Feliz Navidad! How are you guys this fine holiday? This year I felt like doing something special for the holidays and decided to do a homage piece to my favorite fic on the site thus far. I'm of course talking to Gamer of Action44D's awesome fanfic 'The Specialist and the Thief', something about that fic really speak to me and it's inspired me to get back into writing. So with Gamer's permission in hand, I bring you this holiday themed homage to his work. This is framed up to be a Chibi-esque side story set further down the line where Winter and Nate are on friendlier terms. It's non-canon, obviously, but even so i hope you guys enjoy.

P.S. be sure to tell me if I portrayed the characters well in your reviews ;)

"I said it once and I'll say it again, you have got to know other people to do this stuff."

Winter chose ignore the man next to her for the moment, in favor of checking the time on her scroll in order to make sure she had time to finish some work once she got home. The short silence was soon followed by a soft prodding in her arm, marking that the man next to her wasn't content with being out a long sigh, Winter turned to face her companion in the form of Nathan Drake, dressed to the nines- tuxedo and all. Self proclaimed treasure hunter, historian, and 'really,really, cool guy'. As well as only real choice she had whenever you she was required to bring a plus one to Atlas military formal gatherings, such as the one they were just leaving. Something the globe trotting troublemaker besides her seemed to fail at understanding.

"We've been over this before and I am loathe to repeat myself." came her simple reply, earning a shake of Nathan's head, "Beside I thought you were suppose to be the one to enjoy these types of things."

Nathan took a moment, undoing his rather tightly done bow tie before responding to her statement. "Don't get me wrong, I enjoy holiday parties as much as the next guy even if it's with a bunch of Atlas military stuck ups." he ignored the short glare from Winter as he finally got the tie off and stuffing it in his pocket, "But I did just get back from a trip in Mistral that had no shortage of crappy hotels and one big bust of a deal.". Nate was pretty sure he hadn't even been off of Sully's plane before Winter somehow found him and dragged him off to go to an Atlas Winter ball. Supposedly the reason was she once again was required a plus one and he was the closest thing to a friend she had, which was both pretty endearing and very much worrying at the same time.

"Well forgive me if have trouble sympathizing with the lack of details given about this 'bad trip'."

"Yeah well last time i checked I'm allowed to have personal life beyond being the chihuahua in your purse at gatherings." and if Nate was being honest, he'd rather not tell any sort authority figure about what he and Sully did in Southern Mistral the previous week. Especially not Specialist Winter Schnee, and especially not when they dealing with a rather unsavory group of vagabonds and an a few very old and very expensive Minstral Wood prints they had…'procured'. Of course Nate wasn't usually for dealing with such types for a myriad of different reasons but Sully assured him this would a nice round of quick cash and it was...until the thugs decided they'd rather pay the two treasure hunters in lead rather than silver. Long story short the two left with a lot less dust rounds, a lot more bruises, and yet another name on the ever growing list of cities they could never go back to. Something tells him that friend or not Winter wouldn't take kindly to that information, let alone the knowledge of the wood prints he and Sully got stuck with as a result of the botched transaction.

Winter rolled her eyes at the complaining treasure hunter as they passed by some of her subordinates and superiors also on their way out. A few stared at the odd pair of specialist and thief, one a strict by-the-book woman and the other a rogue who plays it by ear. She ignored the stares, having grown used to them during the Halloween Ball, and instead opted to respond to Nate as they closed in on the doors leading outside the building house this year's soiree, "You could've simply refused if you were so tired. Honestly I'd rather come alone and face a slight scolding from General Ironwood than listen to you whine over something you could've fully avoided yourself."

"Tch, and what kind of gentleman would I be if just left a lovely lady hanging?" came Nate's tease as he got the door for Winter who rolled her eyes at him despite the slight pink dusting her cheeks. The two were greeted by the strong winds of Solistas which were especially biting this time of year. Nate let out a low whistle, rubbing his shoulders vigorously and thanking the gods profusely that they had found a parking spot near the entrance. Winter rolled her eyes at him looking fairly nonplussed despite her navy blue off the shoulder dress, before following the lightly jogging treasure hunter. Entering Winter's car, a simple and sleek white two door coupe with cream colored seats, Nate wasted no time turning on the seat warmer and heat full blast. He breath out a sigh of relief while Winter entered calmly clicked in her seat belt and started pulling out of the parking lot.

