When Angels Fall

by Sherryl D. Hancock

  The man made a disgusted sound at the other end of the line, Skyler just waited, her index finger tapping agitatedly on the steering wheel.

  “I dun understand you,” the man said, his tone vexed, “yer brutha needs ya girl.”

  Skyler narrowed her eyes, “What he needs is ta stop sellin’ drugs,” she retorted.

  Once again the man made a grunt of disgust, “Dun undastand ya,” he said again.

  “Oh, I know that,” Skyler said, rolling her eyes and glancing at Devin.

  “Heas ya ma,” her father said then, as he apparently handed the phone over to someone else.

  “What’s dis?” came a woman’s voice, “You not comin’ home?”

  Skyler curled her lip in obvious irritation, “No, ma, I’m not comin home. I told you that. I got a busy season comin up and we gotta get prepared.”

  “Busy season?” the woman repeated, her tone incredulous. “More impor’ant dan family?”

  Skyler actually laughed out loud at that question. “Yeah, ma, savin’ lives is more impor’ant than family, ma.”

  “What da hell is wrong which ya?” the woman snapped, “Yer brotha he needs ya righ’ now.”

  “What he needs is a lawyer, ma,” Skyler said, her tone indicating her annoyance, “Maybe you should call one a dem’.”

  The woman gasped in shock.

  “Look, I gotta go,” Skyler said, apparently taking advantage of the shocked silence the followed the gasp. Before the woman could even reply, Skyler ended the call.

  “I’m guessing those were your parents,” Devin said, grinning.

  “Uh-huh,” Skyler said.

  “Are all of your conversations with them that acrimonious?”

  Skyler couldn’t help but grin at the word Devin used, she definitely sounded every bit the educated woman she was at times.

  “Lately, yes,” Skyler said.

  “Why lately? And who is Sebo?”

  “Well, we’ve never had a good relationship,” Skyler said, “but lately they’ve been hounding me to come home because of Sebo. Sebo, his real name is Sebastian, is my brother. He’s in trouble and they want me to help.”

  “Law enforcement trouble?” Devin asked.

  “Yep,” Skyler said, nodding.

  “For selling drugs?”

  “Yep,” Skyler confirmed.

  “Why do they think you can help him? They do know you’re not a cop, right?”

  “Oh, they know,” Skyler said, “they just think I can use my influence to get him released.”

  Devin looked over at her, “No offense,” she said, “but what influence do they think you have that would help in this situation?”

  Skyler hesitated, and that’s what cued Devin in that it was something she didn’t necessarily want to talk about. Which was why Devin was surprised when Skyler made the next comment.

  “They think a Medal of Honor will get you anywhere,” Skyler said.

  Her tone was so blasé that Devin didn’t catch the significance of what she’d just said until she replayed it in her head.

  “Wait,” Devin said, putting her hand on Skyler’s arm, “you have a Medal of Honor?”

  Skyler’s lips twitched, but she nodded.

  “Isn’t that kind of a big deal?” Devin said.

  Skyler shrugged non-committedly.

  “As in the President of the United States presents it to you?” Devin said, her tone incredulous at Skyler’s attitude.

  Skyler glanced over at her, her look unreadable, “It’s in my sock drawer at the apartment,” she said, her tone indicating that it couldn’t be that big of a deal if it was there.

  “That doesn’t make it less important, Skyler,” Devin said, narrowing her eyes at the other woman, “did you get it because of the crash?” she asked then, thinking it had something to do with the subject Skyler didn’t talk about.

  Skyler shook her head, “I got a Purple Heart for that. This was something else.”

  “But you don’t want talk about it, do you?”

  Skyler looked over at Devin, realizing that Devin was quickly learning to read her cues. It was kind of shock to her, no woman had gotten close enough to do that in a long time.

  “Not much to talk about, group of insurgents, they’re dead, I’m not,” Skyler said simply.

  Devin looked back at her for a few long minutes, knowing there was more to it than that, but not wanting to push.

  “Okay then,” Devin said, with a smile. “So you don’t believe they want to see you when they’re asking you to come home?”

