Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage.
A/N: It's been a little bit since but last story and I wasn't going to write a Christmas story but I got an idea and decided I'd write it down. I hope you guys enjoy.
Nate glanced over towards the living room, coffee cup in hand, and grumbled when he saw the rest of the team in Santa hats with the exception of Parker who had antlers on. He didn't particularly care about celebrating the Christmas holidays since his son passed away but obviously his team did, but as long as they didn't drag him into anything crazy he was fine with their cheerful Christmas spirits. He looked over in Sophie's direction when he heard her say his name.
"Hey Nate get over here, we're going to pick for Secret Santa," she stated holding up a hat and shaking it to show him.
"Uh no thanks," he replied with a slight roll of his eyes before sitting down at the table, "You guys go ahead without me."
Parker gasped as if she thought he was incredibly crazy for passing up gifts, "You can't just throw off Secret Santa…..you're name is already in the hat anyways so you're obligated."
He gave a little laugh, "Well then I suppose whoever's name is left in the hat just won't be getting a gift then."
"It better not be mine or you'll be receiving two gifts this year, if you catch my drift," Parker stated seriously, glaring him down. He just shrugged to show he really didn't care what she had planned for him if her name was last in the hat.
"That won't be necessary Parker because Nate is going to participate," Sophie said, "No matter how much he wants to play Grinch this year."
"Yeah man it's Christmas," Hardison chimed in, "Where's your spirit man? Plus since you hardly ever spend your money I'm hoping you get my name that way you can get me something good. I want a Soda Maker by the way, I'm just throwing that out there or a binary watch or both just whatever. I'm not too picky. Now get over here and draw my name."
Eliot shook his head at Hardison, "Man you are such a geek."
"You say that as though it's a bad thing," Hardison said acting offended.
"What would you do with a Soda Maker?" Eliot asked.
"I would think that would be obvious Eliot," Hardison stressed, "I'd make my very own Orange Soda but can't decide whether to call it Geek Juice or Hacker's Delight or Fizzy Byte. So many choices."
"Whatever," the hitter brushed off not even going to comment on the ridiculous names he came up with, "Nate just get over here and choose a stupid name so we can get this over with."
"Yeah come on Nate," Parker pleaded; she knew he didn't really enjoy the holidays but she wished he would at least try to participate because maybe then he'd see that Christmas wasn't so bad if he'd allow himself to celebrate it with them.
Nate sighed knowing they weren't going to stop bugging him so he left the table and sat down next to Parker on the couch who gave him a warm smile and a pat on the leg, which he thought kind of odd coming from her but just chocked it up to her being in a good mood.
"Now that Mr. Scrooge is here, we can draw names," Sophie told them and held the hat out for Eliot to pick first, then to Hardison, Parker, Nate, and finally herself.
Hardison looked over to Parker and whispered, "Who'd you get?"
She about answered him but Eliot spoke up first, "You're not supposed to ask that Hardison, hence the name Secret Santa."
"It's also rude to eavesdrop El-i-ot," the hacker shot back with an evil glare.
"Yeah well it's not eavesdropping if everyone heard you," the hitter told him, "You don't whisper so well."
"I whisper just fine-"
"Enough you two," Sophie stepped in not really in the mood for their arguing, "Now that we've drawn for Secret Santa, which will remain secret," she emphasized to Hardison, "Let's decide the songs we're going to sing when we go caroling."
"Oooh I have one," Parker spoke up raising her hand, "Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer."
"I'll second that," Eliot said trying to picture the people's faces if they sang that one.
"Um….I was thinking along the lines of the more traditional Christmas songs," Sophie stated saying that Parker's song wasn't going to make the list, "Like Deck the Halls."
"Well I could care less which songs you do because I'm definitely not caroling," Nate said clasping his hands together before getting up from the couch to go back to the table.
"Oh come on Nathan," Sophie sighed not wanting to fight with him about this either, "We all decided-"
"Whoa hold it," Eliot interjected, "We didn't decide anything. You and Hardison decided you guys wanted to go caroling."
"See, if Eliot's not going-" Nate began.
"Oh he is, I'm making him along with Parker," Sophie told the mastermind with a smirk, "Sooo what song do you want to sing?"
