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Birds of Pray	By : Kittenmommy Category: M through R > Prophecy, The Views: 2168 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Prophecy movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
“Birds
of Pray”

Chapter
9

“It’s
Time To Come Home”

*****

AUTHOR’S
NOTE: I love reviews, I really do. It makes me so happy when
people enjoy my stories and when they take the time to tell me so.
All that I ask is that you please, please don’t
put spoilers in your reviews – thanks so much!

*****

Katherine
couldn’t quite believe what had just happened; had she really
just told Gabriel that she would have slept with him?

Judging
from the look on his face, the answer was yes, she had.

After
a moment, he found his voice. “Katherine… I’m
stunned.”

She
laughed nervously. “Yeah, me too. But you know, if
it kept me safe from Lucifer…”

“Ahh,”
he said ruefully, “I should’ve known.”

For
some reason, she felt that she should elaborate. “I mean,
it’s not like you’re not… not… attractive…
I guess… it’s just that, you know, Greg and I – ”

“It’s
all right, Katherine,” he said, waving a hand dismissively.
“I know.”

Katherine’s
stomach growled loudly. She looked up at the clock and was
astounded to see that it was nearly noon.

“Did
you realize that we’ve been sitting here talking for almost
five hours?” she suddenly asked, relieved to have an excuse to
change the subject.

“No,”
Gabriel said, and frowned. “I remember what it was like
being human… measuring time in hours and minutes. But I
never got used to it, you know? Time doesn’t really mean
much to me unless I have something important I gotta do.”

She
nodded. “Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t.” She took
a sip of coffee. “Are you hungry? Do you want to
get some lunch somewhere?”

He
shrugged. “I could eat, yeah.”

“All
right,” she said, rising. “Let’s go.
I’m getting sick of this kitchen!”

*****

Katherine
and Gabriel drove around for forty-five minutes in search of a
restaurant that they could both agree upon, and it was not lost on
her that anyone who overheard their bickering might easily mistake
them for a married couple.

“Look,
there’s the Olive Garden – how about that?” she
suggested.

“What’s
that? Greek food?”

“No,
Italian.”

Gabriel
shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

She
glanced over at him. “Do my ears deceive me? Did we
just discover a restaurant that meets your exacting standards, O
great Archangel?”

He
gave her a look, and she laughed as she pulled into the parking lot.

“Olive
Garden,” he muttered under his breath as they got out of the
car and walked toward the restaurant. “Sounds like they
should have Greek food with a name like that.”

“Well,
they don’t,” she told him. She stopped walking and
looked at him. “Don’t tell me you’d rather
have Greek!”

“Nah,
this is fine,” he said, and surprised her by holding the door
open for her, just as a human man might have done.

“Why
Gabriel, what a surprise,” she murmured as she went inside.

“Habit
I picked up when I was human,” he explained.

“Let
me tell you, being human did you a world of good!”

He
made one of his little noises in reply: Hnnuhhh.

“Two,
please,” Katherine said to the hostess. “And how
long is the wait?” she asked as an afterthought.

The
hostess glanced at her list. “About fifteen minutes,”
she replied.

Katherine
looked at Gabriel, who shrugged.

“All
right,” Katherine agreed. She peered into the dining
room, trying to assess if their wait might turn out to be shorter.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “It can’t
be!”

But
it was. Greg was sitting at a table over in the corner, and he
wasn’t by himself.

He
was with a beautiful young blonde girl, and as Katherine stood there
staring in shock, the lovely stranger reached across the table and
took his hand, laughing at something he’d said. The girl
was at least fifteen years younger than Greg… and probably
twenty years younger than Katherine.

Without
thinking, she marched into the dining room.

“Katherine,”
she heard Gabriel call. “Is our table ready?”
She ignored him, striding right up to Greg’s table and glaring
down at him.

“What
the hell is this?” she spat angrily.

“Katie!”
he exclaimed, shocked. His face flushed, and his eyes darted
guiltily in the direction of his companion, which was all the
confirmation that Katherine needed. “This isn’t
what it looks like,” he tried lamely, and sneezed.

“Yes
it is,” Gabriel said. Somehow he had materialized
directly behind her. “This is exactly what it
looks like, and it’s been going on for two months.”

“What?”
She turned to Gabriel. “That can’t be!”

“Yes
it can.” She looked up into his eyes, nodded once, and
turned back to the treacherous scene before her.

“You
son of a bitch,” she grated out. “You lying
bastard.”

