April-ish 2003, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States

Over the last year and a half Gabriel and Maya mended their relationship and did their best to talk things out first. Or mainly remembered to give reasons why they did things and not just assume the other was a mind reader. That however was a little on the back burner in comparison to some other developments.

A happy development was Maya's powers and her training as a Trickster. Her illusions were almost perfect. It was just matching sound to movement, like lips, that was still giving her trouble. They were opaque now and looked very real but if they tried to make a sound it was similar to when visual and audio didn't sync up properly on a video. They also still weren't solid, and she could only make a single person or animal at a time. They still didn't stay too long, but stayed longer than they did before, so improvement!

Maya also found she could now summon items to her from a hundred feet away! She doesn't even need to be able to see the item anymore! As long as she concentrated on the mental image of the specific item she wanted she could make it appear in her hand with a snap. Well, as long as it was within a 100ft radius. All the sweets for her!

She'd also gotten used to using her eyes' weird ability to see into people's hearts. She didn't really like it because it made her feel like she was starring at them naked. So if she did use it she did a quick glance, a quick flash of a thin ring of purple light around her pupil. It usually was enough to tell if a person was rotten to the core or if they deserved a second chance after surviving a well-learned lesson from her Dad, or her, it depends.

A not so happy development? Puberty happened.

6 Months ago…

Maya and Gabriel were passing through another small town in the car that Gabriel owned. Couple years back Maya made him get one so she could stare at the moving countryside. Gabriel argued that he could just snap them anywhere. Maya had been prepared and said how was she supposed to get a feel for direction when they just pop up in Point B from Point A? That got him. There was no guarantee that Maya would have his ability of snapping somewhere, but if she did she'd need a more innate understanding of geography. Maya won, he snapped up a classy car.

It was late when Gabriel pulled into a Motel 6 and they checked themselves in, Maya making a beeline for the bathroom. A pair of pajama shorts and a tank top popped into the bathroom on the counter, along with her toothbrush and toothpaste. The message was clear, get ready for bed.

After going to the bathroom Maya began changing and was lifting off her day shirt when she looked in the mirror, catching her side reflection. Why were her nipples poking out further from her chest? Pulling her shirt off she began staring at her chest in the mirror looking from the front and side angles. What the hell? She even groped at them to get a feel for what her body thought it was doing. Apparently her body was making two small mounds of flesh protrude from her body. Not too sure what was going on she opened the bathroom door and walked out topless to ask her Dad if he knew.

"Hey Kinder Surprise you ready for—" Gabriel looked at his topless daughter for a moment. Normally he wouldn't care, but he noticed what Maya had noticed in the bathroom. He quickly turned around and looked away, his face heating up in mortification. "Maya please go put your shirt on or I will snap it on you." Gabriel choked out the demand.

"Uh sure but can you tell me what's goin' on with my chest? It has these two weird lumps form—" Maya didn't understand her Dad's reaction, but was interrupted before she could continue.

"They're your breasts developing, now please." Gabriel begged with his back turned. "Go put on a shirt."

Maya's face heated up as realization dawned on her and quickly bolted back into the bathroom closing the door. She remembered how her Dad explained why women wore tops to their bathing suits and men only needed trunks. She had accidentally flashed her father.

Gabriel flopped on his bed and threw an arm across his face and sighed. It has begun. Puberty. Ugh. His baby was turning into a teenager. He briefly wondered if her could just de-age her and keep her small. Not having to worry about an angst-y teenager and teenage boys. Hormonal teenage boys. Hormonal teenage boys that might try to get with his daughter! Oh hell no! Gabriel began plotting ways of scaring off any potential suitors, his protective father instincts activating. He didn't hear Maya make her way to his side of the bed.

"Uh Dad?" Maya queried, raising an eyebrow at his slightly maniacal face. He jumped a little in surprise at hearing her voice so close to him.

"You're not allowed to date till you're at least 40!" Gabriel blurted out in shock, pointing a finger at his daughter. Maya laughed at his shocked face, and rolled her eyes before climbing into bed to snuggle him.

There was an awkward pause between them. Neither wanted to address the elephant in the room. Gabriel decided to do the parenting thing and be responsible and talk about what Maya's going through.

"Uh you had a question about your chest?" awkwardly nailed it.

"You said it was my breasts developing." Maya answered trying to feign calm. "Sorry for flashing you. Didn't click when I was in the bathroom." There's the awkward.

"It's alright. You didn't know that's what they were." More awkwardness. "Um…do you understand why or…?"

