24th December, 2027

Our House

San Francisco, CA. America

Yes. I know. Still no new news on the Fallen. Yeah. It's absolutely bizarre honestly. They attack Monika, Meghan and Jordan but then go silent for literal months. What the fuck right? I have been keeping up to date on all the information though. Like I got a run down on how the program Derrick and Monika wrote worked. In layman's terms, anyone trying to access information from our database that is not authorized will instead be fed faulty info. Oh wait! There is something new! I just remembered! We got some of the Fallen guys attempting to attack a building thinking, I believe Elena was supposed to be living in. Nope. Instead those guys were met with 3 armed squads and a hefty jail sentence for terrorism. Gotta love the tech team in Rainbow. They never fail to impress. Now on to Christmas plans. Yes, I know. Seems just the other week I was spending Christmas at Derrick's place…and then you know…being with Ela that night. I sensed it was going to be a quiet Christmas at our place. My family (minus Monika) were taking a ski trip to Arber but they did send over rather large boxes of presents for the kids. Granted, stuff for Ela and myself were mixed in there but still. I woke up on this cloudy Christmas Eve morning at my usual hour of 7 am. I planned to continue my replay of Spider-Man (the Ps5 Remaster) while sitting with the kiddos. Both of them calmly watched me play it for the past few days for a couple hours before Ela woke up. I got out of bed, stretched and walked over to the crib…only to see one baby in it. Tobey. He was awake at least, currently looking around for someone he recognized. He saw me and said "dah!"

"Hey big man! Where's uh…where's your sister," I asked in a soft voice. I picked him up from the crib and gave his pants a quick whiff. Clean. I turned around and noticed that Ela was also not in this room. At the same time, I breathed a sigh of relief. Izzy was with her mother. Of course Lukas you big dingus! Wonder where they were though.

"Wanna help me find momma?" I asked Tobey. He didn't give me much in terms of a response. He just babbled a little.

"Come on buddy," I said. I took about 2 steps when I heard the sounds of a woman singing. I grinned and then I grinned even wider when I got to the door of the guest room and saw Ela holding our daughter while singing "Last Christmas, I gave you my heart but the very next day, you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special." I caught the look on Izzy's face and I would be lying to you if I simply said she was happy. Izzy was looking at her mommy as if an angel was personally singing to her.

"Oh so, is she someone special then?" I said after letting Ela sing the chorus refrain again. Ela jumped a little and Izzy gave an indignant "pah!" noise before Ela turned to see me and Tobey.

"See that, Momma likes to sing too," I said to Tobey.

"Shut up," Ela mumbled. No idea why she was embarrassed…oh wait, I'm a music guy. That's right. She must think she's not good enough to sing in my presence. Not at all true. She wasn't a professional singer but she was at least on pitch and on key. I walked over to stand beside her. Izzy saw me and got all excited.

"Aww, do you see Daddy?" I asked her.

"DAH!" Izzy exclaimed. I placed my hand on Ela's soldier.

"You can hold a tune babe. Quite well actually," I said. Ela murmured something in response.

"What do you think, kiddos? Do you like it when Mommy sings to you too?" I asked both Izzy and Tobey. Both of them babbled in response while Ela continued to look embarrassed. Eventually she asked "Am…am I good? Be honest." I walked over to her with Tobey and kissed her forehead.

"You don't need to be perfect for me Ela. I love you just the way you are. But to answer your question, yes. You're more on pitch than most people I've heard. You're just as good as Tina," I said. That brightened Ela's mood exponentially.

"I think that's a good enough answer to let daddy stay living in the house, what do you think Izzy?" Ela asked. Hey! Not cool! Thankfully, Izzy was a daddy's girl and she smiled and said "dah!" again. Tobey meanwhile seemed to notice that Kuschelt was missing and he started fussing a bit in my arms.

"Here big man, I'll give you to Mommy instead," I said and held Tobey out to Ela. She took him into her other arm and I in turn relieved her of Izzy. Tobey immediately stopped fussing when he recognized Ela.

"Why that song though? I thought you didn't really like holiday music?" I asked as we all went downstairs for breakfast.

