It was the strangest thing.

When I introduced Harry to Jasmine he was taking another sip of my mug of cocoa with a bored expression on his face, but by the time I finished my sentence whatever he had sipped escaped from his parted lips as his jaw went slack, his body going completely rigid in his chair.

He tried to recover of course, quickly placing the cup down and wiping his lips with the back of his hand as his gaze flickered between Jasmine and I with an almost, worried look behind them.

"Jasmine, this is..." I trailed off, glancing over at Harry who quickly snapped his intense gaze up to mine.

Okay Malu, you have to play your cards right.

I really wanted to say best friend but what if I'm just assuming too much- but calling Harry only a friend was such an understatement he was really so much more to me.

"This is Harry, a very close friend who is not too close but close enough." I introduced in one breath, proud with the outcome I had decided to go with as Harry sent me a deadpanned expression when I smiled, subtly giving him a thumbs up.

"Well, you two seem... close." Jasmine laughed, focusing more on me as a small reminiscent grin spread across her face.

"Aw come on, two years sweetness and no hug-"

Before she could even finish her sentence I attacked her into a fierce embrace, making the both of us laugh lightly before we pulled back to smile at one another.

The delight of seeing Jasmine in front of me hadn't settled in yet due to the momentary shock that seemed to seize my mind at the sight of my ex.

But now the shock had passed and I was just plain happy to see her healthy and okay.

We had both separated on mutual terms so there was really no tension or lingering feelings between us.

The sound of someone taking a loud, obnoxious bite of an apple cut through the air, making Jasmine and I pull away to turn to Harry who was leaning back in his seat, slowly eating his apple and glaring at us with a brooding expression.

He gave us one glance, as if he didn't care about our presence although he seemed to be quite irritated overall, making me frown as I stared back at him, our eyes connecting briefly before he looked away, turning his glare to Jasmine who smirked.

Rule #67, pick up the little stuff in your friend's body language to better understand how they feel.

I looked over at Harry, observing his stiff broad shoulders, crossed arms, clenched jaw, and irritated face.

"Harry and I are going to be spending Christmas together." I spoke up with a smile, placing a hand over Harry's bicep to let him into the conversation  as Jasmine pursed her lips in thought, dragging one free chair from the table behind her with her leg before she easily spun it and sat down, facing forward with her chest to the back of the chair as I took my own seat between Harry and her.

"Well doesn't that just sound fine and dandy." She smirked, resting her arms over the back of the chair before she placed her chin in the palm of her hand, smiling at me before locking eyes with Harry.

"Doesn't it? So what are you doing for-"

"It's too bad we never really got to spend the holidays with one another, but we did other fun stuff too- hey, remember when you tried to teach me how to bake for the first time." Jasmine laughed, snapping her fingers and pointing at me with a smile as my eyes widened at the unforgetful memory.

"Funny." Harry cut in, leaning forward before I could answer as he kept his dark eyes trained on Jasmine.

"Neonata and I are planning to bake and decorate gingerbread houses together." He continued in a low voice, casually bringing his arm up and resting it behind the back of my chair, his shoulders brushing against mine.

"Neonata..." Jasmine quirked a brow, glancing over at me.

"Oh, it means-"

"Babygirl. I know," She said, turning to glare back at Harry who kept his even, irritated gaze on her.

"Took Italian Honors back in college." She informed with a confident shrug.

"Congratulations." Harry drawled out in a sarcastic tone, blinking at her in an unimpressed manner as she slowly blew a bubble from the chewing gum in her mouth, letting it pop before she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Malu and I used to wear eachother's clothes." Jasmine said with intensity behind her words, looking straight at Harry who leaned forward.

"Key word used to, Malu still has my sweater she wore at her place." Harry claimed as I rapidly moved my head between the two, stuck in the middle.

"Cute, Malu and I had movie marathons at her place where we would cuddle all day." Jasmine emphasized.

