The atmosphere in the suite had returned to what it had been before the misery with his nightmares had come up. Everyone was socializing with everyone else. Alex had immediately given his gifts from Samael and Fuzzie a place of honor in what would now be his study in the suite. Samael's parchment next to his copy of the Constitution, which he was already tinkering with, and the Salvator Mundi on an easel where his bed had been, now that it was no longer needed. He looked at the painting with Sam and said quietly:
"I know it's a gift from Fuzzie, but I really have to thank Ariel for making it possible. Wow, how impressive it is. And powerful! I can't describe it. There is something magical about it. I knew it was something special when I saw pictures of it, but to see it in person? I just can't describe it."
She gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek:
"Just like you. You are looking at yourself, Alexander, but instead of saving a world, you are going to save a universe."
The comparison made him swallow hard for a moment, but he was saved by her mother's voice:
"Samantha, Alexander, we have guests to see you!"
Wondering who they could be, they stepped back into the living room. To their delight, they saw Freya and little Maila waiting for them. The little girl immediately ran up to them, Alex grabbed her out of the air, for it had become her habit to jump right up to him.
"Alex, look, I made this for you and Sam!"
Full of enthusiasm she handed him a piece of parchment with a drawing on it in different colors, which was supposed to represent Samantha and himself. The girl received a big kiss on the cheek from both of them as a thank you and Alex said:
"You know what Maila, this is so beautiful, it definitely deserves a place of honor in my study. Come on, let's hang it up so I can look at it every day when I'm at work."
As he disappeared into his study with the girl, they heard him say through the open doors:
"That Maila is the Salvator Mundi, many people on Earth think it is the greatest work of art ever created by a human being. I'm one of those who believe so. I think your artwork is perfectly in its place next to this painting."
No matter how many times it had happened, no matter how many times they had seen how much kindness, how much goodness there was in Alex, and how he could seemingly light up someone's whole day with one little thing, it never got old and it never ceased to amaze.
When they returned to the living room, all the adults, Casiel, Molly and Samantha stood together like a bunch of conspirators, hiding the dining table from view. Alex squeezed his eyes into slits and looked at Freya:
"Freya, why are those ten behaving so strangely? I know they are strange every day of the week and twice as much on Sundays, but now even more so than usual."
The Demon, who had demanded to be in Alex and Sam's service but was still not quite used to living in Heaven, let alone having a small suite in the palace itself and being in the presence of the Goddess, the God, the Crown Princess, and the Prince every day, replied quietly, knowing that her first word would not please him at all, but in her opinion that was his problem:
"Master, I took the liberty of asking Molly for something very typical for a birthday on Earth, and then I made it."
The ten stepped aside so he could see what was on the table. A simple cake, divided into two halves, half blue and half green, with thirteen blue candles on the green half and thirteen green candles on the blue half. To Alex, it was the most beautiful cake he had ever seen. With tears in his eyes, he took Freya in his arms and gave her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek:
"Thank you for this Freya, this is really the most beautiful cake I have ever seen. Thank you!"
The Demon lit up completely. She had been nervous that her master, as she called him against his will, wouldn't like her cake. She was too new at baking cakes, it was something that was never done in Dis. Fuzzie said:
"I think the tradition is that we light the candles and then the two party animals have to blow them out and make a wish, but they have to keep the wish a secret or it won't come true"
Salome waved her hand for a moment and the candles had a flame. Samantha blew out her thirteen green candles while Alexander stood by, looked thoughtful for a moment, and then picked Maila back up from the floor:
"Maila, I have a very important task for you. I want you to take a deep breath as soon as I tell you and then blow out all the blue candles and make a wish. Be careful not to say what your wish is or it won't come true. Understood?"
The girl nodded and he said:
"Okay, three, two, one, now..."
Maila did what she was asked with verve and his thirteen candles were blown out in one go. Little did he know that this little gesture would come back to haunt him years into the future, several thousand years for him. No one asked Alex what it meant that he hadn't done it himself, it would come out on its own.
Everyone had gotten a piece of cake and was back in the sitting area. Freya had to be somewhat forced to sit down and enjoy the cake with them. Sam was almost on Alex's lap and Maila was in her usual place in the suite on the floor between Alex's legs, the place where she felt safest. The powers of observation had always been strong on Alex's side. As he watched the small couch where Casiel and Molly sat chatting close together, he got a knowing twinkle in his eye. An idea popped into his head. He decided to do something for Molly and Casiel and have some fun at the same time. He looked at God and said:
"Robert, I was wondering."
God saw the sparkle in the boy's eyes and could hardly wait to see what would happen. He decided to play his little game and asked:
"What then, son?"
"Whether you and Mom will be offended if I refuse your birthday present?"
There was a dead silence in the room and all attention went to the conversation between the two of them.
