Maisie was awake as soon as the sun shone the next morning. It was Christmas, after all, and she saw no good reason to sit in bed any longer. Though, she hadn't quite planned on what she was to do that day, honestly. Her family wasn't able to come see her and she didn't have any friends in New York-unless you count Brent which, in that case, she had (unwillingly) acquired one friend who was currently in the presence of his best friend-which means that Maisie would third wheel the entire time if she spent the day with them.

And, after a lot of arguing, Maisie finally convinced Brent to let his chef take the majority of the day off-they compromised on having her cook them dinner that was "one line I'm not willing to cross considering neither of us have the slightest clue on how to cook" according to Brent. Which, no matter how much she wished she didn't have to admit it, was definitely true. After settling for very simple and step-by-step waffles for breakfast, Maisie decided to go ahead and really start her day. Once she finally had gotten ready it was already eight in the morning.

In most cases, eight o'clock in the morning would be far too early to go and knock on somebody's door but, after some inside information from Peggy, Maisie learned that Christmas was Brent's absolute favorite holiday and he was always up by at least seven. That alone was a good enough present for Maisie, she found it honestly remarkable that something, other than Peggy, Steven, and money, made Brent that happy. Grabbing Brent's other present, along with her coat, Maisie made her way out of her door, down her sidewalk, through the icy courtyard, and up to Brent's door, unable to contain her joy.

Brent opened the door wearing a smile just as big as Maisie's and he said, "Ah, Mace, just the person I'm looking for!" And if she didn't know any better, with the reputation he has to hold, Maisie would have honestly thought that Chef Chad slipped something in the Christmas cookies he made last night. Not only was he saying "Merry Christmas" quite loudly, but he also wore a huge grin and was actually acting like a human being. Brent was not the type to ever get giddy. He was all business all the time-with the occasional time taken out of his schedule to yell at somebody or something. Seeming to very slightly gain his composure, Brent spoke once more, "Maisie, I have your Christmas surprise in my living room. So, I'm going to need you to put one hand over your eyes and grab onto my arm with the other, are we clear?" Maisie nodded and did as she was told, silently noting how muscular his arms were.

Brent lead Maisie to his living room and sat her down on the couch before telling her to remove her hand from her eyes. Once her hand was off of her face, Maisie looked around to see her all of her siblings and her parents surrounding her. Overcome with the general joy she contained at the holidays and the sight of her family in front of her, Maisie couldn't help but let the few happy tears run down her face. Afer assuring Brent that they were, in fact, tears of joy and that she did absolutely love her surprise, she went around and greeted each of her family members. Once she had seen all of them, she walked over to Brent, both of them still wearing huge smiles.

"You know, Brent, you ought to get more original with your Christmas presents," Maisie joked.

Brent swiftly turned around, his grin faltering slightly into a smug smirk, "Actually, Mace, I planned this out two weeks ago and, according to Steven, you didn't come up with your idea until last week. So, technically, you're the one that needs to come up with a more original present."

"Fair enough, Brent, fair enough," Maisie agreed, "I just hope that you didn't yell at any of them while you all waited for me to get here."

"No, I think you would actually be impressed," Brent started with a proud smile, "I don't think I've yelled at anybody in three whole days."

"Oh, really? Because the broken vase in the trash can seems to tell me otherwise."

"See, I said that I haven't yelled at a person in three days, I did, however, make it a point to not mention yelling at the stove when it failed to get hot enough fast enough. Which, in my defense, isn't really my fault because, if I'm not mistaken-which, you know, I'm not-a certain somebody forced me to let my chef have most of the day off."

"Well, I think three days is quite the record you're holding! And, he has a family just like the rest of us, it's only fair that he gets to spend the day with them, too," Maisie defended. "You know," Maisie started again, "I really do love my surprise, it was very kind of you, Brent, I never expected it."

Returning her sincere smile, Brent answered, "It really was no problem, Mace. And I can say the same on my surprise, I never thought I'd see my only friend again. So, for that, thank you very much."

....

The rest of the day, everybody spent their joyous moments in each other's presence-loving every second of it. Brent walked around with a proud smile on his face for the rest of the day. Partially because he pulled off a pretty impressive surprise but also because he had been complimented very many times that day. The most meaningful, however, came from Maisie telling him how proud she was. Never did he think those words would reach out and touch him as they did. When the day finally came to an end and everybody sent themselves out of his house, Brent made his way upstairs, honestly very exhausted and very ready to lay in bed. Though, for the first time in his life, he thought of a certain petite and delicate girl before sleep found its way to him. But mostly how beautiful this said petite and delicate girl looked with pure happiness spread across her face, even being able to hear it when she spoke, and the most sincere smile on her face when she spoke to him.

........