Christmas Eve at 12 Dayton Way was usually a quiet affair; the large house was usually empty and every few years it held a grand total of three occupants. Until now. The night before a small bus had pulled up in the torrential snow and deposited more people than there were beds for. The Bladebreakers were stranded. After travelling to America for a Beyblade tournament, they had been struck with blizzards to such extremity that the airport had completely closed.

Ray's plane to China was cancelled, and so were his plans to spend Christmas with the White Tigers.

Tyson, Hillary and Kenny's plane to Japan was called off, preventing a probable disaster with the three of them left together, but giving them no way of getting to their families for Christmas.

Max was in America with his Mom, but his Dad was stranded in Japan.

Kai had no way of getting to Russia, so his plans to be with the Blitzkreig Boys were thrown out the window.

After hours of sitting around at the airport, Mr. Dickinson finally accepted that no-one would be getting on a plane any time soon and had sent them all to Max's house. In the early hours of the morning, they had stumbled in, found beds or sleeping bags and fallen fast asleep. It was only when they woke that the realisation of what spending Christmas in that house meant.

"This sucks!" Tyson moaned, munching forlornly on a piece of toast, "We won't get presents or anything!"

"What about our families?" Hillary added sadly, stirring her cereal.

The Bladebreakers were all in the kitchen, making themselves a late breakfast.

"It could be worse." Max said with a consolatory smile.

"Speak for yourself!" Tyson retorted loudly, "You're home! And your Mom's coming soon! At least you'll have one of your parents!"

Max looked a bit guilty, and Ray spoke up from the counter where he was buttering his toast, "Yeah, but at least we're all together, as cheesy as that sounds."

"But we won't get presents!" Tyson grumbled, "And it's too late to go out and buy more! Christmas is tomorrow!"

"What about food?" Hillary added, "Max, you were meant to be spending Christmas in Japan, weren't you?"

Max nodded.

"That means," Hillary continued, "There's no Christmas food here at all!"

Max nodded again, looking slightly mournful, "Not even any chocolate…"

They all sighed. Except Kai. He just leant against the wall and crossed his arms. Kenny opened his mouth to say something when the doorbell rang. Puzzled, the blonde boy rose and, with Tyson, Ray and Hillary following him, went to the door. He opened it, and then ducked as a shower of snow rained on him.

"Hi Maxie!" the person at the door grinned brightly, with a slightly English accent. It was a girl, wrapped up in multiple layers with her cheeks bright red from the cold. Seeing the others behind Max, she added a quick, "Hi people!" before ducking as a snowball hit the top of the doorframe.

"Max! Get out here, man! You're missing this!" a voice yelled, over screaming and laughter.

"You guys are missing the snowball fight of the year!" the girl grinned, "Hurry it up!" and then she turned and ran back out onto the street, giving them a view of a street full of children in a snowball war, having the time of their lives.

"All right!" Tyson cheered, grabbing his coat, shaking on his shoes and rushing out of the house. Max followed him out soon after, and Hillary paused just long enough to poke her head into the kitchen and tell the others about the fight.

"Cool. You guys coming?" Ray asked, heading for the door.

"I'll pass." Kenny shuddered, "Snowball fights aren't really my thing."

Ray shrugged, "Kai?"

"Hn."

Ray shrugged again, and left.

Outside was chaos. So many snowballs were flying that it could have started snowing again and no-one would have noticed. People's names were being yelled and the second Ray stepped out he was pelted by about five snowballs.

"Over here!" his arm was grabbed, and a small girl, who couldn't have been older than seven, dragged Ray behind a long metal box that was used to hold cables. It offered a little protection from the onslaught. The girl giggled, and shot up, throwing snowballs with an impish smile on her face. Grinning, Ray joined her. Until he got a snowball square on the back of the head, and the girl squealed happily as a boy Ray's age grabbed her round the waist and spun her round, with a yell of, "Got you, Boo!"

~[^_^]~

On the other side of the street, Max stood poised, with a snowball in his hand, in a stalemate with the girl who'd knocked on his door, who was in a similar position with her own snowball.

"It's been a while, Ali." Max said cheerfully.

"Sure has," the girl agreed, "You've grown Maxie; you're taller than me now."

Max blinked, "Yeah, you used to be taller."

Ali feigned throwing the snowball but Max didn't even flinch and she grinned, "What are you even doing here? I thought you were spending Christmas in Japan this year?"

