The Assignment

TW: Mention of death, suicide

“Diana Sétte, please proceed to the Rose Hall your job interview.”

Diana stood up and followed the instructions of the melodious voice coming out of the intercom system. With each step, she noticed how light she was on her feet; it was as if she floated on air. Back out there --- Earth, all she’d known was weight. The heavy sensation of a bullet piercing her heart and taking her to the grandiose hall she was now walking in was but the last in a series of crushing weights she felt throughout her life. Perhaps, the nuns at that Swiss boarding school she went to as a child were correct; here, in Heaven, everything was supposed to feel weightless.

However, as she took in the giant golden columns surrounding her, she felt a familiar wave crash over her. Now that she was up amongst the clouds, she finally knew that the nuns were wrong about one thing.

“Jamie,” she whispered as she paused in the middle of the hall.

Her tall, dashing husband danced across her thoughts, which made Diana sigh. It felt so unfair. She was only 26 when she’d been shot, for crying out loud. She had just promised Jamie that they would have forever and a day together, an entire lifetime of joy as sunny as the beaches of Portugal, where they married. Now, all of that was gone in the blink of an eye. There would be no time for Jamie and her.

Unless, of course, it was Diana herself who made that time. From the moment she arrived in Heaven, she only had only one thing on her mind: make sure that even as an Angel, she could still be with Jamie. Her desire to make that specific request had deepened even further when she found out she had been selected as a potential Guardian, the only type of Angel assigned a living being to spend time with. Yes, she realised that she had only arrived in heaven very recently and that it was the Chief Guardian Angel who decided who to pair with Angels under his wing. Perhaps, her new boss would consider her appeal brazen. Still, she knew she had to try. For Jamie.

She took a deep breath before pushing open a pair of ornate gold doors that towered over her. Diana gasped as she saw what was inside. True to its name, the entirety of the Rose Hall was covered in white rose petals. With every step she took, Diana could feel the soft, velvety feel of them on her feet, almost like freshly fallen snow without the frost. In the middle of the room was a gold throne, its occupant, tall and imposing. And yet, as he stood, wide wings spreading out, he broke into a bright smile.

“Diana, we’ve been expecting you.”

Her hands flew to her mouth in shock. Barachiel, Chief of the Guardian Angels, was even more magnificent than the nuns described. However, it wasn’t his glowing countenance nor his expansive wings that disarmed her.

“You…really want me up here? In Heaven,” Diana asked, a puzzled expression on her face.

“But, of course, Diana,” Barachiel responded with a giggle. “Why wouldn’t we take you in?”

“I..uhm…didn’t really make use of most of my time on Earth for good, you know,” Diana sadly responded. When she was alive, she had acquired a reputation for scandal; time and time again, whenever she felt a flame in her heart consume her, she had to burn with it.

“Well, we’re not going to blame you for that, Diana. Besides, you turned it around in your last year.”

Diana smiled. There was one very distinct difference between that final year and the twenty-five others she’d lived.

“If there’s anyone to thank for that, it would be my husband, Jamie, Sir,” she responded. She paused for a while. This was it. It was time to ask her new boss for her request.

“Sir, I was wondering…”

“So, Diana, to be honest, this interview is more of a formality, if anything,” Barachiel stated, looking up from a folder in his hands. “We already saw your potential before you arrived here, so this is more of us formalising your assignment as a Guardian Angel.”

Diana could feel her heart thumping. Back on Earth, she’d been known for her fiery attitude that put Mount Vesuvius to shame. She had always been one to speak her mind, especially when it came to getting what she wanted. However, she considered that firecracker side of her part of her life before Jamie.

“Would me speaking now risk my mission for this meeting,” she whispered to herself. After a few seconds of reflection, she decided to keep quiet for now.

“So, let’s see. Alias before assignment: Diana Sétte,” Barachiel stated as he read through her file. “Sorry about not being able to use your real name for now, by the way. It’s just that we want to keep who we assign as which type of Angel a secret until it’s finalised.”

Diana laughed. On Earth, she had always winced whenever others called her by her birth name. She’d always believed it didn’t fit her. Certainly, Diana was better than, well, that name.

“No, you needn’t apologise. At all.”

Barachiel nodded in response before reading Diana’s file.

“Year of Birth: 1943. Place of birth: Corsica.”

Diana nodded to confirm the information.

“It says here you’re well-travelled when you were on Earth. That’s good. You especially love…Portugal. That’s interesting.”

She beamed as Barachiel mentioned her new favourite country. Immediately, her mind took her back to the ancient, vine-covered church she and Jamie were wed. She could clearly picture it all: Jamie looking dapper in his dark suit, how he wiped the tears forming in her brown eyes whilst they were at the altar, the smile on Jamie’s face as they cut the cake together, the well-wishers from her family and Jamie’s job cheering them on. It was all very vivid to her…which was precisely why she had to make the request to the Chief of the Guardian Angels. She had to be paired with Jamie.

