Why the big wait? I've been having some end-of-semester stress. Sorry.

Oh, and writer's block. Lots and lots of writer's block.

To make up for it, I guess this is the special Christmas edition or something. :)

Days turned to weeks. The slow rhythm of the seasons turned autumn into winter. The air went chill, and trees sloughed off their fiery leaves. Days grew shorter and nights were colder. When the winter clouds rolled in, Jessica sat by the window and watched the snow come down. The snowfall transformed the woodlands around the old Porter castle into a mystic place of ghostly trees and silver shadows.

The parlor had the best room for observing the change of scenery. Jessica sat on the sill of one of its huge picture windows. She touched her hand to the glass, feeling the coldness seep through. She shuddered, hoping that no-one would have to be stuck out in this storm. It was weather fit for neither man nor...beast.

Speaking of which, Lukas came padding up to her. He still preferred walking on all fours - going biped hurt his back, he said. Although he did walk with a more gentlemanly gait instead of scurrying from one place to another. Also, he'd started wearing real clothes instead of rags.

"Watching the snow?" he asked Jessica as he walked up to the window.

"Mmm-hmm. A nasty little storm, it is. I hope no-one is out and about at this time. They'd freeze!"

Lukas, who knew about that a little too well, nodded. "I always wondered what makes rain and snow fall from the clouds. We never covered it in my lessons as a boy."

"Oh?" Jessica looked at him, curious. "You were never taught that?"

"No. I wish I had, though. Or at least that I hadn't shrugged off my science lessons. I was more interested in books and foreign language than the mathematical stuff."

"Well, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, I suppose." Jessica stood up. "I always liked books better, too. Story books, I mean. Most of my father's books were botany guides and medical manuals. They weren't exactly scintillating reads. I went to the church library instead."

"Botany? Medicine?" Lukas's ears flicked. "He sounds as though he was an apothecary."

"Oh, but he is," she replied. "He makes medicines and herbal salves for the sick people in our village."

"That's a noble cause." He paused a moment, then added, "If only it were possible make a salve to cure my curse."

"Would that there were...or at least that I knew of one. I'm sorry, Lukas."

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault."

"What do you think the cure is?"

"Love! It's love!" Jesse hissed from the far end of the room, where he and a few other housewares watched the exchange. "Ugh...he doesn't get it."

"Give him some time," Mrs. Sparks said gently.

"Yeah! He needs time to figure out that he loves her," Stampy piped up, grinning. Then he saw the adults gawking at him and asked, "Did I say that too loudly?"

"Hush, Stampy," Mrs. Sparks scolded him. "The adults are talking."

"Mama, what's going on? Does Lukas love Jessica?"

"There's something there that wasn't there before," she said, more to Jesse than to her son. "I do have some hopes for this one. Yes, I do."

"Maybe we need to do some nudging, though," Jesse said. "A romantic, candlelit dinner...rose petals...classical music…"

"That's not nudging, Jesse. That's forcing."

"So? What's the difference?"

"If you force it, it won't be real. This has to be real love for the spell to break. We have to let this develop naturally. Like a garden. I haven't been able to touch my spade in a decade, but I still remember everything. You can plant a seed and water it, but only time will make it grow."

"A decade!" Jesse spit out. "You have to understand my impatience here. We're running out of tim. It's been almost ten years since the sorceress came and put the spell on Lukas. Do you remember what she said? In ten years' time, on his twentieth birthday, the spell will become permanent. And then we will be nothing but dusty knicknacks!"

As annoying as Jesse could be sometimes, the other housewares had to admit that he had a point.

"That's true," Mrs. Sparks said. "The boy's birthday is at winter's end. We have but two and a half months to see that something comes of this connection between Lukas and Jessica."

"And we have to do that without forcing it?"

"Correct. It has to be real. We can nudge, but we can't force."

"Oh, all right."

"Look," Mrs. Sparks said, "maybe we won't have to force anything, after all."

Across the room, Jessica and Lukas were still talking. He paced on the floor, his tail flicking back and forth. He stammered and smiled nervously. He was trying to say something to Jessica, but was too shy to utter it.

"Go on," she encouraged, grinning slightly. "What are you trying to say, Lukas?"

"I was just wondering if...What I mean to say is that I...uh...um...I have something for…" His speech deteriorated into mumbling.

Jessica nodded, but didn't say anything.

"I just wanted to ask you if...I know this is a bit strange but…I...I…"

"Come on, Lukas. Don't be afraid of me."

"WhatIwasgonnasayisit'salmostChristmasandwouldyouliketohelpputupthetree?" Lukas said in a big garble.

