I didn't think I was going to get a Christmas story up this year but then, a prompt on Tumblr gave me a kick and this song came on the radio and the bunnies were cooking. As always, I want to thank Craig Bartlett and Snee-Oosh for allowing us to play in their sandbox, especially this year. Also, thanks to them we have TJM and more canon for our ships! Happy holidays all!

12

It began on December 14th with a dozen brightly iced sugar cookies shaped like drums delivered to her house. The cookies were good, light and delicious, but she wasn't sure who sent her a delivery of cookies. There wasn't a card, but she knew the delivery person, Cat, who verified that the Pine St. Bakery had indeed made them and that they weren't some insidious plot to make her sick three days before the annual winter football game at Gerald's Field.

She had to hide the cookies from Bob, who could smell a sugar cookie from three blocks away.

"Whatcha got there little girl?" he boomed as she quickly closed the box.

"Never you mind. They're mine Bob." She shot back. He peered around her protective arms and spotted the white baker's box.

"Smells like cookies."

"If I give you one will you leave the rest of them alone?"

"Depends."

She opened the box and handed over one brightly colored drum cookie.

"These from Pine Street?"

"One cookie Bob! That's all your getting!"

He took a bite and hummed happily as the coolie melted in his mouth.

"Grinch." He muttered around cookie crumbs as he opened the fridge and pulled out a beer.

"My cookies!" she yelled at his retreating form. Grabbing the cookie box, she headed towards the stairs when the doorbell rang.

"Helga, get the door!" Bob yelled. Their father/daughter relationship might have advanced from utter contempt to fond annoyance, but it didn't mean that she still didn't have those eye rolling "duh!" moments around her father. She stomped towards the door and pulled it open. Arnold stood on the stoop, a blue scarf wrapped around his neck. He smiled brightly at her.

"Hey, ready for our movie?"

She jerked her heard towards the inside of the house and moved aside so he could come in. "Come on in football head, I need to hide these."

He eyed the box. "What are those?"

"Someone sent me a dozen cookies."

"What kind of cookies?" He asked following her into the house and up the stairs.

"Really? I get a random dozen cookies from someone and all you want to know is what kind?"

"Well if they're chocolate chip, I might want one."

"They aren't chocolate chip, football head. They're sugar cookies. And I'm down to eleven, Bob scored one."

"Meh." He shrugged as he walked into her room. "So, what are you doing with them?"

"Hiding them while I'm out. I don't trust Bob to eat the entire box while I'm gone."

"Are you sure he didn't send you the cookies?"

She shoved the baker's box under a pillow on her bed and turned to look at her boyfriend of almost six years.

"Focus football head, why would my Dad send me a dozen cookies and then try to snag them from me?"

"Well, you're getting cookies from some strange secret admirer or something." He tilted his head to look at her. "Should I be worried?"

"Ugh!" She threw the extra pillow at his head which he caught laughing. "You are too much Arnold. Come on, we got a movie to see."

He caught her arm as she passed him and tugged her gently towards him.

"I don't even get a kiss? I mean, I know I didn't bring you cookies, but…"

She let out an annoyed sigh before leaning in to lay a soft kiss against his lips. He licked his lips when she moved away.

"You taste sweet."

"I might have licked some icing from my fingers." She conceded, her hand slipping down to tangle in his. "Come on, Evil Twin is waiting for us."

11

The next morning as she left for school, there was a bright red box sitting on her front step. Arnold walked up to her steps as she picked it up.

"What's that?"

She frowned at the box as she shut the door to the brownstone. She pulled the box up to her face and sniffed it. Arnold laughed.

"What in the hell are you doing?"

"Making sure it wasn't more baked goods or dog poop or something."

He watched her walk down the four steps, her focus still on the box.

"Well open it. You're not going to know what it is unless you open it."

She slid a finger under the tape holding the box lid closed as they walked and opened the lid.

"What the…"

"What?"

She tilted the box a little so he could see the box full of plastic kazoos. He began laughing.

"Kazoos? Someone sent you kazoos?"

"Who sent who kazoos?" Gerald asked from the rolled down window of his car. In the passenger seat, Phoebe waved at the two. Arnold opened the back car door and gestured for Helga to climb in. She did, still holding her box.

"Someone sent me kazoos." She told them as Arnold climbed in after and shut the door. Phoebe turned in her seat to look at her friend.

That is an odd gift. And you don't know who sent them to you?" She held out her hand and Helga handed over the box.

"Nope. Someone sent me a dozen drum shaped sugar cookies yesterday."

