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myloveforhergoeson · 3 months

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That's All She Wrote - Chapter 27

Chapter Index

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Chapter 27: Ho Ho Hopefully (2.9) ~ 24k

Eight days.

James had been back in Minnesota for eight days.

192 hours, 11520 minutes, 691,200 seconds since Roxy had dropped him off at the airport… Not that she had been counting. It had been nearly impossible for her to keep track of time thanks to the extra effort Gustavo and Kelly were expecting from her, Logan, Kendall, and Carlos to make up for their bandmate's absence.

None of them had expected their bosses to be okay with the singer’s request for a full eight days off of work to celebrate Hanukkah with his mother; Their work schedule was already jam-packed between recording sessions, media training, and dance practices since the native Minnesotans were all planning on heading home for the holiday season on December 24th.

“You can’t just say ‘No,’ to Brooke Diamond,” James had told her, getting the phone call from the entrepreneur two weeks ago asking him to come home for her holiday celebration. There was a bit of dismay in his voice as he shared, hinting at how he felt about heading back to Duluth, something his girlfriend was reluctant to comment on.

He had been correct in his statement about his mother, learning she had also called their boss with the same request, and his time off was immediately approved without a second thought. Gustavo even offered to pay for his round-trip flight, as long as James could make it back to record in the four-day gap between the last night of Hanukkah and Christmas Eve.

Roxy had a sneaking suspicion his decision would have been the same even without Brooke’s intervention. Even with the band’s tough working conditions as the year was coming to a close, she suspected that they were rubbing off on him more than he cared to admit. The other day he had let Carlos collaborate with Mr. X to formulate a new dance routine, Logan had convinced him they needed more than one half-hour break throughout the workday, and it seemed as though he was yelling at Kendall far less than he ever had in the past. Gustavo was even critiquing her songwriting less and less, acting more as a songwriting partner than an authority figure. So, James’ approved time off was only supporting her theory, though she knew the man would never admit it.

In between work days, packing for her trip home, and making and shopping for presents for her friends and father, Roxy and James were on the phone constantly. Text messages if they were caught up in something, phone calls on the way home from places, FaceTalk all hours of the night… Carlos had taken her phone away from her when they were playing Biohazard Blast the other day against Kendall and Logan because it was a ‘“major distraction.”

Tonight, Camille and Jo had done the same when they entered 2-H for a dinner get-together they had planned now that Roxy and Camille could stand to be in the same room as each other. Their first time hanging out together in quite a while would also be the last time all three girls would be able to spend time with each other before their respective trips home. While their busy schedules were much appreciated, it made seeing one another almost impossible these days.

“Don’t look so sad! We’re way more fun to hang out with than your virtual boyfriend,” Camille joked over the sound of holiday music drifting from Roxy’s tape player, poking around in songwriter’s cabinets to find the right cookware for the tacos the three were planning on making.

Taking the ingredients from her fridge and pantry, Roxy chuckled at her friend’s comment, “While that may be true, it doesn’t change the fact that I miss him so much. My journal is full of sappy, cliche songs to prove it.”

Not only had this been the longest James and Roxy had been apart, but the boys had told her this was also the longest they had ever gone without seeing James as well.

“Girl’s Night is about forgetting all of that!” Countered Jo, who slid into one of the chairs at the small kitchen table while looking the songwriter up and down. “Can we trust you in that t-shirt or do you need to change?”

Referencing Roxy’s choice of dress, one of the merch items from the Big Time Rush tour, the actress reached out and poked the picture of Kendall standing beside his friends on the front of the shirt.

“If you go put yours on we can match…” The songwriter trailed off, slightly singsong, before the other girl loudly cleared her throat.

“Forgetting!”

Finally, the assistant grew compliant with her friend’s wishes. “Big Time who?”

“That’s the spirit!” For the rest of the time spent preparing the meal, the three were finally able to catch up on everything they had missed during Roxy and Camille’s fighting period. Jo was still having trouble getting along with her New Town High co-star, Jett Stetson, despite the first season filming slowly drawing to a close. From her descriptions, Jett was finding it difficult to separate his own life from that of his fictitious counterpart, Drake Steele. The actor had even gone as far as to mistake Drake’s relationship with Jo’s character, Rachel Blesse, for reality, which Kendall was less than thrilled about.

On Camille’s turn, she was elated to share all of the projects she had been in the process of auditioning for. Her ability to completely give herself over to the roles she was pursuing shocked the other two, as she showed off a few scenes she had been practicing for the TV show Break a Leg, Charlotte!, the movie Rock Camp 5, and the musical Billion Dollar Trio. Since she wasn’t currently filming anything and she wasn’t spending time with Logan anymore, the actress had far more time to continue to hone her talent and blow the casting directors away.

In exchange, Roxy allowed herself to share some updates on a few incomplete songs she had been slowly piecing together. Normally, she’d be bothered by the fact she wasn’t finished with them yet, but Gustavo had been overlading her and the band with work this week the two hadn’t found any time in which to collaborate. Tentatively, she planned to have at least one song ready for Big Time Rush to release by the new year, she just needed some more guidance on one she had titled “Got Something.” Beyond that, there wasn’t much else Roxy had going on at the moment, so she rambled about going back to Minnesota as the girls loaded up their plates with the delicious meal of rice, beans, and tacos they had prepared together.

“After being in Los Angeles for so long, I’m afraid my body has acclimated to the perfect sunny weather… The minute we touch down in Duluth the snow is going to kill me!”

Camille and Jo both nodded in agreement as they took their first bites, both of them far better equipped to handle the cold weather than their friends who were Los Angeles-born and bred, like the Jennifers.

Sitting at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Marion, North Carolina would often see snow during the colder winter months, so Jo’s hometown was no stranger to low temperatures. However, that would be the least of her worries about her holiday journey home.

It wasn’t often she spoke about her family, but from what Roxy had gathered over the course of their friendship, her father and grandmother were the people she was closest to. Since her grandmother couldn’t make the trip from Marion to Los Angeles, Jo hadn’t seen her in quite some time. The real issue, however, was seeing her mother, Donna, and older sister, Vic, who had split off from the family together almost fifteen years ago. As Jo had mentioned before, getting together for Christmas and birthdays with her divorced parents and uncaring older sibling was always a drag and she expected this year to be no different.

“Never mind the snow! My dad said Mom’s bringing her new boyfriend over this year… How fun that’ll be. On top of having to see that, she’ll probably hound me about Kendall too - try to find any sliver of connection between us and pretend as if she cares about what’s going on with me.”

The blonde scrunched her face in disgust, leading Camille to ask, “What if you just locked yourself in your room with your grandma? She’ll protect you,” with a mouthful of food.

Half-joking, half-serious, that comment seemed to lighten the mood just enough for Jo to crack a small smile. “She can be quite scary as long as her cane is within reach and she’s always very vocal about how she doesn’t like my mom or Vic so they tend to steer clear… Maybe it won’t be all that bad. I just don’t get why they insist we do this every single year!”

While Roxy wanted to offer some advice to her friend, slowly chewing away, she didn’t understand family dynamics in the same way Jo and Camille did. Being an only child in a single-parent household made it difficult for her to even imagine what Jo was going through. The closest thing she had ever had to sisters were the girls in her apartment right now and not getting along with them royally sucked; Jo and Vic’s relationship had been strained for so long, it seemed completely unsalvagable.

“My parents hate each other's guts, I can’t stand to be around my sister, and none of us know how to make a honey-glazed ham. It’s always a disaster. I wish I could just go with one of you guys instead.”

“I’d offer if we wouldn’t have a full house in New Windsor,” Camille shared, pushing around some of the rice on her plate, mentioning one of the two homes her family owned in Connecticut. “Normally we stay in our vacation home in Westport, but Gabriel and his husband are staying with my mom so we needed the extra space. That, and Elliott and Claude are bringing their college roommates with them.”

At times, it was difficult to keep all five of Camille’s brothers straight, even with the context in which she spoke about them. Roxy knew that Jules was only a year older than her and still in high school. Of all of her siblings, she was the closest with him, so that meant the twins Elliott and Claude were the next in age since they were still in college. She was pretty sure Gabriel was the oldest, considering he was the only one of the Roberts siblings to be married, which left only Jean-Luc to fill in the second child gap.

Sucking in a breath at the sheer notion of having that many people in one place at the same time, Roxy breathed, “I don’t know how you manage to buy everyone gifts each year. My head almost exploded getting stuff for you two, the boys, Jennifer, Katie, Gustavo, Kelly, and my dad.”

All eleven of her gifts had already been handmade or purchased and completely wrapped in the brightest red paper she could find, hiding under her bed so no one would find them before they were supposed to.

“Oh, trust me, I’m moments away from not even using gift wrap… I’ll just put everything under the tree and they all have to figure it out.” The actress deadpanned. “How I’ll even get them all home is another story.”

Nodding in agreement as she pushed her clean plate forward, Jo seemed to be facing the same issue as well, “Kendall mentioned that Mrs. Knight is an expert packer - Maybe you can ask her for help.”

“My dad also claims to be an expert packer but every single year we fly home we’ve had to rearrange our bags because they end up being too heavy!”

Had she not been preoccupied with thinking about her own flight home, Roxy might have added something to the conversation, but she was beginning to feel slightly queasy with her final bite of food. She and the band were flying home in the afternoon, meaning they wouldn’t get to Duluth until late into the evening.

At least I’ll get to see Dad and we can have some semblance of a Christmas Eve celebration. Hopefully, the flight doesn’t knock me out. Maybe if I put a playlist on and lay on James’ shoulder I can sleep the airsickness away. Oh! I need to call him tonight, he hasn’t texted me at all today. Probably because he’s busy, not because he’s-

“Roxy? What about you?”

“Hm?” Her head snapped up, pulling her away from her thoughts. Despite not having heard anything her friends had said for the last minute or so she tried, “You can sleep on my floor, Jo. It’ll just be me and my dad. From what I’ve told him about you, he thinks you’re pretty neat, but be warned he might try and put you onto some Minnesota underground punk band.”

The songwriter watched as Jo and Camille paused for a second, glancing at each other before bursting out laughing, the sound echoing off the walls of her small apartment.

“Too busy thinking about James to pay attention to us?” Jo teased and Roxy felt her face flush, which was all the response the pair needed to know they were right in their suspicions. “I was telling Camille I got Kendall a new hockey stick he’s been talking about for months now! What did you get James?”

When Roxy pushed back, “Sorry, I don’t know anyone by that name…” per the Girl’s Night rules the blond had established at the beginning of the evening then promptly broke, Camille stuck her foot out and pushed the assistant’s chair, jostling her.

Kicking her chair right back, ignoring the creaking of the ancient wood, she protested again, “It’s a secret! If I tell you two, then Jo will tell Kendall, who will tell Logan, who will tell Carlos, who will tell James! That’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”

“So dramatic…” Camille said, clicking her tongue a few times, which made the writer want to defend her actions further.

“It’s true! Jo’s been 100% honest after her fake boyfriend fiasco and Kendall’s nosey! All of you are just going to have to wait until the appropriate time to receive your gifts. Until then, my lips are sealed!”

“Killjoy…” Jo jokingly muttered with a roll of her eyes, speaking just loud enough to annoy her friend as she got up to clear the plates from the table.

Turning to Camille, who was also pushing away from the table to help with the dishes, Roxy matched the actress’ volume as she contemplated, “I think eleven gifts is far too many. Who’s should I return first? Hers or Kendall’s?”

Just as she opened her mouth to respond, a smile curving her gorgeous features, she managed to catch a glimpse at the clock on the microwave. In an instant, her smile turned into a frown. “When did it get so late?”

That caught Jo’s attention, who glanced over her shoulder to check the time as well. “Shit! We’re starting our shoot at 7 am tomorrow… I still need to go over some of my scenes. Jett gets so bitchy if we have to do more than a few takes per scene - Like he’s some sort of perfect actor!”

Her scoff was not lost on her friends; While she loved her job more than anything in the world, Jo still had to deal with annoying co-workers.

Joining her in front of the sink, Roxy slung an arm over the blonde’s shoulder, “Hang in there, girl! Just remember Rocque Records isn’t that far from Collosal Studios. If you ever need the guys to take a trip down to the New Town High set, just let us know.”

Jo easily leaned into her friend, closing her eyes and letting out a deep breath as Camille walked over and joined the girls’ embrace. “I should probably head out too. Morning auditions.”

“And I’ve got to get James from the airport bright and early before we have to stop by Rocque Records to give Kelly and Gustavo their gifts.”

Even though it was time for the night to come to an end, none of them made any attempts to move, simply enjoying the warm embrace for as long as possible as the tape of holiday tunes filled up the silence.

***

It didn’t take Roxy very long to clean up dinner. Lazily singing along to the music from her tape player, the dishes were done in a flash, there was barely any food left to save for later, and the red tablecloth covering her table was thrown into the washing machine.

When she was finished, she attempted to FaceTalk James, but he didn’t pick up. Chalking it up to the two-hour time difference, she tried not to take it personally that he hadn’t even sent her a goodnight text after no messages at all for most of the day. Just in case he was still awake, she sent him a smiley face and a few hearts before setting her phone down to charge and heading to the bathroom to wind down for the night.

One nice, long shower later, she had changed into her pajamas and settled down on her bed to write her journal entry for the day. Like most entries, this one had come easy to her.

Whenever she had a wonderful time with her friends, it was effortless to recall and write down; She had even managed to snatch the recipe Camille had used to make the taco meat and scribbled that out as well as a reminder for the future. Towards the bottom of the page, Roxy managed to get a few sentences out about her worries that James hadn’t texted her, ultimately deciding that the sooner she went to bed, the sooner she’d wake up to a message of his in the morning.

Just as she set her book and pen down on her nightstand, rolling off her plush duvet to turn off the lights in 2-H, she left her bedroom only to hear a quiet knock on her front door.

Instantly, she froze, heart rate levels spiking to the roof.

Who could possibly be here this late?

Had it been one of the boys, Mrs. Knight, or Katie, they would have used the door connecting their apartments. That ruled out almost everyone she’d be okay with seeing at this hour.

Scanning the kitchen table, she didn’t notice anything Jo or Camille may have left behind and they certainly would have sent her a message if they were intending to come back over.

