A/N: Whew, I gotta say, this chapter took a lot out of me. I honestly don't know how the TBAA show writers did it - revelations at the end of every single episode? Dear God, it's a challenge, and I've still got to write two more for the next chapter. Well, I've been ripping through these chapters, so I think I may slow down a bit and post the next chapter in a few days or so. Anyway, I hope it got it right. Enjoy the chaper.

Chapter 9

Standing across from her brother, Daphne held back a shocked gasp. Over her dead body would he see how much his words stung. "What did you just call me?"

"It was indirectly, but basically a snobby…" Jacob trailed off, realizing it would do neither of them good if he said the word again. "…'B' word."

"I've heard enough of this. You can see yourself out. I'm going to check on Chris," Daphne snapped, storming off down the hallway to her son's bedroom. She felt her face pale.

He wasn't there. The room was empty. His pajamas were on the bed. She'd put his clothes from that day in his laundry basket, yet they were gone from the top of the pile. But what nearly stopped her heart was the half-open back door.

No, no, no… she thought, running out the back door, praying that Chris just went outside. But the yard was empty too. Tears threatening to spill, she put on a brave face and rushed back into the house. "Chris?" she yelled at the top of her lungs, her voice cracking. "Chris? This is not the time to be playing hide-and-seek!"

She checked every spot in the back hallway she could think of – her room, the small spare bedroom, the bathroom. Her face wet with tears, she finally went back into the kitchen. Jacob was still there.

"Why were you calling for Chris?" Jacob asked, his gaze on the tears falling from his sister's eyes. "Daphne…what happened?"

The announcement came out in a sob. "Chris – he's gone! The back door is open, the clothes from today were gone while his pajamas were on the bed…oh, God, Jacob! He ran away from home!"

"Sh, it's okay. It's going to be okay," Jacob assured her, trying to wrap her in a comforting hug. She resisted though, turning away and grabbing the phone on the wall. When she handed it to him, he asked hopefully, "You…want me to call our parents?"

Daphne shook her head. "No. There's a list of contact information for the mothers of the kids in Chris' class taped to the side of that cabinet. Start calling all of them and tell them to look out for Chris. If he's wandering around the neighborhood, one of them will be sure to find him."

"But Daph, if he's missing, shouldn't Mom and Dad…"

"There's no reason to worry them. I'm sure he's fine," Daphne interrupted, grabbing her jacket from the hall closet. "You stay here and make those calls. I'll start checking some of his favorite places. The park's not far from here."

Before he could reply, she was out the door, putting her coat on as she ran down the street. Thoughts raced through her mind, horrible thoughts that grew worse by the second. What if something happens to him? What if…what if he's taken by someone? That last notion almost made her stop in her tracks, but she forced herself to keep going. She didn't want to start pointing fingers, but she never did find information on Monica and Gloria, and the two were talking to him a lot…

No, don't be ridiculous, Daphne thought. The chances of him running into them are a million to one. One of the mothers from school probably found him, took him in, and are calling the house right now.

With that thought, she paused at the entrance of the park and checked her cell phone. Nothing.

"Chris!" She shouted, starting to walk along the park perimeter. "Chris? If you're hiding somewhere, please come out!" She continued to call out as she searched through the park, checking in every corner and hidden spot she could find. "I'm not mad at you! I promise! Just please come out so I know you're safe!" Sobs began to mix with her words. "P-Please, Chris! Please!"

Finally she came across an isolated part of the park, the one place she hadn't checked. Chris wasn't there. Overwhelmed by hopelessness and worry, she let the tears flow as she sank into a nearby bench. "Oh, God," she cried, her head in her hands. "God…oh, God…please let Chris be okay…please let him be safe…"

"He is, Daphne."

Startled, Daphne looked up to find Monica standing before her. "You…" she seethed, jumping up from the bench. "Where is my little boy? What have you done with him?"

"I haven't done anything. God has. He has made sure that Chris is in good hands," Monica answered, a calm expression and demeanor about her.

Daphne stared at the woman, not sure if she should be afraid or confused. "G-God? What does He have to do with this?"

"Everything. Which is why He sent me to you."

Then, to Daphne's complete astonishment, Monica's plain clothes changed to a pure white outfit. And she was glowing with a heavenly light.

Slowly backing away, Daphne's eyes widened in surprise, her jaw dropping. "W-What are you?"

