A few days before the Christmas Special

"It doesn't work like that."

"What do you mean?"

Finn frowned at Piper as they walked through the mall together. They were searching for Secret Santa gifts for A-Troupe's upcoming Christmas party. Or at least, Piper was.

"You can't be Santa in the Secret Santa. There is no Santa. You just buy a gift for whoever you drew a name for," Piper explained patiently, her eyes scanning the stores they passed in search of her favorite candle shop, Wicks Corner.

"First of all, there has to be a Santa in the Secret Santa. Who else would deliver the gifts?" Finn chose to ignore the way Piper rolled her eyes at that and continued on unperturbed. "And second of all, I did draw Santa, so I'm Santa."

"But there's not a Santa," Piper repeated adamantly.

Reaching into his pocket, Finn pulled out the slip of paper he'd drawn the day before that clearly read Santa. He held it out to Piper proudly, raising his eyebrows as if to say, "See?" She glanced at it and huffed, grumbling about how Kingston never should have been put in charge of the Secret Santa drawing. Finn grinned cheekily at her, but she hardly noticed it as she spotted the candle store and pivoted towards it.

As they entered the store, they were bombarded by smells of pine needles and cinnamon that were undoubtedly from the seasonal Christmas candles. Finn wrinkled his nose at the strong fragrances and asked, "Who are you shopping for again?"

"Summer," Piper answered, gazing around at the shelves covered in candles with an excited glint in her eye. "She was saying the other day she wanted a Christmas candle for her room."

"Oh, well that should be easy to find," Finn said confidently. It would be easy to find a seasonal candle this time of year. They would be moving on to the food court in no time.

What Finn had failed to anticipate, however, was the absurd number of seasonal candles there actually were to choose from and Piper's incessant need to sniff every single one.

Why were there so many candles to choose from? Who could possibly need that many options?

Finn didn't know how Piper was going to find a Christmas candle that personified Summer- whatever that even meant- but he did know that he really didn't like candle shopping as much as he'd thought he would. What should have taken a few minutes was turning into a half hour debate about whether Summer would like Winter Cranberry or Crushed Candy Cane more.

"What do you think about this one?" Piper asked, holding up a white candle with a label that read Christmas Cookies for Finn to sniff.

He complied, the sweet smell of cookies filling his nose. Somehow, it did seem to remind him of Summer- probably because it was so sweet-smelling, and Summer was one of the sweetest people he knew.

"It's fine, I guess," he told Piper, handing it back to her while wondering to himself what Rocking Chair was supposed to smell like.

Piper sniffed the candle again then nodded to herself, seeming to come to a decision. "I think this is the one. It just screams Summer to me."

Finn mumbled in agreement as he picked up Whiskers on Kittens and gave it a sniff. Wrinkling his nose, he recoiled and quickly set it back on the shelf.

He checked his text messages while he waited for Piper to pay for the candle. The Bros' group chat was blowing up over the avocado Ozzy had gotten for Richelle's Secret Santa gift, but Finn's attention was caught instead by the text from his older brother Nate, who rarely texted him.

He clenched his jaw, pursing his lips as he reread his brother's text. Therein lied his current dilemma. The Next Step's Christmas party was supposed to take place on December 21. Not only were they celebrating the studio's 30th birthday, but it was also the first time all of A-Troupe would be together since going on holiday break after winning Regionals. Unfortunately, the party was also two days after Finn was supposed to leave for Vancouver to spend Christmas with his father. If he had to choose, he'd rather stay in Toronto and go to the Christmas party with his friends. Unfortunately, he doubted his parents would care what he wanted to do in this situation.

"I think I might have spent over the $10 limit," Piper said, eyes glued to her receipt as she approached where Finn was waiting by the entrance. Grimacing and shrugging, she folded the receipt and slipped it into her wallet before looking up at Finn. "Oh well. I guess I'll just take the tag off it. But wait, what if she needs to return it for some reason?"

