Author's Note: This was inspired by Dizzo's awesome fic titled "Special Delivery", and is dedicated to the lovely MeAzrael whose birthday is coming up at the end of last month... oops. Ah well, better late than early... or something. Anyway, Dizzo is inspiring; MeAzrael is lovely—on with the show! :)

Ground Force

Ding-dong!

Holly looked up from the book she had her nose buried in, wondering who on earth that could be—all of her friends always rang ahead. As she approached the door she heard the tail-end of a conversation that instantly halted as soon as she opened the door.

"...only patch of ground we haven't checked yet—hi there!" The speaker was tall, handsome, and had one of those grins that could make anyone weak at the knees. "I'm Dean and this is Cas," he introduced, indicating his silent companion, "and we're freelance gardeners. Would you be interested in a free consultation?"

Holly was not the best at gardening—every time her mom and dad visited they were always complaining about the state of it. Thinking, Holly glanced around Dean's shoulder, but didn't a see a truck or any kind of gardening equipment. There was something about Dean, though, that left her thinking she could trust him—to a degree.

Still a little bit sceptical, she decided to take them to the garden via the outside of the house rather than by going through it. "Okay, then," she said, and led the way.

As she opened the wooden gate Dean and Cas had a brief exchange that Holly didn't catch. She walked into the centre of the garden, grass brushing her ankles. "Well, this is it," she said, folding her arms, suddenly conscious of the flower beds with more weeds and grass than flowers in them, and the faded, rusting deck chair that was slowly sinking into the hedge.

"Why don't you, ah, give us a few minutes to evaluate everything?" Dean suggested, to her surprise not sounding as judgemental as she'd expected him to.

Holly walked to the house's back door, but stopped and turned at the last minute. Cas was already sweeping the garden, his palm facing the ground, concentrating hard on something—to be honest, it was a little freaky. Holly cleared her throat. "Do you guys want something to drink? Lemonade?"

"Thanks, that would be great. Do you have a lawnmower?" Dean asked, eyeing the grass that was beginning to seed.

"It's in the shed. What about you, Cas? Do you want a drink?"

Cas straightened and glanced at Dean before replying, "I would be content to also receive lemonade, thank you."

"Okay," Holly said politely, because even though her garden was crap, she could at least be hospitable. She went inside to fetch them their drinks. She couldn't see the garden from the kitchen window but she heard her neglected lawnmower splutter into life. She'd only poured one glass of lemonade before her phone rang and Rachel talked for a solid fifteen minutes.

Holly heard the sudden yell of, "Son of a bitch!" and told Rachel that she really had to hang up now.

She ran out to the garden and her mouth fell open in shock at the sight—Cas had dug at least three holes, and was now holding some kind of dirty necklace in the air triumphantly. "I have found the talisman, Dean."

Dean had managed to mow half of the lawn before he'd had to empty the bag—his face, his jacket and shirt were all sprayed with little pieces of cut grass, and he was pointing a gun at the lawnmower, breathing heavily and looking quite angry.

Holly simply stared, speechless. What the hell?

Cas noticed her watching first. He scrambled to his feet, the dirt that was on his clothing a moment before vanishing in the blink of an eye. Cas slipped the muddy necklace thing into one of his pockets and urgently nudged Dean with his shoulder. "Er, Dean..."

"What, Cas?" Dean snapped, before he saw Holly and hastily hid his gun from view. He wiped his face as best as he could with his sleeve, but all he managed to do was leave green streaks on his cheeks. "Er—your lawnmower attacked me. It's a bitch," he said, and glared at the lawnmower which rumbled on regardless. "We'll fix this—"

Holly found her voice. "Get the hell out of my garden and take Bugs Bunny with you," she ordered in a tone that allowed no room for disagreement, jabbing a finger at the open gate.

Cas blinked, tilted his head. "I am not a bug or a bunny, I'm an ang—"

Dean raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, we're going," he cut Cas off. He took one step towards the gate and stopped. "I just... I couldn't just leave this garden like it was—would it kill you to plant a few violas?"

"I have a gnome," Holly said defensively, and pointed... at a patch of scotched earth with a few chunks of pottery strewn here and there. "...I had a gnome."

"Yeah, well..." Dean began before he caught Holly's glare and glanced at his feet instead.

He landed a parting kick to the lawnmower's wheel before he stalked off.

Cas lingered for a moment longer. "I had to smite your gnome—it was making Dean uncomfortable," he explained earnestly before he scurried to catch up with Dean.

They left Holly there, standing in the doorway, wondering what her mom and dad were going to think of this.

THE END

A/N: Do yourself a favour and listen to the Ground Force theme tune while picturing Castiel digging up the garden. It's on YouTube here: /watch?v=LwUoIW529NY

Happy birthday, MeAzrael! :)