"Um cause I'm a girl and girls get boobs?" Maya questioned back tilting her head, but not making eye contact.

"Well, um, yes but it's your body going through puberty. You're turning into an woman."

"Oh. Well that sucks."

"Yeah." Gabriel whole-heartedly agreed with that statement. He tried getting rid of the awkward cloud by letting out a sigh and forcing his shoulders to relax. He needed to broach the topic of bra shopping. "Listen you're going to start needing to wear bras now. We can go to the store to check them out tomorrow, see what you like. You're still small so you can get away with just some cloth sports bras or something." He did it. He raised the topic of bra shopping. He's an A++ Dad.

Maya refused to look at her Dad, her face red with embarrassment.

"Do we have to?" Maya whined uncomfortably.

"Yep."

"Son of a bitch!" She cursed.

"Language!"

"Bite me, hypocrite." Maya sassed.

Gabriel groaned in exasperation. He knew he should have curbed his language around her better.

April-ish 2003, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States

That had been an extremely awkward shopping trip for both parties. Maya's chest was a little more prominent now since then. She was still relatively flat chested, but it was still obvious to see from her form fitting shirts that she had just started developing.

After the shopping trip Gabriel had sat her down and explained more in detail what she was going to go through over the next few years; growth spurts, body hair, acne, and her period. It was all very awkward and embarrassing, even though Gabriel tried to keep the explanations as clinical as possible.

"Hate to break it to you KitKat but its all part of growing up." Gabriel had told her with a sigh.

"So you'll stop referring to me as your baby girl now?" Maya asked trying to lighten up the conversation. Gabriel snorts and gives her a loving smile.

"Lollipop no matter how old, or grown up you are, you'll always be my baby girl, my Morning Glory." Gabriel smirked as Maya gave a dramatic sigh of exasperation at him, though the pleased smile on her face spoke otherwise.

That was how they ended their puberty talk, and every now and then Maya would find a question to ask him about it. So over time it became less awkward, but not by much.

It was a week now into their stay at Colorado Springs and the sun was shining through the motel window, right in Maya's sleeping face. She scrunched her face and turned away from the accursed morning light in disgust. For the last couple days she's been feeling a little bloated and had been getting pains in her lower abdomen. Maya didn't want to get up and move. Her Dad had other plans.

Gabriel having heard the change in Maya's heart beat decided to be a little shit to his daughter. With a graceful leap he landed across his tired daughter's back.

"Rise and shine Oreo!" Gabriel sing-songed boisterously in Maya's ear. Face buried in her pillow she gave an impressive groan of protest to his loud voice, and his weight on her body. "C'mon! Up and at 'em!" Gabriel proceeded to be a nuisance, poking and prodding his daughter, until she tried pushing herself up.

"Nooooooooooooooo" she whined out as she sat up in her bed, eyes closed still with remnants of sleep. Her lower abdomen gave a clench and she let out another groan.

Gabriel watched humorously as his sleepy daughter made her way to the bathroom to get ready, her eyes barely open. When the door closed he turned to the kitchenette and snapped up the ingredients and utensils for pancakes. Those always made Maya happy. He was about to begin mixing the ingredients when—

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Maya shrieked fearfully. Gabriel didn't take time to think and snapped himself into the bathroom. Maya let out a yelp of alarm at seeing her Dad pop into the bathroom when she was on the toilet with her pants down. "SHIT! DAD!" Maya quickly covered her lower body with a towel, but Gabriel just looked around the bathroom frantically trying to figure out what scared her.

"Maya?! What's wrong? What happened?!" Gabriel questioned Maya wildly.

"I'm bleeding!"

"What?! Where? Did you hurt yourself?!" Gabriel looked over Maya, who till clutched the towel across her lap, for injuries but not finding any. She looked fine, even if her panicked face said otherwise. Maya reached down to her ankles and brought up her underwear and shorts to show him.

The crotch of her underwear had a large wet dark reddish-brown stain that soaked through the fabric and had started staining her pajama bottoms. It clicked.

"Oh thank Odin," Gabriel said releasing a sigh of relief, his body relaxing. He thought his daughter was seriously injured or in danger. Maya was not pleased with his response.

"Seriously?! I'm bleeding out my privates!"

"You're having your first period gumdrop. This is normal. Don't you remember the puberty talk we had?"

"…you just said I was going to get my period at some point and left it at that."

