Caroline watches as Laila and Julie walk into the school Bart enrolled them in on his returned from England. The girls have adjusted going to an American private school. Caroline made sure the nurse at the private school knew Laila was a type 1 diabetic and that her insulin was watched. Julie was given a full physical by Caroline and put on the proper dosages of estrogen and androgens. Caroline was watching her oldest daughter and making sure she behaved like a girl. There were a few times she had to lecture Julie about being tarty in how she dressed.

Bart had given her a complete background on the girls when Carolina agreed to adopt them. She also saw how Bart has changed since they adopted Laila and Julie. He walks around like a proud peacock. He already knew the girls, but it was different now that he was their father.

On Thanksgiving, Dakota and Terry spent with them. Dakota and Terry have become a couple and Terry has started taking hormones to become a male. Her brothers had seen how she was slowly going down that path after what happened to her.

Anika and Hatter had gone to Jack’s ranch for Thanksgiving. Anika had sent back pictures of Hatter taken a turkey down with her throwing knife. She told Bart that she couldn’t believe how Hatter did it, but she did. Even Jack and his daughters were impressed with her skills. She also informed him, that she had grandnieces now and sent along pictures of Haylee and Arabella.

Katie had been at the ranch when Laila and Julie arrived at the ranch. Caroline had wanted her to meet her new cousins. She stayed for a few days but had to get back to her job with Aero Flight Industries. She had been hired on along with another person to test a new stealth helicopter.

Katie spent Thanksgiving with her brothers and sister in California. She was planning on spending Christmas with Bart and his new family. Katie was dating her co-pilot and was going to bring her to meet her cousin’s family.

Caroline goes shopping for Christmas dinner and gifts for the girls and her family. She had to stop at FedEx to mail her packages off. She knew Bart took a bunch to work with him to be mailed off. She thinks about Morgana and wonders how the reprogramed nanites did for Morgana. When she left Camelot Network to come back home. Morgana hadn’t felt anything yet. She’ll call her later to see how she is doing.

Long Horn Oil:
Bart looks at the reports from the oil fields. So, far everything was performing like it was supposed to. He looks at the picture of his wife and the newest picture of him, with his wife, Laila, and Julie. He looks at the time and walks out of his office.

Bart glances over towards his secretary “Tina, I’m going to lunch. I might be a while.”

“No problem Mr. Hardy. Your schedule is clear for the rest of the afternoon. Oh, before you leave Mr. Hardy, I need your okay for the Christmas Party on Friday.” Tina needed Mr. Hardy’s personal signature.

“No problem, Tina.” Bart looks at the form to make sure he wasn’t just signing something to sign.

Tina just watches her boss. She was happy that he was back from whatever business he had. He had adopted two daughters. Both girls had a pretty English accent and were pretty.

“Here you go, Tina.” Bart hands the forms back to her.

“Thank you, sir.” Tina watches as Bart leaves

Bart heads out of his office and to one of his favorite restaurants he liked going to. As he is waiting for his lunch order. He looks through the
Christmas list he had the girls make or what he has observed from them. So, far between him and his wife, they have the last three-quarters of the way done. He only needed to pick up a few more items for the girls.

Since coming back from the England mission, he has enjoyed being called dad or father by Laila. Sometimes Julie would call him father. He knew it was an adjustment for the girls to adjust to how they did things here in the states.

The private school he enrolled them in, was one of the best. He and Caroline wanted the girls to have the best since they have lost so much.
His order arrives, as he starts eating it.

Highland Academy, Gonzales, TX:
Laila couldn’t believe how many friends she has made since coming to the states. They were adopted by Bart and his wife. Which she has come to love. Caroline treated her and her sister like they had been born from her.

“Hey Laila, how has your day been?” Ralph had spotted Laila sitting by her and decided to join her.

Laila looks up at her name being called and notices Ralph coming towards her. He was in several of her classes. He was also the first person she met when she came to this school.

“It’s been okay. What is your family going to do for the holidays?” Laila was peeling an orange that came with her lunch.

