AN: There's a reference to the Sims 3in the title, and it's more obvious here than on AO3 if you know what I'm talking about. Digital cookies if you find it!

He was wrath. He was vengeance. Michael was the Viceroy of Heaven and no one was going to lay a hand on anyone in his family. Not on Gabriel's Fosterlings. Not on a nameless fledgling. Not on his daughter. Not even God. Not today. Not in any future he was going to be apart of. Not on his life.

They'd wondered for far too long at this eventuality, and they should have acted sooner. But Michael wasn't going to dwell on regrets of past inaction. He was here now and he would put an end to the fear this instant .

He knew that there was no way he could actually kill God if he were to face him, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that no one got to hurt his family without consequence.

And so he stood between the three cowering children and the Entity intent on destroying them for merely attempting to knock on the door. Not today . Sword in hand, he repelled .

Chuck, the prophet God had been masquerading as, and his reign of tyranny, were over. For good this time. If he could just defend.

He could feel the pressure of destructive intent coming towards him like a tidal wave, and he cut through it with a single slash with his suddenly summoned archangel blade. Not today. Not any day. Never again.

Michael took a step forward, switching to the offensive with an instinct that had been tapped down for far too long. God would no longer torture his family. Never again.

Without conscious thought, he whispered words that he had almost spoken before for an entirely different purpose.

God had locked Amara into a prison of nothing, but she had eventually managed to free herself.

Instead of reusing Her prison, he would lock God away into the cage built to contain Heylel. It would hold Him. And with the seals used up, it would never open again. Not again. Never again. They would be free.

And then He was gone from their lives, and Michael collapsed onto the ground, clutching his stomach and pressing his forehead into the dirt.

The pain radiated through his body, his abdomen, his wings. It felt like he was being devoured from the inside. And he couldn't feel his grace.

"Michael!"

That was not any of the children still standing safely behind him, but he knew that voice better than any other.

"Auntie Ama!" Michael did not try to lift his head. It would have taken far too much energy.

"Mikha, Sweetie, why would you do this to yourself?" She asked. "You could have died, to say nothing of your unborn child!"

Unborn… child? What was she talking about? "Tal-ia?" Was his daughter okay? She had to be okay, wasn't she in Heaven with the others? God hadn't returned to Heaven, He was in the Cage. They were all safe, they had to be!

He was hyperventilating and it was doing nothing for the stabbing pain.

"Talia is fine, she's still in the big nest." Oh, thank Her. "I'm referring to the one you are currently pregnant with. The one you seem pretty content to pretend does not exist?"

"That's… not possible." This was an illusion, a lie. It had nearly broken his heart to hear Sam's suspicions that he was pregnant for this very reason, but Sam was friend and had meant no harm.

She touched him, and pulled him into her lap. Not an illusion, then. It was more comfortable, but it didn't stop his insides from aching. More now, than they had when he collapsed. It wasn't all physical pain, anymore. It was also heartbreak and remembered anguish.

"I can't bear children," he whispered. "Or so He always said."

"You've been starving yourself and they are definitely suffering, but please trust me when I tell you that there is an unborn child in there and that you're very lucky they are still alive. This stunt could well have killed them, and you. If you don't believe me, perhaps you'd like Raphael to examine you? Or Heylel?"

His mate was going to kill him. But he wouldn't do that to Raphael. He wouldn't.

"You don't have to do this! Rafa, stop!"

Heylel rolled his eyes as Mikha squirmed on the bed in their private room. Amara had called Raphael to bring a battered Michael back from Earth and had insisted that he be examined by Raphael somewhere a little more private than the big nest.

It was obvious that his mate was in pain, but he still squirmed instead of letting Raphael complete the full exam. Why was Mikha doing this to himself ?

"Michael," Heylel said, using his full name to carry the gravity of the situation. "If you don't stop squirming and allow Raphael to finish the last part of the exam, I will tie you to the bed. In the most unsexy way possible."

"I don't want to know!" Michael screamed as Raphael tried to touch him again. "Raphael doesn't want to know!" he added, when he realized his first shout wasn't going to get him what he wanted.

Heylel plopped heavily onto the bed with a sigh. His mate was in pain but apparently they were going to do this right now because his mate was a fool . He knew where this was going, and the words Michael had shouted are specific enough that he's pretty sure he can guess at what this is about. He knew that Sam had asked similar questions earlier and he wishes that he had noticed then how quickly Michael had pushed it aside. Denied it.

He shook his head at Raphael after the Healer tried again, unsuccessfully, to touch Michael.

"Raphael, if I had asked you straight, weeks ago, simply to confirm whether or not I was pregnant, and without trying to pry details about our species from you that you weren't ready to give, what would your response have been?"

