When Angels Fall

by Sherryl D. Hancock

  Jams laughed, shaking his head, “Nah, just the day that she showed up at the apartment to kick your ass.”

  Skyler gave him a withering look, “I already told her that we’d be having dinner with your parents tonight, smart ass.”

  “Better than being a dumb ass,” Jams said, smiling widely.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Skyler retorted, going back to her report.

  Jams had indeed told his parents about Devin. They were constantly worried about Skyler, and he was happy to give them good news about Skyler finally finding someone again. His parents were thrilled and had told him to make sure she they got to meet this young lady when they were in town.

  That afternoon there were hugs all around when Skyler and Jams picked up his parents.

  Jams mother, Helen, held Skyler’s face in her hands for a long minute, “You look better,” she said simply.

  “She’d have to,” put in Jams father, Roy.

  Skyler took it all in, these were people she respected, much more than she did her own parents; For them to be so concerned about her, touched her heart.

  “Thanks,” Skyler said, smiling.

  “You still look too skinny though,” Helen said.

  “You always say that!” Skyler said, laughing, “And I keep telling you that this is just how I am.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Helen said, waving away Skyler’s comment, “if you eat more, you’ll gain weight.”

  “I don’t know, mom, she eats a lot,” Jams said, his grin snide.

  “At least I always made weight,” Skyler said, referring to the weight requirements for soldiers in the Army.

  “Oh…” Roy said, grinning, “she got you there son.”

  “It was baby fat,” Jams said, as they all turned to walk to the baggage claim, “wasn’t it mom?”

  “Of course, honey.” Helen said, always indulgent of her boy.

  “See? Mom said!” Jams said, looking like a little kid.

  “She has to, it’s her job,” Skyler said, sticking her tongue out at him.

  The four of them laughed as they reached the baggage claim.

  On the way back to the apartment they talked about the sleeping arrangements, since all Jams had told his parents was that they didn’t need to make a hotel reservation.

  “You’re gonna sleep in Sky’s room,” Jams said.

  “We don’t want to put you out, girl,” Roy said.

  “You aren’t putting her out dad,” Jams put in before Skyler could answer, “She stays at her girlfriends’ house in Malibu most of the time these days.”

  “In Malibu?” Helen asked sounding surprised, “Isn’t that where movie stars live?”

  Skyler grinned, “Yeah, some do,” she said, “Devin’s a computer consultant.”

  “And she makes bank!” Jams said.

  “What does that mean?” Roy asked his son, giving him a perplexed look.

  “It means she makes a lot of money, dad.” Jams said. “Her house is, what? Sky, a cool three mill at least?”

  Skyler gave him a narrowed look, “Not that it’s any of our business,” Skyler said, her tone chiding, “but yeah, it’s pretty nice, and I’m sure it cost a good amount.”

  “Daniel,” Helen said, her tone scolding, “That is none of your business. I raised you better than that.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Jams answered his mother, ever the obedient boy.

  Skyler looked over at her partner, delighting in the uncomfortable look he had on his face now. He gave her a foul look. Just then their pagers went off. Checking hers, Skyler looked over at Jams.

  “Damn it,” Jams said, knowing what it meant. “Mom, dad, I gotta drop you off at the apartment, then we gotta go back, we have a mission.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Roy said, “The job comes first,” he said nodding.

  Fortunately, the mission they were called in for was canceled. They were able to keep their plans to go to dinner with Jams parents. Skyler left to pick up Devin saying she’d meet them at the restaurant.

  Jams went home to pick up his parents. On the way to the restaurant Roy and Helen questioned Jams on how Skyler was handling things these days.

  “She’s still out there,” Jams told him parents honestly, “and I worry about her.”

  Roy nodded, “A crash is a hard enough thing to recover from, but the rest…” he said, shaking his head as his voice trailed off, “That’s gonna take some time.”

  Jams nodded, “I know, dad, but there’s times when I just don’t know how long she’ll hang in there, and she isn’t dealing with it.”

