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Highway To Heaven: To Serve & Protect
(One-Shot)
“Whew!” Mark let out a breath as he turned the car towards the exit. “Hotter than ... anything ...out here.”
Jonathan's lips twitched into a smirk for a moment, remembering the last time Mark had used that phrase in its original form. The word 'hell' had caused the car to throw up its hood. Mark was learning. Slowly, but surely. “Well, Florida is close to the Equator,” he said. “Our assignment has to do with a swimming team, so you'll be able to keep cool.”
“That's great!” Mark exclaimed. His favorite types of assignments were whenever he got to be a coach, especially of ball games, but considering where they were going, swimming will do just fine. “I can work on my tan as well. Never thought I'd get to do that in the middle of October. Will you get a tan?”
“Mark, I'm an angel,” Jonathan reminded him. “That's kind of impossible for me.”
“Oh, yeah,” Mark muttered. He then smiled quickly. “More sun for me!” He turned into the parking lot of the university & shut off the car.
They got out & headed inside to be handed their next assignment: getting the team in shape in time for their next competition.
“I'm so glad you guys could come in on such short notice,” the principle said after all three of them had sat down in her office. “It's almost like heaven itself sent two angels!”
“Hmm, half right,” Mark snickered to himself as the principle went on.
“Both our main coach & his assistant had to leave due to life getting in the way.”
“I'm sure they'll be back soon,” Jonathan knowingly replied. According to the Boss, they would only be here until Halloween.
“Maybe,” the principle shrugged. “I just hope you two will stay until then, if & when that happens.”
“What do you mean?” Mark asked.
“Our swim team has eight members & it is made up of two families,” the principle began. “Five kids from the Hoover family & three from the Rivers family. Both grew up here & have gone to the same schools, the same universities for a long time.”
“What happened?” Jonathan asked, having a sudden deeper idea of what this assignment was.
“I'm not really sure,” the principle said. “There seems to be a falling out. Both families used to be best friends & now all they do is fight. I'm seriously considering making a new swim team if they can't get their acts together by Halloween.”
“I'm sure it will all work out by then,” Jonathan replied as Mark gave him a side glance of silent understanding.
“I hope so,” she said. “Anyway, come with me. I'll show you around.” Once the principle had given them a tour of the school & even introduced them to some team members, she left the pair alone in the cafeteria.
Mark looked around, taking in the decorations before leaning forward a little towards Jonathan. “So that's it then. We have to find out what's driving them apart & fix it?”
“Pretty much,” Jonathan nodded. “We don't have much time, either.”
“Any idea on who to start with?”
Jonathan's eyes were already trained on someone, a young lady across the mess hall, sitting with some of her girlfriends. “Her.”
Mark glanced around. “Her?”
“Her.” Jonathan got up & headed for the girl with Mark following behind. “Hello, Miss Hoover.”
The girl looked up. “Hello, Mr. ...?”
“My name's Jonathan Smith, this is my friend, Mark Gordon,” Jonathan began. “We'll be taking over the swim team until Halloween.”
“Oh, really?” she smiled. “I was worried they wouldn't find anyone on such short notice. I'm Sally. This is my friend, Alexis, & my sister, Irene.”
“Sister,” Mark echoed. “So you're on the swim team as well?”
“Yes,” Irene said. “Our family make up most of the team.” After a moment, she added in a lower tone. “The Rivers make up the other three.”
“What's wrong with the Rivers?” Mark asked. “With a name like that, you'd think they'd be excellent swimmers.”
Jonathan turned to Mark. “That's real cute, Mark.”
“Oh, they are,” Irene assured. “Swimming has nothing to do with it.”
“Well, that's good to hear,” Jonathan said, sensing that Irene didn't want to say more, just yet. “We're all hoping to get everyone in top shape for the next competition on Halloween. We'll see you in the water for the next practice, tomorrow.”
“Sure thing, Coach!” Irene smiled.
