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The crying was unusual, to say the least. A child’s tears were almost never heard in this part of the compound. Rachel gently brushed off the kid’s wings. “You’re okay, Jack. You did really well, until you got distracted. Can you tell me what distracted you?”
“Him.” Jack pointed to Gadreel, who had entered the training area while Jack was supposed to be flying a lap. “Not-Daddy.”
“All right. Are you hurt?”
Jack took a minute to sniffle while he thought it over. Then he shook his head. “I’m ready to try again if you are.”
“Sounds good. Now, remember, you need to focus on your wings while you’re flying. If someone comes in, even if it’s Castiel or Michael or Gadreel or Sam, they don’t want to interrupt your training. If they do need to interrupt your training, they know to come through me first. You just fly. Okay?”
“Okay!” Jack got to his feet. “Wait. Can I go say hello to Not-Daddy first?”
Rachel swallowed hard. “Jack, Gadreel isn’t your father. While he likes you well enough, he doesn’t think of you as a son. If he came in here, it’s to do his own training. You should let him focus so that he can finish what he needs to do and be your daddy again.”
“But I never get to talk to Not-Daddy,” Jack pouted. “Please?”
“No, Jack. He’s focused, and you need to be too.” Rachel put her hands under his arms. “On three. Ready?” Jack’s muscles tensed up. “One… two… three!” She tossed Jack into the air, and his wings spread as he aimed himself toward the thermal vent.
After Jack finished a lap, he came toward Rachel, who caught him and helped him land safely. “Much better! You did a good job up there, Jack!”
“Thank you! But I need to get better, don’t I?”
“There’s always room for improvement, but you can’t force it. According to the training plan, you’re doing better than Naomi expected from you at this point when it comes to flying. You’re doing very good at learning to turn and to use the thermals to help yourself get higher. Naomi’s plan has you staying on turning drills for the rest of the day, so we should do a few more of those, but if you do well we can do something fun at the end of your time, okay?”
“Okay.” Jack straightened his back and spread his wings, resettling them in position for takeoff. “I’m ready when you are!”
After a few more laps, Jack touched down. Rachel ruffled his hair. “All right. What…”
“Sorry to interrupt.” Rachel and Jack both turned to stare at Gadreel. “Rachel, I overheard you promise Jack a reward instead of having to stick with Naomi’s drills, if he did well. Did he perform satisfactorily?”
“He did,” Rachel confirmed. She tried not to let her hopes show. If she was wrong, she didn’t want Jack to be disappointed. “Do you have something in mind?”
“With your permission, I would like to take Jack for a short flight with me. Flying in formation is an advanced skill, one Jack might not be ready for, but I suspect he would enjoy trying.” He turned to Jack. “Castiel was supposed to join me for my drills, and he will, but he’s running a bit late because of a meeting with Michael. Would you like to join me until he can arrive?”
Jack squealed and turned to Rachel. “Can I? Please? I’d like that better than any other reward, even nougat!”
“You may. Be careful, if Gadreel tells you to do something then listen to him, and don’t get distracted when Castiel arrives.” Rachel smiled as Jack squealed and ran in place.
Gadreel helped Jack launch, and then took off himself. It was clear that he was challenging himself to match Jack’s flight, instead of trying to lead, which made more sense anyway. Castiel walked in while they were weaving through some rings. “Rachel?”
“It was Gadreel’s idea. I don’t know if it’s Gadreel honestly taking to the kid finally or Sam bleeding through, but it was Gadreel’s idea.”
“This explains why he texted me to ask me to be late, I suppose,” Castiel mused. “I have to admit to some concern… one of the things Bardiel mentioned might happen is that Jack would be able to warp reality. If he… it’s possible that somehow Jack is controlling Gadreel somehow.”
Rachel pursed her lips. “It’s possible, but he’s been concentrating so hard on his flying, I don’t think it’s likely. At least, not on purpose. If you’re worried, you can always ask Raphael to check them out, but…”
She trailed off as Gadreel touched down in front of her, reaching out his hands to catch Jack. Jack ran to Castiel for a hug. “Did you see me? Rachel says I’m getting good at turning, and Gadreel and I managed to go through the whole ring sequence together!”
“I did see you. Be sure to thank Gadreel for flying with you, Jack.”
“Oh, right!” Jack turned back to Gadreel. “Thank you for flying with me. I had a lot of fun.”
“You’re quite welcome. You’re getting very good.” Gadreel looked to Castiel as Rachel took Jack off. “Shall we?”
“Why did you fly with him?” Castiel asked. “Forgive the bluntness, but I have concerns.”
“If Jack did something to me, I’m not aware of it,” Gadreel promised with a smile. “He’s a good kid. Just because I don’t feel a paternal bond doesn’t mean he’s not a brother or nephew, and providing a special treat seemed like an appropriate way to bond with him without getting his hopes up that he should consider me a father.”
Castiel nodded. “Fair enough, then. Let’s train.”