BOOK FOUR - MONSTER MASHUP
Chapter 1 - Nobody's Hero
Cas and Gail popped into the bunker, hand in hand.
She stood in the library area while he moved behind the bookshelf to where the safe was. The couple had what was still quite a significant amount of money locked away in there, and they would need it now. Cas couldn't finesse his way all through Europe, or wherever they ended up deciding to go, on the two-finger system alone.
And he had no illusions about the fallout that was going to occur once he and Gail had left. It wouldn't be wise to leave a trail of unexplained events behind them. Sam and Dean had plenty of money now, and so did Frank, and Hunting was what they did.
Cas entered the combination to the safe on the electronic panel and then opened the door. He smiled grimly. Sam had installed this new state-of-the-art safe in the wall behind these books a while back, after they'd gotten the first Tablet. Now it was large enough to hold all of the Tablets they'd acquired so far, with room for more. As he removed the envelope holding his and Gail's money from its niche, Cas felt a pang of guilt. Were they really going to do this? After all they'd been through to get those Tablets, were they just going to quit, and let their family and friends struggle along, trying to obtain the rest of them? How on earth would they do it?
No. He was doing it again. Cas was done with guilt. He had promised himself. They all called him selfish; at least, all his longtime Brethren did. Then, maybe he should just be selfish. He had to face reality, anyway. Their side had lost. Bobby was a human, Lucifer was in Heaven, and Crowley had finally turned his back on them, revealing his true colours. How was Castiel supposed to overcome all of that? His human friends were going to be stubborn and insist that there had to be a way, but his human friends would be deluding themselves. He wished them luck, but Cas was done.
He quickly checked the contents of the envelope. There was more than enough money in there for them to get a good start. Cas wasn't too worried about how things would go for them after that; they had always been able to manage. He could play poker pretty much anywhere that there was a casino. Maybe they could get jobs again, if Gail wanted to. But he only wanted her to work if she truly enjoyed what she was doing, as she had in Vancouver, in the poker room. There was no reason she would have to work, if she didn't want to. Cas may presently be living in modern times, but he was an old-school being at heart, and he believed in taking care of his wife, in every possible way.
Cas pocketed the envelope and swung the door to the safe shut. Now he was frowning, flashing back to the safe in Benoit's office, and what he'd had to do there. He didn't regret killing those men, though, or even the women. They had been monsters of the worst sort, rivals to Lucifer himself. Castiel's only regret was that Benoit and Kurt had not been there for the explosion. He idly wondered how long it had taken for the rats to start dining on Etienne. Did that make Cas a terrible Angel? Possibly, although back in the days of the Angel Wars, a murder like that would have been a slow day for Castiel.
He came out from behind the bookshelf just as their friends began to drift out of the hallway.
"Why didn't you tell us you were back?" Bobby said impatiently. "So, what's going on up there? Were you three able to kick him out? How's Patricia?"
"Those are a lot of questions, Bobby," Cas said nervously. Now that he was face to face with their friends, he realized it was going to be a lot harder than he'd thought to tell them. But he couldn't let that deter him.
"We just got back," Cas continued, moving to Gail's side. He looked at her face. Her expression was unreadable. The two of them continued to stare at each other for a moment. This is your show, her eyes were telling him. Go ahead and explain to our friends how you made yet another deal with the Devil, this time to abandon the fight, and to abandon them. Go right ahead.
Cas sighed. Fair enough. He was the one who had struck up the bargain, after all. Gail might be going along with it because she loved him, or because she wanted that honeymoon, or because she was his wife and as such, she had vowed to stick with him. For better or worse, richer or poorer, dumb or dumber. Who knew why he'd been lucky enough for her to say that she would come with him? But the bottom line was, this was his responsibility. Hopefully, it would be one of the last ones he would ever have to shoulder. Well, other than spending every moment making sure that Gail was loved and taken care of. That responsibility, he would be glad to carry.
"Well, what IS going on up there?" Bobby said angrily.
"Lucifer's running the show now," Cas replied bluntly. "Crowley stabbed us in the back."
"He wouldn't help you guys with Lucifer?" Sam inquired, frowning.
"That's right, Sam. He's decided to align himself with Lucifer, instead," Castiel said.
"That little Limey bastard!" Frank exclaimed. He looked at everyone. "Haven't I been saying for ages now that we shouldn't be working with him?"
"Well, you win the prize, Frank," Bobby said dryly. "None of us ever wanted to work with him, but most of the time, we had no choice."
"And most of the time, he was useful to us," Cas couldn't help but add. "But I suppose it was only a matter of time until his true nature emerged. I was just hoping that he would be smart enough to realize that it's folly for him to throw in with a being like Lucifer. If he thinks the Devil won't turn on him because they're such 'good friends', he's delusional."
"So what's the plan, Cas?" Dean asked him.
"Plan? There is no plan, Dean," Cas answered his friend calmly.
"OK, well, they just got back, you guys," Jody said. She could see that several of the men looked like they were about to blow, and she felt very discouraged as well, but: "Let's all sit down and brainstorm," she continued, pulling out a chair at the library table.
But Cas was shaking his head. "There is nothing to brainstorm, Jody. It's over."
"What do you mean, it's over?" Bobby said irritably. Damn Cas. Why couldn't he ever just get to the point? Bobby's mind refused to believe what he was hearing. Cas couldn't be giving up; he was just taking his sweet time in telling them what he had in mind.
"I mean, it's over, Bobby. There's nothing more we can do," Cas said with a touch of irritation in his voice now.
"You don't mean that," Frank said, astonished. He'd never heard Cas talk like this before. "You can't mean it."
"Oh, I assure you that I can, Frank," Cas said, keeping his tone steady.
"What were you doing in the safe, Cas?" Sam wanted to know.
There was no point in lying about that; they would surely notice it was gone. "I was getting our money, Sam."
"Why?" Sam pressed him.
"Because I'm going to take Gail on the honeymoon she never got to have," Cas replied. He took her hand.
Their friends all exchanged glances. Cas had to be kidding with this.
"So Lucifer's sitting in Bobby's chair in Heaven, and you're gonna take off somewhere, just so you can hump your wife?" Dean said incredulously.
Cas let go of Gail's hand and walked over to Dean, standing close to him. "You're my friend, Dean, but I will not tolerate that kind of language when it comes to Gail," he said quietly.
Dean let out a frustrated breath. "Fine. Whatever. But isn't that basically what you're saying?"
Cas's temper began to rise. "You're not getting it, Dean. None of you are. So let me try to put it in a way you might understand: We are screwed."
"But what about the Tablets?" Tommy asked him. "Can't you just continue to try to get those? You only need two more."
"Yeah, Cas," Sam agreed. "I know things look bleak right now, but we're three-fifths of the way there. If we concentrate our efforts on the two remaining Tablets, we can probably have this thing wrapped up by Christmas."
