Title: The Great Awakening
Author: frayed1989
Pairing/Characters: Jimmy/Amelia, Claire, Castiel, Sam, Dean, and random demons.
Rating: R for violence and language
Warnings/Spoilers: General season 4/5 spoilers.
Prompts: AU. Jimmy says no to Castiel; Pontiac is the first town to fall in the apocalypse. Clairestiel.
Notes: Written for madroxsquared for spn_jimmynovak's Novakfest over at livejournal. I took some liberties with how things went down in 4.20's The Rapture regarding how Castiel and Jimmy first met (seizures? Yuck!). Also, I kinda flopped on some of the prompts and went a bit of a different way. Still, I hope you like it.
Summary: Jimmy says no to Castiel.
Here's my lullaby designed to wake you up;
The first time Jimmy Novak heard the angel he was asleep. It had been a rather unimportant dream, one where images of his wife, daughter, co-workers, and faceless people passed him by in snatches as he went about his way, much as he did everyday. Jimmy remembered thinking to himself that he found it deplorable that he couldn't even escape the monotony of his life in his dreams before it changed and he found himself in a void, listening to the songs of angels. He couldn't understand them; their voices blending together as they called to each other over vast distances that Jimmy couldn't quiet define. Or at least that's what he supposed. However it did not bother him that he couldn't understand them, nor that he was sure that he was hearing angels, nor that the space that surrounded him would have left him cold and empty had it not been for the songs that he heard. He awoke to one lone voice, though it sounded like many, calling his name. He shook the dream off, looked at his wife who slept peacefully next to him and then started his day.
The second time Jimmy heard the angel he was at work sipping on black coffee while reviewing the numbers of how many more ads he would need to sell to reach the months quota. The radio station he worked for filtered softly through speakers posted in one corner of his office, clear and crisp before static rifled through it, cutting familiar droning voices out in favor of a new voice. Jimmy paused and listened carefully, stacking the papers neatly on his small desk before he rolled his chair over to the corner and stood on it, intent on fixing the wire that must have come loose from the speaker. He listened as the voice rose softly, sounding like many, as it called his name. Jimmy shook his head and jiggled the speaker. The voice disappeared along with the static. Jimmy returned to his work.
The third time Jimmy heard the angel it gave him it's name. He had been lounging in his study after dinner, a tumbler of cognac warming on the desk in front of him, untouched but palmed occasionally. He leaned back in his chair, book open and resting on his chest, and closed his eyes as he listened to the smooth jazz of Billie Holiday as it filtered through the stereo. Then, as it had back at his work a few days ago, static came through on the speakers, a soft voice filtering through. Jimmy froze, frowning as he listened intently as the words filtered through the static, soft but clear. "Jimmy- I am Castiel, Angel of the Lord. God has work for you." Jimmy sat up right and dropped the book onto his desk. He turned the stereo off and stared at it for a few moments before making his way back to his desk, dog-earing the page he was last on and putting it back on it's spot on the bookcase. Even though he hadn't had a sip of the cognac, he poured the tumbler's remains down the drain in the kitchen. He went to bed that night curled around Amelia, determined to dream of nothing, and nothing he did dream of.
The fourth time the angel Castiel spoke to him, Jimmy replied. The fifth time Jimmy listened. The sixth time he stuck his hand in boiling water to prove his faith. The seventh time he begged Castiel to make itself known to Amelia so she would understand. The eighth time Jimmy stopped answering. A week later Claire was gone.
And I move too slow and I think too fast;
There had been sightings of her all over the states, sometimes in other countries. Pictures snapped of her in diners and outside of motels, sometimes in the company of one black man, other times in the company of two younger white men, and often alone. He tracked them, raced to the different destinations as fast as he could but he could never get there in time. After a year Jimmy gave up. Castiel obviously was an angel who wouldn't be found if it didn't want to be found and Jimmy regretted once again saying no to it- her. And every time he came home empty handed, Amelia would pat his back as if to tell him he had done the best he could but her gaze blamed him. He slept in his study, alone and cold.
