AN: Okay, everyone! Here's the next story! Hope ya'll enjoy it! I just want to say a BIG thank you to jessfairy88 for creating the poster for this story!
Cas stares at Dean and Bobby, waiting for them to make a decision. Sam staggers as he stands behind Cas and Gracilynn reaches out, steadying her uncle. After a short moment, Bobby goes down on his knees.
"Well, all right then. Is this good, or you want the whole 'forehead to the carpet' thing?" Bobby says. Dean, Sam, and Gracilynn look over at Bobby, surprised at this action. When none of them make a move to follow, Bobby glances at Dean, knowing Sam and Gracilynn will follow if Dean does the same. "Guys."
Dean kneels. Sam and Gracilynn begin to kneel, but Cas's voice stops them midway.
"Stop. What's the point if you don't mean it? You fear me. Not love, not respect, just fear," Cas says.
"Cas…" Sam begins, but Cas interrupts him.
"Sam, you have nothing to say to me; you stabbed me in the back," Cas says.
"Yeah, well, what comes around goes around," Gracilynn mutters before she realizes who she's saying this to. She instantly snaps her mouth shut. Dean's head whips towards his daughter, eyes wide with fear. Cas slowly turns his head to face her, giving her an unpleasant smile.
"Normally, your disrespect would earn you choking on your own tongue," Cas says. Gracilynn forces down a swallow, glancing over at her dad with fear in her eyes. Dean looks from his daughter over to Cas.
"Cas…" he says. Cas looks over to Dean and Bobby.
"Get up," Cas demands. The two older hunters stand up.
"Cas, come on, this isn't you," Dean pleads.
"The Castiel you knew is gone," Cas states.
"So what, then? Kill us?" Dean asks, chancing a glance at his daughter, making sure she's okay.
"What a brave little ant you are. You know you're powerless, you wouldn't dare move against me again. That would be pointless. So I have no need to kill you. Not now. Besides...once you were my favorite pets before you turned and bit me," Cas says, looking at Sam when he says the last part.
"Who are you?" Dean asks.
"I'm God. And if you stay in your place, you may live in my kingdom. If you rise up, I will strike you down. Not doing so well, are you Sam?" Cas answers. He looks pointedly at Sam. Dean, Bobby, and Gracilynn look over at Sam as well.
"I'm fine," Sam says, then, clears his throat. "I'm…fine."
"You said you would fix him…you promised!" Dean says angrily, worry encasing his tone.
"If you stood down, which you hardly did. Be thankful for my mercy. I could have cast you back into the pit," Cas says, looking over at Sam yet again.
"Cas, come on, this is nuts! You can turn this around, please!" Dean says, trying to get Cas to see reason.
"I hope for your sake this is the last you see me," Cas says before abruptly disappearing. The four hunters look around the room and at each other for a moment before Sam's nose starts to bleed.
"Sam, you okay?" Dean asks, seeing the blood trickle out of his brothers' nose. Gracilynn looks up at her uncle and sees the same thing.
"Uncle Sammy?" Sam doesn't say anything. He seems to blank out for a second and then he begins falls to the ground. Gracilynn instantly grabs for him but isn't able to break his fall. Sam crashes to the ground, cutting his hand on a large piece of broken glass. Gracilynn follows him, her knees slamming into the glass covered floor.
"Uncle Sammy?"
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Dean is crouched on the front seat inside the crushed Impala, his boots pressed up against the roof. Gracilynn is sitting on a table, watched the whole spectacle before her with a smirk on her face. Dean grunts. Bobby walks around the corner and takes in the scene before him, two beers in his hands.
"Come on," he growls, grunting again. The sound of groaning metal is heard as Dean tries to push out the dent with his feet. "Come on, baby."
"So, you fixin' her or primal screamin'?" Bobby asks Dean. Gracilynn grins.
"This is nothing. You should've heard him earlier," she says. Dean climbs out of the Impala and takes the offered beer from Bobby, shooting a glare at his daughter, which just serves to make her grin bigger.
"Thanks. How's Sam?" Dean says, looking back over at Bobby.
"He's still under. But alive," Bobby answers.
"Yeah? What about God part deux?" Dean asks, walking around the Impala and towards Gracilynn.
"I got all kinds of feelers out, so far diddly," Bobby replies.
"And what exactly are you looking for?" Dean asks.
"Exactly. What? Miracles, mass visions, trenchcoat on a tortilla? I don't know what I'm lookin' for," Bobby says.
"Ah, well, he'll surface," Dean offers.
"So say we do suss out where 'new and improved' flew off to..." Bobby asks, the question dying off.
"Yeah?" Dean encourages.
"The hell we plan to do about it?" Bobby asks.
"I don't know, Bobby, I got no more clue than you do," Dean answers, frustrated.
"I don't even know what books to hit for this, Dean," Bobby says truthfully.
"Well, figure it out!" Dean shouts angrily.
"Dad," Gracilynn says quietly. Dean pulls himself together.
