AN: So the muse decided to wander away from this story for awhile. However, thanks to a few inquires as to the continuation of it, chapter two has finally gotten written. Hope you all enjoy it!

Constable Fraser had eventually convinced Constable Grant that his efforts were hopeless. Jack watched as the latter covered his body with a blanket. Jack recognized the look on Constable Grant's expression. It was one of guilt. For some reason, this man that he had never met, felt guilt over his death.

Jack didn't understand why. Yes, he may have taken Constable Grant's assignment, but that choice hadn't been made by Nathan Grant. It had been Andrew Hargraves who had asked him to come take the assignment. Though he knew that Elizabeth would be disappointed in his choice, Jack had felt an obligation to his friend when he had asked. Hargraves had said he needed someone in the position that he knew he could depend on. Jack hadn't asked for details. However, his friend had needed his help immediately and he would have a lifetime with Elizabeth.

Or so he had thought.

His fellow Mounties had found the body of Cadet Mackey. With everyone accounted for, they had left the scene of the mudslide, heading back toward Fort Clay. Still, Jack remained, looking down at the site of where he had died, trying to make sense of the turn of events.

Life wasn't fair.

That was a phrase that Jack had learned the truth of as a very young boy. If life was fair, he and Tom would have grown up with a father.

"This is different. There is no danger. The worst that can happen is I lose my voice yelling at the new recruits."

In a fair world those words would have been true. In a fair world he would soon be going home to Elizabeth.

Jack felt cheated. He had tired to do everything right. He had been patient with Elizabeth while she had sorted out if she had wanted the world she had grown up in or Hope Valley. He had helped to foster her dreams. He had done his service to his country by going to the Northern Territories.

Now all that felt as if it was for nothing. As his tears started to fall, so did the rain over the countryside.

"It must be hard to lose everything so suddenly," a soft voice said, as he felt an arm settle across his shoulders.

Jack looked in the direction of the voice to see Colleen was still beside him. He wasn't alone after all.

"You're still here?" Jack stated, reaching up to wipe away . . . tears? How did ghosts cry? How did Colleen's arm have weight to it if they were ghosts for that matter? Except that looking at her, Colleen seemed quite solid to him.

"I am," Colleen replied. "You are clearly in distress. I can't leave you, right now," she told him as she stood next to him.

Was stood even the right term to use? Yes they were in a vertical position, but they were also in midair. You could not stand in midair could you?

Jack looked down at the site of the mudslide with eyes still burred by tears. That concept seemed real enough to him. However, nothing was making sense right now.

"Things are not quite the same existence as it was in our previous existence," Colleen told him, her arm still around Jack's shoulders. "Our emotions are the same, as are our knowledge and beliefs. However, this is no longer our world. Though you and I, and others like us, feel real to each other the world we once lived in is no longer tangible to us. Those we left behind can't see us though sometimes they can sense us. If we try to touch them or hug them, we would pass right through them, and though they feel something, most think it is just a brush of the wind."

"I should have been going home to Elizabeth soon. I should have been holding her in my arms and telling her that I would never leave her alone again."

"I'm sorry," Colleen said softly. "I can't imagine how you're feeling right now. As hard as it was for me to leave behind those I love, I at least got to say good-bye. I passed from that world in the loving arms of my brother, not alone in the middle of nowhere."

"We had so many plans," Jack said, the tears starting to fall faster as he thought of Elizabeth, Hope Valley, and all the plans and dreams they had shared. "I told her I would come home to her. I told her that the worse thing that could happen was that I may lose my voice yelling at the recruits. I broke my promise to her."

"I don't think she will hold that against you," Colleen assured him, as Jack's tears broke down into sobs that shook his body.

Colleen stayed there with him, above the mudslide that had claimed his life, being what comfort that she could. She didn't offer any more words, simply held him, letting him cry. She understood. She had shed plenty of tears in those last months when she had known the life she had known was slipping away from her. She'd had family to hold her during those time. Right now, she was all Jack had, and she planned on offering what support she could.

In the days that followed, Colleen had imparted what wisdom she could to Jack about the world that he now inhabited. Even though his body was shipped away from Fort Clay, Jack remained with Colleen. Though he had only just met her, the woman was the only connection he had right then. As he continued to come to terms with his own death, Jack felt a yearning for that connection.

One thing that amazed him was the guilt Nathan Grant felt over his death. Though the man hadn't had any control over the events that had brought Jack to Fort Clay, it was clear to him that the man blamed himself. When Colleen had told him about the choice Nathan had made that had led to his suspension and Hargraves asking Jack to replace Nathan as a training officer, it still didn't make any sense to him.

"He couldn't have known that going after those cattle rustlers would lead to me taking his place as a training officer, let alone that I would die on the assignment," Jack had found himself saying to Colleen when she tried to explain her brother's reaction to him. "From what you've told me, I would have chosen to go after the rustlers myself than to let them escape despite orders."

"You're right, but Nathan can't see that right now. All he can see is that you took his place and died doing the assignment that he should have been doing. He feels guilty that there is now a newly married woman a widow now when she should be enjoying married life. Haven't you ever felt bad about something that happened because of a choice you made, even when you had no control over those events nor did you know that would happen when you made your choice?"

