Merry Christmas

Chapter 8

Kate was depressed and ready to start crying all over again. She had spent the night crying, in fact. Still she had some hope.

She had been told to wear what they had left for her. She couldn't wear any of the clothes she had been wearing. Something about the material they were made from wasn't available yet so she needed to look normal.

Kate heard a knock and reluctantly went to her door and saw Lucy on the other side.

"Ready to go?" Lucy didn't want to do this either. But she had orders from Santa.

"I guess." Kate looked around at what had been her home for the last few months. The entire place had rubbed off on her. It was pretty there and she knew she was loved there. But she did want to see her parents again.

Kate dragged her feet all the way to the transit wall. She followed Lucy through it and they were at the barn where the reindeer were kept. Only this time all of them were out of the barn and they were all hooked up in front of a sleigh. Even Rudolph was out front. Except she didn't see Santa or Alexis.

Kate followed Lucy up to the reindeer. "Hi, Rudolph." She mostly just waved at him till she saw Prancer in his spot in line. "Prancer." Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and listened to him snort and wheeze or whatever reindeer did. She still didn't understand a word of it. Not like Santa somehow did.

"I'm going to miss you, too." Kate felt tears welling up all over again. It was more of a guess that that was what he was saying but it felt right.

"HO! HO! HO!" Kate let go of Prancer and watched as Santa came out of the warehouse with a big bag over his shoulder.

She had learned from Lucy during their talk that every present in the warehouse was in that bag somehow. Every single one of them without exception and that the bag itself was loaded in just seconds. And yet Santa seemed to have no trouble hauling it around. She even watched him drop it into the back of the sleigh with ease.

"Remember what I told you," Lucy whispered to her and stepped away. Kate actually remembered every single word. It was too important not to.

Santa walked up to her and put his hands on his big belly. "HO! HO! HO! Ready to go home?

Kate couldn't help it. He looked like the perfect Santa. Fat, jolly, smiling and he even had a red nose and reading glasses sitting on them. He was perfect.

"I guess." Kate still wasn't so sure about this. Before Santa could say or do anything she jumped at him and wrapped herself around what part of him she could and held on tight. She could even feel his arms around her holding her in place.

Kate found his ear and put her lips at it. "I love you, Santa." She meant it with every fiber of her heart. Then she saw snow and didn't see or hear anything else.

She missed Santa putting her in the sleigh next to him and making sure she wouldn't move during the trip.

"Everything ready, Victor?" It was his job to get the team ready for a long ride.

"Everything is ready, Santa. Even Rudolph." Victor glares at Rudolph like Kate had taught him.

"Safe trip, Santa." Lucy wished him well, watched him climb into his sleigh, and take up the reins.

"Keep the lights on. Rudolph, Full Power! Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen! On Comet! On Cupid! On Donder and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!" It was the secret only Santa knew on how to make the team fly all night and make it around the world in that one night.

Lucy, Victor, Frederick and all the elves watched as Santa in his sleigh was pulled up into the sky and out the dome that opened only for him.

"Good luck, Kate." What happened now might just be out of her hands. Lucy could only hope for the best.

oOo

Rick was on a roll, everything was going really smoothly till he stopped at one certain location. "This is where you get off, Kate," Rick told the sleeping woman next to him and instead of his bag, which got left behind, he picked up Kate and carried her past all of the reindeer to reach the opening he was going to use.

He listened to Prancer huff and snort. "I know, Prancer, I know. I'm going to miss her too." He hadn't even let Alexis say goodbye because he knew she would put up a fuss and cry till tomorrow. She might be upset with him but he thought it was better this way.

In an instant Rick was inside and found a sofa to carefully lay Kate onto. He hadn't been in this house ever. It was the house of Jim and Johanna Beckett. People who had stopped believing him years ago.

