Today's story was actually two different ideas I had and put them together, featuring the Fox Quintuplets (those kids in the sitting bull episode)

hope you enjoy!

Story 9: A Quintuplet Clause

Prompt/Premise: The Fox kids want to prove that Santa Claus is real

The Fox children were wrestling each other at their home, four nights before Christmas. They were doing it without breaking something or each other. Their parents didn't mind if they did that if they weren't breaking something. Pam, the eldest of the quintuplets and only girl, held Stevie down in a head lock. Richie watched them and played referee. Scott and Zachary were waiting for their turn.

"Are you going to give up?" Pam asked.

"Never!" Stevie yelled.

"Alright, kids, it's time for bed, "their mother called.

"Awww, but Mom…" Richie didn't finish that whine as Pam elbowed him.

"Yes Mom, we will be going right now," Pam said.

The group of siblings walked past their mother and went upstairs to their bedroom, without a moan. In the room, they started to change into their pajamas. Richie got mad at Scott for having the wrong ones, Richie wore the yellow ones, Scott wore blue, and Scott had the yellow ones.

"Now wait, you guys can't fight, remember?" Pam said.

"I wasn't going to fight him; here you go, give me mine!" Scott said.

"Ugh, this Santa stuff is stressful," Zachary said, as he jumped into his bed.

"It's not like we're bad; everyone else just doesn't understand us," Stevie said, as he got into his bed.

"It's only a few more days," Pam reassured them,

"You know that Lisa girl said that we're wasting our time, and there is no Santa Claus," Richie said.

"Don't listen to Lynn's silly sister, she's just probably bad and going to get no presents," Scott replied.

Scott scurred into his bed, Pam got into hers, and finally, Richie got into his. They had a couple minutes before their parents would come in to read a story, tuck them in, and say good night.

"I just realized, Mom, didn't say take a bath," Scott said.

"Sssh, don't remind her," Richie said.

"It's not like we've seen Santa for real, she could be right," Zachary replied.

His siblings looked at him. Earlier that day, they had spent time with their babysitter, Lynn Loud, who was watching them while their mother was out shopping. She had brought her younger sister, Lisa, with her. Lisa told them that there was no Santa Claus. The natural thing to do was to ask Lynn who denied Lisa's statement and then scowled her younger sister. It seemed to have bubbled as an idea between the Fox kids.

"There's something we could do," Pam answered.

"Set up a trap for Santa?" Richie asked.

"What?" Scott asked, "I'm not going to try and trap some guy."

"No, we aren't going to trap, Santa," Pam replied.

The rest of what she had to say was going to have to wait until morning, their father came into the room, holding book. The next morning, Pam looked at the fireplace she looked up and down the thing. Her father was slightly amused as he kissed her on the head and left for work. Their mother was next, she kissed her quints and told them to be good for the babysitter. Since school was off, and their parents still having to work, they needed a babysitter and this meant, Lynn Loud.

"Hey Fox Quints!" Lynn said in her normal excited tone.

"I have also returned," Lisa Loud said.

The kids scowled at her. Lynn was holding a bag full of something she'd brought, they wondered was in it this time. Lisa had brought a bag as well, and they wondered if she was going to explode something again.

"Oh, but first, I need your bathroom, haven't gone since before yesterday's game," Lynn said.

The teenager ran to the bathroom, leaving her sister with the quints. They started to leer into Lynn's bag, but stopped themselves. Richie looked at Lisa, he wondered what the girl was doing by rubbing a cotton swab on the Fox family couch.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I am collecting bacterial samples from this couch; I believe, I shall find a multitude of bacterial species," she said.

"Were you lying about there not being a Santa Claus?" Scott asked.

"Oh, that again, I've already expressed my feelings on the matter, and those haven't changed," Lisa replied.

"We're going to prove you wrong, Lisa Loud," Pam said with such bravado.

The four-year-old girl in the green turtleneck folded her arms across her chest. Pam had her hands on her shoulders and a scowl on her face.

"Is this a standoff?" Zachary asked.

"Sssh," Richie said.

"You know, just because you can do whatever you're doing to our couch, doesn't mean Santa isn't real," Pam said.

