A Whateley Academy Adventure

Just A Happy Christmas Story

by

Domoviye

 

Part 2

 

Tulsa, Oklahoma
Holy Family Cathedral
June, 1991

“You may kiss the bride,” the priest said.

Katherine looked up at John, the love of her life and her former partner in crime, trying not to cry with happiness. He smiled down at her, his brilliant blue eyes full of love, then with a grin he hugged her, making her lean so far back that only his firm grip on her back and shoulders kept her from falling, and dramatically kissed her. She kissed him right back, loving the way he made her heart race and how he always chose the most dramatic way to do things.

The small group of friends and her family in attendance broke into applause. She was pretty sure a few of their guests had to stop themselves from letting off a few energy blasts, or explosives in at least one case, to celebrate the marriage. She and John had spent years travelling in circles that would not be considered normal for most people, at least not law-abiding ones.

With the organ playing, they walked arm in arm out of the church. Cuddling up to her husband, she couldn't say new, they'd eloped six months before after getting tortured and nearly killed in Detroit, Katherine whispered, “Just how many people here, who aren't my family, aren't criminals or supervillains?”

John, more commonly known as Mille, whispered back, “I'm sure some of the plus ones aren't supervillains. Even Magali is officially a supervillain in France, so she's with the majority here.”

Katherine turned to the teen who was acting as her only bride's maid. The young mutant had been rescued by them in Paris a little over a year before, and looked splendid in her baby blue dress, alongside Katherine's sister who was the maid of honour.

Leaving the church, they got in the waiting limo and headed for the restaurant for the most important part of the wedding, the party.

Tulsa, Oklahoma
Holy Family Cathedral
Afternoon
Friday, December 21^st, 2007

Katherine knelt at the front of the church where she had been married long before in happier times. Lighting a votive candle, she placed it on the alter before the statue of Jesus on the Cross, then she put her hands together, her head down, and whispered to herself. “Dear Lord, I pray for my husband now. I pray that you will help him with the struggles he is going through in this season. For you know exactly what he needs in this moment.”

She stayed kneeling staring at the candle. She knew Father Garcia was watching her, ready to offer his support if she needed it. She had come here often enough over the years that the old priest knew that if she wanted to talk, she'd let him know. More often she came, lit a candle, said a prayer and left soon after.

She knew that she had to leave soon to meet her son and his friends at the airport. Of the two friends, Smile who was traumatized by her parents and uncomfortable around new adults would be the easier one to deal with. According to Shaun as long as she gave the girl a bit of space to get used to her, everything would be fine.

The issue was Jane Fisher. A fourteen-year-old foster girl who claimed to have amnesia and no past. Publicly she was a mutant with shapeshifting abilities that was extremely skilled within her limited range, and was a very good fighter. Unofficially, she was a murderer, who had killed at least thirty people a month ago, one of which had been some kind of cyborg super solder. Katherine couldn't exactly get upset about the murders, since the victims had all been employed by a crime lord, who had severely beaten Shaun leaving him with multiple broken bones, all because of Shaun's father, the supervillain Mille.

No the problem was that Katherine had no idea why Jane would risk her own life and her cover to defend Shaun. That the girl had phoned her immediately after the attack, using a code only Mille would know, and promised to deal with it, was more concerning.

“John, who is this girl?” she quietly asked the candle. “Is she your daughter? A student? You? Why couldn't you have sent her to me?”

Wiping away tears, her phone beeped, letting her know it was time to head for the airport. Sighing, she whispered, “Why couldn't you come back to me?”

Getting to her feet, she made her way out of the church, smiling at the Father. Putting a hundred-dollar-bill in the donations box, she walked to a van where one of her drivers, who happened to be very well armed and experienced in violence, was patiently waiting for her.

“Ready to go Katherine?” he asked starting the engine.

“Yes, Gordon. Let's get going, the traffic is going to be horrible,” she said. Blowing her nose, she watched the building and people go past, checking the mirrors regularly for any signs of a tail. Normally she wouldn't have been too worried, but until November, very few people had known that she was the wife of Mille. He had done a lot to cover the connection, and by the end of his career it was commonly thought he was a mad dog and no one sane would be married to him. She had done a lot on her end to push that belief, creating hundreds of false leads and dead ends over the last decade and a half.

Her phone dinged. Checking the message she smiled and tapped a quick reply back. “Looks like everything is on track. Magali has just landed and is about to go through customs, and Shaun's plane is on schedule. We'll put everything in the van at the same time.”

Gordon nodded in acknowledgement. He seldom said much, which was fine with Katherine, she hadn't hired him for his charisma. Pulling out a brand new pack of cards, she began shuffling them and doing card tricks to keep her hands busy. Normally she wouldn't do this in a car, but she was feeling a little agitated

She had everything set up to deal with Jane, she just didn't know if she would have to. Or if she could go through with it if there was no other choice.

Downtown London, England
1985

“Fuck you, you fucking pig!” Katherine shouted at her former boss and very ex-lover.

Orion The Magnificent, a supposedly up and coming stage magician slapped her cheek rocking her head to the side. “Stupid bitch! If you actually knew what the hell you were doing, we wouldn't be performing at these shitty little bars.” His breath reeked of alcohol.

Even as she held her bruised cheek, she grabbed one of the bowling pins that was part of their act holding it like a club if he tried to hit her again. “I'm not the one who was in charge of booking the shows, or marketing. You said you had it all under control and we'd be performing at some of the bigger theatres in London. I was the idiot who paid for our tickets to get here! I had to beg my parents for money to make sure we had food and a place to stay. And I'm the one who actually gets on stage sober trying to make you look good!”

“All you have to do is stand there looking like a slut. I'm the one who actually has to perform!”

She almost hit him with the pin. “Fine, Orion the Magnificent,” she practically spit out the name, “This slut is out of here. Try not to set yourself on fire again tonight.”

Backing away from the man, holding the pin ready to defend herself, she picked up her small, battered suitcase and kept going until her back hit the door. Dropping her impromptu weapon, she turned opened the door and ran for it, her sparkly black stage shoes tapping noisily as she made her escape.

Once she was outside and a little ways away from the dive she'd called home for the last month of their 'London Tour', Katherine slowed down trying to get her emotions under control. It wasn't easy, she realized she really was in a bad situation. Her stomach growled, it had been a long time since breakfast, and the stale bun she'd had couldn't really be called a meal. The small cup of noodles she'd had for supper the night before hadn't exactly been filling either.

She didn't look in her purse to count the few coins she had. The neighbourhood wasn't as bad as some places she'd been, but that wasn't saying much. And she knew for a fact, she'd be lucky to have enough to pay for a bus pass.

“Dammit!” She could phone her parents and maybe have them wire her some money, but that wasn't exactly certain. They'd already loaned her so much, most of which had gone to keeping Orion the useless drunk. And it wouldn't help her right now, when it looked like she was going to be sleeping on the street.

What type of job could a twenty-two year old magicians assistant get on short notice?

Thinking about it, her stomach roiled. She really didn't want to sink that low.

She wandered the street trying to think of something, anything she could do that wouldn't involve a dirty alley or cheap hotel room, eventually coming to a better section of London. Her stomach felt like it was eating itself, and she was tired of walking with her entire life in a suitcase. Seeing the people walking past her, most of whom while not exactly well dressed but at least well fed and not worrying about where their next meal would come from, a thought came to Katherine. She wouldn't risk it if she wasn't stranded and broke in a foreign country, but it was a possibility.

Her sleight of hand was really good. What had started off as a childhood hobby of card tricks, had grown until she could take someone's watch off their wrist without them even noticing it. She'd never done it for crime, it was just a hobby and party trick, and then she'd gotten into show business, using her looks and skills to help make sure an act went properly for her employer. But taking a wallet from a man's pocket on stage for part of an act wasn't any different from taking that same wallet to pay for a meal. It would probably be easier because dozens or hundreds of people wouldn't be watching her.

Biting her lip, Katherine wondered if she could really do it. She wasn't a thief. But she also wasn't a prostitute. She also needed food. More importantly in the short term, she needed a place to sleep for the night. Sleeping on the street would probably mean ending up under a man one way or another.

A cocky looking bastard strode down the street like he owned it. He was better dressed than most people, and had a breezy uncaring look to him, as if he'd never had anything bad happen in his life. Seeing the clueless blue eyes, she made up her mind. The rich asshole wouldn't miss a few bucks.

Letting her exhaustion show, she slumped along the sidewalk head a little down, half asleep. The man nearly avoided her but their shoulders bumped and she didn't even have to act as she stumbled and almost fell. He caught her before she could fall completely, and as he apologized, helping her stay upright, her hand dipped into his jacket pocket where she could tell a wallet or something about the same weight rested. In less than a second the wallet was in her palm being held in the lightest possible grip, that made it look like she was empty handed unless you looked right in her palm. A tired and embarrassed apology later, and they were both on their way.

Slipping the wallet and something else stuck in it, past the waistband of her skirt and into her nylons, Katherine was confident she'd gotten away with her crime. Her skirt kept any bulge from showing, and they'd have to make her undress to find it. Something she was fairly sure she could avoid. With her heart racing from her first crime, she kept her tired appearance and started looking for a bathroom to dump the wallet after emptying it of cash.

An hour later Katherine was sitting down eating a big plate of curry, feeling quite happy with herself. The man, one Richard De Millard, had had over five hundred pounds on him, that would get her back to the US with plenty to spare, and she'd sleep in something other than a dump tonight. Once back in the US she could get a job as a makeup artist or something while looking for a new job with a better magician.

She still felt bad about robbing him, especially because she'd accidentally grabbed his passport. With no way to return it to him, it had gone in the garbage can under a wad of wet toilet paper. It wasn't the best way to throw away the evidence, just the best one she could think of with what she had on hand.

A man sat down at her table.

“Excuse me, I'd prefer to eat alo-” She stopped talking, her jaw dropping at the sight of the man she'd robbed. He didn't look like a brainless rich man now. His blue eyes were hard and very, very cold.

“Where is my wallet and passport?” he asked in a faint French accent.

“Oh shit,” Katherine said.

Tulsa International Airport
Friday, December 21^st, 2007

“Mom!” Shaun shouted running over to give Katherine a hug.

Despite not seeing her in about fifteen years, Jane recognized Katherine instantly. Even at forty-four, Katherine was still beautiful, age had just made her more refined and elegant. It took everything she had to keep her neutral expression, even as what was left of her soul wept at being so close to the woman Mille had loved.

