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After waving goodbye to their friends, Anna let the carefree façade drop. Charlie noticed almost immediately and squeezed her hands. “What’s wrong, baby? Don’t tell me you’re nervous about wedding night sex.”
“No.” Anna couldn’t help the small smile. “I’m not nervous at all about that. It’s going to be good, it’s going to be fun, we know what we’re doing, the only difference is that… no, we don’t even have rings to worry about.” There were plans to go get rings at some point, but that was something they’d wanted to do in-person once normal shopping could resume.
“So what is the problem, then? Because you’re nervous enough for me to tell, so something’s wrong.”
Anna shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong, exactly. Wrong isn’t the right word at all. It’s just… while we were eating dinner, Gabriel reminded me of something I hadn’t thought of, so I didn’t have a chance to plan anything or tell you about it in advance.” Which was what made this so bad. This was not something she had ever wanted to just spring on Charlie, not after stories she’d heard. Sure, things had changed since the old days. Yes, Charlie knew she was an angel, it wasn’t like this was coming completely out of nowhere. And both Sam and Dean had taken things well when it happened to them – which, now that Anna was thinking about it, it was possible that one of them had warned Charlie. “Have you talked to Sam or Dean about their wedding nights at all?”
“Ugh, don’t remind me.” Charlie shuddered and stuck out her tongue. “I could not get Dean to shut up about it. I do not need to know that level of detail about dudes and sex, especially when he’s like my brother.”
“I’m so sorry, but at least it wasn’t Gabriel?” That got a soft snort out of Charlie. Gabriel would have used visual aids and reenactments. “I didn’t mean the sex, though.”
Now Charlie tilted her head, staring at Anna in confusion. “Whatever it is you’re asking about, then no, what else is supposed to happen on a wedding night?”
Damn. Oh well. “There’s no real ceremony involved in an angelic wedding, any kind of vow of commitment is good enough, so we’re married by Heaven’s laws, too.”
“Yeah, that I knew, I remember Sam freaking out a little when he heard that because he’s still half-convinced he’s going to Hell and he didn’t want to drag his husband with him,” Charlie said. Never mind that there was already no way Sam ended up in Hell again even without being married to an angel; Sam often refused to believe the obvious when it came to him. “Don’t really see the big deal, though. It’s not like it matters to me aside from death parting us is temporary at best.”
“Well, it complicates divorce, if things go bad on us. I don’t expect it, I hope not, but people change and not always for the better for a relationship.” Charlie rolled her eyes, but didn’t protest out loud, at least. “The thing is, it means that I’m bound by the laws of Heaven when it comes to my mate.”
“So? I find it hard to believe you hadn’t thought of that before you asked me to marry you, you always have things thought through and planned out,” Charlie teased, and Anna had to smile at that. It was a good check on Charlie’s impulsiveness, and Charlie helped Anna live more in the moment. One of the many reasons they were such a good couple. “What’s got you freaking out?”
“One of the rules is that, aside from accommodating the frailty of your human form, I’m not to hide anything from you. You still don’t get to see my true form because that would hurt you, and the marriage itself isn’t enough to let you hear my true voice without pain…”
Charlie let out a squeal and dropped Anna’s hands to start clapping. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? I get to see your wings now?”
“You get to see my wings now.” Anna let herself relax a little. Charlie seemed to see this as the good kind of surprise. “Are you ready?” Charlie nodded, not trusting herself to speak, so Anna closed her eyes and manifested her wings. They weren’t fancy, not like Gabriel’s, but they were strong and the gleaming blackness had tinges of copper that made them beautiful. She opened her eyes slowly, peeking to see if Charlie’s silence was awe or disappointment before committing to fully looking.
It was awe. Charlie might even be drooling a little. “They’re beautiful. Just like the rest of you, they’re gorgeous. Are they touchable, or would that be…”
“There are three reasons an angel’s wings are ever touched by anyone else. Grooming, of course; there are some hard to reach places that if you have good friends you can trust, you ask for help with. I’ll get Castiel or Gabriel over here to teach you how to do it properly at some point. Punishment – our wings are sensitive. When the powers up in Heaven decide we need to be tortured, our wings are a favored target.” Anna paused at the horrified look on Charlie’s face. “Which I’m not expecting you to have any interest in, but I can see applications for the third reason someone might touch our wings…”
“I’m still stuck on Heaven torturing angels. I know, you and Castiel have both talked about Heaven punishing you, but I never thought of it as actual torture, you know? It’s… it’s Heaven. I was picturing more along the lines of timeouts or having to scrub toilets or something, not… torture.”
Anna wrapped Charlie up in both arms and wings, holding her close. “It’s okay. I only ever speak of it vaguely for a reason, but again, no hiding things from you.”
“Does that mean that if I ask you what you’re getting me for my birthday, you have to tell me?” Charlie asked, mischief putting the sparkle back in her eyes.
“Yes… on your birthday, or whenever I give it to you.” Anna grinned as Charlie burst into giggles. “Secrets to maintain a surprise are fine. Secrets to hide something about myself are not, unless you ask me to.”
“Okay, that’s fair. So, the third… is hugs?
“Well, hugs are… okay, maybe they should be separate, although you’re the only person I’ll ever hug like this. The third I was thinking of was sex. That one, I’m very much hoping you’ll touch my wings for. It’s an incredible experience, I’m told.”
“Sounds good to me.” Charlie reached out to the wing closest to her hand, burying her fingers in feathers. “Do they give you some kind of sex ed for this, or are we figuring it out as we go along?”
“I can give you some general guidelines… the closer on the wings to my body you are, the more intense. Like the difference between rubbing someone’s foot and rubbing their thigh. Of course, some angels really enjoy having their wingtips played with, like some people have a thing for feet…”
“So a combination of both. We’re figuring out the specifics, just like with any kind of sexual exploration.”
“Exactly.” Anna held Charlie tighter. “Sorry to just… spring this on you… but I honestly had not thought of it until Gabriel reminded me during dinner.”
“This is awesome and I’m sorry you didn’t get to plan some big speech or whatever it is you wish you’d done, but I’m happy. I love you so much.”