Bianca was excited for tomorrow. It was Christmas! She would finally get to open all those shiny boxes with her name on them!

  She didn't know what they were, but it seemed exciting, so she was excited.

  Most importantly, she was excited to see what Santa got her mom and dad! He said because she helped him, they got presents too.

  What did they want? She didn't know, but maybe her presents would be a hint. Bianca also was a little worried that her parents wouldn't like what she got them.

  Bianca had been shopping with Dad for Mom and with Mom for Dad. But she had also picked stuff out with Santa that neither of them knew about, and what if they didn't like it?

  Would they hate her?

  As those thoughts ate at her, Bianca squirmed in bed before reaching a hand out. Wire unspooled, grabbing a snow globe that was sitting on her nightstand.

  This had been the other half of her payment from Santa. And he said it was magical and that whenever she was feeling bad, shaking it would make her feel better.

  It was a pretty snow globe. Most of the ones she's seen were worse than this one. They just had random things in them.

  Her snow globe was special. It showed her family walking through the park while it was snowing.

  Bianca didn't think that there were cameras at the park, but Santa cheated at time, so maybe he cheated at watching people too.

  It still wasn't clear why shaking the snow globe would make her feel any better, but she shook it with all the might her small body could produce, fervently wishing it worked.

  Suddenly, she didn't feel sad. She was warm inside, and she knew her parents adored her just as much as she loved them.

  It was a good snow globe.

  Bianca tried as hard as she could to speak in that moment. To say something. To say anything.

  Nothing happened. The only sound was ?one of air being exhaled.

  Bianca had seen some super healers. None of the marks on her body, her missing eye, or her lack of ability could be fixed.

  Not by normal superhero healers, at least. She didn't understand it exactly, but basically her powers changed her body. She wasn't missing pieces according to her body.

  Even if she felt like she was missing lots of pieces. Bianca didn't want to talk lots she liked listening.

  But she wanted to be able to talk to her parents sometimes. Or her friends.

  Or to be able to cheer loudly.

  Or cry.

  Why did the mean lab take away her ability to speak? She could have lost more toes; she had lots of them.

  Wanting the darkness to go away, Bianca shook her snow globe again, letting the warmth wash away all of the pain she had been feeling.

  It was like a warm hug and her parents saying; I love you even when they were sleeping.

  The magical feeling faded pretty quickly, leaving Bianca feeling entirely normal, which wasn't exactly what she had wanted.

  Despite her efforts to the contrary, she was getting very sleepy. But her friends had told her that if she stayed up, maybe she could see Santa.

  Though she had met him already, so she didn't know for sure if she should bother again?

  Was it fun to meet someone a second time? She supposed so she liked seeing Aunt Reyna every time. Though she missed her parents during those times.

  But when Bianca was older, she would be a hero too and get to always be with her family.

  It was a good goal; she thought. She didn't know if the magic of the snow globe would fade or something like that, so she tightly held it to her chest next to the stuffed rabbit she had picked to cuddle for the night.

  Bianca’s last thought before falling asleep was staring into her nightlight, enjoying how much it made her feel safe.

  The blue snowflake was like her mom. And the light in the darkness was her dad! They had saved her. Well, only Dad had saved her, but Mom had saved Dad in a way Bianca couldn't.

  She wished neither of them had to be heroes, but she understood. That lab was scary, and she didn't even really remember any of the really bad stuff. Just being alone in a dark room all by herself.

  They had to stop it, and while they stopped it, she could be brave so they could save the world.

  Though Bianca wasn't sure how big the world is, there were a lot of superheroes at the party, and a lot of them were stronger than her parents.

  She guessed it was big enough that her parents had to help.

  Before she knew it, Bianca was already asleep, her dreams taking her far and wide before they eventually returned home as the smell of cinnamon filled her room.

  Cinnamon was a good smell; it reminded her of home. At first, she just lay underneath her blankets, not wanting to get up, and then she remembered the snow globe in hand.

  It was Christmas… it was Christmas! In a rush, Bianca tried to escape the nest of fluffy blankets that was her bed and only barely managed to do so.

  With much deliberation, Bianca put her snow globe back in its special spot, but she did bring Mr. Bunny with her because he was warm.

  Bianca practically bounded out of her room, almost crashing into her Mom, who reacted quickly, scooping Bianca up into her arms as she silently giggled.

  “Well, if it isn't the cutest little reindeer?” Her Mom said, pulling off Bianca’s hood. “You excited, B?” she asked, brushing her nose against Bianca’s.

