Gabriel, Interrupted 8/?
Chapters 01 │ 02 │ 03 │ 04 │ 05 │ 06 │ 07
Gabriel watched Tillie run out of the office and down the attic stairs. Something was bothering her. He was convinced that she now believed him and the two things were connected. But whatever it was, it would have to wait until she decided to come back. He looked around and realized he was alone in Tillie’s office. While he had been up a here a few times before, he had always been here with Tillie, and they were always talking about things or filling out forms or job applications. He had never really looked around the office. She had asked him to leave the office before she ran out, but would it really hurt if he just a looked around at the things that were out in the open?
The office was neatly, if sparsely decorated with the basics, including a desk, filing cabinets and bookshelves. But she also had added a small table and chairs, a couch and television for comfort. She had a few personal items around the room. He picked up a picture off the desk of people that by the resemblance must be a sister and her parents. As he gazed around looking at other simple artwork on the wall, two small framed items in the far back corner of the office caught his attention. He moved around to get a closer look. When he saw them, he realized they were diplomas, but the name on them surprised him even more. He chuckled a little. He was going to have to ask her about that, even if it gave away the fact that he had been snooping. He didn’t blame her for going by Tillie, but he now wondered where that nickname came from.
A thought occurred to him while he was looking around. He hoped that Tillie hadn’t turned in that application for funding, because he was sure that it would put her at risk as much as anyone. While he wanted to believe she wouldn’t turn it in, he realized she most likely hadn’t believed he was telling the truth before today. He hesitated a moment before walking to the drawer she had put the application in and opened it. The drawer was empty except for a few pens and paper clips and a blank job application. Damn it! Something else he would have to confront her about when she got back that would make it clear that he had been poking around up here. And this one would be much less pleasant.
*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*
After leaving the park, Tillie stopped by her home and grabbed her own laptop and printouts of any of her writing she had. As she got back into her car she glanced at the clock. It was 12:30 p.m. The day was barley half over and she had already felt like she had lived two lifetimes. Despite being nauseous, her stomach was also protesting the fact that what little she had eaten that day she had already lost. She ran through a drive-through for a quick sandwich on her back to the group home, hoping not to make the situation worse, but she couldn’t imagine how this day could get more atrocious. At best, she had learned she had to deal with two Gabriels, both of whom were Archangels, just that they were from different dimensions. And that was on top of her day job of running a group home.
When she pulled up to the group home, she saw that Gabriel was sitting on the front porch waiting for her. It wouldn’t surprise her if he had been there since she left. So now came her turn to try to explain things she couldn’t. She was sorry she ever thought he was delusional. Boy, this was going to be fun.
As she walked up the stairs, Gabriel stood to greet her. “Tillie, how are doing? Are you feeling any better?”
“It’s been a long day,” she answered. “If I had the choice, I would just crawl back into bed and wake up tomorrow. But I don’t think I get to do that. So let’s sit back down, and I will try to answer the questions I know you have.”
“You believe me.” Gabriel said as he sat down on the porch swing.
“That’s a statement, not a question.” Tillie observed, sitting down next to him.
“Okay, so why?” he pressed. “What changed your mind? Something I said upstairs got a reaction out of you.”
Tillie opened her laptop, turned it on and opened up the file she needed before handing it over to Gabriel. “This,” she simply said. “This is what changed my mind.”
Gabriel read over the file for a few minutes, and then looked up at Tillie. “This is what happened with Dean and that Braden kid. I told you that already.”
“I know,” Tillie said, her voice barely above a whisper. “But these things never happened on the show in this dimension. I wrote that. And it’s never been read by anyone else, never been seen, never been published. Except by you, right now. You could not have known those things happened. Unless they happened to you.”
“You wrote these things, but they didn’t happen here?” Gabriel repeated. “So, does that mean you’re a prophet of some sort?”
“I…I don’t know,” Tillie hesitated, refusing to look him in the eye. “What good would it do if I were? It’s not like I’ve had a way to communicate anything to your world. You’re the first person I’ve met from there. ”
“Hmm, you have a point,” he said thoughtfully. “Maybe it was a one shot deal from my Dad, as a way to prove that I wasn’t lying to you.”
“Sure,” she laughed nervously.