Christmas. Another stab of guilt. Cas looked at Gail again. She was being very quiet, most unlike herself. What was she thinking right now? If they up and left, her dream of a big happy family Christmas would go right down the drain. But he had to face reality. The instant he had shaken Lucifer's hand, he had flushed away the chances of ever having a big happy family anything. But, maybe family was not all it was cracked up to be. Look at how Castiel's family of Angels had treated him all those years. Look at the knife Crowley had just stuck in his back. And just recently, Cas had been reminded that his Brother had actually burned his wife at the stake, thousands of years ago. Crowley was damn fortunate their Father had blessed Cas and Gail with amnesia about that day, or Cas would have cut him to ribbons ages ago, for that one evil act alone. This made Cas wonder how many other incarnations he and Gail may have had together. He'd always thought it was just himself and Crowley throughout the years, acting out various scenarios for God's entertainment. Now, with this recent revelation, he had to rethink his entire existence. Perhaps it was a good thing they were getting away from it all. There were some pretty big questions that needed to be answered, as a result. Such as: What was Castiel's reason for existing? What was Crowley's? And how did Gail connect with the two of them?
But he was getting off topic now, allowing his mind to lead him off the main road. They had to get this concluded, first. After they left here, they would have all the time in the world to discuss these things. The trouble was, Tommy and Sam had raised a very salient point. Why would they not just continue on the quests to obtain the Tablets without him? Logically, that's what they should be doing. Lucifer being in Heaven shouldn't change their intention to obtain the Tablets, only intensify it. If he hadn't made his deal with the Devil, that's exactly what Castiel would be doing. But he couldn't do it, and he couldn't tell them why he couldn't do it. His only option now was to channel the acting skills he'd honed while questing for those very same Tablets.
"Then you'd better get going," Cas said to them. "Seeing as you're humans, it'll take you a lot longer to accomplish. Unless one of the Angels comes down on their own, you won't have too many powers at your disposal. And I doubt that you'll be seeing any Angels. The first thing I would do if I were Lucifer would be to put them all under lockdown. Maybe young Riley can help you a little, but he won't be able to do much, seeing as he's brand new to the Angel game."
Sam and Dean looked at each other. "Angel game"? What the hell was Cas talking about? Did he even hear himself?
"So basically, you're deserting us," Frank said bluntly.
Cas was very uncomfortable now. Yes. That was exactly what he was doing. Had he honestly thought that he could just walk in here and tell them that, and that everybody would be OK with it?
Frank brushed past Cas and strode over to Gail, who looked up at him, wide-eyed. "There's something extremely fishy going on here," Frank said to her. "I've never seen you this quiet before, not even when you were a baby. What the hell did he do to the two of you?"
Now, Gail was in the same boat as Cas. Because they had made their own covenant outside a few minutes ago, and sealed it with an essence-filled kiss, she was likely bound to the terms of the deal also. In any event, she couldn't afford to take the chance.
"Nothing," she said to Frank.
"OK, then Cas is being an ass. That's the only other conclusion I can reach," her brother said pointedly. "But then, if that's the case, why are you staying silent about it? I've never known you to be shy when it comes to advising him of the error of his ways before."
Despite how mad they were feeling, the Winchesters smirked. That was certainly true.
"Maybe that's because I don't see it as an error," Gail said, trying to stay calm. "Cas is right. We can't beat both Lucifer and Crowley, combined. They're too strong. And we don't have a God any more, do we? So, guess what? They win."
"They win?" Dean exclaimed. "What are you, nuts? I think we need to take you to the hospital, Gail. Your head's so far up your ass now it's gonna take major surgery to remove it!"
Damn Dean. Gail's lips wanted to curl up into a smile. But she figured she'd better not smile, not right now.
"And you," Dean said, peering closely at Cas's face. "I haven't quite got this figured out yet. If Lucifer didn't put some kind of a whammy on you, then you're either a world-class douche, or a giant coward, or maybe both. I'm surprised at you, and what's worse, I'm ashamed of you." He looked at Gail again. "And the same goes for you. In fact, I think you might be worse than him. Frank may not be your blood, but he's your family, and so are Jody and Robbie. And I thought we were your brothers, too. Cas, I could pretty much expect this from. It's not like there isn't a precedent." Dean glared at Cas, who hung his head. What Dean was saying was true. Cas had turned on his friends before, years before Gail had ever known them. And Dean didn't even remember that whole Demon thing; imagine if he did. Imagine how little he would think of his friend Cas then.
"But, you," Dean continued, walking over to Gail and staring her in the face. "You're just gonna walk out on your family like this? For what? Some kind of a little princess honeymoon? So you never got to have a honeymoon, so what? Boo-freakin'-hoo! Do you know how many Christmases and birthdays Sammy and I had to miss over the years? Ask Frank about that too, why don't you? At least you and your brother were both lucky enough to be able to get married. Do you think either Sam or I will ever have the opportunity to get married, or have kids?"
What he was saying was hurting her badly, and Gail needed to shut Dean up before he upset her so much that she blurted something out that she shouldn't. So she retorted, "Gee, Dean, I didn't know that was something you were even interested in. Aren't you trying to set the World's Record for Most Promiscuous Man?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who's letting Lucifer screw us over so she can have her husband screw her all night in some fancy hotel room," Dean shot back.
Cas flung his arm out, and the blue glow issued from his fingertips. Dean was lifted off his feet, and he went crashing into the bookshelves.
"I told you I won't tolerate that, Dean," Cas said, enraged. "If you have anything to say, say it to me. But you will leave Gail alone."
"OK, then, I WILL say it to you," Dean said, rising slowly from the floor. "But first, I'm gonna give you one more chance to explain to me, and to all of us, what's really going on here. Why are you leaving, Cas? Really?"
"I already told you that, Dean," Cas replied, cringing inside. "Now you're just repeating yourself. So, you will apologize to Gail, and then we will leave."
"Apologize? You're out of your damn mind!" Dean said, approaching Cas again. Cas had drifted over to stand beside Gail, as if doing so would protect her from Dean's verbal onslaught. "Actually, I was gonna ask Sammy if he could come up with a few synonyms for the word I want to call Gail now. I don't want to be too obscene when there's one lady in the room: Jody."
Dean was deliberately being insulting. He knew there was something very suspicious going on with these two. They claimed that Lucifer hadn't done anything to them, but Dean couldn't see any other explanation. He was trying to jar some kind of admission out of one of them.
But he was playing a dangerous game. Cas's eyes were flashing. "I would be very careful about what you say next, Dean," he said quietly.
"Really, Cas?" Dean said, strolling up to the couple. "So if I were to look at Gail right now and call her, oh, I dunno, a - " He leaned forward and then said a certain word out loud. While not the worst word he could have used, it was certainly in the top five pejorative terms for a woman, and it was sure to send Cas into a towering rage.
Predictably, Cas grabbed Dean, and punched him in the face. Dean staggered back into Frank, who grabbed him to steady him. Then Frank looked at Dean's face. "Look man, I love you like a brother," Frank said to Dean, "but if you ever call her that again, I'm gonna have to take a poke at you, myself."
Now Dean's lip was bleeding, his body hurt from its unscheduled flight into the occult section, and now Frank was mad at him. Yeah. Stellar plan.
Cas grabbed Gail's hand. This wasn't how he had pictured their goodbyes at all. He'd known that their friends would be upset, but he had deluded himself into thinking that there might be hugs and kisses, or a few tears, even. This particular tableau was a lot more representative of Cas's whole life. Good intentions plus bad decision-making equaled Cas lashing out, and then someone bleeding. This was how it always seemed to go for him.
He looked at Gail. "I'm sorry," he said to her. "It seems that I'm always dragging you down with me."