  Skyler looked over at Devin for a moment, her look saying pretty much everything, but she said, “Did you hear them ask me how I was doing?”

  “No,” Devin answered easily.

  “Yeah,” Skyler said, her look pointed, “that’s how I know they don’t care about seeing me.”

  “When’s the last time you went back home?” Devin asked.

  “It’s been awhile,” Skyler said.

  “Have you been home since you got back from Iraq?” Devin asked her tone softer.

  Skyler heard the tone, and knew that Devin was being careful around the subject of Iraq and appreciating it.

  “No,” Skyler said, shaking her head.

  Devin nodded, “So it’s really just that they want you to help Sebastian.”

  “Yep,” Skyler said.

  Devin shook her head, “I don’t understand that,” she said, her tone disappointed, “they should be proud of you, for all you’ve done, all you accomplished.” Devin’s tone rang with indignity.

  Skyler found herself grinning at the sound of it, Jams was usually her biggest cheerleader.

  “Well, they think the sun shines out of Sebo’s ass, so…” Skyler said, letting her voice trail off as she shrugged.

  “Hmph!” Devin huffed.

  Skyler laughed at the sound.

  “Okay, okay, easy now,” Skyler said, smiling.

  Devin grinned at Skyler’s words. It was nice being able to ask some questions of Skyler. She knew there were some things that she couldn’t ask about, but she liked that Skyler was being a little more open to answering questions about herself these days.

  The following week, Skyler and her crew became extremely busy with a new set of wildfires that began in the Angeles National forest near the San Gabriel Mountains. Skyler couldn’t make it back to the house in Malibu at all, as they worked long shifts and half the time slept in the hangar when they were off shift.

  One evening, the crew got a night off; Skyler had texted Devin as she got ready to leave the hangar. By the time Devin got to the apartment two hours later, Skyler had already showered and was lying in bed dozing. Devin walked into the room, standing at the foot of the bed watching Skyler sleep. Skyler wore black sweatpants and green Army tank top, one arm was thrown above her head casually.

  Somehow Skyler sensed her there and opened her eyes.

  “Hi,” Devin said, smiling as she walked around to the side of the bed, moving to sit down next to where Skyler lay.

  “Hey,” Skyler replied, her voice scratchy.

  “Oh, you sound terrible,” Devin said, leaning down to kiss Skyler’s lips.

  “You say the sweetest things,” Skyler replied, with a grin.

  Devin pulled back, looking down at Skyler, her eyes taking in the exhaustion Skyler was obviously feeling.

  “Still didn’t sleep much, huh?” Devin asked.

  “Mmm,” Skyler said, closing her eyes tiredly.

  “Okay, you sleep,” Devin said, softly, “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  With that, Devin kicked off her shoes and lay down next to Skyler. Skyler’s arm immediately encircled her shoulders, pulling her closer. They lay that way for a long while, and when Devin was sure Skyler was deep asleep, she carefully moved to get up.

  Walking through the apartment, Devin listened hearing Jams snoring in the other room down the hall on the opposite side of the apartment from Skyler’s room. The apartment the two shared had
two master bedrooms, it was a very nice upscale place.

  Devin poked around in the kitchen, trying to think of something to make the two pilots when they woke up. She was thinking in terms of soup, having heard how hoarse Skyler was, she imagined it was from the smoke of the fires.

  Eventually she settled on chicken soup and realized she’d need to run to the store for some of the ingredients. She left and was back an hour later, happily noting that Skyler was still asleep.

  It was another three hours before Jams appeared in the kitchen.

  “What is that smell?” Jams asked, his tone teasing.

  Devin glanced over her shoulder at him, “It’s called home cooked food, you might have heard of it.”

  Jams looked like he was trying to remember, then shook his head, “Nope, MREs and take out, those are the food groups I know.”

  “And I bet your mother would be ashamed of you,” Devin chided.

  Jams grinned widely, nodding, even as he walked over to the pot boiling on the stove. Devin handed him a spoon and he sampled some of the soup.

  “Oh….” He said, his tone awestruck, “this is good this food that you speak of.”

  Devin chuckled, “Just wait, there’s bread too.”

