*Note* I am so sorry for not updating sooner. I've had tons of school work and I've been super busy. I promise I will write/update more often. If your still following/reading this fanfic thank you so much. So here it is and as always please review. Thank you!
The next morning Michael wakes up to find the child still asleep on his wing, his small curled form slightly shaking from the cold. Upon noticing this the angel wraps his wing around the baby like a giant heated blanket and soon it stops shaking. Michael smiles and looks around the room. Charlie is still asleep on the bed across from his and Jeep is nowhere to be seen.
Slowly he sits up curling his wing so it can hold the small sleeping infant and begins to walk quietly up the stairs. As he walks up the long staircase he pulls the picture of this family from his pocket, where he had placed it after he awaken in the middle of the night to find it had fallen out of his hand. He smiles at the picture:Charlies' smile wide and happy, Jeeps' head tilted to the side as he tried to take a picture with an awkward smile on his face, the baby wide eyed and still holding one of the angels feathers, and Michael. His wings serving as a dark, soft back drop while he held the child, his face still as stone and his eyes the only thing giving away how happy he was. He looked like one of the guardians. Silently he thought to himself that perhaps he was now similar to a guardian angle, a position he never would have been given back home in heaven.
After walking up the two lights of stairs he finally reaches the hatch underneath the couch and pushes it aside. Upstairs Jeep is sitting at the kitchen table reading a worn novel with a rifle at his side.
"Look who's finally up. How did you sleep?" asks Jeep as Michael walks into the room.
"Well as always. Far better than in Vega. And you?" says Michael walking to look out the window to watch for any rouge angels. In Vega the eight ball sirens seem to go off every few minutes and most nights Michael doesn't sleep.
"Good as always. I'm guessing that Charlie is still sleeping, thank God. She doesn't sleep well unless you're around. Heck I barely sleep unless your around. Doesn't feel safe with only me to protect them. Is Alex still asleep?"
"Yes." says Michael turning so Jeep can see the sleeping form still curled in his wing.
"How you can get him to sleep so well is amazing. I've never seen a child be so quiet. How do you do it?"
"I do not know." says Michael, his attention back on the window.
An hour later Charlie comes up from the basement and begins making breakfast for the four of them.
"We're going to need more flour. And we could probably use some more gas and whatever else you can find." says Charlie from the kitchen.
"I'll leave once we are finished eating. I've found a place that may have some useful supplies. I'll be gone no more than a few hours."
"You can do that tomorrow. We have enough food for today and your visiting. No running off and getting us supplies. Humans call this sort of thing a family gathering. We are a family so we will keep gathering until the absolute last moment." says Charlie, her tone light but her eyes daring him to disagree as she waves an old spatula at the angel, who is now sitting on the floor playing toy cars with Alex and Jeep.
"As you wish." replies Michael, silently laughing at how comfortable Charlie has grown around him. When they had first met she was terrified of him but slowly she grew to not fear him. Now she jokes with him and on some occasions like this commands him as if he were her child and not a powerful ancient being.
"Good. Now breakfast is ready."
They talk while they eat and when they are finished, Charlie has Michael feed the baby who is still playing with his toy cars.
"The trick is to get him to open his mouth so you can put the food in. It sounds easy but you've never fed a baby, especially not this one." says Jeep, setting the babys' applesauce in front of the angel and taking the dirty dishes from the table.
Michael nods and picks up Alex, setting him in his highchair. He takes a spoonful of the odd mushed up apples and holds it in front of Alexs' mouth who does nothing but stare at him.
"Open your mouth, Alex. Its time to eat." says Michael. The baby tilts his head and does nothing.
"Jeep, he wont eat." calls Michael.
"Just make noises or faces at him. Eventually he will." replies Jeep chuckling.
"Look. Watch me. Ah." says the angel, opening his mouth wide. The baby continues to watch him with a blank look on his face and Michael begins to get frustrated.
"Alex. Eat. E-A-T." he says. Once again he gets nothing but a look.
"I will play toy automobiles with you if you eat." he tries.
"You'll get it eventually. Hes a stubborn one. Imagine having to do this three times a day everyday like I do. You only have to do it once." says Charlie, laughing as she passes by on her way to pick vegetables from the small garden near their home.