It took her a several moments to recognize the black-haired woman standing beside Katherine holding the hand of a young boy. The long bangs covering her forehead was what clued Jane in, that it was Magali, all grown up and apparently with a family of her own. Seeing the girl Mille had rescued in Paris over two decades before, and paid to go to Whateley, turn into a seemingly successful woman, was a small balm on a lifetime of regret. She still had to hide a bittersweet smile.

The red headed lawyer who had ensured they made it safely to Tulsa, Jerald Canali and his hired muscle, gave Jane a small push, making her realize she'd stopped moving. Silently cursing, she started moving again. Smile reached out to take her hand, the tiny girl was biting her lip nervously, looked around the airport trying to avoid getting bumped by the many people that made up the Christmas rush.

They reached Katherine and Magali and stopped just a step further away than would normally be polite. The pair of women smiled at both of them, but Jane could see that Katherine was looking a lot more intensely at her, than at Smile.

Shaun realized he had a job to do. “Um, Smile, Jane, this is my Mom, Katherine, and my aunt Magali, and her son Felix.”

“It's great to finally meet you two,” Katherine said, letting Smile keep the little bit of distance between them to stay comfortable. “While you're here, please treat my home like you own.”

Magali grinned and said in a thick French accent, “Hey there. I can't wait to hear all the embarrassing things Shaun did at school.”

“We can tell you about him crossdressing for his combat final,” Smile said with a grin.

Jane saw a flicker of what could have been pain in Magali's eyes. She knew that the woman had once been a boy, but there was no way Jane would know that, so she kept her friendly neutral expression.

“I saw that on TV, it was a very good disguise,” Magali said with barely a pause.

Jerald Canali stepped up. “Ms. Solace, I trust everything is completed satisfactorily for your employer?

“Yes, thank you for seeing them home safely, Mr. Canali. I'll let him know that it's completed. You can go now, and merry Christmas.”

Knowing a dismissal when he heard it the lawyer and his companion left rather quickly without looking back. Jane wanted to know what that was about. While Mr. Canali might be a lawyer, she was pretty sure he wasn't exactly a normal one, most lawyers didn't have muscle with them, and the mention of an employer for Katherine made her very curious. But there was no way to ask, and frankly the less she knew the better. It was going to be hard enough being near Katherine as it was.

“Do you guys have to pick up any luggage?” Magali asked.

“Nah. I had my important things shipped before we left. So we just have our carry-on stuff,” Shaun said.

“All right, let's get going, I have a van waiting outside to pick us up,” Katherine said, wrapping her arm around Shaun and leading the way out.

Wending their way through the crowd, they eventually escaped into the equally crowded pick-up area. Fortunately, the big van was easy to see, and they managed to get everyone and everything inside with minimal problems. Jane, Shaun and Smile were once more sitting together, in the very back, with Magali and her boy in the middle seats, and Katherine up front, made talking a bit awkward, but Shaun was talking a mile a minute with Magali, and Smile was having a little conversation with Felix. Jane just sat staring out the window, trying to control her emotions when all she wanted to do was run away. When they did finally make it to Shaun's home Jane had to bite her tongue to keep from crying.

The large house looked a lot like it had when Mille had made the greatest mistake in his life. The siding had been changed, going from white to a sky blue. The bay window in the living room had become a bow window, and the door was windowless. But it was still the only home Mille had ever known.

“Here we are, everyone out!” Katherine said a touch too cheerfully.

Getting out the temperature was just above freezing, which made the winter evening feel like fall to the Whateley students.

“Where's the snow,” Felix asked, the young boy speaking for the first time. His Quebecois accent was faint but noticeable.

“This is a proper Christmas,” Shaun said, “we won't freeze to death.”

The four Canadians looked at each other then at Shaun like he was nuts. “How can it be Christmas without snow?” Felix demanded.

“Don't worry,” Magali told her son, “when we go back to Montreal I'll take you sledding.”

Getting their bags they walked into the house, while the driver carried Magali's large suitcase. The home was lit up for Christmas and the faint smell of cookies made it clear what Katherine had been doing that morning. Jane forced herself to just look around curiously, hiding all of her emotions. In a bit of a daze, she ignored the talking going on around her, and just nodded when Katherine offered to show her and Smile their room.

“Shaun said you two would like to share a room. But if you want to have your own rooms, we have plenty of space,” Katherine said.

“No thank you. Ms. Solace,” Smile said. “I've gotten used to sleeping in the same room with someone, and I feel a bit safer that way.”

“It's fine,” Jane said in a whisper.

Katherine smiled. “Well OK than. You girls can freshen up or relax. And remember as long as you stay out of my office, treat this house like your own. I want both of you be comfortable so if you need anything just ask. Supper is in an hour, we're having pizza and Shaun told me your favourites, so everyone is getting an individual pie all for themselves.”

Jane just nodded, still in a daze and stared out the window at the blackjack oak that shaded the window, lost in her own little world.

Tulsa, Oklahoma
December, 1990

Mille and Katherine walked through the house one last time. “This can be an office for me,” he said looking out the window at a small blackjack oak tree that was just reaching the second level of the house.

“Will it be big enough for you? Doesn't a big name detective like you need a large office to hold everything?” Katherine asked, hugging him.

“I'm hardly a big name detective. I just sent out the paperwork for my P.I. License last week.”

“Is it going to be enough for you? Going from a big league continent spanning con artist to a small city detective?”

Smiling he leaned down to kiss her. “The key to being a good con artist is to know when to run. We've pissed off a few too many people to keep risking things. Detroit was way too close for comfort. And with you by my side, yeah, I can handle this. Being a detective is just to keep things interesting and the tax man off my back.”

She squeezed him tight, nuzzling into his chest. “I'm glad. Eight years without a place to call a home, five of those running around the world without even a name, it was starting to wear out its appeal.”

“Home...” he sighed. “I haven't had one since I was twelve, and that place could barely be called a home.”

“We'll make this one a great home. You, me, a couple of kids, it will be the best home you've ever seen. But do we need a house quite this big? It's huge. The other one we looked at this morning was a good size, in just as good of a neighbourhood, and it was a lot cheaper.”

“Money isn't exactly a problem. And you said it yourself, you, me, a couple of kids. I'm thinking eight. Four boys, and four girls,” he said.

“Eight kids!” she squawked. “And just who are you going to find to push out half of them? I'm thinking three, maybe four.”

“Ok, four kids. Two boys, two girls.”

“I don't think biology works like that, Mille. There's a bit more random chance to it.”

“OK, we keep trying until we have a minimum of two boys, and two girls.”

She slapped his chest pretending to scowl. “If you want it that badly, you can have one or two of them.”

Shifting into a woman, Mille grinned. “Well if you insist. I'll just need to find a handsome, wealthy man to have his love child.”

“Do that and you'd better not turn back into a man because I will cut your balls off.”

Laughing, he shifted back to a man. “OK. OK. Four kids, doesn't matter if they're boys or girls.”

Tulsa, Oklahoma
Friday, December 21^st, 2007

“Pizza!” Shaun shouted from downstairs.

Getting up Jane realized that she was alone in the room. Going to the bathroom, she stared at herself in the mirror. “I'm Jane Fisher. Daughter of Mille. I'm fourteen-years old. I'm a student at Whateley. I have never been to Tulsa. I have never seen Katherine. Mille is dead, he needs to stay dead.”

Washing her hands she headed downstairs in time to see the pizzas boxes being put around the table. Magali lifted her bangs out of the way and opened up the sky blue eye in her forehead and looked at the pizza's one after the other. “That's the deluxe pizza for Katherine. A Hawaiian pizza for Smile. Pepperoni for Felix and I. Meat Lovers for Shaun. And bacon and pepperoni for Jane,” she said, saving everyone time and confusion.

With everyone having the correct pizza's and drinks already poured, Jane took her seat, beside Smile and Katherine, acting as a bit of a buffer between her friend and the adult. Felix was also beside Smile, making their side a little crowded, but it was a small price to pay to make sure Smile felt safe. Before they could dig in Katherine cleared her throat. “Let say grace.”

Taking Katherine's hand in hers, Jane struggled to breathe normally. It helped that she could close her eyes as it felt like electricity was shooting through her, making her heart race.

"Loving Father,” Katherine said quietly, “we thank you for bringing us together for this meal, and ask that you care for those who could not be here."

“Amen,” they all said, then dropped their hands.

Smile sniffed and used a napkin to wipe her eyes.

“What's wrong, Smile?” Magali asked, reaching out only to pull her hand back when the tiny girl flinched away.

Smile scrubbed at her eyes again. “I'm sorry. I'm just thinking about my little brother. He's still with my parents, and... I don't know if he's safe or even alive.”

The two women looked at each other, clearly wanting to do something, but at a loss of how to help without making it worse. Jane leaned over and hugged her friend, holding her tight as Smile struggled not to cry.

Felix suddenly got out of his chair and hugged Smile as well. The four-year-old pressed himself tightly to her and said into her side. “You can be my big sister if you want.”

That made Smile cry in earnest. She twisted around to hug the little boy. “Thank you,” she managed to get out.

Between Jane and Felix's hugs she finally managed to get herself under control. Sniffing, “Sorry. I don't usually cry. But sometimes it's just... It's hard. And being Christmas... it's even harder.”

Dabbing at her eyes, Katherine gave her a knowing smile. “I understand completely, Smile. If you need to cry, you can go somewhere private or just let it all out wherever you are. Magali and I won't judge you in the least.”

They began eating in silence letting things settle down a little before Shaun spoke up. “So, what's the plan for the holidays?”

“Shopping tomorrow for presents for everyone, and some essentials for all of you,” Katherine said. “And that reminds me, I have early Christmas presents for Jane and Smile.”

She pulled two small envelopes from her pants pocket, and handed them over. “Debit cards with five hundred dollars in them. Use the money to have some fun please.”

“This is too much,” Smile said, looking like she was going to start crying again.

“It's not,” Katherine said very firmly. “I've been down on my luck before, alone, penniless, far from home, with no idea what I was going to do, when I got help from a good man. So when I can, I like to help people who need it. Today that's both of you.”

“Thank you,” Jane said, her voice barely even a whisper. She remembered all too well what Katherine was talking about.

“Are you sure?” Smile asked.

