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"He's just seven, Rex. I'm sure he'll grow out of it." Circe told her husband. "I mean a fat guy in a red suit is kinda creepy."
"I know, I know, but seriously, did he have to shatter every window on the floor?" Rex groaned.
"His blast radius is getting larger. But that's why we have insurance to take care of these mishaps." Circe reminded him.
"Yeah, but it's going only going to get stronger and what if he hurts someone someday?" Rex asked.
"We're just going to have to train him." Circe said. "And not put him in situations that would cause him to activate his powers."
"Hey, don't blame me!" Rex got defensive.
"I wasn't blaming you." Circe told him. "But you did force him to take a picture with Santa."
"What kid doesn't want to get his picture taken with Santa?" Rex asked.
"Apparently, our kid." Circe said dryly.
"Well, maybe he needs to learn not to freak out over everything." Rex retorted.
"Well, maybe you need to stop putting him in scary situations."
"And how is Santa scary?" Rex snapped. "He's a jolly old elf who gives good boys and girls presents."
"Who looks like he ate a boy or girl." Circe growled.
"Mommy, dad? I think you're scaring Rafael." Violeta piped up from the backseat.
"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie. We didn't mean to shout. Don't be scared." Circe said in a calm voice.
Rafael huddled in his car seat, his eyelids puffy from crying and cheeks still wet with tears. He nodded but said nothing. Circe turned back around.
The rest of the car trip home was in silence.
When they got home, Rafael ran upstairs. They heard his door slam shut.
"Violeta, can you go…" Circe started asking her daughter.
"Already going." Violeta was already half-way up the stairs.
Circe wordlessly took the shopping bags into the office. Rex was left alone in the living room.
"I'm trying to help him!" Rex said into the empty room. No one answered him. His caught a framed picture of his parents looking back at him. "What are you looking at?" He walked past and pushed it face down.
0o0
"Hey hermano?" Violeta knocked on the door. "You okay?" There was no answer so Violeta tried the door knob. It wasn't locked so she opened the door. "Raffy? What are you doing?"
Raffy was packing his little school bag. Looking up at his sister, he held a finger up to his mouth. He pulled her in and pushed the door closed. "I'm going to see Santa."
Violeta frowned. "But we were just at the mall to see Santa." She told him.
"That wasn't Santa." Rafael scowled. "Everyone knows where the real Santa is."
"You're going to the North Pole?" Violeta asked.
"What? No! Macy's, like in that movie we saw last night." He said shoving in his stuff bunny.
"Macy's? That's in New York." She said sitting on his bed. "How are you getting there?"
"The bus." He pulled out his piggy bank. Opening the stopper, change poured out. "Do you think that's enough to get there?"
Violeta got onto the floor and counted. "Not really."
His face fell before brightening.
"You can take me to New York!" He said excitedly.
"What?" Violeta was taken aback. "How?"
"You can fly!" He reminded her.
"Not well and not that far!" She looked at him.
"Then how about the Rex Ride? Or we can use both!" He was getting excited.
"I don't know how to get to New York." She protested.
Rafael went to his toy box. After rummaging in it for a few minutes he pulled out a small monitor.
"What's that?" Violeta asked.
Rafael blew the dust off it. "It's something Uncle Caesar gave me. He said in the old days they used this to find places before they had smartphones. I think it's called a Garmin."
"Does it work?" Violeta was now curious.
"Um, I don't know." He admitted.
Violeta touched it. Blue lines spread around it. The device turned on. "It works." She noted. "It says it'll take me 29 hours to drive there or 4 hours to fly there.
"Please, please can you take me? If we leave now we'll be back before they'll even know we're gone."
"I don't know." She said hesitantly.
"If you don't you know I'll do it myself." He said petulantly.
She sighed. "What do you want with Santa anyway?"
"I have to ask him something." He said cryptically.
"Why don't you send him a letter like every year?" She asked.
"This is too important." He shook his head. Then he looked at her with pleading eyes.
"Fine. We need to leave now then. Um, I'll tell them we're going to Uncle Noah's house to see Adrian. Then we can say we're staying for dinner. That way we can come home later." She told him.
"Okay!" Rafael beamed. "Thanks!" He hugged his sister.
0o0
"Where are the kids?" Rex asked Circe.
"They went over to Noah's." She said curtly. She silently wrapped the presents they had bought earlier.
"Oh." He stood around awkwardly. "You still mad at me?"
Circe sighed as she put down the tape. "I'm not mad, Rex… I'm just… frustrated. I mean I wish Rafael handles situations better but he's just that way and I don't think trying to force him helps."
Rex sat down next to her. "I know, but I don't know what else to do."
"Just let him be himself." Circe suggested. "Dr. Holiday said that remember?"
"Yeah, I'm going to call Noah and see if the kids can come home early. I need to talk to Raffy." He walked out. A few minutes later, he ran back into the room. "Circe, Noah says the kids aren't there!"
Circe's eyes widened.
0o0
Violeta was panting on the floor in the middle of a busy street. Car horns honked and people shouted.
"Get off the street you crazy kids!" "Where's the kids' mother?" "Someone call child services!"
"Violeta, I don't think we should be here." Rafael said.
"Yeah, give me a second." She staggered to her feet and stumbled to the safety of the sidewalk.
The first two hours, Violeta had done okay. But by the third hour she was tiring. They were barely flying by the time they finally saw New York. Her turbines fell apart at a particularly bad moment landing the children in a middle of a busy intersection in the heart of the city.
"It took us longer than I thought to get here." Violeta checked her watch. "I don't think I'm going to be able to fly us back."