"Tina got it in my head the other day," she replied as she placed the now snoozing Tobey in his rocker. I caught her looking at the Christmas tree for a moment and saw her wince again. Again, when I say we had a lot of gifts, I mean like too fuckin' many. Granted some of them looked like boxes of diapers and wipes but still, my family wanted to spoil the crap out of me, Ela and the kiddos. Plus Derrick and Tina had insisted on giving us gifts too. They were the ones wrapped in Spider-Man wrapping paper. Because I had given Derrick a Pink Ranger onesie for Zoey, I had a feeling I knew what one of those gifts were going to be. The tree itself was decorated pretty simply. There were some of those glass ornaments you usually see on trees with a couple of specialty ones thrown in. Ela's favorite ornament is an old photo of me in a picture frame which was hanging near the top. Next to that one was my favorite ornament, a photo of young Ela in a picture frame with her grandfather. Thank you Zofia!

"It's just us tomorrow right?" Ela asked, snapping me out of my daze.

"Hmm? Oh yes. This time I promise," I answered and pulled her in for a hug. Izzy made a content sounding noise. "She and Tobey eat already?"

"Yes. I just couldn't fall back asleep after the last feeding. Plus I wanted some quality time with my daughter. I feel like she doesn't like me as much as you," Ela said as she started to make breakfast for herself and me. I placed Izzy in the rocker next to her brother. It was facing one of the walls where some of Ela's artwork was hanging (along with the portrait of her and her parents and grandfather) and I saw that Izzy was studying it intently. Almost looked like she was trying to pick up some tips.

"Nonsense, I saw her face earlier," I said and got out some plates and mugs. I myself am not a huge coffee drinker but having kids made me appreciate a good mocha every now and then. I have no freaking idea how Derrick can just pound an energy drink or just some water and be ready for a day with Zoey. It's outrageous.

"What's the plan for the day babe?" I asked as Ela put 4 bagel slices in the toaster.

"Nothing. I just want to value my time with you before you have to go back to work," she said and I heard the slight tinge of fear in her voice. I placed my hand over her trembling one.

"I will never leave you alone. Ever. I made a promise to your parents," I said. Ela looked up at me and sniffed.

"I…I never knew my mother…" she said and looked toward Izzy. Izzy was busy smiling at the pretty pictures her mommy drew. "Zofia said she loved me more than…than…"

"I won't repeat the mistakes of your father. I love both of the kiddos equally," I said as the toaster popped out the level 4 toasted bagels. Ela sniffed again, kissed my hand and took 2 of the bagel slices. I joined her at the table afterwards. She was still looking a little down. I caught her attention and gestured around at our surroundings.

"Look at what we have. We have an amazing house, careers set up after we retire from Rainbow and two children that love you with all of their heart. Honestly, with what I've been going through with all those nightmares I've been having, I'm surprised you're still here," I said, voicing a mounting concern that has been picking at my brain for the past few weeks. Yes, I have still been having nightmares. As to why I haven't been telling you about them, well, most of them are pretty much the same few events except with something terrible happening at the end. I had relived the Powerwolf concert attack at least 5 times, the wedding attack 3 times and Monika being the figure with the mask at twice. One of those times…she had slit Ela's throat while saying "she stole you from me!" in a voice that still haunts me. That was not my sister's voice. It was nothing short of a monster. That nightmare literally had me yell myself awake. Thankfully, Ela was in the other room with the babies but she had rushed in with Izzy still attached to her breast if you know what I mean. I wish I could tell you it was Ela that had calmed me down that night…but it was Izzy. She had reached for me as I was explaining to Ela what I had dreamt and I took her into my arms. Izzy then pressed her little face against my cheek and then "consoled" me by "patting" my shoulder. Back to the present time, Ela looked up at me and placed her hand over mine.

