Another day had passed, and Lew had finished moving in. All of the stuff from his dusty old house had been moved into the hotel and was set up accordingly. That being said, most of the things he owned, he no longer needed. Yet he still felt the need to bring his old couch; boy did Vaggie have a fun time 'helping' him hall it back down stairs again, and to the curb.

That night, both Charlie and Vaggie collapsed in bed from exhaustion. Vaggie from yanking shit up and down the stairs all day, Charlie from various things, including but not limited to wrestling the carcass of a giant waterfowl.

Charlie was planning something, and she had been for a few months now. Christmas; she had heard about it, but, as you can imagine, a holiday about cheer and 'family' didn't get much notoriety in Hell. But Charlie LOVED the idea. So much so she had spent the past three months preparing shit. And now, with all the new faces in the hotel, Charlie could really have fun with the idea.

She had assembled a knowledge of Christmas based off a hodgepodge of material. Books, music, TV specials, and, of course, occasionally Vaggie would tell Charlie about her experiences with the holiday. She hadn't celebrated since she was a kid; back when she was alive. She spoke fondly of it, and Charlie was doing this more for her than anyone else. Though, it was also a suitable excuse to try and teach some redemption morals to the hotel guests.

Yesterday was Christmas Eve, the last day before Christmas, and the last day Charlie had to prepare. She spent the day preparing food; goose takes upsettingly longer to cook than you would think it should.

Charlie's plan was simple: wake up at twelve AM, set up the Christmas tree, get everyone's presents, set up the goose to cook, and hope that the shitload of caffeinated drinks she had set aside would satisfy her lack of rest!

Charlie slowly peeled her eyes open. She felt horribly groggy. She slowly wiggled herself into such a position as so she could see the clock. It was already five in the morning. The grogginess immediately flew away as she quietly slunk out from under the sheets, being careful not to stir the sleeping Vaggie.

She didn't even get dressed before she quietly tiptoed to the door. She slowly began to open it. As the hinge squeaked, Charlie glared at it venomously. Not wanting to risk making any other noise to stir Vaggie, she slowly slid out thru the small gap of doorway she had opened to herself. It was at times like this that she was happy she was thinner than a toothpick.

Charlie continued to slowly tiptoe toward a walk in closet in the lobby. She slowly opened the door, and pulled a surprisingly decent sized, 'tree' from the closet. As you can imagine, pines don't grow in Hell. Instead, it was the Hell equivalent. Now, imagine a regular pine tree, except red, and with a couple dozen eyes protruding out of its trunk. This, "Hell pine," tree was already decorated with Charlie's own makeshift ornaments; Husk's old alcohol bottles, after all, made lovely decor once spiffed up a bit.

Charlie, was not a girl of much musculature. As such, strength was not a particular strong suit of her's. She managed to pull enough strength out of her ass to yank the tree from the closet, but her body failed her when she tried to catch the falling tree, she squealed as it effortlessly crushed her with a loud thud.

Lew's eyes fluttered open, and he craned his neck up from his bed and toward the door. Being a canid, he had a very refined sense of hearing. He heard everything, from Charlie's pathetic squealing, to the massive thud of the tree on the ground. He quickly flung himself off his bed, grabbing his cap, and haphazardly slapping it onto his head. He quickly opened the door, flapping his wings, and fluttering over the banister. He froze in the air and hovered for a moment with a deadpan face.

Charlie froze like a deer in headlights. "It's not what it looks like."

Lewis squinted his eyes. "Charlie... what does it look like?"

Charlie attempted to crane her neck out from under the tree to analyze the situation. "I don't know, but whatever it does it's not that." She smiled at him sheepishly.

"You uh… you need some help?" Lew replied, slowly descending to the ground.

"No I'm fine thanks!" Charlie chirped happily, a bead of sweat dripping down her face.

"Uh huh…"

Lewis was usually up about now anyway, so he slowly stepped around Charlie and the tree, heading to the coffeemaker.

Charlie groaned and grunted as she slowly yanked herself out from beneath the tree, multiple needles firmly stuck in her pajamas and skin.

"Ow…" she plucked a needle out of her rear.

"May I query why you brought a hell pine into the hotel."

Charlie yanked out another needle, this one from her face. "No you may not."

Lew smiled sarcastically. "Right."

He gave up on making coffee, and instead flew back to his room swiftly, grabbing his coat, before gliding back down toward the front doors. "I'm going to Starbucks."

