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Bring on the Wonder	By : Azuriel Category: G through L > Leverage Views: 498 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I am in no way connected to the Leverage series. I own nothing in that universe. Therefore I cannot and am not making any money off of this story.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Elliot and Will had been packing for their holiday trip when Nate called a meeting in his apartment. “I thought we were closed for Christmas,” Will complained as he walked through door.

“That was my original intent,” Nate replied. “But Parker found us a compelling case.”

“It's Santa!” Parker cried for the fifth time that day. She even had an antler headband on her head. “We can't turn away Santa at Christmas!”

“I don't know what your plans were, but Elliot and I were gonna go to Spain, and maybe Capetown,” Will grumbled.

“You were going to visit your father?” Sophie asked with a slight amount of interest.

“No,” Will answered. “Well I mean, it would be difficult to go there and not see him, but that isn't my reason for going. I wanted to go to my favorite sweet shoppe. Their fudge is the best I've ever had.”

“I think we should at least see if there's something to this,” Nate grabbed their attention back toward him. He explained that the man he talked to was head Santa at a local mall, though he did gigs all around the city. He had recently been fired because of false accusations of being drunk on the job. All of the other guys who had worked there as santas had also been recently fired and replacements brought in.

“That does seem a little odd,” Will admitted. “I don't suppose it would kill us to investigate at least.”

Just to see what was going on they planned a trip to the mall the next day. Hardison had the most unpleasant job taking photos of the replacement santas. Figuring out who had been hired to replace all of the former employees might've been an important clue to what was happening.

“Seems like this place isn't doing well,” Will commented quietly as he walked around and did some window shopping. “He could get away with paying new hires a little less, but all of these empty spaces tell me that wouldn't quite make up for it.”

“I agree,” Nate responded. “Let's see what I can get from Mr. Dooley,” he said when he saw the man walking toward them. Nate pretended to be a retail consultant, which Dooley had no interest in. Nate had to fall back on keeping the man busy and out of his office so that Parker could go in.

“Parker? Elliot? Quick,” Sophie signaled them when it was time for them to move.

Elliot had found a cart full of presents. Parker hid underneath and Elliot pushed it into the office. “Feliz Navidad,” he greeted the secretary with a charming grin.

“All these are for Mr. Dooley?” she asked as she hung up her phone and took down a note real quick.

Elliot read her name plaque on her desk. “They are if his name is Ashley.”

“That's my name!” she was surprised.

Elliot continued to heavily flirt so that Parker could sneak into the office. “Sad,” she commented on the state of the office before throwing some tinsel on a plant and sat down at the desk. It was after she plugged a flash drive into the computer that she found an empty bottle of scotch under the desk. “Dooley framed Santa with his own scotch.”

Once they returned to headquarters Hardison took a look at the data Parker had collected among the other usual things. “Eben Dooley Jr. inherited the regency square mall three years ago after his father passed and has since nearly run it into the ground. According to his computer files, he...”

They were all distracted when Parker walked in carrying a radio playing Christmas music. “Turn that off! Parker!” Nate yelled at her.

“What?” Parker shrugged as she turned the music off and sat down.

“You are into the Christmas spirit on an abnormal level, that's what,” Will commented. “I haven't been that excited about it since I was six.”

Hardison turned back to the screen. “As I was saying, according to his computer files, he's been inflating income. And the reality is the mall is on the verge of bankruptcy.”

“And he didn't want to listen to a consultant on how to boost profits?” Will found that odd.

“I would if I had his gambling debts.”

Will sighed and slumped in his chair. “Yeah, there's something here, as much as I hate to admit it.”

Sophie watched Parker hang a very expensive necklace on a tree in the corner. “Parker, is that the Lion of Gilgamesh?” she recognized something else on the tree.

“Yep,” Parker seemed proud of herself. “Stole it in Dubai in '05. Think it looks nice next to the star sapphire I took from the Prado.”

“You've got like millions of dollars worth of loot on that tree.”

Parker's grin got wider. “Happy Birthday, Jesus.”

