A blue eye shifted from the book over to the windowpanes, it wasn’t snowing as much as it should. It was Christmas eve and the one thing some of the kids asked for was a white Christmas and while Jack Frost did a good job teasing the kids who now sat before Sam egger to hear his next words he knew that it would be enough.

Sam’s eye shifted, and his voice was loud and clear for the kids to hear as he adopted a sour look and sneered, ”And they’re hanging their stockings! He snarled with sneer. Tomorrow is Christmas! It’s practically here!” after he finished reading the text he flipped the book over and showed all the kids the pictures to go along with the story. They all leaned forward trying to see the pictures better excited that someone wanted to make their Christmas night that much better.

Sam continued to read ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas” to the children who for the most part wouldn’t have a Christmas, they were orphans and as of late the orphanage had to undergo intense renovations due to an attack a from a mutant Sam felt responsible for. She not being in the right state of mind attacked the place and had caused a fire. Along with Koga he managed too minimize damages but it was still not enough. This had happened almost a year ago and the place was still hurting.

He donated money to them but time was the one thing Sam didn’t have until today. He told the staff he’d be there to read to the kids along with bringing some presents for them on Christmas day.

Turning to the last page Sam exploded his voice full of cheer roared out, ”And he, he himself carved the roast beast!” turning the book to face the kids as he did before Sam smiled and closed the book then looked to one of the staff members who had walked in just as he had finished up. ”Now I’m pretty sure it’s time for you kids to get some sleep, Santa won’t be able to stop by if you’re all awake right?” Sam asked looking from the younger kids who seemed hopeful to some of the older kids who had a sadder look on their face knowing that when they would wake up their expectations would again not be met for Santa always seemed to ignore them.

The older woman nodded and called out to the kids, and one by one they said Merry Christmas to Sam before running off out of the room. Sam smiled and wished them all a merry Christmas day before he two was ready to leave. Once everyone was out of the main room Sam got up and exited the orphanage only to return to the window where tree was.

Using his mutation Sam created a golem inside the main room and through the windows frosted over from his breath Sam used the golem to lift open the window. From there he started to work, unloading from a van he had rented a day before loading it with gifts, clothes and toys for all the boys and girls. These weren’t hand-me-downs, no Sam purchased these straight from the store all brand new, and the boys and girls would enjoy all. The only thing Sam wished for was he could be there in the morning when the kids would see all the gifts gathered around the tree that Santa had brought along with a fresh blanket of snow outside the building.

---

It was several hours later and Sam was back at the mansion, the mansion was silent not a creature was stirring not even the mouse shifter who usually runs around at night. He sat out on the mansion’s front porch and looked up to the sky with his one lone eye and a bottle of whiskey in his right hand, it was something of a tradition of his to reflect over the last few Christmases, the changes that his life had undergone, his first Christmas in the mansion, his first one, one with Leila, and then his next one with Alexandra which resulted with the a falling out from the camps.

Sam took a swig thinking of the girls he had been with on the holidays and how some ended better than others. Sam sniffed slightly and raised his hand and focused on the air causing more and more snow to fall to the ground, each clump growing and growing until a fresh new coat of white filled the grounds.

Standing up barefooted Sam took a few steps from the porch the snow giving way under his feet Sam poured a drop or two from the bottle and continued to walk on the grounds. Looking to the bottle and taking another swig Sam stuck his free hand into the snow below and scooped up the fresh pile of powder and clumped it into a ball and threw it letting hit the ground and roll about accumulating a little more mass. Using his mutation the ball continued to roll more and more until it was too big to lift with a single hand.

Walking over (slightly stumbling due to half the bottle of yuletide joy vanishing) Sam smirked and placed the bottle down, while both his hands came back towards the large mass with more snow.

Chase had never taken well to Christmas. Back in Syracuse, under the roof of the Townsends, he'd always been overlooked in the gift-giving procedures, to which his parents had often informed him that Santa didn't give gifts to monsters. Chase had in-turn learned to not like Santa from very early on, and distaste eventually evolved into disbelief.

