Okay, it's Christmas. Merry Christmas y'all! Hope you're having some nice days and that people are kind to you!

I figured I should post something this Christmas. Something Christmasy.

Boxer piled up some slices of turkey on his paper plate, right next to the mashed potatoes and the veggies. He then proceeded to pour as much gravy as the poor paper plate would allow. It wasn't his mama's gravy, but it would have to do. He missed Texas right now, but he wasn't alone. Everyone missed home around this time of year, so he tried not to mention it.

He balanced the plate like a waiter on the palm of his left hand, and fetched some utensils and a plastic cup filled with some red concentrated fruit drink. It tasted alright, but they still had to determine the exact taste.

He walked over to the table the others sat at. Jack was busy shoveling army-style mashed potatoes into his face. Box knew Jack had a theory that if it was done fast enough, you wouldn't notice the lumps of still dry mashed potato mix. Box wasn't sure if he agreed with that theory.

Pete was busy mixing the so-called mashed potatoes with his vegetables. You could easily read on his face that he wanted to be back stateside, probably longed for the girl he had met a few months back. The rest of them was starting to tire from all the letters the boy got, but wouldn't read loud for them.

Coop. Big guy Cooper was just moving food around on his plate. And if Boxer didn't know better, he would even have guessed that there was more on his plate now than when he had left for seconds a minute ago. Boxer couldn't say he knew how the tall guy felt, but he could still somehow relate. A bit at least.

Duncan. Dunc. He actually looked like he was enjoying the food. But turkey dinner and hot sauce? Really?
Well, Boxer would never quite understand the thing that boy had for hot sauce. He wouldn't put it past the guy to add hot sauce to jam.

A boom box placed in the corner of the mess tent switched from Elvis Presley's Blue Christmas to Bing Crosby's I'll be home for Christmas.

"You know what?" Coop cleared his voice and looked up, "That song, right now, that's a cruel and unusual punishment."

Jack nodded and struggled to swallow, "Well, as long as the next song isn't that 'War is Over' one we'll be fine."

Cooper shrugged, shuffled his food around on his plate for a few seconds more, before he heaved a sigh and stood up. "I need some air. See you guys later."

"Nah, Coop…" Duncan talked around about a mouthful of turkey, "Stay, at least until you've tasted the food."

Shaking his head Coop lifted up the flimsy paper plate, "Not really hungry…"

That had all of the other Delta's looking up at the blond one.

"Y'sick or something?" Pete asked, narrowing his eyes.

Coop shook his head as he picked up his cup too and untangled from between the bench and table. "Just not hungry."

"Then stay with us…" Garrett, the newest member of their little family, pressed, "More fun when we're all here…"

A weird little cough left Cooper before he just shook his head almost violently and walked over to the garbage bag hung over a chair and dumped his plate in it then hurried out of the mess tent.

"Nice job douchebag!" Duncan frowned and delivered a perfect brain duster to Garrett.

"What? What did I do?"

There was an awkward silence around the table for a while, the members who had been with the squad for a while looked around at each other, silently trying to decide who was going to break it down for their apparently slow friend.

"You see, the guy who had your spot earlier. Helluva guy, one of the best men I know of…" Pete finally said as he laid his fork down, "He was Coop's older brother."

The other guys who had been on the team for a while nodded.

"This Christmas is his first without Charlie…" Jack decided to add when Garrett still looked like a confused owl.

"…First Christmas without him?" Garrett repeated still slightly confused.

Boxer nodded, "He passed a few weeks before you became a part of our team."

"Oh…" Garrett nodded, then his eyes widened comically, "Oh shit. Oh… I… Oh, I really should have chosen some other words."

"Y'think?" Duncan asked as he set dark eyes on Garrett's.

"I, I didn't know…"

"You kinda did…" Jack drawled, "You knew he had lost his brother."

Garrett nodded, then shrugged. "I thought it was long ago, more than a year at least."

Jack nodded and clasped his hands together, "Well, it's not."

"I really don't think the Christmas music is helping him much either…" Pete jerked a thumb towards the Boom Box on a chair in the corner. "Charlie always used to sing, was pretty good at it too…"

The other guys nodded.