Buddha Bob, the maintenance man only came upon request and everything in her apartment was in proper working order. Mr. Bitters, though always looking for a reason to kick her and the band out of the Palm Woods, didn’t care enough about his job to come knocking at her door this late.

Knock knock

Once again, the soft tapping at her door came again and Roxy slowly crept over to her couch, squatting down to grab the old hockey stick Logan insisted she hid there when they first moved to L.A. in case she would ever need it.

Better to be safe than sorry, she told herself, gripping the smooth, taped-over wood in one hand as she made her way to her front door. Heart still threatening to beat out of her chest with anxiety, she moved as quietly as possible, undoing the deadbolt and slowly cracking the door just enough to see who was outside.

Two big suitcases, one hockey duffel, and a familiar, tall, handsome boy stood in the entryway with a big, ridiculous grin on his face.

Before James could even get out a word of greeting, the hockey stick Roxy had been holding loudly clattered to the tiled floor at her feet as she pulled the door wide open and launched herself at her boyfriend. Hands easily meeting around his neck, legs wrapping around his waist, she squeezed him so tightly she could have cracked one of his ribs.

Despite his winded, “Oof,” his duffel hit the floor with a thud as one arm encircled her waist, the other burying itself into her hair as he pressed Roxy into the crook of his neck.

“Hey, songbird. Miss me?”

***

Three days ago, Roxy learned that one of the best feelings in the entire world, next to songwriting, of course, was waking up in James Diamond’s arms.

As a last-minute holiday surprise, her boyfriend had changed his initial flight from Minnesota back to Los Angeles for one earlier in the day so he and Roxy could spend some time together before jumping right back into their never-ending work the next day. Though he had drifted off the minute his head hit one of her pillows thanks to his long day of travel, Roxy couldn’t get even a wink of sleep as he held her throughout the night. She was too focused on the rhythmic patterns of his breathing and heartbeat, almost a song in itself as she snuggled into him. A song she would be likely daydreaming about for the rest of her life.

That feeling was more than enough to help her get through her last few days in Hollywood before she and her friends were meant to fly back home. A mix of excitement and nerves flustered around in Roxy’s chest, though it was being severely outweighed by the bitter cold of the L.A. morning she and her friends were experiencing outside of the TKSimmons at the crowded Beverly Center.

Leave it to the boys to have none of their holiday shopping done less than 24 hours before Christmas. Like any other good assistant in the greater Los Angeles area, that meant their gifts were her responsibility too - Or so she had learned when the boys burst down her door before the crack of dawn and begged her to take them downtown.

“‘Twas the morning before Christmas, and L.A. was hopping, and the boys were up early doing last-minute shopping…” Their assistant narrated, bundling into her MAHS sweatshirt as she and the boys stood in line, not-so-patiently waiting for the department store to open its doors.

Carlos drove his shoulder into hers, clearly not finding the commentary as funny as she did, though it didn’t bother the girl at all. Roxy was too busy trying to figure out the line of her next poem, playing with James’ hand she held in one of his big coat pockets for extra warmth.

“Who shops at 5 am on Christmas Eve Day?” Logan questioned, glancing back behind him at the massive line that had formed outside the store. Why he had expected the band to be the only last-minute shoppers in a city of 3.9 million people, she had no idea.

“Us!” Snapped James, shooting his friend a nasty glare at his unnecessary comment. “‘Cause we didn’t shop for anyone except Gustavo and Roxy.”

Their assistant turned to Kendall, though her, “You didn’t get anything for Jo yet?” was overlapped with Carlos’ “They’re gonna love their gifts!”

She knew Kendall heard, however, as he quickly glanced at his shoes, before his signature Knight confidence came back in full swing to dodge the comment. “And for everyone else, we can get two gifts instead of one with all the money we’ll save at this 70% off last-minute shoppers super sale!”

“How fiscally responsible of you,” Roxy sarcastically mumbled, watching as her breath condensated against the winter air. Just like Minnesota.

“But it is!” Her boyfriend protested, letting go of her hand and maneuvering behind her to wrap the girl up under his coat when he noticed she was shivering. “All our shopping in one location at low, low prices.”

“Have you ever heard diamonds are a girl’s best friend? Can’t find those at low, low prices.”

“You’ve already got a Diamond for Christmas.” Roxy could practically hear the smirk forming on his face as she sunk back into him.

Completely ignoring the couple’s sidebar, Carlos decided to carry on the original conversation with a chuckle, “It’s the perfect shopping holiday experience.”

“Is this your first 5 am super sale?” The blonde woman in line ahead of them asked over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes as she glanced between the five teens - Almost as if she were sizing each of them up.

With a weak, “Yeah,” they nodded.

From behind them, another woman leaned forward, the same scrutinizing gaze. “Good luck.”

“Good luck?” Echoed Logan, brows knitting in confusion. “What? What does that mean?”

Fifteen minutes later, the boys found out exactly why they would need such a blessing from a random stranger.

The TKSimmons was in shambles from the moment the rope up front dropped and everyone from the line ran inside of the large department store, knocking other patrons left and right as they tumbled to the displays they were in search of. It reminded Roxy of entering a standing-room-only concert venue - If you didn’t run to the barricade as fast as possible, there was no chance you’d ever see the people on stage. Because of that, she respected the hustle and was more than happy to stand off to the side and admire the store’s holiday displays as her boys entered the store-turned-battle arena.

In one corner, Kendall and the blonde woman ahead of them were pulling the ugliest sweater Roxy had ever seen back and forth by the sleeves. The two of them went many rounds, Kendall crying, “It’s for my mom!” as the blonde yelled, “Back off, kid!” before the sweater tore completely in half.

A few large displays across, James was tightly gripping a bright orange pillow and a box of tissues, while the brunette in line behind them who wished them good luck was clinging to his back like a koala. It looked as though she was attempting to pry the pillow out of his hands, but he managed to bop her in the face a few times with it instead. Roxy wasn’t shy about her bellowing laugh, pulling her cellphone camera out to record her boyfriend in such a compromising position.

Just as a shorter, beautiful young woman ran in front of her camera frame, Roxy swore she recognized her from somewhere, but her attention was drawn elsewhere as she heard Carlos screaming from the upper level of the store. Caught up in the cookware section, he had a few boxes of ceramic plates in his hands while he used a cast iron skillet like a shield to defend himself from another shopper, loud clanks echoing off the high ceilings of the building and mixing with his wailing, “Oh, God, get back! Get back!”

“I got it!” Came Logan’s voice from another side of the store, almost indiscernible against all the noise of the other shoppers, but Roxy eventually found him triumphantly holding a pretty green scarf and matching pair of green gloves, presumably for his mothers. Or, were for his mothers, before the woman who was clinging to James detached herself from him and made a beeline for Logan, tackling him over the display of nice, colorful zip-up jackets.

They’ve got it all handled, Roxy told herself, not foreseeing them getting out of this mess any time soon. Still keeping to herself, she noticed some bright green arrows on the white-tiled floor of the store and decided to follow them through the chaos. Everyone seemed so preoccupied with fighting over merchandise, the pathways of the store were shockingly clear. A few lefts and rights brought the girl to the back of the store, where the kid’s section was. This area had already been decimated, judging by the lack of toys on the walls and the bits and pieces of clothing strewn about. Since it was relatively empty, Roxy noticed a large, red mailbox in the center of the area and a round table beside it holding a stack of lined paper and some multicolor pens.

A round, white logo reading North Pole Express decorated the side of the mailbox in the middle of the wintery display.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she could see the boys together now, bundles of who-knows-what under their arms as they fought toward the checkout line.

“Jingle Bell Rock” flowed through the hidden speakers of the store, beckoning Roxy closer to the table, where she grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen for herself. Be it a bit childish, what harm could writing a letter to Santa do while she waited?

Though she knew it would likely just land in the recycle bin outside the back of the store, she gingerly wrote out her name at the top of the page and scribbled down her Christmas wishes.

New traditions with my friends

A wonderful day with my dad

A kiss under the mistletoe

More Hollywood connections

Joy on my friends’ faces as they open my gifts to them

Folding the paper into thirds, placing the letter in the envelope, then dropping it into the mailbox reminded her of when she was younger and her dad would take her to the mall to get her pictures taken with old Saint Nick.

I can’t wait to see him again.

It wasn’t long after that Roxy meandered back up to the checkout lines, where her friends caught her arms despite the multiple, giant red shopping bags they carried. They were all panting as though they had just run a marathon, dragging her to the front doors of the store, and the moment they stepped outside onto the streets of Los Angeles, they were able to find respite.

“We did it!” Carlos cheered, though it looked as though a few bruises might have been forming on different parts of his face. “Christmas shopping is done!”

Standing next to James, Roxy noticed that his coat had been partially torn off, so she grabbed the bags from his right hand and gave him a moment to readjust back into his outfit. “We have no idea what we got, but the savings were incredible,” he told her.

Peeking in his bags at James’ words, Kendall was trying to figure out just what he had purchased, before he looked up at his assistant, eyes widening in fear. “Wait, we thought Logan was with you!”

“I thought he was with you!” Roxy shot back, panic striking her chest.

Seconds later their friend’s telltale cry came from behind them and when the teens turned, they found him in the middle of some lady’s cart as she wheeled it to her car with a cherry red bow on his head. “I think I got bought!”

***

Roxy knew there would come a day when the Big Time Rush CD in the Pontiac’s glove box would come in handy, and that day just happened to be today. Once the boys all reluctantly signed it the woman at the department store thought that to be a fitting trade-off for their best friend, meaning they were now free to head back to the Palm Woods to hand off the things they had bought to their friends before heading to Rocque Records.

Using one of the hotel luggage carts to carry all of their bags, and Logan, into the lobby, the band and their assistant were met with a crowded room as everyone was preparing to go home for the holidays. Gifts were being exchanged, the front desk was overloaded with help requests for shuttles to the airport, and Big Time Rush was caught in the middle of it all when Camille popped up in front of them.

“Merry Christmas!” She cheered, smiling down at Logan as she gripped the handle of her large suitcase. Dressed in an adorable pink sweater and a powder blue beanie, Camille was all ready to head back to Connecticut, she just had a few more gifts to hand out. One by one, everyone received their gift from her in different forms of cartoonish wrapping paper, and when she ended on Logan, he had the biggest gift of them all. When she spoke again, she addressed only him, but the others knew her instructions applied to them as well. “Don’t open it until tomorrow!”

A chorus of thank you’s echoed through the group as Roxy opened her bag to pull out Camille’s gift, a pack of new eraseable highlighters for her scripts, handing it off to her with a smile as Logan stumbled over his next words. Digging through one of the red bags in front of him, he searched for a moment before proclaiming, “And, uh, here’s my present to you!”

Thank God Camille was an incredible actress because anyone with even a shred less talent couldn’t have faked the excitement written across her face as Logan passed her a pop-tabbed aluminum tin with a big green bow on top. “A canned ham.”

Nodding enthusiastically at his choice, the other boys joined in to back him up in his decision before the singer characteristically doubted himself and asked, “Or would you like… A…”

Frantically, the boys dove into their bags as well, loudly rummaging around for anything that would be better than the gift Logan had given to the girl who cared for him so deeply. While they searched, Roxy and Camille made confused eye contact, and the writer decided that things were beginning to look up for her friends relationship-wise. Though it had been rocky for a while, Camille and Logan seemed to be getting comfortable being around each other again - Enough to even exchange gifts before Christmas.

If that’s not a miracle, I don’t know what is.

A cough from James brought her out of her head as she watched him discreetly hand off something encased in gold foil to the struggling boy who registered what it was just in time to announce, “...A scented candle!”

One more glance over to Roxy almost made the assistant fail at keeping her laughter in check.

“I’ll keep the ham,” The actress proudly announced, leaning in to kiss Logan on the cheek. “And I will see you guys next year. Be sure to text me!”

Though her last statement was mainly aimed at her best friend as Camille wrapped Roxy in her arms, she knew the boys would take it to heart too.

“You know I will,” Roxy breathed, crushing her friend just as tightly back. Mentally, she willed good holiday vibes knowing she was headed straight into a packed house with her entire family. “Safe travels! And Minnesota isn’t that far if you get lonely!”

Throwing her head back in laughter as she made her way to the door, Camille’s black curls fell beautifully down her shoulders at her friend’s completely untrue words, and just like that, she and her father were off on their holiday journey home.

Watching her go slightly saddened Roxy, but Kendall didn’t let her sit in her feelings for much longer as he called, “Onward, Santa’s helpers!”

Navigating the cramped lobby space with all of their items was more difficult than the boys had anticipated, but everyone made it to the elevators without a scratch, dent, or dink in any of their presents. It was there they bumped into Jo, who was coming down the stairs with her suitcase and overnight bag. Like Camille, she was already dressed in her winter clothing - A coat so white she might get lost in the snow and a dark-colored striped scarf.

“Stop!” The boys called, startling both Roxy and Jo as Kendall finished, “Right there until you get your Christmas gift!”

Not having to rummage nearly as long as Logan had, the blond reached down into the bag he was holding and pulled out a large white photo frame before extending it out toward his girlfriend.

Aww, his assistant thought, until Jo examined the frame, flipping it around to show off to the others. “Baby’s first birthday frame?”

“No!” Kendall immediately corrected her, holding out his palm for Carlos to drop a silver bow into before slapping it over the frame’s text. “It’s our first Christmas frame… Or it will be when you put a picture of us in it.”

Reaching in front of James, Roxy slugged Kendall in the arm at his laziness.

“And here’s my gift to you!” Someone called from down the hallway, Jett, managing to appear at just the right time to annoy his co-star’s boyfriend. He held two sleek, silver tablets in his hands, each home screen decorated with the image of a red cartoon ribbon.

Jo was rendered speechless, as anyone would be receiving such an expensive gift in front of their partner, only managing to push out, “Wow, Jett, an iSlab?”

Sliding the screen on one of the tablets to change the picture, some text popped up, reading Merry Christmas Jo! From, Jett before swiping again to show off the other features. “And it’s preloaded with pics of us.”

Kendall sputtered a bit, presumably trying to mouth off at the actor, but Jett cut him off anyway.

“Oh, that’s right. You don’t have a hit TV show with a fat three-year contract like me.”

Taking a deep breath, the blond kept his cool. “Yes… but you don’t have three friends who are hockey players, like me.”