She was frowning contemplatively as they walked out of the store together, and Finn slipped his phone back into his pocket. "No one actually follows the $10 rule, you know," he told her though half of his mind was still on the trip to his dad's. The Christmas party alone wouldn't be enough to convince his mom to stay home, but Emily had mentioned choreographing a routine to perform for the TNS alumni that were coming. If he was in the routine, he'd have to stay for the party, right?

"What? No, it's a rule for a reason," Piper pointed out, shaking her head and letting out a short, unamused laugh as she spoke.

He simply raised his eyebrows at her skeptically. "Rules are meant to be broken, Pipes."

"Now you just sound like my brother."

"I know for a fact Summer's getting Ozzy a game controller."

"There's no way that's $10!" Piper gaped at him for a moment, but then her shoulders slumped as she realized he was proving his point. Sighing, she gestured with the bag from Wicks Corner and muttered, "Well, I guess I can feel less guilty about this then."

"It's not that big a deal. It's just Secret Santa. No one actually cares that much."

Piper simply nodded in resignation, and Finn was about to suggest going to the food court when she said, "But if you're Santa, then doesn't that mean there's someone not getting a gift? Because you're not buying anyone anything?"

"Yeah, because I'm not supposed to. I just deliver the gifts."

"Exactly, so doesn't that mean someone's not getting a gift?"

Finn paused, running through the members of A-Troupe in his head. Was she right? Ozzy had Richelle, Piper had Summer, Kingston had Kenzie...

Before he could count everyone off, a girl walked by with a cinnamon bun in her hands, and the smell wafted toward Finn. Stomach rumbling, the thought slipped his mind, and he finally said what he'd been wanting to say all along. "I'm starving. We should head to the food court."

"We just ate lunch an hour ago," Piper pointed out. There was a fond smile on her lips, however, as she followed him to the food court.

"Yeah, but all I had was a sandwich, and shopping takes a lot out of you, Pipes."

"It's a miracle my mom agreed to let you drive me at all," Piper admitted.

Finn had finally gotten his driver's license a few days after Regionals, meaning he'd only had it for a couple of weeks. When he had arrived at Piper's house to pick her up earlier that afternoon, Deborah had insisted he come in and eat lunch before they went to the mall, which Finn was happy to do if it meant getting to meet the crazy family Piper was always telling him about. Piper had since informed him that her mother had simply been scoping him and his car out, but he was inclined not to mind if it meant getting a delicious meal out of it. And that sandwich had been delicious.

"She's so overprotective," Piper continued, "I couldn't drive with James for a month after he got his license, and he's not even a bad driver."

"Hey, I'm not a bad driver," Finn quickly said in defense of himself.

"No, of course not!" She quickly corrected herself, laying a hand on his arm momentarily. She dragged out the 'o' in no a moment too long, however, and he simply raised his eyebrows at her. Giving a tight-lipped smile, she tilted her head to the side as she said, "I mean, you did kind of run a red light on the way here, but other than that..."

"But it was still yellow when I entered the intersection!"

"Yes, but yellow means slow down, not speed up."

Frowning, Finn sighed dramatically at her criticism, ignoring the fact that his older sister had told him the exact same thing not two days before.

"You really know a lot about traffic laws for someone deliberately putting off driver's ed."

"Well, why do I need my license when you can drive me everywhere instead?" she asked lightly.

Finn simply hummed to that. Piper was joking, but she had also disclosed to him a couple of days ago that the thought of getting her driver's license stressed her out too much, which was a stark contrast to a few months before when she had been saying she couldn't wait to get her license so she didn't always have to depend on her parents or siblings to pick her up from rehearsals. Finn had a hunch her anxiety was behind her shift in attitude, but he didn't voice that assumption out loud in case it might upset or offend her somehow.

They reached the food court, and Finn went straight to the burger stand to order French fries while Piper got a bottle of water. Afterwards, they found a table for two and sat down. Piper immediately pulled her phone out to check her messages, so Finn did the same, wondering if he needed to text Ayla about travel plans and noting that it was surprising that she hadn't already texted him about it considering how anal she was about making plans for anything.

Of course, he didn't need to text his older sister if he wasn't going to Vancouver.

