A/N: It's here! (Finally) And it's three days late! (Sadly) Hopefully, the New Year's Eve one won't be nearly as late.

Disclaimer: I don't own The 39 Clues.

Bowling With Santa

Seven Cahills – Amy, Dan, Ian, Natalie, Sinead, Hamilton, and Nellie – were all packed into the silver SUV, Dan in the shotgun seat and the rest squished against each other in the back. Natalie wouldn't stop complaining about how the seatbelt was ruining her outfit, and Ian was plugging his ears, hoping his sister's incessant whining would stop soon. Amy was trying to sleep, her head resting against the cold window, and Dan was talking avidly with Nellie about the restaurant they'd just eaten at. Sinead and Hamilton were arguing about something small and irrelevant, as usual.

"How could lacrosse be better than football?!" Hamilton said. "You get to tackle people!"

"That's exactly why it's not better," Sinead countered. "Football players are nothing but gorillas on steroids who can't solve the simplest of quadratic equations."

Hamilton's face reddened and he glared at her. "I play football."

"My point exactly."

"Guys, knock it off," Nellie said. "I can't concentrate on my driving if you don't shut up."

"Since when do you ever concentrate on your driving?" Dan asked. "As far as I know, you're perfectly okay with driving like a maniac."

"It's cutting into my skin!"

"Shut up, Natalie!" Ian yelled. "You're bursting my eardrums with your screeching!"

Ian fell silent, and Amy turned her head and looked at him through half-closed eyelids. Ian was slumped over, his head on his knees, and Natalie was putting a syringe back in her purse.

Amy lazily stuck out her hand, but Natalie shook her head.

"No, I'm not going to put you to sleep with this," she said, holding up the needle. "We won't be able to wake you up for the next 12 hours."

Amy sighed. "That's what I was hoping it would do."

Dan turned around in his seat. "It's not our fault you stayed up all night."

Amy closed her eyes again. "I had work to do."

Dan snorted. "Reading fan-fictions isn't work."

"I found a really good, super long one, okay? I couldn't just stop reading it in the middle!"

"Hey!" Hamilton suddenly shouted, pointing out his window. "Look at the sign!"

Come bowl with Santa! It's free!
Saturday, December 24, 7 p.m. – 11 p.m.

"Amy, what time is it?" Dan asked.

Amy looked at her watch. "9 o'clock."

"Let's go!" he begged. "I want to bowl with Santa!"

"You still believe in Santa Claus?" Nellie said. "I thought you would know better by now."

"What are you talking about?" Dan asked. "Santa is totally real. I saw him when I was 6."

Nellie laughed silently. "Okay, kiddo. Whatever you say."

"So, let's go!" Dan repeated. "Ham, you want to go too, don't you?"

Hamilton shrugged. "As long as it gets me away from the Starling, I'm game."

Sinead punched his shoulder.

He laughed. "You actually think that could hurt me?"

"No," she said. "It just felt good to punch you."

Nellie sighed at Dan's pleadings and put on her right turn signal. Dan cheered.

"We're gonna see Santa! We're gonna see Santa!"

Natalie wrinkled her nose. "Some sweaty, obese man in a red suit and a fake beard? How lovely."

Ian mumbled something in his sleep. Natalie leaned closer.

She laughed. "Toast? Really, brother, America is getting to you."

Nellie parked the car in front of the building. "Everybody out. We're only staying for an hour, got it? I want to go home."

"Got it!" Dan threw over his shoulder. He ran for the front door. "Come on, people! Move a little faster!"

Amy looked down at the sleeping boy next to her. "Should we leave him in the car?"

Natalie stared at him, grinning at her handiwork. "Unless you'd like to carry him inside."

Amy stepped back and shut her door. "That's okay. We'll just crack a window so he doesn't suffocate."

"OH MY GOD! IT'S SANTA!" Dan squealed.

"Stop jumping. You look like you need to use the restroom," Amy said.

"Just a little bit."

Natalie looked around the building in disgust. "This is a public bowling alley?"

"Yep," Dan replied, looking around. "Isn't it awesome?"

"It's simply wonderful," Natalie said sarcastically.

"HO HO HO!"

Natalie squinted. "That's the man who's supposed to be Santa?"

"What do you mean 'supposed to be'?" Dan accused. "That IS Santa!"

Natalie rolled her eyes.

Nellie herded them towards the counter, where they gave the guy their shoe sizes. When he brought out the bowling shoes, Natalie's eyes widened and she stumbled back in horror.

"You expect me to wear those?!" she screamed. "Absolutely not! I would rather die than be caught wearing them!"

Sinead rubbed her eyes.

Dan snickered. "Are you afraid of bowling shoes?"

Natalie glared at him. "No."

"Then why is the guy still waiting for you to take them?"

Natalie hesitated. They really did expect her to wear them.

"I'll give you twenty bucks if you can stand to play a game," Dan challenged. He held out his right hand. "And it's against the rules to play without the shoes."

Natalie steeled herself, but took his hand and shook it. Then she took out a handkerchief out of her purse and wiped her hand off.

"Deal. But if I win, you double it."

"And if I win, you get nothing," Dan said. "I warn you, though. I'm a beast at this game on the Wii."

Natalie scoffed. "Video games never compare to the real thing. We have a bowling alley at the Kabra mansion in London. Ian hasn't beaten me once."

"Hello, kids!"

They all turned to see a huge man in a red coat and fake white beard.

Dan's jaw dropped.

"I…wha…mother of God…" Dan stammered.

Nellie smiled sympathetically. "I know, I know. Now that you know he's not real, can we – "

"What do you mean? He looks just like he did when I was 6!" Dan said excitedly.