Nate just laughed before picking up the newspaper showing her that he wasn't going to go caroling and that was that.
"Fine miss out on a wonderful opportunity," she stated before returning her attention back to the rest of the team, "Okay we have Deck the Halls, what else?"
Eliot gave a small complaint that it wasn't fair he was made to go but Nate could stay home and save himself the embarrassment, which brought on another little argument between him and Hardison. While the others were deciding what other songs to add to the list, Parker slipped away and joined Nate at the table.
He heaved a sigh, "I'm not caroling no matter how much you beg Parker."
She gave a little laugh, "I didn't come over here to persuade you although I would like it if you came because at least that way you would be suffering along with me."
He put the paper he was reading down and gave her a curious look, "Then why did you come over?"
"To see how you were doing," she answered honestly. She was worried about him but here lately she always seemed to be worried about him at some point or another.
He was surprised at how open she was being and gave her a reassuring smile, reaching over to give her hand a little squeeze, "Huh, you don't have to worry Parker; I promise I'm fine. I just want the new year to hurry up and get here."
The thief was about to respond but was suddenly pulled out of her chair, "Ahhh."
"Come on Parker," Sophie stated. "We're going shopping for some decorations so we can spice this dreary place up a bit."
"It's not dreary….it's just a little….dark and….unexciting at times," Nate defended dreading what his apartment was going to look like when Sophie Devereaux got through decorating it because he knew it would be a waste of time to tell her not to decorate.
"Which is the very definition of dreary," she pointed out to him, grabbing Parker's arm so she couldn't escape.
"NOOO. I refuse to go shopping," Parker turned to Nate with a terrified look in her eyes begging him, "Please Nate save me!"
"And risk being your replacement? Sorry Parker," he apologized, "But do go gentle on her Sophie I'd hate to lose our thief to a shopping trip; remember she doesn't shop as much as you do."
"Uh-huh, whatever you say," the grifter answered not really hearing what Nate told her, "Now come on Parker we only have a few hours to hit as many stores as we can before they close. You two are coming also," she demanded pointing to Eliot and Hardison sitting peacefully (which is a rare moment) on the couch.
"Man," Eliot complained grabbing his jacket and dragging Hardison along with him out the door before the hacker could talk his way out of it.
"I agreed to decorate, not to go shopping and don't think I'm holding the bags because I ain't." Nate heard Hardison complain before the door shut leaving him in peace and silence for the first time that day.
He glanced down and noticed the paper he pulled out of the Santa hat laying there on the table in front of him and realized he didn't even know whose name he got; he opened it up slowly dreading to see the name but smiled when he saw Parker's. 'Now all I have to do it decide what to get her,' he thought, 'though it shouldn't be too hard to figure something out.'
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Nate woke up the next morning to Jingle Bells blaring throughout the entire apartment; he groaned and laid his head heavily back down on his pillow, "Great just what I need, Santa's little helpers waking me up." He tried desperately to make himself go back to sleep so he could maybe skip out on being put to work with decorating but found it a little hard with the cheerful music and the not so good voices of the team singing along with the exception of Eliot's voice which couldn't quite drown the others' out (unfortunately).
He figured that if he was going to have to suffer through all of this then he at least needed coffee to do so, and somehow managed to find the courage to crawl out of bed and descend the stairs. Don't get him wrong, he was expecting a change but what Nathan Ford was met with was a complete transformation. "You call this decorating?" He asked them disbelievingly, "Did you guys rob Santa's place and bring it back with you?"
Parker looked up from hanging fake snowflakes from the ceiling when she heard Nate's voice, "I don't think it'd be a smart idea to rob Santa so close to Christmas cause he'd definitely know who it was. You like it?"
"Uh….haha," he began clueless how to even begin to explain what he was seeing, "Um it definitely….reflects Christmas."
"Good," Parker nodded, "because that was our goal."
"Yeah well I'm just going to go get some coffee," he said slowly looking around at his Winter Wonderland of an apartment. There was a huge tree in the corner completely decked out with lights, garland, ornaments, tinsel, and everything else people put on Christmas trees and even had a couple presents already setting under it. He continued to look around wondering how in the world they were able to fit all this in a car because everywhere he looked there was something reflecting it was Christmas; there was garland everywhere and snowflakes hanging down from what seemed like every inch the ceiling had to offer, that fake spray snow on the windows with sayings like "Ho Ho Ho" and "Merry Christmas" and "Santa Please Stop Here" (which he guessed was Parker's doing), Christmas stockings were hanging from the kitchen bar, lights were hanging from various places, and there was even a few of those inflatable lawn decorations placed throughout the apartment.
