Morgan pulled up to Reid's apartment building and parked. He was smiling as he got out and started up the stairs to Reid's apartment. His friend was going to be surprised to see him this bright and early on Christmas Day, but he was sure Reid would be thrilled not to be spending Christmas alone. Morgan had planned on spending Christmas Day with his family in Chicago, flying out yesterday, but after bad weather in Chicago had cancelled his flight he had spent the night at the airport before finally giving up and accepting Christmas with his family just wasn't going to happen this year.

He knew that Reid's mom wasn't doing well and her doctor had suggested that it would be best to let her spend a quiet Christmas in familiar surroundings without visitors. He'd invited Reid to Chicago with him, but Reid had turned him down. He knew he'd turned down invitations from Rossi, Hotch, JJ, and Garcia as well. But since Morgan was stranded here, he'd make sure Reid didn't spend the holiday alone.

As he reached Reid's door and raised his hand to knock, the door opened and a surprised-looking Reid stopped short and stared. "Morgan? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Chicago?"

"Surprise!" Morgan said. "Bad weather there. All flights cancelled." He did a double take as he took a good look at Reid. "What in the world are you wearing?"

Reid blushed. He snatched a top hat off his head and reached up to touch the bright red, shiny bow tie around his neck. What looked suspiciously like a long black cape with a red lining hung over his arm. "It's – umm – I – " he stammered. "It's my costume. I need it for today."

Morgan stared, baffled. "A costume? What do you need a costume for on Christmas?"

Reid grinned, apparently deciding not to be embarrassed. "Come with me and find out," he offered.

Morgan tipped his head to the side, giving Reid a perplexed look. "OK," he said. "I confess to being intrigued. How does Dr. Spencer Reid spend Christmas Day that involves a costume as a…." he trailed off, considering. "I should know this. A Victorian gentleman? Someone from 'A Christmas Carol?' No, it's something else."

Reid just grinned again and said, "Come on!"

Thirty minutes later found Reid and Morgan navigating through an economically disadvantaged area of town. The buildings were run down and in need of repair; trash littered the streets; graffiti was everywhere. Morgan found himself studying Reid in amazement as he expertly navigated to an old building. A discreet sign above the door announced it to be "St. John's Soup Kitchen." Reid pulled around back and parked.

He hopped out and put on his top hat, swirling the cloak around his shoulders and fastening it at the neck. "Ready?" he asked Morgan.

"Lead on!" Morgan said, exiting the vehicle to join Reid on the curb.

Reid led the way to the front door. He turned the knob and pushed the door open. A buzz of conversation and music spilled out into the street, which quieted as the people within turned to see the new arrivals.

A knot of children ran toward Reid, exclaiming, "It's the Magic Man! It's the Magic Man!"

Reid grinned and swirled his cloak, causing the children to clap delightedly. "Merry Christmas!" he said in a deep voice. Reaching down to the nearest child, he put his hand behind the child's ear and quickly pulled it back. "What's this?" He held up a bright shiny quarter. "Do you always keep quarters in your ear?" As the child giggled delightedly, Reid handed him the quarter and said, "I suggest you keep it in your pocket instead."

As the other children pushed forward, clamoring, "Check my ear! Check my ear!," Morgan followed Reid inside, watching in bemusement as Reid pulled quarters from every child's ear, leaving them excitedly clutching their new-found wealth.

"All right, now, you'll have to wait until after lunch for the rest!" he advised the children. Turning to Morgan, he said, "Come meet Pastor Sam. He's the pastor at St. John's Church and he runs the kitchen."

Reid led Morgan to the kitchen, where a young man in a clergyman's collar and five women were preparing food on two old stoves. "Hey, Pastor Sam!" Reid called.

As the pastor turned, smiling, and came to greet Reid, the women all called out affectionate greetings. It was obvious to Morgan that Reid was well-known here.

"Spencer!" Pastor Sam said, smiling. "I'm so glad you could make it today. We don't often get your company on Christmas Day!"

