After saving Christmas and having a celebration for Eve's birthday, the LITs and their Guardian had gone off in separate directions for a few days break. Stone and his carefully wrapped presents had gone off to Oklahoma with an excuse as to why he was a day late. Cassandra was not close to her family, but had spent the last few years spreading Christmas cheer in a variety of shelters in New York City, so she continued the tradition staying with her old roommates. Baird had decided that a few days of R&R somewhere tropical and quiet was just the ticket. As for Jones, no one asked and he didn't tell.

Jenkins had been looking quite forward to having a few day s of peace at last in his Annex, but alas that was not to be. As shortly after all of the interlopers had departed, the gifts started arriving. Jenkins looked up at the first one, sighed and closed his lab door.

Four days later, Stone came humming back through the back door at his appointed time. He'd had a great time on his break, his daddy even managing to be mostly sober for the duration. He had a new leather bracelet on his wrist from his sister and a bunch of cool presents in his bag, including some trinkets he'd bought for his co-workers when he'd been dragged off to post Christmas sales. He was so engrossed in his own good mood that he didn't notice Jenkins' sigh as he moved away from the globe. And he certainly didn't notice Cassandra until he nearly tripped over her.

The redhead was stopped dead in front of him, hardly even noticing his running into her.

He was worried she was having some sort of spell until he noticed what she was staring at.

A tree was suddenly in the middle of the annex. A pear tree to be specific and up in the branches . . . .

"Is that a partridge?" He asked, looking a little stunned. And then two birds flew over his head, landing on the branches. "You've got to be kidding me. Turtledoves?"

Cassandra nodded then pointed at the ground where three chickens scurried around. "Three French Hens. But I don't see any calling birds."

As if on cue, four black birds flew down from the ceiling, noisily roosting in the tree.

"Not really calling," Cassandra said.

"No, in the original text, they were colly birds, black." Stone explained. "It was obscure even in the 18th century so it eventually got changed to calling birds. So uh Jenkins, any ideas?"

"When Mr. Jones was wearing the talisman, did he by any chance make any wishes?"

Cassandra and Stone exchanged glances. Both shrugged, not at all certain if the thief had made any comments out loud other than the wish about being a good guy for a change.

"Did you try calling Santa?" Cassandra asked.

"Oh, call Santa, why didn't I think of that?" Jenkins said sarcastically. He softened a little at Cassandra's hurt face, he had a bit of a soft spot for the young woman. "I would but he and Gretchen always are unavailable for a few days after Christmas. I won't be able to reach them until Lords a leaping at least."

Stone pinched the bridge of his nose. "We do not want to let it get that far."

"No, we do not, Mr. Stone. It's been bad enough putting up with all of these birds!"

Jenkins muttered, shooing a hen away with his foot to set the globe for Baird's return. Jones had gone out the Portland door, so no one had any idea where he was or when he'd return.

"What the hell is that?" was the first thing out of a tanned and for a moment relaxed Baird's mouth.

"The Twelve Days of Christmas, apparently." Jenkins said with a shrug.

"Let me guess, Jones did something stupid with the hat? And we can't reach Nick?"

"Probably and exactly." Stone answered her. He not so gently moved a hen away with his foot. "I hate chickens."

"Swans are worse," Cassandra said with a shiver. "They're pretty but they can be nasty."

"And geese make a mess everywhere," Baird added. "And oh god, there will be cows . . . ."

"What's going on?" Jones' voice came from the other entrance. "What's the deal with the birds?"

Stone stopped dead and glared at him. Then in a voice of very carefully controlled patience he said slowly, "Did you happen to be thinking about the Twelve Days of Christmas when you were wearing the hat?"

"No, why would I?"

"Think about it for a minute." Stone continued. "Maybe when you were singing with those kids?"

Jones' eyes went wide. "Maybe? I don't really, I couldn't quite control . . .it wasn't me, it was the hat!"

Stone sighed but looked over at Baird. "I don't really remember what the kids were singing either. It probably was just an accident."

"There's got to be a way to contact Nick." She looked over at Jenkins. "You know him well."

"But I don't know where he and Gretchen vacation. I suppose there might be some sort of clue in our books."

"Alright," Baird nodded. "Stone, you, Cassandra and Jenkins hit the books. Jones, you and I are going to get these birds the hell out of here before they ruin the Annex."

"But how are we going to do that?" Jones asked looking at the partridge. "We're not animal control."

