Bethany woke up slowly. Giving birth, even though it had been over a week now, was exhausting. She felt both drained from the effort and exhilarated by what had come of it: Eve. Little Eve Sloane. Her daughter. The last scion.

She smiled at the thought and stretched out her leg. Bethany felt something warm and soft against her thigh, unconsciously she cuddled against it. Something tickled her nose, bringing her closer to alertness. Bethany heard a little sighing noise come from whatever this pleasingly warm and soft thing was.

Her brain woke up just a little bit more and she horrifyingly realized that she wasn't alone in her bed.

Bethany's eyes snapped open, her motherly instincts taking over; she was ready to attack whoever was lying next to her. She rolled over and quickly got to her feet on the other side of the bed, pulling her trusty baseball bat off the top of her dresser.

"What are you doing?" she muttered out loud.

Bethany could barely believe what she was looking at: the Metatron was sprawled on her bed, much as she had been only a moment ago.

He had been lying beside her, apparently sleeping. He was taller than her, so his longer body seemed a bit comical, with his feet dangling over the edge of the mattress and the mass of him taking up the bottom half of the bed. It would have seemed normal-just a guy taking a nap-if not for his wings, which were folded neatly against his back, much like whenever a bird sleeps.

"Metatron?" she asked as she nudged him in the shoulder.

His eyes snapped open, bright pure gold. "What the Hell?!" Bethany cried out. Metatron stared at her, his eyes almost empty and inhuman but so...alive somehow.

"Oh, sorry." He said, blinking. In one move, his eyes were back to the normal hazel she had thought were his real eyes.

"Why were...what-"she fumbled for the words.

Metatron shifted into a sitting position across from her on the bed, making his wings disappear so he could be more comfortable. He leaned up against the headboard and looked over Bethany's shoulder at the crib. Eve was still sleeping-completely safe.

Bethany was waiting for an explanation, her eyes wide and mouth nearly hanging open. Metatron took a deep breath and tried to explain.

"Why were your eyes...?"

"We have two forms, one more human-the way you've always seen me, without wings. The other is a pure seraph. It's our more natural form. Our real shape. The human form is just something we wear so as not to frighten the people we visit."

A simple, "wow," was all Bethany could manage before she turned her attention to Eve, who had woken up.

"I didn't know angels slept," she said as she picked up Eve and went into the living room.

"We don't have to, they way humans do. But we can on occasion." He said, following her out.

"Do you always spoon with people or was that just for today?" she asked, her eyebrow raised. She loved making him uncomfortable.

Metatron shrugged and tried to look unashamed. "Um...that was unexpected. I was just going to sit and watch you two for a while before going back home. I fell asleep. I'm sorry."

"No big deal, I guess. Just try to warn me next time, ok? I turned around to find someone else in my room and then those eyes of yours...almost gave me a heart attack." She said, shaking her head.

"Metatron?"

"Yes?"

"I need to feed Eve. Either turn your head or fly back home." Bethany said as she began to unbutton her shirt.

Metatron smiled. "Yes ma'am. I'll be back soon." He said as he vanished from her home.

Finally, Bethany could be alone with her baby.

From Heaven and when he visited the pair, Metatron was able to keep a near constant vigilance over Eve. As far as he could tell, she was healthy and happy-but not completely out of harm's way.

As time passed, things remained the same between Bethany, Eve and Metatron. He would visit her every few days, helping in one way or another with the baby-who was growing quickly.

"...like an absolute weed."

"The pediatrician said she's healthy and everything is tip-top." Bethany called from the kitchen while Metatron stayed with Eve in the living room. The baby was chubby, alert and always smiling-just the way she should be.

He sat beside her while she crawled around on the floor. Metatron liked her like this, she was playful and happy. Nothing had happened yet, and as she progressed, it seemed less and less likely that anything would-but Reaper's warning to him on Eve's birthday still lingered in his darkest thoughts.

Eve crawled into his lap and he pulled her up to a standing position, her tiny feet grazing the floor. "You look alright to me, Little Savior." He told her softly.

Eve stared at him, her brown eyes locking with his. She seemed to understand his meaning, she was the last scion, a Holy Child and meant to help humanity.

Then she spit up on him.

"Oh, come on, again?!" Metatron groaned.

Eve giggled, the baby vomit dribbling down her chin.

"Yeah, it's hilarious," he scowled as he put her down into the playpen. "Bethany, would you please grab me a towel while you're in the kitchen?" he called

"Why?"

"That darling child of yours just ruined another suit. I swear I'll run out of clothes around you damn mortals." He grumbled.

"Here." Bethany tossed him a hand towel. "You know, for an angel I'd think you'd be more forgiving,"

"Yeah, well I thought the world would have been united in peace and love by now, but not everything works out the way we want. Have you got any club sod-Agh!"

Bethany came out of the kitchen, "What's the matter?"

"She pulled out a few feathers while my back was turned. Remind me not to have my wings out around her again." He said, taking his feathers away from Eve once he saw her trying to put them in her mouth. "Don't eat those!"

The feathers disappeared along with the wings, shrinking and molding back into his body. Bethany rolled her eyes at him-angels were a lot more complicated and temperamental then she would have thought.

She watched as Metatron-now wingless-picked up Eve out of the playpen and tickled her belly. Bethany smiled and took out her camera, snapping a few quick pictures.

"Hey, you could have at least warned me," Metatron said.

"Why? Do you not show up on film?" she asked.

"Did you get that notion from a movie? Of course we can show up on film, I just like it when I have a chance to freshen up a bit before the camera." He said as Eve cuddled into his chest.

"Vanity is a sin, you know. One of the seven deadliest," Bethany teased him.

"I'll risk it-angels aren't perfect. Even seraphim have their faults."

"Like what?"

"We often procrastinate and as you know, we were once drawn into human indulgences like sex and drink. Then there's the occasional lie or omission of facts." He said, thinking about the information he was withholding from her. What would she do if she found out he knew, and had kept quiet all this time?

If he had been a human, she'd probably kill him.

Metatron left soon after that exchange and, instead of going to a lake or a mountain to be alone and think, he went back to Heaven.

They did not live in cloud castles or walk on golden roads or any of the nonsense stirred by human imagination-Heaven looked almost the same as earth. The Garden of Eden was meant to be a tiny piece of heaven on earth, thus, heaven looked very much like a beautiful park.

Tall trees of many different species-from oak and pine to kapok and magnolia-lined several rivers and ran along the border of scattered lakes. Soft grass was punctuated by smooth, round stepping stones-the only pavement. Animals of all kinds, domestic and exotic, played and chattered about. A blue sky peppered with fluffy white clouds did not obscure the bright yellow sun.

Metatron appeared suddenly in the middle of a field, and breathed in a lungful of the air, scented by every flower known to man. He was home.

The human form he assumed when around Bethany and any other humans melted away; his eyes shifted to a gold that rivaled Heaven's sun, his wings reappeared and his newly stained suit instantly became a gold trimmed white robe.

He stretched his arms and flapped his wings, taking to the air. He had appeared in the middle of a field where the only other beings around where a few grazing moose and a German Shepard that was playing a game of tug-of-war on a rope with a young mountain lion.

Metatron had to find Reaper; they had some things to talk about.