It's Christmas
Chapter 5
"Slow down, Lucy, just slow down and tell me," Lilly said as she sat in her office.
"Santa and I used the Globe attempting to find something that would help Katie. Be it a drug or whatever," Lucy told her.
"Ingenious. I never considered that," Lilly admitted. She knew about the Globe. The Globe was the best-kept secret in all of the North Pole. You could count the number of people who knew about the Globe on one hand.
"What did it show you?" Lilly inquired.
"The machine, Lilly, it showed me the machine."
Lilly stared at her. "You mean the machine that is part of your grand plan?"
"YES!" Lucy said excitedly. "It'll work, Lilly. It will work. The Globe showed me it will work."
Lilly breathed in a slow, deep breath and let it out. "What does Santa know?"
"Nothing, he doesn't know what the device is. I ran out of there and came straight here. Please don't tell him about it. Please, Lilly," Lucy asked her. "He'll try and talk me out of it, and I don't want that. It'll work, Lilly, I know it will work."
Lilly frowned. "You want me to lie to Santa?"
"No, I'm not asking you to do that. I would never ask that of you. Never. I'm asking you not to tell the man anything about the device. Please, Lilly."
"Santa is going to ask you about it. He can't resist asking you since you ran out on him," Lilly pointed out.
"Yes, that might not have been my finest hour. But I just had to tell you about what the Globe showed us. It'll work, Lilly. Please?" Lucy asked her.
"Fine, I'll keep your secret. But you have to be ready for Santa," Lilly told her.
"Thank you, Lilly." Lucy came around her desk and hugged her.
Lilly tucked a piece of hair behind Lucy's ear. "You must really love him to go this extreme."
"I do, Lilly, I really do."
"You realize you'll be giving up living a long time as an Elf," Lilly reminded her.
"I have a plan for that. Don't worry about that. Thank you, Lilly." Lucy hugged her again. Then she left and headed not for her office but for the cafeteria. She didn't want to say she was hiding from Santa, but she was.
*~{[}~*
A nurse went to check on Kate to see how she was doing. "Hi, Charlie. I see you're trying to reach Kate. You're a good dog, Charlie." She petted him and looked at Katie.
"She looks the same as always. Let's see how she's doing, shall we." She went over to the monitoring device. "OH NO! No, no, no. That can't be right. It just can't be." She tapped it to see if it would change what she saw; it didn't.
"I've got to find Lilly. You stay with Katie, Charlie." The nurse ran out of Kate's room and asked everyone she ran into if they knew where Lilly was.
"Lilly." The nurse was bent over, sucking in air since she had run everywhere looking for her. She finally found her at the machine that dispensed Hot Chocolate. It wasn't nearly as good as what Lucy made for Santa, but it wasn't that bad.
"Come…quick. Katie, nose dive," the nurse got out. Lilly forgot about her hot chocolate and ran straight for Katie's room.
"Damn, I just knew this would happen." Lilly looked over all the readouts. She even had the machine replay the last 15 minutes and saw when the nose dive took place.
"Find Lucy for me," Lilly told one of the nurses.
"Lucy? Why Lucy? Don't you mean go find Santa?" the nurse questioned her.
"No, now go find Lucy. RUN!" Lilly shouted at her, and that got her running to find Lucy.
"Help me set up the machine. It's in storage," Lilly told the other nurse.
*~{[}~*
The nurse searching for Lucy went to her office first and didn't find her. She bypassed Santa's office, ran back outside, and looked around. "Where would I be if I was Lucy?" Then it hit her. "Home." She took off running.
"What is this machine anyway? I don't remember it even being down here," the nurse told Lilly.
"Just help me get it into Katie's room. Please," Lilly told her as she grabbed a piece of it, carried it to Kate's room, and then went back for another piece.
While that was happening, the nurse searching for Lucy asked everyone she saw if they had seen Lucy. "She was in the cafeteria last I saw her," an Elf told her.
"Thanks." She ran back outside, went to the Transmat wall again, and rushed into the cafeteria. But the cafeteria was huge, meant to serve a lot of Elves.
She didn't think she had time for this, so she began walking while yelling Lucy's name. Then she saw Lucy walking toward her, so she waited for her to reach her.
"Lucy." Except she was out of breath. "Hospital… Katie. …Nose dive. Come quick," was all she could get out.
"NO!" Lucy took off running for the Transmat wall. She needed Katie alive and still with some brain function or the device wouldn't work. All her dreams would be gone.
Meanwhile, Lilly and the nurse were setting up the machine. "Let's see, this wire goes here, and this wire goes here. And this wire goes here." She was busy setting up the machine.
"Okay, plug it in and pray it works," Lilly told the nurse who plugged it into the outlet. Lilly watched as the machine came to life. "So far, so good. Now I need to run a few tests."