Charlie yanked yet another needle from her flesh. "There's a Starbucks in the Pentagram now?"

"Well yes, except there's only black coffee, and it's all priced as if it was lattes."

"Yikes." Charlie responded, getting up and brushing the leftover needles from her PJs.

"Yes. Well, I'm off," Lew responded, opening the door. "Whatever the hell it is that you're doing, just don't burn anything down." He shut the door behind him.

Charlie let out a relieved breath that he was the only one who was awakened by her ruckus. Charlie dragged the tree all the way to the corner of the Dining room, where she set the thing up, and let out a harsh sigh, before quickly perking up: now was the fun part. Charlie quickly dashed around the hotel. She had hidden presents everywhere: in the air vents, the bathrooms, the closets, the droors. Everywhere. She came back to the tree with a present for everyone in the hotel.

She slapped the stack of beautifully wrapped gifts on the ground, sliding each one under the tree. She stepped back from the tree, admiring her handy work. Then it was onto the next order of business.

She snuck back into her and Vaggie's room, grabbing a pair of pants, as well as something she had hid in their air vent: two makeshift Christmas sweaters, one for her, and one for Vaggie. Her's was green, with a red tree in the center of it. The words "Merry Christmas" were stitched into the front of it with black thread. Vaggie's was red with a green tree in the center, the same phrase sewn onto its bosom. She had knitted and sewn them both herself. She put her's on, as well as a pair of jeans, setting Vaggie's sweater atop the dresser, before rushing onto the next task: food.

She quickly ran into the kitchen, and dropped flat onto the ground, stretching her arm beneath the oven, and pulling out a thick cookbook. She heaved it onto the counter, flipping thru the pages until she found what she was looking for. She checked the time for the roast, set a timer accordingly, and started the oven.

Little did Charlie know, that as she was doing this, she was being watched the whole time; Alastor had seen everything. He was awake almost always anyway, constantly scoping out for a way to cock the hotel over. You know… for entertainment purposes. He thoughtfully rubbed his hands together, sliding into the shadows, and teleporting to his room. He chuckled to himself, walking over to his nightstand, and knocking on one of its drawers.

"Nifty dear! Wakey wakey!" He chimed upsettingly cheerily.

"GOOD MORNING!" Nifty sprang out of the drawer, and Alastor slapped his hand over her mouth.

"Quiet now my dear!"

"Ohhhhh! Okay." Nifty smiled happily.

"Do you know what day it is?" Alastor sat on the bed, drumming his fingers on his lap.

"No, I don't have a calendar."

"It's Christmas," Alastor said flatly, one of his eyes twitching.

"Oh my gosh really! IT'S CHRIST-" Nifty jumped out of the drawer excitedly, before Alastor grabbed her and covered her mouth again, setting her on his lap.

"Quiet!"

"Sorry!" Nifty smiled at him, embarrassed. Alastor sighed.

"It's… fine," Alastor replied, maintaining his persistent smile, "Listen, this is a big problem!"

"Why? Christmas is-"

"Annoying," Alastor cut in. "But, Charlie seems really excited about it, and of course you know what that means!"

"Of course! And that is..." Nifty's expression intensified as she tried to figure out Alastor's intentions.

"That is," Alastor continued his smile becoming more and more devilish, "we get to have the wonderful pleasure of tearing it apart for her!"

"Oh... Of course." Nifty smiled.

"Now then! It's time to execute my plan of action!"

"Vaggie," a soothing voice whispered flirtatiously into Vaggie's left ear: Charlie.

"Mggh," Vaggie mumbled, smiling, and slowly turning over to face her girlfriend. As she opened her eye, she raised one of her eyebrows in slight confusion at Charlie's attire. "Where in Hell did you get that?" She whispered, somewhat irritated.

"Merry Christmas!" Charlie piped excitedly.

"Wha-"

"Come on, I'll show you!" Charlie proceeded to yank Vaggie up from bed by the wrist.

"Charlie, I'm not even wearing anything!"

Charlie froze, not breaking eye contact with Vaggie's naked body, blushing as she grabbed Vaggie's sweater off the dresser, slowly passing it into her hands.

"You, uh… you having fun there?" Vaggie raised an eyebrow at her in response to her gawking.

"What? Oh! Sorry!" Charlie quickly shook off her head, looking away.

"Don't worry about it! You act like it's your first time." Vaggie brushed her with her shoulder, smiling flirtatiously.

"Heh." Charlie's blush grew brighter.

