Life with Daphne Allen was confusing in the beginning for the man with no memories. One of the first things she had him do was pick out a name from a website called Bouncy Baby Names dot com. He wished he knew his actual name, because none of the names he found on the website seemed to feel like him. The closest name he found was Emmanuel, which meant 'God with us'. It still didn't feel completely right to him, but it's the only one he liked. He had also come across the name Dean in his search. The name meant 'valley', in its old form, but that's not why he stopped on it. That name felt significant to him in some way.

He didn't want to pick it as his name though, because that felt wrong. He felt like that was the name of somebody who was important to him before he met Daphne. He wished he remembered more about his life so he could remember who Dean was. Daphne seemed pleased when she learned the name he'd picked- Emmanuel- especially when he told her the meaning. "God is with us," she smiled. "He is the one who sent you to me. He wanted us to be together." Emmanuel frowned, the words not sitting right with him.

That night, he had learned the first of many strange things about himself. He didn't need to sleep. It's not that he didn't try- he had. Daphne had made up the guest bed for him and he'd tossed and turned for hours, but he just never seemed to get tired. The bed felt way too big, and he kept feeling a pain in his chest, almost like someone somewhere was thinking of him and longing for him to return. He didn't tell Daphne about the feeling, or the fact that he didn't need sleep. The next day he learned the next strange thing about himself. He didn't need to eat, either. He still ate the food Daphne set out on plates in front of him, but his body didn't need it. He never got hungry.

"It's okay that things are confusing right now, Emmanuel," Daphne told him as she washed the dishes. "As soon as we get back to the house and start a routine going, it will feel better." He just nodded, sitting at the island while he watched her work. She wouldn't let him help, just wanted him to sit nearby. That night, instead of going to the guest room, he went outside to look at the stars. He stared up at them, wondering who Dean was. Was Dean the one who was longing for him when he felt the pain in his chest yesterday? Suddenly, another phantom feeling shot through him.

It was a different person this time. He didn't know how he knew that, but he did. And this person was terrified. Something was happening that scared them immensely. "Cas, please… I need you. Daddy and Uncle Sammy are gone and I don't know where Grandpa Bobby is. You need to come back. Please." Emmanuel swallowed, looking around. That was a little girl's voice. He'd heard it clearly, like she was right next to him, but there wasn't a little girl anywhere close to him. Who was Cas? Feeling a lot more nervous, Emmanuel headed back inside the cabin and went to the guest room.

He laid on his back in bed, wide awake and staring at the ceiling for hours worrying about that little girl. Her voice sounded so familiar to him. It hurt him deeply, because he felt like he could do something to help her if he had any idea who or where she was.

"Good morning, Emmanuel. How'd you sleep?" Daphne asked him when he finally decided to emerge from the bedroom. "Fine," he lied. Instinctively, he understood that if Daphne learned about the strange things he'd learned about himself, she would get upset. "Good. We're going home today," she told him happily. "Where is home?" he asked curiously. "Grand Junction, Colorado." Emmanuel frowned. "If you live in Colorado, why are you staying in Kansas?"

"Once a month I go on a nature retreat to allow myself to reconnect with God and his creation away from the distractions of the world," Daphne replied. "Come on. Help me get everything in the car." Emmanuel did as he was told, lifting all the heavier things into the trunk for Daphne. The entire time, his mind kept straying back to the little girl he'd heard calling for that Cas person to come back. "Emmanuel, focus," Daphne snapped. "Sorry," he apologized, shaking his head to clear it.

Several hours later, Daphne was pulling the car into a quaint house in a row of identical looking homes. "They all look the same," Emmanuel frowned. "How can you tell them apart?" Daphne looked over at him. "The color and the number. You'll get used to it. They're cookie cutter homes." That didn't sound right. None of the houses were made of cookies. He didn't have time to question it, though, because Daphne had turned off the car and was telling him to help her bring everything inside.

A young blonde girl with pigtails ran by, laughing, followed by her parents. "Mack! Mackenzie, slow down!" the mother called. Emmanuel froze. Mack? He knew that name. Like Dean, that name seemed significant. "Hello, Daphne! How was your retreat?" the mother paused while the father continued down the sidewalk after Mackenzie. "Good, thank you," Daphne smiled at the woman. "Who's this?" the woman asked, looking at Emmanuel. "I'm Emmanuel. Nice to meet you," he greeted. "Nice to meet you, too. I'm Lily. Josh and I live next door with our daughter Mackenzie. I've been telling Daphne, here, that she needed to find a man for ages. Glad she finally listened."

