A/N: Merry Christmas! Around here it doesn't feel very Christmasy yet, but I hope your December has been lovely so far!

All credit for the Santa Sam idea goes to candle2211. :) That, and that this is actually getting written. I had planned just to work on my Covert Affairs Christmasy story, but you know. :) I love you guys too much to leave you hanging. :) And she gave me a really adorable idea. :)

This story is set after Best Laid Plans (2.10) for sure, but it obviously turns AU before the last couple scenes take place—and there's really no UC operation for Sam. Also, I have no clue whether Christmas Pictionary exists, but if it doesn't, it definitely should! :)

I'm not sure when I'll be back for a longer story—I have to finish up my CA story (I'm notoriously awful at juggling stories!)—but I hope to be back soon. I have two stories just itching to be written. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Rookie Blue.

Santa Sam

"Ho, ho, ho!" Sam grumbled as he shuffled into the bullpen. This was ridiculous—just ridiculous, he thought as he surveyed the room.

People looked up from their desks curiously at the sound of his voice, and they snickered as they took in Sam's appearance. He glanced around the room, looking for Andy. Any other time, he would have been thrilled to see her sweet, shining face, but he really didn't want her to remember him like this.

This was definitely the last time Oliver was ever going to take his money. Ever. This was just embarrassing.

Oliver was cackling from where he stood at the edge of the room, nearly choking on the half-eaten sugar cookie he held in his left hand.

People were now starting to talk, hissing back and forth, probably placing bets to see how long he would last without strangling somebody.

He groaned. He couldn't really blame them for talking—after all, he did have an overstuffed, down pillow stuck underneath his undershirt, for crying out loud. The velvety Santa suit was stifling, the black boots pinched his feet, and that ridiculous beard-wig-thing was itching so bad he was sure he would have permanent, red marks all over his jaw from the scratching.

And—aww, great. Now Best and Noelle were watching him from his office, cackling together and whispering back and forth conspiratorially.

Then Andy strolled over to him, coffee mug in hand, poorly containing her obvious amusement. She alternated between short snorts of laughter and swallowing her grins as she tried to contain herself. Finally, she swallowed hard and just stood there, studying him from his shiny boots all the way up to the white little ball at the tip of his Santa hat as a wide grin inched up her face. She crossed her arms over her chest, and after studying his scowl for a few moments, she burst out, "Sam, what are you wearing?"

He sent her a death glare. Even if she was his favorite person at the Fifteenth (not that he would admit it to anyone), even she didn't get to comment on how he looked in this ridiculous outfit.

"Not a word, McNally," he growled.

She smirked at him and pointed around his shoulder to the velvet red bag slung over his shoulder. "Can I at least ask what is in the bag?"

He was about to bark out another absolutely not when he felt someone slap his back hard and peak around to grin at him. Oliver. "Hey, Santa!" he practically shouted in Sam's ear, grinning widely. He made sure he talked loud enough for everyone in the division to hear. "All the officers at the Fifteenth have been so good this year! Do you have some presents for us, Santy Claus?"

Sam glowered at his friend, his eyes shooting daggers for nearly half a minute before he stalked off, grumbling his "ho, ho, hos" and reaching into his bag to hand out the unwrapped boxes in his Santa bag.

Andy burst into laughter, turning to Oliver, still standing next to her, barely containing his own glee. "What did you do?" she laughed.

Oliver smirked and his eyes twinkled over at her. "I beat him at poker two weeks ago. Since Christmas was coming up, I told him he could keep his money if he spent every last penny buying Christmas presents for every person in the division." He smirked as he watched Sam drag himself across the room. "It was Zoe's idea to make him dress up like Santa."

Oliver sauntered off to Jerry, and Andy turned to watch Sam as he wandered around the room grumpily, offering everyone sarcastic Merry Christmas wishes. She couldn't help smirking to herself as she watched him—it still amused her that someone so grumpy was supposed to be the face of holiday cheer.

She had to admit, she loved seeing him like this. Even she rarely got to see a vulnerable side to Sam. She kind of liked it. He kept his heart barricaded all the time, but sometimes she wished he wouldn't. She had never met someone with a more perfect heart.

As he made his way around the room, he slowly started to mellow out, actually flashing his dimpled grin to a few people and dropping his sarcastic one-liners like it was any regular day at the barn.

Nearly half an hour later, he slung his velvet bag over his shoulder and started ambling back toward Andy. He'd felt her eyes on him the past half hour, watching his every move as he delivered the presents. He even caught her staring at him a few times, and, when she realized it, she blushed prettily and turned away. Each time, it had driven him mad. All he wanted to do was close the distance between them and kiss her senseless.

