A/N — just a little holiday drabble. Enjoy! xoxo — tmtcltb

x

Kara stomped into the office that she shared with Sasha, uncertain whether she was pleased or annoyed to find her officemate chatting with Andrea and Maddie about the new ospreys that were just coming off production. All three women turned to watch as Kara jerked off her coat, dumping it onto her chair and then pouring herself a cup of coffee from the small pot, her fingers tapping against her thigh furiously.

"Want to tell us what Green did now?" Andrea asked, clearly unafraid to poke the bear.

Kara slammed her mug down on her desk. "He gave Frankie a damn elf."

"Ohhhh," Andrea replied, face scrunching. "That one's rough."

"Elf?" Maddie asked, eyes going to Sasha, who shrugged, and then Andrea.

"An elf on the shelf," Andrea explained, taking pity on the other woman. "They're these so-ugly-they're-cute dolls that kids think are magic and report back to Santa whether they have been naughty or nice. They move around at night once the kids are asleep. That's how you know they're real and not a toy."

"Which means," Kara added, getting more annoyed with every word, "that someone — namely me — will have to move the thing every night. And Frankie seems to think that the elf is going to do crap like decorate the house with red and green confetti and bake cookies."

"Oh no, no cookies," Sasha interrupted. "Frankie will definitely know the elf is fake if the fire alarm goes off when it's making cookies."

Kara considered never speaking to the other woman again — really, her baking wasn't that bad, but settled for a glare. Her fingers pounded on her keyboard as she entered her password. "I specifically told Danny that I was not up for moving that thing around the house for the next month but did he listen? Of course not. And now he's leaving for two weeks and you know that I'm going to forget and Frankie will be devastated and I'll be the mom who ruined Christmas."

"You want me to ground Danny?" Sasha asked, her voice amused.

Kara sighed. "Tempting, but I suppose keeping the President alive is more important than not destroying my son's entire childhood."

Andrea held up a hand. "Perfect solution. Let Halsey get hold of the elf. Problem solved."

"And have Frankie sobbing over a dead elf, hell no!" Kara dropped her head into her hands. "What am I going to do?"

"You could set a timer each night," Maddie offered, somewhat hesitantly.

Kara scowled. "And put the thing where?"

"Put what thing where?" Asked Mike, wandering into the office. Although he was holding a pile of paperwork, Mike didn't seem to be looking for either Sasha or Kara, instead leaning down to brush a kiss across his wife's cheek. While neither one had said anything, Kara was fairly certain that Maddie was pregnant. Well, actually, Kara was completely certain. There really was no other good reason for a woman to be wearing a pair of maternity pants and Kara happened to own the same ones.

"Turns out that Kara's kryptonite is a nine inch tall doll with a red cap who reports to Santa each night," Andrea replied as Mike helped himself to some coffee.

Mike turned, grinned. "Green took my advice and got Frankie an elf then."

There was a moment of painful silence before Kara managed to find her voice, reminding herself that killing the Chief of Naval Operations was a bad plan. "You suggested the elf?"

"Yup," Mike replied. He took a healthy swallow of coffee, apparently oblivious to Kara grinding her teeth behind him. "We had one and my kids loved that thing. They named him Zen. I have no idea why. Anyway, once the girls were old enough to know that Santa wasn't real, they would help me come up with places to put the elf and plan cute surprises for Lucas. Those are some of my best memories."

Another silence fell. Mike rarely talked about his children, which told Kara just how special that stupid elf must have been at the Slattery home. She picked up a pencil, tapping the eraser against her desk. "Any chance you want to share some of those ideas? Danny stuck the thing in Frankie's stocking last night but I'm pretty sure I can't keep him there for the next twenty-four days."

"Good start but you can definitely do better," Mike replied, pulling a chair over to Kara's desk, grabbing a pencil and some paper. "First we need to come up with all the ideas, and then we'll pick the order and decide if we need any props."

"Props?" Kara asked weakly.

"Things like chocolate kisses. You use them as elf poop," Mike explained before adding, presumably correctly interrupting the look on Kara's face, "Boys love that stuff. Also, toilet paper and ..."

"Anyway," Sasha interrupted. "I think we'll leave you two to handle the planning. Mike, any concerns about putting the new ospreys into operation?"

Mike looked up from a diagram he was drawing, glancing at Sasha absently. "Whatever Garnett says is fine. Anyway, regarding the elf..."

Over Mike's head, Kara caught the amusement in Sasha's eyes as she disappeared out the door, followed quickly by Andrea, who mouthed good luck. Last was Maddie, who hesitated in the doorway, her eyes focused on Mike's animated face, as though this side of Mike was as surprising to her as it was to Kara. Taking advantage, Kara waved her over. "Unless you have something pressing, Maddie, come help us figure this out. As you can tell, I need all the help that I can get."

Two hours later when Sasha reappeared, Kara was finally working on the reports that she planned to get done first thing that morning. Sasha settled into her desk chair, swiveling to face Kara. "Mike give you some decent ideas?"

Kara picked up a sheaf of papers. "We figured out what to do with the thing each night until Christmas."

Sasha chuckled. "So, still planning on killing Green?"

Kara snorted. "Hell, yes."