It's A Wonderful Life, Mr. Way

Two years after the wedding.
Logan Michael: One year old.
Andie Redmond Way: After a roller-coaster of a battle with breast cancer, the disease has now metastasized. It has spread to her lungs. As a result, she has recently been diagnosed as terminally ill.

Friday, December 18th, 2009

From his mother's dining room table, the same one at which he and his family used to eat in his childhood home, Mr. Way wiped his son's soiled face and hands, and he set him down from his high chair. But Donna told Gerard to go play with the baby, that she would take care of everything. She certainly had been helpful lately. And Gerard tried to remember to do something nice for her sometime soon...though there was so much happening right now.

Only a couple of hours ago, he had left his teenage cousin at the hospital with Andie so that he might spend the evening with their son. After a very difficult night, Mrs. Way had slept all day. But it was needed. Gerard had remained by her side, fretting alone, but for his dad who came to sit with him awhile...and talk with him awhile. Though he could not recall just what they spoke of.

Of all the things he'd forgotten recently, Andie's husband would just as soon forget the past twenty-four hours, anyway. Watching his best friend struggle to breathe every thirty minutes was something he certainly didn't care to remember ever. But at least she'd been awake and eating something when he left. This had to be a sign that the antibiotics were doing some good. Didn't it?

But Gerard's thoughts would be rightfully redirected to his son in this brief visit with him that day. Because the very moment little Logan Michael's feet hit the floor of his grandma's dining room, he said his first sentence. Or rather, he asked his first question.

"Aw faw down?" the baby inquired of his daddy. And he tilted his head, looking up at Gerard with a most hopeful expression, much like he had only a moment ago when he held his pudgy little hand out for more peaches.

To Gerard, Logan resembled his mommy so much just then, though maybe more in his mannerisms. And he stared at him a moment, considering that his request was of the game that Andie so often played with their son.

"Yeah. I'll play 'Ring Around the Rosie' with you, little man. Just don't rush me with that whole 'falling down' part. I'm old, ya know..." Logan's daddy teased. "Ya gotta go easy on me. Okay, kid?"

But before he left his mom's, Gerard's cell phone vibrated in his pocket, and he panicked before he even looked at the display. Andie's hospital room.

"Stop..." She immediately, though gently, scolded him, recognizing that worrisome tone in his voice. But Andie's own was so soft, though she had to pause to clear her throat. "Would you do us a BIG favor? ... Would you bring me and Sam some Starbucks? I promise I won't tell if you won't..."

"An'...c'mon. I don't think a mocha latte falls under the category of the 'clear liquids' you're supposed to be drinking."

As one might have predicted, Mrs. Way certainly had her mocha latte, and Miss Romero had her pumpkin spice version of the same warm brew. But when Mr. Way had dispersed the contraband beverages, he then noted the red poinsettia that now sat on the hospital room's windowsill. Andie explained that, not only had Father Girone come by to see her, but Manny, the elderly gentleman from St. Peter's, had, as well.

The elderly gentleman that Gerard supposedly met on a previous occasion...

The Father Christmas-like man incidentally happened to be visiting someone on the same wing when he bumped into the priest from St. Peters's. Together with Sam, they had held hands, listening as Father Girone asked God to bless Andie with a speedy recovery, and asking that she might be able to go home soon, so that she could be with her family once more.

Upon hearing this, Gerard nodded with raised brows, but a tight lip. He no longer believed that praying about these things accomplished anything more than simply giving Andie hope. It was obvious to him that God was no longer listening. But as long as it made his wife was feel better about things, and apparently, this evening, she did, Mr. Way would keep his thoughts to himself.

Sam, too, had been quite pleased again after the hospital visit. Of course, being around Andie naturally tended to have that effect on a person. Unless she was too miserable to do so, Mrs. Way normally carried this honest warmth of someone you'd known for years. It was the very first thing her husband had noticed about her the day he met her. And, in Miss Romero's case, Andie had certainly become the big sister she never had.