Sam was looking at Cas with narrowed eyes. Yeah, there was something going on here, all right. Cas wasn't talking like a guy who didn't give a damn. It was almost as if he was forcing the issue, just like Dean was trying to force it on his end. But Dean was never going to break Cas. If Sam could get a little time alone with Gail, maybe he could get her to crumble. But he doubted that Cas would step aside long enough for that to happen.
"Where are you going on your honeymoon?" he asked them in a chipper tone. Everyone looked at him. "What?" Sam said innocently. At least if they knew where their friends were going, they would know where they were.
"Who cares about a damn honeymoon?" Bobby piped up angrily. "Honeymoon, my ass. I never thought I would see the day when you turned coward, Cas."
"Me?" Cas bristled. "What about you? If you hadn't been afraid to sit in that chair, none of this would be happening."
Cas was right, but Bobby couldn't let him get away with that. "Yeah?" he retorted. "Well, if you hadn't been too chicken to do the job in the first place, God wouldn't have had to come to me."
"I wasn't 'chicken'," Cas said irritably. "I just wasn't cut out to do the job."
"Well apparently, neither was I," Bobby shot back. "But at least, unlike you, I had the guts to try to do it."
"That's not fair, Bobby," Gail weighed in. "It had nothing to do with having the guts to do it. Cas and I discussed it at the time. We both knew he wouldn't be happy being God. So, when he asked my opinion, I told him I didn't think he should take the job."
"Yeah?" Bobby said irascibly. "Well, too bad. Heaven forbid that Cas should be unhappy. Well, I hope you're both happy now. Why don't you just run along, then? I don't think I ever met two more selfish people in all my life."
Gail started to cry, and Cas was unsure of what to do. There were so many emotions fighting to come to the surface right now. His predominant emotion was anger, of course. Wasn't it always? No one in this room except for Gail understood where Cas was coming from. But then again, what else was new? They had never really understood him; not one of them.
None of them knew what he was doing now, of course. How could they? He wasn't selling them out at all; in fact, it was quite the opposite. He was protecting all of them, as usual. But he couldn't say so, because that had been part of the deal. Lucifer was extracting his pound of flesh now. It was a great sacrifice on Satan's part not to slaughter all of Castiel's loved ones, so he would need to see Cas suffer by alienating the Angel from all of them. That was the way these things worked, when you dealt with Lucifer. But this time, Lucifer was bound by his end of the deal also. He would be unable to turn around and go back on the bargain, so he would be unable to cause harm to anyone that Cas loved. Because their essences had been exchanged in the handshake, neither side would be able to renege on the deal. So Lucifer could not possibly cause harm to anyone in their circle, nor to any of the Angels. Conversely, though, if Cas were to continue in the process of procuring the Tablets, Lucifer would be free to kill them all, starting with Gail. But Cas had known what he was doing when he'd struck the deal, for a change. As long as Lucifer had been on the Earth, Cas had felt like he might have a chance to defeat him. However, the instant Lucifer had ascended to Heaven and took over the High Office, all bets were off. Lucifer just had way too many options now, and his finger was within striking distance of the launch codes. So, by taking the deal, Cas had employed the strategy of the preemptive strike. The Angels, his friends, and most importantly, his wife, would be spared. But then, Lucifer had thrown a couple of caveats in there, and a codicil or two, and by then, Cas had kind of painted himself into a corner. But he had stubbornly stuck with it, because at its crux, it was all about the heart of the deal, which was everyone's safety.
Lucifer had been slick, though. He had also somehow gotten Cas to agree to go away from them all. Thank God he hadn't been stupid enough to tell Lucifer he would also leave Gail behind. Not that he could ever have done so, of course. Even when Cas had been Lancelot, he could never have left her behind in Camelot. And Lucifer had apparently learned something from the previous unsuccessful deals, because this time, he had left Gail alone and allowed her to be with Cas, thereby sweetening the deal appreciably. Maybe that was how he had been able to sneak in that other part about Cas not being allowed to tell anyone why he was leaving. But Cas had been so far in at that point, he'd still felt like it was advantageous for him to take the deal.
But now, Cas realized what a Catch-22 this all was. He was being accused of being a coward, and from their point of view, Cas could understand why. He would have felt exactly the same way, were he in their position. Without the benefit of any sort of explanation, Cas did indeed appear to be a coward, and a traitor, too. That was why, even though they had made him angry, he couldn't blame them. But he wished they would leave Gail alone. She had already suffered plenty from her association with him over the years.
She was weeping openly now. How many times had she cried because of him? And how many times had she cried here, in this bunker? No. That was it. No more. If he had ever even considered reneging on the deal, or at least thought about trying to explain why he and Gail were going away, just one look at Gail now was enough to make the words dry up in his throat. The die had been cast, the bargain had been struck, and the next time he looked at her, he wanted to see her smiling.
"If that's what you choose to believe, you just go right ahead and believe it, then," Cas said with a touch of resentment, looking at them all. "And you may be right in a lot of ways, when it comes to me. But none of you has any right to call Gail selfish. The only thing she's ever done that has involved questionable judgement on her part was to marry me. But we can't hold that against her, can we? Why don't we just say I talked her into doing that, too? Then that way, we can blame me for everything." Cas's tone turned bitter now. Suddenly, he was back in Heaven, sitting at the boardroom table, listening to Xavier and Alexander give him another dressing down for daydreaming during the meeting. Then he was being berated by his Father for one of his many mistakes. His many, many mistakes. Not that his admonishments had been unwarranted; no, Cas wasn't saying that at all. But you could only take so much chiding, so many lectures, before you blew. And that was what was happening to him now.
"Let's go, Gail," he said, taking her hand. "We're obviously not welcome here anymore."
"You were the one who came in here and announced that you were leaving," Jody pointed out in a reasonable tone. "And all we're trying to do is figure out why."
Her logic was unassailable, so he had no response for it. But just as Cas was mentally preparing to wink them out of there, Riley stepped out from the hallway. Frank had taken him down to one of the bedrooms earlier to get some rest, and even though a bed wasn't necessary for an Angel, Riley had appreciated Frank's thoughtfulness. And he had taken Gail's brother up on it because he had wanted some time alone to regroup after his harrowing ordeal with Lucifer. He had also been more than a little star struck. Not only had he met Heaven's esteemed couple, Castiel and Gail, but Riley had been touched and healed by the Angel Castiel himself. That had been a transformative experience for young Riley. He felt stronger and more confident now, just by proxy alone.
But he couldn't believe what he was hearing now. Riley had been standing in the hallway this whole time, watching and listening, as Castiel and his wife argued with their friends. He'd been too timid to come out of the hallway and speak, but now, he couldn't restrain himself any longer.
"So that's it?" Riley said now. "You're just going to leave us to deal with him alone?"
Now Cas was uncomfortable again. He and Riley barely knew each other, yet the hurt look on the young Angel's swollen face was almost more than he could bear. "You're not alone," Cas said quietly. "There are millions and millions of Angels in Heaven. I'm only one of them."
"Yeah, but you're the greatest one," Riley said with disarming candour. "You're the hero who's going to save us all from Lucifer."
Cas's stomach was beginning to hurt with all the guilt and heartache he was feeling now, and he was angry at Riley because of it. How dare he? How dare he come in here with those big, innocent eyes and look at Cas with such worship in them?
