Hummingbirds
On a crisp Sunday morning, sunlight beamed through clear plastic. To most, such a sight wouldn't be beautiful. To Muriel though, it was.
Curving shapes and faint rainbows shimmered along the hardwood floor of a hand-built deck. To the little angel, the shapes reminded her of dancing fairies— not the real kind but the kinds in human story books.
The little angel laughed to herself as she watched the tiny rainbows of color. Her wings fanned out from her back to dip down to the floor and touch the small beams so that her wings too could be decorated with brilliant color.
The patio door of Muriel's home slid open and footsteps pattered lightly from behind. The little angel turned, her soft green and brown wings fluffing as she caught the sight of a giant smile.
"Hey, little bird," Muriel's mother hummed. "Any hummingbirds yet?"
Britt— she was a beautiful woman with light brown hair and shining eyes. Muriel had woken up in her arms months ago and has lived with her ever since. She was a park ranger and a woman Muriel remembered to be one of her destined vessels.
"Nope." Muriel shook her head and pointed at the plastic container of hummingbird juice she'd been staring at. "Not one."
Britt hummed softly. "Well, they must be full on all those pretty flowers we planted yesterday." She stooped low, running a hand through Muriel's dark hair. "Want to come back inside? It's a little hot out here."
Muriel shook her head. "I'm okay." She pointed at the feeder. "I wanna wait for birds."
"Okay then." Britt gave her another pat. "An old friend of mine is coming over soon so don't wear yourself out too much. He's got a few boys of his own I'm sure would love to play."
Shock washed over Muriel's face. "Should I get blanky?" She motioned to her wings. "To hide?"
Gentle hands stroked through her feathers. "No, little bird. It's okay to show them this time. I promise."
Muriel nodded hesitantly. "Okay," she said.
"Good girl." Britt kissed her cheek. "I'm going to water the flowers around the house. Have fun watching for the birdies." She turned away then, walking down the steps and disappearing behind the blueberry bushes that surrounded their house.
With Britt gone, Muriel put her attention back on the plastic container above and the colors it emitted through rays of sunlight. She hummed as she watched, drifting back and forth from tunes she'd heard back in heaven from her brothers and sisters to ones she heard on children's TV stations since being taken in by Britt.
The sun was hot against her skin and feathers but Muriel just flattened out on her belly so her feathers could get fully bathed by the warm rays. It made her sleepy— like a fat cat— but she forced herself not to succumb to sleep. She still had to see the hummingbirds after all.
"Little bird!"
Muriel startled out of her sleepy daydreams and raised her head in time to see her mother waving to her from their driveway just as an old pickup truck drove in.
Curious, Muriel momentarily forgot about her earlier mission and focused on the visitors Britt had told her she could be herself around.
An old man eased out of the truck. He had salt and pepper hair and an old cap that sat atop his head. After him, a boy with a glow to him Muriel had only felt from other angels slid out of the truck. With the boy piled out three more her size all with different colored wings that she recognized easily enough.
"Hey, Bobby," Britt greeted the older man with a handshake. "Thanks for getting in touch with me."
"No problem, Miss Irvin. It's our job after all," Bobby answered after accepting her hand.
"Britt's fine, Bobby. No need to be formal." Muriel's mother turned then, her eyes drifting to where Muriel was watching up on the deck. "Sweetie, come down and say hello to Bobby Singer and his boys."
Still tired from her soak in the sun, Muriel sluggishly made her way from her spot on the deck and down the stairs to where Britt and their visitors were waiting.
"Balthazar?" Muriel eyed the silver winged angel carefully. "That you?"
The silver winged angel grinned and then gave her a wink. "In the flesh," he answered proudly. "Last I saw you was…" Balthazar tipped his head in thought. "...when Michael was teaching us to fly, right?"
Muriel nodded, a smile easing over her lips at the fond memory. Flying practice was always a bore with Michael's long lectures and no-fun attitude but Balthazar had always found a way to make it fun.
"How about us, Muriel?" the golden-winged angel next to Balthazar asked while waving between himself and the black winged angel by his side.
Rolling her eyes, Muriel smirked at the angel. "How could I forget?" She eyed Castiel first. "Hello, Castiel."
Castiel waved shyly, looking more nervous than the other two. Muriel wasn't really surprised. He had caused a lot of problems for angels and heaven. There were plenty of their siblings who actually hated Castiel but Muriel wasn't one of those. She despised grudges after all.
She smiled, hoping to ease her brother's nerves. "Good to see you."
The tension in Castiel's wings thankfully drained away a little then and Muriel turned her attention back to the one and only Gabriel. She flicked her eyes over his wings and grinning face, he hadn't changed at all since she last saw him before the war in heaven. Well, his size was new at least.
She nodded at Gabriel in greeting. She didn't really have anything to say to him. They didn't have a shared history like she had with Balthazar and though she didn't really know Castiel either, she still had a little history with the angel through short meetings and other angelic business.
"Oh!" Balthazar clapped his hands together and pointed up at the boy watching them silently. "This is Vali— Gabriel's son."
