Dinner time was approaching. Mia had put aside her search for Riley's home for now, and had forfeit on the Wii, declaring Riley the ultimate virtual Samurai of the night so she could get started on dinner. Kevin was upstairs. He had gotten a job at a swimming pool and naturally he wanted to do his very best. No matter the task, Kevin always had to give his duties a hundred percent. It was a part of who he was, even without the weight of being a Samurai.

He was also hiding out in his room because Riley didn't like him and she was in the living room. He couldn't blame her. He had yelled at Mia, her hero, and he had pushed her down the stairs. It had been an accident, he hadn't wanted to hut her and he had apologized. It seemed Riley wouldn't take her own advice and forgive the apology. She accepted it, but Kevin still caught her giving him dirty looks.

Riley was in the living room, but she wasn't playing with her games or her pink Ranger toys. Instead she was staring out the window, watching as a little bit of snow started to fall.

"Riley, dinner's in five," Mia called, bringing the little girl back from her thoughts, "Go wash up."

"Mia, it's almost Christmas, right?"

"Yeah."

"When are we going to get a tree? Does Santa know I'll be here for Christmas?"

"Santa?"

Riley nodded her head, "You don't know Santa?"

"I know Santa," Mia chuckled and smiled at the little girl. Santa hadn't been a big deal for her growing up. She got a few presents on Christmas morning, but it was never much and she had always known they were presents from her parents and her grandmother. She knew other kids believed in Santa and she knew all about how he travelled the world and gave toys to the little boys and girls who believed he existed. He would climb down chimneys and set presents under the tree, and he flew around in a sleigh pulled by a bunch of flying reindeer – one of which had a red, glowing nose. Really, it was all ridiculous, but it was magical. It was something Mia felt she had missed out on as a kid. The true magic of being a kid and believe the world was an amazing place.

"Do you think he knows where to find me and what I want? I wrote a letter for him, but he never wrote back?"

"What do you want for Christmas?"

"Muffin…"

"Muffin?" Mia asked before remembering. Riley had owned a cat whom she obviously loved very much. When the Sanzu River began to flood, her brother saved her just in time and then went back out, risking his life for the little animal and ultimately he paid the price. Riley had watched him die. "You want your kitty?"

"Mommy promised we would get a tree. A big tree! And I wanted a lot of presents underneath."

"I'm sure Santa's going to give you a ton of presents…"

"Are mommy and daddy really dead? I know I say they are but sometimes I wish they would come home."

Riley sighed and looked out the window, "I miss mommy, and daddy, and Peter."

"He was a good big brother, wasn't he?"

"I'm never going to see him again, right? And I'm never going to see mommy or daddy again, right? I'm never going home?"

Mia's heart broke in two, as it always did when she was around Riley. She pulled the little girl into her arms and hugged her.

"I can't promise mommy and daddy are coming home. But I promise you will have a home. By Christmas, you are going to have a home."

"Is Santa going to bring me one?"

"Yeah," Mia kissed the side of Riley's head and then set her on the floor, "Go wash up. Spaghetti for dinner."

Riley walked off to the bathroom and Mia sighed loudly. She didn't know what to do so she walked upstairs to hers and Kevin's bedroom. She sat down on the bed and let out a big sigh for Kevin. He turned to look at her.

"What?"

"Riley's asking about Santa."

"She believes in him?"

"I told her Santa was going to give her a home for Christmas, but I don't know what's going to happen. What if we don't find her parents?"

"I told you. She has a home here."

"What if we do find her parents, and they're dead. Kevin, I can't tell a little girl her parents aren't coming back for her."

"She already thinks they're dead."

Mia shook her head, "I don't think she really does. She's hurting a lot, Kevin. I want to help her but I…"

"You are helping her," Kevin leaned in and gave Mia a kiss, "You're amazing and we're going to figure this out. Whatever happens, we're going to have a wonderful Christmas and she's going to have a wonderful Christmas."

"She wrote a letter to Santa. It must have been right before the battle because she never got one back. She's worried he doesn't know she's here."

Kevin put down his notebook, where he was jotting down ideas for swimming lessons and gave Mia a smile, "I'll work on that. You just go downstairs and take care of dinner. I smell something burning."

"You? Oh shit, the sauce!" Mia cried and raced out of the room. Kevin chuckled as he shook his head and walked to the bathroom to wash up for dinner.

"Maybe it wasn't a family of bad cooks. Maybe they were all just too distracted with each other to cook something properly."

-Samurai-

"So, let me get this straight," Lauren looked up at Kate decorated the top half of the pine tree they had brought into the house, or as Kate and Ji had called it, a Christmas tree, "Once a year, every year, for a long as any of us could remember, a fat man in a red suit flies around the world, in a single night, a delivers presents to every single boy and girl on the planet. And, he does that by flying around in a sleigh pulled by nine reindeer? Nine flying reindeer?"

"What's not to believe?" Kate chuckled and held out her hand.

"The only believable part of that story is the fat man eating cookies all night," Lauren rolled her eyes, "Seriously?"

"Yep. Pass me the bell."

Lauren picked up the ornament and passed it up to Kate, "Wait, if this has been going on forever, is being Santa like being a Samurai. The responsibility gets passed down from generation from generation?"

"Nope. Just one guy with a fat tummy."

"One guy? And he's older than anyone else on Earth?"

"He lives forever."

"How?"

"Magic."

Lauren rolled her eyes. Kate chuckled.

