Chapter 7 – A New Present

Cox found JD sitting despondently on a crate backstage still dressed in his Ghost of Christmas Past costume, holding his tree in his hands. "I guess you were right, Dr. Cox," he mumbled dejectedly. "I really shouldn't have picked this little tree. Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I really don't know what Christmas is all about." He jumped to his feet, raising his fists into the air, and screaming, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

"Buckle up, Charlene," Cox said. "I'll tell you what Christmas is all about." He walked to the middle of the room and shouted, "Lights, please!" The room darkened as a single spotlight shined down upon him. "Here's the deal, Newbie: you can stuff your stockings with shiny, little toys from now until you grow some testicles, but until then that stocking is filled with friendship, loyalty, love, and devotion while it's just plum empty. And, no, you cannot purchase those things at Laura Ashley; and, no, you cannot win them in the Red Book Giveaway Extravaganza; and, gee, sorry if these things aren't what you can wind up and spin for eight hours. Let me make this exceptionally clear: Christmas is about love. You can't live without anybody else's love. Not during Christmas, not ever. So go spend that time with your friends and family. And if they laugh at ya, laugh with 'em. And if they laugh at ya again…HIT 'EM! And go find some new friends. But, for the love of God, Jesus, Mary, Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat, don't ever, ever forget this, Newbie: You gotta give love to get love. So start givin' – now." The lights switched on again as Cox walked back to an inspired JD. "And that's what's Christmas is all about there, Newbie."

He threw up his right fist and walked away a la The Breakfast Club. JD just stood rooted on the spot, musing. He looked down at his little tree on the crate, and smiled as he picked it up. "Maybe Dr. Cox is right," he whispered to the tree. "Maybe in the end it's not about how big your tree is, it's about who you choose to sit around the tree with…and maybe I don't care I just ended my sentence with a preposition." JD's smile grew larger as he quickly left to make his preparations.

---

"Arthur! Arthur!" Bloo called as he ran to him.

Arthur sighed, "What is it now?"

"It's terrible! Stitch came down with the Crime City Bug!" Bloo exclaimed, waving his hands around wildly.

"'The Crime City Bug'?" he repeated. "What the bloody hell is that?"

"It's a twenty-four sickness that some of the Crime City citizens catch every year," Bloo explained. "And Stitch caught it! He can't go on!"

"Oh, come now," Arthur argued. "It can't be that bad…." The sudden sound of Stitch's vomit splashing down on the floor of his dressing room quickly changed his mind. "Right. Bloo, you take his place!"

"Me?" he gasped in disbelief, slapping both of his hands over his mouth and then slowly lowering them. "I couldn't possibly…. Okay!" Bloo grinned widely. "But I don't know the lines?"

"Don't worry about that!" Arthur said quickly, dressing Bloo in Stitch's costume. "You know the story; just go out there and wing your lines."

"Sir, yes sir!" Bloo nodded, saluting Arthur.

He continued standing there saluting. "GET ON STAGE!" Arthur bellowed, sternly pointing Bloo to the stage. Bloo yelped and ran in the opposite direction, but quickly turned back around and to the stage. "Ugh…" Arthur moaned, gently rubbing his temples. "It's too coincidental. Stitch was just fine a few moments ago. He couldn't have gotten that sick so quickly." He spotted a little, empty glass tube on the floor. "'Ello, 'ello? What's this?" Picking up the tube, he read a sticker labeled on it:

Crime City Bug Germs

Perfect for hatching diabolical sabotage schemes to ruin plays!

"Phantom…" Arthur growled, crushing the tube – and slicing up his hand with glass shards. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! OW!"

---

The red, fluid-like curtains glided opened to reveal House lying in his bed but still wide awake. "House c-c-couldn't sleep after that a-a-awful trip to his past," Porky said. "His t-t-tears have long s-s-since dried from t-t-that time, but it was s-s-still painful to face it once m-m-more."

"It was so painful that he almost didn't hear the strange noises coming from his dining room…" Daffy added quietly.

House readied himself for what could quite possibly be burglars in the other room and slowly opened the door to the room. He was shocked to find an odd, little blue creature devouring mass quantities of food enough for a town feast spread throughout the table. He was genuinely shocked as he was expecting another odd, little blue creature. "Hey, where's Stitch?" House hissed to Bloo.

Bloo belched loudly as he held up a half-eaten turkey drumstick. "He came down with a case of the Crime City Bug," he whispered back. "I'm filling in for him."

"Eh, whatever," House shrugged, and cleared his throat for his line. "What in the world is this?"

