Disclaimer: Not mine, no profit made.

A/N: So it's up tonight, not tomorrow… aren't you all lucky? And yes, I'm still working on Exchange Program. Coming up soon will be Gibbs' reaction to the CSI team, but I have a Christmas party to go to tomorrow night, so it won't be up for a couple more days. I'll see you all when I get back into town.

Chapter Nine: In which Avari is spoiled rotten, and Speed has a surprise for his co-workers.

-DLG-

Speed was awoken on Christmas morning by an excited four year old girl jumping on his bed.

"Wake up, Speed!" Avari squealed in delight. "It's Christmas! Time for presents!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Speed yawned. He'd been up most of the night wrapping her presents, and had only gotten to sleep a couple of hours ago. "Hang on," he muttered as Avari grabbed his hand and tried to pull him out of bed, "we can't open presents yet. We've gotta wait for Horatio."

"Ra-ra's coming?" Avari looked delighted, and Speed chuckled.

"Yeah, it's Sunday, remember? Horatio said he'd still come by and make breakfast for us."

"Yeah!" He hadn't thought that the little girl could possibly get any more excited, but apparently he was wrong. She climbed back up onto the bed, bouncing with joy. "When will he be here?"

"I dunno," Speed threw a glance at the alarm clock by his bed. "Jeez, Princess, it's only six thirty! He won't be here for at least a couple more hours." Horatio knew that Speed was not a morning person, and usually refrained from appearing until nine at the earliest. Avari pouted, and Speed stifled a groan. It was so hard to refuse her anything when she looked at him like that.

"Tell you what," he tried to negotiate with the small girl, "why don't we snuggle up in bed here and I'll read to you until H gets here. Okay?"

"Okay," Avari nodded. Cuddles and stories with her father was a pretty got substitute for presents. For now, anyway.

By the time Horatio arrived at eight, they'd gone through the stack of picture books by the bedside and had started on 'Red Dragon' again. Speed sighed in relief when he heard the doorbell, and Avari ran to see who it was. She peeked through the curtain in the lounge room and let out a shriek of delight.

"Ra-ra!" Horatio waved back to her, and Speed unlocked the door. The two men nodded a greeting to each other as Horatio lifted the happy little girl into a hug. He had to look down and smile – his younger scientist friend had fairly obviously just rolled out of bed. He was still wearing the tracksuit trousers and ratty old t-shirt which served as pyjamas, and his hair was even more of a mess than it usually was, which was saying something. He was also moving fairly sluggishly, as though he had no energy.

Avari, on the other hand, was wide awake and already chattering away about what was planned for the day. In five minutes flat, Horatio learned that Avari and her father were going to Auntie Alexx's house for lunch, and she was going to give Auntie Alexx the biggest hug she could, and then they were going to Megan's for dinner, and she hoped that they had ice-cream for dessert because she hated Christmas pudding. Oh, and she really wanted a stuffed pony.

Smiling, Horatio carried the chattering child with him to the kitchen so he could start cooking. When he put her down, she ran into her room to pick out the clothes she wanted to wear that day, and Horatio smiled over at his friend.

"I figured she'd wake you up early, so I came round earlier than usual. That okay?"

"Hell yeah," Speed nodded emphatically before another yawn split his face. "Six thirty she woke me up. Little beast." Despite the complaining, both men smiled. They both knew that he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Well then," Horatio pulled some ingredients out of the cupboard, "I'd best get cooking. Though from the sounds of it, nothing too filling. Wouldn't want to ruin your appetite."

Speed grinned. He certainly didn't want to offend Alexx by not eating a large lunch. Then he paused.

"So what are you doing today?" He realised that Horatio wasn't going to be attending either of the gatherings that day.

"I volunteered to work today," he shrugged. "Same with Calleigh. I doubt it'll be busy, but they needed someone there just in case."

"That sucks," Speed frowned. He hadn't noticed before, but Horatio always volunteered to work the holidays. He always said that he'd celebrate later, but the man never took a vacation. Speed sighed as Avari came out of her room holding the outfit she'd chosen – a bright red top over black jeans – and acknowledged that most likely it was because Horatio didn't really have much in the way of family any more.

A thought occurred to him then, as Horatio was chopping up some bacon to put in the scrambled eggs, and he grinned. Hopefully Alexx would approve.

-DLG-

Mid-day rolled around, and Horatio and Calleigh sat in the break room at CSI. There really hadn't been much to do today, beyond catching up on paperwork and looking through some cold case files. Now they were taking a break and drinking some coffee. Calleigh hadn't felt like heading home for the holiday, and was grateful that no one had questioned her desire to stay isolated from her family.

Horatio, meanwhile, was thinking about his brother's family. Ray, Jr. was now the only blood relation he had left, but things with Yelina were complicated. He sighed and tried to shake himself out of that particular train of thought.

Suddenly, the pair sat up straight. They'd heard the elevator doors 'ping' open, but they weren't expecting anyone. After a moment, they heard someone calling for them, and simultaneously smiled.

"Ra-ra! Auntie Calleigh! Where are you?"

They both stood and stared through the doorway at the sight that greeted them. Making their way down the corridor were Speed and Avari, the former carrying a large picnic basked and the second carrying a small esky. Speed grinned at them.

"Couldn't have you two missing out on Alexx's cooking," he shrugged in response to their unspoken question. Calleigh took the surprisingly heavy esky from Avari and started to unload it, passing around the soft drinks.

Out of Speed's basket, a feast emerged. There were cold meats, hot mince pies, tubs of various salads and vegetables, fresh bread rolls and plenty of sweets. Once everything was out, the three friends and the little girl all dug in. It was, naturally, delicious, and the talk flowed freely around the break-room table. Speed wouldn't say it aloud, but he much preferred the cosy lunch with just the four of them to the circus that would have been Alexx's extended family. Not that he didn't love the ME dearly, but he really wasn't a people person.

Looking over at Avari, he saw that she seemed to be enjoying herself. She mightn't really understand a lot of the talk, but she'd brought along her favourite present – the stuffed horse that Speed had given her – and had it tucked under her arm while she ate. Every now and then she'd pretend to feed her vegetables to him. After all, horses were 'vegetable-arians', and Horsie needed to eat.

-DLG-

Much to Speed's delight, Avari went to sleep early that night. He gently tucked her and Horsie, whom she refused to let go of, into bed and kissed the top of her hair, happy that she'd had a good day.

After all, he wasn't really bothered by Christmas, but it should be special for his daughter. Christmas, he mused, was a time for children.