Author's Note: Takes place after the season 4 premiere, so huge spoilers for that episode. Fred-centric, with mentions of Fred/Stacy. Oneshot (although I'd be open to continuing it if there was much interest).

Going back to Heaven after being on Earth was a huge adjustment for Fred.

Guardian angels usually did one thing, and one thing only: guard their assigned person. That was what his job description consisted of, and it was what he had done before Deb - Jane - Deb - Jane - whatever - came into his life and turned it upside down.

And then there was Stacy.

Stacy was enough to make any man more than human. Even one like him who - well, wasn't human. She had a certain spark and energy that livened up even the dullest moments, and she had been such a key part of every part of his years on Earth. If - if he was human, and could be everything she wanted out of a guy - then he could have seen them being together for a long time, debating on whether they'd spend their vacations in Florida or Washington and fighting over who got to control what shows went on the DVR.

Damn his honesty.

Re-acculturating himself to Heaven, however, was difficult. Fieldwork was much more exciting and fulfilling, to him, than sitting behind a desk and doing the boring paperwork behind the scenes. If he was human, he sincerely doubted that he could be a 9-to-5, suits-and-tie, crunching-the-numbers kind of guy.

Sometimes, he really wished he could be. Human, not a number cruncher, that was.

Time moved differently in Heaven. He couldn't tell if it was two weeks or two years since he had come back. It was just always a steady stream of different faces, day in, day out, neverending - as long as there was life on Earth, there would be death to go with it. It kept him busy enough where he never had time to let his mind wander to other topics. Such as Stacy, or what Stacy was up to.

And then one day, he looked up from his work and stared at the newest newly-dead person sitting in front of him. The guy couldn't be any more different in build and look to Stacy if he tried, and yet, all he could see was a familiar blonde face staring back at him, with that brilliantly white smile he had grown to adore. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, and the man's face shifted back into focus, but it was enough to spark something in his mind.

Being on Earth had permanently changed him. He was straddling the lines between guardian angel and human in ways that none of the other guardian angels could begin to understand. He idly wondered if Stacy was trying out that new jazzeryogalates class she'd talked about, or if she'd made up her mind on which Kardashian sister was her favorite. It was the small stuff he missed the most: the smell of her hair after she had it shampooed, the way her lips quirked into a smile whenever she thought he wasn't looking - he could never quite tear his eyes from her though. He entertained idle thoughts of a rebellion against the system, storming the Bastille that was the supervisors' office - he'd been around this division long enough to have seen those who came through as a result of the French Revolution, both with and without their heads - and capturing it as some sort of symbolic gesture and hope for a rule change on telling mortals about guardian angel status. Or something.

Besides, he'd had sex. Not that he thought he was any good at it, even though Stacy had apparently been pleased enough, but that was kind of the ultimate defilement of an angelic body. It was still something that Chris - the head supervisor of the guardian angel division - couldn't say he had done, and it had to count for something more than a checked-off box on a perverse sort of reverse bucket list.

He'd be willing to find a way to go back to Earth. Again. Re-integrate himself into Stacy's life and hope that she'd fall for him yet again. He did it once and was successful.

But she couldn't remember him.

And the thought of losing Stacy again - and this time it would be because she couldn't find it in herself to love him again - was too much for him to bear.

He would find a way, if he had to move Heaven and Earth to do so. He would find a way back. For Stacy.

-fini-