„No. Just no. You can't work today! It's christmas!" Tony whined.

Pepper sat in the kitchen, the Avengers around her, and tried to get some work done.

„Come on, Pepper, it won't hurt to put it aside for a few days." Bruce said.

Pepper wanted to say something, but was cut short by Steve:

„It's an important holiday. We all should celebrate."

Pepper sighed, looked at him and said:

„You're right, Steve, just give me a few hours, okay?"

Then she looked back to her blackberry... just to see it was gone.

„Okay, who stole my blackberry?"

She knew that Bruce and Steve wouldn't do something like that, and Tony stood to far away. That left... Natasha and Clint. She glared at the two of them.

„Clint!" He was the one of them who'd most likely break.

„You get it back when the holidays are over." Natasha jumped in.

Pepper sighed and gave in.

Two hours later the group was standing in the living-room. In front of them was a big christmas-tree and Tony had organized decoration.

„I'd say, let's start!" Pepper said smiling.

immediately Natasha grabbed a little angel and hung it in the tree. The others followed and soon the tree was decorated. They sat together with a tea and started sharing christmas memories.

„It's been ages since I had a real christmas tree." Bruce admitted.

On the questioning look of the others he shrugged:

„They don't celebrate christmas in India."

„I didn't know what christmas was before I came to SHIELD. I was so suprised when we were on a mission and Clint suddenly said 'Merry Christmas'" Natasha threw in.

„Yeah, that was kind of funny. I was so shocked that she didn't know." Clint chuckled. „In my childhood christmas was never a big thing, but we always celebrated at least a bit. My father usually went to the bar and didn't come back till the next morning, so Mom made us something nice."

„At my home christmas was the holiday of the year. Mom stood in the kitchen days before to make sure we got a 'real meal' like she called it. The tree stood since the beginning of December, and the whole house was decorated. The whole family came. That only changed when Mom died in that car crash." Pepper told the others. At the mention of her mother Tony wrapped an arm around her. He knew how much she still missed her.

„When my parents lived, it was more a prestige thing, you know. Everything was decorated, but not by us. They payed people to do that. There was a meal, too, but that was cooked by a cook the also payed. I got luxurious presents, but it was completely impersonal. They didn't even know what I liked, so I often got money." Tony shared his memories.

„I always made something for the little kids. I was in this orphanage and I didn't have much, but I collected things. A beautiful stone or a baseball card that somebody lost. Nothing big, but I'll never forget how the faces of those kids lit up when I gave it to them." Steve put in.

After that, they sat in a comfortable silence, only listening to Michael Buble in the background.

AN: Merry christmas! I know it's short, but I hope you like it =)