Ice glazed the sidewalk, bringing with it the comical site of adults and children alike, moving over the cobbles with arms flailing, and faces screwed in horror as the ground slide from beneath unsuspecting feet. Snow had fallen recently, the powdery whiteness coating the city like icing sugar, and as Christmas lights twinkled in the distance, Aaron sighed, his breath escaping his lips in a frosty mist of pent up frustration.

"Daddy, what's wrong?" asked Jack, skipping merrily to his father's side, his red wellies giving him all the protection he needed from the various traps of winter.

There it was, the question his more rational side had been asking him, as he waited for Jack to finish his play date - normally he would be driving, but the little boy had demanded they walk, despite the conditions, as he wanted to see the Christmas decorations that littered the streets, and gardens of his various neighbours.

Honestly, it was a silly problem. He had been seeing Spencer for a year, both parties knew it was serious, and that they loved each other. One disastrous Christmas gift couldn't change that.

Or could it?

What if he had the Haley catastrophe of 1999 happened again? There was no way he could give a 'but you always liked scarfs' excuse again, although he supposed he could update Spencer's purple one, and... No! That was a lame gift, that was a 'yeah, I quite like you' gift. This had to be special.

Not really thinking much of the logic of a four year old, he replied, "I need to get a gift for Spencer, and I don't know what to get."

"You mean your special friend, Daddy?" asked Jack innocently.

"Yes, thing is buddy, I need this to be a special present for a special person, any ideas?"

"Well I'm special to you, and I gets lotsa gifts, would Spensa want the same?"

"Hmm, I don't think he should get quite as much as you get, I mean, we wouldn't want to upstage Santa's favourite boy!" grinned Aaron, picking Jack up to move over a particularly difficult stretch of road.

"Spose so… Look! Daddy! People are singing!" yelled Jack, pointing to the house of number 47, and old lady smiling at the young children, whilst words for The Twelve Days of Christmas floated across the street.

Whilst Jack chatted happily about the carollers, even giving a few lines of Jingle Bells, Aaron couldn't help but dwell on Jack's suggestion. Child-like though it may sound, Spencer had never had a proper Christmas, his mother being too ill to have any traditional celebrations. But how could he do it without seeming too excessive? The last thing he wanted was to make Spencer feel bad that he had given him so much.

"Daddy, can Santa get me a partridge in a pear tree like the song said?" one of Jack's mile-a-minute questions latched onto his dwindling attention, and just like that a plan formed, he just hoped it would work.


A/N: Hey, this is for the CCOAC Christmas Gift Fic Exchange, and is for ShelLaura, who's prompts were 'The Twelve Days of Christmas, snowman, gingerbread, scent of Christmas tree'. I really hope you like this! Also, this is part of my 'Learning to' series as well, and if you want to see their relationship be established, then read the other fics in the series - all the titles have 'Learning to' in them :) I'm not sure how many chapters there will be, but if I'm sticking with the idea I have now, then there will be twelve short ones, and I'll post them when I can :) Please review, and tell me what you think so far!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Criminal Minds, but hopefully Santa will bring me Hotch for Christmas ;)

I apologise for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes contained within this chapter.