A/N: For this story, you need to know that Grace and Jake have met Thor (Saving the World).

YES GRACE, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS

It was barely the third week of November.

Colorado Springs had been hit with an early season snowstorm; Jack had taken the boys tobogganing. Recovering from an ear infection, Grace was home with Mom, where it was warm and dry.

Reading the Sunday morning paper, Samantha O'Neill started to feel the thin edge of panic assault her senses.

Christmas shopping ads had arrived! Sam hated Christmas shopping. The fact that the ads now started way before the holiday made things worse.

Glancing up from the dreaded store ads, Sam looked towards her little girl, just turned seven, going on seventeen. She found Grace deep in thought, laboriously printing something on the writing paper in front of her.

"Grace, Jon wants to see Santa Claus at the mall tomorrow. Do you want to come too?" Sam asked in what she thought was a rhetorical question sure to get her daughter's attention. After all, last year, Grace and Jake insisted on seeing Santa the very first day he arrived at their local mall. This year, Jon, nearly three-years-old, had joined in the act, spotting Santa on the front page of the Gazette earlier this morning.

"It's okay, Mom. I don't want to go," Grace answered, much to her mother's surprise.

Assuming Grace thought she wouldn't be allowed to go because of her ear infection, Sam said, "Princess, I think we can bundle you up enough so you won't get cold. I know how much you love Santa."

"Mom," Grace said, fixing her mother with a very serious glance, "you know that man isn't the real Santa Claus, don't you?"

After a brief mental hiccup, Sam recovered to reply, "Well, you're right of course, the real Santa can't be everywhere at the same time. But the mall Santa works for him. He'll take all your letters to the North Pole."

Grace made a face and rolled her eyes in a look that reminded Sam of a certain Air Force Lt. Colonel trying to explain something self-evident to Rodney McKay.

"Mom, that man in the red suit isn't really Santa Claus. That's make believe," Grace clarified with an air of certainty.

"Where did you hear that?" Sam asked, hoping against hope she could preserve this wonder of childhood just a bit longer.

"Janice, Cindy, Maeve, Jennifer and Chris told me," the second grader replied, listing the names of several classmates. "And they're almost right."

"Almost?"

"Sure," Grace said matter-of-factly as her mother came to stand beside her, looking down at the very important letter she'd been writing.

"Why are you writing a letter to Thor, Grace?" Sam asked.

"It's my Christmas list, Mom," Grace explained.

"But you said Santa Claus is make believe," Sam said, understanding dawning all too slowly. "Who are you…?"

"I'm going to ask Daddy to take the letter to his friend, Thor. He is the real Santa Claus you know," Grace replied authoritatively.

"What?" Sam asked softly. "Princess, why do you think Thor is Santa Claus?" Sam tried to rebound from her shock in a positive parental tone.

"Mom, it's okay. I know it's a secret. I won't tell anyone about Thor," Grace tried to reassure her mother, who still looked very puzzled.

"Princess, Daddy and I know that. But why would you think Thor is Santa," Sam asked again.

It was Grace's turn to look puzzled. Her mother was very smart; her daddy always said so. But didn't she know anything about Santa?

"Mom," Grace began patiently, "it's obvious. We all know reindeer can't fly. But Thor, he can fly. He flies in his ship all the time. He can bring lots of presents any time he wants."

Grace smiled sweetly at her mother and went back to writing her Christmas list. Sam took a deep breath, closed her eyes and decided she'd let Jack handle this one when he came home.

A/N: Santa arrived at my mall this week. So I had to write this. Good luck to all parents of young children this year! They grow up too fast.