Summary: College AU. Castiel Novak never thought that he'd have a woman fall at his feet, yet that's exactly how he meets the love of his life. A cute, fluffy romance story, with plenty of drama and angst. Please R&R!

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or its characters. I only own my OCs.

A/N: Hope you like this new fic! Enjoy! I've been job hunting so much over the past few days I didn't know if I'd be able to update! Hope I get something soon! Have fun reading!

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It Just Takes A Tumble

Chapter One

A tumble.

That was all it took. Castiel was heading out of the last class of the day when he saw a flash of colour swoop past him and he heard the thud. Then he heard the laughter of four girls who were stood pointing to the ground in front of him. He looked down to see another girl glaring back tearfully at the others who waved mockingly at her, walking away and yelling mean comments about her. He put his books down and his bag, going to help the young girl up, realising she had crutches.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, catching a glimpse of what appeared to be scarring as her jeans had slid up her leg lightly.

She quickly covered it up and nodded, trying to hide the tear that escaped her heavy blue eyes. Castiel looked at her and his breath caught in his throat. She had the most gorgeous pair of big, innocent blue eyes he'd ever seen, and her hair that was thick, blonde and wavy, just reaching her shoulders. She was beautiful. So beautiful. Not in an obvious way...It was just something that pulled him to her.

"Th-thanks..." She whispered, gasping in pain as she rested on her leg, "Jesus..."

"Easy..." Castiel soothed as she buckled slightly, "Steady now...What's your name?"

"Madison..." She whispered, "Madison Coles. I'm in your class."

"Oh..."

What an ass Castiel felt for that one. He'd not even noticed she was in his class? How could he not notice that gorgeous face? Perhaps she was one of those quiet girls that no-one notices no matter what.

"Sorry..." He said straight away, hoping she wasn't upset by the fact he didn't recognise her.

"It's okay, Castiel." She replied, leaving him shocked that she knew his name, "No-one else notices me. So why should you?"

She turned to leave, but Castiel didn't want her to. What if she didn't have any friends to turn to? What if there was no-one she could spend some time with? He couldn't leave her alone, not on the first day of term. He gently grabbed her arm, stopping her where she was.

"No, I'm sorry..." He said, a little more panicked than he expected to be, "Please, don't leave. It's nice to meet you."

She looked around trying to hide her shock, since she couldn't believe anyone thought it a pleasure to meet her. He'd probably turn like the others did when he knew about her family. She watched him pick up his books and bag, smiling at him softly. If she could have a friend at any point, she'd take the chance, and Castiel was a nice guy. She'd seen him interact with other people, she knew how nice he was.

"It's nice to meet you too..." She replied, "Thank you for helping me."

"It's no problem." Castiel said softly, not wanting her to go away on her own, "Listen, do you wanna come to the campus diner with me? I want to get to know you..."

'Why would you want to get to know me?' She thought, yet she didn't want to let go of the one chance she had to have a friend, someone who she found so wonderfully kind it was unbelievable.

"Sure...That'd be great." She answered shyly, "Thank you."

They headed through the drab corridors, taking the elevator since Madison was too scared to use the stairs on her crutches, and they began to talk about their lives, their families, their aspirations. But Castiel couldn't help but think that Madison was perhaps hiding something from him. She seemed very reserved about her life, not saying much about her family or her childhood. They ordered a pizza to share, something the diner was only serving for a short time, and both had a bowl of fries between them. They laughed, they joked, and Castiel couldn't understand why people ignored this girl. She was so wonderful to be around and she was so much fun, so happy and so bright despite the nasty injury to her leg, which Castiel wondered if he could ask about.

"Do you mind me asking?" Castiel began, "What...What happened to your leg?"

Madison bowed her head and flushed silently.

"Girls can be quite mean...Especially when..."

"When what?" Castiel asked, horrified.

He knew he wouldn't like what he was about to hear, but he had a funny feeling about what was going on. The girls who pushed her down seemed like they'd been adding insult to injury, and that scarring on her leg, if that's indeed what he saw.

