Chapter Eleven

Meanwhile…

Elsewhere

"Damn it!" James cursed loudly as he watched the scene play out before him on the screen. How in holy Hell had the damn angel been able to recall such a "vision"? Damn that sugary sweet Alison and her incessant need to be in Rafe's face all the time.

Ed gazed over at his counterpart, a smile upon his lips. "Something wrong, James?"

"No, nothing," came his accented reply. "I'm not worried in the least."

That had Ed turning toward James, his arms crossed over his chest. "Who mentioned anything about being worried?"

His eyes remained upon the screen before him as he answered, "I know you, Edward. I know how your mind works. If nothing were wrong you'd have asked me if I were worried. Perhaps under different circumstances I would be slightly inclined to worry, but your son will follow through as he always does with his vow of honor and leave Alison standing there."

"Don't go, angel." Rafe's voice echoed throughout the void James and Ed were standing in like it was playing in an empty movie theater.

Ed returned his eyes to the screen and smiled at his son. "Atta boy, Rafe," he encouraged in a quiet voice. "Remember your one true love, kiss her and open yourself to remember the past."

James' upper lip shivered with disgust at Ed's speech beside him. But his preoccupation with Ed didn't last long when he heard Alison's question of Rafe.

"You remember, don't you?!"

Was Rafe remembering? James experienced a slight version of panic. What if the fallen angel was remembering -- he would lose two souls. Well, he couldn't let that happen. Besides, he didn't like losing.

James lifted his hand to his face and gave a flick to one of his fingers near his nose. A pleased grin curled James' lips as he witnessed Rafe shaking his head and looking a little dumbfounded as well as dazed.

Back on Earth…

"Remember?" Rafe asked, still shaking his head. He felt as though he had just been awakened from a deep sleep and hadn't any idea to what was going on around him.

Alison's blue eyes danced over Rafe's face as she answered, "You called me 'angel'."

He lifted a hand to his head and scratched near his temple. "I did?" Rafe searched his mind for the happenings of the last few moments, but it was like they had never happened. "Why would I call you 'angel'?"

Her hope that had been bubbling up inside her began to shake wildly like a colt taking its first steps. Alison swallowed and tried to keep the smile upon her face as thoughts began to plague her of Rafe not remember at all. "I-I was hoping you could tell me why you called me 'angel' just now. There had to be a reason why you would do it."

Rafe's hands reached out and curled about her car door's frame as he sighed. "I'm not sure why I did it. I just looked at you, with the setting sun behind you, and you just sort of reminded me of an angel. That's all." His eyes that had been focused upon the ground lifted to meet Alison's and he saw the sadness written inside of them. "Was there some other reason I'd call you 'angel'?"

How many times had she gotten her hopes up that there was some clue that Rafe was returning to her? How often did she walk away from encounters with him feeling so shattered by them? How many times had she told herself that never again would she open herself up to hurt?

Swallowing what was left of her pride, Alison announced, "Look, Rafe -- uh -- I've gotta go." She then slipped into her driver's seat and shut her door.

Elsewhere…

Ed whirled on James quickly and accused, "You cheated!"

"I what?" James asked in an innocent voice.

"You cheated, you lying, scheming, manipulative bast-"

James lifted a finger and wagged it at Ed. "Ah, ah, ah, Edward. Come now, we can't have you using such filthy language. I wasn't cheating, I was simply rubbing my nose."

Ed's eyes narrowed as he felt rage fill him. "You were doing no such thing, you were interfering!" Without thinking, Ed reached out and grabbed James by his shirtfront and hauled him to within inches of Ed's own face. "You've cheated and you've broken your contract with me, which means my son and I will keep our souls."

"Oh, Eddie," James chuckled out humorously. "Surely you have proof that I interfered besides this wild accusation. I've done nothing more than scratch my nose."

"Right," Ed grunted, as he released his hold upon James. "You're right, I don't have any proof that you cheated or interfered." But two can play this game, Ed thought silently to himself as he gave his head a slight nod that was hardly noticeable.

Back on Earth…

"No, wait, you can't go," Rafe reminded her as he pulled his hands back from the door before Alison slammed them into her shut door.

"Can't I?" She challenged in a somewhat angry voice. "Because last time I looked you were like married to my ex-best friend. God," Alison breathed out, "why are you doing this?"

His hands claimed the open window's ledge as he lowered himself to eye level with Alison. "You know I hope He knows because I have no clue to why I'm doing this. By all rights I should let you just walk out of my life because I have responsibilities and obligations that I have pledged myself to. To go back upon them is just not who I am."

