Sorry for the small wait for this chapter. I had a few technical problems with flow, so I hope everything reads well now. Next, I would like to say Thank-You to all who reviewed Chapter 1: CajunBear73, Comet Moon, JAKT, screaming phoenix, MrDrP, Shrike176, Yankee Bard, theotherdave, Mr. Wizard, Kwebs, Katsumara, bigherb81, Slyrr, and kim's1 fan.

Disclaimer: Do I really have to repeat this? I… don't… own… these… characters! Hope this makes the Legal Dudes happy…

Chapter 2

Kim watched dumbly as her 7 year old self ran into the kitchen where her parents were. She walked into the kitchen and stood in the doorway and suddenly she remembered what was going to occur next. She mouthed the words as the rambunctious little red head started to plead her case.

"But Moooom… The sleeves are too long, it smells of moth balls, and it makes me itch like crazy!" Kim couldn't help but feel for her younger self. After all… she had lived it.

From behind her in another room, Kim then heard two voices wailing their heads off. "Sounds like the Terrible Two have woke up Honey." Anne said. "You get Tim and I'll get Jim?"

"Sure… give me the evil one." James said with a chuckle.

"Mooooom! What about me?" Little Kimmie said, with her long sleeves held up for her mother to see.

"We'll pin up the sleeves, so you can at least use your hands, after we get back here with the twins. OK, Dear?" Kimmie slumped into a chair with a pout. "And when we get back I better not see that pout still on your face Little Missy." Kimmie's pout just seemed to deepen as she watched them walk out of the kitchen.

Kim walked over to her younger self and said to her, "Don't worry. Things will get better, trust me." She didn't expect a response since she knew her younger self couldn't hear or see her, but she was beginning to wondering just why she was here, and at this point in time.

"Here we go…" Kim heard her mother say behind her as she and her husband carried the twins into the kitchen. "I think these guys are just hungry."

"They're always hungry Mom." Little Kimmie said.

"Well, they are growing boys." James said. "I just wish they would start talking sometime soon."

"They will Dear. They will. I didn't say my first word until after I turned two." James started to open his mouth to say something, but his wife gave him a look that made him think twice about saying what had come to mind. With a bit of a smile he finished strapping Tim into his high chair.

"So Kimmie-Cub, are you excited about tomorrow?"

"How can I not be Daddy? It's Christmas!" 7 year old Kim could barely keep still in her seat as her mom set supper down in front of her, which was a bowl of steaming hot homemade vegetable beef stew.

"No…" Kim said as she stood back in a corner of the kitchen watching everything play out in front of her. "Not that Christmas… Please don't let it be that Christmas…" Her arms had involuntarily wrapped around her body, and a tear started to drop from Kim's cheek as she stood there shaking her head side to side.

"I asked Santa to bring me that special Barbara-Anne Doll and house. Everyone at school has the doll, but the house just came out, and no one else has one yet. Not even Bonnie!" Older Kim's head slumped down after hearing what her younger self wanted for a present. It really was that Christmas.

"Now Kimmie-Cub," Her Dad said with a slightly admonishing tone, "What have I told you about wanting something just to have it before others do?"

Little Kimmie dropped her head as she immediately felt the shame for what she had just said, almost mirroring her older counter-part. Her voice wasn't nearly as exuberant as it previously had been. "I'm sorry Daddy… It… it just slipped out. Do you think Santa heard?"

"Oh I don't think he heard Honey. Besides, I think if he had, he would have also seen that you are sorry for saying that. We're all entitled to a few slip-ups now and then." James smiled at his daughter, and gave a knowing wink to his wife.

"I wonder if Santa saw how sorry you were for leaning on that launch button back in October, Dear." Anne said to her husband with a bit of a smile and raised left eyebrow.

"I still think those things should be color-coded, instead of just labeled." Anne chuckled at her husband while she set a glass of cold milk next to Kimmie's bowl.

