Thanks for the reviews and follows again, everybody! I'm looking forward to what we have ahead. :)

Catherine and Balthazar arrived in the first area Gabriel wanted them to check out. The place was apparently having some weird signs of activity, but it could be up in the air if it was Raphael or an angel at all. The fact that there was a small town there gave a more likely chance that something could be going on, but the place wasn't really deserted either.

At first, they were wary of being spotted, but no one really seemed to care all that much. Balthazar raised the idea that they both try to relax because hiding wasn't going to work anyway, so Catherine opted to leave the car so that they could easily walk around town to meet a few people and gain a little information.

Unfortunately, that wasn't going as swimmingly as she thought. Balthazar walked down the sidewalk like he owned the place. Her, on the other hand, walked beside him and scrutinized everyone that passed by them. Something was here, that much was for certain. It just didn't seem like their mark... She couldn't tell. Things were just not lining up right so far.

Bal just glanced to her a little worriedly. She was obviously on edge and a bit suspicious. The hard looks she gave some people caused them to get a wide berth where they walked, so they were definitely gaining attention. He gave it another moment, a few more scared glances, until he finally couldn't stand it. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know," she admitted, watching two teenagers who had just passed them by. "It's weird. I don't know what it is, but something's weird."

"Yeah," he agreed. "It's you."

Cat shook her head, as if she sort of wished she believed him. "Gabriel said there's something here that's strong enough to be an archangel. Why isn't everything going nuts? It's almost like-"

"As if he's never been wrong before," Balthazar nearly snapped in response. To be honest, he was getting real tired of hearing about Gabriel all the time from her. Sure, he's been more than a huge help to them all, but that didn't make him the second Christ or something. "It is possible that he really is wrong, you know. There may be nothing here and we're just wasting our bloody time."

She thought about that; the possibility of Gabriel and that machine thing to be so wrong that there was nothing there. If the signal had moved, someone would have called and told them... After a quick debate, she shook her head, still watching the town goers. "I don't believe that."

"Of course, you don't," he grumbled to himself with a roll of his eyes. Bal really wanted to dig into his side of the argument, but the only reason he wasn't was because he didn't have much of one. It was just irritating him to high hell and he couldn't really pin point the exact cause, other than his brother being as annoying as usual.

It was then that Catherine finally noticed he was in one of those moods again. Thankfully, this wasn't of the quiet, brooding sort. He seemed genuinely peeved about something this time. Maybe she was being a little weird...

The thought was cut off when a young kid ran between them, laughing with tufts of candy in his hands. They had stopped and turned to watch him when a dark haired woman ran between them, too, nearly knocking all of them over in her rush. She turned suddenly, chuckling and placing a hand on each of their arms. "Sorry. Sorry," she apologized before running after the boy. "Charles, where are you going?"

Catherine watched the woman catch the laughing child and coddle him, still narrowing her eyes at the pair. "I don't know," she said again, then continued on her walk. "Something's weird."

Balthazar watched her and looked back to the happy woman and child. "...Yeah," he sighed, rolling his eyes again and following her.

The two of them had circled back to the park after about forty minutes of walking down streets and speaking to some local shop owners. Things seemed so normal here, as if nothing was happening and Gabriel really was wrong.

Catherine was sitting at a picnic table, watching the people go about their lives on such a nice day. Kids were playing on swing sets, couples walked hand in hand on the sidewalk, a few people jogged pass her, and she watched every single one of them closely. Something just wasn't right here. It was too normal. Too nice. Too happy.

"Are you still glaring at those poor people?" She sighed and turned in her seat to glare a little at Balthazar, too. His expression was somewhere between confusion and worry, but he set down the two take out plates of food in his hands to distract from it. "You're beginning to creep me out," he admitted.

"It's not right, though," she said, glancing over to the kids playing. "Look at them? Look at how happy they are? Isn't that weird?"

Cat looked at him as if he were supposed to suddenly see the light, but he just stared back at her for a moment. "... You're depressing today," he finally told her and sat down in the seat across from her. It was better to just eat than try to reason with her about this, so he grabbed his plate and tried to ignore her.

Catherine bit her tongue and looked around again before turning to face him. He had already opened his late lunch and was about to eat when she decided to interrupt. "Well, what do you see?" she asked him seriously. He looked at her over his food, hoping that maybe she'll just stop but no. "Go ahead. Look around. What do you see?"

His shoulder fell about an inch, but Balthazar glanced around. She patiently waited for a response, but he just shrugged. "... People?" After a moment of waiting, Cat motioned for him to continue, which only brought an annoyed groan out of him. "I don't even begin to know what you want me to say, dear."

She just sighed and rubbed her forehead, motioning again for him to go back to what he was doing earlier, which he did without much prompting. Still, Cat looked over to a happy older couple walking by, hand in hand. "If there really is nothing here, then why did something show up on that machine at all?" she asked more to herself than her companion. "It could be busted, but what if it's not? What if all this Pleasantville crap is just a cover?"

