Xaviers!

"She doesn't look like she eats that much," Kat says skeptically.

"She's got a weird metabolism. Makes some people jealous," Sam chuckles nervously.

"Don't worry, aye? There'll be plenty for everyone."

"I try to let Sam do the worrying. She has practice," Tereza teases.

"Hey now, I don't worry that much."

"I like to think my worrying is proportional to the problem."

"Uh huh," Tereza says with a chuckle, giving Sam a sideways hug.

It was a relatively short but winding drive back from Dublin, but one that quickly went from urban to rural. It was cold, but it didn't look like this area got much snow, the rolling fields gone wintery brown but otherwise bare. At some point they passed over an old stone bridge that crossed a modest river.

As they pull into the concrete driveway of a townhome, there's a momentary glint from the windows, followed by a flurry of activity inside. Soon, the lights turn on.

"Hopefully he got his man," Tereza says as she gets out of the car.

"Knowing Dad, he probably sat there in the dark the whole time," Sam says as she gets out.

"Possibly with dramatic, whispered self-narration."

"Nothing wrong with dramatic narration every once in a while."

Opening the door, a man with salt and pepper brown hair and a grey mustache beams at the four walking up. He's wearing a sweater that could charitably be described as 'seasonally appropriate.'

"Ah, girls! I see you made good time!"

"Aye, most of the traffic was going the other way."

"Dad, this is Tereza," Sam says with a nervous smile, gesturing.

"Hello, Mr. McManus," Tereza says, giving a small wave. "Good to meet you."

"Ah, you've got your old man's eye, Sam. Your mum was a bit of a hellion when I met her," he smirks mischievously.

"Geoffrey, I don't think that..."

"Dad, she's not...

"A hellion all the time, Mr. McManus," Tereza says, finishing Sam's sentence with a smirk of her own.

"Sam's mum used to own a Vespa, and she'd go zipping around the town on it. As small a town as this is, I think it was about all the excitement they could handle. Caught my eye, though."

"He's making it sound a lot more daring than it actually was."

"A Vespa?" Tereza was grinning. "I actually have a motorcycle I'm working on rebuilding. It's... well, I'm still getting it figured out."

"Which pretty much means it hasn't come out of the garage yet," Sam chuckles, recovering.

"So did you catch McGillicuddy in the act?" Sam's mother asks, deflecting.

"No I did not!" He grumbles with frustration. "It was like he knew! He knew I was watching!"

"Dad, he's not a supervillain."

"He might as well be!"

"It's possible he saw how many people left and made an educated guess." She quickly adds, "That, of course, presumes malice." Today the dog walking, tomorrow the death ray?

"My dear, you'd presume malice too if you could see and smell what this dog leaves in our yard. It's nigh-supernatural."

"He's exaggerating."

"Kat's on my side! She won't go near the stuff!"

"...does that honestly surprise you, Dad?"

Kat shrugs helplessly.

Sam can hear the wheels starting to turn in Tereza's head, but outwardly she shrugs as well, "Sounds like a tough situation."

"Maybe we should all get inside, aye?"

Tereza nods, "Sounds like a plan."

*** Later ***

Now at least partially settled in, Tereza stands in front of the Christmas tree cradling a hot drink. While she doesn't feel the cold, it doesn't mean she can't appreciate it being nice to have something warm. She sips thoughtfully at it, studying the tree and the room around it.

The most striking thing about Sam's parents' place so far has been that it isn't striking. It's incredibly ordinary, almost to the point of cliche. By the banister, Tereza had seen a series of lovingly maintained height marks with names and dates for Sam and Kat at various ages. Upstairs in Sam's room were a pair of tap shoes atop her dresser, and down in the living room Tereza has spotted more than a few photos of Sam in dance outfits, though Sam hastily steered her away from the younger ones in embarrassment.

The tree is a natural one, the scent of pine wafting warmly to her nostrils, though it's somewhat hard to see needles poking out. The tree is heavily decorated with many of the ornaments showing a year painted on them. Quite a few are older than Sam or Kat, but there's a good dozen with Kat's name on them, and a few more than that for Sam.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Sam says, making her way in with a mug of hot cider.

"It's... nice," Tereza says, "Normal, you know. I only sort of remember having home and family and even that has a badly colored lens on it now."

"So I take it that means you're not really going to beat up our neighbor's dog?" She says with a faint smirk as she sits down next to Tereza.

"Well, he is on 'my' territory," she whispers with a slight grin of her own.

"He's a corgi, Tereza. It's not really a contest."

"It's always a contest, or so she's telling me," Tereza grins, "But rest assured he's safe."

"I'll be honest, only having to worry about a corgi taking a poo in the yard is kind of refreshing after that semester we had."

"Yeah, it is," she says, leaning her head against Sam's. "Your family's cool."

"Even my sister? Honestly, she only caught the snark bug lately."

"There's nothing wrong with being snarky. It happens. And I can give as good as I get."

"I guess I just wanted everything to be perfect for you, but you're right that it isn't seriously bad."

“Nothing’s ever perfect. But this is really really good,” she says as she kisses Sam’s forehead.

"You've got to figure everyone deserves at least one good Christmas, just so they have a benchmark," Sam chuckles softly.

"Well, this is my first really good one. Thank you."

"So you won't be too embarrassed if mum wants us to hang up stockings?"

"If that's what she wants to do, we'll do it." Tereza's wolf seems largely at rest. She's not terribly fidgety either.

"You have to look properly surprised by what's in yours. She won't admit to filling them."

"I'll do my best," she says with a chuckle.