AN: Here is the second instalment of what would've been chapter 4 but is now just gonna be chapter 5.

I'm gonna save my comments for the end of the story, so for now, I hope you like this chapter!

Oh, and as a warning, there are some hints of Tales of Fandom and Kratos and Yuan get very close in this chapter, but do not worry haters of shounen-ai, this story is still ambiguous and down to how you want to perceive it. All will be explained in a handily placed flashback later on. I'm actually writing this with a view of it being an extremely close friendship rather than anything romantic, having seen something very similar happen between two perfectly straight guys (and no, it wasn't Scrubs). They have known each other for a really long time, and the world is bound to have been different back then.

Disclaimer: I don't own ToS, so all the scrooges out there who would sue me, here is your Christmas present. Don't own. Don't sue. Thank you!

"Isn't it great?" Colette gushed, "The walls grew plants!"

Zelos, by now, was grinning. "I told you you couldn't have Christmas without mistletoe," he repeated.

"You can," Yuan argued, with a smug smirk, "but it isn't as fun." He turned his attention to the ancient swordsman in the doorway. "We all know what they say about mistletoe," he added, suggestively.

"That it repels werewolves," the human answered dully with a tired sigh, as his companion stepped up to him and kissed him noisily on the check. "It is shame that it doesn't repel you," he commented, drawing his arm across his cheek and scrubbing it vigorously, a dissatisfied expression visible on his face.

Yuan laughed, turning away from Kratos, who hastily relocated away from any mistletoe, coming to a halt by the Christmas tree as the half-elf settled in the squishiest armchair. "Let's see how many times you fall for it this year!"

"I'll get you back for that," Kratos promised.

"You're welcome to," Yuan replied with a melodramatic wink.

"If I had something to throw at you..." Kratos threatened.

Yuan smirked. "Why not just punch me?"

"Because I haven't forgotten about the piece of mistletoe you've got in your cape," Kratos responded.

Yuan corrected, "Cloak."

"It's a superhero cape and it makes you look gay," Kratos observed, in a way that made him seem so much like Lloyd that the others were all catapulted into more shock than mistletoe incident had caused.

Yuan gaped. "You cut me deep, human." He held a hand over his heart. "Right there. Oh, would you look at that; I bounced back."

"Shame," Kratos remarked.

Yuan leaned back into the armchair, throwing his arms behind his head. "You're so fun to tease this time of year. The Meltokio courts scarred you, my friend. I never thought your fans would have this much of an effect."

"Whoa! Kratos had fans! What did he do, crack a joke?" Zelos exploded, having only processed the information that had the possibility of relating to female attention.

"Oh yes, Captain Aurion had quite the fan base," Yuan revealed, grinning evilly. "Aside from work, he could barely go outside for fans chasing him with mistletoe at this time of year. Even the rumours didn't stop that. But don't worry; I brought the mistletoe to him. Can't have Christmas without mistletoe, after all."

"Can I suggest that we leave the mistletoe alone now?" Kratos said dryly.

"Why?" Yuan enquired. "Humans are so uptight. Half-elves used to put mistletoe up all around our villages, so that we could share our love for our kinsfolk."

"So why must you share that tradition with me?" Kratos grumbled, helping Raine to unhook and distribute the stockings without getting within mistletoe range again.

"You're my brother in arms, aren't you?" Yuan asked, rhetorically.

The ancient human settled in a chair next to where Lloyd was unable to sit still on the sofa, gently passing a stocking to his son. "If I deny it, will you leave me alone?" he wondered.

Yuan shook his head. "You can't change how I see you, and you've been with me for so long that you're practically family anyway," he informed him. "Well, isn't it time to see what Santa brought?"

Zelos wasted no time in delving into his alarmingly flat stocking, pulling out a letter in a gold envelope.

"Zelos has been naughty this year!" Genis trumpeted, setting his own small present onto his lap gently to watch.

"Shut it, brat!" Zelos snapped ripping into the envelope to free the letter inside. "I happen to have been the epitome of perfection this year; bringing much joy to all the ladies I've met."

"Tch," Sheena scoffed. "You bring the opposite of joy to us."

"Ouch, hunny," Zelos responded. "Would a complementary soak in my new hot tub change your mind?"

"You got a hot tub!" Lloyd exclaimed, pausing in the act of carefully examining his relatively small, rectangularly panelled present with the tips of his fingers.

