Well, Jack's finals were finished, marking the official end of his third first semester at med school.

Seeing as most people thought he wouldn't even graduate high school with his mediocre grades and poor citizenship, this was a reason to celebrate. Unfortunately, there was not much time to do so considering how there were only 8 days until Christmas as Burgess Medical School was the kind of nasty school where the semester cut late into December whereas his buddies at their respective schools were already a week into their break. But at least he would get a break that extended long into January. Either way, Jack needed the rest of the month off.

Jack sighed at the thought as he trekked the familiar path to the apartment he shared with his girlfriend, Elsa. She had gone all out on the Christmas decorations. Together they'd picked out a tree and hung tinsel and holly (of the plastic variety) all around the living room and front door. She had gone crazy with DIY's and had practically cleared the shelves of the local market of anything remotely red and green. They had two stockings, well one stocking and Jack's unpaired gym sock but it's mostly red and Elsa glued cotton balls to the top so it works, which Elsa hung on the refrigerator like the hillbilly she was because there was no fireplace.

Yet, all in all, it was going to be one of Jack's more memorable holidays. There was something really…pleasant about returning to a warm and inviting home everyday where the roommate was not a sweaty male who thinks Axe is the solution to the world's problems. Elsa kept the place stocked to the brim with eggnog and spiced apple tea to keep with the holiday theme and she had taken to baking cookie-like objects that are slowly becoming more edible.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Jack marched up the stairs toward Building 3. They would be leaving to visit Elsa's family in three days and the thought was both exciting and terrifying.

In his heart of hearts Jack looked forward to meeting the parents of the girl he was dating. Except, they didn't really know they were dating. Heck, her father would probably castrate him for even living with Elsa. Anna had made it clear that although she approved of the relationship, should Jack ever 'taint the white calla lily of Elsa's innocence' he would become a eunuch.

Then there was the whole matter of buying presents for her and her family, which, frankly, had been nothing short of a nightmare. After all, what do you get the person who could buy anything. He wanted her to get something nice, because even if she drove him crazy at times, he genuinely cared for her. He'd mulled over his options for weeks and eventually decided on a simple, albeit stylish, white gold bracelet from the jewelry shop from an outlet mall fifty miles away. He needed something one-of-a-kind. Just like her.

"The snow's getting really bad…" Elsa remarked nervously, staring out the passenger's side window.

Jack merely grunted in agreement as his rigid body position gave away his attention to the road. With the snow picking up and the roads steadily becoming slicker, even with his snow tires, Jack drove like an old grandmother, hands attentively at 10:00 and 2:00 and his eyes locked on the road ahead.

"I told you we should have left earlier," Elsa voiced her concerns.

"It's fine, we'll make it by Christmas Eve. You're the one who wanted this to be a surprise, so don't get your panties in a twist," Jack quipped.

"Did you seriously just say that to me?" Elsa asked. However, her tone was anything but scandalized by his mentioning her unmentionables. "Jack, it's Christmas. Can you at least stop fantasizing about my panties for two seconds and—"

Jack lost her at the word panties. He fell into daydreaming about her panties, as he was doing more often lately. He had been doing his laundry last week when he come across, by pure coincidence, mind you, a scrap of navy blue lace masquerading as underwear. He promptly shoved his face into a pile of snow to cool down and quickly hid the cloth under his clothes pile. This event did no good towards curbing his fantasizing.

At least he had the comfort of knowing that he would get a reprieve at her parents' house as her father's watchful gaze would be occupying a good portion of his worries.

"Jack?"

"Yeah," he snapped out of his thoughts a cast a quick glance toward a worried Elsa.

"I really think we should consider finding a hotel or something. Driving right now would be impossible," she gestured toward the apocalypse going on outside the car.

Jack sighed at this. "I guess. There's a Motel 66 a mile away, we can camp there."

Elsa beamed at this and tucked her hands under her legs like a little girl, a picture of adult innocence.

Slowly, Jack got off the freeway as he tried to make out the dimly lit building. He hated nothing more than driving in snow. It was slippery, dangerous, and on his bald snow tires, suicidal. Grimacing, he pulled into a parking spot closest to the motel, hating the prospect of leaving the warmth and safety of his car as the howling wind and fat snowflakes pelted his windshield.

"All right, you got to make this quick." he advised Elsa. "I'll get the bags, and you run inside and get us a room."

"I'll help you," she insisted. "It's a fricking nightmare outside and I know for a fact that my suitcase weighs as much as you do."

"Typical girl," he scoffed.

"It's full of Christmas gifts, you butt," Elsa snapped, pulling a snowcap over her head, covering her ears, then tightening the cashmere scarf donning her neck. "All right, it's go time."

