Disclaimer: I do not own Home Alone.
"For the record," Marv suddenly spoke up within the silence that surrounded them in the van, "I'm not scared of the dark." It had irritated the bandit after Harry had accused him of being afraid of the dark. In contrast, Marv had his fear of the dark when he had first began this business with Harry, mostly due to hearing noises from nocturnal animals or the fear of being caught, but he had slowly grown out of that.
Harry, however, wasn't even listening to his friend. His mind had been stuck on those kids that they had seen in that house. It seems that their job had not only become easier after what they had been through getting to that house, but they had hit the jackpot with those kids. What they would do with those kids, Harry didn't know yet but what he did know was that they were going to hit that house tonight, especially during the hours when children would normally be asleep.
Marv on the other hand was a bit reluctant about the scheme. He wanted to be of help to Harry and get his share of the loot, but they were dealing with kids. What if they had seen them? Would they be calling the cops? The last thing that Marv wanted was to be thrown in jail. It would be the first time in his life ever since he had begun this job with Harry and throughout those times, he had feared that they would eventually be caught. That fear had diminished after so many years, but none of their heists had involved children. "I'm not too sure about this Harry," Marv spoke up once again. "I mean, they're only kids."
"That's the point Marv," Harry spoke, irritated that Marv had interrupted him from his thoughts, "they're kids! What're they going to do to us? Don't think too much of it! We'll be in, grab the loot, and get out. Like I said, I have had my eyes on that house and I ain't gonna let two kiddies get in the way!"
Marv heard the irritation in Harry's voice. He was aware about how much Harry wanted to steal from that house and there was no point in continuing this argument with him. When Harry set his mind towards something, he wanted to finish it and this house was no exception whether there were children in there or not. "What are we going to do after?" Marv then asked.
Harry had been thinking about that. The families were bound to call the police after their homes had been raided and that would put the both of them at risk. "We leave Chicago and settle some place else," Harry answered, "we can't stay here after we've hit the Silver Tuna."
"Where will we go?" Marv asked.
"I have yet to think about that Marv," Harry replied. That was one of the problems. Where would they go? There were so many places where they could go and hide and perform other heists but that location had to be a good one. One where it was fully populated and where the chances of recognizing them would be low. There was a problem that remained in this whole situation...and that was Amy. What would she think after she would find out the fact that they needed to leave Chicago? If Harry knew better, Amy was a very curious woman and her cursorily was something that Harry needed to be cautious of. One slip of the tongue from either him or Marv and the whole scheme was over, not to mention his marriage with her.
As if Marv had been reading Harry's thoughts he asked, "what about Amy?"
At the question, Harry gripped tightly onto the steering wheel and looked ahead of him. "What about her?" he asked as if she had never crossed his mind.
"What would she think?" Marv continued, "we have been keeping this a secret from her the whole time."
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious Marv," Harry replied, slowly growing irritated by his friend's words. "And you know well that we can't tell her about this whole thing!" How they were going to keep this whole thing hidden from her, that was something that Harry was still trying to think about. After all of the plans that he had gone through, this was something that he needed to think hard about. He just couldn't abandon her and leave her here in Chicago while he and Marv simply disappeared.
"Will she find out?" Marv asked.
"What is this, twenty questions?" Harry shot back at his fellow friend and sent his a harsh glare before turning his eyes back on the road. However, that was one of the main problems. What if she did find out? Would she be against their whole scheme or join them in? Nah there's no way in hell that she would join us! Harry thought to himself at the idea of Amy joining them on their heists. She didn't seem to be that type of person to have a life of crime.
At Harry's snap, Marv remained silent throughout the whole ride. It was Christmas Eve and they only have a couple of hours until nine o'clock. He felt the van come to a stop and the apartment was right into their view and Marv was relieved to see it. He had the sudden urge to just jump into his bed and sleep the night away, or until Harry would wake him up for their heist.
"Let's go," Harry said as he shut off the van and bundled up in his coat and scarf and made his way into the apartment. Marv followed after Harry as the two of them made their way up the stairs and over to the floor of their apartment.
"What's that smell?" Marv suddenly asked as a delicious aroma wafted over to his nose and he sniffed the air. His eyes suddenly brightened at the thought of a home cooked meal. During those past couple of nights, it had been either fast food or Chinese food. Marv didn't mind so much on those types of cuisines, but it had been so long ever since he had a decent meal.
