SiCela EstNoël
AnniKay

Sam/Mercedes/Puck

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Summary: Winter Break for the College Sophomores of the Learning French Series.
A time to reconnect with family and friends.

Angels We Have Heard on High

Nikki PoV

I was only eight, but I wasn't a little kid anymore. My life had changed so much from the year before that I didn't know if just turned eight me would have recognized the me that I had become just six months later. I missed my mom more than I could put into words. Some days it was pretty okay. But then something would happen and it would hurt so bad that I could barely breathe. Like when I got a hundred on my algebra test, I had gotten so excited about telling Mommy, only for it to hit me that I couldn't see her reaction because she wasn't alive anymore. When I got home though, Bubbie made a huge deal of it just like Mommy would have. When I went back to school after everything, Bubbie'd gotten a bunch of refrigerator magnets just for my stuff to go on the door of the fridge so it could be shown off. Abah, Papa and MeDe came over for dinner to celebrate and it was nice. But as nice as it was…there was still a really big missing piece.

I had to go and see Dr. Holly once a week. She was a therapist who specialized in helping kids deal with grief. I hadn't wanted anyone to know, but then it turned out that almost all of my classmates went to doctors after school for one reason or another. One of my classmates, Julie, she had anxiety and really bad panic attacks. At first I thought that she was having the same trouble that a girl my mother had taught a few years before she got cancer…that girl got a lot better after her stepbrother got arrested. Julie just…she had panic attacks when she got Bs. I thought that she and I were going to be friends, but then I got a hundred on a reading test and she got a ninety-two. She didn't want to be my friend anymore. That made me mad, but Dr. Holly pointed out that having a few good and true friends was better than having a lot of people who called themselves my friend but really weren't. Tana went even further. She said that Julie was an idiot and until she proved that she knew how to be a friend, I shouldn't want her for a friend anyway. Well, Tana used a lot more words MeDe says that I can't say until I'm thirteen at the earliest…but that was what it boiled down to.

By the time we went to Lima for Thanksgiving, I had made friends. Their names were Marcus and Michelle. They were twins who were my age but in the algebra class I was in with the eighth graders. In fact, once we really started talking I realized that they were in a couple of my other classes too. It was weird changing classes in third grade. In my old school we were in the same room all day. But at the Studio School, I had four different classes I went to every day, five if I counted homeroom. Marc and Michelle were in three classes with me. I felt bad because I hadn't really noticed. But them Michelle made me feel a lot better. "You were going through a whole lot of sadness. When you first got here, you really looked like you were walking through a fog. It isn't like people didn't understand. I mean, I think I would lose my mind if I had to go through what you did. Now, you want to go and see if we can find something gross to put in Marc's backpack. He is so squeamish."

She wasn't kidding, Marc was worse about gross stuff than Kurt. Even though I finally had some friends at my new school, Bubbie, Abah, Papa and MeDe made sure that I kept in touch with Jazmine too. I talked to her at least once a week on the phone and sometimes her mom would let her use her phone to text with me. Not very long after we got back from Thanksgiving, MeDe and I went to a really cool store called Kidding Around and we spent an hour or more picking out the perfect Christmas gifts for Jazmine, Michelle and Marcus. While we were looking, I noticed that we were getting weird looks. One of the things I knew I had to get used to, even if it was really hard, was sharing my family with other people. Since Abah, MeDe and Papa were famous, people were always looking at them and coming up to them wanting an autograph or whatever, but that day the looks were different. They weren't admiring…at least not all of them. I held MeDe's hand tighter and leaned in a little closer. MeDe just looked down at me and smiled.

I guess she saw that I was a little scared, so she looked around to see why. I didn't understand the reason the people were looking at us strange but I guess that she did. She picked me up and gave me a big hug. Mercedes Jones gave the world's best hugs. I loved my mommy and I always would, but MeDe gave hugs that just, they were perfect. "People sometimes don't understand the love your father and Sam and I all share. They think it is wrong or strange or they are jealous of it and want it for themselves. You're used to seeing the fans who've accepted us and our love. These people just haven't." she told me honestly. "But don't you worry about it. Because we love each other and we love you and that's all that matters."

I thought about it and I decided that I couldn't do anything about it. Because as Mommy always used to say, the only person's actions I could control were my own. So rather than pay those people any attention, me and MeDe continued our shopping. We found Marcus his present first. A Batman Lego set…or a Lego Batman set. I wasn't sure which way to say that. He was really easy…he loved Batman more than Papa…and Papa LOVED Batman. Jazz was just as easy. She loved puzzles. Her whole family did. Her Grandfather had started it and he made sure that his kids and their kids loved them as much as he did. So I got her a thousand piece, puzzles that had a picture of New York landmarks. As easy as it was to get Marc and Jazz presents, that was how hard it was to find something for Michelle. She didn't like sitting still for very long. She hated dolls. She wasn't into dress up or anything like that. She played baseball and soccer. But I didn't know enough about either of those to get her anything for them and neither did MeDe.

