It's our first Christmas together, for Kerri and I, but she won't tell me anything and neither will Justin. No clues, nothing.  

I know she's had nothing short of relationship hell since she began dating and it almost got as bad as when she had been living in Orlando. I'm happy to help her heal from her past and move on; showing her what real love and a positive relationship is. She's also taught me a few things about a good woman, a faithful and honest one as well. She's definitely a fighter, that's for sure. 

I'm sitting in her living room, glancing around for clues, but all I'm finding is a bunch of unoriginal thoughts. I know she said she said to be original and creative, but I can't think of a single thing. I hear her footfalls as she ascends the steps from the basement. "You won't find much here," she tells me. 

"I found that out already, Kerr." 

I turn around to wrap my arms around her waist and find she has a huge box marked Christmas Stuff in her looping and swirling cursive. I take the box from her and place it by the bay window, taking her into my embrace and quickly kiss her lips, an idea coming to mind. Of course! It makes sense. She loves to write and often listens to a multitude of music as she does.  

I zip around, locating my shoes and jacket, kissing her again on my way to the door. "Where's the fire, JC?" 

"No fire; just an idea for your gift, or part of it at least. I'll be back as soon as I can be and help you with setting this all up. I should be back soon, maybe around dinner time," I inform her, smirking. 

"I don't like that smirk. That's also half a day away!" she shouts after me, the door softly clicking closed behind me. 

I raced all the way home, down into the studio and picked up my acoustic guitar, beginning to work on this portion of the gift for her. My phone rings and I know Justin's ringtone by heart. "What's up, Justin?"  

"My sister tells me that you took off after saying something about part of her gift?" 

He sounds confused, but I'm not telling him much. "Yeah, I had a good idea and I'm running with it." 

"What would that be?" 

I silence the guitar strings by placing my hand over all six. "I know if I breathe a word of it to you, you're going to turn around and tell her. I'm not telling you shit." 

"But I thought we're friends," he pouts, playing the guilt card. 

"Nope, fuck you. You ruined Valentine's, Easter, and her birthday; I refuse to allow you to ruin her Christmas." 

"But, Jaaaaccceeee," he whines into the phone as I write down a few lyrics and notes. 

"No way I'm telling you shit because you're going to fuck it all up, Justin. I gave you three chances to not tell her and you couldn't keep your big fucking mouth shut!" 

He huffs his disagreement. "It's not my fault that she threatened to set my entire collection of kicks on fire in the fire pit out back!" he defends, aware that she knows how to torture the answers she wants out of her brother. 

"She can torch them because you can't tell her if you don't know." 

He gasps and disconnects the call. I check the time on the phone's display, eleven hours to go. I have to have this part of it knocked out in ten hours, get through rush hour traffic and back to her house by five. 

I get it done with an hour to spare, written out entirely and a rough cut recorded, and I'll beat the rush hour assholes back to her place. On the way there, I grab her and I coffees because it's decoration time. I hid the evidence in my safe and locked my studio so nobody can get near it, even Justin. I walk in and see Justin on his knees on the patio through the glass doors leading to her backyard. I walk through the living room and kitchen, exiting to the yard. I sit at the table as I watch her hold his favorite pair of Jordans over the fire pit, chuckling softly to myself. "Kerri, he wouldn't tell me anything, I swear!" 

"Tell me what you know and I will hand them back to you," she threatens, focused on her brother. 

"I promise, I know nothing!" 

"You weren't kidding, J." They both look at me; his eyes filled with sadness and hers filled with shock. "Baby, give him the shoes. He knows nothing because that's what I told him." 

She crosses the yard and drops them on his head, laughter quietly bubbling up from my chest. "I wouldn't really do that to him," she claims, but I know better. 

I give her a disbelieving look. "I know you better than that." 

She folds her arms and pouts. "You're evil," Justin hisses at her. 

"I'm not telling you, either." 

"But, Jace," she begs. 

"No, mami." 

"Can we at least decorate for Christmas?" 

"That I promised you we would do once I came back and I even got you a coffee for it." 

"Oooh! Pumpkin spice!" she happily announces as she smells it. 

"I know my beautiful girlfriend and her holiday habits."  

"Awww," she coos, brushing her lips against mine. 

"Gag me," Justin mutters and gets kicked in the shin by Kerri. "Oww!" 

"Let's kick this holiday decorating thing off." 

She leads the way as I get up, Justin waiting for me to start following her. "You would've let her burn them," he whispers his accusation. 

"Shut up. Granted it would be highly entertaining to me, but I know how it feels because of how my sister is." 

