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It was a week until Christmas. In previous years Loid hadn’t really bothered to keep track of it. If he had any interest, it was generally a target for a mission being at a Christmas social gathering that he could exploit to obtain useful intel. WISE would reportedly have a small celebration at their headquarters, but Loid was rarely available to take part in it.
This year, however, his mission had him keeping very close track of the date, because he had a wife and daughter that were counting the days.
He could hear Yor humming along to the latest Christmas song on the radio as she served Bond his bowl of kibble before placing Anya’s breakfast in her spot on the table.
“You’re in a good mood,” Loid commented as he reached for his tea.
Yor beamed as she sat down. “I always love the last week before Christmas. It’s my favorite time of year.”
Loid couldn’t resist a smile as Anya came scampering to the table.
“Morning!” Anya cried as she climbed into her chair.
Loid raised an eyebrow. “Did you pack your schoolbag?”
“Yes, Papa,” Anya said as she began to dig into her oatmeal. “Mama, you’re not having breakfast?”
Yor smiled as she sipped her tea. “I am, but later. Loid is taking you to school while I go meet Yuri for breakfast.”
“To exchange gifts, right?” Loid said.
Yor nodded. “Normally, Yuri and I exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, but he has work that day. So, we decided that today was better.” She grinned. “But he will come over Christmas Day and I promised to make him our traditional eggnog.”
Loid choked slightly. “Um, are you sure that’s needed?”
Yor nodded. “I know my test batch last week wasn’t great, but I know I can get it perfect!” She frowned. “It’s odd though, I’ve never had trouble with it before and I just made it like I always do.”
I certainly hope not, with how the test batch was setting off my monoxide detectors. I'm glad I got rid of it when it started bubbling, Loid thought.
Anya frowned. “Are we opening presents Christmas Eve?”
“No, we’ll be opening them Christmas morning,” Loid commented.
“That’s right, because we have to wait for Santa,” Yor commented and clapped her hands. “Which reminds me. Anya, you haven’t written your letter to Santa yet right? If we send it in today, I’m sure it’ll make it there in time.”
Anya frowned and tilted her head like a confused puppy. “But, Santa doesn’t exist.”
Suddenly, everything became silent. Loid had to admit he found himself blinking in confusion. Did he hear that right?”
Yor’s smile vanished as her jaw dropped slightly. “Anya, you don’t believe in Santa Claus?”
Anya shook her head as she swallowed her mouthful of oatmeal. “It’s just pretend that adults do.” She held up her hand. “By the way, Anya really wants a Bondman toy.”
“Uh, yes, we remember.” Loid said.
Admittedly, he had picked up that toy weeks ago knowing it was exactly what Anya would ask for. However, like Yor, he had assumed Anya would want to write to Santa for it.
“I’m all done,” Anya declared as she put down her spoon.
“Go brush your teeth and get your bag,” Loid called as Anya ran to her room to get her bag.
Once she was gone, Yor held a hand up to cover her mouth as she whispered. “Loid, were you aware she didn’t believe in Santa?”
Loid paused. He had to be careful. He was just as shocked, but if he had been Anya’s father for the last few years there had to be a plausible reason why he wouldn't have known until this morning.
“I had always assumed she had,” Loid said slowly as he calculated in his head. “However, I’ll admit, her mother always handled that sort of stuff.”
“I see,” Yor muttered softly. “And I suppose it’s only natural her mother’s death caused her to be doubtful. I do recall it being difficult for Yuri to believe in Santa after we lost our parents.”
Loid nodded in agreement as he reached for his hat and briefcase. “Well, the bright side is that it makes our job easier.”
Loid wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of waiting for Anya to go asleep before they could put her gifts out for Santa. Based on how long she asked to wait up for new Bondman episodes, there was a solid chance they would have been waiting until 2 am.
Yor frowned as she crossed her arms. “That might be true, but it is sad isn’t? She’s so young.”
Before Loid could retort, Anya reappeared with backpack in hand.
“I’m ready for battle,” Anya declared.
