Photographic Proof

[Demeter]

Faith glanced up one side of the street and down the other. It had been a mistake to let the terrible trio out of the backyard. Faith adjusted the sling her son, Bram, slept in, snapped a leash onto Saiyuri's daughter (due to her tendancy to wander) and set out in search of her cousin and her sister-in-law's stepsons.

She'd watching the little Custoss for the day. Bram never did much besides sleep, eat, and cry when he needed to be changed. And, after assisting in the rearing of two multi-hybrid children, her son was a breeze to care for.

Faith scanned the street and sighed when she didn't see the children. Probably into Mrs. Arnold's garden again, she thought as she crossed the street. As she walked down the sidewalk, Faith peered into yards, grumbling when squeals of playing children reached her.

Faith groaned when Lani toddled up to her and held her arms up. Now this wasn't going to be an easy feat. Bram across her chest in his sling and Lani wanted to be carried. As Faith crouched down to get a good grip on the little girl, the earsplitting screach of a car alarm sounded. Faith just sighed and braced Lani against her hip. "Come on little lady, lets go see what happened and lets hope that this doesn't wake him up, huh?"

Faith let a little grin slip out of her sour mood at the little girl's giggle and headed downstreet. Once she reached the source of the car alarm, she sighed once again and wished that she had a free hand to slap her forehead. The car belonging to the alarm was parked in the driveway of the newest resident on the street. Sebastian and Gareth were up a tree and Rowan had gotten himself tangled in the plantlife climbing on the top of an arbor. All three boys were hissing at the shrill sound of the alarm.

Faith groaned and winced as Bram was driven to wakefullness and the need to start screaming at the sound of the car alarm. Lani had also joined in with the hissing. "Really...can this day get any harder?" she asked no one in particular.

[Maira]

The one and only attempt his mother had made to make their family seem normal, like everybody else's, was staring up at him from the pages of a photo album he'd never known existed; it was a family picture. Three kids, two adults, and smiles on all their faces but the baby's. Faith was still too young to smile on command.

Just at the thought of his baby sister, Wrath cracked a grin. Wrath, Mercy and Faith were the names bestowed on himself and his two younger sisters all courtesy of their mother's life phases. She was very angry when she had Wrath, after all, his father had run the moment he knew he'd gotten his "casual lay" pregnant. When Mercy was born their mother had finally gotten into a good relationship, or so she thought until it too went bad. Years and many abusive men later, when Faith finally came along, their mother had found herself another Angel to share her life with her and her faith in love and happiness returned only to be shattered shortly after the family photograph was taken.

Unknown to their mother, Faith's father had been one of the Fallen and he eventually reverted to his bad ways, beating Wrath and his mother both. After one particularly bad beating his most recent step-father had given him and then turned on his sister Mercy, Wrath's temper snapped and he went into a blind rage. When he came to he had killed Faith's father. Afraid he would turn on his sisters, Wrath had left town.

Wrath had moved back to his hometown a few years ago, had bought a house and started setting up a landscaping business and things were looking up for him. Then just a month or so ago Mercy had come back into Wrath's life, in fact she had moved in with him. With her came the mysterious photo album.

Of course, he hadn't known about it until she'd sent him into her room to get something out of one of her boxes, he'd tipped the box over and it had spilled the album out onto the floor along with half a dozen other things. The other things weren't what caught his attention though. He'd gathered up the photo album and flipped through it in silence. Mercy, wondering what was taking him so long, came in to find Wrath looking through the album and she'd told him he could have it.

He hadn't looked at it since that day, he hadn't had the time, but now he was sitting down having a cup of coffee making time. He'd given up on his family so many years ago and he really wanted to see how things had gone for them after he'd left. Only a the very first few pictures had Wrath in them, after that it was just the girls but Wrath still had a silly have smile on his face as he looked at them.

At least, until the screeching of his car's alarm shook him out of his nostalgia. He had to do some scrambling to keep the coffee that had sloshed out of its cup when he'd jumped from getting on the pictures. "Damn it!" he growled as he settled the coffee cup on the kitchen table, closed up the photo album and set it by the cup, then headed to the front door. He finally had a day off, a day to relax, and now he was going to have to deal with somebody breaking into his car?! He was not pleased.

His growl and his stomping, if not the car alarm, had probably alerted Mercy that something was up but he didn't care. Wrath flung open the front door and glared in the direction of his car looking to see just what the hell was going on. He'd barely stepped out on the front porch when something came crashing down through his arbor. Only by pure instinct did he reach out and catch the falling something and he gave a grunt as the weight of it settled in his arms before it started squirming like a fish out of water.