"You gonna go after him or should I?" Boxer asked nodding towards Jack, "I mean, one of us probably should."

"You're prob'ly right." Jack nodded and shoved the final piece of mashed potatoes into his mouth, "I'll go, I think two plates of this chow is enough for me…"

"I should go say sorry or something…" Garrett muttered into his palm, obviously not comfortable in his seat.

"Wait a bit, will you?" Boxer prompted, "Let Jack check up on him first."

Garrett nodded and Boxer lifted a forkful of mash and gravy up and studied it, "Man, I miss the food back home…"

"Trust me, there are worse foods than this…" Duncan shrugged, like the last topic had never existed.

"There are better foods too…" Pete noted as he looked up at Dunc, "There's just one word for this potato goo, and that is 'Disappointing'."

"Well, Miss Waters is a decent cook. But…" Dunc shrugged and trailed off, not finding the voice to elaborate.

"Was a time before her too…" Pete filled in for him, his head tilted to the side.

Duncan nodded.

Garrett looked around the table with even more confusion displayed on his face than earlier. But he didn't dare to ask.

"At least there's good people out there…" Pete concluded.

"Yeah…" Dunc nodded and cleared his voice, "I feel like I should be back in Chicago and, you know… Give back. Volunteer a bit."

"Hey, I think we're volunteering more than our fair share right here." Pete shrugged, "And you can volunteer during the Easter holiday. We're supposed to be home then…"

A brief smirk crossed Dunc's face, "Guess you're right. –But bottom line, the food here is okay."

"Guess you're right…" Pete nodded, "I remember that thing Charlie charred on the grill on our last tour. That was bad…"

"You're telling me that wasn't just charcoal?" Duncan chuckled, "Think I'd almost prefer something I could just find on the streets of Chicago to that…"

"He kinda warned us up front." Boxer chuckled, "I mean, he said he'd never been much of a cook…"

"That was 'none of a cook'…" Pete chuckled, "Not much of a cook was false advertisement."

Duncan nodded. "Let's just all be thankful that his kid brother is better at making food…"

The other guys who had been on the team for a while nodded, while Garrett shrugged and chewed on a few vegetables.

.XMAS

"Hey…" Jack whispered as he approached the tall figure perched on the back of a Jeep, "Mind if I join ya?"

The blond just shrugged.

"Well, since you're not stopping me or anything I'll just take a seat here." Jack shrugged back and sat down on the other side of the Jeep. "Tonight kinda sucks, right?"

Coop shrugged, then nodded. "Guess it does."

"So…" Jack drawled, "Wanna find something to do? Something that might shift your focus a bit?"

Letting out an almost desperate sigh, Coop nodded. "Sounds like a way better idea than just sitting here all depressed."

"Okay." Jack nodded, "Before I start naming things we can do, just answer me this. What is it that bothers you most about today?"

Letting out a nervous laugh, Coop shrugged. "Everything. But the things I knew Charlie loved the most about this time of year is the worst."

"So, being with friends is a hard one?"

Coop nodded slightly, "Yeah…"

"And your appetite is gone?"

"Pretty much a no-show today…"

Jack nodded, and spent a couple of seconds thinking. "How would you feel about making the 'home' a little more holidayish?"

"Holidayish?" Cooper almost chuckled.

"Yeah… Y'know, pin a Christmas tree made out of green army socks up on the canvas wall, and pin a paper plate star over it…" Jack smirked and showed the clean paper plate he had hid behind his back until this moment.

Cooper couldn't hold back his smirk or the mild laughter that bubbled in his chest. "That actually sounds like almost fun…"

Jack grinned, "Okay, then we do that! The others will be real surprised when they finally get back to the tent."

Cooper chuckled, "Yeah, I bet they will…"

Jack grinned, "Who's socks are we gonna steal?"

"Maybe some from one of the lieutenants?"

"Hmmm…" Jack nodded approvingly, "You wanna 'borrow' them or do you wanna acquire the Christmas lights?"

"You're the boss."

"Well, I put you in charge of this mission, so…" Jack tapped his fingers on the Jeep, "You choose."

"Well, socks are the easiest right now. Basically everyone are at the mess tent."

Jack nodded.

"I've never been one to back down from a challenge." Coop smirked, "I'll get the lights, you go get the socks."

