Fic: Archangels and Ever After
Title: Archangels and Ever After
Author: Midknight2501
Email: Midknight2501@yahoo.com
Fandom: Legion
Pairing: Jeep/Charlie, Jeep/Michael, Jeep/Michael/Charlie
Rating: PG-ish
Notes: The movie isn't mine, neither are the characters. And no money is being made.
In the year since the apocalypse they've seen him a handful of times. She and Jeep are on the road most of the time and the baby... Well, he still sleeps a lot and hasn't said his first word.
The first time he showed up was a little more than three weeks after it all, and their radiator had run dry on a long stretch of road and Charlie was just starting to hear the coyotes sing when Michael had walked up out of the scrub on the side of the road.
Jeep had his gun up before he realized who he was, and all Michael had done was lift an eyebrow at him, then step up to the raised hood of the truck with a curious eye.
"What happened back there in the town?" Michael asks, like he doesn't know. Charlie peers into the backseat at the baby, who they haven't named yet, then slips out the passenger door to join the men staring at the engine. It's smoking a little.
"They got suspicious-" Jeep says at the same time Charlie says, "They didn't like us." Then they both look at each other with knowing eyes. Things are still awkward. She's trying to get over the 'he's my friend' thing and he's trying to get over the badass tattoos and the great destiny of being her protector.
"I see." Is all Michael says. "What's wrong with this thing?"
"The radiator ran out of water." Jeep says, sheepishly.
Michael cups his hands and suddenly they're full of water. Charlie didn't know they could do that, but then again... Michael isn't just any angel. Jeep points out the radiator then grabs the cap before it can get lost. He has to steady Michael's hands over the mouth of the radiator and Charlie feels dizzy suddenly, seeing her new lover's hands on Michael's. They've got the same tattoos. She glances up at Jeep and his color is high- he looks like he's had a few too many shots of Jack Daniels.
Once the beat up truck is running Michael steps around to the side to peer in at the baby. "What's his name?"
"I can't decide." Charlie tells him, just as sheepishly. He looks at her in that inscrutable, intense way he has and shrugs. It makes his wings shift and flutter.
"You should probably figure that out." Michael huffs at her.
He doesn't say anything else, just walks away from the truck a bit, spreads his wings, and sails off into the night.
Charlie absently realizes Jeep is standing right next to her, gaping like she is.
They spend the night at some sketchy motel, where half the neon letters on the sign don't even bother to light up. The baby sleeps all night, not a peep out of him. Charlie flops on the bed next to Jeep and tries to catch her breath and tries not to ask him why they just had the best sex of their lives.
After that it's a month or two- they're in Texas, in some place full of drawls and big hats and suspicious looks and she's starting to get the feeling on the back of her neck that they'd better be moving on soon. Jeep is going to get paid in bullets for the van he's fixing and they can't pass that up. It's another day or so until it's done, not that Charlie understands what he's been saying about valves and gaskets. She stays in the trailer they've rented and feeds the baby and watches crap on TV and makes dinner. It's her job, like Jeep's is to fix cars. She also cleans the guns, but they don't tell people that part.
In fact, between the baby and the guns she fell asleep and let dinner burn. Charlie wakes up to smoke and for a moment she thinks she's back at the diner. She's up and off the couch with a shotgun before she hears the rustling of feathers. When she looks behind the partition into the kitchen Michael is glowering into the sink where the skillet of burned Hamburger Helper is smoldering.
"I hope you weren't going to feed the child...this."
Charlie shrugs and puts the gun down. "He's not really into solid food yet." There's cans of pureed carrots in the fridge, which the kid really seems to like.
"It's probably best if you don't eat it either."
"It was on sale this week." Michael just looks at her, like she's speaking Greek. Except he can probably speak Greek. "It tastes better than it looks."
He pokes the noodles and beef with a wooden spoon. "I doubt that."
The baby picks that time to decide he's hungry. Charlie glances over her shoulder, not really wanting to leave Michael alone in the kitchen. His wings take up most of the space, anyway. She's not even sure how he fits in there- must be archangel magic. The kid's cry picks up in volume and Charlie darts away, already slipping her top off one shoulder. Hopefully Michael isn't...squeamish.
Five minutes later she comes back to the kitchen, half afraid, half curious and Michael has made a salad. A big one. And steaks are cooking on the stove. And there's a cooling bottle of wine on the counter- but it doesn't have a store label and the glass looks hand-blown.
Michael glances up, sees her and the baby, and looks back to the food. He's not blushing or anything, but she's not sure he can. "Have you chosen a name for him?"
"We liked Benjamin for a while, until Jeep remembered Lost-" She shrugs. The baby makes little happy noises and she cradles the back of his head, still astounded how warm he is. "I don't want to name him after my father."
The front door swings open suddenly and Jeep stomps in. He's covered in dust and sweat and he spots her and the baby, smiling widely. Then he seems to sense they have a guest and looks worried. "Charlie?"
