And Walk With Thee, for holyhael
Title: And Walk With Thee
Recipient: holyhael
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1,600
Warnings: none
Author's Notes: Prompt: claire novak finding hael after the fall. hopefully just a little angsty but with a happy ending! and maybe amelia novak is involved, though she doesn't like that her daughter hunts, and she's really distrustful of hael until hael saves claire's life.
I hope this counts as a happy ending. The Novak women were wonderful to write.
Summary: The only warning Amelia got was coming into the kitchen to see Claire staring at the TV with a quizzical look on her face as she watched the morning news story about the freak meteor shower the night before.
The only warning Amelia got was coming into the kitchen to see Claire staring at the TV with a quizzical look on her face as she watched the morning news story about the freak meteor shower the night before.
*
It was about three weeks later that Claire came home early in the middle of a Saturday afternoon with another girl who walked behind her like a bodyguard.
“Mom,” Claire said seriously, “this is Hael.”
Amelia smiled, because Claire hadn’t made a lot of friends since...well, since Castiel, might as well call it like it was. “That’s a lovely name,” she said.
“Thank you,” the girl replied. She was about Claire’s height, and had dark hair and blue eyes that gave Amelia a pang because they might have been sisters, if Hael had taken after Jimmy.
“Hael’s an angel,” Claire said, and the world stopped.
*
They left Hael to sit on the couch as if she’d never done it before-and, Amelia thought wildly, it was entirely possible she hadn’t-and went into the kitchen.
“What were you thinking?” she demanded, trying to keep her voice down. “This isn’t safe, it can’t be safe!”
“They fell, Mom,” Claire said, with a note of pain in her voice that made Amelia want to hug her. “All of them. They can’t go home. They’ve been locked out.”
“Claire, be reasonable,” Amelia said. “We can’t have an angel in the house.”
“She doesn’t have to eat,” Claire said, as if the expense of an extra mouth to feed were the sticking point here. “She doesn’t even need to sleep. She just needs-”
“Needs what? Needs you? She already has a, a vessel.” Amelia clapped her hand over her mouth as if that could keep her from having said it.
“She needs someone she can talk to,” Claire said softly.
Amelia just stared at her daughter.
*
Hael was not technically a bad houseguest. Though she came down to meals after the first few days-Amelia suspected Claire had told her it would be polite-she didn’t, in fact, eat anything, and spent most of her time in Claire’s room. Amelia taught her to use the washing machine and dryer, and after that didn’t have to do laundry any more. She even got used to walking past Claire’s door and hearing the murmur of their voices. She didn’t know what they found to talk about, and she had not sunk so low as to eavesdrop on her daughter.
Then, one morning a few weeks before Claire’s birthday, Amelia stepped into the hallway as Hael was bringing the laundry basket up, and the angel had a rash that crept up the side of her neck and across her cheek.
“Are you all right?” Amelia asked, taking the laundry basket from her.
Hael’s lips tightened. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to maintain my vessel,” she said. “She is...not the best fit.”
“I thought it ran in families,” Amelia said. It ran in her husband’s.
“The direct line of my vessels was killed,” Hael said. “They lived in Europe. I believe you call it the Holocaust.” She didn’t fidget, but Amelia thought that if she were human she would have. “This girl is a distant cousin, and she...I’ll have to leave her soon.”
“Or what?”
“Or she’ll die,” Hael said bluntly. “I was never posted to Earth during the war, for exactly this reason.”
“War,” Amelia repeated.
“Castiel’s war with Raphael,” Hael said. She didn’t seem to notice Amelia’s reaction to the name. “I was fortunate that she agreed to take me when we fell. Many were left without vessels.”
“And what will happen to you, once you leave her?” Amelia asked.
Hael didn’t look down or away, just stared for a long moment before she said, “With Heaven barred, eventually I’ll fade.”
“Oh,” Amelia said.
*
As her birthday drew closer, Claire got more and more distracted. Amelia didn’t try to start the fight with her; the fights they’d had when she was younger were the only reason Claire was still here at all, waiting for her birthday instead of already out there, hunting things, risking her life for people who would never believe what they needed to be saved from.
