Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Billy Maximoff knew he was going to die.

His breathing was ragged beneath the burlap. The musty, disgusting burlap sack that he was sure had been placed over many more heads than just his. His legs and arms trembled in their bindings, his legs strapped to the chair by what felt like duct tape. His arms bound by handcuffs, the chain looped through an iron ring bolted to the floor. He thought about screaming again. But that would only leave him in more pain. Whatever industrial freezer they’d shoved him in was too far from prying eyes and ears.

His body still ached. His head pounding, denying him the concentration to summon his magic. Bile threatened to rise from his aching stomach, throbbing from the combination of the punch and the…. punch . At least he’d had a drink before dying.

Too bad: Agatha would be upset that she wasn’t the first one to take him drinking. He hoped she and the others were alright. Hoped that he hadn’t screw things up so much that they wouldn’t at least be able to find their way out of his mess. He hoped they’d be able to forgive him.

He heard the door slowly slide open.

“W-who…?” He croaked, voice hoarse. He tried to work his hands. To motion for someone to remove the hood so he could look at the face of the person who would put the bullet in his head.

Light flood into his eyes.

He hadn’t even had to ask. They were always going to let him see who would kill him.

He coughed, squinting against the light and turning his head up, fighting the dull ache that ran down his spine as he looked up to see his executioner.

His eyes widened. Shock and confusion as he saw the woman standing not two feet away.

“You?!”

-12 Nights Earlier-

“Open up!”

Agatha’s eyes opened. She glanced across the kitchen towards the footsteps rapidly approaching. Sighed. Rio had pulled a spoon from the drawer and a disposable snack cup of some kind from the refrigerator and was now going to try to make her eat whatever it was.

Agatha opened her mouth for either a quip or a caustic rejection—sometimes even she wasn’t sure until she said the words—but a wave of nausea passed over her and she clamped her jaw shut and leaned back, inhaling through her nose as her hand massaged her stomach, attempting to fight the upset of her stomach.

Rio plopped down on the seat next to her, curling a leg beneath her and leaning towards Agatha, the foil top of what Agatha could now see was an apple sauce snack cup, open, revealing the thick, brownish-yellow sludge that wouldn’t have looked appetizing even if it didn’t resemble what Agatha would expect vomit to look like.

“Gross.” Agatha finally grunted, twisting away.

Rio slid the spoon into the applesauce and scooped out a hefty mouthful.

“C’mon, little Amaranth needs the nutrients!” Rio placed the container on the side table and reached out with her now free hand to pat Agatha’s belly. It wasn’t much of a belly in Rio’s opinion, despite how far Agatha would have to be into the pregnancy by now. Especially when she compared it to the pregnancy with- Rio shook the thought from her head.

Was it any wonder she was obsessed with getting the witch as many nutrients as possible?

“‘Amaranth?!’” Agatha arched an eyebrow, at the suggested name, glancing briefly at Rio’s hand on her stomach before turning to her dark brown eyes. “They call that ‘loves lies bleeding’ you know,” her eyes slid away from Rio’s, to the applesauce. Assessing it like it was some type of radioactive material.

“Only one species. It really means everlasting.” Rio replied breezily, removing the hand from Agatha’s stomach and scooping it beneath the spoon. “Now eat!”

“No thank you, not a fan of apples.”

“Come on, just a teensy, tiny bite?!”

Agatha looked like she might bite Rio instead. Which, all things considered, wouldn’t be the worst thing… No, she had to focus. Rio smirked and pulled her hand back. Relief flooded through Agatha’s face for a fraction of a second but then Rio began to utter an odd screeching noise and slowly brought the spoon forward.

“Vree Oh, Vree Oh! Captain! Coming in for landing!” Rio swiveled the spoon a few times through the air.

Agatha stared, mouth agape.

“Final approach… Vrooooooom!” Rio veered the spoon towards Agatha’s open mouth.

Agatha’s hand shot up like a rattlesnake, swatting the spoon, applesauce and all, out of Rio’s hand and across the living room where it bounced a few times before settling onto the somewhat too dusty flooring. Rio blinked, still processing, then frowned.

“The FAA is going to have some not nice things to say to you about that!”

“Of the government agencies I worry about, they are not even in the top 50.”

“Agatha… You really should ea—”

The sound of retching stole Rio’s attention. She frowned and glanced to the bathroom hallway of the little Northview New Jersey house she shared with Agatha and… One other person. She glanced to Agatha.

“Is that…?”

“Maximoff apparently has her ‘sympathy symptoms’ setting on maximum...Or maybe it’s contagious!” Agatha glanced down to her stomach and smirked back up at Rio.

“Not funny.” Rio was still dealing with the last brat the Scarlet Witch had ‘blessed’ the world with. “She’s sympathetic, huh?” Rio walked to the space where the spoon had landed, kneeling down and picking it up, processing the statement as she returned with it to the couch.

“It’s been known to happen with witches,” Agatha said with a shrug, leaning back against the couch as another wave of nausea began to crest within her. Rio’s gently brushed a hand over Agatha’s temple, pushing strands of brown away, hoping to release some of the heat of her own body and relax the pregnant witch.

“For the handfasted!” Rio snarled, not intending for her voice to come out so harshly. She glanced to Agatha who had peeked an eye open with barely concealed amusement at the envious intonation in Rio’s voice.

“What’s ‘handfasted’?” Wanda trudged into the room, looking as miserable as Agatha. She looked to Rio for the answer while tugging a bottle of mouthrinse from her pocket and taking an excessively large swig, swirling it around in her mouth with chipmunked cheeks.

“...It’s a ritual...For witches… You don’t need to worry about it.” Rio said as though she were the leader of a high school clique of girls telling off the newest cheerleader for not knowing the name of the star quarterback.

“Okay.” Wanda said with a shrug, which for some reason made Rio more annoyed.

“It’s just the season. And the Scarlet Witch being her usual unusual self.” Agatha palmed Rio’s knee, gently patting.

“You think Christmas is making me sick or something?” Wanda arched an eyebrow, settling down on the couch next to Agatha and Rio, sat on Agatha’s other side.

“Christmas?! Oh please!” Agatha snorted. Wanda just tilted her head, even more curious. Agatha sighed. “Yule is our season. The season of the witches. And Witches are weaker during the winter months, with peak weak being on the shortest day of the year. Winter solstice.”

“Oh. That’s odd, isn’t it?”

“You are such a poseur!” Rio groaned.

“I just don’t understand how something like that could affect magic?!”

“You and me both. Honestly it’s all useless superstition like the Roa—” Agatha’s face soured before she finished. Wanda continued to peek at her curiously, but this time Agatha just shook her head.

“Yule was probably some loser virgin’s—sorry <i>maiden’s</i>—idea to get laid,” Agatha put on a mocking falsetto:

“I know! I’ll call all the Covens together for a 12 night smorgasbord of feasting, debauchery and—” she pulled her hands into air quotes—“‘gift giving!’ so we can all drown our miseries for being so piddly and weak when the sun starts getting lower a little sooner! It’s not just that we’re bad at magic in the dark because we can’t read spell books, it must be that the Universe conspires against us pure and noble witches! First night is Mother’s Night because have you seen some of these witches?! Talk about <i>Mother</i>!” Agatha was panting when she finished her speech, huffing, she pushed to a standing position, glowering down at Rio and Wanda like they were the proverbial founders of the festival.

“….Who hurt you?!” Rio asked.

“You!” Agatha snapped, pointing accusingly though the retort lacked genuine anger, she then swiveled to Wanda, “and you too, come to think of it!”

“Are you weak on Yule?” Wanda asked, voice quieting.

Agatha stood stock still. Calculating. Wanda recognized the look now. The phone rang before she reached her conclusion. Agatha glanced to the table where the device sat face up, the screen indicating a series of digits for the incoming caller.

“….Don’t recognize it…”

“It could be impor---Ooohhh,” Wanda groaned, hand coming to her stomach as nausea roiled her insides.

“Helps if you eat,” Rio placed a hand on Wanda’s shoulder, gently rubbing small circles as her other hand depositing the still dirty spoon into the applesauce, then picked up the container and offered it to Wanda, who accepted gratefully. Agatha glanced at the exchange and shrugged.

“Probably a robo-caller…”

“Is Billy saved in your phone?”

“Teen? No why would I want him to have my phone number?”

Wanda looked at Agatha, exasperated, then pushed passed her and press the accept call.

“New phone, who dis?!” Agatha yelled into the device still set on the table.

“Hello, Lilia!” Rio said before any response.

“….Shit. Of course she’s with you…. Agatha, we need to talk!” Lilia’s voice sounded muffled, like she was calling from the bottom of a clothes hamper.

“You know I love our chats, Lilia, but I’m going to have to pass.”

“What?! Why?!” “

“For starters, you maybe could have warned me I’d be dying sometime when we were on the Road!”

“I did tell you to duck!”

Rio gave Agatha a she has a point look. Agatha rolled her eyes.

“Lilia, you wanna tell us where you are?!” Rio asked sweetly.

“Not particularly, no!”

“Oh, and you left me the vaguest spoiler possible about my little bundle of joy! How did you even know about that?!”

“Lilia, when I find you, and I will find you… We are going to need to talk about the future. It’s not going to be a pleasant chat if you keep avoiding me!”

“You know when you two start talking at the same time I get lost. Why don’t we all take a minute and just relax?! How’s Teenager?!”

“Billy’s great!” Wanda chirped, pride filling her voice.

“Where are you!” Rio growled, voice suddenly rather dragon like.

“Surrounded by an orchard of parsley seeds, Lady Death!”

“How is that your Kryptonite is the worst Italian herb?!” Agatha whispered to Rio.

“...Fine, we’ll do it the hard way.” Rio leaned in to Agatha’s ear, “Keep her on the line, babe.” She pressed a kiss to Agatha’s neck, hand sliding down to squeeze Agatha’s rump. Agatha inhaled sharply, nodding reflexively with the promise of Rio’s touch.

“What are you—?” Agatha asked breathlessly.

Rio had pulled out her own phone and was frantically moving her fingers across the screen.

“Having my friends at the FBI run a trace.”

“Wait… Are you actually in the—” Wanda was beginning to ask when the phone crackled with static.

“—TEEN, YOUR SPELL, TO FIND TOMMY ON THE SOLSTICE….!”

They all startled as Lilia’s voice roared over the line, frantic in a shout. Agatha recognized the tone. It was the tone from Lilia’s mind racing ahead in the future, her words not keeping pace with what she was experiencing.

“Wait, Lilia, you think if Teen uses his magic on the Solstice he’ll be able to find his brother?!”

Wanda was standing now, heart pounding. She grasped Agatha’s shoulder tight enough to limit feeling as she leaned towards the phone excitedly anticipating the response.

“Oh shoot! Agatha, did you catch what I just —?”

“Got her!” Rio smirked, her phone trilling with a received text message. Wanda looked at her, shaking her head. Rio either hadn’t heard Lilia’s prediction or didn’t care. She disappeared before Wanda could stop her.

“Damn!” Lilia cursed on the other end of the line. “Goodbye, Agatha!”

“Lilia, wait!” Wanda cried out, reaching for the phone.

It was a futile gesture.

The dial tone sounded.

Wanda looked helplessly between the phone and Agatha. Agatha bit her lower lip, mind racing she slowly pressed to hang up the phone. Then forced a smile and turned to face the green eyes staring at her, panic leaving the pupils wide as saucers.

“Well… That was a hell of a way to start the season!”

Chapter Text

Lilia Calderu missed phone books.

The White Pages were preferable to scouring search results on a phone screen too tiny to make out what she was even typing. But it also made it easier to figure out who one was looking for when your memory included names from over 400 years of living. It was William “K” something. Kapowski? Kapulet? She couldn’t remember the last name.

In the end she’d just resorted to scrying. Sometimes the old ways were the best ways. Even though the use of magic would agitate Death. The reverberation of life fueled magical energy, even for a simple scrying, would no doubt draw Rio out and to her. She would have to be precise. Reach Teen and warn him of what she had seen in the coming Yule.

