Chloe stepped off the elevator to the Pediatrics floor of General Hospital. Amy, who was at the Nurses' Station, saw her and walked over to greet her.

"Chloe, I'm glad you could make it. Thank you so much for coming."

"Oh, Amy, I'm glad to come. I had so much fun volunteering in pediatrics in high school; I'd love to do it again."

"Well that's wonderful! It seems like around Christmas time is when we need the most volunteers. Well, why don't you follow me?"

Jax went back to his penthouse after breakfast. As he reached into his desk for his checkbook, he spotted his old boxer shorts lying there. The scene that morning with Chloe had been very odd. Jax laughed at the thought of twelve-year-old Chloe sneaking into his bedroom for a pair of his underwear on a dare, in lieu running around the house naked. Jax left the boxers on his desk and then left the penthouse to run some errands.

After Chloe had her photo taken and was given her own personalized volunteer nametag, Amy led her to the pediatrics playroom.

"One of the volunteers is about to start a storytime for the children. And then they are going to have a little Christmas Party. And, well you volunteered here before, I don't have to tell what to do, do I?"

Chloe laughed. "No, that's alright, Amy."

"Well, there they are." Amy pointed to all of the children.

"Aww, they are adorable," Chloe beamed.

"Yeah, they are." Amy smiled too. "But it's really sad though. A lot of these children are really sick."

Chloe glanced around the room at the playing children. A group of children had already gathered on the floor for the story. A few of the older children were off to the side playing with video games or other toys. Then, Chloe looked to the back wall. Sitting on a Little Tykes picnic table was a beautiful little girl of maybe five or six. She had long red hair and was playing by herself with a doll.

"Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"Who's that little girl? The little redhead in the back."

"Oh, that's Cassie Newman. Poor thing has leukemia. She needs a bone marrow transplant."

"Aww, bless her heart."

"She's very shy and she doesn't talk much. Some of the volunteers have tried to get her to interact with the other children but she always plays by herself. If you can get her to come out of her shell, that would be great. Well, if you need anything, I'll be at the Nurses' Station."

"Okay, thanks, Amy."

Chloe walked over to Cassie quietly as to not to scare her. "That's a very pretty doll you have."

Cassie looked up. "Thank you," she said in almost a whisper. "My daddy bought it for me."

Chloe sat down in a little chair that was nearby. "Well it's a very lovely doll."

"My name's Cassie," the girl said softly.

"That's a pretty name. My name is Chloe."

"You have a pretty name too."

Chloe smiled. "Thank you. You know, I love your red hair. It's beautiful."

Cassie made a gesture with her pointer finger, asking Chloe to come closer. "I have a secret to tell you."

"What's that?" Chloe whispered.

"It's not my real hair. It looks like my real hair, but, but it's really not. Cause, cause, I had to have some chemot'erapy treatments and it made all my hair fall out, but Mommy bought me a wig that looks just like my real hair. I don't like having fake hair but it's better than being bald."

Chloe leaned forward. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't know that it was a wig."

"Really?"

"Mmm-hmm."

Cassie went back to her doll. "Wanna hold my baby?"

"Sure, I'd love to hold your baby. What's your baby's name?"

"Her name is Samantha. I have a little baby brother, too. His name is Noah. Sometimes I like to pretend that he is my baby, but he won't call me mama."

Chloe smiled. This kid was adorable.

"Do you wanna play house with me?"

"I love to play house," Chloe said.

"Okay, I'll be the mommy, and Samantha is the baby and you can be the big sister, Chloe. All right now, you have to sit at the table. It's time to eat lunch. Come on, kids, lunch is ready!" Cassie propped the baby at the picnic table and Chloe sat down at the kid-size bench. Then Cassie went over to the stove and started to bring out "lunch."

After helping out with the Christmas party, Chloe gathered her coat and purse and headed down the hallway. She reflected on her volunteer experience and decided that she was very glad that she had come. She had also promised Cassie that she would come back.

"Well, Amy, I'm going now," she said to Amy as she passed her.

"Thank you so much for coming, Chloe."

"Well I had a great time. I'll come back tomorrow."

"That's great!"

"I got Cassie to talk. We played a bit."

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"That's wonderful. Cassie is usually so withdrawn. It's good to hear that she's interacting with others. Okay, well I guess I'll see you later then."

"All right, bye."