Jonathan led Mark outside towards the car; although, this took some time since Mark kept glancing at the decorations. “Did I ever tell you—”
“That Halloween's one of your favorite holidays?” Jonathan cut in. “You might have mentioned it.”
“Oh, right.”
“One thousand, seven hundred & one times,” Jonathan added, enjoying the little glare Mark sent him. “So far.”
“Who's counting?” Mark complained.
“The Boss,” Jonathan teased.
“Uh-huh,” Mark grunted as they got into the car & headed to the hotel for the night.
It was a small room with only one bed but Jonathan didn't need to sleep. At night, he would either be up in heaven to let Mark sleep (translation: so he didn't have to hear Mark snore), or wandering around as he prayed, or worst case scenario, pulling Mark into someone's dreamscape. During those times, Mark didn't get any rest despite being asleep. Fortunately, Jonathan didn't seem to be using dreams on this assignment & so Mark was sure he'd get a good night's sleep for a change.
He was wrong.
Just before six in the morning, Jonathan materialized in the room & woke Mark up by slapping a big furry paw onto Mark's face.
Mark sat up with a yell & switched the light on to find a large werewolf in his room. “Jonathan!” Mark groaned, flopping back down onto the pillows.
Jonathan returned back to his human-like self & laughed. “As you say, it's your favorite holiday & you always tell me how you like to be scared.”
“Yes, when I'm already awake!” Mark snapped. “I need my sleep if I'm going to coach eight teenagers tomorrow.”
“Today.”
“What?”
“Uh, it's almost six in the morning. So, today.”
“Six in the...ohhh Jonathan!” Mark moaned, turning to tuck his head under the pillow to try to sleep some more.
But the angel was having none of it & put a hand on Mark's shoulder, shaking him. “Come on. They start practice at eight. You want to eat, don't you?”
“Yes, after I get some sleep!” the pillow with Mark's voice complained.
“Come on!” Jonathan used the stuff to vanish the pillow, revealing a rather disgruntled ex-cop underneath.
“Cute,” Mark groaned, glaring with one eye open. He put a hand out to find his cap (which Jonathan was already holding so Mark could not do that & use the cap to cover his eyes).
“The sun is already starting to appear,” Jonathan said. “Let's go!”
Several yawns, stretches & a large three-egg breakfast for Mark later, the two of them found themselves on the pier with the swim team in the water.
It didn't take long to see what was wrong with the team. Though every member was a fantastic swimmer, both families seemed to make it their mission to find the littlest thing wrong with what the others were doing—& of course, they themselves could do no wrong.
After almost three days of it, Mark finally ordered them all to either stop it or get kicked off the team. It was up to him & Jonathan alone to decide if someone was doing something wrong & no one else!
“Jonathan, what are we going to do?” Mark asked one evening while out to dinner. “We're supposed to complete this assignment by Halloween but with the way things are going, that will be next year, not next week!”
“It will be next week,” Jonathan said. “Have you noticed how Sally Hoover & Tony Rivers seem to avoid each other in the water?”
“Oh, if this is all about silly teenage romance,” Mark whined.
“Not all,” Jonathan said. “But when they aren't in the water, those two are always sneaking off together. They only act like they hate each other while swimming.”
“So, teenage romance."
“That's part of it,” said Jonathan as a woman came up to their table, eyes beaded on Jonathan. “Hello, Tessa. What brings you here?”
Tessa pushed back some long blonde hair behind her ear as she sat right down next to Jonathan, much to Mark's surprise. The two of them seemed to know each other. Tessa glanced at Mark, then upwards in much the same way Jonathan would do when receiving a message from the Boss. Ah. Another angel.
Tessa turned to Jonathan. “Your friend, Mark Gordon I presume?”
“Yes, that's him,” Jonathan said before looking at Mark. “Your name is legend on the lips of the angels in heaven.”
Mark could only stare in more surprise as Tessa continued. “My own assignment is nearby. I've come to warn you about the gang on the street I'm trying to bust up before they cause more problems.”
