Chapter 6

Certain Differences

"What are you doing here, angel?" Maze asked sharply as she strode past Kemuel.

"Does it matter why I am here, demon?" Kemuel asked back, getting up from the stone bench to follow Maze.

"It does when Trixie and Chloe are due to arrive within the hour," the demon retorted. She pulled out a key and quickly unlocked the door. A moment after she walked through the doorway, she paused, slowly turning to look at the angel. "You coming in or not?"

Kemuel took the invitation and stepped inside the Deckers' (and Maze's) home. It was much quieter when Trixie wasn't there. The angel of authenticity silently watched as the demon wandered off to her room – to prepare for her interview as a preschool aide if the angel remembered correctly, which she did.

The angel debated on whether or not to start making another double-layer chocolate cake for Trixie. Technically, she had seen herself look around to see if the ingredients for the cake were all available, which they were, but she never actually got to make the chocolatey dessert… Would it really be that bad to change one minor detail?

Stupid question. The humans had a term for it, didn't they? Butterfly effect? Though Kemuel knew that a single flap of a butterfly's wings most definitely would not cause a hurricane to occur several weeks later. Nor would the flap of a sea gull's wings be enough to change the course of Earth's weather forever.

Puriel, Zophiel, and Ophaniel (and possibly Seraphiel, Ezekiel and Barachiel) would all have a fit over having to constantly keep the weather the way it was supposed to be… The angels of rain, hailstorms, and snow (and the sky, thunder and lightning) – all respectively – were rather proud (not enough to be on the sinful side) of the 'balance' they kept involving the weather. To be honest, Kemuel didn't completely understand how 'balance' fit into that sentence. Still, they did do a good job to keep the weather from falling into an utterly chaotic mess.

Either way, whether she baked the cake or not really wouldn't matter anymore because Chloe walked in at that moment. However, Chloe was too preoccupied to notice the angel until Trixie suddenly gasped and ran to hug the angel. "Kemuel!"

"Hello, Trixie," Kemuel greeted the child, returning the hug. The angel looked back to Chloe, who had dropped the bag she'd been holding.

"You…"

Kemuel gave Trixie's mother a warm smile. "Me," she affirmed, drawing back from the hug.

"I'm gonna go put my stuff up. Be right back!" Trixie exclaimed as she raced to her room to put away her backpack.

"You… and Trixie…"

Kemuel inwardly sighed. Chloe wouldn't take this all too well. "I met your daughter the first day I came to Los Angeles," Kemuel said, filling in a blank for the struggling woman.

"Whe—" Chloe cut herself off, coming to her own answer. "That day when Dan and I couldn't pick her up, and she got an escort home— that was you… But so then now— H-how did you—"

"Maze let me in," Kemuel inputted before Chloe could go on. She already knew what the woman was going to ask anyway. "We had met before on Halloween. I made the cake for Trixie."

A flicker of recognition flashed in Chloe's eyes. "That was you, too..? But then why..?"

"Why am I here?" Kemuel completed. "I told you before. I'm here for my brother, but with the way he's acting right now, I'll just piss him off even more if I confront him."

Kemuel was save from another question by Trixie running back into the room. "Kem! Kem! Will you stay for lunch?"

"That's up to your mother, Trixie," Kemuel told her, glancing at Chloe.

"Mommy! Can Kemuel stay for lunch?" Trixie turned her hopeful gaze on her mother.

"I— I guess—"

"Yay!" Trixie grabbed Kemuel's hand and started pulling the angel to her room. "Come on! I wanna show you what I did in class yesterday."

—o~O~o—

"How are you faring, little one?"

Camael looked up in surprise. "I'm doing well, Father," she answered.

The angel of joy hadn't been expecting her Father to visit the Garden. In fact, she hadn't been expecting to see Him at all for quite a while. The only reason she was in the Garden right now was because the flowers needed tending to, and her brothers and sisters that were watching Kemuel had the task well under control.

"That's good. That's good," He mused to Himself.

