Harry Potter in Arcadia

Ryan Hunter once again parked his car down the street from the synagogue. He had heard that the mosque had been cleaned up and was running within a day – a DAY! The church had been cleaned and services had resumed far faster than he had anticipated.

And the synagogue that had been burned to the ground was being raised like the proverbial Amish barn – the whole community was working hard to get it done. And from the gossip it would be done in weeks.

He had thought to come and get a closer look – President of the Community Watchdog Group and all that – but he had become so angry at his plans being thwarted that he didn't know if he could maintain the façade.

He did, however, learn of a man who seemed to be around. According to his guy, the man had helped at the church and was helping at the synagogue. There was no word from the mosque – but his guy had said the Imam had reacted strangely when Planter had been described.

He pulled out and turned around. It was time to sow the seeds of discord.

Carlisle was looking at a file as he walked into his boss's office.

"Chief."

"Hey! You're not eating! I'm … I … I don't think I've ever seen you not eating!" Will said with some humor.

Carlisle gave his boss a look which spoke volumes – even as he tried to hide the twitch of his lip. "ANYWAY. There's a guy I'm checking out. You know him."

"Oh? Who?"

"Harry Planter." Carlisle was looking at the file and so didn't see the incredulity on the face of the Chief of Detectives. "A random tip said that he's been involved with cleaning up the church and synagogue. And the Imam at the mosque seemed to recognize his picture. The tip said that maybe this guy was using these attacks to get in good with the community."

Will was curious. "Where did this tip come from?"

"Citizen's Watchdog Committee."

"Hmm. Hunter's group?"

"Yeah."

"I see." Will sat back. "Was he around before the first attack?"

"I've been asking around. I don't have enough detail but I haven't gotten any iron-clad alibi for any of the attacks, so I'm going to go find this guy and ask."

Will held up a hand. "That would be alright except one thing. I know exactly where he was on the night of the synagogue fire."

Carlisle was surprised. "Really? Where was he?"

Will looked at Carlisle with no humor. "My house. On my couch. According to my wife and daughter, he had to be woken up when they went over to comfort Joan's friend."

"Oh. Yeah, that's pretty airtight."

"Besides, he's a cop. A decorated cop. With an Order of Chivalry from the Queen of England. He's traveling around trying to get his life together after his wife was killed. He was just traveling through Arcadia when he heard about the church – a week after it happened. He's been working at the synagogue to help rebuild it. And I hadn't heard that he visited the mosque – I know he was upset about it when I told him but no one actually saw him visit the place. So …"

"Yeah. I'll keep looking." Carlisle turned around and started to walk out.

The rumor against Harry annoyed Will. He was a good judge of character and Harry was good people. Just as Carlisle was about to cross the threshold, Will called out his name. Carlisle turned around. "Come back in and close the door."

"Yeah, Boss?" Carlisle was nervous.

Will considered what he had been being told and the latest rumor and made a decision. "We've been cops for a while now, right?"

"Yeah."

"What does our experience tell us when someone starts accusing random people that 'might be' involved?"

Carlisle thought about it and had an "A-Ha!" moment. "It's what a perp does to throw of suspicion. Sometimes it works, too."

"Right. Did you notice that Hunter popped up pretty much right before the church vandalism? Got involved with the police, the school, the community? In positions of authority too. Where did he come from? Where did his money come from? What is his real goal?"

Carlisle considered his boss. "Wow. This kind of reminds me of what Arcadia when through before you blew up the city government."

Will nodded. "Scary, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Here's what I know: I have people who I know who have told me that they thought Ryan Hunter was involved – but no proof. I've looked a little and there was no evidence. I didn't take it further because I didn't want to be hunting wild geese. But, with this rumor coming from Hunter's group … let's just say that my instincts have been forcibly poked with a stick."

"So how do we play this?"

"We're going to warn Harry first. I'll have my daughter contact him because she seems to know him the best of the people in my family. And then we're going to 'investigate' the statement – and use it to get an in on Hunter's committee. You know the drill. Ask questions about what they know, what they've seen … why they think he's involved. How they came to that conclusion. Etc. Etc. Appear cooperative. We'll have to have a reason to take it further when Harry is officially exonerated, but I'm sure we can think of something."

"Okay, Boss. I'll get right on that."

Will nodded and then Carlisle left. Carlisle had a lot of looking things up to do – after he got a snack. He was feeling peckish.

Joan was at the park with Harry. Harry had put up a few notice-me-not charms so that no one would see what they were doing.

