NELL: How's the arm? ERIC: Still a little tender.
You took a pretty hard hit.
Well, we knew the risks going in, right?
You don't think it escalated a little quickly?
Well... a place like that can get very ugly, very quick.
It was a Kmart, Beale, not a terror cell.
I called dibs.
Everyone knows what that means.
Well, the lady in the fur coat didn't seem to.
She didn't want the garland, she wanted the glory.
Eh, debatable.
This is not good. (sighs)
It's a war zone out there, Hidoko.
We take what we can get. What is that doing here?
Spreading some Christmas cheer. Warming the hearts of many.
No, you need to make it disappear immediately.
(chuckles) Okay.
This is your first Christmas with us.
We should've warned you.
We tend to lean in to the holidays around here.
Well, I suggest you lean out before Mosley sees this.
She doesn't allow any type of holiday display.
ERIC: Yeah.
Hidoko, if I've met one Mosley, I've met a hundred.
One glimpse of this dry desert palm tree,
all lit up with the spirit of the holidays,
and that reserved, yet often terrifying shell will crumble
like a Christmas cookie.
I suggest you take a generous step back, as my friend here
ascribes to the neo-Griswold
school of decorating. Your flint,
my liege. Thank you, milady.
I-I really wouldn't do...
Here we go. (electricity buzzes)
MOSLEY: Are you kidding me? Hidoko!
Oh. Tannenbaum.
Come on, come on, come on. We're just gonna
get this out of here real quick.
Go, go, go, go!
Abort mission! (yells) You never saw us.
Do you care to explain?
*
Just as we were starting to hit it off with Mosley.
Yeah. Yesterday, she asked me how my sister was.
Last week, she encouraged me to keep my chin up.
Wait. Isn't that because you walked into her
while staring down at your phone?
Can you just let me have this?
Fine.
You know what? This is crazy.
Why don't we just tell her we caused the power outage,
and that we'll assume all responsibility? No.
I'll tell her the truth. I'm to blame.
If she's gonna punish someone, she can punish me.
Okay.
Wait, what?
I mean, I don't want to point fingers or anything...
You're the one who said it could use more bulbs.
This is a tree. Exactly.
Not the Eiffel Tower, Beale.
Wait. What?
This is exactly what she wants.
Oh, my God, you're right.
Screw it. You know what?
We're in this together. Yeah.
It was a good run. We'll always have Ops.
There you are.
I've been looking everywhere for you.
HIDOKO: Okay.
So, the power outage...
Will not be used to force a wedge between us.
You can take our Bluetooths.
You can take our jobs.
But you cannot--
ever--
take our bond.
You spent some time
in drama camp, didn't you?
May have dabbled in the arts.
Hmm. Okay, well,
your tree didn't cause the power to go out.
The grid is down all over the West Side.
NELL: Well, that's a relief.
But also not the best news,
because an outage of that size
will take hours to repair. Which is why
Mosley wants you guys in Ops to see what you can do.
All right. Let's go.
Wait. If the power stays out,
Christmas as we know it will be ruined!
NELL: Let's go!
"Drama camp."
I get it now.
(knocking on door)
'Sup, brah? Don't call me brah.
Who are you?
I'm Brady. Finn's cousin.
Finn doesn't have a cousin.
BRADY: Okay.
You're right. Uh...
Yeah. Finn's not here. He's not here.
He's in Palm Springs. He's running an errand,
and with that L.A. traffic, you know how that can be.
You want to leave a message or something...
You know, Brady, I'm getting
a very strong whiff of something here,
and I'm not talking about your patchouli.
This was not in the welcome packet.
Mm-hmm. Why don't you tell me what's going on?
Honestly, I don't know what's going on.
Okay, I just got the place on Airbnb,
I'm renting it for a week.
Finn said that this landlord was a real drag,
but you seem cool to me.
That's not a compliment.
And you're a horrible liar.
Wait. Well,
if it makes you feel any better, he lied to me, too.
Apparently "warm and inviting" is just code
for futon and a bag of Funyuns.
You know what I'm saying?
You hear that, Hidoko?
This feels like a test.
(inhales deeply) No, it's no test.
There's nothing to hear.
Sometimes greatness
can be accomplished in silence like this.
And now this feels like a TED Talk.