"I am an angel," Monica answered, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Sent here to help you."

Daphne's mind flashed to their earlier conversation. "B-But I told you to leave me alone, that I didn't want your help."

"God gives all His children a second chance," Monica explained, "And third chances, and fourth chances…as many as His children need to come back to Him." She stopped glowing, but was still dressed in white as she sat down on the bench. Indicating the spot next to her, the angel suggested, "Now please, sit down. I think we need to talk."

It figures. The one person I peg as a kidnapper turns out to be an angel of God, Daphne thought in disbelief. Though she knew it wouldn't be easy, she began to think that maybe talking to Monica wouldn't be such a bad idea. But she had to know one thing first. "Please, Monica. Where is my son?"

"As I said, he is safe," Monica answered with a smile. "Chris is with two of God's other angels…Tess and Gloria."

"Gloria? She really is an angel?" Daphne gasped. Another memory of the evening popped up, to watching Monica, Tess, Gloria…and Andrew standing in a group. "Then I suppose Andrew…"

"Yes, he is as well," Monica confirmed.

Shaking her head in total bewilderment, Daphne sat down next to the angel. She cleared her throat and gave Monica a nervous smile. "I suppose I owe you a pretty big apology for some of our earlier conversations…"

"Why did we have to leave, Mommy?" Fiona whined, leaning her head against the car window. She was in her car seat, behind the passenger seat, after Gloria had baby-sat her.

Stopping at the red light, Adriana said, "Fiona, I told you. The meeting was over. I thought you would've been bored without Chris there."

"I was," Fiona said with a shrug, though her mother couldn't see it. "But Miss Gloria and I were playing War with a deck of cards after Chris left. Another half hour and I think I would've won."

"Miss Gloria had a deck of cards?"

"No, we found them," Fiona answered. While they'd both found them in a corner of the room, Fiona had a feeling that Miss Gloria made them appear with her angel magic. But Fiona wasn't about to tell her mother that.

"Fi…did you see Mrs. Jameson pick Chris up?"

"Yeah. Miss Gloria was worried about her after her and Chris left. I was worried too, because I saw that Chris' mommy's eyes were red and puffy. But Miss Gloria told me everything would be okay, because God would take care of it."

"Does Miss Gloria mention God a lot?"

Fiona thought about her answer for a second before replying, "Yeah…I guess she does. Miss Monica does sometimes too."

"Oh."

Then her mother didn't say anything more. Fiona didn't know what to make of her mother's questions, so she just forgot about it and busied herself during the car ride with thinking about school that day. Bringing in Candyland for free time had been fun with so many other kids to play with. But she'd missed the one kid she brought the game in for – Chris wasn't in school. It made her sad, because she knew how much her new friend liked the game…

Fiona bolted upright in her seat, glancing to her left.

"Mommy! Look!"

As she slowed the car down, Adriana remarked, "Huh, that's weird. I wonder why the library lights are on…"

"I know! There's Chris!" Fiona exclaimed. She got a glimpse of Chris walking into the library with Tess and Miss Gloria on either side of him. "Tess and Miss Gloria are there too!"

Adriana stared out her window in shock, bringing the car to a full stop at the side of the road. "B-But that's impossible! We just left the meeting five minutes ago! And Gloria and Tess were still there!"

"That's because they're angels," Fiona replied. She knew she wasn't supposed to say that, but in this case she had a feeling her mother would start to believe her.

Doubt on her face, Adriana turned the car around to the parking lot next to the library. "There has to be some explanation for this. People aren't in one place one minute and appear somewhere else another. And I'm thinking that Chris' mother doesn't know he's here, so we should go see what's going on."

"Okay," Fiona said as the car pulled into a spot. Once it stopped and they began walking towards the steps, she looked up at her mother. "Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"If Tess lets me, can I get another book?" Fiona asked. Then took the aggravated look her mother gave her as a definite "no."

Meanwhile, Sarah, Michael, and Andrew were still at the meeting hall helping those who were still there clean up. Chairs need to be put away, while littered napkins and spilled coffee had to be wiped off the floor. As she folded the last chair, Sarah asked the other two, "How do you think Jacob's doing?"

"I don't know," Michael answered, but he also seemed to be troubled by the very same thought. "I just hope Daphne isn't too hard on him."

