"Hey! Wake up!"
The Courier opened her eyes and turned slightly, face still smushed by her pillow. Veronica was standing over her, hands on her hips.
"What?" the shorter girl said, eyes starting to drift closed.
"Wake up!" The scribe gave her a shake, which made the girl's eyes snap open.
"What?"
"It's a week from Christmas. Do we have any plans?"
The Courier looked at her with one eye open.
"What? No. Does the Brotherhood even celebrate Christmas?"
"No." Veronica crossed her arms over her chest. "Which is why we should, because I don't get to at home."
"Fine, fine, we'll have a meeting about it." The girl put her face back in her pillow.
*.*.*
"Does anyone here even celebrate Christmas?" Arcade asked, frowning across the table at the rest of the group assembled in the dining room. Veronica had given The Courier fifteen minutes before she bodily dragged the girl out of her bed.
"OF COURSE WE DO!" Lily bellowed, making half the room jump in their seats. "FIG PUDDING, CHRISTMAS TREES, PEACE ON EARTH! IT'S SUCH A LOVELY SEASON."
"We used to, before the war," Raul said. "I haven't since my sister died."
"My parents and I used to do Secret Gift," Cass said. "You draw names, and whoever's name you get, you give them a gift."
"Oh! Let's do that!" Veronica said, grinning.
"Carla and I used to…" Boone said quietly, then looked like he regretted speaking. The room got quiet for a moment. Then The Courier opened her mouth to break the silence. Lily beat her to it.
"I CAN MAKE CHRISTMAS COOKIES!"
"All right!" Veronica said, nearly bouncing in her seat. "You've gotta make something good for dinner, too!" She looked over to The Courier, who put a finger on her chin.
"Well, I've been looking for an excuse to make that Brahmin Wellington recipe I found."
"Found?" Cass said. "Where did you find it?"
The Courier's eyes shifted from side to side, remembering the kitchen of the Ultra-Luxe. "Um… trader … traded it. Yup."
The former caravaneer gave her a look. Then Arcade spoke up. "Isn't this a waste of caps? We're on a budget, you know. There's a war about to happen. We need supplies."
"Pfft," The Courier laughed, "House just gave me two thousand caps for a snow globe."
"Oh," the doctor said, "Well then, Merry Christmas."
*.*.*
Cass was slowly spinning her revolver on her finger, feet kicked up on the dining room table. When she heard a crash from the elevator, she jumped and nearly pulled the trigger. Rushing out to the hallway, she marveled at what she saw.
Lily was dragging a huge evergreen tree into the suite. Victor had rolled over to help her carry it in. They placed it at the end of the hall.
"Lily… what is this?" Cass sputtered.
"IT'S A CHRISTMAS TREE, SILLY."
"Where did you get it?"
"JACOBSTOWN. NOW BE A DEAR AND HELP ME TRIM THE TREE!"
Cass gave her an incredulous look, then shrugged and put her revolver away. She walked over to the huge tree and tried to help get it in place.
*.*.*
"We need to pick names for the gift swap thingy!" Veronica said the next morning at breakfast, "We're going to need time to get gifts, wrap them, all that."
The Courier grinned, and sprang up from her chair. "Hold on, I'll go get some paper!" She abandoned her meal and ran out to the hall. A few moments later she was back and began writing down names on scraps of paper.
"Give that here," Cass said.
The younger girl gave her a perplexed look. "Why?"
"Because, I don't want you cheating." The older woman nabbed the papers, looking them over and ignoring the younger girl's incredulous look. "My father one year switched all the names so everyone got his name."
"All right," said The Courier. "Now we need a hat or a bowl or something."
Everyone looked at Boone, who was the only one wearing a hat at the moment. He leaned back a little in his chair, preparing to bolt for the elevator. The Courier slowly nodded to Veronica, who was closest to him. Just as the room was about to snap into chaos, Raul produced a sack from the kitchen.
"Here we go." Cass dumped the names in the sack while Veronica and The Courier pouted. Soon the bag was being passed around the group, each taking a folded scrap of paper.
"Now, you all have to get a present for the name you pulled," Cass said, "And no telling who you got."
Once everyone had picked a name, the group dispersed. Cass walked up to Raul, who had lingered in the room. They watched as The Courier approached Boone, and the two started talking.
"Did they get each other?" the woman asked.
Raul chuckled a little, happy that his sleight of hand had gone unnoticed.
"Yep."
*.*.*
"CHRISTMAS IS A TIME FOR CHARITY AND GOOD WILL TO ALL," Lily was saying to Veronica as she, The Courier, and Arcade carried bags over their shoulders. They had just reached the doors of the Old Mormon Fort.
"Why don't they give more generously all the time?" Arcade said, sarcastically. Lily didn't seem to hear him.
"THIS IS THE SEASON WHEN PEOPLE ARE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT THEY HAVE, AND HELP OTHERS WHO ARE LESS FORTUNATE."
As they opened the door to the fort, The Courier caught sight of Julie Farkas and waved her over. The Follower of the Apocalypse smiled at the group and walked over.
