“Master Gabriel! Master Gabriel, it’s not fair that they won’t let me sing!” The child complained to his caretaker, “Selaphiel wouldn’t even let me try to sing, but everyone else got to!”
“Asher I’m busy right now,” Gabriel said, concentrating on the paperwork  Metatron has issued him for the day, “Go off and play with the other kids…”
“The other kids are all singing; there’s no one to play with now…” Asher whined, putting his hands on Gabriel’s arm, tugging at his white shirt, “…Will you play with me?”
“Asher I told you, I’m busy I don’t have time to play with you. Why don’t you go to Raphael and help him with the garden and talk to him?”
“But don’t you think it’s unfair that I didn’t get to sing?” The dark haired child asked pouting and stomping his feet on the floor. Gabriel didn’t reply to him, just marked something off on the paper in front of him.
Asher began to cry to get attention, sitting on the floor and wailing his little heart out until Gabriel picked him up and took him to the kitchen, giving him some grapes and a glass of milk, “After this go to the garden, Raphael will listen to you, I need to do work, I can’t keep an eye on you right now, Asher.”
Asher was sitting on the counter, picking grapes from the bowl Gabriel sat beside him, “Master Gabriel…can I ask you a question?”
“If you make it fast,” He said with an annoyed sigh.
“Do you love me? Sometimes I think no one does…you’re different than the other angels that take care of the kids…” he chewed on his lip.
“Your Lord, Father, and Creator loves you more than anyone else, with his love you need no one else’s now finish your snack and be off.”
“But, Master Gabriel, you didn’t answer my question! Do you love me?”
Asher stared intently at his guardian but the man turned away and went back to his work, leaving the boy to contemplate broken-heartedly over this. He got of the counter and sulked out the front door, presumably to go to the gardens.
Gabriel waited for the door to shut before he answered, “Of course you silly boy, I love you…” he looked toward the door, “I only wish I could show you…”
The angelic child walked along the path that took him to the garden, all the while seeing boys and girls his age playing with their caretakers, learning to fly with them, hugging them out of love, cradling them when they got hurt. Asher didn’t understand why Gabriel was not that way with him. He saw a group begin to play a game, all the children giggling happily around their surrogate mothers. He quickened his pace, starting to cry again, though he tried not it. Gabriel didn’t like it when he cried, and he only wanted to make him happy, proud. While he rubbed his eyes he bumped right into the Metatron. The tall angelic figure looked down on Asher cruelly and the angel backed away, “I’m…I’m sorry, Master Metatron…” he said, “I beg forgiveness…”
The man walked passed him, revealing Raphael behind him. Raphael went to Asher’s side as the Metatron moved passed, continuing to his office to write out some records.
Asher clung to Raphael who hugged him back. Raphael was the only person that seemed to care. He was the only one that cared besides God Himself.

