 | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| This is a prequil to Kate Fitzsimons story "Touched by a *What*!" Which can be found on my site: www.geocities.com/blessed_protector/brimfic.html Brimstone belongs to Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris and TBAA belongs to CBS. Beginnings By: Dawn Powell *He looks so lost and alone. No one should be that way.* Andrew thought as he watched a man hunched over a cup of coffee in a diner. As an angel, Andrew knew that humans can suffer terribly, but he also knew that they were capable of great joy. Sometimes it was his job to show people that joy. Andrew turned to the angel sitting next to him. "Monica, I don't understand it. Why does that man look like he's all alone in the world? Doesn't he understand that that's not true?" He pointed towards the man at the counter. In a soft Irish accented voice, Monica replied, "I don't know, Andrew. Some people don't realize that they aren't alone, that God is always with them." "You and I both know that's true, I just wish that we could do something to help him understand that." Andrew said pointing again towards the man at the counter. For some reason he felt the need to help this one lost soul in many. It wasn't a feeling he understood, but he did know not to question it. It wasn't his place to do that. "Be careful what you wish for, Angel Boy." A voice behind them cautioned. The two angels turned to the new angel that was wearing a pink waitress uniform. "Why do you say that, Tess? I thought it was our job to help people. And that man over there looks like he could use all the help that he could get." *What has gotten into Tess lately? I thought she would be more than willing to help someone in trouble.* Tess sighed. There was so much more to these mortals that Andrew and Monica still needed to learn. Take the man at the counter for example, Ezekiel Stone was no ordinary mortal. In fact he couldn't really be called a mortal anymore. For Ezekiel Stone had died more then a decade ago from gun shot wounds to the neck and face. These last 15 years were spent in Hell, for killing his wife's rapist when he got off. No, Ezekiel Stone was not one that they could help, at least not Monica and Tess. This assignment was for Andrew and Andrew alone. They would show up once in awhile in case he needed some help or advice. "Andrew, that man over there is in need of help, but he's not our assignment. There is someone here that needs the help more." "Fine, but I am not going to sit by and let him suffer. I'll do anything I can to help him." With that he stood and walked over to the counter to where Ezekiel was sitting. Tess watched him go with a small smile on her face. She knew that those two needed each other. Andrew just needed a shove in the right direction. Really it wasn't as hard as she had expected it to be. In his gut Andrew already knew that something was different about Ezekiel, he just didn't know exactly what. She just hoped that Ezekiel wouldn't be stubborn about accepting that help. During the time that Andrew and Tess were discussing Ezekiel, Monica quietly sat and watched the man at the counter. She was confused. What could be so special about this man that Andrew would go up against Tess so he could help him? She voiced her question to Tess."Tess, I don't understand. What's so special about this man? Andrew seemed very determined to help him." Cryptically Tess said, "Andrew and that man have more in common then either one knows. I think Andrew realizes that and feels drawn to him." Monica was still confused. "What do you mean they have more in common? How could a mortal have anything in common with an angel? Especially the Angel of Death?" Tess wasn't going to say. Instead she shook her head and said, "It's not my place to say. What I can tell you is this, Andrew will need to do this alone. As for you and me, we have other people to help. Come now, Angel Girl, we must be going. This next case is going to take both of our talents." And they both vanished. On the way to the counter Andrew was trying to come up with something to say to this man. Usually when starting a case he got a background on the person he was to help but on this one he was clueless. He didn't even have a name to work with. This was going to be harder than he thought. That wasn't going to stop him though. Andrew paused briefly, *Should I be doing this? Maybe Tess was right.* He wondered at those thoughts. An angel didn't usually have thoughts of doubt. They didn't need them, God always believed in them, so there was no need for doubt in their lives.Yet, here they were. With a slight movement of his hand he waved them away. With renewed confidence he continued on with his own mission. "Excuse me. May I sit here?" The man he was addressing didn't even look up. "It's a free country." Andrew sat down and ordered a cup of coffee. "Thanks. By the way, I'm Andrew." This time the other guy looked up. "Zeke." They shook hands and Zeke turned back to his coffee. But Andrew wasn't going to let it end there. He felt the need to get this guy talking. "So, Zeke, what do you do for a living?" Zeke looked back up at him, this time Andrew got a good look at him and was shocked by what he saw. Over the years of helping others he had seen much pain, but none of it compared to what showed in Zeke's eyes. They were almost glowing with a power that was fueled by the pain in them. There was no other way to describe it. A casual observer would see pain in them, yes, but they wouldn't see the strength in them as well. Andrew saw it all and more. If it was possible it would have taken his breath away. Then Zeke turned away and broke the spell. In a soft voice he said, "If you don't mind I'd like to be alone." "Sure. You just looked like a person that needs someone to talk to." *Now I'm positive that this is the right thing to do.* *This guy's not going to let up, is he?* "And I suppose you're a good listener?" Andrew smiled. "So, I've often been told. If you don't want to talk that's fine. It's just that I saw you sitting here and you looked like you had lost your best friend." This time Zeke smiled. He wasn't about to give up all of his problems to a total stranger, but there was something about this man that made him comptorable. *What the heck. I can at least tell him a little about the problem. It's not like I'm going to tell him everything. He wouldn't believe me if I tried.