He'd hoped that if he saved her gift for last, most of the division would have dispersed, giving him time to be with her alone. Maybe then he could sort out what was going on between them, and just maybe, he could get the one thing he wanted this Christmas—a chance to be with Andy.

She grinned over at him. "So I actually get a present, huh?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "You think I would give Callaghan a gift and not you?"

She giggled, trying to imagine what sort of gift Sam could have possibly given Luke. "What did you give him, poison ivy or something?"

He raised an eyebrow at her and shook his head. "You know, I could have used you when I had to buy all these presents." He fished around in the bottom of the sack, producing a small box wrapped in shiny red-and-silver paper with a bright cranberry-colored bow. "Here. This is for you."

She accepted it from him with a soft grin, turning it over in her hands, shaking the box a little.

"Hey, hey!" he protested, stilling her hands. "You don't know if it's fragile!"

She grinned at him. "Is it?"

He rolled his eyes drolly. "Just open it."

Andy had started to rip the paper off the small box when Oliver cleared his throat over them. While they had been distracted by Sam's gift, Oliver had produced a ladder and was now dangling over the top, holding a large twig of mistletoe, tied together with a bright red velvety ribbon. "Yoo-hooooo!" he called from over their heads. "Lookie what I found!"

By now, the whole room had turned to look at the spectacle, and Sam groaned.

He glanced up, noticing the mistletoe, and slowly started to back away. No matter how much he wanted to kiss Andy, to remember exactly what it felt like to feel her lips on his, to call her his own, there was no way he was making a public spectacle of their potential love life. "Huh-uh, Ollie. No way," he said, holding his hands up toward his friend in defense. "It's bad enough you got me dressed up in this ridiculous garb and made me buy presents for 43 people in two weeks. I am not kissing her in front of her ex-fiance and half a million other people."

As he turned to stalk away from them, he caught sight of Andy's face. She looked so vulnerable, so wounded, standing under that sprig of mistletoe, and it completely ripped his heart to shreds. "What, you don't want to kiss me?" she demanded, a barely noticeable tremor in her voice.

His heart sank.

Of course he wanted to kiss her. He just didn't want that kiss to be a public spectacle, and he surely didn't want it to be around Callaghan. If something happened between him and Andy (and oh how he prayed it would!), he wanted it to be their moment, on their time, just him and Andy, not some moment planned out by at least 30 of his coworkers.

He could tell how much he'd hurt her, and the thought of her bursting into tears of his doing in the middle of the bullpen crushed him on the inside. In two long strides, he held her in his arms. "C'mere," he whispered, cupping her face in his hands. "Of course I want to kiss you," he breathed, his eyes roaming her face, memorizing every inch.

He leaned in slowly, brushing his lips against hers in the softest of kisses. Like a whisper. He wanted to groan at how perfect it was.

"Andy," he whispered, his eyes roving her sweet, beautiful face. He pushed her silky hair out of her face and caressed her cheek gently. He wished the whole room would just fade away. This was not at all how he'd imagined this happening, but now that it was, he just wanted her to know how crazy he was about her.

He glanced down, for a moment, at her fists, clinging to the fabric of the Santa suit. He dropped one of his hands to hers, caressing the back of it softly until she released the fabric. Sam caught her hand in his, intertwining their fingers, and he brought her hand to his lips, kissing it softly.

"C'mon," he said, urgency filling him, and he pulled her out of the room. All he could think about was getting her away from those forty-some sets of curious eyes. Sam heard Oliver and about a dozen others groan as they disappeared from view, and he smirked. Much as he usually wouldn't mind an overt display of affection, this wasn't that time, and his potential future with Andy mattered way too much for him to let his friend dictate how this happened.

Sam ushered Andy into one of the interrogation rooms and kicked the door closed behind them. He pulled Andy into his arms. "C'mere," he whispered. After so many long months of being her friend, her mentor, her partner, he couldn't keep his hands off of her, couldn't not hold her. "Andy… what—"

"Sam, I want you to be my plan," she blurted out. She had been watching him, the past few minutes—she'd seen how he had completely changed when he took her in his arms. It had melted her heart. He was a completely different man when he was around her—all protective and sweet and perfect. Andy didn't know why she'd made him wait so long—it was clear as day before her now. She loved him, and she wanted the chance to share her life with him. All the reasons she had for keeping her distance, pushing him away, just seemed to evaporate. All she wanted was him.

His breath caught in his throat as he took in her words. Had she really just said what he thought she said? "Andy…"

She just nodded to him, willing him to believe her. She watched as understanding filled his eyes a second before he closed the distance between them, capturing her lips with his own. Andy wrapped her arms around his neck, accidentally knocking that ridiculous Santa hat off his head. He tugged her back toward him, whispering her name against her lips and tangling his hands in her hair as he claimed her lips again, this time tilting her head slightly to deepen the kiss.

