DISCLAIMER : I wish I did, but obviously I don't own CSI nor the characters. Although, I'd snatch up a certain actor in a heartbeat, if I could. But for now, I give you this. Seasons Greetings everyone.
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Leave it to Mandy to come up with a hellish idea like this! David thought to himself as he stared at a torn rectangle of paper, which the fingerprints specialist placed on the table, in front of him during break. He wished they'd all just leave him alone, to celebrate the holiday the way he wanted to, without having to answer to anyone. But no! Mandy and Henry thought it would be "fun" for all the technicians on the graveyard shift to celebrate the season by participating in the whole secret santa crap.
Wendy walked over and planted her hands on the trace tech's shoulders, gently squeezing in a rather relaxing way, and piped up. "Aw, come on Hodges, don't be such a Scrooge. It's just some harmless fun. Where's your Christmas spirit?" She completed the contact between the two, playfully shaking the man sitting at the table.
David grumbled and rolled his eyes. "Fine!" He reluctantly reached for a pen and scribbled his name down on the paper that still sat before him. He folded it, and tossed it over in Mandy's direction. "Are you happy now?" Darting a look at over his shoulder at the young lady behind him.
Wendy smiled her sweet innocent smile, as her brown eyes lit up. "As a matter of fact, I am." She commented as she took a mouthful of her bottled water. "I will have you in the holiday spirit before the holidays are over."
"I doubt that!" David muttered under his breath.
"Is this a bet I hear brewing?" Archie's ears perked up, as he lowered the magazine he was reading. "If so, I want in!"
"There is no bets, no nothing, so get the ridiculous idea out of your head." David snapped at the AV tech. He stood up and made his way to the sink, tossing out the last mouthful of cold coffee, dropping the paper cup into the waste bin.
David made an attempt to leave the break room, but Mandy managed to step in front of him and block the exit. "Not until you pick a name," she ordered, holding up a small bowl with several folded pieces of paper in it.
The two stared intently at the other for a moment before David gave in, seeing Mandy was insistent on everyone drawing names for the secret santa. He let out a sigh of contempt and he reached into the bowl, taking a scrap of paper, then pushed passed the young lady in the doorway. "Christmas is so overrated" he grumbled as he left the others in the break room.
Mandy raised a brow in confusion, looked at the others. "What's his problem?" She questioned, not really expecting an answer as she moved on over toward Archie.
"Whatever it is.. " Archie paused as he looked at Bobby's name on the paper he pulled from the pile. "I don't know if I should pity or wish all the luck to whoever draws his name."
When Mandy reached Wendy, she smiled when she opened the folded paper. Hodges name was staring her back in the face. "This will be fun." Wendy looked up at the rest of the techs, as her pager went off. "I already know what I am getting for this person." She giggled, and waved to her colleagues as she headed out toward her lab.
Archie looked to Mandy then to Henry and Bobby with an amused grin spread across his face. "Who has Hodges?"
Mandy laughed, directing her attention to the AV tech. "It's suppose to be a secret Archie."
"Can't help the curious side of my personality" He smiled sweetly at her. "Seriously!"
Each of the remaining technicians shook their heads, confirming that each held someone elses name in their hand. For a brief moment or two, no one spoke, but just stared at the other.
"He wouldn't have.. " Henry trailed off as they all continued to look at each other.
"Draw his own name? Possible, but would he actually.." Mandy began.
"It's Hodges! Anything is possible, and I can totally see him drawing and keeping his own name." Archie completed Mandy thought.
"Be it for me to say, but the reaction Wendy had toward the name she picked, gave me a weird feeling." Henry piped up as the others looked in his direction, encouraging him to elaborate. "The same feeling I got when I witnessed them looking at each other all flirty like, a couple of times here in this very room. It's kinda gross just thinking about it."
"You think she got his name?" Archie leaned in, resting his arms on the table.
"Come on guys, you're spoiling all the fun." Mandy poked at the two boys. "That's why it's called 'Secret' santa!"
Archie looked up at the brunette and sighed. "If you must insist, fine!"
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Several hours had past before David managed to get another break. It wasn't an overly busy night on trace processing, yet it surely wasn't slow. It was a pace he liked to work. Enough to keep him busy, making the shift move quickly, yet slow enough that he wasn't bombarded with an overload of work which everyone expected to have yesterday.
