Title: A Truly Merry Christmas
Author: Evenstar656
Summary: 'Christmas is not about what you get, but you give to others'. A happy Christmas story….of course Don centric!
Spoilers: None
Author's Notes: I was going to do this for Thanksgiving, but finals were coming up…Now that they're over, I can write! This was supposed to be posted on Christmas, but I sort of got busy...opening presents and shopping the day after...what can I say...;)
Many thanks to 3rdgal for going over this and fixing my mistakes!!
A Truly Merry Christmas
"Don, what are you doing here this early?" Megan asked as she walked into the war room.
"I could ask you the same thing," Don glanced at the clock which read 4:00 am.
"You haven't been here all night have you?" Megan put her purse into a drawer.
"Yeah, I can't seem to stop."
"Take a break, I'll go put on a fresh pot of coffee," Megan headed to the break room.
Don sat back in the chair and put his hands behind his head. He looked at a white board to see vibrant brown eyes staring back at him. Stretching his back, Don walked over to the picture that was taped to the board. Her name was Anna Matthews; she was kidnapped a little over a week ago from UCLA. Don knew that there was little hope to finding her alive after a week, but he couldn't give up on someone who had so much spark and life in their eyes.
"We'll find her, Don," Megan handed him a cup of steaming coffee.
"You got the good stuff," Don said as he took a sip.
"Yeah, I keep some hidden in case of emergencies," Megan chewed on a swizzle stick.
"I don't get it, why would someone take her? It's obviously not for money or there would have been a ransom call. I-I don't' get this."
"Why don't you go home and get some rest; you've been at this for nearly three days straight."
"I can't, everyone else has given up on her," Don stared at the picture.
"I'm not asking you to give up on her; I'm asking you to get some sleep."
"I guess," Don said after checking his watch.
"Good, try to get some rest," Megan handed Don his jacket.
"You're not trying to rush me out of here are you?" Don smiled.
"Where would did you get that idea?" Megan smiled.
Don took his jacket and headed for his brother's house.
Don quietly walked into the living room and threw his jacket onto a nearby chair. He listened quietly and could hear his father snoring. Don noticed a clock that said it was a little after four thirty. He sat down on the couch and removed his shoes, and set his gun and cell phone on the coffee table. He sank into the cushions and was fast asleep.
At seven thirty Alan walked downstairs to see his eldest son sprawled out on the couch. He smiled and grabbed the afghan off the nearby chair and spread it over his son.
He must have come in late last night.
Alan poured himself a cup off coffee and went outside to get the paper. When he came back in Don was shifting restlessly and muttering 'Sorry' over and over. Concerned, Alan went over to wake his eldest son.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry, I failed." Failed. That one word shattered Alan's heart. Don had never failed. Alan sat on the edge of the couch and smoothed back Don's hair. Don kept mumbling 'failed' over and over. Alan couldn't take anymore of Don convincing himself that he failed.
"Oh Donny, you didn't fail" Alan gently shook Don, "Don, Donny, it's just a dream."
"What?" Don jumped up.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. You were having a bad dream."
Don sat up, "What time is it?"
"Just after seven thirty. What time did you get here?"
"Um…four thirty," Don put his shoes on.
"Bad case?"
"Yeah," Don checked his phone and put his holster on his belt.
"In other words, you can't or won't tell me about it?"
"You don't want to know about it," Don got up and went into the kitchen.
Alan could hear Don opening cabinets, "Your travel mug is in the dishwasher," Alan called out.
"Are the dishes clean?"
"Yes."
Alan listened as Don poured the coffee and grabbed a bagel from the bread box.
"Are you going back to the office?"
"Yeah, I came back to rest. Thanks for breakfast," Don said grabbing his jacket and walking out the door.
"Morning, Don," Colby called out from his desk.
"Hey, Colby," Don walked directly to the war room where Megan was looking at a map.
"Did you get some rest?" Megan turned to her boss.
"A little. What's Colby doing?" Don threw his jacket onto an empty chair.
"He's putting out an APB on a vehicle that was reported being seen in the area where Anna was taken. DOT just gave us the videos from the intersections around UCLA"
"Why didn't you call me?"
"We just got them, and you needed to rest."
"Okay, what kind of car was it?"
"It was a navy blue or black Ford Explorer, and the person behind the wheel was wearing dark clothing and sunglasses."
"Sunglasses at night?" Don questioned.
"Yeah, that's why it stood out."
"Did we get a tag?" Don was hopeful.
"The tags were missing," David said as he put a still from the video on the screen.
"Who's the best?" Colby asked coming into the war room.
"It better be good, Granger," Megan sighed.
"Oh it is, a woman just called in saying that she saw a man wearing dark clothes and sunglasses take a young woman fitting Anna's description into an apartment building last night."
"So she's alive?" Don jumped up.
"The woman's description fit, but it was dark. She didn't know if the girl was alive."
"What's the address?'
"They're running it now; she didn't give a specific address. She said the building across from the street, and she called from a payphone."
"Alright guys, come one," Don grabbed his pullover and pack of gum.
Finally, the break we needed
"Alright, that must be the building," David said checking his weapon. "How do you want to play this?"
The agents were standing around the hood of Don's SUV donned in their tactical gear.
"We're gonna have do this floor by floor. Start at the top and go down," Don said looking at the blueprints spread out on the hood of his SUV. "Get LAPD to cover the ground floor and all the exits down here," Don pointed to the map. "Megan you're with me on the west stairs, and Colby and David on the east stairs."