Mr. Way watched his wife and his teenage cousin hugging one another, then Sam pulled back with a smile, a smile that told Gerard the two had shared something of which he was unaware. He caught it in their eyes. But he left it there. Surely Andie and Sam deserved to keep it as their own.

When the teenager left, after Mrs. Way talked with her son on the phone for a few minutes, she suddenly gave her husband an urgent expression, recalling that they'd forgotten to call Kim that day. Their regular appointments with the therapist were on Fridays. And, as with the weeks spent overseas, the week due to the holiday, and the week Andie was in the hospital for chemo, the Ways had missed today's appointment as well.

"Actually...her office called my cell earlier..." Gerard confessed, rubbing the back of his neck guiltily at what he was about to tell his ailing wife. "And I told them to cancel our regular appointment until further notice... I told them we'd call Kim if we needed her."

Although Andie was none too happy to hear this, Gerard told her there was just too much going on for him to worry with another appointment right now. Oh, his wife tried to tell him he should have gone alone, but Mr. Way assured her he was fine. And he tried to ignore that look on her face as he did so.

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

On the third morning she'd awakened at Sloan-Kettering, Mrs. Way convinced Dr. Oratz she felt well enough to go home. Gerard watched his wife as she did so, and he knew she was lying. The physician might have been fooled, because Andie really wanted this. But her husband wasn't.

Not only did she remain at least five times as congested as she had been before this illness, she was still so very weak. And as they were gathering her things to leave the dismal hospital room behind, Gerard reminded her of this.

"But I don't have a fever. And I'm on antibiotics..." Andie pleaded with him with more than her words. Her icy blues begged of him to see this as sufficient. Then she said the one thing that the young woman surely knew would change her husband's mind. "Besides, I know you'll take good care of me..."

Another two hours later, Gerard was watching his son crawl across his and Andie's big, four-poster bed to his mommy, followed by Ruby, who climbed up to share her with the baby. Amply dressed in her "I'd be Vixen" tee over a thermal shirt and drawstring pants, Andie was smiling lazily as she rubbed the puppy's head that rested on her bent knees. Then she lifted her arm, accepting Logan next to her, before she moved his dark hair to kiss his forehead...and removed his pacifier. The baby had taken with it during this abrupt stay with his grandma.

"Ohhh, I missed you, Logie," Andie quietly remarked, gazing back at him as they prepared to take a nap together.

"Aw faw down?" the baby asked out of nowhere, though he appeared equally exhausted. And his mother breathed a little laugh.

"Maybe later, sweetie."

That evening, when the little one had his fill of playing piano and coloring with his mommy, he eventually rested in his own bed once more. And Gerard and Andie took advantage of the opportunity to finish the latest jigsaw puzzle they were working on, though only after she promised him she wasn't too tired.

It was during this private time together in their own home that Miss Romero called the house, speaking with Mrs. Way once more. But when their brief conversation was through, Gerard was frowning in confusion at something Andie said about Sam's Saturday night out with Evan.

"Wait...wasn't she supposed to go to some Christmas dance last night?" he asked of his teenage cousin.

Andie explained that, although Sam's friend Josh had asked her, the high school junior had opted to take Evan up on his offer of dinner in the city, instead.

"I know she would've rather gone with Evan, but I know he wasn't allowed. I tried to tell her that she should go anyway, just this once, and just as friends. I told her she might enjoy herself. But she decided not to."

"Let me guess...she didn't go because Evan didn't WANT her to go, right?" Gerard knew exactly what this meant. "That kid is too controlling of her, An'. She's too young to be in a serious relationship. I hope you told her that. And he's using his money as a fucking lure. But it's not gonna make her happy. I don't know why she can't see that."

"No, it's not like that at all. I mean, yeah, she didn't wanna hurt his feelings, but she honestly didn't WANT to go without him. She really thinks she loves him, Gerard..." Andie tried to explain, then obviously decided there was something more important that she needed to discuss with him. "Listen, if I tell you something, will you promise not to flip out about it?"