"Seriously? You draw stupid little Kanji in the sky and make fire and more appear from thin air, and you can't believe in magic?"

"This fat man, all he does is give presents and eat cookies?"

"Stop calling him fat. His name is Santa Claus. Or, if you prefer, you can call him Nick."

"Why?"

"That's his name."

"He has two names?"

"And a reindeer with a blinking red nose."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

"I don't believe you."

"Maybe you'll believe Christmas morning."

"There's no way a fat guy can deliver presents to millions of children around the world in a single night. There's just no way that's true."

"Star, please," Kate held out her hand again. Lauren rolled her eyes and passed the star.

"This is a stupid reason to celebrate."

"It's my favourite time of year. You're going to love it."

"I find that hard to believe," Lauren said and had a look around at the winter wonderland Kate had set up in the common room.

"What did you do on Christmas?"

"I trained. By the way, when is Christmas?"

"December twenty-fifth."

"Yeah, I was definitely training. Can I go back to my room now?"

"Don't you want to help with the gingerbread house?"

"We… we have a house."

"It's… all show you. Meet me in the kitchen."

Lauren rolled her eyes and walked to the kitchen as Kate climbed down the ladder and looked at the tree. She gave a big, bright smile.

"It's perfect."

"Lauren never had a Christmas," Ji suddenly said behind her, scaring her as he grabbed her around the waist. She jumped and spun around in his arms.

"Don't do that."

"Lauren doesn't remember celebrating any Christmas. She wasn't raised to believe in it, especially after she left here."

"I get that," Kate nodded her head and smiled, "It's her first Christmas. She deserves a little holiday magic."

"But trying to get her to believe in Santa Claus? Don't you think that's pushing it a little too much?"

"She hasn't had a childhood, Ji. She's craving it and Christmas is the perfect time to give back everything that's been taken from her. She deserves this. Trust me, I've raised two kids."

"They're your nieces," Ji chuckled and shook his head. Kate smirked and started walking backwards the kitchen.

"And I got them to believe in Santa."

"When they were kids. I doubt Serena and Emily still believe…"

"In Christmas magic? Then tell me why, every year, on Christmas, Ellie would always send me emails about how Serena was always feeling better. Never well, but better. Even when she was dying, Serena was always strong enough to be with her family and celebrate on Christmas day."

"Coincidence. Excitement…"

"Magic," Kate smiled. She picked up the box of decorations, "Now, Mr. Grinch, if you don't mind, Lauren and I will be making a gingerbread house. You are welcome to join us, if you promise not to ruin Christmas."

"I'm not trying to ruin Christmas. I'm telling you it's ridiculous to ask a grown woman to believe in Santa Claus."

"Then you don't get to decorate the ginger bread house."

Kate turned into the kitchen and Ji bit his lip. He did want to decorate the ginger bread house.

"I guess it's possible. I mean, Santa maybe doesn't deliver all the presents himself, but I'm sure he makes sure every kid gets a toy."

"Are you coming or not?"

Ji nodded and rushed into the kitchen.

-Samurai-

"Storm has a what?" Emily shouted as Serena and James explained to her and Mike what had happened while they had been honeymooning.

"A concussion."

"You managed to give our dog a concussion?" Mike crossed his arms over his chest, "That's talent, Serena."

"When can she come home?" Emily asked, "Is she going to be okay? You can't tell me she's okay and that she had a concussion in the same breath!"

"You've had a few concussions. You're fine," Serena shrugged.

"I walked into the doorframe getting into the house."

James tried but couldn't stifle a laugh. It was still funny. Emily shot him a look.

"And where were you while this was happening?"

"Keeping an eye on my son."

"Likely story."

"Emily, Storm's going to be okay. The vet's confident we'll see her back to normal soon. We'll just have to keep a close eye on her for the next couple of months to see if…"

"She'll be back to normal soon, but we have to keep an eye on her?"

"It's a concussion. They take time to heal. Storm's tough, just like you and Mike. I'll bet, once this has passed, we won't notice a difference in her. She'll bounce right back."

"If she's like Emily, she'll probably be bouncing off doorframes and tripping on the stairs," James chuckled. Emily glared at him and Serena gave him a pointed look.

"You're not helping."

"Terran said Memy."

"Go get dinner started."

James walked off to the kitchen. Serena looked at both Mike and Emily, "I'm really sorry, guys. But Storm did a good thing. If it weren't for her, we may have lost a little girl."

"Yeah, that's the part I'm stuck on," Mike said, "Who is Riley?"

"I'll let Mia explain that part," Serena said and she turned back to Emily, "Speaking of which, I know you're still upset with her and I wanted to…"

"I'll talk to her. She's still home, right?"

"At her place. I'll give you the address if you want."

Emily nodded her head and then excused herself as she headed up to her room to get Mia's souvenir from Hawaii. She didn't know what to expect from her talk with her pink sister, but she figured she could at least give it a shot. Knowing what she knew now about why Mia ran off, the least Emily could do was give her another chance.

She got the present and then headed back down the stairs. She got the address from Serena and got ready to leave.

"Don't think you're off the hook yet," Emily glared at Serena. "You still gave my dog a concussion."

"Will ice-cream for dessert help?"

"No," Emily shook her head and was about to leave but she stopped, "but that doesn't mean I don't want ice-cream. Chocolate, please!"

She left the house, closing the door behind her, "I'm never leaving California again. Not without my dogs."