"Yeah, my plans kind of fell through this year. But I brought us another pair of hands to help serve. This is my friend, Derek Morgan."

Pastor Sam shook Morgan's hand. "Glad to have you here, Derek. There's always plenty of work to go around."

"Just tell me what you want me to do," Morgan said, deciding to get Reid's story about his involvement here later.

Morgan and Reid chopped, stirred, and baked. When the meal was prepared and in the serving trays, they served it to a disparate group of partakers. There were young people and old people; black, white, Hispanic and Asian people; those dressed in clean clothing and those whose clothing needed a good washing. The only thing they had in common was a need for this meal on this day.

Morgan watched Reid in amazement as they served. Reid greeted most of the people by name, and a wide smile and ready laugh accompanied the food he placed on their plates. Morgan had never seen Reid so at ease in a crowd of people.

Once the meal was served and eaten, another group of volunteers began the clean-up while Pastor Sam called everyone to have a seat.

"It's Christmas Day, a day to rejoice and give thanks for the great gift that God sent us on that long ago Christmas. Let's listen to the Christmas story to remember what this day is all about."

Silence reigned as Pastor Sam read the familiar words from the Gospel of Luke. Morgan studied the faces in the crowd as they listened to the story of a young girl chosen to bear the Son of God, of her and her fiancé's long and arduous trip to Bethlehem during her pregnancy, of the delivery of the precious child in a stable where he was laid in a manger. He saw the awe that filled their eyes as Pastor Sam read about the angels appearing to the shepherds and the shepherds' joy at seeing the things that the angel had told them of prove true. Although the story was familiar to Morgan, he heard it anew as he saw its hope reflected in the careworn faces of the crowd.

After the reading from the Bible, a group from a nearby church led the gathering in the singing of Christmas songs, from hymns to popular songs like "Frosty the Snowman" and "Up on the Housetop." Morgan looked around to smile at Reid as he snapped his fingers, singing "Click, click, click! Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick!" but was surprised to find he was no longer by his side.

Before he could begin searching, though, Pastor Sam said, "And now, we have a special treat. Here he is – the Magic Man!"

As the children squealed in excitement, the adults smiled and clapped as Reid jumped out from the back room. Taking a bow, Reid began to entertain the crowd.

He made the children clap excitedly as he pulled larger and larger things from his top hat, ending with a big stuffed bunny that Morgan could have sworn was too big for the hat. He baffled the adults with a series of card tricks, from the standard "Is this your card?" to making cards jump around and float in the air. He linked and unlinked solid rings. He produced flowers from thin air, which he bestowed on the ladies in the audience with a flourish. He poured liquids into containers that were then crushed and found to be empty. He concluded by making 20 dollar bills rain onto the crowd from the ceiling, and disappeared in a flash of light, smoke and noise as the crowd scrambled for the bills.

After thunderous applause, the crowd began breaking up and leaving. Morgan headed to the back room looking for Reid. He found him folding up his cloak and removing his bow tie. "Reid, that was awesome, man!" he exclaimed. "You had that crowd mesmerized! I knew you messed around with magic, but I didn't know you were that good!"

Reid smiled shyly. "Thanks, Morgan," he said. "I know it's weird, since I usually don't like crowds, but when I become the Magic Man, it's like I'm somebody else. Somebody who's comfortable being in front of a crowd, someone who has confidence in himself."

He finished getting his things together. "You ready to go?" he said. "Let me just tell Pastor Sam I'm leaving."

"Whoa, and ruin the effect of your mysterious disappearance?" Morgan said, pushing him away from the door. "No way, man! I'll tell Pastor Sam we're out."

Morgan studied Reid as Reid drove back to his apartment. "Okay, spill," he finally said. "It's obviously not the first time you've been to that soup kitchen. What's the story?"

"I try to get by at least once a month," Reid said. "Pastor Sam understands, though, that with our job I can't commit to a regular schedule."

"But how did you end up volunteering there?"