  Bianca did a happy wriggle as she peeked around her mom trying to see the tree, but they were still in the hallway; there was no way to see the tree.

  “I am too.” Her mom agreed walking towards the smell of cinnamon. “Did you enjoy your Christmas pajamas? It's a fun tradition.”

  Bianca didn't enjoy opening the Christmas pajamas. It was fun to open the colorful paper. And the reindeer onesie was fluffy! It even had horns and a tail.

  Her mom wasn't in a onesie, but she was also in her Christmas pajamas. Or some of them, it looked like she stole her dad's pajama shirt.

  Did that mean Dad was in Mom's shirt? She certainly hoped so; it would be silly.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “The cinnamon rolls are almost done, though i don't know if we want to do them before or after presents.” Her dad called from the kitchen.

  “Well, Bianca presents or treats first?”

  How was Bianca supposed to choose between those!

  The decision almost made her distraught. It was too much responsibility for her.

  “Don’t worry Bianca the cinnamon rolls aren’t ready. If you want, we can go open the presents now?” Her dad said as he stepped through the wall to give Mom a kiss and Bianca a warm pat on the head.

  Bianca nodded gratefully at the chance for the decision to be brought out of her hand, and the three of them moved together towards the front room, for Bianca to gasp in shock the moment she saw it.

  There were already lots of presents underneath the tree last night, but now there were even more of them.

  “Do you want to go and pick out the first one you want to open?” Her mom asked as they wandered closer.

  Unable to help herself, Bianca nodded, and her mom set her on the ground as Bianca touched each of the colorful boxes in wonder.

  She had so many questions.

  Did she open one from Dad first?

  One from Mom?

  One from one of her aunts or uncles?

  Why does Santa have three different kinds of handwriting? Bianca had so many questions.

  Her mom and dad exchanged a look, both of them a bit surprised that there were so many presents. And that there were Santa presents addressed to each of them.

  That wasn’t surprising in of itself; they had discussed it prior, but there were ones Jason didn’t remember wrapping, and he had been in charge of wrapping nearly every present they had.

  Jason, on a whim, decided to sit down near where Bianca was and help her look through the presents as Amelia did the same on the other side

  “So what do you want to start with, B?” Amelia asked, holding up two presents.

  Bianca was confused because neither of them were for her and she didn’t think either were for her Mom either, so why she was holding two of Dad’s presents was a mystery.

  Bianca had known from the start which present she wanted to open, though. It had been the first present put under the tree.

  A thin box bigger than her head that was wrapped in paper that had glittery bears with hats and scarves decorated all over it. What could be better for a first present to open?

  The problem was with it being the first present there is that it was taking her a lot of time to try and find it.

  Jason and Amelia were excellent in sifting through all the colorfully wrapped presents and showing her various ones until Jason had offered her the one she was looking for.

  The present tightly clutched to her chest, she situated herself into her father’s lap so she could begin opening it.

  Bianca didn’t want to rip up the pretty bears, so instead focused on getting the tape and gently sliding out the thin box.

  It had a colorful appearance. Sort of. The top part of the box was white with black lines to show some kind of picture like out of her coloring books wanted to be colored in.

  The bottom half had multiple colors in an iridescent rainbow, making a beautiful picture.

  It was odd. It was far too small to be one of her coloring books, and it wasn’t as heavy as her crayon box or as big as the big marker boxes that she had.

  Did that mean it was something new?

  Bianca shook the box up and down a few times, enjoying the sound of multiple things rattling about in there. It was so much fun she shook it a few more times.

  “So, do you want to see what’s in the box here or do you want to open more presents?” Her dad asked as he sifted through presents with his free hand.

  Bianca decided that she did not want to open her box full of somethings she wanted her mom and dad to open, presents and she did her best to communicate as such.

  Her parents then played a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who got to open a present first, with her mom having to wait.

  “So what should I open, you think?” Her dad asked as he looked about at several presents.

  Bianca didn’t know. She knew what she got him. And she knew what her mom got him. At least a lot of what Mom got him. Her mom wasn’t the best when it came to not talking about things that were making her excited.

  So, Bianca picked out a Santa present.

  Her dad didn’t seem to mind tearing up any of the wrapping paper as he quickly opened it to reveal a tablet-looking thing. Though it was a lot bigger than the tablet she and her mom used to watch shows or play games sometimes.

