Missing Rudolph

Sam crawled forward, streams of red trailing behind him. Josh could hear his groans of anguish from the kitchen. He rushed out to the living room and stared at Sam on his hands and knees on the floor. "What's wrong?"

Sam bundled up a wad of red crepe paper and looked up at Josh helplessly. "It's Rudolph, he's missing!"

"Don't move I'll get straight on the reindeer-phone to Santa."

Sam frowned and shook his head. "It isn't any old tree decoration I'm looking for here."

Josh immediately realised his mistake by being flippant about the decoration that had come to play such an important part in the story of their relationship. He held his hands up then joined Sam on the floor. "Okay, start again." He looked earnestly at Sam and nodded.

"What?"

"Say it again, the thing about Rudolph missing and I'll have a better response ready."

Sam rolled his eyes and carried on his search.

"Go on!" Josh insisted and Sam, keen to get some peace, repeated his news of the missing Rudolph. Josh immediately grabbed Sam and pushed him down to the floor. He lay on top of him and held Sam's wrists above his head. "Please tell me that the Rudolph that's missing isn't the same Rudolph that you were trying to fix when I came to my senses two years ago and the same Rudolph that we dropped over the wall before Leo sent the heavy mob out to haul us back to the White House."

Sam shifted uselessly beneath Josh's weight. "You know exactly what Rudolph I'm talking about and its huge sentimental value to us isn't lessened by your show of indifferent sarcasm."

"If Rudolph really is missing then I promise I'll search the globe until he is found and returned to his rightful owners. This I vow, Sam, in honour of our love."

"Fuck off, Josh, and get off me!"

Josh shook his head and leant down to kiss Sam's nose. Sam relaxed beneath him. "Sam, I know you want to get the tree up but, you know, while we're in this position…"

"Off! Get off. I need to find Rudolph."

Josh smiled and reluctantly levered himself off Sam. "God, you're sexy when you're on a mission." Josh watched as Sam meticulously checked the decorations again. When it became clear that Rudolph wasn't amongst them he sat down next to Sam. He may have joked earlier but Josh felt the same about the tatty but much loved Rudolph and its symbolism. "Maybe it fell out of the box or something and it's still up in the loft."

"Maybe," Sam replied. "We did pick it up that night didn't we? I remember it going over that wall and you holding my legs then the agents arriving and-"

"We picked it up. It was on the tree last year, I'm sure it was."

Sam shook his head. "Maybe," he repeated flatly and the despondency in his tone made Josh lean over and hug him.

"We'll find him."

They finished decorating the tree, cleared away the boxes and made their way to bed. Josh fell asleep almost as soon as he lay his head down. He woke three hours later to strange noises above him. Instinctively he rolled over to Sam but the bed was empty. "Sam?"

"I'm here."

Sam's voice was muffled and Josh couldn't work out where it was coming from. "Where?" he asked as he wandered into the living room.

"Up here," Sam called again and Josh slowly raised his head. "Above me?" he asked in a confused tone.

"Jesus, Josh, I'm in the loft!" an exasperated Sam called back.

"Oh," Josh replied as though that made perfect sense. He walked over to the steel ladder that he was amazed he hadn't noticed on entering the room and walked half-way up the steps. "What ya doing?"

Sam didn't reply at first and Josh watched the beam from a torch as it occasionally lit the small entranceway at the top of the ladder. "What ya doing, Sam?"

He was answered by a dull thud, a yelp and then the sound of steps above him. The steps neared and took on a metallic tone as Sam started to climb down. On reaching the bottom he turned to look at Josh who had scurried down on hearing his approach. "I was…" Sam looked away from Josh. "I was looking for Rudolph," he explained meekly.

"Was he up there?" Josh asked taking his hand and leading him back to the bedroom.

"No, but I did find that illuminated sledge your mom bought us last year."

"I was kind of keeping that up there on purpose."

"Oh," Sam replied. He walked beside Josh and then collapsed onto the bed, waiting for Josh to get in before pulling the covers over them. "Where is he?"

"He'll turn up. Maybe Santa was short staffed and needed every reindeer on call," Josh offered wrapping his arms tightly around Sam.

"I was thinking, up in the loft, I was thinking this could be a sign."

"A sign of what?" Josh's hand rubbed soothingly at Sam's stomach.