While everybody else in the city was malfunctioning
without electricity, I spent a quiet morning
carving "Leucothea" into a mantel on my boat.
Mortal woman turned protector of the seas.
Doesn't hurt to know someone has your back out there.
Speaking of which, where's Callen?
Marooned somewhere north of the 10.
Kensi and Deeks?
Stuck on Lincoln. It's gridlock
with all the traffic lights down.
I'm actually surprised you got here so quickly.
That's because I swam.
(bells jingling)
What's with the bells?
I always have them in my go bag.
You don't normally
see those on a survival checklist.
Oh, they're great for announcing locations,
sending messages in Morse code,
leading packs of snow dogs. Needless to say,
you got to see this. Come on.
I think he was trying to ring out an SOS.
Felt more like he was signaling Michael Bublé to take the stage.
(laughs)
So what do we got?
NELL: At approximately
8:42 this morning, the entire power grid
from the Palisades to Playa Vista went dark.
Ah. Hot yoga enthusiasts must be up in arms.
I'm assuming this isn't a random outage.
Westside Electric reported an unknown source
gained operational access to their computer systems.
Seems they are the latest victims in a ransomware attack.
HIDOKO: Hackers identify
vulnerability in the software,
use it to gain access and then take the system hostage.
Only releasing it for a fee.
Well, how much are they asking for?
20 million in Bitcoin.
Hmm.
And if Westside Electric doesn't comply?
They're threatening to shut off power up and down
the West Coast until they do.
Any indication who's behind this?
NELL: It seems to have
originated in the Ukraine,
though the exact location is still yet to be confirmed.
SAM: Massive outages
like this, they wreak havoc on infrastructure,
banking systems, hospitals.
MOSLEY: Not to mention military facilities.
We have backup power. Not everybody is as lucky as we are.
Which is why DOD
is asking us to treat this as a terrorist threat.
Right. And with our offices in the center of the blackout zone,
we need to be sure that we weren't
the intended target here.
Well, Nell, you catch the others up to speed. Mm-hmm.
I'm-a hit Westside Electric. Jingle Beales.
You're coming with me.
Oh. (bells jingle)
Leave the bells.
Sam.
Can I bring my gun?
What, you plan on shaking someone down
over an old utility bill?
People do really crazy things in the dark.
I should probably be packing.
The only thing you're packing is a computer.
Let's go.
MOSLEY: We need to find out exactly who we're dealing with,
before it's lights out for the entire western seaboard.
Grid manager will be right out.
So, boats, huh?
(chuckles) Kids...
Kids are okay?
Eric, what are you doing? I'm connecting.
The good thing about a power outage
is you get to disconnect.
Okay.
Aiden and Kam are coming home
tomorrow for winter break. Okay?
You know what you should do?
You should get a hotel in the marina.
Make a staycation out of it.
No hotels. I'm staying on my boat.
All three of you? All three of us.
The couches double as racks. Huh.
And they must have fantastic back support, but...
seems like a bit of a squeeze, no?
Listen. That's enough connecting.
All right? And never let me hear you say "staycation" again.
It's bizarre.
GEORGE: (clears throat) Gentlemen.
George Forester.
I'm Sam Hanna.
NCIS.
This is... Eric Beale, uh...
I, uh... You know what?
Lost my badge in the chase.
In the big chase. Huge, actually.
Sam, you were there.
Surprised you still have your...
badge.
We should probably cut to the chase.
A hack of this magnitude requires a lot of planning.
Did you notice any suspicious activity leading up to it?
Nothing. We weren't prepared for anything like this.
Of course, we'd have more time to work on fixing it
if we stopped getting calls from every Tom, Dick and Harry
with a stalled train set.
(chuckles) Okay.
You were the grid manager on duty this morning?
And for the last 30 years.
Also ten-time employee of the month,
five-time captain of the softball team,
two-time winner of the summer concert raffle,
but now, I think I'll be remembered
as the one-time destroyer of the Polar Express.
Well, our best chance at getting those choo choos
up and running is if we have
full access to your systems.
Whatever you need.
Would hate to live in a world
where you can't illuminate a shrub.
Mm-hmm.
I bet he's fun at a Yankee swap.
You wanted to see me?
Yes.
Come in.
Do you have a moment?
You bet.
MOSLEY: Care to explain?
Oh, those are just some, um,
old ornaments that Hetty had banished
to the island of misfit decorations.
