“Thank you.” Allissa smiled and hugged his side.

     The streets and sidewalks were all covered in snow and ice. Which N was most worried about since Emory could easily slip and hit her head on something hard. He’s learned about her clumsiness the hard way.

     “Doing alright there, Emory?” N asked, looking over his shoulder towards the brown haired girl. Bundled up in a large baby-blue jacket, the nine-year-old waddled behind him, toting two bags full of gifts for her sisters.

     “Yeah.” He barely heard her mumble. He hid his frown behind his scarf and contemplated about the shopping trip. His prediction was right, the whole day was just awkward. They both went from store to store looking for things that Rori and Allissa might like, sometimes (though rarely) even asking each other for the other’s opinion about a certain potential gift. Now N just had one more gift to get; one for Emory. The thing is though, that he’s never heard her speak about wanting anything for Christmas. With a sigh, he led them on until he finally thought about something to say.

     “Getting hungry?” He asked, looking over his shoulder once again. They only reply he got was a shy nod, so he quickly scanned the area for the first restaurant he could fine. Luckily, he spotted a nice, warm-looking café that he knew sold food.

     “C’mon!” The young Warrior led the girl towards the café. Once they were in and had food ordered, N took their stuff, and found a table with very comfy looking couches to sit at.

     “Wow! This place is nice!” He observed, trying to break the silence. But all Emory did to reply was nod, again. Silence took over them once more, even after a waitress had brought their food and drinks. N, knowing that this was getting them nowhere, tried thinking of things to talk about.

Surprisingly, he didn’t have to think for long.

“…..for Christmas…?” Emory asked with a voice so small N thought he was hearing things.

“Come again?”

He watched patiently as she took a deep breath. “I wanted to ask what you would like for Christmas? You… you never really talk about things that you want s-so….”

N blinked in surprise. He sure wasn’t expecting her to ask that. And thus, he didn’t know how to answer.

“Umm… I’ve never really thought about it.” He replied, truthfully. “I’ve been more focused on trying to make a really fun Christmas for you and your sisters.”

“Why?” She was now full on staring at him with wide eyes.

“ ‘Why’ what?”

“Why do you want to make us a fun Christmas?”

“Well, because I want to make you guys happy.”

“Why do you want to make us happy?”

“Because…” He paused, not sure how to explain. “Because we’re a family now. And if you guys are happy, then I’m happy.”

“You-you really mean that?” She asked, but then quickly shook her head. “I mean! Never mind. Don’t answer that.”

     Knowing that he shouldn’t let the conversation end like this, he reached out and took her hand. “No! It’s ok. You can ask me whatever you want. And to answer that question; Yes. Yes I do mean it. Your happiness means the world to me, and I would do ANYTHING to protect you girls.”

“But-!” He felt her fist ball up. “But we don’t deserve it! Your kindness, your support, we don’t deserve any of that!”

“Why do you think that?” He asked in a more soothing voice and watched as she tried to keep in her tears.

     “Because we’re Deck Masters.” Her voice cracked a bit. “We treat you like slaves, hurt you every single day… and sometimes we’d even make you hurt others.” He felt her tremble while saying the last part. “We do so much bad stuff to you and yet you still are kind to us, and treat us like your family. I just can’t understand why you wouldn’t want to take revenge on us-“

“Stop.” He said with slight force, cutting her off. “Emory, have you or Allissa or Rori ever, and I mean EVER, hurt me or even thought about being mean to me?”

Her eyes were downcast as she should her head ‘no’.

“Have you or Allissa or Rori ever tried to make me do something that I didn’t want to do? Or order me to do any of your chores for you?”

Once again, she should her head.

     “The reason I don’t fear or want any revenge is because you three are the kindest, most thoughtful Deck Masters I’ve ever met. I feel blessed just by being able to talk to you every day. You let me experience what it feels like to have a family again. To choose who and what I want to protect. To finally be myself instead of the Warrior I was made to be. You’ve given me so much, so how can I be mad at you for that? You didn’t choose to be Deck Masters, just as I never chose to be a Warrior. And just because we were born this way, doesn’t mean that we have to choose to be what everyone thinks we should be. Get what I’m saying?”

She nodded slowly, still not looking up.

     “Hey, hey hey.” He whispered soothingly while tightening his grip on her hand. She complied. “I will never try to hurt you. Alright? I promise, if you are in any danger, I will do anything to protect you. If you are ever scared, I will always be by your side. If you are ever sad and need someone to talk to, don’t hesitate to come to me, because my ears will always be open to listen to you. So guess what? You need to get used to being around me, ‘cause I ain’t goin’ anywhere anytime soon. Got it?”

His heart lifted as she smiled a bit. “Got it.”

“Good.” He used his thumb to un-ball her fist. “Now how ‘bout we finish up our food, go back home and drink some hot coco? Hm? How’s that sound?”

“Sounds good.” She replied shyly. “But! You still haven’t told me what you want for Christmas!”

