"Lucy said it was beautiful here, but I didn't know it would be quite this breathtaking," Rafe remarked as he got out of the car and took in the view.

"Oh it's so peaceful here," Alison beamed.

The cabin was pretty much secluded in a forest. Over the snowy treetops, the sky was colored with purple and orange hues from the sun just setting. And over to the right, there was a calm lake.

A chilly wind blew and Alison shivered. She wrapped her coat tighter around her. "It's a bit cold though!"

"Well let's hurry up and get our stuff out of the trunk and get inside."

Alison and Rafe quickly got their things, with Rafe carrying most of the heavy stuff. Then they headed to the cabin door and walked in.

Rafe switched on the lamp and he and Alison put their things down. Alison walked around the cabin. "Oh, look, Rafe! The wooden floor squeaks when you walk over the boards! I love that! And it smells good in here too. It's so quaint looking!" Then Alison wandered into the kitchen. "Oh and look at this cute little kitchen!"

Rafe laughed. "Nice fireplace too. I'll go get some firewood and warm this place up."

"Alright. I think I'll check out this kitchen and see if I can whip up some dinner for us."

So Rafe went to get firewood, and Alison started to prepare dinner. The cabin warmed up quickly once Rafe got the fire started, or maybe that was because of something else, Rafe wondered. He watched Alison as she hummed to herself as she stirred something in a bowl. Rafe got up from his seat and walked into the kitchen. He stood behind Alison and wrapped his arms around her and proceeded to kiss her neck.

Alison laughed because it tickled her just a little bit.

"That smells wonderful," Rafe whispered.

Alison laughed again. "What are you talking about? I haven't started the actual cooking yet. What is there to smell?"

"I was referring to you," Rafe laughed and buried his nose into her hair.

"Oh, you must be smelling my Herbal Essence then!"

"Must be," Rafe whispered and kissed her neck again.

"Hey now, don't get me wrong, I am enjoying this, but if you continue to distract me, I'm afraid dinner will never be cooked!"

"Okay," Rafe said reluctantly. He sat down at the table and watched her from there. She was so beautiful.

After dinner, Rafe volunteered to clean up, since Alison had been the one to cook. Alison walked over to the window and looked outside. She smiled as she noticed something.

"Hey, Rafe."

"What?"

"It's snowing. Come look."

Rafe walked over to the window, and sure enough, it was snowing lightly outside.

"It's so pretty," Alison said. "And look, little tiny snowflakes are stuck to the window."

"Well it's pretty to watch, but makes me glad we're inside." Rafe wrapped his arms around Alison.

"Where it's warm." Alison looked up at Rafe, and they kissed.

"Speaking of which, let me go put some more wood on the fire."

"Okay."

Alison followed Rafe and she sat down on the couch. She realized Rafe left his watch on the cushion. Alison had forgot to wear her watch, and she wondered what time it was. So she picked it up and opened it.

"Oh my god!"

"What? What?" Rafe jumped. "What's wrong?"

Alison held the watch up. "I just…Rafe, what in the world is this?"

"Oh, that. It's my watch."

"A watch? Funny, I don't tell time with 13 numbers…and backwards!"

Rafe sat beside Alison and took the watch. "Well it's not that kind of watch. The numbers are backwards because it's counting down. And it doesn't count down hours or minutes, it counts down weeks."

"Oh…um, I still don't understand." Alison laughed.

"Well you see, every angel that comes back gets one of these."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute…you said you were leaving at the end of March, right?"

Rafe shook his head.

"And this has 13 numbers on it, and you got here on New Year's Eve. So this is…."

"Counting down the weeks I have left…on earth."

"Oh." Alison wasn't so excited by the unusual watch anymore.

"Hey, just put this out of your mind." Rafe put the watch away in his pocket. "Let's not think about it. Okay?"

"Okay," Alison agreed. "Okay, you're right. We're at this beautiful cabin in the middle of nowhere, and we've got the entire weekend to enjoy ourselves and…to make the most of the time we have together."

"Right, so let's not waste that time by thinking of things that we can't change."

"Agreed."

Rafe reached out and touched Alison's chin. "Have I told you today how beautiful you are?"

"Oh, not in the last twenty minutes or so!" Alison laughed and moved closer to Rafe. They kissed. "How about I put on some music?"

"Okay."

Alison got up from the couch and got out the CD player they had brought. "Any requests?"

"Whatever you want is fine."

Alison put on a CD and music started to play. On her way back to the couch, she turned off the lamps. "That's better."

Rafe pulled Alison into his arms and they melted into a kiss.

The fire crackled in front of them. It warmed the room and gave it a soft glow.

Rafe buried his face into his favorite spot on Alison's neck and kissed her. Then he inhaled the sweet aroma that surrounded her.

"Rafe…" Alison said softly.

Rafe moved his lips back to meet Alison's. He felt like he couldn't get enough of her. He never thought he would have a chance to love Alison, but here they were, finally together. This is what Ed was talking about all along, Rafe thought to himself. Anything is possible with love. And love was such a wonderful experience too! Never had Rafe felt so alive, and to finally know what love felt like was more wonderful than words could describe.

Rafe's hands slowly went up the length of Alison's blouse until he found the top button. He undid it. Then he went to the second button.

Alison felt a tingle of excitement go up her body.

Rafe hadn't realized what he was doing until he heard Alison moan. He immediately put a stop to what he was doing, even though the urge to continue was a constant reminder.

Alison sensed his nervousness. She smiled at him and moved her hands to his shirt. She undid a few of his shirt buttons, a way of letting him know that it was okay.

Rafe kissed Alison's lips as his hands found her blouse once again. "Alison…" he whispered against her breath, "I'm not sure we should, I mean, if we…"

"Shh, shh, shh. Don't think about any of that, remember?" Alison silenced him with more kissing.

Rafe gently pulled away from the kiss and held Alison's face in his hands. He looked into her eyes and saw the love he felt for her reflected back. Alison smiled and shook her head, answering the question Rafe asked without words. Rafe smiled back at her and stood up. He gathered Alison into his arms and carried her to the bed…