Surprise - here's another update 😊. (I'm still keeping my 'one chapter per week' schedule, but 'update day' has now been moved to the weekend.)

But before continuing with the story, I would ask you to please go back to the previous chapter and admire the amazing drawing by bear2710 : the upper one shows Nya and Lloyd on the hotel roof, and the second one is Kath and Lloyd talking by the window.

She's also made the one of Lloyd and Kath for this chapter.

Also, I have republished the companion book 'For the longest Time'. All artworks for this story (that I have permission to use for) can also be found there. In celebration of reaching the 1K Followers milestone, the Anniversary Special is now open again as well for another day or two.

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Chapter 45 (Katherine)

One year ago, 24rd December 2017, Cliff Gordon's villa

"And now a bit more to the right." Lying on the comfortable sofa in the mansion's sitting room, I give instructions to Jay and his father, who are setting up the Christmas tree.

As, because of me, the Walker family had to change all their holiday arrangements at the very last minute, Ed and Edna have brought with them not only the food they had already purchased (and, in some cases, even pre-prepared) to Jay's home, but also the tree and all their decorations.

"A little bit more. No, that was too far, now a tiny bit back to the left... and- perfect." I grin at the two men, giving them the thumbs-up.

"Thank you, my dear." Ed smiles at me.

"It's a lovely tree, isn't it?" The older Walker keeps chatting, holding the beautiful fir perfectly in place, as Jay crouches down to tighten the screws on the stand. "And well-travelled, I must say – from Birchwood Forest first to the Sea of Sands, and then all the way to Ninjago City."

"It has definitely seen more of Ninjago than most people have." I agree. The first time that I left my hometown was to attend university in Ninjago City. Where I met-

"All done." Jay's comment snaps me out of my thoughts. He grins as he reappears from under the tree. "I think we deserve some tea and cake after all this hard work, don't we?"

"No, not all done, son." His father corrects him, pointing at the three cardboard boxes in the corner, containing cute tree decorations made from scrap metal as well as enough colourful light strips to illuminate all of Ninjago City. "We still have some decorating to do, or Santa will not leave his presents."

Jay lets out an exasperated sigh. "Can't we have a break first?" He whines.

Ed thinks for a moment. "Let me check with your mother." With that, the energetic elderly man rushes out the door.

Failing to suppress a giggle, I catch my best friend's attention.

Jay shoots me a mock-glare. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"What?" I feign innocence. "Lying here? Doing nothing? Watching you getting lectured by your parents? Getting to boss you around?" I break out in a cheeky grin. "Absolutely."

The auburn male comes over to sit down on the edge of the sofa. "I am trying very hard to be mad at you right now, but I'm just too happy to see you laughing again."

"Thanks, I'm doing a lot better already." I tell him.

Not in every way, of course. I'm still sore all over, and that is not going to go away overnight. Just like my nightmares and those frightening flashes of memories...

Right now, I'm just content to be distracted from all those – not a difficult task if you're spending the day with three Walkers – but I know that I will have to face them eventually. Officer Simon, one of Jay's contact at the Police Department, has already sent a list of therapists and support groups that help victims of domestic abuse.

But, even after one day, I'm beginning to be more relaxed; I realise that I'd almost forgotten what it feels like not to be constantly scared and on edge. "I feel safe here." I conclude.

"That's great to hear." Jay smiles. "You know you're welcome to stay here as long as you want – or need – to."

"Thank you." I return the smile. "For everything."

"Anything for my little sister." He pulls me into a, very careful yet comforting, hug.

"How do you do that?" I mumble into his chest.

"Do what?"

"Always give the perfect hug."

"Lots of practice." He grins as he pulls away. "Just ask my mum."

"Ask me what?" Comes Edna's voice from the doorway. She is carrying a tray with a steaming teapot and some more of her wonderful homemade cake.

"Uhm..." Jay blushes as he jumps up to take the tray from her. "Nothing."