Gerard now stared at his wife over the card table and the puzzle outlined between them, knowing full well what this meant. Whatever she was about to say was sure to cause him to 'flip out'. But he said he would try.

"I mean it, Gerard... And you can't say anything to her. I'm only going to CONFIDE this in you if you absolutely PROMISE I can trust you."

"Okay! I promise already! What is it??" he asked in his impatience, throwing his hands in the air.

"She thinks..." Andie began, then hesitated at how very significant this matter was. "She thinks she wants Evan...to be her first."

Gerard's eyes grew to twice their size, though his wife quickly clarified her statement, attempting to thwart any further unwanted reaction from him.

"EVENTUALLY, Gerard. EVENTUALLY," she stated as he threw himself back in his chair and grabbed his head with both hands. "Sam told me this because she trusted me. SHE came to ME with this, Baby. Do you know how rare that is? She could've kept this to herself, or even impulsively acted on it. But she chose to open up to me. And I'm only telling you this because someday...hopefully...you're gonna be in this same position with Logan..."

Andie's husband stared at her once more, though now for a different reason. He knew for certain just why she would bring this up. But he still wasn't prepared for this.

"I want you to be that close to our son...that he feels like he CAN come to you for advice like this. I don't want Logan to have to ask someone else because he doesn't think you can deal with it," Andie continued, confessing more than Sam's secret. "And I want you to recognize how wonderful it would be for him to talk to you about something important like this... Baby, I need to know that you can handle these things without me..."

And there it was. Mrs. Way once again began attempting to discuss these things with her husband. She cited that her pneumonia scare proved that it was even more crucial than ever now that they do so. But again, Gerard quietly shook his head. And he stood from the table, asking Ruby if she was ready to go out one more time before they went to bed. But Andie stopped him.

"Gerard, someday soon, I'm gonna be gone. And I don't want you to be left standing here, with this same look on your face that you're giving me right now, like you don't know what the fuck just happened."

"Don't worry about me, An'. I'll be fine," he solemnly assured her, holding her gaze with his own, and silently begging her that they end this discussion.

She finally looked away, though it was with a disappointment in her eyes. And Gerard calmly took the dog out, accepting that he was responsible for that disappointment.

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

"I still don't know why you're making him do this..." Mr. Way complained light-heartedly to his wife and to his own mom as Mrs. Way slipped the Santa hat over their son's head.

"Because he wants to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas. Don't you, Logan?" Donna replied, beaming at the toddler and touching his little nose as Andie addressed Gerard.

"Besides, we couldn't go to the children's program at St. Peter's Sunday night. And you know Manny was doing it for the kids in the parish center afterwards..."

And so it was, that Mr. Way bundled up Logan Michael, leaving his wife and his mom to get their supplies together for a Christmas ornament project they wanted to do with the little guy when he returned. Gerard ended up taking his son to Ledgewood Mall, the closest, and smallest, mall near Sparta, though they decidedly went during school hours. And there, the toddler would sit on the lap of some old guy in a Santa suit, so that his mommy might have a picture of such an event.

But, unlike the prediction of Logan's dad, he didn't get upset at all. Oh, the toddler stared strangely at the guy with his big, bushy white beard and funny little glasses. Instead, he listened as the mall Santa told him he was a good little boy. And Logan lifted his bright blue eyes to his daddy for a picture, though he didn't smile for the camera.

Gerard could actually relate to his son's sentiment, though. Afterall, he'd certainly found himself in plenty of likewise uncomfortable photo ops in recent years.

He then took Logan home to show the baby's mommy and his nana the proof of this event, and to help them acquire the toddler's footprint and handprints for the angel ornaments that they had on their agenda. But Gerard's wife was in pain, lying on the sofa and waiting for her prescription to kick in. And when he kneeled by her side, the stress of his tremendous empathy for her showing in his features, he asked if she hadn't taken her medication earlier that morning.