"Why are you telling me all this?" She growled angrily, her hands grabbing her steering wheel and gripping it tightly as she stared straightforward. "Try telling me something I don't already know."

Rafe inhaled a deep breath of air as he searched himself for an answer to her question. Then just as the fog had appeared in his brain, it cleared just as instantly. When he had clarity again, Rafe opened his mouth and said the first words that came to mind.

"Because I just can't walk away from you, no more than I could just walk away from Livvie. It's like you're in my blood Alison. It's like you are in there and no matter what I do or how hard I try I can't get you out of my system. You are like this drug I just have to have. My fixes consist of just seeing you, even a mere glimpse, walking by or your smile or that look in your eyes saying that you could love me forever and always. And once I have this fix I am high for just a little while and then I need more of you. That need will never stop."

"Rafe, I-"

He reached inside of the car and placed a finger upon her mouth to prevent her from speaking. "Don't. Not yet." When she nodded her head, Rafe lowered his finger from her lips and gazed down at the appendage. His skin was tingling from the soft contact and it trembled its way toward his heart, which felt like it were going to explode.

"This … this is what I'm talking about. I touch you and I feel as though I could die knowing what it was like. But then I realize that if I die then I'd never be able to touch you again." He shook his head and he chuckled in spite of the humorless situation. "When you found me out on Lucy's terrace I talking to God about how grateful I was to be standing there alive, but no matter how grateful I was -- am, I still wanted something more."

"What more do you want?" Her voice a barely audible whisper.

"I wanted Him to give me a sign. Do I stay with Livvie and the baby or do I do what everything in me is begging me to do and be with you?" Rafe swallowed then and gave Alison a shaky smile. "I think he answered me."

She wouldn't get her hopes up. She refused to let herself get up only to be knocked down again. But one wouldn't know that with that butterfly feeling instantly springing into stomach and the excited tremble in her voice as she asked, "Rafe?"

The corners of his mouth twitched with an impending smile and his eyes seemed to hold a light that had been absent from them for a very long time. "Alison," he breathed out as he lifted a hand to her face and combed his fingers through her silken blonde hair. "Alison, I-"

"Rafe, what are you doing?"

As his hand flew back from Alison's hair, Rafe's head whipped into the newcomer's direction as he said, "Livvie."

Her dark eyes flicked between her husband and her ex-best friend, taking in the scene. She had begun to grow suspicious when Rafe hadn't come back inside and she hadn't seen Alison's car leave the Lighthouse. She then decided to investigate and found the two of them in what looked like the beginnings of a kiss. Livvie's back stiffened as her eyes threw daggers at the blonde she had grown to despise.

"When was it exactly, Alison," she hissed out, "that you decided to become a home wrecker?"

Alison felt Rafe's eyes upon her, she knew he was wondering what she was going to do. She was wondering that herself when she heard Livvie's voice. She was going to do nothing -- well, that was until Livvie decided to name call. "Oh, that does it," Alison grumbled beneath her breath and quickly got out of her car.

When she stood beside Rafe, Alison snapped, "You're calling me a home wrecker? Me?! You are so one to talk, Livvie. You are the one who damages anything that falls into her path if she doesn't get her way. You are the one who stumbles upon men with amnesia and fills their head with lies." Alison's finger pointed directly at Livvie as she yelled, "You are the one who is faking a pregnancy to hold on to a man."

Livvie's eyes narrowed upon Alison, her hatred boiling over. "It's not like Rafe couldn't go to you if he really wanted to Alison. Nothing was stopping him from reclaiming his 'true love' the moment I found him. If you had been so important to him, like you say you were, than it would have taken a lot more than it did to get him into my bed."

"Oh, you little-" Alison seethed as she began to storm toward Livvie.

"Whoa!" Rafe called out as his arms reached out to capture Alison about the waist before she could get anywhere near Livvie. "Alright, Ladies, let's just calm down a little and talk this through."

"Calm down? How can you ask me to like calm down when she -- she calls me a home wrecker?! She's the one that stole the most precious thing from me and she has the nerve-" Alison angrily exclaimed as she tried to work Rafe's hands free from her. "You know what -- you are the most evil and twisted person I know, Livvie Locke."

"Kovich," Livvie corrected as her chin lifted, her hands finding her hips and a satisfied smile curling her lips. "Livvie Kovich."

Alison suddenly stopped struggling against Rafe's hold and snickered softly. She then returned Livvie's smile with one of her own as she proudly stated, "You know, you may have his name, Livvie, but I have what is most important. I have his heart." Alison then turned in Rafe's arms, placed her hands on either side of his cheeks, lifted herself up on to her toes and claimed his mouth with her own.

~*~