The first time he saw her, it was just a glimpse of zebra print jacket. Catchy, sure, but not noteworthy at the time to a busy JC. He held onto the wailing toddler in his lap as his assistant snapped a photo. The mother swooped in, taking her child and he let his gaze take in the long line of parents with children in varying ages and emotional states. He was going to get Heather back for this. He never butted into his sister’s love life – not that it mattered since they were all waiting to see if Rich would propose this year.  He, Tyler and their father had bets going on when he would finally ask. It had been four months since Kari left him, he was fine, really. Somehow Heather had gotten it in her head that he needed something to do this week.

“Come on, Josh, she’s a good friend and she needs some help. It’s only for a few days,” Heather pleaded with him.

“What kind of work is it that they absolutely need someone for a week?” he asked, suspicious.

“Seasonal stuff, you know. I think you get a bonus for having blue eyes,” she hinted. He hoped it wasn’t what she was implying. “It’s only for a few days, a week at most. Their normal guy has the flu,” she added.

“I don’t know, H, I mean, all those screaming kids and stuff.”

“Well here’s the brilliant part of the plan – you donate your paycheck to a charity. You’ll feel better if you do something for someone else.”

He sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it. But don’t go telling everyone I am.”

It was as he feared when they talked. If anything, the past hour and a half had resolved him to be more diligent with precautions for the foreseeable future. But as his gaze took in the noisy line, they were drawn to a flash of black and white beyond Santa’s village. He didn’t have the time to notice more than that as the next kid jumped into his lap and started sprouting out a long list of toys and things that JC certainly wouldn’t have asked for as a boy, and not only because cutting edge toy tech back then were legos, light brights and teddy bears with cassette players in their stomach to read books to you.

He listened though, and told the boy that he’d bring what he was allotted if he was a good boy, took the picture and Ho Ho Ho’d. Then it was another infant. This one just stared at him unblinkingly as he Ho Ho Ho’d again and they took the picture. Time crawled slowly until his lunch break, where he escaped gratefully to the employee’s tiny lounge.

On his way back to the viliage, he saw it again – that zebra jacket. This time he got a good look at the woman inside it. She had a pretty profile, her nose turned up slightly at the end, her longish brown hair was swept up, being held up by some sort of comb thing with elastic criss-crosses covered in beads. A few tendrils had slipped out and framed her pretty face, showing off her lovely smile as she chatted with someone two stores down.

After that sighting, she seemed to be there every time he looked up that afternoon.  By the time the last child had finished – he had insisted on seeing them all even if he was there for an extra hour. He was doing this for charity after all.

By the time he left the village, changing out of the padded suit in the employee’s bathroom at the nearest department store. He kept looking for her, hoping to see her again, but she was nowhere to be seen as he made his way back to the lounge to put the suit in his locker.

His second day wasn’t going any better. No sigh of the mystery woman, but luck would have it that he’d nearly destroy Christmas for his friends. Just before lunch, luck would have it Kelly was there with Brianna and Kloey. He doubted Bri still believed in Santa at her age, but she was definitely throwing herself into the lie, either for Kloey’s sake or her own, to assure getting presents. She was already staring at him skeptically before she climbed into his lap. He croaked a bit, trying to change his voice enough that she wouldn’t recognize it or him, and asked if she had been a good girl this year. She nodded and launched into a list of things she wanted for Christmas. He promised to try his best for such a good girl and then they placed Kloey on both their laps for the photo.

“So is Uncle JC helping Santa out?” he heard Bri ask as they waited for their photo CD. Out of the corner of his eye (he was with the next kid already), he saw Kelly look up and squint at him. He glanced over at her and winked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, B,” she said, turning back to her daughter.

His day started to get better as he made his way to lunch. As he was coming out of the village, he spotted the same zebra jacket as the day before coming out of Victoria’s Secret. She made it to the jewelry store before turning around and starting to rush off in the other direction. He smiled at her as they passed, and she glanced at him and returned the smile. He grabbed the nearest escalator and went to the second level for lunch at Panara. He ate quickly, making his way back to the village.

He lucked out again, he could see her in front of Marmi Shoes on his way down to the first level.  He took his time going around the village so he could pass by her as she talked to one of the security guards.

“We’re doing all we can, Faye,” the guard said just as he passed them. Success. Now he knew her name. Faye. Fitting, he thought, she was beautiful as a fairy, and even had that upturned nose.  He smiled all the rest of the way to his chair, feeling like he had accomplished something.