'They've gone completely insane,' he thought to himself after he finally made it to the kitchen and poured himself some strong coffee still trying to take in everything but was interrupted from his thoughts when Hardison walked over with a huge smile plastered to his face. 'Uh-oh that's not a good sign.'
"Hey everyone get in here," the hacker yelled turning down the music, "I finally got it all hooked up."
Nate looked cautiously over towards Hardison, "Got what hooked up?"
"The train of course," he replied joyfully and pressed a button on a small remote in his hand. As soon as he hit the button Nate heard a loud 'Choo-choo' and glanced up and noticed the small track going around the whole perimeter of the apartment.
"Oooh Hardison it's beautiful," Sophie said in awe as they all watched the small train make its way around the track.
"Yeah man pretty impressive," Eliot agreed patting the hacker on the back, but Nate just shook his head at how extreme they were decorating.
"Now that you're free Hardison," Sophie stated pulling on his arm, "you can help me finish decorating the front door."
"You couldn't ask Eliot for help?" he asked dejectedly, "Cause it took a lot out of me to put up all that track."
She shook her head at his reluctance to help, "No he can't help because him and Parker are going to tackle the stairs…plus all you have to do is hang the mistletoe from the door and-"
"Whoa whoa whoa," he interjected holding his hands up in complaint, "Mistletoe? As in the kissing thing?"
"Yes," Sophie replied slowly nodding her head, "What's wrong?"
He gave her a look that stated it should be obvious, "Uh look around here. There's five of us in which THREE of us are guys."
She gave him a sexy little smirk, "I know that's why I want to hang it up, duh Hardison. Now jump up on that chair and get to hanging!"
"Nah, uh-uh, if you want that thing hanging from that door you better do it yourself or corral someone else to do it," he objected taking a few steps back.
"Oh come on Hardison," she pleaded giving him her best pouting face, "It's Christmas, plus you can just make sure not to go through the door with Nate or Eliot….I mean how hard could that be to remember?"
He looked at her wearily trying to decide to help her out or not.
"And you wouldn't want to see me fall and get hurt putting it up would you?" she continued dishing out her best pity game, "A strong man like you can get up and down there in a couple of minutes."
The hacker heaved a sigh realizing that helping her was going to be a mistake but grabbed the stupid mistletoe from her anyway, "Give me that damn thing….I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if you got hurt. Stupid mistletoe."
"Oh thank you Hardison," she gushed. "No a little to the left...no right…a smidge that way-"
"One more correction and you will be hanging this yourself," he told her finally just sticking it in the middle and hopping down from the chair, "I think that deserves a kiss in itself."
She gave a laugh and reached over placing a small kiss on his cheek then left him standing there with a goofy smile plastered to his face mumbling about how no one could resist him. The grifter headed back over to the kitchen to join Eliot and Parker, "You guys ready to make cookies?"
"God will it ever end?" Nate asked looking up from the table, "First we pick for Secret Santa, then you guys take over my place and make it look like Santa's workshop, and now cookies?"
"Well the only thing you've participated in has been Secret Santa so stop your complaining," Sophie told him before going to the fridge to get out some ingredients.
Parker walked over to the table a few minutes later and sat down next to Nate with a huge bowl in hand mixing it, "You sure you don't want to help? We're mostly making these to give to the people we're caroling to. Eliot says that way they'll feel obligated to stay and listen to us."
Her comment made him smile, "Yeah well I've heard you guys and I think Eliot is probably right."
She laughed which made him smile even more causing him to realize how much he loved her laugh and was glad he was the cause of it.
"So now that you're more awake, do you like the decorations?" she asked hoping he didn't completely hate them.
"Haha…still not quite sure. Whose idea was it to bring in the inflatable things?" he asked.
"It was a group decision," she answered honestly, "Though I picked the snowman with the overly large head; he's just absolutely adorable."
"I suppose it's kinda cute," he agreed, "but I will definitely say you guys went all out."
