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Lincoln, was the Elf on duty, watching the Naughty and Nice monitors in Santa's Workshop. He was glad that it was so much easier now to watch over everyone since Santa had built the Naughty and Nice computer system. It made it easier to keep track of all the people of the world, so Santa would know whether they deserved their wishes or got coal in the stockings.
There were dozens of monitors showing people around the world. For a normal human, it would be impossible to keep track of all those monitors at the same time, but for an Elf, it was child's play. Elves are the best multitaskers there ever was. Well, next to Santa. They can do so many things all at once. Just like Lincoln was doing right now. As he scanned the monitors, he fully comprehended in seconds what was happening on each one. He merely had to glance at them and he knew what they were showing. Every few seconds he would switch the monitors to show different people and different scenes.
As Lincoln was scanning the next set of monitors, something caught his attention. He sat up quickly and focused in on one of the monitors for another second before slamming his hand down on a large button on the console in front of him. Red lights started going off and several Elves ran into the control room. His friend Rafe was the first to arrive. "What's going on Link?" Lincoln pointed at the monitor he was looking at. The Elf looked at it for a couple of seconds before turning back to Lincoln. "You think we need a team?" Lincoln shook his head. "No Rafe, there's only a handful of them. I can take care of it. Watch the N and N for me while I'm gone." Rafe nodded and sat in the seat in front of the console. He smiled at Lincoln. "Have fun." Lincoln nodded and ran out of the room.
He ran into his small house and changed out of his work uniform because it would draw too much attention to him when he was among regular folks. From his closet, he chose some blue jeans, a red shirt, and a green hoodie. On the hoodie was a picture of Darth Vader holding his hand up and the words; "I find your lack of Christmas Spirit……Disturbing" He grinned at himself in the mirror before touching his finger to the side of his nose and where he had stood a moment before, only multicolored sparkles remained, floating in the air for a few seconds before they faded away.
12-year-old Matt and his 10-year-old sister Amber had been walking for hours. He wasn't sure where they were anymore. He knew that they had been walking north but everything else around them was confusing.
They had been staying in a dumpy motel. It was just like the many similar dumpy motels that they had stayed in over the past several years. The brother and sister had gone to a park nearby so that Amber could play on the playground equipment and were on their way back when they saw an ambulance parked outside their motel room. A few moments later, they saw the paramedics pushing their gurney outside of the room and lifting it into their ambulance. Amber started to run over there, but Matt stopped her and pulled her back behind the dumpster they were hiding behind across the street. He had noticed what Amber hadn't, the sheet had been pulled over their mom's head. Even though he didn't see who was under the sheet. He knew who it was. Matt looked down and shook his head. He knew what had happened. She had OD'd. Now it was his responsibility to take care of his sister. They saw some lady and man standing next to a couple of police officers, talking to the manager of the motel.
He really wasn't sure what to do. From the way they were looking around, he figured they were looking for him and his sister. They waited around for a little while, the police even searched around the motel. Luckily, they were hiding across the street near a liquor store. When they didn't find anything, they eventually left.
He was certain that the man and woman were from Child Services and he had heard stories about brothers and sisters getting split up in foster care and never seeing each other again. He didn't want that to happen to him and his sister. As soon as he everyone left, he waited a little longer and then he led his sister across the street. He walked up to their door and tried to open it. It was locked.
He growled in frustration and pulled his sister around to the back of the motel. He saw the bathroom window was partly open like he hoped. He moved a crate underneath the window and pushed it the rest of the way open and climbed inside. He investigated the room and saw things scattered all over the place. He quickly grabbed his and Amber's backpacks. He made sure he took everything they owned and packed them in the bags.
He then knelt next to the bed his mom had used and reached under the mattress. He felt around for a few moments and when he pulled his hand out, he was holding some folded money. He quickly counted it. Fifty-five dollars. Not much money, but it was all they had for now. He stood back up and went back to the bathroom. Something caught his eye on the floor next to the TV. He bent down and grabbed the old teddy bear. It had been his originally when he was little. He'd had it for as long as he could remember. He had given it to Amber when she was about two years old. Matt opened Amber's backpack and put it inside. He couldn't get it all inside, so he left the bear's head sticking out of the top and zipped it up to hold it in place.
