I wrote this after I read Crescendo and it does contain spoiler - only one, to be honest - so if you're really sensitive - don't read this.

Enjoy,


"Oh, for God's sake, Patch." I exhale.
He turns to look at me, the infamous smile on his lips and his wet hair sticking to his forehead and cheeks. "Haven." He acknowledges.
I turn around and direct my eyes on the cracked wall in his bedroom. "Normal people don't go naked in front of other normal people." I tell him.
"I didn't know you were coming the second I dropped the towel." Patch says.
"Bullshit." I say over my shoulder, knowing he can sense an archangel coming early enough to decide against discarding the only piece of fabric covering him.
"Well… true." He admits.
I sigh and return my gaze to the wall. I give it a minute. "Are you done yet?"
"I'm done."

I turn around to see him in the middle of the process of pulling a clean t-shirt on. He bends over the bed and grasps the sheet before pulling it almost to the bed's headboard before settling it down. "Am I witnessing an historical event?" I ask, widening my eyes at him. "Is Patch Cipriano really making his own bed right now?"
A smile tugs on the corner of his lips but he keeps his eyes on the bed. "You've been gone too long, Haven."
I go settle down in his chair by the desk, right next to the window. "I sure have." I sigh. "But you understand why, right?" I ask, suddenly feeling guilty about being away from him for so long.
Patch sits down on the made bed and looks at me, the endless black of his eyes trapping me. "You're making all the decisions; no angel can breathe without your consent."
I smile at him and lean backwards in his chair. "Yeah," I shrug. "It took a lot of effort and time to get there."

He sighs and leans backwards, spreading his legs and putting his elbows on the cotton sheets. The bed gives several creaks under his weight and I watch as his white wings penetrate the bed and disappear.
"Wow, how does that sound when you have sex?" I say.
He raises his eyebrows at me and gives me the smile that the archangels have asked me to wipe off his face considerable amount of times. Individually. "Want to find out?"
I laugh out loud. "You couldn't take me on if you wanted to."
Patch tips his head back and laughs; it's soft and timbre and makes my heart skip a beat. There wasn't a doubt that I had missed him; but up until now, I hadn't realized how much. "That's not what you said in Greece. I recall your words being –"
"That was in Ancient Greece right after Alexander had taken on the Persian Empire." I break him off, the smile still on my lips. "Even I know that's quite a long time ago, Patch."
"Time doesn't change facts." He concludes.

I lean backwards in my chair. "Besides, I was naïve and had just started my job as a guardian angel. You were an archangel; I couldn't possibly say no."
He raises his eyebrows at me. "You slept with me because of my rank? Haven. Besides, Greece wasn't the only time; there is Italy, Spain, Sweden, London… shall I go on?"
I laugh out loud. "Alright," I shrug. "You were really hot."
The smile is back on his lips as he raises his eyebrows at me.
I laugh and tilt my head to the side. "Still are." I lean forward and put my elbows on my knees. "So, you obviously know what's been going on with me. How are things with you?"
Patch raises an eyebrow at me and sits up. He reaches for the discarded white towel and dries his black hair. "Are you saying nothing has reached you about me for the past fifty years?" He drops the towel to his lap. "I suppose you're not as powerful as you make yourself out to be."
I ignore his comment and reach back to pull my blond hair over my shoulder and dedicate my full attention to the split ends. "Well, obviously; fights, women…" I look up from my hair and meet his black gaze. "… Nora."

Suddenly all humor is drained from his face. "Nora…" He sighs.
"You've gone rouge, Patch? Seriously?" I ask.
And just like that his eyes suddenly turn to black thunder. His eyes have always been frightening; my blue ones are a joke compared to his. When he turns angry, you don't hear it in his voice, you don't see it on his body; you see it in his eyes. "You blame me, Haven? I can't take a step towards the damn bathroom without feeling them breathing down my neck –"
"Wait." I break him off even if I didn't really need to; he got the tingling feeling crawling up his spine the second I did. I stand up and turn around to face the doorway. I close my eyes.
He stands there; a man made of light, his eyes shockingly green and somehow overriding the overwhelming white radiating from every inch of his body. His hair is a halo of golden and his wings penetrate the ceiling and the walls on either side of him; he's so big; immense, but still small enough to have the size of a human man.
If a child of Adam or Eve had seen him – highly unlikely – they would have turned blind. Human eyes can't handle this light; it's too much.

"Archangel Nathaniel." I nod.
"Archangel Haven." He acknowledges, the voices of thousands vibrating through the walls and the floor.
"What brings you here?" I ask.
"There must be a reason?" Nathaniel asks, switching to the language of Angels. "The rouge –"
"Is awaiting trial." I continue in our native tongue. "There is no need for your presence."
The white light around him decreases. Anger does not suit an angel well. "Do you believe you can order me away, Archangel Haven?"
"Don't be foolish, Nathaniel." I say, deciding to skip mentioning his rank. "Leave."
His light decreases until the outlines of his shoulders are clear. "Foolish? How dare you– "
"I suggest you leave, Archangel Nathaniel. Now." I let the power of my rank slip into my voice.
"Or what, Haven? Are you willing to get on my bad side?" He asks. "For the sake of," he cuts Patch a disgusted glance before looking at me, "a rouge."
"Are you willing to stand in the way of my wrath, Nathaniel?" Letting my true form show is like flicking on a switch; effortless. I know that my hair glows like golden; more intensely than Nathaniel's. I know my blue eyes shine blue and I know the light emitting from my body is lighting up the darkest corners of the room and beyond. If a human truly could see me without turning blind; I would resemble a supernova.
"Leave." I say, feeling my voice, not vibrating, but shaking the very foundation of which this building stands on.
He stands there looking back at me with his green eyes and doesn't say anything for seconds. "You will regret this, Haven."

