Christmas Spirit

"I'll be glad when this month is over," Jesse grumbled as his greeting to Mark and Steve as they walked towards him in the emergency room.

"You okay Jesse?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, just sometimes this all seems so over the top," Jesse said, waving a hand to indicate the tinsel adorning every doorway, and the Christmas tree standing by the reception desk.

"Someone woke up in a bad mood this morning," said Steve. "It's festive! You should get into the spirit of things. It's only once a year."

"But all the crowds, trying to buy presents for family you know will hate whatever you get them, those songs playing over and over…" Jesse threw his hands in the air.

"If you're not feeling very Christmassy this year I'll cross you off the guest list for Christmas dinner at my place," Mark said with a twinkle in his eye as he put on his white doctor's coat.

"No, no," Jesse said quickly. "I love Christmas really. Just sometimes it's a bit much." He sighed. "You know, the real reason I'm feeling so anti-Christmas this morning is that last night I thought it was about time I got my apartment looking at least slightly festive. I managed to stand on a bauble and got a shard in my foot. It's killing me," he said, with a face seeking sympathy.

"You can't let the odd Christmas related injury make you grumpy about the season," Steve said with a chuckle.

"I am not grumpy!" Jesse said indignantly.

"I beg to differ," Mark said with a smile. "Okay son, I'll see you at seven?"

"I'll be here. See you later Jess," Steve left with a wave.

"Steve's giving me a lift home," Mark explained to Jesse as they headed for the first patient awaiting attention. "My car's in the shop."

X X X

Steve stretched and cricked his neck. End of the shift. Time to go and fetch his dad. He checked his watch. He had maybe a half hour before dad would be ready. He decided to go and browse the shops and see if he got any inspiration for presents for his friends. Jesse had a point, it could be hard to find the right gift.

At the shopping mall, he walked in the front doors. Festive signs were everywhere. The mall here had a Santa's grotto with real reindeer. There was a queue of children waiting to see him, holding hands with parents. Steve smiled at the scene, and was just thinking that he'd had a fairly uneventful day, all things considered, when he heard a commotion coming from behind the curtain at Santa's grotto. Rolling his eyes, he started over, breaking into a run as he heard a scream.

X X X

"Hey Mark, you still here?" Jesse said, seeing Mark in the hallway of the ER. "Thought you were going at seven?"

"Steve's not here yet," Mark said, checking his watch. "I might as well help you out while I'm waiting." He followed Jesse into the next patient's room.

He said it lightly but Jesse could tell that Mark was feeling worried.

"He's probably got caught up at work," Jesse said.

"I rang there a few minutes ago," said Mark, looking slightly embarrassed as he knew that action showed he was worrying. "He left ages ago. He should have been here early."

"I expect he stopped to get groceries or something," Jesse said, taking the pulse of an elderly lady, and giving instructions to a nurse almost automatically. He checked his watch. "He's only… uh, 45 minutes late?" he trailed off, realising that the comment wasn't going to be as reassuring as it was intended to be. He felt a trace of worry himself. Steve did a dangerous job; it was hard not to worry when he was late.

Suddenly the tannoy announced "Call for Dr Sloan on line 2. Line 2."

"That'll be him now," Jesse said with extra cheerfulness as he saw from the flash of panic that crossed Mark's face that he was imagining bad news.

"Yes, of course," Mark muttered, almost running to the phone.

Jesse followed him over as Mark listened, then hung up the receiver. He looked at Jesse with a grave face. "They're bringing Steve in. In an ambulance."

"What… how is he?" Jesse felt his throat tighten and struggled to get the words out.

"The nurse didn't know." Mark turned anxiously to watch the ER doors to await the ambulance.

They didn't have to wait long. The next trolley that paramedics pushed through the doors held Steve.

Mark and Jesse rushed over to him. "What happened?" Mark asked, relieved to see that Steve seemed to be all right, despite some nasty grazes down the side of his face and his left hand being bandaged in a makeshift bandage that had blood seeping through it.

