-This is a sequel or revisit to my "Home" series. I had told some people it would be a short, happy story but I started it off on a negative note! It will only be four or five chapters long. It is in the theme of "A Christmas Carol." Hope you all enjoy! Please review!

Home for the Holidays

Chapter 1

It had been almost a year since Emma's abduction and Mike had spent the last eight weeks away from his family. It was not something he liked. He hated being away from his family. The entire time, he had been plagued with nightmares of horrible scenarios. He had been touring the Pacific Fleet. It was necessary and he knew Tom and Danny were close and Mallory and the kids were safe but he still hated it. He gave his report to President Oliver and headed for his truck. Mallory and the kids didn't know he was coming home that particular day and he was thrilled to surprise them. He'd missed Hannah's sixteenth birthday, Thanksgiving and was barely making it home for Christmas. He was tired of being away. Thanksgiving didn't bother him as much but Hannah's birthday had hurt. He hadn't been able to get a call out and she had been upset with him when he did finally get through. Mallory had told him her thyroid levels were messed up and she was moody. He felt even worse then.

The drive home took longer than he wanted. He stopped by a florist and got a bouquet of flowers for Mallory and another one for Hannah. He wanted to smooth things over with her. He had a stuffed animal for Tommy and gifts for Emma and Anna or Sailor, as she was better known. It was almost seven and he knew Mallory would have already started getting the kids settled down. When he pulled up all the windows were lit up on the second story of the house. He could see the lights from the Christmas tree in the front window. He unlocked the door and made his way up the stairs. Mallory was in the bathroom with Emma and their six month old son, and Tommy was splashing in the bathtub. He cleared his throat and Emma practically threw herself at him. He laid the flowers down on the sink and held her close.

"I missed you, Daddy!"

"I missed you too, Emma. So, so much. I'm gonna put you down but we'll cuddle in a minute, okay?"

She nodded at him and he sit her down. Mallory had taken the baby out of the bathtub, dried him off and diapered him. Emma took Tommy from Mallory so Mike and she could hug. He dropped a kiss on the top of the baby's head and Emma carried the baby back to his room and Mike clung to Mallory.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, was just beyond ready to be home. I hate being away. Where's Hannah and Sailor?"

"Sailor is in her room. Hannah is at a movie with a friend."

"I wanted to talk to her. Try and make up for missing her birthday. The levels lining out?"

"No. They're high. Means she flies off the handle pretty easily. I'll text her and tell her I need her at home so she doesn't go out afterwards. What are the flowers for?"

"Those roses are for you. I got her the daisies. Do I need to pick her up?"

"Maybe. Go check on Emma and Tommy and I'll find out." Mike kissed her again and headed into Tommy's room. Emma was trying to put his sleeper on him but Tommy had other ideas. Mike sit down on the floor to help her and Sailor came in and gave him a big hug. He was thrilled that his younger daughters were so happy to see him and Tommy was getting way too hyper for this time of night. He'd grown and changed a lot since Mike had seen him last and it made Mike sad. He had missed out on so much with his older kids; he didn't want to miss out on any of Tommy's milestones. Emma and Sailor went back to their room with the promise from Mike that he would tuck them both in. He sit in the rocker with Tommy and tried to get him settled down. The baby wanted to be fed, which was not something Mike could do for him. Fortunately Mallory came in with a bottle, and Mike looked at her suspiciously. She had wanted to breastfeed him as long as possible. He happily took the bottle so he could feed him but it made him wonder.

"Are you not nursing him?"

"I am still. But that's pumped. I figured you would want to feed him tonight so I fixed it so you could. I know you've missed him."

"I've missed all of you guys. I don't like being away. Does he remember me?"

"Probably. He keeps smiling at you. Hannah will be home soon. I put those flowers in a vase on her dresser."

"Thanks. So we usually deal with her levels being low, what are the symptoms of them being high? Any dangers?"

"The doctor is driving them down. When they bottom out, she'll be hurting. Insomnia, difficulty concentrating, weight loss and the temper flaring is the name of the game right now."

"Sorry you've had to deal with all that. Has she helped you at all? I told her to."

"Emma and Sailor have helped. And don't be mad at her. She can't help the disease."

"But her reaction is not good."

"No, it isn't. And she is pretty upset with you."

"For missing her birthday?"

"Yeah. Emma has reminded her that you've missed several of hers but Hannah won't hear it."

"I've hated missing Emma's too. He's done and he's burped. I'll lay him in the crib."

"Mike, you're a great dad. If you weren't you wouldn't be so upset by her being upset with you and you wouldn't have so many regrets. These kids are lucky to have you. And despite Hannah being angry with you, she adores you. If she didn't, she wouldn't have missed having you here for her birthday so much."

"I am not a great dad. I just love my kids. And when they hurt, I hurt. Hannah is hurting and so I'm hurting. I've caused that hurt. Now I have to figure out how to fix it. I do have a great wife though."