Will shook his head. “I don't even...”

“Hey, guys, check this out,” Hardison grabbed their attention when he found something else. “Eben's on a flight on Christmas Eve to San Lorenzo. And those santas? Ex-cons. See, the facial recognition, it focuses on the eyes. Thought they could fool me with those fake beards. Sad.”

“And the plot thickens,” Will turned his attention away from Parker, who was setting out a gingerbread house.

“Yeah, it's an insurance scam,” Nate figured it out. “He's desperate for money, so he fires the old santas, he hires these goons to rob the mall, and by fleeing to San Lorenzo, he's got an alibi.”

“If we can take Dooley down, we can prove he framed Santa,” Parker said as she pushed the gingerbread house toward Elliot. Elliot glared at her and pushed it away.

Nate was already forming a plan. “Yeah, Sophie, don't let Dooley get on that plane. And we're gonna need somebody inside the mall.”

“I'm already on it. Hacking into the mall's employee database as we speak,” Hardison responded.

Elliot was not at all happy with his assignment. Hardison made him one of the new santas. “Hey, Eliot. You in the spirit yet?” Nate asked with a slight mocking tone.

“Ho ho ho,” Elliot half grumbled as another kid was put on his lap. “What do you want for Christmas, kid?”

The young boy looked up at Elliot. “You're not really Santa. Is that a real beard?” He tugged on the fake beard and Elliot slapped his hand away. “You smell like my stepdad after he plays basketball. Why's the north pole over here this year? It's usually on the other side by the pretzel stand. They'll put frosting on your pretzels if you ask.”

“Frosting's gonna give you cavities. Okay? Happy holidays.” Elliot huffed.

“Wait! I want a Rubbery Robby!”

Elliot shoved the boy off his lap. “You're gonna get a Sammy spanking, you don't get off my lap.”

Parker pranced over dressed as an elf. “Don't worry! Santa just hasn't had his morning nog yet!” She gave the kid a candy cane and turned back to Elliot. “You're Santa! Respect the suit!”

“Parker, this beard is itchy! All right? And somebody peed on my lap earlier! And everybody wants a Rub me Robby.”

“Rubbery Robby,” Parker corrected him. “It's a toy.”

Another child sat on Elliot's lap and Will peeked out from behind the camera. “After your shift you can have your nap.”

“Shut up!”

Nate and Hardison were in the parking garage watching everything from the van. “Okay, Sophie, have you made contact with Dooley yet?” Nate asked.

“On our way to the car now,” Sophie responded. “Wow. This guy's right on the edge. I could really do a number on him.”

“All right, just make sure he doesn't get on that plane. And, listen, if you can spook him into calling an audible, go to town.” A car pulled up beside the van. “Hardison, there's the real driver.”

Hardison grabbed his EMP gun and cracked the van door open long enough to hit the car with it. Suddenly none of the locks or windows would open. The confused driver even pulled his phone out to call for help, but that was also dead.

Sophie easily led Dooley right past the real driver into the car they had rented and drove away. “Christmas in the tropics, eh? That's no fun,” Sophie started up a casual conversation as she drove.

“I'd rather be there than here,” Dooley responded.

“Oh, not me. It's not the holidays without a chill in the air. Got my whole family coming over from Slough. So many details! So many last minute preparations! Is everything ready? Is my goose cooked? Is there enough plum pudding for everyone? Don't want to get caught not forgetting someone a present. That would be a crime.” Sophie laid the suggestions on pretty heavy, and it worked like a charm. Dooley soon reached for his phone to make a quick call.

“Yeah, it's me. Uh, could you run through it one more time, please? Well, because I want to know that everything is ready.”

“Are you tracking this?” Sophie asked, barely above a whisper.

Hardison was trying, but not having much luck. “No, the signal's encrypted. For a bunch of santas they have some damn good tech.”

Will and Elliot had gone into the break room to see who Dooley might be talking to. “Nate, these guys aren't talking on their phones. Maybe Dooley's working with somebody else,” Elliot suggested.

