Meet the Kids

1 week before Christmas

London, England

In the heart of downtown, just close enough to all the markets and city hall, yet far enough to be on its own, there stood an old building. Its painting was fading, there were roots crawling up some of the wals

Agatha's Orphanage was one of the oldest orphanages in all of London, housing many children since the city's founding and making sure they all had three meals a day, a warm bed and decent clothes. It also instilled in the children who lived there a sense of charity and courtesy.

And outside on this brisk winter day, several of the orphans were already beginning to practice their carolling or doing some street shows

"Thank you very much! Every pound goes to the shelters!" A 12 year old with long, curly blonde hair smiled as she danced with the grace of a ballerina despite needing a cane. "Happy holidays and Merry Christmas!"

Her name was Sophianna, and she wore a blue sweater and skirt. She was the oldest of the children and a proud big sister/leader.

"How equistuqe!"

"Marvelous details!"

"You, my dear noy, have a future in the arts!"

Off to the side was Jeremy Creek, an 8 year old boy who had brown curly hair and freckles on his cheeks. He was giving amazing hand drawn portraits for low prices using nothing but crayons. He just smiled and nodded in thanks.

Tim Tiny, the third youngest at 5 years old, was singing Jingle Bells with Tillie, who was the 2nd youngest at 4 years old. Tim, a brunette, wore a blue jacket and toque with gloves while Tillie was a red haired girl with adorable freckles in a green dress.

An adorable coo came from little baby Cindy Lou, who was no older than two and the youngest of the children. She held onto and nibbled on a teddy in her carrier, which was sheltered from the breeze by the shadow and form of the final child:

Buddy, the 10 year old whose hat was currently being used to collect the bills and coins the children were receiving. He joined Sophianna in giving thanks for the support while sporting a green jackey and yellow snow-pants

"Thank you, happy holidays!"

"How's everything going?"

The kids turned to see a lovely young woman named Judy, their matron, descending the stais to check on them and take Cindy in from the cold.

Buddy hoisted up his hat and showed it with pride

"I'd say we have a couple hundred pounds already." He beamed with pride.

"And this is just the first day!" Jeremy beamed with delight, briefly taking his eye off his subject before returning to his work

"Well, wrap it up and come in for coco." Judy smiled, eliciting a few groans or protesting from not only the kids, but the veiwers

Yes, it seemed like this was indeed a happy little orphanage, and the kids and matron were getting ready for another Christmas.

They had no idea that those minutes were probably the last normal ones of their lives.

AC XXX DC

Back at the North Pole

Same time

"Well Arthur; I'd say he is ready." Steve beamed with pride as the Claus family, from a control room, watched something that was amazing, proud and tear-jerking all at once (although that last one was mostly in the case of Arthur).

Dennis jumped down and up chimney stacks, leapt from rooftop to rooftop without a hint of fear or hesitation and scaled tall buildings by holding onto the sills of windows and leaping through them without so much as a crack or crash. He had bones for dogs, yarn for cats, downed the milk and cookies in half a blink and set up dinners without fail while depositing every single present stylishly and perfectly.

His course had included three regular sized houses, a small apartment building, a skyscraper and a church.

He finished them all in record time.

"That's my boy." Francine smiled as she and Bea gave Arthur a hug. "Well, dear?"

Arthur smiled and gave his head a nod.

"Okay. He's ready. Good job, Jim."

"I don't think either myself or father could've done better ourselves." Malcom smiled, proud of his grandson.

Grand-Santa let out an amused grin. The boy was lucky he wasn't doing this during a world war! Those years, Grand-Santa had EARNED his reputation of Santa.

"Well let me tell you this much, it wasn't easy!" Jim groaned. "You wouldn't BELIEVE how many chimneys and windows he went through!"

As if to demonstrate, a full two minute two video of Dennis'….less than stellar performances…lit up the screen. Chimneys and windows were destroyed, alarms set off, dogs and cats had leapt onto the boy….

"Sorry!" One of the elves said, hurriedly typing away the clips. "Thought I deleted that."

"Oh, Dennis…." Arthur hid his face in his hands and groaned every time he heard his son holler 'I'm okay!'

Nick held back his laughter until he caught sight of Dennis slamming into a wall and falling onto his back saying 'I'll have the gluten free cookies, mom!'

By the time the clips had finished, Dennis had made his up the control room with a proud smile on his face.

"So?" He asked.

"You're ready." Arthur smiled at his son as steve motioned an elf to bring up the image of a large building

"That is your target." Arthur explained. "Agatha's Orphanage in jolly old London England."

"Just there?" Dennis asked, a little disappointed.

"Baby steps, Dennis, baby steps." Malcom assured his grandson. "When I started out, my father only let me do the cottages."

"And here is your equipment." Steve told his nephew, handing him a backpack. "Pixie dust, a reindeer whistle, a Ho-Ho 2026 for scanning wrapped presents…"

"Don't forget this!"

A female elf with a blonde Mohawk that contrasted her short black hair appeared and handed the boy a small device.

"An all on one wrapping kit. Laser gudided scissors, self-taping…and an unlimited amount of bows!"

"Thanks, aunt Bryony." Dennis beamed before turning to Steve. "Why a backpack? Shouldn't I…?"

"We only have one sack, and it's a family heirloom." Malcom cut in. "Sorry, Dennis, you'll have to make due."

Dennis shrugged and then truned to his father

"So, what do the kids want?"

