Kayla crept down the stairs as silently as she could. She could hear someone laughing downstairs, someone she was certain was real but had never seen before. Sure, she'd met him at the mall a few times, but there was always a lot of other kids around. Kayla had made it her goal, this year, that she was going to get to talk to Santa alone.
Kayla was spending the night with her grandparents, like she did almost every weekend. Mommy and Daddy liked to spend Friday nights to themselves, so she would either go to grandma Leslie's or grandpa John's. More often than not, if she ended up at grandma's, grandpa would come over, and if she ended up at grandpa's, grandma would come over. Tonight, she was at grandpa's, and she was happy for it. It was easy to hide on uncle Bobby's staircase, so she sat next to the banister and waited.
Grandma was under the Christmas tree, with a glass in her hand of the 'grown-up juice' she'd always warned Kayla to stay away from. Grandpa came up behind her, put both his arms around her middle, and kissed her cheek. Soon enough, the front door opened and in he came.
"Ho ho ho!"
Kayla put a hand to her mouth and gasped. "Santa!" she whispered.
Santa walked into the living room where grandma and grandpa were, and Kayla was too surprised to go out and meet him like she wanted. But when Santa walked into the living room, something changed. He went to grandma, grabbed her from grandpa, kissed her cheek and spun her around. Even though grandma and grandpa were both laughing, a scary thought formed in Kayla's mind.
Was Santa trying to take grandma away?
Kayla, knowing no one else would believe her, went up to bed before saying anything. She went through various plans in her mind, but dismissed them all before finally trying to go back to sleep. She had a bad dream that night. Grandma was watching her play on the playground, before Santa came up, kissed her on the cheek, and took her away. Kayla started crying, calling out for grandma to come back.
"Kayla!"
Kayla jumped in bed and woke up crying. It took a few seconds for her to realize that she was in her room at grandpa John's house, rather than at the park with grandma. Grandma was sitting on her bed and grandpa stood above her. Both of them were worried, and grandma was wiping her face where she was crying.
"Kayla, what happened? Honey, are you okay?"
"Bad dream, grandma." Kayla said, crying.
"I'll say. You were screaming." John said. "What happened in the dream, honey?"
"I not 'member." Kayla said. She knew she should tell them, but she was afraid they wouldn't believe her.
"Oh, sweetie." Leslie said. "Come here." Leslie held Kayla for a minute or two, until she stopped crying. "You ready to go back to sleep?"
"Will you stay wif me, grandma? Please?" Kayla begged. She knew grandma wanted to go spend some time with grandpa, but Kayla was scared. She needed her grandma right now. "Please?" Kayla begged again.
"Of course, sweetie. Lay back down and I'll stay until you go to sleep, okay?"
"M'kay." Kayla said.
"Come on, lay down."
Kayla laid back down on her bed, grandma rubbing her back and singing her a lullaby. Grandpa stayed close by, and Kayla felt him lean down and kiss her forehead just as she was drifting back off to sleep. She didn't have any more bad dreams that night, but when she woke up the next day, she remembered her dream right away. Kayla jumped off her bed and ran downstairs to the living room.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where's the fire?" Bobby asked.
"Uncle Bobby, where's grandma?" Kayla asked.
"She and your grandad went out to the grocery store. They'll be back soon." Bobby said. "There's a little breakfast on the table. You hungry?"
"She's gone?" Kayla asked, her big eyes filling with tears that broke Bobby's heart.
"Hey, hey. What's wrong, kiddo?" Bobby asked, bending down to pick her up. "What's with the waterworks?"
Kayla thought about telling Bobby the whole story, but she doubted he'd believe her. "Grandma's not coming back." she eventually said, the tears starting to fall quickly.
"Well, I promise you that's not true, kiddo." Bobby said, concerned with how quickly she was getting upset. "Why do you think she's not coming back?"
As if Leslie had heard Kayla crying for her, the front door opened at just that moment. John stepped in first with a couple of bags, Leslie coming in right behind him.
"See, kiddo, told 'ya." Bobby said.
"Grandma!"
Before Leslie could even register hearing Kayla, Bobby had put her down and Kayla was wrapped around Leslie's knee. Leslie handed the one bag she was carrying to John and picked up Kayla.
"What's going on with you?"
"She thought you weren't coming back." Bobby explained.
"What?" Leslie asked. "Kayla, why would you think that? Is this about your dream last night?"
"I's just scared." Kayla said. "I woke up and you not there."
"I'm sorry, sweetie." Leslie said. She was sincere but still confused; Kayla had never been afraid to be alone with Bobby before, so she'd thought that everything would be okay when they left. "I promise grandma would never leave you and not come back, okay?"
"M'kay." Kayla said.
"Will you help me and grandpa put the groceries away?"
"Yes, ma'am." Kayla said politely.
After the groceries were put away, and Kayla had been given her breakfast, Leslie was still confused. What in the world had Kayla convinced that she would leave and not come back? An hour later, when Kayla had been convinced to play in the yard while Leslie and John sat on the porch.
"What do you think is going on?" Leslie asked. "She's been clingy before, but not like this."
"I don't know." John said. "Maybe we can get Dean to coax it out of her tonight."
"Mommy! Daddy!"
Kayla stopped playing and ran towards her parents, who had just driven up. Leslie walked over, surprised to see the two of them several hours early. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We missed Kay." Jess said, tickling Kayla's stomach.
