December 1st

Already Lilly had a full calendar with several dates marked; one was the annual Christmas party at Jones Tavern, the second was, Christmas Party with Santa here in Homicide for the kids, and the third was dinner with her father at that Chinese restaurant that he used to take her when she was little. Just then she saw a memo that read; New Years Eve together as a squad weekend.

Lilly groaned, knowing that Stillman was one hell of a pain in the ass. He had managed to bring everyone together for Thanksgiving from Hell, last month. She now had wondered if this New Years Eve would be worse, with everyone drinking as well. Just now Scotty sat down at his desk, which was directly across from hers.

Even he wasn't that thrilled to have also received the memo as well," Great another holiday from hell."

"Yeah I know, but I'd rather celebrate New Years at a bar than be there again," she said," I think it would be better that way."

Scotty nodded," I hear you Lil, at least Kat's back with Bell again. Couldn't see her and Nick being together."

After the long thanksgiving weekend, both he and Lilly had decided to remain just friends. It was better that way, but both knew that they were meant to be friends, rather than lovers. In all in all, there weren't any hard feelings left from that weekend. The two moved on with their lives, but so did Kat and Vera, whom were still up to their usual bickering.

Just then Stillman came out of his office, as Vera came in puffing, "No way am I dressing up as Santa boss!"

"Just do it Nick, its one day and it's for the kids. "

Vera sighed, as Stillman stood there looking at his crew," Look I know that whatever happened on Thanksgiving Weekend was uncalled for, but we're still a family."

Scotty was the first to speak up," It's not a good idea boss, Lil has a better idea."

Lilly shot him a look, "What about holding it at a bar, we all can't be cooped up together in a house for a whole weekend. Think about it Boss, us on New Year's Eve?"

"I'll keep that in mind Lil, how we are on this case?"

Jefferies sighed, "Not making any heads or tails on this one, we'll keep on looking."

Once that everyone else had gone back to work, Lilly had noticed that Stillman had slipped her a note; about wanting her to decorate the office for Christmas. Yet on the same token, knew that this Christmas was probably going to be a big disaster.

In fact now, Lilly had to get an outfit to wear to the Christmas party in the office, the one at Jones and quite possibly one for New Years Eve. She wasn't the type to really dress up, yet all three weren't required for her to dress formal. Jeans and top were the norm.

Something new would be a good thing, yet that was another thing; Money was tight. Even with her being single and all, Lilly still had expenses to pay. Yet she felt the holiday rush already blowing harder, yet as a kid she loved the holidays.

She still did, yet wasn't really into the spirit of it all. Lilly hadn't been for a long time, but now after finding her father last year; and meeting her half-brother this year; something was indeed changing inside of her.

Just then she heard Vera raising his voice, "No way boss, you aren't getting the tree. The last one you picked out was almost dead!"

"What makes you think that you can do even better," questioned Jefferies, "Probably pick out some Charlie Brown Christmas tree."

Vera groaned upon seeing Scotty chuckling in amusing, "You think its funny?" as he saw that the other man was following him out, "What are you doing?"

"Going with you, I ain't trusting that you're going to pick out a good one."

Scotty then heard him groan, while Jefferies soon followed him, "I'm going as well, not taking any chances with you Nick."

However this made Vera stop dead in his tracks, "You both don't trust me, since when do I need any assistance?"

Jefferies laughed," C'mon Nick, let's just all go and pick out a tree."

The next day, Vera lugged what was to be the most pathetic looking tree. Jefferies chuckled, "That's what you bought, Nick? There was a reason why both Scotty and I should have been there."

Crossing her arms, Kat made a face," That's a tree; half of its needles are missing?"

"What's it to you Miller, the fact is I lugged this thing all the way up here."

Lilly's face was priceless, " It's looks like something that died from not being watered, I think you might want to throw it out;" seeing how Nick was looking at her," A Christmas Tree is supposed to be green, not brown."

When Stillman caught sight of the tree, he shook his head, "Take it back Nick," motioning for both Scotty and Jefferies to go with him. This only was going to turn into a bad argument, yet it made both Lilly and Kat each grin at one another.

"That should be interesting."

Inside of the car, Scotty had a better idea," What about getting a fake, there's no big mess. Nobody has to water it or anything. We can use it every year, save some money."

"What the hell do you know about saving Money Scotty," Vera said while not paying any attention on the road. Jefferies then felt something," You didn't just hit a squirrel?"

"It looked more like a dead one," Scotty said chiming in.

Vera groaned," Enough, we're getting a live one."

Scotty shook his head," Wouldn't be easier to go with my plan, besides we wouldn't have to worry about getting some rope, tying thing down," now realizing that the other two were sticking with his plan as well.

Upon arriving at a store, Vera accidently fell into a Santa statue as it began moving and singing, "Thing has it out for me," he groaned.

In the middle of all the tree displays, the three detectives found the perfect tree. While both Jefferies and Vera struggled to pick up the box, they noticed that Scotty was looking at some of the ornaments," What are you doing over there?"

"Picking out stuff, Lil's already decorating the whole place. Might as well pick some stuff up now," as he grabbed several ornaments and some garland.

Upon ringing up the purchases, they had discovered that none of Vera's credit cards were working, except for his debit card. After everything had gone through, they packed up the car before driving back to PPD.

When the guys finally had unloaded the box and began with the lights, everyone had noticed that the lights weren't working. Jefferies groaned in despair, "You had to buy the box that was already opened?"

Kat came closer, "Allow me boys," shooting a look at Vera, "Ever hear of plugging the damn thing in?", as the three now lit up.

Scotty then handed Lilly a bag of decorations for the tree, "Happy decorating."
Lilly turned," You do it," before looking inside the bag," and don't make me redo it."

Sure enough after both she and Kat had finished the interview with a suspect, the two both rolled their eyes, upon looking at the tilting tree. The month of December was sure to be a long one...