AN: So chapter two is up, finnaly and a bit longer then the last. Hope you like it and if you like tou could review to let me know what you think of the plot and the OC. Any ideas in general are welcomed :D
Two horrid days passes before they finally reached their destination. Rachel could see an old diner, in the distance, the one where the child's mother worked, or so had Michael said to her when she had nagged him for answers.
- Show me your teeth! – A man, in his forties, glared at us, demanding answers as they got out of the car. Rachel brought a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes as exhaustion washed over her. The sun suddenly seemed to become hotter by the second; draining what little energy she had left.
- We have no time. – She heard Michael say, a bit distantly, like he was far away from her.
The man stepped forward, cocking the gun in his right hand.
- Show me! You too, pretty lady.
She and Michael both opened their mouths, showing the perfect set of teeth the two of them had. The man seemed satisfied by the sight and lowered the gun, muttering apologies and explanations.
Rachel rubbed her neck and blinked several times, trying to focus her vision that had turned everything into a blur of color and shadows.
- Are you his girlfriend? - The child's mother, Charlie, asked.
She blushed fiercely, the new wave of heat becoming slightly unbearable as she tried desperately to speak coherently. With the little strength she still had, she managed to answer in a low voice.
- No. We were… - she struggled a bit for the right words to describe her relationship with Michael – raised together.
He raised his head and a small smile lift up the corners of his mouth, in approval. The smile soon vanished and was replaced with a deep frown, as he handed them both guns.
Rachel nearly dropped hers but gripped it tight in her hands, not to let it slide from her sweaty palms. She forced a swallow and stepped forward, biting on her lower lip to prevent the tears from falling, the pain in her shoulder blades getting excruciating. She looked at the other Archangel and saw how everyone was following his lead and smiled proudly, ignoring the pain as she admired him.
- Are you alright? - Jeep asked, sounding surprisingly worried as they walked beside one another.
- I'm just not used to high temperatures I guess. - She croaked with her mouth dry, almost like it was filled with cotton balls.
- Weird- a warm hand lay gingerly at her forehead- you're burning up! - He gasped, earning the attention of the others inside the diner, especially Michael.
She could only see him looking at her, examining her with his bright blue eyes before he walked to her. Embarrassed, she took Jeep's hand of her face and looked around; desperately trying to find somewhere she could escape to.
Sighing inwardly, already cursing her oh so human stubbornness, she felt her head spin and pound like a war drum and had to resist the urge to close her eyes. She felt drained of energy and her knees started shaking when Michael grasped her arm, supporting her small frame.
Feeling dangerously numb, Rachel closed her eyes, allowing herself to fall into a deep and feverish slumber. The male Archangel just stood there, in the middle of the diner with her slumped against him and quickly adjusted her, so he could easily pick her small body into a more comfortable position for both.
Charlie wrapped her arms around herself, seeing the woman fall unconscious and, for a moment, she felt her lip tremble at the vision. There was something in the foreign woman that made the waitress's insides warm with sympathy and friendship, even after knowing her no longer than two hours. As fast as she could, she instructed Michael to put her newest friend on the room they used for storage and helped in whatever ways she could to bring Rachel back to consciousness.
Michael laid the burning girl in the now covered floor of the storage room, allowing himself just a moment to truly see her as he had never seen her, the way her dark brown curls seemed to frame her now sweaty and pale forehead made him realize just how fragile she had become in Earth. While in Heaven she always seemed strong and confident in her skills and even her looks, for she was a woman after all, in Earth she was seemed almost… breakable.
- Is there anything we could do? – Audrey's trembling voice broke the silence.
Michael merely nodded as he almost ripped the fabric of Rachel's shirt to get to her bloodied back, her head lolling to the side when he brought her to his chest. He told them to clean the wounds with alcohol and, before they asked any questions involving said wounds, he bid them to leave and prepare for the upcoming battle.
Frowning and alone at last, he rolled her to her side and began the tender work of closing the holes where her wings once were, murmuring a silent prayer to his Father, willing Him to listen his pleas and stop the nonsense.
- Foolish angel, ever the stubborn one… - he whispered, his hand lingering in her still burning cheek, noticing gladly that she looked less dead and more like her usual pale complexion. Again, he found himself admiring her more than ever before in all the millenniums they knew each other, basking in the softness of the skin under his palm, the warmth that was now inviting and no longer fever like.
Charlie finally cleared her throat, after seeing the slight display of emotion before her, a knowing smile gracing her lips as she urged him upstairs to help the other in the battle.
-I'll stay here with her. They need you now than we both do. – she said, eying him as she stood in all his 6'3, glancing one last time at the woman in the floor before suddenly grabbing Charlie's chin and making her look right in his startling blue eyes.
-Don't be a Hero.- He said, cocking his gun and leaving the room to face the possessed.
She mastered enough will to gulp and sit beside Rachel that, she knew for sure, had no idea what was going on in the real world.