"Yeah, maybe you're just bad and gets you nothing you want," Stevie said.

Then Richie elbowed him in the stomach. He groaned and held his stomach and laid on the floor. Lisa adjusted her glasses.

"My answers are based in scientific fact, a mere human can't do what Santa is supposedly doing, especially at his weight and age; and there's no scientific basis of magic," Lisa said.

"You sound fun," Scott said.

He eluded his brother's elbowing by kicking Richie in the shin preemptively. Pam turned her head and scowled at her brothers; they were supposed to be acting good for Santa.

"Lisa, we're going to prove you wrong," Pam said.

Lynn came back before anything else could happen, and it looked like they are just talking and nothing else.

"Alright, get your coats on, we're going to play ice hockey, outside!" Lynn exclaimed.

"Yeah!" the quints cheered and quickly dashed up to their room.

Lynn looked at her younger sister, who had gone back to looking swabbing the couch.

"I hope you didn't start that Santa stuff again," Lynn said.

"I assure you; I didn't start anything about that Claus fella," Lisa replied.

"You can do that with Lola or Lana, they'll ignore you mostly anyway, but you shouldn't mess with their fun," Lynn said.

Lisa was surprised to hear Lynn talk that way; maybe watching the quints brought out a maternal instinct in her that she hadn't seen much. The teenager grabbed her coat and put it on, then got the hockey stuff out of the bag. The Fox kids ran downstairs and got excited.

"Come on, Lisa, play with us!" Stevie replied.

"I don't commit myself to such dangerous acts," Lisa replied.

"What?" Stevie asked.

"I think she's saying no," Scott answered.

"She's no fun," Zachary said.

After spending time outside, it was time for lunch. The Fox kids sat down with Lisa around their dinning room table. The matter of Santa Claus wasn't brought up yet, Pam's idea was something she didn't want Lynn and Lisa to know about. Through the day, Lynn watched the kids until their mother came home.

"Thank you once again, Lynn," Mrs. Fox said.

The woman grabbed her wallet and paid Lynn, along with a Christmas bonus. She also gave Lisa a Christmas snack cake and a ten-dollar bill. Lynn wished them Merry Christmas, since she wouldn't be seeing them for a while. They hugged her and to show their mother the were good, they hugged Lisa as well.

Later that evening, Pam told her brothers about her plans with Santa. They gathered in the room, the boy sitting with their legs folded.

"We pretend to go to sleep and then when Mom and Dad are hopefully sleeping, we wait for Santa to come then rush and take a picture with this camera," Pam said.

"Then we trap him?" Richie asked.

"What? No, we still want our gifts, Richie," Pam said.

"Alright, kids time for your bath," their father as he walked to the doorway.

The next day was Christmas Eve, they couldn't screw up now, so they nodded, and it was time for them to pick the order of what quint would get to go. The best way to decide that was quick arm-wrestling matches, Scott beat Zachary meaning, Zachary had to go first, Pam beat Stevie, meaning Stevie had to go Second, Richie beat Scott, meaning Scott had to go third, Pam beat Richie meaning, Richie was 4th, and she was last.

Christmas eve! The day had finally come! The Fox quints got up and made their beds without being asked, they got dressed without being asked, they made sure that they were being super good. For breakfast, their mother had made oatmeal, they ate it without grievance. Mrs. Fox made a joke wondering where her quints had gone. They went outside, after breakfast, and played in the snow.

"What if Santa doesn't want his picture taken?" Scott asked.

"He does seem like a guy who doesn't want to be seen," Zachary said.

"We have to prove to Lisa Loud that Santa Claus is real, so she'll stop being so smug," Stevie said.

Pam took a clump of snow in her glove covered hand and smooshed it, and the mess fell in the ground. She wondered something, something she had seen in a movie, many of her ideas came from movies or TV shows. She ran into the house and found her mother working on writing something.

"Pam, what are you doing?" her mother asked.

"Waiting for you to finish, so I could ask you something," Pam replied.

"What do you want to ask me?" Mrs. Fox questioned.

"You know Lynn brought her little sister, the one in the green with the glasses?" Pam asked, not knowing if her mother knew Lynn's sister's name.

"Yeah?"