"What is this machine anyway?" the nurse asked Lilly.
"It's a transfer machine. I don't know who invented it. It's sat in storage since I don't remember when. Lucky for Lucy, I know how to run it."
"Lucy? I don't understand. What's Lucy got to do with any of this?" the nurse asked her while Lilly ran her first test on the machine.
"Good, it works. Now to get Katie hooked up to it," Lilly said to herself, mostly, and she started applying things to Katie's head. Then she put the cap on Katie and ran another test.
In the meantime, Lucy was running flat out for the hospital. She burst through the doors and headed for the ICU wing, where she saw Lilly running a test.
"Am I too late," Lucy panted as she bent over and sucked in air.
"No, you're right on time. Sit in this chair for me," Lilly told her, and Lucy sat down and waited. "Take your cap off." Lucy yanked it off and put it in her lap. She ran a hand through her long hair.
"Nervous?" Lilly asked her.
"No. …Yes," Lucy admitted.
"You should be," Lilly told her. "Because if this doesn't work, we'll lose you both."
"It'll work, it will. The Globe showed me it would work, Lilly."
"Alright, let's get you hooked up. Lay back for me." Lilly adjusted Lucy's chair so that she would lie down and started applying things to her head. Then she put a cap on her head.
"Just one final test. You're lucky I was taught how to use this machine, Lucy. But it's been a while," Lilly added.
"Thank you," Lucy told her as tears started to roll down the sides of her face. She was scared of what she would find when she ended up in Katie's head.
"Any last words, Lucy?" Lilly asked her.
"Please, tell Santa I love him."
"You can tell him yourself. Time to close your eyes and think happy thoughts. Now, you'll be lost inside Katie's head after this works. It may be days or weeks before you can even form a word to say. So don't get discouraged," Lilly warned her.
"Thank you, Lilly."
"I've still got some brain activity in Katie, and if I read this right, yours is strong.
"Here goes nothing. Good luck, Lucy. Remember, don't get discouraged if you can't talk right away. You're going to have to learn a whole new way of doing things," Lilly told her.
"I understand," Lucy replied.
"Beginning transfer…Now." And Lilly pressed the button, and the machine started to work.
"I think I understand now. You're putting Lucy inside Katie's head," the nurse told her just as the other nurse showed up totally out of breath.
"Yes, it's a mind transfer machine. Like I said, I don't know who invented it – probably some Elf, one with too much time on his hands. But it's going to move all of Lucy's mind into Kate's mind," Lilly told them.
"Why?" the nurse asked her.
"Because Lucy's in love with Santa," Lilly said. "I don't really understand it myself, nor do I know her plans for when and if this works. But she's in love with Santa. And love can make you do some crazy things."
"You're telling me. It's nuts. Why give up being an Elf?" The nurse didn't get it.
"Like I said, she loves Santa so much that she thought up this idea all on her own. At first, I fought her, but she convinced me she truly loved Santa.
"You gotta admit this is a novel way of showing your love for someone. If or when this works, she'll be Katie. She might even answer to both names. Who knows. There's still a lot of Katie in there, but not enough to make her whole again.
"Katie is lost to us. But if or when this works, I don't know what she'll be," Lilly told her as she stood there watching the machine work.
"I never knew she loved Santa this much. Not enough to do this," the nurse told her.
"I don't think even Santa knows how much she loves him. But she's got a problem still. Katie's here because of a Dear Santa letter," Lilly told them both.
That got one of them to put a hand over her mouth. "Oh, my god. What's she going to do now?" she questioned through her hand.
"I don't know. I really don't. I hope Lucy has a plan, or she'll be stuck there, living with her parents, Katie's parents." Lilly stood there and watched the machine work.
"She said she had a plan regarding giving up her extended life being an Elf. I have no idea what that is. Or even if she has a plan to get her out of the Dear Santa letter," Lilly said. "One thing at a time. We need this to work first, or the rest is just talk."
Lilly had a warning for them. "We need to watch out for Santa. He'll show up soon and probably lose his mind over what Lucy has done. We can't let him interfere. It's too late, anyway. Not much of Lucy is presently in Katie, but little by little, that'll change."
"All this because Lucy loves Santa. We'll be ready for Santa when he shows up," one of the nurses told her.
"Yes, we will," the other nurse said. They all just stood there watching the machine do its work. Lilly checked to see if it was still properly functioning. "So far, so good."
*~{[}~*
It was well after lunch, and they took turns going to the cafeteria.
Santa hadn't seen Lucy for hours. That wasn't like her. He missed her, missed her hot chocolate and her cookies. So he got up, made it snow on himself, and arrived just outside Katie's ICU room.
"What the hell!" Rick saw Lucy attached to a machine. Worse, it appeared Kate was, too. He started to go into the room, but an Elf intercepted him.
"You can't come in, Santa."
