A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter, as it took away about 2.5 hours of my practice time today. :-)

Chapter 3

Joseph was dreaming.

The woman he loved was before him, her hand outstretched and a smile on her face. He instinctively reached out to her, only to see her smile disappear, replaced by an expression of fear and pain. He looked down and saw a large, jagged stone in his hand.

"Not you too," Mary whispered as tears streamed down her face.

Joseph dropped the stone as if it were on fire. He tried again to reach out to Mary, but she turned and ran.

A horde of people passed on either side of him and took pursuit while Joseph helplessly watched, his legs frozen in place by some unseen force. The crowd raised the stones in their hands.

"Leave her alone!" Joseph shouted, but his voice was hoarse and drowned out by the cries of the people.

The stones flew.

Joseph closed his eyes and turned away. When he opened them again, a dazzlingly white figure filled up his vision, momentarily blinding him. He fell on the ground in terror, his arms covering his face.

The voice that spoke to him was soft, but intimidating.

"That was not a dream," it said.

Joseph peered through the space between his arms and blinked several times at the tall, slender being before him.

"W-who are you?" he asked.

"I am Raphael, the Healer. But today I am Raphael the Messenger."

A messenger. An angel.

"I am the Lord's servant," Joseph said, praying that it was the proper response. "Tell me, what must I-"

"That was not a dream," Raphael interrupted, a clear note of irritation in his voice. "A crowd of men and women attacked Mary today with stones."

Joseph's terror at seeing the angel melted away, replaced by concern for his beloved.

"Is she all right? Was she hurt?"

The archangel looked down at him with disdain.

"What does it matter to you?"

"I love her," Joseph said automatically. "I have always loved her!"

"You have abandoned her. That hardly sounds like love," Raphael said.

"I had no choice! I cannot marry a woman who behaves this way. The Law says I only need two witnesses to divorce her; it is the safest option for her. It will all be resolved privately," Joseph said, more to himself than to the angel.

Raphael's level of annoyance was rising rapidly; he was not used to angels talking back to him, much less humans.

"She is out there now, alone and expecting a child," Raphael said, barely able to contain his anger. "You think a secret divorce will save her from the raging masses?"

"She has disgraced herself!" Joseph cried. "She is carrying someone else's child." His eyes filled with tears as he began to realize how very hurt he actually was. "I thought quietly divorcing her would be the graceful thing to do," he continued, defensively.

Raphael's wrath became fully ignited.

"You think forsaking the one you love is graceful?!" he roared. Joseph cowered once again, shielding his face from the blinding light of the archangel. But Raphael was not finished. He stepped toward Joseph and dropped to one knee in front of him. His voice became quiet, but the aggression remained.

"To fall defending one whose life you place above your own is grace. To lay down your life for those who in a thousand lifetimes would never be worthy—that is grace. You know nothing of grace!"

"Enough, Raphael!" Raphael heard Michael's warning in his head. "You must not take your anger out on Joseph. Do not forget who this man is, who his Son will be!"

"I never did," Raphael responded, but his whole demeanor softened as he looked down at the man before him. Joseph was weeping. His body shook as he sobbed, his tears falling to the ground. Raphael sighed, wearily. This was only a taste of the anguish that was to come. He placed is hand softly on Joseph's shoulder, and Joseph looked up at once, locking eyes with the archangel.

"You know nothing of grace," Raphael repeated gently, "…but you will." The archangel turned and sat down beside the humble carpenter.

"You must listen very carefully, Joseph: Do not be afraid to make Mary your wife. What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit."

Raphael paused for a moment to let the words sink in.

"She will give birth to a son," he continued. "You will call Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins."

"The Messiah," Joseph said, hardly daring to believe.

Raphael nodded. "Immanuel."

But Joseph shook his head, incredulous. "Then I am to raise a king? Me? A lowly carpenter?"

Raphael winced at the words. Joseph's idea of who the Messiah would be could not be further from the truth. This man had no idea about the sacrificial love that would be freely given to all.

Raphael spoke without thinking, "He will not be a king. He will be-"

"Raphael!" Michael warned again. "The less he knows now, the better."

"-Immanuel. He will be Immanuel," Raphael finished, awkwardly.

Joseph didn't seem to notice.

"I have been a fool," he said. "I know what kind of woman my beloved is. I should have realized the truth."

Raphael stood back up. "Take her home with you as your wife, but do not lie with her. Do you understand?"

"I understand…"

"Good." Raphael's wings spread, nearly doubling the light that shone forth from him.

"Raphael, wait!" Joseph cried, "How can I appear before Mary when I have caused her such pain? Will she even be able to forgive me?"

Raphael resisted rolling his eyes at the human. "Believe me, Joseph: if not her, then no one."

The light once again blinded Joseph, and the next thing he saw was the ceiling of his own home. He sat up, gasping for breath as his mind tried to process what he had just witnessed. He had heard stories about God's messengers appearing in dreams, but he had never expected that it could happen to him.

