With Christmas just around the corner the mansion had taken on a festive appearance as well as having a seasonal smell of holiday foods and scented candles. The whole thing gave a warming feeling inside Victoria. She loved holidays, especially Christmas. All the pretty lights and decorations placed delicately on Christmas trees, the beautiful wrapping around gifts, and having people to share it all with. She couldn’t help but smile almost constantly.

Being one of the very few residents who was up at night Victoria had asked some of her friends to leave things for her to do to help decorate. One night a box of ornaments was left by her door, and she went through the mansion hanging the beautiful objects in places she felt needed some decoration. The remaining glittery globes found homes on the main Christmas tree in the living room.

Stepping back and admiring the scene of how wonderful the living room looked Victoria giggled with happiness when she saw someone had moved an electric keyboard into the room. Maybe it was for singing Christmas carols. What a perfect idea. The little blonde girl would sing a song her mother and herself sang every year.

Multicolored Christmas lights bathed the Mansion’s halls in a mixture of faint, festive colors. Wreaths and ornaments hung from every conceivable hanging-place. Can you imagine a sight more hideous than that?

Kaitlyn hated Christmas. It was that special time of year when everyone got gifts for everyone they loved. Kaitlyn used to hate it because nobody ever gave her any gifts, because nobody loved her. Not even Santa. At the Sanctuary, she learned that Santa was fake. She also had people who cared about her there, and some of them even gave her things on Christmas. But it was too late. No matter what they did, the holiday season continued to make her feel terrible.

Now, several years after running away from home, Kaitlyn was still determined to feel terrible about Christmas. This wouldn’t stop her from making a token effort at taking part in it.

Victoria’s singing drew her there. Kaitlyn had been searching for her. The little box in Kaitlyn’s hands could also be described as a lumpy ball of slightly crumpled red wrapping paper. She wasn’t exactly a master in the art of wrapping gifts, but she hadn’t been about to ask anyone else for help, either.

Soon, Kaitlyn stood several paces behind Victoria as she played her song. She didn’t want to interrupt Victoria’s singing – she liked Victoria’s singing, loved the sound of her voice in her native language. But Kaitlyn hated this place. She felt like the room itself was assaulting her, forcing visions of Christmases past upon her mind to torment her. She wanted to scream, to blow something up, to obliterate every last scrap of evidence that anyone had ever even heard of such of thing as ‘Christmas.’ She wanted to give her gift to Victoria and be done with it, so she could find somewhere without all these awful decorations and stay there.

But if she didn’t wait, she might interrupt Victoria’s performance, or worse, walk out on her! What kind of message would that send to her beloved? Not a good one, certainly.

So Kaitlyn stood. And she waited. And she was miserable.

It was late. Cole was drunk. His parents had refused to fly him back for his first Christmas away from them. They said that he needed to socialize with his own kind. What horse crap! Cole wanted to be back with his friends. He wanted to be with people who were normal. He wanted to be somewhere he did not have to worry about things blowing up, or a dragon running through the halls, or someone accidentally teleporting into his room. He just wanted to be normal, again. So he "acquired" some alcohol from the "alcohol fairy" and had found a local party. It was a fun party with normal humans. No one exploded, no one destroyed the television with their laser vision, and (the best part) no one had any physical mutants to disgust Cole. He had actually had a good time, probably the best time that he had had since coming to New York City.

Now, he was stumbling back to the mansion. He made it through the front gate with only minor difficulties. For a while, he forgot his passcode to get in the gate. Afterwards, he had thrown up in the dead rose brushes before washing his face in the front yard fountain. Entering through the kitchens, Cole grabbed himself a late night snack in the form of a peanut butter sandwich and a water. He knew the water would help his hangover tomorrow. He made his way towards his room, but the sound of singing drew him to the living room. Sitting near the Christmas tree, there was a small, blonde haired girl. Behind her, standing rather awkwardly, there was another girl, this one with red hair.

