Lauren and Claire: A Fairytale Christmas Part 2

Across town, Lauren is stuck in a bad traffic jam. “Damn last minute Christmas shoppers…” Lauren mutters. Lauren pulls out her phone and makes a call. “Hey Dylan, if you’re done playing tag with Little Red Riding Hood, I could really use your help.” Lauren says. “Red Riding Hood isn’t a problem anymore, but I can’t say the same about Rumpelstiltskin. He stole someone’s car and is driving around town trying to run people over! I’m trying to catch the lunatic but he’s going at least 100. So, what’s up with you? You succeed in ruining Christmas after kidnapping Santa’s wife?” Dylan wonders. “I left Santa and Mrs. Clause alone to kill each other, I’ve got somewhere else to be. Claire tracked down the place where all the fairytale characters came to life and I’m heading over there to give her a hand. Unfortunately, I’m stuck behind a bunch of jack asses who forgot they were supposed to pick up little Timmy a Roblox gift card for Christmas.” Lauren says. “Since when would you let a stupid thing like traffic get in your way?” Dylan asks. “Good point.” Lauren says. Lauren swerves onto the sidewalk and begins barreling down it, leaning on the horn so pedestrians know to get out of the way.

Back at the Knight House, Natalie is sitting on the floor inside the container and Claire sits on the floor outside of it. “Why do you think you’d be a danger to everyone?” Claire wonders. “I’m the one who summoned those fairytale characters.” Natalie admits. “Why would you do that?” Claire wonders. Tears fall down Natalie’s face. “I didn’t want to! I can’t control my powers.” Natalie cries. “How’d you get your powers?” Claire asks. “It was my parents. Ever since I was born, they’ve been using me as a guinea pig for all their insane experiments. In fact, I’m pretty sure the only reason they had me was so they’d have a human test subject who wasn’t themselves. For as long as I can remember, they’ve been testing out new and wild experiments on me…they said they were trying to perfect me. Most of them failed, the few that didn’t had minimal success, all of them were incredibly painful both physically and emotionally.” Natalie admits. “Tell me about the latest experiment.” Claire urges. “My parents have both always been into trying to create life artificially, so they recently came up with this crazy idea of bringing fictional characters to life just by reading the book they were in. They’ve been testing different procedures and drug cocktails on me for the past year, then yesterday they came to me and said that they wanted to give me an early Christmas present…they told me it was the gift of true greatness. They strapped me down to some lab chair, they put these electrodes on my head, and they began sending some kind of shockwaves through my brain…it hurt so badly. When…when I woke up the next day, this morning, the first thing they did was hand me a book. They didn’t even ask me how I was feeling! They just told me to read the book to see if the procedure worked. It was a Christmas book, and when I read it, Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause both materialized from it in front of me. It-it wasn’t the version from the books though. Mrs. Clause picked up a knife that was in the lab and went after Santa with it, she chased him out! But my parents weren’t even concerned about that, they were just happy the procedure worked! Then they handed me this fairytale book, they wanted to see if I could bring anymore characters to life. When I picked up the book, the pages started to flip on their own and all of these different characters started to appear. But like with Santa and Mrs. Clause, they were…different. They all went after my parents and chased them out of the lab, all of them except Peter Pan. He stayed behind and helped me out of my restraints. After I was free though, the book kept bringing more characters to life so I locked myself in here. Once I was behind the glass, it all stopped.” Natalie says. “I’m sorry…I know how scary it can be when you can’t control your own abilities.” Claire says. “How would you know?” Natalie questions. “Because when I first discovered I was different, I had trouble controlling my own powers. Eventually I got the hang of it, but trust me, it was absolutely terrifying in the beginning.” Claire says. “You don’t have your powers anymore, right? How did you get rid of them? I don’t want to be like this! I never wanted any of this, all I ever wanted was to be normal! Instead I grew up being home schooled, isolated from the rest of the world, being poked by needles over and over again!” Natalie cries. “I can’t imagine how hard that must’ve been for you…” Claire says. “Still…even after all that, I’m still worried about my parents. I haven’t seen them since they ran out of here. Do you know where they are? Are they okay?” Natalie wonders. Claire’s eyes widen. “Natalie…” Claire mutters. Natalie’s face drops. “They aren’t okay…I killed them, didn’t I?” Natalie asks. “No! You didn’t kill anyone! You aren’t responsible for any of this!” Claire tells her. “I’m the one who brought these things to life! Anything that happens because of them, its on me!” Natalie tells her.