"Well, Rudolph got us together right?" he felt Josh's nod against his neck, "and then we honoured him that next Christmas, somewhere outside the White House, I was too drunk to remember where exactly." Josh nodded again, a sure sense of where Sam was heading. "And so, maybe if we can't find Rudolph, maybe it's a sign that we're not going to stay to-"

Josh's hand sprung from Sam's stomach and over his mouth. "Don't say it, you'll jinx us, don't you dare finish that sentence!"

"Well it could be though, couldn't it?" Sam whispered and Josh whispered something about signs and jinxes and showing Sam another sign he could read before turning him gently over and starting a slow, sensual exploration of the man he loved so much.

Sam's attention was wandering. He tried to focus on Leo's words but he couldn't quite summon the energy. The mid night raid of the attic coupled with Josh's actions afterwards had exhausted him. He looked over at the Christmas tree in Leo's office and found the slowly blinking lights were lulling him to sleep so he looked away and met Toby's gaze. If a gaze could sum up the phrase 'what the hell's wrong with you?' then Toby's did. Sam frowned at him sat up higher, took a deep breath and tried once again to focus on Leo. Josh was smirking. Sam didn't need to look to know that. He had been smirking this morning on the journey to work and smirking when he had caught Sam getting himself a second cup of coffee. "Caffeine won't save you from Josh lethargy. It's a gift. Few can keep up with me." Sam had told Josh very clearly where he thought he should go and now, thirty minutes later, as Sam yawned and battled to keep his eyes open, he knew Josh was smirking again.

"Roberts is no threat. He'll work with Dawson and they'll do it how we say. The real problem is the committee, if they get wind of what's going on we'll be spending the next three weeks…"

Leo's voice faded and Sam found his attention wandering to the tree again. It was tastefully done. Margaret and Charlie had dressed it. Silver lights were draped elegantly around it and the blue and red decorations were hung in positions that gave the appearance of an unintentional pattern which is what, Sam decided, the best Christmas tree decorations should look like. He was about to turn and focus on Leo again when a flash of gold caught his eye. He squinted, turned slightly in his seat and then he could see it clearly; Golden reins were dangling below the lost, but now found, Rudolph.

Sam's eyes widened and his smile did the same. He turned back towards Josh and tried to get his attention but he was staring fixedly at Leo.

"Josh, I want you to meet with Dawson and get him ready to face the committee." Leo waited for Josh's nod then continued. "Prep him with answers for anything you think they're gonna throw at him and then some."

Sam leaned forward in his seat, intent on gaining Josh's attention.

"CJ, you okay to meet with the kids from the the detention center?"

"Secure the valuables," Toby observed dryly and CJ flashed a grin at him before replying.

"They're arriving at two pm at which time they'll be met by me and taken on a short tour of the White House by Carol."

Leo put on his glasses and looked down at the day's schedule unaware of Sam's furtive reindeer impersonations he was desperately trying to make Josh see. "They'll meet the President at two-thirty and then be served some refreshments in the Blue Room."

"But not using the good china," Josh added earning another grin from CJ.

"Listen, the President's very keen to be seen to be extending good wishes of the season to everyone and not just the Boy Scouts and Maryland Girls Choir." Everyone looked suitably abashed so Leo continued. "This afternoon the President will be working in the Residence. CJ, put a full lid on it as soon as you can and barring no national emergencies we should all be outta here by six at the latest. There's the usual message from housekeeping here about switching off your laptops and PCs before you leave if you're not com- Sam! What in the name of all that's sane are you doing?"

Sam sat bolt upright, all eyes were on him. He quickly stopped using his hand to show Josh antlers and started to smooth down his hair instead. "Nothing…nothing going on here, switch off laptops, no china in the Blue Room, got it."

Leo frowned at Sam. He looked first at Toby, and then Josh then finally settled his gaze on CJ. "If you think friends cover for friends when they're turning into a loop nut, then you're very wrong. It's clear to me that Sam needs help and I suggest one or all of you spend the next few days beating the loopy out of him until he's as sane as he was before, which isn't saying much I know." Leo shook his head took off his glasses and sat down. He looked down at a note that Margaret had handed him before looking back up at them. "What, you want a mince pie as well? Get outta here."

Toby and CJ smiled at the gruff man's words and thought of the Christmas gift they had found on their desks earlier that morning. A gift that was typical of their boss's quiet thoughtfulness and sincerity. Josh thought of nothing but Sam. As soon as they had passed Margaret's desk he grabbed Sam's arm and pulled him into the first room they passed. The smirk was back. "What were you doing?" He mimicked Sam's actions of earlier.