"Sir, yes Sir!" Jack grinned and jabbed Cooper in the shoulder.

.XMAS

Jack was all finished with acquiring the socks when he decided to go find Cooper again. It took him a few minutes before he managed to find the other guy.

He found Cooper hanging from his hands from one of the beams in the only hard structure in their little tent town.

"How did you even get up there?" Jack wondered as he stepped further into the room.

"Oh, uh…" Cooper adjusted his grip on the metal I-beam and let go with his right hand so he would be able to point, "If you run towards the wall there, and use the window sill to place your foot on you'll eventually manage to get a hold of the beam…"

"Yeah, okay… I don't think so…" Jack frowned.

"That's what I did…" Cooper shot back as he grabbed a hold of the beam with right hand too again.

"Well, I'm not freakishly tall." Jack shot back.

"I'm not frea…"

"You are!" Jack chuckled, "What are you doing up there anyway?"

"The Christmas lights are zip-tied to this beam…" Cooper answered as he moved across the beam.

Jack shook his head and studied Cooper as the tall man let go with his right hand again and provided a knife from his belt.

"So… You didn't think of a ladder or anything? Anything to make this mission a little less risky?"

"Didn't need one…"

"Just… Don't fall down, okay?"

"Yes dad…" Cooper chuckled as he obviously changed his mind and put his knife back in it's holster. He then proceeded to grab on to the beam with both hands and started swinging his body back and forward. When he felt he had enough momentum, he swung his legs up and latched onto the ledge of the I-beam with his legs. Then he took the knife again and started cutting the zip-ties, freeing the Christmas lights.

"You really just used the window as a step?"

"Yeah…"

"Really?"

"Yes, how many times must I say that?"

"I don't know…" Jack admitted, "I don't really think I would have been able to reach the windowsill with my foot even…"

"No, you would have to place one foot on the wall first, then the windowsill and then leap for the beam. Took me three tries."

"You hear what you're saying, right?" Jack chuckled, "It took you three tries, that means it'll take someone my height infinite tries to make it."

"Would have made it on the second try if my grip had been good…" Coop answered and put his knife away again.

"So… What's your plan to get back down again?"

"Jump."

"Okay, if that's what you think is best then…"

Coop nodded as he let go with his legs and went back to hanging from his arms. Then he let go and dropped down to the floor.

"Your feet were above my head when you were up there." Jack shrugged as he looked up at the beam above them. "That's high."

"Failing to get a grip on the second try wasn't exactly fun…" Cooper admitted.

"Thankfully the floor was here for you to land on?" Jack chuckled, remembering an age-old joke in their squad.

"Actually, I killed a chair…" Cooper blushed.

"Killed a chair?"

"Landed on it." Coop explained, "It just didn't hold."

"Shit, are you alright?"

"Me? Yeah." Cooper nodded, "But the chair is in the bin, in pieces. Ready for the weekly burning of trash."

"You sure you're okay?"

"Do you always have to be such a parent?" Cooper scrounged up his nose and frowned at Jack. "I'm fine, alright? I'm not even sure if it will leave a decent bruise even."

"Okay…" Jack nodded, "I'll try to dial back on the parenting…"

"Scary thing is that you're still a bachelor, and not a dad." Cooper said pointing a finger at Jack's chest, "I'm scared of what you might become if you ever have a child."

Jack shrugged.

"A nervous wreck. Probably." Coop suggested.

"Probably." Jack agreed.

"Now, let's go take care of that last zip-tie and get these lights back to the nuthouse."

"Last zip-tie?"

"I can reach it from ground level…" Cooper shrugged, "You don't have to worry…"

Jack sighed and folded his arms over his chest. "I didn't worry…"

"No, you just sound like an overly anxious mom with her first child learning to walk most of the time. Which is weird, because I've witnessed some of the crazy shit you've pulled." Cooper said as he reached up to cut the last zip-tie, "But enough about that. Let's go decorate the tree."

.XMAS

A couple of hours later the others came back to their shared sleeping tent to see Jack and Cooper sitting on the ground with their backs to their respective bunk, a bag of goodies from Jack's mom between them and a very original Christmas tree hanging on the wall opposite the entrance of the tent.

