Dib held his sister and cried. His mother lay on the bed surrounded by dozens of old medication bottles. Neither one of the children, who were only five and six, just old enough to comprehend what had happened in their parents' room, knew what to do with themselves while the police confirmed the suicide.

"Why don't you kids go inside and wait for your father to get home?" one of the uniformed men asked, ushering them out of the room. Gaz kicked herself away from the man's grip, screaming for her mother.

"Gaz! Gaz, Come here!" Dib dragged his sister, who was still struggling and crying, out of the room, "Dad will be home soon." I hope. "Everything will be okay." He knew it wouldn't.

"Professor! Hey, Professor Membrane!"

Reporters swarmed him on all sides as he tried to enter his own home. He had gotten the police call and come straight home. His kids had been home with her when it happened.

God, his kids were probably nervous wrecks. It would take years to fix this in their minds.

A soon as he entered through the front door, his kids had attached themselves to his legs. "She's dead." His daughter said bluntly, simply letting him know what he had already been told. Both his children had stopped crying about a half an hour ago, when they figured out that it wouldn't do them any good.

He must have seen me looking out from the bedroom, because he suddenly let go of his father's leg and started yelling to get away from his mother. I was shocked. He had seen me. No. He hadn't seen me. How could he have?

I turned back to the bedroom where Mae's body still lay on the bed. A silvery shadow developed slowly over the bed. She was sobbing into her hands as she floated above her old body. I reached up and grabbed her arm, pulling Mae back down to the earth.

"It's alright. It'll be okay." I rubbed her shoulder gently. She was taking this very hard, like most that went her way.

The young boy came rushing into the room, looking mad as Hell, right at me and Mae. "Get AWAY from Mom. Leave her alone!" he screeched at me. Mae's husband came in after him, carrying the little girl.

"Dib… Gaz," she said between sobs. "I'm so sorry! My god, I didn't know what I was doing," She reached down to hug her children, but I stopped her. "Don't. They won't feel anything but chill… I don't want to scare them anymore tonight." I tried to phrase it as calmly as possible.

"Get away from her! Let her come back! Go away!" he yelled. Membrane came up behind him and put his hand on his son's shoulder. "There's no one there," he said.

"But there is! It's her!" he pointed an accusing finger at me. "and mom…"

I let go of Mae and kneeled down by the son, Dib. He backed up into his father when I came closer. "Get away!" he screamed. "Leave us alone!"

"Can you see me?" I asked, calmly. I knew the answer, already, but I just wanted to make sure that he could understand me clearly. Hiding behind his father, he nodded. "Can you see your mother?" again the boy nodded. "Point to her." Dib pointed to the body lying lifelessly on the bed.

So he could see me, but not his mother's ghost… Interesting…

"Tell them I'm sorry! Tell them that I love them and that I was stupid for doing what I did. I wasn't thinking! I'm sorry I left them…"

"You can't hear your mother?" Dib shook his head. "Alright. Tell them that your mom said that she was sorry and that she loves you all."

"I know what you are! I won't let you touch them!" he said, defiantly as he stood protectively in front of his family. "Go away!" Tears welled up in his amber eyes. Poor child…

"Please," Mae said, coming up behind me. "I can't leave my children here. Please let me go back!" she sobbed.

I stood and turned to her. "I can't, Mae. This is how it works. I have no control over that. Now please. Before you're stuck here on earth – Go…"

The ghost of Mae looked at me, "Please. Please take care of my children…" she said. I nodded as she turned and disappeared.

I looked back to the Membrane family. The Professor still seemed to be staring blankly at his wife's body.

"BRING HER BACK!" the boy screamed. "BRING MOM BACK!" He may not have been able to see her ghost, but he seemed to know that there was now one less entity in the room.

"I can't, Sweetheart." I kneeled down to him again, and this time he held his ground.

"Son, there's nothing there. Who are you talking to?"

"Mae told me that she loves you, Dib… and that she was sorry that she left like that."

"Get out of our house." He said, with as much composure as he could muster. "Get out and don't ever come back."

"Dib," I reached out for him, but he shot backwards.

"Get away from me! I know what you are! You killed her!"

"No, Dib. I didn't. I was helping her."

"No you weren't! You're a demon, you can't help anyone!"

For a moment, I was taken aback. "No, Dib. I'm not a demon…"

"Son, there's nothing there." Membrane said again.

"Get away!" he screamed.

I frowned slightly, a lump rising in the back of my throat. The poor child was so stunned by what happened that he was simply unreasonable.

I reached out quickly and wrapped my arm around his small body. Dib screamed in pure terror and thrashed against me.

"Son?" Membrane said, concerned. He put his daughter down and kneeled close to us. He was afraid that Dib was having a seizure or something. I pulled back slightly, which only made Dib scream louder. "Listen to me." I said in his ear. His screaming did not cease. "Dib, sweetheart, listen to me." I clamped my hand over his mouth as gently as possible to stop his screaming. His tear filled eyes were wide with terror. He thought I was a demon. "Listen. I did not kill your mother. I was her angel and she asked me to help her and to take care of you and your sister. I will not hurt you. Ever."

