Exceptional Thief | HANS GRUBER

2 | Nakatomi Plaza

"Oh my God." That was Dad's first reaction as we appeared to be in the Christmas party on the 13th floor of Nakatomi Plaza. It was so crowded, music was loud, but the atmosphere sure followed the Christmas standard. "Champagne, sir? Anything to eat, miss?" A waiter came over. "Yeah. Thanks." Dad took for us two glasses and I agreed to take the smaller sandwich. "Cheers." I smiled, taking a sip. We tried get through the crowd to finally find Mom, until a random guy suddenly kissed my Dad on cheek. "Hey! Merry Christmas!"

"Jesus. Fuckin' California." My Dad frowned as he pulled away from him. "Way friendly, huh?" I commented as I couldn't stop laughing. "I couldn't agree with you more." I gave him my glass of champange as I could tell he needed it more. "Thanks, honey." He said and then we continued to search for Mom. "Hi. I'm looking for, uh-" My Dad crossed way with an elder guy in lighter suit. "Holly Gennero." He finished Dad's sentence with smile. Dad nodded, surprised.

"Then you must be John McClane. And this must be Caroline. I'm Joe Takagi." He introduced himself, shaking both of our hands. "How was your ride in?" He asked us. "It was okey." Dad answered as Takagi asked us to follow him. "It's quite a place you have here, I'm truly starstruck." I commented, the building truly was something else. "Thank you. It will be if we ever get it finished. There are still several floors under construction."

"Holly went to the vault room to fax some documents. She should be back any minute. In the meanwhile, her office is right back here." Takagi smiled, leading the way. As we approached Mom's office door, both me and Dad noticed the name. It wasn't McClane, but Gennero. As we entered the office, we met face to face with a middle aged guy, with really wide smile and shining teeth. I would lie if my expression when I saw him was good. I couldn't express it.

The man was behind the desk, sniffling and just as we came in he swept the back of the slick desktop with his hand. Us and Takagi catched on but Takagi tried his best to hide his awareness. "Ah...hi...I just had to make a quick call, and this was the nearest phone..." The guy quickly explained, walking to us. "Ellis. I want you to meet John and Caroline McClane, Holly's husband and daughter." Takagi introduced us to each. It was just a start and I was already little exhausted of how many people I met. This is going to be crowded Christmas.

"Holly's husband is policeman. Ellis is in charge of international development." Takagi added. "Heard a heck of a lot about you. And about you too, but you truly grown up! You're so pretty!" Ellis laughed as he checked me. Little awkward for me. "Uh, could I get you anything? Food, cake, uh, some watered-down champagne?" He started to offer. "No, we're fine. Thanks." My Dad responded. We were stuck with Ellis for a while, until I finally noticed Mom to enter the office. "Oh my, Caroline, John."

"Mom!" I smiled, running to hug her. "My dearest girl, I missed you so. You look beautiful!" She soften up, stroking my face. I missed her tenderness and gentle touches so much. "Hey, Holly." My Mom turned over Dad who was behind. "Hey, John." She responded, not as excited as she was with me, but she came over to give him short hug. "Have you met everyone?" Ellis joined our reunion with laugh. "No, we've been sticking them with spears. Of course they did!"

"I was hoping you made that flight." She said, still hugging me by one arm. "Holly, Show them the watch!" Ellis suddenly said. My Mom shooked her head about it, but Ellis kept forcing her "Come on! Go on. Show them. What, are you embarrassed? It's a Rolex, you know!" Dad dedicated Mom a look and then to Ellis. "I'm sure we will see it later. Now, is there a place where l could wash up?" Mom quickly nodded. "Sure. Follow me."

"You'll have to forgive Ellis. He gets very depressed this time of year. He thought he was God's greatest gift, you know?" Mom said as she walked us into her room. "Yeah, l  think we all know the type." I joked. "I think he's got his eye on you." Dad suddenly added. He wasn't lying though. "It's okay. I have my eye on his private bathroom." Mom responded which made me smile. I missed her humor.

"I hope you'll stay here, at least you, sweetie. Things happened so fast, I didn't get a chance to ask you on the phone if you guys have any place to stay." Mom asked as Dad was done in bathroom. "Cappy Roberts retired out here. Told me we could bunk in with him." Dad answered. "Cappy retired, huh? Where's he live?" Mom asked, surprised. "But why don't we make it easy? I have a spare bedroom. I like for you to stay. Both."

"I mean, it's not huge or anything, but... the kids would love to have you both at the house." She quietly added. "They would, huh?" Dad muttered. "I would too. They miss their father and big sister, that's pretty obvious." Mom smiled. There was an uncomfortable silence. "I missed you, John." Mom broke the pause. "I guess you didn't miss my name, though, huh?" Dad grinned. "Except maybe when you're signing checks?" Oh dear, they're starting again.

I wanted them to stop, but they were faster than I. "Since when did you start using "Ms. Gennero"?" Dad asked, slight anger in his voice. "This is a Japanese company.
They figure a married woman's got one foot-" My Mom tried to explain, but she got instantly interrupted. "You are a married woman, Holly. You're married to me!" She rolled her eyes. "Are we gonna have this conversation again. We did this in July!"

"We never finished this conversation in July." My Dad corrected her. "Why can't you understand, John? I had an opportunity. I had to take it, okey?" She tried to defend herself, but it were empty words for Dad. "Right. No matter what the consequences..no matter what it did to our marriage, you had to." He responded, throwing the towel at ground. "It didn't do anything except maybe change your idea of what our marriage should be." Mom commented. Now she was angry as well.

"I don't think you have a clue what my idea
of our marriage should be!" Dad said for my Mom to coldly respond. "I know exactly what your idea of our marriage should be." At this point, fortunately their argue was ruined by a sudden woman knocking on the door. "Ms. Gennero, excuse me. But, Mr. Takagi is looking for you. He, he wants you to say something to the troops." Mom quickly standed up. "Yes, yes, I'm coming. Thank you."

"Speech time. I'll be back in a few minutes." She said, throwing last look over Dad and then leaving us. "That's great, Dad. Very mature." I commented, rolling my eyes. "Caroline, wait. Jeez. Are you angry?" He asked me. "No..it's more like I don't know how to help the most important people in my life. It makes me more sad than angry." I admitted. "Oh, honey, come here." He sighed, pulling me in his embrace. I could tell he really needed a hug. And so did I.

"I love you both. I'm more time with you and that explains why I can't really help the situation with Mom, but I'll find some way, some solution, don't worry." I promised as I turned from the hug. "I'll have a little talk with her after the speech and we will see." He proudly smiled, stroking my hair. "Thanks, babe." I returned him the smile. "We'll be both back soon and I think this night before Christmas will truly be a good cheer." I gave him a wink and he chuckled about it. "Betcha!"

I ran through the building to search for my Mom, faithful than ever. Maybe my family will be finally fixed and all turns to good. Well, I wished. My family sure was about to get back together, but the most unusual way I could ever imagine. It taken me few steps to find my Mom, without knowledge we were about to be seperated from each other again.

• • •

Hello everyone! Here we are with a new chapter. I know what you want to say, where is Hans and if he finally appears, but I can gurantee you'll be more than satisfied about the following chapter. In this chapter, I tried to capture the whole relationship of family McClane and although it could be better and more detailed, I pray you will like it at least a little. Be patient, our terrorist is coming haha. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I apologize for all my mistakes. Thank you so much for reading and see you in comments! Sending love ♡