“Muahahahahaha! Hello, citizens of Havenwood, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

There was a general shriek of excited alarm as Coldsnap made his grand entrance in the city square, snow falling from above him and ice spreading from below his feet. Half a dozen spotlights shone on him from above, courtesy of the circling black top hat drones. In the crowd, he could hear camera shutters going off, and he gave an exaggerated bow and wink, allowing his white hair to fall over one pale blue eye as he rose again.

There was at least one scream of “Do you want my number!?”

Coldsnap grinned, then gave a dramatic sweep of his blue-clad arm. “We’ve been a little quiet this year, but don’t worry—Black Hat and Coldsnap haven’t forgotten about you! Tonight, we’ve got something extra fun planned! Behold!”

A massive hat drone descended on the square, hovering above the twenty-foot-tall Christmas tree. Blaring a rather demented remix of Jingle Bells, the hat disgorged a swarm of much tinier hats as Coldsnap let loose with another evil cackle. In less than a minute, each hatling had grabbed an ornament, replaced it, and returned to the motherhat. What was once a tree shining with gold and silver ornaments was now resplendent with white snowflakes and tiny black and red hats. The motherhat reached down and plucked the star off the top, then replaced it with a rhinestone-encrusted top hat that glimmered in the spotlights as the motherhat retreated into the sky and hovered over the square.

“Voila! This year, Christmas is about us! If you’re all very, very good, I might be willing to share some of the cookies, but you’ll have to convince me!” Several of the parents in the crowd gave exaggerated gasps of horror, and Coldsnap paused to make sure none of the kids were crying. Fortunately, it seemed they were all just as into it as he was—one of the kids even mustered the courage to fling a snowball at his face.

The crowd gasped and went quiet. Coldsnap let the moment hang, then flicked his hand past his face. The snow and water wrapped itself around his hand, and he formed it into a ball of ice, allowing it to float over his palm. “Oh-ho, someone out here is feeling brave, are they? Perhaps I should teach you a lesson about what happens when you mess with me!”

“Don’t you dare, Coldsnap!”

Half of the spotlights swiveled over to illuminate the roof of the building behind the crowd. Hovering above it, glowing brightly enough that she barely needed the extra light, was a young woman who looked remarkably like Coldsnap despite being wreathed in a flame aura. Little wisps of flame flickered off her aura as snow hit it and formed a curtain of steam as she landed on the roof.

Coldsnap laughed again, tossing his ice ball and catching it. “Well, hello there, Fireball! Here to stop me?”

“I’m not about to let you ruin Christmas, Coldsnap!” Fireball put her hands on her hips, and a lucky breeze made her red hair fan out for a moment. “Get that hat back here!”

“Or else what, dear sister?” Coldsnap slowly spun the ball in his hands. “Besides, I have a much better idea—and you’re going to have to participate.”

“Or what?”

Coldsnap grinned and tossed the ball over his shoulder. It exploded into powder, and the snow fell quicker for a moment, until a sheet of white hung behind him. One of the hat drones switched from spotlight to projector and aimed its light at the makeshift screen. The image fizzed with static, then cleared to reveal a forest of candy canes.

Tied to the one in front—which also happened to be red and black—was a young woman. The ribbons wrapped over her dark coat matched nicely with the streaks of green in her curly brown hair, and over the ribbon over her mouth, her eyes were wide, almost fearful.

Almost. Coldsnap knew that look meant she was excited.

Fireball paused and shot Coldsnap the briefest confused look. He just grinned, and gave her a subtle wave to encourage her to play along.

The glare she covered her confusion with almost made him check his hair for fire. That had happened a couple of times, and it was never dignified. Fortunately, now at least she had better control as she snarled, “What did you do to Liliana?”

“Oh, nothing—yet. But if you want her back, you’re going to need to search the decorations we took for me. Word is, there was a key to White Hat’s hideout in one of those, and if you don’t find it…”

He formed another ice ball, and shattered it.

As a few of the onlookers screamed, Fireball raised her chin and grinned. “Oh really? Well, unfortunately for you, Coldsnap, I have a line directly to White Hat.” Another motherhat, this one gleaming white and blue, descended from the clouds behind her to hover as a backdrop. “And I’m sure that the good people of Havenwood will be more than happy to help recover those ornaments before you can get through them!”

Coldsnap just grinned and reached up. A hat drone descended and grabbed his hand, and he let it pull him into the air as the hatlings began to scatter from the motherhat again. “Well, I hope you can get them all found in an hour! After that, they’re all going to be back at Black Hat’s base, and you’ll never find them there!”