"Come on, Alex. Your going to be the savior. Defeat the wicked angels and bring humanity back to what it once was. You need to be strong. So eat. Please. I beg of you." pleads Michael.
This continues for another ten minutes, the baby still staring blankly at the angel until, seeming to be either bored with the game or hungry he opens his mouth for food.
"I got it!" shouts Michael happily.
"Finally." says Charlie as she comes back in. "I thought you were never gonna get him to eat. Now finish feeding him and come help me with laundry."
"One moment." replies the arch angel, wondering if this is what it would have been like had he grown up a human and not an angel. If he had grown up having a mother who gave him commands instead of just simply being cast into being and put in charge of the lower, younger angels.
Fifteen minutes later Michael and Charlie finish putting clothes away and then they sit on the floor with Alex and play with his new toys. Soon after Jeep comes into the room and they sit like that for hours, watching and playing games with the baby as if all is fine and humanity isn't constantly living on the edge of survival. Their day passes with this sort of calmness and Michael again notes how much he truely cares for these humans and this little home which serves as his sanctuary.
Later when the sun is at its highest and Michael is helping Charlie prepare their lunch of eggs and bread Jeep bursts into the room.
"Eight balls. Five of them." says Jeep
"Charlie take Alex, go into the storm cellar and lock it. Jeep, lock down the house, stay inside and make sure that no one, nothing gets anywhere near them. Go. Now!" commands Michael, looking out the window to see two are already approaching.
Charlie grabs Alex and hurries through the hatch into the storm cellar, shutting it quietly behind her. Jeep covers the latch with a piece of carpeting, moves the couch back into place and then quickly pulls the steel window shutters closed. He walks to window where Michael is still watching the rogue angels.
"Why aren't they attacking?" asks Jeep
"They know I'm here and they are circling. Looking for an easy way to the child."
"Theres only one way in and out of that storm cellar. They wont get in. They wont get past us."
"You underestimate my younger brethren. They are cruel and barbaric but they are not stupid. Stay here. Do not open that door under any circumstances, they will play tricks with you. I will knock slowly three times and then call for you. I wont be long."
"Ok. See you soon. Good luck, Michael."
"You as well." says the powerful angel as he walks toward the door.
The moment he steps out Jeep shuts the door and slides the heavy steel bolts and coverings into place. Michael unfurls his great obsidian wings, flicking them slightly to show his annoyance to the younger angels as he pulls two long, double edged steel blades from his jacket.
"Michael!" hisses one of the lower angels, slightly backing away.
"Michael. Why do you defend such useless creatures? Give us the child and we shall leave." says another, the leader, as he steps toward the arch angel.
"You know I cannot do that, brother. Leave." he says, looking at the leader of their pack.
"We cannot. Gabriel wants the child and we shall bring it to him. He will reward us."
"He won't. All of you are worthless to him and killing innocents in effort to win favor will do you no good. I do not want to fight you, brothers. But if you do not leave I will be forced to and it will not end well for you."
"There are many of us and one of you. So many of us want the child and eventually we will take it. Give him to us."
"No. Leave now. I will not ask again."
"You reek of their stench. You will die with them." yells the leader as he rushes toward Michael.
The leader stretches his arms to an inhuman length, in an effort to grab the higher angel as the others begin to circle. Michael dodges the eightballs' arms and using his wings creates a wind to throw the leader back into a wall. Another tries to jump on Michaels' back but is stabbed through the chest with one of Michaels' blades. Two more rush him from either side, clawed hands at the ready and thrusts his blades out as he ducks, killing them both. Michael stands just as another slices at him with a piece of glass, cutting his arm. He swings his blade around, cutting the eight balls' neck in one smooth movement. Just as he is turning to the leader he hears a loud crack and turns to look at the house. He sees Jeep standing in the door way, an angel laying dead only inches behind Michael. Jeep gives gives the angel a thumbs up and turns to go back inside. Michael follows and the moment hes inside begins berating his friend.
"I told you to stay inside. I told you not to open the door. What if there had been more? What if it had been Gabriel. You could have died, Jeep. You could have gotten all of us killed. Why do humans never listen!" he says, his voice deadly and his flapping wings shaking almost imperceptibly, showing how he was not only annoyed but also terrified that these people could have been killed.
