BOOK I - WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN
Chapter 1 - Ask And You Shall Receive
Tommy and Sam had been talking for hours, bonding over beers and lore. Sam had showed Tommy most of the books in the library, and Tommy was astounded at the wealth of information these guys had at their fingertips. It was funny; a year or so ago, Tommy's faith in God and Angels had been wavering, and now look at him. In a secret bunker with a couple of average, ordinary Americans, who just happened to have all of this supernatural lore and just about every weapon known to man, and quite a few that weren't. What the hell had his life become?
But Cas had needed his help, and Tommy and Barry's Angel friend had told them the true reason that he needed it. Cas had felt that if he was going to expose him to the mysteries of the bunker and the inherent confidentiality of the place, his friend needed to know how vitally important what they were doing truly was. That was why Tommy was bringing full press credentials for both Sam and Dean, and he'd had no compunctions about bending the truth to do so. Lucifer, loosed upon the Earth, looking to start Armageddon? Yeah, Tommy didn't think so. Whatever Cas and Gail needed him to do, he was going to do.
Tommy had wanted Barry to come with him to the bunker, and Barry had almost said no. He still had so much to do ahead of the hotel's opening. But he just couldn't pass up the chance to see the Winchester brothers in their natural habitat. Not to mention another opportunity to see Cas and Gail, maybe get a few more details on the wedding.
But when Cas brought his Vancouver friends to the bunker, he disappeared again, saying he wasn't sure exactly when he and Gail would return. Tommy and Sam had fallen into "nerd talk", so Dean asked Barry if he wanted something to eat, and they went to the kitchen.
The men were paired off in this manner when Cas and Gail returned from their lessons with Crowley, and Gail ran down the hall once she found out that Barry was in the kitchen. He and Dean had finished eating, and now they were playing cards. Barry was giving Dean some pointers on his poker game. Barry hadn't been a supervisor all those years in the poker room without picking up quite a bit of information on how some of the best players operated, and he was sharing this with Dean now.
Gail gave Barry a big hug and a kiss, and then she sat down beside him at the table. "What are you guys doing?" she asked them.
"I've been showing Dean a few tricks of the trade," Barry told her.
"What I really want to know is how Cas manages to win so big every time," Dean grumbled. "There's got to be more to it than Angel crap."
"Well, good luck figuring that out," Barry said, smiling. "I've watched him and watched him, and I can't figure it out, either."
Gail poked Barry playfully. "Yeah, right," she teased him. "You've watched him because you wanted to study the way he plays. Not because he's so very, very good-looking."
"Well, the job did have its perks," Barry replied, grinning. He looked at Dean. "And then he goes and brings you and Sam there. It was a wonder I got any work done that day."
Dean gave Barry a double-take, and Barry raised his eyebrows innocently. "Sorry, Dean. Am I making you uncomfortable?"
Dean wasn't quite sure what to say to that. On the one hand, it was kind of weird to think that Barry might have been checking him out. But, on the other hand, it wasn't as if he'd grabbed Dean, or done anything inappropriate. And they'd been having a nice time here. Ever since Barry and Tommy had gotten here earlier today, there hadn't been any overt mention of their being gay at all. So, really, so what? Maybe Dean was truly becoming more enlightened in his old age. Besides, it seemed like Barry and Tommy were in a committed relationship, so Dean figured Barry was just making an effort to get along with his friends' friends.
"Nahhh," Dean said to Barry. "But at least tell me you would have picked me over those other two losers," he joked.
"Who's a loser?" Cas asked, strolling into the room.
Gail smiled at him. "Apparently, you are," she said.
"That's impossible," Cas said lightly. "I'm engaged to the most wonderful woman in the universe," he said, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. He put his hand on Barry's shoulder in greeting.
Dean rolled his eyes. "All right, don't start, you two."
Gail looked at him, making a face. "Don't worry," she said. "That's pretty much it, until the wedding."
"I never thought you were that old-fashioned, Gail," Dean said to her.
"You're assuming that it was my idea," she retorted.
Dean looked at Cas, open-mouthed. Really? Was Cas nuts? The guy had been celibate since Creation. He'd just recently discovered the wonderful world of being intimate with a woman, and he'd put an engagement ring on the finger of the very first one who'd allowed him to do to her whatever the hell Angels did in the bedroom. Okay, fine. If Cas was happy, Dean was happy. But now he was actually electing to return to the Celibate Zone again, until the wedding night? What the hell was that all about? Some kind of weird Heaven crap, or something?
"It's the way I was raised, Dean, and Gail has kindly agreed to honour my request," Castiel told his friend.
Dean opened his mouth, then shut it, then opened it again. "Does that just apply to her, or does it apply to any women in general?"
"What do you mean?" Cas was puzzled by his question.
Barry was smirking. "I think he's thinking about the bachelor party he's planning on throwing for you," he told Cas.
"Ex-actly." Dean was really starting to like Barry.
Cas was looking at Dean suspiciously, eyes narrowed. "You had better not be talking about what I think you're talking about," he said.
Gail sat back in her chair, crossing her arms. "Yes, exactly what ARE you talking about, Dean?" she asked, raising an eyebrow to him.
"Come on, Gail, it's a bachelor party," Dean wheedled. "It's the only one he'll ever have. I'm sure Jody'll take you to see some male strippers, if you want."
"Why on earth would I want strippers at my party?" Cas asked Dean. "You know me better than that."
"It's not you who wants them, it's Dean," Gail said, rolling her eyes.
"Well then, he's just going to have to have his own bachelor party," Cas said lightly. "There won't be anything like that going on at mine. I promise you that, Gail."
She gave a half-shrug. "Hey, it's not up to me, it's up to you. Never let it be said that I stood in the way of anyone's good time."
"In that case, could you bring me, when you go to see the male strippers?" Barry quipped.
Gail laughed, but Cas said, "No, you and Tommy will be coming to my party, of course."
Dean let out a frustrated breath. He should have figured Cas would put the kibosh on the strippers, but he'd had to try. To be fair, Gail had never said that she didn't approve; it was Cas who was being such a prude about it. So he guessed the party would be a sausage-fest, then.
"What do you think, Barry?" Dean said. "You can help me put something together, if you want. Food, drinks, cigars, maybe?"
"How about a poker tournament?" Barry asked. He smiled. "Then we'll have one thing that Cas can actually DO at his own party."
