Tom Residence

It was a bright and, at the same time, dark Christmas morning in Presence…

Darla Tom hadn’t moved from her spot on the couch. It was bright for her that morning. She had given birth not an hour ago. Robert Carlyle was sitting across from her, looked at her with her new baby.

A son, actually.

“I’ve decided on a name,” Darla announced. “It was a difficult decision, but I’ve settled on Noah Theodore Tom. The first was my husband’s father’s name, and the second was my father’s name. Like it?”

Robert shrugged. “I guess.”

Darla sat up, rocking Noah gently in her arms. “I can’t help but feel you’re slightly disenchanted with my choice.”

“It’s nice,” Robert started, “but what about me?”

Darla stopped the rocking. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t help but notice that you’ve got your father and your ex-husband’s father’s name on my son.” Robert got up, and went right up to the artificial tree he put up in the middle of the night.

“We’re putting on a charade!” Darla said. “And you’re the one whose been the number one supporter on this.”

“Even so, couldn’t you at least change his middle name to my father’s name?” Robert lifted a gift from the tree and walked over to Darla. “No one needs to know. I just need to feel connected to this child.”

Darla felt slightly uneasy. “Sure… Um… What was his name?”

Robert handed the present to Darla. “Open it. Merry Christmas.”

With that, Kassie Tom walked into living room pushing Patrick Donovan on a wheel chair. “You’re opening gifts already? Without us?”

Darla smiled. “This one’s from Robert, to me.”

“It’s for everyone, really,” Robert announced. “For both the wonderful women in this room.”

Patrick, feeling slightly gloomy, wheeled himself up to the Christmas tree.

Kassie rushed up to Patrick. “How are you feeling?”

“The same as when you asked me five minutes ago,” Patrick spewed. “And don’t go one about how lucky we were that Ian Huber, the hospital Chief of Staff, lived on this street – or that you had your father’s wheelchair.”

Darla tried to lighten the mood. “My husband broke his angle five times… that chair’s been around for years.”

There was a silence in the room. It was quickly filled with Ian Huber’s voice: “It’s Christmas, so I’d better head home to my wife. Remember everything I told you. And Merry Christmas.” He left quickly.

Robert jumped in. “Well, open my gift!” he declared proudly.

Kassie walked over to Darla and scooped up baby Noah into her arms, and Darla tore open the silver and gold wrapping paper off the rectangular gift.

“What is it?” Kassie asked, rocking Noah gently, back and forth. “It looks like a book.”

Darla’s face almost turned white.

“Like it?” Robert asked.

Showing the cover of the book to the spectators, there was a definite look of surprise on her face.

‘Parenting a Child: Why the Father is Important to Early Development.’

Consuelos Residence

Neither Skye Lore nor Mateo Consuelos could watch the television or the radio. Those sources were feeding them with Christmas songs and specials.

“Why do they insist on feeding us this tripe?” Skye groaned, referring the annoying Christmas music.

Mateo shrugged. “Deal with it. We have some planning to do.”

Skye nodded to her superior. They were both demons who had possessed the bodies of Skye and Mateo. Skye had originally taunted the beings of this house – sending Dean Consuelos to a mental institution.

But now with Mateo recently possessed, she was knocked down a level. He was far more powerful – and far angrier.

“So, let me get this straight,” Skye began. “Since Brianna Huber is the only one who knows about us, we have to kill her?”

“Correct,” Mateo said. “That is part one.”

Skye’s eyes opened up. “And part two?”

Mateo narrowed his eyes at her. “Don’t pretend you don’t know. It’s been planned for hundreds of years. I certainly hope you don’t screw up.”

“Of course not… We’re going to go ahead as planned…” Skye walked to the fridge.

“But part one has to go off without a hitch first,” Mateo continued. “Brianna better no go calling the whole clergy to this house!”

“I doubt it,” Skye said, smiling. “I’ve planned ahead. We’re going to have some real fun with this mission.” Sounding giddy: “I’m looking forward to this revenge.”

“Remember,” Mateo started. “Revenge is a dish best served cold…”

Huber Residence

Brianna Huber didn’t sleep a wink the whole night. The fact it was Christmas morning was lost on her.

“Something bad is going to happen,” she muttered to herself.

