She was running away from her date. She didn't even bother going. Half way there she decided to turn around and run. She wasn't sure where she was running to. She passed her house, her school, the park she used to go to when she was little and at least ten different boutiques she regularly checked for new outfits. At some point she reached a cafe she and her best friend, Sophie, regularly ate at on Friday afternoons. She walked in without hesitation at not out of breath in the slightest, despite her marathon running. She ordered a hot chocolate from Dan and sat down at a table.

She found her earmuffs there waiting for her. She immediately grabbed them and put them on. Followed by an overwhelmingly sweet sip of hot chocolate. Suddenly she was over come by the warm and comforting feelings of safety and security. She felt the rush of hot tears and before she could stop them, they flowed. She was bawling now. Sitting at the table all alone. The rest of the restaurant had faded away and it was just her sitting in the enter and crying left. She had felt safe and happy and it scared her. She wasn't ready for feelings of comfort after she was still shaken up over the Vesper attack. She didn't want to feel safe. She just wanted to let herself be free and do crazy things that were dangerous and fun, like skydiving or bungee jumping. She wanted to live life with a feeling a adrenalin at times and come back home to comfort. But she wasn't ready for the comfort part. She just wasn't...

I felt a hand on my shoulder and bolted awake. I was breathing very raggedly and barley noticed that Sinead was holding me up. Thank goodness I was sharing a room with her. With out her sitting me up I would have collapsed on the bed again. I heard Sinead begin to talk to me. I looked up at her face and saw she was a little concerned.

"...don't worry. I just called Ian to come here. He'll be here soon and you can talk to him then." She explained, "Okay?"

"Alright." I answered, my breathing finally slowing. I put my head back down on the bed and waited for my brother to come. I was calmer now but still a little worried. I must have been acting a little weird for Sinead to call my brother.

Ian walked in the room while I was half asleep. I heard him and Sinead talk about something that sounded like 'almost had a seizure.' This got me very awake. I heard Ian walk next to me as the door closed behind Sinead as she left to give us some privacy.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Ian said in his 'fatherly' voice.

I turned around to face him. "In my dream I was crying like mad, but then I was woken up by Sinead." I never bothered fighting with him. He knew me too well.

"We all have nightmares Natalie." He say kindly, "I'm sure it was just a result of the stress you endured during dinner tonight." He gave me a small smile.

"I'm sure you're right Ian" I said with hope, "It's been an odd day for me. But tomorrow is Christmas! Everything will be much better." I said, half talking to myself. With that he kissed me on the forehead, bid me good night and we were both back to bed. I didn't have anymore dreams that night. Thank goodness.

Christmas morning was wonderful. We all had a hearty breakfast of french toast with maple syrup and your choice or coffee or juice. All curtsey of Nellie and Fiske. They really are quite kind. We ate while we opened gifts under the tree in the living room. The boys got mostly cloths and gift cards. I got some tops from the Holts, some shoes from the Starlings, a pair of earrings from Jonah and a necklace from Fiske and Nellie. But the highlight was defiantly the moss green party dress from Amy and 'Dan'. But I knew the whole thing was Amy's choice. I walked over to them to thank them the hanger around my neck so it fell as it I was wearing the dress.

"Amy I must say you did an exquisite job of picking out this dress!" I said happily. I wasn't lying. It fell just above my knees, but it was longer in the back. The middle had an empire waist band encrusted with jewels. As was the bodice. But it was all tied together perfectly by the wonderful moss green colour that matched my darker skin perfectly. "Thank you so, so much!" I was grinning from ear to ear. I really did love it.

"Thanks Natalie! I'm really happy you like it." Amy said matching my smile.

Dan pouted. "Hey, I picked the colour!" He said slightly annoyed. "She wanted the bright pink one." He said casting a slightly disgusted look Amy's direction.

I thought about it and he was right. Bright pink would be very assaulting to the senses. "Well thank you very much Daniel" I said as though I were speaking to a child. He brightened up significantly.

After we finished opening everything it was already two p.m., we had gone past lunch! We were all starving. We decided to order from the 'finest oriental food place thing open on Christmas in Attleboro!' as Daniel put it. It wasn't half bad. I had chicken and sweetcorn soup witch was actually quite good. As the afternoon set in the boys went outside to play more of their silly snowball game. Dan making a huge point of him wearing my earmuffs. As Nellie began cooking the rest of us piled into the kitchen to help her. That's were things got interesting...