A/N: This short story takes places years after the show. Campbell is grown up, released from St. Jude's and is married. I always felt he had been at St. Jude's for a few years so I made him seventeen.
The ice shimmered on the glass from the light coming from the streetlamp and a light dusting of snow fell from the sky. Marcy rolled onto her side when she moved her hand along the empty space next to her and opened her eyes, blinking them a few times. Moving the duvet back, she got out of bed when she placed her dressing gown on and headed for the door. Carefully walking down the hallway, she stopped when she saw a shadowy figure sitting on the floor in front of the couch and the figure looked to be wrapped in a blanket. The fairy lights on the Christmas tree were blinking on and off while she walked closer to the couch and sat on the floor next to the figure.
"Cannae sleep?" she whispered when Campbell turned his head toward her and slightly smiled. Snuggled under the blanket was their six month old daughter, Emma Rose, and her little head was resting against his chest.
"No, I can sleep. I just wanted tae sit here for a bit and looked at the lights," he said as Marcy placed her head on his shoulder and moved the blanket up a bit. "It's the last time, you ken."
"What?" she asked then sat up and he saw the fear in her eyes.
"Och, it's nae what you think. I'm talking aboot this being the last first Christmas I'm going tae have. No, wait, that didnae come out right either. I mean this is the…Och," he said as he placed the back of his head against the couch and she smiled, brushing back some hair behind his ear.
"You mean, seeing that we're nae having any more kids, you're nae going tae be able tae sit here looking at the lights until one of the kids have kids of their own," she said and he nodded his head. "Well, we could always adopt."
"Uh, truth be told, I'm happy with just three," he said and kissed the top of Emma Rose's head.
"You were looking really serious. What's on your mind?" she asked and Campbell softly smiled, looking at the fairy lights.
"I was thinking aboot my first Christmas at Saint Jude's," he sighed and she gave him a confused look.
"What happened?" she asked and he sighed, half closing his eyes.
Nurse Collins watched while Campbell came down the hallway and was softly humming a Christmas carol. He had only been at Saint Jude's for three months and Nurse Collins felt sorry for the seventeen year old. He had been brought in after his manic episode during exams. His doctor had diagnosed him as a manic depressive and Campbell had slowly become used to the hospital's daily routine.
"Merry Christmas," Campbell said with a slightly cheery tone when he leaned on the desk and brushed the fringe out of his chocolate brown eyes. His golden brown hair was long and his fringe was constantly hanging in his eyes.
"Merry Christmas," she said as he looked back and forth along the top of the desk and she wondered what he was looking for. "What are you looking for?"
"I was looking for the Christmas sweets! Is there any chocolate drops?" he asked with a wide eyed look and she softly smiled, shaking her head.
"Sorry, but we're nae allowed to bring any sweets or Christmas biscuits," she said and he frowned, turned, leaned against the desk and folded his arms over his chest.
"That's nae fair," he grumbled and lowered his head.
"I'm sorry," she said as he sighed then walked away and placed his hands in his pockets.
"Some Christmas this is turning out tae be," he said when he walked into the recreation room and saw Rosalie, Fergus and Francine standing near the Christmas tree the hospital staff had bought and Campbell noticed how small and scraggly it was. Every Christmas since he was a kid, his father would take him out to the tree lots and picked the cheapest tree they had, but it never looked like that. The ornaments were made of cardboard and foil and were tied to the branches by string. "Guess they dinnae want them tae injure themselves by breaking the ornaments or by swallowing the hooks."
"Hello, Campbell, have you come tae help us decorate?" Rosalie asked when he walked closer and noticed that there weren't even any fairy lights on the tree.
"What's tae decorate?" he asked then sighed and walked away. He looked at the floor when he balled his hands into fists and felt the anger building inside him. Walking into the men's dorm room, he walked to his bed when he sat down on the bed and folded one leg under the other leg. Looking toward the window, he noticed that snow had started falling outside when he got up and walked to the window. He watched the snow falling when he placed his forehead against the glass and blinked the tears out of his eyes.
"I cannae believe they didnae have any Christmas sweets or biscuits," Marcy said as Campbell smiled then kissed the top or Emma Rose's head.
"They didnae want the patients hopped up on sugar. I remember this package Fergus got from his mum. She had baked him these really good biscuits, but they confiscated them," Campbell said with a sigh and she gave him a look.
"Just how many did you eat?"
"Um, I think it was five or six."
"You ken that you're nae allowed more than two biscuits!" she said with a wag of her finger and he playful snapped his teeth, trying to bite her finger.
"Anyway…" he sighed and half closed his eyes again.
Nurse Collins wrote on one of the charts when she saw Campbell walking by and noticed that the edges of his eyes were red.
"Campbell?" she asked when he stopped and turned, walking back to the nurses' station. He leaned on the desk then brushed the fringe out of his eyes and placed his chin in his hands. "I got a call from Doctor Greene. He said that you're late."
"Does that mean I'm going tae have a baby?" he said with a slight grin and she sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Get going."
"I dinnae want tae," he said then sat down on the floor and leaned against the desk. Nurse Collins walked around to the front of the desk when she looked down at him and he pulled his legs up, locking his arms around his legs.