"No one asked you for your opinion," he said harshly. "I'm nobody's hero, Riley. I never have been, and I never will be. You're all much better off without me."
Now Riley looked even more hurt, and he looked puzzled, too. "How can you say that? We need you to lead us, Castiel. We're relying on you."
"Well then, I guess you're out of luck," Cas said, and he winked himself and Gail out of the bunker.
They went to the house, and Gail started to pack their clothes. Cas sat morosely on the bed, staring at the wall. His cell phone had already rung several times before he had finally turned the ringer off.
"You'd better hurry, before they start pounding on the front door," Cas said to Gail. "Let's move this along. We need to get the hell out of here." She stopped what she was doing and looked at him.
Cas jumped to his feet and went to her immediately. "I'm so sorry, Gail. Please don't be angry with me. Then I won't have any friends left, at all," he said, trying to be charming.
It worked, to a degree. She touched his face briefly and said, "That wasn't easy for either of us, Cas. But since we're all we have left now, I think we should do our best to at least get along with each other, don't you?"
"You're right. Of course we should. Here, let me do that," he said, taking the pair of pants she'd been folding out of her hands.
"I don't mind doing it, Cas. I just..."
"What?" he said softly, staring at her.
"I just thought that this would feel different," Gail said sadly. "I just thought that we should be happier about going on a honeymoon."
Cas dropped the pants into the open suitcase, unfolded. "We will be happy. You'll see. Once we get there, I'll do everything in my power to make sure of it." He closed and latched the suitcase. "Let's go, Gail." He put his arms around her. "Please. You need this. I need this. Please."
She nodded slowly. He was right about that, actually. Paris had been really rough on them both, and now, everything had been turned upside down. If their world had been a snowglobe, Lucifer had not only shaken it vigorously, he had then flung it out the window, smashing it to bits. And Crowley? Well, she didn't know why his betrayal had surprised and dismayed her so much. King of Hell. Duh. It was right there in the title, wasn't it? She'd just thought that...Oh, who the hell knew what she'd thought? And who cared, really? If Cas could just give up, why couldn't she, too?
Cas's idea for a getaway had merit, she told herself. Gail knew their friends and family would not just let it alone. They would either view what he and Gail were doing now as a betrayal, or they would know that something was up. Either way, the Angels had better get out of Dodge for a while, as Cas had so eloquently put it earlier.
"OK, Cas," Gail said, touching his face. "You're right. Let's go."
His expression lightened. Did she really mean it? Was that an "OK, Cas", or was it just...OK?
His question was answered soon enough. Predictably, they spent their first day in bed.
Gail had promised herself that she wouldn't bring up any heavy topics for the first day or two. If the object was to recharge and regroup, any discussion of serious issues would sort of defeat the purpose.
But it was difficult for them to talk without bringing up anything that would circle back to their family and friends, or to the current situation. Cas was finding that to be the case, as well. So every time that the conversation started to turn, one of them would start to kiss the other, and talk would slip down the list of priorities.
Cas was kissing her now, using his tongue, and Gail was responding eagerly. They'd been in bed for hours now, and they still hadn't gotten enough of each other. This was how most people claimed that a honeymoon should be. They'd been this way with each other before, but there had always been some kind of crisis lurking in the background. Some reason why they only had a short time to spend together before they had to get up and take on their world. But there were no deadlines now, and nowhere they had to be. If they were feeling any guilt or any sense of obligation at the moment, by tacit agreement they had buried it, deep.
"I love you, Gail," he told her between kisses. "You are everything to me."
When all else failed, the two of them could always be counted upon to revert to their go-to language, the language of love. But this was way better than the types of words that they had exchanged with the others in the bunker, even though as it turned out, those words had come from love, as well. There had been a time when Cas saying something like what he had just said to Gail would have bothered her, but right now, she felt the same way about him.
"And you're my world, Cas," she replied. "And my sun, and my moon, and my stars." She reached down and began to stroke him lightly with her fingertips. He breathed in sharply, and his arms tightened around her.
Also, by tacit agreement, they had both let whatever remaining inhibitions they may have had fall by the wayside. Whenever she had started to touch him like that before, his first instinct had been to demur, or to move away. The guilt ran deep, all right. Thou Shalt Not. That was probably one of the main reasons he had gotten so aggressively carried away as a Demon. Heaven had always discouraged strong emotions and raw feelings, either good or bad. If it felt good, you probably shouldn't be doing it. There had been a reason why everything had been so starkly white. No colour whatsoever; nothing to break the monotony. No laughing or running in the halls. No shouting out loud, whether it be in anguish, or in joy.
But Gail had never been that way. She laughed out loud, she cried real tears, and she never hesitated to express her joy whenever she experienced pleasure, both in bed, and out. Castiel had always been in awe of those traits in her.
So when she moved down to take him in her mouth, he didn't protest. He merely closed his eyes and gave himself to her, just as she always gave herself completely to him. When her tongue touched him, he whimpered. When her hand closed gently around him, he said her name. And then, when her mouth was on him, he shouted out in joy. He laughed, and he cried, letting out all of the emotions he'd been suppressing ever since Paris. This was the most wonderful gift she had ever given him, and as always, when it came to Gail, it was coming from pure love.
When he was spent physically, he brought her body up to lay on top of him, pulling the covers over them immediately. The weather was growing quite chilly now, and he didn't want her to be cold.
She was looking at him, and her gaze was warm and loving. Her lips were on his now, and her tongue poked out, prompting him to open his mouth and give her his.
"You are my whole life," Cas said to her. "I would die for you. I would kill for you. I would do anything you asked of me. Tell me what you want, Gail. Tell me what you need."
Wow. Where did she start? She didn't really mind being his whole life right now, because he was hers. Nobody was going to die now; he had seen to that. And the only person she would like him to kill at this moment was Lucifer. But they had lost the hand, so they had gotten up and walked away from the table. Funny, she could remember a time when Cas had played poker for hours, and he had always walked away a winner. But that was only money; playing for people's lives required a different kind of nerve, didn't it?
"Would you really do anything I asked of you?" she inquired.
"Yes, of course," he answered quickly. "Anything you want. It's all for you, Gail. My life is for you."
Her heart swelled with love for him. He really meant it, too. It was a good thing that they had known each other for so long now, and that they knew each other so well. Otherwise, she might have been overwhelmed by the depth and the intensity of his feelings. And, not for the first time, she thought about how lucky they were to have found each other. Or had luck had anything to do with it? Now that she'd received confirmation that they'd been together previously in at least one incarnation, Gail began to wonder again whether their relationship had been preordained, and if so, how far back it went.
They would have to talk about that; in fact, they would have to talk about many things. What DID she want? For him to keep on loving her, just as he did now, for eternity. That was all. If she told him that, he would assure her that he already did, and that he always would. But what did she really need? She needed for things to be back to normal. She needed Lucifer's ass out of God's chair. And she needed for their family and friends to know what a huge sacrifice Cas had made on their behalf. He could claim all he wanted that he was fine with the consequences of the deal he had made with Lucifer, but she knew differently. Oh yes, they had to talk, all right.
But first, she wasn't above stealing another few minutes for herself, before she threw a metaphorical bucket of cold water on the proceedings.
"I want you, Cas. I need you. That's the way it's always been, and the way it always will be. Just love me, please," she said to him.
