A Thousand Years

Sequel to Forbidden Love

Rating: Mostly T, probably M at times

Note: As this is a sequel, it would be beneficial to read Forbidden Love first, if you haven't already - though please keep in mind that FL is long overdue for a harsh edit and possibly rewrite to correct inconsistencies and unanswered questions. I was little more than a child when originally writing that story and my style and abilities have matured quite a bit since. With that out of the way, I would just like to take this time to say that the original story, as well as this sequel, are not meant to follow the canon of the show. I do realize that it's out of character and would prefer not to get reviews or messages pointing that out. The beauty of fanfiction is that it's all up to personal interpretation and perspective. This is mine. I hope you enjoy the next part in this nutty tale of mine.

Chapter 1

"Over here!"

On the side of a winding, rural highway set against a vast mountain range stood a woman. Though well below average in stature, her frantically waving arms and vibrant red hair made her nearly impossible to miss. The ambulance, with a fire engine and several more emergency vehicles in its wake, pulled up and the people inside wasted no time disembarking and appraising the situation. Surrounding them was carnage, devastation, needless loss of human life. The small woman had to steel herself against the unmistakable scent of death that hung heavily in the frigid early-evening air.

"Three vehicles were involved," she said soberly, gesturing toward the site of the wreckage. "Everyone in the white sedan are conscious and seem to be relatively okay. The man in the red truck is pretty banged up, but also conscious. And the black SUV … I could only find a pulse on the man. I'm afraid the woman and four children also inside haven't survived," she offered the first responders, her soft Irish lilt almost lost among the roaring gusts of wind. The fire captain she was speaking to nodded solemnly and let his eyes take in the sight before him. Though almost always expected on days with bad weather like this, it never got any easier.

"Thank you, ma'am," he responded with the tip of his hat, "Are you a nurse or EMT or … something?"

"Something like that," she responded with a nod.

"Well, your help and call in probably saved the others here. None of them would have made it very long in this cold, especially not with injuries," he said with a heave of his chest. He looked around them and seemed to realize then that there were no other cars or means of transportation nearby. "You don't have a vehicle here?"

"I was just out for a run and was in the right place at the right time," she answered, a slight twinkle in her eye, "and I'll just be on my way again now that your team is here." She could see the confusion in the captain's eyes as they were quite literally in the middle of nowhere and, in addition to the below freezing temperature, darkness was approaching. But she didn't leave him with time to ask questions. With another tight smile and a nod, she turned on the spot and set off at a brisk walk in the direction of the quickly sinking sun.

After a few beats, she looked to her left and met the gaze of a man who wasn't visible to the others. He had fallen into step beside her as she had started away from the scene of the crash. She smiled softly at him, both as a greeting and as a gesture of sympathy. His grey eyes and gentle features were weighed down heavily by what had just transpired.

"Monica, the distance running angel? What is it … Search and Rescue now? Or should I say again?"

She grinned at her long-time friend.

"Adam, it's good to see you too. I only wish it was under better circumstances."

"Me too," he said with a shrug, returning her smile and reaching around her to give her a quick squeeze, "kids are tough but … I wish you could have seen their faces when we got there. They're the happiest they've ever been now."

Monica sighed heavily. Death was never easy, but it could be especially trying for the angels in charge of escort, particularly when they were children or victims of crimes or other unimaginable happenings. She certainly admired the Angels of Death she had the privilege of knowing and brushing shoulders with. She worked side by side with many of them quite often in Search and Rescue, as that was just the nature of the job. Sometimes she was called to rescue and sometimes she was called to comfort until it was time to go, as with the four children and their mother that afternoon. Monica definitely did not covet the job that Adam did so well. She knew better than to think she could ever do that job herself, though she recognized that it was one of the greatest honors an angel could have.

"So really? Running?" Adam questioned with a chuckle, ready to change the direction of the conversation to something a bit less grim, though the thought of engaging in human physical fitness activities wasn't exactly his own idea of pleasant things to do with one's down time.

"It clears my head after difficult assignments!" She countered, slapping his arm playfully. "And before them and during them sometimes. One of the last cases I ever worked on before transferring was a competitive runner and I guess I picked up the habit. She always talked about how great she felt after finishing a long run and said it was like her own little way of connecting with herself and righting the wrongs of the day or preparing herself for what was ahead. It sounded nice, so … I run."

She didn't say it aloud because she wasn't particularly proud of the reasoning, but she also enjoyed the pastime because it gave her the excuse she needed to spend most of her down time alone. It wasn't exactly that she didn't enjoy the company of other angels. Of course she did, but something about being on her own with only the sound of her feet hitting the pavement and her own breaths echoing in her ears felt better. She just preferred spending time on her own and didn't often seek out the company of others. She and Adam, for example, had been friends for as long as Monica could remember, but it had been more years than she knew since they had last crossed paths and she knew that it was mostly on her.