The boy’s essence could be traced to the quaint little Eastview New Jersey home. Sitting on a cul de sac where every lawn was picture perfect with well trimmed hedges and cute picket fences. Whimsical decorations adorned mailboxes. An Eastview Police Department car circled the block, no doubt to reassure the most affluent of society that they’re homes were to be safe and secure this holiday season.

The only thing that prevented it from being holiday card perfect was a laundry truck, likely working its route, parked on the curb going towards the house Lilia suspected belonged to William.

She’d pulled into the driveway just in time to see the boy heading into the home via the garage. She was about to hop out of her car when she heard it.

A loud caw. Like a warning. She ducked her head below the steering wheel, peeked out slightly so that she could see where the sound had come from: a high powerline. A darker than black crow sat squarely in its center, head jerking around the neighborhood.

Crows. The ferryman for Death. She didn’t know how many of the superstitions she believed, but she was certainly not going to take any risks she didn’t have to. Lilia dug into her glovebox, pulling loose a stash of parsley seeds. She shoved them into her bosom and took a deep breath. Could she avoid the crow’s gaze? On the open street it didn’t seem likely… She glanced around for something, anying to provide cover.

Her eyes drew to the laundry truck. Worth a shot.

She made the mad dash for the laundry truck, diving in like she was in an action movie (though regrettably she did not have the knees and hips of an action her) and ended up groaning and wincing, trying to recover her breath while buried in a heap of laundry bags. She decided it would be smarter to call Teen to her rather than risk being spotted by the Crow. Only… She didn’t have his number.

But Agatha would. She pulled her phone free and dialed.

“We can’t let Rio kill Lilia!” Wanda growled, shoving the phone back to Agatha, barely pausing to breathe before rushing towards the door.

“It’s less of a ‘she kills her’ and more of a ‘she beckons her into the great beyond with other witches of a certain age where she can spend her days presumably knitting and complaining about the new neighbors,’” Agatha joked. Wanda turned to her, eyes hard and devoid of humour. “...I’m just saying!” Agatha raised her hand defensively.

“Can you focus for once, Agatha?! Lilia knows how to find Tommy!”

“Well so do I after that little chat.” Agatha said nonchalantly. Wanda was opening her mouth to tell her off when she realized Agatha wasn’t displaying the twinkling humour that indicated a joke.

“What do you mea—” darkness crowded at the edge of her sight. Wanda reached out for the counter top as exhaustion suddenly flooded her nerves. It had been happening since earlier that day. The weakness, headaches and nausea she’d written off as a sympathetic reaction to Agatha’s condition, but it hadn’t faded despite Agatha seeming relatively upbeat.

“Okay, c’mon slugger, let’s get you to the dugout,” Agatha braced Wanda around her shoulders, gently guiding her to the couch to sit. Wanda didn’t make it two steps before the darkness edging into her sight shrouded it over completely.

So much for that idea. Lilia tossed the phone into the back of the truck like it was poison, then sighed and looked out into the neighborhood, glancing up towards the powerline. The crow stood waiting, now scanning more frantically. Death wouldn’t have her precise location apparently. She pulled loose a parsley seed and tossed it upwards at the bird. The crow cawed, but flapped away a second later.

Whether to speak with Rio or because parsley apparently scared away birds Lilia didn’t know, but she’d find out soon enough she supposed. She’d have to go inside to talk with him after all. She stumbled from the back of the laundry van and glanced up to see the boy had returned to the garage, apparently he was finishing the packing of a rather large SUV.

Now or never.

“TEEN!” Lilia shouted. The boy didn’t seem to hear her, and she realized he had on oversized headphones which fully covered his ears. Somehow he seemed shorter from behind. She pushed the thought from her mind and raced to catch him at the door, but he’d already gone inside the main house.

She heard the muffled sounds of discussions on the other side of the door. Billy’s mother’s voice (Rebecca, that was her name).

“Thank you again for being so generous! And if you’re sick of him before New Years, please call me or Jeff and we’ll come get him right away!”

“Honey…”

That would be Jeff Kaplan. Lilia smiled. She did like the Kaplans. OH! “Kaplan” that was the name!

“I told you, we should let the kid have his Christmas Vacation. I think he’ll like it a lot more than having Chinese food with his parents!”

“I know Jeff, I’m only joking… Mostly. WE really can pick him up—”

“I wouldn’t recommend making the drive to Ohio during the holiday season,” a voice Lilia didn’t recognize was saying with a bit of a chuckle.

“I always forget you all are from Ohio.”

“Well, not quite. But Eddie was born there. We try and go back every year. We both made a real connection with the community while we were there.”

“Mary Jo… .That is honestly the most inspiring thing I’ve ever heard!” Rebecca sounded close to tears.

“...Hey, maybe we should look into visiting the boy’s birthplace for the holidays one of these days?” Jeff’s bemused tone suggested it was something of an inside joke. Lilia heard a sound like flesh against fabric and imagined Rebecca giving her husband a playful pat.

“He’s only saying that because William blessed us with his presence while I was with Jeff on sabbatical in Argentina!”

Lilia had heard enough. She was sure this Mary Jo woman was lovely and did adore the Kaplans, but she had to speak with Billy. To warn him. She grasped the doorknob and was about to push the door open when it turned in her hand and nearly pulled her forward as it opened of its own accord.

No, it was someone else on the other side of the door.

A boy with a mop of dark black hair, curious brown eyes, bronze skin and a face that she knew would wear an even more boyish grin than Teen’s had it not been marred by confusion at her presence.

“Who the hell are you?!” Eddie and Lilia said in unison.

“Did you kill my mother?!”

Wanda tried to move. To groan. To at least open an eye, but her body refused to cooperate.

“Wow, really?! That’s the first place you go?”

“Yes, when you bring her here in a stretcher!”

She felt warmth against her forehead. Her cheek. Then a sharp pain in her arm.

“Are you drawing blood?!”

“What?! Doctors are going to want a sample for diagnosis!” Agatha smiled, satisfied, as she pulled loose a large syringe from Wanda’s arm. Billy fought the urge to look away at the sight of the blood. He didn’t do well with it. By the time he’d refocused, Agatha had emptied the crimson from the syringe into a vial, which she capped off and held aloft in the light, beaming.

“That’s not how medicine works… What are you doing Agatha!”

Wanda felt the surge of energy from Billy. The compulsion beneath the question. That was her boy. Agatha winced as Billy’s magic shuddered through her. A shimmer of shining blue obscuring the darker shade of her eyes for a fraction of a second before she grunted out through gritted teeth:

“….It’s not quite a book made from tears of the unborn, bound with undead skin, but the Blood of Chaos is the Blood of Chaos.”

“What?!”

“The Darkhold, it’s a very uniquely made book. Part of the recipe is the same thing in this vial. We can write a spell to hide one lucky Divination witch from Death if we can track her down before Rio.”

“Is that why you… What, drugged her?”

“Oh please. This is the Solstice. She’s not doing too bad for her first one, honestly.”

“Solstice?!”

“Once a witch awakens to their power—generally around the time of puberty—they’re tied to the forces of the Earth, Sun and Moon. When the Sun reaches its lowest point, so too does a witch. It’ll really knock you on your ass if you’re not prepared for it.” Agatha then gave Billy an appraising look.

“You’re doing pretty well though…. Must be your youthful exuberance!”

“…So mo—Wanda’s blood… Will prevent Rio from killing someone?”

“No. It’ll just help them hide if they’re fast enough to stay ahead of her.”

Fast enough. Billy glanced to the vial that contained his mother’s blood.

“It’ll work for Tommy too.” Agatha answered his unasked question.

Billy turned to her.

“Tommy!” Wanda shot up, panting as she looked at Billy and Agatha, both returned shocked stares at her renewed exuberance. “You know how to find Tommy, now?!”

“Oh, right… I suppose I did say that. Yes, judging by what Lilia said over the phone, I think today is the only day we’ll be able to work it.”

“Wait, you know where my brother—”

“No, but you will be able to find out for one night only!” Agatha smirked.

W anda was still steadying herself. She shook her head as though it would clear cobwebs, then pointed a shaking finger at Agatha and uttered simply:

“Explain.”

“You are both so pushy!” Agatha was grumbling, but seeing as Billy was looking at her with barely muted agitation she decided she should play to her audience. She sighed and nodded, sitting down and folding her hands over her lap. “Well, if you recall we have been trying for months to use Teen’s connection with Tommy to find the soul he released back into the universe in a shiny new body.”

“And I blow it every time…” Billy blinked rapidly, swiping his sleeves against his eyes.

“Because you’re—and I really cannot stop saying this because it’s so true—just like your mother. Power wasn’t her problem, it was knowledge and control. Honestly, you’re worse—”

“Agatha, can you get to the point?” Wanda rubbed at her forehead. The headache building probably having less to do with Agatha than it normally would, but the witch certainly wasn’t making it better.

“When you’ve got more power than a nuclear power plant it’s easy to lose control. But on the Solstice….” Agatha beamed, “You’re weak as little kittens! We should be able to do the same spell we’ve been trying, but this time get a hold of Tommy boy because he won’t sense it and run away.”

“Is that what’s been happening?!” Wanda pushed herself up from the bed, forcing her legs to stay steady as she made her way to Billy, leaning against his desk. She placed her hand on his shoulder.

“...Agatha tries to guide me to him… I’m always so close but… Then he’s just gone.”

“It’s okay!” Wanda whispered, hugging him to her.

“Ahem!”

They pulled away and looked back to Agatha, crossing her legs on the bed.

“We’ve only got a few hours of Solstice left so maybe we chop chop and get to it?!”

“Right… Yeah, I told my parents I’d only be a few minutes with you two before I meet them at Eddie’s for the vacay.”

“The vacay?!” Wanda looked at him with surprise.

“It means ‘vacation!’” Agatha whispered behind her hand, giving Billy a look how out of touch she is look after. Wanda ignored Agatha, peering into Billy’s eyes. Billy squirmed slightly, nodding reluctantly.

“With Eddie and his foster mom. They invited me and I was going to try and spend some time with him for the holiday. Don’t worry! We’re taking the Amtrak out of New York so we can still meet on Christmas Eve for the gift exchange!”

Wanda was reminded of Sharon’s insistence on having a Secret Santa between the Coven. Before this moment her biggest worry was what she was going to get Alice for the event because she had the worst luck in drawing names. But now she was realizing her plans to spend time with Billy for the holiday season were an assumption on her part.

Of course he wouldn’t want to spend the holidays with this woman who had found his way into his life through such harrowing means.

A light brush of skin against her hand brought Wanda back to the present. She didn’t glance down to see Agatha’s gentle caress along her arm. Silent reassurance.

“...Where are you…”

“Ohio. Apparently. And maybe some other places along the East Coast. They’re a little free flying. Not a lot of plans, just a whole lot of Christmas spirit!” Billy forced himself to smile.

“...It’s okay. I want you to have a good time… I just wasn’t expecting…”

“Oh Gods, can we not get all schmaltzy before the holidays?! Yule is for being merry and gay, and I know we can all do better than half credit!”

Billy snorted despite himself and nodded. He reached out to grasp Agatha’s hand.

“Okay, let’s find Tommy!”

Agatha was smiling, opening her mouth to agree, her hand still clasped in Wanda’s, when suddenly she felt it.

POWER .

Unlike anything she’d ever felt before.

A wave of nausea and dizziness assailed her senses. She didn’t know where it came from.

Blue and Red swirled through her senses. Lighting up synapses she hadn’t known she had.

She wasn’t seeing Billy’s room, suddenly. Now she was seeing a boy, standing along a shoreline. Snatching up rocks and skipping them along the water. He pulled one rock from the ground, turned it over in his hand several times, then tossed it across the water. It skipped half a dozen times before looking as though it was losing steam.

The boy raced forward, his feet impacting against the water, but not sinking. It was so fast Agatha didn’t understand how she was even seeing it. But there was no mistaking that the boy was dashing out to the same place the rock was in the water. He scooped the stone into his hand and raced back to shore.

It couldn’t have taken more than the blink of an eye.

Tommy?!

