Disclaimer: I do not own Dominion, its locations, characters, plot, etc. I do own this crazy idea and a love for angels, and a few characters thrown in...
Summary: Six weeks post 1x04 The Flood, AU. Ever since Michal returned to Vega after being stabbed, some of the Corps soldiers noticed he wasn't always the stoic, aloof archangel Vega's known for years. And Alex is about to find out why. Also...William Whele has a secret to tell about a night that went normally to everyone else but was actually something much bigger.
To kahuffstix: Thank you for the follow!
To Verity Knight (Guest): Thank you! Given up no...get super busy and distracted...yes...Riesen is a good guy, and Becca needed to be put in her place. And not yet so no spoilers please! EEEP! Need to have a binge night and watch all I've missed in one go...
To Mina (Guest): Thank you so much for your review!
Chapter Twenty-Six
Xxx
There was little that could legitimately make Alex Lannon actually angry. Being not only a soldier in the elite unit six of the Archangel Corps, but being assigned to Michael directly meant he had to have a lot of patience and diligence. Being the Chosen One and having to work closely with Michael even more made his life a whole lot harder and tested his endurance even further...throw in that Michael was pregnant and Alex was lucky if he got enough sleep at least one night a week.
Today however it was entirely the archangel's fault as to why he was pissed off to the point of irrational thoughts and actions. And Alex wasn't the only one, everyone besides Connors and Mitch who were checking in with Captain Wills for reports and weapons check, and Carla...was angry enough to be shouting stupidly when General Riesen stopped in to see Michael the morning after the senate meeting.
One problem.
Michael was missing…
General Riesen at least had a lot more patience than Unit Six did, waiting for one of them to notice he was there before clearing his throat to get the rest of them to calm down.
"Now that I have your attention, would one of you care to explain just why the majority of the Elite Guard of Vega's Archangel Corps is standing around arguing like children?"
Sgt. Mack winced, holding up his ear piece as he spoke, "Because sir...we may have slightly misplaced the archangel."
Noma hit him, "Ethan! Michael isn't some missing sock!"
Riesen snorted softly, shaking his head as the soldiers straightened up and went back to being the professionals the general knew them as.
"Sgt. Ryan, please explain the situation."
"Sir, per our shift rotation one of us has taken the task to remain in the room with the archangel should he chose so, at shift change at eight am the archangel was no longer in his suite and has not answered any calls on the comm link either."
That earned a nod as Riesen looked them over, the soldiers were genuinely agitated at having "lost" Michael, knowing them, they'd probably checked over most of the Stratosphere as well as checking with the hospital and captains on the off chance the archangel actually left his residence, it wouldn't be a good idea for the general to hang around while they searched.
"I will leave you all to your search then, please inform the archangel I stopped by and will expect his call tomorrow." Riesen turned to go, pausing at the elevator when it opened, "Oh and might I recommend checking the pool on the first floor?"
The elevator door shut as half of the soldiers bolted for the stairs.
Xxx
"No way in hell Michael's in here…"
"Not like any of us got a better idea Noma."
"Oh shut up Max!"
"Chill Banks! C'mon at least we can check, not like we've looked here before, who knows-"
"Shut up Eric!"
Blake growled, "All of you enough!"
They kept quiet the remaining handful of yards from the elevator area through the lobby to the pool hall, stepping into the humid room that didn't actually smell like chlorine. Then Alex remembered, rumor was there were only two functioning pools in Vega. One in House Riesen for the V-6's to use, and the old swim meet pool in the Stratosphere, long and deep for laps. Neither functioned with a ton of chemicals, instead were part of an aqua-filter system with the Agri-towers.
At first it appeared the pool was empty, none of the chairs or towels out of place one bit. Until Eric pointed out the towel bunched at the near end in line with one of the lanes. A black ear piece sitting on top.
Then Michael broke the surface of the water three yards from the other end, executing a beautiful crawl stroke across the pool back to them, head barely twisting enough to breathe for the motion let alone actually see anything around him. His hands hit the end where the soldiers had gathered, the archangel twisting underwater to be upright before he resurfaced, rubbing at his face with one hand as he panted for air.
Alex dropped a towel on his head to his attention.
Michael coughed, shoving the now wet towel back onto the tile surrounding the pool as he looked up at Alex crouching in front of him, holding the archangel's flashing ear piece up for his mentor to see.