"She said that Santa Claus isn't real."

Mrs. Fox put her red pen down and looked slightly away from her daughter with a wonder of what her eldest child would say next.

"And?" she asked, it was a neutral way to get more information.

"Isn't that kind of sad?" Pam asked.

Mrs. Fox hadn't expected that question, she thought her daughter was going to say something else, something that she had played out in her mind. She looked at her daughter with brown hair, curly in nature, done with two pigtail puff ball in the back, looking at her eyes pierce her with a face that wanted some answers.

"Hmm," was all she could say.

"You believe in Santa Claus, right?" Pam asked.

"Well, for you guys I do, I did stop when I was a kid," Mrs. Fox said.

"Really, why?" Pam asked.

"Well, I was nine-years-old, and Santa didn't get me something I wanted, and I stopped believing in him," the woman said.

"Your parents didn't get it for you either?" Pam asked.

"Hmm nah, I never asked them," her mother replied.

The young girl was done with the conversation and walked away. Her mother shrugged and continued to what she was doing before.

Throughout the day, the Fox family had some pre-Christmas Day fun. That evening, the Fox kids went to bed, their parents tucked them in, and told them that Santa would soon be there. It was quiet, the room was only lit by the small fiber optic Christmas tree the corner changing colors. Pam looked over at the other beds, her brothers were sleeping, and they weren't faking. She slinked out of bed and carefully put on her slippers. Towards the door she walked, carefully twisting the knob, the door made a slight sound when she moved it from its seal; she paused, waited for nothing to move, and slowly etched her way out of the room. Finally, as she made it downstairs, she looked at the tree, there were gifts there, but she knew those were from her parents and relatives. Santa hadn't shown up yet. She had been too early, so she got into the couch and curled up under a blanket and waited. She had fallen asleep.

Bump, there was a bump. That woke her up. Carefully she opened her eyes and saw a figure in a red and white suit from behind. She realized who this was. Carefully, like she was trying to not scare a deer away, she sat up on the couch. She had also seen a TV special where a green figure dressed like Santa and was stealing a little girl's Christmas tree, she hoped that this wasn't the case. The man turned around and spotted her.

"It's Pam Fox," he said. His voice was low, British, and sound comforting.

Pam was slightly surprised he knew her name so quickly. She didn't speak, just smiled. The man wasn't green and looked like a real Santa Claus and not her father. Finally, she gained some confidence and spoke. "Are you Santa," she whispered.

"Yes, I am," he answered.

"I'm sorry, I disturbed, and know I should be sleep," she said, "But I wanted to see you."

"Ah, yes, you wanted to prove I was real," he said.

"Well, I wanted to prove to someone else you were real, but then I changed my mind, kind of," she answered.

"Really?"

"Yeah, well you see there's a girl who doesn't believe in you, her name is Lisa Loud."

Santa nodded; he figured the girl was nervous talking to such a figure as he. He was patient and let her talk at her own pace.

"And…I wanted to prove to her you were real, with a picture, but…there's something else I want to ask instead."

"Ask away."

"I don't want her to be sad on Christmas, could you give her something special?"

"You are truly concerned for her?"

"Well, my Mom told me she stopped believing in you when she didn't get something she wanted for Christmas, a long time ago, and I thought what if Lisa didn't get something she really wanted, and she stopped thinking you were real."

Santa rubbed his chin, then found the milk and cookies out for him. He took a bite then drank some milk.

"I'm surprised, not many kids have really had this chance of meeting me, and they usually ask for something for themselves, but I think I can do something, if that's what you truly want."

"Am I on the nice list?"

He patted her on the head and bend down to reach her eye level.

"You know that list, it's never has hard lined as it's made to sound; Most children aren't always nice or always naughty. They're humans, young humans, trying to understand the world, like you and your brothers. Sometimes there are things you do that are strange and unacceptable, but you at least try to something good as well. The point is to always keep trying, even little things go a long way. Just keep trying."

"Thank you, Santa."

"Now, now, you should get along to sleep, so I can finish what I need to do."

"Could I have a hug first?"

"Of course."

