A/N: I do not own Halo. It is owned by Bungie. This fic was co-wrote with Doctor Anthony. We hope you all like it and have a very Merry Christmas.

The Arbiter was walking down the main hall of the Cairo station when he noticed some strange decorations. He was looking for his second in command R'tas Vadum, the Shipmaster of the Shadow of Intent. "What are these decorations for and where is all the laughter coming from?" he thought to himself. He continued walking down the strangely decorated halls when the laughter got louder. He was standing outside the main room.

The Arbiter walked into the main room of the station and saw several Humans and Sangheili drunk including Johnson and the Master Chief as well as R'tas celebrating around the Christmas tree in the center of the room. He looked around some more and saw 343 Guilty Spark and Cortana talking when Miranda Keyes appeared in front of him holding a bottle of wine.

And then very quickly and suddenly she kissed him and when she broke the kiss she smiled and said "Arbiter, your standing under the mistletoe". The Arbiter looked up and saw that he was indeed standing under a bush and he smiled.

He looked back at Miranda and said in a hushed voice, "What is going on here? What are all these weird decorations for?"

Miranda looked at the Arbiter and smiled as she replied, "These are Christmas decorations. We are celebrating Christmas with a party. Would you like to join the party? This would be your first Christmas and I would like to make it a good one. I have brought us a bottle of wine."

The Arbiter said as he looked at Miranda, "I would be honored."

The couple went to a private table in the corner by the large decorated tree.

Meanwhile Guilty Spark said to Cortana "Now miss Cortana I was wondering if you honor me with a dance on this special day of celebration?"

The AI looked at the monitor and replied "Alright if it will kill the time, these parties are always so boring anyway."

Guilty Spark replied by saying "Splendid, now meet me at terminal A-C4 when your ready miss Cortana".

Meanwhile Johnson drank another shot of Whiskey and said "That's my twentieth glass Chief, beat that!" The Spartan replied by drinking down two shot glasses filled with whiskey and R'tas cracked open another bottle of whiskey "It's going to be a long night," he thought to himself.

While at a private table on the other side of the room the Arbiter and Miranda were talking while keeping their eyes off each other as the kiss under the mistletoe was going though their minds as both of them had loved every moment of it. The Arbiter not used to having these feelings for a Human looked at Miranda and said as he tried not to stutter, "Would you like to dance? I think that is what you call it. And maybe you could tell me more about this Christmas celebration you are having. Is it for a battle?"

"No," Miranda said as she moved slowly with the Arbiter. She looked up at the Arbiter and asked, "What is your name? I can't keep calling you Arbiter."

"It is Thel Vadam. But only you can call me that and only in private," he whispered in her ear.

Miranda didn't even ask why he wanted it a secret and she started to explain Christmas to Thel. "Christmas Thel is a time for family and fun, but we haven't really celebrated it recently with the war but now, for the very first time in years we can really celebrate peace and family". The two of them moved closer together and Thel could actually feel Miranda's breath on his neck and he didn't mind at all.

Thel looked into Miranda's eyes and said "Sound's like a lovely holiday Miranda". And Miranda laughed slightly before she replied "Yes Thel it is a wonderful holiday".

Meanwhile at terminal A-C4 343 Guilty Spark was getting anxious for Cortana to arrive and suddenly she appeared and Spark made a batch of holographic flowers appeared in her hands and said "Cortana I hope you like these flowers, they are a recreation of flower's from the Forerunner home world". Cortana smiled and said "they are beautiful Spark, thanks". Spark then activated the Alternate reality computer and suddenly they were in a ballroom standing on an empty dancing floor in human form.

Spark held out his hand and said to Cortana "may I have this dance?" Cortana took it and they both started dance around the ballroom with smiles on their faces as they did.

Back at the bar, R'tas looked at the Master Chief and Johnson and said in slurred speech as he pulled a bottle of Sangheili whiskey from a bag and placed it on the bar, "Now boys, let us see of you can handle this. I would bet you both, hic, wimp out."

