Late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :) I don't know about you guys but I had a great christmas. My brother, sister, and mom made lefse and it was DELICIOUS! For those few who don't know what lefse is it is a Scandanavian recipe that uses potatoes, flattens them to thin disks, fries them, then smothers them in butter and sugar to finally roll them up and eat them! Now I know you guys have been waiting patiently and I will not torture you anymore. At first I was planning to make this a Christmas Special but it just didn't work out like that. This is an actual chapter in actual time compared to the rest of the story. 

        Off to the side I have left you Pentatonix's White Winter Hymnal, for I had listened to their christmas album the entire time I wrote this and I thought you would enjoy it also ;)

Please enjoy

Avery's POV

"Checkmate."

"Damn it."

I smiled softly as Rick scratched his head angrily staring menacingly down at the small, foldable chess board. It was one of those cheap games found in hospitals to waste hours of time for those who are not able to move about.

Like me.

It had been a week since I had first awoken and since that time I had spent most of my days resting. The small amount of time I was awake I spent trying to stomach food and speak to my doctors. Since I had woken the doctors, or I should more accurately say Rick, has not let many visitors enter my room. Only a scant few have been given access and only then for a few minutes.

Rick has... how should I put it, been highly protective of me.

Growling at the slightest noise outside my room, watching over the doctors and nurses like a hawk, or in this case a very large and daunting grizzly. He refuses to leave my side especially when I am allowed visitors. Even though he is always with me he says very little. He always seems to be in deep thought and as such I try not to divide his attention. Sadly though over the week we have had a few disagreements.

Honestly I feel a bit smothered.

I know I confessed to the big lug but in my defense I was weak and higher than an astronaut on drugs at the time and as such I should not be held accountable for my actions, or as the situations so happens, words.

It's not to say I regret saying what I did... it's just I don't know if it was the right time. Only moments after my confession I had blacked out and the next time I had awakened there was a doctor watching over me who then proceeded to tell me what had happened.

A month.

It amazed me even now how much time had passed as I had been in a semi-coma. Maybe amazed is not the right word, more like scared.

I had no concept of time while I slept and no idea of my environment. To me my time asleep was like death. I have never truly been a faithful person. Shifters do not have churches such as the humans do but we have our own beliefs of what is awaiting us. I suppose my father's death just sort of... staunched any and all belief in me.

If I ever had any in the first place...

To me, death is the end. There is nothing else. I would like to believe that when my day comes I will see my father again, but there's this small voice in my head telling me not to have hope.

Rick he... was there beside me the entire time.

Thankfully after I had woken up I had convinced him to take a shower and shave. He no longer smells of sweat and filth, he isn't wearing the same clothes for weeks at a time, and his beard is cleanly shaven although he has decided to allow it to grow a bit longer than before. His eyes are no longer red and hollow as they had been when I had first woken. He looks like his old self again, but I'm not quite sure if that true on the inside.

I think what happened that day changed something in Rick. He laughs and smiles yes. But there's also this underlying aggression to everyone who is not me. He's overly cautious when Evie comes and growls at the doctors and nurses when they touch me. The hospital staff almost cannot do their jobs because of Rick's aggression.

It's just gotten too much and I truly believe my confession pushed his need to protect me over the edge.

Up until the first time he had allowed a visitor to come I had allowed his small bouts of aggression to pass by without a word but when he had growled at Evie who was at the time a mess, I snapped at him. It hadn't grown into an argument simply Rick backing down and sitting quietly in the corner but after this incident he just got worse and my nerves were being worn down.

Our worst fight had ended with Rick leaving the room for a while after the doctor had advised him that he should for the fight had caused my wounds to open.

After the leaving for an hour Rick had come back and softly apologized which I did as well.

I wish I could say that was the end of it but it wasn't. I don't understand why but Rick seems to have this NEED to control every little thing.

I can understand he's shaken up about what happened but so am I. About everything. That day has set into effect a ton of things I can no longer control. A domino effect is happening and I feel helpless to stop it.

Since I've woken up neither Rick nor I have spoken of his words to me that day. His confession of how we are... How I am his... mate.

I don't know if he knows I know or if we are both simply ignoring it until we no longer can. Over the past week I've been mulling over how I couldn't have known Rick was my mate like he had from what seems like the first moment we met. I've come up with something very simple, denial.

I didn't want a mate. I never felt I deserved one. And that first day in the bar when I had first felt the effects of my instincts telling me Rick could be my mate, the simple idea of mates was so far from my mind that I simply ignored its existence.

I denied it. I denied my instincts. It explained most everything. My fever and chills. My mind was rejecting something my body knew it wanted and thus I became sick. The stress of it all causing my immune system to go haywire.

"You're a cheat."