“It would also explain why your name isn’t seared in my brain, Ethel Mae,” he said, winking at her.
“Yeah, uh, huh…wait…what...you…you were snooping in my office?!?” Tillie’s voice rising in shock and anger.
“Puh-lease. The diploma was hanging right there on the wall, even if it was in the back corner of the room. Besides, I just looked around after you dashed out of there this morning. I really don’t think that is the most important question at the moment,” Gabriel said, trying to deflect her anger. “What I want to know is how someone gets a nickname like Tillie from the name Ethel.”
“Really? That is what you are worried about right now?” she asked doubtfully.
“No, but I still want to know,” he chuckled. “And I’m going to keep bugging you until you tell me.”
“Of course you will. No wonder people find you annoying,” she sighed. “Fine. When I was born, my older sister Maggie, who was two at the time, couldn’t pronounce Ethel. She kept saying Et-til, and shortened it to Til. Eventually, that became Tillie and even my parents used. I certainly was grateful for it by the time I was old enough to know better.”
“Why did your parents even choose Ethel? Did they hate you before you were born or something?” Gabriel asked.
“Gee, thanks,” Tillie responded. “No, they didn’t hate me. It was my grandmother’s name.”
“So Tillie, now that we have the nickname mystery out the way, I want to ask you something else,” Gabriel started in. But before he could continue, a car pulled into the drive. “Who is that?” he asked.
“Trouble,” was Tillie’s answer. “And I just had to assume that this day couldn’t begin to get more dreadful.”
*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*
“A dog?” Michael snickered as he clapped Gabriel on the back. “You appeared to her as a dog? Oh, I wish I could have seen that little brother.”
“You might yet get your chance,” Gabriel groused back. “I chose that form so when I go back to the house, she’ll recognize me without me having to reveal myself to him.”
“Uh huh, and what will you do to keep him from sticking you with a name like Fido, Benji, or maybe Sasquatch after his favorite Winchester?”
“I’ve already thought of that,” Gabriel shot back with a smirk, and held up an item in his hand. “I’ll show up with this, complete with a name. Then he can’t name me.”
“A collar? You are gong to allow yourself to be collared?” Michael roared with laughter. “And what’s this? Oh, Dad, you two aren’t that different after all. This name means God’s gift! The lengths you are going to go back in this form. Just how attached are you to being a dog?”
“At least I can go back in the form I chose. You can’t go back as that temp without stirring up trouble. What are you going to do?”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something. I imagine they will need a delivery man or a repair man at some point. Maybe then, I’ll get to pet their new dog,” Michael said, now laughing so hard he was holding his sides.
“Careful or you just might get bitten,” Gabriel scowled.
*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*
Department of Mental Health caseworker Russell Cook made his way up the stairs of the front porch while Tillie groaned inwardly. Technically, the guy didn’t have to schedule a visit, but he usually did offer the courtesy of letting her know ahead of time when he was coming. She wondering what besides the totally and utterly complete crappiness of her day would bring him here now.
“Hello, Tillie,” he greeted her.
“Hey Russ,” she said. “What brings you here today?”
“Oh, just a routine record check. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Yeah, sure, she thought to herself. Nothing was out of the ordinary with this guy. He only understood the letter of the law, not the spirit of it. If one “i” was not dotted or “t” not crossed on the documentation then he would file a complaint. He could care less if the residents were healthy, happy or living better lives than before they moved here. It was a good thing she excelled in both areas. “Okay, well, let’s go pull the files.” She stood up to go into the house, leaving Gabriel on the porch.
“And of course,” Russ added. “I will need to review the new resident’s file. A Mr. Gabriel Milton.”
Tillie stopped and turned around. “Well, not to be a thorn in your side, but he doesn’t get any Department of Mental Health funding, so you don’t have the right to see his file. Not unless he gives you permission.”
“Sorry, Tillie, but I have your temporary funding approval letter here on the application you sent in awhile ago. So that gives me the only permission I need.”
Tillie gaped at him. She didn’t turn in any application for Gabriel, which meant that Gabriel wasn’t the only one that had been in her office. On top of that, since she wasn’t expecting funding for Gabriel, she hadn’t kept the strict records on him that she had for everyone else. She had some records, but the requirements for private pay residents were not as stringent.