He leaned out the window and dropped the two packs on the crate and Amber moved them off the crate, so they weren't in Matt's way when he climbed out. He helped Amber put her pack on before putting his on. He then took her hand and they started walking away from the motel. He knew they were somewhere in Los Angeles, but the city was so big, that knowledge didn't help him much.
They had been walking for a while now as Matt looked up at the late afternoon sky as they walked away. Even though it was California, it was December, and the winter air, even here in Los Angeles, was getting a bit cool. He knew they had to find a place to stay but didn't know where to go. He heard something from behind them and glanced back. There were three older teens walking there about half a block behind them. He grabbed Amber's hand. "C'mon Amber, we have to walk a little faster." She looked at him and he could see she was tired and probably hungry. "We'll look for a McDonalds and get you a hamburger." She brightened at that and smiled. He glanced behind them once again and saw the teens were a little closer. He started walking faster and he heard the footsteps of the teens speeding up as well.
"Run Amber!" He started to run keeping Amber in front of him. He glanced back and saw the teens catching up. He gave Amber a little push. "Run, I'll catch up." He started to turn to do what he could to stop the teens when he felt someone grab onto his backpack and push him. "Where ya goin kid." The push by the teen caused him to fall to the ground. He tried to break his fall by bracing himself with his hand and knees, but the extra weight from his backpack sent him sprawling.
"Matty!" Matt looked up and saw his sister running back toward him. One of the other teens ran past him and grabbed her. She screamed. The one who had knocked Matt down, reached down and pulled Matt from the ground. He looked at his buddies. "Well, what do we have here?" He let out a mean sounding chuckle which got him laughs from his friends.
He twisted Matt's shirt so that it was almost choking him as he leaned down close to Matt's face. "What do you got, so I don't kick your ass? You got money, maybe some good stuff, in those backpacks that you and your sister are carrying. I think we're gonna search them and take what we want. If you try and stop us, we're going to beat you both down." He then yanked on one of the straps of Matt's backpack off his shoulder and pushed Matt back. He looked at the guy holding Amber. "Search her pack." The guy pulled at the pack, but Amber wouldn't let go. The leader looked at Matt. "Tell her to let go or I'll have Ben slap her around.”
Matt turned to his sister. "Amber, please let him have it." She looked at Matt and stopped struggling against Ben, letting him take the pack. She ran over to Matt as he stood up and grabbed onto him, pressing her face against his chest. He could feel her shuddering and knew she was crying and really scared. He was pretty scared himself. He watched as the one named Ben pulled out the teddy bear and tossed it aside. He gritted his teeth but knew that saying anything could get them both seriously hurt, so he just stood there trying to comfort his sister as he watched them go through everything they owned, tossing each item onto the ground after searching each item. Luckily, unless they stripped him, they wouldn't find the money he had stashed in his underwear.
"Now that's not very nice fellas, in fact, it's pretty naughty." The three teens and Matt looked in the direction of the new voice. They saw a younger teen walk up and stop next to where the teddy bear lay on the ground. He looked like he was about thirteen or fourteen years old, sandy hair and green eyed. He looked like he was just a little older than Matt, but younger than the three teen thugs. He calmly reached down and picked the bear up and looked at it, letting a little smile come to his face. He then brushed it off carefully before turning to the three older teens.
He just looked at the three of them and shook his head. "You should probably put everything back where you found it and give them back their packs. They weren't hurting you and those aren't your things and it's not nice to take someone else's things. That is definitely an act worthy of coal." The three teens looked incredulously at this younger teen.