“Yes, very sure,” Katherine said.

For a few seconds, Smile didn't say or do anything, her eyes moved around the table focusing on random things, as she moved her lips silently. Then she looked up at the woman. “Can I give you a hug?”

That got a surprised look from everyone at the table. Then Katherine smiled and nodded, getting up out of her chair. “Of course, Smile.”

The small blue haired girl got to her feet, breathing deeply and slowly. Then she walked over and wrapped her arms around Katherine, burying her face in her chest. “Thank you,” she said, barely understandable through her sobs.

Midnight

Katherine yawned, wishing she could go to bed. She'd had a long day, and even with most of the evening just being watching Christmas classics with everyone, she was exhausted from nervous energy. At least everything had gone well so far. Smile had acted much like she'd thought, a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Still, she had to admire the child for overcoming her fears enough to give her a hug at supper. Smile had spent the rest of the night practically glued to Jane's side, but it was a good sign.

And Jane... The girl was walking around in a daze, seemingly struggling to keep her emotions under control. She wasn't sure if the teen was going to run away or break down in tears. About the only thing she was certain of was that Jane wasn't going to grab a knife and go crazy. Which was a relief.

So, she really wanted to go to bed as the clock struck midnight. Unfortunately, there was no rest for the wicked, and she was more wicked than most people would believe.

Turning on her computer that was far more advanced than it looked, she tapped in some passwords activating the camera and a filter that was top of the line. It was time to get to work.

In a small rented, office that just so happened to have a roll away bed for people who needed to be at the office overnight, some late night work was going on. Red headed Gerald Dacanay, who earlier that day had been the lawyer Jerald Canali opened the door letting the messenger boy of his current financier come in.

Yawning he wished they could have done their business at a reasonable hour, but the one who paid the bills set the hours. “Do you have it?” he asked.

The messenger held up a plain battered briefcase. “I do. Let me set it up.” Dacanay waved him over to the desk, fighting back another yawn. He hated all the smoke and daggers his financier insisted on, he had never met the mysterious Thread's in person, and it seemed that only those who were trusted completely ever saw the man.

Opening the suitcase the messenger removed the inner lining and a screen was revealed, a shadowy figure was already online. Threads, an information broker, middleman, money launderer and financier was ready to talk.

“I got the kids home safely. There weren't any problems.” He didn't say it seemed like a waste of time having that much security, the worst that could have happened was a strip search, which was hardly the end of the world. “Well done,” the man said in a heavily distorted voice. It was clear what he was saying, but the changes in pitch and tone, combined with the electronic background noise, would make it impossible to tell who it was. “As per our agreement your new powered item. It's not a claw, but it is very effective and will aid in the creation of your new identity.”

The messenger pulled a green demonic mask from a secret pocket in his coat, placing it and an instruction manual on the desk.

“A mask,” Dacanay said, clearly not impressed.

“It's not a devise, and can be powered up in five hours to full use using two car batteries. You wanted something regular tech can't copy, and doesn't use magic or devises, that's the best you're going to get without murdering someone,” Threads replied.

“But I was the Crimson Claw. I know how to use hand weapons. This is as far from a hand as you can get. How am I supposed to learn this well enough to use it for New Years Eve?”

“The Crimson Claw is burnt. Your actions in Cincinnati made that persona toxic. The Jade Mask is a new identity that will let you rebuild your reputation.”

He wanted to argue, but the man had a point, damn him. Trying to double cross two supervillains had been a mistake. He'd been lucky he'd been able to call in a favour to get his men and himself broken out of prison. It had taken months to find a financier who was willing to take a risk on him, and the cut he was going to take for the several robberies and heists was steeper than anyone but an idiot or a desperate man would have accepted.

Unfortunately, he was desperate.

“Fine. I'm the Jade Mask now,” he said. “Do you at least have somewhere I can practice with this in relative secrecy? I haven't exactly had a chance to scope out the city.”

“Yes,” Threads said simply.

A moment later the messenger handed over a scrap of paper with some random numbers on it. Knowing the code Threads was using at the moment, Dacanay was able to find the GPS location easily enough.

“Good. Is there anything else you would like to discuss, or can I go to bed now? Flying across the country with three kids was not exactly restful.”

“We are done. If you need anything for the heist leave a message, I will get it for you.” The image cut out.

“Merry Christmas to you to,” Dacanay grumbled. While the messenger packed everything up, he picked up the ugly green mask. Studying the inside of it, he wondered how well it would work.

Tulsa, Oklahoma
Woodland Hills Mall
Morning
Saturday, December 22^nd, 2007

“OK, everyone has their cell phone?” Katherine asked as the group of teens, one child and two adults stood in the parking lot.

Everyone except Felix nodded. “I don't have a phone,” the four-year-old said.

“That's why you're going to stay with me, and NOT wander off like last time,” Magali said, firmly holding his hand.

“We meet up at the food court beside the Subway shop at one. We don't have to eat there, it's just nice and noticeable. If you run into any trouble, if you can get away and call me. If you can't, call me quicker.”

“Yes mom,” Shaun said, rolling his eyes.

“Let's go,” she said, leading the way to Woodland Hills Mall. “And girls, I want you to buy yourselves some fun things. We all deserve a nice Christmas this year, so spoil yourselves.”

“Yes, Katherine,” Smile said as she skipped along beside Jane and Shaun.

Jane just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Keeping her hands in the pouch of her hoodie to stop herself from fidgeting with her belt, she walked with her friends ahead of the adults, she felt Katherine's eyes studying her. She had been watching her since they first arrived, and Jane couldn't blame the woman. She shouldn't have come. She should have run away from Whateley.

Trying to keep the mask on was proving impossible. She could barely talk without her voice cracking, and every time she looked at Katherine, saw the long-held grief in her eyes, it was a knife in the heart, another reason to curse Mille to hell.

It would be best for everyone if she disappeared. Now would be the perfect opportunity. The Christmas crowd would be easy to get lost in. Just five minutes and she could have entirely different clothes. Risk a grand mal seizure, and shift to a fat woman, no one would recognize her. She'd have about thirty minutes to get somewhere out of the way and let the seizure happen.

Smile grabbed her hand, Shaun did the same a moment later. “What?” she asked, realizing that they'd entered the mall and gotten away from the adults while she'd been thinking. Shaking her head she cursed herself for slipping so badly.

“You've got blue eyes,” Shaun said.

Smile looked up at her. “Whatever you're thinking stop it.”

“I-” She didn't know what to say. Ever since the combat final when her cover had been destroyed, she'd been lost, flailing around without any idea what to do. Mille would have fled, probably leaving bodies and devastation behind him. She should have just fled.

“Food court, we need to talk,” Shaun said.

Her friends refused to let her hands go, forcing her to follow them through the crowded mall. She felt trapped. Thoughts of escape rose up, increasing her muscle mass and just wrenching her hands free to escape and running. Knocking out Smile with a blow to the jaw so she couldn't transform and numb her legs. Screaming fire and running through the confusion.

She didn't do any of those things.

Finding a free table, they sat her down, Shaun across from her, Smile beside her still holding her hand. The concern in their eyes made her want to scream. She didn't deserve it. She was a monster, just like Mille. Why didn't they see it.

Her blood ran cold. Hastily she threw her hood up and ducked her head while her skin and muscles crawled and shifted. She found herself a little shorter but very muscular, almost ripping her track pants. Closing her eyes she shifted back to Jane.

Lowering her hood no one seemed to be paying any attention to her, too lost in Christmas shopping and their own lives to notice a girl who couldn't seem to figure out if she wanted her hood up or down.

“OK, Jane. When and how are we going to tell my mom that your Mille's daughter?” Shaun asked.

“Please... don't,” she whispered. She couldn't lie to Katherine anymore than she already had. She had thought she could handle it, but it hurt to even look at her.

Smile squeezed her hand. “I talked to Shaun, and he told me about Mille. You saw Katherine, she already suspects a lot. She deserves to know.”

“She- she'll ask about Mille. She shouldn't hear that- that he was a monster.”

“This isn't about her, or my dad,” Shaun said. “It's about you. My mom can handle things, she's an adult. You need help.”

Blood welled up in Jane's mouth as she almost bit through her tongue to stop from laughing. If only they knew. Keeping her head down, she shifted covering the wound and swallowed the blood. “I shouldn't have come.”

“Yes you should have,” Shaun said, grabbing her hand. “Dad took you into his care, so you're my family. You deserve to have some happiness.”

“You have no idea what I've done, or who I am.” She looked away.

Smile squeezed her hand. “Because you won't tell us.”

Tears ran down Jane's face. “I was a monster. I didn't want to be a monster anymore. Jane was supposed to be everything I wasn't.”

“You can still be Jane.”

She shook her head. “They know who I am now. They have an idea who Shaun is. They'll try to kill me. They'll get you both too.”

Shaun started to speak only to be cut off by Smile. “Don't you dare decide things for me,” the tiny girl said, her voice shaking, angrier than anyone had ever heard. “I've faced death before. I was strapped to a bloody table with a body five feet away from me, and only a miracle got me out. I saw my mother slit a person's throat. You do NOT get to decide if I can handle something. If you run, you do not get to say it was to protect me.”

Looking at Smile, who was shaking with anger, Jane didn't know what to say. She had known Smile wasn't weak and definitely wasn't a wilting flower, but this was a new side of her that she'd never seen.

“She's right,” Shaun said. “I had my limbs broken because they knew my father before I did. They didn't know you, you didn't cause any of it. We'll talk to my mom and figure something out. You running away, that's not going to make things better for Smile or I.”

“But-”

“NO BUT'S!” Smile almost shouted. “You've been there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on and someone to talk to without any judgment. It's time you realize people are here for you. If you won't tell us why you think you're a monster, then we're just going to have to judge you for what you've done. And all I can say is you've been my best friend. You're quiet and sad a lot, but you've never made me feel bad about my parents, and you've just accepted me even when I've been a crying mess. So let me be your friend now.”

With a chance to speak, Shaun started talking, not letting Jane get a word in. “My mom still looks for Mille. She has to know he's dead. But we still go to the cities they spent a lot of time in, Paris, Berlin, London, heck, half of Europe by now. She keeps an eye out for people, watching them closely. She hasn't given up on my father, even with all the horrible things he's done. I'm not going to give up on you, sis.”

