I am so glad that you guys still like the story enjoy the next installment.
Still borrowing from Rookie Blue and Roswell, but I don't own either one.
Wendy was tapping her foot impatiently waiting for Oliver, Andy and Traci. When she saw that they were headed in her direction, she quickly ushered them into a door. Once they stepped inside, they saw that it was a back room set up behind where Santa would sit and visit with the children. She pointed to Andy first. "Your job is to lead the children up to see Santa and to help keep things moving along at a nice pace. When each child is done visiting Santa, they get a candy cane," Wendy instructed.
She turned her focus to Traci. "You will be in charge of taking photos of the children visiting with Santa. Let me introduce you to Simon, an employee of Wired Up. They help us set up the camera, computer and printers every year." As Wendy mentioned Wired Up, the three coppers exchanged a long glance.
"Sounds good," Traci replied. She leaned over and whispered to Andy, "Undercover op at the mall and I'm still taking mug shots."
Andy snorted in response. Wendy gave her a look. "I hope you ladies take this seriously," she stated. She then led Oliver away to show him Santa's chair.
The morning passed rather uneventfully as Andy, Traci and Oliver settled into a routine. Andy noticed that Oliver really was good with the kids. He listened attentively and gave encouragement. Each child smiled and laughed at his jokes. Even children who seemed shy and would have been afraid warmed up to him fairly quickly.
Around 1:00 pm, Wendy informed them that they would be taking a half an hour break for lunch. Andy and Traci had to put up the barriers and set up a sign showing when Santa would be back. As Traci finished with the sign, Andy heard a low wolf whistle. She figured it couldn't possibly be for her dressed in that ridiculous outfit, so she ignored it. A moment later she felt someone brush against her. She startled and looked to her right. Simon, the Wired Up employee was right in her personal space. "Damn, girl! You're workin' them tights!" Simon joked.
Andy felt sick to her stomach. Simon seemed nice enough, but wasn't her type at all. She knew she had to be nice to him to try and gather intel for the UC op, but being near him was upsetting. He wore way too much cologne, his breath smelled like cigarettes, and he really had some personal space issues. Andy tried to force a smile onto her face.
"Thanks, but I have a boyfriend," Andy replied. Simon reached out and touched her arm. "He doesn't have to know," Simon replied, giving her a wink. Andy felt her stomach turn over. "Thanks, but, uh, no thanks," she said. "Let's just keep it professional, okay? I need this job." Andy turned her back on him and looked for Traci.
Simon reached out and yanked her arm back again, much more forcefully this time. Andy's instinct was to twist his arm and push him up against the wall and arrest him, but she couldn't do that. She removed his hand and asked, "Please, just leave me alone." She breathed a sigh of relief when he finally walked away. She went into the back room to catch up with Traci and Oliver.
After lunch, the job continued to go smoothly until around 3:00. All of a sudden, Oliver jumped up and left his chair, hurrying to the staging room. Andy wasn't sure what was going on, so she followed him. "Oliver! What's wrong?" she asked.
"Zoe's out there!" Oliver replied.
"Zoe? Your wife?"
"Yes, my wife and my three girls! They're here to see Santa! I can't let them see me like this," Oliver said. "We just found out about the op this morning, she'll never understand what I'm doing here. And the 2 youngest ones still believe in Santa, I can't ruin this for them."
Andy wasn't sure what to do. Olive thought for a moment, then instructed, "Go get Nash, find Wendy, just tell her we need to just explain the situation to Zoe so that they can leave."
Andy went back out into Santa's Village and overheard Traci explaining where Santa had gone, "You know, Santa just realized that the reindeer didn't get any lunch! Apparently somebody forgot to give them carrots during the lunch break, can you believe that?" The faces of the children were filled with knowing smiles. The parents just looked annoyed.
Andy explained the situation to Traci who then announced they were going to have to take a 15 minute break until Santa could return. They put up the sign and went back to the staging area.
A few minutes later, she felt someone come up behind her and touch her waist. She reacted immediately, jerking away from the touch and spinning around, ready to give Simon a real piece of her mind.
She open and closed her mouth but no words came out. In front of her stood Sam, dressed up as Santa, dimples showing as he grinned at her.
"What's wrong, Candy Cane?" he asked her.
"Wha…what are you doing here?" Andy asked, shocked.
"Oliver called me, asked me to step in for him for the rest of the day," Sam explained. "I think he's on the phone with Zoe now, letting her know what's going on."
"That makes sense," Andy replied, "I just can't believe that he convinced you to put on a Santa suit and hang out with kids."
"The job has its perks," he teased. His eyes crinkled up and he pulled her close for a sweet kiss. He pulled away. "You look pretty hot as an elf, McNally," he said, and walked out front.
Andy honestly couldn't believe it. The remaining hours of the afternoon shift flew by. She and Sam made a pretty good team. After the last kid had left at 5, Traci called to them. "Once last photo, Santa?"
Sam just looked at her. Then he realized what Traci meant. He pulled Andy down onto his lap and gently tickled her side. Andy laughed, looking down at Sam. Sam was looking up at her, his eyes full of love. Traci snapped the photo, it came out perfect.
As the three of them headed up to the dressing room to change back into their regular clothes, Andy heard Wendy thanking Sam for stepping in for Oliver. "Stepping in?" Oliver said. "He begged me to be Santa!"
