#4 of the Little Children verse. In this one, Charlie makes a big discovery in the Winchester Gospels. She reads the Gospel called Dark Side of the Moon and learns about Ash. She also learns that Heaven is the only place where string theory has practical application. She's also very interested in his computer. Can these elements be used to help them find Castiel's grace?
As usual, I don't own Supernatural or its characters. They belong to Eric Kripke. Lucky man.
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (sort of)
Charlie loved the Winchester Gospels since they gave her an insight to her new brothers. She couldn't get over how quickly she was adopted by Sam and Dean, especially Dean. He acted like her big brother from the get-go, worrying about her when she helped with Dick Roman. He even gave her tips about how to seduce the guard when she had to get back into the building where she worked. Dean was the one who gave her tips and helped her to come to grips with her mother's situation. He gave her the strength to do the right thing for her mother then stood beside her when she buried the woman who gave her birth. When he broke down in his fear of losing Sam, she was able to reciprocate his kindness and love by being there for him, letting him cry on her shoulder.
Sam was more complicated then Dean but also very loving and accepting of her in his family. He would talk for hours about anything that caught their fancy. Along with Castiel and Kevin, their talks could and did turn into debates that were both fun and educational. As fun as the forums were, Charlie always had a feeling that Sam was keeping her at arm's length. It made sense, though, when she thought of it. First, his mother was killed, then his fiancé, after those two ladies came Madison who was a newly turned werewolf that begged Sam to kill her. According to the Winchester Gospel named "Heart", Sam was broken and very hurt after he did as she asked. Then came Ruby, the demon who claimed to love him but was in reality using him to kill Lilith so Lucifer's cage would be opened. There were two more ladies that Sam really liked, Sarah who had recently been killed by Crowley in his desperation to keep Hell open and Cara who he hadn't seen in a few years.
It seemed as though his eighteen months of being soulless had helped him with the women but even soulless, he kept women at an arm's length, sleeping with them then leaving them with a smile on their faces. Dean was the one who told Charlie about Amelia since Sam was reluctant to talk about her. He said his brother loved the supposed widow but let her go when she found that her husband was alive. It was also quite telling that Sam chose his brother over any woman since both Amelia and Dean made him choose between them. Dean felt torn, he was guilty about forcing Sam to choose but he also wasn't because Sam chose him and was still by his side. If she hadn't been so sure about their sexuality, she would have thought that they were in love with each other. But they weren't, not in a sexual way at least. They were brothers with a bond that was very deep, one borne of love, tragedy, and the way they had been raised.
With all his non-successes with the women in his life, Sam became a bit shy when it came to having a female in his life. Deep down, he was afraid that if a woman got too close to him, she would die or something else equally as bad would happen to her. Even Dean had those fears but he didn't let that stop him like it had Sam. So yeah, Charlie could understand why Sam didn't want to get too close, even though she was a lesbian and there would be no romantic interest between them. Besides, if she was hetero or even bi, it would be Dean who would ring her bell. He was less serious and more fun-loving, not like Sam at all.
Sam was a challenge to her and Charlie loved challenges. She started small by organizing the forums and making sure he had juice next to him at Dean's insistence. After rereading the Gospels, Charlie began to make some of Sam's favorite foods such as Chicken Cobb salad and chocolate cake. She found and bought some of his favorite music. Because she like role-playing games, she invited Sam to play D&D, something he had done in college and loved. Since he needed to talk and Dean wasn't very comfortable with what he called chick-flick moments, Charlie listened to Sam. She let him pour out his feelings, fears and hopes, something that he desperately needed to do. Slowly, she started to become closer to him though he still kept her at arm's length, not willing to be the reason why she got hurt or died.
Because Cas was part of Sam in a very special, twin-like way, Charlie started a campaign to get to know him as well. Like Sam, he was a tough nut to crack, but it didn't stop her. She kept after him for information of things he had seen in his very long life and found it very interesting. History from an Angel's view point looked very different from what had been taught in school. Dean had told her that Cas didn't understand humor but she begged to differ. She found that his style of humor was dry but intact. Dean's humor was more in the line of cracking jokes and playing pranks, Cas loved the humor of the human condition. He was the master of the understatement and could almost be seen as the perpetual straight man but then when he got together with Sam, his humor took a real different turn. Together, the two of them started to prank Dean. They were very subtle pranks, something that could be seen as natural occurrences or even mistakes. Like the time that Dean's gun had mysteriously appeared in a kitchen cupboard or like when some of Charlie's unmentionables were in Dean's laundry basket, even though she knew that she had done them by hand the night before and had put them away.
