Tuesday, December 15th. 10 days 'till Christmas...

"Meg, get in here!" Hades called from his office.

Meg rolled her eyes as she got up from her desk. She went into Hades' office. He was sitting at his desk, scrolling through his tablet.

"Yes?"

Hades looked up at her. "Call Edmund Rider and make sure he made it to the airport. Then I want you to fire Fenton Harcourt."

Meg gaped at him. Was he serious? "No," Meg told him.

"Excuse me?"

"You can't fire someone ten days before Christmas."

Hades sighed. "Very well. Fire him after the new year."

Meg nodded and went back to her desk. She knew he only relented because he was too busy to argue with her; Fenton Harcourt would still be fired in a couple of weeks. But, it was the best anyone would get from him.

Meg used to work for Eric's dad. She had only been his assistant for a year when he died. When his parents died, Eric became the new CEO of the company; but he wasn't cut out for the job and he knew it. He ended up selling the company to Tartarus Inc. The CEO of Tartarus, Eris, made her brother, Hades, the new CEO of the company; which was now called Underworld Consultants. They worked with both businesses and individuals. When Eric sold the company, one of his stipulations was that they weren't allowed to layoff anyone currently working for the company. And they didn't. At least, not within the first year.

While Eric's dad had been a great boss to work for, Meg had to admit that Hades had made the company prosper more than Eric's dad had. Just a year after Tartarus and Hades took over, Meg had gotten a substantial raise that allowed her to move out of her dump of an apartment and away from her sketchy roommate. She was able to move into the nice apartment she had now; which she could afford without a roommate.

That didn't change the fact that Hades was a jerk and she hated working for him. Still, the pay was enough to make her stick around and put up with him.

Meg called Edmund Rider to confirm that he had made it to the airport, then she sent Fenton Harcourt an email. Hades probably would have preferred Meg to wait to tell him until she was actually firing him and maybe it wasn't fair to put this extra worry on Mr. Harcourt during the holiday, but Meg thought he had a right to know that he wasn't going to have a job in a couple weeks.

After sending the email, Meg clocked out for her lunch break and made her way over to the elevators. When the doors opened, she was surprised to see Flynn step out.

"Flynn? What are you doing here?"

"My dad said he wanted to have lunch today."

"He didn't tell you?" Meg asked. "Sorry. That was a stupid question. Obviously he didn't tell you, or you wouldn't be here right now."

Flynn frowned. "Tell me what?"

"Your dad's going to New York."

"I know that. But, he's not supposed to leave until next week."

"Hades thought it'd be better if he got there earlier and spent more time with client. He's leaving today. Actually, I just talked to him; he's at the airport right now."

Flynn slumped against the wall. "I should have known something like this would happen. Work always comes first for him and this isn't the first time our plans have been cancelled because something with work came up and he didn't bother to tell me."

Meg felt for him, because she knew that was true. Edmund had always been a workaholic. He was rarely around when Flynn was growing up; there was always some work meeting or business trip. Meg didn't know Flynn back then, but he's never been shy about his childhood. Edmund worked for Tartarus and was one of the men Hades brought to Underworld with him. Meg's been working with Flynn's dad for three years now and she's seen firsthand just how much of a workaholic he is.

"I'm sorry, Flynn," Meg said. "But, hey: I'm heading out for lunch right now, if you want to join me."

"Yeah, all right." He hit the button and they waited in silence for the elevator to come back up.

When they got on the elevator, the speakers were pumping out an instrumental cover of 'O Little Town of Bethlehem', which sounded super depressing. Flynn pushed the button for the building's lobby and the doors closed.

"If I had known about your lunch with your dad, I would have told you about his flight change myself."

"It isn't your fault."

"It's not. But, I knew about it yesterday; I could have saved you the trip down here."

"Well, now I'm having lunch with you, so I'd say it all worked out."

Meg smiled. "Very true."

They reached the lobby and Flynn started towards the small restaurant across from the elevators.

"We're not eating there," Meg told him.

Flynn turned back to face her. "This is where my dad always takes me."

Meg shook her head. "That place is for business meals and people who are so wrapped in work they can't even be bothered to leave the building for lunch. We're going somewhere else."

Meg led Flynn halfway down the block to small pizza place. It was pretty busy with the lunch rush, but they were still able to get a table. The hostess gave them their menus and a promise that their server would be with them soon, then left.

"Do you come here on your lunch break often?" Flynn asked, opening his menu.