Opening his eyes, not realizing he'd closed them, Wrath saw a small boy struggling to get down from his arms. "What the?" Wrath asked of nobody in particular and then he grabbed the back of the boy's shirt and held him like you would a bad kitten; by the scruff. "Just what were you doing on my arbor?" he asked the boy none to gently.

While waiting for the boy's answer, Wrath looked once again towards his car and this time saw a young woman holding to babies in her arms looking helpless and frustrated. Then he saw movement in his bushes and two more boys were revealed. "Get out of the bushes!" he yelled, "they are very rare and if you kill them your parents will NOT be happy!"

*****

Lani was still hissing at the car and the evil noise it was making but Auntie Faithy was holding her so everything was okay. Well, except that Bram was screaming in her ears... Soon she was mirroring her older cousin and was squirming to be let down. When Faith finally did set her down, Lani went as far as her leash would let her go in the opposite direction of the car. It was louder than Bram... She hissed at it some more.

Rowan, not typically scared of strangers, was more than a little intimidated by the man who was holding him by the scruff of his shirt. Nobody but his mother did that and she'd not been able to do it in almost a year. When the man growled his question at Rowan, he had to fight the urge to whimper. When the man yelled at Gareth and Sebastian, Rowan flinched. The man was loud. Loud man, loud car...

When the man finally quit yelling at his cousins, Rowan answered softly, "I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to break your thingy, it just looked fun thing to climb. The park gets boring when you go every day." At the look in the man's eyes, Rowan flinched and did start to whimper.

*****

Wrath watched the other two boys get down out of the bushes, thank Atira, and then he watched as the young woman set down the bigger of the two babies she was holding. The little girl toddled away from his car, which was still screeching, and he saw her hiss at it. Strange thing for a little girl to do, unless she wasn't quite human that is... As the alarm was obviously bothering the child, and it was getting on his nerves too, he reached in his pocket and hit the silence button for the alarm. Once it stopped he turned his attention back to the boy he was holding just in time for the boy to apologize.

"This isn't a park kid, go back to your mom and go back to the park okay?" Wrath said as he finally set the boy down. When the boy ran off to the young woman and the other kids Wrath followed. Some people needed desperately to learn to control their children and aparently this woman was one of them. As he got closer he realized she looked too young to me a mother to anything but maybe the two smallest children. Was she babysitting then? He didn't care, either way she needed to learn to control the brats in her care.

Wrath was about to reprimand the woman for her carelessness and irresponsibility when he stopped dead in his tracks. Those eyes... They looked too familiar for his comfort. It took him a moment to place them but when he did, Wrath took a step back towards the house. "That's not possible," he whispered under his breath. He'd just been gazing into those eyes... They belonged to the baby in the photo album... Faith? It couldn't be, could it? She would be... Yeah it could be her, the woman was old enough. If he remembered right he was fifteen years older than his youngest sister so that would make Faith twenty now.

Shit.

Not knowing what else to say or do, Wrath did the only thing he could think of, his voice a little shakey he asked the young woman, "Your name wouldn't happen to be Faith would it?"

[Demeter]

Had it not been for the sling wrapped around her upper torso, Faith would have dropped Bram when the newcomer to the street said her name. Strange man knowing her name...never a good thing. In a attempt to get her bearings straightened out, Faith turned her attention to her son and sighed at the sight of his red face. He'd stopped screaming when the alarm had been silenced but that didn't mean that he was a happy baby.

Faith stumbled a little as Lani strained against the leash. Faith reeled the little girl in and looked at the older man. "I'm sorry but do I know you? Oh, I'm sorry about the boys. They got away from me and well, you know the saying about how curiosity killed the cat. Rowan, Seb, Gareth, say you are sorry for messing around the nice man's car."

Faith was slowly edging away from the man, mostly because Lani had slipped away and was pulling against the leash. "I really am sorry about them...they got out of the backyard and I was on my own today. Okay, I have to ask, how did you know my name."

Faith grunted as she stumbled again and quickly passed Rowan the handle to Lani's leash. Next to her mother and stepfather, Rowan was the best at dealing with Lani.

***

Gareth glanced from the man to Rowan's cousin. Seeing as how he was used to looking at his own reflection in his brother every day, he could see the resemblence in the two adults. Having always been more of a people person then his brother, Gareth hopped up to the adults and glanced between them before tugging on the hem of Faith's skirt. "Miss Faith, how come you look like him?"

***

Mercy stared out her bedroom window in shock. She glanced at the framed photo sitting on her dresser and back out the window. No Way In The Nine Layers Of Hell. After she'd called child services on her mother, Mercy had lost track of Faith but that hadn't stopped her from paying the money to have an age progression photo done up years ago. Mercy dashed to her desk and ransacked her drawers in serch of that photo.

