Sooyoung had, quietly and secretly, been looking forward to this year’s Christmas.

The previous Christmases hadn’t been that bad to be honest. For the longest time, or at least those years that mattered, she always had Yoona and Yunho to celebrate the holiday with. In those times when they couldn’t celebrate it with her, she always had a relative of her own who willingly took her in and shared their Christmas cheer. But she had always known that ever since she became involved with the Psychic Research and Investigation Center, Christmas was going to be different this time around. She had a new family now, albeit an untraditional one, and they filled a void within her that for so long went ignored.

She just wasn’t expecting the possibility of spending their first Christmas together back in a hospital.

They’d been in the hospital for two days now and, with Christmas three days away, if she were to describe how they all generally were ever since Noh Sangjun’s exorcism, it would be that there was an overwhelming sense of guilt from certain people as they, as a team, held a daily vigil on both Jessica and Kris. A good chunk of that feeling of guilt came from Changmin and Kyuhyun, the twins unusually morose ever since they got to the hospital, reasoning that they were the heads of the Center, the welfare of the employees were their responsibility. They had taken it upon themselves to be the only ones to speak and apologize to Jessica’s parents when they had come to visit their daughter, the two brothers bracing themselves for the tongue-lashing they were sure to come. Jessica’s parents, however, had been a surprise and, though they were unhappy about their daughter getting hurt, they commended the two and the rest of the team for doing what they could to help her.

Seohyun, likewise, felt her fair share of guilt, blaming herself for what happened to Kris in particular. She’d reasoned that if she had been more skilled in rituals and exorcisms, then Kris wouldn’t have had to over exhaust his energy just to help her exorcise Noh Sangjun. Everyone else had tried convincing her that it was wrong of her to blame herself but when it looked like their reassurances weren’t going to work, Heechul had pulled her aside and promised to help train her skills, going as far as to volunteer Jessica to help once the other priestess was up and about and healed from her current injury. His efforts had been rewarded with a grateful smile, Seohyun eventually becoming less anxious and upset about the whole thing.

Among all of them, however, it was Donghae who was incredibly stressed out and anxious about the two patients, keeping an eye on Jessica and Kris day in and day out, constantly checking on their charts and vitals and running regular check-ups and tests diligently. Sooyoung – and everyone else in the team really – could definitely say that Donghae was an excellent doctor, an opinion they happily voiced out when Jessica regained consciousness just a day after they had been rushed to the hospital. She was to remain in the hospital for further rest and another round of exams to make sure that she really was going to be alright. Her improvement clearly lifted a good chunk of the stress he was feeling but it didn’t stop Donghae from telling Changmin and Kyuhyun that the whole team was to undergo a full and every physical examination at the soonest possible time.

Unfortunately for them all, Kris remained unconscious.

Test results came back proclaiming that Kris was as healthy as he could be yet the blonde healer remained in a coma-like state. Changmin and Kyuhyun had figured that the fact that Kris had over exhaust his energy was the reason why he remained in a coma and all he needed was time to restore that energy and recuperate on his own, something they were sure that modern medicine couldn’t help with. But nonetheless Donghae felt guilty for not being able to at least help in that aspect, grumbling under his breath about studying paranormal healing as soon as he could.

“I don’t know if you can hear me.” Sooyoung whispered to the man lying on the bed, the brunette perched on a chair on the side of it that was nearest the wall, making sure no one heard her as she spoke. “But we’re all worried about you. We all want to know if you’re okay. I just… Please just wake up, Kris. Come back to us.”

“I brought coffee and–” Siwon said by way of greeting as he entered the hospital room with a tray filled with cups coffee balanced precariously on top of a box of what looked like donuts, cutting himself of mid-sentence when he noticed that Jessica and Heechul were bickering about something he couldn’t quite catch, the priestess still on her bed while the shaman was on a chair next to it. “She’s obviously okay. How’s Kris?”

“No change.” Sooyoung replied, straightening up in her seat.

The officer let out a sigh. “How are you all holding up?”

“We’ll all feel better once when kno