Then we lucked out. We were kind of wandering seeing if anything caught my eye, and we entered an aisle that was all about science. Then I went from having no idea what to get her to having way too many choices that I was pretty sure she would love. I finally narrowed my search to just the starter kits…but there were a lot of those to pick from. There were ones for physics, engineering, chemistry and just plain science. Finally I found one of them that had experiments in all the major aspects of STEM. I knew that it was the perfect thing for Michelle…plus too, it wasn't any more than I had spent on Jazz or Marcus. When we checked out, I got to use the prepaid VISA my parents had given me to get everyone's Christmas presents with. That was really fun.

Things at school flew by and before it seemed like any time at all had passed it was almost time for Christmas. On December the ninth, we had gone and visited my mom. It was really quiet in the cemetery. I missed her a lot. She had only been gone for a month, but it felt so much longer. Bubbie and I put pebbles on her headstone so people would see that we had visited…that she had people who cared. I cried a lot. But everyone took care of me. Abah and Papa and MeDe were studying for their exams, but they came with us and they held me and they comforted me. It was funny though on the whole ride back to Massachusetts, Binkie had driven and me and Bubbie had talked and joked quietly, while Abah, MeDe and Papa studied in the back seat. Pretty much the same thing happened after we had an early dinner with Jazmine's family and headed back to the city. It was great to see her and our parents let us open our gifts from each other even though it wasn't Christmas or Hanukkah or anything. Jazz loved her puzzle. All three of them couldn't wait to start working on it. Jazz got me a whole bunch of Sudoku puzzle books; three of them with puzzles that ranged in difficulty from challenging to extreme. I loved them. She knew me so well.

It was hard to go and hard to leave, but I was really glad we'd gone. When we got back though Abah, MeDe and Papa had their exams. I had my CSAPs too. So we only saw each other when Bubbie and I went over to have dinner with them. Then suddenly their tests were done and my school was out for winter break. That was awesome. Until I realized that it was the first night of Hanukkah. Bubbie and I said the Hallel together, before she left for work. I actually spent the day at Abah, Papa, and MeDe's with Tana, Brittany and Artie…oh and Bautista and Patrick. Kurt and Blaine were in and out. But by six everyone was home and we all went over to Bubbie's except Bautista and Patrick. We had dinner with Bubbie, Saul and Mills and said the V'ai Hanissims then we lit the menorah and said the rest of the blessings. It was weird. I'd felt empty at Mommy's grave, but I felt her with me that night. MeDe, Papa, Mills, Tana and Brittany gave me, Abah, Bubbie, Artie and Saul gifts and we gave each other gifts, but we were only giving them Christmas gifts. I kind of felt bad for them.

That night Bubbie helped me pack for our trip to Lima, all in my new luggage that Abah had given me. Then we took all my electronics and books and put them into their special backpack with my Sudoku books and plenty of pencils and the great battery operated sharpener I had just for doing Sudoku. We laid out a nice, warm comfortable outfit for me to wear, a pair of black, space dyed waist yoga pants, a teal, long sleeved hooded tee-shirt and a black hoodie with a rainbow, and a unicorn with a teal mane that said 'Always Be You'…plus some nice warm socks and some Nikes that had every color I was wearing on them. I didn't like waking up that early, so I didn't really wake up at all. I showered before I went to bed, so when my three remaining parents got there, MeDe helped me wash my face and brush my teeth, take off my pajamas and get dressed. Then Papa, or maybe Abah took me down to the car and buckled me into my booster seat. They didn't even put my shoes on me, they just put them on the floor board of the car.

I don't know how long the ride was. I slept for a while. I don't even remember if Ms. Hudson was in the car when they put me in or if we went to her apartment and got her after. When I woke up, the sun was high in the sky. We had lunch at a Denny's because I wanted pancakes. The people there were really nice. They wanted autographs, but they didn't bother us when we were eating and they made sure that I wasn't in the pictures. Which was huge because MeDe hated it when people tried to get a picture of me. She said that it was dangerous and she wasn't having it. I kind of loved her for that. I didn't like the thought of my picture being all over everywhere for no reason. The weekend was okay. We did spend a lot of time with Uncle Devon and Uncle Kevon and Tonya and Pattie. They were all really smart and really nice. Pattie gave me the best number puzzles. While we were packing up their apartment, she let me have her freshman math books that she had kept. I knew I was going to have fun with those. When I said that to her she smiled a huge grin. "I sure did."

"What about when people…did they call you a nerd?" I asked her quietly.

