CHAPTER 13

Monica’s night was progressing smoothly, much to her relief. The bar wasn’t nearly as busy as last night when the band had been playing and she was further put at ease by David’s absence. It was nearly midnight and there had been no sign of him and she could only hope that maybe he had finally gone home, therefore putting Kristin’s fears to rest.

Though business was slower, it was still busy enough to keep her constantly on the go as the college crowd made up most of the customers, but she enjoyed them with their funny stories about teachers and senior pranks which they were eager to share with her whenever she delivered drinks to their tables. She marveled at how invincible humans appeared to be at that age, knowing that the world held endless possibilities for them and she did her best to try to convince herself that the same was true for her.

The clock on the wall behind the bar had just struck 12:30 when the door to the pub opened and the grin left her face as her assignment walked in the door. He was still dressed in last night’s clothing and that told her that he had yet to return home to his wife and she felt sadness fill her heart for Kristin, knowing the soon to be mother was still sitting at home wondering what had become of him. This however, reminded her of the promise she had made to the young woman and one look at David told her that he was not in the mood to be offered advice.

Due to the late hour, the stools around the bar were occupied and she watched a scowl cross his face over that fact as he took a seat at the furthermost table in the corner, away from anyone else, and this did little for the angel’s confidence. Reluctantly, she grabbed a clean mug and filled it before slowly heading in his direction.

Monica sat the mug of beer down in front of him and summoned her courage, “Bad day?”

David shot her a glare, his eyes showing the reddened look of someone who had seen more than one bar today, before he grabbed his mug and chugged it slowly, before shoving it back in her direction, wordlessly yet clearly demanding a refill.

She picked it back up, prepared to go back to fill it for him, before she hesitated, “Kristin is worried sick about you. I saw her this afternoon before coming to work and I told her that if I saw you-.”

“How many times do we have to have this conversation?” He snapped at her, cutting her words short, “Your job is to sell me beer, not lecture me. So shut up and stay away from my wife while you’re at it.”

Monica winced inwardly, but she kept her voice controlled, “You could at least call her, David, and let her know you are all right.”

He moved so quickly, she barely had time to react as his hand grasped her wrist tightly as he rose to his feet, roughly pulling her closer, “If you insist upon learning things the hard way, I’d be happy to show you.”

He had twisted her wrist and she bit back a cry of pain as she tried to control her racing heart, “Let me go!” She demanded, the tremble in her voice betraying her fear. The loud conversations in the bar were drowning out what was happening and the little angel felt her panic rising to her throat once more.

“I’ve told you three times now to stay the hell out of my business,” He all but snarled at her, jerking her closer to him, as the smell of much harder liquor seemed to emanate from his breath against her face. He ignored the terror he saw in her eyes as he brought his face closer to hers, “But you refuse to listen to what I have to say, so if you need a physical reminder, I’d be happy to give you one.”

Monica felt the horrible feeling of helplessness sweep through her body as she pulled back, trying to free her wrist from his vicious grip. She managed to force her fear to the back of her mind. If she could just get him to listen to her, maybe this was the chance she needed.

“Stop it! I’m just trying to help you! Kristin loves you and she’s worried about you.”

“I don’t need you telling me how my wife feels!” He felt her struggling and it only made him hold her tighter as he spat out his words. Months ago the fear in her eyes would have appalled him, but in his drunken state he almost enjoyed it. He didn’t have power over much else in his life, but he had power over her.

“Just let me go! I never meant to get you so upset,” she tried to pry his fingers off but couldn’t. Monica knew that Andrew would be furious when he saw the bruise she could already feel forming. She wanted more than anything, to promise David that if he just let go she would go away and never speak to him again, but it was a promise she knew she couldn’t keep.

He watched from the other side of the bar and clenched his fists, pushing them into his pockets to somehow contain the growing anger. He could see that Monica was still talking to David, trying to reason with him, and he didn’t want to interfere unless he absolutely had to. He started making his way towards them. He didn’t doubt Monica’s abilities, but David seemed to be getting even more agitated.

“C’mon, you wanna talk? Well I’ll take you someplace where we can talk,” David yanked on her arm, throwing her off balance and she stumbled forward.

“I’m not going anywhere! Let go! You don’t know what you’re doing!”

Monica could tell that no calming words were going to get through to his booze soaked brain, and the courage she had been relying on suddenly fled. There was no way she was letting him take her out of the bar. She looked back towards the bar, frantically wondering where Beth was. Didn’t anyone else see what was happening to her? She turned back to David and lifted her foot, ready to slam it down onto his instep, but he pulled her forward again, the motion sending a shooting pain up her arm and making her fall to her knees.