David strolled back into the break room in search of Greg Sanders coffee stash. Greg was so anal over his precious Blue Hawaiian coffee, making such a deal of it, that it just encouraged David to search, brew and drink the delightful liquid. Greg also had a tendency to hide it in various places, which was just an open invitation for David.
He stood in a stare down with the coffer percolator as it slowly brewed, before blinking several times out of a gaze, then reached into his lab coat pocket for the paper he stuffed in it earlier. He looked at it and was quickly reminded of how he hated the all the festivities of the season. How for several years, no thanks to his mother, he preferred to pick up the holiday shifts no one wanted to work.
He quickly pushed the thought out of his head as the coffee completed it's necessary task. David poured up a cup, adding a sweeter, then sat down setting the cup on the table in front of him. He redirected his eyes to the paper that was still in his hand, and decided to open it. A smirk crept to the corner of his mouth as he admired the gracefulness of Wendy's handwriting. It was as beautiful as the young DNA tech herself.
"What are you smiling about?" Wendy questioned as she walked into the room, startling the trace tech from his thoughts. She grabbed a cup of freshly brewed coffee, thanking David for brewing it with a smile and proceeded to sit down next to him at the table.
David quickly crumpled up the rectangular piece of paper he had in is hand, and tucked it back into the pocket of his lab coat. "Nothing!"
"Must you be so blunt Hodges? I mean, really, it's obvious you're thinking about something worth a smile." Wendy wrinkled her nose at him, as she sipped on her coffee.
He gave Wendy an unimpressed looked and shrugged. "Never noticed."
"Anyway, what's the story with you and your hatred toward the Christmas holidays?"
The smile that once occupied the corners of David's mouth were now gone, replaced by a slight hints of a frown. 'She's persistent, I give her that', he thought. "I just prefer not to indulge in the overwhelming commercialism of the holiday. It's ridiculous and highly overrated!"
This momentarily brought a frown to Wendy's face, before she reached over and patted the back of his hand with hers. She smiled, letting her hand rest on his. "Well, I still plan on changing your outlook on the season, whatever it takes."
"Don't bother. It'll just be wasted time." David sighed, though he questioned the 'whatever it takes' in his mind.
"With what I have in mind...I highly doubt that!"
David looked over at her sporting a devilish grin, trying to figure out what the DNA tech could possibly come up with to convince him otherwise. 'Not that I'll change my mind' He thought, 'But I can't let all her efforts go to a complete waste.' He smirked at the enthusiasm.
Wendy quickly withdrew her hand from his when someone entered the room. She stood once again, pushing the chair back under the table and walked behind David. She stopped and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "..and don't think I didn't see that smirk of your face, Hodges!" She giggled, as she headed out the door.
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A couple days had past in which David had off, but was glad to be back to work. He felt well rested and ready to tackle anything that was thrown in his direction. David emerged from the locker room, and walked down the hall toward his lair, buttoning up his lab coat. As he neared the trace lab, his step slowed, as he took in the sites. Inside the door, a string of colored lights outlined the upper frame. He stopped, trying to register the eye sore, then looked over into the DNA lab to wear the young lady sat, smiling back at him.
David shot Wendy a look, rolled his eyes, then proceeded into his lab trying to ignore the atrocity. Had anyone but Wendy done this, he would of ripped the lights down and stuffed them into the trash can, but he liked the young lady who worked across the hall from him. He liked her a lot, and liked the fact that she was taking the time to do what she was doing.
Shortly after he began his work, Wendy emerged from her lab and appeared in the doorway of his. "Nice try Simms, but its going to take a lot more then a string of colored lights to get me in the festive mood." David commented without looking up from the microscope.
"Oh this is only the first phase of my plan." She retorted with a smile, playing with the loose end of the lights, nearest her, with her fingers. "I've enlisted the help of Mandy for phase two of my plan and you'll see soon enough."
"I can hardly wait!" His tone, dripping with sarcasm.
Wendy walked in and stood on the opposite side of the table to David. "I know that deep down, you're really curious about what I am up too. It's in your nature to be."
"And how would you know that?"
Wendy just gave the trace tech a look. "I just know! Besides, you're not as mysterious and as self drawn as you claim to be Hodges."
David stopped what he was doing, and looked up furrowing his brow at the brunette standing in front of him.
"You'll see phase two of the plan by break time tonight." With that, she flashed him a flirty grin and walked out of the trace lab.
David watched her, as she left, indeed curious, but how she knew that was beyond him. He quickly shook it off, deciding to get back to the task at hand.
