---

"It's been done." Mr. Bennet said anxiously.

"Coolio, homie." Bob answered out of nowhere. That's totally out of character, Mr. Bennet thought.

"Bob--oh forget it. Now, how much is it going to take to make this go away?" HRG asked. He took his wallet out.

"Noah, you can't pay this off. The Company makes deals and we don't go back on them." Bob lectured.

"Here's $5" Mr. Bennet said, handing him the dollar bill.

"Done." Bob anxiously answered. He shook his hand.

--

HRG went inside.

Claire looked as the door opened again. Her father had just left twenty seconds ago? Could this be true? Could this cliffhanger be resolved so soon?

"I'm home again. Oh gosh, I'm so glad to see you. You look so beautiful. I just now noticed how you've truly grown. Not just as my friend, but as a member of the family. I can't live without you. I love you---" Mr. Bennet started.

"I love you too, Dad." Claire said, rushing to hug him.

"Mr. Muggles." He finished. He embraced Mr. Muggles in a hug that lasted minutes. Talk about being melodramatic, she thought.

"I hate you!" Claire screamed. She rushed to her bedroom.

"I was going to say that I love you too Claire. Teenagers..." HRG said, deciding to read the paper and ignoring another one of Claire's tantrums.

---

"I'm doing this for us. I have to do this Micah." Niki said as she finished her monologue to Micah, her son.

"That's what you always say before you do something bad." Micah said as if on cue.

"We have to do this."

"But--what he starts reciting one of his monologues?"

"You just run away, sweetie." Niki said as she comforted her soon.

"Okay. What about you? Can you handle this party? There are going to be a lot of people there. What if your alternate personality emerges and destroys everything? And then you kill every single person and slaughter them? "

"We'll have to take that risk." She decided. She had made another adult decision. It was time for the rest of her life.

---

"Santa? Santa! Santa! Santa! Santa! Santa! Santa!" Hiro screamed. What if it was Santa coming to the party? What if he was here now? He was bound to show up sooner or later. Niki came in with her son, Micah.

"Butt." Ando said to himself as he watched Niki.

"Ando, coal, remember." Hiro said as he nudged Ando.

"But how could Santa be here it's not even that late? Santa always comes late!" Ando said as pretended like he was finishing his sentence.

"Are you excited about Santa little boy?" Hiro asked as he bent over to talk to Micah.

"Yes! I asked for a Playstation 3, an I-Phone, a car, a new house, a couch, and the girls from Deal or No Deal!" Micah said happily.

"Oh. Don't you think there are finer things in life than presents little boy? Like experiencing memories to last a lifetime?"

"Your right. I'll take the couch off the list." Micah said after great consideration. Hiro dropped to the ground in shock at what Micah at said; just like he had seen it on all the animes he so loved.

"So, Niki, Oops! I dropped this napkin on the floor; can you pick it up for me?"Ando asked devilishly. On his shoulder, two Hiro's emerged.

"Coal! Coal! Coal! From Santa! Santa! Santa!" Present Hiro said quickly.

"Take a peak, what's the harm?" Future Hiro said with a wink.

Ando had to make a decision.

"I'll pick it up." Ando decided. Hiro from far away gave the thumbs up. He came over to talk to Niki.

"So, Niki, did you like my Christmas gift? Tickets to Oprah!"

"Oh yeah." Niki lied.

--

"So, I go to the guy and say, "Hey I'm Oprah!" and then he gives me a hundred dollars! Ha!" Oprah said as the crowd went nuts and laughed hysterically for about thirty seconds. Niki wondered what she had done to deserve this.

"I love you all! I love you! It's too bad I didn't get you all anything for Christmas...OH WAIT! I'm giving away freeeeeeeee lamps---to everyone in the audience!" Oprah said loudly as the crowd roared and stood on their feet. They were going this nuts for lamps? Niki looked around her. This was hell. She shuddered.

---

"What happens when you face the thing that you love? That you can't stop reading? The brilliant writing, original characters, and hilarious jokes are there. They are waiting. Will you answer the call when it beckons?

Peter and Nathan both were flying together to Nathan's apartment. It seemed like a normal day. Two brothers, hanging out.

"Nathan.." Peter said solemnly.

"What is it Peter?" Nathan asked as he prepared to answer Peter's statement. It was probably: Who shot you? Why did I blow up? Why did I help a crazy lunatic release a killer virus to the world?

"Do you think I'm going to get lots of candy for Christmas??" Peter asked with a childish glance. Nathan tried to think of an honest answer. A politician never lies.

"Peter-- you nearly blew up New York City, killed people who were going to save the world, and helped out an evil guy kill 93 of the world's population."

"Is that a no?"

"I just think you might not be getting too much from Santa."

"Aw, shucks." Peter said in disappointment. He really wanted some candy.

---

"Will you read the story now? Will you?" Mohinder finished. It was his hourly monologue. They had spent all day catching up on the story.

"Thank God we sent Molly to school. Hopefully she won't ask any more questions." Matt said.