Once she found it, Mercy held the photo up to the window and compared the two faces. It was Faith but it couldn't be! And what sort of life did the girl lead if she had five children already. She was only 21 or so.

Mercy dropped the glossy photo, stuffed her feet into her shoes and raced out of the house. She skidded to a stop and stared. "I knew it! I knew I should have gotten you out of there sooner! You're just like her! How many father's do these kids have?"

***

Faith stumbled back a few steps and gripped the fabric of Bram's sling. Who was this woman and why was she asking all these questions? Not to mention Gareth's question about her and the man looking alike. "Okay...Enough with the questions and let me ask my own. Who are you people and this is my only child," she said while pointing at Bram. "Well, who are you?"

[Maira]

Wrath was perfectly willing to be forgiving for the children's antics if indeed this was his baby sister and when she asked how he'd known her name, Wrath nearly sat down on the front walk in astonishment. This was Faith. She'd been two when he left, now she was carrying a baby, had another on a leash and was surrounded by three more. They couldn't possibly all be hers.

In fact, the closer he looked at two of the boys the more familiar they looked. He was about to answer Faith's question about how he new her name, and ask if the boys were who he thought they were when Mercy came bursting out of the house yelling her own batch of questions. "Mercy, Mercy, shhh," Wrath said as he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her back a few steps from Faith.

He was staring at Faith now and a smile was creeping onto his lips as he did finally get in his two cents and answered Faith's questions. "Gareth is right Faith, we do look alike. Look at me closely, Mom always said you would look like me when you got older."

He knew Faith would need a minute or two to absorb what he'd said so he turned his attention to Gareth and Sebastian and the little girl poking her head out from behind the other boy. Kneeling so he'd be more on their level he started talking to them. "Hey boys, hey Lani, how're your parents? I didn't see them at the last Kindle meeting I hope everything is okay."

*****

Lani, after she had been handed off to Rowan, was peeking around the older boy at the two adults who had come out of the house. She'd stopped hissing when the car alarm was turned off and she finally had a minute to pay attention to the people. With the innocence and wisdom of a two year old, she toddled out from behind Rowan cheerfully calling, "Waff!!!"

When Lani scampered out from behind him, Rowan tightened his grip on her leash. He didn't know the stranger and Lani was just too friendly sometimes. "No Lani, come here, we don't know him," he said firmly as he started pulling up the slack on her leash.

Lani looked at Rowan and hissed when she felt the leash tighten, "Me know him," she said before she turned back to the man and pulled on her leash harder. When it wouldn't budge she plopped down on the sidewalk and gave a sight of defeat. Rowan was so mean.

*****

Wrath laughed at the display little Lani put on, he was pleased she recognized him even if her pronunciation of his name left something to be desired. Turning to look at Mercy, Wrath explained, "Remember Thiery and Saiyuri? These three," and he gestured to Seb, Gareth and Lani, "are their kids. And I'm guessing that makes the one who fell through the arbor the third musketeer, Rowan?" This last he asked as he looked at first Rowan and then Faith.

*****

Rowan blinked then he too looked at Faith, how did this man know who they were? He didn't know the man. His parents had taught him to be careful of strangers and this man was deffinately one. As he was looking at Faith, Rowan felt Lani's leash go slack and he looked down to see she'd gnawed all the way through it! "Lani!" he cried as she ran to the stranger.

As she had been taught, all members of her Papa's Kindle or her Mama's Pard were aunts and uncles and so when she shrieked excitedly, "Unca Waff, Unca Waff!" as she ran towards him, she fully expected to be given a hug if not picked up. When strong arms did indeed sweep her up off the sidewalk she squealed with joy and snuggled into the man who smelled a lot like her Papa.

Wrath was smiling like a fool when he finally stood up, his arms wrapped gently about Lani as she snuggled into him. "See Faith, if Lani can trust me so can you," he said with half a laugh. Then, realizing she might need some proof, he turned to Mercy and asked, "Can you get the photo album? Its sitting on the kitchen table. I'd go inside but I doubt Lani wants to be put down yet and I highly doubt Faith wants Lani out of her sight if she's supposed to be watching the kids and she doesn't know us.

[Demeter]

"Yeah, well, Lani has been known to hug the mailman." Faith eyed the two strangers with distrust, her hand creeping towards the little pocket on the sling where she kept her cell. As far as she knew, she didn't have any siblings...of course she'd blocked her early childhood years out some time ago.

She'd admit to looking similar to the man but that was nothing solid. Lots of people had the ability to look like complete strangers. That theory that everyone in the world had an exact twin somewhere in the world. "Look, I don't know you and I don't trust you even if those three do. Come on, kids. Time to go a home."

