isamazed

Author: isamazed
Word count: approx. 2,250
Characters: Stephen/Ryan, Matt, Danny, Lester, OC, mention of a few others
Rating: T
Warnings: N/A
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything, just the plot idea 😉
A/N: Secret Santa for nietie at primeval_denial. This is practically the fourth story I wrote for your prompts because the first one felt just wrong, the second was way too melancholic and the third somehow turned out just plain angst. So, here’s the fourth attempt with some humour and cuteness for you! 😉 I hope you’ll like what Santa’s brought you this year 😊 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thanks to goldarrow for the very last minute and super quick beta! You’re a star!

Stephen, Ryan and Matt sit around the table in the ARC kitchen playing cards when Ryan’s radio crackles to life.

“Boss? The silent alarm for one of the air vents from the rooftop went off. You’re closest. Can you check on it?”

Ryan sighs and puts down his set of cards. “On our way. Which one is it?”

“The one next to elevator D. The first possible exit is the grill on the fourth floor.”

“Alright then. I’ll let you know when we get there.”

“Roger, Boss.”

Stephen and Matt stand up with him and shuffle out of the kitchen. The shift on Boxing Day is boring them out of their mind anyway, so checking on the ventilation shaft is almost a welcome distraction. The building is eerily quiet on the holiday and they quickly make their way to where they’ve been directed. When they reach the floor, Ryan motions at the others to stay silent and they tiptoe to the outlet of the ventilation shaft with as much stealth as possible.

Something rattles inside the shaft and all three raise their tranquilizers without as much as making a single noise. The grill in the wall shakes and a bit of dust flitters through the air. Then the metal square pops out of the wall and a hand shoots out of the ventilation shaft to quickly grab it before it can crash to the ground. Danny’s head appears through the rectangular form.

“Awww, no. Come on. How did you know I was coming? That’s not fair!” he pouts.

Stephen, Ryan and Matt relax and put their guns away. Ryan radios in that there’s no danger around.

“Becker placed more silent alarm traps after your last little ‘expedition’, Quinn. Guess he got you there, huh?” Matt, untypically, hardly manages to keep a straight expression. The Becker-Quinn-battle is stuff for legends.

Danny grabs something behind himself and throws a backpack out of the shaft that Stephen barely manages to catch before it hits the ground. Then the ginger man hops out of the shaft and puts the grill back into place.

“Soldier boy is no fun. He ruined my Christmas surprise,” Danny complains and snags his backpack right out of Stephen’s arms.

“Which is?” Stephen asks and raises an eyebrow.

“Me obviously! Isn’t that enough? Best Santa in town!” Danny is all big grin and white teeth.

“Quinn, the ARC’s not your playground. When will you get that into your big head?” Matt reprimands.

“Tsk, all of you military guys are no fun, ex or current,” Danny mutters and shuffles around so he can hold his backpack in front of his chest. Another grin appears on his face. “That’s why I brought you this. Ho ho ho.” He pulls a bottle of mulled wine from the bag.

Ryan chuckles. “We’re on duty, Quinn. It’s kind of you to think of us on the Christmas shift but it’s not like we can drink it.”

“That’s why it’s non-alcoholic, captain,” Danny mock-salutes and is obviously proud. He starts walking towards the staircase. “You coming?”

“Okay, he may not be a real Santa, but he did have a very good reason for breaking into the house.” Stephen shrugs and smirks. The thought of virgin mulled wine has its perks.

And then the alarm starts blaring. Stephen’s head drops in disappointment and he sighs. No hot drink then.

When they reach the control room, the tech girl on duty is already quickly typing away on the keyboard. Lester’s standing behind her (god forbid that the man would not work a single day) with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“It’s in the zoo,” the tech announces.

“Again?” Lester rolls his eyes. “Do they have a subscription? This is getting ridiculous.”

“Well, we could examine the area and see what causes it. Maybe…” Stephen starts. Cutter would love that and frankly, some proper research sounds like heaven to Stephen, too.

“Not now. Anomaly, forgotten? Off you go, catching mythical beasts and stuff, before they eat happy families on their Christmas outing,” Lester waves them off.

