A/N: Amy, you had a very good question. I haven't decided if Rafe and Alison will ever tell their kids about how Rafe was formally an angel. I think they will tell them about the vampire stuff, or at least some of it, b/c Rafe is a vampire slayer and it's a part of Rafe's heritage.

However, the angel stuff is a little more complicated. You see, in my story, Livvie is still the only other person that knows Rafe was once an angel from when Caleb had her under his control. Lucy hasn't a clue. As far as she is concerned, Rafe's never been dead lol. To her, it's just a happy coincidence (or fate rather) that she met up with her long lost cousin in Transylvania :) So I guess we'll see what happens! In the meantime, here's 20! Thanks for reading, girls:)

Changes 20

"What are you doing?" Rafe demanded as he walked into the den. Normally, he'd think Alison was rather cute wearing her bandana and shorts and those old Keds with paint all over them. But there she was, standing on a chair with a broom in her hand, running it all along the wall.

Alison turned around at the sound of Rafe's voice. "I'm getting rid of these cobwebs. They're really disgusting."

"Alison, please come down from there," he said, trying to make his voice as calm as possible.

"Why?"

"Because you're making me really nervous, that's why," he said in a more stern voice.

"Okay, fine." Alison stepped down from the chair, but not without Rafe taking her hand and helping her down. "Rafe…" she started.

"Alison, I'm sorry, but I just don't feel comfortable with you standing on chairs and doing all of this housework when you're pregnant. What if you fell and I wasn't here?"

Alison sighed. She didn't want to argue with Rafe but this sort of thing got annoying after a while. "Rafe, relax. You worry about every little thing I do."

"Well I'm not going to apologize for that. All I ever wanted to do was to keep you safe but you make it really hard for me when you go and do things like stand on a chair."

"Rafe…"

"No, listen. I know you're just trying to help out, and I love you for that. But I want you to take it easy. This is your vacation, all right? You should just relax, take care of yourself and the baby."

"But, Rafe, this is a big house. You can't do everything yourself. It's a lot of cleaning and a lot of work. You have to let me help you sometime."

Rafe sighed. Why did she always have to be so stubborn? "Just promise me that you won't be standing on anymore chairs. Okay?"

Alison smiled. That was a compromise she was willing to take. "I promise."

"Thank you."

Alison gave him a kiss, then happily handed him the broom. "Well, looks like you better get to work. This house has a lot of rooms and just as many cobwebs." She gave him a smile, then sauntered out of the room.

Rafe frowned. Cleaning cobwebs wasn't something he felt like doing at the moment. But now, it looked like he had no choice.

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Katrina loved it here. There were so many rooms to explore, so many things to do!

Today, she decided she would explore the rooms downstairs. Walking down the hallway, she opened up each door, peeked inside, and closed it again. If the room looked interesting, she'd walk in and look around. Sometimes, there would be things in the room that she liked, like funny looking lamps and small figurines on the tables.

In one room, she found something really special. At first, it looked like a fancy little wooden box, but when she opened it, she saw there was a ballerina standing inside. In the back, there was a tiny knob that turned. It was a music box! Katrina wound it up and laughed as the ballerina started to turn around and around to the sound of the music.

"Princess?"

Katrina looked over to the doorway, seeing her father. "Daddy, look at this!"

"Oh, what did you find?"

"A music box. Look, Daddy. The ballerina dances to the music. See?"

Rafe smiled, taking the music box and getting a closer look. "I remember this. This was your grandmother's."

"Grandma Kat?"

"Yeah. She always liked ballerinas, and she always loved music."

Katrina smiled. "I like ballerinas and music too!"

"You know what, Princess?"

"What?"

"Why don't you keep this? I think she would want you to have it." Rafe handed the music box back to her.

"I can keep it? Really?"

"Sure."

"Oh boy! I'm gonna show Mommy!" Katrina raced out of the room, calling out for her mother.

Rafe was about to leave the room when suddenly, he realized.

This was his mother's room.

Not her bedroom, but more like her sitting room. When he was young, he'd find her here sometimes, sitting down in the big armchair in the corner, writing in her journal, or reading a book. This was the room where she did her sewing, and where she put together scrapbooks and photo albums.

He could still feel her presence here.

Rafe walked over to the bureau, running his finger along the wood and making a trail in the dust. He opened the small drawer. There were scraps of paper everywhere, newspaper clippings, spools of thread, and other odds and ends.