She shrugged. "A few of them did. I got tons of flack for 'talking like a white girl', for studying all the time. I had to hear from people who swore up and down that me and Kev wouldn't last because we hadn't dated tons of other people. But you know what? They weren't feeding me. They weren't taking care of me. I stayed true to myself. I liked math and I liked to study. I didn't see why I should act dumb because I was a girl. Girls are powerful. Women can do things men can't. There is no reason to make ourselves less than because we were born female. Nikki…never let anyone convince you to be less than God or Hashem or Allah or whatever your call your Lord…what He meant for you to be. I didn't listen to those others, now I'm married to the man I've loved since I knew what love was. I'm about to graduate college with a master's degree in a field dominated by men…but I'm the one with the highest GPA on that stage. In a few weeks, I'll start an amazing position making more in a year than those girls who called me a nerd and a dork and boring will make in half a life time. You're doing mathematics at levels I didn't hit until I was eleven or twelve. You can be amazing. And I can't wait to be at your college graduation screaming proudly for you."

I gave her a big hug. I tried to remember exactly what she said so I could tell Michelle. The girls in our algebra class liked to call us names. Then again Michelle didn't seem to care. She just told them that their jealousy was showing. Still I decided that I was going to live my life the way my family was teaching me and encouraging me to live it. Find my gifts, nurture my gifts and make a life sharing my gifts with the world around me to try and make it a better place. My grandparents, all six of them, got there with the rest of my aunts and uncles…that was still weird to me since three of them were younger than me…Friday night. Then there was shopping and I got a pretty new dress to wear to the graduation. SugaMama got me a blue, white and black striped dress that had a black moto jacket over the sleeveless babydoll dress. It even came with a cute silver necklace with a heart shaped crystal pendant. I was really glad that I brought the boots Kurt had brought me in November, because SugaMama wanted to get me more shoes too. I was going to outgrow half my clothes before I could even wear them if my new family didn't stop buying me clothes every time they saw me. Just that same night Yetta Becah had gone shopping happy in Gap Kids and MeMaw Gabby had her turn too. It was just a little too much. But what could I say. 'No, don't show me that you love me'. No…that would have been rude. Besides I liked the loving me part just fine.

The next morning we got up and got ready for the graduation. Then when Bubbie and Uncle Saulie and Millsie got there, we all…and I mean all. All of MeDe's family had gotten there overnight and so did Sam's MeMaw Rose. I got to meet MeMaw Rose and Grandma Mae, and they were much more what most people thought of when they thought of a great-grandmother than Bubbie. They were really nice and the connection to them was just as immediate as it was when I met MeDe's aunts. I loved all three of them. They were so funny. I mean Auntie Manda was nice and I liked her and loved her too. But Aunt Ricki, Auntie Kylie and Aunt Alexis they were completely…different from anyone I had ever met before. They were amazing and they actually fought over who was going to play with me. It was really cool.

Right before the program started, I had to go potty. Mara did too. She didn't like pull ups, so she only wore real panties. It was really cute. MeDe took us and on the way, a lady with really fake looking red hair stopped MeDe for an autograph. "Mercedes Jones…Oh my God. I love you. I saw SongBird like three times and I listen to your CD every single day."

"Thank you very much." MeDe said with a grin. "I'm glad that we make something that you enjoy so much."

"Can I have an autograph?" the woman blurted out looking through her tiny purse for paper and an ink pin.

I pulled on my stepmother's hand. In a minute, I was going to have an accident and I was too old for an accident. Plus, that would have messed up my boots that Kurt gave me and I loved those boots. They'd made me smile on one of the worst days of my life. "MeDe, I've really gotta go."

"Sorry. My daughter and my little sister have got to get to the rest room. Look for us afterwards and I'll make sure that you have one from all three of us. Have a nice day." MeDe said with a warm smile then she took us to the bathroom. MeDe didn't see the strange look the woman threw at us as we hurried away. I did, I guess she was sad she didn't get her autograph. I thanked Hashem that there wasn't a long line and the one lady in front of us let us have the big handicapped stall when it emptied. We thanked her profusely and I made it and so did Mara. We got back to our seats before the program started. It was pretty boring. But I liked listening to the man from NASA. I would love to grow up and be an astronaut. That would be really cool. I screamed really loud when they called Devon and Tonya's names and then again when Kev and Pattie's were read. I got really tired of standing up. My feet didn't really hurt, but my legs did. So Abah picked me up when the standing part happened.

After everything was over, we all went to dinner. The meal was fun. I sat with Sarah, Stevie, Stacey, Mara, Maea and Sloane and we all had a great meal and a happy time. When we got back to the rooms, Abah, Papa and MeDe made me take a shower, put on my pajamas and Abah braided my hair, only then could I take my stuff and go to the kids' room. Once I got there, we watched movies and we played made up games. It was great. I didn't even remember falling to sleep, I just remember getting woken up by SugaMama. Breakfast was good. Then we got on the road. The ride from Ann Arbor to Lima wasn't anywhere near as long as the ride from Harlem to Ann Arbor. We only had a short pit stop before we got to Lima. Instead of going to SugaMama's house or Yetta Becah's house or one of the hotels, instead we drove to a big house that turned out to be ours. it was huge. It was big and everything was so pretty and I loved my room it was really awesome. It was really for me to share with Beth…but she would only be spending the night with me one night that time.

