For the first time, the siblings had not celebrated Christmas with their mother. She had rung each of them to apologise and promise that Christmas next year would make up for the missed one this year, and so, for the first time, they spent Christmas doing their everyday things.
And, the day after Christmas, bright and early knocking on the door was Kerry, Alex and, much to Ash’s annoyance, Scarlet. All of them were seated in the lounge room, awkwardly sitting in silence, as Liv slurped her coffee disgustingly loud.
Scar came in through the door to the living area, and when he spotted them all sitting to his left, he hesitated. His eyes landed on Liv, and Ash swore for a second that he smiled. “Erza needs your help, Liv. You can take Kerry with you.” Liv was out of the room faster than he
