[Imagine that angel music is playing…LOL J/k]

Rafe ran his fingers along Alison's back and shoulders. Her skin was so soft. He could hear her gentle rhythmic breathing. He didn't want to disturb Alison's slumber, but the desire to kiss her neck was just too overwhelming to ignore. He buried his nose into the softness of the back of her neck and kissed it several times. He heard Alison giggle.

"That tickles."

Rafe grinned. "Well then I'll have to…kiss you some more." He kissed her neck again and Alison laughed harder.

Alison turned her head around and smiled at Rafe.

Rafe brushed her blonde hair from her face. "You're so beautiful."

"I love you," Alison said. She closed her eyes and waited for Rafe to kiss her lips, which he did.

After the kiss, Alison stretched out her arms. "I'm so happy. This has been the best day of my life, well, one of the best days of my life."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mmm-hmm. I feel like, you know, when you're a kid and you beg your parents so hard for something but they keep saying no, but then they surprise you and give it to you anyway. Could you just pinch me, because I'm still not completely convinced that this isn't a dream."

Rafe laughed. "I keep thinking that myself. But I know this is real. I can feel you in my arms, and the way I feel right now is better than any dream."

Alison grinned at Rafe again and they kissed. Then Alison nestled into his neck and Rafe held her tighter. Alison's hand found Rafe's chain and she played with it. Rafe took hold of her other hand and brought it to his lips to kiss.

"So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"Mmm," Rafe thought. "Absolutely nothing. I just want to stay in bed with you all afternoon."

"Me too." Alison turned her head to Rafe and they kissed again. "I'm so glad you're back, Rafe. I just felt so completely lost without you."

"I'm so sorry you felt that way for even a second."

"Why did ya take so long to get back to me?" Alison teased.

"It was only a day."

"Yeah, 24 hours of torture!" Alison laughed.

"Well, it's not that I didn't want to…trust me. The second I found out I could come back to Earth, I was ready. But before I could go, there were people I had to, you know, say goodbye to, because I won't be seeing them for a long time now. Like, my family up there of course, and then there's my friends. There's Larry, Henry, Bill, Martin, and, well, then there's Ed."

"Ed, that name sounds familiar. I've heard you talk about him before. Your boss, right?"

"Yeah, he's my boss. He's the one who gave me the assignment of coming here to help defeat Caleb and to get the couples back together. And Ed's the one who allowed me to come back at New Year's Eve. He's sorta like, I don't know, a mentor or something to me. I'm like the son he never had, because he never had any children but when he became my boss, he just took me under his wing so to speak."

"Well, I'm not surprised that Ed took a special liking to you. After all, you are totally lovable and all."

"And you're not biased at all, huh?"

Alison laughed. Then she sat up and leaned on Rafe. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think this calls for a celebration."

Rafe raised his eyebrow and gave her a wicked grin. "Isn't that what we've been doing for the past few hours?"

"What I meant was…" Alison laughed. "Well, yeah, I guess we have been doing that! But what I meant was well, we should go out tonight! We should go to the fanciest restaurant, drink the finest champagne, dance all night, and enjoy every single second of it. How 'bout it?"

Rafe shook his head. "You know what? We don't need to do that."

"You don't want to?"

"Well no, what I'm saying is that we don't need to go out on the town and celebrate that I'm back and that we're together. All I'm saying is that just having you, right here in my arms, and knowing that we're going to make every dream that we have come true, that's all the celebration I really need."

Alison smiled at him as she moved a strand of hair from his face. "Have I told you today how much I love you?"

"Well, not for a few minutes, but I don't mind hearing it again."

Alison leaned down and met her lips with Rafe's…

~*~*~*~

Night came, and Rafe and Alison took an evening walk to get some fresh air. Eventually, they stumbled upon the bridge, so of course they had to stop.

"Oh, the bridge!" Alison said as she smiled at Rafe and took hold of his arm.

"No light shows this time," Rafe said.

"That's okay, I've got something better than a light show now."

Rafe put his hands on her face and kissed her.

Alison leaned over the rail. "It's such a beautiful night. Look at all of those stars out there."

"I know, it just goes on forever doesn't it?"

"You were going to kiss me that night, weren't you?" Alison smiled at Rafe.

"Hmm?"

"You know, the night with the dancing lights."

Rafe smiled at her. "Well I couldn't help it, you were just so beautiful. But I stopped myself."

"I wish you hadn't."

"Really?"

Alison shook her head. "That's why when you kissed me at the apartment, I didn't exactly pull away. I wanted it to happen. I was hoping it would happen."

Rafe stood behind Alison and wrapped his arms around her. "Well you've got me now." Rafe and Alison looked up at the sky.

"Those stars," Alison said. "Gosh, you know, it seems like tonight they are brighter than usual."

"Did you know that whenever you see a star twinkle, that means another angel has gotten his wings?"

Alison smiled at Rafe. "You making that up?"

Rafe just laughed.

"Ready to go home?" she asked.

"Yeah, but um, let's go to one more place first."

~*~*~*~

"Will you just wait for me? I'll be right back," Rafe said.

"Take your time. I'll be right here waiting for you."

"Okay." Rafe gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and walked to the front of the church.

Alison smiled at him. She picked up a match and lit a candle. Then, she closed her eyes and said a prayer.

Rafe sat down at the first pew and looked up. "Ed, I know that you can hear me wherever I am, but I just felt like I really needed to talk to you here. Ever since I came back, I can't really feel that connection anymore, you know? But I feel closer to Heaven when I'm here. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you how unbelievably happy I am right now at this moment. All I want to do is to make Alison happy, and when she's happy, so am I. I promise you, I'll never let a day go by when I don't think of how incredibly lucky I am. I mean, how many people get a second chance to just live, you know? And I know I already told you this, but thank you for all you've done for me. It sounds so insignificant to just say "thank you" because you've done so much for me. Well, I guess what I'm getting at is that…well, I miss ya, Ed. I miss your witty comebacks to everything I say. You're always making me laugh at something. And that look you would get on your face when I was doing something I probably shouldn't do. You know, you made that look a lot! Well anyway, thanks for being there for me. I should go now, I have a very beautiful blonde waiting for me. I'll talk to you later."

Rafe got up from the seat and walked back over to Alison. They smiled at each other. Rafe put his arm around her shoulder and they left the church.

Up in Heaven, Ed had a little tear in his eye. "I miss you, too, kid. But seeing you happy means the world to me."