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Having to let go was hard, but she released Elzo to go towards the tree as he spoke. Defensively, arms came around her own small body and Audrey found that she couldn't really look him in the eyes as she took the package. "I am sorry. I just...I want to be sure of myself. It's not fair otherwise." It was all she could say, the same thing over and over as her guilt and shame overwhelmed that she couldn't give Elzo the answer he so desperately desired. It was perhaps the only cloud in their otherwise sunny relationship, the one thing she wouldn't mindlessly give him.

Lightly, fingers picked at the paper and she unwrapped it slowly with a great deal of curiosity. It didn't look like the velvet of a jewelry box was beneath, but the package was so light it couldn't really be anything else, could it? The box was more or less like the cardboard covering around a tube of toothpaste, though quite a bit more refined. Now Audrey looked up, eyes puzzled as she peeled open the end of the box and upended the contents into her hand. It slithered out, a rather chilly crystal pendant with a blue center on a silver chain. There was some silver working at the loop that kept it there, but it was the palest of metals she'd ever seen. Holding it up to the renewed light, it sparkled and all the breath left her body. "It's so beautiful!" Immediately, her free hand went to finger the clasps of the other two necklaces that never left her neck, letting them fall into her lap. Looking up again, her pleasure was evident.

"Would you?"

Hands came around her and Audrey had presence of mind to at least snatch at a blanket as Elzo pulled her in, tucking it both around them as the tiny girl cuddled into her much larger boyfriend. There was almost a full foot of height between them, yet their bodies fit together almost perfectly in all the right places. It was not something she would ever admit to anyone, but cuddling into his lap was the most perfect thing on a snowy Christmas Eve.

Lifting the pendant from her breastbone, Audrey inspected it a bit closer. "It's the same color as your eyes, you know." His eyes, her hair, she was never taking it off. Pasha's potion and the Hammer were going to be permanently relegated to the charm bracelet she wore on more formal occasions. It was too simply beautiful, and even the thought of taking it off brought great distress to Audrey, something she couldn't easily explain. So instead, she thanked Elzo again by sliding her fingers behind his neck and pulling his head down for a warm kiss. "I think we're doing wonderfully. Don't you?" Another kiss, as warm as the last, and a quick shiver that had been totally unexpected.

"I am sure you're hoping I'll climb down your chimney dressed like some red light version of Santa Claus, so it's there I'm bound to disappoint. But otherwise, I think it's just lovely." Curls and a bow were pressed against his shoulder as Audrey snuggled in, eyes closed to enjoy the warmth as her fingers stroked along the crystal pendant. The thought came, unbidden, that it felt just right to be wearing it. Would his ring feel the same?

Eyes narrowed dangerously. Audrey only knew one other blue-haired young woman, and anything that Victoria was asking Elzo couldn't be anything other than five miles past scandalous and kinky. Reaching out of the blanket to put down the chocolate, a small hand pressed her boyfriend back into the couch with a bit of a menacing look. "You're gonna tell me exactly what she said and what you told her. I swear if you...nnngghhh." Dramatically, she flung an arm over her eyes and flung back over Elzo's arm around her. "I swear, between the two of you I won't have a secret left!" It was good-natured though; Audrey loved them both to distraction.

Moving her elbow to peek out, she had a mischievous idea. "Though I think there is a present under the tree in that vein for you that Vicky helped me pick out. It came with a matching hat, and we thought it would be absolutely darling to put a picture in the book when you finally had it." And okay, maybe she did have some sort of shameful holiday costume hiding in the back of her closet that had been forced upon her by an over-eager cousin with a burning sex drive and no idea of no, please, stop where Audrey was concerned.

But that was not at all the point.

Yelping at the pinch, Audrey moved to hop off of his warm lap before tangling herself in the blanket over both of them and falling to the ground with another yelp and an interesting thud. "Owww..." Untangling herself and righting up to look through tumbled curls at her boyfriend, she couldn't help but giggle at his word choices. "Maybe I do have to worry about the fact that you and Marlo were alone all day. I mean, you said you went without a girl for awhile when we started dating. Did Marlo help you out there?" A slim blue eyebrow was raised, teasing and taunting him. Elzo was going to deny it, and she was ready to dart away if he tried to reach out and grab her again to pinch.

This time, she wouldn't fall on her face.

"I take it that since you and Marlo did the bird, I'm to do the rest? I think we have potatoes and stuffing around somewhere, and I can make a decent gravy if we've got some flour and the turkey drippings?" Distracting a man with food was akin to waving cinnamon rolls or a computer at Audrey: totally infallible. "Then, after dinner if you're nice...I will give you another present!"

At the moving hand, the blanket came up and over the young woman's head with a laugh. "No, no that's quite alright! I wouldn't have asked you to demonstrate with Marlo either, there's just some things a girl never needs to see!" Her potential future brother was decidedly one of them. Decidedly.

In the end, Elzo was saved, Audrey wasn't about to trust him with the stove for fear that somehow he would manage to blow up the apartment and/or ruin food already perfectly cooked. Snatching up potholders, she waved one absently at him. "Go on, you know I'm not about to let you near perfectly good food. I love you, but I remember what happened the last time." It hadn't been edible, but the experience in all had been an absolute blast. Almost literally, and she adored him for it.

Pulling the turkey from the oven she was admittedly impressed by the golden color and the fact that it was on a decidedly high-priced rack. Gravy was going to be a sinch. "Remind me to kiss Marlo okay? This smells incredible!" Moving the turkey was a bit of trouble but handled very slowly and skillfully. In no time at all there was the smell of turkey and gravy wafting through the house, and a blue head peeked around the corner into the dining room.

"Are you ready? I don't think there's any favor I could perform to beat this."