The bird in the tree outside of the bedroom window was chirping excitedly the next morning. Alison had grown accustomed to that bird waking her up. She slowly opened her eyes and squinted at the bright sunshine. In her morning confusion, she smiled at the thought of another day with her angel.

And suddenly, something didn't feel right. Alison remembered what was supposed to happen last night. Please still be here Alison prayed silently. She slowly rolled over and looked on the other side of the bed, hoping Rafe would still be beside her, fearing that he would not.

"No!" Alison screamed and burst into tears when she saw the empty space beside her. She felt the sheets. They felt cold. "Rafe…" Then, the pink rose caught her eye. She picked it up and smelled it. She picked up the note laying beside it and silently read it.

Alison could feel fresh tears burn her eyes. And suddenly, she realized that something was in the palm of her hand. She opened her hand and saw what it was-Rafe's chain. He had left it behind for her. Alison brought the chain to her mouth and kissed it. Then, she collapsed on the bed and sobbed uncontrollably.

~*~*~*~

This time, it was a shrill ring that snapped Alison out of her sleep. She cursed the phone. Sleep was her one escape from the pain of the loss of Rafe. She reluctantly grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" Alison said in a cracked voice.

"Alison?" Livvie asked on the other end.

"Yeah?"

"Ali, are you alright? I'm here at the bakery with a line of customers and you're not. Are you okay? I'm worried!"

"Um…I'm sorry, Livvie, I forgot."

"You forgot? Alison, what's wrong?"

Alison could feel herself slipping again.

"Alison?" Livvie repeated.

"Rafe…he's…he's gone, Livvie." Alison broke down in tears.

"Oh…" Livvie's voice trailed off as she heard her friend crying on the other end. "Sweetie, let me take care of things here real fast and then I'm coming over, okay?"

"Okay."

Alison hung the phone up and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. Her pillow was soggy from her tears and the bed was messy with the crumpled sheets and numerous balled-up tissues. She figured she had better put some clothes on and at least make herself somewhat presentable since Livvie was on her way.

Alison didn't feel like taking a shower, mostly because she was just lazy and too tired to stand for that long; and maybe a part of her wanted to somehow keep Rafe's scent on her body, as strange as that sounded. She dressed in her star sweatpants and threw on a shirt. She smiled when she realized this was the same outfit she wore the first time they had kissed at the apartment. But she didn't smile for long as she remembered Rafe was now gone.

Alison looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like a fright with her puffy eyes and dry cheeks. Alison put her hair up in a messy ponytail, grabbed the chain and rose, and then left the bedroom.

Alison walked around the house. It felt so empty. She felt so alone. It was too bright in here. Alison closed the curtains and made the room as dim as she could. She wanted to just shut out the world and go back to bed. She wanted to go to sleep and dream of Rafe.

She wanted Rafe back.

Alison plopped down on the couch and sighed. She smelled the rose and then set it down on the cushion beside her. Then, she held up the chain and inspected it closely.

"Oh, Rafe, this is all I have left of you."

She turned the TV on in hopes to distract herself for at least a little while. All she could find were talk shows about teenage mothers making their ex-boyfriends take paternity tests or boring cable programs about improving your home and garden. The exercise show on the health channel would have been mildly entertaining if Alison felt like moving.

Alison sat there for the longest time with a glazed expression on her face, twisting the chain between her fingers. She didn't even hear Livvie when she knocked on the door. Livvie walked in. She saw Alison staring blankly at the TV in the dim room.

"Alison, you didn't answer when I knocked on the door, so I just came right in."

Alison looked up to see Livvie standing over her. "That's okay," she said, barely above a whisper.

Livvie's gaze turned to the television at the angry man pointing to his picture and the baby picture beside it, claiming they looked nothing like each other. "What are you watching, Alison?" Livvie took the remote and turned the television off.

"Nothing."

Livvie sat down on the couch beside her friend. "Hey, are you okay?"

Alison looked at her. "I had no idea it would hurt this much, Livvie."

"Aww," was all Livvie could think of to say as she gave Alison a hug.

"He um…he left this for me." Alison held up the chain.

"Oh, that chain he would always wear."

"Yeah. He never took it off. It's all I have left of him."

"Well then it must have been very important to him, so for him to give it to you must mean that he really loves you."

Alison shook her head in agreement.

"Oh, I um, I brought you some food. I thought you might be hungry. It's some of your muffins, so I know you like it."

"That's really nice of you, Livvie. But uh, I really don't feel like eating anything right now."

"Okay, well maybe later?"

"Yeah, definitely."

"Well then why don't I go run you a bath or something?"

"You know, Livvie? I'm glad that you like, came over here and stuff, but I think that maybe I just want to be by myself for a little while."

"Alison…"

"Please, Livvie. Don't worry about me. I'm just going to go sleep or something. You'll come back later though, right?"

"I can come back later if that's what you want."

"Thanks, Livvie."

"Listen, I'm going to go back to the bakery and hold down the fort."

"No, you don't have to do that, Livvie. Just keep it closed. I don't care."

"I'll come back later, all right?"

"Okay."

Livvie gave Alison a hug and left to go back to the bakery, even though Alison had said not to worry about it.

Alison looked at her hand. She had been holding the chain for so long that it had left an imprint in her hand. She clasped the chain tightly, picked up her pink rose, and left to go sleep some more.

~*~*~*~

Ed was shuffling some papers around his desk when there was a soft knocking on his door.

"Come in," he said.

Rafe, obviously looking like the saddest angel in heaven, walked into the room and sat down on the chair in front of Ed's desk, saying nothing.

"Welcome back," Ed said.

Rafe just gave him a look that said "whatever".

"You know, Rafe, you're actually a couple hours late. I called you in here four hours ago."

"Well sorry, Ed, I guess I just wasn't in a chatty mood."

"You miss her."

"What was your first clue?" Rafe said sarcastically.

"You wanna guess why I called you in here, wise guy?"

"Oh, goodie! I get another assignment!"

"Do you want another assignment?"

"You know, Ed, I see what you're trying to do here," Rafe said, calmly. "You think that by giving me something to do, it will help me take my mind off of Alison. But, Ed, I don't see that happening. I don't want to try to forget her. Alison is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and losing her was the worst pain I have ever experienced. I mean, have you been watching her since I left? She's a complete wreck! And it's killing me…er, sorta, you know, to see her go through that much pain and know that I can't be there to just hold her and make it better. So, Ed, if you don't mind, whatever it is that you want me to do, can it just wait, because I really feel like I could use some time to myself right now."

"No, sorry, Rafe, can't do that. I think you need to do this. I think you'll want to do this, actually."

Rafe stood up. "No, Ed, I told you, I don't want another assignment right now. Trust me, you don't want to put me in charge of something because with the way my mind is lately, I'm not thinking straight. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to my cloud and...mope."

"Well I'm sorry to hear that, Rafe. I was under the impression that you wanted to go back to Earth."

Rafe's hand froze at the doorknob. He turned around. "What did you just say?"