"Okay. Once again. Clear your mind. Push away the negative and exude the positive."

Harry decided that he would try to teach Joan to project her aura. He was surprised to find that she had a bit of an aura already. A charm on his glasses allowed him to see it. He found that in this world, even without people with active magic, a number of people did have an aura. It seemed to manifest as spiritual awareness.

Joan had a tendency to pull in her aura when she was confused or overwhelmed. The description of Ryan and his effect on her pointed toward her allowing her own aura to be overwhelmed. He was trying to fix it.

Joan once again began to push out. When it seemed stable, Harry asked, "How do you feel?"

"Powerful. Confident." Joan was loving this.

"And how do you feel about Ryan Hunter?"

Finally, her Aura did not retreat upon the mention of his name. "He's got a bug up his ass about God. And he's decided to do something about it. He's on a bad path."

"And what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to learn more and then I'm going to show him that he's wrong. That he doesn't need to go that way."

Harry nodded in satisfaction. Joan was subconsciously maintaining the aura. So Harry decided he was going to go on to the next step. "How? You're just an immature little girl and he's got much more power!"

The aura wavered for a moment but then solidified. "I might be a teenager, but I know what's right and what isn't."

Harry nodded cheerfully. And then asked, "How can you be so sure? You can't even keep a boyfriend? You just mess up everything."

Joan's aura suddenly started collapsing. Harry called out, "Concentrate! Ignore the insults. Ignore the disdain. You don't need my approval! Why are you allowing yourself to be suppressed?"

Joan's face took on an intense look of concentration as she mentally pushed the negative comments to the side. Her aura, which had been drawing in, suddenly stopped and moved back out.

"Good! Excellent!"

Joan took a deep breath and suddenly relaxed. Her aura dropped back – but Harry noticed she still exuded it slightly.

Joan's face took on a look of frustration. "How do I know if I'm doing it right? I can't see this 'auror' thingy!"

"Aura. Aura. An auror is a magical policeman."

She scoffed. "Whatever. Aura. Anyway … how do I know it's really there?"

Harry considered that. "Do you have any glasses?"

Joan decided not to make a comment about blindness and thought about it. "I have sunglasses."

"Pull them out."

She grabbed her purse and looked through it, finally pulled out a cheap pair of sunglasses. She handed these to Harry.

He looked them over. "Good. Real glass for lenses." He tapped them with his wand and cast the charm. "Okay. Put them on and look around at other people."

She took them and put them on. As she looked around she said, "Woah! That's freaky!"

She lifted the sunglasses up and pulled them down repeatedly, looking at people with and without them. "So that light around them is their aura?"

"Yeah. How many people have it?"

"Not a lot. But there are a few." She turned to another direction and said, "Wow!"

Harry turned and saw what she was seeing. There was a little girl playing with a ball. Her aura was like the sun. Harry cancelled his charm and told Joan to put away her glasses.

They walked over to the Girl.

"Hey, Joan! Hey, Harry!"

"Hey, God," Joan said. Harry grinned as he have a little wave. God smirked at that.

"I see you two are working hard."

Joan was confident. "Yeah. It's hard. But it's kind of cool. Will this even make a difference though?"

God looked at Joan. "Every skill you can learn is important. It helps you in life, helps to achieve your goals. What you're learning to do is something that most people who do it learn though years of experience: How to exert themselves on their environment on an unseen level. Harry's just speeding up the process for you."

Joan wanted to be sure. "So I could have learned to do this without him?"

"Of course! You're an instrument of My Will, bound by the laws of the universe. Perfect. You don't think I'd create an instrument that didn't work did you?" Joan gave the Girl a look at that. "Harry just comes from a universe where it's more obvious and more common."

"Yeah. I just hope this helps me deal with Hunter." God shrugged. "Anyway, why did you stop by?"

"I was just admiring the lesson. And I wanted to tell you," she spoke to Harry, "that I'll be visiting from time to time after you leave this universe. I will have suggestions."

"Er. Aren't I doing the work of one of your Grandchildren? Do they know about this?"

The Girl looked at Harry in admonishment. "You're your own person. My grandchild needed that explained but came around quickly. Besides, if you're anyone's – you're mine."

Harry laughed. "We're all yours really."

The Girl smirked. "And don't you forget it." Suddenly, she looked around. "I have to go. Have fun!" She left with a wave and a smile.

The two smiled as the watched her move quickly out of sight.