"Yeah right. Like I'm going to hold your emotional trauma against you. That seems like such a shitty thing to do to someone, especially if they're your partner," Ela said. "I'll always be here to help you." Damn man. I really chose wisely when selecting my wife didn't I? I never thought that the tall and skinny guitar player from Germany would end up getting extremely fit and marry an absolutely gorgeous woman that actually cares about me. Yet again, Monika was right when she had told me "those girls only like you because you play guitar. They don't know the man behind the instrument at all." Ela and I proceeded to eat breakfast in semi silence while keeping a watchful eye on the babies. Eventually the doorbell rang which upset the snoozing Tobey. Ela attended to him while I went to the door. It was just a delivery man. He was standing there with a package and that device you use to sign for packages.

"Mr…Weiss?" the man asked, checking the device for my name.

"Ja. That's me," I answered with a tad bit of confusion. I don't remember ordering anything. Let alone something so close to Christmas.

"Sign here please," the man said and turned the device towards me. I scribbled my name on the line and took the package. "Have a good day sir. Happy Holidays!"

"To you as well," I said and turned back into my house still looking at the package with my name on it.

"Open it," Ela's voice said from in front of me. I looked up and saw she was carrying Tobey who was now holding Kuschelt in his free hand.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's for you silly," she responded. "Go ahead and open it now. I won't tell Santa if you won't Tobey." Still frowning I tore off the tape holding the box together. I looked down at the contents and I audibly gasped. No way… no FUCKING way. This was not real.

"Oh ho, look at how happy daddy is," Ela said.

"Bah!" Tobey responded. Happy was not even the word to describe it. In this box was something I've always wanted as a teenager. It was the Best of the Beast Collection box set. Like Iron Maiden. Now, I have pretty much Iron Maiden's entire discography on CD but almost nothing on vinyl and this was a pretty rare item…plus it was very expensive. Ela had apparently walked over while I was staring at my new gift because I felt her kiss my cheek and heard my son's breathing.

"Merry Christmas Lukas," she said.

"H-how…how did you get this? I've looked literally everywhere for it my whole life," I managed to choke out.

"Tina and I found it online for a reasonable price the other day and I know how much you like that band. She was looking for something for Derrick and found that while looking," Ela explained. "See that Tobey, that's how a woman is supposed to treat you."

"Ahh!" Tobey's little voice responded. I looked up at my wife and son.

"We lucked out little man. Momma loves both of us it seems," I said.

"After what you did for me on my birthdays, I wanted to get something you've always wanted rather than what you needed at the moment," Ela said.

"Why me…" I said before I could squash the self doubt.

"Because I love you," she said simply.

"I…I don't deserve you," I said softly.

"Tobey, does daddy deserve to be happy?" Ela asked our son.

"Dah!"

"Can't argue with that. Look at his cute wittle face!" Ela said happily. I walked over and gave her (and Tobey) a hug. She hugged back with her free arm. Tobey smacked his hand against my shoulder a few times and giggled.

"C'mon I think the Food Network is doing a marathon of that show which shows how various foods are made," I said after putting my new favorite gift on the table nearby.

"Oh I love that show! I hope they do more of the candy ones. I've noticed the American stuff is a little sweeter don't you?" Ela said as we walked to the couch. Izzy was snoozing in her rocker but smiled upon seeing her parents and brother.

"Yeah but that certainly doesn't stop you from stealing all the Jolly Ranchers AND the candy canes," I said before addressing Izzy. "You gotta watch out little one, you might have inherited Mommy's love for candy."

"Mah!" Izzy said. I proceeded to spend a very quiet Christmas Eve with my family doing basically nothing. In my opinion, that was the best kind of day…little did I know that it would be the last normal day for a while…

25th December, 2027

Our House

San Francisco, CA. America

Right then, onto Christmas Day. First off, I was not lying when I said that it was just going to be Ela, myself and the babies for Christmas. Meghan and Monika were spending the day together (probably going to see them tomorrow) as was everyone else. I awoke to the sounds of my wife crawling back into bed…well that and the fact that I could hear my phone vibrating with messages from my family in Germany.

"Merry Christmas Lukas," Ela whispered before I received a minty fresh kiss.

