"Why Monica," exclaimed Kathleen, "I'm surprised. You sound like you're not happy to see me."

Andrew could barely contain his own anger. "What do you want, Kathleen? You're the one who supposedly brought us here."

Kathleen turned her attention away from Monica and walked up to Andrew, looking him straight in the eye. Her eyes turned from their sparkling blue to an evil, glowing red, and the tone of her voice turned deadly serious. "I brought you here to give you a warning. If you persist in your useless investigation, you will be faced with an enemy you will never be able to defeat. He will blow you and your puny little human friends away like so much dust in the wind." She then turned to Monica. "Also, as an old friend," Monica winced at that term, but Kathleen continued, "I want to give you a piece of advice: leave this place. You've seen the power I've been given. Why don't you come with me? Come on, Monica, it'll be just like old times."

Kathleen tried to touch Monica's shoulder, but Monica stepped back. Placing her hand in Andrew's, she looked Kathleen in the eye and shook her head slowly and deliberately. "Kathleen, you know that it would never be like 'old times'. It can never be like that as long as I am in the light and you are in the darkness. We are going to continue this investigation, whatever it may bring, and we will take this town back from you."

Andrew added, "So, if you know what's good for _you_, Kathleen, you'll leave this town now, before things get ugly."

Kathleen took two steps back, looked at the group before her, and declared, "Good luck to you then, for all of you are going to need all the 'luck' you can get." She turned her back to the group, started laughing uncontrollably as she walked away, and then vanished in the blink of an eye.

Mulder let out the breath he had been holding during the entire incident, sat himself down on the bench, Scully next to him, then looked at Monica in shock. "You _know_ her?"

Monica nodded, then explained, "Are you familiar with the story of how Satan was an angel who was cast out of heaven?" Mulder and Scully both nodded. Monica continued, "He wasn't the only one. When he left, he took many an angel down with him. Kathleen and I were friends once, but, ...what was that expression again?...Oh yes, they made her an offer she couldn't refuse?"

Mulder asked, "And what kind of an offer was that?"

Andrew replied solemnly, "The promise of power and prestige."

Scully, who by now had regained her senses, commented, "It seems like she got what she was promised."

Mulder nodded, then added, "To a point. If she was the one in charge of this situation, then why all the posturing and show of force? She even said, 'you will be faced with an enemy'. No, I think Kathleen is no one we should mess with, and I'm sure she works for the one we're looking for, but she's not the one who's in control. _He_ sent Kathleen to intimidate us into leaving."

Scully looked at her partner and asked, "So what do we do now?"

In unison, Andrew and Mulder replied, "We wait."

Mulder looked into his partner's eyes and added, "We can't gather any more information today. There's nothing we can do now until Langley gets here with the information on the Brandon case."

Looking into the fountain, Andrew added, "Besides, if we try to work on anything now, the prayer cover is so weak that we'll only end up doing more harm than good, anyway. No, it's best if we wait until after the prayer meeting tonight."

Tired and a bit discouraged, Mulder helped Scully up off the bench, and the two agents and two angels walked up to the hill, got into their cars, and started the drive back to the Inn.

As he was driving, Mulder glanced over at his partner with concern. "You okay, Scully?" he asked.

Scully looked over at Mulder and flashed him a brief smile. She knew he was worried about her, and in a lot of ways, she was a bit worried about herself, but she couldn't show that to him - it would drive him crazy. She reassured him, "I'll be fine. What happened back there, Mulder?"

For one of the few times in his life, Mulder was speechless. He couldn't put what he saw, what he heard, or what he felt into words that he could understand, much less use to explain to his partner. She was in such a catatonic state for most of it that he wasn't even sure what she remembered. "What do you remember of it?"

"I remember the children," replied Scully, "I asked them to tell me their names. The little girl just seemed shy, but the boy - I remember thinking at first that he looked just like what I pictured you looking like at twelve years old - but when I looked into his eyes, I saw the most frightening thing I ever saw in my life."

"What was that Scully?"

"My own helplessness. Seeing my own fear, especially in -his- eyes, paralyzed me. I don't remember anything but my own nightmares until the children were gone. After that, I can recall bits and pieces of the conversation with that woman-"

"Kathleen," interjected Mulder.

"Kathleen," confirmed Scully. "but I didn't fully come back to my senses until she was gone. Who was she, Mulder?"

[I could tell her the truth,] thought Mulder, [but will she believe me? Oh why not, it's never stopped me before.] "Kathleen is a demon, Scully, as were the children. That's why you went through the things you went through. Those-things had control of your mind." He hit he steering wheel in frustration. "I _knew_ we should never have split up. One of us would end up getting hurt, like one of us _always_ does; this time it was you, and it's all my fault."

