STOP. BEFORE YOU PROCEED, PLEASE READ THIS. This chapter will only truly make sense if you first listen to "One Toy Soldier" by Enya from her Christmas album, And Winter Came…

Thank you. You may now proceed!

Oh, by the way, the first part of this is a dream and will totally appeal to you Hero's Cuties fans! This is the closest to dirty you will ever see me get (at least, with these two). I OWN NOTHING.

"There's no greater gift than friendship." – Santa Claus, The Polar Express

Chapter 3: The Greatest Gift
Felix was in the toy store, looking over each and every toy with his sharp handyman eyes, when they fell upon a drummer at the end of a row of toy soldiers. He stopped; the little soldier looked so sad!

"What's troubling you, little fella?" he asked, leaning forward a bit.

"My drum is broken," he replied as he held it up for him to see. It was a red Colonial snare drum with snapped strings and a hole in the skin. Felix whistled a low note and took it for a better look.

"It's pretty busted up," he observed.

"I know," the soldier sighed, "and I'm the only drummer in the whole regiment since the other one got sold. I have to have a drum, especially at Christmas! Otherwise, how will I keep my oath?"

"Your oath?" Felix repeated.

"Yes, sir," he nodded and recited.

"For he keeps the beat of marching feet
He keeps the beat so true
He wants to sing and hopes to bring
Happy Christmas Day to you."

"Hey, I know that song!" Felix said brightly.

"Oh, it's much more than a song, sir," the soldier said fervently, "It's a magic spell and when I play it on my drum every sunset, all the other toys that hear it come to life and then we play and dance and sing together until I play again at sunrise. When I do that, we all scamper back to our places."

"That sounds wonderful," said Felix, "It'd be an awful shame not to have your fun on Christmas Eve of all nights. I can fix that!"

He whipped out his magic golden hammer and before you can say "Jiminy jaminy," the drum was as good as new!

"Here you go, little friend," he smiled as he returned it, "Fit as a fiddle!"

"My drum!" the soldier cried joyfully, "You fixed my drum! I can't believe it!" He strapped it on and began to play. Felix stood there and listened until it was time to go. As he turned away, he saluted the drummer and said, "Merry Christmas, little soldier!"

"Merry Christmas to you, sir!"

Tamora woke from the beautiful dream and glanced to her right, where her husband was sleeping peacefully and closely beside her. He was shirtless and his hair was messy (of course, we all know why) and he was on his stomach with his face turned to her and his hand between their heads. She slipped her hand under his and unconsciously, he kissed it and scooted closer to her. It made her smile dearly and warmed her heart.

"I love you," she whispered. He didn't answer, but he did squeeze her hand gently and she took that as a response. She felt something settle on her cheek like a flower petal. She picked it up and saw that it was a flower petal, from the mistletoe hanging over their heads, the one that had "mysteriously" disappeared from the living room. She looked up at it with a smirk, turned to Felix, and stared adoringly at him until she fell asleep again.

"Ralph," Vanellope asked gently, "Do you believe in Santa Claus?"

They had finished Elf and were now watching The Year Without A Santa Claus. Felix and Tammy had already retired for the evening, so Vanellope wasn't worried about having a private conversation.

"You bet I do," Ralph said, "How come?" Her face fell a bit.

"This is the first real Christmas I've ever had," she said, "The whole time I was a glitch, no one ever came to see me on Christmas. If Santa was real, why would he have ignored me for so long?"

Ralph looked at her for a moment; he was propped up on his elbows with another mug of cocoa.

"I'll tell you something personal, kid," he said, "When I was alone at the dump, Santa used to come visit me every single Christmas Eve."

"Did he bring you any presents?" she asked.

"He brought me food," he said, "Homecooked food, all ready to eat. I felt like I didn't really need any presents as long as I could get a decent meal. The way I figure it, Santa has a soft spot for the lonely ones like us. If he came to see me, I guarantee he's been to see you, too."

Vanellope sat against his arm and thought for a second.

"You know, now that you mention it," she said a bit slowly, "I remember something. Every Christmas Eve after I fell asleep, I could feel someone patting me on the head with, like, this warm, tingly, glowy thing. It felt so good and it made me so happy. I wonder if that was it."

"Sounds like Santa to me," Ralph shrugged. She just nodded and thought some more while watching the movie.

Hours later, Ralph was sitting in front of the couch with his head back against the cushions; the blanket he had was even big enough to cover his feet and with the added warmth of the fire and Vanellope curled up behind his head, he slept quite comfortably.

Vanellope stirred because she'd heard something like the low whistling of the wind; she got up on her hands and stared blearily at the mantel on the fireplace, where they'd left milk and cookies for old St. Nick.

Then her eyes popped open and she rubbed them hard.

"Santa?" she whispered in open-mouthed amazement.

