Nat's day had gone from good to bad in almost an instant. Before she knew it, paramedics were on the scene and she was riding in the back of an ambulance with her father on the way to the hospital. Nat called her mother while in the ambulance and alerted her to the situation. Marisa didn't feel like driving in that moment when her daughter told her about Liam, instead she ran over there using her vampiric speed.
The paramedics had said that he was lucky that the bullet didn't strike a vital organ and the doctors would need to do surgery to heal him up. Nat begged for Dr. Julia Moreland-Harris be the one to do surgery for him as she considered her a friend of a friend.
Rei's mother drove her up to the hospital where Rei saw her girlfriend barely being able to hold it together.
"He shot him, Rei..." Nat said through her crying as she tightly hugged her girlfriend. "That...that bastard Kane shot him, because of me...because of what I am...." Nat said as she continued crying.
"Marisa, what happened? Why did this...kuso shoot Liam?" Hanako asked Marisa. Rei was surprised to hear her own mother swear in her native language as she only did that with family or when she was really pissed off.
"Essentially, Hanako, from what Nat told me, it was sort of a hate crime. I guess the bastard who shot him thought that he looked too....geeky to have a good looking kid like my daughter." Marisa told Hanako.
"Why that...that...." At this point, Hanako began swearing in Japanese so much and so loudly that Rei had to go over and calm her mother down.
Just then, they were visited by a woman and her daughter who Rei and Nat recognized but Marisa and Hanako didn't.
"Rei, we came as soon as we could, my....mom here was worried when she heard about her brother-in law." Sylvia said pointing to Tanya.
"Brother in-law? Marisa, why didn't you ever tell me you had a sister?" Hanako said surprised.
"Well, because...." Marisa began to answer as Rei gave Mrs. MacGregor a wink and motioned for her to roll with it.
"Because my sister and I haven't been on the best speaking terms over the last couple of years. I'm grateful she at least showed up to check in on Liam." Marisa said saying her husband's name aloud.
"Natalia, let's talk to your aunt and cousin about Liam's condition." Marisa said as they walked a little ways away from Rei and Hanako.
"Okay, give it to me fast and straight Natalia, who are these two and why are they here?" Marisa asked.
"Well...." Nat said wiping away her tears. "The long and short of it is, these two are a mother and daughter ghost who are possessing the bodies of a woman and her teenage daughter. The mom's accidentally in the girl's body while the daughter's in the mom's body." Nat explained as Marisa noticed Sylvia, dressed more conservatively while Tanya dressed like she was ready for College.
"So how is he?" Syliva asked.
"Stable, thank god. This is not how we wanted to spend our holiday." Marisa replied.
"My daughter and I may have a way of getting that bullet out of your husband. But we'll obviously need admittance."
After a couple of minutes, the four of them excused themselves to go inside to check on Liam. They were all dressed in scrubs as they proceeded to the Liam's operating room. Liam liked seeing his wife and daughter but weren't aware of the other two until Marisa winked that the were from her side of the family.
"Okay, I can't keep you all in here forever. Can't believe I have to deal with crap like this. I hate whoever did this." Dr. Julia Moreland-Harris commented.
"Keep him talking, ladies, my mom and I will take care of this." Tanya said as she and Syliva went over to where the bullet was.
"Dad...I'm....I'm so sorry about all this. None of this would've happened to you if....I was normal....or if I wasn't born at all." Nat said crying as she couldn't hold back her tears any longer.
"Natty, you don't have to apologize. I got in front of that jackass, I saved you, I'm your father. I'm meant to protect you, just as much as the three of us protect each other." Liam said giving a smile while still wincing in pain.
"Liam, I...I should have been with you, had I known he was coming for you...I...." Marisa tried to say before Liam shushed her.
"Marisa, you know you couldn't have been. Nat and I were searching for your Christmas present." Liam said as three of them chuckled.
Nat looked over to where Sylvia and Tanya stood by each other looking at the two of them.
"Why are you two standing there? Aren't you going to save my dad?" Nat asked them thinking they were just gawking.
"Oh, we did." Sylvia said as she held up the bullet that was in Liam's stomach a moment ago.
"My mom and I are a little more knowledgeable in how to get a bullet out of a stomach than you think. She did used to be a healer, you know." Tanya said putting a hand on Sylvia's shoulder.
"Well, I'll be damned, it's a Christmas miracle." Dr. Julia Moreland-Harris said with a smile as the MacGregor family held each other and began to laugh while crying.