Phoebe looked up from the box. "There are eleven kazoos. Did you take one out?"

"I just opened it. Why would someone send me eleven kazoos?" She glared at Arnold. "Are you sending me weird gifts as some sort of odd joke?"

He wrinkled his nose at her. "Why would I send you kazoos anonymously?"

Phoebe watched him with a calculated look as she extended the box back to Helga.

"Can I have one?" Gerald asked. Helga stopped, her hand half outstretched to take the box.

"One what?"

"A kazoo. Next week are finals and then Winter break. I could use something to pass the time in between tests."

"I don't care."

"Yes," Gerald's hand dipped into the box and scooped out a red kazoo. "You should pass them out to our friends when we get to school. Annoy the teachers."

"Gerald, I hardly think…" Phoebe started before Helga interrupted her.

"Great idea!" Helga exclaimed. "Tad totally needs one!"

Arnold and Phoebe merely shared a knowing look.

10

Helga walked down the stairs to the sight of her father shaking a box next to his head.

"What are you doing Bob?" she asked. He jumped as if caught doing something he shouldn't and then held out the box to her.

"Got another package. Doesn't smell like cookies."

Hopping down the last two stairs, she hurried to her father's side to take the package from him.

"You'd better hope it wasn't breakable." She grumbled at him and headed into the kitchen with the box, her father right on her heels.

"I want to see what it is," he insisted when she gave him a questioningly look. Rolling her eyes, she placed the box onto the table and walked towards the drawer to get a pair of scissors.

"Where's mom?"

"She left early to get meet Suzie at their hot yoga classes." Two years before, her mother had met back up with Suzie Kokoschka and the two had hit it off as if there hadn't been a long separation between the two of them meeting the first time and the next time. Miriam had helped Suzie when the woman was going through her divorce and Suzie had helped Miriam when she finally admitted she had a problem and decided to get sober. The two women were practically inseparable now. Bob tolerated it because Miriam stayed sober and Helga, who really never had parental figures, went along with it the same way she went along with everything else, she ignored it.

She slid the edge of the scissors through the opening, cutting through the tape and opening the lid of the box. Bob peered in eagerly, a look of confusion on his face when he caught sight of the contents.

"Nutcrackers?"

Inside the box were nine little nutcrackers surrounding a regular sized nutcracker. The box was full of different types of nuts. Helga grinned slightly as he ran a hand through the box and picked up the largest nutcracker.

"I don't know. Whoever is giving me these weird gifts has an odd sense of humor."

"Well there has to be something behind it. First the cookies and then the…what did you get yesterday?"

"Kazoos."

Kazoos and now nutcrackers. Nothing about this makes sense." He narrowed his gaze at the box. "Are you sure your boyfriend isn't doing this?"

"His name is Arnold, Dad, and he didn't seem to have a clue when I got the last two deliveries." She considered the box again. "Huh. We can put these up as decoration and put the nuts out in a bowl."

Bob headed back towards the living room, bored now that the surprise was over. "Put the big one out. Pass the little ones out to your friends. I'm sure your one weird friend would love a nutcracker."

Helga snickered. "Tad, Dad. His name is Tad." She looked back into the box where the remaining mini nutcrackers were. "And he'd love one."

Tomorrow was Sunday. There was no way she was getting a "special" delivery on Sunday.

9

"Are you kidding me?"

Helga stood on her front stoop staring in disbelief at the small red box sitting at her doorstep. It was Sunday and way too early in the morning to be dealing with this amount of weird. She wasn't even going to mention the fact that she'd gotten up early and opened the door just in case. But she wasn't expecting anything…honest.

Picking up the box with shaking hands, she retreated into the house and pulled her cell phone from her back pocket. She wiped it open, pulled up the phone app and dialed her best friend.

Phoebe answered after three rings.

"It's Sunday at too early in the morning, this better be good Pataki." The teen growled sleepily on the other end.

"I got another package." Helga answered by way of explanation. There was silence on the other end, then…

"Give me ten minutes. I'll be right over. Don't open it."

The two teen girls peered at the small red box sitting on the kitchen table. It was tied in gold cord and a gold tag that only said her name in typed out letters.

"What should I do?" Helga asked.

"Open it." Phoebe poked at the box, moving it towards the blonde. "We've established that it's not anything dangerous. So, open it. I'm dying to find out what's inside."

She bit at her bottom lip as she carefully slipped the cord from the box and opened the top off. Phoebe gasped, and Helga just stared in disbelief. Inside was a delicate silver charm bracelet with nine silver ballerinas hanging from it. Helga picked up the bracelet, lifting it so they could both see it.

