A/N: There will be one final installment to tie up a couple loose ends. I am so glad so many of my readers are enjoying this. Please leave a review.

Christmas to Remember

Reagan Home
Brooklyn, New York
December 24, 2050

Eddie lay on the large queen size bed she had shared with Jamie or that last thirty years. It was a nice 40 degree that night but Eddie felt as if it were much colder. She'd been struggling with cancer for the last seven months. Her surgical scars had healed nicely leaving two smooth pink lines across her abdomen. Jamie promised he'd let her have them corrected when she kicked the disease out of her body and into submission. She had little doubt she would ever succeed at that, but it was a lovely thought. The chemotherapy used to treat her condition ravaged her frail body. She'd shed over forty pounds weighting only 75 lbs on a 5'2" frame. The thick silky locks Jamie loved to finger as they lay cuddled in bed had fallen out leaving only pathetic stringy patches interspersed with large areas of skin. She'd lost her body hair, her eyebrows, her eyelashes; it was all gone. What was worse, she'd lost her strength, her energy, and her independence. The doctors said if she didn't' start to turn around soon, she'd not see another summer let alone another Christmas. Jamie believed the new drugs would finally work and restore Eddie's health, Eddie lived for the day Jamie would stop believing and let her go in peace. This, lying in bed, too weak to feed herself most days let alone her family was no kind of life for her. It was no kind of life for anyone.

It was getting close to midnight that Christmas Eve. All their children had come home even Abigail who had spoken earlier about going to spend the holiday with her husband's family in Lake Tahoe. As an even bigger treat, Jamie had flown Jack and Sean in from their respective homes to insure every living family member was present this holiday. It was delightful for Eddie to see everyone milling around the old house they inherited officially when Frank passed away.

Quietly, Jamie opened the bedroom door trying not to make noise and disturb Eddie's sleep, except she wasn't sleeping. She spoke softly, "Finished playing Santa Claus for the night?"

Jamie immediately moved to the bed and took Eddie's hand, "I'm sorry, honey. Was I too loud?"

"No, I wasn't asleep. I was thinking, waiting for you," Eddie replied.

"You shouldn't be," Jamie gently scolded. "You need your sleep. The body heals when it sleeps."

Eddie closed her eyes a brief moment. "I know that, dear. I do. It's just so hard to be comfortable."

"Pain?" Jamie asked gently caressing her pale, drawn cheek.

"Not much," Eddie said honestly. "Nothing is comfortable now, nothing is warm…And I'm tired of that."

"I know you are," Jamie sympathized. "I am too and I'm sure the end is in sight now. I know the new regimen is going to do it, Eddie. Its going to help you beat this thing down, baby."

Eddie leaned her cheek into his hand, then reached a cold thin hand of her own up to cover it. "Jamie, I wish I had your faith in that, you will to defeat this thing. It would all be better now if I had that strength."

"But you do," Jamie assured her. "You are the bravest most courageous woman I've ever met. I get my strength from you, Eddie."

"Jamie, I…" Eddie began. She paused and licked her lips turning her head slightly toward the night stand. Jamie took the cup of water he kept there and held it so Eddie could take a few small sips. Once she swallowed and rested a minute she spoke again.

"Jamie, I was lying here tonight thinking, listening to everyone downstairs having fun, and I realized what I was missing out on doing," Eddie sighed. I have no joy in my life as it is now, nothing but endless days of loneliness and boredom knowing that I'm a drain on you and on our kids. The chemo, all of these therapies, it's extending my…"

"Life, Eddie!" Jamie interjected for her. "It's extending your life. I know it's hard. I can see what it has done to you, but you are still here with us, with me and I will not let you forget that or change it! I will not permit that. Not ever! Do you hear me?"

"No," Eddie sighed. "I hear your fear and your desire to keep me with you, but that is not you talking. That isn't my husband saying those words. It's his pain, not his heart."

"Yes, it is my heart," Jamie countered. "My heart that could not bear the pain of losing you. You've come from behind to win before and you'll do it again. You just have to keep fighting, keep trying. Don't give up now."

Eddie offered Jamie a small smile and took his hands in hers, "I'm tired, Jamie. I'm too tired to keep the pain hidden from you, too tired to withstand endless hours on the floor in front of the toilet and certainly too tired to enjoy life at all. I'm not living, Jamie, I'm existing. I…It's not fair of you to ask me to go on like this and…"

"Not fair of me?" Jamie asked pain and anger glowing in his eyes. "It's not fair of your to give up on this, on our family. You are not going to die, Eddie. I won't let you."

