This is set after the "Clipped Wings" episode (Season 3, Episode 18). This is my idea of how Kathleen would have decided to come back to God as a result of this.
The snow muffles Kathleen's steps as she walks up the path to what was once of her favorite places. It had been so long since she had been here, not much had changed over the decades. Her dark skin stood out against the white all around her, so she hid in the shadow of the trees.
This place held a special significance. It was where she first met her best friend and a wonderful friendship was born. She ran her fingers across the bark of one tree, finding knife markings carved into it. Memories flooded her mind at how they got there.
Hopefully she found the note, and maybe even come here like it asked. I just hope she can trust me this one last time. If this fails, I am truly lost. Monica, please come. It was now all a matter of time, a waiting game. She never gave up on me, always the eternal optimist.
The last time they had spoken was after she had failed her evaluation. It involved sabotaging Monica's by keeping her away from the evaluation. She thought for sure the promotion to Caseworker was hers until Tess appeals to the Angel of Angels who upon hearing the circumstances, ultimately overturns Ruth's final decision. Therefore, as an end result, Kathleen had been sent back down to the minor leagues of the realms of darkness.
Her heart fills with great saddness. Ruth had been her supervisor when Kathleen had made the decision to walk away and join the other side. The demon now has great regrets about breaking her former supervisor's heart. That day changed her perspective on quite a few things.
But it was the what Monica said to her after afterwards that still wouldn't leave her. Kathleen asked her where she could go when there's no place for her. "It's not that hard. If it's mercy you want, there's only one place to go." That was a turning point for the fallen angel.
It gave her food for thought. In the two years since that last conversation, she couldn't get it out of her head. Was she really cut out to be an agent of darkness, to wreak havoc on Satan's behalf? As much as she tried, Kathleen couldn't get a break. After another failed attempt at getting a promotion not long ago, she had enough.
The Irish angel appears in the woods, clutching a piece of paper she had found in her pocket the day before after an assignment. She recognized the shaky handwriting as Kathleen's and wasn't sure of what this meant. I'm an angel and she's a demon. She chose to walk away from God. Why would she send me this?
Nobody, not even Tess or Andrew knew about it. It was hard enough for her to get away from them to do this. Monica had read it over and over again, questioning if Kathleen was genuine or this was another trap like with the evaluation. After consulting the Father, she decided to go for it. He only asked that she trusts Him and be careful.
Monica, it began, What you told me two years back had gotten me to thinking if I am really cut out to be a demon. Maybe that I was wrong to change sides after all. Meet me where we first met. You know the place, Kathleen.
Monica thinks back to that day. She was a newly assigned Search and Rescue angel when she had been sent here to this place. There had been two young children that gotten lost in the woods and she was to keep them safe until the search party arrived. Seemed simple enough until a bear wandered and that scared her. She had never really dealt with a creature that was so dangerous at that point. Her nerves about her new position got to her then.
Then Kathleen shows up, telling the bear to go away. "Heard you needed help. I was told to come here." That was when the two formed a friendship that would be torn apart by Kathleen going over to the other side that was always meant to lose in the end. Kathleen had taught her everything about how to be a Search and Rescue angel and for that Monica would always be grateful.
They would keep watch over the kids until the adults came and found to their great surprise, that they were safe and sound. One of the boys had a pocket knife and carved an outline of an angel in the bark of a tree here as a memorial. Last Monica had heard, they grew up and lived out their lives.
I seem to recall a marker somewhere here. On one of the trees. She scans them closely and finds it despite the darkness. A symbol of my first Search and Rescue mission. It brought a smile to her face.
A faint sound of footsteps in the snow startles her and she turns around. About ten feet from her was Kathleen. Only this time Monica could tell something was clearly different. Her former friend wasn't the arrogant and cocky demon that she had last seen defeated two years earlier.
"Hi Monica," She says, her Southern accent showing no sarcasm or arrogance. Instead, she seemed humbled. "Let me get straight to the point." Kathleen came closer, stopping only two feet from Monica. Just close enough to for her former friend to see her eyes, but not to have physical contact.
"Since we last met, I had been thinking about what you told me. About where to go if I wanted mercy." Kathleen had a hard time getting the next few words out. "Monica, I want to come back to the light. This whole demon thing ain't working for me, I don't have the chops to do it. The things I can tell you of what goes on down there would make your skin crawl. You were right all along."
Monica had always known Kathleen was a stubborn, determined type of angel, always having a difficult time to ask for help. This was the one thing she had hoped for her since the defection. That she would come to her senses and come back to the light.
"How do I know you're not doing this as revenge for earlier?" Monica asks, very wary of what the servants of darkness will do to trick or even convert celestial angels like herself. All she could do was trust the Father and discern between the truth and lies.