"I miss her. When will she be here?" 

"I don't know," I reply, smirking the same as I had before heading to my place this morning. 

"Liar." 

"I'd rather not have sugar shoved up my nose." 

Justin chuckles a moment. "Enough with the bromance." Kerri hasn't met my sister, Oshannie, yet. Yeah, I mean little Jazzy.

"Is your youngest sister coming this time?" 

"I can't say," I answer as honestly as I can. 

Justin fires off a text faster than I can see who it's to. "I guess I'm gonna have to find out from her myself," he explains, aware that she's not going to bother telling anybody else jack shit. 

Once it had all been set up, she realized that it's two days before Christmas and she had to finish her laundry list of people to shop for. I refuse to work on the gift anymore than I had, wanting it to be all emotions bared. I already did all my Christmas shopping by the time Black Friday had ended, proud of myself for having it done so early compared to every year before this. I only have to get her red, white and yellow roses to finish my gift for Kerri. 

Oshannie flies in tomorrow and is going to help me pick out the roses, upon her insistence, and is willing to help me finish setting it up on the green bedding set I'd bought last month once I helped her set something up for Justin. He's going to be staying at Kerri's all of Christmas Eve because we're having Christmas at his house with his family and mine, but that was on our moms' demands. When Lynn and my mom team up on the four of us, we have absolutely no say in the matter. Tyler and Heather were coming anyway for the holiday, so they lucked out on the mom double team guilt trip.  

"Joshua?" 

"Kerri." 

"What are you getting me this year?" 

I slowly move my head to allow my eyes to fall to hers as we watch Nightmare Before Christmas for zillionth time this month. "Nope." 

"Nope what?" 

"I'm not telling you because it's going to ruin it." 

My phone screams the nickname Baby Chasez gave me and I pick up. "Hey, Oshannie." 

"I am in LA. Where am I going?" 

"Justin's sister, Kerri's place." 

"Uhhh, Sunset?" 

"No, the road behind it." 

"The back road, that's right. Forgot." 

I chuckle. "You would. How long?" 

"Twenty to half." 

"Works." 

"Date?" 

"You're a day ahead." 

"It's the night before Christmas Eve?" she groans. 

"Yes, Oshannie." 

"Whatever. The traffic was horrendous! I need to be away from Florida for a week." 

"What happened?" 

"Tell you when I get there and then we have a few things to do tomorrow." 

"I know. See you soon." 

She grunts and hangs up. "Jazzy's coming?" 

"Yeah, she should be here shortly." 

"How soon?" 

"Within half an hour." 

Kerri jumps off the couch faster than I can react, darting around as she begins muttering to herself. I turn to kneel on the couch, resting my head on my forearms and watch her in amazement. "Do you know her favorite color?" 

"Kerr, she doesn't care if you cater to her; she would actually you not and just treat her like you do everyone else around you." 

"What in the holy hell is her favorite color?" 

There's a knock at the door, prompting me to get up and answer it because I know who it is. I immediately receive bear hugs and a smack to the forehead. "You must be Kerri, the amazing person who makes my oldest brother happy everyday by putting up with his shit. Don't worry about my favorite color, just put a set of sheets on my bed and I'll make it later. I'm just like you; I'm human and I just want to spend time with you and my friends and family. Don't worry about appeasing me. Please, don't worry." Oshannie guides Kerri to the couch as she tugs on my shirt to make us sit together again. "Oshai, sheets?" 

"Linen closet at the left of the top of the stairs from the basement, diagonally across from the bathroom." 

"Thanks, Oshai." She begins to walk off, realizing what movie we had been watching. "No way! NBC?" 

"Yeah. Make the guest room bed and we'll restart it." 

She squeaks, zipping off to make her bed in the only guest room Kerri has. "I'm lost," my girlfriend confesses. 

"If you could see her memorabilia room, you'd understand." 

Justin walks in, sans knocking, and does a double take at the car parked beside mine near the door.

"Is that car the one I think who I'm thinking of?" 

I laugh. "Éist suas!" Oshannie orders me. 

"Tá do bhuachaill an- mearbhall ag iarraidh má tá an carr a cheapann sé a chiallaíonn go bhfuil tú mise anseo," I explain. 

I hear her come bolting from the guest room, tilting my head back to view this scene. She runs full speed at Justin and jumps as he realizes it's her, catching her at the last second. Her mouth crashes into his and they mutter between themselves. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Kerri shouts, waving her hands around. "You mean to tell me that my brother's long distance girlfriend is your sister?" 

Justin sighs. "You're special, Kerri. Yes, his sister and my girlfriend are the same woman."