With the snap of his fingers, Carlos, Logan, and James charged over to Jett and picked him up by his arms, dragging him off toward the lobby so Kendall and Jo could have some time alone. Roxy got the memo too, trailing off after the boys as the actor cried, “Jo, call them off! Stop, guys, I bruise easy! I bruise so easy! No!”

It wasn’t until they reached the front doors did the boys set Jett down, but before he managed to scurry off, he tossed the other iSlab Roxy’s way. She hardly registered that he had even meant to send it in her direction, barely catching it before the glass screen shattered across the carpet.

With widening eyes, she felt her brows shoot to her forehead. As she looked up, she met James’ equally as shocked gaze.

“Jett, I couldn’t accept-”

Before she could even get the words out and hand it back to him, he caught James’ attention without even bothering to look the assistant’s way. “I’m not interested in putting the moves on your girl, tiger. It was a two-for-one sale and I don’t like any of you hockeyheads!” This time, the writer held her breath as he winked at her, “Merry Christmas.”

Roxy didn’t even want the damn thing, her phone and laptop worked perfectly fine, but Jett managed to slip away before James could collect his thoughts and kick the actor further off the property. Just holding it made her feel sick to her stomach, like she had been the one to do something wrong.

“I’ll, um…” She tried, but finding the right words seemed impossible. Twirling the iSlab a few times in her palms, she grimaced, “I’ll drop it off at his door before we leave. I-It’d be super rude to accept; I didn’t get him anything.”

As quickly as she could, she tucked the tablet into her mini backpack and forced a grin when she looked back up at her friends. “Think Kendall and Jo are done saying goodbye now?”

Successful in her attempt to change the subject, Roxy twirled her hand around James’ arm and pulled him off in the direction of the elevators so she could see her friend before she left. But, she had estimated wrong, because Kendall and Jo were nowhere near done. They were too wrapped up in making out under a sprig of mistletoe hanging from Kendall’s Christmas gift - the brand-new hockey stick Jo had mentioned the other night. They only realized they had an audience when James let out a small whistle and the couple slowly pulled away from one another.

As Roxy dove into her bag, nausea returning when her fingers brushed the iSlab, she managed to find Jo’s gift - a collection of their favorite supernatural TV shows on DVD - to hand over just as the elevator doors dinged open to reveal the Jennifers decked out in their winter clothes. It made Roxy wonder where they all called home.

Just when Jo accepted the gift from her friend, stepping forward to capture her in her second big hug of the day, Carlos yanked the hockey stick from Kendall’s hand and dangled it in front of the three actresses before they could step out of the elevator.

“Hey, girls! Mistletoe!” He shared with an elated giggle, flicking the plant so it danged back and forth in front of them. “Now you gotta kiss me!”

“No,” They said in unison as they took a step forward. “We have to catch a flight.”

Pushing past him with their abundance of bags, Carlos turned back to his friends looking slightly dejected. Though it wasn’t anything new from those three, he always expected a different outcome.

When Roxy reached out to take the stick from him and tried to offer some words of comfort, she was shocked when someone placed their hand on her shoulder to pull her back. James, discreetly pointing to the right, cast her line of sight back to the three girls who had dropped their bags with Mr. Bitters in the lobby and were heading back over toward their friend.

“Aw, what the heck,” Brown-haired Jennifer rolled her eyes, the other two joining in as they chorused, “It’s Christmas!”

One by one, they each kissed him on the cheek before heading off toward their luggage once more, ready to head to the airport like most of the other Palm Woods residents.

It took Carlos a while to come down from that, shouting “I love you!” at the mistletoe as he walked back over to his friends. When he held Kendall’s gift back out to him, James blurted, “My turn!” and snatched it out of Carlos’ hands.

Rolling her eyes at her boyfriend’s actions, Roxy felt her cheeks heat a bit when he held it over her head. “I wonder who the lucky lady’s going to be…”

“I’ll give you three hints!” James told her, eliciting a groan from the rest of their friends, though, Roxy wasn’t paying any attention to them as she stared up at his big, brown eyes. “One - She’s an incredible guitar player.”

Pretending to think, his girlfriend held a finger to her cheek, “Hm… Joan Jett?”

Though she mentally winced a bit at the word “Jett,” it didn’t seem to phase James.

“Two - She’s a phenomenal songwriter.”

“Oh! Got it!” Roxy smiled, leaning back into the wall behind her. “Avril Lavigne.”

Now it was James’ turn to play around, “Close, close… I think you’re on the right track, but I’ll give you the last one anyway. She’s breathtaking - like, completely knocks the wind out of me and I’m absolutely crazy about her.”

“That’s four things.”

“Do you want five? I’ll give you five.”

All Roxy needed to do was slightly angle her head up from where it rested on the wall before James leaned down, giving her the kiss under the mistletoe she had written on her Christmas wish list.

When they broke apart, they looked around the hall to notice their friends had gone missing, no doubt back up to 2-J to get some last-minute wrapping in to finish packing for their trip. Threading her fingers through her boyfriend’s free hand, Roxy gently tugged him toward the staircase, before the elevator dinged to symbolize its arrival.

That gives me an even better idea…

Wordlessly, she changed her direction, pulling him into the elevator and pressing the second-floor button.

Once the doors closed, she turned to face him, pulling the hockey stick away from him while she used her other hand to press the emergency stop button on the elevator.

“Uh, Roxy-”

Wiggling the stick around so the mistletoe was widely swinging back and forth above their heads, she batted her eyes a few times before she looked up at James. “It’s not fair that everyone else had a turn with this thing but me.”

Newfound sense of confidence now that she was in control of the mistletoe, Roxy took a large step forward. Now it was his turn to be backed up to the gray padded wall.

Hesitantly, James’ hands made their way to her hips.

“God,” He breathed. “You’re so right, baby.”

***

By the time Roxy and James had emerged from the elevator, many things had been happening in 2-J that the two were wholly unaware of as they made their way to the open door. Holding her head high as she sauntered in, the songwriter caught up to Kendall, who was standing in front of the kitchen table with the rest of their friends, and handed him the hockey stick, without the mistletoe hanging from the ribbon any longer.

“Sorry,” She whispered as James’ dragging footsteps alerted her to the boy clinging to the doorframe to keep himself upright. “I wanted a go too.”

“Roxy!” The frontman’s eyes widened and when he noticed James come in the door behind her, in a complete state of disarray, he wasn’t even able to continue this statement. All he could do was take in the singer’s ruffled hair, torn button-up, and red lipstick marks completely covering his face and neck. “What the fuck did you do to him?”

From the other side of the room, his mother gasped. “Kendall Donald Knight!”

“Mistletoe, good!” His friend at the door weakly responded once the boy gave his mother a weak apology, pointing a finger at the stick in Kendall’s hand.

When he collapsed to the floor, Roxy, as backward as it was, felt quite satisfied with herself, promising, “He’ll be up in a minute.”

Everyone stared at her for a moment before she bashfully stepped behind Carlos.

“O-kay,” Mrs. Knight announced, fully ready to move on from whatever was happening with her teens. “Our flight leaves in five hours, so who’s helping?”

She gestured to the multitude of suitcases, clothing, and wrapped gifts spread out in the living room of 2-J. Every single surface, from the kitchen table to the orange couch, to the wooden floor was covered in items that needed to make it to Minnesota with them.

There’s no way all of that is coming back with us.

“Oh, all of us!” Promised Kendall, holding up a large delivery envelope with a mystery gift inside. “But first we have to go give Gustavo his amazing present!”

The four of them had been so secretive about the present, that they hadn’t even told their assistant what it was. She guessed about a million things while she was talking to Logan the other day after he had boasted about ordering it, but every single time she said something, he told her she was incorrect. It was a good thing she had the foresight to get her bosses their own separate gifts; If it was something stupid, she wanted no part in it.

“Ooh, don’t forget about Kelly!” Carlos chimed in, surprisingly the band’s voice of reason.

From the luggage trolley, Logan called, “Right!” before diving into yet another one of the large red bags at his feet to find something worthy of the talent scout. “Does anyone know if she likes regular track shoes?”

While the boys looked very satisfied when he pulled them from the bag, triumphantly housing them up in the air, Roxy just had to burst their bubble. “Those shoes don’t match, guys - One’s black and one’s white. I don’t think they’re the same size either.”

***

Though Duluth was far from a small town, the back roads were usually clear on major holidays. Los Angeles, of course, could never have such a luxury.

Any other day, the five would have been content to sit in traffic together, chatting or listening to one of Roxy’s tapes while she rattled off facts about her favorite songs, but today’s time crunch had everyone on edge. By the time they arrived at Rocque Records, the boys practically sprinted into the building to catch their bosses before they took off for the company’s holiday break. As Roxy recalled from the last team Big Time Rush meeting, Kelly had mentioned Gustavo was headed off to vacation solo on some South Pacific island. When she asked if Kelly had any plans, the woman just sighed and grumbled something about heading to Montana to see her family.

When the teens finally reached Gustavo’s office, they found him walking out into the hall with two large suitcases with his regular tracksuit attire swapped out for a cheesy Hawaiian shirt. Trailing behind him was Kelly, just as eager to get out of the building as he was.

“Dawgs, Roxanne, let’s make this quick because I’m going to Fiji for the holidays!” Their boss shared in an off-key sing-songy tone and was met with looks of disapproval from the band and their assistant. “Okay, it’s not my best song ever, but who cares? I’m going to Fiji!”

From the red shopping bag he had carried in, James produced the orange package they had topped with a green bow as Kendall said, “Well, we just wanted to give you this.”

“We ordered it special!” Beamed Carlos, shifting excitedly from side to side as the man took the present.

Quick to tear into the wrapping, “Ooh-hoo-hoo,” Gustavo dropped the paper to the floor as he held up a pair of large, red pajamas that perfectly matched the tint of his red glasses.

They were long and warm, essential for getting through cold winter nights, and when Roxy glanced around at her friends, they were practically shaking with anticipation as their boss examined his gift. It clearly meant a lot to them and they had taken great care in making sure they had picked out something special to give away. Instinctually, she slipped her hand into James’ as Gustavo began to frown.

“Pajamas? Really?”

The disappointment in his tone bothered the assistant immensely, though she wasn’t sure any of the boys had caught on.

Kendall, still smiling, held up his fingerless gloved hand as he shared, “Every Christmas we wear our PJs all day long.”

“It’s our holiday tradition,” James added matter-of-factly.

It didn’t take any time at all for their boss to respond, “Yeah, I’m not doing that,” before dropping the clothing onto the carpeted floor.

“Why not?” Roxy blurted out before thinking. “It’s important to the band and it’s not like anyone’s going to see you since you’re traveling alone.”

In response, Gustavo just rolled his eyes and ignored her question, watching as Logan stepped forward to give Kelly her present - An oddly shaped gift with a big red bow on top.

While she handled that, the girl felt James squeeze her hand a bit tighter before gesturing to the pile on the floor and dropping down to whisper, “We’ve got your pair somewhere in one of these bags, in case you were wondering.”

“Really?” Her eyes widened, darting back and forth between her boyfriend and her boss’ gift unwrapping. “That’s sweet to include me, James.”

“The guys wanted to wait until we were back in Minnesota to give them to you, but I didn’t want you to think we left you out.”

Roxy squeezed his hand back, feeling a content smile forming on her face. Here’s to new traditions with friends.

Now that two of her holiday wishes had been fulfilled, she leaned into James’ side as Kelly dropped the wrapping paper to the floor and examined the large silver appliance in her hands. “Oh, it’s a… panini alarm clock! Just what I always wanted.”

Notoriously, Kelly was a horrible liar, so the second the words left her mouth, the boys knew she wasn’t thrilled about her gift despite trying her best to be polite about it. As they dove back into the red bags to try and find a replacement, Roxy stepped forward and handed off her own gifts - A framed copy of her handwritten lyrics to the first song she and Gustavo had collaborated on, “Big Time Rush,” and an all-inclusive day trip to a fancy Malibu spa for Kelly.

Gustavo’s whines of, “Why is her gift more expensive than mine?” were quickly drowned out once the boys had come back from their shopping bag searching and offered Kelly the choice of keeping her gift or swapping it for something else, like a pig-shaped watering can or a nutcracker dressed like a rock star.

Too busy thinking about how unappreciative and spoiled Gustavo was acting after she had given him a gift that she had thought to be important, Roxy missed Kelly’s choice entirely. It had been one thing for him to not like the present the guys had gotten him, but he hadn’t cared for hers either. Certainly, he knew that lucrative items and extravagant trips weren’t the most important types of presents, right?

That thought alone was enough to make her anxious; She wasn’t sure her friends knew that either. I hope the boys like what I made for them…

“So what did you get us?” Kendall brazenly asked, slightly shocking the writer who feared for a moment he may have been addressing her, looking expectantly over toward the older man.

Dropping Roxy’s present to the floor as well, Gustavo scoffed, “That’s a surprise,” before leaning over to his talent scout and ordering, “Kelly, get them something surprising for Christmas and ship it to them.”

It was hard to ignore the disappointment on her friend’s faces at not being handed a gift right then and there, but at least that was better than nothing.

“Now,” He started up again, reaching out for his suitcases and ignoring his gift pile on the floor. “Let’s start the holidays!”

That was more than enough to elicit a cheer from everyone in the room, ready to take a much-needed break after their first year of hard work in Hollywood. Collecting their bags, the boys began to head toward the elevator, their assistant and bosses trailing behind them, when they bumped into Griffin and Obdul at the end of the hallway.

“Great news, everyone!” Griffin clapped his hands together, stopping everyone in their tracks. “I’ve decided to release a Big Time Rush Christmas EP!”

The boys found this to be a pretty cool addition to their discography, Carlos even adding a “Woo!” as he and the others tried to continue on, while Gustavo, Kelly, and Roxy stood stalk still.

A chill shot down the assistant’s spine. This can’t be good.

“It will bring your fans lots of holiday joy and me lots of holiday money.” The businessman astutely pointed out, Obdul standing proudly at his side.

Clutching her panini alarm clock to her chest, Kelly nodded at the CEO’s statement, trying to hide the panicked tone in her voice as she asked, “So you’re putting some extended mixes in some Christmas packaging?”

“No.” He responded as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m putting Christmas songs in Christmas packaging!”

