All I Want For Christmas

! MINOR BUT EXISTENT SPOILERS FOR SEASON 5 FINALE I WILL NOT SAY THIS AGAIN !

A/N: So, CTI_Jenn, SYuuri, Tirsh and I got this brilliant idea to do a fic exchange. The requirements were pretty much Jam and Christmas, and I gotta say, this has a lot of Sam and not necessarily a lot of Jam, but it's an overarching theme and I will argue that if you'd like to confront me on this. Well, I kinda missed our deadline, but it's just barely Christmas at my house right now and Tirsh won't be in actual Christmas Day for another hour and a bit (so, thank you, timezones). Anyway, I won't bore you with my dramatic fic writing process, so here it is.

One last thing: Special thanks to SYuuri, who assisted with some very important naming details.

Sam offers Spike a quick smile as they pass in the hall, his smile turning into a smirk as he catches the less than subtle look Spike shoots at Winnie.

"See you later?"

"Sure will. 4 still good?"

He simply responds with a nod. Its strange, passing Spike on the way to the briefing room, he in his uniform, Spike up to his chin in winter attire, keys in hand, walking with a purpose out of the building. He hasn't spoken to him without the rest of team one or Jules around much in the past week, wonders if he's finally finished his shopping, if he chose something on his own or if he caved and just asked Winnie for a list.

He doesn't have long to think about it though - before he knows it team three is assembled at the briefing room table, patrol assignments being doled out.

He's in a truck with Tom, a welcome change from patrolling with Adam. It's not that he doesn't like Adam, he does, he swears, its just as the new guy on the team, being paired with the team's rookie is just a little… well, he'd described it to Jules as the reject car.

When they pull out of the garage the morning sun is bright, though there are clouds rolling in that tell him they're in for some snow, and it could get a little nasty outside before shift ends.

"Mind if we make a stop?"

He shrugs, nods. "Coffee?"

"Maybe. But first I need to finish my shopping."

He snorts, shoots Tom a glare. "You're serious? You do realize it's the 24th, right?"

Tom gives a short nod. "Nicole tells me yesterday that she doesn't like hot chocolate, is really more of a cider person. So now i've got to start my shopping over again."

Shaking his head he grins. "You got your girlfriend hot chocolate for Christmas? That's… that's a little sad."

Tom rolls his eyes, scowling. "Hey now, there are earrings in the mug too."

He simply smiles, silently agrees to wait in the truck while Tom runs into the grocery store. He's not alone 10 seconds before his phone is out, and he's cursing the fact that he has to leave his home screen to pull up Jules' number in his contacts list. It's just, that face. It's so - he couldn't come up with the perfect word for it if he tried, although perfect comes close. With a sigh, he finds her in his speed dial and raises the phone to his ear.

"Hey how's shift?"

"Dull. Patrol. How is she?"

He can hear Jules' small laugh on the other end of the phone. "She's awake, sort of. We're watching some Christmas special."

His smile quickly turns to a frown. Somehow, when he'd booked 2 weeks off near Jules' due date he was sure it would be enough time. And when his daughter came a week earlier than was expected, he thought his two weeks would be more than enough time.

It wasn't.

He realized too late that those two weeks off meant he went back to work Christmas eve, which wouldn't have been a problem any other year. But this year, Sadie's first Christmas? This wasn't quite what he had in mind.

"Sam?"

"Huh?"

"I asked where you were patrolling. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, just wish I was there. We're in the east end. Tom just ran into a store to finish his shopping."

"Wow."

"Apparently Nicole doesn't like hot chocolate," he offers, shrugging even though he knows she can't see him.

There's a quick snort from the other end of the line and what he's sure is a shrug to rival his own. "Huh, you know, maybe you should call home more often."

A quick pang of guilt gets his heart racing, his mind running through the reasons she would have for saying that.

"I rocked her for a good 45 minutes and she just glared at me the entire time like I was a crazy person and now? Sleeping beauty. I mean really - it's like she knows it's you on the phone."

He grins, knows its not even remotely likely that it's true but the idea that Sadie knows it's him, maybe needs to know that he's alright before surrendering to the kind of exhaustion that only comes from waking every three hours… well, he loves that idea. "I should probably let you go then so you can get some sleep too," he begins, reluctant though logical.