"Lily," Daphne chastised her friend, cheeks turning bright red. "Well, I'll let you two get settled," Lily waved, heading off to join her husband and daughter. "Goodbye," Emmanuel waved back. "Come on," Daphne told him, dragging him back to the car.

Over the next several weeks, Emmanuel struggled to adjust to life in Colorado with Daphne. She started referring to him as her husband, even though they had never had a proper ceremony. When he talked to her about it, she said that since God wanted them together, they were husband and wife. It didn't matter if they had a proper ceremony or signed the papers. They were a couple in his eyes, and that's what was important. Daphne made him go everywhere with her, from simple supply runs to the grocery store to church every Sunday morning. Church made Emmanuel uncomfortable. Certain things he seemed to resonate with- for example, he seemed to have every passage from the Bible memorized.

Other things he disagreed with. Like when the pastor talked about God caring about all of his children and answering their prayers. At home, he continued to use the guest room. Daphne had expressed multiple times her desire for him to move into her room. "A husband and wife should share a bed, Emmanuel," she'd pointed out to him. He knew that was true, but the idea of sharing a bed with Daphne felt wrong. She still didn't know he wasn't sleeping, and besides… Usually husbands and wives did other things than just sleep in the same bed together.

Emmanuel believed that that particular act should be reserved for two people who truly loved each other. And although he continued to be very grateful to the woman who had saved him and given him a home, he could honestly say he did not love Daphne Allen. That thought was only reinforced in his mind after one particular incident that left Daphne becoming even more clingy and controlling of him. They were driving home from one of Daphne's friends' houses after dinner one night, and they had been arguing.

"You know, Emmanuel, you could at least try to talk to my friends," Daphne huffed. "I did try. Every time I tried to say something, you would talk over me," Emmanuel told her. "That's not true," she protested. "Yes, it is. Every time they asked a question about us and I tried to answer, you would lie to them and wouldn't let me talk." Daphne glared over at him. "I only lied because other people would freak out if they knew the truth about how we met! And I-"

"Daphne!"

Emmanuel's cry came too late. Daphne had been totally focused on him and hadn't been watching the road. As such, she didn't realize she'd swerved out of her lane toward a stop sign. Upon impact, Emmanuel's entire world went black. He came to, finding the front of the vehicle totally smashed against the pole, smoke billowing from under the hood. He looked down at himself, surprised to find he hadn't sustained any injuries. However, Daphne was another story.

When they crashed, her head had jerked forward at the same time the airbag deployed, which seemed to have resulted in some very serious head trauma. He could sense several broken bones in her body, and her heart rate was dangerously low. "Daphne? Daphne," he called out. She didn't respond, unconscious in her seat. He unbuckled himself and then reached over to help her. The second he touched her, his hand glowed. Startled, he drew it back and the light went away.

However, he noticed the blood on her face from the head wound had disappeared. Hesitantly, he reached out once more to touch her. His hand began glowing again, and the longer he held it over her, he could sense the rest of her injuries healing. When she was totally healed, he pulled back again. Daphne groaned, waking up. "E-Emmanuel? What happened?" she asked, blinking. "We… We were in an accident," he replied. "We were? But… why aren't we hurt?"

"You were hurt. But… I healed you," he told her. "What do you mean?" she blinked, her green eyes studying him curiously. "W-when I touched you… my hand glowed. All your injuries were healed." Daphne's eyes lit up excitedly. "Oh! Emmanuel, don't you see? This is why God sent you to me! This is why he wanted us to be husband and wife. He's blessed you with an amazing gift. One that helped you save me." Emmanuel frowned. He didn't understand this newfound power of his, but he didn't think that it was the reason he and Daphne had been forced together by 'God'.

However, he did believe that he was given the ability in order to help people like he'd just helped her. So, that's how he found himself put even further under Daphne's thumb. She insisted on being his sort of manager, screening those who were in need of help. If she approved, then they would be allowed to see and be healed by his power. And that's how things continued for several months.