“Mr. Griffin, we haven’t written any Christmas songs.” Roxy tried to match his commanding tone, but the effect was lost as Gustavo held up one of his suitcases, adding on, “Which means we haven’t recorded any Christmas songs.”

The CEO blinked. “Well, then you better get started because no one’s going anywhere until I get my holiday EP.”

“How many songs?”

Gustavo’s question felt like a kick in the back of the head. Sitting down to write, record, and produce even one song would make all of them late for their flights which normally wouldn’t bother the writer. However, the later they left California, the later they got into Minnesota. That meant the precious amount of time she had to celebrate Christmas Eve with her father was at risk of being cut short.

Maybe I can convince him to make them covers instead of originals… Even then it’ll take forever.

“Three songs. And you better make them good, Gustavo!”

Poorly disguising his distress, Gustavo stormed off to Studio A’s practice room, presumably having the same feelings about the situation as his songwriter. Everyone had no choice but to follow, dismayed, as they gathered on the hardwood floor of the large room.

“Three Christmas songs and make our flights by the evening?” The producer was pacing back and forth from the window to the booth to the back wall, flip-flops clicking with every step. “It can’t be done!”

“Sure it can. It’s called a Christmas miracle.” Griffin responded cooly, not seeing anything wrong with the situation he was putting his employees in.

Roxy buried her face in the thick, black sleeve of her boyfriend’s jacket and groaned. It was one thing for Griffin to stand idly by and reap the benefits of her band’s success and another thing entirely to work them like dogs.

Well, most of them shared the sentiment, except for Carlos, who at the mention of a miracle piped up, “Ooh, like me getting kissed by the Jennifers today?”

“I heard this old lady lost her prosthetic leg, right?” James added, animatedly talking with his hands and ruining Roxy’s resting place on his arm, “And then found it the next morning in her stocking!”

Neither of those examples helped their case in the slightest, but Griffin took them in stride. “See? And I want the songs available for download tonight.”

“Three songs… online… before we leave,” The songwriter was doing her very best to keep it together at their CEO’s insane request.

Like every other time Griffin threw a curveball their way, BTR needed to confront this head-on. Her friends were very capable of making things happen.

They wanted to be a boyband in Los Angeles? They clawed their way into Gustavo’s heart. They wanted a new, fancy remodeled apartment? They tricked Gustavo into building it right at home in 2-J. They wanted to perform on live television? They ensured there was time left for them on the broadcast.

So, if the boys wanted to make it home in time for Christmas, she had to believe they’d make it in time for Christmas - No matter how difficult it was to convince herself that to be true. Since Griffin had made up his mind, there was no use in moping around; It was time for action.

When she let go of James’ hand to reach for one of the acoustic guitars hanging on the wall behind her, she realized Griffin wasn’t done speaking.

“Now, since it’s Christmas Eve, I’m off to the office to fire some people. I’ll check in with you later.”

Strumming a minor chord as he and Obdul left the studio, Roxy thought back to her Halloween dream in which she had imagined him to be the devil. These days, she wasn’t too sure if her fantasy had been that far off.

Griffin’s abrupt exit left the room silent for quite some time - Gustavo was practically frozen, it felt like everyone watched the cogs in his brain stop turning - before Kendall cleared his throat. “We should do this! I think it’d be nice to give our fans a Christmas gift.”

He slung an arm around Logan’s shoulder and the rest of the boys let out vague mumbles of agreement. At least they were on board too.

“We can’t write three songs in three hours!” The producer cried, looking to Roxy for a bit of backup. Though, deep down, she felt the same, expressing that wouldn’t do them any good.

Gently setting the base of the guitar to the floor, she placed her hands on the top of the headstock. “Not with that attitude we can’t!”

“Roxy’s right, you know…” Kelly said with a snap of her fingers, pushing past the group of teens to get to Gustavo’s platinum record display on the back wall of the studio. “You wrote Yard Squirrel Christmas in five minutes and it’s still your biggest-selling single ever.”

The assistant had some thoughts about that she also chose not to share.

“It was just a stupid novelty song with sped-up voices, and I hated it!”

Ah, good to know we feel the same.

The band, however, proved the feeling wasn’t mutual as Carlos cut in, “Hey, I love that song!”

“Everybody loves that song!” Kendall, James, and Logan added as their assistant tacked on a weak, “For the most part.”

Despite their hopes Gustavo would feel the same after a handful of compliments, their boss was still pushing back - which also meant he was wasting their precious time.

“I write and produce the best pop songs in the world and I will not be remembered for some stupid squirrel song!”

There are worse things to be remembered for, Roxy concluded, but she was happy Kelly and the boys were able to light just enough of a fire under him to get him so worked up about that song. If that wasn’t what he wanted his name and legacy to be attached to, there was only one thing to do about it.

Thankfully, Kendall kept the ball rolling. “Well, then, it’s time to write a new Christmas classic.”

“You and Roxy can do anything!” Carlos cried as everyone took a step toward the producer.

With a nod, Logan added in, “You’re geniuses!”

“Both of you have the power to get us home for Christmas!” James cheered, and though he was trying to inspire Gustavo, his eyes never left his girlfriend.

The boys’ words mattered immensely, but Kelly knew where Gustavo’s head was better than anyone. “And get yourself to Fiji.”

Another haunting silence filled the room before the assistant asked, “What do you say, Mr. Rocque? I won’t even fight you when you insult my writing… too much.”

When the man sighed in defeat, Roxy felt all the air get knocked out of her lungs. Is he giving up?

“Get me blank music sheets, 13 candy canes, and a cup of cocoa with marshmallows piled high, because we’re about to pull off a big-time Christmas miracle!”

***

Roxy lied; She and Gustavo were already fighting.

To her credit, it wasn’t about a song, considering they hadn’t managed to come up with one just yet. It was more so about the composition.

Specifically, compositions that weren’t theirs.

Everyone had gathered in the Rocque Records lounge, the band, and Kelly giving their songwriters the typical amounts of required silence they needed to write. While Roxy preferred to be in the studio, away from the ears of anyone but her boss, Gustavo had insisted the white puffy couches reminded him of winter snow which was, apparently, essential to his songwriting while he angrily paced. Attempting to channel this energy, Roxy curled up in the white lounge chair with the acoustic guitar.

Thankfully, everyone was occupied with other things - Kelly getting their flights rescheduled and the boys on the long couch texting everyone they knew that they wouldn’t be home as originally planned - which meant the writer could focus all of her energy into trying to write her first Christmas song.

Or doing her best to write it as Gustavo kept humming different popular tunes he thought might work for their original song.

“That’s ‘Jingle Bells.’ Nothing says ‘Big Time Rush’ like stealing a Christmas classic,” Roxy snarkily informed him, leaning over her songbook to see if anything she had written previously might be able to be turned into a holiday hit.

Blowing a raspberry at her as though he were a child, Gustavo kept pacing the floor with his pencil and music sheets to see if any other inspiration would strike. When he started humming again, Roxy did her best not to let out a long, deep sigh.

With a twirl of her pen, she said, “And that’s ‘Last Christmas.’ Don’t you even dare think about ripping Wham’s riff.”

Another raspberry, followed by some silence in which Roxy tested a chord progression on the guitar she simply wasn’t fond of. Hastily, she scratched out what she had written down with so much pressure on the page it almost tore.

The humming resumed, and when Roxy dragged her pick up and down the guitar strings and said, “‘Little Saint Nick’ was already written and performed by a different boy band.”

Her boss screamed in her general direction, balling the paper in his hands up before throwing it to the ground.

“Anything?” Kendall asked at the elevated noise level, though he and the boys didn’t look up from their phones at all.

Gustavo coughed into his arm. “Roxanne’s good at Name that Tune.”

“Good job, babe!” Cheered James, also not looking up from his phone.

The encouragement was nice, but not at all helping their crunch time to create a holiday hit. “Thanks…. Just doing my best.”

“Great Christmas songs don’t just happen,” The producer complained, groaning as he bent down to pick up the paper he had been scribbling on. “I need to be in a Christmassy mood!”

Finally able to tear himself from his screen, James blinked a few times and reluctantly asked, “Can we help you?”

Yes! Roxy desperately wanted to cry. I think I saw some more mistletoe in the elevator! but decided a trip to the Rocque Records HR department with her boyfriend was the last thing on her holiday wishlist.

Instead, Gustavo yelled, “Ha! How?”

“Well, whenever we want to get into a Christmassy mood…” Kendall began, the band once more rummaging around in the red shopping bags they had brought along with them. “We just get into our PJs!”

Quick as a flash, the boys ran into the men’s room and changed, returning with just as much holiday cheer as possible. All four of them looked supremely warm and comfortable in their multicolored flannel bottoms and mismatched tops. Roxy was admittedly quite jealous.

“They’re cottony holiday joy!” Logan joked, holding up the red pair he and the boys had bought for their boss as Carlos whistled in Roxy’s direction and threw her a small, black and purple bundle.

At last, they had finally decided to share her gift with her. She almost felt bad for leaving theirs back at the Palm Woods, but silently promised everything would be handed out the second they got back to the hotel.

Thanking her friends with a smile, she headed off to the bathroom to change as well, but not before hearing their boss’ complaints of, “I’m not wearing PJs!”

His loss, the writer thought as she slipped into one of the stalls and undid the beautiful white ribbon holding her pajama set together. How her friends had managed to find the softest, comfiest sleepwear set she had ever held, she had no idea, but Roxy was more than happy to change into the long purple pants and matching black tank top. Suspecting her boyfriend was the source of inspiration for the colors, she felt the gift to be even more special.

When she emerged, all nice and cozy, perfectly ready to get back into the songwriting mood, she found the boys were gone and Kelly and Gustavo just standing in the middle of the room, waiting. As she tied her hair up into a top knot, wanting to show off how gorgeous her gold necklace shined against the black top, she confusedly asked, “Where’d they go?”

“Give it a minute…” Kelly trailed off, pointing toward the long hallway as four sets of feet rapidly ran down the hall.

Turning to face her friends, Roxy’s brows shot to her forehead as she saw James and Logan carrying two of the biggest Christmas wreaths she had ever seen, followed by Carlos and Kendall with a long, decorated strand of garland.

They rushed right past her, James stopping long enough to kiss her on the cheek and whisper how cute she looked in her PJs, hanging their decorations on the walls wherever they could before sprinting past her again, presumably in hunt of more decorations.

When they came back a few minutes later with a fake brick wall and fireplace mantle to set up in the back of the room, the writer lit up just as brightly as the lights they had turned on tangled in the garland.

“We…” She spoke up, looking around for her journal, but it appeared to be on one of the tables her band had moved. Turning to Gustavo and motioning to the paper he had thrown on the floor, Roxy made a gesture as though she was writing in the air. “We can make a beautiful Christmas… Decorate the halls with love and cheer… bring peace and harmony… Every star will shine tonight!”

Ideas immediately began flowing out of her, and as nonsensical as they seemed at the moment, her songwriting partner immediately dove to grab more lyric sheets to scribble everything she was saying down.

In no time, the boys wheeled his piano in from the studio in between more and more decoration runs. Kelly graciously brought the songwriting partners two large cups of cocoa, making sure they always overflowed with white, fluffy marshmallows as they both cobbled together the very first Big Time Rush Christmas song.

***

“See? Christmas miracles do happen!”

As annoying as Griffin’s comment was once the band finished performing the song for him and Obdul in their newly decorated lounge-turned-living room, he was right. Squeezing that song out of nowhere certainly felt like a miracle thanks to the boys’ imaginative thinking.

Hopefully, the other divisions of RCM/CBT/Global-Net/Sanyoid won’t miss their holiday decorations.

Sitting cross-legged on top of the piano Gustavo had played their completed track on, she grinned down at Big Time Rush, excitedly shaking the sleigh bells she had swapped her guitar out with to accompany the melodic piano chords.

“And thanks for the PJs, kids!” The CEO said, rubbing the soft gray of his button-up pajamas. In her Christmas gift-giving stint, she hadn’t expected to see either Griffin or Obdul before the holiday, but the boys seemed to have such foresight; They let her add her name to the pajamas they had given the two adults. Griffin’s pair looked exactly like the charcoal suits he was so fond of, the set even came with a collar and tie. Obdul wore a matching pair, his light blue with pinstripes as he silently squatted down by the fake fireplace Kelly had turned the TV in the lounge to. “They make me feel so Christmassy!”

Clutching her hands together at her boss’ words, Kelly slowly asked, “Christmassy enough to let us release a single instead of an EP?”

Accidentally dropping the bells in shock, the instrument Roxy had been holding clamored to the floor. She had worked so hard with Gustavo on “Beautiful Christmas,” that she had completely forgotten the CEO wanted two more songs for the band’s holiday collection.

Griffin smiled, “Ho-ho-ho! No! And make the other two celebrity duets.”

“Celebrity duets?!” Team Big Time Rush repeated back, trying to fathom just what was running through that man’s head.

From the piano bench, Gustavo clenched his fists together, trying as kindly as he could to ask, “How are we supposed to get celebrities to sing with Big Time Rush on Christmas Eve?”

“It’s easy!” The older man assured them. “You just get some celebrities and sing with them.”

For someone in charge of a multi-billion dollar corporation, he’s such an idiot.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Griffin continued, “I’m off to a soup kitchen to remind myself how lucky I am on Christmas. Bye-bye!”

She was still considering her theory that Arthur Griffin truly was the literal devil.

Swinging her legs over the back of the piano, Roxy moved to slide off before James appeared in front of her, reaching out to her waist to help guide her down.

“Will this ever end?” He quietly asked, brushing a loose strand of hair from her bun behind her ear as she leaned back into the piano. “I’m not super antsy to spend Christmas with my dad, but I know you and the guys want to be back home more than anything.”

Summoning her best grin, Roxy genuinely tried to reassure him as she popped up on her tiptoes and pressed a light kiss to his cheek, “Of course it will. You four just need to keep that holiday spirit flowing; That last song wouldn’t have been possible without you and your cutie pajamas.”

