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That year, they had spent all of the day of Christmas Eve with the rest of the group but they eventually had to split up to be with their families (those of them who had families anyways). As a make-up, Kai, Nya and Lloyd opted to marathon Christmas movies and work their way through their share of the ridiculous amount of chocolate truffles Zane and Kai had made a few days ago.
Close to midnight, when they were almost all asleep (Nya was the only one who was actually properly asleep), the doorbell rang.
Maya was so insistent on knocking on the door that night, he wanted to wait until morning.
“Maya, they might not even be awake, what do we do then?” Ray asked as they entered the apartment complex.
"I just know that they'll be awake, the universe just works like that," Maya said, confidently as they reached their children's apartment.
It probably could be considered stalking with how often and how much they kept up with their kids lives, but after tonight, it wouldn't matter. Maya knocked sharply on the worn wooden door. There was no immediate reply.
"See?” Ray said, "I told you that they wouldn't still be up now," he added.
Maya opened her mouth to say something in return but before she could actually say anything, the door swung open and a very bed-haired Kai stood there.
"Mom? Dad?" he asked, suddenly more awake than he had been moments ago.
“Hello Kai, is your sister home?" Maya asked.
“Yeah, she is - I’ll go get her," with that, Kai disappeared from the doorway.
When Kai had opened the door, he didn't quite know who or what to expect, no one in their right mind would be out at this time of night on Christmas Eve.
His parents had been the last people he was expecting, after all, he hadn't seen them since that fateful night during the Great Flood when he was nine years old.
"Hello Kai, is your sister home?” his mother asked.
It took him a moment as his brain was still short-circuiting from the fact that his presumed to be dead parents were standing on his doorstep.
"Yeah, she is - I'll go get her," with that he disappeared back to the living room.
"Kai?" Lloyd asked when he had returned, "who was that at the door?" he asked. Kai shook Nya awake horridly, the black-haired girl sat up, a blanket draped in her lap as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"It's our parents," Kai sounded both excited and for some odd reason, scared?
"Come on!" he said to Nya as he led her to the front door.
"Dad? Mum? How are you here?” Nya asked upon seeing Ray and Maya standing in the doorway.
”Hello Nya, it's been a long time," Ray said.
”Yes, too long," Nya agreed. "Where have you been all these years? I - we thought you had died in the Great Flood," she asked.
"All over, as for why we were gone so long, it's better discussed not out here, may we come in?” Maya asked.
It was only then that the Smith siblings realized they had been talking on their doorstep at midnight.
"Oh sure," They led them both into the kitchen.
"On that night during the Great Floods, when those waves stole us from the boat, we didn't die, no, we washed up on a beach somewhere," Ray started.
"The closest beach is dozens of kilometers from here," Nya added, recalling what she had learned in Geography class.
"Yes but it was not that beach, it took the better part of four years for us to get back to this country," Maya said.
"That still leaves two years where we don't know where you were," Kai said, his tone slipping toward suspicion.
“Kai. I'm just glad to see you both again,” Nya said.
They chatted for the next fifteen or so minutes about life and stuff in general. Or that was until Lloyd came in, looking to ask Kai for something.
"Hey, Kai have you seen-“ he cut himself off when he saw their parents sitting at the table with them. "Oh, sorry,” With that, Lloyd quickly left the kitchen, embarrassed that he had interrupted them.
“Who was that?” Maya asked after Lloyd had left.
"That’s Lloyd, he's our... roommate and has been for the last five months," Nya told her.
"Not that I mind as he seems like a good lad but he seems a bit too young to be rooming with you," Ray said.
"We offered, actually, back in September we found out that his mum had died and had been managing all the bills and stuff by himself," Kai explained.
"Ah, you made the right choice then if you're saying what I think you're saying," Maya said.
By then, one AM had rolled around.
“As much as I - we have loved seeing you both again, it's getting late and I'm sure you two haven't yet slept so we'll take our leave now," Ray said.
"Will - will we see you again?” Kai asked.
"Of course, we've got a place in a complex down the street," Maya told them both as she scribbled an address on a scrap of paper and left it on the kitchen table.
A few minutes later when Kai and Nya were showing their parents out.
“Kai, Nya, we are so proud of who you have become and have achieved, we're sorry we couldn't have been around to see you grow up” Ray apologized.
“You haven't missed out on all of our childhood, not yet," Nya said before they left and she shut the door behind them.
“Holy shit Nya, our parents are alive!” Kai said as they returned finally to the living room to find Lloyd sprawled out on the floor, fast asleep.
"And after all this time too," Nya agreed.“Do you think they planned it being Christmas Eve?” She asked as they took a seat on the sofa.
“Maybe, you know that you can ask them, if you want to,” Kai told her.