I walked silently into the new bedroom at Tempest Point.  She had no idea I was here, not with the music blaring on the punk albums I’d got from the vintage record store.  I’d given them to her earlier when the team celebrated Christmas.  They seemed to be acceptable as she danced around, trying to figure out where she was going to add the what I think were vintage old punk concert posters from the 80s and 90s that Henri had tracked down and given to her.

She looked amazing with her crazy purple hair sticking everywhere, and the Silver Spider T-shirt that she had already hacked the sleeves off of, and shortened, and well, nothing else.

I watched for several minutes, her scents of clover and cigarettes, the perpetual whiskey, washing the room as she gyrated.  Heat flushed my body.  So much energy, so much caring, so much joy, even with the sadness and pain she had suffered, not least of those the teleportation powers she loved so much.  William’s incredibly kind gift of the armored suit helped, and I would never be able to thank him for his generosity, although right now he had it back in the shop from the damage it had taken in the battle against the UDP, where she had almost died again.  I’d lost it then, fighting much like a berzerker in some of those video games they liked to play.

With a murmured command, Apex turned the power off to the vinyl record player, and it was just as entertaining to watch her screech at Apex, before she finally saw me.  Her jaw dropped open when she looked at me.   Santa Claus hat…..and a long Rudolph the Reindeer sock strategically placed. Plus, the skin and scales that I showed only to her.

“Hey, there Santa Snake.  Happy to see me? Or just looking for a place to park your lead reindeer?”

She sashayed her way across the room, and the heat…….from her eyes, from her pores began to overload me with sensations.

I maintained just enough control after she kissed me, and grabbed the reindeer sock, “I got somethin’ for ya baby.”

“Oh, I know, and I know just where I am going to put it too…..”

“No, I mean, yes, but….something else.  Merry Christmas!  This is the real gift…….”

She seemed flustered for a second as she took the box, but her scent gave off a gleeish vibe that I recognized.  “Open it before we play hide Rudolph.”

She stripped the paper from the box, opening it, and pulling out the jewelry.  I’d call it a choker, and I guess it was.  Black and silver, with hints of pearl, and a purple amethyst, a fiery orange garnet, and dark red ruby and last, a dark, almost black emerald.

“I know you like to wear pretty much all black ones, or black and silver, but, I thought you might like this one.  I had to buy the stones of course, but…..I made the rest of it.  Took awhile, even with Apex converting the original metals.”

For once, she seemed at a loss for words but weakly got out, “Original metals?  What do you mean?”

“Well, the stones, of course, yer birthday, mine, plus Green for Ghost Venom and Purple for the hair of Gleam Shimmer.  And…..well, the original materials are from the bullets and the Colt .45 my Dad carried in Vietnam.  The one I always thought about using……ya know, until I met you.”

Pain filled my voice…..”I got a long way ta go….but, I wouldn’t be here without ya, an’ well, I love ya for it, for bein’ yerself, for bein’ with me.”  I paused, swallowing.  “Can I put in on ya?”

For a minute I thought she was going to say no, but then one slow tear leaked out of her eye, and then she nodded.  I slowly brushed her long purple and black hair out of the way, and clasped it snuggly around her neck.  “Go look!  Ya look amazing, even with that stupid Spider shirt.”

She ran into the bathroom, and then I heard her say, “Apex, put Jingle Bell Rock on, the cover by……” she mumbled somthing, as if her head was buried. Then she screamed, “Cuz we’re going to rock this room all night long.”

When she strode out of the bathroom, she had the choker on, and nothing else.  “I love you too, Santa.  I’ve had this gift waiting for a whole year for you, big man.”  I caught her as she launched herself at me.