"It's this snows fault." Max grinned, "All the planes are cancelled… so me and my friends are all stuck here."

Ali frowned, her arm dropping slightly, "Do you all fit in your hou-" she was cut off as Max threw his snowball, and it hit her full in the chest, "You're going down, Maxie!" Ali laughed, chasing after the blonde boy with her snowball.

~[^_^]~

"You guys aren't from 'round here, are you?" the boy asked, pelting a snowball at Tyson.

"Nope." Tyson replied, chucking a snowball that the other boy dodged.

"Well, where are you from?" the girl asked, getting hit by a snowball from Hillary.

"Japan." The brunette girl replied, "Planes are all cancelled so we're stuck here for Christmas."

"Really?" the boy chucked a snowball that hit Tyson in the face, "Man, that sucks."

"Tell me about it!" Tyson sighed. Then he yelped as Hillary chucked a snowball at his face.

"Stop being such a grouch, Tyson!" she snapped.

Tyson scowled, chucking a snowball back, "I'm being realistic! No presents or anything this year!"

"At least you have each other!" a bright voice intersected, and they turned to see a little girl, smiling brightly up at them.

~[^_^]~

By the time the snowball fight ended, the street looked like a tornado had hit it.

"Why don't you come back to ours?" Ali suggested to Max.

Max shrugged, "Sure, let me just try and find the others."

"Is that them with Boo?" Ali asked, pointing to where Tyson, Hillary and Ray were all helping a little girl make a snowman.

"Yeah!" Max set off in a run towards them, "Hey guys!"

"Sis!" the little girl abandoned the snowman to run at Ali, who swung her up onto her hip, "Look! We made a snowman!"

"It's really good." Ali praised, smiling, "Have you thanked these people for helping you, Boo?"

Boo turned to Hillary, Tyson and Ray, "Thank yooooooou!" she cooed sweetly.

"It was nothing." Tyson said, laughing embarrassedly.

"Where are Kai and Kenny?" Max asked, noting that the others weren't there.

"Inside." Ray answered.

"There are six of you in that one house?" Ali asked, raising an eyebrow, "How do you fit?"

"Um…" Max rubbed the back of his head, and it was Hillary who replied, "Sleeping bags."

Ali shook her head, "That can't be comfortable! Why don't some of you stay at ours? We've got loads of room."

"Really?" Hillary asked in disbelief.

Ali grinned at her, "Sure! I've got a spare bed in my room and then we have two guest rooms. You and two others can stay!"

"How about me and Kai?" Ray suggested quickly, before Tyson could nominate himself. If Ali was being so generous, he didn't want Hillary and Tyson's constant fighting to make her regret her decision.

"Great!" Ali grinned, "Why don't you come back for now then?"

"Ok." Ray agreed, "I'll go get Kenny and Kai."

~[^_^]~

Five minutes later the Bladebreakers were in the warmth of the house that was semi-detached to Max's, drinking hot chocolate and happily eating Ali's homemade tree-shaped cookies. The TV was on and Boo was happily watching a Christmas program, laughing and occasionally clapping her small hands together with delight. Everyone else apart from Kai were sitting down on the sofas and chairs that adorned the living room. So far the topic of discussion was the decoration of the house. Because no-one was meant to have been staying in Max's house, there wasn't even a tree, but Ali's house was covered from floor to ceiling with an outburst of Christmas spirit. From homemade paper chains and paper snowflakes to ornamental wreaths, bells and trees, the whole house was a vibrant display of Christmas decorations. The tree was giant and decorated lavishly. There was even a fireplace hung with stockings where Ali had lit a real fire.

"What are you doing for food?" Ali asked, when the conversation died down. Now that she was no longer covered up in layers, the Bladebreakers were able to get a better view of her appearance; she had long brown hair that curled lightly down her back, bright blue eyes and her previously-pink cheeks were already turning back to their natural porcelain white.

The Bladebreakers looked at each other and shrugged.

Ali grinned, "Well you'll have to eat with us." She stated matter-of-factly.

"What? No, we couldn't!" Ray protested, being polite.

Ali flapped her hand at them, "Don't be stupid. It's Christmas! Besides, we have enough to feed an army! Talking about food… I should probably put dinner on." She gestured to Boo, "She has a strict bedtime policy. Do you guys like salmon?"

They nodded and Ali stood up, Hillary quickly following, "I'll help!"

