As the children all over the world slept peacefully in their beds, Santa Claus was making his nightly rounds of deliveries.  Enjoying the milk and cookies that the children left out for him.

"GAG!" Santa dry heaves the milk he tried to swallow, spitting it back into the glass.  He sighs and shakes his head, another crappy milk product. Tasted like it's been left out for days. 

After leaving the gifts, he takes off towards the next house, lazily whipping the reins as the reindeer guides him.  He prays that the next house will have beer.  As soon as he gets there, he goes to the stocking stuffers and scoffs, flicking the cash stuffed in the stockings with his finger.  The sight of it was mocking him continuously.  He tosses the gift cards the kids wanted in the air and rolls his eyes to head back up the chimney.

Next house...a tree filled with packages from Amazon under it. He scoffs and lazily tosses one gift at the tree then turns back to head up the Chimney.

He managed to score some beer in the middle of deliveries and begins to suck them down like a frat boy.  Stabbing the beer can in the middle and quickly chugging the beer down his throat.  With a loud sigh and a belch, Santa whoops in drunken cheers. 

Entering another house, he finds a Christmas list taped to a wooden Santa figure.  He glares at the list in annoyance.

'Cash, cash, cash, cash, cash...video games.'

He crumbles the paper into a ball and flicks it out of his hand, sending it flying across the room. 

In the air, riding through Washington, DC, Santa needed a bathroom break, but he couldn't make anymore stops that didn't include a house.  So he gets up on his feet, swaying a little and frees himself from his pants.  With a loud sigh, he pisses in the air with the wind whistling loudly.  He grunts and buzzes his lips. 

"Looks like rain tonight..." He mutters. 

Entering another house, he quietly grips his bag and freezes when he sees a drunk father passed out in a chair.  Santa frowns and sees a small child in her crib.  Poor girl.  He quietly places a gift next to her and gently pats her back.  Moving towards the father, he leaves him a lump of coal...and steals his 6-pack. 

"Another fucking Christmas." Santa grumbles softly and heads back up to his sleigh. 

Gulping loudly, Santa rides once again, chugging another beer and tossing the can away.  He belches loudly and lies back agains the sleigh.  He grunts and whips the reins again with little effort.  He didn't want to be here anymore and his consideration of hanging up the hat is growing stronger.  He reaches into his coat and pulls out a cellphone.  He wasn't one with technology, but Noelle got him this phone for his 'birthday'.  At least, he thinks it was his birthday.  He's been around so long he wasn't even sure anymore when he was born.  He flips through the photos and chuckles at the pictures of him and Noelle together.  He sighs softly as he zooms in on her smiling face.  God, he loved her so much.  And he was blessed to have her in his life.  He chuckles as he sees a picture taken when they celebrated St. Patrick's day together. 

St. Patrick's Day
March 17th

It must have been their 20th date that night and it hasn't gotten old with them. Except for Santa. As the months go by, his beard was getting starting to gray and get a little longer. Even started to curl up a little. He struggled to keep the gray out and trimmed it again for date night. Noelle was definitely not like any other woman. A woman of her class would demand the most expensive restaurants, flowers, wine, and jewelry. Shopping trips. Chick flicks. But not Noelle. No.

Laughing together, the two of them stumble into Noelle's penthouse apartment...all paid for by her Grandma. Santa and Noelle just came back from an all-green celebration that a friend of hers was throwing. Noelle was dressed in a t-shirt that was bright green with a leprechaun on it and checkered pants of green and black. Santa wore a white shirt that was stained with green paint. Done by her friend's kids. And green jeans. One of the party games that her friend threw was a paint war, even her kids played with them.

"I haven't had that much fun in so long." Santa chuckles and plops on her couch with a grunt. He sighs softly and chuckles as Noelle moves to snuggle with him. He smiles big as he takes her in his arms, holding her close as she rests her head over his chest.

"Me either." She chuckles, "Hmmm. I don't want this night to end though."

Santa smiles as he rests his chin on top of her head, "Neither do I." He says softly and strokes her back with gentle tickles.

"You're such a great dancer, Nick." Noelle says and giggles as she thinks about the two of them on that small dance floor. After the paint war and dinner, her friends turned on some music and everyone started dancing. Nick and Noelle both danced all night on that floor, he twirled her, dipped her, and held her tight the whole time.