As Jack had considered Colleen's question, his thoughts immediately went to Doug. Doug had taken the first assignment to lead a squad in the Northern Territories after Jack had chosen not to go. Doug had been so excited at the opportunity. However, Doug had been killed shortly after going North. He had been one of the many men lost among the force during their confrontation with the gunrunners in the Northern Territories. Upon hearing about his death, Jack couldn't help but feel that Doug would have still been alive if he had taken the assignment when first asked. He had blamed himself for Doug's death and that guilt had led him to finally going north.

Yes, Jack thought, he could understand exactly how Nathan Grant felt and he had a feeling like his choice to join the fight up north, eventually Nathan Grant's guilt would lead him to making a choice that he wouldn't have otherwise made.

Eventually though, Jack moved on. According to Colleen, he was trapped between worlds because he needed to know that something had taken place before he could pass over completely into the spirit world. Jack had a feeling that whatever it was, that something had to do with Elizabeth and so he finally moved on from Fort Clay and sought out Elizabeth.

Jack was there beside her during his funeral. His Elizabeth looked so heartbroken that he found himself crying once again. Though he didn't have a heart in the physical sense any longer, it still hurt to see Elizabeth in such pain and know that he was the cause of that pain. No, he hadn't caused that pain on purpose, and he would do anything to alleviate it. Unfortunately, there wasn't a thing he could do. He couldn't even hold her while she cried. He had tried, and as Colleen had told him, his arms had passed right through her. Elizabeth's only reaction was a shiver.

After his funeral, Elizabeth had gone to see her folks in Hamilton. He had followed along, vowing to keep Elizabeth safe in the same way that Colleen looked out for her brother and Allie. Though he could no longer be her husband, Jack vowed that he would stay by Elizabeth's side. He would be her guardian angel until he figured out what it was that he needed to happen so that he could finish passing on.

In Hamilton, Elizabeth had found the comforting arms of family. Her parents and sisters were able to hold her in the way that Jack longed to but no longer could. He stayed with her, while she poured her heart out to Julie. His Elizabeth scolded him and lamented his loss in turn. Every conversation though ended in her saying that she loved him as she broke down into tears.

Even her parents, who hadn't thought much of him while alive, had kind words for him. It was an interesting concept to hear what people said about you after you had passed on. Jack wasn't sure whether to believe the words that were said or to think that they were said simply to spare Elizabeth's feelings. Either way, he was thankful for what comfort they brought to Elizabeth.

For a time, Jack found himself wondering if Elizabeth would return to Hope Valley or not. More than once, he wondered if she wouldn't be better off in Hamilton surrounded by her family, though somehow that thought didn't sit right with him. His Elizabeth had blossomed in Hope Valley. She was no longer the cultured, pampered, and frightened young woman who had first come to Coal Valley. She had discovered who she was while teaching the children of their little town. She had found a passion in teaching and a love for the people of Hope Valley. She belonged in Hope Valley not here among the buildings of Hamilton. The children of Hope Valley still needed her and Jack believed that she needed them as well.

More than anything, Jack wished that he could tell her those things. However, he couldn't communicate with Elizabeth directly any longer. However, Colleen had said they could affect the physical world in small ways. Much like a person would feel what they thought was a breeze when a spirit passed through a part of them, other objects would be affected in the same way. Granted, moving a big object was impossible, but as Jack experimented passing a hand or a foot through objects he watched the effect. A page in a book could be turned. A curtain would ripple as if a breeze had blown it. A small object too close to the edge of a table could be knocked over. Light objects, like some vases, could be knocked over. A small object going through air would change its trajectory ever so slightly when it passed through him. That last fact was something Jack had discovered by accident while standing next to the waste basket in Elizabeth's bedroom. Elizabeth had been trying to write a letter to Abigail but not liking what she wrote, had crumpled the paper and tossed it at the waste basket. As he was in front of the waste basket, the paper passed through him and missed the waste basket altogether.

Having something, even a piece of paper, pass through him was a bit disconcerting. However, the incident had given him more information about his new existence. Information that he supposed might one day prove useful.

With that information, Jack had taken every opportunity provided to him to make sure the words Hope Valley was on the open page of Elizabeth's journal whenever it was left open. Even if Elizabeth simply paused in writing to collect her thoughts, Jack would take the opportunity to 'blow' the page to one where Hope Valley was written on it.

Jack could tell that Elizabeth was perplexed by the constantly 'blowing' pages when there was no apparent wind, but she didn't comment on it to anyone. Jack had a feeling Elizabeth feared people would think that in her grief she was imagining things or worse. A few days of this however seemed to produce Jack's desired effect as Elizabeth started talking about returning home. Her parents of course tried to talk her out of it, but as always, once Elizabeth set her mind on something very little cold change it. It was one of the first things that Jack had learned about her and something that had caused him much worry over the years.

As he had when she had come east, Jack watched over Elizabeth's travel as the train carried her west again. He had stayed by her side when she had gotten out early, and made her way to his grave. Jack had watched as fresh tears wracked her body as she cried over his grave. He had tried to put his arms around her, but the effort did nothing but disturb the air. All he could really do was stand there, watching her grieve for him, when in his 'heart' Jack only wanted Elizabeth to keep living. He wanted her to go on with her life, and find happiness even if he could no longer share that happiness with her.

As Elizabeth cried at his grave, Jack remained at her side, his own tears falling. Unlike when he had cried above the site of the mudslide though, these tears weren't for himself. These tears were for Elizabeth who was still hurting. Jack hated that this time, there was seemingly nothing he could do to comfort her though.