Weep for yourself my man, you'll never be exactly what's in your heart;
The first time Dean saw the angel, he thought it was Lilith come to drag him back down to Hell. He froze for a moment, shocked still as light bulbs exploded and crackled over his head, the doors of the barn thrown open violently, the small girl standing there, her eyes sweeping the interior lazily before settling fixedly upon Dean. Bobby had already started firing, his expression grim but determined as Dean once again took up his shotgun and began firing himself, watching in shock as the little girl walked through the devil's trap carved into dirt as if it was only a drawing and nothing more. That was when Dean knew that the girl stalking toward them was not Lilith but that didn't mean he let his guard down.
The girl approached slowly but surely and up close Dean could see that she must have been a little over ten maybe eleven but young. He grimaced as he put his shotgun down, grabbing Ruby's knife steadily in his hand as he watched Bobby circle behind the girl, unnoticed by her it seemed. "Who are you?" he ground out, staring down at the child. She met his gaze head on and looked at him as if the answer must have been obvious but she gave it anyways.
"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition," her voice was deep and gravely, not befitting of a ten year old girl.
"Yeah, thanks for that," he quipped glaring, his grip on the knife tightening. She regarded him somewhat curiously, the corners of her small mouth lifting upwards slightly as he watched. Dean had made his mind up the second that she had walked into the barn that she was not human, couldn't be, and though the thought of harming a child made bile rise in his throat, he still found himself plunging Ruby's knife into her chest. She stared down at the handle sticking out from her light blue shirt as if amused before gripping it tightly in her small hand and pulling it out, dropping it, her gaze once again locked on Dean's.
Dean looked at Bobby who nodded before swinging the handlebar he had grabbed upwards. It didn't make contact though, the girl twirling gracefully, her blonde hair flying at the movement as she gripped the wrought iron tightly in her hand, pulling the older man down to her level and pressing two small fingers to his forehead. Dean watched astonished as Bobby collapsed to the floor and only breathed again when he saw the older man's chest rising and falling in steady heaves. He reverted his gaze back to the small girl who looked up at him, brows furrowing slightly. "We need to talk Dean," she paused and glanced back down at Bobby who turned slightly in his sleep, "alone."
The following conversation had been strange, uncomfortable, and invasive, at least in Dean's opinion. The knowledge that the angel Castiel was walking around in a real live ten year old girl, one that he had stabbed, had pissed him off more than finding out his father had sold his soul for him. The fact that the angel had been able to read what Dean had so desperately kept hidden from everyone with a single look also lowered his opinion of the angel. She unnerved him to say the least as she stared up at him with wide blue eyes that dug and saw into his battered and bruised soul more than anyone was supposed to. He sort of hated her for it.
The one conversation they had about Castiel's choice of vessel had ended with the small child up in Dean's face, her own contorted in anger as she demanded respect and silence from him. Dean shook his head and asked how he was supposed to trust and respect the angel when it was obvious that Castiel had abused and manipulated the trust of his vessel. He didn't see Castiel again for a week after that argument which ended in him feeling horribly guilty due to the thought that if the angel were at least in his sight he would know for sure that the body she wore would come to no harm. It was hard not to look at the angel and want to protect her, memories of his time watching over Sam swimming forefront to his mind.
Still, he had to admit that it was amusing watching Castiel and Uriel together. The other angel, who was even worse than Castiel if that was possible, and apparently it was, towered over the small cherub, big, dark, and menacing. It was always a guaranteed laugh when Castiel would reprimand Uriel, her tone speaking volumes of her command over the other angel even though their appearance would have said otherwise.
Yet the child angel always made him wary, always had him pulling back from crossing the line of angel and human to somewhat friends. Dean knew it was her vessel, knew that he could probably look upon Castiel more as a friend if she had chosen an older vessel and not a child. But he never got close, never really opened himself up though Castiel's eyes often pierced and searched and begged him too. He couldn't. A part of him still saw the angel as only a child, one that he wanted to save from the monsters they faced almost daily, even though her eyes told him not too.