"Uh huh," Zelos drawled. "It's gonna be installed at my house by the time I get back."

"Oh yay!" Colette cried, holding up a powder blue, spaghetti-strapped dress. "Thank you, Santa!" She knocked the paper and the stocking off her lap in her exuberance. "Oh, I'm sorry!"

"Me next!" Genis called, apparently bored with shaking the present. He tore off the wrapping paper to reveal a new set of panpipes, similar to those originally played by Martel. Yuan, who had picked them out, smiled at the excited look on the boy's face.

"Look Raine!" he commanded, leaning over the arm of the sofa to shove them under her nose.

His sister laughed. "Now you've just got to learn to play them."

"Wow, Genis," Colette approved, craning her neck for a better look and clapping in excitement. "When you learn to play them we can have a concert!"

Sheena finished peeling the paper off of the spare set of cards she'd picked out for herself and had Kratos wrap to avoid suspicion. "Just want I needed!" she commented, Presea studying Sheena's new weapons over her shoulder, as she unearthed her pot plant from its leaf themed paper bought by Regal.

"I feel the same," she reported, her words still flat but a rare smile on her face.

Lloyd, by now, was carefully shaking his.

"Do you have a guess yet, Lloyd?" Genis asked, leaning his head around the bouncing form of Colette, who sat between him and Lloyd on the sofa.

Lloyd shook his head. "No idea. Guess I'll just have to open it."

He opened the present quickly but with surprising care for someone so reckless. Beneath the paper was another box, the lid to which Lloyd opened to reveal a note comprised of newspaper cuttings that listed:

Lloyd's first words

Lloyd's first steps

Lloyd's first birthday

Lloyd's second birthday.

Underneath the note was a disc.

"It's one of those discs that Zelos has," he said. "That plays a film."

Kratos leaned closer, Lloyd presenting the open box and note to him.

"It would seem as though it is the footage that we lost," the elder swordsman mused falsely, as he knew what it was. Yuan had told him it was footage he had recovered from the video camera that had been broken when taking Kratos back to Cruxis after the death of Anna. It seemed prudent that Lloyd should have a copy of it.

"You mean, a film of you, me and Mom?" Lloyd questioned, his face lighting up with hope.

Kratos smiled. "Something like that."

"Cool!" Lloyd exclaimed. "I get to see Mom!"

"Let's watch it now!" Colette suggested.

"Later on, maybe," Yuan steered, rising from the chair to distribute an armful of gifts to the group. "We should finish opening these first, or they won't be open until tomorrow."

"Oh, okay," Colette quietly agreed, her disappointment melting away a soft package was dropped onto her knees.

"To my dear little Angel," she read, as Zelos barely spared the tag on his present a second glance before freeing it from its snowball themed prison in a flurry of paper. "Love, Zelos. And I get three kisses! Thank you Zelos!"

"You haven't opened it yet, you dork," Lloyd commented, once again feeling and shaking his latest Christmas gift, from Regal.

"Thank you very much, my little Rosebud," Zelos drawled, blowing Presea a kiss that led to him receiving a pointed glare from Genis as he held up his new pot of sword polish. Well, it was the thought that counted and Presea was nothing if not practical.

"Oh, a puppy!" Colette gushed. "Thank you, Zelos! I'll name Mr Fluff and he can sleep on my bed like a real puppy."

Over the course of the afternoon, Colette received Zelos' stuffed toy puppy, a book about caring for puppies from Raine, a puppy themed bracelet from Lloyd, a puppy themed jumper from Sheena, a large puppy ornament crafted from sacred wood from Presea and some little chocolates in the shape of puppies made by Genis (with a little help from Regal, who gave Colette a book of angel poems, and the Wonderchef). Kratos and Yuan each provided the Chosen with books in the angelic language so that she wouldn't forget it, for which Colette was surprisingly grateful.

Zelos received a plethora of beauty products, the aftershave given to him by Yuan ironically wrapped in mistletoe wrapping paper with a sprig of the plant attached around the neck where the label was. Zelos wasting no time in re-attaching it to his headband and presenting himself to Sheena who punched him until being politely reminded by Yuan that it was traditional to him that if two people were caught beneath the mistletoe together it should result in a kiss between those two persons. This resulted in Sheena begrudgingly going to give him a quick peck on the cheek, only to have him whip his head to the side to cheat a kiss to the lips. In his opinion, the resulting slap to the cheek was worth it.