"How do you people live up here?" chattered Nate holding his hands up to the car's ventilation system, "It's not even snowing and I'm pretty sure I already have frostbite in places I don't wanna think about."

"Haven't you gone to far worse places on a whim in your line of work? In fact I distinctly remember our own first encounter being atop a snow capped mountain."

"Well technically it was inside a crashed pirate ship which was atop a snow capped mountain." corrected Nate with a cheeky smirk making Winter once again roll her eyes. And then they simply sat in the silence of the ride back to Nate's hotel, with little else but the heaters to provide ambient sound. With a final sigh of relief the male lean back into his warmed seat finally feeling the cold being chased away after what felt like an eternity. Unfortunately while Winter enjoyed the calm quiet, Nate was quick to grow bored of it without the prospect of avoiding his death by cold keeping him occupied.

"Sooo, what are your plans for the Solstice?" the question was the first to come into his head, and Nate had no trouble blurting it out. Winter spared him a quick glance before returning her attention to the road. With a sigh she voiced a response, for what could possibly come out of answering a rather innocent question?

"Well while other Specialist are taking the holiday off on General Ironwood's orders, I will be more productive and-"

"Whoa,whoa, whoa." the interruption made on of Winter's eyebrow twitch in annoyance, "You aren't seriously planning on working during the Solstice are you?"

Rolling her eyes at the downright dumbfounded look on the treasure hunter's face, "As a matter of fact I am. In fact every year I get more work done than any-"

"Oh you cannot be serious!" that's the second time he's interrupted her in as many minutes, given that time she should've been tipped off by Nate slowly shaking his leading up to the outburst but still. Times like this Winter wondered where Drake learned his manners...before promptly remembering Sully and answering her own question.

"And why not?"

"Seriously? 'Why not?'-because no one works on the Solstice, that's the whole point! No work and lots of play with crappy holiday sweaters and caroling.", despite not facing him Nate could see clearly the roll of her eyes, "Oh come on, Halloween is one thing but the Solstice? I knew you were cold but I never would have pegged you as a Grinch."

"Are you quite finished yet Mr. Drake?" questioned Winter resisting the urge to preemptively start rubbing her temples. Honestly the treasure hunter could make such a big deal out of the most minuscule things.

"Princess I'm just getting started," he began making Winter's eye twitched again. He knew she hated that nickname. "I mean seriously, working during the Holidays? What did they make you shoot your holiday spirit to prove your loyalty to Atlas or something?"

"Now you're just being melodramatic. Just because I have priorities that outweigh an overrated-"

"Oh you did not just call the Solstice overrated.", and that's three times he's cut her off. With Oum as her witness, if he did so once more, she would be...displeased. "Jeez, I didn't realize you changed your name to Scrooge. I mean seriously, did the holidays just not exist in your house as a kid or did they make you practice fencing the whole time?"

The car came to a more sudden stop at the upcoming red light, and Nate could swear the was a very slight shift in temperature despite the heaters. Winter narrowed her eyes at Nathan who slowly raised his hand in a placating manner. She may never had given him much detail on her upbringing but she had let slip enough information for him to know that growing up rich wasn't at what he pictured it'd be. At least not in the Schnee household it would seem, and the icy glare she currently gave him, told that she was no mood to divulge more of her family past to him.

"Riiight, touchy subject. I get it really." he breathed out a slight sigh of relief when the light turned green and winter turned back to the road with a slight sigh. Nate awkwardly place his hands in his lap before speaking up again as they neared the vicinity of his hotel. "Sooo, you never tried celebrating after you left home? Probably could've had some real fun, ya know? Make new memories."

"There was always more important things to be done." was Winter's cool and almost… rehearsed reply, "Besides, one would most probably need friends or family for such a thing to be a possibility."