"What the hell is going on here? You've got Lucy hooked up to a machine." Rick didn't understand any of it. He started to enter her room again, but the same Elf blocked him.
Thankfully, Lilly showed up. Thankfully for the nurse, that is.
"Come away from Katie's room, Santa, and I'll explain." Lilly softly touched his arm.
Rick shook her hand of his arm. "You will explain now. Why have you got Lucy hooked up to a machine?" he demanded to know.
Lilly tried again and touched his arm. "Come on, Santa. Let's take this to my office, where we can talk."
"NO! You'll explain now, or I'll disconnect Lucy from that machine." He was going to protect Lucy. He couldn't lose her. Not now.
"Fine. We're transferring Lucy's mind into Katie's mind. Happy now," Lilly snapped.
"You're what?" Rick didn't understand.
"Come on, Santa. My office is right there, so we can talk. Please, Santa. Lucy is fine." Lilly guided him into her office and closed the door.
The nurse went over to the machine and looked at it. It seemed to her to be working perfectly. She looked at Katie's vitals, and everything seemed fine there, so she sat back down and waited. She was glad it was Lilly. She didn't want to have to try and explain it to Santa.
"Start talking. What are you doing to Lucy?" Rick wanted to know right now.
"You truly love Lucy, don't you." That was good, given their love would face the ultimate test. "Lucy came up with a plan, one which would transfer her mind into Katie's. I tried to talk her out of it, but she was adamant. She kept saying it would work. Then you and Lucy used the Globe, which showed her the machine she's presently hooked up to," Lilly told him.
"The Globe. So Lucy knew what it showed me. That's why she ran out of the room." Rick got it now. Or at least a piece of it.
"Yes, it verified for Lucy that the device would work, and so far, it is. It's transferring Lucy's mind into Katie's mind.
"You see, Katie suddenly took a nose dive on us. Lucy planned to use the device months from now, but Katie gave us no choice. It was now or possibly never."
"But why? Why would Lucy do such a thing? Why?" Rick started pacing the room.
"Because," Lilly began, "Lucy loves you, Santa. She loves you so much that she came up with this plan."
Rick stopped in his tracks. "Lucy loves me?"
Lilly nodded. "She does, so much so that she was willing to give up her life as an Elf and become Kate, become human, like you. I presume that way you would love her back as Katie."
"But I already love Lucy. I, I really love her." Rick had never thought of it like that before. He loved Lucy. "But why would she do such a thing? Why?" Rick sat down, and tears started to fall.
"Love makes us do some crazy things, Santa. What Lucy did is her crazy thing," Lilly said to him.
"And you let her do this to herself," Rick stated.
"I did. I love Lucy, too, Santa. Maybe not as much as you, but I do, and she convinced me that she loved you. It saves Katie's life this way, too. Of course, we lose the Lucy we all loved, but she's not gone. Not really. She'll just be reborn as Katie. She may even respond to both names." Lilly shrugged. "Who knows?"
"I suppose it's too late to stop all this?" Rick asked her.
"Very much so. We'll lose both if we stop now. Lucy may survive it, but she'll never be the same again. She'll never be the Lucy we both love, Santa," Lilly told him. "We need to let the machine do its work."
"How… how long will it take?" Rick asked her.
"Unfortunately, I don't know. You're both lucky that I remembered how to use the machine. It's sat in storage for a long time. I don't know who built it or why. My guess is some Elf who has too much time on his hands, probably in the same workshop where everything else gets made. I don't really know.
"But it's liable to take days if not weeks. We're talking about a mind here. There's a lot of information in there. Especially an Elf who has lived as long as Lucy has."
"Just how old is Lucy?" Rick asked her.
"You're asking me how old an Elf is? How old a woman is? I'm ashamed of you, Santa," Lilly chided him.
Rick hung his head. "Call it a weakness."
"For the record, I don't know how old Lucy is. But you know how old Katie is," Lilly told him.
Rick did know precisely how old Katie was, to the day, if not the hour even.
They all met in Katie's room and looked at the two of them.
"She did this because she loves me," Rick said, unsure if he believed it, that anyone would go to such lengths because of him. "I don't know if she's a fool or what she is. But I do know I love her too."
"I hope you have a plan for the Dear Santa letter, Santa, because I'm not sure Lucy had a plan yet," Lilly told him.
"Good lord, I forgot all about the Dear Santa letter. Oh, Lucy, what have you done?" Rick asked her, but of course, she didn't answer him.
"No, I don't have an answer to the Dear Santa letter. Yet," Rick told them. "But I have nine months, well, really eight months now, to try and come up with one," he said, and they all stood there watching the machine do its work.
He looked at little Lucy. Rick knew she would be gone after this, lost to him forever.
Rick broke down in tears and made it snow on him so he could cry alone and in peace.