The tears came in a flood. Jane didn't know where they came from. She'd thought she'd forgotten how to cry but in the last few weeks, they just kept falling, and she didn't know how to make them stop. She felt Smile throw her arms around her, and then Shaun was beside her hugging her as well.

She didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she could do anything. The tears just kept falling.

Shaun sat a table beside the Subway with Smile and Jane and several big bags of clothes and gifts. Jane sat quietly, The dazed look seemed to be gone at least, she was keeping an eye out in her usual extremely hard to notice way. He'd seen his mother watching out for things in the same way when she got nervous, just moving just the eyes, using reflections off of metal and glass to see behind her, little motions of the head that looked like normal movements but let her look at different areas peripherally.

What had it been like growing up where that type of thing was second nature?

“Do you think your mom will like the gifts I got her?” Smile asked.

“Yeah,” he said, “she loves books about magicians and con artists. She was a magician's assistant when she was younger, even travelled to London before she quit. I'd have suggested a few magic tricks but she knows all of them and could do most of them in her sleep. We really need to get her to do a show for us.”

“Mi- John said that she was the best pick pocket and sleight of hand artist he ever knew,” Jane said quietly.

“It's still hard to believe that mom was a famous con artist back in the 80's.” He shook his head wondering when he was going to have a chance to talk about that with her privately.

“Parents are weird. And they're usually really good at hiding things,” Smile said. “Think the old folks will be here soon? They're running a bit late.”

Shaun smiled. “Felix is probably running them ragged. Last year he didn't want to wait to see Santa Claus even though there was at least a forty minute wait. The second his mom let go of his hand he was gone. Security found him in Santa's workshop looking for his present, and getting really upset that there were only boxes for the decorations and Santa's boxed lunch.”

“Aw! Poor little guy,” Smile said. Even Jane had a small smile, one of the first she'd had all day.

“Aunt Magali said she was going to be grey before she hit thirty-five. Mom just reminded her of all the fun they had in Paris.”

“What happened in Paris?”

Shrugging he replied, “That's one of the things they refused to talk about. So I'm guessing a lot of illegal things.”

He resisted the urge to look at Jane, hoping she would fill in the details. It was pretty clear that Mille hadn't kept her in the dark about... anything really, unlike his own mother. But if she didn't want to talk about it, neither he or Smile was going to force her. They were treating her with kids gloves after it had looked like she'd been going to bolt when they first entered the mall.

“SMILE!” Felix shouted as he ran head first into the tiny girl nearly knocking her off her feet.

“Hey where's my hug?” Shaun demanded pretending to sound upset.

The little boy mostly ignored him, just saying, “Blue hair is cool.”

“Thank you, Felix,” Smile said, hugging him tightly. “And you're right blue hair is really cool.”

He noticed Jane was smiling sadly, and wiping at her eye. It was odd seeing her so emotional, but it seemed like a good sign. It had to be better than how she had always closed herself off and just acted like she was mildly happy or unconcerned. If only she would laugh and genuinely smile like he'd seen her do a few times before everything had started going wrong with Mille's influence in both their lives being revealed.

“How was your shopping?” Katherine asked, as she came up, giving him a hug.

“Good. No peeking in the bags. We all got you guys presents,” he said hugging her back.

“Your secrets are safe from me.” She let him go and turned to the girls. “Did you girls get nice things for yourselves?”

“Yes, Ma'am,” Smile said. “Mostly underwear and clothes, I really needed some nice things that weren't school uniforms.”

His mom beamed. “Great! And what about you Jane?”

Jane looked away, biting her lip. In barely a whisper, she said, “I got some books, and clothes, Ms. Solace.”

He saw his Mom fight back a sigh. “That's good. If you like I have quite a collection of books, you can look through them and take a few back to Whateley with you.”

The thank you was so quiet it was almost impossible to hear.

“All right,” Magali broke the potentially awkward moment, “what do people want to eat? Sit down restaurant or grab whatever we want here?”

After a short discussion it was decided variety was good, and they each split up to get their own food, returning to the table loaded down with burgers, tacos, Chinese noodles, and other cheap but tasty food. As they ate, Shaun had to smile as Smile finally started really opening up and living up to her codename talking to his mom and aunt Magali, about her combat final. Felix was too busy eating to say much. And Jane she was picking at her taco, doing her best impression of being a wallflower.

Not knowing what else to do, he joined in the conversation, watching his half-sister out of the corner of his eye.

When everyone was done eating, It was time to decide what to do next. Of course his mom had things all planned for that. “How about you girls and Felix, go watch a movie, while Shaun and I have a coffee together.”

“We can watch Alvin and the Chipmunks?!” Felix shouted.

“Oh that sounds like a fun movie,” Smile said, grinning at the little boy.

Jane nodded, which was good enough for everyone. Magali picked up her bags. “OK girls, lets put our bags in the van, and we'll go to the theatre, popcorn and drinks are on me.”

Felix and Smile both racing each other to the exit, and Jane followed pretty quickly behind them. Magali shook her head, grinning at the first two kids. “I'll let you know when we should be out. You two have a good chat.”

“Thanks, Magali,” Katherine said.

Finally alone Shaun and his mom looked awkwardly at each other. “So... we have a lot to talk about,” he finally said.

“Yes we do,” she agreed. “But not here. Lets get some privacy, and coffee. I've heard about the toxic coffee you techies drink at school, I don't think we'll find anything like it here, but there is a good cafe close by.”

He followed his mom to a cafe at the far end of the mall, and grabbed a seat while she went and ordered. It wasn't exactly private with the place being pretty packed, but he was able to snag a small booth that wasn't right by the long line. When the coffee finally came, his mom pulled a small globe out of her purse and tapped it. The noise died down.

Two months ago he'd have been surprised at his mother having something that was likely a devise, now, he just rolled with it. “Noise nullifier?”

“Something like that. People will hear us talking but it'll be very indistinct and almost impossible to understand. In a noisy place like this, it's perfect.”

“So,” he started, stopped, than kept going. “I think it's time you tell me the truth about dad.”

She got a far away look in her eyes and a bittersweet smile. “Mille... when I knew him, he was not good. He was a criminal, and a daredevil, always pushing his limits. But he wasn't a bad man. We always went after criminals and people and companies who could afford it. Using their own greed to lead them into traps where we ran away with the money. Mille and Marionette, we made quite the team.”

“I think that's what a lot of criminals say.”

“True. I have done my best to make sure you won't follow in our footsteps. It was exciting at times, and a challenge, but I've had more guns pointed at me than I care to remember and a few times I had to get emergency healing from back alley superpowered healers. It's not a good life. Which was why I was so happy when your father agreed to retire with me after I almost lost a leg and he got shot in the chest in Detroit.”

“What happened?!”

“We got a bit too clever and got caught by a supervillain. He decided that torturing us to death was a good response to walking away with some of his fancier gadgets. Those two days still give me nightmares.”

“How did you survive?”

She smiled. “I'm very good at pickpocketing. They thought I was unconscious, so they got a bit too close to me. I got the keys and we were able to escape. Mille took a few bullets for me on the way out, and I got a bullet in my thigh that took out a couple of nerves. The tourniquet I put on to keep from bleeding out caused my leg to start going necrotic. If we hadn't been able to get to a very good healer that day we likely wouldn't have made it. At the very least I would have lost my leg.”

Trying to picture his mom as some criminal was hard enough. Thinking of her getting tortured, escaping while under fire, and nearly dying, that was almost a bridge too far. If he hadn't figured out about her past already, he would have insisted she was lying.

Sipping his coffee, Shaun tried to work out how his overprotective mother who was usually working at running her companies, and spent her free time doing magic tricks and sleight of hand, had been a famous con artist that risked death. It didn't fit.

“With your father... Like I said, he wasn't a good man. There was a dangerous side to him, and a few times I had to pull him back from doing something that would have pushed him over the edge. Saving Magali from the MCO had him ready to kill the two very persistent agents.”

“Wait! What?!”

“Magali was on the run from the MCO, who wanted her dead or locked away forever. At the time they had a psychic who was able to tell them the general area we'd be, and we were broke waiting for new ID, so we couldn't exactly get away. After a few too many close calls, before we knew about their pet psychic, Mille offered to remove them.” she shook her head and sipped her coffee. “I told him we wouldn't do that unless we had absolutely no other choice. So, we ended up blackmailing them instead.”

“I really need to hear that whole story. But what happened to turn dad from a con artist into,” he scowled, “a monster.”

His mom took a moment to wipe her eyes with a tissue. “I was pregnant with you, and from what I was able to piece together, several of our enemies who wanted to get their money back with interest, including the Detroit supervillain, had a lead on us. And your stupid, stubborn, infuriating father thought that the only way to keep us all safe was to turn himself into a target.”

Shaun's eyes widened. Jane had said she needed to get away to protect him and Smile. She'd picked up the exact same habit that their father had.

“Your father went and very publicly killed the people who had come after us, making it look like Marionette had been killed and he was getting his revenge. The few people who knew who I was, played along to help keep you and I safe. From there it was a slippery slope downwards. Instead of conning people, he started hiring himself out as a thief and a spy, sometimes as a decoy. And that ended up with some more people dying. Slowly at first, then very quickly, he went into assassinations.

“I kept looking for him. Even set up some jobs that were specifically for him, trying to meet him. I almost got a chance to talk to him once, but he found out it was me and I never got close to him again. Finally, I just gave up. If he came back it had to be under his own terms. I prayed that he would come home, or that we'd find each other one day and I could help him find the happy, daring man he had once been. It never happened. And then he... he died in Boston, and I never got to say goodbye to him.” Her voice cracked, and she had to grab some napkins to wipe her nose.

“How did you set up jobs for him? I thought you were retired.”

She blew her nose before answering. “I had retired. But that's the thing about crime, sometimes when you get too big or too deep, you can't get out. After your father left, I realized I needed to do my own work to keep us safe. But instead of turning myself into a target, I went deeper. I used my connections, along with money hidden in offshore accounts, to become an information broker and middleman. It let me keep my eye on things without becoming an obvious target. A few people who kept looking for us found themselves with bad info, or their enemies got very detailed information on their activities, and certain jobs were set up to take them down.”

“So, you're a crime lord?”

“Not really. I have moved into laundering money and financing some supervillains, but I make most of my money through information and connecting people to jobs. I also avoid working with murderers, sticking to robberies and heists for the most part. Only a few people even know my alias, Threads.”