Her husband, Ian, had left early that morning. It had been one of the people on the street needing immediate medical attention.

“Who to call…?” Brianna whispered to herself. She knew she needed to contact Father McMurdy – but what would she say? It was highly unconventional.

“What the heck!” Brianna declared, reaching for the phone. “I need him now!”

But as soon as she lifted the receiver, she got a terrible chill.

“No!” she called out. “It’s dead!”

Torres Residence

“It’s Christmas morning!” Bo Torres cried out.

Iris Torres, still sleeping, was awoken with a start! She blinked a few moments, and realized that her father was calling her down.

“Christmas!” Bo’s voice continued to carry across the house.

Iris stepped out of bed groggily. She covered herself with a housecoat, and stepped out of her room. It took her till she got to her living room to realize what was going on.

Bo came up beside her. “How’s my little girl doing?”

Hardly able to open her eyes, she noticed her changed living room. “What is all this?”

“My God!” her father announced, grabbing her hand. “What have you been doing the past ten December twenty-fifths?” Bo pulled up to a freshly erected Christmas tree.

“Where did all this come from?” Iris asked, finally waking up.

Bo quickly grabbed a package wrapped in red paper. “This came from me.”

Iris looked at her father’s eyes. “Have you been up all night? You’ve been in jail for weeks!”

“I wouldn’t be worried about me,” Bo stated, handing the present to his daughter. “You’ve been through the most.”

“I just thought that I’d celebrate Christmas a little later, when my plate isn’t as full.” Iris placed the package back down.

“Hold it!” Bo said, standing up. “There is no excuse for celebrating what can be done now. It will be good.”

Iris turned back. “I… I just didn’t get you anything.”

“I wasn’t expecting anything. Heck, months ago I was accusing you of killing my daughter.”

Iris paused, and then, “But I was the cause… You were right all along. Wyle made that perfectly clear to me.”

Bo didn’t say anything.

“Can you acknowledge the fact that I was the cause of her death?” Iris asked plainly.

Bo didn’t want to be having this conversation. Not now.

“I can’t continue living with you unless I know that when ever you’re looking at me, whenever I’m not around, or whenever there’s a silence between us, you don’t think that I’m a horrible person. I couldn’t live that way.”

King Residence

Julian King was humming “Deck the Hall” as he came down the grand staircase to greet his new reunited family in the dining room.

“Merry Christmas!” he declared happily.

Constance and Adam King both felt uneasy.

“Why so happy?” Constance asked carefully. She sat beside her son, Adam, and made sure her husband sat far away from her.

“Everything’s going my way,” he stated, sitting down across from both of them. “I have my son back, the house hasn’t been damaged, and I have a lawsuit underway.”

Constance stood up. “Lawsuit?”

“Some local woman kept poor Adam here tied up in her basement,” Julian proved, signaling for Henderson to serve him.

Adam placed his fork down. “I can’t believe you. It was her brother who did everything… and she believed I was the one who killed her mother and stabbed her.”

Julian shook his head. “My lawyers will beg to differ.”

Adam got up and went to the door. “I’m going out.”

“Where?” Constance asked, going after her son.

Adam didn’t answer. He smiled to his mother, and ignored his father as he slipped out.

Constance turned to her husband. “Why do you do this? This was Christmas morning for God’s sake, and you manage to chase our son away!”

Julian, however, seemed quite content as he continued to hum holiday melodies.

Presence Memorial Hospital

Gillian Evans remained beside her mother’s bedside through the night.

“Are you still feeling guilty?” Giovanni Pike spoke, entering the room.

Gillian turned around. “What are you doing here?”

He slid up beside her. “Don’t change the subject. You shouldn’t feel guilty.”

“I can’t help it.” Gillian got up, and brought her coffee with her. “I have been living on coffee for hours. Sleep seems foreign to me.”

Giovanni grabbed her hand. “You need some sleep.”

“How?” she asked, pointing to the coffee. “I have a lot of this in my system.”

Giovanni turned to face her. He gently clasped her chin with his strong hands. With a turn of his wrist, her face came right in front of his.

“Wh… what is it?” Gillian said nervously.

“Your eyes look tired,” he said softly, his voice calming her shaky nerves. “And your face look like…”

“…Like I saved my mother from a burning car?”