"Huh? I'm sorry, what was that?" Jessica asked, blinking in confusion.

Lukas cleared his throat, thumped his chest a couple times to calm his heart down, and repeated, "It's going to be Christmas soon. Would you like to help put up the tree?"

"Oh, I'd love that!" Jessica chirped. "It sounds delightful."

Jesse nodded (as well as a book can nod, anyway) to the others. "Do you hear that? Holiday preparations! Everyone knows that the holidays make a perfect catalyst for love."

"Shush," Mrs. Sparks chided him. "I'm trying to listen."

Lukas paced a little more. "Yes. Good. We have a lovely blue spruce this year. I...I haven't put up a tree in years, actually."

"Oh? Why not?"

"I've been too depressed to do it. What's the point of celebrating the holidays when you're an ugly beast?"

"Please, Lukas, not that again. You're not ugly."

He blushed. "It's in the fireplace room. The tree is set up, but it hasn't been decorated yet. I have an, um, hard time hanging up ornaments with my big paws. You would probably be better at that."

"Sure, that sounds fun." Jessica smiled.

"Why don't you head down there and I'll be right behind you?" His ears flicked again.

"That's fine. I can unpack the boxes, too." Jessica picked up her skirts and headed downstairs to the fireplace room. As soon as she was gone, Lukas bounded across the throne room to talk to the servants.

"Psst," he said to them.

"What is it, master?" Mrs. Sparks asked.

"I need you to help me with something. Sending Jessica to the fireplace room was just a distraction for her. I need your help to keep her away from a certain room."

"The one where you keep the hourglass?" Jesse piped up. "What's the point? She already saw that."

"No, not that." Lukas facepalmed (or would it be face-pawed?) "The room where I'm keeping her Christmas present. I have to keep her away from it until Christmas Day."

"Yes, I can do that," Jesse offered. "Whenever she tries to look in there, I'll figure out some way to keep her from going inside."

"Good man, Jesse. Thank you."

"I beg your pardon," Mrs. Sparks cut in, "but why do you need to keep her away from a specific room? Why not simply keep her present in your chambers until Christmas?"

"Her present isn't just in the room," Lukas explained. "Her present is the room."

He told them what it was. They "oohed" in awe and promised to keep their mouths (covers? lids?) shut until the big day.

"Oh, she will love that," Jesse chirped. "Good thinking, master."

"Thanks. I had better go now." Lukas turned to leave. "She might get suspicious if I'm not there in a few minutes."

Wintertime, and still no sign of Jessica. Ivor started to worry that his fruitless search for his daughter was starting to make him go mad. He spent countless days combing the woodlands for her, but still his search turned up nothing. Mevia yelled at him for letting the apothecary business go slack while he spent so much time searching for Jessica. He yelled back at her that this was his daughter he was looking for, and his business was second rate to that. Who could care about such small things when one's child was missing?

Honestly, retaliating against Mevia was cathartic for him. It gave him a sense of control in his situation, if nothing else. He couldn't afford to lose Jessica. She was his own flesh and blood, and she was his last link to his dear Harper. He'd have gladly lose his house and become a beggar on the streets just to get his daughter back.

In fact, he'd do anything.

The sun was setting in the woods, making it almost impossible for him to see. Ivor stumbled through underbrush and weeds. They tore his clothes and scratched his arms, but he kept going. And somehow that blasted Porter castle remained hidden. How could something so clearly visible outside the woods disappear as soon as someone set out to look for it?

He stumbled down a small incline. He snagged his foot on a rock and fell down it, landing in the stream at the bottom of the ditch. The water was so cold it could have almost formed ice. He struggled to sit up, choking and spitting out dirty water. He slipped and fell back in as soon as he tried to climb out of the creek.

"No!" he yelled up at the sky, frustrated beyond belief. "Why won't you let me find her?"

He struggled for a moment, then managed to haul his body out of the creek and onto the gritty bank. Snow padded the ground. Between the frosty air and his soaked clothes, he started to shiver. He could already hear Mevia yelling at him for being so foolish.

"Ho there!" someone shouted.

Ivor glanced up. Horse hooves were thumping on the snowy ground. Within moments, two men on horseback trotted up to him. They wore crisp hunting suits and carried blunderbusses. The man in the lead had a deer skin hanging from his saddle.

"Oh, hello, gentlemen," Ivor stammered. The hunters seemed familiar, especially the one in the lead. He had shiny brown hair and his eyes were the color of spring grass.

"Are you quite all right, sir?" asked the other hunters, a lad with a bushy brown beard.

"No. I'm lost. I've been looking for my daughter," Ivor explained. "Jessica went to the Mercer gala weeks ago and never returned home. I have spent every day since then looking for her."

