Epilogue

Doraphinnor mounted the sleigh carefully. He expected someone to yell at him, but that didn't happen. He turned to face Santa.

"I really get to go?"

"You really get to go," said Santa.

"I'm going to help Santa deliver presents?" The elf sounded dazed.

"You're going to help me deliver presents. But only if we actually take off. We can't do that until I get in the sleigh too."

"Of course!" yipped the elf, moving over so Santa could climb up and sit down on the driver's bench.

They sat there as two elves wearing purple shirts unhooked a fuel hose from the tanks that fed the afterburners. Meanwhile eight elves wearing blue shirts gave the reindeer a final check, running their hands over the animals fondly. Two elves wearing green shirts jerked completely unnecessary wheel chocks from in front of the sleigh runners. Finally an elf in a yellow shirt knelt and chopped his right arm and hand forward, screaming "Go, go, go, go!" Ten seconds later they were airborne.

Doraphinnor got over his astonishment that Santa had invited him to go along on Christmas Eve. Basically, Santa had decided that there was a new tradition, one in which Santa took an assistant with him. In theory, the rationale behind that was that it would make things go quicker. But the magic ensured that they had all the time they needed to get the job done.

Only Santa knew the real reason for the new tradition, when they left. But Doraphinnor found out when they made their first stop. It was on a roof he'd been on before.

"Hey!" said the elf. "This is where we picked you up."

"It is, indeed," said Santa.

"But there are no children here." The elf peered at a screen on the dashboard of the sleigh. "This isn't even on the route."

"True," said Santa. "But I always keep my promises. Come with me."

"Leave the sleigh?" Doraphinnor sounded shocked.

"It won't kill you," said Santa. "I promise. Gwyneth left it many times last year."

"I was meaning to ask you about that," said Doraphinnor. "Why didn't you bring her with you this year?"

"Our son is only two months old," said Santa. "He's still breastfeeding. He needs his mother tonight."

"Oh yeah," said the elf, blushing at the thought of a baby, cradled in Mrs. Claus' arms, mouth busy at a forest green nipple. He felt guilty about wanting to see that, as it happened.

"Besides, I need you here to make sure I don't do something naughty."

"You're Santa. You can't do anything naughty."

"You'll see what I mean," said Santa.

They stepped off the sleigh and Santa took his hand. Doraphinnor went through his first temporal shift, which put him off balance. What he saw in the barracks room he suddenly found himself in, rocked his world even further.

"Santa!" came a sultry female voice from the form on the bed. "And Danny Boy!"

"Merry Christmas, Melanie," said Santa.

"Thank you," she said, sitting up. "You've gained a bit of weight."

"Yeah, they keep trying to fatten me up. The elves are convinced nobody likes a skinny Santa."

Melanie stood. She was gowned in gossamer that Bob would have bet came from Frederick's of Hollywood. It didn't hide anything. Instead, in fact, it displayed her charms beautifully. Bob heard a long sigh from the elf behind him.

"So ... I thought about you ... and where you were, a lot since you left. I tried extra hard to be good all year. I wasn't sure you'd actually come back."

"Didn't I promise I would?"

"Yes, but after a while I wasn't sure my memories were real. You know?"

"I do," he said.

"So ... how is everything?" asked Melanie.

"Well, It's been interesting. I'd tell you some stories, but I can't take the time right now."

"Are you happy?" Her voice suddenly had a hint of melancholy in it.

"It would be hard for me to explain how happy I am," he said.

"But you came back to see me anyway?"

"I promised I would. Besides. I'm Santa. I visit a lot of people on this night."

"So ... did you actually bring me a present?" Her voice sounded younger, all of a sudden.

"Of course. I'm Santa."

"What did you bring me?"

"This," said Santa, giving Doraphinnor a gentle shove in her direction.

She stepped forward. The negligee she was wearing acted like a picture frame for her naked body, underneath it. Her nipples were rosy and stiff.

"Is he going to taste like eggnog too?" she asked.

"Me?" squeaked Doraphinnor.

"I'll be back before morning," said Santa. "Try not to kill him, okay?"

"I've been a good girl ever since you left," she said, grinning. "I'll be very good to Danny."

"I'll hold you to that. Be gentle with him. He's a virgin."

"Me?" squeaked Doraphinnor again.

"Come here, elf boy," said Melanie, shrugging her shoulders. The movement caused her breasts to jiggle as the negligee slid off her and fell to the floor.

It was all new, but strangely familiar to Bob as he ran his route. He didn't have to push the button to move forward. His training had taught him how to use his mind to control the vehicle. Progress was constant and rapid. He did take one nap, but only because he didn't want to get back to the pole before morning.

His last stop was to pick up Doraphinnor. He hoped he'd done the right thing for the boy. The young elf had been assigned as Santa's batman, or personal assistant. Bob called him his logistics officer, and sometimes referred to him as Lieutenant Dan. That had been a conflict at first, because elves watch movies too, and Doraphinnor didn't feel he was anything like the man with the same name in Forrest Gump. But he'd gotten used to it eventually. As he had calling Mrs. Claus Gwyneth, like her husband did.

Doraphinnor had gotten used to lots of new and interesting things since being assigned his duties. But they hadn't quite prepared him for being given to Melanie as a present.

It wasn't human trafficking. Or elf trafficking, in this context. Rather, Santa knew instinctively what people ... and elves ... wanted.

He tried, these days, to make everyone who believed in him as happy as possible.

And Doraphinnor was happy at the point where Santa popped into view in Melanie's barracks room.

Melanie was happy too. It turns out that male elves have an ability human men would kill for. Male elves have the ability to make their sexual organ whatever size the woman they are with wishes it was. And male elves, perhaps because they restrict themselves from engaging in sex for their first two hundred years, have plenty of time to study the academics involved in satisfying a woman. Once they get to put all that book knowledge into practice, their skills develop rapidly.

Not to mention they can maintain an erection for as long as they wish.

Or, in this case ... as long as Melanie wished.

"Santa," panted the woman lying limply on her bed. Her legs were splayed open and her arms were lying at her sides. Doraphinnor was contentedly sliding his elven prick in and out of her. "I've been so bad, Santa," she moaned.

"Is it time to go already?" panted Doraphinnor.

"It is," said Santa.