David growled at her, trying to pull her to her feet. He stopped immediately when a stronger hand than his clamped down on his shoulder, agile fingers pressing into the sensitive muscles and nerves. He didn’t even have a chance to turn his head before another hand circled his throat.

“I tried to be nice to you the other day, but I see it didn’t work. Now let go of her before I snap your worthless neck… and believe me, I can do it.”

David could feel the power in those hands and he quickly released Monica’s wrist. She cradled it next to her body, looking up to Paul through sad eyes. Her expression nearly undid him. He wanted to break every bone in the man’s body, just to hear the satisfying cracking noise. Instead he prodded him forward.

“Now help her up, and be careful about it.”

Monica eyed David warily, but she took his hand when offered, and he gently pulled her to her feet.

“Now you are going to leave this bar and get the hell home to your wife. And if you lay a hand on her, I’ll know about that too, and I know where you live. Keep that in mind.”

David nodded slightly, some of the fight gone from his eyes, although the seething anger was still flowing below the surface. Even he knew when he was outmatched, but that didn’t mean he liked it.

Paul shoved him towards the door. “Don’t forget what I said,” his words were a warning that he hoped he wouldn’t have to follow through on.

The other man pushed people out of his way as he moved towards the door, but eventually he was gone, and Paul moved all of his attention to Monica.

“Are you alright?” he asked. How he hated asking that question of her over and over again. It seemed that every time he saw her she was getting hurt. When was she going to be given a chance to recuperate?

“I’m fine… thanks to you.”

He shook off the compliment. “Let me see that wrist. It doesn’t look fine to me.”

She held it out and he gently moved his fingers over the reddened skin. “Andrew’s going to be upset when he sees it,” she said regretfully.

“Andrew’s a lot like me. We both think we should be around 24/7 to keep this kind of thing from happening to you.”

That drew a slight smile. “Yes… you do seem to have that in common.”

“Come on. Let’s see about getting some ice on that. Maybe it won’t bruise quite as badly.”

As he led her back to the bar, Beth spotted them, her face showing her concern. She finished pouring drinks for the people shouting to her and then quickly moved to Monica’s side.

“What happened? Man, that looks nasty!”

“It’ll be all right,” Monica replied softly.

“It was that gem of a customer, David,” Paul supplied, seeing that Monica wasn’t going to.

“That’s it!” Beth was suddenly angry. “The next time he comes in here I’m sending him right back to the street.”

“No, don’t do that… he…”

“He was drunk as a skunk before he ever got in here and then he assaulted you. I’m not about to let that happen again,” Beth argued. She was feeling particularly protective of the small woman after hearing her history, and she wasn’t going to let the bar be yet another bad memory for her.

“I appreciate that, Beth, but give him one more chance, okay?” Monica was afraid that if she couldn’t connect with him at the bar, she never would, and she was not about to fail at another assignment.

Beth pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes. “Fine. One more chance, and only because you’re feeling so forgiving.”

“Thanks, Beth.”

Beth nodded her head though it was clear to Monica that her temporary supervisor wasn’t all that happy with having to relent, “Now you, take a break.”

“Really, I’m fine and it’s nearly closing time anyway…” But one look at Beth’s face told her this was one battle she was not going to win, but at least she had chosen carefully. David could come back.

Monica felt Paul’s hand on her shoulder and she allowed him to lead her to a table away from most of the crowd. Sliding in across from her, he reached out his hand, “Let me see that wrist,” He requested, his tone gentle, yet not allowing for any argument. As she allowed him to take her hand, he pressed the ice pack that Beth had given him to the reddened area and she noticed the flash of anger in his eyes over her being hurt.

“Thank you again for being here,” She offered softly, wincing slightly at the cold feeling of the ice on her throbbing wrist.

He nodded his head, his attention purposely focused on her wrist. He was feeling concerned by how calm she was being considering what had just happened and the terrible thought struck him that maybe she was beginning to accept that these kinds of things were going to happen to her. He could see the sadness in her eyes and a sort of resignation that unnerved him and he so did not want this for her.

“I don’t know how I’m ever going to get through to him,” Monica remarked with a sigh after a moment, “I think I’m making things worse.”

Wanting to offer her encouragement, he tried to smile, “You have time, Lauren.”

The angel’s head shot up in confusion, “Who is Lauren?”

Drawing in a sharp breath, now realizing his mistake, he managed a small grin as he shook his head, “No one. I’m not sure of what I was thinking.”