The blond haired girl was singing. It was a weird song, one Cole had never heard before. But it was late. Why was she singing? Didn't she know that people were sleeping? Sober Cole would probably have ignored the two mutant girls and gone to bed, humming a new song, but drunk Cole was different. Drunk Cole was a uninhibited a**hole with frustrations that had been building up for almost a year.

"Heys, why don't you sshut up? People are trying to ssleep around here!" Cole yelled, his words obviously slurred by the liquor.

No sooner had Victoria finished her song than a male’s voice called out telling her to…shut up? His speech was slurry like someone who was drunk, or maybe she really had woken him up and he was still mostly asleep. Either way being told to shut up after singing such a wonderful song is still hurtful. It was like her heart had been pierced by an invisible knife.

Tears immediately began to well up in her eyes as she spun around to see who had spoken out. Kait? With something wrapped in her hand? Her heart instantly beat faster. Was it a gift?

Eyes shift and there; a tall boy looking at the girls. He didn’t look so well. Eyes back to Kait and her emotions filled with love and warmth, but still the shocking words from the boy grasped at her as well. Victoria didn’t mean to upset anyone and so she turned her attention to the boy first. “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake anyone up. I couldn’t help but sing a song I used to sing with my mother this time of year.” A single tear rolled down her right cheek.

Now to Kait. “I hope I didn’t wake you too.” Red yes glance at the wrapped object. “Is that for me?” Sniffles softly.

The classiest boy on campus had decided to grace them with his presence. Kaitlyn could smell the booze all the way across the room. She gave him the evil eye, then turned back to Victoria.

Victoria was crying! Dear, sweet, delicate Victoria! “I was already up.” She tried not to look angry in front of Victoria, with mixed success. “Was gonna give you this, but I didn’t wanna interrupt you.”

The redhead set the present on Victoria’s lap, then sat down next to her and gave her a hug. During the hug, Kaitlyn flashed a very rude gesture at Cole, while her hand was behind Victoria’s back where she wouldn’t see it. But Cole would definitely see it.

"Your singing's awesome. Forget the haters."

>> “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake anyone up. I couldn’t help but sing a song I used to sing with my mother this time of year.”

"What does it matter? She ish not here! Sshe left you here because she wanted to get rid of you. Just like all of ush freaks, here." Cole exclaimed, angrily. He tried to lean against a chair to steady himself, but he leaned against a rocking chair. When it rocked under his weight, Cole had to not-so-gracefully catch himself, spilling half of his cup of water in the process. When he looked up, the teen was met with the middle finger from the redheaded girl. He returned the girl's gesture while making a face at her. Then Cole carefully leaned against the chair before taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"Stupid kids." Cole muttered through a mouthful of peanut butter.

Attention back to Kait as she spoke and placed the gift on Victoria’s lap. The gift was quickly held affectionately as Kait received a big smile accompanied by big red sparkling eyes. When the girls were sitting together Victoria leaned lovingly against her sweet girlfriend. “Aitah Kait! I’m so glad you enjoy my singing. That’s very sweet of you.” Looking down at the gift then backup at Kait. “Should I open it now or wait?”

Again the rude boy spoke out and ruined the moment. “My mom did not get rid of me! Maybe yours did because you’re a bad person!” This was followed by a tongue sticking out briefly. “And we’re not stupid because we like music.”

“That’s up to you.” She shrugged to Victoria. “I’m not really into Christmas, but I know you are.” Kaitlyn tried to smile at her, at least.

Then… well, she couldn’t let Cole bother her. She saw his words for the cheap shot that they were. But even though Victoria didn’t know it, she’d just stabbed the most sensitive part of Kaitlyn’s psyche and twisted the knife. It’s not like Victoria could have known, either. The only thing Kaitlyn told Victoria about her old family was that she didn’t want to talk about her old family.

Still sitting next to Victoria, Kaitlyn stared at her knees, her face a blank mask. The only thing that helped at times like this was to shut everything out and not let herself think about anything. If she started thinking, she might start crying or blowing things up, or both.