“I can’t just pretend it isn’t happening!” Claire had shouted, in the last fight. “I can help people!”
“Your father wanted you to be safe,” Amelia had said, her voice shaking. “That’s why he took Castiel back, so you would be safe.”
“Mom. Mom, I can’t be safe if everyone else isn’t.”
*
Amelia and Claire went out for Claire’s birthday. Hael stayed behind. She said that they needed time to bond as a family, and Amelia could practically hear the quotation marks. It was also true that Hael did not look well; most of her visible skin was covered in a livid rash, and she moved like her bones hurt.
Dinner was surprisingly pleasant. Amelia had expected to fight, but they didn’t; instead they talked. Mostly about Jimmy, which was another surprise, because usually they couldn’t mention him without one or the other of them crying.
They were in the car on the way home when Claire said suddenly, “You don’t have to worry about me, Mom. Hael will make sure I don’t get hurt.”
Amelia knew Claire thought she didn’t know about the bag in the closet, already packed. “Oh, sweetie,” she said. “I’m your mother. I’ll always worry.”
“I’ll call you every day,” Claire said, with the fervency of youthful promise.
*
Claire kissed Amelia good night and went up to her room. Amelia stayed downstairs and turned on the TV, but she’d barely settled down to watch when there was a soft, heavy thud from upstairs.
She took the steps two at a time and burst into Claire’s room without knocking, to find Claire picking up Hael’s limp body from the floor. Then Claire turned her head.
No, Amelia realized. Hael turned her head.
“Get out,” she said, and her voice was alien in her own ears. “Get out of her.”
Hael lifted her vessel’s body onto the bed with casual strength. Amelia could see the girl’s chest rising and falling, which would have been a relief if she’d had the space to care. “Gloria needs to sleep,” Hael said in Claire’s voice. “She’ll need the rest so that we can escort her home in the morning.”
“Get. Out. Of my daughter,” Amelia repeated.
Hael’s eyes flared, blue-white, and then her posture relaxed and she was Claire again, and Amelia didn’t know what to say.
“It’s OK, Mom,” Claire said. “Hael isn’t...she doesn’t have to be behind the wheel all the time. We can talk. But she needed someone, and I’m stronger than Gloria.”
“Oh,” Amelia said, and went over to the bed to sit on it next to Gloria’s feet. “Claire, sweetie, I’m just-”
Claire sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders, and Amelia could feel her eyes trying to fill with tears. “She needs someone,” Claire said. “And this way I’ll always have her to protect me.”
*
Claire kept her promise to call every day, or to warn Amelia when she wouldn’t. She told hair-raising stories about ghosts and changelings and shapeshifters, and Amelia hated to listen but she couldn’t bear to tell her daughter to stop talking.
Then one night, the scheduled call didn’t come.
It didn’t come the next, either, and Amelia tore apart her office looking for the telephone numbers that the two men who’d been with Jimmy had left her, but when she found them they had been disconnected, even the one for the salvage yard in South Dakota.
She was sitting in her office chair, trying to work out how she was going to phrase the missing persons report so that no one would think she was crazy, when her phone rang. She snatched it up and almost fumbled it, punching the answer button right before it dropped to voicemail.
“Mom, I’m OK, I’m so sorry,” was the first thing Claire said, and Amelia nearly sobbed in relief.
“What happened?” she managed. She was shuddering with the release of tension, but she tried to keep it out of her voice.
“We were out in the middle of nowhere,” Claire said. “We didn’t think it would take this long, but the wendigo-”
“The what?”
“They’re...big, and nasty, and they eat people. And they’re just smart enough to puncture your gas tank if they find your car,” Claire said. “My phone got crushed. We had to walk out. Well, she doesn’t get tired, so Hael walked out, after she healed-” Claire cut herself off.
“After she healed you,” Amelia said.
“Yes,” Claire said, after a long pause. “I was hurt. Badly hurt. But she healed me, and I’m perfectly fine, I swear.”
“Claire, just tell me one thing,” Amelia said. “Did you save someone?”
“We did. Three hikers,” Claire said, and she sounded so happy, and Amelia closed her eyes and sighed.
“I’m so glad you’re not doing this alone, sweetie,” she said, and smiled, and meant it.