He smiled. "I would be happy to do that. I always have been, and I always will be. There's a reason that we didn't need to take the traditional marriage vows; that's because even death would not part us. I will always find you, and I will always love you."
But Gail was puzzled now. "We need to talk about that, Cas. If that's the case, why are you worried about me dying, then? If you and I will be together again and again, until the end of time, then why don't we just do a reset on this life? It's turned out pretty crappy, anyway."
She wiggled out of his arms and got out of the bed.
"What are you doing?" Cas asked her. Now he was the one who was puzzled. Why was she getting dressed now?
"Starting all over again," she told him, pulling her jeans on over her hips. She did them up, then pulled a sweater over her head. Then she turned on her heel and left the bedroom.
What the hell? What had that been all about? Was she angry with him? She hadn't looked angry. But he didn't like this; not one bit. She was behaving strangely now. What had she meant when she'd mentioned a reset?
Cas was scared now. He leapt out of bed and threw on his pants, not bothering to put on a shirt. He had to talk to her, to find out what she was thinking.
He'd rented them a suite on the top floor of the hotel, wanting Gail to have the finest accommodations with the best view for her honeymoon. As he entered the living room area, Cas could see her opening the sliding door that led to the terrace. "Gail!" he called out to her. But she didn't respond. She simply stepped outside, walking towards the railing. What was she doing?
He rushed to the open terrace door, watching in horror as she climbed onto the narrow ledge that led up to the railing. "Gail!" he called again. "Stop! Please! What are you doing?"
She had straddled the railing now. She looked at him calmly. "I told you, Cas," she said. "I'm starting over again. Lucifer's taken over, our family and friends all hate our guts now, and life is no longer worth living. But now that you've assured me that death won't separate us, all I'll have to do is jump. It'll be way quicker than burning to death. I probably won't even feel it when I hit the ground. And then, we can just start over. Too bad everyone else we know will probably be dead by then, though."
Cas couldn't believe it. She was serious. "I made that up," he stammered. "I knew that you felt sad about the way we left things at the bunker, and I thought you might appreciate some kind of reassurance."
"So basically, you lied," she retorted.
"No, Gail, I would never lie to you," Cas said haltingly. But he HAD lied to her, hadn't he? He could make no such assurance that they would be together like this again. Just because they had in the past, didn't mean that they would in the future. Now that Lucifer had taken over Heaven, all bets were off. Castiel had made yet another deal with the Devil, to spare his wife, his friends, and the Angels in Heaven, in exchange for giving up on the quest to put Lucifer back in a cage. It had been a deal borne of desperation, but it was the only thing he'd felt he could do at the time. But it had felt wrong from the get-go. Cas had tried to mask this feeling by acting glad that he would be absolved of any responsibility going forward, but it was really himself that he'd been lying to. "I lied to myself," Cas said quietly.
"Yes, you did, Cas," Gail said sadly. "And, by extension, you lied to me, too. I don't want to be married to a screw-up, and a liar. You know what the right thing to do is. Goodbye, Cas."
Then she jumped, and Cas screamed at the top of his lungs.
Cas sat up in bed, and he was still screaming. He scared Gail, who had been sleeping peacefully at his side, curled up under the covers. She jumped now, uttering a cry of her own.
He was breathing heavily, looking disoriented. It had been several years since Cas had had a nightmare. He'd had one when he was a Demon, but since he hardly ever slept, he'd forgotten what that was like. His heart was pounding, and he was sweating, even though he felt cold.
Gail put her arms around him. "Are you OK, Cas? What's the matter?"
Oh, God. Thank God. It had not been real. He hugged her fiercely, and now he began to cry.
"It's OK, sweetie," she soothed him. "You just had a bad dream. That's the bad part about sleeping, sometimes." She kissed his face.
Cas pulled out of the embrace so that he could look at her. He touched her face, cupping her cheek with his hand. It was really her; she was really here. She was looking at him with such sweet sympathy in her eyes. He didn't deserve her sympathy. He didn't deserve anything.
"We need to talk, Cas," Gail said quietly. "This isn't right. That's why you had a bad dream. That's why I was having one, too. I think we should get up and order a pot of coffee from room service. We can sit in the living room and talk. Or we can go out on the terrace, if you like - "
"No!" he exclaimed, startling her. He crushed her to him again. "I'm sorry, Gail," he said quickly. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "OK. Let's talk."
They were sitting on the couch in the living room of their hotel suite, sipping their coffee. Despite the seriousness of the subjects they were discussing, as Gail poured them each another cup, she was smiling.
"I swear, coffee smells like freshly ground Heaven," she said, adding cream to both of their cups. When Castiel had first drunk coffee, he'd added several spoons of sugar to each cup, but now he drank it sugarless, because that was how Gail took her coffee.
He was looking at her sadly, and she instantly regretted her choice of words. She guessed they were both screw-ups now.
When they had first checked in, they'd gone straight to bed. That's what you were supposed to do on your honeymoon, wasn't it? Soon they had been naked, caressing each other, and then they were making love, whispering terms of endearment to each other instead of doing what they really should have been doing, which was talking. Then, once they were both physically satisfied, instead of talking, Cas had asked Gail if she wanted to sleep, and she'd said that she did. They were both ignoring the elephant in the room, avoiding their problems. But they ought to have known that wasn't going to work. Had it ever worked for them before?
So Cas had conferred the gifts of sleep and an appetite on them both, and they had fallen asleep in each other's arms. But their guilt had been preying on their minds even as they slept, and that had led to nightmares. Fortunately for Gail, hers had just been beginning even as Cas's had woken him up.
He had finally calmed down from his fright, but even as he sipped at his coffee, Cas kept reaching out to touch her, as if trying to make sure she was real. She thought it was kind of cute. But the time had come for some honest talk between them.
Gail put her cup down on the table and grabbed his hand. "Sweetie, you know that I love you. But you need to hear the truth, and I need to be able to tell it to you. Okay?"
He nodded, but he couldn't speak because a lump was forming in his throat now. His eyes drifted over to the terrace. The first thing he had done when they had gotten out here was to close the drapes and lock the sliding door, as if hiding the terrace from his view would be enough to erase the horrifying vision he'd had in his dream of Gail jumping to her death. How did humans do it? He knew that many of them really liked to sleep, and Gail had remarked that she missed being able to do so naturally, sometimes. But humans could have it, as far as Cas was concerned. If sleep produced terrifying visions like that, he wanted no part of it.
Cas swallowed, hard. This was the part where she was going to call him a liar, and a screw-up, and say she didn't want to be married to him anymore.
"You don't have to say anything, Gail," he said quietly, taking his hand away from hers. "I already know. You don't want to be with a liar, and a screw-up. That's understandable."
Gail's forehead wrinkled, and she reached out for his hand again. He gave it to her, but tentatively, as if he expected her to yank her hand back at any minute. "No, Cas, that's not what I was going to say at all," she assured him. "I was going to say that you screwed up, not that you ARE a screw-up. There's a big difference. Everybody makes mistakes, Cas. Just because yours are pretty epic doesn't mean you're exempt." She looked at him expectantly, hoping to get a smile out of him. But Cas was down the rabbit hole of guilt and self-recrimination now, and he took what she was saying as his rightful admonition. Didn't he know better by now? Hadn't she told him before? How could anybody think that someone like him should be in charge of anything?