* "You really want to know what's wrong?" Andrew nodded. "Well, there's this case I'm working on." Andrw interrupted. "You're a cop?" "Yeah. Anyway, there's this case I'm working on. It's a really bad on. You ever hear of those cases that hits a little close to home? And no matter what you do it still haunts you?" Again Andrew nodded. "Well, this is one of those cases. There's this guy going around raping women. When he's done he takes their wedding rings as souvenirs. Real sick guy." He stopped to take a drink of his coffee. "Was someone you knew raped?" He aleady knew the answer. Zeke's face showed it. Zeke gulped. "My wife was. Fifteen year's ago." *Why am I telling him this? I don't even know him.* Andrew grimced. That explained the pain he saw. " I'm sorry. What happened to the guy? Did they ever catch him?" This time Zeke's soft voice had a hard edge to it. "No, we had a suspect, but nothing could be proven." He pushed the cup away. If he hadn't he would have would have shattered it. "Look, thanks for listening and all, but I have to go." He got up from his seat and dropped down a few bills on the counter. Before he walked out the door he turned one more time and said, "Maybe I'll see you around." And left. Andrew turned back to his coffee. For a few minutes he sat there trying to figure out what to do next. He almost wished that Tess or Monica was there to help him come up with something, but then he remembered that they were on another case. He was all alone in this. When he came to that conclusion he decided it was time to get a move on. He wanted to find out more about his new companion and the only way he could think of to that was to follow him around for the day. As fast as a passing thought he vanished from the counter. No one even noticed. Later on that day, after following Det. Ezekiel Stone for most of it, Andrew learned two things. One was that this guy was good at his job. He would gently handle the victims while at the same time get them to talk. The other was that he was as much a victim as the women were. He took the whole thing personally and it troubled him to no end. *This is why I saw so much pain on his face. He takes the pain of others and adds it to his own. I have to help him see that he's not alone.* After learning all of this Andrew was more determined then ever to help Zeke. That was why he found himself in a room right across from Zeke's and waiting for him to come home. His plan was to meet him in the lobby, making it look like he was just getting ready to leave or had just gotten in himself. Hopefully if it all worked out right, he'd strike up a conversation with Zeke and in the process invite him over sometime. That was if everything worked out. Only one person knew if it would or not and He wasn't talking. A little past 8:00 that night Zeke finally showed up. He slowly made his way to the front walk and through the door. Andrew watched all this from his window and when he decided that the time was right he vanished from his perch and reappeared at the front door. Quickly he went through the door and into the lobby. He only paused long enough to give a silent prayer for help. Then he quickly made his way across the lobby to the elevators where he had seen Zeke head for. "Zeke? Is that you?" Zeke heard his name called and turned around. Giving a slight smile in recognition, he replied, "Andrew. I had a feeling I'd see you again. I just didn't think it would be this soon. Are you staying here?" *This is going pretty good. At least he hasn't told me to get lost, yet.* "Yeah, I'm on the fourth floor. How about you?" "Same here. So how do you like it so far?" "It's not too bad. But then, I haven't been here long." "You'll change that opinion soon enough." They both laughed at that. The elevator arrived and they got on. All the way up they made small talk. Mostly about sports. Andrew admitted that he didn't keep up with them and Zeke also had to admit that he had been out of the country and he was just now getting caught up. He told Andrew about the councilor that also boxed in her past time. Andrew started to laugh when Zeke told him that he had asked her if she boxed other women. Finishing up with, "I guess I'm more out of it than I thought." *This is my chance. I could ask him if he want's to come over sometime and watch some sports.* Andrew was getting excited about the progression of this assignment so far. It was far easier than some of the others he had worked on lately. Finally he took the big plunge and asked Zeke about coming over. This caught him by surprise. People around here weren't usually this friendly. They pretty much kept to themselves. Hesitantly, he said, "Uh, sure. I guess I can do that sometime. When were you planning on doing this?" This pleased Andrew even more. Almost shyly he replied, "How about this weekend. I heard there was a baseball game on Saturday. But if you're busy we can do it some other time." Zeke shook his head, "No, no. Saturday's good. As far as I know I don't have anything to do." *That is if the boss doesn't show up.* Andrew smiled. "OK than. I'll see you on Saturday, say noon? I can pick up some stuff to snack on." Zeke returned the smile. "I'll see you then." Before they parted Andrew said to Zeke, "I don't know if this is the right thing to say or not, but I was thinking about what you told me earlier and seems that some things come out all right in the end. I also wanted to say that there are people out there watching out for others. There was someone watching out for your wife that day." Andrew turned and entered his room while Zeke stood there in shock for a few moments. That was not what he expected to hear. Finally he went to his own room. As soon as Andrew closed the door he had vanished again. While Zeke closed his own door and took off his coat and settled down for the night. His last thoughts before his eyes fluttered shut were those of his new friend and what he said. "He's as different as I am.* Finis Copyright 1999 Dawn Powell | ||||||||