"That's beautiful." Phoebe whispered. Helga merely nodded, her gaze not leaving the delicate wire and charm jewelry. Phoebe watched it glint in the morning light streaming in from the kitchen window, something niggling in the back of her mind.

"Nine ladies dancing." She said. Helga's gaze went from the bracelet to Phoebe.

"What?"

"Nine ladies dancing." Phoebe repeated. "That's what this represents." Her eyes lit up in recognition.

"And the other days. The nutcrackers were ten lords a leaping, then eleven pipers piping, and the cookies were twelve drummers drumming. Someone is sending you the twelve days of Christmas."

"Who would do that?"

Phoebe gave her a look that said don't be obtuse.

"I asked Arnold. When the cookies came. He said it wasn't him."

"Did he though? Did he actually say he didn't send you cookies?"

Helga opened her mouth to confirm that he did indeed say those words but stopped. She replayed the conversation over in her head and couldn't remember him actually saying those words. The closest he ever said was he didn't bring her cookies. Which he didn't, they were delivered. With the kazoos. He never said he didn't, her merely deflected the question. She looked up at Phoebe, her eyes wide.

"You don't think…"

Phoebe shrugged. "The idea, in itself, is actually really sweet. Really really sweet. I might be a little jealous Gerald didn't think of it." She took the bracelet from Helga's fingers and looked at it, twisting it in the light. "It's a beautiful piece of jewelry. I'd wear it tonight."

"Can't. it's the annual football game at Gerald's Field." She took the bracelet back and smiled, her gaze softening as it glimmered.

"I forgot about that. Then let him suffer for a day."

Helga smiled, looking back at her best friend. "You are diabolical. I knew there was a reason we became friends all those years ago." She put the bracelet back into the box and closed the lid. "What about the rest of the days? Aren't there a lot of birds? What am I going to do with that many different kinds of birds?"

"While it's true that days one through four and days six and seven do have birds," Her eyes twinkled in amusement. "I'm curious to see what you get for day five."

8.

The delivery didn't come until after she'd gotten home from school. Finals had been tolerable but she was more than ready for the break coming up in the next two days. Plus she needed this time to figure out the mystery of the boxes. Granted, she and Phoebe came to the conclusion that it might be Arnold sending these to her but she didn't know why. She needed to know why.

The doorbell rang, and she hurried down the stairs to answer it. Bob and Miriam were both at some Christmas dinner meeting with investors, so she was on her own for dinner.

She opened the door to the same delivery person who'd delivered the cookies.

"Aren't you the popular one this season." Cat joked as she handed over the tablet. Helga signed for them.
"Where is this one from?"

"The Sweet Tooth."

Helga looked up as she accepted the brown nondescript box. "The candy place on Vine and Garden?"

"Yep. Hey, what was that first package I delivered?"

"A dozen sugar cookies shaped like drums." Helga said as she pulled the tape from the box and opened the lid.

"Cute. So, what's this one?" She peered over the small box's lid to look inside. Inside were eight milk chocolate figures, all bright colored to look like milkmaids.

Cat snorted in amusement. "Eight maids of milking, cute. Your boyfriend doing this?"

Helga shrugged, closing the box back up. "I honestly have no idea."

Once back inside, she pulled her phone from her back pocket, unlocked it and pushed a button.

"Hello?" Arnold's voice answered on the other end.

"I got the chocolates." She said.

"You have chocolate? Okay, why are you telling me you have chocolate?"

"No, football head, I have the chocolate."

"What's the chocolate? Is this like a drug deal or something?"

"Cute. I know it's you."

"Helga, you aren't making any sense."

She wasn't sure if she was making any sense to her anymore. "The chocolates? The bracelet, the cookies, the nutcrackers, the kazoos? The twelve days of Christmas, I know what you're doing Arnold."

"Took you long enough to figure out." The amusement in his voice told her that he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Aha! So, you admit it!"

"I never not admitted it." He countered. "You just never asked the right questions. When did you figure it out anyway?"

"Yesterday when I got the bracelet. Actually, Phoebe figured it out." She couldn't help the smile as she looked at her wrist. "It's beautiful by the way."

"I saw it on you today. I'm glad you like it."

"So. Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why the twelve days of Christmas?"

"Why not? I thought it would be fun. Why? Don't you like it?"

His voice took on a worried tone, one she hated hearing because it usually meant he was worried he'd upset her in some way. She hated thinking she was the cause for his worry, always had even since San Lorenzo.