“It’s just school,” Loid said as they headed for the door. “Have a good breakfast with Yuri.”
“I will,” Yor replied. She gave a smile but Loid detected a trace of sadness in it.
I feel bad for Yor, Loid thought. She must have been looking forward playing Santa for Anya.
It didn’t bother Loid though. Nope. He had more important things to worry about than if Anya believed some fat man in red was coming or not.
Nope. Didn’t bother him in the least.
--------------------------------------------------------
“It clearly bothers you,” Franky replied as he rested his chin in his hand.
Loid glanced up from his newspaper as he checked for any hidden messages from WISE. However, things had been surprisingly quiet for the moment - not uncommon around the holidays.
The city was covered head to toe in decorations. Wreaths, garlands, holly and mistletoe were hanging in every store window. Loid noticed many people rushing by with their arms full of bags of likely gifts to be given.
He had to admit he hadn’t thought much about Christmas for the last few years. He'd had to obtain presents on rare occasion, usually for some seduction target or other, but if he wasn't on a mission he'd rather just spend a quiet day reading a book. This year would be the first time he had celebrated more traditionally for the first time in ages.
“I just said it didn’t,” Loid replied.
Franky snorted. “If that was true why did you even bring it up?”
Loid paused. He had only intended to make casual conversation, but leave it to Franky to notice a curious detail in something trivial.
“I suppose it’s a bit unnatural to me,” Loid admitted.
Franky shrugged. “Not really. A lot of kids Anya’s age don’t believe in Santa.” He pointed to himself. “Yours truly being among the unbelievers.”
Loid blinked as he glanced over. “Really?”
Franky leaned back in his chair. “I might have been into it when I was too young to remember, but I clued in pretty quick. However, I did pretend to believe for my mom’s sake.”
“Why?”
“To make her feel better,” Franky explained. “My old man was long gone, and she was doing everything she could to give me a decent childhood. Poor old gal was trying her best.” He waved a hand. “However, it’s not that surprising that your kid doesn’t believe. I doubt the orphanage got many Santa visits while she lived there. She probably never even had an actual Christmas before.”
Something in Loid’s heart sank a bit at the thought.
“You’re right,” Loid said as he folded the paper. “I’m making a fuss over something.”
Franky chuckled. “Let me guess, it bugs ya because you were a big believer, right?”
“Not for long,” Loid argued. “I wasn’t that old when I stopped.”
He then paused. When had he stopped believing in Santa? He could vaguely recall writing letters to the North Pole that his mother would help him write, but when was the last time? It was before the war started, wasn't it?
A yelp caused Loid to glanced up, but his panic swiftly subsided. An older gentleman had nearly collided into a middle-aged shopper who had nearly dropped his bag, his stumbling having caused a toy to fall out.
The older man quickly apologized as he carefully picked up the fallen item and handed it back. The other man laughed, not seeming annoyed at all. However, Loid’s eyes were fixed on the toy.
It was a small train. Old memories he thought long buried bubbled to the surfaced. He had gotten a train for Christmas once. When he was about five or six. He couldn’t remember exactly, but he did remember the excitement he felt Christmas morning to not only find the toy, but tracks already put together with a big red bow already on the engine set to go, a tag declaring it a gift from Santa.
Looking back on it, one of his parents had probably stayed up to put it together for him. His mother, no maybe his father was more likely in nature to do that. It was a such a small gesture, and yet, how did his parents feel when he saw Loid’s delighted face? Had it been worth it?
“Loid? You there?” Franky asked.
Loid shook his head as he brushed aside the memories.
“I’m fine,” he said, “and I know our current mission.”
Franky raised an eyebrow. “I know that look. You're dragging me into something, aren't you?”
“Only a small part,” Loid said as he took out a notebook and began to make a list.
Operation Santa was a go.
--------------------------------------
The Sunrose cafe wasn’t Yuri’s first choice to have breakfast. Frankly, the scrambled eggs were atrocious. There was no crunch or sourness to them like when his sister used to make them. The toast was far too fluffy, not even showing a hint of charcoal black. Honestly, he should check to see if the cook here was even certified.
