It was the morning of Christmas Eve in the town of Etheria, and everyone was getting into the spirit of the holidays. The city had put up their massive Christmas tree in the middle of the town and now it glowed brightly every night for all of the town to admire.
It had been snowing the last few days and the entire town was now coated in several inches of the soft, white powder. This morning, the snow drifted slowly down from the grey sky above and landed delicately onto the accumulating piles of snow already on the ground.
The local shopping malls were crowded with last minute gift shoppers before they closed early for the night. Families big and small were gathering together and staying inside where it was warm.
In the small neighborhood of Bright Moon, nestled in the heart of Etheria, all the rooftops were blanketed with white and smoke puffed out from chimney tops. The houses were lined with Christmas lights and Christmas trees could be seen gleaming brightly inside the windows of most of the homes.
One of these homes was quietly nested in the snow and looked still and peaceful from the outside. But on the inside it was another story.
"Girls! If this oven screams at me one more time I'm gonna throw out whatever is in it!" Angella yelled from the kitchen table where she had a spread of papers lined out.
Angella listened as a cascade of footsteps came rushing down from upstairs. Then she heard a thud and a shout.
"Adora! That's cheating! Get back here!"
There was a loud sound of stomping and then another yell.
"You can't bite, Glimmer! Ew! Get off!"
As the rapid footfalls continued down the steps, Angella put a hand to her forehead and smiled. Despite the ruckus, it was good to have all this time with the girls during the holidays.
Glimmer stumbled into the kitchen quickly and just about ran into the side of the table in the process. Behind her, dragging at the hem of her shirt was Adora. They were both in their pajamas which they rarely got out of these days.
Glimmer laughed loudly as she hoisted her arms into the air proudly. "I win!"
"Yeah whatever," Adora said with a pout, rubbing at a spot on her arm. "I think you should be disqualified for the biting."
"I'll run it by the council," Glimmer said, turning to Angella. "Mom, tell her I won fair and square."
Angella chuckled. "I'm not getting involved in this one. But if you two keep racing downstairs someone's gonna get hurt."
"Then it will be an honorable injury," Glimmer said reverently.
"Yeah, I'm probably gonna catch your rabies now," Adora said, poking at the bite marks on her arm.
"You pushed! It was fair! That's the rules!" Glimmer exclaimed.
Adora grumbled something to herself and couldn't keep a grin off her face as she walked over to the oven and pulled the door open. The smell of warm cookies filled the kitchen.
"Oh they're beautiful," Adora said joyfully as she grabbed an oven mitt and pulled the tray of sugar cookies out of the oven.
"I'm surprised they aren't burnt!" Angella said. "That timer went off forever ago."
"Ah, see, we anticipated that we'd miss the timer so we set the timer a few minutes early," Glimmer said, tapping at the side of her head with her finger.
"That's actually pretty smart," Angella admitted. She looked back at the oven clock. "Are you two still hanging out with friends today?"
"Yup!" Adora said excitedly. "In, like, an hour."
"Oh good, that sounds fun. What are you all doing?" Angella asked.
"We're just gonna hang out at Mermista's place. Oh and we're gonna do our mystery gift exchange," Glimmer explained. "But Adora will probably be too busy ogling her girlfriend to do any of that."
Adora scoffed. "You just earned a snowball to the face for that."
Angella laughed at their back and forth pestering. "Well you be back before too late! Your aunt will probably be here when you get home and we'll have a nice dinner."
"It'll be good to see Aunt Castaspella again," Glimmer replied. "But...do I have to wear one of her sweaters again?"
"You know you do," Angella said immediately.
"Aaawwww man," Glimmer whined. "They itch me, mom. I hate being itchy."
"Sometimes we have to be itchy to make our loved ones happy."
Glimmer groaned. "Can you at least make Adora wear one too?"
Adora looked up from a tub of frosting she was eating out of. "Do I have to?
Angella sighed. "Adora gets an excuse because she hasn't been gifted a sweater yet. But I'm certain she'll have one before the visit is over."
"This is an injustice," Glimmer said with a frown. "Where's your Christmas spirit?"
"I think my Christmas spirit died when we were trying to get the tree set up," Angella said.
"It only fell, like, twice," Glimmer said.
"It was three times actually," Adora added from over at the kitchen counter as she ate more frosting.
"Thanks for your valuable addition to the conversation, Adora," Glimmer said petulantly.
"Anytime," Adora replied with a finger gun.
"We'll all wear our sweaters and we'll suffer as a big beautiful family," Angella said. She pushed her papers away from her and waved the girls over to her.
They came and stood by her and she put an arm around each of them, pulling them close. They hugged her back and then she let them go.
"When was the last time either of you showered?" Angella asked.
There was a pregnant pause as Adora and Glimmer tried to recall how long it had been.
Angella shook her head. "Shower before you leave."
"You got it, boss!" Glimmer said as she spun away and ran upstairs.
Adora clicked her tongue. "She's gonna use all the hot water."
"Adora. I guarantee you Catra won't care which of those jackets you wear," Glimmer said.
Adora put down the clothes she was holding up and nodded. They were sitting in Adora's room and bundling up to head over to Mermista's house. "Yeah you're right. It's just been so long since I've seen her and I wanna look good!"
"It's been, like, a week," Glimmer said, rolling her eyes.
"That's too long!" Adora proclaimed helplessly.
Catra had visited her grandparents on her father's side for a week and had just gotten back in last night. Adora literally hadn't stopped talking about how much she missed her and Glimmer was just tuning it out at this point.
"Will you ever stop fawning over each other, you think?" Glimmer joked.
"Oh I sure hope not," Adora said with a smile. Glimmer sighed and Adora walked over and hopped into the bed next to her, poking at the girl's arm. "Speaking of fawning, how're things with you and Mermista?"
"Well we're not as cringey as you and Catra." Glimmer said with a smile.
"Oh don't pretend you're not unbearable yourself. You're like, 'Oh M...Mermista, you're so p... perfect I might just die'! "
Glimmer laughed at this. "I'm not that bad. But it's kinda weird. We're in like an almost dating stage? We talk a lot but we haven't, like, started dating dating yet. Anyway, I haven't seen her very much cuz she's been working full-time."
"Is she still working at that aquarium?"
"Yeah, the big one up in the city. She wants to be a marine biologist. Isn't that wonderful?"
"Pretty wonderful," Adora said, happy that her friend was happy.
Adora had also been really happy lately and it felt like her quality of life was so much better now that her and Catra were dating. But it was also so much harder to not be with Catra nowadays and when she wasn't with her she was usually thinking about her.
Glimmer leaned back in Adora's bed and rested her back on the wall. She was leaning back and pulling her socks on and Adora looked over to her.
Glimmer's head was right next to Adora's painting that rested on the wall over her bed. And behind that painting, Adora knew there was still a big, gaping hole in the wall that she had left. Adora had planned on fixing it, but didn't want to end up messing the wall up even more. Plus she was scared to fix it in case anybody ended up seeing it. She hadn't even told Catra about it.
"Are you okay?" Glimmer asked, looking at Adora.
Adora frowned, realizing that her face must've been broadcasting her worries too much. "Yeah I'm fine. Just tired."
Glimmer stared at her for a second before nodding and going back to getting ready.
Adora watched Glimmer get ready and bit at the inside of her cheek. She looked back to the painting on the wall. It wasn't even in a spot that looked aesthetically pleasing. And every time Adora saw it she was reminded of that terrible night. She was so tired of that.