  Jams breathed a deep sigh, “If you weren’t gay, I’d marry ya.”

  “You’d what?” came Skyler’s voice from the other side of the kitchen.

  Jams and Devin laughed. Skyler walked into the kitchen, leaning down to smell the soup and then leaning in to kiss Devin.

  “Smells, great babe,” she said, smiling.

  A little while later the three of them sat on the balcony of the apartment eating and talking. It was definitely getting chilly as Devin shivered. Skyler stood up, taking off her sweat jacket and put it around Devin’s shoulders. Devin smiled at the gesture, even as she gratefully put her arms into the sleeves.

  “So, how is it going out there?” Devin asked, referring to the fires.

  “’bout 75% contained.” Skyler said.

  Jams nodded in agreement, “Yeah, maybe another couple of days, then we’ll be good.”

  “Then you can go back to normal?” Devin asked.

  “Yeah, saving people from cliff sides and shit,” Jams said, grinning.

  Devin canted her head, looking at the two, “Speaking of which, what did you two think of that movie San Andreas?”

  Jams and Skyler looked at each other, then back at Devin.

  “It was cute,” Jams said.

  “The daughter was hot,” Skyler replied.

  “Oh yeah,” Jams said, “the mom was pretty hot too.”

  Devin laughed, “I mean the helicopter stuff.”

  “Oh,” Skyler said, grinning, “Yeah, that was all bullshit.”

  “All of it?” Devin asked incredulously.

  “Well,” Jams said, looking over at Skyler, “we do fly helicopters at LA Rescue.”

  “So, yeah, that wasn’t bullshit,” Skyler said, grinning.

  “No ‘tipping the hat’?” Devin asked, siting a reference to a maneuver in the movie.

  “Yeah,” Skyler said slowly, “that was just stupid.”

  “You can’t do that kind of thing?” Devin asked.

  “No one can do that kind of thing.” Jams said.

  “Well, the Rock can, in a movie,” Skyler said amiably.

  “Yeah, true.” Jams agreed.

  “Oh and I loved how even when the blades hit the rock face, they stayed intact, that was awesome,” Skyler said, grinning.

  “Yeah, we need to get us some of those!” Jams agreed.

  Devin watched the two go back and forth with an amused grin on her face, it was obviously something that had been discussed at length.

  “And how come you don’t go on back and help Tom and Jerry with the rescues?” Jams asked Skyler. “The Rock did.”

  “Yeah, that was great, he’s a nice guy.” Skyler said. “I can’t auto rotate down either, not like that.”

  “That’s not something that’s done either?” Devin asked weakly.

  “Sure it is,” Jams said.

  “In the movies,” Skyler said, smiling.

  Devin laughed, shaking her head, “Okay, so not so much on the realistic that movie, huh?”

  “Not in the flying helicopters part, no,” Skyler said. “Don’t even get me started on what our maintenance chief would say to us if we brought a copter back in the condition he did. We’d be in the CO’s office for an hour with our heads ripped off for good measure. Not to mention endangering the lives of the crew as well as that news team they had with them when they decided to showboat that fictional shit.”

  Devin nodded, “I can see that you didn’t really like the movie,” she said.

  “Oh, we liked the movie,” Jams said.

  “Gave us a little boost in popularity,” Skyler said, grinning. “We just fly according to the laws of physics, in that movie they didn’t.”

  “Aw,” Devin said, nodding and wisely steering the conversation away from that topic. “So, nice weather we’re having, huh?”

  Jams and Skyler laughed at her change in topic.

  “Enjoy it now,” Jams said, holding up his bottle of beer to Skyler, she immediately clinked the bottom of hers to the bottom of his.

  “Why do you say that?” Devin asked.

  “With this El Nino thing they’re predicting,” Skyler said, her tone serious, “There’s going to be a lot of rain, and that’s going to mean a lot of work.”

  “With car accidents and stuff?” Devin asked.

  “With everything, high surf, high winds, floods, fires, mudslides, you name it.” Skyler said, looking resolved.

  Devin nodded, not having realized that there’d be a busy season for a rescue team, but it did make sense.

