Nate Ford reached out from under the covers and hit the snooze button, he'd only gotten to bed a few hours before, a couple of "sherries for Santa" had turned into a bottle of whiskey and a late night frozen pizza. He rolled over and fell back into a dead sleep, totally missing the sound of someone picking the lock on the front door, and then 4 sets of footsteps trudging into the apartment.
An hour or so later, someone knocked on his bedroom door 3 times, heavily, Eliot he thought to himself as he dragged himself up from the depths of sleep.
"Hey Nate, wake up man, it's Christmas." Eliot's gruff voice called from outside.
Knowing he had no choice, Nate threw back the covers and winced as the cold air hit him, he threw on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, grabbed the old-fashioned glass from the nightstand and padded out into the main living space. The first thing he saw was Sophie standing beside the empty whiskey bottle on the dining table with a disapproving look on her face. That soon changed when she saw Nate, "Good morning Nate. Merry Christmas," she wandered over and dropped a kiss on his cheek before moving on.
Eliot was in the kitchen with Hardison, there were pots on the stove, vegetables ready to boil, Hardison was busy making cranberry sauce under Eliot's supervision, and a turkey the likes of which Nate had never seen before was taking up all the space in the oven.
Someone's missing Nate thought, he looked around until he met Sophie's gaze, she pointed across the living room to where the hastily erected Christmas tree stood. Kneeling before the tree, gazing in abject wonder at all the gifts beneath was Parker.
"She's been there since we arrived," Sophie whispered as Nate drew level with her, "Where did all this come from Nate?"
Nate smiled at Sophie and headed for the drinks cabinet.
"Everyone grab a drink, there's wine, beers and sodas in the fridge, I think it's time we have a look at what Santa has brought us."
Eliot looked up from the potatoes he was chopping and grinned, he cleaned his knife on a cloth, wiped his hands and threw the cloth over his shoulder. Hardison was already at the fridge, 3 beers in hand as he tried to work out how to carry a bottle of wine too.
"I'll get the wine," Eliot pushed past Hardison to the fridge and grabbed the wine bottle, he slid open the drawer beside him and took out the corkscrew, made short work of opening the bottle and poured a glass for Sophie. He carried the wine to where everyone was gathering around the tree and handed it to Sophie, accepting a beer from Hardison in exchange.
"Parker, why don't you go first? Read out the labels."
Parker was totally absorbed in her own little world, the pile of gifts with her name on was bigger than any of the others and she didn't know where to begin. Hardison nudged her gently and pointed to the gift on the top of the pile. Parker grabbed it and was about to tear into it when she remembered the label.
"For Parker, to make up for many years I missed. From Santa." Parker read out before ripping into the wrapping paper.
Soon everyone was following suit, everyone apart from Nate who sat back and watched the group, his crew, his family.