To find out who that might be, and to keep Dooley from leaving the country, Sophie crashed the car into a cement barrier. She was just a little banged up, but Dooley was unconscious because she had undone his seat belt just before the crash.

Back in the break room the two new guys were noticed. “What's with them?” one of the guys asked. “Where'd you two come from? And don't say the north pole.”

“Relax. We're on the team,” Elliot said as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Dooley brought us in,” Will added. “Little extra help for the job tonight.”

The guys seemed to relax a bit. “Good. We could use the extra muscle.”

They ended up near the door ringing a bell for donations. Will ended up dressed like an elf. “I think I'm starting to hate this job as much you do,” Will sighed.

“I don't understand why I can't just take these guys out,” Elliot grumbled.

“That wouldn't really help us figure out who was behind all of this, would it?” Will pointed out.

“Sophie's working on that.”

“Listen, there will be plenty of clobbering time once the job begins,” Nate assured Elliot. We just have a couple of hours before the mall closes, so relax. I'll bring you both a pretzel.”

When it was nearly time to close Nate and Hardison did bring them pretzels. Nate noticed a woman swipe a credit card at the donation kettle. “They got credit cards for those things?”

“I don't know, man. I guess it's more convenient these days.”

“People don't carry cash much anymore, at least not in this country,” Will commented as he took his pretzel. “And you forgot the cheese dip. What kind of an animal are you?”

Hardison was trying hard not to laugh. “I gotta get a picture of this.”

Elliot growled. “Damn the jokes, man. I will knock you out with this bell.”

Hardison was about to take the picture with his phone when he noticed something. “Hey, man, this thing's got an RFID antenna.”

“Radio frequency ID? Maybe to prevent shoplifting,” Nate guessed. He picked up a purse from a nearby display and passed it through the archway. Nothing happened. “Or not.”

“Guys, those are at every exit. Do you think they're connected to the robbery?” Parker asked.

Nate's gaze wandered back to the chip reader. “Not a physical robbery. It's virtual.”

Elliot took a deep breath and put down his bell. “So you're saying this thing's bigger than we thought.”

“Guys, this whole mall is an identity sponge. Between the kettle and the RFID readers, Dooley's collecting thousands of credit and debit numbers through the holiday season.”

“Yeah, Christmas Eve is the peak time for credit card activity,” Hardison pointed out. “These company's defenses, they're overwhelmed by all the last minute transactions in the system, so they're up all night trying to process the backlog.”

“So fraudulent charges aren't gonna flag,” Parker finished the thought.

Nate shook his head. “When the stores close tonight Dooley and his team are gonna rip off millions of dollars, and no one will even notice. He's stealing Christmas.”

“But then why all the ex-cons?” Will asked.

“What do you mean?” Nate didn't understand the question.

“You don't hire a body builder to tutor a kid in math, you know? Credit card theft is a white collar job. So why did Dooley hire thugs?”

Nate's face scrunched up a little while he thought about it. “I don't know. For now, we have to go where the evidence leads us, okay?”

“Okay,” Will shrugged and gave in. “But the evidence doesn't make sense yet.”

“That's what Dooley just confessed to me,” Sophie broke into the conversation. “He's working with a hacker, and just did what he was told. He needed the money to stay afloat, and it's a quick and easy windfall.”

“See if you can get him to call it off,” Nate instructed.

“He's right on the edge. I think I can turn him.”

“Good. Let's hope we're not already too late.”

Sophie called in the help of their client. With Dooley's chemically enhanced state and already guilty conscience it was pretty easy to convince him to call the hacker to get him to call it off. What they didn't expect was for Dooley to hand the phone to Sophie. “He wants to talk to Sophie Devereaux.”

Sophie took the phone, not knowing what to expect. “Who is this?” she asked.

“Hello, Sophie. It's the Grinch who stole Christmas,” a familiar voice answered.

“Chaos.”

“Long time, no try to kill you.”

“He did what?” Will's eyebrows raised at the comment.