Edna shakes her head. "I know this kind of nothing." She states. "Now, what is it that you need to know from me?"

Finding myself unable to lie to the lovely woman, I tell her. "I was just wondering why Jay is so good at giving hugs."

This causes Edna to break into a bright smile. "Awww, my baby has always loved to hug everyone and everything – from pillows to sandworms."

"That happened only once." Jay protests, placing the tray on the table. He flashes me a sheepish smile. "Would not recommend trying it."

I giggle. "I wasn't going to but thanks for the advice."

"He wouldn't go to sleep without holding something in his arms." Edna continues undeterred. "When he was a kid, he had this huge purple teddy bear – what was his name again?"

"Mr Cuddlywomp." Jay answers, dejected.

"Ah, yes." Edna nods. "Jay wouldn't go anywhere without him – you know what I mean. I can show you pictures when you come and visit us at the junkyard. And he even took him with him when he joined the Ninja."

Jay's smile falters. "Unfortunately, I did not take him when I quit the team."

"Speaking about the team," Edna starts hesitantly. "A Christmas card arrived for you, from-"

"NO." Jay harshly interrupts her.

"Sweetheart, you-"

"I don't want to hear it." He protests loudly, the pained expression on his face breaking my heart. "I don't want anything from her. And I especially don't want to get a Christmas Card from the happy Conya family."

Before anyone can react to his outbursts, he spins around and bolts out of the room.

Edna lets out a loud sigh. "Ah, my poor baby." Edna sighs. "Why does he have to be so stubborn? I understand that he's hurt by what happened, but ignoring his old friends is not going to make things any better. I just want him to be happy again."

So do I.

And I make a promise to myself that I will help my best friend find his happiness again.

Present day, 24rd December 2018, Temple of Airjitzu

"Higher, daddy, higher." Little Sylvie instructs her father who is, seemingly effortlessly, holding her up so that she can reach even the upper branches of the huge Christmas Tree that's been put up in the Ninja's sitting room. "An' mo' to the... that side." She indicates.

"Done." She proudly announces after she's added the last of the striped candy canes to the tree and has been gently set back down by her father.

"Not entirely, sweetie." Cole smiles at his daughter. "We still have one more piece to add."

Sylvie's eyes light up. "The star!" She excitedly exclaims. "Who gonna do it, daddy?"

"Why don't we let our guest do the honour?" Comes a familiar voice from the door.

Lloyd.

I haven't seen much of him since our conversation last night - not that I've missed him, of course. I was just starting to get worried that he might be avoiding me. That it might have been a mistake to tell him about Mark...

I hope that's not the case, especially as it felt really good talking to him. I'm usually quite bad at opening up to strangers, but there's something about him - maybe it's just like I said to Lloyd last night, that he and Jay are very much alike. But then, I don't feel the same way about him...

"Yes, Aunt Kathy." Sylvie squeals, bringing me back to the present. She picks up a little wooden box from the floor and presses it into my hands. "You do it."

"Where have you been?" Cole wonders as I open the box and take the delicate golden star from it.

"Luggage boy duty." Lloyd states. "Abby insisted."

Well, that explains his prolonged absence. Many of the Ninja's other guests have arrived throughout the morning so he must have been busy.

I've briefly seen Nya and Kai's parents when they arrived a while ago. They're still upstairs, getting settled into their room. And they were very eager to see the nursery for their unborn grandson, so they might still take a while. And I definitely remember that they had brought quite a few cases with them.

So I flash Lloyd an apologetic smile. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Don't be." He returns the smile. "You haven't seen all the food that Zane and PIXAL bought. With all the overeating to come, it's good to get some exercise."

"I've already had mine." Cole grins, gesturing at the tree.

"Me too." His daughter agrees.

"You did a fabulous job, Sylvie." Lloyd ruffles her black and pink hair.

"No, Unc'e Lloyd. We not finished yet." She reminds him.