Lauren breaks down the door with her gun drawn. “Don’t worry, she’s a friend.” Claire says. “I told you I know who Lauren is, remember? Out of all of you, I’ve always thought she was the coolest of the group. The way she blew up that drug shipment last summer was totally bad ass.” Natalie says. “No idea what you’re talking about.” Lauren claims. “I’ve been reading stories about you guys for a long time, long enough to recognize your work.” Natalie says. “Claire, can I talk to you for a sec?” Lauren asks. “Yeah, sure.” Claire says. Claire turns towards Natalie. “I’m gonna go talk to Lauren real quick, I’ll be right back.” Claire says. Natalie nods. Claire stands up and follows Lauren to the other side of the room. “What were you thinking going in alone like this?!” Lauren asks. “Relax, Natalie isn’t a threat.” Claire says. “Natalie? You mean the little girl? What does she have to do with any of this?” Lauren questions. “She isn’t a little girl, she’s 16! She’s also the one who brought all those fairytale characters to life. Her parents did something to her that gave her the ability. After that, she locked herself inside that glass cylinder to stop herself from bringing anymore characters to life.” Claire says. “I’m guessing Natalie’s parents are the two dead people on the couch upstairs?” Lauren asks. “Mmhm.” Claire confirms. “Does she know?” Lauren wonders. “She figured it out. We need to do something! Not just to stop the fairytale characters and send them back to their own world, but also to help Natalie! The girl is terrified out of her mind, she has no idea what she’s capable of!” Claire says. “She isn’t the one we need to be worried about, its her homicidal creations.” Lauren says. “About that, I think I have a theory about why all these characters are acting this way. Natalie told me her parents have been using her as a test subject her whole life, that has to have given her a lot of negative emotions, right? So what if when Natalie brought these characters to life, all of the anger and the sadness she feels were imprinted on these characters?” Claire asks. “If that’s the case, how come Santa isn’t hate fueled?” Lauren wonders. “Santa is the embodiment of Christmas cheer, maybe his positivity canceled out Natalie’s negativity. The bottom line is that we have two goals here. We need to send these characters back to where they came from and we need to help Natalie so she can come out of that container and not have to worry about ever coming near a book again and being afraid of what might happen.” Claire says. “How the hell are we supposed to do that? We aren’t scientists, it's not like we can just reverse what her parents did to her!” Lauren points out. “We have to figure something out!” Claire says. “Natalie’s parents must’ve left notes on the procedure. Maybe they left something about a kill switch too.” Lauren suggests. “Something to shut off Natalie’s abilities…it's worth looking into. Okay, I’m gonna take a look around for the notes. You should go sit with Natalie so she isn’t alone.” Claire says. “Why me? I hate kids!” Lauren notes. “Natalie isn’t a kid, she’s a teenager!” Claire argues. “Even worse!” Lauren says. “She’s had a really bad day. Her parents are both dead, a bunch of fairytale characters she brought to life are wreaking havoc on the city, she needs a distraction!” Claire says. “I could kill you right now.” Lauren says. Claire smiles. “Love you too.” Claire says, before walking away.

Across the room, Natalie is sitting in the container staring off into space when Lauren approaches and sits outside of it. “So…what’s up?” Lauren asks. “I brought to life a bunch of dangerous characters who then proceeded to murder my parents. Need I go into any more detail?” Natalie asks. “That’s pretty rough. I lost my parents when I was pretty young too.” Lauren admits. “What happened?” Natalie wonders. Lauren clams up and stares down at the floor. “Right, I forgot you don’t like to talk much. I shouldn’t have asked.” Natalie says. Lauren turns to face Natalie. “It was a terrorist attack, right here in Fantastic City at the local mall. I was probably a little younger than you are when it happened and it was about this time of year. They went to go do some Christmas shopping and decided to take a break at the food court. They…they didn’t realize some psycho in a bomb vest was gonna show up and blow the whole place up. I got the call when I was hanging out with a friend…I remember I felt completely numb.” Lauren recalls. “I’m sorry.” Natalie says. “So was I. What happened that day set the course for my entire life. I joined the WPA, then when things went sideways with them I came home. I spent so many years chasing bad guys around the globe, I didn’t realize until I came back there were plenty of them right here. There are also plenty of people here who could use my help, the difference from when I was working with the WPA is that I’m never left wondering if I did the right thing.” Lauren says. “It must be really great, being out there making a difference for so many people.” Natalie says. “It has its