But, with the tranision from the Townsends to Xavier's came new possibilities, and exposure to new outlooks. Chase encountered students who were only slightly younger than he was, who still believed firmly in Santa Clause. Chase resisted at first, matter-of-factly clinging to his parents' old sentiment. He wouldn't believe until he saw Santa with his own eyes, at Xavier's. If he didn't see him, he wasn't buying it. Chase was a logical child, and wouldn't fall subject to hopes that wouldn't be fulfilled.

Thus, he slept lightly, that fated Christmas night, ears turned towards the outer world. Chase's hand was curled around a small flashlight, which he'd borrowed from the junk drawer in the kitchen. A noise snagged Chase out of consciousness, and he sat upright immediately, his blue-against-black eyes sweeping around the room anxiously. Had he just heard-? No... Yup, there it was. Footsteps, outside. Funny, Chase could have sworn that the other kids had said Santa went down the chimmney. Oh well.

Chase leapt out of bed, sliding into his shoes and grabbing his jacket hurriedly. Making sure to keep quiet, he scurried for the door, and pulled it open, peeking his head out. The halls were deserted. Outside. Chase closed the door to his room quietly, and made it downstairs in record time. He kept his flashlight off as he ran towards the door that led outside. Someone was out there. Santa. He was probably locked-out.

Chase shifted quickly, concealing his natural form and donning his human face. Perhaps... he could make an appeal to Santa to give the mutant kids presents, too... He popped the door open slowly, only to spy a man who obviously wasn't Santa stagger across the porch, directing a snowball around in the snow with a twist of his hand. The older boy followed the snowball into the snow, barefoot.

Okay, so he wasn't Santa, but... he could tell a snowball what to do, which was pretty cool. So, Chase dared to slip outside, closing the door behind him. He donned nothing more than his pajamas, a coat, and a pair of sneakers, which did little against the night's chill.

"Uh... a-aren't your feet cold?" Chase inquired, his gaze dropping to the snowball as he spoke. The young man wasn't facing him, but Chase still clammed-up when he spoke.

Another handful and a small swig of his fifth Sam let out an exhausted breath as someone approached him from behind from the mansion. It didn’t take much effort to know someone was coming, even if he was a kid Sam could see him the second he stepped o the snow. It was one of the downsides to being slightly tipsy and not focusing on his mutation, which allowed him to feel body heat from others. Turning and shaking his head slightly Sam responded with a grunt as he reached back down for some snow before he responded.

”Does it look like I’m cold?” Sam asked as he placed the snow on the midsection of the snowman that was quickly forming. It sounded far ruder than he intended but he gave an apologetic look and turned to the boy who he had seen once or twice around the mansion but never had the chance to meet. ”Sorry, long day and new traditions.” Sam said as he reached down and picked up the bottle and hid in the snow more after he took a sip of it. He was a teacher after all he shouldn’t be blatantly drunk in front of any of the kids at the mansion so he tried to compose himself.

”Shouldn’t you be asleep kid? It’s pretty late.” Sam said as he turned his body and fell down leaning against the body of the snowman which was sturdy and would not budge from the position he had placed it in. ”Santa Clause is coming tonight after all.” a smile crept into his face mid-sentence as he continued, ”He doesn’t have all the time in the world and if your not asleep you’ll be missed right?” Sam asked as he tried to recall the stories he had heard from the kids over the years. After all he never had the chance to by into the Santa thing, no time to waste on young agents after all, be a waste of money.

The man glanced back at Chase, and the first place that Chase's gaze went to was the eyepatch. He had an eyepatch! Like a pirate! That was so cool. While these thoughts looped through Chase's head, he might have stared at the man. Maybe.

>> ”Does it look like I’m cold?”

The curt inquire was enough to make Chase drop his head and his gaze bashfully. No, he supposed that the man didn't look cold, now that he thought about it. In response, the eight-year-old quickly shook his head "no".

>> ”Sorry, long day and new traditions.”

The man took a swig of something before burying it snow. Chase chanced looking up through his lashes, but didn't get a good look at the hidden bottle. He was watching the man before him quietly.

