When Angels Fall

by Sherryl D. Hancock

  “I could eat,” Skyler said, grinning.

  “Okay,” Devin said, reaching out to engage the navigation system in the GTR, putting in an address and giving it the command to go.

  Skyler looked at her expectantly.

  “What?” Devin asked.

  “Where are we going?” Skyler asked.

  Devin grinned, nodding her head to the navigation system, “Just go where she tells you.”

  Skyler rolled her eyes, unable to believe the lengths Devin had gone to in order to plan this trip for her. It downright amazed her.

  When they arrived at their destination Skyler was confused. They were back at the hotel.

  “Room service?” Skyler queried, sounding hopeful.

  “Nope,” Devin said, even as the valet opened her door for her.

  Skyler got out on her side, tossing the keys to the valet with a wink, “Be nice to her,” she said, running her hand over the hood as she walked around the car.

  The valet laughed, nodding his head.

  Devin took Skyler by the hand and headed into the hotel entrance a block away. They walked through the hotel and up the escalator. When Devin came to a stop, Skyler saw the restaurant. They were in front of Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House, it was known for its Cajun cuisine.

  Skyler looked over at Devin, “Do you even like Cajun food?”

  “Never tried it,” Devin replied with a shrug, “But Jams said you love it, so I thought it was a good place for your birthday dinner.”

  Skyler shook her head, so completely baffled by Devin.

  “What?” Devin asked, looking up at Skyler.

  Skyler turned to Devin, putting her arms around the girl and pulling her in close to kiss her deeply.

  “You think of everything, don’t you?” She asked when their lips parted.

  “I try,” Devin said, basking in Skyler’s attention.

  “You succeed,” Skyler said her tone unequivocal.

  Taking Devin’s hand, Skyler walked up to the counter where the hostess stood.

  “Hi,” the hostess said, smiling at both of them.

  “We have a reservation,” Devin said, “under Boche’.”

  Skyler pursed her lips for a moment, grinning, for some reason she liked that Devin had put it under her last name.

  “Right this way,” the hostess said, taking them into the café.

  They skirted the circular bar in the middle of the restaurant and headed toward the more private dining area. The restaurant was alive with colors, reds, teals, and vivid purples. The décor was kitchy, but definitely with a New Orleans flavor to it, Skyler liked it immediately. They were seated in a booth and handed the menus.

  Skyler looked at the menu and was sure she’d died and gone to Heaven. The menu included all the classics, like gumbo, and shrimp bowl and crawfish, but it also included some of Emeril’s signature dishes as well, many of which sounded good too.

  Devin watched Skyler’s face as she read the menu, seeing that she was going to have a hard time choosing. When she looked at the menu, she had no idea what to try. She’d never thought of trying something like crawfish and was pretty sure she wouldn’t like it, but this wasn’t her night, it was Skyler’s.

  Within minutes the manager of the restaurant came up to the table. He smiled at them, extending his hand to each of them.

  “I’m Sean,” he said, his green eyes twinkling, “I’m the general manager. I understand you’re celebrating a birthday tonight.”

  Devin nodded, pointing at Skyler.

  “On behalf of Emeril’s, let me wish you bonne anniversaire,” he said with a flourish and a slight bow.

  “Byen mersi,” Skyler said, inclining her head.

  “A’ rien,” the manager replied, smiling widely.

  “You speak Cajun,” Skyler said, nodding.

  “Some,” he replied, nodding.

  “Your accent is good,” Skyler said.

  “Mersi beaucoup,” he replied, “I take it you’re from Louisiana?” Pronouncing it Lousina as the locals.

  “Baton Rouge,” Skyler replied, saying it the Cajun way, winking at Devin as she saw her make a face.

  “Aw, oui,” he said, smiling. “Please enjoy yourselves,” he said then, “And if there is anything I can do for you ladies, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”

  “We will,” Devin said, smiling warmly, “thank you.”

  As the manager walked away, Devin looked over at Skyler, “Well, that was fun,” she said smiling.

  “What was?” Skyler asked.

