie and Bing Crosby – if you have not heard this, you need to go look it up on YouTube, ASAP. It's only the best Christmas Songs ever. Go on, go listen.

And now, on with the story…

So, I came to the question, once again. It was the same question I had been debating over for almost an entire month… no, wait, it had been over a month. I had started wondering about it in early November.

I think the problem was that there were so many other questions tied to it. Did the Underground have the same holidays as the Aboveground? Or at least similar? And, if they did, did Jareth celebrate Christmas, or at least the Underground equivalent? What if he was Jewish? Not that that would be a problem if he was, I just… I'd never asked. Was he a religion at all? Did all the beings in the Labyrinth have to be the same religion he was, simply because he was King?

But, the main question I faced was, what do I get Jareth for Christmas?

I was pondering this about one week before Christmas, as I stood in the store, staring at the pre-wrapped holiday bath sets. In particular, I was staring at the large, peach and mango scented set, loofa included. I have no idea why I was staring at them, or even contemplating them at all, really, but… yeah. Some things, even if you don't really intend to actually purchase them, just kinda stand out.

This was my third trip in which I was debating on what to get him. Third! I'd already finished my other shopping, and he was the last on my list. And, believe it or not, he'd started as first. What does one get someone who can get, make, arrange for, or conjure whatever he wants?

That was why on this trip, I had brought in reinforcements: Allie. She was really good at helping with shopping – and, if not in shopping, she could totally be a voice of reason for me.

She pulled up the shopping cart and frowned at me, "Wren… this is barely five isles from where I left you!"

My head drooped and I pinched the bridge of my nose, "I know, Allie, I know! I just… each time I see something, I say, 'oh, he doesn't need that,' or, 'sheesh, what's the point of me getting him anything at all'."

She turned her head to the side and gave me a sympathetic smile, "Ah, Wren, Jareth will like anything you give him, just because it's from you. You know that."

I sighed and looked up at her, "Well, sure he will, but… it's not him. It's me. I want to get him something he'll like, and not just because it came from me, but because he actually likes it. I'm that way about everything!" I paused in my ranting and eyed what she'd gotten in the cart, "Whatcha got there?"

She smiled and pointed to a few things, "Well, I got a few ideas for you to give him… just thought I'd hold onto them in case you wanted them… and," she went a little red, "I had a few things to pick up on my own, anyway…"

I squinted at her, suspiciously, "I thought you finished your shopping last week… or are these things you didn't want your brother to know you were getting?"

She made a small squeal and covered her face in her hands, and didn't say anything for a minute. I knew she'd gone shopping with her younger brother last week, and finished off what she'd needed to get. Her brother's gift had been purchased a week before that, when she'd been with her mother.

So… why do more shopping? I grinned. "Things for anyone I know? Maybe?"

She pulled her hands down, her face very red now, and she swallowed, "Uh, well… I just…" she sighed, "Yes, okay? A tin of shortbread cookies, a green laser pointer key chain, and the board game Sorry. It's not that big of a deal… I just thought maybe…"

I smiled as I toyed with the laser pointer, after snatching it from the cart. "I'm sure Tillan will love the cookies and have a lot of fun with this… but what's with Sorry?"

She squealed again and covered her face, though this time she spread her fingers to peek at me. "I say it a lot, when I'm nervous. When… on Halloween, when we went walking… I kept saying it. He kept laughing, saying I had no reason to be… I don't know. I thought he'd find it funny."

"Does Tillan visit you?" I asked, honestly curious.

She blushed and turned her head to the side, "Not like Jareth visits you… I mean, we're not… we're not anything like you and Jareth. We're not even a 'we'. He just… he showed up once, before Thanksgiving, to ask me some questions about the holiday and stuff… haven't seen him since…"

I nodded, sensing this topic was a slightly awkward one for her. I turned my attention to some of the other items she'd picked up in the cart: a glass chess set, a hard rubber thing for squeezing to relieve stress, some rubber-band like hair ties and gel inserts for boots.

I snickered at them, "I like your choices… but somehow, they're not quite what I want to get him, you know?"

Allie was eyeing the bath sets, a wicked grin on her face. "Hey, are you going to get a bath set for him?"

I shook my head, "No. Again, it's not quite what I want to get him."

She looked at me, "Mind if I get him one?"

"You want to get the Goblin King a peach and mango bath set?" I half snorted.

She smiled, "Oh yeah. It's funny, he'd probably like it, and… well, it's not that expensive. It's just a little gift. After the other day, I just wanted to get him something."

"The other day?" I eyed her, suddenly, "What happened the other day? Did you talk to Jareth?"

Her eyes went huge, "Um… he had a question… scared the crap out of me the way he just popped into my room like he did, nearly woke the whole house, and I almost fainted with the glitter that went everywhere,"

"It fades," I said, offhandedly.

