((The following takes place the morning after Phone a Friend and In My Time of Dying.))

Rhys was alone for the first time in days while Nat and Adam were busy preparing the spell they would need to help them locate his sister. He had mumbled some excuse about going out for coffee, while the other two were occupied, but that was only part of his reason for sneaking away. The Lady had reminded him that he had yet another ally at his disposal, but this was one ally he did not want the other two knowing about just yet. There were things that needed to be said between them that were too personal, too private for the others to hear, if she even appeared to him at all. He did not want to chance calling her in front of Nat and Adam, and appearing foolish when she did not answer his call.

It was going to take him swallowing all of his pride to call her at all, but it was not for his own sake he was summoning her, but for the sake of his sister. Just to be on the safe side, he had found a small Catholic Church from which to summon her - St. Mary's Parish on South 18th Street. His footsteps echoed through the church as he made his way up the aisle. Thankfully, it was early morning and there was no one there. He remembered his Catholic upbringing, genuflecting in front of the altar before crossing to light a candle for his sister.

He then knelt before the altar, bowing his head, and made the Sign of the Cross, but instead of praying for his own soul or from assistance from some God he wasn't sure existed, he called on the one being who had always been there for him, but who had been least inclined to ask for help - his Guardian Angel, Lailah.

Contrary to the opinion he had voiced several times over the past couple of decades, she was always there. She was his Guardian, her sole purpose to watch over him, to guide him, to keep him safe. To allow him to meet his fate in the manner he saw fit. But it had been years since he had called on her, years since she had appeared to his mortal form, and his memory of Heaven was faded to nothing. Yet she answered that call within moments. For the briefest moment, there was the suggestion of strong wings beating at the air, and there she was, kneeling beside him before the altar. "Rathanael," she greeted him quietly, quick to correct herself before he could. "Rhys."

Her sudden appearance startled him, and yet it did not surprise him. He had called her and was expecting her, after all, though part of him - the part that was wholly human - doubted that she'd come, and was uncertain if she was even real. The fact that she did come when she was summoned, as promised, caused him to feel a mixture of relief and humiliation, as well as a little wounded pride. "Are you really real?" he asked, unsure why he was having such a hard time believing in her when he'd seen so many unexplainable things in his lifetime.

The look she gave him from the corner of her eye seemed to suggest he had more than a few screws loose for asking such a ridiculous question. He was a mortal man, who had previously been an angel, who had died and come back to life, who had closed the Gates of Hell. And he was asking her if she was really real. "I am as real as you are."

Almost as if he could read her thoughts, he echoed what she was thinking. "I suppose you find me foolish for not believing in you, for not calling on you all these years." He tilted a glance at her warily, as if he was afraid she'd blast him with some heavenly light. He'd seen it happen at least once, though he was unsure of the source.

"You've had a lot on your mind," Lailah told him mildly, folding her hands together on the rest in front of her. A flicker in her expression suggested that he was not the only one with concerns, though she did not voice them to him. "You have found some way to conceal yourself from my sight, Rhys. Sometimes for hours, sometimes for days. It does not make my job any easier."

He arched a brow at that revelation, realizing almost immediately that she must be referring to the time he spent in Avalon. So, he was hidden from her sight while he was there. That most likely meant that Avalon was off the grid, so to speak. If it was hidden from the sight of angels, then it was most likely hidden from those of lesser ability. "You can be assured that when I am hidden, I am safe and in no need of protection," he explained what little he dared. He was not at liberty to share his knowledge of Avalon with anyone without the leave of the Lady, not even his own Guardian.

"Then is Zachariel in this place you have discovered?" she asked him, choosing to discard the habitual secrecy of her choir to pose a question that needed answering. There was pain in her eyes as she looked at Rhys. "He is my twin, born in the same thought as I." There was a pause before she added, "And your sister's Guardian, as I am yours."

Rhys narrowed his eyes, never having heard of anyone by that name before. "I'm sorry, who?" he asked before she continued with her explantion. "Your twin" Is such a thing even possible?" Apparently, it was, at least, in the world according to angels. "Wait..." he started, gesturing toward her with a hand. "Your....twin is my sister's Guardian?" He furrowed his brows as he thought that over. Siblings attached to siblings. "But....she's not an angel, right?" he asked, looking for confirmation. He had only visited her briefly, but she had seemed perfectly human to him.