The fact that she seemed genuinely worried and stressed about it didn't go pass him. Really, the way she had been acting since their encounter with his two eldest brothers hadn't gone by him, either. She was driven now – perhaps even borderline obsessed with this whole mess – and he couldn't help but feel bad about it. His grace was her goal, after all.

Bal chewed his food and glanced around at the people again. It really did seem perfectly normal, but she was right that it made for a good cover. Would angels still recognize him after the loss of his grace? Would they care at all if they did recognize him? He twirled his plastic fork in his hand and pointed to her plate. "Eat. We're not leaving until we check things out closer anyway," he reasoned, "but glaring at everyone we talk to won't gather us much in the way of answers either."

He was right. Of course, he was right. She was overreacting to this whole ordeal, but she couldn't help it. The threat of another archangel was not something she liked to be pinned under, never mind the fact that they were looking for him. It was stupid, actually, and she didn't have a problem admitting to herself that she was scared after what happened with Michael.

She sighed and looked back over to Balthazar before glancing down to her own plate. Might as well enjoy the calm while it lasted, she reasoned, and pulled her plate closer. "Thanks for the food."

"Don't thank me," he said between bites, "It was your money."

It hadn't been twenty minutes and she was already doing a bit better with the staring. Balthazar could even claim to be proud of the fact, but he was mostly just relieved people weren't looking at them funny anymore. In fact, things were much more relaxed now and he could focus more on trying to find an oddity hidden somewhere around the small town. Only problem was that he couldn't really find anything out of place, which was a little worrying on its own. No wonder she had been going crazy.

"Maybe we should check the police station," he suggested, walking beside her again as they made their way along the sidewalk, going back to the car. "Surely, this entire place isn't crime free. Even something that happened around the same time as the fall could be helpful."

"Good idea," she admitted after thinking on the idea, "but we can't just walk in and ask what's up. We should do a little research first. Surely the press isn't all flowers and rainbows, too."

"We need to do more research in general," he sighed in response. "I had assumed angels would be all over us, but they may not even realize who we are if they're here."

Cat smirked, pulling the keys out of her pocket. "Gives us the advantage, at least," she said, finally coming up to the car. Before he had to move to the passenger side, though, Balthazar quickly leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her lips, which she returned just before he moved away to go around.

Her keys now hovered over the locked car door and she stared at them for what seemed like a full minute. After slowly looking up, she realized Balthazar had stopped in front of the car and was turning back around to face her just as slowly. Cat stared back at him for a second, before glancing to her keys, the car, and then up the sidewalk to check if anyone else had seen that.

His mouth was hanging open as he pointed between her, the Challenger, and himself a few times, trying to find some sort of words. "Did... you just-"

"No," she answered quickly, glancing back to him.

It took another minute as he replayed the scenario in his mind again. "... Yes, you did," he decided, "You kissed me."

She made a little choked sound in the back of her throat, before gaining some semblance of a human being again, and pointed her keys between the two of them. "If I remember right, you just kissed me."

"I did not," he argued back, as if the very thought was insane.

"Yes, you did," she argued, too, "You're taller than me. You leaned down and kissed me."

"I'm not that much taller," Bal grumbled, moving back over to her with the intent to prove his point of only being a couple of inches over her. "Admit it! You kissed me."

"I didn't! It was you. You leaned down-"

"You leaned up!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Well, if it wasn't me, then who else was it?"

"Not me!"

"Aww." A voice distracted them and they turned to find yet another couple, arm in arm. The young woman had her hand over her mouth, looking between the arguing parties. "You two are too cute to fight like that."

The other patted her on the arm. "Come on, sweetheart," her escort chided, leading her along by her arm. "They'll sort themselves out." The two turned away and continued walking down the sidewalk without so much as a glance back.

Balthazar stared at them and wasn't able to make a comment until they were well out of ear shot. "... What?"

Catherine watched them, too, until something finally occurred to her. She raised her hands and looked up and down the sidewalks again, glancing between all of the people. It was just turning into evening and a lot of adults had come out to enjoy the night to come, but they were in pairs more often than not. "Oh my God," she muttered, glancing across the street, as well, and down the road.

Bal looked back to her again, more than confused now, when she finally turned to face him again with a little smile. Her arms spread out and Catherine announced, "We've been cursed!"

He stared back at her like she had grown a second head, which is around the time she realized that being cursed wasn't a good thing, despite the fact that it meant she had been right the whole time. He finally blinked and broke the confused staring with a tilt of his head. "Do you need to sit down?"

Her arms fell. "No. Look. Look at them." She turned back to the people again. "They're all happy and together and creepy. That's what's wrong. I was right. There is something wrong here. I was right!"

Once he looked around like she had said and put the two together, he had to admit that she was on to something. It just... didn't really add up. "They've been cursed with... sex?" He almost said love but scratched that. Then he almost said happiness and scratched that, too. What would that imply for them? He deemed sex the safer topic.

Fortunately, she didn't hear him or notice the fumble as she started patting herself down and looking to the strangers passing by. "If it's a curse, then they had to place something on us," she reasoned with herself, "It's not in the car, we haven't even touched it. Everyone's infected, so it has to be something easily widespread."

He was already getting tired of the day. Balthazar gave a long sigh and shrugged. "Maybe it's in the water."

