Chapter 1

"LUCAS!" A young woman called out frantically as she walked around the small airport.

"Oh God! Lucas! Where are you?" She called out again.

Matt looked up from his seat. He pulled his baseball hat lower on his head and fixed the sunglasses he was wearing. He had been sitting at the airport for 3 hours now. They had messed up his rental car and given it to someone else and with the snow falling heavily, all the other cars had been taken. He looked at the woman with interest. There was something vaguely familiar about her. Who the hell was Lucas?

He turned around when he felt a tug on his ponytail. He turned around and was met by a cheerful cherubic face of a little boy no more than 4 or 5.

"Shh...Don't tell Mommy I'm hiding from her." He giggled. His small face was framed by shaggy blonde hair and he held a bag of skittles in one sticky hand and pulled at Matt's hair again with the other. He reminded Matt of Jeff as a little boy when he had gone through a fear of the barbershop and had refused to cut his hair.

"Want some?" The little boy asked, extending the skittles towards Matt.

"Uh sure..." Matt said taking a few.

"Shouldn't you go back to your mommy now? She looks really upset." Matt said calmly.

"Umm..." The little boy said thoughtfully then stood up on the chair and held his arms up to be carried.

"Up!" He demanded. Matt looked around and shrugged. "What the hell...I'll just give him to his mother." He thought to himself. He picked him up and carried him to the frantic woman.

"Um...Miss...is this yours?" He asked.

"Oh my god! Lucas...don't you ever do that to Mommy again do you understand me! Don't you ever do that to me!" She said as she clutched him to her.

"Thank you so much sir..." She said as she held Lucas to her. She was so distraught with her son that she didn't even look up yet.

"No prob...uh...pardon me for asking...but do I know you?" He asked as he recognized her.

She looked up and there was a faint flicker in her eyes.

"I'm sorry no...I don't think we've ever met before."

"Oh...I could have sworn you....umm, I'm Matt Hardy". He said extending a hand towards her.

"Nice to meet you." She said quietly. "We have to go now. Thank you again."

"Caroline? Is that you?" Matt said trying to get a closer look at her.

"No...Uh...We have to go." She said turning around and walking away quickly.

"Mommy...How come that man knew your name?" Lucas asked.

"He made a mistake sweetie..." She said as they exited the airport. She breathed a sigh of relief when the sight of a familiar face distracted Lucas.

"Uncle Shannon!" He called out, wriggling out of Caroline's hold.

He jumped into Shannon's arms when he was close enough.

"Whoa there...How're you kid?" Shannon asked as Lucas eagerly hugged him back.

"We're good. I didn't cry on the plane but there was this baby in the back crying the whole time." He chattered on.

"Caro...what's wrong?" Shannon asked as they walked towards his car.

"Um...Matt saw us." She bit her bottom lip worriedly. Shannon put Lucas in the car and surprised him with a new toy.

"Did he recognize you?" Shannon said quietly after closing the door.

"He did. But I told him it wasn't me and walked away really quick. You don't think he'll tell Jeff do you?"

"I uh...don't know."

"God...I knew this was a mistake." She said worriedly.

"You can't let this bother you Caro...you can't run away forever."

"I know. I just...I can't deal with this."

"Look we'll talk about this later." He said looking at the car as Lucas began knocking on the window with a worried look on his face.

"Okay." She said as she climbed into the car.

"Are you okay Mommy?"

"I'm fine sweetie. Are you buckled up?"

"Yep." He said pulling at the seatbelt to prove to her he really was.

"Good."

"Well Lucas...how do you like North Carolina so far?" Shannon asked as he got in the car.

"I like it. That man at the airport was nice." He said naively.

"Yeah I'm sure he was. Ready for Christmas at my house for a change?" Shannon said quickly changing the subject.

"I can't wait. Hey you think Santa knows where you live?" He asked worriedly.

"Of course he does. He knows where all the good boys are at Christmas."

"Good." Lucas said cheerfully playing with his toy again.