Mr. Smith sat in the small waiting room near the meeting room. Grimm had just called an emergency meeting. Smith wasn't allowed in.
Smith was about to pick up a National Geographic, when the meeting room's door opened and Tayden came out to the hall. Tayden stood there for a moment and looked at Smith. Then he walked to the waiting room, sat in front of Smith, picked up a Good Housekeeping, and started reading it.
"Heh heh heh..." Smith laughed. "They couldn't leave me alone without my chaperone, could they?"
Tayden ignored him.
"All that Heavenly training... all those years serving God Himself..." Smith leaned closer to Tayden, a mockingly serious expression of fake concern in his face, "all that priceless knowledge and potential... and you end up babysitting a mere mortal?! A remarkable one, but a mortal in the end..."
"Oooh! There's a Quiz!" Tayden exclaimed, as he took a ballpen from his pocket.
"How do you think He feels about this situation? It can't be easy seeing one of His favorite sons lower himself to this..."
"'Do I try too hard to be liked by people?' Well, I guess I do..." Tayden said, marking an x on the magazine.
"...boy, He must be really dissapointed in you..." Smith said, nodding slowly to give emphasis to his words.
Tayden put down the magazine and smiled at Smith. "He's not," he said, with total confidence.
"Oh? And why are you so sure about that?" Smith asked.
"Because He loves me," Tayden answered, "and, believe it or not, He loves you too."
Smith stared at Tayden for a second, geniunelly confused. Then he opened his mouth and started laughing. And he continued laughing. And then he laughed some more.
Smith threw his head back as his face turned red. His laughter got harder every second. After a while Tayden returned to his magazine and ignored him.
When Smith was finally done, he raised his dark glasses and passed his finger under his eye. "Little angel," he said, "you've made me cry for the first time since I was reborn. Thank you."