"I thought I'd be okay without it..." Andie admitted to her husband in her defeat. And she closed her eyes, her brows denting at the ache in her chest as she surely wished it away.

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

Mrs. Way eventually finished her ornaments with her family on Tuesday, some of them mocking ones of Gerard's and Mikey's that had been hung on Donna's tree for years. And she assured Mr. Way, she would not attempt to go without her pain medication, no matter how "foggy" it made her feel at times. The dose had certainly been increased in recent weeks.

But by Tuesday evening, Andie felt up to the couple's holiday tradition of watching "Night of the Living Dead" together. And the following morning, before Mrs. Way's family arrived, Gerard, Andie, and Logan spent a lazy morning together, watching her favorite holiday flick, "It's a Wonderful Life".

By Wednesday afternoon, Diana, Steve, and Charles joined the Ways in their home, all of them preparing for the holiday with their loved ones. And, as one might have predicted, most unfortunately, Grandpa Joe passed on the trip. Although Andie had spoken with him herself, asking her father's father to please reconsider, the elderly man refused, claiming his own health was the reason. But everyone knew better.

Also on Wednesday, when Logan's Grandma Redmond took him to pick out a small gift for his parents for Christmas, and when Charles volunteered to pick up some additional groceries for their stay, Gerard sat down with his wife and with her father as they shared a private moment.

Andie told her dad how glad she was that he was happy. She said that, although she certainly adored Charles, that Steve was following his heart was all that mattered. And Mr. Redmond gazed at his daughter a moment, perhaps realizing how very wise she had become, when he pulled her small frame to his.

"I love you, baby girl. You are, by every definition, my pride and joy," Andie's dad had remarked.

But on this Christmas Eve morning, a completely medicated and relaxed Andie Way took her family's advice, and she sat back to enjoy the day. Mama Way had arrived mid-morning, before she and Mama Redmond began filling the Ways' home with the scent of pecan pies, ham, and fresh bread baking. And when Don and Vicky arrived as well, just before the Romeros, Evan, and the rest of the Ways, Gerard's dad informed him and Andie that they should expect him early Christmas morning.

The couple shared a surprised look, though Gerard knew Andie would welcome a visit from his dad any day. But Don further elaborated.

"Us grandparents got together and picked out something for Logan. And Santa's gonna deliver it before any little boys are up on Christmas morning," Don explained. "Besides, it's not like I didn't make a similar trip for a little girl on Christmas one year..."

Andie grinned at her father-in-law, before she rubbed Ruby's head on her lap.

"Yeah? Well, what is it?" Gerard asked his dad, curious as to what they might have picked out. But he was suddenly smacked up the back of his head.

"I'm not telling you! You can't keep a secret!" the elder Way replied, before he began naming off the numerous times in which Gerard had shared things he shouldn't have throughout the years. "And there was that one year when we got your gramma a new recliner for Christmas. And I TOLD you boys, 'DON'T tell your gramma.' But the minute we walked through the goddamn door, what did you do?"

"I told Gramma we got her a new recliner..." Gerard reluctantly admitted. But at least his wife was getting a huge kick out of this. Either that, or she'd taken too MUCH of her pain medication.

But Andie's husband would later discover that he hadn't been correct in that assumption. When the rest of the fam'ly arrived that evening, Andie greeted her brother-in-law and his family, Aunt Marie, Uncle Lewis, and Cousin Vito with his latest girlfriend. Mrs. Way then hugged Sam and Evan both as they walked through the front door, and told Maxie how beautiful her dress was. But Gerard saw his wife's expression when she thought no one was watching. And he touched her arm when they had a brief moment alone in the entryway, asking if she was alright. But Andie smiled graciously at him.

"Yeah... I am, Baby," Mrs. Way replied, and her eyes took in the sight of their home, full of their loved ones.