"There is something actually," Adora said suddenly.
Glimmer turned and listened attentively. "What's up?"
Adora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I...you can't judge me, okay?"
Glimmer shook her head quickly.
"Okay," Adora said slowly. "Well…maybe you should just see it."
Adora slowly reached up to the painting and inhaled sharply before carefully removing the painting from the wall.
Glimmer gasped as the hole was revealed. It looked the same as it had when it was covered and just looking at it gave Adora a knot in her stomach.
"Woah!" Glimmer yelled before clasping her hands over her own mouth. She spoke again but in a hushed whisper. "What happened?"
"I…" Adora looked at her knuckles. They were all healed up by now, but she could've sworn she could still feel the powder from the wall on her skin. "I did it on accident."
"When?" Glimmer asked, admiring the hole.
"A while ago. I, uh, had a bad night…" Adora said softly.
"Dang…" Glimmer said running her fingers along the caved in drywall. "Are you...okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine now," Adora insisted.
Glimmer gave her a pained look. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
"I really don't," Adora said pleadingly. "It's not that I don't trust you, but I've just been doing okay with it all and I don't wanna... remember it more than I have to."
Glimmer put a hand on Adora's knee and nodded. "Okay. Yeah. I mean if you ever wanna talk. I'm, like, always a couple feet away from you."
"I know. I'm telling you cuz I trust you. And I need some help fixing it without Angella finding out."
"Why can't she find out?" Glimmer asked, confused.
"I don't want her to know that I...it was just so dumb and in the moment and...she just can't know."
Glimmer thought about this for a moment. "Alright. We don't have to tell her then. We just have to fix a wall hole."
"That's the plan."
"Man this is like Shawshank Redemption," Glimmer said, picking up the painting. "Do you have an escape tunnel in here?"
Adora managed a smile and Glimmer saw how serious this situation was to Adora. Glimmer pulled out her phone and did a quick Google search.
"Okay so we can totally do this. We just need, like, supplies and stuff."
"Won't we need to paint over it too?" Adora asked.
"Oh yeah…" Glimmer said thoughtfully. "Well we painted this room way back cuz it used to be an ugly green color. So we might still have the paint in the garage."
"Well that's good!" Adora said hastily. "What else do we need?"
Glimmer looked at her phone again. "Like drywall and spackle and stuff. I don't know if we have that."
"We could run by the hardware store," Adora suggested.
"Yeah we could." Glimmer tapped on her phone some more and then frowned. "All the home supply shops are closed for Christmas Eve."
"Dang it. I guess we can always...wait till later."
Glimmer frowned. "I mean... I'd rather you not have to worry about it anymore."
"Thanks," Adora said sympathetically. Adora knew then that she had made a good choice in letting Glimmer know. "But how else would we get the supplies?"
"I have an idea I think. I've been going over to Scorpia's place a ton lately and they've been redoing a lot of the house. Maybe they have some extra stuff we could borrow?"
"Oh that's a great idea! Glimmer, thanks for helping with this."
"Well thanks for trusting me with it," Glimmer said thankfully. "It means a lot, y'know? And now we're on a secret sister mission."
Adora tousled Glimmer's hair and smiled fondly at the girl. "I like the sound of that."
Scorpia looked at herself in the mirror. She had on all her winter gear and was putting on a pair of gloves. She had her phone playing her favorite Christmas songs and she swayed a little to the rhythm. She focused on her own image in the mirror.
"Scorpia, look at you," she said to her own reflection. "You're going to hang out with your new friends. And Catra!"
Scorpia smiled at the thought of Catra and looked over to her old corkboard that was hung up on the wall and littered with various scraps of paper and photos. There was a whole strip of photos that the two of them had taken in a photo booth. She looked over them and thought about how fun that had been. Her and Catra making goofy faces and just being best friends.
Scorpia nodded. They had always been good friends. Scorpia couldn't remember when she had first started thinking of Catra as more than a friend, but there had been a long period of time where she had believed that they were meant to be.
But after admitting how she felt, she had realized that Catra didn't feel the same. And for a while that had been a tough pill to swallow. She had spent long days and nights regretting telling Catra and feeling like an idiot. She had spent time being jealous of Adora. She had even struggled with feeling like she wasn't good enough for Catra and that she wasn't desirable at all.
But Scorpia was moving on. She had been for a long while now. When she saw Catra she sometimes still felt a dull ache somewhere inside, but most of the time she just saw a good friend.
Catra had been making sure to set aside time to hang out with Scorpia recently even though she was dating Adora now. And now it seemed that Glimmer and Catra were on good enough terms with one another to have group outings like the one today.
Glimmer. That was another good thing to come out of all this. Scorpia thought of the girl and smiled. When Glimmer had first sat down at her table, she had pinky-promised Scorpia that things with Catra would end up working out in the end. And it had been true.
Scorpia was looking forward to seeing Glimmer. She had drawn Glimmer's name in the gift exchange they had done and was excited for her to open her gift.
It would also be good to see Bow, her partner in crime. And even Adora. Scorpia hadn't ever been able to be mad at Adora because she was just so nice. And she made Catra happy. Plus she was the only person who Scorpia had met that liked weights as much as she did.
Scorpia returned to the mirror and examined herself again.
"Yeah," she said softly. "Things are looking up. And you're looking better than ever today. Keep being the best Scorpia you can be."
Scorpia winked at herself and then giggled quietly. It was a good day.
Adora and Glimmer pulled up to Mermista's later that day with Scorpia sitting in the back seat.
"Wow that's a big house!" Scorpia marveled as she took in the rather huge home.
"Yeah her parents have big fancy jobs," Glimmer explained. "But Mermista said it sucks all the fun out of them. Basically, money is evil."
"Are they fine with us being over here?" Adora asked.
"I'm not sure if they even care what Mermista does as long as it doesn't get in their way," Glimmer explained. "But anyway, it looks like the boys are already here." She pointed to Bow's car parked ahead of theirs.
"The boys!" Scorpia said excitedly. "You know, I don't mean to brag, but I basically set them up."
Glimmer laughed. "I think you brag about that every time we talk about them."
"I'm just proud of my work," Scorpia said with a chuckle. "And they are real sweet together."
"Yeah Bow does seem pretty happy," Adora mentioned.
"Yeah I guess," Glimmer said, toying with the collar of her coat. "I feel like I never see him anymore though."
Adora patted Glimmer on the shoulder. "He's probably just real obsessed with Dani right now. But I guarantee he'll still wanna hang out with you just as much."
"Yeah you two are practically joined at the hip," Scorpia assured her as she struggled to unclasp her seatbelt.
"I know, I know. I'm just overreacting I bet," Glimmer responded. "And that seatbelt is super janky. You gotta beat it up if you ever wanna get out."
"Oh no," Scorpia said as she began to shake the seatbelt holder. "Hey what do you guys need all this construction stuff for anyway?"
"We…" Adora started slowly.
"It's a funny story," Glimmer stepped in. "I was trying to kill this wasp in my room and I threw a...like a big...shoe or something. And it missed and hit the wall and made a big ol' hole."
"Wow you must've thrown that shoe pretty hard!" Scorpia said. "Our little gym trips must be paying off!"
"Yeah you know me," Glimmer said, flexing an arm.
Adora smiled over at her thankfully and the Glimmer winked at her.
There was a loud pop in the back and a shout of success as Scorpia finally wrenched the seatbelt out of its socket.
"Ha! Okay I'm ready."
The girls got out of the car, all carrying small bags and boxes with their gifts in them.
