Chapter 4

Making her way though the crowd, Gloria found herself having a great time seeing this particular group of people again. She'd spotted Andrew heading towards her, but was soon distracted by other guests. While catching up with Daphne, Gloria kept an eye out for her former assignment. "It was so nice of you to invite me tonight, Daphne. Where's Chris?"

"He should be down soon. I just called up that you were here," Daphne answered, smiling. "I'm just so happy you could make it. Chris has been asking about you non-stop since I told him Monica would be working at my office."

It made Gloria a little less nervous to see Daphne welcome her. Gloria remembered how they hadn't exactly gotten along, and she, along with the other angels, had been worried about approaching these people again. Even after Monica assured her that her job experience was going well, Gloria had still been hesitant. "I wouldn't have missed it," Gloria assured her. "None of us would. Chris was so adorable, and to be honest I was curious to see how he's doing now."

Daphne practically beamed at the compliment. "Well, he should be down here soon. He's been playing with Fi and Katie ever since they got here."

"Fi's here? That's great, but…who's Katie? Another one of his friends?" Gloria asked, pleased that Chris was making so many new friends.

At that, Daphne frowned with confusion and asked, "You don't know?"

"No," Gloria admitted. "Should I?"

Shaking her head, Daphne explained, "I guess it shouldn't surprise me – Monica did say you were working on separate assignments. Katie is the daughter of Tess' assignment, I think. And Emma, Katie's aunt and my assistant, is Monica's. They're both walking around here somewhere…"

"Monica's here? I didn't know that," Gloria nearly squealed with excitement. It felt like she didn't see her best friend often enough these days. And that their assignments were connect so closely was such a nice surprise. "She said she was working tonight, but I thought that meant she wouldn't be able to make it."

"Oh no, she's here. I just saw Andrew as well, and Tess said she'd be a little late – something about car trouble," Daphne replied.

"Gloria!"

The two looked up to see three young children running down the stairs. The one leading the way, Fiona, bounded down the steps and leaped into the angel's arms. "Gloria! I knew you'd be able to make it!"

"Of course I would!" Gloria said, returning the six-year-old's tight hug.

Once they broke apart, Fiona asked, "Is everybody else here?"

"Monica and Andrew are. Tess should be here soon," Gloria answered.

Bouncing up and down from excitement, Fiona asked Daphne, "Where are they?"

"Monica was in the kitchen, last I…" Daphne trailed off as Fiona switched gears and made a beeline to the kitchen. Katie gave them a weak smile and ran after Fiona. "…saw."

"Nowhere near the coffee maker, I hope," Gloria said with a giggle.

Laughing, Daphne assured her, "Andrew told me about that, so I have Adriana keeping a look out. I take it that it's not good for an assignment when the angel is on a caffeine high."

"Not at all, trust me," Gloria said. Realizing that Chris still hadn't approached her, Gloria knelt down to his level. "Hey, Chris. I don't get a hug?"

Chris gave her a shy smile, but gave her a hug that was just as tight as the one Fi had. "I missed you," he said in a near-whisper.

"I missed you too," Gloria replied, hugging back. "Happy Birthday, Chris. How old are you going to be Sunday?"

After a minute, Chris held up five fingers and his index finger on his other hand. "This many."

"That's a lot!" Gloria exclaimed.

Curious, Chris asked, "How old are you?"

"Chris!" Daphne chided, offering Gloria an apologetic frown. "I'm so sorry about…"

"No, it's alright," Gloria assured her, amused by the question herself. While the other angels were much older than they appeared, she was much younger. Turning back to Chris, she answered, "I'm much younger than you probably think I am."

Chris considered her response, then began, "But how –"

"Chris! There you are! Come over here and give Grandma a hug!"

All three heard Sarah Miller's call clear across the room, including Chris, who frowned at the idea of being smothered by his grandmother. Giggling, Gloria insisted, "Go ahead, Chris. We can talk later."

"Okay," Chris said, then with some hesitance made his way over to his grandmother. Both Daphne and Gloria laughed with Sarah wrapped him in a crushing hug, the young boy squirming to make the embrace end as soon as possible.

Moving back into the party, Daphne offered one last comment before returning to her gusts. "I have to say, Gloria, speaking of age – you look amazing."

"Thanks," Gloria replied, knowing Daphne was referring to her recent weight loss. "I got in shape when I had an assignment with a mountain climber for a month. I guess I haven't been in human form enough since then to gain the weight back."

Once Daphne went to talk to more guests, Gloria remembered that Daphne had mentioned where Monica was and headed towards the kitchen. Once she got there, however, she found not her supervisor, but Andrew and Adriana talking. "Hi!"

