A/N: So here's a belated Christmas present for you all! This was written and created for lunar_penguin over on the lj community from her prompts. This story has been almost 2 months in the making - and was SO much fun to write! I LOVE all things Christmas and turn into quite the romantic around the holidays - this story has all ships: Mary/Marshall, Brandi/Peter, and Eleanor/Stan.

"Rockin' around the Christmas tree

At the Christmas party hop.

Mistletoe hung where you can see

Every couple tries to stop."

Brandi hummed to the music playing over the Macy's department store loud speaker system as she sorted through a bin of warm woolen socks for men. Finally she picked two pairs and held them up for approval to her shopping companion.

"What do you think about these, Mer?"

"I think one's black and one's brown."

Brandi's face crumpled. "Come on, I really need your input! You know this is my first Hanukkah and I'm super nervous. I have to buy presents for each night –and not just for Peter but for his sister and her family too." She threw the socks back in the bin and gripped the sides so Mary wouldn't see how badly she was shaking.

"Why didn't you bring Peter, then?"

"Because I wanted his presents to be a surprise – please, Mer! I know it's early and you hate shopping, especially at this time of the year with all the people and stuff but could you stop acting like Ms. Scrooge for the next half hour and be my big sister? Please?"

Mary sighed and got up from where she had been sitting in the shadows of a waiting room area outside the dressing rooms. How she hated this time of year – with its commercialism and the people who put on happy faces for one day but didn't really mean it since they went back to acting like asses the very next day. She had seen too much ugliness in her life even before becoming a US Marshal to know that magic and light and joy didn't exist in this world. But as she walked to Brandi's side and looked into her eyes that were glassy with unshed tears, she knew that once again, she had to bury her own feelings deep and put on a happy face. Squish had finally found someone honorable and who actually might be able to take care of her long term – no, who might actually want to take care of her.

Mary reached into the bin and plucked out a pair. "These brown ones with the small diamond pattern are nice – and so are the navy pinstripe ones you showed me a few minutes ago," she suggested.

Brandi smiled as she dug around in the bin and came up with the socks a minute later. She gave her sister a hug, which Mary stiffly returned.

"Now, can we go eat? You promised me breakfast, remember?"

Brandi laughed. "I know, I know. Soon, I promise. I want to look at the scarves and gloves first."

Mary groaned in dismay as Brandi grabbed her hand and dragged her down the aisle.

Fifteen minutes later, Brandi was still deliberating color choices of scarves while Mary was wishing she had brought her gun so she could have shot out the speakers.

Brandi looked at her in astonishment, one of the scarves dropping to the floor. "You wouldn't?"

Mary leveled her gaze at her sister. "If you take much longer, I'm going to go home and get it."

Brandi gulped and plucked the scarf up off the floor. "Well, I love the color of this one, but I don't think it's right for Peter. Why don't you get it for Marshall?"

Mary shook her head. "He doesn't need a scarf – he has a green one."

"Too bad," Brandi sighed, as she returned it to the pile. "This deep blue would really bring out his eyes."

"What the hell?" Mary sputtered. "Since when have you noticed my partner's eyes, Squish?"

Brandi laughed. "Just because I'm in a serious relationship doesn't mean I don't look – and Marshall is a very handsome man. You mean to tell me you haven't noticed his eyes?"

Her sister's words took her back to that day in the office six months ago that she had tried so hard to forget. Marshall leaning over her desk, his blue eyes intently locked with hers. His voice pitched low but heavy with feeling and intensity as he said: "Maybe messy is what you need."

Mary snapped back to the present as Brandi's hand waved in front of her face. "What the hell, Squish?"

"Oh yeah, you've noticed his eyes," Brandi cooed as she walked back to the display. "And much more too, I'll wager."

Mary growled but didn't rise to the bait.

"I don't want a lot for Christmas

There is just one thing I need

I don't care about the presents

Underneath the Christmas tree-"

Mary gritted her teeth as Brandi and all the other shoppers in the vicinity belted out the words along with Mariah Carey.

"Baby, all I want for Christmas – is YOU!" Brandi and choir sang.