And just like that he's gone.
I return to my human shape and sit back down on the stool. "He is such a pain." I exhale.
He lets out a huge breath. "You weren't kidding. That guy used to make my day miserable and you just told him to fuck off."
I smile at him. "And he fucked off. Great, huh?"
"No shit."
"So… where were we?"
Patch rubs a hand over his forehead and gives another sigh. "I need you to help me, Haven." And they may be such small pathetic words in one of the many human languages but they're filled with such anguish and fear.
I stand up and go sit in front of him on the floor. I put my hands on his bare feet and sigh, looking up at him. "Of course I'll help you. You know that."
He meets my eyes and gives me a little smile. "Thank you." He exhales.

I stand up on my knees and close the distance between our lips. It's nothing that deserves an r rating, it's just a soft press of lips. I smile against his mouth. "Hmm… I might just take you up on your offer."
Patch chuckles and puts his hands on my shoulder, gently pushing me down. "Don't waste it on me. I can't feel it."
It's like he has dropped a bucket of cold water over me. "What?"
He looks up at me and I realize that I've shot up to my feet. "You didn't know."
"No, I didn't know. You became a guardian – they should have given it back to you." I say.
He shrugged. "They don't trust me enough."

I breathe out and close my eyes. Then I swipe a hand over his head and ask the question if he deserves to feel.
"What are you doing?" When I don't answer he grabs my hand.
I open my eyes and he drops his hand when he sees the inhuman shine to my eyes. "Wait." I tell him.
I close my eyes again while I await the answer. Before an angel does anything that concerns Heaven, this is a procedure you have to follow. I ask a question and muse on it for a while until I reach the answer; I include the down and upsides, possible consequences, grudges from others – this case the angels – until I reach the answer. And I can't hold back. I can't let my feelings and opinions get in the way; I'm perfectly neutral.
Yes.
Then I start murmuring the words that unbinds the restraint on his tactility.

I take a deep breath and bend down. I open my eyes and look straight into Patch's. Then I blow on his face and say the last word.
I let the light fade away from my eyes and don't look away from his.
"What did you do?" He asks, breathless.
I grin at him and lean forward to kiss him again. This time I part my lips and after a second's hesitation he answers. I can feel it in the way his hands move up my arms, the way his lips react to mine that he's hungry; so, so hungry for this. Not for my kiss, but for the ability to feel.
I feel a tinge of sorrow for him.
He grasps my arms and pulls me onto the bed, underneath him. His fingers almost claw at me, his lips would leave bruises if I was human and his arms threaten to crush me.
I pull away. "Patch," I gasp. "Wait."
When he instead runs his lips down my neck I roll over, my legs straddling him. I put my hand on his chest to restrain him while I make up for the lost oxygen.
He looks down at my hand then observes my position on his hips with hungry, dark eyes until he finally reaches my face. "You make me feel so cheap, Patch." I roll my eyes at him. "Let's not get this out of hand. This is Nora's job. Not mine."

He puts an arm underneath his head and looks up at me through eyes closed to slits and a mouth twisted in a smile so wicked it makes my heart skip a beat. He doesn't answer.
I smile and dip low until his lips are a breath away. "You couldn't take me on if you wanted to."
He laughs and I swing my leg over him and get up from the bed. I pick up his phone from his night stand and scroll down his calls. Nora.
I press call and put the device to my ear.
Patch props himself up on his elbows. "What are you doing?"
"This is the second time you've asked me this, today. First time you asked, everything turned out good. This will too." I hear someone pick up on the other line.
"Hello?"
"Nora?" I ask.
"Um… yes?" Nora says on the other line, probably suspicious about why another female is answering from her boyfriend's cell phone.
"I'm a friend of Patch's," I say. I probably should have elaborated, told her that we are just friends and nothing else, but I decided against it. You gotta have some fun. "I wanted to tell you to come over to his place as soon as possible."

"Haven." I hear Patch say.
I put my back to him and give him the finger form behind me. He laughs.
"His place? Why? Who are you?" Nora says.
"Just come." I snap the phone shut and toss it onto his bed. I smile at him. "I'm making your life just about perfect, aren't I?"
"You're not being very nice to my girlfriend." He says.
"Considering I gave you your tactility back, made sure you're girlfriend is coming over so that you can have scandalous sex and actually feel it and that I'm gonna do the best I can to save your fine ass from getting flamed, that's just the price you're gonna have to pay." I tilt my head to the side and smile.
Patch stands up and walks up to me and takes my hand. "Thank you." He murmurs.
"No need to thank me, you've done a lot for me too." I say.
He squeezes my hand. "Still." He leans forward and presses a kiss to my forehead. "I love you."
I smile. "I love you, too."

We hear the door open in the hallway. "Patch?" The voice resembling the voice in the phone calls out.
Her footsteps approach the bedroom and I draw back from him the second she walks into the room.
Her eyes land on me.
Mine lands on her.
Her hair is all big curls and brown leaning towards red, her eyes grey but to be honest the most striking thing about her is her long legs; they go on for miles and miles.
"I never thought redheads were you thing, Patch." I say, not looking away from Nora.
"Hey!" She protests.
"Everything is my thing." Patch answers.
I laugh and look at him. "True." I take a step backwards. "Alright. You kids have fun and…" I search my head for a fitting phrase. "Wear a condom," is the only thing I come up with. "So long."
And with that, I'm gone, the last thing I see is Patch directing that dangerous, wicked smile at Nora.