“Yeah…” James tried, a weak smile of his own forming on his face. “It just feels like-”

“Bye-bye Christmas in Minnesota!” Logan yelled, cutting his bandmate off and Gustavo thought this to be the perfect time to play the opening riff to “Big Time Rush” on the keys in front of him,

“Don’t make me regret writing that!” Roxy hissed at him, even if it was situationally appropriate, as she took in the mood of the people around her. Kelly and Gustavo looked more than hopeless, angry more so on his part. But even worse, her friends seemed to be giving in to the despair as well. Carlos had his head in his hands, Logan ran anxious hands through his hair, James crossed his arms as he stared into the fake fireplace… Kendall, ever the optimist, had even flopped down onto the white couch with a gigantic sigh.

I can’t be the only thing holding us together right now. Roxy thought to herself, before taking a moment to collect her thoughts.

As she did at the storefront earlier, she formulated a small poem to try and keep everyone in the mood, though it was more bleak than she had intended. “As Kendall fell back, the boys stood listless, for Griffin may have crushed their Minnesota Christmas. So with just hours to catch their holiday jets, the gang prayed for another miracle and two celebrity duets…”

After her recitation, Gustavo called for a break for him and his songwriter, asking everyone else to dig through his list of famous contacts to try and find anyone available to duet. As much as the writer wished she could have used that time to think of what was to come, she settled for pulling James down onto the couch and lying into his side while he made his calls. For the next ten minutes, she closed her eyes, shutting out the nervous chatter of everyone else as he rubbed her back and allowed her some time to recharge after the most intense songwriting session of her life.

She had only been pulled out of her haze when she heard Kelly’s heels click on the floor down the hallway as she proudly announced, “I just pushed back all of our flights four hours.”

Gustavo’s grating voice caused Roxy to finally open her eyes, though James didn’t stop his calming circular motion, “And how are we doing on our celebrity search?”

“I just got off the phone with Lady Gaga’s people!” Kendall eagerly announced, allowing a bit of hope to flood through her chest.

Leaning forward in his lounger, Gustavo’s eyes bulged. “What did she say?”

“Who’s Big Time Rush?”

Of course…

“What about Jordin Sparks?” The producer continued, reaching out to the table and flipping through the ancient Rolodex he had given the boys.

Sliding his phone shut, Logan frowned. “Out of town for the holidays - Just like every other celebrity we could sing with.”

“Hey!” Cut in Carlos, waving his white phone in the air. “But on the bright side, astronaut Buzz Aldrin is very interested.”

“I’m not sure that’s what Griffin meant when he said ‘celebrity,’ Carlos,” His assistant winced, squeezing her eyes tight again as she leaned her head on James’ shoulder.

The boy scoffed from the other end of the couch, “He’s the second man to walk on the moon!”

“There’s got to be some celebrity who’s still in town!” James grumbled, clicking a few buttons on his phone to look through his own contact list.

Hesitantly, his girlfriend swallowed. “Um… You guys don’t think I should try and call…” Roxy’s mouth went dry just trying to say his name. “Dak… Right? He’s disconnected from his family so I’m sure he’s in town.”

James flinched, knocking the TV remote on the arm of the couch to fall to the floor and change the channel.

“So join me, Miranda Cosgrove, for my ‘Have Yourself A Miranda Little Christmas’ special, live from Los Angeles, with duets with all your favorite stars, like international superstar Fabio, Lightning the TV wonder dog, and-”

Bending down to pick up the remote, James paused the ad before he and the boys gathered in front of the television making it look as though they were in frame with Miranda, “And Big Time Rush!”

Kelly, Roxy, and Gustavo were far less convinced, however, asking the important question of, “How?”

“It’ll be another Christmas miracle!” Carlos smirked, as though it were such an easy and achievable task to sneak into a closed television set, add themselves to the guest list, and record a song all at once.

To his credit, a few other problems from the day had worked out in Big Time Rush’s favor, so it was understandable why he’d think that way. That’s why Roxy didn’t find herself questioning the boy’s wishes any longer - Miracle makers or not, it couldn’t hurt to head down to the studio and see what might transpire. If not something with Miranda, maybe another one of her guests would be willing to feature on a song.

“You’re right, Carlos,” His assistant praised, reaching for her folded hoodie and leggings she had set by her bag at the edge of the lounge. “Let’s make it happen!”

In a matter of minutes, everyone had changed back into their day clothes and were bursting out the doors of Rocque Records. On the way out, Kelly made a few calls, learning the special was being taped at Superior Studios and the teens and adults split up and planned to meet there as soon as possible.

Slinging her bag off her shoulder, Roxy fished around for the keys to the Pontiac, declaring, “Logan, it’s your lucky day.”

Effortlessly, she flung the ring in his direction, jingling slightly as everything clinked together in the air before he caught it, cocking a brow in her direction.

She grinned, pulling her phone out from her hoodie pocket, “I’ve got a call to make, think you can handle the holiday traffic?”

“You know it!”

Looping an arm through James’ as they searched the large, full parking lot attached to the Rocque Records building, her smile slowly vanished as she tried to figure out just what to tell her dad about her changed itinerary. There was no way they’d be home for a Christmas Eve celebration but at least she was still doing everything in her power to make it there for Christmas.

***

“So, what’s the plan?”

20 minutes later the band, their assistant, and their bosses had met outside of Superior Studios, gathering around a big sign featuring Miranda Cosgrove’s smiling face.

Kelly’s inquiry was more than valid, especially since they were still on a time crunch, but Gustavo just scoffed at her words. “The plan is: There is no plan if we can’t get into the studio!”

Leaning just a bit beyond the large column concealing the large group from the guards inside, the seven watched as every guest entering the building showed off their credentials branded for the Have Yourself A Miranda Little Christmas special.

“Easy,” James assured everyone, rubbing his cold hands together to try and create an ounce of heat. “All we gotta do is get past security.”

“Piece of cake!” Logan and Carlos backed his plan up, even sharing a pre-celebratory fist bump.

Clearing her throat from the back of the group, Roxy tried, “I’m not sure that’s going to be-”

She was abruptly cut off by a deep, threatening voice yelling, “No entry if you’re not on the list!”

Leaning around the column again, team Big Time Rush ascertained just what would happen if their plan didn’t pan out - They’d be denied entry from the building and forcibly thrown out onto the street.

Quick to try and calm his friends, the frontman held his hands out, “Don’t panic! Remember: There’s one guy who’s on everybody’s list. Everyone saw the costume rack and prop sleigh to the side of the studio’s back entrance, yeah?”

Curse Logan and his weird penchant for parking as far back in the lot as possible.

As much as Roxy hated where this plan was heading, she knew Kendall had a point. Who better to be featured on a Christmas show than Santa Claus himself?

Five minutes later, the songwriter didn’t despise the plan as much as she thought she would, considering she and James had been placed in one of the large prop presents on Santa’s prop sleigh. As cramped as it was, at least she had an excuse to be as close to her boyfriend as possible.

“Comfortable?” He whispered to her with a slight groan, legs shifting underneath her, suggesting he wasn’t comfortable himself. With virtually no wiggle room, James had ended up sitting cross-legged at the bottom with his girlfriend in his lap, both of them needing to duck down as the top of the box was placed down.

Just as the two felt the box begin to move, Roxy let out a hushed chuckle, reaching out into the darkness to try and find where she had put her bag, “Nope, but I’m trying to make the best of it. How about you?”

“Not at all, but I can’t complain when I’ve got the most beautiful girl in the world on my lap.”

Roxy thanked whatever power may be that her back was resting up against his chest; Any other position might have given away her bashful smile as she played with his hands slipped around her waist. “Should I tell you what I want for Christmas now or…?”

Feeling his whole body begin to shake as he tried to hold in his laughter, it made it almost impossible for Roxy to quiet hers.

While the box wasn’t soundproof, the two were having some trouble hearing just what was going on outside, aside from Gustavo’s loud, hearty, “Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas!” to signal they were at the front desk.

“Only if you don’t blame me if I don’t get you exactly what you ask for.” He whispered back, a hint of panic in his voice.

She had meant the joke to be funny, her stomach twisted slightly at the thought of James being disappointed in himself. “I want… Logan and Kendall to never tell us what’s happening inside their box right now.”

Since there were only two elf costumes mixed in with the Santa Claus costume, the teens were forced to play rock paper scissors to see who had to hide in the present boxes on the sleigh. Gustavo said Kelly automatically won the right to a costume, considering he needed her to help back him up at the security checkpoint, and Carlos had come out of their five-way battle victorious.

That comment caused another bout of shaking underneath her, as James dipped his head onto her shoulder to keep his laughter as muted as possible. Even she had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep their cover for as long as possible.

A few seconds later, the sleigh started moving again, but this time they were headed backward, “That can’t be…” Bright, shining sunlight beaming directly into her eyes made it troublesome for the songwriter to finish her statement. As the two of them looked up, they were met with the bulging eyes of the security guard as he took a large bite out of the sub sandwich he was clutching in his hands. “...Good.”

“Surprise delivery for Miranda Cosgrove?” James weakly tried, but the guard just continued chewing, shaking his head.

When the guard moved onto the second present, the lid was swiftly opened causing Kendall and Logan to quite literally gasp for air as they jumped out as fast as humanly possible. They were bickering about something - Logan’s elbow in Kendall’s ribs and Kendall’s knee in Logan’s back it sounded like - while James and Roxy held their ground.

“If you’re not on the list, you’re not getting in!” They heard security yell, though it was very mumbled as he spoke with another full bite of sandwich in his mouth. “Now get out before I-”

Some disgusting gagging sounds followed, accompanied by a few hits to the chest with his large fist, like he was trying to tell the group something.

“I think he’s choking!” Carlos panicked, causing his assistant to shoot up from the box, equally as anxious.

From below, James let out a cry of pain as she accidentally managed to step on his leg thanks to the small space.

“Oh,” Roxy cooed, guard all but forgotten as she bent down again to run a gentle hand through his hair and give him a kiss on the top of his head. “So sorry, baby.”

Someone falling to the floor alerted her again, and she stood up once more, careful of her surroundings this time, to find the security man passed out on the floor in front of them. Kelly and the rest of her friends were paralyzed in shock, staring at the person on the linoleum below them. A few beats of silence passed before Gustavo clapped Logan and Kendall on the shoulder, “It’s another Christmas miracle…”

Another moment and everyone but Roxy and James ran right past him to get to the closed taping.

“What the hell is wrong with you people?” The assistant cried, doing her best to smoothly climb out of the high walls of the present box she had been in with James hot on her tail. “He needs help!”

Soon, she knelt on the ground beside the man, heart pounding and hands shaking while she attempted to sit him back upright and clear his blocked airway.

God I wish I paid more attention in health class…

Barely able to think as she tried to pull the man back up to his feet she turned to the one person she knew did pay attention in health. “Logan! What’s that thing you do- It’s on TV all the time in dramas- Oh my-”

“The Heimlich maneuver!” was his astute reply.

“Do it then!” She yelled back, almost throwing the guard into her friend’s arms as he performed the procedure.

It took a few tries, Logan doing his absolute best to thrust his hands into the man’s abdomen to free the object lodged in his throat before the chewed-up ball of sandwich flew out of his mouth and directly into Santa Gustavo’s face.

Finally, Roxy was able to breathe again, as was the security guard, whose hands frantically flew to his chest to undo the tight few buttons of his beige uniform with big gasping breaths.

Gustavo’s “That was gross,” was quickly overshadowed by the guard’s genuine, “Thanks…”

To keep from strangling her boss, she turned into her boyfriend’s side, gripping one side of his jacket while she collected herself. Immediately his arm slung around her shoulders to pull her closer and allow some time to catch her breath after such a scary encounter.

Some words were exchanged between team Big Time Rush and the guard, though Roxy didn’t hear too much of it as she glanced up at James. He was looking right back at her, pink splotches dotting his cheeks and parts of his neck as he whispered, “You just called me baby.”

“Hm?” She hummed, half-paying attention as she studied some of the patches of green standing out against the stark brown of his eyes. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

“You’ve never given me a pet name before.”

That statement caused her to look away, focusing back on the section of his jacket she had been gripping once she felt her cheeks begin to heat as well. Roxy was hyper-aware of his other hand making its way to her hip. “James is just such a cute name…”

“I liked it,” He told her, sounding a bit breathless before he swallowed and spoke again, “It was nice.”

James didn’t give Roxy any time to respond besides a quiet, “Oh,” before he reached up to cup her cheek and guide his mouth to hers.

He always knows how to make me feel better, she thought, tugging his jacket down to kiss him a few more times.

In fact, she might not have stopped at all until the pair heard the unmistakable clearing of multiple throats behind them.

“Hello?” Kendall scoffed and though Roxy had her back to him, she could just hear the way he annoyingly crossed his arms. “Can you keep your hands off of each other for two seconds please?”

Watching James roll his eyes after tearing them away from her lips caused Roxy to suppress a bout of laughter as he glanced behind her and narrowed his eyes at the front man. “Did you not just see her save that guy’s life? That was hot as hell.”

“Urgent save our Christmas mission!” Logan hissed back, motioning to the hallway Gustavo, Kelly, and Carlos were beginning to run down. Whatever they had worked out with the guard had apparently gained them access to the building. “Do… that… later! And away from the rest of us!”

When he finished yelling at them, all James and Roxy could do was laugh as they watched him and Kendall trail after the rest of their group.

“Just because we’re having a stressful day doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun,” Roxy joked, tugging on her boyfriend’s arm as she began to head down the corridor to the film set. In the past few weeks, James had never been that upfront with her, and she planned to take his words to heart. “But you heard him, baby. Let’s go.”

Her boyfriend didn’t respond, pink splotches returning as he simply set his free hand over hers with a grin, following everyone else onto the next phase of their plan.

***

Two times now, Big Time Rush and Italian model and actor Fabio have been in the same building; Two times now, Roxy has been unable to meet him. She found this to be incredibly messed up, considering she had read far more of the romance novels featuring him, his long, luscious hair, and gorgeous, ripping pecs than her friends had.

But, business was business. Even though her friends had been tasked with getting Fabio to not appear on set for his holiday duet with Miranda Cosgrove, as their faithful assistant, she had been tasked with plugging into the studio soundboard while the band snuck their way onto the show’s itinerary. It felt like the A.M. L.A. news station scandal they had caused all over again.

This time, however, Roxy was stuck sneaking around the large set with Gustavo and Kelly, who were not nearly as stealthy as her friends. While the writer had stolen a headset one of the production assistants had left lying on a table to try and help her blend in as she made her way to the board, her bosses were very obviously moving from hiding spot to hiding spot. It was a wonder they didn’t get caught until they reached the side of the booth, but the girl certainly wasn’t going to complain about it. They were burning precious daylight; Everything here had to go exactly according to plan or they’d miss their rescheduled flights completely.

