Hey everyone. I am so sorry I haven't updated in almost 2 months. It has been crazy here! Homework has been slowly killing me this semester, not to mention I have 2 jobs now, and the wedding as well (53 more days!). I honestly hate this chapter, but I hope you like it anyways. :) I'll try not to take so long to update again!

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            Artemis found himself banned to the toy section at Kohl's. It was a strange feeling- one, because he had never been told not to come out of the toy section of any store to his recollection, and two, because the toy section at the department store was very limited. He stood there, awkwardly wondering why of all places Diana had made him stay there. No matter; he had already found what he was getting her while she hadn't been paying attention to him. Somehow, he was able to keep the small, rectangular box hidden from view, and now all he had to do was pray Diana actually liked it. Artemis had never bought a girl a present before so he honestly had no idea what they even liked. Regardless to that fact, the boy had already bought it, and had it stowed in the inside pocket of his jacket.

            He swore an eternity had passed already, but upon glancing at his watch, it had only been ten minutes. Artemis frowned slightly. He sincerely hoped Diana knew exactly what she was getting so he wouldn't have to endure this much longer. Honestly, all Artemis wanted to do right now was get some sleep, and attempt to get over the jet lag that was plaguing him. It had been a long flight, and while he was glad to be back with Diana, he was just exhausted.

            Artemis took a deep breath, and leaned against a nearby wall, closing his eyes. He was trying his hardest not to fall asleep while they were in the store, but as time passed, it was becoming all the more difficult. He was shaken from his attempt at dozing off by someone tapping his shoulder. Artemis' eyes fluttered open, and noticed Diana standing in front of him, holding onto a bag.

            "Wake up, sleepyhead," she said, a smile extending across her face.

            "I'm up, I'm up," Artemis assured, moving off the wall and stretching slightly. "I assume you finished your shopping?"

            Diana nodded. "Yup! Mom is at the checkout, finishing paying for whatever we bought you, dad and Marisa. She told me to come find you, and sure enough you were right where I thought you would be."

            Artemis shrugged. "You banned me to this... charming area. What else was I supposed to do?"

            "I surely didn't expect you to stay here," Diana replied. "But... I'm glad you did; it makes my life easier in some aspects."

            Diana took Artemis' hand in hers, leading him back towards the front of the store, dodging the other shoppers expertly. Obviously, they were not the only ones who had waited until the last minute to do their shopping. Every year mobs of people flocked to the stores, hoping to find that perfect, last second present for their loved ones. Artemis had never been a part of that crowd before, and judging by how packed the store was, he was silently swearing he would never do it again. Artemis shook the thought as they reached the front of the store by the cash registers. The two of them stood near the sliding glass doors, waiting patiently for Diana's mother to finish checking out. After a few moments, the woman was done, and standing before the two teens, looking just as exhausted as they were.

            "Alright, children," she began, "let's get out of this madhouse before I kill someone."

            "I wasn't aware you were a murderer," Diana said, matter-of-factly, a smirk plastered to her face.

            Her mother rolled her eyes. "Oh yes. Totally. I've been a serial killer for years, Di. How are you just now figuring it out?"

            "No idea, guess I thought my mother wasn't that cold-hearted," Diana retorted, still smiling. Artemis was assuming at this point this was just normal banter between the two of them.

            "Oh whatever," her mother replied. "But in all seriousness, let's get out of here."

            Diana asked the question that was on both their minds. "We're going home, right?"

            Her mother nodded. "As far as I am concerned, I am a thousand percent done with Christmas shopping this year. So yes. Unless you two had somewhere else you wanted to go."

            Diana and Artemis exchanged glances before Diana answered, "No. We're all good. I think Artemis wants to get some sleep. With the jet lag and all."

            Diana's mother looked at Artemis for a moment, a small smile on her face. "Oh I can imagine. Let's get you kids home, fed, and in bed."

            With that, the three of them exited the store, and made their way out to the family car. After loading the trunk up with the few bags of presents, they drove the ten minutes back to Diana's home. Once they got home and got the bags inside, Diana began wrapping presents in her room while her mother began to cook dinner for them all. Artemis sat at the kitchen table, looking into his girlfriend's room, trying to figure out exactly how he was going to wrap her present without her noticing what it was. The Irish boy cleared his throat, causing Diana to look up at him.

            "Yes, Arty?"

            "Would you mind giving me some of the paper, so I may wrap what I bought you?" he asked.

            Diana raised an eyebrow, somewhat confused by that statement. That's when Artemis knew he had been successful in hiding the present from her sight. "I wasn't aware you had actually gotten anything while we were out," Diana mused, handing him a roll of wrapping paper.

            "That just means you weren't paying enough attention, love," Artemis replied, a smirk spreading across his face. He reached into the pocket of his coat, which was draped on the back of his chair, and pulled out the small bag containing her present. He set the bag on the table for a moment, and noticed Diana staring at it, puzzled. "You have no idea what this is, do you?"

            The girl shook her head. "Nope," she sighed. "But I guess I just have to wait a few days to find out." The girl handed him a roll of tape and a pair of scissors. "Figured you probably need these too. Unless you have some sort of magic that just makes the paper cut and tape itself."

            "Thanks," Artemis answered. "Now look away; can't have the surprise ruined."

            Diana rolled her eyes and sighed before turning away, resuming wrapping some of the presents for her sister. Once Artemis was sure she wasn't paying any attention to him, he pulled the box from the bag, and immediately began his attempt at wrapping it. Artemis admittedly had no experience in wrapping anything, especially Christmas presents, so when he was finally done struggling with the present several minutes later, he was more than displeased with how it looked. Artemis shook it off, telling himself he was merely suffering from sleep deprivation and if he wasn't, that it would look fantastic.

            A few moments later, Diana emerged from her room, carrying a large pile of presents in her arms. Artemis was impressed; in the time he only wrapped the one, she had wrapped a dozen or more presents, and hers didn't look like they were haphazardly put together. She peered out from around one of the boxes at him, a smile on her face. "Are you done yet?" she asked.

            Artemis nodded, trying to not let her see how badly he wrapped it. But his efforts were futile.

            "I'll have to teach you how to do it nicely one of these days," Diana replied, that smile becoming more of a smirk. "C'mon. Let's get all these under the tree. And by the time we do that, dinner should be done!"

            "Sounds good to me," Artemis agreed, picking up the girl's present off the table, and began following her out to the living room.

            Diana sat the presents down on the floor, sitting down next to them. Artemis, assuming this was normal, sat down on the floor next to her, still clutching the present in his hands. Diana expertly began placing the new presents among the ones that were already there, moving them around if she needed to. When she had placed the last one, she turned to Artemis. "Are you going to hold that all night, or are you going to place it under the tree? I won't peek, if that's what you're worried about," she said.

            "No, I... was just waiting for you to finish up. I didn't want it to get lost behind some of the larger gifts," he stated. With that, Artemis took a deep breath, and placed the present on top of one of the others directly in front of him. Now that he had done that, he was growing ever more anxious for Christmas morning.