Christmas Miracle*

It had been a week since Marty had been taken to the hospital and she still hadn't opened her eyes. On the first night Todd had learned that she had a chronic illness called Lupus from reading her medical chart. She had been hospitalized several times due to complications caused by drinking, this time it was a kidney infection.

He had called her aunt Kiki, but she had better things to do and didn't care one way or another that her niece could die if the antibiotics didn't work.

"Vicki, what are you doing here on Christmas?" Todd asked as he looked up to see his sister.

"Bo, told me about Marty and I had to come for Megan's sake," she stated.

"Who's Megan?" Todd asked.

"Megan was my daughter and Marty's friend. She had Lupus as well, but she refused to stop drinking. I tried to help, but she didn't listen and eventually the disease got the best of her and she passed away. We can't lose her too," Vicki whispered as she took Marty's hand.

"We won't...she's going to take care of herself even if I have to make her," Todd demanded.

"This isn't something that you can force on her. If she's to get better than it will have to be because she wants to, or it won't stick. Trust me, I know from experience."

"Perhaps, but we need her to wake up first," Todd said.

"I'm going to go down to the hospital chapel and say a prayer for her. Do you want to come?" Vicki asked.

"No, I don't want to hurt her chances for a miracle, you go ahead," Todd stated.

"Come on Marty, enough is enough, open up your eyes and fight. You can't give up on yourself or me. I need you. Is that what you want to hear? Well, it's true. I've needed you from the moment that I met you. If you die, then I'll die. I promise you that I'll make it happen," Todd said as tears streamed down his face.

He grabbed her hand and waited for her to respond. She had to get better, she just had to.

"God, I know that you don't want to hear from me after all the terrible things that I've done, but you can't take her away from me as some sort of punishment. She shouldn't have to suffer for my sins, bring her back so that I can make amends to her."

Todd felt her hand grasp his. "Marty," he whispered as her eyelids fluttered. She was waking up, he was getting his Christmas miracle for a second chance.