~~~~~
"She did it again?" Michael asked the guardian standing in front of his desk.
Thierry nodded, "I just thought you should know."
Michael sighed, this was the third time this week someone had felt he should know something Avalon had done. He'd allowed her two free weeks to readjust to being celestial, even though she never quite seemed to make the change back into heavenly form, but she'd managed to stop crying after the first two days. She'd moped about until she was reassigned, back to her old job- dealing with minor cases of guilt over squashed squirrels and similar things. She'd had several cases in the week she'd been working on assignments again, and had somehow unintentionally managed to do something to make the situation worse in every case.
"Thank you, Thierry. I'll have to talk to her, again." he said, shaking his head.
"You're welcome." Thierry said, and turned to leave the office.
Michael didn't know what to do with Avalon. He knew her heart was no longer in her assignments, or even in Heaven anymore. She shouldn't have remembered anything from her time on earth, and while she never spoke of it after being called back, her behavior made it clear that was where she was still longing to be. He decided to check up on Nickolas' new guardian, and see how his assignment was progressing before trying to deal with Avalon again.
Eli left his post on the chaise lounge next to Nick's pool as soon as Michael summoned him. He walked quickly into Michael's office, "Yes?"
Michael smiled, Eli was one of his favorite angels- always attentive to details and ready to help in any possible way. "Hello, Eli. How do you feel your assignment is going?"
"Very well. He seems to be doing well. He's made contact with his family and friends and has resumed activities similar to those he was pursuing before Jamie's death." Eli answered.
Michael nodded, "Excellent. So everything is going smoothly. No problems?"
Eli hesitated, but then said, "He's lonely. He's seeing his friends again.. but he's missing someone very much... and I don't believe it's Jamie."
~~~~~
Avalon walked slowly along side the older gentleman who she'd been assigned to for the day. He'd lost his wife five years ago to the day, and he was making his usual visit to the cemetary to bring her roses and a poem he'd written for her. Avalon felt safe with this assignment, there wasn't much she could do to mess it up. She knew she was bound to be reprimanded for her mistakes in the past few days, but they'd been honest accidents.. she just wasn't thinking straight. She could get Nick out of her mind, and she didn't want to. She still missed him, even though she knew she shouldn't even remember him. She wished she would have said more to him when she'd left- told him something more, given him some hope they'd see each other again somehow. She refused to believe she wouldn't see him again, though Michael had told her when she'd returned that she wouldn't be allowed to see him.
Avalon watched as the man she was with knelt at his wife's grave, laying the roses beside her headstone and quietly reading the poem to her- words of the love he still felt even though the were seperated in a way that couldn't be changed until he would join her in heaven. She listened to the words he'd written, and then the prayer he whispered, that he'd have the strength to always cherish the memories of her, no matter what else he may lose- he always wanted to remember what they'd had.
Avalon felt that pang inside her as she listened to the man's prayer- she wanted that. What she had in Heaven no longer appealed to her... she wanted the joy and the pain that came with being a human, of love and being loved and maybe even the loss of that love. But she'd seen enough to know that even though the loved one was lost, the love never died.. and she wanted to know what that was like, to feel so strongly for someone that even death couldn't change it.
~~~~~~
While Thierry was working on repairing the slight damage done to her assignment by Avalon's absentmindedness, she asked Noelle what she thought of Avalon's situation. Word of Avalon's "change" had quickly made it's way through Heaven, and those who may have not believed it at first witnessed it firsthand as Avalon had sullenly wandered around Heaven before being reassigned.
"I think something happened, that can't be reversed.. I don't understand it.. I've never known anyone to react to time on earth like she has." Noelle answered. She knew what was going on, and did understand it to some degree, but only in a "technical" sort of way, that was allowed by her job as the overseer of relationships. She couldn't understand the way Avalon felt, or even why she still felt that way, but she knew what the problem was, and what would eventually have to be done.
"What's she going to do? I don't think she'll be allowed to keep her assignment... acting like she is. She seems so.. sad." Thierry remarked.
"No, I don't think she'll keep her assignment either." Noelle said quietly.
"What will she do then? Could she.... go back to earth?" Thierry asked.
Noelle thought for a moment before answering, "She could... but it's a solution she must come to herself... she'd have to have enough desire... to find that answer herself... we can't just.. toss her out. The decision about what becomes of her future will ultimately be hers."