“Sweetheart.” He laughed. “I’ll love anything you give me. Heck, I’d be fine with just being able to see your smile every day.”

     She blushed a bit before turning her attention back to her food. They quickly ate what was left of their plates, sometimes having small talk while doing so, and then started to head back to the house. On the way there, N just happened to look into a store’s front window and noticed something that caught his interest.

Now he knew what to get Emory for Christmas.

“It’s so cute!!!” Rori squealed, tightening her arms around the large, stuffed bunny. “Thank you, N!”

     “You’re welcome, Rorror.” N patted her head. That Christmas morning turned out to be a beautiful white Christmas with snow piled up everywhere and ice cycles hanging from the gutters. Allissa and N woke up to Rori jumping on each of their beds, screaming at them this it was Christmas and to wake up. Then she ran to Emory’s room and dragged the sleepy girl downstairs with her to the tree. It didn’t take long for them to start opening presents. So far, Allissa was rich in books; they all got her novels by some of her favorite authors. Rori was given a few coloring books by Allissa, a stuffed bunny by N and a large pack of limited edition markers from Emory. N had received a crown from Rori ( “So you can always be my prince!” she said, and his heart burst with affection.) and a few music albums from Allissa. Who noticed how he loved to clean and work while listening to a few popular Human bands.

Now, it was Emory’s turn to open gifts.

     From Allissa, she got a book on arts and crafts. So she can turn her large imagination into reality. Rori went all out on her 2^nd older sister’s wrapping, which caused Emory to take at least 5 minutes to unwrap. It turned out to be a toy microphone, for when Rori wanted to sing with her.

     “Here.” N handed her a large, square present. Gently, she took it and unwrapped the silver paper to reveal a photo album. It was made of purple leather and had the word ‘family’ written in white on the cover. She glanced at him, a bit confused. For what use would this have if there are no pictures? As if he read her mind, N smiled.

“That’s just part 1.” He explained, and pulled out another gift. In his hand, not wrapped in any decorative paper, was a small disposable camera.

     “This way, when we make memories, we can save them. And then relive them later on in life.” He handed her the camera, and grinned as she looked at it with large eyes. Suddenly, she sprang up and ran up the stairs, shortly coming back down with something in her hands.

     “For you.” She held out to N a small paper bag, like the kind you would use for school lunches. He thanked her, before gently taking it from her hands and opening it to see a snow globe inside. The glass ball full of water held statues of four snowmen, each a different size and wearing different accessories.

“It’s us.” She pointed to the largest snowman. “That’s you. The one with a hat is Allissa. The one with the necklace is me, and the smallest one is Rori.”

“I love it, Eminem. Thank you.” He smiled brightly, and pulled her in to give her a hug.

“And thank you for the camera.” She mumbled into his shoulder. “Oh! I know!” She pulled away, grabbing the camera as she stood up.

“Let’s take a family Christmas photo!”

“Good idea!” Allissa agreed. “Here, let’s have N take it since his arms are longer. Emory and Rori, come sit on the couch.”

They all quickly got into a position where they could all fit in the camera’s view.

“Everyone ready?” N asked, holding the camera up.

“Yep!” The three girls replied, giggling.

“Ok, on the count of three!” He placed his finger on the shutter.

“One! Two! Three!”

“N, you alright?” Allissa’s familiar voice range through his ears, making him turn away from the picture frame.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He grinned. “Just revisiting old memories.”

     She walked over, wrapped her arms around his waist before looking up at the frame as well. With little Rori full of smiles, little Emory holding up a peace sign, younger Allissa hugging them from behind, and a younger N trying his best to keep the camera from shaking. It was a memory of their first Christmas as a family. The first time they’ve ever taken a family photo. And the first time he’s ever seen Emory smile and laugh so much. It was a memory he will always cherish.

“That day was so much fun.” Allissa commented.

“It was.” He agreed. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “It’s almost my most favorite day.”

“Oh?” She glanced up at him. “And what would your actual favorite day be?”

“The day I met you.”

That made her laugh, and man did he love her laugh. “C’mon you flirt, lets set the table or the kids will go crazy.”

     Speaking of the ‘kids’, he could hear them laughing about something in the living room. He followed Allissa to the kitchen, but stopped when they came upon the living room. He took in the sight of Rori and Jungkook sitting on the couch, watching V and Jimin argue about where to put their Christmas stockings. He saw the way Heejun and Jihun were trying to figure out how to hook up a laptop to the television, with Emory siting down in a chair nearby, watching them with a smile. And Ravi with his headphones in and trying to read a book, but N could still see him glance up at the ruckus a few times and smirk.

For a moment, he stayed like that, watching the happy moment, until a tug on his shirt collar bought his attention.

“Let’s go or else I won’t give you any food.” Leo grumbled before tugging him away from the scene. He sent one last glance into the living at the snow globe on

the book shelf, mentally taking note to get more since their family has grown. For now though, it was time to celebrate together and eat whatever good food Leo had cooked up.