It was a cold day but the wind wasn't blowing too hard and the sun was beginning to peek through the clouds so it wasn't unbearable.
Snow was drifting down slowly and Scorpia stuck out her tongue, trying to catch one of the falling flakes as the girls walked up towards Mermista's driveway.
They were about halfway to the house when they heard a yell from somewhere out in the snow covered yard.
"FIRE!"
All three girls turned in surprise to see Bow and Dani behind what looked like a makeshift snow barricade.
The girls didn't even have time to react before the boys had already begun hurling snowballs at them. The first few hit, but one hit Glimmer square in the chest and got snow all over her.
Glimmer gasped. "This is war!" She screamed over at them as she angrily dropped her gift onto the ground and sprinted over to a tree and a few bushes that stood in the yard across from the boys and seemed to be the best available cover.
Scorpia and Adora laughed as Glimmer took off and ran to catch up to her. Scorpia was already scooping up handfuls of snow and packing them into little balls and Adora was pulling on her gloves quickly.
When Adora and Scorpia caught up to Glimmer, who was crouched behind a bush, she was already holding a snowball and muttering angrily.
"We're gonna slaughter them," Glimmer told her friends. "No prisoners!" She popped up over the bush and hurled her snowball over towards the boys base. Bow dodged out of the way and it just barely missed him, whizzing past harmlessly.
"Ha! You gotta try harder than that!" He yelled across the lawn to them.
Glimmer growled and began to pack more snowballs when Scorpia dumped about a half dozen of her own in front of Glimmer. Glimmer gave Scorpia a nod of approval and began to throw those as well. Scorpia joined her and she was able to hurl them much harder than Glimmer.
One of hers hit Dani right in the shoulder and he fell back a few steps.
"Eat snow!" Glimmer howled victoriously as the hit landed.
Adora was struggling to make a snow ball. She kept accidentally crushing them instead of forming them into balls. Above her, Scorpia got sprayed with snow as she was peltered by return fire. She laughed loudly and took cover, crouching down by Adora.
"Here, I'll make more and you throw em!" She exclaimed and Adora graciously accepted, giving up on her half formed ball of snow.
Adora stood up and began to hurtle her own snowballs at the boys. Now that they no longer had the element of surprise, they were outnumbered.
They cowered under the assault and when Bow rose up to throw another, Adora nailed him right in the face.
The girls all laughed loudly at this and cheered. Things were looking good for them and the tides of war were changing when suddenly Adora felt a huge lump of snow hit her in the back of the head. She cupped the back of her head and gasped as she watched two more snowballs hit Glimmer and Scorpia in the back.
The girls all whipped around to see Mermista, behind a couple of trashcans and holding one of the lids as a shield. There was a pile of snowballs at her feet.
"Ambush part two!" She yelled as she continued to hurl her mass of snowballs.
The girls were all laughing madly at this point as they scrambled to their feet and began to try to hit Mermista, but none of them could seem to get her.
The boys recollected themselves and began to resume their attack. Now the girls were being assaulted from both sides as they struggled to find shelter.
Glimmer got hit in the side of the head with a snowball and howled. She dropped down to her knees.
"I think this is it, guys," she said to Scorpia and Adora. "There's no way we can win this fight."
"Never give up!" Scorpia yelled as she continued to throw snowballs at their enemies. Scorpia got hit from both sides and yelped. "Ah! It got in my shirt! Cold!"
Adora saw this and was starting to lose hope when she noticed a car pull in behind Glimmer's over in the street. Adora smiled widely at the sight of the familiar minivan.
"Guys, we might have a chance after all," Adora said excitedly and Glimmer and Scorpia perked up and looked over as the car door opened and shut and a single figure walked around the front of the car.
Catra stood, bundled up in winter gear like a caterpillar in a cocoon. She looked over the situation for a moment and made brief eye contact with Adora from across the lawn before springing into action.
She began to run at full speed towards Bow and Dani, who hadn't even noticed her yet. Mermista yelled over to them to watch out for Catra, but they didn't seem to hear her warning over their own laughter.
By the time they did notice it was too late. Catra covered the ground quickly and scooped up huge armfuls of snow. Then when she was right behind the boys as they crouched behind their barricade and turned around in shock, she dropped the mound of snow in her arms all over them.
Adora stood up and cheered and Scorpia and Glimmer followed suit as Catra continued to reach down and grab snow and shovel tons of it onto the boys, who were scrambling around on the ground.
The girls could hear Catra's throaty laugh from where they stood and then they watched as Catra looked up at them and ran towards their makeshift shelter. As she ran by them she looked them over.
"Well it's a good thing I showed up," Catra said, pulling down her snow mask and revealing a huge, toothy grin. "You guys wanna go teach Mermista a lesson?" Catra jerked a thumb over towards Mermista, who was standing still and watching everything play out, scared to throw another snowball at the team that now outnumbered her greatly.
"Heck yeah!" Glimmer yelled as she shot up and grabbed some snowballs, running towards Mermista. The other girls followed and they all surrounded Mermista and began pelting her from all angles with snowballs.
Mermista was on the ground, laughing loudly and pleading for mercy in a matter of seconds.
The girls relented, but only after they got in a few more hits, and then Glimmer went and helped Mermista up.
"Man you guys don't play around," Mermista said windedly as she stared at Glimmer with an appreciative smile.
Bow and Dani ran over with their arms held up above their heads.
"We come in peace! You win!" Dani said.
"Yeah Catra, you got snow all in my coat," Bow said with a pout.
Catra snickered and walked over to him, clapping him on the back. "Well you should've thought about that before you threw a snowball at my girl." Catra shot a smooth look over at Adora.
Adora still couldn't get enough of Catra referring to them as a genuine couple and everytime she mentioned it, Adora felt her heart flutter. She smiled back and walked up to Catra, giving her a big hug and lifting the girl off of her feet in the process.
Catra giggled as she was squeezed by Adora and hugged her girlfriend back.
"We can all go inside now if you want," Mermista said, still brushing snow out of her hair. "It's warm and we can make some cocoa."
The group nodded and they all followed Mermista inside, stopping to grab the gifts they had abandoned in the fight.
Adora walked beside Catra and bumped shoulders with the girl. "It's good to see you again."
"It's good to see you again too," Catra said warmly. Her mouth was covered a little by her snow mask and muffled her words.
"What was that?" Adora asked. "I couldn't hear you through the mask."
Catra pulled the mask down to her chin. "I said I m…"
Catra was cut off by Adora as she darted in and pecked Catra on her now uncovered lips. Adora pulled back, smiling, and Catra couldn't contain her happiness.
"I missed that too," Catra said through a grin.
"Me too," Adora agreed.
They kicked the snow off their boots at Mermista's front porch and walked inside the home. Adora and Catra had been there once before for a party, but it was much different without all the people and loud music. The place was huge and fashionably decorated. A large living room was adjacent to the entrance and there was a fire already lit in the big fireplace set into the wall of the room.
"So, like, make yourselves at home or whatever," Mermista said, gesturing towards the living room. "You wanna come help me make cocoa?" Mermista smiled over at Glimmer.
"I'd love to," Glimmer said. "Y'know, the key is to use milk instead of water."
They went off to the kitchen and the rest of them walked into the living room and looked around.
Dani picked up a framed picture on a sidetable and smiled. "Wow. Mermista used to look so different."
"Oh I have to see that," Adora said quickly.
