Day Two, December 22nd

Elijah pried his eyes open from his dreamless sleep, slowly rolling over and taking in a deep breath of Vincent's scent, which was all over the sheets. An unfamiliar stiffness had set into his bones and muscles overnight.

"I thought sleep was supposed to be satisfying," he groaned, stretching. His eyes still closed, he searched the bedside table for his phone, taking some time for him to actually find it. When he finally did, he pressed the screen to illuminate it, but it was far too bright for his still adjusting eyes. Like I had said before, there are no windows in any of the rooms which means it stays dark, so it was like when you check your phone in the middle of the night and become blinded. It was another thing he was unfamiliar with.

When his eyes did adjust, but not before he cursed the phone under his breath a few times, the time read 10:17 AM.

"How do humans even get out of bed," he mumbled, throwing the covers off and putting his feet onto the floor. He was clothed in a pair of Vincent's sweats and one of his undershirts, since it was the only clothes that he knew some one had worn to sleep.

He dragged himself to the door and flicked on the light switch, flinching at the sudden light. He shuffled into the kitchen and towards a low cabinet. A yawn crept its way through him, and it was a strange sensation that left him dazed.

It was probably one of the weirdest things ever. He thought he had seen other humans do it before, but he'd never experienced it. It wasn't something he wanted to experience again.

He crouched to the cabinet, his bare toes flexing to keep him balanced. He pulled a small vial of white light, like the one he'd pulled from the same cabinet before. He examined it for a few seconds, watching the pulsating white light encapsulated within the container. Had you ever seen a human soul disembodied, it would have been similar to that.

Deathly similar.

He uncorked the vial and downed the contents, his eyes glowing blue for a few seconds. Within a few minutes he was back to a relatively normal amount of energy.

Once back to normal, he continued to a drawer within the kitchen and pulled out a black pen, going back over the tally mark Vincent had made on his hand and also making a new one, signifying that it was another day. Only five more days till Vincent would be back.

He went into the bedroom and began to pull his shirt off and over his head when his eyes fell upon the bathroom door. Vincent seemed to like showering after being asleep through the night. Was it customary after sleeping to bathe? Elijah had never taken a shower, being as Angels didn't require it. Even if his vessel did need cleaning (say after you force your arm through the body of a ghoul) he'd always been able to wash with water from the sink, some soap, and a rag.

He pulled his shirt back over his head and entered the bathroom, flicking the light switch and flooding the room with light. Eyeing the shower suspiciously, he pulled the curtain back and stepped into the shower, still clothed in Vincent's sweats and shirt.

He examined the inside of the shower, remembering when the builder asked him where he planned to put it. He'd never planned on learning how to use it, and he hadn't, but he did know that if you twisted the knob water would spray and you would use it to wash yourself. What he wasn't sure about was whether you were naked or not while in the shower.

He knew that humans valued their clothes and were only without them when they changed their clothes or when with someone they wished to court. He was fairly certain a human wouldn't want to court a shower, so he decided upon leaving his clothes on.

He twisted the knob and cold water sprayed down on him. It surprised him and left him sputtering, but he got used to water began to soak through the clothes, and the water stayed cold. He stayed in there for about as long as Vincent did (twenty minutes).

He wasn't sure why Vincent enjoyed showering.

He turned off the water and stepped out, water dripping from his hair and the clothes. His vessel started to shiver, something he hadn't experienced since the time he accidentally teleported to Antarctica when he was still a fairly young Angel who didn't have much experience.

Both then and now were not enjoyable.

He stripped of his now drenched clothes and pulled a towel from underneath the sink. He knew how to use a towel.

Body dry and his hair dry-ish, he hung the clothes on a hook in the shower so that the water dripping from them wouldn't get on the floor. He turned the light out and left the bathroom to put his normal clothes on. It didn't take him long to be clothed in his normal, white dress shirt, black slacks, suspenders, and dark red tie. He sat on the bed and pulled on his simple white socks.

Once finished he checked the time on his phone. 10:42 AM. Still early.

He settled on getting coffee, just like he did yesterday. He had enjoyed it, and it was probably one of the only things mortals did that he also did. There was more than drinking coffee on the list, but it was the newest addition.

He put his new coat on, but skipped out on the gloves since he knew he'd be taking them off once he was in the shop. Out the door, up the two sets of stairs, and into the shop with the door bell chiming melodically.