However, his sister was grinning as she was consuming her omelette. If his sister was content, perhaps it wasn’t all bad.
“I’ve always wanted to try this place,” Yor replied. “Thanks for coming here with me, Yuri.”
“I’m always happy to go to any place with you, Sis,” Yuri replied.
Especially meeting you alone with no sign of the brat or stupid Loid around. Having some time with just the two of us is the best present I can get this year.
That reminded him of something, and he reached into his briefcase. “Do you want to exchange gifts now?”
Yor clapped her hands. “Oh, yes, please,” she replied as she reached into her own bag. “Merry Christmas, Yuri.”
He smiled as he took the present. Yuri took a moment to admire the blue wrapping and the bright red bow before he gently began to tear off the paper. Inside he spotted a red scarf with gold stars and bells embroidered along the edge.
“Ah, Sis, I’m not a little kid anymore, but I love it,” Yuri replied with a blush.
Yor smiled. “I know it’s been extra cold lately and I was worried if you were remembering to dress warmly.”
“Of course,” Yuri replied, but then paused. “Um...Loid didn’t help you pick this out did he?”
Yor shook his head. “No, in fact I made it.”
Yuri barely resisted leaping out of the chair in excitement. “You made it!”
“Well, partly,” Yor explained as she pointed. “I bought the scarf but I thought I'd try my hand at embroidery.”
Yuri grabbed her hand checking for bandages. “You didn’t stab yourself did you?”
He recalled Yor once coming home covered in bandages due to trying to learn to sew from the neighbour. Although, he never did understand how sewing could result in twisting her ankle as well.
“Oh, no,” Yor replied. “In fact I seemed to catch on to it rather fast. I seem to have a knack for sewing needles.”
Yuri sighed in relief as he whisked the scarf out of the box and wrapped it around his neck. “In that case, I’ll wear this with pride!”
He he. I bet Loid doesn’t have a Yor original!
Yuri handed over his gift. “You should open yours next.”
He couldn’t wait to see her reaction.
Yor nodded as she gently tugged at the wrapping paper and opened the boxes. She gave a slight gasp as her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.
“I don’t believe it,” she said,” as she held up the reindeer ornament. “It’s just like the one we used to have as kids.”
“I know,” Yuri agreed.
It was identical to an old favourite of their mother’s, but theirs had broken years ago. Yor had always said she was fine with it, but Yuri knew it had bothered her. She had a lot more clear memories of their parents than he did after all.
Yor hugged it to her chest. “Where on earth did you find it?”
“In an antique shop,” Yuri explained. “I was passing by and I happened to spot it in their open display.”
That was true. He was just omitting the fact that he had been arresting the shop owner for treason when he had noticed it.
“This is wonderful, Yuri, thank you,” Yor said with a smile that could melt any heart.
Yuri beamed with pride, but then it slowly evaporated as Yor began to frown thoughtfully at the ornament.
Uh oh, did I accidentally stir up bad memories? I know it was hard for Sis having to take care of me.
He reached out and touched her hand. “Sis, you okay?”
Yor blinked and blushed. “Oh, yes, sorry, Yuri.” She gave a small sigh. “I just feel a bit sad for Anya.”
This seized Yuri’s attention. He could care less about the brat, although if it was something he could use against Loid he was up for hearing it.
“Oh?” he asked as he tried to hide any trace of intrigue.
Yor gave a sad sigh as she fingered the ornament. “Anya doesn’t believe in Santa Claus.”
Yuri blinked and titled his head. “Is that it?”
Yor blinked back in confusion. “What do you mean ‘is that it’?”
Yuri sipped. “I meant no offence, Sis, but lots of kids don’t believe in Santa.”
The brat might be a bit young, sure, but if anything Yuri was amazed she had managed to catch onto the truth at that age. Maybe he had underestimated her.
“I know there a lots of kids that don’t believe,” Yor said with a wistful sigh, “but still. I can remember believing in Santa.” She clasped her hands. “It was just so...magical.” She looked at him. “You believed in him too when you were Miss Anya’s age and I took being Santa for you very seriously.”