…x x x x…

For the remainder of the evening, all older Kim could do was watch her younger family go through the motions of Christmas Eve. With the twins at this age, they weren't old enough to be in the family skit, so it would be tomorrow, on Christmas Day when Nana was there.

Now that Kim knew exactly which Christmas this was, and knowing that there was no way she could stop it, she wanted to leave, but she couldn't. In fact, Kim had tried once, and her hand just passed over any doorknob she tried to grasp as if she had no substance. This confused her at first, since she was able to feel herself, and the clothes she was wearing.

So Kim just stood back and watched as her family finished their supper, and then play a couple of board games before it was announced that it was time for bed. The twins had nodded off earlier, so both parents gently carried them to their bedroom. Since Kimmie was a bit older, she didn't have to go to bed as early as her younger brothers, but she knew that soon it would be her time as well. She and her parents stayed in the Living Room watching a Rudolph special on TV, and finally little Kimmie's eyes started to droop.

"Kimmie?" Her Mom said just as her head dropped forward a bit. "Are you forgetting something?"

"Huh?" Groggy eyes looked at her Mom. "Don't you want to put out cookies and milk for Santa?"

Suddenly little Kim's sleepy eyes snapped open. "Oh yeah! How could I forget?" She bounded off the couch heading for the kitchen to get the cookies and milk. Soon she came out with a plate of cookies, a couple carrots, and a glass of milk.

"What's the carrots for?" James asked.

"For the reindeer Daddy. I would sure think they get hungry as well. I mean, they have to pull the sleigh all night." James chuckled, and agreed with his daughter while she set the plate of food and milk right next to the fireplace.

"Now on to bed with you Kimmie-Cub. Santa will know you're still up, and you know he won't be here until you go to sleep." With that, Kim watched as her younger self bound up the steps to her room. It wouldn't be much longer now.

Older Kim went ahead on up to her bedroom to watch her younger self get ready for bed. She watched the little freckled girl brush her hair, wash her face, and then brush her teeth. She chuckled a bit realizing that she always did the same thing before going to bed, in the same order, even as an adult. Old habits truly were hard to break.

It wasn't long after little Kimmie crawled in between the sheets that she fell asleep. All older Kim could do was watch and think that this little girls innocence about Christmas was about to be rocked to the very core. She really didn't want to watch, but Kim couldn't help it. It's like the morbid curiosity of on-lookers who look at a car accident as they drive by.

It only took about 15 minutes for James and Anne to silently climb the steps and look in on their daughter to make sure she was asleep before they set to their task of pulling out the other presents, and setting them up. Older Kim followed them down and saw where both parents went to.

Kim's Dad went into his study, opened his closet door, and reached up on the top shelf to pull down gifts. Anne went into the kitchen pantry, and dug behind a shelf of vegetables to get at the other gifts that they had hidden from their children. Kim saw where each of her parents hiding places were, and silently berated herself for not checking in those places when she was little.

Kim stood off to one side and watched as her parents set about their tasks of setting up the gifts that were to be from Santa Claus. They had just barely started when James stopped what he was doing, which was setting up the Barbara Anne Doll House, and said, "Anne… you know what we're forgetting?"

Kim saw her mother's shoulders slump. "James… do we have to?"

"C'mon Anne… It helps to keep in the spirit of things. Please?" Kim could see a goofy grin on her father's face.

Both James and Anne then went into their bedroom, and after only a couple minutes they came back out dressed completely different. James wore a large red coat with white fluffy trim, and red pants. He also wore a red Santa hat, complete with white fuzzy ball on the tip that hung down next to his left cheek. Anne was wearing a red skirt that went to midway between her hips and knees, and it also had the fluffy white trim around its hem. She wore a red sweater-jacket that had the fluffy white trim, and a Santa cap that matched her husbands.

Kim couldn't believe that her parents had gone to these lengths to set out the presents every Christmas, but she also found it a bit endearing to know that they were really just big kids at heart.

A little like Ron. She sadly thought to herself.