Steve was decidedly bad tempered, with a touch of embarrassment as well. "I'm perfectly fine," he said. "In fact, thanks guys-" he directed to the paramedics, "-but I don't need the trolley." He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the trolley, his right hand cradling his injured left, but Jesse and Mark together stopped his descent and pushed him back onto the trolley.

"I'm fine," Steve almost pleaded again, but weakly. He knew he wouldn't get anywhere with both Jesse and his father trying to look after him.

"The hand will need some stitches, the grazes on the face won't need much treatment," one of the paramedics informed Mark. "He didn't really need the ambulance, but we were called to the scene so thought we might as well give him a ride. Don't suppose you could drive with that hand anyway," he said with a smile.

Steve glared at him.

"But what happened to you?" Jesse asked.

"Were you in a fight?" said Mark sternly.

"Yes," began Steve, but the paramedic said, "It was a reindeer."

Jesse let out a snort of laughter. "What?"

Steve intensified his glare at the paramedic, but it was too late. "There was a reindeer at Santa's grotto," he continued. "It just… went for him."

Jesse dissolved into fits of laughter, holding his stomach. "Oh. So. Many. Questions!" he gasped out.

Mark tried to keep a concerned face but Steve could see that even he was trying not to laugh. "Santa's grotto?" he said lightly, asking one of Jesse's questions for him, as the young man was still laughing hysterically.

He took the trolley from the paramedics and wheeled it into an examining room. Jesse followed, calming down a bit and trying to catch his breath.

Mark looked at the grazes on Steve's face, then turned his attention to his hand which looked more serious. He started to unwind the hastily applied bandage, noticing Steve wince as he did so.

Steve sighed, thinking he might as well get it over with. "I was at the shops, and heard a scream from Santa's grotto. I was NOT in there myself," he snapped at Jesse, who had let out another giggle. "A little girl had walked into the reindeer stable, the reindeer had turned and she couldn't get out – she was scared."

"Was it a really huge reindeer with terrifyingly sharp teeth?" Jesse asked with an innocent face, determined to get as much fun out of this situation as he could.

"Can we get rid of him?" Steve said. "Anyway, being the helpful person that I am," he glared at Jesse, "I went in to get the girl. But the reindeer… well, it didn't like me being there, and…" he trailed off, realising that however he tried to tell this story Jesse and probably his father too were going to find it extremely amusing.

"It just… went for you!" Jesse repeated the paramedic's words with obvious delight.

Steve continued in a level tone. "It swung its head at me when I was right beside it. It took me by surprise and knocked me against the wall and off my feet. That's when I got this," he pointed to the grazes on his face. "It was angry. It moved its head towards me and I put my arm up to protect my head, and it took a huge bite of my hand."

"This is nasty," Mark said, frowning as he looked at Steve's hand, but Steve could see the amusement crinkling his eyes at the edges. "Jesse, pass me the antiseptic. Jesse!"

Jesse was grinning at Steve like an idiot. "A killer reindeer!" he said. "Oh yeah, antiseptic." He passed it over.

"That the best you could come up with that time?" Steve said. The guys at the station! he thought suddenly. They would be worse than Jesse. He was never going to live this one down. He could imagine them producing reindeer masks, or some similarly silly stunt, as soon as they heard.

"So you still like Christmas then?" Jesse asked, as Mark applied the antiseptic and Steve winced at the sting.

"Well I don't see that live reindeer are necessary," Steve muttered, staring at his wounded hand. "What's wrong with animatronics?" He looked up. "Okay, okay," he conceded. "I get where you were coming from this morning."

"This doesn't hurt too much does it son?" Mark asked as he started to apply stitches.

Steve shook his head no. Mark continued seriously, "I really hope you'll be well enough to carve the turkey on Christmas Day."

That was too much for Jesse. He exploded into laughter again, and Steve could see his father's shoulders shaking as he tried to hold in his own mirth. Steve suddenly saw the humour of the situation, and broke into laughter of his own. The three of them laughed and laughed until tears came into their eyes.

"See you two, you shouldn't moan about it. Christmas is a happy time," Mark said as they paused for breath. They exchanged glances, and burst into laughter again.