I liked Beth, she looked like me, but different. She was my sister though we had different moms and we didn't live together. I still felt like her big sister…like connected to her. It was weird, but in a good way. But it was okay that it was just me. Especially since Mellie was really cool and really nice. After I put my stuff up we had to go shopping. We did a whole of shopping in just a couple of days. It made me really tired. But it probably shouldn't have. With Abah, Papa, and all the uncles that were there, I don't think I walked much at all. But no matter where we went or how much stuff we bought, it didn't seem like we had enough. Finally, though I didn't have to go shopping again. I did have to go and get my teeth cleaned…but Pop and SugaMama were a lot gentler than the dentist I used to go to back in Massachusetts. They checked everything. thankfully, I didn't have any cavities but since I had really deep ridges in my back teeth, they gave me sealants to make it so I wouldn't get any cavities later.

Then I went home with MeDe and she taught me how to make the spice mix for brining the turkey. And she let me lick the bowl when she made a yummy red cake and another chocolate one. It was fun. She told me all about how the recipes had been passed down from SugaMama's mother who had died when Uncle Ethan was born and from Grandma Mae who was a really good cook, she just didn't really enjoy cooking a whole lot anymore. But she made really good breakfast. That evening there was trouble when Abah and Papa went to the mall with Uncle Devon, Uncle Kevon and Uncle Jake. They had been gone for almost an hour when Uncle Ethan came running down the stairs and out the front door looking scared and angry all at the same time. We didn't find out why until SugaMama got back from a store run. There was a lot of talking and fussing and they kept talking about hashtags, but I didn't understand a lot of it. What I was able to understand was that my three favorite uncles were in some kind of danger and I didn't like it one bit. When they finally got home I was determined not to let them out of my sight. I had lost my mommy…I had lost enough. I wasn't losing them too.

I think I kind of fell asleep watching over them. Then someone put me to bed. I think I showered and everything, but I was really out of it. Christmas Eve was actually really quiet. I helped MeDe and Tessa and the grandmothers in the kitchen. I learned how to make MeMaw Gabby's southern shrimp salad and Grandma Mae's special banana pudding. I watched a movie with Papa and Abah. I played with Mara and Maea and Sloane and Sarah and Stevie and Stacey and Mellie a lot. There was a snowball fight in the back yard and everything. Then on Christmas morning…I couldn't believe that there were so many gifts. I'd never celebrated Christmas before…not even just the secular holiday. We'd always only celebrated Jewish holidays. I was really, really, really excited to celebrate my first Christmas. I got a bike to keep there in Lima and another one that would be going back to New York with us and a set of helmets for both place and a cool pogo stick and some skates and an American Girl Doll and a collectable Holiday Barbie. Devon and Kevon and Tonya and Tricie got me a Nintendo DS. Jake got me a gift card so I could go and get some games for it. I got a lot of clothes and shoes and stuff and some books and some Sudoku puzzles and a really pretty necklace and an iPad and Abah got me a night in the Eloise suite at the Plaza hotel like in the books. Uncle Devon and Tonya and Uncle Kevon and Tonya got new houses and MeDe got a pretty purple car and Uncle Bryant had asked Ms. Nadia to marry him. I knew that it was the first Christmas I'd ever had but I was pretty sure that none would be able to top it.

The day after Christmas, when I got up MeDe and Uncle Devon had gone to run some errands so Abah and Papa told me to brush my teeth and we'd 'chill out' until they got back. then when they got back, they had a truck for Papa and a car for Abah and they were red and blue and MeDe's car was purple so I asked if they realized that. But it seemed like no one had. Adults were weird. They should have been smart enough to have noticed that. MeDe went back into the house and came back a few minutes later in her pajamas, I didn't quite understand why…but they took a whole bunch of pictures and everyone was really happy. It was really funny. Adults were really weird. We had lunch and Beth came over. She got to open all her gifts and she had just as many as I'd had. She got a whole lot of clothes, toys and books. She got her own American Girl doll and a tricycle to keep there at our house. Mrs. Shelby was Beth's mommy and Beth had a new Papi whose name was Mr. David to go with Abah and Papa. They opened their gift from Abah, Papa and MeDe and there was a lot of happy laughing and jumping and Mrs. Shelby and Mr. David made Abah, MeDe and Papa really happy when they said Beth could come stay with us when they went on their trip.

I took Beth with me to show her our room. She was really loud about how happy she was. Her mommy loved our room too. I showed her all the cool things on her side and we put some of her toys in her toy box. We only got to play with them for a little while because then we had to go get ready for the party with all of my ND aunts and uncles. I couldn't wait to see if Tana gave Artie his gift or not. She said that she wasn't sure if she was ready to give him what she's got him. I kind of hoped that she got over being scared. I liked Tana, Artie and Brittany all together. I couldn't help but think that if more people had three-people in a couple, then people wouldn't look at MeDe like they had when we were at Kidding Around.

