The Breaking Wheel

Epilogue: Christmas Again

Dr. Collingwood giggled as she set up the snowmen. She hadn't turned them on yet, and wasn't planning to until everyone else showed up to hang out in the staff lounge.

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Once she spied the SCPs making their way to the staff lounge, she quickly rushed in and switched on all the snowmen, praying that there wouldn't be a feedback look. It was hilarious, yes, but her heightened hearing couldn't take the screeching.

Once everyone had settled down, she said, loud and clear, "Merry Christmas, Billy and John!"

The snowmen began bobbing up and down as they repeated after her. "Merry Christmas, Billy and John!"

"Merry Christmas, Charlie, Simon, and Eddie!"

"Merry Christmas, Charlie, Simon, and Eddie!"

John laughed and called out, "Merry Christmas to you too, Molly!" The snowmen promptly. repeated.

"Hail Satan!" Carson shouted.

"Hail Satan!"

"Carson!" Lawrence punched him in the arm.

"Carson!"

Dr. Logan walked in, grumbling, "What the h*ll is going on here?" When he saw the little snowmen, he gave Dr. Collingwood an annoyed look, but didn't say anything.

Eddie seemed to notice Dr. Logan and called out, "Dr. Logan is an a**hole!"

"Dr. Logan is an a**hole!"

Dr. Logan stared at Eddie with an expression of pure fury, then shouted to the snowmen, "Eddie is a f*cking sh*t!"

"Eddie is a f*cking sh*t!"

Dr. Collingwood quickly switched off the snowmen and pinned them both down with a death glare, her eyes turning pitch black. "If you two don't behave, I'm not bringing these back next year. And besides, it's Christmas, for God's sake!"

That shut them both up.

Billy suddenly seemed to remember something. "Oh, I almost forgot!" He held a small black box out to her.

She tentatively took it and opened it. Inside was a necklace with four beads and a pendant, all roughly carved from stone. The pendant had an inscription that read "To a brave, kind, gentle soul and a great friend".

"Guys..." she said softly. "Guys, you shouldn't have..."

"Nope, nope, cut that out." Billy flailed his arms around. "You helped me become a better person, helped John overcome his trauma, saved Lawrence's life multiple times, and stood up for us when Dr. Logan and Dr. Buck were being pieces of sh*t. You were willing to destroy yourself to protect us. You at least deserve a thank-you gift."

"Billy, you... made this?"

"Making that necklace was a joint effort, actually. Lawrence had to find all the rocks for that, Eddie, Simon, Charlie, and John made the beads, and I carved the pendant."

Dr. Collingwood looked down at the necklace, then up at the sloth, then lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Billy. He stiffened, then hugged her back.

"Thank you," she whispered, "for everything. I would've never woken up if it hadn't been for the fact that you guys never gave up on me."

"Hey, you were there for us when we needed it most. We're just returning the favor."

"That's what friends do!" Eddie chirped.

That wasn't the last time they'd had to endure a storm, but the worst was definitely over.

No matter what happened, they knew that they could always rely on each other.

No matter what the future would throw at them, they were ready.

When Naga had killed her father, she thought she'd lost everything and that there was nothing left. She felt completely alone.

But that was the farthest thing from the truth. They were all there, just waiting for the chance to help her.

Her parents might be gone, but family didn't have to be connected by blood.

Like her father always said, "A true friend will always be there, in sun and in storm, in summer and in winter, in good and in bad. A true friend is family."

He was right.

They were her family now.

The End