'Twas the night before Christmas,

And through the White House,

Everyone was scurrying,

As the snow was piling up.

"Has anyone seen a weather report?" Toby shouts, coming out of his office.

"I've got Rudolph on in my office," Sam says as he passes. "Cerulean loves Yukon Cornelius."

"Fine. Ginger?" Toby turns to the bullpen to see the TVs are all on some fake newscaster. "Ginger!"

"I'm tracking Santa!" she replies. Sam stops outside his own office to look at the screens.

"Really?" Bonnie asks, intrigued. Toby heaves a sigh and Sam chuckles.

"We are in the middle of kickstarting the re-election campaign and a Congressional investigation and the staff is tracking Santa," Toby says. "While the seven-year-old is nowhere in sight."

"Hey, Leo's thing worked itself out and it's Christmas Eve. They're letting off some steam," Sam says. "And Cerulean will run through at some point on her way on the tree in the foyer."

"Why is she going to the tree?" Toby says.

"She likes the lights."

"She's going to the tree…to look at the lights," Toby says. Sam nods.

"Yeah." Toby stares at him.

"I don't know how you did it, but you've adopted a child just like you," he says. Sam smiles and heads into his office. Toby shakes his head. He goes past the throng watching the Santa-tracking to the hall, now on a quest to find sane people who watched the news. He meets Donna in the foyer.

"Hey, Toby."

"Donna, have you seen a weather report lately?" Toby says.

"Well, my TV's broken and Josh has kept his door shut all afternoon, but I could look out a window for you," Donna replies. Toby is speechless for a moment.

"I- I could do that myself. I have done it myself!"

"Sorry, Toby, I got nothing. If Josh ever comes out of his office, I can look for you." Donna darts off to her desk.

"Nobody is concerned about this?" Toby says to himself. "Nobody is at all concerned about this. It's amazing." He makes the run to C.J.'s office. She's talking to Carol by Carol's desk. Toby walks up to C.J. as she heads back to her office.

"Hey, C.J."

"Tobus! My man, how are you this fine evening?" C.J. says.

"Trying to find- um, what is that?" Toby looks up and C.J. follows his gaze.

"It's mistletoe, Toby. If you see a pretty girl under the mistletoe, you're supposed to kiss her," she says, looking back at him. Toby nods.

"I see." C.J. watches him for a moment. "What?"

"Well?" she says.

"Oh, you meant you," Toby says. C.J. rolls her eyes.

"Of course I meant me! I'm a very pretty woman!" Toby kisses her on the cheek.

"You're beautiful, C.J., don't sell yourself short," he says.

"I knew I liked you for a reason," C.J. says. "What are you looking for?"

"Weather report."

"Channel Five confirmed that we are in the midst of a blizzard, my friend, with power outages across the tri-state area," C.J. says. Toby throws his hands in the air.

"See! I knew there was cause for concern!" he says. "I've been trying to get a weather report. Do you know what my staff's doing right now?"

"Ginger's tracking Santa," C.J. answers.

"Cerulean's not even watching," Toby says.

"What is she doing?"

"Coloring and watching Rudolph." The lights flicker above them. Toby and C.J. share a glance just before the power cuts out.

"That would be the power outage," C.J. says. Toby growls.

"Wonderful."

Cerulean shrieks when the lights go out. Sam tries to go over to her but he walks into his desk and that slows him down. Thankfully Kathy comes in with a flashlight.

"Everybody okay?" she asks.

"What happened to the lights?" Cerulean says, voice small. Sam gets around the desk and gets down on the floor beside her.

"The storm knocked out the power," he says, pulling her into his lap. "Everything's fine."

"You sure? There was a thumping-"

"Yeah, that was Daddy walking into his desk coz he couldn't see."

"You walked into your desk?" Kathy says.

"Yeah. Find out when we're getting the power back please?" Sam says.

"The phones are dead, but I'll do my best. There's a flashlight in your desk, second drawer." Kathy's flashlight goes back to the bullpen. Sam ruffles Cerulean's hair.

"You all right, Cerulean?" He can feel her head nod against his chest.

"Jeremy used to turn off the lights to scare us," she says. "He'd grab us in the dark." Sam winces.

"Did it scare you when I-"

"No, I heard you coming," Cerulean says. "Can we get the flashlight?"

"Yeah. Stay here." Sam slides Cerulean off his lap and clambers over to his desk. For whatever reason he stays on his knees instead of standing up as he digs through the second drawer.

"Sam!" Josh's voice carries into the office. Sam, finally finding the flashlight, lifts his head and bangs it on the desk lip.

"Ow! Yeah?" He pulls himself up to his feet. A flashlight flies over Sam's face before settling on his chest.

