*checks watch and listens to thumping and screeching on the other side of a door*

Welp, it's that time.

So this will probably be the last wholesome chapter before that barricade breaks and the plot monster busts in here to rip us all to shreds. And even so, there's going to be some angst this chapter, I can't not considering we're about to all be devoured.

So let's have some Christmastime shenanigans!

Christmas.

One of Eda Clawthorne's favorite holidays.

It was the busiest time of year for her, people coming in to find fun or interesting or unique gifts for loved ones and people they hated they got for Secret Santa. It was the only time of year she could drag Lilith away from the historical society to help her out in the shop, a task that her sister avoided like the plague until December rolled around. Eda would hire employees but unfortunately it hadn't gone well in the past, given how many rare items ended up on her shelves and the type of person willing to work at a place like hers.

This year, however, she had a distraction on her hands. A distraction and extra hand in the shop by the name of Raine Whispers. It was their first Christmas back together and Raine was spending it with her and her son.

Now, as far as the holiday itself went, she usually spent it with her sister and parents and King and their weird cousin at her parents' house. And that was still the plan, it was still very much the plan. It just so happened that Raine was joining them this year and she was nervous about it.

She had no reason to be, she knew that. Raine had gotten along well with her family in the past, and their relationship with King had been decent so far with what little time they'd been able to spend together between their schedules. She still worried, though. King had never really had another parental figure in his life before, owing to her not really having a serious relationship after Raine.

She did get married to that guy in Vegas, but that hardly counted. And that had been before motherhood, before King had become the biggest priority in her life. A real romance had been the last thing on her mind when she had a kid who needed her full attention. The Nocedas had been a godsend in helping King connect with other people when he'd struggled with it for most of his life, the first to look at him and play along with his antics instead of just laughing and walking away.

A year ago, the thought of her dating would've made him throw a tantrum.

Nowadays, he threw her keys to her before running to spend the night at the Nocedas.

She sighed and leaned forward against the counter.

It had been such a weird year, actually. Between all the stuff with Phillip, suddenly having someone outside her family to watch King, having Raine back, and finding out she had a long-lost little cousin… it was a lot. She was glad for the year to be over and for there to be some new normalcy in their lives.

She rapped her knuckles against the wooden counter twice.

"It'll be fine, sunshine."

"I'm pretty sure your dad hates me."

"Dad doesn't hate you. He's just protective. And Papa likes you plenty."

Hunter shivered as he and Willow walked towards her house.

Today was the big day—officially meeting her dads as her boyfriend. It was still early in their relationship but he didn't see a point in putting it off. Not when they'd literally kissed multiple times in front of his family. And with Christmas coming up, he wanted to make a good enough impression that they'd let Willow stay at the Nocedas for New Years and also approve of him dating their one and only daughter. Gilbert liked him well enough; it was Harvey he had to win over. Just her dads. No big deal. He could absolutely do this—

No, I can't, what the fuck am I saying? Harvey gave me dirty looks when I was just her friend. How's he going to take me being her boyfriend?

She slipped her hand into his and he could feel it shivering. She'd forgotten her gloves since it was only meant to be a quick walk. With a grin, he pulled her hand so it was inside his jacket pocket. Willow glanced up at him with that faint adorable dusting of pink across her cheeks in the cold air. Her other hand was firmly inside the pocket of her own jacket. He was happy to share this moment with her as they approached the front door and Willow reluctantly let go of his hand to open it.

"Dad! Papa! We're here!" she called as they entered. Both of them took their shoes off and left them by the door before taking off their coats.

"We're in the kitchen!" Gilbert called back.

Willow practically skipped into the kitchen with Hunter trailing just ever-so-slightly behind to give her time to greet her fathers. Gilbert was sitting at the table and gave Hunter a warm smile and a nod of approval. Harvey was stirring something on the stove and accepted a hug from Willow before casting a glare in Hunter's direction. Yep, there it was, the disapproval.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Park. And Mr. Park."

