It was about 7:00 on Christmas Eve, 2007. Father Lindsey McDonald entered his small room in St. Jerome's rectory, having just finished the early Christmas Eve Mass. As he was only the assistant pastor, he would just be assisting at Midnight Mass, so he thought he'd grab a few hours sleep first. He had sat up all of the previous night with Mrs. Maywood, who was dying of cancer. Monsignor Wainwright, who aspired to be the next bishop of the archdiocese, was too busy with his political ambitions to visit the sick, especially the poor sick. Not that Lindsey minded doing it; Mrs. Maywood had reminded him of his Aunt Maeve, who had died just before he met Rosemary. Maybe he should go and see her instead of napping, but he was so tired.

"Lindsey, wake up." Lindsey opened his eyes to see Robert Price standing there. He remembered Christmas Eve 8 years ago, when Robert had come to him to advise him to get out of Wolfram & Hart at his first opportunity. He hadn't, and as a result Rosemary and little Lindsey had died. But he had left right after their deaths and brought a number of members of the firm down, although Holland and the senior partners had managed to get away. When Robert had first appeared to him, he had had two huge briefcases and an enormous hole in his side where his liver, the entrée at the last meal the firm had provided him, had been. Now Robert held only a slim attaché case and the hole had almost closed. "I came to thank you for what you've done for me. I know that you've said a prayer for my soul every day since I appeared to you. You're also my number one success story. Is there anything I can do for you? Short of bringing back your wife and son, of course."

"I'd like someone to be there for Mrs. Maywood when she dies. Could you do that?"

"Rosemary has already volunteered for that. She knows how much Mrs. Maywood means to you. In fact she's there now, waiting to take her. But she knows Mrs. Maywood wants to live to see one more Christmas Day. We're going to take her at midnight tomorrow. You'll have one more chance to see her."

"Can you help Angel? He's been working so hard to get his humanity back. It would be the greatest Christmas gift in the world if you could."

Robert sadly shook his head. "He'll get there, Lindsey. He may even get his Buffy back, although I don't know that for sure. There is one thing I can do for him, though. I'll let you get your nap now. You'll be up with Mrs. Maywood most of tomorrow, so you need it. Thanks again."

"Forget the nap. Can I help?"

Robert held out his hand and Lindsey took it. Had he looked back, he would have seen that he was still asleep in his chair, but instead he looked ahead. As they traveled, Lindsey asked his old friend, "By the way, what was it that you did? They didn't tell us."

"Do you remember the Lansing case? Mark Lansing was arrested for the attempted murder of his five year old niece, who was the heiress to his brother's estate. I was the one who sent Kate Lockley there to prevent it. We would have received a huge payment for that one. I couldn't let a child be murdered. I remember you doing the same for three children."

Lindsey nodded sympathetically. "So what can I do?" Lindsey asked.

"Angel doesn't know me from Adam, so you wake him and introduce me. I'll take it from there."

As Angel was dropping off to sleep, he was thinking of his friends and how happy they were. Cordelia and Wesley, married, expecting their first child. No, make that their first two children, as Cordelia had recently learned they were having twins. Wes had teased her, saying that he hoped there weren't seven, referring to an earlier time when she had been pregnant with seven demons.

Gunn had recently married a lovely young divorcee with a small son, whom he adored. They had a small but very cozy house not too far away, and Gunn was going to college part-time.

Faith loved her job as a personal trainer at a health club, and she also loved Graham, a former member of the Initiative who had come to LA and joined the police force. Angel had a feeling that they would soon be engaged.

Lindsey, whom he had never expected to be a friend, had become quite close to the group. Although Angel knew that he would never be as happy as he was when Rosemary was alive, he seemed to be very satisfied with his life as a priest. Occasionally he had helped them out, either actively (he had learned to fight better than he could when he was a lawyer) or after the fact, by counseling some of the people that Angel had helped. He had even considered becoming an exorcist, but he had been touched by too much evil while at Wolfram & Hart, so he gave up on that idea.

