There were a lot of things that had changed in New York – in all of the Sire's territory – since he had last left the Refuge for the human world. He had expected it to be unfamiliar – even the Refuge changed in the two centuries that he had spent there, and change for humans had always come at a pace exponentially greater than the angelic – or even vampiric – races were capable of.

But the one thing that he hadn't expected a change in was the Sire himself. Even after hearing of, and meeting, the Guild Hunter-turned-angel who was his Sire's mate; even after accompanying a human to the Refuge at his Sire's command, the thought of Raphael having truly changed completely was unfathomable to him. Even if most angels would not realise, everything he had done, even inviting the Guild Director into the Refuge, had had an undeniable logic to it.

Now, however – considering the little creature that was curiously trailing after him, he was starting to doubt in confidence. He had seen a million impossible things in the centuries that he had lived, but a human child in Tower, in the middle of the danger that Raphael's stronghold was, was perhaps the most shocking of them all.

And no, he told the voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Illium, it had nothing to do with the fact that the girl had taken one look at him, decided that he was the most fascinating thing in the building, and had proceeded to follow him around wherever he went, aided and abetted by the aforementioned blue-winged angel. And since Elena found her namesake's precociousness amusing, the only other being in the building capable to turning young Zoe Elena's attention away from him refused to help.

Not for the first time that day, he cursed whatever it was that had called the Guild Director and her husband away, leaving Elena with the responsibility of babysitting her goddaughter.

"I think," Illium's laughter-filled voice broke through his thoughts as the other angel spoke with almost believable seriousness to the little child at in his arms, "That I'm going to convince your mother to let me recruit you into the Tower's forces when you're old enough. Bullying Aodhan like that when you're not even five – I can't wait to see what you'll do when you're old enough to do some real damage."

It was a good thing that Zoe was still painfully shy. She was only able to manage a gasped "Pretty!" around the fist in her mouth when Aodhan turned towards his closest friend, before she turned and buried her face into Illium's shoulder. Had she not been so awed by him, the dark glare he shot Illium would almost certainly have terrified her.

Then again, that might have meant that she would think twice before continuing to follow him around the Tower.

Illium, of course, had known him too long and too well to be intimidated by that look. "Stop posturing," he said, smirking at him. "We both know that you're not going to do anything, and right now you're just acting like a hawk-cuckoo."

And, naturally, he was right. For anyone else, the glare would have been exactly what it seemed – a warning. But Illium – with Illium, it had always been, and perhaps would always be, different. His Bluebell had a right over him that not even Raphael could claim. Only his parents and sister held his love and loyalty in the way that Illium did, and the other angel not only knew of it, but could also be rather shameless and obvious when it came to exploiting them.

But – well, there were better ways of getting back at Bluebell than simply glaring at him. And the fact that the blue-winged angel was following the little one as she followed him around meant that getting him in position wouldn't exactly be difficult.

"What exactly are you planning, Aodhan?"

He smirked, and didn't say anything. Letting Illium imagine the worst was half of the fun of it all – and he knew Aodhan well enough to know that even the most outlandish pranks were not out of bounds when it came to their little wars.

Illium scowled. He hated it when Aodhan acted secretive with him, and considering the fact that he was already slightly annoyed – he doubted that the result would be a positive one for him.

It was the one negative of having a best friend who had known him not for decades, but for centuries. Sparkle knew everything about him – and just as he had no issue exploiting the chinks in Sparkle's armour when he felt that the other angel needed to lighten up, Aodhan had no problem with doing whatever he needed to to bring him down to earth when he felt that Illium was being a bit too flippant.

Of course, he had a better excuse than Aodhan did. He – unlike Sparkle – wasn't in any danger of sinking into himself again.

(Somehow, he doubted that excuse would hold up against Aodhan's glare of death.)

Little Zoe Elena had been his secret weapon all day long – as much as having a little shadow for the better part of the day had started to slightly annoy Aodhan, he had the sudden, unsettling feeling that that was going to come back to haunt him very, very soon.

Of course, knowing Aodhan did not automatically translate into being able to predict exactly what the diamond-winged angel was planning. That was partly why they worked so well together – despite the amount of time that they'd known each other, each of them still managed to keep the other on his wings.

So, of course, he had no idea what he was walking into when he followed Aodhan and Zoe into the lounge room that Elena had insisted be set up in the Tower. She had said that it was for her own use whenever she was in the tower, but considering the amount of time she used as compared to every other angel that was part of the Tower security – well, he had a sneaking suspicion that that had only been said to convince the Sire to give in with minimal fuss.

The huge, practically three story high room was filled with every modern convenience that Elena had been able to think of, from what was possibly the largest television set ever manufactured to a snack area that was larger than most mortal kitchens – and then, there was the fact that there was more photography equipment in the room than most professional studios had.

That last bit was something he was reminded rather abruptly of when a blinding flash of light went off in his face, just as he was in the act of picking up an obviously exhausted Zoe, who had finally run out of what had seemed like an unending well of energy.

When he looked back up, it was to a smirking Aodhan – never a face to inspire the deepest confidence within him.

Had it been any other instance, he would have found the heart to pity Illium for how nervous he obviously was. Coming off of the day he had just gone through – well, as far as he was concerned, it was exactly what he deserved.

Well, it was just a part of what he deserved, of course.

"Didn't your mother say something about it being time you settled down and started having the children the last time she visited?"

It was all that was required. He could see the growing horror on Illium's face as he realised what he planned on doing-

In that moment, he almost felt real hatred for Aodhan. He didn't mean it, of course, and there was a part of him that could acknowledge the fact that Aodhan's revenge was a masterful one – but then there was the part of him that remembered just how much time his mother spent informing him that she wanted grandchildren.

The Hummingbird may have been the most delicate of angels, but when it came to bossing the only child she had given birth to around, there was no one more terrifying than her. And the moment that she received that photograph, he was well aware of the fact that his mother was never going to leave him alone and in peace again.

(She might not know it – he was still holding out on telling her – but unless angels started using some of humanity's more interesting inventions, she was certainly never having biological grandchildren.)

It was perfect.

There was absolutely nothing that could make his point better, and the look of consternation on Illium's face only served to confirm that fact. A print of that photograph in the Hummingbird's hands would ensure that Illium never thought to use little children against him again.

(And he would say nothing about the fact that he was printing out a second copy of photograph for himself.)

A/N: A hawk-cuckoo is basically a species of cuckoo that resembles a species of hawk in order to scare off predators. Basically, Illium is telling Aodhan to stop pretending to be angry.
I imagine this piece as more pre-slash than friendship, but there's space for it to be interpreted either way.

For everyone who's read Diamonds and asked for another piece with these two in it - I'm so sorry it took so long! The two of them absolutely refused to work with me - I've rewritten this about ten times and have been working on it for the past two months :/
I hope you liked it though, and I definitely hope that this was worth the wait! Please don't forget to drop a review on your way out :)