A/N: Hey, everybody! I missed you! :) I feel like I've been away from CA for so long… When I said I was taking a little break, I definitely did not mean until the season finale! (Oops! Sorry!)

Anyway, I'm back with a new Christmas story, just like I promised last December, but it's really different from Christmas with Auggie. Please leave a review, let me know what you think, and if you'd like to see more.

Just an FYI, though—for those of you who took the journey with me for Christmas with Auggie—this is not going to be updated that often, and it probably won't be anywhere near as long, either! I'm extremely busy right now, so I'll update when I can, but it may be fairly short by my standards. :*(

Disclaimer: I do not own Covert Affairs.

Chapter 1

Once upon a time there was a man more magical and magnificent than any other man in the whole world. His name was August Nicholas Anderson, but most people knew him as Santa Claus. He lived at the North Pole with his wife, Annie, and hundreds of little people most of the world call elves.

Santa Claus—we can call him Auggie—was not the Santa you would expect. Sure, he rode in his sleigh every Christmas Eve with his reindeer and delivered presents to children all around the world, and he had the jolliest laugh you would ever hear in your life, and he loved Christmas cookies more than any other food group in the universe. But this Santa Claus was young (only thirty-one!), and there was not one white hair on his whole body! His hair was curly and brown and his eyes twinkled with every magical secret he got to keep, and his face was clean-shaven and smooth. And always in his right hand, you would find a long white cane that swept in front of him, guiding his way through the workshops, cobblestone streets, and of course, his mansion right in the middle of the North Pole.

Our story picks up on December 1st. The Christmas season is just beginning, and Auggie has a lot of work to do. After all, Christmas is only twenty-four days away. Auggie is sitting behind his desk, warming his hands on a steaming mug of minty hot cocoa, while his trusty sidekick (you would probably call him the head elf), Stu, is reading to him the naughty-and-nice list for the second time that year.

"Naughty," Auggie said, sighing.

Stu read the next name on the list. "Ayelet Shmuel?"

"Nice."

"Noah Park—"

A hurried pounding sounded at the door a second before it flew open, banging on the wall. Auggie jolted in surprise at the loud noise, but Stu only glanced up at the intruder dubiously. He'd heard enough intrusions in his day to not be too concerned. He smirked when he saw the young woman standing in the doorway, her blond hair hanging in waves around her face. Annie.

Santa's business had been interrupted a lot since Annie had been Santa's wife instead of his daughter. Annie's father, Joe, had been Santa Claus for nearly fifty years when Annie and Auggie had gotten married. He claimed he was too old for the job, and, after several months of training, Joe had handed the reigns over to Auggie. Stu sometimes wondered if Joe had had too much minty hot cocoa the day he'd made the decision to give Annie free reign of the whole North Pole.

"Madame Annie," he greeted with a sigh.

Auggie brightened when he heard Annie's name. "Annie!" He'd been fairly certain that it was Annie—no one banged his door open quite like she did—but he missed her telltale perfume, so he'd let Stu take the lead.

Annie grinned over at them both. "Stu, can I have a moment with my husband please?"

Stu sighed dramatically. "But we were going over the Naughty and Nice List!"

Annie rolled her eyes, while Auggie grinned knowingly. "Just five minutes, Stu," he said, holding his hand out to Annie. He grinned to himself when he felt Annie's hand in his, and he pulled her onto his lap sideways, cupping her face with his hand and instinctively letting his lips find hers in a welcome kiss. "Hey, baby," he said softly, assuming they were alone.

He felt Annie's arms come around his neck and the soft tendrils of her sunny hair tickled his cheeks. "Hi," she said in return. She studied him quietly, playing with the wavy hair at the nape of his neck, trying to figure out the best way to approach the question she so desperately wanted to ask him.

Auggie frowned slightly when she didn't say anything else. He reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, and claimed her lips in a gentle kiss. "What's the matter, Annie?"

She sighed heavily, deciding that a straightforward question would probably be the best way. "Can we go down to the world for Christmas?"

"Down to the wo—" He stopped short, realizing what she was asking. It had always been Annie's dream to experience Christmas in the real world. It was the one dream he'd always wanted to make come true for her, and he thought he could, before Joe had handed him Santa's reins. Now it was virtually impossible. He sighed. "Annie… I'm Santa Claus now, not just your husband. My responsibilities are here. You know how crazy it is each December."

She glanced down at her hands self-consciously, playing with the buttons on his shirt. "I know." Her father was incredibly overprotective, and hadn't let her experience a December down south before she'd gotten married, and almost as soon as they'd returned from their honeymoon, Joe had appointed Auggie as his successor. Of course he wouldn't let her go now. What would it look like, having Mrs. Claus roam the streets all by herself?

Annie glanced up at him hopefully. "But—Auggie, I talked to Dad. He said he's willing to take over the December duties for just this year as his Christmas present to me, as long as we're back at the North Pole by midnight on December 23! Barber is willing to fly us down with two of the reindeer, and pick us up December 23. Please?"

Auggie frowned at her curiously, turning her plan around over and over in his mind. "No catches?"

Annie frowned at him. "No, why would there be a catch? Dad loves you, Auggie. There's no way he would have made you Santa Claus if he didn't trust you!"

Auggie rolled his eyes at her playfully. "Are you sure? Because I think he tried to kill me the first time I stepped on North Pole ground."

She giggled at the memory. Auggie had always lived in Virginia, in Fairfax County, with his family. Accidentally one of the more novice elves had picked him up on a surveillance mission during the summer, and he hadn't noticed it until Auggie was already at the North Pole. Joseph Walker had been livid—and Annie had fallen in love.

She pressed a quick kiss to his lips, grinning as she pulled away. She couldn't help it—she was always so happy when she was with him. "Puh-lease. You know my dad loves you now. You're like the son he never had."

Auggie smirked at her words. "I'll arrange to get a hold of my family so we can stay with them for several weeks if you take care of everything on this end—"

"Eeeei!" Annie screeched in his ear, throwing him back in his chair as she hugged him tight, burying her face in his shoulder.

He chuckled as he attempted to loosen her death grip on his neck. "Annie… Annie. Baby, you gotta let go—I think I'm seeing stars…"

Annie promptly let go, but scowled at him when she saw the teasing grin flitting across his face. She shook his shoulders. "Hey! Not funny."

His eyes twinkled back at her. "I thought it was."

Annie rolled her eyes at him and muttered under her breath something about how half of his jokes weren't that funny.

Auggie slid his hands up her arms, caressing her upper arms gently with his thumbs. "Are you going to listen to me now?"

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe."

"What I was going to say is that I'll call my parents, if you do everything here, okay? You have to pack enough clothes for us for over three weeks, make sure someone brings all our mail inside every day that we're gone, make sure your dad has everything he'll need… when all that's done, we can brief the elves together about what's happening this month, okay? Can you get that all done by suppertime?"

She leaned in to kiss him briefly as she spun out of his lap. Already at the door, she spun around to face him and called out with an elated grin, "Watch me!"

With that, the door to his office was pulled open, and Auggie heard Annie call over her shoulder to Stu, "Okay! You can have him back now!" before she disappeared down the hall.

As Stu ambled back into the room, unfurling the list as he closed the door behind him, Auggie couldn't help but grin to himself. If the only gift he could ever give was to make this dream come true for Annie, then he would die a happy Santa Claus.

A/N: Sooo, continue-worthy? It's a more silly-happy-childish type Christmas story, but I love it! Please let me know what you think!