A/N: Hello. This story is written for the Christmas Fic Exchange on Chit Chat on Author's Corner. So, merry Christmas, quintessentially! Hope you like it! -A (This fic is named after the song When Christmas Comes to Town from The Polar Express.)

(P.S. Ugh! This took forever to write. I'm such a procrastinator.)

Prompt: Your assigned pairing is: Prentiss/Reid

Your assigned song title prompt and 3 prompts are: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer; Prompts: peppermint candies, hot chocolate, snowball fights

Chapter 1

Christmas is the Disneyfication of Christianity -Don Cupitt

"Have a holly, jolly Christmas. It's the best time of the year.

I don't know if there'll be snow, but have a cup of cheer!

Have a holly, jolly Christmas, and in case you didn't hear.

Oh by golly have a holly, jolly Christmas this ye-"

Annoyed, she flipped off the radio. There was nothing worse than Christmas music. Actually, there was nothing worse than Christmas. No one wanted to hear it. Why did the radio stations all insist upon playing the stupid songs?

Emily was irritated as she pulled into the Bureau parking garage. She slammed the door after getting out of her car. It was freezing cold, so she huddled into her puffy coat as she made her way for the stairs. Warmth greeted her when she walked in.

The elevator held few people as it made it's way up, and for that she was thankful. Finally, it stopped on her floor and she was able to get to the warm BAU bullpen. She hung her coat over her chair and sat down.

"Hey, Emily," Reid said as he took a seat across from her. She smiled at him, hardly looking up. He sipped on his coffee. "Would you like a peppermint candy?" he asked.

"What?" He innocently held up a little red and white disk in a clear plastic wrapper. She'd forgotten that those were his favorites.

"Do you want one?" She sighed.

"What the hey?" she said with a shrug. Smiling, he tossed one over to her. As she popped it into her mouth, she thought about past Christmases with the team. Most of them loved Christmas, so she put of a fake smile as suffered in silence. Why should this year be any different?

"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose!

And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows!

All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names.

They never let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games!

Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say,

'Rudolph, with your nose so bright,

won't you guide my sleigh tonight?'

Then all the reindeer loved him, as they shouted out with glee,

'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,

you'll go down in history!"

All heads snapped up to look at Reid. He was turning rather red himself as he fumbled around with his phone, trying to answer it. Whoever it was didn't talk long as he put it back down a couple moments later.

"Care to explain what that was?" Morgan asked, amused. His face turned red again.

"Oh, it's a ringtone-"

"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny n-"

He didn't even answer that time, just hit ignore. Three more times it went off before she couldn't take it anymore.

"Damn it, Reid! Shut that thing off!" They all looked at her, alarmed.

"What-"

"No one wants to hear freaking Christmas music eighty times a day!"

"But-"

"No! Okay? No. I hate Christmas music... no. No, I hate Christmas, period!" With that, she stormed out. Reid looked close to tears at her sudden rage at him.

"But Garcia changed it and I don't know how to fix it..."

CM

Emily stormed out into the cold. God, Reid could be so annoying! She knew that her anger was irrational, but that didn't matter. She couldn't help the resentment that coursed through her.

Then she thought about the look he gave her. The look that screamed 'kicked puppy.' And, just like that, the anger melted like snow in the spring. She hadn't meant to hurt his feelings like that. After all, Reid will be Reid.

Emily sighed. She really needed to apologize. But, as she turned to go back in, she was greeted by an odd looking woman. This woman, bedecked in all sorts of odd jewelry, glared at her.

"Can I help you?" Emily asked. When the woman spoke, her voice all misty and raspy. Vaguely, Emily wondered if she had a bad cold.

"Your childish hatred of Christmas has caused you to lash out and hurt a dear friend."

"How do you-"

"Emily," the woman said, cutting her off, "if you don't change, you will lose all of your friends. You will forever be alone on Christmas. In your past, Christmas has been forgotten, blurred in time and sadness. You must let that go. Only through the one you love will you find the true meaning of Christmas, and only when that happens will you find true happiness."

"How do you know all of that about me?" Emily exclaimed. "Who are you?" Tires squealed behind her, causing her to avert her attention. When she looked back, the woman was gone. There were no footprints in the snow, no trace she'd ever stood there. She simply disappeared.