Yuri would never admit it to Yor, but he barely remembered anything about their parents. Most of his memories were filled with his sister taking care of him.
But there was one memory. That first Christmas after their parents died. He did recall feeling the fear that Christmas wouldn’t be the same and it wasn’t. Yet, that morning, he woke up to find that Santa had still come for him, filled his sock with small candies and got him the toy plane he asked for.
Yor of course had done all of that, not that he had known at the time, but she looked so happy that morning. She was probably relieved she had been able to keep some of the ‘magic of Christmas’ for him despite their parents not being there.
Yuri paused mid-step. He raised his head to sky that was now covered in snow heavy clouds.
The brat had lost her birth mother, right? Is that why she didn’t believe? Did the hardness of reality ruin the magic for her?
Yuri briskly shook his head as he tightly wrapped his new scarf around his neck.
“Like I care how the stupid brat feels,” he grumbled. “It’s not my job to make sure she believes in Santa.”
Yup, that’s right. He had bigger concerns to deal with.
At least, that’s what his brain was telling him, and that could surely drown out the little concerned voice at the back of his mind.
-------------------------------------
Yor tried to focus on her work. It was essential to appear normal after all. Yet, the falling snow outside kept bringing back the memories of her and Yuri watching out of their window for Santa’s sleigh.
She can even recall one time her father had left boot tracks in the snow and claimed they were Santa’s. It had felt so magical-
“Yor, are you listening?”
Yor yelped as Camilla’s sharp tone brought her back to the present. “Oh, yes?”
Camillia sighed as she crossed her arms. “I know it’s almost Christmas, but we've still got work to finish.”
Yor blushed as she looked downward in her lap. “I’m sorry. I’m a bit unfocused because I learned this morning this morning that my daughter doesn’t believe in Santa Claus.”
“Well, dang,” Sharon said as she leaned back in her chair. “You’re lucky.”
Yor blinked in shock and didn’t know how to respond.
Millie raised an eyebrow as she put down the folder she’d been carrying. “How is that considered lucky?”
“Because that means you don’t have to worry about ‘Santa Duty’,” Sharon retorted as she counted off her fingers. “You don’t have to buy different wrapping paper for Santa’s gifts, you don’t have to desperately search for that specific toy that he’s supposed to bring and you don’t have to wait until they fall asleep to put out their presents.” She gave a deep sigh. “Last year my kid didn't fall asleep until 2 am and then they were awake at 6 am. It was a pain.”
“Aren’t you being a bit over dramatic?” Camillia replied.
“Trust me, you’ll understand if you ever have kids.”
Millie frowned as she sat across from Yor. “Is it that worrying that your kid doesn’t believe in Santa?”
Yor rubbed her arms. “It’s not that I’m so much worried, but more sad? Believing in Santa Claus is such a magical part of childhood. At least it was for me?”
“She’s a young kid, right?” Camillia asked. “If it bugs you that much maybe you could do something that would spark her belief in him?”
Yor blinked and frowned thoughtfully. “That’s not a bad idea, but not sure what would-Oh!” She slammed her fist into the palm of her hand. “Maybe if I had Loid dress up as Santa? That’s a common thing to do right?”
“That could work,” Camillia replied, “but you’re going to need to rent a costume-”
“That’s not happening,” Sharon said as she reached for her cigarette. “This late in the season all of the good Santa suits would be rented out.” She leaned against Millie’s desk. “My brother and his wife are doing that but they had to book months in advance to make certain they would have one.”
“Are you certain no places would have one?” Yor asked.
“Any places that would are going to be both shoddy and expensive.”
Yor frowned. What would Loid think of spending that much? I hate to ask him to spend that much money...maybe if I ask him to return my presents. No, that would probably make it too awkward for him.
“Oh, I see,” said Yor sadly. “I guess it can’t be helped.”