As Chloe made her way to the elevator, she was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the gentlemen that she suddenly bumped into.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" she said, and her jaw dropped when she saw who it was.

"What are you doing here?" Jax asked excitedly.

"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked.

"I asked you first!" Jax teased.

Chloe smiled. "I've just been doing a little volunteering in pediatrics. They had a Christmas party. I helped serve cookies and I played with the children."

"Oh, that's nice. I'm here to make my year-end donation." Jax held up his checkbook.

"Oh, now that's really nice. So, what are you doing later?"

"After this? Nothing. I've been running errands all morning."

"Well do you want to have lunch? Since we didn't get to have breakfast this morning and all."

"That sounds great. Give me five minutes?"

Chloe smiled. "I'll wait for you."

Jax and Chloe decided to have lunch at Kelly's, one of their favorite hangouts ever since they were teenagers. Chloe told Jax all about Cassie and the other children at the hospital, and Jax told Chloe all about this annoying jackass who didn't know how to drive when he was on his way to the bank.

Afterwards, the two spent the whole day Christmas shopping along the riverfront stores. The whole downtown area of Port Charles was decorated in lights and other Christmas decorations. A shower of new snow was beginning to fall. And as Jax and Chloe walked along the river, arm in arm, in the crisp winter night air, they both had the feeling that this Christmas would be one of the best ever.

Chloe visited Cassie nearly every day. She couldn't explain it, but there was something about this child that had captured her heart. Jax could even see it. He stopped by one day when Chloe was volunteering and watched them play for a while. Eventually, he got dragged into playing house with them. Only this time, Cassie insisted that since they had a man now, that big sister Chloe would have a boyfriend.

Chloe walked around the playroom, picking up toys that the children had left scattered on the floor.

"Excuse me, are you Chloe?"

Chloe turned around to see a young and pretty blonde woman staring at her.

"Yes, I'm Chloe."

The lady smiled and walked over to her. "Hi. I'm Sharon Newman, Cassie's mother."

"You're Cassie's mother? Oh, it's nice to meet you. Your daughter is adorable. She's very sweet."

"Thank you. I have to say that I am glad that I finally get to meet you. Cassie's been talking about you nonstop."

"She has?"

"Oh yes. I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"Well, things have been sort of rough lately, with Cassie getting sick and all. And she's…well…this has been really hard on her. I think she is beginning to understand that she could…well that she is really sick. And she's just a child. She doesn't understand why she suddenly has to spend her days and nights in a hospital room. She's hates it here. But a couple of days ago, I saw her do something that I haven't seen her do in weeks. She smiled. I don't know what you have done, but Cassie adores you."

Chloe felt touched by the woman's words. "Well you're welcome. I think Cassie is a sweet girl and I hope she gets better."

"So do I. We still haven't found a match for a bone marrow donor. I wasn't a match, neither is Nick, her dad. And I thought that for sure her little brother would be a match but he wasn't either. It's just, kind of a race against time."

"I wish I could help. I was hoping that I would be a match but I wasn't either. I wish there was something I could do."

"Oh, thank you. You are helping though. Thank you for making Cassie happy. It really means the world to us. Do you have children?"

"Me? Oh no, but I'd like to."

"Well, you'll make a wonderful mother someday. I have to go, but thanks again, for everything."

"You're welcome," Chloe said with a smile on her face and a warm feeling in her heart.

The day before Christmas Eve, Chloe visited Cassie again. She had just woken up from her nap and begged Chloe to read her a story. Afterwards, they played a game of "go fish."

"Chloe?" Cassie suddenly asked in the middle of the game.

"What?"

"How is Santa going to find me? I'm not at home. What if he can't find me?"

Chloe smiled. "Cassie, don't you worry about a thing. Let me tell you something about Santa. Santa is very magical. Do you know how many children there are in the world?"

Cassie shook her head.

"Well, neither do I, but there are a lot. And out of all of those children, not only does Santa know which ones have been naughty and which ones have been nice, but he also knows where they are. He knows if you're home. He knows if you are on vacation. He knows if you are at a friend's house. And he even knows if you are in a hospital."

"Really?"

"Yep. And you know what?" Chloe leaned forward. "I heard from a little elf that Santa may be stopping by here at the hospital tomorrow for the big Christmas party."

"Oh, but that's not the real Santa."

"Oh?"

"That's just one of the helper Santas. They help the real Santa find out what all the kids want for Christmas, so that Santa won't have such a big job to do."