She didn’t miss a flash of pain in his eyes and she frowned, “Paul-.”

“Monica? What happened?”

She looked up and realized that Andrew had come into the pub and was now looking at her with eyes filled with concern and holding just a glint of anger. She had been hoping to somehow hide her injury from him, but now it was too late, “It’s nothing, Andrew, really…”

Sliding into the booth next to her, he took her hand into his own, his eyes narrowing as he saw her flinch, “It was David, wasn’t it?”

“He was being his usual charming self,” Paul remarked tensely, somewhat surprised at the fury he saw in the angel’s expression, “I sent him on his way for the night.”

“What happened?” The angel demanded, trying with everything in him to control the anger he was feeling.

The look in his eyes definitely required an answer, “It was no big deal, Andrew. I made him angry; I pushed too hard.”

“You were only talking to him for a minute, Monica,” Paul interjected, “How much pushing could you have done in that length of time?”

“I think it’s time to talk to Tess,” Andrew stated firmly, the rage in his voice completely contradicting the gentleness in his hands as he touched them to the angry red mark that circled her small wrist, “Maybe what is needed is a little rearranging of assignments.”

“No!” The insistence in the younger angel’s voice startled both of her protectors as they turned hazel and green eyes to her face, “David is my assignment and I will get through to him.”

“But at what cost, Monica?” The agent reasoned, with a disgusted shake of his head, “He was in the process of dragging you outside tonight when I stopped him.”

She saw Andrew’s eyes widen as he considered the implications of what could have happened and she drew her hand away from his, “But he didn’t and he was too drunk to have done any real damage had that happened.”

“Angel, what do you call this?” He indicated her wrist once more, trying to grasp onto her train of thought and being completely unsuccessful.

“Unfortunate, Andrew, that’s all,” Monica replied firmly, not meeting his eyes, “Let me out. I need to get back to work.”

Knowing they were being dismissed for the moment, he reluctantly slid out of the booth to allow her slip out quickly. She started to walk away before turning back to him briefly.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk to Tess as it isn’t necessary.”

Andrew could clearly feel the tension between them and a glance at Paul told him that the agent felt it as well, “I reserve the right to disagree, Angel Girl.”

“You’re the one who told me that there were bad people in the world, Andrew and that there always had been, only now I was more aware of them. Fine, I am more aware of them. I’m aware of the fact that they hold guns to heads, and grab ahold of you in parks and bars and that there is nothing I can do to stop it. You also told me that we weren’t supposed to give up and you are now asking me to give up on an assignment and I’m not willing to fail another one.” Ignoring his bewildered expression, she turned and walked back to the bar.

Andrew sat back down once more and rested his head in his hands for a moment before looking up once more and glancing towards the bar. Monica had gone back to serving drinks and he inwardly cringed at the way she was favoring her right hand as he struggled to understand both her words and her attitude, “Josh.” He stated after another moment had passed, “She still thinks she somehow failed him.”

Paul nodded his head in understanding, “What concerns me more is that she seems to want to accept that being physically hurt is now perfectly normal. She was terrified when I stopped her jerk of an assignment from all but dragging her out the door, but as soon as he left she put on this mask of calm and acceptance.”

The angel nodded his head, his ever protective eyes still watching her and detecting the strain in her expression. Monica’s emotions of late had been as diverse as the universe itself and he was beginning to feel less and less surprised by her method of thinking and coping, though he wasn’t convinced any of it was healthy for her. “I’m glad you were here, Paul or there would have been no telling what could have happened.”

He nodded his head, knowing he had taken part of the anger at what he had found in the files tonight out on David, though he wasn’t at all sorry for how he had handled things, “She needs to be careful in the event he decides to take out on her the fact that I nearly snapped his weasely little neck tonight, though if he lays another finger on her I may not hesitate the next time.”

“I’ll keep it covered. It I had my way he’d never get within ten feet of her.”

Paul glanced up, surprised and a little worried that the rage in Andrew’s expression had barely wavered. “Do you think you’ll end up talking to Tess?”

“I’d rather have Monica tell her.”

A dry laugh was the response. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“Then I guess Tess’ll never know.” The scowl on his face said what he thought about that. “She’s barely trusting humanity at this point. I can’t afford to have her lose her trust in me too.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, an innocent bystander could always relay the information,” Paul said suggestively.

Andrew chuckled. “Thanks for the offer, but Monica has really grown to depend on you as a friend. I don’t want you putting that at risk.”

The agent shifted his gaze to Monica, and then to the door, thinking about David coming back the next night, the night after that, and the night after that. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”