“It’s quiet,” Helena commented, almost to herself, as she carried a handful of bags into the kitchen and dumped them down on the table top to be packed away later on. “Would you like some tea?” She asked, turning around to her sister, who nodded and thanked her as she struggled out of her scarf and coat. Once she was free of her outdoor wear, Elaine made her way over to the fridge to retrieve the milk. 

“Have you got any Christmas CDs?” She asked, to which Helena shrugged her shoulders, and placed the milk down by the two waiting cups by the kettle.

“Oh, wait, I think we do… they’re upstairs,” She stated, nodding towards the kettle with a coy grin. Rolling her eyes with a smirk, Elaine offered to make the tea if Helena dug out some CDs, and the brunette soon made her way up the staircase. It was on her way, however, that she heard a peculiar noise coming from her bedroom. Pausing where she stood, hand resting atop the banister, she eyed her room with confused eyes. Deciding that it was most likely Robbie, she moved towards the bedroom door hoping to ask her husband where he had placed their small selection of Christmas albums. “Robbie?” She called, hand on the handle, though a familiar voice from within the room caused her entire being to pause. 

A coldness fell upon her body, pacifying her tongue with its chilling caress; her throat closed and her heart, if only for just a second, refused to beat. It was the sound of moving sheets and frantic footfalls that finally provoked her into twisting the door knob. 

“Helena, I can explain,” Were the first words to bombard her as the bedroom door swung open to reveal two equally naked bodies struggling to hide their nudity. Helena’s eyes moved from her husband’s, to the rumpled bedding, to her mortified looking niece behind him, and then finally settled back upon the baby blues she had fallen in love with. For all of ten seconds, silence fell upon the room like a thick fog, causing the three living beings caught amidst its powerful suffocation to struggle for breath. And then, like stepping on an unexpected landmine, a cacophony of voices exploded into the air.