"Then why do you want to refuse our present, Alexander?"
"Honestly, because I think it's too little, that I deserve more."
"Oh, and what do you think you deserve more and why?"
"Well, as you said yourself, because I am so incredibly important to your universe, so this gift could very well be a little bigger. And to be honest, our first trip to Florence with Celine and Michael was fun, but something was missing."
Both Robert and Salome knew immediately what Alexander was getting at with his so-called complaint that his gift was too small and were immensely proud of him. Salome asked:
"So what else would you like to have Alexander that you think you have earned?"
"Oh, well, one little thing, really. You are the God and the Goddess, just something within your power. I would like you to give Molly a physical form that will allow her to come with us to Earth on our excursions. To be honest, I have no desire to spend all of our time on Earth with two adults who are older than the dinosaurs..."
Molly had listened to the last part with her mouth wide open, while Casiel smiled broadly. The gods looked at each other for a moment and as if it was no big deal, Salome said:
"You know, honey, Alex is actually right. Young people should be able to spend time with other young people and have fun."
She looked at Molly and said earnestly:
"Molly, dear child, if you want to, come with me to the throne room later and I'll make sure that you can go on these trips to Earth with Alexander, Samantha and... Casiel."
The girl did not know how fast and hard to nod. Fuzzie feared for a moment that he would have to take her to the infirmary to heal a neck injury.
At one point Sam whispered something in Maila's ear, who nodded vigorously, reached under the seat, and emerged with a small package that she handed to Alex. He looked at the package, wrapped in bright green paper with a blue ribbon. He took it as if it were extremely fragile and the most precious thing he had ever received. When he hesitated to open it, Samantha said with a smile:
"Love, if you don't open it, you'll never know what's inside."
He carefully removed the ribbon and wrapping paper from the box, and when he opened it, he stopped breathing. There was a blue fountain pen inside, but not just any fountain pen. It was a Montblanc, a limited edition in honor of Emperor Joseph II, who reigned from 1765 to 1790 and was a patron of the arts. The pen itself was a work of art. His hands trembled and tears streamed down his face. Happiness in his heart that he finally had a family that cared about him, love for his Samantha who took little things like his love for fountain pens and made something special out of them.
After a few minutes, when he had regained his composure, a curious Aisha asked:
"Alex, I have a question, but you don't have to answer it, only if you really want to."
He nodded.
"Why didn't you follow the Earth tradition with the cake?"
He smiled broadly and said:
"What more could I wish for Mom? I have the four of you who are my parents. The only reason I don't call Robert Dad is because he plays four roles in my life at once: mentor, advisor, and father. But most importantly, from time to time, he's the one friend you just want to get in trouble with for the sheer fun of it and believe me, it's freaking fun!"
The latter made Salome groan and brought a very broad smile to Robert's face because it was also an absolute pleasure for him to get into some mischief with Alex. At some point, after Alex had read a history book, he left Heaven for Hell in a flash. He stormed into the throne room and practically dragged Robert with him. He needed the King of Hell because his power of manifestation was not yet strong enough for what he was planning. In the ninth circle of Hell, Alex hastily asked Robert if he could manifest a new cell with an infinite maze in it. The rest he could do himself, he said. Robert did as he was asked, while Alex trembled with impatience. Once the cell was ready, Alexander manifested cats, both large and small, to be found throughout the maze. A simple tangible hologram. Each cat wore a collar with a Star of David on it. He then asked a Demon to take Hitler's soul from his cell and throw it into his new hell. When Robert amusedly asked what that was all about, Alex replied that he had found out that Hitler had a severe phobia of cats. So spending his eternity being chased by cats wearing the humiliating badge that Jews were forced to wear during World War II seemed just right to him. With this explanation, Robert burst into a fit of laughter that literally hurt him. Meanwhile, Alex continued to speak:
"I have Michael, Celine, Samael, and Fuzzie, who have become not only my closest friends, but the big sister and brother I look up to. Also, all the other Angels now see me as a brother and treat me the same way. And Sam and I have Casiel and now Molly. Not just as peers and friends, but as family that we love. But most of all, I have Samantha, who thinks I am worthy of being her boyfriend, and I am doing my best to prove her right. Tell me, what else should I wish for? So instead of letting this wish go to waste, I gave it to our little Maila."
While he was daydreaming about the past, Sam had come to stand beside him in the water with her cup of tea. He put an arm around her waist, she laid her head on his shoulder and asked:
"What were you thinking about love?"
"The past. The last five years. All that has happened, all that has changed, all that we have achieved."
"So important that you remember things?"
He thought for a moment, only now noticing that she was completely naked, not even wearing one of those very, very short sleeping shirts she usually wore, which always made his engine rev. So, before answering her question, he said:
"Red, on most beaches this is forbidden, you know, could get us in big trouble."
