Then

They brought Lance to the Den after it closed in the small hours of the morning. With his angelic aura newly glowing, the protective amulet that Samuel had sent him with was barely enough to conceal his presence. It was a relief to all of them to arrive at the bar unscathed.

Shiro, Adam, and Hunk were all awaiting them anxiously, though Shiro and Adam were less visibly worried than Hunk, who had been nervously working on some drink or other in the small back kitchen.

"So," Adam began once everyone had grabbed a chair, "I understand we've a new angel in our midst."

"New angel?" Lance asked, looking up at Adam, who shrugged, smiling faintly.

"I don't suppose the aura looks at all the same; I've been on this plane so long, but yes. I'm not unlike you, little one."

"Were you- summoned here?" Lance asked, stumbling on the word, not seeming to like the taste it left in his mouth.

"No. I am here of my own volition."

"Well, that's his story, at least," Shiro added with a small chuckle.

Adam raised an eyebrow as he smirked sideways at his husband. "Oh? Have I somehow misunderstood the last few millennia? Do you not want me here, Takashi Shirogane? I can always go back to where I came from."

"Could you, though?" Shiro returned with a raised eyebrow of his own. Adam held his gaze for several moments before shaking his head.

"No. I don't suppose I could. Even if I could, I never would," he said, leaning across the small space between their chairs to press a kiss to his lips.

"Gag," Pidge groaned, drawing her legs up to sit cross-legged on her chair. "The granddads are getting mushy again. Maybe we should come back in a week."

"Only a week?" Adam challenged. "I'd like to think I could be a little more inventive than that."

Pidge mimed throwing up while Matt swallowed heavily, his eyes widening. Keith cringed slightly. He loved the pair like fathers, of course, but that didn't mean he needed to picture what they did behind closed doors. Shiro was the one to finally come to the rescue.

"If I don't let Katie drink, I'm definitely not having you tell her about our sex life. I think we have more important things to discuss this morning."

"Why couldn't you?" Lance suddenly asked.

"Hmm?" Adam tried to clarify, turning his attention back to the younger angel.

"If you wanted to, I mean. Why couldn't you go back?"

Adam leaned back in his chair, eons shifting across his face as he considered his answer.

"I was first...deployed to this plane in the days when the Divine was a little more militant in enforcing its will. I was sent to kill Takashi. I made a different call," he said, meeting his love's eyes once again. Shiro smiled at him, a look that was thousands of years old passing between them. Before he turned to Lance once again, he reached to grip Shiro's hand in his. "And of course...Heaven didn't like having its will defied. My punishment for choosing Takashi was to never return to the Divine realm."

"Not for nothing, but weren't they trying to punish you?" Pidge pointed out. "That seems more like a reward to me."

Adam shrugged. "Oh, I imagine Heaven's probably arrogant enough to believe there is no worse punishment than to be parted from it. I certainly wasn't going to argue the point."

"Breakfast!" Hunk announced as he swept in from the kitchen with a tray, which was loaded down with croissants and cups of what smelled like hot chocolate. He moved around the circle of chairs with a smile for everyone, passing out the food as he went. "Sorry it's a little slapdash. It's been an interesting night."

Matt sighed in pleasure as he bit into his croissant. "Hunk, you wanna know who here is an angel? It's you. Everything you make is delicious."

"Eh, I try," the brownie said with a little shrug and a pleased grin. Then he brought the last of the mugs to Lance with a look that was more nervous than anything else.

"Do...do you eat?" Hunk asked the angel. "I know Adam doesn't need to eat, but he still enjoys it sometimes."

The angel glanced between all of them before accepting the mug, maybe trying to figure out how it was done. Then he offered the brownie a weary smile. "Thank you."

He took a slow, small sip of the drink, remaining still and silent for a moment, seeming to contemplate the flavor. Then his eyes burst open and he blinked up at Hunk in wonder.

"This- this is amazing!" he gushed. "I've never had anything like this before."