“I take it that via your comms, I'm talking to the entire Justice League?” Chaos continued. “With a new member I see. Interesting. Great career move.”

Nate tried to remain calm. “Hello, Chaos. I thought we left you rotting in a federal prison.”

“Oh, come on. Those things are made to be broken out of. You of all people know that. Especially one that runs its security off an unencrypted operating system. Am I right, Hardison?”

Elliot had gone back to the break room. “The others are gone,” he reported.

“Don't bother trying to chase us,” Chaos continued to taunt them. “All the pieces are in place for my credit card catastrophe, and there is nothing that you or that waste of painkillers can do about it. Oh, and Hardison? This is a nice gun. Maybe if I'm a good boy, Santa will bring me one.”

Nate and Hardison ran out to the parking garage just in time to see Chaos target their van with the EMP gun. The equipment inside caught fire as chaos drove away. “Come on, man!” Hardison cried. “He killed her, Nate. I hate him.”

“Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Will huffed and looked to Nate for answers.

“Chaos is someone else from our past,” Nate tried to explain.

“Someone I worked with a few times came here for a job, right under our noses,” Sophie took over. “He assembled a team, much like ours. Chaos was their hacker. I guess my reputation intimidated him, because he planted a bomb in my then apartment. In a way you have Chaos to thank, because it was that near brush with death that really put things into perspective for me.”

“Ah, so it took you nearly getting killed to care,” Will's tone was full emotion.

“That's not true!”

“Look, we don't have time to hash all of this out right now,” Nate interrupted. “Do we know how Chaos is pulling off his latest stunt?”

Hardison had to use his phone to figure it out. “Okay, look, his network is piggybacking off of the city's trunk line. It's the Internet backbone.” His eyes widened when he saw something. “He pulled the trigger.”

“Then every second that we delay, innocent people are getting scammed. So the only way to turn Chaos off...” Nate looked to Hardison for the answer.

“Is to turn off the trunk line. Which is housed at the Yakamoto building.”

Elliot shook his head with a sigh. “Hardison, that's a major operation on a military grade facility. I can call my sources, man. I need a week of planning, new equipment...”

“Sophie, meet us at the Yakamoto building downtown. We're gonna pull an Edward Albee,” Nate said as he motioned for the others to follow.

Once they reached the building Sophie got into a car with Nate, and he ran the car into the building. That caused one of the security officers to come out and check on them. The two pretended to argue as they made their way in the lobby. They also pretended to be too drunk to understand they were in a restricted area.

Parker and Hardison entered from the top floor while security was distracted. Parker strapped Hardison to her and repelled down the elevator shaft. Hardison had to take a moment to steady himself when they reached the right floor. “You know what? That was not on my bucket list, okay?”

Parker rolled her eyes at the comment. “Oh, come on! Do you know how many chimneys Santa has to go down tonight? You only had to go down one. Besides, Will doesn't mind it.”

“I'm gonna say it, Will is just as crazy as you are, woman!”

“Just as?” Elliot teased a little before he headed into the lobby.

“Hey!” Will protested as he followed. “I'm adventurous.”

Sophie had snatched a security card from the guard who was holding her and trying to keep her away from Nate. She easily slipped it to Elliot as Will and Elliot quickly and quietly walked past. They headed up the stairs and toward where Hardison said the sever room was.

There was one guard patrolling the hallway. The two men his around a corner until the guard passed them. Then Elliot grabbed him from behind and put him in a choke hold until he passed out. “Merry Christmas,” Elliot patted the guard's shoulder after they hid him from plain sight.

Then Elliot used a retinal scanner to unlock the security control room. “You know what you're doing, right?” Elliot asked Will as the younger man sat down in front of the computer.

“One, I'm not an idiot,” Will responded as he started typing. “Two, I've spent enough time around Hardison to learn a few things. There, server room alarm is off.”

“Let's go,” Elliot said as he left the room quickly.

Hardison got into the server room and tried to work his magic. “Nate, man, this is like trying to plug a fire hose with a pebble.”