The landlady looked up from her phone, eyes meeting Elijah's. "Two days in a row! Is the world ending?"

"That was 2012," Elijah mused, though it was true. The biblical apocalypse had started and ended that year and while it wasn't fun for most of the world, Elijah had enjoyed the occupation. It kept him busy.

(a/n: The wiki doesn't say when the apocalypse was in the show, and if I really wanted to i could maybe go through some episodes and figure it out, but I don't really want to so for the sake of me not really caring and the sake of the joke, the apocalypse was in 2012.)

The landlady laughed slightly as Elijah advanced to the counter. "What can I get ya' Eli." Eli ordered the same thing as he did yesterday and the engaged in light conversation as she prepared the coffee.

"So... You and this Vincent guy definitely aren't a thing?" She asked, adding milk and other things to the cup.

Elijah coughed in surprise. "No, no. Just friends."

"So you're single?" She put a top over the cup.

"Yes?" Elijah had met humans who had asked him questions like that, but it was usually when they we're flirting with him. This female didn't seem to be flirting so he found it strange for her to ask.

"Then would you go on a blind date with a girl that I pick out?" Elijah pulled out his wallet to pay for the coffee.

"Not really looking for a partner right now," he stated as he placed the bills into her hand.

"So let me get this straight," She propped herself up on the counter with her elbows and Eli eyed her suspiciously, much like he had done to the shower, "You're single, not looking for love, and bringing your 'co-worker' home every night. Sounds to me like you two," she leaned in and whispered the next two words, "are banging."

Elijah grabbed his coffee and faked a smile with his eyes closed. "Were not." He turned to leave and was half way to the door when she called after him. "Not yet!" He stopped and rolled his eyes with a shake of the head, glancing back to see her typing furiously on her phone. "By the way," She caught his attention as he was about to exit the shop, "Me and my husband were going out tomorrow with a couple of friends if you want to come. Were meeting up here around ten PM to do some bar hopping."

It worked with Elijah's obligations at nine, so he might as well agree. Something to keep him busy is what he was thinking I suppose. He agreed to be at shop at ten tomorrow and left with his coffee.

He decided to go to a park instead of back to the apartment to drink his coffee. By park, really it was a patch of grass with a few garden beds and statues, but it was still a nice place to sit outdoors and enjoy a coffee since it was relatively empty.

It was called the Elizabeth Street Gallery, and Elijah sat enjoying his coffee on the only bench. It was across a path from the statue of a lion, though it seemed to be weather worn from being outside for years.

Elijah finished his coffee in silence and when he did, he checked his phone for the time. It read 12:45 pm. Only eight hours till 'miracle time'.

He contemplated what to do till then, thinking he could maybe read more of the books he got yesterday, but decided against it since he didn't want to finish them before he got back from miracle time since he didn't feel like going bar hopping tonight (or sleeping).

Roy maybe? No. He was already going to have to suffer through Skinwalker Christmas Eve and he did not want to spend more time than necessary with large groups of Skinwalkers.

Maybe Nicolson could entertain him? Elijah didn't have any better ideas.

Elijah tossed the empty coffee cup into a nearby trash can before teleporting to the precinct Nicolson worked from. He sauntered through the door, confidence restored to that which it normally was even though most of the conversation he'd had that day was about how him and Vincent should be together together. It was off putting to tell the truth.

Nicolson was in his office when he looked up and saw Elijah smirking in the doorway to the floor where his Detectives had there desks. He actually did a double take before rolling his eyes and raking an hand over his face.

Elijah's smirk only widened and he tucked his hands into his pockets as he made his way across the floor to Nicolson's office. He recognized most of the Detectives at the desks from the Christmas party, but there was one that he didn't recognize. He shrugged it off since it was probably because the detective just hadn't been at the party. He wasn't getting an weird vibes off him anyways.

"How's being a Captain, Nicolson?" Elijah asked once he was in the room, the detective he didn't recognize wheeling his chair across to another and leaning over her desk presumably to ask a question, though it wasn't important for Elijah to know.

"I've been a Captain for ten years, Elijah. It's the same as every other time you've asked," Nicoloson sighed and pulled his reading glasses from his eyes and began to massage his temples. "What do you want?" Nicolson asked when Elijah didn't leave.

"I," Elijah began as threw himself into a chair in the corner, "am bored, and I thought maybe bothering you would solve the problem." Nicolson deadpanned at Elijah, but Eli's smirk didn't falter.

