On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me nine ladies dancing. On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ten Lords a-leaping.

Nelson was a full-time farmer who was always having some celebration. For Christmas, he went full out. Every single person who was staying a walking distance from the main house, he called them over and had them help with the decorations that were so many someone could drown in the storage room that they were in. As an old man who's head was almost clear of any hair, Nelson was still strong, and completely ignored his nagging wife as she fussed when he helped to pull in a rather decent sized tree. The Sangheili were given most of the jobs of hanging up things; since they were the tallest, most of the places that needed a decoration they just had to stand up on their toes. The Spartans were given various jobs. Mike and John were supposed to be setting up some of the tables, but ended up being switched with Elyse and Annabelle because they had been eating most of the food instead of placing them out. Jun was helping, lifting up things before disappearing to do some other thing like carrying in food or listening to Annabelle's little sisters fuss over him.

"You're dad should have known that Mike and John would have done that," Elyse teased as she set out a steaming plate of still warm cookies. Since Annabelle's mother wasn't that good of a cook, she did some of the baking while anyone else who wanted to contribute did the rest. Elyse's mother -who was definitely one of the best- spent most of the day cooking in the kitchen and smacking thieving hands as they tried to steal parts of her food.

"My dad is my dad; he wouldn't know if either of them was stealing money from underneath his nose until most of it was gone," Annabelle reassured the Marine with a smile. "I mean, look at them now. Eating the popcorn strings instead of wrapping them around the Christmas tree like little kids."

Elyse paused long enough to watch them before shaking her head. "Of course."

Both of Annabelle's little sisters darted by, followed by the youngest pair of Elyse's four sisters with Retania's little boy in tow. The Marine and ODST smiled and shooed away the younger girls as they tried to steal some of the food, laughing as they ran right back the way they came. Annabelle was about to join them, to tickle them until they were in tears at least, when her father suddenly threw his hands up in the air. She watched as he motioned to one of the stereos in the corner and laughed when he turned it one with a simple wave of his hand, grabbing his wife as he moved away to the center of the large, ballroom-like room as the Jingle Bell Rock came on.

Rolling her eyes, Annabelle said nothing as T'ane came by, sweeping Elyse away as she giggled and threatened him with useless words about their height difference. Annabelle continued placing the food out, mindless of the bodies that had grabbed a partner and were dancing, and was surprised when someone touched her hand. She looked up to see Jun, smiling, as he offered his hand out to her. "Would you like to have this dance with me?"

"You want me to dance? Jun," she hissed in a whisper. "I am a terrible, awful dancer! You don't want me to dance with you! Besides, I still have these stupid stove mittens on!"

He lifted an eyebrow and grasped her hand. "So what? This is going to be my first time dancing at all. It wasn't exactly allowed on those ships."

"You're not listening too me," she hummed in an evil tone even as he pulled out from behind the table and slipped the mittens off her hands. She could feel a small flicker of anger residing in her chest, but no matter what Jun did it would always disappear. He was the only one anymore who could keep her calm when she felt about to bust. "I'm going to step on your toes and trip you up or something."

Chuckling, Jun leaned in close to her ear as he lead her out onto what could be considered as the dance floor. "Well, I'm certainly not dating you for dancing skills." Her face flushed up a bright red and before she could stamp on his toe, he was whirling her around to face him, interlocking their hands and pulling her up to his chest. He smiled brightly at her shocked expression and leaned forward enough so their noses touched briefly. "Just follow what everyone else is doing and you'll do fine."

"I know you're hiding something from me, mister."

"What? That I'm a natural at something that you're not at?" he teased.

Rolling her eyes again, she placed her head on his chest and closed her eyes, cherishing the sound of his beating heart. "Yeah, whatever you say."

*******