"I understand how you're feeling about me right now." Kathleen says, doing all she can to keep from using all the tricks she had learned in the art of deception. She had to be truthful right at that moment, a concept that seemed so foreign after being immersed in darkness for so long. "I need to sit down right now."
There were a couple of fallen logs that would support their weight and they sat down on one. Kathleen was clearly nervous as she told about how before they had their evaluations, she still felt the Father tugging at her. That still, small voice calling her back Home. "Even after I made my decision to turn my back on Him, He never gave up on me. I wanted you to be the first to know this."
Monica's heart almost burst at the excitement of hearing the news, her friend finally decided to come back. Still though, she had to keep her guard up and that was a good thing. She felt something wasn't at all quite right. Like someone was watching them from the shadows and it wasn't a good feeling at all.
"Are you sure that this is what you want? You wanting to come back home? I'm so excited!" Monica asks, and Kathleen nods her head, and to her that was more than enough proof of her friend's repentence. All the while praying it was true. And the Father did confirm the truth it in her heart. "Let's get you back Home and start the process to get you healed."
They get up and were about to vanish when they hear the sound of a slow clap filling up the clearing. They turn and see the outline a tall man in black standing in the shadow of the trees. Then he steps out, revealing himself. This was what Monica was feeling all along. She feared this was all a set up.
"That is very touching. Two friends reconnecting, too bad I have to end the party." he says, a evil look on his face. "Kathleen, you were my most promising student. It was so easy to...persuade you to join us. We both know the penalty for wanting to go back to the pathetic light."
Then he addresses Monica. "And you must be the former best friend Kathleen always talked about. I don't think we've ever met. But you may call me Gregory." The demon extends his hand to her in a fake gesture of formality.
"I've always had my suspicions since her last two evaluations." Gregory says, "Kathleen here has gone downhill and I don't think she can ever handle being any kind of a caseworker. After an emergency meeting with my master, I've been sent to return her to the realm of darkness for a full trial on the charge of treason."
He then walks towards them, holding a long chain with shackles on the ends appearing out of thin air. "Now Monica, please step aside. Or you will be cast aside by force." Gregory also pulls out a folded piece of paper from his jacket with the Seal of Lucifer on it.
The Irish angel was scared, what did she get herself into? Was this a trap to hurt her or something else altogether? Monica could see that Kathleen too was terrified of the demon coming towards them. Then Gregory stops and unfolds the paper.
He breaks the seal and begins to read it. "Boy, I really hate being so formal when it comes to this kind of thing." Then he begins to read the 'arrest warrant' that was taken out against her. "Kathleen, because of recent actions, you are hereby charged of treason against the Prince of darkness and therefore are to be... blah, blah, blah. Oh, forget all this, you get the idea." Gregory puts the papers back in his jacket, reaching to grab Kathleen.
Monica stands up for her friend, facing the demon before them. Her eyes full of righteous fury and she made sure he saw it. "If she has made her decision, so be it. You have no power here!" She tells him, "And God will take her back. So you can take that little piece of paper and shove it..." She starts to choke as Gregory, quick as a flash, had her by the throat. The Irish angel would lay down her life for Kathleen if need be.
"This doesn't concern you angel." he says, maintaining a firm grip, "But if you persist, I will destroy you to do my job. I do have that authority and I really don't want to do that unless it's as a last resort." Then he turns to Kathleen, "So what will it be, come with me willingly and face the trial or I destroy your best friend and take you back in shackles?"
Kathleen glances at the chain he carried in his left hand, black as night. She looks at Monica and has to make a split second decision. She believed in me, now my best friend's in danger. Even if it costs me my life, I have to repay her for that.
In her Southern accent, she makes her decision. "Gregory, I chose to defect to the dark side thanks to you. Now I choose to go back to where I know now I truly belong. You can come back too, but I will not stand by and let you harm my best friend, my sister as one could say."
Kathleen then proceeds to grab his arm and breaks his hold on Monica. "So go back and tell your pathetic boss I give my immediate notice of quitting. Nobody harms my friend and gets away with it. In the end you will lose. Oh, and take that notice and shove it straight up your master's posterior."
Then, in front of a gasping Monica, she proceeds to break his arm in what looked like multiple places. "That was a little something you taught me." She tells him as he backed away in great pain. "Like you said, I was your best student."
Monica had fallen to the ground, leaving her gasping for air. She couldn't believe it, she finally stood up to him. God, I trust you to her, hopefully this is no game on her part. She thinks watching them confront each other.
Kathleen finally had enough of Gregory and his lies. She could see him in a lot of pain and standing over him, could have easily taken him out. Instead, she leans in close enough to say something in his ear. Monica couldn't make it out, but it was something that scared him.