Harvey narrowed his eyes.

"Please, call me Gilbert. You've known me long enough."

"Yes, sir."

"Come, sit down. You're our guest."

"Oh, er, thanks." Hunter pulled out a chair for Willow without thinking and she blushed a little before sitting down. He then sat down himself.

"So, Mr. Noceda," Harvey stated, turning off the stove and turning around once he took the pan off the heat, "how long have you been wanting to date our daughter?"

"Dad!" Willow groaned.

"It's fine, Will," he assured her, putting his hand on top of hers. "For a while, honestly. I just needed to get out of my own head and ask her."

"Sometimes it can be like that," Gilbert chuckled. "Especially with someone as adorable as our Willow."

"Papa!" Willow's cheeks were flushing pink again and doing absolutely nothing to disprove Gilbert's point.

"You haven't lived in Bonesborough very long, correct?" Harvey inquired, sitting down and casting a glare at Hunter and Willow's joined hands. "Barely anyone knows you here. How do we know to trust you?"

"Well—"

Before Hunter could answer, there was the sound of a knock at the door. Gilbert got up to answer it and there was a loud woman's voice that cut through the air.

"Merry Christmas, Gil! Where's my little snowdrop?"

"Shit," Harvey muttered under his breath. "Forgot about her."

"She's in the kitchen. We have another—"

An old woman swept into the room, her long hair flying slightly with the speed at which she moved. She ignored Harvey and Hunter in favor of going over to Willow, who stood up and limply held out her arms before being nearly crushed in a hug.

"Merry Christmas, my dearest blossom! How are you this year? Oh, you've gotten so big!"

"Hi, Grandma…" Willow chuckled nervously.

"Terra," Harvey sighed.

"Harvey." The woman's voice became slightly colder before she turned back to Willow. "I've been so excited to come visit you!"

"It's good to see you, too." Willow managed to wriggle out of her grandmother's arms.

Hunter glanced at Harvey, silently asking for an explanation. Harvey shrugged, his hostility towards Hunter seemingly vanishing in the face of this new challenger he disliked more than his daughter's boyfriend.

"Er, hello, ma'am," Hunter spoke up, clearing his throat slightly and standing up to hold out his hand for a handshake. "I'm Hunter Noceda. It's nice to meet you."

"Terra Snapdragon." Terra took the handshake, her sharp nails digging into Hunter's wrist ever-so-slightly. "Who are you to my darling granddaughter, exactly?"

"I'm… her boyfriend."

Terra's face instantly froze over.

Whoops.

Turned out Harvey wasn't the one to be worried about.

Luz may have been steady on roller-skates, but ice-skating was a different story.

Why had she agreed to this?

"You okay? We can go do something else if you want to," Amity assured her as Luz took careful steps towards the ice rink.

"No, no! I want to do this!" Luz nodded. "You said you like it, right?"

"I do, but…"

"But nothing. If my girlfriend wants to ice-skate, then we're going to ice-skate. I'm just… poorly balanced on a blade." She clung to Amity as they reached the threshold of the rink, taking a deep breath before setting foot out on the ice.

And she immediately fell forward, grabbed for the half-wall surrounding the rink, and then promptly fell on her butt. Amity let out a giggle, gliding neatly out onto the ice before taking Luz's hand and helping her up in a way that felt very familiar.

"Just hold onto me and we'll do this together."

"Okay. Lead the way, ice princess!"

Amity pulled Luz along and Luz couldn't help but grin at the fact that this was the best possible excuse to cling to her without seeming like a creep. You know, if she was able to stay upright for longer than a few seconds without dragging Amity down onto the ice. It reminded her of when Amity had helped out with roller-derby, though she was sure Amity had been much more steady on wheels than Luz was on these thin knife-shoes. At the very least Amity had been able to skate on her own after a bit.

"Steady," Amity cautioned as Luz almost slipped again, wrapping her arms around her ribs. Both of their faces flushed bright red.

