Author's Note: So like I said before, this story is about Taylor, Aaron's mother, and will be pretty angelic stuff free until closer to the end of the story. Again, it's a three part fic, one for every trimester right up to the time of Aaron's birth. I spent the last three stories on the angelic and Nephilim side of the Fallen series, but what seems to always end up being forgotten is that there is a human component to the story on many levels. First the Nephilim of course have human mothers but also without the creation of humanity there wouldn't be any fallen angels. I think the human element is essential to this story so that's what I'm going to explore here. Read Author's End Note for more thoughts.

Maternity Leave

By: Silver Spider

First Trimester

If he was asked about his very first memory, before the insane stuff about fallen angels and prophesies entered his life, Aaron would have said that it was the day he entered his very first foster home. He was a bit older than three, but the image of the crowded townhouse in the bad neighborhood was vivid in his mind. There were screaming children everywhere, and it smelled like rotting pizza. Once he'd stumbled over the front steps and scraped his knee. The foster mother didn't even notice, and it was hours before one of the older kids roughly grabbed his hand and dragged him to the kitchen for a bandage. The scrape had never even gotten cleaned. At age three, he had thought that that place was Hell and continuously wondered what terrible thing he had done to deserve it.

Fifteen years later, Aaron finally understood exactly what Hell was.

All those images and emotions resurfaced with a vengeance as the red fog that was his father's punishment swirled around him, forcing ever painful emotion to assault his senses. And when the first wave of his own memories was over, he was hit yet again with the images of the War in Heaven, the desperation of Lucifer and his soldiers, the disappointment and sadness of God. Aaron feel to his knees, doubling over in pain. He felt like vomiting, anything to expel the images and emotions from his head. Yet somehow amidst the chaos, another memory entered his mind, one that Aaron couldn't quite place.

A warm feeling enveloped him, and Aaron suddenly recalled a hazy image of a woman's face smiling down at him. How beautiful she was and how much she loved him. It was almost palpable. Aaron wanted to tell her that he loved her too, but no sound came out. Confused, he brought his hand to his mouth, and that was also when he felt wetness on his face. Was it raining? No, it was the woman…She was crying, and Aaron couldn't help but wonder why someone so wonderful should be sad.

19 years earlier,

Taylor Corbet had always had a rather straight-forward outlook on life. Having been raised in a typical middle class family in the North East, she had her value system pretty well established by her teens; work hard, enjoy the good things in life, learn from your mistakes, but don't dwell too long on anything negative. She thought that the simple philosophy proved quite effective for her, even after she got her heart broken.

Two weeks was far too long to dwell on what had admittedly been the most amazing six months in her life. She hesitated to call it a relationship because when one didn't anything but the most basic details of her lover's life, there was no rush to place any labels. It was enough to know that they had been happy. At least, she thought they were.

Either way, lying in bed and watching soap operas was not her style, so when she found herself waking up still feeling lethargic at ten on a Tuesday morning, Taylor was more than a little surprised. She yawned and stretched, silently cursing the colder mid-October weather. Massachusetts was always pretty miserable this time of year, making the prospect of getting out from under warm covers not at all appealing.

Before she could consider whether or not she wanted to salvage half the work day or simply call in sick, the phone on her desk rang. If it was her boss, Taylor was determined to say she was sick. She had no intention of admitting that she overslept. A second ring sounded which was accompanied by a bark at the bedroom door. Brandy was demanding breakfast, and now Taylor really felt guilty for oversleeping. She opened the door, and the golden retriever was instantly inside the room, sniffing every corner for food. When she found none, the dog looked up at Taylor with big brown questioning eyes.

"I know, I'm very sorry. I'll be down there in five minutes. Promise." said the woman patted the dog's head affectionately and reached for the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, I called your work phone. What are you doing still at home?" Taylor smiled at the voice of her best friend, Karen.

"Would you believe it if I told you I just got out of bed?" Taylor admitted sheepishly.

"You?" she could imagine the look of surprise on her friend's face. "Ok, you know what, I knew things were bad, but I didn't think you'd actually go that far."

"What? No, I just overslept," she tried to defend herself, but Karen cut her off.

"I don't wanna hear it. I'm coming over there right now, and we're having a proper girl's day out. We haven't done anything fun since you hooked up with what's-his-face."

"Hooked up? What am I, sixteen?"

"Ah! Don't argue with me. I'll be there in twenty. You can decide where you want to go for lunch in the meantime."

