Chapter 7
Washington DC, 3:00 p.m. Two days after
"Ok, Tess, your turn," Gloria told the older angel getting into Monica's room. "You really need to eat something."
"I'll be back in a minute, Miss Wings," Tess told Monica taking her small hand and patting it lovingly. "Did you get Andrew, baby?"
"No, Tess," Gloria said and she saw hope leaving the older angel's eyes. "And it is strange. Sam keeps telling me he hasn't been able to tell him but he insists Andrew is ok... Something's wrong, I'm feeling so."
"I also feel that, baby," the supervisor said meeting the younger angel's worried eyes and then turning to see Monica. "Had Andrew know about her, he'd be here already no matter what... Don't leave her a second, Gloria," she said before leaving the room.
But when the older angel came back, she saw her out of the room talking to someone who she couldn't see clearly. "Gloria, why are...? Hello, baby!" Tess exclaimed and went to hug the angel of death.
"Hullo, Tess, it's so good to see you!"
"Definitely yes! But what are you doing here?"
"I came to see Monica," Adam said. "I got a direct order..." he pointed indicating the sky with his thumb.
"Where's Andrew?" the supervisor asked confused.
"That's what Adam was telling me, Tess," Gloria interrupted. "He... hum... he couldn't come..."
Tess turned to see Adam. "He had an accident, Tess," he explained ad then proceeded to tell them the whole story.
"This has to be a nightmare!" the dark skinned angel said and looked up at the sky. "Father, I know Your plan is always wise, but right now I can't understand it!"
"There's another reason why I'm here, "Adam told her. "With Andrew sick there... the Father wants you to go cover his place."
The older angel opened her mouth to argue but said nothing. Then she looked away for some seconds before closing her eyes, and sighed heavily. "Of course, baby. I'll be ready."
Jack was dozing off due to the hot temperature of the room and the high fever he had already gotten. He knew what was to come so he refused to get any medicines even to ease his symptoms, as they might be more useful to the other patients. All the supplies he had asked for were for Andrew. After two days, the angel's condition had remained stable, yet he hadn't woken up.
It was a weak moan what made Jack stand up with a jump and practically run to his friend's bed. "Andrew?" the doctor asked.
The blond angel moaned again and Jack quickly checked his vitals. "Jack?" Andrew asked in a very low voice fighting to open his eyes.
"Yes, Andrew! Good you're awakening!"
"What happened?"
"You scared the death out of us, pal!" the doctor said checking on his friend's pupils.
Andrew blinked a couple of times and then he remembered. "Monica!" he shouted and tried to get up, but a sharp pain in his stomach made him lay down again. "Aargh!"
"Easy there!" Jack told him. "You've just gotten out of a surgery! Where do you think you're going?"
"Jack! Monica? What happened to her?!"
"She's sick, Andrew," the doctor told him and saw the deep pain in the angel's green eyes. "As far as I know, she was found with a high fever but she's not bleeding. Your friend Adam has gone there to see her."
"No, Father, please!" Andrew murmured looking away and feeling his heart heavier than ever.
Jack saw him and felt really sorry for him. He didn't know what to say, he knew he had to tell Andrew about him getting infected and about the possibility of him getting sick too but that was not the right moment. The angel was hurting for the woman he loved... just as he had hurt years ago.
The next morning the angel was feeling way much better. He and Jack had taken their breakfast and Andrew was now sitting and leaning against the headboard of his bed, trying to forget the pain in the right side of his abdomen. "Your intestine is working just fine," Jack said with the stethoscope still over the angel's stomach.
"I guess it will start complaining of hunger in a few hours again," the blond angel joked.
"It's good to see you in such a good mood," the doctor said and then proceeded to examine the scar of the surgery. It was when Andrew felt the high temperature of the man.
"Jack, you're burning!"
Jack put away the stethoscope and took a chair before talking to the angel. "Andrew, I wasn't completely honest with you when I told you it was just a precaution that we were isolated. Do you remember Nikki, the monkey that welcomed us in Impfondo?" The angel nodded. "He died... of Ebola."
Now it was Andrew's turn to be speechless: Jack was telling him he was going to die!
