AN: Times I really wished FanFiction allowed graphics within the story files. Trying to write out a scribbled conversation between windows using nothing but italics and bold just doesn't capture the feel of it. The Hardy Detective Agency is also posting this tale; feel free to check over there if you want to see the real written notes!

Grounding sucked.

Kris had to stay inside; she wasn't even allowed to help Charlie with shoveling the snow off the driveway and sidewalks. After struggling through her assigned schoolwork for the day (with no Frank or Joe to help her out or to keep her from being bored), Mar then put her to work cleaning and dusting the living room and all the bookshelves — complete with the spray-on polish that stank of fake lemon — and putting all the books back in order.

"Fenton's agreed to let Joe come over tonight with Frank to help with Tina's Nativity scene," Mar said. "Mrs. Collins originally wanted us to go over to their house, but Tina never gets invited anywhere. Going out is a huge treat for her."

"Sharon, too?" Kris said hopefully.

"Yes, Sharon, too," Mar said, then paused. "I hope you won't forget about Tina when Christmas is over."

That was a weird thing to say. "Why would I do that?"

Now Mar was smiling. "Never mind. Get your coat. You can help me with grocery shopping."

Well, that at least got Kris out of the house. Technically, grocery shopping was work, but it never felt that way, especially when the grocery store was Murphy's IGA. Somehow Mr. Murphy managed to have fresh citrus and apples shipped up from Florida, so the produce section looked festive with mounds of oranges, tangerines, lemons, and limes and boughs of evergreen festooning the stands, and the bakery had just put out a fresh batch of glazed doughnuts, so the whole store smelled of warm yeasty bread and orange. Mar stocked up on the usual pretzels and potato chips — though she frowned at the Coke bottles and picked up a cartful of Polar instead.

"Can we stop by the bookstore?" Kris whispered, tugging on Mar's sleeve as they stood in the checkout line. "I have to get Frank's gift out of there before he sees it on Friday."

Mar nodded. "Fenton asked me to do the same thing for his and Joe's gifts. That's why we drove."

Kris had wondered about that. Usually Mar walked everywhere, unless she planned for a heavy load of groceries.

"But…" Mar fixed her with a look, "no asking for books. The answer will be no."

Kris looked at her feet, and Mar put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"That's not a forever no, squirrel. Just while you're grounded."

Bell Book and Candle was crowded with shoppers; Kris stuck close to Mar even as she watched the crowd with wide, suspicious eyes. Papa would probably stand out — he was so big — and last night, he'd stunk like he usually did after a drinking binge. But he'd managed to sneak up on her and Frank and Joe last night somehow, and Kris could've sworn she'd seen no one around when she'd started throwing snowballs at the brothers' windows.

"Gertrude was just here," Mrs. Bell said, as she handed over a large shopping filled with books. "She paid for these and said you'd be by to get them." Mrs. Bell's sharp gaze fell on Kris. "She told me what happened last night."

"We're adding a fifth person to the stake-out, if you approve, Edna," Mar said. "My boy, Charlie. He's on leave for the holidays."

"Gert did say something about that." Mrs. Bell smiled. "Another soldier for Pa to talk to, then."

"We told him about the ghost," Kris said. "Um, Charlie, I mean…um…I did, I mean. And he's done ghost hunts before, and Frank and Joe said with five people, we'll definitely catch the thief. Um…if it is a thief, I mean."

"I'm beginning to feel like I'm hosting a slumber party," Mrs. Bell said dryly. "And I am concerned about the man Gert told me about."

"So are we," Mar said. "If you'd rather we wait until we get the matter handled…"

"The problem with such matters is that they rarely get handled permanently." Mrs. Bell's gaze was on Kris, and Kris fidgeted. "Martha found that out with that good-for-nothing she married…though I admit, a shotgun and a pit bull did go a long way towards solving that."

"So did a .45," Mar said. "Even if the kids did see more of Charlie than they really wanted to."