"Who do you think you are, Runt? You should just move along, before you get hurt." The boy just looked at them and shook his head. "I want to avoid any unpleasantness and thought you might be swayed by calm discussion." The three of them just stared at the young teen in shock. He calmly walked over to Matt and Amber. Amber had turned around but still had her arms around Matt's waist. He smiled at her and held out the bear. "I'm guessing this is yours?" She nodded and reached out to take the bear giving him a tentative smile. "Thank you." She said in a small voice.
"You don't want any unpleasantness? Listen you little punk, you had your chance to walk away." The sandy-haired teen turned to face the three thugs, placing himself between them and the two younger kids. He smiled at them. "You don't have much of the Christmas Spirit, do you. Santa would be very disappointed in you. You were much nicer when you were younger." Behind his back he waved for Matt and Amber to move away.
The leader pulled a knife out of his pocket. "Santa huh? Well, you mess with the bull, you get the horns. You're dead meat!" He rushed the boy. As he got close to the boy, he lunged forward with his knife leading. The boy slapped the knife to the side, grabbed his other wrist, pulled him forward, did a quick flip over his hip and shoulder and the thug went flying several feet away, landing hard on his back. The wind was knocked out of him and he dropped his knife as he lay there gasping for air.
The young teen glanced at the guy on the ground and turned to face the other two. "Now that's the kind of unpleasantness I wanted to avoid. Any chance I can convince you to take your friend and just walk away?" The two looked at their friend on the ground trying to get his breath back, then exchanged glances before apparently coming to a silent agreement and charging the younger teen.
As they neared him, he jumped up in the air and kicked out, hitting the one named Ben in the stomach, stopping him in his tracks and causing him to clutch his stomach and bend over while he coughed. As he came down, he ducked under the other's arms, spun in a low circle and swept his legs out from under him. He then stepped over to Ben and brought his knee up into Ben's face, bloodying his nose. As Ben's head came up, he struck him several times in the body, his fists moving so fast they were almost a blur. He then reached up and grabbed Ben's neck and with a twist of his body and flick of his wrist, flipped Ben through the air and onto the ground where he lay unmoving.
He walked over to the other guy, who was standing up again. The thug approached the younger teen with a wary look now and his fists up at the ready, only now realizing this wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. The boy kept a smile on his face the entire time. The thug lunged forward. The boy ducked, grabbed his arm with both hands, twisted around so that his back was to the bigger teen, he elbowed him hard in the stomach, causing the older teen to grunt, he then stepped back, yanking his arm back and behind him. He kicked the back of the guy's knee, bringing him down to the ground, locked the thug's arm up behind his back, getting a scream out of him as he dislocated his shoulder. He then stepped back and kicked him on the side of the head dropping him to the ground unconscious.
He heard rushing feet behind him and without looking, jumped up in the air and did a spinning kick, catching the leader across the jaw. The thug spun a couple of times and collapsed to the ground. The young teen landed and looked around as he straightened up from his fighting crouch, at the three teens on the ground. He went to each one to check them and he touched each of them on the forehead.
"Thanks, Mister." He turned around to see Amber walking toward him. "You're welcome, Amber. I'm glad I could help." He looked around. "I guess we should get your stuff put away." He stood up from where he was crouching down and picked up Amber's backpack. He helped her put everything back inside.
When they finished Matt was putting his pack on after picking up all his stuff. "Thanks for helping us. I'm Matt and this is my sister Amber." He shook hands with Matt. "I'm Lincoln. You can call me Link." He looked around again. "We should probably get away from here. There may be more like these three." Matt nodded, and they started walking. "I know a place we can go." Matt looked at him and agreed. "What about McDonald's Matty? You said you'd get me a hamburger." He looked at his sister and then Lincoln who smiled and nodded. "Okay, Amber, McDonald's it is. I know where the nearest one is." She grinned. "Yay!”
A few minutes later, they were in the bright lights of Hollywood Boulevard. Link led them to McDonald's next to Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. They all ordered Big Mac combo meals and sat down. After he had taken a few bites, Matt laughed and pointed at Lincoln's hoodie. "I like your hoodie." Lincoln looked down and then looked at Matt a big smile on his face. "Yeah, I'm kinda partial too it myself.”