Then there was Buffy. Would he ever stop missing her? Would this huge hole in his heart ever go away? Even though he knew that it was the only way it could be, at least until he achieved Shanshu, sometimes the loneliness just ate away at him. He knew that Lindsey was the only one of the group who really understood what it means to lose your true love, and he hoped none of the others would ever know that unending ache.

He had just started to doze off.

Standing by Angel's bedside, Lindsey gently touched his shoulder. Angel jumped to his feet, Angelus face on. Then he saw Lindsey and relaxed. "What are you doing here, Lindsey? Is something wrong? Does someone need my help?"

"No, I brought someone who has a gift for you. This is Robert Price, formerly of Wolfram & Hart. He had ‘disappointed the senior partners' and they discovered it, so they cut out his liver and made him eat it in front of all of the associates. He's been working off his sins and, from what I can see, should be almost done. I was his first project. He came to me Christmas Eve eight years ago and sent me a vision. I waited a little too long to listen to him, but I eventually did, although it was too late for Rosemary and our son. Anyway, I'm going back to the rectory now and catching some shut-eye." Lindsey suddenly disappeared.

Angel looked at the man in the brown business suit with the small hole in the middle of his abdomen. Robert Price held out his hand, and Angel took it.

And found himself on a ladder putting a star on top of a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. As he climbed down the ladder, he smelled hot chocolate. Buffy entered the room bearing a tray with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate and a small plate of Christmas cookies. She was beautiful as ever, but she was about 10 or 12 years older than she had been when he had last seen her at the Los Angeles jail.

"I think you deserve a treat for the great job you've done on the tree, especially as you still have a tricycle to assemble." She kissed him gently on the cheek. My God, Buffy! It was all he could do to keep from grabbing her and squeezing her to him as hard as he could. But that wouldn't be the right thing to do now. He took the cocoa and two sugar cookies and sat down on the couch. Buffy put the tray down on the coffee table and took the other mug and a chocolate chip cookie. "I hope it's not too hard to put together. It's getting late. But little Joyce will be delighted with it."

Angel savored the taste of the hot chocolate and the frosted sugar cookies. Buffy had topped the drink with a large marshmallow, which was melting into it. He remembered the day that he had been human and they had shared chocolate in bed. Then he realized he couldn't stay human and had had to turn back the clock 24 hours. But the oracles had allowed him to keep the memory of that special day. He savored that memory, although it made his heart ache.

Buffy took his empty mug and handed him a screwdriver and a pair of pliers, and he set to work. The tricycle wasn't too awfully hard, but Buffy brought out the video camera and filmed his struggle. "Someday I'll show this to Joyce so she can see how much her daddy was willing to go through for her," Buffy joked. If you only knew, he thought.

Finally the pretty pink tricycle sat under the tree. Buffy handed Angel a very small wrapped package. Inside was just a small stick that was bright pink at the end. He looked at it and then, as he looked at Buffy's radiant face, he knew what she had given him: a positive pregnancy test indicator. Buffy was having their second child. He picked her up and swung her around. Could he ever have imagined he'd be this happy?

On their way to their bedroom, they stopped to look in at little Joyce. The petite three-year-old had Buffy's features and long dark hair like Angel's. Angel bent down and very very gently kissed her forehead. "Shhh, don't wake her," whispered Buffy. Then she led him to the bed. "I hope you're not too tired," she said, unbuttoning his shirt. He hadn't noticed, but his shirt was a bright Kelly green! His lips met Buffy's gently, but he felt her tongue parting them. Then her hands moved down from the now-unbuttoned shirt to his belt buckle, opening it and unzipping his pants. Angel's heart was racing; he could feel it! Gently he picked her up and laid her on the bed.

When they had eventually finished making love, Buffy got up and put on the plaid flannel nightgown with Winnie the Pooh on the front. Joyce had been wearing a matching one. Would you believe there were Winnie the Pooh plaid flannel pajamas waiting for him? Laughing, he put them on and, his arms around her waist, fell asleep with his love.

