Man, this took awhile...Sadly I've been pretty busy for, like, a few months or so. And now I FINALLY have some time to type. Well, I may be a little rusty...so...enjoy!

"Holland?" Carter snapped to attention, giving a hasty salute. "Sir, what are you doing here?"

The officer chuckled at the spartan's surprised face. " Routine inspections are still mandatary, Christmas or no Christmas."

"Of course, sir," Carter recovered, "I take it you will be using Thom's old room?"

"That is the plan, yes. I doubt any one of your team will have objections if I do."

Carter could feel the heat of Six's angry glare on the back of his neck. He ignored her for now and saluted Noble Actual. " What's one more mouth to feed? It will be a pleasure having you, sir."

" Ah, yes, slight misconception there. You see, I did not come alone..." He muttered apologetically.

"Wait, who else did you bring?" Emile asked, a slight tinge in his voice. Holland was about to open his mouth to reply when suddenly the door burst open and Jorge thundered into the room, his scarred face filled with panic as he tried to hide behind Carter.

"Sir, you gotta hide me, quick!" The large spartan pleaded as he cowered behind the much smaller one.

" Jorge?" Six asked, concerned about what could make the usually steely spartan behave this way.

"What, did you see a mouse?" Emile scoffed.

"No...' Jorge's eyes were wide with terror. "Much, much, worse..."

"Who-" Carter began, but a familiar feminine voice interuptted him.

"Oh Jooooorge? Where are you?'

The 4 spartans swung their heads around to the doorway, where a woman stood leaning against the frame, her graying hair shining underneath the light. A package firmly tucked underneath her arm.

" Well if it isn't the rest of Noble Team. Jorge, I KNOW your hiding behind Carter.' Dr. Halsey said.

"HALSEY!" Carter and Emile exclaimed as Jorge reluctantly shuffled out of hiding.

"Carter." She purred back, sauntering over. " Surprised to see me? When I got the report I just had to come and see how my spartans celebrated Christmas. And to keep you off of Kat."

Carter chuckled nervously. 'Ah...hahaha...it's a honor having you visit the base..."

"Not." Emile whispered to Six.

By that time Kat and Jun had heard the commotion and entered Thom's room. The Doctor's face stretched into a thin smile as she greeted each spartan personally.

" Nice to see you again, Katherine. You were always a favorite of mine, with your feisty smarts. And big,strong Jorge, I knit you some new pajamas, I hope you like them, I hand stitched kittens into them. And Carter, again. Ever the cheerful leader. Ah Emile, my loveable little psycho." She patted him lovingly on his skull faced helmet. "And here's the new girl, Six. I was the one who selected you to replace Thom. So brave, your destined for great things." Six couldn't helpt but feel a little warm inside from the praise. It made her wonder why all the other spartans were edgy around her. She was the mother of the project that put them into existence. What could be so bad about her?

Dr. Halsey finally got down the line to Jun, who waited expectantly.

Dr. Halsey: Ah, yes. Jun...

Jun: :D

Dr. Halsey: ...you were actually a bit of mistake. Some files and serums got mixed up and well...to avoid political hassle with those "humane" groups we decided it would be best if we just let the covenant kill you off. We even have running bets on how long you'll last. "Lets have fun with the dumb animal before we send him off to the slaughterhouse," as dear Holland puts it.

Jun: D:

"Oh..." Six thought as she looked at Jun's stricken face.

The aging woman laughed. "Well, its good to see the rest of you. Now, who wants to go outside for a snowball fight?"

"YAY!" Everyone cheered and charged outside, leaving Jun alone in the now quiet room. His shoulder shook as he tried to hold back the tears. As the door shut behind him he took out a pistol and pressed it up against his head.

OUTSIDE

It was WAR! Already sides were drawn, with Six, Emile, and Holland on one side and Carter, Jorge and Halsey on the other. Kat thought activities of this sort were childish and decided to sit on the sidelines, working algorithms on her data pad. Meanwhile, snow forts were hastily excavated and snowballs quickly packed together for the big fight.

Six was on her knees in the snow, clumsily putting together a snow ball. " I had never had a snowball fight before...what are we supposed to do?"

"Kill everyone in your way!" Emile snarled next to her as he worked on their cover.

" But I thought this was supposed to be a light a friendly game amongst friends..."

" Yeah, for PANZIES! The snow is going to be stained with blood when IM through with them!"

For the umpteenth time since meeting Emile, she was really, really glad they were on the same side. Six decided to take a break from snowball making (which didn't seem to be going well) and check out the competition. Peeking over the wall of the snow fort she spied Carter giving one of his pep talks while the Doctor fussed with an uncomfortable looking Jorge. She could hear the conversation.

"Aw, come one, put on the scarf. Its cold outside."

"That's alright ma'am. Im a spartan. No cold is going to phase me."

" Put. It. On." She hissed.

"Al-alright...' Jorge submitted reluctantly.

