Signed, Sealed and Delivered.

Gabriel tipped his glasses forward to the end of his nose and peered with agitation at the report he held in front of him. Zeke's usual untidy scrawl was giving him a headache. Besides that he was fed up of spending a century on his current duty, surely, by now, he deserved a break? Anything else would do, he couldn't aspire to being Peter's right hand man but even a spell with the fledgling Cherubs would do.
Thinking about Cherubs, brought his mind back to Zeke, actually Ezekiel, but Zeke thought it was more street-wise for a newly promoted angel.

Really, Gabriel thought, this should be an easy job, one in tray, one out-tray and a small one for the troublesome ones. So, why in Heaven 's name, did Zeke keep filling this one up? Gabriel had little problems with it before; a child could understand the system, one for Heaven, one for Hell and one for the in-betweens.

Gabriel sighed at this latest report, Nathan Edwards, a small time crook with a lot of background. Trouble at home, petty theft, a joyriding spree that nearly killed somebody and then there was the hard stuff, breaking and entering, carrying a knife, but not using it. Maybe Zeke had a point after all. Still, he had a rap sheet as long as Gabriel's arm, which stretched a good way in his own opinion.
Looking down the list he came to the problem bit. Nathan's last attempt at a burglary had caused quite a stir.
He had watched the house for a while, a mother with two children, a husband that spent a lot of time away from home and a house that looked like rich pickings. He wasn't to know that the husband was violent, had a mistress and was trying to force his wife and children out.

Preparing to jemmy the window, Nathan found out it was already open, in fact he could smell smoke from the house. His first instinct was to run away but a sound of coughing from upstairs tugged at his conscience. Draping himself with a wet towel from the kitchen he cautiously crept upstairs, flames were already coming from a bedroom but the coughing sound came from across the landing. Chocking back the smoke he flung the door open to find a woman crouched down with her children shaking with fright.

He had no time to be gentle; throwing the towel over the children's heads he let them all downstairs. The front door wouldn't open, it was locked from outside. A moment of panic hit him until he remembered the open window, pushing them all through was a hard job, but soon all four of them were outside and relatively unharmed.

The next day, he became a reluctant hero. Of course he had to say he'd just been passing by and smelt the smoke. The investigation turned up signs of a planned fire and suspicion fell on the husband, who was in bed with his mistress when he was supposed to be working. In the meantime Nathan fell in love with Julia and moved her and the two girls in with him. It was a tight fit in his cramped flat, but when the insurance money finally came through they bought a small house and Nathan took a job in the local hospital as a security guard.
One night he was struggling with an abusive drunken lout and was stabbed through the heart, death was instantaneous.
.

Gabriel was at a loss; the balance sheet for Nathan was now even, how could he decide on his fate? He could have taken it higher up, but in the end, it would be left up to him to decide the outcome for himself.
There was a way out, a slim chance, maybe worth a try, but could he trust Zeke to get it right?
Of course Zeke wanted to try, he was enthralled by Earth and longed to pay a visit, but it was Gabriel's ass on the line, not Zeke's. 'Oh sod it, ' he thought, 'he couldn't go down much lower than paperwork and it could get Zeke off his back for good. '
Running the scenario through the computer was easy, but he kept going through it again and again until he was sure it had a good chance of success.

It didn't take long to arrange a slight shift in the time continuance. Zeke was right in place when the knife passed right through Nathan's body. He couldn't stop it completely, that was stretching the rules too far, but he could and did deflect it away from Nathan's heart and it scraped his ribs instead. He'd be in Intensive care for a while, but he'd pull through and hopefully go on to lead a better and more productive life.
Gabriel sighed with relief; Nathan's file was stamped as pending review and filed safely away.

The next day he got a direct call from Peter himself. His wings aquiver, he soon stood in front of Peter, was he in for trouble now?
Peter soon put him at his ease. 'Gabriel', he said ' that was a sound decision you took yesterday, to be honest; we didn't think you had it in you to act as you did. In fact, we felt you were getting a bit stale'.
'Maybe,' he continued, ' We should leave you where you are, you are a good influence over Zeke after all.'
Gabriel nearly choked, not another century in despatch. Thinking quickly he said,' Well it was a hard choice, but I thought Zeke needed a chance to earn his wings and there were mitigating circumstances after all.'
Peter thought a while,' Well, you have trained him well and maybe with some guidance he can soon work alone, in the meantime, Benjamin has put in for a transfer, he's getting a little bored with the family reunions, perhaps we could spare you for a while?'
Gabriel nearly rose with joy; he had not worked in reunions for over five centuries.

Soon he began receiving mail from Zeke, this time stamped with the official seal of "heaven, it seemed like Benjamin was putting his new assistant to work.

Meanwhile, back on earth, Nathan was once again in hospital but this time as a visitor.
Looking down at his son sleeping peacefully in his arms, his heart was full of pride.
Gently kissing Julia's hair he asked her what they should call him. The girls had made lots of suggestions for their new baby brother.
Julia looked at her husband; it was a miracle he had survived at all.
'I know you don't have a lot of time for religion' she said, ' but a guardian angel must have been watching over you the night you got stabbed. Can we call him Gabriel?'

© Lisa Fuller April 2006.