Chapter One
Connor watched his sweet fiancée as she redirected another kid over to the large man sitting in the chair on the small stage. Alex was fantastic with kids. She got right down to their level, talked to them with respect and kindness. \
She seemed to be in her element, but something was off. This past month, she had been growing more agitated, more somber. He already knew about her past and that she didn’t much like Christmas. After losing her mother at such a young age, and being raised by a workaholic/grieving father who didn't have time for the magic of Christmas, of course she would be a bit hesitant to embrace the season. But there was more to it—his gut was screaming at him.
This was their first official Christmas as a couple. After agreeing to continue in a relationship with him, after their last undercover mission, she had told him she definitely wanted to get married. She’d even shown him the ring she would wear when they married. It was her late mother’s ring. A beautiful gold band with round diamonds adorning the outside. Her father had given it to her mother on their wedding day with the word “Forever” inscribed on the inside.
Was she having second thoughts? What else could be pulling her away from him? She seemed more distracted, more easily angered and more withdrawn every day. And it was killing him. He wanted to fix it, but she wasn’t talking to him. Tonight, he was going to take measures into his own hands. If he had to give her a nudge, then so be it. Now that they were living together, in his apartment, he could easily set the plan in motion to help her open up.
He took a few more pictures and turned the hat that said Chesterfield Mall Staff around so the bill was on the back of his head.
He and Alex were there on another mission. And he needed to focus on that first. When Captain DiMarco had mentioned the small group of high schoolers buying marijuana in the next town over, Alex had jumped at the assignment. Unfortunately, the mall’s owner had wanted her as one of Santa’s helpers and not for the photographer position she had expected when signing on.
Connor may have laughed a bit when he saw Alex in the striped tights and cute elf dress and hat. And yeah, she’d clocked him a few times on their mat session yesterday. She was absolutely adorable wearing her blonde hair plaited into two long braids on the side of her head. Tonight, he would pull her onto his lap, and do all sorts of naughty things while she played little elf to his big, bad, Santa Daddy. But first, they needed to focus on their mission at hand.
The cool thing about being a “mall photographer” for a small chain center meant he had access to everything. He wouldn’t look like a stalker—or an undercover cop—while he snapped live shots of everyone doing even the most mundane things.
The mall in their town would have been crawling at this time of the year. It was only four days until Christmas. Harried shoppers would be searching for last minute gifts to shove under the tree before anyone noticed. Okay, he was one of those people. He still hadn't found the right gift for her. Alex was hard to buy for. She was tough, resilient, intelligent, driven… the perfect cop to have next to you on a mission. But she was more than that. He took a few more pictures of her, her mouth wide with laughter as a geeky kid with glasses told her holiday jokes. Her blue eyes sparkled with joy as she fell into her rhythm. She wouldn’t want to admit it out loud, but she made a great elf. A combination of experience, street smarts and youthful innocence made her a crowd favorite. He chuckled at the grumpy look on Santa’s face. HIs girl was getting more action than the big guy himself.
After every photo op and hug, she cleverly diverted each child over to the mall Santa with the promise of a candy cane and a cool picture.
She visibly winced when one small boy loudly asked if that Santa was the real deal, but she recovered quickly with a smile.
“Santa’s alive in each one of us, Jacob.” She gave the kid a hug and sent him over.
Connor focused back on his own task. When the small police force from this town had asked Rosemont PD to help out, they had agreed to look into the matter. None of them wanted this situation to escalate. If DEA got involved, the teens involved would have a price to pay they weren’t ready to handle. It was better to take care of this at the town level. And since Chesterfield only had four officers, they had requested backup.
In the form of the hot, little elf prancing back and forth with photo waivers and candy canes, and him, the official “mall photographer”.
Connor snapped another picture of Grumpy Santa. Geez, could they not have gotten someone a little more jolly for the job? Yeah, the guy looked the part, even down to his scruffy, slightly unkempt white beard. But his eyes told a different story. Those eyes were old. Ancient. Like full of pain and sorrow and the kind of fatigue you feel after losing everything dear to you. He’d seen these eyes before. Former soldiers with PTSD, abused wives. First hand in his own mirror after Frank died. The partner and mentor he had looked up to for years had died in a routine traffic stop when Connor hadn’t been there to back him up. Yeah, he’d looked at those haunted eyes in the mirror for a good few months.