moments.” Lauren admits. “I wish I could do that, but I’ve barely been allowed to leave the house. Honestly I’ve spent so much time locked up in here, I’m not even sure I’d be able to go outside.” Natalie says. “I know everything sucks right now, but its not too late. You can still go out there and make a difference, be the person you want to be, not the person your parents wanted you to be.” Lauren says. “I don’t even know where to start. I have no idea who Natalie Knight even is.” Natalie admits. “You’ll figure it out. One of the best moments in your life will be finding out who you really are and being comfortable with that person.” Lauren says. “I hope you’re right.” Natalie says. “Of course I’m right, I’m never wrong.” Lauren jokes. “Would Claire agree?” Natalie asks. Lauren smirks. “I’m sorry for ruining your Christmas Eve. You’d probably rather be spending it with Claire, not hunting down monsters I created.” Natalie says. “Don’t worry about it. One way or another, we’re gonna get this sorted out.” Lauren says. “I found something!” Claire shouts. Claire runs over to them holding a piece of paper. “I found some notes from Natalie’s parents detailing how to undo the procedure in case everything didn’t go according to plan!” Claire exclaims. “On a scale of 1-10, how complicated are the notes?” Lauren wonders. “Probably a 500, but we’ll figure it out. Maybe Andy could run it through his computer and it could create some kind of how to video.” Claire suggests. “Or I could walk you through it. Let me see the notes.” Natalie says. Claire turns the piece of paper towards Natalie and she looks it over. “Oh, that’s easy.” Natalie says. “I don’t get it. You’re 16, how can you read complicated notes written by two brilliant scientists?” Lauren asks. “Part of my home schooling was learning about my parents’ work and how they did it. Half of what they did, I could probably do myself, and safer too.” Natalie says. “If we’re gonna do this though, you’ll need to come out of the cylinder.” Claire points out. “That won’t be a problem as long as you get THOSE out of the room.” Natalie says. Lauren and Claire turn around and see two books lying on the floor.

A little while later, Claire presses a button that opens the door of the cylinder for Natalie just as Lauren returns. “I put the books upstairs. Hopefully once the procedure is done with, we’ll have nothing to worry about.” Lauren says. “Where do we begin?” Claire wonders. “You’ll need to restrain me to the chair. This could get pretty painful and you don’t need me swinging and kicking during this.” Natalie says. “Back up, I didn’t know we would have to hurt you!” Claire says. “You’re basically performing the same procedure on me that my parents did, just with some slight alterations to reverse the work that they did.” Natalie says. “That same procedure caused you a tremendous amount of pain.” Claire points out. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll endure whatever I have to so that I’m not a monster anymore.” Natalie says. “Are you sure this will reverse what was done to you? Just because your parents said it would doesn’t mean it actually will.” Lauren points out. “From what I saw in the notes, I’m confident it will work. We don’t have much of a choice anyway.” Natalie says. “Alright, lets get to work then.” Lauren says. Natalie sits back in the chair as Lauren straps the restraints onto her. “Okay, now what?” Claire asks. “You need to place the electrodes on my head, but they need to go in specific locations. I think my parents had a diagram showing where they go, it should be on their table over there.” Natalie says. Claire runs over to the table and looks through a bunch of papers. “Found it!” Claire exclaims. Claire runs back and shows the diagram to Lauren, who begins carefully placing the electrodes onto Natalie’s head. “Done. What’s next?” Lauren questions. “You see that machine the electrodes are attached to? I need you to turn it on and then turn it up to the number listed in the notes. Once you do that, activate it.” Natalie says. “I’m guessing this must be the painful part.” Lauren assumes. “I can take it.” Natalie assures her. “Okay, I’ll fire it up then.” Lauren says. Lauren walks over to the machine. “Wait!” Claire shouts. Claire pulls up a chair next to Natalie, sits down, and grabs her hand. “When you start to feel the pain, just squeeze my hand. Focus on that and you will do just fine.” Claire says. Natalie nods. “Thank you…start it, Lauren.” Natalie says. “Yes ma’am.” Lauren says, before turning the dial up and then hitting the start button. Natalie squeezes Claire’s hand as she begins crying out in pain…