"Sam, it's 9am. It's too early for sleeping. I'm determined to keep myself on a normal sleep schedule aside from the midnight wake up calls and…"

She carries on and all he can do is roll his eyes as she throws out I don't care what those books say because he knows it's only a matter of time before she caves and becomes an expert cat-napper. He doesn't know it yet, but its the kind of thing they'll giggle to themselves about in a year or three as they lounge in their living room, Sadie with her death grip on Sam's hand as she snoozes on the sofa, Sam with his free arm swung around Jules' shoulders, Jules tracing patterns on her newly emerged belly in hopes of eliciting a movement of some kind as they bask in the glorious knowledge that this time they're experienced parents. Damn near experts in the field and this baby, will be a piece of cake. Of course, they're wrong, but they've got time before that reality settles in.

"Anyway, Ed and Sophie will be here around 2. Sophie has informed me she's commandeering our kitchen for the afternoon and that I'm free to make myself scarce. Ed, of course, has been roped into helping her but I think we all know how long that one will last for. And who else? Oh, Clark will be here, probably a little late, with what Sophie is calling 'a lady friend of sorts'. Apparently girlfriend is too important of a word for someone whose name she doesn't know," she pauses, takes a breath and yawns and Sam grins to himself.

It's not that he's not enjoying hearing all about their plans for the day, and he's amused at how carried away Jules gets telling him things when she's exhausted, it's just Tom has returned from the store, grinning and shaking a bottle of cider at him saying something about the real deal, an eyebrow raised at the constant stream of words coming from his phone.

"I hate to say it Jules, but you sound like you could use a nap. Maybe just go lie down for a couple minutes. Relax. If you can't sleep I'm sure my book is around there somewhere, just don't lose my page." Because the book he started reading six months ago because Jules demanded he find a hobby that wasn't smothering her tends to put him to sleep half the time anyway.

She sighs, gets the message and agrees to do as he's asked, although it doesn't likely have anything to do with what he's asked. He smiles to himself, tells her he loves her, loves Sadie, asks her to give her a kiss for him and not to forget to make sure the picture of them on Sadie's dresser is within view of the crib. You know, so that she knows they're close by.

He stuffs the phone back in his pocket, shaking his head at the judgmental look Tom's giving him. "What? This from the guy who got his girlfriend apple cider for Christmas."

Tom laughs, shakes his head but doesn't outwardly pester Sam on the issue any further. "Hey now, we set a spending limit because she thought it would be fun, and that's roughly the best I can do on $15."

Sam nods, raises an eyebrow. "And the earrings?"

A self-satisfied grin spreads across his face. "Well, I've got to score bonus points somehow. Besides, I'm hoping she does the same and gets me an xbox."

"An xbox?"

"Yeah, you know, gaming console, used for-"

"i know what it is," Sam scowls, resists the urge to tack on unnecessary expletives at the end of his sentence, "but what are you? 12?"

"Oh come on, like there's not a gift you'd really like for Christmas?"

Sam shakes his head. "You wouldn't appreciate it," he grins, shoots Tom a look before continuing. "I already got my Christmas gift, a little under two weeks ago," he beams. "Now all I really want is a day with my family. Just hang out, read to Sadie, watch lights with Jules - we lay with our heads under the tree and watch the lights from below and it's pretty cool-shut up, don't knock it 'til you try it."

Tom laughs. "You're a giant sap, you know that?"

"You know what? Maybe you should just focus on driving," Sam defends, finding new interest in the passing cars as they leave the parking lot. The day is long and dull, for which they're all grateful. Christmas eve has a reputation as one of those days as far as hot calls go. It's nearing the end of their shift when Sam's eyes fall on a toy store along the road ahead of them. "You know what? Maybe I'm not done my shopping."

He need not explain more - Tom has already seen the toy store and might have been hoping he could persuade Sam into stopping by anyway.

They park the truck in the nearest spot they find, radio in that they're making a quick stop, and head into the store. The store is nearly empty, promising there won't be a long line when they've finished their shopping. They share a look, both ensuring their radios are turned on so that they don't miss a hot call before going their separate ways. Tom immediately finds the electronics section, while Sam follows the signs to the back of the store for the baby section.