Crouching down so the sound booth operators wouldn’t catch them, the three regrouped in order to execute their recording.

“Alright, Kelly, where’s the recorder?” Gustavo whispered, though he was quite bad at keeping his voice down, looking over to his talent scout with an extended hand.

The woman blinked back at him, “You said you were bringing it.”

“What?!” His voice boomed as if they weren’t in hiding, Roxy violently shushing him, continuing to hold his hand out like it would magically appear. “I never-”

“It doesn’t matter!” Kelly shot back, quickly getting frustrated with the situation. “If we don’t have the recorder, we don’t have a song!”

More shushing from the assistant didn’t work as the two continued to go back and forth at each other, meaning it was only a matter of time before someone on the production crew discovered the three on-set intruders. She knew that the boys would take care of their part; she just needed to figure out a way to get the song recorded with the highest possible quality.

Daring to poke her head over the walls of the sound booth, she rapidly scanned the equipment the sound crew already had set up but there was nothing she could take without ruining the entire production. All of the video production equipment had been set up as well to give the live-at-home audience the best possible audio-video feed they could.

I can call Mrs. Knight, have her record the TV show to their DVR, and have her bring the device to Rocque Records…

“I’ve got it!” She told her bosses, mind racing a million miles a minute as she began to explain her plan while hastily throwing her mini backpack to the ground to find her phone. It let out a loud thud as it hit the floor, far heavier than usual, causing the writer to pause and remember the gift Jett had given her earlier.. “...We’ll record it on my iSlab if Mr. Rocque can get it hooked into the-”

“Of course, I can hook it up! Give me that!”

Not even a second after she had pulled the tablet from her bag, the producer ripped it out of her hands and got to work with the tangled mess of wires Kelly had snatched from the booth. Time itself began to move slower as she watched his hands work before hearing a loud buzzer go off in the studio room; The show was about to get back from commercial and if he didn’t get the device hooked in soon, they’d miss their chance.

All around them, studio workers began to take their positions and someone shouted, “3… 2…” and pointed to the large set in front of them on his silent count of “1.”

Whoever designed the set had done a wonderful job, so that’s what Roxy focused on instead of the quickening of her heartbeat as Gustavo continued to fumble with the iSlab. A fake entryway to a two-story mansion towered in front of them, covered in gorgeous flower garlands and Christmas decorations. Just as the loud sound of a doorbell echoed through the room, Miranda appeared at the top of the stairs, skipping down to the lower level in an adorable pink sweater and red skirt combo.

The boys better be behind that door…

As the actress rattled off her lines about ordering a pizza, Kelly crossed both of her fingers with a grimace and Gustavo continued his tinkering.

“Hi, Miranda!” The stranger on her porch greeted her.

Roxy’s heart sank straight down into her gut when she recognized the suave Italian accent. Fabio strolled into the foyer carrying a large, white pizza box, taking in the sight of Miranda’s impeccably decorated home.

When Gustavo gave out a grunt of disapproval, she looked back to check his progress to find the iSlab completely connected to the soundboard. He had even pulled up the voice recording app and pressed play, managing to capture the actors’ stupid conversation about candy cane pizza instead of the boy’s special duet with Miranda.

Widest, pearliest smile in the world, Miranda continued with her lines. “What took you so long?”

“I got stuck in the snow…” Fabio’s excuse was simple. “But, some guys came along and helped me.”

Roxy had to bring both hands to her mouth to suppress the relieved scream she let out as Fabio stepped to the side and Big Time Rush came striding into the entryway. All four of them had been decked out in winter gear and made up to look like they’d been caught in a snowstorm. She could barely take her eyes off her boyfriend, admiring the flakes caught up in his long, brown hair and imagining what he’d look like on a real white Christmas.

Thanks to their extensive media training, the band seemed extremely comfortable on camera while they improvised their surprise greetings and Miranda invited them to join her inside for a song.

“Press record, press record!” Kelly repeated, swatting at the producer as the familiar opening chords to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” began to play from the speakers.

She might have been imagining it, but she was pretty sure whenever James stepped out of the camera frame, he was looking straight at her. Regardless, the message was received; It appeared as though Roxy and James had the same Christmas wish this year.

***

“Is it just me, or did Miranda kind of look like that girl from the web show you guys like?”

The Have Yourself a Miranda Little Christmas special had ended with a bang thanks to Big Time Rush, who had run off to wardrobe the moment their duet ended to hand back their costumes while Roxy, Gustavo, and Kelly made sure to save the song recording to the iSlab. Now, the group was moving as swiftly as possible down the studio halls, celebrating the completion of Griffin’s second song request.

“You think?” Carlos mumbled through his smile as he pondered his assistant’s question, too preoccupied with being one step closer to their Minnesota vacation. “I don’t see it.”

Each of the boys nodded their heads in approval of Carlos’ statement, also not shy about their excitement as the recording of the duet quietly flowed through the iSlab’s small speakers. The cover perfectly matched the boy’s different vocal tones and the harmonies they had improvised blended seamlessly with Miranda’s. It was an excellent addition to their EP, and even though it was a cover and not an original, Roxy knew the grouchy CEO would love it.

By the time they reached the street, the teens' hoots and hollers of celebration bounced off the large concrete buildings around them, getting on their producer's nerves.

“Why are you guys so happy?” He raged, separating himself from the rest of his team to address them in the middle of an empty road. “We still need to write another song, find another superstar to sing it with, oh, yeah, and do it all in time to catch our flights!”

Despite the tension threading through the air with every heaving breath their boss took, the band, their assistant, and Kelly weren’t ready to give up hope.

From the edge of their huddle, Carlos gasped, “Wait! Everybody close your eyes and wish for another Christmas miracle!”

So sweet, the writer thought to herself, wrapping an arm around James’ bicep before closing her eyes to set her intentions. It’s worked out so far…

A scoff from Logan interrupted her miracle-manifesting. “That’s ridiculous; There’s never gonna be a… Oh, what the hell.”

Small smile curving on her lips, she knew that he had given in too. If anyone could make another Christmas miracle happen, it certainly was Big Time Rush - Especially as they each quietly repeated “Christmas miracle! Christmas miracle!” in shallow breaths. For a second, she swore she could even hear magic bells ringing out around them, telling them everything would work out just fine.

It was enough to put the girl at ease until Gustavo’s angry tone scratched at her eardrums. “I hate to break it to you, but I think we’re fresh out of Christmas miracles!”

Repetition continued, team BTR ignoring his negativity before a loud honking noise from the street startled them and their producer let out an ear-splitting scream. Cautionary, Roxy popped one eye open, still trying to wish for a Christmas miracle while trying to see what had caused such a commotion.

In front of her and her friends, Gustavo was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the longest, whitest, limousine drove by for a good thirty seconds before finally rolling to a stop at the back window. Thanks to the extremely dark tint on the numerous windows, it was impossible to see inside, but no one had to guess the passenger could have possibly been for too long as the car let out a soft, mechanical whirr and the glass lowered.

“Please tell me I didn’t just hit a reindeer.”

From the luxury vehicle, to the smoky voice, and the strong smell of herbs emanating from the backseat there was no mistaking who had just run Gustavo clear over. “Snoop Dogg?”

Logan, the biggest rap fan out of all of them, gaped his mouth open and closed like a fish out of water, while Carlos pumped both of his fists far into the air and yelled, “It’s a Christmas miracle!”

Too busy to do anything but begin to hold her friends back from the rap star’s window, though she had a lot to ask him too, Roxy cleared her throat and looked to Kelly, who was equally starstruck. When she met the woman’s gaze, her message was clear.

Lock him down!

Immediately, the woman launched into a long-winded explanation as to why Gustavo had been in the street and the band’s Christmas dilemma.

After promising not to sue if he agreed to help them, Big Time Rush, their assistant, and Snoop Dogg were sitting back at Rocque Records, staring at each other in the decorated lounge area. The only thing Roxy had managed was making the celebrity a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate while Gustavo got his things straightened out; When he was done with that, they’d hopefully be able to write a new song with Snoop.

“Mm, mm, mmm,” The man clearly enunciated, somehow sipping past the mountain of marshmallows the assistant had piled on top. “Now, that’s some good cocoa.”

Roxy felt her chest swell with pride, “Thank you! Oh, my God, thank you.”

Barely finishing her sentence before James reached out to pat her leg, his next words were just as full of excitement. “I can’t believe we’re gonna record a song with Snoop Dogg!”

Jittery, excited teen warbling filled the room, the five on the couch barely able to contain themselves in the presence of such a famous musician.

“It’s the least I could do after running Gustavo Rocque over with a limo."

From the piano the boys had wheeled into the room earlier, Gustavo alerted everyone of his presence with a loud wince and a few dissonant chords on the piano. That could only be expected from a man with an arm sling and two leg braces.

Hating the way the sour notes rang in her ears, Roxy asked, “Mr. Rocque, do you want me to play?”

“Yes,” He replied, weak and whispered, causing her to move from her place on the couch over to the wooden piano bench beside him. “We just have to write this song…”

“Don’t worry!” Kelly reassured Snoop, completely ignoring the terrible state their producer was in. “You won’t be here long. Roxy and Gustavo write songs really fast!”

Though she knew Kelly was doing her best to lie, the statement was half true - Gustavo could be very quick when he wanted to. She, on the other hand, had songs in her book she had been toiling over for years. Writing quickly wasn’t impossible, just a bit improbable.

Bench creaking as the writer turned to his assistant, Kelly’s words seemed to inspire Gustavo. “I got it! I got it!” but when he turned back to the keys in front of him and reached out to play, he let out a wail of agony. “I don’t got it!”

The next few minutes were just downright depressing; Everyone in the lounge watched as he made up a small song about getting to go to Fiji.

Staring at the keys in front of her, Roxy tried to conjure any musical sense she had left in her body after already getting through one song earlier in the day. She felt just as helpless as her boss, though she was apt at hiding it while she overheard her friends trying to assure Snoop that this was all part of the duo’s songwriting process.

It had helped, slightly, when they tried to distract the rapper by asking him who the gift he had been carrying around was for. When they learned it was for his grandmother, each of them had guessed it was something outrageously expensive and impractical, considering he was one of the most famous musicians ever, but he had opened the box to show it off - A homemade scented candle holder.

When James asked, “Where are the emeralds?” his girlfriend snorted out a bit of laughter, easing the tension she felt as she reached out to the keys to test a couple of chords.

“Man, Christmas ain’t about expensive gifts!” Snoop hit him with a bit of holiday wisdom. “It’s about giving from the heart.”

All four of them muttered out statements of agreement, and now more than ever Roxy couldn’t wait to give them their gifts tomorrow morning once they were back in Minnesota.

If we ever get back to Minnesota.

Admittedly, writing “Beautiful Christmas” earlier had wiped the girl out. Despite the chords she played or the melodies she attempted to string together in front of everyone, nothing felt good enough to make their holiday EP. There weren’t even any ideas for lyrics swirling around in her head, begging to be put into words on a blank page in her songbook, even with all the Christmas cheer they had packed into one day.

Roxy had been so caught up in her own head, she had barely heard Kendall call out to Logan for a “fresh Christmas beat” which his friend was more than happy to supply. Though the steady beatboxing made it impossible for her to try and write anything else, it did brighten the room, easing the tension everyone felt as the frontman began to freestyle, “On the first day of Christmas Snoop gave to me-”

“A song for your Christmas EP!”

This time, the rest of the band joined in singing, and Roxy did her best to provide some improvised backup on the piano. “On the second day of Christmas Snoop gave to me-”

“Two fractured femurs!” Gustavo yelled, almost right into Roxy’s ear, causing her to accidentally slam her hands down on the keys and ruin the song’s flow.

“And a song for your Christmas EP?” Snoop finished, though a bit wearier than before. “Yo, keep it going, man. That could work!”

Just as the assistant was ready to jump back in with the music, Kelly called, “Take it to the studio!” and in a flash, the recording booth was set up, Gustavo at the helm, ready to create a new holiday classic.

Booth a bit cramped with her friends and the large rapper inside, everyone had been distributed their headphones and stood around the mic as Logan kicked his beat back. As easily as the words had come to them before, they reached the 12th day of Christmas without a hitch while their assistant wrote everything out in her journal.

12 rinkside tickets

11 books on physics

10 juicy corn dogs

9 lucky combs

8 wooly beanies

7 sweater vests

6 guitar pedals

5 municipal bonds with a compound interest rate of 3% accruing monthly…?

4 comfy PJs

3 canned hams

2 broken femurs

And a song for the Christmas EP

At some point during the recording session, Griffin and Obdul had arrived at Rocque Records once more, and seemingly enjoyed what would be the final product of their song.

Well, Roxy at least thought they enjoyed it, but their crossed arms and subtle head nods didn’t tell her as much as she wanted to know.

Neither of her bosses even left room for comment, with Kelly pressing a few buttons on the soundboard and calling, “Guys, that was awesome!”

“And that makes three BTR Christmas songs,” The producer triumphantly announced. “Fiji, here I come!”

Both adults spun around in their chairs, ready to make their way out of the building, leaving their assistant alone to take care of the file download and editing process.

Right before the two hit the door, Griffin finally spoke up after standing in the back of the room like a strange phantom. “Except Justin Bieber just released 50 Days of Christmas with 50 Cent. It’s over eight hours long and it’s a masterpiece!”

“He what?!” Roxy almost choked, digging around in her bag to find her phone despite the absurd title. Obviously, she needed to download the new album for their flight later. “Why didn’t anyone say something sooner!”

Her reaction to this news was the only emphatic one, considering the way Griffin spoke about the album implied he wanted something similar from Big Time Rush.

“Sorry about Bieber, but I gotta get to Grandma’s house,” Snoop said into the mic. “There’s two things Grandma don’t tolerate. That’s elbows on the table and tardiness.”

Jumping into leader mode once it began to sound like the rapper was planning on leaving, Kendall placed a hand on Snoop’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Gustavo will get this figured out!”

“You’ll be over the river and through the woods to Grandma’s house in a couple of hours,” Added James, not helping their case at all, though his girlfriend was impressed by the amount of faith he had in her writing ability if he figured the recording session would be longer.