“We’re staying home this year. Normally, we go to Colorado to visit my grandparents. How about you? What is your family planning for Christmas?” Ralph takes a bite of his meatloaf.

“I and my big sister are having our first Christmas with our adopted parents.” Laila never told Ralph that she was adopted.
Ralph looks at Laila “you’re adopted?”

“Yep, me and my sister were adopted.” Takes another slice from her orange.

“What happened to your birth parents?” Ralph was curious.

“Our parents died of a drug overdose,” Laila remembered the day her parents died.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Laila.” Ralph liked Laila accent.

“So, what did you ask Santa Clause for Christmas?” Ralph takes a bite of his meatloaf again.

“I already got what I really wanted. I got a new home, a kind mother and father.” Laila didn’t want anything else.

She loved Bart and his wife. She also misses Hatter. Hatter told her any time she wanted to talk with her, just dial her number. It was programmed in the cell phone Caroline gave her.

It had Caroline’s phone number, Bart’s number, Anika’s number, her cousin Katie’s number and her aunt Dakota’s number. Caroline told her she should always have the phone on her even in school. She was also supposed to call Caroline if she was having any medical problems.

Several more kids that Laila made friends with, come over and sit with her and Ralph. They were students she made friends with on her first week in school. They start talking about what they were going to do on their Christmas holiday and what they wanted for Christmas.

Julie stands in the lunch line and chooses what she wants. She has been trying the different foods they serve at the school. Everything was different then it was at the school she uses to attend. Once she was through the line “Julie, over here.” Betty was waving her hands to let Julie know where she was sitting.

Julie heads over towards her friend Betty. She met Betty on her first day of school. Betty had two older brothers that were two grades ahead of her. One was on what they call a football team and the other one was a swimmer. Betty herself was on the school’s gymnastics team.

Julie sits down next to Betty. A guy that was in her fifth bell class, named Randy sits across from them. Jerry sits down next to him. Jerry was the nerdy type, but he was fun to be around.

“What are you doing for the Christmas holidays, Julie?” Betty was curious because her family was going to Huston to visit her grandparents.

“Not much. My father said my aunt Dakota is staying in New York with her boyfriend and my cousin Katie is flying in with her friend.” Julie knew Katie was a pilot because she saw a picture of her standing next to an Apache helicopter.

“You have a cousin that flies?” Randy looks over towards Julie.

“Yep, she uses to be in the army and flew Apache helicopters. She’s in Utah right now flying a prototype helicopter.” Julie heard Bart talking
about her one night.

“Julie, I was wondering. Is your family from England?” Jerry was curious because Julie had a strong British accent.

“I was adopted. Me and my little sister were born in London, England. My adopted father and mother are from here.” Julie knew she still had her accent.

“What do your adopted parents do?” Jerry had seen Julie and her little sister be picked up by their parents.

“My adopted father owns an oil company and my adopted mom is a well-known doctor.” Julie knew that Bart told her she couldn’t tell people
what he really did.

She couldn’t tell anyone what any of the team members did. If anyone ever asked her about any team member, she was to let him know.

“Wow! Your adopted mother is a well-known doctor?” Jerry would like to meet her.

“Yep, it’s a good thing too, because my little sister is a type 1 diabetic.” Julie was glad that Caroline is a doctor to care for her sister.

When the lunch bell ring again, Julie and her friends head to their class. The few hours fly by as Julie attends her classes. By the time her last class ends, she is ready to go home.

Julie finds Laila and waits until she sees either Bart or Caroline. She looks at her little sister.

“So, what do you want for Christmas?”

Laila looks up at her sister “I already have it. We have a family that loves us and you don’t have to do bad things anymore.”

Bart pulls into the parking lot and spot Julie and Laila waiting for him. He gets in line and pulls up in front of them.

“Hey girls, are you ready to go do some Christmas shopping?” As Bart watches as they get into the SUV.
Julie fastens her seat belt “okay.”