Still Dean didn't let Castiel close if he could help it. Even after Alistair when all Dean wanted to say was they had the wrong guy, that he couldn't do it, he didn't. He looked at her small face, pursed his lips and kept quiet after she confirmed his fears, confirmed what Alistair had told him hours earlier. He turned his head away and closed his eyes and tried to bury the guilt down with the rest. He knew that Castiel probably knew, that she could see it in his face as plain as day. But if he didn't say it aloud then he could deny it and he could keep from Castiel; keep his already bruised heart from letting another person in, another person down.
Then Castiel disappeared and left a frightened child in his wake and he came face to face with the original vessel. All that got Dean was a punch in the face.
Stop right there that's exactly where I lost it;
His knuckles hurt afterwards but damn if it hadn't been worth it. Jimmy knew he was probably being unreasonable. He didn't think that Dean could have brought Claire back, not while she was hosting an angel inside of her. Still, hearing that satisfying crunch of knuckles bruising jaw made him feel better, made him feel as if he still had a bit of control of the situation, even if he didn't, even if he knew Dean didn't have it either. He gathered Claire up in his arms afterwards and pressed his lips to her head, whispering 'thank you's to whatever power other than God and angels that were out there.
Dean rubbed his jaw as he watched the exchange between father and daughter. He'd already gotten all the information he could out of the girl at the diner they had taken her too to eat since she hadn't in months. She had been quiet but very forth coming about her situation, or at least as much as she could. She'd only asked once if she could go home and Dean didn't have the heart to tell her no, not even when Sam shot him a glare that told Dean clearly what he thought of the idea. He hadn't been expecting the punch but he didn't exactly blame the man either.
So he watched as Claire clung to her father, Jimmy smoothing her tangled hair and wearing possibly the brightest smile that Dean had even seen, all while tears slipped from his red swollen eyes. Dean didn't have the heart to stop this either, though he knew he needed to. Sam however, did.
"Look, I'm sorry to break this love fest but we need to go." Jimmy stood up and maneuvered Claire behind him, frowning.
"What do you mean go? We're not going anywhere. I just got her back! I still have to call her mother to let her knew she's alright! Not to mention the police!" Dean sighed, frowning as he once again rubbed jaw.
"You're not safe. I know this is going to sound crazy but your daughter was a vessel for-"
"An Angel, I know," Jimmy interrupted, reaching his hand out to card his fingers through Claire's hair, the need to feel her as well as see her overwhelming him. Dean raised an eyebrow, his frown deepening. Sam's expression matched his own. "Castiel originally came to me."
"Wait. You're telling me you let Castiel take your daughter for a vessel?" Dean asked, angrily jumping to a conclusion.
"Dean now's not the right time. We need to get out of here. Who knows what or who could be on the way," Sam interrupted. Dean nodded, pursing his lips as he glared at Jimmy.
"You're right, we need to go." Jimmy pulled back slightly, meeting Dean's gaze, telling him that the conversation was far from over though he too nodded and allowed Sam to take the lead and guide them out of the house. Dean had just crossed the threshold of the house onto the porch when the next thing he knew, he saw darkness.
Maybe no one knows what to do;
He woke up to the sound of crying, soft whimpers that somehow seemed louder than the demon that yelled and screamed at the child to shut up. He looked around at the dilapidated warehouse, Sam on his right, and Jimmy, Castiel's true vessel on his left. Both were struggling against their captors, pulling away from them, Sam's chest puffed out in defiance and Jimmy simply using all his force to get himself closer to his child and the demon that stood in front of them. She was talking, her eyes darkened black, his lips curled in a vicious sneer and Dean wondered how a face that must have been so sweet could be contorted into something so evil.
