Thank you so much for all of the lovely comments on this story. I appreciated them very much and you made my Christmas season. Have a very Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy this last installment!

Because Flynn and Eve had planned on surprising her family (her parents and brother were all stateside this Christmas, in California) in the afternoon, the group had decided to make Christmas brunch and spend the morning together. Jacob, Cassandra and Flynn cooked various breakfast dishes and Jenkins and Ezekiel baked. Eve was in charge of beverages and she made two kinds of punches, one with a kick and one without as well as coffee.

After brunch, they exchanged presents. Cassandra opted to give Jacob the bracelet in front of the others and he gave her the necklace. Everyone enjoyed their presents even though Jenkins initially looked askew at the lock picking kit that Ezekiel chose to gift him with.

Cassandra felt like she'd rather cleaned up in terms of jewelry, having gotten various items from everyone: necklaces from Jacob and Jenkins, a cute cat ring from Flynn and several pins from Ezekiel and Baird. Baird had the same idea as Cassandra in terms of gifting Jacob a leather cuff and he got books from Flynn and Jenkins and the complete Indiana Jones collection on blu-ray from Jones.

After presents, Cassandra insisted on two things before they parted for the afternoon. A group photo, which was accomplished amidst a whole lot of laughter and giggling and a viewing of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Cassandra expected to get grumbling but everyone, even Jenkins and Jones, was up for the idea.

"Everyone loves that," Ezekiel said and Jenkins agreed that it was rather charming.

Flynn and Baird then headed out the Back Door armed with gifts. Ezekiel was going to watch a Die Hard marathon in the theater before joining some people he'd met in his apartment building for drinks.

That left Cassandra and Jacob alone in the Annex as Jenkins had gone off to his rooms.

"Do you want to go to one of our places?" Cassandra asked.

"Well, actually, I have one more gift for you. I didn't want to give it to you in front of the others because it has an explanation."

"Same with me," Cassandra thought for a moment. "Oh, we put a tree up in the reading room across from fiction because it's got that sofa and fireplace. How about we go in there?"

Jacob nodded and they separated to get their presents. Cassandra got to the room first and turned the tree on. The fireplace was an electric one, so it was just a short matter of finding the switch to get it turned on. Jacob came in carrying a large box.

"Normally," he smiled, setting the box on the table in front of the sofa. "I'd say ladies first, but I'd like to give you your gift after mine, if that's okay?"

Cassandra shrugged and handed him his gift. It was relatively small but in typical Cassandra fashion, she'd gone all out on the wrapping. Bright shiny gold paper, red ribbon, holly berries . . .he felt a little bad about his own badly wrapped gift. But it was the thought that counted and he'd worked hard on the inside of the package. He carefully opened it, not wanting to break any of the decorations. Inside the box was a day planner. That was a bit unexpected, but he had a feeling he understood what she meant.

"I know it's not the most romantic of gifts," Cassandra said softly. "But all I can give you is one day at a time. So that's why I gave you that. One day at a time."

He smiled softly, "I was thinkin' that's what you were goin' for. Thank you, sweetheart." He reached over and gave her a soft sweet kiss. "Every day with you is a gift. So every day, I'll note that in here."

They exchanged another kiss and then Stone slid the package over to her. She opened it, looking a little confused at the wooden box with little doors, the numbers 1 to 25 painted on each of them.

"It's an advent calendar," Jacob explained.

"Oh, but it's Christmas already," Cassandra was now really confused. "Is this for next year?"

"Yes and no. It's more of a memento. Start with day four, there are little dolls in the first three that came with the box, but we started on December 4."

Cassandra nodded and opened the door. Inside was a packet of hot chocolate. She giggled and opened the next day to find an old fashioned gingerbread man cookie cutter. Day 6 was a wooden Santa, day 7 a Christmas tree necklace, day 8 a wooden angel, day 9 was a sugar cookie pin, day 10 was a angel pin, day 11 was a red ball ornament, day 12 was a pair of mittens, day 13 was a Redbox gift card, day 14 a package of gift tags, day 15 a Rockettes keychain, day 16 was a collapsible tote bag from the store they saved, day 17 a Christmas cd, day 18 a wooden boat, day 19 a wooden doll that looked like an ice skater, day 20 a wooden ballerina, day 21 a package of mulling spices, day 22 a wooden horse and day 23 a novelty light up Christmas necklace. Day 24 had a wooden star. Jacob put his hand up to stop her from opening the last day.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "I've loved all of these."

"Well, there's one tradition I realized wasn't on your list. So that's day 25." He reached forward and opened the door. Inside was a sprig of mistletoe and Cassandra giggled.

"How do you know it wasn't on my list?" she asked coyly as he held it over their heads.

"Well if it is, you can cross it off now." He leaned forward and captured her lips with his. There was something different about this kiss. It was just as sweet and tender as all of their kisses were. It was a little deeper, but it felt special somehow, like it was just a little steeped in Christmas magic. Cassandra saw a shower of gold sparks behind her eyes and when they finally parted on a sigh, she saw Jacob's eyes were a little wide.

"Did you feel that?" he asked.

"Christmas magic," Cassandra nodded. "Not . . ." she gestured at the Library. "Not that kind of magic. But just as real. The kind anyone can feel at Christmas. The kind that's created by . . . ." she blushed.

"Created by love," Jacob finished, smiling tenderly at her. "I love you, Cassandra. Merry Christmas."

"I love you too, Jacob. Merry Christmas."

And on the tree in the corner unseen by the two perfectly happy people on the sofa who were completely wrapped up in each other, the ornaments suddenly changed from green and red balls to gold and silver glittery butterflies.