***

Mercy scrambled out of the house as she saw the Faith look alike leaving the yard, children plus a unhappy Lani being tugged behind the little one called Rowan in tow. "Wait!" she called as she ran down the driveway, somehow managing to flip through the album to the pictures of Faith as a pre-teen. "Okay, I know this sounds crazy, but really just look at these."

Faith took the album in one hand and eyed the photos. "What do this prove? Yeah, this could be me but I don't remember having any siblings prior to when Dion took me away from the foster house. Until you can come up with concrete proof that we're related, I see no point in remaining."

Mercy watched as Faith walked away from them and turned back to her brother. "She doesn't remember having siblings? How does someone forget that? Ya, I can see you not remembering her but I was the one who took care of her!" Mercy turned and watched Faith walk away.

***

Once she reached the house, Faith leaned against the porch railing. "Rowan, keep a hold of Lani." she said while searching for her phone. Once she found it, Faith called up Saiyuri's number and waited for her sister to answer. "Do you know some guy named Wrath?" she asked once the older woman answered.

[Maira]

Wrath couldn't help but smirk at Faith's comment about Lani having hugged the mail man... He'd actually heard that story from her parents. Aparently she'd scared poor Saiyuri to death. After that one joking comment, Faith seemed to ooze uncertainty no small bit of distrust. Wrath couldn't really blame her that much though.

Even considering the photographic proof that Mercy brought out from house, Faith wasn't ready to accept what was obvious even to a child. When she walked away after saying she didn't remember having any siblings, Wrath's shoulders sagged a bit in defeat. She would have to come to it on her own but after having her suddenly returned to his life it was quite the dissappointment to watch her walk away again. With nothing left to do but wait for her to come around, Wrath turned and walked back into the house. He didn't answer Mercy's questions, nor did he watch her leave. It was strange after so long of her not being a part of his life that her not believing she had been brought tears to his eyes.

*****

Grocery shopping was so not Saiyuri's favorite chore but it was something that had to be done. Her family had grown by leaps and bounds over the past few months and the food that used to sustain herself and Lani just didn't go that far anymore. Especially since the three new additions to the family were all male, two of them rambunctious twin boys...

She'd just pulled into her mother's driveway when her cell phone rang. Luckily she hadn't picked up any bags of groceries, as she was only here to pick up her children, otherwise when she'd jumped at the ringer she may have dropped them all. "Hello?" she asked curiously when she flipped open the phone and hit the 'talk' button.

Almost before she'd gotten out her greeting one of her many sisters was talking over her asking if she knew a man named Wrath. "Yeah, he's part of Theiry's Kindle." Then after a minute Saiyuri realized that the tone in her sister's voice had been decidedly creeped out. "Why Faith," she asked, worry sounding in her voice, "what happened?"

[Demeter]

Faith peered over the railing to the house as Lani wiggled free of Rowan and ran to her mother. "Oh, nothing much. Just that this guy Wrath seems to think he is my brother." Faith snapped her phone shut and followed the little girl down to Saiyuri. Once at the driveway, Faith plopped down onto the grass, cooed at her son as he squirmed around and sighed. "How much proof is a photograph anyways? This guy could just be some creep who gets his kicks by freaking out young women."

Faith leaned back, palms braced against the ground. "I was there when my mother Fell, I remember that quite clearly, but I don't remember any siblings. You would think that if I had them, I would remember it. Oh, Lani chewed through her leash again. What do you think I should do?"

[Maira]

Unlike when she'd first met her sister-in-law, Saiyuri was easily able to follow Faith's train wreck of a train of though. She tucked away the information that Lani had chewed through her leash again and focussed on the issues that were obviously bother Faith the most.

Picking up her daughter and snuggling her close, Saiyuri answered her sister first with a laugh and then she said, "He may be a bit broody from time to time but for the most part he seems a friendly enough guy. He's got a landscaping business he's starting up so I highly doubt he has time to freak out young women just for kicks. If he's got pictures of you guys as kids together then more than likely he's telling the truth."

She knew the other woman had been in foster care before being adopted by Dion, what she didn't know was how old Faith had been before she wound up in foster care. She'd heard that memories from a traumatic time in a persons life could be repressed, maybe that had been what had happened to Faith. She suggested that idea to Faith to see what she thought.

[Demeter]

Faith sighed and ran a hand through her arm, the other hand automaticly shifting to Bram as he squirmed around in his sling. "People are able to edit photos on computers, 'Yuri. What's to say that he didn't?"

Faith twitched a little. For some reason she always had a automatic distrust for strange people. She'd been wary of Saiyuri at first, listening in from the stairs on the night that Saiyuri had first arrived at the house but warmed up to her after hearing her distress. Something about those two down the street, made her twitch.