“Hardison, are you saying you can't do it?” Nate asked.

“When have I ever said that?”

“He's in,” Parker said while she watched him work.

“Yeah. Just have to find the sector with the mall so we don't shut down the whole city. All right, Chaos, this is for Lucille two.” He pressed the right keys, and watched as the activity was cut off. “Oh, you can keep knocking, but you ain't coming in.”

“We should probably...” Parker motioned toward the door.

“Yeah. Ciao.”

They all returned to headquarters and sat at the table for a drink; all except Nate who was watching the monitors. “Well, people, not bad, huh? For like, what was it, eight minutes of planning?” Sophie smiled as she raised her glass for a toast.

“That was too easy,” Will said as he stared at his drink.

Elliot shook his head. “You still on about things not making sense?”

“When you were telling me about your last meeting, you said Chaos gave Hardison a run for his money. Why would he have given up so easily?”

“I guess I'm just that awesome,” Hardison gloated a little.

Will sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I'm not knocking your skills, I just... Dooley believed it was a credit card scam, but something doesn't feel right.”

“Something isn't right,” Nate called from the couch.

“What do you mean?” Hardison's smirk disappeared when he moved over to the couch to see what Nate was watching.

“Every law enforcement agency is descending on Yakamoto right now,” Nate pointed to the screen. “One would expect some reaction of course, but why would the Treasury Department be sending a car? I mean, why would they be interested in some neighborhood losing their Internet access?”

Hardison thought about it for a minute. “I don't know. Uh, trunk lines can't be hacked. The government could use them for a security application, theoretically.”

“Yeah. Call up the mall.”

Hardison pulled up the data again. “Now, when you shut off the lines to the mall, you also shut off the depository. Yeah. That's it right there. Okay guys, we just got played. Will was right.”

Elliot sat back with a huff. “How come you didn't figure out Chaos was after the bank, man? I thought all you dorks thought alike!”

“I did my job, man!”

“Enough,” Will broke it up. “Hiring the thugs, getting Dooley to leave the country, now it all makes sense. Instead of bickering with each other we need to decide what we're going to do about it. Do you want to just sit here and drown your sorrows?” he looked to Hardison.

“No, man,” Hardison answered.

“Okay then. What do we do?”

Everyone turned to Nate out of habit. Nate seemed a little off kilter. “It's my job to see two steps ahead, and I didn't.”

“We were all thrown,” Sophie tried to make Nate feel better while giving Will a sharp glare to deter him from saying anything.

“Yes, but it's my job not to be. I'm sorry.”

“You're what?” Sophie couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Parker had a wide grin on her face. “Christmas Eve is a magical night.”

Elliot rolled his eyes at her. “Well, you just ruined it.”

“Okay,” Nate rubbed his hands together while he tried to think. “The plan is... We'll figure it out in the car.”

They drove to the Depository and Parker was checking everything out through a pair of binoculars. “Any visual on Chaos?” Nate asked her after a few minutes.

“No sign of entry. No roof access. They must have gone in underneath,” Parker answered.

“No. Tunneling's too risky. It would have taken months,” Hardison argued.

“Unless the tunnel was already there,” Nate spoke up. “Back in the '60s, pedestrian tunnels were sort of the wave of the future. The mob made a fortune on the contracts until the state shut them down.”

Sophie raised an eyebrow. “And you got this from your days in insurance?”

“Oh, no, my dad's pals, they used to joke about going to live in the tunnels when their wives kicked them out.”

“So how do we get in?” Parker asked.

“The North Pole,” Will blurted out. “Think about it. Dooley changed who was on the payroll. He made every change Chaos told him to. The location of the North Pole was also changed. That has to be it.”

“Makes sense,” Elliot agreed as they got out of the car and headed toward the mall.

When they got there the client and Dooley had gathered a bunch of families together. “Okay, let's all line up at the North Pole! Santa's got presents for everybody!” Dooley cried out. “Hey, driver lady! And pushy consultant guy! You're just in time,” he smiled when he saw them.

