Author's Note: A little late for Christmas, I know. But I just couldn't figure out how to end this without it sounding preachy. But I think I found a way. But just to help out, since all three Spirits are together in this chapter, I won't be referring to the them as "Spirit" like I do in previous chapters – that would just get confusing. For the purposes of identification: The Spirit of Christmas Past will be referred to as "Past". Christmas Present as "Present". And Christmas Yet to Come as "Future".

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Please enjoy…

Chapter 7 – Confronting the Past, Looking to the Future

"So how's Dizzy?" Chad heard Harriet ask from her end of the phone call.

He looked over at Dizzy lying in her hospital bed, still sleeping from the effects of the pain medication. His parents and himself had been relieved when the doctor came out to them in the waiting room to let them know that everything went perfectly.

"Thank God," he remembered his mother gasping as she nearly went crazy from worrying the entire time the operation was going on.

"When can we see her?" his father had asked almost immediately after his mother practically shrunk from all the worry and tension leaving her.

An hour later they were gathered around her hospital bed in her private room. They'd been told that she probably wouldn't wake up for a while due to the anesthesia, but none of them left until her eyes finally opened slowly and she squeaked out a, "Where am I?"

That was two days ago, and they'd been with her every day. His mother never even left the hospital. His father and himself had to bring her fresh clothes when they came by. Cinderella would be there now, but his father had insisted that she leave a for a little bit, if only to eat something that wasn't prepared by the hospital. Chad had offered to stay while they went to eat. While spending Christmas day in a hospital wasn't on a list of things he'd ever thought he'd be doing, he knew that making sure Dizzy wasn't alone was more important sleeping in.

"She's good, sleeping right now," he answered.

"No lingering effects?"

"No," he answered with a shake of his head, mentally wondering who he was shaking his head for. "The only thing that made her upset was before the surgery."

"Before?"

"She was terrified at the thought that they were gonna shave her head," he smiled.

"Shave?" Harriet asked him, her voice belying her confusion. "But me and Jane did some research on the surgery. They don't need to shave her whole head. Just a little bit where the incision's gonna be. She could use the rest of her hair to hide the bald spot until it grows back."

"I know," Chad answered nonchalantly.

"So why did she think they were gonna shave her head?"

"Because that's what I told her they were gonna do," he laughed into the phone.

"Chad, that's not nice," Harriet said, undisguised admonishment in her voice.

"But it was funny," he joked. "So how's the palace?" he asked, hoping to get Harriet off the subject of his slight tormenting of Dizzy.

"Alright, Belle let Jane come over earlier today, so I had someone to hang out with when Mal and Ben wandered off to do…whatever it is they do when they're together."

"Lots of presents?"

"Eh, not a lot, but some good ones. And I don't know how you pulled it off, but thank you for the jewelry box," she said, her voice going oddly sweet. "Belle said it arrived yesterday. I didn't think the mail delivered on Christmas Eve."

"They don't, but, when you're a prince, you have certain ways of getting of what you want," he smirked.

"I don't have a lot jewelry to put in it, though."

"At least you have it for when you get some," Chad replied.

"Is that an offer, Chaddy?" Harriet asked him, trying not to sound too flirty, but smiling because she knew was failing.

Chad bit his lip, and tried not to smile. He felt a heat filling his cheeks, and was glad his mother wasn't around to see him blush.

"Somehow, showering you with jewelry doesn't seem like the best way to win you over," he told her.

"I'm not that difficult to win over," she said, once again, sounding a little too flirty for the moment. "Though despite the past few days of good behavior, you would have a lot of work to do."

"You coming over in the next few days?"

"What?" Harriet asked, surprised by another sharp change in subject.

"When Jane, and Evie, and everyone else come over to see Dizzy after they release her from the hospital tomorrow? You are coming, too…right?"

"Do you want me to come?" Harriet asked, her tone going sentimental…and little bit hopeful.

"Well, I'm pretty sure Dizzy would like to see you."

"Would you like to see me, Chaddy?" she asked, the question sounding more like a tease than an offer.

"Wouldn't have asked if I didn't."

"Then I suppose I can make the trip, if at the very least to see, Dizzy," she answered him. Chad nearly laughed, as he heard her let out a giggle on the other end. Probably couldn't hold it back, he thought.

"I'll see you then."

"See you, too. I need to go, Belle wants to take me ice skating, and I need to find something thick to wear to protect me from all the falling that's going to happen. I'll text you later."

"Okay. Bye. And Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Chaddy."

December 28…

The sound of the snow crunching under their feet broke the stillness of the quiet December day. But still it wasn't loud enough to calm Chad's nerves. A few days ago he'd realized that spending Christmas in a hospital was something he thought he'd never do. But today, he was doing something he swore he'd never do as he made his way through the cemetery. As he got closer to his destination, he felt like his feet were becoming heavier. He actually felt himself start to slow down until he felt a pair of arms lock into his from both sides.

"You can do this, Chad," Jane encouraged as she gently tugged him forward.

