Chapter Text
It goes without saying your “hobby" came with a few, hazards. The usual was expected whenever you worked with things on the weird side, but unfortunately breaking the law also occasionally became something you had to do to get the job done. It wasn’t your fault that the Peterson house had a security system your intel didn’t know about. Gotta thank Sarah and Adam for that later. Your fault or not, you were sure gonna pay for it.
The address in your hands glared at you as much as you glared at it. 20 hours of community service helping some priest tidy up his garden, two hours a day for ten days, and you could be well shot of the place. That was the plan; keep your nose down, plant some pretty flowers and get out as fast as possible. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?
A brick building looms large over you as you approached. Looks like your standard church; old stairs leading up to an old building. It was kind of nice; reminded you of when you’d go to church as a kid. While religion didn’t keep your eye for long, you could still admire the work put into making holy places pretty.
You gave a short knock on the door, though no one came to greet you upon your arrival. Well, that’s great. Do you just, walk on in? Do you stand here and wait for the priest to come notice you? Does it count as a breaking and entering charge if you get caught somewhere you aren’t supposed to be in the church while looking for the priest? The magic of ADHD sure granted you a lot of fun questions to ponder.
It’ll be fine, you thought as you opened the door with a loud squeak. That should’ve gotten anyone’s attention if there was anyone around in the place. Still, no sounds of footsteps or sounds at all greeted you. Weird.
“Hello? Anyone home?” You called down the hallway, to no avail. Just where was this priest? Aren’t they supposed to like, live at the church? You knew they sometimes did at least.
Not wanting to awkwardly stand in the foyer, you decided to go find the holy man so you could get to work. It’d been a long while since you were in any church but you had a general idea of how they worked. Short hallway, sanctuary. This one wasn’t too different.
It was rather beautiful on the inside; it had high ceilings with stained glass windows of different biblical scenes that depicted the Nativity. You slowly walked up the aisle, watching the different scenes play out through the glass, with each scene getting its own window. Gabriel going around talking to Mary, to Joseph and the shepherds, the wisemen arriving, and of course baby Jesus.
“He must be busy, that poor angel. Look at how many people he has to talk to.” You mused, glancing back at all the different times Gabriel had to show up and do something to forward the story. He made one hell of a plot device, not that you’d say that to the priest when he got here.
If he got here. The holy man still seemed to be missing from the scene. You shrugged and walked the couple of steps up the stage. There were a few candles up here, the things for communion, the little water dish people got flicked with when they get baptized or married. Even if church wasn’t your jam, you had to admit it all made you a bit nostalgic. Wonder if your folks would want to attend a service here, see the flowers you’d plant.
“Father? Are you here?” You called, still trying to find your holy boss for the next few days. Still, no sound greeted you.
You frowned again and went back to the objects on the table. You’d never been baptized before. What do people even say during these sorts of ceremonies? You knew the words to the other ceremony though. Too many boring Sundays spent as a kid were wasted listening to them.
“Dearly beloved;” You started in your best pastor voice, ” we are gathered here today to unite in holy matrimony this candle and myself.” You picked up the tallest tapered wax stick. This was so stupid but it’s not like you’d get to do this again.
“If anyone agrees that these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
“While I hope your future beloved might be the light of your life, I’d advise against marrying a candle. It could just be my experience but I find wax to be rather flakey. Wouldn’t want that in a spouse.”
The voice froze you to the spot. Of course the priest had to come in here right now and have his first impression be you acting a fool. With his candles. On his stage. At least he didn’t sound mad about it.
“Heh, sorry sir.” The wax sticks were quickly set down as you turned to face your judgment.
You couldn’t deny he was beautiful. Long blond hair fell down his shoulders, with soft eyes and an even softer smile. Even without the priest outfit he’d look holy, though that could also be due to the fact he was the spitting image of every angel portrait you’d ever seen. Some people were blessed with all the looks.
“I couldn’t find you at first and I didn’t know what to do with myself.” You came to shake his hand, noting that he was pretty tall as well. “I’m here for that gardening job you’d needed done.”
“Ah; so you’re the little lamb that’s been sent to give me a hand. I much appreciate it. You can call me Father Gabriel or when it’s just the two of us, just Gabriel is fine. I promise I won’t tell.” He added with a playful wink. That got a smile out of you.
“I must apologize as well. I’d been getting things ready for you to arrive, finding gardening tools and the like, when I realized time had gotten away from me.” He gave you his best apologetic smile. You could see why he was a man of the cloth.
“Sounds like you were made for the job,” you joked, gesturing to his priest outfit.
“Oh, you have no idea my little lamb.” A look flashed across his face, but before you could even decide if you’d seen it or not, let alone pin it to any emotion, he’d set his hand on your shoulder, your eyes snapping up to meet that soft smile again.