"Don't sell yourself short. Now go kiss Emma and Sailor good night. Movie lets out at eight so Hannah will be here soon." Mike kissed her again and headed into Emma and Sailor's room. Both girls were in their beds and ready to go to sleep. They settled easy and all Mike really had to do was tuck them in and kiss them good night. They were both getting too old for it but he would never refuse them. He needed it as badly as they did, probably more so. He stayed in the room and waited until they fell asleep, lightly massaging Emma's arm that had been hurt the year before. He heard a car pull up, loud music and his daughter's voice, he went to the window to look out and saw a teenage boy talking to her outside the car.

"That's my dad's truck."

"You seem excited that he's here. Thought you hate him."

"I do hate him. He keeps missing stuff. It would be easier if he just died. Emma and Sailor both think he's so perfect and I definitely used to too but not anymore. I'd better go inside before he comes out here. You don't want to have to deal with him. He's so overprotective."

Mike felt like his heart was breaking. It hurt, physically to hear her say she hated him. Mike's arm started tingling and his jaw was hurting. His chest hurt so bad he couldn't hardly see straight. He made his way into the hallway and barely made it into their bedroom before he collapsed. He heard Mallory talking into the phone and taking his pulse. He also heard Hannah's voice and Mallory instructing her to stay with the kids until Tom got there. Everything felt so fuzzy and then black.

The ambulance hadn't gotten there yet and Mallory yelled at Hannah to come help her. Mike was coding and Hannah seemed to be in a trance. The ambulance service had only recently opened back up service and they had slow response times. If Mike had any hope of surviving, Mallory needed to start CPR and Hannah had to help.

"Look, Hannah, I get that you're mad at him and you think you hate him. But I need him and Emma, Sailor and Tommy need him and he needs you right now. If you choose not to need him that's fine. He will die if you don't get over here and help me. I need you to help me roll him over and I will start beginning compressions and break his sternum but you have to help from there. I know you took a CPR class in school and now you need to put it in practice. Get over here."

Hannah felt horribly. She had looked and seen her dad in Emma's window. It wasn't too big of a leap to realize he had heard her. She helped Mallory roll her dad's large frame over. Mallory made a thudding noise on her dad's chest and then nodded at her. Hannah started chest compressions and Mallory opened his airway. Hannah didn't know how long they worked on him before the ambulance came in but it seemed like an eternity. The paramedic had shoved her back into the bed and they hooked a monitor up to her dad. She heard them talking about shocking him into a normal rhythm. It was the worst sound Hannah had ever heard, his body thudding back into the floor after receiving the shock. They finally got a rhythm back and the paramedics quickly got him packaged up for the trip. Somehow the kids had slept through all of it and Mallory was throwing clothes on to follow them.

"I want to go with you."

"I need you to stay with the kids. Tom is taking me. You don't need to be there."

"But he's my dad…"

"He is. And he loves you. You caused this, Hannah. I heard what you told your boyfriend and so did your dad. If he dies, you will have to live with this. And if that happens, I'm not sure how I feel about you being here. If he makes it through this, he gets to decide but until then, I don't want you anywhere near him. Now, I do love you but your place is here with the kids. Not at your dad's bedside."

Hannah had never seen Mallory so mad. She had dodged into the bathroom to change clothes and Hannah looked over at Tom. He shook his head at her like he didn't want in the middle of it.

"Hannah, I heard it too. You can't unsay it. And I agree with Mallory. You need to stay with the kids. Sasha will come over in the morning before they get up and help you explain it to them. I hope she won't be telling them that he's died."

Tom and Mallory left and Hannah cleaned the bedroom up as much as she could. Mallory had promised her that she would text her with an update and Hannah knew she wouldn't be sleeping that night. She checked on the baby who was blissfully asleep and sit down in her own bedroom. She picked up her baby book and the first picture she came to was one of her dad holding her. He looked so thrilled and proud of her. Her mom was looking at both of them and looked so happy.

Hannah sit on the floor at the end of her bed and started crying. She felt someone sit down next to her and thought it was either one of the girls, Sasha or Kara. But what she couldn't understand was the smell of roses. Her mom had always smelled like roses and she could hear her humming like she had when Hannah was small. She opened her eyes and saw her mom sitting next to her looking at the baby book and smiling.

"Mom?"

"Hey, Hannah."

"How are you here?"

"I have been assigned to remind you of somethings. I'm just a little disappointed in you right now, young lady."

"Because of what I said?"

"Yes. And how you've acted. You've given Mallory a rough time the last eight weeks. It's not her fault that your dad had to be away. And it's not his fault. He didn't want to be away for your birthday. And you broke his heart tonight."

"Is he going to die?"

"I don't know. It's between him and God. It's up to me to remind you of a Christmas past, show you the present and warn you of what could happen if he doesn't make it."

"I love him. I don't know why I said that."

"I'm sure you do, but it may not matter."

"So what's going to happen? I can't leave the kids? The baby?"

"They'll be fine. You'll be here physically. I'm taking your spirit with me. Let's get up."

Christine practically lifted Hannah up and suddenly she felt like she was floating away. She had wanted to check on the kids first but her mom was completely resistant to it. She wasn't even sure where she was going or what exactly they were doing. She did notice the flowers sitting on her dresser and knew they must have been from her dad. It was the only explanation.