At that, Mrs. Bell laughed. She rang up Kris's gifts for Frank and a dozen beeswax candles for Mar, though Mrs. Bell's gaze kept going back to Kris — thoughtful, penetrating. "I think…" Mrs. Bell said finally, slowly, "…I think…it's best that we go on as planned. Running away from trouble just brings it closer to home. Yes. And Charlie's fine. I'll make sure I have a supply of coffee along with the hot chocolate."

Kris's eyes widened. Mrs. Bell was still saying 'yes'…?

Mrs. Bell winked at her. "Make sure you bring extra candy canes."

Mar looked at Mrs. Bell, and Mar's gaze was equally thoughtful. "I think we need to have a long chat, after the holidays."

Mrs. Bell nodded. "Yes. I've been wanting to. That would be a very good idea, Mar. Along with that poor little girl, Sharon. Her parents mean the best, but…" Her voice trailed off.

"Sharon's my friend," Kris said. Something was going on, something between adults — it was maddening when they talked roundabout like that. She couldn't sneak a peak at their thoughts, either, not with Mar right there, who'd catch her at it.

"That's good," Mrs. Bell said. "She needs good, solid friends, that one."

Mar patted Kris on the shoulder. "Come along, dear. Let Edna get back to her business."

"Friday, then," Mrs. Bell said, and turned back to the next customers in line.

Back in her room and struggling again with schoolwork, Kris finally got impatient and dragged the desk over so that it was directly under the window across from Frank and Joe's. The light was better here, anyway, and she could do her work while looking at the crystals from Arizona. Then movement caught her eye — Joe was in his window, waving to get her attention, and he looked positively gleeful. When he saw her look towards him, he held up his notebook:

PRINTS MATCHED!

Startled, Kris looked at her alarm clock. Oh — school was over for the day. Frank must've run home. She grabbed her other notebook and scribbled: Who?!

ANGIE!

Kris's jaw dropped as Joe nodded hard, still grinning. She'd expected that the cheerleaders would have their fingerprints all over the lockers, but not that they'd get a match that fast. But then Joe got pushed aside, and Frank held up his own notebook, in his neat, even printing:

Dad's coming over to talk to Mar.

She didn't have to be Gifted to know what their next note would be, and Kris scrawled out her answer: I'll eezdrop.

Even across the space between the houses, it was obvious that Frank rolled his eyes, though he was smiling as he wrote back: EAVESdrop.

Only Frank would worry about spelling when something important was going on. But Kris quickly scribbled and held up the real good news:

MRS. BELL SAID YES!

Both brothers stared, then started jumping around and apparently yelling their heads off. Kris just waved and darted over to her bedroom door, eased it open a crack. There, adult voices in the entrance way at the bottom of the stairs, and Kris held her breath, listening hard. Definitely Mr. Hardy, and Charlie, and Mar — she waited until the voices faded down the kitchen hallway and eased down the stairs, just far enough to listen. Going into the hall was out — she'd get spotted — but the hallway echoed a bit whenever people talked in the kitchen, and if Kris paid attention, she could make out everything that was said.

"Gene brought the slides over," Fenton was saying. "And I double-checked Frank and Joe to make sure they weren't…ah…wanting to see what wasn't there. It doesn't count for the police, since it wasn't done by lab experts…but it counts enough for me to face down that fathead Schafer with it."

"Enough to put the fear of God into certain spoiled brats, you mean," Mar said.

"That, too," and Kris could hear the grin in Fenton's voice. "But I intend to put that fear into Schafer, too, over how Jones got into the school without anyone seeing him…especially since you've told him from the start what's gone on with those people."

"Especially since the cockroach has to walk right past the office and all its windows to get to the lockers," Charlie said. "I did exactly that. No one said anything to me until Gene did. I could've been anybody."

"My point," Fenton said, then sighed. "To be fair, you don't think such things would happen in a little town like ours. But they do, and a lot more often than people admit."

Kris rested her head against the banister poles. So Papa had done the lockers and the hate-gifts. There had been more fingerprints than just the cheerleaders, then.

"My contact with SFPD says Jones has a rather extensive record," Mar said. "Theft, breaking and entering, assault, about what you'd expect. If you can send the prints out there, he can confirm it officially for us…" A smile slipped into Mar's voice, "…and Sam said he counts you as an expert, Fenton. He let it slip that he'd been chatting with NYPD."

