It had reached evening on this festive day on Azura and Sam Byrne had been in the bar for an hour already with Dizzy. They had all decided to meet up for some Christmas drinks.

"Easy on the shots Sam. At least wait till everyone is here"

"What? I'm fine Dizzy, you know I could drink you under the table any time."

Dizzy knew that was true. Sam could certainly handle her drink, even more so than some of the guys.

"Yeah well just take it easy, you still want to be sober when everyone gets here don't you?"

"Ok Granddad" she chuckled. "I'll take it easy.

Pretty soon people started to so up starting with Marcus and Anya. Sam saw Anya and gave her a friendly hug.

"Nice necklace Anya" Sam said noticing her friends new jewellery.

"Oh thanks. It was a present from Marcus"

"Aww how sweet of you Marcus"

Marcus looked mildly embarrassed by her remark. They got themselves some drinks and joined Sam and Dizzy. Then Carmine showed up with Jace and a few other gears. They went over to join the others. Carmine went straight over to Sam.

"Hey Sam. Can I get you a drink?" he said obviously flirting with her.

"Sure, why not" she wasn't going to turn down a free drink. But Carmine wasn't the one she was interested in seeing tonight. He wasn't here yet and Sam had a feeling he wouldn't show up. Sam forgot about that for a moment when they were joined by Hoffman and Bernie who had just showed up. They were greeted by everyone and Anya asked if they'd had a good day.

"We had a lovely day thank you" Bernie answered.

"Yeah, Bernie made us a lovely Christmas meal. Then we spent most of the afternoon in bed"

Carmine nudged Jace and whispered something which made Jace giggle.

"Wanna share the joke" Hoffman asked

"He said, the old man's still got it in in" Jace said much to Carmines annoyance.

"Calm down boys, we were in bed because we were sleeping. The food made us tired"

"Gotcha" Carmine said to Hoffman, winking. Hoffman just rolled his eyes at him. The group talked about the kind of day they'd all had. Bernie made everyone laugh with her story about chasing the turkey at 6AM this morning. Everyone was having a pretty good time although Sam was preoccupied waiting for a certain blond gear to show up.

Cole and Baird were on their way to the bar. Baird didn't really want to go but Cole had convinced him.

"C'mon Baird it'll be fun"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll just go home"

"Oh c'mon, you don't want to be anti social do you?"

"Ok. Just one drink. Then I'm going"

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Cole chuckled.

They were the last two to arrive at the bar. Sam was secretly happy to see Baird walk in, but didn't show it. She barely looked at him. Baird saw Sam sitting at the bar. He knew she was probably going to give him a hard time about something.

"Would it kill her to be nice for a change. Not that I'm never nice to her" he thought as he saw her drinking another shot with the guys. "And she's been drinking to. Perfect" Cole being Cole mingled with everyone in the bar wishing them all a merry Christmas being his usual cheery self. Baird just stuck to him self looking moody as usual. He was about to leave the bar when he felt someone grab his arm.

"Hey Blondie, where the hell do you think you're going?" Sam asked.

"Just heading home" he replied.

"Not yet your not" she protested. "We haven't had a drink together yet" she said as she began pulling him towards the bar. Baird shook her off. "Oh c'mon blondie just one drink with my favourite gear"

"Ok Sam you much be really drunk"

"I've had a few but I'm ok. C'mon, let me buy you a drink, to say Merry Christmas"

Baird sighed. "Ok. One drink. Then I'm going home ok"

"Ok, you got it. Hey barman!"

"I have a name Sam. It's Lou remember?"

"Ok Lou. Get my man here the strongest shot you have"

He poured Baird a glass of something pretty lethal looking. Baird looked at it unsure.

"C'mon don't be such a wimp"

Baird downed it in one go. It was pretty nasty and Baird shook his head thoroughly after he drank it.

"God, what is that"

"That is the good stuff. You want another"

"No I don't want another. I said one drink remember." he said as he got up to leave.

Sam's plan for tonight was falling apart. "He isn't supposed to leave yet" she thought.

"Ok. If you insist. But at least let me walk you home"

"Ok." Baird said confused. Sam sure was acting weird around him tonight. "Must be the alcohol" He thought.

Baird didn't notice Sam grab something from above the door frame and put it in her pocket as they left the bar. "This will have to do" she thought.

Sam and Baird walked back to his apartment. Baird was surprised she could still walk straight. She really could hold her drink well. She was unusually quiet on the way back. He didn't say much either. When they got back to his door he thanked her for the drink.

"Oh Baird. There is one more thing.

"What's that" he asked with curiosity.

"First, close your eyes"

"Why, what you gonna do" he asked, thinking Sam was going to play some kind of joke on him.

"Nothing, just close your eyes. Trust me"

"Ok fine" he said closing his eyes.

Sam pulled out out of her pocket what was hanging above the door in the bar. It was a piece of mistletoe that she'd put there earlier. She held it above them both, stood on her tip toes and kissed him. Baird was more than surprised, he wasn't expecting that at all. He didn't pull away though, he kissed her back, surprised that he enjoyed it so much. After they kissed he opened his eyes and said,

"What the hell was that?"

"Look up" she said as she was still holding the mistletoe above their heads.

"Oh, I get it. Mistletoe. Very festive Sam. So that's what the kiss was for. Because of the mistletoe and Christmas?"

"Well yeah. That and . ."

"What?"

"Well. Truth be told, I've always wanted to kiss you"

"Come again?" he asked surprised.

"I've always wanted to kiss you. Just had to come up with the perfect excuse that's all"

Baird was shocked by what she said. He had always secretly fancied Sam, even though she drove him crazy, but he had no idea she liked him in that way.

"So" he began. "Now that you've kissed me, what do you want to do now?"

"Kiss you again"

"I'm up for that" he said as he suddenly pulled her close surprising her. They kissed again, for a bit longer this time. After they broke apart she looked up at him and smiled saying,

"Think of that as you're Christmas present."

He smirked at her and said,

"Well why don't you come in?"

"What for?" she asked.

"So I can give you your Christmas present" he replied his smirk growing bigger.

He unlocked his door then kissed her again as they made their way inside, never breaking their passionate kiss.