"So are you." He grins and kisses her head, sighing softly as his body falls into a great comfort he hasn't felt in so long and he could feel Noelle getting comfy as well. His eyes were slowly closing, "I don't want to move. I don't want to get up." He sighs.

"Then don't. Let's just stay here." She whispers and sighs as her eyes were getting heavy as well.

"Okay." He mumbles and begins to fall asleep, holding her close in his arms.

Noelle sighs and begins to drift, but jumps when loud snoring comes from Nick's lips. She lifts her head and watches him sleep and snore like a engine. She giggles, covering her mouth as he makes a loud snort. Her giggling increases, she never heard a man snore so loudly.

Present day

Santa jumps when the phone begins to ring and sees Noelle's picture pop up before him. He smiles at that beautiful picture of hers. As if she was smiling just for him. Considering he was in the picture with her, that smile was all for him. He clicks on the answer button and brings the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Angel."

Noelle walks around outside on the balcony with the snow around her. She smiles big as she hears Nicks's voice.

"Hi, handsome. How's work going?" She asks and giggles as he makes a displeased grunt, "Uh-oh, not good?"

"Constantly trying to remind myself why I do this." He scoffs.

Noelle sighs, "I know what you mean. I'm thinking the same thing." She turns and looks through the glass doors, watching her family. She smiles at how Trudy was being so adorable.

"Not having fun, baby?" Nick asks.

"Just wishing you were here with me. I miss you." Noelle says, trying to keep the sadness out of her voice, but Nick could hear it anyway.

Nick sighs, "I know. Despite all...I wish I was there, too. For you and Trudy. How is that beautiful little girl?"

Noelle smiles, "She's good. Learning a few new adult words from dear Grandma, but she's having fun. She wants to sing a Christmas song with me for the family. Too bad you won't be here to hear me squawking." She laughs as Nick chuckles out a scoff.

"You and I both know that's not true. You have a beautiful voice. Now I really wish I was there." He sighs. Santa looks off into the distance and sees another house coming up. Soon, he'll be in Greenwich. Maybe he'll see Noelle as she sleeps. Even leave the present he has for her. "Hey, Babe, I gotta go. Gotta do another delivery. But I'll be there in the morning. I have a surprise for you and Trudy." He grins.

"Ooh, can't wait. I love you, Nick."

Santa smiles, "I love you, too, Noelle. See you soon." He sighs and hangs up the phone and looks up at the huge full moon. Maybe it was time. Time for him to retire and begin a new life with Noelle. She can be more than just Mrs. Claus....or Claude.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Bye." Noelle sighs and hangs up the phone. She sighs and shivers as she wraps her coat tighter around her. The temperature was dropping every minute. She couldn't wait to wake up in the morning and see Nick for Christmas. She wondered what his surprise will be. She laughs softly and turns to head back inside. She shivers as she was hit with the warmth of the fire. Taking off her coat, she walks towards where Trudy was.

"Noelle, come on. Let's sing." Trudy urges her.

"Ok, ok." Noelle chuckles and moves to sit at the piano. She grabs Trudy and grunts as she sets her on her knee. "Remember how to play?"

"Yes." Trudy smiles big. "Grandma, look, we're gonna sing."

Gertrude chuckles as she turns to watch them. Alva rolls her eyes and scoffs, drinking more wine. Linda and Jason both watch, but Jason couldn't stop looking at Linda, dying to talk to her.

Noelle plays the first note while Trudy joins in. Together, they begin to play 'O Holy Night'. Noelle smiles at how good Trudy was getting. Over the year, she would teach Trudy a few things about pianos.

"Very good." Noelle exclaims and gives her a proud smile. "Ready?"

Trudy nods big and smiles.

"O holy night..." Noelle begins and Trudy joins in. "The stars are brightly shining." Noelle smiles at Trudy. "It is the night...of our dear Savior's birth'. Very good!" She praises and they both continue to sing and play. "Long lay the world in sin and error pining. 'Til he appears and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices. For yonder breaks a new glorious morn'. Ready?" Noelle smiles as the chorus was coming up. "Ohhh fall on your knees. Oh, hear....the angel voices! Oh, night....divine, oh night....when Christ was born. Oh, night divine. Oh holy night. Oh, night divine!'"

