That Beautiful Miracle

Out Of Hiding

If Angel tried really hard to ignore the bruising and swelling on her body, it was almost like her father had never been home. The house was still a huge, bleak, eyesore. It was cold and lonely inside with too many expensive nothings and no personal decorations throughout. It felt more like a museum than a house. Angel had been hiding in there for the last five days, skipping school and Eric's house in favour of hiding the damage that had been done to her.

Angel stood in front of her bathroom mirror and stared at her body in disgust. She had used ice to reduce the swelling, and it was pretty much gone, only noticeable when pressed on. Her chest was dark purple, mottled with blue and black to show the force with which her father had kicked her there. Her stomach hadn't bruised, but it was tender. Her face looked awful, the apple of her left cheek the same shade of purple as her chest, she had to keep her left eye closed most of the time because it was sensitive to light due to taking a partial hit. Her right temple had a small gash on it and a barely there bruise. She could look happily upon her hair, though, no permanent damage there.

Angel stepped back from the mirror, she pulled a knitted yellow sweater over her head and a pair of blue hot pants on before making her way out of the bathroom and into her bedroom which was connected to it. She paused when she noticed that her bedroom window was opened. It was too late when she noticed the four boys sitting on her bed. She turned to try and run back into the bathroom but was stopped by the most chilling voice she had ever heard come out of any of her sweet boys.

"Stop." Fez ground his teeth around the word, the air filled with tension almost immediately. He hadn't yelled, but Angel thought that yelling might have made the situation less scary. "Turn around." Every word was spoken slowly and deliberately. She had no way of using the excuse that she hadn't heard or didn't understand, so she turned ever so agonisingly slowly to face them. "Who did that to you?" Fez snapped when he saw her face, finally and after so long of a wait.

"Oh, well," Angel stuttered, trying to think of a convincing lie that she could tell them. "I ran into some patriots on my way home after, well, you know..." She trailed off, hoping that was believable. "They got me here too," she lifted her jumper, hesitantly, to show them her chest.  She figured since they'd seen it before that it wouldn't be awkward.

"Oh my God!" Eric inhaled sharply when he saw the bruise on her chest. "Is that a shoe print?" He asked, moving forward to barely touch her father's footprint that remained in the centre of her chest.

"Yes, it is." Angel replied. She looked to the side and coughed. Eric reached out and lowered the sweater for her. He pulled her towards him and picked her up with careful, gentle movements that somehow didn't jostle any part of her painful body.

"Where was your father when this was happening?" Hyde asked, barely concealing his need for retribution as his hands curled around the feather stuffing from the pillow he had been holding earlier.

"He was really angry with me. He left town again." Angel responded with her head down. She closed her eyes and allowed a couple of tears to slide down her face. "How did you find my room? Why did you come? I was hiding." She asked.

"Angel baby, we came because you were hiding. You've never been away from us for that long at once. We knew something was up. Actually, we thought you were grounded because when we were watching you through the windows, you were acting so strangely. We came to liberate you, but obviously..." Eric let the end of his sentence hang in the air.

"Well, what do we do now?" Kelso asked from his position on the floor. He still leaned against Angel's bed, fiddling with a pair of panties that he'd found in her drawer.

"Let's get her to Kitty, and then we'll see." Hyde answered. He slowly unfurled his fist, the answering ache in his fingers both gratifying and painful. He reached out for Angel. "I'll sit in the front with Angel baby."

They made the slow trek out to the car and got in. Hyde slid into the passenger seat and settled Angel comfortably on his lap facing him. Angel leaned forward to rub her bruised face against Hyde's soft sideburns and sighed with delight.

Steven Hyde was a hard man, through and through, to the bone, some might say. To Angel, however, he was one of the sweetest, softest boys she'd ever had the pleasure of knowing. He was kind and gentle. He carried her around as if she was made of the most delicate porcelain and pressed soft kisses to her face when he wanted to make her smile. It wasn't just the way he was, though. His hair was springy and soft like moss, and his side burns were equally as soft, Angel often wondered if he would grow a beard and a moustache and whether they would be as soft. In other words, Steven Hyde was Angel Michaels' Big Teddy bear, and she couldn't love him more.

"So, which one of you had the pleasure of telling Kitty and Red that I was streaking with you?" Angel giggled.