"Alpha Team, Beta Team, any luck finding our gophers?" Thorp calls out on his COM to be updated on the status as they head towards the door with Jason and Gertrude. But he freezes when all he hears is dead air. "Alpha, Beta, come back." He frowns and turns towards Scrooge, "Just how dangerous is this asshole?"

Scrooge grew worried but didn't show it, "There's no way he took out the entire Extraction Team."

"Anybody, answer me, g**damn it!" Thorp shouts into the radio.

Suddenly, a voice erupts through the speakers...

"Here comes Santa Claus."

"Son of a bitch!" Scrooge grits his teeth. He turns towards his team, "Krampus, you stay here with the other hostages, don't take your eyes off them for one second and kill anybody who shows up. Candy Cane, Gingerbread...there's no way the Doc is with that guy while he took down the team, she's gotta be close though. Find that bitch and find that little brat of a sister....now. We're going to get the money." He states and shoves Jason to go ahead to lead them all towards the money.

Santa pants and tosses the bad guy's walkie-talkie away and holds on to his own, "Noelle, Trudy, I'm heading inside. I'm gonna get your family out."

Noelle smiles, "I knew you had it in you. Welcome back, Nikomund."

"The new and improved Nikomund." Santa grins. "You know, it's really sexy when you call me that." He chuckles.

Noelle rolls her eyes at the walkie-talkie, "If you don't get your ass killed, you'll be hearing me say that very often." Her voice drops to a whisper, "Especially when we're alone."

Santa chuckles with a knowing smile, "Ho, ho, ho."

Candy Cane and Gingerbread searched upstairs for Noelle and Trudy, but every room was empty. Candy Cane realizes they haven't checked one place...the attic. When they reached the ladder that led up there, the see a welcome mat laid out on the floor in front of the ladder...and it was covered with screws, nails, razor blades.

Gingerbread scoffs, "Look at this little idiot."

Noelle and Trudy both gasp and turns fast at the sound of voices. It sounded like they were right below them, by the attic entrance. Trudy clicks on the walkie-talkie.

"Oh, no."

Santa freezes he steps as he hears the terror in that little girl's voice, "What?"

Noelle takes the walkie-talkie, "Nick...they found us." She whispers. "The bad guys are right outside the attic ladder." She trembles.

Panting in fear for Noelle and Trudy, "Okay." He takes off running as fast as he could, "I'm coming. Hide, now!"

Noelle grabs Trudy and rushes to find a hiding spot for the two of them. They jump and dodge the traps they had laid out for the bad guys. She rushes towards a corner and slides down with Trudy, hiding in the shadows with her as they listen.

Gingerbread easily walks over the spiked welcome mat and exams the ladder, spying the very large nail stuck in one of the steps.

He scoffs and calls out, "You know, booby traps don't work unless you hide them." He taunts and looks up the attic, completely missing the very large crack in the ladder step under him. "You little moron." He stomps up the ladder step and slams his foot in the crack. It breaks under him and makes him fall and land right on the spiked nail. Gingerbread yells in pain as he feels the nail stab through his chin and into his mouth.

Candy Cane grimaces, "Jesus! Shit!" She yells.

Trudy covers her mouth and giggles, happy that it worked. Noelle hushes her and holds her tight. She looks around and sees an old trampoline that Gertrude use to use for exercising. An idea came to her head as she also spies the bowling balls.

"Come on!" She whispers and the two of them begin to quickly set up an extra booby trap.

Trudy sets up the trampoline as Noelle gets the bowling balls ready. With Gingerbread wounded, Candy Cane made it her mission to take down the brat herself.

"You'll be...(gag)...you'll be fine." Candy Cane dry heaves as she walks over Gingerbread to climb the stairs. "Sit tight. I'll be right back." Gingerbread yells as she climbs over him, stepping on his hand in the process. "Right after I kill this little piece of shit!" She growls.

Trudy and Noelle hides behind a trunk and watches Candy Cane pop up from the entrance, "You little brat." She scans the attic then spies them both. "Oh, you little bitch. Your big, fat, boyfriend can't save you now."

"Go!" Noelle urges Trudy to run and they both rush away.

Gingerbread grunts and groans, struggling to free himself. With a painful grunt, he yanks himself out of the nail's grip and whimpers as he clutches the bleeding wound, feeling blood fill his mouth.