He spent the afternoon wondering if she worked at the mall. She had been there two days in a row, with the same jacket even, but there were people that lived at their local malls. He managed to get out ten minutes early that afternoon, the last dozen kids were all too young to have a list of things they wanted, so it was all photos and Ho Ho Hos. And luck was in his favor, for as he was closing his locker, Faye walked into the lounge.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hi,” she answered back. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, trying to fake the move as brushing out any creases instead of letting her know she made him feel like he was 13 all over again.

Palms dry, he extended his right hand to her. “Josh, or JC as most people call me,” he introduced himself. She took his hand, shaking it warmly.

“Faye Donaldson, Event Coordinator,” she replied. “Thank you so much for filling in for Ron. We were in a bit of a predicament when he got sick. You’d think it’d be easy to find a Santa this time of year!” her laugh that accompanied had a musical cadence to it.

“Oh, it was nothing, really. I was in town a week early, and I guess you’re the one that knows Heather,” he gave her his most eye-crinkling smile.

“Yeah, I am. Your whole family are some of the best people in the world, yet alone Orlando. It’s great to finally have met you, I feel like I already know you from everything I’ve been told. “

“Yeah, likewise,” JC replied. They grinned at each other until her blackberry beeped.

“Excuse me, not a dull moment this time of year,” she checked the message and darted out of the room. JC stared after her for a long moment before shaking his head to clear it.

That night Heather called to see how his job was going.

“It’s fine. Scaring infants and endless lists of toys going in one ear and out the other, trying to explain that I’m ‘helping Santa’ and my knees are sore from getting sat on all day. It’s just peachy, sis.” He smiled to himself, thinking of Faye and deciding it was all worth it for the chance to talk to her again. He made her laugh, relegating stories of memorable children’s reactions, including Bri’s comment to Kelly before bringing up what was really on his mind.

“By the way, you remember Faye Donaldson?”

“Of course I do, she was my best friend when we were living in Orlando. She’s the one that asked me if I knew anybody that had blue eyes and an open week.”

“Why don’t I remember her then?”

“Because by the time we became friends you were off in Germany. Why?”

“No reason, really. Ran into her today and we got to talking is all.” Which was the wrong thing to say, since then he had to try to avoid that subject until she finally gave up and let him go. He decided that night he was going to do whatever it took to get her to accept a date with him.

He set the plan into motion the following day. He only knew how to fold three things: laundry, paper airplanes and bowties out of dollar bills. He made a quick bow tie out of a single and slipped it into the vent of the locker with her name on it. The morning sped by, and his voice was starting to get tired from “Ho Ho Ho”ing as loud as he could as often as he had been doing it.

At lunch, he slipped a small sketch of a zebra into her locker. He was starting to associate the African animal with the pretty woman. That evening he bought a card with a photo of roses on it, and scribbled a quick note on the inside – I’d have given you the real thing if I could fit them into the vent. He left it unsigned, deciding that some mystery might help his cause. He went back to the lounge and worked it into the crack on the side of the locker. He couldn’t get it in but it held it.

The first thing he notices on Thursday morning was that the card was gone. Throughout the day, he saw her again, in that zebra jacket she so loved, flitting about from place to place. But no chance to talk to her arose while Santa was in town. But a few times their eyes met and they’d share a brief smile.

She almost caught him stuffing another note in her locker, a haiku he had written, barely a step above a version of “Roses are Red”, really.

“Oh, hi,” he said, freezing two lockers down from hers. “Just, uh, taking a moment to stretch my legs and unwind,” he explained.

“Okay,” she said, going to her locker. He turned to watch her, under the pretense of stretching his back. The freshly planted note popped out at her and she caught it. He watched out of the corner of his eye (that stain on the floor was very interesting suddenly) as she stared at it for a long moment.

“Another one,” she sighed. “I wish I knew who was leaving these.”  He looked up at her then and saw a tiny smile playing across her features. She folded up the note and slid it into the inside pocket of her jacket. She gathered her things and smiled goodnight to JC as he watched her leave.

Instead of going straight home, JC spent half the night finding the perfect gift for Faye. He surprisingly found it at Rite Aid, of all places. A tiny stuffed zebra keychain. And he even found these tiny little Santa hats that would fit on it perfectly. So he bought them, and some glue – he may not be a Martha Stewart, but he could at least glue a hat on a zebra.