"Try cuddling with her all night." Harry countered through gritted teeth, placing his arm more around me to press me closer against his body as I sat with a stiff posture, not knowing what to do.

"Trust me, I did. Did you know Malu and I used to scrapbook?"

"Malu and I will be decorating a tree together." Harry shot back in a chillingly calm voice.

Oh gosh, I kind of want to take a picture of us right now and put it in the front cover of my friendship scrapbook -I mean this is the longest Harry has ever let me be this close to him.

I mean it's almost been a whole, entire, minute of his arm slightly around me but not really fully around me and a lot of shoulder bumping.

Christmas miracles do exist...

Maybe if I slowly lift my arm up around his shoulder as well, he won't notice and we can hold eachother like real compadres.

I began to subtly snake my arm up, blocking out whatever Harry and Jasmine were bickering about before Jasmine said something that shut Harry up all together.

"Malu and I have kissed." She stated with a smug grin, causing Harry to press his lips in a firm line with a tight jaw, his large hand slightly balling into a fist near my shoulder before he removed his arm away from me, retracting back into his seat with folded arms with a look of defeat in his hard gaze.

I frowned, looking over at Jasmine who raised her brows with a smirk of triumph while Harry glared at her, looking like he wished looks could kill as I pieced everything together.

"Now wait just a minute." I began in a stern voice, standing to my feet and facing Jasmine who paused, staring up at me in confusion as I placed my hands on my hips, standing protectively in front of Harry.

"This is not some type of competition Jas. It doesn't matter whose done what with who." I called her out, a serious expression on my usual joyful face as I felt Harry's gaze on me while Jasmine gawked up at me.

"Harry is my friend- no scratch that, best friend." I claimed with a strong tone, placing my hand on Harry's shoulder and for the first time ever, he didn't tense up under my touch, but actually relax under my fingers as he stared at me with an unreadable expression.

"And although seeing you after all these years has no doubt made my day, if you're going to be mean to my best friend then I think it would be best if Harry and I continued to enjoy our hot cocoa in peace." I said, straightening my back and meeting Jasmine's wide eyed gaze as a moment of silence fell over the three of us.

Harry smirked, running his tongue along the inside of his cheek, staring at Jasmine in an arrogant manner as she finally collected herself.

"Well, you haven't changed a bit." Jasmine let out a small laugh, looking up at me with admiration before she rose from her chair, glancing over at Harry.

"Sorry." She quickly apologized to him, stuffing her hands in her pockets and chewing her gum, making me smile at her sincere voice as Harry continued to just stare at her with a passive look.

He simply gave her a cold once over with his intense green eyes before turning his head and looking away with a bored expression.

"Alright... guess I should get going then," Jasmine trailed off, giving him a look before she brought her attention back to me.

"It was nice seeing you again." I told her in a warm, honest, voice, smiling softly and bringing my arms up before she grinned and hugged me.

"It sure was, you take care of yourself, kay?" She sighed against my shoulder, rubbing my back as I nodded.

"Okie dokie." I said, my smile falling when I felt her hand ever so slowly trail down to my back, reaching for my-

"No." I laughed, trying to scold her and grabbing her wrist before she could touch my butt as she smirked, not even bothered that I had caught her.

"Have fun braiding eachother's hairs, besties." Jasmine pulled away with one last wave, a sardonic tone behind her emphasized words before she let out one last amused chuckle and walked away.

Harry grabbed the pocket knife from the table.

"No, no," I quickly stopped him with a gentle, cautious, voice, placing my hand over his that was holding the weapon, slowly lowering it as he continued to glare at Jasmine's back before she left the bar.

He then snapped his smoldering green eyes to me with such intensity I froze on the spot under his gaze.

"So you like women." Harry said, his question sounding more like a statement as always as I blinked down at him.

"Oh, well I like both women and men. I'm bi." I informed him with a smile, tilting my head to the side and peering down at him, realizing my hand was still on his shoulder making me lift it off to give him some space as he stared at me.