I found them in the middle of the courtyard.
I was, uh, just taking them back to storage.
I must've gotten distracted with the whole power outage.
Hetty didn't care for the holidays?
Just those ornaments, specifically.
She said they reminded her of a time in her life
when she had lost "Hope."
You know, in our line of business, I'm sure we can all
recall a time where we felt like that.
No.
Actually, "Bob Hope."
Something about a bathtub
full of gin, a promiscuous Christmas goose
and a USO tour gone awry.
(both laugh)
That's Hetty.
Do you have an update for me on the origin of the hack?
Yes. The ransom message used a Cyrillic character
unique to the Russian alphabet.
A native would not have made that mistake.
I think that someone's trying to push us in the wrong direction.
So we still need to figure out who.
Yes. I could take
Oh, no, no. That's okay.
I'll make sure it gets exactly where it needs to go.
Okay.
SAM: Any way to speed this up?
Do I come to your work
and tell you how to arm-bar?
Right. Whoever did this is advanced.
They bypassed every security system put into place
to prevent these kind of attacks.
GEORGE: Red alert-- used car salesmen
are rioting over a string of deflated Santas.
Whoever did this
had access to every password at every entry point.
SAM: They knew the system intimately.
We have an inside threat.
Any of your employees been acting strange recently?
Look at me.
Multiply this by 20
and ask my entire department.
Man, we bleed strange. Anyone familiar
with Eastern European languages?
Yeah, there's this one guy, Carl,
married a Croatian woman.
And then there's Edgar-- international gamer.
Wouldn't be surprised if he picked up
some Russian curse words in a chat room.
We'll start with Edgar. Where is he?
Not here. He went home sick this morning.
Not long after he clocked in.
KENSI: An hour in the car wasn't enough
to cover this subject? Let's just say that I got you a PlayStation.
A PlayStation, a PlayStation. I don't want a PlayStation!
But if I got you a PlayStation,
wouldn't you want me to get you at least a game
to go with said PlayStation? With the said PlayStation I don't want?
DEEKS: I'm just talking hypothetically.
Well, it's coming across more pathetically.
(sighs) Hidoko, back me up on this one.
Okay, I've been here long enough to know
that's not a good idea.
My wonderful fiancée, who I love dearly,
has made the decree that this season
we can only give each other a gift.
Guys, I'd really rather not. As I explained to Deeks,
we have to save money, because we have a wedding to plan.
Do you have any idea how much weddings cost?
I don't spend much time on Pinterest, so... A lot!
And plus, Deeks, sweetie, the holiday season
is supposed to be spent
with people that you love.
As well as the newest electronics
that you also love.
Which I love along with you.
Does couples therapy count as one gift or two?
Ooh... (whistles) Oh, look who's
a comedian. Then you're gonna love
my next bit.
What's this? Little gift.
I don't want that.
Possible suspect's name is Edgar Parsons.
Works for Westside Electric.
Edgar Parsons lives in Studio City.
Studio City's across town. That's right.
You want me to spend another hour in the car, with him?
Should give you plenty of time to figure this out.
Whatever... this is.
Baby, I just want you to know
that I've read "The Gift of the Magi,"
and if this ends with you shaving your head...
I may be into that.
NELL: Callen.
Hey. How's it going out in the wild?
Not good.
This city is paralyzed. MAN: What's going on?
We don't fix this quickly, we're gonna start seeing casualties.
MAN: Move! How's everything back there?
Oh, great. Now, in addition
to trying to save Christmas,
I now have that fun fact to process.
If you need a break, I know a nice little Airbnb
that's just up the coast.
Never took you as the crowdsourcing type.
Yeah, I'm not. Turns out Finn
has been renting out the apartment that he leased
under Dexter Hughes's name and pocketing the cash.
That's disappointing.
Maybe there's some explanation?
I'd like to hear it, if I could find him. Don't worry,
I will track him down faster
than you can say "en-suite bathroom."
Thank you, Nell. Oh, and, Callen?
Finn's just a kid-- everyone messes up at that age.
Did you?
Well, almost everyone.
That's what I thought.
(horns honking)
(tires screeching)
* I believe that there's a toy for every little... *
(knocking on door)
Hi. Hey.
Oh...
(chuckles): Well.