“Thanks
a heap, Gabe,” Greg said sarcastically. “You’re
a real pal.”

“Any
time, Gregory,” Gabriel replied tranquilly.

Greg
sneezed loudly and grabbed a napkin. “Damn!”
He looked up at Katherine and smiled apologetically, wiping his
nose. “Listen, Katie-Kate, I – ”

“Drop
dead!” She picked up his half-full wineglass and dashed
its contents in his face.

“Hey!”
Greg protested, wiping a very nice Cabernet Sauvignon out his
eyes and blinking up at her in shock. Then he sneezed several
times in quick succession.

“You’re
crazy!” the blonde girl exclaimed, staring up at her
wide-eyed.

“Oh,
Honey, you have no idea,” Katherine agreed.

“Who
are you?” the girl demanded, and Katherine stared at her
in disbelief.

“I’m
his girlfriend. I’m surprised you didn’t
figure that out by now.”

“Girlfriend?”
she echoed, clearly stunned. “I’m his
girlfriend!”

“Uh
oh,” Gabriel said, but he didn’t sound a bit perturbed.
In fact, Katherine would have sworn that he was enjoying himself,
which infuriated her even further.

“You
want to make a fool of yourself with this little blonde bimbo, fine,”
she told Greg from between clenched teeth.

“I’m
not a bimbo!” the girl protested, and Greg sneezed again.

“Shut
up,” Katherine told her, and returned her attention to Greg.
“Just don’t come running back to me. This is
it. We are through.”

She
moved to leave and Greg jumped to his feet, grasping her arm.
“If you’d just calm down and listen – ”

“I’m
not interested in anything you have to say, Greg,” she
said coldly, yanking her arm away.

“This
is your fault!” Greg said, glaring at Gabriel. His
attempt at outraged anger was somewhat undermined when he sneezed
explosively.

“My
fault?” Gabriel asked, incredulous. “How is it my
fault that you decided to have an affair with one of your interns,
Gregory?”

“You’ve
been poisoning Katie against me from the start!”

“Oh
save it, Greg,” Katherine said. “You’re just
making yourself look more ridiculous.”

“It
must be sad to be old and desperate,” the blonde girl mused,
leaning back in her chair and sipping her wine. “I almost
feel sorry for you.”

Katherine
smiled grimly. “Listen, Sweetie, you’re welcome to
him – I have bigger fish to fry at the moment.”

Greg
sneezed. “It’s him, isn’t it?” he asked
in the tone of a man who’d just made an amazing discovery.
“You’re screwing Gabriel!”

“No
– I’m not, actually. But now that you said
it, yeah, I think I’ll go home and do just that! Why the
hell not, right?”

Gabriel
was clearly taken aback by this news. “Uh… what?”

Katherine
grabbed his arm. “Come on, let’s go.”
He was so stunned that he allowed her to drag him along.

“Wait
a minute,” Greg called, hurrying after them, sneezing.
“You can’t do that!”

“Oh
yeah? Watch me,” Katherine said.

“Hey
– I told you last night I’m not into that stuff!”
Gabriel protested.

“Good
grief, Gabriel – ‘watch me’ is just an expression!”

“But…
Katherine… don’t you want to eat lunch?” he asked.

“We’ll
order delivery…” she glanced over her shoulder at Greg.
“And we’ll eat it in bed!”

“Katie!”
Greg yelped, following them out the door. The blonde girl came
hurrying after him.

“Let
her go,” she advised. “He’s ugly anyway –
they’re a good match!”

“You
two are a better one,” Gabriel said suddenly. He turned
and moved close to the girl, and she took several quick steps back in
surprise. “Does your fiancé… Robert…
does he know about you and Gregory?”

Her
face flushed crimson.

“How
about it, Carolyn?” Gabriel persisted.

Her
head jerked up. “How do you know my name?”

“Ah,
you look like a Carolyn,” Gabriel said dismissively.

“Fiancé?”
Greg asked numbly, staring at the blonde girl. “You’re
engaged?” He sneezed and wiped his nose on his napkin.

“Oh
yeah, she’s engaged,” Gabriel confirmed as Carolyn stared
down at her shoes. “To some doctor… intern…
he’s just starting out. See, he’s her back-up plan
if this thing with you falls through.”

“You’re
lying,” Greg said, but there was no real conviction in his
voice.

Gabriel
shrugged. “Ask her,” he advised, gesturing at the
girl. She continued to stare at her shoes, and her face was
very red.