When they finished, Lincoln led them outside. "C'mon I'll take you to a safe place." He led them across the street and then west on Hollywood Boulevard. The two younger kids looked down at the stars on the Walk of Fame. They passed the Hollywood and Highland Center where the Dolby theater was and then Grauman's Chinese Theater. They kept going until there were no more stars on the sidewalk and Link kept walking. Matt wanted to ask him where they were going but he held back. They walked about half a mile farther down the street before Lincoln said anything. "Here we go." He was pointing at a church named St Thomas the Apostle.
He led them to the side of the church and went in the side door. Lincoln peaked in and saw a man inside going from pew to pew straightening up the books in the pews. Link smiled. "Reverend Mackey?" The man turned around with a smile. "Yes. How may I help you, young man?" The man started walking toward him. "Good evening Reverend. I wonder if you could help us?" Link motioned for Matt and Amber to come in.
"Reverend Mackey, I need to get some help for my friends here. They've had a pretty bad day and need a safe place tonight." The man got a worried look. "Where is their family?" Link glanced at the siblings and shook his head. The reverend looked at the two youngsters. "We should call the authorities. They can help them better than I can." Lincoln shook his head. "It would be best if you can let them stay here tonight. It's getting late and I think we can find a better solution tomorrow." The man met Lincoln's eyes and was held by his gaze for a few moments. While looking into the teen's eyes he got a warm feeling inside. A smile came to his face and he nodded. "I think we can arrange something in the rectory." Lincoln's smile made the man's smile even bigger. "Thank you, Reverend."
The man nodded and turned to face the two kids. "Hi. You can call me Walter." He looked them up and down. "You look like you could use a bit of a wash-up. Why don't you come with me and we'll see what we can do about that." Matt looked at Lincoln who smiled and nodded. "Can Link come too?" Walter glanced over his shoulder and when he turned back to face them, he nodded. "Of course, he can." Matt smiled. Walter led them out the door, across the small courtyard and over to the rectory. He led them inside. "It's just me here tonight. Reverend Davis and Callan had family emergencies. So, they are out of town. Which worries me a little since it is almost Christmas. Reverend Standish, is at home with his family. He'll be here tomorrow to celebrate Mass, so it's just us tonight." He looked at the two kids. "I'll show you the bathroom so you can wash up. I'm sure you'll feel much better after getting a chance to clean up. When you get out, I'll have some hot cocoa for you, okay?" They nodded and followed him to the bathroom. Matt led Amber inside and closed the door.
Walter went back to the kitchen and started making the hot chocolate. While he worked on it, he glanced at Lincoln who was sitting at the kitchen table. "I don't know what it is, but I feel like I should know you, young man." Lincoln smiled. "I get that a lot. I must have one of those faces." Walter shrugged and finished making the chocolate. He placed a cup in front of Lincoln, held up a bag of small marshmallows and Link nodded. He dropped a few into Link's cup and sat down across from him with his own cup.
He nodded toward the bathroom where they could hear the shower running. "What can you tell me about those two?" Lincoln took a sip and sighed in delight before speaking. "They've had a pretty bad day. Their mom died of an overdose earlier today and then a group of older teens tried to take all their stuff and probably beat them up. I stopped them and thought of this place as a safe place for them tonight.”
"So, what am I supposed to do with them?" Lincoln took another sip. "You know this is some of the best cocoa that I've had." Walter nodded, accepting the compliment. "You should take them to mass in the morning. After that, I'm sure we'll figure something out."
"Okay, I guess that will be okay." They sat there silently sipping their drinks. They heard the water in the bathroom shut off and a few minutes later the siblings came out of the bathroom, looking clean and shiny. Walter got up and made two more cups of chocolate. He put some small marshmallows in the drinks and placed the cups in front of each of them before returning to his seat. "Feel better?" They both nodded. "I forgot to ask you but what are your names?"
"I'm Matt and this is my sister Amber." Walter smiled. "Well, I am happy to make your acquaintance. How is the cocoa?" They both smiled and nodded. "Real good, thank you."