He let out another mad cackle as he was pulled into the snowfall and vanished from sight. “Good luck!”

~

Natalie Ayers, also known as The Dynamo, stepped out of her hotel bathroom entirely ready to settle in for the night and get some needed relaxation done. Her hair was dried, she had her favorite pajamas on, and her tea was all ready to go.

Unfortunately, the world had other plans for her.

She had left the news on as she had showered. This wasn’t unusual--even when she was outside of her home city, she was licensed to aid in most states if there was a villain active. If something was going down, she wanted to know.

The local news station was focused on a shot of a young woman bound to a black-and-red candy cane with green ribbons. Natalie’s heart lurched as she saw the way fear had made her eyes wide and staring, and she couldn’t tear herself away as the channel focused back onto the reporter.

“Tonight, the villain known as Coldsnap has kidnapped Liliana, Fireball’s girlfriend. In return for her safe return, he has demanded that Fireball locate a key to White Hat’s base, which was concealed in one of the city Christmas tree’s ornaments. White Hat is helping Fireball to locate said key, and they have asked the aid of the populace in searching. There are still thirty minutes left to find the key--here is the map of the search area...”

A map appeared on the screen, and the reporter began to explain what sectors had been searched and what sectors still needed searching, but Natalie wasn’t paying much attention. She was already pulling out her uniform and stripping off her pajamas.

Within five minutes, she was dressed and leaping off of her balcony. The wind around her was cold, but the tech in her uniform compensated for that as she rose above the city and began to search for the forest of candy-canes that had been visible in the photo. She’d never been here before, but that meant very little in the face of her super-enhanced vision. It cut through the light snow that was still falling with little trouble as she searched, praying that this Coldsnap would keep to his word and leave his captive alone for another thirty minutes.

She’d seen the victims of villains who had gotten bored of waiting for their demands to be met. Comparatively, being frozen alive might be a kind way to die.

Dynamo shook off the memories just as she spotted the small park where Coldsnap was waiting with Liliana. It wasn’t far from the city square, and for a moment, she frowned. The only defense he seemed to have was a slightly thicker snowfall over the park, and Fireball should find it easy to find him. Dynamo could even see the other superhero as she flew over the buildings to the south as a bright streak against the dark sky.

Perhaps he had some sort of trigger on his captive, to kill her if Fireball got too close.

Well, Dynamo thought grimly, I’ll just have to stop him before he can use it.

She landed fast and hard, blowing the snow up around her in an explosion of white. As it settled, she found Coldsnap staring at her, one hand absently adjusting an earpiece. He turned and gave his captive a baffled blink, then said, “Hhhhi. Who are you?”

“Dynamo.” She straightened, tilting her chin just enough to make it clear she had to look down slightly to look at him. “Let the girl go, Coldsnap.”

“I…” Coldsnap blinked again, looking even more baffled. “Do you know what’s going on here?”

Either the villain was stalling, or he thought Dynamo was stupid. She decided to take pity on him and assume he thought she was stupid, because she hated being stalled. “You’re a kidnapper, trying to use this girl as leverage. I’m giving you a chance to let her go before I start punching. So let her go, and I take you in with all of your teeth intact.”

Coldsnap gave his captive another baffled blink, and this time she even returned it. Then he held out his hands in what Dynamo was pretty sure was supposed to be a placating gesture. “So, first, she’s not in any danger. She’s playing along here—she actually helped with the planning.”

Coldsnap kept talking—something about “motherhats” and “ornaments”—but Dynamo barely heard him over the sudden rush of blood in her ears. The girl was a traitor. She was playing along, probably to lure in her so-called girlfriend and get her killed.

Dynamo made a fist, feeling her glove creak under her grip.

“—and once Fireball gets here with the ring—SHIT!”

Coldsnap barely avoided her punch by flinging himself backward. He rolled to his feet, then shot off over the snow, leaving shimmering trails of ice behind as he skated effortlessly between the candy canes.

Dynamo launched herself into the air and followed.

“—say again, a rogue hero, probably around Magnifigirl’s weight class—I need back-up, she is not listening to negotiation—“ Coldsnap broke off of his rapid fire speech to dodge another punch, then hit her in the face with a hard-packed ball of snow. It didn’t stop her, but it did disorient her enough for him to slide away and yell, “Look, I promise that there’s really a good explanation for this that doesn’t need you to grind me into paste! All you need to do is stop trying to punch me and—“

He cut himself off to throw up a wall of ice between them as she shot forward. Dynamo hit it hard, pain flashing through her shoulder and ribs for a moment before her healing took over. As she backed away, she could see cracks in the wall, and when he saw them, his eyes went wide.