Now Nate was certain he wasn't supposed to hear that, and yet couldn't find any words to reply to that quiet admittance. Given the look on Winter's face she didn't even realize she had said it out loud, albeit mumbled and Nate couldn't help but wince. The woman looked positively resigned...sad even. Nate didn't need years of experience with the woman to know she always wore a mask of distant professionalism. Or that she also kept a lot of things bottled up for the most part,and despite her entire 'ice queen' persona she was still very much a normal human being. A woman with feelings like loneliness and hurt, no different then how he felt them. It didn't take long to decided he couldn't stand seeing her look like someone kicked her puppy.

'Well shit, guess I don't have much of a choice do I?' his mind was made up even before she pulled into the lot of the modest looking hotel. Once he had his coat and other possessions in hand, Nate put on a smile and turned to Winter one last time. "Well as lovely as it's been I gotta call it a night, gotta fly back to Minstral tomorrow morning."

"Yes well, have a good night." Nate couldn't help but grimace at her tone. Even if she had schooled her expression once more, the inflection of her voice had yet to readjust. It seems she picked up on her slip this time as she didn't want to meet his gaze. She wasn't one to take pity, and wouldn't start now.

"Yeah...good night." and with that Nate closed the door to her car allowing her to pull out and leave in silence. Welp, that just cuts it. Nate had his scroll out in a flash, the cold winds forgotten as he thumbed down his contact's list. There was a short wait before Sully picked up just as Nate entered his room.

"Ugh, kid do you know what time it is over here?"

"Yeah sorry about that Sully, uh I gotta talk to you about something important." began Nate gingerly causing the older man to groan over the line.

"Please tell me this conversation isn't going to end with me flying to Atlas to get you out of some army brig for drunken misconduct or something.", Sully's tone made Nate smile again, even as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Not quite that simple unfortunately. It's about our white haired friend, er acquaintance- whatever she is." Nate let out a slight groan, briefly annoyed at himself before continuing, "Look the point is we desperately need to set up a surprise Solstice party...for Winter."

There was a long pause after that and Nate could easily imagine Sully suddenly becoming more aware at that decidedly odd declaration. Therefore he expected nothing less than the response he got from Victor Sullivan.

"Come again?"

Three days since the Holiday Ball, and Winter had been back to her usual routine which consisted of paperwork and running drills with the troops...until she got a call from her scroll. Now by itself was more than enough to peak her curiosity as Winter could count on one hand the people who could and actually would call her personal device. Usually it was her sister, but this time she had no problem admitting she was caught off guard by the caller ID.

"Guess who.", Nathan Drake's voice sounded into her ear sounding far more chipper than she would've liked.

"Mr. Drake." she began almost unsure that he was really calling her. Honestly what reason did he have to call her? In fact the only reason he even had her number, she was certain, was because she had called twice now to be her plus one at formal event. And that was mostly out of a combination of necessity and lack of choice on her part.

"Correct buuut I'd rather just be called 'Nate' or 'Nathan', Captain Awesome works too but I've yet to find a taker to that one. 'Mr. Drake' on the other hand makes me sounds like I'm as old as Sully and believe me when I say I am not ready for that." Winter raised an eyebrow at the muffled sound of slight indignation following the statement. Likely from Mr. Sullivan himself.

"May I inquire as to why you're calling me? I don't expect you to contact me for a social call, nor do I have time for such.", Winter stared at the pile of paper she need to fill out for upcoming missions and troop reports. She briefly felt fatigue set in before banishing it from her mind. No time to wither, non at all.

"Well as much as I wanna counter that, I do kinda need your help.". Now that caught her attention, despite herself.

"My help?" she parroted slowly, "And what, pray tell, could I help you with. And more importantly is it going to somehow lead to destruction of property?"

"Sadly not this time, just need your help with something me and Sully are cooking up for a job after the Solstice. It shouldn't be anything major but we might need the, lets say 'influence,' of a highly respect person such as yourself." responded the treasure hunter making Winter pinch the bridge of her nose slightly. Was he really asking her to be his golden egg in some bizarre adventure?