  “Getting to hear your accent again,” Devin replied, grinning.

  “Oh lord,” Skyler said, rolling her eyes.

  “So what are you going to order?” Devin asked, biting her lip in indecision.

  Skyler looked over at her for a long moment, her look speculative, “Gonna let me pay for dinner?”

  “Nope,” Devin replied immediately.

  Skyler wrinkled her nose and pursed her lips in distaste, looking like she wanted to argue, but then shrugged and looked at her menu again.

  Devin narrowed her eyes at her girlfriend, “Don’t even think about going chinsy on what you order Skyler.”

  Skyler looked over at her, her eyes wide with contrived innocence. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Yes you do, you little brat,” Devin said, her tone scolding.

  Skyler grinned unrepentantly.

  “Look,” Devin said, putting her hand on the table between them, “just so you can stop worrying about the money,” she said her tone serious, “I made two hundred thousand on my last job and it was a two-week job. You don’t even want to know how much LAPD is paying me, okay?” she said the last was said with a smile.

  Skyler looked back at Devin for a full minute, her mouth hanging open slightly at the number Devin had thrown out. Finally, she closed her mouth and shook her head.

  “I’m in the wrong fuckin’ business,” she said with a grin.

  “No,” Devin said, putting her hand on Skyler’s arm, “you’re in the right business, you save lives, that matters more than anything else.”

  “Doesn’t pay for room service though,” Skyler countered with a grin.

  “That’s what you have me for,” Devin replied with a wink.

  Putting down her menu, Skyler turned to face Devin, taking her hands and looking her in the eye.

  “That is not what I have you for,” she said, her tone serious, “You do know that, right?”

  “Yes, Sky, I do,” Devin said, squeezing Skyler’s hands in hers.

  Skyler looked back at her, her eyes searching Devin’s for any sign of misunderstanding.

  “You just need to know that,” Skyler said then.

  “I do,” Devin said, leaning in to kiss Skyler softly, “I do, okay?”

  Skyler nodded, drawing in a deep breath and expelling it slowly.

  “Why does this bother you so much?” Devin asked, glancing up as the waitress passed.

  Skyler looked pensive for a moment, “I guess I’m not used to someone else paying for things.”

  Devin nodded, having suspected that was the case. “You usually make more than the women you date?” she asked.

  Skyler chuckled, “Never really mattered,” she said.

  “Even if they made more, you paid?” Devin asked.

  Skyler reached up rubbed her thumb at her lower lip. Devin caught the sign for ‘too many questions’ and eased away from the subject.

  “Anyway, order whatever you want, and if I think you’re being sneaky, I’ll order everything on the menu,” she said, her tone sassy.

  “Yes ma’am,” Skyler replied, her tone all Army.

  Devin chuckled at the response.

  It was a good night.

  Their second day in Vegas, Devin insisted that they do some gambling. She found that Skyler was actually pretty good at poker, and within a couple of hours they were up by over a thousand dollars.

  “Guess it pays to have that cool façade, huh
?” Devin asked.

  “Made me a lot of money in the Army,” Skyler replied with a wink.

  “Oh my!” Devin replied, widening her eyes.

  They had just had lunch and made their way back to their room.

  “So what do you want to do tonight?” Devin asked her look expectant.

  Skyler caught the look and gave her a suspicious look, “Why do I think you already know what you want us to do?”

  “Well, I have an idea,” Devin said, walking over to the dining room table to set her purse down, being overly casual. Skyler picked up on it instantly.

  Walking over, she stood behind Devin, her arms circling her waist and pulling her back against her. She nuzzled the side of Devin’s head, kissing her temple, then her ear.

  “We can do whatever you want,” Skyler whispered.

  Devin turned in Skyler’s arms, winding her arms up around Skyler’s neck.

  “Would you want to go to a club?” Devin asked.

  Skyler looked back at her for a long moment, but then nodded, “If that’s what you want to do, then yes, let’s do it.”

  “Yay!” Devin said, smiling.