She could see the miserable look on his face, and she squeezed his hand. "Cas, I was kidding," she said.
"No, you weren't," he said unhappily. "And even if you were, you're right. Sometimes I don't know why our Father even allows me to keep on existing."
"I told you, Cas, we're done with talk like that," Gail said sharply. "I don't ever want to hear anything like that out of your mouth, ever again. You're a good Angel who made a bad mistake, Cas. That's all. Our Father made us all imperfect. But for the record, I think he made you more perfect than the rest of us, and that's why he had to give you a couple of tiny flaws. It's so the rest of us don't suffer too badly by comparison."
Now he did give her a small smile, and she was encouraged by that. She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed it. "Our Father allows you to keep on existing because he knows how much we all love you and need you, Cas," she continued. "And don't you dare argue with me about that, or I'll smack you one. Don't make me remind you that you vowed obedience and subservience to me. I'm not above playing the V-card, you know."
Cas looked at her blankly, just as Gail realized how that had sounded. "I meant 'V' as in vows," she amended quickly. "Boy, it's a good thing Frank or Dean hadn't been here to hear me say that. Jody, even. They would have destroyed me."
Then she frowned. No, on second thought, that wasn't a good thing at all. It seemed as if everything she wanted to say was a loaded comment right now.
Cas sighed. "Elephant," he said sadly.
Gail nodded. Now they were getting somewhere.
"The world's biggest elephant," she agreed. Then she was the one to sigh. "What are we going to do, Cas? Now they all think you're a selfish coward, and they think I'm a callous slut."
"Don't say that, Gail, please," Cas moaned.
"I have to," she insisted. "We need to speak plainly now. There's got to be a loophole to that deal you made."
"There isn't," Cas said bluntly. "I agreed to give up, and to stay away from our family and friends, in exchange for all of your lives. If I renege, he can kill you all. Starting with you, Gail. And he will. You know he will. I don't see how we can get around that."
She frowned. She didn't, either, but: "Aren't we still shielded?" she asked Cas. "Then how can he kill me, if he can't find me?"
"No, Gail. I'm not taking that chance," Cas said firmly. "He's in the High Office now. He could find a way."
Gail let out a frustrated breath. "Ok, YOU agreed to stay away. But, did I? No."
His eyes widened. "What are you saying?"
She touched his face. "Don't worry, Cas, I'm not leaving you," she assured him, and he sighed with relief. Gail smiled wryly. She knew how her husband thought by now. "And that's another issue we're going to have to address when we have time," she said to him. "We're married now, Cas. I'm not going to leave you. If we have a difference of opinion, or even if we have a fight, that doesn't mean we're automatically splitting up. I know we did that once, but there's no reason for you to be that insecure, Cas."
And she was right; he really didn't need to feel that way, not when it came to Gail. She had stuck by him through much, much worse. He was projecting his negative feelings about himself onto her, but that was ridiculous, and it wasn't fair to her. "You're right, and I am sorry," he told her, taking her other hand. Now he had both of her hands in his, and he looked down at the rings on their fingers.
"Feel free to play the V-card with me any time," Cas said, smiling gently.
Her lips twitched. "Maybe we'll keep that expression just between the two of us," she remarked. But then she sighed. It was only really funny when she thought of Frank and Dean teasing her and Cas mercilessly, but at the moment, neither of them would actually be speaking to her, she was sure. The last time she'd seen Dean, he had called her a word she had never heard him use with her before, not even in the Demon days, when it would certainly have been more appropriate. That one had hurt, and it had hurt badly.
"I thought I'd pop up to Heaven for a minute," Gail said to Cas. Then she braced herself.
"No!" he exclaimed. "You can't do that, Gail! It's too dangerous! I won't allow it."
She lifted an eyebrow. "Really? Aren't you cute."
Cas let out a frustrated breath. "I'm not joking, Gail. This is Lucifer we're talking about. I'm not letting you go up there alone."
Gail made a face. "What would happen if you were to enter Heaven with me, Cas?"
"I don't know," Cas said thoughtfully. He frowned. "Maybe nothing. But I don't know if we can take that chance. Why, what were you thinking?"
"I thought I'd try to talk to Chuck," she said. "Technically, it's me, not you. And I wouldn't be going to the bunker. I won't even mention the word 'Tablets'. But maybe we could use him as a go-between." Admittedly, Gail didn't know exactly what could be accomplished by what she was proposing. All she knew was that the lines of communication had to remain open until they could figure out how to circumvent the deal. She couldn't have everyone thinking she and Cas were traitors any longer.
Cas was thinking now. He went over the agreement very carefully in his mind, and then he went over it again. "I'll tell you what," he said slowly. "Why don't you call Chuck on Angel Radio? Be very discreet but find out what he knows. Maybe he'll have some ideas."
She nodded. "That sounds good, sweetie." Cas squeezed her hands. He still loved it when she called him that.
Gail opened up her frequency and made the call. She had winced, expecting a flood of voices. She remembered when she and Cas had gone on the run before the tribunal. He'd had to shut the frequency off for a while due to the noise. But it was absolutely silent. Nothing. She didn't know if that was good or bad, but she figured it probably wasn't good. She told Cas about it. He frowned. No, that didn't sound good to him, either.
Suddenly, Chuck responded to her call.
"Gail!" he exclaimed. "Thank God! Where are you?"
"I don't think I should really tell you that, Chuck," she said evasively. "It's complicated."
"He did this to you, didn't he?" Chuck fumed. "He stole you away from us."
Gail's forehead wrinkled. What? No wonder Riley had called her Ma'am, she thought. She was getting permanent lines on her face from all the puzzlement. Chuck was talking weird.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Chuck. Has anyone told you...anything?" she finished lamely. It was very difficult trying to communicate this way. She didn't know exactly what she should and shouldn't say. And that was a very odd comment that Chuck had just made. He sounded angry. He must have talked to those guys; that was the only reason she could think of why Chuck might be mad at Cas.
The truth was, Chuck currently didn't know anything about anything. He didn't even know that Lucifer had taken over Heaven. Chuck had just been sitting in the library, staring at the sculpture of the Eiffel Tower with a blank expression on his face. The spell held him in full sway now. All he could think about was killing Cas and rescuing Gail from Cas's evil clutches. He fantasized for hours about various scenarios where he could get Cas somewhere alone and punish him for what he had done to Gail. Chuck didn't know exactly what that might have been; all he knew was that Gail needed rescuing, and Chuck wanted to be the one to do it. Just the fact that Gail was calling him now was proof of that, in Chuck's mind.
"Come here to the library and talk to me," Chuck said to her now. "Just you, alone. Please, Gail."
She thought about that. There must be a reason he was asking her to come there alone. He must have news. But they couldn't take the chance and involve Cas. If Cas showed up in Heaven, he might technically be breaking the agreement. And Chuck had never been part of Team Free Will, nor had Gail ever been, so they should be safe to communicate with each other, because that would be outside the parameters of the deal.
"Let me think about it," she said. "I'll get back to you in a few minutes." Then she signed off.
And that was the moment that Lucifer walked into the library.
Chuck stood up immediately from his stool, backing away from the desk. He may be under the influence of an evil spell at the moment, but Chuck was not an evil guy, and he was scared. What the hell was the Devil doing in Heaven?
"Relax, Chuck," Lucifer said good-naturedly. "I just want to talk."
