AN - It's Christmas time and I've always enjoyed the holiday episodes so I decided to write a new chapter featuring that time of the year. Please read and review, let me know what you think about it and always, please support the official release.

It was the week before Christmas at First and Loan in Cleveland Mississippi and an hour before closing and Julie Ryans was the last teller for the night, along with Matthew Stone, the bank manager and Russell Ross the security guard. Checking all the registers to make sure the other tellers cleaned their drawers correctly. There was a ding as the last customer of the day entered and walked over to the table where customers would write out their deposits. Looking up she was shocked to see that the final person was dressed up as Santa Claus. Russell was out there first chuckling.

"Friend it's a bit early for dress up and I'm going to need you to remove the hat and open the suit." He said just in case and his joke was dead on as the man looked up at him and pulled out a pistol. Freezing Russell almost went for his gun but the man's face shocked him, he looked like Santa Claus. A real beard, really round, joy red cheeks, everything about him reminded him of the Santa Claus from his youth.

"Be a good boy and give me your gun, only naughty children play with guns. And you Julie, if you press the silent alarm it's coal for sure." They complied and by the time Matthew came out of the back all the drawers were stacked and Julie and Russell tied up together. Pointing the gun at Matthew he made the manager open the vault before tying him up as well. "If you don't believe in Santa Matthew you'll surely start believing after this," said Santa who even had the voice. Amazed Matthew watched as Santa started to pocket all of the money and never seem to get any heavier. It was amazing and magical and within ten minutes Santa was gone and the three adults were just wishing that Santa left thinking they were all good.

Back in South Dakota Claudia was busy researching the years that Jake and Jennifer missed thinking a good present for them would be something they missed out on while trapped. Behind her the door opened but the smell of cookies made her not cover what she was doing.

"I love Christmas," she said looking over at Artie who set a plate of fresh cookies down.

"Yes, yes, where is everyone?" he asked hiding a smile of his own.

"Jake and Pete are coming from a bag and tag, Jennifer is in the warehouse and Steve and Myka are back at the bed and breakfast decorating. So tell me who did you get for secret Santa, if you say you can't tell me I'll know it's me" she said with a smile.

"Nope, didn't get you, I got Pete and I was thinking of getting him a video game, maybe one that Jake has okayed on."

"Artie are you suggesting letting Pete play with an artifact," she said mock surprise.

"Well that's what Jake has been trying to figure it out, if he says it's okay then it's okay." Artie explained but before Claudia could continue asking questions and ping came in.

"Man dressed as Santa Robs Bank," Claudia read from the news article, "Witnesses say that the man got away with all the money and sketches only show Santa Claus. That's different; can one man rob a bank alone?"

"If he has an artifact he can," Artie said sitting down at the other computer to search through the Noel Aisles. As he cross referenced bank robberies with Christmas he was coming up with nothing. "Well if it's an artifact it's not one that was already logged, then it's one that was already out there."

"Oh you don't know a specific artifact," Claudia teased, "Call Guinness when did that happen last?" Before Artie could comment the door from the warehouse opened and Jennifer came in.

"Steve Brodie's Dummy, there was this man in Brooklyn who kept doing these suicidal jumps and Artie here thought it was an artifact like the phoenix of course he was wrong." Claudia burst into a fit of giggles while Artie shook his head.

"We have a Christmas Bank Robbing Artifact on the loose," Artie explained as the door opened and Jake and Steve walked in so for a third time he explained, "Santa Robbed a Bank."

"I thought we got that one before we left," Jake said earning a look from all, "I meant before the calendar incident but from the looks I guess not. I liked to track the use of inactive artifacts, ones that might become something more like Laika's Harness that's on display in Moscow, the first animal in space. One of them was Marshall Ratliff's Santa Suit; he robbed a bank wearing it in 1927 and escaped for a long time. I tracked it down to a church in Mississippi however things happened." As he finished Claudia had brought up the newspaper article of the robbery.

"Well we know what we're looking for," Artie said as Claudia read the article.

"Wait a second, there's nothing in here about Marshall's face looking like Santa Claus. All of our witnesses described the same face, Santa."

"Jake the suit, did it include the hat?" Jennifer asked and Jake shook his head.

"It was just the suit, the hat and boots were missing."

"Miracle on 34th street," Artie said, "We had the entire suit but during the Astrolabe incident we lost the hat. Jake could you go with Claudia to bag and tag the artifacts?" The pair nodded and soon they were off to Cleveland Mississippi. Once the door closed Jennifer looked at Artie and Steve.

"I got Claudia as a Secret Santa, any suggestions?"

A few hours later Jake and Claudia were sitting in the office of the bank manager Matthew Stone who was just finishing up printing the reports from that night.

"I'm sorry I told the police everything and I'm embarrassed to say that the man looked just like Santa Claus."

"I understand Mr. Stone and we won't take up much of your time," Jake said as Claudia took the printed report, "Most times robbers case the bank before robbing it, did you notice anything strange before?" Matthew shook his head, "Did you turn down any loan requests or anything?" With that Mathew started to type at his computer.

"Maybe."

"You think this was a revenge job?" Claudia asked and Jake nodded.