“Yeah… but I gotta be to Grandma’s house in 15 minutes.”

Faith in their Christmas EP immediately fading, Roxy began to feel a bit lightheaded. From the prospect of losing their celebrity or from the earthy smells in the room, she didn’t know.

Her bosses shared similar sentiments, dropping back into their chairs and desperately preparing the booth for another recording session.

“And Gustavo collapsed full of holiday blues, ‘cause on the day before Christmas, Snoop gave them all terrible news.” The assistant weakly recited, cursing her brain for thinking of a poem instead of song lyrics.

“Roxy! Not helping!” Logan called through the glass, so she glanced his way and stuck her tongue out before continuing, now just to spite him.

“With Snoop leaving for Grandma’s, the gang didn’t have long, just fifteen minutes to write their last holiday song.”

***

Destroying all the instruments in the studio didn’t help Gustavo and Roxy write their new holiday song; The man was too full of ire at the situation Griffin had put them in the focus and his assistant had to be physically restrained by her boyfriend to keep from launching herself at her boss for wrecking such expensive and precious equipment.

And now, Gustavo had moved on from his rage and had fully calmed down, bringing a chair out to the middle of the studio and lounging on it, babbling this and that about Fiji as though he were caught in a daydream. Roxy didn’t have the luxury of being able to pretend she was back in Minnesota because she was stuck cleaning up the mess he had made moments before.

From the studio, she could see into the recording booth thanks to the large pane of glass separating her from the band, Snoop, and Kelly, and she could tell even from a distance they were in the middle of begging the rapper to stay.

What would happen if we just left right now… Griffin would certainly fire us, right? A terrible question to ponder as she took a broom to the floor and began to sweep up broken bits of plastic and metal from the drum kit Gustavo went Incredible Hulk on. But I’ve never had a Christmas outside of Minnesota. It doesn’t even snow here… What’s a Christmas without snow… And a Christmas without Dad…

For most of the day, she had been quite confident in her band’s ability to complete Griffin’s request, but now, they had less than ten minutes to write, record, and produce a song for their CEO to let them go home. No one could do all of that in ten minutes, it was impossible.

Continuing to sweep, she finally let her thoughts sink in, eating away at the confidence she had placed in team Big Time Rush.

“Come on Gustavo, it’s Christmas!”

The high-pitched, squeaking sound of someone goading their boss on filled the studio, catching the assistant off guard.

“Rox!” James whispered from the hall behind her. “We’ve got a plan, come on.”

When she turned and noticed him, a bright, goofy smile on his face, holding out his hand to her, she swore he was like a shining Christmas angel - Halo, wings, and all. If Big Time Rush had a plan, they would certainly make their flights on time.

Cymbals crashing to the hardwood floor behind her shocked the girl straight to her core, jumping in place before scampering off to take James’ hand and head to the soundboard with the rest of her friends.

“We all want to go away for the holidays!” Logan at the speaker now, pitch fader slid all the way to the top of the board, was pissing Gustavo off even more as he took one of the drums off the kit and threw it into the red wall.

Yard Squirrel’s Christmas… She realized, remembering how quickly Gustavo had claimed to write the song. If anyone can save us now… It’s him.

“Come on Gustavo,” Carlos now, adding in more things to anger their boss. “You can wear your PJs.”

“You can do it, Gustavo! Do it for Fiji-Wiji!” Added James, as Roxy still clutched at his hand.

The assistant even added her own, “Another platinum record, Mr. Rocque!” just to hear what her voice would sound like with the filter on.

Gustavo was still running around the studio, breaking whatever was in reach, while the teens, Kelly, and Snoop all piled on their mix of encouragement and insults to fire the man up.

It wasn’t long after smashing a bass guitar to the floor did he glance up at the ceiling, as though he were cursing someone above and bellowed out, “Yard Squirrels!”

Maybe we went too far-

“Get in the booth. I’ve got the song!” The man called through the speakers, letting them all know their Christmas had been saved.

***

“And unfortunately, no one is getting in or out of Minnesota or most of the Midwest tonight. A snowstorm has completely shut down all the airports. Merry Christmas!”

Apartment 2-J was silent as Big Time Rush, their assistant, and the Knights looked mournfully at the TV weather report that had popped up on the news moments before they had planned to leave for LAX.

The new songs, the duets, and the cover wrapped into one holiday EP had been enough to please Arthur Griffin, only to leave Roxy and her friends unable to travel to the one place they wanted to be during the holidays.

All of their hard work had been for nothing.

Well, mostly for nothing. At the very least Snoop had left his agent’s name and number, claiming he’d love to be put on a remix of “Boyfriend.”

New Hollywood connections!

Roxy fought her way into James’ arms while he stood completely frozen, still staring at the broadcast, while Kendall ripped the beanie off his head and angrily threw it to the floor. Logan fell back to the couch, head in his hands, and even Carlos, let out a small, astonished whimper.

“Aw,” Mrs. Knight tried her best to comfort her kids, stepping forward to rub circles into her son’s back. “Sorry, guys…” With a weak finger pointed to the TV, Carlos sighed, “I guess we ran out of Christmas miracles.”

“And after everything we went through…” Logan couldn’t even finish his sentence.

No one could conjure up anything else to say, just zoning out as the news anchor brought up a new story about something happening in Los Angeles.

“I’ve never wanted to get on a plane so badly,” Roxy attempted to make a joke, but she just weakly muttered into James’ coat, words lost into the fabric as he finally wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Buzz buzz

Incoming call: Dad

Just seeing his name on her phone’s home screen made Roxy’s heart sink further into her stomach. The news report on TV had been devastating, yet distant at the same time. Picking up this phone call would make everything final, everything real.

Slowly detaching from her boyfriend, Roxy held up her phone and headed off toward her apartment to take the call.

“Hi Dad… See the news?”

On the other line, she heard him grunt in confirmation mixed with some background noise she couldn’t decipher, “Hey. Just got the weather alert on my phone and figured I should give you a call.”

The sweet sound of his voice was enough to move her to tears. “We tried so hard, Daddy, but Griffin just kept demanding more and more and more-”

“Slow down, honey bun! It’s okay. Sure I’m a bit bummed, but the most important thing to me is that you’re safe.”

Roxy wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, hoping her continuous sniffling wasn’t making it through the microphone, “I know but… I can’t imagine having Christmas without you. I don’t want to have Christmas without you.”

She knew she sounded like a child throwing a temper tantrum, but it didn’t make her statement any less true.

“You know how these storms go. It’ll be over by tomorrow night and it’ll be safe to fly again. Then we’ll be able to see each other again.”

The indiscernible noise rumbled through the speaker again. It sounded a bit like…

“Dad, are you in Dynamo right now? That sounded like his engine after sitting at a red light. It’s not safe to be driving right now, the storm is going to hit any minute!”

“Ah, no, I’ve got a movie on in the background. I’m all snug back home.”

Roxy wasn’t sure she believed him but didn’t have the energy to pick a fight as she ran a few fingers across her face, eliminating the remanence of any tears. “I’ve got your tape all wrapped up, you’ll never guess what it is this year.”

“It better not be somethin’ I won’t like! If I’ve got to spend the whole year learnin’ it, I should at least have the satisfaction of enjoyin’ it.”

While she couldn’t remember when their tradition started, each year for Christmas Roxy and her father would exchange a single cassette - An album or a mixtape of their own design. It helped the two of them find new music and expand their horizons, but there was always an unspoken agreement that they’d learn the songs on the tape to be performed at next year’s Christmas celebration.

Last year she had received Wish by the Cure, an album from the year she was born, and she had given him Attack & Release by The Black Keys, one of her favorite albums from last year. While she’d typically go for something more punkish, she wanted to hear his version of the unforgettable guitar. That, and his voice was just as captivating as Dan Auerbach’s, gravelly and bluesy; She couldn’t wait to hear him sing again. It was likely she’d make him sing the words to her album as well, considering for the last four years she had starkly refused to.

“You’ll like it, I hope. But don’t ask for any surprises or hints! When we see each other again, you’ll find out.”

“Sounds good… It won’t be that long, hang in there. You’ve got your friends and your… boyfriend. It’ll be nice tomorrow, all of you together.”

“One day you’ll be able to say ‘boyfriend’ without sounding like you want to bash your head against the wall.” The engine-like noise roared in her ears again. “Are you sure you’re not driving? I don’t want to spend the entire night worrying about you!”

“Movie, Roxy. Movie.”

Even though he couldn’t see her, she rolled her eyes.

Knock knock

At the door connecting to 2-J, James appeared, silently beckoning his girlfriend to come back over.

“I’ve got to go, I think the boys are up to something,” Roxy sighed into the phone. “But I’ll call you tomorrow morning and see if we can get the flights sorted back out.”

“Sounds good, talk tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you too, Merry Christmas.”

After his reply of “Merry Christmas,” the line clicked dead and Roxy felt the sadness from before creeping in. In a few deep breaths, she did her best to suppress the feeling before sliding her phone into her back pocket and joining up with her boyfriend.

“Katie says she has an idea, but she wants you there too,” He simply told her and that was all she needed. The two of them made their way back to their friends, hand in hand, to hear what the youngest Knight had wanted to share.

Stepping in front of the TV in the living room and cutting off the news broadcast still playing, Katie had already formed a collection of candy canes and cocoa packets in her arms. “How about we make a Christmas miracle happen ourselves? Spread some, you know, Christmas joy?”

Though it took a moment, everyone turned her way, liking the sound of her plan, “We’re listening…”

Immediately, the young girl began to lay out her plan and it wasn’t too far off from one her brother and his friends had formulated earlier in the day. Kendall and Katie were so alike, at times it astonished the writer. Since all the other Palm Woods residents had gone home for the holidays, they wouldn’t miss their decorations at all, right?

It was late in the evening, and when everyone headed down to the lobby to formulate their decorating ideas, Bitters was nowhere in sight. He probably figured they had already taken a car to the airport and were waiting to head back to the Midwest by now. Instead, they were running around the empty hallways of his hotel and finding any loose, spare, or unnailed-down decorations to haul into the lobby for their big celebration.

Considering they weren’t concerned with being caught by the hotel manager or reprimanded by any patrons, their decorating took no time at all. In a matter of an hour, the lobby had a full tree with ornaments, lights, tinsel, and presents underneath. It was so large, that it even obscured their view of the front doors.

“Do you think that’s enough?” Kendall asked, eyes flickering up and down the large tree. “Because I don’t think it is.”

His friends agreed, it certainly wasn’t enough. So, they spent the rest of their evening traveling back and forth from the hotel to Rocque Records, transporting the same decorations they had used in the lounge for the lobby. The fake brick wall and TV fireplace, stocking, long strands of garland over every doorway.

They’d even managed to convince Mrs. Knight to loan them her minivan to get two large, brown couches and a glass coffee table from the accounting department of the record company.

Though Katie had told them she was hoping to surprise the grouchy manager, Roxy could also tell she was trying to make herself and her friends feel better about their situation as well. Even if their Christmas wasn’t what they had hoped, she remembered what her dad had told her on the phone earlier.

It’ll be nice tomorrow, all of you together.

***

“I don’t understand!” Roxy whined, letting Big Time Rush drag her from her nice comfy bed, down to the hotel lobby. “It’s too early, he’s not going to be awake yet…”

The five teens paraded down the stairwell, ready for Christmas morning in their softest, warmest pajamas, to meet Mrs. Knight and Katie to surprise Me. Bitters.

“His shift starts at 8, and it’s…” Logan checked his digital watch, “7:59! Let’s go!”

No one had ever tumbled out of the Palm Woods stairwell so fast.

When they reached the lobby, the teens were able to breathe a sigh of relief, all of the decorations were up and hanging where they had left them, meaning the manager hadn’t seen them at some point during the night and taken them all down. From Katie’s description, he seemed quite anti-Christmas, so no one was sure how their surprise would turn out.

Regardless of how he felt about it, at least Big Time Rush, Roxy, and the Knights would all be able to spend their day together. Though she wished her father could make it, this was far better than she could have ever imagined.

She and James plopped down on the edge of one of the brown couches, snuggling into each other's sides in front of the fake fireplace. Carlos and Logan joined them, while the Knights took the other couch.

“Merry Christmas,” James whispered to her, pressing a light kiss to his girlfriend’s temple. “Sorry we couldn’t let you sleep any longer. We’ve been up since 5 and Mrs. Knight wouldn’t let us open anything until you and Bitters joined us.”

Roxy suppressed a snort. Of course they’d been up since the crack of dawn; Their sense of childlike wonder never ceased to amaze her. “Merry Christmas, James. I’ll be sure to get up earlier next year.”

His rumble of laughter was comforting, making it easy for her to rest her head on his shoulder and try and get in a few more seconds of rest before the manager started work.

Maybe she had been too optimistic, because, at that precise moment, the door to the hotel manager’s office opened, revealing Bitters in his standard-work order Palm Woods navy blue button-up pajamas and a white nightcap.

“Another Christmas morning…” He grumbled, closing the door and rubbing his eyes. “Just like any other morning.”

As he went to put on his glasses, Katie held up a silent count down from three on her fingers, and everyone called, “Merry Christmas, Mr. Bitters!”

He blinked a few times, as though he couldn’t believe all the people and decorations in his lobby were real. “What’s all this?”

“Christmas morning!” Katie replied. “With friends.”

It took a good amount of time for the man to take everything in, eyes darting from decoration to decoration, the people on the couches in front of him, and finally, under the tree.

“I-I don’t know what to say.”

With a warm smile, Mrs. Knight warmly advised, “Say ‘Merry Christmas!’”

One deep breath in, and Bitters finally stopped hiding his excitement, letting out a joyous, “Merry Christmas!” as though everyone at the Palm Woods was in an old holiday movie.

Cheers erupted, filling the room with the sound of jovial laughter as everyone stood up, racing to the tree to grab the presents they had wrapped to hand out.

“We’ve got presents for you, Big Guy!” Logan promised, each of the boys and their assistant lining up to present their gifts.

Carlos was first, “A rock star nutcracker? I’ve always wanted one of these!” then Kendall, “Canned ham? How’d you know?” James’ homemade ceramic creation, “It’s homemade!” and finally Roxy and Logan’s, “New binders? The Palm Woods filing cabinet needed these!”