"Oh Dean-o, you're awake! Thank you for joining the party!" She stalked towards him, pressing the barrel of the gun underneath his chin, forcing him to lift his face so she could gaze into his eyes as he slumped forwards in his captor's grip, weak, and still woozy from the knock on his head he had suffered earlier.
"Yeah, and who are you? Demon stunt double number 12?" he asked with a slight grin.
"Sure, no one important originally. Until now," she replied grinning. She stepped back looking at Claire who sat strapped to a chair by her wrists, her head bowed in silence except for the small cries that escaped her no matter how hard she tried to keep them in.
"It was a simple run really, just pick up an empty vessel, a child no less. Easy! And then just my luck, Mike's vessel and Lucifer's vessel just happen to walk in unaware! Well, obviously God is just smilin' down on me today!" she crowed. Claire cringed backwards in her chair.
"Amelia." Both Dean and the demon turned their attention to Jimmy, who still strained forwards. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, Amelia isn't in control right now, babe. But don't you worry, I'll be done with her in a jiff and you two can pick up the shattered pieces of your lives and fail miserably at it in just a tick. I have some business to attend to right now and I need her still," she cooed as she stepped forward, patting Jimmy's stubbled cheek.
"Amelia? Who the fuck is Amelia?" Dean growled, glaring at the two. The demon turned towards him, her grin wide and frightful.
"My meat suit, his wife, and the little cherub's mother. Been sitting in her for weeks now, just waiting for the little darling to come home unattended."
"Fuck," Sam muttered from Dean's right, shooting a glance at him as he tensed slightly.
"Yes indeed-y Sammy! Now enough with the talk, time for the punch line!" She turned towards Claire and raised the gun in her hand, taking aim as Jimmy lunged forward, shouting.
"Wait! She's not the vessel!" The demon dropped her arm, groaning loudly and turning towards Jimmy frowning.
"Interrupting me isn't going to save her and neither is telling me lies! It'll just make me angry and maybe I'll just have to shoot daddy first and make her watch, hmm?" Jimmy lunged forward again, held back by two lackey demons, his eyes wild with fear.
"I'm not! I'm Castiel's vessel, his true vessel. Me! Not her!"
"Stop lying! We've been watching the little bitch for over a year now! The angel's been wearing her, not you. It's her we want, not you. So shut the fuck up," she screamed, raising the gun and firing one slug into Jimmy's gut. The two demons jumped back, dropping the man as he gripped at his stomach, grimacing as he struggled to stay upwards. "Much better, now onto the girl." She motioned to the two demons that had originally been holding Jimmy who stalked towards Claire.
But Claire was gone, and in her place was Castiel. She reached up, pressing her palm to one demon and exorcising it quickly. Dean took his chance then, swinging one leg back to kick in the kneecap of one of the demons that was holding him. He cringed when he heard the crunch of bones; dearly hoping the poor sap demon lackey number sixty was wearing was long gone from his body. He swung his arm upwards, his elbow colliding the other demon's jaw, sending it jostling backwards surprised.
He fought, hoping that Sam was holding his own, that Castiel would hurry up and exorcise every single demon in the place, hoping that Jimmy wasn't bleeding out too much, praying that Castiel could get them through this even within the body of an eleven year old as she had done so many times before.
It was when almost every last demon lackey had been dispatched that he saw it, his brother over the body, suckling its blood like a hungry beast. He watched as Sam stood, red smearing his lips and chin, and raised his hand, using the obvious power boost to exorcise the demon from Amelia's body. She collapsed to the floor, gasping, coughing, eyes wide and red and she scanned the place for her family. Dean could only stare as Sam glared, his chest heaving, his face painted in blood.
Jimmy's coughing for life was what finally got him to look away. He watched as Castiel knelt before Jimmy who wept and coughed and shook his head warily.
"I am sorry that this happened. This was not how it was meant to be." Castiel said softly. Jimmy clutched at his stomach, frowning.
"Why? Why Claire?"
"She is special. Like you are. It's in your blood. She said yes when you would not."