"What about you? I don't want to assume so-"

"I like women." He cut me off, leaning back in his chair.

"All types of women, color, size. Aside from annoying perky Latinas whose name starts with M and ends with -alu." Harry continued in his deep, husky voice, making my smile falter slightly at his words before he raised his brow at me, reaching out and playfully pinching my face with his warm hand.

"I was joking." He told me in his regular serious voice, the smile that had left my face coming back ten times brighter at his claim as I giggled, pushing his hand away from my rosey cheeks, scrunching my shoulders and shying away from his hand.

"You know what I like?" A third voice suddenly joined in, making Harry and I turn our heads to the source before we found our boss Angelo seated on the chair across the table from us.

"I like when my agents actually answer their damn phones when I call them." He said, holding up his iphone and giving the two of us a look.

"I mean first my wife and now you two." He huffed, shifting in his seat and getting comfortable as he slipped his cell back into his pocket.

"Last time we talked you didn't want  us to work." Harry reminded him with an impatient look.

"Yeah I say a lot of things I don't mean, sue me. It's not my fault all the other agents are busy and I only got you two left." He said, throwing his hands in the air as he shifted his beady eyes between us.

"Look, you two are still on leave but I just need a quick deed done, Arnold Fifer, in charge of a big sex trafficking business and I hear he's planning to get more 'products' to sell for the holidays." Angelo lowered his voice for only the three of us to hear, leaning forward and sliding a manila file across the table.

"That's horrible." I can't help but blurt out with disgust, furrowing my brows and reaching out to take the assignment before Harry's hand shot up, grabbing my wrist and stopping me as he continued to stare at Angelo.

"Eight grand." Harry said in an even tone.

"Eight gra- five." Angelo sputtered out in disbelief, lowering the pay for the both of us.

"Eight grand. Each." Harry emphasized, an intimidating look in his dark, threatening green eyes as Angelo frowned.

"Six." He said with narrowed eyes.

"Eight." Harry repeated.

"Alright seven, no higher." Angelo said with a shake of his head.

Harry leaned forward, still holding my wrist to lock his hard gaze on Angelo's as our boss began to noticably sweat.

"Eight." Harry said again in a low voice.

"Heart palpitations, you give me heart palpitations." Angelo scowled, pointing at Harry with a shakey finger before he retrieved a small bottle of medical pills from his pocket, popping one of the capsules into his mouth, dry swallowing it before glaring at Harry.

"Fine, eight grand for the both of you. Happy." Angelo let out a shakey breath, wiping at his shiny forehead with one of the napkins from the table as Harry let my wrist free from his grasp, nodding his head at the file and letting me take it.

"Where's his location." Harry asked in an authorative tone, not even looking at me as he ran his fingers over his pierced lips, still having a silent glare off with Angelo as I opened the folder in my hand, my eyes widening with excitement at the name of the city printed, a wide grin spreading across my face while I beamed down at the paper.

"Reno, Nevada."

**

To say I was super extremely eager to go to Reno was an understatement.

I was going to see snow for the first time in my life and I'd be darned if this didn't get me even more into the Christmas spirit.

Harry was finishing up his packing, loading his guns and collecting his bullets into his expensive looking silver briefcase before he glanced over at me where I was patiently waiting for him on his couch, busying myself with a pile of rubix cubes he gave me since I matched each puzzle cube under forty five seconds.

"I didn't see Angelo hand you your money when we left." Harry noted in a rough voice, checking the sniper rifle in his hand, raising it and closing one eye to test it as I looked up from my sixth finished rubix cube, placing the perfectly matched square down onto the table and alligning it besides the other five.

"Oh yeah, that's cause I didn't take it." I simply said with a shrug, going back to humming with a small smile as I moved to the next rubix cube before I heard Harry slam his briefcase on the table behind me close.

"What." He grit out, making me turn to find his broad shoulders tense, his hands still splayed over the closed briefcase as he looked at me.

