After spending some time in the bed, the three of them started to make their way downstairs but as Alessandra stepped out of her bedroom to make her way along the hallway to follow both of the women, she froze.

In her mind she saw the red paint spilled on the floor next to her mother's night gown. In that moment she realised something, "It wasn't paint," she whispered as her breathing sped up.

Jane and Maura both froze as they heard what she said but it was Jane who reacted first, running straight to her side. Followed shortly by Maura.

Alessandra sat up in bed as she heard the door opening and someone step inside, "Santa?", she questioned softly, "Is that you?". She had an air of innocence to her as she asked the question with a tilted head, and she was rubbing her eyes as she tugged her blanket close to her along with her bear which wore it's marine uniform. She loved her new bear and blanket which she had got in her Christmas Eve box along with the night wear that she was wearing.

There was someone in the doorway, a man. At the time she thought it must have been Santa because that is who her Mammina insisted would come into the house. "Look Santa", the little girl said not waiting for the answer and simply assuming it was Santa, she held up her bear, "He has a marine uniform like daddy used to wear".

There was a soft sound of something dropping outside the door but Alessandra did not pay it much attention, Santa was there.

The man moved into the room and she noticed a few things were not quite right.

For he was thinner than Santa.

He didn't have a white beard or long hair like Santa.

He didn't dress like Santa.

He was not Santa.

But he had to be because Mammina said that Santa would come if she was a good girl and went to sleep in her own bed.

She was a good girl.

'Santa' knelt down near her bed, "Would you like to come with Santa?"

"To the North Pole?" Alessandra asked him, "Will I get to see Rudolph?"

"Of course,' he replied before standing up.

She quite liked the idea of seeing Rudolph, even if part of her mind was screaming that something was not quite right.

He leaned over and picked her up from the bed.

Alessandra made sure to grab hold of her stuffed toy but strangely, as she went to grab her blanket it was thrown over her head. She wriggled but she could not get it off, she did not like that very much but she did manage to loosen it a little at the bottom.

Not that 'Santa' realised

As he carried her out of the bedroom and along the hallway she saw red paint dotted along the hallway from her doorway.

She thought that was weird. It wasn't there when she went to bed.

Then there was lots of paint but why was her Mammina's dressing gown on the floor near it? It was supposed to be hanging up on the back of the bedroom door where it belonged.

She didn't see her mother's body lying there wearing the gown in the pool of blood.

Alessandra was carried down the stairs and out the front door.

Passing more paint on the floor, why was her brother's slipper in the paint? She was confused.

She was put into a truck and told to move over.

Santa doesn't drive a truck.

Santa drives a sleigh that's pulled by reindeer. Where was Rudolph?

As she pulled the blanket from her head and moved over to sit in the seat properly her mind screamed at her.

That's not Santa.

But it had to be Santa because Mammina said that Santa would come on Christmas Eve if she was a good girl and went to sleep in time.

Alessandra felt dizzy, she was overheating, her chest hurt, and her chest was painful where she was so short of breath.

Jane picked her up and carried her down the stairs to the living room, away from the hallway, "It's okay, Allie," she said softly, "Come on Tesoro... look at me."

"Focus on my breathing,' Maura tried as she took hold of Alessandra's hand and pressed it to her own chest whilst pressing her hand to the little girl's, "Come on Allie, we can do it."

Bright blue eyes looked at Maura, the fear in them was more than ever before, "M...M," she mumbled a little without focus.

"Focus on my breathing," Maura repeated, "Follow me."

After a while of encouragement from both women whilst Jane rubbed her back and Maura tried to get her to focus on the breathing pattern, the little girl gradually calmed down a little from her panic attack.

When her breathing was finally under control, she burst into tears, throwing herself into Maura's arms with enough force that the woman was forced backwards to sit on the floor. Maura wrapped her arms around the little girl and held her tightly against her, "It's going to be okay," she said softly as she rocked the child on instinct.

Jane was already kneeling down beside them both and she reached over to wrap her arms around them both before pressing a kiss to each of their heads.

The only words that were understood from her sobs were 'Not paint' and 'Not Santa'.