Okay, I know its been a long time but I've got a really good chapter for you :) Its faxy

"No! but mommy, I want a candy cane." A little kid squealed from in line.

"Um…miss, can we have a candy cane? Miss?" the mother all but yelled at me. I walked over to where they were in line and handed the brat a candy cane.

I was stationed at the end of the receiving line just after Santa to pass out candy canes to little kids.

Why was I here? Barley dressed and dealing with bratty little kids? Well its simple, I needed some extra cash for Christmas presents and when I got to the mall to look for a job there was a sign saying Santa's helper's needed apply within.

And so I did…yay. Now I'm wearing a skirt that comes about mid thigh and stocking that came to my knee, I swear one wrong move and the entire mall is going to see up my skirt I feel so out my element. The little kids didn't seem to have a problem with it but every once in a while you get a teenage boy and things go south.

"Well, well, well, looks like someone's found the perfect job shortie" Iggy said from behind me.

"I'm not above violence" I said to him just as my boss walked by.

"Ah, ah Maximum. Santa's wonderland is a place of happiness; and the bigger the smile and the happier the kids; are now apologize to this customer." My boss said, he was middle aged and he looked a little more like Santa than Santa does.

"I'm very sorry sir" I said through clenched teeth at Iggy who was now rolling with laughter. Ella, and Nudge were right behind him and I could see Fang with Angel and Gazzy lost in the line that stretched around the mall.

As soon as my boss left Iggy went back to tormenting.

"Well, I'd say that Santa's little helper might just get a little raise this year" Iggy said motioning to my obnoxious costume.

I was just about to slap him but Ella beat me to it.

"James Ignatius. How dare you? Come on and leave Max alone, were going to get a pretzel" she said pulling him away and just in time too, Nudge had just gone into a lecture on how candy canes give you cellulite.

"Bye James!" I called over my shoulder as I went back to passing out candy canes to undeserving little children.

I was just about to take a break when two very familiar blond heads walked up to Santa.

"Santa?" Angel asked in her sweet well angelic voice "I've been really good this year and please all I want this year a puppy" Oh boy….this isn't going to end well. "And you see my big brother?" she asked pointing to Fang. Santa nodded and she went to whisper in his ear.

"Ho, Ho, Ho little girl I'll see what I can do but that's a tall order" he said. His gaze flittered to me and I shifted uncomfortably. I sent Fang a 'what the heck' looks but he just shrugged. Seems he didn't know anything either.

Gazzy didn't sit on Santa's lap but he did tell him he wanted a new football so he could play like Iggy and Fang.

As soon as they were done they came over to me and took a candy cane.

"Hi Max!" Angel said sweetly wrapping me up in a big hug.

"Hi sweetie."

"Hey, Gazzy." I said, he hesitated for a second I rolled my eyes and have him a hug. It seems he was at that age when you weren't a kid but you weren't yet a teenager….the awkward age.

"Why don't you guys go run into the toy store and we'll go find Iggy soon?" Fang asked the kids and they ran off to the toy store expertly located across from Santa.

"How are you?" he asked me.

"I'm good." I said with a smile. "My feet hurt and I feel stared at but that's alright"

"You are being stared at," he said referring to the gangly thirteen year old who had just walked by and couldn't take their gazes off me. "How's your head?" he asked brushing my hair aside and fingering the scar on my forehead.

"Its okay, just a little sore" I said truthfully. Its hard to believe that just a few weeks ago I was laying in bed but sadly you have to face reality and go back to school which was fine, I got a lot of sympathetic looks and everyone seemed so helpful which really drove me insane. But everyone seemed to have a general hatred for Sam and when the principal found out he was expelled.

"Good" he smiled one of his killer half smiles, his dark shaggy hair flopping over his dark eyes. "What time does your mom want us over tomorrow?"

Um…tomorrow is, oh yeah Christmas Eve duh. My mom was throwing a Christmas Party for all her friends and family that wanted to come and on the guest list was of course the Parkers. And Iggy.

"I think she said around seven."

"Okay, good. See you there." He said as he went off to find the kids.

"Ride!" my boss called sending me into a tizzy of red and white candy and 'ho ho ho's' well, at least the pay's good.

Christmas eve. A huge leap from the one I had had last year. Last year I was forced into a ball gown and heels to go meet and greet people whose name I would forget in an hour anyway.

But this year, I felt at home. I know that sounds cheesy but its true, my mom decorated the house and was hosting a Christmas eve party with friends from work, friends from the C.S.M (my mom's environmental research group) and of course the Parkers and a few others.