What should have been a whisper of a thought… Was a shout. A reverberation through Billy, Wanda, Agatha and….

Tommy startled looking around the otherwise empty shore. Seeing no one he seemed to relax.

Tommy! It’s me! It’s your bro—

Tommy looked around, and Agatha knew before he crouched he wouldn’t be sticking around to hear Billy out. Before Billy could finish communicating the thought, Tommy disappeared.

“Who am I?! Who are you?! I live here!” Eddie shot back immediately.

Lilia blinked.

“No, you can’t! Teen lives here!”

“Who?!”

“EDDIE?!” Mary Jo’s voice rose from what Lilia assumed was the living room. The shuffling of footfalls followed soon after and Jeff, Rebecca and a beautiful blond woman that must have been Mary Jo all entered the area connecting the garage to the foyer set off from the kitchen.

“...Ms. Calderu?!” Rebecca frowned as memories of the woman from Thanksgiving bubbled to the surface of her mind.

“Where’s Teen?!”

“Still weird that you call him that… But assuming you mean William? He’s coming as soon as he wraps up the project he’s got going on with his art instructor and/or magic teacher and now that I’m saying this out loud I’m not sure why we didn’t insist he wait until after he gets back…?” Jeff glanced to Rebecca who shrugged as if she was equally unsure.

They may have been confused, but Lilia wasn’t. The boy could twist her and Jen to his whims subconsciously when the right stressors were applied. Planting suggestions in his parents minds would be child’s play to him. And the ‘art teacher’ and ‘magic instructor’ could only refer to two women. Wanda and Agatha.

“Oh shoot!” Lilia swore under her breath. She turned to Eddie.

“You’re his lover, then?!”

The Kaplans and Mary Jo all jerked their heads to Eddie.

“Boyfriend! Boyfriend!” Eddie said quickly, cheeks burning, having absolutely no desire to get into a discussion of the more intimate details of his and Billy’s relationship with both their parents and this strange old woman.

“Call him! Tell him to get here and to—”

The doorbell interrupted Lilia’s demand.

“Were you expecting someone?” Jeff glanced to Mary Jo, who shook her head. Lilia paled, shaking her head but unable to find the words as Jeff tilted his head, requesting permission. Mary Jo nodded and he walked to the door, opening it with a wide smile.

Rebecca, Mary Jo and Eddie followed him into the main room, arriving in time to see the door swing open and the woman flash a badge instead of greeting.

“FBI. I’m going to need to search this home.”

“Wait… Aren’t you an accountant?!”

Chapter Text

“What… On Earth is that smelly, dusty piece of rubbish, Loretta?!” Agatha held a hand in front of her face as though to block the sight of the admittedly rather worn black pointed hat.

“It’s our sorting cap!” Sharon, as usual, ignore that Agatha refused to learn her name, and cheerily shifted the conical hat into an upside down position, extending it forward to the center of the group.

She had managed to corral the entire Coven. Well, except for Lilia who was still refusing to be in the same room as Rio. She was a little proud of herself, but more touched that they would all drop what they were doing just because she asked them.

“Really, Sharon?! You said the people from “Shark Tank” were here!” Jen growled, crossing her arms and pacing up and down near the window.

“She told me I received a package from an Avenger. I should have been suspicious when she called him ‘Hawkguy.’” Wanda grumbled, giving Sharon her own glare from the opposite end of the couch as Rio.

“That’s not his name?” Agatha turned her attention from the hat to frown at Wanda.

“It’s Hawkeye as in, ‘Sharon, I’m going to shoot your eye out for telling me you had Lilia hogtied and waiting with an apple in her mouth.’” Rio’s eyes shimmered a foreboding dark green.

“She said ‘with an apple’ in her mouth? I think that one’s a shame on you,” Billy said. Rio turned to him with a literal Death glare and he quickly cleared his throat and tried to not luck odd about hiding himself behind one of Sharon’s curtains.

Sharon shuddered a bit herself, then beamed at Alice who was looking surly, but no more so than usual.

“At least one of you came here for the right reason! Thanks, Al!”

“You said Agatha was literally on fire.”

“I am very hot!”

“What the hell is a sorting cap?” Rio was nodding in agreement with Agatha’s statement even as she asked.

“You know, like ‘Harry Potter!’”

“Oooh, Shar…. No!” Billy peeked his head from behind the curtain, shaking it in disdain.

“What?! Did I not get it right?”

“It’s not that she’s just…”

“Oh, canceled?”

Billy gave a solemn nod. Sharon frowned but recovered quickly.

“Then it’s Elphaba’s!”

Billy gave her a wink and thumbs up.

“Sharon, can you please tell us what we’re doing here?!”

“Everyone but your name in the hat!”

“Wait, you’re not serious?! Are you really trying to do Secret Santa?! Agatha probably doesn’t even know what the word gift means!” Jen replied as Sharon handed out scraps of paper and markers.

“Don’t be ridiculous! I love getting gifts!”

“You have to give someone a gift too, you know.” Wanda pointed out.

Agatha frowned as if she was speaking a foreign language.

“I’m not familiar with that custom.”

“See?!” Jen motioned to Agatha. Point proven.

“Oh for God’s—no Goddess’--sake!” Sharon huffed. “We need to cement our status as a coven! And what better way than to exchange gifts in celebration of Yuletide?!”

“Someone’s been on Wiccapedia…” Alice muttered under her breath.

“Yes! I know exactly what I’m going to get!” Billy squeezed his hands together excitedly. Then glanced down as though realizing he was getting ahead of himself. “If I draw the right name, of course…”

“….Well, I’ll just put my name in twice, that way I can re gift the second one. Problem solved!” Agatha leaned forward to get up, two filled sheets of paper in her hand. She was halfway to standing when she wobbled slightly. Despite Rio and Wanda both being closer, Alice reached her first and steadied her.

“You okay?”

“...Yes….Just a little lightheaded…” Agatha reassured her, patting Alice’s hand.

“I’ll put it in the hat you sit.”Alice slid one of Agatha’s slips of paper from her hands.

“Hey you forgot one!”

“No, you only get one. I don’t have time to do a full inspection of two gifts!”Alice chided. Agatha sighed but relented.

Wanda and Rio glanced at each other across the couch, but then shook off the concern. Better Alice worry about Agatha’s well being than worry about Agatha doing something devious. Wanda then lifted her own slip of paper and deposited into Sharon’s waiting bag.

“I would have been fine doing this if you just told me, you know!”

Sharon gave her a twinkling smile filled with gratitude. Rio deposited her slip in next, and Sharon’s eyes turned to her, surprised.

“I want Lilia in a gift box if you pick my name. It’s a very affordable gift.” Rio said loudly.

“Oh! Speaking of, I’ll just drop a slip for Lilia in…” Sharon retracted her oustretched arm and slid in a sheet of paper with Lilia’s name. “Alright, next?!”

“What could it hurt?” Alice shrugged.

“A lot of things, Alice! Do you really want to risk getting a gift of Death?!” Jen gave her a pointed look, but Alice just shrugged. Jen sighed, literally throwing her hands up before pulling out the marker and slip of paper, scribbling her name and dropping it into the hat. “Peer pressure wins!”

Sharon made a show of shaking the hat then extended the bag to the room.

“If no one’s got any more complicated plans, we can meet Christmas morning for a witches’ brunch and exchange of gifts!”

“I might be busy not wanting to do this anymore.” Agatha muttered as she glanced at the name she pulled free.

“We’ll make it, Sharon!” Billy said. “Although I might be in New York if we could meet half way?”

“Oh, New York?! That’s perfect! Could everyone make it to Hell’s Kitchen?”

The Coven glanced around to one another, exhibiting various degrees of nonchalance.

“Why Hell’s Kitchen?”

“Bet she wants to see the Devil,” Alice muttered. Sharon just giggled, shaking her head.

“We can go to my Night Club!”

The Coven all had the same reaction to that:

“Your WHAT?!”

The only thing Billy knew for sure was he was not in New Jersey anymore.

One moment he was performing the spell. Reaching out to Tommy. Being so close he could almost touch his brother. Hug him. Pull him back into the remembrance of a life they had once had. And the next he was on the outer edge of a foreboding city, filled with light and ash from the overwhelming flurry of activity in the streets and the skies.

In front of him was the foreboding metropolis. Behind him lay shimmering waters… Waters he had seen recently.

Billy!

Wanda’s voice reverberated in his skull. Too loud.

“M-mom?!” He asked aloud, not processing that he was calling her mom. Just as he had earlier in his bedroom. Worry overrode any of his confusion with his relationship to her.

Where did you go?!

“I-I don’t know… I think I’m where Tommy was…”

A scramble behind him, followed by a cheery laugh. A young girl’s laugh. Billy turned and saw her. No older than nine or ten, tan skin smudged with dirt, clothes ill fitting and torn. She stopped when she saw Billy.

It is not the one who runs like lightning!

Billy heard her thoughts just as loudly as he had heard Wanda’s. He got the distinct impression he wasn’t hearing her words though. Not as she thought them. Had he always been able to understand thoughts in foreign language?!

“Hey! You saw a boy here? Where did he go?!” Billy asked, kneeling slightly, trying to make himself less intimidating. IT seemed to have the opposite reaction. The little girl scurried away, ducking into the long grass bordering the shore.

Billy swore under his breath and pulled out his phone.

Billy, what are you doing? Where are you? Who are you talking to?

I think I’m…

He was looking at the location his phone ascribed to him. His jaw nearly fell open.

I’m in Madripoor !

How did you—?

He didn’t think he’d have an answer even if he’d had time to contemplate. And he didn’t have time.

Because someone was screaming.

He heard it as clear as day even though he knew the owner of the voice wasn’t in Madripoor. Because he knew Eddie was home, waiting for him for their Christmas roadtrip.

But Eddie wouldn’t be screaming for long. Because Billy would be there. And without a second thought, without any awareness of what he was doing, Billy disappeared into the blue of his magic.

“Accountant is just my cover, Jeffrey. Now I need you to move because there’s a wanted fugitive in your home and I need to bring her in!”

“Wait, a fugitive? Who are you talking about?!”

There was the sound of shuffling as Eddie spoke, and Lilia’s figure passed by behind him, she briefly turned her head, hazel eyes wide with panic.

“GOT YOU!” Rio unholstered the gun at her side, aimed and, before anyone could do more than scream and raise their hands in panic, pulled the trigger.

The shot went wide, the bullet pierced through a decorative plate, hit the wrought iron of the fireplace, bounced up and into the metal frame of the door before taking a final curved arc downward and straight into the the back of Jeff Kaplan. He shrieked as pain raced down his back, collapsing to the ground.

Rio frowned, glancing at the gun in disbelief.

“Humans should not have these…” She dropped the weapon and and stepped over Jeff’s writhing form into the home, then dashed after Lilia.

Mary Jo, Rebecca and Eddie rushed to assist Jeff as Rio marched through the home into the backyard.

“Lilia….”

Rio began, but the next word she spoke was spoken in unison with another voice. And she felt energy curdle around her in a way she had never experienced before as they said in unintended unison:

“STOP!”

“You know this is stalker behavior, right?” Jennifer Kale drummed her fingers against the door of the Eastview PD patrol car. Alice rolled her eyes and pulled loose a cup of applesauce, pulling off the cap and dipping a spoon into it before angling it towards Jen, who shook her head in disgust.

“It’s not stalking… It’s gathering intel.”

“You also realize you could just… Ask Lilia what she wants for Yule, right?!”

“You realize you could have just stayed at home?”

They’d circled the block upon arriving outside the home at the end of the upscale cul-d-sac. Alice hadn’t been sure why Lilia had driven here, but she’d kept tabs on her for the better part of the month—since drawing her name at Sharon’s Secret Santa.

“And miss my opportunity to do last minute Christmas shopping with a decorated police woman clearing the way for me?! Not a chance.” Jen responded with a smirk.

“That’s why you came along? Not to see Lilia?” Alice gave her a knowing smirk of her own. Jen sat up a little straighter in the passenger seat.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Uh-huh. I heard about you two exploring each other’s tunnels after I died.”