Some time passes. Lauren and Claire are now standing over an unconscious Natalie. “She should be waking up soon.” Lauren says. “I really hope it worked…” Claire says. “You’re really invested in this.” Lauren observes. “I feel for her. I know what its like to have these powers that you can’t control, its how mine were when they first started surfacing. Not only that, but what’s life going to be like for her when this is all over? Both of her parents are dead.” Claire notes. “Her parents were scum that probably got exactly what they deserved.” Lauren argues. “I know, but they were also the only family Natalie had. Now…now she has no one.” Claire points out. “That’s something I know a bit about…” Lauren mutters. “It wasn’t easy for you navigating through life without your parents and it won’t be easy for her either.” Claire says. “I started spiraling after I lost mine. If Queen Goo hadn’t taken me in, god only knows where I’d be right now.” Lauren says. “Natalie is going to need someone like that when this is all over…” Claire notes. Natalie begins to stir awake and Claire sits next to her. “Hey, how are you feeling?” Claire wonders. “I’m alive…” Natalie mutters. Lauren cracks a smile. “Do you…do you have a book I can look at to see if the procedure worked?” Natalie wonders. “You cut right to the chase.” Lauren observes. Claire walks over to the table, picks up a book, and walks back over to Natalie. “This is the fairytale book from before. Lauren went upstairs and grabbed it along with the Christmas book while you were asleep. Take a look at it and see if anything happens.” Claire urges. “I will, but first you two should leave.” Natalie says. “Why would we do that?” Claire wonders. “You’ve already done far more for me than I probably deserved, I don’t want to endanger any more lives, especially not yours.” Natalie says. “We aren’t going anywhere. We are going to see this through and there’s nothing you can say that will change our minds, so don’t even try it.” Claire says. Natalie tearfully nods. “Thank you…” Natalie mutters. Claire undoes the restraints and then hands Natalie the book. “Okay, take a look.” Claire tells her. Natalie slowly opens the book and begins reading it. “Should something be happening?” Lauren wonders. Natalie puts the book down and smiles. “Nothing is happening, which is exactly what I wanted! I’m normal again!” Natalie exclaims. Claire smiles. “I’m really happy for you, Nat.” Claire says. “Thank you both SO much for helping me. You saved me!” Natalie tells them. “We aren’t done yet. You might not be bringing any more fairytales to life, but we’ve still gotta worry about the ones that are already here.” Lauren says. “Santa and Mrs. Clause are at the safehouse so they shouldn’t be a problem.” Claire says. “Dylan said Pinoccio is dead and that Little Red Riding Hood isn’t a problem anymore. Last I heard, he was chasing Rumpelstiltskin around town after he committed grand theft auto.” Lauren says. “Who’s left?” Claire wonders. “Peter Pan and Cinderella are the only two I can think of.” Natalie says. “You brought Cinderella to life?! No way! I’d love to get a pair of those glass slippers off of her, they sound like they’d be really cute!” Claire exclaims. “Maybe you could wear them at the funeral after Cinderella kills you.” Lauren sarcastically suggests. “Why would I need to wear slippers at my funeral? If only the top half of my casket is open, no one is going to see my feet.” Claire says. “Not to interrupt, but we’re getting a bit off topic.” Natalie notes. “You’re right. I’m gonna call Dylan for an update.” Claire says, before pulling out her phone and making the call. “What’s up, Claire?” Dylan asks. “I was about to ask you that. How are things going with Ruffled Feathers?” Claire wonders. “If you mean Rumpelstiltskin, he’s dead. He was driving a bit too fast and ended up going right off the bridge into the freezing cold river. Now I’m going toe to toe with Fantastic City’s newest drug addict: Peter Pan.” Dylan tells her. “What are you talking about?” Claire asks. “Peter just robbed a pharmacy and took off with a bunch of pills. I went after him but he ended up taking a civilian hostage.” Dylan says. “EXCUSE ME! I am talking to you!” A voice yells. Dylan turns to see Peter still holding a gun to some woman’s head. “It's kinda rude to take a phone call in the middle of a conversation you know!” Peter complains. “Sorry, I’ll give you my full attention.” Dylan says. Dylan fires his grappler at Peter and rips the gun out of his hand! The hostage breaks free from Peter and takes off, leading Peter to turn around and run the other way. Dylan uses Peter’s gun and shoots him in the back of the leg, causing him to collapse to the ground! “Ow! OWWWWWWWW!” Peter screams. Dylan returns to his phone call. “Sorry about that. Peter is down for the count.” Dylan tells Claire. “Good. So just to clarify, Pinoccio, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rumpelstiltskin are dead, Peter Pan has been neutralized, and you haven’t seen any sign of Cinderella?” Claire asks. “Back up a second, I never said Riding Hood was dead.” Dylan notes. “You told Lauren she wasn’t a problem anymore.” Claire points out. “That might’ve been pushing it. Riding Hood got away, I have no idea where she ended up.” Dylan says. “That is NOT what not being a problem anymore means, Dylan!” Claire scolds. “Looking for me?” A voice asks. Claire, Lauren, and Natalie turn to see Little Red Riding Hood standing in the doorway, holding a machine gun!