Dani handed it over and Adora looked at the picture of Mermista as a young girl. She had shorter hair and wore a thick pair of glasses and also had braces lining her smile.
"Dang. She had glasses? Catra, come look at this."
Catra pulled off her scarf and gloves and put them on a table before walking over and sliding in beside Adora. She laughed at the picture. "Looks like a nerd. But...like...in a cool way. Um... nobody tell her I said that. She could kill me."
Scorpia laughed from across the room as she fell back on the couch. "It's true, she could." Her silver hair was damp and matted down from snow and she flattened it back against her head and looked around the room.
Bow took off his coat and then walked over to the couch and plopped down next to Scorpia. "Can I put your hair up in a mini ponytail?"
Scorpia chuckled and turned around on the couch so that her back was to him. Bow scooted up and began to get her hair pulled back.
"Hey, babe," Dani called from over by another smaller couch. Bow looked over to him. "Can you come sit with me?"
"Uh…" Bow looked back to Scorpia's hair and then back to Dani. "Yeah, sure thing. Scorpia, I'll do your hair later, promise."
"Yeah no pressure," Scorpia said casually. "My hair will always be here."
Bow smiled and patted his friend on the back before heading over to Dani and sitting next to him on the couch.
Catra went and stretched out on the carpet in front of the fireplace. She let out a long sigh of relief as she warmed herself by the flames and rolled around.
"You're like an animal," Adora said with a chuckle as she stepped over Catra and sat down in an armchair by the fire.
"At least I'm a warm animal," Catra said as she splayed out on the carpet and smiled over at Adora with an upside down grin.
Adora looked at the girl all spread out by the fire and looking at her with that goofy face of hers. It didn't get better than this.
"So, Scorpia," Catra said as she rolled over onto one shoulder and warmed her back. "How were my babies when I was gone? Did they miss their daddy?"
Scorpia giggled. She had been given the honor of feeding Catra's fish while Catra and her dad were out of town. "They definitely like you more than me. But they were such good little fish! Boba just kinda bumbled around the whole time. And Beefers likes to hide in that skull until it's food time."
"Ha! Classic Beefers," Catra said proudly. "Thanks for taking care of 'em for me. If I ever die suddenly, you can have custody of them."
"Aw, anytime, Cat. But I don't know if I can handle the responsibility of fish children right now so please don't die."
Catra smirked. "It's not on the schedule."
"What about Adora?" Scorpia asked. "Wouldn't she want the fish...er...your babies?"
Adora shook her head instantly and Catra laughed.
"Yeah no she'd accidentally kill them," Catra pointed out.
"Oh I would. I totally would. I'd give 'em a solid week," Adora said seriously. "You'd be a much better fish parent then me, Scorpia."
"Cool," Scorpia whispered to herself as she leaned back on the couch. "How was your trip, Catra?"
"Oh y'know," Catra said with a grimace. "Same old, same old. My grandparents were great, but my aunt and uncle are always a pain."
"Ugh, yeah," Adora groaned. She had texted with Catra almost constantly while she was away and was pretty caught up on how it had gone.
"What's wrong with your aunt and uncle?" Bow asked.
Catra sighed and held her hands out towards the fire. "They're just a bunch of old conservative jerks. They don't exactly approve of my...anything. We don't mesh well."
"Oh. Sorry about that," Bow said sympathetically.
Catra waved a hand. "It's not a big deal. You just have to learn to ignore everything they say and you're fine. 'Why is your hair so short, you look like a boy.' 'Oh you have a girlfriend…interesting'."
"Ew," Bow replied. "Family sure can suck. But your grandparents sound good."
"Oh yeah they're angels," Catra replied. "They make me endless cookies and we do puzzles and stuff."
"Oh that's some premium grandparent action right there," Bow replied.
"Why are we talking about grandparents in here?" Mermista asked as she walked in with mugs of cocoa in her hands.
Glimmer walked in behind her holding more mugs. "Get it while it's hot!"
They passed out the hot cocoa and everyone thanked them. Then Mermista went and sat on the couch with Scorpia. Glimmer scooted in next to Scorpia and handed her a mug.
"This one has extra marshmallows just for you," Glimmer said with a grin.
"Oh you're the best," Scorpia said excitedly as she took the mug graciously.
Catra got up from the floor and went over to Adora's armchair. She sat down on Adora's lap and laid back so that she was basically snuggled up in the chair on top of Adora.
Adora laughed and enjoyed the feeling of Catra sitting on her, all warmed up by the fire.
The group all drank hot cocoa and chatted for a while. They talked about how good it was to be out of school and how much they hated the cold weather.
After a while of hanging out they decided to do their gift exchange. They had already drawn random names on the last day of school and they had all gotten something for their person.
"I wanna go first!" Glimmer exclaimed.
Mermista chuckled and rested her arm around Glimmer's shoulders. "I think that's fine with everyone."
"Awesome," Glimmer said excitedly, her eyes darting to Mermista's arm on her shoulders. "Who pulled my name?"
"Meeee!" Scorpia chimed in from beside Glimmer. She held up a little bag with purple tissue paper inside. "I hope you like it."
"I'm sure I will," Glimmer assured her as she opened up the bag. She pulled out a little jewelry box. Glimmer opened the lid of the box slowly and gasped lightly. She pulled out a little twinkling charm bracelet and held it up to inspect it carefully.
Scorpia hurried to explain the gift. "See you were saying you wanted a bracelet back in school and, y'know, I thought maybe this would be cool. I put little charms on there that are things you like or that, like, represent you or whatever."
Glimmer smiled softly as she looked through the charms. There was a mini strawberry, a paintbrush, a hedgehog, a small knife, and a little crescent moon all dangling from the bracelet that was silver and had purple wire intertwined around it.
"Scorpia...wow…"
"Is it okay?" Scorpia asked nervously.
"It's amazing," Glimmer said sincerely. "It's so thoughtful! Can you clip it on me?"
Scorpia looked relieved that Glimmer liked it and reached over, clasping it onto her wrist gently.
Glimmer jangled it around lightly and watched all the little charms jiggle around. "Thanks, Scorpia. This is so pretty. And it's incredibly me."
"That's what I was going for," Scorpia said with a smile.
Glimmer leaned over and gave Scorpia a big hug. Scorpia clumsily returned the hug.
Then Glimmer pulled back and admired her bracelet some more.
"That looks really good on you," Mermista said.
Glimmer smiled bashfully. "Thanks. You, uh, you wanna go next?"
"Okay, but I hate getting gifts. Who pulled me?"
Dani passed her over another small bag. Mermista opened it and pulled out another small jewelry box. "Is it a charm bracelet?" She joked. She opened it and pulled out a pair of little stingray earrings.
"We knew you worked at the aquarium and everything so I thought maybe you'd like these."
Mermista smiled. "Yeah these are dope, dude. Thanks, Dani."
Dani smiled and leaned back against Bow.
"We can just keep going in a circle, if you wanna go next," Bow said, nudging Dani.
Dani smiled contentedly at Bow and then nodded. "Okay, who got me?"
"It was me! Surprise!" Bow exclaimed and hoisted up a small lumpy wrapped object.
"Aw, thank you," Dani said as he gave Bow a side-hug and opened the gift to reveal a pair of fuzzy white socks. He lifted them up and saw that they each had a little cat face on them and little nubs that were supposed to be the cat's ears. "Well these are now my favorite pair of socks."
Bow smiled widely, clearly happy that Dani had liked his gift. "I'm glad you like them. And it's my turn now!"
