BETA READ by LA Calleigh
It was December 24th, and for the first time in more than five years, it seemed like the members of Lieutenant Caine's team would get the chance to a nice Christmas Eve off the job. It had been five years since the team was given the chance to have a nice holiday without being forced into the CSI building for a bunch of Santas who had been painting the town red, or a couple killing each other because of the contents of their presents, or lack thereof.
A huge Christmas tree was sitting in the hallway. The whole Crime Lab was decorated with many garlands in as many different colors, and Paula's desk was lit up by Christmas lights. The Christmas bonnet she was wearing fit in perfectly with the atmosphere hanging in the whole building, and the homelike environment radiated through all people working at CSI.
Maybe the fact day shift would end in only half an hour had something to do with it as well. It was really quiet for a Christmas Eve. There hadn't been any new cases since that morning, except for a little fight at the local grocery store. Two women had been fighting over the last turkey, and it had gotten a little out of hand. Both women had ended up being brought to the hospital and released later the same day. Christmas Eve always seemed to bring out the worse in the last minute shoppers.
As the night shift workers gradually drifted into the CSI building, and darkness fell, the cheerfulness amongst the day shift people increased even more. When their shift finally ended at eight, each of them packed up and headed home to get a shower, and get changed before gathering at Natalia's.
She had invited the team members to spend Christmas Eve at her home. Natalia would order some food, while Eric had promised to take care of the drinks. He arrived an hour late, with a trunk full of drinks, and Frank and Horatio immediately went to help him, while Ryan continued to listen to the conversation going on between the women.
No one would have ever thought the supply of alcohol was going to be used up so fast. It was only eleven when Ryan noticed Calleigh had just taken the last bottle of Kriek. The ballistics expert was absolutely nuts about the Belgian beer, probably because it was fermented with sour cherries, and Eric realized that he should have brought more of Calleigh's favorite beer. He hadn't thought about it beforehand, and had only brought eight little bottles, and Calleigh had actually drank six of them. It was Christmas Eve, so no one was really worried about the drinking.
The homelike atmosphere only increased when Natalia turned the music up, and it was no longer background noise. At this point, she was probably the most sober of everyone present. Ryan and Valera were starting to get quite close on the couch, while Calleigh began dancing in the middle of the room. Eric, Horatio and Frank all were dancing with her so close, it seemed like they were going to suffocate her. Between the effects of the alcohol and the attention of the men, she began to giggle.
The ordered food arrived at midnight. As the wonderful smell of something to eat filled the nostrils of all CSIs present, everyone seemed to sober up a bit. The food was dispatched in less than half an hour.
After their Christmas meal, it was time to open the presents. It was well past midnight, and everyone was pretty curious about the contents of their respective gifts.
About ten days earlier, all seven team members had gathered up in the break room, where everyone had to pick a little paper out of an evidence bag, on which would be the name of one of the team members. The purpose was to buy a present for the one you had picked. It was considered tradition amongst the colleagues to do this. Alexx had been the one to introduce it, and it was pretty awkward for the other team members without her.
Two days before the party, Eric and Ryan had not found the right present for the ones on their little paper yet. Eric's had Frank's thin, untidy handwriting, while Ryan's had the elegant font of Valera. The guys had only bought their presents that morning. Maybe it wasn't just typical for men and Christmas presents, for Horatio and Frank had bought their presents a week before already.
Detective Tripp was pretty sure Calleigh would love the ear studs specially made for her. A one of a kind pair, made of silver bullets. Horatio had bought the hostess a good service weapon, since she had just gotten her gun carrying permit.
Calleigh had just started laughing as she read the name on her paper ten days earlier. She had drawn Horatio's name, and she immediately knew what to buy him. She hadn't saved any expenses nor efforts to get him the best present he was ever going to get, which was a digital photo frame. It took her quite a bit of time to find the right pictures for the frame. Once she was done, however, she had been more than pleased with the result.
It had taken her about a week to have her DVD player connected, so she too was very happy she had been able to get it done so fast. And especially in comparison with the time she had spent on picking the right pictures.
In contrast to the other team members, Natalia and Valera had done their Christmas shopping together, so they could give each other some advice on what to buy for respectively Ryan and Eric. They had ended up with buying Ryan a new evidence kit to use on the job, and buying Eric an iPod to listen to some music during his daily runs.
At two in the morning, there was nearly nothing left of the huge amount alcohol brought to the party. Most of the team was more than a little drunk, most of them now sitting nursing their drinks, when Natalia's doorbell rang loudly, announcing some unexpected late night visitors. Natalia, being the least drunk of the whole company, ran off to open the door and was surprised to find two police officers standing there on her threshold.
"I'm sorry to disturb your little party, but there have been some complaints from the neighbors about the noise…" The officer's sentence trailed off into thin air, as he noticed Natalia wasn't all too sober. He briefly glanced at his partner, before they forced their way in the house and found another six people also in a state of impaired sobriety. The youngest of the police officers noticed a black Smith & Wesson lying on the table and thought his next step was inevitable. He picked up the gun and ordered them, "Hands on the table."
First, Eric just started to laugh, trying to explain it surely was a mistake. "We are the police." Something in the police officer's stare, however, assured him and his fellow team members they really weren't joking, and quietness gradually took over.
As the group moved over to put their hands on the table, they all started to laugh. Wasn't it just hilarious that seven cops got stuck in such situation on Christmas Eve?