"May I ask why You're visiting today?"

"To check on you of course… How are your wings? Any problems?" He asked, sitting down beside her.

Camael shook her head. "I still can't fly past a certain point, but I never have to go that far from Heaven anyways."

God looked down in thought, pursing His lips pensively. "Nothing else, though? Nothing that pains you?"

"Dad, I'm fine," the angel of joy assured Him with a smile. She carefully petted the petals of an anemone in the small plot she was tending to. "I'm not the one You need to worry over," she added conspiratorially.

"I worry about all my children."

"That's why You have gray hair," she teased Him with a snicker.

"Yes, I was wondering how that came to be," He responded dryly.

Camael laughed with Him after He cracked a smile. The musical notes rang throughout the clearing they sat in and echoed along the pathways leading out to the Silver City and to the personal heavens of the multitude of human souls.

"I like the new look," she commented after the air quieted, though it still hummed with the previous laughter.

"Good," He said, stroking the new style of facial hair He'd taken on. "I was beginning to think it wasn't the best decision when Kemuel didn't say anything about it."

"You did an almost complete make over," Camael observed, glancing at Him with a more critical eye.

"Well, I can't have anyone recognize me if I were to venture to Earth again," He pointed out.

Camael gingerly picked at a few leaves that were lying around on the lush grass. "Everyone's going to Earth nowadays," she muttered.

"My dear risen, if it bothers you so, I wouldn't mind if you joined me," He began.

"No, no," she politely interrupted. "It's fine… I just get a little concerned sometimes."

"Whatever for, little one?"

"Sometimes I worry that they might never come back," she admitted quietly.

A slight frown flashed across His features before smoothing away just as quickly as it had come. "If it came to it, would you follow them?"

Camael let out an uncharacteristically bitter laugh. "I'm not exactly in the position to do so," she said, the feathers of her wings unconsciously ruffling.

"Let me rephrase my question: if you did have the ability to fly wherever you pleased, would you follow your brothers and sisters to stay on Earth should they do so?"

A contemplative expression fell over her face. A minute later, the angel of joy blinked and sighed heavily. "I don't know. Perhaps I would stay for a while, but Heaven will always home to me. I wouldn't be able to stay away for long," she finally answered.

God hummed a note at her response and then nodded. "I have an idea," He suddenly proclaimed.

"Oh, that's scary," she deadpanned.

A squeal of laughter escaped her lips as He reached over and gave her wings a brief brush, power laced fingertips tickling the underside of her primaries. The angel of joy barely managed to escape the swift fingers when they rounded on her bare feet, tucking said feet underneath her, and she quickly wrapped her wings around her, peeking at Him through a fan of red-speckled feathers. The fingers relented and retreated back to their owner's lap.

"Silene tomentosa or Epipogium aphyllum?" He asked suddenly.

"Gibraltar Campion or Ghost Orchid?" Camael repeated, blinking in surprise as she folded her wings back into their resting position. "Should I be expecting a few extinct flowers to be added to the Garden?"

"They're all in here somewhere," He said with a shrug. "But I'm sure you wouldn't mind an addition or two to that little garden of yours."

Camael's face flushed with heat at the mentioning of her plays at keeping a garden of her own, filled with flowers of all kinds that Kemuel or one of the others brought her after a mission on Earth (though sometimes it was more like her siblings snuck out). She knew that He would know about her little garden – of course He would – but she didn't think He'd take an interest in it. She mumbled her answer.

"Ah, the middlemist red. Going outside the box, are we?" He mused with a smile. "Very well, my risen, the next time you see me, I shall have your gifts," He told her, standing up.

He was gone before Camael even blinked. The angel of joy sighed, looking down at the flowers she was tending to. Though a small smile adorned her face, her eyes showed the depth of her battling emotions. Determinedly, she got back to work. Worry and fear would not win today.