She nodded, "Yeah, he told me it would. But, it was just a quick question, and then he was on his way, that's all. But, it still kinda, I don't know, made me feel like, hey, he thought enough about me to ask me my opinion, so I ought to get him something for Christmas."

I leaned on the basket and tapped my foot, "What did he want your opinion on?"

Her eyes went wide and she looked around quickly, "Oh, nothing, really… hey, you sure you don't want the chess set?"

Hmm. So Jareth was being sneaky. Interesting. I would let the subject drop. I was never one to dig out information from an innocent person. Knowing Jareth, he'd probably sworn Allie to secrecy, and it wasn't her fault he'd come to her, so I wasn't going to interrogate her over it.

Besides, if said information was anything to do with Christmas, I did want it to be a surprise. I love being surprised, and never, not even once as a kid, snooped around the holidays.

I tucked my suspicious look away and resumed my shopping with Allie.

An hour later, after a mega brain-storming session with Allie as we stood in the curtain isle, an idea came to me. No, it wasn't perfect, it wasn't exactly what I wanted… but then again, I didn't know what it was exactly that I wanted. Allie, though, was excited about it, and said it was perfect.

Five minutes after I found the first gift, I found something else that made me smile. But that one couldn't stand on its own – so we made a side-trip over to another department and picked up the one item that I felt made it all wrap up together.

Yes, three items, none of them too fancy or all that special on their own… but together, they were perfect.

When I'd gotten home, I wrapped the presents right away – in fact, I wrapped them in my parents room, not mine. I had the sneaky feeling that he might be watching my bedroom, waiting for me to get home or something. You could never tell with him.

So, once they were wrapped, I put them under the tree in my front room with all the other gifts my parents had sitting about, and made my way to my room.

I opened the door… and frowned. Something just… wasn't right.

Okay, do you ever get that feeling that someone has been in your stuff? Like… nothing may be missing, or anything like that, but things just aren't where you left them? I'll say the first thing that caught my eye was my shoe-rack. I, for one, am horrible with my shoes… I take them off and sit them near the rack, but I don't always put them on it, until they reach that point where they're everywhere and driving me crazy. I knew full well that I'd left them all over my floor.

Now, though, they were all neatly stacked on the rack. Um, sorta.

I may have been able to have convinced myself that I had, in fact, put all my shoes on the rack, but there was one thing that made it painfully obvious that I had not. What is it, you ask? How about the fact that not one shoe was actually sitting beside its mate. Oh, each left shoe had a right shoe, but I never once paired my dress shoe with the straps with my lace-up boot. Nor did I ever pair a flip-flop with one of my tennis shoes. My work loafers were the only pair actually next to one another – but they weren't paired together. The left one was paired with one of my green Mary Jane slippers, and the other with my gold sequined slip on.

But, they were all there, each accounted for, and very neat.

The second thing that caught my attention was my shirt drawer. I knew full well that I had left my drawer open when I had left my room. But, it was now closed. I opened it and gasped.

All my shirts had been neatly rolled up, but… Okay, when I fold my shirts and place them in my drawer, I put them basically all the same direction, facing forward, you might say. But… they were everywhere. I mean, sure, they were neat, and each rolled up nicely so that I doubted any of them would even wrinkle, but… some were parallel to the front of the drawer and some perpendicular, like some strange brick pattern.

What the heck?

I shut my draw and frowned. Nothing, at that point, seemed out of place…

I looked down, and saw a small stick. It was just lying there on my floor, a slightly crooked stick, no longer than, say, six inches or so. I bent down and retrieved it, eyeing it carefully.

Hmm. It gave me a couple more things to think about, and one more present to buy.

That night, while finishing up some writing bits I had to complete, Jareth popped into my room. I looked up at him with a smile from my computer as he made himself comfortable on the foot of my bed.

Something about the situation kind of struck me as funny, and I smiled at him, "Hi honey, how was work?"

He raised an eyebrow at me, "And to what do I owe this new, erm, honor of being compared to sticky insect saliva?"

Ew. I pulled a face, "Blech, is that what honey is?"

He shrugged, "Oh, I do not know for certain, but I am sure the dreadful stuff is derived from either that or something else just as ghastly."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Honey is good, you ninny. And it's good for you. Real good to heal a sore throat."

He began to fuss with a cuff, "If you say so,"

I hopped up from my computer. "Oh, I do." I made my way over and sat beside him. "Jareth?"

He turned his head towards me and smiled, "Hmm?"

I put my head on his shoulder and idly fussed with the cuff he'd just arranged to his liking, "Do you have holidays in the Underground?"

"Yes," he said, "We do… might I make the assumption that this line of questions is directly related to the proximity of one of the largest and most widely celebrated Aboveground holidays, Christmas?"

"You know me too well."