She rises up, turns from him and walks away, a look of content showing on her face. Gregory had one last trick up his sleeve. From out of thin air, he pulls out a black dagger. Satan himself gave this to him in case Kathleen was trouble. It would send her straight to the Abyss, no waste of time on a trial.
Monica sees him getting up and coming behind Kathleen. "Watch out Kathleen!" she warns her friend, but it was too late. He had speed and reflexes that caught her by total surprise. Gregory had managed to wrap his good arm around and stab her straight in the heart.
"Thirty seconds and it's to the Abyss for you. No trial needed." Gregory says, a smirk of total satisfaction on his face, "So say your goodbyes. Because you're going to be away for quite a while." His breath ragged from the effort after pulling it out of her.
Maybe I can pull off a two for one. Get a little something for all this. I just need a moment to breathe. Gregory thinks while licking the blade, tasting Kathleen's blood. Maybe after she's gone, I can get the other one too. Kathleen got me real good with breaking my arm the way she did. I trained her a little too well.
"Monica," Kathleen whispers to her friend, "Tell God I'm sorry for walking away. I really want to come back. Now I guess this the end." She begins to slip away it seemed like. This must be how a human feels when they're dying, how odd. Is this how angels and demons die too?
Monica tries her best to keep her friend awake. "Call on God to save you. I know you have the desire to come back. He's been calling you back remember? That's what you told me. You never know if you don't ask Him."
"It won't do you any good Miss Wings." Gregory tells her, "Yeah, I hear that's a pretty popular nickname for you. He won't listen to the likes of her." He takes a look at his watch and reminds them she's got ten seconds left. "Say your goodbyes already." Mustering all of her remaining strength, Kathleen tells him to shut up and prays to God. She asks Him to forgive her and to let her come back to her true home. That was what she wanted more than anything. Then right before passing out, something happens. The last thing she sees is a flashing light and a scream.
The next thing she knows, Kathleen finds herself in bed, set in a beautiful room. It looked like an infirmary. Monica was at her side, clad in angelic robes. "Where am I at? What happened?" She lifts herself upright in the bed, finding herself in a simple white gown similar to what humans would wear when they were patients in a hospital.
"You are in a recovery room for angels who have been wounded or in your case, walked away and chose to come back." she explains. "Soon enough you will be called before the Father. He heard your cry and saved you." Monica was beaming with joy seeing her friend finally awake at last. "But first you need some time to rest here until then. I have to go for now, but I'll be back later." Monica tells her before leaving.
Kathleen was now alone. She could feel the throbbing pain where the dagger had stabbed her. Unbuttoning her robe, she could see where it had protruded. She could see the wound was dressed in a bandaged soaked in medicine, but it was starting to heal, only that the bleeding had stopped and left a ugly gaping hole. Her whole body was sore beyond imagining.
But it didn't matter, she knew deep down Monica was right. God saved her when she cried out to Him. All the lines Satan fed her were fake as can be. Kathleen was alone for quite a while, other than the occasional medical angel coming in to check on her. All she could do was rest. Then she hears a gentle knock on the door.
"Come in." she says, and it opens. It was Ruth, her old supervisor. Kathleen was very nervous, she wasn't ready to confront her. Having to explain why she turned and was even willing to hear one of Ruth's stern lectures. It would be a welcome relief to hear a familiar voice, even if it was something like that.
"Kathleen, I just want to say welcome home." she says, a smile on her face, "I just heard the news and had to see for myself." she comes up to give her former caseworker a big hug, but gets a glimpse of the wound and settles for a handshake instead.
"I know why you're here," Kathleen says, ready to accept whatever stern words Ruth was about to give her, her face filled with guilt, "to tell me I'm the reason you chose to walk away from casework and into the legal department." Over the years while on the other side she had picked up things here and there about her old friends.
Ruth pulls up a plush chair and sits beside her. "Yes, that is true. I was so guilty of failing you I had lost my way. I was so heartbroken, I walked away from being a great supervisor and became a strictly by the book angel in the Legal Department. Tearing apart every angel who worked hard in only seeing their flaws during evaluations. I turned off my heart. In a sense I was really your first victim. Never told anyone that before."
Kathleen was stunned by her confession. She had never really thought about how her decision to defect affected others. The thought had crossed her mind from time to time, but she merely banished it to focus on being the biggest, baddest demon she can be. But it never truly left her mind.
Ruth continues. "It took another angel to remind me that you chose to walk away. I became repulsed at the idea of free will. After Tess did what she did in appealing to the Angel of Angels, I decided to get back in the trenches. Also, I realized with a hardened heart, being in the Legal Department was not my thing. Boring beyond belief, made me a better angel too." She gives a little smile.