“She
sure looks guilty to me, Greg,” Katherine said with a
shrug. “But what do I know? Obviously I’m not
the best judge of character, am I?”

“How
do you know all this stuff?” Greg asked, glaring at Gabriel.
“What are you, some kind of weirdo stalker?”

“No…
I just know things.”

“Greg,
who is this guy?” Carolyn asked, frowning.

It
was Gabriel who answered her. “That’s a very long
story,” he told her sincerely.

“Yeah,”
Greg agreed snidely. “I’m sure it is. Maybe
one day you’ll tell us that ‘lawng stahwry’, huh?”
He moved very close to Gabriel and pointed a finger right in the
angel’s face. “But you listen to me, buddy,” he
continued, “I’m on to you. You’re up to no
good, I know it.”

Unfortunately,
the impact of this little speech was lessened quite a bit by the
uncontrollable sneezing fit that suddenly seized him.

“You
just keep telling yourself that, Greg,” Katherine said as she
unlocked her car. She shook her head. “I don’t
know how I could have been so wrong about you.” Her eyes
filled with tears, and she wiped them away angrily. “Goodbye,
Greg,” she said sadly, and got in the car.

“Wait,
Katie – ”

“See
ya, Gregory,” Gabriel called cheerfully, his hand on the car
door.

“Gabe,
you’d better not even think about touching her, or –
”

“Or
what?” Gabriel asked, interested. “What’ll
you do, Gregory – sue me?”

Greg
made a fist, glaring at Gabriel. “Oh, wouldn’t I
just love to – ”

“That’s
enough, you two!” Katherine shouted, climbing back out of the
car. As much as she hated Greg at the moment, she didn’t
want to see what would happen if he finally succeeded in riling
Gabriel.

“Katie,
stay out of this!” Greg said angrily. “He’s
had it coming since the night we met!”

“Listen,
Greg,” she said, hurrying over and grabbing his arm. “You
really don’t want to do this. Trust me.”

“Come
on, Greg – let’s go finish our lunch,” Carolyn
pleaded. “You just made partner… you don’t
want anyone to see you brawling in a parking lot with some weirdo!”

Greg
looked from Carolyn to Katherine and back again.

“You
both think I can’t take him!” he finally said, sounding
really angry now. Clearly, his pride was seriously wounded,
which only made him more determined. “Just because he’s
taller than me doesn’t mean I couldn’t beat his sorry –
”

“Yeah?”
Gabriel had finally had enough. “You wanna dance?
Come on, Monkey Boy,” he goaded, beckoning Greg forward with a
gesture. “Let’s dance!”

That
was all the encouragement Greg needed. He pulled free of the
hands that restrained him and lunged at the other man.

But
Gabriel somehow wasn’t occupying that space anymore, and Greg
found himself colliding with the side of Katherine’s car hard
enough to rattle the windows.

“Ohhh…”
he moaned, sliding to the pavement.

“Greg!”
Katherine and Carolyn yelled in unison.

Gabriel
bent down, grabbed the lapels of Greg’s suit jacket and hauled
him to his feet in one fluid motion. “Are we all done
here, Gregory?” he hissed, clearly hoping that the
answer to that would be ‘no’.

Greg
sneezed violently, gave an inarticulate cry and took a swing at
Gabriel, his fist connecting with his opponent's jaw in a satisfying
solid punch that actually hurt his knuckles.

Gabriel’s
head snapped back from the force of the blow and he made an ominous
growling sound low in his throat. Greg’s eyes opened
wide; he’d never heard a human being make a sound like that,
ever. Before this thought could fully register, Gabriel had
shaken off the punch and hoisted him into the air, effortlessly
lifting him up so that his feet were dangling at least a foot from
the ground.

Gabriel
looked up at the astonished human, regarding him with the same deeply
interested look that an owl might give a mouse right before
swallowing it whole. “I said… are we all done
here… Gregory?” he repeated calmly, almost
pleasantly.

Greg
took a deep breath.

“Don’t
do it, Greg,” Katherine advised.

“Greg,
honey, come on,” Carolyn pleaded.

Greg
suddenly seemed to realize what everyone else around him already
understood: He was embroiled in a fight that he couldn’t
possibly win. With effort, he relaxed his fists. His
shoulders sagged.

“Yeah,
Gabe, he said quietly, his voice low with undisguised resentful
anger. “Sure.”

“Hhhnnn,”
Gabriel said, sounding disgusted. He let the human drop to the
ground. Greg staggered a bit and then moved away, sneezing.