“Fine,” she said. She might as well get it over with. She couldn’t change the outcome at this point. In the end, it was what she expected it to be.
“I’m surprised at you Tillie,” Russ said as he was leaving. “Are you losing your touch? Mr. Milton’s records are nowhere near your usual standards. I’ll file the usual grievance in my records and give you until my next visit to get the records up to par.”
Gabriel snuck up behind Tillie after Cook left. “I thought you didn’t turn in that application?”
“I didn’t,” she hissed. “Now I have to figure out who else besides you has been in my office.”
“I have a few ideas,” he offered. “And is there anyway we can get out of the funding once you have it?”
“Yes,” she said. “You will have to see a psychiatrist and act like a normal person so he will say you don’t need the services here. Do you think you can possibly manage to act normal for a forty-five minute appointment?”
*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*
She tried. She really tried. But no one was interested in what she had to say. Not her direct superior, nor his. They were too concerned with their own projects, schemes and deals. Everyone was too busy trying to move up in Hell that no one really listened to her when she had said that she overheard angels working on an inter-dimensional mission. That she had heard them being concerned about the enemy, them. She wasn’t sure that anyone knew what an inter-dimensional mission was. She didn’t think her superiors cared that the enemy was concerned about arousing their suspicions. So she had decided to take matters into her own hands. She was going to take the biggest risk in her entire existence. It would either pay off, or it would end her.
She had heard He would be in her area soon, so she waited. She was nervous. She had never met him, their Father. But if anyone would care about this, He would. She heard the uproar before she saw Him, or even the entourage. She was patient, and then made her move. She weaved in and out of the throng of demons. Her size allowed her the ease she needed to reach Him. But before she could open her mouth to speak, she was knocked across the room, nails scraping her face in the process. She was about to give up and scamper away, when she looked up and noticed the entire company of demons surrounding her Father had come to a stand still as He made her way over to her.
“My dear child,” He said, looking her over carefully. “I don’t think I can recall your name.”
“Ru-Ruby,” she stammered.
“Ruby, dear. What is so important that you would interrupt me and risk displeasing me so?”
Chapter 9
Gabriel watched Tillie run out of the office and down the attic stairs. Something was bothering her. He was convinced that she now believed him and the two things were connected. But whatever it was, it would have to wait until she decided to come back. He looked around and realized he was alone in Tillie’s office. While he had been up a here a few times before, he had always been here with Tillie, and they were always talking about things or filling out forms or job applications. He had never really looked around the office. She had asked him to leave the office before she ran out, but would it really hurt if he just a looked around at the things that were out in the open?
The office was neatly, if sparsely decorated with the basics, including a desk, filing cabinets and bookshelves. But she also had added a small table and chairs, a couch and television for comfort. She had a few personal items around the room. He picked up a picture off the desk of people that by the resemblance must be a sister and her parents. As he gazed around looking at other simple artwork on the wall, two small framed items in the far back corner of the office caught his attention. He moved around to get a closer look. When he saw them, he realized they were diplomas, but the name on them surprised him even more. He chuckled a little. He was going to have to ask her about that, even if it gave away the fact that he had been snooping. He didn’t blame her for going by Tillie, but he now wondered where that nickname came from.
A thought occurred to him while he was looking around. He hoped that Tillie hadn’t turned in that application for funding, because he was sure that it would put her at risk as much as anyone. While he wanted to believe she wouldn’t turn it in, he realized she most likely hadn’t believed he was telling the truth before today. He hesitated a moment before walking to the drawer she had put the application in and opened it. The drawer was empty except for a few pens and paper clips and a blank job application. Damn it! Something else he would have to confront her about when she got back that would make it clear that he had been poking around up here. And this one would be much less pleasant.
*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*
After leaving the park, Tillie stopped by her home and grabbed her own laptop and printouts of any of her writing she had. As she got back into her car she glanced at the clock. It was 12:30 p.m. The day was barley half over and she had already felt like she had lived two lifetimes. Despite being nauseous, her stomach was also protesting the fact that what little she had eaten that day she had already lost. She ran through a drive-through for a quick sandwich on her back to the group home, hoping not to make the situation worse, but she couldn’t imagine how this day could get more atrocious. At best, she had learned she had to deal with two Gabriels, both of whom were Archangels, just that they were from different dimensions. And that was on top of her day job of running a group home.