Noelle yanks a cord as they run, setting off the bowling balls to roll off the shelf, bouncing off the trampoline, and slam into Candy Cane. She dodges the first one and it rolls out the attic, slamming into Gingerbread's face instead, making him fall backwards and land on the mat. He screams and yells as his ass was impaled on the spiked mat. The second ball slams into Candy Cane's leg, forcing her to fall to the floor. Third rams right into her face, breaking her nose. Gingerbread was yelling and grunts as he manages to free himself from the spikes. He gets to his feet and whimpers when he feels a very large nail stuck in his ass. He pulls it out and blood pours out from the wound. He lifts it up, amazed that something that big was in his ass.

Fourth and fifth bowling ball slams into Candy Cane's body, hurting her over and over. She growls and struggles to get up. She yelps in pain as one of the balls ram right between her legs. "You're dead! You're so fucking dead!" She yells and shoves one of the balls away from her, sending it flying out the attic. Gingerbread was busy examine the nail, but his eyes widen as he watches the ball come flying at him and slams into his face. Impaling the nail deep in his head, killing him on impact. His body falls backwards with a loud thud, right back on the spiked mat.

"Fucking piece of shits!" Candy Cane growls as she wipes her blood nose and chases after Trudy and Noelle. She freezes as she comes across a cord. She scoffs and looks around and sees Trudy and Noelle. "You little..." She walks over it, but grunts when her feet were stuck. She frowns and looks around her. They panted super glue all over the floor. Candy Cane yanks her feet but she couldn't get free.

Trudy yanks two cords to send cinderblocks flying at her, but she catches them with ease. With her knife, she cuts the ropes and tosses the blocks away. Noelle picks Trudy up and places her on a punching bag.

"Bomb's away!" Trudy yells as she swings and slams into Candy Cane, sending her to the glued floor. Since her feet were stuck, she could only fall back in an arched position. Noelle catches Trudy and helps her off the bag.

Candy Cane grunts and yells as she struggles to get out. With a furious thrust, she rips her hair off to get out of the glue trap and back to standing. She yelps in pain as she touches the back of her head. She ripped her hair off alright...and her flesh and muscle till she could feel her skull! She screams, "Son of a fucking...!"

Trudy chuckles and takes off running with Noelle, this was fun for her, but Noelle was getting worried with how much they were pissing off Candy Cane. Trudy didn't know how dangerous this woman was, but Noelle sure did.

Growling in frustration, Candy Cane unzips her boots and jumps over the glue trap, but yelps as she hears glass breaking under feet. They had ornaments and lights waiting for her. Panting in pain, she finally finds them both hiding in a corner.

"Got you now, bitches!" Candy Cane growls.

Noelle had Trudy in her lap as they held on to a giant sling shot made from a large rubber rope that was another exercise equipment.

"Yeah?" Trudy smirks.

"Heads up!" They say and Trudy lets go to send a ball at Candy Cane, but she smacks it away. Next, they used a tennis ball.

"That's all you got? You fucking...!" Candy Cane growls and grunts in pain as a dumbbell comes flying into her face.

She growls and grabs her gun, pointing it at them both. "Enough of this shit!" She spits out a mouthful of blood.

Noelle gasps and grabs Trudy, covering her body with her own to shield her, "Close your eyes." She gasps and whimpers as she waits for the gun to go off.

Suddenly, Candy Cane is thrown back by a sledgehammer. She yells in pain and grunts as she flys backwards, away from the girls. Panting heavily, Santa stood before them, relieved that he made it in time.

Noelle looks up with Trudy and sighs in relief. She was so happy to see him, safe and sound. Trudy slowly moves out of Noelle's grip as she stares at Santa in wonder. Finally, she was meeting the real Santa in person and it was better than she ever imagined. Santa turns to face them both, slowly dropping his hammer as he grins.

"Santa!" Trudy rushes to him and jumps into his arms.

Santa sighs and catches the little girl, holding her tight in relief. He turns and sees Noelle as she moves under the slingshot. He slowly places Trudy down and moves towards her. Noelle moves and hugs him tight and he happily takes her in his arms. He sighs as he buries his face in her hair and holds on to her tight.

"Are you two all right?" He asks.

Noelle sighs and scoffs, "We're hanging in there." She pulls away.

Santa grins and moves away to cup her face with a hand, "I see you've been busy." He chuckles and turns towards Trudy, kneeling in front of her. "Hi, Trudy."

Trudy was smiling so big, "Hi. We made booby traps like in the movie! It was so funny!" She says excitedly.

Santa chuckles, "Ho, ho, ho."

"Wait..." Trudy frowns and reaches up to push his hair out of his face and gets a better look at him, "Nick!" She exclaims in surprise with a smile. "I knew it! I knew you were Santa!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 15
Meet the Parents day

"I'm gonna be sick." Nick groans as he stands in front of Noelle's parents' house, his face becoming green. His heart was beating like a drum as Noelle holds his hand and stands next to him with a supporting smile.