Anne also had on some red slippers that curled up at the toes, looking for all purposes like Elf shoes, complete with a bell on the tip. They were a little big on her, and she tripped while walking back to her duty of filling the socks that were hung by the chimney with care. Luckily James caught her before she cracked her head on the mantle, but the bells on her feet made more noise than they expected.

"James…" Anne hissed through her teeth. "I told you this was a bad idea. What would happen if any of the kids woke up and caught us doing this? Dressed as we are?"

"Oh Annie-Elf… You worry too much." James said, and his wife gave him the hairy eyeball for calling her Annie-Elf. "Besides, that wasn't loud enough to wake anyone up. Now I need to finish setting up this dollhouse. The things more complicated than a 3 stage booster."

James sat down with his legs spread apart and the doll house between them while he worked, and Anne was finishing up with the stockings when something snapped on the doll house. It wasn't that loud, but loud enough for Anne to look at her husband to see what he was doing.

"Damnit that hurt!" James said as he shook his finger and then put it in his mouth. Then the two heard a little voice that they so did not want to hear at this point. It was Kimmie.

"That's not a nice word Santa." Both parents froze and didn't move a muscle.

Both of their backs were still towards little Kimmie's hiding place, so she hadn't seen their faces. James decided to try something, and without turning around, he stood and lowered his voice as much as he could.

"Ho, Ho, Ho… You better get back to bed Kimmie-Cub. You know your not supposed to see me."

The little voice continued. "I didn't know you had a helper Santa. Is that Mrs. Claus?" Anne had her back turned also, looking like she was checking on a stocking.

"Why yes it is. She's helping me out tonight. There were more presents than usual for some reason this year." James hoped that his little girl was buying the charade.

"Why did you call me Kimmie-Cub? Only my Daddy calls me Kimmie-Cub."

For that question, James didn't have an answer. Then he felt a small tug on his jacket and then his daughter's voice again. "Why aren't you answering me… and why don't you look at me? Don't you want to look at me? I've been a very good girl this year."

Older Kim couldn't watch anymore, and she had to close her eyes. Tears were now flowing down her cheeks as she listened to what was happening on Christmas morning. The Christmas morning that she found out about the truth of Santa Claus.

"You've been a VERY good little girl." James said, continuing on. "Now why don't you go on up to bed so Mrs. Claus and I can finish putting out the presents?"

"Where's your beard? I don't see your beard." Now James had to turn his face more away from his little girl to keep her from looking closer. "Look at me Santa… Please? Pl…" James thought at first that Kimmie hadn't seen his face, but his little girl tricked him, and had gone around him the opposite way, and was now looking directly at him.

"D… Daddy? Wh… what are you doing?" Anne had turned around by now, knowing that the jig was up. "M… Mommy? Wh… why are you guys here? Why are you putting out presents? And why are you dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus?"

"W… we… We're just helping him Honey." Anne said.

"But… But Daddy was working on the Barbara Anne Doll House. I asked for that from Santa… Not you. There was no way you could have known that's what I wanted. No… Unless…"

One corner of Kimmie's lip began to tremble, and tears were welling up in her eyes. "Unless Bonnie was right… That there really is no Santa Claus…. There IS no Santa, is there? IS THERE? Christmas is ruined! I HATE you! I hate you both!" By now Kimmie was screaming at the top of her lungs, clenching her little fists at her sides.

Finally her eyes burst into tears and she ran up the stairs to her room, crying the entire way. The twins started to cry in their room from being woke up, and all Heck broke loose early Christmas morning at the Possible house. Unknown to everyone, there was a sixth there that was standing off in a corner, crying her eyes out as well.

But she wasn't crying for the ruined Christmas. Older Kim was crying about the lost innocence of a little child who had so desperately believed in Santa all the years before this one. She was crying for the fact that this day had mentally scarred her for a very long time, and she was crying for the way she had left her husband to be.

The final words she had told him were now echoing in her ears. "…then I shouldn't have ever said 'Yes' when you asked me to marry you!"

To be continued, and Possibly completed with the next chapter...

I really hope this sounds like a plausible way that Kim finds out about Santa.