A/N: Thanks again to all who reviewed and added this to their alerts.

Disclaimer: I continue to own nothing

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reid followed Dot slowly to the main room wondering how the hell he'd gotten himself in this position. He supposed it was his own fault. Coming here had been his idea after all. He'd only wanted to help. He didn't realize it would come to this. He was helping wasn't he? He looked at the four children in the room who had no presents for Christmas. He knew what that was like. He didn't want that for them so he'd suck it up, say a few ho ho hos, give them their presents and go back to being mild mannered Spencer Reid. It would be okay.

Dot was almost at the room. He glanced back at his teammates. Garcia was motioning for him to smile and shake his bells. Oh, he'd almost forgotten about them. He gently shook them and they tinkled. Everyone in the room looked up at the sound. Dot appeared. "Hi everyone, welcome to the 5th Street Shelter Christmas dinner, which we'll get to in a while but right now we have a visitor who's come a long way to be with us, heeeere's Santa Claus."

Reid was frozen to his spot on the floor. He was terrified. Dot tugged his arm and pushed him into the room. Reid looked at all the people, who were looking back at him expectantly. Then he looked at the floor, saying ho ho ho as deeply as he could. He walked over to the chair Dot had set up for him near the tree and sat down, saying ho ho ho again for good measure. The children clustered around him.

"Hi Santa," they said in unison, their eyes alive with hope and wonder.

What should he say to that? He couldn't just ho again could he? He had to think of something else. "Hi," he squeaked, then cleared his throat and said "boys and girls," in his deepest voice.

The team was watching from the doorway. "Do you think he can pull this off," Rossi whispered.

"I certainly hope so," Hotch replied but he didn't look confident.

Reid looked at the four little people in front of him. He had to say something. He looked at the little girl he'd done the magic trick with, "Hello Missy, have you been a good girl?"

Missy nodded and approached Reid, immediately perching herself on his knee. What did he say now that the little girl was on his knee? "So you've been a really good girl, huh?"

"Yes, I've been very good Santa. I help around the house and try to be quiet so as not to wake mommy when she's sleeping. She needs to sleep lots."

Missy's father off to the side, whispered, "My wife has breast cancer. I don't have much insurance, so we spend everything on trying to deal with Bonnie's health. That's why I couldn't afford anything for Christmas so I brought the kids here"

Reid looked at the little girl on his knee. Their eyes met. Beautiful brown eyes looked into big blue ones so full of innocence. No words passed between them but somehow Missy could tell that Santa understood what she was going through. Sometimes, that was all she wanted, just for someone to understand what it's like when your mommy is sick and lost to you.

"Daddy wondered if you didn't come to our apartment because mommy is sick and you were afraid to catch something." Reid glanced at Missy's father who shrugged.

"No, I wasn't afraid. I didn't stop because I knew I'd be seeing you today. Only special people get to see me on Christmas day," Reid hoped he sounded convincing.

"Really," the child perked up. Reid nodded and the girl seemed satisfied.

"I don't think I got a letter from you but I brought you something anyway." He reached in his bag for a girl's present and gave it to her.

The child's face lit up. "Thank you, thank you, thank you Santa," she said, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek.

"Way to go Reid," Emily whispered quietly from the doorway.

Missy got down and her little brother ran up and jumped on Reid's lap, "Hi Santa."

"Hi Connor," Reid said, "Have you been a good boy as well?"

"I've been really good, haven't I Daddy," the boy said eyeing the sack full of presents. His father nodded.

"Well let's see what I have here for you." He reached into the sack to pull out a brightly wrapped package and gave it to the little boy.

"Thank you," Connor said, jumping down in a hurry to unwrap his treasure.

Paula, the other little girl, looked shyly at Reid but didn't approach him. "Hi Paula," Reid said.

"Hi," she replied quietly.

"Don't you want to come and see me?" Reid asked and the child nodded but didn't come any closer. "Why don't you come then?"

"Mommy said I was bad yesterday, so I guess I don't get anything." The little girl's voice was on the edge of tears.

Reid looked over at her mother, sitting off to the side. "We live in my old car. She ran off yesterday. She was upset about Christmas. It was so cold. I was afraid for her."

These three people lived in a car. How did that happen, he wondered? It must have shown on his face. "Running from an abusive ex-husband. If I settle anywhere he finds me. We have to stay under the radar. He'll kill me."

He turned back to Paula and motioned for her to come to him. The child approached shyly, climbing up on his knee. "I'm sorry I was bad," she said. Her big green eyes bore into his soul.

"I know that," Reid reached into his bag, "Merry Christmas Paula." He handed her a present. She thanked him, jumping down quickly to rip into the parcel. Reid looked at the remaining little boy, "Hi Brandon."

"Hi Santa," Reid motioned with his head and the boy sat on his lap.

"Pretty cold out there, huh," Reid spoke in what he felt was his best Santa voice.

The small boy nodded. "Mom lets us put the heat on in the car sometimes to keep warm so it's not so bad. We go into stores in the daytime to wash in the bathrooms."

Reid struggled for words. "Dot, the nice lady who runs this shelter, has some hats and mittens and scarves to help keep you warm and Santa has something for you in this big old bag here," he reached in and pulled out a present and the boy's face lit up at the sight.

"Wow, thanks Santa," he jumped down to join the others and open his gift.

Dot had made up gift packs for everyone with scarves, mittens, and hats to keep them warmer in the winter's cold. She also had vouchers from coffee shops, delis, laudramats to help these people out. Santa helped her distribute them and then he tinkled his bell and said his final ho ho ho and disappeared into the back room.

The team was waiting for him as he arrived. "You did really good man," Morgan said patting him on the back.

"Yeah, thanks Morgan," he said absently, turning to the unit chief, "Hotch, we need to talk."