"New Rule...Michael actually informs one of us when he leaves the penthouse floor for any reason."
"I did." Michael gasped out, still catching his breath as he used his legs to tread water, arms bracing him on the edge gently as he mostly floated.
"And who was that?" Alex's tone was cautioned and gentle, but his eyes portrayed just how pissed he was to the archangel staring back at him.
Before Michael could reply Carla bobbed up sputtering one lane over, coughing as she tried to climb out of the pool to breathe, her still weak shoulder giving out and having to grab on to Noma and Ethan to haul her out of the water.
"Side note…" Alex and Michael glanced over to Max, "Since when does the Stratosphere have a pool?"
Michael snorted, more to get water from his nose as he coughed a little.
Ethan spoke up before the archangel could, "Since when does Michael come down here and use it?"
"Since always." Michael cracked his neck gently, pushing away from the wall a touch to balance better, "I come down here every few days, you just had yet to notice. Sgt. Hanson has been joining me since the first night of your assignment when we arrived at the same time."
A yelp proceeded Max suddenly falling over the side edge and in to the pool, Caroline lunging to reach for…
His gun as the soldier hit the water with a satisfying splash and went under. Michael rocked a bit in the wake, shaking his head in exasperation as the soldiers laughed when Max popped back to the surface spitting up water. Caroline set hers and Max's guns aside, reaching a hand out to pull her unit mate out of the pool.
And was promptly dragged in herself.
Alex bit back his snigger amongst the others laughing as Michael sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"You alright?"
Michael nodded, still panting a bit as a hand kept a grip on the edge of the pool, Alex rested his own on Michael's wrist to keep him balanced, the archangel relaxing a little at the support. "I'm fine, just out of breath, it's not as easy to do this anymore. Getting a little harder every week."
"Oh?"
The archangel allowed a small grin to stretch his lips from their usual stone mask, "Not easy to maintain balance when I'm competing with buoyancy." Michael's free hand drifted below the water to rest against his stomach, eyes going distant for a moment as Alex chuckled softly.
"You ok swimming though?"
"Mhm." Michael nodded, "Gentle enough exercise to not cause pain. Dr. Rogers has yet to say stop and it's one of the few things I can still do that is actually work."
"And a senate meeting isn't…?"
"Physical work Alex."
"Ah."
Michael sighed a little, glancing over as Blake stuck his head out from one of the side rooms, having actually done his job and investigated their surroundings to ensure Michael's safety.
"Hey guys there's a stock room here with extra swim suits."
"And you care about this why?"
"Cause I'm putting off having to go back to my dad and fix his budget plan for that proposal, he let me and William design it but then took over the financial part...which I then get to redo because he'll find a way to screw it up and make me look bad."
"Ouch man."
"Tell me about it."
Xxx
Michael really didn't care that about half his unit ended up joining him, Blake and Carla were the only ones besides the archangel actually swimming, Noma and Caroline had settled for soaking their feet sitting on side and chatting lightly while Alex lounged along the end Michael kept resurfacing at the most. The other three guys had decided instead to take posts at the three entrances to the pool hall, providing solid cover incase anyone entered the Stratosphere.
It was obvious Michael openly enjoyed swimming, not really noticing or caring that others were in the room and pool with him as he swam slow laps back and forth, as graceful in the water as he was with swords on his hands. Alex suspected he was only enjoying it so much because it was all he could really do anymore. Flying wasn't an option period and with his uneven balance it wasn't like Michael could comfortably do "demonstrations" at every training session, the archangel was having a hard enough time working with Alex one on one.
Alex spent most of his lounging time legitimately watching Michael swim to ensure he was alright, the archangel getting slower and slower each time he turned in the water, finally stopping and just floating on his back in the water with his arms braced on the edge to keep him still. The chosen one watched as Michael appeared to just about doze off in the water, bare torso completely underwater...well most of it...Alex had to bite his lip to keep from smirking as the top most curve of Michael's stomach remained out of the water with his toes, the rest hovered just underneath the surface.
By the time Michael stirred from his brief rest, Alex doubted he'd actually fallen asleep, only Blake remained in the pool hall, the others having headed back upstairs or to weapons check when Mitch and Connors returned. The archangel rolled back to be upright and treading water as he glanced around, nodding when Blake stood up from the lounge chair the V-6 had claimed.
