Riley did not like this Christmas Eve one bit. Her new family had promised her an amazing Christmas in spite of losing her parents and her brother only weeks before. She had been looking forward to having fun, eating candy, staying up late, and opening presents on Christmas morning. However, on the day before Christmas, Mia and Kevin were putting her inside a big van and telling her they were going to spend the holidays out of town. She didn't like that one bit. She was still trying to get used to her new home and her new living arrangements and now, Christmas morning, she would wake up in a strange bed.
And worst of all, she was worried there would be no presents. She had just told Santa where her new house was and now she wouldn't even be there Christmas morning. She wasn't sure he would leave her presents, or know Mia and Kevin were taking her somewhere else.
She was convinced her new parents didn't want her to get presents on Christmas.
"Riley, move your arms. I can't get the seatbelt around you if you won't move your arms," Kevin grumbled as he tried to get Riley safely into her car seat for the drive. Riley shook her hands and kept her arms where they were.
"I telled Santa I lived here! He won't give me presents if I'm not here!"
"I called him this morning," Kevin assured her, "I told him we would be somewhere else. He knows. He'll bring your presents to Auntie Serena's house."
"Pinky promise?" Riley held out her pinky. Kevin groaned and wrapped his pinky around hers.
Meanwhile, by Kate and Ji's car which was parked at an angle so Riley couldn't see the trunk, Mia, Ji, Kate, Serena, and James were stuffing the trunk with Santa's presents. Changing the plans for Christmas the day before wasn't ideal, but everyone agreed it was worth it. Mike, especially, was thrilled about the new location for the holiday and couldn't stop honking the horn to the van, telling everyone to hurry up and get on the road.
"BA BA BA!" Terran finally yelled at his uncle and covered his ears.
"You tell him, buddy," Antonio said from the very back of the van and gave Terran a high five. Terran didn't know what the high five was, but did slap his uncle's hand. "Awesome, kid!"
"Do I have to sit in the back seat?" Lauren grumbled, crammed into the very back with Antonio and Jayden. She didn't mind sharing a bench with Jayden. She didn't mind sharing a bench with Antonio. The problem was that she was sharing with the two of them, and she was caught in the middle. Despite being the oldest, she was the smallest, and Kevin, who would be driving the van wanted to be able to see out the back window of the van for safety reasons. That was also why Riley and Terran were side by side in their car seats in the middle of the center row, with their respective mothers on either side. Kevin, Mike, and James were sitting on the bench in the front, with Mike in the middle, because he was the shortest, which gave Kevin a clear view out the rear window.
"Riley's in," Kevin was finally able to say, and just in time too as Mia was ready to hope into the car and fastened her seat belt. On the other side, Serena climbed in, put on her seatbelt and then tickled Terran.
"Christmas on the farm! You have no idea how happy mommy is. You're going to love it, Terran."
"A farm? Stinky!" Riley pinched her nose and rolled her eyes. She turned to Mia, "I want to stay home."
"You're going to have fun Riley, I promise. It's still going to be an amazing Christmas," Mia wrapped her arm around her daughter and gave her a gentle hug. Riley shook her head.
"Do they have Christmas trees? Where's Santa going to put the presents? What about a chimney? Mia, he can't get into the house if there's no chimney! What about my presents?"
"There is a chimney," Serena assured the little girl, "with stockings and even a special pillow for Santa to land on."
Serena looked around the van at the others, sensing their stares, "Emily used to worry Santa would hurt himself when he came down the chimney, so before going to bed on Christmas Eve she would set a pillow in the fireplace for him to land on."
"That's sweet," Mia smiled.
Lauren frowned, "Wait, but I thought Santa wasn't…"
Before Lauren could finish her sentence, both Jayden and Antonio covered her mouth with their hands.
"Santa wasn't what?" Riley looked over her shoulder at her aunt.
"Santa wasn't clumsy," Serena said quickly to cover up for Lauren's mistake. "He doesn't hurt himself all the time like Auntie Emy does."
"Santa knows what he's doing," Riley turned around and looked at Lauren with a know-it-all stare. "He's been sliding down chimneys for, like, ten whole years."
"For a very long time," Mia clarified.
"Who's ready to drive?" Kevin asked as he finally started to pull the big van out of the driveway. He didn't know the exact way up to the farmhouse, but he would be following Ji and Kate's car the entire way.
"Dude, we're not even on the street yet and you're already falling behind! Speed up!"
"It's a residential zone, Mike! There's no hurry. Better safe than sorry."
Mike sulked as he sunk into his seat and crossed his arms over his chest, "This is going to be a long ride…"
-Samurai-
Though Jack could get the farm work done by himself, it was nice for him to have a helping set of hands, especially when those hands belonged to his daughter. He couldn't remember the last time he had one of his girls with him in the barn making his job a little lighter.
