"I still don't understand Mon'Keigh. Explain it to me again."

Sighing softly, Shawn sat down the box he had just hauled out of the garage, reaching up to rub his eyes for a moment. "Macha, I really don't know how many different ways I can explain it to you."

Frowning indignantly, sitting on the coffee table with her legs folded beneath her, Macha folded her arms across her chest. "Well it does not fit what I know of your kind. Explain this .... "Christmas" again."

Sighing, taking the lid off the box of ornaments, Shawn knelt down, pulling out the glass and ceramic orbs of green, gold, red, blue, and a dozen other different colors, hanging them up on the artificial tree he had spent over an hour struggling to get down the ladder from the attic without breaking his neck and put together in the living room. Stubbs wasn't happy about having to move the little tank park he had set up in the corner where I put it, but after threatening to lock his baneblade's up again he agreed to sit in the corner "like a good boy".

Shawn was just glad he didn't hear the troops snickering about that behind his back when he stormed off.

Of course, Macha and the Guard weren't the only observer's he had. Pretty much every little army here had a few guys hanging around now, watching him. A few even tried to help out. Shawn had the Mechanicus checking the bulbs on the string of lights for me for any burned out ones ... which thankfully weren't many. They spent five minutes just CHANTING as they changed the damn things. The Marines had sent their assault troops up into the tree and were straightening the strings of light and garland he hung up there and the Tau had used their hovercraft to put the angel on top of the tree. He thought the Space Marines were trying to get back on his good side after shooting up the animatronic Santa and Reindeer set he had put in the hallway. Apparently they thought it was some "Giant servant of the Word Bearers and a Daemon".

"Its not really complicated. Its a religious day, celebrating the birth of the "Son of God" in one of our major religions."

Macha shook her head. "That I understand. The human's have a similar festival on the day of their Imperium's founding."

Teresa quickly chimed in from where Shawn had put a couple of his mom's old antique porcelian angels on an empty space on the bookshelf. Apparently she had taken a real shine to them and her and a handful of the sister's were cleaning them up. One of the sister's even had a needle and thread out and was sewing a tiny rip on one of the angel's gowns. Ever seen a chick in full battle armor, looking like she could beat an Ork in a fist fight, sewing? Its actually a pretty funny sight. "Saints Day. When we venerate the Emperor and his Saints for bringing humanity together. Though we have no trees. And there is of course the public executions of heretics."

Making a face, Shawn shook his head, hanging the ornaments up. "You live in such a cheerful time, don't you?"

Annoyed at the interuption, Macha waved her hand in agrivation. "Yes yes, that. But what I don't understand is that you told us you do not follow this religion-"

"Or any really." Shawn chimed in, not turning away from the tree.

"Yes yes. But if you do not follow it, why do you celebrate it?"

Shaking his head again, Shawn sighed faintly. "Couple reasons. My folks do for one. Sometimes you just go along to make your friends and family happy. But they know not to drag me off to church for Mass or some crap like that."

Teresa seemed a little annoyed at my glibness when it came to religion, but she WAS basically a nun. .... A nun with a flamethrower, but a nun none the less. But since Shawn wasn't talking about the Emperor or the Imperial Creed (And was an avatar of the Emperor), she seemed willing to let it pass. Moving on, he took the last strand of lights from the Mechanicus. "Beyond that, its more the camradre, the "peace one earth and goodwill amongst men" I try to believe in."

Macha snorted, shaking her head. "Goodwill? Amongst mon'keigh?"

Sighing, Shawn thought back to some of the stuff he had watched on the news eatting lunch before he got started decorating. ".... Yeah, I know. We're a fucked up species. But gotta think it can get better, right?"

Macha only snorted again, as did a few of the other races, but nobody said anything thankfully. It was the holiday's damnit. I wasn't letting my mood get ruined. "And you spend this time with your family, yes? Speaking of which, where are they?"

Stopping as he hung the last few ornaments, Shawn frowned faintly, thinking. That was a good question. Where WERE they?"

**Elsewhere**

"WE'RE SORRY, BUT DUE TO POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS, ALL FLIGHTS ARE CURRENTLY CANCELLED."

Trapped in a snow clogged airport in the middle of nowhere, a man stood with his wife and daughter, a vein throbbing in his temple as he looked out at feet of snow covering the ground ... and still falling.

"-"

**Flashback**

The ornament in Shawn's hand suddenly shattered in a splinter of glass shards, Shawn cursing as he jumped back and clutched his hand. "WHO THE FUCK DID THAT!?"

Eyes bugging out, an Ork lurking in the hall made a break for it back to the room Shawn had given to them, booking it like the Fleshhound's of Khorne were nipping at his heels.