"Yeah, you'll be fine," Harriet added in an effort to comfort him. She was also pulling him, though she was maybe a little more forceful than her best friend was being with him.

Chad nodded, and continued walking. Finally, after what felt like the longest walk of his life, he made it to his goal. As he closed the distance between himself and the grave, Jane and Harriet held back, giving him some space, each knowing that he had to what was next all by himself. Chad stood before Gerry's grave, reading his name and birth and death year over and over several times. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself because he could suddenly feel his heart begin to beat like someone would a drum in double time. He also felt fidgety, and despite the cold air, he felt an overwhelming heat come over him. It was subtle at first – a slow heat, like water just beginning to boil until finally it was hot enough to be bubbling, and he found himself beginning to sweat just a little.

Before he knew what was happening, he found himself falling to his knees in front of the tombstone. He didn't know when he'd started, but he felt tears running down his face like floodgates had been broken open and the rushing water behind it was allowed to spill out. He tried to stop himself, but as he wiped at his eyes and cheeks, the tears just kept coming until he found himself doubled over, on his hands and knees. Through his tears, he stared at the blurry image of Gerry's stone once again, and in a rush of burning hot anger – more anger than he'd ever felt in his life – he started to slam his fists onto the tombstone, repeatedly, not stopping even as registered the pain in his fists. Jane and Harriet, even from the distance they'd stayed back, could hear as Chad cried in front of them, and watched as he pummeled the grave.

"Should we…?" Harriet asked, pointing in Chad's direction.

Jane shook her head. "Let him get it out."

"Why? Why did you have to go and die?" he shouted through his sobs. "Why the hell did you think you could leave me here all alone? Why? Why, damn you?" he pleaded with the stone in a rage. Despite his anger, his voice no longer carried the ability to shout, instead, he just kept asking why through choked whimpers as he – for the first time in as long as he could remember – didn't feel the weight of what he now realized he'd been carrying all these years. And in that moment, he finally understood what Gerry was telling about what he'd been doing to himself.

"Thank you," he whispered to the stone as he wiped his hand over it, brushing off the tears that had fallen on it. He heard the snow being crunched behind him and then he felt surrounded. Once again, Jane on his left, and Harriet on his right. They knelt down, and Chad buried himself in Jane's shoulder, and once again started to cry. Not the uncontrollable, rage-filled deluge from moments ago, but a release of grief and sadness that he now knew he should've let happen seven years earlier. Jane held him, stroking his hair as she began to cry as well, leaning her head on his. Harriet put an arm over his shoulder, and leaned in. Chad felt her place a small kiss on the back of his head. It was gentle and reassuring, simply letting him know that she was there for him.

A few minutes later, the three of them were heading back toward the car. They were silent once again, but this time, the tension from when they arrived was gone. Now, the silence was filled with the due respect the cemetery demanded. The driver opened the back door to the limo, and closed it behind the trio. Once inside, they settled into the seat. Jane tried not to smile as she noticed Chad and Harriet practically pressed against each other. She did smile when she saw their fingers graze over each other's in their laps right before they started holding hands. It hadn't gone unnoticed by Jane – and everyone else for that matter – that Chad and Harriet seemed to be getting friendlier. They often disappeared together, and when she questioned them on it, Chad just smiled and said he was showing her around his parent's castle. Harriet simply said Chad was trying to prove that he really had changed. She hoped Harriet was right, since she knew her friend was very hard on Chad over his behavior.

"Chad flirts relentlessly with me, but he needs to polish up his act if he hopes to have any chance at all," Jane remembered Harriet say once not too long ago. Maybe if whatever happened to Chad these past few days – things that suddenly made him be like the big brother she remembered from when she was a little girl – would keep affecting him in the long run. Because a Chad Charming that was no longer angry, no longer acting like the world could just piss off, was a Chad Charming that everyone should know, she reasoned.

As the limo pulled away from the curb, and started winding its way toward the cemetery gates to leave, on top of the hill, invisible to anyone else who might've been there to see, stood the three spirits.

"Another job well," Christmas Past commented as she followed the progress of the car.

"Well done? We rocked that job," Christmas Present commented in her usual bubbly exuberance, hip bumping her sister. Past looked at her, adjusting her glasses. Present smiled at her and winked before nudging Christmas Future with her elbow. "Nothing to add?"

Future grinned and nodded his head.

"We aren't around the mortals," Past said, leaning over to look at him. "Baby Sister and I know you can talk."

Future looked over at Past, and then down at Present. Both of his sisters were looking at him expectantly.

He started to walk off, only making it a few steps before he felt hands grab at his shoulders from behind. There was a pulling sensation, and suddenly, arms were wrapped around his shoulders, hugging him as legs wrapped around his waist. He immediately reached to hold the legs, so Present – she always liked to be carried by him when she was feeling especially happy and playful, like after a successful job – didn't cause him to lose balance.

"Let's go home," Present cheered as Future began to carry her away. As the three of them made their exit, they faded away, waiting for next year, and the next person who needed their help.

As they were almost completely faded out, Future relented to his sister's request. "God bless us, everyone."

The End