"Is there a Christmas tree in the fish tank?"

 

"Yeah!"

 

JC Chasez leaned over peering into his fish tank. His two fish, Ginger and Vador, swam around contently; seemingly ignoring the new decoration. A bright green ceramic tree with red, blue, silver and green balls on each limb. On top was a bright gold star.

 

"Why?" He wondered what had happened to the sunken pirate ship that used to occupy that spot.

 

"Because it's Christmas!" Rebecca exclaimed as she came out of his kitchen wearing a red and green apron that proclaimed, 'Santa doesn't count calories'. "You said I could decorate." She held out the black spatula that yielded a sugar cookie straight from the oven. "Careful, still hot."

 

"I did say you could decorate," JC took the cookie from the spatula. "Ow ow ow!" He hissed tossing the cookie back and forth between his hands until it was cool enough to take a bite.

 

"I told you they were hot."

 

"It's perfect," JC said sticking the rest of the cookie in his mouth. It was a perfect combination of softness and warmth. It almost melted in his mouth. "When I said you could decorate I wasn't expecting you to decorate my fish tank though. Please don't tell me you got them a stocking...Becca..." he said slowly, drawing her name out.

 

Rebecca giggled as she turned on her heal and headed back to the kitchen to finish taking the rest of the cookies from the cookie sheet and put them on the cooling rack. "I did not get them stockings. That's just stupid."

 

"Oh thank God," JC breathed a sigh of relief of relief. He stood behind Rebecca, brushing her blonde hair away from neck before he leaned down pressing a kiss to the newly revealed skin, causing her to squirm and hunch her shoulders.

 

"That tickles," she giggled. She tried concentrating on moving the cookies but it was hard to do with JC kissing her neck. She put the spatula down and turned in his arms. Wrapping her arms around his neck she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his lips. "Welcome home."

 

"Good to be home," JC pulled her closer to his body. His hands splayed on her hips holding her against him. For the past month he had been in Mexico City shooting a movie that would end up being shopped around at upcoming film festivals in hopes to be purchased for national release.

 

"You're just in time to help me frost," Rebecca kissed him once more before shooing him toward the table where she had different colors of icing and an assortment of sprinkles.

 

JC reached to pull her back into his arms but she spun away and slapped his behind playfully with the spatula.

 

"Frost now, play later."

 

JC sighed dramatically and took a seat at the table. He reached for the bowl of green icing and a sugar cookie shaped like a tree.

 

"You'll be okay," Rebecca laughed.

 

"I'm afraid to see the rest of the house since you turned my fish tank into a festive dome."

 

"It's not like I wrapped garland around their tank and sprayed it with canned snow."

 

JC stopped mid stroke and stared at his girlfriend's back. "Please tell me you didn't actually do that."

 

"I didn't actually do that."

 

"Becca..."

 

"I sprayed canned snow on the fish tank."

 

JC shook his head, a smile teasing his lips. "You're serious?"

 

"I had it all done, just along the bottom and at the top on the corners," Rebecca explained. "I was staring at it and they rose from behind the snow and just stared at me. They weren't swimming around or anything, just staring at me. I quickly wiped it off and went to PetSmart and found that tree. They seem to like it better." When she met JC's eyes, she started laughing.

 

"You're nuts," JC said chuckling.

 

"I swear it happened!" Rebecca held up 2 fingers. "Scouts honor."

 

"You were never a scout."

 

"I kissed one when I was eight."

 

JC snorted, "I don't think it works that way."

 

"No? Man... I've made a lot of scout's honors in the last twenty eight years," Rebecca said with a smile playing at her lips. She looked at him over her shoulder, her blue eyes sparkling. "Don't tell anyone."

 

"Your secret is safe with me," he chuckled.

 

She turned the oven off, leaving the final batch of cookies on the cookie sheet. "Jesus JC; if you keep that up, you're going to be decorating these cookies next Christmas!"

 

"What's wrong with it?" JC asked leaning back to look at his decorated tree. The cookie was slathered in green then he dabbed a little of each color here and there for the ornaments. The top of the cookie was yellow for the star and the bottom square was brown for the trunk. It almost looked like the tree that was currently sitting in his fish tank.

 

"Overkill," Rebecca sang.

 

"You don't like my tree?" JC through it looked pretty damn good. It had been years since he had frosted cookies.

 

"I think it's beautiful," Rebecca leaned down and kissed his cheek. "But if you decorate all the cookies like that, you're gonna be sitting here working on them next Christmas."

 

"Maybe we shouldn't decorate," JC took a star cookie and dunked it into the blue icing before taking a bite. "We should just dunk them."

 

Rebecca started at JC appalled. "Are you insane?"

 

"I didn't know you take your cookie decorating seriously."

 

"Very." She took a seat next to JC and started decorating cookies. A Christmas station played softly in the background filling the silence.

 

"It's a good thing we pushed back our Colorado trip," JC said, licking the frosting from his finger before grabbing another cookie. This time it was a candy cane shape. Despite what Rebecca had said earlier, he pulled the red and white frosting bowls closer to him and set about making a striped candy cane.