Pam liked his hug, it felt like warmth and joy personified. It was like a favorite shirt wrapping around her. Then as promised, she carefully walked upstairs and went back to bed and back to sleep.

Christmas morning had come, the quints ran to their parents' room and woke up their parents. They opened gifts, amazing gifts like skateboards, wrestling outfits, and a punching bag. Pam and Scott got a couple dolls, there were some stuffed animals, plus some boring things like socks, underwear, and a dictionary from a great-aunt. They also got toy guns that shot little soft pellet things. Mr. and Mrs. Fox looked at each other wondering where those came from.

"Mom, Dad, what did you guys get for Christmas?" Richie asked.

The parents showed off some of their gifts, including five gifts from certain quintuplets. Then Mr. Fox went to the kitchen to make some coffee, and Mrs. Fox went to start breakfast. Pam was excited to tell her brothers some news.

"While you guys slept, I met him," she said.

"Who?" Zachary asked.

"Santa Claus," Pam replied.

"Oh really?" Richie asked.

"Yeah, he was really nice, I uh…forgot the camera though," Pam replied.

"Hmmm," Scott said.

"That's just like Santa Claus, he made you forget the camera because he knew your plan," Stevie said.

"Too bad we missed him!" Zachary said.

"And we can't prove to Lisa that he's real," replied Richie.

Pam rubbed her chin and shook her head.

"I'm sure she'll know he's real," she affirmed.

"What makes you say that?" Zachary replied.

"It's a feeling," she answered.

They went on playing with each other, by shooting each other with the guns. Richie and Scott played dead after being shot; Stevie went with the zombie approach and slowly chased Pam for her gun, and Zachary kept trying to shoot the zombie Stevie to stop him, unit he ran out of "ammo". They later spent their day playing with their other new toys and stuff and running around.

A few days later, when their parents had to work, Lynn had to come over to baby sit them once again. She had also brought Lisa again. The quints were excited to show Lynn their new stuff, and the boys wanted to tell Lisa about Pam meeting Santa. Instead, Pam walked over and hugged Lisa, not saying anything, just a hug. Lynn was surprised, she also had noticed that for some reason, her younger sister really wanted to come with her this time. Lynn also had to use the bathroom again.

"Pam, are you going to tell her you met Santa?" Stevie asked.

"Yeah, you should tell her," Zachary said.

"It's not like she's going to believe it, though," Richie remarked.

"Guys, calm down," Pam said.

The girl turned her attention to Lisa, who was reading a book on the couch. They formed a crowd around her.

"Lisa, did you get anything interesting for Christmas?" Pam asked.

"Depends on what you mean by interesting," Lisa answered.

"Like something from Santa?" Pam requestioned.

The 4-year-old genius was quiet for a moment, she then pulled something out of her bag. It was a picture.

"I guess, I was misinformed, I ended up with photo evidence of Mr. S. Claus," she said.

The quints were surprised, their mouths dropped. She was holding a picture of a Santa from the rear. Each one took a turn looking at the picture, then they looked at Pam because she was the Santa expert.

"Is that really him, since you met him?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, I think so, I saw him from the front more, but looks like him," she answered.

"I also apparently got this," Lisa replied, holding a toy stuffed fox.

"You asked for a stuffed fox?" Stevie asked.

"No, I did not ask for a stuffed fox," Lisa replied.

"Who gave it to you?" Richie asked.

"Nobody in my household attested to give me such a thing, the package said from Santa, and I'm inclined to think that…." Lisa said.

"You believe in Santa, now?" Stevie asked.

"I think I do," Lisa said, "It doesn't make sense, it shouldn't make sense, scientifically it's impossible for such a person to exist, yet, I'm not even sure anymore."

"So. you aren't happy?" Pam asked.

"I'm not inclined to like such frivolous things, but this Vulpes model made of soft materials is kind of affectionate, it's not something anyone would think to give me," she said.

"Was that a yes?" Scott questioned.

"I'm happy," she said.

"That's funny, our last name is Fox and she got a fox," Zachary said.

Lynn came back from the bathroom to the sight of the Fox kids sitting around Lisa as she was reading her book. They were quiet and just sitting there as Lisa read to them about foxes. All Lynn could do was shrug andgo see if what there was to eat.