Finn glanced up at Piper, wondering again if he should mention the possibility that he might not actually make it to the Christmas party at all. He hadn't exactly mentioned that tidbit of information to any of his friends, mostly because it hadn't occurred to him that he wouldn't be here until a couple of days ago when Gracie had asked him if he was going to stick around for Christmas this year or not.

Before he could say anything to Piper, however, she squealed excitedly, grinning down at her phone. "Amy's back on A-Troupe!" she exclaimed, thumbs moving rapidly across her phone screen as she typed out a message to her best friend. "We thought Michelle would let her come back, but we weren't sure about Emily. Isn't that amazing?"

Finn tossed a fry in his mouth and simply nodded. Personally, he thought it was strange that Michelle and Emily would just let Amy back onto the team without re-auditioning or doing something to prove her loyalty to A-Troupe. She had left in the middle of getting ready for Regionals just because she wasn't being featured in any of the dances. Who was to say she wouldn't leave again if she wasn't featured in any of the Nationals routines? And wasn't it a little too convenient that she was coming back to The Next Step when they were moving on to Nationals and AcroNation wasn't?

Of course, he didn't mention any of that to Piper because she was clearly excited about this. Instead, he told her, "That's great!"

"Yeah," Piper agreed. Her smile slowly faded as she took a drink of her water then crossed her arms on top of the table. "It'll be nice to be back on the same team again. It was too weird being on different teams for Regionals." She sighed, fidgeting with the loosening label of her water bottle and reluctantly adding, "I really missed her."

He nodded slowly, trying his hardest to appear impassive. "I know."

And he did know because he'd been the one to cheer her up the day Amy left the studio, and again when tension was high in the week leading up to Regionals, and when her anxiety was at its highest during Regionals. He wasn't an idiot. He knew Piper missed Amy in those moments, but he'd done what he could to be there for her anyway.

Through it all, they had established a nice friendship. It would be a shame if that was ruined by Amy's return to the studio. But was it selfish of him to think so?

"And this is just in time for the Christmas party too!" Piper went on, her smile slowly growing again.

Ah, there it was again. Finn smiled tensely and nodded, thinking now was his chance to tell her, but instead, all he said was, "Yep. Good timing."

"We'll have to figure out the Secret Santa thing to include her though. I'll text in the group about it," Piper continued, picking up her phone again.

As she typed out a new message in the A-Troupe group chat, Finn's phone lit up with a message in their other group chat that included Michelle and Emily and was used for the studio heads to send reminders in. Michelle had just sent out a message informing them all that they would start choreographing the Christmas party routine with Eldon on Wednesday, one day before the Christmas party.

"Did you see what Michelle just sent?" Finn asked, liking the studio head's message to acknowledge it as he spoke.

Piper nodded absentmindedly, her thumbs still tapping against her phone. Her message in their A-Troupe group chat popped up on his screen, and he swiped the notification away since he already knew what it would say. Piper's eyes scanned her phone screen as she read Michelle's message, her lips pursing. "Isn't one day before the party cutting it a little close for choreographing the routine?"

Finn shrugged nonchalantly, chowing down on his fries as he kept telling himself internally to tell her about going to his dad's for Christmas. Only half focused on the conversation, he said, "Maybe that's the only day Eldon's free." He paused then added, "Who's Eldon again?"

"He's the choreographer for AcroNation," Piper told him, and Finn pointed at her reflexively as he connected the dots in his mind.

"Oh, that guy. Is he any good?"

"He's incredible," Piper sighed, slumping over the table as she rested her chin against her fist.

Finn frowned at her, noting the familiar nervous look beginning to form in her eyes. "You don't seem very happy about it," he stated candidly.

Her eyes had glazed over for a moment, but they refocused on him, and she shrugged dejectedly. "My brother and all of his friends are coming to the party. I just want to be sure that the dance will impress them."

"It will," he assured her, "We're not a Regionals-winning team for nothing." He nudged her foot playfully under the table, and the corners of her lips twitched in a suppressed smile.

Sighing, she sat up and took to fidgeting with her water bottle again. "You're right. It'll be fine. It's just... Worrying's been my resting state for so long. It feels weird to be on this side of Regionals."