What seemed like five minutes later, although it was actually three hours, little Joyce came running into their room. "Mommy! Daddy! Get up! It's Christmas!" She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him out of bed. Angel jumped out of bed, picked up his little girl, and, holding Buffy's hand in his, took his family down to the Christmas tree.

Later, Joyce watched a video of The Nutcracker while Angel helped Buffy prepare their Christmas dinner. As there would be 14 for dinner, counting Cordelia's new little daughter, he put all of the leaves in the dining room table and covered it with the Christmas tablecloth. Then he set the table with Joyce's help. Meanwhile Buffy bustled about in the kitchen preparing the turkey.

Later that afternoon their guests arrived. Cordelia and Wesley came first, bearing a genuine plum pudding with hard sauce that Cordelia had made herself from an old family recipe of Wesley's. Adam and Amanda, their five year old twins, helped Wesley carry in all of the equipment for baby Elizabeth, who was just three weeks old. Cordelia perched on a kitchen chair and breastfed Elizabeth while the twins inspected Joyce's gifts. Wes made another trip to the car to bring in a stack of presents.

Charles and Coralie Gunn arrived just a few minutes later with Willie, who was seven and was Coralie's son by her first marriage, and two year old Chuckie. Coralie brought sweet potato pudding and green bean casserole topped with French fried onions.

Last but not least came Faith with her two-year-old Angela and several dozen hot rolls and three mince pies, all of which she had baked herself. Angela and Chuckie found some toys and played quietly on the floor. Faith, Coralie, and Cordelia, once she had put Elizabeth down for a nap, helped Buffy put the food on the table. Angel poured wine all around except for Cordelia and Buffy, who got cranberry juice.

As everyone took his or her seat at the table, Angel raised his glass in what had become their traditional Christmas toast. "To absent friends."

Tears in her eyes as she remembered Joyce's death from a brain tumor, Buffy stood and raised her glass. "To Mom."

Faith stood slowly and followed, "To Graham," her husband, a former Initiative member who became a policeman and died in a shootout with bank robbers.

"To my sister Alonna," Gunn said, thinking of the girl who had become a vampire. He had had to stake her, to his despair.

"To Doyle, although I'm sure he'd prefer we toast him with Irish whiskey!" was Cordelia's toast.

Last but not least, Wesley finished with, "To Lindsey," who had been stabbed to death while trying to stop a mugging. Angel silently added, "And to Darla." Everyone raised a glass and drank. Then, after a brief moment of silence while they remembered those who had been loved and lost, Angel began to carve the turkey.

After the delicious dinner the friends sat around and talked. Wesley had just received a promotion at the museum. "I think he'll be curator before he knows it," Cordelia said proudly while Wesley blushed. Angel remembered when Cordelia had called her future husband "Mr. Skin and Bones." But now, between Cordelia's gourmet cooking and the exercise program that Faith had worked out for him, he had filled out nicely.

Faith was talking about giving up her career as a personal trainer and going into the catering business. She was going to give it a try with some small jobs and, indeed, had had one very successful excursion into the business with Cordelia's help. Before Elizabeth was born, Faith and Cordelia had catered an English dinner with old family recipes from the Wyndham-Pryce family. Of course, Cordelia's time was seriously curtailed with an infant, but Faith hoped to find a partner and perhaps bring Cordelia in as her child got older. Angela was an amazing child.

"I think you have a future slayer on your hands, Faith. Maybe we both do," Buffy said. Faith nodded. Their daughters had been turning cartwheels and backflips all around the living room.

Charles & Coralie Gunn didn't talk much, but Angel was so pleased with their success. Gunn was an assistant principal now and Coralie was now a curriculum specialist, working on developing ways to keep inner city kids in school longer. They volunteered at the local Boys & Girls Club.

Phone calls had come in while everyone was still there. Xander & Anya had called from Sunnydale to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, and another call had come from Giles in England, where it was now Boxing Day. Nobody had heard from Willow yet.

Suddenly the television turned on by itself. A beautiful redhead looked out at them. "It worked! Hi, everybody! How do you like my new spell? I've always wanted to be on television!" When no one responded right away, she asked, "Can you hear me? Hello?"