Katherine
watched as Carolyn went to him, laying a hand on his arm. He
angrily pulled away, and she heard them begin to argue as they walked
toward the restaurant.

Gabriel
came to stand beside her. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah,”
she said softly, watching Greg yank the restaurant door open and
storm inside without bothering to hold the door for Carolyn…
or even bothering to acknowledge her existence.

Katherine
turned to Gabriel and frowned. “You’re bleeding…”
She put her finger at the corner of her own mouth to illustrate.
“Right there.”

He
wiped his mouth with two fingers. “Yeah, he punched me
pretty good.”

“Oh,
Gabriel,” she said, dismayed. “Are you all
right? Let me see – ”

He
waved away her concern. “I’ll be fine, Katherine.”

“Are
you sure?” she pressed, and he gave her a look. “Right,
stupid question.” She was quiet for a moment.
“Thank you for not hurting him.”

The
angel shrugged. “Aaaah, what’re you gonna do?”
he asked rhetorically. “He didn’t really want to
fight with me… he was just, you know, overwhelmed by
everything and I was a convenient target.”

This
statement was so insightful that Katherine tilted her head, regarding
Gabriel in a new light. “I was teasing you before, but
you really did learn a lot as a human, didn’t you?”
she mused. “Good for you.”

“I
got in a couple fights,” he admitted. “Usually over
stupid stuff. So I know how it is.”

“And
angels don’t fight over stupid stuff?” she asked
seriously. “Just humans?”

“Well,
we don’t fight over women… so today was another
first for me!” This made her laugh, and he smiled.
“But yeah, we fight over stupid stuff too – we just do it
on a grander scale than you people.”

“Yeah,
I remember,” she agreed, and sighed. “You were
right about Greg… I should’ve listened to you. I
was just so convinced that he loved me – ”

Gabriel
reached out and tilted her chin up. “He does love
you, Katherine,” he told her sadly. “He’s
just not what you’d call a one-woman guy.”

Her
eyes filled with tears. “Well, I wish he’d been
honest with me.”

“Yeah,
I know.” He released her chin and gave her a friendly pat
on the shoulder. “Come on, I’ll drive you home.”

*****

Katherine
spent the ride home staring numbly out the window. She felt
dizzy, detached, and unable to focus. And her head hurt.
It was funny how your entire world could be turned upside down in a
single instant.

She
was peripherally aware that Gabriel kept stealing worried glances at
her out of the corner of his eye as he drove, and was touched by his
concern. She was the one who was supposed to be taking care of
him, worrying about him… but now he was worrying
about her instead. It seemed so odd that less than a week ago
this entire situation would have been unthinkable; finding Greg with
another woman, relying on Gabriel for support and comfort. The
very thought of those things would have made her laugh.

Well,
she sure wasn’t laughing now… this seemed to be a day
for unthinkable things to happen. Had she really said she was
going to take Gabriel home and screw him? And was that what he
was expecting when they reached her house? She pushed that
thought aside, unable to cope with it at the moment.

“Katherine?”

She
suddenly realized that the car wasn’t moving anymore and that
Gabriel was staring at her expectantly.

“We’re
home,” he told her gently. She nodded silently and got
out of the car. When she stumbled on the front steps, he
reached out and steadied her.

“Thanks,
Gabriel,” she murmured, reaching into her purse for her keys.
“For everything.”

“Don’t
worry about it, Katherine.”

She
was very aware of his hand at the small of her back as they went into
the house. Was he afraid that she would stumble again, or…?

“Listen,
Gabriel,” she began.

“It’s
OK,” he said. “Let’s go sit down.”

They
went into the living room, where Katherine’s eye happened to
fall upon the DVD player that Greg had brought her the other night…
had all of these unthinkable things happened over the course of only
a few days? It seemed like a lifetime ago when she had come in
here and found Gabriel perched on her coffee table. She had
promised to make dinner for Greg that night –

Suddenly,
everything hit her and was standing the middle of her living room,
sobbing with her face in her hands.

But
Gabriel was there, grasping her wrists and gently pulling her hands
away from her face. Through her tears, she saw that he was
looking down at her with a kind of baffled compassion, as though he
just wasn’t sure what to do.

For
some reason, this made her cry even harder. Her head was really
beginning to ache badly now.

She
felt him release her wrists and she brought her hands up to wipe her
face, and then his arms were around her and he was pulling her close,
murmuring against her hair. He smelled like the night and
moonlight and wild things that called to each other in the forest,
and she put her arms around him and buried her face in his chest and
cried and cried and cried.

