The minutes between Lauren's phone call and Riley coming home felt like forever as Mia and Kevin waited on the couch. With Lauren, they trusted Riley was safe, but each minute felt like an hour, and the whole time they waited they feared something had happened on the way. It was only natural for them to worry. They had been doing so for two years. Kevin was paranoid that a Nighlok would know about Riley and take her, despite knowing all the Nighlok were gone.

But the doorbell did ring and the worried parents jumped off the couch and took their little girl in their arms. Noa and Mako exchanged looks with Christina and Patrick. They all knew the worried parent feeling well and no more would they doubt their kids were parents. Noa took another sip of wine. She knew it was true, but that didn't make it believable.

Meanwhile, at the door, Mia was on her knees sobbing as she hugged Riley and Kevin looked like he wasn't far from it either as he thanked Ji, Kate, and especially Lauren for finding Riley and bringing her back. Riley didn't understand all the fuss and was trying to pull away from Mia. She had never been in danger except for when she woke up from her nightmare and hit her head on the roof of the trunk. She still had a bit of a headache.

Lauren explained everything to Mia and Kevin. How she had told Riley they would talk whenever and if ever Riley needed someone to talk to, and how Riley had misunderstood that as being allowed to leave the house without telling Mia and Kevin. Lauren felt a tremendous amount of guilt for the miscommunication, but Kevin assured her it wasn't her fault. Kids had a habit of getting into and causing trouble. He and Mia were just happy Riley was safe.

"Why would you even climb in the trunk?" Mia asked Riley as she inspected her head. Riley had a bit of a bump, but nothing serious. She hugged the girl tightly. "How did you get in the trunk?"

"Peter teached me once," Riley said. "It's hard, but if you push really hard you can squeeze in."

"She took my keys from my pocket," Ji tapped the side of his coat to make sure he had his keys. "And scared the life out of all of us the moment she did."

"Don't you ever do something like that again," Mia wasn't sure Riley understood just how serious her actions were. Riley just groaned and rolled her eyes.

"I was only in the car."

"But I didn't know where you were," Mia said. "You need to tell me or Kevin when you leave the house."

"Why? You're not my mommy."

Lauren put her left hand on Riley's shoulder and knelt down, "But they are taking care of you. And they can't do that if they don't know where you are. You can come visit me anytime, as long as you tell Mia and Kevin."

"Go upstairs," Mia stood up and pointed to the stairs. "Go to bed. I'll tuck you in soon."

"No sleepover?"

"Not tonight," Kevin shook his head. "Maybe next time; when you ask us first."

Riley groaned loudly again and dragged her feet as she climbed up the stairs. Mako followed her up, just to be sure the little girl wouldn't pull another runner. It had been unintentional chaos. Kids never planned on trouble, it always just happened. Mako had many tales of times Noa and Mia had given her little heart attacks when she thought they were hurt, in danger, or missing. It was part of parenthood. You weren't a parent if you didn't worry for your child. The Samurai knew better than anyone how dangerous the world was.

"We should go," Kate said and looked down at Lauren's hand. The fire Samurai had been brave at hiding the pain, but it was obvious there was something wrong with her hand, and given the fact that Ji's car was missing a window, Kate could only assume what had happened. "We may need to make a stop at the emergency room."

"Here," Patrick came out of the kitchen with ice wrapped in a dish towel. Lauren took it, thanked him, and placed it on her hand.

"What happened to you?" Lauren turned around, hearing Mike's voice. Mike, Emily, Jayden, and Antonio had all arrived after hearing Riley had been found and they wanted to check in to be sure. They had also gotten scared for the little girl and would only sleep easy once they knew Riley was in her bed.

"Punched a window," Lauren answered. Mia nodded her head. She had done the same for Riley, only she had been luckier than Lauren that night.

"My hand still hurts."

"Is it broken?" in brother mode, Jayden worriedly and gently took Lauren's hand to inspect it, "Why aren't you at the hospital?"

"I'm fine," Lauren assured him. Jayden shook his head.

"We're going to the hospital. Lauren…"

"Jayden."

"Lauren…"

"Jayden."

Jayden gave his sister a look, "Stop that."

"You worry."

"You're my sister."

Lauren rolled her eyes, "Older."

"Still," Jayden said and gently took Lauren's arm to guide her out. He was stopped when Mike put a hand on his chest.

"Actually, dude, can it wait two seconds? Emily's saying goodbye."

"What?" all eyes turned to the yellow Ranger who shrunk away behind Mike. After getting so upset over Mia leaving, Emily felt like a hypocrite for turning her back on the city and her friends, but she couldn't stay. It wasn't forever, but she had to get out of Panorama City and go home.

"It's fine," Mike assured everyone, "She's not going for too long. She just needs to get away."

"You were just on vacation," Kevin frowned. "In Hawaii. How much more time away do you…?"

"Everywhere I look I see… Nighlok. They attacked this very neighbourhood once, remember?"

"You'll get over that, sweetie," Noa came around and looked at Emily with a smile, "It's hard, but…"

"The day I came here, the minute I got into this city, I was fighting a battle. That's all this place was to me. Now people are dead or hurt or… I just wanna get away for a bit."

"Christmas is in less than a week, Emily," Mia said. "Are you sure?"

"If I don't come home by then, I'll call. I promise."

"It's Terran's first Christmas," Antonio said, "Don't you want to spend it with him? You don't want him running around Christmas morning asking where his Memy is, do you?"

"Mike…" Emily turned to her husband and Mike gave her a nod.

"You guys don't make the decision. She will be back. It's just a few days or a couple of weeks or something," Mike looked at Emily. It was her turn to give him a nod. Mike smiled, "She'll be home before we know it. And she'll be Emily."

"I don't think I can be happy now that I know this city is filled with… dead people."

"It won't be Christmas without you," Antonio said as he gave Emily a hug, "but we'll have plenty of Christmases together. Just feel better, got it?"

Emily smiled and returned the hug before moving on to the others. They wished her similar goodbyes before Mike and Emily were on their way, saying they still needed to talk to Serena and James.

After the goodbyes, Jayden hurried Lauren to his and Antonio's car, insisting her take her to the hospital to get her hand looked at. As the guests left, for a second time that night, Kevin and Mia closed the door. Kevin let out a heavy sigh while Mia raced upstairs to check on Riley, panicked she would be reliving the night over and over again.

Kevin looked to his parents and Noa and shook his head, "Parenthood is hell."

"Welcome, son," Patrick gave Kevin a pat on the back, "Welcome."

Upstairs, Mia walked into Riley's room and nearly burst into tears again when she saw the little girl already sound asleep in bed, with Mako tucking her in.

"Apparently, riding around all night in a trunk is very tiring," Mako teased. "This little one couldn't even make it through one story."

"Please tell me it gets easier," Mia breathed as she sat on the side of Riley's bed and looked at her. Mako let out a soft laugh.

"Harder. But you can do it. You'll be a great mother, princess; to this little girl, and to any others who are fortunate enough to fall into your hands."

"Maybe I'll do like you and raise one at a time," Mia said with a small smile before she lay down beside Riley, "I can't leave her tonight."

"I understand," Mako nodded. She started for the door and turned off the lights, "Goodnight. Enjoy the sleep while you can."