***

“What’s it doing?” Ryan asks, staring at the reindeer that’s stumbling around in its herd making excited noises. It tumbles from one reindeer to another, nosing them in their faces or guts, lapping at their ears or playfully nibbling their antlers or small fluffy tails.

The other three men are just as clueless.

Stephen narrows his eyes. “If it were human, I’d say it’s high?” he suggests.

“But they don’t let the visitors feed the animals. How could it be drunk? And the zoo confirmed they’ve had eyes on the anomaly all the time and nothing’s come through,” Ryan’s forehead crinkles as he continues watching the merry go-round of the animal. The rest of the herd seems pretty unfazed by its behaviour.

“Let’s check out the anomaly,” Matt decides and they climb over the fence and trot towards the shards of light that are hanging in the air just a few feet away from where the reindeer are gathered together on the cold December day.

When their little group gets closer, they see that the grass and slippery mud in front of the sparkling shards are covered in light yellowish dust. When another puff of the dust comes through the anomaly, they stop dead in their tracks.

“Uhm, that’s not good, is it?” Danny looks at Matt and Stephen.

“Masks on,” Ryan instructs. “Then we’re going to close that thing.”

They get their facemasks out of their kits and put them on. Another five minutes and Danny and Stephen have the closing device set up and the anomaly is securely locked into a tight ball.

Matt steps in front of it and crouches down. “I’ll take a sample and then we clear the stuff away. It could just be pollen but it might also be some kind of ash, fungus or bacteria. Either way, we shouldn’t take any chances on it spreading. I bet that reindeer took a good sniff.”

Ryan radios for his team to contain the substance. By the time he’s done, Stephen and Danny have already approached the reindeer herd and watch the one that’s happily hopping around.

“Bugger me, but is its nose turning red?” Danny’s eyes widen.

“It is. And that’s not normal,” Stephen turns around and calls, “Matt, we need to bring the herd into quarantine. I think at least our dancer here got into close contact with the yellow dust.”

Matt looks up but doesn’t even blink when he sees the reindeer’s nose could be used as a beacon in the dark of the night. “Alright, I’ll call the ARC to get one of the big pens ready for the herd.”

“At least we’re at the zoo and they have trucks at hand for transportation,” Stephen says. “Danny, can you arrange with the zoo director for them to be made available?”

Ryan raises an eyebrow because – really? Sending Quinn off to deal with authority figures is usually not that good an idea.

Stephen catches his expression and grins. “Oh, come on. It’s going to be fun! And who else could better explain why we’re taking Santa’s herd away at Christmas, huh?”

Ryan rolls his eyes.

***

A while later, all but one reindeer are loaded up in the trucks. Just the red-nosed one is still excitedly hopping around the enclosure. Matt’s overseeing the soldiers still cleaning the yellowish dust away into sterile and tightly sealed bags.

Ryan nods to himself and visibly straightens himself. “Okay, let’s catch Rudolph.“

“You do realize that he’s a she?” Stephen cocks an eyebrow and smirks.

“Never mind, gender’s such a boring detail,” Danny waives the comment away.

They all chuckle and then spread around where the reindeer is now softly cooing at bushes. Slowly they get closer, Ryan at its behind, Danny in the middle and Stephen at the head. When they are just one or two feet away, the reindeer lifts its head and looks at Stephen. It lets out a bark like asking a question.

“Hey buddy, you’re alright. See that truck behind me? We’re just going to take a short ride, shall we?” Stephen talks to the animal in a quiet, reassuring voice.

The reindeer grunts happily and quickly closes the short distance towards the tracker who suddenly finds himself with the animal lovingly rubbing its nose against Stephen’s belly. He lets out a small surprised laugh and pets the creature’s head.

“Hey, easy, girl,“ he soothes.

Danny is almost doubling over laughing and even Ryan can’t suppress a smile. The sight of a cuddly reindeer nosing his lover’s middle is just too sweet.

Stephen motions for Danny to hand him a halter and he carefully secures it around the head. Then he snaps a lead into place and checks that it’s secure. “Well done, girl,” he pets the reindeer again that’s now nipping at his jeans. “Hey, hey, none of that, there’s plenty of great food for you at the ARC.”