"Calm down, you big baby. There's nothing to worry about. I told them all about you and they're excited to meet you." She says.

"Now, I'm really gonna be sick. I never done this before. Meet the parents, you know." He mutters.

Noelle frowns, "Not even to your past girlfriends?" She asks.

"Uhh, they were more rebellious than you are. I was into bad girls. Uh, it was a phase. Got hurt too much. Now, I'm into beautiful, sexy women, like you." He grins and pulls her against him, kissing her neck and making her squeal in laughter.

Suddenly, the door opens and they both scramble out of each other's arms with a blush as Jason opens the door. He opened his mouth to welcome them, but freezes and chuckles as he catches them in the act, "And a father shouldn't see that, yeah. I'm gonna wash my eyes out after tonight."

Noelle giggles, "Sorry, Daddy." She walks in and hugs her father tight.

"How's my princess?" Jason hugs her back and kisses her head. He lets her go and faces Nick, "You must be Nick Claude. Heard a lot about you." He shakes his hand.

"Nice to meet you, sir. I'm sorry you had to see all that." Nick mutters embarrassingly.

"I have a feeling its not gonna be the last time I'll see that, but I'm happy seeing my daughter smiling. Just don't hurt her, I don't want to beat you up." Jason chuckles, but he was serious. Even though Nick was bigger than him, he'll fight for his daughter's happiness.

Nick chuckles with smack of his lips, "Yeah." He walks inside and looks around the big house. "Wow, this place is amazing." He walks around the living room, seeing several photos hanging on the wall and perched on top of the fireplace lintel.

"Hey, Dad? Where's Trudy and Linda?" Noelle asks as she sets her bag down.

Jason's face changes to an uncomfortable look, but he puts on a brave face for Noelle, "Linda's bringing Trudy over right now. She should be here in a few minutes."

Noelle sighs and moves towards the kitchen, seeing that he was cooking dinner, "Mm, is this Linda's mom's lasagna?" She asks as she opens the oven and sees a casserole dish filled with noodles, sauce and cheese and garlic bread was cooking next to it. She sniffs the air in bliss. Nick moves and sits in the living room, giving them space to talk.

"Yeah, I, uh, called her mom and asked for the recipe. Wanted to do something nice for the occasion. After getting yelled at, she managed to give them the recipe." Jason sighs out as he walks into the kitchen to chat with her.

Noelle gives her father a sympathetic look and moves towards him, "Did Linda move out?" When she notices a few things were missing from the house. Things that belonged to Linda and Trudy.

Jason sighs heavily and nods, "Three weeks ago. She's staying at her sister's until we figure something out."

"You're not getting divorced, are you?" Noelle asks with worry.

"Oh! No, no, no, no, princess. Divorce isn't in the cards. Don't worry about that." He shakes his head and places his hands on her shoulders, "Enough about me. Tell me about you. How's your job going at the hospital?"

Noelle rolls her eyes, "You can't make me drop the subject that easily, but things are getting tough. It's Dr. Goldman again. He's been harassing some of the nurses and I can't do anything about it because he's got the board on his side."

Jason sighs, feeing bad for his daughter. He knows how hard it's been with her working under that perverted doctor. He was tempted to contact his mother about him, but Linda would kill him. He moves and hugs her tight, rubbing her back.

"I'm sorry, Princess."

Suddenly, the door opens and Trudy rushes inside, running into the living room but she skids a halt when she sees Nick.

"Hi." Nick waves awkwardly.

"Stranger danger! Stranger danger!" Trudy yells, startling Nick.

Noelle rushes out of the kitchen, "Rugrat!"

"Noelle!" Trudy exclaims happily and rushes to her arms.

Linda walks in and chuckles, but frowns as she sees Nick, standing like a deer in headlights, "Hi, Noelle." She says and walks towards her to hug her when Trudy was out of her arms. "Who's this?"

"Trudy, Linda, this is my boyfriend, Nick Claude. Nick, this is my beautiful stepmother, Linda and this little love-bug is my most favorite person in the whole wide world." Noelle coos as she hugs Trudy, giving her tickles and making her laugh, "My baby sister, Trudy."

Linda smiles in welcome, "Nice to meet you, Nick. We heard so much about you. I apologize for being so late. Traffic is a nightmare out there."

Nick chuckles in understanding, "Ho, ho, ho, no need to apologize, Mrs. Lightstone. It's completely understandable. And it's very nice to meet you. And nice to meet you as well, Trudy. I'm sorry for scaring you. I know I must look pretty scary." He looks down at Trudy.