"Oh, silly me." Lloyd gasps dramatically.

He then turns to me. "May I?" He asks, nervously.

"Uhm, yes?" I reply, rather confused. May he what?

But I get my answer right away when he gently places his hands on my hips and lifts me up. 

"Wow, you're really light." He blurts out.

"I-I guess so." I feel my face heat up in embarrassment. Of course, he would notice that. Just like Mark always used to say – I'm far too skinny to be pretty.

Trying to shake off those thoughts, I eventually manage to steady my shaking hands enough to put the star on the top.

"Yay." Sylvie claps her hand. "Put it on, daddy? Pwease?"

"You know the rule, sweetie." Cole tells her. "We have to wait until everyone's here."

"You no fun." The little girl pouts adorably. She obviously knows how to wrap her dad around her pinkie.

But Cole must have also learned not to give into it. "Ask your mother." He simply tells her. Seliel and Luke are upstairs, with her father who's just arrived from Nom.

Sylvie contemplates this for a moment, before - "'kay." – she stomps out of the room.

"Uhm..." Lloyd sheepishly rubs his neck as he approaches me again. "I hope I didn't upset you with my comment. I-I actually meant it as a compliment. You see, when I first became the Green Ninja, Sensei Wu made me lift all the guys, and that was no fun at all."

"Hey." Cole gasps. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you should cut back on your cake." Retorts Lloyd.

"Or that you have a lot higher muscle mass than I do." I suggest placatingly. Ugh, even in my free time, I'm acting like a kindergarten teacher.

Not that it isn't true though - in fact, we must be on opposite sides of the scale. And luckily, Cole doesn't seem to mind my remark. 

"I like that option better." He nods approvingly. "Not gonna cut back on cake, especially not at Christmas."

"If you'd rather work on your muscle mass, you're welcome to take over my luggage boy duties." Lloyd offers.

"Maybe I should do that..." I think aloud. "Would be a nice change to my normal exercise routine."

"You really shouldn't change anything about yourself." Lloyd objects. "Uhm, I mean, ... I... just think you look... am- uhm... very nice just the way you are."

His face has turned a deep shade of red, but mine isn't much better.

"Th-thank you." I reply quietly, my gaze firmly fixed on the fluffy carpet.

"So, uhm, what kind of exercises do you normally do?" He enquires after what feel like hours of awkward silence.

"Oh, nothing exciting." I apologise in advance. To a group of highly skilled Ninja, any kind of normal training must be boring. "I like to go running."

Blame Jay for that. While I was staying with my best friend, he eventually convinced me to join him on his daily morning run. It took me a while before I was comfortable enough to go on my own after I'd moved out, but I now go running at the park just next to my apartment building two or three times a week. "And I do Yoga." I add.

"Nothing wrong about that." Cole grins. "Sel does it - great for flexibility." He winks at me. "Also, she insists that she needs that hour per day to relax and get away from all this mayhem so she won't go crazy. But you're more than welcome to join her if you're interested. Skylor used to do it with her from time to time, but she obviously can't do all the routines these days."

"Sounds good, I will talk to her later." I agree. "In the meantime, is there anything I can help with?"

"Not really." He looks up to the Golden Star. "You've already done the most important job anyway."

"So, what do you think about our tree?" Lloyd questions.

Objectively, the Christmas Tree looks like a huge mess. It's been decorated with a strange mix of ornaments – from handmade wooden figures over white porcelain angels to colourful glass baubles, and of course the forementioned candy canes.

But I really like it – which is the answer I give him. It's very charming and rather fitting for this very unique family – as Zane has informed me, each of them has contributed some typical decorations from their respective home. A small spot has even been left empty for one of the Walkers' self-made metal pieces that Ed and Edna are going to bring with them.

"Which one is yours?" I enquire.

Instead of giving me a reply, he just walks away silently. Now I'm worried that I was the one who's upset him this time. Argh, why didn't I think of his complicated family history?