The boy's struggling ceased and the tears ran freely down his face. He then turned to me and buried his face in my shoulder, crying openly again.

"Son, come here."

The boy heaved a few more sobs before I removed his arms from around my neck and told him to go to his father, who was holding Gaz again as well.

He looked back at me for a few moments. "I'm not going anywhere, sweetie," I said, trailing behind his father, who couldn't see me.

"What's your name?" he asked quietly.

"Stop talking to yourself, son. No one is there."

I nodded and touched the top of his head. "My name's Allyson."

"Allyson…" the boy repeated.

I looked to his sister. "Gaz? Can you see me?"

There was no reply.

"She doesn't talk to anyone much." Dib explained. "But I bet she can too see you, Allyson."

I smiled as Membrane went into one of the upstairs rooms and laid his daughter in bed, then going into another room and laying Dib in bed. "Goodnight," he said to each before he left.

"Allyson?"

I turned back into the room. "Yes?"

"Is mom happy now?" he asked.

I stood there for a moment, fairly stunned that he asked that. I went over to his bed and sat, holding him. "Your mother never really wanted to leave you. She realized what she had done to everyone – even herself – and regretted her actions immediately. I daresay that she's still quite shaken by her sudden departure. And I promise you that she'll be happy soon, but no matter how happy she is away from Earth, she'll always love her family. Always." I put extra emphasis on that part.

Dib nodded and quickly fell asleep. I walked into Gaz's room. She was already asleep in her winged footie Pajamas. For some strange reason, I had the feeling that she could see and hear me as well as her brother, but just didn't want to show it.

The next morning, I found myself inexplicitly drawn to the Professor's room. With the incident having just happened, he was going to stay home for a few days with his children. He, however, sat on the bed with his head down.

"You should know that she loved you." I said, and then remembered that he couldn't her or see me. Oh. I felt bad for him. Dib and Gaz could understand and at least have a little bit of closure, but their father… I would have to think of a way to get the message across to him.

I went to Gaz's room; she was still asleep. It was already past noon, but I didn't blame her. Things wouldn't return to anything resembling normal for the next few months, almost a year.

Which is why I was surprised to see that Dib was awake. "Sweetheart… Everyone else is still asleep. What're you doing up?"

Dib scrambled off the bed as fast as any five year old can and attached himself to my leg. After moving him back a bit, I kneeled down to him. 'Hey, what's wrong?"

"You were gone." he said. "You promised that you wouldn't leave."

"Oh," I hugged him. "I didn't leave; I was just in the other rooms."

"With Gaz and dad?"

"Mhmm." I hummed in reply.

"Did Gaz say she could see you?"

"Gaz is still asleep. Your father was up, though."

"What did he say?"

"I don't think your dad can see me, honey. But he's very upset about what happened." I stood up and lifted Dib onto his bed, sitting next to him.

"Well, can't you tell him what you told Gaz and me?"

I shook my head. "Your dad can't hear me." I said, making Dib frown. He thought it over for a moment.

"But he can hear me!" Dib jumped off the bed once again and led me into his father's room.

Membrane looked up when he saw Dib enter the room 'alone'. "Yes, son?" his voice sounded flat.

"Allyson wants to tell you something about mom, but you can't hear her."

"Well, where is this Allyson?" he asked.

"You can't see her, either," This was going to end very badly. I bent down and whispered in his ear. "Tell him that I was your mom's angel."

And he did.

Professor Membrane stared at his son from behind the safety goggles that he never seemed to take off. "That's ridiculous." He said after a long while. Dib turned to me, looking helpless. "He won't listen…" Dib said.

"Son, who do you keep talking to?"

"Allyson!" he emphasized my name, turning back to his dad. I put a hand on his shoulder, not wanting him to get too upset.

"There's no one there."

Dib opened his mouth to say something in return, but I stopped him. "Let it go, please. It's just not worth it." Dib closed his mouth and looked at me. "Don't you want him to believe us?"

"Of course I do, sweetheart, but arguing about it won't help if he can't see me." I said. Dib nodded and allowed himself to be ushered back to his bedroom.

Once out of his father's earshot, Dib sighed. "I bet he would have believed it if Gaz had said it."

"That's not true." I said in an attempt to comfort.

"Come on, Allyson. You know it is. Dad just doesn't believe me."

"I think that he just didn't want to believe I was there because I was your mom's angel." I said softly.

"Why, though? Why doesn't he want to believe you?"

I held him for a few moments. "I think because, to him, if I really was Mae's angel… he may think that I let her down."

"But you didn't. I saw you helping her. She didn't want to go and I saw you help her!"

I rubbed his back gently. "It's okay. I'll find another way to let him know what your mother said."

Dib hugged me with the enthusiasm that only a six year old can produce.