This is my first fanfic and I'm looking forward to hearing your opinion. So please, R&R
English is not my first language so be gentle.
Disclaimer: Unfortunatly, I don't own any of the characters from Supernatural, but believe me I have tried to pray for God to send me an angel like Castiel. So far, no luck! I guess God knows that I would try to do bad things to one of his employees, and he probably wants to avoid being dragged in to a sexual harassment suit.
Divine Intervention
Chapter 1
"So, have you heard anything from her yet?"
Dean set the take away bag down on the table in front of Sam and his laptop.
Sam looked up from behind the screen, at his brother who had just entered the living room.
"No, not since she called yesterday about that geta. I gotta tell you it's really good to have someone on the team who actually knows how to research stuff."
"Hey! I heard that!" Bobby's voice sounded from the kitchen.
Sam ignored him and turned the laptop around to show Dean the screen.
"Look here… I searched the geta and true enough, there's an old Chinese myth about the geta and the Tengu. Basically, geta is this type of traditional Chinese footwear, and if you happen to have a pair once worn by one of the first monks from the Shaolin Monistarey in the 5th century, well then you just put them on and the Tengu will not be able to hide from you once it's appear before you and it cannot hurt you. I didn't find this before because the Tengu we are hunting seemed to come from Japanese lore. But it seems that the myth actually originated somewhere in China, and then traveled into the Japanese lore where it spread like weed. Victoria really came through here"
Dean looked on the screen and swallowed a bite of his sandwich;
"So it checks out. Now, where are we on finding that... what was it, sandal thing?"
"Well, I sent Cas to look this morning, but he hasn't returned yet. So I guess we'll just have to wait."
"Yeah. Eat!" Dean pushed the bag over to Sam, but he didn't pick it up.
"No thanks, I'm not hungry"
"Well, suit yourself"
"We need to figure out where this thing is hiding and…" Sam stopped mid sentence and listened "...here she comes".
And true enough, soon they could both hear the roar from the Honda Fireblade approaching the house. Sam looked at the clock. It had just turned eleven-forty-five. "The nabours won't be happy".
"When are they ever", Bobby replied as he came in from the kitchen and placed three bears on the table, before he placed himself behind the large desk.
The roar from the bike grew louder as Victoria rode into the lot and then everything silenced. They heard the front door being opened and shut again. "Hey, guys! Mommy's home!"
"We're in here", Sam replied
She came into the living room in the seconds it took her to take of her jacket and boots.
"Hey, boys. 'see your working hard as always." She threw a brown paper bag at Dean, who caught it in the air.
"Good thing I brought dinner"
Dean opened the bag and the smell of warm burger filled the living room.
"Sweetheart, you are an angle", he replied as he closed the bag to finish his sandwich before the main course.
"But I see you're already supplied", she said as she put down her backpack on the table.
"I'll manage", Dean replied with his mouth full.
Sam looked at Victoria; "It's good to have you back, Vic. What took you so long? I thought you'd be home yesterday, after your phone call"
She took of her backpack and started roaming around in it. "Well, you know… manicure, rush hour and… oh yes… this little trinket."
She pulled a dark blue bag from her sack and threw it to Sam. "What's this?"
"The shoes, so you can go kill the Tenga"
Victoria put down her backpack. Sam opened the bag and took out a pair of old wooden squares, with two worn leather straps on each.
"You're welcome", she said as she threw herself on the couch.
"Oh, yeah tanks, but where did you get this?"
"The Chinese embassy"
"Really?" Sam looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"Really. You see, Chinas swimming with ancient treasures collected by Mao for destruction. Many of the artifacts, which the old psycho didn't manage to destroy before his all too late death, are circulating on the black market. So they are smuggled out of China and into other countries all over the world, including the US. When a smuggler gets caught, the artifact he's carrying is handed over to The Chinese embassy for expedition back to the home country. Until that happens the goodies are locked away in the basement, and that is where I found that little baby there" She suppressed a yawn. "And now I think I'll go and have a well deserved night of sleep"
Sam handed the shoes to Dean, who examined them with a suspicious look.
"I just sent Cas to search for these this morning. Guess you beat him to it"
"Yeah, guess I did. Well, maybe it's good to have backup for once" Victoria starred at a spot on the decaying wallpaper. "So Cas isn't back yet?"
"No, not yet"
"Well, maybe you should try and contact him and tell him to stop looking. Though he'd probably had an easier time getting those out of the embassy that I did"
"Most likely", Dean said as he swallowed the last bite of Sams sandwich.