"You too Ela. How are the babies?" I asked and rose from the bed. Ela just smiled in response. I got out of bed, put my holiday sweater on (yes, Spider-Man themed) and went to look at my kids. Upon seeing them I too smiled back at Ela. Tobias had a onesie on that made him look like Santa and Izzy was his reindeer, complete with little antlers.

"I assume you wanna send a picture to everyone?" I asked. Ela already had her phone out. I reached down and picked up Izzy who responded with an excited "Dah!"

"Look over there little one, look at mommy!" I said. Izzy did so and even managed to smile. I then took a picture of Ela with Tobey to send to everyone. Monika was the first to respond but I'll still show you all the messages I received.

Har-Monika - "OH. MY. GOD. LOOK AT HER LITTLE ANTLERS! AND TOBEY IS SO FUCKING CUTE I CAN'T.

Joyce Kinney - "Aww! Look at that happy family!"

Zoolander - "Heh, looks like Izzy copied Zoey's outfit from last year. Teen should be sending along the one from this year. Do I sense that they're going to be BESTIES?!"

Mrs. Zoolander - "That is so adorable! Look what Zoey's wearing this year!" (attached was a picture of her dressed almost like a snowman. It was very cute)

Zofia - "LOOK AT THEM! You even got Ela to smile! She chose wisely with you Luke"

Liza Minelli - "AHH! THEY ARE SO CUTE! Wait until I tell you all the BIG news!"

Rick - "Nice one bro!"

Julia - "I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!"

Mami - "Oh you are all SO precious!"

Dad - "Tobey resembles his dad so much in that photo. Look at that smile!"

I showed Ela the picture of Zoey as a snowman and she smiled at the screen.

"Do you remember the little girl from Mommy's party, Izzy? Would you like to be her friend?" Ela asked Izzy who was still in my arms as we walked downstairs. Izzy responded with "Fah!" As I turned the corner to where the tree was, I saw my daughter's face light up with excitement.

"Yes little ones, some of those are for you! Mommy and Daddy will help you open them," Ela said after placing Tobey in his rocker near the tree. I set Izzy in her own rocker and began helping divide the presents into 4 piles. Mine and Ela's were slightly bigger than the other 2 but that was to be expected as Tobey and Izzy were still babies. Ela and I helped our children unwrap their presents which consisted of a couple of new toys and some clothes (and yes, Derrick and Tina had given us Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen designed onesies for the kiddos). After that, we decided to have breakfast and put the kids down for their morning nap. At that point, Ela and I started opening our own gifts. I got a new jacket, some guitar repair items, a new pair of headphones, a few new ornaments as well as some other stuff.

"Oh Lukas…these are…these are gorgeous," Ela said after unwrapping a pair of earrings that I had picked out while shopping with Derrick one day. Yes, they were real jewelry and yes they were fucking expensive. In fact, I had just finished paying those off. Thank you Christmas bonus!

"You're welcome. I figured you needed some new ones. I guessed what kind you li-MMPH!" was what I managed to get out before Ela kissed me.

"Stop rambling you cute idiot," she whispered. Now normally, I would have had her right there in front of the Christmas tree but I felt that it was not the right thing to do at this moment. I instead opted for the small make out session on the living room couch as we waited for the kids to wake up. Again, it was a lazy day for the 4 of us. We spent it watching various TV shows and enjoying each other's company. After dinner, like around 8ish, Monika called.

"Well hello Mrs. Castellano. To what do I owe the pleasure," I said after pressing accept call. No, Monika did not change her last name and neither did Meghan. I do know that when they eventually adopt, they will give the child the last name "Castellano-Weiss." Come to think of it, I should check to see if the letter of recommendation I wrote was helping.

"Oh very funny Lukas," Monika's voice answered (in German). "Merry Christmas!"

"To you as well, big sister. I trust you got our gifts?"

"Oh yes. We just finished opening them after getting back from the base. They were quite wonderful. Meghan is still staring at Ela's new portrait of us at our wedding. And I ADORE the framed picture you sent of me with my new niece and nephew."