  “That’s not good,” Helen said from the back seat.

  “What about this new girl?” Roy asked, “Is she likely to help?”

  “I think so, I think Sky is really into her and I think that’s going to give her some motivation to handle things at least more.”

  “What do you mean?” Roy asked.

  “Well, this girl isn’t the kind of woman that Skyler usually dates, at least not the type she’s, uh, been with lately,” Jams found himself trying to be delicate about the subject of Skyler sleeping with people once and then never talking to them again.

  “What does that mean, young man? Is she sleeping around?” Helen asked, her Bible belt coming out suddenly.

  Roy and Helen were devout Christians, and when their son brought home the woman he called his best friend from basic training they were sure she was his girlfriend. He explained quickly that she was not his girlfriend and that she didn’t actually date men at all. The couple had been surprised by this information, and it wasn’t something they easily understood, having not been exposed to many people in the gay community at that point. What they did understand about Skyler Boche was that she was a good influence on their son. When Daniel had left for the Army, it was with the attitude that he’d do his four years and the get out. He’d had no goals, no real plans. It had been Skyler who had encouraged him to apply for flight school when they’d both done well on their ASVABs. Roy was eternally grateful to Skyler for getting his son to consider flight school. He didn’t care what her sexual preference was, she was a good person, and that was that. By the time Jams and Skyler had left for flight school two weeks later, Roy and Helen had been happy to consider Skyler a part of their family.

  Unfortunately, that also meant that she was held to moral standards just as they would hold their son to those standards. “Sleeping around” was not okay in their book.

  Jams rubbed the bridge of his nose, a habit he’d picked up from Skyler when he was hesitant at answering a question.

  “Oh, Helen, calm down,” Roy said to his wife, saving Jams from having to answer. “Skyler is having a rough time, and that’s what people do when they don’t deal with things that are going on in their brain.”

  Helen made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat, but didn’t reply.

  Jams and his father exchanged a grin.

  “Well, you know how I feel,” Roy said to his son, “she’s your responsibility, you take care of her, any way you have to.”

  Jams nodded, remembering their conversation two and a half years ago. After the crash in Iraq, both Jams and Skyler had gone home to his parents’ farm to recover. Skyler had spent hours riding one of their horses over the far and wide ranges. The devastation she felt had been crystal clear in every movement she made. It had been then that Roy had told Jams that she was his partner, and therefore it was his responsibility to look after her.

  “You make sure she gets through this,” Roy had told him, “she needs you son. She may not show you that cause she’s every bit as hard headed as any man I’ve ever known, but she needs you more than she probably knows. You be there for her.” It was an order, and Jams took it to heart.

  Skyler and Devin arrived at the restaurant shortly after Jams and his parents were seated. Skyler held Devin’s hand, leading her to the table. Roy and Jams immediately stood, Devin grinned at the old fashioned, but gallant courtesy.

  “Mom, dad,” Skyler
said smiling, her tone proud “This is Devin.”

  Devin smiled at the couple. “It’s really nice to meet you,” she said, extending her hand to Roy and smiling at Helen.

  Roy took her hand giving it a gentle squeeze as he smiled. He was looking her over, she wasn’t what he’d expected at all. She was definitely a beautiful girl, but he was surprised by the purple in her black hair and all the earrings in her ear and the one in her eyebrow. She looked like a punk rock girl, but then she wore very stylish looking clothes. She was definitely her own person, which was probably a good thing when paired with someone as vibrant as Skyler.

  “It’s lovely to meet you too,” Roy said, smiling back at her.

  Devin turned, reaching her hand out to Helen, who clasp her hand in both of hers, “It’s wonderful to meet you, Devin,” Helen said, her voice warm.

  Skyler caught the waitress that walked by and asked for a beer and a shot, “Anyone else want something? Babe?” she queried.

  “No, I’m good,” Devin said, smiling gently and knowing that Skyler was likely to drink a few tonight.

