Title: The Lockpicker and the Elves, Part 1 of 7
Rating: Gen
Genre/Relationship: General Friendship
Spoilers: None
Word Count: whole story—16,298, this section—2772
Whole Story Summary: When Neal volunteers to help deliver some Christmas gifts, he finds that Santa has a need for his particular skill set. Can Neal save the day? Can Santa?
Part 1 Summary: Neal does his best to avoid the germs at the office because he and Mozzie have plans for Christmas Eve. A trip to the Riviera? Not likely....
A/N: Written for ”H/C Advent 2013” for the prompt Fevered Hallucination by
love_82 hosted by
rabidchild, at (Click HERE for link to H/C Advent 2013). What started as a silly, four-and-one-half-page story sort of...blossomed into this monster. I played a little fast and loose with the prompt, but I hope the entry is satisfactory. Lots of Neal, Mozzie, magic and friendship.
The Lockpicker and the Elves, Part 1 of 7
Neal was hunched over his desk, staring at his legal page of notes. “Peter, so help me—if you breathe on me, I am going to pop you,” he complained. Peter, who thought he'd been hovering inconspicuously, colored and backed up.
“I am not sick anymore,” he insisted. “I told you I got my flu shot right after--”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Neal. “And a lot of good it did. Unfortunately, since everybody--” Here he stopped to glare around the the rows of desks--”didn't do the same, you'd already given at the office.”
According to Neal, the cubicle farm had become a “toxic cesspool of germs.” Eschewing the break room, Neal had taken to eating lunch in the conference room, but his charm and personal magnetism had drawn others in his wake. He'd sighed, slapped on a smile and pushed his chair back, but when Laura May, who was on loan from Accounting, reached across and snagged one of his bread sticks just to annoy him, he'd taken to eating lunch out. Peter had found him today on the roof, cradling his turkey and provolone on focaccia bread protectively..
“Don't worry,” Peter had said. “I'm not coming out. I just wanted to let you know we're meeting on the Kelsey-Barnes case after lunch in the conference room.”
“All of us? In one room?”
“Yes, Neal,” Peter said patiently. “The whole team.”
Neal said nothing, but his face closed in stony silence.
( For more story, click HERE )Part 2, click HERE