“I appreciate it,” Jonathan said, glancing at Mark. Usually, angels kept to themselves with their own assignments. Unusually, angels had human help like how Jonathan had Mark's keen cop sense, which was why angels spoke of Mark, a mere human intimately privy to their way of life. The warning wouldn't be for nothing & Jonathan's first thought was that Mark would be in danger.
“How's your swim team coming along?” Tessa asked. Both Jonathan & Mark all but glared at her in reply. Tessa giggled. “Teenagers. I love working with them, but they are also the most trying of humans at times.”
“They are a great team,” Mark said. “It's just they need to remember how to get along.”
Tessa looked him over. “I think it might have something to do with you,” she said as she got up. “Well, I better get back. You two be careful out there.”
After she left, Mark asked, “What did she mean about me?”
“Well, probably you'll find a way through to those kids,” Jonathan said. “You usually do. I'll see you at the hotel.”
“Jona—” Mark started but the angel disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Once he was finished eating, Mark walked down the two blocks back to the hotel, expecting to see Jonathan there. As he turned the corner, some large thing slowly hung down from the lamp post & snarled at him. For one moment, Mark was terrified but then his eyes adjusted. “Jonathan, real cute.”
The werewolf-like image disappeared & Jonathan was walking beside him once more. “You were scared.”
“No.”
“Yes, you were,” Jonathan laughed.
“Come on, Jonathan. The werewolf thing is getting old! They aren't even real.”
“How would you know?”
“They're fairy tales.”
“A lot of people think angels are fairy tales, yet here we are.”
“Some people think the Boss is a fairy tale, yet here we are,” Mark said. “Now THAT is scary.”
“This is true,” Jonathan conceded the point. “I'll think of something to get you. Save it for Halloween Eve.”
“I can hardly wait,” Mark said.
For the next two days, Mark took Tessa's words to heart & tried to develop a rapport with the team. It wasn't hard to do for as Jonathan said, Mark was rather good with children. But nothing seemed to change in their behaviour towards each other other than trying to hide it better from either of their coaches.
Tessa's words suddenly took on a whole new meaning however, when Mark overheard the principle talking with the matron of the Hoover family. He had just walked past the door on his way down the hall & heard his name being mentioned through the one inch opening.
“I assure you, Mark Gordon is very good with the team!” the principle said. “As is his friend, Jon—”
“You are aware of Mark's history, aren't you?” Mrs. Hoover cut in. “He's a cop.”
“An ex-cop,” the principle tried. “He's retired to do coaching now.”
Technically, Mark didn't get around to going back to the force much since he had been running all over America with an angelic pal doing odd jobs for God & currently, God had given them both the job of swim coaches, but no one other than Mark & Jonathan knew that little detail.
“A cop killed my eldest son!” Mrs. Hoover shouted.
“Oh, hell,” Mark gasped, jumping at the thunderclap, sending a clear message: If you want to work with My angels, you mind your language! “Sorry,” he whispered as he hurried away. Mark went to the hotel to grab his old badge before going down to the police station to do some digging.
Unsurprisingly, Jonathan was already there, dressed up in a cop uniform the Boss must have given him.
“You wouldn't believe what I found,” they told each other at the same time. Both took a moment to process that before laughing.
“Mrs. Hoover has a thing against cops,” Mark began. “A cop killed her eldest son.”
“That cop had a run-in with that gang Tessa is working on.”
“Oh,” Mark gasped. No wonder the other angel had come around. Their assignments were loosely connected.
“Jason used to be on the swim team,” Jonathan said. “He was there that day when the gunfight happened. Sally took his place when her brother was killed.”
“That's great!” Mark said. “Well, not THAT. I mean, that's great that we now know what happened.”
“Oh, that's not the half of it,” Jonathan handed over a record book.
Mark took a moment to read it. “Rivers?” He stared at the name.
Officer Derek Rivers received the Medal of Valor for saving the lives of several people in a gunfight.