"I don't want to give up, Sweetheart," Eddie sighed. "But I have to or I will leave you with only painful memories of these pathetic months and no warm happy ones. I'm existing on the chemo, Jamie, not living. If I only have a limited amount of time on earth, I want to spend it participating in my life no waiting for it to pass by."

"Eddie, do you honestly think I am going to sit here and look into your eyes, eyes so filled with love and vitality and bless your decision to give up this fight and to leave me and our children?" Jamie said huskily. "I won't do that, Eddie. I can't."

"I don't need your blessing, Jamie" Eddie sighed. 'Or your permission. I am telling you that I can't do this anymore. I can't take the pain, the nausea, this feeling inside as if I'm…" She bit her lip hard and turned her face away from Jamie's penetrating gaze.

Jamie's hand shook as the force of Eddie's words hit him square in the chest. Eddie was exhausted, weak, and in utter agony from the cancer coursing through her body and even after months of fighting the disease was winning. The treatment was taking more out of her than the cancer itself. She was lying there asking him to let her stop this, to let her be free if that was her destiny and use the time she would have left to enjoy being with the children and with him. Eddie had already done so much for him and given him so much, he couldn't deny her this Christmas wish.

Jamie rose from his seat on the bed and paced the room as he had done so many times through their lives as husband and wife, as cops, and mostly as parents. He stopped in front of the large bay window that Abigail and Beth helped decorate with faux frost and stick on tress. At first Jamie though the light dusting on the ground was an optical illusion, a projection from the décor only when he looked to the lights outside he could make out flurries falling from the sky and landing on the grass giving the place a new, soft glow.

"Oh my," he gasped in surprise. They hadn't had a white Christmas since Noelle's fifth birthday. New York had plenty of snow, but it just had not been on Christmas Eve. Jamie decided right then if this was the last Christmas he would spend with Eddie it would be one they both remembered.

Jamie moved over to the bed, "Eddie," he said softly. "You have to see what's happening outside. Can…Do you have the strength to put your arms around my neck? I want to share something special with you."

"Jamie, I…" Eddie began.

"Ssh," Jamie soothed. "Just try to put your arms around my neck, honey."

Eddie sighed and focused her energy on raising her arms only to fail at that attempt with a soft moan.

"That's okay," Jamie soothed. "Let me get your hat and sweater and we'll try again.

A moment later, Jamie returned to Eddie's side. He gently wrapped her heavy sweater around her frail shoulders and set a wool stocking cap on her head. With infinite care and tenderness Jamie maneuvered Eddie's arms around his neck so he could lift her from the bed and carry her out to the porch.

Once Jamie got Eddie outside he eased himself into a chair and cradled her in his lap against his chest. "Look," he smiled and pointed at the flurries falling from the sky. "Isn't it beautiful?"

Eddie smiled, 'It hasn't snowed on Christmas Eve in so many years. It's perfect. So peaceful."

"Yeah," Jamie agreed, placing a soft kiss on Eddie's temple. "Just like this moment, perfect."

The pain sat there holding one another for a few silent minutes. Eddie would occasionally nuzzle her cheek against Jamie's chest or Jamie would kiss Eddie's temple. Finally, after what seemed like a second or an eternity, he spoke, "Honey, I heard every word you said before and you know every triumph and failure you experienced in all this is I shared with you. Still, I can't suffer for you as much as I'd like to and I can't seem to take your pain away. All I can do is support you in what you decided to do and I will, my love. If you want to say stop, then say it and I'll stand with you."

As Jamie said those words tears began to fall from his eyes onto Eddie's cheek. "Eddie raised her hand nad pushed the tears off Jamie's face. "Thank you, Jamie," she replied. "You don't' know what that means to me. I've been thinking about what's right or fair and my illness does affect all of us, still I'm the one that has to fight it and I'm tired. After the new year, I will start the experimental drug you signed me up for and I will take that treatment and make a stand. If it succeeds, I'll continue until I'm cured. If it fails, I'll call it quits and let nature take it's course."

"Nothing about this is fair," Jamie sighed. "But that's a Christmas gift I can't pass up. I love you so much."

"I love you, too," Eddie replied and settled back against Jamie's chest to watch the snow fall.