Cooper had opened a small bag of trail mix and was tossing single nuts up into the air and catching them in his mouth on their way down again. Jack was reading an old letter from home.

Boxer was relieved to see that Coop obviously was in a better mood again, and that he even was halfway singing some sort of Christmas song.

"Oh, I know that melody…" Duncan snapped his fingers as he searched his memory for the right song, "It's 'Frosty the Snowman' right?"

"Yeah…" Cooper nodded, "Well, I was singing the Norwegian version, but yeah."

"What's it called back there?"

"Snømannen Kalle…"

"Well, I'm not even gonna try to pronounce that." Duncan decided before he started singing the English version of the same song. Admittedly a lot better than Cooper was delivering the other version.

After they had finished what they remembered of that song, they switched to 'Jingle Bells' before Cooper nudged Pete shoulder, "Come on guys! Join in!"

Pete grinned and joined in, Garrett, Jack and Boxer too. Well, at least until a balled up pair of socks hit him square in the jaw.

"Box, we've all discussed this before." Jack teased, "When it comes to singing and 'join in', you're not on the list!"

"Aw, come on Wyatt…"

"Have you heard yourself sing?"

Chuckling pretty good the other Texan nodded, "Your mom accidentally caught it on tape one family gathering…"

"So you have heard it, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you know you sound somewhere between a donkey in distress and a seagull with laryngitis?"

Boxer nodded, "Wouldn't describe it as that bad… But I know I don't sound like Elvis, or Otis Redding over there!"

"Otis Redding?" Cooper chuckled, "Wouldn't quite compare Dunc's style with his…"

"Well, it was either that or 'black Bing Crosby' right now. So…"

Laughing, Duncan stopped singing. "That was your two best options?"

"Well, I had to make sure the blond guy understood I wasn't talking about him." Boxer grinned, "As much as y'all don't want to hear me sing, I don't think you want him to get confident and try to hit any high notes either…"

"You're saying I don't reach them?" Cooper asked with phoney confusion.

"Brother, you would have to have some sort of injury happen before you get your voice that far up…" Duncan chuckled and slapped Coop's shoulder.

"Yeah, guess you're right…" Cooper chuckled, "Doesn't mean I won't try though."

"Anyway, Boxer…" Jack shot in, "You singing is a just cause for court martialing. And we don't want that to happen, alright?"

"I'll take my chances." Boxer chuckled.

"Yeah, come on Boxer." Garrett grinned, "I won't judge you!"

"You might after a few minutes of him trying to sing…" Jack imitated whispering to the newcomer of the group, "I know I will…"

"Aw, that one really hurt Wyatt…"

"Sorry…" Jack chuckled without any trace of remorse.

"Well, at least I did better than you on the last physical test…" Boxer shrugged, "Must still sting a bit, huh?"

"Okay, let's not bring up that test again…" Jack mock frowned, "You know damn well that I was still not back to full strength."

Boxer nodded and tried to conceal the grin that spread across his face. "That's what you get for thinking you can fly…"

"I'll never live that one down, will I?"

"No, if I'm not here to mock you for it, you can be sure that your nephew will…"

Jack shook his head in defeat before he decided to shift the focus away from his slight misadventure involving a little height and a bad branch. "Well, but let's just sing and have as much fun as we can tonight."

"-And enjoy this festive Christmas tree in our humble little mansion…" Pete grinned, "Who's socks did you guys steal?"

"Tent number 3 to the left of the mess tent." Jack answered as he tried to hide his smile with his hand.

"The one with the directionally challenged people?" Duncan chuckled.

"Now nah…" Boxer chuckled, "Don't make fun of the poor lieutenants. They probably just don't know any better…"

"It's just a little fun though…" Coop shrugged, "A little teasing between ranks, squads and branches never hurt much…"

Jack chuckled, and nodded. Then he pointed towards Duncan, "How about 'Rocking Around the Christmas Tree'? Why don't we abuse that song now, like Coop said, -Have a little fun!"

"Sounds good boss!" Duncan grinned before he started the song off and the others just joined in.

Okay. I had a plan for this when I started it. But then writing happened and my plan and this piece just parted ways.

Hope you enjoyed anyway.

And, MERRY CHRISTMAS!