"I don't have time to be tied up in your shenanigans Drake, I have far too ma-"

"Come oooon, it'll be quick I promise." pleaded the male making Winter roll her eyes, "You won't even have to fly anywhere, I'm still in town.". That however caught her attention. For several reasons actually, most of which brought a lurch to her stomach. She did not like the idea of Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan running around Atlas unsupervised while on one of their 'adventures'. Speaking of which.

"You're still in Atlas? What exactly are you looking for?", there was a short paused before Nathan replied.

"Why don't you come over and find out?". Winter could hear the smirk in his voice and couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips. 'I suppose it's better safe than sorry anyway. Besides, I've made acceptable process on today's paper work. I can afford going out during lunch today.'

"I'll meet you at your hotel in an hour. You'll have thirty minutes."

"It'll only take fifteen, scouts honor." he sounded rather excited...maybe she really should be worried, "See ya then, bye." With that he hung up leaving her to blink owlishly at her scroll before shaking her head. Letting out a deep sigh, she placed her scroll to the side and without much else to do she returned to work.

"You've had a lot of hair brained schemes kid but this one has to be the weirdest." said Sullivan as he looked about their 'research'. Shaking his head, the older man blew out a puff of smoke before returning the cigar to his mouth. Honestly a Solstice party for the Ice Queen herself? What was his next plan to go clubbing with the white fang?

"Come on Sully everyone deserves a happy holiday, and besides we kinda owe her." replied Nate putting up a few decoration around the room, namely a few string of Holly, lights and three stockings over the fireplace. He took a moment to admire his work before turning to face his long time partner and began speaking once more.

"Besides you don't get to complain Mr 'these wood print will be quick cash kid'." he reminded with a smirk making Sully roll his eyes.

"I'll remember that next time you need bail kid." snorted the old man as Nate's scroll went off, prompting him to check it. He smiled seeing the name on his screen and motioned for Sully to keep quiet for a moment.

"Hey Charlie, you get my message?... Awesome, now here's-" *knock, knock*, Nate looked at the door while Sully peered at his wrist watch before promptly face palming. Nate wasn't far behind in realizing he had lost track of time since his call while he was getting things ready for step one of the plan., "Oh crap, one second Charlie" he turned to Sully and whispered, "Stall her, and remember the plan."

Sully moved to protest the idea before Nate disappeared into one of the bedrooms, shutting the door behind him. Releasing another cloud of smoke, Sully shook his head before answering the door coming face to face with one Winter Schnee with her hand in position to knock again. Quickly moving it back to her side, Winter cleared her throat before addressing Sully.

"Mr. Sullivan" she greeted him with a nod, "I see you and Mr. Drake have made yourselves at home."

"Yeah, well as much as i love the kid I wasn't planning on sharing a bed with him." Sully moved to the side to allow her in, "Speaking of which he's should be out soon, he's just getting ready. Kinda lost track of time while" he glanced at the scattered papers on the coffee table containing little more than nonsense "research. Come on in, I won't bite."

Winter seemed to mull it over for a short bit before crossing the threshold and entering the temporary living space. She took in her surroundings before her eyes landed on the table full of papers. 'Messy' was the first word to come to her mind at the sight of the haphazardly treated research material before her. Shaking her head she turned to check the time on her scroll before pocketing it in her coat. She then look back up to Sully who stood by the now closed door awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"So uh, want me to take your coat or something?"

"I doubt that'll be necessary." replied Winter dryly as she turned to take in the rest of place as if expecting to find something untoward. Sully filed it away 'habit of a soldier' which was something he understood well. Hell he still had to stop himself sometimes from following Naval protocol whenever he got on a boat, "I doubt he'll be long."

"Tch, then you don't know Nate. Kid take his time picking out clothes, even though he literally has only one outfit but in seven different colors. Not to mention he has to dry off, and don't even get me started on his hair." Sully removed his cigar from his mouth, "It's like waiting for paint to dry."