Scully had heard this speech before, and refused, as always, to let Mulder run on a guilt trip for more than thirty seconds. "That's enough, Mulder! It's _not_ your fault. It could have been any one of us - remember, Monica was taken in, too, for a while. Only Andrew has had any experience with the things we're dealing with on this case, and it seems like even he's relatively powerless right now. Stop blaming yourself."

Mulder sighed. He knew she was right, as always, and he was amazed that his normally skeptical partner was handling this as well as she was. He pulled into the parking lot of the diner, and, in an unusual gesture for him, went around to open the door for his partner. He offered her his hand to help her out of the car, and declared, "Come on, Scully. I promise I won't talk about this case for a minute during dinner."

When she smiled briefly in response, he knew she was feeling better. As he opened the door for Scully, he barely noticed the fact that Andrew and Monica were not following him to the diner. He guided his partner into the diner with a hand on the small of her back, and let the door swing closed behind him.

413 Philipps Street
7:20 p.m.

[It's not exactly a full house,] thought Tom Harris, [but Jesus himself only picked twelve men to start with himself, so God's definitely going to be able to work through this bunch.] He looked at the fifteen or so men, women and children who were taking up every available space in his living room, and smiled. [Yep, God's definitely got a plan here.]

[Couldn't agree more,] thought Tal, smiling, [and the plan is working, too.] He looked around the room as a dozen of the strongest angels from all over the Earth were embracing each other, smiling and enjoying the fellowship. No one raised their voice to any sort of loud or excited level, though. Every angel there knew the importance of this meeting, and, more importantly, they knew how necessary it was that they not attract the attention of any of the demons that have had free reign in Hamelton for so long. That didn't stop them from enjoying each others company, though. Most of the angels had known each other for ages, fighting countless battles together.

Two of the angels there, though, were attracting no small amount of attention among the other angels. Usually when an new angel was coming into Special Forces, everyone knew about it. Tonight, though, these two came in, and many among the group did not know who they were. Yet, Tal recognized the tall, fair haired angel immediately, and came over to embrace his old friend.

"Andrew! It is good to see you here. I thought you weren't going to attend the meeting tonight."

"Change of plans. After this afternoon, I felt we both needed this opportunity to regain our strength." She motioned to Monica, who was standing a few feet behind him. As she stepped forward, Andrew introduced her, "Captain, this is Monica, a case worker who is a very close friend of mine. Monica, this is Tal, Captain of the Host."

Tal took Monica's hand, gently kissed it, and , looking straight into her eyes, smiled and said, "I am honored to make the acquaintance of such a lovely angel."

Monica blushed slightly and replied, "The honor is mine, Captain."

Tal looked again at Andrew. "And where is Tess tonight? I thought she was going to come to the meeting."

Andrew replied, "Mulder and Scully had an important meeting tonight, so when we decided to come here, Tess consented to keep an eye on them for us."

Tal asked him, "And what happened this afternoon that startled you so?"

Andrew and Monica recounted their encounter with Kathleen that afternoon. Tal muttered, "I see," and briefly brought his hand to his chin, deep in thought. He encouraged Andrew, "Take heart, old friend - all this encounter means is that the demons are getting arrogant. They see your work with the humans as a weakness, but we know the strength in those two. After tonight, the demons have no idea what they are in for. But they will, and very soon."

Guilo came up and briefly tapped Tal and Andrew on the shoulder to interrupt them. "Angels, I hate to disturb you, but the meeting is about to start."

As the angels quietly took their positions around the room, Andrew and Monica got a chance to take a good look at the humans who were attending the meeting. Carl and Paula Gorman had found spots on the couch, as did George McLintock. Jeff Materian and Marie Nystrom had pulled in chairs from the kitchen. Naturally, Sally Roe was there, as was Tom's son Josiah, who was by now old enough to understand what was going on and lend support to the effort. Tom's daughter Ruth was still a little young, though, and although she knew they were there to pray for the missing kids, and she really wanted to help, that didn't stop the little girl from squirming uncomfortably in her chair. [Now I know why Tess wanted to stay on at the diner,] thought Andrew, [all the regulars are a part of the remnant. I'll bet they were surprised to see each other here.]

Samantha Materian, the sheriff's wife, walked into the room after helping her best friend Jennifer Nalvarez fix some coffee for the group now in the living room. She set down the coffee on the main coffee table, then had to run over to the three chairs by the window to calm down her three boys. Doug Frobitz, the sheriff's deputy, tried to stand off at the back, toward the door, but he was quickly ushered into the room by Marie. Keith and Mary Ellen Davis, the young couple who just took over the ministry duties of the local community church, rounded out the group, and they were sitting together on the love seat, eager to begin.