Suddenly, Joan's phone went off. She pulled it out and looked at it and then opened it. "Hey, Dad. What's up? … Yeah, he's right here actually. We're at the park and he's teaching me something. … 5:00? Umm. I'll be at the bookstore. Hold on." She turned to Harry and asked, "Where will you be at 5:00? My Dad wants to talk to you about something."

Harry thought about it. "I have the day off because inspections have to happen before the synagogue can move forward. So I don't have plans. I don't know … I guess I can hang out with you and be at the bookstore then too."

Joan nodded and said into the phone, "He'll come to the bookstore so you can find him. … Yeah. But he's too old, so you don't have to worry. He's like … thirty or something! … Yeah, whatever. Ha ha. … Love you too. Bye."

Harry looked at Joan curiously. "Dad making a joke about us spending time together. Sorry, but you're too old for me."

Harry grinned. "That's okay. In my world there are different rules, but to be perfectly honest you feel too young to me. So I won't be hitting on you if you're worried."

Joan smirked. "Yeah. I can appreciate that. Thanks."

Harry wanted to mess with her, so as they walked back to where they had been working he volunteered, "Yeah. But if your brother's girlfriend wasn't involved – she'd be fair game. She's kind of hot."

Joan looked at him in horror. "Lilly? You and Lilly? Ewwww!"

Harry just laughed.

Harry was sitting behind a shelf looking over some books while Joan was working at the front desk. He had a half an hour until Will showed and he needed something to do.

He heard the door open, but didn't pay it much mind – until he heard the conversation.

"Can I help … oh, it's you."

"Yes. It's me. Thought I'd just check in on the competition." Harry looked out from where he had been sitting and saw the man's face. He was smirking. Wordlessly, he tapped his glasses and applied the aura-detection charm again. He wanted to see how Joan held up.

The man's aura was powerful – there was no doubt about that. But Joan's aura, he was happy to note, was not collapsing. It wasn't quite as big – but it was staying firm.

"I see. Still blaming God for what you don't like?"

"Oh. I don't blame God – of course not!" His smirk dropped. "I just don't think that I need to be God's gofer and plaything."

Joan's aura wavered for a moment … and then suddenly was much stronger. Joan, it appeared, had decided to take the bull by the horns. "What exactly is your beef, anyway? Why are you so disgruntled?"

Joan's tone was confident and without hesitation. Harry noticed that Ryan's aura was suddenly more chaotic: Ryan was surprised by Joan and his aura showed it.

"Oh, why bring up ancient history?"

Harry then noticed something … off. Hunter's aura was fairly consistent – except over his neck. There was something …

Harry stood up and walked over toward the two.

Joan and Ryan were both surprised by the interruption. Joan was looking confused – but Ryan's reaction was unexpected.

"Harry?" Ryan Hunter, for some reason, now sounded like a little boy.

"Yeah. That's me. How are you?"

Ryan didn't answer the question. Instead he said, "I haven't seen you in years. Not since you gave me …" Ryan's hand reached up and then dropped.

"The necklace?"

"Yeah."

Harry considered that the protection necklace Hunter was wearing was likely charmed for him particularly. "Can I see it? It's been a while."

Ryan was taken aback. "You said never to take it off."

"Yeah. But I'm here now. A minute or two won't make a difference."

Ryan, almost reluctantly, opened his shirt collar and reached behind his neck. He unclasped the necklace he wore and handed it over to Harry, who had his hand out.

Harry took his want and did a diagnostic. He sighed. "Yeah. My magical signature." He looked at Ryan Hunter. "I have some good news and some bad news."

"What?"

When Harry glanced, Joan was looking at the two with very wide eyes. "The protections are as strong as ever. But there was a mistake made."

"A mistake?" Ryan sounded like he was about to cry.

"Yeah." Harry sighed again. "You told me that you didn't want to see the unreal again? Didn't want to see the dead?"

"Yes. God was enough. I didn't need the hallucinations on top of that." Ryan's voice took on a hard look.

"I'm sorry. But there is no charm for that. Instead, a compulsion was placed on this necklace to ignore the supernatural. Instead of not seeing them, you just ignored them."

Ryan was taken aback. "But there's no such thing as ghosts … once you're dead you're gone …"

"I'm sorry. But that's not true." Harry cast the charm to remove the compulsions as well as a small curse which – if he didn't know better – he might have placed for the reasons Ryan was talking about. "There was a mistake made when the charm was put on it. It messed with your mind. I'm leaving the protections … but the compulsions and the extras had to go."