They sure know how to target their audience, don't they?
(laughs) Oh, my.
You know, between you,
me and the wall, all I read is Redbook,
but, uh...
taking a look at that face, what the hell,
sign me up for Reader's Digest.
Yeah, we're not selling magazines.
We're with NCIS. Oh,
Marilyn, you... you old so-and-so.
(chuckles) You know, I just take one look
at those young blue eyes, and I lose all my wits.
We're looking for Edgar Parsons. Hold on a second.
Marilyn hasn't had a chance to take in these cheekbones.
Some call them "chiseled."
Their words, not mine.
Deeks. Uh, y-you're looking
for my Edgar?
Yes, your Edgar. Um... oh,
you know, you just missed him.
Yeah, h-he's so busy-- he's always
running around, doing so many things for me.
You know, legal things,
of course. Deeks, we got a runner.
Excuse me. (stammers) Oh, no, what do you want? Edgar!
MARILYN: Oh, Edgar!
Oh!
Run, Edgar!
(panting)
(tires screech)
(horn honks) Hey!
(grunting)
(grunts)
Wow. Talk about an immaculate reception.
Good catch.
I Odell Beckham'd the heck out of that thing. I gotcha, buddy.
*
Well, first things first.
The shepherds are out of surgery,
should be making a full recovery.
But I think I was goosed by a Wise Man.
Don't worry, I tipped him.
Let's just get this over with.
Am I franken-sensing some hostility? DEEKS: I'm so confused
by what I'm about to say-- but that was a good one. Thank you.
Yeah, I did it, okay? I'm guilty. Take me away. Whoa. All right.
Lock me up and throw away the key.
Easy. I didn't even get to flip the table over.
You know how long I've been working on that move?
Yeah, a lot of wasted wrist work.
How long will I get? Ten years?
Tell me what I have to do to make it 20. Okay,
the first thing you need to do
is take a seat.
And start from the beginning.
Why did you hijack the power grid?
To feel alive.
Hell, just to sta alive.
Do you have any idea what it costs
just to get by these days? Yeah, you do have
to cut corners if you're gonna save anything.
All right, Suze Orman, pipe down.
I'm 30 years old.
I live in my mother's basement
and exercise to her old Jane Fonda tapes.
We've all been there.
EDGAR: I haven't been on a date
since Iron Man was in theaters. Just to clarify,
'cause there's been a lot of Iron Man movies, which...?
The first one. Oh. Oh.
All I ever do is work, and when I'm not at work,
I'm taking care of my mother.
Trips to the pharmacy, to the doctors,
to physical therapy.
I had to take out a second mortgage
just to pay her medical bills.
That's what the ransom was for?
To pay debts?
'Cause $20 million seems a little greedy.
There was never gonna be $20 million.
Didn't care about the money.
They didn't even give me a bank account number.
Whoa.
So this wasn't your idea--
somebody paid you to do this?
All they cared about was shutting down the power. So the ransomware
was just a diversion.
Who hired you? I don't know.
Some woman I met at my mom's rehab facility.
"Some woman"? She offered me 20 grand,
a-and I took it.
I needed that money.
EDGAR: Check the security footage.
You'll see her.
All right. Your help will not go unnoticed.
We'll make sure that the courts show you some...
myrrh-cy.
Huh?
We're gonna go... workshop that with the elves.
I apologize for my partner.
She did her research.
She knew exactly who to target. So it was
a distraction-- we need to figure out for what.
Well, whatever it is, it has to be
in the radius of the downed power grid.
God, that's a lot of ground to cover.
I'll have Nell start with
the high-value properties
in the area.
Greetings, fine people.
Is it me, or is Nell just Hetty
going all Benjamin Buttons on us?
(whispers): Deeks, I am.
Nell, can you contact the local authorities,
see if there's been reports of any suspicious activity
around the power outage?
Oh, I'm already on it.
So far the only reports
have been about a stolen lamb
from a residential nativity scene.
Hmm. KENSI: All right,
it was cute, it was dirty-- I was gonna wash it and return it.
Get over it. Good to know.
There is this one other thing, and, um,
before I continue, let me remind you
that it is the holiday season after all.
That means it's a time
for giving and... forgiving.
You found Finn.
Finn is missing? "Hiding"
feels more appropriate.