He's thinking maybe something soft. None of this baby's first christmas stuff though, he decides. Figures that's reserved for things you hang on trees, and not for things he's hoping she becomes attached to. Maybe unhealthily attached to. Maybe, maybe, it'll be one of those things she sneaks into the bottom of her suitcase when she goes away to college. Correction: She won't be going away to college - too young to move out. He'll never allow it. But, maybe, once she's 35 and married, she'll bring it with her to her own house.

The point is, he's looking for something with staying power. Not too… seasonal.

With that in mind, he bypasses the dolls in pretty red dresses, the plush nutcrackers that really just seem counter productive, and the bears dressed like Santa. Rolling his eyes he turns the corner, grins as he finds exactly what he was hoping for. Shelves upon shelves of the softest bears he's ever seen, ranging in colour from brown to white to blue to red.

It's not long before it catches his eye - the world's softest teddy bear, snow white with a purple gingham bow around his neck.

Well, that was easy.

He carefully picks the bear off the shelf, tucks it under his arm with care and heads towards the cash registers at the front of the store. It's an odd look - an SRU officer in full uniform, gun on his belt, and a teddy bear lovingly in his arm - but somehow the grin on his face rounds out the look and it's suddenly the most natural sight in the world.

That is, until he turns the corner at the end of the aisle.

His gaze falls on the cashier, shuddering behind her register as a man, with a poorly thought out disguise, points a gun at her.

"Just empty the register, and I'll be on my way."

"I…we…but…"

"I - we - did I stutter? Empty the cash from the register, into this bag. Now!"

Sam stops on the spot, catches sight of Tom as he rounds the end of the aisle at the other end of the store, quickly taking cover back behind a display where he can observe from a distance. With a glance behind him, Sam finds a young couple, a cart full of toys indicating they've just completed their holiday shopping. He holds up a hand, a quick shake of the head, and manages to gesture towards a display of playhouses for them to hide in until the situation is contained.

"Hey! What are you doing there?" the disguised man yells, having just noticed the police officer nearby.

"I'm just doing some shopping. Do you mind if I ask what you're doing here?"

The man scoffs, surely rolls his eyes behind what Sam is sure are women's pantyhose pulled over his head, and shakes his gun towards the quivering cashier. "What does it look like?"

Sam gives a small nod, though it serves more than just the obvious purpose. From the other side of the store, Tom catches the action, understands it's partially directed at him - Sam can hear him relaying what's going on to the rest of their team. Sam turns his attention to the cashier, giving her an easy smile. Noting her name tag, he nods. "It's ok Kara, you can do what he asks."

"You heard him," the man snarls, though his surprise at the police officer's actions is clear.

The girl's eyes open wide, and she turns to her register, opening the drawer and pulling out a small pile of bills. Fingers shaking, she sets the bills down on the counter before taking a step back in fear.

The man eyes the bills, scowls. "That's it? Get the rest of it."

Kara shakes her head. "That's all of it, I swear. The manager emptied it out and took it to the bank an hour ago."

"You can't be serious! You can't tell me no one has bought anything in the past hour! There is no way this is all of it!"

Hoping for some direction Kara turns to Sam, who gives her a quick nod, promising he'll take care of things from here. "Hey now, you know everyone pays with plastic these days." It does the trick, the man's attention shifts to Sam and the cashier is able to duck behind her counter and take cover.

"Hey now, why don't you just shut you mouth," the man snarls, shaking his head as he struggles to think out his next move.

"You know I can't just do that. But, I might be able to help you out. Any chance you can tell me what this is about?"

The man shakes his head, mutters aloud though possibly to himself. "The day before Christmas, what do you think it's about?"

Sam gives a sympathetic smile as he nods his understanding. "Holiday crunch time, eh?"

The man snorts. "Something like that."

"Any chance we could let a few of these people go while you and I talk this out?" Sam asks, his arm waving towards a small crowd cowering in a nearby aisle, and Kara behind the counter.

A quick glance around the store and the man nods. "They can go," he barks, waving his gun towards the crowd.

"Thank y-"

"But she stays!" Once again, the gun is moved in the direction of the cashier's counter.