“Tunnels. WE just explored tunnels after you…” Jen shook her head like she wanted to remove a bad taste from her mouth. Alice’s eyes slid to her right to glance at her. Jen was as smartly dressed as always, today in a pink, tweed skirt suit. Alice appreciated that as dynamic as Jen’s fashion sense was she had never done that mean girl thing where she would poke fun at Alice for the ripped jeans, t-shirt and jacket.

Not that she hadn’t put plenty of mean girls in their place after they took a jab at her.

“Died. You can say it.”

“Can I? Are you even alive right now? Or are you just a zombie bodyguard for Harkness?”

“I have to protect her, Jen.”

“But why?!”

Alice placed her hands on the steering wheel as though contemplating. Jen opened her mouth to press on, but Alice suddenly squinted, concerned, towards the doorway of the home Lilia had entered into a few minutes ago.

“Is that…. Rio?!”

Lilia was nearly blinded by the blue light. She’d made it out into the backyard and had just been contemplating hopping the fence with her non-fence-hopping-knees when the world shined the most brilliant blue she had ever seen.

Then she heard Death yelling. At the same time as a more familiar voice.

“STOP!”

“Teen!” Lilia swiveled, hazel eyes alight with relief. She could deliver the message, even if it meant she’d die a moment later.

Billy black and blue suit was hugging to his body, power rippling through him, sending the crimson cloth around his shoulders fluttering in the wind.

“Teen! Your spell, to find Tommy… On the Solstice...It won’t work!” Lilia said, rushing to get the words out. Billy glanced her way.

“Yeah, I’m kind of figuring that out…”

“You cast it?!” Lilia gasped.

Billy was about to reply when a chill spread through both of them. The air felt as if it were being strangled.

Billy looked across the yard to Death. Standing with black robes swirling in the wind.

“Lilia.” Rio growled.

Lilia gulped.

“I won’t let you kill her!” Billy said with more bravery than he felt.

“I think it’s less ‘killing’ and more ‘burying the lady that was already dead!” Lilia pointed out.

“I am trying to help you!” Billy looked at her incredulously. Lilia nodded, then made a show of zipping her mouth shut.

“She’s coming with me, Willy.” Rio pulled her knife free and charged.

If he’d thought about it, he probably wouldn’t have done it. Any of it.

As it was, Billy reacted on instinct. He extended a hand, summoning Blue which engulfed Rio, her face morphing to one of surprise.

“No! Whatever you want can wait!”

Rio growled, twisting and lashing in the air, but for whatever reason… She couldn’t break his mystical hold. The Blue of his power was seeping through her too completely, her left eye shimmered the same dazzling sky blue as his magic.

After what seemed like several minutes, she stopped. Deflated, she released a long, steadying breath, then folded her arms and crossed her legs in midair.

“Fine….For how long.”

“Wait! Really?!” Billy and Lilia asked in unison.

“How. Long. Boy?”

“Er… Um… no messing with Lilia for the rest of her…. Life?!”

Rio’s right eye glowed a malevolent green even as the shimmering cerulean of his attempt at compulsion shined in her left.

“Not… Possible….” Rio responded through gritted teeth.

“...Errr, for the rest of the year?” Billy squeaked in compromise.

“Ask for next year too!” Lilia whispered urgently.

Billy, feeling very much like even opening his mouth may lead to Rio cutting off his tongue, leaned towards Lilia.

“...Don’t think she’d let me get away with that…”

Lilia glanced between them, and since Rio’s eyes appeared to be overheating with rage, she sighed and nodded.

“Deal. Now. Let. Me. G—”

Billy dropped his hand And Rio dropped in a flutter of green and black to the ground.

“Look after them. They’ve come close to me. Their memories will be hazy but they should be fine in time.”

Billy looked at her, bewildered.

“Who?!”

But Rio had already disappeared.

Billy turned to Lilia. His heart pounded as he saw the look of apology in her eyes.

“Oh Teen, I’m sorry… Your father’s been shot.”

Chapter Text

Things were a blur for the next few hours. And then the next day. Two.

“A fugitive is loose in the area… Eastview PD’s investigating…” Alice gently guiding Rebecca to her own car as Jeff was hauled away in a stretcher, groaning more than outright screaming in pain.

He heard Jen’s thoughts as well, concern for him and his family secondary to concern for Lilia.

“It’s going to be alright!” Lilia had muttered in his ear over and over again, hugging tightly to him and helping him walk from the house. He was grateful for that. His legs felt like jelly.

Billy’s magic had taken care of his attire. But he still had next to no idea what had caused it to spike with such ferocity. The spell he performed with Wanda and Agatha… Had it even been a spell? He was preparing for the ritual where Agatha guided his mind as they’d done countless times before, but the entire thing just blew up.

Wanda and Agatha….

“I called Wanda,” Lilia whispered into his ear. “Good thing those laundry people are so slow. My phone was still back there. I’ll need your number so we don’t have to go through this kind of ordeal every time I want to spill the tea!”

Billy only faintly heard her. He nodded letting her finish guiding him into the back of the ambulance where he sat next to his mother, both of them grasping to Jeff Kaplan’s hands.

“I’m telling you, Wanda, it doesn’t make any sense,” Agatha squirmed in the passenger seat of Pleiades. Billy’s Subaru was as reliable a ride as ever. She massaged her stomach, wincing.

“How are you feeling?”

“Bloated. Gross. Like someone stuffed every cell full of magic.”

“Need me to roll down a window?”

“I need to know what kind of crazy feedback loop you two created! That’s the only explanation for why that Work went so haywire!” Agatha growled. She squeezed her eyes shut, clearly fighting another bout of nausea, then pressed the button on the side of her seat to depress the window.

She gulped down the night air as Wanda gently patted her knee.

Agatha glanced down but her expression didn’t formulate before she shifted her eyes to her phone, trilling with a text message.

“….Nevermind Eastview General. They’re taking him to a specialist in New York. I’ll put it in the GPS.”

“Agatha… Is Billy going to be okay?”

“You said he prestidigitated to—”

“Prestiwhat?!”

“What else do you call using magic to fold space around one self to cross vast distances in fractions of a second?!”

“….Fine, does any of that indicate he’s in any immediate danger?”

“No. I think however he did that and everything else today, it was because of you or me. Or maybe both of us.”

“Could it have something to do with my blood?”

“Oh… You were awake for that?” Agatha looked a little embarrassed. She recovered quickly, shaking her head forcefully enough to disturb her brown locks. “ He didn’t touch it. Whatever happened is something else.”

“Will it happen again?”

“I don’t know,” Agatha murmured pursing her lips as though weighing the possibility. Her hand was more gently stroking her tummy now.

“….You really aren’t showing.”

“Little witchlings grow at their own pace. You should know that.”

Wanda smirked. She glanced back to the dash. The new message was confusing at first. Agatha leaned forward, the confusion evident in her own face. They both felt the same chill, and glanced at one another as the fear rose within them:

Alice : It was Rio. Rio shot Billy’s dad.

Billy was curled up on a chair next to his father’s bed. It must be morning of Christmas Eve by now. His mother, worried about both her husband and her son yet unable to move the former due to health and the latter due to his stubbornness, had compromised and agreed to allow Billy to sleep at the hospital. The idea being to take turns standing sentry until Jeff awoke.

Billy knew she really wanted to look after him, and the best way she knew how was to give him the time here, while making sure when he returned home he would be comfortable and well fed. He was thinking of how much he truly loved his mother when there was a soft knock at the door, followed by it opening.

“Oh my God! Eddie!” Billy leapt from the chair, not caring that he’d been in the same pajamas for two days and had yet to figure out a place to brush his teeth. As soon as he was in distance, he pulled the shorter boy to him and pressed his lips against his. Eddie didn’t falter a millimeter, leaning into his boyfriend. He pulled from the kiss, nudging his forehead against Billy, and Billy bent his head down until their foreheads touched.

“I am so sorry… I ruined your vacation!” Billy sniffled.

“William… You think I care about some vacation?! I was worried about you. And your dad. How is—”

“He’ll be fine! Doctors say an inch to the left and it may have been a different story but it wasn’t.” Billy spoke as though trying to reassure himself he wasn’t caught in the universe where his father had….

“Good… I’m glad, like, really really glad! But man that was so weird. Do you know…”

Do you know what happened because I sure can’t remember much and yet for some reason I feel like you might know ? Ugh, what the hell is wrong with me?!

The thoughts were as loud as when he’d first awoken in that hospital bed after the Hex. Was it the fact that he was here, at a hospital again, that made them so strong? No, it must be whatever had happened with his powers when he’d tried to cast that spell to find Tommy.

“What exactly happened out there?” Eddie finished, studying Billy. Somehow apprehensive, but unable to articulate the words for why.

Billy forced his face into the brightest smile he could muster.

“What exactly happened? No by the time I got there I think whoever it was already escaped.”

“Right… Because I sort of don’t remember you coming in…”

“Yeah, I came in through the garage. You know, extra stealthy!” Billy forced a laugh as he lowered himself slightly, moving his limbs as though crawling through a trap.

“But you were with your… spiritual advisor?”

“Yeah, to work through the whole ‘should I be going on Christmas vacation instead of sitting around with the ‘rents on Hannukah’ situation!”

Keep it light .

Eddie nodded, as though working over the puzzle, fitting the pieces Billy was giving him into place. Finding they fit. Finding the way they fit to be suspicious.

“...Hey, William… You would tell me, right? If there was something going on with you?”

“You know I would!”

“Because she could have hurt Mary Jo….”

Billy couldn’t hold the reassuring smile. The thought of his parents being hurt was one thing. He couldn’t live with that, but at least he would be the one to bear the pain. But if Mary Jo had been injured… She’d fostered so many boys and girls. Boys like Eddie, who were nothing but pure and innocent and kind. And she could foster still more. If she had been hurt ? Or killed ?! Because of him ?!

It wouldn’t be him that lived with that pain. It would be Eddie.

I’m sorry . He wanted to say. But he couldn’t. Not without the whole of his life unraveling because if Eddie understood who he truly was. What he truly was… He would never be forgiven.

“I don’t know what happened but hey, we’re fine, everyone’s fine so let’s just…” He leaned forward, grasping Eddie’s hips to pull him towards him into another kiss.

But Eddie pulled away. His hand came up to dance across his hair, scratching lightly at the back of his head. Eyes averted from Billy’s grey irises.

“...We’re fine.” Billy said as though it were an incantation to make it true.

“I’ll call you later. We’ll figure out the refund on the Amtrak tickets. Guess I won’t be seeing the Hulk museum this year!” Eddie brushed his hand down Billy’s arm. But it was perfunctory. Almost a reflex action.

Billy twisted all his mystical senses, listening for thought as though seeking the drop of the tiniest pin.

But nothing came to his mind. Because his emotions were too wild and unrestrained in that moment? Or because Eddie hadn’t fully formulated how he felt? He couldn’t tell. He could only tell his vision was blurry. Warm liquid was bunching at the edge of his eyes.

“Eddie, please…”

Eddie glanced up, then back away, and turned and left the room.

Rebecca and Billy remained squeezed into Jeff’s room for the better part of the night and the next day. Billy had come out to hug Wanda briefly (and let Agatha give him an arm’s length pat on the shoulder) then returned to the room. Alice, Jen and Lilia had floated in and out as well, Lilia acting as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, though occasionally she would glance at the calendar on the wall behind the nurse’s station and bite her lower lip as though whatever she was anticipating was growing closer.

But the real surprise was Sharon, who popped into the hall in the midmorning of the 24^th.

“Mrs. Hart… What are you wearing?!” Agatha looked Sharon up and down.

Any competition looking for the best elf outfit would have lost handily. Sharon’s green vest was adorned with saucer sized red buttons and white and red striped stockings weaved seamlessly into the pointed green shoes. She beamed as she bounced into the waiting room with a large red sack slung over her shoulder, the floppy green hat jingled from the sleigh bell set atop it.

“Oh perfect! Just the ladies I wanted to see! I think you’ll recall we were doing Secret Santa?! Well I thought, best way to cheer up William might be to let him hand out our gifts! He can be our very own Jolly Old Saint Nick!”

