A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, we're really reaching the climax of the story at this point so I really hope that you're enjoying what you've been reading, so enjoy and review if you want! :)

I'm so happy to see him that I'm completely missing the obvious. Chris walks into the room and he looks sadder than I'd ever seen him, more worried, apprehensive even. I let the door fall closed by itself as I watch him. He paces around the room a little bit, his hand coming up to his mouth and running over it every so often. He doesn't exactly look at me, but somehow I feel like he's watching me or studying me. I'm not sure how he does that, but he's an angel so he can probably just sense me.

"I thought you had disappeared again," I tell him softly, not trusting my own voice not to break. I'm still wired from the encounter with Sean and I'm still a little fearful that he'll turn up and try something worse on me or succeed in what he was trying to do earlier.

"No, I wouldn't leave you after that," he tells me and his voice sounds strained, like he's forcing the words he's saying out of his mouth and it confuses me. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay," I nod, but he's still not looking over at me.

"You never should have gone in there," he says and he's right, I really shouldn't have gone in there and I really, really shouldn't have tried to go toe to toe with Sean. He was bigger than me and stronger than me and I don't know what I was thinking challenging him like I was. I'm headstrong, but I should have used my brains and seen the situation for what it was.

"I know, I tell him."

"You could've…something could have happened to you!" He finally turns to me and he's mad. I don't think I've ever seen him even so much as raise his voice in a harsh way, but right now he's livid. His eyes are blazing and it's like I can literally see fire in them and I'm wondering what the hell he might be channeling right now.

"I know!"

"You could have been hurt! He could have hurt you…or worse, do you understand what he could have done to you!" he yells at me and I shrink back. He's almost to the point of frightening me. I don't want him to go away again, I couldn't bear it if he went away and left me here again, not after what just happened.

"I'm sorry!" I try and tell him, but he's shaking his head so vigorously that his hair is flying every which way.

"Oh, you're sorry, you're sorry," he says sarcastically. "I warn you time and time again to get out of there and you don't listen to me. You think you're bigger than me? You think you know better than I do? I told you to get out of there, I told you the situation was getting worse and you don't listen!"

"I know!" I repeat and I don't have much else to say because he's right. He did try to warn me and then I ignored him because I thought I knew what was best for me, but I didn't, I couldn't know what might happen, but Chris could and he tried to get me out of there and I was too stubborn to listen. I wonder if the people who don't see their guardian angel, I wonder if those people just defy that little voice in the back of their head as much as I do and that's why there's such corruption in the world. "What do you want me to say, Chris? What do you want me to do?"

"Do you know how worried I was about you?" his voice softens at this and the fire in his eyes are stoked down to warmth. "Do you have any idea?"

"Wait…you knocked on the door," I say, as if the cloud has been lifted from my brain. I stare at the door and then I star at him. "And you threw that chair at Sean right when he was about to get at me. How did you?"

Chris doesn't say anything and I take a few steps forward as he stands there, just staring at me, his eyes boring into mine. I don't know how my feet are moving, but they are and I'm suddenly standing in front of him and he's right there and I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I know what I want to do. He touched that chair and he touched that door and my hand is reaching up and it's trembling so much I'm not sure I can make it up to his face.

I close my eyes and reach out and I nearly sob as I can feel him underneath my fingertips. His skin is warm and soft. It's the softest skin I've ever touched and I can feel life or something like it pulsating just beneath his skin. I open my eyes and he's still staring at me and his face suddenly becomes blurry as the tears find their way into my eyes. I pull my hand away before I launch myself at him and hug him, my arms clasping tightly around his neck and he's the most wonderful feeling in the world. He doesn't do anything at first, but then I realize he's never hugged anyone in his life (or whatever he has) before and so this must be so new to him. His arms come around my waist and I swear to God (he's probably watching) that I feel more safe in that moment than I ever have in my entire life.

"How is this possible?" I ask him, burying my face into his neck and he smells heavenly (I imagine it's heavenly since that's where he's from after all). It's musky and inviting and perfect, he's perfect, everything about him is perfect.

"I don't know," he whispers in my ear. "I don't know how this happened. I tried…I tried to follow you back, but I couldn't materialize like I usually can. I couldn't get to you, I had to walk…"

"Could…could other people see you?" I make no attempt to pull away. I want to feel like this forever. I've wrestled with my feeling for him for so long, but I always kept them in check because I knew I couldn't feel Chris. Now that I can, I'm completely gone. You might as well just check me out of the game because this is what I want, I want him and all his perfection with me always. This has to be some sort of gift, some wonderful gift I don't deserve, but one that I'm not giving back, no matter what anyone tries to do.

"No, nobody could see me," he tells me, "but I had to push open doors and things, which, I avoided doing it while others were around, the last thing I need is for people to start believing in ghosts. They don't exist, by the way, it's just minds playing tricks."