>> ”Shouldn’t you be asleep kid? It’s pretty late. Santa Clause is coming tonight after all. He doesn’t have all the time in the world and if your not asleep you’ll be missed right?"

Chase lifted his head slightly as the man seemed to lose his balance and slouch against the snowman. He seemed to be a bit dizzy, and while he spoke, he tilted a smile at nobody in particular. Chase's brow furrowed faintly. He was obviously talking to a crazy person. Chase wedged his hands in his pockets, looking at the pirate-man with a baffled, uneasy, and slightly bemused expression on his face. Colors akin to this facial expression also surged through his eyes. Santa had always missed him before, why should tonight be any different?

Chase shook his head as if to shake that thought away, but the thought persisted. So he spoke it.

"Santa always misses me," Chase countered, shrugging his shoulders, "So... that means I can stay up, right? I mean, I don't believe in him anyways."

There was an inherent contradiction in what Chase had said-- that Santa always forgot him, but Chase didn't believe in him anyways. Maybe the crazy, pirate-man wouldn't notice, though. Chase certainly didn't. Chase thought he was being rather clever-- he was concocting a fool-proof plan so that he could stay up late, and figuring out if Santa was real or not in one fell swoop.

"What are you doing?"

”Isn’t it obvious? Sam asked his thoughts trailing as he pushed himself up thanks to the half formed snowman, ”Building a man of snow” Sam said as he reached down towards his bottle and took a little swig before placing the bottle back under the snow. The liquid burned slightly as it went down and Sam let out a sigh of relief after the drink hit his stomach, his body feeling the warmth.

Body sitting in snow Sam tilted his head to the side, ”Think a better question is what are you doing? Like I said it’s late. Kids your age…” Sam paused and pushed himself up his hand behind him lifting himself up from the snowman behind him, ”How old are you kid?” he looked young, defiantly younger than Kat and all the other kids he taught in his classes, might explain why he didn’t know the kids name.

Why the kid didn’t know about Santa, didn’t believe in him at such a young age. Sam’s hand slipped and he fell back down into the snow and got a face full of powder. Pushing himself up and wiping his face Sam wondered how a kid as young as he didn’t believe in Santa. ”He misses you and you don’t believe in him?” Sam asked as he righted himself up and sat on his rear near the bottle his hand on it as he looked back to the kid. ”There might be your problem.”

Taking another sip of his drink and not hiding it as well as he did before Sam continued along his slightly intoxicated thought process, ”You have to believe in him for him to stop by. A kid your age, should be in bed excited to wake up for mountains of presents right?” Sam asked his questions turning to statements knowing that was what most of the kids in the mansion were doing.

>> ”Isn’t it obvious? Building a man of snow”

"A snowman," Chase echoed, shuffling around the lumps of snow. Okay, he could see a snowman coming out of this... yeah... "Can I help?"

>> ”Think a better question is what are you doing? Like I said it’s late. Kids your age… How old are you kid?”

"I'm eight-and-three-quarters," Chase answered, "I'll be nine next month," as per what he was doing, Chase simply offered a shrug and a noncommital, "Couldn't sleep."

He wasn't going to confess that he'd actually been hoping to spy Santa and was now feeling rather disappointed that it was just a dizzy, silly guy. Chase watched as the guy drank whatever-it-was, an inquiring eyebrow arching. Was that alcohol? That would explain the tipsiness.

>> ”He misses you and you don’t believe in him? There might be your problem. You have to believe in him for him to stop by. A kid your age, should be in bed excited to wake up for mountains of presents right?”

Chase shrugged again. Pirate-Man didn't get it. He didn't believe in Santa because he never dropped by, not the other way around. If Chase had something concrete-- like presents, he'd believe it, but there'd never been anything of the sort. It was a difficult thing Chase believed in Santa but claimed not to, because it had once been a tool utilized by his parents to single him out from his brother and sister. Sure, he believed in Santa, but he was under the impression that jolly old Saint Nick hadn't the time for mutant kids, to which Chase frankly replied with disbelief. It was a difficult thing for a shy child to put into words.