Wanda was looking incredulously at Sharon when she heard the sharp intake of Agatha’s breathing at the turn of phrase.

“I think maybe Billy will be a little preoccupied… Did everyone get a gift?!

“Yes! Well, almost everyone!” Sharon gave them both pointed looks. Then extended the bag. Wanda glanced inside to see a collection of neatly wrapped gifts. Name tags slapped onto each of them.

“Oh, right. Hang on…” Agatha dug around in her pocket, pulling up nothing but lint then snapped her fingers and dashed to her bag, rummaging through it then nodding as she found what she was looking for, then extended a hand.

“Gimme one of those neat little giftboxes!”

“Here you go!” Lilia yelled from across the room. She was pacing back with Jen and Alice, holding tea while Jen and Alice cradled steaming cups of coffee.

Sharon beamed and clapped her hands together excitedly.

“Oh perfect! Everyone’s here!”

“Well, except Rio,” Alice said.

“Yeah, homicidal death goddess isn’t needed right now.” Jen replied.

“Was that text you sent me… Was it right?” Wanda glanced to Alice. Alice nodded solemnly.

“What text?” Sharon looked between them for a hint of the answer.

“The gist is Teen’s dad took a bullet because Rio was chasing Lilia.” Jen said. She glanced to Lilia and placed a hand on the older woman’s shoulder. “Not that it’s her fault!”

Lilia clasped her hand over Jen’s, mouthing a thank you.

“That’s… Wow!” Sharon shook her head in disbelief.

“Well now we’re just missing the boy.” Rio’s drawl, as usual, made them all jump.

Except for Wanda and Agatha.

Wanda’s eyes became less focused. Heat spread through her neck and cheeks. She felt a surge of rage bubbling from deep inside her. The fact that Rio would just waltz in with such nonchalance after what happened. With Billy still too afraid to leave his father’s bedside.

Had she thought she understood the Green Witch? Known her? Trusted her enough to not hurt Billy? Why?

It didn’t matter. Wanda turned to face her.

“What is wrong with you?!” Agatha growled, pushing into the space in front of Rio before Wanda could. Rio blinked, thrown off by Agatha confronting her instead of the redhead.

“I needed to—”

“Yes! Reap Lilia, we know and we’re all fed up with how terrible you are at your precious job at this point!” Agatha snarled.

Rio’s eyes narrowed, she stood back on her heels, folding arms.

“Now you wish I was better at my job?!”

Jen, Lilia and Alice glanced at one another, then Sharon. Sharon had set the oversized present bag down and was actively hiding behind it.

“You nearly got Billy’s father killed!” Wanda placed a hand on Agatha’s shoulder, not expecting herself to be the calmest in the room but the tension between Rio and Agatha threatened to ignite the air

“He’s going to be fine. And he’s not even the boy’s real father.”

“That’s not for you to decide!” Agatha was shouting now.

“Agath—” Wanda’s hand on her shoulder, tried to steady her, but Agatha shrugged it off, pacing forward until she stood directly in front of Rio.

“You can’t just decide how his life goes! You can’t just take his family from him!”

Rio’s eyes flared with anger. She stepped forward and for a fraction of an instant Wanda was certain they’d come to blows. Then, Rio stopped, a realization coming to her. She glanced to the hospital wall which housed a clock and calendar over the nurses that were very obviously trying to ignore the commotion. Brown eyes flowed over the calendar, ignoring the way Agatha’s breathing had intensified with her anger.

December 24^th.

“Agatha…. Tomorrow’s…”

“NO!” Agatha pushed a pale hand up to Rio’s chest as though to shove her, but it simply lingered over the part of her suit.

Wanda had been with Agatha long enough to see when Agatha wanted to make herself defiant. To turn her blue eyes into vessels for power instead of pain. But sometimes there was just too much pain in her eyes. Her other hand was clasped across her belly now.

And even Wanda, with all the holes in Agatha’s history that she had not been able to fill, could surmise what December 25^th must be.

“That’s not what this is…” Agatha whispered. Whether she was lying to Rio or herself, Wanda didn’t know.

Rio’s hand reached down. Clasped the hand that Agatha still had against her chest. Stroking the back with her thumb. Agatha was looking away from her.

“...You guys are still out here?”

They all looked up to see Billy trudging from his father’s room.

Agatha pulled her hand out of Rio’s averting her gaze.

“William!” Sharon hopped up and dashed to Billy, the various bells attached to her elf costume jingling as she marched forward. She hugged him around the waist and then hefted the bag towards him.

“I know it’s a rough time, but I’ve got just the thing to cheer you up! Presents!”

Billy didn’t seem to notice her. He was looking across he top of her head. Down the hall. To Rio Vidal.

Rio glanced to Billy, saw he had finally realized she was there as well. Saw the look of venom in his eyes.

“It wasn’t his time. He’s fine.” Rio said coolly.

“That’s it?! You shoot my father and that’s it?!”

“Billy!” Wanda placed a hand on his shoulder. HE shrugged her off, glancing at her, then at the room. As though just seeing them all.

“Enjoying the holiday?!” He spat, looking at Lilia as she sipped at her tea, trying to make herself appear as small as possible. She winced. “You’re welcome,” Billy growled.

“William, please,” Jen paced forward.

“Don’t Jen!”

And suddenly Jen was under the thrall of Blue. She opened her mouth found she couldn’t speak. A moment of panic passed through Billy’s eyes, he released a breath, pulling his power back. Jen stepped back.

“Not cool!” Alice placed her hand on Jen’s shoulder.

“What’s not cool is you being the worst police officer ever!” Billy spat. Alice flinched. “Did you not see Death warming my boyfriend’s doorstep?!”

“...You need to cool off.” Alice said with a voice only a fraction less dangerous than Rio’s.

“Let’s all just relax and have some Jell-O! It’s the only thing good here!” Sharon was just about to add a giggle when Billy rounded on her.

“I can’t relax, Sharon, because my father is fighting for his life! They’ve stabilized him but don’t even know if he’ll wake up, and if my mom loses him it’ll break her… Turn her into someone like…”

Sharon’s lip quivered, unable to form the smile. “….Someone like… Me? What’s that mean?!”

Billy looked away.

“Teen, I get you’re angry, but c’mon, she’s basically a house plant.”

Wanda got the feeling Agatha was intentionally drawing his fire.

It worked.

“And you! You don’t care at all, do you?! About Sharon? About Lilia? My dad? Do you even really care about Tommy? About me?!”

“You want me to sing you a Christmas Carol or something?! Do you really think I just love sitting in the smell of antiseptic, of course I—”

“No, you love you and Power! You probably messed with the spell for more of my magic, didn’t you?! There’s no one you won’t hurt because you’re so incapable of loving even the people that love you more than anything that you just walk away! You’re such a-a-”

“What?! Bitch? Witch? Grinch? Don’t tell me I’ll need to save a date for next Tuesday?!”

“Agatha…” Wanda whispered, once again trying to head off the explosion she knew was coming.

Billy looked at Agatha with not anger, or hurt. Agatha could have handled that. It was the pity in his grey eyes that shook her, made her smirk falter.

“...I thought of you like…” he shook his head, wiping at tears that had appeared again. “...I guess it’s a good think you’re not a mother anymore.”

Agatha’s expression remained stone faced but her legs wobbled. Wanda grasped her from her left, Rio from her right. Wanda’s green eyes tilted to look at Billy.

Billy knew not to return her gaze. There was no reason to see the disappointment in her eyes. The hurt and disgust.

“I hope you all enjoy your gifts… I really do!” Billy picked up the bag, shoving it back towards them, ignoring how awkwardly it bent and flipped with the load of gifts. “Enjoy them so much you find someone else to be your familiar or whatever because I am done with this Coven.”

And with more force than he meant, aided by the faint shimmer of blue magic reacting to his rage, he tossed the bag. It split open, giftboxes and wrapped gifts clattering across the pristine white of the hospital flooring.

The Coven watched as he turned and walked away.

Chapter Text

Christmas came as was wont to do. 

“It’s only ever been a secular celebration for me,” Alice prodded at the fireplace, frowning at the log inside, tilting her head from side to side.

“Why are looking at the Yule Log like you’ve never seen one?” Jen asked, pushing a mug of hot cocoa towards Alice.

“Well it’s been a while… Lorna didn’t do the whole Yule thing either.”

“We had a Yule. And on December 25th… The gifts! Of course traditionally the giving lasts the season—until New Years,’ but Yule was always the sweetest!” Lilia sighed, taking a mug from Jen and sipping.

The door literally blew open. The three women glanced up. Wanda Maximoff hurried inside, then swiveled around and shut the door closed by leaning against it with all her weight. She pulled off large snow gloves, raising hands to her mouth and blowing warm air into them.

“You are completely snowed in! I’d use my magic to clear it but it’s like my magic isn’t going to cooperate until after Yuletide or whatever….” Wanda grumbled.

“Where’s Agatha?!” Lilia looked over Wanda’s shoulder as though expecting the door to open and Agatha to sweep in next.

“...She said she was going to cash in on her half a glass of wine and for me and Rio to leave her alone or she’d figure out how to cast a Hex that’s one long Hallmark movie.”

Jen and Lilia shuddered at the thought, and Wanda nodded in agreement.

“Those are nice.”

They all turned to Alice.

“What? I can’t movies?!”

“How do you even have such a nice apartment in New York? Well, nice except for the getting snowed in…”

“I inherited it from a nice Irish back a few decades ago. Now why don’t we let Teen’s car take a brake and take the train somewehre?”

“Like where, Lilia? It’s Christmas, not much going on aside from festivities. For people that aren’t hated by their Coven,” Jen asked with a heavy sigh.

“Well I don’t hate any of you, and none of you hate Sharon and she’s too obsessed with the holiday to not keep her night club open till 3:00 AM!” Lilia slammed her mug onto the table as though that settled it.

“That’s right. Mrs. Hart owns a night club…” Wanda muttered, remembering the conversation at the Secret Santa drawing.

Alice nodded.

“Well at least they might have egg nog.”

A bell chimed lightly in the damp summer air. A ghostly pale palm guided along a less ghostly but no less pale abdomen, gently swelled with miraculous Life. A twitch. A shudder beneath the skin. Followed by a heady laugh. The bell chimed again. The skin twitched again. Rio smiled. Warmth that she had never thought she would feel. Just beneath her fingers.

Close enough to grasp. Agatha chuckled beneath her, laid out along the bed, hand stroking the locks of brown hair framing Rio’s face.

“Agatha… My deepest love… How is it that you have made me so happy I feel my heart as light as a dove?!”

“Because you do not have to carry your quite heavy child!” Agatha smirked, dimples shining beneath blue eyes. Rio laughed and pressed another kiss to her lover’s stomach.

“Let us see if we can catch their attention!” Rio re positioned, raising the brass bell, adorned with the faces of Hecate, and shook it gently.

It took an hour and a half in the hectic, half functioning public transportation afforded by the New York City subway system, but they eventually arrived at the address printed in the back of the drink tickets that Sharon had so graciously provided them in anticipation of a cheerful brunch not two weeks prior.

How things change .

Wanda thought as they entered Josie’s Bar . Which was less of a nightclub and something more akin to a jazz lounge with enough energy for karaoke when there wasn’t a performer to pull from the stable of regulars. The scent of alcohol melded with the scent of fresh winter snow and peppermint as they piled inside.

T he woman at the piano tonight had a beautiful mellifluous voice and perfect timing and poise.

"It’s coming on Christmas. They’re cutting down trees.

They’re putting up reindeer. And singing songs of joy and peace.”

“I like this place!” Jen nodded approvingly as she surveyed the bar.

“Oh! Guys! Over here!” Sharon was leaping up and down from behind the bar. She motioned them over and they all piled into a booth.

“So that thing at the hospital was—”

“Not something we are going to discuss.” Wanda said firmly. The others nodded.

“He knows for whom the bell tolls!” Rio whispered against her stomach, bared in the night air. Somehow fall had arrived, and their child remained healthy and strong, judging by their kicks.