"That's pretty smart of that Santa."

"Yeah."

"So, Cassie, what do you want for Christmas? A new Barbie doll? One of those kittens that makes purring noises? A bike?"

"Oh, I don't want any toys for Christmas."

"What? No toys?"

"Well, I want toys for my little brother, but all I want for Christmas is a bone marrow transplant. Dr. Quartermaine says that that is what I need to get better. Chloe, do you think that Santa could bring me one? So I can get better?"

Chloe held back her tears; she did no want to cry in front of Cassie. She was only five, and yet, she had so much to deal with, too much for just a little girl. Chloe smiled at her. "I'm sure he'll try, Cassie."

Jax and Chloe arrived at the hospital about a half hour before the annual hospital Christmas party. They spotted Emily and Elizabeth, who were playing elves this year, and Chloe wanted to say hello so they walked over to them.

"Ooo, don't you girls look cute! Dressed up as little elves!" Chloe teased.

Emily and Elizabeth gave her a "you have got to be kidding me" look.

"Ah, I remember my days of being the Christmas elf," Chloe said, lost in some teenage memory.

"We look so dorky!" Emily complained.

"Yeah, not to mention these stupid hats they make us wear!" Elizabeth added.

"Well, just think about how happy the children are going to be," Chloe said, trying to put an optimistic spin on things.

"Yeah, you're right," Elizabeth agreed.

"Hey, who's the present for?" Emily asked, pointing to the wrapped gift Chloe held.

"Oh, it's for this little girl named Cassie. I've been spending some time with her lately."

"Girls," Audrey said, coming up to them. "We need you to help set up for the party. Do you mind?"

"No, that's fine, Grams," Elizabeth said. "See you two later."

"Bye," Emily said.

"Bye," Jax and Chloe said.

"Well, I want to go give this present to Cassie before the party starts," Chloe said.

"Alright," Jax said. "Let's go."

When Jax and Chloe got to Cassie's room, they saw Alan outside her door.

"Hi, Alan," Chloe said. "Is Cassie in there? I wanted to give her this present."

Alan looked up, his face grim and ashen. "I'm afraid Cassie isn't allowed any visitors except for family, Chloe."

Chloe held her breath. "Why, Alan?"

"Cassie took a turn for the worse last night."

A little gasp escaped Chloe and she covered her mouth.

"Do you think she's going to be alright?" Jax asked.

Alan shook his head. "To tell you the truth, Jax, she really needs that bone marrow transplant."

Chloe looked through the glass window in Cassie's room. She could see Nick and Sharon sitting beside the bed, watching their daughter. Cassie was covered in some sort of plastic tent. "Why is she in that plastic tent?"

"It's to protect her from infection. Look, I'm sorry that you can't see her."

"Oh, no, Alan, it's okay. Will you…will you just see that she gets this?" Chloe handed Alan the present.

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Chloe felt herself about to cry. She couldn't believe that the girl in that room asleep in the plastic tent was the same lively girl who was asking about Santa and playing "go fish" yesterday.

"Hey," Jax said, putting his arm around her, "why don't we just go home?"

Chloe shook her head. "Okay."

Later that night, Jax and Chloe sat by the fire in Jax's penthouse. Sometime earlier that week, Jax had managed to get a tree for his penthouse, so it sat against the wall decorated with nothing but rainbow-colored lights and a star on top.

Jax could tell that the news of Cassie's health had put a damper on Chloe's cheerful mood. Jax tried to cheer her up, and it worked a little bit, but Chloe was still sad.

"Okay, Jax," Chloe said, handing him a wrapped gift. "Merry Christmas."

It had been a tradition for Jax and Chloe to always give their gifts on Christmas Eve. After all, who actually wanted to wait until Christmas Day?

Jax smiled and took the gift from Chloe. He ripped the paper off and found a photo album. On the cover was an oval window so that you could see a picture though it. Jax smiled when he saw what picture it was.

It was a picture taken at Thanksgiving just weeks ago. It was one that Jax actually liked, and that was surprising because he usually hated all of his pictures. In the picture, Jax stood against the living room wall at his mom's house. Chloe stood beside him with her arms entwined with his. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her head rested on his shoulder. She had such a beautiful smile.

Chloe could tell from his smile that he liked it.

"I love this, Chloe. Good picture."

