Author's Note: This is a pinch hit for C.C. Baptiste written in response to the CCOAC Christmas Fanfic Exchange. It's written especially for klcm! The prompts were: Last Christmas (by WHAM!), Christmas Memory, Fairy Lights, & Mistletoe. All of them will be used in the story.

I hope you enjoy it and I hope you're having happy holidays! – Angie

"You're putting me in a room with a man I don't even know?" Penelope hissed angrily.

Her brother gently took her arm and steered her away from the crowd of people they'd arrived with, many of whom she'd never met, to a secluded corner. "Penny," Payton began in a low tone. "This is sort of last minute and—"

"You started planning six months ago!" she interrupted.

"Yes, but…" Her brother sighed in resignation. "I thought Desiree booked the rooms, and she thought I booked the rooms, so…the rooms didn't actually get booked until a few weeks ago."

Penelope lifted her hands up in front of her, palms facing the ceiling. "Can't you just put me up in a different hotel?" she asked anxiously.

Payton shook his head. "We got a discount because there were so many of us," he explained.

"I'll pay myself!" she argued.

"I'd like to have you in the same hotel as the rest of us," he insisted. "It's going to be easier to have everyone here if we have to make last minute plans."

"Which you seem to be an expert at," she muttered.

"Pen, please," Payton said.

Penelope sighed. She supposed she should be a little more flexible. This was, after all, her brother's wedding. But staying in a suite with a man she'd never before met? He was going to owe her for this one.

"Fine," she said huffily.

Payton nodded. "Good. And...just a few things you should know."

Oh, she didn't like the sound of that.

"Des warned me that her brother—his name is Derek—has a reputation for being a bit of a player," he cautioned her.

Penelope snorted. There was no such thing as being a bit of a player. The man was obviously a pig.

"But I'm not worried about sharing your room with him because that is exactly the kind of man you don't like," he went on.

"Pay, it's fine," she said with a sigh. "I…guess I'm gonna have to go buy some pajamas."

"Why?" Payton asked with a frown.

She waited for a moment, but it never came to him. "Your baby sister sleeps in the buff, Pay," she informed him.

"Penelope!" he exclaimed. "Ewww!"

The bellhop showed Penelope to her room, and after choosing the bed closest to the window, she began to unpack her suitcases.

Her brother and his fiancée lived in Boston, but he was getting married in Chicago, where she was from. They'd met in college, and when they'd decided to get married, they'd wanted to do it quickly. Christmas time made sense because all of her family got together then anyway, and this would mean they wouldn't have to make a separate trip for the wedding. Unfortunately, the only one of her brothers that was going to be able to make the event was Preston. He and his wife, Helena, didn't have any kids yet, and being away from their house for the holidays wasn't as big of a deal for them. They'd be flying in on the eve of the wedding, and she couldn't wait to see them.

With a sigh, Penelope put her last article of clothing in the dresser beside her bed, zipped her suitcase back up, and then put it in the closet, uneasily awaiting her roommates' arrival.

"She's not thrilled about having to room with you," Desiree warned her brother.

Derek flashed his sister his most disarming grin. "That's because she doesn't know me," he said confidently.

"Derek, I swear to God…you can't sleep with her!" Desiree said shrilly. "Payton would kill you!"

"Relax," he told his sister.

"I mean it!" she said adamantly. "If you charm the pants off this woman…" She let her voice trail off, hoping her brother understood the gravity of the situation.

"I am not so hard up for a woman that I'm just going to take the first who comes along," he told his sister. "You know how picky I am."

"Right," Desiree said dryly. "Them having to be female, and all."

Derek chuckled as he pulled his sister into his arms. "I missed you, Des."