Angela flew through the air, over the skyscrapers, With Gabrielle by her side. It had been so many years since she had seen him, and the last time she had seen him was the day he had led her down to hell.
He had been there through every step of her angel history. He had been the first angel she had ever known and the one she had turned to when she could not find her husband among the spirits in heaven.
In a way she felt she had been unfair to him. Their relationship had grown into something more than admiration or friendship some years after she had become an angel and though at the time she had found comfort in the presence of another. She had always felt no attachment beyond friendship for him. Even when he had more feeling for her than she had for him.
So now flying with him was something both familiar and foreign to her. She was filled with thoughts of her daughter and of how sick she must be. But for some reason Hellboy was always in the back of her mind, just lingering there.
"We are almost there." She heard from him.
"It must be nice being back in the world again Angela." He said again when she did not respond.
Truthfully it was the most wonderful feeling, like a weight from her shoulders as she flew through the open clean crisp air once more. But her thoughts of Katherine overwhelmed her joy as she went.
Landing on the roof of the hospital Angela took a deep breath, as she knew was to come. Gabrielle took her by the hand and she closed her eyes, opening them once more to find herself in a hospital ward.
Down the room there lay ten beds, five on each side of the white walled room, each with instruments and monitors attached and beeping to the rhythm of the patients they monitored.
Angela didn't need to be told which bed held her daughter. She knew, and as she approached the bed a feeling of peace befell her. Beside the bed a man was curled in a chair, his sweater tucked up under his neck for support. His face showed his age and his frail body looked as though they had seen many years of both joy and sorrow. His arm was outstretched and his hand grasped Katherine's. He spoke softly as his tired eyes looked on to a book of poetry which he held in his other hand, reading aloud to the elderly woman who lay sleeping in her bed.
Angela knew he could not see her, as she stood next to her daughter's bed. She placed a hand on Katharine's head, stroking her white hair.
"She is close." Angela softly said to Gabrielle.
Gabrielle came up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"She is ready." She said. "I can feel it. Her soul is ready to die." tears rolled down her face. She looked over at the man, his elderly eyes softly reciting words of love from his book.
"Who do you weep for?" asked Gabrielle. "You know death is only a passageway, a mere fork in the path of existence, she has lived all the life she will live and now, she takes a different road, a road home." He said.
"I don't weep for her, or even for this man who will not understand as we do, but I weep selfishly for myself." She said as she placed a hand on her daughter's hand. "For the life I missed, her life, which I never got to see." She said.
"There is no shame in this, all who cry for the dead, cry for their own hearts, the dead are at last at peace like they could never know in life, it is the ones who remain who suffer." Said another voice.
Both Gabrielle and Angela turned to see another angel, a woman with dark skin and dark hair.
"Isabelle." Greeted Angela.
"Don't fear Angela, remember when my son died, I knew you would be here, after hearing about you returning from Hell. I knew you would be with her when I came."
"You are going to take her soul to heaven." Said Angela.
"Yes." She responded. "Don't worry, I will protect and care for her as Gabrielle did for my son when he was taken."
A small smile came over her face. Isabelle was a good friend, the kind of Angel who knew compassion beyond that of any other.
"We must go." Said Gabrielle. "They are here," he said taking Angela's hand.
"Wait." She said pulling away before he could take them both out of the hospital.
Professor Broom came into the room and the elderly man looked up from his reading.
It was strange as Angela stared straight at him knowing he couldn't see her.
"i am sorry to disturb you sir." He said as he glanced around the room.
Angela walked towards the door and heard the familiar voices of Agent Manning and Myers.
"We must go!" said Gabrielle.
"A moment is all I ask." She said, walking out the door.
In the corner at the end of the hall, there he was, Hellboy. A hood over his face, She never would have though he would walk out in public like this, but there he was. Looking as uncomfortable as he ever was.
Angela walked up closer to him until she was right in front of him, his cloak draped over his body. She reached out her hand and stroked his face. He did not respond.
"I don't know how your doing this but I suggest you beat it kid, Manning is in a hell of a mood, and I aint looking forward to stepping in front of another bullet for ya." He said without looking down at her.
A surprised look came over her face. He could see her.
Gabrielle came up behind her grabbing her arms. "we have to go!"
"Hay Birdie."
Angela turned to him.
Hellboy winked at her.
She smiled at him as she and Gabrielle disappeared.