"Ah, that I do," he shifted and wrapped an arm around me, "And I know that you surely have a great horde of questions that are designed to slowly get you the one answer you truly wish to have. With that in mind, might I save us some precious time and directly ask you what it is you wish to know?"

I sighed. No use in beating around the bush now. "Do you celebrate Christmas?"

He seemed to ponder this question. "To a certain degree, yes," he said with a tone that informed me he had some explaining to do on the matter. I decided to let him explain before I asked anything.

"You see," he said, "Christmas is a rather uniquely Aboveground holiday, for obvious reasons. Underground, we celebrate the Winter Solstice. Now, with that in mind, do you remember times which I have mentioned Fae longevity?"

I nodded.

"I believe I have explained to you that it tends to promote promiscuity…" he coughed a little and cleared his throat, "I suppose the more appropriate term would be that it promotes boredom among many. The Aboveground and its rapid changes allow many ways to break the monotony of living a very long life. Fads and fashion trends – believe it or not, but we do catch some of them, from time to time."

"Fads? Oh man," I pulled a face, "Somehow, I find the image of you with a Tickle-Me Elmo to be highly disturbing."

He, too, pulled a face. "If you wish to keep your sanity, at any large event, never mention pogs."

I snorted.

Jareth continued, "But, as I was saying, many holidays from Above have made their way Underground. When a Fae has contact with the Above, and they find one they like, they adopt it Below. We officially celebrate the Winter Solstice, but many of our customs have been influenced by Christmas, such as the giving of gifts and the like. Also, there are many who adore things from Above-"

I smiled, "You mean, like Tillan?"

He nodded, "Yes, I do. Many like Tillan do celebrate Christmas. As for myself, I do not specifically celebrate Christmas…" he trailed off and wrapped an arm around me, "But I do many of the traditions. Are you worried of offending me, my Wren?"

I leaned into him, "Yeah. Somewhat. I… I just didn't know – but I do now. Oh," I sat up and looked at him, "That reminds me. Christmas… I know you spent Thanksgiving with my nutty family and probably wouldn't want to spend Christmas with them, but I'm still inviting you… you should meet Persephone! She's coming! She's so awesome. A bit stiff at times, because she's quite the businesswoman, you know, but she's still really great. I'd love for you to meet her."

Jareth gave me a skeptical glance, "Another sister? She does not take after Orla… does she?"

Ha! "No, no, she's not. She's Lachlan's twin, you know. Goodness, if there were ever two different people out there… aside from the slight resemblance, you wouldn't think they were twins. Lachlan is all artsy and dramatic, Perry is all business and professional. But she's still very cool. She likes David Bowie, too. Oh," I covered my mouth. I probably shouldn't have said that. It wouldn't help my case any.

He rolled his eyes, "Well, despite that fact, if she is more like you and Lachlan than Orla, then I am sure I will like her."

I removed my hands from my mouth, "Does that mean you'll come?"

Jareth gave me a placating half smile – which, of all the looks he gives me, is his worst, simply because it means his answer is no, but he doesn't want it to be… if that makes any sense.

"I do have some things to attend to that evening," he said, his smile stiffening, "but when I have completed what needs to be done, I would be pleased to join you."

I turned my head to the side, "What are you doing, Christmas Day?"

He gave a slight shrug, "The goblins adore Christmas, you see. I have yet to figure out who it was that introduced it to them – for I most certainly did not – and as the Goblin King, they want to see me on Christmas."

Aw. How cute. Thinking about a goblin Christmas was… odd, but also kinda cute. The strangest image of Jareth and his goblins came to mind… various images floated into my thoughts, each one crazier than the next. Jareth in a red and white coat, bouncing tiny goblins on his knees and asking them if they'd been good that year; Jareth lifting up a small goblin to put a star on top of a Christmas tree; and my mind began to think of him going down a chimney, but I knew that if I pursued that idea any more, I'd be in uncontrollable giggles, so I stopped there and resumed my conversation.

"Okay, that's fine," I said, "But you will come, at least for a few minutes, right?"

He gave me a wild kind of smile… one of those that is very goblin like and totally sends shivers down to my toes. "I would not miss it, my dearling, and that I promise you."

"Great…" I said, my voice wavering a little under his gaze, "That will be wonderful…"

"Wren! You need to hurry! I do NOT want Persephone taking a cab from the airport!"

I sighed and grabbed my bag. I had plenty of time – after all, we don't live all that far from the airport, only about ten minutes away – but my mother, per usual, was afraid that Persephone would get freaked if I wasn't there the moment she stepped off the plane and call a cab.