I looked back up at Rick who was resetting the game board for a new game and I chuckled, wincing slightly from my sore chest, "You just say that because you have yet to win."

My words were raspy and harsh. My lung burned slightly and my chest constricted but I ignored it, I wasn't about to let these injuries slow me down. Not now.

"Double or nothing?" Rick looked up with a glint of competitiveness in his eyes and I smiled taking ahold of a pawn and setting it forward on the board.

"You are on."

As the game went on we both fell silent once again. After a while I realized neither of us were truly thinking about the game and I didn't have to wait much longer to find out what Rick's mind was preoccupied with.

"My mother called..."

"Oh?" I moved forward and captured Rick's knight and set it carefully beside me on the bed sheets.

"I um... told her about... everything." I looked up to find Rick staring at me, the game forgotten.

"... E-everything?"

"Everything."

"Oh." It was more of an escaped squeak than a word but it gave the same impression of what was running through my mind.

Insanity.

"She wants to meet you. They all do."

"They?"

"Greg and Jakob, my younger brothers. They want to meet you."

I was stunned into silence as my mind ran through all of this information. That was right. Rick had a family. A family of large, carnivorous, grizzly bears. How much more daunting could meeting a family get? With all of this running through my head there was one thought that pounded against my skull with the veracity and power that only fear can harbor.

What if they don't like me?

These thoughts must have been obvious across my face because I felt a strong, warm hand encompass my own. I looked up to find Rick leaning forward with a worried expression.

"I can tell them no if you want me to. They don't need to come now. Maybe after... after you're all healed... I mean..." Rick began to ramble and I shook my head to stop him from continuing.

"They're your family. I have no right to say no to you seeing them."

"You have the only right. If you don't want to meet them now I can simply tell them to wait. They're a bit much at times and I can understand if you want to wait."

We were left in a semi-awkward silence as Rick leaned back in his seat and stared down at the chess board in silence. Rick's words echoed through my head and I felt a spark of warmth not caused by my injuries ignite within my chest. 'You have the only right.'

I would not lie and say meeting Rick's family was not daunting in and of itself. It wasn't just because they were grizzlies, but because they are His family, plain and simple. Their opinion of me, to me, meant everything. But also because of the fact that Rick and I might become... mates... that means that Rick's family will become....

My family...

I didn't want them to hate me.

As my mind stumbled through its random thoughts an idea struck me that seemed to latch on and I found myself speaking with more confidence than I felt, "When can they get here?"

4:30 pm, Dec. 24

"Are you sure about this?"

I smiled at Evie and nodded as she gave me an odd look and handed me a pair of pajama pants. It was odd how happy I was to finally put on a pair of pants after a little more than a month of wearing just an awkward hospital robe, that quite frankly was open in the back and ensued quite a few awkward situations for when I wished to stand up.

"You're just healing and I think this may be too much strain on you. It's not too much to ask them to wait until January, even February."

"Evie. I'll be all right. Rick has already gotten his cabin ready and has explained everything to his family."

Evie huffed in either annoyance or worry, I could not tell for I was facing away from her as I tried to carefully pull up my pants without reopening my wounds. It stung a bit to hunch over at this angle and the endeavor was made more complicated by my left arm being in a cast but I endured it for the sake of my pride of finally wearing pants and not a paper dress.

As I finally got my pants up and tied off the string to secure them around my waist I turned to find Evie sulking in a chair. I stared down at my feet feeling an ache in my chest at knowing how much I had put one of my only friends through.

"Hey Evie."

She looked up from her lap and raised an eyebrow.

"Could you go to the cabinet and grab that box in the bottom drawer." I smiled innocently at her as she huffed and went to the cabinet and knelt down to open the bottom drawer. Her back stiffened as she lifted out the package I had left there. She turned to me with wide eyes as I smiled at her from my seat on the hospital bed.

"Merry Christmas Evie."

Her eyes began to water as she looked down at the carefully wrapped green package and she stroked the blue ribbon lovingly.

"Well don't just stand there. Open it."

She laughed as she came and sat beside me on the bed and started to undo the bow. After the ribbon slipped from the box she went to find the paper's edge and started to carefully pull.

"Oh come on! We're not here to save the wrapping!"

She glared at me as I cheekily smiled back. Apparently Evie needed no more goading for she tore into the paper with menace. When she got to the box she took her nails and ripped the tape easily and opened it quickly only to silently gasp at what was inside.

She carefully pulled the necklace from the tissue paper and read aloud the note attached to the silver chain, "I would be lost without you. Sincerely, Avery."

She smiled as she held the pendant in the palm of her hand. It was a compass. No bigger than a nut. It held the directions written in elegant script with a small diamond in the center the color of Evie's eyes.