Cursing, Shawn shook his hand free of the colored glass, a Chimera with a dozer blade from the Imperial Guard already rolling up to push it into a waiting dustpan. "I'm going to end up with an anurism from you guys, I swear it ...."

Shaking her head, Macha looked over at the Sister's, watching Teresa and the other sister's going about their business, seeming to be enjoying themselves greatly with the work. Infact, ALL of the humans were. Even the Tau seemed to find some enjoyment in the simple act of decorating the tree. Drumming her fingers on the shaft of her spear, she shook her head. "Mon'keigh are such confusing creatures ...."

Snorting, Shawn closed up the box, rolling his neck and stepping back a bit to take in the tree, nodding at his handywork. "Don't I know it. But they say complexity adds to a masterpiece, don't you think?"

Scowling at Shawn's back, Macha shook her head. How typical of Mon'keigh, thinking themself some kind of masterpiece species. Yet still ...

So lost was Macha in her thoughts, she didn't even realize the Ranger had appeared behind her until she felt the tap on her shoulder, making her nearly jump out of her skin as she yelped and spun her Singing Spear. The Ranger's eyes nearly bugged out as he jumped back, sweating visibly as he gulped, Macha looking at him with a burning glare. "Do not sneak up on me like that!"

Swallowing, the Ranger quickly held up his hands to placate her. But he couldn't help but cock an eyebrow at the strange flush that colored the Farseer's cheeks. "Forgive me Farseer, but ... you asked to be informed when we were gathered."

For a moment, Macha just looked at the Ranger, not quite understanding ... until she remembered what Shawn had told them. He wanted all the armies together tonight in the dining room. Frowning, she slowly stood up, realizing for the first time that the Guard, Shawn, and other Imperials had already left. Why had she not noticed?

"Very well. We best not keep the Mon'keigh waiting."

((**))

Shawn leaned against the wall, looking out at the gathering of armies in his dining room. He had picked up a few necessary Christmas treats and made the rest himself. He was determined to show these guys what Christmas meant and have at least ONE day free of fighting. So far at least, it was going well.

The Eldar had been convinced, after much cajooling and prodding, to show some examples of Eldar song, the Bonesinger's playing their beautiful, haunting melodies for the gathered armies as the Howling Banshee's showed off their often lethal grace in elegant dance. The Imperial Guard watched with rapt fascination, even the Comissar's silent at the grace of the Eldar. Even a few Space Marines and Sisters were watching, though Shawn would swear there was an undercurrent of ... jealousy amongst the Sisters at the attention the female Eldar were getting.

Those Guardsmen that hadn't gotten been drawn in by the music and dance were currently having a drinking contest with the Tau over eggnog. And judging from the fact that there were about twelve Tau passed out around the bowl, the Guardsmen were winning.

The fact that there wasn't even any alcohol in that batch told Shawn the Tau also couldn't hold a drink worth SHIT.

Mechanicus and a few Earth Caste Tau were gathered around a handful of their Crisis suits, talking about specs and such with the advanced machines. The Mechanicus seemed eager to learn as much as they could about the things ... and the Earth Caste looked like they were just glad someone was talking to them.

The Sister's were sampling the food Shawn had laid out. Teresa in particular seemed to LOVE the sugar cookies he had picked up. Apparently she had quite a sweet tooth. A few of the Raven Guard were helping out with that, using their chainblades to cut the food into more managable sizes for everyone. A bit overkill, but hey, they looked happy to be doing something.

The only ones Shawn hadn't invited were the Orks. After he had taken some food from the spread to their room, he'd barricaded the door and never looked back. The Orks were a simple lot, not evil so much as stupid, but there was no WAY he was going to have them at a party. This many armies, they'd have a war going in two minutes.

All in all, things were going a lot better then he had allowed himself to imagine. They were getting along, they were peaceful, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Maybe things would work out after all.

"OY! DOSE MY SHINIES YA GROX LOVIN GIT!"

....... Well fuck.

All the other armies stopped at the yell, turning and looking towards the hallway and living room. Sighing, Shawn removed himself from the wall, walking towards the sound. "Be right back."

In the living room, the orks had lashed crude robes around some of the boxes, trying to drag them off with buggies, tanks, and sheer muscle. It wasn't working to well. Surprisingly, it didn't look like the whole ork army ... or even one of the clans. I guessed about thirty orks and a handful of vehicles. For the Orks, who never went ANYWHERE without enough guys to overwhelm a small town, it was a pretty pathetic number.

Standing on the back of one of their ork "trukks", hammering a power claw bigger then some orks on the floorboard and yelling at the other orks was one he THOUGHT he got rid of, that Warboss from the first day. Seeing eachother at the same time, they both pointed at eachother, barking out the same thing.

"YOU!"

