"Here we go." Ed smiled, releasing Danny as the pair entered his office. The gray-haired man closed the door behind them to give them privacy while the former Marine rubbed his shoulder. "We can talk in here."
"Planning on getting me a shoulder replacement for Christmas, Ed?" Danny asked, making small circles with his shoulder as the older man walked past him and sat down in his chair.
"Nah," Ed shook his head, keeping a smile on his face. "I just like to remind you who's in charge around here from time to time." He folded his hands on his chest. "So, what did you find out from Mary?"
"Oh, she just said that she'll like anything you pick out." Danny replied, sitting down in the chair opposite the desk. He noticed Ed's smile turn into a frown. "What?"
"You weren't supposed to tell her that I had her name, idiot." Ed sighed as he shook his head. "Hence the secret part of Secret Santa." He leaned back in his chair. "You couldn't have just said that you were curious yourself?"
"Well, I was going to," Danny replied, plopping unceremoniously down on the chair in front of Ed's desk.
"Sit down right!" an interrupting Ed roared.
"But Mary and I promised each other years ago that we wouldn't get each other anything for Christmas." Danny continued, sitting down again to satisfy Ed. The brown-haired man paused for a moment. "Not that we keep that promise, but…"
"So, you really could have said that you were asking for yourself." a grinning Ed pointed out, "Since both of you know that neither of you keep that promise."
"I…" Danny stammered before pausing for a moment. "You know, I didn't even think about that."
"Ah, don't sweat it, kid." Ed smiled widely, "There's a reason that you're the looks of the operation and not the brains."
"Hey!" an angry Danny replied after taking a moment to think about that comment.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Mare." Delinda comforted a week later, analyzing yet another shirt. Seeing as how business around the Montecito was slow, the two women had decided to leave work early to do some holiday shopping. "Daddy occasionally comes up with really great gifts." Scrunching her brow, the blonde-haired woman held the shirt up to Mary. "What do you think?"
"Who's it for?" a curious Mary asked, looking up from the shirt she was looking at.
"Danny." Delinda shrugged, "I guess since Sam and, in a roundabout way, Daddy already broke the Secret Santa code, it's all right for me to fess up." She twirled the shirt, which was brown and white paisley-patterned, around. "So, can you see Danny wearing this?"
"No." an honest Mary shook her head, "But it'd look good on Mike."
"It would look good on Mike." Delinda agreed, nodding her head.
"Give it here." Mary smiled, taking the shirt from Delinda. "It just so happens that I've got Mike."
"So that leaves me and Sam unaccounted for." Delinda realized before a horrified expression appeared on her face. "Oh, no."
"What?" a puzzled Mary asked, looking at her friend.
"You, Sam, Daddy, and I have already revealed our names." Delinda explained, putting a hand to her forehead. "Danny and Mike haven't."
"Meaning one of them has Sam, and the other has you." Mary nodded.
"Danny!" Mike called, stopping in front of a store. McCoy, who hadn't noticed his friend had stopped, hurried back to his side. Much like Delinda and Mary, the boys had decided to do some Christmas shopping. "What do you think? Delinda?"
"Victoria's Secret, Mikey?" Danny chuckled, keeping his eyes firmly planted on the nearby risqué window display. "Do you want Ed to kick your ass?"
"Yeah, you're right." Mike shuddered, continuing on. "He'd probably take the lights off of the tree and strangle me with them." He shook his head. "Why do women have to be so hard to shop for?"
"Because they're women?" Danny shrugged, putting his hands in his jacket pocket. "Personally, I think that they were just put on the planet to confuse us." Suddenly, someone ran past the brown-haired, former Marine, grabbing his arm as they passed. "Hey!" Recognizing the red hair, a grin appeared on his face as he caught his balance. "Mary! What the hell was that for?"
"No reason in particular." Mary giggled, stopping in front of the guys. "Doing some shopping?"
"Trying to." Mike replied, holding his hands so that Mary could see the lack of bags being held.
"Same here." Danny added, copying Mike's gesture.
"Hmmm." Mary nodded, "Well, Sam and Delinda are hard to shop for…"
"How did you know that I had…?" both Danny and Mike started.
"Never mind." Mary waved off, "Just consider me Santa's little helper. So, which one of you has Delinda?"
"That'd be me." Mike replied, putting his hand up.
"Okay, Mr. Cannon." Mary smiled before pointing towards one end of the mall. "You'll be happy to know that Ms. Deline was just in here earlier, and seemed highly interested in that Bath and Bodyworks over there." She winked. "Rumor has it that her favorite scent is cucumber melon."
"Thanks." an appreciative Mike said, starting off that way. Pausing briefly, he turned around to face Danny and Mary with a grin. "Just don't get caught under any more mistletoe."
