{Set somewhere between season 6 and 7.}

~~~ 3 weeks before Christmas Day ~~~

Today was the day! Everyone would be getting their Secret Santa partner and Jay had a plan in mind. No matter what everyone else got, he would make sure he got Nya's name on his paper! He had a surprise that would be PERFECT and he'd been planning for weeks, even before their annual Secret Santa game was planned and executed.

"Jay, you get first pick. Take your slip." Nya shuffles the paper slips in the hat and holds it out with a smile. With a nervous smile, Jay grabs the top slip and opens it while she moves on to the next person. Nya. Perfect! He grinned and shoved it in his pocket. "Alright everyone, you've got your names. 3 weeks! It can't be over $10, remember that," Nya told everyone before they drifted off to do their own thing.

Later that day, Jay was doing some thinking. Maybe he should get Kai's thoughts on what he wanted to get Nya...even if he might get pounded for it. Yeah. He should at least pitch it to him. Decision made, he sought out the hothead ninja. He found him in the dojo, going through some katas with his katana. Jay tapped on the dojo door and stepped in. "Kai? I've got a question to ask you. It's about Nya's Secret Santa gift..."

~~~ time skip ~~~

Well. That actually went alright. Better than he thought, at least. Jay was grinning when he came out of the dojo. Now, all he had to do was find the materials, build it, perfect it, prepare a card... it was a lot to do in 3 weeks. Suddenly realizing how much was actually on his plate now, his eyes widened and he rushed to the bridge to draw up a blueprint.

~~~ Back to Nya ~~~

After everyone else had drawn, Nya took the last one. Jay. That would be easy! She already had an idea. But would he like it? That was the question. Either way, she had to get started right away so she'd have time to finish. She smiled thinking about what his reaction would be.

~~~ 2 weeks before Christmas Day ~~~

The week flew by and Jay was rushing around all week. Not like that was abnormal, but still. Everyone was quite busy, actually, considering it was 2 weeks until Christmas. Master Wu had postponed their training until after Christmas, so now their days were filled with visits to Ninjago City, entertaining themselves on the ship, or enjoying nature around them in the Forest of Tranquility.

Nya was noticing an increase in Jay's nervous habits, and so was everyone else. Kai wasn't sure how to feel about Jay's request. His "Nya's Older Brother" side was extremely protective and wanted to pound Jay into dust, but the "Ninja Brother" side of him {we all know he's just a big softie and an all-around Brother Figure} was excited and glad Jay was finally getting serious enough to consider it.

Jay spent the whole week gathering the supplies he needed for Kai to help him with. He and Spark (his dragon) scoured all around the Cliffs of Hysteria (yeah, yeah, I know it's from Prime Empire. Just roll with it) for the iron and silver he needed from his sketch. It was a simple image, but important to him. He had to get it right! Finally, at the end of the week, he had enough to present to Kai. Kai took the pile of ore and used the forge in the courtyard when everyone else was gone into the city to make the item. It took almost a whole week but he and Jay were pretty satisfied a week later when the details were settled.

At least Jay was too busy with his own project to notice Nya's little game of snooping she'd been doing. She hadn't had all the pieces she needed for her project, so she'd had to go through Jay's trunk and take what she needed. It wasn't a big deal but she still felt like she was doing something wrong, so she didn't want to get caught anyway.

It didn't take long to put the first part of it together, but the second part was tougher. She had printed out so many things, she didn't know which ones to use. All of them were so close to her heart, so she picked out the happiest ones. Now, the board. The board decorations were next. Once she could figure out what to decorate with.

~~~ 1 week before Christmas Day ~~~

1 week before Christmas and everyone was rushing to finish their gifts before the stress of last-minute holiday traditions and pranks kicked in. Every year, Lloyd, Jay, and Kai made it their personal mission to prank every single person at least 3 times in December. They hadn't failed a year yet and they weren't planning to this year! Although, with Kai and Jay so busy, Lloyd was having a little trouble keeping up. Considering he was older now, you'd think it'd be easier, but no. It was much more suspicious now to see a teenager sneaking around than a 10-year-old.

This week, Jay and Kai finished the item and Jay took it gratefully. It didn't take long for Kai to finish his own gift so Jay thanked him again and took off to his room. The rest of the week was spent rehearsing a mini-speech he made just for Nya, only to keep scrapping it and starting over almost every day. It really wasn't that big of a deal, he kept telling himself. It's just one little thing, don't sweat it. But he kept getting tongue-tied. It just didn't work.

Nya took that week to decorate the corkboard she'd found and glued the pieces onto. She wrote little notes and put stickers and pushpins everywhere she thought he might see them, then attached them all with blue string. It was almost finished! The only thing it needed now was...hmm...ooh! Yes! One more note scribbled on the bottom and it was ready! Hopefully. She thought he'd like it, either way. She liked it!

~~~ Christmas Day! ~~~

It was finally Christmas Day! Everyone was gathered around the tree to give their SS gifts. Zane got Kai a book on hair maintenance, Kai got Cole a tube of those surprise snakes (you know the ones), Cole got Lloyd a new edition of Starfarer: Next Gen, and Lloyd got Zane a cookbook, even though he didn't need it.

Everyone stared at Jay and Nya expectantly, knowing they had to get each other. "Nya, you're next in line," Zane stated cooly.

"Oh! Yeah, sure. One sec." Nya jumped up and went to go grab the corkboard piece from her room. She brought it out and smiled when Jay's eyes widened.

