A/N: And we have here... the first Protect and Survive Christmas story! It takes place after Calm in the Heat of War (that is to say, Evan and Laura are married) but before Enemy at the Gate (that is to say, Atlantis is still in the Pegasus galaxy). I also borrowed Team Kemp again from the wonderful -leah... just because she let me ;) Okay, and because it's fun to see... Laura do what she does here ;) Anyway... enjoy :)

(and oh God, I have to say it... mac really does belong in beta hell for the snark she gave me for this chapter... but then again, I belong in author hell, as well ;))

The Prettiest Sight to See

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in ev'ry store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door."

Johnny Mathis, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"

One

Well… this is gonna be fun, she's sure of that. Whoever had the idea to hold an Atlantis wide Secret Santa – and no, she did not have anything to do with that – surely must be a genius. Not as much of a genius as herself but yes… a genius. Because, you know, the last three weeks gave her an opportunity to excel in… how to say it without using the terms "meddling" or "pushing" or even "matchmaking"? Well… bringing the right people together. Yes, that's what she excelled in.

And now she's about to watch all her labors bear fruit since it's the big gift exchange night. And it's going to be a big gift exchange since almost fifty people decided to cast their name into the bowl; even Evan, after she had… persuaded him to do so. Granted, it had sounded more like blackmailing and cajoling but in the end he'd seen reason – her explanation that this was part of his job as Atlantis' military second-in-command as well because he's also responsible for moral among the population, military and civilian alike was pretty much a killer argument – and had agreed to take part as well.

However… he's not here yet, probably claiming he's got some second-in-command business to do. She tries not to be too miffed but if he chooses to stay absent for the whole course she'll have some choice words for him tonight. At least that. But anyway… the gift exchange now will hopefully be interesting even without him.

So now she's set on seeing how well her efforts at matching the right people worked. Granted, she hadn't had all selfless motives for this but… she hopes that in the end, other people will also benefit from her labors. Three weeks after drawing the respective partners and, in her case, making sure she got the one she wanted, she damn well hopes everyone better appreciate the time and effort she put into her schemes.

It had taken her a while – and several people to convince – to get who she wanted to give her present to but in the end it had worked. Okay, so according to this year's rules – it's the second ever Secret Santa on Atlantis, so it's even very close to becoming a tradition – swapping was absolutely forbidden but she had learned very early on that rules that aren't there to save your life are there to be broken.

And anyway, it's so much more fun when people think no one swapped their partners even if probably everyone did anyway. Even Evan let himself be persuaded to swap. She still thinks that this was probably her master piece… although, no, that had been persuading little Wells to take the one she'd drawn first… wait, no, that had been pretty easy for some reason… ah, hell.

"Okay, everyone… we'll do it like this: I'll call a name, you step forward, get your present and then step back. Everyone got it?" Sheppard suddenly says and then throws the Marines a very telling look. One day, she thinks, she will let the NCOs and enlisted men show Sheppard just how ingenious Marines can be… but for now she'll still stay with her "Let them underestimate us" doctrine. The Zoomies underestimating the Marine population of Atlantis in terms of brains has come in handy time and again and the time to give that up hasn't come yet.

"Alright… Abilene," Sheppard calls and a girl she thinks belongs to engineering steps up. Step by step, everyone gets their presents and when it's time for "Cadman!" she almost skips to the front and takes the little package that Sheppard gives her. After a short moment of consideration, she decides not to unwrap it here, seeing as after unwrapping her gift, Aversham from the biology department held an object in her hands that could only be described as a dildo and Bei-Ling from diplomacy now has to decide what to do with a… oh crap, it's the porn video someone brought to Atlantis and that resurfaces as a gift now and again. She actually found herself thinking about asking Bei-Ling if he'd mind giving her the video since she's kind of curious what the fuck it's actually about.