"You…" a growling Danny started, taking a step toward him. However, Mary's hand restrained his arm and Mike vanished before he could do anything. Sighing, he turned to his life-long friend. "Sorry about Mike being an ass, Mare."
"It's okay." Mary winked before whispering. "I've got his name, so I can pay him back later."
"Hell hath no fury like Mary Connell scorned." Danny laughed.
"So, you have Sam, huh?" Mary asked, causing Danny to nod. "I'm surprised that you didn't come to me for help sooner."
"Well, I thought about asking you," an honest Danny admitted, "But then, the whole mistletoe fiasco happened, and…"
"So, any ideas?" Mary interrupted, not really wanting to talk about that.
"None." Danny shook his head before adjusting the baseball cap on his head. "Sam's probably harder to shop for than you are."
"Hey!" Mary rebutted, "I am not that hard to shop for if you just pay attention." Grinning, she crossed her arms across her chest. "And it could have been worse, Danny. Just imagine if you had drawn Monica."
"Oh, God." Danny winced, remembering the bitchy former owner of the Montecito. "That would have been a living hell." He shook his head violently to get the image out. "So, any ideas on Sam?"
"I'm sure that I can come up with something." Mary smiled.
"I didn't know soap could have so many flavors." Mike commented to himself as he walked into the fragrant Bath and Bodyworks Mary had suggested. Shelves and shelves of various products surrounded the bald African American man, who was still confused as to what to get Delinda. "Shower gel…Body Fragrance…Body Scrub…what the hell is the difference?"
"Mike?" a surprised Jillian asked, walking over.
"Huh?" an equally surprised Mike said, turning around. "Oh, hey, Mrs. D.! What are you doing here?"
"Picking up some things." Jillian shrugged before smiling. "What about you?" She winked teasingly at him. "I didn't peg you as the type to shop here."
"Oh, I don't." Mike reassured, chuckling. "I don't. I'm just picking out a Christmas present for my Secret Santa name."
"Really?" an interested Jillian said, "Maybe I can help you with that. Who do you have?" Seeing that Mike was about to protest, seeing as how the Secret Santa was supposed to be a closely guarded secret, the older woman smiled widely. "Relax. I've already heard from Delinda and Eddie that it's apparently not-so-Secret Santa this year."
"Really?" Mike blinked, not aware of this fact himself.
"Apparently, Sam started it by blurting out to Delinda and Mary that she had Ed." Jillian nodded, "Then, Ed told Danny that he had Mary so, of course, that got back to Mary's ear."
"And Danny and I both told each other who we had." Mike sighed, shaking his head. "Next year, why don't we make the drawing public and just save us the trouble?"
"Or everyone just buy themselves a gift." Jillian laughed.
"Yeah." Mike chuckled in agreement, "Anyway, to answer your question, I have Delinda." The African American man looked back at the shelf. "Mary gave me the hint to come in here, but she didn't tell me that there's about two million different names for soap."
"Well, as Delinda has to explain to her father every time she spends a lot here," Jillian smiled, putting a hand on Mike's shoulder. "All of these products are actually different." Seeing that Mike was still confused, she winked. "It's a woman thing."
"Must be." Mike shrugged.
"No…no…" a stunned Danny muttered as he watched Mary's car pass his and cross the finish line. Leaning back against the seat, the brown-haired man winced. "Damn it!"
"What was our bet, McCoy?" a victorious Mary smiled as the words "Game Over" flashed on the two screens in front of them. "Loser buys lunch?"
"Yeah, yeah." Danny sighed as Mary got up from her seat. He flashed the red-haired woman a grin. "Remind me not to let you win next time."
"Let me win?" Mary scoffed, shaking her head at her childhood friend. "Please! If that had been case, you wouldn't have let me lap you." Teasingly, she gave him a disapproving look. "You're just a sore loser, Daniel Ryan McCoy."
"Possibly." a chuckling Danny admitted, deciding to switch subjects. "So, where do you want to eat, champ?"
"I don't know." Mary said, taking a moment to think. "You want to just leave and go to Lucky Burger? Like we used to when we were kids?"
"That sounds good." Danny nodded, finally getting up from his seat. "You know, this is nice."
"What is?" a curious Mary asked as the pair started out of the arcade.
"Us just hanging out like this." Danny clarified, "We don't do it enough."
"Yeah, we don't." Mary nodded in agreement.
"Hold on a second." Danny grinned, putting a restraining hand on Mary's shoulder as his brown eyes spotted something. He suddenly searched his pocket for some change.
"What are you doing?" a curious Mary asked, looking at her friend.
"Making this just like when we were kids." Danny winked as he headed over to a nearby machine packed with stuffed animals and the like. "Which one do you want?"
"Danny, you don't have to…" Mary started.
"I want to." a reassuring Danny replied, turning his attention back to the game. "So, what'll it be?"
To be continued...