Then he was off again.

“Definitely not listening!” he screeched. He threw himself out of the way of another punch, giving himself a second of inefficient cover as he rolled behind a Christmas tree. “Also, she’s a pseudo-flying brick—four inches of ice barely stopped her! She’s way out of my weight class!”

Dynamo paused. On the one hand, she didn’t want to kill him. On the other hand, if she didn’t deal with him quickly, Fireball was going to arrive, and who knew what he was planning for her?

Dynamo nodded to herself, cupped her hand, and allowed a small ball of electricity to form in her hand. She sank a few inches as the energy bled out of her, then recovered and cocked her hand back.

Coldsnap darted out from behind the tree, glancing around wildly for her. As soon as they locked eyes, she let fly with the electricity.

Another ice barrier caught the ball with a grating screech and a plume of steam.

Dynamo hit the wall barely a second later, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

She fancied she could see his eyes widening in slow motion, reflecting off of the shards of ice flying around him. Her senses weren’t actually that enhanced, though, so she only had a second to enjoy the expression before her foot slammed into his side.

His ribs splintered audibly under the impact. The force sent him flying into one of the candy canes ten feet away, which cracked in half. He dropped into the snowdrift in front of it, unmoving.

Then a weak cough came from the snow, followed by a choked sob.

Dynamo rolled her eyes, not impressed by the act, then fished a pair of cuffs out of one of her pouches. She’d drop him at the local hospital after she got his partner in crime trussed up, but she wasn’t about to leave a potential threat free to shoot her in the back.

Then a streak of light appeared from the city, and she sighed. First, though, time to play relationship counselor.

~

“Coldsnap and Black Hat are both out of commission, guys. I’ve got a few hat drones en route to pick up Pain Management and Silvertongue, and Electrode and IQ are going to keep the scavenger hunt going. Fireball, that girl is out of your weight class. If you can’t stall her, get the hell out.”

Estella Mendoza-Rojas, also known as Fireball, waited for the various acknowledgements from the other listening supers, then keyed to a private channel. “Mandla, I am not leaving my brother down there with her!”

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White Hat was silent for a long minute. Then he murmured, “Estella, that girl basically pulverized Nilo’s ribs. His healing factor can’t catch up, according to his suit, and yours isn’t any faster than his. Hyun Ki is sitting in the bathroom having a panic attack because if the bosses don’t get there in time, Nilo could very well drown in his own blood. If you even think about fighting her, I will drop a motherhat on you and dump you at home.”

“...understood.” Fireball took a deep breath, but her voice still wobbled as she added, “I’ll try to stall her as much as I can.”

With that, she dropped into a dive, pulling up between her brother and the woman who had attacked him. “Stop!”

The woman stopped, handcuffs dangling from one hand. “...Fireball, right?”

“Yeah, I’m Fireball. Who are you, and why did you attack my brother?”

“I’m Dynamo.” The young woman twirled the cuffs around her finger, then added, “Your brother and your girlfriend were going behind your back and plotting to kill you.”

Fireball had to pause to take in the totality of that statement. “Plotting to kill me? Do you have proof, or a motive?”

“He explicitly said that they had planned this together and that she was cooperating.” Dynamo raised an eyebrow. “And brother or not, Coldsnap is a villain.”

Fireball was going to reply, but paused as motion behind Dynamo caught her eye. Liliana was wiggling one arm out of the ribbons, and she could see a utility knife in her hand.

Fireball shook her head slightly, then refocused. “That’s not...really proof? I knew my brother was planning something, first of all. He had to tell me so I could get there at the right time while he was doing the ornament heist.”

Dynamo’s gaze hardened. “You were in on his plot to terrorize the city? Are you kidding me?”

“I don’t think the city is all that terrorized!” Fireball tried to keep her voice calm, but the exasperation bled through anyway. “Did you even take a look around?”

“The news was all over it! I didn’t need to!” Dynamo took a step forward, and Fireball forced herself to neither step back nor rise into the air. “And now you tell me you were in on it? Why am I not surprised, with a villain for a brother!”

Fireball felt her patience melt like the snow hitting her shoulders. “First, you don’t know what’s going on here! You didn’t even try to look into it! And second, even if my brother was trying to kill me, you smashed in his ribcage! He’s nowhere near your weight class, and you went at him like he was a flying brick too, and now he’s dying!”

