Face and BA were in the kitchen preparing lunch when Decker ran in from outside and slammed the door. He shot the bolts across it as they turned to stare at him. Decker's eyes were wide and his face pale. He pointed at the door, mutely for a second, and then found his voice.

"There's a wolf outside."

"What?" Face stared at Decker.

"A wolf?" BA said.

"A wolf." Decker's voice was higher than usual, his words rattled out fast. "I was putting the garbage in the compactor and I looked up and it was looking right back at me. Just standing there, not fifty yards away."

Hannibal and Murdock, drawn by the sound of the slammed door wandered in from the dining room where they'd been setting the table.

"What's going on?" Hannibal asked, frowning at Decker. Decker pulled off his gloves and dropped them on the floor. He pushed back his hood and pulled off his knit cap, leaving his hair badly disarranged.

"Decker thinks he saw a wolf outside." Face said. He grinned. "He's a bit shaken up about it."

"I don't 'think' I saw it," Decker snapped, sounding more like his old self now. "I saw it!"

"Ah, it was probably just an Arctic fox," Murdock said. He wandered over to the window.

"Did the little doggy frighten you?" Hannibal asked, with a smirk. Decker bristled.

"I'm telling you there's a god-damn wolf out there!"

Murdock peered out of the window. "I don't see anything." He looked back at Decker. "Arctic fox, Rod, I'd lay money." He turned back towards the window. "I saw one of those a couple of weeks ba - Shit!"

Murdock leapt back at least six feet as a wolf reared up against the window, resting its paws on the glass.

The others all jumped as well, if not quite as far as Murdock. The wolf sniffed the glass for a moment and then disappeared again. Nervously Murdock went back to the window.

"I think it's..." He didn't need to finish, they all heard scuffling and then scratching around the bottom of the door.

"Is it trying to get in?" Face whispered.

"It can probably smell the food in here," Hannibal said, glancing over at the oven, from which a delicious aroma of roasting chicken wafted.

"What the hell do we do now?" Face asked, looking at Hannibal.

Hannibal shrugged. "It's probably just passing through on its way south before the weather gets too bad."

The scratching at the door stopped. Murdock, still watching out of the window reported in.

"He's nosing around the yard. Oh, now he's gone to sniff around the generator shed. Can probably smell that people have been there. Wow, he's just beautiful!"

"Did you see the size of its paws?" Face asked, worried.

"He is pretty big," Murdock said. "Ah he's going I think. Yeah, heading out." In a moment he couldn't see the wolf any more and turned back to the others. He grinned. "Well, that was a surprise guest. Think we should have invited him for Christmas dinner tomorrow?"

"I'm telling you one thing," Decker said, bending to retrieve his gloves from the floor. "I'm not going out there again without the handgun."

"Oh, Decker, how could you say that?" Murdock protested at once. "Don't you know that dogs kill more people than wolves do?"

"Dogs get more opportunities," Decker said. "I'm not about to give that animal any opportunity." He flattened his hair down with one hand.

"Don't wolves live in packs?" BA said. That shut most of them up for a moment, except Murdock.

"So that one could have been just an advance scout doing recon?" Murdock said, grinning, provoking a scowl from BA.

"Great," Face muttered faintly, "just great. One minute I'm making lunch, next minute I am lunch."

"Come on, guys." Hannibal rescued the pressure cooker that was hissing away on the stove un-regarded. "Like I said, I'll bet it was just passing through, we won't see it again."

"Still, I think we should carry guns outside." Decker said. "Just in case."

Hannibal shrugged. "Fair enough." Murdock frowned, not approving, and went back to the dining room. BA went back to buttering slices of bread.

"Okay," Face said, getting the chicken out of the oven. "But if we're going to start waving the guns around that reminds me of something I keep meaning to ask. What's your blood type, Decker?"

"My blood? O positive. Why?"

"Oh, just in case of emergencies." Face put the dinner plates in the oven to warm up then started to carve the chicken. "O pos eh? Great. You can give to me, I'm B positive. BA and Murdock can give their fancy AB negative to each other. Hannibal's O neg so can give to you and me. Works out nicely."

"Except for me." Hannibal sighed. "It's all take, take, take with you people." He carried the plate of bread BA had finished buttering into the dining room. BA followed him carrying serving bowls of vegetables.

Face finished loading a serving platter with chicken then looked up at Decker, who was peering out of the window. "Would you give me your blood in an emergency, Colonel?"

"Of course." Decker said, scowling, turning to Face.

"And would you take blood from Hannibal?"

Decker grimaced. "That I'd have to think about," he said and after a moment Face grinned as he saw Decker's mouth twitch with the tiniest of tiny smiles.

