[ 38 ] 2014

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"You told me I could have any favor I wanted. And I thought that maybe I could use it to let Calum go back to the world of the living..."

-

After begging Jack to go heal Cindy in the ICU and erasing the memories of her injuries from her doctors, Harley remained in the room with Calum for hours. A coroner came and went, taking notes of his injuries and inspecting him all over. They filled out the paper work with no emotion and didn't even give her a glance, didn't even say anything to her, as they got their stuff done and left the room. Harley wanted to shout at them, beg them to do something to bring him back. But she knew nothing would work. He was gone and she would never see him again. 

She only left his side when Arthur entered the room. His face was pale with worry for his daughter, and with sadness for the boy he had taken in as his nephew. He was so young, only eighteen, with his whole life ahead of him, and it was all taken away in the blink of an eye. He thought about his daughter too, how she was one of the targets in the attack. He promised himself he would make sure Luke Hemmings would pay ten fold for the things that he did. Heaving a sigh, his voice shook slightly as he spoke. "Jack patched Cindy up real well." He informed her and Harley was relieved that at least Cindy was okay. She was an innocent party in all of this. She didn't know about their world or their abilities. Her only fault was getting involved with Billy because it got her involved with Harley as well. Her father continued, "I left your mother with Aaron. He came as soon as he heard the news, and he would like to see you too."

Harley just sat there defeated, head down and shoulder slumped. She knew he was trying, he really was. But Arthur didn't have a father of his own and therefore didn't know how to be a father himself. He was exponentially bad at offering her comfort. He wanted to approach her and comfort her, but at the same time, he wanted to giver her some space. He didn't know how to proceed and he was stuck in between doing one thing or the other. 

At least that was one thing he thought he could learn from Aaron Quinn. He could observe the way he would know just what to do or say to comfort her and he would know how to go about it going forward. Arthur slowly cut the distance between them and plopped down in the cold hospital chair next to hers. He offered her his shoulder to cry on and she immediately took it, throwing her arms around him for comfort and crying into his shirt. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to. He knew just how she felt because he felt it too. He loved Calum, and it tore him up to see him lifeless in a hospital bed.

They stayed there for another long while until a group of four nurses came into the room. They informed Harley and Arthur that it was time to say their goodbyes because they would be moving the body to the morgue. From there, it would be another set of paper work and a couple of days before they'd see him again. Then finally they would have the funeral services and they'd have him buried at the St. Genevieve's cemetery next to his parents. 

Harley was shocked with the way they called him the body as though he hadn't been a human being. But she said nothing of it. She merely clung to Arthur and cried harder as she watched them transfer him into another bed and wheeled him out of the room. 

The two sat there for another long while until Harleen and Aaron came to find them. Harley had always been attached to Aaron when she was a little girl. Anything she wanted, she only had to ask him and he would get it for her. Arthur was her father, but so was Aaron because he had raised her and she would never forget that. As he entered the room, he rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms tight as she stood up to greet him. Harleen went to Arthur's side and snuggled into his side with tears in her eyes. Arthur watched them with hurt pricking at his chest. Aaron Quinn was so good at being a father, and he just wasn't. 

But he knew he would keep trying until he could get it right.

While Harley cried into Aaron's chest, Harleen explained that she and Jack had made sure to erase the memories of the doctors and nurses that had seen Cindy in the last couple of hours. She was now perfectly fine and out of danger, thought she was a bit sore and tired from the whole ordeal. They hadn't erased Billy and Cindy's memories of the incident. They were family, and Harleen felt like it was best for them to know about their powers. 

Aaron led Harley out of the hospital room and out into the waiting area where the hunters and the originals were waiting. As soon as they saw her arrive, the hunters were the first to pull her into an embrace. First Dempsey, then Paul, who most recently had grown to see Calum and Harley as good friends of theirs. Then it was Michael, who although he wasn't very fond of Calum, he still felt bad about his death. She got a hug from Hazel, who offered her some words of comfort, and lastly Jack. He apologized for not being able to do enough to save Calum. 

Harley assured him that she appreciated his help and that he had done enough for Calum already. Harleen and Jack had also convinced the doctors to release Cindy from the hospital and there was general confusion between them as they wondered why she had been put in the ICU when she was perfectly fine. They didn't remember the gaping whole that had been punched into her abdomen by her own brother Luke Hemmings. Cindy walked out of her hospital room by her own efforts, with Billy's arm hovering around her waist in case her knees were to buckle beneath her and she were to need him.

When Harley saw her, she ran to her, and threw her arms around her bestfriend, making her wince in pain. But she then held it in because it was Harley and she knew she had been through a lot.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Cindy." Harley cried into her friend's neck.

Cindy slowly drew her arms around Harley. Their embrace lasted minutes, and when they pulled away, Cindy Hemmings had a message for her. "I saw Calum when I was unconscious. He told me that he loved you with all his heart, and that he would remember you every moment in the afterlife."

In a low voice, Billy said from beside her, "Cin..."

He didn't believe in things like that too much. He hardly believed in Harley having super human abilities if it hadn't been for the fact that he saw it himself once. He didn't want Cindy to hurt his sister's feelings even more by telling her something that might've not even happened.