"Get up," she said as he placed the back of his head against the desk and looked up at her. Sighing, he got up when a loud scream came from the recreation room and they saw several interns running down the hallway. "Stay here!"
"Go…stay…make up your mind," he sighed while Nurse Collins ran down the hallway and he leaned against the desk, folding his arms over his chest. Kicking with his foot off the front of the desk, he walked down the hallway when he stood in the doorway to the recreation room and saw that the scraggly Christmas tree was on the floor and some of the branches had been torn off. The interns had one of the patients pinned to the floor while Nurse Collins knelt next to whoever it was and Campbell looked over at Fergus, Rosalie and Francine. Rosalie was slowly shaking her head while Fergus held onto Francine and Francine looked scared out of her mind. Walking over to them, Campbell watched the interns pick up whoever it was on the floor then leave the room and he turned to look at Fergus. "What's going on?"
"Archie went berserk and torn down the tree," Fergus said and Campbell sighed, brushing the fringe out of his eyes.
"I ken that it wasnae the best looking tree, but he didnae have tae do that," Rosalie said.
"I guess Christmas is cancelled," Francine sighed as Campbell looked over at the empty spot where the tree stood and balled his hands into fists.
"What a sad ending," Marcy said as Campbell softly smiled then shook his head and she wondered what he was smiling about.
The men's dorm room was still while Campbell laid on his back and looked at the ceiling. Ever since he was a child, he never could sleep on Christmas Eve Night and he placed his hands behind his head, watching the shadows moving across the ceiling. His heart jumped after he heard something hit the window when he looked up and saw a shadow outside the window. Carefully getting out of bed, Campbell walked to the window when he saw Fergus' face lit up by a torch and Campbell looked around then opened the window.
"Fergus, what are you doing out there?" he asked, but Fergus just smiled and placed the torch in his coat pocket.
"I'm going tae get us a new tree," Fergus said and Campbell's eyes widened.
"Can I come?"
"That's why I tapped on the glass. Now get your coat," Fergus said as Campbell nodded and a few minutes later came back dressed and was wearing a coat, boots and a blue knit cap on his head.
"Wait, do I have tae climb down?"
"Aye, now come on or go back tae bed," Fergus said while Campbell looked down then sighed, shrugging his shoulders. After climbing down the rope, the twosome walked through the snow until they came to the road and Campbell was surprised to see a flatbed truck waiting for them. Fergus just smiled as they got into the cab of the flatbed truck and the flatbed truck headed down the road. Campbell wasn't sure where they could find a tree that late at night, but didn't say anything and watched the trees going by.
"Do I want tae ken where you found the tree?" Marcy asked as he gave her a sly smile and she softly laughed, rolling her eyes.
Nurse Collins didn't mind working on Christmas Eve Night, but she wasn't expecting a loud banging sound coming from the front doors as she walked to the doors and took the key out of her pocket.
"You want tae hurry up?! This thing's heavy!" Fergus' voice said from behind the door when she unlocked the door and was shocked to see Fergus holding onto one end of the tree.
"Hey, what's the hold up? I'm getting needles up my nose," Campbell said as Nurse Collins moved back and they carried the tree inside. She helped navigate as they went inside the recreation room and Fergus and Campbell placed the tree on the floor.
"Where did….?" Nurse Collins asked as Fergus hushed her and she stood back, watching the twosome set up the tree stand. After a few minutes of grunting, swearing and attempts to straighten it, they got the tree up then stood back to admire their work.
"Well, what do you think?" Campbell asked with a grin and leaned against Fergus, who just smiled and rolled his eyes.
"I am nae going tae ask, but what aboot decorations?" she asked and Campbell grinned, holding up the paper bags he had placed on the floor.
"Got them right here!" he said and it was nearly sunup by the time they had decorated the tree. There were brightly colored ornaments, some plastic garland, fairy lights, a plastic angel at the top and a piece of gold colored material covered the bottom of the tree. Feeling exhausted, but happy, Campbell walked over to one of the couches when he flopped down onto the cushions and closed his eyes. As he drifted off to sleep, he felt someone kissed the top of his head and wish him a Merry Christmas.
"Awww…you saved Christmas," Marcy said as she kissed his cheek and Campbell nodded his head.
"But that wasnae the best Christmas I ever had," he said and she gave him a look like she wanted him to continue. "THAT was the Christmas I spent with you and Logan."
"Aye, I remember waking up and finding you two sleeping on the couch."
"Then there was Eddies' first Christmas."
"Aye, I woke to find you two on the couch and Logan was sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor."
"So now do you understand why this Christmas is so important?" he asked and she nodded, kissing his cheek.
"But you still have a lot more tae come. I mean Eddie is still going tae launch himself onto our bed and want us tae get up and so will she. Now come on. It's late," she said as she got off the floor and Campbell looked up at her. Carefully getting up, he watched Marcy unplug the fairy lights then walked to him and they walked down the hallway. After putting Emma Rose to bed, Campbell looked at the ceiling while lying on his back and smiled after Marcy snuggled closer, placing her head at the center of his chest. Reflecting back on all the craziness in his life, Campbell understood that the best present he ever received was lying next to him and his blessings were sleeping down the hallway. Sliding his arm around Marcy, Campbell closed his eyes as he sighed and drifted off to sleep with a contented smile on his face.