Red Riding Hood walks into the room and kicks the door closed behind her. “I’m gonna have to call you back. Thanks for totally misleading us!” Claire tells Dylan, before hanging up. “I see you’ve gotten a handle on little miss cocoa puffs and her abilities over there. I don’t see anymore characters being brought to life.” Red Riding Hood notes. “What happened was a terrible accident.” Natalie says. “Oh sweetie, I know you didn’t mean to bring any of us to life. Do you know what wasn’t an accident? Me murdering your parents. That’s right, I’m the one who delivered the killing blow. Do you want to know why I killed them? Because of all the anger you felt towards them, all the hate buried deep inside you that made me hate them too! You might as well have stabbed them in the heart yourself!” Red Riding Hood tells a shocked Natalie. “Don’t listen to this crazy bitch, you aren’t responsible for any of this!” Claire assures her. “Its really adorable how you’re jumping to her rescue, especially since she could’ve gotten you killed! In fact, she’s going to get you killed! I have no plans of ever going back to that book, not when I feel so alive here! Which means the three of you have to die. You should be happy about that though Natalie, it means you can reunite with your folks in hell.” Red Riding Hood says. “We’ll meet you there.” Lauren says. Lauren grabs a glass cylinder of liquid and throws it at Red Riding Hood’s face! The test tube shatters and Red Riding Hood screams in pain. Lauren grabs Red Riding Hood’s gun while she’s distracted and uses it to slam her in the face, knocking her to the ground! Lauren then slams the butt of the gun into the back of her head, knocking her out! “Totally bad ass. Let me try!” Natalie says. Natalie takes the book and throws it at Red Riding Hood. “And take that too!” Natalie tells her. Natalie’s face grows serious. “Yeah, that wasn’t nearly as cool as what Lauren did.” Natalie says. Suddenly, Red Riding Hood evaporates back into the book! “She-she's gone!” Claire observes. “That must be how we get rid of the characters! In order for them to be sent back to their own world, they need to come into contact with the book they came out of!” Natalie realizes. “That's great! Now we have a game plan!” Claire exclaims. “Most of the fairy tale characters are accounted for. The only one we need to track down is Cinderella. I'll give Andy a call and see if he can lend a hand with tracking her down.” Lauren says. “So does Andy mainly do the tech stuff now? How come he doesn't go out into the field as much as he used to?” Natalie wonders. “Andy suffered a knee injury that kinda limited what he could do, so he taught himself all the boring computer stuff.” Claire says. “Got it.” Natalie says. Lauren pulls out her phone and makes the call. “It's me. One of the fairy tale characters is still at large and I was hoping you might be able to track her down.” Lauren says. “If you're talking about Cinderella, I've already found her.” Andy says.

At the underground base beneath the Goo Castle, Cinderella is revealed to be holding a knife to Andy's throat! “You okay? You sound weird.” Lauren points out. Cinderella takes the phone to Andy. “I assume I'm speaking to one of Andy's colleagues? One of the people who have been hunting down all of my friends with the intent to execute them?” Cinderella asks. “I'm not planning to execute anyone. What have you done with Andy?” Lauren asks. “Oh don't worry, Andy is quite safe. After all, why would I ever harm my Prince Charming?” Cinderella asks. “Your what?” Lauren questions. “When I first crossed over into this world, the first thing I did was search for the richest, most charming man in this bizarre city. That is when I discovered my dearest Andy, heir to the Goo family fortune. The two of us are going to be quite happy together, so I’d advise you not to interfere or else I may be forced to hurt poor Andy. We wouldn't want that now, would we? Ciao now.” Cinderella says, before hanging up the phone.

Back in the Knight basement, Lauren turns towards Claire and Natalie. “Cinderella has Andy.” Lauren reveals. “That's not a sentence I ever thought I'd hear. So why did she target him?” Claire wonders. “She wanted a Prince Charming.” Lauren tells them. “And she picked ANDY?! I mean, he's nice and all, but a Prince Charming?” Claire asks. “Let me put it this way. He's the son of a queen and he's rich, Cinderella is probably seeing dollar signs.” Lauren says. “We should get going ASAP, they might still be at the castle.” Claire says. “Yeah, lets go check it out.” Natalie says. “No way you're coming, it's too dangerous!” Lauren says. “I'm the one who created this mess, I should be the one to fix it!” Natalie argues. “I appreciate the accountability even though you don't really need to take any, but I'm not gonna let you endanger your life by going up against some crazed Disney princess!” Lauren says. “I mean, technically this isn't the Disney version of Cinderella…” Claire mumbles. “She's still nuts!” Lauren argues. “I think Natalie will be fine as long as she stays behind us.” Claire says. “But what if I want in on the action?” Natalie asks. “I'm trying to help you, let's not push it!” Claire tells her. “Whatever! We just really need to get going!” Lauren states. Lauren heads towards the door and Claire and Natalie follow her.

