Going back to the White House for Christmas was an entirely different spectacle than it was for Thanksgiving. No, everything was done up for Christmas. There had been little decorations up for Thanksgiving, but everything was done up positively expeditiously for Christmas.

Tex looked at Rachel and Rachel nodded. "The White House always decorates for Christmas, regardless of who is in the White House," She told him and she went inside like it was nothing, like this was a regular house, and not someone's twisted version of a Christmas tree masquerading as a house.

"I see, Tex is back again," Her dad, the president and his boss said.

Rachel pushed an elbow into his ribs, gently, so as not to scare the secret service. Which was good, because his job was to protect Rachel. And their job was to protect the president. And getting in a several on one fight, it didn't sound fun.

"Tex has a job." Rachel said. "If he wants to do that job on Christmas, then we are not ones to stop him. Besides, I thought you liked Tex. You're the one who keeps insisting that I need someone to protect me."

Her father stopped talking about him in such a weird tone after that. He guessed that she was really trying to make sure that he had a good Christmas. Although, what that looked like, he wasn't really sure. He'd never particularly had any good christmases growing up, at least ones that remembered. His folks tried, but they were just busy trying to keep the roof over all their heads, and Christmas was one of the few days of the year that they didn't have to keep grinding over and over.

Tom looked at him with a smile. "She's stronger," He said, without looking directly at Tex. "I suspect that you may have something to do with that,"

Tex shook his head and looked at Rachel with a smile. "No, that's all her. She's just as feisty as usual."

Tom didn't look like he believed that answer and Tex knew why. Tom was not dumb. There had been that thing with the tie that he interrupted at Thanksgiving. And Rachel had been making more and more of a statement with her aim to feed every child a Christmas meal. It had started locally, just in the town where they were going to college in, but it got picked up by magazines and quickly grew into a national campaign with Rachel at the center of it. Tex was always by her side. A little too close for someone who was just bodyguarding, no one else would probably notice, but Tom, he definitely would.

It was too soon to tell though, according to Rachel. Which was fine by him. He enjoyed the privacy of the moment, even though he was literally caught by cameras all the time and people wondered who he was. Thankfully, he kept a fairly low profile and most of the answers came out that he was her bodyguard.

"So you're staying with us the entire Winter break?" Tom asked.

Tex shook his head to that question too. "No, I'm going to go to New York City for the ball drop. I'm meeting a couple of friends there," He told Tom. "You'll have to take good care of our girl."

"She know that?" Tom asked with a smile.

Tex nodded and gave Tom a grin. "Yeah, she knows that. And she's gonna be hell on you, just remember that."

He stopped standing around with Tom and went in to give Mrs. Scott a big hug. Mrs. Scott had made him feel the most welcome the last time they were here and she did just the same this time, giving him a big hug back.

"We're delighted to have you, Tex. Rachel can take you back up to your room. You're okay with that aren't you, Rachel?" Her mother asked.

Rachel nodded and gave him a smile, which he shook his head at a little bit. He didn't want her to get any sneaky ideas about how they were supposed to be in the White House. Here, he still had a role to play and he wasn't about to jeopardize that because she wanted to have a little fun with him. As much as it sounded like a good time, there were still too many people who might have a different reaction to their coupling than they would back at college. No one there cared that much. Not that they had told many people.

He supposed he should tell Danny. And tell Danny who she actually was. He had lied to the man and he didn't feel great about that, but it wasn't exactly his secret to tell. Still, there had always been an honesty between them that it still felt like lying.

When they got up to the rooms, Tex looked at her. "You know, I think Tom is onto us," He said.

"Did he say anything?"

"No," Tex replied, "But I think we have to be careful here. I like my job. I like you. And I want to keep being able to do those things, so we just…"

"...have to be careful," Rachel said as she pushed some of his hair behind his ear and smiled gently to him. "I get it," She said. There was a little sadness in her voice. She'd been excited by the whole clamor of the season. They'd been able to be free and be themselves for so long, that it felt strange coming back into darkness a little bit. "Well, then I'm sure you'd like the Christmas tour," She said to him.

The Christmas tour wasn't exactly his style, but it meant that she got to show him public and private displays that were put up specifically for the holidays and it was something she liked. If it made her happy, he would do it a thousand times over. Plus, she did most of the talking during the tour and gave a million different hints as to what she might like for Christmas, a thing he hadn't fully picked out yet.

He only wanted to get one present for her, a sign of the propriety he was still trying to maintain, but he wanted it to be a good one. And listening to her talk all day certainly wasn't a bad way to find some of those things out.

Mrs. Scott looked amused by the whole thing too. He wondered what exactly she might be amused about, but he decided it wasn't worth asking. Let the woman who so graciously let him into her home have her secrets. It's not like they all didn't have secrets.