"Ok," Sam tells him, "Ok." He watches carefully as the crowd hurries out the front doors, noting the presence of 2 black SUVs in the parking lot that can only mean one thing - his team has arrived. He can hear the assessments of the situation through his earpiece, is only glad he turned it down so that there's no chance of the man holding the gun overhearing. "Thank you for letting them leave."

The man nods, nods again and it's clear that he's pondering his next moves.

"I really appreciate you letting those people leave. I'm sorry, I didn't get your name. Mine is Sam."

Shaking his head, the man sighs. "Barry."

"Barry. Thank you. So, you ran a little short on cash for Christmas?"

Barry nods. "I just, I wanted it to be a good year."

"I get that," Sam nods, considers where they are. "Do you have kids, Barry?"

Barry stares at him a moment. "What makes you say that?"

"Of all the places to rob, you choose a toy store? There's a coffee shop across the street, a liquor store down the block, and you choose here?" In his ear, Sam hears his team's theories on the matter. Rob the cash, grab a few toys on the way out. Was here earlier with his kids, had a chance to scope out the place.

He waits a moment before answering, sizing Sam up. "Yeah… Yeah."

"I'm going to be honest with you - my team is in the parking lot. They can be in here in seconds if I give them the go ahead, but I don't think that'll be necessary. You seem like a pretty reasonable man, Barry."

Barry frowns, chances a quick glance at the doors to the parking lot, and back at Sam. "I'm not sure reasonable is the best word right now," he mutters, hand shaking, gun shaking along with it.

Sam nods. "How many kids do you have?"

Shaking his head, Barry sighs. "Two."

"Boys or girls?"

Barry glares at him, before caving. "One of each," he admits.

Sam smiles. "That's got to be nice."

"Sure, until you see their wish lists and realize there's no way in hell you can pull that off!"

"I can appreciate that," Sam sympathizes. "You just want to make them happy."

"No shit," he mutters, but stops to study Sam. "How many do you have?"

The question catches him off guard. Lately there's been a lot of Is she your first?, but not a lot of how many. "Just one so far," he tells him, gesturing with the bear still firmly in his grasp.

Barry laughs. "Well, enjoy it while it lasts - in a few years a stuffed bear won't do it anymore."

"It's tough, this Christmas shopping thing. You want to please everyone but you're only human," Sam begins.

"Not that that matters," Barry frowns, his face turning from discouraged to sour in the blink of an eye. "It's not like my wife gets that. Oh sure, I'll just run out and buy that $300 gaming system the day before Christmas." He continues his rant, his body language getting progressively more threatening. The gun waves, though his grip is a little more serious than before and Sam can see it coming.

It's why he's relieved as he hears the order given to Tom to find a position behind Barry. He can tell something has hit a nerve and it doesn't matter that 30 seconds ago he and Barry were exchanging details about their families. He takes a quick scan of his surroundings, notices Kara isn't in the corner where she was before and he tenses. Finds her making her way around the counter and wants to scream at her to freeze.

Tom sees her too though, and quickly rethinks his plan. He moves swiftly towards the two, hoping at nothing else he can get Kara out of the way before she puts herself further in harm's way.

Tom shields Kara, nearly dives behind the counter as the shot rings out. Sam figures they put Adam in as sniper, because, if nothing else, the kid is a good shot. And as usual, he hits his mark.

But not before Barry gets off a shot. The quick movements of Tom and Kara catches his attention just fast enough for a round to make it's way to Tom.

It's over as fast as it starts. Kara is up off the floor, bolting for the door where the balance of team three guides her out, tries to calm her down. Sam drops the bear, is at Tom's side before he's sure what's happening. "Tom? Tom, you good?"

"Vest," he mumbles, gives something resembling a chuckle before wincing. "Ribs," he groans.

"Ribs? Christmas is a turkey holiday," Sam smirks, shakes his head as he helps Tom to his feet. "You should go get checked out."

Tom frowns, though he knows he can't argue while he's wincing with each move.

Sam sighs, takes in the sight of the body on the floor, the bear nearby, and the frightened couple making their way out of the playhouses.