Johnson said as he placed his glass next to R'tas and said, "You're, hic, on."

The Master Chief looked at both of them and said, "You're going down."

R'tas poured the all a tall glass and said, "Here's to holiday spirit. Phooey"

Johnson replied, "I second that. Christmas is for wimps."

R'tas said as he placed his arm around Johnson, "Borther we must stick to, hic, gether on this."

N'tho looked at Usze and said, "How many cards do you need?"

Usze replied, "I need three. Brother would you like some more of this eggnog, as the Humans call it."

"Yes, please," N'tho said as he dealt the cards.

"We would appreciate it if you didn't," one of the Marines said as he waved the air, "I'll sit this one out. I need air." He turned to leave and thought to himself, "And I thought Johnson was bad with the SBD's when he had tacos and beer."

All looked over at the bar when there was an out burst of bad singing.

Meanwhile in the ballroom Cortana and Spark had finished the waltz and was now dancing to a song from Elvis Love Me Tender playing on the loudspeaker.

And when the song was over Spark kissed Cortana who kissed him back.

Suddenly then were both back on the station and Cortana looked at Spark and said "Thanks for the date Spark, I had a lot of fun tonight, I have to check in on John and see if he's okay".

The Forerunner AI looked at Cortana and as she disappeared he softly said "I did too Cortana, now go look after the reclaimer".

Meanwhile Thel and Miranda had finished dancing and were now looking out a window and they both at the planet Earth below them and slowly their hands clasped together as the planet started to turn and they saw the continent of Africa half glassed still to this very day. Their moment was interrupted by the commotion from the bar. Thel looked at Miranda not wanting this moment to end and said lovingly, "We must go. It is either your men or mine but either way we don't want the place destroyed."

As Thel and Miranda walked in they saw the trio at the bar say in unison, "We are here to announce we love whiskey and would like to marry it." With that said the three passed out and hit the floor.

Thel said into his com link, "N'tho and Usze, we have a problem."

"Yes, Arbiter, we can tell. What shall we do with him, the Shipmaster is in a very incapacitated condition," N'tho said as he took another drink of egg nog.

"We will decide that once we all sit and discuss it. For now let us leave them there," the Arbiter said in a disgusted tone, "Meet us at the table nearest the drunken trio."

After N'tho and Usze arrived at the table and sat down Thel looked at the trio of drunks and said, "So what do we do about them, we can't just leave them here, the smell would be enough to kill even Gravemind." The other three present nodded when suddenly Guilty Spark and Cortana appeared.

Miranda suddenly broke the silence that had fallen over the table by saying, "We get those three to bed, but in a different way."

The others gathered around the table listened intently as Miranda explained and everyone agreed to the plan and those that could picked the drunks off the floor and headed towards the Master Chief's bedroom. Once there N'tho and Usze, with the Arbiter's help, proceeded to remove R'tas's armor and placed him in the oversized bed. They also placed the passed out Master Chief on his left and Johnson on his right. Then left the room.

The Arbiter looked at the other two Sangheili and said as he clicked his mandibles into a grin, "I think after this our brother R'tas will probably think twice about drinking too much," he turned to Miranda and continued, "Come, I want to look at the sunrise as it passes Earth. If we hurry we will just make it."

As Thel and Miranda then ran to the observation platform and looked out the window as the sun rose over the planet. Thel looked Miranda in the eyes and suddenly he kissed her and afterward's he whispered in her ear "Merry Christmas Miranda" and left the platform and Miranda went after him and she kissed him. And as she did Miranda Keyes realized that she had discovered the true meaning of Christmas and it was love.

Their kiss was broken, as well as the silence, by a horrified cry as R'tas awoke and saw his armor on the floor and that he was between Johnson and the Demon. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! What have I done?!" And was soon joined by two more ear piercing screams that could be heard even on Earth.