“Well,” Millie said slowly as she rubbed her neck. “If you’re that desperate I kind of have a costume-”
“YOU DO?!” Yor exclaimed and caused Millie to jump. “Please, maybe I borrow it-”
“Whoa, hold on,” Millie said as she held up her hands. “It’s more of a Mrs. Claus outfit and I got it for a joke for my boyfriend last year.”
Camilla raised an eyebrow. “Wait, is it the one with the really short skirt?” Millie gave a nod and Camilla sighed. “Thought so. Yor, I don’t think-”
“Please, can I borrow it?”
Millie frowned. “You might change your mind once you see it, Yor, but okay. I can bring it over tomorrow.”
Camilla sighed. “Just don’t let the boss or any up the other higher ups see it. We don’t want to be spreading any weird rumors around.”
“I’ll be very careful,” Yor insisted.
She didn’t care how odd the outfit looked. If it would help restore Anya’s belief in Santa, even for just a short while, it was worth the risk.
----------------------------
Date: December 24th
The operation was moving smoothly so far.
Loid had cooked their Christmas Eve dinner, and not long before Anya went to bed, he made the excuse that he had to duck back to his office briefly to assist with a patient.
Loid had briefly considered filling Yor in on the operation, but he felt it was better to let her act normally undisturbed by his secret arrangements, like that time with the bombs he'd had to defuse on the cruise ship.
He met up with Franky at the rendezvous point. They quickly gathered the items needed and quickly headed back to their apartment building.
“Alright, we should be all set,” Loid said as he and Franky climbed the stairs.
“I just have one vital question,” Franky asked with a strained voice.
Loid paused. Had they forgotten something?
“What?”
“Why the hell am I the one dressed as Santa?!” Franky asked as he tugged at his beard.
Loid slammed a hand over Franky’s mouth. “Keep your voice down. You’ll alert the neighbours.”
Franky’s eyes twitched as he whacked Loid’s hand off, but spoke in a quieter tone.
“You’re the dad, this should be your job,” Franky hissed.
“We’ve been over this,” Loid said as they entered the hallway. “If I’m not present, Anya might suspect I’m Santa which would undermine the whole point of the mission.” He paused to turn at him. “Also, I am paying you for this, remember?”
“Not enough,” Franky grumbled as he scratched his chin. “This beard is itchy. All the strings I had to pull, and this is the best costume we could find?”
“You’ll just have to bear it,” Loid as they reached the door to the apartment. “Anya and Yor should both be asleep. Still, I want you to enter first-”
“In case Anya’s awake, it'd be better if she sees me first, yeah, yeah,” Franky said as he rolled his eyes.
Loid nodded and they quietly opened the door and stepped aside.
Franky stepped aside and entered the room
“Ho, ho, ho,” he grumbled in the dark room. “Here I am to deliver- ACK!”
A dark figure dove upon Franky and pinned him to the ground.
Bond gave several loud ‘Boofs’.
“How dare you try to sneak into a house on Christmas!” Yor’s voice rang.
Loid froze. Oh, no. He should have accounted for this.
“Hey, get off!” Franky called. “Yor, you’re going to break my arm!”
“...Franky? What are you doing-”
Loid promptly turned on the lights. He saw half of what he expected, which was Yor holding Franky in a tight headlock. Bond was sitting on the sidelines looking very proud as he wagged his tail.
However, he had assumed Yor would be in her nightdress. He was not expecting her to be wearing something vaguely inspired by a Santa outfit. Yor looked up to Loid and upon seeing how much the outfit revealed a good part of her cleavage and most of her legs, Loid blushed.
“Yor?” he asked.
“Loid?” she asked and then recognized Franky, gasped and instantly let him go. “Oh, Franky I’m so sorry.”
Franky scowled, but upon seeing Yor’s outfit instantly shifted to a grin. “I’m not.”
“Franky,” Loid hissed.
“Forget payment, I’ll take a picture of this instead,” Franky said grinning as he pointed at Yor.
Yor looked baffled as Loid massaged his forehead.
“What’s going on?” Yor asked.
“My story about having to help a patient was a ruse. I was fetching Franky to dress up as Santa for Anya,” Loid said.