As the group quieted down, Tom announced, "I'd like to thank you all for coming. I realize that most of you have not known me for very long, and I'm encouraged to see that there are so many people who are coming out here not because they are friends of mine, but because it is on their hearts to petition God for the safe return of those missing children." At this, all of the adult heads in the room nodded in agreement. Tom asked, "Does anyone have anything they'd like to say before we start?"

George McLintock spoke up first. "I also wanted to thank everyone for coming. Maybe, with God's help, we can get all of these kids back home to the families they still have." Every head in the room, both human and angel, nodded in agreement to that comment.

Keith Davis piped in, "I'd like to make a suggestion, if I may." All heads turned their attention to the young minister. "Why don't we start a prayer chain? For every hour of the day, say, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., one of us takes an hour to pray specifically for these children to come home. I know that finding these kids is important to all of us, or we wouldn't be here. At least this way, all of us would be doing something to help."

All the human heads nodded in agreement. Tom suggested, "Keith, that's a great idea. If you could set up a schedule, that would be great. Sign me up for 6-7 am and 1-2 pm." Josiah then asked his father, "If it's all right with you, Dad, I'd like to sign up for 9-10 am, and Ruth and I could pray for the kids before we start school in the mornings." Tom reached over and squeezed his son's hand in encouragement and support, nodding definitively. Others in the group started to chime in suggestions as to the hours they wanted to take on the task of praying for the children.

The excitement among the angels in the room grew to almost a fever pitch, but Tal quieted the group. "No! Quiet, all of you! It's not time yet."

After all the spots were filled, Tom smiled, and closed the topic to the group. "All right, we now have every spot from 6 am to 11 p.m. filled. Everyone happy with their times?" All heads nodded in agreement. Tom continued, "Great. Then let's get started. I'd like to suggest that, with such a small group here, we go around the room, starting with George and going around in a circle." All heads nodded in agreement, then lowered slowly to begin the task at hand.

As each person in the room took their turns praying, Guilo turned to Tal, confused. "Captain, I thought all we needed was more prayer cover before we could start our attack on Angelos."

Tal shook his head. "I thought so too, at first, but there are too many things that have not yet been revealed to us, particularly where Angelos has taken those missing children." He attracted Andrew and Monica's attention, and motioned for them to come over so he could speak with them. "Andrew, how is the investigation going?"

"Pretty well, considering the prayer cover was so weak. As I said before, Mulder and Scully have a meeting tonight with one of their research contacts. Considering that this came up the same night as the prayer meeting, I have a feeling that we're going to get a lot of information from that meeting. Tomorrow we're going to go to the school to try and get a look at the curriculum in action. I'd say we'll have an understanding of how Angelos is getting to these kids by noon tomorrow."

Tal replied, "Good, good. It seems, then, that by tomorrow night we should have all the information we need to finish this once and for all."

"Do you have any advice as to how we should proceed until then?"

"You were right in defending Mulder and Scully against those demons. Continue to do that if the situation calls for it. Otherwise, let them lead the investigation, and find out the truth as quickly as possible."

Andrew turned and looked at the clock on the wall above the fireplace. When he saw the time he said to Tal, "Well, I think we should be going. Now that the prayer cover is getting stronger, I would like to get back to the hotel in time to meet with Mulder and Scully's informants, if at all possible."

Tal warmly embraced the former soldier. "Go, my friends, and God speed."

Andrew nodded to Monica, who quickly followed him back to the Inn.

Hamelton Motor Inn
Parking lot
9:00 p.m.

When Scully heard that Langley was coming up here with the rest of the information on the Brandon case, she had no idea what to expect. She definitely did not expect Byers and Langley bringing two file cartons of information into her partner's hotel room. She pulled her partner aside and asked, "Mulder, it's going to take us a week to get through that much information!"

Byers heard her comment and replied. "Agreed. That's why we're going to stay up here with you until this case is solved. It'll be easier to talk to people who've studied the information thoroughly than to read through this pile of paperwork yourselves - even with Agent Mulder's eidetic memory and tendency not to get much sleep."

Langley chimed in, "All of this is just in case we need to refer back to any of the crucial pieces of evidence in the case."

Byers then asked Mulder, "Oh, and by the way, how did things go with your 'observers'?"

Mulder and Scully exchanged knowing looks, trying to come up with an appropriate explanation just as Andrew and Monica walked in the open door.

Byers looked at Mulder, then Scully, then 'agents' Smith and Wesson, and wondered just what had transpired between them in the time since his last conversation with Mulder. Langley, too, watched the exchange, saw Byers' confused and thoughtful expression, then asked Mulder, "What are they still doing here? Can they be trusted?"

Monica looked at Andrew, who looked at Mulder and Scully and sighed. This was truly going to be a long night. He was just about to launch into the same explanation he gave Mulder when Mulder stopped him, saying "Maybe I should explain this to them, Andrew."