Anyway, better concentrate on the gift exchange again. Teyla just got her present and she's really interested to see what Dusty Mehra came up with. It looks like… a rolled up yoga mat and apparently also some other accessories. Interesting, she thinks, and wonders what it says about Dusty. Then they go through all the other letters in the alphabet… until they get to K and it gets interesting for her again.

There's Kappeller, Kaufmann… and Kemp. The newly promoted Captain walks up to Sheppard and gets his gift. It's a… not so neatly wrapped little package – amazing, she thinks, that some people manage to confuse even computer-programmed high tech self-wrapping paper – and she's really curious to see what's in it. Because, well, she knows who's Kemp's Secret Santa… mostly because she was the one to… arrange this pairing.

Okay, he walks back to his team… and Wells looks she can't quite decide between wanting to run away and desperately wanting to know how Kemp will react once he unwraps it. In the end… she seems rooted to the spot, trying to look as if she has no idea what's in the package. Dammit, hurry up, Captain, she thinks and finally he put the paper away. It's… huh? What the hell is that?

She risks a few cautious and of course totally incidental steps in the direction of Team Kemp and thankfully gets to see a little better what was in the package. It's a little round object… a compass! Yes, that's it. Okay, so what's so special about a compass that Wells intently bites her lip and can't stop staring at Kemp as if she wants to absorb every little bit that could be a reaction? Maybe unobtrusively trying to catch a few bits of conversation might help… "I can't believe… is that really the one I lost?" Kemp asks Wells and… hey, that would explain a bit, actually.

"Yeah, it's the one you lost. Repeatedly," Faraday, the team's NCO and only Marine snorts and it earns him a mean glance from his CO. Oops.

That makes Wells snort. "Don't look at Adam like that. It's true. It didn't disappear nearly as often when I had it." What? Wells had the thing before? This is getting even more interesting by the minute and telling her that it had been a good idea to swap partners with Wells because something had told her the little Lieutenant might be much happier with her CO for a gift partner than the guy she'd had before.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have trusted it to your care if I'd had the slightest doubt that you wouldn't be careful with it," Kemp scoffs at Wells but it looks and sounds a lot like he has to keep from laughing. Wells… did she just blush? Huh… "Anyway… whoever found this thing and gave it to me sure did go some length," Kemp adds and whistles a little… and suddenly the compass whistles a little melody – is that really Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us"? – in response. She almost broke out laughing but Kemp's reaction is even better.

The thing actually manages to make him look startled for just a moment and then he looks at the grinning members of his team, one by one, searching for something, just a little miffed… until his gaze returns to Wells and she could have sworn that for just a moment… he gives Wells a knowing grin and then something that looks like he's promising… to get back at her… and she blushes again… who would have thought.

Anyway, they're at L now and after Leidenberger, Llwelyn and Logarno are through… ah, look who finally got to the gift exchange. Looking just a little harried – she hopes it was just a minor catastrophe, seeing as he had a lot on his plate in the last few weeks – Evan comes walking over to her.

It's the first time today they actually see each other since this morning, she only half-consciously registered a peck on her cheek and then he'd been gone to deal with all the minor mishaps and major screw-ups that happen in the city on a daily base and she'd had to teach a load of classes ranging from self-defense for the female members of the Expedition to advanced organic chemistry, so she doesn't object when the hand he put on the small of her back when greeting her lingers just a moment too long to be casual.

But she also can't resist saying, "And here I thought you'd do the Grinch again."

Evan makes a face. "I really have no idea where you got the idea from that I have some problem with Christmas. I'm not Maureen Reece, you know." Uh-huh, right. It's only that this year… she can't really detect anything of the "I don't care for Christmas" attitude Maureen became almost kind of famous for in the almost six years she spent on Atlantis in her fellow Marine. In fact… even though she tries her usual half-bored, half-annoyed look standing a few feet away with Moore, Morsberg and a few of the girls from the linguistics department, Maureen looks like she actually enjoys being here.