"You're welcome Mon. Hey Tobey, wanna say hi to Tante?" I said to Tobey who was nearby in Ela's arms. I put the phone near Tobey's ear and I heard Monika's voice say "Hi Tobias!" in English. Immediately Tobey's eyes were as bright as the Christmas tree. He even said "Hah!"

"Tante will be seeing you very soon ok? You take care of your daddy for me alright?" Monika's voice said. Tobey again responded with "hah!" I removed the phone from Tobey's ear and placed it back on mine.

"Did you want to speak with Ela?" I asked.

"Yes actually. I need to ask her about her new proposal," she responded. I handed the phone to Ela who took it and walked into the other room still with Tobey. I looked down at the snoozing Izzy before I caught something odd through the front window.

"What the hell was that," I muttered in German and stared at the window intently again. That's when I saw it. 3 masked figures outside of Zofia's house. Fuck. FUCK. Wait…Zofia was currently out with her family. I saw them leave a few hours ago but still, one of them was packing some serious firepower. Ela was walking back into the room after finishing her conversation with Monika and saw my face.

"Lukas? What?"

"Ela, take the kids down in the basement. Now." I said sternly. She didn't move.

"Now." I repeated. "Do not open the door until you know it's me. There is a knife down there just in case. There are people outside your sister's house. Fallen guys." That got Ela in "momma bear" mode. She picked up Izzy (who remained sleeping) and walked downstairs into my mancave. I grabbed one of the big kitchen knives and made my way out the back door and towards Zofia's house. As Jordan once stated, these guys were vastly untrained. All 3 of them were in plain sight of everyone in the neighborhood. One of them was closer to my house with his back to it. Good. Easy stealth kill. One stab to the lungs was enough to drop him without alerting his friends. I started to make my way towards the next one…but I fucking stepped on a twig. Like right out of the movies. Both hostiles turned to see me but only one was really able to move as he did not currently have a chef's knife lodged in his neck. The last guy and I started to engage in brutal hand to hand combat. This guy was untrained but still, he still managed to get a few good licks in. Plus the asshole played dirty and fired a few shots at me. Dumbass, that would alert the police as well as the nearby Momma Bear.

"Stop!" the guy shouted and aimed the gun at my head. I managed to get a good look at this guy. He had that broken styled mask all of these guys wore but he also sported what looked like an apron.

"What's with the apron? Let me guess you're going to 'cook up an ass-whooping' on me?" I asked sarcastically.

"It marks me as one of Jayke the Slayer's men! The Meat Hook Murderer!" he retorted. Fucking Jayke the Slayer? Really? REALLY?! That was fucking AWFUL. I glanced over his shoulder to see that Zofia's car was parked several houses down and she was silently making her way toward me and the guy with a pistol drawn. I quickly gave her the indication I saw her. The guy in front of me didn't notice.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"I am here on Sekh's intel to attack the Polish bitch!" he said and pulled the hammer back on the pistol. Zofia saw and began walking a bit faster.

"You do realize she's more skilled than you ever hope to be?" I asked before making a lightning fast movement. I disarmed the pistol from the guy's hand and shoved him at Zofia who took him down with ease and aimed her pistol at her head. Meanwhile, I began to hear and see police sirens and it looked like Andrzej was handling them. Plus I thought I saw Seamus among the officers.

"Boo," Zofia said menacingly. "Talk. Why are you here?"

"To kill you!" the guy shouted. I responded by stomping on the guy's leg. He screamed and then proceeded to glare at me. I looked to him and then to Zofia.

"Good job," I said sarcastically. Then I saw his eyes rest on someone. Jana.

"Oh goodie! Sekh was right! You do have a daughter! Jayke likes them yo-" BANG! Zofia had heard enough and shot the guy right between the eyes. Then she ran over to Jana and shielded her from all the carnage. I heard her say "Don't look honey. Don't look" in Polish as she led her away. I looked down at the guy who now had a fresh bullet in his skull and started to search his pockets. Guy had a meat hook as a melee weapon…but I did find a folded up piece of paper. It looked like printed orders. It read;

"Go to [Zofia's address]. Kill the bitch and/or her husband. Her husband is not Rainbow and therefore not part of the organization that killed my father and uncle. Bring the supposed daughter to me. Some of my other toys are starting to bore me. For the glory of the Fallen!