A few more laps around the rink and that was when it happened—Luz's leg slipped out from under her and she felt her ankle go the wrong way. She let out a yelp that caught Amity off-guard as her girlfriend went down with her and in an instant Luz knew that she had sprained something. She could feel it in the very ankle that had betrayed her by going the wrong way. She let out a hiss and clutched it as Amity got to her feet and went to help her up.

"I… I can't, Amity, I'm sorry."

"No, come on, just hold onto me and we'll go sit down."

Luz nodded and Amity wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She was deceptively strong for how tiny she was as they skated towards the exit, Luz keeping her injured ankle off the floor. It made things that much more difficult but they did make it to the benches surrounding the rink so Luz could take off her skate and observe the damage.

It wasn't bad, but it still hurt. Probably needed a brace of some kind for a couple of days. She wouldn't be able to keep skating today, that was for sure. Which meant their date had to be cut short.

"I'm sorry," she grumbled. Amity gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"It's okay. We'll find something else to do."

"Maybe we can just snuggle on the couch and watch movies until my ankle's better. You still haven't watched Arcane yet."

"You're right, I haven't." Amity gave her a smile.

"Oh, you're gonna love it, cupcake."

"Cupcake?"

"Because you're so sweet."

Amity gave her a look and Luz let out a chuckle. Yeah, that one didn't quite work for Amity, even if her hair was a pretty frosting color. She'd have to keep workshopping her girlfriend's pet name because there was no way Amity was going to get away with not having one while dating her. Besides, maybe she'd warm up to Cupcake once they actually watched the show, Caitlyn sure did once Vi started calling her that.

Not that Luz was anywhere near as cool as Vi, but it was worth a shot.

Willow loved her grandmother. She really did. But she was really starting to test her patience.

She'd forgotten what Christmas meant for her family. Christmas meant Terra Snapdragon made her yearly trek to come spend the holidays with them—or more specifically, with her. Back when she was a little girl, it had been almost every summer and Christmas. Terra had been the one to introduce her to the wonders of plants, teach her the proper care of each little seed and sapling, and it had created this bond between them that had grown, nurtured like the flora they cared for side by side.

Nowadays, said bond had become strained. Maybe it was because Willow's interests extended beyond the plants her grandmother was obsessed with. Maybe it was the fact that Terra had constant friction with Dad due to him not being Willow's biological father (not that it mattered). Maybe it was because Willow had gotten older and Terra refused to see that Willow was no longer the little girl who'd cried because she'd accidentally stepped on a dandelion and left it squished on the ground.

Or maybe it was because her grandmother was currently staring down her boyfriend.

"A boyfriend. Hmph. Well, let's see if you're good enough for my little Willow."

Hunter looked at Willow for some kind of explanation.

She had none to give him.

"You look familiar, though. Almost like this boy I used to teach—except for your eyes." She squinted. "And that gap in your teeth—hard to believe your mother hasn't paid to have it fixed."

Willow wanted to scream. His tooth-gap was adorable, it made him whistle sometimes without trying and he got so flustered when he realized it was happening. Last time it had happened she kissed him on the cheek and it made his face turn even redder.

"Terra, leave the boy alone," insisted Dad as Papa came back into the room. "He's been good to Willow since this summer."

"Since summer?" Grandma had a hurt expression as she turned to face Willow again. "Sapling, why didn't you say anything to me?"

"We've only actually been together for a couple of weeks," Willow sighed. "We've known each other since summer."

"I've had a crush on her since then," Hunter added, and she shot him a look of 'not helping your situation'.

"So you only befriended her with the intention of—"

"No, ma'am, I promise I didn't."

"Don't interrupt people when they're talking." Her eyes were narrowed at him.

"Yes, ma'am." He swallowed nervously.

"Good. Maybe there's some hope for you after all." She looked back to Willow with the usual warm smile. "Now, as for you, petal, please get your grandmother something to drink. It was a long drive to get here!"