"Ooh, yeah, let's do that," Gail said, tapping Cas playfully on the arm. "We'll need furniture for the new place. You can clean everybody out." She grinned at Dean.
"Don't count your end tables yet," Barry said to her. "Tommy and I are pretty good players, too, you know."
"We'll see about that," Cas said, smiling. "That should be fun. I may even have a drink or two." Then his smile faded. "But for right now, I think you should all come out to the library with me, and Tommy and Sam will show you what they have."
When they were all seated, Tommy told them, "So, basically, there are high-resolution images of the tomb's walls, which point to the presence of two other previously unexplored chambers."
"Why wouldn't they have known about those before?" Gail asked.
"A reasonable question," Tommy said, nodding his head to her in acknowledgement. "I'm afraid I have no answer for it, though. There are many things about King Tut's tomb which are shadowed in mystery. And the speculation continues. Even in this day and age, with all of the technological advances we have, they still had no clue that there was anything else there. And now that we do know there's more there, speculation continues that those chambers are either empty, or were unfinished at the time of his death. Or, they could hold the ultimate prize: Queen Nefertiti's remains."
"Why would that be the ultimate prize?" Dean asked.
"Because Egyptologists and other scholars have been wondering where she was interred since just about forever," Sam piped up.
"Can they not detect anything in the chambers, Tommy?" Cas asked him. "Even is there isn't a sarcophagus, shouldn't there at least be the canopic jars?"
"The what?" Gail asked him curiously.
"Those were jars, made out of different types of materials, which were designed to contain specific organs that came from the deceased," Cas told the group. "There were usually four in number. The canopic jars contained the stomach, intestines, lungs, and liver. It was believed that the deceased would have need for those organs in the afterlife. But there was no jar for the heart; as the seat of the soul, it was left in the body."
Oh, Gail thought. Then: Ewww.
Cas continued: "Actually, there are some accounts which suggest that King Tut's penis was mummified in an erect state."
They all looked at him. What did that have to do with anything? But that was the way Cas was sometimes. Facts were facts to him; whether or not they were relevant to the current topic was immaterial. But at times, it was hard for his friends to tell if he was being humorous or not.
"Well, that would save the trip to the drugstore to get the little blue pill for the afterlife," Dean joked.
"King Tut was a teenager; he shouldn't have had to worry about such things at his age," Sam chimed in.
"Yeah, but things were a lot different in those days," Tommy pointed out. "People generally only lived into their thirties, for the most part. So he was probably considered middle-aged, already."
"Well, if he'd been able to ascend, he wouldn't have had anything to worry about on that score," Castiel said absently. "Angels are capable of making love for days on end, should they so choose."
Dean spat out a mouthful of beer. "What?!" he exclaimed.
Cas's brow furrowed. "It's true, Dean. We just didn't know it before, because the ancient laws placed restrictions on us."
"So, you can..." Dean started to say. Then he looked at Gail. "So he can..."
Castiel looked sharply at his friend. "You should not be embarrassing Gail by asking her that," he said sternly.
Gail waved her hand. "It's OK, Cas. We're all friends here," she said with a little smile. "Yes, he can."
For the first time ever, when Dean looked at Cas, he did a triple-take. "I hate you," he said to Cas.
"What he means is, he'd like to BE you," Sam said, grinning.
"Well, you will be, one day," Cas said. He looked around the table at his friends. "You all will be, especially since the new laws are now in effect."
"You're welcome," Gail said to Dean pointedly, and she and Cas smiled at each other.
After a moment, Tommy continued the narrative. "Anyway, there are many other members of the royal family who might possibly be buried there, too. But the more romantic, less practical scholars want it to be Queen Nefertiti."
"Why?" Gail asked him.
Tommy replied, "Because she was a Queen. Because her name means 'a beautiful woman has come'. And because she and her husband were the most romantic and mysterious couple of their day. She and Pharaoh Akhenaten established the cult of Aten, the sun god. And Nefertiti and Akhenaten were inseparable. They often kissed in public, behaviour which was unheard of for their day. Sound familiar?" he asked Cas and Gail, smiling at his friends. The Angels exchanged smiles. Yes, it did.
"Not too much is known about Nefertiti's origins," Sam continued. "But her husband apparently went to great lengths to have her depicted as his equal in the artwork of the day."
"Way to go, Pharaoh," Gail quipped softly, flashing a thumbs-up.
Sam smiled. He figured she'd like that fact. He went on, "But Nefertiti disappeared from all depictions after about 12 years, though, and history is very unclear about what exactly happened to her. Her husband fell out of favour, too. Akhenaten tried to bring about a departure from traditional religion, but eventually he was discredited, and called a criminal."
Gail looked at Cas again, and this time she had sympathy in her eyes. That sounded familiar, too. If Sam were to tell her next that they had held a tribunal against the guy, she was going to have to ask him if he had any books on reincarnation for her to study.
"But before you get carried away with the romance of it all, Gail, it has also been suggested by some scholars that Akhenaten was, ummm, familiar with a couple of his and Nefertiti's daughters, and he may have even fathered a few of his own grandkids," Sam added dryly.
"Ewwwww, Sam! Why did you have to tell me that? Gross!" Gail exclaimed.
"Just presenting all of the facts," Sam said, shrugging. Then he grinned. "I didn't want you to think about having an Egyptian-themed wedding. Dean's feet would look terrible in sandals, and I'm way too tall to pull off one of those man-skirts."
Tommy was grinning now, too. Sam was all right. He took up the narrative. "Actually, a lot of records concerning the couple were subsequently altered, so it's pretty unclear what happened, exactly. Who's buried where, and how they were all related, may never be known. And, for everything that Sam said, which was probably unfortunately true," Tommy gave Gail a half-shrug, "there are positive things about the guy, as well. Legend had it that only Akhenaten knew the heart of his Father, and the 'F' is capitalized in the accounts," Tommy continued, seeing Castiel's startled look. "And the legend stated that Akheraten's Father listened to his prayers, though he didn't always show it."
"He definitely wasn't all bad," Sam added. "Scholars consider him the first monotheist, and one of the most romantic individuals in history, as well as one of the finest scientists of his day." Sam thought that all of that was pretty cool, himself. He wouldn't mind history remembering him in the same kinds of ways. Minus the creepy incest inferences, of course.
