"I swear to G.o.d, Bale," a feisty little brunette shouts to a handsome laughing, blonde boy her same age, "if you don't give me that phone I'm going to kill you!"

Bale is jogging backward in the living room to avoid his sister's clutches.

"I'm just texting him what you would, Bree. That you love him and can't wait to see him at school tomorrow."

"Bale," Mason says sharply, causing the boy to come to a complete stop and immediately wipe the smile off his face.

Brianna sees her chance and s.n.a.t.c.hes the phone out of her brother's hands.

"Thanks, Grandpa," Brianna says, stuffing the phone in the back pocket of her jeans.

Brianna walks over to Mason and gives him a big hug. Bale comes over to stand by his sister. They both end up staring at me.

Yeah... a little awkward. I begin to wonder if they know we had s.e.x last night too from the way they're both looking at me.

"Bree, Bale, I would like you both to meet Jess."

Bale holds out his hand to me and I shake it. Bree does the same.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Bree tells me with a genuinely happy smile.

"Yeah," Bale says, a slow appreciative smile appearing on his face as he looks me up and down. "Now I see why Grandpa's been acting so distracted when he comes over lately."

Bree hits her brother on the arm. "Stop leering at her you git. She's Grandpa's girlfriend."

Bale looks over at Mason and the smile quickly vanishes from his face.

Bale shrugs. "Well she is beautiful, Grandpa. Surely you can't fault me for appreciating that."

Mason sighs. "No, I suppose I can't. But keep your eyes on her face."

Bale blushes.

Bree laughs. "Ha!"

Angela and Jonathan walk in the room with their other two children in tow.

Jonathan comes up to me and gives me a peck on the cheek. "It's so good to see you again, Jess. We've been meaning to have the two of you over for ages but there never seemed to be a good time until now."

I feel a tug on my shirt and look down to find little Emma standing there holding a small pink, slightly wilted flower in one of her hands. I'm not sure what it is but she holds it up for me to take.

"I picked this for you," Emma says shyly.

I kneel down and take the flower from her little outstretched hand.

"It's beautiful," I tell her, holding the flower to my nose and taking a whiff. "And it smells nice too."

Emma giggles and runs over to stand by her mother's legs.

"She's been waiting all day to give you that," Angela tells me.

I stand back up.

Kyle comes up to me with no shyness at all and holds out his hand to me.

"I'm Kyle," he says.

I shake his hand. "I'm Jess. It's a pleasure to meet you, Kyle."

Kyle goes to stand by his father and Jonathan puts a hand on his shoulder, smiling down with pride at his son.

"Supper is prepared. Father is just setting the table to meet his requirements," Angela says, reminding me of Allan's odd OCD.

Everyone starts to leave the room.

"Jonathan," I call out, gaining not only Mason's son's attention but everyone else's as well. "Could I speak with you alone for a moment?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mason look confused but I don't acknowledge it.

"Of course," Jonathan says, just as confused as his father.

I look over at Mason and wave my hand at him. "Go on," I tell him. "I need to ask your son something without you around."

Mason lifts an inquiring eyebrow at me.

"You'll know soon enough," I tell him. "But that's all you're going to get out of me. Now shoo!"

Once Jonathan and I are alone, I ask him a question which he immediately says yes to and tell him about my surprise for Mason planned for the next night. Jonathan offers to help in anyway he can and we arrange for him to call Malcolm after Mason and I leave to fine tune the details.

"I thought my dad was happy now," Jonathan tells me as we walk out of the living room. "After tomorrow, he'll be over the moon."

"What's happening tomorrow?" I hear Mason say.

He's walking towards us down the hallway from the dining room.

"You'll see tomorrow," I tell Mason. I see him begin to open his mouth and immediately hold up my hand. "Don't even ask," I tell him. "You're not going to get another word out of me about it. Except," I say realizing I do need to say a few more words, "you can't come over to my house tomorrow. Not until I tell you to anyway."

"And I don't get any explanation for this exile?" He asks.

"Not until tomorrow night," I tell him, looping an arm around one of his and walking down the hallway to the dining room.

Halfway through the meal, Mason gets a call from Isaiah letting us know that Rafe is refusing to leave his clinic.