He handed the necklace back to Ryan who took it numbly and absently put it back on – it was such a part of his life that he didn't even consider NOT putting it back on. "Go home and sleep. And think about what changed when you got this. You have the protections promised – but the spells that made you invisible to spirits and they to you are gone."

Ryan looked at Harry and held the pendant on the necklace. He looked like his whole world was crumbling. He didn't say anything as he turned around and walked out of the store.

Joan finally asked, "What was THAT?"

Harry sighed as he sat down. "That was a very bad decision made by my dimensional brother that our friend mentioned."

Joan looked serious. "Explain!"

Harry explained the concept of protection charms vs. wards vs. curses. He explained about compulsions and some experiences he – and other versions of himself – had lived through.

"But it's worse if someone doesn't have any magic. A compulsion on someone who's not magical tends to almost mutate – their whole world-view changes to satisfy the command within them. But it doesn't FIX the behaviour. My Uncle and Aunt likely received compulsions to stay away from me when they were angry or feeling destructive. It resulted in me living in a cupboard under the stairs and being denied food – because they couldn't STAND to see me. Their attitude wasn't changed – they were just given commands to alter their methods."

Joan was horrified. "How could they?"

There was another sound of the door opening. Both looked over and saw the Goth boy version of God. "I gave free will to humans for a reason. The type of magic that Harry is talking about directly violates that. Such things have their place – but not applied the way they were. And not applied as often as his people do it."

Harry looked at God. "Yeah. But some spells have no good place. Such as the ones I try to fix."

God nodded in acknowledgement. "Free will means that. I've been very satisfied with how you've dealt with it."

Joan was curious. "What are you two talking about?"

Harry looked at Joan and back at God. He shook His head slightly. "Well, there are just some things, Joan, which should never see the light of day. Even explaining them is horrible, especially if it's not necessary. Be happy that you don't know and will never see the types of magicks that we are obliquely referring to."

Joan looked at God and saw that he agreed with Harry not telling. It must be really bad. She decided she'd rather not know.

God smiled and said, "At the suggestion of Harry I'm going to say something: Well done, Joan!"

Joan smiled in reference to their conversation from before. It WAS nice to get acknowledgement. "How'd you know what the spells were?"

Harry sighed through his teeth. "I remember from your journal Ryan talking about how when it's over, it's over. I thought it sounded particularly bitter. So I figured the compulsions I was seeing were to cut him off from the supernatural. It mutated his aura until his aura started interfering with people around him."

Joan looked over at God, who nodded. Joan asked, "So, what now?"

"Now, you work on being the counterbalance. Harry did his part by getting rid of the extra weight on his side of the scale. The rest is up to you."

She looked panicked and asked Harry, "You're going away?" Harry had been the first one on HER side!

"Yeah. But think about what we've covered and what He's told you," Harry pointed to Goth-boy God. "You do good work. I'm sure you'll continue doing good work."

The door sounded again. It was Will Girardi. "Hello, Joan! Hello, Harry! Hello, …. random person!" He paused. "Wait, do I know you?"

Joan and Harry looked at each other and laughed. Will was confused. The Goth kid just smirked. "I'm a friend of Joan and Harry … and your wife, come to think of it. Describe me to your wife. Tell her she can tell you who I am." The boy left, giving a backwards wave as he did so.

Will looked at the door and then shook his head to clear it. He turned back to Harry. "Harry. I need a favor."

"Um. I hope it's quick. I'm leaving very soon."

"Oh? You're moving on?"

"Yeah. I finished what I can do around here. Joan and friends will finish it."

"Oh. Too bad. You were a good guy to have around." He sighed. "I guess my plan won't work."

Joan was curious. "What plan?"

Will looked at the two. "Hunter's Watchdog group tried to push the blame on Harry Planter as someone who was suddenly around and might be to blame for the attacks on churches."

Joan was outraged. "He's been helping fix it! How can you …"

Will put his hand in front of her mouth. "I know it's bogus. Harry was on our couch when the fire happened. I just wanted to 'investigate the report' and use it to get into Hunter's group."

Joan was surprised. "You're checking him out?"

"Yeah." He smiled at her. "You convinced me that Hunter should be a person of interest in this case. So we're investigating." Joan threw her arms around her Dad in joy.

When she let him go, he looked at Harry. "It's too bad you're moving on. We were going to ask you to allow us to use you as the reason we're talking to them."

Harry was curious. "Why can't you still do that?"

"Because if you're in another police department's jurisdiction and inquiries come in about you, they might start looking at you suspiciously and I don't want to put you through that."