“What if you get caught?”

“The only crimes people could pin on me is a bit of money laundering. And if that happens, I'll happily hand over all the info I have on Threads for immunity or a lighter sentence. A few people have sniffed around, but I have enough businesses under different names that they only see a few hundred or thousand dollars a month that might be laundered, and I move which businesses handles the various amounts each month. So, they don't know where the money comes from, and it's hardly enough to launch a large scale investigation.” She actually looked a little pleased with herself.

A serious question rose up in his mind. “If you're connected to so many things, how did you miss Fusco coming after me?”

“He kept things really quiet. Even now knowing he set it all up, I don't know how he got the info. He had to be using quite a few cut outs, and how they connected us to Mille is a mystery to me. I still have people looking into it and throwing up dozens of different red herrings to protect us. I do know that he was suspected right away, I was contacted by a third party asking for information on him, just a few days afterwards, and I gave them everything I had free of charge. But that's all I have.”

He thought that over. It would be nice to know what exactly happened to put him on the hit list, he didn't want to live the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. At least it was comforting to know that his mom was doing everything she could to protect them. In the whole maelstrom of emotions that he seemed to be stuck in the middle of, it was good to have that rock to hang on to. “What about Jane? What do you know about her?”

“Rumours say she is Mille's daughter, among other things. From how she's acting around me, I'd say it's true.”

Nodding, he said, “Yeah. She admitted she isn't his daughter, but was 'found' by him, and he taught her everything he could. She said she didn't know I would be at Whateley until she saw me and recognized me from pictures Mil- dad showed her of us.”

“Did she say what he was like?”

It was his turn to dry his eyes. “She said he was a monster, but he didn't hurt her physically. And when he died he wanted her to have a peaceful life, grow up safely, go to college, have a family. He faked his death in Boston, and died a month later after setting things up for her.”

Her lip quivered, and her voice was shaky. “He- he really wanted her to have a peaceful life?”

“Yeah, that's what she said.”

Tears began to fall, but she managed to smile. “Then he wasn't a monster at the end.”

Reaching out to hold her hand, he cried along with her for the man they'd both lost.

Tulsa, Oklahoma
Morning
Sunday, December 23^rd, 2007

Katherine plated the pancakes and bacon she'd made for breakfast. When she came to Jane's, she flicked her wrist letting a few drops of a clear liquid fall from her bracelet onto the fluffy goodness. She personally took that plate and Felix's to the table, making sure everyone got what they were supposed to, Magali and Shaun delivered the other plates.

When everyone started eating, she spoke up. “I'm sorry I won't be able to go to the zoo with you guys. I had a bit of last second emergency come up at the laundromat, and the head manager is on his holiday. So I have to see about getting an industrial dryer fixed right before Christmas.”

“I can look after everyone. Especially if Smile helps out with Felix,” Magali said grinning at the blue haired girl.

“Aw, Felix is easy to take care of. He's a little sweetie,” Smile said, tickling the little boy.

“Thanks, Mag,” Katherine said. “Just make sure to take lots of pictures for me. And I promise I'll be free tonight for supper.”

She let the others talk, listening carefully while tapping away on her phone actually messaging repairmen and companies, trying to solve the dryer problem, despite knowing exactly what the problem was. Halfway through breakfast Jane started looking a bit sick. Katherine kept her eyes on her phone, too busy to 'notice' the pale skin.

“Jane are you OK?” Shaun asked, finally noticing.

“I think I'm sick,” Jane said. “The room is spinning a little.”

Katherine got up making sure to look just concerned enough, and walked over, placing a hand on the girl's forehead. “You're a little hot, and you're definitely pale.”

The girl shifted suddenly, her skin moving in a horrifying way, bringing up an unpleasant image of worms crawling just beneath the surface. Two seconds later a chubby Asian girl was sitting there. A moment later and much more smoothly, Jane went back to her usual plain self.

“How about you go lie down and if you're feeling well when everyone is ready to go you can go with them. Otherwise. you stay in bed or on the couch bundled up and I'll keep an eye on you. We have a big day planned tomorrow and we need you healthy for that.”

Jane eyed her carefully before nodding, “OK.” Holding her stomach, she made her way back upstairs.

“We could stay here,and keep her company,” Smile offered.

“You can ask her, but you'd probably make her feel guilty at missing out on the zoo,” Katherine said.

“Yeah, probably.”

With the mood dampened, breakfast continued.

Katherine sat alone in her office two hours later, staring at four small bell ornaments that hung abover her computer, gifts from her late husband. After buying a cheap but pretty silver bell while rescuing Magali, Mille had gifted her one for every Christmas they'd been together. It was such a small number, but they'd been mostly very happy years. She really should put them on the tree already, but with Jane visiting, she needed the connection to Mille more than ever.

The others had left for the zoo thirty minutes ago, and Magali had promised to send a text if they were going to come home early. Jane was in the guest room reading a book the last time she checked. Looking at her phone the tracker she'd put on the girl's pajamas showed she was still in bed. If she waited any longer, she would lose her nerve, it was now or never.

Taking the pistol from its hiding spot under the desk, she checked to make sure it was loaded and ready to fire. Taking the safety off, she walked down the hallway, the gun pointed up at the ceiling and close to her body. If something went wrong she would need to shoot quickly. She was pretty sure Jane wasn't going to kill anyone in the house. She would have done it already, and there'd been safeguards put in place to lock her down if she wandered around at night. But that didn't mean she was harmless. The video of the Fusco massacre, and her combat final showed she was anything but harmless even when unarmed.

Tapping on the guest room door, she asked without opening it, “Jane, how are you feeling?

A surprisingly calm voice responded, “I can't move.”

Taking a deep breath, still not sure if she could do what she prayed she wouldn't need to do, Katherine opened the door pointing her pistol at Jane, staying well back from the bed. “Good. I have some questions for you, and you'd better answer them to my complete satisfaction.”

The girl's eyes widened in surprise. Then the last thing Katherine expected happened, Jane began to laugh. “You bitch,” the girl said. “You poisoned me!”

“Why are you laughing?” she demanded, her finger on the trigger.

“Mille told me you were surprising,” Jane said, still laughing. “I hadn't believed him, even after he told me how you picked his pocket in London. One of the best pick pockets he ever met.”

“How do you know that?” She believed Shaun had told her everything he knew about Jane, but that didn't mean any of it was true. There was still a chance this was a con, or something worse. “Are you his daughter? Did he leave us because of you?”

The laughing stopped, the pain that filled Jane's eyes so often came back. “No. He never cheated on you, he was a monster, but he loved you too much to do that. He saved me from a very bad place, and taught me everything I know. He also told me if I had no other choice to tell this, your squealing got you both arrested and banned from the Palace of Versailles on July 10^th, 1987.”

She felt tears on her cheeks, even as she blushed. Putting the gun in its holster, she went and sat down on the edge of the bed. “The poison will wear off enough to move around in half an hour. You really did know John, was he as bad as people say?”

“Worse,” Jane said in a whisper. “He said that leaving you both was the worst thing he ever did. Without you to anchor him, he lost his way and became a monster.”

“But he took care of you,” she replied, hoping that there'd been something left of the man she had loved.

Jane smirked, the pain in her eyes didn't change. “I'm not exactly stable. I'm trying, but I was in bad shape when he found me. He tried his best, but he didn't so much help heal the damage as teach me how to direct it.”

“You were the person who phoned me when Shaun was attacked. You used your phone to do it, that's not something John would do.”

The girl shrugged. “I had a concussion and was in a hospital bed. I knew it was a risk, but there wasn't much choice.”

“And...” Katherine paused, not sure how to say it. Finally she just asked, “You were the one who killed Mathew Fusco and his men?”

The pain left Jane's eyes. Nothing replaced the emotion. Katherine had seen a similar look in a few people, one of them she still regularly saw in her nightmares. Seeing it in a child almost had her recoiling in horror.

“Yes,” the girl said, her voice cold and hard. “I promised Mille when he died, that if I met either you or Shaun I'd help you like he helped me. That's why I made friends with Shaun. I hadn't planned on meeting him, and I probably should have stayed away, but I couldn't. When he was attacked, I knew Mille would want me to protect Shaun. So I used his money and connections and made sure they couldn't hurt either of you.”

Tears were falling from Jane's lifeless eyes as she finished talking.

Katherine lifted her up into a sitting position, hugging her tightly to her chest. Crying, she said, “Thank you, for what you did. But please don't do that again. Ask for help when you need it. Don't become a monster, not for us. I heard that John wanted you to have a peaceful life. If you cared for him, if you care about Shaun, please, don't follow his path.”

“I don't know how to be anything else,” Jane said in a tiny, scared voice.

Her heart broke for the girl, wondering what horrors she had seen. Hugging her even more tightly, she tried to let the child know that she was cared for. “You aren't a monster. You still have time to change. If you don't trust anyone else, please trust Shaun and I. Ask us for help when you aren't sure. You went for two years living peacefully, you can live like that again. John tried to help you, let me do the same.”

“I killed my foster parents.”

Katherine's mind went blank trying to fit those words into a way that made sense. The empty voice that had spoken couldn't have, shouldn't have come from a child. She knew Jane's first foster parents had died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a faulty water heater, but it had been accident. She leaned back a little to look at Jane. “What?”

Jane turned her head to Katherine, still with those same dead eyes. “I killed my first foster parents. I made it look like an accident.”

“Why?”

“They hurt me. They wouldn't stop, then they raped me. I poisoned them.” She said it with all the emotion of someone saying they'd taken out the garbage.

Katherine tried to place herself in the mind of the girl who was connected to her family but was so different. At that moment it was like looking at all the darkness that had filled Mille, with none of the kindness. What horrors had the girl gone through to silently accept something so terrible when she had the skills to stop it, then just end two lives and keep it hidden from everyone. It was as if she didn't know how to ask for help, and maybe even thought she deserved to be hurt.

Cradling the broken child, she let her own tears fall. “Please, ask me for help next time. I swear I will do everything in my power to protect you. Don't become like Mille. Don't let yourself become a monster.”

She felt tears soaking her shoulder. Jane began to shudder, pressing her face harder into Katherine's shoulder. “Why won't you hate me?” the girl sobbed.

At a loss for what to say, all she could do was hug Jane even harder as they both cried.