"Well, the rumour around the realm is that you hardly stop for anything or anyone anymore," Adam responded, not totally masking his friendly concern for her well-being. "I mean, come on … when was the last time you saw Tess or … anyone else?"

Monica had to think hard to find an answer for that one.

"It was around the time she was promoted I think, maybe just after. There was a party to celebrate her and I stopped by for a few minutes but ended up getting called away shortly after I arrived. I always meant to catch up with her after that, but …" She trailed off, getting caught up in the memory of her former supervisor and friend.

Adam wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly.

"Monica … Tess became an Angel's Angel like … fifty years ago. Maybe more. Are you saying that you've not seen Tess in all this time?" He asked her, not bothering to hide the shock that he felt. Adam had also heard rumours floating around that Monica purposely avoided friends from her caseworking years, but he hadn't believed them until that moment.

"I know," she answered, with a heavy tone to her normally light and airy voice, "I feel terribly about it but … it felt different seeing her then. I can't explain it but I just had a strange feeling about being there, about being there with all those other angels … like I had missed something somewhere. The way she looked at me … it just felt off."

Adam didn't say anything in response for the simple fact that he didn't trust himself not to say the wrong thing somehow. He allowed them to fall into a comfortable silence as they continued to walk and he momentarily fell into his own thoughts. Occasionally when he and Monica crossed paths, he found himself face-to-face with a reality that he wasn't particularly fond of. They didn't see each other often, but even still Adam picked up on the subtle changes that had settled within her in the last fifty or so years. She was decidedly less emotional than he'd known her to be in the past. Though not cold by any stretch, there was a hardness to her that hadn't been there before. She wasn't the curious, eager and overly loving caseworker she had once been. He thought there could be several reasons for that, one in particular more suspect than the others. Though she was none the wiser for it, Adam saw Tess quite regularly and Monica's peculiar personality change was always a hot topic of discussion.

"Hey well speaking of Tess," he said to break the silence, "she asked after you last time I was on her side of Heaven… said she'd like you to stop by when you had the chance. Which … you and I both know really means now." Adam's tone was casual but not altogether unserious.

A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Adam was certainly right about that, Monica knew. It had been so long since she'd even stepped foot Home that the idea of going there now, especially to see her long-lost friend and former supervisor, seemed like a foreign concept. She found herself wishing for a moment that Tess would just come and find her but she knew that an Angel of Angel's work kept them quite stationary, except when required in special cases. It was a stark contrast to the intrinsically mobile existence of an angel in Search and Rescue.

"I can't remember the last time I was Home either, now that I'm trying," Monica said musingly, looking away. The more time she spent on Earth these days, the more comfortable she got and the less she felt she needed to spend time at Home to feel content. The occasional recharge or meeting or evaluation aside, she simply preferred for her feet to be on the ground. Her visits were typically short, sweet and for the purpose of accomplishing one thing or another. There was a time when she reveled in spending hours, days just being there to be there. She used to look forward to taking time off and spending it with friends but not working was a rare occurrence for her anymore. And that was the way she liked it.

"Speaking of human habits, are you still guzzling coffee like it's going to run out tomorrow?" Adam asked. "Distance running, the overconsumption of caffeine, never taking a day off … you know, just because you can do all these human things when you're on Earth doesn't mean you should, right? Just because your human form functions like a human doesn't mean -"

"Did Tess tell you to tell me that?" She interrupted, one eyebrow raised so high it may as well have been in Heaven itself.

"I'm only teasing you, Monica, you know that," he replied with a warm smile. "In all seriousness though, go pay ol' Tess a visit. She'd really like to see you and I know you'd like to see her too, whether you admit it or not. And maybe, I don't know … take a nap or something. Take care of yourself."

And with a quick wink, Adam was gone, leaving Monica alone again on the side of the mountain highway.

No sooner had Adam disappeared from the rural locale of his last assignment did he appear right in the chambers of the Angel's Angel Tess herself.

"Well?" She questioned impatiently.

"I saw her. We spoke for quite a while actually. She seems … tired, but otherwise alright."

Tess harrumphed from behind the giant oak desk where she sat. Though she had half a mind to summon Monica directly into that very room herself, she preferred for the little angel to want to come on her own. It would make the news Tess had for her easier, or so she hoped anyway. She wanted the meeting to feel more like a small gathering of old friends as opposed to strict business.

"Well, it's high time that she got her angel butt up here to see me," Tess said with her trademark sass. "Not only because it's been half a century since she's last bothered, but this business with Sophia isn't going to handle itself. I'd rather not have to track her down for this."

"So that's happening for sure, then? Sophia is transferring?"

"She put in the formal request to transfer to casework almost two weeks ago," Tess answered with a nod and a smile, "and I think she'll be just wonderful in that role. Her evaluations have gone swimmingly and she seems ready."

Adam nodded in agreement. From the few times he'd interacted with Sophia on his own cases, he ascertained that notion to be true as well.