Like Colette's, most of Sheena's gifts shared a common theme, though her theme was summoning. She received a multitude of gems, charms and talismans to speed up or otherwise help the summoning process, a book on ancient summoners from Raine, who seemed to buy everyone books and a small figurine of Corrine from Lloyd, which had almost reduced her to tears. The only present to her that hadn't been related to her ability, aside from the unopened one that sat on her lap, had been a book of ancient fairytales written up by Yuan, who had collected them from the journey to split the worlds onwards, though he claimed that they had summoners in them.

Yuan had also given a compilation book to Genis, of all the spells he had found and learned over the years, despite lacking the ability or the drive to execute them all, copied out and bound in leather. Raine had instantly vowed to read it and study it while her brother was sleeping, before he had even unwrapped his tome on the history of Heimdall from her, or the new kendama – a collaborative effort from Presea and Lloyd, the other studies on magic, guides to Palmacosta and Sybak, a Tethe'allan cookbook (Regal's choice of gift) pens, pencil, notebooks and a ruler.

Regal too received a large amount of stationery and cooking utensils, a selection that Yuan expected (minus the cooking utensils) that he would be unwrapping too, but in actual fact, the half-elf was surprised to only receive one set of expensive pens from Zelos. The other part of his array of presents was made up of surprisingly domestic items, such as newly released books that he wouldn't have read before, a pair of plain black slippers, hair-ties, a new comb, a blanket with sewn in sleeves and some fluffy socks with rabbits and carrots on them from Colette, whose reasoning was that everyone's feet got cold and she hadn't seen anything cuddly in the base and figured he needed something soft.

Socks had also been Colette's gift to Raine, who unsurprisingly gained all the books that the others had noticed her ogling through bookshop windows as they travelled across Tethe'alla along with items previously owned by Kratos and Yuan, before the worlds had split, which Raine gleefully caressed and had been stashed under the Christmas tree out of the way by Regal, while the healer had been distracted by Genis and Lloyd testing out the size of Presea's new sledge.

The pink-haired girl herself was totally unaware of this, as she examined the teddy bear that Genis had bought her, before finally placing the toy on top of her stack of presents, consisting of snow boots, arm guards, a mana-powered chainsaw developed by Yuan, a flowery jumper that Colette thought would look cute on the girl, a diary, assorted sweets, some marbles and a pack of cards.

Lloyd had eventually been coaxed away from the sledge by Sheena, the ninja saving her last present, from Zelos, in order witness Lloyd adding a badly knitted pair of mittens made by Colette to add to the revision guides purchased by Raine, the pogo stick from Zelos, the remote-controlled rheaird constructed by Yuan, Regal's guide to meat dishes, Presea's training swords and Genis' photo album with the accompanying camera bought by Sheena and improved by Yuan.

Kratos' gifts were along the same lines as Yuan's, with pyjamas from both Lloyd and Colette, so that he had two sets as opposed to none, socks, slippers, newly released books, a selection of books on astrology and a portable telescope. And from Yuan, he received a sprig of mistletoe, which he threw over Lloyd's head at the half-elf in question.

Yuan laughed, dodging so that it bounced harmlessly over his shoulder. Lloyd stopped thanking Colette for the mittens and turned to Yuan questioningly as he admitted, "That's not your real present."

He passed another package over to Raine to pass along the row to his ancient companion as Sheena uncovered her gift from Zelos.

"A locket?" she murmured in disbelief, looking up from the intricate, silver object to the serious face of her home country's Chosen. "It had better not contain a picture of you."

Zelos held up his hand in mock surrender, a lopsided grin stretching across his face as she regarded him suspiciously. Her eyes returned to his gift, her fingers deftly releasing the catch to unlock its secrets.

She gasped. "Oh, Zelos, this is..." She smiled at the group picture taken by Hilda in front of the palace as the groups faces all smiled up at her. "I love it! Thank you!"

"So will you kiss me under the mistletoe now?" he enquired with a smirk.

She snorted. "Don't push your luck," she warned, despite her wide smile.

"Dad, can I shake it?" Lloyd asked, his hand poised to shake the first gift he remembered receiving from his biological father.

"Hmm," Kratos considered. "You may, but I wouldn't shake it too hard."

