As always, thank you so much for all the feedback! I appreciate every single comment, so here's a little holiday treat, as a thank you for all the ongoing support. Enjoy! It's slightly AU, as in Desi is not in the picture.

Dinosaur + Desert + Pancakes

"Bah humbug…" Riley huffed, contemplating her options as she wondered where exactly she had gone wrong to end up alone in the middle of nowhere on Christmas Eve. She checked her watch. Correction, make that Christmas Day.

Phoenix Foundation Toy Drive, 10 hours earlier:

"Ok Miss Davis, confession time who's blowing up your phone and why haven't you told me about him?" Bozer interrogated Riley, who was typing up a storm on her phone in between handing out hot chocolate at a Phoenix sponsored toy drive.

"His name's C.J., he's 62 and lives just outside of Palm Springs."

Bozer frowned, "Ok, I know things haven't been that great, but you can do better."

"It's nothing like that, he's just helping me with a little Christmas miracle," Riley explained with a twinkle in her eye.

"I'll bite," Bozer replied, adding whipped cream and a candy cane to a cup before handing it to a young girl with blonde pigtails. "There you go Sweety."

"I got Mac in the Secret Santa draw and couldn't figure out what to get him…"

"A, that's supposed to be a secret, it's right there in the name! And B, it's Mac," he shrugged. "Duct tape and paperclips."

"I know, but it's been such a tough year.…"

"You wanted to get him something special," Bozer responded with an understanding nod.

"Yes, but turns out Mac is really hard to shop for."

Bozer laughed. "So how does C.J. factor into this?"

"When Mac and I were organizing the toys last night, he told me about this action figure he always wanted, some space dinosaur thing from this old cartoon he loved…"

"Rexy Rocket!" Bozer started to hum the theme song "…prehistoric commander in space!"

"You know it? Riley gave him an amused look.

"Of course, Mac was obsessed with it. But they only made one season and there was virtually no merch besides those action figures. Don't tell me you…"

"I tracked one down, mint condition," Riley beamed, Bozer's reaction confirming that the present would be a hit.

"The only downside is that I have to pick it up tonight."

"In Palm Springs? It's Christmas Eve!" Bozer pointed out.

"Don't worry. I'll leave when we're done here, and will be back by midnight to put it under the tree.I got this."

"You sure?"

"If Santa can do it, so can I. It's a perfect plan."

Middle of nowhere, 2.30 a.m.:

It had been a perfect plan. She had used a little white lie as an excuse to leave early, which had given her plenty of time to pick up the present and meant that she was homeward bound by 10 p.m.. But even the greatest amount of planing couldn't have foreseen her car overheating (ok maybe she shouldn't have ignored the blinking light on her dashboard for a week ...or two). And how could she have known, that the garage where the tow truck had dropped her off was closed for the Holidays? A realization that hadn't hit her until she had had already told the nice driver to get home to his family (damn those deceiving Christmas lights)…

Calling him back wasn't an option either, as the first call had cost her the last 5% of her phone's battery. So there she was, standing in front of a rusty payphone next to a diner that wouldn't open for another few hours, with nothing but the change from her pocket and a toy dinosaur in a spacesuit – Bah Humbug indeed.

And now she had two options, try to call one of the cab companies whose numbers were posted on the wall behind the payphone and risk wasting her one chance on a dead number, or…

"Damn it…" she picked up the phone and started to dial…

Hollywood Hills, 2.45 a.m:

Mac groaned as the buzzing of his phone ripped him out of his sleep. Already saying goodbye to any hope of a quiet and uneventful Christmas, he reached for the offending object and frowned at the unknown number on the screen.

"Hello?" He answered it. "Who is this?"

"Mac, thank god," Riley let out a breath of relief.

"Riles?" He immediately sat up.

"Listen, I'm stranded in the desert and I need you to call me a cab or something…."

"What? Where are you, are you ok?"

"I'm ok, my car broke down and my phone's dead. I'm calling from a payphone. I just need a ride."

"I'm coming to get you," Mac got up and started pulling clothes out of his dresser.

"No, it's fine! You don't have to do that!" Riley tried to stop him, the last thing she wanted was to ruin both of their nights.

"I'm already up, and you can't expect me to go back to sleep knowing that you need help. So where are you?"

Riley sighed, next year she'd get him a sweater.

"Riles?" Mac pressed on.

"I'm at some diner…" she gave him the address, and promised to wait inside once it would open.

