Always Alison

Disclaimer: Don't own them, don't claim to.

Rating: Somewhere between PG13 and R -- perhaps some language, adult content, adult situations

Chapter Three

When she was sure he wasn't going to speak, Alison smiled and lowered her fingers from Rafe's mouth. "I know when we spoke the other night I said I had to let you go. Not that I wanted to, but it was like the right thing to do." As her hand came to rest at her side, Alison looked away from Rafe and towards the altar at the front. "I still believe in those vows you took."

He couldn't help himself as he asked, "Then … then why are you here?"

"Because I have been thinking, Rafe. Some heavy-duty thinking. Thinking about what it means to me if I go back on my vow to stay away from you. About what it would mean to you if I did. What it would mean to your child."

"And Livvie," Rafe added when Alison's statement came to an end.

"You know," she began angrily and then took a quick calming breath, "I don't really care what happens to Livvie, Rafe. All you know of her is the person she pretends to like be. You know nothing about her, except what she tells you. No -- no," Alison said suddenly as she curled her arms beneath her chest. "I'm not going to trash her, no matter how much she deserves it. What I came here to do is to make you open your eyes to what is in front of you."

His blue eyes danced over her face, taking in every gentle curve, enjoying the movement of her lips as she spoke. The way she moved her hands when she talked and the faster they went as she grew more frustrated. Rafe then felt as if he had watched her like this before. Not that he hadn't since he first saw her, well what he remembered, but this was different. It was that sense of déjà vu. Like he had watched her and knew all her gestures and motions. Like he knew what each look she gave him meant.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, he asked, "Do you mean that metaphorically or literally?"

Rafe's question had Alison looking at him briefly before she gazed upon the lit candles in the church. "Both actually. Does that make you angry?"

"Angry?" His voice was filled with shocked humor. "I don't know what that makes me, Alison. Ever since I woke up in those woods I haven't felt anything other than confusion." His hand traveled up to his hair and then combed through it. "No, I take that back." That same hand fell before Rafe as he gestured at Alison. "Since I came face to face with you I have felt things that I can't explain. And what I can explain I realize I shouldn't be feeling because I am a married man with a child on the way."

"Right," Alison agreed slowly in a somewhat saddened voice. But she wasn't about to give up. Her blue eyes flew up to meet Rafe's as she shoved her hands into her jeans' pockets. "I know Jack has said as much and I know I've said it a few times, but Rafe … can you really be sure she's like … well, pregnant?" Her tone was one of a person who wanted to scream, "Don't you get it, she's lying to you!"

That had a frown contorting Rafe's face. "Why would she lie to me?"

Suddenly Alison's hands flew into the air, as she asked, "Why wouldn't she, Rafe? She's lied to like everyone she's claimed to love for a long time now. She lied to Jack and she's betrayed me in the worst ways. Livvie's not -- well, all together there anymore, Rafe. She hasn't been since Caleb. And now she's out to destroy my life." She noticed the look on his face, like he didn't believe her and she wanted to wring his neck. Not that she ever would.

"Don't you think it's just a little strange that everyone you've talked to since Livvie and you announced your relationship/marriage seemed shocked and horrified and floundering around in utter disbelief that you and Livvie were together while you were with me? Not to mention that you were an actual couple?"

He crossed his arms over the expansion of his chest as he shrugged. "Livvie said we snuck around in secret."

"Is that so?" She breathed out angrily. "How could you have 'snuck' around with her in private when you spent every moment with me? I mean like -every- single moment until you had to go."

"'Had to go' … you keep saying this. If we were so much in love why did I ever leave you?"

A sudden sadness cast a shadow over Alison's eyes as she gazed away from Rafe and to the candles. One of her fingers reached out and caught a single trail of wax melting down the side of one as she said, "Trust me, you didn't want to leave, but you had to."

His eyes watched the movement of her hand before he captured it, which had her eyes flying to his. "Tell me why," Rafe insisted in a pleading voice. "Tell me why I left you. I need -- I want -- I have to understand why in my right mind I would ever leave you."

Alison swallowed, emotion overtaking her causing the gentle misting of tears in her eyes. She wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him everything, but she couldn't. She wouldn't. They were Rafe's memories to reclaim and he would do so on his own. "Just trust me, Rafe. I know that is asking a lot, considering your … bride has been asking you to do the same and has been doing nothing but lie to you. In time you will discover why you left and the reasons behind it. But you would have never gone if you had the choice."

