This was meant to be my Christmas one-shot, but it turned into a prompt/challenge fic for Christmas. Each chapter will be a new day at Torchwood during the build-up to Christmas. I will be going away on the 16th of December (Australian time), so I will try to get chapters up before I leave, if not, some may have to wait until I get back on the 3rd of January. Hope you all enjoy, and don't forget to fave/follow/review and let me know what you thought!

Chapter 1: Christmas Tree

Prompt: It's the first of December, and this means that the Christmas tree is going up. Unfortunately, nothing happens without mishap when it comes to Torchwood.

"Christmas time and bells are ringing, Christmas time and we're all singing 'Have a very merry Christmas day'" Gwen sang to herself as she opened the door to the tourist information centre, grateful that Ianto had already turned the heater on. Revelling in the rush of warm air, she sighed happily, shrugging off her outer coat, slinging it over her arm and entering the tunnel that led down into the main hub.

Descending into the tunnel that would take her down to the Hub, she continued whistling to herself, the festivity of the season putting her in an even cheerier mood than normal. When she reached the cog door, she glanced up at the workstations.

There was no one in sight.

Puzzled, Gwen cautiously strode into the Hub, eyes flickering around, as if searching for some unseen threat, footsteps unconsciously falling quieter with every step.

"Hello? Jack? Anyone?" she called, all trace of cheeriness gone from her voice. No one answered.

Walking over to her own workstation, Gwen set her bag down and dug out her earpiece. Popping it into place, she pressed the button, relieved when she heard the familiar crackle on the other end of the line which meant that someone else had their own earpiece turned on.

"Hello?" she asked again, more cautiously.

"Gwen? What are you doing here so early?" came Jack's surprised voice. He was panting as if he had been running, although Gwen could still hear the smile in his voice.

"It's 0800, when I'm supposed to come into work" she replied, rolling her eyes fondly.

"Uh, right. Hang on, Ianto and I are just bringing the Christmas tree up" was Jack's distant reply. Gwen felt her excitement return ten-fold at the mention of the Christmas tree.

"Ooh, do you want a hand bringing it up?" she asked, surprised when Ianto's voice dripped into the conversation.

"Thanks Gwen, but we're almost back. Give us a few more minutes."

Gwen smiled; it was never 'a few more minutes' whenever Jack was involved.

"Just don't take too long" she laughed, before switching off her earpiece.

She was surprised when the cog door rolled open at that moment and Tosh and Owen strode in together. Grinning widely at them in greeting, she stood and walked over to the door down into the basement, knowing that Jack and Ianto would be there shortly with the tree.

"Jack off having a last minute shag with Tea-Boy is he?" Owen asked, walking over to his workstation and switching his computer on.

"Don't be silly Owen, it's the first of December" Tosh replied, shrugging off her coat and draping it over the back of her chair.

"What's the first of December got to do with-" Owen began, but was interrupted by a loud crash coming from the basement door. Looking over, the team saw a green, prickly mass trying to push its way through the door – and not having a great deal of success.

"Jack, for the last time, it's not going to fit!" came Ianto's muffled shout from somewhere behind the mass.

"We got it up there last year!" Jack replied, sounding desperate yet determined.

Ianto rolled his eyes.

"It was a hell of a lot smaller then. I told you that we should just get a fake tree from the store: that way it wouldn't GROW!" he yelled.

"Having some trouble?" Owen chuckled, walking over to the tree, cheeky grin firmly plastered on his face. Tosh and Gwen stood back, shaking their heads and laughing silently.

"NO!" Jack yelled, at the same time that Ianto yelled "YES!"

"Right, well you've obviously worked out that you're not going to get the tree through that way. Got any other bright ideas, Jack?" Tosh asked, barely masking a giggle.

From behind the massive tree, Jack sputtered indignantly, clearly trying to defend his reasoning for bringing the real alien tree up from the basement to use as the Hub's Christmas tree. How was he to know that it would grow that much since last year?

"Why don't you two take that tree back down to the basement, while we go and buy a normal Christmas tree" Gwen suggested, grinning wider when further splutters could be heard from behind the tree, no doubt protesting at having to haul it all the way back down to the basement again.

"Good idea, why don't we all go?" Tosh added, turning and smiling at Owen, hoping that he would come along too. He shrugged, still chuckling.

"Why not? Gotta be better than being stuck here waiting for those two to work out how to move that tree again" he replied, grabbing his leather jacket back off his chair and jogging over to join the girls by the cog door.

"Be back soon Jack!" Gwen called, and with a whir of alarms, the cog door closed behind them.

Back behind the tree, Jack and Ianto shared a look.

"I can't believe they just left us here!" Jack exclaimed, but with more surprise than venom in his voice.

Ianto shook his head.

"Come on, let's hurry up and get this thing back down to the basement" he replied, before quietly adding "if it hasn't grown any more since we got it up here."

Jack heard though, and couldn't help but smile.