"Are you Santa Claus?" She suddenly asks, studying his features. He didn't have a gray beard, which was trimmed and colored. No glasses. But his jolly attitude and his chuckling gave himself away. A child always knows who Santa is. His face drops to shock, as if he was caught in the act, but everyone burst into laughter.

"Trudy, that's not nice to asks someone that. I'm so sorry, Nick." Linda says.

"It's quite all right, Mrs. Lightstone. I actually get asked that a lot because when I donate toys, I sometimes dress as Santa. So maybe she's seen me before." Nick chuckles and carries a knowing grin.

"Well, I'm hungry. Let's dig in." Jason sighs and claps his hands, he begins to lead Linda into the kitchen, but she moves away from him, making him drop his hand in defeat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Present Day

Nick grins at the little girl, "Yeah, it's me, Tru. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you the truth when we first met."

"I know. Grown-ups." Trudy snorts.

Noelle and Santa both chuckle, "Right. Grown-ups." But he snaps his head towards a sound of rustling and sees Candy Cane squirming to get up, but she was very hurt. He needed to take care of her. He turns and looks at Noelle with a knowing look. She nods and sighs as he turns back towards Trudy, "Trudy, I want you to, uh....just do me a favor. I want you and Noelle to turn around, close your eyes. Maybe put your fingers in your ears and uh, sing 'Jingle Bells' as loud as you can." He slowly gets to his feet and turns to Noelle, "You, too. Don't look, Angel."

Noelle moves Trudy, making her turn around, "Come on, Love-bug, let's sing for Santa." She gives her a brave smile and looks away as Trudy covers her eyes and stuff her fingers in her ear.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way." Trudy begins and Noelle joins in, squeezing her eyes tight, "Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse opened sleigh, hey!"

Santa moves and grabs his hammer, gripping it tight as he moves to stand over Candy Cane, "You were about to murder an innocent woman and child. My woman." He grits his teeth.

Struggling to reach for her gun, Candy Cane looks up at him and scoffs, "Innocent?"

"It's naughty." Santa growls, shaking his head in shame at her, "Naughty. Naughty!" He lifts his hammer and brings down on her head.

Noelle flinches at the squishing thuds but doesn't stop singing with Trudy. She holds Trudy tight, jumping at every loud thud.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scrooge and his men along with Thorp all head outside to where Jason claims he hid the money, which was in the large manger and haystacks. Gertrude and Jason both walked side by side as they were held at gunpoint. If something happens, Gertrude needed to tell Jason before it was too late.

"It's part of the Lightstone Legacy. We're horrible people. So I get why you did what you did. When your grandfather told me I'd never run the company because a girl doesn't have what it takes. I had to snatch the reins away from him. But the point is, a Lightstone takes what's theirs. I'm proud of you, son." She says with a smile, a true smile.

Jason sighs, relieved that he finally hears those words and they were true. But his moment is taken as Scrooge interrupts them both.

"All right, where the hell is it?"

Jason sighs and moves to point at the haystacks, "The money's hidden inside."

Thorp moves as he and Scrooge both grin greedily, he yanks away the haystacks to reveal large duffle bags, "And the Three Wise Men presented him with gifts of frankincense, myrrh..." Scrooge grins and grabs one bag to yank it open, his grin grows as he sees the money inside, "...and cold, hard cash." He picks up a wad of money.

Thorp looks over his shoulder, "Load it up, boys!"

Clicking on his ear mic, Scrooge eyes Jason and Gertrude, "All right, we're securing the money. Kill the hostages and meet us inside."

Jason gasps as he looks at him in horror, "What?" He moves towards Scrooge, "No!" He grunts as a gun's butt slams into his face, sending him to the ground in pain.

Inside the Family room, Krampus turns with a wicked smile and faces the rest of the Lightstones. Alva was drowning in vodka but Bert watches Krampus with worry.

"Uh...Mom."

"It's fine, Bert. Everything is fine." She waves him off, her voice slurring a little.

Chuckling, Krampus moves towards the fireplace, "Okay. Everybody, get up." His voice changes into a singsongy, "It's time for a murder. Come on. Come on."

Everyone looks at him in horror, Alva stutters as she gets to her feet, "You don't want to kill us. You really don't. She begs.

Krampus' face changes into a serious look as he holds his gun up, "Oh, yes, I do." He's been aching to kill them all night. "I really, really do." He giggles. "And I'm gonna start with you." He points at Alva. She's been driving him fucking nuts all night long.

Whimpering, she holds her hand and curls up, "No, no, no, no, no, no..."

Bert holds his hand up, stopping Krampus, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." He freezes when he has the gun on him now and, suddenly, points at Linda, "You got to kill Aunt Linda first."