 

"Why's that?" Rebecca smiled softly watching JC decorate the cookie. He was completely focused. It was cute. This was one of her favorite traditions - decorating cookies. Before moving to California, she'd do it with her grandmother, mother, aunts and cousins. It was a 'woman thing' her father called it as they would leave for her grandmother's house on the Saturday before Christmas each year.

"They got hit with a huge snowstorm."

 

"Would have made the slopes fun."

 

JC shook his head. "Not this much snow. It's pretty much shut everything down. People were being rescued off the roads... houses were buried in drifts."

 

Rebecca curled her lip. "Yuck. They can keep it. It will be cleared by New Year I hope."

 

"Oh, I'm sure." He had planned a Colorado ski trip with Rebecca and five other couples during the Christmas and New Year holidays. When the opportunity for the movie came up, he wasn't sure when shooting would be done so they had to push back their trip. Everyone was slated to meet up the weekend after New Years for two weeks of skiing and snowboarding fun at a Rocky Mountain ski lodge. He was anxious to hit the slopes. It had been a couple of years since his last ski trip.

 

"I can't believe I let you talk me in to this trip," Rebecca said. "I've never been skiing before. I'll probably end up spending most of the time on my back."

 

JC's head snapped up and he grinned at Rebecca and her choice of words. "Some of the time."

 

"You're such a man," Rebecca rolled her eyes. "You know what I meant."

 

"I told you I'd teach you. It will be a piece of cake. You'll get the hang of it in no time."

 

"Well just in case, I made sure my insurance premiums were paid and everything was up to date."

 

"Are you doubting my abilities to teach?"

 

"No," she shook her head. "I am doubting my ability to defy gravity and stay upright on two sticks."

 

JC laughed, "I'll have you ready for the X-Games."

 

The conversation lulled as they set about decorating the cookies; knocking a lot out. Christmas music played around them and JC found himself humming along with the songs as they came on. 'Silver and Gold' by Burl Ives ended and it went into the next song without commercial.

 

"'Christmas,'" Rebecca sang softly along with Darlene Love.

 

"'They're singing deck the halls,'" JC joined in. "But it's not like Christmas at all. Cause I remember when you were here and all the fun we had last year.'"

 

"I know it's the holiday season when I hear that song on the radio," she said when the song ended and the radio went into commercial.

 

"Really? I always assumed that didn't happen until 'Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays' came on."

 

"Well... that song is good and all," she said with a teasing glint in her eye. "But it doesn't come close to 'Baby Please Come Home'."

 

"I'm hurt."

 

"Sorry Baby," she leaned over kissing him lightly on the lips. She tasted the sweet frosting he'd been sampling. "Not that that isn't a good song, but Darlene Love... I think I want to hear you sing it again," she said with a wink.

 

"What? That was nothing, just messing around." He felt the blush creep up the back of his neck and warm his face. "We did have fun last year though. The song..." JC explained further when Rebecca sent him a confused look.

 

"Ohhhh," she laughed softly as she remembered the line in the song. "Yes. Last year was pretty fun."

 

Last year, they had spent the holidays in New York City. They had walked Central Park with a light snow falling around them. They checked out the tree at Rockefeller Center. Even took in The Nutcracker on Broadway and saw the Rockettes. They even went to a street fair! It was hard to pick out her favorite moment of the trip. The cold, the snow, the lights, Christmas; it was all so magical. Which was definitely cliché.

 

"I still can't pick my favorite moment from that trip."

 

"Same," JC agreed. "I never really saw New York that way. It was great to just be a tourist."

 

"Can't wait to see what Colorado brings. Besides snow. It will be fun to hang out with everyone though. We've all been so busy, hard to get together."

 

"Well I hope it brings a lot of time of just us... alone."

 

Rebecca's eyes met JC's and it was her turn to feel her face warm with a blush at the look in JC's eyes. She didn't feel like decorating cookies anymore. "You know, I think I know my favorite part from New York."

 

"What's that?" JC sat the half decorated cookie down on the table. He had a feeling they were done decorating for now. He leaned back in the chair opening himself up as Rebecca stood.

 

She reached for his hand and pulled him up. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he hands settled on her hips. "Remember that night when it was just too cold to go out and do anything?"

 

"I remember that night," JC murmured, his hands skimming from her hips to the small of her back where he pulled her closer. "Spent the whole night under a blanket in front of the fireplace."

 

"How about we see if we can't recreate that?"

 

"It's eighty degrees outside."

 

"We'll turn the air conditioner way down and pretend it's snowing outside," she ran her fingers through his hair at the nape of his neck and brought his lips to hers. "We'll get a head start on Colorado." She whispered against his lips.

 

JC took Rebecca's hand and led her into the living room. He stopped momentarily at the thermostat and dropped the temperature. He grabbed the fireplace remote from the mantel and in seconds a fire was going. When Rebecca was done spreading the blanket out on the floor, he took her hand bringing her back to him. Reaching out, he cupped her cheek with his free hand, rubbing his thumb back and forth. He licked his lips before ducking his head, taking hers in a soft kiss.

 

As they sank to the blanket on the floor, the fire reflected off the fish tank where a ceramic Christmas tree sat buried in the bright colored stones.