A/N: hello everyone, hope you all had a great New Years...sorry about the delay:)

disclaimer: Skins is still not mine and as much I wish it wasn't true, any typos and errors are...

Chapter 4: Believing

"What do you mean, she's been crying for hours?" Effy returned from the Pole to chaos.

Freddie and Cook were fighting again, Panda and Thomas had fucked off to God only knew where, and Lara and JJ were freaking out. And Naomi apparently was locked in her room, crying.

"Yeah, she went out with Emily and when we all got back from the club, she was up there. " JJ stated nervously. "I've never heard anything like it, Ef. Panda and Thomas couldn't take it anymore and left, Lara tried talking to her, and even Freddie and Cook tried. Nothing seems to work!"

Effy watched as JJ started to breakdown right in front of her eyes. Lara rushed over to try and help him, leaving Effy alone.

"Fuck this for a bunch of soldiers!" She mumbled, as she closed her eyes. Next thing she knew, she was inside Naomi's bedroom. "Nai?"

"Go away, Elizabeth."

'Ouch! That hurt.' Effy knew someone was serious when her full name was used. But she knew that Naomi was just lashing out because she was hurting. "What happened, Naomi?"

Naomi's sobs that had racked her body subsided about an hour ago, leaving her feeling a pain so huge, that she didn't know how to end it.

"I told Emily the truth."

"And?" Effy knew there was more to the story, it was just a matter of getting Naomi to tell her.

"That's it."

"So she knows all about having to get married?" Effy clarified.

Naomi sat up then, shaking her head. "No, I didn't even get that far. I told her I was Santa, and she looked at me as if I was crazy. She walked away, Ef. I thought...," she paused to swallow a few tears that threatened to fall again, "I thought she was it, but she didn't even want to hear what I had to say, she...,"

"Walked away." Effy finished for her, quietly, weighing up the consequences of telling Naomi the truth or keeping it quiet.

"Yeah. It just wasn't meant to be, I guess." Naomi said as the tears refused to stay back and she started crying again. "I've never felt like this before."

"Fuck it!" Effy exclaimed loudly, making Naomi jump, as she started pacing back and forth. "It is meant to be."

"What? What are you talking about?" Naomi looked at the brunette sceptically. "If that were true, she wouldn't have left me standing alone, she wouldn't have been so angry and cold!"

"Naomi, I'm going to tell you a couple of things and I don't want you to say a word until I'm done talking, okay?" Effy sat next to her, looking the blonde in the eye, making sure she had the girls attention. "First, Hamish is starting an elf rebellion-,"

"What?" Naomi rose up from the bed and stared down at Effy.

"I told you not to interrupt!" Effy exclaimed.

"But-,"

"No buts, Nai! Hamish is plotting to take over as Santa. He doesn't have faith that you'll pull this off and marry." Effy explained. "So that brings us to the second problem."

"And what can be worse than what's already happened?" Naomi asked, suspiciously.

Effy took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Emily's your soulmate." She said quickly and braced herself for an outburst.

"She's...my...how...," Naomi stuttered, trying to find the right question, "but she...I don't understand."

Effy let out the breath she didn't even realise she'd been holding when Naomi didn't blow up like she thought.

"Soulmates are meant to find each other during certain points in life, finding each other too soon or too late or sometimes never finding each other at all, and the lucky ones, the reallylucky ones, the ones that meet too soon, they get to meet again when the time is right."

Naomi looked seriously confused and crushed, all at the same time. "So what does that even mean, Effy? I'm not following you."

"Are you really that dense when it comes to love?" Effy asked, wide eyed, but then she shook her head. "Never mind! Don't answer that. Look, everyone has a soulmate." Effy declared, feeling like she was explaining it to small child. "But whether you end up with your soulmate is determined by the Powers That Be, who happen to be Kieran and...,"

Effy cleared her throat. She had never been one to brag about her role in the Assembly of Legendary Figures, mainly because she was still a young girl compared with some of them. Obviously, her mother and Kieran never told any of them either.

