Apparently, my last story wasn't review worthy. And seeing as I forgot my notebook at school I came up with another idea. Hopefully you guys like it. And read & review, because if not, I'll leave this story to my own eyes.
Disclaimer: Do not own. After all, I'm posting it here and not airing it on TV.
Tori walked to the front door and flipped the sign to "closed". She turned to her shop and groaned as she saw the mess the customers had left for her. She now understood why Kelly hated the holidays. To make matters worse, Tori's older sister and her niece were supposed to arrive in a few minutes.
The blonde took a quick look outside and shivered as she watched the snow fall. The ground had already been covered hours ago, but the snow hadn't let up. Hopefully her family would be okay driving.
"Hey, you gonna help me, or what?" Blake's voice called from the back, where he was putting boxes away.
"I thought Dustin was helping you?" Tori frowned, running to the back to give her friends a hand. Her sister would understand why there were surfboards all over the store.
"He was," Blake laughed, pointing to a pile of boxes with legs. Tori rubbed her temples before turning to the boys.
"Dustin, why the hell are you under the boxes?" she asked.
Though Dustin didn't move, his feet did. His left foot scratched his right leg before pointing to Tori.
"Well, long story short, Blake thought I couldn't reach the top shelf without the step ladder..."
"You couldn't, could you?" Tori asked.
"Oh no, I could, but then there was an avalanche, and boxes and now I made a fort!" Dustin exclaimed. Suddenly his feet disappeared under the boxes, causing Tori and Blake to exchange confused glances.
"What do you mean a fort?" Blake asked, squatting down beside the boxes, with Tori. The blonde poked her head under the small hole for Dustin's feet and saw the former yellow Ranger, sitting happily under the boxes.
"Wow," she breathed.
"I know!"
"No... I mean... wow you're going to have a lot of boxes to clean up," she smirked. Tori pulled her head out from the fort and walked back to the store. While she got back to cleaning, Blake pulled the boxes off the top of Dustin's fort.
"So, any idea why Tori's sister and niece are coming to town?" Blake asked. He put the box on one of the shelves.
"It's Kalea's second Christmas," Dustin explained. "She spent her first one with her father's family, but can't spend the second one with him because of the divorce."
"Tor's sister is divorced?" Blake frowned.
"Yep, turns out, the dude didn't give a damn about her or Kalea," Dustin answered. "He moved to Europe and was never seen again."
"All this, in less than a year?"
"Yep," Dustin sighed. "Kalea has no idea why daddy isn't around, and Erica's just trying to cope with it all."
"So, where are they coming from?" Blake asked. "Kalea isn't a name from around here."
"Erica's the last member of the Hanson family to stay in Hawaii," Dustin smiled. "Erica lives there, but came down here to see her parents and Tori."
Blake shook his head and the boys continued to put away the boxes, while waiting for Erica and Kalea to arrive.
----
The phone rang, waking up the three people in the store. Tori reached for it, nearly dropping it twice as her eyes readjusted themselves to the light, and answered.
"Tori's Custom surf... hello?" she said, too lazy to name her store.
"Miss Hanson?" a voice asked on the other end. Tori was suddenly wide awake. She nudged her two friends, bringing them out of their sleep.
"Uh... no... please... I'll... she... I'll be right there. Thank you," Tori said before hanging up the phone. She rushed out of the store, leaving Blake and Dustin alone.
"What time is it?" Dustin yawned, stretching his arms. Blake turned to the clock and frowned.
"Time to hit the sack," he said, letting his head fall back on the counter. "Hunter's going to kill me if I wake him up now."
Dustin turned to the clock and realised it was three in the morning.
"Dude! Shit!" he yelled, grabbing his coat and reaching for his car keys. "Kelly's going to kill me!"
"Good luck with the Mrs, dude!" Blake laughed.
Dustin groaned, realising he was in for hell. Just as he reached the door, he turned back to Blake. "Where's Tori?"
Blake's head shot up and the Navy Ranger looked around the store.
"You go home, I'll see where she disappeared too," Blake said. "See ya in the morning."
---
Dustin quietly closed the bedroom door and got in his boxers before crawling into bed. He reached out to cuddle with Kelly, but only found air.