"As we already know, King Tut's tomb is located in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt," Tommy said. "You'll all be staying in various hotels in the city, courtesy of the Vancouver Herald." He bent down and picked up the briefcase he'd brought to the bunker along with his laptop. He opened it on the library table and looked around at everyone. "Think fast," he said, and began to toss press kits in sealed plastic bags out to each member of the quartet. "Fake ID, press credentials up the yin-yang. Should get you into anywhere. I was going to just give kits to Sam and Dean, but then, I thought better of it. You've got the powers, Cas, and Gail, you've got the doe eyes."
"The what?" she said curiously, picking up the kit he'd tossed her to examine it more closely.
"Oh, come on," Tommy replied. He looked around the room at the other men. "Show of hands: who here has seen the doe eyes?"
Sam grinned, raising his hand immediately. Then Barry and Tommy raised theirs, and Dean raised both of his, smirking. Gail glared at him, so he slowly lowered one, but he kept the other one high in the air.
Cas looked at the other men. He didn't want to seem disloyal to Gail, or to make her angry, but he knew exactly what Tommy was referring to. It was the way she had of looking at you sometimes, that made you feel like the smartest and strongest man in the universe. When her brown eyes got really wide, you knew that you could, and would, do anything for her, simply because she wanted you to do it.
Cas raised his hand in the air hesitantly, and the men all laughed.
Gail made a face. "You all make me sound like some kind of a..." She threw her hands up in frustration.
"No, no, not at all," Cas said hastily. He captured her hand mid-air and drew it to himself, holding it in both of his. "You have beautiful eyes, and we all love you very much." He looked around the table for support.
"I'd agree with Cas if I were you, buddy," Dean said to Tommy, nodding vigorously at what Cas had said. "We all love Gail, but she'd got a deadly temper, and a killer aim."
"Then I'd better duck," Tommy said, wincing as he looked at Gail again. "The reason I mentioned your eyes is because you'll have to keep the lower half of your face covered when you go out in public there."
Gail looked at him incredulously. "No way," she said, stunned.
Tommy gave her a thin smile. "Way. Sorry, Gail. I tried my best. But the only way I could get you those credentials at all was if I promised them that you would play by their rules while you're there. But believe me, I know just how you feel. I've had to pretend to be someone I'm not every time I go to one of these kinds of countries, just so I don't come home to Barry in a pine box."
They were all soberly silent for a moment, thinking about the implications of that statement. Barry reached out and took his boyfriend's hand, giving it a squeeze.
Gail could read between the lines, and she realized that she probably didn't have that much to complain about, in the grand scheme of things. Still, it rankled her. "I knew I should have bought that penis, when I went shopping on e-Bay," she quipped.
Dean and Sam laughed out loud, but Tommy's frown deepened. "We do all love you, Gail, and we all know how funny you are. But please, please don't say anything like that out loud while you're there. You never know who could be listening. And, now that I have you really pissed off, I'll pile another little nugget on: Since you and Cas are not married yet, you won't be able to hold hands, kiss, or touch each other, even incidentally, while out in public, and you'll be staying in separate quarters, of course. In fact, Gail, you won't be able to go out anywhere alone in public with any one of these guys. You'll have to go with another woman. Or, wait: how about your brother Frank? As your only male relative, he could take you anywhere you need to go. Where is he?"
Gail was frowning again. With every new word Tommy uttered, she was getting madder and madder. "Well, it looks like you're not the only one who has to pretend to be something you're not when you go there," she said sharply. Then she sighed. "Frank and Jody are coming back from their honeymoon tomorrow. I guess if they're not sick of travelling, and if we can get them some child care, they could come with us. That is, if Jody's even allowed to have a say," she finished tartly.
"If both of you go out in public with Frank accompanying you, you're good to go," Tommy said nervously, correctly gauging her expression. Gail looked like she was ready to spit nails now. "Jody can travel anywhere with Frank because she's his wife, and since you and Cas aren't married, Frank will have to be the one to accompany you as - "
" - My Master," she finished angrily. "I bet you never had to deal with THAT particular situation, did you, Tommy?"
He did feel badly for her now. It wasn't just homosexuals who had to deal with bigotry, Tommy realized. Sam scribbled something furiously on the pad of paper in front of him, and he held the pad up for Tommy to read now, nudging his foot under the table to get his attention. "QUICK, MAKE A JOKE," Sam's note read.
Tommy thought fast. "No, not since college," he quipped to Gail. "But I told Barry all about that night, and I'm not into that whole leather scene anymore."
Gail gaped at him for a moment, and then Tommy began to smile. Then Barry did, too, and then Gail's lips started to twitch furiously. "You and Frank are going to get along like crazy," she said to Tommy, shaking her head slowly. "Man, it would have to be him, of all people. Do you realize how long it'll be before I'll be able to live this down?" Frank wasn't her biological brother, of course, but she and Cas had never bothered to share that with anyone outside their immediate circle. And Gail was sure it wouldn't really matter to thise chauvinist bastards in Egypt. Just as long as her "owner" had a penis, they would be fine. Maybe she should just try to pass Cas off as her brother. Then again, maybe not. With all of that "obey" nonsense that Crowley had been spouting, she didn't want Cas getting any big ideas. Besides, if they were to slip just once and kiss or touch each other inappropriately for brother and sister, and if anyone were to see them, who knew what could happen?
Sam and Dean were laughing. They knew Frank very well by now, and they knew he was going to torment her mercilessly about this. It would be a lot of fun to see Jody's reaction to this whole thing, too. They hoped that she and Frank had had a good honeymoon. Still, Frank had better have the good sense to do a temperature reading once they got to Egypt, or they didn't like his chances. If Frank got a little too carried away with the jokes, his wife and his sister would likely form a conspiracy to kill him.
Cas and Dean looked at each other. A change of subject was clearly called for here, and the sooner the better now that Gail's anger had been temporarily defused.
"What about the reports of a curse on King Tut's tomb?" Cas asked Tommy and Sam. Both of the men smiled.
"You know how that goes, Cas," Sam said. "All you have to do is Google it, and all kinds of dire warnings come up: Anyone opening or entering the tomb will suffer the wrath of the mummy. You know, agonizing death, entrails hanging out, blah, blah. The usual."
Cas smiled faintly. "Yes, Sam, I'm familiar."
"Familiar? You were probably there when Tut was buried, working on your tan," Dean joked.
"I do look good with a tan," Cas quipped. Gail looked sidelong at him as the other men laughed. She had started to notice a bit of a pattern. Every time someone would make a comment like that, Cas would either make a quip, or change the subject. Was he deliberately being evasive for some reason? Where had he actually been all of these millennia, and what exactly had he been doing? Had he been present at some of the great moments in history, or some of the not-so-great ones?