As if to punctuate her words, Coldsnap gave a low, pained moan. She turned to look at him and found that he was shuddering, one arm around his chest as the snow around him slowly turned red from a gash in his side. Fireball felt her heart lurch in her chest, and she spun back to Dynamo, tears pricking in her eyes. “Just--look, just go home!”

Dynamo took another step forward and grabbed Fireball by the front of her suit. “I am going to throw you, your girlfriend, and your brother in jail where you belong. And for all I care, you can just rot there like villains deserve--”

“Hey, Dynamo! Hands off my girlfriend!”

Dynamo’s grip loosened as she turned, and Fireball shoved her away.

Right into Liliana’s mini-Christmas tree missile.

Liliana’s enhanced strength gave the missile enough speed to knock Dynamo into the snow. As it hit Dynamo’s chest, Liliana’s plant control powers sent its limbs winding around her, until Dynamo was trapped in a cocoon of wood and needles. Fireball could hear the wood creak as Dynamo fought it, and Liliana grimaced as she forced the cocoon to hold fast. Fireball allowed her aura to brighten, ready to rush her as soon as she broke free.

“All right, ladies, why don’t you all...relax a bit,” a gentle, compelling voice called.

Fireball felt some of her tension involuntarily bleed away, and looked up to find Silvertongue and Pain Management descending on a pair of hat drones. Silvertongue’s green eyes were solemn as he took in the scene, and he reached out to grab Pain Management before they could jump off. “I know what you’re thinking. No.”

Pain Management smiled, a slight quirk of the lips that left their violet eyes cold pits. “Come on. She deserves it,” they signed.

“No. Check on your duckling while I handle the rest.” Silvertongue stared Pain Management down, still solemn.

He was rewarded with a sigh and a pat on a tanned cheek. “Fine. For you and the duckling. Give me a minute to ‘talk’ to him.” They punctuated their signs with a tap on their temple and leapt down to the snow at Coldsnap’s side.

Silvertongue paused a moment to clear his throat, then jumped down himself and stood in front of the still-entangled Dynamo. “So you’re the one who crashed Christmas?” he asked in a normal tone.

“You—you’re Silvertongue! You—you got the Painmonger to change sides!” What parts of Dynamo’s face Fireball could see were pale. “I—how? Why are you working with these people?”

Silvertongue raised an eyebrow. “I just gave them and their ducklings the respect they needed. Same with ‘these people.’ Havenwood’s got rules, same as any other city, but heroes and villains are allowed to be themselves without hurting anyone or getting hurt. It might look real, but at the end of the day everyone gets to go home. But you decided to poke your nose in without checking to see if it was wanted or allowed.” He sighed. “And you didn’t try to listen when Coldsnap tried to talk you down, and you decided to hit him with everything you had when he was barely fighting back. End result being that if my partner weren’t here, he’d die and you would be going away for a very long time.”

Dynamo scowled. “I—“

Silvertongue’s voice gained back that compelling tone. “You are going to stay right there, until someone comes to take you to jail. Then you’re going to go quietly, and you’re going to stay there and think about what you did until Coldsnap wakes up and decides if he wants to press charges.” Silvertongue smiled, just enough to look years older than he was. “He probably won’t. He’s nicer than a lot of our heroes like that. But ultimately, that’s up to him.”

Dynamo grimaced, visibly fighting the compulsion. Then, slowly, she nodded, eyes glazing slightly as it took hold. Silvertongue nodded, then looked at Liliana, compulsive edge gone again. “Mind letting her go, Lily-of-the-Valley? She’s no danger.”

“Yes, of course.” Liliana eased her control on the tree, and watched as its branches returned to normal. “...I’m sorry about the ornaments,” she added as one of the festive plastic orbs fell to the ground in several shards.

“Nothing that can’t be replaced,” Silvertongue said with a more gentle smile. Then he glanced over his shoulder, and his face fell back into solemn lines. “Pain Management is ready to heal, it seems. Give me a minute.”

Fireball cleared her throat. “I—Uh, can I help?”

Silvertongue glanced at her. “You can share the pain, but it’ll still hurt.”

“He’s still my brother.”

“So he is.” Silvertongue stepped over and sat in the snow behind his partner. “Put your hand on their back.”

Fireball nodded and followed his example, then bit her lip as Liliana joined them. “Lil—“

“This is my fault too.” Liliana blinked, dislodging a tear, and Fireball brushed it away. “I need to help.”