"Lock the doors Blake."
"Oh-kay...yes sir…"
Once the senator's son had done so he joined Alex at the side of the pool where Michael had moved, rubbing at his damp face before gripping the edge tightly.
"Michael-"
The archangel didn't give either of them time to react as he took a breath and ducked underwater, bracing his legs on the side as he held on to the edge.
"What is he doing?"
"No idea…"
Michael answered them silently, black wings extending out underwater and flapping heavily in the clear liquid, stretching and flexing against the pressure before Michael had to haul himself above the surface, panting for air slightly as he blew water from his nose. His wings remained stretched out behind him, dragging a little in the water with how drenched the onyx feathers were now. The archangel was struggling to maintain a hold of the edge, grimacing as he got his forearms braced on the floor before the weight of his soaked wings was too much even for him.
That and he was obviously tired and cold from the water as he started shaking. Blake draped a towel over Michael's shoulders before wrapping his arms around one of Michael's, Alex copying him quickly before they bodily hauled the archangel up so he was kneeling on the edge and dripping water. Alex stayed crouching next to him incase Michael started losing his balance, as unlikely as that was the archangel did look pretty tired and it was easier on the soldier's already strained nerves to just remain by his mentor's side uselessly than to leave and find out he shouldn't have.
Michael winced as he flexed his wings a little, muscles straining to move the heavy appendages that dragged him down, Alex reached for one of the thick arches, intending on guiding the wing to drape along the edge of the pool instead of being stuck half in the water.
Instead Michael growled at him, sounding actually pissed off as he spoke with very little emotion.
"Don't. You. Dare."
The soldier nodded quickly, eyes not leaving Michael's as he moved back from the wing, hands up in surrender as Blake brought a chair over and several thick towels. The V-6 didn't question what he'd walked in on, remaining silent as he draped a towel over the chair before setting the others aside, moving over and offering Michael a hand to get up. The archangel needed both soldiers to get on his feet, once up he was fine. Mostly, his shoulders were hunched awkwardly because of his literally dragging wings as Michael took a seat on the chair, backwards so to not pinch his wings in any way.
Alex nudged the pile of towels closer, taking a seat in one of the lounge chairs a few feet away so to keep distance between himself and the apparently irritated archangel. Blake didn't sit until Michael had at least draped one of the towels over his lap, providing some cover in the room as fans automatically kicked on, the breeze easily chilling someone completely soaked.
Michael sighed loudly as he dropped his head to his crossed arms on the back of the chair, wings flopping heavily onto the tile as the feathers flared out for maximum air flow between them. The black feathers fluttered on their own accord in the heavy fans, dripping water as they dried slowly. The archangel groaned softly as he flapped the heavy wings, shaking a torrent of water from both before he let them sag back to the floor, sighing again in defeat.
"Want help drying th-"
"No."
Blake winced at the snap, glancing at Alex who just shrugged helplessly, glancing at his watch in concern as to how long they'd let Michael stay soaked like this in a room that was rapidly cooling down as the filters automatically began to drain the pool,. The system did so twice a day, no wonder Michael disappeared for a couple hours every morning, he could swim while most of his unit was still asleep and the pool hadn't drained yet, by the time it filled up again and was usable, too many people were awake for the archangel to slip away. That or the next time to swim was at ten pm and Michael was usually asleep by then.
Alex groaned as he lounged back on the chair, sighing as he stared at the ceiling, "Blake what's for lunch?"
"Soup and sandwiches, fast and easy since I gotta go meet with William later and fix that stupid budget plan."
"Nice...that sound good to you Michael?"
When he received no answer the soldier looked over at his mentor, Michael not having moved at all. "Hello? Michael?"
The growl he got made Alex narrow his eyes in confusion.
"Now what's your problem?"
Blake threw a towel at him to shut him up, standing as he grabbed a fresh towel and moved to Michael.
"Sir-"
Michael's arm shot out and grabbed Blake's wrist, gripping hard enough the soldier buckled a little at the sheer strength.
"Do that and you'll lose your arm."