"Yup that's my cue," Catra said with a grin. She shimmied around on top of Adora and wrestled an oblong case out of her jacket pocket. "I, uh, I didn't have time to wrap it. Sorry." She tossed the hard case over to Bow and he fumbled with it in the air before dropping it.
Bow gasped loudly. "Oh shoot! Is it okay?"
Catra chuckled. "Yeah, probably."
Bow picked the case up from the floor and turned it over, inspecting it curiously. He then began to open the lid, a bright smile forming across his face. "You. Did. Not."
Catra smiled proudly. "Only the best gear for the world's best spy."
Bow pulled out a pair of sleek, black shades and immediately put them on. He turned around the room with a huge grin on his face. "How do I look?"
"Like a cute dork," Glimmer suggested.
"A cute dork spy," Scorpia added.
"The cutest dork spy," Dani said, patting his back.
Bow smiled contentedly. "I have never felt cooler in my whole life. Thanks, Catra."
"Anytime, bro," Catra said with a nod in his direction. "Is it my turn now?"
"Yeah go ahead," Adora said.
There was a momentary pause as the room quieted expectantly and then Glimmer cleared her throat. "Yeah that's, uh, that's me."
Everyone turned to look at Glimmer as she got up and shuffled over to Catra. She nodded awkwardly and handed the girl a wrapped box. "It's, uh, it's actually something I got you for your birthday back in middle school that I never actually got to give to you. It's... y'know...I figured you'd still like it."
Catra looked up at Glimmer, surprised that the girl had held onto a gift for that long. "Thanks, man."
Glimmer nodded and managed an awkward smile before shuffling back to the couch and falling in next to Mermista.
Catra tore off the wrapping paper slowly and revealed a box with a big label on the front that Catra instantly recognized. A slow smile came to her face. "A lockpicking kit. I...you know what, I do actually remember asking you for this I think."
"Oh my gosh you did," Scorpia said, sitting up on the couch attentively. "I remember that. You were obsessed with breaking into things."
"Yeah you were," Glimmer recalled. "And I hope it's something you're still into," Glimmer said hopefully.
"It's something I never learned how to do that I now very much want to do," Catra said. "Thanks."
"Sure thing," Glimmer replied.
Adora, watching the exchange intently, felt a wave of pride for both of the girls. They had been trying so hard to get along and it was really paying off. They hadn't argued or even made rude comments in so long and it was so nice to have them hanging out together like this.
Adora squeezed Catra's hand and Catra smiled down at her.
"What are you gonna break into?" Adora asked.
"Oh man, so many things. Probably a bank."
"I can't even tell if you're being serious," Adora said with a grin. "You've just unleashed a criminal into the world, Glimmer!"
Glimmer just shrugged guiltily.
"Well it's your turn," Catra said, nudging Adora. "Maybe you'll get a black ski mask and we can be a criminal duo."
"Well," Mermista said, laughing a little bit. "That's actually, like, not too far off." She held up a bag.
Catra laughed loudly. "Oh man, it's totally a ski mask."
"It's not a ski mask," Mermista clarified. "But it could definitely be used for... criminal activities."
Adora's eyes widened. "Mermista what did you get me?"
Mermista smiled cooly and got up from the couch, walking over to Adora. "Just open it and find out." She dropped the bag down into Adora's hands and Adora felt a weight inside.
"Why am I scared now?" Adora asked, with a smile.
"Open it! Open it!" Catra encouraged her.
Adora rolled her eyes and reached into the bag. She felt something hefty inside and pulled it out.
"Woah," Adora said with a grin as she realized what she was holding. It was a big pocket knife made of black metal. Adora held the release button on the side and slid out the blade.
"Dang," Catra said, staring at it. "We actually can be criminals now."
"Or you can just have a cool knife that also could be used in self defense or for cutting boxes or something," Mermista added.
"Dang, yeah," Adora said, waving the knife around. "That's so cool. I feel... powerful."
Mermista laughed. "Well be careful with it. I just figured you could use a knife. I have, like, over fifty of my own. They're kinda awesome."
"I didn't know you collected knives," Glimmer said.
"Oh yeah," Mermista said casually. "I also collect motorcycle helmets."
Everyone had a moment of silence where they looked at Mermista with respect.
"Mermista, are you actually aware of how cool you are?" Bow asked.
Mermista smirked. "I just do what I do."
"Well thanks for the gift," Adora said gratefully. "Maybe I'll start a collection too."
"You totally should," Mermista said joyfully. "Scorpia's turn."
Scorpia sat up excitedly.
Adora waved over at her and hefted up a huge bag beside the armchair. "I got you. I'm a little...pinned right now though."
"Oh, I'll get it, don't you even fret," Catra said as she hopped off of Adora's lap and grabbed the bag, heading over to Scorpia.
"Oh I'm excited," she said as she pulled back the tissue paper and pulled out a big gym bag. "Aw, Adora! Oh my gosh! I needed a new gym bag so bad!"
"I know! Your old one was falling apart!"
"Yeah it was," Scorpia said, giggling as she looked the new bag over. Scorpia suddenly wrinkled her nose and brought the bag closer to her face. "And it smells like bananas?"
"Oh that was my contribution," Catra said. "Open that bag."
"A gift in a gift!?" Scorpia exclaimed as she zipped it back and pulled out a loaf of banana bread. "Man, there's bread in it too!?"
"Oh yeah," Catra said. "I made it this morning. It's both a gift for you and proof that I can make banana bread when I'm not in culinary."
"Well thanks. Both of you," Scorpia said contentedly. "I just love Christmas so much. Getting each other gifts and hanging out with buddies."
"It really is the best time of year," Bow agreed. "I mean, I just love any excuse to get all of us together."
"Well we might just have to do it again before break ends so we can have a snowball rematch," Glimmer pointed out. "My bloodlust still hasn't been sated."
The friends chuckled at this and carried on talking about anything and everything, sipping their cocoa and drying off slowly. They were all just happy to be together.
Catra and Adora were driving back to Adora's foster house from Mermista's. The radio was off because almost every station was playing Christmas music, which Catra absolutely despised. The heat was blasting and warming the girls up.
Adora was sitting in her passenger seat and staring at Catra as she drove. She was thinking about how pretty she was. Catra was humming some tune to herself absentmindedly.
She stopped at a stop sign and looked over at Adora to find her staring. She smiled.
"What did we say about staring at me while I'm driving?" She said playfully.
"That...it's good and I should do it all the time?" Adora suggested.
Catra shook her head with a wry smile and turned her eyes back to the road. "I don't remember that being what we agreed on, but you're adorable so I'm gonna let it slide."
"Why don't you want me looking at you?" Adora wondered aloud.
"It's not that I don't," Catra responded. "I like it when you look at me. I just feel embarrassed sometimes I guess."
"Embarrassed about what?" Adora asked, cocking her head to one side.
Catra shrugged. She seemed more uncomfortable now. "I don't know. You're just so...pretty. And I'm...I don't know…"
Adora stared in shock at Catra for a few seconds before sitting up straight in her seat. "Pull over."
"What?"
"Pull over," Adora repeated.
Catra shot her a strange look and then did as she was told, drifting over to the side of the near empty road and parking the car.
"Why are we pulled over?" Catra asked, turning to face Adora.
Adora stared back at her intently and then reached her hands out. She grazed her fingers along Catra's cheeks slowly.
Catra smiled. "What are you doing?"
"Shhh," Adora said softly. She continued to examine Catra. Catra could feel Adora's eyes scan every last inch of her face. After what felt like a while, Adora nodded to herself.