"My job's hard enough as it is; don't make it harder," Nicolson warned as he placed his glasses back on his nose and picked up his pen.

"Make your job harder? I bet I make your-"

Nicolson cut Elijah off abruptly, "Look, you're an amazing guy and my best-friend, but we did this last December, and I can't afford to get that behind again this year. If you're gonna stay here, you're gonna shut you face."

"Yessir," Elijah mocked a salute and shut his mouth.

For the time being.

It only took Elijah five minutes to break the silence. "Why do mortals enjoy showers?"

"Elijah," Nicolson cautioned. Elijah had already figured out he wouldn't hurt him, so he didn't worry about angering him.

"Can you just answer this one question." Elijah begged, not a normal thing for him to do, but he really wanted to know why mortals enjoyed showers. He just didn't understand.

Nicolson sighed for what seemed the hundredth time that day. "Fine. I'll answer your question, but tell me why you want to know." Nicolson was annoyed with Elijah, but he was intrigued by the fact that the Angel would just out of the blue ask a question like that.

"I tried taking a shower this morning and it wasn't very pleasant," Eli began, Nicolson choking on his own spit when Eli said he tried to take a shower, something he'd never heard him even be remotely interested in. "It was cold and the clothes got all wet which made them heavy and it was probably one of the worst experiences I've had in this century. It was weird and I don't think I understand." Nicolson began to laugh, Elijah confused as to why.

"You," Nicolson could barley get the sentence out he was laughing so hard, "You took a cold shower? Fully clothed?"

"Yes? I mean, I figured since the only times humans are completely unclothed is when they wish to court another, and I'm fairly sure they wouldn't want to court the shower..." He trailed off as Nicolson laughed harder, if that was possible. Tears were nearly streaming down his face. Elijah's brows furrowed, "I'm gonna go out on a whim and say I did something incorrectly."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock," Nicolson had almost gotten his laughter under control, only small chuckles here and there. "How long was this 'shower'?" He made air quotes around shower.

"Twenty minutes." This sent Nicolson back into a fit of laughter. He was absolutely howling.

Once he had finally calmed down he wiped a tear from his eye. "Man did I need a good laugh." He shook his head as smaller, quieter laughs still racked his body at times.

"What am I doing wrong with the shower situation?" Nicolson sighed (again) and shook his head.

"For an Angel who I've seen plan whole wars down to the most minute detail and then win that same war with the same plan, you can be really dumb."

Elijah narrowed his eyes. "Are you insulting me."

"Within a compliment," Nicolson quipped, "But if you want someone to teach you the proper way to shower ask that Skinwalker you're living with." Nicolson snickered and Elijah eyed him nervously.

"Alright... Well, I'll leave you alone."

"And how long will that last?" Nicolson mumbled.

Nicolson returned to his work and Elijah sat in the chair. And then he stared at Nicolson with out blinking till Nicolson finally got weirded out.

"Elijah, what the fuck are you doing?" Nicolson removed his glasses and looked to Elijah. He didn't blink or move his eyes from Nicolson's. It was extremely off-settling.

"Seeing how long I can stare at you without blinking before you get weirded out," Elijah said, voice distant. "It only took three minutes."

"Well you can stop now." Elijah blinked a few times and stopped staring at Nicolson. Nicolson returned to writing and reading the papers on his desk.

Elijah soon got out of his chair and was reading Nicolson's papers over his shoulder.

"What are you doing," Nicolson asked, exasperated.

"Reading over your shoulder."

When Elijah didn't get the hint that he should go back to sitting in his chair, Nicolson spoke again. "And?"

"It was an inside job, probably the banker." Nicolson sighed.

"I'm reviewing a case recently closed by one of my detectives. I'm not trying to figure out who did it."

"Even better; we can see if I'm right." Elijah still didn't move from his spot over Nicolson's shoulder.

"Why don't you go watch a Disney movie or something if you're so bored," Nicolson muttered.

"Disney? I remember a man by that name. I was there the night he was supposed to be taken by hellhounds."

Nicolson sent Elijah a look that said 'what the fuck man' but he didn't say that. "One, thanks for ruining Disney for me and two, you've never seen a Disney movie?"

"I believe I've seen some thing called Steam Boat Willy from Disney." Nicolson was out the door of his office and to the desk of the detective Elijah had yet to meet.