The V-6 nodded, wincing in pain as Michael didn't let go right away, that made Blake mad and he twisted out of Michael's grip, moving as if buckling would make him land on a wing and forcing Michael to sit back and shift the feathers out of the way.
"Fine then...if you're going to be crabby for god knows what forget about it."
The archangel glared angrily, earning an equally pissed look from the senator's son as Blake took a seat again, lounging back and closing his eyes. Alex remained silent, glancing between the two as Michael sighed, shuddering a little as he set his chin on his arms, staring blankly at the floor in front of him.
Alex wasn't sure how long he sat there, caught between watching the ceiling and watching every time Michael would lift his wings enough to flap them slightly to test how dry they were, sighing each time as he waited.
It was late afternoon by the time Michael finally stood up fully, keeping a grip on the chair to remain balanced as his wings arched up and shook out, feathers realigning before he retracted them away.
"Close enough." Michael muttered under his breath, rubbing at his neck slowly.
"Close for what?"
The archangel cleared his throat, moving to a side bench and pulled a shirt on finally, rubbing at his face in exhaustion as Blake and Alex stood and up stretched, grabbing their guns as the archangel moved to the doors.
"Close enough to being dry to move upstairs, wind will dry the feathers the rest of the way…"
"Isn't that uncomfortable then? Retracting them when they're wet?"
"Not too bad just going upstairs…"
Alex's eyes narrowed, "How's that even work?"
"What?"
"Retracting your wings or whatever?"
Michael sighed, pressing the button for the elevator and leaning his forehead on the wall for a moment, "Alex I could spend the next several days explaining to you the quantum physics of this or you could just take my word for it and shut up."
The soldier backed off, literally, letting Michael enter the elevator as Blake grabbed his arm.
"We'll be up in a minute sir."
Michael nodded, leaning against the wall and covering his face with a hand, looking pretty beat as the doors shut.
Blake radioed up to the penthouse, informing them of Michael coming up before he shut the comm link off.
"Alright chosen one, what the hell is going on with him? Michael's been moody since last night and now he's bordering on violent."
Alex shrugged helplessly, "I don't know man, I only had about an hour shift with him last night because of how long the meeting ran, you and Caroline had the night shift then Carla this morning."
"Exactly."
"Well what do you want me to do about it, huh? He's not listening to me either…"
Blake sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck, "Has...has Michael ever let you touch his wings outside of training?"
"No...not at all, just during training and that's because he's either teaching me how to fight with wings as part of the weapons or I get clotheslined for doing something stupid."
Blake nodded, staring off into space for a moment.
"What?"
He sighed again, "Alex...Michael didn't trust us-"
"What? Of course he does-"
"Just shut up ok!" Blake snapped, locking gazes with the sergeant in front of him, "After everyone else left, he made us lock the doors to the pool hall, and then barely let us help him when it was obvious he was struggling. Michael trusts us being around him like this...being pregnant and all since he's been so sick. But when his wings were out, soaked through , and just about useless...Michael wouldn't let us near him. He was snapping at us even though we were the only ones in the room...trusted us enough to be there-"
"Because he had no choice." Alex finished, sighing heavily as Blake pushed the elevator button again.
"One minute he acts like us being here is a good thing, then the next he goes and pulls a stunt like that where all we're trying to do is help. Something's obviously bothering him and whether Michael realizes it or not he's taking it out on us."
Xxx
Alex changed quickly once back up at the soldiers' suite, passing the kitchen to grab half a sandwich to inhale in the time it took him to walk to Michael's door. While shut, it thankfully wasn't locked as he slipped inside, pressing the button to close it again as he looked around the suite for the archangel.
Michael wasn't much different than when he was in the pool hall, having at least changed out of swim shorts and into long, loose pants and a tank top, this one with half the upper back cut away for his wings to have room without damaging the clothing.
The archangel was sitting on another chair backwards again, chin on his arms as he stared out over Vega, wings held up in the breeze from the windows. Alex paused at the edge of the stairs, watching the archangel's wings flex and bend, feathers stretching out to fully dry and straighten out on their own. It made the soldier wonder just how different things were when Michael could trust others, when his siblings weren't going to kill him the minute he turned his back on them thinking he was safe.
That's when he saw the light reflecting off Michael's cheekbones, the silent tears drawing the archangel to wipe at his face with a soft sniff before setting his chin back down on his arms.