"I dunno, Yuri. I remember be a child and I remember how I lived before child services came to the house. I remember my mother, I remember the various men in her life, and I remember her falling but I don't remember any siblings. Maybe I should talk to Dream. She's a reaper and has access to the records of fallens." Not even bothering to thank Saiyuri for hearing her out, Faith hopped up and waved at the older woman as she ran for the house and Aunt Dream's phone number.

***

Mercy swung back into the yard and wandered into the house and to Wrath. "She went into that big, fancy house down the street. You know the one with the ten foot iron fence and the gardens you have dreams about. Do you think the father of that baby lives in the house? Do you think she's married?"

Mercy plopped down on the floor and poked at the album with her foot. "She was there when mom Fell. I didn't see if first hand but the social worker called and told me what had happened. Mom fell after killing whatever man had the joy of gracing her bed at the time. When she was dragged away by the reapers, she was screaming something about how the bastard had dared to look at another woman."

She wrapped her hands around her knees and rested her head on the tops of her knees. "I know you don't like talking about mom but you have to know, Wrath, because this has somehow caused Faith to forget. The conditions after you left just got worse. I wasn't old enough to work when you left and, well, food wasn't rare but it was never filling. We moved out of the house and into a single-wide trailer owned by one of the men mom was so fond off. He was always a constant. I guess you can image life after that."

Mercy trailed off as she lost herself in memories. There were few pleasant ones. Her mother's actions had always been reflected back at her by her classmates. She'd had grown men leer at her while she tried to tidy up and teachers were forever concerned about her. Just concerned, never more then that, never concerned enough to call the cops or child welfare, just concerned. And now her baby sister didn't remember her.

***

Faith tucked the cordless phone between her ear and shoulder while she situated Bram in his crib. Dream was taking forever to answer her phone. When she did, Faith could hear scuffling in the background. Probably some Fallen fighting the inevitable fate of it's actions. Some didn't want to be dragged to hell. "Hi, Dream. It's Faith. I can tell you're busy but I have a favor to ask you. Yeah, a favor. Can you look through the records of the fallens when you get a chance and tell me if my mother had any other children. No, no it's nothing to worry about, I'm just curious."

When she hung the phone up, Faith leaned against the wall and tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling. This was one of those times when she wished that Tempest didn't wander so much. Since her pregnancy his wanderings hadn't taken him far but they still took him away for periods of time. Faith shook her head and leaned forward, arms braced against the fancy, antinque carved railing of the cherry wood crib and grinned at her son. "Well, little man, what should I have for dinner tonight?"

[Maira]

Despite her best efforts, Saiyuri was unable to keep from flinching as Faith used her nickname, a nickname given her by her absentee husband. Pushing unbidden thoughts of Dominic out of her mind, Saiyuri listened to Faith ramble and rant and question. She wanted to tell the younger woman that she was actually pretty familiar with Wrath and that she highly doubted he'd stoop to editting photos just to scare her. She knew it wouldn't make any impression though and just shook her head and shrugged. Faith would have to discover the truth on her own.

*****

Wrath looked up as Mercy made her way into the house and flopped onto the floor. He resisted the urge to smirk and raise an eyebrow at her, he knew he'd get hit or have something thrown at him if he did... Instead he listened as she talked and flinched inwardly as she described how their mother Fell.

He'd never learned the details, nor had he really wanted to know. If he hadn't killed one of her men out of self defense and defense of his sister he likely would have Fallen as well. Somehow, by some fluke, he'd been spared that fate. Maybe it was the goddess he served or maybe it was his Cougar blood, either way he was just grateful he'd avoided that.

The emotions that flitted across Mercy's face were not lost on Wrath but he had no idea what to do about them. She was a strong woman, and a strong willed one as well, and likely wouldn't take well to his comforting. Especially considering the current topic of discussion. His up and leaving could be blamed, at least in his eyes, for many of the bad things that happened after to his sisters and his mother.

[Demeter]

Faith flipped through the file Dream had brought her. Photographs and all. Scenes from trailer when her mother fell. The reports from the trio of reapers that had to drag her away. The reports from the agents of the welfare office. Her mother's background. That fact that she had three child and one had nearly feel at one point in life. Looking at in now, spread out before her and described as impersonally as possible, Faith remember it all.

Mostly she remembered begging Mercy not to leave her alone, hating Mercy for leaving. She didn't remember Wrath but the reports claimed he was her older brother. Faith abondoned the files and went over to her son. She picked up out the little cradle in the living room and cuddled him close. "Seems you have more relatives then I thought." With one hand she reached out and picked up the phone. She needed Tempest.

***
Mercy always liked taking walks in the morning, when everything was still quite and not jumbled up and cluttered by people. She stood across the street from the big, fancy house and stared at it. It had to be atleast four stories tall, with arched windows, decks, balconies and a widow's walk on the top of the roof. Just peeking out from the backyard was the green glass green house. A model that Wrath was still figuring out how to jusify as a personal purchase rather then for the landscaping business.

