AN: For some peace of mind, I'm going to try to update fanfics at the end of the month in the future. I actually have Excel documents that show the popularity of the fics and will write the ones which are most popular first but hope to update a lot of them monthly. Thank you for bearing with me during this and I hope you enjoy.

Chapter Five

5.1

Gloria felt the tears in her eyes as she watched her daughters sleep. She wanted to tell them so much about their father and how he was watching over them and would always love them and their whole family but it could wait. They had to sleep. She let her fingers run through Estafania's hair before hearing a sound at the front door. She lifted her head, it must have been something just knocking the trashcans over. She wiped her eyes, nothing to worry about there. She took a deep breath in and walked over to the door of the room where her daughters were sleeping and walked down the hallway trying to figure out how to get to sleep herself.

It seemed impossible now that Miguel wasn't here. Now that she didn't have his warm protective arms. Now that she couldn't press her cheek into his arms. She sighed before hearing a panting at the door and a bark. A dog? There was a dog here?

She rolled her eyes and went away. She didn't want to deal with a dog right now. She wanted to think about all of the songs that her husband had written, all of the ways in which he had expressed his love for their family. Dogs could wait but she wanted to pretend for a bit longer that he was with her.

She heard the dog barking again and looked at the clock on the wall. It was about ten minutes after midnight, when had it gotten so late. She heard the dog again and went to look in the kitchen for a bone or something to give it. Maybe she could satisfy it with that and then she could concentrate on things that mattered more to her.

As she opened the door, she looked at the street dog before looking up and seeing the figure of a man there with a hoody on just resting against the wall. She walked over to him and noticed that the man was wearing gloves over rather thin hands. She took a step back before smiling. "I thought that you said that you couldn't see me any longer."

"I'm sorry. I really am new to this, I know that I should allow you to mo-" Miguel said but Gloria rushed up to him and placed a hand on his bony shoulder. She noticed that it felt different, it was as if she were putting her hand on bubbles or something that had a very fine film or skin on the top of it. It was there but not.

"I thank you for that," Gloria said as she took a few steps backwards. "But…I'm not ready to move on. It hasn't been that long and you were murdered, it's…it's hard to move on from you," she said and was relieved to see Miguel lift his head and reveal his skeleton head. Gloria wrapped her arms around herself as she tackled the bitter wind.

"I hope that it's okay for me to visit you until you say that I should go. Once you say that, I won't come back to bother you again," he told her and Gloria felt tears in her eyes. She wondered if there would be a day when that would happen. Would she get remarried and move on from him? Would his love ever become a burden to her? She didn't want to believe in such things.

"What about the girls?" she asked him and he gave a somber smile, the pain in his eyes as he replied.

"When they are fifteen I will be allowed to see them. I am only allowed to cross over now because - because they've entrusted me with a role that no one else can do," he looked away and Gloria saw the way his face moved. Despite it not having skin on it, she could see that he was still expressive. It haunted her looking at him but it didn't haunt her that he was here. She wanted him here in any form.

"What kind of a task? Can you tell them no?" Gloria asked nervously as she watched her love.

"I don't really want to tell them no," Miguel replied and smiled slightly. "I have the responsibility of taking people to the other side of successfully helping them get to the afterlife. I think that it might help a lot of people but it doesn't stop me from wanting to be here with you and the girls."

Gloria bowed her head and laughed softly. "That sounds like the perfect job for you," she commented and Miguel smiled in return. "So, do you have to do this job every night?" she asked as she looked back at the clock wondering how long she would have with him.

"I think so," he nodded. "I don't know if I can always come here but even if I can't, please know that I continue loving you. I want for you to be happy, Glorita," he winked and she wrapped her arms around him wanting to remember how his body felt. She watched as he bowed his head and then called Dante to his side.

"I have to go now," he said and Gloria nodded before taking his hand in hers. She rushed forwards and kissed his bony face without him expecting her to and then stepped backwards with tears in her eyes.