"I guess," Chase said in resignation, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.

”You guess?” Sam smirked and shook his head laughing slightly, ”Everybody loves getting gifts right?” Sam asked rhetorically as he took another swig, this time pushing the bottle back into the snow where the top was clearly visible so he could grab it later if he so chose.

”You guess…” Sam pushed himself up and turned slightly towards the snow man this time standing on his feet and brushing the snow off pant legs acting like the snow was a problem momentarily.

”Nine huh?” Sam paused and threw his hands up and stretched almost falling backwards in the process. With his good eye shut he yawned slightly and added, ”Well Happy almost Birthday then!” Sam lowered his arms and opened his eye and looked to the kid, ”One more year till the double digits, a century right? Wait… heh nah that would be triple digits, Almost a decade.” Sam said nodding to himself and walking to the snowman he was creating as more snow started to fall after there was a little push from a certain jack frost.

Not giving any inclination that he summoned the snow once again Sam reached down and picked up some snow and placed it on the body adding to the two lumps he had formed. Tilting his head Sam looked back to the kid, ”Yeah, always can use an extra hand.”

Sam waited till the kid was closer to ask, ”What are you doing out here anyways kid?” when he was closer Sam was able to see him better, not just his body temperature which he focused less on when the kid was in full eyesight.

He was short, to say the least. Sam was a couple inches taller than him when he was the kid’s age; then again he was forced to grow up quickly size and strength. Tilting his head to the side Sam was able to gauge the kids face, once he got a good enough look he looked back down at his work, the kid reminded him of Sam’s brother Dom when he was younger.

>> ”You guess? Everybody loves getting gifts right? You guess…”

"Yeah," Chase murmured in agreement, watching as the man with the eyepatch staggered around the snow man absently, and nearly lost his balance as he made a grand gesture.

>> ”Nine huh? Well Happy almost Birthday then! One more year till the double digits, a century right? Wait… heh nah that would be triple digits, Almost a decade.”

Chase muffled a giggle. This grown-up was a silly guy. Chase watched as the older guy circled the snowman and added more snow to it, drawing closer hesitantly to get a better look.

>> ”Yeah, always can use an extra hand.”

Chase dared to walk the rest of the distance over, stepping lightly over the drifts of snow so that it didn't soak into his shoes. He came over, picked some snow up, and patted it on, waiting for some further instructions.

>> ”What are you doing out here anyways kid?”

Chase shifted his gaze towards the young man hesitantly, stuck between telling him the truth (for fear of seeming silly and hypocritical) or telling him too much (lest it get him into trouble, since he was breaking curfew). The man fixed Chase with a stare, taking in his appearance, and Chase did the same. He was tall, and he had an eyepatch. Everything else seemed pretty irrelevant beyond that.

"Couldn't sleep," Chase said casually, "So I got up. And then I thought I heard someone outside, so I came outside." Seemed like an answer that was logical enough.

A silent smirk faded off of Sam’s face as he was hidden from the young boy on the other side of the snowman. He already said he couldn’t sleep, Sam got that he understood that. The question was why was he out here? The boy was almost ten and he decided he’d check and see a strange noise outside. He was either stupid being too curious for his own good or he wasn’t tell Sam everything. A kid his age should know better than to check out a ‘noise outside’ at this hour without the help of an adult. The mansion staff made sure the kids had enough sense to be cautious. Especially the mansion, it didn’t have the best track record after all.

”Brave kid then are you?” Sam asked nodding his head approvingly when he was back in sight of the kid, ”There would have been no way in hell, I mean heck…” Sam cleared his throat and continued, ”I would have checked out a noise in the dark this late at night…” Sam trailed off and returned to his bottle and dug it out of the ground and took a large swig and shook his head after the burn. Burring the bottle less this time Sam turned back to the iceman. ”Didn’t your parents ever teach you to be careful at night?”

His eye locked on the face and he put his hands to the mold of snow already going to work on the face. Not letting the kid see his hands form and pull the snow with more ability than any regular snowman maker could even dream of. ”He needs some more snow on the back of the base kid.” Sam said giving him some advice. ”What’s your name kid?” Sam asked feeling slightly guilty to only referring to him as kid.

