A/N: Hello! So, this got worked and reworked multiple times over the last couple of weeks. I'm still not completely happy with it, but I wanted it out by today. Why? Because today is the day that Luke ran away from home. If you've seen the missing poster behind the boys at the beginning of episode 1, the date reads 'December 14, 1994' which is the day that he had been missing since. I might end up rewriting this down the line, but for right now, I just want it out so I can stop thinking about it. I will be posting another Christmas themed chapter because I had a different storyline that I originally was working with for this, but it wasn't working. So, expect another chapter between now and Christmas. Also, this is less of a Juke story and more of a Juliexfamily story with Juke undertones.

Chapter Song: Something About Decemberby Christina Perri

The Ones You Love Are Never Far

To lose someone you love around a major holiday stays with you forever. Sure, it gets easier as time goes by, but it's a constant reminder of that person you lost. For Julie, losing her mother at the halfway point between Thanksgiving and Christmas had been difficult. She would always remember the last Thanksgiving she shared with her mom and the first Christmas without her. Her father tried to make it easier, but the holiday had been tainted. It passed like another day on the calendar. She knew it bothered her father because it was one of his favorite holidays to celebrate. But neither Julie nor Carlos was in the spirit.

This year, her father attempted again to bring the Christmas spirit back into the lives of his children. Carlos was more receptive than Julie. The eldest Molina child wanted to celebrate the holiday like she used to, but the mom shaped hole was too big to ignore.

Before the passing of her mother, the Molinas would decorate their house the Sunday after Thanksgiving. When Rose was too weak to help, she sat on the couch and directed. Ray wanted to keep the tradition of decorating the house right after Thanksgiving, but Julie found excuses to put it off. Namely the band.

Julie and the Phantoms became internet sensations following their 'Edge of Great' performance that was nearing 8 million views in the span of four months. Their success became even bigger after their Orpheum show that multiple people in the crowd live-streamed for the world to see. It was being talked about all over the web; from the delayed start to the 'special effects' of the guys appearing one by one instead of all at once as they had on the YouTube video. Most of the talk was about the 'technical problems' surrounding Luke's arrival. It gained both positive and negative reviews, but Julie hadn't let it bother her. Especially since the events following were more important to her than what anyone had to say about the actual performance.

The band was getting more offers for gigs than ever and Julie was accepting as many as she could. Guilt ate at her whenever she told her father that she couldn't help decorate because she and the guys needed to practice for their next show. He would get a brief look of disappointment on his face before it disappeared into one of understanding. He made a comment about making sure school was coming first before kissing the top of her head and going about his day. Sometimes she wished that he were less supportive so maybe the guilt wouldn't weigh her down so much.

Julie retreated to the studio, just escaping her father's attempt to get her to agree to set aside band practice for decorating time. Guilt gnawed at her as she slipped away, and she tried to pretend she hadn't seen the upset on his face. Pulling open the garage door, she noticed that Alex and Luke had appeared to be in the middle of a heated conversation. She looked between them as they looked back at her.

"Everything...okay?" They nodded. She was skeptical but shrugged and let it slide. "Alright then."

Wordlessly, she made her way to her keyboard and took a seat. The boys, noticing her mood, cautiously approached her.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked.

She glanced up at him. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Am I a bad daughter?"

"No. Why would you think that?" Alex asked.

"My dad has been trying to get me to help him and Carlos decorate the house, but… I don't know. It's the second Christmas without my mom and I just don't feel the Christmas spirit."

"How come?" Luke asked, and she looked at him.

"My mom died just before Christmas last year." He nodded, and she could see something in his eyes close off. She wasn't sure what the reason for it was, but it bothered her and she wished she had kept that revelation to herself. No going back now. "I've been pretty much using the band and school to keep myself busy, but I know I'm disappointing my dad. He loves Christmas, loves going all out to decorate the house. Even though he was just as broken as me and Carlos last year, he tried to make Christmas seem normal for us. Mom was still with us when we decorated last year. She was weak, but she was still here. She," Julie laughed as tears streamed down her face, "she sat on the couch, wrapped in blankets, telling us where to hang the lights and put the figurines she got from my Abuela." Her arms went around herself. "Afterwards, Dad made hot cocoa. Carlos and I sat beside her and we all watched Christmas movies until it was time for us to go to bed." She smiled to herself at the fond memory. One of the last good memories before her mother was rushed to the hospital.

"Maybe you should go decorate with your dad."

"I can't."

"You can, you just don't want to. You're letting your fear rule you, just like with music."

