An annoyed Monique rolled her eyes as she sipped her Martini. She exchanged glances with the twin sister who wanted nothing to do with her anymore. For a minute; Monique pondered what it would have been like now if she had not have chosen the dark path. Sometimes she missed her Angelhood, but after thinking about it for a total of 3.4 seconds she was content with who she had become.
Monica was also quite annoyed be the conversation at hand. Andrew was telling Monique to lay off them and their children; not just for a while; but for good. Monica agreed that this should be so and she listened to her husband's testimony, but she too had her own thoughts as she was in the same room with Monique. What if she had truly given into to the dark side at any of those times in which she had been tempted. She thought for a moment about what it might be like to be Monique. But after a little less than .5 seconds she decided that she was content in the Angelhood, and in her relationship with her father, and that those were two of the things she cherished most.
Suddenly Monica was taken from her thoughts when Monique disappeared.

"I guess she must have gotten bored. Or sick of me."
"I think that it was a little of both. And I don't think that she was really even listening to you anyway Andre."
"Your right, but the good thing is that she is gone."
"And maybe we can take our little girl home soon. And maybe we can help her finish her very first assignment."

"Uncle Adam, Aunt Gloria where are you?"
Monica and Andrew had decided too that they should all leave the boat; after all, it did seem to have been a demon hang out and they definitely didn't want to be there. Now all they had to do in order to leave was look for Adam and Gloria, which was considerably difficult for Maggie since she didn't know what they even looked like. They had all decided to stay together considering the fact that this was a Demon ship and all. Soon, they came upon a small closet and opened the door.
"Why were you guys in a closet?" Tessa asked.
"Uh.., we uh.."
"It's a funny story."
"I know what you were doing," Monica laughed. "And Gloria, I'll talk to you later."
So the six of them began their day's hike back to the hotel. Later that day they all stopped near a waterfall to take a rest. It was a hot day; and Tessa and Maggie saw an opportunity, and they took advantage of it by jumping into the waterfall and spending their time playing there. Monica sat on a fallen tree not to far from there and smiled as she watched them play. Meanwhile, Gloria came up and sat beside her.
"Are you mad at me Monica?"
"You like him, don't you, Adam I mean."
"Well, I can't tell a lie, can I, yes, I do.. like him."
"An angel can't just go around doing that."
"I got my first kiss today!"
"And how many more do you expect there to be?"
"I, I don't know."
"The only reason that Andrew and I are married is that we loved each other so deeply, and..."
"I know, Tess told me the whole story. You see, I don't love Adam because I am jealous of you. I love Adam because I love Adam. You are lucky Monica. Not many if any angels have what you have. You fell in love; you were allowed to marry and two years later you had a baby. And then several years after that another one."
"Gloria, I think the word isn't lucky, it's blessed. And how do you know that you won't be denied of your love?"
"I don't."
"Right."

"So where are you from?" Tessa asked Maggie.
"San Francisco. How about you?"
"No one's ever asked me that before. You see as an angel, I'm not really from anywhere, I am just an angel."
"But, your from Heaven, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so!"
"What's it like?"
"Indescribably wonderful. I can't tell you anymore than that, unless your dying that is, but your not."
"Not I'm not, but why can't I know any more."
"I really don't know, I think that if people knew a little more about heaven they would be more inspired to come to God, the same if they knew about Hell. But my Dad says it can't work that way; and after all, he's an Angel of Death, he knows these things."
"Your Dad's an angel of death?"
"Yeah, I know, it scares people, but he's on vacation now, or he's supposed to be. They just came in order to look for me. What about your parents?"
"Well, they aren't bad at all. I don't even dislike them the slightest bit, but I ran a way. I just couldn't stand school anymore. I couldn't stand any of it anymore."
"I understand. How do you feel about being kidnapped by Demons and rescued by Angels anyway?"
"It is a little weird, but I believe it. I am active in my youth group, I am a strong Christian, but I just couldn't hold on at home any longer. I guess I just wasn't strong enough."
"My Mom, she's an angel, and she can't always hold on either. I've seen her loose faith a few times, but she always comes back around." Maggie smiled. "Anyway, are you going to go home?"
"Yes I am." "We'll take you if you want."
"I'd like that very much."
An hour later, they began walking again. By sunset, they were back at the hotel. Zoe ran into Tessa's arms the minute she saw her. Tessa smiled.
"I missed you Tessa!"
"I missed you too, how have you been?"
"Worried. Are you ok?"
"Yes I am."
Everyone else watched the joyful reunion and smiled. When it was over; Andrew picked Zoe up and placed her on his shoulders. She giggled and they all went inside.
A few hours later it was completely dark, dinner had been served and the hotel was full of diverse conversation.
Zoe was in bed asleep; she always fell asleep early, it was inevitable. Monica and Andrew watched her sleep. They smiled.
"I missed her."
"Me too." Monica agreed.
"It's going to be odd with just the three of us, isn't it?"
"I know, and I don't like it, but we'll live. It might even be fun."
"We'll make it fun, that's a great idea!"
"She is cute though."
"She is. I think that Tessa is too young to be off doing casework. I hope that Zoe doesn't have to go as soon as Tessa has."
"Something tells me that she won't." He said as he kissed her.
"At least she's with Tess."