—o~O~o—

By the time Kemuel had left the Deckers' home, Trixie had finished her homework, Maze was out somewhere, and Chloe had new information regarding her father's supposed murderer. While Kemuel had stayed for a little bit after lunch, she had also refused to answer anymore of Chloe Decker's questions that dealt with the angel's life or why the angel was there, though Kemuel did mention to the detective that she'd be around for a while.

Lunch had been awkward to say the least. Maze had barely even acknowledged Kemuel before she walked out, waving a hand in as a departing gesture. Then Trixie had saved Kemuel from another bout of tedious conversation by dragging the angel to the girl's room once more – this time to do homework. Kemuel made sure to keep Trixie in her room when Tina Fields came into the house with a gun.

And now, a couple hours later, Kemuel was standing in front of the entrance to an out of the way antique bookshop. She wandered if the owner of the bookshop realized that moving to LA from Soho (London area, not Manhattan) didn't do him any good in his attempt to get away from the Heaven and Hell fiasco that happened in the late 1900s. She knew his demon friend wasn't around. She actually preferred that the demon wasn't; as much as she was entertained by the demon's presence, she wanted this little… family meeting to be private.

That in mind, Kemuel entered the little shop. The soft chime of the door's bells echoed throughout the store. Books lined the walls and the shelves. Some were stacked on tables – a particular stack started on the floor and reached the ceiling – and though it seemed like the books were mostly haphazardly put everywhere, she could tell each work was purposefully placed in its spot.

As for the shop itself, the air was musty with damp smells, and dust being kept at a moderate centimeter of thickness. The space wasn't very well lit either, most of the dim light filtering in through the door's window. All of this was to keep people from actually coming in to buy one of the books. Kemuel knew her brother's prized books were all in display cases in the furthest back section of the little shop, and she smiled as she read the title of one. He would have a complete set of Infamous Bibles – all of which had typesetting errors in them – on display.

Deciding that she shouldn't stall any longer, Kemuel dinged the bell sitting on the counter, stepping back to listen to the pleasant ring that filled the air. A soft muttering coming from the back room could be heard, and then a series of shuffling noises soon followed.

"I'm sorry! The shop's been closed for now!" a European accented voice called out from where the other noises originated.

She knew why the owner of the bookstore had said that to her. He tended to ward off any buyers by keeping absurd opening hours. After all, every single one of the books here was a part of his collection.

"It's not even three in the afternoon yet," she called back.

The owner seemed to consider her statement, and then proceeded to return a reply. "Is it not the owner's choice of deciding when a shop is open or closed?"

"Zira, it's me," Kemuel answered expectantly.

A white-blond mop of hair made itself known as Aziraphale stepped out from behind a wall. Pale blue eyes peered at Kemuel though his glasses, which sat perched near the tip of his nose. His moderate height only added onto the effect that he was looking down on her.

"Why didn't you just come out with that first, dear?" he asked, stepping up to the counter with a knowing frown upon his face.

"And ruin my surprise drop-in on my little brother? Never," she lightly teased.

If Aziraphale hadn't been one of the more courteous angels raised in Heaven, he would have rolled his eyes at her antics. While appreciated, the surprise visit would have been more well taken if she had mentioned it ahead of time. "You're lucky. Crowley is off attending to some business on the east coast and won't be back for some time."

"I know," Kemuel told him, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, the worst the demon could have done was make snide commentary while we discussed… other matters."

"I assume you mean dear Luci," the younger angel grumbled, looking down and readjusting one of his sleeve cuffs.

Kemuel nodded. Aziraphale was perhaps the most informed of the few angels currently stationed on Earth; however, he often wasn't up to date with the occurrences outside of his own little world when he became engrossed with something that took all of his attention. That being said, it would be a lot easier to explain things since he knew what was going on.

Aziraphale let out a soft sigh. "I suppose I'll get out the alcohol."

Kemuel didn't bother stopping her brother from getting a drink. She would decline his offer of a glass, but she wouldn't keep him from having his own. Distantly, she hoped he wouldn't get plastered like a certain time that she recalled. While watching her little brother trip over his incoherent thoughts had been somewhat amusing, Kemuel needed him to have his wits about him.

