A Christmas Carol: Dave Rossi Style
In an instant, Henry's bedroom faded into oblivion. The next instant Dave and Ray found themselves back in the study of Dave's mansion. As the room stopped spinning, neither spoke while they sized the other up.
"What?" Dave asked more sharply than he had intended.
"You never answered my question: have we changed your mind about Christmas?" Ray countered back just as sharp. "It's pretty easy. Yes or no."
"You really think that after reliving the worst Christmases on record that the prayer of one child could make everything better? What are they smoking in heaven?" Dave shot back.
"Love is the answer…sometimes."
"Love," Dave scoffed "that's for people who don't know any better. It's for people who like to tempt fate. Or leave themselves open for more hurt than the law allows."
"And you should know because you left yourself open four times previous?"
"Once bitten, twice - er, four times shy," Dave corrected. "How many times do I have to explain it?"
"Until I can understand where the hell you're coming from. All I hear is that you don't want to be hurt, but you don't seem to understand that you're more broken than even you can realize…well, except Henry saw it."
"I'm not broken," Dave argued.
Ray snorted heavily. "Shattered is more like it. You are so jaded and wounded from the things that have happened that you can't see the forest for the trees. You would rather let Emily walk out of you life thinking that she somehow failed you than to swallow that stupid pride of yours."
"Don't lecture me! I can't remember one relationship you had that worked out. You had a string of girlfriends a mile long that you somehow managed to hide from each other. That doesn't make you an expert in love; only someone who is just like me!" Dave snarled as pain invaded his heart so sharply that he could barely breathe.
"Why do you think I can call you so well? I see you for what you are: a lost, lonely, broken man who wants so badly to love and be loved but is afraid." Ray shook his head. "If everything works out and I get my wings, I'm going to be able to spend eternity in heaven. And that's great. But even with wings and forgiveness, I still regret that I didn't have that special someone to love while I was on earth."
"Love's not all that it's cracked up to be."
Ray threw up his hands in defeat. "Do you hear yourself? Do you really listen to the words coming out of your mouth? Because if you do and you truly believe that crap you're spewing, then maybe yeah, you need to have Emily walk out of your life. But hear me out on this one: it can be too late to go back and ask for a second chance."
Ray walked over to the mantle and pulled down the picture he had held earlier.
"Life must go on, Dave. Emma made her mistakes but they don't have to be your sins. I made mistakes that you don't have to take on as your sins. She and I have to pay for what we did. But if we hurt you, please let it go."
Dave bit his tongue. As much as he wanted to deny everything Ray had said, there was a part of him that wanted to believe that he wasn't responsible for anything that had happened to his friends. He really wanted to believe that it was just the way the world worked and everything was due to fate.
But he knew better. He had seen the deviant side of life too many times to believe otherwise. He had written about heinous serial killers who controlled their fate and destiny. Nothing in life was coincidence. There was a reason for everything.
And Emily had no reason to want to spend the rest of her life with him.
"You can go now," Dave stated in a low voice that held no emotion.
The clock ticked on the background as Ray watched Dave. Slowly, he shook his head in defeat.
"I didn't get through to you, did I? Everything Emma and I did really had no bearing on you changing your mind, did it?" Ray wondered in disbelief.
"It was a good try, but maybe as my great Aunt Concetta said it is my destiny to never know happiness," Dave replied. "I've had more than my fair share of reaching for the brass ring. It's time for someone else to have a turn."
"If you aren't the most egotistical, anal retentive asshole! Maybe, you're right. Why anyone - Emily included - would want to waste their love on someone not worthy of it, is beyond me!" Ray shouted.
Semi-amused, Dave asked, "You're giving up on me that easily?"
"Yes! Nothing Emma or I have done tonight has gotten thru that thick skull of yours!"
"I don't know why you bothered wasting your time when there were more worthy souls for saving."
"I can't argue with you there!" Ray replied. "But for the record, I wasn't ordered to do this; I volunteered!"