“Sir, about that assignment,” Diana sputtered out.

“Yes, about that. I think I have something perfect for you,” responded Barachiel.

“You do, Sir? That’s wonderful.” Diana responded, a radiant smile forming on her face. Perhaps, Barachiel had already understood her need to be Jamie’s Guardian.

“Yes, I believe you have the potential to be Guardian for an entire country. You've always described yourself as 'larger than life'. What if we assign you Portugal.”

Diana could feel her heart sink as her smile transformed into an expression of confusion. Wasn’t it obvious that she wanted to be with her husband for as long as she could?

“You don’t seem too pleased, Diana. I thought you’d wanted to be known.”

It was true that Diana had once been part of the fast set and had become infamous around Europe as the ultimate bad girl. However, since meeting Jamie, things had changed. It was because of him that she realised what she really wanted…and what she had never been given.

She wished her father had spent more time with her. For as long as she could remember, Diana’s father had always plunged himself in business, both the legitimate construction business he owned and the mob that he was secretly the head of, but never made time for his only child. When her mother passed when she was 12, she thought that it would be the opportunity for him to finally get to know her, only to be shipped off to Switzerland for boarding school. Her loneliness at being deprived of a stable home life, of time with her only living parent, transformed little by little into anger that pushed her into scandal after scandal. She’d thought perhaps if her name was constantly in the papers for her misdemeanours, her father would finally give her the time and attention she craved. However, it never worked.

She wished she hadn’t wasted her time with her first husband, the one she married out of spite. It was true that she married Giulio to anger her father, but deep down, she had craved a family, to devote her time to the people she loved. However, it was soon obvious that he’d only married her for the money and that he’d rather devote his time with his mistresses. Her father, perhaps repentant for not being present in her life, wasted no time in obtaining a divorce for them. She later found out Giulio died in a car crash, but even today, she regretted the lost time with him she could never get back.

She wished her daughter had more time. If there was one thing that Diana considered something positive about her marriage to Giulio, it was the birth of their daughter. She was perfect; she had Diana’s expressive brown eyes and her soft chestnut hair. Diana still fondly remembers how every single time her little girl smiled; it was as if time stopped. Unfortunately, meningitis ravaged her tiny body, and just like that, her daughter’s time ran out. As she buried the small coffin, Diana felt her reason for living slip into the sands of time…that is, until someone rescued her, both literally and figuratively.

Most of all, she wished her time with Jamie had lasted forever. It had only been less than a year when Jamie plucked her from the sea, from an attempt to end her time on Earth. However, it has always felt like she’s known him all her life. Admittedly, their first couple of encounters after that rescue were full of tension; she thought that like Giulio, Jamie was only with her to use her and her family’s connexions. However, when he apologised in private at her father’s birthday party, Diana could see the sincerity in his eyes….which was a relief for her because she was also falling for him.

When she walked down the aisle to her Jamie, she finally felt pure, unadulterated joy for the very first time in her life. Standing in front of the altar, Diana could vividly picture her future: cuddling Jamie on the couch of their first home, showing her husband her favourite cities --- him finally being able to enjoy these locales instead of just popping by because of his jet-setting job, Jamie holding their children in his arms, her with a mop of white hair kissing Jamie’s wrinkled, but still handsome face. She promised him that she would love him with all the time she had in the world and beyond. She was excited. As they drove off in his car, she whispered to herself how fortunate she was to finally whizz off into forever with the love of life.

Then, a bullet shot from a speeding car stole all that time from her.

“Sir, with all due respect, it isn’t fame that I want. Not at all,” Diana began, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. “It’s time. It’s everything I want. It’s everything I never had on Earth, especially time with my Jamie.”

She took a deep breath before continuing her plea.

“If you would allow me, I’d love to be my Jamie’s personal Guardian. This is the only way I could fulfil my wedding vow to him to be with him until the end of time. Please, Sir. Let me do this.”

Barachiel gazed at Diana’s pleading eyes and smiled. If there was anything that could move the magnanimous Chief of the Guardian Angels, it was always love.

“Very well. You, Diana Sétte, will be the Guardian Angel assigned to your husband,” the Chief Guardian Angel decreed.

“Thank you so much, Sir,” exclaimed Diana in joy. “I will be grateful until the end of time.”

“But of course, Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo Bond,” replied the angel. “As you know, since your assignment is official, we can now revert to your name on Earth.”

The newly-minted Guardian Angel winced.

“Sir, even though I’m literally here in Heaven, I still think Teresa is a saint name. I’m known by Tracy.”

“All right then, Tracy,” Barachiel said with a chuckle. “I’ll sign the document assigning you to Mr. James Bond as soon as possible. Thank you for your time.”

Tracy literally floated on air as she exited the Rose Hall. It would hopefully be decades until her Jamie joined her in Heaven. For now, though, she beamed in the knowledge that the gift of time has been given back to her.

“My Jamie,” she whispered to the clouds around her. “Now, we have all the time in the world.”