"Luke...I," Before she could say anything else, he was gone. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked.

"No," Alex answered. "He's just going through something." He moved to sit beside Julie. "We get it, though. It's been twenty-six years since we spent Christmas with our folks."

Julie tensed. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For complaining about the fact that I'm spending another Christmas without my mom when you haven't done the same in over two decades."

Reggie grinned. "It's fine, Julie. Honestly, Christmas with my family was never something I looked forward to." His smile dropped into a grimace. "It always ended the same."

She reached out for him and he took a seat on her other side. Though they never talked much about life before they died, Julie had the sneaking suspicion that Reggie's home life wasn't anything that held a lot of happy memories. It made sense when she thought about the way he acted. His sometimes clueless disposition, a defense mechanism that he'd built up over years of needing to escape a not so pleasant home. She also noticed how much he latched onto her father as a role model, something he probably didn't have growing up.

Her head landed on Reggie's shoulder as Alex curled his fingers into hers. "Mine wasn't so bad," he commented. "It honestly was good until…"

Until he came out. She didn't need him to finish to know what he was going to say. It hadn't escaped Julie's observations that Alex seemed to light up whenever Willie was mentioned. He had yet to say anything to her, but she had a feeling he already knew she knew. Her fingers tightened around his own and he sent her a grateful smile.

"We'll spend Christmas together and create new memories for you guys." Her mind went to Luke as she basked in the comfort Reggie and Alex brought her. "Is that what's bothering Luke?"

Alex sighed. "It's a little bit deeper than that, but you're gonna need to talk to him about it."

Nodding, Julie thought about ways to get the guitarist to open up to her.

Luke didn't reappear until later that night. Julie was alone in the studio, notebook open in her lap as she wrote lyrics to a song that had become lodged into her head right after her talk with Alex and Reggie. She'd convinced them to disappear for a while, though it didn't take much to persuade them, and she waited.

"Hey," he greeted.

She lifted her gaze from the notebook and smiled shyly. "Hey." She bit her lip as she closed the book and set it aside along with her glasses. "Can we talk?" He nodded and sat beside her on the couch. "I'm sorry." He glanced at her in confusion. "I was so caught up in how I was feeling that I didn't even think about how you and the guys were feeling. Christmas is tough for all of us, but I was just thinking about myself. And for that, I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize, Jules."

"Yes, I do." She grabbed his hand, ignoring the look he gave her and the way it stirred something inside her. "You guys are my friends. You mean a lot to me, and your feelings matter to me."

He sighed. "Did they tell you?"

She shook her head, knowing what he was talking about. "Alex said I should hear it from you."

"Too bad he didn't offer that same advice before telling you about who Emily is." A look of shock and surprise crossed her face as he grinned. "Come on, you didn't think I wouldn't figure it out when you suddenly appeared on my parents' doorstep with the song I wrote for my mom, did you?"

Laughing breathlessly, cursing herself that she should've known that he would work it out. "They were desperate at the time. I was being rather stubborn."

"That you were."

Her eyes narrowed as she shoved him playfully. "Well if a few someones hadn't been so focused on getting revenge, I wouldn't have needed to be stubborn."

He nodded. "Yeah, and we ended up paying for that."

"That you did." Julie sighed, running her fingers through her curls as they both remembered Caleb's curse that almost resulted in the boys disappearing forever. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course, Jules. You know that."

"Then trust me enough to come to me if you need someone to talk to. I'm a good listener."

He grinned. "Same goes for you, you know? I mean, I'm not the greatest of listeners…"

"You got that right," she mumbled, causing him to stick his tongue out at her.

"But I'm willing to be there for you."

"Thank you."

Silence passed between them. Luke focused on playing with her knuckles, and Julie could tell that he wanted to say something. She remained quiet and hoped that he would open up to her.

"When I ran out on my mom, I wasn't thinking about how it would affect her. I was just thinking about making what I worked so hard for come true. I didn't know… I didn't know it would be the last time she would ever see me." His eyes finally met hers. "I didn't want that for you, Julie. I don't want something to happen and you regret not getting that last moment with your dad and brother. Especially with it being so close to Christmas."

"I know, and I'm grateful that you care that much."

"Of course I care about you. How could I not?" Words went unsaid as they sat there in silence, trying not to acknowledge the elephant in the room. "So what were you working on?" he asked, gesturing towards the notebook and breaking the tension.

She reached for it and opened it onto the page she left off on. "A Christmas song, actually. I was feeling in the spirit."