“What's going on, Frank?” Nate asked the client.

“The toys for Tykes Drive is back on thanks to Mr. Dooley.”

“Yeah, it's still Christmas Eve, and I said to Santa, it's not too late to make those kids' dreams come true,” Dooley added.

“Drove a bus to the family shelter and loaded everyone up. At first I thought it was the pills, but now I think he's really changed.”

“Will, Eliot, go meet Chaos in the tunnels. The rest of you got some last minute shopping to do,” Nate ordered.

It didn't take them long to find Chaos and his accomplices in the tunnel. “Well, if it isn't Kristina Kringle,” Chaos joked. “And his jolly elf.”

Elliot stared the man down. “Chaos. You killed my friend's van.”

“Oh yeah, I wrecked that van. Take them out, guys. Meet me at the garage.”

Chaos ran off while the other guys in santa suits dropped their sacks and charged. The two men worked together until all but one guy was down. “Guys, you're gonna let them escape, okay?” they heard Nate in their ears. “I have a plan.”

Both men started easing up. Elliot was tossed into a steam vent, and he took the opportunity to rip the valve off, making it look like an accident. Will had taken off down the tunnels. “Nate, they're headed back to the mall,” Elliot reported.

“Okay, I'll take it from here,” Nate responded.

“And I don't know where Will went.”

“We'll worry about that later.”

A few minutes later the crooks in santa suits emerged from the tunnel under the North Pole with their bags. They were first greeted by Nate, Sophie and Parker, but then Dooley and all the children he had gathered came rushing over. They could already hear the sirens outside from the police responding to the robbery. Nate had been kind enough to call them and tell them most of what he knew.

The second surprise was that the bags they thought were full of cash were full of presents. While Elliot and Will had kept the thieves busy, the others had stuffed identical bags with presents and switched them out.

The FBI agents entered the building and Parker met them using her undercover agent identity. She told them the money was still in the tunnels. The agents decided to wait to arrest the criminals until the children had left. They didn't want to ruin Christmas for the kids.

On the other side of the tunnels Chaos emerged from a grate out onto the street. “Sorry, Santas, but the Grinch has a plane to catch,” he said to himself with a little chuckle.

“No, you don't,” Will was standing a few feet away with a gun pointed directly at Chaos.

Chaos dropped the bag and put his hands up. “How did you...? Who are you?”

“The how is for me to know,” Will responded as he took a step closer. “I just wanted a little alone time with you.”

Chaos had taken a step back toward the wall, fear showing clearly in his eyes. “Why? I don't even remember you from before.”

“That's because I wasn't here, I was living with my father. But as I understand it, last time you tried to kill my mother. You came very close to succeeding, all because she intimidated you.”

“Sophie?” Chaos raised his eyebrows. “Sophie Devereaux is your mother?”

“That's right. In a way I owe you for meeting her. But on the other hand, had your plan succeeded, who knows where I would be right now.”

Chaos' main focus was on the gun. “So you're gonna get your revenge by killing me. Sophie wouldn't approve of that.”

“No, she wouldn't,” Will agreed. “It's funny how my mother and father are so different from each other. If I put a bullet between your eyes right now Sophie would be very upset with me. My father would be proud. Life can be a real kick sometimes, can't it?”

“Who's your father?” Chaos was trying to keep the conversation going.

“All you really need to know is that now that I'm here, putting Sophie in danger puts me in danger. The last people to do that were found on a beach in Corsica a few days ago without their heads.” They both heard the sirens closing in on them. “So it would be in your best interest to not mention this little meeting to anyone, and I mean anyone.”

Will pulled the trigger and shot Chaos in the thigh before disappearing down a dark alley. Chaos was screaming in agony when the FBI pulled up, Hardison dressed as one of them. “Oh damn,” Hardison turned a few shades paler when he saw the blood.

“Sophie Devereaux's son is crazy!” Chaos shouted when he saw Hardison.

“Tell me something I don't know,” Hardison mumbled under his breath. “She doesn't have a son,” he said loud enough for the other officers to hear. “We better get him to a hospital. Let's get an ambulance over here quick.”