Recipient: holyhael
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1,600
Warnings: none
Author's Notes: Prompt: claire novak finding hael after the fall. hopefully just a little angsty but with a happy ending! and maybe amelia novak is involved, though she doesn't like that her daughter hunts, and she's really distrustful of hael until hael saves claire's life.
I hope this counts as a happy ending. The Novak women were wonderful to write.
Summary: The only warning Amelia got was coming into the kitchen to see Claire staring at the TV with a quizzical look on her face as she watched the morning news story about the freak meteor shower the night before.
The only warning Amelia got was coming into the kitchen to see Claire staring at the TV with a quizzical look on her face as she watched the morning news story about the freak meteor shower the night before.
*
It was about three weeks later that Claire came home early in the middle of a Saturday afternoon with another girl who walked behind her like a bodyguard.
“Mom,” Claire said seriously, “this is Hael.”
Amelia smiled, because Claire hadn’t made a lot of friends since...well, since Castiel, might as well call it like it was. “That’s a lovely name,” she said.
“Thank you,” the girl replied. She was about Claire’s height, and had dark hair and blue eyes that gave Amelia a pang because they might have been sisters, if Hael had taken after Jimmy.
“Hael’s an angel,” Claire said, and the world stopped.
*
They left Hael to sit on the couch as if she’d never done it before-and, Amelia thought wildly, it was entirely possible she hadn’t-and went into the kitchen.
“What were you thinking?” she demanded, trying to keep her voice down. “This isn’t safe, it can’t be safe!”
“They fell, Mom,” Claire said, with a note of pain in her voice that made Amelia want to hug her. “All of them. They can’t go home. They’ve been locked out.”
“Claire, be reasonable,” Amelia said. “We can’t have an angel in the house.”
“She doesn’t have to eat,” Claire said, as if the expense of an extra mouth to feed were the sticking point here. “She doesn’t even need to sleep. She just needs-”
“Needs what? Needs you? She already has a, a vessel.” Amelia clapped her hand over her mouth as if that could keep her from having said it.
“She needs someone she can talk to,” Claire said softly.
Amelia just stared at her daughter.
*
Hael was not technically a bad houseguest. Though she came down to meals after the first few days-Amelia suspected Claire had told her it would be polite-she didn’t, in fact, eat anything, and spent most of her time in Claire’s room. Amelia taught her to use the washing machine and dryer, and after that didn’t have to do laundry any more. She even got used to walking past Claire’s door and hearing the murmur of their voices. She didn’t know what they found to talk about, and she had not sunk so low as to eavesdrop on her daughter.
Then, one morning a few weeks before Claire’s birthday, Amelia stepped into the hallway as Hael was bringing the laundry basket up, and the angel had a rash that crept up the side of her neck and across her cheek.
“Are you all right?” Amelia asked, taking the laundry basket from her.
Hael’s lips tightened. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to maintain my vessel,” she said. “She is...not the best fit.”
“I thought it ran in families,” Amelia said. It ran in her husband’s.
“The direct line of my vessels was killed,” Hael said. “They lived in Europe. I believe you call it the Holocaust.” She didn’t fidget, but Amelia thought that if she were human she would have. “This girl is a distant cousin, and she...I’ll have to leave her soon.”
“Or what?”
“Or she’ll die,” Hael said bluntly. “I was never posted to Earth during the war, for exactly this reason.”
“War,” Amelia repeated.
“Castiel’s war with Raphael,” Hael said. She didn’t seem to notice Amelia’s reaction to the name. “I was fortunate that she agreed to take me when we fell. Many were left without vessels.”
“And what will happen to you, once you leave her?” Amelia asked.
Hael didn’t look down or away, just stared for a long moment before she said, “With Heaven barred, eventually I’ll fade.”
“Oh,” Amelia said.
*
As her birthday drew closer, Claire got more and more distracted. Amelia didn’t try to start the fight with her; the fights they’d had when she was younger were the only reason Claire was still here at all, waiting for her birthday instead of already out there, hunting things, risking her life for people who would never believe what they needed to be saved from.
“I can’t just pretend it isn’t happening!” Claire had shouted, in the last fight. “I can help people!”