Shelly's Desert Diner, 5.40 a.m.:

"Thank you," Riley smiled as the waitress refilled the empty cup in front of her with fresh coffee.

"Can I get you anything else, sweetheart?"

"No thanks, I'm waiting for my friend," Riley looked at the clock that was hanging on the wall behind the counter and did the math. It was only a two hour drive, he should have arrived by now…

"We actually get a lot of traffic out here over the holidays," the waitress explained, noticing Riley's worried look.

"My car broke down, and he got up in the middle of the night to rescue me."

"Where are you from?"

"L.A."

"That's some friend."

"The best," Riley replied, just as Mac's Jeep pulled into the parking lot.

"Is that him?" The waitress asked.

Riley nodded. "Can we get another coffee?"

"Coming right up."

Mac stepped into the diner and scanned the space for Riley, a smile spreading across his lips when he spotted her in a booth by the window.

She returned the smile and raised her hand for an awkward wave.

"I'm so sorry, I got here as fast as I could," Mac apologized as he slid into the booth.

"Of course, you're apologizing…" Riley couldn't help but laugh. "You didn't have to do this Mac, a cab would have been just fine."

"Come one, like I'd leave you stranded on Christmas. Besides, astronomical twilight over the desert? Worth it!"

Riley shook her head. "So that's the reason it took you so long, you were looking at the stars!"

Mac laughed, relieved that she seemed to be alright. "So how did you end up here? Didn't you say you were having dinner with your mom?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, that was a lie," she admitted."I had an important errand to run."

"On Christmas Eve?"

Before Riley could answer, the waitress came back with Mac's coffee.

"Thank you," he gave her a grateful look.

"You're welcome hon, now how about some breakfast for you kids?"

"That sounds like a great idea, what do you say Riles?"

"Can we get pancakes?" Riley asked. If they were having Christmas breakfast in a diner, they might as well make the best of it.

"I'll get you our Christmas Day Special."

"Thanks." Riley replied.

"So," Mac started. "Wanna fess up?"

Riley hesitated, but since it was officially Christmas Day…

"Well technically you're not supposed to know it's from me but I guess you would have figured it out anyway, so…" she reached for the present, that had been hidden under her jacket on the empty seat beside her.

"Merry Christmas, Mac."

"You didn't…" Mac's eyes grew wide as Riley put the dinosaur down on the table between them.

"You told how much you wanted one, so I tracked one down. You like it?"

"Are you kidding? Is this why you drove out here? To get this for me?"

Riley nodded. "And then I made you pick it up myself," she groaned. "I shouldn't have called you, but yours is the only number I have memorized, well besides Jack's but…"

"Riles…" Mac stopped her and got up to join her in her side of the booth.

"Don't apologize, you gave me one of the best presents ever. So, thank you," he leaned in for a hug, squeezing her tightly.

"I knew it would be a hit, but best ever?" She asked as they broke apart.

Mac picked up the toy, admiring the details. "Rexy here is great, but the fact that you went through all this trouble just to make me smile? That's the real gift," he pulled her into another hug, and without giving it much thought, kissed the top of her head.

"Merry Christmas, Riles," they exchanged a smile before the waitress interrupted the moment.

"There you go, our Christmas Day Special."

"Wow…" Mac marveled at the display in front of them, not only did the pancakes look absolutely delicious, they were also decorated to look like reindeer, with chocolate chips for eyes, strawberries for noses and crispy bacon for antlers.

"That looks amazing!" Riley beamed, ready to dig in.

"Enjoy, let me know if you need anything else."

"Thanks," Mac replied before he turned back to Riley. "You know, this is shaping up to be a really great Christmas."

"In that case, I'm glad my car broke down," she gave him a little nudge.

"And we do have the galaxy's best engineer to take a look at it," Mac joked.

"Yeah, how does that work? Him flying spaceships and fixing things with those little T-rex arms?"

Mac sighed with mock exasperation. "You have so much to learn…" They fell into comfortable banter, enjoying their pancakes while the colors of the sunrise outside were competing with those of the decorations around them. And one thing was for sure: In this moment, there was no place they'd rather be.

Happy Holidays guys! I know last week was a little rough in this fandom. But that's why I tried to make this extra sweet. I was actually looking for a real show that young Mac would have loved, but then the space dinosaur that resides on my desk inspired Rexy Rocket (which should totally be a real show)

Anyway, I hope you find a way to enjoy the holidays and I'll try my best to come up with something for New Year's.

Love Laura