Looking surprised, Ali accepted the offer with a smile and the two girls went into the kitchen.

For a second the others were stuck on what to do, when Ray felt a tug at his sleeve.

"I'm boooooooored!" Boo mewed, her TV program having ended. She looked like a smaller version of her sister, only with shorter hair and brown eyes instead of blue, "Let's do something fun!"

And so Max, Tyson and Ray were occupied with entertaining the small girl, while Kenny typed away on his laptop and Kai… Kai had disappeared when no-one was looking. At one point Max received a call from his Mom saying that she wouldn't be able to get over to him until Christmas morning because of the snow. Time flew and soon a delicious smell was wafting out of the kitchen, making Tyson drool. A short while later, Ali's voice rang from the kitchen,

"Boo! Come help set the table, honey!"

"Ok!" Boo called back, sitting up from where she had been lying on her stomach drawing pictures with Max, Tyson and Ray. It turned out that Ray was a really good artist, whilst even Boo was more skilled than Tyson. The boys all went to help Boo and in no time they were all sitting around the table tucking into small feast, chatting amiably – except Tyson, he was too busy stuffing his face to talk.

"How old are you, Boo?" Hillary asked kindly.

"Five and a half!" the girl announced grandly, sitting up straight in her seat, "And my real name is Victoria, but it's a silly name so I'm called Boo!"

"Victoria isn't a silly name." Ali chastised gently.

"Yes it is!" the five-year-old retorted stubbornly, "So's Alessandra. That's why everyone calls you Ali!"

"Alessandra and Victoria?" Max repeated in disbelief, "You sound like you've come from a Victorian play!"

He winced as Hillary kicked him under the table, worried about offending their host, but Ali just laughed, "Our parents have weird tastes." She smiled.

"Where are your parents?" Ray inquired curiously.

"Dunhavamom." Boo mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Ali scolded automatically, "People can't understand you."

Boo swallowed her mouthful and then repeated her answer, "Don't have a Mom." She said cheerfully, and the Bladebreakers – even Tyson – paused from eating, looking in surprise at how happily the small girl said those words.

"She died in a car crash," Ali added, "When I was a couple of years older than Boo is now." She reached over and ruffled her sister's hair playfully, "And Dad's working."

Boo's face dropped, "Daddy's always working." She said mournfully, and then her face lit up as she recalled something, "But he'll be here tomorrow for Christmas, right Ali?"

Ali nodded sceptically, "He said he would, Boo." She replied softly, not looking her sister in the face.

"He might not be able too," Ray added gently, thinking that was why Ali sounded so sceptical, "He might get stuck somewhere because of the snow, like we were."

"His office is less than half an hour's drive from here." Ali corrected glumly, "But he has a flat closer to there that he usually stays in…" There was a pause and then she turned to the rest of the Bladebreakers, "What about you guys? The only one of you we know is Maxie, and we haven't seen him in years."

With the horribly awkward conversation about their host's parents finally over, the Bladebreakers eagerly, if not slightly sadly, told them all about their homes and families. Except Kai, of course.

After pudding everyone helped clear up and then Ali looked at the clock and clapped her hands, turning to her sister, "All right Madame, it's time for bed." She said.

"Nooo!" Boo immediately went to cling to the nearest thing… which was Ray's leg, "I don't wanna go to bed yet!"

Ray laughed, gently prising the girl off of his leg and swinging her up onto his hip, "If you don't go to sleep, Santa won't come." He said knowingly, and the little girl's eyes went wide at the thought of St. Nick not stopping at her house. "I'll take her up." He said to Ali, who had her hands full with something else.

"Thanks." Ali replied, "I'll be up in a minute…"

~[^_^]~

Five minutes later, Ali went up the stairs just in time to see Ray gently closing the door to Boo's room. He turned and backed away as Ali poked her head around the door and looked back at him in a mixture of disbelief and awe.

"You're a miracle worker!" she whispered, "I've never been able to make her get to bed that quickly!"

Ray shrugged, a blush rising on his cheeks, "I helped out with the kids back in my village sometimes." He said softly.

Ali just shook her head, looking at him like he'd dropped off from some other planet, and then went in the room to say goodnight to Boo, kissing her gently on the forehead and tucking her in. Ray watched silently, thoughtful and curious, and then they went downstairs.

After watching a film, Max, Tyson and Kenny went back next door to Max's house, with plans to come over the next day for Christmas at Ali's insistence, and the others began to get ready for bed. Kai had disappeared again.