"There was something that Tommy showed me which I found interesting, though," Sam went on. He looked at Tommy. "What was that about the bricks, again?" Tommy shuffled some of the papers he'd been using to take notes and handed that particular paper to Sam, who read aloud: "Four bricks were found when the tomb was originally opened, and they were all inscribed with a portion of Chapter 151 of the Book of the Dead."
"Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all," Barry quipped, and Sam grinned. Everyone else was looking at Sam, but Gail saw Cas frown suddenly, out of the corner of her eye. But then, as soon as he felt her gaze on him, he quickly rearranged his features to make his expression neutral. Oh, he knew something, all right. But she'd better try to pry it out of him before they got to Egypt. Apparently, they might have to do some major sneaking around to even catch a glimpse of each other while they were over there, let alone have the chance to be alone together. Well, at least the celibacy thing shouldn't be much of a challenge now, she thought wryly.
But now Tommy was giving them some more information, and she needed to quit woolgathering. "7th Century Arabs believed that tombs were cursed, protected by magical means. But that's all old-school fear and superstition. The two guys that entered King Tut's tomb first, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, both did have a bit of bad luck afterwards, but it was completely blown out of proportion. Carnarvon died soon after the day he entered the tomb for the first time, but he was in poor health to begin with, and it was 1923. But, for a supposedly deadly and vindictive curse, it really didn't do much after that. Most of the people who subsequently entered the tomb lived fairly normal existences, and lifespans, for the times. Carter himself lived for 16 more years after the date they'd first opened the tomb. That's one highly unmotivated curse, if you ask me."
"So the common wisdom now is that there was some kind of a protective spell inscribed on the bricks at the tomb entrance, but it was mistranslated as a death curse," Sam said, and Dean mimed wiping sweat off his brow. The humans laughed, but Gail saw Cas shake his head, almost imperceptibly.
"Some things don't change," Tommy continued. "The papers were looking for a sensational story, so it was all exaggerated, for maximum effect. So the myths persisted. But, I'll tell you what: the only things that are liable to kill you at that tomb are mould, bacteria, or poisonous gases."
"Oh, so you've obviously been around Dean after he's had too many burritos," Sam quipped.
The humans were all smiling, but Cas was looking very serious and very preoccupied now, and it was starting to drive Gail nuts.
"Will you guys excuse us for just a minute?" she said. She grabbed Cas's hand, and winked them outside.
"What's going on, Cas?" Gail demanded. "What are you not telling us?"
He tried to act innocent, but she stared at him, folding her arms in front of herself. "And don't tell me nothing," she added. "I'm already pretty mad at the prospect of being a non-person, a second-class citizen who won't even be able to hold my fiance's hand in public. So don't test me."
Cas sighed. "I don't think there's too much about this entire situation that is very amusing, unlike our human friends in there. And while I agree that the supposed curse of the mummy's tomb is mainly sensationalist nonsense, I am uncomfortable with the reference I heard to the Book of the Dead."
"What IS that, Cas?" Gail asked him warily.
"As the name would suggest, it's not exactly a bedtime storybook," he said grimly. "But I don't want to alarm anyone unnecessarily, either. I thought I would wait until we get there, and I'm able to look at the actual inscriptions on those bricks. Sam's likely right about the mistranslation, but I just want to be sure."
Gail frowned. She knew Cas well enough by now to know that that was the most she would have been able to get out of him for the time being. "OK, Cas. But please, don't keep us in the dark if there's something we need to know. Though you'll probably have to send a carrier pigeon through my window with a message tied to its leg, by the sounds of it."
He smiled gently. "We're otherworldly beings, my love. Their politics and narrow-minded attitudes mean nothing to us." He put his arms around her. "I will always find a way to see you and speak with you. And I will always find a way to be able to hold your hand. For if I could not do any of those things, I would rather be dead."
"Oh my God, Cas," Gail said, smiling. "You need to stop talking like that. It's way too sexy, especially right now."
"Then it's lucky that we're still in America, isn't it?" he said quietly. Then he kissed her on the mouth, and then they were done talking for a few minutes.
When the Angels came back, Dean had the TV remote in his hand. "To get us in the mood, I DVR'ed 'The Mummy', and 'The Mummy Returns'. If we have time, maybe we can look for 'The Scorpion King', too."
"What about 'Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy'?" Bobby said suddenly. "If the two of you are going, it'll probably be more like that, anyway."
Barry and Tommy exchanged glances. Who was this guy, now? Neither of them had seen him arrive, but suddenly, there he was. Must be another one of their Angel friends. Luckily, he had been quiet and subtle about it. They were still trying to get used to Cas and Gail doing it, as it was.
Castiel could see his Vancouver friends eyeing Bobby, and he smiled. "Barry, Tommy, this is Bobby," he said.
Tommy extended his hand to Bobby to shake. "Hi, Bobby, I'm - " Then his throat dried up as Bobby took his hand. Bobby? Tommy looked sharply at Cas, who was smiling.
"God?" Tommy said hoarsely.
Bobby gave Tommy a wry smile. "That's my job title, not my name. Call me Bobby."
They shook hands, and Tommy was speechless. This was God? What on earth had he and Barry been afraid of? His handshake was warm, and Bobby's eyes crinkled when he smiled.
"I'm Tommy," Tommy said to Bobby. "But, what am I saying? You probably already know that." He was gesturing to Barry with his free hand, and Barry walked slowly over to where they stood. He was awestruck. When he got to Tommy's side, Bobby shook Barry's hand and said, "You must be Barry. Good to meet you."
Barry was speechless. He started to quiver. "My Lord, my God," he said quietly, and Bobby said, "No, don't do that, Barry. Just call me Bobby. Please."
He let go of Barry's hand and looked at the two men. "Cas and Gail have told me about the two of you, and how good you were to them when they were in Vancouver. I'm a big believer in straight talk, so let me be completely honest with you right now. I don't give a damn what anybody does with each other in private, as long as they're both adults, and they're both consenting. That's why Gail and Cas and the board worked so hard on changing those old-time laws. Now we have true equality in Heaven, as far as sexual preference goes. And, at the risk of embarrassing them, I know that their friendship with the two of you inspired a couple of very passionate discussions with a couple of old-school Angels on the board. But we eventually arrived at a consensus, and I just want you to know that you'll be welcomed with open arms when your time comes, fellas."
