章節 131: Reasons We Fall

Harlee POV

Sam laughed.

"He's fine. I've been keeping tabs on him." Sam tapped his temple. "Though honestly Harlee, he's a Nephilim. You treat him entirely too much like a human infant."

"Because he IS a human infant. Half of him anyway." I cried out, exasperated, tossing my clothes back on swiftly.

"But he's half creature of the Divine, with thousands of years of experience. He knows not to go sticking his fingers in any electrical outlets." Sam sounded, if possible, even more exasperated. I growled and stormed out of the room.

Cael was, as Sam had said, simply sitting in the floor with his toys. He'd constructed a rudimentary village out of them and seemed to be brooding about it.

"Cael? Cael honey, what's wrong?" I crouched beside him. He gazed at me silently for a moment, then crawled off into the kitchen. Sam walked up silently behind me.

"Did Cael do that?" Sam asked softly.

"Yeah." I responded. I felt a gentle tug at my mind as Ash asked to see what we were talking about. I sent him an image through our link.

'Ask Zeev when he returns, he might know what it's about. Why has he locked you out of his head?" Ash asked.

'I was being moody.' I responded. Ash chuckled and a thought zoomed through my head.

'What else is new?' Ash tried to clamp down on it, but I caught it quickly.

"Hey!" I yelled inside and outside my head, startling Sam, Sands, Cael and Ash. "Oh hi Sands, when did you get in?" I turned my attention to reprimanding Ash. 'I am carrying your children, you brat, so you best be nicer to me or these will be the only ones you ever get!' I threatened. Suddenly Ash's arms were around my waist.

"You're right. The mother of my children deserves better treatment." Ash purred. "How about breakfast in bed tomorrow, followed by dessert?" I craned my head to eye Ash warily.

"Dessert?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Me." Ash purred. I swatted them.

"Who did this?" Sands suddenly broke in, pointing at Cael's creation.

"Cael. He was just staring at it, brooding really, if a kid his age can brood." I responded. "Why-does it mean something to you?"

"This was the last village we wiped out before Zeev Fell." Sands said grimly. I looked after Cael, who had made it to his nursery. He sat down and looked back at us, his expression unreadable, but my heart hurt.

Zeev POV

To be fair, Ash and I had already picked out a few places we wanted, and had bought them. Harlee was presently unaware since I was keeping that little tidbit buried deep. What I was presently doing was fixing up the most modest one, so she hopefully wouldn't object when I announced we'd found the one. She had only agreed to move because there were so many of us now, and the twins on the way. Twins! I was so ridiculously excited you'd think I was human. Well, I guess part of me was.

I finished up the new nursery. Two cots. TWO. My heart skipped a beat. All in yellows, greens and whites. This was my little surprise for Ash and Harlee. Neither one knew what I was up to. I deliberately blocked them both out when coming here. I took a step back and admired my work. I couldn't help the excited little skip of my heart. I walked the house, checking the other rooms. Ash and Harlee were technically the only ones who needed sleep, so Ash had a bedroom with a small twin bed that I guaranteed would get very little use. Cael had his own room. I would be sharing with Harlee. There was space set aside for Sam and Sands to have individual rooms, but I was also sure they would reject the rooms since there was no need of sleep, and they were often out on Reaper duties.

As far as Harlee's room was concerned, I had taken Ash's advice and found the largest bed on the market, which I'm sure Harlee would kill me over if she knew the price. The monstrosity was approximately nine feet long and nine feet wide, and would at least accommodate Harlee, Ash and I. Plus Sands, if that's the way that relationship went. Sam might be a hard squeeze, but he didn't seem that interested in sharing our space that closely.

Or perhaps Harlee would prefer it to be Ash, Harlee and I plus the babes. My heart melted at the thought of our little ones sleeping with us. I was definitely slipping over into human sentimentality now, damn. Time to go before I started weeping like I was the pregnant one. Harlee was probably going to kill us for this ten bedroom monster of a house too. I grinned, looking around the empty house one more time. Right, I think she's ready.

