Gabriel never new exactly how his first real meeting with Christine would go.
The circumstances, or the words exchanged.
Offering up such little help was simple and insignificant enough, but Gabriel  was on cloud nine non the less.

He had spoken to her. Actually spoken to her! It made him sick thinking how excited he was. It didn't make any real sense.
It had been four years of hiding from heaven and hell, keeping low at Trinity West (go hawks.... caw) working as a janitor. Something he was well adjusted to, except this time no shinanagins.

He had first noticed a young Christine Davis when she first arrived at the university as a freshman.
He never knew much about her, only ogled from afar along with other female students, but she soon became the hot topic of his attention.
Not quite a crush, but not platonic either.
He was, in actuality, quite annoyed by the student. The old issues that went down in the old days with the younger angels.... he never expected that it would happen to him. Or if it did happen, it wouldn't have been so random as some history major in Oklahoma.
But here he was, hopelessly fixated on some student who's very air seems to work like an magnet for his attention.

Gabriel downed another shot, letting the glass land back on the bar with a clink. "Poor me another brother." He called to the tender.

"Same here bro." A young man piped up, sitting a seat down from Gabe.
The young man noted the empty glasses sitting upside down in front him.
"Bro, you either had a really bad day, or a really good one." He said astonished, surprised that Gabriel was not flat on his face.

"It's sort of celebration." He smiled.  "Name's Gabe." extending his hand out in greeting, earning a less then firm grip from the kid. "Greg."

"You here alone man?" Gabe asked, not seeing any friend of a girl in sight.

"Yeah dude, works been pretty rough. Needed something stiff."

"You working on campus? You look like a student, am I right?"

The tender placed the shots in front of the men, and the two downed them at the same time.
"Yeah I am, I work at the student labs."

Gabriel's stomach flipped.
"Do you now? Do you happen to know a Christine David by any chance?"

Greg rolled his eyes at the name.
"She's my boss. Freaking pain in the ass."

"That bad?" Gabriel pressed, his brow quirked up in amused interest.

"If you ask me, she needs a hard drink or an orgasm worse than any girl on campus." Greg grumbled. "She's one of those type A kinda girls. Nice enough but can bitch like nothing you'd ever seen." A sour taste filled Gabriel's mouth at the scoundrelistic words towards Christine, but couldn't help but find the description a tad charming.

"Sounds like a good time."

Greg let out a snort. "That's one way of saying it. Gotta give it to her though... she's the best at what she dose. Hey dude, another round?" He called the tender.

"On me." Gabriel added.

"Thanks man." Greg said.

"Sounds like you need it pal." He grinned.

"How bout you?" Greg asked. "What are you celebrating?"

"Aw you know, finally got around to talking to this girl." Gave said in mock bashfulness.

"Yeah? Good for you man." Greg praised, patting Gabriel firmly on the shoulder.
"Thanks. I'm walkin on air kid." Gabriel slapped down some cash on the counter before gathering his jacket.
"Iv got places to be, and hey, good luck at work. Give her hell." He winked, turning to exit the bar.

----------------------

Christine slept soundly in her bed, one hand resting on Molly who was curled up by her side, the other thrown up half hazard my over her head.
Sleep didn't come as often as what was ideal for a student with her kind of work load, but when it did come, she slept sound as a rock.

In her dream, she sat under one of the trees in the main court yard outside of the science building. It use to be her favorite place to eat lunch or just relax before her scedual got to be too hectic.
Laying back on a blanket, she breathed in the fresh air, listening to the light sound of nature mingled with the sound of chatting students.

"Hello again." A voice piped up, earning her full attention. Christine propped herself up on her elbows and squinted up against the sun to see a familiar face.
It was that janitor from that night. Except he wasn't waring his uniform, but a pair of loose fitting jeans and a green cargo jacked over a red tshirt.
"Can I join you?" He asked, his eyes smiling the same way they had.

"Uh, yeah. Sure." She said scooting over to make room on the blanket. This didn't seem so abnormal to her, she never really put much thought into the randomness of one's subconscious.

"Seems like you found the best spot on campus." He commented, settling down beside her.
"Yeah, I have" she said drowsily. Closing her eyes again.

The two were silent for a good while before Gabriel spoke up.
"Do you think this is what your heaven looks like?" He inquired, looking around at the open yard. He had known and seen lesser heavens.

"God, I hope not. It's nice, but I can think of  better places to be.... even if heaven works like that. Individual ideals and all."
The two continued to sit in the comfortable silence, listening to their surroundings. "What dose heaven look like for you if it's not here." He pressed.

She let out a heavy sigh. "Iv never really thought about it. I always pictured heaven as this city made of light, with gates made of gold and throne rooms made of sound... mystical stuff, but hey, that's a theology minor for you." She chuckled. "I guess my ideal forever would be someplace safe. Someplace where I know I am in control, away from family if needed be. Someplace to call my own, you know?"

Gabriel thought about her answer. She was painfully steadfast this girl. The kind of person who could run the world if she wanted. Could do anything she set her mind to.
That must be what it was that had gotten his attention. She was an average beauty with no slouch in her shoulders and no droop in her chin. She breathed confidence and radiated strength.

"How bout you?"

"Excuse me?" He asked. The question catching him off guard, he had expected  this to be a one sided interrogation.

"What is heaven to you?" She clarified.

Gabriel paused and thought about the strange question. Heaven was certainly something to him... a big something. But angels were never blessed with the option of a personal paradise.

So what was heaven to him?

And what did he consider an ideal forever? He had been alive for a very long time, and seen many places... what would be his paradise?

"I use to consider heaven my home... but..."
He tilted his head to look down at the peaceful girl beside him. Her eyes closed, and her features more at ease than he had ever seen them. Human to pieces.
"...but now, paradise looks a lot like right now."

And with that the court yard around her, along with the janitor fell away into darkness, and Christine woke with a start. Heart pounding and head swimming. That same awful feeling when you dream you fell off a cliff and woke just before hitting the ground.

Molly let out an annoyed whine as Christine focused on calming her spreading heart rate.

What a bizarre dream.