Willow silently hoped that Hunter would find some excuse to leave for the day. Her dads were one thing, dealing with her grandmother was another and not something he'd signed up for. But he was stubborn and gave her a patient smile and ugh, why can't he just want to preserve his own sanity?

"Oh, and if you don't mind, young man, could you refrain from touching my granddaughter in any way while I'm here?"

Okay, that one made Hunter fall over and his face turn red from ear to ear. She would've giggled if it weren't for the reason he was like that. She also had a feeling that if it wasn't for the fact that it was her grandmother saying it and her fathers hadn't been in the room, he would've gone off about how they hadn't gone past kissing and holding hands yet. Alas, he remained silent—tomato-faced but silent.

"Yes, ma'am," he finally bit out.

"Good boy." She waved him off and Dad shot him a surprising look of sympathy.

Yeah, as much as Grandma wasn't fond of Dad, Dad was equally not fond of Grandma. It seemed like Hunter had earned the approval of Dad by earning the ire of his perceived enemy, which at the very least spelled well for their relationship in the future once Terra had left.

Still, Willow was now ready for the visit to be over.

Raine had always been welcome at the Clawthorne house.

From their early days as Eda's closest friend outside of Lilith to the final days of their relationship with Eda where they grappled with the decision to leave for their career, it had been something of a haven for them. Gwendolyn and Dell did quite a bit to make them feel welcome under their roof. And even now, despite having broken up with Eda and just not being around, Gwendolyn welcomed them back with open arms.

"It's good to see you again," Dell stated as Gwendolyn released Raine from the bone-crushing hug she'd caught them in.

"It's good to see you, too. How have you been?"

"I'm getting old." He tapped his cane on the floor. "I can barely keep up with my grandson."

"He's a handful, that's for sure."

They watched as King ran into the kitchen, Gwendolyn laughing as she told him to slow down because the cookies weren't going anywhere. It was a warm feeling, being in this house again, and they hoped that it wouldn't be the last time they spent the holidays here.

"You okay?" Eda inquired as Dell went off to join his wife and grandson.

"Yeah. Just… it's nice to be back here." Raine wrapped an arm around Eda's waist and they stifled a chuckle as her cheeks turned pink.

Just like when we were kids.

A loud voice cut through the air.

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Aw, shit," muttered Eda. "Hooty's here."

A lanky man with a round face came chasing King out of the kitchen, hissing like a cat as the little boy leapt into his mother's arms.

"Hooty, leave him alone!" Eda snapped.

"HE'S TRYING TO EAT MY PRECIOUS CREATIONS BEFORE THEY REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL!"

"I JUST WANTED A GINGERBREAD MAN!" King wailed, burying his face in Eda's shoulder.

"Hootsifer, he didn't mean any harm," chided Lilith, coming into the room. "Come and finish your creations so he can enjoy them properly."

Hooty nodded and went back in.

"Hooty's here this year?" Eda deadpanned.

"He was going to be all alone, Edalyn, what was I supposed to do?"

"Maybe remember that he can be a little intense?"

"He is a Clawthorne," pointed out Raine with a chuckle. Eda gave them that "you're lucky you're cute and I like you" stare she gave them from time to time before setting her son down.

"I'd better go see what the damage is. King, you stay here with Raine."

She and Lilith disappeared into the kitchen and King stared up at Raine, who cleared their throat.

"So… what do you normally do at your grandparents' house?"

"Eat Grandma's cooking and learn how to carve stuff from Grandpa, play in the yard, stuff like that. They don't have a TV."

"I can do those things with you if you want." They went over to the couch and King hopped onto it. He seemed to hesitate to say something. "Do you not want me to?"

"It's just… are you gonna marry Mom?"

Raine's eyebrows raised and they cleared their throat.

"Possibly. I'd like to, someday, but we need to figure out what our relationship is now."