I asked MeDe if I could wear one of my new dresses. She said she was fine with that and she even said I could pick it out. I picked a pretty blue dress that had a turtle neck, a bow low on the side and no sleeves, but there was a white sweater in there with it. Best of all Beth had gotten one almost just like it. We had even gotten the same winter coats from Millsie. They were just different colors, red for me and teal for Beth. Abah loved that we were dressed alike when he saw us. We were even both wearing the pretty crystal snowflake necklaces that Santa had gotten us. MeDe and Abah gave us both double French braids. It was nice. There were a lot of cars going to the Wyndham. Abah, MeDe and Papa played Rock Paper Scissors to see who would drive their brand new Christmas cars. Beth and I giggled together as we watched. Papa ended up winning. Shelby had left Beth's booster seat, so both hers and mine got fastened into the back seat of Papa's big truck. When we were buckled in, Abah had to help MeDe get in. She was wearing a dress too. A pretty purple dress that was simple and had a weird skirt part that ended above her knees in the front but down her calves in the back. She was wearing wedges and a pretty black coat. Even with the running board she seemed to have almost as much trouble as me and Beth had.

I laughed. But MeDe didn't find it funny. Once we were all in she licked her tongue out at me. That really made me laugh. When we got to the hotel place where they were having the dinner, a lot of people were already there. Mr. Azimio made sure that I met his daughter Robyn. MeDe told me that she was my godsister. So I promised myself that I would look out for her like I would Bethany. Like Mellie was looking out for me even if I was just her kind of sort of cousin. The party was a lot of fun. There was good food and we could have as much of it as we wanted. Tina's mom and dad had brought latkes and they were soooo good. They also brought chicken kreplach and that was awesome too. I had homemade dim sum and it may have been the single best thing I had ever eaten in my whole entire life. After food…I got kind of sleepy. Tana said that I ate so much I got the itis. I slept through Lauren telling Finn that she was putting a ring on it. He did show me his ring after I woke up though. It was really pretty. Not as pretty as Tana's or Brittany's or Lauren's or Tina's…but definitely as pretty as Mike's or Artie's and Kurt's and Blaine's.

After the party, we went home and MeDe let us pack what we wanted, but she said we could leave some clothes in our closet there to have the next time we came. I really liked that thought, coming back to my room. But I only left the ones that were too big. While I was going through and helping MeDe hang up my clothes that I was leaving, I realized that I had three bedrooms. That was really weird. They were all alike and yet all different and they were all mine. Well, all of them were technically Beth's room too, but I guess since I had been an only child so long, I didn't mind sharing with my little sister. Once everything was hung up, we had to lay out our clothes for the next day. The clothes I'd worn to come to Lima had been washed and I decided to just wear them back. Even though I would be flying with Bubbie not driving with my parents. They were leaving really early to drive back and since so many of the family adults were all flying back me and Beth were going to fly too. After we got the clothes thing sorted, we had a bath and got into our pajamas and then we watched a movie with Abah, MeDe and Papa. I let Beth pick and she actually picked a good movie. I loved Brave. Hudson made me think of Merida whenever she wore her hair down. She always had, even before I saw the picture of her at the Halloween party they had all gone to. But she acted more like Merida's mom than Merida herself.

I sort of felt Abah, MeDe and Papa come in and give us all kisses before they left to go back to our brownstone home but I wasn't sure. I was sleeping. When we did wake up, we got dressed, washed our faces and brushed our teeth then we had to make the beds with fresh sheets and put the dirty ones in the big laundry room. Bubbie Ruth, MeMaw Rose and Grandma Mae made sure that the house was nice and tidy before we left. Our booster seats were back in the Tahoe and there were tons of extra bags with all the toys. On the way to the airport, SugaMama, Yetta and MeMaw sent all the really big stuff and everything that could be easily boxed up to the houses in Harlem by FedEx so we didn't have to check so much luggage; oh and the granddads helped too.

I liked flying, but I kind of wished I could have driven back with my parents. But they must have wanted some alone time, because Hudson was with us too. We left Dayton at noon and got to JFK at around two. When we got the brownstone, it was a good thing that I had a key of my own and Hudson knew all the codes because everyone else was at studio already. I got to show Beth the whole place. Then we took a nap. I kind of wanted to argue about staying up, but Bubbie and I had reached an agreement that as long as I only argued when I really wasn't sleepy, she would let me skip it when I told her I didn't need one. I was really tired and Beth was definitely tired, so after we put our things away, we went to Bubbie's and took a nap in my room there.