"And you can't call animal control and have them in here either." Stone added. "You could . . .wait, hold on."

He scrolled through his phone and wrote down a number on a piece of paper. "This is a friend of mine in Oklahoma. She works on an animal rescue ranch. Drop my name and ask for advice on how to wrangle some exotic birds. "

"And what do I tell her about why?"

"She thinks I'm in Texas, there's all kinds of ranches down there with owners keeping exotic pets. Tell her they escaped and got into a building and animal control is busy working a cattle escape. Trust me, she'll buy it. I gotta go hit the books."

"Friend?" Cassandra asked as she followed him up the stairs. "Did you see her at Christmas?"

"Yes, she and her husband." He shot her a strange look. "Why?"

"No reason." But he noticed her skip suddenly got a bit bouncier. And he felt just a little better about how that gift he'd gotten was a bit nicer than the one he'd gotten Baird.

Standing next to him in the Santa Claus section (Because, of course, there was one), she looked over and said, "I like the new bracelet."

He grinned. "Thanks, it was from my sister. Did you have a good Christmas?"

"I made some people very happy and that makes me happy." She hummed as she opened a book. "It was nice to see my old roommates. I didn't have many friends besides them. They don't celebrate Christmas though, so it was more like just a reunion."

Stone could read better the lines of all of that and it was all he could do not to reach out for her. Next year she was going to come to Oklahoma with him. His family might have its ups and downs and they never really understood him. But he'd been surrounded with love, something that Cassandra deserved so much. He nearly said something else when one of the books on the table fell open.

"Thanks!" He yelled up to the ceiling and looked at the page. "Huh." He nudged Cassandra's shoulder and pointed.

"Well, I suppose that's where I'd go if I just got back from the North Pole."

Three hours later, they were back in the Annex. The exotic birds were in cages. Santa was holding his hat in his hands, because on his head was a pair of mouse ears from his yearly vacation at Disney World.

"I wanted to stay." Cassandra whispered to Stone. They had gone on two rides in the name of research and both of them were feeling just a bit put out by having to come back. "Or maybe go back when it wasn't so crowded."

"Santa is here again. Ho, ho . . ."

Baird held up a finger. "What did I say about that?"

"Eve Baird, you still won't let Santa have any fun. So Ezekiel Jones, you've been naughty again?"

"I didn't quite mean too, Santa."

Santa switched his hats and snapped his fingers. The birds and pear tree were gone. He did wink at Cassandra and Baird. Both of them looked down, Cassandra had three rings on her fingers and Baird two.

"Santa figured Cassandra Cillian would be more into rings then Eve Baird. But you can certainly share them." Santa winked. "Now Jacob Stone, you might wish to look in your pocket. Santa heard your wish too. And Ezekiel Jones, well you might like what Santa gave you. Jenkins, my good man, Santa needs to get back to Mrs. Claus and our villa?"

"Certainly Santa. My best wishes to Gretchen and our apologies for keeping you from her."

With a wink to Baird and a hearty HO HO HO, Santa was on his way.

"Thank god we didn't have pipers piping all over the place!" Baird raised her hands then looked at the rings. "These are really pretty."

"Mine too!" Cassandra said with delight.

Jacob looked in the front pocket of his shirt. There was a thick envelope and he opened it and his eyes went wide.

"Cassie . . ."

"What?"

He showed her. Two annual passes to Disney World and reservations for both him and Cassandra for a week in the middle of January. Written on them was a note, "It's quieter then."

"You wished for that?" She asked.

"I did. I didn't want to leave either." He didn't mention that her joy had been why he'd made the wish or the fact that she didn't seem to notice that there was only one room.

She hugged him, squealing happily. Baird rolled her eyes but grinned anyway. "What did you get, Jones?"

He looked in his pocket. A little velvet bag contained a charm and a lock pick. A note said, "For magical locks."

"Well, that'll come in handy. So hey, are we done with the Christmas cheer? Because I for one am over it."

"Well, I didn't give you all your presents." Stone pointed out. "But, honestly, I think taking down these decorations . . . ."

"Gladly!" Cassandra said, which caused looks of surprise from her co-workers. "I think this year, we've had more than enough Christmas. Plus gosh there are a lot of feathers."

So thus agreed, everyone went to work cleaning up the Annex. Even Jones, who did try to sneak out but was caught by Jenkins and given a broom.