Harlee POV

I was cleaning up Cael's toys when Zeev stepped into the living room with a goofy grin on his face. I had cuddled Cael until he fell asleep, worrying about what traumatic memories he had inherited from his father, and what they would do to a young child's psyche. So when he popped in, it was a welcome distraction and outlet for my worry.

"Oh God, what did you do?" I moaned at the grin on his face, which grew wider.

"Can I show, not tell?" Zeev teased. I grunted, and Zeev finally caught onto my mood. He still had me blocked out of his head though, until the moment he crouched in front of me, gripping my arms.

"Harlee, what happened?" Zeev asked. Ash sauntered out of the bathroom towards us, fresh from the shower.

"Welcome back lover boy." Ash teased, but I heard the quick mental conversation pass between them, and then Ash showed him the toys from memory. Zeev froze. I wasn't sure he was even seeing us anymore.

"Zeev?" I asked, and then I heard Ash groan.

"Oh God Harlee, throw up your strongest barricade, quick." Ash clutched their head and groaned again. "It's awful, so awful. So many..." Ash panted. I tapped into the conversation between Ash and Zeev.

Correction, it was a memory. Zeev, wielding a sword, another Angel shooting bursts of flames at huts. None of these people needed to die. They were only here for one! Such thoughtless killing to find the one that was hiding! There were better ways! Zeev's arms felt heavy as he once again lifted his sword at the command of his superior. Another soul lost. For what?

I yanked myself out of the memory. Tears stung my eyes, and I nearly tackled Zeev to the ground when I jumped on him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Zeev, Zeev, come back now. It's over. You're with me, and you'll never have to do that again. Zeev, my beautiful Angel, please." I put my hands on his face, but his eyes were still vacant. I called his True Name, and he twitched.

"Again Harlee-he's still trapped in there!" Ash groaned. So I said it again, and Zeev's eyes locked on mine.

"I'm calling to you one more time, and you better get your Fallen butt back here with me Zeev." I called his True Name again, and this time I saw the flicker of life in his face, but it carried deep pain. Trauma, buried deep, suddenly dug up to haunt him. I hugged him close. "I love you Zeev. It's ok now. It's ok." Ash joined the embrace, and finally, after what seemed like forever, Zeev's hand came up to cradle my head. Moisture ran down my check. Not my tears. I hugged Zeev tighter, wishing I could take away his pain.

Zeev POV

My True Name summoning me.. like a jolt to my Core, yanked me out of the memory, but still, I couldn't shake my dread, pain.. despair. It clung to me, even through introducing Harlee to the new house. Now I was cuddling her while she slept, but the memory still haunted me.

As predicted, she had nearly had a coronary when she saw the house, but had settled rather quickly when I pointed out that she had four Demons and three children to think of. Plus, after the Prince fiasco, I think we were all relieved to move to another location, perhaps less known. Maybe it would make us a little harder to find for a while.

Ash and Harlee's reaction to the nursery had been more than I'd hoped for. I expected the tears from Harlee, not the tears and kiss from Ash. I could still feel them both holding on to a small amount of disbelief that I was taking them having children so well. But I was truthfully excited. I hoped between the three of us we'd have a house full of children. I was daydreaming about that while watching Ash, who yawned, returning from the kitchen with a drink.

"You had best sleep, don't you have work tomorrow?" I asked.

"Took the day off. Harlee said she wants to move the stuff from the old house." Ash responded. "Ten bedrooms was a bit much I guess. But I'd like more kids, so there's that." Ash grinned as they slid back into bed, a grin I returned as I felt the same. They set the drink on the bedside table, unopened. I looked at it curiously. Ash waved at it. "For Harlee. Her mouth feels a bit, dry." Ash grimaced. I had walled my own mind off after the PTSD episode. Just an undercurrent of thought slipped through. I was hiding my guilt and shame. My actions even affected our son.

"Zeev." Ash called gently and I jerked my attention back to them. "Why don't you let us back in? You're obviously in pain.."

"That's exactly why." I snapped. Ash jerked, then their expression tightened slightly. I steadied myself. "You two shouldn't have to suffer along with me." I sighed.