"I love you," Dante said, pressing close to her. "I always will.

"I love you, too. More than anything," she told him, knowing it was the truth.

They pressed their lips together, kissing each other passionately.

He broke apart to whisper in her ear.

"Wake up, wake up," he whispered to her. "Wake up."

She opened her eyes.

It was a dream. But she could still feel the taste of him on her tongue.

Dante was out risking his life for the 'greater good'. He got called in from the police force to handle an arrest from a mobster who was landing an illegal shipment.

She had been meaning to stay awake until he got home, but she must have dozed off.

She yawned and stretched herself along the length of the couch. She smiled as she thought of the dream. The dream had been so real, like he was really there.

She closed her eyes, hoping that he would come home soon.

The elevator that served as their front door began to clank noisily, announcing someone coming up.

She sat up and ran a hand through her hair; trying to look the least bit presentable.

She stood up, wrapping a blanket around her bare shoulders.

The elevator door parted, and she was dismayed to see Ronnie Dimestico there. Behind him was her brother, Lucky Spencer.

"Hey Lucky," she said, peering around Ronnie. She fixated Ronnie with a glare. "What are you doing here? You should know that Dante's working."

Lucky stepped around Ronnie. "That's why we're here.

He stepped closer and tried to draw her into a hug. She shook him off. They were both giving her pitied looks and she couldn't stand it. Looking closer, she could see that they were both actually sad themselves.

She took a step back, getting a weird feeling. "Why are you here then? Where is Dante?" she hated how her voice sounded small and weak.

Ronnie and Lucky looked at each other. Then Lucky turned back to her.

Lucky cleared his throat and began explaining. "The mob shipment got out of hand. One of them had a gun. We didn't know until too late. Two people got shot and died. One of them was Dante. I'm so sorry sweetie." Lucky could see her processing the information.

Suddenly, her eyes hardened. "You're making it up. Both of you. It's some sort of sick joke. Dante's going to walk through that door safe any minute now." Her voice shook.

Lucky knew the first stage of grief was denial. She was heading for a break.

"No, it's true," Ronnie piped up. "We're really sorry Lulu. Dante was a good cop and a good friend. We already visited Olivia and she said you should have these." He produced the two gold necklaces that Dante always wore.

The blanket fell off her shoulders and fell into a heap on the floor. She shuffled along the floor, as if in a trance, her eyes fixated on the necklace. She reached out slowly to grab them from Ronnie.

She looked at them while her eyes filled with tears. She slipped them on her neck.

It was then that she realized that he was gone.

Lucky could see the change in her eyes, in her posture.

She fell to the floor, sobbing loudly. The kind of sobs that build from the bottom, the true sorrow sobs. Once she started, she couldn't stop.

She was aware that Lucky was trying to help her, but she kept him at bay.

She felt like her heart was shattering into tiny pieces, and without Dante, she would never put them back together again. Without him, she would never be whole. Her mind felt empty, her body numb. All she could do was sob his name over and over.

One hand clutched the necklaces, her only left link of him. The other arm hugged her knees to her chest, trying to hold herself together. It was like she was falling into a deep, black hole, and she wasn't going to come back out.

Lucky couldn't stand to see his sister like this. The sobs were going right through him. He could feel the pain escalating off her.

At some point, Lulu noticed that Ronnie left. Lucky must have called Nikolas, Ethan, and Maxie, because she was aware that they were there.

But she didn't move. She didn't stop crying. She stayed where she was, wrapped in a fetal position, mourning the loss of the love of her life.

She wasn't really there. She was in her own mind, remembering all the times she and Dante had together. She tried to picture his face perfectly, and it sent her into a frenzy when she couldn't remember the smallest detail.

She wished she could go back to earlier, before he was called on the job. She would have spent the whole time with him. She would have made love to him. She would have begged him not to go if she knew what she knew now.

It wasn't fair. She needed him. They needed each other. They loved each other. He couldn't just be gone.

Lulu tuned in to the world around her. Just enough to know that Maxie, her best friend, was sitting beside her, brushing back her sweaty hair. Ethan, Nikolas, and Lucky were sitting on the couch above her, talking about what they should do.

Eventually her sobs subsided, leaving her voice raspy, and her throat burning.

She stayed on the floor, but allowed Maxie to sweep her into her arms.

"I know how you feel," Maxie was saying. And she did know. She had lost Cooper to the text message killer. He was the love her life at the time. But she moved on. Lulu wasn't going to be able to move on. "And I'm going to help you through this, I promise, she said, holding her close. Without looking, Lulu could tell that she had tears in her eyes.

All Lulu could say was, "Why did he leave me? Why?" she moaned, still hurting. She wondered if the hurt would ever go away.

Maxie replied sorrowfully, "Oh Lulu, he didn't want to. He didn't want to."


He didn't want to. He didn't plan to die. It just happened. He didn't even realize it at first.

It was supposed to be a simple bust, just arrest them for an illegal shipment, that's it.

He tore himself away from Lulu to go take down the slimy mobster who was breaking the law.

There were four of them, Ronnie, Lucky, another officer he wasn't too familiar with, and himself.

They were just about to put the cuffs on them when a figure leapt from the shadows, wielding a gun. Dante heard the gunshot and heard one of the officers fall. He turned just in time to see the bullet lodging itself in his head.

He died instantly, but he didn't realize it.

He was just standing there next to Lucky, trying to talk to him, but it was like he couldn't hear him or see him. He looked down on the ground and saw his body lying in a heap on the ground with a gunshot wound in the head. Ronnie was calling an ambulance, but Dante could tell it was too late.

He remembered thinking that he wanted to see Lulu, and with a whoosh, he was suddenly there, in her dream.

He told her he loved her and that he always would. She said the same back and they kissed.

He sensed that Ronnie and Lucky were on their way and urged her to wake up.

He was pulled roughly from the dream and was forced to watch as Lulu broke down at the news of his death. He was forced to watch, knowing that he couldn't help, no matter what he did. He wanted to tell her that he was right there, and that he would always be there for her, always watching over her.

Without knowing why, he was thrown into a place full of white. It was only white space. He looked around, looking for some sort of clue to why he was there.

A man appeared.

"Cooper Barrett." He introduced himself. "You must be Dante Falconari. Death by a bullet in the head. Working for the PCPD. That's where I worked too before I was killed."

Dante just looked at him with wide eyes.

"I'm here to escort you to the other side," Cooper explained. He pointed at the white space and it revealed itself as a hell of a lot of stairs, leading into the sky.

"Heaven," Dante realized.

Cooper nodded. "You ready to go?"

Dante looked back and saw Lulu lying on the floor, bawling her eyes out. It was like looking at a small TV in the white space. He knew the answer.

Dante turned back to Cooper. "I'm going to hang around Earth for a while."

"Good luck with that," Cooper chuckled. "As I'm sure you figured out, no one can see or hear you. You're a ghost, or as we like to be called Angels."

"I need to help her through this," Dante said, turning back to the small image of Lulu.

Cooper nodded, understanding. "You can always return to this place. I'll be here, waiting to bring you up there."

Dante smiled. "Thanks man."

Cooper left and Dante forced himself out of the white space and back to Lulu.

He would help her get over him, then he would return to his place in heaven.

He would be her Angel, like Cooper said.

He chuckled.

Her Guardian Angel.