Well, I ran some of Finn's financial records
that aren't linked to Dexter Hughes, and it turns out
he is the owner of a shiny, old van.
Ooh, that's not good. Vans are notoriously creepy.
It's been ticketed twice this week in Culver City.
I'm sending you the address now.
Until we meet again.
DEEKS: Oh, no.
You got "mad dad" face.
I am not his dad, and I'm not mad.
Mm-hmm.
Would you say that you've had it up to...
here with him? (snickers)
Or at least here?
(Callen sighs)
If you killed Eric, I suggest you cover it up.
I'm not in the mood for that paperwork. No, I left him
at Westside Electric-- he needed to upload some new software.
And I needed to stop listening
to his Mannheim Steamroller playlist.
How long until the power's restored?
Do you want the Eric answer, or do you have somewhere to be
by New Year's? (clears throat)
Should be two hours.
Great. I hope it doesn't take that long
to discover the mystery woman on the security footage.
I'll check in with Nell and Hidoko,
see if we can get an I.D. Well, good luck with that.
Those two have been acting weird all day.
There's definitely something up.
Well, the unknown can be unsettling to people.
You can be a bit mysterious yourself.
Well, we all put up walls, Sam.
That doesn't mean there aren't surprises behind them.
Oh!
Oh, geez.
Uh, oh. Okay.
(sighs)
What'd you get on your SATs?
1580. Oh, not bad.
Why? I know what
all my friends got on their SATs,
so, uh, now it's official-- we're buds.
Come with me.
Come on. Nell...
rules are in place for a reason.
I can't help you.
Oop. Hold that thought.
Hmm.
*
Best thing for you right now would be to not be in here.
Of course, I'm not really concerned about
what's best for you.
Time to come out.
(lock pops)
HIDOKO: You need to tell me what we're doing.
Hidoko, where did you spend the holidays last year?
Stuttgart, Germany,
on assignment with EUCOM.
We lived off brats and mulled wine.
NELL: And the year before that?
Bagram Air Base, with 1st CAG.
Turned an MRE into a green bean casserole.
I'll never forget that one.
Well, we don't always get to
spend the holidays with our real families.
Sometimes we spend them with this family.
And this family has been through a lot lately.
Now, I know the holidays aren't gonna be the same
without Hetty and Granger here,
and that is exactly why we need to remind them
how special it was when they were.
And we need that tree, Hidoko.
I need that tree.
Okay, well, how do you plan on convincing Mosley?
I haven't quite figured that one out, yet.
So, I could use your help.
What do you say?
Okay.
(sighs) With the knees.
Thank you. (straining)
Okay, you got it? Yeah.
(tires screeching)
(cackles) Whoo!
I cannot believe I let you convince me to do this.
What are you talking about? We got through traffic
in, like, half the time.
I'm not talking about the bike, sweetie.
It's Christmas. You look adorable.
You're like a, like a rare, but sexy reindeer.
You look like an elf that feel off one too many shelves.
Oh. You're not wrong about that.
I'm just gonna leave this here. It's probably fine, right?
Yeah, all right.
DEEKS: You're lucky you still have power.
KENSI: We just need a clear image
of the woman that came in with Edgar Parsons.
Yeah, we'll be out of your hair in a hot minute.
Eh, more time I'm in here, less time I'm out there
with my soon-to-be ex-wife.
She's a nurse.
Oh, well,
not everybody can make office romance work.
Oh, she can.
But with Dr. Tom, not me.
DEEKS: Yeah, that's, uh... tough.
She's quite a looker.
That's good for Dr. Tom, I guess.
SECURITY GUARD: No.
The woman you're looking for...
That's her.
MOSLEY: We need to know why this woman
took the power out.
You know her?
That's Alicia Fuentes.
You seem concerned.
She's the sister of Jose Fuentes,
heir to the second largest drug cartel in Mexico.
The Morelos cartel.
They've been quiet for quite some time now.
Jose got locked up five years ago.
When he went away, the bloodshed slowed down.
With the kingpin being locked up,
maybe they used the five years to prepare the queen.
If Alicia revives the Morelos cartel,
things are gonna get loud again.
A lot of people will get hurt.
Well, all I want for Christmas is for you to find her
before the bodies start to drop.
I leave you alone for a minute,
and it is lights out for the entire western seaboard.
You hear that, Hidoko?