"God you're weird," Vaggie smiled jokingly.

After she had gotten dressed, Charlie smiled at her appearance in her sweater. She was wearing her usual gray dress, and she had simply slipped the loose fitting sweater over it. After finishing enjoying Charlie's excitement, Vaggie glanced at the clock.

"Holy shit! It's already eight!" She exclaimed.

"I know! Sorry, I turned off our alarm so I could surprise you." Charlie's blush returned, this time in embarrassment.

"Is anyone else up?!" Vaggie exclaimed.

"Lewis is: he went out to Starbucks," Charlie replied.

"Wait, their's a Starbucks in the Pentagram now?" Vaggie gave Charlie a confused expression.

"Yeah, but it's just as expensive and they only have black coffee."

"Oh." Vaggie frowned, before shaking it off. "Whatever. So, you want to show me what you've been up to?"

Charlie perked up with excitement. "Yes!" She grabbed Vaggie by the wrist and dragged her along to the waiting room.

"Tadah!" She thru her arms fourth emphatically at the modest Christmas tree she had set up.

"Wow!" Vaggie stared in awe. Charlie swore she could see a twinkle of childlike joy in her eye.

"Sooooo: what do you think?" Charlie chimed, looking at her expectantly.

"We're celebrating Christmas?!" Vaggie chimed excitedly; there was that twinkle again.

"Yes!" Charlie chimed.

Vaggie giggled giddily, wrapping her arms around Charlie's neck; Charlie hugged her back.

"Oh my god!" She smiled enthusiastically. "How long did this take you to set up?"

"A couple months." Charlie smiled with pride.

"How did you hide this all?!"

Charlie's facial expression changed to one of trauma; like a soldier having flashbacks to Vietnam. "Very painfully..." Charlie went out for a few seconds before Vaggie waved a hand in front of her eyes, snapping her out of the trance. She shook herself off. "Sorry."

"That's fine." Vaggie hugged Charlie once again. "Merry Christmas."

Responding in kind, Charlie hugged Vaggie once more as well. "Merry Christmas Vag."

An hour or so later, Lewis entered the hotel. "Fuck me…" He thru an empty Starbucks cup into a nearby bin. "I've never waited so long for a cup of shitty, watery ass coffee."

He looked up at the tree standing in the middle of the waiting room.

"What the Hell?"

"I'm gonna go wake everybody else," Lew heard Charlie's voice as she came thru the corner.

"Oh! Hey Lewey!" She waved enthusiastically.

Lew squinted and cocked his head as he saw her attire. "What are you wearing?"

"Merry Christmas!" Charlie cheered in response, Continuing on her way to the other guests rooms.

"What?" Lew peeped, tracking her with his head, the same confused grimace on his face.

"Charlie heard about Christmas, so now we're celebrating it," Vaggie stated matter-of-factly, as she came out from around the corner. Lew stared at her blankly.

"God damnit, are you gonna be the first to shit all over it?" Vaggie groaned, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

"What? N- No! I just," He looked down at his paws, "it's uh… it's been awhile." He looked up from his paws, a smile beginning to form on his face. "But yes… yes I'd like to."

"Wait- really?" Vaggie looked almost astounded at his response.

"Yeah," he replied, "Yeah sure. I uh. I used to celebrate it with..." Lew shook his head, "Yeah," he reiterated.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!" The ear splitting cheer came from Angel's room; Charlie.

Charlie skipped happily out of Angel's bedroom. Angel followed her from behind.

"Son of a bitch!" He was still in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "The fuck are you talken' about!"

"It's Christmas silly!" Charlie smiled giddily. Angel pinched his nose. Charlie exaggeratedly frowned at him. "Do you not like Christmas."

"I don't 'not like' Christmas," Angel said exhaustedly, using air quotes to emphasize the words 'not like', "What I don't like is being screamed at while I'm still fuckin' half asleep!" He sighed, "at least it's an excuse ta wear my slutty Santa suit."

"No!" Charlie glared at him. "No slutty Santa!"

Angel raised an eyebrow. "Slutty elf?"

"No." Charlie continued her stern glare.

"Well then what's even the god damn point!"

"The point," Charlie said, still maintaining her glare, "is bonding, caring, food, and wholesomeness!"

"Ugh," Angel groaned, walking past her and toward the coffee maker. As he did so, Husk straggled off the floor of the bar, sticking his head over it, rubbing his forehead.

He groaned. "Ugh… Fuckin' hang over."

