Everyone was shaking their heads. What could have happened? The president was alerted at shortly after 2pm on Christmas Eve that Santa had not arrived in Samoa, his usual first stop in his trip around the world. The Samoans had been worried, of course, but panic began to set in when an hour later he hadn't arrived in New Zealand either. President Obama quickly called NORAD whose job it was to monitor Santa's movements. Of course, the staff at NORAD were not expecting the jolly man for many hours and were not yet on the lookout for him. "Well start looking," he commanded as he slammed down the phone. He picked it up again quickly, "Get me the CIA, get me NSA, Interpol, get everybody," he snapped.

He began to pace the oval office. This may be his biggest crisis yet. All the children in the world… he just couldn't contemplate it. He knew airliners went missing over some airspaces but every airspace was friendly airspace for Santa. His phone rang. "What," he shouted into the receiver.

"Barrack, I just heard about Santa." His wife's voice said in his ear.

"Michelle, how did you hear about it?"

"Things get around. Is it true?"

"Yes, I'm afraid no one knows what's happened to Santa. I've called everyone in on it." He sighed.

"Anything I can do?" Michelle asked.

"Pray," he said before replacing the receiver.

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"We've got everyone looking for him sir," said Ryan James from the CIA.

"No chatter so far," Ruth Grimes from the NSA reported.

Obama nodded, "Anything from your end Agent Prentiss," he looked at the dark haired woman on the screen.

"Nothing so far sir; my agents all over the world have their ear to the ground but nothing so far. I'll let you know the moment I hear anything."

"Thank you Agent," the president replied as the screen from London went blank. "Okay, everybody, I know we want to be home with our families but this is top priority so nobody concentrates on anything else until we find Santa." The others in the room stood and headed for the door almost bumping into a man trying to enter the office.

"You can't go in there without an invitation from the president," one of the Secret Service men pushed the man back. "Sorry Senator."

"Of course, I understand. I just wanted to speak to the president about something important."

The president's secretary went into the office and came out with a stern look. "He'll give you two minutes."

"That's all I need," the senator walked past the Secret Service man and into the oval office.

"Senator Cramer," the president began, "This better be good."

"It is. I heard about Santa. I think I know who might be able to help."

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Hotch looked at the blinking lights on the tree as Dave and Jack threaded a popcorn string, managing to pop some in their mouths as they did. His phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and frowned.

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The airport was absolute chaos. "I thought we were the tail end of those heading home for Christmas," Morgan told Reid. "I didn't think it would be this busy."

"The Saturday before Christmas is usually the busiest day for air travel," Reid babbled, "but is also known for having the highest fares. The fares actually lower the closer you get to the actual holiday and the holiday itself. So, considering, this is probably not the busiest d…" He stopped as both his and Morgan's phones rang.

"This can't be good," Morgan said as he and Reid pulled their phones from their pockets.

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Kate Callahan looked at her phone screen and then at her niece. "Sorry kiddo."

"No Kate, not on Christmas Eve," Meg pouted.

"I'll be home as quickly as I can my sweet girl." She pulled the teen into her arms and kissed her cheek turning to Chris and giving him a kiss before opening her closet and grabbing the always packed bag, "Merry Christmas."

Kate gave JJ a sad grin when she opened the passenger door of JJ's car. "So, how'd it go at your house?"

"Henry was heartbroken. It was all I could do to break away from him head in. You?"

"Meg wasn't happy but she's older than Henry so a little more understanding."

"I wonder if the guys were lucky enough to already be on their planes and out of here." JJ mused.

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They got their answer when they met up with Morgan and Reid at the elevator. "We were this close," Morgan kept his thumb and index finger a miniscule distance apart. "Couldn't the unsubs take one day off?"

"Considering the Christmas truce of 1914, it's possible," Reid noted, "but not probable."

The elevator opened on the sixth floor and the team stopped dead. Penelope Garcia stood before them in a red dress with a plunging square neckline and a wide black belt cinched just below the bust line. The flared skirt ended partway down her thigh and was trimmed with faux white fur. The long sleeves also ended at her wrists in the same white fur. Her oval eyeglasses, a vibrant red, matched the color of her lips. She wore black knee high boots and a Santa hat perched precariously on the top of her head completed the outfit.

Kate closed her eyes and then opened them quickly and shook her head, "I'm not even going to ask." She stated and headed into the BAU.

"The text said time was of the essence so I didn't think there was time to change." Garcia explained. "Believe me; I'm not wearing this for you guys."

Morgan put up a hand. "Okay, we're getting into too much information territory, say no more," he replied as he, too headed into the BAU, the others close behind.

Hotch stood at the screen when they entered the round table room while Rossi sat at the table a cup of coffee in hand, "Merry Christmas," he said raising his coffee cup in a toast.

Hotch gestured to the chairs. "I know nobody wants to be here but we're on the clock on this and it could turn into a real crisis very fast." Each team member took a seat noting there were no files sitting out as was the norm with each case.

"What's up Hotch?" Morgan asked, "Missing kid?"

"No," Hotch clicked the remote and a man in a Santa Suit with a white beard and wire glasses stared back at them. "Santa's missing."

"What do you mean, Santa's missing," JJ asked.

"Santa!" Kate said, "Okay, what kind of joke is this?"

"You don't believe in Santa?" Rossi sounded surprised.

"No," she looked around at the others, "And I do not believe in the tooth fairy, the great pumpkin or the boogieman."

"How can you work for the BAU and not believe in the boogieman?" Reid asked.

"This is a joke on the newbie right?"

"Nobody's laughing Callahan," Hotch noted.

"You cannot tell me you people believe in Santa."

"Well, Kate's got a point; technically, Santa Claus has never truly been seen," Reid said, "and eight or nine reindeer and a sleigh flying through the air is pretty unbelievable, as well as a man as large as Santa fitting down the chimney. I did the specs when I was four and figured it couldn't work."

"Reid, Santa is magic," Garcia offered. "You, of all people, should understand magic."

"Magic isn't magic Garcia. Magic is an illusion. You don't just make things appear out of thin air, it's just the illusion that you have."

"Okay," Morgan agreed, "so Santa uses illusion. He's got everybody looking up the chimney while he's pickin' the lock on the back door."

"But Reid, Santa is part of what Christmas is all about, faith. That faith had shepherds and wise men following a star to a stable to welcome the son of God. They didn't say WTF… are you talking about angel. They had faith. Maybe what we need here is a little faith."

"Enough," Hotch put a stop to the nattering. "Believe or not, kids all over the world are waiting for Santa and, like it or not, we've been tasked by the president himself with the job of profiling who would want to get rid of Santa."