  He was smiling gently as he spun the tablet around to reveal a picture of them. One Bianca didn’t remember taking together.

  But it was of all of them when they were going on a walk staring up at the sky together.

  “There aren’t cameras in the park,” Amelia said, cooing over the photo.

  “Yeah, I think Santa is a bit of a stalker.” Jason jokes.

  Bianca reached for the photo, and her dad noticed immediately, handing it to her. And while she enjoyed looking at the photo, part of her wished she could talk. Communicating would be much easier.

  “Guess I should open a Santa present too, right?” Amelia asked, grabbing a present from Santa. This one was big and frumpy.

  Bianca quietly thought it was going to be a giant turtle plushy, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up.

  They had gone to the zoo recently for school, and Bianca had loved looking at all of the cute animals. The turtle there was so slow, but he was a nice turtle, she was pretty sure.

  It was in fact not a giant turtle but I giant blanket that looked so soft, but Amelia hissed like a cat whenever Jason tried to feel it.

  Bianca, on the other hand, moved over to her mom’s lap and got to be wrapped up in the fluffiest blanket. It was so soft, maybe she would get one too, but smaller, so it was her sized.

  The presents continued until Bianca felt she was drowning in new things. She wanted to use all of them.

  Or none of them because they were so pretty she didn’t want to break them.

  New books, new drawing books, markers and pens and crayons. New stuffed animals, a necklace from Santa with charms representing her parents and her, a box of musicals she hadn’t seen before.

  So many things.

  “So, Bianca, do you want to put on your necklace that Santa got you?” Amelia asked, holding up the necklace in question.

  Bianca barely remembered opening it surrounded by new toys and pretty paper that she was but it was a very pretty necklace.

  It had a snowflake charm. And a star made out of thinly spun silver. And the final charm was the moon. The moon she remembered seeing the night they had escaped the lab; her and Dad.

  As Amelia gently put the necklace on, Bianca felt a weird buzzing sensation in her throat.

  Unable to stop the sensation, Bianca coughed as her mom grabbed her gently, rubbing Bianca’s back.

  “It’ll be okay, Bianca. Just a little cough. If it’s too much, you don’t need to wear the necklace; we can just keep it in your room.” Amelia assured Bianca.

  “Nnn nnn.” Bianca mumbled as she shook her head. It was a gift from Santa, and he said they would get special gifts, and this one was the only one that wasn’t a toy.

  “Bianca?” Jason asked, walking closer and putting a hand on her arm gently. “Did that necklace do something to your throat?”

  Amelia started batting Jason on the arm. “You said you wouldn’t use your powers while opening presents, cheater.”

  “I didn’t, but all the presents are open, so I turned them on to watch when Bianca put on a necklace made by a superhero that seemed to have impossible levels of power.” Jason defended as he tried to avoid the onslaught.

  Bianca’s throat felt weird. She wasn’t sure if she entirely liked it, honestly. But all the movies and what her mom and dad had told her said that Santa could grant wishes. And one of her biggest ones…

  “Mommy? Daddy?” Bianca got out, her voice haltering and the buzzing sensation from the necklace increased as she spoke.

  As if time had froze both Jason and Amelia froze in place, looking at her mouths agape, tears already beginning to fall down her mom’s cheeks.

  In a blur of movement belying the speed both of them could move at, the two appeared next to Bianca hands on her.

  “Are you…” Jason trailed off as he stared down at his adoptive daughter.

  “I literally take back everything I have ever said about Santa and him casting judgement upon me for random things to decide my moral stance in life if it means he gave you a gift like this.” Amelia said freely crying as she picked up Bianca.

  Bianca looked up to her dad to see he wasn’t crying despite the fact that she and her mom were. But there was untold emotion on his face, and she felt like she could see the absolute joy that was in the depths of his eyes.

  “I love you!” Bianca cried. The words were everything she could have ever wanted to be able to say.

  “I love you too, Bianca. I’m so sorry we couldn’t hear it before now.” Jason said, resting his head against hers.

  “But we knew. I promise we knew.” Amelia finished in a low whisper, holding both of them.

  “I love you.” Bianca said again, but those weren’t the words that she wanted to say. There was more there, but already she felt strained; talking was so much work.

  She had to use more power, though, because she needed to say the words that she had wanted to say for the first night since she realized what her feelings were.

  “Thank you for loving me.” She sobbed into her parents' arms.

  The trio stayed there for a long moment before they resumed their Christmas activities, all feeling substantially closer than they had moments before.

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