  Two months later, the rains began in earnest. Within two weeks, Skyler was exhausted and catching a cold. Devin came home one night to find Skyler laying on the couch in her living room.

  “Hey,” Devin said, walking around to look at Skyler’s face, she immediately saw that Skyler felt awful.

  “Hey,” Skyler responded listlessly.

  Devin heard the congestion immediately, and sat down on the couch, reaching her hand out to touch Skyler’s face.

  “Oh, babe, you’re burning up.” She said.

  Skyler sniffed, looking completely wiped out.

  “Come on,” Devin said, putting her bag aside and standing up.

  “Where are we going?” Skyler asked her voice lifeless.

  “We,” Devin said, as she put her hand out to help Skyler up off the couch, “are going to get you into a nice hot steamy shower, and get you medicated so you can get some sleep.” She stopped then, looking back at Skyler, “How long are you off?” she asked, realizing suddenly that Skyler may only be off a few hours.

  “Chief gave us two days off,” Skyler said wearily.

  “Good!” Devin said, then continued back down the hall and into the master bathroom.

  An hour later, Devin had Skyler tucked into bed, and fed her chicken soup and gotten her some tea that would help ease her congestion. Before she’d even finished eating, Skyler was falling asleep. Devin got her to lay down and made sure she was comfortable, then went and turned off lights. That night she lay next to Skyler, listening to her breathe, and feeling happy that Skyler was willing to let her take care of her when she was sick. Devin had been with strong women before who simply wanted to hide away when they were sick, or worse were complete jerks when they were sick. Skyler just let Devin do her best to make her feel better.

  When Skyler woke later that night, she lay listening to the rain on the roof, and glanced over at Devin sleeping next to her. Devin was turned on her side, her hand on Skyler’s chest. Skyler reached up touching Devin’s hand with hers. She reflected on how it felt to let someone take care of her. It felt good to feel like she could let herself go enough around this woman to let her see her weak. It wasn’t something she was given to doing normally, but this little slip
of a girl was winding her way into her heart through the smallest gestures. Skyler fell asleep with her hand still covering Devin’s.

  Devin woke the next morning, feeling the warmth of Skyler’s hand on hers. Moving carefully to sit up, she reached for her phone. She texted the people she was working with at the police department and let them know she wouldn’t be in for a couple of days. She fully intended to dedicate her time to helping Skyler feel better.

  By the time Skyler woke that morning, Devin had made her breakfast and coaxed her to eat what she could. Skyler grinned at the mothering tone in Devin’s voice when she told her to drink the orange juice that it was “good for [her]”. At one point they went out to the living room where they sat and watched TV. When Skyler got sleepy, she laid down on the couch, with her head in Devin’s lap. She fell asleep to the feel of Devin’s hand stroking her hair.

  At the end of her time off, Skyler was feeling moderately better, and she knew it was because Devin had made her rest and eat decently. Before leaving that morning, Skyler turned in the doorway, taking Devin in her arms and kissing her deeply, pulling back to look down into Devin’s eyes.

  “Thank you for taking care of me,” Skyler said.

  “Thank you for letting me take care of you,” Devin replied, smiling.

  Skyler kissed her again, and then turned to head to her car. Devin left the house a little while later, clouds were already gathering on the horizon again.

  The crew was 13 hours into a 14 hour shift and had just touched down and shut down the engines at Van Nuys Airport. Skyler finishing her shut down procedures when her phone started ringing. Pulling out her phone, she looked at it and saw that it was Devin. Tuning her phone to her headset so she could continue her checks, she answered the phone, knowing it was odd that Devin would call her while she knew she was on duty

  “Hey, babe, what’s up?” Skyler answered.

  There was an eerie silence that sent a chill up Skyler’s spine immediately. She put her hand up to alert Jams that there was something wrong.

  “Devin?” Skyler asked, her tone strong. “Babe?”

  There was heavy breathing, and Skyler felt her stomach plummet, as she heard the faintest whisper, “Skyler?”

  “I’m here, babe, what’s happening? Talk to me!” Even as she said it, she switched the comms over so that Jams could hear it in his headset.