"It's OK." She explains before he can reach into the closet for a shotgun.
"Dinner smells good." Jeep comes over and looks startled when he sees Michael. "Hey."
"I didn't cook it." Charlie explains.
Jeep and Michael are oddly silent through dinner- the steaks are perfect, the salad is crisp, and the wine... She figured Michael wouldn't let her have any, considering the unnamed baby, but he's back in his crib and her shirt is back in place, and the wine tastes like honeysuckle and apples and everything good about spring. It's strong without tasting strong. Charlie only notices her head is spinning when she looks up and Jeep and Michael are slipping out the front door. She guesses they have to talk about man stuff, like the car or where to go after Texas, so she goes to check on the baby. He's still sound asleep.
Jeep comes back half an hour later looking feverish.
"Have we got to move on?" She guesses.
"Yep." And Jeep already has his hands on her, pulling her close, sucking on her throat.
"Jeep?" Charlie gasps, backing towards their room.
"Yep?" He sounds drunk, though he didn't have any of the wine, preferring a beer instead.
They wind up on the bed, clothes lost in a trail across the room. She half thinks if they were here much longer they'd shake the place apart- the hinges creak and scream when they go at it. Everything aches and feels incredible. "We're getting good at this." Charlie points out. It's like 'I love you' but it isn't. Yet.
"Really, really good." Jeep groans.
She's half asleep when she realizes his kisses tasted like the wine Michael had given them.
Three months later they're in an incredibly bad car accident. A few of those angel possessed people had shown up and chased them, despite the baby, and then one of them had shot out the tire. The car had rolled and rolled and there had been these long, terrible upside down moments where all Charlie could hear was the crunch of metal and the scream of the baby, her baby, who still didn't have a name yet. They'd come to a stop in a ditch, which, due to the storm that had been raging all afternoon, was quickly flooding.
Charlie unbuckled her seat belt and fell into the roof, which already had an inch of water. She shook Jeep until he woke up- his forehead was bleeding, then she'd turned to get the baby out of it's upside down baby seat. It howled and howled and she really had to name it so she could stop calling it 'kid'.
The three of them struggled out of the wreckage, cursing the whole way, and then a bullet shattered the back window. Another tire exploded a second after. The rain was pouring down thick and gray and all their guns were scattered around the backseat, soaking in water.
"How the hell are we supposed to get out of here?" Jeep shouted, pulling Charlie down against the car where they'd at least be harder to see. It's raining too hard to even see where the shooters are, much less for them to aim back if their guns weren't soaked. Shots riddle the vehicle behind them and Charlie wraps her arms around the baby, determined to shield it with her body.
The shots are getting closer and closer to hitting them and Charlie starts to pray-
Wings come around them suddenly, arms bracing against the side of the car- Michael is crouching over the two of them, pushing them against the car with his wings and body. He grunts in pain as the bullets rake across his body.
"Michael-" Charlie cries.
"I'm fine- Stay down." He growls at her.
Someone is shouting in the darkness, heckling to see if they're dead, and Michael pushes himself up. He's gone into the night and she hears the rasp of his sword as he unsheathes it. Someone fires and screams at the same time- then there's only screaming. Which goes silent after a moment.
Charlie and Jeep huddle by the car, cold and waiting. They wait a long time. Eventually Michael comes back, and he gives them a hand up- shaking hands petting them, checking them for wounds once they're standing. No one is hurt- Charlie is convinced Michael has to be, almost hysterically so, but he shows her his armor again.
"No mortal weapon can harm me, Charlie." He points out. But she still remembers when that wasn't true and she has to run her hands over the exposed skin of his arms, then over the feathers of his wings, certain she's going to touch blood at any moment. Michael looks faintly amused once she calms down.
"You're not hurt?" She still has to ask.
"He said he's fine." Jeep tells her.
"But thank you for caring." Michael assures her. He leads them back to the road, then to a motel. If they keep close to him the rain doesn't seem as cold, but that doesn't mean they're not soaked by the time they have a room. Michael's wings don't even raise an eye at the counter, and he mimes paying for them- the lady takes nothing from his hands and counts it into the till without batting an eye.
On the second floor, at the door, Michael stops. Charlie honestly thinks his wings aren't going to fit through the door in the first place.
"Want to come in? Dry off?" She asks, anyway.
Jeep comes back to the door from laying the baby to sleep on the bed. He leans on the door frame, and Charlie absently notices how low on his hips his jeans are hanging. Jeep looks good- being on the run and fighting have put muscles on him.
"You're doing well." Michael says. This is the first time they've been in any real danger. "Head north."
"North?" Jeep asks.
"Get another car and go north." Michael tells him. He looks to Charlie, quickly, then steps up to Jeep. "You're doing a good job. Taking care of her." And then he reaches out, hand coming up to cup the back of Jeep's neck and pulls him into a rough kiss. He's all but devouring him, and instead of pushing Michael away Jeep's hands have latched onto his muscled forearm. Charlie never thought she'd see something like this- certainly never with Jeep involved.