Chloe laughed. "Well see, I figured that since you threw out most of your pictures of Brenda that you probably had a ton of half-filled photo albums. So I thought, I'll just get you a brand new one so that you can start over. You can fill this album with brand new memories. Happy memories."

Jax pulled Chloe in for a hug and kissed her on the forehead. "I love it, Chloe. This is just what I need. A new year is coming and I'm going to make all new memories."

Chloe beamed, the feel of Jax's kiss still lingering. "You' re welcome, Jax. Okay, my present!"

Jax laughed. "Here you go."

Chloe took the box and began to carefully pick at the wrapping paper. Pick. It drove Jax crazy when she did this. "Come on, Chloe, it's wrapping paper. It's okay to rip it!"

"But I don't want to tear it! I may want to use it again! And you took the time to wrap it, it looks all nice, I wouldn't want to ruin it!"

Jax gave it up. Chloe was always going to pick at wrapping paper. But it was okay; it was just one of those things that made Chloe Chloe.

When Chloe finally got every single inch of wrapping paper off, intact, Chloe opened the box. She moved the tissue paper around, delicately, of course, and when she saw what was in the box, she screamed. "Barney!" Chloe pulled the brown bear out of the box and hugged his soft, plush body.

Jax just grinned.

"Oh my God! Jax, this bear looks just like Barney!"

When Chloe was nine, she had a bear named Barney. The bear had black marble eyes and a soft brown nose. His stomach was soft and fat. His fur was light brown and worn from years of love. Chloe had had the bear since she was a baby.

But one day, she dropped the bear in a puddle. His fur turned muddy from the dirty water. To make matters worse, the neighbor's mean dog named Butch ran over and snatched the stuffed animal right off the ground before Chloe could save him. Chloe tried desperately to free her beloved bear, but the dog was too big and too fast. The dog chewed on Barney's arm like a bone. Barney's cotton flesh came spilling out like blood. Then, the dog ran off with the bear, now dirty and slobbery, leaving the remnants of Barney's gnarled arm on the ground.

Chloe started to cry and she picked up the lifeless arm. "YOU MEAN DOG I HATE YOU! YOU KILLED BARNEY! I HATE YOU!"

And Chloe got on her knees and buried her face in her hands. She sobbed loudly, tears spilling from her eyes, as her cherished childhood bear was now nothing more than a memory. That scene was to remain etched in Jax's memory forever.

"I saw it last week in the window of one of those stores on the riverfront. When you were buying those candles, I asked one of the salespeople to hold it for me. And then I went back later and bought it. I'm glad you didn't see it in the window because otherwise, it would have ruined the whole surprise."

A big smile spread across Chloe's face. "Is that what you were doing? I was wondering what you were up to!"

Jax grinned.

"Oh, Jax, this is so sweet of you. You go though all this just to bring back a keepsake from my childhood. You bring back Barney to me! Well, a reincarnated Barney, anyway!" Chloe threw her arms around Jax. "Thank you so much, Jax. I love you."

"I love you too, Chloe."

But Chloe meant it as more than just a friend.

As Chloe picked up the mess that Jax had made with the wrapping paper, the thought suddenly hit her again. Here she was, having the best time with her best friend and reliving all of those wonderful childhood memories of Christmases past, and Cassie was lying in a hospital bed fighting for her life.

"What's wrong, Chloe?" Jax asked, reading her expression, although he had a feeling he already knew.

"I was just thinking about Cassie again. It's just not fair, Jax! She's just a little girl. Why does she have to deal with all of this? I mean, it's not fair for a child to have to be sick at Christmas, or any time of the year really!"

Chloe started to cry, and Jax immediately rushed over to comfort her.

Jax and Chloe sat on the couch in the dark, except for the light of the fire and the tree, and he had his arm around her. They reminisced about old childhood memories again. And then, a phone rang.

"Oh, that's my cell phone." Chloe got up from the couch and dug through her purse for her phone. "Hello?" Chloe's face turned pale when she heard Alan's voice on the line. "Alan, hi."

Jax threw her a worried expression as Chloe talked on the phone.

"Okay, thank you for calling me, Alan." Chloe hung up the phone.

"Oh god, is it Cassie?"

And Chloe's sad face suddenly turned into a smile. "They found a donor. She's going to be okay. She's going to be okay, Jax."

Jax got up from the couch and walked over to Chloe. He threw his arms around her and gave her a hug. Not only was this Christmas wonderful, but it was also a miracle.

To be continued…