When the teens had finished, Katie hopped up from her spot on the couch to hand him the biggest gift of all, “Merry Christmas, Mr. Bitters.”

“Snoop Dogg Jamphonic headphones?” The most expensive gift of all as well. “Thank you, Katie. Thank you so much.”

From then, it didn’t take long for the boys to tear into the gifts Mrs. Knight and Katie had gotten for them - Lots of toys and games, with the occasional clothing item or needed school supplies thrown in. Roxy even got to join in on the fun, receiving a beautiful blue cardigan from Mrs. Knight and a new makeup organizer from Katie.

When it finally came her time to hand out what she had gotten for her friends, however, she grew a bit anxious. She knew they had learned their lesson about handmade gifts, but it still worried her slightly as she handed the four of them identically sized boxes, wrapped in their favorite colors.

Paper gone in a matter of seconds, Carlos was the first to officially tear into his gift. “No way… A cassette tape… and a bracelet!”

The other three eventually caught up, finding similar items in the tissue paper at the bottom of their boxes.

“Um, yeah…” Roxy faltered, despite knowing it was quite silly. They were her friends, they’d love anything she had given them, but something about this being the first Christmas they’d spent together was putting some unwanted pressure on her. “My dad and I have a tradition where we trade tapes, so I thought I could bring you guys in on it for next year. They’re all different; I made them according to music I think you’d all enjoy.”

While she fiddled with her hands, she finally found the strength to glance up at them, only to find all four of them beaming back at her.

Joy on my friends’ faces as they open my gifts to them… A Christmas miracle.

“As for the bracelets,” She found the strength to continue, holding up her left hand to show off the one she had been wearing for the past few weeks. “I had to restring my acoustic when we got back from tour… So I figured why not make matching bracelets from the strings I used to write my first Big Time Rush song.”

“You made these?” Kendall asked, swiftly setting the box down on the coffee table and slipping his on.

Roxy said a silent prayer of thanks that she had estimated the size correctly. “Yeah… My dad’s a punk. Of course, I know how to make weird jewelry.”

Each bracelet had a different twisting pattern to set them apart from one another, with beads in the same color as the wrapping paper decorating every few inches.

“If they’re too weird or anything you don’t have to-”

Roxy was abruptly cut off as the four of them crushed her into one big group hug. All of the boys overlapped their speech, thanking her, promising to always wear them, and telling her how wonderfully innovative her idea had been before Katie cleared her throat from the couch. “I want my gift now!”

From the middle of the huddle, Roxy did her best to raise her hand and point to the two gifts she had put on the table, “Kaite’s is purple, Mrs. Knight’s is green!”

She barely even got to see Kaite open her large, thick book on entertainment law or Mrs. Knight receive her new, black crossbody purse before the boys finally let her go.

“Ok! Your turn!” James told her, gently guiding her back onto the large brown couch. “Stay right here and close your eyes.”

“Would it kill you to say, ‘please?’”

“Babe!”

“Okay, okay! Eyes closed, just tell me when to open them!”

Using both shaking hands to cover her eyes, Roxy heard four sets of footsteps dash toward the elevators then a few moments later, shuffle all the way back in front of her. It elevated her heart rate far more than she liked.

What have these boys-

“Open, open, open!” She heard Carlos giggle and followed his instructions, removing her hands to find a large guitar case at the base of the Christmas tree.

It was rectangular and completely solid, black with silver accents lining the frame and small latches on the side. Far more professional than the cases she had been carrying her guitars in for tour; This thing looked impenetrable and based on the size could carry a lot more of her equipment as well.

However, the best detail was on the upper left corner of the case, standing out beautifully against the black leather material. Someone had taken some white spray paint and big, block letter stencils to write out an angled Roxy Somerset to let the entire world know who the case belonged to.

“Guys… I-” She brought her hands over her mouth, hardly able to form any coherent thoughts beyond Oh my fucking God at the incredible gift they had gotten for her.

“We know you were worried about all your stuff getting lost or damaged last tour,” Logan said, filling in the silence.

“So, we figured you’d want something a bit more secure,” Kendall waved his hand over the case, “It should fit your electric and the wires for your amps and stuff, picks and whatnot…”

Roxy was still unable to say anything, even when James simply sauntered over to her and wrapped an arm around her waist, “And it’s super flashy, definitely rockstar worthy for you, songbird!”

The sensation was overwhelming, receiving something so wonderful and having all of her friends staring at her waiting for her to react, that her brain was still suck in her Oh my fucking God phase. All she could do for now was hug James right back, squeezing him so hard he let out a groan, before waving the rest of Big Time Rush over to join.

“I can’t believe it…” She finally managed. “The four of you are incredible, truly. ‘Thank you’ doesn’t even feel like enough.”

None of them said anything, they just held her back equally as tight until their message had been received.

Though Kendall, Carlos, and Logan had eventually broken off to open some more gifts, Roxy still kept a hold of James, glancing up at him before bringing her hand to the side of her mouth as though she were about to tell him a secret.

“Santa told me there’s one more gift for you under the tree.”

His eyes lit up as bright as the Christmas lights they’d strung across the lobby, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the side, away from everyone else, once he spotted the rectangular box underneath the tree in the same purple paper his tape and bracelet had been wrapped up in.

Taking hold of it, James shook it a few times to see if he could guess what was inside, before giving up and tearing into the packaging. Roxy never took her eyes off of him when he discovered a white clothing box, which he tore into with the same intensity, and pulled out a long-sleeved L.A. Kings jersey. Though he held it in front of his face by the sleeves, she could picture his grand, white smile, and that was just examining the front.

Clearing her throat, she tried to act nonchalant as she said, “The real surprise is on the back.”

In an instant, he turned the jersey around to find a white stitched number 1 on the back, just like his jersey on the MAHS team. Diamond branded across the back shoulders as though he were a real player on the team.

“Guess we were both into name stuff this year. I love it when we think alike.”

Finally, James lowered the jersey so he could see his girlfriend, the same wide look in his eyes from before. “Roxy, this is… I didn’t get you anything else-”

“Don’t worry about it! It’s not about the quantity… You’re a wonderful boyfriend, so I wanted our first Christmas together to be special.”

When he looked at her again, she felt her heart stop. Something was different about his gaze now, more intense, wild, as he took a few more steps behind the tree and waved her over.

Standing in front of him now, his eye contact still didn’t waver until he bent down to kiss her cheek, “So, so special.”

Before she could reply, he pulled the jersey over her head, temporarily blinding her as she let out a brief cry of struggle. “James! What?!”

He continued to tug the fabric down over her arms and hips, eventually reaching back up to guide her head through the top and gently pull her hair out from under the material, letting it frame her face again, albeit wilder than before. Instinctually, she pulled her arms through the sleeves and reached up to smooth her locks down, cheeks growing red in embarrassment as he continued to look down at her.

“You are so ridiculous, you know that?” She jabbed a finger into his chest, body heating up from the new too-big fleece jersey and mild anger. “This is for you, not me-”

James cut her off by taking her hand and spinning her around, taking a long moment to admire the name and number on his girlfriend’s back. “Oh, it’s for me, baby. Definitely for me.”

That’s when it clicked.

So concerned with trying to get him the most recent jersey and going through all the official channels to get the correct customizations done, Roxy had been so focused on making this the perfect gift for him. She had never even considered what it might be like for a hockey player to see someone they cared about so deeply wearing something so personal.

By the time he spun her back around, there was no chance she wasn’t as red as a tomato as he continued to look her up and down.

“Okay, then.” She felt herself try to fill the silence. “Good.”

James nodded. “Good.”

There was a millisecond of silence before he winked and crashed his mouth into hers.

If she had known this would have gotten him so fired up, she would’ve bought him a jersey ages ago.

Her hands traveled up the soft cotton of his long-sleeved t-shirt, locking around his neck as she pushed him back into the beige wall obscured from the rest of the room by the Christmas tree, eliciting a soft groan of his so guttural she could feel it travel throughout her own body.

Though the fabric of the jersey was thick, his hands fled to her waist in response, pulling her closer into him as they slipped under the hem, fingertips seeking the heat radiating off her skin.

Thanks to the winter weather, his fingers were freezing cold on her body. Roxy jumped at the contact but didn’t let it stop her as her lips stayed locked onto his, barely stopping to take in any form of a breath.

James tasted sweet, like peppermint. He must’ve had one of the candy canes Katie had handed out earlier.

When he pulled away sometime later, she let out a small whine before he dove right back in, telling her between kisses down her cheeks and neck how beautiful she was, how perfect her gift had been, how he couldn’t wait to see her wear his jersey in public. Roxy's fingers threaded through his hair as she took his words in, gently tugging on the long strands while she drove her teeth into her bottom lip to keep quiet.

There was enough laughter bellowing out from the other side of the lobby, she figured no one noticed they were even missing. The little alcove they had found by the front doors was theirs and theirs alone.

Best. Christmas. Ever.

“Well… That’s a mighty strange way to spell ‘Somerset’…”

A voice: Bluesy. Gravely. Unmistakable.

James immediately froze as his girlfriend managed to untangle herself from him, whipping around as she ran worried fingers through her hair, attempting to hide just how messy it was becoming.

Roxy would know that voice anywhere, and while she was normally so excited to hear it, this time, it sent a chill down her spine.

“Daddy? You’re here!” She called as innocently as possible but winced at the crack she could hear on the last word. However, it didn’t stop her from running over to him and throwing her arms around him despite the large backpack and guitar case strapped over his shoulder. “I can’t believe it, what about the flight ban?”

“Drove to Wisconsin and flew out of there.” Declan’s words were simple, but she could hear the uncomfortable amount of strain it had taken him to say. When his arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders, she knew he was staring James down, but was too happy to see her father to care.

By now, everyone had heard a new voice in the foyer of the Palm Woods, heads turning to find Roxy and her father in a sweet holiday embrace, before inviting them over to join in their holiday festivities.

When she reached out to take his guitar from him and offered to show him her apartment, he said, “That sounds lovely, honey bun, thank you. Can I give you your gift first, though?”

For now, it seemed as though James was off the hook, though he was still frozen up against the wall, unblinking as he took the sight of Declan in.

“Yes! Let me grab yours, too. Come on and meet everyone!” In no time, she had dragged him over to the center of the party, allowing him to properly meet Mrs. Knight, Katie, and Mr. Bitters, and see Kendall, Carlos, and Logan for the first time in a while.

When she passed his black wrapped tape over to him, Declan handed off the one he had wrapped for her, and the two carefully peeled the paper back to not damage what was inside.

The plastic was cool in her hands. Jack’s Mannequin: Everything In Transit. An artist and album Roxy had never heard of.

In her father’s hands, he held Icky Thump by The White Stripes, turning it over as he let out a few breathy chuckles. “The Black Keys last year, White Stripes this year… Are you tryin’ to start a war on my shelves?”

Declan brought up the two band’s famous feud as if that was something that mattered to either of them. “Oh yes, because your tapes come alive and fight to the death whenever you leave the room… Tell me about mine though - What is it? I don’t recognize either name.”

Finally setting his backpack down on the floor beside where she had placed his guitar case, Declan pointed in the tape’s general direction. “You told me you were learning piano, so I found you a tape to learn on that and the guitar. You know Something Corporate?”

It was like the two of them were in their own little world as they spoke about their new music library additions, using terms and referencing events the others didn’t understand.

“‘I Woke Up In A Car,’ right? I love that one! I put it on Kendall’s tape so he could learn it on guitar. He doesn’t know it yet, but he likes the same type of music we do.”

The corner of his lips curved up into something that resembled a smile, “Jack's Mannequin is the lead singer-songwriter’s side project. While not entirely my thing, you’ll like it.”

“I know I will. Thanks, Dad!” She threw her arms around him for the second time in as many minutes, finally able to let herself be relieved he made it to California to spend Christmas with her and somewhat confident he wasn’t planning on killing her boyfriend.

“Jay! I’ve got one for you too if you’re done hiding back there,” Her father called, angling his head back so James could hear him, causing more than one of her friends to poorly try and hide their snickering.

A few moments later, the singer sheepishly made his way over to the rest of the celebration, though he sat as far away from Roxy and Declan as possible. With a small thank you, he took the wrapped tape from the man, opened it, and promised to borrow Roxy’s tape player as soon as possible.

After the gifts had finally been opened, everyone was trying on their new clothes or playing with new toys, and general pleasantries had been exchanged between the adults, the conversation was beginning to die down. Just as Roxy was about to drag her father up to 2-H to show him her apartment, a familiar, “Ho-ho-ho!” rang out from the front of the lobby.

Around the large tree came Kelly and Gustavo, both dressed up in their warmest winter PJs.

“I missed my flight to Fiji, so I figured I’d spend the holidays with my dawgs! In my PJs!”

Beside her, the writer felt her father tense up at the sight of two strange adults wanting to hang out around a bunch of teenagers, so under her breath, she shared that those two were their bosses over at Rocque Records and not the reason they had missed their flights.

“And we brought a little holiday feast!” Kelly shared, motioning toward the front doors where an endless stream of chefs in white-colored clothing brought on tray after tray of food, delivered straight to the large table in the back of the Palm Woods lobby.

Roxy had never seen so much food, and it made her stomach growl terribly loud. Who cares if it’s early in the morning? We could all use a feast!

It wasn’t long after, everyone was gathered around the table, carving up turkey, sharing all the delicious side dishes, and certainly saving room for the large dessert the adults had hidden away in Bitters’ office for later.

A few delicious, gratifying bites of food later, Roxy scanned over the faces at the table, reminding herself just how lucky she was to be spending the holidays with the people she loved more than anything in this world. Gently, she leaned over to her boyfriend and shared the last line of the poem she had been writing all day. “So with family beside you and friends together, that’s the recipe for the best holiday ever.”

hello! happy holidays, haha! thanks for pretending its still appropriate to be reading holiday things at the beginning of february.

put a lot of work into this one, i hope all of you enjoyed <3 thanks again for reading

be sure to let me know what you think with your likes, reblogs, and comments - they truly keep me going :)

#sorry its so long i went crazy coo-coo insane #thats all she wrote fic #big time rush #james diamond #kendall knight #logan mitchell #carlos garcia #james maslow #kendall schmidt #carlos penavega #logan henderson

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