Sitting at the kitchen table, Jane watched Katherine making lunch for them both. She felt raw and exposed, needing to do something but not knowing what to do. She had been lucky that morning, and even so she'd nearly ruined everything.

As soon as she'd started feeling sick and no one else had, she had known something was wrong. When her limbs had gone numb, it was easy to guess that Katherine had poisoned her, probably to find out who she really was. Having over an hour to think, she'd been able to create her story with just enough truth to hide the lies and to make it all believable.

If Katherine had come in immediately after the others had left, Jane doubted she could have handled things as well as she had. But even with the time to think she had still said too much. She shouldn't have mentioned her foster parents. That was her burden, no one else's.

But what hurt was knowing just how badly Mille had destroyed himself.

The coward had been afraid of seeing Katherine again not just because of his enemies, but because he had been terrified of seeing the disgust and horror in her eyes at how much of a monster he had become. He had known she wouldn't be able to stand him and would want nothing to do with him.

And now...

Now Jane knew that Katherine would have done whatever it took to save him.

The voice in her head that she considered Mille. The nasty little whisper that told her to hurt people, to lash out, to hurt herself, it was silent. She imagined the monster in her mind hiding in the darkness, avoiding the truth, keeping hold of its spite and hatred like it was a treasure, because that was all it had left.

It was up to Jane to figure out how to handle things.

“Katherine,” she paused, not sure how to ask what she wanted. “When you came in with the gun pointed at me. W-would you have shot me if I had been a threat?”

Her question made Katherine turn and bite her lip, thinking about how to answer the question. “Yes,” she said eventually. “If I thought you were a real danger to Shaun I would have. I didn't want to. I spent most of last night and a half hour in my office this morning, working up the nerve to do it, but I've done a lot of things I am not proud of.”

She smiled. “Good. But what would you have done about Whateley? You have to know they'd retaliate after how they let me get away with Fusco.”

The woman sighed and blew out a long puff of air. “I haven't exactly stopped being on the wrong side of the law. I just keep it at arms length and mostly white collar now. I had a cleaning crew ready to come in and clean up everything, making it look like you had just left and disappeared. I even had a trusted employee at the laundromat blow the fuse on an industrial dryer. It's an easy fix but it sounds good for the cover story. And Whateley actually called me after your combat final asking if I was sure I wanted you to visit.”

“They were afraid I'd hurt you?”

“No. You are listed as a flight risk. They're afraid you'll run away, and with your powers and skills there isn't much anyone could do to stop you. So, if I'd had to-” she bit her lip and looked away. “I had a story and witnesses lined up to say you had started feeling better, went for a walk, and never came back.”

That got a nod of respect. It would be easy enough for her to fake a sickness, get everyone but Katherine out the door, and just walk away with no one the wiser. “I'm glad you didn't shoot me.”

“Thanks for not making me do it. I can't say I've been a good person, but that's one line I never want to cross again. Especially not with a teenager.”

They were silent again, still unsure how to deal with each other, but actually trying to figure things out now. Katherine brought over a tray with their lunch, corn soup and a warm roast beef sandwich, and sat down.

“I don't think you want to tell me much about yourself,” Katherine said, “so what would you like to talk about?”

“Can you... can you tell me some funny stories about you and Shaun?” she asked, her eyes on her soup.

“Sure, Jane, I'd love to. Let's see, when Shaun was eight years old he really liked Pokemon. When his class had to do a presentation on an animal, he decided to do his on Pikachu.”

As Jane quietly listened to the elaborate story, for the first time in years she started to really relax.

Shaun stretched and breathed a sigh as the heat of home warmed him up. The van had been warm after a day out in the cold but it wasn't as good or as comfortable as a warm house. “Warm! I'm finally warm!”

“It was warm outside! It was plus two that's Fall weather, you wimp,” Smile said.

“We're in the US, it's thirty-five out there,” he replied.

“You're outnumbered, it's two Celsius,” Magali said.

Rolling his eyes he smelled cookies being baked, and heard his mom in the kitchen. Once his stuff was off, he headed for the goodies only to stop dead in his tracks. Jane was in the kitchen wearing an apron and strangest of all, she was smiling, as she mixed a bowl of brownie batter.

“Perfect timing,” his mom said, pulling a tray of sugar cookies out of the oven that were in the shape of Christmas ornaments. “We have cookies to decorate.”

Felix cheered even as his mother marched him to the bathroom to wash up. Smile and Shaun both headed for the kitchen.

“Jane, are you OK?” Smile asked.

“Yeah,” Jane said in a normal, if confused, voice that wasn't a whisper. “Why?”

“You're smiling. Like a big smile. It's not really something you do,” Shaun said.

Katherine came over with oven mitts still on and gave Jane a hug from behind, which made her smile even wider. “Stop teasing the poor girl. She's allowed to smile, and it looks good on her. Now wash your hands and divide up the cookies for icing. Jane and I were baking all afternoon so there's lots to do.”

He and Smile shared a confused look, then shrugged and washed their hands at the kitchen sink. “So you two are all good?”

“Yeah, we talked about things and we're good,” Jane said.

His mom chuckled. “All it took was pointing a gun at her head to get her to open up a bit. Then we started telling embarrassing stories about you, one thing led to another, and cookies happened. Jane is a great assistant.”

“What stories did you tell her, mom?” Shaun asked, dreading the answer.

“Pika pika,” Jane said with a grin.

His face hit his palms and he groaned loudly. “Oh god. Please don't tell anyone about that at school.”

“Ash would love to know there's a fellow Pokemon fan on campus. You'd have so much to talk about,” she teased.

“I stopped watching Pokemon when was I was twelve.”

“You still have the mangas in your room,” his mom said helpfully.

“Who was your favourite pokemon Shaun?” Smile asked.

He face palmed again. “Not you too.”

“This is too good to let go. I'm going to need a really good Christmas present to not tell Cooper,” Smile said, her blue eyes glittering.

“A hundred bucks and you never breathe a word of this.”

Smile thought about it. “Two hundred, I know you're going to be making a killing with that dye of yours.”

“Deal.”

“If you're done blackmailing my son, the cookies need icing,” Katherine said, laughing and shaking her head.

“COOKIES!” Felix shouted running into the kitchen at top speed.

“Yes, cookies!” Smile shouted back, getting a stool for him to stand on.

Getting out the icing and sprinkles while Smile divided the big pile of sugar cookies into three smaller piles, Shaun put them all in easy reach of Felix. Picking up a tube of white icing he started thinking about how to make a coat that would spray icing out of the sleeve. It quickly turned to a condiments dispenser, and then a way to release chemicals at attackers from over ten feet away.

A finger poked him in the back. “Less thinking more icing, you're wasting icing,” his mom said.

“What?” he looked down and saw that he'd started using the icing to draw a flexible bladder that would fit on the arm of a jacket and not be noticeable. “Oh sorry.”

His inattentiveness got a laugh from his friends who were used to it, and Aunt Magali whose gadgeteer husband was even worse. Shaun remembered one Christmas where his uncle had spent all day designing a new type of shotcrete that was three times stronger than regular cement for using in tunnels and on loose rocks. Nothing had gotten him out of the fugue until he'd had to go to the bathroom.

“Want to see a trick?” Smile asked Felix, who nodded so hard it looked like he was about to give himself whiplash.

A moment later she was a foot tall fairy, right down to the wings, in a blue dress with a magic wand. “Ta-da!” she shouted to the delight of the boy, who clapped and cheered.

“Now I'm the perfect size for decorating cookies,” she said. Picking up one of the tubes of icing, her tiny hands easily squeezed out the icing, as she flew right above the cookie, placing a very straight line on what to her was a huge cookie.

“Bravo! Il est bien fait!” Magali said in her native French.

Felix didn't care about the cookie, he was busy watching Smile fly around like a fairy. “I wanna have powers too like mama and papa! I'm gonna fly!”

“You just might, but only when you're older Felix. You will manifest when your Shaun's age in ten or eleven years,” Magali said very firmly. “So no jumping off the fridge again.”

Looking at his little cousin, Shaun was tempted to face palm again, but he was a bit too busy putting icing on a cookie with the same precision he used when stitching clothes together. “Please tell me you got to him before he went flying?”

“I didn't,” she replied, with a pained look. “I think he has a guardian angel, or he's already manifested and is almost invulnerable. He got a few bumps and that was it. He barely even cried.”

“What powers does your husband have?” Jane asked.

“Pierre's a gadgeteer with a focus on mining, which has done wonders for his career. He works in the mining industry obviously. He loves his work and we're well off, but when something goes wrong, he gets called in. So sometimes we miss him on the holidays like this year.” She cocked her head and gave a little smile. “But he's happy so we don't complain.”

“What are your powers,” Smile asked. “I know you have x-ray vision but is that all?”

Magali pushed her bangs up and opened her third sky blue eye. “X-ray vision is the handiest one. It helps me find Felix when he decides to be sneaky.”

“Cheater!” her son said with a pout, not looking up from his multicoloured snowman cookie.

“It's only cheating if we're playing hide and seek, AND mama knows we're playing it.” Turning her attention back to Smile, she continued, “I can also see infrared, UV, microscopic things down to the size of a blood cell, and if I'm willing to risk a migraine, radio waves. If I didn't have to have this big eye open it would be a lot more convenient.”

“So do you use it in your job?” Smile asked.

“No. It's kind of useless to me, except for cleaning, walking around at night, and finding Felix. For that one it's a godsend. I'm a full time mom and part time French translator. It's not as if I need the money, so I take jobs translating interesting things like children's books, poems, and short stories. Just enough to keep me interested and bringing in a bit of my own money. What about you? What do you want to do when you graduate?”

That got a shrug from Smile as she grabbed another cookie to decorate. “I don't know. At first I was going to take over my parents arcade and pizza place, but now, I don't want to go near either of those. I'm thinking about something that will help kids. I spent a few months at a group home for mutant teens who need help and it was really nice. It's run by two ex-superheroes and it's also a rescue farm so I got to learn how to ride, and took care of a pony that was neglected by it's owner. I could see myself doing something like that.”

“That would be good. You're getting along well with Felix, I think you'd do great with kids.”

“Kids are fun. Most of them are nice and straightforward. Even when they're sneaky it's for pretty obvious reasons.”

“What about you Jane? What do you want to do?” Magali asked.

Jane didn't answer for a few moments, scraping the bowl of brownie mix into a pan. When she had that done, she shrugged. “I don't know. I was thinking about trying to become a librarian. It sounds nice and peaceful. Now, I don't know.”