Andrew gave them both a reassuring smile. "Whatever happens, at least they're talking."

"Thank God for that," Sarah agreed.

The relative quiet was broken when a cell phone went off. It was Michael's, so he pulled it out of his pants' pocket. "Hello? Jacob, slow down, I can't understand you…what?"

"What is it, Michael?" Sarah demanded, alarmed by her husband's words. Andrew also stopped his sweeping and held the broom at his side as he listened.

Ignoring his wife's question, Michael continued the phone conversation. "Jacob, speak up! This stupid phone reception…okay, now Chris did what? He ran away?"

"Oh, God!" Sarah exclaimed, putting a hand to her pounding heart.

After some more talk, Michael closed the phone and looked at his wife and Andrew with a serious expression. "Jacob and Daphne got in a shouting match. When Daphne went to check on Chris, he was gone. He must've run away from the yelling. Jacob said that Daphne didn't want to call us, but he did anyway."

"Good. Come on, Michael. I don't care what Daphne may say, we're going over there," Sarah ordered, heading to the door. Her husband fell into step with her, as did Andrew. Looking at the young man, Sarah said, "Andrew, you're a sweetheart for wanting to come, but you really don't have to. You've only known us for a few days."

"Please, Sarah. I want to help," Andrew said.

Sarah hesitated, looking into the man's eyes. She could tell there was real kindness there, a real concern and desire to help out. "Fine," she said after a moment, and the three were in Michael's car within minutes. Before long, Michael was pulling up to park in front of his daughter's house.

They all jumped out of the car, Sarah leading the way up the walk and bursting into the house. Her son was sitting at the kitchen table with the phone to his ear. "…so if you could just keep an eye out for him, and call the house if…okay, thank you," Jacob was saying, hanging up the phone with a sigh. "Hey, Mom," he greeted when he looked up and saw his mother standing there.

"How are you holding up?" Sarah asked, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

Hugging back, Jacob answered, "Alright, I guess. There are a lot of names on this list. I'm beginning to think that if we call all of them, Chris would be picked up within minutes."

"Let me help, then," Sarah replied, sitting next to him and taking out her own cell phone. "We'll get through the list quicker that way."

"Is there anything we can do?" Michael asked, Andrew coming to stand next to him.

After thinking for a moment, Jacob suggested, "Well, Daph went to check some of Chris' favorite places. Maybe you two could try covering the neighborhood."

"I can't believe she wasn't even going to call us," Sarah exclaimed suddenly, the use of her daughter's name reminding her of her anger. "She was just going to let this whole night pass without even telling us. She really doesn't consider us family anymore."

"Sarah, don't start…this isn't the time, and I'm sure Daphne will be happy to have us with her when she gets back," Michael said, looking at his wife with concern.

His own frustration building, Jacob retorted, "Will she, Dad? All I know is, I just tried to talk to her before, and we ended up yelling at each other! After we find Chris, she's going to push us all away even more than she did six years ago."

"Maybe, but we still have to be there for her," Michael argued.

Glaring at him, Sarah replied, "Do we, Michael? Because I for one am getting sick of this. She's our daughter, and I'll always love her, but I'm beginning to think we should just let her abandon us like she so desperately wants to." While her son and husband looked on in complete surprise, she got up from the table and began pacing the small kitchen. "How many times did we try to reach her after Chris' death, huh? But whatever we did was never enough. I don't think we'll ever be enough for whatever she thinks she needs."

At that point she was breathing heavy from her anger, staring at the others in the kitchen as if daring the to argue. After losing her son-in-law and emotionally losing her daughter, Sarah couldn't keep her feelings inside any longer. "Ever since Daphne stopped talking to us, I've been praying so hard that she'd find her way back. But I'm beginning to think that we were meant to lose her, just like we were meant to lose Chris in the attacks."

"You can't give up on her, Sarah."

Andrew's quiet statement made the other three stare at him. The man hadn't said a word since they all got to the house. "That's nice of you to defend her, but I don't think I can do anything else," Sarah confessed.

"Still, you can't give up on her. None of you can," Andrew insisted. "You've all suffered so much since Chris' death. You took him into your family, regarded him as one of your own, only to have him taken away in a sudden and horrific act of violence. So far, you've let your grief dictate your actions. It's not too late to let that grief fade."

