Cath Trilogy: Hey Jane

Jane unlocked the door to her apartment and got a loud “meow” in return. Vincent was pressing up against her calfs, and Jane filled with regret. She apologized to her cat as she filled his bowl with wet cat food. The cat rubbed against Jane’s legs until the bowl was on the ground for him to eat from. Rhys stood in her doorway and swung his key chain around one finger.

“I’m gonna change, so can you wait for a second?” Jane asked her partner.

“Anything for the lady,” Rhys bowed his head.

“Thanks,” Jane smiled, and she thought of her father being questioned by Aubrey. He was probably stumbling over his own tongue trying not to mention her being committed. It wasn’t that he was bad about learning where she had spent those two years of her youth. It was more like he was having the most horrible of luck. Take for example the music that had played as they drove down to L.A. including such songs as Institutionalized by Suicidal Temptations, Sanitarium by Metallica ending with National Express by Divine Comedy. The three songs played in a row when William turned on music on his laptop. The last one was in itself a song about a bus company. Then, he thought of the music video where Neil Hannon was in... no I’ll let you guess.

He tried and failed more times to turn on music when the silence got to him too much. John Carpenter’s The Ward Theme played right after a few songs from the Sucker Punch soundtrack.

Their relationship mirrored the awkwardness of the music playing.

But, Jane and Rhys decided that it would be best to introduce William to two men who had helped save Jane’s life. It was only fair, as Rhys had pointed out to Jane. The entire thing was his idea, so Jane was going to make sure that he was there to bask in the awkward silence.

Rhys didn’t oppose her in the slightest when she made the decision. He was actually quite fond of her dads... all three of them. He had met Gabriel and Michael on several occasions, and he thought they were cool people.

So, there they were. Jane dressed in boring jeans and going to pick up her presumably dead father. She was on the phone telling Michael and Gabriel that she was coming over to talk that night. They were both having days where that would be possible, and Jane had felt bad that she couldn’t bring herself to tell them that the reason that she was coming over wasn’t because she was just wanting to see them as they thought. The beaming smile in Michael’s voice was almost agonizing for her.

She didn’t know how they would react to finding out that she wasn’t purely their daughter anymore. She was almost a different person now that she was so much farther from knowing the truth of what had happened Christmas Eve all those years ago.

William smiled to both of them as he climbed into the back of Rhys’s car, cane in hand. Jane hadn’t asked Rhys how he was holding up, but he seemed to be happy. Still, everyone was silent on the drive, except for when Rhys took a wrong turn and Jane corrected him. William became very interested in what was outside the window as they drove. He had been told that they were going to meet Jane’s adopted parents and nothing else.

”Catherine, how are you feeling today?” Dr. Perkins asked. He did everyday, and Jane was surprised by how persistent he was. She never answered, just drew in her notebook. “I want to ask you something. If you could say one thing to your mom and dad, what would it be? If they could answer one mystery, what question would you ask?”

Jane put her head against the glass and tried to remember what she had thought. She couldn’t remember, all she could remember was drawing a rabbit. It was the same rabbit she had been working on for days. The drawing was down to its finishing touches, and it looked beautiful with perfect smudges. Then, he asked the question and she drew a line that she could never erase. It was ruined. She had screamed and cried until Dr. Perkins had walked up to her taken her hands and said, “You were close enough.” Jane still didn’t know why it worked; she had wiped off her tears and listened to Dr. Perkins until a young woman with blonde hair and dark eyes led her back to her room.

“Hey,” Rhys snapped his fingers to get Jane out of her trance. “We’re here.”

They were parked in the driveway of the yellow house, and Jane felt her stomach knot in fear. That was not even close to the shaking that was going through William when he looked at her. His skin was clammy, and his eyes were wide. He did not want to go into that house. What if they didn’t like him? What if they made Jane hate him more than he thought she did? What if they didn’t like him?

