Gabriel, Interrupted 11/?
When Theo took off running, Gabriel followed him in the direction he dashed off in. He wasn’t sure how much good it had done, because the dog had disappeared so fast. So he had no idea if the dog was taking the same path he was. He could only hope. He headed in the same direction for about five blocks, occasionally calling out the dog’s name, but never hearing him bark. He never even saw a hint of the darn thing. He was about to give up and head back to the cemetery, when he had an unexplainable urge to look for at least a few more blocks.
*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*
Tillie took off running towards the back of the church. She could hear two men arguing, but she wasn’t sure what it was about. She didn’t understand how Gabriel couldn’t hear it, because to her it was fairly loud. As she rounded the corner behind the church, she stopped short. What she saw dumbfounded her. The men she saw couldn’t really be men. They were much taller than anyone she had ever seen. They were surprised by her appearance, but kept on arguing. However, she still couldn’t make out what they were saying. One of them obviously had malice towards her, while the other moved into her line of sight. But before she could speak up and ask any questions, she felt a pair of arms grab her and the scene before her disappeared.
The next thing she knew, Tillie felt herself falling to her knees and she had to catch herself before her face became more acquainted with grass than she was comfortable with.
“What exactly do you think you were doing?” she heard someone yell at her. Tillie looked up to see Gabriel, and she was pretty she sure it was the Gabriel from this dimension, since they were no longer anywhere near the church.
“I…I…was trying to get more information,” she stammered. “I could hear those two arguing and I wanted to know what it was about.”
“I was trying to lead you away from them, or didn’t you get that by the fact that I ran in the opposite direction?” Gabriel said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Tillie stood up, brushing herself off. “No, I understood what you were tying to do. But I wanted more information and I saw an opportunity for it, so I took it. You have only shown me a little of what is to come, and seeing what I have to give up, I think it is only fair that I should get to know more.”
“Fair? Nothing about this is fair!” he said with a scowl. “Do you have an idea who that was?”
“I know they weren’t human, but other than that, I couldn’t understand a thing they were saying,” Tillie answered. “So are you going to fill me in, or just yell at me for doing something stupid?”
Gabriel got up in her face and spoke very quietly. “You don’t realize how foolish your actions were. Those were my brothers, Michael and Lucifer. This whole mission, we have been trying to fly under the radar. Trying not to let Lucifer find out about it, because the last thing we need is for him to be reminded there are other worlds that he could taint. Somehow, he got wind of it anyway. And then you had to go and barge in on the family meeting. So now he knows who at least one of the key players is. Despite all of the protection we have in place around you, he will probably be gunning for you.”
Tillie blanched as she tried to back away from Gabriel, but he was too quick for her. He grabbed her by her wrists. “No, I’m not going to let you run. But I’m not going to let Lucifer get to you either. We are just going have to move up our timetable.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “To when?” she choked out.
“Tomorrow,” was his answer.
Any other questions she had were cut short by the fact that they heard Gabriel, the archangel that had started all of this, calling for Theo. So the Gabriel Tillie had been speaking to quickly changed to his dog form while Tillie sank back down to her knees, buried her face into Theo and began to sob.
*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*
Gabriel was done searching for the mutt. Clearly the dog was done with them and had moved onto rabbits, squirrels or whatever dogs found to be of more interest than humans. So he made the executive decision to be done with Theo. He headed back towards the church in hopes of at least finding Tillie. Instead, he found both of them sitting on the ground.
“Hey! Did you forget about me?” he complained. “Were you going to tell me that you found the Amazing Wandering Mutt, or were you going to leave me out there on my own all night? Tillie…Tillie?”
When Tillie looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes, he realized she had been crying. He sat down next to her. “It’s okay, Till. You found the dog,” he offered, putting an arm around her and trying to comfort her. But he suspected this was related to things other than the golden retriever they had spent the better part of an hour searching for. “Tell you what, why don’t we head back? You’ve had a long day, and you probably need something to eat by now.”
