Hi all! And sorry for the loooong delay. But after doing NaNoWriMo, it took me a while to get back into Avengers. And then, I had to get ready for Christmas. Getting presents, baking cookies, that kind of stuff. Anyways, here's the next chapter. Enjoy! And - Merry Christmas!

Deck the – well, not exactly halls …

Tony hated debriefings. They were boring. And a waste of time. He really didn't see the point – Fury had been monitoring their every move. How he still needed a debriefing was a mystery to Tony. It wasn't like he'd been asleep the whole time or something.

Since SHIELD's director insisted on them, though, and since Pepper insisted Tony attended, he was putting the time to good use: last minute Christmas shopping on eBay. The bidding-fight he was currently involved in was much more interesting than listening to the re-telling of how they had beaten the Villain of the Week – they always did, after all – and so it took Tony a moment – might have been two or three, actually – to notice everyone had fallen silent. And was looking at him. Glaring, in Fury's case.

Tony looked up from his phone. Of course, Captain Prim 'n' Proper was rolling his eyes at him. Tasha's look was hard to read, as always. The Hawk – well, he could have been grinning. Hard to tell. Bruce adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat.

Fury folded his arms over his chest.
"Don't let us interrupt you", he said.

"What? Oh, nono, that's okay."
Tony returned his attention to his phone where the bidding-fight was entering its final stage. He waved his hand at the others.
"I'm sure the others can do fine without me – just carry on."

Someone – he wasn't quite sure who – made a choking sound.

He should have seen it coming. He was so fixed on the bidding-fight, though, that he didn't. Suddenly, Fury was standing next to him – he swore the man must have teleported across the room because there hadn't been any footsteps – and snatched the phone from him.

"Hey!" Tony protested. "Would you mind –"

"I would", Fury cut him off. "You can have it back after the debriefing. Maybe."

He gave Tony another glare and then, went back to the front of the room.

It was Tony now who folded his arms across his chest.
"Great, just when I was winning", he mumbled.

Rogers gave him a sharp look. Tony raised his eyebrows at him. Clint was shaking his head slightly but he was still grinning. Well, almost.

It took another two hours until the debriefing was concluded to Fury's satisfaction. Tony didn't pay any more attention than before and of course, Fury kept his phone. Sneaky, really. If he wanted a Stark phone of his own, he just would have had to say so. Tony would have made another one for him. But no, he just had to take Tony's, hadn't he? Probably to live up to his reputation of being a badass.

"Really, you'd think he'd be in a more charitable mood, considering it's only two more days till Christmas", he said more to himself when they were all walking down the corridor towards the hangar and their quinjet.

Clint laughed.
"Doesn't make any difference to him", he said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it's just another day, you know?"

Tony stopped.
"What – you're telling me you're not celebrating Christmas here?" he asked. "No time off for you people over the holidays, to be with your family?"

"What family?" Tasha asked, walking past him.

"And besides – no rest for the wicked, right?"
The archer followed her.
"Remember that one time in Siberia, Nat? When we were snowed in for two weeks, over Christmas and New Year?"

Tasha stopped.
"Yes."
She smiled.
"Very nice."

"Nice? It was cold enough to freeze the vodka!"

Her smile grew wider.

Clint sighed in exasperation.
"We really gotta work on this, you know?"

"Wait a second. So there's no SHIELD Christmas party?" Tony asked. "No Fury in a Santa hat? No decorations, no – well, nothing?"

At the mention of a Santa hat on Nick Fury's head, Tasha and Barton both turned and looked at him as if he'd suggested sacrificing a baby to some dark deity.

"Do you see any Christmas decorations here?" Tasha asked and gestured at the bare walls.

"Fine." Tony raised his hands. "No Santa hat. I get it."

They went on in silence.

"Shame, though", Tony said when they reached the quinjet. "That flight deck's large enough to accommodate not only Santa and Rudolf but also a whole army of elves."

The Hawk laughed.
"You know, I'd pay quite some money to see that."

"Yes, only that no one's suicidal enough to try", Tasha pointed out.

Tony and Clint looked at each other. Tony knew the archer was thinking the exact same thing as him. They both grinned.

Rogers slowly shook his head.
"Oh no, you won't."

"Of course not."
Tony raised his eyebrows.
"We're not suicidal, are we, Feathers?"

Nick Fury was accustomed to be woken by a great many things and to a great many emergencies when he was on the helicarrier. Blaring sirens, attacking aliens, urgent calls by the WSC, an unannounced visit by the president. Waking up to "We wish you a Merry Christmas" playing over the helicarrier's PA system was new.

For a moment, he considered he might still be sleeping and dreaming. By the time "We wish you a Merry Christmas" faded into "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer", he had to acknowledge this was really happening.

Someone – Stark, he assumed, would be the most likely and only candidate – had hacked the PA system.

"Very funny", Fury huffed.

He didn't know that there still was more to come.

