AN: This is canon-compliant with Season 1, and only slightly non-compliant with Season 2, for reasons that will become clear. No knowledge of the Every End is a Beginning AU is required. For those who have read it – this is set the Christmas straight after that story finishes. According to an online transcript I read, Pena's wife's name is Denise. Since I already gave her a name in my Every End is a Beginning AU, I'm sticking with Rachel.

To Mac Fan – I know you're right about why the gas was bright green and why Cage picked argon and the mercs didn't run any tests; this is just the sort of thing that annoys me really easily and I like to rant about (a little like how Mac gets annoyed at Jack's idiom-mangling?). Sorry for the grumpiness! In terms of the glassware – yeah, I totally get why they did it for the show, you're right, and maybe it really just is that Aussie chemists are really lazy…or maybe it's even just the ones at my uni. Anyway – sorry if I annoyed you/upset you!

PENA FAMILY RESIDENCE

LA

With a smile, Mac, a parcel under his arm, wrapped in bright-green wrapping paper decorated with bright-red reindeer, knocked on the front door.

Moments later, the door was opened by Rachel, who smiled broadly at him, and, as he stepped inside, called out for her daughter.

'Annabelle! We've got a visitor!'

The brown-haired girl, now eight years old and, in her words, a big girl, stuck her head into the corridor, her face breaking out into a broad grin when she saw Mac, and bounded down the hall and threw her arms around him.

'Mac!'

With a chuckle, Mac reached out with his free arm and hugged her back.

'Hi, Annabelle.' She let go of him and he crouched down and handed her the present. 'I got you a Christmas present.'

The little girl's eyes lit up as she took the box, and she looked imploringly up at her mom.

'Can I open it? Please, Mom? Please?'

Rachel looked down at Mac, who just gave a little grin that reminded Rachel of a child's, and she nodded at her daughter.

'Yes, but take Mac to the living room and ask him if he'd like something to drink first, okay?' Her smile widened a little. 'And don't forget your surprise!'

Annabelle nodded vigorously, and still holding the present, led Mac down the hallway, deposited the present on the coffee table, and insisted he sat down, before just as insistently offering him something to drink.

A couple of minutes later, her mother's instructions satisfied, Mac and Annabelle sat on the couch, each with a grape juice box, as Annabelle carefully peeled the tape off her present, then the wrapping paper, revealing a box with a picture of a blue car on it.

She cocked her head to the side slightly.

'What is it?'

Mac chuckled, and gestured to the description on the side of the box.

'It's called a tether car.' He paused for a moment. 'When your dad was a teenager, he used to spend his summers working as a mechanic, fixing cars in the local shop. So, I thought it'd be cool if we built this together, and that way, I can teach you about one of his passions.'

Annabelle grinned up at him, looking up from her examination of her new tether car.

'It's so cool.' She remembered her manners and her grin widened. 'Thank you!'

Mac just grinned right back.

'Oh, you're welcome.'

The little girl grinned for another moment longer, then reached out, grabbed her juice box and sipped it for a moment, before her eyes widened again and she scrambled to her feet, putting down her juice again.

'I got you something for Christmas too! Well, I made you something for Christmas…remember how you were telling me about improvising and making something useful out of stuff that people don't want anymore?' Mac simply nodded with a rather proud smile, as Annabelle practically ran into her room, and returned with an item that was, to Mac's practiced eyes, comprised of several old boxes, two tin cans, a plastic flower pot and fabric scraps, as well as plenty of glitter. Annabelle proudly held the object out to him. 'Well…this doesn't actually do anything…but it's pretty and 100% recycled…even the glitter! I traded my marshmallow treat to a girl from school for it!'

Mac took it with a grin.

(The structural integrity was questionable. Objectively, it wasn't that aesthetically pleasing, but in Mac's eyes it was beautiful.)

'Thanks, Annabelle. I've got just the shelf to put it on in my house.'

He did indeed; there was space over the mantel, and he thought it'd go quite well with the eclectic collection of objects he and Bozer had in their house, and even if it didn't, it definitely had to go somewhere special. She grinned proudly, as her mom walked into the living room, took one look at the juice boxes, and shook her head with a fond smile. Annabelle settled herself back onto the couch, pulling her new tether car into her lap and picking up her juice box again.

'Merry Christmas, Mac.'

Mac's grin widened.

'Merry Christmas, Annabelle.'

He picked up his own juice box and took a sip, that child-like little grin returning, and Rachel simply shook her head fondly and smiled affectionately again.

AN: In case you're wondering, the two non-compliant things are Annabelle's age (she's one year older than she should be in canon due to the fact that Every End is a Beginning spans approximately one and a half years instead of just one year), and the far more obvious Mac-gives-her-the-tether-car-for-Christmas.

Tomorrow's ficlet: It was Bozer, in Riley's mind, who'd made Christmas Christmas.