Hello dear reader,

These are a series of one-shot scenes from the McCallisters side of the story taking place during the event of my main story "Home is where the heart is". Sets in a "Home Alone" AU, where old man Marley was not there to save Kevin at the end of the original Home Alone.

Enjoy!

Coming Home

December 25, 1990

I'll never forget that Christmas morning of 1990.
None of us ever will.

It was snowing when our taxi came to a halt in front of the house. It was early in the morning, and we were all tired after our emergency flight back from Paris. God it was good to be home. My sisters had been disappointed to see their magical holiday in the city of lights cut short because of our idiotic brother, but I didn't mind so much. Ever since I had learned that the nude beaches were closed in winter, I had more or less lost interest in France. Though I'd never admit it, I was pleased to be home for Christmas.

The neighborhood was so quiet; the houses on each side of the street looked asleep under their snowy coat. My sister Linnie sighed next to me.

"Oh, it's like a winter wonderland!"

I smirked, wondering how long she'd keep thinking that when our father would oust us all outside to shovel the driveway. At the moment, I could tell he had more important things on his mind as he impatiently led the way to the house. Oh, he kept smiling and pretending to be amused by this adventure, but I could tell my father was worried about Kevin. As he climbed the stairs, my siblings and I were horrified to see him suddenly slipped on a hidden patch of ice. Our father just had time to grab onto the railing to avoid what would have been a dangerous fall. He recovered nervously, laughing it off.

"Everybody, hold on! Buzz, remind me to salt the stairs later."

We made our way into the hall, carrying our luggage. My siblings and I were bickering over some silly nonsense as usual, which is why I didn't notice the cold right away. It was only when I put my bag down and took off my coat that I sensed the abnormal low temperature in the house. Our old furnace had been giving us trouble since the early autumn; I just assumed it was acting up again.

"Kevin? Kate? Anybody home?" called my father.

"Careful!" warned Linnie, holding him back "Good god, what did Kevin do?" she asked lightly. "His micro machines are everywhere!"

My sister was right. The toys were littered all over the foyer! I was both annoyed and a little gleeful at the discovery. I just knew Kevin would find a way to mess up in our absence. Count on him to ruin the holidays by breaking all of our necks! I kicked a few toy cars out of the way and growled:

"Oh great, what did the little twerp do this time!"

"Are those feathers in the dining room?" added Megan, frowning. "If he ruined mom's new pillows, she's going to kill him!"

"Whatever he did, I am not picking it up!" I stated shaking my head.

"What's with the paint cans?" laughed Jeff, pointing to the two cans hanging from the staircases.

We all paused to look at the strange sight. Why would Kevin hang paint cans in the staircase? That's when our mother came racing through the dining room.

"Peter! I can't find Kevin!"

My mother looked besides herself. She was as white as a sheet and held on to my father, shaking. I'm not even sure she was aware of our presence. We all stared at her, and even I swallowed my snappy come back when I saw how her eyes were wild with fear.

"What? Kate, what do you mean? Where-

– I can't find Kevin!" repeated my mother, near hysterical. "The back door… I think the back door's broken, there's broken glass, and blood in the living room, and Peter I can't find Kevin anywhere!"

I saw the blood drain from my father's face, as he stood there, frozen. I was fifteen, the elder of the family, and I was shaken to the core by the look of anguish in his eyes that mirrored my mother's. Parents are never supposed to be afraid.

"Dad? What's going on?" asked Jeff.

He didn't get it. I don't think any of us really grasped the seriousness of the situation.

"Kate, listen to me." My father said in a voice he probably hoped was reassuring.

I didn't buy it.

He was scared shitless.

"I want you to take the kids, go to the neighbors, and call the police."

I don't think my mother heard a word he said.

"Where is he, Peter? Where's my baby?"

As I listened to my mother pleading with my father like that, as if he could somehow magically produce Kevin out of thin air, I was overwhelmed with anger directed at none other than my brother. Kevin was playing a sick joke. The little prick was pissed we had forgotten him, and he had decided to get back at us by staging all this. He was probably just hidden somewhere, laughing at us, the bastard.

"Kate, go the neighbors-"

My father tried to pry my mother's fingers from his coat.

"We left him alone, Peter.

– Kate-

– We left him alone and now he's gone!"

This entire situation was so absurd. I couldn't help it, I laughed. Kevin couldn't be gone. Where would he go?

"Mom, Kevin's just being a jerk like always.

– Buzz, do as I say and go with your mother!" yelled my father.