Abandoning the shaking of the red-papered present, Lloyd began to ease it out of the wrapping. A photo frame sat neatly in his hands, depicting a grinning, brown-haired woman wearing reindeer's ears, in the arms of a smiling, auburn-haired man with a Santa's hat. In her arms was a sleeping baby in a red blanket. It was the baby that the man was smiling at as his free hand stroked the infant's hair. It was Kratos, Anna and Lloyd.

"I found it inside Anna's wedding dress," Kratos explained softly. "I kept it folded in the bag she put it in. It was in my pack when... Well, the picture is yours now, taken on your very first Christmas. Yuan took it, I believe."

"Thanks, Dad," Lloyd breathed, continuing to stare at the photo in the frame in fascination as Yuan pulled a black cloak from a wrapped cardboard box, holding it up to inspect it. It was almost exactly the same as the one he wore now.

"Kratos?" Yuan questioned.

"I didn't mean it, Yuan," Kratos explained. "It isn't a superhero cape and it doesn't make you look gay – it's your hair that has that effect."

The half-elf sent him a pointed look and he chuckled. "I thought you might like a new once, since Mithos and I decorated the labels on that one," he human shared.

Yuan grinned. "Open yours then," he ordered.

The human slowly unfolded the wrapping paper to reveal a black case. "You got me a case," he said slowly.

"Open the case," Yuan demanded, equally slowly.

It opened onto a disc identical to the one Lloyd had received from 'Santa'.

"What's on the disc?" its recipient enquired.

Yuan tapped at the side of his nose with a sniff. "You'll have to watch it to find out."

"Put in on now!" Genis begged, Colette picking up the argument behind him.

Kratos frowned before looking up to Yuan and querying over them, "Should I?"

"I don't see why not," was Yuan's reply.

Kratos' only movement was the narrowing of his eyes as he stared at his companion in suspicion. Yuan got up and took the disc from his lap before striding to the TV that had been temporarily mounted on the opposite wall and inserting it into the inbuilt player on the underside of the flat screen. He paused, waiting for the group to settle down where everyone had a good view of the screen, then pressed 'play' and returned to his seat, watching Kratos' face for a reaction.

A crash reverberated through the room, causing many of the watching heroes to jump and Kratos to frown. Seconds later, there a muffled voice floated through the speakers.

"Oops! Sorry, Yuan. I didn't mean to drop it."

Toes curled and uncurled in fluffy pink socks as the camera was lifted from the wooden floor. Mithos' young face came into view, the half-elf examining the device for damage, eliciting several clicks from it, before releasing a long sigh of relief.

"Not broken."

The only noises were the soft footsteps muffled by Mithos' fluffy socks and the rustling of his clothes as he hugged the camera to his chest, clothed in rabbit themed pyjamas. Coming to halt, Mithos emitted a slight sound of satisfaction before he gently placed the camera strategically atop a high surface, overlooking two beds.

His figure was seen retreating from view before a fuzzing flash and white noise heralded the dawn of a new day, more light now streaming through the curtains and shining a light on the identities of the figures. The first had burrowed into the covers so that only an explosion of blue hair remained visible on his pillow, while the second had an arm and a leg dangling over the edge of the bed with only half of his body covered by more than the loose grey trousers and tight black T-shirt that he wore.

The second figure frowned in sleep, scratched his nose then rolled over dramatically, flinging the leg that had previously been lacking the comfort of the mattress in a wild arc before it came to rest with its partner in a surprisingly neat way. The first shifted slightly but remained deeply asleep. But not for long.

The door swung open in a wide arc, slamming against the wall before returning to its previous position. Both figures flinched but neither had a chance to react before something small, blonde and clad in pink leapt onto the second figure's bed.

"It's Christmas!" Mithos declared, repeating it and bouncing on the bed when this failed to get him good enough reaction, as the human in question had merely groaned and mumbled a quick, "Yes, Mithos."

Kratos sat up, knocking the boy to the foot of the bed, assuring, "I'm up. I'm up," as he leaned back on the headboard.

Mission accomplished, Mithos moved on to Yuan, shaking him violently and demanding that he should get out of bed for Christmas. Yuan growled something but it was muffled by the quilt. From Mithos' shocked face, it wasn't something nice.

Undeterred, Mithos upped the volume of his commands and continued the shaking to be swatted away and then ignored as the elder half-elf turned his back on the younger, grumbling more threats.

