A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews for this. I know the concept is strange and I'm kind of playing it as I go so I hope you continue to enjoy it and please, please, please review, thanks. :)

"You're not a ghost, are you?"

"No, I'm not a ghost," he told me. I don't know if that made me more upset or not. If he was a ghost, maybe I could have him exorcised. I could go get some sort of witch doctor or ghost hunter and they could just make him disappear. Throw some salt at him, let him go back where he came from. But if he said he wasn't a ghost, did that really mean he wasn't? Would he trick me? But did ghosts even really talk? I wasn't psychic, I'd never predicted the future, not once so it couldn't be that.

"Do I have a brain tumor?" I asked because maybe I was dying and just didn't know it and I was hallucinating.

"No."

"So you're," I was almost too afraid to confirm the truth. I may have it all worked out in my head, but I didn't want to say it aloud because then it made it real. It's like if you don't say something, then it's not real. "You're…a…well, you're a guardian angel, aren't you?"

"Hit it right on the nose," he told me.

"Okay, I must be dreaming or something."

"Pinch yourself, see." He almost sounded amused. I'd never spoken to him before, not like this. If I ever did, it was confrontational. I reached under the covers and pinched my leg. It hurt, damn it, it hurt. I winced and he seemed to smile at me. "So?"

"So I'm not dreaming," I tell him. "So you're a guardian angel then…why can I see you? Why have I always seen you?"

He sighs and looked out the window. It's strange. He looks solid, but there's a transparency to him as well, like he shimmers or something. I almost want to reach out and touch him, just to see if I can. He's sitting on the bed, but maybe he's actually just hovering over the bed and he can't really sit at all, but doesn't want to freak me out. As if the appearance of some other worldly being wasn't going to freak me out anyways.

"Because sometimes people can see us. Some people can see their guardian angel, some can see ghosts, some can see…whatever. You can see me. Some people are just more sensitive to it. I admit, I haven't done a good job at hiding."

"That's for damn sure," I muttered. He actually laughed. My head shot up to look at him. He could laugh. Did he have emotions? "So why did you just show up one day? I mean, I was sitting there, in my bedroom, like seven years old, playing with my dolls and there you were in the corner, why did you show up?"

"I've been around since you were born, Stephanie," he told me. "I was there when you were born. You just never noticed me until you were seven. I guess you were kind of floating off in your own world until then, but I've always been there."

"Oh my God, I can't believe I'm talking to someone who thinks he's my guardian angel," I cover my face. Here is this guy, if he is even a guy, saying he's my guardian angel. I must be going crazy. These past however many years has been my slow descent into madness and I've finally arrived. The men in the white coats will kindly be taking me away any time now.

"I don't think I am, I am," he said. "I just needed you to recognize that."

"Why? You can't talk to me unless I know what you are?" I asked glibly. I was crazy, so very, very crazy.

"No, because you were too stubborn to realize before and why would I want to talk with a stubborn person?"

"Oh great, so not only am I a psycho who can see their supposed guardian angel, but I get the most sarcastic one in the world," I tell him. He just snickers at that. So for all those folks wondering, yes, angels snicker and act like smug bastards some of the time.

"I'm not sarcastic, I'm just truthful," he tells me.

"Sure," I say. "I don't know what to think right now. Why now? Why are you back now? You said I need you, but what do I need you for?"

"To protect you, that's my job."

"Protect me from what?"

"The dangers of the world. Look, I know what's going to happen to you before it happens…and no, don't ask me to tell you what's going to happen to you, I'm not allowed, boss's orders. I just know and until the day you die, I will be here to protect you."

"And on the day I die, what, you finally just say, see you, wouldn't want to be you?" I ask him.

"That's the day I take you with me," he tells me and he's so serious in that moment I'm frightened a little bit. What if that's what he's really here for? What if I'm dead or dying and I don't know it. I look around, as if I'm going to see my dead body and come to the awful "end of the movie" revelation that I'm already dead and I'm a spirit right now and he's come to take me with him. Then I remember that I pinched myself and it hurt. When I think of death, it's not supposed to hurt.

"Um, is it a long way off?" I ask tentatively.

He smiles gently, "I can't tell you."

"That's not very reassuring."

"Sorry," he says and he sounds genuinely apologetic. He doesn't seem too pressed about my physical condition so I'm going to guess I have a lot of time left. Or at lease I hope so.

"So you protect me, but you haven't, I mean, I don't think I've needed protecting."

"I don't interfere with the little things," he tells me, "you know, broken hearts, broken bones, broken anything. I just help with the big things, the life-threatening things."

"So why do people get murdered then? If everyone, theoretically, has a guardian angel, why do bad things happen?"

"I can't tell you exactly, but there's a plan. I know, you don't think it's a great answer, but it's the only answer I can give you. We're all meant to play our part."

"Okay, I won't pry then." I don't want to get him in trouble with his superiors. Does he even have them? Oh, he must, God and all that. I've never been religious nor has my family, but I guess it's time to start revising that. I wonder if this means I have to go to church.

"So I need you, something big is coming then?"

"I didn't say that."

"I've never needed help before so something must be up."

"No, I'm here, like always. I'm just saying you need me because you do need me, I'm your protector, always."

"I've never needed you though, so why do I still see you? If I don't need you, can't you just fade?"

"You just see me, Stephanie, that's all there is to it, you see me. Some people can't, you can."

"How would you help me anyways? You can like, touch things?"

"You ask too many questions," he tells me and I roll my eyes. If he is my guardian angel then I'm going to ask questions.

