"That sounds like my Dad," Jeff said. "Damn..we sure do have a lot of stuff to plan out. Graduation...just getting through the semester...there's a lot I have to deal with. But...if you're here...my life will be A LOT easier..."

  She arched her eyebrows, and asked "How will just me being here make that much difference in how hard things are?"

Jeff simply shrugged. "Well...y'know what they say...with every great man is a great woman....and with you, I feel like I can do anything. Yeah...I know..it sounds majorly corny, doesn't it?"

  Candy smiled, and tipped his chin up to kiss him deeply.  Then she said softly "Fire and ice make a good pair."

Jeff found himself lost in the kiss for a moment. He had hardly ever been kissed like THAT before. But he liked it.

"You're right about that....they sure do..."

  She smiled, and said softly "So . . . want to help me with a couple things, then see if the rest of your friends want another member of the group?"

"Um...sure.....but, uh...what can I help with? Aside from making some pretty neat things out of ice.."

  She said "All of you have those fancy code names,  but I don't have one . . . :

"At least not yet..." Icepick said. "Hmmm...let's see...Pyra...Volcana...Flametongue....Firebolt..."

  Candy grinned, and said "Red Hot?"  And offered him a palmful of cinnamon red hots.

"Well, if she can do more than just make candy, I don't mind." said Ozzy, shrugging as he started eating one of the cinnamon candycanes he'd been handed earlier.

"Not to rag on her or anything, I just don't want her getting hurt because she 'feels like she has to' or whatever to hang with us. I mean... what's she gonna do, give the bad guys diabetes? It's like this one guy I know online, his power lets him be in two places at once. It's great for multitasking, but everything that happens to one body, happens to the other. He's literally in both places at the same time. I'm not trying to be mean, just trying to stay practical, know what I'm sayin'?"

"There's more to Candy than meets the eye...but that's stuff that we'd have to show later...out of the public eye, Ozzy."

  Andy grinned, as his belly growled, and he said "Okay, I'm off to the HQ, I think there's food there, and I'm going to wrap myself around it."  And vanished.

Jeff did a doubletake at Andy's disappearance, then turned to Candy.

"Well..now that we have most of the shopping out of the way, it sounds like some of our teammates are throwing a party. Wanna tag along?"

  Candy grinned, and said "Sure.  Let's go.  You know I never forget a place."  She had a gorgeous smile.

Jeff was delighted to hear that, and absolutely dazzled by her smile.

"Cool..we are off then.."

>>>to New Age Defenders HQ>>>

Now that Iris and the others were gone, Ozzy could get his shop on with no risk of being found out. He was the sort of person who liked to live on the edge, and as such he always bought Christmas presents at the last second. Of course, it wasn't exactly like he'd had oodles of time to get presents, since the team hadn't been together all that long, even though it felt like almost a year had passed.

Presents were purchased and put into gift boxes if necessary, which Ozzy would 'wrap' in his own special way later. Wrapping paper was so overrated when you could paint each box individually.

Bill hopped off the bus and made his way through the throngs of people searching for presents for his family.

Bill soon exited the department store carrying one of the few christmas cards left and a litlte something each for each parent. He hopped ont he bus and headed home.

>>TO DERRING CONDOMINIUMS>>

Ozzy landed near the Awesome Mart, grinning as he said, "You know what I just thought about, love? This place has pretty tall ceilings, too. I should be fine in here!"

  Clarissa giggled, and said "That they are, love.  But I have to push the buggy, because it's about knee height on you."  She patted his chest, and giggled as she pointed to a buggy to snag.  It WAS about knee height!

Ozzy smiled and said, "Works for me."

He then set her down near the cart, before a thought grabbed his attention, and he chuckled as he put a sign on his back, almost like a 'Kick Me' sign. Instead, however, it read 'Just Married'.

  Clarissa giggled, and wrapped her til around his wrist as she led the way into the store.  She said "Anything that you want to add to the shopping list?"

Ozzy shrugged and said, "Not that I can think of. We've got chocolate and strawberry syrup, love, as well as the other stuff. Whipped cream should be about all we need."

  She giggled, and said "Sure you don't want a bunch of strawberries too?  So we can share them?"  She walked with a sassy hipsway that just did not quit, and he could see SEVERAL people already staring.  Some of them were just amazed, but it seemed to be a high proportion of young, hormonal men.