"Willow! We're just a little surprised, that's all. How are you? Where are you?" Buffy, who had been her best friend since arriving in Sunnydale, asked.

"We're here in England for the Midwinter Coven and New Year's Party. It's bitter cold here, but otherwise we're fine. We had dinner with Giles and his wife. We may stay here, as we've talked about starting a school for talented young people. Something like Hogwarts in the Harry Potter books. Oh, Cordy, I'm sorry I haven't sent Elizabeth's gift yet. How is she doing?"

Willow chatted with them a while longer until they suddenly heard a small bell chime. "Oops, the sand has almost run to the bottom of my hourglass. Gotta go. See you soon."

As the hour grew late, the guests rounded up their sleeping kids and headed for home. Angel carried Adam out to Wesley's car while Cordelia took Elizabeth and Wes carried Amanda. Seven-year-old Willie Gunn refused to be carried and just barely made it to his parents' car. After a round of hugs and kisses and promises to get together for New Years Eve, everyone left.

Buffy started to gather up the dishes when Angel saw a vision of Robert Price looking at his watch. "Not now, Buffy. We'll clean up in the morning. I promise I'll help. Let's go to bed now, okay."

Buffy stretched and yawned and followed her husband upstairs. She cuddled up close to him in bed and fell asleep on his shoulder. He kissed her soft blonde hair and then. . .

Angel found himself back in his bed, Robert Price standing by the bedside. "I'm sorry, Angel, but I could only give you a day."

"How can I ever thank you? Was that a dream or a vision of the future?"

"I can't tell you that. So much depends on the choices you make and the actions you take. But that was a gift from Lindsey to you. Now if you'd like to pay it forward a little, there's something you can do."

"Anything."

"An elderly lady named Mrs. Maywood is dying in County General. The one thing she loves more than anything is roses. If you could somehow get her some roses today so she'll have them before she dies, it would make her very happy."

"I know a place that's open and that delivers even on Christmas Day. I'll get some to her. Thank you for everything, & please thank Lindsey for me." Robert nodded and, as he was fading away, Angel noticed that the small hole in his abdomen had closed completely. He heard a small bell chime and remembered It's a Wonderful Life. When a bell chimes, it means an angel has earned his wings. Good luck, Bob, he thought.

As soon as his last Mass was over, Lindsey quickly removed his vestments, grabbed his bag with the necessary items for a last anointing, and headed out for the hospital. Monsignor stopped him and asked, "Aren't you staying for dinner?"

"No, I want to be with Mrs. Maywood. I believe she'll die very soon and I want to be there. Save me some leftovers, please."

Monsignor shook his head as Lindsey left. Once he had been like that. Maybe he had lost sight of what was really important. Then the housekeeper announced that the Cardinal was on the phone, and the thought left his head.

Arriving at the hospital, Lindsey saw a huge vase of roses next to Mrs. Maywood's bed. The card said Father Lindsey, but he knew they were from Angel. He sat down next to Mrs. Maywood, held her hand, and just talked softly to her.

As evening drew on, he gave her Communion and performed the Last Rites. He felt a presence behind him. "Angel, thank you." Angel nodded.

"I saw an angel earlier. She had golden hair and had a little dark-haired cherub with her. She told me she was your wife," Mrs. Maywood told them. Lindsey found that for some reason his eyes were watering.

About a minute before midnight, Rosemary appeared, dressed in white with beautiful feathery wings. She held out her hand to Mrs. Maywood. As the clock struck midnight, Mrs. Maywood's soul left her body and went with Rosemary. A small bell chimed. Angel and Lindsey saw Mrs. Maywood robed in white with lovely wings like Rosemary's. Rosemary bent down and kissed her husband. Then she & Mrs. Maywood faded out. Lindsey said a prayer for her and closed her eyes. Then he and Angel headed out into the night.

"Would you like to get something to eat, Lindsey? You must be starved."

"Thanks, Angel, I would. I'd like to hear what happened to you, if it's not too personal."

"It was absolutely amazing." The two men, who had once been deadly enemies but were now good friends, set off together, the glow of Christmas still upon them