He grinned as he looked at what she had so far. "This is good."

"Really?"

"Would I ever lie to you?"

"Well, there was that one time…"

"I think we've already established that the guys and I make stupid mistakes." She laughed. "But we'll never lie to you again."

Nodding, she smiled. "I know."

"Let me hear how this goes," he suggested, handing her the notebook. She stood and went over to the piano. Taking a seat, she wasn't surprised to see he'd followed her; his guitar in hand. Lifting the lid, she took a breath before beginning to play the melody.

Lights around the tree

Mama's whistling

Takes me back again

There's something bout' December

Julie awoke the next morning and bounded downstairs. After last night, she decided to stop letting her fear of remembering the pain of losing her mom rule her life. She found her father in the midst of making breakfast.

"Morning, Papi."

"Morning, Mija."

"So, can we decorate today?" His head popped up and Julie had to hold in the laugh that threatened to bubble from her throat.

"Really?" She nodded. "Yeah, okay. We can turn on some tunes and just get to making the house look like a Christmas wonderland."

"Sounds good."

He beckoned her over and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. "What made you decide to want to do it today? I thought you would've had band practice."

"I've been using the band as an excuse not to do it and I realized that I can't keep hiding from something that might make me sad. Besides, it means a lot to you."

"Thank you, néna." He released her and continued making breakfast.

We're hanging mistletoe

And hoping that it snows

I close my eyes and then

I can still remember

How to get back, home

After breakfast, Julie and Carlos clambered up to the attic to retrieve the boxes of decorations while their father went to buy a tree. The siblings went about taking stock of their decorations, reminiscing on some of the more personal ones. Ray walked in about twenty minutes after all of the boxes had been brought down to the living room.

"Mija, can you get the door for me?" She nodded and closed the door behind him. "Carlito, there's tree food in this bag," He handed the plastic bag to his son, "mix one pack with a full cup of water."

"On it." Carlos took the bag into the kitchen.

"Julie, can you grab the tree stand?"

Digging into the box filled with things for the tree, she fished out the tree stand and placed it where they normally put the tree. She watched as her father lowered the trunk into the stand and she quickly tightened the screws into the wood before he let go. Carlos came afterward with the cup of water-tree food mix and poured it into the stand. With a box cutter, Ray freed the tree from the netting and they watched as its branches fell open.

"Who's got the lights?"

"I do!" Julie reached for the strand of color lights and she and her father went to work on wrapping the 6 ft tree.

Let all your memories

Hold you close

No matter where you are

You're not alone

Because the ones you love

Are never far

If Christmas is in your heart

It took a few hours for the Molinas to get their house looking like a Christmas wonderland. Once everything was in its place, they stood back and admired their handiwork. Ray wrapped his arms around his children and brought them close to his side.

"Mama would be proud," Julie remarked.

He nodded and kissed her head before doing the same to Carlos. "She would be."

"So, hot cocoa and Christmas movies?" Carlos suggested.

"Yeah." Julie watched her father disappear into the kitchen with her brother following.

She smiled at them before glancing around the room. There was a warmth emanating from it. A warmth that was familiar and right. Her mom was there with them, this much she knew was true.

Let all your memories

Hold you close

No matter where you are

You're not alone

Because the ones you love

Are never far

If Christmas is in your heart

Later that night, Julie found herself propped against her headboard, trying to finish the song she'd shown Luke. It was where he found her when poofed into her room. She lifted her head and smiled at him. There was something about his stance that told her that he was nervous about something. It piqued her curiosity as she lifted a brow in question.

"Hey."

She held up a finger before getting up and closing her door. One of these days, she needed to tell her dad about the boys. Maybe that would be her New Year's resolution.

"Hey. What's up?"

"Um... there's something I wanted to tell you." She looked at him expectantly. "Today's the day I left," he confessed. "Today is the last day either of my parents saw me, at least alive." Her heart wrenched in her chest.

Moving closer to him, she reached out for his hand and he took it willingly. "Is that why you've been acting so weird lately?" He nodded. "Is that where you went yesterday?"

He nodded again. "Just wanted to see them. Wanted to see how they've been handling it."

"And?"

Smiling, he squeezed her hand. "Better than I expected, and that's thanks to you, Julie. They're not hurting as much as they were before you gave them the song. I know I've said it before, but… thank you."

She returned his smile with one of her own. "You're welcome, Luke." He pulled her in for a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

"Have I told you how much I enjoy doing this? Because I like it a lot."

Giggling, she curled her arms around his torso, burying her face into his chest. "Me, too."