"I've been thinking and I'm going to let you two use my bed tonight. I'll take the couch." Matt shook his head. "No, sir. We can't take your bed. We'll be just fine on the couch. We've slept on worse." Walter shook his head. "Don't worry about that. I think you need a real good night's rest and the bed has plenty of room for both of you. I've fallen asleep many times on the couch. I'll be just fine." He saw Matt start to say something, but he held his hand up to stop him from saying anything more about it. "No, I insist. You need it more than I do." Matt reluctantly nodded in agreement.
Once everyone was finished with their drinks, Walter rinsed them out and placed them in the sink. Walter then led them to his bedroom. At the door, Amber looked at Lincoln. "Where are you going to sleep Link?" He shook his head. "I have something I need to go and check on first, but I'll be back by the morning and go to church with you. Is that okay?" She thought about it for a few moments and then nodded. She stepped forward and hugged him. Matt hesitated before stepping up to hug him as well. "Thank you for saving us Link." Lincoln patted his back. "You're both worth saving, so it was my pleasure to do so." They thanked Walter and closed the door.
Walter and Lincoln went back into the living room. "You said you need to go check on something?" Lincoln nodded. "You should stay here tonight. It's getting cold at night and I don't think that hoodie your wearing is going to be warm enough. I can take that chair, I've nodded off a few times when sitting there. You can have the couch if you want." Lincoln shook his head. "I'll be alright. I really do have to check on something tonight, but I'll be back in the morning in time for mass." Walter looked at him once again and nodded. He stepped up and shook hands with Lincoln. "You're a good kid Link. I wish there were more like you." Lincoln smiled. "I try. I'll see you in the morning Walter." Walter walked with him at the door. "Be careful out there and take care of yourself." Lincoln nodded and turned away, headed toward the street. Walter watched him walk away for a few moments and then raised his hand in a benediction as he whispered. "God watch over you, my son." Lincoln smiled and as soon as the door closed, he laid a finger alongside his nose and disappeared, leaving multicolored sparkles behind.
He appeared back at his home and changed into his uniform. He still had his shift to finish. Rafe got up from the chair and gave Lincoln a hug. When they separated, he pointed at the monitors. "You put on a good show. I saw you left your mark on them." Link nodded. "Yeah, maybe they'll change their ways. For the rest of the month, anytime they think about doing something bad, they'll feel a little queasy and if they actually do anything naughty, they'll be sick to their stomach. It worked for Pavlov's Dog, maybe it will work for them." Rafe laughed. "That could be entertaining. I'll have to keep an eye on them when I'm on duty." Link nodded. "Thanks for covering." Rafe nodded and left the room. Lincoln took his seat in front of the N and N system and went back to watching the monitors.
The knocking of the bedroom door woke Matt and Amber. Matt got up and went to the door. He opened it a crack and saw Walter standing there with a smile on his face. "Good morning Matt. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes if you want to get washed up. I've plenty of eggs, bacon, hash browns, buttered toast. You and your sister can get cleaned up and come to the kitchen." Matt grinned. "Thank you, sir." Walter turned away as Matt closed the door. He went to the bed and gently shook Amber awake. She yawned and opened her eyes. She smiled when she saw it was Matt. "Morning Matty. I slept really good." Matt smiled. "Me too. Time to get up, Walter is getting breakfast ready." She started to smile but it turned into a yawn and stretch. "Okay."
They cleaned up, got dressed and went to the kitchen where Walter was just finishing up with setting the table. He smiled at them. "Would you like milk or OJ." Amber gave him a smile. "Milk please." He nodded and looked at Matt. "Same for me please." Walter smiled and got a gallon of milk out of the refrigerator to fill their glasses. He put the jug back, grabbed his cup of coffee and sat down. He bowed his head. "Bless O Father, Thy gifts to our use and us to Thy service, for Christ's sake. Amen." He smiled at the two. "Please eat." The siblings gladly dug in. They smiled at each other as they ate. When they were finished, Matt took their plates to the sink and rinsed them out. He walked back to the table and took Walters plate too.