“...okay.” Fireball nodded, then leaned around so Pain Management could see her face. “We’re ready.”

They nodded back to her, and she straightened and took a deep breath.

The pain knocked the breath right back out of her. She could somehow feel every single one of her brother’s shattered ribs, and how they ground together with every one of his too-rapid breaths. She stifled a scream, then clamped down on her free hand through its thick glove as the pain continued to climb.

Then all at once, it stopped. Fireball gasped in a deep breath, then caught Liliana before she could slump sideways.

I can see why they were a villain, she thought hazily. She sucked in another deep breath, then turned and asked, “Is he okay?”

“He will be,” Pain Management signed. “He said to not hurt you, and if I heal him more, you’ll be sick.” They looked down at Coldsnap, now unconscious, then added, “His healing factor will pick up the slack. Might still be a few weeks before he’s back in, but he’ll be okay.”

“Thank you.” Fireball wiped her face of an unexpected tear, then lurched forward and hugged them. They stiffened slightly, but when she pulled back, they were smiling just enough that it met their eyes.

“Shh,” they signed. “I take care of my own. And he’s mine.”

“She’s yours too, by virtue of being mine.” Silvertongue smiled, patting Pain Management’s rosy cheek. “Now come on. The police are here.”

Pain Management made an exaggeratedly annoyed face, wringing a tired laugh from Fireball. “Do I have to?”

“Yes, you have to. Come on.”

“Fine,” Pain Management signed sulkily. “You two, stay here with Coldsnap and wait for the medics.”

Fireball nodded, and watched as they walked away with Silvertongue. Then she carefully pulled her unconscious brother out of the bloodied snow and settled him on her lap. Liliana curled against her side with a soft kiss to her cheek.

Together they watched the snow fall as the paramedics made their careful way through the candy canes.

~

Coldsnap, also known as Nilo Mendoza-Rojos, awoke to the very annoying sound of a heart monitor beeping. He groaned and reached to swat at it, only to find his hand captured by two slim ones.

“Don’t,” a soft, almost timid voice said. “You...you need to rest, still.”

Nilo’s eyes flew open to find Hyun Ki staring down at him. Their ever-present red scarf was tucked over their face, Black Hat pin keeping it secure, but their wide brown eyes were watery enough to tell Nilo everything he needed to know.

He extricated his hand, then carefully pulled Hyun Ki down to rest on his shoulder. They squeaked softly, surprised, then tucked closer, and Nilo could feel them shaking as he ran his hand through their long, dark hair. “God...you okay, Hyun Ki?”

Hyun Ki nodded, and a low voice spoke from behind them. “You scared us, but we’ll survive. Not your fault.”

Nilo looked up and saw Mandla in a chair against the wall. His multicolored dreadlocks were out of his usually elaborate hairstyle, and his already dark skin was near-void black under his eyes. Nilo scowled at him. “You haven’t been sleeping again.”

“You scared us.” Mandla sighed, then stood up so he could kiss him on the forehead. “But you’re okay. I’ll sleep again, I promise.”

“You’d better.” Nilo huffed. “Boss got me stable, so you shouldn’t be freaking out.”

Mandla gave him a long, silent look. “...we heard it when she hit you, Nilo,” he eventually said. “Your suit was saying you had blood in your lung along with your ribs, your spleen was ruptured, and you were also bleeding from where you hit that candy cane. For a few minutes, you were dying.”

Nilo bit his lip and looked away, watching his hand stroke Hyun Ki’s hair. “...All right. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.” Mandla pulled his chair closer and sat again. “Just...don’t downplay it.”

Before Nilo could reply, the door to the hospital room opened and let in Estella and Liliana with two bags of food. Estella froze as she saw Nilo, then grinned. “Oh thank god, you’re actually awake.”

She deposited the food on one of the chairs, and scurried over to give him a forehead kiss. Nilo thought he heard her sniffle, but when she straightened, her eyes were clear. “You are not allowed to do that ever again. I will ground you.”

“I’m 24! And you’re my sister, not my mom!”

“And I’ll still ground you!” She smoothed back his hair, then sat down and started handing around the bags of food. “The doctor said you’ll be able to eat once he’s checked you over. You kept waking up and falling back asleep, so it might be a few minutes before he comes.”

“Eh, that’s okay. I’m not hungry yet anyway.” He knew he would be, once he’d sat for a while, but for now he had questions.

First things first. “So, what happened to Dynamo?”