"Oh, no," Amy said, face-palming.

Nellie sighed. "Okay, 'Santa', you up for a game against them?"

Santa laughed – his signature "Ho ho ho!" – and said, "That's what I'm here for!"

"Good," Nellie said, "'Cause I'm leaving. I'll be back in an hour. They're your problem now. Good luck, dude." With those parting words, she walked through the front door and out into the icy weather.

Amy groaned. "She didn't offer to take me with her."

Sinead patted her shoulder. "She left me here, too. That selfish – "

"Okay!" Santa clapped his hands together. "Who's ready to play?"

Hamilton leaned over to the two girls. "That sounded extra creepy."

They nodded in agreement.

Dan pointed at himself and Natalie. "Us. I made a bet against her. She's so going down."

Natalie laughed. "As if."

"I can't believe I lost to a Cobra!" Dan cried.

Natalie smirked, opening the car door. "I told you. And now you owe me forty dollars."

"Hey, guys," Nellie greeted from the driver's seat. "Who won?"

"Who do you think?" Dan grumbled, climbing into the front passenger seat.

Nellie started the engine, and Amy turned back to look at Sinead and Hamilton.

"No fighting," she ordered.

Then she looked at Dan and Natalie. "No complaining."

And last, she pointed at Nellie. "And drive safer. I'm going to sleep."

Natalie looked down at where Ian used to be unconscious. "I'm guessing you got him into the house somehow?"

Nellie looked at her briefly in the rear-view mirror. "I told Jonah to drag him to his room."

"Forcing me to watch a football game isn't going to make me like it!" Sinead yelled.

Amy glared at the two in the backseat, and they shut up immediately.

Reagan and Madison looked up from their spot on the living room floor as their cousins shuffled through the door, exhausted.

"Where have you guys been?" Reagan asked, petting a sleeping cat.

"We went bowling with Santa," Dan replied, dragging himself to his room. "And Cobra beat me."

Madison laughed. "There's a surprise."

"Shut up." Dan stomped up the stairs. They heard his bedroom door slam a few seconds later.

"He owes me money," Natalie explained. "That's why he's mad."

"It's also because his confidence has been shattered," Nellie added. "He's been undefeated on the Wii since we got it."

Dan ripped open the wrapping paper and picked an object out of the box. He held up a small silver ball, holding it up to the light and spinning it between his thumb and index finger. "What is it?"

Amy took it out of his hand and examined it, then her eyes widened in recognition and she paled at the thought of Dan having another one. "Uh…remember when we were in Paris, and you threw something that blew up the Holt family?"

"Yeah…" Dan grinned. "Oh…concussive grenade. Awesome!"

"That's a gift from us," Madison said, gesturing at her siblings. "It's kind of a joke."

Dan gulped. "You're not still mad about that, are you…?"

Hamilton waved him off. "Nah. Just as long as you don't use that one on us."

Dan held up another gift, this one wrapped in red and gold paper. "To Natalie… Oh, this one's from me."

She took the box from his hesitantly, wondering if there was a bomb inside or something. She tore the paper and slowly opened the box.

Inside, were two green 20-dollar bills. But then she narrowed her eyes.

"This isn't real money, Daniel," she said.

Dan snorted. "Yeah. I know that. You didn't specify payment when you said I owed you double. So you're being paid in Monopoly money."

"Excuse me?" Natalie said. "You think this counts?"

"Yep," he said, "because I'm not giving you real money, no matter how much you torture me. I could be using it to buy another video game or two."

Natalie flapped the pieces of paper and laughed. "Oh, silly, silly little boy. You do realize there are other methods of getting what I want. I'm not limited to just torture."

Dan crossed his arms. "Yeah, right. Like what?"

Natalie exhaled. "I'm going to say you don't want to know, and we'll leave it at that. Unless you want to find out, I suggest you give me my money within the next ten seconds."

Dan sighed, pulling two bills out of his pocket. He handed them to her. "Here."

Natalie made sure the 20s were actually real this time and smiled. "Pleasure doing business with you, Daniel."

"Yeah, yeah. At least I can take pride in the fact that I scored more points than Santa," Dan said.

Amy threw up her hands. "For the last time, he's not real!"

Dan pointed at her. "Shun the non-believer!"

Amy rubbed her temples. "Oh, my God. He's quoting Charlie the Unicorn again."

"Charlie the Unicorn?" Natalie repeated. "What's that?"

The whole room gasped.

"You don't know what Charlie the Unicorn is?" Hamilton said in disbelief.

"No. No I don't."

Before the rest of them could explode, Ian walked down the stairs, his face red with anger.

"Natalie," he said, frighteningly calm. "Why did you put me to sleep?"

Natalie shrugged, amused. "You were annoying me."

"I was telling you to shut up because you were annoying me!" he shouted.

Natalie smirked. "Believe me, you didn't miss anything important."

"Santa is one of the most important people on the face of the Earth!" Dan yelled.

"Santa isn't real," Ian said, confused.

"Shun the non-believer!"

Ian looked at Amy. "Is he quoting Charlie the Unicorn?"

Natalie threw her hands up. "Who in the bloody hell is Charlie the Unicorn?!"

…I don't know what that ending was all about. My mind just went off somewhere else and this crap appeared…I don't know why it went to Charlie the Unicorn, either. It just sort of happened .-.

Sorry it's so late! I was too busy with other stories and I forgot about this. But, anyway, I'll see you at New Year's! :D

Wow...looking back at it, this one was really stupid and didn't capture the Christmas spirit at all. That's disappointing... *shrugs* Oh, well, too lazy to change it now.

~Callie~