In the back of the drawer, he noticed an old, beat up spiral-ringed notebook. He picked it up, realizing it was a day planner.

Rafe sat down in the chair, reading some of the writing. He hadn't looked at his mother's handwriting in years. She always wrote big and in cursive.

As he flipped through the pages, a name caught his attention. Dr. Novotny. His mother had scribbled his name at the bottom along with a phone number and appointment time.

Rafe closed the book. He didn't like to think about the time his mother became sick. It was the summer he was thirteen. Everything had happened so suddenly. The headaches. The dizzy spells. All he could think about when he thought of that summer was the image of his mother laying in her bed, sick with the tumor that had eventually taken her away from him, and Dr. Novotny shaking his head, saying there wasn't anything anyone could do.

"Daddy?"

Rafe looked up, not realizing Katrina had been standing there. He put on a smile. "What is it, Princess?"

"How does the ballerina turn around?" She held up the music box, which she was still preoccupied with.

Rafe brought Katrina to his lap. He held the music box up close to where they could both see it. "You know, Princess, I don't really know. I'm sure there are parts inside that we can't see that move whenever you turn the handle."

"And that makes it make the music too?"

"Sure."

Katrina set the box on the table and turned the knob. Once again, the ballerina began to spin as the music played. "I can be like her, Daddy. Watch."

Katrina hopped out of her father's lap and walked over to the center of the rug. She put her arms up over her head and began to spin around like a ballerina.

"It's a shame we left your tutu at home," Rafe said with a laugh.

"Mommy said when we go back home I can go back to my dance class. But I want to stay here for a loooong time because it's fun here!"

Rafe smiled. "I'm glad to hear that, Princess."

"What's in here?" Katrina asked, suddenly getting the urge to explore some more. She lifted the lid to an old looking trunk and rummaged around, looking for anything interesting.

"I don't know. Let me see." Rafe got up from the chair and peered down into the trunk.

Inside, there were a lot of things that Rafe had forgotten about, old things that had once belonged to his mother. There were old scarves, fabric samples, sewing materials, and other miscellaneous items.

"I like these!" Katrina announced, pulling out a handful of scarves and waving them around her head.

"All of this stuff was your grandmother's."

"Grandma Kat's in heaven, right?"

"Right."

"How come she didn't take these pretty things!"

Rafe smiled. "I guess she wanted you to keep them."

Katrina grinned, tying one of the scarves around her head. She grabbed two more, got to her feet, and began to dance. As she danced, she remembered that she was a ballerina and that made her think of her music box.

Katrina grabbed her music box from the table and skipped down the hallway. She stopped in front of her grandmother's picture. "Hey, Grandma Kat! Look what I got? Your music box! And I got your pretty scarves! Daddy said I could keep them!"

Rafe watched Katrina from the doorway as she ran off to the other part of the house, leaving the painting of his mother staring right at him. Even in paintings, her smile was still just as beautiful. He silently wondered what it could have been like if she had lived. He wished she and Katrina could have gotten to know each other.

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Alison lay in bed wide-awake, hearing the sound of thunder in the distance. A storm was moving in. Katrina would probably be awake soon. Thunderstorms scared her so.

Sleep refused to come. For one, she couldn't get comfortable, and two, the boys kept keeping her up. Gabe with his kicking, and Rafe with his tossing and turning.

Alison turned over on her side, facing Rafe. He was usually never this restless at night. She wondered what was going on in his head.

Rafe couldn't sleep. Physically, his body was exhausted. His mind on the other hand, was wide-awake. It just kept running, and there was nothing he could do to shut if off. Sure, he tried thinking of other things…like sheep jumping over a fence. No, that didn't work. Then he tried to stop thinking completely. But that was pretty much pointless.

Nothing could stop him from thinking about his mother.

"Rafe? Rafe is that you?" he heard his mother call out from her bedroom.

Rafe entered the bedroom, seeing his mother lying in bed again. "It's me, Mama."

"I heard a noise outside."

"It was just a wild animal," Rafe answered. He hated lying to his mother, but she really didn't need to know he had just staked a vampire roaming around on their property. Things like that only worried her, he quickly learned.

"Do me a favor, please? Bring me that bottle of aspirin on the dresser. I have a headache."

Rafe walked over to the bed and handed his mother the bottle of aspirin. He sat down beside her as he watched her wash two of the pills down with a glass of water. He hated seeing her pain. It sure was happening a lot lately. Ever since he had embraced his life as a slayer, all he wanted to do was to protect his mother. But how could he protect her from this?