The two talked for a little while when another angel shows up. It was Sam, all regal in his robes that showed his status as a high level archangel. "Kathleen it is time, the Father has sent me to escort you to Him. Ruth, good to see you." He gives a nod to her. "Please come with me." She tries to resist, telling him that she wasn't ready. That she was going to get a cosmic scolding and spend eternity scraping gum off the theater seats to atone for her defection. Sam assures her that there was already an angel for that and not to worry so much. "You never know until you see Him and let him speak."
Kathleen had to trust him and was nervous as Sam helps her from the bed and her robes change to something more presentable. A simple white dress with a gold sash around her waist, her hair pulled up in a perfect bun pinned with simple ornamentation. Despite her being sore, they manage to reach the Throne Room.
What a beautiful sight, there had been some renovations done since the last time I was in here. And that was an awful long time ago. She thinks seeing all the grand splendor, with every detail taken careful consideration. Though it felt strange seeing all this considering she had been in the halls of the opposite for so long. That too had a beauty, it was twisted and warped as a mockery to the real thing.
After a few moments, a great whooshing sound fills the room following a wind. She looks straight at the throne. Sam was right beside her as they watch the Creator of the Universe enters the room on it and takes His place on the crystal throne embedded with gems of the highest caliber. Behind it was a panorama of beauty that made Kathleen draw a sharp breath at its realism.
Sam steps forward and bows in acknowledgement to the King. "My Lord, I have brought the angel who wanted to come back Home to You." His voice had a cultured tone that would command authority if needed. But here, it was in a humbled, tone that showed respect and honor. Then he steps back. Despite her pain racking her body, Kathleen too bows before falling to her knees.
God looks upon Kathleen with eyes of love and compassion. Kneeling down to her level, He locks eyes with her. She saw in that moment everything she missed while working for the Enemy. Her pain, shame, the humans and angels who were harmed by what she had done. With one finger, He touches her temple and in an instant, they didn't have any effect on her anymore. They were still there, but it was like they lost their hold over her.
"Kathleen my child, I wept when you chose to leave Me." His voice had a tone of a loving father to it, "For so long I waited for you to come back. I called you to Me and using one you know all too well, you did. I rather would have welcomed you back at this moment than to see you in the end separated from Me for all eternity."
Then He places His hand on her gaping wound. "Be healed child. You showed loyalty to Me protecting a friend and rejecting evil." Then Kathleen feels something flow from Him into her. All the pain that was in her body was now gone. Looking down, she opens her robe and pulls off the bandage, seeing where the ugly gaping wound had been was gone. No scar, the skin there was smooth as a newborn's.
Tears fill her eyes, then streaming down her face. "Thank you Father, thank You. I am sorry for ever thinking I could exist away from You." She buries her face in His chest, in His arms she realized was the only place she wanted to be at the moment. Sam, who had been standing on the side, his eyes tearing up. Wiping his face with his sleeve, was in awe of the power of forgiveness and genuine redemption.
For hours (in human time that is), Kathleen and God talked. In the backdrop of an angelic choir singing, she expressed true remorse for her actions and asked about Gregory. She heard his scream just before passing out. Despite him being a demon, she was curious what had happened.
"The dagger he was given had a catch to the one who uses it." God says, "If the demon tasked with it fails, they would take the intended victim's place in the Abyss. He is now serving your time down there. And he was conveniently not told of that part."
"It would have worked if you hadn't planned to come back to Me. You had already made your decision and I answered your cry while fading away. If Gregory had his way, after taking care of you, Monica would have been his next target. And I know you wouldn't have wanted her harmed either." He gets up and helps Kathleen up from the ground where they had been for so long.
"So, what will you have me do now since I'm back?" Kathleen inquires, not quite sure of what to do now she's with Him. God tells her He was going to let her recover for a while before making a final decision about her future. "It will take time for someone like you to be fully restored after all the horror you've seen and done. But know this, you are now under My protection. Now I think there's someone who is anxious to see you again."
He motions to a figure standing in the doorway. Her red hair flowing and a smile beaming. Kathleen turns to see Monica and runs to her at full speed. The two friends were reunited at last under happier circumstances. The one person other than God who truly believed in her was right here, not as friends turned enemies, but as friends once again.
Monica asks Kathleen what she whispered in Gregory's ear back in the woods. "Just a reminder that his side loses in the end. Something I almost had forgotten myself. Thanks for believing in me." The newly restored angel tells her, "Now how about a nice mocha latte on me? That I recall always seemed to be your favorite..." The two laugh and go off to a nice cafe down by the Crystal Sea that had coffee...