Mary shut her eyes and rubbed her temples praying this was a nightmare and that when she opened her eyes she would find herself warm and snug in her bed. But when she summoned the nerve to open her eyes, she was still in Macy's on Black Friday with Brandi and half of Albuquerque. The sound system was now playing a version of 'O Holy Night' and her sister had resumed her quiet humming as she picked through the scarves.

"So, what are you getting Marshall for Christmas?"

The question threw her momentarily until she remembered that yes, they had been speaking of her partner before the impromptu sing-a-long had started. She sighed as she recalled the fact that their relationship had never been the same since that day in the office. She knew what he had been trying to say and she knew that he knew she had run away from him.

She knew he had found out about her fling with Faber in Mexico because Mike had shown up in the office a month after her vacation, cocky as hell, to ask her out.

She knew the next morning when she told Marshall that it was over between her and Faber and nothing had happened the night before that she had lost something precious. His eyes were empty when he looked up at her and said: "I'm glad you found a cowboy to blow off some steam with, Mer. I guess you're just not ready for my kind of messy." And he walked away and left her standing there with her mouth hanging open. Her attempts to talk to him later that day had failed. He didn't respond to her calls or texts.

The next two weeks when he sat across the room from her, no conversation, no eye contact, had been like working with a stranger. He had worked alone and Stan had paired her with Charlie. When Marshall had come back to her after two weeks and said they could work together but it needed to be just business, she clutched the offer like a lifeline. Life without her best friend had been hell and she would do whatever it took to get him back. Slowly their working relationship got back on track and she was so desperate to have him back in any capacity that she was willing to let the personal side of their relationship, their friendship, go for now. A few crumbs were better than nothing, right?

But he wasn't bending on the "just business" part. It had been three months now and he was still distant. She knew he had her back one hundred percent in the field and she didn't want another partner but her best friend was gone. In his place was a calm, detached android-like person. She never hung out with him after work and her house was big and empty and quiet with just her wandering from room to room. She wanted company. She wanted Marshall, her best friend, her punching bag, her trivia loving, geeky partner. She wanted the man who brought Chinese takeout and sci-fi movies and laughed with her at the bad special effects.

"Mary?" Brandi was calling her. "Where did you go? You're really out of it today."

Mary snapped back to the present and felt herself grow warm as she realized how long she had been lost in her thoughts. "I'm sorry, Squish, I must be faint with hunger."

Brandi rolled her eyes. "I'm almost done. So, what are you getting Marshall?"

Mary sighed again. Should she get her partner a gift when he insisted on a strictly business relationship?

"Same thing I get him every year."

"Which is?"

"Mary gets me a peppermint pie."

Both women turned at the sound of his voice, Brandi's face wreathed in a welcoming smile while Mary's heart was hammering in her ears. Marshall greeted Brandi but his eyes were seeking out Mary's and finally she raised hers from the floor to meet his gaze.

"I didn't expect to see you out shopping on Black Friday, Mer," he said.

Mary shrugged but it was Brandi who answered. "I bribed her with breakfast at Peep's when we're done."

Marshall grinned and Mary's stomach flipped. When was the last time I saw him smile like that? She wondered silently.

"Of course, the best pancakes in the city and Mary must have been putty in your hands." He cleared his throat uneasily. "Well, I'll leave you ladies to your shopping."

Brandi looked between her sister and Marshal in confusion. She didn't understand what was happening here. Mary hadn't said a word to her partner and he couldn't seem to get away from her fast enough. Something had definitely happened between them and Brandi decided she couldn't let Marshall escape so easily. She stepped forward and snagged Marshall's sleeve. "Don't go! I'm glad you're here – I need a favor from you."

"From me?" Marshall echoed, his eyebrow quirking upward.

Brandi nodded. "Have you eaten?"

He hesitated, glancing at Mary before shaking his head.

Brandi squeezed his arm before releasing it. "Good! I'm about done torturing my sister here. Why don't you come to breakfast with us and I'll tell you all about it?"

"Well-"

"Please? It's on me – or rather Peter," Brandi laughed as she pulled out her boyfriend's credit card and waved it in the air.