I loved going to pick Perry up from the airport. I mean, being in a big family like mine, it's always everyone all together, all the time. Persephone is always away on business, so we hardly ever see her, even though we all email a lot and all that… but because she's not here so often, we she does come, you don't get much alone time with her. And…

Not to be rude, but… I mean, I love Orla, I really do, but… Perry never used anything against me. I would say she's my favorite sister, but I don't want to say that I have favorites among my siblings. I love all my siblings. But I also love to have time with Persephone.

So, I pick her up, every time she flies in. She does have a car, and a fabulous home – a kind of Victorian-styled townhouse with it's own garage – but she keeps it all locked up when she's away, and I pick her up and take her to her house to get her car. I guess it's my thing with her. I meet her at the airport, get her luggage and drive to her place. It's my time with my sister, just me. I am highly possessive over said time, and Perry knows it.

Keeping that in mind, I know that, first of all, I won't be late, and second of all, even if I were late, she'd wait for me. Or call my cell, to make sure I was okay, and on my way.

So, yeah. Mom didn't have anything to worry about, and had no real good reason to tell me to hurry. I glared at her as I headed out the door.

Fifteen minutes later, I found an awesome parking spot and was running into the terminal to wait. Hopefully her flight was on time…

Well, considering that she was on an international flight from London, first class, with a plane full of other business people that have to be on time, I guessed it would be on time…

But, given the creature that nearly knocked me over in a huge hug, almost decapitated me with her briefcase, and also tripped on her own heels as she did so, I realized that her flight was early.

"Wren!" she almost squealed (that's an almost, as I don't think I have ever heard Persephone squeal, like, ever), hugging me tightly, "Wren, Wren, Wren! It's sooo wonderful to see you!"

I winced, but managed to hug her back, "Phooey! You almost gave me a concussion with that cinderblock you lug around!"

She let me go and stepped back, going a little red in the face, "So sorry…" she sat her briefcase down (something that would have been nicer had it been done about two minutes earlier) and smoothed out her suit and hair.

Why is it that all my siblings are beautiful, except me? Okay, okay, so I'm cute. Cute. But… Gideon and Ezekiel are both tall and somewhat regal looking. Well… I guess I think they look regal. Lachlan is shorter than the two of them, but he has that artist look about him. Orla, as I have stated on many occasions, is a beautiful Barbie doll, with her golden hair and her freakish ability to do face makeup, even under the worst of conditions. I swear, that girl could apply mascara in a downpour and still come out looking fabulous. Me? Gosh, I'm the shortest (talk about being unfair, as it makes me out to eternally be a young kid in the eyes of my family), dumpy and somewhat bland. I don't get it.

Well, anyway, even Persephone is pretty. She really is. She's not as shapely as Orla or myself (not that I have much shape to speak of. I suppose I'm spherical, though, so that's a shape), but she's taller and thinner. She's a lot like Lachlan, with the black hair that's almost wavy and fair skin. But, unlike Orla, who dresses to be fashionable and all that, Perry almost always wears a suit and almost always is in heels of fancy loafers or something very professional. Always something like that.

Once she had smoothed her shirt over she smiled at me again, then her eyes widened, "Wren," she said, "You've lost weight!"

Uh, what? I shook my head, "No, I haven't… not recently, anyway…"

She was shaking her head, "No, I've got an eye for these things… you're looking thinner…"

"We can agree to disagree," I said, "Let's go get your luggage."

Perry packs rather light for a person who can be on the road for weeks on end, so I was a little surprised to see she had quite a few more bags than usual.

She gave me a sheepish grin, "Presents," she said as we each hauled one towards my car.

I lugged the heavy one over a lump in the airport carpet, "Gosh, what did you buy? Big Ben?"

She laughed, "No, but I'll tell you, customs wasn't easy to get through. I barely skimmed through with some things, but it was worth it."

It wasn't easy, but we did manage to get the stuff into my small car and get out of the airport in one piece.

As we were driving, I looked at her again. "How can you just be wearing that suit? Aren't you cold? I'm cold… I can't go anywhere without my sweater and scarf!"

She laughed closing her eyes a little, "It's warm here compared to New York and London, Wren. I just spent three weeks in London, and two in New York before that. Both places are covered in snow… here? Sheesh, the sun is shining."

I laughed, too, "Well, it's still cold, Perry."

She waved a dismissive hand at me, and changed the subject. "So, you know Lachlan and I email all the time, and talk as often as his phone plan allows, right?"

Hmm. I had a feeling of where this was going. "Yeah, I know." My voice got stiffer than I had planned. She gave me that, 'come on, I'm your sister, and he's my twin' kinda look (okay, so perhaps that's not a look you'd be familiar with unless you have a big family like mine). I sighed.

"Yes, I know, Perry," I said, trying to sound friendlier, "So, you talk to Lachlan… what has he told you?"

She smiled, "Oh, I just heard that my baby sister has herself someone special, now."

"You and the world," I muttered. "I'm going to strangle Lachlan. He's been telling everyone."

