A little shorter, transitional type chapter (aka the next bits may get long and I do not have time to write and edit in the next half hour before I board for my flight back home – California was awesome as usual BY the way – so you're getting the in between, filler stuff that I don't really consider filler because it builds up to other stuff but anyway I'm rambling here we go:

"We're going to do something for Christmas this year, right?" Cabe asked.

"Of course we are," Walter said. He gave the older man an odd look. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Well," Cabe said, "we were back together for Thanksgiving and managed to miss it, and last Christmas wasn't exactly one I care to think too much about given the whole…everything else."

"We only missed Thanksgiving because of a case," Walter said, "and last Christmas is exactly why I am determined to give Paige the best Christmas ever. One that will permanently shake off any negative feelings surrounding the holiday."

"That's pretty ambitious," Cabe noted.

"Well," Walter said, giving a shrug, "I'm an ambitious man, Cabe. There never was a successful individual who did not care."

"I like your attitude," Cabe said. "So what's the big plan?"

Walter frowned. "Big plan?"

"Well, yeah." Cabe cocked his head. "What are you going to do to make it the best Christmas ever?"

Walter was looking at Cabe as if they were speaking an entirely different language. "…nothing."

"Nothing." Cabe cocked his head the other direction. "So you doing nothing is the plan to make this a better Christmas than last year?"

"When I refused to go with her and Ralph, when I cut their vacation short with my life – threatening injury, and when I let myself get preoccupied with my stupid dream?" Walter raised his eyebrows. "Those are all things I did, and whether they were intentional or not, they all affected Paige in a negative way. I'm not going to do that this year. She doesn't care for one grand gesture after another. She just wants me to be present. So that is my present – my presence."

"I feel like that should come off as arrogant, but it oddly doesn't."

"Well, you know," Walter said, "I'm sure I'll return to my greatest hits eventually, but I'm testing the waters on some new material right now."

"Heh. Well, it's an interesting approach, to say the least."

"What are you and Allie doing?"

"Her sister is flying in. She's been going through some stuff lately and, uh, well, we want to be there for her. We both want to take part in whatever we decide on doing as a family here, which is why I'd asked."

"Well," Walter said, "I believe Paige and Sylvester and Toby are working on that. It is more their wheelhouse, anyway."

"Toby, if you guys can't do this on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, when exactly do you plan for us all to celebrate?" Paige folded her arms. "I don't get why you can't do your family time with Tad one day and spend the other day with us. We're his family, too."

"It will be our first Christmas with our child," Toby said. "We want to spend as much time with the three of us as possible. Didn't you spend your first Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with your son just you and Ralph?"

"Yes, because Drew was too busy meeting with new agents who assured him time was of the essence. It wasn't preferable."

"Toby," Sylvester said, trying a different angle, "when would you like to have the Scorpion Christmas party, if not Christmas Day or Christmas Eve?"

"Christmas Adam," Toby said. "December 23rd. It may come before Christmas Eve and be generally unsatisfying, but we can change that."

Paige cocked her head. "You just wanted to be able to say that, didn't you?"

Toby looked appalled. "How dare you imply I be difficult about scheduling our first real Christmas party in years just to make a dirty joke!"

"I'm not implying," Paige said, "I'm asking."

"Fair enough. We can do either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, doesn't matter to us."

"Is Happy going to be okay with me being at Christmas?" Florence asked anxiously.

"She'll have to be," Sylvester said. "You're a part of the team, and you're my girlfriend."

"And the last time you guys had a proper Christmas party, Paige brought her boyfriend and things imploded."

"Well, we also had people trying to kill us, it wasn't just about Walter and Tim wanting to kill each other." Sylvester said with a smile. "But that was different. Tim wasn't part of this team. Not really. You are."

"But how?" she asked. "How is this really different?"

"Tim didn't actually like us, you know. He was tolerating us to be close to Paige. And honestly he brought out the worst in her. You bring out good things in me. And in the most incredible one eighty I've ever witnessed, you like us now."

She laughed. "That I do." She got quiet, tugging at the bottom of her shirt. "Hey."

He cocked his head, looking amused. "Hey?"

"Uh, well here's…there's this thing?" She shook her head. "Let me start over. There's a chemistry…it's kind of an amalgamation of a symposium and convention. It's in Florida in January. I'm going, and I was wondering if maybe you…want to come?"

Sylvester opened his mouth to respond, but she continued before he could. "I know we haven't been together long enough that a big cross country trip would necessarily look like it made sense on paper, but I mean, we travel out of the country all the time, granted that's for work, but if we look at it a certain way then this is technically work related and – "

"Yes, Florence," he said, smiling. "I'd love to go."