“Come, let me show you where we’ll be working.”
“You’re going to be helping? Don’t you have other church business to worry about?” He kept his hand across your shoulders as he led you back towards the garden.
“Sometimes yes, but today I should be able to help for a while. Everything else I need to oversee is being taken care of by the rest of my helpers. And besides, I’d like to get to know you better!”
He held the door open for you as he led you outside. It was a decent sized garden, though it wasn’t in the best shape. Most of the ground was choked with weeds and rocks. The few plants that were there looked like they were in bad shape, withered and probably needing to be thrown away.
“Sad, isn’t it?” He asked, shaking his head at the sight of it. “I thought it might be nice if we fixed the place up a bit, perhaps we could start a community garden?”
That actually didn’t seem like a bad idea. The town had suffered a lot in the last decade and anything that brought the community together on a good day was great, but during all this? It was pretty heartwarming.
“Just trying to get more people in the door, huh?”
The priest gave a gasp of surprise. “Why, I would never! And I’m insulted that you would even suggest such a thing.” That teasing smirk didn’t get past you for a second.
You playfully rolled your eyes as he pretended to stuffily be offended by the ‘rude gesture’.
“Your penance for being ever so inconsiderate to your gracious host,” A dramatic hand to his chest, “will be to collect the largest of the rocks and put them in the wheelbarrow.” He gestured to a shed not too far off where the contraption awaited you.
“Okay fine, I guess I deserve that,” you huffed, just as smug as he was. You decided you liked Father Gabriel. If he drank you could totally see yourself getting a beer with the guy. Sucks that their religion doesn’t allow drinking.
And true to his word, he helped you, though he left the biggest rocks for you to get. Which really wasn’t that bad, the biggest ones were the size of a small watermelon. You even got a few stories out of him about funny things he’d seen happen in church.
“And the kid just locked himself in a closet?”
“And he wouldn’t come out! We did our best to tell him he wasn’t in trouble for his little wandering stunt over to his friend’s house but he wouldn’t listen. So little Mark stayed in there until we finally got him to let himself out. Poor dear was scared to death.”
“Scared of getting in trouble or scared of getting locked in the closet by accident again?”
That made the priest pause for a moment. “I’m not entirely sure, but who can understand why children do anything? As you can tell, I’ve never had any of my own so I don’t have the best understanding of the little tykes.”
That got another laugh out of you. Kids or not, he was right though. “I don’t get the little gremlins much myself either. But that’s why I tend to work with the opposite end of the spectrum.”
“Do you mean your ghost friends?”
You whipped around to look at the priest who just gave you a nonplussed look. “The courts told me about what it was you were doing when you were sneaking around. Not that I find trouble with it. It’d be hypocritical of me to say there are angels but then deny the existence of demons or ghosts. And just as I’d encourage someone to seek angels, I understand if you look for something on the other side.”
He brushed the dirt off on his robe and stood up. “I think that should be good for today. Thank you for coming, and of course for your hard work.”
You did the same of brushing the dirt off your pants and accepted the priest’s hand when he offered it to help you up. He was a little stronger than he looked though, you ending up needing to brace a hand against his chest to steady yourself. Strong indeed.
“Sorry about that.” You couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Nonsense, there’s nothing to apologize for. I’m told I can be quite supportive.”
“For a guy with no kids you make a ton of dad jokes.”
“Biological children,” he corrected. “I have many children I lead every day.”
You finally noticed you still had a hand on the dude’s pec and took a step away, clearing your throat to try and keep the embarrassment to a minimum.
“So same place, same time tomorrow?” Not that it was a choice, but confirming the plans made you feel better nonetheless. Another of his smiles met your consideration. You were kinda starting to like those.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, my lamb. Let me show you out.” He put a hand on your shoulder again to lead you to the door you came in from, stopping only to hold it open for you on the way out.
“You can come straight back to the garden tomorrow. No need to wander up to the sanctuary to try and marry another of my candles.”
“Ah man, and here I thought I’d finally get a way to file my taxes as ‘married’ next year. Thanks a lot man, there goes my huge tax break.” That one finally got a laugh out of him. It was a nice sound you’d hope to get more of.
“I’m sure you can do better than a candle, little lamb. You have but to look,” that time his smirk and little wink caught you a bit off guard. Was that flirting or were you crazy?
“Well, see you tomorrow.” You hurriedly booked it down the stairs, deciding to sort out if that was flirting and how you felt about it at home where no one, especially not the man himself, could see you blush.
“See you tomorrow! Be sure to take care!” He called after you, making your heart do a little summersault. Sweet man indeed. Hopefully nothing a little alcohol could help you forget.