He asked both Byers and Langley to sit down, then tried a few 'creative' explanations. Not lying, mind you- after all, he was in the presence of angels. He just tried to withhold some of the more outrageous truths.

Naturally, Byers and Langley didn't buy it for a minute. They knew every person, place or event that was a part of the Brandon case, so the idea of Monica and Andrew being 'shadow advisors' for the defense didn't exactly wash. Mulder tried a few other things, but none of them worked. Andrew was starting to get frustrated, and was about to start the 'light show' when Scully, who was truly frustrated, blurted out, "Oh, why don't we just tell them the truth and get on with it! Guys, these two are angels, who are protecting us from some things on this case I can't even _begin_ to describe to you."

Andrew and Mulder just stared at her open-mouthed. Mulder had _never_ heard Scully admit to the existence of 95% of the things they came across in their line of work, and to tell someone else about it was something she had only done a very few times. Andrew was shocked that she would tell someone something that even _he_ wasn't sure they would believe.

Surprisingly, the two Lone Gunmen looked at her with relief on their faces, as if that explanation was the only one the two agents had tried so far that made any sense. Byers then turned to Scully, raised an eyebrow and asked, "Demons attacked you directly, did they?" replied Byers.

Mulder replied, "Yeah, how did you know?"

Byers simply stated, "Direct demonic attacks on a human are rare, but there are many valid and documented cases, including one I personally witnessed in Ashton." He then turned to Andrew and let an impressive bomb drop, stating, "If you see Sigma and Mota any time soon, tell them I said hello. Now, let's get down to business, shall we?" He then winked at Andrew and sat down at the table.

After Andrew recovered from the shock of finding out that not only were the two men in front of him familiar with angels, but that they knew two of his old colleagues from Special Forces, he and the others agreed, and the group sat down in various places around the room to discuss what they knew.

Hamelton Motor Inn
Room 6
6:30 a.m.

It had been a long night for all concerned, but they had definitely made progress. Byers and Langley listened as Mulder and Scully filled them in on the details of the case so far, and they made many connections to the Brandon case. Langley also informed the group that The Omega Center for Educational Studies was alive and well and working under the name of The Alpha Learning Group. Byers also listened attentively as Mulder, Monica and Andrew described their encounter with Kathleen and her 'underlings'. He took notes and added them to his box on the Brandon case, but said very little. Andrew tried to ask him about the confrontation he had seen in Ashton, but all Byers did was smile enigmatically and reply, "Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime after this is all over."

Scully heard Andrew and Mulder leave for their morning run a half-hour ago, even though they seemed to be as quiet as possible in order to not disturb Byers and Langley, who had crashed on their floor for the night. She had only been able to sleep for a few hours herself, and then only fitfully. The events of the past few days had been extremely disturbing for her, and it was hard to accept the truths that had shaken her to the core of the beliefs she had held for so many years. After last night, everyone knew that today would be the breakthrough day for the case, and that knowledge held a nervous anticipation that did not help Scully to relax at all.

Monica, sensing her roommate's tension, turned to face the other bed and asked, "Couldn't sleep either, huh?" Scully shook her head. Monica then asked, "Are you as nervous about today as I am?"

"Not really," replied Scully, "I guess I'm just overwhelmed. I grew up going to church every Sunday, and I thought I believed in God and angels and saints and all of that. When I got into pathology, though, and I saw the things that people could do to each other, I guess I just lost my ability to believe in a God who let these kind of things happen to people. I came to believe that science held the answers to everything. When I started to work with Mulder, that belief was challenged. Now, this case has blown that belief right out of the water. I feel like I have no idea how to handle the future now."

Monica nodded in empathy, and Scully was amazed at how much Monica seemed to understand exactly how she felt. "Children find it so easy to trust. When children grow up learning about God, they find it just as easy to trust him as they do their own parents. As children grow up, though, they find it harder and harder to keep that kind of trust, if they keep it all."

Scully added, "I guess it's a lot harder to get that trust back than it is to lose it."

"Absolutely. But, for all of us to get through this case, that's exactly what you're going to have to do."

Scully nodded in recognition, then swallowed hard. That wasn't the hardest thing she had ever had to do for a case. She just didn't know how it was going to happen. The air in the room started to feel a bit stifling to her, so she decided that she needed to go get some air. As she pulled on sweats and a t-shirt, she commented to Monica, "I'm going to go for a run. If you want, go ahead and use the shower while I'm gone."

Monica sat up in bed and watched Scully leave before she could have a chance to object to her human counterpart going for this run alone. As she stared at the door that Scully had closed behind her, the angel quietly prayed for God to protect and guide Scully to the answers she was looking for.