“Oh,” Yor said and rubbed her neck. “We both had the same idea.”
Loid’s brain managed to store away the embarrassment and put together what she was doing.
“You were trying to be Santa too,” he said.
Yor nodded.
“It’s an outfit I borrowed from one of my co-workers,” Yor said as she tugged at the hem. “It’s not exactly what I had in mind, but I was looking for something I could use as a beard.” She turned to Franky. “I’m so sorry for attacking, I didn’t think Loid would be back so soon so I jumped to conclusions.”
Franky looked over her outfit. “All will be forgiven if you set me up with your co-worker.”
“Not now,” Loid hissed.
In the other room, Anya was very much awake.
She heard the shouts and jumped until she remembered.
Right, both Mama and Papa were planning to pretend to be Santa tonight.
She had read their thoughts about it days ago. It did perplex her though. Weren’t there bigger things to worry about like world peace? And making sure she got her new action figure for Christmas?
Well, it didn’t matter. Anya just figured it would be easier to play along. She had full intent to stay awake until Papa had come back, she'd just had to rest her eyes for a minute.
Anya could hear the voices as she climbed out of bed and left the room.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Loid.”
“It’s alright, Yor, I did do the same thing to you. So, that makes us even.”
“Boof?”
“Bond, now is not the time for a treat-”
Anya appeared in the room as she rubbed her eyes. “What’s going on?”
Yor froze. Loid jumped, but quickly recomposed himself.
The time is now, Anya heard from her father’s head.
“Ah, Anya,” Loid said as he straightened his posture. “Look who came to visit you.”
Anya frowned as he gestured to his right.
She knew it was Franky. That had been the plan in her dad’s head for the past week. Anya had to admit, if she hadn’t known that she might actually believe this was Santa from his costume. However, she wasn’t quite sure how her mom’s outfit was supposed to trick her. Why would Santa be wearing a short skirt?
Franky straightened his beard before letting out a loud. “Ho, ho, ho! Hello, Anya, have you been a good girl?”
Anya forced a smile. “Oh, wow, it’s really...Santa?” she said. “Did you bring me my present?”
“I did, but you can’t open it until Christmas morning,” Franky said in a deep voice. “However, in the meantime Santa would really appreciate a drink.”
“Oh,” Yor exclaimed as she clapped her hands. “I can make you some eggnog, Santa!”
“That would be good-”
Loid coughed and was swiftly shaking his head.
Franky paused. “Um, on second thought, maybe a glass of milk would be better.”
“I’ll get it,” Anya said as she went into the kitchen.
Looks, like it’s going well, Anya heard Loid think.
Loid’s plan seems to be the better one, Yor thought.
Anya poured the milk, only spilling two drops on the counter and dashed back to the group. She would probably just have to pretend for a few more minutes before Franky decided to call it quits.
“Here you go,” Anya said as she brought the milk. “I can get cookies-”
Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!
Everyone froze.
“What’s that?” Anya asked.
The adults looked up to the ceiling. It was faint, but they could hear bells ringing above them.
“Sounds like bells coming from the roof,” Loid muttered.
“Oh, uh..it’s my sleigh, clearly,” Franky said.
However, Anya was suddenly hit by a flood of thoughts.
Did Loid set that up too?
Did Yor set up the bells? No, she looks just as puzzled as we are.
What the heck? Loid didn’t say anything about bells ringing!
Anya frowned. They didn’t set up the bells? But why would they be ringing-Wait! Was it Santa?! WAS HE ACTUALLY REAL?!
Anya gasped. “I have to go to bed now!”
She dashed out of the room with Bond close behind her. “I NEED TO SLEEP NOW! THANKS, FR-UM Santa!”
Once Anya was gone, the three adults looked to each other.
“Yor, did you set up bells to jingle?” Loid asked.
Yor shook her head. “No, and I’m assuming you didn’t either.”
“Wish I'd thought of it,” Franky said as he yanked his beard off. “Be easier than wearing this get up.”