He was happy to see that the place had Christmas lights and there was even a tree that didn't look half bad if he did say so himself. Then he found a silver tray that held cookies and milk and a note. The cookies were gone in a flash as was the milk. It was a secret that Santa could do this because he was fed cookies and milk often enough to keep his strength up. It was hard work. Next came the note.

"Dear Santa,

If you are reading this, we believe, please believe that we believe.

We just want Katie back. Nothing else ever.

Yours forever,

Johanna Victoria McKenzie

Jim Lyle Beckett

They had both signed it. Rick smiled broadly. It wasn't too often that he got believers back instead of losing them.

Rick put their note down and left them one of his own. Then he walked over to Kate and leaned down to kiss her lips softly. "Enjoy your life, Kate."

Rick touched his nose and he was gone in a twinkle of an eye.

He had a lot of work to do in front of him followed by explaining all this to his daughter who was likely going to be very upset with him.

oOo

Johanna groaned when she woke up. It was yet another day without her daughter and no knowledge of where she was. The police had found nothing and she was betting they were just giving her platitudes and not actually even trying to look. Both of the private investigators they had hired had found nothing and were now off the case. They had their money and Jim and Johanna still had nothing.

"Jim, …Jim, get up. It's Christmas." If this didn't work she was going to kill herself.

"Christmas." Jim said it like it was the last thing he wanted to deal with.

"Jim, we promised," Johanna reminded him. She rolled out of bed and searched for her slippers. The wood floors were a little cold since it was late December.

"Yeah, we promised." He knew his wife was desperate. Hell, he was desperate. But this long shot just wasn't going to work. They stood a better chance of the police getting lucky and arresting her for shoplifting or something. Still he got out of bed on his side and looked for his slippers. He was like his wife, the wood floors were a bit cool on bare feet.

Johanna didn't waste any time and didn't stop at the bathroom. She hurried straight to the living room. They had gotten a Christmas tree and even gone out and bought brand new decorations and lots of brand new Christmas lights for it and the room.

It was sort of an If they saw Christmas then it was Christmas kind of thinking. Making it easier for them to believe.

Johanna exited the hallway and since the Christmas lights everywhere were still on because her husband hadn't unplugged them last night, she easily spotted someone lying on their sofa.

With her hopes now in the clouds or beyond she walked closer till she could see the face. That was when her legs gave out. The tears started and it was only the hands over her mouth that stopped her from crying out as she gazed on the sleeping body of her daughter.

"Who is…" Jim began to ask till he could see who it was. He was starting to think about calling the police to report an intruder. "JO!" He may be man who wanted to project an aura of toughness, but that was his daughter lying on their sofa. THEIR SOFA! He let the tears fall down his cheeks and didn't bother wiping them away.

"It's Katie," Johanna said through her hands and just kept on crying.

Finally Johanna found the strength to shuffle across the floor on her knees so she could touch her. Verify to her mind that she was real. "Jim!" Johanna turned to look at him. Her face was filled with tears but she looked happy. She had touched her and she was real!

Jim was down on his knees next to his wife and watched her touching Katie.

"Katie? …Katie, honey." Johanna softly poked her to get her to wake up. "Katie, honey, please!" She had to wake up!

Her eyes stayed closed but she spoke. "Not another class. I'm tired. Go away." Kate shifted a little to get away from the voice.

While it didn't make any sense to either of them she had at least spoken so Johanna tried again. "Katie, honey. It's me…Mom." Johanna pushed a little harder.

"Not now, Mom!" Kate moaned and shifted her body again. Then her eyes snapped open. "MOM!?" Kate turned her head and what she saw wasn't Rick's new beard or Alexis or even Lucy.

"MOM! …DAD!" It didn't make sense but she was seeing them.

Johanna did her best to put her arms around her daughter and hug her. Soon Jim added his as Kate held both of them and now all three of them were openly crying loudly and not trying to stop. Happy didn't begin to describe what each of them were feeling.

oOo

Johanna had her arms around Kate and they were all standing and their crying was past but tears were still flowing. "I'll get the coffee. We can go out for breakfast to celebrate." It might be Christmas Day but this was New York City. There had to be someone open for breakfast.