When she pulled up to the group home, she saw that Gabriel was sitting on the front porch waiting for her. It wouldn’t surprise her if he had been there since she left. So now came her turn to try to explain things she couldn’t. She was sorry she ever thought he was delusional. Boy, this was going to be fun.
As she walked up the stairs, Gabriel stood to greet her. “Tillie, how are doing? Are you feeling any better?”
“It’s been a long day,” she answered. “If I had the choice, I would just crawl back into bed and wake up tomorrow. But I don’t think I get to do that. So let’s sit back down, and I will try to answer the questions I know you have.”
“You believe me.” Gabriel said as he sat down on the porch swing.
“That’s a statement, not a question.” Tillie observed, sitting down next to him.
“Okay, so why?” he pressed. “What changed your mind? Something I said upstairs got a reaction out of you.”
Tillie opened her laptop, turned it on and opened up the file she needed before handing it over to Gabriel. “This,” she simply said. “This is what changed my mind.”
Gabriel read over the file for a few minutes, and then looked up at Tillie. “This is what happened with Dean and that Braden kid. I told you that already.”
“I know,” Tillie said, her voice barely above a whisper. “But these things never happened on the show in this dimension. I wrote that. And it’s never been read by anyone else, never been seen, never been published. Except by you, right now. You could not have known those things happened. Unless they happened to you.”
“You wrote these things, but they didn’t happen here?” Gabriel repeated. “So, does that mean you’re a prophet of some sort?”
“I…I don’t know,” Tillie hesitated, refusing to look him in the eye. “What good would it do if I were? It’s not like I’ve had a way to communicate anything to your world. You’re the first person I’ve met from there. ”
“Hmm, you have a point,” he said thoughtfully. “Maybe it was a one shot deal from my Dad, as a way to prove that I wasn’t lying to you.”
“Sure,” she laughed nervously.
“It would also explain why your name isn’t seared in my brain, Ethel Mae,” he said, winking at her.
“Yeah, uh, huh…wait…what...you…you were snooping in my office?!?” Tillie’s voice rising in shock and anger.
“Puh-lease. The diploma was hanging right there on the wall, even if it was in the back corner of the room. Besides, I just looked around after you dashed out of there this morning. I really don’t think that is the most important question at the moment,” Gabriel said, trying to deflect her anger. “What I want to know is how someone gets a nickname like Tillie from the name Ethel.”
“Really? That is what you are worried about right now?” she asked doubtfully.
“No, but I still want to know,” he chuckled. “And I’m going to keep bugging you until you tell me.”
“Of course you will. No wonder people find you annoying,” she sighed. “Fine. When I was born, my older sister Maggie, who was two at the time, couldn’t pronounce Ethel. She kept saying Et-til, and shortened it to Til. Eventually, that became Tillie and even my parents used. I certainly was grateful for it by the time I was old enough to know better.”
“Why did your parents even choose Ethel? Did they hate you before you were born or something?” Gabriel asked.
“Gee, thanks,” Tillie responded. “No, they didn’t hate me. It was my grandmother’s name.”
“So Tillie, now that we have the nickname mystery out the way, I want to ask you something else,” Gabriel started in. But before he could continue, a car pulled into the drive. “Who is that?” he asked.
“Trouble,” was Tillie’s answer. “And I just had to assume that this day couldn’t begin to get more dreadful.”
*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*
“A dog?” Michael snickered as he clapped Gabriel on the back. “You appeared to her as a dog? Oh, I wish I could have seen that little brother.”
“You might yet get your chance,” Gabriel groused back. “I chose that form so when I go back to the house, she’ll recognize me without me having to reveal myself to him.”
“Uh huh, and what will you do to keep him from sticking you with a name like Fido, Benji, or maybe Sasquatch after his favorite Winchester?”
“I’ve already thought of that,” Gabriel shot back with a smirk, and held up an item in his hand. “I’ll show up with this, complete with a name. Then he can’t name me.”
