Title: Tongues of Men and Angels

Rating: TA for implied?romance.

Summary: Glimpses of grace: the story of one brother and two sisters. Through the grace of God, all things are made new.A series of drabbles. Ish. Gabriel/OC. Ish.

Disclaimer: *obligatory insert*

Chapter XI: An Overture
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7: 14

"I wish to learn about humans," he said slowly. "And you…can tell me about them."

"Oh no," Bethany protested in the night. They had not stopped at a house, but in a farmer's field—barren for the ruined irrigation system—for the night. Joy slept in the backseat of the truck whom the sisters had christened Baby, and Bethany was sprawled on the roof of the cab, gazing up at the heavens. The stars stung the sky above them. "I can only tell you about me."

He looked over his shoulder and upward, gauging her, then nodded once, firmly, as though he understood her point. "You are not representative of the population," he acknowledged, and she laughed shortly.

"Was that a compliment?" she queried, but didn't wait for his answer. "Why do you want to know?"

"It matters?" he asked from his place in the bed of the truck. He was leaning against the cab, his wings spread and flattened like the back of a great throne; Bethany rolled over above him, peering down. Her eyes shone like amber in the moonlight, glossy and strangely full of light, and her hair made a dark curtain that brushed his shoulder. He looked up. In the darkness, her scar looked almost purple, and narrower, as though it had been delicately drawn across her features with a fine paintbrush and not gouged through tearing flesh. If it weren't for his angelic eyesight, perhaps he would not even be able to tell how it pulled at her cheek or ruined one side of her lip—not without the desert sun glaring down on her.

"It does," she said seriously. "It will affect how I teach you. I mean, should I go all NatGeo on you? These are the eating and breeding habits of human beings. Notice how they dwell in packs." He blinked, and her smile turned very gentle and sad. "Or is it something a little less tangible—and a little more real—that you're looking for?"

It was a struggle to find the right words. "I do not know," he said at last. "Only—that Father sees something in you. And Michael. Meanwhile, it has always been a trial for me to—" He paused, and hesitated. "To grasp that which makes humans so infinitely holy in my Father's eyes, what it is that brings Him such delight. Even when He resents you, when He sees that there is nothing left to salvage, He still hopes—needs to hope, as Michael says—in you." He paused. "All of my service to your kind thus far has only been because He so wills it. It does not please me to spend time on earth, consorting with mankind."

Her penny-bright eyes had somehow grown even sadder. "Is that the reason you're here? To understand His love for us?"

He made some sweeping gesture, unintentionally revealing in its helplessness. Her breath caught; it hurt to see one as strong and large and beautiful as him looking so powerless. "I long to return to my Father," he said, and it was answer enough.

Word Count: 517
Completed: April 24, 2011