A/N: Again, I must say I'm so sorry that this is taking forever. I keep telling myself to stop dawdling and get this story finished. It's bizarre to think that I was gonna get all of this posted in a month, and here it is almost a full year later and I'm still working on it.

Anywhos, this chapter revolves mostly around food and the family environment of activities that happen (at least some in my family) around this time of year. I am an avid baker and cook! One of my favorite places in my house is the kitchen; it's pretty much the main hang-out for everyone in my house. We stand around the counter, have a few drinks and talk while we listen to music…that is unless we're all around the television playing Kingdom Hearts heh heh!

Disclaimer: Have to mention that I don't own any of the Kingdom Hearts characters or products used. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: Come Together

Xion, Namine, Xaldin, & Zexion

Axel and Roxas turned and waved to Aerith as she drove the sleigh down the drive from the Castle. Exhausted, but happy with their afternoon, they linked fingers together and began to walk up the large stone steps.

"Well, that was fun" Roxas smiled towards Axel

"Yeah" the tall redhead nodded "But I am ready to de-Santa myself and relax for the night"

Roxas nodded as the bells in his hat and feet jingled playfully "Same here. How about some popcorn and a few hours of video games?"

Axel let out a chuckle. "Sounds like a plan…but you know I'm gonna school you in how to get a high score"

"Ha! No way Axel!" Roxas shouted with a laugh as they each placed a hand on the large wooden door and pushed it open.

"You're on Roxy!" Axel grinned as they stepped into the warmth of the castle.

"On to what?"

Roxas and Axel turned their heads to see Demyx and Zexion sitting on one of the large sofas near the fireplace. Zexion had a book in his hands and Demyx was slouching against him holding a blue fish stuffed animal to his chest.

He sat up straight and watched as Axel and Roxas began to take their cloaks off and hang them. "What are you guys up to?" the dirty blonde asked.

"Gonna play some video games in my room" Roxas said as he pointed his thumb in the direction of the stairs. "Wanna join?"

Demyx turned to Zexion and asked "Can I Zexy? I mean, we can finish the story later. Unless you want me to…"

"No it's okay Dem" Zexion held up a hand as the other closed the hardback chapter book and placed it on the arm of the couch. "Go and have some fun. I should probably see if they're ready for me in the kitchen any way"

Demyx smiled before leaning down to kiss Zexion light on the lips. "Meet me in my room tonight?" he asked in a whisper and grinned even wider as Zexion nodded yes.

He stood from the sofa quickly still clutching his Dory stuffed animal and ran to join Axel and Roxas as they began to make their way up the stairs "I call the blue controller!" Demyx yelled as he sprinted up the steps taking them two at a time.

Zexion shook his head and laughed lightly. He just loved all the manic energy that Demyx seemed to have at times. He heard a loud clang and what sounded like a profound word come from the kitchen and decided that that was his cue to help. As he stood up, he grabbed his book and walked quickly over to the fireplace mantle, placing it back on top before turning to walk towards the kitchen.

"This stupid device infuriates me! It mocks my intelligence!"

He heard yelling as he stepped into the busy room.

"It's just a blender Vexen. It's really not that complicated"

Zexion watched as Xion walked over to Vexen and removed the large cylinder containing some kind of dark red concoction. Vexen had some of whatever may have been in the container splattered all over the front of one of his white lab coats, and did not look happy about it.

"But it refuses to obey me!" Vexen shouted as he pointed a finger at the device

"Obey?" Namine turned with a large box of assorted vegetables in her arms and raised a blonde eyebrow. "Vexen, it's a blender. Not a robot"

"Yes. But when I press the button marked 'puree'…" he reached to push it.

Xion squeaked and grabbed his hand before he could, as she had placed the filled container back on the device, but it didn't have the lid on. It seems that Vexen had misplaced that, in other words…thrown it across the counter.

Vexen sighed and pulled his hand from Xion's. "But it doesn't even want to blend!"

"Okay Vexen" the blonde turned to find a hand on his shoulder "How about we let Zexion take over for you now"

Vexen looked up to see that it was Xaldin that was speaking to him and he nodded once before turning and slapping the side of the blender.

The slap had been harder than he had intended and it sent a shock -wave of pain through his fingers and palm. Zexion shook his head back and forth as he grabbed an apron and tied it around his waist. He stepped up next to Namine and watched as she sorted through the vegetables on the table clearly trying to ignore the chaos behind her.

"Why is Vexen even in the kitchen?" Zexion leaned over and asked her softly.