"Even after two years, you're still better at this then I am," he said to Emily as she cleaned out the horses' stalls like she had never done anything else. It all came back to her, like riding a bike.
"I wouldn't say that," Emily shook her head and then nearly tripped as she brought over another wheelbarrow full of shavings to dump into the stall.
Jack watched Emily and felt a little smile tugging at his lips. Over breakfast he had been told of her nightmare and he could see just how badly shaken up the war against the Nighlok had left her. As the day went on, he could tell she was feeling better.
At the same time, he was also sad to see she seemed preoccupied, and it wasn't just because she had tried several times to call home and got no answer from Mike, Serena, or even James. Jack had seen this before with Ellie, and though he didn't like to think about it, he had seen it with Serena too. All three of his girls had faced death and danger and unfortunately, he had never been able to do anything but stand on the sidelines and hope they could fight back.
After Emily dumped and spread the shavings for the stall, she picked up the wheelbarrow to collect another load for the next stall. Jack touched her arm and stopped her before he gestured to the bench, "It's time for a break."
"But there's only a couple more," Emily pointed down the row, "We're almost done."
"I wanted to talk to you."
Emily rolled her eyes. She had come back home so her parents could help her and to get away from Panorama City and the people, but there was a point where enough was enough. She could only handle so much heart to heart in one day.
"I know it's stupid. I know I need to take my time and ignore what people say. I know they don't know me and what I've been through…"
Jack shook his head, "Your mother used to wake up in the middle of the night. She would scream. She would wake you and Serena with her cries, and sometimes I caught her checking up on you girls. She was terrified Xandred wasn't gone and that he would come back to exact his revenge on her."
"Hurting the innocent," Emily sighed, "It sounds like a Nighlok thing to do."
Jack nodded his head, "This lasted for months. You were too young to remember or know, but Serena and I suffered through it. Your mother did exactly what you're doing now. All yellow Rangers did. Why do you think your ancestors moved away? Why do you think they never moved back?"
"We're Earth, dad," Emily gave him a look, "I know you don't feel it, but I'm stronger out here. We're closer to our element and…"
"But that makes no difference if you're fighting your battles in the city," Jack shook his head. "Strength here means nothing when the war's on someone else's turf. Besides, everything around you comes from the earth. The concrete roads, the buildings, they are all built from the earth."
"I guess."
"You care," Jack said, "You've always cared. You, your sister, your mother, your grandmother. Everyone in your family has always had a big heart. You especially."
"Dad…"
"And that's my fault," Jack suddenly found he couldn't look at Emily, "Serena was raised for war. Though I tried to fight it when I found out, there was nothing I could do. When you were born, I was thrilled. I've always raised you to be my little girl. My sweet, beautiful, innocent, little girl. You were never supposed to fight."
"The ape Zord…"
"Was right," Jack said and gestured around the farm, "You and your team, you did it, and I won't let you believe for a second that they could have done it without you. You were a big part of that team. But we let you down. Your mother, your sister, and I; we all let you down."
"No you didn't," Emily shook her head. "I'm fine, dad. I like who I am. It's not always fun, but I wouldn't change anything, even if I could."
"I know," Jack wrapped his arms around Emily and gave her a hug, "I don't know what we did, or how we did it, but we raised you right. You're sweet, you're kind, you're caring. That's the… that's your obstacle. You care for those people who are suffering. You care for the people who have been hurt, and the people who lost their lives. As did your mother."
"She's mentioned that a thousand times," Emily rolled her eyes, "Dad, you're not saying anything she hasn't said already…"
"But there's a huge difference between the two of you. When your mother came home, she struggled, but she had something to come home too. She got away from the city and had a life outside of the Samurai life. She also had something to do; something to keep away her guilt and take her mind away from the war. She had a family. She had daughters. She needed to be a mother to you girls. She also did her part to help the city and the world by training the new yellow Ranger. You wouldn't remember, but Serena's training was the most intense for the months following your mother's returns. The two of them would spend full days in the field training."
"She was helping the people who suffered by making sure it wouldn't happen again," Emily said. "If Serena was a better, stronger yellow Ranger, then less people would get hurt. My team would be better. See, dad, less people could have gotten hurt."
"You had nothing to do with Serena falling ill," Jack stated firmly and looked Emily in the eyes. "She made a decision and it nearly cost her. It nearly cost us all. But do you remember why your sister was healed?"
"Serena told you?"
"It was Dekker's birthday present to you. Had Serena never gotten sick, and had she taken her spot right from the start, you would have spent your life here. No one would have called for a second yellow Ranger. Serena's contributions to the team came from you. All Serena's done to help are because of you."
"Dad…"
"You and Serena never would have worked together on the same team had you not taken her place. You've done more than you think to save this world and help so many people."