With another glance at Mary, he nodded. "I'll meet you there."

"I have to pick just one?" Marshall laughed as chewed on his toast.

Mary rolled her eyes. "I don't think you realize what you're asking, Squish. The man can't even pick his favorite Star Trek character, ok? Asking him to pick his favorite Christmas memory is like asking me what my favorite food is."

Brandi frowned at her sister. "I don't get it – I don't think you have a favorite food."

"Sure I do – more food." Mary smirked as she leaned over and snagged the last piece of bacon off her sister's plate.

"Hey!"

"You weren't going to eat that." Mary dragged the bacon through the syrup on her plate and popped the whole piece into her mouth, grinning.

Brandi turned back to Marshall. "Ok, so what's your favorite Christmas memory growing up?"

"Now, that's an easy one. When I was eight, I finally got my puppy."

"Let me guess – you named him Spock."

Marshall shot Mary an exasperated look before returning his gaze to Brandi. "He was a German shepherd and I named him Black Bart. See, I loved tales of the Old West and the story of Black Bart fascinated me. He was called the "Gentleman Bandit'. He robbed Wells Fargo stagecoaches in California but he never shot anyone and he always said 'please' and 'thank you'."

"An outlaw with manners? How shocking!" Mary's voice was mocking but Brandi shushed her.

"So I named my puppy after the real Black Bart. My dog and I had sixteen years together before he passed away." Marshall cleared his throat and sipped his coffee. "How about you, Brandi? Best childhood Christmas?"

Mary squirmed in her seat, and was so busy wondering what the hell Squish would come up with that it took her a minute to realize that her sister was already speaking.

"-and Mary found this poor little tree that someone had probably already thrown out. I mean, the thing looked like the tree in "A Charlie Brown's Christmas', you know? But we spent the day baking cookies and making homemade ornaments out of clay and paper and popcorn and glitter and whatever else we could find. By nighttime, which was Christmas Eve, it was the most beautiful tree you'd ever seen – and I didn't even miss the lights! Mary lit two candles on either side of it and read the story of Jesus' birth to me from our family bible. Then she blew out the candles and told me we had to go to bed because Santa wouldn't come if we were still awake," Brandi broke off, sniffling. She glanced at Mary, who met her gaze with a small smile.

Marshall sat back against the bench seat of the booth and gripped his coffee mug tightly, trying to control his shaking hands. Two little girls, alone, had celebrated Christmas with whatever they could find. James Shannon would have been long gone – but damn it, Jinx should have been with them! He stared into his coffee cup as if it contained the answers he sought.

He had tried so hard these past six months to move on from Mary Shannon, to get her out of his heart. He had put it all on the desk that day in the office and she had not only run from him – she had run to Faber. She had slept with Faber. Even now, the bile rose in his throat at the images that thought brought to mind. He shook his head. What did it matter? She didn't love him that way and he needed to accept that what he wanted most for Christmas would never be his.

He looked up to find the sisters wiping their eyes. Mary met his gaze and gave him a small smile.

"How old were you?" he asked.

"Brandi was in kindergarten and I was in sixth grade."

Five and eleven. As the ages calculated in his head, he tried hard not to flinch outwardly. Brandi had been just a baby and Mary had been way too young to be assuming the duties of running a household. New Jersey was a long ways from New Mexico but he couldn't help wondering what it would have been like if he had known her growing up – how the Mann family could have helped. How things could have been different for Mary and Brandi Shannon – and Jinx.

Brandi cleared her throat and looked at Mary in expectation.

"What?" her eyes darted to Marshall, only to find his eyes on her as well, waiting. "What the hell are you two looking at me like that for?"

"It's your turn, Mer," Brandi said.

"Oh, hell no," Mary shifted in her seat. "You two can go trotting down memory lane if you want but there's nothing about Christmas that I care to remember, all right?" She crossed her arms and leaned back against the booth, staring out the window in defiance.

Brandi appealed silently to Marshall but for several moments it looked like he wasn't going to say or do anything. His eyes flicked nervously between the sisters and the window, before he finally reached out and gently tapped Mary's knuckles with his fingers.