"Leave him to me," Kratos ordered, clambering out of bed. He tugged his one, rolled up trouser leg down to his ankle, pushed back his hair from his face and padded over to the bed. "Get up," he commanded flatly, attention focussed on the horizontal figure.

Yuan didn't move. Mithos snickered to be silenced by a sharp look from Kratos, who threatened, "Or I will get you up."

"Scary," Yuan slurred sleepily, snuggling further into the covers

Kratos ripped them away from him, tossing them onto his own bed. "I warned you," he told the half-elf, whose own choice of sleepwear, black trousers and a long-sleeved, white T-shirt was now exposed to the cooler air of the room.

Yuan muttered something darkly and covered his head with the pillow, which he clung to desperately. "I can live without covers," he added.

Kratos smirked, waving a confused Mithos over to his bed before picking something up off the bedside table. "No?" he responded teasingly. "I have something you can't live without."

As if to punctuate this, he ran a finger along the bristles of the brush in his hand so that it made a recognisable sound. As a head of blue hair shot up, upsetting the pillow, which fell on the floor, Kratos shot out of the door, the sound of his deliberately loud footsteps fading rapidly.

"He took my hairbrush," Yuan said, disbelievingly. "I'll kill him!"

With that, he too tore from the room, leaving behind a now very confused Mithos, who enquired of the air around him, "What about Christmas spirit?"

Thoughtfully, the pyjama wearing summoner retrieved the stolen camera and padded through the doorway, immortalising every garland and decoration he come across on film until he trudged into a kitchen of sorts to be greeted by the sight of a smiling green-haired woman, who laughed musically, shaking a sprig of mistletoe and planting a kiss on her younger brother behind the camera and receiving louder one in return.

"Merry Christmas, little brother!" she wished with a loving smile.

The door opened, Mithos whirling around to catch Kratos entering through the other door, his eyes widening as he registered the proximity of Martel with a certain Christmas plant. He took a hasty step backwards but was caught by the arm by the laughing healer.

"Don't think you're getting away!" she said, releasing his arm to place her hands on either side of his head and punctuating that with a kiss to the forehead. "Where's mine?" she enquired.

"I don't like mistletoe," he retorted.

Martel raised one eyebrow. "I don't like washing Mithos' clothes when he's been out training with you but I do it because I love him, just like I heal you because I love you."

"You half-elves are weird about love," he remarked.

Martel merely tapped her cheek with one finger, her other eyebrow rising into her hair to join its partner. Kratos sighed and begrudgingly awarded her a peck on her cheek, immediately retreating from the doorway and the sprig of mistletoe.

"See, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" she said with a sunny smile. She ventured forwards and patted him on the shoulder.

"It's only because you're the best cook," he mumbled as she disappeared through another doorway. The sounds of moving utensils were heard moments after.

"Happy Christmas, Kratos!" Mithos offered, taking a step towards the stoic swordsman, who was eying the mistletoe that hung above the doors warily.

"Yep, merry Christmas Kratos!" Yuan echoed seemingly appearing from out of nowhere behind the human member of the group who seemed to instantly have him in a headlock. "Hey, hey, ow!"

"Drop it!" Kratos commanded.

"Drop what?" Yuan demanded, struggling through the hold to see his friend's face.

Kratos glared. "The mistletoe."

"Oh, this mistletoe?" Yuan teased, earning another snigger from the younger half-elf watching.

Kratos confirmed, "That mistletoe."

Yuan obeyed with a mocking smirk to be released by the human, who backed into the doorway. "You know, if you keep resisting tradition like this, I'll have to get you on the lips."

Kratos scoffed, rolling his eyes confidently. "I just foiled you. I'd like to see you try."

"Oh really?" Yuan questioned.

"You believe you can succeed?" Kratos asked.

"I'll take that as a challenge," Yuan responded closing the gap between them until they were inches apart.

Kratos was smirking now. "You don't scare me; you no longer have the mistletoe."

"Look up," Yuan advised, pressing his lips to the human's as Kratos did.

Mithos burst into laughter at Kratos' shocked expression, and the narrowly avoided punch that was thrown in the direction of Yuan that dissolved into an impromptu wrestle under the mistletoe that Yuan himself had set up the night before while his human friend had been sleeping.

Martel rushed in, brandishing a ladle, which she waved wildly to split up the fight that was turning into more of a play-fight, a disapproving frown set into her features. Mithos was almost laughing too hard to hear Yuan brag to his human companion;

"I told you I'd get you. Let's see how many times you fall for it this year."