“A collar? You are gong to allow yourself to be collared?” Michael roared with laughter. “And what’s this? Oh, Dad, you two aren’t that different after all. This name means God’s gift! The lengths you are going to go back in this form. Just how attached are you to being a dog?”
“At least I can go back in the form I chose. You can’t go back as that temp without stirring up trouble. What are you going to do?”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something. I imagine they will need a delivery man or a repair man at some point. Maybe then, I’ll get to pet their new dog,” Michael said, now laughing so hard he was holding his sides.
“Careful or you just might get bitten,” Gabriel scowled.
*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*
Department of Mental Health caseworker Russell Cook made his way up the stairs of the front porch while Tillie groaned inwardly. Technically, the guy didn’t have to schedule a visit, but he usually did offer the courtesy of letting her know ahead of time when he was coming. She wondering what besides the totally and utterly complete crappiness of her day would bring him here now.
“Hello, Tillie,” he greeted her.
“Hey Russ,” she said. “What brings you here today?”
“Oh, just a routine record check. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Yeah, sure, she thought to herself. Nothing was out of the ordinary with this guy. He only understood the letter of the law, not the spirit of it. If one “i” was not dotted or “t” not crossed on the documentation then he would file a complaint. He could care less if the residents were healthy, happy or living better lives than before they moved here. It was a good thing she excelled in both areas. “Okay, well, let’s go pull the files.” She stood up to go into the house, leaving Gabriel on the porch.
“And of course,” Russ added. “I will need to review the new resident’s file. A Mr. Gabriel Milton.”
Tillie stopped and turned around. “Well, not to be a thorn in your side, but he doesn’t get any Department of Mental Health funding, so you don’t have the right to see his file. Not unless he gives you permission.”
“Sorry, Tillie, but I have your temporary funding approval letter here on the application you sent in awhile ago. So that gives me the only permission I need.”
Tillie gaped at him. She didn’t turn in any application for Gabriel, which meant that Gabriel wasn’t the only one that had been in her office. On top of that, since she wasn’t expecting funding for Gabriel, she hadn’t kept the strict records on him that she had for everyone else. She had some records, but the requirements for private pay residents were not as stringent.
“Fine,” she said. She might as well get it over with. She couldn’t change the outcome at this point. In the end, it was what she expected it to be.
“I’m surprised at you Tillie,” Russ said as he was leaving. “Are you losing your touch? Mr. Milton’s records are nowhere near your usual standards. I’ll file the usual grievance in my records and give you until my next visit to get the records up to par.”
Gabriel snuck up behind Tillie after Cook left. “I thought you didn’t turn in that application?”
“I didn’t,” she hissed. “Now I have to figure out who else besides you has been in my office.”
“I have a few ideas,” he offered. “And is there anyway we can get out of the funding once you have it?”
“Yes,” she said. “You will have to see a psychiatrist and act like a normal person so he will say you don’t need the services here. Do you think you can possibly manage to act normal for a forty-five minute appointment?”
*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*
She tried. She really tried. But no one was interested in what she had to say. Not her direct superior, nor his. They were too concerned with their own projects, schemes and deals. Everyone was too busy trying to move up in Hell that no one really listened to her when she had said that she overheard angels working on an inter-dimensional mission. That she had heard them being concerned about the enemy, them. She wasn’t sure that anyone knew what an inter-dimensional mission was. She didn’t think her superiors cared that the enemy was concerned about arousing their suspicions. So she had decided to take matters into her own hands. She was going to take the biggest risk in her entire existence. It would either pay off, or it would end her.
She had heard He would be in her area soon, so she waited. She was nervous. She had never met him, their Father. But if anyone would care about this, He would. She heard the uproar before she saw Him, or even the entourage. She was patient, and then made her move. She weaved in and out of the throng of demons. Her size allowed her the ease she needed to reach Him. But before she could open her mouth to speak, she was knocked across the room, nails scraping her face in the process. She was about to give up and scamper away, when she looked up and noticed the entire company of demons surrounding her Father had come to a stand still as He made her way over to her.
“My dear child,” He said, looking her over carefully. “I don’t think I can recall your name.”
“Ru-Ruby,” she stammered.
“Ruby, dear. What is so important that you would interrupt me and risk displeasing me so?”
Chapter 9