Parker looked at him and noticed the sadness in his eyes wishing there was something she could do to make him happier, "Do you want to decorate the cookies with us? I'd like you to."
He looked over at her and decided it wouldn't kill him to decorate cookies, "I suppose I can sprinkle a few but I'm only doing this because you asked me to."
That made her smile and she stood up to go back to the kitchen happy that he was going to help, "Great! I'll come get you when we're ready. And thanks Nate."
"Sure thing," he replied hoping the cookies would take awhile to bake.
An hour or so later found the team sitting around the table smearing colorful frosting and loading sprinkles galore on the cookies they just baked. Nate looked around noticing the smiles on everyone's faces giving a laugh when Sophie reached over a smeared a little frosting on Hardison's cheek for a comment he made about her cookie decorating, and Parker had a beautiful smile on her face, which he was always glad to see.
He was finding that he was actually enjoying himself until Hardison mentioned how he missed doing this with his foster family, causing Nate to flashback to when he and Sam would decorate Christmas cookies. He remembered how Sam used to always tell him that frosting cookies was one of his favorite things about Christmas because they did it together; all he could picture was his son's brilliant smile and contagious laugh but then his memories shifted to Sam in the hospital hooked up to all these machines with a scared look in his eyes and Nate was helpless to do anything to help him. All the happiness he was feeling left him quickly, leaving him even more depressed now than he had been earlier.
Parker looked up from her bell shaped cookie about to show Nate but noticed quickly that something must have upset him because his eyes were beginning to tear up with his face looking distraught and pained; concerned she reached over lightly squeezing his arm, "You okay Nate?"
He just shook his head before quickly pushing away from the table and heading upstairs so he could get away and try to get all these great yet painful memories of Sam from running through his mind. This was the reason he hated this time of year because it almost always brought up these memories, that and of course Sam's birthday was always hard to handle as well but at least that was only one day and not a month of constant reminding.
Everyone stopped what they were doing curious as to what had upset Nate because it seemed as though he was actually enjoying himself there for a little while. Sophie glanced over to Parker who stood up quickly, "I'm going to see if he's okay."
As soon as she said that they heard a huge crash above them, Sophie nodded, "Good idea. Poor Nate." Eliot and Hardison shook their heads in agreement and hated that their friend still had a hard time with his son's loss, wishing there was something they could do to help him but when they offered he just acted as though they hadn't even said anything.
Usually Parker just let Nate handle this kind of thing alone because she knew that that's what he wanted but she couldn't stand it anymore, couldn't stand knowing he was suffering all by himself because he deserved better than that and no one should have to go through what he was alone.
She quietly pushed open the door to his room, it was dark but the light from the hall was enough to guide her. She noticed his bed stand had been kicked over and everything on it had been flung halfway across the room and found Nate sitting on the edge of his bed crying holding a picture which she assumed was of Sam.
Slowly she went over to him half expecting him to yell at her to get out and leave him alone but he remained quiet and let her sit next to him. Somehow she just knew he needed someone to cling to, to hold onto, someone who was alive, so she grabbed the picture slowly from his hands and gently set it on the bed then wrapped her arms comfortingly around him. As soon as he felt her hug him, he turned and hugged her to him tightly not wanting her to go.
How she knew that he needed her he didn't know but he was glad nonetheless because honestly he was tired of dealing with this alone but he just didn't know how to ask anyone for help and part of him still felt as though he deserved to suffer since he still felt as though he didn't fight hard enough for Sam. How long she held him allowing him to get it all out he couldn't tell you though it had to have been awhile because he no longer heard any commotion from downstairs anymore.
Parker, sensing he was feeling a bit better, pulled back to take a look at him, his eyes were of course red from crying but at least the pain wasn't showing on his face anymore. "I wish I could somehow make the memories hurt less."
He glanced away from her because he felt bad that he was making her worry about him, "I'm sorry Parker."
"For what Nate?" she asked surprised then reached over and gently lifted his chin so he'd look at her, "You have nothing to be sorry for. We know how much this time of year affects you and we still tried to push you too much, so I'm the one who's sorry."
He shook his head, "You were just trying to get me happier. I just want to be able to think of him and be happy; not begin with happy memories that turn bad. I want to be able to remember his smile, his laugh, just everything without me having to drink to forget the bad ones."