Yor sighed and smiled. “It seemed to work though. I’m going to check in on Anya.”
“Do that,” Loid said as Yor left and then looked to Franky.
He sighed. “I know what you’re thinking, but do we really have to check on the roof?”
“We are hearing a weird sound that neither of us are responsible for? We need to make certain it’s not a security breach.”
“It’s bells, Loid,” Franky said and chuckled. “And hey, maybe it’s actually Santa.”
“We’re going,” he insisted.
Franky shrugged. “Fine, but don’t blame me if we get put on his naughty list, Loid.”
----------------------
When they got to the roof, Loid wasn’t exactly certain what they were going to find. He was prepared to catch an intruder, but there was no one.
There were only a little motor that was tugging on a long string. The string was thread ed through a line of small bells that jingled every time the string was tugged.
“Huh,” Franky said as he knelt to examine it. “Not as subtle as my inventions, but not a bad set up.”
“Is it dangerous?” Loid asked. His first thought was a bomb, or some other kind of sabotaged.
“Naw,” Franky said as he looked at the motor. “Just a regular slider-crank mechanism powered by a small battery, with a timer to trigger it.” He pointed to each component. “It’s set up to only last...I figure another five minutes and then it’ll stop.”
“Why would someone set this up?” Loid said.
Franky raised an eyebrow. “Same reason a certain someone insisted I wear this red suit. Probably to make it sound like Santa was coming.”
Loid frowned. Who would bother to do that for Anya? This wasn’t exactly an easy job, and the range of the noise was functionally limited to their specific apartment. Someone would have to have some engineering skills to pull it off, as well as access to the building itself. Maybe one of Yor’s co-workers? Or-
Franky slapped his hand on Loid’s shoulder.
“Don’t over think it, just let it go,” he said.
“Franky-”
“Loid, it’s Christmas and someone wanted to do something nice for the kid,” he said. “I don’t see any bombs or anything dangerous on this thing. We can check later to see if someone comes back for it, but if you ask me it’s not worth it.”
Loid frowned. He had been considering doing a stake out to find out who did it but...maybe Franky had a point.
“I will check this again in the morning,” he said. “But how about we go back inside?”
“Sounds good, and I still like to get the number of Yor’s co-worker.”
“Franky.”
“Kidding...mostly,” he said.
Loid took one more glance at the set up before following Franky.
Who...and why?
----------------------------------------
“Yuri, come on, it’s break time,” Chloe said.
Yuri didn’t look up from his desk. “Not until I get this paperwork done.”
Chloe raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t like him to leave his paperwork this late in the day.
She held up the two drink cups in her hands. “It’s Christmas Eve, and the Captain brought in some eggnog for us. I snagged one for you. You can take five minutes to drink it.”
“It won’t be as good as my sister’s so it can wait,” Yuri replied.
Chloe was going to argue more when the door opened.
“Merry Christmas,” a familiar face announced as he came in and hung up his coat.
“Jones, there you are,” Chloe yelled as she marched over. “You were suppose to be on shift an hour ago.”
“Hey, not my fault,” he said as he pointed. “I was busy doing a favor for the LT.”
Chloe frowned. “A favor?”
Yuri slammed his hands on his desk. “Jones, shush.”
“He asked me to set up bells on his sister’s roof so her kid would think Santa was coming.”
Chole blinked. “Really?”
“Jones,” Yuri snapped as he sprang from the desk. “You were sworn to secrecy!”
Jones shrugged. “The only thing we promised is that you would do my paperwork today so I could get home earlier.”
“Oooh,” Chloe said as she eyed the paperwork on the desk. That explained everything.
She smirked at Yuri. “So, you’re a softie uncle, huh?”
“I AM NOT!” Yuri snapped. “I only did it for my sister who was worried. I couldn’t care less about that brat-”
“Whatever,” Chloe said as she shoved the cup of eggnog into his hands. “Merry Christmas, Yuri.”
Yuri glared and slowly sipped his eggnog. It was...all right, but he couldn't help looking forward to the tanginess and spiciness of his sister's tomorrow.