Forbidden Love

Disclaimer: This is what happens when you watch too many Lifetime Television Movies! Enjoy, I think you might like it.

"Wake up, angel girl, I have to go now."

"You're leaving me so soon?" She asked as she opened her eyes.

"Yeah, I don't want to though." He said as he took her in his arms. "I wish I could shout my love for you from the rooftops. I wish I could kiss you whenever I felt like it. And I wish every night could be like last night."

"I know, me too. Maybe one day." She suggested innocently, hopefully.

"I pray for that everyday."

"We're going to get caught eventually."

"God already knows."

"Tess is the one I'm worried about. Especially if she catches us…well, where we are right now."

"I know." He tucked her hair behind her ears. "You're more than just my girlfriend you know. So much more. Someday, I don't know when. Maybe tomorrow, maybe a hundred years from now…but someday I want you to be my wife."

"Oh Andrew me too, me too!" She began to cry.

Monica closed her eyes as their lips met in a sweet, soft caress. The kiss was not one of passion or lust, but merely of pure sweet love.

Finally, he pulled away from her. He caressed her face with his hand and brushed her cheek softly with his thumb. She put both of her hands on his just to touch them.

"So, from this day until the sacred day when we can be joined together forever, will you be my fiancé?"

"Yes." She smiled, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"I love you." He told her.

"I love you too." She smiled.

"I can't wait to see you."

"Tonight?"

"Tonight, before tonight. When ever I see you. Where ever I see you. I can't wait." He kissed her once more, got up and disappeared.

………………..

Monica yawned as she got up, ready for her brand new day. A new assignment awaited her, as most always. She had no idea what it was about, but she was excited about it. She always was. She showered, changed her clothes and went downstairs to get coffee before they headed out.

"Good morning Tess." Monica smiled as she sipped her coffee and Tess came into the room with a washcloth over her wrist. Monica didn't inquire about it.

"Good morning, angel baby."

"So, what's our assignment today?"

"Well your assignment is a young police officer. Well, almost police officer. You'll be training at the academy. But first you have to go to the doctor. Oh the hassles that come with human form!" Tess sighed. Monica laughed. "Your appointment's at nine-thirty, you better get going." Monica stood and grabbed an apple off of the table.

"What are you doing with that?"

"Well." She began, as she bit into the apple. "If I ate more of these, I'd never have to go to the doctor."

"Very true." She got up.

"Are you coming with me?"

"Yes. See my wrist? I think I sprained it last night."

"That must have been one heck of an assignment!"

"It was, believe me. I'll tell you about it. But only when we have time!" She said urgently as they appeared at the bottom of a tall office building.

………………..

Monica was relieved when she and Tess left the office with no incident. Tess was not going to find out about this. At least not this early in the game. Monica practically made a mad dash for the elevator, without trying to seem too terribly obvious. She was disappointed when they had to wait for the elevator, and anxious too. She felt exactly what she was desperately trying to get a way from lurking behind her. Perhaps that was just her fear.

"Monica!" She heard a voice call. She looked up and guessed that she was wrong, it wasn't just her fear. Now reality was catching up with her.

"Yes?" She asked, knowing that simply posing a question was a mistake on her part.

"You forgot your prenatal vitamins." The nurse handed her a little bottle. "Congratulations." She waved as she rushed back down the hall.

"Thank you." Monica said loosely.

"Your what?" Tess asked as soon as they had gotten into the elevator.

"Vitamins." She said, figuring that wasn't lying.

"Give me those. There's something you're not telling me, angel girl." She took the little bottle away from Monica and began to read it.

"Explain!" She urged as they appeared back in the house once more.

"Well Tess, I have a vitamin deficiency. That's all."

"And how are prenatal vitamins supposed to help that?"

"Well they, they uh…"

"Well! And what was the congratulations all about?" She pressed and Monica burst out crying and collapsed onto the couch.

"Tess. I may be just a tiny bit pregnant."

"A tiny bit pregnant! How can you be a tiny bit pregnant? You either are or you aren't and I'd say that the evidence all suggests that you are!"

Monica nodded slowly and then she laid her head in her hands. She didn't watch Tess for the next few minutes and just cried her eyes out. She was happy at first, but now she realized that she was just plain in trouble.

"Oh, angel boy, I'm so glad you're here." She heard Tess say. Monica caught her breath.

"Oh angel girl, my angel girl." He gasped as he leaned down to her crying form. He ran his fingers through her hair as she sobbed. Despite her stress, Monica noticed that he heavily emphasized the word 'my.' Tess however, didn't seem to notice his articulation, and instead she went on with her story.

"Monica is pregnant."