Harry and Joan looked at each other and smirked. "It's not a problem. Nothing you can do will inconvenience me."

Will was really curious. "How's that?"

Harry paused. He had started to feel the call, so he knew he didn't have much time.

"Well … give me a moment." He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out his wallet, ID, passbook, and the papers with them. He kept his wallet and ID and a few bucks, but pushed everything over to Joan, including the extra money he had on him. He pulled his wand and put his finger in front of his lips to silence Will.

He conjured a piece of parchment, making it as permanent as possible, and wrote out a note. It gave authorization for Joan to proxy his affairs and an introduction for her so that she could turn in everything to the Lord Chamberlain for safekeeping.

Harry's account was, after all, being managed by the Household staff.

Will was completely gobsmacked. He didn't know WHAT to think.

Harry wrote out two checks from his passbook as well. One was for 5,000 pounds made out to Joan Girardi and one was for 10, made out to Saul Polanski.

"Joan? I'm not going to be needing most of this stuff. This," he handed a check over to her, "is for the synagogue. You'll have to convey my regrets. This," he handed the other check over and put the passbook on top of the papers, "is enough money to travel to the UK and have a short vacation. My papers will have to be returned to the Lord Chamberlain personally. If anyone asks, show them the parchment."

Harry deliberately cast the spell to seal a document with the Potter Crest.

Will was still speechless. So Harry reached out and took his hand. Will numbly shook it. Harry turned and gave Joan a brief hug. "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Will Girardi, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. You're a good man, with a good family. I wish you Happiness on the road ahead."

Harry turned and compressed into a small ball of light. Phoenix sound wafted around the room and it gave a sense of hope, and joy. Very soon, the ball disappeared and the music soon ended as well.

Will turned to Joan. "What the hell was that?"

"Well, Daddy. Hell has very little to do with it. That was Harry Potter, the Lone Traveler."

Will was dumbstruck. "Harry Potter like in the stories?"

Joan paused. "You know how Luke goes on about string theory and alternate universes and all that?" Will nodded. "You just saw one of the very many Harry Potters which exist in some of the very many large number of universes."

Will had to sit down. He took a deep breath. "Okay. Can you explain everything to me? Using small, simple words that won't confuse me?" He had a thought. "And who was the guy who said that he was Harry's friend?"

Joan suddenly laughed. "Well, Daddy, that was God."

Will felt the immediate protest he always felt whenever God was mentioned. "What do you mean God?"

Joan considered her father. "Do you have about an hour?"

Will suddenly decided that he did. "We'll have to call your mother and say I'll be late."

"Do that. Boy do I have something for you!"

Will called Helen and told her that he was with Joan and would be home late, probably after she got off work. Helen understood.

"Okay. We've got until your shift ends." Will had turned back. Joan was holding a book.

"Try to read that."

Will opened it and read the first page. "Uh, Honey? This is your diary. I don't think a father wants to read a teenager's diary – they're scary things."

Joan smirked as she took back the book. "Will Girardi. A Year and a Day." She handed it back. "Look again." Will was shocked to find that the book was now different. He looked up in amazement. "Harry took an hour to read it all. You've got to be as smart as he is – you're my Dad!"

Will smiled at that childish faith in him – he kind of missed that from when the kids were small. He made his way out of the way and sat down to read the book.

Will ignored the few customers that actually came in to buy books or to browse. Every once in a while he look up and watch Joan work. She seemed much happier that he had seen her in quite a while. He would then go back to reading the book.

The book answered many questions and confusions he had about God. Why terrible things happened. Why no sudden miracles. The description of the incident with the dollar really opened his eyes to why terrible things could happen sometimes for no apparent reason.

It was all about Free Will. And God didn't mess with Free Will because he had limited himself to the rules. Will was angry about the rules, but Joan's conjecture toward the end was so in line with what confused him about God that he couldn't even protest it. It was obvious that Joan wasn't really told anything either – she had to work most of it out herself.

But the theme which came across most strongly was that God worked through the little things. Little things that became big things. There were no massive miracles defying explanation. Miracles were the product of a small effort expanding out.

Even Will himself had been given gifts – without him ever being aware of it. God apparently loved everyone – even if he didn't agree with what they decided to do. Such as Ryan Hunter.

Will was shocked to discover that the book he was reading now gave him more faith in God than all of the parts of the bible that he was forced to read as a kid.

Will finally finished reading it and closed the book. Joan noticed and came over. "I hope that explained a few things."

"Yeah. I'm just trying to get my head wrapped around it."