As she looked up at me I saw the tears in her eyes as she laid her arm around me softly as not to hurt me. She laid her head against my shoulder and chuckled softly as she ran her thumb along the surface of the pendant, "Thank you."

"Are you ready Avery?" Rick paused at the door with a wheelchair in front of him and Scott only a few steps behind him. Rick's eyes were glued to Evie as her arm stayed around me. Thankfully Scott diffused the awkward silence as he came into the room moving Rick aside gently.

"Ready hun?"

Evie smiled and nodded giving me one last squeeze before she stood and made her way to her mate. Scott smoothly looped his arm around Evie's waist and nodded at both Rick and I giving us both a soft smile, "Merry Christmas guys."

I nodded back and smiled, "Merry Christmas Scott."

Rick patted Scott's shoulder and moved over to my bed as the two lovebirds exited the room silently.

"Ready?"

Rick rolled the wheelchair over to the bedside and I nodded. The next few minutes was spent with Rick carefully lifting me into the wheelchair and collecting the odds and ends still left in my room. As we exited the room and rolled down the hospital hallways I couldn't help but feel awkward. Everyone stared as Rick rolled me around and I could feel my cheeks burning from embarrassment.

I felt weak.

Thankfully we finally made it to Rick's truck and Rick easily lifted me up into the cab without a hint of strain. The ride was spent in companionable silence as Rick drove through the soft snowfall out of town into the surrounding forest to his cabin.

"Are we going to pick your family up?" I looked behind me at the bench seat in the back of the cab and wondered how the heck we were going to fit three fully grown grizzlies back there. Rick just chuckled as he reached around the back of my seat and ran his fingers through my hair.

I didn't stop him.

"No. They're already at the cabin. They drove in this morning and drove out to the cabin this afternoon. My mother wanted to start making supper early so they arrived around 12:30."

"12:30? Isn't that a little early?"

"Haha! Yes but you see my mother is a fantastic cook and refuses to serve anything less than a four course meal. Of course none of us complain. My brothers and I could eat a moose and still be hungry."

Rick's eyes began to sparkle with love and I knew spending Christmas with his family meant a lot to him even though when I had first suggested it he had argued against it saying I was still too weak. I had refuted all his arguments and finally won the argument by saying, "Either you call them or I will."

As my thoughts wondered we drove up to Rick's cabin softly glowing in the evening light with a soft coating of snow on top.

It looked homely.

I was also happy to note his broken door had been fixed as Rick carefully led me to the new door. As the door opened we were welcomed by a warm rush of air and the most delicious scents I had ever been blessed to smell.

"We're home!"

"Finally!"

"You slugs took forever!" Before I knew it I was looking at two large men who looked almost identical to Rick. I say almost for they both lacked essential characteristics that made Rick, Rick.

"Yeah, Yeah. When have EITHER of you ever been on time in your lives?" Rick shook his head with a scowl that I soon found melting into a broad smile as he moved forward and engulfed his brothers each in a hug as they smacked each other on the backs and laughed.

"Good to see you guys again."

"You too bro." The three of them were a daunting image as each powerful aura simply naturally washed off of them.

"So you gonna introduce us or leave us to guess."

They were all looking at me and I found myself blushing slightly from embarrassment as being the center of attention. Rick smiled, came back to my side, and wrapped a comforting arm around my waist.

"This is Avery Nanuk. My intended mate." He said this with so much pride and happiness that I found my cheeks burning even more furiously.

"Hehe. Nice to meet ya Ave. Name's Jakob."

The shortest of the three brothers came forward with a hand outstretched and I took it in a firm handshake. I remembered that Jakob was the youngest of the brothers and I could tell. He still carried a bit of a boyish charm with rounded cheeks and dimples. He had dark dirty blonde hair that was a bit on the shaggy side. He had a naturally thick frame like Rick but he was about two inches shorter.

On a first impression he seemed like he had been voted class clown, but not in a bad way.

"And I'm Greg. Nice to meet you." Jakob was unceremonially shoved aside as my hand was taken by the other brother. I smiled, a little confused.

"Nice to meet you too."

Greg was of a slimmer build compared to his brothers but no less big. He kept his dark brown hair neatly cut and combed back out of his eyes. He was clean shaven and looked to be more into the indoors than his brothers. This was not to say he was uptight or a monkey in a suit. He was simply a different form of what his brothers were.

On my first impression he seemed to be a polite and thoughtful person.

Suddenly Greg was shoved and stumbled to the side letting go of my hand as Jakob laughed at his brother. The two then began a wrestling match trying to end up on top of the other. Rick pulled me closer to him as he eyed the two wrestling grizzlies with cautious interest. It was only when the two bears ran into a lamp and knocked it over did I hear the voice of the third family member.