Her heart broke a little more after hearing his declaration because it had to be horrible to not be able to remember someone you loved so much because of the pain that came along with it. "Nate I can't even imagine what you're going through but maybe you can just tell yourself not to remember the bad and just live your life for him in memory of all the amazing little memories you have of him, but I also realize that's probably easier said than done."
He knew she was right but he also didn't know if he was truly ready to move on because although he knew he never will forget about Sam he was always terrified that if he did move forward that somehow he'd slowly begin to forget his son and he never wanted that to happen. But also he knew had to move on, he couldn't continue to live like this because it wasn't fair to himself or anyone else in his life. "You're right Parker but I don't think I'll be able to do it alone."
"When will you realize that you're not alone Nate? We're here for you," she told him seriously, "I'm here for you and I always will be because you've been there for me when I needed it. I lo-," she started but caught herself before she told him she loved him, "I really care for you and I hate to watch you struggling alone."
He looked at her a little curiously wondering what she stopped herself from saying, but shook it off knowing that it wasn't what he found himself wanting her to say to him because that would just be crazy if she felt the same for him. So instead he gave a small smile, "I'm beginning to realize that I have people who can and want to help me and it took you for me to understand that."
"I hope you're feeling better," she said glad that she could be there for him, "Do you want to stay up here a little longer or do you want to go back downstairs?"
"I'm feeling a bit better," he told her and gave a sigh before answering her question, "Yeah we can go back down….besides it sounds as though everyone else went home."
"I thought it was a little quieter than usual," she laughed lightly before standing up and reaching her hand out for him to take it.
Nate grabbed her hand and gave her one last hug whispering thanks into her ear before they headed back down the stairs and found that the rest of the team had left; he saw a note on the table in Sohpie's handwriting saying that she hoped everything was okay and that they'd see them tomorrow. "Wow they actually cleaned up after themselves."
"I know it may be a first," Parker laughed following Nate over to the couch where they relaxed and watched a little tv but mostly just talked, which was nice because it was rare that they ever really just sat down and talked about their likes and dislikes.
Hours later though Parker gave a huge yawn and decided that she should probably head home to get some sleep so she could go caroling with Hardison, Sophie, and Eliot without stumbling through the songs.
Nate stood up to walk her over to the door where she stopped and turned with a look as if she was contemplating something, "Hey Nate I know you're answer is still no, but I'd like it if you went caroling with us…you don't have to sing you can just fake it but it would be nice to have your company."
He was going to say no but something stopped him (probably the pleading look the thief was giving him) and sighed dejectedly, "I guess I'll go but I'm standing in the back and probably won't sing."
She smiled big and gave him a hug, "Thanks; it definitely means a lot and I'm sure Sophie will be ecstatic."
"Oh god I don't even want to hear what she'll have to say," he replied rolling his eyes and noticed the mistletoe hanging over them and kind of froze.
Curious as to what he was looking at, Parker looked up and realized why he froze. She looked back towards him and met his gaze wondering if they were going to stick with tradition or if they'd just act as though neither one had seen it; personally was hoping for the first to happen.
He didn't quite know where in the hell his courage came from all of a sudden but didn't really care at the moment because he was going to take this chance that somehow stumbled across him.
Parker was about to say something when she noticed him slowly lean forward and met him halfway. Nate knew that the kiss would be nice but when their lips met he wasn't expecting it to be as amazing as it was. He began slowly walking forward until he had her pinned against the open door behind her, he couldn't seem to get enough of her kiss, but finally pulled back, though thoroughly regretted doing so and all he could think of was how he wanted to kiss her again.
She was breathing a little heavier and quickly scanned his face trying to read how he felt, but her brain was still slightly hazy from their previous kiss and couldn't tell if the look he was giving her was good or bad. "That was-"
"Amazing," he finished giving her a real smile, one that wasn't hiding sadness or pain behind it like all the ones he had been giving lately. He suddenly remembered that she stopped herself from saying something earlier and wanted to know what it was, "Parker earlier when you said that you were here for me you were about to say something but stopped and said something else. What was it?"
