Firstly, I'm sorry I didn't write an entire big chapter about them spending Christmas together. Christmas is a holiday that doesn't give me the same warm fuzzy feelings as it does a lot of people, so I'm not great at writing those types of feelings.

Second of all, Francine Bobo or whatever your name is, if you check my reviews you probably noticed that I did not approve the one where you said you hoped Collins would capture Toby and make him get raped by a dog. That's fucking disgusting and as a survivor of sexual assault, I'm appalled that you think rape should be punishment for being a jerk. Actually, I feel like any decent person should be appalled at that. Please never review my fics again. I would block you if I could.

Anyway, here's the chapter.

Paige sincerely hoped that Cabe and Allie couldn't tell that the entire team spent their Christmas party trying to figure out what was wrong between them. They did their best to exchange glances, cocked eyebrows, and shrugs and nods when the older couple wasn't looking.

They were the first couple to leave, citing Allie's sister being in town, and after a round of hugs, the rest of the team gathered around the door.

"It's been a rough year," Cabe said, nearly echoing what Walter had said before dinner, "but we're all where we're supposed to be again."

"Amen," Happy said. "I'm not even religious, but an amen feels appropriate there."

Allie chuckled. "Again, hate to run on you, but family."

"Family is important," Paige said. "You guys have a great Christmas."

Cabe and Allie slipped out the door. It closed with a quiet click, and after a pause, everyone turned to each other.

"I have no idea what's going on."

"Me either," Sylvester said, nodding toward Happy. "They seem fine."

"No," Toby said, "they seem off. But I can't put my finger on why."

"They definitely seem off," Paige agreed.

"Maybe they just had a fight and that's throwing the rest of everything off," Walter suggested.

"I don't think so," Paige said. "I feel like they would be short with each other if they were fighting. Petty, maybe."

"We can't all have your relationship," Happy said.

Paige opened her mouth to argue, then folded her arms and shrugged. "That's fair."

In Happy's arms, Tad looked at Paige and started giggling.

"Not funny, little guy," Paige said. Tad craned his neck up to look at Happy, then burst into giggles again.

"You've got my sense of humor already," Happy said, bouncing him lightly. "I apologize."

Paige smiled at them, letting her look linger, and then she turned back toward Toby. "What do we do?" She hoped he understood the layers to her question. Most of her and Walter's problems either originated in or were exacerbated by the group. Ditto for him and Happy, and it was even the same for Sylvester and Florence. Allie didn't work with them. Her life with Cabe was almost entirely separate from them. If something was going wrong within Cabe and Allie, there was almost no way of finding it out. Not without getting really, really nosy, even for them.

"Not much that we can do," Toby said, his expression and tone telling her that he understood every bit of what she meant.

Paige pushed her hand up over her forehead and into her hair. "Ugh. It's Christmas. This isn't supposed to be happening."

Walter placed his hand on her back.

"What if it's just one of those normal funks people in long term relationships get into?" Ralph asked.

Paige looked at her son in surprise. "I didn't tell you we were worried about Cabe and Allie."

"It doesn't take half my I.Q. to notice what you all were doing all night," Ralph said. "I mean, I'm assuming. I don't have half my I.Q., so I suppose I can't really say for sure."

"Not to interrupt," Sylvester said, "and not to trivialize the Cabe and Allie issue…"

Paige noticed he and Florence both had their coats on. "Hot date tonight?"

"Very funny," Florence said. "We've still got to exchange Christmas gifts, and then he needs to be able to make the last bus."

The group exchanged hugs. Paige noticed that Happy hesitated before hugging the chemist – and she noticed that Florence noticed Happy's hesitation. Paige found that made her want to hug Florence tightly.

She noticed that Florence also noticed this. The poor woman was still so hyper sensitive to what the others thought of her. It made Paige not care about what today was – at least it made her care a lot less. Walter's hand still resting on her back helped a lot, too.

"Merry Christmas," Paige said, separating from the hug and holding the smaller woman at arm's length.

Florence gave her a small smile. "Merry Christmas, Paige."

"That was a nice party," Florence said as they entered her lab.

"It was," Sylvester said. "We have great holiday events when there is time to plan them. It was actually pretty rare that we didn't have a case this year."