When I woke up, I got to play with Beth and all our aunts and uncles that were closer to our ages than our parents. I loved playing with all of them and it was easy to tell that Beth did too. We had dinner with the whole family and the next day was a repeat of the day before…just with no flying. It was a great day until after lunch. After lunch we had to go shopping. Apparently everyone needed something new for the pictures we were taking the next day. We were there for a really long time getting new dresses in every shade of blue for the 'ladies' and shirts in every shade of blue to go with either navy, black or dark khaki slacks for the 'gentlemen'. We all got new black dress shoes too. I remember going to clothes stores with my Mommy for back to school shopping and again over winter break to replace the stuff I'd worn out or out grown. But those were the only time Mommy ever went to the mall. My new family took any excuse they could find to go shopping. It was kind of exhausting. But then I couldn't really complain because they loved it and they always found the cutest things for me. Sometimes I got a little embarrassed at school when I thought about how much my outfit must have cost and compared to some of my classmates, it was probably a big difference. But Marcus had pointed out that as much as it cost to do private school in Manhattan, most of the parents spent just as much on their kids' clothes as mine did. So I shouldn't sweat it.

I'd whined inside my mind about more shopping, but I loved the dress and shoes I got to wear for the family portrait. That was a really new experience. Me and Mommy had only taken one picture together that was formal and everything. The volunteer firefighters had sold family portraits for fifty dollars as a fundraiser just a few months before Mommy had gotten so sick. But we'd just sat in front of a blue cloudy day screen for a minute and two weeks later we had an eight by ten of the picture. The pictures I took with my new family were horse of a whole different color. We were there all day. Other than the big 'Clan' picture with all…oh goodness, there must have been fifty people in our family…there was also the three 'family pictures' with the Joneses, the Puckermans, and the Evanses. Then there was a picture Bubbie Ruth and the grandparents; Sugamama and Pop, MeMaw Gabby and Granddaddy Sand, Yetta Becah and Nonno George. Then there was a picture of just my parents' generation so the three of them and all the uncles and aunts. Then there was a picture of just Beth and me. Then there was one of our parents, Ms. Shelby and Mr. David and the two of us. Another of just Abah, MeDe and Papa with me and Beth and one of Ms. Shelby and Mr. David and Beth. Then there was one of just the couples and thruple, and one of just the kids. There were a whole lot of pictures. When we finally left, we went and had dinner together at an Italian restaurant named Del Posto. We were shown into a private room they called the Barbaresco room. It was a nice place, there was room for all of us and the food was really, really, really good.

When we got back to Harlem, all the ND aunts and uncles, who didn't already live with us had gotten there. They were all having pizza. Azimio had brought Little Bird with him so me and Beth took her up to our room. I helped Beth get changed into some play clothes, then I changed myself. MeDe and the dads were all very surprised and very proud of us for doing it. Then we got to play while they went and changed. I was kind of tired of listening to adults talking so I convinced Mo—MeDe, Abah and Papa to let us play while they enjoyed their time with their friends. On New Year's Eve, the New Direction girls and Tonya and Pattie all went and had a spa day. MeDe asked if we wanted her to see if she could talk them into letting us join her, but SugaMama, MeMaw Gabby, Yetta, Stacey, Sarah and Tessa all demanded some time with us. That was a lot more fun than sitting in some boring old spa for sure.

We had a fun time with the family that night at Uncle Saul and Mill's house. There was tons of stuff to do and lots of good food and I won Pops two hundred bucks when I was helping him play poker. It was one of the greatest nights ever and a perfect end to a really, really, really hard year. I just hoped that twenty-fifteen was a lot better.

Hudson PoV

It is very hard to make people understand that I could not remember ever having had a family Christmas. They hear me say that and they retort with the fact that I wasn't fully orphaned until I was eight. But the last time we celebrated Christmas, at least according to the one family album I managed to keep through all the different group and foster homes, was when I was three. By the next Christmas, my mother was dead and my father was so absorbed in drowning his sorrows in whatever alcohol he managed to get his hands on there was no celebrating. Granted, I was more extrapolating from the circumstances of my sixth and seventh Christmases and sixth and seventh birthdays rather than actually remembering the time before them. When I entered the foster care system, I was small for my age, smart and pretty. All good indicators that I could easily find a 'forever' home. Unfortunately, I was so painfully shy that I went almost catatonic when confronted with prospective parents. I was not what most families were looking for. So year after year, my Christmas consisted of a wrapped package of new underwear and a socks and, if I was lucky, a new book or notepad and pens. They weren't exactly merry or memorable.

Until that Christmas when I found a place in a family that seemed willing to take on any and all who needed their love and acceptance. We went to see Mercedes' elder brothers graduated and I had a lot of fun helping them organize their packing. After the graduation itself, we returned to the family's home town and we found ourselves in front of KAMA's new home. Ms. Gabby explained where everyone was to stay and I went up to the room I'd been assigned to find a nice large room with beautiful golden brown hardwood floors. For the most part, the walls were painted a lovely white with just the slightest hint of gray. However, the wall that the bed rested upon was papered in an intricate, black on white, gate like trellis patterned wall paper. Directly across from the door into the room was a door that went out to a pretty little balcony. In the room, was a pretty queen sized panel bed with slats at the top of the head and foot board. The bed matched the mirror and wide dresser across from it and the two night stands on either side of it. The bedding was white with these amazing green black and teal designs on it. I walked fully into the room and smiled when I looked to my right and saw a gorgeous set of built in bookshelves and a pretty little writing desk. In front of the desk was a comfortable looking slipper chair with floral over a very light taupe upholstery.

