Riley woke up in a strange bed and it took her a moment to remember where she was. Her old home was gone, her brother was gone, and her parents weren't around anymore. Everything about her old life was gone.

But it wasn't completely gone. Everyone and everything had left her with the memories; nightmares. She woke up, completely terrified after dreaming the monsters were going to come and get her and finish her off like they did with the rest of the city. Too scared to stay alone in her room, she hugged the pink Samurai bear to her chest and climbed out of bed.

Fear suddenly overwhelmed her and Riley screamed as she ran from her bed into Mia's room. She jumped into Mia's bed and climbed under the blankets, burying herself. Mia and Kevin both groaned as they turned on the lights and looked at the space between them. Riley was trembling and crying.

"Another nightmare?" Mia asked. She pulled down the blankets and pulled Riley up in her arms. This was a usual occurrence for the little girl. At some point in the night she would wake up screaming from a nightmare. Usually Mia got up and went to her room to check up on her. Tonight, it seemed, Riley had come to her.

Riley nodded and hugged Mia, "I want mommy and daddy."

"I know," Mia said, groaning slightly as her tired arms lifted the girl out of bed to carry her back to her room. Riley held on tightly to Mia as she was carried off, but looked to the room, and the bed, sadly over her shoulder. Then she noticed something and straighten up.

"You and Kevin sleep in the same bed? Are you married?"

"Goodnight, Riley," Kevin rolled over to sleep. Riley didn't like him much and so Mia was stuck caring for her most of the time. Kevin wanted to help out and was doing what he could to earn her trust during the day. At night, he liked being able to sleep.

Riley gasped, "You're not married?" she had figured it out and looked to Mia with a shake of her head, "You can't sleep with a boy until after you're married."

"It's complicated, Riley," Mia took the little girl to her bed and set her down to tuck her in. Riley let out a loud sigh and rolled her eyes.

"It's always complicated, Mia."

"You'll understand when you're older."

"No, because when I'm bigger everything's going to be complicated," Riley rolled her eyes again, "Grown ups aren't as smart as kids think they are."

"Do you want some warm milk to help you go back to sleep?"

"Will you stay with me and chase the monsters away?"

"I'll stay here until you fall asleep," Mia gave Riley a kiss on the forehead and then left the room. So Riley wouldn't get scared again she left her door open and the hall light on.

Mia put some milk in a pot and placed it on the stove. While she waited for it to warm, she grabbed the laptop and turned it on. The more the city started to come alive, the longer the lists grew and the faster they were updated. As the page loaded, Mia grabbed her own list, with all the names of Riley's contacts. Many were already scratched off, meaning they were dead, but there were a few still left. Two of which were Riley's parents.

First she checked the list of missing people, hoping she would find Riley's name. When that failed, she turned over to the list of deceased and started crossing off a few more names with a heavy heart. It was sad Riley was losing everyone, but it was also sad because these were people who the Rangers had failed to save. Mia knew she and the team had done their best, and the world would have been worse off if they hadn't of done anything, but it was still a hard pill to swallow, knowing there were still thousands who had no hope whatsoever.

Then she saw it. First it was Riley's father's name, and then her mother's. Both were dead. She crossed their names off the list, feeling tears in her eyes. All the names were now gone. Riley was alone. No one would ever come looking for her. Mia closed the laptop with a heavy heart, poured the warm milk into a mug and carried it upstairs. As Riley drank, Mia told her a story from her time as a Samurai, making sure to keep it light and positive. She told Riley the story of the time she got trapped in a Nighlok's fairy tale world, and how she had been a princess fighting to marry her true love (leaving out the part where her knight in shining armour was Kevin). The story took Riley's mind off the monsters and she fell asleep long before she could finish her warm milk. Mia brought the drink back to the kitchen to put it away and then went back to hers and Kevin's room. Instead of going straight to bed she turned on the light.

"Mia…?" Kevin rolled over and looked at her, seeing she was rummaging through her night table drawer.

"You wouldn't happen to remember how much money I had saved up, would you?"

"No. Mia the stores are closed now anyways… Just come to bed."

"Riley's parents are dead," Mia said as she found her wallet and started counting the bills. Her grandmother had sent over money while she had been a Ranger and Mia hadn't had time to spend it all. She had plenty saved up, but when she counted it and tried to match it to what she had in mind she came up short.

Very short.

Kevin sat up and seemed upset. Understandably so. His relationship with Riley wasn't the strongest, but no matter what she thought of him, he still saw her as a little girl; and innocent little girl; and fate and the Nighlok had screwed her over big time.

"They…"

"I just checked. There's no one out there for her, Kevin. No one but us."

Kevin rubbed his head and sighed. Mia gave him a look as she climbed into bed with him.

"I know you said we would adopt her if this happened, but you weren't serious, were you? I mean, she gave us a pretty long list of people and… there had to be someone who survived. Someone for her. You couldn't have possibly…"

Kevin interrupted her with a sigh, "Mia," he wrapped one arm around her, "I'm ready for it. It's not perfect, but she fell into our laps for a reason and I'm willing to embrace this opportunity. I'm also not blinded by my feelings for her and my maternal instincts. Sleep on it. Take a few days to consider this. We won't tell Riley anything until you know this is the right decision for us."

"Are you serious?"

"I would never kid about something this serious."

"You're seriously considering adopting a kid?"