"And? Who else, Effy?" Naomi sounded as if she already knew the answer.

"Me."

"Emily? What happened?" Katie had already been home for a couple of hours by the time Emily stopped wandering around in the cold and decided to go home. She had been lounging on the sofa when Emily came through the door.

"Nothing. Why do you asked?" She stormed in and flopped down next to Katie.

"Uh, because you look as if you're about to take on Muhammad Ali during his championship years. What's going on? Did you have a fight with Naomi?"

Emily blew out a frustrated breath, knowing that her sister would keep harping on her until she broke down. But she wasn't quite ready to discuss it yet, so she deflected. "Remember that Christmas when we were fifteen? You got that handbag you had been wanting, and I got that-,"

"Fancy ass silver locket. Santa presents, yeah, I remember. What about it?" Katie looked confused.

Emily cocked her head, still trying to figure out how everything went to shit in such a short amount of time. "It was a locket?" She asked, grabbing on to that new piece of info, as she reached into her bag and pulled out the necklace that she had forgotten to give back to Naomi.

"Where did you find that?" Katie asked in surprise. "You threw it away the day after Christmas."

Emily turned the pendant over in her hand, inspecting it, not like she did the first time she got it, with contempt, but really looking at it. She noticed the intricate designs etched all over the sterling silver piece, and also along each link in the chain, tiny scrolled knots weaving into one another. The work that went into this piece of jewellery showed passion and talent. She ran her fingernail along the edge of it, feeling the slight gap.

"How did you know it was a locket?" Emily asked, keeping her eyes glued to the necklace.

Katie shrugged when she realised that Emily wasn't going to answer her right away. "I looked at it that Christmas, when you went to take a shower. After you got back to the room, you looked at it as if it was about to strangle you, so you grabbed it up and threw it away."

"And you took it out when I wasn't looking, right?" Emily finally looked at her sister, almost pleading with her to say yes.

Katie shook her head. "No, Emsy. I thought about it, I'm not gonna lie, but I knew something had changed for you that Christmas, so I left it."

Emily started crying. Tears that she had been holding back since her argument with Naomi came flooding out of her, causing Katie to look afraid before she scooted closer to her and wrapped her up in a classic Fitch hug.

"Naomi told me that she was Santa Claus tonight." She finally said between sobs, telling Katie everything that had happened.

When Emily was finished, Katie gave her one last squeeze before releasing her. "Shit, Ems...I'm sorry. She didn't seem like a fucking loon. A bit childish sometimes, maybe, but who knew she was batshit crazy?"

"But that's just the thing, Katie, she didn't seem crazy at all! She acted normal and sane, a little too into the holiday season, but...I thought we had something really special."

"And she said that she made you that necklace?"

"Yeah, when I was fifteen." Emily said looking down at it again. "The thing I remember about that Christmas was being totally in love with Kelly from school and I foolishly wrote a letter to Santa, asking him to make Kelly love me."

Katie laughed. "I know."

"What? How do you know?" Emily asked blushing.

"Oh, c'mon, Emsy! You know very well that we both still believed at that age. I used to read your Christmas letters to make sure we didn't ask for the same things, yeah?"

This was news to Emily, but not totally unexpected. "But you didn't say anything. You usually made fun of me for shit like that."

"You were having a rough time of things that year, Ems. You had just come out to mum and dad, which went over rather spectacularly, I might add. It just didn't seem to be the time to give you shit about that." Katie explained. "So, Naomi told you she's Santa and gave you that necklace? The same necklace from ten years ago?"

"She gave it to me tonight and when I asked her where she got it...," Emily trailed off, thinking hard about that night, ten years ago. "What do you remember from that night?"

"Oh God, I can barely remember last week and you're asking me about ten years ago?" Katie laughed, before noticing that Emily was serious. "Um, sorry...okay, let me think...I remember I woke up and heard voices downstairs...so I got up to find out what was going on," Katie paused, thinking hard about that night, "you were down there and...I think...oh," her eyes went wide as she remembered, "some fat guy dressed as Santa Claus!"