"Are you sure you don't wanna skip Midnight Mass?" Gerard asked in an equally hushed tone. "We don't have to go..."

Of course, Mr. Way honestly had no desire to go. But his wife shook her head and frowned, reminding him that she had been resting off and on all day. They were GOING to St. Peter's.

Several hours later, when the Way home finally calmed down from the meal that Aunt Marie tried to take over, from Maxie and Logan playing loudly, and from Cousin Vito boasting about how great his sales had been in recent months, the children were starting to wear out, and the adults were having coffee. It was then that Andie and Alicia asked a favor of their father-in-law. They asked if he might do the honors of reading "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" to the kids.

But as Don did just that, not only did Logan, Maxie...and Uncle Lewis...start to doze off, but Andie rested her head against Mikey's shoulder, and began drifting off as well. And when it was just about time for everyone to head to Belleville, Gerard again tried to insist that his family forego the tradition. But Andie defied his request.

Mr. Way certainly ended up sitting beside his darling wife in a pew at St. Peter's another hour later. And while Andie seemed as comfortable as ever there, Mr. Way was hardly paying attention. First, he focused on their son, who sat upon his lap, and who required quite a bit of attention.

*Soundtrack: "Do You Hear What I Hear?" by Carrie Underwood*
Think Happy Thoughts Christmas Playlist

So that Andie could enjoy the production, because, to him, that's what it was, Gerard had taken it upon himself to keep Logan occupied. And he did so fairly successfully. The baby even fell asleep against his daddy's shoulder.

But during the choir's rendition of "Carol of the Bells", Mr. Way then leaned next to his wife, finally asking where this 'Manny' guy was. It was eating at him that he didn't remember the old man speaking to them before.

"Shhh..." Andie shushed him with a frown, then looked around the chapel. "There he is. In the fourth row on the other side. Sitting next to Luciano."

"Who's Luciano?" Gerard asked in his confusion, before his wife looked as though SHE might smack him up the back of his head.

But after she tried, and failed, to show her husband who Manny was, Andie finally told him to be quiet, and that they would find him after mass. Of course, this 'Manny' was then nowhere to be found. And Gerard's wife and son were so tired.

Although she wanted to help him play Santa, Gerard did manage to talk Andie into going ahead to bed when they returned to their, now quiet, home with Diana, Steve, and Charles. Mr. Way then set out all the gifts for their son alone, including a sock monkey that stuck out of Logan's hand-decorated stocking. But just when he'd finished up, when he came back inside with Ruby, Mr. Way heard his wife coughing terribly in their bedroom, and he hurried upstairs to her side.

When she'd somewhat recovered from the fit, Andie, in her zip-up, footy pajamas that matched their son's, told her husband she wanted to peek in on the baby, then go downstairs to see the gifts. But she glanced out their French doors, where her watering eyes discovered what Gerard had discovered only moments ago. It had begun to snow.

"Let's go outside, Baby," Andie asked with a spark in her eyes and with a smile that spread across her face. But Gerard glanced at the clock on their bedside table.

"Andie...it's 1:30am. You can't go outside in the snow in the middle of the night. You know you can't," he pointed out, then pulled back the covers and started into bed. "C'mon. Get some sleep, Sugar. You're gonna need it in the morning."

Andie sat down on the side of the bed in silence at first, simply staring down at the floor, before she turned to him again.

"But it's Christmas, Gerard. And it's snowing. It's like...magic... Ya know?" She tried to make him see what she did in this respect. Because he had seen these things, himself, before. And...maybe there were a few things on her mind that night that she hadn't shared with Gerard in some time. But that was about to change.

"The snow will still be there in the morning," Gerard reminded her, then patted the mattress beside him. "But you still can't go out in it."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Gerard," Andie solemnly replied, and their eyes met once more.

"Okay. So you go out in the fuckin' snow, and you end up in the hospital with pneumonia again. Is that what you want?" Gerard began, his tone changing to a bit more sarcasm than maybe he should have used. "Oh, no wait. Maybe you can PRAY that you won't feel worse in the morning. Maybe THEN everything will be alright. Pfft. Yeah, right."