He softly tugs at the leash and the reindeer grunts but willingly follows his lead. Danny wanders off towards the SUVs and Ryan takes his place at the reindeer’s middle. He can’t resist ghosting his hand over the fur.

A few feet away someone bangs one of the truck’s doors closed and the reindeer suddenly starts. Ryan doesn’t even know what happens when the reindeer’s back hooves jump into the air and one of them comes down on his foot. He grunts from the pain and loses his balance and lands on the ground hard.

“Ow, fuck,” he curses. His foot throbs viciously and his bottom is hardly any better despite the floor being a muddy mess. Tears of pain shoot into his eyes. Excellent. Just what he needs on Boxing Day. A smashed foot and a bruised arse.

By now, Stephen has managed to calm down the spooked creature and looks back at Ryan while he carefully leads the animal a few feet away so it doesn’t accidentally step on the soldier again.

“You okay, baby?“ He looks at Ryan clearly worrying.

“Uhm, I guess I’ll need help to get up,” Ryan smiles self-deprecatingly. There’s no way he’s speaking out loud what parts of his body hurt like a bitch. If he starts talking about a bruised and aching butt around soldiers, he’ll never hear the end of it. So he stays where he is and hopes the pain in his foot and bottom quiets down a bit before he needs to move.

“Alright, I’ll be with you in a moment. I’ll just get Rudolpha here into the truck. I’ll be quick, I promise.” Stephen leads the reindeer away.

By the time he’s done, Matt and Danny have already helped Ryan up and he gingerly climbs into one of the SUVs. He hisses when he carefully sits down in the passenger seat. There’s no way he’ll be able to avoid a visit to the infirmary. His foot still hurts like hell and he’ll feel every bump in the road on the ride back. Ryan grits his teeth. Merry Christmas my arse, he thinks and chuckles despite himself.

***

Ryan refuses to go to the infirmary before all the reindeer are settled in their interim home at the ARC. They’ll need to keep Rudolpha in a separate pen. Up until now, she’s the only animal showing unusual behaviour. So far, so good. They hope it’s just going to wear off, whatever it is. Matt is already in his lab analysing the substance.

It’s not like Ryan can do much, so he just stands back a little and oversees what’s happening. The security door a few feet away whooshes open and shut again and Lester appears at his side.

“What’s a reindeer doing here at the ARC, captain?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Cuddle pollen as it appears, sir,” Ryan explains. “We have a full herd but Rudolpha here is getting really attached to us.” He nods towards the reindeer that’s currently getting its bright red nose patted by a happy looking Stephen. Danny stands next to him, all smile and teeth, with an apple at the ready, waiting for his turn.

Lester sighs. “Of course, it had to be the reindeer. The main attraction on the Christmas holidays. How is this my life?” He pinches his nose. “Guess Santa’s not having a merry Christmas then, Captain? With his best friend taken into custody.”

“Guess not, sir.” Ryan grins.

“Well then, let’s see that he gets his herd back soon. We wouldn’t want to crush next year’s holidays, would we?”

“No, sir,” Ryan confirms.

Lester silently shakes his head and walks out again. A moment later, Stephen’s by his side.

“Ready for a trip to the infirmary, Captain?” He asks in a half mocking, half concerned voice.

“No, I’ll never be ready for that. And Ditzy’s on duty today, isn’t he? It’s going to be a nightmare.” Ryan shudders. He doesn’t even want to think about the teasing he’s going to get from their medic. There’s no way Ditzy’s ever going to let him live this down.

Stephen snakes an arm around his shoulders and takes some of his weight. They turn around and wobble towards the door. When they wait for it to open, Stephen gently pats his bottom.

“Don’t worry, Tom, I’ll stay with you. Your virtue is safe.”

“You know, I really don’t look forward to sitting down for the next few days,” Ryan mutters.

Stephen’s face lights up like a Christmas tree and he wiggles his eyebrows. “Well then, I have a few ideas what we could do with you lying on your stomach and that fine arse up in the air…”

---

The prompts I used were:

- Okay, he’s not Santa but he did have a very good reason for breaking into the house.

- What’s a reindeer doing here at the ARC?