Linda and Jason both smile and laugh at how wonderful they both sounded together. Jason had his phone out, recording them both. Gertrude smiles as she watches.

Alva scoffs, "I could sing if I wanted to." She pouts. "I can sing better than that."

As the girls were singing, some of the servers and the caters were preparing for their own 'Christmas'. But a lot of them were impatient to get started. All they had to do...was wait. The long haired Elf dressed server, who was checking out Noelle earlier, munches on the food they had at the party and listens to the singing.

"You gotta admit. Bitch can sing." He snorts to his partner who scoffs, but his partner silently listens and sighs at the music.

"Behold your king; before him lowly bend. Behold your king; before him lowly bend. A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices. For yonder breaks a new and glorious mourn. Ohhh, fall on your knees....ohhh hear....the angel voices! Oh night! Divine. Oh night when Christ was born. Oh night divine. Oh holy night. Oh night. Oh night....divine...."

Noelle chuckles as they bring the song to an end, hugging Trudy tightly while Jason, Linda, and Gertrude happily applauded but Alva rolls her eyes and lazily claps her hands. But Morgan was sniffling with tears in his eyes, clapping as he gets to his feet. Alva frowns at him and yanks him back down to sit next to her.

"Come on, rug rat, it's getting late and I think Santa is due to make his delivery here. We better get to bed before he finds out you're awake." Noelle tickles her and lets her go. "Don't forget to say good night to Grandma."

"Goodnight, Grandma." Trudy rushes to hug Gertrude.

"Aw, goodnight, sweetie. I'll see you in the morning." Gertrude hugs her and kisses her head.

Even Jason and Linda were going to retire early after tucking Trudy in for the night. But Noelle wasn't ready to retire yet. But she doesn't want to stay around the family much longer. She just wanted to talk to Nick. Maybe text him a few messages while he's working. Noelle chuckles as Trudy jumps into her arms and she carries her up the stairs. Linda was already up the stairs, but Jason stops her.

"Hey, princess?" He says softly and looks to make sure that Linda couldn't hear him.

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Uh, after we put Trudy to bed. I need to talk to you and Linda. About something important. But let me talk to Linda first...okay pumpkin?" Jason asks and rubs her arm.

Noelle frowns, "You haven't called me pumpkin since Mom died. Is it something bad?"

Jason shakes his head, "Oh, no no, nothing bad. But it's important. Okay?"

Noelle was unsure and worried, but she nods, "Okay." She frowns as she watches her Dad walk up the stairs and she follows along, but she can't help but wonder what is so important to talk about.

"I made these all by myself." Trudy says proudly as she shows her mom and Noelle the cookies she made. She holds up one cookie that was shaped like a gingerbread and poorly drawn as Santa with icing. But Trudy was so happy.

"No way." Jason exclaims in shock.

Linda nods, "Mm-hmm."

"Those look so awesome!" Noelle smiles as she sees the cookies.

"I even made one that looks exactly like Santa." She smiles big.

"Exactly." Linda nods and chuckles as Jason tries to hold back his laughter.

"Yeah, it looks...looks just like him." Jason says.

Trudy sets down a very large candy cane next to the cookies, "Santa gets a candy cane, too?" Noelle exclaims.

Trudy nods, "Yeah." She says excitedly as she, Linda, and Noelle set up the table. Cookies, candies, and a large glass of milk.

"It's perfect." Linda smiles.

"Hmm, we might be forgetting something." Noelle frowns.

Trudy scans the table, "What's missing?" She asks, but gasps when she realizes, "Oh, no, I forgot about the reindeer!"

Noelle rubs her back in comfort, "Hey, don't worry. I'm going back downstairs and I'll check and see if the cooks have any carrots left over. I would never leave those reindeer out."

Trudy sighs in relief, "Good." She smiles and walks over towards the fireplace, checking out the stockings.

"Hey, no peeking." Linda warns.

"This house has so many chimneys." Trudy says in wonder, making her parents chuckle, "How will Santa know which one to come down?" She asks.

"Oh, Santa just knows." Linda says.