"I know I'm not gonna make it, Andrew," the man said. "The infection is a 100 sure, he bit me and he made me bleed. The fever started yesterday and my body is aching now. But you have a chance, buddy. I was really careful when I operated you and when I stopped the bleeding back there at the jungle, my hand wasn't bleeding anymore..."
The truth hit Andrew hard but he understood easily, and at the end the certainty of the Father's word in his heart told him what his assignment was: he would escort Jack Home, a man that had willingly risked his life for long weeks now to help the people there. The only question he had was why he had come to his assignment so soon. "There's nothing to be afraid, Jack," Andrew told him. "Death is not an ending but a beginning..."
The man snorted ironically. "Save the religious discourse, Andrew. I don't believe in Heaven. I think when it's over, it's over."
"Are you ready to know the truth, Jack?" the angel insisted knowing now what his assignment was. "Are you ready to acknowledge there's a God and a Heaven and you'll be seeing Him soon?"
"Andrew, how can you still believe there is a God after what you've seen here?" the doctor said disgustedly. "After what's happening to you? After what's happening to Monica? How could I believe in a loving God when He took away from me what I loved the most in the world and let me live alone and grieving forever?"
"It is not God's will for you to suffer, Jack, and it is not His will that I had that accident and that Monica may be infected. He is with us right now and He is with her too..."
"Too naive!" the doctor said.
"Nope. It is the truth and you'll see it soon," the angel said. "I've seen it. Death is not the end."
"What would you do if Monica died, Andrew?" Jack asked with anger, thinking he'd touched a especially sensitive cord in his friend's heart and that he wouldn't argue then.
"I trust God to do what is the best for her..."
"You mean you don't mind if she dies? I thought you said you were in love!"
"I am in love, Jack, and I do care if she dies! But I also care about her suffering, the pain she must be going through and I don't want that for her at all."
"Aren't you dying to see her again? To hold her and kiss her? If you were as in love as I was..."
"Of course I'm longing to see her, Jack! And of course I'm worrying to death about her, but I also know I have to trust God with her life!"
"No, Andrew, you're not in love! When you are and the person you love the most is dying, your whole world is dying with her! You don't want her far away in Heaven, you want her in your arms!" the doctor was pacing furiously along the little room.
"That sounds very selfish, you know?"
"Love is selfish! Love is when a woman becomes your world and your only truth, and all you know is her presence in your life as the most certain thing of all! And what you want is that certainty, to be sure about when you'll have her back where she belongs: by your side!"
"Jack, I know I'll see Monica again," the angel said calmly.
"When? Where? In Washington? Here in Brazzaville? Or in the middle of the Sahara?" Jack asked sarcastically.
Andrew knew the man was taking out a deep pain he had kept in his heart and he didn't want to fight him, so when the angel heard the last part of the man's question, he smiled and joked to ease the mood. "Hum... Not a bad idea. Monica loves the desert, especially a spot in the Colorado's Canyon. I'm sure she'll love to see the Sahara..."
Jack couldn't help but chuckle at the angel's reply, and felt his raising anger stop. Seeing his assignment relax, Andrew prepared a last talking. "I don't know when or where I'm seeing Monica again, Jack, but I know I will. That was God's promise when He sent us in different ways... and it was His promise to you too. Monica and I will be together again someday... here, in Washington... or somewhere under the desert's moon."
Jack met the angel's green eyes and the sincerity he saw there left him no place for more arguing. Instead he nodded and then moved to his bed and lay there in silence, Andrew's words still weighing in his heart.
Tess and Adam came into Monica's room in the morning after a night of good sleep. Gloria had insisted the older angel needed to rest as she was going to work hard in Africa. "Good morning, baby," she greeted Gloria with her muffled voice under the surgical mask. "How is she doing?"
"Her vitals keep on being stable," the angel answered. "The fever is low now and her heart beat is back to normal."
"Oh, Miss Wings, I wish you were awaken before I go..." Tess said stroking her forehead.
As if her wish was accomplished by a genius, in that moment Monica stirred and tried to open her eyes. "She's awakening!" Adam exclaimed.
"Baby? Monica?" Tess and Gloria said at the same time each in a side of her bed.
"Tess..." Monica murmured still fighting not to sleep again.
"Oh, Father, thank you!" the older angel said deeply moved.
"You had us really worried, Monica," Gloria said resting a hand on her supervisor's shoulder, her eyes bright with tears.