"It looks like we'll have to go to him," Mason tells me. "He doesn't want to leave his patients."

"Admirable," I say, truly admiring the next member of our small club of archangels.

Mason and I finish eating quickly and say our goodbyes.

"See you soon," Jonathan tells me, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

Mason and I phase back to my house to wait for Isaiah to take us to where Rafe is.

"So what is your devious little mind cooking up for me for tomorrow night?" Mason asks.

"Like I said, you'll have to wait until then to find out. Now stop asking me questions."

"Hmm," I see a glint of mischief in Mason's eyes. "I bet I could get the answer out of you."

"Oh really?" I ask skeptically. "And just how do you intend to work that small miracle? Or haven't you noticed my stubborn streak?"

"Oh, I've noticed," Mason says. "I've noticed a lot of things about you lately, especially where your sensitive spots are."

"The promise of s.e.xual pleasures will not get you an answer," I tell him imperiously.

"That's not the sort of sensitive I was talking about."

I feel Mason's hands creep up my sides and he begins to tickle me unmercifully over my ribs.

"Stop!" I beg, squirming against his hands, laughing.

But he doesn't stop, he continues his torturous tickling and I do something unexpected. I fly up to the ceiling.

"Ha!" I say to him below me. "Didn't see that coming did you?"

I fold my arms across my chest and openly mock him.

"Hmm, do you really think that will work?"

Mason phases right in front of me in the air and grabs me. Then he looks completely confused because we're both floating in the air.

"Why aren't we sinking?" He asks.

"What do you mean?"

"I can phase vertically but I don't usually float."

"Let go of me," I suggest.

Mason does and he falls back to the floor landing on his feet.

"Phase back up here and grab me again," I tell him.

He does as instructed and again he's able to float while holding me.

"Ok, I'm going to completely rip off a Chandlerism but this is wicked cool!" I say.

"I have to agree," Mason says. "Do you feel my weight at all?"

"No," I admit. "I mean I feel you of course but it doesn't feel like I'm carrying you. It just feels like you're doing what you're doing, holding me."

Isaiah phases in below us.

"Jess?" He calls. "Mason?"

I start to giggle.

Isaiah looks up. His eyes grow wide as he sees us floating in the air above his head. "How are you both doing that?"

I fly Mason and I back to the floor and we explain it to Isaiah.

"I've always wanted to fly," Isaiah says, sounding slightly jealous of my ability. "But that's not why I'm here. Rafe is waiting for us at his clinic. Are you ready to go?"

I nod. "Yes. Just let me get my sword."

I go to my bedroom and grab my sword, quickly placing it over my shoulders, onto my back and buckling the belt around my waist.

When I get back into the living room, Isaiah phases us to Seirra Leone.

Chapter 13.

I find myself standing in a room that contains sixteen beds, eight against each side wall. Each bed is canopied with a white mesh material which I a.s.sume to be mosquito netting. The room itself is plain, nothing like what you would find in a modern hospital.

Rafe is speaking to a woman sitting up in one of the beds using his stethoscope to listen to her breathing. Sensing my presence, his eyes are drawn away from his patient and find me. I see a smile play across his lips which he instantly tries to quell but can't. He says something to the woman and stands from her bed.

As he walks over to me, he starts to shake his head.

"Isaiah said I would feel connected to you when you arrived but," he pauses trying to contain his emotions, "I never expected to feel this."

I hold my hand out to Rafe and he takes it, no questions asked.

"Is there somewhere we can talk privately?" I ask. "I'll explain everything to you."

Rafe nods and leads me through the clinic pa.s.s the beds with the sick and dying to a room which looks to be his office at one end of the building. Mason and Isaiah stay back in the infirmary while I speak with Rafe.

I explain to him why he feels connected to me and what our mission is.

"So you don't know what we're supposed to be doing exactly? What we're meant to stop Lucifer from doing?" He asks.

"No. Not yet. We're still working on that. Lucifer keeps things well hidden. I'm not even sure we'll know what he's doing until he actually does it."

Rafe holds a fisted hand to his mouth and his eyes glaze over as he stares off into s.p.a.ce, presumably thinking through everything I've said to him.