"Sylvester?"

"Yeah?"

"I can tell when people are…thinking a certain way about me."

"Is this about Happy not wanting to hug you goodbye? I noticed that too. Maybe it was just because it's hard to hug when holding the baby and…"

"Not just that." She gulped. "You were…you were acting a way, too."

"I don't understand."

Florence sighed. "It was one year ago today that Walter had his dream. I know you're thinking about that."

His silence told her that she was right. "Sly, it's okay. I know it crossed the others' minds, too. Weirdly, I think Paige is actually the one who thought about it the least." She bit her lip. "And here I was assuming it was going to be her and Walter who acted the weirdest around me."

"I wasn't acting weird around you."

She sighed again. "Not weird, just…different."

"I'm sorry." He tipped his head. "Am I not supposed to think about it?"

"No, but why do you have to make me feel bad about it?"

"I wasn't aware I was doing that."

She stopped. "Okay. Maybe I'm overreacting. You just…you felt different tonight."

"It is hard to get past," Sylvester admitted. "But it wasn't your dream. And if it bothered me that much, I wouldn't be with you right now. I told Paige that, you know. Back when it did bother me that much."

"Told her what?"

"That I couldn't be with you, even if I ever thought that you would want to be with me. Because it was clear to me that I was a consolation prize. Clarify!" He said immediately, "that was just how I felt then. I was messed up then, it was around the same time I…we had that one case…"

Where he'd killed in self – defense. Florence reached out and touched his arm. "I hope you don't still think that."

"No," he said, putting his hand over hers. "No, I don't. There's just…always that little niggling in the back of my mind and it's so hard to get past and I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. Lord knows I'm messed up. It's only fair that I'm okay with you being a little messed up, too."

"I love you," he said, touching her face gently. "And again. I know you aren't there. I don't want you to feel like I expect any response. But I know we both hate lies."

"Lies haven't gotten us anywhere good," she said, pressing her cheek against his hand. "And you don't need that disclaimer every time…but I appreciate it. Are you ready for your gift?"

"Of course."

She grinned. "Okay, well it's not…not something physical I can hand you. But you and your friends wanted a larger space to practice for your…cosplay…event…thing…" she blushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I don't know the terms for all that stuff…" She shook her head. "I rented you that old music store. For the next three months."

Sylvester's eyes widened. "Treble Clef Press?"

She nodded.

A big grin came over his face. "Wow. Wow."

"You like it?"

"You're amazing. What can I say?" He kissed her. "My gifts will pale in comparison, I fear."

"Oh, shut up. I'll love…wait, gifts?" She raised her eyebrows. "Plural?"

He went over to where he'd left his bag earlier, pulling a smaller gift bag out of it. "Merry Christmas."

Florence took the bag and set it on the counter. "Do I open it now, or…"

"Yes, go ahead, who cares that it's Christmas Eve? You already gave me mine."

"Okay." She smiled at him as she removed the tissue paper. There was a mug inside, and she turned it over in her hands to read what it said. "You…ha ha," she put her hand to her mouth as her brain translated the skeletal diagram. "You ether understand organic chemistry or you don't." She glanced at Sylvester, who was grinning in the same sort of way he was when he'd made the precipitate joke almost a year ago, but this time with a lot more confidence, almost cockiness, that she would laugh.

It simultaneously made her not want to laugh and want to laugh even harder. The latter won out.

"Look at the other thing," he said, gesturing at the bag. Florence already knew it was a bottle of wine, but she pulled the bottle out and studied it. She'd mentioned, briefly and months ago, that there was one type of wine she liked. He had remembered. "Thank you, Sly," she said. She only drank when she was stressed, but she sure appreciated it when she was.

"I know you only drink when you're worried about something," Sylvester said. "But I thought, you know, chemically speaking alcohol is a solution, so…"

She raised her eyebrows. "You're a real funny guy, you know that?"

He shrugged. "You used to call my jokes clever, I did like clever."

She rolled her eyes. "Definitely clever too."

"See, now I think you're just saying that to humor me." Sylvester frowned and cocked his head. "What?"

Florence realized she'd been staring at him. Clearing her throat, she shook her head. "Nothing." She tapped his arm. "You're funny."