Fallen Angel

Chapter 14.1

Gabriël kept his eyes fixed on Joan. He could hardly believe she was standing before him at last. His heart raced in his chest. Neither had spoken since Anne reluctantly left. There were a million things Gabriël wanted to say, but he didn't know where to start. When he stepped forward, Joan instantly recoiled. Only then did he finally notice the apprehension in her amber eyes.

"Keep away," she warned him.

"Joan, it's me." Gabriël took another step closer to her.

"I said, stay the hell away from me!" 

He was bewildered by her reaction. What had got into her? Why was she acting like he was some beast come to devour her?

"You're... You're not Gabriël," she rambled and sobbed frantically. "You're not him. He's not here. He's in the Vale. Michael would never allow him to come to me. And why would he? It wasn't real. None of it was. All of it was a lie!"

Now Gabriël understood why Anne had been hesitant to leave them alone. She had warned him. She'd explained that Joan genuinely believed everything between them had been a straight-out lie. He had to convince her that was the actual lie.
Gabriël moved swiftly, catching Joan unawares, and his fingers closed around her arms. She tried to pull free from him, but he held her in a firm grip.

"Listen to me, listen! I am Gabriël! I am here!" She turned away, shaking her head wildly, but he made her look at him. "Please don't turn from me, Joan. Look at my face. Look into my eyes."

Joan stopped resisting him as she gazed up at him. She blinked a few times, but her doubt was still evident. Gabriël let go of her arms and cupped her face.

"My love," he whispered to her. "I am here. No tricks, no deceit. Joan, please tell me how I can convince you. How can I prove that I -?"

"I'm not giving it up," Joan interrupted in a firm voice.

Gabriël was taken by surprise. He tilted his head to her, raising his brow questioningly. 

"Give what up? What are you -?" His eyes widened as he grasped her meaning. "The baby?"

"There's no other reason for you to be here. And I don't know if I can trust you to be Gabriël or not. Any Archangel can enter the Sanctum, but there's only a handful that Michael would send to deal with this. So, whoever you are, I'm telling you now; you will not take my child from me. If you want it, then you'll have to cut it out of me."

"Okay, first of all, and this is the last time I'm saying this, I am Gabriël. And second, what in God's name gave you the idea that's why I'm here?" Gabriël grasped Joan's hands in his. "You listen to me now; I would never ask such a thing. I am not Michael or any other Archangel you want to name, but your friend, lover, and father of that baby growing inside. Everything I have done in the days we have been apart, I have done to get to you. To get to my family. So you have to believe me when I say I want this, Joan. I want us to be together. To raise our child together. If you want me to leave, don't expect me to do so without a fight. Don't expect me to just sit back. I love you, and Heavens be damned; I will never give you up. Nor our child."

***

Joan let his words sink in. Her heart screamed at her mind to stop being a fool and believe that the man in front of her was Gabriël. The way he looked, the way he spoke... There was no reason to think he wasn't Gabriël. Yet the nagging voice in her head warned her to be cautious of him. Michael wouldn't have let him leave the Vale, meaning he had to have escaped somehow. That was the part that worried her. If she was to discover the truth, though, she had to play along.