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Alice sat on the couch, knowing all three children were fast asleep, and sighed. What a way to celebrate the holidays; wounded by a crazed gunman, but what made the situation worse was that all three of them saw her being shot at. She knew that they might be traumatized by that, Mello namely. She looked over at the tree and sighed again; in all this excitement, she almost forgot to get the gifts under the tree. She stood up and carefully made her way upstairs, looking for L’s room. She opened one of the doors and smiled. Alice walked in and looked around; L’s room was surprising clean for someone of his age. The only messy thing was his desk that was littered with papers and candy wrappers. She continued looking until she saw a note addressed to her on his night table. Alice opened the letter and sighed again: “Alice, the gifts are located under my bed in a red sack. Please be careful when going downstairs with them. One of the gifts tend to make noises if its bumped into. L” She kneeled next to his bed and gently pulled a red sack from under it. As she walked out of L’s room and closed the door, she bumped her left shoulder and froze in pain. She bit her tongue to keep from yelling and took a deep breath. Alice tiptoed down the stairs and over to the tree. She kneeled down and started to place the gifts under the tree quietly as she smiled. They would have a great Christmas after all trouble. As she stood back up, she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Alice quickly hid behind the couch and looked towards the hallway as Mello and Matt walked into the living with a flashlight and a plate of cookies.

“Mello, what makes you think Santa hasn’t been here yet?” Matt asked quietly as Mello shushes him.

“Quiet, Matt. You’ll wake up big sister,” Mello said, pointing to the covers on the couch, “Besides, these cookies aren’t for Santa. They’re for Ali.”

“Huh? Why Ali?”

“Matt, she saved our lives. Can that fat old man do that?”

“No… I don’t think so. I mean, we only see him once a year.” Mello walked over to the tree and place the plate on one of the gifts and put a card on top. “There. That way, Ali gets at least one gift from all of us this year,” Mello smiled, turning to Matt, “Now, back to bed.” Matt and Mello made their way back upstairs as Alice sighed and smiled. They were such good kids at heart. She stood up and left the sack folded in the corner behind the tree. It was too big of a risk to go back and put it L’s room. She sat on the couch and bundled herself up in the covers. Alice closed her eyes and felt herself drifting to sleep as she heard more footsteps coming down the stairs. She didn’t have the energy to stay awake as the footsteps stopped in front of her.

“Ali! Wake up! It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!” she heard two voices yell. She opened her eyes and saw Mello and Matt jumping up and down in front of her and Near sitting next to her. She smiled, “Merry Christmas, you guys. Okay, you two. Stop jumping up and down.” Alice undid the covers from around her and put on her slippers, “Okay, who wants to go first?” Near slid down from the couch and walked over to the tree, “Alice should go first. This is her first Christmas, after all.”

“Aww… thanks for the sentiment, Near.” Mello smiled and handed her the plate of cookies, “Merry Christmas, big sister. This is from all of us.” Alice took the plate and looked at the card. A hand drawn picture of Mello, Matt and Near hugging Alice and in bright red marker at the bottom, it read: “Merry Christmas, Big Sister. We love you!” Alice hugged all three of them and smiled, “Oh, thank you guys. I love it.” She took a cookie from the plate and smiled, “And where did these cookies come from?” Mello smiled, “Those were my cookies L brought me from America.”

“And you wanted me to have them, Mello? How sweet.” Alice kissed Mello on his forehead as Matt handed her a box.

“Here, Ali. Open this one. It’s just from me.” He smiled as Alice wrapped the blue paper and saw Matt’s Game boy and Tetris game. “Matt…” she said, smiling at him, “You didn’t have to give me your favorite game.”

“I wanted you to have it because you’re so much fun to play with. L was always too busy to play with me.” Alice kissed his forehead as well, “Thank you, Matt.” Matt blushes and covers his eyes with his goggles as Near hold up a poorly wrapped gift. Mello snickered, “Man, Near. That’s terrible. Who wrapped it?”

“I did. I had some trouble with the scissors,” he said, quietly, handing Alice his gift, “I hope you like it, Ali.” Alice looked at the gift then at Near’s hands, noticing faint red marks on them. She unwrapped the gift and smiled. “Near, is this your favorite robot?” Near nodded and twirled his hair a bit.

“He was the first robot I got here. MegaRoboMan is my favorite, but I thought you should have it.” Near looked up at Alice as she kissed his forehead, causing color to appear on his cheeks. Mello snickered, “Ooh, Near has a crush on Ali.” Near looked at Mello, slightly annoyed.

“Okay, Mello. Why don’t you open your gifts?” Alice asked, starting to see some conflict bubbling as Mello grabbed a nearby box and shook it.

“Wonder what this is…?” he asked as he heard popping from inside the box. Mello dropped the box in shock and hid behind Alice. She looked behind her to see Mello shaking a little. So, he has been deeply affected by this… Alice thought as she opened the box and saw a popgun inside of it. “Mello, it’s just a popgun. Nothing to be scared of,” Alice said, holding it up as Mello hid his face.

“Santa’s a loser… why would he give me that? I don’t want it, Ali.” Mello said as Alice put it away and patted Mello on his head.

“It’s ok, Mello. Matt, you’re next.” Matt smiled and opened his box.

“Cool! A new Game boy color and… no way! Pokémon!” Matt said, jumping up and down, “I always wanted it!” Alice laughed as he started the game up and began playing. Mello looked at Matt then jumped down next to him, “I wanna see, Matt. Move your head.” The young woman smiled as Near sat next to her with a box that was a little bigger than he was. He started to tear the paper off as Mello looked over at him.

“Hey, Near. Whatcha got? Hurry up and open it, already.” Mello said as Near opened the box. Alice looked over and smiled. Near held up a bag of blocks, several model kits, and another blank puzzle. “Wow, Near. You got a lot,” Alice said as Mello glared at Near.

“That’s not fair! Why did you get eight things and all I got was a stupid little popgun?!” Mello yelled as Near sighed.

“Because I was good this year and didn’t trick Matt into giving up his candy to a ‘monster god’.” Mello glared at him again, pulled out a chocolate bar and started eating it. Alice sighed as Near tapped her arm. She looked over at him as he held up a small box, “Hmm?”

“This is for you, Ali. I found it behind the tree.” Alice took it and smiled, “And which one of you got me this?” Matt and Mello shook their heads, “Not us.” She looked at Near as he shook his head, “Not me, either.” Alice looked at the box and saw the tag.

“From L and Watari. I should have known,” she laughed, unwrapping it. Inside the box, Alice saw a necklace with a silver cross on it. “Wow, a new necklace. They didn’t have to…” she said, holding it up, “I don’t deserve it.” Alice looked around and smiled again; they were all enjoying their gifts and seemed so happy. She placed the necklace in her pocket as Mello handed her a cookie. This would be a good Christmas for them after all.