"Got it," David and Colby said in unison before heading off to the east stairs.
"Ready?" Megan asked.
"Yeah, let's get this over with," Don put a stick of gum in his mouth.
Please let us find her alive
The agents quickly scaled the steps up to the fourth floor of the apartment building. Don and Megan cleared the west half while Colby and David cleared the east half.
"East half clear," Colby's voice crackled through the radios on Don and Megan's vests.
"Same here, west half clear," Megan replied.
"Alright guys, let's move down to three," Don headed back to the stairs.
"Copy that, Don," David and Colby headed back to their stairs.
Don and Megan carefully walked down the third floor corridor. A muffled noise caught Megan's attention.
"Don," Megan whispered and pointed to the door she heard the noise from.
Don cautiously approached the door, and signaled to go on his count. Don counted on his fingers and Megan opened the door carefully, while Don cleared the first room. Megan came in and swept the room with her gun.
The noise was made again, which drew the agents to the bedroom. Carefully Don went in with Megan watching his back. Again the noise was made, which sounded like a strangled cry that was coming from the closet.
Don signaled for Megan to open the door and he would check out the room. Megan opened the door to reveal a shabby looking man holding a gun to the young woman that they had been searching for, Anna. Her eyes pleaded for the agents to help her.
"Drop the gun!" Don commanded; his gun aimed at the man's head.
"She's mine!" the man growled back.
"Drop the gun, sir!" Megan commanded.
"I don't think you two understand that she is mine!"
"We're not going to ask you again. If you do not put your weapon down, we will shoot."
"Well, if I can't have her, then no one can!" Anna heard her captor yell followed by a metal click.
A shot rang out. Anna froze as she felt the pressure on her head from the gun increase. She closed her eyes, and the pressure went away. I'm dead? She slid to the floor.
Don holstered his gun that was still smoking. He ran to Anna, who had passed out onto the floor. He removed the gag that was tied around her mouth.
"Anna?" Don gently slapped her face. "Come on, Anna, wake up for me. I need to see your eyes."
Megan stepped around Don and over to the body on the floor, "He's dead."
Don nodded and continued to revive Anna. Finally she opened her eyes. Don noticed that they had lost some of their spark that he had seen in the photo posted on the whiteboard.
"Hey, my name is Don Eppes, with the FBI, and we've been looking for you," Don smiled.
Don helped her sit up, and she looked at the crumbled body and tears started to flow.
"Hey, its okay, he's not going to hurt you anymore," Don said pulling the woman into his arms.
Anna gave in and crashed into the agent's arms. Don didn't stop her; she sat there crying into his arms while he soothingly rubbed circles on her back. By that time Colby and David had arrived and were beginning to process the scene.
"EMS is on the way," David informed Don.
"Anna, do you think we could move out of the closet? We need to get you checked out by EMS."
"Please, I don't want to go."
"You're okay now. I'll stay with you if you want."
Anna just nodded and Don pulled Anna and himself off the floor and they walked out into the bed room. He sat Anna down on the bed and then sat beside her. The medics rushed in and hastily began checking over their patient. Anna was quickly wrapped a thick blanket while the other medic was checking her blood pressure, and the other relayed her vitals to the ER on the other end of his radio.
"Physically she's fine, just a little worse for wear. The ER says that if she gets plenty of fluids, we don't have to bring her in," the medic said packing up his gear.
Don nodded and looked into Anna's eyes, "I think we should get you back to your parents, they've been very worried about you."
"At least this one ended happy," Megan stared at Anna and her parents.
"Finally," Don was perched on his desk, watching the family.
The family made their way over to where Don and Megan were perched on their desks.
"I can't thank you enough Agent Eppes," the father shook Don's hands.
"You're very welcome sir."
"It looks like we got the best Christmas present this year," the mother said.
Christmas?
Don turned around to check his calendar, and sure enough, it was December 25.
"We got very lucky Mr. and Mrs. Matthews," Megan smiled.
"Yes we did, I don't know what we would do without Anna," Mrs. Matthews placed a kiss on the top of Anna's head.
"Thank you Agent Eppes," Anna pulled Don into a hug.
"Anytime," Don returned the embrace.
"Well, we must be going, we have something to celebrate," Mr. Matthews smiled.
"Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you Agent Eppes, and you Agent Reeves."
"You too," Megan smiled back.
"Don, where have you been?" Alan asked as Don dropped his keys on the table.
"Sorry, work," Don shed his jacket and hung it up on the coat rack.
"Bad day?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, but it had a happy ending," Don smiled.
"Did you find Anna?"
"Yeah we found her, alive," Don went into the kitchen and grabbed a beer.
"That's wonderful, Donny!" Alan patted his oldest son on the back.
"But?" Charlie looked at Don's somber expression.
"I had to shoot a man," Don took a long drink of his beer.
"You had to right?" Alan asked.
"Yeah, but that doesn't make it any easier."
"No it doesn't, but what matters is that you found her alive."
"Yeah, that's all that counts," Don forced a smile.
Alan, noting Don's fake smile smiled back, "Well, Merry Christmas Donny."
"Merry Christmas to you guys too. So what did you get me, Chuck?" Don smiled.
"Does that mean we can open presents now?' Charlie asked.
The End.