"Yeah. I know. Kind of shocking when you think about it." She then said excitedly, "Wait till you read the rest tomorrow! There were a few things that happened today!"

"With God?"

"Actually with Ryan Hunter." Joan took on a look. "Frea-Ky!"

"What about Hunter?"

"He came in a half an hour before you. He had some weird spells on him from ANOTHER Harry – I'll explain it in the journal and you can read it tomorrow!"

She looked at the clock. It was near closing time. She went to her bag and took out the sunglasses. Yep! They still worked. Harry said it was temporary but it luckily was lasting long enough for this.

"I'm going to drive us home. I want you to put these on and watch people as we drive home." Will was hesitant – Joan's smirk was a little scary. But finally he accepted the glasses.

When the two were in the car Joan looked over. "Put them on."

He did it. Suddenly, Joan had a little nimbus of light around her. "What is that?"

She smirked again. "I'll explain when we're home. But you're seeing the auras of people you're looking at."

Will was having actually having fun watching the people they passed as they drove down the road. Most had no auras. But some had small ones and others were very big. He saw a mother and daughter and he noticed that their auras were actually interacting with each other: Whenever the girl talked to her mother, the lights around each of them would reach out and touch. He pulled down the glasses and looked without them. All he could see was a happy woman and child. He put the glasses back on and looked at Joan. She was smirking at him. He smiled ruefully in return.

He looked around again and something caught his eye. He called out, "Stop the car, Joan."

Joan stopped and asked, "What?"

He handed her his phone and said, "Call the desk – it's number eight on speed dial. Tell them that the Chief of Detectives is at Washington and Melody handling a possible 273D. I need squad car backup."

Joan watched as her father pulled the sunglasses from his face, dropped them on the seat, and jumped out toward a man and woman. Just as the man started throwing his fist forward, Will called out, "Stop! Police! Down on the ground!"

The man stopped before hitting the woman and looked back. Will was standing there with his gun pointed and his badge in the other hand. "Down! Now! Hands behind your back!"

Joan, having made the call, rushed over to the woman. "Are you okay?"

The woman was almost in tears. "It's my ex-boyfriend. We broke up and he wasn't happy about it. He was about to hit me like he used to when we were together."

Joan threw her arm around the woman's shoulder. "Well, my Dad is going to send him to jail. So you're okay now." The woman turned her head against Joan's shoulder and cried. Joan could only wrap her arms around the woman and let her.

The two were once again moving home. Will had not put on the glasses. Will was thinking.

Joan looked over. "Ripples, Dad."

Will was startled out of his thoughts. "Huh?"

"Harry made the glasses to help me understand something. Being able to talk to you about it let me give them to you to use them. Because you used them, you saw that guy attacking that woman – before it began. It's a ripple."

"So without the glasses God would have let it happen?"

Joan shrugged. "Or God would have put a squad car passing by because of some random call and the passing cop would have seen it." She turned her head to look at him and frowned. "Or the woman could have meekly gone with him and the beating would have been out of sight." She turned her head back to the road. "Free will. God can only do so much. The rest is up to us."

Will sighed. "I kind of think I liked it when I didn't KNOW that God was involved. It made it less confusing."

Joan sent a smile over to her father. "God really respects you, you know? You always tried to do the right thing – even if you thought that there was no God or God was uncaring. He doesn't need you to worship Him, you know? He just needs you to be yourself." She paused and then said, "You're still the best man that I know."

Will sat and thought about what Joan had told him about the rest of the way home.

Later that night, he freaked his wife out when he asked about a teenager that dressed Goth. It took a while, but Helen finally admitted that God looked like that to her once in a dream.

She was expecting Will to get all confrontational because God was mentioned. Her surprise was evident when Will just thanked her and went back to getting ready for bed.

Helen was a little annoyed when she said, "Go ahead and say it. I know you have something to say about me dreaming about God."

Will sighed as he looked over at his wife. He had obviously upset his wife whenever he ranted about God – she had just tried to hide it.

So, he went over and wrapped his arms around her. "Honey? I don't know about God. You know my problems with it. But it doesn't mean that I have a right to rail against what you've seen or believe. If God is out there," and Will now knew that He was, "I think you have every right to think about Him, or believe in Him, or worship Him they way you feel is right. And you don't need me trying to force you to be different than how you are. I might not agree, but you're my wife and I love you. I can support you without changing myself."

Helen clutched her husband and tried to fight off the tears. She felt like a huge burden had lifted from her shoulders.