"I love you, Miguel," she told him. "Always will, can you remember that?"

"Only if you do the same," he smiled and Gloria watched him walk away and then fade out of sight. She stayed there only a little longer before turning to go into the house.

5.2

"Louis Ramirez," Miguel said as he looked at his list. This was the first person he would guide to their afterlife and he was a little nervous about how they would react to him. Was he able to just go into this person's home and say hi, I'm from the afterlife, I've come to take you to where you'll spend the rest of eternity. Did most people want to die?

Miguel walked into the home to find there to be a limp and lifeless body on the bed. This was an elderly man in his late eighties who had died whilst sleeping. His heart and oxygen had just run out of time and there was nothing else that had killed him, he had died of old age. Hopefully this would be an easy case.

"Excuse me, Senor Ramirez?" Miguel asked as he approached the man and put his hand to the body. As he did this, Miguel was looking through the body of the man and to his spirit within him. It was weird. He had imagined when he was a boy what it would be like to have X-ray vision, didn't everyone do that from when they were a child? He never thought he'd experience anything like it though.

He saw the spirit open his eyes and he looked around the room. "Who? Who are you? You're the skeleton man!" Louis said and Miguel sighed before smiling. Well, he could at least try to reassure the ghost that everything was going to be okay.

"I'm here to take you to your afterlife," he said and Louis looked at him nervously. "Don't worry, it's a very simple journey, we just have to take you over the bridge and get you into processing. At that time your family will be notified about your arrival and you'll be reunited with them."

The man stared at him again and reached for his glasses on the nightstand but his ghostly hand just went through them. He stared at Miguel again and then his eyes widened.

"You look similar to that singer that was on the news who was shot protecting his daughter. Well, you have a mask on but -"

"So, that's how they're reporting my death?" Miguel laughed before nodding. "Yes, I am. I recently died and left my family behind but I know that I have family in the afterlife as well. I cannot explain how it came to be but I can travel between worlds and I want to make sure that your journey is as comfortable as I possibly can."

Louis looked at Miguel again, "I'll be able to see my first wife again?" he asked and Miguel paused.

"If she's dead and she wants to see you then she will be notified and asked to come," he replied as he tried to think about how they were going to find the bridge. They had given him a key and said that as long as he held it up then he and the person he was tasked to accompany would be on that bridge but he hadn't tried it yet. This wasn't the only person he had to take tonight. He could only do it at night though so he would have to do a faster cleanup the following nights.

"And my second wife?" Louis asked.

"Same thing," Miguel nodded. This time he thought about Gloria and if Gloria would be asking for multiple husbands. He knew it was what was for the best for her and maybe for the girls as well, that didn't keep him from being jealous.

"And my third wife?" Miguel's eyes widened as Louis asked him that question and he was tempted to ask the elderly spirit how many wives he actually had ended up with but that just seemed rude to say."

"Any…anyone dead you can meet with as long as there are people who remember them who are alive. If you forget the dead then they are lost forever. That's what I learned a very long time ago," he said and Louis nodded. He looked away from Miguel before going over to the dresser drawer where he took out a box of love letters he'd written his deceased wives.

"Can I take these?" he asked and Miguel nodded. He had been told that the dead could take things that were sentimental or meaningful to him. He had taken his ring and his guitar so why shouldn't this man be allowed to take these letters. He saw the man stand before pointing to Miguel's skull.

"Will my face also become like that?" he asked and Miguel nodded.

"Okay. I'm ready to go," he said and Miguel held up the key. He gave a heavy sigh of relief as they finally were standing on the bridge and he looked to Louis.

"Let's go get you to processing and you'll be reunited with your family," he said and saw Louis smile. It was good for him but it still felt so painful. He would have to face every night knowing that he could never truly exist in the same world with his girls. Well, to help others was a noble duty itself.

End of Chapter Five

Thank you for reading

Thank you to AlxkendBlader for reviewing Chapter Four