“Shhh, it’s all right, Asher; come on, do you want to help me water the plants? The plants all miss you…”
“They do?” He asked, looking up with his red eyes, “I want to help…”
Raphael smiled and stood, taking his hand and walking toward the gardens with him, “What’s the matter little Asher? You seem awful sad today. I know Metatron is scary, but he’s not that scary,” he laughed.
“Selaphiel wouldn’t let me sing…” he said, “I wanted to join the choir with everyone else and make Master Gabriel happy! But I wasn’t allowed to try out. And I tried to tell Master Gabriel, but he ignored me and didn’t care.” Asher whimpered, “And…I asked if he loved me but he didn’t answer meeee! All the other kids have parents that always play with them and laugh with them and care about them…! But master Gabriel isn’t like that with me at all! He hates meeee!” He started to cry again and Raphael panicked a little, not that best with kids. He picked him up and hugged him, patting his back, “U-uhm, there, there Asher, it’s all right, calm down, calm down…”
The boy stopped after enough crying into Raphael’s shoulder, he wiped his nose on his sleeve and wiggled his way out of Raphael’s arms and took his hand again, walking to the gardens, “Sorry…I didn’t mean to cry…”
“It’s ok to cry Asher,” he told the boy, “Everybody cries.”
“Master Gabriel says crying is bad. Master Gabriel doesn’t cry! I want to be like Master Gabriel…make him proud…”
“Gabriel is a weird man, don’t you follow his example, you’ll end up weird too,” Raphael chuckled and opened the gate to the garden, Asher running in first, trying to catch a butterfly he saw.
“He’s a nice man though, for taking care of me,” He smiled, even as he missed the butterfly, the insect just keeping out of the way of the boys hands, “He said no one else would take care of me…and he took me in…can I water the roses?”
“Of course,” Raphael smiled, getting him a watering can and filling it up a little so Asher could carry it around, “First, don’t you think for a second that Gabriel doesn’t love you. Because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have taken you in, right?”
“Right…you’re right, Master Raphael,” Asher nodded.
“Hmm…So Selaphiel would let you sing and you don’t know why, right?”
“Uh huh…” He looked up at Raphael with his sorrowful brown eyes, “I’ve never sang before…I’d like to try.”
“I can tell you why…God doesn’t want you to. Your voice is very unique and very special…you should waste it.”
“Sings for Our Lord and…and for Master Gabriel…that’s not a waste! I’ve written songs for Master Gabriel…but I’ll never be able to sing them…he’s never going to be proud of me because I’m so useless…”

Raphael looked empathetically to him and asked, “How old are you now, Asher?”
“I’m ten years of age…and a half!” He was sure to mention with a little smile.
“Well aren’t you a big boy…I tell you what you can do. Why don’t we pick some flowers for him? I know all his favorites. You can give them to him.”
“Really? You’ll…pick from your garden?”
“For you,” he said, “Only you…and the songs you write, give them to me, I’ll give them to Gabriel’s choir and they’ll sing it to him while he works, so you’ll always be there with him like that. Will that make you happy?”
“Oh yes, Master Raphael! That would be wonderful, you’re so kind!” Asher said excitedly, going to hug Raphael around the waist, “Oh thank you, thank you!”
The man laughed as he rocked back and forth a little, “You’re quite welcome, Asher… hey, I have another idea. Everything you just told me, about how you feel with Gabriel, your troubles…tell Gabriel that. Let him know how you feel…make him listen to you and hear you out.”
“I…I can do that?” Asher asked, looking up at him then at the watering can he dropped, “He’ll yell at me, send me to my room…”
“Try at least, it will help a lot more if he understands how you feel, Asher.” He placed a hand on Asher’s small head and smoothed his hair out, “Trust me, it will.”
Asher nodded his head against Raphael, clinging to the fabric of the man’s robe still, “Yea…I should be afraid to talk to him, right? Master Gabriel doesn’t like it when I’m afraid,”
“There you go, that’s the spirit!” Raphael encouraged and pat his back, “Let’s gather those flowers and you can be on your way then,”
“Alright! What flowers does Master Gabriel like?”
“He loves all flowers but white is his favorite color of flower. So white roses, carnations, alstroemerias, lilies, chrysanthemums, orchids, and especially callas. You could throw in some daisies too of course,” Raphael mused while Asher stood there confused.
“Als-tren-e-marias? What are those?”
“Alstroemeria,” Raphael corrected and went to his gardening tool box, to get the clippers, “You can hold the flowers after I clip them.”
“Okay, I can do that!” He said, holding his arms straight out, “Easy!”
Raphael chuckled at the boy and began to cut all of the whitest flowers he could find, putting them in Asher’s arms. He cut the roses last so they could sit atop the other flowers and the thorns wouldn’t hurt Asher’s arms. Raphael had the boy set the flowers on the small round table and sit down. The gardener found a vase, filled it with water, and set it on the table beginning to arrange the flowers.

Asher thought Raphael was one of the most beautiful angels ever. He always had a kind face and a smile, he had leaf green eyes that seemed to laugh and dance around as they watched you, and the softest hair Ash had ever felt, the longest hair he’d ever seen, and the most unique brown he’d ever seen. It’s like he was a flower but grew into an angel- Asher was convinced of this.