Besides me, Megan flinched. Our father never raised his voice. Not when our dog ate his fishing rod, not when Jeff crashed his bike into the new car, not when Linnie finger painted the walls of her bedroom, not when he caught Megan smoking with her friends behind the garage, or even when I was suspended for shoving some geek in his locker. My father did not yell. That's when I realised something really bad must've happened.

Linnie's the one who stepped up. She took a hold of our mother's coat and led her towards the door.

"Mom, come. Let's go see Mr. Marley. Maybe he knows where Kevin is."

My siblings followed with worried expressions. I did not. I could not. I was still in denial over the whole thing. Kevin could not be gone. He was somewhere in the house. He had to be.

I followed my father as he cautiously stepped in the living room. Christmas lights were the first things that caught my eyes. A small lighted Christmas tree stood in a corner of the room. Kevin… He always liked Christmas trees and had been in despair when our parents decided we wouldn't decorate one this year given that we would be spending the holidays in Paris.

Looks like he got his Christmas tree after all.

I refused to dwell on that thought too long. I didn't see anything sinister at first until my father knell besides the tree to look at some broken ornaments. As my mother had told us, there were specks of blood on the floor and carpet. There wasn't much blood, but I didn't like it. Too many ornaments had been broken. Those hadn't been dropped. Following my father's movement, I saw him raise his eyes to the window behind the tree.

It was open.

Why would Kevin open a window in the middle of winter? My brother wasn't that stupid.

"Buzz, go wait outside." ordered my father as he got back up.

The gravity of his tone terrified me. I refused to take all this information for what it was. My brother was fine, just fine. I just had to find him. And when I got my hands on him…

"No! I'm going to find Kevin!

– Buzz!"

But I didn't listen to my father as I ran up the stairs, calling Kevin's name at top of my voice. My first stop was my parents' room. If Kevin was hiding somewhere, that's where he'd be. The bedsheets were thrown back and I was pained to see our framed family picture halfway tucked under a pillow. Kevin had been here, no doubt about it.

"Kevin? You here?"

I dropped to the floor and looked under the bed. No Kevin. I opened the closet, but no trace of my bratty brother. I ran from one room to the next, checking every hiding spot Kevin used when we played hide-and-seek, but he was nowhere to be found.

I would not be afraid; I refused to be afraid, or think too hard over what might've happened. Racing all over the place, my feet got caught on something and I fell over, biting my tongue in the process. I was so confused; I didn't feel the pain or taste the blood in my mouth. I looked back and saw a trip wire running across the hall just a few feet away from my room. What the… Did Kevin set this up? The paint cans, the micro machines, the feathers. What exactly had happened while we were gone? It was almost as if Kevin had designed some traps, but why? To keep intruders away? He wouldn't, would he? My brother was smarter than that; if someone had tried to break-in, he would've called the cops, and ran. That's what smart people did, and Kevin was nothing if not smart, so where was he?

I got to my feet and unhooked the trip wire, just in case my dad came up this way. Swallowing hard, I moved to the next room. My room.

It had been destroyed.

That was the only way to describe it. All the shelves that covered one of my walls were broken with my stuff scattered all over the floor. My trunk lay opened, my pellet gun was missing, my Michael Jordan cardboard poster had been cut for some reason, and Barry's terrarium lay on its side with no trace of my eight legged friend. By then, I was so freaked out I did not even get angry at the destruction of my things. I still checked under the bed, and in my closet, but no Kevin.

I was about to enter my sisters' room when a cold draft of air made me stop, mid-step. The third floor door lay ajar. Why would Kevin go up there? He hated the third floor almost as much as he hated the basement. But the lights were turned on. Someone had been there. I climbed up the stairs, my heart pounding.

"Kev? This isn't funny…"

I no longer expected an answer. I just wanted something, someone to prove me wrong. Even before I reached the third floor, I understood where the draft was coming from; the window overlooking our garden was wide open. I found my pellet gun resting against the stairs railing. There was a rope attached to one of the beams hanging out the window. I looked down but didn't see anything. In the distance, I saw a light shining in our treehouse. Hope flared for about a second, but like the rest of our house, it was empty.

"Buzz." I whirled around and saw my father in the stairs. "We should wait outside. The police are on their way."

"But Kevin-

– Buzz" cut in my father. "Someone's been in the house. They could still be here. I need you to wait outside.

– But… what about Kevin?"

I saw a haunted look cross my father's face.

He had no answer.

Five houses on our block had been broken into that holiday season. They had all been robbed and flooded, except for our house. Our house had clearly been broken into, but the only thing missing was my brother Kevin.