Sighing Winter decided to oblige him if only to avoid hearing him going further off on a rant about his younger companion, and seeing no harm in it. Besides it was rather warm in hear what with the fire going. Handing off her military issue long coat, Winter looked around the room only now taking in the sparse decorations. 'It appears as if they expect to be stay the Solstice during this 'expedition' of theirs. Hopefully they won't raise any trouble during their stay.' and with that though she followed the holly and multicolored lights around the room until they reached the fire place where she found a trio of stereotypically red and green holiday stockings. She scarcely registered the ruffing of her coat as Sully hung it somewhere, but at the moment that was the last thing on her mind as it began to drift.

There wasn't much, one may say it was a pitiful attempt at decorating despite the two men obviously not planning to stay here long but even so. It felt warm, and not in reference to temperature-no it felt warm in a way Winter's own home never did. Not where she currently resided and certainly never when she lived under her father's roof. She couldn't call that place a home, never a home. A home was warm and welcoming, both things her father had stamped while her mother never bothered to fix it. No Winter's mother preferred to get drunk over caring about her children while Jacques ruled the house with an iron fist. And a decidedly frozen heart that made living under his oppressive manipulation and impossible expectations almost unbearable. Winter could remember protecting Weiss and even Whitely before father decided to start grooming the boy into his ideal offspring. She remembered how hard Jacques could be on them, especially remembered standing between the two every time their father's anger flared. Standing as a bulwark in case the Schnee patriarch deemed it necessary to 'discipline' Weiss as he had her multiple times.

And it was around Solstice when thing were always at their worse. Given Jaques always spent more time managing the company around this busy time, rather than be with his own family but that somehow didn't help. Yes Winter was happy whenever her father was out of the picture but it was a fleeting sense of relief for she and her siblings were soon remind of just how cold their house could be. Growing up Winter never had many friend, she blamed that on her parents and the lack of affection affecting her own social development, but she always heard them talk. Talk about happy holiday and joyful family gatherings. And Winter always remembered how much she pined for that, how much she would give for just one happy day with her family. But that wouldn't come, no the Schnee household would always be exceptionally colder this time of year.

Winter could clearly remember the tree that sat in the Schnee mansion's overly large foyer every year, lavishly decorated, but devoid of all the joy it should have had. She could remember Klein doing his best to give them a happy holiday and she could vividly the depressed look of her siblings, alone in that large cold place. And Winter remembered that even after she left, thing never changed...not for her or them.

Winter unconsciously reach to touch one of the red stocking, almost bitterly noting how much more alive this small, cheap hotel room felt than her own home did. She hated being called a princess, cause that implies some sort of fairy-tale life in a loving home. But her home couldn't even compare to something as quaint as this dingy hotel suite. She couldn't help the thought that wiggled into her head 'It's not fair.'.

"Uh, something catch your fancy Schnee?", Sully's voice shook Winter out of her stupor as she visibly recoiled her hand from the holiday decoration. She turned to see Sully sitting at the table with his research, looking at her strangely. "I don't mean to be rude but you've been staring at that wall for at least two minutes."

Winter could vaguely feel her face heating up and turned away from him to hide her embarrassment, "It's nothing, I was just...thinking.". The specialist could feel Sullivan's eye staring holes into the back of her head until he finally relented, likely deciding it wasn't worth over thinking. She couldn't help the quiet sigh of relief as she stared back at the three stockings. Honestly what was taking Nathan so lo-hold on…"Three?"

"Hm?" Sullivan was busy going looking over something on his scroll, something important(or at the very least interesting) if the look on his face was anything to go by. Winter briefly wondered if it had to do with his and Nathan's research before voicing the question she was more curious about.

"Who's the third stocking for?"

Sullivan's answer was distracted as he gave a quick reply, "Red one on the left is Sam's.". Winter quirked an eyebrow at that, given that this suite only had two seperate bedrooms and she never heard either of the two men mention a 'Sam' before. Now Winter wouldn't have given it too much thought, as she wasn't exactly close to the two and therefore didn't need to know about all their acquaintances. However. the way Sullivan almost immediately tensed as if he had said something he shouldn't have made her want to dig into this more. Also the audible 'shit' he muttered under his breath was another clue that he wasn't supposed to bring this 'Sam' up. At the very least not around her.