Perry nodded and gave a little laugh, "Aw, don't be too upset with him. If he didn't tell me things, I wouldn't know anything that happens while I'm away, and you know I hate being out of touch. And," she added as if something just occurred to her, "He's excited for you, you know."

I scoffed, "I beg your pardon?"

She shrugged, "Okay, so he wasn't all that thrilled at first, but then he started telling me how happy you are, and I heard about how things went on Thanksgiving. After that, he's only had the nicest of things to say."

Really? I hadn't thought to really talk to Lachlan or anyone else about what they'd thought of Jareth on Thanksgiving. Honestly, I didn't want to know. I knew Leyla liked him, but that was all I knew. Mom and Dad had told me they thought he was interesting, but with them that could mean almost anything, so I'd just not pursued it. Part of me was afraid of what they'd say, and part of me wanted to be ultra defiant and say that I didn't care, because it didn't matter.

Because in all truth, it didn't.

But hearing that Lachlan was okay with him now? That was interesting. It suddenly made me curious as to what everyone else thought.

"So, you gonna tell me about him?" she asked, interrupting my thoughts.

I blushed, "He's wonderful," I said, "His name is Jareth Kendricks…" I went on to explain the basics. It was better if Persephone heard all that job stuff from me, instead of asking Jareth in front of my whole family, where he might not get all the faux details the same as he did before. Yes, he was Goblin King, but he had a terrible problem with either having bad memory or issues with a highly selective memory. It was hard to tell, sometimes.

After I'd finished telling her all that I could, she smiled. "Aw, how sweet."

I went red, "What?"

She shook her head, "Ask me again, before I leave, so you can't hurt me."

I frowned, but shoved that strange comment off to the side, to think on later. I needed to focus more on my driving.

Before I knew it, it was Christmas Eve. I was thrilled. I love Christmas Eve. My parents were going to some evening Christmas concert that was open to the public, down at our city's convention center. They go every year. I declined their offer to join them, and stayed home.

As soon as they left, I raced to put on It's a Wonderful Life – which I can't watch with them home because my Dad thinks it's depressing. I had the DVD all set to go, when there was a pop behind me.

I screamed and turned around, shocked nearly out of my skin. I recognized a Fae presence, but knew instantly that it wasn't Jareth.

Thank goodness I did know who it was. It was Tillan.

He looked very worriedly at me as I leaned over the couch, trying to catch my breath and to stop shaking. "Wren, did I frighten you?" he asked.

I looked up, "Um… yeah… you did…"

He nodded, "Ah, I do apologize for the fright. It was not my intention to do so."

He was polite enough to give me a minute to recover. Once I was no longer shaking, I looked up at him, "Hiya, Tillan… what… um, why are you in my living room on Christmas Eve?"

He beamed at me, "I came to consult with you."

I frowned, "Consult? What does that mean?"

He motioned to the cushion on the couch next to mine, "May I?" I nodded, and he took a seat. With a quick cough to clear his throat, he withdrew a package. "Wren, for some time now, I have been pondering the propriety of giving an item of value, but little consequence, to one who would have great appreciation for it, but whom I have had very little contact with. I was hoping to receive your thoughts on the matter."

"Uh, can you dumb that down for me, Tillan? You want to do what?"

His dark eyes blinked a few times, "It is Christmas, and I have a present, but I am not certain that it would be proper to give."

I grinned, "What is it, and who's it for?"

Okay, so I didn't know Tillan that well, but I was certain that he was blushing. "A book, for Lady Allie, on ancient Fae and Elven languages."

I shook my head, laughing a little. When he looked at me strangely, I did what I could to sober and leaned over and patted his hand. "Tomorrow evening, go take it to her. She'll love it."

He nodded his head to me and smiled, "Under your advisement, I shall. I thank you, Wren."

"Any time, Tillan," I said, then thought of something. "Oh! Hey, Tillan, could you do me a favor?"

He watched me curiously as I scrambled up and ran to the Christmas tree. "Of course, dear Lady," he said, "What would you ask of me?"

I dug beneath the presents (which were for my nieces and nephews, you know) and found the one I had hidden, next to Jareth's. It was small and round and wrapped in brightly colored paper with a bright gold bow on top.

I returned to Tillan and held the present out to him, "Um, I think Jareth is busy with the goblins tonight, so I don't want to go disturb him, but could you be sure he gets this? Well… maybe you know who this is for, so you won't have to, but…"

He raised an eyebrow at me, "Deliver a gift? Whoever is it for?"

"Squyshee. Do you know him? He's one of Jareth's favorites."

"Ah, the one who's rather enamored with you. Yes, I have heard of him. Rather small one, isn't he?"

A giggle escaped my throat, "Yeah, he's kinda small. But this… ah, this is just something I thought he'd like. From the King's Lady."