"You've been watching me forever, you say, how do I know that? You know, in fact, how do I know you're actually a guardian angel? Maybe you are a ghost or something and like, when someone in your family dies, don't they say, oh they become your guardian angel? So shouldn't like, my grandpa be my angel or something, huh? Answer me that."

"If I were capable of getting headaches, you would be giving me one right now," he tells me. He doesn't move though, just sits there. "One question at a time."

"Okay, how do I know you're a guardian angel if you've never protected me once in my life," I'll start with that. I want to know if he is for real.

"You were three years old," he starts, turning to look at me. I feel as if I can look straight through him. His eyes are so piercing though and it's like if I just look into them, I can see what he's saying. It's an odd feeling. He's an odd person.

"Okay…"

"You had gone on a hike in the woods with your dad and Shane. It was the wintertime, you were pretty bundled up. Your dad was carrying you and Shane was up ahead a little bit, looking at something or another. You were squirming in your dad's arms and so he put you down. You took his hand, but Shane was running up ahead. He told you to stay right there while he went and got your brother. You didn't stay right there. You started to wander off the path and you got lost. You were a fast kid, you've always been speeding off somewhere, I think that's why you ignored me in college, you had too much to do. Anyways, you got really far out and you got so disoriented and it started to snow of all things. You were so scared. Everyone was looking for you, but you were so small and so afraid you couldn't hear anyone because you were crying and you didn't know directions. Do you remember what happened?"

I thought back to that day. I remembered it from the numerous stories I'd been told about, how my family was so worried, how my father never would've forgiven himself had anything happened to me, how Shane had started crying too, thinking I was lost. They'd found me though, of course, since I was sitting here. Yes, they'd found me sitting in a tree of all things, huddled up. They'd spotted my red coat and my father told me he ran through me, getting cuts from thorny bushes, but not caring about that as he squeezed the life out of me.

"They found me in a tree."

"I coaxed you," he said. "It was cold, you were so small, with that little bowl cut of your getting soaked under your cap. You were in a red coat, I knew they'd see you. I whispered to you that morning to pick the red coat. You listened to me back then. I think your parents caught you talking to someone, but they just thought it was your imaginary friend. I waved to you and--"

"You were the blond man," I whispered. I remembered now. Oh God, it was hazy, but I remembered. I could remember shivering and he'd been there, a man, just standing there, no, no, he was crouching. He was crouching next to a tree and he was waving me over. I was hesitant, but I knew him, yes, he'd looked familiar so I'd walked over and he'd told me to get in the tree, the tree would be warm. So I did and I sat there and he sat with me. "You were there."

"Yes, I was there," Chris told me. "Like I said, I've always been there."

My eyes teared up and looked away. "So you have saved me."

"Yeah. As for your other question, everyone has a guardian angel. That doesn't change, they don't change. There's no transfer program, we're never demoted. We're your guardian angel for life, no switches."

"Okay," I say. I just…I can't think right now. He was there, he saved me, he was really the one to save me. He really was my guardian angel. He talked to me then. "Did you talk to me more when I was little, before I could remember?"

"Yes," he tells me. "You were a little more receptive then. When you were crying when you were a baby and your parents would not come get you because they wanted you to learn to quiet down on your own, I spoke to you."

"This is unreal, I mean, I know you've been around forever, but I guess. Now you're here, you want to help me."

"I've always wanted to help you, but you've never wanted my help."

"How can you help me now?"

"Just listen to me," he shrugs. "Just listen to your own gut. You don't even have to talk to me. I don't get lonely or anything, I'm not capable of being lonely so it's no matter to me, but sometimes, you have to just trust yourself, but know that I will be here to protect you."

"Thanks, I think," I laugh. He smiles at that and there's a nice repertoire here now, now that I'm not being completely hostile to his presence. "Have you ever…were you alive once, like a long time ago?"

He looked out the window and he seemed to shimmer again. There was a light surrounding him, that's what I realized. Of course there was a light surrounding him, he was an angel. He looked like one too, now that I thought about it. Whenever you see old paintings of angels, they were always these beautiful men, long, flowing hair, clear eyes, wonderful complexion. Wait, maybe those paintings were real, maybe those people, those artists had seen their own guardian angels? Oh man, this was making way too much sense now. He wasn't in the long, flowing robes though. He was dressed like a person, maybe he had died right before I was born, or maybe the second I was born. That would make sense, to have someone's guardian angel be someone that died at the exact moment you were born, talk about cyclical. Maybe then I'd be someone's guardian angel someday.

"I've never been alive," he answers.

"Never? Not even like, back in the Egyptian times?"

"No, not even back then, not even at the dawn of man."

"As an angel, shouldn't you believe that like, God created the world in 7 days?"

"People have a lot of misconceptions about religion."

"Oh." I guess I was kind of hoping for the secret to life here.

"God creates and angel for every person. No angel is ever alive. We're created specifically for that person. I was created specifically for you."

"Just for me?"

"Yes, just for you."

"Can I, can I touch you?" I ask, leaning forward a little bit.

"Sure, go ahead," he tells me. I reach my hand out slowly, like he'll disappear, but he hasn't disappeared since I was born so I guess now isn't going to be the one time he does. I reach out and he looks so solid and shimmery. I reach for his shoulder and…

Nothing, my hand goes right through him.

My hand jumps back and he laughs at me, "You really thought I was solid, didn't you?"

"Shut up."

"Sorry, angel humor," he said. "I'm not solid. I work through my words most of the time. I just…I don't let you lead yourself into danger. So do you promise to start listening to me now? Or are you going to try to ignore me again?"

There's just no way I could ignore him now. I sigh and look down. "You're never leaving me, are you?"

"Not a chance."

"You're here to protect me."

"I'll always be here to protect you."

"Well, I guess I have a guardian angel then."