“You and this bell!” Agatha chuckled. She waved Rio away, dropping her tunic back over her stomach. Rio looked at the bronze bell, giving it another chime.

“Oof!” Agatha gasped, placing her hand against her side where the baby had reacted to Rio’s jingle.

“It’s how we speak. I do not have a voice as lovely as yours. I must make myself content with the bell’s melody.”

“You must stop taunting our daughter! She needs to have no conversations with you. Not so long as she can only converse by assailing my ribs!”

“I will teach him to aim lower!”

“Please, do not jest…” Agatha muttered, hands worrying the hem of her tunic. “A boy is impossible. Even as far as this is a miracle, that is beyond your reach. And well it should be. A boy cannot be a witch. A boy grows to be a man without magic. And men are plagues upon witches.”

Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on!

“Really, Wanda, how did you ever find a gal like her, eh?!” Sharon elbowed Wanda, who looked at her in confusion.

“Who?!”

“Holy Hecate!” Lilia leaped up, looking out over the bar to the piano mounted on the central stage. And the woman behind it.

Dressed in loose blue blazer pulled over a white dress shirt unbuttoned past her sternum sat Agatha Harkness, belting out “River” with her eyes squeezed shut in focus, fingers so delicately dancing across the piano she could have been plucking dandelion petals.

But it don’t snow here, it stays pretty green.

“What is Agatha doing…?”

“Well our main gal came down with a cold, and she was already here, looking for all the world like she wanted to clear out our stock of Merlot, so when I floated the idea of maybe playing a few tunes….

Violet sparks danced across the fire. The summoning ritual was complete. Agatha winced, bracing her back with both hands. Winter had come. Soon the child would as well. Before then she would speak with the one person she trusted to divine the child’s true nature. She’d known the spell for long enough, but hadn’t dared cast it before now.

Her fingers trailed along her stomach, feeling it tense as her body practiced the task of birthing the child. It would be soon. She wouldn’t get another moon to cast the ritual.

She chanted the incantation. Released her energy into the world. The fire twisted and howled. Took shape into the woman who had burned her deeper than anyone else.

“Greetings… Mother.”

I’m gonna make a lot of money. And then I’m gonna quit this crazy scene.

Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

I wish I had a river so long. I would teach my feet to fly.

“Are past the gift giving portion?” The drawl was familiar, but with a hint of something Wanda wasn’t sure she had ever heard in it. She turned, somehow finding she wasn’t quite as angry with the woman any longer.

“Rio?”

“Hey Wanda.”

Wanda .

Somehow Rio using her full name—instead of “Wandy” or “Wands”--made her feel more open to Lady Death. Maybe it was a manipulation. Or maybe…

“Rio…? What’s today? To you and Agatha?”

Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on

Agatha swiped tears from her eyes as her foot stamped at the embers. Crushing them beneath her foot.

“Your son will have a heart as Black and Evil as his abominable mothers!”

“Agatha… Who were you talking to?!” Agatha whirled around.

“Worry not, daughter. At least the plague passes quickly.”

“No one, my love! I merely… The fire got a little too strong. Cursing my own gait.”

“Agatha…” Rio was next to her. Pulling her face up, hand pressed gently to the womb where their little boy grew strong. The slight shift in her hands made the bell—it was always on her person—jingle and clink. Agatha gave a little hiccup and gasp as the child stirred in response.

“Yes, Rio?”

“Whatever you have been told… You are…” Rio trailed off, not able to express it in words. SO she didn’t try. She kissed her love.

I made my baby cry.

She tried hard to help me. You know she put me at ease.

And she loved me so naughty. Made me week in the knees.

Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

“Someone very important came into our lives.” The barest whisper as Rio twirled an olive around a martini glass. She hadn’t taken a sip. Wanda wondered if perhaps she just liked the cocktail for the bit of green.

“Are they still in your life?”

Agatha jolted awake outside the market. Breathed a low groan as she felt the familiar tightening of her abdomen. Her right hand came to her stomach. Too round and tight. Pressing the flesh that was too stretched. Her belly as round as any melon. Her child’s birth was no longer near . It was here.

She’d not been able to pretend she hadn’t heard her mother in the embers. Hadn’t believed every word. She wanted to think otherwise. Rio was so patient with her. Speaking sweetly to her in the night, shifting the bell just in front of her bump and speaking with their child.

But their child would be a boy.

She could not raise a boy.

She could not love a boy born with no magic. An abomination just like her

“Leave me!” Agatha snarled.

“Agatha… You are nearly to term. You do not—”

“I do not want to raise this… This…” Agatha’s hands pressed to either side of her womb. The child was still. It didn’t seem to move much these days. Only ever if Rio requested with that bell of hers.

“Agatha!”

“….Fine. I will leave.”

I’m so hard to handle. I’m selfish and I’m sad.

Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby that I’ve ever had.

“He will always be a part of my life. Just like she will.”

Scars .

Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

I wish I had a river so long.

I would teach my feet to fly.

Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

She had been wrong.

“You were made… From scratch!”

So very wrong . She could not raise an abomination? She could not bear to raise anything but.

It was a beautiful, glorious life.

And then it was over.

Rio watched from Beyond the Veil as Agatha lay Nicholas to rest.

She’d watched from the edge nearly seven years prior.

On the night of Yule, with the hearth burning in the little cabin but noone home to feel its heat. Because she had done nothing to bring Agatha back to her.

I made my baby say goodbye.

“I’m sorry… Rio.” Wanda didn’t have words for anything else.

Rio looked at her. Nodded slightly.

“Me too.”

It’s coming on Christmas.

They’re cutting down the trees.

They’re putting up reindeer.

And singing songs of joy and peace.

OH I wish I had a river, I could skate away on...

The crowd clapped lightly as Agatha finished the song. Agatha breathed out heavily.

Lilia and Sharon wiped at tears. Jen found herself squeezing Alice’s hand, looking across the room to Agatha, unable to hide the profound sadness in her gaze.

And Wanda tugged at Rio’s hand. Motioning her head. Indicating they should approach. Rio, for one instant, looked like a lost little girl. Then she nodded and paced behind her to the stage.

Agatha looked up, smiling almost as a reflex. So used to the jubilant smile acting as armor to hide her pain. Rio released Wanda’s hand, crossed to stand on the bench. Agatha stood up and pulled her into a tight hug, brushing fingers through her hair as she squeezed eyes shut, inhaling her. She pulled away and reached out towards Wanda, who closed to the other side of the bench and clasped her arm.

We won’t lose him . Wanda thought. Agatha nodded almost imperceptibly. She looked at the two of them, eyes just at the edge of tearing up.

“Wanda… Rio…. Merry Christmas!”

Chapter Text

Christmas went as it was wont to do. But not before…

“….I’m sorry, did you just wish them a… Merry Christmas?!” Jen tapped the wood floor upon which the piano sat to draw Agatha’s attention.

Agatha’s soft smile faltered. She glanced to Wanda and Rio again, shaking her head as though clearing cobwebs. She crossed her arms and pursed her lips.

“What I meant was you should marry each other for Christmas and leave me alone! .And after that? Go fu—”

Rio edged past Wanda, hands lifting from her sides and grasping Agatha’s face between pale fingers, edges of her digits twining through brown hair marred by a half inch streak of white, before pulling Agatha into a kiss deeper than oceans.

They separated after too short and too long a time. Agatha, suddenly beet red and having trouble catching her breath, looked at Rio as though deciding whether to punch her or return the kiss.

Rio headed off the decision:

“Mistletoe.” Rio said simply, pointing just above the stage where a bunch of the parasitic flower hung low, partially illuminated by the club’s overhead lights.

“...Odd. Didn’t notice that when I walked up here just now.” Jen looked between the Green witch, capable of conjuring plant life out of thin air, and the and Scarlet witch, capable of conjuring anything out of thin air. Both shrugged.

Jen sighed. Because of course Agatha’s lovers would be just as coy about their feelings. Weren’t opposites supposed to attract?! Why couldn’t Agatha just be with someone normal?

“OH! Agnes! That was wonderful!” A sniffly voice rose out over the din of the club. Sharon pushed through the throng of people now dancing to the decidedly more upbeat music blaring through the club’s sound system to replace Agatha on the piano. She reached the stage and motioned for them all to join her at ground level.

“That song really set the mood for: Secret Santa!”

“You’re still on that, Hart?! Jesus Christ—!’

“Has a birthday today and that makes it the perfect day for PRESENTS!” Sharon pointed back toward the bar where red bag of presents Billy had so venomously shoved back to the group sat, leaning against the countertop.

“We did go through an awful lot of trouble actually shopping.” Wanda pointed out, motioning for the group to follow her back to the bar.

“We don’t even have everyone…” Agatha walked to the edge of the stage and looked as if she was about to simply hop the meter or two down when there was a commotion across the bar.

“DO NOT!” Alice shouted form across the way. She barreled through the bar, bumping into a patron nursing a drink, ignoring as he yelped and nearly toppled to the floor (alas, he was unable to save his drink from that fate). She reached the stage and extended a hand.

Jen, Rio and Wanda watched, now used to Alice’s odd behavior towards Agatha to do more than express mild confusion (and perhaps a tiny bit of envy—particularly on Jen’s part) as Alice extended her hands, allowing Agatha to sit at the edge of the stage and place her hand on Alice’s shoulders and for Alice to guide her the rest of the way to the ground.

The man Alice had barged through stomped over in a lumbering zigzag. It was a good thing he didn’t have another drink in him.

“HEY! You made me spill my drink you bi—”

Alice was still turning when Agatha’s fist shot out and landed a blow squarely on the man’s chin. He stumbled back a few steps and crashed into a table before finally collapsing to the ground in an unconscious heap.

“Agh!” Agatha groaned, flexing her fingers, wiggling her throbbing her hand.

“Not prepared to deliver the old right hook, Harkness?” Jen couldn’t help but look impressed despite the verbal jab.

“Looks like he wasn’t prepared for it either!” Wanda mused, nudging the man with her foot.

Alice took Agatha’s hand, giving her half a glare before gently massaging the knuckles, already reddening in precursor to a bruise.

“Let’s get some ice on this.”

“I hope this doesn’t hurt my Yelp rating…” Sharon muttered.

They made their way back to the bar where Lilia sat, holding space for them. Or just trying to avoid being too near Rio. Wanda wasn’t sure.

As they crossed the crowded room, Wanda edged up next to Rio.

“Can I help you?” Rio drawled, looking Wanda up and down as Wanda edged next to her, threading her own arm through the space created by Rio’s hand in her pocket.

“I would think, given the things that you and Agatha have been through during this season, you might consider not putting Billy through hell.” Wanda’s stare was as cold as Rio had ever seen it.

“Jeffrey Kaplan is fine.”

Wanda slowed her pace, tracing Rio’s visage with her eyes. Rio looked unperturbed as she locked eyes with the other witch.

“I can understand not giving a crap about me. I can even believe that you really feel nothing for Billy despite the things you’ve been through together. But you see how Agatha looks at him. What he means to her. Are you really telling me you’re okay hurting him even though you know it means hurting her?!”

Rio felt a shudder of something unfamiliar in her stomach. Something she’d been feeling since the bullet had ricocheted into Billy’s father, setting off the entire chain of events, if she was being honest with herself.

But why bother with honesty? She began to shift away from Wanda. But Wanda had seen the twinge of regret in the brown irises. Had felt the faintest squeeze of the arm linked in her own.

Wanda had once thought that Rio was able to hide her thoughts from her, like Agatha, but lately she’d been wondering if perhaps Rio’s mind simply didn’t operate the same as others. Perhaps the chaotic din of emotions, desires and regrets didn’t exist within Rio. Her mind was a proverbial dead zone.

Unless something brought it to life. Complicated emotions tangled up within Rio’s purpose as Lady Death—the actions she was required to take for the sake of the universe—and the pain which it left the person she cared so desperately for.

“It doesn’t hurt because of what I do.”

“What doesn’t hurt? Life? I think there are a few billion people who would disagree.”

