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A Five Minute Christmas
Talonwasgoingtokill him…again. Finn really hadn’t meant to invite anyone else. Their first Christmas Day and they’d promised each other they were going to eat turkey in bed. Just the two of them—all day.
Thanksgiving had been a complete bust. Some cop over in Gainesville had decided to arrest an enhanced fifteen-year-old for threatening a store owner that morning, except it had turned out the kid was just trying to get help. He was mute and lived alone with his elderly grandmother. She was pulling a baked ham out of the oven, and she’d had a heart attack. The kid wasn’t trying to threaten anyone, but the store owner had taken one look at the mark on his face—the lightning bolt-shaped scar that all enhanced had—and assumed the worst.
But thanks to the team, they would spend Christmas back together and Hamish was now on speed dial with everyone. Obviously without needing to talk. If his number so much as butt-dialed they would be there.
So, Finn was determined Christmas was going to be perfect. He had all the recipes from Connie, Vance’s mom, and she had completely understood when they’d turned down the offer of going to their house for dinner. They’d said they might stop by later, but that was when Talon had pulled Finn into his arms, kissed him stupid until his knees gave way, and gruffly told him they would be spending the day in bed. At least he’d waited until they had gotten to the car to go home before he’d decided to impart that particular news, though.
And Finn really hadn’t meant to invite Gael.
They’d all been chatting as they’d gotten out of their uniforms the day before. Talon’d had to go see Gregory to decide on a possible new agent that he absolutely refused to discuss with the rest of the team, and Finn had asked Gael casually if Wyatt, his younger brother, was visiting him for the holiday.
“Nah,” Gael had shrugged. “Wyatt’s got a new girlfriend. He was invited there.”
Finn had paused. “So, are you going to Vance’s then?”
“Probably.”
But Finn had known instantly that Gael was lying. Vance had a huge family, and the place would be packed. Gael had a tell when he was stressed. He pulled at the bottom of his scarred cheek with his teeth where it touched his lips. The scar his dad had given him when the drunkard had held a twelve-year-old Gael down and tried to burn his enhanced mark off with a gas lighter. Because of the looks of fear Gael got—his mark and the way the left side of his face was scarred—he hated crowds unless he was in uniform. Finn knew damn well he’d spend the day alone in his apartment.
“We’d love it if you came to us,” the words were out of Finn’s mouth before he thought twice, and the shy, hopeful, look Gael gave him made the thought of imminent death at the hands of his boyfriend worth every second.
Not that Talon was an ogre… much. He’d listened as Finn had haltingly told him an hour ago that either he was gonna have to get out of bed, or there was gonna be three of them in it. Talon had kissed Finn on the nose and told him he was a softy. Finn had just copied Talon’s trademark raised eyebrow.Hewas the softy? It had been Talon who had insisted on staying with the kid at Thanksgiving. Taken him to visit his grandmother in the ER to see if she was okay, and then gotten him settled at the group foster home near where they all lived. Talon was as soft as Finn, he just hid it better.
“It smells amazing,” Gael had greeted them and held up a bottle of the expensive Dutch vodka Talon liked. Finn had waved them both out of the kitchen, flushed and mildly panicking at what now seemed an insane amount of food to have bought. They’d both offered to help, but he was relieved when he heard the game come on and stared at the mess in the kitchen. In his eagerness to impress his boyfriend, he’d gone a little overboard. Finn grinned—understatement.
An hour later, he was reading Connie’s instructions on how to make the green bean casserole when the doorbell rang, and he walked out of the kitchen smiling in shock when Vance stepped into the apartment.
“Hey, buddy!” Gael grinned at his friend, a little flushed as he and Talon had been experimenting with the Dutch vodka and the eggnog.
“What are you doing here?” Finn said in surprise as he nearly tripped over Olly. Talon’s black lab was ecstatic every time one of the team came over, and she’d rushed to greet Vance. Vance shrugged.
“There’s like fifteen kids at mine,” Vance grumbled and sat on the corner of the sectional. The sofa dipped alarmingly.
Talon chuckled. “You mean you’ve got no TV to watch the game on?” Vance grinned and chinked the beer bottle with Gael’s glass as Gael passed it to him. Finn immediately retreated back to the kitchen to peel more potatoes.
“Hey,” Talon followed him back into the kitchen. “This isn’t about you being in here and me being out there. I wanna help.” Talon bent to kiss the back of Finn’s neck, and turned him around gently, taking the potato peeler out of his hand.
The doorbell rang, and Talon groaned. Finn pushed him out. “Go see who it is.”
Finn came out of the kitchen a few minutes later and stopped in astonishment as their boss, Anthony Gregory, was standing there talking to Talon. Finn blinked. The man looked quite good in jeans. Coupled with the peppered gray hair and easy smile he looked about ten years younger than normal.
“Sir?” Finn squeaked in alarm. Shit, were they gonna get called out?
Gregory turned and smiled. “Don’t worry. I was on my way to my sister’s, and I was passing by so I just thought I’d say hello.” He pushed a bag awkwardly under the tree and hurriedly said his goodbyes.
“Hey, Talon?” Gael called and picked up a present from under the tiny Christmas tree. “Santa’s been and you haven’t opened your presents.” Finn flushed bright red. Oh dear God, no. He knew exactly what was in that and the last thing he wanted was to open it in front of anyone else. Gael saw his face and grinned evilly.
The doorbell rang for the third time. Talon just leveled Finn a look as he got to his feet, but Finn had no idea who it was.
But I really should have, he thought as Sawyer and Eli walked in. “We’re not stopping,” Sawyer said hurriedly, and Eli dug his hands into his pockets and looked at the floor.
“We were just on the way past.”
Finn gave his boyfriend kudos for not so much raising an eyebrow at the obvious lie and bolted back into the kitchen.
“Finn?” Finn looked up from stabbing the turkey as Eli came in. “Talon says we can stay, but I wanted to check with you.” He looked down at Finn as Finn poked the thing with a knife. “I think it’s dead,” he said dryly.