"Merry Christmas Husk!" Charlie chimed, an ear to ear smile spread across her face.

"Son of a bitch!" Husk slammed his face on the table. "We're doing that now?!"

"Yes Husk we're doing that." Charlie frowned at him. "Does anyone care about Christmas!" Charlie cried out to the room.

Lew glanced at Vaggie, then looked toward Charlie, "Ya got us." He smiled, wagging his tail.

Charlie smiled. "We'll get them into it."

Lew looked past Charlie. Angel was beating his head quietly on the fridge, while Husk chugged a bottle of whiskey. "You sure about that?"

"We have to!" Charlie looked into the corner of her eye sheepishly. "We need them to eat the goose…"

There was no star on the tree. No, Charlie had saved it for Vaggie, who she was helping just then, hoisting her upon her shoulders to help her reach the top of the tree. And Alastor saw this as his first opportunity. He subtly lifted one of his hands, using a bit of telekinetic power to yank Charlie's foot off balance.

"You almost got it Vag-GAG!" Charlie slipped over, falling back first on the ground, Vaggie falling ass first onto Charlie's face. The star fell on the ground and shattered.

"Mph," Charlie mumbled from beneath Vaggie. Alastor appeared above the two of them.

"Am I interrupting something?!" He asked cheerily. Vaggie quickly sprang off Charlie's face, glaring venomously at Alastor, before noticing the broken star in the corner of her eye. She looked at it sadly.

"Shit…" she mumbled.

Charlie slowly rolled over, and saw the star as well. "Rats…"

Vaggie whipped her head back to Alastor, glaring at him once more. "You had something to do with this didn't you?"

"Oh my dear," Alastor chuckled, "What could I possibly derive from destroying a cheesy little Christmas ornament! No! This would seem to have been Charlie's fault! Speaking of whom-" he turned toward Charlie. "-may I ask what you're doing?"

"We were going to put the star on the tree before I fell on my ass." Charlie mumbled to herself sadly.

"Don't beat yourself up kiddo," Lewis said, looking down at her from upon the banister.

"Yeah…" Charlie got up off the ground, "We don't need the star anyway... I just thought it would be fun." Charlie perked up again. "Oh! Presents!" Charlie pulled the multitude of wrapped boxes from under the tree. Angel immediately perked up in the corner of the room.

"Presents?!" Angel chirped, dashing over to the tree with a cup of coffee, "Nobody said there'd be presents! Did you get me one?!"

"That's one way to get into the Christmas spirit." Lew mumbled grumpily, gliding down from the banister to the ground.

Alastor's left eye twitched slightly in irritation; his plan had failed. He slowly slunk back into the shadows to rethink his strategy.

"Here you go Angel." Charlie passed the aforementioned spider demon a relatively large present with white wrapping, and pink stripes all along the paper, as well as a light pink bow.

Angel grabbed the box excitedly. He shook it against his head; it barely made a noise. He wiggled his fingers excitedly, quickly ripping the paper off of the box. He was pissed by what he saw.

"The fuck is this?!" Inside of the box were a multitude of condoms. Every brand Hell had to offer. Angel glared at Charlie. She gulped and smiled at him embarrassed.

Charlie gulped and smiled at him embarrassed. "If you're gonna do it… you know… do it safe…"

"Hey, at least you ain't forbidden me 'it'." Angel said flatly.

"Husk!" Charlie singsonged, sliding over to 'his' bar.

"What?" Husk groaned, leaning on his elbow on the bar. Charlie slowly slid a mid sized black gift wrapped in black paper with red stripes, and a red bow. Husk snatched the box from her, apathetically removing the wrapping.

"Huh." Husk's eyebrows raised as he gazed upon the gift that was within the wrapping: a bottle of a particularly pricey whiskey. "The fuck is this?"

"What?" Charlie peeped as her happy smile turned upside down, "Do you not like it?"

"No, no… I-um, I like it." Husk furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Oh come on! Why does he get cool shit and I get these fuckin' rubber dick socks!" Angel whined, flailing a condom in the air.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!" Charlie hollered happily, drowning out Angel Dust's complaints.

"Charlie, could you come over here for a second?" Vaggie asked, gesturing to Charlie. Charlie could see the twitch of her eyebrow: she was in trouble.

"Charlie, why did you-" Vaggie attempted to scold Charlie about her questionable gift to Husk, but was silenced by Charlie putting a finger on her lip.