Justin and Oshannie have spent more than a day together and we're on the way to his house for Christmas dinner, Lynn and the rest of our families have been there for the past three days already. His mom and mine have been cooking since yesterday. When I say our moms go all out, that's an understatement. We pull in the driveway and look around. Oshannie and I had brought all the gifts here last night, aware that our counterparts would've tried to peek at their gifts if we had brought either of them along. "We should get inside before our parents send out search and rescue teams for the four of us," Oshannie jokes, obviously nervous. 

"How long has it been since the last time?" 

She winces. "Close to a year." 

"Oshannie," I softly scold her. 

"I worked all year, bouncing between artists like I did before." 

I sigh. "You did keep in touch?" 

"Duh!" 

I shrug, my head rocking from side to side. "Then it doesn't matter." 

We head in and both of our entire families are thrilled to see us, embracing us tightly with nothing but warmth and love. A day filled with food, love, family, friendship, and good times is well worth all the trouble we went through to be together. I know that one gift for Kerri remains at my house. I yawn, stretching. "Joshua, are you tired?" mom asks me. 

"It has been a long couple of days since Sam got to Kerri's house." 

"Who?" Kerri demands, whispering in my ear. 

"Oshannie," I whisper in response. I look at everyone and smile. "I think Kerri and I should head out. I have a gift for Kerri at my house before we head over to her place." 

We take our time getting to my house and get inside. She follows my lead and looks at me with confusion in her brown orbs. "Why are we going in your studio?" 

I smile and lead her downstairs, her slightly smaller hand grasped by my own. "Your gifts are down here." 

"Why?" 

"It's the best place I could hide them." 

I sit her on the couch. "What now?" 

"Close your eyes and no peeking." 

She does as I request and I grab her roses and play the song, having set it up last night with my sister's help. "That song is beautiful." 

"Open your eyes." 

It's been fifteen minutes of her ranting and raving about how nice and original it all was, loving the flowers and song most. Her lips crash into my own, the pressure intense and I know that they're going to be swollen from the kiss. "I love it all; almost as much as I do you." 

"I have one more gift for you," I inform her, dropping to one knee and pulling out a karat and a half white gold diamond ring with a blue sapphire in the center. "Will you be mine until forever is over?" 

She gasps, tears welling up in her eyes, her hands covering her mouth. Her head rapidly nods. "Yes!" she chokes out. I slip the ring on her left ring finger and she hugs me tightly, giving me another heated lip lock which knocks me onto my back with her on top of me as her body moves in ways that drive me wild.  

"Kerri, oh, shit." I can't think straight. 

She begins stripping and before I can stop myself, I'm joining her in nudity. "I love you." 

"I love you, too, Kerri." 

Her mouth and mine tango, moans escaping us both. I slowly and painstakingly slide down her body, kissing as I do. I flick my tongue over her button, quickly latching my mouth to her treasure box before she can do more than jump. She continues to moan, her fingers weave through my hair to hold me in place as she gives in to her inner most desires. My left hand slowly creeps up her thigh and over her hip, giving me the chance to expertly maneuver her button to make her crazy for it. I slowly push my mushroom tip into her treasure box, her teeth keeping hold of her bottom lip as she sharply inhales and envelopes me with her legs as she pushes me in further with them and pulls with her inner muscles. It always feels amazing when we make love, mainly due to the emotional end of it all. I have only felt this way toward her. We seem to go forever, her legs making me stop every time either of us gets close to euphoria just to keep it at bay for a little while longer. I press my body as close to hers as I can possibly manage, wanting to feel every inch of her on each inch of myself. I finally remove my thumb from her button, allowing her crest to come naturally. I begin kissing paths from either side of her neck to the breast and nipple on the same side, gently nipping and sucking along the way. When we explode with euphoria, she gushes and we are both violently shaking from the force of it. I drop my face into the crook of her neck as she winds her arms around me tighter than they had been the entire time we were cherishing our physical displays of triple x love. She kisses my sweat soaked hairline at my temple. "I could deal with that for the rest of forever because I love you." 

"I would hold you every night just to be able to have you for the rest of eternity." I kiss her mouth, brushing my fingers down her completely exposed side to make her shiver. 

"I don't think either of us can handle another round at this very moment." 

I nod. "You're right. As much as I want to, I'm completely drained from it." 

"We're totally sober unlike the first time." 

We share a good hearty chuckle at that memory. "I like it better when we're sober." 

"Feels better." 

"Well worth being sober." 

"Merry Christmas, JC." 

"Merry original Christmas, Kerri."