“So, how was school today?” Bart looks in the rear-view mirror towards Julie and Laila.

“It was okay. Everyone is excited that Christmas is almost here.”

“How do you feel about it, Julie? I know this is still all new to you and Laila.” Bart was concerned about Julie.

“I’m looking forward to it. This will be our first real Christmas.” Julie was happy that Bart and his friends rescued her and her sister. It’s just she still felt bad about letting strange men have sex with her.

Bart drives them to the nearest mall and park “okay girls. We’ll do some shopping and met up with mom afterward.”

Bart gets out and holds Laila’s and Julie’s hands. They walk towards the entrance of the mall. Julie was still amazed at how American’s did things. There was a Santa Clause at the mall taking pictures with kids.

“Do you girls want to have your picture taken with Santa Clause?” Bart looks at Laila and Julie.

“I do.” Laila wanted to take a picture with Santa.

Bart looks at Julie “how about you?”

“I don’t….”

“Please, sis?” Laila looks at her sister with her puppy dog eyes.

Julie looks at her little sister and couldn’t resist her pleading eyes “okay, I'll go with you.”

A smile appears on Bart’s face as he escorts the girls to the line. He also pays to have their pictures taken. He takes some with his cell phone and sends them to his wife.

Once the girls have finished having their pictures taken with Santa. He takes them shopping at whatever stores they want to go to. The next few hours, Bart learns why you don’t give two young girls their own credit cards.

He ends up carrying a bunch of their packages but makes sure he keeps his gun hand free. As they are walking back to the SUV.

“Did you get everything you wanted?” As Bart presses the button on the remote to unlock the cargo area.

“Yes, sir.” Laila gets in the SUV first.

Julie makes sure Laila is secure before she gets in on the passenger side and secures her seat belt. Bart starts heading towards the restaurant he was supposed to meet his wife at. When he walks in with the girls by his side. He is greeted by a young lady.

“Good Evening, Mr. Hardy. Your party is waiting for you.” Brenda smiles at the girls as they stand next to Bart.

A smile appears on Bart’s face “thank you, Brenda.”

“If you’ll follow me, please.” Brenda leads Bart and the girls to the table Caroline had secured for them.

Bart and the girls follow behind Brenda as they are led to Caroline. As they approached the table, the girls spot Caroline. Laila sits on one side of Caroline, while Julie sits on the other side of her. Bart sits directly across from Caroline.

Julie and Laila order whatever they want, Caroline orders her favorite dish, while Bart orders a nice thick steak. After their waiter leave,
Caroline looks towards Bart.

“Okay, spill. What made you late?” Caroline takes a sip of her wine.

“Our girls did. Have you been giving them lessons on shopping or is that an inherited gift that women have?” A smile appears on Bart’s face as he looks towards Julie since she spent the most.

“What? I had to have that dress, daddy.” Julie just smiles at Bart.

“It’s an inherent gift, sweetie. Why do you think that women are more superior than men?” A smile appears on her face.

Laila giggles as she watches her new parents and sister, banter.

They eat dinner and afterward head home. Tomorrow they had off from school. They didn’t have to be back till after the New Year.

Early Morning:
Bart was up early enjoying his morning coffee. He gave the staff at his office the weekend off, along with Christmas Eve and Christmas. He looks at the massive Christmas tree the girls picked out and they set-up. He let them decorate the tree the way they wanted to and could see their British culture in the tree’s decoration.

As he is sitting and enjoying his coffee, Laila comes walking in. She walks over to him and wants to sit on his lap. Bart lifts her up and kisses her cheek.

“How did you sleep last night, Laila?” Bart knew she still had nightmares from what Dexter did to her in order to make her cooperate.

He had threatened to kill Julie if she didn’t cooperate with whatever he wanted to do with her. Laila told them what Dexter did to her and Julie. He was pissed when he heard how the two of them suffered.

“I sleep alright, daddy. I miss Hatter.” Laila liked Hatter a lot.

“How about after breakfast, we call Hatter and wish her a Merry Christmas?”