Giovanni, smiling: “Exactly.”

“I haven’t changed my clothes yet,” she revealed.

“You have a few cuts and bruises,” Giovanni pointed out. He moved his head to her forehead. “There’s one –” he kissed her “– and another.” With each bruise he found, he kissed it.

Consuelos Residence

“What did you do?” Mateo finally asked.

Skye was pleaded he was intrigued. “Simple. I cut her phone lines. That way she can’t make a call to anyone.”

“I sense a hole in this plan,” Mateo stated.

Skye placed her hand up. “Not to worry. The second stage has yet to be enacted. Right now, Ian – her husband – has taken the car out for a ride. If the phone is dead, Brianna will want to use it as soon as possible!”

Mateo’s eyes opened wide. “Oh… I see. But we have a very small window of time to do it.”

“But it is a good plan, right?” Skye asked.

“Great. If we cut the brake in the time it take Ian to get out and Brianna to get in, they’ll never suspect foul play.”

“Precisely.” Skye rushed to the living room. “Better get the tool quickly.”

“I have no idea where anything is in ‘my’ house,” he announced.

“No problem,” Skye assured. “I placed everything we’ll need beside the door.”

With that, the sound of a car slowing down and turning into their neighbor’s driveway could be heard. It stopped.

“Now, now, now!” Skye screamed. “It needs to be done now!”

Huber Residence

Brianna was panicking!

“Oh, God….” She moaned, pacing through the living room. “This isn’t good… This is bad… This is very bad!”

It felt as if the entire house was closing in on her. Her breathing was getting shorter and faster. It was like she was stuck on a speeding train knowing it was going to derail. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Ding, dong…

The sound of the doorbell almost made her jump out of her skin! She approached the door and peered through the peephole.

“Ian!” she cried out, opening the door. “I’m so glad to see you!”

Ian couldn’t understand why his wife was so hyperactive, but he too was happy to see her. “I’ve been at the Tom residence. It’s terrible. Kassie’s bodyguard was paralyzed. It maybe not be temporary, but it’s still bad.”

Brianna peered to the driveway. “I need to use the car.”

Ian was surprised. “No way… It’s Christmas morning! You’re going to stay put.”

“I really need to…”

Ian shook his head. “Nope. We’re going to celebrate as we’ve done each year… I need to go to work this afternoon, so this is the only time.”

Brianna couldn’t give her reasons. He’d surely have her tied up.

“You look so worried,” Ian announced, approaching their tree. “It’s Christmas – the holiest day of the year. What could happen…?”

Torres Residence

“Well?” Iris pushed, wanting an answer.

Bo came up to his daughter and gave her a hug. “I am your father, and right now you’re the only one I want to be with right now. We’ve been apart for so long, I just want to spend Christmas with you.”

Iris hugged her father back, and she felt like crying.

But she didn’t.

“Now!” Bo said, clapping his hands together. “It’s present time!”

Iris tightened the rope on her robe and got on her knees beside her father by the tree. “Where did you find the time to do all this?”

Bo smiled. “Well, I didn’t go shopping for these.”

“Really?” she asked, shaking a present. “Where are they from?”

“I made a trip back to my house,” he said simply. “You’ll see.”

Iris tore the delicate paper off the package. As the paper was removed, it revealed the unknown gift to her.

“Oh…” she said, taken slightly aback. “It’s wonderful…”

“You like it?” Bo asked.

Iris lifted the picture frame up to brighter light. “It’s my mother… and me…”

“I knew that you’d like to have it,” Bo said solemnly. “To keep her memory alive.”

Iris wiped a tear from her eye. “Thank you very much…” Iris got up and placed the framed picture on the table. It showed her at eighteen years of age, posing with her mother at graduation. Vivian’s eyes were bright and alive; Iris wore a graduation robe and had her arm wrapped around her mother.

Bo came up and slipped a smaller gift on the table. “This is for this afternoon’s service – and for you to keep.”

“The funeral?” Iris asked, removing the small gold bow. “It’s going to be difficult to be there.”

“Your mother never had a proper sendoff,” Bo explained. “There’s going to be a shrine for flowers and prayer.” Bo paused, and then, “Wyle’s sendoff will be there, too.”