Mary jumped slightly at the contact as her startled gaze again met his. Marshall hadn't touched her – hadn't initiated contact with her in over six months. The brief touch of his fingers against her skin had warmed her and set her pulse racing in a way that hadn't ever happened before. For the first time since that day in the office, their gazes locked and the room disappeared as they communicated without words. Green met blue, held and neither one looked away or blinked.

"Come on, Mer. I know you hate this time of year but deep down inside of you is a little girl who once upon a time believed in the magic of Christmas, the magic of the season." His mouth quirked up in a smile as he added softly, "Think back to a time when life didn't suck."

"Nana," Mary whispered, the word falling from her lips almost involuntarily.

Marshall blinked in surprise. Mary had never mentioned any other family members in the course of their partnership. He had naturally assumed that there were no other living relatives.

"Dad's mom?" Brandi asked, breaking the spell that had formed between the partners.

Mary nodded and once again directed her gaze out the window. "When I was five, Daddy took me to visit Nana for Christmas. She had written him a letter saying she wanted to meet me – Mom refused to go. She said the bitch had always hated her and she refused to spend the holidays with her so I got Daddy all to myself. Nana lived just outside Boston – she had sent bus tickets for us and I thought it was a big adventure. She met us at the station and fussed all over me. She made such a big deal over me that I didn't really pay attention to how sick she looked or the serious conversations she and Daddy had – I was having too much fun. We baked cookies, sang carols, decorated the tree, wrapped presents, went skating and sledding, and Nana told me stories about daddy when he was little." Mary paused and sipped some of her coffee.

"Is that when you got her jewelry box?" Brandi asked.

Mary nodded. "She gave it to me for Christmas."

Brandi waited for her sister to continue but when she remained silent, Brandi turned to Marshall and explained. "It belonged to Nana's grandmother. The box had mother of pearl roses and leaves on the lid and her initials on the front. Mary hardly ever let me touch it when we were kids – she hid it and put her very special and secret treasures in it."

Mary rolled her eyes at her sister. "Squish, I doubt Marshall is interested in our sisterly secrets."

Marshall winked at Brandi. "On the contrary, since I never had sisters, I find this all very fascinating."

Mary shot him a dark look as Brandi said, "Come to think of it, I haven't seen that box since you left home to marry Mark. Did you put it in a safety deposit box or something?"

Marshall watched in concern as the shutters came down in Mary's eyes and her body tensed. He watched as she picked up a sugar packet, shook it twice, tore it open, and added it to her lukewarm coffee. He watched as she picked up her spoon and stirred her coffee in a counter-clockwise motion. He watched as she lifted the cup, took a sip, and grimaced at the taste of the now too sweet brew.

He cleared his throat. "Brandi, didn't you have a favor to ask me?"

Brandi looked at her sister in concern. "In a minute, Marshall. Mary, where's Nana's box?"

Marshall fought the urge to kick Brandi under the table. How was it possible that the girl had known Mary for a lifetime and didn't recognize the warning signs that told her to back off? He had only been Mary's partner for seven years and he could tell that she didn't want to discuss it – that she wasn't ready. Perhaps she never would be.

But there was one thing Mary was good at – and that was deflection. "Ask mom."

"Mom? What does she have to do with-" Brandi shook her head in confusion.

Mary slammed her coffee cup on the table, causing her sister to jump. "I'm done talking about Christmas past, Brandi. I never wanted to talk about it in the first place. You want to know where Nana's box is – ask mom. Now, will you ask Marshall for that favor so we can pay the bill and leave?"

Brandi's mouth hung open in shock and Marshall felt sorry for her. She had poked a cornered, wounded hell cat and it had turned around and attacked her. He opened his mouth to pour water on the flames when Brandi's purse started to ring. She pulled out her phone and looked at the I.D.

"It's Peter – I'll be right back," she whispered, standing up and moving away from the table.

Marshall reached his hand across the table, but stopped short of touching her. "Mer-"

Her green eyes met his. "What the hell are you doing here, Marshall?"

"I thought I was eating breakfast with my partner and her sister."

