It's a Wonderful Life by Katyfanfics

Sean

She shyly smiled. "Hello...Owen."

Surprise flashed in his silver gaze and just as quickly was snuffed out. "How do you know my name?"

The angel had decided that the direct approach was best with someone such as Owen Blackbourne. "I know everything about you. I've been assigned as your guardian angel."

He blinked at her. It was unfortunate she was a nut case, but he'd direct her to get help.

"I assure you, I'm not crazy," she supplied. "I can prove it." Without waiting for a response, she vanished before his eyes. It wasn't sudden. Instead, she faded away within two heartbeats, like a mirage.

Before he could hope to process what he'd seen, she reappeared, along with a warm breeze, standing right where she had been before.

Owen was gobsmacked. He hadn't been drinking, was sure he wasn't drugged. Was he losing his mind?

"You're not losing your mind," she reassured, then frowned slightly. "Although you haven't been thinking properly."

"How...how can you be an angel?" he stuttered. It was very uncharacteristic of him and he inwardly scolded himself for it.

She tilted her head slightly to the side, worried she wouldn't be able to get through to him. "I died, and, well...now I am." She shrugged and grimaced, wanting to disappear from her ineptness.

"You don't have wings," he argued. Why he was debating with a figment of his imagination, he didn't know.

She perked up. "Not yet, but you can help me with that."

"How?"

"By letting me help you."

"I don't need your help," he snipped, irritated with his seeming mental demise.

She took a gentle step forward, her bare foot slipping out from under her dress. He held his ground, although he wanted to step back.

"You think you don't matter. To your team, your family. You think they'd be better off without you...if they'd never known you."

He hated how she was in his head, but she was right. He remained silent, refusing to acknowledge she was.

"I can prove to you that's not true."

He chuffed, wanting to laugh in her face, but ingrained manners held him back. "And how would you do that?" he demanded. A part of him, deep down, wanted to believe her, whatever she was.

She held out her slim hand to him, "Let me show you."

Against his better judgment, he reached his hand out.

He paused before their fingers could touch, doubt filling his mind. She wasn't about to let the moment slip away and closed the gap...

He was flying. Well, not really, but he felt as though he was.

The world around him flickered away and he found himself standing on a college campus.

Owen looked around, "Where are we, why are we here?"

"Where we are, is in a world where you don't exist. Well, at least not to your academy family and those that know." She scanned the lit pathways, looking for someone in particular.

He stared at her profile, unsure what to say to that. She still hadn't answered why they were th-

"There he is."

Cut from his thoughts, he followed her line of sight and his eyes landed on a figure he knew well.

Sean.

"Why is he here?" His eyes narrowed as he watched Sean lean against a light pole and lift his hand to his mouth, taking a long drag from a cigarette. He stepped toward the direction Sean was in, shock and confusion coursing through him.

She gripped his hand, "No, Owen, he doesn't know you. In this world, you've never been in their lives. You're seeing what that would be like for them."

He stood still, watching his best friend. "Why is he smoking?" he demanded.

The angel shrugged, "You weren't there to get him to quit."

"And this place?" His eyes followed Sean as he began to walk their way.

"He's in college." She thought that part obvious.

"He never went here. He should be starting his residency!"

She patiently guided his thoughts, "The Sean you know, yes. This one isn't." She nodded toward him. "He's working to become a Doctor's Assistant."

"A Doctor's Assis-! That can't be!" There was nothing wrong with the profession in itself, but Sean was to be the doctor, not the assistant.

"You weren't there to push and encourage him to reach his full potential," she explained. "His parents tried, but that was more for them to have a successful son in their eyes, not for his benefit. You were the one that had the greatest impact and now, you weren't there."

"What about the Academy?"

"You were the the one that made him fit in with a team; your team. There's no Academy in his life here."

They stood silent as Sean walked past, smoking his cigarette. Owen's heart clenched at seeing the worry lines on his face. Sean ignored them, not nodding or smiling a greeting to two strangers, so unlike his friend.

She gently squeezed his hand. "On to the next?"

Without waiting for an answer, they were "flying" once more.