“If you want to be a librarian, I'll do what I can to help you. Up to and including getting you a new ID so you can go back into obscurity when you finish at Whateley. I'm sure they'd be willing to help alter some records for you, they've done it before,” Katherine said in a tone that left no doubt that she meant every word of it.

“I'll think about it,” Jane said, once again speaking quietly. Unlike the whispers of the last few days this didn't sound like she was trying to hide or trying to keep her emotions under control. It was just her usual voice when she wasn't sure of things.

“Is anyone going to ask me what I'm going to do?” Shaun asked.

“You're a gadgeteer dear,” his mom said giving him a kiss on the cheek. “If you don't get work making disguises and clothes it will be a shock.”

Smile joined in. “Yeah it's just a question of if you'll be a civilian, working for a government spy agency, or the Syndicate.”

He fought the urge to look at his mother, who could probably get him quite a bit of work with supervillains and criminals. “Actually I'm thinking I'll be a civilian. The trust fund Dad set up for me before he left will help me start up a business and the money from my patents should cover the rest.”

“And what will you sell exactly?” his mom asked.

“Well, I still remember when I had cancer and was in the hospital so much, that there were a lot of kids there with scars, no hair, and other things. And all the kids at Whateley who have GSD and can't really go out in public. So maybe a company that helps them. Affordable clothes to hide deformities while being comfortable. Gadgets that help make things a bit more comfortable for people with harnesses and medical aids. Masks and wigs that are cheaper and cover scars, scales and other stuff. It just seems like a nice thing to do with my power, and I don't need to make a huge profit from the work, since I'll be patenting gadgets for other things.”

His time in Doyle getting his limbs healed had reminded him of when he was five years old and feeling awful from leukemia, which had made him think of the kids he'd met at the children's hospital. The thought of helping people had popped up then, and just grown, especially when he read about Mille. It seemed like something he should do to help make up for his father's crimes.

He was suddenly hugged by his mother. “When you get a bit older I'll help you write up a business plan and work out the details. And I'll match whatever you put into it as your junior and mostly silent partner.”

Hugging her back he said, “Thanks mom.”

“Once you get it set up, Pierre and I will pass the word around Canada. I can think of a few mutants who would like the help. And maybe I can get the hospitals in Montreal interested in it, at least enough to pass on your information,” Magali said.

“I can tell Aria and Theo. They know a lot of mutants who might want something to fit in a little bit better,” Smile offered.

Shaun had to smile at the support he was getting. “It's still a ways off people. At least until I'm eighteen, and I should take a couple of college courses for business. But thanks. I really appreciate all of this.”

Beside him Jane was smiling. It was a real smile but a little sad as well. “What do you think?” he asked.

She sniffed. “I think Mi- John would be really proud of you. In fact I know he would be.”

It felt weird how his heart seemed to swell at hearing those words. For most of his life he'd thought his father was a coward, then he'd learned dear old dad was an assassin that everyone, including the man himself, thought was a monster. Knowing that his dad would be proud of him shouldn't have felt so good. Now he wished he could have met the man before he turned into Mille. “Thanks, Jane. That, that is actually really nice to hear.”

Tulsa, Oklahoma
Mid-Morning
Monday, December 24^th, 2007

Smile walked through the Christmas market that was set up in an area usually set aside for a farmer's market. She was walking quietly with Katherine while Jane and Shaun did some last-minute Christmas shopping and Magali was watching Felix play at the far end where a bouncy castle, carousel and small Ferris wheel had been set up. Live Christmas music played, and the stalls were full of food, desserts, handmade goods, and more, while crowds of people wandered around.

“This is a really nice place, did you really set it all up?” she asked Katherine.

“I was the motivation behind it. I had some really great Christmas's in Europe wandering around their Christmas markets. And the Christmas Markets here while nice are at the beginning of the month. So I convinced a Tulsa Business Association I'm part of to help fund and promote a Christmas market at Christmas. Since I'm part of the group that runs this farmer's market throughout the year, it was easy to get the two groups talking,” Katherine explained.

“It's nice. I wish there was some snow, but it's really neat to see everything. Thanks for inviting me. I'd have,” her voice caught in her throat for a moment, “I'd have hated being at Whateley over Christmas.”

She watched out of the corner of her eye as Katherine slowly put her arm out to put it over her shoulder. Smiling, she let herself be pulled in close, feeling her spirit hugging her as well. She appreciated how Katherine and Magali had taken things slow with her, letting her get comfortable with them before even trying to get close. She was mostly over her phobia of adults, but with everything that had happened since Jane's combat final, and being thrust into a new situation so close to Christmas, her anxiety had been pretty bad. Now, it just felt nice having someone care for her.

“You can come to visit whenever there's a break. I have plenty of space,” Katherine said. “And I know Shaun likes having people who understand what he's going through and can be completely open with. He's never been the most outgoing kid, and he lost touch with his few friends when he went away.”

“Thanks, I may take you up on it. But this summer Cooper's parents said I could stay at his home. He's my boyfriend,” she said, blushing a bright red.

“That will be nice. Just remember the offer is there.”

Smile nodded and smiled. They walked a little ways and she decided to ask something that had been bothering her for a while. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, I may not answer but you can ask.”

“Why do you have such a big house? It would be huge for four or five people, it's must be like living in a mansion with you and Shaun.”

The hand on her shoulder tightened, and the woman was quiet for so long Smile started to worry she'd asked something she shouldn't have.

Finally Katherine answered. “When John and I were house hunting, we deciding on that house because we were planning on having three or four kids, and we would both be working from home. He had started working as a private eye, his first real job that he could actually tell people about. When he left, I couldn't bear to sell it. I kept hoping he would come home, and I wanted to make sure there would be a home for him to return to.”

It was easy to hear the pain in her voice, making Smile regret asking about it. “Sorry, I shouldn't have asked.”

“It's all right dear. Sometimes it's good to let things out.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Some people think I'm strange because I talk about my parents. But just keeping it all bottled up doesn't feel good.”

“If you want to talk about them you can give me a call. I know how judgmental people can be, and I know about keeping secrets. I'll listen to you and won't judge. I may even be able to offer some advice.”

Biting her lip she decided to do just that. “How do you deal with not knowing if someone you care about is safe or even alive?”

“Your little brother?” Katherine asked.

She nodded. “It's gotten easier not worrying about him all the time. But... this is my first Christmas all alone, and I can't help but wonder if Gregory is OK. If he is worried about me. If he's alive.”

Katherine stopped walking and scooped her into a hug. Sometimes Smile hated being small, especially when she'd been a normal height before manifesting. But it made hugs like this really nice, she got to feel like a little kid and get a hug that felt like it was all over. She leaned into it, blinking back tears.

“Let's get some hot chocolate and we can talk, OK?” Katherine said.

“OK,” she replied, her voice muffled from nuzzling into the woman's coat.

Going to a stall that sold pastries and hot beverages, they walked away with a bag of fresh cinnamon donuts and large cups of hot chocolate covered in whipped cream. Moving to the edge of the market where they wouldn't be quite so crowded, they sipped the hot drinks.

“You know that Mille was supposed to have died in Boston right?” Katherine asked.

Smile nodded, when she and her friends had first heard of Mille they'd done a search for his name and found all the publicly known facts about the assassin.

“I didn't believe he had died. For his many faults, he was very skilled, and an explosion was too convenient to hide his body.”

“You didn't think he'd died, what changed your mind?” Smile asked.

“Jane.” Katherine sniffed and had to wipe her eyes. “She was there when he actually died. So I can hope he's found some peace now.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Thank you, but it's for the best. Anyways, when I thought he might still be alive just in hiding. I kept hoping he would finally come home, that he'd think it was safe for him to come home. To survive and not fall into depression, I focused on Shaun and my friends. It helped take some of the pain away. And I did my best to keep moving forward, so that when he finally came home there would be something good waiting for him. Somewhere he could feel safe and loved, and have a chance to heal.

“When your little brother is found, he's going to need help. He'll need someone to look after him, to help him heal, and to face the judgment from people who have never had to deal with anything close to what you and he have dealt with.”

“So,” Smile said, “I have to keep going and living so that I can be there for Gregory.”

“Yes. It's not easy, but it's a goal to strive for and that's what you need now.”

She had to smile a little. “That sounds a little like some advice Aria gave me, 'when you're going through hell, don't stop.'”

“It's good advice.” They sipped their hot chocolate in silence for a little while, then Katherine said, “How about we look around and find a gift for Gregory. When he's found you can give it to him and let him know you didn't forget or give up on him.”

“Is that what you did for Mi- for John?” Smile asked.

“Yes. Every year there would be a present waiting for him under the tree. This will be the last year I leave a present for him.” Katherine wiped tears from her eyes.

It was Smile's turn to hug her. “I'm sorry.”

That got a pat on the back. “It's OK. Like I said, he's finally at peace. And he gave me one last gift.”

“He did?” Smile asked confused.

“Jane,” the older woman said with a sad smile. “She's a fixer upper, who will definitely need a lot of work, but I think with patience and quite a bit of tender love and care she'll be wonderful. Now let's go find something for your brother.”

Feeling a little better, Smile walked hand in hand with Katherine back into the Christmas Market, her eyes peeled looking for the perfect present for Gregory.

Tulsa, Oklahoma
Holy Family Cathedral
Christmas Eve Service

Jane sat in the pew between Shaun and Smile, trying not to fidget in the white dress she was wearing. The dress itself was fine, the pleated skirt and long sleeves of the sweater-like top was warm without being too hot. She'd have preferred wearing a suit, and the outfit made the too tight feeling of her skin worse, but it was all bearable. The problem was being in the church itself. Mille's memories of getting married at the church were too big, too detailed for her to be comfortable. Even with all the changes, she could still picture Katherine walking down the aisle as if it was happening now.

She tried to focus on Smile. Her friend was wearing a pretty sky blue, velvet dress that somehow didn't make her look like a ten-year-old, and she looked bored. Jane knew Smile wasn't very religious, so she was spending more time trying to keep Felix quiet than listening to the sermon.

Shaun was focusing on the sermon a lot more than she had expected. He had seemed even less interested in Church than Smile at Whateley. Maybe it was because this was a Christmas tradition for him, he was more focused than usual on god and things. Or maybe with everything that had changed in his life he was reaching for something familiar to hold onto.

