Monday, December 21st. 4 days 'till Christmas...

Early Monday morning, Odette met up with Proteus for breakfast before they each had to go to work. Odette came up with a plan that might help Proteus with his sisters and she wanted to run the idea by him.

They met at the Swan Rose's restaurant. The hotel was just around the corner from the bank.

Odette arrived at the restaurant first. A couple minutes later, the hostess brought Proteus over to Odette's table.

"Sorry, I'm late," Proteus told her. He took off his coat and draped over the back of his chair. "I'm not a morning person."

"You're fine."

They both looked over the menu and ordered their breakfast when the waitress came to their table.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Proteus asked when the waitress left.

"Two things. The first is: would you be willing to continue pretending to be boyfriend on Christmas Eve and go to the ball with me?"

Proteus smiled at her. "I'd love to."

"Great. The second thing is: I think I have a plan for Meg and Vanessa."

"Lay it on me. I'm willing to try anything."

"Jasmine took me to L.A. for my twenty-first birthday and I asked Aurora to apartment sit for me while I was gone and watch my pet bird, Puffin. Well, she left the window open and Puffin flew away and I never saw him again. I was so upset and mad at her, that I didn't talk to her for months. Eventually, our mom couldn't take it anymore and she tricked us into being at the same place at the same time. Aurora and I got in a huge fight, but eventually we worked it out," Odette told him. "I think we need to trick Meg and Vanessa into coming face to face."

"I don't know, Odette. Meg blames Vanessa for our parents' death; it's a little bit bigger than a lost pet."

"It is," Odette agreed. "But, I still think getting them together would force them to deal with this; let them hash it out."

"And if it comes to blows?"

"Hey, don't underestimate the healing power of punching someone in the face."

Proteus frowned. "I don't want my sisters to punch each other."

"You'll be there to intervene."

"They won't listen to each other," Proteus said. "Meg blames Vanessa, Vanessa blames Ariel, and no one wants to forgive and move on."

"Ariel?" Odette repeated. "My brother's best friend is dating Ariel. I bet we could get her there, too. Let all three of them put everything out in the open."

Proteus took a sip of his coffee. "Maybe it could work. It's worth a shot, anyway. But, we should do it somewhere public; less of a chance of them causing a huge scene."

"What about the Christmas light maze?" Odette suggested. "It's happening every night through Christmas; we can figure what night would work for everyone."

Proteus nodded. "I'll text Meg and Vanessa and ask each of them to meet me there."

"And I'll have John get Eric in on this. Eric can ask Ariel to meet him there."

"I hope this works," Proteus said.

"Make it work. Don't let any of them leave until they work it out."

"Will you go, too? For backup?"

"Yeah, of course. I wouldn't force you into the lions' den alone."

OOOOO

Ariel was mad at Eric for going over to John's after their fight instead of going after her. Eric knew she would be. Monday night, the night after the fight, Ariel decided she didn't want to be around Eric, so she and her family went out; leaving him home alone. Eric took the opportunity to go see John's mom and drop off the presents he had gotten everyone.

When he pulled into Leah's driveway, he saw Stefan outside, talking with one of their neighbors. Stefan gave him a quick wave. Eric waved back before getting the presents out of his car.

"The door's open," Stefan told him. "Go on in."

"Thank you." Eric walked up to the front door and let himself in. "Hello?"

"In the living room," Leah called out.

Eric walked into the living room. Leah paused the movie she was watching and got up to greet him.

"Eric, what a wonderful surprise!"

"Merry Christmas."

Leah hugged him and he hugged her back as best he could while holding all of the presents.

"What brings you by?"

Eric walked over to the tree and started putting the presents under it. "I most likely won't be able to stop by on Christmas, but I wanted to see you and drop everything off."

"How sweet," Leah said. "Can I get you anything to eat or drink?"

"I'm good, thanks."

Leah sat back down on the couch and Eric sat on the armchair next to the couch.

"How's Ariel?" Leah asked.

"She's good."

"And how are you?"

"I've been better. I've been busy non-stop since Ariel's family got here and it's stressing me out. And I'm bummed about not being here on Christmas. I'm sorry about that, by the way."

"Don't even worry about it. I'm sure you'll have a good holiday with Ariel."

"Are you sure it's okay? John said it was important to you and you'd be disappointed."

"We'll miss you, of course; but you're not disappointing us," Leah told him. "Although, I think John is pretty upset about it. He's been mopey and brooding since you canceled on the toy drive shopping and confirmed you aren't coming on Christmas."

"I didn't mean to upset him."

Leah waved her hand dismissively. "He'll get over it; it's only one Christmas. Next year, you and Ariel can plan this better."

If we're still together, Eric thought. Thinking about still being with Ariel a year from now and doing this all over again next Christmas filled Eric with dread.

"Oh, before I forget: I have presents for you, as well." Leah got up and went over to the tree. She picked up a large gift bag and gave it to Eric. The bag had a few presents in it. "Everyone got you something."

"You guys didn't have to do that; but, thank you."

"Merry Christmas, Eric."