There was a knock at the door. Walter got up and opened it to see Lincoln standing on the other side, he was dressed the same way as he had been last night. "Lincoln, please come in." He turned to the kitchen. "Look who's here." Both kids grinned when they saw the teen. Amber jumped down and ran over to hug him around the waist. "Hi guys.”
"If you'll excuse me, I have to go get ready for masse with Reverent Standish. Will you be joining us?" Lincoln nodded. "Sure, we'll be there." Walter nodded and went out the door as Lincoln led them to the couch in the living room. "So how did you sleep?" They both started talking at once about how good a night's sleep they had and the good breakfast as well. "But where did you go last night?" He gave Amber a hug. "I just had something to take care of, but I'm back just like I told you.”
"Um… How did you learn to do what you did yesterday? The Ninja stuff." Link smiled. "Oh, I've been studying that for a long, long time." Matt nodded. "Yeah, I guess it takes a long time to get that good." Link looked at them. "We should get going?" Matt nodded and held his hand out for Amber. "We'll go get our stuff."
"No, no. That's not what I meant. You don't need your stuff right now. It's time for church." Matt stopped. "Church? We've never been.”
"Then this will be nice for you. C'mon." He led them out the door and next door to the church. He found them a place to sit in the front pew. People were filing in and taking their seats. Matt and Amber kept looking around the church. It wasn't very big like some churches they had seen on TV, more like it was just nice and cozy. Soon they saw Walter and another man come up to the front wearing different robes of some kind. The man they didn't know stepped up and began the service. The two siblings felt a little overwhelmed by it all, because they couldn't remember ever having been in church before. But they found that a feeling of peace settled over them as they listened to the prayers and hymns. There was just something about it all that made them feel good.
When it was over, Walter came over to them with the other man. "Hello children, I want you to meet Reverend Standish." The Reverend shook their hands. "I very glad to meet you. Walter has told me a little about you. Please come along to the hall. We're going to join in fellowship with other members of the church." They guided them to the building next door. As they walked to the building, they greeted the people and shook hands. Inside the building was a small hall. There was a table with drinks, cookies, and donuts at one end of the hall. Many of the people who had been in church were in the hall or the small courtyard between the hall and the church. They were in small groups, visiting with each other.
In one of those groups, a man and wife were standing talking to a couple that were friends of theirs. The man suddenly froze with his cup partway to his lips and stared after the small group following behind the Reverends. "Kevin, what's wrong?" The man glanced at his wife and smiled. "Nothing Dear. I just thought I saw someone I knew. Please excuse me, I want to ask Reverend Standish a question." They nodded, and Kevin walked inside to the hall. He looked around and saw the group he sought near the food table. He stopped for a few moments and watched as the two boys and the girl were given foam cups of hot chocolate.
He felt his eyes get a little watery and quickly wiped them with his hand and swallowed a couple of times. He walked over to the group. Reverend Standish noticed him and smiled. "Good Morning Kevin." He looked behind Kevin. "Where is Dana?" Kevin waved behind him. "She's outside visiting with friends." Standish looked at Kevin's cup. "Come for a refill?" Kevin looked down at his cup. "Oh, um…sure. That sounds good." Standish reached for his cup and refilled it. He held it out, but Kevin was looking at the younger boy and girl who were sipping hot chocolate and talking to the teen and Reverend Mackey.
"Kevin?" Kevin gave a little start and turned to Reverend Standish who was holding out his now refilled cup. "Oh, uh, sorry. Thank you Reverend." Standish followed his gaze. "Ah our guests. It's a sad thing. The two younger ones a brother and sister were found wandering the streets by the teenager, Lincoln and he brought them here last night for safety. C'mon, I'll introduce you. I had planned on calling you anyway." He gave Kevin a serious look and Kevin nodded.