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Mandy and Archie sat back on the small couch in the break room, admiring their handy artwork. A five foot artificial tree, decorated with lights, a few hanging bulbs and whatever else they could find in the lab, lit up the room. They laughed when Archie pulled out a small digital camera to capture the moment, as David walked in for a welcome break. He paused and stared at the tree a moment before continuing his trip toward the coffee pot.
"Tis the season to be merry, Hodges." Mandy stood up and cautiously approached David with her hands behind her back.
David eyed her suspiciously as she neared him. "What are you doing?" He flinched backward, as she pulled out from behind, and placed on his head, a red hat with white trim. As quick as Mandy had it placed upon his head, David hauled it off and looked at it.
"Oh come on!" Mandy pleaded, with a saddened look in her eyes. "Can't you for once, let loose, and just enjoy the moment?"
"This is hardly the type of moment I'd consider letting loose for." David grumbled as he folded one arm under the other which held his coffee cup, hat still in hand.
Mandy frowned, knowing it was going to be near impossible to change the mind of the snarky trace tech. In defeat, she stepped back toward the couch.
"So Hodges, how's the shopping going for your secret santa?" Archie asked in amusement as he watched the other man cringe a little in response.
David had totally forgotten about the exchanging of gifts. Probably because he really didn't want any part of it, but then, how could he not. He had chosen Wendy's name. He HAD to get something, he wanted to get something for her, and something special too. "When is this crap going down anyway?"
Mandy retorted. "It's not crap, it's fun and it's festive. How come you can't just bite the bullet and except the fact it's Christmas and open yourself to the festivities of the season?"
"If you must insist on knowing, it's too many bad memories. Let's leave it at that, thank you very much!" David turned his back to the young lady he was speaking to, to retrieve yet another cup of coffee.
"We've decided on Friday after our shift for the gift swap. That gives you three days." The younger male responded.
David looked at Archie, but was apparent his thoughts were elsewhere. 'Three days is hardly enough time to find the perfect gift for the perfect lady.' What the hell was he going to get for the girl of his dreams without making it look obvious that he had feelings for her?
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The following morning after work, David decided to work up the nerve, and venture into one of the many shopping centers Las Vegas had to offer. He felt like an idiot as he wandered in and out of several stores, overwhelmed by the variety to pick from, not knowing what kind of gift to get a girl. The whole outing and the masses of bodies rushing about, quickly reassured David and his views on the season.
After an hour of being congested and annoyed with the hustle and bustle of the holiday shoppers, David decided to sit down near the fountain to try and think. He hated every moment being inside the walls of the shopping center, and the longer he sat, the more frustrated he got. He vowed he wasn't to leave until he had something for Wendy. He pleaded with himself to try and think, but nothing. Finally he resorted to calling someone, but who. David stared at his cell phone and considered calling his mother, but quickly changed his mind on that. Instead, he called Catherine Willows. Catherine was one of the few, ok, the only one he felt he could talk to, without getting interrogated, or made fun of, when he decided to make himself a little vulnerable.
"Willows!" Catherine answered the phone before he could hang up.
Reaching up with his free hand, David rubbed the back of his neck not really knowing what to say.
"...Hello!" Came the voice on the other end.
"Um, yeah hi Catherine.." He broke off in mid sentence.
"Hodges?"
"Yeah, um.. I need to ask you a question." He closed and rubbed his eyes at how stupid he felt at that moment, having to request assistance from someone he hardly knew other than from work.
"Ah, sure!"
No need to beat around the bush he figured. "Any suggestions on a little something a guy could get a girl, you know, as a gift? You know what? Never mind!" David was about to hang up the phone, thinking she'd probably just laugh at how pathetic he must of sounded to her, when he heard her reply.
"How much were you looking to spend?"
David didn't know what the gift price range was with this secret santa, and it never occurred to him to even ask. "Umm thirty dollars?"
"How about some bath soaps or chocolates." Catherine began as David made a mental note. "A stuffed bear perhaps?"
Suddenly it clicked in as Catherine answered part of his question. He stood up and thanked Catherine for her help, then hung up the phone before she could respond, and made his way toward a store he had past on the way in. It was a place where you could design your own stuffed bear. Once at the store, he picked the bear he thought Wendy would like and dressed it the best he could imagine she'd want it to be.
Upon completion, he made his way to a Hallmark store for a card. A simple card was all he needed to complete the gift. As he found the perfect card and purchased it, he quickly made his way out, and to his apartment, relieved to be clear of the hellish torment of the shopping center.