Twas' the night before Christmas, when all through the wards,

Not a creature was working, not even those on the boards.

Patient's notes' were thrown on desks with despair,

With hopes that alcohol would soon appear.

Linden Cullen sat in his office, wearily eying the hoard of nurses crowded outside in the corridor giggling. AAU, much like the rest of the hospital was nearly devoid of patients. Families, predictably, had discharged their relatives, preferring to spend Christmas with them in the comfort of their own homes. Not that Linden blamed them. Home sounded fantastic. In fact the only reason he wasn't braving the jammed Holby roads was because Donna was lurking around the nurse's station, brandishing mistletoe at innocent and unsuspecting passers-by. Needless to say he wasn't coming out until her shift had finished.

His pager beeped, making him jump slightly.

Staff Meeting. Presentation room one.

1:30. All staff must be present.

Linden glanced at the clock: 12:37. He had an hour to kill.

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Jayne fumbled for the light switch to the presentation room with one hand, trying to balance a box of glasses in the other. Connie stood slightly behind her, clutching four champagne bottles to her chest.

"We've got about an hour till the meeting." Jayne set the glasses down on the table and glanced round the room with distaste. "Thanks for helping me set up. Looks like I'm going to need it. According to the board this was the only room available for use."

Connie raised an eyebrow. "It looks like this room has seen a can of polish in a while." She sighed. "I can't believe my Christmas Eve has come down to a choice of watching Elliot and Joseph drown their sorrows in a packet of chocolate digestives or…this."

Jayne looked thoughtful for a second, then knelt down and pried one of the draws on an abandoned desk in the corner open. Grinning, she pulled out a cork screw and gestured at the bottles.

"Why don't we crack into these now?"

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Maria sniggered quietly to herself. Maddy sat on her left and Sam on her right having an argument about…well she wasn't exactly sure. But she knew it had something to do with Dr Cullen and someone called Jamie. She took another sip of vodka just as Sam burst into an enthusiastic impression of Jayne Grayson shouting, and had to snort to try and keep it from coming out of her nose.

"That was classy, Maria." Sam grinned.

Maddy gave her a pitiful look. "You've only had two Vodka shots and you're already pissed."

"She didn't even knock it back," Sam rolled his eyes. "She sips like tea or something."

"We got a staff meeting with Grayson in a minute as well." Maddy gave Maria a lopsided smile and tugged affectionately at one of her curls. "We better order you some water, lightweight."

Sam stood and slipped an arm round the giggling nurse's back, gesturing at Maddy to the same.

"Come on then. I pretty sure we can wangle a bed to stick her in so she can sleep some of this off."

Maddy frowned and glanced at Maria's fop watch which was dangling limply from her uniform pocket. "We only got about 20 minutes. It'll take at least ten to sweet talk Mark into letting us use one of the bloody beds."

Sam sent her a boyish grin. "You'll just have to flash your cleavage around a bit then."

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Okay, I know this is christmasy and its no longer christmas, but I forgot upload and couldn't wait till next christmas.
Also, I warn this won't be quite as um...naturalistic a most holby fic. I'm planning on weaving some magic into the next couple of chapters.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and sorry its slightly out of season. Please Review.

Hallow
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