"Maybe it's-" She stopped moving altogether and slowly glanced up to him. "Where did you get our food?"

Oh no. No no no. This was not going to end up being his fault. "It wasn't the food."

She blinked at him and turned. "It was this way," she muttered to herself, leaving him and the car behind.

He had to stride to catch up. "It wasn't the food!"

She ignored him and continued on around two blocks until she found what must have been the restaurant he had gotten their food from. It was a nice little place, complete with an outdoor eating area, which made her wonder how much their lunch actually cost. The thought vanished when she glanced to the sign. "Seriously?" She looked at him incredulously.

"I'm bloody telling you, it wasn't-" He stopped defending himself when she pointed to the name of the restaurant. He glanced over to find that it was aptly called The Golden Apple. Bal blinked and looked back to her. "I don't- What?"

"The Iliad," she tried to explain. "Helen and Paris? Troy?" After shaking his head, she decided to just come out with it. "Aphrodite, the Goddess of Sex and Love, made Helen fall in love with Paris over a golden apple. It ended up destroying a whole civilization, remember? I mean, seriously."

After a moment, he seemed to remember. "Oh, I've met her!" he said with a little grimace. "Woman's a little crazy if you ask me... Though," he titled his head a smirked a little, "she is remarkably flexible for being so-"

Bal glanced back to Catherine, who was glaring back to him. His mouth closed and, after a brief pause, he turned around. "I'm going back to the car."

"Wait," she ran after him, "wait, wait!"

They both flashed fake health inspector badges to the attending waitress by the door. Her mouth pulled into a little 'O' as she looked between them. "Have we gotten complaints?"

"No, ma'am," Catherine said with a little smile, stuffing the badge back into her jacket. "Nothing substantial, anyway. We just want to speak to the owner and do the usual check."

The waitress smiled back with relief for a moment, but frowned again. "Oh, our manager is out tonight. Family problems. But you can speak to my supervisor, if you'd like? Our manager should be in tomorrow morning."

Cat glanced over to Balthazar, wondering if it was wise to allow their supposed enemy any sort of head start on them. He looked back to her and then smiled over to the waitress. "That's fine, too. We'd just like to see the kitchen, please."

The smile that was given back to him – likely from the surprise of his accent – did not go over Catherine, and she frowned to the woman before being waved over in the direction of her supervisor.

The supervisor in question, a nice young man who showed them to the kitchen, was a bit better to her liking. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Balthazar, as he noticed the handsome man spoke more to his partner than to him. She seemed generally oblivious but smiled more, and it annoyed him to no end.

They were shown around the kitchen, but it was obvious when they first entered that they wouldn't be able to get a thorough look around. The cooks were hustling from the evening rush and it was impossible to look at ingredients this way. The only thing that did stand out was that things didn't seem to be outright terrible. Just like everything else in that town, it looked perfectly normal.

"Are you guys always this busy?" Catherine asked the supervisor and Bal looked to her with a frown, assuming she was actually trying to make small talk with the guy.

He smiled back to her and the angel wanted to break his nose. "Not always," he answered, "Dinner and lunch is always busy, but we're generally slow for breakfast."

The morning again, she noted. It seemed fine, but there could also be a pattern to it. Unfortunately, they needed time to figure out what exactly they were dealing with and, if it was Aphrodite, how to properly stop her. She smiled back to him again and they continued on their way. They would have to come back in the morning. There was no choice in the matter. Only, they didn't have to let these people know that.

After a few more minutes on their quick tour, the young man stopped and asked if they had any questions. Balthazar was quick to answer before Cat could get her hands on that one. "No, thank you," he said with a very fake smile, which he turned to his companion. "We should probably go, dear." He often called her by pet names, so it wasn't hard to notice that she didn't even realize the action, but he didn't care if she did. He just wanted the smug little supervisor to.

She was confused by his sudden urge to leave, though, but didn't say anything. The other man didn't make any remarks on Bal's comment and just nodded. "Well, come back whenever you like. All we have here is good food and a nice atmosphere."

Balthazar nearly laughed, but his smile grew wider. "Oh, I bet. Shall we?" Before she knew it, he was already leaving and she was forced to follow after him.

The waitress at the front waved as they passed by. "Come back again," she happily told them both.

He almost tripped over himself as he stopped, suddenly getting a bright idea. Balthazar smiled back and blew a kiss over to her. "We will, love."

The girl giggled and Catherine walked around him with her brow furrowed. "Love? Really?" she whispered to him, "Was the kiss thing even necessary?"

He shrugged, frowning back to her. "What's gotten into you?"

"What's gotten into you?" she asked opening the door for the both of them.

The waitress, with a worried frown, watched the pair argue as they left.

I did it! I was hoping to have another chapter done soon. The week after next is my Spring Break, so maybe I'll catch up on some writing during that time.

As an aside, I'm well aware that the golden apple is actually a thing from Eris. Catherine's only going off of one part of The Iliad and not the whole thing. It'll be cleared up a lot more in the next chapter. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's okay, too.

Review and follow and all of that. I love you, guys. Thanks for reading.