Chapter 2
Casey saw himself at the apartment he lived in before it burned down. A Christmas Story was playing, and it smelled like someone had been baking Christmas cookies. "Hello!" he said as he walked into the living room. It was then that his reclining chair whipped around, and he saw Shay. Casey jumped when he saw her. "Jesus, Matt, it's only me; relax! You're lucky I haven't come to haunt your stupid ass sooner!" She then got up and slapped Matt across the face! "Hey, what the heck was that for!" Matt said. "That's for being an absolute ass to my best friend! Matt, I trusted you with her heart, and you over there, making googly eyes at my replacement. I never knew you as one to want a meaningless fling, Casey, and let me tell you, it's not a good look on you!"
"Shay, it's more complicated than that, and you know it! Also, am I dead? How am I seeing you?" Matt asked with a panic in his voice. "Relax, Captain, Shay said in air quotes. "You are here because you are at a crossroads. As sweet Kelly was telling you earlier, you've been a dick. This Christmas, you have the choice to either be a dick forever who hooks up with every PIC at 51 or have a nice life with the white picket fence, dogs, kids, wife the dream you've had forever", she said. "Shay, I'm not a Dick Gabby wanted to go to Puerto Rico, and I honored her wishes. I'm just trying to move on with my life", he said. Shay went up to him and slapped him again. "Shay!" Casey said in an irritated tone. "Bull Shit, Casey. You two have been freaking soulmates since the day you two met. You both chose to bury the pain of losing the kids and almost each other instead of fighting for each other. Casey, I know what's been happening down there. I just don't know what the hell happened to you! The Matt Casey's I know was so excited to spend forever with Gabby Dawson and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He would have fought for her like hell because he knew having her in his life was the best thing that ever happened to him.
"Shay Gabby left; what could I do," Casey said. "Casey, if the hot charity sex tells me anything is that you two still have the hots for each other and love each other! You just got to work on communicating like adults thing!" Shay said. "Shay, I don't know what I did wrong? I don't know if I could ever live with myself if she got pregnant and died. So if her living in Puerto Rico and me staying in Chicago is what I need to do to keep her alive, I'll do it. ", Casey said. Matt was sitting on his couch during this confession. Shay got up from her angry pacing by the fireplace and sat next to Casey. "Casey, I may not have seen a lot of dick in my lifetime or the afterlife, but I know you are not it! I want to save you from choosing that for yourself, so we are going to visit Christmas past, present, and future to see if that is what you really think is the best choice for yourself and Gabby or if there's a better choice. Do you trust me to do that?" Shay said. "Of course, Shay! I'm still confused by all of this, but I trust you. I'm not going to lie when I imagined you in heaven; I thought you would be hanging out with your dream girl and your kids," Casey said with a smile. "I do, Matt! Tabitha's great, and my kids love you and Gabby's baby. I'm looking out for them till you guys get here. Which will hopefully be a very long time!" Shay said sternly. "But looking after you and Gabby is a full-time job!" she said. "I never thought you two would be causing me more trouble than Kelly!", Shay said laughing. "Yeah, I guess no one saw that coming!", Matt said laughing. "Come on, Matt, let's go to Christmases past; there's still time to turn you back into Prince Charming," she said with a smile. Shay then grabbed Matt's hand; they were going back in time.