Harley gave a shake of her head towards her brother. "Its okay, Billy." Then looking to her friend, she added. "Thank you."

-

Almost immediately after they arrived, Ashton decided to take Calum with him to ask God for the favor she had bestowed upon him. Since he had been a good son when he was alive, she had granted him one thing. She had explained it could be anything he wanted, no matter what the cost, and that she would grant it for him. 

Bobby had chosen to use his favor to get Claire out of purgatory, where she was being punished for being a horrible person. She hadn't completely earned herself the fires of hell, as she had repented in her last moments when she fell in love with Bobby Vega. When he went down to rescue her from Ashton's death scene that just kept repeating itself over and over, she was in one corner, knees to her chest, and her hands covering her ears. Her eyes were closed and Bobby had rushed to her side, pulling her into his arms for comfort. She had flinched away from him first, but when she opened her eyes and saw him there, trying to save her, she started bawling her eyes out. She then clung to him desperately as he led her out of the house and down the carefully laid out path that the all powerful had made for him to come and go from there without a problem. 

If that was something Bobby could do for Claire, even after She explained to Bobby that Claire didn't really deserve being saved, then Ashton thought it wouldn't be too much to ask to have Calum sent back to the world of the living. Ashton really had no use for his favor anyway. He was perfectly happy with his family in their little version of heaven. And he knew he had no one really in the living world. There was Harley, but she was in love with Calum, she had chosen Calum. Ashton was better off staying right where he was.

They made the trek up a large mountain that Ashton said was called Zion. And as they entered the beautiful palace, there were angels with wings walking around. There was a beautiful fountain right by the entrance, and at the top of a grand altar was the all powerful. They could not see what she looked like. She was merely radiating so much light that it was blinding to them and they had to turn their eyes away as they spoke.

"What brings you to me, my son?" The holy entity asked them. Calum was surprised by how much her voice was so soothing, he instantly started feeling at peace with everything.

Ashton immediately began to explain a bit nervously. She was a kind and forgiving being, but he still felt a bit nervous because this was God that he was talking to. "You told me I could have any favor I wanted. And I thought that maybe I could use it to let Calum go back to the world of the living..." He trailed off as he finished his request.

He thought She would immediately grant his wish. 

But the higher power had something to say about Ashton's request. "You have been a good son, which is why I offered you a favor. But Calum..." She paused for a moment, her voice suddenly filled with sadness as she continued. "I have allowed him to dwell in this afterlife because he has a good heart. But that does not mean he has earned himself a favor like you and Bobby did. Those kinds of things are rare, and unfortunately I cannot grant this for him. Yes, the matter in which he passed was unfair, and Conrad Hood is burning in hell for his sins. But I simply cannot grant Calum a favor. He tampered with your life by doing time travel, and I do not like when people try to change my ways."

Calum felt his heart drop at the words and he wanted to say something, but he assumed that it would not be wise to argue with God. Her decisions were probably absolute and he would not be seeing Harley again. Instead, it was Ashton who insisted. "You wouldn't be granting him a favor, per se. You would be granting me this favor. You said I could have anything I wanted, and this is the gift I would like from you." There, Calum once again thought that Ashton was too selfless. Calum wouldn't have given him his favor so easily. He'd have used it in a heartbeat to go back to Harley. But he wasn't getting one because he had been such a bad person for so many years. As God had explained to them, it was difficult for her to grant just anyone such a gift. Only the most worthy were granted them. That opportunity was reserved for people like Bobby Vega and Ashton Irwin.

The radiant woman sighed, mulling over his words. She could have easily shut him down and taken the favor from him. But she was always watching and she saw how Ashton had suffered. First betrayed by his girlfriend and his best friend, then he was damned to spend seemingly an eternity as a ghost away from the people who loved him. God wanted to compensate him in some way.

She was silent for a minute, before she finally decided to give in. "I will grant your request. I will send you back to the land of the living with a message for Harley Quinn. Tell her to place a wooden cross on top of his tomb at midnight, precisely at midnight. The tomb will open and Calum will appear in a ghost form. Climb into the tomb and merge with your physical body. It will restore you." She gave them very careful instructions and Calum almost wanted to jump for joy.

Ashton grinned. "Thank you. We appreciate everything you do for us."

She then gave Ashton further instructions about where he was to meet to go back to the human world. She informed him that there would be distractions, and that he was to stop for no reason. On that path, one minute amounts to several human years. He was to breeze through it and find Harley Quinn. Calum would follow soon after, once it was time to start the ritual. She gave him the same instructions as well and he nodded his head.

As they left the beautiful palace, Ashton couldn't help but hug the boy who had once been his love rival. 

He was going to return to Harley.

-

so yes, God is a woman.

here is another update for you all. now im going to do my nightly routine and get into bed so that i can sleep. i have to get up at 5am tomorrow to get ready for work. i might get up a tiny bit earlier to shower because i worked out and got all sweaty. and i dont want to be musty at work.

and im actually kind of tired to shower right now. so i'll just do it in the morning. 

thank you all loads for reading and supporting this story. it means the entire world to me. i didn't want to get too much into religion here because i respect all religions, so i left everything vague. 

whichever religion you are, i support each and every one of you. exciting things are coming with only twelve chapters of this story left.

-clary