He looked out the window beside his bed and saw that the sun was already above the horizon. Mary must have awakened hours ago.

Joseph stood up. He had to find her. Now.

"I cannot believe you let him do that!" Gabriel said, shaking his head at Michael. Raphael stood nearby, his arms crossed and his face turned away from his brothers.

"It is what he needed to hear," the healer-turned-messenger said, with no trace of regret in his voice. "The truth cannot always be sweetened with honey."

"You were needlessly cruel," Gabriel said. "There is a reason I am the messenger. Tell him, Michael!"

"Be still, Gabriel." Michael responded. "If Raphael has done any harm, it is certainly minimal. Joseph knows what he must do. That is all that matters."

"I hate to interrupt, but—"

The trio of archangels turned, their hands already on their weapons, but it was only Ariel.

"Forgive me, I did not mean to startle you," the dark-skinned angel said.

"It is all right, we have been a little on edge lately," Gabriel admitted. "Did you need something?"

"Yes, I am reporting to Michael for an inspection, as protocol demands," Ariel said.

"Oh, I see," said Michael. He turned to Raphael. "Would you prefer to examine him? He is your student, after all."

"No, that is a captain's duty," Raphael said, then continued sarcastically, "I certainly would not want the wrath of Gabriel to come upon me for taking someone else's job."

Gabriel frowned and shook his head disapprovingly, but he offered no rebuttal.

"Well, let me have a look at you, then," Michael said, kindly. He circled and examined the young healer, paying particular attention to his wings. "Everything looks fine. Are you in any pain?"

"My wings are still quite sore," Ariel admitted, "but only when I fly," he hastily added.

Only Gabriel saw Raphael's brow and lips tighten with worry.

Michael frowned. "Are you sure you do not want to rest a while longer?"

"I am sure. I am falling behind on my duties, and Raphael needs me now more than ever," Ariel said, nodding to his teacher. Raphael nodded back,stiffly.

"You have rested enough. It is about time you started pulling your weight again," Raphael said, dismissively.

Ariel looked to Michael for confirmation.

"All right, Ariel. You have my permission to get back to work," their leader said.

Ariel tilted his head toward his captain. "Understood." He turned to leave, but was held back by Raphael's hand suddenly gripping his arm. Raphael glanced uncomfortably back at his fellow archangels, as if he wished they would disappear for a moment. Michael politely looked away, but Gabriel kept his eyes locked on the healer, a small smirk on his face.

Raphael looked back at Ariel, who acknowledged his teacher with questioning eyes. Raphael spoke very softly, but his words could not escape the acute hearing of his brothers.

"Please be careful, Ariel. We could have lost you yesterday. We—I cannot lose you. Understand?"

"I understand," Ariel said, and his small smile was holding in tears. He left quickly before they had a chance to fall.

Raphael sighed with exhaustion and turned to find both his brothers staring at him.

"The whole thing was about Ariel then?" Gabriel accused, but not unkindly. "You were angry and worried about your student, so your response was to lash out at Joseph?"

"It is not as simple as you make it."

Raphael took a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing.

"Not all humans understand how to love properly. They think that love is easy and sweet as honey. They think that love is something they can offer with conditions, something they can revoke when it loses its sweetness.

"Joseph thought that sparing Mary's life was love. But no," Raphael shook his head, "saving a life is love. Joseph needed to learn that, quickly. And yes, I admit it was my love for Ariel that drove me to do it. For you see, love is what hurts my heart when I see my brothers and sisters in pain.

"So perhaps you do not agree with my method, but I will not apologize for something I did out of love for Ariel, for Mary, and even for that foolish carpenter. Because now he understands, and he begs for forgiveness from Mary and from Father, forgiveness that will be freely given—out of love. That is the whole reason we are here right now, is it not?"

Raphael looked from Gabriel to Michael, but they were momentarily speechless. Then, Michael stepped forward.

"Yes, that is the reason we are here right now. Forgiveness, freely given out of love. The kind of love that hurts. And it will hurt, my brothers. It will hurt more than anything we have ever felt. That is how we will know it is real."

"Look, Michael, Raphael. He has found her," Gabriel whispered.

The three archangels silently watched as the humble carpenter fell at the feet of his beloved. He could hardly speak for his weeping, but his words were truer than anything he had ever spoken.

"I am so, so sorry, Mary. My eyes have been opened to the way I treated you. I have not loved you with my whole heart, and for that I am ashamed. I don't know if you'll ever be able to forgive me, but I promise if you just give me a chance to—"

But Mary never gave him that chance, because he was already in her arms, already forgiven.

A/N: If the ending looked slightly stolen, it might have been heavily inspired by Zuko and Iroh's reunion in Avatar: the Last Airbender... I consider that scene to be the very best, most meaningful moment in the entire series. Makes me want to cry every time. :')

-Samuel