"Oh. My bad." Gabriel smiled guiltily. Snapping his fingers he hand her some new underwear. "Get cleaned up and we'll go to the store to get you some supplies, okay?" Gabriel told his daughter gently, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder before snapping out of the bathroom.

"Daaad?" Came Maya's muffled voice from the bathroom.

"Yeah?" He called back through the door.

"I can't go."

"How come?" Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows. There was a pregnant pause before Maya answered back.

"…I'm still leaking." Came Maya's embarrassed voice.

"It's okay Maya, you stay here. I'll go to the store and figure out what you need okay?" Gabriel reassured. Oh it was going to be awkward at the store. Thankfully once he knows what Maya needs and prefers he could just easily snap things into existence, same procedure with her bras. Just had to go through one embarrassing trip.

"Thanks Dad, you're the best." Relief was evident in her voice.

"No problem. Be back soon." Gabriel moved away from the bathroom door and walked out of the room, locking it behind him. He snapped himself to the nearest drug store and walked in, straight to the feminine hygiene aisle, and was immediately overwhelmed. Why the hell were there so many products?! Sure he's been around since their invention but that didn't mean he knew what he was looking at exactly. Seriously? How was he supposed to help his daughter when he wasn't sure what to get?

A middle aged woman stared at the young man looking blankly at the tampons and pads that lined the shelf in front of him. Her lips quirked into an amused smile recognizing the look on his face. The same look her late husband had when she asked him to pick pads and tampons up for their own daughter. She had found her husband staring blankly, and with a little panic, at the same products as this young man was. Taking pity on him she approached.

"Need some help?" the woman asked Gabriel. Jolted from his thoughts Gabriel turned to her with a sheepish expression, rubbing the back of his head.

"That obvious huh?" Gabriel sighed. The older woman just smiled sympathetically.

"It's alright. Most men don't usually have a clue. So I'm assuming for your daughter?"

"Yeah, how'd you guess?"

The woman snorts. "Most men wouldn't buy feminine products for their significant other. Afraid they'll be emasculated."

Gabriel snorted in amusement at that then gives a self-depreciating smirk. "They don't know emasculation till they've dressed up for a princess tea party with a four year old little girl and spent an hour pretending to drink tea crouched at a little kids table."

The woman laughed in good humor. "Did she have you dress up as a king or prince?"

"Nope, another princess. She was the Queen and her favorite stuffed animal was Prince 'Phan-'Phan, a blue elephant with red polka-dots." That had the woman laughing uproariously.

"I-I'm sorry I d-don't mean to laugh at you. That's really very sweet of you." She stammered out. Gabriel easily shrugged it off. It'd been years and he's not really all that embarrassed. "Alright, how old is your daughter? Is this her first period?" the woman questioned.

"She's turned twelve not too long ago, and yeah. She screamed and, like a mutton head, I kind of charged into the bathroom…" Gabriel catches the raised eyebrow the woman was sending him. He put up his hands in a non-offensive gesture. "Hey! I thought she was in trouble! Parenting instincts kicked in like a bitch!" The woman huffed in amusement, shaking her head in exasperation.

"At least you didn't faint like my husband did. That man. Wouldn't hesitate to go up against someone twice his size, but confronted with periods? One well-meaning big wimp." She reminisced fondly. "Alright let's get started. I also suggest getting a hot water bottle, some Tylenol, and chocolate. I don't know how bad her cramps will be but best be prepared, and chocolate will help her feel a little better. Getting her walking around and being active will also help with the cramps and her moods. So once she's all set to go try to take a walk around near home." Gabriel gave her all his focus as she went through all the products and what would be good for her first period. She also suggested bringing her next time so she could decide what stuff she needed and what she preferred. Thanking the kind older woman Gabriel went up to the front and made a show of paying for his purchases.

Gabriel returned to the motel room to find Maya sitting stiffly at the kitchenette table, her legs pressed tightly closed together. Seeing him Maya let out a sigh of relief and stood up, but then clenched her thighs even tighter before shuffling, thighs closed, back to the bathroom. Poor kid. Gabriel took out his purchases and grabbed the box filled with pads. Walking over to the bathroom door he knocks and called her name.

"Hey cinnamon heart. I've got some pads you can try, so you don't have to worry about bloody underwear, okay? I'm just going to open the door enough to stick my arm in so you can take the box, okay?"

"Yeah," came Maya's meek response. Gabriel opened the door slightly and handed the box over. Once his hand was empty he retracted his arm and closed the door.

