No knocks. No bursting off its hinges. It just sat there.

She turned back to her family, sitting around with non-alcoholic eggnog, chatting warmly. Her brother sat by her side, home for Christmas for the first time in years. He looked relaxed and happy and she was glad for him. He'd had a rough time of it, always had, and for once he seemed positive and intent on not making things harder for himself.

Her father had taken more than one beating since their last Christmas together and a fair amount of it had been at Todd's hands. He'd taken back the name Green Lantern, though, and with Todd's sanity reinstated, he also seemed happier than he had in a long time.

Molly was beaming over them all like a proud mother hen. She'd accepted Jennie-Lynn and Todd more easily than any normal person would have, and Jennie-Lynn loved her for that and for the thousand other kindnesses Molly had shown her over the years.

But there was still one person missing and despite herself, Jennie-Lynn couldn't help but glance back at the door one more time.

Author's Notes: Jennie-Lynn Hayden is Jade, currently of the Outsiders. Her brother, Obsidian, aka Todd Rice, was Evil in JSA until earlier this year, during the Princes of Darkness storyline. Their father, the first Green Lantern, Alan Scott, bore the brunt of Todd's Evil!Anger but came out on top (of course) in the same storyline and is back to being Green Lantern instead of "Sentinel". I don't have the faintest clue what Molly thought of Jennie-Lynn and Todd, so I may be way off on that. Jade's boyfriend, Kyle Raynor, is currently bumming around space, being written badly by Ben Raab. Or so I hear.