As they walked back to the group home in silence, Gabriel could tell something had changed in Tillie’s demeanor, but he was hesitant to bring it up. The day had been long for her. Between accepting the truth about him and dealing with the state case worker, all the way up to firing Aaron, visiting her families’ graves and losing the mutt, she probably was just exhausted and needed to go home. So she really threw him for a loop when they actually got back to the group home. She spent a few moments speaking to each of the guys, and then announced to everyone that she was taking them all out for pizza for dinner, and then they would go bowling afterwards.
“Are you nuts?” he asked when he pulled her aside while everyone else was getting ready to go out to the van. “If I had my powers, and was planning an elaborate trick as Loki, I wouldn’t have thrown crap this bad at you today.” Tillie gave him a look that bore through him. “Alright, okay, you’re right. I’ve done worse. But I can see no reason why any Trickster god would pick on you like this, including me. So why are you torturing yourself by staying at work? You should call it a day and just go home after everything you’ve been through.”
“It’s not like their day has been any better,” Tillie said, motioning to the other residents. “Like him or not, Aaron was one of their favorite staff. He worked here for a long time. And they saw him come to work drunk, act like an idiot and get fired. I would just like them to have something positive to remember about this day. Going out tonight won’t erase the bad things, but it may help the day end on a better note for everyone. Including me.”
Tillie grabbed the van keys and headed outside to join the rest of the residents and the staff who were already in the van. “Are you coming with us, or staying here with the dog?” she called back to Gabriel. “If you’re a good boy, maybe we’ll get ice cream, too.” Gabriel needed no further he encouragement. He stopped arguing and quickly ran to catch up with Tillie.
*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*gi*
As much as Tillie hated to admit it, even if it was just to herself, part of her knew Gabriel was right. She had had an incredibly stressful day. Even he didn’t know how long or difficult it had been. And she probably needed to rest. But she needed this, too. She needed some time with the guys, her guys, that would just be fun and relaxing. Especially before tomorrow. And as much as she had appreciated having Theo around, he couldn’t tag along to the pizza parlor or the bowling alley. So it would give her a break from all of the drama for a short while. Or so she thought.
After they got a large table at the pizza parlor and were able to put in an order that satisfied all of the different appetites, or at least most of them, because no Gabriel, they don’t serve mead here, you will have to chose something else. It was after all of that when the trouble began. Despite the number of times she ran into it, Tillie would never get used to it.
A group of guys from a local college were sitting near them and they noticed the guys. Noticed they were different. And that is when the name calling began. At first it came across as innocent banter within their own group, calling each other “idiot” or “moron”. But when names like “tard”, “schizo” and “Sybil” started being tossed in their direction or used in direct reference to Gene or Dave, Tillie had enough.
It wasn’t the first time she gave someone else a piece of her mind for using derogatory language about people with disabilities. But she was so tired, it was probably the first time she ever lost it herself and made a scene. “How in the hell would you feel if someone was calling you by the names you deserve, assholes?” she yelled. She was so loud the manager had to come over and Gabriel had to pull her away from the other table.
“So much for making a positive memory for everyone,” he quipped. “Besides, my way was much more fun.”
“What did you do?” she demanded. But she didn’t have too wait long to get her answer, for the group of college kids were soon downing their beers extremely fast and begging for more from their waitress. Gabriel smirked as he pulled a bottle of Tabasco sauce out his pocket and placed it back on the table. Then as the waitress was bringing them two more pitchers of beer, she tripped and the beers spilled all over the three guys responsible for most of the name calling. Tillie glared at Gabriel.
"Hey! Don’t look at me,” he said innocently. “As great as that was, I had nothing to do with that part. I’m sitting here next to you. And she was on the other side of the restaurant. I am completely without any ability to do that.” Tillie sighed, still skeptical.
But when she went up to pay for the pizza, she heard a voice say, “Gabriel is telling you the truth. He had nothing to do with the beer. I should know because it was me.”
Tillie looked at the man who came up behind her. “Are you even allowed to do that? Or is he rubbing off on you because he has been in this dimension long enough?” He just shrugged as she took her change from the cashier. “What are you doing here anyway?” she asked.
