Title: Holidays: Christmas
Summary: Holidays sometimes help and sometimes hurt, but they're always different.
Pairing: Nick/Hodges
Rating: PG
A/N: This is five parts long. Thanks for beta'ing, Kelly.

David Hodges had never believed in Santa Claus. His mom had always been too busy worrying about her boyfriend-of-the-month to pay any attention to him unless it was to complain or criticize. He was only twelve when he realized that Christmas would never be to him what it was to other kids.

On the whole, Christmas had always been rather disappointing. He half-heartedly celebrated it with Jacqui, Ronnie, Bobby, and Archie, only to return to a tree-less, decoration-less, lonely apartment.

He had not been expecting the cage with the small brown hamster in it in front of his door. There was a note next to it, so he gathered up the creature and the note and brought them inside. After staring at the hamster for five minutes, wondering if he had finally gone insane, he looked at the note:

Hodges-

I always hate it when pets run away. Hope this little guy helps.

-Nick

Hodges nearly felt for his eyebrows because he was sure they had shot up so fast that they had flown off his face. Nick Stokes had gotten him a hamster? Why? Sure, he'd shared his unfortunate tale of woe with him and Sidle, and they'd been talking more lately and getting along rather well, but did that merit the purchasing of small rodents for one another? Hodges wasn't up to date on his etiquette, but he was pretty sure it did not.

Still, the hamster was cute – not that he'd admit that to anyone – and it's not like he could just leave it out in the cold. And if he named him, so what? George was a perfectly respectable name for a hamster.

However, there was a problem. He hadn't gotten Nick anything. Well, he could talk to the man the next day. Maybe he'd think of something by then.

X

For the first time in years, David Hodges had invited someone over for Christmas dinner. He hadn't meant to, but he'd been thanking Nick for the hamster and had casually – and it had been casual, no matter how his inner voice mocked him – asked what Nick was doing for the holidays. When he had said he wasn't doing anything it seemed like the perfect opportunity to pay him back for the gift.

However, it occurred to David that for the first time in years, he would have to decorate.

And decorate he did. He got a miniature tree, some indoor lights, and he even put up one of those singing snowmen. It was tasteful. Festive, but not overbearing. He decided it looked nice.

He also had to decide what to make. Ham sounded good, and he had been fortunate enough to find a small enough one, since it would only be the two of them and Hodges really didn't feel like eating ham leftovers for the next year of his life.

X

When Nick arrived, he was smiling but looked... nervous, and David thought that was slightly odd. Shaking his head, he let the man in – he'd brought wine because he hadn't been sure if he should bring anything or not, and he hoped that was okay? David accepted the wine and when Nick asked about the hamster, David told him he'd been named George, which seemed to amuse Nick quite a bit. After mumbling about CSIs and their weird senses of humor because George was a perfectly reasonable name for a hamster, the two sat down to eat.

The food was good, which Nick had commented on six, seven, maybe eight times? David had lost count. The small talk was surprisingly easy to make and the wine gave them both a lovely buzz.

And when Nick left at nine – he and David had been lucky enough to get Christmas night off, but they both had to work the next night – David felt that for once in his life, he had truly enjoyed Christmas.

TBC.