  On the way to the restaurant Angels Fall had come on in the car again. Skyler had uttered the word “fuck” and reached over to turn it up. Devin had taken her hand immediately, holding it the entire time the song was on, squeezing gently when she saw Skyler choke up on a few parts of the song. They hadn’t talked about it after the song ended, but Skyler hadn’t pulled her hand away this time either. Devin considered it progress.

  “Beer,” Jams said.

  “Second that,” Roy said, holding up a finger with a grin.

  “I’ll just have soda dear,” Helen said.

  Skyler gave the waitress the order smiling down at her. Devin looked on, seeing the mild flirt that occurred, Skyler had that way with people, especially women. It never went anywhere, Devin seriously doubted if Skyler even realized she did it.

  When they were all seated again, and the drinks came, Skyler threw back the shot and chased it with half a bottle of beer. Jams eyed her, and Skyler caught the look.

  “Damned Breaking Benjamin and their song,” Skyler said by way of explanation.

  “Aw,” Jams said, tilted his beer bottle to hers, and they clinked them together, “Angels Fall.”

  Devin looked at Jams parents to see how they reacted to the display, Roy looked appropriately respectful, and Helen nodded her head sadly. So apparently they knew about the crash and the relevance of the song. She looked at Skyler, wanting to ask. Skyler caught the look, even as she held up a finger to the waitress, Jams doing the same.

  “I can feel the question,” Skyler said, grinning. “Go ahead,” she said gently.

  “The song?” Devin asked simply.

  Jams nodded, giving Skyler a look that said ‘tell her’. Skyler nodded too, as if receiving the message from him telepathically.

  “Billy Kings,” Skyler said, her eyes taking a slightly haunted look, “We called him Benny, because he had an obsession with the band Breaking Benjamin.”

  “We had to hear every new song they put out,” Jams said, rolling his eyes with a sad grin.

  “It was on regular rotation in the copter,” Skyler said, her eyes connecting with Jams as they both smiled, thinking of how many times they’d heard every song and how Benny sang along with every single one.

  Devin nodded, happy to finally be hearing at least part of the story. She noticed that Roy and Helen both had tears in their eyes, she imagined that they had met Benny a few times.

  “Angels Fall came out, after the crash,” Jams said, his eyes on Skyler.

  Devin saw Skyler close her eyes slowly, pressing her lips together. They’d heard it together when they’d gotten the new album, in honor of Benny.

  “It was like he’d had them write it and send it to us,” Skyler said, her voice husky with unshed tears.

  Devin felt tears sting the back of her eyes. She nodded, fully understanding now why Skyler couldn’t turn it off when it came one, it was like Benny speaking to her from the grave, and she couldn’t just shut him off.

  “And you were ‘angels’,” Devin said.

  “We called ourselves Hells Angels,” Jams said, grinning.

  “Angels fall with broken wings,” Devin said, repeating the lyrics from the song.

  Skyler and Jams nodded, their looks grave.

  The thought made Devin feel an overwhelming sadness. She easily sensed that this was just the tip of the iceberg of the tragedy that both Jams and Skyler had both gone through.

  “Maybe I’ll have one too,” Devin said as the waitress brought Skyler’s second shot.

  “A round for the table,” Roy said, his tone determined.

  When the drinks arrived a few moments later, Roy stood and lifted his glass, “To Billy and Tommy,” he said seriously.

  “Angles Fall,” Skyler and Jams said, standing and raising their glasses as well, Devin and even Helen stood too, toasting.

  After they sat, taking the time to look at the menus to each collect themselves, Devin reached a hand over to Skyler, leaning close to her.

  “Thank you,” she whispered to Skyler.

  Skyler looked at her for a long moment, realizing how hard it must be for Devin to not know everything, and only get crumbs at a time. Skyler instantly regretted that she wasn’t able to talk about the rest of it, as it was, though, she knew she was going to have nightmares just from talking about it this much.

  Skyler squeezed Devin’s hand gently, smiling at her, even while her eyes were still haunted by the fresh memory.