Linda slaps his arm and now she's got the gun on her, "What the hell, Bert?! You want to squeeze in being a little shit before you die, Bertrude? I say shoot him first." She scoffs.

"What?" Bert looks her in shock and had the gun on him again.

"Wait. No, no, no. Don't shoot him. Don't shoot him." Alva begs and turns to glare at Linda in anger, "And don't you call him a little shit, you gold-digging bitch!"

Krampus kept pointing his gun at them all, growing irritated with their arguing.

Linda's eyes widen in shock and scoffs, "Okay, I changed my mind. Shoot the alcoholic bitch."

The arguing increases and so does Krampus' headache as his eye twitches in irritation. They continuously go back and forth, pointing at each other, yelling out why he should shoot the other. Breathing heavily and grips his gun tightly.

"SHUT UP!!!!!!!"

Everyone goes quiet and Krampus lets a loud sigh, "Just like rats in a barrel." He scoffs.

Alva trembles with fear but notices how close he was at the fire place and she had a very flammable drink in her hands.

"Why don't you die with some dignity?!" Krampus exclaims.

Alva quickly tosses the vodka into the fire, causing the flames to roar and hit Krampus in the ass. He yells in pain and flies forward. Bert grabs him and tosses him to the floor.

"Get off me!" Krampus shoves him away, but all three of them grab the fireplace tools and begin whacking as hard as they can over and over his body. Beating him to death.

"This is for yelling at my child!"

"This is for slapping me! Motherfucker!"

"And this is for your dumb fucking hat!"

Panting heavily, they finally stop and believe he was dead, Bert looks over and points him with the shovel.

"Is he...?" Alva pants.

"Is he dead?" Linda asks.

Bert pokes again, "Yeah."

Alva looks over towards Linda, "Thanks, Linda." She pants out.

"Well, it's nice to do something as a family, for a change." Linda says and chuckles. Soon, the three of them fall into fits of laughter.

Suddenly, Krampus shoots up, making them all scream. Alva grips the poker and shoves it through Krampus' neck. Krampus grunts and gurgles as he slowly dies and falls back on the floor.

Panting, "That was for Morgan. He maybe have been stupid, but he was very, very hot."

Walking into the Family room together, Santa holds Noelle close as he held Trudy's hand. Linda looks up and gasp, rushing towards them.

"Trudy!"

"Mommy!" Trudy rushes towards Linda as she falls to her knees to hug her tight.

"Thank God, baby." Linda sighs in relief and looks to see Noelle. "Noelle!" Noelle rushes and hugs them both tight, letting out a soft cry of relief. Linda holds her close with Trudy, kissing them both. "Oh, my girls. Are you okay?" She asks them both as she exams them. "Oh, god. Noelle." She exclaims as she sees her bruised face, lightly touching her face.

"I'm okay, Lin." Noelle shakes her head. "I'm okay."

"I'm okay, Mommy." Trudy says, smiling big.

Linda sighs softly and looks to see a man dressed as Santa before them. She frowns and slowly gets to her feet.

"Mommy, this is my friend. Santa." Trudy smiles big.

Santa chuckles, "Nice to see you again, Mrs. Lightstone. Hi, Bert. Alva."

"What the fuck?" Alva says softly.

Alva and Bert both frown and Linda stutters in realization, "Nick? What are you doing here?"

Santa sighs, "It's a long story. Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah..." Bert trails off.

"Wow, Nick, you look very...manly." Alva giggles with a blush as she eyes him up and down.

"Aunt Alva, don't make me punch you. Now is not the time!" Noelle grits her teeth and gets to her feet, looking around, "Where's Dad and Grandma?" She asks worriedly.

"They took them outside. Your dad stole the $300 million and hid it." Linda sighs out.

"Dad did what?" Noelle looks at her in surprise, not sure if she heard her right.

"Oh, you heard me." Linda scoffs. "It's a long story. They're forcing him to show where the money is."

Santa quickly makes a grab for Noelle before she could rush out the door, "No, no, no, you're not going anywhere. Stay here with Trudy."

"This is my dad, Nick, I'm not sitting back while he gets killed for us." Noelle says as she tries to twist out of his grip, but he holds on to her firmly. 

"I'm not letting you get killed." Santa states strongly, making her freeze in his glare.  "I'm not ever losing you.  I'll go and help them,  This ends...now." He says strongly and turns as moves towards Krampus' body to pick up his gun, holding it up, "Anyone of you know how to work these gizmos?"

Linda holds a hand up, "Uh, I think so.  I used to go hunting with my dad." She gasps as Santa tosses her the gun and grunts as she catches it.  "Ow."