"Okay, here we go it was two weeks ago the loan was for a Mr. Rollins he was requesting a medium loan, fifty thousand with low interest however he didn't have a good history and we turned him down."

"What was it for, did he say?"

"Uhh yeah it looks like he was trying to restore a local church that had fallen into disarray. It's a noble job but we couldn't risk him defaulting on the loan, you understand?" Matthew looked up a look of worry that it was his fault.

"You were only doing your job, can we have his records?"

"I'm sorry but not without a warrant." Jake nodded and reached into his pocket pulling out some breath spray. Claudia looked at him confused as he spritzed into his mouth and smiled at Matthew again.

"Come on we would greatly appreciate it." Claudia watched with amazement as Matthew's face changed from worry to admiration as he brought the up the information, printed it out and handed it over. Outside Claudia looked at him as he handed the paper over to her. "It's a few blocks away, we should head out."

"What happened in there?" she asked.

"Oh that," he said with a chuckled taking out the small item from his pocket, "This breath spray once belonged to Fred Astaire, as likeable and agreeable he was it actually came from a mix of his own charm and this beauty."

"Is that approved for the world, seems a little strange."

"Oh no, not at all but I figure that a few artifacts on hand would make our job easier." Claudia laughed at that as they got into the car and drove to Rollins' home. Arriving a few minutes later to the house that had seen better days Jake noted the church when they had gone by it as the one he was watching.

"Mr. Rollins?" Jake called out as he took out his tesla gun, Claudia was already ready. "My name is Agent Jake Torres and my friend here is Claudia Donovan we're here about your loan that was denied. We're with the nationwide restoration project and would like to give you our own loan about fixing things up." There was a crash out back and they ran around the side seeing a man lugging a large duffle bag running across the lawn. "Stop!" he cried out but Mr. Rollins didn't so Claudia fired and hit the man on the shoulder sending him crashing down. The bag hit the ground and tore open causing money to rain down. Running over to him Jake knelt down and turned him over.

"I'm sorry," Mr. Rollins cried out wincing from the pain, "I'm sorry I'll return the money I promise."

"We're not here for the money; we're here for the items that let you get away with it."

"It was a onetime thing I promise, I was going to return the suit to the church and leave it there."

"Like I said we're not here for the money." Finally it hit home and Rollins nodded after a few moments Jake helped him up and they helped him gather the money. Later they were sitting at his table while Rollins was making them some coffee.

"I used to love Christmas, the lights and the happiness that Santa brought to everyone," he explained, "It was that church that I grew up in and I guess it makes sense why we thought Santa actually came to visit us because he kept pulling presents from his pockets. However the pastor passed on and the church became ran down. I went into the military and came back when I heard my father was sick and took over the homestead. I wanted to bring the neighborhood back to its old feeling but the bank rejected my loan. I've been living a bit scared thinking they would have identified me by now."

"They won't and like I said if you just give us the items we won't tell them anything either." Jake said as Claudia nodded. While Rollins was in the kitchen Claudia zipped the suit up in a garment bag that was a larger version of their bags. Once inside it sparked a little before settling and Jake put the hat inside a smaller bag, another spark confirmed they had their items. "So I got Myka in the secret Santa, what should I get her?" Claudia giggled.

"Books, she loves books."

It was now Christmas Eve and the entire gang was getting ready for dinner mostly prepared by Jennifer, Steve and Myka.

"Secret Santa time!" Claudia shouted as the turkey was just finishing cooking. Smiling she picked up a box and held it out to Jake who smiled and thanked her. It was a series of comedies that he missed during the period of time he was gone.

"Thank you Claudia I really haven't had the time to look back at the years I missed." With a hug he picked up a book sized one and gave it to Myka. She was excited considering that this was a regent who could get his hand on any book and she wasn't disappointed as she gasped. It was Aesop's Fables and just holding it made her feel happy. "It's the original and it's one of the artifacts that gives hope and happiness, definitely something we need more of in the world." After the rest of the gifts were opened and hugs given they all sat down to a delicious dinner to which Mrs. Fredrick arrived for just in time.

"Come on Mrs. F just tell us how you do that, it could be our Christmas gift from you," Pete said earning pleases from everyone around the table except for Jake who just smirked.

"Alright, Jake could you please explain?" she said smiling at him.

"Anne Boleyn was the Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 a very beloved Queen, people would say the most loved but King Henry didn't believe that. Once she didn't provide a son for him he declared her to be a traitor and sentenced her to death. History books state that she was killed however she was actually saved at the last minute by the men and women of the English Reform. The guards were shocked and stated it was as if she vanished in thin air, those pearls are worn by every caretaker since just so if the warehouse ever needed them they would be there in an instant."

"Must save a lot on gas," Pete muttered and everyone laughed as Artie brought the turkey in and Jake helped serve.

AN - Mentioned and features artifacts

Marshall Ratliff's Santa Suit - Able to carry unlimited amount of items in the large pockets inside the suit
Miracle on 34th Street Santa Hat - Makes wearer appear as Santa Claus
Fred Astaire's Breath Spray – Makes the user appear more likeable using chemicals to have a hypnotic effect
The original Aesop's Fables – Gives Hope
Anne Boleyn's Pearl Necklace - Teleportation