Muriel's eyes went wide and she glared at Gabe. "A Nephilim? Gabriel—"
Vali held up his hands, eyes wide. "Woah, wait! I'm not a Nephilim." He looked sheepishly at his father then and rubbed the back of his neck. "I um...well, I'm a full blood angel."
Muriel cocked her head to the side, looking Vali up and down again. It wasn't unheard of— two angels conceiving a child but it was still rather rare.
"Who—"
"He's all mine," Gabriel interrupted. "He was born of my grace and mine alone."
Muriel blinked at him, shock and surprise mixing deep within her mind.
Britt, thankfully, decided it was about time to change the subject.
"Well, anyway~" Britt turned her gaze from the angels and back to Bobby. "Bobby called me up a while ago talking about angels and all that," she explained. "You said you had some sort of device tracking angels so you can help them?"
Bobby nodded. "That's right." He pointed at the three angels by his feet. "These three had a vision a couple days ago about a green and brown winged angel. We had one of our guys look at our tracker to see if he could find the area the angel was based on the signs and other landmarks the angels saw in their vision.
"Wow." Stunned, Britt looked between the angels and Bobby. "And that's how you find all the angels?"
"Uh...if we're lucky," Balthazar admitted. "Sometimes it's by chance and other times…" He trailed off, clearly not wanting to go into detail.
"We've brought what we like to call our angel care package," Vali explained then. "It has stuff in it that angels need like special combs, shampoos, clothes, and so on."
"There's also a booklet with mine and a few others' contact information inside in case you ever need help," Bobby added.
Britt smiled kindly at Bobby and Vali. "You weren't kidding when you said this family was a close one. It's nice to know." She twirled a finger through her hair. "I was a little shocked when Muriel first came to me— terrified actually. I had no idea what to do."
"Looks like you're doing a good job to us," Balthazar stepped in, earning a thankful smile from his sister and Britt.
"Thank you." Britt brushed the strand of hair she'd been fidgeting with back and glanced back up at the deck. "Muriel, why don't you go watch for your hummingbirds with your brothers while Bobby and Vali and I talk for a bit?"
Muriel nodded and waved at her brothers to follow her to the steps leading up to the deck. When she waddled up to the first two steps though, Balthazar wrapped his arms around her and the two flew up to the top step. Muriel batted at him playfully until he set her down and the four angels quietly crowded around the hummingbird feeder still hanging all by its lonesome.
Green and brown wings slumped in disappointment. "They're still not here," Muriel sighed, her lip puffing out in a pout as she sat cross-legged on the hardwood floor of the deck.
"Maybe they're not hungry?" Balthazar pondered as he plopped down by her side.
"Balthy might be right," Castiel hummed. "You have a lot of flowers around your house. Maybe if we walk around the bushes we'll see one?"
Muriel shook her head. She didn't want to watch the hummingbirds fly to flower to flower. No, Muriel wanted to watch the hummingbirds fly through the colorful reflections of the feeder. She loved the pretty colors and shapes it scattered over her own wings when the light hit just so. She wanted to see the same pretty designs on the hummingbirds too.
Gabriel sprawled out on his belly like Muriel had been doing not too long ago. "Well, they should show up pretty soon," he sighed. "Angels seem to attract animals pretty easily for some reason, remember?"
Balthazar barked out a laugh. "How could we forget? We can't go to a petting zoo or anything without getting swarmed." He eyed their sister then. "You've noticed it too haven't you Muriel? That we sometimes attract animals?"
Muriel couldn't argue with her brother on that. Britt had always told her that the forest was always crawling with animals but that they tended to stay away from humans, However, ever since Muriel showed up, the animals in the forest surrounding their home weren't afraid to come to the front door and say hi.
"With four of us sitting here it should only be a little longer," Gabriel hummed and he closed his eyes as he spread his wings lazily over the warm wood of the deck for a nice sunbath.
With hope in her heart, Muriel sprawled out on her belly too, getting comfortable as she prepared to wait for her little flying friends. Over her, Castiel and Balthazar chatted softly about some of the flowers and other plants potted all over the deck. A warm peace fluttered over Muriel as she sat there in the sun with her brothers and for a moment she was reminded of Heaven long before the wars that split her family apart. Like they did now, they used to lounge on clouds and in people's heavens, enjoying each other's company and warmth. It felt like a blessing to be able to do it again and Muriel found herself wishing that the moment would never end.
"Muriel, look," Balthazar whispered after a few minutes of waiting.
The green and brown winged angel looked up upon hearing her brother's soft voice and her eyes widened as three little hummingbirds flew to the feeder. They hummed to each other between sips of their meal and sometimes flew over Muriel's head to hum a gentle "good afternoon" to her and then to her brothers.
The soft colors made by the sun through the hummingbird's plastic feeder were just as beautiful on the hummingbirds as Muriel imagined and she memorized every detail of the brilliant patterns of color that danced along their feathers, not wanting to ever let the image go.