"Wait for it…" Charlie smiled with excitement as Husk began to pull open the whiskey bottle. POP!!! It was: nothing…

"The fuck? It's fuckin' empty!" Husky growled. He turned over the bottle, shaking it to try and empty any possible contents out. There was, indeed, something in the bottle, though not what he expected. Out of the bottle came a tiny, folded piece of paper. Husk opened it and read it within his head: "Drinking is bad for you - Love Charlie"

Husk stared straight ahead with a dead expression

Husk almost, almost mind you, stood up to give the audacious brat the business, but instead just slammed his head on the bar.

"And Lewey," Charlie began, bringing over a small cylindrical package to Lewis, who was lying on the ground in a dog like posture, "this one's for you!"

Lew suspiciously grabbed the package from her. He shook it against his ear. He bent the package toward Charlie and popped it open. A colorful plastic 'snake' shot out of the can and bopped Charlie in the face. She jumped back in shock.

"Snake in a can? Really?" Lew glared at Charlie disapprovingly. "That's some pretty low hanging fruit."

"I'm sorry!" Charlie piped, covering her face in embarrassment.

"Good, the joke was bad and you should feel bad," Lew said nonchalantly, holding the can to his nose and sniffing it.

"Hey!" Vaggie scolded, scowling at Lew. Lew looked at her as if he felt wrongly accused.

"What?" He asked flatly, cocking his head at Vaggie curiously. She scowled harder. Lew glanced back and forth between Vaggie and Charlie, before a look of realization formed on his face.

"Oh of course!" He knocked on his forehead. "Duh! Here's the can Charlie!" He passed Charlie the empty can the 'gift' came in, trotting up the stairs to his room docily. Charlie's embarrassed expression changed to one of blank confusion. Vaggie, meanwhile, just rolled her eyes.

Lew chuckled, somewhat to himself, but still within earshot of Charlie and Vaggie. "Fuckin prank gifts..." He trailed off as he closed his room's door.

The smile faded from Lewis' face. He hopped atop his bed, pulling his photo from his coat.

He stared at it. And he thought. He thought about his family. He thought of Christmas. Then he thought of his family once more, his other family, and he thought of Susan, and her words to him: she would always be there if he needed her. He continued to think. She should be here; she was family… and sure, Sebastian too. Lew curled up on his bed and continued to contemplate.

...

"Lewey?" Charlie knocked on the coyote's door. He quickly unfurled from his position, and stared at the door. Charlie knocked again. "You there?"

"Yes." Lew replied emotionlessly. Maintaining direct eye contact with the door.

"You wanna come down? It's almost dinner time."

Lewis stumbled off his bed, trotting toward the door. He slowly cracked it open. "May I propose a condition?"

Charlie raised an eyebrow at Lewis, "Okay…"

"Can I-" Lew hesitated as he tried to finish his sentence, "-Can I invite… my… my family?"

"You have family in Hell?"

"Yes," Lew continued blankly, "In a manner of speaking."

"Oh… well, then sure!" Charlie smiled at him happily. "It is Christmas after all!"

"Good." Lew swiftly shut the door, Charlie still standing outside.

"You- Uh… you are coming right?" Charlie's voice mumbled thru the door.

"Yeah. I just need to make a call first."

"Oh! Okay."

Lew jumped on his bed, and began to dial Susan's number. Before hitting 'enter' Lew suspiciously turned his head to the door. "You're still there aren't you?"

"Um… No." Charlie's innocent voice came from the other side of the door.

"Bugger off!" Lew shouted thru the piece of wood.

"Okay!" Charlie's shoes could be heard clicking off and away from the other side of the door.

Lew slowly turned his attention away from the door, and hit the 'enter' button

"Heya!" Sue's voice rang loudly thru the phone.

"G'day."

"It's uh… nice that you called."

"Yah I-um-I… well, I have some… stuff to tell you."

"'Kay. What's up?"

Lew gulped, shuffling the covers of his blanket with his paws. "Did you uh… did you see the add for that um… hotel on the news?"

Susan chuckled thru the phone. "You mean the clown chic who performed an elaborate musical on air, while somehow managing to stay on camera the whole time? That was like, three days ago. What about it?"

"Yeah that-" Lew took a double take at Sue's words. "-Wait musical?"

"Yeah," Sue replied with a bit of confusion in her tone, "I thought you had seen it?"

"Oh no, I had… I guess I just... turned it off early. But back to the point… I uh…. I checked it out."

Susan giggled a bit. "Yeah? What's it like?"