Andrew looked up at Tess, his eyes wide. He too knew now that they had been caught. But that wasn't his primary concern at the moment. Monica continued to cry. Andrew sat next to her on the couch and rubbed her back softly as she sobbed.

"I'd sure like to know who the father of this child is." Tess remarked. "If I did, I'd like to have five minutes alone with him so I could tell him just what I think of him, and oh….! And Monica! How could you do this? Hum? How could you! Who is the father, Monica?" Tess yelled.

"I am!" Andrew stood up to face Tess. His voice boomed with anger. Monica stopped crying and looked up at him. Her tear-stained face was sad and awe stricken. Tess looked very taken aback.

"You angel boy?" She asked, in a tone that was unusually soft for her, even in her sweetest of moods. She seemed sad and afraid. "The two of you…I don't believe it How could you…"

"We fell in love. We're engaged too, Tess. Do you want to hear all about it!" He asked, smiling at her as he did so.

"No I don't! Angel girl…" She was almost yelling again.

"Don't yell at her! She's my fiancé and I love her! And she's carrying my child! A child that I want and love very deeply! So if you want to be mad at Monica, you're just going to have to be mad at me too. Because this is just as much my responsibility as it hers! We did something very wrong. I'm not so sure we regret it even though it looks like this baby is our consequence for love. On the other hand it looks like it's also going to be our biggest reward. And if you want someone to yell at, yell at me. I can take it. I'm not the one who's pregnant!" Monica's hand clung desperately to Andrew's at this time.

Tess stood there for a moment. She seemed petrified.

"I'm sorry, angel girl." She said, getting down on her knees to gaze into Monica's downcast eyes. "I hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me. And as for me, it looks like I just don't have much of a heart right now." She disappeared.

"Oh, my love." He smiled as he got down on his knees. He took her chin in his hand and brought her eyes to meet his.

"We're going to have a baby?"

"Yes." She whispered softly.

"Oh angel!" His lips brushed against hers forcefully. He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her forehead when he pulled away.

"I'd been planning to give you this for awhile now. I guess that today's the perfect day." He said, pulling a small box out of his pocket. He opened it. Inside was a diamond ring. It was slightly more than modest in size. It was gorgeous. Andrew took it out of the box and placed it gently on Monica's finger.

"Will you still be my wife?"

"Yes!" She began to cry again as their lips met in sweet, sweet love.

………………..

"Do you forgive me babies?" Tess asked them as she came into the living room later that night. "I reacted badly, and I'm so sorry. You have done wrong, but I still love you. And I'm here for you."

"We forgive you, Tess." Monica and Andrew spoke collectively.

"We do have one problem, however. I know that the father has forgiven you, and he blessed your love with a baby. But the other angels aren't exactly so…forgiving. Some of them anyway, the bureaucrats, like Ruth for example. My sweet angel boy, they've banished you from seeing Monica. And I've been given no alternative but to enforce that."

"Well, do I get to see my baby after he or she is born?" Tess shook her head.

"So my baby gets to grow up with out a father!" Monica yelled as she stood up. "That's not fair, when her father wants her so much. We need him, the baby and I! Tess, even regardless of the baby I love him too much to let him go!" She started to cry again and she collapsed into Andrew's arms.

"I'm sorry, angel babies. You have until midnight tonight." She disappeared once more.

"Midnight, Andrew, midnight!" She sobbed, clinging to him desperately.

"Monica." He said, lifting her chin once again so he could look into the eyes he loved so much. "Will you do me a favor?" She nodded. "Will you tell our baby that I love her, everyday of her life? Will you tell her I want to be there, and I can't? Will you think of me every time you look into her little eyes?"

"Yes Andrew, yes, yes, I will." She sobbed.

"And remember, my Monica. In my heart, you'll always be my wife."

"And you'll always be my husband."

She could scarcely breathe. He pressed his lips against hers, and she enjoyed the time she had left in the arms of her love.

………………..

He left her at the stroke of midnight, just like they wanted. Crying, she looked up at Tess.

"Angel girl, you're not going to be alone."

"I might as well be, if Andrew can't be with us." She let Tess hold her.

"Here's what we're going to do, my angel. We're going to raise this baby in love, and peace. And we're not going to look back." And from that point on, Monica had no choice but to just move forward, happy that even if she couldn't have him she still had that little piece of him that was growing inside her, the one testament to their love.

………………..

Monica's pregnancy progressed quickly, and soon, nine months had passed. She went into labor one fall night after she and Tess had spent the day preparing for the baby. It was a very hard labor, both physically and emotionally. She had Tess and a nurse at her side, the whole time. And all Monica wanted was the only thing she couldn't have, Andrew. She cried for him softly during the delirium of her worst contractions when she wasn't busy screaming from the pain.

