"Why are we doing this again?" Ianto asked. He was watching Jack throwing tinsel around the hothouse. He knew Jack was enjoying himself and didn't want to take that from him, but all he could see was the mess he'd be cleaning up after Christmas.

"It'll make the hub more festive," Jack said, smiling broadly and tossing more tinsel at a purple plant in the corner.

"Do we really need festive? Must you throw that stuff everywhere?" Ianto asked." And what about Myfanwy?"

"What about her?" Jack asked choosing to ignore Ianto's first question. "And it's what you're supposed to do with tinsel."

"What if she eats this...stuff? I know it's dangerous for dogs and cats so I can't imagine it's good for the pterodactyl digestive system," Ianto pointed out. "And no, you aren't supposed to throw it. It looks much better if you separate the strands and place them neatly, but either way, I really hate tinsel."

"You worry too much," Jack said, throwing more gold strands and watching them land on another plant. "And what's wrong with tinsel?"

Ianto watched with a scowl as Jack took a step back and threw more tinsel. He'd already covered the large trees he'd insisted on putting up in the medical bay and next to the sofa.

"Other than it may kill our pterodactyl? It's not as if I can run her to the vet if she swallows some of this stuff," Ianto muttered. "Tinsel is messy. It never stays on the tree, it'll end up falling on the floor, and then everyone will track it all over the Hub."

"So we'll clean it up after Christmas."

"You mean I'll clean it up, Jack. And must you use so much of it?"

"Fine, no more tinsel. I'll use garland."

"I saw that cheap stuff you brought in this morning. It's just short pieces of tinsel glued together. By Christmas day it'll have fallen apart. Are you even sure it's a good idea to be decorating these plants? How do you know they won't react badly to it?"

"You worry too much," Jack said again. He was determined not to let Ianto kill his holiday spirit.

"Because the rest of you don't and I have to clean up the mess made when you don't worry enough."

Jack put the package of tinsel-what was left-of it on the table and turned his attention fully to Ianto. "What do you have against Christmas?

"I don't have anything against Christmas. I just don't like tinsel...or anything made from tinsel."

"So what would you like to decorate with?"

Ianto picked up the bags of decorations from the floor and began searching for the items he'd chosen when they'd gone shopping that afternoon. After several minutes, he had a pile of boxes sitting next to him. "Why don't we use these?"

Jack picked up several of the boxes, moving them around to see what Ianto had chosen. Frowning he set them down again. "All you chose were red and gold balls and candy canes."

"They're simple and pretty."

"And boring, Ianto."

Ianto scowled at Jack. "All right, fine. We'll use the boring stuff."

Ianto picked up the box of hooks, opened the first package of gold balls and began fastening the hooks to them and handing them to Jack, one by one. He watched Jack moving around the room, placing balls on the various plants that were strong enough to hold them. After they'd finished their second box, red ones, they moved back out to the break area and Jack began placing balls on the tree. Ianto considered-once again-pointing out that he'd done the trees in the wrong order. He should've put the lights on first. Ianto had tried to tell Jack that when he'd gotten out the tinsel but Jack had only told him not to be so rigid. Christmas decorating was meant to be fun. As he watched, Jack place a red ball on the tree and Ianto just resigned himself to having to clean up the broken glass when Jack did get around to the lights.

"Why is this so important to you?" Ianto asked.

"What?"

"Decorating for Christmas," Ianto clarified. "When Tosh saw what we'd brought back today she said this is the first time in the years she's been here that you've decorated for Christmas. Why now?"

Jack sat down on the sofa, and considered the question carefully. Why was it suddenly so important? Tosh was right; he hadn't been interested Christmas for a long time. After Alex, celebrating this time of year had seemed wrong. Today, though, today, he'd woken up and realized they all needed this. They all needed a Happy Christmas. Too much had happened this year; in the last six months they'd all been through so much.

"Does this have anything to do with John Ellis?" Ianto asked, sitting down next to him.

"No," Jack answered, then changed his mind. "Yes, it does, in a way."

"You did the right thing," Ianto said softly. "If you'd stopped him, he'd have found another way. He didn't belong here, in this time, and he knew that."

"That's not it," Jack said. "It just helped me realize that we need to enjoy this holiday. We've all suffered too much and needed to take the chance to grab onto good times if we could. Tosh felt so alone she was willing to risk going back to a UNIT prison by bringing someone she knew was an alien into the Hub. Owen hasn't let himself love or even care for anyone since his fiancé died. Now he finally does and she doesn't belong in this time and takes off, leaving him behind. Gwen was shot and has seen things she didn't know existed until a few months ago. She's forced to lie to the one person she should be able to be honest with. And you...you lost Lisa. Not once but twice, and once was my fault. You've been kidnapped and beaten by cannibals the one time I tried to take you into the field. None of that is even counting the everyday world saving stuff we do."

"Jack, Lisa wasn't..."

"Not the point, Ianto," Jack said, stopping him. "The point is, we spend so much time suffering because of this job that we've all forgotten what it's like to enjoy the holidays like other people. Like normal people. If we hadn't all forgotten, someone would've suggested decorating before now, but none of us even gave Christmas a second thought. I want us to be able to celebrate Christmas like other people do. Maybe we can have an office party? I've heard those are fun. Or a Secret Santa? Not sure what that is exactly, but I've heard that many offices do it."

Ianto considered what Jack was saying. He was right; no one had even mentioned Christmas. Not really. Gwen had mentioned buying a gift for Rhys, but had assumed she'd be working and wouldn't see her family. Tosh had only mentioned sending some gifts to her family. None of them had even considered doing anything for Christmas. No parties, no time with family, no trees. Maybe celebrating together was what they all needed.

"I know what Secret Santa is," Ianto offered, and quickly explained the concept. "I'm not sure it would be fun since one of us would be getting a gift from Owen, but we can try if you want."

"Owen may surprise us," Jack said grinning. "And I think it's a brilliant idea. And we could exchange the gifts at an office party?"

"If that's what you want," Ianto agreed. "Although a nice dinner out may be better than a party. There are only five of us."

"I do want that. Do we have time to plan it?"

"I'm sure I can pull it all together," Ianto agreed, picking up the nearly empty package of tinsel and handing it to Jack. "You finish decorating and I'll start making calls to see if I can arrange a restaurant for dinner sometime next week."

"I can use the tinsel?"

"Yeah," Ianto sighed. "You've used this much, might as well finish it off."

Jack grinned, grabbed the package and took off toward his office before Ianto could change his mind.

"You are going to help clean up the mess if Myfanwy gets sick, Jack!" Ianto called after him before heading back up to the tourist office to see if any restaurants still had available reservations and to call the others and let them know of Jack's plan. Maybe Jack was right and they'd all benefit from a celebration.

The end.