For Good

A/N: This one-shot is dedicated to the amazing Ms. Carolyn Gipe who's being so strong in such a difficult time. We love you, and we'll be ready to kick butt in Orlando when you get back! It's also dedicated to the late Mr. Leonard Cave, who was killed on Tuesday July 11, 2006 by a drunk driver. This is for you both!

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow

If we let them

Collins' POV:

God, I can't believe he's gone! He was fine, he was healthy, and then, then…oh God, it just happened so fast. He woke me up one morning saying that he didn't feel well, but didn't want to make a big deal about it. A week later, he was in the hospital with a high fever. He never came home. Angel touched my life in a way not many people can really understand. He helped me when no one else would. He followed his heart, and found me in that abandoned alley. His heart was huge, bigger than anyone else's I had ever met. Angel shared something with me…love. He loved me more than anything, and I loved him just as much. And now, now he's gone. I still can't wrap my mind around it.

And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you:

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun

Mark's POV:

I wasn't doing well as a filmmaker. Sure, I had a lot of footage, but I didn't know what I wanted to do with it. One night, Angel and I got the chance to talk. I think it was one of a few times that it was just us talking and we talked about a lot of stuff. He…she…yeah, she told me that Collins was the one for her. I talked briefly about Maureen, but I was over her by then. We mainly talked about my filming. Angel had noticed that I was filming a lot, but not cutting anything together. I told her that I didn't know what to cut together. I didn't know what my film should be about. She told me to follow my heart. She told me to just cut together the footage I had, and that it would all fall together in the end. That's what I'm doing right now.

Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But because I knew you
I have been changed for good
It well may be

Roger's POV:
I was still getting over depression and a little withdrawal when I met Angel. I didn't want Mimi, I still wanted April. I was afraid of Mimi, of what she might do to me. I was afraid that she'd drag me back to my old life. I was still depressed, and nobody knew how to help me. Then, then Angel came along. He didn't know what it was like to lose someone to suicide, but his brother had died a few years earlier. We talked, and cried, and remembered. He told me that it's okay to be sad; it's expected for you to be sad when a loved one dies, but that we have to pick up the pieces and get on with our lives. That's what I did. I invited Mimi to dinner with us at the Life that night, and now we're in love.

That we will never meet again
In this lifetime

So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me

Mimi's POV:
Angel's my best friend. I helped her come out of the closet, and helped her with her drag queen outfits. She was so bubbly, so excited about every little thing that life had to offer. We grew up in the ghettos together, and I didn't understand how she could be so happy after going through so much. Angel was my pillow to fall back on. She helped me when I kept trying to quit smack, and when I was called horrible names because of my career. It wasn't my first career choice, it was actually my last, but Angel told me that it was all for a reason. I became much more outgoing like her, and talked to Roger. Angel will always be my best friend.


Like a handprint on my heart

And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend:
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea

Joanne's POV:
after Maureen and I broke up on Valentine's Day, I was virtually heartbroken. Angel and I went out to eat one day, about a week after the fight. We walked around Central Park afterwards, and talked. She told me that Maureen was a very flirtatious young woman, but that just meant that she was comfortable enough with our relationship to flirt with other people, and expect me to forgive her. I had never thought of it like that. She was right though, through everything I still loved Maureen, and knew that she loved me too.

Like a seed dropped by a sky bird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you:
Because I knew you:

I have been changed for good

Maureen's POV:

Angel helped me plan another protest. This was more like a rally for AIDS. We had it all planned out. I remember staying on the phone with her well into the night while both our lovers slept after a long day's work. She never thought that my ideas were dumb or over the top. She helped me sort through all my random thoughts, and plan this amazing protest. I don't know if I'll ever do that protest now that she's gone, but I know that she'd want me to.

And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for
But then, I guess we know

There's blame to share
And none of it seems to matter anymore

Benny's POV:
I didn't really know Angel, but one day I saw her while going to collect the rent. I'll never forget that day. She stopped me in the middle of the street, and said, "Benny, I forgive you." When I asked her what she meant, she said that she wasn't mad at me for all the stuff I had done like call the cops, and shut off the power at the loft. She understood that I was doing my job, and that it hurt me to do things like that to my friends and watch them turn on me. Angel understood me in a way that even I didn't understand. Nobody ever bothered to tell me that they forgave me for the actions that I didn't want to take, but then again, nobody's like Angel.

Like a comet pulled Like a ship blown
From orbit as it Off it's mooring
Passes a sun, like By a wind off the

A stream that meets Sea, like a seed
A boulder, half-way Dropped by a
Through the wood Bird in the wood

Everyone's POV at the same time:
He was our angel.

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
I do believe I have been changed for the better?

And because I knew you:
Because I knew you:

Because I knew you:
I have been changed for good.

A/N: I always wanted to write a fan fiction that would touch your heart, and make you cry…I hope I've done that right now! Please pray for the Cave family, the Gipe family, and the students and staff of Northwest High School (especially when school starts up again!) Much love!

Tina101