"Not her too," he groaned, rolling over and turning on the light. He noticed her pyjamas were still hiding under her pillow, meaning she had never gone to bed.
Slowly, he pulled himself out of bed and looked around. He checked her office, where she spent many hours after work. When he didn't see her, he went downstairs.
He found her curled up on the couch, flipping through the channels on TV. He sat down beside her and tried to cuddle up with her, but she moved over.
"Kel, you're not mad, are you?" he asked, but Kelly remained silent.
"Honey... Kelly... whatever I did... I'm really, really sorry!" Dustin pleaded, trying to get closer to his wife, but she refused any and all contact with him. "And, I'm sorry I don't know what I did! And I'm sorry that I have to be sorry that I didn't know what I did! And..."
"Just go to bed," Kelly frowned, turning off the TV. She picked up one of the throw pillows and threw it at Dustin.
"Kel..."
Kelly tossed him the blanket and left the TV room. Dustin groaned, pulling the small blanket up and resting his head on the arm of the couch.
His nose picked up a familiar smell. He turned to the garbage bin Kelly had moved to beside the couch and looked inside.
He finally knew why he was sorry. Inside the garbage was the dinner Kelly had made for the two of them, with burnt out candles and a broken plate. Though it was dark in the room, Dustin recognised the hamburger patties and the French fries. All of which were made from scratch.
Kelly normally wasn't one to make a dinner of only burgers and fries, but one look at the calendar, and Dustin remembered why.
"I am so screwed!" he sighed, ripping the calendar off the wall. It was his and Kelly's first anniversary, and he had missed it. Kelly had done all that work, and he didn't even show up.
Dustin threw off the blanket and ran for the kitchen; he was going to be up all night.
---
Tori ran down the street, avoiding all the stopped cars. She even had to jump over a few cars to get to the three car pileup that had caused all the traffic. After convincing the police officers she knew some of the people in the accident, she found the chief.
"Miss Hanson, I believe we spoke on the phone," the officer said. Tori nodded, her eyes never leave the scene of the accident.
"What happened?"
"One car hit another, and the third car was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," the chief said, tired of explaining everything. The reporters were enough.
The chief pulled out a driver's license and a cell phone. "I believe these belong to your sister."
Tori's eyes widened. There would only be one reason why the officer would be giving her her sister's stuff.
"I'm sorry," the chief said.
"There was a baby," Tori said. "Kalea! What happened to her?"
"The paramedics are taking her to the hospital right now," the chief explained. "Nothing fatal..."
"Can I get a ride?" Tori asked. Her hands were too shaky to even hold the license and cell phone.
---
The following morning, Kelly pulled herself out of bed. Dustin had been making way too much noise, and she was ready to give him an earful about it.
She made her way down the stairs and turned into the kitchen.
She was surprised to see Dustin, covered in flour, in the middle of the messy kitchen. On the table, there were pancakes, fruit salad, juice, coffee, sausages and bacon.
"Oh. My..."
"Kelly," Dustin smiled, walking up to his wife and pulling her into a hug. "I'm really sorry I forgot our anniversary! And I would have been there, but the surf shop needed more help then I though, and I know that I shouldn't give you excuses, but you mean the world to me and I don't want to screw this up..."
"Dustin..."
"And I stayed up all night making you the best breakfast just to tell you sorry! And I would have made more, but the flour kinda exploded on me, so I only had enough for pancakes..."
"Honey..."
"But if you want anything else I can run to the store and buy it! I would make it but as you can see the flour's all over the kitchen! Unless you don't mind some flour I rescued while sweeping because I could..."
"Will you shut up?" Kelly giggled, kissing her husband. "This is more than enough... it's... wow."
"You mean... you're not mad anymore?" Dustin asked. He looked down at Kelly with and innocent face. Kelly looked up at Dustin and her face softened.
"Aww," she smiled, kissing him again. "I can't stay mad at that, especially when I smell eggs!"
The phone rang as Dustin dumped the eggs into a bowl. Kelly smiled at her husband and told him to wait a minute while she picked it up. She saw from the caller ID that it was Tori.
"Tori, can we talk later? Dustin and I are.... what?"
Dustin looked up from his chair when he heard Kelly's serious voice.