Half-annoyed by her attitude and half-amused by her spunk, Jack nodded at his girlfriend and at the count of three, they threw open their doors together.

Instantly, Jack was slapped with a gust of icy wind. He tugged at the collars of his jacket and cast a nervous glance at Elsa, who weighed about six pounds and was liable to being blown away in the storm. Although Elsa claimed that the snow never bothered her, the tempest going on around them with winds rushing at the speed of light would make the abominable snowman quake.

She had reached their bags in the trunk as Jack was still trying to close his door, which was unfortunately facing the wrong side of the wind. When he finally managed to slam the door shut, although with a suspicious cracking sound that he would just have to investigate in the morning, Jack turned to see Elsa's skinny legs in a pair of too-thin nylons and too-high heels, causing him to shake his head and run, slip, back to help her.

She had just lifted her suitcase out when a particularly strong gust blew her over, crashing her against Jack who had just thrown his bag over his shoulder, and now, was threatening to fall over.

"What possessed you to wear heels in a snowstorm?" he demanded angrily as she took a moment to find her footing. "Oh for goodness sakes pick up your suitcase."

"What?" Elsa shouted as she stood upright, and to Jack's chagrin, gracefully in the midst of a snowstorm.

"Pick up your suitcase!"

"NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO PICK UP A FRUITCAKE!"

Determined not to die in a snowy parking lot, Jack cursed under his breath as he snatched Elsa's suitcase off the ground, shoved it into her arms, and in an effortless movement that deserved a Grammy Award for Best Male Lead in Cliched Romance Short, he slung her across his free shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She let out an expected shirk of protest but clutched her suitcase and shrunk into herself as Jack sprinted for the lobby.

The automatic doors slid open to welcome them with a gush of warmth. Panting in relief and exhaustion, he put down a struggling Elsa who landed on her impractical heels with a light thud.

"That was actually fun," she said with bright eyes and a brighter smile. "We should do that again, thanks Jack!" She pecked his cheek and had the nerve to skip toward the front desk.

Stupid, impractical, annoying little…

"Excuse me, sir," Elsa said to the clerk at the front desk, "We want to reserve a room?" Jack watched as the older man eyed her up like Christmas presents and scowled. Did this have to happen everywhere?

"Sure, can I have a form of ID and a credit card?" He gave her a (in Jack's opinion) lecherous grin and held out his hand. Oh heck no. Jack stormed in front of Elsa, forgetting his bags, to shove his own cards at the man.

The clerk couldn't help but step back at the intimidating presence of Jack in 'possessive boyfriend' mode and immediately processed the card, handed them keys to the room, and answered a fake phone call within under a minute.

As they were walking toward their room, Jack turned to Elsa and snapped.

"Why do you always have to do that?"

"Do what?" Elsa asked innocently.

"That sweet, innocent smile you give everybody, you lead these guys on, Elsa."

Elsa stared at Jack incredulously. "I asked a clerk for a room for us. In what dimension is that leading a person on? Besides you do the same thing!"

Missing a step and almost tripping on his own feet, Jack caught himself and stopped to turn fully to her. "Same thing? What are you talking about?"

Elsa moved passed him and continued walking, sticking her nose in the air before replying, "Whenever we order Chinese food that stupid girl with the nose ring drops it off for us and you always give her a huge tip."

"And that's me leading her on how?" Jack snorted and caught up to his now ticked off girlfriend.

"Because I know for a fact that you never tip the pizza delivery guy anywhere near as much!"

"Well, I would if he stopped eating a piece of our pizza every time we order!" Jack countered. "I'm not paying the man to share our pizza and give us what he didn't get the chance to finish in the twenty damn minutes it takes him to bring it over."

"Please, I see you checking out the nose ring. Admit it, you have a thing for nose rings, you philandering…"

Jack ignored her next words as they reached their room.

"We are not having this conversation. What we need right now is a nice warm bath—"

"Oh ho, if you think I'm getting into a bath with you, you have another thing coming, mister."

"Not together woman," Jack scowled, "I'd like to return to school whole. If I so much as touched you I am pretty sure your family will have some way of finding out."

Elsa couldn't help but agree with that statement as she followed Jack into the room.

"Fine," Elsa relented before there was a sudden change in mood.

"I can't wait for you to meet my family. You have never been to my house but you'll love it there. We have the best Christmases."

Jack nodded absentmindedly as he rummaged his bags for his toothbrush. Because there was no need to worry about spending the holidays with his girlfriend's family who doesn't even know he exists save the sister who promises him a world of pain should he ever hurt her darling sister, right? Yeah, what could go wrong.