Emily watched as Katie bounced up and down on the sofa, excited that she could remember. She didn't remember anything close to that. "There wasn't any man, Katie."

"Of course there was!" Katie stated, her lisp more pronounced with her excitement. "I thought he was there to rob us and you sa-,"

"It was a woman." Emily cut her off, remembering now. "She was tall, had blonde hair, was dressed in red...I asked her if she got my letter...," Emily had a strange, pained look on her face. Katie watched as she once again held up the pedant in her hand, staring at it intensely.

"What is it, Emily?" Katie whispered, not wanting to startle her.

"She told me that she did."

"What else did she say?" Katie asked, terribly curious.

It all came back to Emily as she sat there, every detail. It almost slammed into her, the recognition did, as she clutched the locket in her hand.

"She said she was sorry, but the Powers That Be had plans for Kelly. I hated her, I hated Christmas and everything about it...why didn't we remember any of that until now?" Emily wondered aloud.

She didn't wait for a response, merely pried open the locket, feeling that it held a very huge secret.

Katie and Emily gasped as a light burst out of the small container, as if it had been trapped in there for years. Neither of them could move, as images raced through their minds, one on top of the other, until they all started forming a picture.

By the end of it, both girls had passed out from the mental onslaught, but by then, both of them knew the truth.

"Nai! Stop for one fucking second, will ya?" Cook shouted above the wind.

"I can't!"

After Effy's little revelation, Naomi went back to the North Pole, but every time she tried stepping across the boundary line that separated her realm from the world, she kept getting bounced back.

"I have to get inside there, Cook!" She yelled back at him, knowing that he would help her. "Please help me?"

Cook stared at her for a few moments, before smiling. "Alright then, what are we waiting for?" He stepped past her and across the barrier, then turned and looked at her expectantly. "Well, come on."

Naomi tried to follow her friend, but once again, she was forced back and landed about ten feet away from the entrance.

"What the fuck? What's going on?" Cook stepped back over to where she was laying in the snow.

"I don't know! I've been trying for two hours to get home, but that happens every time!"

Cook didn't know what to do, so he told her to wait right there.

"Well, where the fuck else am I gonna go, you twat?" She bit back as he disappeared.

Cook entered his room and noticed it was quiet. He poked his head out the door and listened for the normal sounds of the North Pole, but heard nothing. He slipped out of the room and made his way into the manufacturing area, where the elves were usually camped out at this time of the year.

With only a few more days before Christmas, everyone was normally busting a nut to get everything ready, but no one was around.

"Bloody hell!" Cook exclaimed quietly, not wanting to draw attention to himself.

He traveled down to where he knew Kieran and Gina should be, stopping just outside the door and listened. 'Jackpot!' He thought as the sound of voices came muffled through the door.

"Alright you guys, keep an eye on them and don't let him move!" Cook heard from the other side of the door, accompanied by footsteps.

He quickly ducked behind a cabinet that was standing there, just in time, as the door swung open and out filed Hamish, along with three other burly little elves.

"Sinead has informed me that she has used up the last of her magic, which means, she can't get back to the Pole." Hamish stated as they walked toward Naomi's office, almost like a five star general and his lackeys. "If she misses the Christmas Eve deadline, I'll have a small window of opportunity to slip in and become Santa...,"

Cook couldn't hear anymore as the elves rounded the corner. "Fuck me!" He exclaimed as he stepped out from his cover and made his way to the door again, opening it slightly to see what was going on in there. "Fuck me!" He said again.

Kieran, Gina, Thalmus and a bunch of the others were tied up with Christmas lights. Truly stuck, they were and Cook saw that they were guarded by another group of elves, obviously on Hamish's orders.

"Think, Cookie...think...," he said to himself, softly. He was about to rush in there, when an idea struck. He knew he'd never be able to take on the elves alone, they were surprisingly strong and crafty little fuckers, so he flashed out to where Naomi was still standing.

"Jesus, Cook! Where the hell have you been?"

"Calm down, Naomikins. Look, I didn't believe Effy when she told us about Hamish, but it's true."