"I didn't say you have issues with Christmas. I just said you have issues with Secret Santa events," she replies and has to fight against the big amused grin that threatens to break through because of the frown that deepens on his forehead… but instead of dignifying her response with an answer, he turns back to listen intently to Sheppard… but the Colonel goes directly from Lombardi to Lue and… she could have sworn she saw Evan's face fall at the realization that Sheppard never mentioned Lorne in the parade of gift receivers.

It does make her feel a little sorry for him because even if no one else saw it, she did see that not receiving anything – in fact not even being mentioned – got to him; the guy who's been the city's XO for almost five years now and who's seen so many of her inhabitants through small and not so small crises. With a silent sigh she leans over to him and whispers, "Maybe whoever got you was just too terrified to have you receive and unpack their gift in public."

"Yeah, or they just didn't… I have no idea what you're talking about," he says, almost huffing and damn, the grin just won't stay tucked away.

"Sure you don't. But just in case you do get an idea: I'm sure there's a perfectly normal explanation for it." She really is. It would be against all rules of nature that Atlantis' XO didn't get a Christmas gift in a Secret Santa that she had to convince him to take part in.

"Yeah, right. And I'm sure there's also a perfectly normal explanation for why Jenna "I don't even know how to spell blushing" Wells was just doing exactly that at something Kemp said." Damn. He really is too damn perceptive for his own damn good.

She can't help clearing her throat. "Now I have no idea what you're talking about." He smirks and is probably about to say something like "The hell you do," but he doesn't get that far because it's Rodney's turn to receive and unpack his gift now and… That looks like a… a sign. With pink lettering. Huh?

"That sign doesn't really saying 'No parking, princess!', right? Please tell me it doesn't," Evan whispers but she's pretty sure she can detect a very amused undertone in his voice. Rodney, on the other hand… looks a little confused and then a lot like he'd rather like to do something terrible to Colonel Sheppard for making him join the Secret Santa thing again. She searches the crowd… ah yeah, good old Morsberg.

She knew he'd not go easy on Rodney because he never does – and always gets away with it, the German speaking bastard – and she'd been kind of looking forward to it and she'd been looking forward even more to all the other people coming after Rodney – a certain young officer whose name starts with a W most of all – but… her time is running out. She still has plans for today and if she doesn't go right now… A little regretful, she leans over to Evan again. "Hey, uh, farmboy… could you do me a favor?"

He frowns as Sheppard goes through Mbeki, Mehra and Merbusch. "As long as it doesn't involve reindeer's antlers or a spiking the punch…"

"Nah, don't worry. Just… stay until they're done, please? I gotta go but I'd love to know how this…" she takes great care that her rather vague hand wave in Team Kemp's direction looked absolutely accidentally, at least to anyone apart from Evan, "turns out."

However, to her dismay, Evan doesn't outright agree… but yeah, when would he ever? "Whatever you did, Laura… it won't work anyway. They'd kill each other before even getting around the next corner, let alone to a bed."

Pffft. She rolls her eyes. "Your judgment of your subordinates used to be a lot better, Major. Anyway… gotta go. Play nice and don't be mean to the other kids," she says and can't resist giving him a quick kiss on the cheek… and gets surprised when she feels him grabbing her wrist and pulling her back for an equally quick kiss on the lips.

"I always play nice, Buttercup," he says and she's just this close to adding that she has seen him play naughty on several occasions but decides against it. The kisses were pushing their luck way too much already and they're just lucky that Sheppard is fully engrossed in giving out presents… but did Wells just throw her a weird look? Okay, better really go now, seeing as Wells' father is her and Evan's boss. Of course everyone knows that Wells and her father aren't really on good footing but still… she needs to go. She really does.

So after giving Evan an admonishing look again, she makes her way out of the mess hall and mentally goes through all the things she still has to do. Yeah… it's going to be a busy rest of the day, that's for sure.