>> ”Brave kid then are you? There would have been no way in hell, I mean heck… I would have checked out a noise in the dark this late at night…”

"I'm not really brave," Chase said with emphasis on the word "brave". He really wasn't. He'd just been intrigued by the noise. And, being at the age that he was (and having lived on the streets for a few months), there were certain things that didn't scare him. Like noises. Noises were cause for investigation, noises were either nothing to worry about, or motive to relocate. It was a habit Chase still maintained, even though he lived at the Mansion. The Mansion was a safe place, yet Chase still slept lightly, and still got up to make sure things were okay if he heard a noise.

>> ”Didn’t your parents ever teach you to be careful at night?”

"No," Chase said absently in reply, his tone dropping off awkwardly, as if he meant to say more. Chase could have interpreted the inquiry in two ways-- perhaps the way that the man meant was, didn't his parents teach him not to go out at night? Or, alternatively, in the way that Chase interpretted it-- was it the fault of his parents that Chase was out there now? Either way, the answer was no. Chases' parents had never taught him that it wasn't safe to go outside, and it was Chase's own nature that drove him out. Either way, his parents hadn't had any hand in the matter.

>> ”He needs some more snow on the back of the base kid... What’s your name kid?”

Chase maneuvered to that location, and started gathering up some snow, and patting it onto the "back of the base" of the snowman.

"Chase," Chase replied simply, "What's yours?"

His name was Chase and he wasn’t brave or at least he didn’t think he was. His response to Sam’s other question told him enough about the child as well, the way he trailed off spoke enough to Sam to make sure not to press the child about his history.

Sam sighed slightly and reached for the bottle again and took a swig not only for himself but the child as well. Doing as he was told Chase added to the back of the snowman and the creation was now forming quiet nicely. ”Sam.” replied the icemancer nodding his head approvingly and sinking the bottle of whiskey in the snow once again.

”Chase the almost nine-year-old that ventures out on Christmas night because he couldn’t sleep and heard a noise.” Sam nodded his head summing up their conversation so far. Slowly Sam’s hands made way to a pile of snow at the base of his feet. ”See the trick to any decent snowman or snowwoman is to get the facial features down, they have to be detailed or the snowman doesn’t come alive.” the snow in his hand continued to grow as he pulled more snow from around his feet. The ball continued to grow until it was large enough for Sam to place on the snowman’s body.

Stumbling forward Sam caught himself on the midsection of the snowman only to push himself upright with a little effort. ”Now how about you sculpt the face, I’ll start on his friend?” Sam asked deciding that Chase was tall enough with some effort to sculpt the face.

More snow fell due to Sam’s mutation and as the more snow fell the easier it was to sculpt and add to the snowman. Winter was truly his season, anything he could think of took little effort to create be it with his mutation or his bare hands.

>> “Sam.”

Not Mr. ___ or anything to that nature. Just a casual “Sam”.

“Nice to meet you,” Chase mumbled, “Sam.”

>> “Chase the almost nine-year-old that ventures out on Christmas night because he couldn’t sleep and heard a noise. See the trick to any decent snowman or snowwoman is to get the facial features down, they have to be detailed or the snowman doesn’t come alive.”

Chase simply nodded his head as Sam summarized all that Chase had said, and then went on to telling Chase about how to make a snowman to come to life. Snow rose from the ground and settled casually into Sam’s palm, before being added to the snowman. The young man nearly tripped, but steadied himself on the snow man by clinging to its body.

>> “Now how about you sculpt the face, I’ll start on his friend?”

“Sure,” Chase agreed, watching the older guy closely, before demanding, “Say, why are you all wobbly?”

Maybe it was the stuff that Sam was drinking. Chase got up, circling to the front of the snowman, but not without passing a glance towards the half-submerged bottle in the snow curiously.