After he had glued the hat on and wrapped, he found himself typing out a note to her, asking her to meet him in the village after he was done Friday night.

The kids on Friday were incorrigible. If he thought they were bad on Monday, the fact that it was Christmas Eve Eve made them crazy. The impending holiday had them buzzing with excitement and anticipation. He kindly sat for an extra hour for them, knowing that they were frantic to see him.

When finally, finally that final kid was off his lap and gone, he disappeared into the small workshop that held the sound and light system for the display. He carefully took his padded jacket off, leaving it on the box it had come out of. He found the small bag with the gift where he left it, and had just picked it up when he heard her through the window, meeting Claire, the girl that played his elf assistant.

“Is JC around?” he heard her ask. He closed his eyes. It wasn’t supposed to go like this. He was supposed to find her alone, looking for her secret admirer, and he’d come out and surprise her. He sighed as Claire answered.

“Yeah, he went in there,” he could imagine her pointing to the small room. He put the gift bag back down and stepped out of the enclosed space.

“Faye, hi.” He smiled at her. She returned it, holding up a plain envelope that simply read “JC” on the front.

“I know we agreed on through tomorrow, but Ron called today, he’s feeling better and would love to come back for Christmas Eve.” She lifted the envelope and then extended it towards him. He took it from her. “So here’s your pay for the week. I can’t thank you enough for stepping in for us.”

“Oh, well, the kids thank you,” he said. She looked at him puzzled. “Heather got me to agree to it by suggesting I donate my pay to charity. The gift that keeps giving, you know?  Thought I’d give it to my buddy’s foundation. So on behalf of them, thanks.” She stared at him, mouth agape for a moment, clearly surprised by this.

“Well, bless you then. That’s wonderful.”

He gave her his most eye-crinkling smile. “So uh, this might sound forward, but are you busy? I was thinking we could grab a coffee or something.” He watched as she checked her watch and looked around.

“Actually, I’m supposed to be meeting someone here,” she admitted. “They don’t seem to have shown up though.” She looked a bit crestfallen, he thought.

“Someone special?”

“I was hoping so,” she sighed. “But I guess not.”

“Sorry to hear that.” He scratched the back of his head. “I’ll just go slip out of this costume and leave it in the box in there,” he gestured to the building he had come to think of as Santa’s Storeroom.

“Alright, that works,” she said, turning to leave. “And thanks again for filling in.”

“Anytime,” he said, going back into the small room. He flipped the switch for the stereo, and Christmas music started playing again. He took off the beard, stretching his mouth as the tape ripped a layer of skin off his upper lip. He peeked out the small window as he bent down to grab the gift bag again and saw that Faye had stopped. She had turned around and was watching the door, puzzlement the leading expression on her face.

He stepped out of the room again, holding the gift bag with the zebra and a real long stemmed red rose. He grinned at her as she went from puzzled to shocked when she noticed what he was carrying. “I don’t think he stood you up after all,” he joked as he reached her.

“It was you?” her expression was unreadable as she looked up at him.

“Yep. ‘Beautiful as fae, Ethereal in your good looks, My love – yours just say.’” He quoted the haiku.

The smile she gave him could have lit the tree at Rockefeller Center. “It was beautiful. It all was. I almost felt like I was living in a movie.”

JC laughed and handed her the gift and rose. She took them, still smiling at him when he moved in and kissed her cheek. “Mistletoe,” he whispered, nodding upwards to where there was indeed a sprig attached to a string of lights.

She nodded, glancing up and then looked down as she opened the gift bag and started laughing as she discovered the keychain. “I love it! Thank you so much.”

He grinned at her again and even more as she asked him for coffee. They agreed to meet at the Starbucks in twenty minutes so that he could get out of the rest of the costume.  They spent the next few hours talking over their beverages, and both went home full of something that could have been the start of something, for it was definitely more than just plain Christmas Spirit.

The best part was to come though, for the look on Heather’s face as her older brother escorted her old best friend to their parents’ Annual Christmas Eve Party the following evening. She did raise an eyebrow at her brother’s Christmassy apparel, which while traditional was far from what he would normally wear. But she let go of her doubts when she saw the way they looked at each other, and the kiss they shared when they ended up underneath the mistletoe. The Santa hat he had been wearing ended up unceremoniously on the floor from their enthusiasm.