"You okay?" Josh asks from the general area of the doorway. Sam waves a hand as he turns on his own flashlight.

"Hit my head. I'm fine."

"Kathy said you walked into your desk. Maybe you should stop moving for a little while," Josh says. "Where's Cerulean?"

"Down here!" Josh's flashlight drops to Cerulean's waving hand.

"Okay, we need to put glowsticks or something on her, or we're gonna lose her," he says, looking back at Sam.

"I'll give her a flashlight. If you could just light my way, so I don't-"

"Don't kill yourself walking into your desk again? Yeah, got it."

Toby and C.J. head back to Toby's office and find Josh trying to help Sam navigate his dark office, both of them waving flashlights around. Toby and C.J. have their own flashlights and have to resist the urge to point them at their idiot coworkers.

"-And don't go to your left!"

"I'm on the right side of the room, Josh, I have to go left!"

"I'm on the chair, it's okay!" Cerulean's voice comes out of the dark.

"Sam, if you step on my niece, I'll kick your ass!" C.J. calls.

"We are trying to avoid that, C.J., give us a minute," Josh says, turning to them. "You guys hear anything about the power coming back yet?"

"Nope."

"I was saying this might happen," Toby says.

"You did not!" C.J. says.

"I was going to after I got the weather report!"

"That's not the same thing."

"Does anyone know how the roads are?" Sam asks. He finally makes it to where Cerulean's voice came from a few minutes ago. His flashlight lands on the girl before he picks her up.

"Donna says they're pretty bad," Josh says. "I don't think we're gonna be able to drive for a while."

"Sam!" Kathy appears at Toby's side. "Power's going to be back in fifteen minutes. The backup generators are malfunctioning, they're working on it."

"Great. Have you heard anything about the roads?"

"They're closed. People are coming back into the building because they can't get out," Kathy says. Sam sighs.

"How do you close a road?" Cerulean asks.

"It gets covered in snow and ice so that it's unsafe to drive on," C.J. says. "They'll plow it and then we can go home."

"When will they be plowing it?"

"As soon as the winds die down. Which might be a while," Kathy answers.

"Okay." Cerulean says. A fifth flashlight comes up beside Kathy's.

"Hey, guys. The President wants the Staff in the Oval," Charlie says. "I'll watch Cerulean while you guys are in there."

"This can't wait until the power comes back?" Toby says. The flashlight moves with Charlie's shrug.

"Apparently not."

The Oval Office is lit by candles. Jed and Leo are sitting in the chairs at the ends of the couches, talking in hushed voices until they hear the door open. Then they look up and turn to the flashlight-wielding staff.

"Good evening, everyone. Hell of a day, isn't it?" Jed says.

"You can say that again," Josh says, turning his flashlight off. The staff sits on the couches and the rest of the flashlights turn off.

"How are you feeling?" C.J. says to Leo. The Chief of Staff shrugs.

"I'm a little cold," he says.

"Leo-"

"It went fine, C.J., I'm fine," Leo interrupts. "We don't have to worry about it again until after the break."

"What we do have to worry about is the roads," Jed says. "They're all closed and probably won't be open again for some time, maybe not until morning. The Secret Service is working on getting people home or a bed for the night, whatever's easier. You are all invited to stay in the Residence tonight, which might be less stressful for you."

"Yeah, tell em the other part before they accept," Leo says, a smile growing on his face.

"Other part?" Toby repeats.

"Well, I was thinking that we could have a little celebration in the morning. I know you and Josh don't celebrate Christmas, but a little holiday cheer never goes amiss," Jed says. Toby's eyebrows lift in incredulity. Jed resists the urge to laugh.

"That's fine by me, sir, but what about Cerulean?" Josh says.

"She's invited too, of course," Jed says.

"No, I mean that all her presents are at Sam's and tomorrow's Christmas. Don't you guys open presents on Christmas morning?" Josh asks.

"That's usually how it works," Leo says.

"I don't think all of Cerulean's presents are at Sam's house," Jed says.

"Yours aren't, sir, but the rest of them are," Sam says. "I'm sure she'll understand having to wait. She's pretty good about that kind of thing."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, Sam. Christmas has a certain magic about it for unpredicted circumstances," Jed says.

"Christmas magic?" C.J. repeats, visibly holding back laughter.

"I hope you're not talking about Santa, sir, because I'm fairly sure he doesn't exist," Toby says.

"Yeah, coz I got all the way through college and the London School of Economics believing in Santa Claus," Jed says. "I'm not talking about Santa Claus, I'm talking about the magic of the holiday."

"Magic doesn't exist either," Josh says.

"You people can't let me have anything!" Jed says, throwing his hands in the air.

"I think the President was referring to metaphoric magic, not actual magic," Leo says, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, let's use this time to plan for after the break. What's on deck?"