Christmas Day, 2015

It was everything but the quiet Christmas day Lisa Hayes had hoped for when she left her quarters early that morning. Khyron decided to give the humans a Christmas Present, attacking locations in the industrial sector as well as orchestrating a number of deadly terrorist attacks on civilian parts of the city.

By the end of the day, twenty-five pilots were either wounded or missing, dozens of civilians were killed, and hundreds more wounded.

After leaving the bridge around 8:30 p.m., Lisa was exhausted mentally, physically and emotionally. Several friends and co-workers were among those missing and presumed dead. She decided to walk over to the Cathedral; it was Christmas after all, even though her duty schedule made it impossible for her to attend any kind of services that day. She stopped for a moment at the edge of Lake Gloval to button her coat, when she heard Rick call her name.

Her heart and head began to pound when she saw him walking toward her. He looked very angry.

"What the hell, happened today, Lisa?! Why did you tell Vanessa I was sick? You know I'm not. I should have been notified at the first order to scramble!"

Lisa had never seen this angry, especially with her, and the sight made her feel sick.

Without looking at him directly she replied, "She asked me before Khyron started attacking if I was going to bring you to the Christmas party tonight. I just made that up as an excuse." She glanced up at his face and continued, "You see…..I…I figured…I stopped by your place last night around 9:00…I had something for you…and I thought …." She stopped for a moment. Lisa could feel tears beginning to burn in the corner of her tired eyes. She continued, "your door was open and I saw you had…I saw that Minmei was there… I heard what you said. I just figured you'd rather be left alone today, that's all. I'm sorry." She closed her eyes tight and wished the earth would swallow her up.

Rick had never seen Lisa so tongue-tied, and she looked terrible. He wasn't angry anymore. He found himself feeling sorry for her. "Lisa. I'm sorry you found out this way. Truth is, I just don't know where things with Minmei and I are going to go right now."

"I, um….listen, I gotta go. Merry Christmas, Rick." She turned to walk away, when she felt his hand on her shoulder. She couldn't turn around. Tears were streaming from her eyes, and she didn't want him to see. She stopped for a moment took a deep breath, then continuing to her original destination, the Cathedral. After a few moments of silent reflection, she went home. She left Claudia a quick voicemail, as promised; to let her she was okay, even though she wasn't. She knew Claudia was with Vince and his family and didn't want to have to decline an invitation to join them.

When she got home Lisa made herself some tea, and turned the TV on hoping to find something on that could distract her from the dark thoughts that were running through her mind this Christmas night. She fell asleep on the couch, wishing that she could trade places with of one of the civilians that lost their life that day.

Thanks everybody who read and reviewed my first story! I'm glad you liked it!

I don't think this one's as interesting…I dunno.

(I always felt that Lisa needed to explain why she said he was sick to Vanessa. )