Naomi hung her head at the news, as Cook told her what he had seen. She had been hoping that she'd be able to fix it. "If Hamish is leading the charge, I've got no hope whatsoever!" She stated, feeling the urge to cry.

Alright, so she never wanted this job, actually fought it tooth and nail at first, but she loved being Santa! It had given her a purpose, it made her care, it made her a better human being, for fucks sake! So losing this on top of losing Emily? She didn't think it could get any worse.

"Naomi Sunflower Campbell! Don't you fucking dare give up on me now!" This brought Naomi out of her daze for a moment, knowing that Cook and Freddie only ever used her full given name when they were serious. "Come on."

She watched him start to walk away. "Where are we going, Cook?"

"We're going back to get the rest of the gang! And then we're going to appeal to the Powers That Be to get you an extension." He called back over the wind.

"I won't leave, Cook. I've got to get inside. Mum's in there, I won't go!" Naomi stood fast on this decision.

"Fine. You're stubborn enough to keep trying, so hang tight and I'll be back with reinforcements." Cook walked back over to her, looking her in the eyes. "I'll be as quick as I can, yeah? Remember Blondie, no matter what, Freds and I are behind you all the way." He leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek, before flashing out of sight.

Another two hours later, Naomi was no closer to getting inside the Pole than she was when she first got there. No amount of screaming would help either, she tried. She was sitting in a snowbank on top of the highest peak at the North Pole, looking out at the blanket of white, watching two polar bears play and wondering what she could have done differently, when she heard snow crunch behind her.

Next thing she saw was black, as Hamish's elves slipped a hood over her head and knocked her out so they wouldn't have to deal with her struggling.

"Hamish is going to be thrilled." The youngest elf in the group said. "Keeping her locked up is gonna help him become Santa.

The group laughed as they drug her through the snow. "Stupid humans!"

In Naomi's blacked out state, she saw red hair and chocolate eyes and the cutest smile in the whole world.

"Oh my God! Naomi is Santa Claus!" The excited exclamation came from Katie when the twins came to. It would've been harder to believe if it hadn't of been for the overwhelming feeling of peace and love they both felt after the mental images subsided.

Those images showed the twins Naomi's whole existance as Santa Claus, how she had become Kris Kringle, how she reacted...everything, right down to Naomi hunched over her worktable, creating Emily's necklace with a look of love on her face.

The older twin was shocked to discover that it was Naomi standing in their lounge ten years ago and that she was the reason Emily was able to almost deal with the holiday now. But why couldn't she see the blonde back then, she wondered, glancing over at her sister to gauge her reaction. The sight Katie was greeted with broke her heart.

Emily sat there frozen, tears running down her face.

"Emily, what's wrong?" She asked in concern.

"Naomi told me she had feelings for me, but she lied."

Katie looked at her twin in disbelief. She could literally feel the love that Naomi felt for her sister, and to be honest, Katie would swear Naomi fell for Emily ten years ago, her feelings were that strong, so she was honestly shocked that Emily didn't feel it too.

"What are you saying? Have you completely lost it?" Katie almost shouted.

Emily wiped her tears, trying to stem the flow of them, working to adjust her thoughts so that she could word herself better. "She loves me, Katie...why didn't she tell me that?"

"No shit! If she loved you any harder, we'd all feel the heat and burn, but would you have believed her?" Katie rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "You've gotta go and see her, Emsy. You've gotta make this right!"

"I doubt she'll talk to me, Katie. I was such a bitch to her." Emily replied sadly. "I treated her like she was nothing."

"Trust me, Emily, she'll talk to you." Katie stated with confidence as she stood up and walked to the closet and grabbed her coat. When Emily didn't follow, she lost her patience. "Don't just sit there, you twat, we have to fix this shit!" Emily scrambled off the sofa and grabbed her coat from where she threw it earlier.

Katie left the flat with Emily in tow, almost like the old days, when they were younger. But this time, instead of keeping her sister in her shadow, Katie was marching Emily toward her future.

A/N: Well?

Love you all!

Marci