"Just as I thought," she said definitively.
"What?" Catra asked, confused.
"I've looked you over, and there is not one single thing about you that is not utterly perfect."
Catra's face softened and she put her hand up to Adora's, holding it to her cheek. "You really think that?"
Adora nodded. "Every time I look at you I think that."
Catra felt some tears well up in her eyes and she blinked them away quickly. "Thanks."
"It's just the truth," Adora answered. "Now don't you be saying bad things about the way you look. You're perfect."
"I'm perfect," Catra muttered to herself, almost testing the phrase on her tongue. The idea was not one she had ever actually considered before today. That she could be perfect just the way she was.
It was good to hear Adora say it, but something about it didn't feel true. Not that she thought Adora was lying, but she just didn't believe what she had said could be true. She didn't feel perfect.
But looking into Adora's eyes, Catra felt better than she had about herself in a while. And that was enough to push away any self doubt she felt. Catra smiled at the girl.
"And that's an adorable smile you have too," Adora said as she saw Catra light up.
"Not as cute as yours," Catra said as she reached out and tapped Adora on the tip of her nose.
Adora wrinkled her face up and Catra couldn't believe how cute she looked in her big coat with that scrunched up face.
"Okay I know we said we wouldn't do gifts for each other," Catra said slowly. "But...I may have a little something."
Adora chuckled. "I should've known. I'd be mad, but I also got you something."
"Well we might as well have just decided to do gifts in the first place," Catra joked, reaching into the backseat. "You ready?"
Adora nodded excitedly and Catra very carefully pulled out a small object from the floor in the back of the car. She held it up in front of Adora and Adora instantly felt a wave of emotion.
Catra held up a single sunflower. "I went out to the fields this morning and, well, they're mostly all dead from the snow and the cold. But I did some digging and...this little guy was still hanging on."
Adora smiled and took the flower gently, twirling the stem in her hands. She closed her eyes and remembered their night on the hill after the dance. What a perfect night that had been. It was burned into Adora's memory now. And the sight of this flower brought it all back.
"It's not too fancy for a gift," Catra said nonchalantly. "But I figured it was sentimental."
"It is probably the best gift I've ever gotten," Adora answered honestly. "You're so thoughtful."
"I try," Catra said with a toothy grin.
"Well now I'm glad I did get you something," Adora said as she reached down between her legs to a backpack that she had been carrying with her all day. She unzipped it and reached in, pulling out a single sheet of paper.
Catra glanced at the page and immediately felt that it looked familiar, but she wasn't sure why.
Adora held it up to Catra and the second she read the words and saw the handwriting on it, she knew what it was.
"This...this is one of those sheets we had to fill out in our detention," Catra said softly. "This is...yours. How did you get this?"
"Well, I asked for a little favor from Madame Razz. I have the one you wrote too. But I'm definitely keeping that one."
Catra looked over the questions and the answers they had written. She laughed as she read them. "I can't believe your first question was if I had any allergies. What kind of a question is that?"
"I was nervous!" Adora whined. "I didn't know what to think of you back then."
"Good point," Catra said, smiling at the sheet of paper.
"And hey, you should've seen what you wrote. One of the things you wrote down that you learned about me was that I would not last a single day in the zombie apocalypse."
Catra laughed. "Okay, see, if I remember right, that was totally justified. You can't use a machine gun cuz the noise will draw all the zombies to you!"
Adora scoffed. "Well you more than made up for it with your three positive things about me."
Catra widened her eyes. "What did I say?"
Adora smiled fondly. "You said I was strong, brave, and beautiful."
"Wow. I was so infatuated with you even then," Catra said softly. "And those are all true."
"I'd hope so," Adora said. "Those three words you wrote were a lot of what made me start falling for you."
Catra cocked her head. "Like...but how did you know how I felt?"
"Well I can tell you this now," Adora said proudly. "After detention, I pretended I needed to write my name on my sheet and Hordak let me have the papers and I read your answer."
Catra gasped. "No way. No freaking way."
"Yup," Adora said smugly.
"I can't believe you did that," Catra said in disbelief. "I thought you were such a little good girl. And you were sneaking around and peeping answers."
Adora smirked. "Well I'm glad I read it."
"Y'know," Catra said with a sigh. "Me too." Catra looked down at the paper in her hands. "And you wrote that I was funny and nice and that you liked my smile."
"All true," Adora said. "I did really like that smile. Man. Maybe I was also, like, subconsciously into you at the time."
Catra laughed. "Yeah maybe you were. But that definitely didn't make us get together any quicker."
"Sure didn't. But it was worth the wait."
Catra looked at Adora and they shared a tender glance before Catra slowly leaned in and Adora moved forward slowly as well. They met in the middle and shared a passionate kiss. This was something they hadn't even imagined back when they had been crammed in that detention room on that rainy day after school, months ago.
It felt warm. And it felt right.
"Glimmer! Ah! It's so good to see you! Look at you! You're wearing your sweater!"
Glimmer was swept up in a huge hug and she slowly felt the life being squeezed from her body.
"Hey, Aunt Castaspella!" Glimmer squeaked out through the hug.
Castaspella buried her head into her niece's shoulder. "Merry Christmas!"
Castaspella finally eased up on the hug and let go of Glimmer.
"Merry Christmas! It's good to see you too," Glimmer said cheerfully.
Then Castaspella turned and looked to Adora. There was a flash of indecision across her face as she wondered how she should greet the girl and then she decided on opening her arms for a hug.
Adora had never met Castaspella and hadn't even heard much about her. All she knew was that Glimmer liked her, with the exception of the sweaters, and that she was the sister of Glimmer's father.
Adora smiled politely and walked forward towards the embrace. Castaspella scooped her up into the hug and squeezed lightly before letting her go.
"It's nice to meet you, Adora. I've heard great things from Glimmer about you!"
"Nice to meet you," Adora said kindly.
Castaspella then turned her attention to Angella. "Angella. Nice to see you, of course."
"It always is," Angella said with a smile. "Take off your coat and make yourself comfortable."
Castaspella shrugged off her coat and hung it up on a nearby coat rack. She saw a painting that was hanging above the rack and smiled warmly. "You still have his art up."
"Everywhere we have space for it," Angella said, gesturing at the walls that were sprinkled with various framed paintings.
Castaspella wiped a tear from her eye. "Well Micah wouldn't want me crying on Christmas Eve, now would he? Let's have a nice night."
"Already on it," Glimmer said proudly. "I have Street Fighter ready upstairs. And you aren't beating me this year! I've trained!"
Adora chuckled. She recalled Glimmer always asking her to play that game with her. Glimmer had always destroyed her and Adora had just mashed buttons and laughed.
"Oh, you say that so confidently," Castaspella said slowly, raising an eyebrow. "But what makes you think I haven't trained as well?"
Glimmer's face dropped in disbelief. "You're bluffing."
Castaspella smiled. "Well I guess we'll find out. Let me help out with dinner and then we'll play after."
Glimmer nodded. She looked less confident now in her skills. "Well that works out. Me and Adora are gonna go play while you're doing that." As she said this she elbowed Adora.
"Oh I'd rather help with dinner," Adora answered.
Glimmer shook her head and poked at Adora's side again. "No, I mean we have some work to do. Like, in the game."
"Ooh," Adora said, realizing that Glimmer was talking about repairing the hole in the wall. "Yeah okay that sounds...good."