"I'm not considering it. I've made up my mind. But this is only going to happen if you think you're ready for it. She's only four. If you say yes, there's no backing out for at least fourteen more years."

"What about getting married first and getting settled? Can we even afford a kid right now?"

"I've got a job, and I've got my first day tomorrow," Kevin nodded his head and smiled brightly, "Money's going to start coming in, and if you look for a job we'll be set. We won't be rich, but we'll make it work. At the very least, Riley's going to have a loving home. Isn't that better than sending her to an orphanage where she'll stay there for… who knows how long?"

Mia nodded her head, "I can't do that to her, Kevin. She's been through too much. It'll kill her if we send her away."

"Think about it. Stay home with her tomorrow and keep in mind that if you say yes, that'll be your life for the next fourteen years. At least."

Mia nodded her head and nestled into Kevin's arms. He felt his shirt was starting to get wet and he knew Mia was doing her best not to cry out loud. He gave her a gentle, loving squeeze.

"And I'm going to try to bond a little more with Riley. I promise, everything's going to be okay, Mia."

-Samurai-

Emily was up bright and early that morning. Today was finally the day where she could bring Storm home from the vet and care for her dog herself. She was still a little upset that Storm had gotten hurt, and that it could have been worse for the poor dog, but after meeting Riley and after letting the news of what happen sink in, Emily was also very proud of her dog and her sisters.

That didn't mean she wasn't out for revenge. She had taken Terran from his crib before he started to cry and woke the house, and was playing with him while eating breakfast. At the same time, she was trying to help him say a few more words. Mama was already a part of his vocabulary and Emily couldn't erase that, but Terran hadn't associated dada with James. She was doing what she could to make sure James had to wait a little longer for his son to call his name. He would complain about how it wasn't fair, and Serena would have to hear about it constantly.

"Can you say poopie? Did Terran do a poopie? Poopie!"

James would complain even more if Terran learned the word poopie before dada. Emily was halfway through her lesson and certain the word was on the tip of Terran's tongue when she heard a knock on the door. She left the boy on the mat and kept one eye on him as she went to answer it.

Lauren stepped into the house with a sigh, "Your aunt's Christmas crazy."

"Where did you think I got it from?"

Lauren rolled her eyes, "She's got a countdown going. And we got up extra early to buy everyone Christmas presents. I can't take it. All this because some fat guy's going to stop by and break into our house overnight?"

"Fat guy? You mean Santa?"

"Whatever you want to call him. He's not real, is he?"

Emily looked over her shoulder to Terran and then back to Lauren with a smile, "When little ears are listening, yes. But no, he's not real. But everything about him his real."

"What?"

"Aunt Kate still believes in Santa, but not really the fat guy, which is a good thing because I hated the idea of sharing my cookies with him. She believes in the magic he brings. Every year for Christmas families come together. Sometimes from different points in the world. You came all the way from Japan, right?"

"Not for Christmas."

"Christmas is a time for peace and being merry. It's find the people you love and not just thanking them for what's they've done for you and for being in your life, like Thanksgiving, it's about really appreciating everything and everyone you have. You spend time with people."

"So, what does the fat guy have to do with it?"

"Very little," Emily chuckled. "Now Christmas is usually all about presents; giving presents, receiving presents, passing out presents, giving presents to the kids who won't get any. I'm all for the presents, but my favourite memories of Christmas were always spending time with my family. We would always spend the day with Serena. She would always be strong enough to spend most of Christmas day awake. We would have so much fun together and all our troubles would melt away. It really is magic."

"So, it's all about family?"

"Not all," Emily shook her head, "but family is a big part of it. This year, Christmas couldn't have come at a better time. There really will be peace on Earth, for the first time in hundreds of years. The Nighlok are gone, Panorama City is growing again, and people are coming together to help each other out. Even if this is just temporary, isn't it amazing?"

Lauren shrugged her shoulders, "I guess. I've never really been able to get out into the world, though."

"You'll see. Christmas day, you're going to see what all the fuss is about and why it's worth it. But even I get a little overwhelmed by all the excitement sometimes. I'm heading out soon to pick up Storm from the vet. Want to come with me?"

"We won't go to twenty different stores afterwards to pick up gifts for everyone, will we?"

"Apparently, you got all your gifts," Emily shook her head and picked Terran up. She walked him up the stairs and dropped him in Serena and James' bed, waking them up. After telling them where she was going, she joined Lauren by the door and the two stepped out of the house. "So, what did you get me?"

"I'm not telling," Lauren smirked and shook her head, "It's my first Christmas, but that doesn't make me stupid."

"First Christmas?" this wasn't news to Emily, but it was only sinking in now that Lauren had never celebrated Christmas or any other holiday before. She had come after Thanksgiving and with the focus on training each and every day for most of her life, there had been no holidays. Lauren had arrived to the Shiba House a stranger to the word "relax". She had likely celebrated a few holidays as a kid, but it had been so long she could barely remember them.

"One store," Emily begged Lauren, "I promise."

"Emily…"

"It's your first Christmas, and I've got the perfect idea to help you celebrate it in style. One stop, ten minutes max."

"But I'm all Christmased out!"

Emily gave Lauren her puppy face, knowing even the fire Samurai couldn't resist her sweet charm. Lauren groaned loudly.

"Fine!"

"You won't regret it!"