Children Of Fire || Andy Biersack

Chapter 4

Breakfast that morning was bland. You had not been successful in getting back to sleep, and everyone commented on how rough you looked the next morning. When Leanna made an appearance at seven, hair brushed and face washed, you felt a little more at ease. You stared mildlessly at her brother as you pushed around the flavorless porridge with your spoon.
He was talking to Ashley across the table from you, but you couldn't hear a word that he was saying. It was as though your ears were stuck as well as your eyes. It took feeling a gentle hand placed on your forearm to break your trance.
Leanna looked concerned. "You haven't eaten hardly anything. Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, of course. I'm sorry, I just didn't sleep very well last night."
"Are you getting sick, perhaps? You don't look feverish--"
"I'm fine, Lea. But speaking of feverish. . . Are you going to come with me to the hospital this afternoon?"
The question had a qeer effect on her. She blushed just slightly and replied with confidence, "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
You stared at her for a second with a confused smile fixed on your face. "That's the spirit . . . ?"
She kissed your cheek and left the the room in that dramatic way only a seventeen year old can. "That was weird," you muttered to yourself, taking a bite off your spoon before deciding that you were not hungry anymore.
  "I'm going to go call Angelo and see how things are going on that front," you announced, putting your bowl on the floor for the cat to lick.
"Be safe," said Andy, who had clearly not heard what you said. You playfully smacked the back of his head as you passed him. Stepping through the doorway into your shared bedroom, your eyes scanned the area until they came upon your nightstand where you had your phone charging. Picking it up, you dialed Angelo's number and waited. The phone rang three times before you heard Angelo answer on the other end.
"Angelo Bradwidth," he answered formally. "Good morning!"
"Morning, Angelo," you yawned, laying down on your bed.  "How goes your adventures in adopting children?"
"I'm pleased that you should inquire, my dear girl! All is going exceptionally well. We are signing the last of the paperwork tonight and then we will be on the first flight back to New York. You should see Pemie with the girls, it's the most beautiful image you could possibly picture! She is truly the best of women, I often wonder what I've done in some glorious past life to deserve someone as perfect as she. You met Lily, you know how she is; her and Beatrix are going to be best of friends. How are the angels doing? And what of the falcon with the broken wing? Leanna promised to care to her, and I feel confident she has done so. Oh and how is. . ."
You let him continue on at an obscure length. Your thoughts drifted away like the leaves on the wind, carried by the sound of his voice. It was a warm voice, and one you'd grown very fond of listening to. You knew he was in a considerably better state of mind today because his sentences never seemed to end. It was only when you glanced up at your clock to find that it had been almost two hours you had let him ramble on for that you decided you needed to end the conversation.
"Hey, Angelo?" You broke in, cutting off his sentence about seagulls. "I should really get going. I have some work to do before going to the hospital with Lea. I'll talk to you tonight, alright?"
"Of course!" Angelo exclaimed cheerfully. "I'll see you soon, my dear!"
You hung up before he could carry on, looking up as the door opened and Andy's head of choppy black hair popped into view. "How is he?" From your expression, Andy knew everything was fine, so he pressed on without stopping for an answer. "I wanted to tell you that Jinxx and CC are here. They're staying for dinner. Are you and Leanna going to be home in time for that, or are we eating cerial?"
"You could learn how to cook, you know," you muttered disinterestedly, unsympathetic to their helplessness. "Tonight is Tuesday. We stay until nine on Tuesday's, so we'll be home by ten."
Andy stepped through the doorway and shut it behind him. "Do you need a shower before you go?"
   "I don't think so, I'll need one when I get home though."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah pretty sure--oh. Second thoughts, I should probably wash up. Will you be joining me?"