"That last one would have killed you, Michael. He was coming right for you and you had no idea. What would have happened to us if you died? Would we somehow make our way to Vega and try to live in piece there?" asks Jeep incrediously.
"Yes. They could protect you and you'd be safe. All of you would be safe."
"If Gabriel found out we were there all those people would die. I'm not going to put others in that kind of danger. If you die we, everyone, every last human being, dies. Alex would have no idea how hes supposed to save the world and then we'd be screwed."
"In time the child will learn what he is supposed to whether I'm there to help him or not."
"Face it, Michael. We need you. Now lets be done with this and go get Charlie and Alex from the basement."
"As you wish." is Michaels' only reply, his wings have stopped flapping but are still quivering slightly so he pulls them tight against his back and follows Jeep into the living room.
Together they move the couch and open the hatch, Jeep going down while Michael guards the opening incase any other angels suddenly appear. After a moment he hears footsteps coming up from the basement and looks down to see Charlie walking up the stairs with a crying Alex in her arms. The moment they are all in the living room she looks over Jeep for injuries, then Michael and upon seeing his cut arm, commands Michael to sit down as she sets Alex down on the floor. She then hurries into the kitchen to grab their small medical kit and sets to stitching up the angels' arm.
"You should be more careful, Michael. God forbid one of them gets in a lucky shot and cuts an artery or something. If that happens you better hope your in Vega or that God loves you cuz if he don't your dead. I don't know what we would do without you." she says, her voice worried, as she heats a needle and begins the stitches.
"I'll attempt to be more careful." he says to try to calm her.
"You better."
She finishes the stitches and after a few minutes goes back to making lunch. When lunch is ready they eat in silence, Jeep seeming to still be angry with Michael for scolding him, Charlie looking at him worriedly and Michael going over what Jeep had said to him. He wished Jeep werent right but he was. If he died all of humanity would fall, according to the prophecy the baby would be the savior of humanity and without guidance he would most likely fail. He can't let that happen.
After dinner Michael helps Charlie with dishes and when they are finished she sits on the couch with her latest sewing project. Michael stands in the doorway, watching her sew and the baby play, still going over Jeeps words'.
"I guess you'll be leaving soon." says Jeep startling him. Michael looks outside and sees that it is nearing sunset, the time that Michael usually leaves for Vega. He hesitates in his reply and noticing this Jeep, no longer looking angry, gives Michael a smile and pats him on the back.
"You know you can stay if you would like. We don't mind. I'm going to make that bean and tomato chili that you like. With corn bread." says Charlie smiling and clearly trying to tempt him into staying. He takes a moment too long to answer and Charlies smile drops, thinking that he will be leaving again.
"The angels who attacked earlier hinted that there are more of them and they may attack soon. It would unwise for me to leave at such a time. Now how shall I help with dinner?" He says finally and, despite the threat of another angel attack, Charlie jumps up to hug him.
They make dinner without any interruptions and sit at the table, talking about anything and everything. Michael again feeds Alex, this time the child opening his mouth without playing games. When the sun finally sets they make their way into the storm cellar and light candles. Jeep begins telling stories of the old world and recounts the story of how he and Charlie met, causing his wife to blush so bright that it was visible even in the dim light.
"Have I ever told you of heaven?" asks Michael once Jeep is finished.
"No, you havent. I'd love to hear of it? Is everything white and made of clouds like all the movies used to show?" asks Charlie, genuinely interested.
"No, its not. Its far more beautiful. Beauty beyond what anyone, even an angel, could ever imagine." says Michael chuckling at the ridiculous ideas of heaven that humans had once had. He looks at the child who had crawled into his lap and was looking up at him. The baby begins clapping as if wanting the angel to go one with his story.
The arch angel tells stories of heaven long into the night until eventually Charlie and Jeep fall asleep on the floor. Gently he picks up to two humans and places them onto their bed, covering them with a blanket. He then lays on his bed, the child again sleeping on his wing. He curls the giant mass of feathers to cover the infant so he wont become cold again and drifts off thinking of how he gave up paradise to protect these three humans. Just before sinking into oblivion he realizes that if he was given the chance to do this all over again, he wouldn't change a thing.