"Jorge seems...uncomfortable..around the doctor." Six mused.

"Who isn't? She's bat crap insane!' Emile answered.

"It wasn't always like that," Holland put in. The tone in his voice gave a sense of foreboding that caused a chill to crawl up Six's spine.

"Jorge just thought the good doctor was just being motherly. Most people did. " He continued. "That is, until he discovered her secret."

" What is she hiding?" Six whispered as she and Emile leaned in closer to Noble Actual.

"Are you sure you want to know? The burden is quite hard to bear, even for one of my own calabur." Holland answered, his voice low and heavy with the knowledge he bore.

" Tell us. Now." Emile hissed.

"She's a cougar."

The two spartans sat slack jawed in the snow, staring at the aging man.

"Oh god..." Six choked while Emile twitched uncontrollably.

'That's not the worst part, she's actually a-GAH!" Holland fell back as a rather large snowball impacted with his face, knocking him out cold.

"Good throw, spartan!" Carter's voice could be heard. Immediately Emile snapped into action, gathering up snowballs. "Hollands out, but no one needs him anyway. Cover me, Six."

" Charging out there is a suicide mission!" She warned.

" Not with you to get my back." Emile answered...almost...friendly? Six did a double take and opened her mouth to say something but he was already gone.

Carter smirked as Emile charged out of his snow fort. Just what he expected. "Jorge, you have the honor."

" Thank you, sir!" Jorge said and hefted his huge gatling gun, which Kat had augmented to fire snowballs, and unleashed cold hell onto Emile.

"Aw, snap!" Emile yelled as he saw the team's secret weapon being fired at him. Time seemed to slow down as he watched the flurry of snowballs heading straight towards his face. This was gonna hurt...

INSIDE

Jun dropped the pistol. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't do it! Who would clean his sniper rifle if he was dead, or clean up the toilet after Emile? Giving up, he sighed. Might as well go out and watch the snowball fight.

OUTSIDE

Jun opened the door and walked out of the base to see Emile charging at Carter, Halsey, and Jorge. He was going to get massacred. This put a smile to the sniper's face. It would be fun to see Emile getting beat up for once. Sadly, as he was thinking this he wasn't watching where he was going and slipped on some ice, which sent him flying past Kat and into the fray.

Emile saw the body of Jun come slipping towards him. Without hesitation he grabbed him as he went past and pulled him in front of his body, using him as a meat shield. Jun cried out as the snowballs hit his unarmored body, but Emile just kept pushing him towards the enemy snowfort.

Halsey narrowed her eyes. " Your plan is failing, Commander." She snipped.

" I know, I know. Keep firing at him, Jorge!"

"I can't, Im out of ammo!" Jorge wailed, clicking the trigger to prover his point. Emile took this moment to lift Jun up and chuck him into Jorge, sending them both down. Giving a bloodcurdling war cry he leaped over a snow drift and onto Carter, shoving his face into the snow.

" Payback's a b****!" he crowed as he sat on his Commander and pelted him with snowballs.

The Doctor held up her hands. " Okay, you got us. I guess we surrender. Is that alright with you, Carter?" Her only reply was muffled grunts as Emile continued his victory assault. "I'll take that as a yes."

Six came running over, along with the now conscious Holland. She clapped Emile on the back. "I think you can stop now."

Emile stood up. "We kicked ass!" He punched Six's shoulder, sending her stumbling back. Her foot hit something and she fell backwards into the snow, landing with a soft crunch. Her ponytail came out, sending her messy blonde locks swirling around her head, like a golden halo. Brushing them swiftly out of her eyes she looked up to see Emile staring silently down at her.

'Um...Emile, your fingers are twitching again."

Emile just grunted and helped her stand up. As she turned to brush herself off she knew that underneath the carved skull on his visor, he was still staring.

"You must be the clumsiest spartan I ever seen." Kat teased as she trudged over to them.

" Not my fault. My foot caught on something." She looked down at the snow, wondering what she tripped over. There was a flicker of gray where she had moved the snow. That's weird. Bending down, she brushed a little more snow off. More grey. The surface was hard, with marks running down it. More weird.

The others crowded around her as she began brushing off more snow. More grey. Weird, weird, weird.

'What is it?" Jorge asked.

' I don't know, it looks like...it can't be...' Carter whispered.

" It looks like spartan armor..." Kat said darkly.

"But what's it doing buried in the snow three feet away from the front door...?" Jun wondered. Everyone paused. Their minds registering the information. Immediately they bent down and began helping Six in the uncovering. A minute late the work was down. Noble Team, along with Holland and Halsey gazed down at the find. Their voices mute. The air filled with horrified tension. Jun broke it by letting out a terrified scream and running away.

"Who...who is it..." Six stared down at the body lying in the snow.

"Oh my god...It...it can't be..." Carter's voice cracked.

"Who is it?" Six asked more forcefully.

"Its Thom."

Confused? So am I! TOBECONTINUED!