Namine sighed loudly and placed another container of grape tomatoes with its partners on the table. "Marluxia asked us to keep an eye on him while he ran an errand for Xemnas" she huffed in an annoyed tone. "After the whole fruit cake incident in the basement, he doesn't want him to be alone"

"Well, that kind of makes sense" Zexion said as he watched Xaldin escort Vexen from the kitchen, the blonde still nursing his hand and glaring at the blender.

"I guess" Namine said tossing a bag of celery with the rest "But we have way too much to get done before tonight, and I don't have the patience to babysit"

Zexion watched as Namine seemed to be throwing the vegetables now. "Whoa, Nam. Chill." he grabbed one of her wrists before she could throw another bag of baby carrots across the table.

"What?" she asked looking up at him in slight shock.

Zexion placed his other hand around the bag of carrots and pulled them from her fingers. "Maybe you shouldn't be doing a job that requires knife work right now" he looked down at the cutting board and sharp knife that sat near the end of the table.

"But I…" Namine started

"I got it" Xaldin came up behind them and reached for the knife. "I left Vexen with Luxord and Xigbar to play some cards"

"Thank you!" Namine and Xion said in unison

Zexion chuckled "Was it really that awful?"

Namine turned and felt Zexion release her wrist "You have no idea. I swear, he might be brilliant in the lab, but that man in the kitchen in a nightmare" she sighed loudly and pushed a strand of her bangs back from her face.

"Maybe you need a break" Zexion said and rubbed Namine's shoulder lightly.

"But there's still so much to get done before tomorrow tonight" Namine said exasperated while she looked around the kitchen.

"We can handle it Nami" Xion said with a smile as she cleaned the last of the red concoction from the blender and placed it back on the stand.

"Yeah. The turkeys and ham are already seasoned and all the potatoes are prepped" Xaldin said as he placed another stock of celery on the cutting board.

Namine looked around at all the concerned eyes of her friends. "Okay. I guess I could use a break"

"Have some hot cocoa and relax for a bit" Xion smiled at her and walked towards the refrigerator.

"Alright" Namine nodded. "But only for like an hour, then I promise I'll be down here to help some more"

She untied her apron and handed it to Zexion and watched as each of her friends waved at her as she headed out of the kitchen and towards her bedroom. She had the mindset to draw some of the beauty outside the Castle as the snow sat silently on the world below.

They watched as Namine slipped from the kitchen before Zexion turned towards Xion and asked "So, where will I be of most use right now?"

"Um…" Xion wiped her wet hands down the front of her apron as she gazed around the kitchen. "I guess you could peel eggs for the deviled eggs, which might take a little while"

"Considering Namine boiled up four dozen" Xaldin commented while he continued to chop vegetables and pile them neatly onto the trays in front of him.

"I'm going to try and salvage what I can of the cranberries that Vexen didn't kill in the blender" Xion said reaching for a large container of the dark red berries.

Zexion nodded and walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door to find 4 cartons of eggs stacked. Each marked as 'Hard Boiled' in Namine's elegant handwriting. He pulled the cartons from the fridge and turned to place them near the sink.

"How about some holiday tunes?" Zexion asked reaching his hand up to flip over the switch on the radio.

"Oh, yes!" Xion said in a gleeful tone "Vexen turned it off when he came in. Said it was interrupting his thought process or something like that"

"He gets so weird around the holidays" Zexion said as he began to lightly crack eggs on the side of the sink and rinse the white shell from them under the soft running tap.

"Tell me about it!" Xaldin chuckled. "You should have seen all the 'experiments' I found in his lab after Halloween" he shook his head at the memory "Those poor candy bars never stood a chance"

The trio laughed as Xaldin retold the story of what he had discovered and each fell into a comfortable rhythm of their task at hand while traditional holiday songs merrily came from the radio atop the refrigerator. Time seemed to fly by as each moved easily around one another chopping, peeling and stacking trays with all sorts of tasty treats for the next night's dinner. In no time almost everything that was needed to be done was marked off the list taped to the fridge.

Namine stepped into the kitchen holding her sketchbook and looked around at her friends as they sang or hummed along with the radio and prepped assortments for dinner. She saw the list on the fridge and smiled.

"Wow" Namine said walking towards the list. "It seems you're almost done" she opened her sketchbook and pulled light on the piece of paper on which she had completed her snowy artwork. Namine plucked a magnet from the door of the fridge and pinned her picture of the pine woods surrounding the Castle to the silver surface.

"Oh, hi Nami. Are you in a better mood?" Xion turned and asked with a smile as she placed green and black olives onto a relish tray.