"But people are still hurt. People are still dead!" Emily pulled away from her father and turned her back to him, "How am I not responsible for that?"
Jack placed his hand on her shoulder, "You just aren't, sweetheart. You can't do everything. You can't protect everyone. Your mother had to learn that. She found a way to cope with it. She found something to do to help make things right. I think you need that too. You need to do something about this, Emily. You need to make things right with yourself."
"How?"
"That's up to you," Jack gave her shoulder a little squeeze, "Only you know how you feel. But I will help. Your mother and I will help. Whatever you feel you need to do, we'll be right there to support you."
Emily looked over her shoulder and gave her father a smile, "Thank you."
"Now," Jack stood up, "What do you say we finish up in here and then sneak inside? I know where your mother hid the Christmas presents and we can take a guess at what they are."
Emily smiled and nodded her head before jumping up and helping her father with the last two stalls. Sneaking a peek at the Christmas presents was always fun. Her mother had them wrapped before Christmas, so it was always just guessing based on the size and shapes of the gifts, and it made Christmas morning all the more exciting. Her mother as Santa had never once failed to disappoint Emily.
-Samurai-
"Are we there yet?" Mike groaned without even looking out the window. He had been crammed in the car for hours and was getting restless, and Kevin's refusal to go any higher than the speed limit was driving him crazy.
"Stop asking. We're not going to get there any faster if you keep asking."
"Are we there yet?" Riley tried her luck. Kevin shot her a glance in the rear view mirror.
"Don't even start, Riles."
Riley stuck out her tongue at Kevin. He was supposed to be her father, but she didn't like him much. She still remembered how he had pushed her down the stairs and how he had made Mia cry.
"BA!" Terran said and everyone awake in the car started to chuckle except for Kevin. Terran's vocabulary wasn't very large. Really, he could only say mama, Memy, and ba, but he was understood by everyone.
"Are you three happy?" Kevin made a turn into a dirt road, "I think we're almost there."
"But are we there?" Mike asked, "There's a difference."
"Don't make me hit you," Kevin growled.
"Hitting's mean! Santa won't give you presents if you're mean!" Riley scolded Kevin. "Say sorry!"
"Yeah, say sorry," Mike looked up at Kevin who groaned and rolled his eyes.
"Sorry, Mike."
"Mean it!" Riley said. "You have to mean it!"
"The house!" Mike cried and sat right up in his seat, "Guys, we're here! Wake up! Everyone, wake up! We're here!"
Kevin could barely park the car in the driveway before Mike was shoving at James, trying to push him out the door so he could get out.
Riley looked out the window, "There's nothing here."
"But snow," Antonio looked outside with a wide smile, "Christmas is really white out here."
"It's never not been," Serena said.
The van finally came to a full stop and Mike crawled over James to get out. He tumbled into the snow but caught himself before he fell completely and then had a look around. Seeing the house, he started to run towards it, then he stopped when he heard his name.
"Mike?"
He turned to face the barn this time and saw Emily and her father were just stepping outside. As soon as their eyes met, Emily dropped her tools and bolted over, jumping gleefully into Mike's arms and she knocked him right into the snow.
Serena watched from the corner of her eye with a smile while she took Terran out of his car seat, replaced the boots on his feet and then set him down. Terran had a slightly hard time making his way through the snow, which was almost as high as he was tall, but he eventually made it to his aunt.
"Memy! Memy!" he fell on top of her and Mike and wrapped his little arms around his aunt. Emily took him in her arms as she and Mike stood up. She gave Terran a loving hug and then wrapped one arm around Mike's waist as she turned to the cars and saw the whole family had come to visit.
"But what about Christmas at the Shiba House?" Emily asked. "And your families and…"
"They'll be here tomorrow," Kevin assured her before he turned to Jack, "Uh, I hope that's alright. This was all last minute."
Jack smiled as he took his grandson from Emily's arms, then gave Serena a hug, and then looked over to see the big, bright smile on Emily's face.
"The more the merrier," he said. "Come inside. It's a long way up. You must be tired."
While the Samurai made their way inside the house, Mike and Emily stayed outside. She looked up at him with her huge, happy grin.
"You came all this way?"
"It was Serena's idea. Her gift to me," Mike said.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be home," Emily said with a whisper and looked down at her feet, "I just… I don't think I'm ready to go back yet."
"All that matters is that we're together," Mike lifted her chin and gave her a kiss. "That's all I wanted for Christmas."
"Really?" Emily asked with a playful smirk, "Because I have a present for you under the tree already. I was going to bring it home when I did go back, but if you don't want it…"
"Who said I didn't want it? There's no such thing as too much," Mike shook his head and started to head to the house, "When can I open it?"
"Not until tomorrow," Emily gave him a smile. "Tonight's all about family."