"It's a memberobelia of all my favorite moments of us," Nya explained and handed it to him. He took it and traced over the blue strings connecting the pictures. "Mega Monster Amusement Park, Mom and Dad's junkyard, our first date in Ninjago City... everything is here!" Jay grinned widely and laughed. "I love it!" He swooped Nya up and spun around, setting her down gently after one spin. "Now I'm not sure how to give you mine..." He bit his lip for a second, then shook his head. "You know what, whatever. Carpe diem {life is short}!"

He pulled a plain silver ring with one ruby in the center from his pocket. Gold linings were swirled in with the silver and it had a teeny, delicate sapphire on both sides of the ruby. "Nya Smith, this is a promise ring from me, Jay Walker {or Gordon, whatever your headcanon is}. It's a promise to one day make it to the point where we can be together for the rest of our long, old lives as a real couple. Do you accept my promise? Please?" He hesitated to put the ring on her right hand (the opposite of the hand for wedding rings) until she nodded with a grin.

It took her a second to process what he said, but she immediately accepted. Why wouldn't she? She would love to be married to Jay someday. Maybe not in the next year or two, but someday after saving Ninjago wasn't an everyday thing and they could settle safely. Er, as safely as a team of highly-trained ninja could get.

Jay grinned wider than he had all day and spun her around again, 3 spins this time before he set her down and planted a long kiss on her lips. "I'm so glad you're here with me." He told her.

"Dude! Hands off her! Just because I made that stupid thing doesn't mean you get all restrictions off!" Kai jumped up and yanked Jay's hand off her waist. Jay scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. You're just jealous that I've got a beautiful girlfriend and YOU don't!"

"Alright ladies, you're both pretty. Can we eat now?" Cole interrupted from his spot on the couch.

"I agree. While this is most exciting, I believe sustenance is next on the list of-" Zane tried to speak but Lloyd interrupted.

"Guys! Sensei put cinnamon rolls on the table!" He shoved through Cole (no easy feat!) to get to the table and snatch one.

"Hey!" came the indignant shout from the Earth Ninja and soon everyone except Jay and Nya was headed to the table.

Jay stayed behind for a few seconds with Nya, just to bask in the glow for a little bit. "Guess we should join them, huh?" He asked with a shrug. Nya shrugged right back and kissed him again, very quickly.

"I guess. If you insist." He smiled and slid an arm around her waist. It might be a small step, but it was something. It was a step in the right direction, to "together forever."

~~~ Extra blurb requested by @TheSapphireNinja ! Kai and Jay's convo in the dojo ~~~

*le time travel back to the dojo a few weeks earlier...*

Jay took a deep breath and tapped on the rice-paper dojo door before sliding it open. "Kai? I've got a question to ask you. It's about Nya's Secret Santa gift..." He trailed off and slid the door shut behind him. He gulped when Kai turned and he tugged on the edge of his torn blue gi sleeve to calm himself.

"Hey, Jay. Sure, what's up?" Kai wiped his sweaty brow and propped his katana over his shoulder. "Nya? What, don't have any ideas? Your motor mouth doesn't wanna, I dunno, list off all the words in the English dictionary that mean 'dork' or something?" He snickered and twirled his flaming katana around once more, put it down and out, then dusted his hands off. "Just kiddin'. If you really need somethin', I'm your guy."

"Oh... heh, yeah. So, uh..." Jay wasn't sure how to ask. It wasn't really a big deal, he kept telling himself. But it was at the same time! "So, if I wanted to get Nya something, say, a piece of jewelry, would you teach me how to make one?" He'd tell exactly WHAT it was later. Right now, he just needed to survive this encounter with the master manipulator of HOTHEADEDNESS...

Kai shrugged and crossed his arms. "Depends. You thinkin' like a necklace, bracelet, dagger?" He cracked a smirk. "Kidding with that last one. Whatcha thinkin'?"

"Well... not really any of those," Jay admitted and rubbed his neck. "I was thinking... maybe... a promise ring? You know, like the ones for a Yin-Ya--"

"Wait, wait, wait-- A promise ring, like for a YIN-YANG promise? As in, 'someday I want to marry you by giving you this as a promise pendant', Yin-Yang?" Kai held up his hands and raised an eyebrow incredulously. He'd never thought Jay would be able to think that far ahead. When Jay nodded eagerly, he sighed internally. Jay was a good guy. Kai felt safe leaving Nya with him. Most of the time.

After their parents disappeared, Kai had basically become a "step-in" father for them, so Jay probably didn't know who else to go to to ask for permission. He puffed his chest out and widened his smile at that thought. HE was Nya's guardian, really. He took pride in that role. But if Jay was willing to brave his anger for her, well... maybe it was for the best. And if he messed up, Kai would have no problem rearranging his face. Permanently.

He held up his hand to Jay about to protest. "Alright, Jay. I'll help you make a promise ring. But read my lips-" he grabbed Jay's gi on the chest and leaned in to emphasize his words, "-if you so much as make her cry ONE tear, you'll be crying a WHOLE lot more. Capisce?" Jay nodded vigorously. "Good. Now, bring me a sketch and her ring size tomorrow and we'll look for materials around the Cliffs sometime this week. We'll need every spare minute we can get if we want this to be top-quality." He released his hold on Jay, who nodded silently again and rushed for the door. Kai shook his head and laughed. Jay was like a puppy most of the time, he thought, then went back to his katas. Once he was finished, he'd go prep his blacksmithing tools. They'd need it after so long of sitting in the dark.