Raphael added some greenery to the white and arranged it a little more until he was satisfied, “Do you think you can carry this back home without dropping it?”
“No…” he shook his head, “I’ll drop it for sure, I’m so clumsy…I can’t even set the table without dropping all the goldware…”
“Well then I’ll walk you home and carry it for you. I’ll just deliver the lyrics to the choir on my way back to the garden,”
“Thank you Master Raphael, you’re so kind, and amazing…!” Asher smiled brightly at him and leaned over to fix his sandal before getting up and brushing the dirt from his write robes,  “If I’m all dirty, Master Gabriel will be upset…” he said as he pat himself down. Raphael couldn’t help but think Gabriel had the poor boy whipped. But Asher didn’t seem to notice or care, so it was all right, sort of.

The two walked home together, Asher talking away about ‘Master Gabriel’, Raphael just nodding his head and listening to the boy ramble away until they arrived home. Asher took the vase at the door step, “Thank you, Master Raphael.” He said, bowing his head a little, “I really appreciate this so much!”
“I know, it’s alright, I’m more than happy to do this for you Asher…you’re a good kid no matter what anyone says, ok?”
Asher blushed a little and nodded, “Thank you…”
“Good luck,” Raphael winked at him and knocked on the door for Asher since he had no hands, both wrapped securely around the vase, not wanting to drop it.
Gabriel opened the door, seeing Raphael turning the corner before acknowledging the boy in front of him.
“I helped pick you flowers!” he said happily, “I’m afraid I’ll drop them though…”
The angel took the vase from him, “Thank you…” he said, taking it to the dining room and setting it in the middle of the table, “So how was your stay with Raphael then?”
“Oh it was a lot of fun!” He said happily, “We picked the flowers and watered them and…talked.” He followed Gabriel around, “…Master Gabriel, may I say something?”
He looked at the boy and nodded a little as he took a seat at his desk, “Make it quick,” he picked up his quill and dipped it in his ink, “I have to deliver a prophecy soon,”
“Ah! W-well…I guess you don’t like me very much because I’m so clumsy and I can’t do anything right like the other angels…I’m nothing to be proud of, I know…but I really want to make you proud, Master Gabriel. I’d do anything to make you happy, but I’m not good enough…I’m grateful everyday that you took me in and that you take care of me, I just wish I could repay you…” he sniffled, “I try hard to do everything you tell me every day! I try to stay out of trouble, I try not to get dirty, I try to behave my very best for you, but you don’t show you love me. It makes me sad because all the other kids have angel guardians that take care of them and play with them all the time and love them so openly…I’m the only one that doesn’t have that…” he started to cry and covered his face, wiping the tears away as fast as he could.
Gabriel set his quill down after Asher was finished and looked at him, “…Asher I’m sorry.” He shook his head, “I don’t mean to be that way. It’s for your own good though,” he sought for more reasons to justify his actions but found nothing. He did this because it was asked of him. Michael and the Metatron had agreed it was best to stay distant from him, and if Gabriel couldn’t do that, they’d lock Asher away until it was time. He got on his knees and hugged the boy. Asher was shocked and cried more when he did; Gabriel hadn’t held him since he learned to walk on his own.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to cry…” Asher sobbed harder into Gabriel’s shoulder.
“No, it’s ok, just cry…I’m the one that should be sorry. I blinded myself to all the pain you were going through, and I’m very proud of you for putting up with it all…I’m very proud of you for wearing a smile and being strong even when things were so bad for you. I wish I could have been the perfect guardian since day one…” he held Asher closer to him and then dried his tears with his thumbs, “All right…wash up then go eat, ok?”
Asher nodded his head, giving him another hug then went to the bathroom to wash his face. As he did that Gabriel sat at his desk again and wrote, “Thank you,” on a piece of parchment, slipped it into an envelope and sealed it, labeled it Raphael, and placed it in the basket of outgoing letters and forms.