"It's uh… fine. I decided to stay awhile."

Sue laughed once more. "Yeah!? Bed's are nice then huh?"

"Yeah, sure." Lew grimaced a bit. "Anyway, we're uh… celebrating Christmas. You know… if you and Sebastian wanted to come over…"

"Christmas?" Susan replied in apparent confusion.

"Yes; we got dinner and shit too. Verdict?" Lew asked matter-of-factly.

"... what's for dinner?"

"Hang on." Lew hopped off the bed and crawled flat on the ground, sticking his nose thru the bottom of the door and sniffing rapidly.

"Goose," he stated matter of factly.

"Sweet! I'm comin'."

"Oh-Kay! Good."

"Yeah! I'll be there in like, twenty minutes."

"Great." Lew said flatly. "Uh… bye!" He hung up quickly before Sue could get out any extra response.

Susan chuckled to herself briefly, as she tucked her phone in her pocket. She laid down on her back upon her couch, dangling her arms off the arm rest and fiddling with her fingers.

Sue lived in a small, studio apartment. It wasn't much; there was a kitchen, and a living room all crammed into the same space. The only other room in the place was the bathroom, and it was…tight, to say the least. There was no space for a bed, so she slept on the couch, but nevertheless, it was a nice place, at least for Hell, and for the fact that the walls, quite literally, had eyes.

Sue groaned as she stretched her body out full length, before slowly sitting up. She thought to herself for a few minutes.

Christmas; it wasn't something she had thought about for at least a couple years, and wasn't something she had celebrated in a long time. She never really had a real family as such, usually sleeping in small apartments, and living off of whatever money she could steal, making a modest living doing so. She was more of a 'single ready to mingle' kind of girl.

If she wanted to go to this party, and she did, at least just for the fact that she'd get a pretty sweet meal out of it, she would need to get a move on. She slowly dismounted the couch, moaning tiredly. She stumbled over to the small closet of her apartment, opening it up, and scanning the small, but high quality collection of clothes within it.

She didn't so much like clothes, or shopping for them, but she did like to look good. Unfortunately, her standard for looking good resulted in, despite its petite size, a collection of clothes that was worth well more than her rent.

She picked out a short, strapless, red dress, smiling at it devilishly. She proceeded to think of what she could do to compliment the dress. It was Christmas, so maybe she could try to be… thematic.

...

It had been over a couple of hours, and Lew was growing concerned. He sat still before the front door, waiting like a dog does for their owner.

"God damnit mutt! Give it up already! They ain't gonna show and I'm fuckin' hungry!" Angel shouted at Lew from the dining table. Lew ignored him, pulling his ears back, tapping his tail on the ground impatiently.

"Come on… where the Hell are they…" Lew muttered to himself. Charlie approached quietly behind him.

"Lewey… it really is getting a little late…" Charlie spoke to Lew calmly.

"No…" Lewis replied, blank and quiet, continuing his waiting.

"Lewey…"

"Fuck off," Lew replied, still flat.

Charlie frowned, and slowly walked back to the dining room.

Lew looked back at Charlie, then back at the door. He pulled his ears back, frowned, and closed his eyes, as he slowly ambled away from the door.

Just as he began, a knock came from the door. Upon hearing it, Lew scrambled back toward the door, his claw-like nails scraping the floor. Charlie turned back to Lew, smiling at his excitement.

Lew straightened himself out, regaining his composure, attempting to hide his enthusiasm as he slowly turned open the door.

There was Sebastian, only Sebastian, standing in front of the doorway, a large, hard, black case slung over his back. Lew raised an eyebrow and frowned. Just then, Susan stepped out from behind the titanic reptile.

"Merry Christmas!" She gave a wide, fang revealing smile, waving at Lew enthusiastically. She wore a tight fitting, strapless dress. Her finger and toenails were painted with alternating colors; red, green, red, then green again, and her hair was braided all the way down into a long, thick, red ponytail.

"Merry Christmas," Lew smiled, gawking at her for a few seconds before shaking it off and leading the two demons behind him into the Hotel. Susan moved closer to his side.

Sue giggled. "You have no idea how hard it is to fly in a strapless."

"No I do not," Lew replied matter-of-factly.

"Hello!" Charlie singsonged, sliding in front of the three demons. "You must be Lewey- Lewis' family." She extended a hand in friendship.

Sue gave a small half smile at Lew, looking at him thru the corner of her eye. "You could say that."