"Yes, much better. Thank you" Namine said turning from the fridge with a smile. "What else do you guys need help with? The list is almost all checked off"

"Well" Xaldin said picking up one of the large vegetable trays now covered in plastic wrap "We need to start putting some of these trays in the fridge and since the one in the kitchen seems too small, we'll have to put them in the large one in the basement"

"With the lock" Zexion said with a grin as he picked up another vegetable tray and a separate one filled with sliced cheeses and assorted crackers.

"Yeah" Xaldin said as he rolled his eyes

"Which is a little sad to have to say" Xion piped in as she topped off the last of the olives and reached for the roll of plastic wrap.

Namine started walking towards the door that led to the basement and reached for the handle "Here guys, let me get the door for you"

"Thanks Nam" Zexion smiled and began to walk towards her. Xaldin nodded and waited as Xion handed him the olive tray before he followed Zexion down the stairs.

Namine waited until she saw them both make it to the bottom of the steps before she turned and walked back over to where Xion was beginning to arrange several different kinds of pies on the counter.

"Do you think we need to put all of these in the fridge?" Xion asked as she eyed all the desserts.

"Well the apple, pumpkin and peach should be fine…as long as Demyx doesn't wander into the kitchen" Namine said with a chuckle and watched as Xion laughed and nodded. "But anything that needs whipped cream should go into the refrigerator"

Xion picked up a couple of the pies and headed for the fridge. "The deviled eggs are already filled, thanks to Zexion, and all the veggies are cut up" she said as she slid the pies onto the top shelf of the fridge "Xaldin is a whiz with a knife and cutting board!"

"So all that's really left?" Namine asked

"Is the hot stuff to be made tomorrow" Xaldin said coming up the basement stairs and into the kitchen.

"Everything put away?" Namine asked

"Yup" Zexion said stepping up behind Xaldin and closing the basement door "And it was a tight squeeze with two turkeys and a large ham already in there"

Xion closed the refrigerator and turned towards her friends "I hope we have enough for tomorrow night"

"I'm sure we will" Xaldin said as he untied his apron and draped it over one of his arms. "If you guys don't mind, I'm gonna head out and play a few rounds with Xigbar and Luxord before we call it a night"

Namine nodded "Yeah, we can handle cleanup"

"Zexion, you can go hang out with Demyx if you want" Xion turned towards the slate haired teen and grinned.

"You sure?" Zexion asked untying his apron "I mean, I can help with the cleanup if you need me to"

"Nah. We got this" Namine said moving towards the sink and beginning to pile up the bowls as Xion cleared the counter and table surfaces.

"Okay. Well I probably won't see you girls until tomorrow" Zexion said as he walked over to the wall near the entrance of the kitchen and hung his apron on a hook.

Xion and Namine waved to Xaldin and Zexion as they walked out of the kitchen.

"See you guys then. I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve!" Xion squealed and clapped her hands together.

The girls loaded as much as they could into the dishwasher before they stood side-by- side and washed the rest by hand, singing along to the radio the whole time. When the dishes were all cleaned and put away they hung up their aprons and sighed in relief.

"What a long day" Namine sighed as she flipped off the light switch to the kitchen and they walked out towards the main room of the house.

"Yeah, time to relax" Xion said with a smile and watched Namine nod in agreement.

"So, now what should we do?" the blonde asked as they stopped in front of the fire.

"Well, it's too late and dark to do anything outside" Xion said

"Plus it's too cold" Namine said rubbing her arms as if she was chilly.

Xion thought for a moment before she gasped and clapped her hands together. "You wanna go watch Christmas movies in my room and paint our nails?"

Namine nodded with a smile "Sure. And maybe play a few games too"

"Let's raid the snack cupboard first and get some junk food!" Xion giggled

"Yeah! Maybe there's still some cosmic brownies left!" Namine said as she felt Xion grip her hand and tug her towards the back of the Castle.

~xoxoxoxoxoxox~

All was seemingly quiet in most of the Castle as everyone enjoyed their activities that night.

Roxas, Axel and Demyx all crowded around the television in Roxas' bedroom on bean bag chairs as Zexion lounged on the bed and read a book quietly, glancing up now and then to watch the screen when someone got excited.

Xemnas and Saix sat curled up in the den and watched some of their favorite holiday movies together, a bowl of popcorn sitting between them.

Namine and Xion sat on Xion's bed and giggled as they painted each other's toenails. The sounds of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' playing around them and a small pile of goodies sitting on the edge of the bed.