"How did you do it?" Bobby asked.
"Well, I might not be a hunter, but you don't have to kill monsters to imitate a government employee… or to charm one for that matter." She sent him a secretive smile. "But now I'll go and lie down" She got up and went for the hall and the staircase, but turned around in the doorway.
"Hey, Bobby"
He looked up at her
"Yeah"
"I really do appreciate you letting me stay here. It's really good to have a place to come home to."
"Nah, it's no big deal. I never really use any of the upstairs rooms anyway, and you need to have a place to work from as long as you're with us. I'm just impressed you've managed to make it livable up there." He smiled and gestured out into the room. "Well, and down here for that matter. It's really me who should be thanking you"
She smiled; "Thanks, Bobby. Sleep tight y'all", she said before turning and disappearing into the hall, closing the door behind her.
She went to her jacket and searched the pockets for her music player. She sometimes had trouble falling asleep and music always helped. She found what she was looking for. As she turned around to climb the staircase her heart jumped to her throat and a small whine escaped her, as she was startled by a figure in the hall.
"Jezz, Cas! I thought we were over that… sneaking up on people thing", she said through battered breath.
Castiel stepped forward out of the shadow of the staircase. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to startle you… Are you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay". She looked up and her eyes meet his, now full of concern, and she quickly looked away.
"I'm just aah… a little of my guard. I just got home and I haven't really slept for about 30 hours…"
He nodded as he studied her, but he didn't say anything. She suddenly had a notion that he might have been standing there in the shadows even before she came into the hall. She took a deep breath. Her heart just wouldn't seem to slow down again.
"… so… I was just on my way to bed. You know, to catch up on that". She quickly licked her lips and hoped that he would say something, but you never knew with him. There was a long pause.
"Yes, Sam told me that your field research on the Tengu was successful. Then he sent me to search for the Geta… But where have you been since yesterday?"
"Well", she smiled and paused. She was regaining control over herself. But that damn heart still wouldn't slow down properly.
"I was on my way home when I got this idea… and then I went and got us a pair for Geta"
A puzzled expression crossed his face, before it returned to its usual serious look. Then he reached out his hand in which a brown hemp back had just appeared.
"Well, then what am I supposed to do with these…?"
She looked at the bag which she gathered contained a pair of century's old geta. She was just about to make some sort of apologies, when she saw the very subtle but distinct smile in his eyes.
"… You know, an old man was very upset that I took these from him. He said it was the best shoes he had ever had. I had to promise to return them to him, when we were done with them…"
She smiled back at him now, as he continued;
"… Oh well, with two pairs there might be an actual chance of recovering one pair for returnasion, after Dean and Sam has gone in with their usual subtleness".
She nodded in agreement before she said something;
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to rob a nice old man of his favorite footwear"
"Well, he wasn't really that nice. He tried to sell them to me for 50000 yen. Granted, they are worth about 200 times that, but he didn't know that. And of course, that was after he threatened me with law enforcement and execution. Come to think of it, I don't think I will return those shoes to him in any case"
He nodded his head slightly and put the bag away without her really registering where it went.
She tried to put up a serious face.
"Well, I am sorry that you had to quarrel with a greedy old man for nothing"
"I did get an introduction to the art of haggling"
There was a long pause.
She just stood there and felt it all sneak up on her, before she pulled herself together and reminded herself where she was going.
"Okay, now I will go to bed before I collapse right here in the hall". She sent him a smile and began to climb the staircase. At the fifth step she stopped and turned around. He was still standing there.
"So, I gather you went all the way to China to get those sandals?"
He nodded
A smile appeared at the corner of her mouth, as she put in a small pause for effect.
"Well, weren't that a waste of good mileage. They had three pairs in D.C."
He looked after her as she turned and continued up the stairs.
"Goodnight, Victoria"
"Thank you, Cas"
He watched her until she had disappeared around the corner to the first floor corridor. Then he disappeared.
After Victoria had left the room, Bobby sighed and shook his head; "She's a good girl that one"
"Yeah, she's something…" Dean shuffled up the sandwich bag and aimed it at the wastebasket. He missed. "So, you think she and I cou…"
"No!"
"No!"
Dean threw out his arms in a disbelieving gesture and set up an offended look.