"I do," she insisted. "I really do. I'm just…I'm still not used to this Arnold."

"Helga, we've been dating for almost six years. Are you ever going to get used to me doing nice things for you?"

"Maybe when we're fifty."

She could hear the smile in his voice. "I have to go, my Mom's yelling at me to come set the table. I love you Helga Pataki."

She smiled. It was corny, but it was their thing. "Love you too Arnold Shortman."

She disconnected the call and looked back into the box. Pulling one of the chocolate maids out, she texted Phoebe.

I have 8 chocolate maids. Wanna come over and help me eat them?

The text came back as she was biting the head off the first maid.

I'll be there in 15 minutes!

7

Origami swans. Of multiple colors.

They all fell out of her locker at the end of the day as she was trying to get her coat and bag. Finals were over, Winter break was beginning and all she wanted was to get the hell out of that school and enjoy the next ten days of not having to get up early and go to school.

But now there are multi colored origami swans on the floor in front of her locker.

Seven of them.

"Arnold!"

She could hear Gerald laughing behind her as Phoebe sidled up beside her and helped her pick up the swans.

"You rang?" She could see her boyfriend's tennis shoes next to where she was kneeling, and she looked up at him as she picked up a blue swan and shook it at him.

"What are these?"

He grinned. "Swans."

"I can see that football head, why are they in my locker."

"I really didn't think I could have them delivered." He held out a hand towards her. She took it and he helped her to her feet. Phoebe followed after her, handing over the remaining swans she'd gathered.

"They really are beautiful if I say so myself." She said as Helga took the swans from her. She gave her best friend a look.

"You helped him, didn't you?"

"I might have…assisted a little." She admitted. Helga sighed, looking down at the swans. They really were beautiful, intricately folded. She glanced back at Arnold.

"Thank you."

The smile was back, and he produced a gift bag that she proceeded to dump the paper swans into. "You're welcome."

He took her free hand and followed Phoebe and Gerald out of the school and towards his car.

"Freedom!" Gerald yelled as they took their first step outside. "Sweet freedom. Where do we go first?"

"The rest of the gang are supposed to meet at Slaussen's" Phoebe suggested.

"Sounds like a plan."

Arnold squeezed her hand. "What do you say, want to split a hot fudge sundae with me?'

She squeezed back. "Always."

6.

"Here."

Arnold was standing on her doorstep holding out a blue sparkly bag as she opened the door. She frowned, first at him, because it was ten in the morning, and then at the bad. She scratched her head and opened the door wider.

"Come in."

He stepped inside, stomping his feet free of snow before he did. She peered down the walk, taking in the dusting of snow that had fallen while she was asleep and then closed the door.

"Why are you here so damn early?" she asked, raising a hand to her mouth to cover a yawn.

"It's ten in the morning Helga." He looked at her ensemble with a smirk, pink fuzzy unicorn sleep pants and a pink and yellow tank top. "Nice outfit."

She snorted. "Not like you haven't seen me in less. Shut up." She finally eyed the bag again. "No delivery service today?"

"Nah. I figured I'd give you the personal touch."

She grinned at his innuendo as she took the bag from his outstretched hand. She leaned in and dropped a kiss onto his waiting lips.

"So what'ya get me for day six?" She peered in the bag, moving tissue paper out of the way and immediately burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, seriously football head?" She pulled out a box of six Peeps. "You do know Peeps are actually baby chickens, right?"

He shrugged. "You try to find six geese shaped anything that aren't actually geese. Work with me Pataki."

She grinned at him. "You're just lucky I happen to love Peeps." She leaned towards him and kissed him again. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now, as much I do love this outfit you're wearing and would like to continue seeing it, you need to get dressed. The gang is meeting for lunch today and then I think there was talk of ice skating later."

"You come up to talk to me while I get dressed or waiting down here?"

He glanced around the empty house, before looking back to her with that half-lidded gaze that always made her knees weak.

"I think we both know that if I came upstairs with you, we'd both miss lunch."

She couldn't help it, she grinned helplessly. "Fine. Give me ten minutes."

"I'll be here, Oh, hey Helga?"

She was three steps past him. "Yeah?"

"I'm picking you up tomorrow around two in the afternoon, is that okay? I figure we could walk around Tina Park for a bit, have some time alone?"

"Sounds great Arnold. Give me ten."

She was down the hall and up the bounding up the stairs within seconds. Arnold turned back towards the sparkly bag sitting on the table. He reached out and stroked one of the ribbon handles, a small smile on his lips.

