This is Hush Hush fan fiction and thus the characters belong to Becca Fitzpatrick. The story, however, is all mine so any resemblance with real life is (not) a coincidence!
"The most unconventional way"
People, for the most part, have lost the ability to believe... in almost everything they can't see or feel. And Nora Grey was not the exception. She had had a difficult beginning in life: from taking care of her sick and dying mother to getting used to live and deal with a father, and his family, all whom she did not know anything about.
Yes, Nora was at a loss. Her mother had been her pillar and strength for sixteen years and now she was gone. Left her to deal with a stranger with a title of father, whose guilt for not being around was too overwhelming to add a deeply hurt and absolutely angry teenager.
Often, Nora used to ask God why he would place so much misfortune in her way but getting no answer from the "old man with the beard" did little to help her already depressing thoughts. It seemed that there was not much point in anything at that dark time in her life, just a constant repetition of the daily routine. Wake up, go to school, no eating due to grief, not talking to anyone about your true feelings (so you didn't end up on a psychiatric institution) come back home, bath and got to bed to cry and cry and cry.
That had been Nora's life for five months when, apparently, God had enough. It was a day in the middle of the school year when Vee , Nora's BFF, told her that she couldn't continue on this path and that she had arrange for her to meet someone. Needless to say, dread did not strategy to cover how Nora felt. But knowing Vee, it was something she was not going to be able to dodge, especially if it had to do with her new boyfriend Rixon. So the day dragged as usual but now with an unhealthy load of fear to add to the already long list of unpleasant feelings than she harboured in her heart.
Surprisingly enough though, when the two boys showed up in school grounds she felt confident enough not to make a fool of her self and opted for the safest course of action when meeting strangers, not talking. Yet even then she could help to notice that Nixon's friend was as different and quite as she was. His name was Jev but at the time, he had been nicknamed Patch for some odd reason. He seemed to have the same perspective about strangers as her and so they didn't talk beyond the introductions and normal pleasantries.
But Nora looked at the boy with clinical eyes. While in front of the stranger she could appreciate that he was a very handsome but reserved person, with eyes so profound that you could get lost in their depths and boy did Nora wanted to get lost in them. She wanted for some reason to get to know every single detail of the boy behind those eyes. To say she was surprised with herself for having such thoughts was an understatement. She thought at the time that the boy wouldn't find her in any way attractive it interesting (especially with the no talking to stranger's policy) and who would really in her state. So discarding any more of this feelings she proceeded to say goodbye and go home to resume with her everyday depressing routine, which had been disrupted by the mysterious boy.
Little Nora knew at that time that the boy had been sent on a mission. He had explicit orders from higher powers to protect this poor girl from herself at any cost. Hr had to gain her trust and become her friend and confidant and take her out of her self imposed misery. However, those higher powers had never envisioned that Jev would find the lost girl attractive. And why would they, since angels are not supposed to feel that way. Those powers had also failed to predict that Jev would fall for this girl in the most powerful way.
In the beginning, he didn't give much thought but with each passing day it was plain obvious to the angel that he was in love with the broken girl. He saw that beyond the sadness was a strong girl who had to grow too fast too soon and had to deal with things that not many in this world could stomach. And yet she was there trying to comply with her friend 's blind date scheme, while feeling out of place, embarrassed and depressed over the loss of her beloved mother.
He saw beyond and worked hard to find the girl hiding in the back of her sad eyes. He called, asked for meetings (which were maintain in secret from her father) and showed up at school for a three weeks. Until one day he had had enough, and going against all heaven laws, he had kissed her with as much passion as he could have master at that time. Feeling completely delighted when she reciprocated with equal fervour. But of course, nothing forbidden comes easy and the complications to be together were, in fact, many. On top of having heaven stepping on their heels, her father didn't approve of the relationship, stating that he wasn't good enough and would lead her in the wrong path (when in reality it was the other way round). None of the obstacles, however, could prevent at the time their growing feelings and three months after their first encounter he confessed to her that he loved her.
Saying that that was the brightest day of her life after being in the dark for a long time was undeniably a misunderstanding and with as much conviction and resolution as her pounding heart let her master she said it back. By then, it was a wonder to Nora why a boy like him would feel such powerfully towards her. Towards someone who was so common, plain-looking and broken. But she knew that he was more than just a fling, she could feel the higher purpose of his existence in her bones, for someone as pure and loving like him surely was a heaven's blessing. And she was going to grab the opportunity and enjoy it while it lasted. Little did Nora know that their impossible relationship would last forever.
It took another month after their mutual confession of love for Jev to fall from heaven completely, only to find out that he had found his own personal heaven there on earth. A heaven shaped in the form of a beautiful and strong girl who would take him in every form or way no matter what. He had found a soul mate in the least predictable of places... a bed.
It wasn't until years later that he had told her about himself and his job description. But it just wasn't a surprise to her, much to his relief. His admission was just a confirmation of what she already knew. And if she was going to hell for taking God's angel from him then so be it. Because bottom line was, she would have gone gladly if it meant to have him for as long as she could. Jeb had felt at the time a mixture of impossible and irreconcilable feelings: absolute love and mind-freezing fear for the woman in front of him. He thought of him as such a lucky guy for being the receiver of such powerful feelings and, at the same time, he felt like the worst of demons for exposing her to the real possibility of facing hell all over again. It was no secret that she had had a taste of it, when she was younger.
However he knew, deep inside, that even with his mistakes looming above his head, God was not going to punish them, for she was a true angel on earth for him. An angel, who after a lifetime of suffering alone, deserved a piece of heaven for herself and all the love available in the universe, and he had given her that. Even after breaking all the rules and falling, he had fulfilled God's tasks for the girl, though in the most unconventional way possible for a guardian angel.