  Later that evening they’d agreed to get dressed separately, Devin said she wanted to surprise Skyler. It was definitely effective. Skyler stood staring at her girlfriend in shock. Devin wore a black halter dress that exposed a great deal of skin, and definitely a lot of leg. On her feet she wore black strappy heels.

  “Wow,” Skyler said, looking duly impressed. “You look amazing.”

  “So do you,” Devin said, her tone appreciative.

  Devin was definitely shocked by Tyler’s outfit, it was unlike anything she’d ever seen her in before. She wore black jeans with black heeled, but still combat style boots. She also wore a light teal colored shirt that was close fitted and just about the same color as her eyes, with a fitted but long black blazer over it with the sleeves pushed up. She also wore a black, thick banded watch on her wrist and around her neck she wore a silver chain with a set of black dog tags, one of which had silver angel wings engraved in it.

  Walking over to Skyler, Devin reached up touching the dog tags, she saw that the second tag held the initials T.O. and B.K. engraved in silver script. She smiled as she touched the tags, then looked up at Skyler, Skyler was watching her.

  “You look so…” she began, “wow.” She added when she couldn’t come up with another word.

  Skyler smiled, leaning down to kiss her lips. “I’m gonna have to watch you every second,” she said.

  Devin smiled at that, “Good, you won’t be able to look at anyone else that way.”

  “As if I would,” Skyler put in.

  Devin looked at her for a long moment, canting her head slightly, “That’s really not your way, is it?” she asked, even though her tone indicated it really wasn’t a question.

  Skyler shook her head, “No.” she confirmed.

  Devin found that she loved that about Skyler. She never had to worry about her girlfriend looking at other women. Now women coming onto Skyler; that was rampant. It was part of the reason she’d chosen a regular club instead of a gay one.

  Walking up to the club an hour later, Devin was shocked when the large bouncer at the door yelled “Voodoo!!!” when he saw Skyler.

  The man was huge, with what Devin would describe as tree trunks for arms, he wasn’t fat, he was all muscle and very tall. He had a shock of blond hair and a big smile for Skyler.

  “Acorn!” Skyler replied, laughing as they hugged.

  “How you be?” the man asked Skyler.

  “I’m alright,” Skyler said, smiling as she nodded, “This where you landed?”

  “My ex is here with my kid, so yeah,” Acorn replied, shrugging.

  “Sorry to hear that, man,” Skyler said, remembering that his wife had been a real pain in the ass while they’d been overseas, but he’d loved her all the same.

  “And who’s this?” Acorn said, his big blue eyes going to Devin.

  “This is my girlfriend, Devin,” she said, gesturing to the man, “this is Acorn.”

  “Acorn?” Devin repeated expectantly.

  “His last name is Oak,” Skyler said, grinning, “crews aren’t too creative sometimes,” she said with a laugh.

  “Nope!” Acorn boomed, nodding to people as they got impatient with the reunion.

  He took a couple more ID’s looking at Skyler, his look searching. Devin suspected that whoever this man was, he knew something about Skyler’s time in Iraq. She could tell he was trying to decide what to ask about and what not to.

  “So,” Acorn said as the door slowed down again, “where’d you land? And what happened to that hot little number?”

  Skyler looked back at him for a long moment, then rolled her eyes, shaking her head, the man had absolutely no edit function, he never had.

  “Did I introduce my girlfriend?” Skyler asked him.

  “Yeah, Voodoo, yeah, but what–“

  “We’re not together anymore,” Skyler put in, smiling despite her sharp tone.

  “Cool, cool,” Acorn said, putting his hands out mollifying, “So where ya workin?”

  “LA FD,” Skyler replied.

  “Air ops of course,” Acorn put in.

  “Roger that,” Skyler replied.

  “Jams with ya there?” Acorn asked.

  “Can’t get rid of him,” Skyler replied with a grin.

  “Doh!” Acorn said, laughing. “Well get on in,” he said, waving them into the club, “no cover for vets,” he said, winking at Skyler.

  “Thanks man,” Skyler said, holding her hand out to him.