Sam hated being called ‘Mr. Johnson’ outside of class especially when some of the kids were no more than two years younger than him. It was too impersonal for his liking. It seemed from the way Chase said his name he would have preferred to have a ‘Mr.’ in front of it. Blinking with his good eye Sam focused on the snowman once again and hardly looked at the boy when he voiced his question. He was a teacher and part of the mansion staff, if Tricity or Neena saw him like this he would have gotten a stern talking too.

”Feet are cold,” Sam said lying to the kid who was getting a bit too curious about what he was drinking as he rounded to the front of the snowman. Sam looked at the bottle know less than half left, he did work but he knew with the kid here he shouldn’t finish it all. Reaching down and pulling it out of the ground Sam covered the label with his hand and started to drink it quickly before dumping the rest out on the ground his eyes watched as the rest of the amber liquid scattered out on the snow below him.

Looking back to the kid Sam pointed the bottle at him, ”This stuff is bad for you, don’t drink it till you’re old.” and with that Sam dropped it in the snow behind him and fell backward in the snow landing with a loud thud. Letting out a small laugh Sam willed more snow to fall from above.

”How is the face coming along?” Sam asked the boy pushing himself up slightly and pulling some snow from around him with his hands towards the base of the next snowman he was creating. ”We got to have a few snowmen ready for later tonight.” Sam said as he pushed himself up with a purpose.

>> “Feet are cold,”

Chase looked at Sam’s feet as the man offered him his reasoning.

“Should wear warmer shoes,” Chase mumbled, using his bare hand to start chiseling facial features into the face of the snowman. He gave him a slash of a smile. Chase looked around for something to use as eyes, saw nothing, so merely dug two holes for eyes instead.

>> “This stuff is bad for you, don’t drink it till you’re old.”

It was the stuff that he was drinking that was making Sam dizzy. Chase looked up inquiringly, and did so just as Sam toppled over backward awkwardly.

“Sam!” Chase gasped, darting closer, “Hey, are you okay?”

The man was laughing, so he couldn’t have been in too terrible of shape. Sam got to his feet on his own accord, and quickly changed subjects. Chase edged back towards the snowman.

>> “How is the face coming along? We got to have a few snowmen ready for later tonight.”

“Look,” Chase said simply. It was a minimalistic face… two eyes and a slash of a smile. Chase wasn’t much of an artist, but he was proud of his work. The child took a step back, and dared to ask, “What happens later tonight?”

Really? Sam told him what was happening later that night. The boy just didn’t seem to get it. Despite Sam having finished almost a bottle to himself over the period of most of the night he was still in his right mind enough to bring a little hope to this boys Christmas, ”I told you Santa is coming tonight.”

He bent down and picked up the rest of the bottle and dumped the rest of the contents on the ground it was a moment of clarity he had consumed enough for the night and it was a cheap bottle to begin with. He could buy more at a later date when there wasn’t a kid hanging around him. ”Face looks good though,” Sam added as he dropped the bottle and looked up towards the sky.

”Notice it yet?” Sam asked wondering if Chase was now looking up, ”It’s snowing more now right?” his mutation started to create even more snow, the sky was still visible and so was everything around them it was like the flakes around them were more and bigger than those that fell away from where they were standing.

Sam walked closer and bent down towards Chase so he was almost eye level with him. He blinked once and looked at the snowman Chase was so proud in, ”See the thing about snowmen, you can’t just build one or two otherwise they will be lonely you got to make a lot of them so they can get his attention he likes snowmen, Santa does.” Sam did his best not to breathe in Chase’s direction due to the amount of alcohol on his breath. Taking a few steps away from Chase and more towards the unfinished snowman Sam raised his hand and like magic snow leapt up from the ground and another snowman was quickly formed. Shortly after a few other snowmen started to rise up from the ground all looking like the one Chase and he had created.

”A shame you don’t believe in the big boss there Chase, I won’t tell him though, see I work part time for him.” Sam turned towards Chase and smiled with a slight shrug, ever hear of Jack Frost?”[/color] It was a little farfetched in his opinion but if he could help this kid believe in Santa and keep his childhood a bit longer, something Sam was never allowed to have when he was the kid’s age he was more than happy to act the part of the wizard of blizzard.