“Can we?” Laila was excited. She was going to see Hatter.

“Yes, we can, but first you have to eat some breakfast and I’ll give you, your shot afterward.” Bart knew Laila needed her shot every day.

Laila just smiles as she hops off Bart’s lap and sits down in her normal seat. She watches as Bart gets up and starts making a Western omelet for her.

“Do you want sausage links or crispy bacon, Laila?” Bart knew Laila liked both.

“BACON!” Laila loved bacon.

A huge smile appears on Bart’s face as he starts cooking more bacon. He notices Julie and Caroline walking into the kitchen.

“Mmm, I smell bacon.” Caroline over to the stove and gives Bart a kiss.

Julie pulls the pitcher of orange juice out of the refrigerator and pours her and Laila a glass. She sits down next to Laila while she waited for breakfast. She loved when Bart cooked, he wasn’t as good as Shigeko, but he did okay.

Caroline helps Bart in the kitchen fixing breakfast for the kids. She ends up giving Laila her insulin shot. She makes sure Laila is always taken care of.

After breakfast, Bart keeps his word and takes Laila to his office and contacts Hatter of Skype.

Hatter and Anika, Cambridge, NY:

Hatter was outside looking at all the snow covering the ground. She had come with Anika to her boyfriend’s place in Cambridge. She couldn’t figure out why everyone wanted open land. First her Uncle Jack and his ranch. Then Bart and his ranch and finally Anika’s boyfriend and his ranch.

She breathes in the cold air as she just stands and watches the horses. As she is watching the horse flock in the snow. She hears her cell phone ring. She takes a little at it and notices it was a video request. She accepts, and Laila’s face appears.

1587 County Road 396, Gonzales, TX:
“Merry Christmas Hatter!” Laila had a big smile on her face as she looked at Hatter on the computer screen.

“Merry Christmas Laila, how are you and your sister doing?” Hatter missed Laila and Julie. She knew that Bart and his wife had adopted them.

“We’re doing fine. Bart and Caroline have been taking care of me and my sister. We went Christmas shopping yesterday and I got you a
present. Dad said he’s going to send it to Anika’s condo in New York for you. Where are you and Anika at?” Laila noticed snow behind Hatter.

“We’re at mom’s boyfriend place in Cambridge, New York.” Hatter has started calling Anika mom.

At first, she wasn’t sure she wanted to call Anika mom or mother. She felt like she was betraying her real mother and Lottie. However, after what she had felt when she killed her friend for betraying Dakota. She felt that Anika would never betray her or let anything bad happen to her.

“Cool! Is there a lot of snow on the ground?” Laila was hoping it would snow on Christmas in Texas.

“Yep, it is up past my ankles. Here, I’ll show you.” Hatter changes the camera view for Laila to see.

Hatter was outside in a pair of pajamas that were red and wearing a pair of snow boots. She shows Laila the horses playing and how deep her feet were buried in the snow. She switches the camera back to her.

“That was cool. Are you going to stay there long, Hatter?” Laila wanted Hatter to visit her.

“I don’t know yet, Laila. Mom hasn’t said how long we are going to be here.” Hatter didn’t know how long Anika was going to stay.

“Well, I want to see you again, Hatter. I miss you.” Laila really liked Hatter.

That brought a smile to Hatter’s face “I’ll see if I can talk mom into letting me come.”

“Laila, can I talk with Hatter, please?” Bart wanted to tell Hatter something.

“Sure dad.” Laila moves aside to let her father see Hatter.

Hatter watches as Laila moves aside to let Bart see her. Bart’s face appears before her.

“Hey Hatter, if you do decide you want to come out here to the ranch. Just let me know and I’ll send the Lear to pick you up.” Bart didn’t mind sending his new Lear Jet to bring Hatter to Texas for the girls to enjoy.

“I will, Bart. Thank you.” Aylin really didn’t enjoy flying.

“You’re welcome. I’m going to turn you over to Julie now.” Bart moves and lets Julie and Hatter talk.