Looking back at the stockings, Winter eyes the red one left of the faded green stocking in the middle. It matched the red one on the right perfectly, save for the cursive 'S' embroidered into the fluffy white top. "Who's Sam?"

Sullivan looked very much uncomfortable at that question, more so than before if it was even possible. "Look it's complicated, and I really shouldn..." he drifted off seeing the look in Winter's eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Winter didn't like it when people kept secrets from her. And given how she was, Sully wouldn't put it past her think this might have something to do with him and Nate's new 'find'. Which meant an unknown and, rather justifiably, unknowns with them usually meant trouble down the road.

So to avoid a misconception, Sully took a deep breath and told the truth "Sam as in Samuel Drake, Nate's brother… he's not with us anymore." he said it with a tone that immediately conveyed to Winter what he meant and he could see the surprise in her eyes.

"Nathan Drake has a brother?" Winter combed her memory for what she had read on Nathan's file back when they had first crossed paths and vaguely remembered mention of a older sibling. The file scarcely mention the older Drake as he had been deceased for sometime by that point and therefore was quickly filed into the back of Winter's mind. She currently regretted that decision as well as her choice in words.

"Like I said Nate had a brother, Sam died during a past 'expedition' and well… Nate never got over it, hell even to this day if I even try to bring it up Nate just closes up. I don't think he'll ever get passed it, not really anyway." Sully smothered the stub of his cigar into the ashtray before pulling out another and lighting it, "But because the Solstice used to be their favorite holiday, Nate always puts up Sam's stocking- you know as a memorial or something."

"I-I had no idea." was the only thing Winter could come up with. And she didn't, Nate didn't seem like the type to let something get to him so much. However with that said, she could understand why this affected him. If anything happened to Weiss or even Whitely… Winter didn't want to think about what that would do to her.

Sullivan shrugged, "I wouldn't expect you to, but don't bring up with Nate. He'd be all kinds of pissed if he knew i told ya this. He prefers to play things about Sam close to the vest and salting old wounds won't do anyone good."

Winter moved to to responded before the door to Nate's room suddenly began to open making both her and Sullivan jump. "Hey sorry about taking so long I-uh what's with you guys? Grandma get run over by a reindeer while I was gone or something?" asked Nate as he looked between the two pale face occupiers of his room. Pocketing his scroll, the treasure hunter looked between the two as he awaited an answer.

"Nothing kid, listen shouldn't you two get going? Records close soon and we need those files if we wanna get past this dead end." urged Sullivan recovering from his funk first. Nate gave him a strange look, appraising the older man before looking to the only female in the room who also seemed to have recovered.

"*ahem* Yes let's get going. We're already behind schedule as it is."

"Ooookay, welp let's get going then unless you guys wanna keep acting weird that is." drawled Nate as Winter somewhat stiffly walked over and retrieved her coat before nodding at Nate who led the way out the door. With one last look at the three stocking hanging over the fireplace, Winter exited behind him. Sully let out a long sigh, placing the scroll in his hand back on the table with an audible 'thump'.

"Hold on a minute," Sullivan stared at Winter's pilfered scroll before face palming, "god dammit.". Welp at least he didn't have to remember her, rather sparse, contact list off the top of his head now. He could just write them down while looking right at the source material...he just hoped she'd buy that it fell out of her coat pocket while he was 'hanging' it.

Whew, that was a long one. Now originally I had planned to make this a one shot but it was so long I decided to cut it into two chapters. Second chapter will be posted tomorrow as a Christmas present. I hope you all enjoyed the ride thus far and if you did then check out Gamer's original work. I guarantee you'll love his RWBY/Uncharted Crossovers as well as all his other stories. He's a great writer and I'm proud to be able to put this out in honor of his work. I'm happy to get back into writing after a long while, and hopefully Gamer enjoys this little homage to his work. Anyway, Merry Christmas guys and I'll be seeing you tomorrow for the conclusion to this story.