She hesitated slightly, before slowly grasping Charlie's hand, giving it a light shake. Sebastian gave Charlie's hand a shake next, his powerful grip nearly crushing her fingers; she let out a pained peep in response.

"Dinner's in the dining room; straight into the lobby, then to the right," Charlie pushed out, painfully.

As the three began to head for the dining room, they were cut off by a suddenly appearing Radio Demon.

"Well hello!" He chimed cheerily. The three other demons jumped back in surprise, Lew slightly less thow, being aware of Alastor's presence in the hotel.

"Oh god…" Sue mumbled beneath her breath, still recoiled back in surprise.

"What was that my dear? I didn't hear you!" Alastor quizzed, continuing with his enthusiastic front.

"Oh god," She mumbled again, still frozen in position. Alastor then suddenly apparated behind her, wrapping an arm around her in a way that seemed like an attempt to console, though he put his arm in a position so that it directly cradled her breasts, solely in an attempt to get a rise from her.

She looked at him affronted, before quickly retaliating with a swipe of her sharp fingernails. In response, Alastor snapped his neck in half backwards. Susan stared in horror, slowly moving his arm from her tits, and sliding away from him.

Alastor quickly snapped his head back into position, slipping over to Sebastian. "And how are you this fine Christmas day, my reptilian friend?"

Sebastian stared at him soulesly, the flames in his eye sockets flickering slightly.

"Good to hear!" Alastor cheered happily in 'response'. "Now, if you'll excuse me, you three may head to dinner! I have some business to attend to of my own before we eat!"

The Radio Demon hummed as he nonchalantly trotted off toward his room. As soon as the door closed, and he was out of ear shot, Susan slowly turned to Lew.

"Why… why the fuck is he here?" She peeped nervously.

"Oh. Well, he's here for the enjoyment of watching patients fuck up for eternity," Lew replied flatly.

"Of course, what was I thinking," Susan responded sarcastically. "He hasn't killed anybody yet?"

"No. But before you eat you may want to let me sniff your food. Just in case."

...

Everyone had been seated at the table, crowded with both food and company, for well over twenty more minutes; Charlie had asked everyone to wait to eat until Alastor and Nifty showed up.

Everyone else was present: Husk was asleep; Sebastian was frozen and staring into space like a machine; Lew was asleep as Husk was, resting his head Susan's lap creating a bridge between their two chairs; Susan was passively petting his head, staring at her fingernails boredly; Vaggie was looking about nervously, as if she expected Alastor to appear out of nowhere at any second; and Charlie was resting her head on her hand, looking down sadly.

"Hello!" Alastor's voice echoed from the doorway. Nifty was sitting on his head.

Everyone at the table jumped in surprise, Lew banging his head on the table and toppling his chair, and Vaggie shooting straight up; it was unknowable whether she was more surprised by his sudden appearance, or the fact he used the doorway like a normal person.

Alastor adjusted his bow tie as he took his seat at the table. Nifty jumped off his head and proceeding to hers.

"Who's hungry? I know I am! Hahahah!" Alastor chimed.

"Right!" Charlie smiled, clapping her hands together. "Vaggie," Charlie heaved, dragging the goose from the center of the crowded table to her and Vaggie, "do you want to carve the goose?" Charlie smiled eagerly.

She smiled. "I'd love to." Vaggie grabbed the knife and cut into the bird cleanly. From the corner of her eye, she saw Alastor, staring at her directly, not blinking his red glowing eyes. She squinted at him suspiciously, stabbing the goose more aggressively. She didn't break eye contact with him until she heard the sound of dishwater being sliced, and then table.

"Uh, Vaggie…" Charlie stared at her with a… 'concerned' expression.

"Wha- oh!" Vaggie recoiled at the sight of the sliced plate.

Charlie slowly turned her head to the rest of the table. "Goose's ready."

Plates of food were passed out one by one to the company at the table; a relief to everyone, especially Angel. Lewis set his chair back up, and scrambled back upon it. As plates were passed before Susan and Lewis, Lew leaned down and sniffed them both, giving Sue a thumbs up: no poison.

As Angel received his, he slowly reached for his fork-

"No!" Charlie barked.

Angel quickly recoiled, glaring at her.

Husk was asleep, so Charlie gently sat the plate in front of him, and pat him on the head.

Alastor smiled deviously as he received his; no one was aware of his impending plan. Not even Nifty, who was smiling happily as she received her plate.

"Okay. Now that everybody's got their food, we can start eating." Charlie said to the table, smiling.

