Assistant or Babysitter?

"Chesh, Cach!"

A medium blue rubber ball swished right past his nose as Church leaned back just in time to avoid it. Not that it would do anything besides bounce off of his face and down onto the floor, but he preferred not to get smacked while trying to work. He knew that bringing a little kid to work would be a pain, but when he'd tried to hire a babysitter Hanna just cried until he came back home... forty minutes later after several panicked phone calls.

"Hanna, what have I told you about throwing things in my office?"

The little boy plopped down on his bum and pouted, grabbing his tiny tennis shoes by the toes.

"Don't you do that, you know it won't work. Time out young man."

Hanna looked down at the dark blue carpet, but when Church didn't speak again he slowly got to his hands and knees and crawled beneath the desk to lay on his dog bed. Church was just about to get back to work when a knock sounded on the double doors leading to the hall.

"Come in."

His secretary, Ms. Williams, sauntered inside in a way-too-short dark red mini skirt and a white blouse with one too many buttons undone. At least she had the body to pull it off, but there was definitely going to be a dress-code change in the works soon.

"Yes, Ms. Williams?"

"The man who applied for the assistant position is here for his interview."

I really need to get this email done, but I did schedule the meeting for ten minutes from now. I suppose it's at least good that he's here early.

With a slightly annoyed sigh Church saved his email draft and leaned back in his desk chair.

"Send him in."

She nodded and winked, then went to go get him while Church internally gagged. It wasn't that he wasn't interested in women, but with Hanna taking up literally his entire day and night, he couldn't have anyone over. He'd tried. Hanna had hid from all of them and cried until he'd made them leave.

Footsteps shuffling against the carpet brought his mind back to the present as his eyes rose to a disturbingly familiar face. The man seemed just as surprised to see him. The young priest was dressed in a very nice looking black suit and... pink tie?

Leaning his elbow on his armrest, Church pressed a few fingers against his cheek and raised a brow.

"Pink?"

Michael bristled immediately and Church knew that he was about to take off, but then something made his eyes widen and dart around the room, then return to him quickly.

"Where is Hanna?"

Of course.

"He is here."

Church glanced down at the little boy curled up on his dog bed.

"You're time out is over. Do not throw that ball at me again, understand?"

Hanna pursed his lips and nodded solemnly as he climbed out from under the desk to stand next to it. He eyed the priest but showed no interest in going anywhere near him. When he was sure that he would stay close Church raised his eyes back to the man standing before him and nodded.

"Sit down."

He seemed apprehensive to do as told, but after a glance towards Hanna he pursed his lips and stalked forward. When he dropped down into one of the black leather conference chairs across from his desk, Church grabbed a manila folder and slid out the single piece of paper Michael had submitted as his resume.

"So then. Michael Saunders, is it?"

The man's eyes narrowed but he nodded, stealing glances at Hanna as the little boy rolled his ball against a sofa by the wall so that he stayed out of the way during the interview.

"You don't have a very interesting resume. All you've done so far since getting an associates in business has been to work at the Reunion Church part time?"

He licked his lips and fidgeted a little.

"Yes... sir."

Church followed his eyes as they darted back to Hanna for a split second.

"Do you have a problem with my boy? If you are interested in this job I suggest that you pay attention to what I am telling you."

He straightened immediately, sighing out a stressed breath.

"I'm sorry, Church."

"Mr. Remaro."

He flinched and quickly corrected himself.

"Mr. Remaro. You have my full attention now."

"Good."

Leaning forward, Church steepled his fingers as he rested his elbows on his desk and leaned his chin atop them.

"So then, why do you want this job besides the money? I know you have a degree in business, but why do you want to be my assistant?"

"I..."

Hmm? Doesn't he have a stupid speech ready to try and suck up or kiss my ass?

"I'm desperate for money and this field is where I do my best work. I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but that's honestly it."

"Is it now?"

"Yes sir."

Glancing over towards the sofa, Church noticed Hanna looking at him and grinned.

"Hanna, come over here please."

Church stood from his seat as Hanna got up and ran over, his little feet nearly tripping over each other. When he got close Church knelt down and scooped him up into his arms, then set him down on his desk, his little legs hanging over the edge. He then looked down at Michael and smirked.

"Play with Hanna."

Michael blinked, immediately confused at his request.

"Play?"

Church leaned over and spoke to Hanna, completely ignoring Michael for the moment.

"Do you want to show Mr. Michael your new ball? I'm sure he'd love to play with you."

The little boy's eyes went wide as he looked towards the other man. Michael had a light sheen of sweat on his forehead but surprisingly pushed his chair back and walked over to kneel down by the sofa so he could pick up Hanna's ball. He tossed it from hand to hand for a moment before sitting down with his legs out to either side, smiling as openly as he could.

"Wanna play with me, Hanna?"

Church watched as Hanna contemplated the question. He might have been just two years old, but he knew who was the safest person to him, and that wasn't the man before him. He was trying to figure out if Michael was dangerous and if he was too far away from Church to be able to help in case he attacked.

"Here..."