"Adam, where are we going with this?"
"With what?"
"What do you mean with what?" She asked, she was completely outraged.
"Oh," he said as he stood up and kissed her. "You mean that." Gloria laughed.

"What?! What does he think he's doing?" Tess asked. She and Sam were in the kitchen. They had gone into the lobby and quickly turned around. Tess was outraged to find Adam and Gloria in that position.
"Leave them alone Tess."
"Leave them alone! Leave them alone!"
"If your so outraged about this; then what about Andrew and Monica?"
"That was different!"
"Now how was that different?"
"They belonged together. And maybe these two do too?"

"Adam, be serious. We have to make a decision."
"Is this real love, or just puppy love?"
"Real love."
"How do you know that?"
"I just do."
"What I am saying as that we need to know each other a lot better before we continue this; if we continue it at all."
"I agree."

"So, when should we take you home?"
"I'm not so sure that I wanna go home."
"But, if you don't go home, then you'll get picked up by Monique or someone even worse than that."
"Maybe I'll go to LA, or New York, may be Boston I don't care; as long as I don't go back to school."
"Then, maybe you can switch schools."
"No, my parents won't let me."
"In a big city like San Francisco, there's got to be hundreds of High Schools, right?"
"Yes, but, I don't want to go to any other school. You see, any other school would seem foreign to me. And now, going to my school is like total torture. You see, over the summer; my best friend died. We'd known each other forever,.."
"I understand. When people tell you that you'll find a new friend it makes everything harder because she wasn't something that you could just replace."
"That's exactly right. How did you know?"
"I just do."
"Do you think that I should go home?"
"Yeah, I do. Is it right for your family to loose you too? Besides what would she want you to do?"
"No, and I'll go home in the morning."

The next morning, Monica drove the girls back to San Francisco. Zoe got the privilege of sitting in the front seat; although she was much too small. Maggie did not look happy. She was not happy, although part of her was happy to be going home. Sooner than Maggie thought; they stopped in front of her house; Tessa got out of the car to say goodbye
"I'll never forget you, thank you so much for saving me, and for helping me, and, and for being my friend."
"I'll never forget you either."

"Well done sweetheart." Monica said.
"Thank you. Mom, Zoe, I miss you. I don't want to be a caseworker anymore. I just wanna stay with you."
"I know you do, Tessa Angelina, but God has a plan for you and it doesn't involve you staying with us anymore."
"But why?" Tessa sniffled.
"I don't know, but you've got to trust him, ok?" "I love you."
"I love you too."

"So, what do you think?"
"I think I love you." Adam replied.
"I think I love you too." Without any further words they kissed again. "But, how is this all supposed to work out? It can't, can it?"
"I guess it can't." He sighed.
"How do you know that?" Came a rather familiar voice, it was Sam.
"Because, it can't."
"Well, I've got news for you, it was met to be." Adam and Gloria exchanged glances, wondering if Sam had gone crazy.
"You know we're Angels.."
"Of course I know that, you think I've gone crazy or something?" He laughed. "Anyway, as I was saying, you were met to be together."

Tessa wanted to jump out of the car and run, run far away. Of course, running into speeding traffic wasn't the safest or smartest thing she could do. They were now crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. They had spent the majority of the day in the city, and that had been fun, but it didn't make her feel any better. She had prayed so many times that day that she didn't have to become a caseworker. She was hoping that there was some slim possibility that God had made a mistake. But she knew that was impossible; and that God never makes mistakes. The plus side was that she didn't have to talk to anyone at the moment. They were speeding down the bridge and the top of the car was down and no one could hear any one else. In fact, Tessa could barely hear herself think. She knew that she couldn't run a way like she had wanted to, but she also knew that she had to do something to make herself feel better.
"Finally, we can hear again!" Monica laughed as they passed the bridge.
"Mommy, can we go on the bridge again, the bridge was fun!"
"No sweetie, but I agree with you, it was fun. What about you Tessa?"
"It was ok." She replied dryly. Monica sighed.
"Tessa, I'm sorry that you have to go a way."
"Yeah, me too."
"Will you play with me later?" Zoe asked.
"Of course I will." Tessa replied. "I wish I were your age again."
"Its really not all that its cut out to be. Trust me, you don't wanna be eight! How old are you, Mommy?"
"Oh," Monica laughed, "I lost track a long time a ago."
"How long ago?"
"I don't even remember, but I'd say it was long before I thought that I would ever have either of you and long before I thought that I would ever be married."
"Meanwhile, are we ever going to stop growing? Aging?"
"That's a good question, and I think I heard that you'd stop by eighteen or so."
"Fair enough, just as long as I am not Aunt Tess's age by the time I stop aging."
"Ha, ha, very funny." Monica said, relieved by the fact that she hadn't said, 'by your age.'