Ray caught Ali on her way back from the bathroom. "Ali?"

The brunette stopped and looked at him curiously, "Yeah? What is it Ray?"

Ray hesitated, stuck between his curiosity and politeness. Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him, "Is it always just the two of you living here?"

Ali nodded, clearly puzzled as to where this was going.

"What about when you were younger?" Ray asked, tilting his head.

Ali's face cleared and she gave a small smile, "We had a housekeeper for a couple of weeks who popped in twice a day to see if we were ok."

Ray frowned, "A couple of weeks?" he repeated.

Ali shrugged, "Yeah. I was… nine?… when Mum died. Then we moved here – we lived in England before – and Marcia, the housekeeper, popped in every now and then until my tenth birthday. Since then it was just me and Boo."

"How old was Boo?" Ray asked.

"Um… she was… six months when Mum died? Somewhere around that age." Ali replied, stifling a yawn.

Ray noticed. "Sorry," he apologised, "My curiosity is keeping you up."

Ali flapped her hand at him, "It's fine. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back."

Ray chuckled at that and was about to go back to his room, when he thought of something, "Ali?"

"Yeah?"

"What about your Dad?"

Ali tilted her head, puzzled, "What about him?"

Ray shrugged, "You sounded… really… I don't know. Disbelieving when you said that your Dad said he'd be here for Christmas."

Ali smiled tiredly, "After Mum died, Dad remarried to his job. He promises to be here every Christmas. He's yet to keep the promise…"

"Oh…" Ray had nothing to say to that and, with a small parting smile, the two went to bed; Hillary was already asleep in the spare bed in Ali's room.

~[^_^]~

In the early hours of the morning, Kai was, for a reason unknown to anyone but him, leaning against the wall in the shadows of the living room. It was because of this he was able to witness Ali, wrapped warmly in her dressing gown, unlock the cellar and go down the stone steps, coming up almost an hour later with a large sack. From out of it she pulled out a multitude of coloured boxes, arranging them artfully under the tree. Then she filled the stockings that were on the fireplace, adding a third one, and silently snuck up the stairs with a smaller bag, coming back a few minutes later with it empty. All this Kai watched silently.

Finally, Ali paused and contemplated the picture in the centre of the fireplace mantle for a few minutes, "Merry Christmas, Mum…" she whispered, so quietly that Kai would have missed it had it not been for his good hearing.

Ali paused at the foot of the staircase before going back up to bed, her eyes resting on the spot where Kai was standing, hidden. "Merry Christmas, Kai." She said warmly. Kai blinked at her back as she vanished and then smirked.

Pushing off the wall he went over to the fireplace and looked at the photo Ali had said Merry Christmas to. It was of Ali with her parents. The bundle in the women's arms might have been a baby Boo, but it wasn't really discernible because the bundle was so small. Kai turned his attention to the women. Ali was the splitting image of her, and the man with his arm around her had the same warm brown eyes as Boo. He was holding the hand of the young Ali, who looked scarily similar to the Boo he'd met that day.

After looking at the picture for a minute or so, Kai silently went up the stairs, going into the guest room he'd been given to sleep in. he froze when he saw the bulging stocking on the end of the bedpost. He frowned, walking over to it. As if to confirm that it was for him, Ali had put a tag on it that said Kai in big, curling letters. Smirking, Kai left the stocking and went to bed.

~[^_^]~

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

The yell was the only warning Ray got before a small shape threw itself next to him on the bed, bouncing up and down like the bed was a trampoline.

"WAKE UP, RAY!" Boo yelled excitedly in his ear. The Chinese boy groaned and rolled over, burying his face in his pillow, "It's Christmas! Santa's been! Look!"

Ray wearily lifted his head, blinking away the sleep in his eyes, expecting the excited girl to show him her newest presents. Instead, a bulging stocking was shoved in his face.

"Wow…" he mumbled tiredly, "What's inside it?"

"You have to open it to find out." Boo said, as if it was obvious, which it was, if you thought about it.

"Then why haven't you opened it?" Ray asked, pulling himself up into a sitting position.

"Because it's yours, silly!" the small girl replied.

That woke Ray up, "Mine?" he repeated, confused.

"Well, it does have your name on it." Boo said slowly, looking at him like he was an idiot; she held up the stocking so that he could see that tag that said Ray in big, curling letters.