"When you're ready I have some other stuff you might want to try at some point, see what you prefer. I also have some Tylenol and a hot water bottle for your cramps, and some chocolate." Gabriel said through the door.

"Chocolate?" Came a hopeful and pleased voice. Of course that would get her attention.

Gabriel gives an amused snort, smiling fondly. "Yeah, but you gotta come out to get it pop rock." Hearing an affirmation he moved away from the bathroom door and went to examine the discarded pancake batter. Unsure if it was still safe for Maya to eat he threw it out. Gabriel then went and flopped on his bed. He lay on his back with his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. He heard Maya emerge from the bathroom, but he didn't make a move to get up. He had a feeling that as much as Maya loved him she probably didn't want him hovering over her as she looked at her feminine hygiene products. He listened as Maya went through the bags taking stuff out and looking at them, before putting them on the table. From wrapper tearing he knew she found the chocolate bars he got.

He finally opened his eyes and looked over at his daughter. She was slumped over the table amidst the products, munching away on a Hershey bar, looking apathetic. Nope, not acceptable. Getting up he strode over to her.

"Alright sour patch, we're going for a walk. It'll help." Gabriel smiled, poking his unimpressed daughter. Maya groaned around the chocolate in her mouth in protest. Gabriel shook his head. "Sorry, but I have it on good authority that it'll help with some of your cramps, and your mood grumpy." Oh if looks could kill! Maya looked like she wanted him to turn into a quivering puddle of a Trickster.

"Do I have a—" Maya began to complain when Gabriel interrupted.

"A choice? Nope!" Gabriel smiled cheerfully giving a nudge. "C'mon!" Maya gives him another glare and with a put-upon sigh she gets her shoes on, and another chocolate bar.

"Can't you just gender-swap me and make me a boy instead?" Maya sighed. Gabriel stopped and thought about that. He wouldn't have to worry about boys coming after her when she got older, but she wouldn't be his little girl…

Seeing his serious contemplation face Maya quickly added, "I'm not serious!"

"Then pleeeeeeaaaaaassssse don't tempt me."

March 20 2006, Snowflake, Arizona, United States

It was Maya's 15th birthday today. Gabriel could hardly believe 15 years had already gone by. For an immortal archangel that was pretty much nothing! Now Maya was on the cusp of adulthood and it showed.

Maya didn't look as much like him anymore as more of the baby fat had melted away, but there was still some bits of his features in her, the most prominent being her eyes. They were his eyes all right, all bright gold and filled with so much untamable spirit, so much soul. She still had freckles that dusted across the bridge of her button nose, just standing out against her tanning skin. She was also taller; she shot up like a weed when he wasn't looking. At 5'6" she was only two inches shorter than he was. With the seemingly sudden increase in height Maya looked ganglier with her long legs and thin arms. However, this didn't deter the one major problem with Maya growing up. Boys.

Gabriel noticed it gradually at first; some little boys would look at her, maybe blush before looking away. That was fine; they were like 12-13, just noticing girls for the first time. Too nervous to approach most of the time, or if they did get the nerve Gabriel was usually there to glare them away. No it became a problem when teenagers Maya's age or a little older started leering at her. Sometimes when he'd let Maya go off and do her own thing for a while he'll come back and find males trying to get her attention by catcalling or insulting her when she doesn't thank them for their compliments. It always enraged him to see them disrespecting his daughter like that, though Maya didn't seem bothered. She just ignored them. Or made it seem like that.

No when stuff like that happened Maya used her illusions. Maya had told him of an interesting theory. Men who felt the need to catcall were insecure about their own image of masculinity, and were likely homophobic. (AN: not confirming or denying, just my own thoughts, no scientific evidence that I know of to support this). By this time Maya's illusions were perfect, though the amount was still limited. The more going on with them, the less real they seemed. Sadly she still couldn't snap and make the illusions real. That didn't stop her from whipping up two really buff and really gay men every time a group of males thought it appropriate to catcall or drop insinuations to her. They gay illusions she'd snap up moved and talked as if they were any other person, just had to make sure they weren't touched. So she'd snap them up and have them loudly catcall and make insinuations to the men bothering her. Oh their spluttering faces! They'd try to posture and throw homophobic slurs but Maya's illusions were not deterred. It didn't take long for the men to make a hasty retreat, which got them one last catcall from they gay illusions about their asses.

When Gabriel first witnessed that he had to hold onto a telephone pole to keep him standing as he roared with laughter. Maya would turn to his laughter and flash him a brilliant smile when she spotted him.