The two hunters looked at each other with surprised expressions. They hid their shock from Ivor, though, and cleared their throats to maintain a dignified poise.

"Oh, dear," said the green-eyed man. "How awful! I can only imagine your desperation. My friend Gil-ahem. My friend and I were on a hunting trip when we heard your yells. We assumed that something was amiss, and so it was. You must be perfectly freezing right now."

"Y-Yes, that's right," Ivor said through chattering teeth. "I think I have to give up the search for today...but I don't want to go home to my wife, either. All she does is criticize me."

"Ah, women," the young man said, laughing. "They can be such weak, foolish creatures, can't they?"

He had expected Ivor to laugh along with him, but instead the old man scowled and narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me?"

"What? It is just a joke, sir. Most women are shrews."

"I may have made a mistake by marrying Mevia, but you should know, young man, not to make generalizations like that. My first wife Harper was most clearly not a shrew."

"If she wasn't, why did you remarry?" the young man sneered.

"Because she passed on, and I wanted my daughter to have a mother figure in her life," Ivor said, tone as level as gunfire. "Go you on your way. I would rather be escorted home by a wolf pack than by you arrogant buffoons."

The youth with the beard made a startled sound, and the green-eyed young man laughed nervously. "Now, now. Let's not be hasty. I apologize for what I said. I shouldn't have been so rude. Forgive me, sir."

"Accepted," Ivor replied.

"Now, my good man. It won't do for you to stand out here in the cold." He snapped his fingers, and Gill took the deer skin and tossed it on Ivor's shoulders. "What say we take a break to warm up, and then we shall help you look for your Jessica?"

The weight of the deer skin nearly knocked Ivor off his feet. Struggling to hold it up, he replied, "That will be...uh...very helpful. Thank you. You are certainly hospitable young men. What are your names?"

"I'm Gill," said the one with the bushy beard. He had a lopsided smile.

"I'm surprised you don't recognize me, Ivor," said the one with the green eyes.

"No, I don't-Wait a minute. How did you know my name was Ivor?"

The young man dismounted his horse. Striding up to Ivor, he suddenly grabbed the old man by the front of the coat.

"Let go of me!" Ivor protested.

"I'm Aiden Mercer, Jessica is to be my bride, and you're going to help me find her. Whether you want to or not."

Jessica wound a strand of silver garland around the tree. It glittered in the lamplight. Colorful round spheres hung from the branches like sweet, juicy fruits. A golden star shimmered on the highest branch. Jessica stood on a ladder to hang ornaments on the high branches, while Lukas stayed at the base of the tree. He paced around the tree's circumference, staring at the wrapped packages sitting on the tree skirt.

"Not until Christmas, Lukas," Jessica scolded. "Don't be a child."

"Okay, fine." He scooted away. "I'm just curious, that's all."

"Curiosity killed the cat," she said playfully.

"I'm an ocelot."

"Same animal family," Jessica replied with a wink.

Lukas purred. "Your father really was a scientist, wasn't he?"

"In a way, yes. But medicine was his science, not biology."

"Right."

Jessica's expression darkened. "I miss him."

"I'm...sorry…" Nervous, his tail flicked back and forth. "I didn't know you...If you don't want to, you can always…"

Jessica hung a glass angel on the tree. "No. I can't go back. I promised to you that I'd stay and help you. Also, going back home means that I go back to...ugh, living with my stepmother."

Jessica shuddered.

"A wicked stepmother?"

"Yeah, her name's Mevia. Witch of a woman. She is a shrew to my father and she tries to control my whole life. I can't stand being around her."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault." Jessica had another glass angel in her hand. She intended to string it on a branch slightly out of her reach. She figured that if she leaned out enough, she could reach it without having to climb back down the ladder and move it. So she reached as far as she could, leaning towards it…

Suddenly she felt the ladder shift. Jessica gasped, realizing she was leaning out too far. She lost her balance and fell off!

"Aah!" she shrieked as she fell. But instead of hitting the hardwood floor, she landed on something nice and soft. Soft and furry.

"Are you okay?" Lukas asked her. He had reared up on his hind legs and caught her bridal-style in his arms (forelegs?) when she fell off the ladder.

"Yeah...Yeah...I think so," she stammered. In his strong arms, he could hold her as easily as if she were a bundle of laundry. His heart thumped like a kettle drum within his chest. Jessica blushed slightly when she realized that she actually liked being carried like this.

"Good. That scared me." He set her down gently and steadied the wobbling ladder. "Hmm...Maybe we need to look at that thing. It hasn't been used in a while. Awfully rickety."