"But…" Ray frowned, "That can't be right; I wasn't even meant to be here for Christmas."

"Yeah, but Santa would have known you were here," Boo said matter-of-factly, "Santa knows everything!"

And then Boo skipped out of the room and seconds later, Ray heard shouts of "Ali! Hillary! Wake up! It's Christmas!"

Smiling, Ray opened his stocking.

~[^_^]~

In the girl's room, Hillary rubbed her blurry eyes, squinting at Ali, who was already out of bed, as she herded Boo out of the room.

"Hillary!" Boo called, "Don't forget your stocking!" she pointed and Hillary blinked at the bulging red sock on her bedpost. Her name was on the tag and she picked it up in confusion as Ali and Boo's voices faded down the corridor.

"We'll get you dressed up warmly and you can go next door and wake Maxie and the others," Ali was saying, "And I'll make breakfast."

"Can I open my presents?"

"Not until everyone's up and downstairs."

"Aw. But Aaaaaaliiiiiii!"

"No."

~[^_^]~

By the time everyone was in Ali's living room, breakfast had been served and Tyson was in heaven at the fact that he had a stocking. All the Bladebreakers had received a further two presents from under the tree as well as their stocking fillers, although Boo's pile was bigger than everything they had got all together. Then Judy arrived with more presents for everyone from both herself and Mr. Dickinson. Max was delighted to see his Mom. Everyone was happy. And then Ray thought of something.

He walked into the kitchen, where Ali was alone, peeling vegetables. She looked up and smiled brightly at him when he entered.

"Merry Christmas, Ray!" she grinned.

"… What about you?" Ray asked. When Ali looked confused he continued, "You've given everyone else stocking, presents, Christmas dinner, the whole lot. You gave us somewhere to stay and a chance to have a good Christmas even though we thought it was ruined this year. But you haven't got a single present yourself…"

Ali looked at him blankly and then burst out laughing, "What? Why so serious, Ray? It's Christmas!"

"But still." Ray persisted, "You can't do all this and just be left out!"

Ali put down her peeler, wiped her hands on her apron and turned to Ray with a warm smile, "Listen to me, Ray, and listen carefully. You have given me more this Christmas than you realise. This is the best Christmas I've had in years." Now it was Ray who looked confused, so Ali elaborated, turning to look through the door to the living room, from where sounds of laughter and happy voices were floating through, "The last time this house had so much laughter, I was nine, and celebrating with my parents and two-month-old sister, Victoria. Since then it's just been me and Boo, watching TV and waiting for the truckload of presents to arrive from my Dad as his annual apology for not turning up on the most important day of the year." Ali turned and smiled at Ray, "This year I received the best present I could ever hope for. To see the house so full, so many wonderful people enjoying themselves, my sister having the time of her life… That is all I've ever wanted for Christmas. So thank you, Ray."

Ray stared at Ali in surprise as she turned back to the vegetables, a content smile on her face.

Leaving the kitchen, he went to the window looking out thoughtfully. He'd forgotten, until then, that the most important thing about Christmas wasn't the presents, or the tree or the food. It was who you spent it with and how you felt about it. Presents were nothing compared to being with your friends.

Outside it was snowing again, and it made everything seemed perfect. The more Ray thought about it, the more Ray thought Ali was probably right; he would never forget this Christmas. It would always be remembered as one of the best years of his life.

A/N – Eek! This is a bit late :P I started it on Christmas Eve and had hoped to get it finished for the day itself, but I just overshot.. By 2 hours... So close :/ So, yeah, a bit of Christmas fluff! XD

I don't know why, but I've always thought of Ray as someone who'd be good with kids :P Hence the ability to manage Boo so well… The name Boo… yeah, it's a bit of a random nickname, but it's the first thing that came to my head so I just went with it! ^_^

Sorry if I confuse people with the whole Mom/Mum thing ~ Max is American, and Boo was raised in America, so they both use "Mom", and Ali was raised in England, so she uses "Mum" ~ just a bit of culture thrown in :P Although I was half strangling myself as I wrote Tyson being annoyed at not getting presents, as Christmas isn't actually really celebrated in Japan (It's a date night when couples go out but it's not a big "Santa! Let's have a party!" sort of thing). Still, if Tyson did celebrate Christmas, I think that's how he'd have reacted.

So… Yeah. Please R & R, and Merry Christmas everybody! ^_^