After greetings were exchanged, Andrew asked, "I saw you come in and would've said hello, but saw you talking to Daphne."

"Yeah, actually, she said Monica was here," Gloria replied, disappointed that it was taking this long to find her best friend. "Do either of you know where she went?"

Adriana shrugged. "About five minutes ago, she gave up on trying to persuade me to move away from the coffee maker. After that I think went to talk to Jacob."

'Oh, thanks," Gloria said, already heading towards the living room.

Looking nervous all of a sudden, Andrew said, "Gloria, wait! I, uh, need to talk to you about something."

Gloria stopped, giving him a curious look while Adriana also raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Andrew?"

"I think I may have done some damage to Monica's assignment," Andrew confessed, his eyes lowered in shame.

Concern for Monica and Emma growing within her, Gloria let out a soft "oh" while she waited for her friend to explain.

Adriana stood next to Gloria and Andrew, wondering if she should make herself scarce. This sounded like official angel business…whatever that was. But the guilty look on the angel of death's face was making her curiosity get the better of her. "Andrew, what happened?"

"Well, it's an interesting story…" Andrew began, explaining about Elizabeth's insistence that he date her sister.

Grimacing, Adriana remarked, "That must have been awkward. What'd you say?"

"Andrew was shocked speechless," Gloria interrupted, letting out a giggle at the memory while Andrew's face reddened. "The first time, I said that he was 'otherwise committed.' But Elizabeth keeps asking him every once in a while. I don't think she'll stop unless she gets a concrete answer."

"Which you can't give her. And that's why you think you ruined Monica's assignment? Because she'll keep trying to set Andrew up with Emma when she isn't ready?" Adriana guessed. At first she'd laughed at the unlikely situation along with Gloria, but now she calmed down as she realized how this could cause a serious setback to the assignment.

Andrew shook his head. "No. It would be fine, maybe a little uncomfortable for me…and amusing to Gloria…" he added, with a sidelong glance at the blushing angel. "But that wouldn't be a problem. What is a problem is that I…just ran into Emma. Daphne invited her to the party tonight, and after a short conversation she found out that I was the person her sister was trying to set her up with."

"Uh oh," Gloria sighed.

Frowning, Adriana took a second to put two and two together. From what she knew, Emma was having trouble moving on from her divorce, and Elizabeth wasn't making it any easier. If Emma found out that Andrew, who she would undoubtedly view as a cute guy, rejected her, she might take it as a blow to her already-crumbling self-esteem. And it didn't help that Andrew only rejected her because he was an angel, since she wouldn't know that. On top of all that, it would serve to cause more of a rift between Emma and Elizabeth. Swallowing the now-present lump in her throat, Adriana finally nodded. Not knowing what else to say, she added, "Yes, definitely 'uh oh.' What are you two going to do?"

"We can't do anything. It's not our assignment," Andrew answered, regret and dread in his voice. "I guess we'll have to…tell Monica…"

Gloria also looked rather uneasy as she suggested, "You know, maybe giving her coffee wouldn't be a bad idea. That always puts her in a good mood."

"Well, from what I've seen of Monica, I'm sure she won't blame you for any of it. Now Tess, on the other hand…you may want to make sure she isn't in the room when you tell Monica," Adriana said. For some reason, the former supervisor angel never failed to intimidate her.

Surveying the living room through the open kitchen doorway, Gloria narrowed her eyes in a particular direction. "Hey, look!"

Adriana did, and instantly saw the problem. Emma was talking with Daphne, an apologetic frown on the younger woman's face and a jacket over her arm. The party had moved to the backyard screen house, so it was just those two in the empty room. "Oh, sh…" Adriana trailed off as she remembered her company and corrected, "…shoot, she's leaving! That's bad, isn't it? I mean, we just had dinner."

"It can't be good. She must have been upset by our run-in earlier," Andrew said, increasing guilt in his features.

"Well, shouldn't you…" Adriana paused, realizing that the angels couldn't do anything. Sighing, she said, "Never mind. I'll handle it," and went off to do so. Maneuvering around party guests, she ended up at Daphne's side without making a sound. "Leaving so soon, Emma?"

Surprised by Adriana's sudden appearance, Emma blinked before replying, "Oh, yes. You know, I promised Liz I'd have Katie back early…"

"Surely she didn't mean for you to leave before cake," Adriana interrupted. She could feel Daphne's curious stare, as if asking, what's going on with you? Ignoring it for the moment, Adriana added, "And I checked in on the kids a half hour ago and saw them starting a DVD. I'm sure Katie wouldn't want to leave before it was over."