"Thanks God you're back!"
"What happened?" the Irish angel asked. "What happened with Mike and Alice?"
"They are ok, baby," Tess answered taking her small hand between hers. "They are still fighting. But I found you in your office burning in fever. You've been here for almost four days now."
"You're a strong fighter, Monica," Adam said coming closer to his friend too. "We were all very worried."
"Thanks, Adam," the little angel answered now more conscious. "Where... where's Andrew?"
Gloria and Tess turned to see him and he didn't know what to do for a moment. He couldn't tell her Andrew was ok, he couldn't lie! But he didn't want to make her suffer more... He met Tess' gaze and he knew he had to tell her the truth. "He... he couldn't come, Monica."
"Why?"
"He... had an accident."
"What?!" the little angel asked trying to sit up, but Tess and Gloria stopped her. "No, no, Father, please!"
"He's ok, Monica! He was operated and he'll be ok!" the angel of death assured her.
"Operated? But why? Where is he?!" Monica said starting to cry.
Some time later, when she had fully regained consciousness and has calmed down after knowing about her beloved friend, Adam helped the little angel to sit on her bed. Gloria had gone to check on Monica's patients and Tess was giving instructions to the nurses that would take her place, so Adam had taken the opportunity to talk to his friend and keep her company while she ate a little of Jell-O and tea. "I called to Brazzaville today in the morning. Sam told me Andrew woke up yesterday too," Adam said.
"Do they know already if he's been infected?" she asked.
"The first results didn't show the presence of the virus, but Jack has fever already."
"Poor him! This is such a hard way of dying, so painful and there's nothing you can do to help..."
"Yeah... And back there is worse... You just have to turn and see the one beside you to see what will happen to you."
They stayed in silence for some minutes, Monica taking small spoons of Jell-O. Adam studied her carefully, knowing that as bad as she may be feeling, she was fighting with her human form to be able to go back to the people that needed her the most. "Andrew misses you a lot," he said finally breaking the silence.
Monica met his gaze and smiled, her eyes shining with the special bright Andrew brought to them. "I miss him too, Adam. Though I saw him the other day... when my heart was failing and I guess when he had the accident, we were going Home but then I got the word to come back..."
"I've seen so many people die, but I never thought angels could die too," he commented.
"You know? I'm not sure if we were dying, Adam," Monica said. "We know the spirit doesn't die, and ours can't die either. I guess it was just our human form..."
"Human form or not, you really scared us!" Adam chuckled. "Maybe we've spent too much time on Earth recently and we're starting to share humans fears now!"
"That's not bad for an angel... Understand human fears and help them go over them..."
Adam smiled seeing the old Monica was back, the tender, caring angel she had always been. At that moment, Tess came back to the room. "All right, Adam, I'm ready."
"Whenever you want, Tess," he said standing up.
"Are you going somewhere?" Monica asked somewhat scared.
"Baby," the older angel said coming closer and taking her hand, "the Father has called me to go to The Congo and take Andrew's place until he's fully recovered. I didn't want to go until you were awaken, but you're better now and I'm needed there..." She took a seat on the bed and pulled the little angel in a loving hug. "You'll have to stay and concentrate on getting well soon, Monica. You still have an assignment here..."
"Who's gonna give me advice?" Monica asked with the tone of a little girl.
The older angel couldn't help but chuckle. "You stopped needing my advice long ago, Miss Wings! You're capable of handling everything by yourself!"
"But I'm gonna miss you, Tess."
"I'm gonna miss you too, but we'll be meeting soon again. Meanwhile I'm gonna check on Andrew, and I'll tell him how much you miss him."
"Tell him I love him," the Irish angel asked.
"And he loves you a lot too!" Adam interrupted and he handled her a little velvet bag. "He brought this for you the day we arrived to Brazzaville."
Monica took the bag and opened it revealing the silver necklace the blond angel had gotten for her. Two big tears rolled down her cheeks and she pressed the necklace against her chest. "Thank you, Adam. Please, take care of him and Tess."
"I will, Monica," he said leaning down to kiss her cheek. "We need to go now.
Tess hugged her charge again and then walked to Adam's side. "We'll be waiting for you, baby," the supervisor said. "We love you and we trust you."
Monica nodded and saw them disappear.