Glimmer smiled and grabbed Adora's arm. "Okay we're going upstairs now! If you hear any loud noises, it's probably just all the fighting and stuff!"
With that she pulled Adora up the steps after her and they retreated into Adora's room, shutting the door behind them.
Angella and Castaspella stared up at the door.
"As you can tell, she's still a little goofball," Angella said with a smile.
"I figure that won't change anytime soon," Castaspella joked.
They went off to work on dinner and upstairs the girls began work on their little home renovation project.
They had found the right paint color in the garage and had managed to sneak it up to Adora's room along with the supplies they had gotten from Scorpia.
Glimmer pulled up a YouTube video on her phone about how to repair the wall and they slowly went about the process of following the instructions.
Adora cut a piece of drywall out while Glimmer opened up a container of adhesive.
"Castaspella seems cool," Adora mentioned as they worked.
"Oh yeah," Glimmer said. "We don't see her much, but she usually comes by on Christmas Eve and has dinner with us."
"Yeah," Adora said, distracted by the thought of having family visit for Christmas. "Do you have other family that visits?"
"Not usually," Glimmer said. "Sometimes my grandparents fly out, but now it's harder cuz they're so old."
"Huh," Adora said thoughtfully. She wondered about her own grandparents. She was sure she probably had some. But if she did, they hadn't ever bothered to reach out.
Glimmer noticed Adora, deep in thought. She was hardly paying attention to the cuts she was making in the drywall. Glimmer reached out and put a hand on Adora's, causing her to snap out of it.
"I'll do the cutting I think," Glimmer said as she swiped the knife from Adora.
"I can do it just fine," Adora insisted.
"You just seem distracted," Glimmer explained. "Is it about the wall? We're gonna fix it."
"It's not about the wall," Adora said dismissively. She sighed and rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands. "It's just Christmas and everything. And family. And...I don't know. It's not a huge deal, I just never feel great during the holidays."
"Oh," Glimmer said slowly.
Adora sat and fiddled with her thumbs, rocking in place a little on the bed.
"I, uh...I don't really have any idea how that feels," Glimmer said. "But I do kinda remember the first Christmas without my dad. Mom tried to keep up appearances, but I could tell she wasn't okay. I don't remember much, but I remember hearing her cry in her room. Like, a lot. She had a bad time with it all. And it didn't really get better until she got some help and enough time passed." Glimmer paused and cleared her throat. "Maybe my point is that...if you're having trouble, you should maybe talk to someone."
"I'm talking to you," Adora said.
"Well that's good," Glimmer said, unsatisfied by the answer. "But I mean, like, a professional, y'know? Like a therapist or something."
Adora winced. "I'm not that bad."
"Not that bad?" Glimmer repeated in disbelief. "Adora, who exactly do you think therapy is for?"
"I don't know…" Adora said hastily, feeling confronted and no longer wanting to continue the conversation. "People with, like…real stuff. Not me."
Glimmer made a face and set her wall materials aside. "Everyone has 'real stuff', Adora. And especially you."
"But I can handle it," Adora argued.
"Yeah I can tell," Glimmer said, gesturing to the hole in the wall.
Adora frowned and looked down at the bed. She didn't respond.
"Look, I don't mean to get all onto you about it," Glimmer said tiredly. She put a hand on Adora's shoulder. "I just care about you. And if you've been having problems with this stuff, maybe you should go figure it out with someone."
"Well thanks, but I really don't need help," Adora said, looking straight into Glimmer's eyes as she said it. "Trust me."
Glimmer didn't look convinced, but after a few moments she nodded. "Okay...sure. But I swear, Adora, if things get worse and I figure out you're trying to handle it on your own, I'm gonna tell mom."
"Well don't tell her," Adora said quickly. "But it won't get that bad, I promise. If I was gonna break down it would've happened years ago. I'm stronger than that."
Glimmer gave Adora that same doubtful look. "If you say so. But it doesn't change anything. If I see you struggling, I'm telling mom. And I'm cutting the rest of this so you don't chop off your hand, you big dummy." Glimmer grabbed the small portion of drywall and continued to cut out the rectangle.
Adora sighed and watched Glimmer work. "I can't tell if I'm annoyed or thankful that you care so much."
Glimmer chuckled. "Well that sounds like the definition of sisterhood to me."
Adora smiled softly. "Yeah I guess you're right."
Later that night, Adora, Glimmer, Angella, and Castaspella were sitting down by the Christmas tree, staring at the twinkling yellow lights and relaxing after dinner.
Adora and Glimmer were able to finish up repairing the wall right before dinner. They had followed the instructions perfectly and they had done much better than either of them had anticipated.
Where there had once been a fist-sized hole in the wall, there was now just a smooth and uniform wall in its place. It looked almost as good as new.
Of course, Adora could still tell where it had been everytime she looked at it. She doubted she'd ever be able to forget exactly where it had been.
She decided not to tell Glimmer this and had simply hugged her foster sister and thanked her for the help.
And now they all sat in the darkened living room, using the Christmas lights as a source of light as they looked through old photo albums.
Adora couldn't help but laugh at every picture of Glimmer as a baby. Angela had always said that Glimmer had a strangely shaped head, and these photos were definitely proof of that.
Adora's amusement was infectious and soon, every time Angella flipped a page and there was a photo of baby Glimmer, she would trace Glimmer's head jokingly and Adora and Castaspella would laugh.
Glimmer found this much less amusing, but she was having fun as well and didn't take it seriously. Especially after everyone insistently reminded her that she had a perfect head.
They were flipping through the last of the photo albums together on the couch when they came across a picture that was much less blurry than the others. It displayed a very young looking Angella and a smiling young man who Adora had come to recognize as Micah, Glimmer's father. Though in this picture, he looked a bit more tired than he had looked in previous pictures.
They were both wearing Santa hats and were standing in front of a Christmas tree in the same living room that they were sitting in now.
Between the two parents, was a young Glimmer. She was still a small child in this picture, about seven or eight. She was smiling with a wide, open mouth and her parents each had a hand in one of her shoulders.
Little Glimmer also had a Santa hat on, but it was drooped down off her head and was starting to cover her face. All three of them had on what looked to be hand-knitted sweaters.
Angella smiled and sighed contentedly at the picture and Castaspella chuckled lightly.
"I remember taking this picture," Castaspella said wistfully.
"I remember it too," Angella said, deep in memory.
"You all look so happy. And Glimmer looked so weird without pink hair," Adora mentioned.
"Yeah," Glimmer agreed. "I hadn't yet decided that I wanted my hair to be cotton candy."
Angella smiled and her hand hovered over the picture.
"This was the last Christmas that we had with him," Angella said softly. "He had gotten the notice from the doctor earlier that month that things weren't looking great. And after that it was treatment after treatment."
"He hated those treatments," Castaspella said fondly, her voice warm. "And hospitals in general. Always complaining about the hospitals."
Angella smiled. "Yeah he was a tough one to wrangle into the ER. He just...he just wanted to be home with us."
Angella paused and rested her hand on the laminated page.
"I remember that Christmas, I said that maybe we should just skip celebrating. I mean, we were so worn out from his health problems. And Glimmer was still so young." Angella squeezed Glimmer closer to her. "But he said, 'Angella, what is the point of being alive and healthy if I can't forget about everything and just spend a normal Christmas with the people I love most in the entire world?'"
Castaspella sniffed lightly and turned her head away at this. Adora watched as Glimmer wiped a tear from her eye.
Adora could feel how much they missed him as clearly as if it were a tangible object in the air between them.