"Max!" Angel squealed before dashing behind my legs to hide from Gazzy. "He's chasing me….with a spider!" she said practically crawling up my leg. I picked her up and set her on my hip like a baby.

"A spider? Now what's so scary about a spider? It won't hurt you." I said as I brought her into the living room where some casually clad doctors sat on the couches talking quietly.

"Well, it crawls and it's tiny."

"You crawl and you're tiny" I said making her giggle.

"Do you think Santa's going to get me a lot of presents?" she asked

"Well have you been good this year?"

"I….I think so. I've been trying really hard." She said her face scrunched up in concentration. "I asked Santa for a puppy. Oh I hope I get my puppy." She said with a yawn.

"Well there you are" Fang said from behind me. "Mom's going to take you kids to bed now" he said to Angel who looked like she was about to fall asleep here in my arms.

"Aw I don't want to go! You don't have to go. It's no fair" she said in defiance.

"Yeah, but I'm older and besides Santa won't come if you don't go to sleep."

"Oh that's right" she said giddily. "Well, I guess I have to go now Max." she said crawling out of my lap and going to grab Fang's hand. "Will you come open presents with me tomorrow?"

"I think I could swing that. I might have to bring Ella is that okay?" I asked her.

"Yes! Then we can open presents all together like one big family" she said with a gleam in her eye. Yeah Angel sure, one big happy dysfunctional family.

"I'm going to go help my mom with the kids, I'll be right back." Fang said as he took an equally sleepy looking Gazzy out the door.

Fang confuses me, I mean I'm sure I confuse him just as much but still I don't know what to think anymore. I mean he's my best friend, he saved my life quite literally and now I think I like him. I mean the way he talks and seems to speak in riddles and how he always knows what to say to make me believe or forget or just feel, happy. Which I never expected when I moved to this tiny little town.

I got off of my couch and walked to the kitchen and got a glass of water. I could hear Christmas music playing somewhere in the background and I smiled inwardly. I tried to take my thoughts off of Fang but almost everything seemed to remind me of him.

I stared out the kitchen window and smiled, I remember the day I moved in and he was sitting in the principals office, and the time he had a bonfire in his back yard and we put on a show for his guests. The time we fell asleep watching movies and when he asked me what my 'type' was. I was pulled out of my reverie by his presence.

"It's pretty" he said referring to our back yard. The whole yard was dusted with snow and past our pool my mom had decorated our gazebo with millions of sparkling Christmas lights. The big pine trees bordered the woods behind our house had been decorated to look like Christmas trees and boy was that a fun experience. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Yeah sure, that would be fun" I said sounding like a dork.

"Put a coat on though because, Baby its cold outside" he said making me smile.

"Okay, I'll meet you there in a minute." I said as I went to find Ella and let her know I was going outside. I raced up the stairs; dodging people to my room grabbed my north face and skidded to a halt outside Ella's room where she, Nudge, and Iggy were watching a movie.

"I'm going outside" I said and before she could question it I was out the back door. At first I didn't see him but then I looked a little closer and there he was leaning up against the side of the house. When most guys do that it makes them look like fools but he did it and he actually looked cool.

"Hi" I said awkwardly. He just chuckled and said hi back. We set out to roam my back yard and before I had taken two steps I slipped on ice. His hand went to the small of my back and he steadied mine.

"Ice doesn't really help the ungraceful" I said lamely.

"You're very graceful" he said with a smile. I was glad it was dark because then he couldn't see my blush.

"I..um I don't think I ever thanked you for finding me. I know if you hadn't come to find me…." I trailed off shuddering thinking of just what would have happened if he hadn't scared Sam off.

"I just couldn't lose you" he said, my blush deepened and I knew he could sense it. "You know, I never really got the chance to ask you to dance a few weeks ago, so….would you care to dance?" he asked his intense dark eyes bright.

"There isn't any music" I said skeptically. At this he started to hum softly and I smiled, he always seemed to know what to do to make me now want to say no.

We danced around the gazebo pressed together my head fitting perfectly against his chest and his arms wrapped around my waist, I don't know how long we stayed like this but everything was beautiful, the stars above us, the twinkling lights on the trees and Fang's arms wrapped around me his warm breath on my neck.

I may never be able to get over what happened in New York but in this second this was all I wanted. No more running, I wanted this forever and if there was anything I could do to make this last longer I would do it in a heartbeat.

"Fang I…" I said before realizing I didn't know what to say.

"You talk to much." He said before leaning down to kiss me. It was everything that Sam wasn't, there were firework, and not literally of course I checked Gazzy before he came over gosh.

