PART 1

With a cute baby girl in her arms, the Irish angel walked around the living room wearing blue jeans, a purple turtle neck sweater and leather shoes. A cold front had arrived on the previous day, making that spring evening a bit chilly. For this reason, little Angela was dressed up with warm clothes herself: lilac sweatpants and funny looking socks, with cute kitties faces on their top. Like Monica, Andrew was also dressed up in blue jeans, black leather shoes and a green T-shirt, and his leather jacket was resting over the sofa. Apart from Angela, one could say they were ready to go out.

The little one was rather entertained and smiled at her mom's out of tune chanting - and it secretly amused her daddy as well, as he kept chuckling at Monica's highest notes.

"What time is it, Andrew?" the Irish angel wanted to know, noticing that he was glancing over his pocket watch.

"Almost seven." There was some slight concern on his face as he answered.

Sighing also with some slight worry, Monica frowned. "Do you think something might have happened to Tess?"

“No, angel, I don't think so. She's just a little late."

Not totally convinced, Monica nodded her head and turned to look at her daughter. "Well, then let's wait for auntie Tess to arrive, right wee Angela?"

A smile was her answer and then she turned her green eyes to Andrew as he came closer. The angel of death caressed her little auburn head and kissed her temple, now making the baby smile at him and melt his heart with another of her captivating smiles. "I'm sure she and auntie Tess will have lots of fun while her mommy and daddy go out on a date! Even if it’s an assignment-date!"

Angela’s giggle was made them both laugh too. But a second later, Monica and Andrew heard a familiar voice and a presence in the living room turned their attention to their dearest friend.

"Babies..."

"Tess! I was already thinking that something might have happened to you, you were..." The Irish angel stopped talking at the moment she saw the expression on her supervisor's face. Tess was frowning with concern and some annoyance.

"I am in a current assignment, babies, and I came here to let you know that..." she looked at little Angela, who greeted her with the usual sweetness. "’Tie Tess!"

"Oh, little angel girl... don't make this harder than it already is..." she said, with clear sadness in her eyes.

"You won't be able to stay with her, will you?" Andrew anticipated the facts, aware of what the supervisor was about to announce.

"You're right, baby, I won't. I know I promised you that I'd stay with her, but the Father gave me a last minute assignment and I'm supposed to be with two very stubborn people who decided to break up after 30 years of marriage!"

"Oh, Tess, you don't even need to apologize. You'll be there fulfilling the Father's work, and this is the most important." Monica was quick to speak, not wanting her friend to feel guilty.

"I know, but the truth is that I just love spending time with my little angel girl here!" The supervisor stretched her arms and took Angela, who gladly accepted her "auntie's" arms. “Besides, you two were out not just ‘on a date,’ you’d be fulfilling an assignment too! I don’t believe it you were sent to the movie theater without a reason, you see.”

“Perhaps there was a change in the plans concerning our going out too, Tess. You know that He always thinks about everything.” Andrew spoke, and he and Monica looked at each other feeling sorry  for her friend, who she knew loved spending time with the little angel.

"You and wee Angela here will have a lot of time to catch up later, you'll see!"

"Well... yes, I suppose so, angel girl..." Tess replied, and then turned her attention to Angela, "You be a good little angel and have only sweet dreams, okay? Auntie Tess will miss you a lot but you're constantly in her heart!"

With a kiss on the cheek, the oldest angel bid Angela good night and also her friends. Once she was gone, Monica and Andrew looked at each other - their plans for the night were over now.

"Well, angel... We could always watch a movie on TV..." he spoke, kissing her cheek and receiving a smile back.

"Hum... Then it means that I'll replace popcorn for mocha?"

Laughing, he nodded his head.

But before they could say something else, a knock on the door caused the two angels to exchange a questioning look. "Are you waiting for anyone? Is Mrs Reynolds doing alright?" Andrew wanted to know, aware that in the short time they'd been living in that temporary home his talkative "angel girl" had made a lot of friends in that small building.