"You guys go out at least once a week, and now you're coming to Christmas at Grandma's. How can you not know what your relationship is yet?"

It was such a simple question, and yet Raine had no idea how to answer.

"…do you want me to marry her?"

"You make her really happy. You're nice to me and you spend time with me, too. I wouldn't mind having you around all the time and living with us."

"Well, in that case, I'll be sure to tell you when I plan to ask her."

"Ask me what?" Eda asked, leaning against the kitchen doorway. She'd apparently finished assessing the damage.

"When dinner's ready!" King blurted.

"Not for another couple hours, goofball. You that hungry, Rainestorm?"

"I'll be fine, Calamity."

King gave Raine a hug before going to join the other Clawthornes. Raine smiled.

They hadn't said it, but they wouldn't mind being King's second parent. Not in the slightest.

"Thanks for picking us up, Dad."

"It's no trouble. Your mother's at a meeting."

Amity buckled her seatbelt and Luz did the same before leaning her head on Amity's shoulder. Alador glanced at them in the rearview mirror.

"So, this is your girlfriend."

"Yep." Luz waved. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Blight. I'm Luz Noceda."

"You're the girl who had that big fancy party a couple of weeks ago."

"Fifteenth birthday. Big deal in my family."

He nodded and put the car in drive.

"Do you just need me to take you home?"

"Yeah, my mom has a brace I can put on my ankle. I really suck at ice-skating. Amity's pretty graceful at it, though. She kept me from falling sooner."

Alador nodded again and Amity was silently wondering why she hadn't just called one of the twins. Conversation wouldn't have been as awkward then. At least he wasn't interrogating Luz like her mother would have with endless questions about her family, her life choices, what she had for breakfast every day for the past six months, things like that.

"…do you have any brothers or sisters?" asked Alador stiltedly.

"I have an older brother named Hunter and a younger sister named Vee."

"Hunter… a young man visited us not too long ago. That was his name."

"Dad, that was him."

"Oh. He looks like Caleb Wittebane. He's your brother?"

"You knew Caleb?"

"We were in the same classes."

"I didn't know that," Amity stated.

"Well, when someone's been dead for fourteen years, you don't exactly bring them up with your kids. Caleb was good, though, I remember him asking me for advice on being a new father."

"He was Hunter's dad," Luz said softly.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know you knew him."

"I didn't, but I've heard a lot about him from Darius."

"Should've known he'd find Caleb's son eventually… that was a fiasco. That whole court case where he was declared unfit. None of my business, though."

Luz nodded and Amity could tell she was dying to ask more questions. But that might have been a bit much for her first meeting with Alador, so Luz was holding herself back. At the very least Alador seemed to approve of their relationship with very little questioning. Which was more than would've been possible had Odalia picked them up, and luckily Luz had yet to meet her. There was no way Luz would reach her mother's impossible standards for a Blight partner; hell, Alador didn't reach those standards Odalia had set for her children and he was all the better for it.

The rest of the drive to Luz's house was quiet as Luz kept her injured ankle elevated as her mother had no doubt taught her. Alador dropped them off and Camila tended to Luz's ankle with an ACE bandage and an instruction to sleep on the couch. Within half an hour, though, Amity and Luz were settled on the couch and watching as sisters Vi and Powder robbed a fancy apartment in where they called Topside.

Luz fell asleep with her head on Amity's shoulder as the credits for episode two rolled and Camila stuck her head into the room.

"Thank you for taking care of her, Amity."

"It's no problem. She makes it easy."

Amity pressed a kiss to Luz's forehead and watched as episode three began.

Vee glanced up as her mother re-entered the kitchen.

"How's Luz?"

"Asleep. She and Amity started the third episode already."

"She's going to be so mad when she realizes Amity watched the rest on her own." Vee let out a giggle and Camila playfully swatted her youngest daughter's arm.

"She won't. They're happy. Let them be."

Vee nodded and stirred the dough for their batch of chocolate-chip cookies. Made with mini-chips, of course, so they were more evenly spread throughout the cookies themselves.