“You didn’t think I would stay on the porch like a good little puppy, waiting for you to come back tonight did you? Not after all of the trouble your little stunt caused earlier today. I’ll see you later at the bowling alley. Maybe I’ll turn up as a girl there,” he said with a wink.
Gabriel of this dimension was nothing if not true to his word. No sooner had Tillie gotten her group set up and bowling in two lanes at the Tropicana Lanes, than a group of four “ladies” began bowling in the lane next to them. She knew this was no normal group by the conversation she overheard.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this Ellie,” a girl with dark hair complained. “I look ridiculous.”
“Oh lighten up, Michelle. You look fine. Besides, it’s all for a good cause,” the blonde girl laughed as she nodded her head in Tillie’s direction.
“Ellie’s right,” a red head spoke up. “This will be fun!”
“Shut up, Anna!” Michelle exclaimed. “This isn’t a problem for you. This is something that comes natural to you!”
“I also fail to see the issue,” the fourth girl added. She had her dark hair in a pony-tail and wore glasses. “Adjusting our appearance should be commonplace by now.”
“Et tu, Cassie?” Michelle sighed. “I stand alone among my brethren.”
“Actually, you don’t, sis,” Ellie pointed out. “That is why you are complaining so much right now.”
If that wasn’t weird, it got really strange when Gabriel came back from getting snacks. “Wow! Hot chick alert at three o’clock!” he proclaimed. “Ya’ know Till, as much fun as bowling with you guys sounds, I think I’ll take my chances with the ladies over there.”
“Now who’s lost it?” Tillie scoffed, trying to keep him from going over there.
“What’s the big deal?” he asked as he shrugged it off.
“The big deal is that you aren’t even from around here,” Tillie said, hoping he wouldn’t make a fool of himself.
“It’s never really been a problem for me before,” he said, waggling his eyebrows and heading off to join the ladies. “So ladies, I’m new to these here parts. What do you do for fun around here?” he asked as he approached the four of them.
Cassie tilted her head as she regarded the newcomer to their group. “We are bowling. That is considered by some to be a fun activity.”
Gabriel gawked at her. “You remind me of someone I know, but there is no way…”
Before Gabriel could question Cassie further, Ellie linked elbows with him, “So why did you ditch your group and join us?”
“You have to ask?” Gabriel replied. “Hanging out with four beautiful girls, or a bunch of boring guys I sort of live with. That’s no contest.”
“It’s not all boring guys,” Anna piped in, eyeing the group and pointing to Tillie. “She doesn’t seem boring and she definitely isn’t a guy.”
“What? No that’s Tillie,” Gabriel said. “She’s…well, she is just…Tillie.”
“Uh-huh,” Anna giggled, while Michelle and Ellie exchanged a look.
“Leave him alone, Anna,” Michelle chided.
“Ah-ha! I’ve learned one of your names,” Gabriel smiled in victory. “What about the rest of you? Care to share?”
“I have a better idea,” Ellie suggested with an oddly familiar smirk. “You beat anyone of us in bowling, and we will tell you our names.”
“A game?” Gabriel laughed. “You’re on.”
Gabriel was quickly reminded that he was practically human. He could barely manage to get the ball to the end of the lane. Most of his attempts ended in gutter balls, though he managed to knock down a few pins on occasion and even got one strike, though he was sure by that time it was entirely by luck.
The ladies on the other hand, must have been professionals. He was glad he didn’t bet them anything other than getting to know their names, because he would have lost everything. They bowled strike after strike. So he thought he try a different approach.
"Ya’know, some kids believe that thunder is the sound of angels bowling. Watching you ladies, I might be tempted to agree.”
Michelle nearly choked on the beer she was drinking, while Cassie attempted to launch into a description on true nature of thunderstorms.
However, it was all interrupted by Tillie, who had overheard Gabriel’s latest attempt and came over and grabbed him bar the arm. “You are shameless,” she hissed. “We need to go, now!”
“Really?” he said, disappointed. “What about the ice cream?”
“You thought flirting with four ladies constituted being good?” she asked. But in reality, Tillie just needed to get them all back to the group home soon. Her head had started to hurt even worse than this morning and she needed to get them there before she really got sick.
Chapter 12