"So you have no idea how you can touch anything?" I ask him, finally pulling away so I can look at his face. He looks down at me and sighs before pulling away and sitting on the bed, making an actual depression in it. I'm quick to his side, not wanting to lose the touch, afraid that any moment, I'll try and touch him and my hand will go right through him again.

"No, I don't…when I saw you in trouble, my mind, everything inside of me just said to pick up that chair and throw it at him," Chris says with a scoff, like he's still trying to process it. "It must've been God, he must have known somehow and he must've just…let me. I don't know, I've never conversed with the guy, but the voice just demanded it so I did and then I couldn't believe it actually worked. I kept thinking as I grabbed it that this was not supposed to be happening."

"You saved me," I tell him, rubbing his shoulder. He's so much more muscular than I thought and I shouldn't be appreciating his physique at a time like this, but my hands have minds of their own.

"I had to," he says, "you're mine."

"I'm glad you did, are you okay?" I should make sure that he's okay after that. It had to be shocking for him to be able to actually touch something instead of hovering around like a ghost.

"I think so." I'm not convinced though and I lean my head to the left a little so I can catch his eye. He sighs again and looks at the wall in front of him. "I've been…I've been feeling weird for a while now."

"What do you mean, weird?"

"I've not been…like myself, not that I'm different, but something has been different. For all these years, since the moment you were born, I've been able to see ahead, see what might befall you and so many times I've coaxed you out of doing whatever that dangerous thing was. I saw this happening and I tried to help, but couldn't, it happens to the best angels sometimes, but I couldn't see past this, I couldn't…I was scared he would kill you and that's why it was the end."

"Oh," I don't know what to say to that. All this time he thought I was going to die tonight and God, how scared he must have been to see me in that room. No wonder he was able to pick up that chair, he must have thought Sean would kill me right then and there.

"I was…scared and I don't get scared, I've never been scared, but I've seen you scared so I ascribed that feeling I was having must have been fear," Chris continues. "I was scared that you weren't going to get out of there, that his intentions were far worse than I could have ever imagined. I couldn't let that happen to you. I didn't…I didn't want you to die."

"Thank you," I say for lack of anything better.

"But that's another thing, I'm not supposed to feel that way. I'm supposed to protect you, yes, but when the time comes, it's supposed to come and I'm not supposed to want to stop it. I know now you weren't supposed to die because regardless of me saving you, if it was your time, it would happen. I can't stop your death. But God help me, I thought you were going to die and I did try to stop it."

"What does that mean?" I ask him. "Does it mean you were…renouncing God or something like that? I mean, I don't want you to go against what he says, that could get us both into a lot of trouble."

I try for a joke to lighten the mood, but he doesn't laugh. He usually would laugh at my stupid jokes, but there's nothing this time and I know that this is really bothering him and why shouldn't? A few hours ago, he thought I was going to die and now we're here and he can touch things and what must he be feeling? He's never touched anything on Earth for the entire time I've been alive. He's hovered and observed, but he's never lived and now he is, albeit I'm still the only one who can see him, but it doesn't matter, he's a corporal being right now.

"I've been with you your entire life. I know every detail up here," he taps his forehead. "I've got it all in there, every insignificant moment, every time you accidentally tripped on something, that one time where you chewed on the end of your pen so much that you ended up getting ink all over your face and begged your mother not to make you go to school, your first date, the first time you sat in on a production meeting, it's all in my head, neatly tucked away like little file folders, your entire life is catalogued in my brain."

"I know, I still wish I could go explore it in there," I laugh softly.

"I love you, Stephanie."

"I know you do," I tell him kindly. "That's why you were so worried about me tonight, about whether or not I would die or be safe or anything. You've loved me since the minute I was born and that's what you do. You're my angel, you obviously love me. You didn't want to see me go."

"I didn't," he shakes his head. "I would've moved heaven and earth to keep you safe. I would have put in a personal appeal to the man himself."

"Such high honors," I tell him, pretending to be completely flattered and a little part of me is flattered at what he's saying.

"No, Stephanie, you're not getting what I'm saying. I've watched you, I've observed and…there's this feeling inside of me and I can't explain it and I've never felt it, never like this and I've seen it though, I've seen it plenty of times and I think I know what it is, but I've never felt it like this before."

"What do you feel?" I wonder curiously. He turns his head to me and he just stares at me, just stares until it actually starts to become unnerving. He's staring at me and I want to look away, the urge to look away is almost overwhelming, but that fire is back in his eyes except it's a different kind of fire, a cooler kind of fire that scares me in a completely different way than the fire in his eyes did before. This fire is so intense that my own eyes widen, waiting for his words as I feel like I can't breathe.

"I'm in love with you."