"Do you need something?"
"Nope, but we have something for you." The Courier opened her sack, which was full of Med-X. The others opened their sacks of medicine and medical supplies.
"What's all this for?" Farkas sputtered.
"Good will!" Veronica said, nearly bouncing in her shoes. "And Merry Christmas!"
*.*.*
"You'll do it because I asked, won't you?" The Courier practically purred at the man before her.
"Baby, that's a tall order…" Swank adjusted his tie nervously. "I don't know if everyone'll go for it."
"Think of all the publicity. People will remember this." The girl leveled her best smile at the man. "And I'd really appreciate it." Any thoughts of protest seemed to fade, and the casino boss grinned back at the girl.
"All right, baby, but only because it's you. This'll take some time to put together."
The Courier smiled easily. "I'd get to it. Christmas is in a few days."
"Oh great baby, tell me to put on a free Christmas show for any NCR soldiers who show up and then tell me to hurry up about it." Swank didn't stop smiling.
"I knew you could handle it." The Courier grinned. "Thanks, Swank." She winked and walked back to Raul, who was waiting by the door.
"You know what, Boss? You're scary when you want something."
The girl grinned at him. "I only use my powers for good."
"Oh, sure thing, Boss."
*.*.*
"Merry Christmas, Rex!" The Courier was grinning from ear-to-ear at the cyberdog, who gave her a puzzled look in return.
"First…" The girl pulled a Brahmin bone from the fridge and tossed it to him. The dog barked happily before tearing into the bone. The Courier smiled. "You'll like this one even better. Who wants a new brain?"
She reached back into the fridge and pulled out a container, showing the dog. As she did, Veronica walked in.
"EWWW! Is that a brain?" The scribe looked like she was going to be ill. The Courier put the container back in the fridge.
"Yes, its' his early Christmas present. We're going to Jacobstown to get it installed tomorrow. Right boy?" The dog yapped happily at her. Veronica sat down at the table, turning a sickly green shade.
"Oh, come on. You're such a wuss," The Courier admonished.
*.*.*
ED-E floated through the halls, Radio New Vegas's Christmas Day programming blaring from his speakers. He had recently received his gift, new casing plates and a metal polish. The robot looked brand new. The Courier sang along with the radio as she finished wrapping the Brahmin steaks in dough.
"Stop cooking for five minutes!" Veronica hollered from the other room. "It's present time!"
The Courier stuck her head out of the kitchen. "Do you want to eat tonight or not?"
"Yes! But come ON! I want presents!" The scribe was practically glowing, and the shorter girl grinned, despite herself. She put the beef into the oven and ran into the hall.
"All right, I'm coming."
Soon everyone was gathered in the living area with their gifts. Veronica was bouncing on her seat.
"Do we get to open them now?"
"Yeah, but-" The Courier said quickly before Veronica could tear into her gift. "One at a time, oldest to youngest."
"Oh that's just cruel!" The scribe said.
Cass grinned at her. "Too bad. Who's the oldest?"
"That's me," Raul said, ignoring Veronica's glare. He slowly unwrapped his present on purpose, hearing the girl whine while he did so.
*.*.*
Veronica beamed at her new power fist, Pushy. "Thanks, Grandma!" she said to Lily, who smiled back at her as the scribe tried it on.
"And finally, our youngest," Cass said, indicating The Courier.
The Courier smiled at her friends. Half were goofing around with their gifts, and half were looking at her in anticipation. She noticed Boone look up from the anti-material rifle she had found for him, which he had disassembled and was slowly piecing back together.
"Well, go on," Cass said, already slurring from the bottle of Jake's Juice she had received from Arcade.
The girl smiled again and started unwrapping the Sunset Sarsaparilla labels they had used as wrapping paper. Inside the small box was a silver .44 magnum covered in beautiful etching with a pearl handle. She looked over to Boone, who had gone back to his rifle, carefully sliding the components back together.
*.*.*
Dinner was eaten, and the group meandered into their own spaces. The Courier had just finished the dishes and headed for her room. She sat on her couch and examined her new gun, smiling. She heard a knock and looked up to see Boone in the doorway.
"Uh," he looked a little uncomfortable, "thank you."
The Courier smiled. "No, thank you." She held up her new gun. "This thing's so neat! Where did you find it?"
The sniper grinned a little. "Bought it off that cowboy you conned into working at The Tops." The Courier laughed a little, then Boone continued. "Where did you find mine? How did you carry it?"
The girl gave him a look. "I'm not that weak." He stared at her blankly, and she scowled. "Lily carried it for me."
The sniper gave her a hard-to-read look. "Well… thanks."
"Merry Christmas, Boone," The Courier said, smiling.
The sniper smiled back.
"Merry Christmas, Layla."
I hope you've all enjoyed this series, I'm amazed I finished the whole thing. Thank you all for your kind reviews, and thanks again go to my editor, who helped make this possible. Oh, and stay tuned, I'll more than likely write a Dead Money story. That won't be for a little bit, I'm a little burnt on writing :S. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :) Note: You may have noticed I changed the Courier's name...well, I did.