Naia's POV

They were chasing me through a thick forest. Why a forest? I don't know. I wasn't even sure who they were, but I was running from them so it couldn't have been someone good. I tripped over a fallen log, of course, and tumbled to the mossy grass. Rolling onto my back, I saw that the clouds were heavy with rain and that soon it would pour. I heard the footsteps of whoever was chasing me and I quickly got up and kept running.

"Hey!" They yelled but I kept running. I ran, dodging trees and branches even though some of them caught onto my arms and legs, leaving scratches.

The forest started to clear but as I kept running, I realized that I had ran into a dead end. This route led to a cliff. I stopped and heard the footsteps of my chaser behind me. Instead of turning around, I looked up to see that it had started to rain.

Blood.

It had started to rain blood. Horrified, I looked down at the rushing water below me and took a step towards the edge of the cliff.

"Hey! Stop!" The voice yelled from behind me but it was too late. With a last burst of energy, I jumped off the cliff.

I shot awake in the dark, slightly panicking until I realized that I wasn't dead and I was actually on the couch in Firehouse 51. Taking a deep breath, I told myself that it was just a nightmare. That's all. Nightmares can't hurt you.

Pulling the blanket closer to my body, I laid back down and closed my eyes trying to sleep. However, like usual, after a nightmare, it was hard to fall back asleep.

I was terrified.

Feeling awful about myself for doing this, I threw the blanket off of me and got up. I tiptoed to the bunk room and found Gabby's bed. I double checked that it was actually Gabby before waking her.

"Gabby." I whispered. "Gabby..."

Gabby stirred and then opened one eye. She smiled when she saw me and scooted over. I crawled under the warm covers and snuggled close to Gabby.

"Another nightmare?" She mumbled and I nodded before closing my eyes. She didn't say anything else but her having her next to me was comforting and I fell back asleep.

"Wake up kiddo!" Stella said shaking me awake.

Groggily, I opened my eyes and sat up. "What time is it?" I asked, rubbing my eyes and stretching.

"It's almost 8:30, come on! You're kid on Christmas morning! Be a kid!" Stella said and I smiled at her.

"Merry Christmas Stella!" I said and gave her a hug which she happily returned.

When we parted, she gently pushed me away. "Come on kid, let's go open some presents."

"Presents?" I asked as I followed her to the kitchen. Stella turned around and started walking backwards.

She raised both of her hands outwards and shook her head, "Of course silly, we all got you a present and you're going to open them before you do anything else."

"You guys didn't have to do that. I didn't get you anything, I feel awful." I said.

Stella shook her head, "No, you're a kid. Forget about everything and be a kid!"

When we walked into the kitchen, everybody wished me a Merry Christmas. I smiled and gave everybody hugs and personal Merry Christmases.

"Merry Christmas Munchkin!" Matt said, picking me up and setting me on his hip. "You ready to open some presents?"

Herrmann chuckled, "The poor girl can't open any presents if you're holding her Captain."

I laughed as Matt set me back down and went to sit down by Shay and Gabby.

"Go, on, there's presents by the couches. Bring some over and open them in front of everybody." Shay said, nudging me away from them and towards the pile of presents which I had now noticed.

Tentatively, I grabbed the present on the very top of the pile. It was shaped like a rectangular prism (look at me go with my math terms), and wrapped with blue and white striped wrapping paper.

"That's from me!" Shay said, putting her arms up. I brought it over to the center off the room like Shay told me to and sat down. I looked for where Shay had taped the edges together and started peeling the tape off.

"Just rip the thing apart!" Kelly said making me look up. "You don't have to worry about making a mess."

I smiled weakly, "But the wrapping paper's pretty."

Everyone burst into laughter and I went back to peeling apart the wrapping paper carefully. Finally, I managed to get one side open and slid the gift out. It was cardboard box that was taped together at the top. Using my nails, I picked the tape off and opened the box.

"Oh, thank you Shay!" I said. She had given me a classic leather journal and package of pens in an assortment of colours. She had also gotten me large bag of Skittles. I got up to give her a hug.

"No problem." Shay told me and when we parted, I went and got another present from the pile.

I smiled to myself. This is what I missed all those years. I could definitely get used to this.

I was not sitting in the middle of a circle of presents. I had personally thanked everyone. A new hoodie, a few new books, a chess set that could also be used to play checkers with, a couple of those wooden brain teaser puzzles, and a lava lamp was just naming some of the gifts I had received.

"Thank you guys all so much." I said smiling at all of them. "Really, I'm sorry I didn't get any of you guys anything."

Kelly waved his hand, "Naw, don't worry about it kiddo."

"Matt and I still haven't given you our present yet." Gabby said standing up.

I shook my head, "You guys have done enough for me. Honestly, I already don't know how to thank you." There were a few "awww"s that went around the room but Gabby still walked over to behind the counter and brought over a rather large box wrapped in pink and white wrapping paper. She set it down in front of me.

"It's from both me and Matt." She said.

Like all of the other presents that I had unwrapped, I carefully picked the tape off before opening one side and tried to slide the box out without ripping any of the wrapping paper. The box wasn't taped shut so I opened it to reveal a black guitar. Squealing with happiness, I picked up the guitar and strummed the C chord and then the G chord.

"You know how to play?" Matt asked me, a little bit surprised.

I shrugged, "Bits and pieces. We did a unit last year in music. Thank you." I put the guitar down carefully and ran over to give both Gabby and Matt a hug.

"Thank you for everything." I whispered.