Mrs. Way only stared at her husband, before she asked what she evidently needed to know.

"Gerard...do you still believe in God?"

"Yeah... I do. I just don't think He gives a fuck about us anymore." Even as Gerard said this, he knew he shouldn't have. And on this Christmas Eve night, his wife held a hurt in her eyes as she lowered her head, and as those eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry, An'... Don't cry. Please..." he begged of her. And Gerard sat upright beside Andie, holding her close to him as he continued to softly apologize for upsetting her. But she pulled back from their embrace, and lifted her tear-stained face to his.

"You know, we're not the only ones who have shit to deal with. And other people still have faith..."

"I know they do... But I don't even KNOW anybody who has as much shit to deal with as we do," Gerard pointed out. But his wife shook her head at him, her eyes searching his for some sense of understanding there.

"Are you serious? Do you have any idea how worried Mikey and Alicia are that they won't get to adopt Maxie? Do you even know how lonely your mom is and that she doesn't want you to be 'bothered' about it? Do you know that Sam won't see her brothers and sister for Christmas? And that her mom hasn't even talked to her in weeks? Do you know that Frank and Jamia have been thinking about having a baby, and they don't know if everything's okay?"

Gerard held his wife's gaze, as almost all of these things she now said were news to him. And he wondered...how had he missed all of this...but Andie hadn't?

"I...didn't know..." Mr. Way finally replied, and his wife finally crawled under the covers with him, touching the side of his face with her tiny hand.

"Baby, you are so attentive to Logan and I. And I know you're doing the best you can. And I love you so much for that. But we aren't the only ones having a hard time right now. And we still have to have faith...just like they do."

Friday, December 25th, 2009

As one might have predicted, by the following morning, Christmas morning in Sparta, Mr. Way had forgotten all about that discussion with his wife the night before, though it wasn't his intent to do so. He woke up late, first of all, to find his dad calling his cell phone from the driveway. When he asked why Don didn't just come inside, his dad replied that he didn't want to disturb anyone. But before Gerard left to help Don with whatever was in the back of his truck, they could both hear Andie coughing upstairs, then Logan crying. Diana appeared at the top of the stairs, telling Gerard to go ahead, that she would tend to his family.

Still in his pajama pants and slippers, Gerard followed his dad out onto the snow-covered walkway to his truck. And when he saw what was sitting in the back for Logan, Gerard first stared at it in awe...then tried to make excuses why his son shouldn't have it.

"Um...Dad...Andie and I have looked at these. They're for older kids, aren't they? Can he even work this? What are the age requirements, anyway? Is it safe?"

But Gerard's father-in-law came outside to help, and Steve was beaming with pride at seeing for himself the grandparents' choice for Logan's Christmas gift. Then Donna pulled up the driveway, as well, as she'd planned to watch the baby play awhile and prepare her cinnamon pancakes for everyone. And Gerard's excuses may as well have fallen on deaf ears.

Not fifteen minutes later, when the toy now sat in the middle of the living room, in front of the lit Christmas tree, Andie brought Logan down the stairs herself. And what happened next was as much a gift to the toddler's mom as it was to him.

When his mommy set him down, a sleepy-eyed Logan wandered over to the sight of which he hadn't taken his eyes off since they walked into the room; a huge, table train set for toddlers.

Although she managed to eat a little bit at breakfast, for the most part, Mrs. Way rested on the living room sofa that Christmas Day, just watching her son playing with his new train. Oh, he'd opened the other gifts, the learning guitar and drum, some books, an engineer's cap, and a sock monkey, and he'd played with them as well. But he kept coming back to that train set.