"Well, don't stumble on each other. What's so wrong with the thought of…"
He didn't get further before Bobby interrupted him again;
"Because she's a nice, intelligent, self respecting woman and you would screw things up before you got to the second week. And besides of the fact that I don't want to see her get hurt, have you looked around here lately? I've got flowers in my window, fresh towels and a clean bathroom. Hell, I've got real food in my refrigerator and I didn't even remember what color this carpet was before she came and did her thing. Actually, I think I'd forgotten that I even had a carpet. So before you go and do something stupid that's gonna make her leave this house, you remember that whoever chases her away is going to compensate me."
Dean made a dismissive gesture towards Bobby and shook his head. "I'm not gonna screw things up. Help me out here, Sam?"
Sam, who had tried to make himself invisible by hiding behind the laptop, looked up with an already apologizing expression.
"Sorry Dean, but I just don't think she's… your type."
"Hey, I don't have a type"
"Yeah, you do"
"Shut up, Bobby"
Dean put down his beer a little too hard on the table.
"I don't understand why you both have so little faith in me on this point. I really think…" He was interrupted by a ruffling sound and Cas appearing by the closed hallway door.
"Faith in what?" Castiel asked.
"Oh well, it's just Huey and Dewey here who doesn't think I'm capable of maintaining a serious relationship"
He grabbed his beer again.
Cas looked at him;
"Are you?"
"I don't know! But I'd like to not dismiss the possibility entirely, like my family apparently does"
Cas sent him a confused look.
"Right. Well, has anybody offered you their hand in marriage?"
"No, Cas! Nobody offers their hand in marriage anymore. This is not the middle ages. I just suggested the thought that I might ask Vic out one day. She's a…"
"No, bad idea"
"Aw, come on! You're all plotting against me here. What's wrong?" Dean looked around, but got no answer.
"Cas?" Dean looked at him, expecting an answer.
"Well, you… I just don't think that she…" Dean couldn't quit read the mixed look of concern on the angels face.
"… I just don't think she is your type"
"Jezz, what's with the types here? Her type! My type. What's wrong with her type?"
"Well, for one thing she's not Asian"
Sam didn't look up from the screen as he delivered his line, but he still managed to duck from the shuffled burger bag, which Dean sent flying towards his head. Instead of hitting its intended destination, it continued through the air and into the windowsill where it knocked over a small vase with wild flowers from the garden.
"Arw no!" Bobby got up from the couch. Now look at that. She just put them there this morning. Those nice flowers"
They all three watched him with confused expressions as he made his way to the kitchen, mumbling something about daffodils.
The Castiel turned and looked at Dean;
"If they are Huey and Dewey… wouldn't that make you Louie?
Victoria closed her eyes as she leaned against the back of the door she had just closed behind her. This just wasn't a durable situation. For four months now she had tried to at least not be alone with him. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. This just couldn't go on.
She pulled herself together and went to unpack her backpack. Her room was actually two conjoint rooms. It had been intended as an upstairs parlor in the old villa. Now it was her bedroom and living room/office with a double door in between the two. She really was thankful for Bobby letting her stay there. When he has presented it to her, the rooms had stood unused for years. Not empty though, but as a depository for all kinds of things Bobby for some reason couldn't find room or need for on the ground floor. The furniture was covered with sheets and the sheets had been covered with dust, as for the carpet. But after a thorough cleaning and two full days of airing out and throwing away (there had been a lot of throwing away), it was now very nice, she thought. Most of the old furniture had been useless, but she had kept a small wooden desk and a chair, a huge closet which seemed to be seconds from falling apart, but never did and an oddly shaped chaise long in slightly mouse eaten purple velvet with, a small table attached to it. The only really pleasant surprise had been a large, old four-poster bed which, as Bobby explained, had been a must-have, secondhand purchase of his late wife. It had been dragged into the house by many toils and trials, only to never be heard from again. Now it was her bed and she loved it. And when she had spent the first couple of weeks roaming the rest of the first floor to find a large mirror and a couple of lamps, it had become like a real home to her. Now she emptied her backpack on the bed and tried to shake of the thrilling but unwelcome feeling of his eyes on her back.
At first she had been sure that this infatuation would soon wear off as they usually did if not sparked. But it hadn't. Actually quite the contrary. It had grown stronger, more possessive and unavoidable. Now she was afraid to even think the word. 'Love'. She could pretty easily put up a facade, as long as she was not caught off guard, which you often were with him. But she could not go on like this forever. At some point soon, she would have to get off this emotional rollercoaster, or ells she was afraid that she would end up doing something stupid.