Raphael tilted his head, then his eyes widened almost imperceptibly. "As a Healer, it's my job to put aside my discomfort when it comes to a diagnosis. I would have performed a test and given you a yes or no answer, and because my I am capable of differentiating between pregnancy, unborn fledglings, and my own trauma and experiences, it would have been fine. No, I wasn't able to deliver Talia. It brought back flashbacks of my isolation and pain. But performing the test would not have had the same effect."

Michael stared at Raphael and Heylel. He hiccupped, then started sobbing. It could be as easy as asking. "He said I couldn't, so I can't!"

Michael knew he sounded as petulant as a fledgling, but he didn't care. He didn't want to know .

Heylel sighed again. "Well, either you are or your aren't, and if you're not going to let Raphael check, I guess we have to go on the assumption that you are."

"I'm not! I can't be! It's not possible!"

Heylel rolled over and turned himself so that he was pressed close against his mate. "You are injured, and your grace is so depleted I can just barely feel it and we are bonded . I know that He did incredibly awful things to you when we were growing up, but you wouldn't be insisting on this so hard right now if something hadn't happened tonight."

"Will you leave me alone if I let Raphael do the fucking test? I'm not pregnant and I can live with that."

He was pretty sure that Mikha would not be okay if the test turned out negative, but if that was the case (he was like 90% sure it was going to be positive) they would get through it just like they'd gotten through everything else.

"I love you," he whispered, pressing a kiss to Mikha's cheek. "It'll be okay."

Michael sobbed in Heylel's arms and Heylel nodded at Raphael to begin the test. It was a slow process of Raphael examining every inch of Michael's grace, and Michael sobbed the entire time.

Heylel wished he knew what God had done to Michael that could ruin what should have been a joyous occasion, but he also knew it wasn't his place to ask. When Michael was ready, he would tell them. In the meantime, he would support his mate.

Right before Raphael stepped back, Heylel saw the hint of a slight smile cross Raphael's features. Mikha couldn't see it from his position, and Heylel was kind of glad about it. "It can not be a false positive," he whispered to Raphael on a channel of grace that Michael would not be able to hear. "That would kill him. "

Raphael nodded, before speaking quietly. "I have an idea," Raphael turned to face Mikha. "Mikha, since I know you're not really going to believe me regardless of what I tell you, why don't I show you what I found? Humans have the technology to show moving pictures of their unborn children, which I believe are called ultrasounds. I could use my grace to show you what I see, with no illusions. Is that alright?"

Mikha turned his tear streaked face towards his brother. "It'll show exactly what is there, right now?" Raphael nodded. "Okay."

Raphael waved his hand and a moment later there was a free standing screen in front of them. He was also holding what looked like the mobisante ultrasound probe, not that they knew that's what it looked like. He brushed it against Michael's abdomen and then glanced at the screen.

They all stared at the screen. The image presented to them was recognizable as a fledgling. Not fully developed by a lot, but recognizeable nonetheless. The unborn child had the very basic shape of a child, head, torso, limbs. What stuck out the most though, of course, were the extra limbs extending from the fledgling's shoulder blades could appear to be located.

Heylel blinked at the picture. "Does she have six pairs of wings?" This was not what Heylel wanted to know more than anything else, and the main reason he asked was to distract Mikha from the panic attack it looked like he was close to having. He was also genuinely curious about this because there were no angels or archangels in Heaven having more than a single pair of wings. Even Talia and Sami only had a single pair of wings each.

Angels also had no real gender, as the difference between those who could and those who could not carry children themselves was not determined by gender . Heylel and his mate, and most of his siblings, used masculine pronouns because they matched with their vessels or simply didn't care what human words were necessary to describe them. If Heylel had been speaking Enochian, he would have used the only pronoun in the language. But he hadn't been, because they had all taken to using the much larger vocabulary provided by the English language their brothers' mates spoke.

Raphael smiled, in that way of his that absolutely meant Heylel was wrong . The elder archangel was okay with that, though, because Mikha had tilted his head in a way that meant that he was also interested in hearing Raphael's answer, and that was a win. His mate would panic over the fact that there really was an unborn child there soon enough.

"No, Heylel. It only looks like there's six wings forming because the bone segments haven't fused yet. This image is magnified quite a lot. In reality, her entire being is smaller than the palm of your vessel's hand."

Mikha's eyes had started watering, so Heylel pressed himself closer. "I'm pregnant? Really?"

Heylel was about ready to find out exactly where Mikha had locked Chuck away and maybe go beat him up. More than once. Mikha sounded utterly terrified , and still there was disbelief, although there was just a hint of hope, which was a good sign.

"I would not lie to you about this," Raphael said. His tone was solemn and honest, no hint of mischief or levity. "I have to insist that you don't leave Heaven before she's born. You are incredibly lucky that the stunt you pulled today didn't kill you both. I'm not going to put you on complete bed rest for now, but I am going to be monitoring your health a lot closer."

"But you don't have to do that!"

"I think Raph does need to do that," Heylel argued.

"Mikha, how much pain would you say you're in right now?" Raphael asked.

