"There should be a football game on," Grissom said as he sat down on the coach, a stomach full of Christmas goodies.

"Greenbay is playing," Drake Marshall's chair hovered up and paused next to the couch.

Grissom laughed, "Sorry, mate! England vs. Germany. Been waiting for this game all week."

Drake put a giant, foam, cheese-shaped hat on his head. "I don't think you understand the power of cheese."

"I feel kind of weird," Adem said with a confused expression.

"It's probably the tryptophan from the turkey," Ozzy said, suppressing a yawn. "It makes people sleepy."

"No. If I was sleepy, I would have said tired," Adem clarified. "I don't feel tired. I feel...... weird." The alien rubbed his orange eyes. "Is it getting warm in here?" His vision began to blur slightly. Colors began to run together. His palms became clammy. "My senses are getting all muttled." Adem's legs buckled a little bit but did not totally give up on him.

"Are you alright?"

"I think I've exceeded well beyond weird," Different answered, scrambling for a seat. "It's like I'm standing in the middle of a Quadro-projectional-virtualizer that has gone totally chaotic."

"Um.... ok. Why don't you have your little robots fix you up or something?"

"It'll take them a while before they can determine what's happening to react. Besides, I've given the nanites the day off."

"Given them the day off?"

"Well, they went a few hundred thousand years without a holiday. I had to give them some time off before they went on strike." Adem tried to stay upright as his balance began to lose him. He saw the confused expression on Ozzy's face a moment before it began to melt away like a smeared painting. "They have a rather strong union."

"What's wrong?" Banshee asked, walking up.

"Don't worry," Ozzy said, spreading out his arms in an unnecessary move to keep people from crowding. "I've been through similar situations before. All we have to do is try and talk him through this. And keep anything that might freak him out away. Like puppets."

"He's freaked out by puppets?" Grissom asked, running over from the couch.

"I don't know," Ozzy answered. "I just had this really bad experience once, and I don't want to take chances." The strange looks that were being forced his way. "It was a really, really messed up night, and the puppet had this ..... horrible.... clown-like face..... with these beady eyes..... and wicked smile....... Just get me some water."