Charlie believed that Sam and Cas were twins, even if one was human and the other an Angel, since their histories read the same way-loved a woman who died by the hands of a demon, was used by others (Angels & Demons both), let out nasties from their prisons ( Sam let out Lucifer, Cas let out the Leviathans). Both of them thought they were doing the right thing which turned out to be exactly the wrong thing. They both let power go to their heads. With Sam, it was the power that the demon blood gave him and with Cas it was the power of the souls. They both suffered for their sins. Sam was tortured in the cage by Lucifer and Michael for one hundred and eighty years while Cas was in Purgatory. They both refused to be rescued. Sam actually had torn himself in half when Cas tried to rescue him. It was then that Sam's soul stayed in the cage while his vessel walked around as a sociopath. Cas refused to take Dean's hand when Dean was able to escape Purgatory. Eventually, they were both rescued, Cas by Naomi's doing while Dean made a deal with Death to get Sam's soul. They were both still felt guilty for everything they had done, especially to Dean even though he had forgiven them time and time again.
Cas and Sam were found more and more attached at the hip. Their conversations sounded very strange until she realized that they were speaking Enochian. Sam later explained that he had learned the Archangel Enochian while in the cage with Lucifer and Michael. Cas had been teaching him the Angelic or common Enochian now. When Charlie asked why there was a difference, Castiel explained that each choir of Angels had their own way of speaking the language of the Host. The first circle spoke in the high caste Enochian while the second circle spoke in a more…well proper Enochian. Archangels spoke with a mix of high caste, proper and common Enochian while the rest spoke just the common language. Cas went on to say that the only reason Sam couldn't translate either the Demon or Angel tablets was because Metatron wrote in the high caste language and only his prophet would be able to read it out of all the humans on the planet. There was something in what the ex-Angel had said that bothered Charlie, something important.
She had a feeling that the Gospels held the answer so back to them she went. Discarding the ones before John died, she read the one called "Everyone Loves A Clown". She loved Ellen, thinking that the woman was strong, the kind of mother any person could love. Charlie understood Sam's feelings of Ellen slowly taking over the spot where his own mother should have been if she had not been killed, filling a hole that had been in his heart ever since he was six months old. Jo was the kind of girl that Charlie liked, spunky and strong, a girlfriend type but also someone who could have been Charlie's sister. But it was Ash who really caught her attention. The MIT dropout had been a genius on computers, finding information that was hidden from most, if not all, people but not him. He was more a genius than Frank had been and that was saying something.
Ash was the one who help get information on Azazel's other special children to Sam by putting the clues together. And he had been killed after he figured out where the Hell Gate was in Wyoming, something that nobody had ever put together since Samuel Colt had built the largest devil's trap ever. Charlie loved Ash's independence and his intelligence. She knew that, if she was straight, Ash would be another one she could go for, in fact, Dean might have had a bit of a fight on his hands. Ash….that something she felt when she heard about the different dialects of Enochian became a maddening itch.
Charlie remembered the next time the boys met up with Ash. It was the time that Zachariah had them killed so they would go to Heaven where he hoped to "convince" them to play their parts. So she pulled up the Gospel entitled "Dark Side of the Moon" and read it carefully. When she got to the part where Ash takes the boys to the new Roadhouse, his idea of Heaven, he had proudly shown off his computer where he eavesdropped on the Angels' chatter. He even said that Heaven was the only place where string theory was…was…"Oh, my God! DEAN!" she yelled at the top of her voice.
Hearing Charlie's scream, Dean grabbed his favorite gun and ran out of his room. Cas got out his Angel blade while Sam grabbed the Demon Knife and went quickly to the library where Charlie was currently set up. Even Kevin grabbed a shotgun and ran to her aid. Charlie's eyes grew huge when she saw the men in her life with weapons in their hands ready to defend her. Even Crowley popped in at that moment with a determined look on his face that didn't bode well for anything or anyone who was attacking his newly adopted daughter.
"Where is it, Charlie? What's here?" Dean demanded as he flicked the safety off his gun.
Charlie turned red, she didn't mean to upset the household but in her excitement, she forgot how on a hair trigger everyone was. She could even feel the power gathering from the Angels who lived with them. "Uh, sorry guys," she said sheepishly. "I, uh, got excited." Seeing the looks of confusion on their faces, she rushed to say, "I think I found a way to contact Heaven!"
Now it was time for Dean to yell, "WHAT!" The sound of wings filled the air as two of the Dominions appeared with their own blades out, ready to do battle for their new family. "Sorry, fellas. Charlie said that she found a way to contact Heaven and I got a bit excited," he explained a bit embarrassed for his own outburst.
Azrael, whom Cas had explained worked with Samael in the old days as the Angel of Retribution and was one of the Dominion, sheathed his blade and asked, "What do you mean? Usually, the only way for humans on Earth to contact Heaven was by praying but now Metatron is the only one up there to receive them."