"Well…." Arthur struggled. "That's the thing, we haven't gotten a letter from any of them. And with only a week before Christmas…"

"Oh, don't worry, dad." Dennis beamed, reaching into his pocket. "I think I know a way around that."

He then pulled out a snowglobe, only to see all the adults gasp in shock.

"Dennis…." Steve asked. "Where did you get that?"

"Grand-Santa?" Dennis confessed in spite of the older man motioning him not to.

"Those teleporting snow-globes were banned for a reason!" Steve hollered in shock. "They're the reason of…the 1816 incident."

All the older Clauses shuddered at the memory

"And you know the rules, nephew." Nick added. "We can't be seen…"

"No, Santa can't be seen." Dennis corrected everyone. "I'll just pop in for a quick spell, chat up a bit and then port back. No problems at all."

Grand-Santa now looked worried.

"Dennis, wait!"

"I say…." Dennis beamed before, shaking the snow globe and whispering. "Agatha's Orphanage."

He then flung the ball to the ground and disappeared in a blaze of snowflakes and wind.

"Denny?" Bea asked, tugging her mother's sleeve. "Ma? Where Denny?"

No one said a word for a full 10 minutes.

"Father…." Malcom asked. "How many of those did you give him?"

"…..One."

"And does he know they only work one way?"

"…..Slipped me mind."

"Are you telling me….?" Arthur asked. "That my son is in the real world….a week before Christmas…with a backpack's worth of Christmas night delivery supplies…with no food, clothes or drink besides what he has on him….and you, when giving him that, neglected to tell me a rather important detail?"

Grand-Santa nodded.

"Oh dear…" Francine said. "If anyone in the other countries finds out that a Claus checked in on a single location prior to Christmas…oh, I can feel the headache from the UN already!"

"Not to worry!" Steve assured Arthur. "We know where Dennis teleported to and every Ho-Ho has a tracking chip installed just in case something like this happens."

Arthur gave his brother a look that said 'is that supposed to make me feel better?'

"And I shall deploy the elves I had on standby."

"When he gets back…." Arthur sighed. "I am going to hug, kiss and then GROUND THAT BOY FOR THE REST OF HIS NATURAL LIFE!"

Everyone but Francine backed away

"No you won't." Francine smiled at her husband, giving him a peck on the cheek and then handing Bea over to him. "I'll go help Mum with the search and treaties."

Arthur barely gave his wife a second glance as he stared at Steve.

"I've already deployed the trio." Steve assured him. "They should have Dennis back in home for tea."

Arthur rubbed his crown in exasperation.

When Francine found her mother-in-law, she let out a smile and gave her a thumbs up.

"Operation, Santa-Ship has started with no complications, mum." She beamed happily

"Wonderful, dear." Margret smiled as she handed Grand-Santa his favorite pudding.

"Totally worth the lashing Arthur's going to give me later." The old man grinned

"Oh, don't worry about that." Francine assured him, "By the time this all blows over, he'll probably forget all about it."

"I must say, I'm glad Dennis asked for what he did." Margret smiled. "We Clauses may not been seen by normal people, but how is Dennis going to find a Mrs. Claus? Or make friends of his own?"

"To say nothing of understanding how the world works." Francine added with a smile as she picked up a book of Cultures from around the world.

AC XXX DC

While Arthur and Steve had panicked and his mother and sister-in-law had done their own way of looking, Nick went about looking for his nephew in his own manner:

He went outside and snowboarded into familiar territory.

"Ok, don't worry Nick…." He told himself. "Everything's going to be fine. This isn't about you….It's about Dennis. Besides, if he can handle this, so can you."

The rumbling of a belly filled his ears and some snow shook. With that, all the confidence Nick had had vanished, and he began to quake in his boots.

Up rose Belbo, who let out a roar before blinking in confusion. He then returned to all fours and began looking around, seemingly uninterested in the older Claus boy and looking for the other.

"Um…Bel?" Nick called out. "Dennis…is kind of gone."

A frown crossed the bear's face, and he sat down and pouted,

"Well, I know where he is….but I kind of need help finding him."

Belbo rose an eyebrow, then furrowed it when he caught onto what Nick was asking of him.

"Look…" Nick confessed. "Not going to lie, you scare me, being a polar bear and all. I have no idea how Dennis puts up with you…but we both want him to be safe, right?"

Belbo let out a nod.

"So….just until we find him…we work together?" Nick let out a hand, hoping he'd keep it. Belbo stood on his hind legs, gave Nick a sniff…then another, examined his hand, and placed a paw over it.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Nick dug into his pocket and pulled out a snowglobe while holding onto the polar bear's neck.

"I say…Agatha's Orphanage."

As teen and bear vanished into the swirling ring of snowflakes and sparkles, they failed to notice someone had overheard their conversation.

AC XXX DC

Dennis landed face-first in the snow and after a minute of his world spinning, wiping it off his form; a red and green stripped jumper with snow-pants, boots and a toque.

"At least I didn't land on the concrete." He mused as he cricked his neck

Honking, chatter, movement…People muttering, smiling, laughing, Packages being wrapped, coco being sipped….So this was the 'real' world, huh?

"I think I'm going to like it here." Dennis smiled as he looked around for the building he sought. Upon seeing it, he made his way over.

Read and review, would ye kindly?

Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I'm working to upload as much of this fic as possible before Christmas.