Lailah shook her head. "No, she is mortal," she assured him, her quiet voice pitched just low enough to keep the acoustics of the church from amplifying her as she spoke. "An old soul. Zachariel has had the care of her for millenia." Regret blossomed in her eyes. "When she was lost, he fell. He never forgave himself for failing in his appointed task. He has spent the last twenty-five years searching for her, but yesterday, he disappeared. I cannot feel him, and he is not destroyed. He, like your sister, is beyond our sight."

There went Rhys' eyebrows again, taking two things from what she was telling him: One, that her twin - his sister's Guardian - had disappeared the day before, the very same day that he had broken through the barrier, if only temporarily; the very same day Adam had nearly been killed, saved from some angelic being he'd never seen before. Two, she was searching for her celestial brother, just as he was searching for his mortal sister. "I think I may know where he is," Rhys replied, thoughtfully, moving to his feet. "Can you leave this place without anyone knowing what you are?"

She turned her eyes back to the altar as he rose onto his feet, touching her fingers to her lips in a very personal benediction to the image of the crucified Christ. Then she rose, turning to face Rhys with just a hint of humor in her expression. "Would you prefer me to walk or fly?"

"Uh, I think walking might be a little less conspicuous," he replied. "My car's outside. Can you....I mean, is it possible for you to....you know....ride shotgun?" He could hardly believe he was actually having this conversation. With an angel, no less. "I'm not trying to pick you up or anything!" he pointed out, unsure why he was even bothering to explain that, his mouth getting the best of him, especially when he was nervous.

"I imagine your wife would find some way to hurt me if you were," Lailah mused, her lack of emotional expression somehow making the comment more comical than it was intended to be. "Yes, I am able to do everything a human can do. I have corporeal form, Rhys. Just because you cannot see my wings, does not mean they are not there." She genuflected to the altar, her deep and abiding love for the being who was her creator evident in every motion, rising to turn and walk up the aisle toward the doors. "Where are we going?"

"I should. Get in," he instructed, leaving her there to figure it out for herself as he went around to the other side and climbed into the passenger seat. He clenched his jaw, trying hard not to take offense for Nat's sake or his own. Lailah was obviously and understandably upset, but he would not allow her to insult either of them.

It had obviously been some time since she had spent any length of time posing as a human. Climbing into the car seemed to take a fair amount of brain power, but eventually she managed it, even remembering to pull the door closed behind her. She could feel the anger steaming from him, knowing that he had misconstrued what she had said. "I offered no disrespect to your wife," she commented, finally settled in the front seat without mishap. "She is a thief by trade, is she not?"

He didn't wait for her to get in before turning over the engine and revving it impatiently, though it was still in Park and not going anywhere. "Put your seat belt on," he warned, doing the same, but not giving her any hints as to how it was done. He put the car in drive and off they went, but instead of heading toward a coffee shop, they were heading back toward the hotel. "Maybe you should ask her."

Following his lead, the angel drew her seat belt around herself, struggling with the lock for an awkward couple of minutes before it finally clicked shut. "You would allow me to directly address your wife?" she asked, clearly surprised by this. "You refused to let me reach out to her when you were locked in wordy combat with Michael all those months ago. What has changed that you would offer me the chance to tap her knowledge?"

"Like I remember that," he remarked sarcastically. He had been more than willing to help her and still was, but something she'd said had set him off again. "I didn't say you could tap her knowledge. I said you could ask her about her profession, but I doubt she'll tell you much." He wasn't quite sure why he was giving her a hard time, but it had something to do with her assumptions about Nat and her remarks about things he didn't remember and wasn't sure had even happened. "I don't remember any of that, you know, if it even happened. The last thing I remember is Gavarnie, and then I was in Glastonbury."

There was a stiff silence from the other side of the car for a long moment. "My apologies." A certain sense of injustice was rising from the angel at his side - she had confessed the deep pain her brother had endured, his disappearance, his fall from grace in the wake of his failure, and all Rhys was giving her was attitude in return. "It would do you no good to remember," she told him, her voice emotionless once again. "You are mortal now."

"Yeah, well....Us mortals get a little tired of being dangled like puppets on a string." He frowned, sighing, knowing that was unfair. She had never done anything to hurt him, only to help him. They were on the same side. Why were they arguing" "Look, there's....things I know that you don't and vice versa. Most of my secrets aren't really mine to tell. You're just gonna have to trust me. Can you do that?" he asked, glancing her way a moment before looking back at the road in front of him.

