A great golden light descended on Meg from above. A choir of angels sang through the ethereal and resounded the beauty of heaven.
She faded in and out of view for a moment and finally faded in to a series of vivid sparkles.
Like on Star Trek… Mac thought. How odd.
Mac wiped her eyes again and she heard the angels again.
Another light descended and pulsed with the rhythm of creation.
Particles and light merges and twisted until it took the form of a chubby, balding man who smiled nervously at her.
"H-Hi." Mac said, breaking the ice and the unnatural silence.
"Oh, right…" The man pulled an index card out of the pocket of his Hawaiian shirt. "Cindy Mackenzie, I am the ghost of Christmas Present." He said very formally. "But you can call me Curly."
She smiled wider than she meant to and gave a small laugh. "Okay, Curly. Call me Mac."
"Okay." He said eagerly. "They don't tell us these things…" He swallowed nervously. "I've been looking forward to this…"
"I can tell." Mac could see the logic in it. They had sent a big kid to teach her to love Christmas. It was genius. "Are we supposed to…"
"Oh, right." He straitened up and offered her his arm like a proper gentleman.
She took it softly with a slight smile.
"We're off." He snapped his fingers and Lynn responded.
"Now!" She called out. And Heaven once again began to swirl and dance around them. This time, they held Mac and Curly in place, and spun all of reality underneath them - placing them right in the Sinclair's living room.
And suddenly heaven was thronged with a thousand people in choir robes who were still leaving who got bottlenecked with the thousand or so athletes who were running on the treadmills that spun reality to move them across town who were also on thier way out.
"Alright people!" Lynn called out. "I know you're all tired. But we've broken the back of it already and it's gone flawlessly thus far!"
Everyone gave themselves a round of applause.
Lynn clapped along. "You deserve it." She told everyone. "You really do."
"Then tell us about Lilly!" Someone called out.
And suddenly Meg was at her side. "Lynn… Is it true?"
Lynn swallowed. "Okay!" She admitted. "I do know what happened to Lilly. And as soon as everyone's back, tonight… I'll tell you everything."
"Oh, this is great, isn't it?" Curly was wandering around the Mackenzie house, eyeing the decorations. "A real family Christmas…" He shrugged at her.
"I didn't really have a family." He confided. "Except when I was young…"
Lauren ran in.
"About her age!" Curly smiled wide as she went to the kitchen and began chatting with her mother.
"Lauren…" Mac smiled at her. It was good to see her happy after having seen her so sick.
Mac watched as the smile slowly faded from his face. "What is it?"
Curly nodded toward Lauren. "It's her, the poor thing."
"What do you mean?" Mac looked her over. Lauren looked happy enough.
"She's just one nasty disease away from kidney failure…" Curly swallowed. "God, I didn't want to tell you that part."
"But she'll be okay, right?" Mac stepped up. "Right?"
Curly pursed his lips. "That's a question about the future… I can only do the present."
"Well, they've got money. They could get doctors. Her parents could…" But Curly was shaking his head.
"Her father has a blood condition. He'd never survive the operation." He took a breath to steady himself. "And her… Your mother… She only has… one."
Mac felt as though the world were spinning around her.
"Mine." She said softly. "She could… I could give her…"
"Not if you took all those pills you couldn't." He said softly. "You'd be gone… Then she'd be gone…"
Mac felt the tears streaming, warm, down her face. "This isn't fair." She told him. "I couldn't know…"
But Curly wasn't accusing her of anything and she knew it.
"You know what dying taught me Mac?" He said softly. "It taught me that… We can't always tell the good from the bad when we're doing it. But when you know for sure that you can do some good…And you don't?"
He swallowed. "Let's just say that… Regretting something forever… Is a whole lot harder when you've actually got forever to do it in."
"Can … Will you take me home now?" Mac asked, her Face breaking as she began to cry in to her hands.
Curly's eyes were glistening and he voice was steeped in sadness as he answered. "I cant. Not yet… There's something you have to hear."
And he picked up the nearest phone and handed it to her.
She took it gingerly and heard the conversation on the line.
"Really Claire… Thank you for the gifts. The kids love them." Mr. Mackenzie sat down on the edge of his bed and Mac could see him as he talked on the phone. "… And … I know you always ask… I… I think I saw her today."
"Who are you… Oh. I…" The voice swallowed. "Did she look… well?"
"I don't know. It was so quick." He sighed. "I feel so guilty Sissy. Do you know what I thought?"
"What is it?" Said the voice, radiating concern.
"I thought… I thought that maybe… I only wonder about Cindy because I'm… Not a good enough father to Madison… Like…" He shook off the cobwebs. "I felt so bad, seeing her today, knowing I couldn't say anything without… Without … It's like abandoning Madison somehow…"
There was a pause on the line.
"I… I know it wasn't easy. Any of it." His sister told him. "But I do know this… Everything changes little brother. And maybe someday it could happen…"
"I don't see how… I don't know what could possibly…" He sobbed slightly.
Mac's eyes lit up and she set the phone back on the base. "Oh… Curly."
He smiled. "You see?"
"I know what could make this work… with Madison and me…"
And Curly nodded. "Amazing the kind of friends you could make… Donating a kidney."