"I've actually never been here. But, whenever Hades gets pizza for everybody at work, he always gets it from here."

"I'm guessing the food must be good or you wouldn't have brought me here."

"It is. Get whatever you want, it's on me."

"You don't have to do that; I can pay for lunch."

Meg leaned over the table and lowered her voice. "Flynn, I'm pretty sure I make more money than you."

"Megara. I probably made your paycheck in tips on Saturday night alone."

Flynn worked as a bartender at a male strip club. It wasn't exactly a glamorous job, but he made really good money. It was a pretty nice place, actually. Meg had only been there once, this past summer. One of the women she works with was having her bachelorette party there and invited all of the women from the office. Meg hadn't wanted to go, but she knew Flynn was working that night, so she figured she'd stop by to say hi to him and finally see the place. It was far classier than she was expecting.

But, regardless of how nice the place looked, it was still a strip club and Flynn's ex, Rapunzel, had a problem with it. She found out where he worked the week before Christmas last year and broke up with him because of it. Now, everything that has to do with Christmas is a reminder of the breakup and that's why Flynn is skipping Christmas this year.

"Good point," Meg conceded. "But, you were stood up, so this is my treat."

"Fine. But, I've got the next one."

"Deal."

OOOOO

After dinner Tuesday night, Triton left to see an old friend and Ariel and Athena took over the kitchen to bake cookies; leaving Eric and Ariel's sisters to wrap the drive items they all bought yesterday. Eric had been dreading being left alone with Ariel's sisters, since he had no idea how to break up their fights. But, while they were wrapping, they were all in a good mood and none of them started arguing.

Eric finished wrapping one of the presents and put it in the large plastic container they were going to use to transport all of the presents back to Al's. As he was making his way back to his work station, the doorbell rang.

"Eric, can you get that?" Ariel called out from the kitchen.

"Yeah, I got it."

Eric maneuvered through the living room, stepping carefully around Ariel's sisters, the unwrapped presents, and the numerous wrapping supplies strewn about the floor. He made it over to the foyer and opened the door. John was standing on the other side.

"Hey," Eric greeted him. "Come on in." He stepped back to make room for John to come inside.

"Who is it?" Ariel came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her Christmas apron. "Oh, hi, John."

"Hello, Ariel. It feels like it's been a while since I've seen you."

"We've been pretty busy." Ariel motioned to all of the people around the house. "Everyone, this is our next door neighbor, John."

Everyone greeted him and then went back to what they were doing.

"Well, I should get back in the kitchen to help my mom. But, it was nice seeing you, John."

"You, too." After Ariel went back in the kitchen, John turned his attention to Eric. "Did I come by at a bad time? Are you busy?"

"No, it's fine. We're just wrapping our presents for the drive."

A look of disappointment flashed across John's face. "Oh. I guess that answers my question. I came by to ask if you're going shopping for the drive with us tomorrow."

"We went yesterday. Ariel thought her family would enjoy it."

"You don't have to explain. Anyway, I should get going." John opened the door. "It was nice meeting all of you."

Ariel's sisters all gave him a half-hearted wave, not looking up from their wrapping. John left.

Eric felt terrible about not only missing out on their tradition, but also doing it with someone else instead. He knew John wouldn't be upset with him about it since he wasn't that type of person; still Eric didn't want to leave it like this. He pulled on his boots and went after John. By the time he made it outside, John was already back in his house.

Eric jogged across his driveway and John's yard and knocked on his door. John opened it a moment later.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"I was really hoping I would be able to go with you guys, but I'm just not going to have the time," Eric told him.

"I understand."

"I know you do. I just wanted you to know that I wanted to go with you."

"I know."

Eric nodded. "I didn't know Ariel's family being here would be so demanding on my time. I honestly don't think I'll be able to make it for Christmas, either. Ariel has the whole day planned."

"Mom will be disappointed to hear that."

"I'm disappointed, too. But, I'll try to find some time between now and Christmas to go over there and see her."

"Why don't you just split the day between Ariel's family and us?"

"I would, but it's just so important to Ariel that I spend the day with her."

"It's important to us, too."

The wind howled and Eric wrapped his arms around himself. He hadn't grabbed his coat and his sweater wasn't doing much to keep him warm. "I've only spent a couple of Christmases with your family; I didn't think it mattered to them one way or the other."

"Well, now that you know it does, please try to be there. You don't have to stay long; but, it would mean a lot to all of us to see you on Christmas."

"I'll try," Eric promised.