Kratos folded his arms and glared. "At least I don't look gay."

Yuan spluttered, "I do not look gay! You're the one with powder blue boxers!"

Martel waved her ladle between them. "You both look a little bit gay. You're not helping matters by leaping on each other every time you argue, now shut up and have a merry Christmas and one of the sausage rolls I've put on the table because they need eating!"

Both supposed 'adult' males stared at the only woman present in shock.

"I'm on it!" Mithos announced, abandoning the camera on the arm of a chair and pouncing on the sausage rolls.

Martel returned to the kitchen as Yuan and Kratos slowly ambled over, Yuan dropping into a chair and Kratos absentmindedly reached for a sausage roll and pushed it into his mouth. Mithos forced one into Yuan's hand before swallowing.

"This Christmas is gonna be the best Christmas ever!" he proclaimed, reclining on the sofa as Kratos and Yuan shared a glance and started to laugh.

"Yeah," Yuan agreed watching Kratos chew another sausage roll, "I think you might be right."

"Wow," Zelos commented as Yuan flicked off the screen, resting his ankle across his knee and pillowing his head with his hands on the side of the sofa. "Martel sure was one feisty chick."

Yuan sent a sharp stare in his direction but it was ignored as Sheens took the opportunity to push him to floor with her foot. Ignoring the sounds of Zelos' protests, Yuan dictated, "That's it for today. I do believe it's time for dinner."

Regal rose, vowing to get the gammon and salads dished up, the others trickling out of the room discussing how different everyone had been back then, to take their places at the table. Kratos stayed behind, watching as Lloyd slowly set aside the photograph of them with Anna and stood.

"Hey, Dad?" he asked quietly.

Kratos responded, "Hmm?"

"Was it the best Christmas ever?" he enquired.

Kratos smiled, ruffling his son's hair before pulling him into a, incredibly rare hug. "It was a good year, but I don't think so. I would say that this Christmas will have to finish before a comparison can be made. But I know which the best Martelmas was."

"I didn't think you celebrated Martelmas," Lloyd stated, breathing in the scent of leather and Kratos that had been absent from his life for so long and relishing the feeling of being close to his father, and the memories of home and security from all those years ago that it sparked. He felt small again, and yet it was strangely comforting with the semblance of safety that it carried.

"I didn't," Kratos answered, Lloyd feeling the low rumble of his father's voice through their embrace. "But your mother did, so the three of us celebrated Martelmas. Those three days were the best Martelmases of my life, and Yggdrasil used to have us celebrate it with a banquet in Vinheim. It was nothing compared to any day I spent with you, and with Anna."

Kratos ended the hug, ruffling Lloyd's hair once again. "The others will be waiting."

Lloyd wasn't finished digesting the information Kratos had just shared. "Mom celebrated Martelmas, even though she knew it wasn't real?"

Kratos nodded. "She argued that the principles behind it were real even if Martel herself was not a goddess."

"Wow, Mom was amazing, wasn't she?" Lloyd replied.

"Yes, she was a very strong-willed woman. You are just like her." Kratos walked to the doorway, pausing just long enough to turn back to his son and say, "She would be proud of you, as I am."

The others were so wrapped up in the Christmas spirit that they didn't notice the rare, full smile on the elder swordsman's face, and wrote off the wide grin adorning the expression of the younger as the Christmas spirit. But it wasn't thoughts of Christmas that dominated the thoughts of the eternal swordsman. It was thoughts of the Martelmas values that his mother had believed in so much, and the best Martelmas he had ever had.

As Yuan brought out a steaming platter of gammon, Lloyd snapped back into the present. He couldn't help but think that Mithos was right even if the previous eternal swordsman didn't know it.

So far, this year had definitely been the best Christmas ever.

AN: Okay, I don't think this is the best of chapters, but hey, I had my biology exam today so I just hope that the end of this chapter (the bit I've done today) isn't too bad, and isn't too riddled with typos.

Whew! Over 5000 words... This is a long chapter for me...

But yeah, I hope you've all enjoyed it and had a great festive period!

Please review and tell me what you think; I spent forever on this chapter. So much of it was really hard to write and I hope the oyako in this doesn't suck as badly as I think it does. I might go back and edit it later...

Thanks to all my fantastic readers, reviewers and those who've put this fic on their favourite's list or alerts! You're all great!

~ThePurpleRose