"You boys better not be breaking Rick's things or I swear to all that is mighty I'll come out there!"

It was almost instantaneous how the two separated and yelled back profuse apologies. I chuckled as Rick laughed at his chastised brothers.

"Come on. I'll introduce you to the matriarch."

Rick guided me slowly around his grumbling brothers and back into the kitchen. The heavenly scents grew stronger and stronger as we entered the kitchen. It was hot inside from the oven cooking but my mouth watered as I stared down at the rows of hot delicious food set out on the table.

"Well look who it is!"

I turned in time to see Rick hugging a woman closely and growling softly in his chest. It was not a show of aggression, it was a show of love.

"Hey mom."

"Darling! My sweet baby let me get a look at you."

The two parted and Mrs. Kodiak looked her son up and down and smiled softly, "You need to eat! I knew if you went off you wouldn't eat enough."

I chuckled at this, there was nothing small about Rick and I doubted there would ever be anything small about him. Apparently my chuckle had garnered her attention for the next thing I knew I was being taken into a warm hug.

"You must be Avery! I have heard so much about you."

She leaned back and I got the first good look at her. Her dirty blond hair was pulled back into a messy bun as her cheeks were rosy from the heat in the kitchen. But her eyes. They were the same warm honey brown as Rick's.

"You poor thing. Come sit, you must be exhausted."

She took me to the table and set me down, quickly setting a glass of water in front of me. Rick just chuckled as his mother went back about checking her many dishes and clucking over recipes.

She wasn't a large woman. She had a bit of padding but I think that simply added to her motherly aura. She wore a light blue apron over her light baby blue dress and her heels clicked across the floor as she walked about. I couldn't help but smile as she lovingly cooked a four course meal for her three sons and her possibly soon to be son-in-law.

A few hours later

"So Avery. I hear from Rick you're a school nurse."

"Yes."

"That sounds like an interesting job, do you enjoy it?"

I smiled and nodded at Mrs. Kodiak, or Mary as she had asked to be called, "I do enjoy it. The students are quite nice and the staff understanding. I don't think there has ever been a day that I have not liked my job."

Mary smiled, "That's wonderful. I believe everyone should do what they love for a living."

"Well then my job should be to eat your cooking every day." Jakob chuckled as Mary swatted him on the shoulder shaking her head at her son.

"If you don't keep up your grades you just might get your wish." Rick chuckled and took a large bite of his baked potato.

"What are you going to school for?" I hadn't really meant to ask the question out loud but I guess there was no way to take it back now.

Jakob smiled smugly and said, "Carpentry. My school has an apprenticeship program so I can work with professionals out in the field. One of them has already offered me a job."

"Yeah after you sat and begged him for it for a month straight." Jakob threw a bun at Rick's head as Rick just laughed, caught it, and took a bite out of it.

"Thanks for the bun bro."

Jakob simmered silently as Rick and Greg just laughed and Mary rolled her eyes. I wanted to diffuse the situation before it turned into an all-out food fight so I turned to Greg.

"Are you in college as well?"

Greg wiped his eyes and smiled, "Just graduated with my major in medicine and am going to intern at a hospital in Toronto. In a few years time, I hope to be a doctor."

"Wow. Good for you." I could see it plainly now. Greg looked like a doctor; smart, calm, sophisticated. I think he would make a good doctor.

"My boys, aren't they just wonderful?" The brothers beamed at their mother's praise and I smiled as well when I felt like I was included in this statement.

It felt nice.

"Now who wants dessert?"

Almost on cue four hands shot into the air.

After a delicious course of apple pie and vanilla ice cream we all went to lounge about in the living room. Rick swiftly claimed the couch for the two of us and carefully sat me down in the plush sofa. Greg and Jakob chose to sit in the two recliners to the left of the couch and Mary sat elegantly in the old rocking chair to our right.

I think we were all suffering from food comas for we were all simply happy to watch the fire in the fireplace crackle and burn. Greg had a book in his lap as Mary knitted peacefully and Jakob snored softly. The peaceful family scene was completed by the crisp conifer sitting in the corner sparkling with tinsel and ribbon. Earlier that day Greg and Jakob had went out and cut down a tree for the living room while Mary cooked and now it sat sparkling and beautiful in the peaceful night.

I yawned as Rick laid his arm around my shoulders and I gently laid my head against his shoulder.

Rick looked down at me and whispered softly, "You want to go to bed Avery?"

I shook my head as I felt my eyes begin to sink lower and lower. My answer was mumbled and I was surprised Rick could even understand it, "Mm cmfertble..."

I felt the vibrations of his chuckle as he gently laid a blanket over us and leaned back in his seat as I softly drifted to sleep.