"I'm sorry," Dean says to Bobby. "This ain't in no book. If you stick your neck out, Cas steps on it. So you know what I'm gonna do?"
"What?" Bobby asks.
"Imma fix this car. Because that's what I can do. I can work on her 'til she's mint. And when Sam wakes up, no matter what shape he's in, we'll glue him back together too. We owe him that," Dean says determinedly. Dean grabs a mallet and heads back around the car.
"I'm with you," Bobby says.
"Me too," Gracilynn adds. Dean crawls back inside the car, lying on his back, and begins to pound the roof with the mallet.
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Gracilynn holds the large envelope in her hand, staring at it. She wasn't expecting to get it so soon. She hears the back door slam shut and she quickly shoves the envelope under the table she's sitting on and on top of a pile of other papers. She looks up as she sees her dad walk into the garage.
"Guess who I ran into," Dean says. Gracilynn looks behind him and sees her uncle appear in the doorway. Gracilynn grins.
"There's the Sasquatch we all know and love," Gracilynn says, hopping down from the table and walking over and giving her uncle a hug, which Sam returns.
"How you doing Smalls?" Sam asks.
"Me? I'm great," Gracilynn answers pulling away from him. She jerks a thumb behind her. "Not too sure about the Impala though. Dad's really doing a number on her."
"Oh, bite your tongue will ya," Dean says with a smirk he can't quite hide.
"Dad fill you in?" Gracilynn asks Sam.
"Was just gonna do that now," Dean says, grabbing a wrench.
"Okay," Gracilynn replies. She glances at her hiding spot before walking over and joining her dad and uncle.
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Dean's in the Impala working on a window. The radio is playing in the background and Gracilynn is sitting in the passenger seat of the Impala. Both front doors of the Impala are open.
"Believed to be target hits high up in white-supremacy organizations. The FBI now believes the Ku Klux Klan has been forced to disband," the radio announcer says.
"Can't argue with that one," Dean comments. He looks over at his daughter when he hears her stomach growling. "Why don't you head inside and grab something to eat. I'll be right in."
"All right," Gracilynn says, climbing out of the car and shutting the door behind her. She walks out of the garage and up to the back door.
Ten minutes later, Dean finishes the window and gathers all of his tools. He places them all on the table, accidentally knocking one onto the ground. He bends down and picks it up, knocking over a pile of papers balancing on a barrel under the table. Dean sets the wrench on the table and begins picking up the papers and putting them back.
An envelope addressed to Gracilynn catches his eye and he picks it up, looking at it. He peers out the window, looking to see if anyone is coming. When he doesn't see anyone, he takes a closer look at who the envelope is from. His eyebrows furrow when he sees it's from the high school she was attending before the whole Cas incident. Dean glances around one last time and, still satisfied, he carefully opens the envelope. He pulls out a piece of paper and looks at it. Dean lets out a breath.
"Aw, hell Gracie," Dean says, running a hand down his face.
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"So, what's eatin' at ya kid?" Bobby asks Dean as they get inside the garage and they're sure no one is around. Dean grabs the envelope from its hiding spot and hands it to Bobby.
"This," Dean says. Bobby raises an eyebrow but takes the envelope from Dean. He notices it's addressed to Gracilynn.
"You in the habit of opening other peoples' mail?" Bobby asks.
"Just look at it Bobby," Dean says seriously. Bobby sighs but opens the envelope and pulls out the paper, looking at it. Bobby looks up at Dean, not sure where he's going with this.
"Okay, so what's so wrong with this? I thought this is what both you and Sam wanted her to do?" Bobby asks.
"Well, yeah, we did… But, why would she hide it?" Dean asks.
"What are you talking about?" Bobby asks, confused.
"I found it in this pile of papers under the table," Dean says, pointing to the hiding spot.
"That's something you'll have to ask her," Bobby says, looking back down at the paper in his hands.
"She missed it," Dean says. Bobby looks up at Dean, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Who missed what?" he asks.
"Gracie. She missed her graduation," Dean says, nodding to the diploma in Bobby's hand. "And prom. And everything else."
Bobby studies Dean for a moment before sighing. He could see the guilt written all over Dean's face.
"Look kid. None of that was your fault. It's not like you asked Cas to open Purgatory," Bobby says.
"Yeah, but it's not like I even took the time to acknowledge she graduated either," Dean counters.
"To be fair, you all had a lot on your plate," Bobby replies.
"I still should've done something." Bobby sighs again.
"You ever think maybe that's why she hid this?" Bobby asks, raising the diploma a little higher. Dean gives Bobby a questioning look. "She knew you'd feel guilty so she hid it so you wouldn't find out."
"That's ridic…" Dean begins but Bobby cuts him off.
"Is it really?" Bobby says with a knowing look. Dean thinks about this. Bobby puts the diploma back into the envelope and hands it back to Dean. "I think you already know what to do with this."
AN: Please, please review and let me know what ya'll think!