Standing up with everyone else, she looked down at the hymn book, and began singing along with the rest of the congregation. The words had little meaning for her. They weren't meant for people like her. She was surprised a bolt of lightning hadn't struck her for daring to enter a church, much less this one.

The only one looking at what was left of her soul wasn't going to be found in church.

Taking her seat once the singing ended, Jane held her hands firmly in her lap, refusing to pull at her collar. She would get through this for Shaun's and Katherine's sake. Quietly dealing with a bit of discomfort was the least she could for them.

Shaun stared up at Father Garcia, as the old priest talked about the hope for redemption and forgiveness at Christmas. It was similar to the sermon he gave every year, which Shaun had always found hard to listen to. At first he'd just been bored like many young kids. Then when he was older, the thought of forgiving his father for running away and dying in a drunken car wreck had seemed almost like an insult. Why should he forgive a drunken coward?

This year was different.

Now he knew why his father had left. What had become of his father, the Monster as Jane called him, was terrifying, worse than dying from driving drunk. But the reason Mille had left was understandable, even a little honourable. Going off to protect his family, risking death against a supervillain who had tortured him before, and focusing the attention of gangsters and criminals who were very willing to kill, so his wife and son could live in peace, it was what action movies were made of.

But everything after that? How was he supposed to forgive over 800 murders, even if most of them had been criminals and corrupt 3^rd world politicians?

Still he'd taken Jane under his wing. She said he hurt her, but it hadn't been physical. So, had he just trained her to be a deadly fighter? Had he made her kill someone? Had he been emotionally abusive? She hadn't explained, and he didn't want to push her. And despite all of that, Mille had wanted her to have a peaceful life in the end.

And his mom still loved him. Despite everything Mille had done, his mom had never given up on him. She still believed that if he had come home, she could have helped save him.

How was he supposed to forgive a man like that? How was he supposed to hate a man like that?

Leaning forward, he tried to find something in the priest's words that would help him figure out how he should feel.

Playing tic-tac-toe with Felix, pressing the velvet skirt to make an X, Smile mostly ignored the sermon. Her family had never been religious, and she couldn't even recall the last time she'd been to church. For all she knew this could be the first time, it was definitely the first time she'd listened to a sermon or sung a church song.

Usually on Sunday her family had deep cleaned the pizzeria and arcade, while doing any maintenance on machines and furniture that had popped up during the week. It wasn't fun, but she and Gregory had been paid for it, and it was helping the family, so it was good. Afterwards they'd get to have pizza, chicken wings or hamburgers for lunch fresh from the nice clean kitchen as they opened up to the public.

Hearing from her friends how they'd sat around church all morning, talking about the bible and then going out for brunch with a bunch of old people had never appealed to her. So she'd gone into the service not knowing what to expect, and she'd been disappointed.

Hearing the old priest talking about forgiveness made her want to leave. After what her parents did, there couldn't be any forgiveness. They needed to be punished and she didn't care if they died. If they hurt Gregory, she hoped they would die painfully.

So instead of paying attention to the sermon, she brushed her dress, making the velvet smooth once more and used her finger to make six lines for tic-tac-toe, that were just visible as a slightly darker blue.

Her parents had already ruined so many things for her, she wasn't going to let them ruin Christmas for her as well.

Smiling, she watched Felix make an X on the impromptu board, and went to place an O.

Tulsa, Oklahoma
Christmas morning
Tuesday, December 25^th, 2007

“SANTA CAME! SANTA CAME!” Felix shouted with all the enthusiasm an excited and overactive four-year-old who had already had some chocolate from his stocking, could muster.

“Yes he did, Felix,” Magali said, beaming at her son.

Katherine came out with a tray of hot chocolate for everyone. “Who wants to do the honour of handing out the presents?

Shaun, wearing new pyjamas that looked like wrapping paper, smiled and sat down beside the large tree which was lit up and covered in ornaments. “I've got it covered.”

Jane sat cross legged on a comfy overstuffed chair, smiling in her new pyjamas, trying to keep smiling. The tree was large and covered in expensive ornaments, but her eyes went to a silver bell hanging near the top and surrounded by several other bells. Mille had bought the bell on a whim using money he'd stolen from the MCO at a Paris Christmas market by the Eiffel Tower while saving Magali years ago. The rest of the bells had been a personal little tradition he'd decided to start, buying a new bell as a Christmas present for Katherine each year. Seeing them hanging there, reminded her of what Mille had thrown away.

Smile who was sitting on the couch cuddled up to Katherine looked like she was trying to hold it together as well. Even in her fairy nightgown, which had been given to her the night before, she didn't look much like her codename. Not that Jane could blame her. Christmas without her family, or at least her little brother couldn't be easy.

There was a shout of joy from Felix as he ripped open his present revealing some flashy and apparently very noisy toy. Almost immediately sirens started blaring from the thing and the little boy was squealing along with it.

“This is because I got Shaun that drum set when he was nine, isn't it?” Magali asked Katherine.

Katherine looking as innocent as could be replied, “I have no idea what you're talking about.”

The next present went to Smile. She opened hers up with far less mess and her face lit up a little as she pulled out a DIY wall collage kit. “Thanks, Magali,” she said.

“I remember the dorms from when I was a student at Whateley and how impersonal they felt. I thought you'd like that to make it feel a bit more like your own space,” Magali said, as more presents were handed out.

The next several gifts were the usual, clothes, a few electronics, expensive candies, and cute things, then Katherine excused herself for a minute and came back with three boxes, handing them to Shaun, Smile and Jane. “Here, you can open them at the same time, they're all the same thing.”

Carefully opening the box, Jane saw it was two matching plain silver bracelets and a necklace. Smile had similar jewellery in gold, and Shaun had a watch and a belt. Each of them came with an odd black pad and a cord to plug in.

“They're PFG's. Better quality than the one you have Jane,” Katherine explained. “If you have all of them on they interact with each other for a stronger longer lasting shield, if you just have one on, it's good for two or three hard hits. Try not to have to use them, but if something happens it's better to have it than not.”

Sliding on the bracelets and the necklace, Jane looked at her wrists. She didn't usually like having something that could make her stand out, but the small silver bands weren't that noticeable, and could be covered up easily. Also having a good PFG could keep her alive, which was nothing to sneeze at. “Thank you, Katherine,” she said, truly meaning it.

There was a round of thank you's from the others as well and more presents were handed out. Smile gave Jane a large and very well-made teddy bear, so she'd have something to hug and talk to. Jane gave her an envelope in return, which had a bank card for the Royal Bank of Karedonia, along with a long, hand-written password, and an account number.

“What's this,” Smile asked, looking confused at the card.

“A bank account. It has a hundred thousand dollars in it, and it gets about 10,000 dollars in dividends every quarter. Memorize the password then burn it,” Jane said. She was smiling at the thought of helping her friend and finally putting Mille's money to something good.

Jaws dropped all around the room.

“I-I-I can't take this!” Smile shouted.

The smile faltered, “Why not?”

“It's too much! I've never even had a thousand dollars!”

“But you could use the money. And you'll get about forty thousand dollars a year, so you don't have to worry about money as long as you're careful.”

“NO! No! No! This is... My bear to you was just fifty dollars. This is too much. I- This- It- No!” Smile couldn't seem to get anything very coherent out and got up to hand the envelope back.

“Jane,” Katherine said, “where did you get that money?”

Sinking into her chair, Jane sat quietly holding the bear in front of her as Smile tried to give her the envelope. “Mille,” she whispered.

“How much money did he give you access to?”

Still whispering, not sure how to react, wondering how it had all gone wrong, she said, “About 60-70 million, a lot of it is in stocks and bonds, and there's property too.”

She heard Magali swear in shock, and Shaun just stared at her in disbelief. Only Felix was acting normally having his toys fight each other while listening to the commotion with half an ear. Trying to disappear into the chair, she felt her blood go cold and she shifted, shrinking to her smallest possible size making her body feel like it was going to burst out of her skin.

Getting up Katherine came over and put her hands on Smile's shoulders. “Smile, calm down. I know this is a surprise, but Jane can afford it.”

“But it's too much!” the girl insisted.

“I just wanted you to not have to worry about things anymore,” Jane whispered. “And... I wanted m-Mille's money to finally go somewhere good.”

That made Smile pause. Then she launched herself at Jane hugging her tight as tears flowed. “Sorry for freaking out. I just... It's so much. I panicked. Thank you.”

The tightness under her skin started to lessen as she hugged her best friend back. “Thank you for helping me when I needed it,” she said back.

There were a few moments of silence while the two hugged things out. When they finally separated, Shaun opened his envelope from Jane and a key fell out. “Is this going to be a vault full of gold?” he asked, only half joking.

“No, it's a key to a large lab in the Tunnels,” Jane said, still talking quietly, hoping this gift would go better than Smiles. “It needs to be fixed up, but it's secure and has a lot of equipment you'll need. I'm not sure how good the stuff is, but the security system is top of the line. That key lets you set the biometric locks to you. It's all yours.”

Shaun looked at the key in surprise and grinned. “Wow! That's... wow! Not having to worry about my tools disappearing and geeks fighting. This is awesome! Can I give you a hug?”

Her smile came back at seeing the sheer joy on Shaun's face. “I'd like that,” she whispered.

A moment later she found herself being hugged by Shaun. She embraced him right back, letting herself just enjoy the moment, forgetting everything else for a little while. Eventually the hug ended, but for the first time in over two years, Jane didn't feel too tight in her own skin.

More gifts were handed out, none of them quite as exciting as the one for Smile, and then there were just three left under the tree. The smallest one was given to Katherine, while Jane bit her lip looking everywhere but at her.

“From Jane,” Katherine read as she opened the small box. “Whatever it is I'm certain I'm going to love it.” Then she pulled out a small crystal bell ornament that sparkled and acted like a prism in the light. Tears started flowing. “It's beautiful.”

Jane smiled. “Mille would buy a bell every year. It was one of the few things he did for Christmas,” she lied, for once not feeling guilty about it.

It was Katherine's turn to get up and wrap her arms around Jane. “Thank you,” she sobbed. “Thank you for letting me know he wasn't totally lost.”

Jane let her own tears fall as she hugged Katherine, for once not fighting them or trying to make them stop.

Beneath the tree the last two presents sat unopened, both of them waiting for people who were lost.

 

The End
For Now