ACT 2

"Mike? Honey, dinner's almost ready."

Moaning, the dozing Lieutenant slowly lifted his head off his arm. He had expected to see Jeannie's face looming over his, telling him he had fallen asleep at the office. When his eyes adjusted, Mike's mouth hung open in confusion and surprise. The office had disappeared. He was sitting at the dining table where an array of documents covered the table top. Memories of taking his work home with him, came rushing back. He hadn't done it in a long time, not since Helen cried when he missed Jeannie's first words and first steps. Like an angel in all her beauty, the only woman he ever loved stood in front of him, smiling down at him. But it was a sad smile.

"You're doing it again," Helen said softly, gesturing toward the paperwork scattered in front of her.

"No, I was just…no I was at work…" Mike stammered his excuse then stopped when he realized the absurdity of his predicament. This is a dream, he told himself. After all, Helen couldn't be alive – not after all these years.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself. It's Christmas Eve, Mike. Our daughter's first Christmas."

Helen's pained voice hurt Mike to the core. He swallowed down hard but remained silent, eyeing the love of his life as tears glistened in her eyes.

"You're right. I need to put all this paperwork away," Mike said croakily, forcing a smile to light up his saddened features. He rose to his feet and walked around the table. Without another word, Mike enveloped Helen in his arms but just as he thought he could feel the warmth and softness of her skin, she vanished.

"Mike, come on wake up. Jeannie's going to be worried about you."

Jolted out of a dream that he didn't want to end, Mike looked up and saw Steve's face eyeing him nervously.

"You've been out for hours. Come on, let's get you home." Steve grabbed Mike's coat and fedora from the coat stand.

"Hours? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I told Rudy I would stay here until you woke up. He didn't want to wake you since you've been losing a lot of sleep lately. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I guess I didn't realize just how tired I was. Wait a minute, what day is it? Is it Christmas Eve?" Mike jumped to his feet so fast he almost upended his chair.

"No, Christmas Eve is tomorrow. Are you sure you're…"

"I said I'm alright. Let's go."

"Okay." Steve handed Mike his things then the two of them left the office.

…..

Mike was greeted by Jeannie as she opened the front door.

"I called over an hour ago but your phone rang out. Steve told me you were in a deep sleep. I'll fix you up something for dinner." Jeannie kept her eyes on her father as he shrugged out of his coat.

"You know what, Sweetheart? I think I'm just going to jump in to a hot shower then call it a night." Mike pulled his daughter into a warm embrace then kissed her forehead and said goodnight.

…..

Tossing and turning in his bed, Mike was at a loss on why he found it difficult to let sleep over take his consciousness. He questioned himself if deep down the real reason for his sudden desire to fall asleep had anything to do with the dream he had earlier that day. Helen's presence seemed so real and he longed to reconnect with the past to correct his mistakes. When sleep seemed to be ignoring his call, Mike abandoned his attempts and slid out of bed. He switched on the night lamp, wrapped his night robe around himself and walked out of his room. He headed toward the living room, hoping to catch a re-run of today's game. Feeling his way around in the dark, he found the small lamp and flicked on the switch. As he started toward the television set, he bashed his shin into the edge of the bookcase. Hissing in pain and grabbing his leg out of reflex, Mike noticed the spine of one of the volumes in the bookcase was jutting out. Reaching across, he pulled out the volume and recognition dawned on him as he flipped it open. It was one of the few family albums he possessed. Jeannie's first Christmas. With the album held open in his hands, Mike took a seat on the sofa. Seeing his reading glasses were still where he had left it the previous day, on the coffee table, he picked it up. Smiling as the fond memories of a time long since passed came back to him, Mike felt himself relax for the first time in weeks.