The silence is officially broken.
Okay, if I carried around
a Swiss flag, would I stop being
caught in the middle of these things?
Don't let me interrupt anything here.
Thank you.
Jose Fuentes,
son of Hector Fuentes
and heir to the Morelos cartel,
one of Mexico's most notorious drug families.
SAM: DEA picked him up
five years ago in the City of Industry.
That's right, he was tied to a linens warehouse
that was doubling as a cocaine distribution center.
With the heir apparent behind bars,
it might fall on the sister to run the family business.
Doesn't seem like it.
Alicia Fuentes has been clean up until now.
At least in the eyes of the U.S.
Valid passport, no arrests.
Not even a parking ticket.
Well five years is a long time to go
without your brother footing the bills for things.
Her little nest egg could have run out.
Well, Kensi and Deeks are on their way to her house now.
Looks like we'll be paying Jose a visit.
Where is he now? He was sentenced
to a federal prison outside Fresno,
but was transferred to a private facility last week.
SAM: Which one? Barnsworth Penitentiary.
That's three miles from here.
They're most likely on the same power grid.
I'll let them know you're on your way.
(tires screeching)
(Deeks groans)
Ugh... oh.
I was doing some thinking on the way over,
mostly about my life, which, subsequently,
flew by in its entirety.
I agree to your one-present rule,
as long as you promise to never drive my bike ever again.
First of all, that woman cut me off.
Second of all, please don't be scared.
It does not look good on you.
I'm not scared, but I'm pretty sure that Pomeranian
died of a heart attack.
(chuckles) Okay, we don't have a lot of time
to track Alicia Fuentes, so I'm sorry,
we need to cut corners.
Well, and I have to cut coupons for the Ubers I'll be taking
from here on out. Stop being ridiculous.
Stop being Evel Knievel's understudy.
You know, if I wasn't so well-adjusted,
I'd almost begin to think everyone's avoiding me.
Finn's a little kid. Don't take it personal.
Yeah? What's your excuse?
What do I have to do with this?
Christmas dinner?
You haven't responded to my e-vite.
I don't know what's more unsettling,
the fact that you send an e-vite,
or that you're monitoring it.
I got to know how much brisket to buy.
Fine. Don't come for dinner.
But do me this favor.
Stay with me while Aiden and Kam are in town.
I got plenty of room for everybody.
You got plenty of rooms.
My boat is more comfortable than anything in those rooms.
(scoffs)
MAN: Open it up. (lock buzzes)
Warden Decker.
Thanks for taking the time to meet us.
Happy to help. Don't mind the lighting.
We're conserving energy.
Well, it seems your systems have stayed operational.
The generators kicked in three minutes
after the lights went out.
There were a few chaotic moments in between,
but nothing we couldn't handle. I assume all inmates
are accounted for? Three times over.
We have protocols we follow in situations like this.
It's a good thing you were able to maintain order.
Uh, I wouldn't exactly say that.
(man yells in distance) The cable's still out.
Hell hath no fury like an inmate who misses his soap operas.
Jose's in the last cell on the left.
Take all the time you need.
(indistinct shouting in distance)
(guard speaking over P.A.)
Jose Fuentes.
Need to ask you some questions.
I'm not feeling well. Come back later.
I'd listen to him. He hates being avoided.
Come on, man, not today.
SAM: Look, last chance.
Or else I'm gonna get more bold,
and you're gonna get less beautiful.
Who the hell are you?
Jose Fuentes.
The warden said there was three minutes
between the outage and the generator.
That's enough time to pull out the real Jose
and stick in this lookalike. Right.
So, Alicia wasn't planning on taking over the family business.
No, she was breaking out Jose so he could get back into it.
Shortcut. (whoops)
Like a ninja.
Huh.
Hey. Bearded dragons.
That's cute. They got matching beards, just like us.
(snickers)
And nothing else inside.
Not even a poinsettia.
Does nobody care about Christmas anymore?
I'd say that being a Grinch falls under probable cause...
(shouts) Don't touch that.
I'd really love to grow old with you,
and if we enter there without a warrant,
Mosley will not let that happen.
Since when do you care about a warrant?
All right. Well,
let's check out the garage.
(tires screeching)
* Run, run, Rudolph Go!
* Santa's got to make it to town *
(tires screeching)
Okay. Stop it. I'm driving.