"Finally!" Angel quickly grabbed his fork and put a bite of goose into his mouth.

Alastor chuckled to himself, subtly snapping his fingers beneath the table. All of the food quickly burst into flames.

"Shit!" Lew quickly snatched his cap from his head and began beating the fire with it. The cap itself then turned to flame, and he attempted to blow it out fruitlessly.

Vaggie darted from the room to obtain a fire extinguisher.

Susan tried to beat the flames out with a plate, which, as you can imagine, didn't work very well: it shattered.

Angel, who at the time the food set a flame had a piece of goose in his mouth, quickly spit it out, proceeding to scream into the void with both anger and pain.

After the fire had been burning for just a bit to long, Vaggie came back into the room with the fire extinguisher, shooting at the flames aggressively.

Once the fire was out, the meal attendees observed the ruins of what was once Christmas dinner.

Angel broke the silence first: "HOLY FUCK!"

"Oh no! What an unfortunate event, just terrible! Looks like this was all just a big waste of time!" Alastor said, way to cheerily.

"You think we're fucking stupid don't you?!" Vaggie growled, giving Alastor a firm death glare.

"After watching how your guests responded to that fire… maybe!"

Vaggie stared at him with a livid expression. Charlie was still frozen in her seat after the fire had burned. It was only now that she broke down onto the table and began crying. Vaggie quickly embraced her, trying to calm her down.

"Get out of here you egotistical, shit eating, fuck faced, PRICK!" Vaggie yelled at the radio demon.

"Haha! No! Why, then I'd miss all the fun!"

"Fun?!" Vaggie hissed. She had a fiery temper by nature, but it was incredibly rare that she would become this furious. "This is fun for you?!"

"God damnit!" Angel shouted, mostly to himself. He slammed his head on the table. "I'm so fuckin' hungry man!"

"Shut up you whiny whore!" Vaggie growled at Angel, before returning her attention back to Alastor. "Tú- tú hijo de perra! I ought to beat the living shit out of you!"

"Vaggie, please stop…" Charlie sobbed. Vaggie quickly looked toward Charlie, proceeding to stare down at her feet as if ashamed. It was at this point, that Lewis began to lose his shit.

"HAH, hahahah!" Lew laughed, slapping the table once with his wing. "You- you- Hahah!"

"What," Vaggie hissed, "What the fuck is it!"

"You- she- she's all fuckin' sobbing over there about a goose!" Lew continued to laugh like a maniac, "newsflash kiddo: nobody gives a fuck about the goose!"

"I do!" Angel growled.

"Me too, kinda…" Sue mumbled.

"You- you- wait what?" Lew made a double take in confusion.

Everyone stared straight at Lew, most with looks of distaste or concern, except Sebastian.

Sebastian pulled the black case from his back, gently setting it on the table. He rested his hands on its small, golden latches. He looked at Lew as if for validation. Lew knew exactly what he was going to do, and so did Susan, whom's facial expression softened. Lew nodded to Sebastian in affirmation.

Sebastian popped open the latches, lifting the lid of the case, and pulling out a well worn, wooden, acoustic guitar. He strummed it once, making sure that it was in tune. He then proceeded to strum a tune, light and gentle. The burning flames in his eye sockets even began to dim. It was then, that Lew began to sing, softly.

"Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright-"

Susan began to join in, with an impressively melodic voice: "Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child-"

The two both continued at the same time: "Holy infant, so tender and mild. Sleep, in heavenly peace. Sleep, in heavenly peace."

They continued on, beginning the verse once again: "Silent night, holy night-"

At this point in the song, Charlie began to recover from her tears, and joined in. After a line or two more, Vaggie joined in, then even Angel Dust joined. Finally, all of them singing, they reached the final lines: "Christ, our savior, is born. Christ, our savior, is born."

Lewis smiled calmly, and leaned back in his seat. Susan calmly rubbed him on the head.

Lew chuckled. "You know something ironic?"

"Yeah?" Sue replied.

"I'm an atheist."

Some say, the Radio Demon's heart grew three sizes that day… except for the Radio Demon… and, well, everyone. But Charlie thought it. And who knows: maybe it did.

Lew was finally getting ready for bed. His friends- family, had said goodbye at the door, contented and happy, and so was Lew. He took his coat off, and his cap, and, before entering his bed, he pulled his photo out from his coat, and looked at his other family.

"Merry Christmas." He mumbled, setting the photo on his nightstand, and crawling into his bed.