Emma stared at them for a second, but finally sighed with reluctance. "Alright, I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay a little while longer. Uh…is there anything I can help you with?"

At a loss, Adriana glanced at Daphne, who shrugged. Trying to come up with something for Emma to do that would help with the assignment, she thought, Okay, so maybe I'm not an angel…but Lord, please, a little help would do wonders about now…

Just as she'd sent up the small prayer, Monica appeared at their side, holding dessert plates in her hand. Adriana blinked in amazement. Whoa. Now that's what I call a fast response time. Thanks! "Hey, Monica. What's up?"

"Well, I saw the party was getting restless out there, so I thought Emma here would want to help me set up for dessert," Monica explained.

A little confused by Monica's abrupt appearance, Emma said, "Okay. I'll just…go put my jacket away…"

"Oh, we'll get that for you. You two talk!" Adriana suggested with maybe a bit too much enthusiasm. As she took the jacket from Emma, Monica glanced over her shoulder and gave her a knowing wink.

Once in the bedroom to drop off the jacket, a nearly dazed Daphne rounded on Adriana and exclaimed, "What the he…heck is going on here? What's with you? Is it just me, or did Monica appear out of thin air?"

"Look, let's just get back to the party, and I'll explain everything," Adriana said. At Daphne's still-bewildered look, she sighed. "You know this angel thing? It's not easy."

Once Adriana and Daphne left the room, Monica stared after them for a moment with an amused smile. It was funny sometimes how former assignments could help with a current one. Now she finally had the opportunity she'd been praying for – a chance for a conversation with Emma. While the angel didn't think she'd be revealing herself quite yet, this would provide opportunity that she desperately needed if she ever hoped to get this assignment done in the next month. Putting the cake plates on the buffet table, Monica indicated the various dinner food left and suggested, "Why don't you help me clear all this off first?"

"Alright," Emma replied, starting to gather some of the trays. There was awkward silence as the two began cleaning up the living room.

Monica cleared her throat, then asked, "So, why were you trying to leave earlier? From what I've seen, it's a great party."

"Oh, it is. I just had an…awkward run in earlier. My sister has been trying to set me up with this guy, and he happened to be at this party," Emma explained, turning a light shade of red from embarrassment.

Giving her a reassuring smile, Monica assured her, "That's nothing to be ashamed about. Why don't you go out with him?"

"That's what's so embarrassing – he keeps telling Liz 'no.' I just can't believe she would do that to me…it's just more proof that I'm not ready to try this dating thing yet," Emma answered, letting out a deep sigh.

Monica pressed on, thinking that if her assignment was to help Emma get over her divorce, this would be a step in the right direction. "Don't give up! Maybe he has his reasons, or is just against blind dates. I'm sure it's nothing personal. What's his name?"

Not looking Monica in the eye, Emma answered, "Andrew." Then she grabbed a few dirty dishes and made a beeline for the kitchen garbage.

"Wait, who's Andrew?" Monica called, thinking it had to be someone she didn't know. After all, the only Andrew she knew was an angel of death, and surely…

Emma poked her head into the living room from the kitchen, her face now bright red. "Your friend, Andrew. I, uh, didn't want to say because I thought you'd be mad or get defensive."

"What? I don't have a friend named…" Monica began, then she trailed off as her eyes widened. Slowly but surely, it all clicked into place. Uh oh, this is a wee bit awkward, isn't it? Now that she thought about it, her mind flashed back to maybe a half hour ago, when Andrew and Gloria had tried to approach her. She'd said hello to Gloria, but then been distracted when Daphne needed help with something. And Andrew did mention he was now working as Liz's assistant.

Remembering that Emma was expecting an answer, she tried to wipe the surprise off her face as she managed to reply, "Oh, t-that Andrew…yeah, um, he…he…didn't want to tell you…" Come on, Monica, think! Something that isn't a lie and won't crush her…

"What? What couldn't he tell me," Emma insisted, her arms folded across her stomach, "other than that he just doesn't like me?"

"He's committed his life to God!" Monica finally blurted, unable to come up with anything else.

At that, Emma's jaw dropped and she exclaimed, "He's a priest? Oh my God, my sister tried to hook me up with a priest! I'm mortified…oh, God, I'm going to hell…"

"You're not going to hell. And I'm sure Liz didn't know…he, ah, doesn't advertise it," Monica replied, realizing that the conclusion Emma had come to worked out best. Following Emma into the kitchen, she added, "And at least now you know it's not you! I bet you wouldn't need your sister to set you up if you took off that wedding ring."