Luxord, Xaldin and Xigbar sat around a table in the game room, each holding cards in their hands and contemplating their next move.

Marluxia had finally returned home and was now sitting in Vexen's room as the blonde read aloud from one of his favorite holiday stories. The pinkette was tending to the few small potted plants that Vexen had in his windowsill.

It seemed that Larxene and Lexaeus had stepped out some time that day to hang out with Leon and Rinoa and had yet to return.

All was well with the world as the night set in and a light snow began to fall. Eventually, everyone found their way to their own bedrooms and tucked in for the night.

~xoxoxoxoxoxox~

The next day found all members of the Castle moving around busily. The morning had gone as usual; breakfast around the table with light conversation. Seems that Larxene and Lexaeus had slipped in around 2 a.m. and still seemed a little groggy at the table. Xemnas tried his best to explain to Vexen what the purpose of a blender was, as Saix tried to hold his composure and not roll his eyes at the plain silliness of Vexen's ordeal.

By mid-afternoon, Namine, Xion and Xaldin were back in the kitchen to finish up preparations for dinner that night. This time Roxas and Marluxia had volunteered to help them with the rest of the cooking. The savory smells of turkey and sweet ham filled the kitchen as the five of them moved around each other.

Mashing potatoes. Mixing gravy. Prepping stuffing. Seasoning casseroles, and checking off the to-do list. They all worked like a cooking symphony.

"If we keep this pace, dinner should proceed right on schedule" Namine said with a smile as she placed a check mark next to the task of mixing the punch. She was placing the container back into the fridge when she heard Xion talking to Roxas.

"You did remember to give Cloud and Tifa our invitation, right?"

"Yup." Roxas nodded his head once "Handed it directly to Tifa"

Namine closed the fridge door and turned to talk to Roxas as well "Did the children like their gifts?"

"Oh yeah!" Roxas said with a wide smile. "They were excited about all of the different treats. Yuna and Rikku even made them little booklets with their names on them to put their stickers in"

Xion turned to Namine and held her hand up for a high-five "Christmas at Seventh Heaven was a success"

Namine slapped Xion's palm with a smile as Roxas said "And just wait until Christmas morning when they get to open all the gifts from Xemnas and Saix"

"How on earth did they know what to get for all the children?" Marluxia asked holding a large metal bowl to his hip and mixing it with a wooden spoon.

"Well" Roxas said turning towards Marluxia and watching as Xaldin listened in "Besides from doing Secret Santa, Cloud and Tifa got the kids to sit down with someone and write a letter to Santa that way they could give the list to Xemnas. Aerith said Tifa was almost in tears when Luxord and Lexaeus dropped off more presents then they had written down"

"I bet" Namine said

"Tifa cares for those kids so much. She'd make a really great mother" Xion said with a smile.

Everyone agreed that Tifa was one of the best mother figures those kids could ask for. Even little Marlene whom she now considered to be one of her niece's, since her father Barret was usually away with work related jobs. Cloud ran his delivery business from the attic and was often away for days at a time. After Denzel had come to them and Tifa had found little Via wandering the streets, she decided to turn her bar into a shelter for children, and shortly after that the rest had made their way to her doorstep. Tifa and Cloud had always been like family to the Organization and they were more than happy to help in any way possible. Most of the kids even considered some of the guys their uncles.

A loud beeping sound snapped everyone back to their tasks as Namine rushed to the oven and pulled the door open. Reaching for the large spoon on the counter, she dipped it down into the turkey pan a spooned some of the juice over the top of the bird.

"This is looking great guys" she commented as she did the same to the second bird before closing the door.

"And it smells amazing in here" Xaldin said from where he was piling dishes into the sink.

Xion and Roxas both inhaled the air and sighed happily before they started to laugh.

"In a few hours it will be time for the party and then tomorrow is Christmas!" Xion squealed and bounced on her toes.

"Okay. Well with the turkeys, ham and casseroles in the ovens, and everything else ready to heat" Namine said removing her apron "I think we have time to get ready and make sure the table is set"

"Well considering we left the decorating to Larxene and Demyx, it should be quite a display" Roxas said as he copied Namine's movements and pulled his apron over his head.

"This is gonna be so much fun!" Xion said as she hung her apron with the others

"I'm looking forward to it" Marluxia grinned as everyone started to exit from the kitchen.

"Yeah, let's just hope that Luxord doesn't spike the punch again this year!" Xaldin said with a smirk.

Everyone was laughing and talking about the strange events that occurred the year before at their annual party as they made their way through the Castle and up to their rooms.