Lifting him down to the carpet, Church dropped to his knees behind his desk and pulled out Hanna's dog bed and stuffed plush puppy.

"Hanna, why don't you take your bed and Mr. Woofers with you to play?"

The little boy perked up immediately and reached for the stuffed dog and bed.

"Okay, but you stay here, right?"

Church smiled and patted his head. The kid had caught onto a bit more vocabulary when they had spoken last night and probably from other conversations they'd had over the past two months. It was nice to at least be able to communicate a bit better.

"I'll be right here sitting at my desk working. If you need anything just ask Michael, okay? If he can't help then come get me. But remember the one rule?"

Hanna smiled and nodded, his soft hair bouncing around his head.

"Yes! No leave with any buns but Chesh."

Church bit back a grin and patted the boy's again.

"Good boy."

Hanna giggled as Church gently turned him, then nudged his little body toward Michael.

"Go play."

It took Hanna a minute to actually walk over, stopping a foot or so away to sit down on his dog bed and set the stuffed animal next to him for protection. He was pretty tense and kept checking that Church was still behind him.

"I'm not going anywhere, Hanna."

The boy pursed his lips, but nodded and turned to finally give Michael a tiny smidge of his attention.

I have no idea how to work with kids!

Sure, he'd run the daycare sometimes at the church, but that was always with two or three other people. So, when the little boy came over and sat down on his little dog bed and eyed him, Michael just smiled awkwardly and probably looked stupid. Thankfully, it only took him another minute to realize that he was likely to lose the job he desperately needed if he didn't play with the little boy.

Even if I don't end up with the job for long, if I do get it, I can at least try to get the boy safely away from the demon.

"Hey there, Hanna?"

The boy fidgeted a little, looking back at Church before returning his attention to Michael.

"Hi..."

Michael held up the ball and smiled, hiding behind it a little.

"Wanna play with me?"

Hanna looked a little panicked and checked that Church was still there again, which he obviously was, then looked back at Michael.

"That Hanna ball," he said quietly, gesturing to himself hesitantly.

"Oh? It's very nice. Can we play with it together?"

He looked nervous again and did his little check for the demon, then slowly gave a nod.

"Okay miss her Migal."

"Alright, I'll roll it to you. Then you can you roll it back to me?"

Hanna nodded again and Michael carefully rolled the ball straight toward him slowly. The kid did something he honestly hadn't thought he would, though. He actually pounced on the ball, bouncing a little before falling off onto the carpet with a thud.

Michael quickly scrawled over to help him up, worried that he might have gotten hurt, but the second the boy got to his feet he squeaked and ran over to Church, sniffling. The demon sighed and turned his chair so that he could easily scoop up the boy as he got closer.

Crap, there goes this job.

"Um, I suppose I should go."

Hanna was nuzzled in Church's arms, making the religious man inside of him cringe, but there was nothing he could do about it right then. The kid was literally glued to the demon for some reason.

"You may go for today. I will see you tomorrow."

Michael's head jerked up before he got to his feet.

"Huh? You need me in tomorrow?"

"No, but Hanna wanted to go back to the church."

"We don't have services tomorrow," Michael replied quietly.

"Can he not just look around?"

Michael raised a brow but then shrugged.

"I suppose he could."

"Good. Will you be there, human?"

Michael's spine stiffened in annoyance at the sudden jab, but he bit his tongue and nodded.

"I can be... sir."

"Good. I will see you there around noon."

"Chesh?"

Michael's eyes lowered from Church's face to the little boy now staring up at him with curiosity.

"We cans go chesh for morrow?"

Church nodded and smiled, though Michael could see a hint of annoyance in his eyes. He probably hated going to such a dangerous place.

"Yes, we will go tomorrow before lunch, alright?"

The little boy clapped his hands a few times and giggled. "Yay!"

"But, we'll only go if you behave today, okay? I have more work to do so you need to be good. Can you do that?"

Hanna nodded frantically, making Michael chuckle as he watched his antics.

"I want you to show us around tomorrow. If you can win his trust you can have this job. Most of the work would be babysitting as I am desperately behind due to taking him on when his parents died."

"Then why don't you just give him over to the authorities so he can be adopted?"

"Because he's afraid of everyone besides me. Perhaps when he gets better I will consider that option, but for now, I would prefer that he be as comfortable as possible... and for now, that is while he is with me."

Who would have thought that a demon would care about anything other than themselves. There must be something else to it, but I can worry about that another time since we are meeting tomorrow, anyways.

"Alright. I will see you tomorrow at noon in front of the church," Michael confirmed.

Church nodded as he turned to his computer and began typing while Hanna dozed in his lap.

Assuming that he was dismissed, Michael gave him a nod and turned, walking out with determination. He had to figure out what he was going to do about their odd relationship. Perhaps if he could win Hanna's trust enough, he could get him away from Church without the demon causing injury to anyone. Then he could exorcise Church and get Hanna into adoptions.

Those thoughts put a small grin on his face as he left the office. He would save Hanna and rid the world on one more evil... in due time.