With Ruby snuggled against her, Andie eventually fell asleep on the sofa. It was then that Gerard tried to talk his son into letting him read one of those new books to him, "Toes, Ears, and Nose!". But Logan was all about that train. He even took his daddy's hand, pulling him down to the floor to play with him. And while Gerard would really rather not, he knew he had to do it.

By evening, Mrs. Way, in her chocolate, satin, shirt dress, was more alert than she had been all day, as she and her husband welcomed their friends into their home. But it was the Ways' annual Christmas party. She certainly wasn't going to let any illness get in her way.

There weren't any alcoholic drinks this year, but there were plenty of hors d'oeuvres, most of which Ms. Redmond made from all the leftover ham. Diana was quite proud to announce this to Gerard and Andie's friends, though she spent the majority of the evening visiting with Misty and Krista, and playing with all the babies.

Now, during this party, in which Bob, Misty, the Toros, the Ieros, the younger Ways, Brian, Jon Rivera, and Sam and Evan attended, one might think that Mr. Way would recall any of those important things his wife had mentioned to him just the night before...possibly that Mikey and Alicia were worrying about adopting Maxie, or that Frank and Jamia were deciding to have children. But he did not.

As a matter of fact, Gerard would not recall the conversation with his dear wife for many years to come.

After only a few hours of said celebration, as our favorite group played a racy rendition of "I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus" downstairs in the rec room for their family and friends, Mrs. Way became notably uncomfortable. She tried to hide it, but even the couple's friends began to notice. And although it was much earlier than the party had ever ended, soon everyone was calling it a night. But more than half of them were parents now. And, as Jamia pointed out during a hug with her best friend, sometimes these things required a bit of adjustment.

*Soundtrack: "Breath of Heaven" by Sara Groves*
Think Happy Thoughts Christmas Playlist

As Mr. Way put their son to bed, and as his mother-in-law and Charles cleaned up in the kitchen, Gerard's ailing wife was kept company by her father in the Ways' bedroom. Surely there were things they wanted to discuss before tomorrow...when Andie would escort Steve down the aisle of the Unitarian Universalist First Church of Boston.

Quietly walking through on his way to get a shower sometime later, Gerard found his father-in-law had pushed the chaise over to the bed where Andie lay. Steve was just watching her as she fell asleep, the diligent father, watching over his daughter. And Mr. Way apologized for the intrusion, then slipped into the bathroom.

But when he returned from his shower, Andie was alone, and she wasn't sleeping. She was standing at the French doors to their balcony. It was then that Gerard would discover just how greatly the end of this Christmas Day was affecting his wife...and how unequaled her faith remained.

"I know you have a purpose, Lord. I know you do. Help me to be strong... And please take care of my family for me. That's all I ask."

When she sensed him there, Andie turned to Gerard, and he walked into her, wrapping his arms around her small frame.

"Don't worry about us, An'. Please." He spoke quietly against her soft hair.

"It's over, Gerard..." Andie remarked, her cheek against his able shoulder as she exhaled in his arms. "Christmas is over. Did I forget anything? Was there something else I was supposed to do?"

Gerard's brows dented as his wife opened up to him. And it pained him to know that...Andie was afraid she'd missed something on her last Christmas. So he smoothed his hands over her back, trying to ignore that he could feel her spine beneath her thick pajamas, and he comforted her as best he could.

"No. You did everything, An'. You baked cookies, you made ornaments, you went to Midnight Mass... Everyone loved the gifts you picked out, and everyone had a great time here with us. And Logan had the best Christmas. He spent it with you..."

But she only started crying in his arms. Andie became so upset, in fact, that she fell against his chest, and coughed when she tried to breathe. So he lowered his arm to her knees, and he carried his beautiful wife to their bed. Gerard laid her there, then curled up behind her delicate figure, wrapping his arm around her middle beneath the covers.

"Please don't cry again, An'. Tell me what I can do... I want to help you," he begged of her, smoothing her dark hair from her temple. But Andie pulled his arm to her chest, and she kissed his knuckles.

"Just hold me, Baby. Just hold me..."