"That was certainly a close call." Mohinder recalled. A flashback was coming. Matt fell asleep as he listened to Mohinder hopelessly try to imitate Molly and all that they had said in the minutes previous

--

"Sexual relations. Sexual intercourse." Matt said as the silence ensued.

"Uh--" Mohinder said, trying to think of something to say.

"What?" Molly asked as she became interested.

"What Sant---Matt-- meant to say was that..Oh gosh. I feel a monologue coming on.

The birds and the bees. What happens when a boy meets a girl? When a pinecone falls from a tree? What happens when we face destiny? We must face it head on. It's the only way we can tackle what is coming. It lurks in the shadows. When the first date arrives we must make a choice. To tackle it, or perish. After that date more questions arrive. What is the future? Can we change it? Can we save the world? We can all change the world. We can change the future."

Molly stared at Mohinder with her mouth open. What was he talking about? Matt had fallen asleep, drool coming from his lip.

"Does that answer your questions?" Mohinder asked, smiling to himself. What a monologue.

"N---" Molly started. The seconds slowed down. Mohinder waited for an answer. His life was on the line. "O." Molly said. Mohinder's heart broke.

"You should get to school." Mohinder said as he turned away, a tear falling.

"I don't have school today, its Christmas break!"

"We'll pick you up this afternoon." Mohinder answered as he took Molly's backpack and handed it to her. He nudged her out the door. They were going to Hiro's party later. I've gotten some new dance moves, Mohinder thought. That will cheer me up.

---

Mr. Bennet sipped some hot chocolate. He was enjoying his life. Things were going better than expected. The newspaper article was as interesting as it had ever been. It was about fruit. I'm really hungry, he thought. In the distance, he heard Claire falling down the stairs. Luckily, she was able to crack her head back into place. HRG continued reading the newspaper like nothing happened.

"Hi dad." Claire said like she forgot that she was supposed to be hating her father.

"Hi pear." Mr. Bennet said. It was as if a bomb had been dropped. Time froze. Mr. Bennet knew this was past the line.

"I hate you!" Claire screamed. She ran upstairs again. HRG looked at himself in dismay. I can't believe I did that. She'll never let me live it down. There was only one thing to do. HRG walked outside.

--

"Haitian?" HRG asked. The Haitian moved down the ladder. HRG had told the Haitian to set up Christmas lights all day. It was awfully nice that he had agreed to spend his afternoon putting up Christmas lights on someone else's house for three hours.

"Yes?" The Haitian asked with great distress.

"Claire needs another swipe."

"Then tell her to put on more arm deodorant." The Haitian joked with a cunning smile and laugh. HRG was not amused.

"Just for that-- you know what. I'm cancelling my Amazon order. No season three of The O.C. for you." HRG said. The Haitian looked away in sadness.

"I'll do the deed. Are we still going to Hiro's party?"

"Yes. Our comedy routine will go according to plan. Fear not, old friend."

---

Hiro heard the doorbell ring.

"Santa! It's Santa! Santa!" Hiro screamed loudly as the door opened. Two guests appeared. It was Elle and Bob, but things were different.

"Yo yo yo! Waz up my homie dawgs? Word up!" Bob said. He was wearing a bandanna. Things had certainly changed. Hiro and Ando looked around wondering what the heck was going on.

"Yo!" Ando said out of nowhere. Everyone looked at him. Ando looked around and then looked at the ground.

"Straight up, ballin'!" Bob said as he shot an imaginary basket.

"I hope your having a Merry Christmas everyone!" Elle said as she gave away candy canes.

"Why, thank you, Elle." Hiro responded as she gave him a candy cane. Someone was finally in the Christmas spirit.

"What's cracka lackin'?" Bob asked Niki, high-fiving her.

"Hey Bob. Not much. You know..this time of year really makes me think of my husband. Everytime I think of him I cry." Niki said solemnly.

"Yeah, just try to keep it on the D.L." Micah instructed Bob. Niki started crying. Micah shook his head at the dumb sentence he had just said.

"That was stupid." He said to himself in a whisper.

---

"Matt? Matt? Matt." Mohinder said. It was time to wake up Matt. He had been trying for two hours. He was still drooling. He sure did take a lot of naps. He had even tried to take one during his beautiful, sexy, monologue.

"Bunny. Don't chase me. No! He's coming after me. Don't eat me giant bunny! Please!" Mohinder laughed at this.

"Matt? Matt! I'm making pizza."

Matt woke up from his slumber.

"Pizza? Where?" Matt asked as he got up looking through the cabinets for the pizza. On cue, the monologue of the hour began.

"Oh crap." Matt said to himself. It was time again.

"Sometimes in life we must face the cold truths. The things we want are not always where we want them to be. We must take things when they come. We must tackle our fears. In order to be happy, we must enjoy events in our lives. Take your coat, Matt, and let's go to Hiro's party. Then, we can enjoy food and see what fate has decided. We can face our fellow heroes. We can hope that things will go well. That we will fill our tummies with food."

Mohinder looked around. Matt was already gone. Luckily, he had recorded it just like he recorded all of his monologues. He would play all them back to hear his sexy, raspy voice. Matt would hear his monologue. That was for sure.

---