2016 just needs to die already. We need a break.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, Carrie Fisher is dead, and I took out my grief by stabbing a sheet of paper with '2016' written on it with my lightsaber.

But enough about that, let's continue the story! We get to finally hear about one of the mystery characters! Yay!

Ahh, December 27. The day where you hadn't fully recovered from the Christmas hype, but enough to stop obsessing over everything. And the day where traffic was excessive in the city.

Luckily, this didn't stop our crew from reuniting at the next stop in the Great Christmas Tour: Ed and Edna's Scrap and Junk (or according to the sign, Crap and Junk. They really need to fix that).

As Jay and Zane waited outside, the cars arrived one by one.

The first, in a taxi, was Bri. The bubbly blonde was once again sporting a sling, which she explained later was her brother's fault, but it didn't stop her from hugging the two boys tightly with greetings of a "late merry Christmas."

The next was the minivan with Cole. He parked it then proceeded to go up to Bri to kiss her. After a quick clearing of the throats of Zane and Jay, he went to hug his "brothers".

The last taxi arrived, revealing Nya, who sported a huge smile on her face as she walked up to hug her roommate and then Jay. They stayed like that for a while until Nya lifted her head to whisper in his ear. His face lit up with a huge smile as she leaned up to kiss him, which he happily reciprocated.

"That's new." Bri said.

"Hey, at least they're together now." Cole said.

Zane didn't say anything. He was too busy texting Luna and Skylor the news.

"Jay! Are your friends here yet?" Ed came out of the trailer looking for his son, only to see him making out with a girl he hadn't seen before. "Edna, get the camera! Jay's kissing a girl!"

"Ed, leave the poor boy alone." Edna came out and cleared her throat, interrupting the couple. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" she said to Jay and Zane.

"Uh, sure." Jay straightened his coat. "Ma, Dad, this is my best friend Cole, his girlfriend Bri, and," he took a deep breath as Nya grabbed his hand, "my girlfriend Nya."

At that point, Ed and Edna rushed down to shake hands with Nya.

"It's so nice to finally meet you! Jay has been telling us about the girl he had a crush on for a while now, and it's nice to finally see he finally asked you!"

"Ma!" Jay seethed while Nya blushed.

"Anyway, you three can stay in the guest trailer. Ed, show them the way."


Dinner that night was interesting, to say the least. Ed and Edna decided to tell all of Jay's baby stories. Jay had sunken in his seat as Bri, Cole, and even Nya laughed. Even Zane let out a few chuckles even though he had heard these stories before.

"Alright sure, laugh at the nerd's expense. Go ahead." Jay muttered under his breath.

"Sorry, Jay," Bri said while wiping her eyes, "we all have embarrassing stories. If it makes you feel better, I fainted at my dad's wedding."

"And I once tried to film myself playing my guitar and ended up with a broken string thwacking me in the eye." Cole said.

"Don't even get me started about the time I was caught fighting with Lloyd and my dad filmed the entire thing. He showed it to my relatives later."

This helped Jay feel better a bit. So they ended up telling embarrassing stories that night at the table. The mood was jovial, until...

"Jay, I almost forgot. I got clearance for your sister to come celebrate New Years with us!" Edna announced.

Jay did a spit take, as the guests stared at him confused.

"Jay, what's she talking about?" Bri asked.

"Yeah Jay, what is she talking about?" Cole repeated.

Jay groaned. "Okay, this was going to happen sooner or later, and as much as I was hoping for later, I guess we are doing this now."

"Get on with it, Jay." Cole said.

"So I found out this summer I was adopted." Everyone's eyes widened. Ed and Edna placed a hand on each of his shoulders. "My dad wasn't able to take care of me, so he left me here. I found out about it this summer after finding the note he left my parents. They gave me his address, and I found him."

"Who is he?" Nya asked.

"Cliff Gordon."

This time, Bri did a spit take. "THE Cliff Gordon?"

"Yes. I only met him twice. Then the accident happened."

"Yeah. I remember that. My stepsiblings are huge Fritz Donnegan fans. They were devastated." Bri looked back at the three weeks she had to take care of her siblings while their parents were on their honeymoon last summer. "I could barely coax them out of their rooms."

"What are you guys talking about?" Cole asked.

"Cliff Gordon was involved in a fatal car crash last August. Afterwards, I had gotten a letter from a rehab facility about the girl who was with him, his daughter. She had found him after her foster parents died and had stayed with him for a few weeks. She survived the accident, but she was paralyzed." Jay took a deep breath. "Her name is Lillie Gordon, she's almost 18, and I visit her at the rehab facility when I can, cause technically I'm her legal guardian until February."

"And you just told us this now because?" Cole asked.

"Hey, when it happened, you were in a coma." Jay pointed out to Cole, who shrugged. "I was going to tell you at the beginning of the year, but then Nya came and I didn't want to..." Jay trailed off, embarrassed. Nya rubbed his back as he put his head in his hands.

"It's okay, Blue Boy. We understand." She told him.

"Yeah, no sweat, Lightning Mouth." Bri said. "We all have damage. It makes us human."

Jay grinned. He loved his friends. "When is she coming, Ma?"

"Three days. She'll be thrilled to meet you guys."

Yeah, this wasn't originally in the plan, but then one day my sister and I were talking about OCs, and she brought up old ones from when Ninjago first came out 5 years ago. Lillie was originally Kai's love interest (see Coming Home), but then we kinda started talking and made her new. So next chapter we meet Lillie and another character. Who is it? You'll see.

Anyways, 2017 better not be as big an asshole as 2016 was, and if it is, well then we are all SCREWED.

Till next chapter, this is a very upset Gold Medal Ninja.