It's the 23rd of December. Newt fidgets in the back seat excitedly. Her mothers, Ellen Ripley-Call and Annalee Ripley-Call, are chatting quietly in the front. Newt glances over at her adoptive brother, but he is sleeping. His pale head is squished against the window.
"I told you to take the next exit," Call reminds Ripley.
"I am, we haven't reached it yet," Ripley replies.
"We did, you just missed it," Call says.
"That wasn't the exit," Ripley sighs.
Newt stops listening, they always argued on long car journeys. She wishes Jones could have come with them, but Ripley had already arranged for a friend to look after him while they were away.
A few hours later, they had finally reached their destination. And, after a lengthy search of the suburbs, they found the right house. It is bigger than the rest of the houses, it would have to be for its residents to live comfortably inside. Call gets out of the car and opens the back door for Newt to get out.
"Make sure you bring your bag inside, we're staying overnight," she reminds Newt.
"Okay," Newt says cheerily.
Ripley helps Newborn out of the car, and the four of them retrieve their bags from the boot of the car.
"It's bigger than I remember," Call observes.
"They had an extension built after the baby came," Ripley explains.
She rings the doorbell when they get to the door and wait patiently.
"Do you think they have juice?" Newt asks hopefully.
"Queen went shopping especially for us," Ripley replies. "I'm sure they will have juice."
The door swings open, and Queen peers down at them. Her lips pulled back into a grimace, despite her being happy to see them.
"Hey, merry Christmas," Ripley beams up at her. "You remember Newt, right? And this is Call, my wife, and my son, Newborn."
The two Xenomorphs sniff one another politely, and Queen moves out of the doorway for them to get through.
The hallway is massive, and their steps echo through the house. The stairs banisters are draped in tinsel and plastic snowflakes dangle from the ceiling.
"Wow, you have a very festive home," Call observes. "It looks great."
Queen leads them into the living room, which is also caked in decorations, and lays on a very large armchair. Ripley and Call take the sofa and Newt pulls out a colouring book from her bag and some crayons, before curling up on the floor. Newborn sits beside her, watching her colour with fascination. The room bursts into life as the Loader marches into the room. Queen lifts her head and gazes at it, then tilts her head when she realises their child is not with them.
"Hello, Loader," Ripley says cheerily. "Merry Christmas."
Loader does not reply, because it cannot speak, and simply leaves the room again to search for its child.
"Thank you for inviting us," Call says. "It's good to be out of the house, for once."
Queen nods in understanding, and then gets up to nudge the television. The TV is a lot bigger compared to most, as are the buttons so Queen has little difficulty switching it on. It flickers into life and the image of a young Macaulay Culkin flickers onto the screen.
"Oh, no. Not Home Alone," Ripley sighs. "Newborn has been watching this movie on repeat, for the past week."
But, it's too late. Newborn has already noticed and is transfixed on the screen.
"Just leave it on," Call says calmly, "at least it keeps him out of trouble."
Loader enters the room again, this time holding a huge tray with glasses of wine balanced on top. It lowers the tray onto a coffee table, and then stands stationary beside Queen's armchair. Ripley has to climb onto the table and pick up the glass, thankfully it's a regular glass. Queen's glass, however, is huge, compared to Ripley. As Ripley climbs down from the table and back onto the sofa, Queen picks up her glass and sips from it, a little of the wine dribbles down her chin, as drinking with no lips is quite difficult. She looks at Call expectantly.
"Oh, none for me, thank you," Call says. "Alcohol has no effect on my system, anyway."
"Can I try?" Newt asks, looking up from her colouring.
"No, you're too young, Newt," Ripley laughs.
The Loader and Queen's child leaps into the room, suddenly, making Newborn jump. The child, who was still taller than Ripley and Call combined, sniffed at Newborn curiously. Its sleek, metallic face had tinges of yellow and was slightly squarer than a regular Xenomorph.
"Is this your daughter?" Call asks.
Queen nods her massive head proudly.
"Newborn seems quite taken with her," Ripley says smiling.