"Merry Christmas from Dixie," Tessa sang cheerfully, swinging her legs against the porch railing as she waited for him to dig his keys out of his backpack. "Where there's peace on Earth tonight..."

"You're not even from the south," TJ complained. The carabiner that held his keys had slipped off its ring, possibly because he'd been in too much of a hurry to clip it on correctly earlier. "I don't understand where this country affinity comes from!"

"You're not from Germany," she retorted. "But you like their cars!"

He chuckled, rooting the key ring out at last. "That's because, unlike country music, German cars are good!"

"Yank," she accused good-naturedly.

"That was so uncalled for!" He unlocked the door and held it for her, snapping his keys to the top of his backpack. He dropped it next to the sofa with hers, glancing at the phone as he passed. "You're the one who doesn't like smoothies!"

"Smoothies aren't Californian," she informed him. "They're an alien plot to ruin the one nutritionally sound thing that Americans consume by putting it in a blender and adding ice cream and sugar."

"I thought you said ice cream is nutritionally sound," TJ countered, heading down the hall toward his room. "Too many calories, you said, but a good source of calcium."

"Well, milk is better!" she called after him.

He just grinned to himself, pausing in front of his desk and jogging the mouse to turn off the screensaver on his computer. Three new e-mails: one from the Athletic Departement, one from Ashley, and a spam message that he deleted without reading. He knew what the Athletic Department wanted, so he saved it and opened Ashley's instead.

Hi TJ! She used a spirally gold font that had shown up as an attachment five times before he finally just installed it on his computer. He had been tempted to use the most obscure font he could find in retaliation, but he hadn't gotten around to searching for one yet.

"Easy for you to say," he grumbled, closing the e-mail and heading back out to the kitchen. "Some people dropped out of college before they even started."

Tessa looked up from the paper Max had left on the counter. "What are you grumbling about?"

"Ashley wished us good luck with the end of the semester," he explained, peering over her shoulder. "I said it's easy for her to say, since she doesn't have to worry about it."

"Yeah, she just has to worry about getting shot down over her adopted planet," Tessa replied. "Sorry, no trade."

"What put you in such a cynical mood?" he wanted to know. "It wasn't what I said about country music, was it?"

She looked up hopefully. "If I say yes, will you let me turn the radio on?"

"Go crazy," he said, gesturing at the radio. "I'm going to have a sandwich. Want one?"

There was a "mrrow?" from the direction of the floor, and he raised an eyebrow as he glanced down. "Did that sound like, 'I'm going to feed the cats?'" he inquired. "Because if it did, I think you need to get your ears checked."

The grey cat purred loudly, swishing his long tail behind him as he crouched in preparation for a leap. Tessa's favorite country station was in the middle of a particularly rowdy song when she turned it on, but the noise didn't seem to bother Karma. He sailed onto the counter and stepped deliberately onto the newspaper, turning around twice before sprawling full length across both pages.

"For a chance to see Rudolph's red nose glowing by--" Tessa broke off as she turned away from the radio and saw Karma. Putting her hands on her hips, she informed him, "If you think I won't move you, you're sadly mistaken."

TJ caught her eye and pointed at the bread, and she shook her head. "No thanks," she answered, scooping Karma up in her arms. Turning away from the counter, she rocked him back and forth in time with the music.

"How many lay listening with sleep in their eyes," she sang, kissing Karma's furry head as she danced. "With visions of patriots crossing the skies..."

TJ paused, surprised. She wasn't making those words up; that was actually what the singer was saying. The song had such a cheerful sound that he hadn't been paying attention to the lyrics until now.

She let Karma go when he started to squirm, but she grabbed part of the newspaper before he could lie down on it again. "This is mine," she told the cat. "Since when do you care about near-Earth asteroids?" Glancing over at TJ, she fell silent as she realized he was listening to the radio.

"When he wraps up a package of peace for the world," the singer continued, "there'll be Christmas for every boy and girl..."

He lifted his gaze to Tessa's, and she smiled a little sadly. "Who sings this?" TJ wanted to know.

She shrugged. "Clint Black, maybe? I'm not sure."

He set the bread down slowly, catching her curious look. "I was just thinking about JT's dimension," he offered, frowning. "We were so horrified by what they're going through... but it happens here too, doesn't it. It's that bad for some people right here on Earth."

"You can't help everyone," she said softly, setting the paper down again. "But that doesn't mean you don't help anyone."

"No," he agreed pensively. "I guess that's true."