Chapter One -

"Something's wrong"

Helen Magnus looked up at her old friend, reading the concern housed in his brown eyes.

"How long has it been now?"

Her old friend indicated to the old grandfather clock that stood behind him, one that was a gift to Helen from Albert Einstein.

"Two hours. Complete radio silence. That's not like Kate"

"I know"

Helen chewed her lip and glanced out the window. She had sent Kate on an errand, it was meant to be quick, half an hour at most. More concerning was the silence.

"Get Henry to track the truck, find out what the location is. It could be anything"

Her old friend nodded and quickly left the room. Helen resumed her window watching. Something had been up with Kate for weeks and she had been secretive, hiding out in her room and avoiding the rest of the team as much as possible. Helen had let her have her space, familiar herself with the need for solitude. One by one the team had tried to push through Kate's self-appointed barrier but to no avail.

"It's been two hours Magnus"

Helen's eyes flicked up to where Will entered the room, his movements uneasy. He didn't sit, just started to pace, rubbing his chin.

"I know Will. I just asked for Henry to track down the truck. I'm sure that she just got distracted"

Will gave her a doubtful look before resuming his pacing. Helen found the stupidity in her own words and at any other point Will would have had a chuckle at her expense but not now. Kate was a single-minded individual and when on a task, she had blinders on. It was one of the reasons that the spirited young woman was so good at her job. The task, regardless of the size or scope of it, wasn't done until it was done to Kate's standards. She was a little like Helen that way. And this silence was not like Kate. Will continued to pace and Helen felt herself get more and more anxious as his movements became less patient.

"WILL!"

Her voice echoed across the silence and Will stopped mid-step, looking at her in shock. In all there time together, he could count the number of times she had raised her voice at him on one hand. She had more of a habit giving him evil glare, her words always in that horrible, disappointing tone. When Helen spoke, it was in her normal pitch.

"Please stop pacing. You're making me nervous"

Will moved again and sat heavily in the nearest seat, exchanging pacing for jiggling his leg. After another couple of minutes, he stood again.

"I'm going to see Henry"

"I'll join you"

Helen's steps matched Will's in urgency as they hurried down the hall and into Henry's office. He didn't look up as they entered the room.

"I found the truck"

Helen moved closer, coming to lean over the back of Henry's chair.

"And?"

"It's on Primrose Place"

Helen frowned.

"That's miles from where I sent her"

"I know. So I broke into the police surveillance-"

He glanced at Will.

"Untraceable"

Will shook his head.

"Don't really care Henry. Keep talking"

Henry looked back at his computer screen and pressed a few keys, bringing up a grainy image of the Sanctuary truck.

"She's not there. She left the truck and never came back"

He pressed a few more buttons and another window popped up. This time the image showed Kate climbing out of the truck, the keys in her mouth as she pulled on her jacket. She activated the alarm and moved out of the camera's frame.

"Henry, are you able to see if you can locate any other footage of her? Surely Kate would have passed more camera's"

"Sure Doc. I already did that. There are only four camera's in that area, the police consider it low crime. Two are pointed at the main street, there is this one and then another four blocks down."

Three key strokes later and he bought up footage of Kate walking down the street, talking on the phone. She was relaxed, Helen could see that much. She didn't look stressed or upset. Nothing to indicate that she was heading into something risky.

"Where are you going Kate?"

Helen's voice was low as she questioned the grainy image on the screen.

"Now what Doc?"

All eyes focused on her and she gritted her teeth.

"We go and find Kate"

Helen stood back as Will examined the truck inside and out. He found nothing. Neither had Henry. The four of them had split up and Henry and the Big-guy had taken the street that they had seen Kate go down and Helen and Will focused on the truck. When nothing was found, Helen felt the hard knot in her stomach get harder, felt it shift. How in the world had Kate fallen so far off the grid? Someone had to have seen her. She called Henry, telling him to stay put, that they would retrace Kate's steps and meet them at the corner of the street. Will's movements were slow as he moved carefully, his eyes scanning every surface.

"This makes me wonder"

Will tilted his head, his eyebrows cocked as he waited for Helen to finish her sentence. When she remained silent, he spoke slowly.

"I may need a little more then that Magnus"

Helen offered him a slight smile.

"Sorry. Thinking out loud"

"Well, feel free to share"

Helen nodded, taking a deep breath.

"The solitude, her mood and attitude lately. I wonder if her disappearing act has anything to do with it"

Will shrugged.

"Possibly. I personally would love to know why she's been the way she has been lately. She's not being Kate."

"I know."

They walked in silence for a while longer before they were met by Henry and Big-guy. They exchanged what little information they had before they decided to head home and search Kate's room. Perhaps that would hold some hints for them.

It felt wrong. That was the only way to describe it. They were all crowded into Kate's room, none of them moving. They didn't know what to do. It felt like a horrible invasion of privacy.

"We are in for a world of pain when Kate finds out we did this"

Henry's voice was doubtful as he stood, hands in pockets, waiting for some sort of direction. Will smiled slightly.