"Exactly." Noelle says then holds her hands up in wonder, "Christmas magic." She smiles, but her smile fades when she sees Trudy's sad face. "What's wrong, love-bug?"

"Daddy never took me to see Santa at the mall this year." Trudy pouts.

Noelle sighs and looks over to her dad who carried a guilty look, full of regret as he looks over towards Linda who just discovered this news.

"He didn't." Linda says and looks over to Jason for an explanation.

"I am so sorry. This year has been weird." He sighs, hating that he disappointed his daughter...again.

"I never got to tell Santa what I wanted for Christmas." Trudy says sadly.

Linda sighs, "Oh, honey, come here." She holds her hand out and Trudy walks over towards her, sitting in her Mom's lap.

Jason needed to fix this. He couldn't let Trudy down. Suddenly, he had an idea, "You know what? You go put your pj's on and I will be two minutes." He says and gets up to rush out of the bedroom.

Linda frowns and looks at Noelle, "What is he up to?"

Noelle shrugs, "No idea. Come on, love-bug, lets get you in your pj's."

While Noelle and Linda got Trudy dressed, Jason rushes down towards the basement, remembering that his old toys were down there in the small closet. He exclaims in triumph when he finds the closet, but what he needed...he tears through all the old toys and finds what he needed.

He sighs in relief and cradles the old toy, "Yes." As quick as a flash, he wraps it up and places a bow on top of it. "Yes!" He exclaims and rushes back up the stairs to Trudy's room.

Noelle stood by Trudy's bed while Linda and Jason sat on both edges as she was tucked nice and warm under the sheets and blankets.

"Because you have been so good to me and Mommy this year, we decided that you could have....one...gift..." Jason says coyly and gasps as he brings a small present from around his back, "...early!"

Trudy smiles big, so excited for a gift, "Really?!" She takes the gift and tears off the paper with a big smile. She holds up a small walkie-talkie with earphones attached to it. She frowns at it, "What is it?"

Linda looks over to Jason, waiting for his answer. Jason clears his throat, "This is a very special walkie-talkie. It's magic."

Trudy gasps and smiles, "Magic?"

Jason nods, "Mm-hmm, what you got right there is a direct hotline to Santa Claus himself." He says.

Trudy's face lights up, "I can talk to Santa?!" She asks excitedly.

"Oh, yeah. It's just like writing him a letter...but better." Jason says.

Linda nods, hiding her disbelief with Jason, Touched with the gesture yet still disappointed with him, "Mm-hmm."

"Now, the only thing is...he might not have time to answer you. He's delivering a lot of presents tonight. But he'll hear everything you want to say to him." Jason says.

Trudy excitedly puts the ear phones in her ears, ready to make contact with Santa Claus, as soon as she hears the static and crackling, she clicks they button with a smile.

"Hello, Santa? This is Trudy Lightstone. I hope you're having a nice night."

Linda and Jason smile, one at a time, they kiss Trudy goodnight. Noelle moves and leans down to kiss her head, "Good night, Love-bug." She whispers and walks with her parents out of the room, but the three of them lean in on the closed door to hear what Trudy wanted to tell Santa.

"It's really cold tonight, so don't forget your mittens." Trudy continues to talk to 'Santa'. Noelle chuckles and Linda holds a finger against her lip, trying to keep her quiet and they continue to listen. "So, I wanted to tell you, Santa, I was extra good this year. So, I wrote a big list for you will all the stuff I wanted. But, then...then I realized I don't need any of that. I really only want one present for Christmas. I want Mommy and Daddy to make up. So we can be a family again."

Noelle sighs and watches her parents carefully. Jason's face drops as he looks towards Linda, internally wanting the same thing, but Linda...tears form in her eyes. As badly as Trudy wants that, Linda believes she can't have that. As much as she loves Jason...she can't...not until he changes. Linda storms away from the door and Jason struggles to say something, but...nothing comes out.

"Good night, Santa." Trudy says and ends the call.

Noelle moves and hugs her Dad, "Go talk to her, Daddy. Really talk to her."

Jason sighs and hugs back, "I'll try." He whispers and kisses her head, "Good night, Princess."