"I'd be disappointed if he hadn't," Fenton said.

"And they can't find the man out there. He flies below their radar anyway, but Sam's been keeping special track of him for us." Mar sighed again. "More worrying — no one's seen the mother for the last year."

Kris muffled her gasp behind her hands. That was new.

"Please tell me you two aren't thinking something really stupid, like stopping their thief hunt," Charlie said.

"Charlie," Mar said, and then there was sudden silence, followed by the squeaking of the kitchen chairs.

Before Kris could move, Mar came into the hallway and stood there, looking at her.

Kris eep'd and fled back up the stairs and to her room, though she thought she heard Mar laugh before Kris got her bedroom door closed.

Still…Mama was missing, too? Mama's hand had been just as heavy as Papa's, especially after Papa had started…that other stuff…but there had been times when Mama had cuddled her and been nice, mostly when Kris had been a little kid. Kris even remembered sharing ice cream with Mama, when Mama would swipe it from the store, the weird stripe-y stuff with chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla all together. Mama got the chocolate, Kris got the strawberry, and they split the vanilla, with Mama smearing it under her nose, an ice-cream mustache that made Kris laugh. But then Mama had gotten pregnant again…and…and…Papa had…

Breathe. Breathe. Slow tears streaking down her face, Kris stood by her bed, until she had her calm back, then went over to the window — Frank and Joe must've been standing there the whole time, because they both waved at her the moment she started scribbling into the notebook.

Angies gonna get it!

Kris saw Joe start grinning again, and he and Frank high-fived each other. But she was still scribbling.

Papas not in San Frasisco Mamas Missing

The brothers stared at that one, then looked at each other, then Joe grabbed the notebook away from Frank.

MAR? ? ?

Now Kris rolled her eyes and shook her head. Mar wasn't Mama. They should know that by now!

But Frank had grabbed the notebook back:

Silly Joe! ➤ ➤ ➤

That resulted in a brief struggle between Frank and Joe over the notebook and markers, then both brothers suddenly turned and moved away from the window; Kris saw the vague outline of Aunt Gertrude in their doorway. That ended the window-chat, and Kris didn't see either of the brothers until that night, when the Collinses and the Andersons all came over again.

Instead of playing poker with the adults, though, Charlie stayed with Kris and the others to help with the Nativity set, joining in the conspiracy to get Tina to laugh and showing them how to toss popcorn in the air and catch it in their mouths. He figured out how to do the actual stable by piling balls of the dough on top of each other to make a rock wall, and helped with the polyurethane varnish that Mar had bought to make it all waterproof. But Kris kept looking at Frank and Joe, and caught them looking right back at her. She wanted to talk to them without Charlie there…but Kris also wanted to talk to Tina without anyone else there, to find out more about the "brown man" in Bell Book and Candle.

But then Tina surprised her. "M-m-mommy t-t-t-ook m-me to th-the b-b-b-book st-store t-t-oday. Th-the b-b-brown m-man s-says hi, K-k-ris."

At that, Charlie froze mid-varnish to blink at Tina. "Brown man?"

Frank and Joe looked at each other. "Tina," Frank said slowly, "is the brown man big? Big like…like Charlie, maybe?"

"S-s-silly F-frank," Tina giggled, and Joe laughed.

But Charlie was now looking at Frank and nodding. "How big is he, Tina?"

Then Kris got what Charlie and Frank meant. Oh, no. It couldn't be. There was no way…Papa wouldn't be nice at all to someone like Tina. But Tina's face scrunched.

"Okay, too complicated, maybe," Charlie said, and pushed himself to his feet. "Sorry. Is the brown man as big as me, Tina?"

Tina giggled again. "N-n-n-no."

No mistaking it: Frank let out a breath and both he and Joe looked relieved. Kris glared at them. They could've told her what they suspected, instead of just springing it on her like that.

"I t-t-t-told him…K-k-kris w-was g-g-going t-t-to b-b-be th-there t-t-tomorrow and—and th-that K-kris and J-joe and F-frank and-and Sh-sharon w-w-ere…r-r-really n-n-n-n-nice."

