A cold sweat, unflattering chills and a nagging pain that numbed his chest almost made JC mistake his anxiety for a bad case of tuberculosis, minus the cough. But no, this wasn't a diagnosis nor was what happening to him the outcome of some kind of sick, Christmas disease.

It was a mistake. It had to be a mistake... or some sort of sick twist of Christmas fate, at the very least.

The Asscher cut engagement ring with the white god band no longer rested safely and comfortably between the cushions of the small box JC stuck back into the pocket of the jacket he had thrown on just a few moments prior.

He had been carrying it around for the past three weeks up until that very morning when he proudly and secretly took it to Christmas breakfast to get the approval and encouragement from his immediate family. Leah hadn't suspected a thing.

She had never been one to pressure him into a possible marriage, and he had never been one to pressure her into wanting one.

He'd chickened out of doing it right after their first month of living together on her birthday, and judging from his own current situation, JC feared the doubt of whether or not he'd even get a chance to ask the question this time for the holiday.

He couldn't have raced down the staircase faster if there were a pair of wheels under his feet and he slipped straight into his living room. Leah hadn't noticed even noticed JC had dashed downstairs until he emerged into the kitchen with a large holiday gift bag in hand.

She watched as he took one of the car keys off the rack on the wall.

"Where're you going, babe?" Leah asked as she sucked a small patch of cinnamon off the tip of her index finger.

"I just found some stuff upstairs that I forgot I bought for Tyler," JC explained as he approached her. "I'm gonna go drop it off. It's just some shirts."

 "Do you want me to wrap it for you?"

"I've got it covered," he fibbed as he kissed her on the cheek. He started for the white door to the far end of the kitchen that leaded out to the garage. "I'll be back home by the time you're done with the food."

Leah nodded her head with a smile. "And I'll make sure your present is under the tree by the time you get back."

JC chuckled. "Okay."

The feeling wasn't so mutual anymore.

*****

"Tyler!" JC yelled out, leaving the front door to the two-story home to slam close. "Ty!"

"Media room!" his brother rang out and JC followed the familiar voice. He soon entered the third room from the foyer to find Tyler and his new bride snuggled on the couch in front of the flat screen.

"Am I interrupting something?" JC asked, and the couple looked up at him.

 "Nothing more than a Christmas movie marathon," his new sister in law told him. Her head rested on Tyler's shoulder. "Joining us?"

"No time," JC shook his head immediately.

"What're you doing here?" Tyler asked, and his gaze shifted to the bag in JC's hand. "And what's in there?"

"It's not about what is there," JC mumbled, and he took a moment to dig around in his pocket to reveal the empty box. "It's about what's not in here!"

"What'd you mean?" the wavy haired brunette, Carol, asked as her husband muted the movie playing.

"I lost Leah's ring," JC practically groaned out.. He could feel the cold sweats from before make their move back on to him. He tossed the box onto the couch to the left before he plopped down himself and rested his elbows on his knees. "I don't know what the hell is going on. You guys know I had it with me this morning."

Tyler frowned. "What'd you mean you lost it? You showed it to us ten hours ago. That's not even half a day."

"It wasn't in the box when I went to go get it to set everything up," JC said. "It was just gone."

"Okay," Carol said slowly as she sat up. "Then it obviously fell out somewhere. Did you guys go straight home after you left breakfast."

"Yea," her brother in law nodded. "We left mom and dad's, we drove home, I had the ring in my pocket of my jacket, and I took my jacket off on my way up to the closet."

"Are you sure it didn't fall out on the stairs or something?" Tyler asked.

JC shook his head. "Nah, I don't think so. I would have probably seen it."

"Or maybe it fell out in one of the rooms?" Carol suggested. "The bedroom or the kitchen or the dining-"

JC laughed lightly to himself. "So you mean to tell me that my girlfriend is at our house right now possibly tip toeing around ninety freakin' thousand dollars worth of diamond and I don't know where it is?"

"Don't panic too much just yet, Jace, c'mon," his brother advised him and JC leaned back to fall against the cushions.

"Man, I had the best plan and everything for tonight. What am I supposed to do?"

"You're supposed to stay calm about this," Carol said to him. "And if you don't find it by tonight, you're just going to have to fork out another ninety thousand bucks and wait for the New Year."

"You need to look some more, JC. Under your clothes, under the couches, under the tables, in the car, wherever. It has to turn up."

JC let his head fall back and he let out a frustrated grunt. "I already made these too," he grumbled as he poured the contents of the bag. "She loves stuff like this."

Carol's eyes lit up. "This would be so romantic above the fireplace," she grinned.

Contrastingly, JC grimaced. "You don't say."

"Well, man," Tyler sighed. "You better start either praying for a Christmas miracle or start calling jewel shops tomorrow."

"On Christmas, of all days," JC murmured. "Her favourite holiday. Our first time in the house, and I screw it up."

"You didn't screw it up, C," Tyler told him, sympathetically. "And it's your first Christmas at your guys' place. Leah's not expecting a proposal from you."

JC shook his head. "But that's just the thing that makes it so special. I wanted to promise her that our first Christmas is only the start of more to come."

"But since she's with you, she probably already assumes that."

"What I didn't assume was that I would lose the first and only engagement ring I'll ever buy, on the same day I was supposed to give it to her," he said tiredly. "I can't believe this happened."

"And at this point," Carol added in. "It doesn't look like it's going to be the first or only ring you ever buy."