“No sign of the shooter,” one of the officers reported after they'd done a quick search.

Everyone else was already back at the pub when Will returned. They all seemed upset with him, but Elliot was near fuming. “Where's the gun?” Elliot asked in a very serious tone.

“On a private jet headed for Jamaica,” Will answered honestly. “That's what took me so long. I didn't buy one, it was borrowed.”

“The next question is why?” it was Sophie's turn.

Will sighed and moved to take a seat at the end of the bar slightly separated from everyone. “He tried to blow you up, remember?”

“And we put him back in jail where he belongs.”

“Because that worked so well the first time,” Will's tone was slightly sarcastic. “He broke out once, he can do it again, with an even bigger chip on his shoulder. Now, if he has any sense at all, if he does break out again, he'll stay the hell away.”

“I'll say this, he didn't kill the guy,” Nate joined the conversation.

“Exactly,” Will nodded. “A year ago I would have without a second thought, because that's what I was taught to do.”

“Yeah, you've got a point,” Elliot conceded. “It's progress. Small caliber in the leg. Chaos might limp the rest of his life because prison healthcare sucks, but he'll live.”

“I'm good with giving that jackass a permanent limp,” Hardison spoke up.

“All right, we'll call this progress,” Nate put the matter to rest. “Hey, listen. This being Christmas Eve and all, Sophie and I, we thought, and by the way, there's no need to reciprocate, mind you, but we thought...”

“We got you presents,” Sophie came right out with it.

“You bought us gifts?” Elliot was surprised by that.

Nate gave a small shrug. “Well, I wouldn't say bought exactly. We obtained.”

“Will, I want to give you yours first,” Sophie said as she reached under the table for what looked like an old cloth bag. “I did buy this, about three weeks before you were born. I saw it in a store and couldn't help myself. I was originally going to give it to you, but I just...”

“You just....?” Will slumped a little in his seat, expecting something hurtful.

“I'm giving it to you now because I want to show you that I never tried to forget you. I have high value artifacts in storage facilities all over the world, but the most priceless possession I've kept is one that reminds me of you.” She pulled out a gray teddy bear that showed its age, but was still in pretty good shape.

Will took it when Sophie handed it over and silently stared at it for several minutes. “You kept this, all this time?”

“I did. You may not have been a part of my plan, but you were never unwanted.”

“You're not exactly easy to forget,” Elliot said as he pulled up his sleeve to reveal a silver chain bracelet with an evil eye attached.

Will's eyes narrowed because of how familiar it looked.. “I bought that for you in Istanbul,”

“And I still wear it for good luck. It hasn't failed me yet.”

“For that, you're next, Elliot,” Nate said as he pulled a sheathed sword out from behind the bar.

Elliot took it, and pulled the blade out of the sheath a few inches, barely believing what he was seeing. “This is a Hanzo sword. How...?” He was trying not to smile, but the corners of his mouth curled up for a moment.

“Well, I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a samurai.”

“Hardison,” Sophie handed him a nearly wrapped box.

Hardison tore it open and his jaw nearly hit the bar. “No, this can't be. It is. Prototype 7. They haven't even released version 5 yet.”

Sophie grinned and winked. “Well, I won't tell if you won't.”

“You better believe it.”

Parker stared at Sophie and Nate looking like she was about ready to burst. “Don't torture her,” Sophie said to Nate.

“All right, Parker, you're next. Put your hands out.” Nate put a plain white envelope into Parker's waiting hands.

She peeked inside and her face lit up. “How did you know?” She pulled out the stack of cash. “Non sequential serial numbers? My favorite!”

Will watched as Elliot sliced a chair in half with the sword. “You are gonna share, right?”

“I'll think about it,” Elliot responded, not taking his eyes off the sword.

“Look!” Parker pointed to the window before running over to look out. Snow had started to fall.

“A white Christmas after all,” Will smiled as he turned to look as well. “I think this is the best Christmas I've had yet.”
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