5

Helga was dressed and ready to go when her doorbell rang at two the next day. She was running from the kitchen as Miriam was walking down the stairs.

"Who's here honey?" she asked as Helga reached the door.

"Just Arnold," she grabbed her coat from the coatrack by the door. "We're going out, be home later, bye!"

She opened the door and rushed out, slamming the door behind her before Miriam could reach the main floor. Arnold blinked at her as she suddenly appeared before him and in his space.

"Um, hi." He said taking an involuntary step back to give her room to move. She grabbed his scarf and pulled him towards her, kissing him before releasing his scarf and zipping up her own coat.

"Hi. Sorry. Miriam's at home today and she's already driving me nuts. You're actually saving me."

He gave her a crooked smile as he took her hand and they started down the stairs. "That's what I'm here for."

They walked down the sidewalk, down the two blocks towards Tina Park, hand in hand. Around them the day was cold but not too freezing and the snow was still packed on the grass in neat white patches. It had snowed again the night before giving the town the clean look once again, covering up all the tromped upon snow from the kids playing in it the day before.

"Mom and Dad want you to come over Christmas afternoon for dinner. You should be finished with your stuff by then, right?" Arnold was saying. Helga blinked out of her musings.

"Um, yeah. Olga is snowed in this year, she's already called Mom and Dad sobbing about how the airport is pretty much shut down until the new year. I could hear her wails over the phone. So, we're having a pretty low-key brunch thing in the morning. So yes, please, I will be happy to come over for dinner."

"Good, because I was reminded by Mom no less than six times to make sure I invite you."

She smiled, squeezing his hand tighter. "I love your parents."

"You know the feeling is mutual."

Her smile grew wider. "I might love their son a little too."

He returned her smile, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "The feeling is more than mutual there too."

They crossed the street, walking into Tina Park. The park looked like a winter wonderland and it took Helga's breath away a little.

"I love walking this park after a snow." She mused. "Everything looks so clean, so beautiful."

Arnold tugged her down a path and she followed. Ahead of them was a bench, covered with snow, with a large oak tree shadowing it. Helga knew it immediately, it was their bench. The one they always ended up on whenever one of them had an issue when they were younger. When they first started dating, it became their unintentional meeting place and over the years it had become much more. This spot held so many memories for them, both good and bad. Even with it being on a well walked path, it was still their spot.

"Did you bring a towel?"

"No. We won't stay long, I just wanted to give you your gift here."

He pulled a box from his pocket and handed it over. It was a small square gold foiled box, about the side one could put a gift card in. Pulling her hand away from his, she took the box from him.

"Phoebe was dying to know what you'd get me on this day," She joked as she opened the box's lid. "Between you and me, I think she's a little jealous that Gerald didn't come up with somet…oh."

Inside were four plain cheap plastic gold rings, the kind one gets out of a candy machine. But nestled in between those was a real gold ring, adorned with a small blue and pink stone in the middle. Helga stared at the ring in disbelief, not moving, barely even breathing. This couldn't be…but…

"H…what…Arnold?" She looked up at him, wide eyed. He smiled and reached over, plucking the ring from it's box.

"We're only seventeen Helga, we both know we're too young for that. But," He looked up at her with wide eyes, nervous and imploring. "It's a promise. That when we get older, figure out the college situation and start doing what we want to do, that, one day, you'll let me put an actual diamond on that finger for real. It's a promise that even after all of these years, I have never stopped loving you and that I never will. It's a promise that I want to spend the rest of my life with you and that one day we will make it official." He held it up. "Are you okay with that?"

She finally remembered to breathe, her breath, coming into her lungs in a huge gasp. She blinked quickly, wetness clouding her vision for just a moment. With a trembling hand, she reached out to him, nodding.

"Yes. Yes. I promise. All of those thing you just said, I promise and more."

The smile on his face was blinding and he slipped the ring onto her right ring finger. She looked at it, the stones and gold gleaming against the winter sun. With a sob, she launched forward, wrapping her arms around Arnold's neck, and burying her face in his scarf. With a laugh, his arms came around her waist, pulling her tight against him.

"It's beautiful." She whispered. "I didn't get you anything nearly as neat."

He laughed, and she trembled against him. "You are ever the only present I want, Helga."

He pulled her away from him, and looked into her eyes. His bright green eyes locked with her blue ones.

"I love you Helga Pataki." He whispered.

"I love you too Arnold Shortman." She answered before his lips caught her in a kiss.