Mark's eyes continued to skim, reading the whole story. He put the book aside on the desk. “This is it, isn't it?”
“I believe so.”
“Derek had no choice,” Mark said. “That gang must be dangerous since it needs an angel to diffuse it. Jason made his choice. He would have had a fine life on the swim team & he threw it away.” Of course, Mark was always quick to defend his own kind.
“Actually, Jason wasn't a member of the gang. He had gone there to prevent one of them from harassing his sister, Sally.” That shut Mark up for a bit. Jonathan went on. “He was simply in the wrong place at the time.”
“So, Jason got caught in the crossfires & Officer Rivers is the one who killed him,” Mark said. “Now the two families want nothing to do with each other but they are stuck on the same team together.”
Jonathan put a hand on Mark's shoulder & the next instant, they were outside on the beach. Jonathan's cop uniform was also gone & he was back to his usual jeans, blue shirt with the top few buttons left open & the leather jacket. “It was an accident.”
“Mrs. Hoover doesn't think so. We need to show her those records,” Mark said. “Let her know it was an accident. Jason got in the way.”
“Well, I don't think it will be as simple as that,” Jonathan said as they climbed up the steps off the beach & headed into the street. “Accident or not, Officer Rivers still killed Jason Hoover & that's all Mrs. Hoover can think about.”
They cut across the main road & turned down an alley which was a shortcut back to the hotel.
“Why are Sally & Tony still together, then?” Mark asked.
“They've been dating since before this incident,” Jonathan answered. “Tony would have told her his father's perspective of things. Besides, Tony isn't the one who killed Jason.”
“Jonathan.”
Jonathan instantly stopped & glanced upward. That had been Tessa's voice. Next moment, something slammed into him which in turn slammed him into something else.
“Look out!” Mark yelled, throwing himself onto Jonathan & smashing both of them into the wall of the building before they fell in a pile on the ground.
The bang of a gun firing sounded close & Mark let out another yell, this one in pain. Jonathan used the stuff to get out from under Mark's weight & standing in front of the shooter just at the corner of the block before anyone could even blink.
The shooter paled as his eyes locked with Jonathan's. Someone had hurt Mark & the angel's temper was in full force. The shooter & Jonathan both glanced down at the leather jacket Jonathan was wearing, the front of it soaking in blood. Jonathan's eyes snapped up. Without a word, he put a hand out & wrenched the gun from the shooter's hand. Next, he picked the shooter up by the front of his collar, using his free hand, holding him high off the ground in a show of strength no human could have. “I really wish you hadn't have done that,” Jonathan said before tossing the shooter back.
While it was a simple toss, the poor lad still went bouncing through the fence & two trees before landing in a pile several feet away.
Next moment, Jonathan was back by Mark's side. He rolled him over. Mark blinked a few times & allowed Jonathan to help him sit back against the wall.
Mark stared at what was in Jonathan's hand. “Hmm, gun.”
“I took it from him,” Jonathan said, holding the small pistol up. Using the stuff, he melted it into a small round metallic ball. He threw away it down the street. “Are you alright?”
“Been better!” Mark hissed in pain through gritted teeth. He pressed his left hand up to the front of his right shoulder. “I'll be fine. He just nicked me.”
“You've lost a bit of blood.”
“Think you can do something about it?”
“Mark, I'm an angel, not the Great Physician.”
Mark grunted as he slowly stood up with Jonathan's help. “Can you at least whiz me off to the hospital?”
Jonathan managed a short laugh. “I can definitely do that.”
They appeared on the far edge of the parking lot for the hospital in the area. Jonathan held Mark close to his side as they hurried inside.
Once Mark was taken into emergency, Jonathan went up to heaven. That one simple movement restored his jacket, instantly cleaning Mark's blood from it.
Jonathan looked over the rich vibrant grounds. The Garden of Eden was off in the distance & the gold of New Jerusalem sparkled in glory.
“Arthur Thompson Jonathan Smith.”
Uh oh. The Boss had used both his living name & his dead one!