Calming down somewhat, Emma leaned on the kitchen counter, looking at her wedding ring and twisting it around on her finger. "I-I don't know, Monica. What if I do, and I don't find anyone? That's what's holding me back the most. I've been over Shawn for a long time."

"Well, you don't know unless you try," Monica pointed out.

"I know. It's just that…I'm afraid to," Emma confessed. "I'm afraid to try and make a life for myself. I had one…and it crumbled. It's so easy to fall back on work, and now just hang out with Liz. Especially now that Liz is here all the time…I think it's always been her, more than anything."

Monica didn't say anything for a moment, processing the information. She had thought this assignment was going to be about helping Emma getting over her divorce and finding love again. But she was beginning to think she jumped to conclusions. It was entirely possible that this wasn't about Shawn at all, but about Emma working out her difficult relationship with her sister. "What do you mean?"

Shrugging, Emma explained, "I don't know, she's…she's always there. I can always hang out with her, she'll basically make my decisions for me if I ask, she always knows what to do… I mean, I know it's not healthy, but I just don't have the fire in me anymore."

Now I get it. I'm definitely here to help with her and her sister. But what am I going to say? Monica thought, leaning against the counter. She jumped back up again when she felt something cold and sharp. "Ouch!" It was a ring of keys. Holding them up, Monica asked, "Are those yours?"

"Yeah, sorry about that…Monica, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just…dizzy…" Monica gripped the counter for support as she was bombarded with images. They were all of her and Emma, in a dark parking lot…

After all, she was on her way to meet an assignment – who was in such bad shape on Christmas Eve that he or she needed help from an angel.

"Father," she whispered in prayer, bringing her car around as she continued to drive through the parking lot. "Please give me the ability to help whichever of your children you have sent me to on this holiest of nights. Thank you, Amen."

As if in response, the silence was once again broken by a loud sound. It wasn't a horn, though. It was the sound of glass breaking…

It was a woman who looked no older than thirty, wearing boots, jeans, and an old brown winter coat. Her black hair tied back in a pony-tail, the woman wiped a loose strand of hair out of her cold gray eyes. Then she tightened her grip on a metal baseball bat and aimed for the red, flashy sports car's remaining headlight next to her.

"Wait, don't!" Monica shouted, running toward the woman who had to be her assignment…

"You're okay now though, right?" Monica asked, worried that Emma might resume her activities once the angel left.

Nodding, Emma answered, "Yeah, I'm okay. I think I just needed someone to talk me down. Thanks…oh, I don't even know your name. I'm sorry, I don't usually tell my life story to complete strangers."

"It's Monica, and don't worry about it," Monica laughed.

Emma looked down, now embarrassed. "No, I'm really sorry. You shouldn't have had to…"

"It's alright," Monica insisted. "You're hurting right now, and it seems that the only way to heal is revenge. But, I promise that revenge is never the answer. The way to heal is through God. Pray for the strength to handle your emotions in a positive way, and He will carry you through."

Staring at the angel with uncertainty, Emma asked, "You really think that will work?"

"I know it will," Monica assured her with a smile. "Now, check your phone messages. And…Merry Christmas, Emma."

Confused, Emma glanced down as she took her phone out of her pocket. "Check my messages? Hey, I never told you my…"

She trailed off as she looked up. Monica was gone.

Monica gasped, staring at Emma and thinking of her in a new light. That's where I know Emma from! She thought in surprise. She was my assignment on Christmas Eve! But why couldn't I remember…

Looking at her with concern, Emma said, "Monica, Monica! Are you alright? What's the matter?"

"No, I'm fine…" Monica insisted, still bewildered.

To the angel's surprise, Emma chuckled and assured her, "Oh, I get it. Daphne's punch will do that to you every time. I can't tell you how much she has to tone the alcohol content down for office parties."

Monica opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it. Since she couldn't give the real reason for her dizziness, she'd let Emma think what she wanted to think. "Sure. But, Emma, trust me – that fire is in there somewhere. You just need to let it burn."

"I think you might be right about that. And it would help if I took my wedding ring off, like you said," Emma said. Then she took the wedding ring off her finger and held it up. "Liz has been badgering me to take this off. This is the last time I'm listening to her." With that, she put the ring back in her pocket and headed back into the living room. "I'll finish up in here – you can get the desserts ready, okay?"

"Oh…alright," Monica replied, overwhelmed by what she'd just witnessed. This isn't right, she thought. I did my job but…it's not over. Not over at all.