Upstairs, Lauren, Claire, and Natalie head towards the front door but Natalie comes to a dead stop. “What's wrong?” Claire asks. Claire turns and notices Natalie staring into the living room at the dead bodies of her parents. “I thought you would've called someone to take care of that!” Claire whispers. “I was too worried about getting to you! What's your excuse?” Lauren quietly questions. Natalie slowly makes her way over to the couch where her parents are and kneels down in front of them. “I-I don't know whether I should be sorry or if I should be angry…maybe both? I'm so sorry for what I did to you both, but at the same time I'm angry that you did this to me. How could you put me through this?! You two were my parents! You're supposed to be the ones protecting me, not the ones I need protection from! Still though…as nuts as it is, I still love you both, and I really, REALLY wish that things could have been different. At the end of the day, I…I just hope you're at peace now, wherever you are…good bye.” Natalie says. Natalie stands up, wipes away tears, and then turns towards Claire and Lauren. “Okay…I'm ready.” Natalie says. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Claire asks. “Yeah, I…I could really use the distraction.” Natalie says, struggling to hold back tears. “Okay, just make sure you fasten your seatbelt. I don't really do the speed limit.” Lauren says. Natalie cracks a smile. “Sounds like fun.” Natalie says. “Trust me, it isn't.” Claire argues. Lauren smiles and rolls her eyes. “Come on.” Lauren says, before walking out the front door, followed by Claire and Natalie.

At the Goo Castle, Andy is tied to a chair in the dining room as Cinderella attempts to use his cell phone. “How on earth do you operate this strange contraption?” Cinderella wonders. “Who are you trying to call?” Andy questions. “I'd like to find someone capable of performing a wedding ceremony.” Cinderella tells him. “Who's getting married?” Andy wonders. “We are, darling! As much fun as our relationship has been thus far, I feel the time has come to make things official. I cannot wait to be Mrs. Andy…hm, on second thought, perhaps you should take my last name. Cinderella Goo just doesn't have a very good ring to it.” Cinderella says. “This wedding is never going to happen! People are coming for me!” Andy tells her. Cinderella pulls the knife back out and positions it at Andy's throat. “Well you best hope those people never surface beloved, because if they do, I would have no qualms about cutting your throat from ear to ear if need be.” Cinderella whispers in his ear. Dylan walks in. “There you are, I need your help finding the last fairytale character. Who's your friend?” Dylan wonders. Cinderella smiles. “Hello, I'm Cinderella! Charmed to meet you!” Cinderella exclaims. “Well this is new. The bad guys don't usually come to us.” Dylan notes. “I'd hardly classify myself as bad, simply a woman searching for love!” Cinderella claims. “Have you tried dating websites?” Dylan wonders. “I have no idea what you're referring to, but I will not settle for just anyone! I want someone with both charm and wealth, not some embarrassing peasant!” Cinderella says. “Andy might have the wealth part down, but charm?” Dylan asks. “Are you really going to insult me at a time like this?” Andy asks. “Don't be upset, this neanderthal is just jealous.” Cinderella says. Lauren, Claire, and Natalie rush in and Lauren immediately points her gun at Cinderella. “Let him go!” Lauren demands. Cinderella continues holding the knife to Andy's throat. “You must be the uneducated dolt I spoke to on the phone earlier. Didn't I warn you of what would happen if you attempted to interfere?” Cinderella asks. Cinderella spots the fairytale book in Natalie's hand. “You get that wretched book away from me at once!” Cinderella demands. “That book isn't going anywhere until you're in it!” Claire says. “Is that your plan? To send me back to that horrible prison? Why on earth would I willingly opt to return to a place where life ceases to be? It would be foolish!” Cinderella shouts. “You don't have much choice. You either put the knife down and go back to the book or I'll do what's easier for me and just shoot you.” Lauren tells her. “Neither option sounds appealing to me.” Cinderella notes. “You gotta pick.” Lauren warns. “I vote for the third option! You are more than welcome to shoot, but not before I slit Prince Charming's throat and drag him to the afterlife with me!” Cinderella says. Cinderella begins cutting into Andy's throat but Natalie chucks the book at her head! The book hits Cinderella and she falls to the floor! “Nice shot!” Claire exclaims. Lauren rushes over to an unconscious Cinderella and watches as she evaporates back into the book. Andy stands up. “Thank you for the excellent timing.” Andy says. “Don't mention it.” Dylan says. “You didn't do anything! So was that the last of them?” Andy wonders. “Not yet, there are still two more.” Natalie says, as she holds up the Christmas book…