William gave a smile to Jane which she didn’t return, just got out of the car and waited for him. He was quick to follow, but he took a few moments to actually follow her to the door, no idea that she was scared as well until she paused to knock on the door. When she did, there were muttered curses from inside followed by Gabriel coming to the door buttoning his shirt. He was surprised to see Rhys in the doorway then he saw William, and William saw him.

“Pops, this is...” Jane started.

“William, you’re alive,” Gabriel gaped.

“Yeah,” William smiled. “That seems to be surprising a lot of people.”

Gabriel rushed passed a stunned Rhys and Jane and took William in his arms tight enough that William dropped his cane. “I missed you,” tears were heard in Gabriel’s voice.

“Aw shucks,” William said, sounding even stranger with his Irish accent.

“Don’t ruin the moment,” Gabriel laughed and hugged William tighter. They stood like that for a few moments before Gabriel came out of the embrace. “Why didn’t you tell us you were alive?” He asked in an even voice.

“I didn’t know where you were,” William shrugged.

“Oh,” Gabriel’s eyes went wide with understanding.

“Wait, you know him?” Jane’s face was blank.

Gabriel tried to think of a way to explain, but Michael came into the doorway before he had a chance. Michael wore a black, short-sleeved shirt with his skirt. “Oh fuck,” he muttered when William’s eyes went from Gabriel to Michael.

“You guys finally did it!” William exclaimed.

Michael’s hand went to his face, and he said, “So, you’re alive.” He sounded bitter, but the happiness in his expression was unmistakable.

“What?” Jane exclaimed.

William stopped beaming and said, “Remember Mike and Gabe? They used to visit all the time.”

Jane shook her head, and Michael and Gabriel glared at William to shut him up. “What did I do?”

“You died,” Gabriel said with a nod.

“But you didn’t,” Jane almost shrieked. “How is that possible?”

“I...” William sighed and turned to Rhys, “I need you to leave.”

Rhys bristled and said evenly, “I’m not leaving Jane.”

“Rhys, what we are going to discus has nothing to do with you,” Michael said.

“I won’t leave her.”

“Fine,” Gabriel gave in, “It’s something that could help. Let’s just get it over with.”

They all walked in with Gabriel following in last. When he closed the door, Michael put his left hand over his right wrist and wrapped his middle finger around the bracelet that was there. They walked into the living room, and Gabriel motioned for Jane and Rhys to sit on the couch across from where Jane’s thee fathers stood. Gabriel proceeded to ask, “Jane, what do you know about this family?”

“What kind of question is that?” Jane shook her head.

“The type that you answer,” Gabriel said.

“Um, I know that you teach kindergarten; Michael’s a judge. You both have military background, Air Force,” Jane’s voice shook. “Wait, is that a lie?”

“Yes and no,” Gabriel said.

“Why are you asking this? What does this have to do with how William didn’t die?”

“We have military background, just not in the way that you think.”

“What!?” Jane screamed, exasperated.

“Like C.I.A.?” Rhys asked.

“No,” Michael shook his head. He took a breath, “Like angels.”

“Is that some kind of undercover thing?” Rhys asked.

“No, it’s a species of mythical creatures.”

“And people say I’m crazy?” Jane blinked in disbelief.

Michael rotated the bracelet around his wrist and said, “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”

“No, this is insanity,” Rhys corrected him. He took Jane’s hand, and together, they were going to leave, but Michael tugged off his bracelet before they could reach the door.

“It’s not as insane as you might think,” Michael shrugged, and as he shrugged, his pure white wings lifted and dropped. Jane turned around and dropped to her knees. Tears filled her eyes, and Rhys gasped enough to feel his stomach knot.

“No way,” Rhys muttered.

William was by Jane’s side if she decided that she needed him, but he sincerely doubted that she would. Michael just stood there; his shirt had holes in it to have his wings free from confinement. His wings were outstretched and were about the length of the room. There was no halo floating above his head or light coming off of him. There was nothing that would mark him as out of the ordinary besides the wings that sprouted from his shoulder blades.

In a few moments, Michael slipped the bracelet back up his hand to rest on his wrist. “Jane, are you okay?” He asked, not daring to walk to her.