"We'll leave that to you and Sharon, Tag," Frank said, grinning; Kris went back to sprinkling glitter all over one of the angels. "Make friends with the elf and see if he can help us catch the thief."

One of these days, Frank was going to say something like that as a joke, and it'd bite him back hard. Kris glared up. "Brownie. Elves are big like us."

"You shouldn't joke like that, Frank," Sharon said, eyes wide. "The Fae don't like jokes about themselves. Not when we make them, anyway."

"Well, take lots of cookies and make it up to him." Joe daubed varnish on one of the Fruit-loop sheep. "That way we'll have something to eat while we're on stake-out."

"S-si-silly J-joe," Tina crowed. "H-he l-l-likes c-c-c-candy c-canes!"

"Don't be so quick to say it's not real, guys," Charlie said quietly.

Well, that got Joe and Frank's full attention. "Oh, come on, Charlie," Frank said. "Don't tell us you believe in fairies."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Ever hear of the gremlins?"

Joe and Frank looked at each other; Kris put down the angel. She had never heard of this.

But Sharon was nodding. "Uncle Wilson told me about them. World War Two."

Charlie "fired" his finger at her. "Yup. This all started with the British Royal Air Force, by the way. Little accidents, things going wrong that shouldn't have gone wrong, and too many men — and I'm talking pilots and mechanics, solid practical guys — reported seeing little critters tearing up the wiring and mechanics. At first, they thought it was something the Germans were using against us…but then German POWs reported the same thing."

Frank still looked skeptical; Joe's expression was odd. Sharon's eyes had gotten even wider, and Tina was giggling.

Kris thought a moment. "This sounds like a Bugs Bunny cartoon."

Now Charlie laughed. "Oh, yeah. They did make a cartoon out of it. But that's where Bugs got it from — our boys got chummy with the RAF boys, and then tales started coming out from our side of the same little critters. No one had spoken up before, because they didn't want a section eight. But the RAF are used to it — the Little People messing around is normal over there."

Kris could hear the capital letters; Charlie was now looking at her, and somehow Kris knew he was not joking.

"Wow," Sharon breathed. "Wow."

"You're pulling our leg," Frank said suspiciously.

"You've seen them, Charlie?" Joe said, at the same time.

"Kiddo, when you're doing Mach 2 in a Phantom, you keep your mind on what you're doing, not look around for little critters," Charlie said. "But…there's been a couple times…" He fell silent, then shook his head. "No. I can't be sure. Some of the other guys said they had, and they weren't lying, but…well…just don't be too quick to discount someone just because you yourself don't have the experience."

Well, that got Frank and Joe staring. Then Joe noticed Kris's look, and made a face. "He's your brother, all right, Tag. The loony bin runs in the family."

At that, Charlie launched a retaliatory tickle attack and throw-pillow fight that ended with a goopy mess of polyurethane on the carpet, Joe, the Baby Jesus, four angels, and a green cow all soaked in ginger ale, and Mar banning Charlie from the kids' area until further notice.

Finally, though, they got the Nativity scene dried out and finished, then boxed up for Tina to take home; Kris had never seen Tina so happy and chatty — the big, goofy Pillsbury Doughboy grin was definitely worth every last hassle of the past week, and from the way Sharon, Frank, and Joe were acting with Tina, they all thought the same way.

"Thank you," Mrs. Collins whispered to Kris, when Tina was distracted by Joe teasing and poking her until she giggled. "I can't thank you enough. Tina's never had good friends before, and you've really made her Christmas with this. Tell the boys for me, okay?"

Kris blinked, but Mrs. Collins had turned to her daughter and gently steered her towards the door, Tina clutching the box as if it held the Wise Men's gifts. Then, as everyone was getting their coats on and the adults were on the porch chatting, Frank pulled Kris and Sharon aside.

"Bell Book and Candle closes at ten tomorrow. Meet over there at nine." He grinned at their faces. "We're going to catch us a thief, a ghost, and a fairy, no matter what."