"Why would you do that?"
He might be an angel - or a level or two below one - but he was still capable of showing emotion. And although Dave was pushing him toward the edge of no return, there was still that part of him that would forever love and try to protect the man who was as close to a brother as he had ever gotten. Yes, they had had their fights and arguments, but there was nothing he would ever change…except if he could go back and change it so that Dave wasn't so jaded by life.
Instead, all he could do was show Dave what life was like right now - the life he was creating. He was sure that angels didn't cry - but that didn't mean his heart couldn't hurt.
"Because we love you," Ray choked out.
"You were wasting your time."
"Are you sure you want to go down this road?" Ray asked. "Because if you do, there is no turning back. Everything you've seen will haunt you for the rest of your days."
Dave remained silent. There was nothing he wanted to say in his defense.
Finally, in defeat, Ray conceded. "Okay. I keep forgetting that free will is part of being human. You've made your choice, Dave. I understand - I don't agree with it - but I understand." Throwing his friend a wry smile, Ray stepped back. "I'll see you on the other side, someday….God willing."
Then, just like that, Ray faded into oblivion.
Whining softly, Mudgie came over to where his master stood and nudged his black head under Dave's hand.
Dave looked at the clock on the wall: one a.m. Five hours before he had to get up. Maybe with any luck, he could forget the whole night had happened.
Climbing the stairs, Dave headed to his bedroom and closed the door.
****
"We failed," Emma stated tearfully as she watched the man she once loved close his bedroom door with such finality that her heart broke.
"We didn't fail." Jason contradicted, "Dave made his decision. This was his choice."
"I should have shown him better Christmases…not the ones that dredged up old memories and opened scars," Emma shot back.
"His scars were always open," Jason replied evenly. "All we did was show him that he hadn't come to grips with his past quite like he thought he had."
"But what happens now? What we showed him…what if it backfires and it makes things worse?" Emma argued passionately. "He and Emily belong together and what we did could have ruined that forever!"
"That is the risk we agreed to take when we volunteered for this job," Jason said with a shake of his head.
"I agree with Jason," Ray replied. "Dave can be a stubborn son of a…" thunder in the distance interrupted his thoughts, "Missouri mule," he finished with a grimace.
"I should have shown him that Christmas where he saved that little boy who had been abducted. Or the Christmas were he volunteered at the Marines Toys for Tots project and was given the homemade Christmas card and cookies by the little girl who thought he was Santa," Emma sighed.
"There was so much we could have shown him," Ray agreed. "But we only had one night. When he gets on that plane tomorrow, everything I showed him tonight will come true."
"It doesn't have to! Maybe he can sleep on it and realize that he's screwed up," Emma said.
"And what do you think is going to happen?" Jason scoffed sarcastically. "That he's going to run to Emily Prentiss and fall to his knees begging for forgiveness? She'll shoot him on the spot - and no court in the land will blame her."
Emma threw up her hands. She walked over to the ultra white couch and sat down. "So, it's over. We failed."
Too afraid to speak the word aloud, Jason and Ray nodded in agreement. There was nothing else they could do. Unless God Himself sent down a lightning bolt to hit Dave Rossi in the ass, they were out of ideas.
"It was a good try," Jason admitted.
"No one can say that we didn't try," Ray agreed.
"But you didn't get your wings," Emma observed softly. Her soft blue eyes filled with tears.
Ray shrugged. "Wings schmings. I can handle being the low man on the totem pole for a thousand years."
"Giving up that easy?" a voice asked from behind the trio. "Or have you forgotten that there is a third ghost who gets their chance at saving the soul of Dave Rossi?"
"It won't be easy," Ray warned. "He's dead set against being happy."
"Yes, I figured that from what I saw."
"You think you can save him?" Emma asked hopefully.
The figured nodded confidently. "I am, after all, the Ghost of Christmas Future."
The trio smiled with renewed hope.