No Angels

Chapter 2

"Where are we going?"

Heather jumped slightly at the sudden appearance, closing her eyes and breathing deeply as she counted to ten in an attempt to calm herself and not try to strangle the ghost. With her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, she opened her eyes and turned her head to look over at Edie. "You want to not scare me to death next time?" Heather asked, her voice full of annoyance, "What if I had already been driving? I would be - "

"Are you going to lecture me or are you going to start the car?" The look on Heather's face was less than impressed, but she turned the keys anyway, the engine coming to life with a click. As she reversed out of the parking lot, Edie continued, "You never answered my question." Heather was silent for a moment, focusing on the road instead of the question at hand, before finally answering. "We're going to see my friend."

Edie raised her eyebrow, questioning her further, "A friend?"

"Yes, a friend who could help us with our little Erik problem."

Edie visibly relaxed upon hearing the statement, a soft smile gracing her face, and for a moment, Heather couldn't help but smile a little too. "I can't promise that he'll be able to help," she added, because she'd hate to get this woman's hopes up, "All I can promise is that he'll try his hardest. Or at least I'll make him." Edie glanced at her in confusion, but stayed silent, only nodding slightly.

The two rode in silence the rest of the way before they finally arrived at a large, concrete buildings with many tiny windows. As they pulled into the parking garage, Edie squinted out the window, confusion evident on her face as she asked, "What is this place?"

"It's the Department of Justice building, but it's basically the FBI headquarters," Heather responded as she parked and turned off the engine, while Edie looked surprised by what she had just heard and continued to gap. "The FBI? Your friend is part of the FBI?" Heather moved quickly out of the car, slamming her door shut as she went. "Pretty much. Not come on, we don't have all day."

There was no noise to tell Heather that Edie had exited that vehicle or was even following, but the intense presence behind her was hint that she was there. Entering the building through the visitor door, they were greeted by the noisy main hall, full of busy lawyers, paralegals and agents. Heather made her way through the crowd easily before finally approaching the main desk. She put on her sweetest, most charming smile and spoke politely to the woman. "I'm here to see Special Agent Joseph Moran."

The woman pushed her cat eye glasses up to the bridge of her nose, before asking, "Do you have an appointment to see him, hun?" Heather's smile changed to an apologetic one. "I'm afraid not. But if you call him, he'll probably let me up."

"Alright, name?"

"Heather. Heather Coleman."

"Okay, well, I'll call up and see. There's a few chairs over there if you wanna wait." Heather thanked her, before going to sit down, her head already hurting from the noise the crowd was creating. "Are you sure he'll let you up there?" Heather snorted upon hearing that, glancing over at where Edie was currently seating. "Of course he will. We've been friends since we were in diapers."

"Miss Coleman?" Heather looked back at Edie with a smirk, simply saying "That should be him" before standing and walking to the front desk. The woman cleared Heather to go up, signalling one of the guards to guide her up to Agent Moran's office. The ride up the elevator was silent and slightly uncomfortable, but thankfully short, and soon they were on the correct floor. The guard motioned for Heather to follow him and she did so obediently. They passed by many offices and other agents, before finally reaching Moran's, where the guard nodded at her to go in briefly before turning to leave.

Heather entered the room without knocking or hesitance and was almost immediately picked up in a bearhug. "Hey, Feather, it's so great to see you," Joey laughed, swinging her around happily, and Heather couldn't help but laugh too. "Great to see you too, Joey."

Once he put her down, Heather finally got a good look at him. He was a very tall man, several inches over 6 foot, and was still rather lean, but, while he was no doubt handsome, he had a rather babyish looking face, almost as if a toddler had taken steroids. "So," he asked, "What brings you here today?"

"I need a favor." Joey's eyebrows furrowed questionably, opening his mouth to ask further, but Heather beat him to it. "And no, it's not about drugs. Or...anything like that. I just - I need you to help me find someone."

"Look, Heather, I'm not a matchmak - "

"Not like that," Heather nearly shrieked, "I mean I need you to help me locate a person." Joey visibly relaxed, but kept his cool. "Is this person missing?"

"No - yes - no. I don't know." Joey raised an eyebrow, but Heather continued, "I just - a friend of mine is looking for her son. They were - separated during the Holocaust and she thinks he came here." Joey's eyes softened. "Feather, as good of a cause as that is - " Oh no " - you know I can't go digging around in other people's files." Normally, Heather would have taken the no and left but - 

She could feel Edie's presence and - she couldn't let this woman suffer any longer. Ah - screw morals. "Please, Joey," Heather pushed, "You're my best friend. I'll do anything. Please, you just - you gotta help me with this. What if you lost your son? How would you feel?"

"I don't have a son - "

"Whatever, just pretend you do. I just want to help her find him. I'm not going to steal his social security number or anything. I just want to reunite two family members who have no else in the world besides the other." 

Joey was silent for a moment, before looking a loud, over dramatic sigh. "I'll see what I can do - " Heather was already moving forward to throw her arms around him, a wide smile on her face, "Thank you so much, Joey - " But he stopped her, adding, " - But it's going to cost you."

Heather rolled her eyes, "Fine, fine. Anything you want. Besides a date because you're like my brother, Joey." Joey put a hand over his heart, as though he had been hurt, letting out another loud, mournful sigh, "Oh, however shall I go on?" With a sharp slap to his shoulder, Joey snickered, before responding, "I was thinking more in terms of money anyway."

Of course. "How much were you - "

"Fifty." Heather raised an eyebrow at the man in front of her. "Just fifty? I would have thought you'd want, I don't know, more." Joey winked at her, saying, "It's not every day I get to break the law. Now what's this little tikes' name?"

"Erik Lehnsherr."

Once Joey left his office to go dig through some files, Heather was left alone for a long time before Edie appeared, a tenderness in her expression that Heather had never seen before. "Thank you," Edie said at last. Heather looked at her in confusion from where she was seated, asking, "Why are you thanking me? We haven't even found him yet."

"You're trying though. And that's very important to me." Heather shrugged, simply saying, "It's nothing - "

"No, it's not just "nothing" to me. You're helping me find my boy after so many years. That's - it's everything." Heather felt her throat tightening, the thoughts 'This is what a mother's supposed to be' and 'This is the mother I want' swirling around in her head, before she let out a shaky laugh. "I didn't know moms were like this," She finally responded.

The look on Edie's face was a little concerned as she asked, "Like what?" Heather waved at her, answering, "So - I don't know, protective? Willing to go to the edge of the world and back for their kids?" Edie moved closer to her and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the door of Joey's office opening.

"I think I found something."