Title: Secret Santa
Summary: Mercy Heights does a Secret Santa gift exchange. Guess who Peter and Emma get.
"Hey, Peter," Hesam greeted, approaching his partner with a Santa hat held upside down in his hands. "It's your turn to pick someone for Secret Santa."
Petrelli glanced at the hat, which held folded scraps of paper in it. He stuck his hand in and withdrew a slip of paper. He couldn't help smiling when he unfolded the paper and saw the name scribbled on it. Emma Coolidge.
"If it's me," Hesam said, "don't get me any holiday-themed socks."
-*-*-*-
"Emma," her mother said, waving to get her daughter's attention and making her look up from where she worked at her desk. "The hospital is doing its Secret Santa exchange. Here." She offered Emma the Santa hat that was being used to hold the staff's names for the exchange. The blonde woman took out a slip of paper and read the name written on it. She blinked in surprise, though she figured she should have known better by now. Peter Petrelli. Somehow, he was always getting mixed up in her life.
-*-*-*-
The medical personnel and staff at Mercy Heights had a week to buy their gifts for the exchange. When the appointed day came, people went to and fro, revealing who they were Secret Santa to, and giving their gifts.
Peter and Emma met each other in the hallway leading to the records room. He was on his way to her office, and she was just leaving it to find him.
"From your Secret Santa," Peter said, handing her a rectangular parcel in silver wrapping paper.
She opened it, revealing his present to be a beginning piano lesson book. "In case you wanted to learn to read the notes and play some songs," he explained.
"Thank you." She then smiled and handed him her present.
His eyes widened. "You're my Secret Santa?" At her nod, he glanced down at his gift. It was also rectangular, and he could feel through the red and green wrapping paper that it was also a book. He tore open the paper. Emma had given him a book on learning American Sign Language.
Though he tried to hide it, Peter's face fell slightly with disappointment.
"You don't like it," Emma said. It wasn't a question. "I'll take it back." She reached for the book, but the paramedic stopped her.
"No, it's not that. I love it." She raised her eyebrows at him, unconvinced, and he hurried to go on. "It's just that…" Tucking the book she had given him under one arm, he opened his messenger bag and pulled out an identical book from inside. "I already have a copy," he said sheepishly.
She grinned at the humor in the situation. Feeling encouraged, Peter stowed both copies of the book into his bag, then said, "Merry Christmas," as he slowly signed the words.
"Ho, ho, ho," Emma signed back, making him laugh.
They walked back to her office together and read their respective book for a few minutes. Then, Peter glanced up, a thoughtful expression on his face. Emma caught the movement of his head out of the corner of her eye, making her look at him curiously.
"I was just thinking," he said slowly, "about how much of a coincidence it was that we got each other's names for the gift exchange." He shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Maybe it's a Christmas miracle."
-*-*-*-
Later that day, Hesam walked by Doctor Coolidge's exam room. The elderly woman stood in the doorway, watching the gift exchanges taking place outside, but when the paramedic drew alongside her, they exchanged a brief high five that went unnoticed by everyone else.
That night, the hospital janitor found several slips of paper with the names Emma Coolidge and Peter Petrelli written on them in the recycling bin.