Alex sighed softly, slowly stepping closer to his mentor.
"Michael…"
The archangel didn't respond, not even moving more than breathing as Alex made it to be in line with his left wing.
"Michael-"
Before Alex could move again the black wing slammed into his chest, sending him falling back to land on the stairs on his back, gasping for air as the wind got knocked out of him before he even hit the ground. Michael's wings shuddered, flexing into crisp arches before straightening out as the soldier stood slowly, stepping closer again and figuring he'd just startled Michael from his thoughts.
No such luck, Michael's wings twitched, arching up again defensively as the soldier moved, Alex finally backing off when the archangel's hands balled into fists.
Alex decided to leave it at that, sighing softly and just leaving.
Xxx
"So lemme get this straight, Michael actually hit you?"
Alex nodded, handing Caroline the key to the archangel's suite as they stopped outside the closed door. He'd decided it wasn't worth broken ribs or a concussion to try and figure out why Michael was pissed off, instead he'd gone looking for the girls, if there was one thing Michael wouldn't do, it was harm them in anyway, even in training his blows were held back more for females than the guys. The chosen one figured it had to do with Michael's sisters, the ones he hadn't seen since before this war, besides Uriel who was just as likely to stab him in the back because it suited her.
The archangel clung to what he could and at the same time kept as much distance as possible to avoid getting hurt, Alex was just finally seeing how bad Michael hurt from all of it.
"Yeah...just see if you can...I don't know-"
"Alex...chill, I got this 'kay? Been dealing with bitchy guys all my life, especially in the Corps." Caroline's words were accented by the honey-blonde poking Alex in the side, laughing as he squirmed away from her like one would an obnoxious sister. That's kind of how Unit Six functioned, one big smart ass family.
With an overbearing, pregnant, and right now moody archangel…
Alex watched as Caroline stepped inside, walking right to Michael with no caution for his temper. While he didn't speak, the archangel automatically retracted his wings as she neared, the feathers vanishing seamlessly into his back.
Caroline stopped in front of him, kneeling down as she rested her hands on his elbows, speaking too softly for Alex to hear from where he was leaning in the doorway.
Michael shook his head, sniffing slightly before Caroline spoke again, this time Michael shook his head as he buried it in his arms, shoulders shaking as he gasped softly. The archangel let her tug one of his arms down, wrapping it around her shoulders as she moved closer when he lost it.
Alex stepped back at that, silently pressing the button to close Michael's door behind him.
Xxx
Noma had to switch out with Caroline when she got called for her weapons check, the blonde pulling Alex aside after he and Noma slipped inside the suite to find Michael had been convinced to get some sleep, curled up next to Caroline as she sat reading a book with it leaning against his shoulder.
The archangel had quickly started to wake up once Caroline had moved from the bed, moaning in his sleep as Noma took her place, gently rubbing his arm to get him to calm back down. Michael unconsciously moved closer to her, letting out a soft noise as he wrapped his arms around Noma's torso and clung to her tightly. Alex bit back a smirk with Caroline, Michael was most certainly NOT cuddling.
Caroline dragged Alex out of the suite as quietly as she could, slamming her hand on the hallway door button to shut the door behind her.
"Ok boy wonder, I know you haven't shared everything about things between you and Michael and being the chosen one, and you probably shouldn't, but besides Gabriel does Michael have any other family?"
Alex nodded slowly, wincing as he could guess where this was going.
Sgt. Ryan wasn't done, "Alex...dammit...look, Michael is miserable, ok? He flat out fell apart the minute I touched him. And you know why? Cuz he said he wished he had his sisters back...now I didn't grow up learning a whole helluva lot about angels and heaven and judgement day and all but you'd think someone would have sided with Michael."
Alex sighed, rubbing at his face in frustration as he leaned back against the wall, risking looking to Caroline who was understandably irritated.
"No one...no one sided with Michael against Gabriel...and all those higher angels and what not? Those are Michael's younger siblings...technically, I really don't know how that all works...but any day Michael is fighting them...he's killing his family...if any of his sisters are still around, they don't seem to really care about their brother."
Caroline's jaw tensed as she picked up her gear that Alex had brought to the door for her check. "Well then it looks like that whole 'one of us stays with Michael at night if he chooses' thing just got made permanent."
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