"And I guess you have a supervisor assigned already or is that still being determined?"

Tess paused, pursing her lips pensively.

"I … do have someone in mind," she started carefully, "Nathanial is up for promotional evaluation soon, quite likely in the next few assignments. When that happens, Andrew will need a replacement. I think it would be a great fit."

Adam took a few moments to process what it was that Tess was saying exactly. It had sounded sane, rational even, until he'd heard his old friend's name.

"Isn't there usually a transition period, though?" He asked confusedly, "I thought when an angel was transferring departments, they typically worked with both supervisors for a while, to make sure that -"

"You aren't wrong, baby," Tess interrupted, answering his questions simply.

Adam didn't feel helped by that answer in the least.

"And you don't see the glaring problem with that?" He questioned her, eyes wide in concern.

"This isn't my first rodeo, you know," she replied matter-of-factly, "I need to assign available supervisors to caseworkers in need. My job is to make sure I arrange a team that will work well together and that has a high probability of successful case completion."

But Adam was shaking his head, not bothering to hide that he was in wild disagreement with her.

"Tess you can't be serious, you want to put them together on the same cases? On purpose? I thought we were supposed to keep them apart?!"

"That wasn't the deal, Adam, and I'm sorry that this has confused you. There's nothing within the current arrangements that prevents me from putting them together for work. Am I … a little anxious by how it could potentially play out? Of course I am. The only reason work hasn't brought them together before now is because I was always able to work around it. This time I'm not. This is the best situation. It isn't personal, it's business."

Adam didn't buy it and was still shaking his head. He knew that when it concerned that particular trio of angels, it was always personal.

"I just didn't think we were supposed to meddle, that's all," he said with a sigh, pushing his hand through his hair in agitation.

"We aren't meddling, baby," Tess replied calmly, "purposely keeping them apart or denying Sophia her transfer or any number of things that I could do to prevent them from meeting again is what would be meddling. They knew this might happen and agreed to it. She begged him to do it her way and he agreed, but only with that stipulation in place."

With that, Tess let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been keeping. Truth was, she wasn't at all sure about any of it, but it didn't change the fact that she had a problem to solve and the solution wasn't comfortable. Being an Angel of Angel's certainly wasn't sunshine and rainbows all of the time. In fact, it rarely was.

"Listen," she continued, "it's not like we're setting them up with ulterior motives or ill-intentions. Like I said, it's just business. If I had another option, I would take it, but I don't. Best case scenario is … they meet, it goes well, they guide Sophia through her transition, and then Monica goes back to Search and Rescue where she belongs and they are none the wiser."

Tess wasn't entirely sure whether she was trying to convince Adam that this was a good plan, or convince herself, or a mixture of both, but her confident tone towards him didn't waver either way.

"That's the best case, sure. But how often do best cases play out in tricky situations? And what's the worst case?" Adam probed, continuing to argue even though he knew that by now it was a waste of breath, "it happens all over and we have this same conversation again fifty years from now? Except we're all going to feel a lot worse about it because we could have prevented it altogether and we chose to let it happen anyway?!"

Tess didn't bother trying again to argue her reasoning.

"Your points and questions are all valid, baby," she said, "I know that you care about your friends and want what's best for them and that is admirable. I am not dismissing your concerns. Believe me, from a friend and former supervisor standpoint, I share most of them. I was there for it last time, remember? I was front and center to the pain and heartbreak and the last thing I want is for either of them to experience anything remotely close again. So trust me when I tell you that I do not make this decision lightly."

Adam knew then that the conversation, at least that part of it anyway, was over. For what felt like the millionth time since he'd arrived in Tess's chambers, he heaved a heavy sigh.

"Maybe it'll be fine," he said with a shrug, "Monica has been different lately, you know that. She avoids anything and everyone that doesn't have to do with her assignments. Maybe forcing her to slow down for a little while and interact with someone new will be good for her."

"Maybe she just needs to meet someone who makes her want to slow down and smell the coffee beans," Tess offered optimistically, "It's not like they weren't simply good friends for decades before everything changed. Best case scenario, remember."

Adam nodded, not necessarily in agreement but neither in contention. To his astonishment, he caught a flash of auburn tresses out of the corner of his eye from the partially frosted glass window leading into the waiting room of Tess's chamber. He hadn't expected that Monica would so quickly heed his advice to pay her former supervisor a visit, but there she was, running attire and all.

"I suppose this is my cue to disappear," Adam said with a sideways nod towards the door of which Monica paced just on the other side, "I'll be around. Let me know if I can do anything to help."

With the blink of an eye, Adam was gone and Tess took just a few moments to breathe and regulate her racing heart.

Father, give me strength and wisdom, she requested silently with a glance to the ceiling before calling out clearly to the young angel behind the reception window,

"Get in here, Miss Wings!"

XOXO, A