"How did you get here?" Chuck said in a shaky voice. His back was against the bookshelves behind the desk now. He may be brave and daring in his fantasies, but it was quite another thing having Satan just stroll into your workplace in Heaven, as if he belonged there.
Lucifer leaned against the front desk. "Your buddy Ethan invited me," he said casually. "He fell down on his knees and worshipped me." He picked up a date stamp, looked at it curiously, then set it back down.
"That's b.s.," Chuck blurted out. He couldn't help it. The Ethan he knew would never do that.
Lucifer shrugged. "No, it's not. He did." He looked around. "Where are the porn mags, Chuck? Or do you keep them all for yourself? On second thought, I guess you don't need those, though, do you? Perv."
"What are you doing here?" Chuck asked him.
"A reasonable enough question," Lucifer replied. "I'm your boss now, Chuck. I'm just going around, doing the meet and greets. Is there anything you want to tell me, Chuck?"
"Why? What do you mean?" Chuck asked him. His head was spinning. Did this have anything to do with Gail's call? It must; the timing was just too coincidental.
Lucifer picked up the sculpture of the Eiffel Tower and looked at it. Then he sniffed it, and then he grinned. Among his many talents, Lucifer had the ability to detect spells, so he knew that there was a hex bag inside the sculpture. Interesting.
"I mean, where are the Angels, Chuck?" he asked the Prophet. Lucifer now regretted having just let Castiel go like that. He couldn't be trusted. Lucifer knew that Castiel and Gail were shielded. So, how could he find out where they were? Simple. Go see Chuck, the pervy Prophet who had been peeping into the Angels' bedroom for months now, under the guise of prophetic visions. And now that Lucifer knew that Chuck was under the influence of Rowena's magic, that made the Prophet doubly interesting to Lucifer. He took another sniff. Envy, with a soupcon of Lust. Oh yes, Chuck was going to be useful, all right.
Chuck was still looking at Lucifer with wide eyes, but he had a slight smirk on his face now. "Where are the Angels?" he repeated. "Ummm...you know where you are, right?"
Lucifer waved his hand, and all of the books came flying off the shelves. Then he crooked his finger at Chuck, who found himself moving towards the desk. Lucifer grabbed Chuck by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward, until their noses were touching.
"I don't like sarcasm, Chuck, and I don't like smartasses," Lucifer said menacingly. "That's your only warning. So, where are Castiel and Gail?"
"I don't know," Chuck said in a small voice.
"You don't know?" Lucifer said. He picked up the sculpture. "Do you want to try that one more time, before this sculpture goes where no sculpture was ever meant to go? Then again, you'd probably like that, wouldn't you? How DO you threaten a masochist with torture, anyway? Maybe I should just torture Gail instead, then."
"No!" Chuck exclaimed.
Aha. Bingo. "Then, I suggest you tell me where they are," Lucifer said calmly, releasing Chuck.
"I seriously don't know," Chuck said. Then, seeing the darkening look on Lucifer's face, he hastily added, "But I asked her to come here, and she's supposed to get back to me." Then his own expression darkened. "She probably just has to figure out how to get away from him, first."
Lucifer's eyebrows rose. If Chuck could only see his own face right now. This could be a lot of fun, actually. Thanks, Rowena.
"OK, Chuck," Lucifer said, smiling. "Here's what I want you to do."
Riley sat glumly at the library table as the humans sat around him, drinking and arguing. Dean had plunked a glass down in front of the young Angel and poured some kind of amber liquid in it, ordering him to drink it. Dean's tone had been so authoritative that Riley had done it. But the taste of it had been so strong that he had started to cough, and that had aggravated the sores in his mouth. Still, the look on his face had been so comical that most of those gathered at the table had laughed.
"Sorry, man," Dean said, snatching the glass away from him. "I guess I forgot. But you looked like you could use it."
Riley nodded. Dean had only been trying to help, in his way. It wasn't so long ago that Riley had been a human himself, and so he knew how they thought. Most human guys wanted to fix things, and they each had their own ways of trying to do that. But Riley didn't see how this situation was going to be fixed. Castiel had deserted Heaven, pure and simple. It was like finding out that Superman was on crack, or something. Riley's heart was aching. How was booze supposed to fix that?
The table was divided. Bobby, Jody and Tommy all thought that Cas had deserted Heaven too, and even more importantly, that he had deserted them. But Dean, Frank, and Barry were of the opinion that Lucifer had done something to Cas when he and Gail had been up there, put some kind of a spell on him, or something. Sam was down the middle at the moment, waiting to see what kind of arguments would be on offer before he made up his mind.
"I know that you've all known him longer," Barry said, "but there's no way that the Cas I know would ever just quit on us like that. He cares too much about people."
"I dunno, Barry," Bobby said thoughtfully. "We've seen him do some pretty strange things before. Maybe he just snapped." There were a lot more things that Bobby could have added, but he was currently stewing in his own juices. He had the ultimate culpability here, not Cas, and he knew it. It wasn't Cas's fault that Bobby had resigned his job, giving up his Godly powers. Bobby had to take most of the responsibility for Lucifer's being in Heaven right now on his own shoulders. But he was also mad at Cas for just taking off like that. What the hell were they supposed to do without him? They were all humans, including Bobby himself, now. All they had on the Angel side right now was Riley, and he was so green he probably didn't even have wings yet.
Dean was feeling bad about himself now. He had flown off the handle so quickly that he hadn't really stopped to think about things. It was almost as if Dean had been Cas, in this situation. Dean had just blown a gasket, and he'd been especially brutal to Gail. But after the Angels had left, Dean had thought about it some more. He'd pictured their faces. Cas had had that line across his forehead. Dean should have known that something was fishy, right then and there. That was Cas's worry line, and it was only present when his friend was concerned about the safety of his loved ones. Cas had claimed that he was just giving up and going on a honeymoon. But then, why had that line been there? And why had he looked so stricken when Riley had confronted him? Dean held the icebag to his face and took another pull on his beer. He never should have gone after Gail like that. But she was Cas's Achilles Heel; everybody knew that. Dean had thought that if he could unhinge Cas, his friend would be upset enough to blurt out what was really going on. Sometimes, rattling an Angel's cage was the only way to get anything out of them. But Dean knew he had really hurt Gail with what he had said to her. Now he was beating himself up over it. If Dean had wanted to rattle Cas, he should have just taken a poke at him, or something. They had just come back from Paris, where they'd had to deal with a bunch of douchebags who had thought that women weren't even people, and Gail had had to endure all of those guys' sexism and rude comments. And now, she comes back home, and one of her best friends treats her the very same way. He hung his head. Frank probably should have punched Dean in the face, too. It was no less than he deserved.
Frank was in denial about the whole thing. He'd been mad at Cas too, initially. But Frank knew that there was no way. The Cas he knew would not just give up like that, and the sister that Frank knew wouldn't just let him. She was way too stubborn for that. If Cas tried to pull any crap, Gail would be only too glad to tell him what she thought about it. But she had been way too quiet throughout that whole confrontation. No, there was no way. The Angels were hiding something. He expressed that opinion to the table now. "We need to find them, you guys," Frank said. He had called and called Cas's cell after the two of them had left earlier, but it had just rang and rang. No Voice Mail, even. Frank had been incredulous, but Dean had just shaken his head. Cas. In all the years they'd known him, he had still never gotten around to setting up the Voice Mail on his phone. The second they saw Cas again and were on speaking terms with each other, Frank and Dean were going to hold him down and make him set up the damn Voice Mail. Too bad Gail didn't still have a phone, but she'd given hers up a while back. She didn't like to carry a purse, she'd said, and she and Cas were together all the time anyway. But Frank wished she had a phone of her own; he could just bet that she would have Voice Mail set up on hers, and she would probably check her messages regularly, too.