After Julie is done talking with Hatter. She and Laila go into the kitchen to help Caroline make cookies.

December 24 Christmas Eve:
Katie couldn’t believe her and Jessica were in Texas. She hated leaving Cora by herself during the holidays, but Cora said she was going to spend the holiday with a few tribal members. She looks over towards Jessica as they pull onto the long driveway that leads up to Bart’s house.

Jessica was looking out the cab window and saw how big Katie’s cousin place was. She turns towards Katie “isn’t your sister and brother are going to be a little upset that you came out here?”

“Nope. They have their spouses’ relatives coming to town. we would just be in the way.” Katey leans over and places a kiss on Jessica’s cheek.

The cab driver pulls up in the driveway. He turns around to face Katie “that will be $25.50, ma’am.”

“Here you go and thank you.” Katie hands the driver $40.00 dollars. “Keep the change.”

Katie gets out and unloads her suitcases and the presents she brought with her. Jessica was standing nearby as the front door opens. Two young girls come running out.

“Aunt Katie.” As Laila and Julie wrap their arms around Katie.

Bart comes walking out of the house along with Caroline. He knew they were on his property as soon as they drove on the driveway that leads up to the house. He took a few clues from Jack about protecting his place.

Jessica looks at the kids and Katie’s cousin. Katie had shown her pictures of the girls.

“Come on inside and let’s get you settle.” Caroline helps with the packages, while the girls and Bart helped with the luggage.

Katey and Jessica follow Bart and the girls inside the house and is shown to the spare bedroom. As Bart is carrying Katie’s things into the room.

“Why didn’t you call me? I would have picked you up at the airport.” Bart sets the luggage down.

“Jessica and I didn’t mind taking a cab. Besides, I’m on vacation till after the New Year.” Katie was told she could take that as much time as
she wanted off. The techs working on the Night Bird had a few modifications they wanted to do before they restarted testing.

“Well, I’m glad you and Jessica came, and I know the girls are as well.” Bart spotted an owl hanging around Katie’s neck.

“What is this?” As he gently picks the necklace up.

“That’s a gift from my partner. She’s a private investigator that lives on the reservation.” Katie hopes Cora was having fun.

“Well, I would like to meet her one day.” Bart liked the necklace.

“Trust me, cousin, she is a very unique person.” Katie wonders how her cousin would feel meeting a mystic Native American warrior.

December 25, Christmas Day:
Laila is the first one up as usual and heads towards the living room and spots all the presents. She is so excited as she heads over and starts opening the ones with her name on them. It’s been a long time since she has had any presents.

Caroline and Bart wakes-up and walks into the living room and spot Laila opening her presents. They wonder where Julie was. Caroline sticks her head into Julie’s bedroom and notices she was still sleeping.

Caroline walks over gently shake her “hey sleepy head, Santa Clause came and left you some gifts.”

Julie rubs her eyes and looks at Caroline. She was tired, and her eyes were a little red.

“Hey what’s wrong?” As Caroline sits on the edge of the bed and looks down at Julie.

“I don’t deserve any gifts for what I have done.” Julie still felt dirty from her ordeal.

“Sweetie, you did what you had too, to protect your sister. You shouldn’t feel bad about that.” Caroline pulls her up to her and holds her.

Julie just cries against Caroline’s shoulder. She holds onto Caroline. She felt Caroline rub her back. Her tears finally stop as she feels ho much Caroline loves her. The last time she felt like this, was with her mother.

“Are you up to coming to the living room and open a few presents?” Caroline didn’t want to rush Julie.

“Okay, let wash your face and join your sister and father.” Caroline escorts Julie to the bathroom and freshens up Julie’s face.

Afterward, Caroline takes Julie into the living room and get her to open her Christmas gifts. A smile appears on Julie’s face when Laila hands her a wrapped gift.

“Merry Christmas, Sis.” As Laila hugs her big sister.

Julie returns the hug. She enjoys the rest of the morning opening Christmas gifts.