“...If I let myself think like that… I wouldn’t be able to do it.” Rio locked eyes with Wanda.

This time, Wanda stopped completely.

“Too bad Death doesn’t get a holiday, eh?”

Rio snorted, but reached out a hand. Wanda blinked a couple of times, not sure if she understood the gesture to mean the same as it would for Agatha. But then Rio closed the distance and took Wanda’s hand. More firmly than Agatha would have. She motioned to the bar where the others sat. Wanda continued walking.

“...I’ll try to be more...precise as I attend to business. So what has to happen isn’t as painful.” Rio whispered as they walked.

“I’m sure Agatha will appreciate that,” Wanda smiled genuinely.

Rio scoffed and withdrew her hand.

“I meant for the boy…” she hesitated before adding: “and you, too, for that matter.”

Wanda’s mouth was hanging open for a few seconds before she realized Rio had taken her leave and returned to the group, now settled in at the bar.

“I think it’s supposed to be a partridge in a pear tree today. Not a fist to the face.” Lilia was saying as she helped Alice apply ice and bandages to Agatha’s swelling knuckles.

“I always get those two confused.” Agatha said wryly.

“You know, you’re gonna cost me customers if you keep assaulting them!” Sharon whined.

“Shut up before I put you on a shelf, Keebler!”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, Sharon: who’s ‘Josie?!’” Lilia motioned to the painted on logo across the top of the bar. .

“Oh, just a gal I used to know. We had so much fun together!” Sharon sighed wistfully. “Before Todd, of course!” Sharon clarified quickly.

Agatha broke out into a Cheshire grin.

“Why Mrs. Hart! Are you telling me you had a dalliance with this lady of liquor?! OH, I bet she went down smooth didn’t she?!!”

“...I need a steak…. Raw steak…” Sharon muttered, trying in vain to ignore Agatha, leaning in hungrily for more details of her past with Josie.

The others exchanged bemused glances, until Sharon, glancing up to see Rio and Wanda approaching from their private conversation. She grasped for the bag, determined, and pulled out a package which she then abruptly shoved into Rio’s hand.

“Here you go!”

Agatha tensed as Rio glanced at the box wrapped in floral themed wrapping paper. Sharon was relieved to see her attention was now safely elsewhere.

“And you! Pray it’s not coal!” Sharon grumbled, pushing a box into Agatha’s hand. The box Agatha received was wrapped in nondescript black wrapping paper that made Wanda wonder briefly what company would bother selling it. Rio tensed as Agatha assessed it.

Wanda looked between them, then the boxes.

“Really!? You got each other’s names?!” She asked incredulously.

Agatha and Rio looked panicked for a moment before their eyes connected. Realizing by Wanda’s words that the gift they each held was from the other.

“You cheated!” they accused in unison. Then Agatha added alone:

“Don’t open it here!” She clawed at the package, but was too clumsy with her non dominant hand. She growled and tried to get up to use her right hand, but Alice tightened her grip around her wrist and gave her a ‘do not move’ look. Agatha sighed and sank into her chair, looking miserably at Rio who was shaking the present and smirking.

“Well insulated… I can’t even hear anything rattle around in here…”

“Here’s yours, Lilia!” Sharon pulled out a gift bag with oceanic iconography, orange paper obscuring the gift inside.

“Oh! Wonderful! I love gifts!”

“Who doesn’t?! I’m sure you’ll rank this one highly!” Jen lightly tapped Lilia’s shoulder with one hand then Alice’s with the other. Alice and Lilia locked eyes. Lilia’s warm exuded pleasant surprise. Alice suddenly felt like her cheeks were aflame.

“...Squeezing… A little tight, Detective!” Agatha grunted.

Alice gasped and relaxed her grip on Agatha’s hand, muttering an apology as she removed the ice and began to massage the knuckle.

“Does no one know what the word ‘secret’ means?!” Sharon huffed, pulling out another gift, she frowned as she looked at the name and then her face broke into the widest smile of the night. “OH! This one’s mine!”

It was a truly enormous box wrapped in a pink floral paper.

“And this one’s mine…” Jen looked down at a rectangular package, frowning at the green packaging adorned with a flowery bow.

“It’s wine! A great vintage! I figured since we didn’t exactly have a chance to share a non toxic drink on the Street!”

“You mean the Witches’ Road?!” Agatha growled like she was contemplating breaking her other hand.

“Oh ‘street,’ ‘road’ what’s the difference?!”

“Now whose forgetting what ‘secret’ means,” Jen mused, nudging Sharon with her elbow. “But thank you, it’s very thoughtful!”

With Sharon and Jen distracted, Lilia decided to take over doling out presents and pulled another one from the burlap sack, this one thin but fairly large and covered in traditional Christmas wrapping paper featuring scarlet ornaments and green trees. Wanda was worrying her bottom lip as she glanced between the gift in Lilia’s hands and Alice as Lilia placed the box in front of Alice.. Alice didn’t need her training as a detective to deduce who her gift was from.

“I presume this one is yours, my dear Protection Witch!”

“I got a gift?!” Alice tried to ignore the way Lilia calling her ‘dear’ made her cheeks even redder, and glanced at the box as it was passed to her.

“Everyone did… Even Billy.” Lilia upturned the bag, releasing one last gift, this one soft and rather haphazardly wrapped in paper adorned with crystal balls and tarot cards.“I’m sure he’d love it if he were here…” Lilia exhaled a heavy sigh.

“You got something for him? Even though you’ve been on the run?” Wanda asked. Lilia nodded as though she would never consider doing otherwise. Wanda clasped Lilia’s arm gratefully.

“...I’m not used to getting gifts,” Alice said softly, reaching out to the package that Lilia had deposited on the table, releasing Agatha’s now bandaged hand, and giving Wanda an expression that could pass for thankful if it weren’t also quite nervous.

Agatha’s hand once again moved lightning quickly, racing through the space between her and Rio and grasping for the gift. Rio gasped, moving too slowly to fully retract the present, though Agatha wasn’t quite fast enough to actually grasp the box either. Instead, it tumbled to the ground, the force of the fall loosing the ribbon keeping the top of the box attached revealing what was inside.

Which was nothing but a light reflection of blue light.

“Really?! That’s your idea of a gag gift?!” Sharon leapt up, shaking her head in disgust. Agatha tilted her head in confusion, then her body went rigid.

“Agatha?” Wanda tilted her head to get a look at Agatha’s expression, but Agatha kept her face neutral as she slowly backed to a stool and sat down, crossing her legs and nodding as though that’s what she expected to be in the box. Rio arched an eyebrow herself, but she didn’t have time to make any other movement before Sharon gasped.

“What is this?!” Sharon set her own gift box down. It shook violently as though something inside had pushed against the outer wall. All of the women jumped. Agatha hurriedly pulled a napkin from the counter and laid it across her lap. When Lilia gave her a quizzical look she returned it as though Lilia was odd for noticing.

“Who got me a live present?!”

“...Not me!” Jen said, rising to her feet and taking two steps forward before… nearly tripping on thin air. “Oooh, little woozy suddenly…” Jen slurred. Actually slurred her words. She grasped for the nearest barstool and settled down onto it. She'd pulled off enough of the wrapping paper of her gift to reveal the unopened bottle. Wanda frowned. It almost looked as though the bottle was empty despite not having been opened....

🎵 “Baby, why don’t you come over… Red wine supernova?!!” 🎵

Everyone’s heads turned in unison again, this time to Alice, who had pulled off a pitch perfect rendition of "Red Wine Supernova". Alice’s eyes bulged and she looked at Lilia as though Lilia would have an explanation.

“Mine’s empty too!” Lilia frowned, then glanced to Alice looking just a little hurt.

“No way! I was ‘ere when we gotit!” Jen slurred, then gave a light hiccup as she pointed across the bar at Lilia.

“She sounds like she’s four bottles in…” Rio frowned.

“Well what was it?!” Lilia looked at Jen.

“...Mmmm I forgot…”

“I came in like a wrecking ball!” Alice sang. She growled after the refrain and then pulled loose her handcuffs, holding one cuff up and letting the chain swing the lower cuff, motioning to the swaying cuffs and looking at Lilia pointedly.

“A pendulum?!” Sharon gasped, now tearing off the wrapping paper of her own gift. “For divination! Oh great idea!”

“Definitely’s been Wiccapeds…” Jen yawned and crossed her arms over the bar, resting her head on them.

It was becoming increasingly clear that something was wrong with the gifts they were receiving. Wanda twisted to face Sharon, green eyes panicked.

“Sharon, wait, don’t open—!”

She was too late. Sharon ripped off the packaging and pulled off the lid of the large gift box.

A loud squeal escaped from the box.

“Oh s’right! Charcotry...Charchemiry...Charcoal?” Jen muttered, not able to grasp the word.

“Oh it’s a… Pig?! So deliciously cute!” Sharon pulled the tiny piglet loose.

By now they had begun to draw stares from the rest of the bar.

“A pig couldn’t have survived for who knows how long in that bag,” Rio muttered.

“Something’s off. Lilia, you want to see if you can divine what the hell is happening here?!”

“That’s not how it works, Agatha!”

“Well will you at least help your girlfriends with whatever it is making them a pain in the ass?” Agatha pointed to Jen and Alice.

“‘Girlfriends?!’ What’s that supposed to mean?! They’re not my ‘girlfriends…’ Don’t be ridiculous!” Lilia tried for nonchalance but was glancing worriedly between Jen and Alice.

“Suuuuure, save it for the relationship counselor, I just don’t want to hear Al finish another lyric, and Jen is clearly not a fun drunk!”

“Fug you!” Jen blew a raspberry at Agatha.

“Who do I help first?” Lilia looked between Jen at one end of the bar and Alice at the other.

“Who cares?!”

“I do! I just need to know…”

“You can just pick?” Wanda suggested. It felt a little odd that Lilia even asked them.

“I… I can’t!” Lilia’s panic was growing as she swiveled her head back and forth between Jen and Alice.

“Why don’t you flip a coin? Or have you replaced all your money with parsley seeds?” Rio was still examining Sharon’s pig, poking and prodding it as Sharon tried to shield the animal by hugging it to her chest.

“Right!” Lilia pulled a coin purse free from her pockets and dumped a series of coins on the counter top. She glanced at them. Despair filled her eyes again. “….Which coin should I use?!” She glanced helplessly to Rio for an answer.

“She literally can’t decide….” Wanda murmured.

“...Aboulomania…” Jen said with surprising coherence before leaning over the bar for more alcohol. Wanda extended a hand, red energy fluttering at the tips of her fingers and then shimmering around the bottle, tugging it loose.

She’d intended on pulling it to her, but instead the bottle just floated half a foot from Jen before crashing to the ground, soaking the hardwood flooring with the modern vintage.

“Stupid Solstice…” Wanda growled under her breath at the failed spell.

“Hey!” Jen pouted.

Sharon, meanwhile was looking at the p ig with an entirely different kind of desire as she stopped trying to keep it away from Rio. The little piglet licked at Sharon’s face. Sharon’s eyes suddenly seemed unfocused, and Wanda saw her salivary glands seemed to be working overtime.

“Maybe one little bite wouldn’t hurt?!” Sharon murmured.

“DO NOT eat Wilbur right in front of us!” Agatha yelled, leaping to a standing position. She tensed, reaching over to Alice and pulling off Alice’s coat, then wrapping it around her waist.

“What did you get her really?!”

“What do you mean?”

“These ‘gifts’ aren’t what we meant to get each other… Somethings twisted them up!” Lilia looked to Sharon, who was licking her lips. “I was supposed to get a pendulum, a tool for divining the right answer to questions and instead I’m stuck swinging back and forth unable to decide on anything!” Lilia pressed on.

“Jen’s bottle of wine was empty but it’s like she downed the whole thing… And Jen… you were trying to say you got Sharon a charcuterie board earlier, weren’t you?!” Wanda looked over to Jen.

Jen snapped her fingers and nodded with a lazy wink. “Almosh had it!”

“And Agatha, you got… Wait, what did you get? Open Rio’s gift!”