Mercy turned and headed home. She stepped into house through the kitchen door and watched Wrath as he shuffled about the room. "Do you think it is possible to get in touch with the Fallen office? Wouldn't they keep records on the fallens?"

***
Faith stared at the door to Wrath's house. She'd talked with Tempest and he was coming home as soon as he could wrap up his business in whatever town he'd landed in but this was something she had to do herself. Faith adjusted her grip on the folder and walked up the front door. She rang the door bell, dropped the file on the stoop with a sticky note attached to it. And scambled away before anyone could answer the door. She couldn't handle this confrontation by herself.

***
Mercy blinked at the empty stoop and glanced down at the file she held her in hand. One glance at the sticky note had her interested. "You weren't there and you need to know." Mercy flipped open the front on the manila folder and bobbled the stack of paper. There, on top of the pile was a photo of the scene after her mother had fallen. All the blood with a little girl huddled into one corner. "She saw it. She saw all of it." Mercy hurried her way back to the kitchen and dropped the folder in front of Wrath. "I think we deserve her not remembering." she said before turning around and exited the house.

[Maira]

Wrath had been puttering around the house all morning when Mercy came back from her walk and asked if he thought it was possible to get in touch with the Fallen office. The hiss that escaped him in reaction to that caught Wrath by surprised and he answered gruffly, "What purpose would that serve?" He didn't like being short with Mercy but he couldn't help it. He'd not been there when their mother Fell and he couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for it. If he'd been there maybe it would have been him that killed her latest man instead of her. He'd done it before and hed been scared he'd be capable of it again, it was why he left.

He shook himself out of the funk that was threatening to overtake him and whispered, "Sorry Mercy," before turning and heading into the kitchen to get a second cup of coffee. He hated being short with her and the best way to deal with it sometimes was just to walk out of the room.

*****

When the door bell rang a short while later, Wrath had pretty much gotten his thoughts and emotions under control so he started to wander out to see who was at the door. He hadn't made it two steps when Mercy was rushing in and practically throwing a manila folder at him saying, "I think we deserve her not remembering." He raised an eyebrow at his sister then looked down at one of the paper's sticking out of the file.

Seeing that it was a photograph sticking out of the file he was instantly curious. Then he saw the sticky note and his heart caught in his throat. Unbidden, Nahuel rose to the surface of Wrath and he was about to shred the stuff before them with his claws but Wrath stopped him and whispered gruffly, "She's right, I need to know."

Claws at the end of his fingertips, golden eyes and the faintest covering of fur showed just how hard Wrath was fighting to control his temper. When he heard his shirt rip and felt the pain of his wings emerging, Wrath turned to Mercy and growled at her, "You might want to leave for a while." Then he gathered up the file and stalked up the stairs to look at it's contents in private.

*****

His eyes were red and puffy from unshed tears, he hadn't bothered to change his torn shirt, and his pants and right thigh had gouges where his claws had dug into him as he'd read the file and looked at the pictures. Standing on the doorstep to his youngest sister's house Wrath was a mess but he was determined to talk to her and beg her forgiveness. If she didn't give it he wasn't sure what he would do but he would accept it. Finally he raised a shakey hand and knocked soundly on the door.

[Demeter]

Dream pulled open the front door to her sister's house and stared out at the mess standing on the porch. "Hmm, you." she said before stepping out onto the porch, pulling the door shut behind her. "There are some things you need to understand about this situation. Sit down."

Dream boosted herself up and sat on one of the railings. She knew the man could probably tell what she was. When Faith had asked about the falling of her mother, Dream had brought her the file but done some digging. She knew that the man standing in front of her had narrowly escaped falling himself, only his cougar blood and the fact the murder was in defense had saved him.

"You don't know me but I know you. I was on of the first reapers to confront your mother, second called onto the scene when she proved to be...difficult. I was still green then, new to the profession and cases like that stick in the mind. I did a full background search on her and found you."

Dream braced her foot against a crossbeam and tilted her head back. "I have other abilties then being a Grim Reaper. I can alter the mind, Custos, angel, human - it doesn't matter what the mind can belong to, I alter it. I convinced Faith's mind to block out anything it thought was to painful to deal with. That's why she doesn't remember Mercy and she was just a baby when you left. You can't honestly expect her to remember her."

Dream watched the young man, Wrath is the name stated in his file. "I didn't include it in my report but I was the one who took Faith to the welfare office, I find it slightly ironic that she ended up being my sister's daughter-in-law. She was...catatonic at best, having witnessed the whole thing." Dream leaned forward, gripping the railing when her body started to slid off. "I'm only telling you this in order to tell you this. You hurt the girl, bring up any memories that may cause her to lose it, or cause any large amount of unpleasentness for this family, you will have us all coming down on you in force."