Rachel felt like she was burning. She actually felt the flames lick her skin, like an old hag burning at the stake, suffocating under the weight of the smoke that emanated from her own charring flesh. She tried desperately to open her eyes, willing her nightmare away, to no avail.
She could tell someone was screaming not too far from her and managed to flutter her eyes open, a sudden gasp escaping her lips when the overwhelming pain bite at her shoulder blades.
- God in Heaven… - she croaked, her mouth dry again from the lack of use. Gripping the blanket that lay at her waist, she tried to stand, pushing away the guilt she felt. Guilt for refusing the help of someone she knew for millenniums, guilt for letting her pride get the best of her in front of the man she now was sure she had feelings for; feelings that unnerved her at the point of nearly exhaustion, while her heart clenched in her chest.
Her weak legs almost gave in when she finally stood, glancing around in the dark lit room, feeling strangely cold after her fever stupor. It was almost like she was… naked. She screeched when she noticed her substantial lack of clothing of her upper body and blushed, truly blushed when she thought of Michael seeing her like that.
Damn overly enhanced human emotions.
Rachel could almost feel his touch where her bandages where, slowly brushing her tender skin. Picking up her shirt, with more effort than she would wish, she dressed and took only a few feeble steps before turning the corner where her heart nearly stopped from the fright.
Charlie was standing all by herself, near a battered window, with damned gun shells surrounding her very pregnant body. She wanted to scream at the crazy girl, for letting herself become so exposed but managed only to hiss curse words she didn't even know before all of this.
- Are. You. Insane? – Rachel called, through clenched teeth, slowly crouching and crawling to where the other was, with a gun poises and ready.
She felt a pull in her heart when she saw the tears in the eyes if the child's mother. She knew she had made a promise to protect them both, but this was something else. She was now compromised by her own feeling of affection towards the blonde and her unborn baby, making her task so much difficult because she now cared for them, more than she possibly could imagine.
She felt, however, every fiber of her body ache when she pulled Charlie away from the window, after a possessed man almost successfully dragged her outside.
Using strength unknown to her, she grasped the first thing that her hand hit, which was, strangely, a fork and ran to the window, stabbing the unrecognizable man in the eye. It seemed enough for now, for him to flee and for Michael rush down the stairs.
Her whole body snapped when her name passed through his lips, making her close her eyes and savor each letter that flew out of his mouth.
- What did you do? – Rachel had to resist the sudden urge to roll her eyes at the fellow Archangel and bite her tongue, not to say something along the lines of " I was only doing our job" - Charlie, I told you not to be a Hero.
- I was not the Hero, - She glanced at Rachel, pointing her sharp finger at her – She was. She saved us, I did nothing really. Only scream actually.
He re-directed his attention to the dark haired woman again.
- What did you do? You are bleeding again! - He exclaimed, angrily as he took her arm and squeezed it painfully.
She managed to wiggle her way out of his grasp and stare defiantly at him, daring him silently to manhandle her again.
- I saved the woman and the child- she grumbled furiously, crossing her arms over her chest – you heard her.
- You are weak! – he snapped – You should be in the other room, safe and unharmed.
Rachel's mouth hanged completely open in surprise, the words flying out of it without her caring.
- We, and I underline the WE part here, have come to this wretched place to protect them both. It was my promise, my sacrifice, not yours to take, you know that. I am doing what I must not to fail us both.
He stepped forward again; both her noses so close, Rachel could feel his cool breath in her face, having to fight the urge to blush or do something completely opposite from the current argument.
- It is my sacrifice too. One I can only truly say I made because of you, but most of all, them.- he whispered, in a low, calm voice; betraying his apprehension and anger.
- Stop this! – Charlie raised her voice and her hand to silence them – You are giving me a full headache and it's really not the damned time to be fighting like a married couple.
Rachel blanched, still nose to nose with him.
- What? – She asked, her voice slightly high pitched and way too girlie.
- Don't – the pregnant woman glared at both of them. Just focus. We have major problems right now, like big possessed problems. Do something useful and stop that whining of yours.
Michael sighed, while Rachel's shoulders slumped in pained defeat. They truly were wasting time in infantile discussions. Michael was still frustrating her to no end, because none of them had moved an inch, perhaps too caught up in one another.
His stunningly beautiful blue eyes were boring into her own, seeing right to her soul, she was sure of it, and when his hand touched her cheek, she almost jumped a foot into the air, only to be held straight by him; the tingling feeling running all over her body, like an electric shock.
He sighed for the second time in so little time as he felt her shudder.
- Are you well? – he asked, with true concern now, leaving the anger behind, smiling gently when she nodded her head. He felt like he was glued to the ground, not wanting to move an inch, not a single muscle.
But it seemed that she finally got her head around all of it and drew back, just enough to put not feel like she was in the verge of doing something regrettable.
- We need to get out of here.