All right. Fine, I'm Ubering. Deeks, I drive, you shoot.
Okay, deal. You drive, I shoot.
Don't kill us. Please don't kill us. Go, go, go, go.
KENSI: Yeah!
* Like a merry-go-round
(gunshots)
(gunfire continues)
* A little baby doll...
(gunfire continues)
(tires squealing)
* Run, run, Rudolph
* Reeling like a merry-go-round. *
(gasps)
(panting)
KENSI: Alicia Fuentes. Oh.
Nice shooting.
Nice driving.
Do I really need to be here for this?
No, you need to be here to tell us where your brother is.
Why would I help you?
You people put him in jail.
Our family was torn apart.
Do you have any idea what that's like?
Unfortunately I do.
Your brother made a choice.
Now he has to pay the price.
We've been paying the price our whole lives.
We were born into this world.
Do you know my very first memory was watching my father
taken away on Christmas Day
after a raid on our family house?
I was three, Jose was five.
That is a lot for a kid to process.
Children shouldn't have to grow up without their fathers.
SAM: You were on your way
to break the cycle.
What changed?
Jose's my big brother.
He's made mistakes, but he's not who you think he is.
He wasn't gonna run the business.
He just wouldn't turn on it,
so he took the fall for our family
and now it's my turn to make that sacrifice.
Oh.
We're gonna find Jose with or without you.
But if you help us, maybe you'll get a chance
to get on the right path one day.
CALLEN: This is your opportunity
to break that cycle...
for good.
Alicia just gave us the address to a house in Hancock Park.
They're having a welcome home party.
That's where Jose's headed.
She's gonna make a call for us, buy us some time.
What did we learn about the man in Jose's cell?
Well, he works maintenance at the prison, and looks like Jose
has dirt on him that he didn't want getting back to the warden.
Well, he must've paid off some of the guards as well.
They delay the generator, he's able to escape undetected.
NELL: Hey, guys.
So, it looks like the house in Hancock Park
is owned by LPR Industries, which is...
A shell company, 'cause it's always a shell company.
HIDOKO: That's correct.
But its current tenant is Luisa Ruiz,
the longtime girlfriend of Jose and mother of Roberto.
NELL: Roberto was born
five months after Jose was arrested.
That would make him about five now.
That's the same age Jose was when his father went to prison.
He's not gonna stick around long.
We need to head out. Nell...
Oh, I'm one step ahead of you.
I suggest you read up on your reds and whites.
And I'm not talking candy canes.
(laughs)
Speaking of candy canes...
* Oh, the weather outside is frightful *
* But the fire is so delightful *
* And since we've no place to go *
* Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... *
Ho, ho, ho, ho!
What do you kids want for Christmas?
You're the worst Santa ever.
DEEKS: Ugh! Aah.
What did you do? Show them a picture of you in your helmet?
Uh, I told him later on, he's gonna meet a beautiful woman.
He's gonna fall in love with her
and then she's gonna steal all his presents.
(chuckles)
I hear marriage counseling works wonders.
DEEKS: Why does everybody keep saying that to me? There you go.
Pay me $350 an hour, I'll tell you.
(Deeks laughs)
That's never gonna happen. (snorts)
I got eyes on Jose. He's heading back.
Got him. I'm moving in.
We do this as quiet as he lets us.
It's over, Jose.
You don't want your son to see this.
You walk out of here with me now,
he'll never know.
(grunting)
He's on the run, moving towards the front door.
Hi. Would you like one?
They're so good. They'll knock you off your feet.
ROBERTO: Papa.
What's happening?
Where are you going?
Ho, ho, ho, ho! Well, listen,
we need your dad back at the North Pole, okay?
There's still a lot of toys that need to get made.
So is it okay if he comes back with us?
Yeah, I guess so.
That's okay?
Mm. That's great.
Okay. Let's go grab some eggnog.
All right.
CALLEN: We know this was about more than your freedom.
All I wanted was to be back with my family,
to be a father.
I was gonna do it right this time.
Breaking out of prison feels like a bad start.
Being away from my son was a torture.
You know this is gonna add time to your sentence.
It felt like my only option.
I just want to spend time with him.
It's gonna take us a while to sort this out.
At least 30 minutes.
Stay close.
Thank you.