At the safehouse, Lauren, Claire, and Natalie walk in and Lauren's eyes widen due to what she sees. Santa and Mrs. Clause are revealed to be cuddling on the sofa watching a Christmas movie. “Oh good, you're back! Please, help yourself to some hot chocolate, make yourself comfortable!” Santa urges. “I…I don't understand. When I left, you two were tossing a bunch of crap at each other.” Lauren recalls. “Your strategy worked GREAT! Nick and I were able to truly unleash our frustrations to the point where it made it easier for us to finally stop and talk things through!” Mrs. Clause says. “I really took the time to listen to the Mrs's issues with me. From now on, I am going to make it a point to get her presents every year! And I am going to make sure to never miss another anniversary again!” Santa says. “For the first time in centuries, I finally recognize the man I fell in love with and it's all thanks to you Lauren!” Mrs. Clause exclaims. “Maybe you do have a future as a therapist after all.” Claire suggests to Lauren. Santa notices the Christmas book in Natalie's hands. “I assume you've come to send us back to our world.” Santa realizes. “Don't fight us on this.” Lauren urges. Santa chuckles. “I wouldn't dream of trying to fight you. I know that I wouldn't be able to exist in this world for very long, it simply isn't feasible. Still though, I am very satisfied with the time I did spend here. It warms my heart to see that good people still exist.” Santa says. “You mean us?” Lauren questions. “Your efforts may have single handedly saved Christmas for this city. Most of those characters were fueled by anger and malice, all they really wanted to do was cause mischief and hurt people. That is no attitude to have, least of all for Christmas. Those characters could have made a lot of people's holiday tomorrow quite bleak indeed, but you, Claire, and your friends made sure that didn't happen.” Santa says. “What we did today really isn't much different than what we do most days.” Claire notes. Santa smiles. “That's why this city is fortunate to have you, its own guardian angels.” Santa says. Santa walks past Lauren and Claire and over to Natalie. “I recognize you from when I first entered this world, I believe you played a role in me coming here.” Santa says. “I am so sorry for any trouble I caused.” Natalie tells him. “No need to apologize my dear. Being Santa Clause, I've been blessed with vast knowledge, which is how I know what happened wasn't your fault. I also can see that you are destined to do some great things in life. Your past may be dark, but your future is bright as can be. You'll see.” Santa says, with a wink. Natalie smiles. “That means a lot coming from you. Honestly though, I'm not even sure where to go from here. My whole life was turned upside down in the span of 24 hours.” Natalie says. “I know its tough, but I'm fairly certain you'll receive some help from some good friends. Well…on that note, I suppose all that is left to say is goodbye! That and Merry Christmas of course, ho ho ho!” Santa says. Santa turns towards Mrs. Clause. “Are you ready to go home, my dear?” Santa asks. “I am. I can't wait for the next chapter of our love story to begin.” Mrs. Clause says. Santa takes Mrs. Clause's hand and then touches the Christmas book, causing them both to vanish. “I'm really going to miss them. Well, with the exception of Mrs. Clause trying to kill Santa.” Claire says. “I guess that means its over. It really was an honor meeting both of you, and I can't thank you enough for all you've done for me. So…uh…yeah, good bye.” Natalie says. Natalie turns to leave. “Hold on.” Claire urges. Natalie stops and turns towards her and Lauren. “You should come back to the castle with us and stay the night. That way you can join us for Christmas dinner tomorrow.” Claire tells her. Natalie's face lights up. “You really wouldn't mind having me?” Natalie asks. “We'd really like you to be there.” Lauren tells her. Natalie smiles.