"Harrison, I need to borrow your Disney movies," Nicolson asked the male who looked fearful. Elijah walked up to the desk slowly.

"I'm not sure I understand what's going on, Nicolson."

"Uh, yeah, me too," the male detective said flustered, "I don't have any Disney movies anyways," he let out a small, awkward laugh.

Nicolson mocked the laugh, "We all know you have them in your desk now give them to me, it's an emergency." After some (not-so) gentle persuasion the detective was handing over the stacks of disks, though he mumbled something about how he didn't understand what kind of emergency required Disney movies. His Disney movies.

Nicolson thanked him and instructed Eli to follow him to the meeting room. Elijah sat in one of the numerous chairs while Nicolson wheeled in the T.V. they used to look at security footage and other such things. He had begun to instruct Eli on how to use it, but Eli informed him that he wasn't that old (even though he was pretty old).

"You're going to sit here, you're going to watch these Disney movies, and you're going to let me get some work done. Got it?" Nicolson pointed a finger at Elijah as the first disk queued up. He nodded and Nicolson left him alone to watch the first movie that had been loaded. It was Sleeping Beauty.

It kept him busy and he had soon watched three movies. Once the third one was over the searched through the stack for something that looked different than the others. Filing through, he came to a movie titled Shrek. It looked like an extremely peculiar movie, and Elijah didn't understand what kind of fairy-tale had an ogre as the main character.

He decided to watch it.

Off-set by the opening scene's humor, he decided to keep watching. He was slightly amused by the donkey though. He considered getting a talking donkey to keep him company, but came to the conclusion that Vincent would not take lightly to it. And that it would be like a real donkey, not an animated one. It probably wouldn't even have good taste in humor.

He watched on till he came to the scene with the magic mirror. He'd heard of magic mirrors in fairy-tales before, even had heard that someone in Europe had come into possession of a real one. He thought back to the fact that he couldn't get a talking donkey without upsetting Vincent, but a magic mirror? Easy to hide, most likely to be smarter than a donkey... Hell, he didn't care if it couldn't tell him if he was the fairest in all the land. All he wanted was someone to talk to and keep him busy.

He was very excited to try and make his own magic mirror, and he wanted to make sure Nicolson knew in case he wanted to join him. He jogged to Nicolson's office and stuck his head through the door.

"I'm gonna make a magic mirror if you want to come."

Nicolson's facial expressions went through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance. While unpleasant for Nicolson, it was an amazing feat of human emotions.

Nicolson opened his mouth a few times, trying to find the right words as Elijah stood watching from the door. Eyebrows drawn up and head tilted slightly, silently asking whether or not he would join him on his strange adventure.

"Just," Nicolson paused, still not sure what words to use, "don't get into trouble."

A cheeky grin split across Elijah's face, eyes lit up and excitement coursing through his veins. "No can do, captain boy." His face left the door way for a few short seconds, enough for Nicolson to shake his head before his face appeared again in the door.

It was like a reoccurring nightmare.

"Also, I'm taking what you said about my idea as approval." Nicolson tried to argue, but Elijah was already gone.

Elijah's first stop was an old mirror store that was nearby the precinct. He quickly picked one out, payed for it, and was already teleporting it home. Next, and probably the harder of the two steps, was to find a witch who was powerful enough to make a magic mirror and would agree to do so.

He started at the highest ranking witches, the ones that the Skinwalkers kept close tabs on to make sure nothing was up. An uprising, an assassination, a new type of metal or even magic. They were the key players when it came to anything of that nature and watching them had payed off more than once in the years he'd had them watched.

After he had been turned down by almost every high ranking witch, he went to the file cabinet in the Skinwalker compound's basement and started visiting each witch they had on file. None of the files had been digitized, mostly because Elijah was more afraid of people finding the files online than he was of the files catching on fire. Elijah still hadn't learned how to win a battle on the grounds that were the internet.

Witch after witch, hour after hour, he began to lose hope thinking that maybe he could attempt to create a magic mirror. The file he pulled next was that of a witch who had been known to do petty tasks for humans for cheap prices. She wasn't liked by many in the witchcraft community, but Elijah didn't care, because when he asked her if she would do it for him, she said she could. There was a price, but he was sure it wouldn't be anything he couldn't handle.