"Hum... no, I'm not waiting for her, Andrew... Actually, she's doing fine, you know, and I know she'll have a very calm pregnancy!" she spoke, with some enthusiasm and even forgetting about the door.

"So who can it be?"

Andrew had the caution to look through the peep hole and once he saw who was paying them a visit, he chuckled with surprise and amusement. On the following instant, he was opening the door, to reveal Adam and Rafael standing at their doorstep.

"Hey, you two!" the angel of death greeted his friends, and like Monica, happy to see them.

"Hey, buddy, I heard you guys are experiencing some of the married human life!" Adam was the first to enter, shaking hands with his long time partner.

"Well, you can say so!"

"Though it doesn't seem that hard at all, judging by the look on your eyes!" Rafael joked, also shaking hands with Andrew. The recently arrived angels came closer to Monica and Angela, grinning at their dear Irish friend and her little daughter.

"Hey, hello you two beautiful ladies!"

"No wonder Andrew is always smiling whenever I meet him!" they exclaimed.

"Hullo, Adam, Rafael! What a good surprise to see you both!"

"Well, we were working on an assignment close to here, and we've got the rest of the night off, so we've heard that you guys were also near here and decided to pay you a visit!" Adam explained.

"And it's been a long time since we last saw this little angel here!" Rafael gently tickled Angela's belly and he and his friend were greeted with a lovely toothless smile.

"Well, I can say this wee one also missed her 'angel uncles' a lot!"

In between laughter, the Spanish angel stretched his arms. "Could I hold her?"

It didn't take a second before Angela threw herself in her 'uncle Rafael's' arms. "Here she goes!"

Monica and Andrew exchanged an amused glance watching their two friends practically drooling over the little baby girl. They tickled her belly, took her tiny hand and spoke to her as if she could really understand what they were saying - and as a matter of fact, she kind of did. They finally acknowledged their friends' presence again.

"She's really growing up to become a very beautiful little girl - little angel girl, I should say!" Rafael exclaimed, as he passed Angela to Adam's arms.

"Yes, and soon we'll be watching her running around the fields of Heaven!"

It was then that Rafael noticed something different about his two dear friends. "Were you guys going anywhere?" he wanted to know, noticing their clothes.

"Well, we were actually... Tess was going to watch after wee Angela for us because we had an assignment to fulfill ourselves but she had a last minute assignment, you see, and our night out had to be cancelled." The Irish angel explained.

"Which is okay because we had the opportunity to spend the evening with our little one." Andrew added.

"Oh, but then I guess we can help you!" The Spanish angel spoke, and Adam nodded his head.

"Yes, sure we can! Rafael and I could watch over her! We don't have any assignment right now!"

"Oh, no... you two, you should take this time to rest a bit as I know you've been working nonstop..." Monica was sincere in her words, not wanting to bother her friends.

"Monica is right; you guys should use your time to take a break from your duties."

"You're kidding me! Staying with Angela won't be a problem at all!"

"Adam is right. Besides this, we haven't found a place to stay until tomorrow and were told that you two were here!"

The angelic couple looked at each other: perhaps their angelic friends weren’t there just by mere coincidence – they knew better than anyone that coincidences didn’t exist. And as Tess herself had said, their going out to the movies was a lot more than just a date.

“Oh, Rafael, we would be very happy to have you two here but you don’t need to stay with Angela just because of this.” Monica was quick to say, she Andrew were genuinely glad to be able to help their friends, as they knew what it was like to be on assignment on Earth and not having  safe shelter to rest their human form.

“No, he’s right, we can stay with this little one here, it won’t be any trouble!” Adam also agreed with his friend. And then he turned to Angela. “I’m sure she’ll behave with uncles Adam and Rafael!”

A smile was Angela’s reply, and Monica and Andrew looked at each other smiling.

X

“Angel, they’ll be fine.” Andrew spoke. They were inside Tess’ Cadillac and he was driving to the nearest shopping mall.