Angella took a deep breath and smiled. "He was an incredible man."
"That he was," Castaspella agreed.
Glimmer nodded silently and Angella slowly turned that last page and finished off the photo album.
There was a quiet reverence in the room and a few moments of comfortable silence passed. Then Glimmer spoke up.
"Y'know...we kinda stopped taking pictures after dad died," she said thoughtfully.
"Yeah we did," Angella said. "It was more his thing."
"I kinda liked them though," Glimmer said. "And with this being the last album...I don't know... it's kinda like there's no record of our family after that. Like we stopped where he did."
There was another bout of silence. Adora didn't feel awkward, but she definitely felt detached. Like she was sitting in on a family that she wasn't a part of.
It was a terrible feeling that she was more than familiar with.
"We should take a picture now," Castaspella said decisively. "Just one more picture at least. Just to...have proof, I guess, that this family did keep going."
"I'd like that," Glimmer said. "Can we, mom?"
Angella took a breath and then nodded slowly. "Yes, that sounds nice."
Angella put the album on the coffee table and stood up. "We should do it in front of the Christmas tree again."
"Yeah, that's poetic and stuff," Glimmer said with a smile that was tinged with a small bit of sadness.
Adora watched as Glimmer got up too, and her and her mom walked over by the tree. Castaspella stood up as well and took out her phone.
Adora stood up and awkwardly shuffled, looking around the room.
"C'mon, Adora," Glimmer said, snapping Adora's attention to her as she ushered Adora over to the tree.
Adora stalled. "Um. Well, someone needs to take the picture."
"Oh, I'm taking the picture, sweetie," Castaspella told her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"But…" Adora swallowed loudly. "Shouldn't you be up there with them? I mean you're all... y'know…"
Castaspella frowned slightly and looked to Angella who also looked troubled.
"How about this…" Castaspella suggested, popping out a stand on her phone case and propping the phone up on the top of the couch. She positioned it slightly and then stepped back. "I'll set a timer and then we can all be in it. That way nobody is left out!"
"That's a great idea, Castaspella," Angella said thankfully, not taking her gaze off Adora.
Adora averted her eyes from the stare. She thought about refusing to be in the picture again, but she had no excuse now. If she tried to get out of it again, then she would just cause a scene and ruin everybody's night.
So instead, Adora reluctantly hurried over to the group at the tree. Angella pulled her lightly over to her other side and held her tightly with one arm.
Castaspella made some final adjustments and then pressed the screen. She then hurried over to the group and stood beside them.
"We have an awkward ten seconds, so I guess just hold a smile until the flash goes off," Castaspella said.
Adora conjured up a smile from somewhere and tried her best to make it look convincing. The flash felt like it took a lifetime to go off.
When it was done, Castaspella hurried back to the phone and reviewed the photo. "Oh that's a good one. That's a very good one."
She showed everyone, and Angella smiled. "It does feel good to take family pictures again."
"I think we should definitely take more," Glimmer agreed. "We have to make up for a lot of lost time!"
Castaspella smiled. "Well I'll be your photographer whenever I'm around." Castaspella looked to Angella quickly. "Say...Glimmer, how about you and I have that Street Fighter tournament now?"
"Aw yeah," Glimmer said enthusiastically. "But if you beat me, I'm gonna rage."
Castaspella laughed loudly as Glimmer headed up the stairs to her room to get the game ready.
"Well get ready to rage then!" Castaspella taunted her niece. She then looked back to Angella and nodded at her before shooting a warm smile at Adora and heading upstairs.
Adora watched her go and looked to Angella before she started to walk upstairs as well, planning to retreat to her own room.
"Adora, could we talk?" Angella asked quietly.
Adora stopped and winced. She had been afraid of this.
"Yeah, okay," Adora agreed, not wanting to talk, but not wanting to refuse either. She went and sat on the couch with Angella.
Angella looked like she was deep in thought about what to say and Adora's stomach twisted into knots with each passing second.
Eventually Angella spoke.
"Adora…you know...when we lost Micah...I struggled. I didn't have a good... support system. I've never had many friends and the ones I did have, I pushed away after Micah passed. And my family was distant. It was really just me and then Castaspella helped loads, of course. I couldn't have done it if I hadn't had her there to help with Glimmer. We used to bicker before losing Micah, but after that, we... we've been closer." Angella sighed before continuing.
"But anyway, I eventually got better. I got help and talked to a therapist and I healed. Slowly. But it does leave an emptiness in you that never quite fills up. And Adora, I've struggled with that emptiness for years. Ever since he passed."
At this, Angella took Adora's hand in hers. Adora had been trying to avoid eye contact, but she met Angella's eyes at this moment and was held there.
"Adora, ever since you came here to live with us, that emptiness has been fainter. Some days I don't even feel it at all. It was like...like we were missing something. Like this family was missing something, and then we met you."
Adora turned her eyes away and took a deep breath. This conversation was a lot more than she had expected.
"And I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," Angella said quickly. "I mean, I know that you've only been with us for just under half a year, and that you might not...feel as at home as I would like, but you really have made a difference here. I haven't seen Glimmer this happy in who knows how long. And I certainly haven't felt this good in a long time."
Angella paused, perhaps to give Adora a chance to say something. Adora didn't say anything, and she didn't know how she would even manage to respond to that.
"You're just...you fill this family up. Castaspella agreed. This is one of the best feeling Christmases that we've had. And I truly do think it's because of you."
Adora closed her eyes and processed this. It all just sounded too unbelievable. That she could just waltz into a home and then suddenly everything is better. That she could just help fill the void that losing Micah left in their lives.
It didn't make sense to Adora. It felt like a lie. Maybe it was just Angella trying to cheer her up. All of these thoughts bounced around in Adora's head.
Angella could tell that Adora was deep in thought and sighed lightly as she watched the girl.
"Can I hug you, Adora?" Angella asked softly.
Adora opened her mouth to speak, but decided against it and just nodded.
Angella wrapped her arms around her and held Adora tightly. She smelled like spices from their meal and she was very warm. Adora leaned into the hug and gave in.
She still didn't believe everything Angella had said. She just couldn't. But when Angella hugged her, she stopped thinking about everything for just a moment.
Her brain stopped listing off all the reasons that she didn't belong in this family and it just kind of quieted. Like Angella's embrace had silenced her anxieties for just a little while.
Adora kept her eyes closed and relaxed her body as Angella kept her held tight in her arms.
Quiet Christmas music played over the radio and the lights from the tree cast their warm glow over the room as they twinkled brightly.
The two hugged one another tightly and forgot about letting go as the snow outside continued to peacefully fall on the sleepy city of Etheria.
Well hey! I know I haven't uploaded in quite some time. I ran into some unexpected life turmoil and time got away from me and before I knew it I just kind of stopped writing this story. But I kept thinking about it all the time and now that I finally have the time and energy to work on it, I've decided I want to finish it up! One of my favorite quotes is that 'A half-read book is a half-finished love affair' and I really couldn't seem to let this one go without tying up the plot strings in my head.
I have already written out a ton of stuff for this 'season two' and I'm really happy to be writing again! It feels very good to return to these characters and the story.
And I'm also glad to be sharing it with others again! For anyone who has been following this for a while or for any newer readers, I hope you enjoyed this little Christmas special and I'm excited to give you a season two!
I'm not sure I'll update every week like I used to, but it will definitely be regular and I can't wait to see where it goes. I have a ton of ideas that have been stewing. Can't wait.
Thanks for reading!