"You're kidding?"
Again, Kelly was completely serious.
"Kel," Dustin called softly. "Not the time to start one of your long conversations with Tor-"
Kelly shushed him, putting her finger to her mouth as she continued to listen to the blonde on the other end. "Okay, we'll be right there. Just hold on..."
Kelly hung up the phone and pulled Dustin away from the table.
"Get your coat," she said, throwing him his yellow winter jacket. "Tori's in the hospital."
"WHAT?" Dustin frowned.
"Her niece is there... Kalea..."
"Yeah, I know who Kalea is... but... what?"
"Erica was in an accident. She passed away, and Kalea's just being looked over," Kelly explained. "We're going to meet the others there."
---
"... then the princess and the stable boy lived happily ever after," Tori said, as she finished reading a fairy tale to her niece.
Kelly was the first one to go into the room. The doctors only wanted a maximum of two people at a time to visit Kalea. And Kelly had known Tori since the two girls were kids, so it felt natural for her to be the first.
"Aunt Tobi, who is that?" little Kalea asked, pointing to Kelly. Tori turned to the door and saw the red head. She pointed to a chair that was sitting in the corner, before looking back at her niece.
"Kalea, that's Aunt Kelly," Tori smiled, holding her niece's hand.
Kalea sunk back into her pillow as she acted shy. Tori smiled and pulled Kalea on her lap, careful not to rip off any of the wires. "Aunt Kelly won't bite," she laughed. "She's very, very nice."
Kelly smiled at the little girl and pulled out a little toy from her pocket. Kalea hesitantly reached for the toy, but pulled her hand back before she could reach it. She looked up at her Aunt.
"Go ahead," Tori smiled, hugging the small girl. Kalea turned her attention back to Kelly and the toy. She grabbed it from the red head and smiled, but failed to notice the piece of string coming from its back.
Suddenly, the toy started singing Jingle Bells.
"Whoa!" Kalea smiled, hugging the stuffed Rudolph.
The two year old finally started rubbing her eyes with her fists, and yawned as she pulled the string again to listen to the song. Tori put the child back in her bed and tucked her in before leading Kelly to the hallway.
"How are you holding up?" Kelly asked as the two reached the waiting room. Tori slumped into a chair and sighed.
"I have to take care of her now," Tori said, pulling out a photocopy of Erica's will. "Well, her and her sister."
"Dude, she has a sister?" Shane asked, ripping the will away from Tori so he could see for himself. "That's not right!"
"I know... weird, huh?" Tori smiled. "I never knew she had another daughter."
"It says here that she was born in 1990... But we were like... six years old then," Shane stated.
Tori glared at her former leader. They had known each other for a few years before the Ranger deal, and had quickly become best friends. "Erica's ten years older, remember?"
Shane laughed nervously as he remembered.
"What's weird is... I don't remember her ever having a stomach," Tori thought aloud. "There was no way she was pregnant then."
"I remember her getting a little bigger before going to boarding school for a semester," Kelly said. "She came back in grade twelve and seemed a little upset about something."
"I guess I'll never know what happened," Tori frowned. "Erica's gone; mom and dad were gone a long time ago..."
"Grandparents?" Hunter suggested.
"Gone."
"Aunts, uncles?" Cam asked.
"Mom was an only child, and dad's brother was a fireman... need I say more?" Tori frowned.
"I'm sorry about this, Tori," Dustin said, pulling his friend in a hug. "But if it helps, that just means you're like... the smartest person in your family! You're the oldest! You're like, the go-to aunt for wise words! Dude, you're like Sensei!"
All the Rangers, and Kelly, groaned.
"Dustin, age doesn't make you wise, experience does," Sensei explained.
"Well, you're a step closer than everyone else..." Dustin said, sinking back into his seat.
"Miss Hanson, Kalea is looking for you," a nurse said, poking her head into the waiting room. Tori nodded, before turning to Kelly and Cam.
"Can you two do me a favour and look for Lillian Chilman?" Tori asked. "So far, I'll I've gotten was that she goes to a private school. If mom wants me to take care of her, I'm sure she's kept in touch with her."
Cam and Kelly both nodded, before leaving the aunt to care for Kalea.
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