But then, I realise that he's simply gone to the back of the tree. There, he silently plucks a little piece from one of the branches and, upon returning to us, he very carefully hands it to me.

It's a tiny stuffed teddy bear with a Santa Head and the writing 'Baby's First Christmas' on its tummy.

"It was the only Christmas I ever got to spend with both my parents." He explains in a low voice. "My mum put it into storage after my dad got banished – well, for the first time – and she'd dropped me off at Darkley's. We only found it when they moved everything to their monastery after the Final Battle." 

"It's cute." I give him a comforting smile as I hand the bear back to him. "And a very lovely memory." And I feel honoured that he has decided to share it with me.

Lloyd returns a weak smile. "It is." He again disappears behind the tree to very gently put it back to its previous spot.

I'm not the only one who understands that he will need a moment to himself.

So, taking over his host duties, Cole points at the colourful baubles. "These ones come from Shintaro. They initially were a gift from to the team after the Final Battle. Each of them represents one of us – or rather our powers." Taking a closer look at them, I notice the Ninja's Elemental Symbols etched into the glass bodies. Like the bright red one has Kai's Flame Symbol, the brown one has Cole's boulder, and so on. "Later, when we had new people join us, we would always make sure to order one for them as well. Nya even has two. Samurai X was part of the first set, of course. And we added this one when she unlocked her Element." He explains, referring to the sea blue one with the Water Phoenix Symbol.

I can't seem to find a sapphire one though. And if I'm not mistaken, Jay has never spent a Christmas with his (former) teammates since the fight with the Overlord. "What about-?"

"Oh, it's still there, don't worry." Cole assures me with a conspirative smile. "We've always had it up with the others, Nya was actually the one who kept insisting. She would claim it was for Abby, but we all knew how much she was missing Jay – after all, we were all missing him ourselves. But now that he's back, we've decided that he should put it on the tree himself before we light it up."

"He'll love that." I return the smile. "You're a really great friend."

"I wasn't always a good friend." Cole reminds me. "So I'm really happy that we got this second chance. And even more that he and Nya are also taking theirs. Jay-"

"Ah, crumbs." Lloyd, who has just re-joined us, exclaims when the name is mentioned. "I completely forgot..."

Cole chuckles. "No kids around, you can use the actual word."

"I'm so used to it by now." Lloyd shrugs. "But that's not the point right now. Have you seen Jay? Gotta talk to him."

"He's gone to meet his parents." I inform him. Ed and Edna called some time ago, to say that they were on their way but were having trouble with their GPS. "They should be here in a few minutes."

"That's good." Lloyd lets out a relieved sigh. "Hope they will take their time. And he should not go upstairs right now."

"Why?" I raise an eyebrow. "What happened?"

"As you know, Abby is taking her job as concierge a bit too seriously." I can't suppress a little giggle here. "So, while she was showing her grandparents to their room – the same room they've used for the same one and a half years whenever they're here – she was pointing out all the other sleeping arrangements."

"Oh." I realise. "All of them?" I want to make sure.

Lloyd nods. "All of them."

That's probably not the way Nya wanted her parents to find out about her and Jay being back together.

"Maya didn't seem to be surprised at all," Lloyd continues. "But Ray looked like he was about to burst into flames. And if he's anything like his son, it might take a while for him to calm down..."

"Okay, maybe I'll head outside to catch Jay and his parents when they arrive." I suggest.

"Good idea. I can wait with you." He offers.

"For your next job?" I tease him.

"My next job?" He looks confused. "Ah, you mean their luggage? Yeah, sure." He flashes me a sheepish grin. "What else?"

"No idea." I laugh. I mean, what else could he be talking about?

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The next chapter will focus more on the whole group (with some PIXane news), and more Jaya (plus Abby) fluff will come after that. Rapidly approaching the 50-chapters-mark!