She giggled and said with a playful tone in her voice:
"Then you just have to imagine that we are on a nude beach, but yes, then you would not comply."
Which made him smile brightly. She waited a moment, knowing that his answer to her question would come.
"Yes, some things are very important to remember. I want to keep them imprinted in my mind for all eternity. The day I first saw your eyes, that terrible day in Fuzzie's infirmary, and they were the only thing that kept me from going into a full-blown panic. That they calmed me down completely. The day you gave me my pen, which I always carry with me because it is the most important and precious thing I own. Not because of the value of the pen, but because you gave it to me from your heart. The day we freed Maila and Freya from Dis. The three days we needed for the flaming sword, but not just the sword, but what we turned Dis into. So much so that from what I hear, they want to give us a big banquet with all the bells and whistles. Things like that, yes. We, more you than me, can be especially proud of that.
"Why me more than you love, we did it together."
He turned to her and took her in both his arms.
"Samantha, none of this would have been possible without you."
She looked at him seriously and said:
"Alex, you are always the one who says nothing is impossible, nothing."
"Have you ever asked yourself why I say that, Sam?"
She had to admit that she had never asked that question before. That she had always assumed it was something typical of Alex. He manifested a new cigarette:
"When I arrived here, I was nothing, an anomaly. Samael was extremely nervous that I might cause trouble for his Princess, and Michael was looking for weaknesses to take me out if I was. I couldn't blame them for that, because they were doing it for your sake, for your safety. I know I gave you bad dreams, as you later confessed, by exploding at that table during the first meeting when I told Michael to end it."
She started to say something, but he cut her off with a kiss on the lips.
"Apparently Michael knew me better than I knew myself at that first meeting and that started the ball rolling for five years."
He pulled her into an embrace:
"I have stubbornly resigned myself to the fact that nothing is impossible. If I put my mind and heart into it, I will achieve the impossible, because I cannot possibly exist without you. Everything that followed Samantha was for you. For you and only for you. All the tears, all the blood, all the sweat that has been shed during this time is now coming to a climax. In a few days, Celine and I will set out to save a universe from a tyrant, to save what is left of the Angels, to give humanity a chance to survive, and to make their Hell as much like our Dis as possible."
He made his cigarette disappear and looked out over the water again for a moment:
"I may not be thirteen anymore, but I am still basically an eighteen-year-old boy. Somewhere between an adolescent and an adult. Sometimes the pressure on my shoulder feels so immense that I would prefer to stay here in this dimension and never want to come out. When I think of all the things that could go wrong, even the smallest mistakes could be fatal, I literally get nauseous and vomit. Why me, Sam, why does this have to fall on my shoulders? Couldn't this cup pass me by? Now that I am no longer in that universe, I am sure another Nefilim will rise. Why can't he?"
She had become more than accustomed to this, so she manifested a cigarette and handed it to him, then asked:
"Tell me Alex, we have the party in Dis on Friday. Even if it takes twenty hours there, which wouldn't surprise me, we'll only be gone two hours and we can crawl into bed at home until Saturday afternoon. Saturday night we will have an elaborate but modest banquet in the throne room, where this time you, not I, will be the absolute center of attention. Sunday will be spent with our small circle of intimate family and friends. And that Monday morning when Aisha and Franklin will be ready to transfer you and Celine with your luggage. Then suddenly you say, you know what, thanks but no thanks anyway. I will stay with Samantha and take the secondary throne after we get married. What's that going to do to you next week, next month, next year? What's it going to do to you when Aisha and Franklin show up one day and say, Your whole universe is gone?"
"I could have Rae Rae, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Lucifer move in here?"
"Same question, Alexander, what about the eighty billion souls that would be left behind and destroyed?"
He sighed deeply:
"I know, Red, that decision was made for me the day they smuggled me into your universe. That doesn't change the fact that I'm shaking in my boots."
"Come on, let's get some breakfast, we both need calories, we still have over a day and a half before we have to leave."
He said playfully:
"Something that is again your fault, you wanted the time here to be the same pace as the time in Heaven. Otherwise, we could have spent a few more decades here in peace, enjoying each other."
"Oh, and what is the other thing I am to blame for?"
"You know that very well, girl! That I've long felt guilty for breaking our promise to your parents not to do anything we were too young for!"
She said laughing:
"Mom and Dad have known about that forever. Mom was a little worried at first and Dad did a perfect imitation of an ostrich. Mom and I talked about it, Alex and the worries melted away like snow in the sun. Dad would have preferred that I'd been well-behaved for the next few centuries. However, I seem to recall a second part of that condition, and it read, 'for which we were not yet ready.' You know damn well we were ready, mister!"
"Oh, yeah? Hmmmm, I think we need to test that second part a few more times just to be sure."
He scooped her into his arms and they disappeared towards the beach house. The kisses they exchanged on the way promised great things...