"And now we're looking at Nationals."

"Yeah..." Piper let out a deep breath before forcing herself to grin and holding up a finger pointedly as she said, "But I've decided that I'm not going to worry about everything this season. Starting now, with this Christmas party."

Finn grinned at that, crossing his arms and kicking back in his chair so that the front legs were hovering above the ground. "There ya go," he said supportively. That was probably easier said than done, but he was proud of her for going into the new season with that mindset nonetheless.

She was still grinning, but Finn could practically see all the possibilities running through her mind as her grin started to falter. "But... Eldon is kind of a wildcard. When he's not completely focused, his choreography usually turns into a disaster."

Finn simply quirked an eyebrow at how quickly her positive attitude had diminished. Piper met his gaze and seemed to realize the same thing, quickly trying to plaster her grin back on her face. "But it'll be fine!" she reiterated, more to herself than to Finn.

"Totally." Finn nodded in support once more.

Piper glanced at her phone as it lit up with another text message that was probably from Amy. She smiled to herself for a second then glanced at the few remains of Finn's French fries. "Are you almost done? I need you to help me find something for my cousin before we leave."

Finn tossed the last couple of fries in his mouth then asked through a mouthful of fried potato, "Which cousin?"

"Leo," Piper answered though that meant nothing to him as Finn didn't actually know any of her cousins. "He's super into gaming and Legions of Lasers. I figured you might have ideas on what to get him."

He took a moment to think then snapped his fingers as the perfect idea came to mind. "Does he have a replica of the Staff of Destiny?"

Piper simply blinked at him and blankly shook her head. "I don't know. I guess not."

"It's part of the new merch they just released. It's all Ozzy and I've been talking about for a week." As he spoke, he gathered his trash and stood up.

Piper followed his lead as he went to throw his trash away. "Do they have it here?"

"Yeah, they should have it at Gnome Depot."

"Gnome Depot?" Piper repeated, stifling a laugh.

"I know. Clever, right?"

"Uh-huh," was Piper's response, and he smiled to himself, glad that she thought so too.

Finn had been filled with utter joy the first time Ozzy had ever told him about the hidden gem of a store that was practically hidden between two major clothing stores on the top level of the mall. He'd been to the gaming-themed store only once before with the bros, and it had been like walking into Heaven. He was happy for any excuse to go back.

They were indeed able to find the Staff of Destiny replica at Gnome Depot. Piper had to physically drag Finn away from the Legions of Lasers merch display on the claim that they didn't have all day to spend there. As they exited the store, Piper was clutching her receipt in her hand as Finn swung his own bag in his hand, having been unable to stop himself from buying a Legions of Lasers t-shirt.

"It's too bad I don't have Ozzy for Secret Santa. He'd love everything in there," Finn commented as they rode the escalator back to the ground floor.

Piper's eyes were glued to her receipt as she frowned to herself. "Why do the holidays always kill my piggy bank?" she pouted in response.

"Hey, do you have an actual piggy bank? I haven't seen one of those in years."

She sighed, folding the receipt up and dropping it into the Gnome Depot bag as she looked down at him. "It's an expression."

He frowned at that, scrunching his nose thoughtfully. "Is it?"

"I think so, but I got a B in English last semester, so what do I know?"

"A B's nothing to be ashamed of, Pipes. I get those all the time."

They reached the bottom of the escalator, and Finn stepped off first, followed by Piper. He checked the time on his phone and told her reluctantly, "We should probably go soon. I'm supposed to be home by 6."

She nodded, checking her own phone again. "Yeah, me too."

They made their way out to his car, and as they did so, Piper told him about her family's plans for Christmas. Apparently, they were spending the holiday at her uncle Enzo's home this year. Her Nonna and Papa were flying in a few days early and staying with her family at their house since her sister Julia had just moved into her own apartment, leaving an extra room for her grandparents to stay in. Finn nodded along as they climbed into his car, but his mind started wandering as she began detailing the gift exchange that she did with her cousins and siblings every year.