Love?

That word didn't even have a definition to him.  He knew that it was at least related to affection and, being a demon, he didn't understand the first thing about that. So how could he love anything? Let alone a damn preacher!

"I don't even know what that means, you stupid priest," he eventually growled, stomping past the man toward the living room. He knew that it was stupid to ignore a gun, but he was seriously hurting and needed to know that Hanna was okay since the priest was obviously fine.

"He's in his room playing with Max. Leave him be," Michael said as he quickly followed. Right before he got to Hanna's door Church turned on the priest, baring his teeth.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do!" he hissed, hoping that his voice was quiet enough so that Hanna hadn't heard. 

"You're burned to hell, Church! Don't let him see you like this," Michael replied back in a harsh whisper, obviously not wanting Hanna to hear, either. He did have a point, though.

"Come on, I'll figure out some way to get the medicine on you."

Michael turned and headed into the living-room and, reluctantly, Church followed. When he noticed Michael leaning down to grab the tube of medicine he'd previously had Hanna put on the man's chest, he snatched it out of his hand. 

"I can do it myself."

Just leaning down to grab the tube had his body screaming, but he wasn't going to let him see that he was hurting. The cross burn on his neck wasn't nearly as bad as the holy water dripping down his back and legs.

Wait a minute. I need to rinse this crap off before putting the medicine on.

Grumbling under his breath, Church stomped toward the bathroom, but lightened his steps when the reverberations began to shoot spikes of pain up his legs. It became so intense that he had to stop by the bathroom door and use its frame to hold his weight up for a few moments. 

"Fuck..."

Michael slipped past him at that moment and into the bathroom, being sure not to brush against his skin at all.

"Hang on a minute," he said as he dropped to his knees and leaned over the bathtub, turning on the water, then the shower head. When it was flowing at full force Church began walking closer, using the sink to hold up some of his weight.

"Move," he growled at Michael, not wanting to risk touching the priest and burning himself further. The man wisely jumped to the side and Church took that chance to stumble forward and into the bathtub. The second the cold water hit his damaged skin it made a loud hissing sound, as did he, himself, and began to billow with steam. His eyes squeezed shut tightly when he shifted on the floor of the shower and let more of his body get wet.

"Church...."

Church growled, tensing his shoulder-blades as he felt another wave of pain shoot through his back. It took at least five minutes before he was able to breath without it catching randomly from the burns.

Time to flip over.

The idea didn't sit well with him, but if he didn't get the holy water off it was only going to get worse.

Michael was ruining what he'd just suffered for. His whole body was still aching, especially around the burn mark on his chest, but seeing Church the way he was...

You shouldn't want to help him. He killed your friend!

Clenching his fists, he suddenly realized that he'd put the gun down at some point. Not wanting Hanna to get it, he quickly ran out of the room and found it on the floor near where the medicine had been. He grabbed it and put the safety on, then put it on top of the fridge to decide what to do with it later. It will probably go back to his car, since that's where he'd gotten it from after receiving the call about the attack. 

Shaking his head, Michael went back into the bathroom and shut the door right as Church slowly rolled over and muffled a scream into his arm on the shower floor. His chest constricted at the sound of it and his mind began to think of things that it shouldn't even consider. When he gave another shout and the sound of sizzling echoed in the room nearly as loud as his voice Michael had to turn around and press his forehead against the door to keep from doing something he couldn't. But....

My demon is hurting so badly.

Church's breathing hitched and he shuddered a gasping cry. The sound repeated as he panted beneath the stream of water until the sizzling sound disappeared. 

Michael stared down his shaking hand to read the watch on his wrist.

Fifteen minutes. He's been in terrible pain for fifteen minutes as his skin burned from the holy water being washed away.

Michael struggled to turn around, doing his best not to pay attention to the burnt smell in the air as he took hesitant steps back toward the tub. When he was finally able to see him again Michael's breath caught in his throat. The back of his legs were almost completely burnt to the point where his skin was partially singed away, leaving dark red marks all the way down to his ankles. Looking back up towards his back, he saw that the marks traveled without much of a break up over his backside and halfway to his shoulder-blades.

"Ch-Church..."

Church whimpered into his arm again that was still folded beneath him so it stifled most of the sound. Michael turned and fished through his medicine cabinet above the sink to find two more tubes of new burn medication. 

Guess he is used to the basic burns. Thank god he has multiple tubes.

Grabbing those plus the half empty one, Michael dropped to his knees near the tub and looked over at Church's face. Well, the part that wasn't tucked into the crook of his arm.

"Church."

He tilted his head ever-so-slightly, just enough to look up at him with one eye.

"Say it please, Church. Just say it."

Confusion mixed in with his already-pained expression, telling him that he didn't understand.

"Church, I asked you a question earlier..."

He gave a quiet growl and tilted his head back into the bend of his arm.

"Please, Church. Just say it. Even if you don't understand, please?"