Tommy's mouth dropped open. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He and Barry had actually broken up at one point over Tommy's refusal to believe, and here their Angel friends had been, working behind the scenes on their friends' behalf that whole time. He looked at Cas, who was averting his eyes now in embarrassment. "Don't look at me," Cas mumbled. "It was a team effort. If anyone should get the credit, it should be Gail. She was the Chairwoman of the Board that wrote the new laws. I can remember her practically climbing up on the boardroom table at one point to get everyone's attention, when the discussion got a little out of hand. She made a very eloquent speech about how kind the two of you were, and how loving, and that you were just the sort of men we needed as Angels in Heaven."
Gail's lips were twitching. She remembered that day, too. And when "Ogden, the Old-Timer" as she'd called him to Bobby in private, had expressed his doubts as to that fact, Gail had lost her professionalism for an instant and suggested that if Ogden didn't like it, maybe HE wasn't the kind of Angel they wanted in Heaven. She'd immediately regretted it, because she wasn't setting a very good example when it came to respecting other peoples' opinions, which was something that she had been preaching from Day One. She found it kind of funny now, though, and she and Ogden had been able to iron out their difference of opinion after that.
Everyone laughed when Cas and Gail told them the story of that scene in the boardroom, and once they were done, Tommy grabbed Gail and pulled her in for a big bear hug. Then Barry made a sound, almost like one of Gail's whimpers, and he dashed out of the room.
Gail pried Tommy off of her and handed him over to Cas. "I'll go talk to him," she told the men.
She raced down the hallway after Barry, who had run to the kitchen. He was sitting at the table, sobbing. Gail sat beside him and put her arm around him, laying his head on her shoulder. His arm went around her waist, and they sat there quietly for a moment.
Then Barry said, "I pray every day, but I don't pray to God, or Bobby, I guess we're supposed to call him. I pray to you and Cas. And every single day, I say thank you that the two of you walked into the casino that day and befriended me. Us." He took some tissues out of his inside jacket pocket and wiped his eyes. "Sorry," he said, sniffling. "I just couldn't..."
"It's OK, Barry," she said softly, touching his cheek. "Nobody here will ever give you a hard time about showing your emotions. And if they ever did, I would be able to tell you stories about each and every one of those guys that I'm holding back for blackmail purposes someday."
Barry sniffled again, and then he looked at her and smiled. "I don't know about those, but at least tell me you've seen Sam and Dean with their shirts off. And feel free to be as lovingly descriptive as possible."
Gail laughed. She glanced towards the doorway of the kitchen, then leaned in close to him. "I'll see if I can sneak a few pictures in Egypt, if they don't stone me to death for it," she told him. "But why didn't you ask me about Cas?" she teased.
Barry shrugged. "I don't know, really. Suddenly, it kind of seemed, well, sacrilegious, or something."
Gail's smile turned wicked now, and she took another quick peek to make sure they were still alone. "If I were to send you a photo of HIS best features, they'd stone me before I even sent the e-mail," she quipped.
Barry threw his head back and laughed, and he pulled her in for a hug. "I really love you, Gail," Barry told her.
"I really love you too, Barry," she responded. "So, tell me something: do you think you and Tommy are ever going to get married?"
Barry sat back in his chair, looking at her thoughtfully. "It's funny you should say that," he told her. "Tommy was always the ambitious one, the career guy, and I was the homebody. He travelled all around the world looking for that one story, the one that was going to give him the Pulitzer. Or, write his name in history. Or whatever happens with reporters. When you two came along, he was bitter, he was drinking too much, and we would argue a lot of nights because he said I was making him feel guilty for trying to do his job, and for wanting to leave his mark before he died. But then you guys entered our lives, and he began to clean up his act, at least for a while. But then, when we didn't see or hear from you guys again, he backslid, and, well, you know the rest. But when we got back together, I'd promised myself I would accept him the way he was, and not be so clingy all the time. We couldn't live without each other, Gail. You know what that's like. I know you do. To love someone so much that you don't care what you have to do to be with them, as long as you know that they love you so much that they would do the same."
Gail gave him a tight smile. She most certainly knew exactly what that was like.
"So I took the promotion at the hotel, but now, it seems like we've reversed roles, all of a sudden. I figured if I kept busy at work, I wouldn't pine away for him so much when he was away," Barry continued, as Gail nodded. It was like he was relating her life story of a while back. That was why she had become such a workaholic with the board in Heaven; though the revisions of the laws had been a priority, she had mainly made work her life for a while there so she wouldn't have to deal with the fact that she and Cas weren't together.
"But now, Tommy's turning down assignments with the paper, and he keeps talking about us being together more often after the hotel opens," Barry went on. "And when we found out that you guys were engaged, he told me that we should talk about a more serious commitment."
"How would you feel about that?" she asked him curiously.
Barry's eyes misted over again. "That's all I ever wanted, Gail," he told her.
Now she was starting to get tears in her eyes. "Me, too," she told him. "Oh, give me some of those tissues, you big poopyhead," she said, and they sat and cried loving, happy tears.
Cas had asked Bobby to come down so he could be informed about what they had discovered so far, and what Cas thought their plans should be once they and the humans got to Egypt, but Bobby surprised Cas now when he asked to speak with him privately for a moment.
"I'm coming with you, Cas," Bobby told him, "and I'm bringing Chuck, Ethan, and Kevin." Then he frowned. "We'll leave Becky behind, though. I don't think the climate is right for her and Kevin to be together right now, and if it's as politically backward as you say it is with regard to females, there's no sense in pushing things."
Cas was regarding Bobby. "Well, in that case, why increase the numbers? I think we're fine with just the six of us. And I WAS fine with just the four of us, until Tommy told us that Gail would need Frank and Jody as escorts."
"You're not in charge here, Cas," Bobby said quietly. "It's still my name on the door, and my ass in that chair."
Cas looked at Bobby coolly but said nothing. There were too many people around to start that argument. The only people who knew that Bobby was no longer actually God were Cas, Bobby, and Gail. And Crowley too, probably, although they would never confirm that to him, of course.
"I've been too hands-off for too long, Cas," Bobby told him. "I'm not gonna sit up there like some kind of a pencil-necked paper pusher any more. I know I don't have Godly powers any more, but I'm not useless, Cas."