She gave a nervous laugh wondering if she should tell him but didn't want to make things awkward between them if he didn't feel the same but realized that he apparently enjoyed the kiss so she decided she'd put herself at risk. "I was going to say that I….I love you. I know it's probably stupid and that you don't-" But she didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as his lips were on hers again but she wasn't about to complain.
Nate knew he probably should have let her finish but hearing those words come out of her mouth was the best thing he's heard in awhile and definitely the best Christmas present he's received in awhile. When he pulled back again, he gave her a huge smile and placed his forehead against hers, "I love you too Parker but I guess I've been kinda pushing those feelings down for awhile with all the other stuff that's been bothering me and it took the past couple of days for me to rediscover those feelings."
"Well I'm just glad you did rediscover them," she smiled then laughed, "And that Sophie is such a romantic and hung mistletoe."
"Yeah I may actually thank her tomorrow," he stated, "Speaking of tomorrow, I suppose I should let you actually leave."
She gave another huge yawn and nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah that'd probably be the best but I'll definitely see you tomorrow and don't think that I forgot you're going caroling with us."
"Man I thought the kiss may have made you forget that little tidbit," he said jokingly leaning in for one last kiss not believing he was lucky enough as to have to women he loved to love him back.
It took all of Parker's willpower to leave but she did eventually gather enough of it to leave thinking back to how all of this started and smiled, glad that Nate was finally going to try to move on, in which she'd make sure he wasn't alone in doing so.
The next day found the team dressed warmly with Parker and Nate telling them that they were kind of a thing now which brought a bought of congratulations and squeals (at least from Sophie as Eliot and Hardison didn't squeal).
They gathered the cookies they made last night and headed outside to begin their caroling quest. All in all, I guess you could say it was a success but there were a few who threw the cookies back when they heard them sing and others who were desperately trying to find a way to get away but mostly they received smiles and thanks with of course 'Merry Christmas' thrown in as well. The last house they went to Parker started 'Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer' and had the help of Eliot then Nate and Hardison with Sophie apologizing to the people then glared at them but ended up joining in at the end with a 'What the hell?'
Periodically Parker would look over at Nate to see how he was and he'd always respond with a smile, a squeeze to her hand, and a small kiss to her cheek followed by an 'I love you.' She didn't know how she got this lucky but would definitely take it because she absolutely loved Nathan Ford and couldn't imagine being with anyone else plus it was nice being with someone who loved her just as much.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
A week later was Christmas day and time to reveal who got who's name in the Secret Santa drawing.
"I swear we're always waiting on those two," Sophie complained looking at her watch wondering where in the hell Eliot and Hardison could be.
"Whoever got their names should have gotten them a watch," Nate agreed looking up when he heard the door followed by those two arguing.
"I don't care man. You should have-"
"Oh look who's under the mistletoe?" Sophie announced loudly barely containing her laughter but Parker and Nate didn't hold back.
Eliot's face went red in either immense embarrassment or anger but probably both and Hardison stood frozen with his mouth open as though he was trying to form something to say. Eliot then shook his head and went to step forward but stopped at Sophie's words.
"You can't leave yet Eliot," she declared, "You haven't given Hardison a kiss yet."
"I ain't giving him a kiss," Eliot yelled.
"Yeah I agree," Hardison said finally coming out of his stupor, "I knew this would happen but nooo I had to fall for Sophie's little ploy and hang the stupid thing."
Nate contained his laughter long enough to say, "If you two don't give each other at least something of a kiss and you break tradition then I'll have you two do the worst jobs for a year's worth of cons and I think you guys know how bad some of the jobs can be."
Eliot was going to step forward anyway but stopped when he thought of all the horrible jobs he could get stuck with and faltered, looking over in disgust at Hardison, who had the same look on his face.
"Come on you two," Parker egged, "Kiss, kiss."
Sophie secretly pulled her phone out to take a picture because she wasn't about to let this photo-op pass her by.
Eliot then turned back to Nate begging, "Please man this is just cruel and unusual punishment."
"Just do it," Nate said.
Hardison had been thinking hard to figure out a loophole and almost gave up hope and was about to ready himself with kissing Eliot but finally came up with a solution and stood a little closer to the hitter so he could whisper it to him.
"Why'd you have to hang the stupid plant Hardison?" Eliot asked. "This is probably the worst thing I've ever had to do."