Now
Gabriel was the one taking care of her. He went to the
kitchen and got her a glass of water and a cool damp towel to wipe
her face.

He
sat down with her on the sofa and held her gently against him until
her sobs gradually subsided.

“At
least you’re not saying ‘I told you so’!” she
said, looking up at him and wiping her eyes.

He
shrugged. “Aaaah, what good would it do?”

”None
at all. You just seem like the I Told You So type.”

“Not
today,” he said quietly, and gently brushed a stray piece of
hair out of her eyes. “Silly little monkey.”

“Birdbrain,”
she whispered.

She
felt dizzy and her head was absolutely pounding…
probably a consequence of getting so upset, she reflected. She
closed her eyes and rested her cheek against his chest, listening to
his breathing, his heartbeat. She felt so safe there in his
arms.

“Gabriel,”
she murmured, her voice sounding strange to her own ears.

“I’m
here.” His voice seemed to reverberate inside her head
and her mind reeled dizzily. “I won’t leave you,
Katherine.”

“I
know.” There were bright lights behind her eyelids…
all colors… beautiful, dazzling. She wondered vaguely if
he saw them too.

She
was falling… but Gabriel would catch her. He was her
angel. He would swoop through the air on his great white
wings and catch… catch…

She
struggled to open her eyes and look up at him, but she found she
couldn’t seem to focus on anything. “Gabriel, my
head hurts.”

”I
know,” he whispered. “It’ll be OK, I
promise.”

His
voice seemed to come from very… far… away.

“Don’t
be afraid, Katherine.”

So
far away.

”Shhhh…”

Her
eyes slipped shut.

The
lights, the colors – !

*****

Gabriel
gently laid Katherine on her bed and folded her hands on her chest.
He pressed the back of one hand to her cheek, feeling her warmth, her
life.

With
a sigh, he jumped up to perch on the footboard of her bed, to wait
for the Word he so desperately hoped would come.

Waiting
wasn’t something that normally bothered Gabriel; he was a
patient angel, as one might expect of someone who was accustomed to
measuring time in millennia rather than minutes. But now he
felt a sense of urgency… what if the Word came, and it wasn’t
what he hoped for after all? Humans were ephemeral creatures…
what if he was wasting precious time, time that might actually make
some kind of difference for Katherine?

To
pass the time, Gabriel brought his wings forward and began to preen
them, running his fingers through the feathers, smoothing them back
into place. It was a soothing activity, and he was self-aware
enough to know that he wasn’t only doing it to realign and
neaten his feathers. The whole situation with Katherine had
been painful from the start, and right now Gabriel needed the
comfort.

There
were quite a few feathers that he just couldn’t reach and he
wished briefly for another angel to help, as was their custom.
He did the best he could, and then fluttered his wings briefly to
settle some of the impossible to reach feathers more neatly into
place.

And
that was when it happened, when the Word came – a ribbon of
white-hot fire blazing across his brain, filling him, making him
whole… and – Praise Him! – granting
permission.

I
am well pleased with you, My little angel… and how could I
struggle for so long to teach you compassion and yet refuse to show
it when finally you ask? In the matter of this woman who has
become so precious to you, you may do as you will.

“Thank
you,” Gabriel whispered.

He
hopped down from his perch, picked up the phone on the nightstand and
punched its buttons.

“911
operator, this call is being recorded,” a female voice said in
his ear. He put the phone down on the nightstand and turned
back to look at Katherine again.

He
could still faintly hear the woman on the phone asking him what his
emergency was, if he needed help.

He
gave a slight smile; he was the Archangel Gabriel. He needed no
one’s help… not now.

He
kissed his finger and waved his hand over the bed.

“Katherine,”
he whispered. “It’s time to come home.”
He bent over her like a fairytale prince seeking to wake the
enchanted maiden. “Give me a kiss.”

*****

AUTHOR’S
NOTE: From Chapter 6 on, I wrote most of the scenes between Katherine
and Gabriel while listening to the song “Breathe Me” by
Sia, so in my mind it’s kind of “their song”.
I actually had it on continuous loop on iTunes while I wrote their
last two scenes together, and when I went back to reread what I’d
written (while still listening to it)… well, anyway. You
can hear the song here:
https://home.comcast.net/~kittenmommy3/Breathe_Me.mp3

And
yes, now that you ask, that is the song they played over the
final montage on the series finale of Six Feet Under!

*****
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Birds of Pray