"It was like a little early Christmas gift to Angelo to work for free. Besides, we get to stop a man from sex trafficking anymore harmless girls, that seems like enough for me-"

"No. No it is not enough." Harry snapped, interrupting me as I gazed up to stare at him with wide eyes when he approached me.

"We're assassins. Just because of the circumstances of this assignment don't for one second confuse yourself with labels. This is our job. We aren't good guys. We aren't bad guys. We do what we are told and we get our pay." He growled, looking frustrated with me for some reason as I straightened on the sofa.

"Yeah but-"

"But nothing." Harry cut me off with a sharp glare, muttering a curse under his breath in Italian, shaking his head at me in disbelief as he took something out of his back pocket, splitting a large wad of cash in his hand before extending the other half out to me.

"Here, take it." He said when I didn't move, continuing to stare at him with a confused expression as he shook the pay Angelo had given him.

"It's four grand, enough for you to save up on rainy days, bambina take the money." He reiterated in an impatient tone.

"But that's your money, you deserve it." I protested in a gentle voice, knowing how set he was on for his eight thousand dollar pay for the both of us as I politely tried to reject his offer.

"Exactly it's my money and I get to do whatever I want with it." Harry countered in a low tone, slowly lowering his head and leaning forward, placing one hand on the back of the sofa behind me as he held my gaze, continuing to hold the money between us with his free hand.

"Take the money." He said, the tilt in his tone making me realize it was an order as I obediantly took the extended cash.

"Thank you Harry." I said in a soft voice, an endearing smile spreading across my face when he pushed himself off the couch and away from me, keeping eye contact with me before alking back to his bag of weapons at the table across the room.

The second his back turned to me I quickly flickered my gaze over to one of his duffel bags near the end of the couch I was on, making me look at him with cautious eyes before I slowly inched my way towards it, folding the money to put it inside for him.

"If you so much as try to return my money behind my back I'll bend you over my knee bambina." Harry suddenly warned in a threatening voice, his back still facing me as he continued to back while I froze in place, the wad of cash in my hand hovering right above his duffel bag.

"Oh honeysuckle..." I cursed in defeat, lowering my arm with a small frown and shifting back to my previous spot on the couch away from his stuff.

There was a sudden knock at the front door, causing both Harry and I to look up, turning our heads to exchange eye contact before he went over to the door, looking through the peep hole with a tense posture before his jaw clenched in irritation as he answered it.

"What are you doing here-"

The rest of Harry's harsh words were muffled by a pair of lips.

The woman who kissed- or was currently kissing Harry like a dehydrated desert traveller finally finding an oasis rushed into his arms, already moaning against his mouth while he stumbled back a bit in surprise, his arms hovering at his sides while she was already clawing at his shirt, attempting to lift it up, exposing the taut abs of his toned stomach.

There was only one thing I could do in this situation.

I droped the half finished rubix cube to my lap and clamped both of my hands over my eyes, my face feeling oddly warm as I continued to hear a mixture of moans and ragged breathing filling the air.

"Leah what are you doing here." I heard Harry's husky voice say, the kissy noises stopping adruptly as I heard the woman whine slightly at the loss of contact.

"You were with Sarah last time when you could've gone to me. Baby I want you so bad- need you." Leah begged between pants, her voice laced with desperation and promise as it went silent for a moment, making me scrunch up further into the couch cushions as I continued to shield my eyes with my hands.

"Who's this." Leah then said, my body tensing when I felt their stares on me.

"A co-worker-" Harry stopped himself, taking in a small inhale as I blinked through the dark that shrouded my vision underneath my palms.

"A close friend who isn't too close but close enough." He slowly corrected himself, making me drop my hands to gawk at him with a big smile from the couch, my heart beating one hundred miles per minute as he met my gaze with a slight smirk.

