Hey you guys! I have another Christmas story for ya'll. Vince has issues with wrapping paper! Set post episode ten.

I own nothing.

A Little Piece of Home

Jamie Fleming had always loved wrapping presents for Christmas. She went for the non-traditional wrapping papers, versus the boring green and red. Any present she gave her family or friends were neatly wrapped in gold, fuchsia, turquoise, and any other off the wall color she could find. The recipients were always curious to see what color she would use next. The youngest Fleming decorated the boxes with ribbons instead of the tiny bows that everyone typically used.

Despite everything that had went down with her family over the years, she still held onto those memories with a sense of pride. While she didn't have anyone to wrap presents for now that she was in hiding, she still made up for the holiday spirit with putting a Christmas tree in her hideout. It wasn't much; hell, her mother probably would have been ashamed at how she decorated it, but it was all she could do given its size!

When Vince walked into her life, however, everything began to change. He would eventually leave her once his name was cleared, she knew this. But maybe, just maybe, she could let herself enjoy this while she could. Her feelings for the vigilante always stayed in the back of her mind, right where they belonged. She hadn't wanted to get this close to anyone, but here she was, exchanging Christmas gifts with her partner.

Orwell smiled over at him as she took a poorly wrapped box into her hands. "Vince, did you wrap this thing with your feet?" she teased playfully.

"Ha, ha," the vigilante began with a smirk on his face. He sat back as she began to unwrap the present, his smile only spreading wider. Vince tried not to have feelings for the young woman sitting before him. He tried hard. His attempts were deemed futile as the days on the calendar went by. It was human nature to bond with someone that you were living in close quarters with, but the former solider knew that there was a line in between that that should never be crossed. He didn't know much about Orwell, but the harder he tried, the easier it was for him to fall in love with her. And damn if he weren't in love now…

The blogger inspected the unwrapped gift, an odd smile playing at her lips. It was a shiny silver box, something that she would probably have used for her gift-wrappings. Her mother had loved that color…

The framed cop gave her a nod, to which she pulled the top off of the box, revealing her present. It was a single silver chain with a rather large charm. Orwell grinned at the charm on the bottom of the chain. "Someone uses real computer parts to make jewelry? How come I never heard of this before?" Her charm was of a computer chip.

"I've met some weird people since I've been framed, Orwell," Vince straightened back up in his chair as she looked at him, her expression unreadable as ever.

"Me included, huh?" the brunette asked, a tiny smirk tugging on her lips.

"Oh yeah," the blonde chuckled, his eyes crinkling in the corners. "But your weirdness is the best kind of weirdness, believe me."

Orwell gaped at her partner in mocked-shock and whacked him on the arm. "Maybe I should take your present back then, since you wanna be so mean," she teased.

"Nah. You're not that mean," Vince began, looking down at the gift in his lap. "Hey, how did you get this thing to be wrapped so perfectly, anyway?"

The blogger's present had been wrapped up in two different kinds of wrapping paper. While the whole thing was covered, none of the corners had been folded the way they should have. Honestly, it looked like Vince fought with the paper… And lost.

Her partner's present, on the other hand, was wrapped with a shimmering gold colored wrapping paper, each of its corners folded precisely. You could definitely tell the difference between his and hers.

Orwell gave him a wary look. "I'm sorry, are you trying to suck up?"

The vigilante opened his mouth to speak, but then reconsidered his words very carefully. Why did he suddenly feel like he did when Dana was pissed off at him for some reason? "No, I'm being serious! I can never wrap a present like that. I mean, you saw how I wrapped Trip's present."

The hacker visibly relaxed, which in turn, made her partner relax just the same. "I dunno, Vince. I always loved Christmas as a kid. And not because I got everything that I could possibly want, but more because I got to give someone that I loved a gift. My mother taught me how to decorate it the way I do, but my sitter was the one who taught me how to fold it just right." Orwell smiled rather fondly down at her lap. Vince could tell that this was one of her finer memories as a child.

"You didn't have the world's best childhood, did you?" He asked her, their eyes locking in an instant.

The brunette just shrugged, fiddling with the necklace in her grasp. "I had a rather strange childhood, Vince. My mother died when I was ten, and my father just sorta changed after that. Before then, we were happy, if that answers your question."

"I'm sorry, Orwell," Vince murmured in reply, feeling guilty that he even brought that up. He knew that she hated talking about her past. He wanted to know more, but quickly decided not to press the issue anymore.

Orwell just smiled at him, though her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "Go on, open your present," she spoke hopefully.

The vigilante nodded and looked back down at the present in his lap again. As he ripped away the wrapping paper, he tried to guess what his partner could have possibly gotten him. Vince's blue eyes widened as he looked at the package he had before him. It was a model helicopter kit, which brought a broad smile to his lips. He remembered telling the blogger about the nights that he and Trip would stay up building these things. Dana would yell at him for letting their son stay up so late on school nights, but it was well worth it.

His partner just watched him, a smile gracing her own features. Vince's grins were always so infectious. "Well, do you like it?"

A hearty chuckle escaped from the framed cop. "Like it? Hell, Orwell, I love it!"

Any reminder of home gave him hope. He had someone who was willing to help him every step of the way. One day, he was going to make all of this up to Orwell. The vigilante was eternally grateful for everything that his partner had done thus far. And, in fact, it only made him fall in love with her more.

Orwell just watched as Vince opened up the box and began assembling all of the pieces. His eyes lit up like a child; it was just adorable, quite frankly. She had to shake herself back down to reality as her mind began to wander. He was going home to his family soon, she couldn't let her personal feelings get in the way of that. Not now, not ever. It was too dangerous, if she told him how she felt, it could ruin their partnership. Or, even if he did feel the same way, it would ruin his family.

She loved her partner, but she didn't want to see him go through hell just for her to be happy. For now, she had Vince. But when he would finally get back to his family, that was when the real test would begin.

And that's where I'll cut it off. This might be a starting point with a new story I'm planning. Because we never got our full season, we'll never know if Vinwell could have been in the show. Well my story will contain episodes 11-13 and yes, there will be Vinwell.