Reid gave Morgan a sideways glance. "I found it," he began –

"No," he corrected himself, "I went looking for it. You know something about my childhood," he went on. "You know about my mom and her illness."

Morgan nodded.

"It was hard sometimes," Reid said after a short silence while he gathered his thoughts. "After my dad left, there were times when Mom was too ill to do much of anything. She wouldn't buy groceries for weeks at a time. I went hungry a lot at first, but there was a bank nearby where Mom had an account. She used to take me there and we always saw the same teller. I got really good at forging Mom's signature on checks. I'd tell the teller that Mom was sick that day and had asked me to get some money out for food or medicine or whatever, and she'd cash the checks for me."

He paused, and Morgan could tell that he was deep in his memories. "There was one Christmas, though. I was 12. Mom had gotten really bad about three days before then. She thought the government was trying to kill us. She threw out all our food because she said it was poisoned. She hid the checkbook and our money, and I couldn't find it anywhere. Then she locked us both in her room so that the government agents couldn't get us, and she wouldn't let me out. I told her that I had purified the water from the bathroom tap so she let us drink that, but there wasn't any food. Finally on Christmas Day she crashed and went to sleep. I was able to get out."

Reid turned into his apartment building's parking lot, parked, and stopped the car. "Go on," Morgan urged, although he felt sick to think of what the 12-year-old Reid had gone through. "What happened then?"

"I was pretty weak from not eating. But I didn't have any money, and anyway, it was Christmas, nothing was open. I decided to go to a supermarket near us and check the dumpster." He looked at Morgan with shame clearly written on his face.

Morgan reached over and laid his hand on Reid's arm, wanting to reassure him. "Kid, you have nothing to be ashamed of," he said. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."

Reid looked down. "I guess so," he murmured. "But as I was walking toward the supermarket, I passed by a soup kitchen. It was new; a new church had just been established in the area and this was their first project. Lunch had already been served and everyone was gone except for the pastor, Pastor Michael. He had just locked the door and was turning to leave when he saw me.

He could have kept going, but he didn't. He stopped me and asked me if I was hungry. I was so hungry I couldn't lie, even though it passed through my mind that he might learn too much about my situation and have the authorities take me away from my mother. He unlocked the door and took me inside. He found me some leftovers and heated them up for me, then sat with me while I ate."

Reid looked up with a slight smile. "Pastor Michael talked to me for a long time. At first, I was cagey with how much information I gave him, but after a while, I found myself telling him about Mom's illness and Dad's leaving. I didn't tell him about the really bad times, but he understood that food was sometimes a problem. He made me promise that I would come to the soup kitchen whenever I needed food. He promised no questions would be asked as long as I wasn't hurt.

That was the beginning of a better time for me. Pastor Michael became my friend. He helped me with more than just food. He was the one adult that I could talk to. When I had to have my mom committed," Reid closed his eyes as if in pain, "Pastor Michael helped me."

Reid opened his eyes and looked at Morgan. "So everywhere I live, for any length of time, I look for a soup kitchen run by a church, with a pastor who reminds me of Pastor Michael. I found St. John's Soup Kitchen here, and Pastor Sam. I can't do much, but whatever I can, I do to repay Pastor Michael and everything he did for me."

Morgan asked hesitantly, afraid to ruin a good memory, "What ever happened to Pastor Michael? Is he still alive?"

Reid smiled, a genuine, happy smile. "I see him every time I go home to Vegas to see my mom. He's still at the same church, still working at the same soup kitchen."

"That's awesome, man. I'm so glad someone was there for you."

"Me, too." Reid started to get out of the vehicle, then stopped and said, "It was Pastor Michael who got me into magic. He could do a few little tricks and he used to entertain the kids with them. It made me want to learn how, too."

Morgan smiled. "Well, from what I saw, you learned good, kid."

As they started toward Reid's building, Morgan said, "You know, this is one of the best Christmases I've ever had."

Reid smiled. "Me, too. I'm glad I could share this part of my life with you."

"So am I," Morgan said. "Merry Christmas, Magic Man!"