Jane sniffled and nodded, wiping away tears. Rhys opened his mouth and blurted out, “Are your bones hollow?”

Michael seemed startled by the question, “Um... no.”

“So, you’re just a flightless, human-bird?” Rhys cocked his head.

“One may dare say,” William tried to hide a smile. “Penguin.”

“Oh haha, asshole,” Michael rolled his eyes as Rhys and William giggled.

“Is you two being together insecest?” Jane asked.

“That’s racist,” Gabriel and Michael chimed together.

“Also, we can fly a tiny bit,” Gabriel turned to Rhys who was looking perplexed again.

“What does that make me?” Jane got up the courage to ask with tears back in her eyes.

“Something that you shouldn’t let anyone know about,” William took her hand in his. “I’m a full angel, and your mother was a human. So, you’re what we call a nephilim.”

“Why is that so bad?” Jane held William’s hand tighter.

“It’s programed into angels to kill nephilims. Being one is incredibly dangerous because it means bad things are out to get you.”

“Why don’t they kill me?” Jane looked at Michael and Gabriel.

“They’re the good guys. There are angels who broke away...”

“Demons?”

“Not quite, demon is more a class of angels. They’re the ones who lost the war and live in poverty in Hell. Michael and Gabriel are frowned upon, they’re not as cast away as wickeds, like me, or demons.”

“What’s a wicked?” Jane shook her head, “Sorry for asking so many questions.”

William chuckled, “It’s fine; you deserve so much. Well, a wicked is an angel who is born in Hell. It doesn’t matter who their parents are. If you’re born in hell, you’re a wicked.”

“You were born in Hell?”

William held up his wooden cane and traced the carvings near the handle, “Yes.”

“Is grandpa actually the devil?” Jane’s eyes opened with shock.

William’s frown went turned into a huge, goofy smile when she said this. “Well, that’s a long story.” Jane did her best not to notice Michael’s pained looks when she brought up Lucifer. “You see, after the war, there were a bunch of different parties who wanted different governments. It was a time to start over, and it could have been beautiful. Jennifer and Lucifer eventually gained the most support. But, there was still opposition to their form of rule, which was basically just oligarchy on crack that I still don’t really understand. It was overthrown when Azazel and Alastor,” William cringed at their names, “Administered their own anarchy. Well, it was more like socialism and and lack of rule combined to make this huge mess. They got rid of all the reforms my dad made, and everything went horribly wrong. It didn’t really help that at the same time there was famine and pestilence.”

“The horsemen?”

“No, the starvation and plague brought on by getting supplies cut off by Eden and crowded living conditions along with an unlivable climate that was either too warm or too cold. There was also a very limited supply of water that was shared by everyone, so cholera spread like nobody’s business as well as dehydration. It also didn’t help that there was only one hospital and only one trained doctor who wasn’t completely sadistic. And, after some more events that I feel obliged not to discus given certain people in the room, Lucifer came back to power.”

“How is he on Earth then?” Jane asked.

“On Earth?” Michael looked like he was about to be sick.

“Shit,” William cursed. He turned to Michael and clapped his hands together with an uneasy smile. “If it makes you feel any better, up until a few seconds ago, you both thought that the other was trapped in a different world.”

“Not really,” Michael shuttered.

“Don’t worry, he’s on the other side of the world,” Gabriel said and immediately realized his error.

“You knew about this,” Michael hissed.

Gabriel’s cheeks were warm, “I may have helped with the ritual.” Michael shaking with fury, “When William wants to guilt trip someone, it really works.”

Michael filled his cheeks with air and released it slowly. “How long?”

William’s answer was panicked, “How old is the ancient Egyptian practice of making tombs?”

Michael glared at William and took a few more breaths to calm himself. Jane pulled on her father’s sleeve, “I’m not feeling too well.”

“Light-headed?” William asked.

“A little,” Jane said.

“Dizzy?”

“Definitely.”

“Do you often faint?”

“Only once before.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone faint,” Rhys said.

“Huh,” Jane muttered before falling back into William’s and Rhys’s arms.