Dream hopped off the railing, opened the door and pointed inside. "She's upstairs, in the attic. Follow the stairs."

***

Faith held Bram against her shoulder as she paced the length of floor between the couch and his cradle. The attic apartment was really just one big open space with half-walls to mark off the space. The bathroom and bedrooms, though, were their own spaces. Faith cooed as Bram squirmed and fussed. He'd been fussy all morning and Faith put it down to her son leaching her feelings into his own body. "I know, little one, you want your Daddy. I want him too."

Faith rested her check against the downy head of her son and sighed. Her little boy resembed his father so much, or so Dion claimed, and that included being a fussy baby. She was all messed up inside, not knowing what to think with the latest upset in her life. When a knock sounded on the door, Faith started. It wasn't Tempest, he'd probably just left whatever town he'd ended up in this time and no one else in the family, including the extended portion, knocked. Faith adjusted her grip on Bram and crossed to the door. She didn't blink when she opened it but stepped aside to let a sorry looking Wrath into the room. "Just let me put him down and then we can talk."

Faith crossed the little antique cradle that, like the rest of Bram's baby furniture, had been in Tempest's family for generations, and settled her son inside. Once she had him arrange, Faith sat down on the couch and, before Bram could start fussing, used her foot to push against the curved legs off the cradle. "Come and sit down. I can't go far or stop with the movement or he starts fussin'. I've been trying to get him down for a nap for a while now."

[Maira]

Wrath flinched when the reaper answered the door. In fact, he nearly turned tail and ran home. Had the reapers finally come for him? Had he just managed to get away because he'd left the scene so quickly?! His panick was dashed quickly though because as soon as the reaper started talking he knew she wasn't here for him.

He listened carefully as the reaper talked and what little bit of him that hadn't felt like complete and utter shit joned the rest of him. He was more than a little surprised when she directed him into the house and up to the attic to talk to Faith. He just looked blankly at her for a moment then nodded and followed her directions up the stairs.

When he reached the door he figured was his sister's, Wrath knocked softly and then waited. He just hoped she would answer and not automatically tell him to go away. His heart was already pretty much beaten to a pulp and if she sent him home he'd be licking his wounds for weeks, if that wasn't already the case...

When Faith opened the door and was perfectly civil, Wrath and to remind himself to breathe. He'd never been this emotionally touchy over anything and he was finding it rather difficult to know how to react. When she told him to come in so they could talk he just nodded silently and followed her in. He followed her over to an old cradle, probably a family heirloom, and she told him to sit down so she could put the baby in it in hopes he'd take a nap. Wrath nodded and did what he was told.

Once both Faith and the baby were settled Wrath said softly, "Dream told me why you don't remember us and if you'd just rather forget about us altogether we can stay away. I just wanted to come apologize for not being there to stop Mom. Or at least get you out of there..." His voice was hoarse and he was fighting not to get choked up. He'd failed Faith and he would never forgive himself for everything she had witnessed. Unfortunately he couldn't see any way of convincing her he was truly sorry, that he truly cared about her after having not been there when she needed him most. In his mind, when he'd left, he had left to keep her safe from himself. Now it turned out he may have kept her safer by staying... Life had a funny way of turning everything on its head.

[Shinigami]

(ooc: Tempest is yelling at me to jump in ><;; lol.. and it sounded like Faith might need him emotionally)

Tempest had managed to stay at home long enough to be there for Faith's pregnancy and the birth of his son, Bram. He had coddled and cooed his son as much as his poor wife would allow, but he eventually had to get back to work. He had pushed off visiting an old Japanese town that he had worked with many times before because Faith had been far too close to her due date, and he certainly didn't want to miss the birth of his child. He was reluctant to leave, but the town had needed him.

He had been well on his way to being finished with his work, helping the town with the outbreak of illness, and though it wasn't severe, they were unable to keep it from spreading. When he got the call from his wife he was worried. He had always left a phone number he could be reached at in case of emergencies, but it had never been used before. He had been relieved to find that no one was hurt and Bram was okay, but he was still concerned. Faith had just met siblings she never knew she had, and they had given her quite a scare.

One of the town elders had understood that his family was the most important to him, and made sure the town doctors could continue with the work he had started to get rid of the illness, and he had gotten a red-eye flight home. The flight had been long, but he was home. He had taken a cab from the airport, and once he got inside he headed right for the attic apartment, not bothering to knock when he opened the door.

