The Librarians And the Advent List

Dec 4

Cassandra had occupied the kitchen for a while now. She'd actually sent Ezekiel running and Stone hadn't bothered to hide his laughter at seeing the thief running, Cassandra waving a wooden spoon behind him. Stone had no idea what she was up to, but it was Cassandra, she'd tell them when she was ready.

Besides whatever it was she was doing smelled like chocolate and even through his new case of the seasonal grumps, Stone rather liked it.

He was typing away on his latest project, his last one under his real name being better received than he'd anticipated, when she appeared above him.

In her hands she was carrying two mugs. One was a festive Santa mug, its contents topped with whipped cream and red and green sprinkles. The other one was a plain red mug, just topped with whipped cream.

"I made hot chocolate," she said with a sweet smile.

"Oh, that's what's been smellin' so good." He couldn't help but smile back at her and she beamed. She set the plain mug in front of him.

She didn't leave him, instead setting the other mug down and grabbing a chair across from him.

"This is really good," Jacob said, deciding to just humor her. It really was fantastic.

She smiled, "good. It was on my list."

"Your list?" Why was he talking to her? The best thing to do would be to thank her for the treat and then she'd leave him alone to his isolation.

She pulled out her notebook. "My Christmas list. I have a whole list of things that I want to do this season. Saving the world depending, of course."

"Of course," he nodded, going back to his hot chocolate and hoping that the small talk would die.

"You know," Cassandra said conversationally. "A lot of these things would be better shared."

"That's nice."

He heard Cassandra's frustrated sigh. "Stone . . . ."

"Look, Cassandra, I'm just not feeling it this year. I'm sure Jones or Baird might . . . ." Though honestly he knew they really wouldn't.

"I'd like to make you a deal," Cassandra said.

"Alright, I'll bite." What was he doing?

"I know you like Christmas. I know because I spent last Christmas with you. So let me bring it back to you. Do the things on my list with me. And if after a few days, you're still not feeling it, we can stop."

Stone made the fatal mistake of looking directly at her. He'd never been able to resist a woman giving him that look and there was something about those beautiful blue eyes of Cassandra's that he had absolutely no defense against. "Okay, fine! A few days."

Cassandra giggled and jumped up. For a moment, it looked like she was going to hug him or kiss his cheek. But instead she clapped her hands. Then she grabbed her mug.

"Where ya goin'?"

"Well, I've got planning to do. You've got work to do. And I promised Jenkins some hot chocolate."

"So what's first on your list?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow!" she called over her shoulder, tossing him a wink.

He sighed. What had he gotten himself into?