"When they find out...certain things about you." Madison finished, and Castiel realised what had happened.

"Those girls...The ones who pushed you down?" He asked, "They did this to you?"

"You can't tell anyone." Madison said quietly, "Please...They'll do worse to me..."

She looked around her and beckoned Castiel closer, becoming tearful as she told him what had happened. She never trusted anyone, so why she could trust him, she didn't know. But she just knew it was okay to tell him, that he wouldn't judge her or agree with them for doing it.

"They live in my home town...Sioux Falls, South Dakota," She began, while Castiel couldn't believe they lived in the same city, "They dragged me into an alley and slashed my leg open."

"Why your leg?" Castiel asked, unable to believe what they'd done to her.

"Because I'm a ballet dancer." She whispered, tears falling from her eyes, "They know...certain things about my life...about my family...and they're from better backgrounds than me. They picked on me all the way through school and all paid their way into this college just to stay near me. To remind me of it all. They slashed my leg to make my life even more of a misery and to ruin my dreams of being a dancer. They've done it too. Can't dance anymore."

Castiel reached over to take her hand, pulling his back as she flinched away. She threw some money on the table, grabbing her bag and standing with her crutches carefully.

"Thank you for bringing me here." She whispered, "Goodnight, Castiel."

"Wait!" He replied as she went to leave, throwing his own money on the table and grabbing his things before rushing after her, "Wait, Madison, please!"

The girl stopped at the door, turning as he approached. He felt awful that she was upset and he didn't want to leave her feeling like that.

"Where's your room?" He asked, "Let me walk you home, please?"

"Ground floor of the residential building." She replied, sniffling and wiping her eyes.

"I'll walk you back, okay?" He whispered, rubbing her arm, "Listen, I'm not bothered about your past...It won't matter to me if something bad happened. I want to be your friend, alright? I like you. You're really nice, and people should treat you better."

"Thank you." She said shakily, allowing him to head out with her to the residential building.

Castiel found himself in deep conversation with Madison into the night, and couldn't believe how petty the four girls were for bullying her like this and for slitting her leg. They didn't like her because she had two moms. How low could people get? Castiel was dumbstruck when she told him and he laughed at the girls for being so pathetic. Although he couldn't expect any less from them. He knew all of them from previous classes the year before. Lisa Braeden? Whore. Ruby and Meg Masters? Whores. Rachel Adler? Biggest whore of them all. They couldn't hold a candle to Madison's intelligence and beauty, and he reckoned they were so jealous of this and her talents that they'd slashed her leg to scar her, to make her 'ugly'. She wasn't ugly in the least, even with her scarred leg.

"I think it's awesome that you have two moms." Castiel told her, "You've had two moms your whole life?"

"Yes." Madison giggled, "Emma and Jo. Emma is my birth mom. She's Emma Coles, and Jo is Jo Harvelle. They're not gonna get a civil partnership or anything, they're happy just as they are. Here..."

She took out her purse and showed Castiel a photo of her parents, and he smiled at how beautiful they looked together. Emma was so like Madison in her face it seemed unbelievable. He grinned at her and noticed that Emma's stomach was swollen.

"They're beautiful." He said with a big smile, "That you in there?"

He pointed to Emma's stomach and Madison nodded, taking the photo back and kissing it softly. She missed her parents. They loved her so much, and her father did too.

"My papa..." She said softly, handing Castiel another photo, "His name's Marcus. He lives in Mitchell, so the journey to see him doesn't take too long either by car or train."

She looked nothing like her father, but she definitely had his hair colour. He smiled at her and sat close to her on the bed, frowning a little when he saw the time to be almost midnight.

"I should go...let you sleep." He told her softly, writing something down on a slip of paper, "My number. Text or call me in the morning and I'll come and meet you before class, huh?"

"That'd be great." Madison smiled, barely able to believe her luck, "Thank you."

-TBC-

Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading so far!

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