The Christmas songs accompanied him all the way to the bridge. Of course, he had ordered the tech department to shut the music down but since this indeed was Stark's doing, he had been told it would take a while.

Fury stepped on the bridge – and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Hill", he said.

Maria Hill who was just checking on something displayed on a monitor turned at him.

"Sir?"

"What's that?"

Hill followed the direction of his gaze. She straightened and clasped her hands on her back, all business.

"It seems to be a Christmas tree, sir."

Fury nodded
"Figures."

He approached the giant fir tree that had been put up by the large panorama window. Some of the ornaments were rather unusual. He discovered a tiny helicarrier. Christmas balls bearing colours and symbols he immediately associated with the Avengers. And at the top –

"Hill", he said once more.

"Yes, sir?"
She joined him before the tree.

"Is that me, at the top of the tree?" he asked. "Mini-me, wearing a Santa hat and golden wings?"

There was a short pause. He glanced at Hill. She was obviously searching for the right words. The corners of her mouth, he noticed, were twitching slightly. He thought he heard a very, very soft giggle behind his back. He chose to ignore it.

"It indeed seems to be you", Hill finally said. "As far as I can tell from here."

Fury turned around at the bridge crew. They were all trying very hard not to grin and to concentrate on their monitors. A small group, he now noticed, was gathered around one of the monitors at the far end of the room. The one that usually showed the flight deck.

Fury strode over to them. They shrank away from the monitor. It was still showing the flight deck. Fury realized that there wouldn't be any flights leaving the helicarrier today. The flight deck was occupied.

"Santa", he pointed out. "And his sleigh."

"Yes, sir. And a lot of parcels."

And Christmas lights. It actually looked like the Hulk had gone on a rampage – only that, instead of smashing things, he had put up Christmas lights. There were trees, stars, snowflakes, everything you could think of, blinking merrily in green and red and yellow and blue and every other colour you could probably imagine.

Again, Fury nodded.

He turned round at Hill and took in a deep breath.
"All of this wasn't here last night when I went to bed", he said.

"Yes, sir."

"That was six hours ago."

Hill nodded.

"So – how the hell did they do this?"

Hill shrugged.
"We don't know. The records from the security cameras have been wiped."

"Of course. – Stark?"

"Romanoff, we suppose."

Yes, of course. It would have been a joint venture. Stark was good but not that good.

Fury turned away and started walking towards his office.

"What do you want us to do regarding the decorations?" Hill asked. "Should we remove them – and the tree?"

Fury shook his head.
"Leave everything as it is. I got a better idea."

He smiled.

Hill took a step back.

When Tony entered the common area later that day, he found Clint and Bruce there, eyeing a pile of brightly-wrapped parcels. Tony stopped and frowned.

"Those weren't here last night when we got home", he said.

Due to their nightly mission of bringing some Christmas cheer to the helicarrier, they had all slept in late. It was early afternoon now and though Tony still was tired, he knew for a fact he was right about the parcels.

"They were already here two hours ago when I got up."
Rogers joined them. Tasha was trailing behind him.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Looks like Santa decided to pay us a visit while we were sleeping", Clint said.

They exchanged a look.

"We should get rid of them", Tasha suggested, slowly stepping closer. "We don't know who put them here. There could be all kinds of nasty things in those parcels."

The archer nodded.

"Sir, incoming call from the helicarrier", Jarvis announced just then.

They all looked at each other.

Probably Fury, Tony assumed. By now, he would have discovered the tree and decorations. Actually, he would have done so hours ago. That he had waited until now to contact them didn't bode well.

Tony lead the way to the large viewscreen he had installed a few months ago for just such occasions.

He was fully expecting to see a – well, furious Nick Fury when the screen lit up. SHIELD's director ready to rip their heads off. At least verbally. What he got, though, was a Nick Fury who gave them all the brightest smile he had ever seen on the man. The Hawk and Tasha exchanged another, alarmed look.

"Director Fury", Steve said.

Fury nodded at him, still with that smile on his face. It made him look – human. The effect, Tony had to admit, was really starting to creep him out.

"I see you found the presents I sent."
Fury's voice was oozing Christmas cheer.

Tony found himself glancing around for an escape route.

"When I saw your excellent work on the helicarrier I thought I ought to send you a little something, too", Fury went on. "So – a very merry Christmas to you!"

The screen went blank again.

Again, Tasha and Clint glanced at each other, then they quickly moved over to the parcels and took one each. Tony watched how they carefully examined the wrapping. Barton shook his slightly. Tasha put an ear to hers.

Rogers frowned.
"What are you doing?" he asked.

The archer took the next parcel from the pile.
"Looking for bombs."

"Good idea."
Tony joined them.

"Aren't you over-dramatizing things?" Banner asked.

"Did you see that smile?" Tasha asked back.

Bruce and Steve looked at each other.

Banner shrugged.
"She does have a point, you know?"

Steve sighed.
"I guess she does."