"String theory," Charlie said.
"Okay, what about it?" Dean asked.
"Your friend Ash said that Heaven was the only place where string theory had been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt," Charlie explained.
"He did?" Dean wondered.
"Not in so many words, Dean, but yeah he did. Don't you remember our trip to Heaven?" Sam asked his brother.
"Yeah…yeah! He was real excited about it too!" Dean's eyes started to gleam. Then he asked, "What does this have to do with us getting in touch with Heaven?"
"Not Heaven per say but the Roadhouse. If Ash still has his computer up and running, I can send a message to him. String theory says that it's possible to do."
"How? I'm not sure how you can do that," Dean queried.
"Okay, you agree that string theory is the theory of everything, which means that it is a self-contained mathematical model of all fundamental forces and forms of matter," Charlie asked.
"Sure, in essence it explains everything or is supposed to," Dean answered.
"Good. Well, if we use string theory, we can contact the computer that Ash has using mathematical formulas to let him and the other hunters know what is going on. They may be able to not only set up a protective perimeter around the souls but also look for and locate Castiel's stolen grace," she said smugly. She loved the looks of shock on the faces of the men and Angels in front of her. Before she knew it, she was being engulfed by all of them, making it very hard for her to breathe. "Uh, guys? Oxygen becoming an issue," she managed to gasp out. The result was immediate as she was let loose and everyone apologized for almost smothering her. "No biggie. What we need to do now is to build or, at least, modify a computer to be able to contact Ash with."
"Uh, Charlie, why mathematics? Why not use English?" Kevin asked that one.
"Something Castiel said when I asked him about the different dialects of Enochian. He talked about a common language as well as the different dialects of the choirs and Archangels, one of the reasons why Sam couldn't translate the God Tablets. Math is the common language of the Universe, one of the most constant things out there. Two plus two is four not only here but also on any other planet, no matter who inhabits it," she explained.
"Wait, what do you mean Sam couldn't translate the God Tablets? As far as I know he can't speak or read Enochian," Dean started to raise his voice.
"Um, I can speak the language of the Archangels, even read it. Took about ten years to learn it but then, I had a dedicated teacher," Sam whispered. He hated remembering about his time in the cage but he remembered the kindnesses that Michael had given him from time to time. That Archangel actually asked for his forgiveness every time Lucifer made his brother torture Sam and every time, Sam gave it to him.
Dean was stunned. Like himself, Sam never talked about Hell and what happened to him. Dean only knew a bit of it from Balthazar and other Angels. Even Crowley had been more forthcoming than Sam. "Sammy?" he said then seeing his brother's eyes start to glaze over, he went to Sam and pulled him into a hug. After a couple of seconds, Cas joined the duo. As Charlie watched the small group, another piece of the puzzle that was the Winchesters slipped into place: they could feel the other's pain and reacted accordingly. Even after John's death, Sam had felt Dean's pain and tried to help, no matter how much Dean had pushed his brother away. Persistence and a deep sense of love in the face of adversity. No wonder, she thought, no Angel or demon could ever stand against them and win.
When the small group finally broke up, Sam cleared his voice and asked, "What do you need, Charlie?"
Charlie smiled. "I'll need a computer that we can modify and I'll need help to get to the frequency that Ash's computer is on. It has to be the same as Angel chatter in Heaven."
Azrael nodded, "I and a couple of my brothers can help you out with that. Puriel can help you with the mathematics and I can help you modify your computer. It could take a few days but I think we can do it. Good job, young lady." He smiled before he and the other Dominion left.
Sam and Dean were stunned. Could it be possible? Would they be able to talk to their dead family members? Sam especially wanted to talk to John, to apologize to his father while Dean thought about talking to his mother for the first time in a very long time. Both of them wanted to talk to Bobby. They will need him to help organize all of the dead Hunters and Men of Letters. Besides, neither of them had been looking forward to his wrath when they got to Heaven and he found out that he had been left out of the action.
Sam sagged a bit. Dean decided that his brother needed some rest and food. Nodding at Cas, both men went to Sam's side and guided him back to his room. There would be time to talk and plan but now, Sammy needed to rest. Charlie smiled as she watched them leave. She felt lucky to be their sister. She turned to Crowley and Kevin so the three of them could make a list of the things they would need for her project. It was going to be very interesting to see the practical application of string theory-that was for sure!
A/N-God Bless Wikipedia who taught me a bit about string theory! Boy, I love that site! If you want to learn more about string theory, you can find many sites devoted to it on the Web. Hope you liked this short story and I hope you keep reading the Little Children Series. Next up, Kevin's story. Crowley's story will be the last of the shorts before the main event then everything will be pulled together. *smiles!*