"I never said that you were," Cas mumbled unconvincingly. But he was displeased that he would have to be responsible for more souls now. Chuck might have an inkling of an idea of the potential dangers that lay ahead, now that some of his prophecy skills seemed to be returning, and there might be some tangential benefit to that. But Cas really didn't want to have to worry about any of them any more than he absolutely had to. Sam and Dean were already looking at the acquisition of the Tablet as a great adventure, only. And he supposed that it was, from their point of view. Admittedly, Castiel was looking forward to seeing the dig site again, and the discovery of the additional chambers interested him very much. But he mainly had to make sure they got in, got the Tablet, and got out in one piece; that was the main thing. The only thing, really.
By now, Gail had come back into the library area walking hand in hand with Barry. He released her hand after giving it a quick kiss and then went to Tommy. Tommy hugged Barry, and his boyfriend laid his head on his shoulder.
"Come on, let's watch these movies, already," Dean said excitedly. Gail smiled at him. He was just like a little kid at Christmastime. She was a bit excited about it, herself. Not too many people got to see these kinds of places from the perspective they were apparently going to see them from. She supposed that she should be glad that she would even be allowed to go to the dig site at all, considering the kinds of things that she'd been hearing about the place. It was too bad that she might have to watch some of the action from the back of the theatre, though, and with half of her face covered, to boot.
But that thought reminded her of another, and she looked at Tommy now. "How are we going to get Frank and Jody in those places with us? I think both of them probably have the proper ID, especially with Jody being a Sheriff and all, but will they have the same kind of access as we have, without the special credentials?"
"Jody's a Sheriff?" Tommy said, surprised. He mused about that for a moment. "I wonder if that could work for us, or against us." He looked over at Cas, who was walking over to where they stood. "Hey, Cas," Tommy said, "if you don't mind zapping me back to my office, I'll see if I can have kits made up for Gail's brother and sister-in-law, too, just to be on the safe side."
Gail put her hand on his arm. "Thanks for all your help on this, Tommy. I didn't mean to be so short with you earlier. I just..."
"I know," Tommy sighed. "I know how you feel, Gail."
"I'll stay here until you get back," Barry told Tommy. He looked at Dean and Sam. "Maybe I'll make us some movie snacks, if you guys don't mind me rooting around in your kitchen cupboards."
"Are you kidding?" Dean enthused. "That'd be great!"
"Here, I'd better come with you," Gail told Barry. She looked at Cas. "Too bad my blade doesn't conjure up food," she said wryly. She kissed him on the cheek on her way by. "See you in a bit, sweetie."
Cas smiled. He would never, ever tire of hearing her call him that. "I love you, and you will never be a second-class citizen to me, nor to any man here," he told her softly.
"And there's your exit line," Gail said, returning his smile. She followed Barry back down the hallway as Cas took Tommy's hand, winking them to Vancouver.
They had gotten about halfway through the first movie when she heard a noise coming from down the hallway. Gail glanced in that direction, wondering what it was that she had heard. Bobby had gone back up to Heaven, advising that he would be bringing the Angels by in the morning, and Cas and Tommy were still gone from the bunker. Gail knew that the place had all the protections they could possibly have on it now, but she still felt a momentary flutter. Lucifer had gotten in here once, hadn't he? And she was the only Angel here at the moment.
She got up and quietly entered the hallway, taking her blade out of her pants pocket. Both Crowley and Cas had made her promise to keep it on her person at all times now, and since she was finding out that she could do so many other things with it, the idea appealed to her. She pressed the button and the blade sprung out of the hilt. Now she could see a dark shape at the other end of the corridor. Why wasn't whoever it was announcing themselves?
Well, there was something else she'd found out she could do with her blade. She didn't want to panic anyone by yelling, so she spoke the Enochian word softly, and a beam of light emanated from the hilt of her blade. Unfortunately, all she could make out from the dim light was that the figure was tall, and apparently male.
"You have about two seconds to identify yourself, or you'll be cut to ribbons by this blade," she said, as menacingly as she could. "And then I'll call Castiel down here, and he'll really go to work on you."
"Good Lord, Gail. How many B-movies with bad dialogue have you guys watched since I've been away?" Frank quipped. He flipped on the kitchen light at the end of the corridor. "I guess I should have called, first. That light thing you're doing is pretty cool, though. Is that new?"
She said the word backwards, and the light went out. Then she ran down the corridor and threw herself into his arms. Thank God it was him and thank God he was all right. Then she punched him in the chest. "You scared me!" she told him. "Why didn't you just say it was you?"
"I was gonna, when I got further down the hall. But everything was dark, so I didn't think anyone was here."
"What are you doing back here?" Gail asked him. "I thought you guys weren't due back until tomorrow."
"Yeah, well, Disneyland was fun, but you can only eat so much junk food, ride so much, and throw up so much. And Robbie had had his fill, too," he quipped. "And Jody and I wanted to find out what was going on."
"Funny you should say that, cause suddenly there's a whole lot of stuff going on," Gail said vaguely.
"I can see that," Frank said evenly. "Like, for instance, what's that thing on your finger that you're specifically not mentioning?"
Gail smiled slyly, looking at her right hand. "What, do I have some dirt, or something?"
Frank rolled his eyes and grabbed her other hand, gesturing to the ring.
"Ohhh, THAT," Gail said casually. Then she broke out in a grin. "He proposed, Frank. Can you believe it? Cas wants me to marry him."
"Of course I can believe it," Frank said. "Guy's no fool." He grabbed Gail and hugged her to him. "I'm so happy for you two," Frank said. His voice was thick, and Gail could feel him shaking. Was he crying?
She hugged him tightly and closed her eyes. Now she was going to cry, too. Her brother was a smartass who mostly drove her crazy, but when he cried, he took you down with him.
He sniffled and then broke the embrace. "Sit down with me for a second." Frank took her by the hand and led her to the kitchen table. Once they were seated, he took both of her hands in his.
"Being married is the best thing ever," Frank told her. "You're gonna love it, Gail. I think the world of Dean and Sam, but they're going about it all wrong. To be able to go to bed with, and then wake up with, the same person every day, knowing they're going to be there with you the next day, and the day after that? Knowing that they love you so much that they chose to get up in front of God and the Angels and everyone and say so, and really mean it? There's nothing like it, Gail. Nothing. I owe Cas everything for bringing me back to all of you. I never would have met Jody had he not done that. I love her so damn much, Gail. And she loves me. Can you imagine? She actually loves me."
"No, I can't imagine that," Gail said quietly, smiling so he would know she was kidding. "But hey, where was all that mushy talk at your wedding?"