Harry stopped short at the idea of there even being a Christmas Eve meal. How had Amy been able to afford it? Had she gotten her hands on those three hundred dollars that Harry hid underneath some objects in a dresser after she had been sleeping? He hoped that wasn't the case! Placing his hand on the doorknob Harry pulled open the door and right in the little dining room, there was only a small assortment of food along with Amy.
The woman before them was dressed in an old black dress, one that was far too familiar to Harry. When the door had opened, Amy looked up at the two men with a smile. "You're finally here," she said as she walked up to Marv and gave him a warm hug and then wrapped her arms around Harry. "And just in time too."
"How did you manage to get all of this?" was the first thing that Harry said.
Amy was taken aback by his words, but she knew that she shouldn't have been too surprised about that. Harry was quite the unpredictable man. "Well, I did have a little bit of money-"
"What money?" Harry interrupted.
Amy titled her head to the side at his imposing question. "Some money that I was trying to save up from my last job," Amy answered him, "you know? That waitress job that I was laid off from?" she said as she looked at Harry. "I had some of that and I spent it on a little Christmas Even dinner. It's not much but-" she was about to say when Marv interrupted it.
"It's remarkable!" the tall man exclaimed, "isn't it Harry?" he gave him a light smack on the arm as if to tell him not say any wise-cracks to his wife. Marv knew that it wasn't any of his business on what Harry and Amy did, but for one thing she was a friend of his just like Harry was, and it was also Christmas Eve.
"Yeah, I guess," Harry replied and sent Marv a glare for hitting him on the arm.
Amy looked up at Marv and gave him a warm smile. "Thank you for your words Marv." She had other words at the tip of her mouth but she bit her tongue to stop herself from saying them. She would have liked a little appreciation from Harry but that wasn't one of the many things that was bothering her. "Well, wash up and I will join you for dinner soon," she said to them before she fast paced over to the bedroom that she shared with Harry.
Seeing the way that she walked, Harry shook his head believing that it was how she felt towards his attitude. "Now what?" he mumbled under his breath and looked over to the room whose door was shut.
"Look at what you-" Marv was about to say but got interrupted.
"Shut up and wash up!" Harry snapped at him before he took the lead and marched over to the bedroom where Amy was. As he walked in, he noticed her sitting at the edge of the bed with her back turned to him. Harry wasn't the type of person to apologize to anybody about anything and he wasn't going to start doing it now. "Amy look," Harry said and shut the door behind him before approaching her. He noticed Amy shaking her head before he even said anything. "I haven't even said anything! Why're you shaking your head?" he asked a bit loudly than he had intended to.
Getting up from the bed, Amy whipped around and looked at him. "Harry," she said and immediately approached him, "do you...do you know that it's been eight years since we...since we lost it?" she asked as she bit her lower lip and without thinking, placed a hand on her stomach.
At first, Harry was confused by what she meant. Lost...it? Lost what? But it wasn't long until he had long realized what she was meaning by that. Looking at the dress that she wore, it was the same one that she had worn ten years ago. "Amy," Harry said, his voice low and every bit of anger that was in there was gone. "Don't think about it. Not right now."
Amy looked down at her's and Harry's shoes that were planted on the ground. "Eight years," she said in a low voice feeling water rising up in her eyes, "it would have been eight."
Harry grabbed a hold of her hands and looked at her. "Stop thinking about it," he said to her, "don't be like you were eight years ago." When it had happened, Harry had been there during that time. He remembered how distraught Amy had been that she had began to blame herself for it. That dark place that she had been in her mind had taken Harry a long time to get her out of it. Every Christmas Eve she had remembered about that fateful day, but it had never been as bad as this.
"It was my fault," she said in a hushed tone of voice and felt a tear beginning to roll down her face.
"No, stop it," Harry said and bought his hand over to the side of her face where he swiped the tear away, "what happened was not your fault, alright? C'mere honey," he said and enveloped his arms around her in an embrace.
Amy didn't hesitate and let him take her into a hug and she wrapped her arms around him in return. Sentimental person or not, even the bandit had his rare moments of sharing them. It wasn't long until she pulled away from Harry and looked at him. "Sorry," she apologized and wiped her eyes away, "it's not a good way to start Christmas Eve, is it?"
"Just as long as you're okay, it will be a fine Christmas Eve," he said.
Those words took Amy by surprise. For someone who said that he hated Christmas this was something that she didn't expect, but it was very sweet of him. Taking a deep breath and shaking her thoughts away from her mind, she looked at Harry. "Let's go and have some dinner. I think Marv is waiting for us."
"Unless he ate everything before we got there," Harry added and followed Amy out of the bedroom and to the small dining room for their Christmas dinner.