"Uh-oh, caught again," Santa Claus chuckled, "Good evening, Vanellope. I see you're finally having a happy holiday!"

"Yeah, I am," she nodded and hopped off the couch, "What gives, anyway? I spent all those years alone in a cave and you never brought me so much as a candy cane. What took you so long?"

"Just because I didn't bring you any presents, you thought you were alone at Christmas?" said Santa. She stopped for a moment.

"What do you mean?" she asked in confusion.

"Close your eyes," he instructed. When she did, he gently cupped her head with his mittened hand and stroked her hair. She gasped softly, recognizing this feeling form Christmas Eves long gone by.

"That was really you?" she said emotionally, "Every year, that was you?" He nodded and knelt to her.

"The reason I never brought you any presents," he said wisely, "is because I knew that you had an even greater gift coming your way: The gift of love. That is a gift that lasts all throughout the year and I knew you'd find it without my help."

"Love, huh?" Vanellope raised her eyebrow at Ralph, still bundled up in his blanket. "You mean the giant stinky marshmallow over there?" Santa glanced at him and chuckled again.

"But of course," he said warmly, "Friendship is one of many forms of love! You love Ralph, do you not?"

"Yeah," she finally smiled, "I guess I do. Thanks a lot, Santa."

"Here." Santa brought out a red box tied with a gold ribbon. "I was going to put this under the tree with the others, but here you go."

"Wow, thanks!" She accepted and knelt down to tear the box open. She gasped again. "No way," she breathed and carefully lifted out a beautiful Raggedy Anne doll. "Raggedy Anne! I always wanted one of these!" She hugged the doll and saw something else in the box. "The book, too?" She jumped and hugged the jolly man. "Thank you, Santa," she croaked, trying not to cry. Santa smiled and hugged her back. After a moment, he disappeared in a whirlwind of snowflakes that swirled around her with a whispered "Merry Christmas, Vanellope." The snowflakes flew up the chimney, so she ran out the front door and onto the lawn, turning in all directions and scanning the snow-filled skies with her breath catching in the chill wind. She could see nothing through the curtain of flakes, but she distinctly heard sleigh bells and Santa's booming "Ho, ho, ho" filling the cold darkness.

For a moment, Vanellope just stood there, a red spot on a quilt of white in what seemed to be a universe of snowflakes. She had seen Santa Claus. Probably no one would ever believe her, but she had seen him, just as he had seen her every Christmas Eve of her exile.

She was startled out of her musings by the sound of the door opening and Ralph coming out to her, going "Kid, are you nuts? You'll catch your death out here!"

"Ralph!" she piped, "Ralph, I saw him! He was here!"

"Who, Santa?"

"No, Lee Majors," she rolled her eyes, "Of course Santa! He gave me a doll and a hug he flew up the chimney and it wasn't a dream because I'm freezing my keister off!"

"Well, bring that keister back inside, then!" he said as he picked her up and carried her in. He closed the door behind them and shivered. "Whew! I need some cocoa!" He nuked a couple of mugs of chocolate and they sat by the fire again. "He came and saw me right after you fell asleep," he said, "He won't be coming to visit me anymore, now that I've got a family."

"I guess he won't visit me, either," Vanellope said, "but you know…I think I'm okay with that." She cuddled her new doll. "As long as I've got you, I can't go wrong, right?"

"You bet, kid," he smiled, "You're stuck with me for life."

"I'll drink to that," she said. They clinked their mugs together with a mutual "Merry Christmas" and finished their cocoa in a comfortable silence, after which they returned to the couch and fell back to sleep, lulled by the cheery sound of the warm fire.

Author's Review:
I was meaning to make this a three-shot, but my inner muse wants to drag it out as long as possible, so the next chapter will the be the last one!

I'm not sure how I thought of Felix and the toy soldier and the Enya song, but it made a perfect combo for me and a wonderful Christmas dream for Tammy.

Speaking of whom, this isn't the first time I've "shown" a couple in bed. In one of my Kingdom Hearts stories, my OC has a nightmare and her husband (Riku) rocks her back to sleep, so no dirty activity there. This may be, however, the first time I've ever dropped an innuendo; but quite honestly, they got much better use out of that mistletoe than if it had just hung as a useless decoration.

I always figured Vanellope would've had trouble believing in Santa, not because it's a cliché, but because of all that time she spent alone. Santa would never leave somebody like her alone at Christmas, I would think, so that turned out well (I hope). As for the doll, maybe she would like dolls, maybe not; but there's this fan art on Pinterest of Vanellope holding a handmade doll in her bed (like Lilo!) so I figured she would've at least wanted a doll for comfort purposes. And in my opinion, Raggedy Anne is the best doll in the universe.

Oh, and Lee Majors made a cameo appearance in Scrooged, one of the greatest and funniest Christmas movies EVER.

Questions, comments, etc.! See you next chapter!