"Here." He handed Decker the plate of chicken. "Take that in. Make sure BA gets a leg." Decker took the chicken and Face got the warmed plates out of the oven. He glanced out of the window, checking for any sign of movement in the gloom and swirling snow. Nothing. He headed into the dining room.

~~~~
 

"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!"

Murdock's yelling woke the station's residents at a headache inducing 5:57 am.

"Come on, Face!" Murdock banged on Face's door. Face just burrowed deeper under the covers.

"Go away! I'm still on LA time!" Face shouted back. Murdock ignored the 'go away' and came in instead. Most people grew out of getting up at six on Christmas morning when they were about twelve, Face thought, but not HM Murdock.

"Coffee." Murdock said, putting a cup down beside the bed. "Breakfast in twenty, my treat. Then gifts! Santa has been!" He ran out again. In a moment Face's arm snaked out from under the blankets and found the coffee cup. Might as well accept that with Murdock in this mood no-one was sleeping late today.

Murdock must have been up since about four, Face decided when he arrived grumbling in the kitchen at six thirty. The aroma of fresh baked bread filled the room. Murdock, wearing an apron and singing carols, happily waited on all of them, serving up bacon, sausages and scrambled eggs. The eggs were made with an uninspiring powdered mixture. Face grimaced as he took a mouthful.

"I'd kill all of you right now for just one fresh egg," he muttered.

"Happy Christmas to you too, Face," Hannibal said, smiling and tucking into his breakfast with enthusiasm.

"And I'd start with you."

After breakfast they trooped through to rec room. The room was decorated with paper streamers, made from photocopier paper. Tinfoil star shapes dangled from the ceiling. Their "tree" was drawn on several pieces of paper stapled together and pinned to the wall. It was coloured in with highlighter pens, making it the most lurid green tree any of them had ever seen.

At the bottom of the tree sat a small pile of parcels, wrapped in more paper from the office that had been decorated with the same highlighter pens as the tree. It had been Murdock's idea to have a "secret Santa" style draw so everybody got a gift and everybody only had to come up with one gift to give. The gifts he left to their imaginations. They could make them, they could give something they'd found around that they thought might be useful, or give something of their own.

Murdock sat down on the floor beside the tree, the others sat on sofas and arm chairs.

"All righty then! Let's see what Santa Claus brought for all of the good boys. Oh and there's one for you too, BA." He grinned, tossed a cylindrical parcel over to BA.

"Watch it, fool." BA tore off the paper. "Metal polish? Hey, great, my gold really needs a clean. Thanks," he looked around, smiling, "well, whoever found it."

"Face." Murdock handed him a parcel that wasn't actually wrapped in paper, but rather in a folder from the office with a paper bow on it. "I'm afraid you'll be able to tell who this one is from."

"It's kind of a spin off." Murdock said. "I figure every side-kick should get at least one moment in the sun."

"Thanks, Murdock, that's great." Face flicked through the pages. "You did all this for me? That's great." He grinned. "Maybe I'll give you a discount on the Playboy rental fee."

"So generous." Murdock sat by the tree again and checked the next parcel. "Oh, this one's mine." He tore off the paper. "Oh, neat," he held up a hand held micro cassette recorder. "One of those little dictation machines. Hey I can be like a reporter, like Amy."

"I found it in the office," Decker said, "I thought you might find it useful for your book."

"Erm, Decker, didn't anybody explain the 'secret' part of Secret Santa?" Face asked. Decker shrugged, not appearing at all bothered.

"Decker, you're up next." Murdock skimmed Decker's gift across to him. It was small and light and a very familiar rectangular shape. Decker tore the paper off quickly and gave a sigh. A smile the team usually only saw after he'd captured them again appeared on the Colonel's face.

"A full pack!" He lovingly unwrapped the cellophane from the pack of cigarettes. He glanced at Hannibal. "I knew you had some left, Smith. Thanks."

"Saved 'em up special for you." Hannibal said.

"Great," Face said. "So now after those are gone we get him grousing his way through nicotine withdrawal a second time. Thanks a lot, Hannibal."

Hannibal just looked innocent, like he'd never even thought about that.

"Last, but not least." Murdock picked up the last parcel, was about to throw it to Hannibal, but BA snapped "Don't toss it around, fool!"

"Hmm, so I think we know who this is from." He got up, walked slowly to Hannibal, holding the parcel with as much care as he would a ticking bomb. In front of Hannibal he gave a deep bow, then went down on one knee and held out the parcel like a man presenting tribute to a king. BA growled and Face shook his head. Decker just stared.

Hannibal took the parcel and waved a hand in an imperious manner to dismiss Murdock, who got up and walked away backwards, bowing, until he bumped into a sofa and flopped down.

Hannibal ripped the paper off with one quick flourish. He stared at the object in his hands. It was an elephant, or rather a metal container about the size of a coffee cup, made to look like an elephant. The inside was filled with a small motor, attached to tiny wheels.

"It's a jello mould," BA explained. "Was in the kitchen. There's a set of 'em, all shaped like different animals. The clockwork motor was in the workshop, I guess it came out of something that broke. The wheels are just cogs I wrapped some rubber around." He looked embarrassed as they all stared at him. "'s just a stupid toy."

"I love it, BA." Hannibal wound up the key sticking out of the elephant's back. The wheels began to turn and Hannibal put the elephant down on the floor. It ran across the carpet tiles, bumped into Face's foot and fell on its side, wheels still whirring. Face set it upright and sent it buzzing back across to Hannibal.

"Cute." Face said grinning.

"And appropriate," Murdock said. "BA, you win this year's Station Twelve best gift contest."

"This year's?" Face sounded worried. "I sincerely hope this year is the only year!"

"I second both those thoughts." Hannibal said. He let the clockwork run down and put his elephant onto a table beside his chair. "Right." He glanced at his watch. "How about we go get the chores done, then everybody in that kitchen? That Christmas lunch won't cook itself."