"Mama, do you need anything?"

Katrina reached out for her son's hand. "Stay with me for a while. I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay."

"I went to see a doctor, Rafe."

Rafe suddenly began to worry. He knew something hadn't been right with his mother lately, and judging from the tone of her voice, it wasn't good news.

"You know I haven't been feeling too well lately, with the headaches and all. Right?"

Rafe shook his head.

"I went to see a doctor about them, and he ran some tests. I got the results back today."

Rafe held his breath. "What's wrong?"

"I have a brain tumor, Rafe."

Oh. God. No. "There's a treatment for that, right? You'll be better though, won't you?"

"There's treatment. But it's too late for me."

"No. No it's not too late!" Rafe insisted. "We have to try something! Can't they do radiation or something?"

His mother shook her head, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "I'm dying, Rafe," she said bluntly.

Rafe felt his eyes begin to well up. "No. No, Mama. You can't die. You're supposed to live for a long time. The doctors can come up with something. Just let them try."

"Rafe, it's no use. The treatments would make me feel sicker and they'd only give me maybe a couple of more weeks."

Rafe looked down, wishing this was all just a bad dream and he'd wake up any time now.

"Rafe, listen to me." Katrina touched his chin and brought his face up to look at hers. "I don't want to get sick with therapy treatments that won't work. I don't want to spend the last few months of my life in a hospital room. I want to spend that time with you. Do you understand? Given that I don't have that much time left, I'm going to live my life to the fullest. I want you to remember me laughing. Not sick in a hospital."

Rafe nodded. He understood. But it was still hard to accept. He couldn't imagine life without his mother. She couldn't really be this sick, could she? It seemed impossible.

"It's not really a few months, is it?" he asked when he found his voice. "You'll have more time, right?"

"The doctor says I have about three or four months. Maybe five if I'm lucky."

Rafe didn't quite know how to respond to that. It wasn't often when he cried, but he couldn't quite help it this time. "Mama, I don't want you to die."

"Oh sweetheart, I know," Katrina soothed, moving to sit up as she wrapped her arms around her son.
"I know…"

"Rafe? Rafe?" Alison shook Rafe awake. He turned and looked at her, his eyes wide open.

"What? What is it?"

"You were having a nightmare."

"I was? I don't even remember falling asleep."

"Do you remember what it was about?"

"Yeah. It was a dream about my mother. I was dreaming about her being sick."

Alison put her arms around his shoulders. "I'm so sorry."

"I just can't help but think of her, you know? I spent so many years of my life living with her in this house. I guess it's just all coming back to me."

"Is there anything I can do?"

Rafe reached out and found her hand in the dark. "Just you being here is enough. Don't worry. I'm going to be fine. Let's try to get some sleep, okay?"

"Alright. Goodnight." Alison kissed Rafe and snuggled up close to him. She hated to think of Rafe being sad for even a moment. She knew how much he loved his mother and how much he missed her. But one thing she was sure of…wherever she was, she was definitely proud of her son. The young son she had left on earth had become a wonderful man.

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Unlike her parents, Katrina had no problem falling asleep. She drifted off to dreamland the instant her head hit the pillow. And once she was down, she was out.

There was really only one thing that could snap her out of a peaceful slumber like this one.

Scary thunderstorms.

Her eyes shot open just in time to see a flash of lightening through the window, followed by a big boom of thunder.

Where was Bernie? She panicked. Reaching under the covers, she found her bear and held on to him for security.

Maybe the storm was over now. Maybe it was just raining now.

Or not.

A small sound escaped from her throat as another loud boom of thunder shook the walls of the room.

"Shh. It's alright, Precious."

Huh? Who was that?

Katrina looked over at the mysterious voice she heard. Sitting on her bed was a woman. It wasn't her mother, because this woman had dark hair.

She wondered if it was her. "Grandma Kat, is that you?"

"Yes, Precious. It's me."

"What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be in heaven."

She smiled. "I'm your guardian angel. I'm always with you."

"But I've never seen you before."

"You can't always see me, but I'm always with you."

"I'm scared of the thunder and lightening."

"I know, Precious. I sensed you would be. How about I sit with you until you fall asleep again?"

"Okay, but you won't leave me, will you?"

"Of course not."

"Will you be here when I wake up?"

"Yes. I'll be right here waiting. Now you better get some sleep. It's late."

"All right." Katrina turned on her side and held on to Bernie as her grandmother tucked her in and gave her cheek a goodnight kiss.