He had no idea why he was pleading with a demon. Let alone one that had just killed one of his friends, or former friends, but he just couldn't leave him alone with all of the pain he was dealing with. 

When a moment of silence had passed, Michael leaned over and hesitantly reached for Church's arm, the one that he wasn't leaning on. He could feel a faint amount of heat in his fingertips as they got closer.

"Say it, please..."

He was quiet for another minute before Michael saw him look up at him again. His previously strong demeanor was completely crumbled beneath the pain of the burns all over him.

He must have been trying to hide it when he first got home.

He didn't want to say it because he didn't understand it at all. Nothing about that word meant anything to him.

But my priest is asking me to...

Gritting his teeth together as another surge of pain ran from his heels to his lower back, he sighed out a shaky breath and let his eye open again to see Michael's hand close to his arm. He asked him again to say it, and Church let his resolve to disobey dissolve. He was already hurting enough, if Michael wanted him to say some stupid sentence, fine. 

He took a deep breath, wincing from the pain the action sent through his body. Managing to keep that breath, though, he carefully let out a small portion of the air over time so that he could speak. 

"I... love y.... you." 

The second those words left his mouth Church heard Michael turn the shower off and then felt the familiar chill of burn cream being squirted along his back. Not a second later, Michael's hands gently began spreading large amounts of it around the area. 

God damn that feels good. 

He closed his eyes and just let himself finally begin to relax as the cream dimmed the pain everywhere it touched. It wasn't gone for good, but it was getting much more tolerable as Michael smoothed a large handful over his backside. If he hadn't been hurting so badly he might have poked fun at him for touching him there, but right then, he was just happy he was being helped. 

"Feeling better?" he asked as he emptied the tube and tossed it somewhere behind him, judging from the sound of a light thump, then he unscrewed a new tube and squeezed a healthy amount over both of his legs. He did the right one first, making sure to get around the sides before moving to the left one. Church had a feeling the whole back portion of his body was white with the cream, but it felt so amazing that he wanted to go swimming in a pool of it. 

"There we go. Took a tube and a half of cream but that should do for tonight." 

Church waited for the medicine to really sink in and the excess water on himself to dry before pushing himself up onto his hands and knees. 

"You can... touch me." 

Turning his head to the side slowly, he noticed Michael chewing his lip worriedly. 

"Yeah..." Michael replied, obviously not wanting to elaborate.

"Can you help me to bed?"

He nodded right away and backed up a bit. Church gave a pained smile and pushed himself up using the edge of the tub. Michael moved closer to help him step out of it without slipping or losing his balance, which was definitely appreciated. Church had to put a good amount of his weight on the guy, but he handled it well and got him into bed without too many stops. He made sure he was settled in and comfortable before finally taking a step back. 

"What would you like for dinner? I was going to make Hanna grilled cheese, but I can make something different for you if you'd like."

Church was already drifting off, so instead of requesting something he really didn't feel like eating, he just told him what he knew Hanna would want with his sandwich before passing out.

"Tomato... soup."

I can't believe what just happened. 

Michael mentally chastised himself as he got busy cooking dinner for Hanna. The boy was in the entrance to the kitchen, helping Max eat a small piece of steak he'd heated up for him.

Thankfully, the meal was quick to prepare and by the time Michael had the sandwiches done the soup was nice and hot. Sure, he'd cheated and used a canned variety, but at least it didn't have a ton of salt or extra useless ingredients.

"Ready for dinner, Hanna?"

The boy hopped up and walked over to the sink, making Michael smile and move behind him.

"Alright, let's wash our hands."

He lifted him up and let him clean his hands, then handed him a paper towel to dry them off. Of course the boy wanted to keep and eat the towel, but Michael had seen that coming. Grabbing Hanna's meal, he knelt down and grinned. 

"Hey Hanna? Wanna trade? Yummy grilled cheese and some tomato soup, for that little paper towel?" 

The boy's eyes widened and he quickly tossed the paper towel and headed for the table. Michael followed him, helping him into his chair and setting his food on the table so that he could start eating.

"Will you be a good boy while I go check on Church? He was really tired."

Hanna already had a spoonful of soup in his mouth so he just nodded, drooling a bit of it onto his shirt. Mentally thanking... someone who wasn't god that Church had a washer and dryer, Michael went over to his room and quietly opened the door a tiny bit. The guy was snoring, loudly. He could hear his demon in the sound, too, growling with each exhale.

He must really be out cold.

Deciding not to bother him, he quietly closed the door and leaned his back against it for a moment. His mind wandered back to what Church had said earlier. He knew that he hadn't understood it, but that wasn't his fault. Either way, it had been exactly what was needed to fix the stupid mistake Michael made beforehand. Sighing, he let his lips quirk up into a faint smile, then headed back to the dining room. 

He has no idea what love actually is. 

I guess I have some teaching to do.