“She’s still in jail--it’s been like...sixteen hours?” Estella shrugged slightly, pulling out a bowl of fried rice and a fork from one of the bags. “They’re charging her with felonious assault, I think, but Silvertongue said you could ask them to drop the charges. She’s still going to be banned from hero work here for the rest of her life--she’s way too gung-ho, even if she starts respecting the narrative, and no-one will trust her.”

“That’s fair.” Nilo thought for a moment, then added, “If she’ll take some sort of remedial de-escalation without violence classes, I’ll ask that they drop the charges.”

Estella nodded with a wry smile. “Pain Management said you’d say something like that.”

“Hey, rule five of villainy--don’t take it personally unless it’s personal.” Nilo grinned. “This was so not personal, it was like a form letter. ‘To whom it may concern--’”

Nilo ducked a swat from Mandla, still grinning. “Fine, tough crowd! Okay, next question--how’d the rest of the heist go?”

“It went fine,” Mandla said, smiling slightly. “Kid by the name of Mason Windman won--he asked for a ride in the Motherhats, which he got. Didn’t even throw up.”

“Good for him!” Nilo said, duly impressed. He’d thrown up the first time he’d had to ride on a drone.

“He...had a message from his sister, too.” Hyun Ki raised their head slightly, and despite their straight face there was mischief in their eyes. “He said, ‘She said that I should tell Coldsnap that he’s got a nice butt. She knows that Coldsnap is a home of sexual, but his butt’s still nice.’”

Nilo choked on a sudden laugh, ignoring the way his ribs twinged dully under the assault. “How old was this kid again?”

“Five or six, I think,” Liliana said as Hyun Ki laid their head back down. “He was adorable and I am so glad he didn’t say that on tv because his sister would never live it down.”

“Ohhh, probably not,” Nilo wheezed, “Home of sexual, are you kidding me…”

It took him a minute or so and several back pats to get his laughter under control. He gave his sister a thumbs up at her worried look, then settled back into his pillows as it subsided. “Ohhhh...I needed that, even if it hurt. Anything else?”

Estella paused in taking another bite of rice. “...Actually, yeah. Why did you ‘kidnap’ Liliana?”

Nilo’s gaze immediately snapped to Liliana, who was staring determinedly at the ceiling. “You didn’t ask her?”

“You nearly died! I didn’t think it was a good time!”

“You didn’t ask her?” Nilo threw his hands into the air, then hastily patted Hyun Ki’s back as they squeaked. “I went through all that trouble specifically so you could ask her!”

Estella put the rice in her lap. “Ask me what?”

“Do you have it, Liliana?” When she shook her head, Nilo glanced at Mandla. “Where is it?”

“Still safe with one of the hatlings.” Mandla pulled out his phone and tapped at it. A minute later, a black hatling tapped gently on the window, and he opened the window and took a small orb from it. “Thanks. Here, Liliana.”

Liliana took the orb with a sigh. Her cheeks were deep red despite her dark complexion, and as she looked at Nilo, he could see her lip was near-bloodless as she chewed on it. “Now?”

“No time like the present!” He grinned, then fell into a comforting smile. “You can do this.”

Liliana took a deep breath, then handed the orb to Estella. She blinked, then popped it open and pulled out the tiny Christmas tree inside. “It’s very pretty...what’s the topper…?”

She looked a little closer. Then she froze as she found she could slide something out of the tree.

Namely, a diamond ring, sized perfectly for her finger.

Liliana swallowed “...Estella Mendoza-Rojos, we have been dating for six years now.”

“Yes.”

“I--we’ve been through a lot to get here, and--”

“Yes--”

“Estella, will you marry me--?”

“Yes!” Estella laughed as she grabbed Liliana and kissed her. “Oh my god, yes, yes! You were going to ask me last night--?”

“It was Nilo’s idea,” Liliana said with a watery laugh as she slid the ring onto Estella’s finger. “I couldn’t figure out how to ask, and he said, ‘why not at the Christmas heist?’ So I let him kidnap me, and--well--”

“It wasn’t supposed to have the hospital involved but…” Nilo shrugged. “It still worked, right?”

“It did,” Liliana hiccuped, then laughed again as Estella kissed her.

“It did, and you two are never allowed to do this again.” Estella pulled Liliana close, ignoring the way her rice fell to the floor. “Thank you. Seriously, thank you all.”

“Hey, it’s the holidays.” Nilo leaned over and gently kissed Hyun Ki’s hair, then smiled as Mandla did the same to him. “I think we’ve earned our miracle this year.”