"Night, Daddy." She says softly and moves back down towards the stairs to get her presents that she hid from Trudy. Kneeling down, she carefully and quietly nestles them under the tree. Even had presents for her parents. Noelle sighs and sniffles softly as she stays in a squat position and rubs her face, running her fingers through her hair. She hated seeing her father suffer like this and seeing Linda so angry with him. She just wishes...

Noelle sighs deeply and lifts her head up as she straightens her pose. She walks over towards the window and leans on the wall, looking up at the snowy, night's sky with the moon shinning bright.

Noelle rests her head on the frame and admires the sight, watching a shooting star fly by, "I don't believe in Santa...but, if I could have one Christmas wish...I wish my family was back together again. Like before." She scoffs at how silly she sounded and moves away from the window, unaware of Santa's sleigh flying overhead and lands gently on the roof.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grabbing his bag and tossing it over his shoulder, Santa gets out of his sleigh and heads towards the chimney, but he stumbles in his step as he hears squishing sounds under him.

"Oh, come on!" He exclaims in disgust as he steps in reindeer poop. He turns towards his reindeer, glaring a them all in anger. "Which one of you did that? Comet?"

The reindeer all grunt together, as if blaming one another or just one.

"You can't go two seconds without crapping on the roof like a bunch of pigeons?!"

One of the reindeers look down in shame, huffing softly.

"So unprofessional." Santa scorns and turns to head up towards the chimney, muttering softly, "You know, Rudolph will never do this crap." He scoffs and taps his nose.

Suddenly, a golden mist covers his body, shrinking him down into a cloud and he flies down the chimney. The sound of whooshing is made and jingling as he appears in the room. Once he was back in his true from, he sighs as his hat was in his face. He pushes off and grunts as he places his bag down, tossing it over a chair and turns to see a plate full of cookies and a large candy cane waiting for him.

He picks up the candy cane, exclaim in surprise with it and places it in his pocket for later. He looks down and sees what else he got. He snorts out a scoff as he sees a plate of carrots. He picks up a card and reads what it says.

'For the Reindeer'. He grumbles and balls up the card, flicking it into the fire, "Like I want them shitting more." He sighs and reaches for a cookie. He exams it, seeing it decor. "Hmm." He bites into it and freezes, making pleased noises. At last, finally after so many crappy cookies, "Homemade. Mmmm!" He chuckles, "Ho, ho, ho."

He reaches down for the glass of milk and slurps a gulp, grimacing at the taste, "Ugh, skim." He scoffs. He begins to stuff the cookies into his pockets. These were damn good cookies and he wasn't gonna let them go to waste.

Looking over, Santa sees a fully stocked bar. He exclaims at the sight, "Oh, yeah. That's the stuff." He grins and munches on another cookie. He dumps the milk into a ice bucket and picks out a bottle from the shelf. "Mmm, DuBoi." He grins. "Oh, some prewar shit right there." He chuckles and pops the cork, "Good shit." He tosses the cork across the room and fills up his glass. With a bite of his cookie, he downs some liquor and exhales sharply. "That pairs well." He walks around the room, scoffing at how rich these people were.

"Hmmph, greed again. But, at least..." He munches on a cookie and downs some liquor, "They got good shit." He sighs and sees pictures hanging on the wall and settled on a shelf. "Wait a minute..." He mutters and leans in to see the picture clearly. "Oh, shit, I'm in Noelle's grandmother's house." He face drops when he sees a picture of Noelle with her family. He sighs, he wonders if he could sneak into Noelle's room, but which is her room? A place this big...he's bound to get caught. Especially being so drunk. He shakes his head and scoffs, "I'll see her tomorrow. Just gotta be patient." He mutters to himself and walks over to another part of the room.

"What do we have here?" He frowns as he sees a chair.

A fancy leather chair. Must be one of those massaging chairs. Lord knows, he needs a good massage right now. He moves and sits down in it, getting himself settled and comfy. He reaches over and finds the remote, he looks over the buttons and pushes the on button. Suddenly, his whole body shakes as the chair begins to vibrate and massage his body. He grins and relaxes.

"Oh, yeah. That's the stuff." He smirks and drinks more liquor, trying hard now to spill even with the chair vibrating and shaking his glass. Maybe just a few more minutes. It's been a rough night. Five-minute nap should fix it.