Hardison being Hardison took offense, "That hurts man because I know some of the horrible things you had to do plus you've almost died a couple of times. That wasn't worse?"
Eliot acted as though he thought about it but shook his head, "Nope…this is the worst."
Hardison looked towards Eliot ready to get this over with, "You ready?"
"I guess," he said.
They both moved their hands to their mouth giving it a kiss then "blew" it to each other glad to be through with it.
"Aw that's cheating!" Sophie said still capturing the picture because it was hilarious even to see them do that.
"Hey nowhere does it say what kind of kiss," Hardison argued collapsing on the couch.
"I guess," Sophie stated disappointedly, "But I was at least hoping for a cheek kiss."
"Well that's a wish that won't be coming true," Eliot assured her, "Now let's get to business cause I'm dying to know who got my name."
Nate gave Parker hers, a couple of plane tickets to wherever she wanted to go, "Though you have to promise not to steal anything."
"Haha. I promise….maybe," she told him handing over his present.
He ripped the paper away finding a picture frame with a picture of him and Sam together, both with big smiles; his eyes teared up again, "Where did you get this?"
"Maggie," she said simply, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he said smiling up at her leaning over to give her a kiss, "I didn't know there was a picture of just us. Thank you Parker, seriously. I love it."
"I'm glad," she smiled looking over towards the others who coughed a little feeling as though they were watching a personal moment between them.
Hardison however quickly clasped his hands together, "Okay, my turn. Here you go Sophie and just know I had no clue what to get a women who has a billion pieces of clothes and double the amount of shoes."
"I don't have a billion," she stressed, "Though I have at least probably almost two hundred but that's beside the point." She opened her gift and gasped, "Hardison it's beautiful."
He blushed, "Yeah well you know."
She held up a gorgeous necklace for everyone to see and gave him a hug before handing Eliot his gift.
"What is it?" he asked holding a long thin mystery. "A staff or something so I can beat Hardison?"
"No. I don't promote violence," she said, "Just open it."
He started at the bottom and quickly discovered it was the fishing rod and reel he had been looking at getting for awhile now, "Oh wow Sophie thanks. I've been wanting this. How about a little fishing trip Hardison?"
"Hell nah," Alec stated, "And my gift from you better not be a matching one to yours because you wouldn't catch me dead on a lake."
Eliot rolled his eyes before giving Hardison his gift.
The hacker had excitement written all over his face hoping to see the soda machine but his face fell when he saw his gift, "A knife?"
"Hey it's not just a knife man, it's a Swiss knife" Eliot stated offended, "It does just about everything."
"Does it make Orange soda?"
"No, but I thought you didn't have one and it will come in handy."
"I didn't have an Orange soda maker either," Hardison complained, "And when in the hell am I outside?"
"Well maybe you'll go outside more now that you have a knife," Eliot argued, "You're supposed to appreciate anything you get anyway. It's the season to give not receive."
"A knife?" Hardison stated again but sighed knowing Eliot was right, "But I suppose I can open my mail with it at least and whatever else you can cut."
"See that's the spirit," Eliot said clapping him on the back, "And it'll come in handy when we go fishing."
"I already told you I ain't going fishing, unless it's on the Wii because this man does not do nastiness."
"We'll see."
Eliot and Hardison kept up their little disagreement with Sophie stepping in every once in awhile to try to keep the peace (which was pretty much a lost cause).
Nate then sat back with Parker joining him, leaning up against him. He looked down at her, "You know where you want to go yet?"
"There's quite a few but I think it'll definitely be a place with a lot of museums that house some precious artifacts."
He laughed, "Well I guess I'll at least be there to keep an eye on you, but the goal is to keep you so preoccupied that you won't even think about stealing anything."
"I'd love to see how you accomplish that," she smiled wanting to go to wherever right then.
"I bet," he stated leaning down for a kiss glad that he decided to let someone in to show him that maybe Christmas time wasn't so bad after all, as long as you were with the right people, "I love you."
Parker leaned her head against his chest, "And I love you Nathan Ford."
The End
A/N: Wow this was a long one but I'm happy with how it turned out and I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Please, please, please review…it is almost Christmas you know…hint, hint…nudge, nudge. Just joking but I'd still like to know what you guys thought.