She had spent much of the past nine months crying for him, wanting him, but now is when she needed him the absolute most. When the time to bring the baby into the world finally came upon them, Monica still just wanted Andrew. She was so warn and so tired and so sad that she almost didn't have the will to continue, even for her baby. This broke Tess's heart.

She looked straight ahead at the wall, not twenty feet away, for the first time in hours. The little chair which had been vacant for the whole night now housed a figure in angelic form. It was Andrew, her Andrew. He smiled at her. Was she dreaming?

"I love you, you can do this, my angel girl." He told her and he blew a kiss.

"I see him sweetheart, see he loves you so much, and so do I, come on. It's time." Tess took one of her hands the nurse took the other.

………………..

Monica had a healthy baby girl that night. Monica didn't say it, but she looked a lot like Andrew. She would have no trouble thinking of him when she looked into their baby's eyes as she had promised, for that was unavoidable. She had the exact same eyes as her Dad. Who's hair color she had inherited was yet to be determined. They would just have to wait and see about that. The only thing that Monica could not decide on was what to name her. She wanted it to be something that was reminiscent of Andrew, for if the baby had been a boy that's what she would have named him. But she was overjoyed to have her little girl, and she decided to call her Anna.

She and the baby were sitting in the little hospital room by themselves. Anna was an hour old, and Monica just enjoyed being able to look at her. Suddenly she felt someone sit beside her. She looked to her side, and there she saw Andrew.

"Oh, Andrew!" She started to cry.

"Oh my angel girl!" He kissed her lips softly. "You did so well. I was here the whole time. I wanted to hold you, to ease your pain."

"I'm fine now, Andrew." They kissed again. "I'm so happy that you're here."

"I'm so happy to be here. I miss you."

"I miss you too." She looked up from her baby to find him looking at her too.

"Can I hold her?"

"Of course." She smiled. "Here, Anna, here's your daddy."

Andrew took the little girl in his arms and just looked at her in wonderment.

"I'm going to have no problem thinking of you when I look in her eyes." Monica smiled; tears began to flow to her own eyes. "She looks just like you, Andrew. She would be a real Daddy's Girl, if…"

"She is a real Daddy's Girl. And I love her." He kissed his baby's head softly.

"Her name is Anna. Do you like it?"

"I love it, very much. Hi Anna, I'm your Daddy. Hi." The baby smiled as up at him. "Oh, look who has Mommy's smile!"

"She does?" Monica asked.

"Yeah, look."

"And she has Daddy's nose too." Monica smiled. "How much longer do you have with us, Andrew?"

"About an hour."

"An hour Andrew, an hour!" She started to cry again.

"We are bound together forever now, my love. I think you know that. We are bound forever by this precious little daughter of ours. I wish I could be with the two of you all the time, but I won't leave completely. I'll turn up every once in a while and in the meantime, I'm going to find a way for the three of us to be together forever." He brushed a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Will you pray with me, Andrew?"

"Of course." He smiled.

"Father." Monica began. "We come to you now because we are thankful, and because we need your forgiveness. We love you, and above all we still want to be your angels. But as you know, we love each other too. We may have expressed that love in ways we shouldn't have. Ways that were sinful and not what you wanted for us or of us. We love each other so much, and we just want to be together. Thank you so very much for the baby girl you've given us. We love her so much, and we promise to teach her to be a good angel. Please make way for us to be together, because we are a real family. We love you. Amen."

"That was beautiful, sweetheart. Hey Anna, Daddy has something for you. Several some things actually." Just as he said that a few packages appeared on the table on the other side of the room.

"Oh Andrew, thank you."

"You don't need to thank me. She's my daughter too. Anna, there's one thing that Daddy wants to give you everyday, but he can't. And I wish that you had some way of remembering it so it's good that I'll be able to come and see you to remind you. And it's a good thing that Mommy is going to remind you too, and that is how much I love you. You see, Daddy always loved you, but now that you're here and now that I see you and can hold you in my arms, I really don't know how I'm going to let you go. I love you, oh, I love you, my beautiful little girl." He kissed her forehead softly. "I love you." He looked at her for a few minutes, as if trying to memorize her little face. "I love you."

"Oh, Andrew. She loves you that much too. So do I. Neither of us know how we're going to let you go either."

"I know you don't. But just remember, your both in my heart."

"Us too." She started to cry.

"Are you still my wife?"

"Always, Are you still my husband?"

"Forever." He kissed her lips softly. " Be a good girl for Mommy, Anna. I have to go now, my sweet love." He almost cried now too. He placed Anna back in her mother's arms and he kissed her once more. He kissed his wife one last time in a sweet, tender caress and simply disappeared.