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Azrael stood at edge of the the alcove just to the side of the nave at St. Brennan's, studying the candles. Brows lifting, she glanced up and then over her shoulder to see Ella chatting with a few older parishioners, before stepping into the alcove. Fumbling in her pocket, she pulled out a bill and tucked it into a basket before lighting a candle and settling onto the kneeler. "Father," she began quietly, folding her hands and resting them on the armrest. "I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end." She took a deep breath and then, resting her head on her folded hands, continued in silence.
When she had finished, Azrael got to her feet and turned to see a woman watching her, a baby in her arms and a toddler by her side. "How nice to see such devotion in one so young," she said, with a warm smile. "Are you new here? I'm Mary Grace and these are -"
At that moment, the older child dashed into the crowd, eliciting a look of exasperation from his mother. "He keeps doing that. Excuse me - oh, wait, could you hold her?" Before Azrael could protest, Mary Grace had thrust the baby into her arms and followed her son into the crowd.
Azrael held the baby at arms' length, eyes wide. "Why would someone do that?" she muttered, looking anxiously for Ella, who was no longer in sight. The baby's face puckered, her lower lip trembling. "Stop, no, no crying," Azrael informed the infant, who squirmed and kicked her chubby legs in response. "Because if you do, I'm going to swear in church, and I'm reasonably sure that will not go over well." Very carefully, she eased the baby closer, settling the girl on her hip and wincing a little at the resultant shriek of, she hoped, glee. "Ow, that's - yes, you've got my hair, could you-."
"Wow, you look like you should be working for the bomb squad right now." Ella's cheerful words were accompanied by the click of her phone's camera, which elicited an exasperated huff from Azrael. "How'd you end up with Sarah?"
"This woman just… handed me her offspring," Azrael replied, doing her best to pass over the baby. "I think it's stuck in my hair."
Ella skillfully evaded the handover, though she did reach to disentangle Azrael's hair from the baby's clinging fingers. "You're doing fine," she said, with a grin. "Michael must have pulled another Houdini." Looking amused, she added, "You sound just like your brother."
"Of course his name is Michael," Azrael muttered, as she shifted the baby in an attempt to keep her hair out of range after one final attempt proved that, no, Ella was not going to take the baby. Relief flooded her expression as Mary Grace returned, a less-than-contrite Michael in tow.
"Thank you so much," the woman said, reaching to take back her daughter. "It's just so much easier to catch him if I'm not carrying her, too." Sarah let out a wail, reaching for Azrael, who prudently edged back a step. Mary Grace added, "Aw, she likes you. How old are you?"
Azrael, straightening her clothing and smoothing her hair, replied, "Um, eleven. You're welcome. She's, uh, very strong."
Looking disappointed, Mary Grace said, "If you were older, I'd ask you about babysitting. Well, I hope you'll come back to St. Brennan's, and thanks again." Mary Grace bustled away, Sarah watching Azrael over her shoulder, Michael's hand held firmly.
Azrael leaned against the kneeler. "Wow, dodged a bullet, there," she breathed.
"Not a baby person, huh?" Ella asked, with a sympathetic grin. "I wasn't either, at your age."
Azrael rubbed lightly at her forehead. "Maybe if she hadn't been thrown at me, I don't know. No experience."
Ella swooped Azrael into an enthusiastic hug, ignoring the girl's surprised squeak. "Well, I'm just glad you came with me today. Did you have fun?"
Azrael fell in step with Ella. "I liked the ritual of it," she replied thoughtfully. "It was kind of relaxing."
"You seemed to know what you were doing with the responses," Ella commented, smiling in farewell to a young couple as she exited the church. "Are you Catholic?"
Azrael shook her head. "Me? No. I'm just... trying to find, uh, God. I guess."
Casting over a shrewd look, Ella observed, "You were praying pretty hard in there. Everything okay?"
"Yes," Azrael said, too quickly.
"Hey, no pressure," Ella said. "But we don't have to go straight back if you don't want to."
Azrael shot a considering look at the forensic tech. "I could really use an espresso," she said finally.
Ella's brows lifted a little. "Your brother lets you drink coffee?"
"Ella," Azrael replied, with a quick smile. "You know Lucifer, right? You think he's going to object to a little caffeine?"
With a laugh, Ella agreed, "Good point. I'm not really sure what - if anything - we could do that Lucifer wouldn't like."
Azrael took a breath as if to suggest something, but then shook her head, with another brief smile. "How about there?" she said, as she spotted a coffee shop up ahead. At Ella's nod of assent, she stepped into the shop, adding, with a hint of sarcasm, "No line, my prayers are answered."
"You joke, but this place is usually packed," Ella replied. The pair placed their orders and found a table near the window, before Ella added, "Rae, seriously, if you need to talk about anything..."
Azrael's eyebrows lifted, and she fidgeted with her drink before taking a sip. "I don't know what he wants me to do," she said finally.
"God?" Ella queried. At Azrael's nod, she said, "Well, he doesn't always make these things clear."
Azrael exhaled a short laugh. "No kidding. So I told him that. I said that I'm trying, and that I hope that's good enough."
"I'm pretty sure intent matters," Ella said, with a smile. "Do you feel better now?"
Azrael took another drink, expression reflective. "No," she said finally, "but I don't feel worse. Though I have to admit," she added, with a quick smile, "It's a little disturbing that the answer to my prayer is a lady handling me a baby."
Ella laughed, with a nod. "Hey, not everything is a sign. That could have been a completely irrelevant baby." She considered the phrase, then declared, "Completely Irrelevant Baby. That's going to be the name of my band."
Azrael regarded the woman with a puzzled smile. "You have a band?"
"Well, not yet," Ella replied, with a grin. "You want in?"
"In your hypothetical band?" Azrael shook her head, but said, "Sure, as long as you don't use that picture of Sarah and me for the first album cover."
Ella grinned, tapping her phone. "No promises, chickie."
There was a moment of companionable silence, but then Ella leaned forward. "So, I have to ask, who's Michael? You've mentioned him a few times, didn't sound like he was your favorite person."
Azrael took a sip of her drink before replying, "One of my older brothers - one of the more annoying ones, lately. Definitely not my favorite."
"Speaking from experience, being annoying is a pretty standard older-brother skill," Ella replied with a grin. "So Azrael, Lucifer, and... Michael. Your folks have some interesting ideas about naming their kids."
Azrael nodded, a hint of amusement in her expression. "Azrael means 'help from God,' right? One of my brothers - probably Michael, now that I think about it - used to say that my mother, on first sight of me, said, uh, 'God help us all,' and that's how I was named."
"What did your mom say?" Ella inquired, with a laugh.
Azrael smiled, a little wistfully. "She said not to let him get under my skin."
Ella nodded. "Good advice. But Lucifer, that's not his real name, is it?"
Azrael looked up from her drink. "It is," she said mildly.
"Wow. So he really just got into it?" Ella leaned back in her chair, adding, fascinated, "He's never broken character, not that I've seen. Does he relax at home, drop the act?"
Azrael shifted in her seat, turning to look out the window. "No," she said finally. "He's just... Lucifer."
"Wow," Ella repeated, shaking her head. "I'm impressed." Taking note of the empty mugs, she observed, "It's probably time to head back."
Azrael got to her feet with an amiable nod, grabbing the mugs and tucking them into the nearby tub. "I appreciate the stop - well, the trip in general, but caffeine makes a lot of things better. Theobromine just doesn't cut it sometimes."
Ushering her out the door, Ella observed, with a laugh, "You are an odd kid, Rae."
"... Thank you."