Tillan nodded solemnly, "He shall receive it."

"Thank you."

I was up rather late watching first It's a Wonderful Life, followed by a rather large line of other Christmas films. My parents got home eventually and so I retired to my room, where I fell asleep on my journal as I was writing in it. An hour later I woke up and put myself in bed, properly.

I could have slept for much longer than I actually did. When we were all little, we always got up at five in the morning, but… now that I'm the last in the house, I sleep pretty late. Well, not that late, but usually until eight or nine. My parents still like to see me open my presents, but I don't mind waiting until the rest of the family comes. I open a couple and then eat breakfast with my parents then hurry to get dressed before I'm bombarded with the kids.

So, I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I woke up to a very happy squeal and something sitting on me.

"Gah! What?! Who's there!" I stammered as I struggled to open my eyes. My clock read 6:30…

My sleepy ears could only register squeals… then, finally words registered and my eyes focused on what was going on.

"King's Lady! King's Lady! Yous the bestest Lady ever!"

"Squyshee?" I blinked, seeing a very small goblin with a funny little cap on his head and droopy ears sitting on me. His eyes were huge and his mouth was smiling from ear to ear, almost literally, clutching something in his hands as though it were gold.

And he had a gold bow stuck on the top of his cap.

Sitting up and moving him a little so he was sitting beside me rather than on my ribs, I said, "I see Tillan delivered my present."

The goblin nodded so much that the bow popped off and landed in my lap. I picked it up and put it back on for him.

"Oh, King's Lady gaves a present to me! I is the luckiest goblin ever ever ever! And," he peeked down into his hands, "It's the prettiest thing I is ever seeing! 'Cept the King's Lady!" I laughed and rubbed my cheeks, which had gone rather red, and he held it out to me with a cute smile, "And see? Nows they match! They're both all red!"

In his hands was a shiny red yo-yo. It hadn't been very much at the store, but I figured he'd love it.

"I'm glad you like it, Squyshee."

His eyes were huge, now, "You's the nicest Lady!"

I patted his head, "And you're the nicest goblin," he started to shake his head and say he wasn't, but I turned away and looked around my room, specifically at my shoe rack. "Someone was sure nice enough to come and put all my shoes and shirts away…"

He got very quiet and smiled.

I reached over and grabbed the stick from my dresser, "And whoever it was left this behind."

He grinned up at me as he took back his stick. Feeling brave, for me, I quickly reached over and gave him a hug, which made him squeak. "Merry Christmas, Squyshee," I said, "Now, you had better get back before the King notices your gone."

He nodded, and hopped to his feet, then paused, "Mally Crickofast, Lady!"

And with a pop he was gone. I shook my head, laughing to myself. Then, my pillow began to call me again… perhaps I could get some more sleep before Mom and Dad woke up…

"Wren?"

I sighed, "Oh well. No rest for the wicked. Time to get up!"

In no time at all, the Neilson house was filled to the brim with… well, Neilsons. Heh. Oh, and piles of wrapping paper. Can't forget the wrapping paper.

Gideon, Julie and their kids had come again this year, as her parents had gone to Bermuda on a second Honeymoon or something like that. Ezekiel, Ruth and the twins were also there. Lachlan didn't have any place else to be, though Nokomis was spending the day with her family, and Orla had been the first to arrive.

My family Christmas parties are always loud, raucous things. After the presents are opened and dinner is served, the night goes into a kind of dancing party… we put on music (no television, thank you very much) and just have fun together. Ruth and Julie love it because it's about the only time of year they can get their husbands to dance.

Orla kept watching me – I just know she was waiting for Jareth to come ­– but she spent most of the time chatting with Ruth.

Persephone was also keeping her eye on me… out of curiosity, I know. Finally she pulled me aside, "Hey Wren, when's your beau coming on by? I'm dying to meet him!"

Something tickled in the back of my head, and I snickered, "I think he's waiting for Orla to leave… She all but threw herself at him last time."

"Oh dear," Perry said, somewhat seriously. "Well, I hope not… she doesn't look like she's ready to leave any time soon. And," she added, "How would he know if she's here or not anyway?"

I shrugged, quickly trying to think of something to say. Luckily, I received a nice distraction by Leyla, who climbed up in my lap with her new stuffed Reindeer that had a funky tuft of hair on top. I have no clue where my mother finds odd things like that.

"Hey baby," I said to her, bouncing her, "Whatcha got there?"

She held it up to me and smiled, "Reth!"

"Reth? Cute name."

Leyla sat it down and looked at me, shrugging, "Ren, where Reth go?"

I picked up her reindeer, "Here he is, silly."

She shook her head, "No, no… Reth!"

I frowned, "Huh? He's right here," I shook the reindeer in front of her, "See? Here's Reth!"