As much fun it could be to see the faces of scared 'macho' men, Gabriel planned to be at his daughter's side today as much as humanly possible. So there shouldn't be any incidences. There especially shouldn't be any because of what Maya wanted to do for her birthday this year. Gabriel honestly didn't know how or when, but his daughter was a nerd, an athletic nerd. Don't get him wrong. Gabriel was all kinds of proud, but this was what her idea of a good birthday was? Hiking a total of 7 ½ miles of Nevada backcountry? Maya wanted to participate in some Guided Off the Beaten Path hike at the Petrified Forest National Park. Something to do with mesa petroglyphs? He wasn't sure how fun this hike was going to be.

Later...

Okay it didn't end up being too bad, especially seeing Maya's face as she looked at the landscape. He had gotten her an unlimited storage and battery digital camera as a birthday present. Perks of snapping into existence just about anything. She flipped and was taking pictures left right and center. Of him, the painted mesas, petrified logs, and the petroglyphs left behind in their destination mesa. After spending so long in towns and cities Gabriel had to admit it was kind of breathtaking, especially when he'd look at his daughter and see her eyes filled with wonder and awe.

They make it back to the motel room, after going out to eat, later in the day. Maya flopped tiredly, face first, on her bed with her feet dangling off the end. Gabriel snickered at his tired girl as she uses her feet to kick off her shoes and inchworms her way up the bed to her pillow. Shaking his head he lets her have some time to rest. This however leaves him with his thoughts as he stared at the rise and fall of Maya's back and her relaxed face trying to burrow its way through her pillow.

His baby girl wasn't much of a baby anymore. She didn't need him as much. Gabriel's eyes grew soft with sadness. One day she'll want to head out on her own and do her own thing. Hell she did that a couple times a year now since meeting that Hunter. Every few months Maya would ask to go spend a couple weeks with the Hunter. Gabriel didn't want to budge at first, but Maya wore him down. They'd meet up someplace of mutual agreement and Maya would leave his safety and go into the Hunter's. They'd always have to go over the rules, every time. Call everyday. Don't follow him. Don't even think, let alone allow, Maya to go on any hunts. Things like that.

It wasn't until earlier in the year, couple months after Maya's 13th birthday, that Gabriel let the notion that these visits were good for Maya enter his brain. Maya had been blossoming physically and like all those years ago in Harrisburg, Gabriel lost sight of her for a few seconds. Before he could start to panic, again, a loud male cursed out, followed by a lot of yelling. Gabriel and a few other bystanders raced to the source to find his daughter standing over a crumpled man who was easily twice her size. The man's nose was clearly broken, and from the way he was grabbing his lower left side he'd say he got hit pretty hard in the kidney. Maya had later informed him that the Hunter had been teaching her how to defend herself from humans in case they ever caught onto her not so real illusions.

Gabriel swallowed a lot of pride the next time they met up with the Hunter to thank him for teaching Maya how to fight hand-to-hand. The Hunter brushed it off and said it was no trouble and that Maya picked it up easily enough. They stopped going over the rules that day. Gabriel had called the Hunter and asked him if he'd be willing to take Maya in should something happen to him before she was ready to be on her own. The Hunter told him straight up that Gabriel was an idjit, and to not go getting himself killed, but the Hunter would.

Gabriel wondered if the Hunter suspected how much he was willing to trust him, if he was willing to leave his daughter with him and to take care of her if something happened. Not that he expected anything to since he's not really a Trickster per se. Despite that tentative trust though there was a mutual understanding. Neither was safe from the other if they crossed into the other's crosshairs.

Getting up from his bed he walked over to a napping Maya, carefully brushing the hair away from her face. He looked at her with love filled eyes. He'd have to let her go one-day, but today wasn't that day. He could feel it coming, like a slowly tightening noose, and intended to spend as much time as he could with her.

Placing a kiss to her forehead he murmured the words that wouldn't be heard.

"You are everything I am, and everything I could never hope to be. I love you my little one, my Maya, my Morning's Glory."

Gabriel spares a glance at the clock and seeing the time a mischievous smirk crosses his lips. A birthday isn't a birthday without a birthday cake…to the face. Grabbing a slice from the leftover large birthday cake they had for breakfast Gabriel takes his position.

There was a loud feminine scream of surprise, followed by a man's uproarious laughter that was soon cut off with a yelp as he was tackled, and had summoned, leftover cake dumped on him.