While his parents seemed stunned by the words, Jacob demanded, "How could you know all this, Andrew? You don't know us, our family. Yet ever since I've met you, I've got the impression that you think you know everything about us. But you don't, you can't, and your judgments are starting to get on my nerves."

Andrew gave them all an apologetic frown. "I am not here to judge, and I'm deeply sorry for giving that impression."

The way Andrew had phrased his response made a shiver go down Sarah's back. A quick glance at her husband proved he was having the same feeling. "Then…" she began, looking Andrew in the eye. "…why are you here?"

"Because I am an angel of God," Andrew answered. As he spoke, a golden glow emanated from him, and his clothes were replaced with a beige suit. "Here to help you all regain someone you are very close to losing. While I am an Angel of Death, and usually sent to help humans return to their heavenly Father, I have been assigned to this case to prevent an emotional death from occurring."

"Dear Lord," Michael whispered in awe.

Sarah was sure her eyes couldn't be more wide. In the few days since she had known him, she had come to regard Andrew as a wise and kind young man. But here he was surrounded by a golden glow, telling them all that he was an angel, and was probably much older than he appeared to be. "Oh my God…y-you're an Angel of Death?" she finally managed to say.

"Yes, I am. But don't worry, no one is going to die. On this assignment I was sent more as a caseworker angel than anything else," Andrew assured her.

Despite the situation, Jacob found himself chuckling. "Oh, man, and I was convinced you had it bad for that Monica chick. Sorry about that. I'm guessing angel-human relationships aren't exactly encouraged?"

"Monica isn't human either," Andrew answered, causing all of them to let out surprised gasps. "But the relationship would still be forbidden. Besides, as I told you earlier, I only think of her as one of my best friends."

Michael put a comforting arm around his startled wife as he asked, "You, Monica…exactly how many angels are on this 'case'?"

"Four. Me, Monica, Tess…and Gloria, who I don't think you've met," Andrew replied with a smile. "If I'm not mistaken, Monica is talking with Daphne as we speak."

"Then good luck, Monica," Jacob muttered, earning himself glares from his parents.

"Jacob!" Sarah chided.

Shrugging, Jacob explained, "You think my sister is going to be happy with whatever Monica has to say to her? Then again, who knows. Maybe it will take an angel of God to get through to Daphne."

"Actually, Monica was sent to give Daphne some of the same message I've been told to give to you," Andrew said. "A message of forgiveness. You've all been hurt by Daphne's actions, and some of yours have hurt her, even if it wasn't your intention. You all need to forgive her, and forgive yourselves."

"But how? She makes it so hard," Jacob argued.

His eyes filled with sympathy, Andrew explained, "God understands how hard it is for His children to forgive others when they believe they have been wronged. But He encourages them to forgive anyway, because really, does hanging on to anger and hurt feelings ever benefit anyone? By first opening yourselves to forgiveness, you can start working towards that close relationship with Daphne you all want so much. I was sent here to make you realize that if you do not do this now, you risk losing her forever."

Tears were falling down Sarah's face. But she couldn't wipe them away since she was holding on to her husband with all her might. "N-no," she whispered. "I'm sorry for what I said before! I am! I do want my daughter back! And I can forgive her and myself if I try…but what if that's not enough?'

"That is the other part of my message," Andrew answered. "To remind you to be patient and understanding, two values of endless importance. Daphne will come around in her own time, and you need to be waiting for her with open arms."

Michael shook his head in agreement. "I will, I promise. Maybe I haven't been trying my hardest to practice those values in the past, but that will change."

"The same goes for me," Sarah agreed.

After a moment, Jacob nodded. "And me."

Then the glowing ceased, and Andrew was once again standing before him dressed in the outfit he had been wearing all night. "Good, because I know for a fact that Chris would be heartbroken if his family suffered irreparable heartbreak because of his death."

"You met Chris?" Jacob asked, slightly surprised by Andrew's sudden change in appearance.

Andrew sighed. "Yes. I was the Angel of Death who took him home to his heavenly father."

"You were?" Sarah gasped. "I think you should tell Daphne that."

"No need. I think Monica has everything under control," Andrew assured her.

"I hope so," Sarah replied. With that, Andrew told them that he would be staying for a while longer, and the three humans seemed to remember at once that their original purpose for being there was to find little Chris. So, while Michael and Andrew went off to search, Sarah and her son stayed behind and began making phone calls.