"Oh," Leah said, still looking slightly confused as Harry kept his eyes on me, approaching me until he was right in front of me, peering down while I curled my body up with joy, scrunching my shoulders up and hiding my smile with my balled up fists to keep from squealing in glee.

Harry had just called me his friend.

Best. Day. Ever.

"We're leaving on a trip together today." Harry informed, giving me a small wink and placing his pointer finger over his pierced lips ever so subtly before he turned his attention back to a pouting Leah.

"You're leaving.." She awe'd, walking over to him until she placed her hand over his arm.

"At least let me say... goodbye." She whispered the last word in his ear seductively, going on her tiptoes for her lips to graze the skin of his neck as he looked between me and her for a moment.

"It's fine, she just wants to say goodbye." I told Harry with a small understanding nod, watching him bite his lip while he looked down at me before he turned his gaze to Leah.

"Get in the bedroom." He told her under his breath, leaning and whispering in her ear as her whole face lit up before she squealed with anticipation, turning and practically running down the hall into his room as Harry turned his head back to me.

"Wait." He told me, bringing his tatted pointer finger up, going over to the table to retrieve something as I followed his movements with my head, tucking the money he had given me into the pocket of my jacket before I brought my knees to my chest, tucking my chin over them and hugging myself while I patiently waited.

Harry came back with a pair of fluffy ear muffs and a small candy bag between his teeth before he went over and gently placed the ear muffs on my head, like he was crowning a princess, adjusting it just right on my head and tearing open the small black package before he opened his mouth and pointed at me, instructing me to copy his actions.

I blinked at him with curious eyes before I opened my mouth and followed him, his hand lifting my chin up, tilting my head back slightly as he spilled whatever candy was in the open bag into my mouth.

I let out a little sound of surprise when the sugared candy began to rapidly pop and fizzle in my mouth, immediatly eyeing the candy bag in Harry's hand as he chuckled at my reaction.

Pop Rocks.

He handed me the candy, watching with a raise of his brow when I downed half of the candy, throwing my head back to let it fizzle and pop more in my open mouth, thoroughly entertained.

It tickled.

I hadn't even realized Harry was talking until he lifted one ear muff away from my ear.

"Don't take these off until I come back out of the bedroom, alright bambina?" He gently instructed, making me nod slightly, not saying anything since my mouth was still fizzling with pop rocks as I brought my hand in a thumbs up.

He watched my distracted face for a moment, a slow smirk spreading over his pierced lips before he put the ear muffs back onto my head, leaving me on the couch while I began to chew the now mushy candy with full cheeks, crunching and munching happily.

It was only until I was almost finished with my candy, actually having to lightly tap the bottom of the bag to get some pop rocks into my awaiting mouth that I noticed the walls around me shake slightly, the shelves of Harry's picture frames vibrating with heavy, rhythmic, bangs.

My first thought was an earthquake.

I immediatly shot up from the couch in alarm, my eyes widening as I mentally went over the safety procedures for an earthquake.

I had to save Harry and Leah first!

Swallowing whatever candy was left in my mouth I scrambled down the hallway to Harry's room, bursting in with my hands over my eyes, the door hitting the wall loudly as I announced my presence.

"I'm here you guys! Don't worry, we're okay! if we all leave in a calm and orderly manner we can make it-" I said, actually yelling since I still had my ear muffs on before I blindly groped the air in front of me, not wanting to open my eyes knowing Harry and Leah were probably still kissing goodbye and I really wanted to respect their privacy.

Unfortunately, in my blind search to rescue them I happened to stumble upon a hot, familiar, hard body, tripping over the bed and accidently tackling the person to the ground until we both fell to the floor, my skin coming in contact with bare, slightly, sweaty skin as the person let out a small grunt.

Turns out, Harry and Leah were doing more than just a kiss goodbye.

And I had without a doubt interrupted the two in their intimate moment.

Award for the worst best friend officially goes to me.

________________________________________

AN: You dun fucked up Malu.
Sorry this chapter is unedited so I apologize for any typos or mistakes.