Standish led Kevin over to the small group. Walter noticed them walking over and smiled. "Hi Kevin. So nice to see you." They shook hands. "Walter, I thought I'd bring Kevin over to meet our guests." The three kids turned around. Walter nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." He placed his hand on Lincoln's shoulder. "This is Lincoln. He's a friend of our two here. The young lady's name is Amber." When he heard that name, he had to school his expression as he looked at the strawberry blond young girl. "And this is her big brother Matt."
Kevin looked at the boy with the chestnut colored hair and felt his breath hitch for a moment. He swallowed it down as he held his hand out to shake. Lincoln gave him a big grin as they shook hands. "Very nice to meet you, sir. " He held onto Kevin's hand for a moment and Kevin felt a calming effect settle over him. "You as well Lincoln." He got a quick, shy, shake from the little girl, and gave her a tender smile. "It is very nice to meet you as well princess." She giggled. Turning to Matt, when he took his hand to shake, Kevin was sure he felt a tiny jolt. He looked into the boy's eyes which now had a curious look to them, like he was trying to remember something. Kevin had to swallow a couple of times. "Hey buddy. How are you?"
When Kevin said that Matthew's eyes shot open as if he suddenly remembered something important. His eyes started an intense study of Kevin's face. He would lean his head from side to side as he looked at Kevin's face from each side and then looked him up and down. He held onto Kevin's hand the entire time. The two of them seemed to be in their own world, everything outside of them seemed to be gone. Matt looked at Kevin's hair and put his cup down on the nearby table as he brought his hand up to his head gently pulled a lock of his own hair forward, so he could glance at it and confirm something before he looked back at Kevin. He then looked at Amber and then back into Kevin's eyes. Matt's eyes began to tear up and he started looking around feeling a little bit of panic. His gaze was caught and held by Lincoln. Lincoln smiled at him and gave him a slight nod. Matt turned back to face Kevin, just as Kevin dropped to his knees. "Daddy?" Kevin gave him a nod and pulled him toward him into a powerful hug. "Oh my God! Matty. Oh Matty. Oh Matty." Both were crying now as they hugged. "Matty what's wrong. Why are you crying?" Matt glanced back at Amber and held his arm out. "This is our Daddy Amber. Mom was wrong all this time. He's alive." She looked at the man who was holding tightly to her brother, not sure what to do, until Kevin looked at her and held an arm out. She immediately rushed to him and grabbed onto him. He gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Amber. My little girl. My princess. You're here. Both of you are here and safe. I finally found you. After all these years. I found you. I've been searching for you for years, ever since your mom ran away with you. I've missed so much. I swear Matty, I never stopped searching for you." He pulled them both into a tight hug. The three of them crying happy tears.
Their reunion had caught everyone's attention. Those who were closest to them had heard what they had said to each other and they relayed it to the others. Many tears were flowing in the hall, and then people started clapping. "Kevin? What's going on?" Kevin turned his head to look at Dana and smiled. "Dana. Honey. Look. It's Matty and Amber."She had a moment of confusion before realization hit her. "Oh my God!" She dropped her cup of coffee and her purse as she rushed over to them and knelt to join the hug. "Is it true? It's really them?" He nodded his head. "Yes. It's miracle." The four of them held on tight to each other. They were oblivious to the excited chatter in the room and the huge smiles on everyone's faces. Lincoln slowly backed away from the group and left the building. He entered the church and faced the front giving the picture behind the altar a little nod, before putting a finger to the side of his nose and left his multicolored sparkles behind.
Lincoln sat at the N and N monitors. As he changed the monitors, he kept one of them on one group of people sitting around a Christmas tree. He smiled as he watched the new family enjoying the best Christmas morning they could have. A large hand landed gently on his shoulder. "Well done Lincoln. Well done." The hand gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze and then left. He glanced over his shoulder. "Thanks, Santa." He turned back to the monitors and continued his watch.
This short story is dedicated to my nephew Lincoln. While I was writing a note to him that I was mailing with his card and gift, the idea for this story came to me and I felt I had to write it. He is a very sweet boy and I hope he will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.