Disclaimer: I don't own Make It or Break It.

AN: Enjoy. Please read and review.


It's Christmas, and the streets of Boulder, Colorado are dusted by a light, layer of soft powdery snow. The sun begins to set, and slowly the cities lights flicker on, and the streets glow softly under the sunset.

People bustle through the streets doing their Christmas shopping, looking at festively decorated displays and humming Christmas carols under their breath. Lauren Tanner, seven-years-old, watches and wonders what it is about Christmas that seems to make people so perpetually happy. She doesn't get it. She doesn't understand why this time of year is different than any other. Sure, her dad gets her presents, but he buys her presents whenever she wants them.

She supposes it could be because Christmas is the time where Santa Claus comes bearing presents and whatever the heart desires, but Lauren Tanner doesn't believe in Santa Claus.

If Santa Claus was real, like her dad says he is, then last Christmas, Lauren's mother would have come home, because Santa Claus is supposed to bring you whatever you want for Christmas, and what Lauren wanted most was to see her mother again. Santa Claus didn't bring her mother, the only thing she's ever really, truly wanted, and so she's sure, that if Santa couldn't bring her one measly thing, the only thing she wanted for Christmas, then he doesn't exist. She's not sure how the brand-new pink bike ended up under her Christmas tree last year, but she's certain that it wasn't the doing of some old man with a white beard, twinkling eyes, and a sleigh pulled by reindeer (nine, if you count Rudolph).

She doesn't believe in Santa Claus but she allows her dad to pull her through downtown Boulder and into each and every one of the shops searching for gifts. He's promised her that if she behaves, Santa Claus will bring her heaps of gifts, but really Lauren Tanner only wants one thing: her mother.