She squeezed it and began to slide off my knee, gibbering about something I couldn't understand, "Reth abbadear notta beeka Reth…"

Perry laughed at the exchange. I stood up and shrugged, starting to make my way to the kitchen. Faintly, though it was hard to hear over the music my mother was putting on, I heard the doorbell ring.

I whirled around, "I GOT IT!" I nearly screamed and dashed for the front door.

I opened the door and was instantly swept off my feet. I squealed and let Jareth spin me around – I had no idea why he was so happy, but I wasn't about to complain. When he sat me down, I squeezed him tightly. "I was beginning to wonder if you would make it or not," I muttered against his chest, which was clad in a red button-up.

I felt him lean down to my ear, "I would not miss it, if for no other reason than to spend time with you and to see…" he pulled up, "Leyla!"

The little girl squealed and came running, her arms outstretched and eager to be picked up. Julie scoffed, good naturedly, "Well, how do I like that? Whose kid are you anyway?"

Jareth had to quickly let me go to grab Leyla as she gibbered happily. He picked her up and twirled her as eagerly as he had me. Once he had settled her in his arms, I pulled him in the doorway and led him inside.

My parents popped their heads out from the other room long enough to say hello and wish Jareth a Merry Christmas, as did my brothers. I had no clue where Orla had gone to, but I think Lachlan had taken her out to the music for a dance. I promised myself I'd thank him for that, later.

"Perry! Where'd you go?" I hollered.

"I'm right here," she said, coming around the corner. Her eyes spotted Jareth and she quickly looked at me. I grinned from ear to ear at her expression. She was the first of all my siblings to look impressed. Impressed! Not shocked or incredulous or whatever, but actually impressed! I was thrilled.

"Persephone," I said, "This is Jareth Kendricks. Jareth, this is my sister, Persephone."

Jareth extended the hand that wasn't holding Leyla towards Perry, "The final sibling," he said with a smile, "I am pleased to meet you."

Persephone reached out and shook his gloved hand, an odd expression on her face. She was looking at Jareth with a very discerning eye… I gulped. Perry was big business, and she wouldn't make it at all in what she does if she wasn't able to read people well. I found something about the way she watched Jareth to be off-putting. It wasn't mistrustful or with longing, but it was just…

Basically, it was the first time someone in my family had really looked at Jareth beyond the basic face-value we gave them.

"Nice gloves," she said, her voice polite as ever, and her face now unreadable. "And I'm very pleased to meet you, too. Please, call me Perry, or Sephy, or... ah, something less formal, please."

He started to say something, but was interrupted by two things – one, was Berty, who suddenly pulled Perry away, begging for a game of chess, and the other was Leyla, who suddenly just had to show Jareth her new reindeer.

Jareth waved to Perry as Berty dragged her away, and then he turned to Leyla. "And what is this?" he asked, eyeing the stuffed toy.

She giggled and completely shoved the reindeer in his face. "Litta Reth adda beeka Reth!" she laughed.

He peeked at me from between reindeer horns in his face, "How lovely," he muttered.

I giggled, "Gosh, Jareth, that reindeer has the same hair that you… oh!" I covered my mouth. "Leyla named the reindeer after you!" I burst out laughing. "Little Jareth and big Jareth! Ahahahaa!!!"

He looked at Leyla, "Your auntie is mental."

Leyla giggled as she wiggled the reindeer in his face again. I raced to my room for a moment, looking for something. I returned a few seconds later with what I had been searching for… "Here! This… oh my gosh, this makes it perfect!"

I reached up and put my headband with reindeer horns on his head. Hee! If looks could kill… but Leyla loved it. She hugged him, and her reindeer, and pulled on the headband horns…

Jareth merely raised one eyebrow at me, letting me know that if he were not holding a toddler in his arms, he would probably have something very rude to say to me, indeed. To change the subject, I took his hand and moved to a relatively empty corner of the living room, where I could give him his presents.

Leyla was now gibbering to her reindeer, barely noticing either of us. So, I reached under the Christmas tree and retrieved the three gifts. "Merry Christmas, or Solstice, or whatever," I said as I handed them to him.

He sat down on the corner of the couch, Leyla on one knee, and I sat beside him. On his other knee, he balanced the gifts, and plucked at the bows. He looked up at me, "These are for me?"

I nodded, "I wouldn't have given them to you if they weren't."

With nimble fingers, and a little help from me (because, hey, a toddler on one knee tends to complicate things, doesn't it?), he began to open them. First came a cookbook. He gave me a strange look at this, but I shrugged and he laughed heartily and hugged me tightly. Second was a cookie sheet… this seemed confusing to him until I explained what it was for. He was very excited. Those had been the two gifts that went together, really.

Finally, he picked up the gift I was most nervous about him opening. It was smaller than the others, but, to me, was more special. His long fingers deftly removed the small box and opened it, revealing a pocket watch.