"If I had to leave -- leave you -- then why on Earth did I come back?"

"I would like to think it was because I prayed with everything in me that you would return." Her eyes danced over his face and then gazed down at the cross hanging down to the middle of his chest. "Since the moment you left, I prayed that God would find a way to bring you back to me." Alison's pulled her hand from Rafe's then reached out, grasped the cross and turned it so it lay in her palm. "And He has, but only-"

Rafe's hand curled around Alison's, which had her looking up at him. "Only I've come back with no memory of anything."

"Especially no memory of me," she added softly and then swallowed down the sudden lump of emotion in her throat. Having Rafe just simply touch her hand was turning her knees to jelly and knotting up her insides into a ball. It was a blessing and a curse to have him so near. He was all she ever wanted and right now he was all she couldn't have. But she intended to change that.

Summoning all the will power she had, Alison removed her hand from Rafe's and held it against her chest. "Listen, there is something I have learned so far in my life and I think you should know it."

"What's that?"

"That your lies always have a way of catching up to you. And Livvie's? Well hers are taking too long to catch up to her and I totally intend on proving to you what type of person you're married to." Alison actually smiled then, in spite of everything she managed to smile. "I'm going to prove there is no baby, that she is a complete sham and she has fed you a bunch of lies from the beginning."

She was amazing and determined to say the least.

His face suddenly clenched and his eyelids slipped closed at that thought. Then he groaned inwardly after chastising himself for thinking of her like that. He wasn't allowed to think of how beautiful or how amazing Alison was. She wasn't his wife. Livvie was. And he was standing here allowing Alison to speak about his wife like she was someone truly horrible. Livvie wasn't like that. She was … she was … what was she? She was definitely something if he was married to her.

"She's my wife, Alison," Rafe said in a soft voice. "You have to understand that I am going to believe her first over anyone else."

Alison nodded her head slowly. "I know. If you had believed me outright, it just wouldn't be who you are, Rafe. You are fiercely loyal to those you care about. Just -- just one thing though."

Rafe wrapped his arms over his chest again, not because it was a comfortable position, but to prevent him from reaching out and touching Alison again. "What's that?"

"I need a favor from you." She held up her hand to keep him from speaking, and then brushed those fingers through her hair. "Listen to your heart. Don't ignore what it or your gut tells you. If you can't like trust Livvie or myself and anything we say, then trust them -- you may surprise yourself."

Meanwhile…

Elsewhere

"Oh, I may be sick."

Ed grinned as he looked from the screen over to James' face. "What's wrong, James, my boy? Can't take a little bit of good old fashion love?"

James pointed at the screen and then pressed his fingers to his lips. "That, Edward, is not about love. Alison is struggling to get your son to love her again. Of course I have to hand it to Master Rafe for knowing which side his bread is buttered on. That Livvie is one remarkable creature."

That had Ed frowning and gazing at the screen again. "Livvie is some type of creature alright. I have faith in my son that he will do right by his heart and gut instincts and let them lead him."

"Right," James mocked in a voice filled with laughter. "Like he's done so brilliantly thus far? If anything is leading your son it's his-"

Ed's hand flew up, trying to block the rest of James' sentence as he cut in with, "I'm not giving up on Rafe. He and Alison have a special kind of love that even amnesia can't touch. Rafe may not be able to remember Alison, but he knows her." Ed nodded his head firmly as he looked at the screen again. "He knows her."

"Worried, Eddie?" When Rafe's father looked at him, James continued to regard the screen. "Worried that Rafe will fall even more victim to Livvie's charms? Then soon, very soon, I will have your soul as well as your son's?"

"Where in what I said gave you in the impression I was worried?" Ed asked as he folded his arms over his chest.

James held up one finger as he smiled. "Ah, it's not in -what- you said it was in -how- you said it. You're scared Eddie. I can feel your fear vibrating off of you like heat from the flames in Hell. It's so very intoxicating. Your faith in your son is going to be your downfall."

"And your over-confidence in Livvie will be yours. This is far from over. As they say, 'Love conquers all.' Watch and learn Jimmy. Watch and learn about the ways of love."

Looking back at the screen, James gave his full attention to it as he muttered, "Your speech would be touching if I had a heart. But I haven't one so they are just words to me, Eddie. Just words."

~*~

To Be Continued…