"Name your price," He leanded into the palm of his hand as his elbow balanced atop of the glass checkout counter. The store had trinkets and do-hickeys, a few spell books for sale, and the more valuable crystals stored safely away in the glass holding case that doubled as a checkout.

"How about," she looked him up and down, "a kiss from an Angel?" She eyed him hungrily, though Elijah's suave attitude was immediately one of surprise. And maybe disgust. He wasn't sure why.

He laughed awkwardly, mulling the decision over in his head: his dignity or a cure for boredom.

He chose the cure for boredom.

He, though most of him screamed for him not to, flirted back with the witch who looked to be at least thirty years older than his vessel. "Only a kiss?" He leaned closer.

"Are you offering more?"

"Do it for the mirror, do it for the mirror," He chanted silently in his head as he continued negotiations. "Are you willing to take more?" He whispered into the woman's ear. He wasn't sure how far he was willing to go for this mirror, but he did know that if he skipped out on part of the deal, most of the witches in the community won't sympathize with her. They had all either thought making a magic mirror was dangerous or had been seduced by Elijah before. She was stupid enough to attempt making the mirror and be seduced by Eli. There was no way they'd feel bad for her.

The woman let out a shuddered breath and Elijah died a bit inside. He didn't think he'd ever stooped this low during December. Usually he'd barhop at night and have a girl with him during the day while they did... things. This year though? He just wasn't feeling it. It took a lot to get him drunk and he just didn't feel like bring home a girl.

Maybe it was because there was only one bed in the apartment?

Keeping in a shudder, Elijah pulled away from the woman and looked to her through his lashes. "So," he began, "The mirror."

"All I'm gonna need is a mirror, a human soul, and a little extra," she paused and raked he eyes over Elijah's form again, "power." Elijah was sure he threw up in his mouth. He wasn't sure he really wanted the magic mirror that badly now.

Elijah held up a finger and vanished from the shop for a few short seconds before appearing with the mirror. The woman looked turned on by the feat, and it weirded him out to say the least.

The mirror he had chosen was a full body mirror that could stand on its own. The glass was clouded in places and the wood that held the reflective surface was tarnished here and there, but Elijah thought it gave the mirror character.

He pulled a small vial filled with white light, the same as the ones he had been drinking, from his coat pocket and handed it to the woman. Her hand lingered on his longer than he would have liked, but to keep up the act he made flirtatious eye contact with her has their hands touched.

She pulled a few ingredients from the wall behind her and mixed them into a paste. She made her way around the counter, hips swaying more than was probably normal for the woman. She dipped he finger into the paste and painted a few symbols onto the reflective glass. Once done, she took the vial and grabbed Elijah's hand, opening it palm up. He saw the tally-marks and thought of what Vincent would think when he got home. Maybe he'd be impressed with what Elijah did while he was bored like he was when he made the Angel-blade glove.

"I'm going to pour the soul into your hand; do you think you can hold it while I do the spell?"

"Think?" Elijah's smirk grew along with his uncomfortableness, "Oh I know I can hold it." (a/n: wtf am i even doing.)

(a/n: it's 2:30 in the morning and i have an eight hour drive tomorrow but I made this picture to show how both Elijah and I feel because expressing this emotion through words is damn hard for me)

The woman poured the soul out into Elijah's palm and he closed his fingers around it, his eyes glowing blue as he used a bit of Angel power to keep it where it was. The woman chanted an incantation and Elijah could feel the soul start to pull towards the mirror.

(a/n: i'd like you to know that any innuendos in this are not intentional and that i almost just wrote a horrible one that would have just been... it's best we not speak of it)

The woman opened Elijah's hand gently and the soul floated to the mirror, soon becoming trapped within it. Once inside, it took the form of a human man. A drunk man. A man with a scraggly beard and a half drunk beer in hand.

The woman made an 'oh' face and looked to Elijah, surprised to see he was smiling with sparkling eyes. "It's perfect," he whispered, still looking at the now "magic" mirror.

"What 'er you lookin' at, blondie," the drunk slurred from with in the mirror.

"Well," the witch continued, "if you're satisfied with the outcome, I think it's time for the payment." She slid a hand up Elijah's arm and eyed him hungrily.

Elijah pecked her on the lips, winked, and said, "A kiss is what we agreed on," with a devilish smile plastered across his face before him and the mirror disappeared from the shop.

And after the night's miracle business had been taken care of, you can bet he was spending time with his new best friend.