"I d-didn't- I didn't know!" Jimmy coughed harder, a small trickle of blood spilling from his lips.
"It is alright. All we asked for was your faith. You could not give it, Claire could. Now it is your time to rest in the kingdom of Heaven." Jimmy shook his head and pushed himself upwards, slipping on his own blood as he did so.
"No. You take me, you hear? You take me. You leave Claire and you take me." Castiel frowned and leaned forward slightly, her hair sweeping forth to brush against Jimmy's cheek. He clenched his teeth and grimaced as more blood pooled from his stomach into his hand.
"Do you understand what you are asking? It will be painful, you will never age, never die, and you will never be able to return home." Jimmy only clenched his jaw and shook his head.
"You take me and you leave her." Castiel nodded, reaching forward and gripped Jimmy's face in her hands.
"Very well." Light poured forth from her eyes and seemed to fill up the entire warehouse as both Dean and Sam shielded their eyes, turning away from the brightness as the very essence of Castiel, angel of the Lord, poured forth into Jimmy Novak, healing him and mending his clothes instantly and leaving Claire shivering in his wake. She gasped, staring at the floor as she held herself up by her palms, turning his bright gaze to Castiel who sat up straight, blinking through new eyes. He looked at his hand and flexed the fingers before turning to Claire and placing a gentle hand on her cheek. "You have served us well child, Heaven thanks you." Claire shook her head, her eyes watering as she reached forward and gripped his shirt.
"Dad?"
"Is with me now." Castiel's gaze softened in a way that Dean had never seen before, almost as if the angel were allowing Jimmy to take over if only for a second. "He will be well protected. It is time for you to return home. I promise both you and your mother will be safe." Castiel stood, helping Claire up and guiding her to Amelia who took her in her arms and held on tightly. He then began to leave, only stopping when Dean called out to him.
"Cas, hold up." He paused, staring at the back of Jimmy Novak's head and trying hard to reconcile the man in front of him as Castiel and not a father. "What were you going to tell me?
He turned sharply, leveling his sharp gaze on Dean, unnerving him in a way he had never had before when Claire had been in vessel. "I learned my lesson while I was away Dean. I serve Heaven, I don't serve Man and I certainly don't serve you." And with that he walked out of the warehouse, leaving behind two broken families with no clue as to what to do next.
This is the great awakening;
It took weeks to get used to him, to stop automatically looking down when he heard the flutter of wings that accompanied Castiel whenever he showed up. The first few times would have been comical if it hadn't been for the blatant animosity that came from Castiel whenever he was within a few feet of Dean. And in those first few weeks, Dean missed Claire, missed the way she had softened the angel. Jimmy, it seemed, only knew pain and sadness, and while Castiel was still the same Castiel Dean had met more than a year ago, there was something slightly different in the way he carried himself than there had been back then.
It had then been a miracle for Dean to break down the walls that the angel had built around him, to get him to understand why Dean fought against the apocalypse and why Castiel should fight with him too instead of against him. And after Lucifer rose, after Castiel had sacrificed himself to give Dean those extra few moments, he figured he owed it all to Jimmy Novak who watched from eyes that had once been his to own and was now gone.
And when the apocalypse hit Pontiac first, Dean didn't even fight Castiel when the angel demanded that they travel there as fast as the impala could take them. He knew why Castiel demanded it, why he felt compelled to protect the small girl who had had enough faith to give him full control and her family, for her father who had done the same for a few short weeks. Dean figured it was as good of an excuse as any to see her, the small child who had made such a difference in his life even if she hadn't been aware of it.
So to Pontiac they went, braced and on edge for the attack and Dean was awful glad to have the angel by his side.
Fin and Side Note;
The ending is a bit iffy- sorry about that. Had I more time (or where did the time go?) and better time management skills, I totally would have written epic badass hunter!Amelia and Claire for you. They would have joined Castiel, Sam, and Dean in fighting the apocalypse. Fodder for a sequel yes? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the fic and that you've had an awesome holiday.
-frayed1989