After she giggled, Kayla asked, "Do we has to go home now? Uncle Deanie's coming tonight and I need his help wif something."
"We can stay, baby." Sam said. "We were planning on visiting uncle Bobby anyway."
"Yay!" Kayla said. "Come play with me, Daddy!"
"Lead the way."
As Sam kicked a soccer ball around the front yard with Kayla, John and Leslie brought Jess up to speed with their current problem. Jess was stumped.
"Maybe Dean can get her to talk."
When Dean got to the house later that night, Kayla was waiting. When he was finished talking to all the adults, Kayla walked up to him and grabbed his hand. She pulled on it, and Dean picked her up so she could whisper in his ear.
"I need your help with something."
Intrigued, Dean walked to Kayla's room with her. "What's up, kiddo?"
"Shut the door, please. I don't want anybody to hear us." Once Dean had shut the door, Kayla said seriously, "I need your help wif something, but you got to promise not to laugh at me."
"I wouldn't laugh at you, kiddo. What's going on?"
"Santa's trying to take grandma away. I need your help to make him stay away."
A stunned Dean found he could only open and close his mouth.
"Uncle Deanie, this is serious! I need you, I can't do it by myself!"
Dean remembered his promise not to laugh a few seconds too late. "Kiddo, I need some help here. Why do you think Santa's gonna take grandma away?"
"I seen him. Last night after grandma and grandpa put me to bed. He came in the living room and he kissed grandma."
"Are you sure it wasn't grandpa?" Dean asked.
"No, it wasn't grandpa!" Kayla said, offended he didn't believe her. Why would she lie about something so bad? "And you promised not to laugh at me!"
"I'm not." Dean protested, even though he knew he was.
"Yes, you are." Kayla said, deeply hurt and upset. She turned away from Dean and crossed her arms, and broke Dean's heart when he saw a tear streak down. "Leave me 'lone."
"Kayla, kid, I'm sorry…"
"Go 'way." Kayla said again. No one was going to help her, and her grandma was going to be taken away.
Now Dean really felt like a jerk. "I'm sorry."
"Leave me 'lone. No one's gonna help me."
Dean decided he needed help with this one. He reluctantly left Kayla crying on the bed and headed back downstairs to the rest of the adults in the house. Sam was saying something, and immediately stopped when he saw the look on Dean's face.
"Dean, what is it?"
"I, um, figured out what's wrong with Kayla."
"What?" Leslie asked. "What is it?"
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but, she's convinced you're going to run off with Santa."
There was complete silence for a full five seconds as Sam and Jess processed what Dean had just told them. But a look of horror slowly crossed the faces of John, Leslie, and Bobby. Leslie was the first to start laughing, followed by John, then Bobby.
"Guys? What's going on?"
"She…" Leslie could barely speak for laughing. "She must have been watching from the staircase."
"Watching what?" Sam asked.
"Bobby was planning to dress up like Santa for Kayla on Christmas Eve. He was showing us his suit and he kissed Leslie on the cheek." John explained. "Kayla must have been watching, trying to sneak a glimpse of Santa or something."
"Balls!" Bobby said. "I never meant to scare the kid."
"It's okay, Bobby." Jess said. "But we have to fix this. If we don't, she'll be scared all the way to Christmas."
"Yeah, I know."
Kayla was certain she'd been in her room by herself for hours. None of the adults were going to believe her, so she'd have to do it herself. She'd have to keep grandma safe. If she didn't, Santa would take grandma away to the North Pole and she'd never see her again. Before she could come up with a plan, Daddy was at her door.
"Hey. There's someone here to see you."
"Who is it?" Kayla asked.
"Come on and see."
Kayla walked downstairs with Daddy, and when she got to the kitchen, there he was. Santa. Kayla grabbed Daddy's hand for courage and said loudly,
"Go away! Leave my grandma alone!"
"Honey, listen. There's been a misunderstanding." Sam said.
"What you mean?" Kayla asked.
"Ho ho ho, hello Kayla. Your uncle tells me I scared you last night."
"Yeah, you's trying to take my grandma from me." Kayla said. "She's my grandma, you can't have her."
"Kayla, Santa was just visiting us." John said. "He's a family friend. He just gave your grandma a kiss because he hadn't seen her in a long time. That's all."
Still doubtful, Kayla turned to Santa and asked, "You not trying to take grandma to the North Pole wif you?"
"No, never." Bobby promised.
"You won't take her away from me?" Kayla asked.
"Kayla." Leslie bent down and placed a hand on Kayla's cheek. "No one could ever take me away from you. If they so much as tried, grandpa would fight heaven and earth to get me back."
"You promise?" Kayla asked. "Nobody? Never?"
"Never, my sweet girl. Never."
"Okay, grandma." Kayla said, releasing Sam's hand hugging her grandma's neck.
"You feel better?"
"I do." Kayla said. She turned to Santa and said, "Sorry, Santa."
"Ho ho, it's alright."
"Grandpa? You're friends with Santa? Really?" Kayla asked.
"Really." John said with a wink.
"We all are." Sam said, thinking that letting Kayla believe it might help later on.
"Oh." Kayla said. She turned to Santa and said, "I been good. Mostly."
Everyone laughed, and Santa reassured Kayla, "I know that. I'm afraid I have to be going now. Get back to the North Pole. Busy time of year, you know?"
Kayla ran over and climbed into Santa's lap, then kissed him on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, Santa."