Sam placed his hands on his head and showed Josh the correct way to demonstrate reindeer antlers. "I was trying to get your attention-"

"Yeah, I think you accomplished that!"

"No, listen, I was trying to make you see that I'd found Rudolph!" He wiggled his fingers again for emphasis.

"What…I don't…you found him in your hair?"

Sam's arms went into the air. "Oh for crying out loud, Josh, these are antlers! I'm making antlers!"

"Ah!" Josh stared at Sam's earnest expression. "Man, I so want to blow you right now."

"We've got no time for that!" Sam exclaimed as if Josh's proposal had been a possible one. "Listen, Rudolph is on Leo's tree. Right slap bang in the centre, just dangling there all alone waiting for us to rescue him."

"Leo's tree, how did it get on there?" Josh thought back to last Christmas and his and Sam's drunken escape from the party. He remembered holding onto Sam's legs as he reached over a wall where Rudolph had been flung by accident. He remembered the agents arriving and hauling them back to the White House and to a very angry Leo. He remembered watching as another agent dragged in Leo's snow covered office chair. He couldn't remember much more than that and assumed he had blocked out Leo's ensuing rant. He only knew he woke up the next day, next to Sam and to a phone call from the President congratulating them on managing to get out of the party early, a feat he wished he could have pulled off. Josh cocked his head and closed his eyes. "You know, I'm not so sure we had Rudolph on our tree last year. I mean I know we took him from the Bullpen tree and I know we had him outside with us but now I think about it I don't remember actually having him on our tree."

"Do you remember much of what happened in Leo's office?" Sam asked and when Josh shook his head he nodded his. "I think we dropped Rudolph in Leo's office that night and he somehow ended up on his tree. We were a little drunk I seem to recall so we wouldn't have noticed and I suppose it would be natural for someone to pick it up, assume it was from Leo's tree and put it back on."

"It would have got packed away last year and then brought out again this year! This is great, what we're doing here, we're like reindeer detectives. Now we just have to figure how to get it back."

Sam's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Why is that a problem? We just go in there and get it."

"Go in there and get it, yeah, good plan, Sam. I'm betting the last person Leo wants to see right now is you, I'm also betting you missed the bit this morning when Leo said he'd be working in his office all day and didn't want to be disturbed. The only time he's out of there is when the kids from the detention center are here."

"We can go in then."

"Except, boy, you really weren't listening this morning were you, we have to be in the Oval with Leo and CJ when the President meets them."

"He's an ill-fated reindeer, Rudolph," Sam concluded sadly. He put his hands into his pockets and shook his head. Slowly his frown of concentration turned into a small smile. "Wait! We need to steal Rudolph back, Right?" Josh nodded. "And, who, this very day, is going to be in the immediate vicinity of Leo's tree?"

"Prancer and Dasher?" Josh asked the smirk back in place.

"Delinquents, Josh! True, old fashioned street urchins, straight from the pages of a Christmas Carol."

"I don't think the boy that bought the turkey at the end had been convicted of a Class A Felony but I get your point. So we're going to get one of the kids to steal Rudolph back? Doesn't that kind of go against the Community Release Program these kids are in?"

"It's not like we're asking them to steal, just to sneak, sneaking being something that I'd expect a juvenile delinquent to be good at. We'll be there, if anything goes wrong we'll fess up and say we told the kid the wrong directions to the Oval or something."

Josh looked doubtful. "So there's no way anyone can get into trouble?"

"Absolutely not."

"Okay, it's a good plan, I like it, let's do it."

An hour later Sam was hanging around innocently outside CJ's office and waiting for her to get off the phone. When he heard the phone being placed back down he went in. "Hi."

"Hi." CJ replied standing up and picking up her jacket. "I'm in a rush, I've got to go and show some children, who quite frankly frighten me, around the White House. Don't get me wrong, I'm not discriminating, good, well behaved children frighten me as well."

"Want some company?" Sam followed her out of the room and down the corridor quickening his pace to keep up with her long strides.

"You have some free time? How do you have free time?"

"I'm an excellent time-manager."

"Okay, well, sure then. But don't get carried away and start spouting White House facts, we both know you don't know any."

"I'll resist the temptation," Sam promised as they neared the waiting group of children.