“...I did. Like two seconds after I got it.” Agatha held up the black box, showing it had been emptied.

“But nothing weird is happening to you?!” Lilia dashed over and began to look Agatha up and down, reaching out to feeling along her head, shoulders and stomach, slowly moving her way down Agatha’s body as though frisking her. Agatha yelped and pushed the older witch away, pointing a finger at her in warning.

“What was your gift to her?” Wanda looked at Rio.

“...I’m not sure I should say.” Rio was suddenly redder than Wanda’s hair. Wanda looked as though she was going to press the issue, but Rio leaned in a whispered.

“Oh.” Wanda’s eyes widened, pulling herself away from Rio. They locked eyes.

“Hey! Share with the rest of the class!” Agatha snapped.

Wanda’s eyes widened at the command. Rio mumbled something, but Agatha wouldn’t be able to hear it from where she was standing. Wanda hurriedly waved her hands in front of Agatha.

“I’m sure that’s not necessary! It’s just silly! No need to worry about—”

“...You are defending her?! Now I’m really curious. Speak up, Rio, what did you get!”

“Couples coupons. I made them. So you can have me do whatever you like 12 times from now till next year” Rio replied in a loud, even speech.

A pin drop silence followed as the entire coven processed this, the only sound being Alice’s soft humming of “Don’t Fear the Reaper” under her breath.

“….Wait, did I just make you do a thing?” Agatha’s eyes lit up with barely concealed glee.

Rio looked at her expressionlessly.

“If you think I’m going to make you confirm it and waste one of my coupons you’re sadly mistaken.”

“Agatha, I think we should focus on figuring out why Rio’s coupons are coming to life, along with whatever is happening with the rest of these gifts…”

“Well isn’t it obvious?” Agatha crossed her arms and looked pointedly at Wanda. Wanda blinked, confused. “Think, Maximoff!” Agatha added, emphasizing her surname…

Which she shared with someone else they knew.

“You think Teen did this?!” Lilia asked.

“He did fondle the bag back at the hospital…” Sharon murmured as she sniffed at the piglet’s neck.

“Right about the time he wished we would really enjoy these gifts…” Jen murmured.

“And he can’t control his magic.” Rio nodded.

“No, that’s not possible.” Wanda shook her head firmly.

“Whatever he did is an accident, Wanda, you don’t have to—”

“I mean it’s not possible because of what you said—our magic is weaker now, right? Starting on the Solstice and continuing through the 12 nights of Yule?”

“Color me surprised. You actually listened to me?” Agatha looked mildly impressed. “But you’re right… Even at his peak this would be hard to do by accident…” Agatha’s hand came to rest under her chin as she contemplated the conundrum.

“I love that boy to death but I’m starting to wish he’d made his vacation to Ohio. Or even back to Argentina.” Lilia muttered.

“Argentina?” Wanda blinked. It wasn’t exactly a place she’d spent much time.

“He was born there when his father was on…” Lilia froze, her eyes widening in realization. She locked eyes with Agatha. Agatha’s own eyes bulged.

“What just happened?!” Wanda looked between them.

“Argentina is in the Southern hemisphere….” Rio said as though this explained everything.

“So?!”

“The witch’s body reacts to where they were born. And the solstices are flipped in the southern hemisphere: winter solstice is in June, and Summer Solstice—when a witch’s powers exceed even their prime peak exponentially for a period of days, is in December. As in now!” Agatha placed her hands on either side of her head, shaking her head in disbelief. “Your super spawn didn’t get a downgrade this holiday season… He’s stronger than he’s ever been…”

“That’s why the spell to find Tommy overloaded…” Wanda murmured.

“Bet that means what ever you got me for Christmas is really going to light up the night, right?” Rio leaned towards Agatha, reaching out to grasp her hand seductively.

“OFF!” Agatha squeaked, pulling away. Rio blinked but obliged, clearly reacting to the command due to Billy’s spell.

“Why are you so coy ‘bout your gift… Can’t be more embarrassing than this,” Jen motioned to the empty bottle of wine. She frowned and turned to Alice. “Hey… you’re the Costner to her Houston… Weren’t you shopping with her when she got it?!”

Agatha’s eyes bulged as she realized Alice had indeed insisted on tagging along when she’d visited the shop. She shifted so fast the jacket tied around her waist came loose. Intent on rushing Alice to shut her up. But Alice was already singing.

“I heard you like magic… She’s got a wand….” Alice’s new lyric was joined with a frantic tilting of her head towards Agatha. Specifically, her crotch.

While it had been a few minutes since Rio had seductively asked Agatha what her gift was, the excitement generated from Rio’s sensual inquiry still hadn’t faded. Normally not much of an issue.

But Billy’s magic had clearly gone to work on what Wanda assumed was originally supposed to be a certain type of wand given Alice’s lyric. But which had apparently changed into something a little more… Real.

Because Agatha’s pants looked like a pitched tent. Sharon finally dropped the pig, her jaw dropping at the same time.

Jen gave a low whistle.

Lilia tilted her head to the side as though trying to calculate the measurements of the absurdly large appendage that had appeared between Agatha’s legs.

“Big witch energy,” Wanda muttered.

Rio traipsed over with a barely concealed smile playing across her lips. She reached down to Agatha’s hips, tugging at the waistband of her pants, peeking at the engorged appendage inside.

“Te veo…” Rio whispered sultrily.

Agatha shifted her gaze away from Rio, but didn’t pull away. Instead she focused on Wanda.

“We need to find your kid, fix this… And prepare to sign him up for years of therapy!”

“Deal but..." Wanda threw a look at Agatha's crotch. "He might need decades.”

Chapter Text

Billy didn’t really have dreams. Not like other people.

When he dreamt, it was through William’s world.

So it was a bit odd when he found himself standing on a familiar shore.

The same shore he’d only been once before: the night of the Solstice.

Blue grey eyes scanned the horizon. It was night. Breathing was difficult here. Like he was standing at high altitude or on the dark side of the moon in a full space suit.

He felt more than saw him.

A streak of white that bolted across the beach.

“Tommy?!” Billy croaked, not able to push enough air through his lungs to shout as he wanted. Why was the dream fighting so hard against him?!

Sand crisped into steely glass as the figure came to a stop scant feet away from him.

Tommy frowned, glancing around. First out towards the ocean, then to his left and right. Then, finally, with agonizing slowness, he turned around.

Billy smiled.

Finally—

“I don’t know what you are… Who you are…” Tommy was looking right at him. And then he was looking to Billy’s left for a moment, and then to Billy’s right.

He can’t see me! Billy realized, his heart sinking.

“Tommy! I’m right here! It’s your brother—”

“But whatever you are… Don’t try to follow me!”

It felt like something had stabbed him through the chest. Tommy’s eyes—the same blue grey as Billy’s—settled upon the space where Billy was then. They narrowed a fraction of an inch. As though searching for something that couldn’t be seen.

“….You won’t ever catch me!”

Billy opened his mouth, desperate to stop him to say anything that would give his brother pause, but he was too slow. When it came to Tommy, he could never keep up.

“William?!”

He heard his name from some distance away. He blinked, glancing around, trying to find the source of the voice. It sounded so familiar.

“WILLIAM!”

“William?!”

Billy bolted up from the armchair. Well, ‘bolted’ was a strong word. He lurched to an upright sitting position, tried to stand, but the blanket that had been draped carefully across him by Rebecca caught under his foot and he nearly fell flat on his face.

“Woah!” I got you!” Rebecca grasped at his shoulders, steadying him.

“Mom! What… Where?!” His head was swimming.

So much had happened in such a short time…

“It’s okay! Your father’s stable! The swelling is receding, doctors will need to do some more tests after he’s strong enough, they say he’ll probably be awake over the next couple of days.”

Billy nodded, feeling the relief surge through him so powerfully he nearly lost his balance again.

“That’s amazing!”

Rebecca was looking at him oddly. Billy realized his face was still contorted into something that wasn’t quite a frown. He forced his lips to curl upward. Smiling so awkwardly Rebecca gave a slight giggle.

“You must be exhausted!”

“Yeah… And I just had a really weird dream…”

There was an odded buzzing sound. Billy frowned, not able to place it until his mother tilted her head to the nightstand. His phone sat, forgotten next to a glass of water.

“Your friends must be pretty worried too. Especially Eddie…” Rebecca nudged him.

Billy glanced to the phone, angry with himself for how rapid his pulse was. He felt his heart thundering like a galloping Clydesdale.

“Mom… About Eddie…” He pulled away from Rebecca, reaching down to pick up his phone.Was some part of him hoping there be a slew of texts apologizing for overreacting? Telling him there was still plenty of time to hitch a ride with Mary Jo and him to Ohio for New Years celebrations?

It didn’t matter. What he saw was far more disappointing, a series of missed texts from the coven. He glanced at each block on the notification screen:

1. Al (1)
2. Madame Calderu (5)
3. Jen <3 (8)
4. Unknown (32) [he had to remember to add Sharon one of these days]
5. Maximom (53) [How did Agatha keep getting his phone?!]
6. THAT Witch (108)
7. (He of course ignored the texts from “FBI” who worked at “Female Body Inspector.”)

He growled, clearing them all. Intellectually he knew he was overreacting, but he couldn’t—

In his voice mail.. A message from Eddie!

“William?” Rebecca asked delicately.

Billy had been holding his breath. He glanced to his mother, gave a tiny nod of his head and smile to reassure her, and then turned and walked out into the hallway, not wanting her to witness whatever reaction he might have to what the message was.

“You are unbelievable, Teen! If you were going to be a terrible fake son and make your Wandaful mother cry for days on end, fine, but at least let me enjoy it! I can’t even focus with this… extra firewood…. you’ve left me with!”

“Wait, Agatha, are you talking to Billy?!” Wanda’s voice from somewhere behind Agatha on the message.

“Yeah, spoofed his boytoy’s phone—OW why did you punch me?!”

“Don’t call him a boytoy! How did you even know how to do that anyway?! NO, forget it, just let me talk to—”

Billy heard a shuffling and could imagine Agatha and Wanda fighting over the phone.

“NO! You’ll get distracted, I need him to burn this Yule Log to cinder before he burns himself out and I’m left with this thing poking a hole in all my pants!”

“I LOVE the Log! Great work kid!” Rio winked hard enough to hear over the phone. Billy was rolling his eyes when he heard Agatha’s curt reply:

“Oh suck my d—”

“NO!” “Oh…”

Billy frowned at the rest of the coven’s panicked reaction to Agatha’s rejoinder (except Wanda who sounded almost… interested).

“She has to listen to whatever you say right now, Harkness, and no one wants to see that!” Jen sounded just a little tipsy.

“Oh… Right. Nevermind for now…. ”

“Yes. No one.” Wanda’s voice sounded like she was picturing something that Billy was quite sure he wanted as far away from his own mind as possible.

“Can you please tell him that his powers are wreaking havoc now that he’s supercharged from the solstice and he needs to get back here right now and fix us!” Lilia whined, her voice coming through loud enough that Billy was sure she’d edged up next to Agatha.

“I was getting to that!”

🎵“You Should Be Here with Me! (Christmas)! Baby Please Come Home!”🎵 Alice sang.

Billy frowned. That definitely wasn’t right.

“Really, what on Earth did you get her, Maximoff?!”

“I love my gift Teen!”

“Oh brother, you would, Jill…”

“Wow, not a single letter correct…”

Billy heard Agatha use the wrong name for Sharon, and Jen’s bemused response as though through they were in a tunnel.

The words before sending his mind into a tailspin. Oh brother .

He’d found Tommy before.

Because the Solstice had ‘supercharged’ him?

That’s what Lilia had just said, wasn’t it? That meant…

He could find Tommy !

A flash of blue energy reverberated through the hospital’s halls.

Billy felt the flutter of his cloak. The weight of his crown. His form changed to suit the power coursing through him. So much power it scared him.

Or would have. If he didn’t have a mission now.

Sorry brother, I don’t give up that easily!

A blue pentagram shimmered into reality in front of him. A star shaped hole in Space. He felt more than saw Tommy on the other side of the world. It was enough.

He stepped through.