She squinted her eyes at him in disbelief. "Right – except you don't do these sorts of things any more, remember? We have a strictly business relationship. Those were your words, your wishes, not mine. You're the one that's been acting like a spoiled, pouting five year old these past six months."

Marshall leaned across the table and grabbed her wrist. "Well, forgive me if I needed some time and distance after you went to Mexico and screwed Faber six ways from Sunday! Damn it, Mary. Faber?" The name came out like shit he was trying to scrap off the bottom of his shoe. He was breathing hard with emotion but he made sure the grip on her wrist was light so she could pull back at any time she wanted.

Mary was held captive by the fire in his eyes and the grip on her wrist that was causing new warm sensations to trickle up her arm. She shivered and watched as his eyes narrowed.

"I never meant to – I mean it's not like you and I– before I left." What the hell is wrong with me? I can't even get out a complete sentence! Marshall's thumb was now rubbing the inside of her wrist and Mary was sure he could feel her accelerated pulse.

"I think I made my feelings for you perfectly clear that day – and so did you." His voice was steel, tinged with sadness and the sound of it made Mary ache.

"I'm sorry, Doofus – for everything." She turned her hand over and intertwined their fingers. For a few minutes they sat in comfortable silence before she broke it. "But seriously, what are you doing here, with me, if you're trying to keep your distance?"

Marshall shrugged and squeezed her hand. "You're my best friend, Mer; my life kind of sucks without you."

Green met blue. "Ditto."

"Am I interrupting something?"

Both partners looked up to see Brandi standing beside the table, smirking down at their clasped hands.

Mary rolled her eyes. "No, Squish. We were just talking."

Brandi clapped her hands in glee and reclaimed her seat on the bench. "Great! You guys kissed and made up – figuratively speaking, of course," she laughed, watching with great satisfaction as Marshall blushed.

Mary released Marshall's hand and reached for the check, giving it to Brandi. "Hurry up and ask him so I can go back to bed."

Brandi promptly set the check back down on the table and Mary groaned. "So, Marshall, I don't know if Mary told you but I'm celebrating my first Hanukkah with Peter this year-"

"Mazel Tov!" he exclaimed.

"She'll need it," Mary muttered as Brandi poked her in the ribs.

"Anyway, I want to surprise Peter and his family by making potato pancakes one night."

Mary snorted. "Squish, are you insane? None of us can cook unless it comes out of a can or a box!"

Brandi pouted. "With help I'm sure I can follow a recipe!" She turned back to Marshall. "This is where the favor comes in – would you help me? Please?"

Marshall shifted. She wanted to cook something? In his pristine, state of the art kitchen? He chewed the inside of his cheek as Mary chortled.

"There's no way he's going to let you into his kitchen, Squish. I'm not even allowed to touch his coffee maker!" Mary dissolved into giggles.

Brandi bit her lip but then cried, "We could use your kitchen, couldn't we, Mer?"

Mary shrugged. "Sure. I never do – well, not to cook food anyway." Both sisters shared a look and a laugh as Marshall's face flushed. "If you blow something up, I'll just tell the FBI their install was faulty and get them to pay for new equipment."

"Please, Marshall?"

He took a deep breath. "Ok, Brandi. I'll help you make latkes – in Mary's kitchen."

"Oh, thank you!" Brandi shrieked, jumping up and scooting into his side of the booth so she could kiss his cheek. Pulling away, she frowned at him. "Wait, what are latkes?"

Mary snorted.

"Latkes are the Jewish name for potato pancakes," Marshall explained patiently. "They are made of shredded potato, flour, egg, and seasonings. Traditionally they are also fried in olive oil to commemorate the oil. . . ." Marshall's trivia rolled off his tongue as an enraptured Brandi sat soaking up the information like a sponge.

Mary leaned over and grabbed Peter's credit card. "Waitress!" she yelled, waving the check in the air, biting back the smile that threatened to escape.

Her geeky, trivia loving partner was back. Perhaps there was something to this magic of the season after all. Perhaps this year there would be something to celebrate.

Because she had just gotten what she wanted for Christmas; she had gotten her Marshall back.

*Much more to come - but Lunar gets to open the presents (i.e. chapters) first! Reviews are love!