This Santa had baggage, and Connor was going to keep a close eye on him. For the kids’ sakes as well as Santa himself. He snapped another picture, watching the curve of the older man’s lips as his smile never quite reached his electric blue eyes. He ho ho’d with the best of them. Connor’d give him that.
Each child whispered in Santa's ear, then took the candy cane and practically ran back to their favorite elf. His sweet Alex. Funny. When the kids weren’t distracting them, both elf and Santa had the same look in their eyes.
The good thing about this mall being so small and deserted was that Connor didn’t have to go far to keep an eye on everything. A few dozen steps took him to the small bakery behind Santa’s workshop in the food court.
The bakery had the most amazing smells coming from it. Cupcakes, brownies, cookies, gingerbread houses decked out in tons of icing and gumdrops. God, he’d love to bring his little sweet tooth back here after hours sometime and let her go nuts. Alex loved anything with sugar. She would go crazy in this place.
Connor snapped pictures of the happy customers leaving the tiny store, their hands full of boxes with delicious smells wafting from them. There was no age limit on the customers either. It seemed like everyone loved the bakery. After a family of four left, a gaggle of teen girls, followed, of course, by a small group of teen boys entered. Connor took a few shots of the lovely older woman who owned the bakery as she handed over her special baked goods with a bright smile. Her chubby, rosy colored cheeks brought out the twinkle in her bright green eyes, and her whole body rolled with laughter as they chatted with her. This woman would be the perfect Mrs. Claus. Plump, funny, sweet, a smattering of flour on her forehead, her apron tied haphazardly behind her back. He took another picture and waved back at her after she smiled and curtseyed for him. He’d mention the baker to the mall manager if he got the chance.
It was almost time for the stores to close, and he wanted to check out a few more things while still being inconspicuous. Then he would get back to grumpy Santa and his sweet, yet slightly grumpy, little elf. Luckily, he knew how to fix that.
When he finished his final rounds of intel gathering and picture taking, he headed to Santa’s workshop. The place was empty now that the mall had officially closed, and the only remaining people were the jewelry store owner, the kid running the kiosk with the light-up shoes, Santa, Alex and Sophie, the bakery owner. The security guard would close the rest of the doors after they all left.
“Sophie, you stay out of this now, you hear me, woman?” Santa’s voice was tinged with anger as he confronted the sweet woman.
“Hush, you old coot. If you would just do your darn job and stop horsing around, maybe—”
“Horsing around?”
Connor got there just in time to see the old man’s eyes practically bugging out of his head.
“I’ll have you know I don’t fool around. I’m stuck here, powerless, in this stupid job.”
Alex was waving candy canes at them frantically. “Hey, guys, if we could just all take a deep breath and—”
“Butt out!” Santa yelled.
Connor was about to go grab the old man by his straggly beard, but Sophie beat him to it. The sweet old lady yanked on his beard hard and scolded him. “Don’t you dare yell at that child.”
Eyes wide, Santa snapped out of his anger and sagged down into his chair. “Sorry, Alexandra. I didn't mean to snap at you.”
Alex grinned at him. “It’s okay. So, you two are together aren’t you?” She snapped open a candy cane and popped a piece into her mouth.
“How can you tell?” Sophie started massaging Santa’s shoulders, giving him a light hug.
“My grandparents were married for over fifty years, and they fought like that every week.”
“We’ve been together a bit longer.” Sophie smiled. “We usually don’t fight like this, but he’s being stubborn and pig-headed.”
“I’ll give you stubborn and pig-headed right over my knee, little girl,” Santa snarled, yanking the giggling older woman into his embrace. “You just wait til later.”
“Promises, promises.” Sophie laughed.
Santa’s eyes lost all their hope and gleam and his hand relaxed its grip on his wife. “Yeah, but then I get to come back to this again tomorrow, and the next day. What’s the use?”
Sophie’s eyes glazed over before she nodded. “I’ll keep the light on for you. And I’ll be back tomorrow with your favorite muffins.”
“Yeah, okay.” He got up, nodded at all of them, grabbed his bag, and headed out the door.
Connor would bet his next paycheck the old fella was heading for the liquor store. If he smelled like piss and beer in the morning, Connor would blow his cover and get the bad Santa out of there. Their mission wasn't as important as a potential drunken, dangerous Santa hanging around kids.
“You ready to head out?” Alex asked him.
“Yeah, let me just grab my bag. Good night.” He nodded to the sweet bakery owner.