"I have always trusted you, Rhys," she told him quietly. "For millenia, we stood shoulder to shoulder, and in this lifetime, I have always watched over you. You have never given me reason not to trust you. I see no reason now."

"Then why are we arguing?" he asked, glancing over at her again. He could not imagine himself as one of them - as an angel - yet he'd been told time and again, even by the Lady, that he had once been just that. "Were we....friends then?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

A very faint smile touched her face, her eyes focused on the road ahead of them. "There is no word in the human tongues for what we were to each other," she assured him in her quiet way. "But friend comes close. When you volunteered to take human form, to close the Gates of Hell, I volunteered to be your Guardian. I did not believe any other could do it so well as I, who knew you so well."

This was something he had not heard from anyone before and had not known. He'd assumed she'd been assigned at random to watch over him and that she was only doing her duty, not that they actually had a history together and a connection he knew nothing about. "You make me almost wish I remembered." Almost, but not quite. He figured there was a reason his memories had been kept from him, and assumed it was probably for his own good. "Why'd they take my sister instead of me" I assume it was me they were after." He wasn't sure if she could answer that question or not, but had been wondering about it ever since Adam had told him what he'd seen of the past.

She sighed softly, the sound filled with deep regret for what she had failed to prevent. "Abaddon knew that an angel had been born in human skin with the intent to defeat the Dark Triad and close Hell forever," she recounted as best she could. "He recruited witches to his cause, witches who knew how to ward a place from the sight of angels for a short time. He used them to enter your home, with the intention of taking both of you, not knowing which was angel incarnate. I knew nothing of the attack, not until I heard my brother fall from grace. I knew then that he had failed, and that you were in danger. I saved you, but your sister was already taken. And because of my intervention, they knew then that you were their greatest threat."

"And you couldn't tell me because if you did, I would have made finding her my priority and not defeating Abaddon." It was not a question nor was he even looking for confirmation. It simply made sense. His sister's life had been sacrificed - at least, temporarily - for the greater good. He was not told and hence, was not given a choice. The choice was made for him. But all that was over now. Abaddon was dead, and the Gates of Hell had been closed. There was nothing stopping him from rescuing his sister any longer, or Lailah's brother either. She had been truthful with him, more truthful than he had anticipated, and his resolve softened. "I can't tell you where I've been, but I will tell you this....Natalya is more than just a thief, and we are not going into this battle alone."

Lailah did not waste breath confirming what he already knew. He seemed to have accepted that she could no more disobey than she could cut off her own wings, finally understanding why she kept so many secrets from him. His offering of a little truth in return eased her own mind. "I have never said that she is just a thief," she assured him. "No one else could have helped you locate Joyeuse. No one else would have stood with you on the field of battle. I was there, Rhys. I stood witness to what occurred at Gavarnie."

In the end, when all was said and done, he could not have closed the Gates of Hell without Natalya's help. It was Nat who had finished it, who had thrust Joyeuse into the rock while he laid dying. He remembered it all, like it had happened just yesterday, though....had it really only been a little more than a year ago' "She is so much more than a thief. I wish I could tell you." He turned quiet at the memory of that day. It seemed his whole life had built up to that one single day, and yet, here he was, still alive, still fighting, still doing whatever was asked of him. "I'm going to save my sister and your brother. You can count on it."

"I know." The sheer force of faith she had in him was evident in just two words, confident in his ability to fulfill his promise to himself and to her. "But I will stand with you. Zachariel's failure was also mine. I cannot allow him to die believing his failure to be complete."

"I would be honored to have you at my side," he admitted, not grudgingly but honestly. The angels had fought with them at Gavarnie, and while this was no longer their battle, he could think of no one who had more reason to join them, especially now that he knew the truth. In a few hours, they would endeavor to set the past to rights at last, with the staunchest allies he could ever hope to aid him - his guardian, his brother, and his wife, as well as the Knights of Avalon with the Lady's blessing. They would be triumphant. He was sure of it. They had to be. The only thing he was uncertain of was how many would come out of the battle alive ....and whether her brother Zachariel would survive. ((Many thanks once again to my partner who took on the role of Rhys' Guardian Angel, Lailah, for this scene. We're on a roll here, so for those who might be reading, stay tuned for more very soon!))