"I tell you men are dogs," Karen said thoughtfully chewing on a French fry. "Easier to just switch teams and forget all about them"

Taylor shook her head and chuckled. She knew her friend was trying to make her feel better, but she didn't have to be so conspicuous about it. Though she could have very well gone to work today, the truth was that that Taylor really wasn't feeling well. Even after a shower and a cup of coffee, she still felt increadibly tired. But Karen was trying, and she supposed there was no harm in getting out for a bit. Now it was past twelve, and they stopped for lunch at their favorite diner. Their joint plate of fries had just arrived, and now the women were waiting for their respective meals.

"It's no use, Karen," she sighed. "There's no point for you to be mad at him if I'm over it. Which I am, by the way. Over it, that is."

"Yeah sure," the other woman rolled her eyes. "Two weeks, and you act like the past six months of your life were just a dream. I had bad romance novels that I was pining over for longer."

"Well, that's you," Taylor shrugged. "I try not to be as dramatic. It was nice while it lasted, but when the guy disappears in the middle of the night without as much as a word, the message is kinda loud and clear."

"If you say so," her friend didn't sound like she believed her at all, but didn't get a chance to argue because the waiter arrived with their food.

"One chicken César salad for you, ma'am," he put the plate in front of Karen. "And one burger, cooked rare with extra pickle for you."

Taylor nodded her thanks, and was about to take a bite of her food when she noticed Karen staring at her. "What?"

"I know you're depressed," she said, "but greasy food isn't going to make you feel better. Since when do you eat raw meet anyway?"

"I don't know," Taylor shrugged. "Just felt like it... is that chicken?"

"Yeah, it's really good too," the other woman chewed and picked up another piece with her fork. "Want one?"

Taylor felt the pit of her stomach churn as soon as the smell of grilled chicken and dressing reached he nose. She couldn't explain why, but the scent was absolutely revolting. Her stomach protested again, and she turned her head away from the offensive food, leaning heavily on her elbows and trying to catch her breath without vomiting up what little food she'd eaten. When she finally looked up, Karen was holding out a glass of water which Taylor took gratefully.

"Are you okay?" her friend asked in concern. "Was it spoiled?"

Taylor shook her head, only half hearing the question. He mind scrambled to piece things together, and she mentally counted backwards. Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fourty-seven… It made sense: the fatigue, the strange order, the sick feeling in her stomach… "Karen," for the first time in the entire day, her expression was absolutely serious. "I think I'm pregnant."

Not surprisingly any plans for a movie were quickly canceled and replaced with a trip to the pharmacy. Taylor had wanted to return home by herself, but Karen insisted on coming with her, saying that under the circumstances it was probably best if there was someone with her when she read the results. Taylor agreed, but deep down she knew there was no need for it. She already knew what the test was going to say.

"How long do we have to wait?" she asked leaning on her desk and absently stroking Brandy's soft fur.

"Well, it's supposed to be a pretty accurate test," Karen flipped over the box and read the instructions. "It's ten minutes total, so about three more minutes to go. You know, there's always the morning after pill…"

"That generally means that it has to be taken the morning after the fact," Taylor snapped.

"Jeeze, don't kill the messenger," the other woman put up her hands defensively. "I thought you mentioned that you're on the pill, anyway?"

"I am," Taylor pulled back her long dark hair and put it up in a pony tail, "but even those things aren't always a hundred percent perfect."

Karen was silent for a moment. "Maybe you don't even have anything to worry about. You probably just ate something bad."

Taylor shrugged, inclined to indulge her friend. A second later the timer in the bathroom rang, and Karen looked at her. "You want me to look?" When she didn't respond, the other woman took it as affirmation and went into the bathroom to pick up the test. She turned it over and, trying to hide her surprise, looked back at her. "Taylor, it's…"

"Positive," it wasn't a question.

Author's End Note: I also have to say that I really love Taylor. We saw really little of her in the series, just some stuff through Lucifer's memories, but she really intrigued me. One thing that I think you definitely don't want to do if you're writing something about the mother of a messiah is to make her a clone of the Virgin Mary. I love Taylor because she is probably the most human character in the series. She has this semi-serious, semi-sarcastic attitude that tells of a woman who has a fair amount of self-confidence. I never think of her as naive but she is clearly very trusting if she allowed herself to fall in love with a stranger, who was probably less than completely open with her. And if you think about it, it really makes sense for this storyline. Because what was Lucifer punished for: rebelling against God, yes, but more specifically the root of that rebellion was his jealousy of humanity. Does it not then makes sense that he's on his way to redemption when he learns to love a human? And it makes no sense to make that woman a saint. She has to be as human as everyone else, which I think Taylor really was.