The interrogation room quickly faded away, and it was only Sam and the woman he had watched, desired, and loved for months. She was finally in his arms, and he didn't think he could ever let her go. He'd had a glimpse of how perfect life could be with her after the blackout, but that dream had been taken from him, like a mirage, before he'd even had a chance to take hold of it. He'd watched her, from the sidelines, for over a year, as she got closer and closer to Callaghan and his chance with the woman who could not be more perfect for him slowly slipped away. But now—now she was in his arms and kissing him like he was the only one she had ever wanted.

He regretfully pulled away when he could tell Andy was struggling to breathe, and he groaned to himself when he heard whistles, applause, and catcalls filling the hallway and the side room next to the interrogation room. The door swung open, and Oliver grinned at them cheekily. "I guess Santa got what he wanted for Christmas," he chortled, and Sam groaned at the knowing grins of everyone in the division.

Sam glanced back at Andy, almost as if she would disappear if he let her go, and he strode purposely over to the door. "Good-bye, brother," he said with a sarcastic grin and shut the door on Oliver's face.

They both heard Oliver's groan on the other side of the door, but Sam just smirked as he ambled back to Andy. They would get bored soon enough and leave.

Sam walked back to Andy and leaned in, kissing her softly. "C'mere," he said, pulling her back over to the table in the middle of the room. He reached for the gift he'd left on the table, handing it to her. "Here."

She scooted onto the table, her legs swinging back and forth over the edge, and she grinned at him happily as she took the gift from him. "Now will you tell me if it's fragile?" she asked.

"Nope," he said with a sarcastic grin as he watched her struggle with the wrapping paper.

Andy sent him an annoyed look, but continued opening the gift anyway. When she pulled open the box, she discovered a black velvet box inside. It was too large to be for a ring, but it was definitely for some type of jewelry. Jewelry? How could he possibly have known that she would—

She slowly opened the box and gasped softly at what she found. A delicate silver and aquamarine bracelet. It was beautiful.

She lifted it out of the box slowly. "Sam—"

He reached up, capturing her face in his hands, and he tilted her face up so he was looking straight into her eyes. "I'm crazy about you, Andy. I have been since the day we met."

She glanced down at the bracelet in her hands. "But—how could you possibly know that—"

"That you'd say what you said?" he finished for her. He grinned and kissed her softly. "I was going off the hope that you would."

Andy grinned up at him and pressed her lips to his in a brief, happy kiss. She held out the bracelet and her wrist, and Sam took it from her. "Can't do it yourself?" he teased.

She rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder lightly. "You're incorrigible." After he finished securing the clasp, she held it up to the light, examining it.

"Do you like it?" he asked, watching her with a smile.

She grinned at him again and leaned in for another slow, happy kiss. "Yep," she said, grinning. She jumped off the table and tugged on Sam's hand. "C'mon!"

He sent her a dubious look. He rather liked the idea of spending the next several minutes alone with her. "What."

Andy tugged on his hand insistently again and groaned. "C'mon! I want to be the first Mrs. Claus to get to share Christmas cookies with Santa!"

He stared at her like she was crazy for a moment before he burst out laughing. He couldn't believe she just said that.

He found his Santa hat that had toppled to the floor, and dropped it on top of her head. "Okay, let's go, Mrs. Claus." She just grinned and let him lead the way.

They appeared in the bullpen a few moments later, Andy's hand tucked in Sam's. They were both practically glowing.

Everyone else from the division was still there, laughing, making jokes, and playing all sorts of Christmas games. Oliver turned around and grinned when he saw the two of them. "Hey-hey!" he called out, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Santy Claus is back!"

Sam rolled his eyes as the room let up a loud round of cheers. "Okay, okay," he grumbled, motioning for them to quiet down with the hand not holding Andy's. "Before Santa does any partying, he's gonna need some cookies for Mrs. Claus," he said, nodding toward Andy with a wide, dimpled grin.

"Hey-hey!" Another round of cheers went up, and Dov rushed up to them, carrying two platters of Christmas cookies.

Andy grinned up at Sam before she accepted a snowflake-shaped sugar cookie, complete with blue frosting and blue-and-white sprinkles. As Dov took the Christmas cookies back to one of the desks, Andy kissed Sam lightly and took a bite of her cookie. "Santa service is pretty awesome," she said with a grin.

Sam grinned and rolled his eyes, but he pressed a gentle kiss to her temple. He couldn't believe she was his, that he was finally free to love her like he'd dreamed of for month after month. A second later, Jerry and Chris pulled them into a game of Christmas Pictionary and laughter filled the room again.

lalala

A/N: Review, please!