"You like it?" Bloo grinned, gesturing to the Christmas decorations around the room that House just then took notice of. "I thought I'd brighten up the place, it looked SO dark and boring before."

"Who the hell are you?" House deadpanned irritably.

"I'm the Ghost of Christmas Present, or Bloo!" Bloo answered cheerfully before stuffing a large glazed donut into his mouth. "Not that kind of present where you pass gifts around," he added, splattering sticky dough over House's clean and expensive robe. "The kind of present when now is happening. Oh! Blackberry pie!" Without sparing another second, Bloo's face dug itself into said pie.

"Ugh…" House grumbled at the mess. "Where'd you get all this food anyway?"

"From the hearts of all the giving people of the world, House," Bloo explained, wiping away pie from his cheeks with a napkin. "It's the food of generosity, something you've long denied to your fellow man…"

"Generosity!" House sneered contemptuously. "Bah! Humbug! They've never shown me any of that crap."

"Have you given them any reason to?" Bloo asked, hopping down from his seat by the table. "Christmas is all about that kind of stuff! Come on, I'll show ya!" Taking House's hand, Bloo dragged the old man to a window.

"Oh, no!" House objected. "You ain't getting me jump out a three story building window again!"

"Quit being such a winy baby," Bloo snapped, unclasping and pushing open the window. "Hang on tight, now. I haven't completely mastered flying yet."

"Are you kidding me?" he asked hopefully.

"Here we go!" Bloo leaped to the sky, dragging a dangling House with him. "Ha, ha! See? No worries!"

"I'm missing that dork JD already!" House bemoaned loudly.

"Oh, just shut up and pay attention," Bloo said. "I'm gonna show you how great Christmas is!"

"Not that I'm complaining or anything," House grumbled scathingly, "but how great can a holiday be when it's so…selfish?"

"WHAT!" Bloo thundered, dropping House. House yelled as his physical body dropped like a rock out of the sky. Luckily he was only hovering four feet above the ground. Bloo landed on top his chest and glared furiously. "You did NOT just say Christmas was selfish!"

"But it is, isn't it?" House said. "I mean, everyone just wants others to do something for them or spend money on gifts. Isn't that being selfish?"

"No, you got it all wrong!" Bloo snapped, thumping him on the head. "It's not about the receiving! It's about the giving! And the time one spends with his or her family!" He looked up. "Speaking of which, why don't you take a look into that house's window?"

Rolling his eyes, House peered into the window Bloo pointed to. "It's…Rika's home," he gasped as he saw Rika and her friend Kuro were having dinner with their many friends. "And they're having Christmas dinner! Oh, it looks wonderful!" Seeing that Bloo was eyeing him strangely, House coughed, "Er, yeah, wonderfully boring and inane!"

"Wow, she's cute," Bloo whistled. "Think I can go out on a date with her?" House conked him on the head.

"Thank you all for joining in with our festivities tonight, everyone," Rika said appreciatively to her friends with a kind smile.

"What about your ol' uncle of yours, Rika?" the little Toad asked.

"Well, I sent him the invitation, but I guess he didn't feel up to coming," she replied softly, her smile fading a little.

"Yeah, the old fart's probably still in his office checking his profits!" the wiseacre blonde Jay laughed, making the others join in.

"Or-a maybe he's-a counting up some-a pennies he earned in his-a tip jar," the lanky Luigi quipped.

"What tips?" Kuro asked, causing everyone to burst out laughing hysterically. House was shocked; this was how everyone thought of him – a greedy and miserly old man. He held his head low wretchedly.

"Come on, everyone," Rika said. "Sure, my uncle's a penny-pinching jerk…" Everyone cheered, clanking their cups together. "Ahem," she cleared her throat exasperatingly. "As I was saying, sure, he's like that; but I still think he'll come around. He's the uncle that raised me, almost a father to me, and I turned out all right. I'm sure Uncle House will prove himself as a decent man." Her friends begrudgingly nodded their heads.

House was touched. His niece still cared about and defended him, risking face in front of all her friends. Tears rolled down his face. "Jeez," he chuckled, "why'd I have a niece like that?"

"Don't mean to rush ya, buddy, but we've still got one more stop to make before my time's up," Bloo said, staring at a watch on his wrist. He tapped it and groaned. "Note to self: don't take broken watches from Arthur that were fixed by the Janitor."

End of Chapter 7

NL: Hey, just wanna give a heads-up: I might not be able to finish this story before or during Christmas…mostly because I'm already bored with this story and wanna work on my other stuff. XD But I WILL finish this! Hopefully.