It was a shame and a relief that she would exit the mini paradox she had created during her time with Aziraphale. As an angel, time wasn't always significant in passing, and yet she found herself surprised that the day would be over soon. The sun was setting, the moon beginning to rise.

Chloe Decker would be able to catch her father's true killer with Maze and Lucifer's help. While Kemuel hadn't actually done anything to help with the case, her interference would help later on during the trial. At least… that was the whole point of the slight deviation anyways. Spending time with Trixie afterwards was more of an out-of-the-way affair – pleasure rather than business – and meeting up with Chloe again was simply another chance to read the human's soul. Not that Kemuel was able to gleam anything from her.

However, visiting Aziraphale did have an importance of its own, separate from her earlier mission and separate from anything involving Lucifer despite talking about him with Aziraphale – that was more of Kemuel venting some of her frustrations to one of her siblings that would listen with a different perspective of things (and it had helped too).

"Zira," Kemuel started slowly after their last topic had petered off. She needed to start wrapping her time with her brother up. Perry Smith had undoubtedly been arrested by now. The other angel made a noncommittal grunt in response to her calling of his name, taking another sip of his wine. "You still have that book, don't you?"

It was a rather silly question. If there was one book that Aziraphale would never – under any circumstances until the literal end of time – give or sell to any stubborn or adamant customer, it would be the one the angel of authenticity was referring to. Aziraphale choked on his drink at its casual mentioning, coughing several times before clearing his throat and then downing a healthy dose of his alcohol.

"Dear me, why on Earth would you need that thing back?" he asked warily, leaning back in his chair at the table in the back room they'd moved to.

Kemuel looked away for a split second, but it was enough of a tell that her brother picked up on it. Aziraphale suddenly stood and walked over to an antique looking safe. After opening it, he pulled a rather ordinary looking book out and moved back to the table to set it down once he closed the safe.

"I'll have you know this thing has been an absolute doozy to keep away from Crowley," he muttered, taking his seat and refilling his glass. "As much as I love him, he can be a bit nosy at times."

The angel of authenticity smiled slightly at this. Aziraphale and Crowley were certainly an odd couple. They were admittedly in love, yes, but their unique relationship had been built upon thousands of years of time spent together (just over six thousand to be precise). Aziraphale was the first – and so far only – angel to find happiness with another being that wasn't an angel without either himself or Crowley meeting… deadly consequences.

The others that had tried to create something with others – humans, in fact – hadn't been able to handle the pain of their lovers dying when the humans inevitably died. Even though in both cases the human souls ascended to Heaven, the angels were still crushed by their deaths and ended up killing themselves. So perhaps the reason Aziraphale's relationship was going so well was because his partner wasn't exactly mortal.

However, that theory concerned Kemuel. It meant that whatever became of Lucifer and Chloe's budding romance, it might not end well. Then again, if Father truly did want Lucifer to find and then retain happiness (which He did), maybe it didn't entirely center around Chloe.

Kemuel deemed that the subject needed to be thought on some more, but for now she was digressing and needed to get back to the topic at hand. "You won't have to worry about this book again if everything goes as planned," she told her brother, taking the book and standing up to leave. "Tell Crowley I said hello."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll get to do so as soon as he gets back," Aziraphale mused. "Stay safe, my dear."

"I should be telling you that, Zira," Kemuel said, raising an eyebrow. With a small wave, she flew off back to Heaven.

A/N: For those of you who didn't recognize Aziraphale (my version of him anyways), he's from the book/Amazon series Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (which means he definitely doesn't belong to me). Crowley on the other hand… Well, I'm made him a weird mix of Supernatural's Crowley and Good Omens'; basically he was always a demon, though it wouldn't have affected his relationship to Aziraphale here. Whatever, just go with it.

Last edited: [1/13/2020]

QuirkCirc: I'm glad you love it so much. It can't be that crazy, 'cause you're not the only one who's following this piece.