"That's not our way," Frank replied. "It's yours and Cas's." He started to grin. "I can't wait to see him before your wedding. Remember how worked up he was at mine?"
"Yes, and just so you know, we're going to say our own vows," Gail said, continuing to smile warmly at her brother. "So the mush alert is on."
"Hey, bring it," Frank said cheerfully. "I can't wait."
"Well, right now we've got this other thing that has to take priority," Gail told him. "In fact, I'm glad you and Jody are back now. We should probably get her to come over, so we can all discuss what we're going to do. I kind of committed you both to something. Do you think she can drive over here? I know it's getting late; she can put Robbie to bed in our room, if you guys want. But I think we all really need to talk about this." She told him in vague, general terms about the mission in Egypt, and the fact that she pretty much needed him and Jody to be there.
"Cas and Tommy will be back in a little while. But if you and Jody feel like you can't go because of Robbie, or whatever, just let me know, and we'll figure something else out," Gail said to her brother.
"I'll ask her to come here, and we'll talk about it," Frank said, taking his cell phone out of his pocket. Once he'd spoken to Jody, Frank said, "Let's go have some snacks and watch some TV while we wait for them to get here."
They walked back down the hall and into the living room area.
"Frank!" Dean exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Jody throw you out already?"
Frank smiled. "No, she hasn't come to her senses yet. Hey, Sam." He looked down at Barry. "You must be Cas and Gail's friend, from the casino." Gail had mentioned that he and Tommy were here when she had told him what was going on. Frank searched his brain, but he couldn't come up with Barry's name, even though Gail had just mentioned it a couple of minutes prior. "Wait, I'll get this," he said. "One of the gay guys. Tommy, and...Barry! That's it, right?"
Barry stood from the couch, bemused. So this was Gail's brother. Whoever had given him the name Frank had aptly named him, apparently.
"I don't know if I've ever been called exactly that before. 'One of the gay guys'. But, I've certainly been called a lot worse things, so I'll take it," Barry told Frank.
Frank stuck his hand out for Barry to shake. "I hope that didn't bug you," Frank said to him. "That's the way I talk. I don't have much of a filter. But I don't have any problems with you guys, and I hope you don't think I'm one of THOSE guys. I just have a problem with political correctness. I prefer to just call it as I see it. So it doesn't matter to me about any label you have on you; it's the type of person you are that matters to me. That's all."
Barry took Frank's hand, and they shook. "I agree, Frank. I'm not into labels, myself. It's what you do and how you act towards others that's important. I'm pleased to meet you," he told Frank. Then Barry smiled. "The other gay guy should be back in a few minutes, so you can meet him then."
"OK, well, let's sit and watch 'The Mummy' for a while," Frank said. He had noticed what they'd been watching when Dean had paused it, and it was one of Frank's favourites. "When Jody gets here, we'll get her into it, too. We'll just tell her that we're doing research for our trip." He clapped Barry on the shoulder and the two men settled back into the couch cushions, with Gail snuggled in-between them. She was happy that they all seemed to be coming together to embark on this quest as a family. To her, that was a good omen. And Barry and Tommy were just as much a part of their family now as any of the others, as far as she was concerned. She couldn't wait until Cas and Tommy got back, and Jody and Robbie arrived. So many people she loved, all in the same place, working towards a common goal. She really was the luckiest woman in the world.
And Tommy and Cas meant to see that she stayed that way. They had been sitting in the newspaper office talking, waiting for Frank and Jody's ID packages to be made up, when Tommy got the alert on his computer. "Excuse me for a minute, Cas," Tommy said, walking over to the machine. He clicked on the wire item which had signaled the alert and scrolled down, reviewing the story.
Tommy gave a low whistle. "Holy crap. Come here, Cas."
"What is it, Tommy?" Cas said, rising and coming over to where Tommy sat. He looked over his friend's shoulder at the screen.
A story was coming in about an American woman who had been brutally murdered, in the region that they were planning to enter. As Tommy continued to scroll down, the men read the horrifying details. This single woman had had the temerity to approach the man she loved, who happened to be a single Egyptian man, and kiss him in public. She'd removed her face covering to do it, and he had kissed her back, but she had been taken off to jail, while there had been no consequences for the man. But, because she was an American, the government promised to leave her alone, if she promised not to do it again. And she had promised. But then a day or so later, she had been walking around the marketplace and the man's brother had suddenly attacked her. He'd stabbed her again and again, calling her an "American whore" who had corrupted his brother and shamed his family. There had been no punishment for the woman's killer, and the poor woman, whose only crime had been expressing her love, lay dead in an unmarked grave in a foreign land, branded a whore.
How could something like this happen in this day and age? Cas thought, mystified. He asked Tommy this now.
"You're asking the wrong person, Cas," Tommy said, shaking his head. "As a gay man, I'm subject to the same kind of prejudice, and not always in foreign lands, either."
Now Cas was really worried about bringing Gail there. He wished he could just advise her to stay behind, but he knew that she would never agree to that. And if they truly were to be equal partners, he had to do his part by actually treating her like an equal. But he had always had trouble doing that when it came to her being exposed to danger.
Still, he looked at Tommy and said, "Is there anything we can do to help keep her safe?"
Tommy leaned back in his chair. "I've been thinking about that, Cas. We're going to have to segregate her from the rest of you, make sure she can't go anywhere without her brother, or Jody. If she's nowhere near you, or any of the guys, then she won't be able to slip up, right?"
Cas cocked an eyebrow at him. "You haven't spent as much time with my darling Gail as the rest of us have. Ask Barry how stubborn she can be sometimes."
"Well then, we're just going to have to print up this article and hit her in the face with it," Tommy said, shrugging. "And, I've put in an additional safeguard. You're no longer going to be a reporter, Cas. Sam, Dean, Gail and Frank will be the journalists. You're going to be a Sheikh, a member of the royal family who may or may not have a claim to the new discoveries at the dig site. You'll be in a palace on the other side of town, and you'll have servants and security staff. We're going to keep her away from you, Cas, whether she likes it or not."
Cas breathed a sigh of relief. He put a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Thank you, Tommy. Whatever we need to do to keep her safe." Now that he had insisted that Gail keep her Angel blade with her at all times, he couldn't take the chance of her being attacked by a fanatic who may discover the knife on her and use it against her.