Johanna didn't respond. She didn't care to. She had her daughter and that was all she cared about. "Where have you been all this time?" She was ready for some answers too.

"Um, the North Pole." Technically she had been somewhere else as well but it was going to take a lot to get her to talk about her time in captivity let alone what she had been forced to do.

"Where?" Had she heard right?

"Jo!" Jim had seen something on his way to the kitchen and was standing there holding it for her to see.

That had Johanna letting go of Kate and walking to him and taking it from him. "My letter to Santa. We mailed this." They had put it in the box together even. It shouldn't be here. Unless….

Johanna opened it and read it again. It was her letter. It had hers and her husband's signature on it. It was her letter!

"Santa." Johanna said it like she almost didn't believe it.

"Santa." Both she and Jim turned to see Kate standing there with a huge smile on her face. It was all catching up to her now. Santa was going to take her home. She had spent months at the North Pole taking classes about medicine and learning all she could.

She also knew that she was in love with Rick. Santa. Even Alexis had a piece of her heart. As did Lucy, Victor, and especially Prancer. Hell, even ornery Rudolph had a tiny piece of it.

Then she remembered something else. The elves had all sung Happy Birthday to her.

oOo

Neither Jim nor Johanna had changed clothes yet and no one had coffee yet. They were all sitting on the same sofa Kate had been found sleeping on.

"The North Pole?" Johanna asked her again.

"Yes, Mom, the North Pole. I even saw the pole. It's red and white and has these signs on it telling you how far away Moscow is and how far away New York is. There are lots and lots of elves everywhere. Not those elves, elves." Kate didn't mean elves and dwarves.

"And Santa?" Johanna and Jim had promised. Promised a lot actually. She needed to make sure.

"Yes, Mom, Santa Claus. Actually his name is Rick and he hasn't been Santa for too long." Kate snapped her fingers. "I forgot to ask just how long he's been Santa." Kate kicked herself for that one. "And he has a daughter. She's five. Really cute and she has long orange hair.

"Oh and I got to ride Prancer as we flew through the sky. And Rudolph. He's…" Kate didn't know how to describe Rudolph. "He's different. Nice mostly but different."

"Santa at the North Pole?" Johanna tried again then looked down at her letter to him. He had actually come through for them. They had asked for their daughter and he had left her close to the tree on Christmas Day.

"Santa." Just saying his name made Kate's heart all warm and fuzzy. "I'm seventeen now! The elves sang Happy Birthday to me. I had a birthday cake. It was maybe a little tiny but it was tasty. And there was this huge live Christmas tree…" Kate stopped and looked at them.

"You don't believe me?" She wasn't lying. She wouldn't do that. "Naughty list." She had to desperately get off the naughty list some how.

"Yes, no. I don't know." Johanna actually got up and started pacing. "We called the police. We begged the police. We hired two private investigators to try and find you." Johanna looked down at the letter still in her hand.

"Santa found you." She still wasn't sure if she believed all this or not.

"A deal is a deal, Jo," Jim reminded her. They had things they needed to do and it was Christmas Day and time was running out on them.

"Yeah, a deal is a deal. …Santa Claus." They still didn't have a chimney.

oOo

Jim and Johanna were showered and shaved and dressed including makeup on Johanna's part. They even still had all of Kate's clothes so she was wearing one of her old coats that she hadn't worn but once at the North Pole.

"What are we doing?" Kate inquired which was a stupid question since she knew what she was doing. She was carrying a box of canned goods from their car into a soup kitchen. Just like her mom and dad were doing.

"Fulfilling our part of the deal," Johanna told her and walked inside with the first of several cases of canned goods. They had bought all their trunk would hold and had taken it to the first soup kitchen they could find.