  After everyone ordered, Roy and Helen focused on getting to know Devin.

  “So Skyler says you work with computers?” Roy queried.

  Devin smiled, nodding, “Yes, with the computer language mostly.”

  “What’s the computer language?” Helen asked.

  “Basically it’s the code behind the program. It’s a series of commands and information to run the program.”

  “And what do you do with this code?” Roy asked, looking a little perplexed.

  “Well, sometimes I’m looking for viruses.”

  “Viruses?” Helen asked.

  “Basically code that someone has put into a program to make it do what they want it to do, for instance, someone might upload a virus to a bank program to make it download all of someone’s money into their own account.”

  “So you stop people from stealing other people’s money?” Roy clarified.

  “Sometimes,” Devin said smiling, “right now I’m working with the police department to break up a ring of identity thieves.”

  “Identity thieves?” Helen queried, sounding like she was trying to speak a foreign language.

  “It’s when someone uses other people information, their social security number, name, birth date, stuff like that, to apply for credit cards or loans. They never pay for whatever they get, and it ruins the person whose identity was stolen credit.”

  “Wow,” Roy said nodding, “sounds impressive.”

  “Well, they’ve been trying to get this particular group for about two years now,” Devin said sighing. “They finally called me in about a month ago.”

  “Well, if you’re able to catch these people, why didn’t they call you sooner?” Helen asked.

  “Uh…” Devin said, grimacing as she glanced at Skyler.

  “Because they had to figure out if they could afford her, mom.” Skyler said.

  Roy and Helen looked over at Devin, and she nodded confirming what Skyler had said.

  “You charge that much?” Roy asked.

  Devin bit her lip, feeling uncomfortable.

  “Dad, she has a PhD from MIT,” Skyler put in, “her student loan payments are probably more than my apartment payment!”

  Devin chuckled, dropping her head, “They aren’t probably quite that much, but they’re not cheap.”

  “Besides,” Skyler said, “Devin’s one of the best at this.”

  Roy and Helen nodded, impressed by the degree that Devin
held, as well as the fact that Skyler was defending her.

  “Well, it does sound like you do really important things with that degree of yours,” Roy said, looking at Helen, “Imagine, our Skyler is dating a doctor.”

  Skyler looked over at Jams, “That’s my girl,” she said, nodding her head toward Devin.

  “Blah, blah, blah,” Jams said, rolling his eyes.

  “What’s your girl do?” Skyler asked, her eyes dancing in amusement.

  “Shut up,” Jams said, his eyes narrowed in mock anger.

  “You’re dating someone?” Helen asked her son, surprised.

  “I hate you,” Jams said to Skyler, even as he turned to his mother, “Not really mom, she’s just kind of casual right now, and not anyone I’d want you to meet at this point.”

  Skyler leaned back in her chair, picking up her beer as she winked at Devin. Devin grinned, knowing that this was probably something she and Jams did often. They really were like brother and sister. It was an interesting evening.

  CHAPTER 3

  A few weeks after dinner with Jams parents, Skyler was driving Devin to work. Devin’s vehicle was in the shop for maintenance and Skyler had offered to drive her in. Skyler was almost always at Devin’s house, even though it was a much longer commute than from her apartment.

  Skyler’s phone rang a few minutes into the drive, she glanced at the display, rolled her eyes, but answered the call on the hands free, glancing at Devin as she did.

  “Yeah?” Skyler said as she answered the phone.

  “Skyla?” came a clipped reply, the voice was male, and had a distinct accent.

  “Hey dad,” Skyler replied, sounding highly unenthusiastic, “What’s up?”

  “When you comin’ home girl?” the man asked.

  Skyler took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly as she shook her head, “I told you dad, I can’t get home any time soon.”

  “What about Sebo? He needs ya,” the man replied, his accent definitely Cajun.

  Devin found herself wondering what Skyler’s parents were like. She listened to the conversation with fascination.

  “He got hisself into trouble,” Skyler snapped, “he can get hisself out.” her accent was a clear as day at that point.