Christmas Eve
"I'm leaving now Naru!" Mai called though her boss's open door. "See you in two days!"
"I will see you tomorrow." Oliver Davis replied coldly.
"But tomorrow is Christmas?" Mai replied, nonplussed.
"Tomorrow is a working day."
"But it's Christmas." Mai stated as she stuck her head around Oliver's door.
"Yes, tomorrow is the day Christians celebrate Christmas. But Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan as I am sure you are aware, so you have no right to a free day off and thus I will see you here tomorrow at 9am sharp."
"But Lin has the day off!" Mai protested.
"Lin booked his day off two weeks ago, as dictated by company policy." Oliver said.
"Well had I known you were going to be a jerk about having Christmas off then I would have booked it off too!" Mai yelled.
"Yesterday was a national holiday, was that not enough for you?" Oliver rolled his eyes.
"Yesterday was the Emperor's birthday." Mai deadpanned. "Not Christmas. Hang on, I didn't have to book Christmas off last year!"
"Last year we had just returned from a case and I had somewhere else to be. The office was closed as it's boss was unavailable."
"As if that ever stopped the office being open before." Mai muttered darkly.
"I will see you at 9am tomorrow." Oliver said finally. He would not be swayed on this matter; Christmas was just another day for him. It had been ever since Gene had died. Even before then it had been a lot of unnecessary noise and bother.
Mai snorted in frustration and stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind her. Trust Oliver to ruin Christmas.
"Bloody Scrooge." Mai muttered as she stormed out of the building towards the bus stop.
Meanwhile…
Madoka was lying on the sofa in Lin's apartment stroking her husband's hair as she dial a familiar number on her mobile. Lin was lying with his head in her lap and his eyes were just beginning to drift off to sleep.
"Monk? Is that you?" Madoka grinned. "I have an idea."
Lin's eyes shot open. Madoka was planning something.
"Well Mai forgot to book Christmas off and I am sick of Noll being an idiot." Madoka said calmly. "I have a brilliant plan."
Madoka listened as Monk said something and Lin sat up, staring at his wife with a concerned expression on his face.
"Well…" And Madoka began outlining her ingenious plan. Lin listened in horror. "Are you and Ayako free to assist?"
Monk obviously replied in the affirmative.
"Brilliant." Madoka grinned. "Tomorrow at the office at 8am." She hung up the phone.
"Noll is going to murder you." Lin said finally.
"Well half of the plan was Luella's idea and he can't very well kill us both." Madoka replied, unconcerned.
"I wouldn't put it past him to try."
"It'll be fine. Besides, the idiot needs to tell Mai he likes her before she gets over him. It's been what, two years, since he found Gene's body? It's time for him to get a move on. That girl will not wait forever."
"You are not wrong." Lin agreed and he lay back down, tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.
Christmas Day
Mai arrived at the office at 9am on the dot. Oliver's door was shut and she had no intention of going in there. She dumped her bag by her desk, made herself a cup of tea and then started on her to-do list.
It wasn't until almost lunchtime that Mai realised that Oliver had yet to ask for tea; which on any ordinary day would have happened at least five times already. But she was not going to give in and take tea to him. Especially soon as he had no manners.
As she passed his office to warm up her lunch in the microwave, she stuck an ear to the door. She could hear a muffled voice; he must be on the phone.
However, when the clock struck 3pm, Mai was slightly concerned. Oliver had not come out of his office, demanded tea or well, anything. On any ordinary day, he would demand tea twice an hour, pop out to talk to Lin or Mai and just generally make his presence known.
"I could just give him his card…" Mai mumbled to herself. She had agonised last night over what to write in the card. How should she sign it? 'Love from Mai xxx' seemed too much. 'From Mai' seemed too little. And while she knew perfectly well that Oliver did not care for festive cards, she had written him one anyway. Ma had even gone to the effort of writing it in English, because she knew Oliver was not as comfortable with the Japanese writing system. She would be damned if he was going to ruin her fun.
Well what was the worst that could happen? He would dismiss her coldly and she would leave. Mai hardened her resolve and stood up from her desk, clutching the card in her hand. She strode over to his office door and knocked.
But there was no response.
Mai knocked again.
Yet still there was no response.
"Jerk." Mai hissed. Then ignoring social protocol, Mai barged straight into the office and her mouth dropped open.