Rafael didn't hear her. He grabbed her arm excitedly. "Look, look! It's Macy's!"
Violeta looked up. Sure enough the iconic department store stood on the opposite corner.
"They decorated the windows." He ran across the street without looking at the traffic lights. A truck bore down on him honking. He froze in fear in the street. A second before the truck would have hit him, Violeta scooped him up onto her Rex Ride.
"Hermano! Don't do that!" She admonished him.
"I'm sorry." He said penitently. "But look we're at Macy's!"
The Rex Ride disappeared and the two kids entered the store. There were signs for Santa everywhere.
"This way." Violeta said after she checked the map. They walked to the escalator and took it downstairs.
"I don't see him." Rafael said looking around. Violeta tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and his eyes grew big. Snaked around several loops of velvet ropes there were many people waiting to see Santa.
"Better get on line." Violeta sighed.
0o0
The tracker in Violeta's watch says they are in… New York City?" Rex couldn't believe his eyes.
"What on earth are they doing in New York?" Circe cried.
"I don't know but they're in so much trouble when I find them." Rex said darkly.
"It'll take us hours to drive there." Circe fretted.
A turbine grew from Rex's back. "We're not driving." He scooped Circe up and flew off.
0o0
Violeta and Rafael slowly moved along in the line. Violeta was surprised how patient her brother was. Usually, he was impatient and asked annoying questions.
"So what do you want to ask Santa?" She asked him off-handedly.
"It's a secret." Rafael answered.
Rafael could never keep a secret. It was like he was a different brother. After several hours Violeta was starting to get impatient. Suddenly, there was a huge noise and the building shook.
People looked at each other in shock. "What's going on?" What's happening?"
Violeta looked at her brother. He looked conflicted but he was so close to the front of the line now that it would be a shame to leave now.
"Hermano, stay here. I'm going to check it out." She told him.
He nodded with relief.
Violeta ran outside the store. There was a giant robot rampaging down the street. It was kicking over cars and smashing nearby buildings.
Violeta formed her Smack Hands. "Thrill me!" She yelled charging.
A second later she flew back and hit a light post knocking it over. "Oww, okay, so you got in the first punch." She grabbed the fallen light pole with her Smack Hands. Swinging it, she swept the legs from underneath it. The robot fell over.
"Ha!" She said triumphantly before gasping. The robot's legs moved to it center to push it back up. "Crap." She threw the light pole like a javelin. The robot grabbed it in mid air and snapped it.
Violeta gulped. Making her Slam Cannon, she loaded and fired at the machine. With one hand it swept it away. Violeta shot in rapid succession. The robot was surprisingly nimble avoiding each shot. It then pulled its own cannon out and shot at Violeta. She dove to the side. Another shot at the building and concrete fell on her trapping her. She tried to form something but her energy was expended. The robot approached her with its gun aimed at her. She closed her eyes. A loud blast made her look up. Her little brother was standing in front of her. He blasted it over and over with his sonic scream. One of the blasts took out one of its legs which made it unstable. Another blast and it was on the floor. Seeing her brother gave her enough energy to form her Punk Busters which freed her from her prison. She leapt over Rafael and onto the robot. Placing her on it, the robot deactivated.
She collapsed in relief.
"Vi!" She turned around to have Rafael tackle her in a hug.
"Thanks, hermano. Did you see Santa?" She saw his face drop.
"I got worried so I came out. I'm glad I did." He said bravely. She could see his lower lip trembling.
"Hey, we can go back now before the store closes." She grabbed his hand.
They rushed back to the store. They did not notice that two people dropped from the ground.
"What happened here?" Rex looked at the mess.
"Never mind that, where are the children?" Circe was frantically looking around.
"Hey, are you looking for the two kids who took down the robot?" A man asked.
They both looked at him as he pointed to the department store.
0o0
Violeta and Rafael got back on line which was considerably shorter. They were next.
"Violeta! Rafael!" The kids spun around and saw their parents coming down the escalator.
"Go, I'll hold them up." Violeta said as she pushed him up.
Rafael ran to Santa while his sister ran to their parents.
"Mommy, dad, I can explain." She said blocking her parents from getting to Rafael. Rex sidestepped her and went right towards Santa when he stopped.
"So I just was wondering if you can make me braver so my dad will be proud of me." He heard Rafael say to Santa.
Santa frowned. "Well, Rafael, I think your father is proud of you. In any case, I can't change you only you can do that."
"But I'm scared all the time and then I blast them." Rafael said sadly.
"Say what now?" Santa asked startled.
"Raffy! Rex hopped over the velvet rope. "Hey, listen, I'm sorry you thought I'm not proud of you but Santa is right. I'm so proud of you buddy. And you are brave. We heard you took out that robot out there."
"He did what?" Santa asked nervously.
"I'm only brave when I have to be." He said.
"And that's when it counts. Come on, let's go home." He pulled Rafael off Santa's lap. "Thanks Santa!" Rafael said.
"You're welcome. Ho, ho, ho, have a merry Christmas!" Santa waved. Then off to a side he whispered to the helper elf next to him. "Poor kid's gonna need therapy when he grows up."
This is the start of the Christmas season and this is the start of my Christmas stories. Actually, I'm not sure I will be able to write much but I'll try. I don't know if there will be a stand alone Christmas story or if it's just updating all my stand alone stories. Either way, I hope you are having a good start to the holiday season.
Don't forget to read some of the new Gen Rex stories out there. Leave a review, favor, or follow them. Thank you all for reading and leaving a review for my Lost story.