  He took it shaking it, and winking at Devin.

  Inside the club, they found a table, and Skyler went to the bar to get them drinks. When she returned there were two men standing at the table talking to Devin. Skyler drew in a deep breath, expelling it in exasperation; she’d known Devin was bound to cause trouble wherever she went in that dress.

  “Boys,” Skyler said, as she walked up, her eyes looking from one to the other.

  She moved to stand next to where Devin sat on the high bar chair. Skyler leaned in to kiss her lips, then looked back at the men standing there, a mild challenge in her eyes. They looked like sailors, with their short crew cuts and the “squidly swagger” as Skyler saw it. Both men did a little bit of shuffling, but neither of them walked away.

  Oh lordy, here we go… Skyler thought to herself, even as she glanced down at Devin.

  She looked back at the men then, “Did you need something?” she asked, her tone an easy drawl, much as it had been with Sarah a few months before.

  Devin recognized that it was designed to not only challenge, but also to warn whoever she was dealing with. She grimaced as one of the men’s chin went up, he’d heard the challenge and apparently wasn’t the back down type.

  “We were just talking to the lady,” the shorter of the two men said, his tone bordering on accusing.

  Skyler nodded, lifting her beer and taking a drink, her look considering.

  “You’re done talking to her,” she said simply.

  “Who says?” replied the taller of the two, who was still only as tall as Skyler.

  Skyler’s look shifted to the man, her look confident, even as she set her beer down on the table.

  “Yeah, she seemed pretty into it,” the second man put in.

  Skyler nodded, a grin curling her lips as she looked down at Devin, “Are you into it now, babe?” she asked, her voice quizzical.

  “No, I’m good,” Devin said smiling, even as she prayed that her statement would end it.

  No such luck.

  “Now wait a minute,” the shorter guy standing on the other side of Devin began, as he reached out to touch Devin’s arm.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Skyler told the man.

  “No?” the guy said, his look taking on a challenge as he reached for Devin.

  Skyler took a step back to step around the chair Devin was in, the other guy grab
bed her arm to stop her.

  “You need to remove your hand, now.” Skyler growled at the guy, her tone become very low, the look on her face should have warned the man that she was deadly serious, but he didn’t see that.

  The movement, had, however halted the other guy from grabbing at Devin.

  The man holding Skyler’s arm, “What’s a matter, honey?” he said, moved his hand from her arm to her shoulder, “You don’t want to share?”

  Devin saw it happen, she saw a switch flip in Skyler’s eyes, she had a split second to yell Skyler’s name and then it happened.

  With a speed that Devin could barely follow, Skyler reached across herself grabbing the hand on her shoulder and then brought her other arm up and through slamming down on the man’s elbow. She continued to hold the hand that had been on her shoulder bending it painfully at the wrist as she yanked it in front of her, putting the man off balance. She then proceeded to take him down to the ground, he slammed hard into the floor. She put her knee on his back keeping his arm up behind him.

  “Son of a bitch!” said the guy standing next to Devin.

  “She warned him,” Devin said simply, even as the area around them erupted in cheers and applause.

  “Get the fuck off!” screamed the guy on the floor, as a pool of blood started to form from his nose.

  Acorn was there then, assisting Skyler and taking over, to yank the guy up off the floor.

  “You broke my nose you bitch!” the guy yelled, “I want that bitch arrested!” he screamed.

  “The way a saw it,” Acorn said, his look considering, “was you assaulted her, she just defended herself.”

  “Bullshit!” yelled the guy’s friend, “We were just being friendly!”

  “Too friendly, it looks like,” Acorn said. With that he escorted both men to the door.

  People standing nearby eyed Skyler with a mixture of awe and respect. Skyler didn’t even seem to notice, she’d gone back to drinking her beer as if nothing had happened. The only way Devin could tell she was affected at all was that when Skyler went to light a cigarette her hands were still shaking a bit.

  Reaching out she took Skyler’s free-hand holding it with both of hers.

  Later that night on the drive back to the hotel, Devin found she had to ask questions.