A/N: I feel like a parent on Christmas Day watching the kids go through what Santa just brought them. Sorry for the delay in stories—my muse took a vacation—not sure where she went, but all she brought back for me was this chapter. Maybe there's more in her bag of stuff—I'll have to go see. Until next time—if you are still reading this you are truly the best—PCGirl.

Eve stood there just watching her for a minute—she was flipping through a file with frustration that was obviously growing by the second. Before she blew up at a patient she had to intervene and grabbed Livvie by the arm and pulled her back down the hall until they got in the hallway, "What are you doing Eve?"

"Giving you an intervention before you give some little old a coronary—now march!" she shouted while turning Livvie around and shoving her up the stairwell.

He couldn't help but think she looked like a beautiful angel just sitting there amongst the quietness of the park. At first he thought snowflakes had fallen and melted on her face, but as he got closer he realized she'd been crying. "Alison?" he said softly as he came closer—startling her out of the haze she was in. "Hey—mind if I sit?"

"No, it's fine," she said as she wiped her face with her scarf. "I just needed to get out of the Bakery for a bit. I love this season," she smiled as she looked at him but he saw the smile didn't quiet reach her eyes.

"Yeah," me too, he said as she turned to look at the park before them but he realized he couldn't take his eyes off her. "So what made you so sad?"

"Oh it was nothing," she laughed a bit. "I've just got most possibly the world's worst mother. I mean she ignores me my whole life, but when her goes to hell what does she do—she thinks she'll just jump back into my life and be my best friend. The truth is though—she was never my best friend, nor was she my mom—she's just a stranger that if I'm lucky sends me a Christmas and Birthday card. I mean really—who does she think she is? A candidate for mother of the year," she shouted and stood up and paced for a minute before realizing Rafe was being very quiet and waiting to speak. "I'm sorry—I just want to tell her it's too little too late, you know?"

"No, I don't," he said softly before standing up and coming next to her in the clearing. "She sounds like she's probably up for worst parent of a lifetime, but at least you have one still—and you still have the time to change your relationship."

"What?" she said confused for a moment and then realized what he was getting at. "Oh no—Rafe—I'm sorry. Your mom—is she—?"

"Yeah, she's up there watching over me," he spoke, smiling as he looked up at the snow filled clouds. "It'll be 5 years in April. And I miss her everyday, but I have all these wonderful memories of being raised by her, and I pray everyday that those will be enough."

"I'm sorry—I'm such an idiot," she said touching his arm softly. "I thought I'd learned to think before I speak—guess I'm still a little snobbish in that fact."

"You snobbish?" he laughed as he walked in a circle around in the snow.

"Oh yeah, totally," she laughed.

"I still don't believe you, but if you say so—I guess I'll have to. Have you vented to Livvie yet about your mom?"

"No—and I'm not really sure she'll care. Something happened—maybe to just her, or maybe me also—but we're not as close as we once were. But there's still Jamal—maybe I should tell him," she said reluctantly—realizing how easy it was to talk to Rafe—still practically a complete stranger. "Thanks Rafe," she said as she gave him a hug and then a kiss on the cheek before walking off.

"Uh, yeah—your welcome," he stuttered as he watched her walk off while he was still in a daze.

"Helping Kevin do a little spring cleaning?" asked Ian as he watched Chris jump a mile and stop going through the large desk drawer in his office.

"No—and now will you please go away? I'm busy."

"Right. And when did your name become—Kevin Collins, PhD?"

"It's not—now will you please go before we both get caught?" he asked as he kept digging through the papers.

"I'm not the one that just promised the new cleaning girl a date to let her into someone else's office. Now spill it—or maybe you'd like to explain this to Alan," he said as he reached for the phone, but Chris grabbed the receiver first.

"Fine—you want to know what I'm doing—I'll tell you—I'm trying to find out if the only woman I've ever loved is still alive. Happy now?"

"No."

"Ok, now spill it kiddo," said Eve with a half laugh as her and Livvie walked up onto the roof of the hospital.

Livvie walked over to the edge and looked up to the stars for a minute before turning back to Eve, "How did you know it was Ian? At what moment when you were captured by Harris did you realize it was Ian you were supposed to be with and not my dad?"

Eve looked at her, wondering where this was coming from before speaking, "There was no specific moment. It was more about the whole experience and what it did to me on the inside. That's what experiences do Livvie—they change you as a person. Sometimes good—sometimes not, but you can't go on living constantly as the same person—you have to bend to the environment or you break."

"Yeah, I get that," she said quietly, hugging herself tighter.

"Can I ask where this came from?"

She spoke quietly at first but as she continued her voice and anger grew, "I've changed—a lot. And the whole time I've tried to act the same—dress the same—be the same person before last summer—before I cheated on Jack. I've apologized and agonized over it for six months now—and still it's thrown in my face every damn day."

"You have every right to be upset, Livvie. I've done stupid stuff years ago and still get reminded about it, but you've got to just let it roll off your back or else it will eat you alive."

"How can I just let it roll off my back when it's the same rerun on every channel?"

"Stop watching same stuff? Maybe it's time to find out who the real Livvie Locke is," she shrugged.

Livvie thought for a moment before she began walking quickly to the stairwell.

"Where are you going Livvie?"

"To start my new life," she smile confidently before leaving Eve alone on the rooftop.

"Oh God, Lambert—what did you just do?" asked Eve to herself.

By the time Alison got close to the apartment she was feeling better and knew Jamal would come up with ways to help her avoid Elizabeth's impromptu visit. She slowed down at seeing the new bike next to the door. Maybe they had a visitor, she thought as she opened the door to see Jamal sitting there on the couch by himself.

"Hey Spunky," he smiled as he went through the mail.

"Hey," she said quietly as she looked around and saw no one. "Whose bike is that?"

"It's mine," he smiled. "I bought it today."

"It was rhetorical, Thornhart," he said, barely glancing up.

"Ok—so I'm going to assume that you believe Julie has contacted Kevin and Lucy—correct?"

"Yeah—I heard Lucy rambling about it yesterday."

"She does that a lot," said Ian to himself. "So why do you think Julie wants to be found?"

Chris stopped what he was doing and looked up at Ian, "I don't really care what she wants. What I want though is to wake up with someone next to me in bed that isn't just a flavor of the week. And that's what I had with Julie—and that's what you have with Eve and Kevin has with Lucy. So when is it my turn? Where's my happy ending?"

"A little jealous, are we?"

"No, just taking what is rightfully mine," he said as he found an envelope addressed to Kevin and Lucy and ran his fingers over the delicate handwriting he knew so well. "And this is it," he said as he put it in his coat pocket and slammed the drawer closed before walking past Ian without another word said between the two of them.