Blinking, the two "titans" stared at eachother for a few long minutes before Shawn broke the silence. "Didn't I squash you?"

"Oy! Don't ya know nothin!? I'm Gorgutz 'Eadhunter! I always got mah tunnels dug ya git!"

".... What tunnels?"

"..... Shut it ya grox lova!"

Sighing, Shawn slapped a palm over his face, counting to ten. "... What the hell are you doin?"

"You took mah boys, so I'm takin ur shinies!"

As if to emphasize his point, the other orks tried hauling off with the presents again. Scowling, Shawn turned and walked out into the hallway, hearing Gorgutz call after him. "That's right, run ya git! I'm da biggest and da baddest ork around!"

Opening up the hall closest, he shoved aside some coats and jackets to get at his dad's golf bag, pulling out clubs one by one before settling on the nine iron, testing the weight in his hands. Heading back into the living room, he just walked up and grabbed Gorgutz off the back of the "trukk", listening to him roar and curse as he carried him outside.

Dropping him onto the porch, the Warboss quickly turned around, howling bloody murder at me and raising his arm mounted twin shoota's ... right in time to see Shawn swinging the nine iron.

"Oh zog it ..."

Cracking into the Ork, Shawn watched him go FLYING, screaming "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!" as he disapered into the distance.

"... Damn. Orks are surprisingly aerodynamic."

Turning back inside, resting the nine iron on his shoulder, Shawn shut the door behind him, looking into the living room to see those other orks already gone, probably running off to hide with the others. Shaking his head, he sighed in annoyance, grabbing a few small packages before heading back to the party.

Macha looked up when she saw him drop a present down on the table next to her, blinking for a moment. "What's this Mon'keigh?"

Not answering, he whistled to grab everyone's attention, sitting the packages down on the table. "Well, the tradition is to give gifts on Christmas. But since their are so many of you, your all going to have to share your stuff." Nodding to the gift he had laid infront of Macha, he tapped it with one finger. "This one is for the Eldar. Open her up."

Frowning, Macha and a few of the other Eldar went to work peeling off the paper as Shawn handed out the other gifts, watching as the armies set to work tearing off the paper, smiling faintly at it.

Looking down at the CD case before her, Macha frowned softly, studying the writing upon it. "What is this?"

A smirk tugged at Shawn's lips. "A CD of traditional eastern music. Its remarkebly similar to your own music."

Macha doubted greatly that mere humans could create music with the grace and beauty of the Eldar, but it was a kind sentiment. "... Thank you human."

The others shared similar reactions, to varying degree's. For example, the Tau were confused about the Gundam model Shawn had bought them from a local hobby store, but seemed eager to see if they could learn anything from the design. The Space Marines got into a rather heated discussion about the character on the cover of the Judge Dredd DVD he had picked up for them, unable to agree if he was an "Arbitus" or not. Shawn finally got them to calm down by telling them he would watch it with them later and THEN they could decide.

The others however seemed quite thrilled. The Sister's were each trying to get some of the large box of chocolate he got for them, the Mechanicus were about to come to blows over who got first crack at the X Box 360 (used mind you) that he scrounged up for them at the local Gamestop, and the Guard ... well, the Guard were openly weeping at the bottle of Jack Daniels he knew they would enjoy.

"Merry Christmas guys."

(**)

The next morning, Macha awoke with a groan, reaching up and rubbing her eyes, trying to remember last night. The last thing she remembered was finally having some of that strange "eggnog" beverage the Guardsmen kept drinking. She remembered having a few and after that .... not much.

Sitting up slowly, he yawned again, stretching out, hitting something hard and unyielding. Had her bed shrunk? Cracking open her eyes, she looked down ... and froze.

To her left was a Guardsmen, snoring softly with an arm thrown over his eyes. To her right .... to her right was Shrike, still wearing his helmet ... and nothing else.

And her robes had disapered.

Sitting there, Macha began trembling, eyes darting from one form to the other. And slowly, warp energy began to crackle around her hands.

(**)

Standing out on the porch, looking at the fresh fallen snow, Shawn smiled to himself, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. A real white Christmas. The world was quiet, pure, at peace, promising to be a beautiful Christmas morning.

Right up until a guardsmen came flying through the window, screaming and flalling as he crashed face first into a snow drift. And there were more come through the busted pane (small though the crack was).

Sighing, the moment ruined, Shawn downed the last of his hot chocolate before fetching the poor Guardsmen (who also seemed to have no pants), and went back inside, muttering to himself as he closed the door.

"Peace on earth. What a load of bull."

(**)

From all of us at Mini Hammer, we wish you a merry Christmas, a happy New Year, and a generally good Holiday Season. The next chapter should be done and ready by mid January and may very well be one of my most ambitious chapters to date. Review's feed the beast that powers my writing.