"It's been such a weird year."

"We uprooted our entire lives to start new ones," her mother agreed, nodding. "I remember when your abuela had us move to Connecticut in the first place. I was so angry to leave all my friends behind, and my home."

"I wasn't that sad to leave Gravesfield."

"No, you weren't. You had a lot of bad memories, and part of why I accepted the job here was to give you a fresh start. All three of you. You needed it."

"It wasn't all bad there. But there was a lot of it." She looked up at her mother. "I love it here. I feel more at home in Bonesborough than I ever did back in Gravesfield."

"You have friends here. Real friends."

"Hunter and Luz would agree. They both somehow managed to get girlfriends on the same night despite being really bad at the whole romance thing."

"Ay, they both take after your father. He could only be smooth with me if he wasn't even trying."

"Oh, Hunter definitely takes after him, then."

"I think the batter's mixed, mija." Camila took the bowl and they began to scoop it onto the cookie sheet, evenly spaced and perfectly sized. As always.

"…hey, Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you. For… everything. I'm really excited for next year. It's going to be fun."

"I'm excited to see what it holds, too. But we'll have to wait and see." Camila winked and put the cookie sheet in the oven. "For now, let's just make sure our first Christmas in Bonesborough is the best it can possibly be."

Vee nodded as she prepared the next cookie sheet.

She wondered how Hunter was doing at Willow's.

Hunter had made his decision: he did not like Willow's grandmother.

Terra Snapdragon was a special brand of pretentious bitch. She constantly glared at him or ignored him, getting between him and Willow and cutting him off in conversations. He suggested Willow come over to his house for New Years and Terra instantly rejected the notion of Willow spending time at his house at all.

"She's a young woman with a bright future. She doesn't have time for boys or to spend the night at one's house!"

"Grandma!" Willow had protested, face bright red. "His family's going to be there! And our friends! It's a party!"

"No time for parties, petal. How's your greenhouse doing?"

On like that for a few hours. Blessedly, Terra took off to go buy something and Hunter and Willow were allowed to go up to her room (door cracked so they had some privacy but not total). He laid on her bed with his head on her lap, such a familiar position over the past couple of weeks, her fingers tangling in his hair. As always, it helped him relax.

"I'm sorry about her," Willow sighed.

"She hates me."

"To be fair, I'm pretty sure she'd hate anyone I dated. She's been married three times."

"How."

"I have no idea." He let out a snort and they shifted so he was looking up at her.

"Is she Gilbert's mom? I don't see any real resemblance."

"My dads used a surrogate to have me." Willow leaned back slightly, her hands on the bed. "Her daughter Rosemary was the surrogate. She was friends with Dad in college and she never wanted to raise kids. I've only met her a few times. She's not much of a mom but she did help Dad and Papa have me, even if she's not really involved."

"I'm grateful for that. So Terra's your mom's mom?"

"She wanted to be near me since I was her only grandbaby. Her words. She taught me everything I know about plants. I love her, but…" She swallowed. "Sometimes she can be a lot. Like tonight. I'm really sorry you had to deal with her."

"No, it's fine. If we're gonna be together, I have to know your family, and you've already met all my batshit crazy ones."

"Yeah, I still remember your uncle screaming that Luz and Amity were going to hell when they were just talking to each other. And your aunt punching him."

"Isa's the cool one. Angelo can go to hell."

She let out a soft giggle and he reached up to cup her cheek in his hand.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Hey. You're so pretty."

He sat up a little, her cheek still in his hand and feeling very warm as her face flushed pink. He could feel a blush spreading across his own face before he leaned in and softly brushed his lips against hers. She pushed forward, kissing him with that same sort of gentleness. They broke apart and he pressed his forehead against hers.

"I really like you, mi vida."

"Same here, sunshine." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you, too."