“Your father wanted you to be safe,” Amelia had said, her voice shaking. “That’s why he took Castiel back, so you would be safe.”
“Mom. Mom, I can’t be safe if everyone else isn’t.”
*
Amelia and Claire went out for Claire’s birthday. Hael stayed behind. She said that they needed time to bond as a family, and Amelia could practically hear the quotation marks. It was also true that Hael did not look well; most of her visible skin was covered in a livid rash, and she moved like her bones hurt.
Dinner was surprisingly pleasant. Amelia had expected to fight, but they didn’t; instead they talked. Mostly about Jimmy, which was another surprise, because usually they couldn’t mention him without one or the other of them crying.
They were in the car on the way home when Claire said suddenly, “You don’t have to worry about me, Mom. Hael will make sure I don’t get hurt.”
Amelia knew Claire thought she didn’t know about the bag in the closet, already packed. “Oh, sweetie,” she said. “I’m your mother. I’ll always worry.”
“I’ll call you every day,” Claire said, with the fervency of youthful promise.
*
Claire kissed Amelia good night and went up to her room. Amelia stayed downstairs and turned on the TV, but she’d barely settled down to watch when there was a soft, heavy thud from upstairs.
She took the steps two at a time and burst into Claire’s room without knocking, to find Claire picking up Hael’s limp body from the floor. Then Claire turned her head.
No, Amelia realized. Hael turned her head.
“Get out,” she said, and her voice was alien in her own ears. “Get out of her.”
Hael lifted her vessel’s body onto the bed with casual strength. Amelia could see the girl’s chest rising and falling, which would have been a relief if she’d had the space to care. “Gloria needs to sleep,” Hael said in Claire’s voice. “She’ll need the rest so that we can escort her home in the morning.”
“Get. Out. Of my daughter,” Amelia repeated.
Hael’s eyes flared, blue-white, and then her posture relaxed and she was Claire again, and Amelia didn’t know what to say.
“It’s OK, Mom,” Claire said. “Hael isn’t...she doesn’t have to be behind the wheel all the time. We can talk. But she needed someone, and I’m stronger than Gloria.”
“Oh,” Amelia said, and went over to the bed to sit on it next to Gloria’s feet. “Claire, sweetie, I’m just-”
Claire sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders, and Amelia could feel her eyes trying to fill with tears. “She needs someone,” Claire said. “And this way I’ll always have her to protect me.”
*
Claire kept her promise to call every day, or to warn Amelia when she wouldn’t. She told hair-raising stories about ghosts and changelings and shapeshifters, and Amelia hated to listen but she couldn’t bear to tell her daughter to stop talking.
Then one night, the scheduled call didn’t come.
It didn’t come the next, either, and Amelia tore apart her office looking for the telephone numbers that the two men who’d been with Jimmy had left her, but when she found them they had been disconnected, even the one for the salvage yard in South Dakota.
She was sitting in her office chair, trying to work out how she was going to phrase the missing persons report so that no one would think she was crazy, when her phone rang. She snatched it up and almost fumbled it, punching the answer button right before it dropped to voicemail.
“Mom, I’m OK, I’m so sorry,” was the first thing Claire said, and Amelia nearly sobbed in relief.
“What happened?” she managed. She was shuddering with the release of tension, but she tried to keep it out of her voice.
“We were out in the middle of nowhere,” Claire said. “We didn’t think it would take this long, but the wendigo-”
“The what?”
“They’re...big, and nasty, and they eat people. And they’re just smart enough to puncture your gas tank if they find your car,” Claire said. “My phone got crushed. We had to walk out. Well, she doesn’t get tired, so Hael walked out, after she healed-” Claire cut herself off.
“After she healed you,” Amelia said.
“Yes,” Claire said, after a long pause. “I was hurt. Badly hurt. But she healed me, and I’m perfectly fine, I swear.”
“Claire, just tell me one thing,” Amelia said. “Did you save someone?”
“We did. Three hikers,” Claire said, and she sounded so happy, and Amelia closed her eyes and sighed.
“I’m so glad you’re not doing this alone, sweetie,” she said, and smiled, and meant it.