[Demeter]

When the door opened Faith forgot that she had conmpany and that Bram would start up again if she left him and ran for it. She nearly jumped on Tempest, cling to him. "Hey, that was fast." at the quite cough, Faith peered over her shoulder at Wrath. "Oh, Wrath, this is my husband, Tempest. Tempester, this is Wrath...he's my...well...brother. Now go to your son. Either he's more like you as a baby then we thought or there's something wrong with him."

Faith released Tempest and sat down on the chair across from the couch. "So...I-I don't want you to leave. I guess we really do need to discuss this. Why did you leave in the first place?"

[Maira]

Wrath had watched in amusement as Faith had bounded across the room when a man entered the room, the man he assumed was her husband and the father of her baby. When she turned and introduced him he smiled at the other man and nodded. He couldn't help but smirk at Faith's comment to Tempest as she told him to go to his son, he did manage to hide the smirk behind his hand though as he itched at his nose.

When Faith came back over and took the seat across from him, he gathered his courage and waited for her to say something. What she said and asked floored him. He just sat staring at her, mouth slightly agape, for a moment before answering her. "Well I'm glad you want to discuss this because I do too." He swallowed, looked at Tempest (who it seemed was now totally absorbed in the baby) then back to Faith and he swallowed again. He closed his eyes, shoving down the memories of killing her father, and he answered softly, "I was scared of what I might do to you and Mercy." His voice was shakey but he opened his eyes, looked into Fiath's and continued just as softly as before, "You may hate me knowing this but I swear it was only in defense of Mercy that I killed him Faith. I never wanted to hurt anybody but I came home from work, saw him hovering over her, and her with a black eye already, and then the next thing I know I'd killed your father."

He prepared for her judgement. For her hatred. For whatever came next. He let the truth of his hatred of his actions shine out of his eyes and hoped she would understand. He felt Tempest's eyes on him but he would not turn his gaze from his baby sister. Tempest could judge him all he wanted but it was Faith's judgement that would matter. It was up to her whether he would be a part of her life again, whether he could again claim two sister instead of only one.

He'd not been sorry for defending Mercy, never would be, but he had been incredibly sorry for taking a life. For taking the life of Faith's father. He'd also been scared shitless that he would eventually turn on his sisters. He'd heard all the reports that kids raised around violence were more likely to be violent or be victims of violence and the last thing he wanted was to hurt his two baby sisters, the two people he'd loved most in the world.

[Shinigami]

Tempest had been forced to drop his bag in order to keep his balance, and it helped to free a hand so his could hug his wife back. After Faith had released him she introduced him to the man sitting on their couch. He nodded to the man, briefly before his son was mentioned. He had to admit he was curious as to why Bram was being so quiet, so he made his way to the crib, quickly, seeing it shift slightly as the baby boy inside wiggled around. He peered over the edge with a funny face and was greeted with a baby giggle and a bright smile.

He picked his son up and gently rocked him as he paced around the area infront of the crib and talked to his son as he babbled back. He may have looked completely absorbed in his son, but he had an ear open for the conversation between his wife and the brother she just found. Tempest stopped in his pacing when he heard Wrath's reason for leaving. He was watching the conversation now, but withheld his opinion. He didn't know Wrath, and he didn't know he situation, and it was Faith's decision what happened from here.

He shifted his attention back to the baby as his babbling grew a bit louder, looking for attention.

[Demeter]

Faith stared at Wrath through his confession. "I don't see why you think that matters or why I would hate you. I barely knew the man nor do I remember him." Faith drew her legs up and wrapped her arms around the knees. "But that doesn't mean that I forgive you for leaving."

Faith reached onto the table between the furnature and picked up the folder. "I know all about my father and how he was a fallen and lied about it. I know how he died. I know about my mother falling, and you and Mercy leaving but that doesn't include why you cut off all contact."

Faith huffed out a breath and watched Tempest walk the floor with Bram. "Just because you left meant you had to cut off all contact? You didn't even write." Faith knew she probably sounded like a bitch but the facts still stung.

[Maira]

Wrath knew he deserved her anger but he was rather surprised she said she didn't hate him for killing her father. What she did apparently hold against him though was probably worse anyway. He could have helped keep her out of foster care, could have at least been there for her after what happened to their mother.

His head was reeling, and his stomach was churning. All the emotions he'd felt earlier when he was looking at the file Faith had left on his doorstep came tumbling back in on him. He had to fight hard to keep from trembling as he apologized in a soft gruff tone, "I'm sorry...."

Taking a shakey breath he tried again, "I don't really have a good reason other than I wanted nothing to do with our mother after I left. Looking back I know I should have at least stayed in contact for your benefit but I was seventeen and things got really tricky for me after I left home. Not worse but deffinately more... complicated. By the time I realized how long it had been I figured it was too late... I'm sorry Faith, so very very sorry."