But Jody disagreed. "I think we should just leave them alone for a while," she argued. The way that the couple had left the bunker was bothering her. Whether Cas had actually snapped or not remained to be seen, but she thought that they could all benefit from a cooling-off period. Being the only other woman who'd been in the room at the time, Jody herself needed to cool off for a bit. She was mad at everybody right now. Jody was angry at Bobby for having just up and quit being God. He had screwed them all when he'd done that, Angels and humans alike. At the very least, he should have made sure that there was a replacement Deity in place, first. And what the hell kind of ridiculous thing was that to be thinking, anyway? Boy, if people knew how screwed up Heaven and Angels were, they would probably take better care of themselves, she thought. As for Cas himself, Jody thought that he had a lot to answer for. It didn't matter what his mental or emotional state was; he should just suck it up. He was the most powerful Angel they had, and he had been their General, for the most part. But for him to desert them all now, just when they needed him the most? She was extremely disappointed in him, but she thought she might be even more disappointed in Gail. Though Jody and Gail were sisters-in-law, they had never been especially close, but Jody had always thought well of Gail. Like Jody herself, Gail held her own quite well in a man's world. She was loving and sweet, but she also had a backbone, and Jody knew that none of the men would ever dare to push Gail too far. So where had Gail been throughout that whole exchange? Largely absent, as though she had mentally checked out of the conversation. And when Dean had started in on Gail, then called her one of those magic words that women loved to hear oh so very much, Gail had just taken it from him, letting Cas fight her battles. The Gail that Jody thought she was familiar with would have selected one of the thickest books from the library shelves and whacked Dean upside the head with it before she would let him call her that. But Gail had done nothing except start to cry, when Bobby had called her and Cas out for being selfish. Jody wondered, and not for the first time, what had gone in Paris after she and Frank had decided to stay at home. Sam and Dean had told them about poor Lise having blown herself up, Demon Paul and Henri, and the fact that they and Gail had been in the hospital when Cas had strolled in with Henri. He had told them that he had secured the Tablet, the white supremacists were no longer a threat, and it was time to go home. Tout finis. All's well that ends well. But, to Jody's knowledge, no one really knew how Cas had accomplished all of that, and no one had really asked. Then again, they hadn't had much opportunity. Cas and Gail had gone home, the boys had had a bit of a rest, and then Lucifer had taken over Heaven. There wasn't a lot of downtime in their world.
So Jody and Frank had had a fight about it. Jody thought that they should try to forge ahead. "We know who and where this psychic is," she said. "Why don't we go and see her? Linda can give us the information about the next Tablet, and we can try to get it ourselves. We can't just sit around on our asses and let Lucifer run things."
Frank frowned. "What about Cas and Gail?" he said.
"What about them?" Jody said, shrugging. "They clearly have some issues to work out. But we can't wait on them. We have to take action."
Dean agreed, at least in principle. He'd always been a big fan of action. But he was feeling so guilty about the way he'd talked to Gail that he was firmly in the "Let's find them" camp with Frank.
"You know, they might not want to be found, Frank," Jody argued. "Maybe we should just leave them alone for a while."
"I don't want to do that," Frank said earnestly. "There's something wrong with Gail, Jodes. She didn't look right. And she wasn't acting like herself."
Even though Jody had been thinking along those same lines, she shook her head now. "Gail's a grownup, Frank. We've talked about this before. She's not your little sister anymore," Jody told him.
"She'll always be my little sister," Frank insisted. "I'm the one who took care of her all those years. If she needs my help, I have to help her."
"I get that, Frank, but we don't know that she does need your help," Jody shot back. "And if she does, it's Cas's job to help her, not yours. She's an adult woman, and she and Cas are married now. You've got your own family to worry about. I think you just can't accept that she doesn't need you anymore."
A couple of the men at the table had winced at that, and Jody had regretted it as soon as it had come out of her mouth.
"That was harsh, Jody," Sam admonished her, and she got up from her chair and walked over to where her husband sat. "I'm sorry, Pookie," Jody said, and she leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. Frank's arm circled around her waist, and his lips twitched. Her comment had hurt, but she had not been wrong in her assessment of the situation, and Frank had always been a fan of straight talk. But she had zinged him with the pet name she had come up with for him one night when they'd been laying in bed, mocking the way Cas and Gail were with each other, and that was making Frank smile now. God, he loved this woman.
Jody had used the nickname very deliberately, and it had the desired effect. "Pookie?" Dean exclaimed, coming out of his funk. He looked at Sam. "Pookie!" Dean repeated delightedly, as Sam broke into a grin. Dean looked at Frank. "You know we're calling you that from now on, right. That is too good. Pookie!" he said again.
Frank glared at him. "Laugh it up, Winchester. Wait right here. I've been dying to break in a couple of new weapons."
"Oh, Pookie!" Dean cried out in an effeminate voice. "You're so manly!"
"Pookie, Pookie, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Pookie," Sam chipped in. He glanced over at Gail's chair, forgetting for a moment that she wasn't there, and his smile faded. She would have loved this.
Dean did the same thing, and his heart hurt. She would have had the best line of all, he was sure. Gail would have teased her brother mercilessly, especially since he was always giving her and Cas a hard time about being so affectionate with each other. Which was kind of why he and Jody had been mocking the couple in the first place. But they were absent from their family right now, and Frank didn't feel much like laughing. Still, Jody's tactic had worked, to a certain extent. The brief moment of levity had served to defuse the tension that had been building between them all.
Jody looked at Bobby. "OK, Bobby. God or not, you're in charge here," she said. "What do you think?"
He sighed. Then he thought for a moment and said, "OK, Jody. Here's what we're gonna do. You and Sam go see that medium, see if you can talk to Linda. Riley's gonna help me on Angel Radio. I've been saying for a long time now that we should be translating those Tablets. I'm gonna see if we can get in touch with Kevin and bring him down here to do that. Once he's here, Lucifer won't be able to touch him."
"What do you want me to do, Bobby?" Dean asked him.
Bobby's beard twitched. "Why don't you and Pookie work on finding Cas and Gail?" Everyone around the table smiled, including Frank. "Sorry, Jody, but I don't think we should leave it alone," Bobby continued. "I may be pissed off at them right now, but we've gotta approach this like it's an investigation. If there's something strange going on with those two, we have to find out about it. We can't just sit around here moping. We've gotta grab Lucifer by the cojones and squeeze. Chop chop, everybody. Pity party's over."
Everyone felt better now. Bobby was back at the helm, and they had a plan going forward.
Frank stood from the table. "Great. Sounds good, Bobby."
"Where are you going, Pookie?" Sam asked him, grinning again.
"To get those weapons I mentioned," Frank said cheerfully. "The next guy who calls me Pookie is gonna die a slow, agonizing death."
Everyone laughed as Frank headed down the hall to the bathroom.