Mikha shrugged. "Less than when I collapsed in His yard? It's mostly just discomfort, but it's nothing. Why are you threatening to put me on bed rest? Heylel flew to Earth a few times while he was pregnant, and wandered freely around our home."

Heylel rolled his eyes at the wall. His mate was lying, and crabby, and liable to hurt himself further. Bed rest was probably a good idea. If the stubborn idiot would actually follow it. But Mikha was his stubborn idiot, and he wouldn't have him any other way.

"Okay," Raphael said. "Mikha, I insist that you walk to the other end of the room and back. Then we'll go rejoin the others in the big nest."

What would that accomplish? Heylel wondered. He could tell that Mikha was in pain and had been lying about it being nothing more than slight discomfort, but was having him walk across the room really the best way to prove a point? "Is that necessary?" he asked, less because Mikha looked like he was about to argue and more because maybe Raphael was taking this a bit far. Michael didn't look like he was capable of walking that distance, and he was probably stubborn enough to try it anyway instead of just losing the facade. Heylel just didn't want to see Mikha hurt any more.

Raphael looked like he was about to say something, probably along the lines of "Yes, this is necessary, are you arguing with my methods?" Yes, yes Heylel was arguing with the methods, but why did all of his brothers have to be so prideful . Wasn't he supposed to be the one whose greatest sin was pride?

But before Raphael could actually say whatever it was he was about to say in defence of his healing methods, Michael stood up, and tried to walk towards the far end of the room.

It didn't really count was walking. He was barely shuffling his body forward, but his face was contorted in a look of so much pain even before the first step was attempted. The second one was even more of a struggle, and Heylel wanted nothing more than to jump up and put an end to the whole farce. The stubbornness of idiots apt to get themselves killed.

But the words never made it out of Heylel's mouth.

Just as Mikha lifted his foot to take the third step, his entire body crumpled. He hadn't actually moved more than a single foot away from the bed, so it was child's play for Raphael, who was standing right next to him, and Heylel, sitting within arm's reach, to catch him and gently place him horizontal in the middle of the bed, gently, and so that he was not lying on the same side with the baby.

Mikha didn't have the presence of mind to look ashamed, he just sobbed. One of his arms reached out towards Heylel, but then at the last moment he retreated, drawing his arms around himself and sobbing harder.

Heylel laid down beside his mate and touched him gently to offer the comfort that Mikha wanted but had tried to deny himself. "It's okay," he whispered. "We're here for you."

"It hurts so much," Mikha whimpered. He scowled. "Why am I so soft ? You and Talia-"

"Stop." Heylel tried to keep the snarl out of his voice, and only mostly succeeded. "Stop. You did what none of us could have ever done and got rid of Him completely . We're never ever going to have to worry about our safety due to him coming after us, and you did that all by yourself. Yes, Raphi and I are incredibly worried about you right now, but that's because we love you and care about you. You do not get to compare what you're experiencing to my carrying Talia." He considered what had occurred only hours earlier with Mikha claiming hunger so desperately that he'd eaten and eaten from a tree he had never before touched. He blinked. "You've been starving yourself ."

Mikha froze. "What? No. I haven't been starving myself. Why would you suggest that?"

Raphael just looked sad. How had he missed it? How had they all ?

"You tried to eat all the fruit of a single tree. And I know that you were meeting Sam at a lot of different coffee shops, but did you actually eat any of the food you tried to buy for him? For that matter, did Sam?"

As if the words summoned him, the door to the room opened, revealing Sam, barely able to stand on his own. Slowly, he began to stumble towards the nest. Eventually, he reached the edge of Mikha's side of the nest, almost falling over before climbing up onto the bed. He crawled the rest of the way until he was kneeling in front of Mikha.

He reached into his pockets, nearly falling over once again, before finally pulling out a wrapped granola bar from one of the several pockets. "Here, you should have it," he mumbled, before flopping onto his side, and shifting up the bed until he was resting next to Mikha, his head laid gently upon the archangel's shoulder. He yawned softly, snuggling close like a child to their parent, and quickly fell asleep.

The archangels were all silent, watching Sam sleep. Several minutes passed, before Heylel finally whispered. "All this time, Sam knew. Every time he would go somewhere, he would try to make sure you ate." With a sigh, he carefully moved to pull the granola bar from Sam's hand, before unwrapping it and placing it in Mikha's. "You can't just keep neglecting yourself. If you can't take care of yourself for your sake, and can't for mine, then please, do it for Sam, and for our children."

Mikha wasn't hungry, and hurt too much to want to eat. But he took a bite of the granola bar and chewed slowly, hoping that it wasn't going to trigger the nausea that had been plaguing him for months. He mostly just wanted to cry some more because everything that was happening was a lot to take in.

Suddenly there was a light tapping on the door. A quick glance proved that it wasn't loud enough to cause Sam to stir, although it was quite possible that nothing, not even the end of the world, would have woken Sam at that point.

Who could it be?