Jayke The Slayer. The Meat Hook Murderer of San Francisco!"

Oh no…this was bad. This was very very bad. Seamus had walked over in the meantime.

"What's that you've got there Luke?" he said. I handed the note to him while just staring off into the distance towards my house where Ela was now walking out with the 2 babies. She handed one to Jana and the other to Andrzej and ran over to me.

"What the hell happened?" she asked in a very frightened voice. I didn't answer and just gestured to the dead guy's apron and meat hook.

"Oh shit," Seamus said from behind me.

"Someone tell me what is going on right fucking now!" Ela demanded. "My sister's house was just targeted and my husband was attacked trying to defend it!" Seamus handed Ela the piece of paper and she quickly read it. I saw her face go from shock to absolute fury. She even barred her teeth.

"HE WANTED TO TAKE JANA?!" she growled. "WHO THE FUCK IS THIS JAYKE THE SLAYER GUY?!"

"Ela, look at what this guy is wearing," I said, suppressing my own fury.

"An apron," she snapped back

"Who do we know that wore an apron and was part of a terrorist organization?" I asked. Ela's face changed again. Her eyes got big and wide with fear and recognition.

"I'll message Tina," she said and pulled out her phone. Zofia had walked back over and she too made the connection Seamus and I had.

"I'll let Eliza and Elena know right away. Tell Derrick. Now," she said and pulled out her own phone. Way ahead of you Zo. I pulled out my phone and pulled up Derrick's message chain. I only sent 4 words.

"He has a son."

December 25th, 2027

Our House

San Francisco, CA. USA

My phone buzzed in my pocket as I was walking out of the bathroom. Frowning, I took it out of my pants and stared at the single message from my best friend. "He has a son." I raised an eyebrow at this. Huh, guess Tina couldn't hold it in past Christmas. That's right folks! Tina was pregnant again! This time with a boy! She had surprised me and Zoey this morning with the news. I was handed a small bag with a photo of an ultrasound where "Sex: M" was circled. Zoey had been over the moon when she found out she was going to be just like her Auntie Megs, a big sister. She had even walked over to Tina and patted her belly. That reassured me that she was going to be a great big sister. Speaking of Tina, she just walked into our bedroom after putting Zoey to sleep.

"Well, I'd say that was an eventful Christmas. I'll be honest, I thought you would have figured it out by now. I haven't touched any alcohol in a few weeks," she said after walking over and kissing me. "I love those earrings by the way. Who's texting you?"

"Skywalker," I responded. "You tell him we're having a son?" Tina looked confused at this.

"No. Derrick, only you and Zoey know," Tina said.

"Then explain this," I said and held out my phone to Tina to read. See too raised an eyebrow at the message.

"I don't know what he could have meant by that," Tina said before she started to change into her pjs. "Who do you want to tell first? I actually saw Eliza at the meat market the other day. She looked beyond excited when I saw her. Do you think….hang on…Derrick…I think Eliza's pregnant too!" I only half listened. Something tugged at the back of my subconscious when Tina had said "meat market." No…no way. That asshole was dead. Like worm food at this point. Tina must have seen my face change and said "Derrick, sweetie, are you ok?" Now in full panic mode, I frantically typed out a message to Lukas. "Who? Who has a son?" Within seconds, 2 words came in as a new message. I looked at them and felt white hot rage engulf my body once again. I looked at Tina who I saw was reading a message on her own phone and her eyes got wide with fear. I needed her to calm me before I went fucking ballistic. Thankfully she did so.

"Derrick," she began and placed a trembling hand on my shoulder. "Look at me. Stay with me ok? Getting mad right now will help no one. I'm right here. Zoey's in the other room. Meghan is with Monika. You talked to her earlier." I managed to repress the rage but that didn't make what I had just read and saw go away. What were the 2 words I saw on my fucking phone?! Which piece of shit motherfucker managed to procreate?! I'LL GIVE YOU ONE GUESS.

"The Butcher."