“I know…” she let out a slight sigh. “Besides, Angela had already had dinner when we left and she will be in bed soon.”

The angel of death nodded his head in agreement. “And Adam and Rafael are angels too, our little one couldn’t be more protected.”

That statement made the Irish angel’s smile grow wider. “You’re right.”

Andrew searched for her hand and took it to his lips “And so far I’m enjoying working with you!”

Monica inched closer and kissed his cheek. “I’m enjoying it too!”

A few minutes later, Andrew arrived at the shopping mall and, hand in hand, the couple headed to the area where the cinemas were. And when they got there, both angels saw a wide range of film options. In a normal situation, this fact wouldn’t worry them a lot, but they were there on assignment, and how could they know what to choose without interfering on their mission?

“Andrew…”

The blond angel looked at his beloved valentine and frowned with slight concern. The expression on her face was adorable most of the times, but it could also mean trouble sometimes. There were 20 rooms available, each of them showing a different movie. And picking one, judging by Monica’s face, would be difficult.

He ran his hand through his hair. “Well… I guess any movie room we choose will lead us to our assignment…”

“Yes, probably…”

They were in silence for a while, and then both spoke again, at the same time:

“How about a comedy?”

“How about a romance?”

Monica looked at him with slight worry, but Andrew tried to smile. “Kids would say you own me a soda!”

She eyed him even more confused. “A soda?”

Chuckling, he cupped her chin up. “Never mind… Actually, I’d rather you own me a kiss!”

The Irish angel smiled, despite the fact that she remained clueless about Andrew’s little joke. But it didn’t matter to her as a second later, he brought his lips closer to hers and gave her a small, tender kiss.

“Let’s see your romance, angel…” Andrew spoke, still lost in those brown pools.

“Oh, no, it’s alright if we watch a comedy, you see. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it just the same!" Monica was quick to reply, sheepishly. The Irish angel held his hand in both of hers and tilted her head, eyeing him adorably. "Next time I pick the movie!"

Smiling, Andrew nodded and took her hand to his lips. "I guess some popcorn would be nice too, don't you think?"

"Oh, yes... And, Andrew..."

"What?"

"I wonder if the sell mocha too..."

Chuckling, he bent down and kissed her temple. "Why don't you go and check this out while I buy the tickets then?"

"Okay then, I'll be back soon!"

The blond angel watched as she happily made her way towards the cafeteria, just a corner away. And once she was disappeared amongst the people who were in the large hall, he moved away to look for their tickets. There was a short queue there and while Andrew waited, he looked around him – the angel of God smiled glad to see his Father’s children were happy and enjoying one another‘s company without wars or any other kind of disputes. And he wished, for the centuries to come, that this was the normal behaviour of human beings.

But sudden voices took him out of his reverie and he turned his head to see that the couple behind him was starting a fight.

“I told you I hate these kinds of movies, Alan! We could have gone to a restaurant or stayed home instead!” the young lady spoke, and she had an angry tone in her voice.

“Well, you know what? I’m tired of you telling me what to do, Jennifer! You don’t wanna see this movie ? Well, fine with me! You’re free to go, no one is forcing you to see anything!”

The woman looked at him slightly shocked by his last words. “You’re telling me you’re leaving me here?”

“I’m telling you, Jenni, that right now you’re not the company I’m looking for and we should split up before things start to get serious...”

“I can’t believe it I’m hearing this from you... not from you...”

The young man ran his fingers through is dark hair and let out a sigh with frustration and a bit of impatience. But before he could say something else, they both heard a third voice interrupting their argument.

“Erm... excuse me...”

Andrew was a bit unsure of what to say of even if he should interfere, but something deep inside told him that it was the best to do. “I couldn’t help overhearing...”

The couple lowered their heads, embarrassed and not really in the mood to have someone to scold them about their personal matters; Andrew, however, went on speaking, suddenly feeling he had the right words to tell them.

“Has it ever occurred you that something so little such as an argument about which movie to see might ruin what could become an entire family?”