It didn't take Sam long to identify the perfect child for his plan. He noticed the boy had already slipped away from the group twice without being seen. Sam sidled up to him and removed the two packets of White House M&Ms from the boy's pocket. "Don't worry about it," Sam assured him, "everyone does it." He placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "What's your name?"

The tour was nearly over by the time Sam and Micky had formulated their plan. The group halted outside the Oval Office and Micky looked up at Sam. "So, what's in it for me?" he asked.

"The warm glow that comes from the knowledge that you've helped a fellow man?" Sam offered. He took in the look of disgust on Micky's face. "Okay, two bags of White House M&Ms for you and one each for your friends but a gift from the White House, not stolen from it." Micky smiled and nodded.

The door to the Oval opened and Sam leaned down and whispered into Micky's ear. "So you want me to create a diversion or something?"

"No way! It was trusting someone to create a diversion that got me this rap in the first place!" Micky smiled and made his way into the group and towards the front. Sam saw Josh and made a Christmas tree shape with his hands. Josh walked over to him and spoke furtively into his ear. "You've got to start explaining these signs. What does," Josh repeated the sign, "mean?"

"It's a Christmas Tree. It meant 'it's a go'," Sam answered defensively.

"A thumbs up would have done," Josh said and turned his attention to the President who had entered the room.

"Hi, I'm the President of the United States. Who can tell me a fascinating fact that you've learnt about the White House?" Bartlet looked over to see Sam with the group, "Oh, hold on, Sam, did you give the tour?"

"No, sir."

"Good, in that case you can be certain that everything you've been told today is true." Bartlet nodded to the first child to raise his hand and listened as he started to talk about the carved eagles on the legs of the Steinway piano which had obviously captured his imagination.

Two minutes later a loud sob made everyone in the room turn in the direction of the doorway to Leo's office. Micky, with eyes amazingly red and already streaming with tears, was looking longingly at the tree from which Rudolph hung. "I want to look at the tree. Please, sir, it's been ages since I've seen a tree like that."

"We've got one back at the Center, Micky," a tall woman in charge of the party said, her face clearly showing that she knew Micky was up to something.

"But not like this one. Please, sir?"

"Oh, God, it's Oliver Twist," Sam whispered to Josh.

Bartlet walked over to Leo and folded his arms. "Well, Leo, aren't you going to show young, Micky, your Christmas tree?"

It would go unnoticed to those who didn't know him but Josh, Sam, CJ and Bartlet all caught the threat of revenge in Leo's glance at the President before patting Micky awkwardly on the back and leading the way to the tree. Josh and Sam kept one eye on the President and one on the scene in Leo's office. Micky was pointing in awe at the various decorations, asking questions and then telling Leo a detailed account of his mom's tree back at home. At this point Sam was sure he could hear another sniffle.

"He's good," Sam whispered to Josh.

Josh nodded in reply. "We should hire him."

Leo was wishing the kid would finish up so he could return to the Oval Office. "So, you feel all better now, kid?"

"Yeah, just…where'd that come from?" Micky pointed to the star on top of the tree and while Leo was staring up at it he quickly pulled Rudolph off the tree and placed him in his pocket all in one deft movement. They joined the others and listened as Bartlet finished chatting to the children. A round of applause followed and Micky chose that moment to wrap his arms around Sam and thank him for the tour. Sam's stumbled backwards, surprised by the sudden move. It was only when he looked up to see Micky walking through the door and throwing him a wink that he felt the small bundle in his jacket pocket that hadn't been there before.

Sam took another sip of the warming bourbon and stepped back to admire the tree. "Josh! Come here, it's done."

Josh walked up behind Sam and wrapped his arms around him. "It looks great, Sam." Josh looked at the decorations recognising ones from the year before, some Sam had made at school and new ones that had been bought this year. "Hang on…where is he?"

Sam took Josh's hand and kissed it. "Look up." At the top of the tree, placed on a pedestal that had once stood beneath a 3D winter scene, sat Rudolph. "I thought he deserved a bit of prominence. I've even made him his own box so we can be sure to find him next year."

Josh nuzzled Sam's neck and then rested his chin on his shoulder. Outside the first flakes of snow began to fall. The two men were oblivious to it. They stood and gently swayed together as a romantic Christmas song came on the radio. Their gazes were fixed on a single object; a small, quite tatty but much loved Rudolph.