A Christmas Freakin' Miracle

Happy Holidays :)

Chase should've been more surprised to have an overnight mission on Christmas Eve, but considering their recent luck, he really, really wasn't.

Not only had he and Rory been so busy with missions that they'd barely seen each other the last few weeks, let alone had time to do Christmas shopping that wasn't online, but Rory had picked up a bad flu from Dani that she had only just recovered from when their hot water stopped working. When they tried to call a plumber, they were all obviously on holidays, meaning they would need to wait for the day after Boxing Day at the earliest to avoid paying the amped-up holiday fees. This led to them staying with Maggie and Amy, who were great about the whole situation, really — even if they did make Chase sleep on the couch.

("Mum, we're twenty three."

"I don't care, he's sleeping on the couch."

"We're engaged."

"Liila, I really don't mind-"

"Not now, Chase, you're a human furnace and it's freezing and I'm sick."

"Then you can sleep with more blankets, Aurora. There will be no canoodling in my household."

"Mum!"

If you can't even talk about it without getting embarrassed, there's no way I'm letting Chase off the couch!")

Ah, family.

The only problem (aside from the sleeping arrangements) was that he and Rory seemed to have dragged their bad luck with them - the stomach of Maggie's new puppy Stella had apparently lost to some kind of small creature and the vet bills kept stacking up. To top it all off, Stella had then knocked over the Christmas tree once the drugs had worn off, and some of the ornaments were glass.

Suffice to say, Christmas was happening at Eric, Brie and Dani's.

It was supposed to be simple: a nice lunch with everybody, maybe a few games of charades, some snowball fights, and then everybody was going to go home for an early night — goodness knows they needed it. On the morning of Christmas Eve at the Wright's house, the Christmas Tree was (mostly) back up, Stella had calmed down, Rory was pretty much all better, all the presents were wrapped, there was food ready in the fridge, the sun was shining, and Chase could practically hear the birds singing Hallelujah outside.

And then he got the call. Yes, call, because he'd given his mother an M3 for actual emergencies, Amya.

"For the last time," Chase said, still half-asleep, "the Fey gossip will have to wait until my next teaching shift-"

"Chase!" The video was off so he couldn't see what was happening in the background, but there were several loud crashes. "Where are you?"

"What? I'm at Maggie's place, Amya. It's Christmas Eve — that's the human holiday I was telling you about. What's going on?"

"Three dragons just crashed through the house— DO NOT TOUCH THAT!"

Chase sat up, now suddenly very awake. "What? Is everyone okay?"

"Yes, yes, we're fine, just — WOULD YOU STOP THAT — could we have some help getting them under control, please — GET AWAY FROM THERE — oh for goodness' sake. Chase, I have to go, I'll see you soon."

"Amya, wait!"

But she'd already hung up.

Chase reached under a nearby pot plant for the spare key to Maggie's place. He'd lost his winter jacket and half an eyebrow, one of his ears was ringing and the point of his sword had been melted.