"That should work," Tommy said, "and then, when you're all at the dig site, you can figure things out from there. Use whatever Angel stuff you guys use. But Cas, just know that there are a lot of pissed-off guys there, with a lot of guns, and a lot of them hate Americans. So even though you and Gail can't be killed by conventional human weapons, remember that your human friends don't enjoy the same luxury. And the instant that you give the game away as to what you're truly thereafter, you're never getting within 200 miles of that dig site again, no matter how many palms we grease. So, if you need a human to put their hands on that Tablet, which you're telling me that you do, you're going to have to run a very covert operation here."
Cas nodded. He understood, and he thought there shouldn't be too much of a problem with that, as long as Bobby allowed him to take the lead. He had been very good at subterfuge during the Angel wars.
Tommy was frowning now. "And, there's one more thing I haven't told you about yet, though you may or may not be aware of this already. As a Sheikh, and as part of your cover, you'll have a harem, Cas."
Cas winced. "I was hoping you weren't going to tell me that." But he knew that this was the way it worked, even in this modern day and age. But how on earth was he ever going to tell Gail about this? He would never have anything to do with any of those women, of course, but Gail was already angry enough about this whole situation as it was, and she hadn't even heard about this part yet. He raised an eyebrow to Tommy. "Are you sure I can't be the first gay Sheikh in the royal family?" he joked. "Do you know how much trouble I'm going to be in about this?"
Tommy shrugged. "Hey, it's better for Gail to be angry for a short while than gravely injured for a long while. What about if somebody were to overpower her, and use her own Angel blade on her? That could kill her, right? That's what Barry said."
Cas nodded. He was impressed; his friends were astute, and they obviously paid attention, and cared about Gail's well-being. "That's exactly right, Tommy," he agreed quietly.
"Well then, let her be mad," Tommy said, almost cheerfully. "I guess you won't need to worry about her being accidentally affectionate towards you if she's not even speaking to you." He got up from his chair. "I'll go see if the extra credentials are ready. I took the liberty of setting things up that way. You'd better stop shaving immediately. From what Barry tells me, and we had a couple of words about how he knows this," Tommy said, smiling to show Cas that he was joking, "you'll have enough stubble by tomorrow to have the beginnings of a nice beard. We'll send you there by private plane, and have a limo meet you at the other end, and it'll take you to the palace. Then you'll change into the traditional robes, and head over to the dig site. The Angels can discreetly pop everyone else to Egypt tomorrow once everyone's ready, but we're going to send you the conventional way, so you can make a big splash in the news when you get there. We've bribed a few officials here and there, but if we can get your identity legitimized in the press, you'll have more autonomy at the dig site. They take their royal family rights very seriously there. And, Cas? One more thing. I know it won't come easily to you, but if you could act a little...aloof, it wouldn't hurt, to sell them on the fact that you are who you say you are. Be arrogant. You'll have servants; try ordering them around. They'll be expecting that kind of behaviour from a member of the royal family; if you're too nice, they'll be suspicious."
Cas was frowning now. He was going to hate this. Not only was Gail going to be upset with him, now Tommy was telling him that he'd have to be an obnoxious jerk to everyone else. Great. How could he figure out the proper way to act? Then he thought about the wealthy wizarding family in his and Gail's book series, and the way the father acted towards everyone. He wouldn't quite go that overboard, maybe, but at least he had some kind of a frame of reference for his character now. Except for the time that he'd had the disease, Castiel had never been the type of person that Tommy was telling him that he needed to be for this mission. It just wasn't in his nature.
He sighed. "Please go check on the credentials, Tommy. The sooner I get back to the bunker and face the music, as they say, the better, I guess." Cas tried to smile.
Tommy raised an eyebrow to him. "What do you want me to do, Cas?"
Cas looked at him for a moment, and then he got it. He cleared his throat. "Fetch the credentials, and be quick about it," he said to Tommy, in a sharp voice.
"Much better," Tommy said. Then he smiled. "Is it wrong that I got a little turned on by that?"
Cas smiled back. Tommy was using levity to try to make him feel better, and he appreciated that.
Tommy came back with a press kit for Frank, ID for Jody as his wife, and some documentation for Cas.
"You can keep this stuff on you, but don't produce it unless you're in a real jam," Tommy told Cas. "Remember, you are who you are. How dare anyone ask you to prove it? Besides, it's a little thin, so I'm not sure it'll hold up to close scrutiny. But if you play your part well, I don't think it'll be a problem."
Now Cas was reminded of the witch who had walked into the bank in the last of the book series, demanding that they take her to her vault. He supposed that was the way he should act, if he were asked. Funny how such fantasy subject matter could serve as a guidebook of sorts for real life. He would definitely have to share that thought with Gail when he and Tommy returned to the bunker. If she was still speaking to him once he delivered the latest change of plan, of course.
Cas was studying the bio that was clipped to his forged Egyptian documentation.
"I have fourteen wives?" he asked Tommy incredulously. "Fourteen?!"
Tommy's lips twitched. "Well, thirteen would have just been unlucky."
Cas used an earthly phrase that would have made Dean proud but took Tommy aback. "You realize that when Gail hears about this, and she gets angry, I'm sending her directly to you to provide the explanation," Cas told him.
Tommy was just opening his mouth to retort when they felt it. The entire building shook, and then telephones and computers started falling off of the desks. Then, the building felt as if it were swaying from side to side for a moment.
"Earthquake!" Tommy yelled. "Come on, Cas, we have to evacuate everyone immediately!" They stuffed the ID packets in their pockets and ran around the floor, gathering people up and sending them down the emergency stairs. The shaking seemed to have stopped now, but Tommy advised that there were sometimes aftershocks. Cas wished he could just wink everyone out of there, but he couldn't risk that kind of exposure. However, when the opportunities arose, he popped from floor to floor, checking for others. Thankfully, because it was so late on a Sunday night, the building had been mainly empty.
He came back to Tommy's floor to give him the all clear, and then he grabbed Tommy's hand, popping them down to the 2nd Floor stairwell. When the men emerged in the lobby, it appeared as though they had merely walked down the entire way.
The two men walked outside, into the night air. A few people were milling around, but most had left the site already, presumably to go home and check on their loved ones. They couldn't see any damage to the buildings around them, but sirens were sounding in the background, and Cas was sure that he could smell fire.
Cas was deeply suspicious now. Yes, he'd heard that earthquakes happened in Vancouver from time to time. People on the set of the TV show used to joke about "The Big One", on more than just a few occasions. But Cas didn't buy it. What was Lucifer trying to pull now?