The brownie laughed as he handed Lance a croissant. "Thanks. I guess we can officially say our food's Heaven-approved now," he said as he grabbed a chair for himself. "Though...I do have to wonder how great Heaven actually is if they don't have hot chocolate there."

"Cheers," Adam said as he raised his mug.

"So...what, exactly, happened last night?" Hunk was the one to finally ask as everyone else ate. Pidge quickly gobbled down the rest of her croissant before responding.

"Matt and I were out for ice cream down at the boardwalk. I was eyebrows deep in a double scoop of mint chip when there's suddenly a half-naked man stumbling through the sand in front of me. He looks at me, says, 'You have Samuel's eyes,' then passes out in my ice cream."

"Wherever Dad sent him from, he must've had a direct lock on us," Matt said.

"How do you know it was him?" Shiro asked.

"Dad sent his notes with him. No mention of what was actually done to him, just how to heal his human form...how to jumpstart his Grace," the elder sibling explained, staring intently down into his mug.

"Do you have any idea where you were?" Shiro asked Lance.

The angel shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't. Some sort of chamber. It was the only place I'd seen since...waking up in this body," he said, shifting his mug to glance down at his hand.

"And do you know why it is she summoned you? Do you know why Haggar brought you here?" Adam asked him.

They all flinched on hearing the name, Lance more so than all of them. It was force of habit by now. Even though they all knew the Unseelie queen couldn't see inside the Den while the wards were active, it was just too deeply ingrained by this point, avoiding speaking the name out loud – and to be afraid when it was spoken.

"What does anybody want from an angel?" Lance said quietly. "To reach beyond the world of the living...to try and find someone who's passed on. I couldn't give her what she wanted, but...she wouldn't let me go. She kept trying," he whispered, eyes growing wider and more horrified with each memory.

Keith didn't see Adam move, but he was suddenly beside Lance, a hand resting firmly on his shoulder. "Peace, little one. She can't touch you here. If we have any say in it, she will never touch you again. We'll see that you get home."

"But...what about Samuel?" Lance asked, gaze lifting to Adam for a moment before shifting to Pidge and Matt. "Where- wherever we were...he's still trapped there. He was kind to me. He saved my life. I- I want to help find him."

"And you can, but in the meantime, we'll also be working on figuring out a way to get you back home. That's the option with the fewest question marks for everyone's safety. If we can get you back to Heaven, Haggar won't be able to breach it again. Not in any of your lifetimes, at least. It's better that we stop her plans now, before she can do anymore damage to the fabric of this dimension," Adam explained. "Because- I'm sad to say it, but she will stop at nothing to achieve her ends. Heaven and Earth will hardly be of any concern to her."

"I have a question," Hunk started in again, raising a hand. "Why did the healing potion need Keith's blood of all people? I mean- angels and demons...they're sorta opposites, aren't they?"

"Not so much. Fundamentally, angels and demons are the same kind of being, but you know how I feel about the word fallen, so in this case, I think I'll say that the first demons were angels that were...unbound."

Lance turned to look at Keith, giving the cambion just enough time to turn away before the angel could notice he'd been staring at him.

"Thank you."

"Huh?" Keith mumbled as he looked back up at him, feeling like he maybe hadn't understood.

"I didn't- thank you before. I know it's- no small favor...to give your blood. It was you. You were the reason I- survived. So thank you," he said again.

"No problem," the cambion said – more grunted, really, turning away again when he felt the heat of a blush spread across his face. This was only the beginning of it, he knew. There was a lot that still needed to be figured out. They had all always known they'd someday be pulled back into Haggar's plots. It couldn't be otherwise. But this man – this angel – beautiful and brave, so brave. To be tortured by the Unseelie queen herself...and to still be willing to venture back into her clutches to save someone else? Even if he hadn't felt something snap into place between them the moment he had seen those pure wings crackle black, he would be lost.

Fucked.

He was completely and totally fucked.