● ● ● ●

You left at three, and for some inexplicable reason, Leanna seemed nervous and flustered. You found this very peculiar and immediately grew suspicious of what she was plotting. She hadn't been nervous about going to the hospital for nearly seven months.
"What's up, Lea? You're acting weird," you finally proclaimed after several failed attempts at conversation. The youngest angel looked around the car as if searching for a quick answer.
"Um," she said slowly. "I just. . . Well, you see. . . I guess I've just been jumpy these past few weeks with whole Fire Case. Waiting for something to happen is getting so. . . So tedious! I'm just a bit concerned is all."
"I see," you replied knowingly. "You're full of shit."
  Leanna's head shot in your direction and she narrowed her eyes at you distastefully. "I thought I sounded convincing," she said accusingly, like it was your fault she couldn't lie to save her life.
   "If you'd rather not talk about whatever it is you're actually worried about, fine. But don't make stuff up."
"I'm sorry," Leanna said sincerely. "I won't make stuff up, but I'm not telling you either." She stuck her delicate chin out stubbornly, a signal you knew meant the end of the conversation. Whatever it was, she wasn't spilling.
"Fine," you conceded. "But just be safe and don't do anything stupid. And don't leave the hospital. And if you're thinking of doing something that could put you in any physical danger, don't do it. If it has something to do with the fire demons, don't do it. If you're looking for trouble of any sort and end up needing my help, I'm always here to clean up after your mess-"
"I'm not doing any of that, relax. I thank you for your support, just don't worry about me."
The silence that took place was full of questions you refused to ask. She would only refuse to answer them, so the endeavor would be pointless.
She stuck by your side at the hospital like usual for a few hours, until you had a conversation with Mary Jane and became distracted. When you turned to ask her something, you found the girl had disappeared.
"I saw her slip away ten minutes ago," Mary Jane said with a shrug. "I'm sure she just got bored. Maybe she'll go talk with some of the younger staff members. It's about time she made some friends."
"Yeah," you muttered suspiciously. "I'm sure that's what she's doing. . ."
You attended the rest of your duties alone. Leanna was quite helpful to have shadowing you, you realized. The rest of the staff was just as competent, but Leanna had a bright cheerfulness that others could seldom live up to. She was always so good with keeping the patient's spirits lifted; especially that of men, young and old.
The hours slid by and you grew more and more unsettled by her absence. You dared not think of what she might be doing, or you wouldn't be able to concentrate one bit. You only let your worry fog your mind when it was time for you to go home and Leanna still hadn't come to find you. You thought about finding her, but decided to go to the lobby and see if she would have noticed that it was time to leave.
You found her leaned over the service counter, laughing at something Margaret, the secretary, had said. Her long silver hair was beginning to come loose of its ponytail, and long glimmering strands hung around her shockingly beautiful face, made only more beautiful by the smile that graced her lips. Margaret was plain faced, but her smile was endearing.
"Lea, where have you been all evening?" You asked her curiously.
  Hearing your voice, she turned and batted her eyelashes at you innocently. "I've been waiting for you to come down. I wasn't sure where I would find you, so when the clock struck nine I came here to wait."
Skillfully avoiding your questions seemed to be becoming a trend with her lately, so you rolled your eyes slightly and sighed. "Whatever. Let's go home. Goodbye, Margaret, see you later."
   Leanna clung to your arm cheerfully as you walked from the building, no doubt trying to dull your vexation with her.
There was little to no conversation on the way home. You had things to ask her that wouldn't be answered and she had things to think on that she wouldn't tell you about. You glanced at her a couple times to find her staring out the window smiling to herself softly.
The house was lit up when you got home, lights on in the kitchen and living room, shining through window to signify that Ashley and Andy hadn't gone to bed. You hadn't expected they had. Not particularly. But their habit of walking out of rooms without turning off the lights was probably one they would never break. "In Heaven," Andy had once told you in his defense, "lights turn off when you leave a room. None of this electrical switches bullshit."
When you pulled into the driveway though, you noticed an extra car. Either Jinxx, Jake or CC was here, or all three.
You walked into the house to fine Andy sprawled out on the sofa looking boredly at a book while the other four angels sat in various places around the floor playing poker.
"Why aren't you playing, Andy?" Leanna wanted to know. She dropped her bag to the floor and kicked off her shoes. Everyone looked up when she had opened the door and greeted you two with friendly smiles.
"I was playing," Andy answered.
"And. . . ?"
"And I suck at poker."
You wandered over to your gloomy significant other and stood over him with your hands clasped in front of you. "Any calls from Angelo?"
"Yes," CC replied from the floor. "They're on their flight. Should be back this evening."
"You should probably change," Andy advised, looking over your white coat and stethoscope with a smile. "I'll help."
You wanted to talk to him anyway, so you allowed him to follow you to the bedroom and closed the door softly behind you, stripping your coat and tossing it into the laundry basket and following up with your shirt.
"I wanted to talk to you about Leanna," you said, walking to your dresser to find a shirt. "She disappeared today and only showed back up when it was time to leave. Did she talk to you?"
"You don't know what she was doing?" Andy flopped down onto the bed and watched you with more interest than he had in the conversation. "She didn't say anything to me."
You unbuckled your belt and took your pants off, your back still turned to the angel reclining on the bed. "I don't know, I'm just suspicious of her. I'm worried she's gonna do something stupid."
"Stupid?" Andy repeated, biting his lip slightly as your bent down to the bottom drawer to get a different pair of pants.
"Yeah, stupid. Something I wouldn't approve of. Or. . . Something she's scared I wouldn't approve of. She admitted that she was up to something, she just refused to tell me what exactly it was."
"Really?" Andy didn't think it was a problem, but you appeared concerned, so he felt inclined to comfort. "I'm sure whatever it is, she is perfectly safe. You should have known me at her age. If I was up to something, it wasn't harmless. Lea isn't like that, she's always been more responsible."
"Can I ask you something?" You continued without waiting for an answer, "was Lea babied heavily by your family?"
"Of course, she was the baby. The youngest are always heavily protected, isn't that the way of it?"
"That means that earth is a new kind of freedom for her. She doesn't have her father or her mother to keep her from doing anything she likes, and her brother is to busy staring at my ass to consider the complications of that." You pulled on your fresh pair of jeans and Andy blushed slightly, looking down at his hands.
"You are always looking for trouble," he commented, not for the first time.
You moved onto the bed with him, a tolerant expression on your face. "Trouble is always finding us. What I'm trying to say is that Lea might not be as responsible as you seem to think. She's just never gotten the chance to be irresponsible."
"We haven't seen or heard anything from the fire demons for weeks now," Andy pointed out. "I doubt it has anything to do with them, so how bad could it be?"
"I'm getting more and more weary about the dumb fire demons the longer they keep their silence." --Andy opened his mouth to speak-- "if you say it's probably nothing, I will rip your tongue out of your mouth."--he closed it again.
He looked at you lovingly for a moment before leaning close and kissed you softly. His lips tasted sweet, and you felt your interest in the activities of the world around you fade away the more his mouth danced with yours.
"It's probably nothing," he murmured against your lips, smirking.
"I can't rip your tongue out now, it's so useful," you muttered sadly, pulling away and giving him a faint smile.
There was a storm brewing off in the distence. It would come by morning, surely.

This was WAY overdue!!!! To anyone still reading this, thank you so much! I am not done with this, but updates will be slow!!! Please tell me what you thought of this chapter/vote, if you'd like!! Love you guys!!
-Skye