Summary: Christmas brings out the 'boy' in the men!

Thanks to Phyllis for the beta

Disclaimer: Just playing. I know I can't keep 'em...damnit!

Thanks to Mog for ATF

Buck and JD were almost ready to leave. Despite initial plans to have the team over to the CDC for Christmas, it soon became apparent Chris's ranch had more appeal. For one, they would each have a decent bed for the night. Another reason was the horses. The team had been so busy recently they barely had time to get out on the weekends to ride, an activity the men were participating in together, more and more.

Despite a light dusting of snow, Chris was fairly confident the trails would be passable, so it was to be a relaxing Christmas Eve, a Christmas day full of gift-swapping, food and drink, then a trail ride to blow away the cobwebs, the day after.

Both Buck and JD were better organized this year, getting their gift wrapping under control fairly early on and even having time to whip up some food to take with them. Right now, they were having some quiet time, unknowingly, each man doing much the same thing…thinking about their mothers. Hearing Buck in the kitchen, JD shook himself out of his mood and left his bedroom to join him.

Buck grinned as JD dropped into a chair in the kitchen, not focusing on the red-rimmed eyes smiling back at him. He'd known it was coming. JD had been even more hyper than usual in an effort to stave off the memories. Poor Vin was quietly exhausted, as JD had taken him through gym workouts, to shooting hoops, to tossing a football, to practicing their self defense moves every spare minute.

"We about ready to go?" JD asked.

Buck closed the dishwasher, set the cycle to run, and nodded.

"I reckon so, yeah. But there's one thing I have to do before we go." With a grin, Buck exited the kitchen and jogged up the stairs two at a time to his room, to return less than thirty seconds later carrying a large gift-wrapped parcel. He moved into the living room, gesturing for JD to follow him. As the youth joined him, Buck held out the package and smiled.

"For you…with one condition…you open it now."

Eyeing the huge gift, JD grinned. "Just a minute." He left to go into his room, returning with a box that was as tall as him.

"And this is for you…same condition, you open it now."

Both men chuckled and exchanged packages, both ripping eagerly at the paper.

"Oh WOW!"

"Well…look at that!"

Both men beamed at each other, deciding to hell with their gifts for a moment as they gave each other a big ol' bear hug.

"I love it!" they said, together.

Separating, they both laughed. JD picked up his silver and red radio-controlled Ferrari, studying it, while Buck walked around the huge, yellow radio-controlled dump truck sitting on the wood floor.

They looked at each other, grinned and nodded.

"Parking lot!"

~

Once outside and in the allocated parking area for their building, the two men put the vehicles through their paces, each man watching the other and happy to see how much enjoyment they were getting from their gifts.

In no time, JD was maneuvering the car at breakneck speed, his tongue poking out the side of his mouth with the concentration.

Buck was chuckling as he realized the back of the truck actually rose and lowered, just like a real dump truck. It was only when Buck's cell rang they realized they had been a whole hour 'playing' and the light was failing.

"Yeah? Shit…sorry, Chris…got held up. We're on our way."

"Look…it's got headlights!"

Buck glanced at JD then flicked a button on his remote. "Hey…so's mine!"

Chuckling, the pair once again set their vehicles in motion as they watched the little headlights cut through the gloom.

~~~

"What the hell kept you both three hours?"

Buck and JD exchanged awkward glances, neither one knowing what to tell Chris, so JD decided the truth was best.

Larabee shook his head. "You dumped me and your friends for boys' toys?"

They nodded, together.

Chris grinned. "Did you bring them?"

With a whoop, JD raced to the back of Buck's truck to retrieve the toys. The group played through the evening, and by the time it was nearing midnight, each team member had tried them out.

"Ooh, I almost forgot!" Buck drew attention to another package with Vin and JD's names on it.

"Thought you'd have fun with these, seeing as you two are so competitive an' all."

With a nod from JD, Vin opened it.

"Oh, neat!"

"Awesome! Can we try them?" JD asked.

Without waiting for a reply, and after reading the instructions, both young men donned the special goggles, then separated, eyeing each other like a pair of gunslingers. They raised the laser guns and fired together, both hitting their targets.

"OW!"

"FUCK"

They looked at each other, speaking together.

"That hurts!"

Chuckling, they ducked, dodged and fired again, yelping each time, but not once stopping, as the hits tallied up on their guns. Frowning, Buck read the packaging.

"Hmm...says here, 'mild pain may be experienced'."

The others laughed at Buck's expression, laughing harder as the two youngest continued firing and yelping.

Buck shrugged. "They weren't wrong, were they?"

Vin doubled up and glared back at his adversary. "Shit, JD…watch out for my nuts!"

JD returned the look. "Well, quit firing at my ass then!"

While Nathan and Josiah watched in morbid fascination and Ezra took bets as to who would win or give in first, Chris, still laughing, turned to Buck. "We are gonna try these out tomorrow…right? "

Buck grinned back. "Hell, yeah!"

The End

Feedback