"Definitely." Jessica's heart was still pattering nervously. "At least the tree is fully decked. It looks nice, Lukas. We did a good job."

Lukas and Jessica took a few steps back to see their handiwork. The tree glittered with lights, silver sashes, and glass ornaments. They looked at each other and nodded, satisfied with their work.

"It looks splendid," Jessica said. "And now we wait for Christmas…"

Again, the servants watched from a hidden corner of the room. Jesse had barely been able to keep his covers shut when Lukas dove in to save Jessica from her fall. Nell tried to keep him from talking by sitting on him, but she was too light for that. They whispered amongst themselves about what they were seeing.

"Did you see that? Did you see that?" Nell asked, voice squeaking. "How cute! I think he really likes her. And she likes him."

"That's twice now he's saved her from a mishap," Mrs. Sparks whispered. "If that's not care for her, I don't know what is. Now all we need is to see her saving him to know the feeling's mutual."

"Is that how love works, Mama?" Stampy asked.

"A little bit, yes," she replied.

"What's the rest?"

"You'll understand when you're older."

"Ugh! You always say that!"

"But there's something there that wasn't there before."

"Yes, there's something there that wasn't there before."

Christmas Day

A fire blazed on the hearth, filling the room with a delicious wood smoke scent. It mixed with the pine fragrance from the Christmas tree and the smell of cinnamon and apples floating in from the kitchen. A flurry of snow swirled outside the window, but the fireplaces kept the castle interior dry and toasty.

"Venite adoremus Dominum," Jessica sang, finishing the song for everyone. Every so often, someone would strike up a hymn or a folk tune to keep the mood merry. Though there was no avoiding that this would be a bizarre holiday, Jessica insisted on making it an excellent one as well.

"Oh, that's very nice, Jessica," Mrs. Sparks complimented. "Do you take requests?"

A giggle went up from others. A small crowd of housewares was gathered in the room to enjoy the festivities. Whoever wanted to celebrate, could, and so Jessica found herself among books, end tables, feather dusters, flower vases, and chairs. Despite their curse, they were in a jolly mood as they congregated in front of the Christmas tree. As for Lukas, he was curled up like a cat on the couch, a quiet purr issuing from his throat.

"I'm sorry you couldn't be with your family for the holiday," he told her. "I hope this will make up for it."

"It's not your fault," she reminded him. "What I'm sorry about is that no-one here has gifts for anyone. I feel terrible not giving you anything for Christmas."

"Don't worry. I understand. I have something for both of us to share."

"Really? What is it?" Jessica glanced behind him, as if looking for a wrapped box or bag. Lukas showed her his empty paws.

"It's not a thing. It's a place." Lukas stood up. "Come with me. I want to show you something."

Jessica "oohed" with intrigue and rose from her seat to follow. He padded away down the hall; she was close at his heels. They went down several staircases and down several staircases, until they finally arrived at a set of large double doors. They were a beautiful dark wood carved with butterflies and gemstones, and the handles were smooth silver.

"Oh, one more thing," Lukas said. "You're going to have to cover your eyes for the moment. Please?"

Jessica placed her hands over her eyes.

"Here we go." There was a creaking sound as Lukas pushed the doors open. A cool rush of air flowed over them. Jessica kept her eyes shut, but felt around with her arm to make sure she wouldn't bang into anything.

"Can I look now?" Her voice echoed.

"Not yet...not yet…" He waited until she was in just the right spot. "Okay. Now you can look."

Jessica took her hands off her eyes. She gaped in awe at the sight. Bookcases stretching to the ceiling surrounded her, more books than someone could read in a lifetime. Her heart fluttered as she thought about the thousands of stories tucked within the millions of pages. Time did not exist here. Nor did the outside world. Just the books.

"Do you like it?" Lukas asked softly. "This is my library. I wanted to share it with you."

"It's…" Jessica was so stunned that she couldn't speak.

"I noticed that you've done a lot of reading since you came to the castle. You must like books. So I decided to share my books with you. This can be yours."

"I don't even know what to say, Lukas. This is incredible. Thank you."

His ears folded back, and he smiled bashfully.

"You couldn't have possibly read every one of these," she said, making a sweeping gesture at the forest of bookcases. "There must be ten thousand titles in here. Have you read them all?"

"No," he said, chuckling. "I wish I had enough time to do that."

Abruptly, Jessica pulled a seemingly random book off the shelf and sat in a nearby armchair. She flipped it open. From her dress pocket she pulled a strip of ribbon, probably to serve as a bookmark.

"Jessica?"

"If I want to read them all, now's the best time to start!"