He went to kiss her again and right after they broke off this one, her bedroom door flew open to reveal Terra in all her grandmotherly glory. She instantly crossed the room to sit down between them and Hunter felt like his face was on fire as she essentially shoved him off the bed and held up the bag she'd brought into the room.

"I have your Christmas present, sprout!" she informed Willow. "Caleb, go and leave us, please."

Fuck you, old hag, who hurt you?!

He did leave, though, casting one last glance over his shoulder at Willow. She gave him a little wave as he headed out of her room and down the stairs. He made his way to the kitchen and sat down at the table where he'd been so prepared to be interrogated by her fathers earlier.

"You have more guts than I gave you credit for," Harvey commented.

"I'm down here instead of up there with her."

"Most boys your age would've ducked out with the first comments, but you're sticking it out. I'll give you props for that, young man."

"Thanks. Sir."

"None of that sir nonsense."

"It's how I was raised. Sorry." He let out a sigh. "I've gotta get used to Terra, I guess. Since I'm not planning on going anywhere."

"Sticking it out for the long haul?"

"Hey, I've known Willow since June. She's… everything to me. I know it's dumb when we're only fifteen and sixteen, but…"

"Love doesn't know age. I've seen that look on people's faces, the way you look at our Willow. It's the same way I see the strongest couples look at each other. The way I look at Gil."

Hunter felt his cheeks heating up and he stared at the tablecloth.

"…I'm going to do my best for Willow, Mr. Park."

"Call me Harvey." Harvey stuck out his hand and Hunter accepted the handshake without a second thought.

He'd won over both his girlfriend's dads. Somehow.

Despite the bitchy grandma, today was an absolute win.

Christmas passed and New Year's Eve arrived and Camila's house became the gathering spot for her children and all their friends. She was glad to have it so lively as they all watched and made fun of the various celebrations going on all over the world, particularly if they were ridiculous. Hunter had become a personal heater for Willow, who was snuggled up to him constantly. Amity and Luz were much the same. Gus, Vee, King, and Mattholomule had made their own corner of the room where they tried to come up with better ways to ring in the new year than the specials.

It really had been a strange year for her. So much had happened. Her babies were happy, though, and she was glad to see it.

She sat down with them five minutes before midnight, doing the countdown right there alongside her children and their friends. Hunter and Luz kissed their respective girlfriends and she'd so rarely seen Hunter smile like he did when he and Willow broke apart. He really was Luis's son, despite not sharing DNA.

It was amid the cheering that Camila heard the knock at the door.

She let out a laugh and went to open it.

Standing on her porch was an extremely short woman with her hair in a bun on top of her head, wearing a winter coat over a rather nice-looking suit.

"Camila Noceda?" the woman asked.

"Yes, that's me."

"I'm Kikimora." She extended a folded paper. "You've been served."

Camila took the paper and opened it up. Her hands started shaking.

It was a notice that she was being sued. Phillip Wittebane was suing her to vacate Hunter's adoption. She opened her mouth to throw every Spanish cuss word she knew at this little shark but Kikimora gave her a broad smile.

"Happy New Year, Mrs. Noceda. I'll see you in court."

Camila closed the door and shoved the paper into her pocket. This was something to deal with in the morning, not when her babies were having so much fun. And that was why she pretended not to notice Hunter sneaking Willow up to his room or Luz sneaking Amity up to hers. She saw Vee, Gus, King, and Mattholomule curl up together on the air mattress she'd set out in the living room. And she felt this sense of peace laced with dread for the coming weeks, the weeks that would no doubt drag Hunter and all of these kids through a special brand of hell.

But she wasn't going down without a fight. None of them were.

If they were going to be put through hell, then they were going to give hell right back.

FINAL WORD COUNT: 5564

Good God, that took for-fucking-ever. But it's done and you can all read and enjoy!

*realizes that the door is breaking and the plot monster has broken through*

WE'RE HEADING INTO HELL SOON, ALL OF YOU HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS!

So long and thanks for all the fish!