Roberto. (speaks Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
(continues speaking Spanish softly)
CALLEN: You got to be kidding me.
It should've been restored hours ago.
("Winter Wonderland" playing) (chuckles)
KENSI: This has Eric written all over it.
Sorry to disappoint.
Ma'am, I thought there were rules.
MOSLEY: With all due respect, there are rules,
but I also have the power to override them.
Merry Christmas.
DEEKS: (whistles) This is impressive.
Where did you find all this?
It took a little investigating,
and I had a little help.
Oh, hello there.
(laughter)
Looks like this crowd could use a little drink.
DEEKS: It's an elf with cocktails. Come on.
(laughter)
Your friendly Christmas elf.
Eggnog, huh? Yeah.
I'm gonna give you the full one.
(laughing): Okay.
This is gonna work out well for me.
NELL: Come on,
eggnog. DEEKS: Wow.
Thank you. Okay, here.
I can definitely use a drink. Enjoy.
Here we go.
Eggnog.
Thank you. Enjoy, ladies.
Cheers, boss. Cheers.
Come here. (clears throat)
So, I was thinking... Hmm?
...this year, we should stack our presents high.
Our wedding is just one day.
We can go without centerpieces.
It's fine.
It's a holiday tradition I'd rather invest in.
Well, I've been doing some thinking, too, some research.
Read some Redbook.
And it turns out
the most successful marriages are based on compromise.
So, I think we should do it your way this year.
You sure? I'm positive.
But that means next year, we're going all-out, my way.
So maybe you want to grab a pencil, take this down.
I was thinking maybe, like, a grill set.
And, as you know, I don't actually have a grill,
so you could get that in addition to the grill set.
We should grab a pen. (laughs)
Come here. Cheers. Cheers.
I don't want it, eggnog.
KENSI: Drink it. (laughs) I don't want it.
All right.
It's a Christmas miracle.
Good one. Ah, you made it.
Hey.
If it were up to me, all of Westside Electric
would be getting coal this year.
Well, if it makes you feel any better, I took your advice.
Got a hotel.
Yeah? That does make me feel better.
Yeah, I stand by the fact that my boat would have been fine,
but being in that room with you today
made me realize the importance of space.
That, not so much.
But I'll take it. All right.
Happy holidays, Sam. Thank you.
Enjoy your staycation.
So you take advice from Eric now?
Here we go.
That's okay. It's more brisket for me.
(chuckles)
You know,
this first year without Michelle has been hell so far.
I don't know what I'm doing, but...
I do know that the kids and I,
we need room to figure it out on our own.
If you need to talk, you know where I am.
Sometimes, to figure things out, all you need to do is listen.
(others laughing)
Another round?
Thanks. I, uh...
I need to make a stop on the way home.
Mm. Cool. KENSI: Merry Christmas, everybody.
NELL: All right, everybody ready?
ERIC: And cheers. (cheering, laughter)
(whooping) Join us!
(cheering) Cheers.
(indistinct chatter) (sighs)
(knocking on door)
Anything else tonight?
No. I was just actually...
finishing up.
Have a good night.
I know bending the rules isn't your strong suit, but...
what you did tonight was important.
For the team. And for us.
Merry Christmas.
Thanks, Hidoko.
Have a good night.
(sniffles) (door opens)
(door closes)
(sighs)
Thought you and Brady
might be halfway to Burning Man by now.
No, we had a little falling out over his opinion of Funyuns.
Well, look, I'm kind of in a hurry. You want to just skip
to the bullet points of this lecture?
I'm not here to lecture you.
Why were you checking up on me?
I came over to invite you to Christmas dinner.
It never occurred to me
that you were running a Hilton.
I needed the money.
Hmm. You got tired of stealing, huh?
Hey, I paid for all of these.
Okay? They're not for me.
They're for the others.
They're for the other kids at the shelter.
It's not fair.
No.
It's not.
They didn't choose to get passed over,
and yet they get reminded of it every year.
I wanted to give them one year where they weren't.
You're one of those kids.
So are you.
(chuckles softly)
Well... (sighs)
you need an extra hand passing these out?
As long as your other one
doesn't punch any more holes in the wall.
So what'd you get for that place?
$200 a night.
$200? (chuckles): Yeah.
Yeah, I don't know what that guy was smoking.
$200. I got skills.
Apparently so. (laughs)
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