Okay, so not the most fancy of things, and I was certain that he didn't really need it, but… it was a watch of my time. Twelve hours, not thirteen. It was simple, not very fancy at all, but I thought it was pretty.

I watched as he ran his fingers over it, lifting it and examining it. He clicked the latch that opened it, and he gazed at the inside of it, seemingly amused.

When he looked at me, I suddenly felt silly for it. I started to stammer and say something, anything, but he reached up quickly and stroked my cheek with his free hand – a gesture that spoke to me without words, saying I needn't feel foolish, that he did love it.

I wasn't sure how he did it, especially one handedly, but when I looked down he had pressed a box into my hands. I didn't know where the box had come from – I suspected magic had a hand in it.

Oh, it was beautiful. A box about six inches square and two inches deep was wrapped in dark, shimmering paper and elegantly wrapped with a silvery silk ribbon. Carefully, I pulled the ribbon from the box and the paper… well, at my touch the paper practically fell away on it's own accord. It revealed a black box. I cracked open the box and peered inside.

Curling about on a small white cushion was a necklace of interesting design. The pieces were of a pearly blue hue, and they were thin and long… but most eye catching were the beads, if you could even call them that, that were down near the middle. There were five of them, each hanging downward, but… they were shaped like leaves. And, under closer inspection, I noticed…

"Shell?" I asked quietly, in awe. "This is made of shell? I… wow. Jareth, this is gorgeous… where did you get this?"

"I commissioned it," he shrugged.

"You… what?" my mouth fell open. "You commissioned this? Just… just for me?"

He reached out and began to remove it from the box, "Well, I could have created one for you, as I did your ring, but I know of these shells and how lovely they are, and thought perhaps a commission would be more appropriate. These shells are somewhat rare, you know." He lifted it carefully and draped it around my neck – again, I'm not sure how he managed to get it on me with one hand, but he did manage it, all the same.

I was feeling slightly misty eyed. "Rare? What kind of shells are they?"

He gave me a secretive smile. "Moon shells, hence the blue hue," he said in a low tone that only I could hear, "From Lake Lunari."

I threw my arms around him, really without thinking, and kissed him. Melody and Harmony, Zeke's twins, let out squeals of disgust. All the rest of my family members who were near enough to see what the girls were squealing at, laughed and snickered or, as was the case with someone (I have yet to figure out who), a cat-call. Oh, and Leyla covered her eyes.

I went redder than I have in a long time, and sheepishly hid my face, and a groan, in his shoulder. Jareth, though did not seem to be embarrassed by this in the least. Instead, he gently sat Leyla down, stood, pulled me up, gave me a wild smile (which, for what it's worth, sometimes serves as a warning for his mischief), and, in one great sweep, dipped me over backwards and gave me a big kiss.

Not as showy as he's done in the past, but for that I was thankful – we were, after all, in front of my family, and the last thing he needed to do was give my parents a reason to dislike him.

Oh, it had been some time since he'd kissed me like that… when he sat me back up on my feet I swayed slightly, and my face was flaming.

Lachlan, who had just come in, gave a whistle (distinctly different from that first one, so I knew it hadn't been him), and Orla, who was just behind him, looked highly confused and even a little miffed, if I wasn't mistaken.

Jareth chuckled as he reseated himself down on the couch. I sat down beside him and slapped him across the shoulder, playfully. Leyla had climbed back into his lap, even though he was now perusing his cookbook, and I put my head on his shoulder.

The instant I did, he shifted. One leg crossed to balance both the book and Leyla, so he might wrap one arm around me and pull me close.

"You like your gift?" he asked, idly, browsing through the cookie section.

I nodded, "Yes, I do."

"Then I am glad," he said, softly. "Merry Christmas, my dearling."

I fingered the necklace around my neck gently and snuggled closer into his arms, "Merry Christmas, Jareth."

Reth the reindeer suddenly became smushed between Jareth's face and my hair, Leyla giggling madly.

I snorted, "Aren't you glad you came, Reth?"

I watched his gaze travel from the stuffed toy to where Orla was huffing about across the room. He smiled, showing off his teeth, "Oh, that I am, Wren. That I am."

Well, everyone, I offer you my very sincere apologies for not having this up sooner. I had intended to have this on Christmas Eve, but unfortunately, this writer got a terrible cold two days before Christmas, which made writing coherently near impossible.

You have my apologies if my semi-loopiness, induced by one too many cough drops, shows through what I've written.

I also want to thank you all for supporting me and this fiction. Several of you have continuously been faithful in reading and reviewing this, and I can't say enough how much that means to me, especially since this fiction is non-JxS. I appreciate all of it.

So, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday (regardless of which holiday you celebrate) season, and I wish you all the best, and a very Happy New Year.

Much love,

Marti