Iris finally removed the paper. It was a small case, with a fine velvet covering. “It this…”

Bo nodded. “Yes.”

Lifting the lid, Iris placed her hand over her mouth. “It’s beautiful.”

“I found it last night, and I knew you had to have it.”

Iris pulled out a string of white pearls. It was an expensive necklace, and she recognized it immediately. “It was my mother’s.”

“And her mother’s… And her mother’s mother…” Bo took the pearls and began to apply it to her neck.

“I can’t tell you how wonderful this is…” Iris stuttered, controlling her emotions.

Bo took a step back and looked at Iris with the jewelry strung elegantly around her neck. “You look just like your mother. You’re so beautiful… I have never been so proud of you in my life.”

Iris smiled to her father, and wrapped her arms around him.

Presence Memorial Hospital

Gillian had to push Giovanni away because of all the kissing he was giving her.

“Ack… Stop!” Gillian said comically, rushing to the door. “I give up!”

Giovanni laughed, his smile making her melt. He move towards Addy’s bed, and sat down in Gillian’s signature “waiting chair.”

“Hey… that’s my chair,” Gillian spoke, coming back inside.

“A thought occurred to me,” Giovanni began. “Maybe something was missing on the chair that couldn’t get you to sleep.”

Gillian asked coyly: “What’s missing…?”

He turned to her: “Me.”

She approached reluctantly, and was quickly grabbed by Giovanni. He pulled her onto his lap, and kissed her on the cheek.

“I knew there was a reason you came here,” Gillian laughed.

With that, the coffee melted out of her veins. For some reason, Gillian fell asleep in his arms. There was something comforting about his presence that made her melt.

She could only hope he was the right man.

Wright Residence: Presence Apartments

Brooke Wright was busy wrapping a special Christmas gift. She had to visit he family in San Francisco that morning, but afterwards she could do what she had to do.

Give Gillian the information on Giovanni that needed to be given.

“This is a definite landmine,” Brooke spoke to herself. “I can only hope that they will be able to avoid the strongest explosion it will cause.”

Tom Residence

“Why did you get her that book?” Kassie asked. “You know very well the baby’s father’s dead!”

Robert stepped in. “It will help fill the gap,” he explained. “It describes, as well, how to be a single mother and raise the son properly and healthily.” He winked at Darla.

Darla let out a nervous cough. “Yeah… Um… Kassie, I’ve chosen a name for that little guy.”

Little Noah was having a game of tug-of-war with Kassie’s pinky finger. “What have you settled on?”

“First name Noah,” Darla announced.

“After grandpa?”

Darla nodded. She peered up towards Robert who was signaling with his eyes – he, too, wanted to know the next part. “And his middle name was…”

“… James!” Robert burst in. “She told me she liked the name, and it was decided. Isn’t that right?”

Darla nodded again.

Kassie brought Noah up to Patrick. Patrick seemed disjointed from the Christmas celebrations and cheer. “Did you want to hold him?” she asked.

Patrick turned away, frustrated and angry. With that, Noah began to cry. His small lungs belted out the fact that he didn’t want to be ignored. Patrick slowly turned to the small child.

“Will he stop?” he asked.

Kassie nodded. “I think he wants you to hold him.”

Patrick thought about it, and then took the baby in his arms. “This is only to calm him down, right?”

“Right.” Kassie came up behind Patrick. She noticed he was awkward at first, but he soon looked like a pro.

It wasn’t until Darla and Robert had left the room, and he was having a poking-fest with Noah, that he finally spoke. “Do you think I’ll get the feeling back in my legs?”

Kassie, caught off-guard by his willingness to speak, bounced in. “Of course! Ian said that there is no serious spinal damage and that feeling could came back any day now.”

“Because I really want to keep protecting you,” he said softly, propping up Noah’s head. “I’m afraid I might get sent off this case. I can’t do my job.”

Kassie remained silent, but broke in, wide-eyed. “Speaking of jobs, I’m applying for one.”

Patrick turned to her. “Really? Where?”

“Not saying. I want to make sure I get it before I say anything. I’m just hoping I can start a new life.”

Kassie checked for Patrick’s reaction, but he seemed engrossed with the less-than-a-day-old Noah.