A/N: This is a birthday gift for Alex who'd asked for some Verfier. 3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :D (I read your comment today, so I hope I'm still in the time frame with your gift!)

Disclaimer: I own neither the show nor the characters. I don't earn any money with this piece. I just do it for fun.

She can't breathe.

It feels like there are hands wrapped around her throat, slowly squeezing tighter and tighter, and Vera drops to her knees, her vision starting to blur at the edges. Part of her wonders if this is it, if she's going to die here – her soul dissolving while her body is crushed to death in that car by the scrap press.

She struggles to get to her feet but her spirit form is already too weak, and she knows her six minutes are almost up. Even if she made it to the scrap press in time and back into her body, she would not be able to get out of the already twisted and jammed trunk.

Her body hits the ground as it gives up and there's a a cold darkness wrapping itself around her, blocking out everything, killing her senses one by one, until all that's left is the terrible sound of the press working in time with her slowing heartbeat.

"Vera!"

Vaguely, she senses someone at her side, the distanced feeling of hands gripping her arms before pulling her up, and her head lolls back. Through the blurriness she thinks she sees him but it can't be, they haven't seen him since the night at the bar...at the mausoleum...and her eyes close as she begins to sink back into the abyss, her thoughts breaking apart aga—

A sudden flash of heat bursts through the coldness, rushing through her like liquid fire and into every dark place in her mind, and Vera arches into it with a gasp, her breath suddenly returning with vehemence as her spirit is reunited with her body. Her senses go into overdrive as if someone has switched a flip and she needs a moment to get them under control.

When she does, the first thing she becomes aware of is the soft pressure against her lips, the same place the strange flash of heat originated from, and it takes her a second to realize what is going on.

Someone is kissing her.

Her eyes fly open and for one endless moment they just stare at each other before Vera jerks away, her hands coming up to push against his chest. A slight shudder runs through him, his wings slowly folding back in, and suspicion rises from the depth of her mind.

"What did you do?" she whispers, even though she thinks she already knows the answer.

"What had to be done."

He lets go of her and stands up, and Vera is hit by a strange feeling of loss all of the sudden, like being apart from him is unbalancing her mind again. She shakes her head to get rid of it but it's stuck, and she barely manages to shove it to the back of her mind.

"What does that mean?" She asks as she slowly gets to her feet, her thoughts a dizzying whirl in her mind. "I-We never had a deal. I wasn't dead, not like Joshua."

He laughs but it lacks the usual note of arrogance, sounds almost hollow to her ears. "No, Vera, you certainly are not Joshua." He tilts his head and the look in his dark eyes is completely at odds with his smirk. "If all of you were united, all seven angels together, you could spirit walk without any time limit, but as the case is, you're not, and that means if you're not back in your body when the six minutes are up, you would be lost forever in the æther."

A pained look enters his eyes and Vera's breath catches in her throat as he steps closer. "I can bring back the dead, Vera, pull a soul from Heaven or Hell and send it back to Earth, but bringing back a spirit? That's a different matter altogether. Spirit walking is a gift from Father and therefore it's impossible for me to intervene should anything go wrong."

But somehow he did, managed the impossible, and she swallows hard as a shiver skitters up her spine. "What did you do?"

He reaches up to brush a strand of her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear, before letting his hand fall back to his side. "I bound myself to you. It was the only way to save you."

She's too shocked to answer, and even if she wasn't, Vera has no idea what to say to his revelation. Her head is swimming, her mind spinning in circles, and when after a few seconds she's still hasn't said a word, his smirk cracks and he nods slowly before turning around. "Don't worry, Vera. You won't even notice the bond."

Maybe it's the tone of his voice, soft with a hint of regret, maybe it's the barely noticeable slump of his shoulders, that has Vera reaching for him, her fingers curving around his shoulder. "Wait."

He doesn't turn around, and part of her is glad, this is difficult enough without having to look him in the eyes. "You're right, you did what you had to do. You—" Vera stops and takes a deep breath before speaking again. "You saved me."

She dares to take a step forward and she feels him shudder under her touch. "Thank you."

He whirls around so fast that she has no time to react, one of his hands gripping her hip, the other sliding to the back of her head, drawing her to him as her leans in and kisses her. It's sharp and heated and leaves her lightheaded and breathless in a manner that has got nothing to do with her spirit returning to her body.

His lips brush along her cheek as he pulls back slightly and his breath is warm against her ear. "When all of this is over, you and I are going to talk. But for now...go and save your friend."

He releases her and disappears from one second to the other, leaving her with that strange feeling of loss again, only this time it's muted, as if his promise somehow satisfied the bond for now and will allow them to be apart. The whole concept of being bound to the Devil, who seems to harbor some sort of romantic feelings for her if the kisses and his actions are any indication, is crazy and Vera really needs some time to sort through all of this but not now. He's right, Alan and her friends need her. They will talk about this tangled web when they've stopped the apocalypse.

Later when she's in the lab and watches the Genesis fragments turn blue in her presence, something that had never happened to the small piece she had, Vera can't help but wonder if there's more to the bond between the Devil and her, something new and quite powerful, something that will work in the favor of the angels. She just hopes she will live long enough to find out.

- END -