The desk and nightstands all held very pretty, matching, stained glass, tiffany lamps. Noting those with a smile, I headed into the bathroom to check it out. The designer had thought of almost everything. There was a single vanity sink and cabinet with a pretty mirror above it. The wood was painted black and the sink and counter were glaringly white. The floors were continued from the bedroom but the walls were a gorgeous pinkish, peachy, ivory tile from floor to ceiling. Next to the sink was a bright white toilet next to a glass enclosed shower with a blackened oil rubbed bronze rain shower head and two recessed shelves in the porcelain. All the towel racks were of the same oil rubbed bronze. There was one in each of the recesses waiting on washcloths and loofas. Across from the shower, there was an alcove with a white claw foot bathtub with sworls of wrought iron making up the feet and a base in which the porcelain of the tub rested. Behind the tub, recessed into the wall were two more shelves just waiting for soaps and bubble bath. Next to the bath tub alcove was another door that led into a very nice sized walk in closet. A tall chifferobe that matched the furniture in the bedroom was waiting on my clothes as was a beautiful matching closet organization system.

I smiled and unpacked quickly and efficiently. I made note that I would need hangers for the closet and towels and washcloths for the bathroom. I checked under the sink and decided that I would need some form of storage for under there as well. There were also three drawers that would need some form of organizational system as well. Looking around, I found myself almost desperately longing to personalize the space. I thought about the personal touches like sweet smelling sachets and pretty rugs and maybe a television for the room I'd want to get. But I wasn't sure if that would be appropriate or not. So I decided to ask before I bought anything major. Thankfully, when I asked I found that the room was mine. It was a safe space that I could call my own. I loved that thought. While we were at the shopping plaza, when I wasn't helping Sam and Noah with their surprise for Mercedes, I shopped and found everything I wanted for the bathroom and closet including cedar wood hangers and thick and luxurious towels and washcloths. I got myself a lovely deep green terry cloth bathrobe that I knew would leave there to have whenever I came home. When we got home I went on line to seek out pieces to make the room mine.

The entire week was interesting. It was s study in a big family Christmas. Even with all the things that had to be purchased Christmas morning and dinner went off without a hitch. It was incredible. I had a pile of Christmas gifts in front of me that almost made me cry. I hadn't gotten a single gift since I aged out of foster care. It was a really touching thing to realize that these people who had no reason to care for me, cared so much. Opening gifts I was shocked to get everything from fragrance and beauty gift sets to a beautiful Atlas two hand women's watch in stainless steel to a Kindle Fire and a beautiful emerald tennis bracelet 'from Santa'. I'd never had such an amazing Christmas. Even with the mini dramas, it was definitely the best Christmas I could ever remember.

When we got back to New York, the message from Darcy I'd gotten the night before, 'I've been kidnapped in the best possible way, whatever you do…don't call the police. I'll be home for work on Monday' made a lot more sense. Her original plan would have seen her already back when I got there, but she must have been 'kidnapped' by Lester. Those two were so in love with each other that even I could see it. There was something about being in the lives of KAMA that brought those they loved good luck in the romance department. That didn't apply to me mainly because I just didn't want or need that type of social interaction. But they had brought me happiness and friendships and affection. I'd not realized how much those things had been missing in my life. I took a little time to set things up for the breakfast meeting the management, legal and PR teams were scheduled to have with Mercedes, Sam and Puck on the morning of the fifth. I double checked, first the schedule of KAMA's recording studio time with both the studio and the producers and then the spa arrangements I'd made for New Year's Eve in Manhattan as well as the spa day in LA in between the two award shows they would be there for before returning to the city in time to get ready for the next semester.