“I know. My temper. Again.”
“You have got to learn to control that. Even when you were alive, you always had that mean streak.”
“I know,” Jonathan sighed. “Mark ...”
“He'll be fine.” There was a dramatic pause. “See that you maintain the humble spirit of the angels, My child! In ALL things!”
Jonathan silently nodded. In an instant, he was returned to the hospital lobby & Mark was just walking out to see him, arm in sling. A few hours must have past down here while Jonathan was getting scolded up there. Jonathan took one look at Mark before glancing up. Oh, is that what happened?
As they walked out, Jonathan asked, “Mark, why did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Save me from getting shot?”
“I don't want you to get shot.”
“Mark, I can't get shot. I'm an angel, remember? I catch bullets in the air. I can step out of time.”
“Oh,” Mark sighed, delicately touching his injured shoulder. “Right. Right, I forgot.”
“You forget that a lot, Mark.”
“You're just another guy to me. You're my best friend,” Mark said. “I never had a friend like you. It doesn't matter if you're an angel or not.”
“But it does, Mark,” Jonathan insisted. “I can't get killed again. You can.”
“Well, knowing you, does it matter? I stopped fearing death after I met you.”
“Don't be in such a hurry to meet the Boss, Mark,” Jonathan said. “In angelic form, you have your own duties to do until the last great day. If you have family here, they won't know you. I had to watch my wife get old on her own while I died when I was just thirty one years old. My fault. Chain smoking. You know lung cancer got me. I told you that before. I had to watch my little girl grow up without me & now I'm doing that with my grandchildren.”
“Whatever happened to 'we will meet again' & 'we are all reunited in the Lord'?”
“That will happen in the end which can be just as quick as tomorrow or not for many an age from now. In the meantime, being an angel has its own responsibilities. Angels & cops are very similar. You serve & protect the body. We serve & protect the mind & God serves & protects the soul. The Boss is very fond of you but he wants you to live your own life down here first.”
“I'll try to remember that,” said Mark.
“Besides, the longer you stay down here, the better off the angelic choir will be. We don't exactly want you any time soon. You'll ruin us,” Jonathan said with a laugh.
“Oh, that's cute!” Mark complained, knowing how much Jonathan hated his 'singing' voice, if one could call whatever animalistic sound Mark had as singing. “Real cute!” Jonathan continued to laugh at him. Mark rolled his eyes before going on. “By the way, you wouldn't believe who I met up with in the hospital.”
“Mrs. Hoover?”
Mark glared. Divine powers really drove him up the dang wall sometimes. “She was there with Sally for her check up. We got to talking. Mostly about the swim team. I told her how well Sally is doing. She mentioned how she knew I was a cop so I told her of those records we were looking at.”
“How did she take that?”
“It took a lot of explaining, but she knows now that Officer Rivers didn't think Jason was part of the gang. Jason had stepped out into the line of fire right when the gun went off.”
“It's certainly a step in the right direction,” Jonathan said. “We need to get both families to stop fighting by Halloween.”
“I invited her to the swim meet,” Mark said. “Officer Rivers will be there with his family. She said she'll think about it.”
“Well done, Mark!” Jonathan patted Mark on the shoulder, regrettably the injured shoulder.
“Ooh oh oh!” Mark all but cried.
“Sorry!” Jonathan removed his hand, failing to hide a smirk. “Never take a bullet for me again.”
Mark just groaned pathetically while doing a thumb-up.
The last few days of practice went by in much the same way. The team kept their fighting to a minimum whenever Jonathan or Mark were around & currently, they had more important things to worry about. Mark was injured & everyone tried to make him more comfortable when they were around him. Focusing on him meant less time & energy focused on fighting.
The sling came off on Halloween Day, although Mark was very careful & deliberate in his movement of that arm. He & Jonathan watched the race in the marked rows at the beach while glancing around on occasion to see if Mrs. Hoover would appear. Officer Rivers was already there, dressed in a light shirt & shorts to beat the heat. His wife was nearby, holding a parasol over her head while watching her three team members swim their fastest yet.