Christmas Day has arrived and snow is falling outside the Goo Castle. Inside, Claire joins Lauren in the dining room. “Morning babe.” Claire says. “Morning. Where have you been?” Lauren wonders. “Helping Andy out in the kitchen. He's putting the finishing touches on dinner now.” Claire says. “How's he doing after everything that happened yesterday?” Lauren asks. “He's doing okay, other than, you know, the scratch on his neck.” Claire says. “And our house guest?” Lauren asks. “I looked in on her and she's still asleep. She's probably exhausted from everything that happened yesterday…everything that's happened her whole life really.” Claire says. Claire sits next to Lauren and places her hand on hers. “You know…yesterday was a really good reminder of why we do what we do.” Claire says. “What do you mean?” Lauren asks. “Look at everything we did to help Natalie. She has a whole new life to look forward to that she didn't have 48 hours ago!” Claire notes. “First she'll need to find a way to move on from the last 24 hours. She went through a lot so it isn't gonna be easy.” Lauren says. “Well despite everything she's been through, she's strong. Sure its gonna be tough dealing with everything she's been through, but in the end, I think she's gonna be just fine.” Claire says. “I hope so…but while I have you alone for a sec, there's something I wanna give you.” Lauren says. Lauren pulls a wrapped gift out from under the table and hands it to Claire. “What is this? A gun or some kind of other weapon?” Claire asks. Lauren smiles. “It could be used as a weapon, but then again, so can anything. Open it.” Lauren urges. Claire unwraps the gift, opens the box, and finds a pair of glass slippers inside. “Oh my god, they're gorgeous! Did you find a replica pair online or something after I mentioned them yesterday? How did you get them here so fast?” Claire asks. “Actually, Cinderella left them behind when she vanished into thin air, so they are as authentic as they can get. I cleaned them up last night and made some adjustments so they're significantly more comfortable.” Lauren says. Claire smiles. “These are great, thank you.” Claire says. “You’re welcome. Just let me know if you need someone to put them on your feet.” Lauren says. “Well I don’t know where I could find a Prince Charming, but I do know a pretty great Princess Charming that could take care of that for me.” Claire says. “Call me that again and I’ll rip your hair out.” Lauren playfully warns. Claire laughs. “I’m really lucky to have you. You pretend to be this emotionless badass, but I still think you have the biggest heart out of everyone I know. I love you.” Claire says, before leaning in to kiss Lauren. As Lauren and Claire are kissing, Natalie walks in. “Oh…jeez! Sorry, I’ll come back!” Natalie says. “Don’t worry about it. How did you sleep?” Claire wonders. “Better than I have in…ever, actually! Thanks for having me over last night.” Natalie says. “No problem. Oh! Before I forget, I got you a little gift.” Claire says. “You really didn’t have to do that, you and Lauren have already done enough.” Natalie says. “This is something I really wanted to give you though.” Claire says, before pulling out a small wrapped present. “Open it up, see what’s inside.” Claire urges. “I should probably tell you I don’t really wear jewelry…” Natalie says. “Its not jewelry, just open it.” Claire tells her. Natalie unwraps the present and finds a small black box. When Natalie opens the box, she finds a key inside. “What’s this?” Natalie wonders. “A key to the front door of the castle, your new home if you take me up on my offer.” Claire says. “You want me to move in?” Natalie asks. “Lauren and I talked about it last night and we would really like it if you’d come and live with us. Not only that, but we’re gonna enroll you in a public school so you can finally live the life of a normal teenager. That is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Claire asks. Natalie smiles. “It's more than I could ever ask for! Thank you!” Natalie exclaims, before running to give Claire a hug. Claire smiles. “You’re welcome!” Claire tells her. Natalie then runs over to Lauren and hugs her. “Okay, you’re hurting me…” Lauren says. Dylan and Andy walk in. “Well judging by all the happy faces, I’m guessing you must’ve given Natalie the good news.” Andy assumes. “Yeah, we did. Looks like we have a new member of our little family.” Claire says. “Welcome aboard.” Dylan tells Natalie. “I…I really don’t know what to say. This is all just so amazing!” Natalie says. “I know exactly what to say. When do we eat?” Claire questions. “I just finished making the food actually if you’d like to help me bring everything in.” Andy says. “Just tell me what you need me to do and I’ll gladly help.” Natalie says. “Okay, follow me then.” Andy says. Andy walks out and is followed by Natalie and Dylan. Lauren goes to follow as well but Claire grabs her arm. “Hey babe, hold on real fast.” Claire says. Lauren turns towards her. “What’s up?” Lauren asks. “Merry Christmas. And this bears repeating, but I am really lucky to have you.” Claire repeats. “I’m the lucky one. Merry Christmas, babe.” Lauren tells her. Lauren and Claire exit the dining room and the camera pans over to show the snow falling outside the window.