Jim handed Kate another box. "The deal was that if Santa Claus brought you back to us, we would believe in him and do all we could to support Christmas for the rest of our lives. Supplying food to a soup kitchen is just the first step."

Kate was walking toward the door with her next box of canned goods. "Naughty list." She really wanted off that naughty list.

oOo

It was too late to buy toys for the various toy drives but it wasn't too late for some of the food drives put on by some of the fire stations. They had spent all day Christmas Day buying food where they could find it and delivering it to various fire stations all over the city.

oOo

Kate was dead tired and resting on the sofa while her mother was in the kitchen cooking. "I'm making your favorite, Katie. You're back so we're celebrating."

Jim was presently out getting something her mother had forgotten to purchase. They had bought up a lot of canned goods but had missed something for themselves.

oOo

Kate was enjoying her mother's cooking even if she might not be willing to tell anyone that elves cooked better. "So what have you and Dad been doing?" She had told them enough for now.

"Still working in the same hospital, doing the same thing, day after day. I think it was the only thing that kept either of us sane. The normalcy of it all." If they had lost their jobs they would have lost their minds.

"At first it was hard to keep my mind on what I was doing. Then it got easier. Followed by harder the closer it got to Christmas. So many prayers unanswered." Jim had stopped eating and not because he didn't like his wife's cooking. She was actually a good cook. He had gotten lucky there.

"I'm here now. And I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen." Kate had stopped eating as well.

"We know, Katie, we know." Johanna took her hand in hers. "But you're home now and you're safe and you look healthy. Even if you're not eating." Johanna got in a little rib and smiled.

oOo

Kate was sitting in her own old bedroom, on her old bed, still dressed in the clothes the elves had given her. She had gotten kisses and hugs from her mother and even her dad. They would see her in the morning before going into work. Work didn't stop just because their long lost daughter had come home.

It was the end of Christmas Day and Kate had so far listened to what Lucy had told her. Her parents were trying to believe in Santa so she could talk about the North Pole, but she could only do this while in private.

Kate raised her wrist. "Santa, please." It only took a moment and suddenly Rick's no longer Santa looking face was in 3D just above her wrist.

"KATE! How was your first day home?" Rick questioned her.

"It was great! Mom and Dad are happy. I'm happy. We spent the entire day buying canned goods to give to soup houses or fire stations for food drives."

Rick smiled a big smile. "Trying to get off the naughty list, I see."

"Absolutely. Santa isn't going to leave me anything if I don't." Kate smiled wide

"Too true." Rick was still smiling.

"What happened to your Santa look? I kinda liked the white beard and white hair." He was very distinguished with that look.

"My job is over so it's back to being just Rick. Everyone takes a week off and we start all over for next Christmas.

"Alexis was very cross with me for not letting her say goodbye. I was just trying to keep her from crying for weeks after you left. She's grown attached to you." Rick admits his mistake.

"You shouldn't have done that. Please tell Alexis I miss her," Kate asked him and he nodded.

"What about me? You're not going to miss me?" Rick fake pouted.

"I already miss you more than you'll know. …I love you." Kate admitted it in a more open conversation than just whispering it into his ear.

"I miss you, too. It isn't going to be the same around here without you." Rick sighed. He wished he could say that he loved her but she was an underaged teenage girl. He couldn't say things like that to her.

"You know you could make it snow and come get me," Kate pointed out. He had done it a countless number of times while she was there.

"Rules, Kate, rules." It would violate the rules.

"You and your rules." He was Santa, he could just make new rules. But… "You came and got me last time," Kate reminded him.

"That was in response to a Dear Santa letter your parents sent me. That's different. …What Lucy?" He wasn't paying attention to what she had just called out. "I gotta go, talk to you later." And he was gone.

Kate let her arm fall, dejected. He hadn't said that he loved her. She couldn't talk him into coming to get her and take her back to the North Pole. And she had to remember what Lucy had told her.

"Dear Santa letter, huh!" Kate began to smile a wicked smile.