The race was half done & both Mark & Jonathan were beginning to wonder if they had failed this assignment, but then, Mrs. Hoover stepped out of her car & headed towards the pier where the swimmers were currently treading water, waiting for the next lap to begin.
She pointedly ignored Officer Rivers until after the team had swum away.
Mark & Jonathan were now intensely focused on them & soon Officer Rivers had walked away with Mrs. Hoover to the lemonade stand. They seemed to be talking. Awkwardly. Feeling each other out. Old friends turned enemies now a bit lost with each other.
But they were finally talking!
Mark & Jonathan shared a short smile before quietly leaving. They had been successful once more.
As they got into the car, Mark asked, “Any idea what our next assignment is?”
“We're free for now,” Jonathan said. “I believe it's someones favorite holiday tonight?”
“Ohh yeah! Halloween!” Mark exclaimed like a two year old kid. “Any plans for tonight?”
“One.”
“Really? What is it? Will I like it?”
“You're gonna love it!”
Next instant, Mark, the silver Ford & Jonathan all appeared in another part of the country. The Ford was currently parked next to the fence running along a cemetery. The pair of them got out.
“Why does this look familiar?” Mark wondered as he followed Jonathan into the cemetery.
“Come on, we were here before,” Jonathan said. He stopped in front of a grave & pointed.
“Arthur Thom—oh! We're back here, again,” Mark said, looking down at his friend's graveside. Yeah, there was nothing weird about this at all. Nothing at all. Why was Jonathan grinning at him like that? “Why are we here?”
“You like getting scared on this night & I have an idea to reinforce the memory of what I am in you,” Jonathan replied, smiling mischievously. He put a hand on Mark's better arm.
Next instant, Mark found himself inside a coffin with a skeleton, a soft light of glory illuminating the morbid scene. He screamed so loud that anyone standing before the grave of Arthur Thompson would have heard it.
“JONNNNAAAATHAAAANNNNN!!!!”
He bounced right back, standing beside the crazy angel. Mark just glared at him.
“You've just seen my old mortal dead body,” Jonathan teased. “I think you won't forget that memory any time soon. It's for your own good, you know.”
“Cute.” Mark snapped as he started patting himself off. “Real cute. Doesn't that thing have cancer? This is just great!”
“I'm pretty sure my cancer is long gone now, too late for me, but, well you know. Anyway, it's not contagious. Will you calm down?”
“Calm down?” Mark huffed, finally stopping rubbing off his clothes. “You just threw me into your grave!”
“You enjoyed it.”
“I'll tell you what I'm going to enjoy,” Mark snarled. “Hold out your hand.”
“My what?”
“Your hand. I have something for you.”
Jonathan blinked in confusion before putting out his left hand, palm up. Mark placed a small thing in it. Jonathan inspected it for a moment. It looked like. Like. It ... “This is a bone chip.”
“From your left wrist,” Mark grinned.
Jonathan dropped his own piece of bone in surprise. “Mark! You desecrated my body?!” Mark just burst out laughing. “Mark!” Jonathan took a step towards him. “Wait, hang on!” Jonathan suddenly remembered to literally pull himself together. He bent down to grab his wrist bone before disappearing to put that thing back where it came from.
When he returned to Mark's side, the ex-cop was still laughing so hard, he was crying. Jonathan looked up to heaven in a 'Lord, help me with this one' kind of way. “I can not believe you'd do that! To my own body!”
“You enjoyed it,” Mark shot back between tears of laughter.
Eventually, Jonathan couldn't help it. He joined in, laughing hard. A human had just one-upped an angel.
They headed back to the old silver Ford & drove off in search of their next assignment.
(The scene below is in fact taken from the Highway To Heaven season 4 episode 5 “I was a middle aged werewolf” which was named after the movie “I was a teenage werewolf”.
No relation between the werewolf movie & Highway other than the actor, Michael Landon.)
