As soon as April had pulled up into her garage and turned off her truck's ignition she hopped out and ambled over to Michael's side to wrap his arm around her shoulder again.
From there they made their way to the kitchen through the side door, and Michael sat down in a chair at the bar while April raced upstairs to get her First Aid Kit.
When she returned Toby was at her heels and as April came to a stop next to Michael he sat down beside him.
Michael let his left arm hang so it rested on the dog's head and he observed April as she pulled out the objects she needed to patch him up.
Once she had what she needed on the bar April lifted up a cotton pad and dampened it with disinfectant from a tall clear bottle.
"Could you take off your shirt?" she asked. "I can't patch up the wound in less you do."
Without much hesitance Michael slowly pulled his shirt up, over his head, and let it drop to the floor.
Startled by the movement Toby hopped away from Michael. April meanwhile, who was kneeling before him, became flabbergasted.
The body that had been created by God especially for Michael and his mission was the type that most women dreamed about their man having. It was like looking at a sculpture. Michael's chest was broad, his abs trimmed, and his arms were rounded with muscle. He was in perfect shape, except for that long claw mark running down from his right shoulder to just about over his heart.
Seeing that made April focus on her task ahead. She stood for a moment to grab a whiskey bottle and placed it next to Michael.
"You might want to drink that; it'll help ease the pain."
Michael shook his head. "I'll make do without. I do not know how you can drink that stuff."
"You sure?" inquired April.
"Yes," Michael confirmed.
April glanced down at the wet pad in her right hand before she warned him that "It may sting a little".
As she pressed the pad against Michael's wounded chest he hissed and closed his eyes.
April worked as quickly as she could to clean the gash then threw the pad into the trash can.
When she was done that she moved on to step two, stitching up the injury. April secretly felt sympathy for Michael as she tied the stitching material to the needle. She'd had to close up a wound of her own once, it wasn't fun.
As April reached out to Michael's long cut she watched his reaction to the sight of the needle.
There was very little, but she could tell he was a bit nervous. She doubted he'd ever had to have this done before, at least not while he was awake.
Michael stiffened as the needle pierced his skin and April pulled the string through it. Afterwards though, he did his best to relax as she began looping it over and through his skin to bring the sides of the gap in between together, taut. He decided it was a strange sensation, but it didn't hurt as much as he'd expected.
The drop off the cliff with the black dog had hurt more. Michael was not looking forward to the morning. He had no doubt the soreness from the fall would be worst then.
Finally, after five minutes, April put down the needle.
"All done," she announced.
Michael looked down at his now closed up wound and brushed it with his hand before smiling slightly at her. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," April returned.
Their eyes met and again, like before, they were caught in the moment. Brown eyes intensely starred into Michael's blue ones and April leaned forward.
But this time Michael knew what to expect and he turned his face away from her.
April narrowed her eyes and again they held confusion. "Why won't you kiss me?"
"I can't." Michael answered.
"You already said that," huffed April. "What I want to know is why? Why can't you?"
Michael sighed. It was time to tell her the truth. Whether or not she would believe him, he had to.
"Because there's something you don't know about me," he began.
"What is it?" April whispered.
Michael craned his neck to look back at her. "It's because I'm an angel."