Showered and changed, Sam shoves his things in his gym bag and heads for the doors, slowing as he passes Tom on his way in. "How're the ribs?"

Tom shrugs, winces as it jostles the wrong part and then smirks. "I'll live. Heading out?"

"Yeah," Sam sighs, checks the time on his watch. "That debrief took too long. I'm pretty sure I missed team one's Christmas party at my place." Catching the look Tom gives, Sam elaborates. "I'll live missing team one's party, its not that. But if I get home and my whole family is asleep? Well, I'll be writing an angry letter to Santa about that one," he smirks.

Tom nods, steps out of Sam's way. "Better get going then."

He nods, takes a step towards the door before.

"Oh, wait," Tom stops him, looking through the bag Sam just noticed he was carrying. "You left this guy back at the store. Figure it might be important," he smiles, passing Sam the bear from the toy store.

"Thanks… where-"

"I got to talking with the manager while I was getting checked out, you know, between arguing over whether or not I really needed X-rays, and one thing lead to another…anyway, you'd better get going. Have a good Christmas Braddock," Tom grins, turns on his heel and heads further into the room.

"Thanks… Merry Christmas Tom."

The house is dark when he gets home and Sam groans to himself, curses his luck. He's quiet though as he opens the door, careful to lock it behind him. He slips off his boots and coat, sets both in the closet and has a quick look at the living room from the door. It doesn't look too bad in the dark, though he figures he'll have some post party clean up to do. First though, there are more important things to do. With that in mind, he digs through his bag for the bear.

"Hey."

He nearly jumps, only smirks when he catches Jules' self-satisfied grin. "Hey," he replies, still digging through the bag.

"I didn't mean to scare you. What're you looking for?" she asks, rising from her position on the sofa to greet him.

"This," he admits, finally retrieving the bear, grinning.

She smiles, takes the bear from him. "He's too cute Sam."

He nods, tugs her towards him, wrapping his arms around her. "I know. I have to compete with uncle Spike somehow, don't I?"

Jules grins. "He brought her a reindeer rattle tonight. It's too heavy for her to use but its so cute."

His smiles grows. "Yes, but that's a Christmas toy. I went for an all year round toy."

"Nice," she smiles, pulls herself closer to him. "It's perfect."

"You're up late."

"I waited up for you." When she sees his expression change she interrupts him. "We had gone to bed, but Sadie got up, so I did too, and once she was asleep again I figured I'd just wait up for you."

"Quick question - do you know that there's mistletoe here?" he smiles, points upwards at the top of the doorway to the living room.

She grins up at him. "I left that up after the party," she explains, before pressing a kiss to his lips.

"I'm sorry I missed the party," he whispers.

"We missed you," she admits, running a finger along his jawline. "How was shift?"

He raises a brow, glances at his watch and she frowns. "Not great," he explains, tells her the basics, and even admits Tom's part in the bear and she grins.

"I knew I liked him."

He gives a small smile, shakes his head. "I still wish I could have been here. Kind of feels like I missed Christmas or something."

She shakes her head, takes his hand in hers and hands the bear back to him. "You didn't. Christmas doesn't officially start for another 15 minutes," she smiles, leads him towards the tree. With the flick of a switch, she turns on the lights and they watch as the moving ornaments begin their dance.

His smiles grows as he gets her plan, smiles even bigger when he realizes Sadie is in her basinet on the floor near the tree.

"I figured Sadie's a part of this too now," Jules offers, though he's already got the point.

He quickly finds a spot on the floor near Sadie, grins as he realizes she's just awake enough for him to justify picking her up. Jules doesn't argue, just smiles and pulls the basinet away as Sam lays near the tree, Sadie relaxed against his chest. She joins him there, her hand clasping his free one as she swaps her gaze back and forth between her family and the lights dancing above her. Taking the bear she smiles, quietly asks Sadie what she thinks and giggles when Sadie's response is closing her eyes and drifting back off to sleep. Sam keeps one hand on Sadie while his other joins with Jules' and he smiles, closes his eyes.

"You know, in a few minutes we can do presents," she laughs, thinks she must be channeling her five-year-old self.

He doesn't open his eyes, though he smiles as he shakes his head. "You can open yours anytime. I'm good. This is all I want for Christmas."