--

“Gabriel you can be so nice all of a sudden to him!” Michael paced along side of the meeting table, “This is unacceptable, we did not agree to this!”
Metatron sat in the end seat closest to the door, Gabriel sitting in the other end seat, usually where Michael sat.
“It will be much easier for him if you’re cold to him, you’re both going to feel miserable in five in a half years. That’s all the time he has left.”
“Why not make that time worthwhile, Michael? Why torture him like this? Devoid him of love…it’s bad enough he’s isolated from everyone else, doesn’t have the same privileges as the other children. He has no siblings, he has no friends, the only thing he has is me, and Raphael.”
“Raphael is a problem too,” Metatron mentioned, “He’s been with the boy even though we’ve repeatedly told him to cease and desist his actions of comforting that…unwanted spawn…”
“Hey, I want that ‘spawn’,” Gabriel snapped at him, “He didn’t choose to be like this!”
“Gabriel, you’re breaking the rules we set up, we’re pushing it as it is. If he’s not locked up and away Satan can find him easier and he’ll kill us all, don’t you understand this?”
Gabriel fell silent and grit his teeth as he looked from Michael to the Metatron.

Metatron sighed, “You’re attached. You shouldn’t be.”
“He deserves what anyone else deserves. Love. I’ve tried to stay as cold as possible but he came to me the other day and talked to me…he’s always tried to make me happy, proud of him, he thought I didn’t love him…he thinks everyone hates him…not that he knows hate…”
“If we had the capacity to…hate, and everyone knew his capabilities, they probably would hate him. All we can do is cry for him or feel nothing toward him. Listen to me, Gabriel. You set yourself off from him again or I will personally take him from you and lock him away.”
Gabriel looked outraged but when he turned to see Michael nodding in agreement he sank in his chair, turning his gaze to the table. He stood up and pushed in his chair, walking for the door.
As he passed Michael, the prince whispered, “I’m so sorry Gabriel…”
“If you were truly sorry you’d be a better friend.” He hissed back and stormed from the room back home to Asher who waited faithfully at the door.

“Welcome home Master Gabriel!” he said with a smile which fell upon seeing Gabriel’s rough face. He didn’t look happy at all. Asher followed him, “Master, Gabriel, what’s the matter…? …I made dinner for you…Master Gabriel?”
The man didn’t speak to him, just went to his room and shut the door in the boys face.
Asher stood there, lip quivering as he thought, ‘I’ve been rejected again…’
He sulked back to the dining room and covered the food to keep it warm and sulked to his room, shutting the door gently behind him and going to lie in his bed.
Hearing the door, Gabriel got up and went to the kitchen, getting the food and sitting down. He uncovered it and couldn’t help but smile at the boys cooking. It wasn’t exactly dinner but egg eyes, a sausage nose, a bacon mouth, and toast for ears was quite possibly the cutest thing he’d ever seen.
After eating, Gabriel went to his room, pausing in the hallway next to Asher’s door. He could hear the boy still crying and whispering to himself. Unexpectedly he heard the boy shout and it made him jump. The child opened the door and ran into Gabriel, “I saw something! I saw something!” he cried, hugging onto him, “It’s a scary thing!”
Gabriel grabbed onto him and hugged him, “Clam down.” He said sternly, “…Be brave. I’m right here.”
Asher looked up at him and nodded, looking back to the room, “I thought it was a demon…!”
“That’s silly, Asher. You’ve been listening to ghost stories again haven’t you…” He sighed and stood, “Go back to bed.”
“…Can I sleep with you? I’m scared…please?” He pleaded with him.
Gabriel looked at him, his heartstrings tugging at him again, Michael and Metatron’s voice in his head…he caved, “Alright, come on, get your pillow.”
Asher smiled and ran and got his pillow then followed the archangel into his room and into bed. Asher cuddled his body against Gabriel’s, feeling safe and protected; Gabriel feeling worried…but happy for the moment.