They pull apart with a gasp- Jeep looks drugged and Charlie realizes her hands are balled into fists.
Michael tips his head to her, like he's too respectful to steal a kiss from the savior's mother but Charlie is not having any of that.
She steps up to him, all but elbowing Jeep out of the way, and grabs hold of his breast plate, dragging him down. Michael groans, hands gentle on her- but he still pulls her close- his armor is cold through her soaked clothes and he tastes a little like Jeep's breath mints. He kisses like a work of art, consuming her in the process. When he lets her go Charlie can hardly stand. Jeep has to brace her up and all she can do is stare at Michael, shocked.
"How far north?" Jeep asks.
"North." Michael shrugs. He steps back, off the porch- straight through the cheap railing- and wings off into the night.
Charlie doesn't have to guess why the sex is so good that night. She knows.
They don't talk about it. They don't talk about it all the way through Georgia, and South Carolina, and North Carolina. They almost talk about it in North Carolina, in a grubby diner that reminds her too much of Paradise Falls, but the waitress keeps making eyes at Jeep- she's got about the same number of tattoos, though hers seem to all be Betty Boop- and bringing coffee every time Charlie opens her mouth.
In Virginia they find a town that's small enough that they can live on the outskirts in a nice cabin without people bothering them, but large enough that people don't think it's that weird that they want their privacy. There's a PigglyWiggly in the town and they almost always have Hamburger Helper on sale. Charlie doesn't buy it- she buys fruit and vegetables instead and makes soup from scratch. The kid's nickname is 'kid' as far at they're concerned, though she's pretty sure she's settled on a name.
Jeep works on cars in town. They do alright. Six months pass and the shit doesn't hit the fan, but neither does Michael show up. She wonders if he got written up, or whatever happens to angels when they get caught kissing humans. Things are so perfect, and so boring, she almost considers starting some trouble just to see if that would get his attention.
She comes back from PigglyWiggly on a Friday, with the kid, who's happily burbling along with the radio and sees Michael on the roof. He's standing on the peak, looking like... A fallen pine tree or a really huge weather vane. Bags of groceries and child in hand Charlie peers up at him- He steps off, wings fluttering, and Kid claps his hands, laughing.
"Have you named him?" Michael asks.
"Mostly." Charlie admits. "Are you staying for dinner? No Hamburger Helper." She says quickly.
He glances around. "Where's Jeep?"
"He'll be home from work soon." She steps around him, elbowing his wing aside and stomps up the porch steps. Michael follows after a few seconds. The doors are pretty big but he still turns a little to the side to get in. She puts her son in his pen, gets him a juice box, then goes back to the kitchen where Michael is sorting through the groceries. Funny that she's got steak and the fixings for a salad.
"What's the word?" Charlie asks, reaching in to snag the bags away from him.
Michael shrugs. "Things are quiet."
"I noticed."
They're both quiet, clearly thinking about the kiss. She puts all the food away, then starts getting out a sauce pan to cook the steaks in. She's about to say something when Jeep comes in. There's a moment of absolute silence where both men see each other, and Charlie clatters the pan on the stove on purpose to break the tension.
"Hey. You're here." Jeep says, sounding like he's struggling for words.
"I am." Michael sounds just awkward.
"Where'd you go?" Jeep demands, suddenly. He stalks across the room, and Charlie watches Michael's wings start to bristle up.
"I've just been... Busy." Michael admits.
Men, Charlie thinks, shaking her head. She peers across the room, at the pen. Kid is out like a light, which is fine. Jeep and Michael look like they're about to start growling at any moment, baring their teeth- she steps between them, grabs a hand, and tows them farther into the house. Jeep gets the idea first and starts unbuttoning his work shirt. Michael balks.
"I- I shouldn't." It's the first time she's ever heard him sound uncertain.
"Want to know what we're naming the kid?" Charlie asks, tugging him the last few feet through the door. Jeep pushes it shut after them, and he's already down to his jeans. His hands meet hers on the fastenings for Michael's cape, and they tug it loose. The armor looks really confusing.
"What? What does that have to do with- this?" Michael sounds stricken.
There are all these little belts on the armor- they manage to get a few undone and the shoulder piece over his head before Michael grabs them both by the hands, stopping them.
"We're naming him Michael." Jeep says- it clearly startles the archangel.
"What?"
Charlie laughs and pulls her hands free- this time he doesn't stop them when they start stripping him again. Michael does take his weapons off himself, though.
"We're naming him for you. Since you saved him. Us." Charlie says, when Michael is a little more undressed.
Jeep snorts. "Or because you might as well be his other Dad." And he pushes Michael back on the bed.
They don't let him leave til the weekend is over. There are two hickeys showing above his collar when he finally soars off and all day Charlie is finding down and feathers in the corner of the house. Jeep grins all the way through breakfast. He's still grinning when he comes home for dinner.
Michael shows up just before dessert with a bottle of wine.