Oliver Davis was sitting in his office chair with duct tape across his mouth. The rest of his body up to his neck and the chair he was sat in was covered in Christmas wrapping paper and taped so that he obviously could not escape. Around the top of his bed was a big red decorative ribbon.
His beautiful blue eyes were wide and angry, but Mai burst out laughing.
"Who did that to you?" She asked, giggling. "I would guess Madoka, but I doubt she's strong enough to subdue you and I doubt Lin would have anything to do with such a prank. Please tell me you aren't naked under there…" Mai blushed at the thought.
Oliver tried to speak but the duct tape inhibited any sound from escaping effectively. As he 'spoke' his head flicked a tag that was attached to the ribbon around so it was covering his face.
"What does that say?" Mai wondered out loud. She discarded her card on the desk and picked up the tag. "Dear Mai, Merry Christmas, Love Madoka, Lin, Monk and Ayako. P.S. Play with him as you will. P.P.S Look up."
Oliver wriggled fruitlessly against his bonds as Mai laughed and looked up; there was a bunch of mistletoe stuck to the ceiling above their heads.
"Oh if only." Mai mumbled. "Give me two seconds I will get you out of this." She paused momentarily. "You are clothed right?" Oliver nodded fervently. As much as she appreciated the prank, it was unfair to leave Oliver in such a state. She ripped the duct tape none too gently from his mouth and started to cut the multiple layers of tape holding him to the chair.
"Mai, hurry up, I very much need to relieve myself." Oliver hissed. Mai refrained from giggling and tore off the last of the paper. Oliver sprung from his chair and ran from the room. She now let herself laugh and resignedly started picking up the paper from the floor.
When she had just collected up all of the paper and placed it in Oliver's office bin, the man himself re-entered the room.
"I had nothing to do with this." Mai said immediately, and then noticed that the decorative ribbon and tag were still attached to the top of Oliver's head. A smile played around Mai's lips.
"I know you didn't." Oliver said, pulling the ribbon from his head and throwing it at the bin.
"I just came to give you your card." Mai said sheepishly, pointing to the card.
"Why did you not come in here earlier?" Oliver demanded.
"Because you hadn't asked me too." Mai replied, frowning.
"And since when have you ever listened to anything anyone has ever told you to do?" He retorted.
"Since you were being such a jerk about making me come in on Christmas day! I had half a mind to call in sick, then you really would have been stuffed." Mai said angrily.
"And why was that tag addressed to you anyway?"
Mai blushed furiously, wasn't that blindingly obvious?
"Why do you think?" Mai replied fiercely, but Oliver wasn't looking at her, but just above her head. Mai glanced up; the mistletoe was still hanging above her head. Mai hastily stepped away from where she was standing and promptly tripped over the office chair.
Oliver stepped forward and caught Mai almost lazily. He drew her into his arms and pulled her upright.
"Um, thank you." She mumbled, and then noticed they were under the mistletoe again.
"Why did they write your name on that tag?" Oliver repeated in a low voice. He was staring intently down at Mai as if trying to read her mind.
"Because…" Mai stuttered under his gaze. "Because they know how I feel about you and probably thought it'd be funny…" She burst out, closing her eyes so she couldn't see the look of disgust that was bound to appear on his face.
"Well I have told you before you have good taste." He whispered. Mai opened her eyes just in time to see him bend down before he kissed her. When they broke apart, he added: "Mistletoe, it's traditional I believe, especially with loved ones."
"Yes." Mai whimpered, slightly in shock.
"Go and get your things together." Oliver said and Mai almost ran from the office to get her coat and bag. Oliver picked up the Christmas card Mai had left for him and opened it.
It read: To Naru, have a merry Christmas and a happy new year, love always Mai x.
He let a small smile grace his lips at the English and looked up to see Mai standing in his doorway with her coat on. Oliver placed the card on his desk and pulled on his own coat.
"Come on." He said marching out of the office, taking Mai's hand.
"Where are we going?" Mai asked as he dragged her along.
"Well I have two ideas in mind. The first is murdering Madoka."
"Naru, it was just a joke." Mai said uneasily as they left the office.
"The second is taking you to dinner."
"It's not even 3:30…" Mai said, frowning.
"Mai, it's Christmas, don't be such a spoil sport." Oliver said, smirking down at her. Mai narrowed her eyes for a moment, then laughed.
"Merry Christmas Naru!" Mai said, grinning up at him.
"Merry Christmas Mai." Naru replied, giving her a rare genuine smile.
Author's note: Merry Xmas everyone!