"If she's kicking our asses, it means that she's home safe. I'll take the ass kicking thanks."

Helen glanced around the room, squaring her shoulders.

"Right, I know she keeps a journal. I'll look for that, you boys do the rest of the room."

Helen kept her movements confident as she headed to Kate's bed, sitting on the very edge. Out of respect for each other, their own personal space within the walls of the Sanctuary was their's alone. So Helen instinctively went for the obvious option, opening the table drawer beside the bed. There, laying in the otherwise empty drawer, was Kate's leather bound journal. Helen had seen her writing in it a few times and saying a silent apology, she pulled it from the drawer and opened it. She ignored most of the writing, heading directly to the last point of entry.

They have no idea. And it makes me laugh. Time and time again they have all tried to find out what is wrong. The fact that they think something is wrong is funnier still. I'm heading out tomorrow to get the last part of Doc's gift and I cannot wait to see what Spalding has to offer. He gave me a great deal on the two stones that I wanted. It turns out that it comes in four different shades and shapes so I need to pick the perfect one for her. Too much time has gone into this for me not to be fussy. It has to be perfect.

Helen frowned to herself and flicked back a few more pages to an entry made a month earlier.

Doc was upset today. I'm not sure why but that definitely made the decision for me. I've decided to throw the perfect Christmas. Everyone here has suffered so much in the last couple of years and I often forget the pain that has happened within these walls. Not just their pain but mine too. This is my family. We're not normal but that's what I love. It's been too long since I saw a proper Christmas and I know I'm not the only one. If I am to do this though, I can't let anything slip. No-one can know my plan. It's time that tacky tradition was reborn. Tinsel, mistletoe and all.

Helen smiled at Kate's words. She felt a great sense of relief that it wasn't something serious. Before all this drama, Kate was fine. They had seen something when there was nothing but a girl with a plan. She had been in Primrose Place for her. She had been there to get her the perfect gift.

"Hey Magnus, you have to see this"

Helen turned and saw Will on the floor on the other side of the bed. She stood and moved to kneel beside. He pointed under the bed and Helen leaned down. In boxes, both large and small, were forgotten Christmas decorations, ones that Helen had stored in the basement. After Ashley's death, she had forgotten Christmas in a way. It didn't feel right without her. She could smell the pine and tinsel sneaking out from under the bed, through the thin cardboard of the boxes, an odd combination of nature and plastic.

"Hey Doc? You need to see this too"

Helen stood and moved over to the wardrobe where Henry stood, her old friend by his side. Henry stepped out of the way and Helen took in the full scale of the contents housed there. There were presents covering all the space, stacked on the floor and piled on the shelves.

"She wanted the perfect Christmas for us. Nothing was wrong with her. She was just hiding this."

Will came to stand beside the trio.

"Why would she do that?"

Helen sighed.

"I was upset the other day and she saw me."

Will turned to her.

"Why were you upset?"

Helen looked down at her hands, her voice low.

"I found a note from Ashley. It was part of a gift she gave me the last Christmas of her life. I didn't tell Kate why I was upset though"

Henry shook his head beside her.

"She's not an idiot Doc. We haven't really 'done' Christmas since Ashley…left us. She would have seen that"

Helen nodded.

"Well we know why she was at Primrose Place at least."

They all frowned at her.

"In her journal she mentioned that she was meeting someone called Spalding"

"Why?"

"For me. She was picking up something for me. Part of my gift apparently."

Helen swallowed the ball of emotion in her throat. She had known that Kate had a serious soft spot, had seen it many times but this was definately a new side to her.

"Do you know anyone called Spalding?"

Will's voice was low and serious. Helen shook her head.

"It's not familiar. But Kate had contacts that I don't have"

"Dirty ones you mean?"

Helen smiled at Henry.

"Precisely. Henry, I need you to hack into Kate's email"

Henry whistled low.

"We are so dead"

Helen put a hand on his shoulder.

"She'll understand"

Henry sighed.

"I need free medical coverage for this"

"You already get that Henry"

Henry crossed his arms over his chest.

"Right. You owe me in that case"

Henry strode out of the room, pausing to grab Kate's laptop off her dresser. Helen watched him leave before turning to the rest of the team.

"She mentioned that he had stones for her. My presumption is that they must have been harmless ones, if it was to be part of a gift. We need to find out what the stones were. She would have done research."

"So we check our databases, see what she looked up"

"Exactly. Will can you do that for me? I need to make a call"

Helen turned on her heel and left the room, heading back to her office. She sat behind the desk, pausing before picking up the phone. She dialled the number she had long ago memorized. There was a click and without waiting for a greeting, she spoke quickly.

"I need your help"

She hung up the phone and turned to her computer, shutting down the EM shields. She opened the Sanctuary database and started looking at the history, looking at the relevant searches to do with stones. Kate, whatever she had been looking for, didn't do too good a job covering her tracks. She found all the relevant searches easily and started scanning the information. She had time to kill as she waited.