Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
AN: Set technically during season 5, but only half of the season has been aired where I am so it's just my imagination about how the main story arc develops, not a spoiler!
She looked down at him. He did not look important. Yet, he had been the Archangel Michael's vessel. The battle had been won and Lucifer struck down before he found a way to use Sam Winchester as a vessel.
It had taken months for Dean to say yes. His reluctance had been grounded in the fear that he would be left as nothing but an empty shell. However, he knew he could not sacrifice the world for himself.
He had not been wrong about becoming a mere shell, but that was why she was here; to protect what was left of him. When an archangel like Michael leaves a vessel, the soul of that vessel wishes to remain close to the divine and tries to follow the archangel back to heaven. The soul shatters and is drawn to places and things that were important to them in their mortal life. Without a soul, the mortal body is useless, directionless. As a guardian angel she was connected to Michael and had been given the task of protecting Dean's body from the backlash of any demonic forces as he was in no state to protect himself. However, she had also been able to draw much of Dean's soul back to his body. Piece by piece, she had managed to restore Dean to near enough what he used to be, but there was still much work to do. He could function, he could walk and eat and drink. However, his strength had not fully returned, nor had the attitude that had had all of heaven gossiping.
Sam had been very helpful to her. The insight he had given her had enabled her to search in the right places. Right now, he slept; both of the Winchesters did.
Watching Sam for a moment, she returned her gaze to Dean. She lifted the back of her hand towards his face. He was a beautiful man, as mortal men could be.
"You care about him don't you, Lirael." A voice said from behind her.
"Castiel." She turned to face her brother. "Yes, I have to. I am his guardian and I care because Michael commanded it. You know that is why I am here."
The dark-haired angel smiled. "Yes, Lirael. You were sent by Michael to protect Dean from evil. You were not sent to restore his soul." He dug his hands into the pockets of his trench coat.
If she were truly able to blush, her cheeks would be the brightest shade of red. "Castiel, I am your superior; you must not speak to me this way."
"As you wish. But let me say this…Since God returned to the heavens and took his rightful place we are not bound as we once were. Metatron is no longer in charge." Castiel said to her with a happy sigh. She knew that he had struggled over the last two human years he had spent with the Winchester boys. He had fallen because of his affection for them and his rejection of the orders from heaven. At that time, Lirael had envied Castiel. She had not had the courage to question the orders she was given, even when she knew they were not coming from the true king of heaven.
Lirael folded her arms across her chest, preparing to retort with a snappy remark. "Well-"
"God, do you angels ever stop bickering?" Sam interrupted, wiping the sleep from his eye. With a quick smile to Lirael, Castiel left in the blink of an eye. "Don't you get tired of him doing that? Actually, scratch that. You do it too."
She cast him a smile and tucked a blonde curl behind her ear. "Did you sleep well?"
Sam stretched. "Yeah, I did actually. My arm hardly hurt at all." The night before last he had been badly injured by a demon. Lirael had warned him not to go alone, but she could not leave Dean alone. The demons were still quite angry at Lucifer's return to the bottom of the pit. The prophecy that Michael's vessel would have to kill Lucifer's true vessel in order to fully destroy the fallen angel had not came to pass, therefore Lucifer remained. However, he was trapped far deeper than he had been before, and with Lilith dead, the seals could not be rebroken.
"Yes, I healed you." Lirael said curtly, returning to her position at Dean's bedside. She wished for him to wake so she could look into his eyes. So much of her work with him had led her to see into the deepest depths of his memories and cognitions, and he was fascinating. The way he kept people at bay, especially women, when truly he was indeed quite sensitive, was most fascinating of all. She yearned to look inside him again.
"Oh…" she heard Sam say, barely. "Thanks. So…What's the plan today then? Are we doing any more soul-searching?"
"Hmm? Oh, I do not know. It seems as though Castiel does not approve. My orders are strictly just to protect, not heal." She stood and turned to Dean's brother,. His eyes widened, as they usually did when she stood tall. She knew she had picked a handsome woman as her vessel, but it was not just her physical form that seemed to affect the human males. Power radiated from her that often frightened and intrigued them. Lirael stretched and ran her fingers through her blonde, curly hair.
Sam rose from his bed and walked across the motel room to the table and chairs beside the kitchenette. "Right…so why are you helping him?"
The question hit her with a much larger force than she had anticipated. There was an odd feeling in her stomach and again she felt as though her cheeks might blush red. "I…um…I, I'm not sure." She said as honestly as she could. "I was not able to meet him before he became Michael's vessel. I am part of Michael and therefore wish to see what the fuss is about. That is all." This was again partly true, but she could see it in Sam's eyes that he did not believe her.
"Right…" Sam said before turning towards the bathroom. Lirael frowned and left the motel room in a whirl of angel wings. She did not like the way people kept making fun of her.
"Sammy? You still here?" Dean called in a gruff voice, rubbing his face in an attempt to wake himself up. Sam poked his head out from the bathroom.
"Yes, I'm still here. Bobby hasn't called with any more jobs, so we're fine here for now."
Dean let out a sigh and pulled himself up until he was sitting on the bed. It still took him a long time to really feel awake these days, but he was beginning to feel more like himself every day. "Where's Lirael?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. He had a headache already.
"She skipped a few minutes ago, think I pissed her off."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Well that's great Sammy, let's piss off the only angel willing to help me. Awesome. Back to vegetable-land for me." He said, walking to the window and checking that the Impala was still in one piece. Nobody was willing to let him drive yet, and he missed his baby.
Sam walked fully into the room and dried his face with the towel he was holding. "Look, it's not my fault that she likes you and won't admit it."
"Yeah, right. I'm sure angels get the gooeys for humans all the time. What with them being emotionless an' all. " The thought of it still sent a chill down his spine. Lirael had picked one hot body to park herself in. Yeah, she was a little creepy, but all angels had this way about them that was a bit too Stepford Wives for his liking. Despite that, it hadn't stopped him thinking about it. Her blonde curls framed high cheekbones…round, kissable-looking lips...and that body…He realised he had drifted off into a fantasy world all on his own, coughed and gave Sam a jokey glare.
"Okay, okay. But you just watch, man. She was watching you sleep." Sam said with a thick laugh. His cell phone began to vibrate in his pocket so he pulled it out and flipped it open to answer it. "Hey Bobby, what's up?"