His hand cupped my chin and suddenly his mouth was on mine. I closed my eyes and put my arms around his neck, all I could think about was Fang, all I wanted was Fang, all I could hear was his breathing and all I could think was 'Oh god, I want to do this all the time'.

Gradually our kisses became less hungry and more comforting. We broke apart and it took every ounce of Maximum strength not to turn and run before something bad could happen. My gaze slanted up toward Fang and he was….smiling. His face was softer, less closed off.

"Close your eyes" he said and I did not know to expect. His hands brushed my hand over my shoulder as he slid something around my neck I felt the small cold weight hit just below my neck and I smiled. "Merry Christmas Max" he breathed in my ear.

My necklace was beautiful, the small silver chain held a red crystal heart with black wings coming out of the sides of the heart. Anyone else would have thought I'd hate it, but this wasn't just anyone, it was Fang. And I couldn't help but wonder what I had done to be so lucky.

"Thank you" I said. "It's perfect" I stood on my tippy toes and tilted my head to kiss him softly. "We should go in before they thing something bad happened" I said taking his rough calloused hand in mine and leading him back to the house.

It wasn't until I got back into the bustling house that I realized how cold it was outside.

"Let's go find Ella and Nudge, I'm sure there's some Christmas special on t.v." I said. Sure enough as soon as we got to Ella's room they were all half asleep watching Elf. Fang and I entered and as soon as Nudge saw our entwined hands she went berserk.

"ZOMG" I heard Nudge whisper "I thought…but I didn't know for sure oh my gosh I'm so happy." She all but squealed in excitement making Ella and Iggy notice. Ella gave me one of those 'we-will-talk-later' looks. Iggy was more up front with his opinion.

"Well" he said "Took ya long enough. Well, now it looks like were going to have to have the talk" he said waggling his eyebrows. I went to lunge for him but Fang grabbed me by my hips to stop me.

"Oh no you don't" he said into my ear making my heart flutter. I blushed and we sat down at the foot of Ella's bed to watch the movie. I must have fallen asleep sometime because I woke in my bed with a smile on my face. I remembered every single detail of last night and in no way did I want to forget it.

We went over to the Parkers after my mom gave us the gifts she got us. I got a few movies and a brand new camera. And not the phony kind but a big expensive one, a slr to be exact. (a slr is a camera with a lens on it, you can look it up)

"What? Mom this is way to expensive" I said in amazement.

"Hey, no it isn't. I know you've had your eye on it and besides it's just like the one you had in New York" she said with a smile. The one I had in New York was a sony and this is a cannon but my mom didn't need to know that. Ella got a new laptop and some clothes, we had pooled our money and got my mom a gift certificate for a fancy spa that had just opened in town and she looked pretty stoked about that.

Ella told my mom about me and Fang and my mom told Ms. Parker so of course going into that household was fun in the morning.

Gazzy got his football, Nudge got a new Coach purse and Angel ended up getting her puppy. He was a cute dog a black Scottie with a ton of personality. I swear sometimes it seemed like he was going to open his mouth and talk. But that's just absurd isn't it?

"Hey you, Merry Christmas" I said when Fang and I found Angel playing in the back yard with Total the black Scottie she got for Christmas.

"Oh Max! I have a gift for you" she said as she raced back into the house leaving Fang and I alone.

"I have you present" I said to him his hand in mine. I pulled the box out of my jacket pocket and gave it to him. He opened it and wrapped me into a hug.

"They're perfect" he said his eyes alight. I got him tickets to see Marianas Trench and Paramore, they were doing a benefit concert in town so when I saw the chance I jumped on it.

"Your welcome" I said, he pressed his lips against mine and kissed me making me dizzy. Just as I wrapped my arms around his neck Angel came back outside a small box with a bow in her hands she giggled and we parted a blush crept into my cheeks.

"Here Max" she said a smile on her face. I opened the box to see the picture she took when we fell asleep together. Fang's hand on my hip by body curled up against his my head resting in the crook of his neck our faces peaceful and serene.

"Thanks Ange, its great" I said giving her a hug.

"Guess what I asked for from Santa" she said a smile plastered to her face. "I asked him for you and Fang to fall in love and I got my wish, because Fang's the best guy ever and you're the best girl ever." She said making me smile. So that's what she had whispered into Santa's ear yesterday at the mall.

Too Faxy? Not enough Fax? Thoughts? Comments? Review, oh yeah and Merry Christmas, or Chanukah or Kwanza what ever you prefer. Review!