I should have realized that I had been included in the plans for the New Year's Eve partying. But I didn't until it was almost too late. Thankfully, Mercedes had thought of it when we were still in Lima. When we'd been in the Macy's there, she had gotten me to try on a few dresses, 'just for fun', one of which she had gotten me to wear to Provocateur. At Faina I was treated like one of the girls. The friends enveloped me and Darcy like they always did when they were all together. I oohed and ahhed over all the new promise and engagement rings among the family of friends. Once we all got our hair, nails, skin and massage treatments, we were treated with lunch and then we all showered and had our makeup and hair done for the evening. The hairstylist did something to turn my massive and long halo of curls into a beautiful waterfall of waves. My makeup was done in sheers and neutrals with pops of the gold of my dress and accessories. As soon as we got back to our apartment, Darcy and I went into a flurry of activity getting dressed. We'd showered at the spa, so all we had to do was moisturize and put on our fragrances. Then I helped her with her Va Bien low back, strapless bustier, which would work with the multitude of straps on Darcy's navy, sequined, body conforming mini dress. Given my much subtler curves, I was able to don my pretty, very simple, gold and black bra and panty set without any assistance. I slipped into the Calvin Klein petite metallic twist-front sheath dress that Mercedes had gotten me for the evening. My hilarious roommate did help me with my gold tone watch. It was always a bother to get fastened. I went into my closet and found my Anne Klein Olita peep-toe shooties that were broken in enough to not kill my feet in the first ten minutes of the evening. I knew that I needed to have too much with me to bother with a clutch, so I grabbed the light gold pebbled tote bag I'd gotten for Christmas from Tessa and filled it with my personal cell and the KAMA cell phone that I always manned. The rest of the space was soon filled with Darcy's tech. She had her phone, ID, one credit card and some cash in her silver clutch that said 'whatever' in bold blue lettering. But her larger phone, with the 'blissed out' camera that she used to manage the social media account updates on the go, went into my bag. It didn't take her a lot of time to get her dress and silver sparkly shoes.

When she came back in she was fastening in a pair of sapphire and diamond earrings, we talked about the officialness of her relationship with Lester. I couldn't have been happier for her. I watched as she doubled up bangles on one arm and then had one that was about as wide as the other two together standing alone on her other arm. I put on my g-ring, gold hoop earrings, my gold and jet rings and looked in the mirror. It really didn't look finished. Darcy agreed she went to her room and found a great gold tone jet faux leather black corded statement necklace that she let me borrow and it was the perfect finishing touch. We were very much ready when Lester arrived looking very dapper himself in a deep, dark, navy Gucci suit with a dove gray dress shirt and no tie or socks. His shoes were Gucci too. I was almost positive. "Ladies you two are certainly going to be two of the most beautiful women there." He told us both before his voice dropped and he whispered to his woman, "Darcy…I'm giving us an hour there, then we're coming back here unless you want me to take you right there in that club."

Lester escorted us to the big, black, shiny stretch Hummer that Rangeman was allowing us to utilize that evening. He introduced us to the driver, a big black man named 'Hitta' then we continued to numbers two and four. They were almost all ready when we got there. The ladies were wearing a full rainbow of colors from Brittany's bright yellow to Patrice's hot pink and Lauren's chocolate brown. Amazingly enough, Mercedes' outfit was rather subdued. The charcoal silk halter jumpsuit with its deep purple fringe belt, wasn't what one would usually think of when they thought of Mizz Mercedes Jones. She topped it with diamonds at her ears, fingers, wrists and neck, a black mink capelet stole and a pair of marbled gray. Louboutin pumps. Before coming out into the cold, Sam helped her don a purple fox-trim hooded cape. Sam and Puck looked good too, but even in Armani and Zenga, they still didn't hold a candle to Mercedes. Tonya was the only other woman who surprised me totally. She was wearing an interesting dress that was like four different animal and jungle prints that should never have worked together but they looked amazing on her. with the dress she wore a pair of over the knee, tan suede heeled boots that were about the same color as Patrice's much lighter complexion and looked fantabulous against Tonya's darker skin.

We arrived at the door of the club at ten thirty and as we got out and were ushered in with Binkie, Junior and Cal acting as our bodyguards, the people in line seemed to all just about screamed out at the exact same time with Mercedes, Sam and Puck stepped down into view. I came out after them with Darcy and Lester pulling up the rear. Inside the club, we were soon ushered into their large VIP area where Mercedes, Sam and Puck got to meet both Lil Wayne and Drake. I noticed that once everyone was settled and had handed their coats to Cal to manage for the rest of the evening, they moved down to the common floor. They only returned to the VIP when they wanted or needed something from purses or needed to take a load off or use the restroom. Otherwise they danced the night away. our group didn't leave the club until after three. Thankfully there was nothing at all on the calendar for the next day, because I slept until almost one. A nice long bubble bath and a walk in the snow and I was feeling rejuvenated and revived.

Over the next few days of studio time and preparing for the LA trip, I found myself taking nice long walks as twilight darkened the evening sky. It really helped me to center myself and think through all that was going on. It also helped me not hear Darcy and Lester having 'damn I love you and it's even better with feelings' sex. I was very happy for them but they were at a level of loud that all the sound proofing in the world couldn't really help. Often, as I walked, I thought about everything I had experienced. The lovely Christmas, finding a place where I felt that I belonged and a family that really cared for me…it was a wonderful feeling and for a change, I couldn't wait to see what the new year would bring.

Chime In with your thoughts on the chapter.
Did I successfully channel an eight year old? Did I make her sound too old?
Did Hudson have a separate and different voice?
Am I crazy for still spending so much time on these stories?

What do you think?
TTFN,
Anni