A/N A light confection with romance, holiday surprises and double entendres for fun on a holiday week. :)

Jamie adjusted his position, a small gasp of air huffing out as he moved. "Okay, are you ready?"

Eddie blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Let me get my hands around it." She angled her body and reached down. "Okay, I'm ready."

He was straining. "You sure you can handle all of it? I don't want to hurt you."

She took a deep breath. "Come on, already, Reagan, I'm fine! Just push it in!"

Jamie braced his arms and in one smooth motion pushed as hard as he could, groaning with the effort. Eddie lost her footing and stumbled backward with an "ooof!" and tumbled down on to the floor of her apartment. The Christmas tree plopped over on top of her, its branches loosely tied with rope. "Oh my God, Reagan!"

Jamie stepped around the tree and through the doorway trying to see her through the branches. "Eddie! Are you okay?" She was hidden under the tree so he reached down trying to move it. "I'm sorry! I couldn't hold it any longer. And you said to push!" He lifted the tree, finding Eddie pushing boughs away from her face.

She looked up at him. "Yeah, yeah. That's what they all say," she mumbled under her breath.

"What?" Her snide joke seemed to fly over his head.

"Nothing, nothing. Just help me up, will ya?"

He struggled to suppress his laughter as he reached out and took both of her hands in his and pulled her up. "You sure you're okay?" He reached up and brushed several pine needles off her forehead. She looked gloriously frustrated and beautiful and smelled like evergreens.

"I'm fine." Her eyes were bluer than blue and her cheeks were rosy from their jaunt up the stairwell with the enormous tree. She took two steps and collapsed on to her sofa.

Jamie slumped down in the chair. "Why did you have to get a seven foot tree?"

"Because," she smiled smugly, "bigger is better."

He rolled his eyes. "Bigger is not always better."

"Okay, true," she agreed thoughtfully, "but it is when it comes to Christmas trees."

He let his head fall back on to the chair in exhaustion and eyed her playfully. "I just hope your warped sense of dimensions only applies to trees."

Eddie's expression formed mock astonishment. "Officer Reagan," she purred, "Did you just make a suggestive funny?"

He let a smile play across his lips. "I make them all the time. You just have to make sure you're listening."

She smiled as she pushed herself up from the couch. "Okay, chief, time to get it up."

It was his turn to look astonished. "We're still talking about the tree, right?"

"Two in a row! You're on a roll, partner! Yes, the tree." She motioned over her shoulder.

Jamie stood up and together they positioned the tree. Eddie stood with one arm straight out holding the big spruce in place, while Jamie crawled on the floor securing the trunk in to the tree stand. "Okay, Eddie, how does it look?"

She carefully let go of the tree and it stood firmly in place. She took a few steps back and assessed its stability. "It looks perfect, Jamie! It's so beautiful!"

He stood up, wiping his palms and smiled. "It's really amazing, Eddie. You were right. It's a beautiful tree."

"See?" She asked teasingly. "Bigger is better." She chuckled and patted his arm. "Hey, I've got a whole bunch of decorations. I'm going to decorate it, Jamie, and bake a batch of cookies. What do you say? Want to help me? There could be booze involved. Maybe we could order a pizza?" She disappeared down the small hallway as she spoke.

As he watched her he loved the sound of excitement in her voice. Then he remembered the plans he had already made and regretted them, but nevertheless he had made them and felt obligated. "Oh, er," he hemmed and hawed around, "thanks, Eddie. I'd really love to but I sort of made plans."

She reappeared with boxes of decorations stacked in her arms. "Oh, yeah, okay."

He reached out and took some of the boxes to help her and set them down on the coffee table. They were filled with glittery ornaments of every size and shape. "I made them before we talked about putting your tree up. Sorry." He was apologetic and hated having to leave.

"Jamie, it's no big deal. Don't worry about it. Still seeing the doc? Jennifer?" She asked earnestly in a friendly tone as she walked toward the kitchen.

He shoved his hands in to his jeans pockets. "Yeah, I guess. Kind of another on-again-off-again thing."

"Ah," she nodded knowing precisely what that meant. It was polite terminology for friends with benefits. It meant people who got together periodically to have dinner and sex without attachments. It meant the doctor was giving him something apparently she was forbidden to, which she understood. They were police partners and friends so it was the way things were. But it as becoming harder and harder to deny her own feelings. She looked up at him with a cheerful expression. "Thanks for helping me put up my tree, even if I did nearly lose my life."

He laughed, walking toward the door. "You said to push, so I did!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're such a guy." She smiled and leaned against the wall in front of him. "Okay, now go have fun. And thanks again, I mean it. It was a huge help."

He eyed her and whispered, "There you go talking about size again."

She chuckled. "Good night."

"Night," he called back as he left.

Eddie slowly slid the door closed and turned around and leaned against it. "Huh…Dr. Jen," she murmured to herself. She looked at the tree across the room knowing that even though she would be decorating it alone, she still felt the spirit of the season bubbling throughout her. She already missed Jamie, but she perked up and decided her tree was just what she needed.

~~00~~00~~00~~

Jamie walked along the sidewalk to his car, which was parked a block away. He hated leaving Eddie to decorate on her own, and he hated the idea of getting together with Jen even more. The ongoing friends with benefits arrangement they had fallen in to now felt empty. He laughed at himself that he now preferred the idea of a night with Eddie and Christmas decorations and without sex. When had that happened?

He stopped and pulled his phone out. He looked up Jen's number. Cancelling at the last minute made him a jerk and he wasn't that kind of guy. He didn't make dates with women and cancel at the last minute, or ever for that matter. But it hadn't really been a date. It had started with a text message from Jen to him, and somehow their messages led to the idea of getting together. He didn't call her, and she didn't call him. So would it be so terrible to call her and say that his plans had changed? Before he could think it through, his finger punched her number.

Within seconds Jen's voice answered. "Hey, you," she said pleasantly in her high professional feminine voice.

"Hey. How's everything at the hospital this time of year?" He genuinely liked her, and that had never changed.

"You'd be surprised how the season of joy and light can bring the crazies out in people." She laughed easily which he liked, too.

"Trust me; we see it, too, on the street." He decided to press ahead. "Hey, Jen, I'm sorry to call you at the last minute. I know we talked about getting together, but I'm not going to be able to."

There was silence on the other end. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine, just something that needs my attention right now. Sorry for not calling you sooner."

More silence, but her voice was kind and sincere. "No problem, Jamie, I understand. Thanks for letting me know."

"Merry Christmas, Jen."

He could hear her smile through the phone. "Merry Christmas," she said with kindness in her voice. "And Jamie?"

"Yeah?"

"Have a great new year."

He smiled back at her. "You, too." And with that, the call, and their arrangement was over. He paused and looked around. Christmas crowds swirled around him on the street, along with snowflakes that had begun drifting from the early evening sky. He felt Christmassy and filled with excitement at the thought of an evening with cookies and tree ornaments with Eddie. Walking back to her apartment he spotted the bodega next to her building. He walked in and scanned the red wines where he found a decent merlot.

As he paid for the wine, Jamie noticed a pile of firewood outside of the door and he remembered Eddie had a fireplace. "How much for some firewood?"