The Guardian of Hell is a Barbie Doll

Five miles away from the gates into Springdale Fields, the brothers and the Angel were going over the final details of what could, barely, be called a plan.

"Okay, so who are you again?" Sam asked as he double-checked that he had everything he needed in the back of his newly acquired (Bobby had fixed it up to run but it was nothing fancy) car.

Dean leaned heavily against the side of the Impala as Castiel climbed out of the passenger's side. They were both dressed lightly in jeans and T-shirts with Dean wearing his leather jacket while the Angel had a red hoodie wrapped around his waist – for Iowa in spring, it was pretty warm with the sky stretching on in an endless blue and only a slight breeze blowing down the empty road. "I'm Dean Smith, that's Cas Novak, we're moving into a small house near the outskirts of the town and I hope this doesn't take longer than a couple of weeks."

Sam pulled a bitchface. "Dean, you've got to make this convincing if you want to find this thing." his brother reminded him.

"Yeah yeah, I know. How do you know this town won't go all Witch Hunt on us, anyway? Do we know they don't have an issue with gay couples?" the elder Winchester was grasping at straws now – why did he always get dragged into the most awkward of awkward situations.

"The second couple to go missing was a same sex couple by the name of Jennifer and Vanessa Mathews." Castiel told him.

Dean sighed. "Good to know. Right come on then, honey , I guess we'd better get going. The estate agent said she'd meet us at the gates at one." he sighed as he climbed back into the driver's side and started the car.

"I'll meet you there tonight, I'm starting my new job as tech consultant tomorrow so I should be able to have a good look around." Sam leaned in towards the open window: he'd managed to fake some credentials and gotten the job in the town which also came with a small apartment near the centre of the town.

"See ya later then, Samantha." the older brother grinned before pulling back out onto the road. He was going to get through this. It would all be fine... Probably.

The Angel to his right was treating it like any other hunt so why was Dean letting it get under his skin? He shook himself mentally and told himself that they only had to keep up the act when in public, any other time and it was the same as always. But then again, what even classified as 'the same' or 'normal' when it came to them any more?

Who were they now, any way?

The Righteous Man and an Angel?

Michael's Vessel and a Fallen Seraph?

Dean and Castiel?

Before he could reach any kind of answer, he could see the iron gates down the road. At some point, the stretching fields had given way to a dense woodland that arched over the road to form a canopy which shaded most of the dry tarmac. At the end of it, two iron gates were set into red-brick walls that extended into the woods and were, at least,twice as tall as Sam.

Waiting by the gates was a woman who, in Dean's opinion, was smiling a little too brightly and who stood a little too straight. Everything about her radiated an air of a painted doll.

Dean pulled up the car as they reached her and she crouched slightly in order to see into the window.

"Good afternoon!" she chirped and Dean resisted the urge to flinch at her sickly-sweet voice. "I'm Hannah Davonshire but please, call me Han. You must be Dean and Cas then, correct?" he red lips pulled into a wide smile as she tucked a lock of dark hair behind her ear.

"We are, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Castiel spoke up - inclining his head as he did – for the first time since leaving Sam.

"Oh, likewise! I'm sure you'll be happy here at Springdale Fields so I'm just here to give you some last minute info, m'kay?" she didn't wait for an answer as she pulled something from a stack of papers she had been carrying in her arms. "Here's a map; you're in number eleven on Joshua Avenue which is here," she pointed to an outer road on the map. "Everything you'll ever need can be bought in town but the gates are open from eight in the morning until ten at night. All the basic furniture is already in the house but if you need anything larger being brought in then there's a local moving service. Town meetings are normally held on the first Friday of every month but you'll hear more about that once you're settled. Is that all okay?"

Dean stared on as he tried to take in everything he'd just been told in a wash of overly-sweet sounds and an unnerving smile.

The Angel, however, managed to cover-up and accepted the map with a small smile of his own and a 'Thank you' before Hannah moved and swiped a key card over an electronic pad next to the gates.

"Oh yes, I forgot to mention, these open the gates during the open hours; yours will be waiting for you in your house. If you ever need to open the gates at another hour you'll have to speak with one of the gate keepers: there's three but only one gate – there's Harry Wilson, Fredrick Smithson and Buddy; nobody ever calls him by anything else. Their office is in the town plaza. But anyway, I've kept you long enough," she laughed. "You should go make yourselves at home."

The elder Winchester nodded before driving through the wide-open gates slowly, like a funeral parade.

"Well she was... scarily creepy, don't ya th-" he started to say when he was interrupted by a grunt from Castiel. "Cas? Cas! What's wrong?!" he started and was about to pull over.

"Don't- ugh, don't stop driving. There's people watching." Castiel grated out. Dean wondered how the Angel knew this given the fact that he was clutching his stomach and bent double.

The green-eyed man looked back to the road and continued driving, trying to act like there wasn't an Angel who looked ready to faint in the passenger seat. "Care to tell me what's happening?" he asked.

The Seraph took a long breath before sitting back up; he looked a little pale but not in physical pain any more. "Those walls must be... Warded, I can no longer fly out. I can still feel my Grace but it has been... Bound." he looked over at Dean then. "We need to find whatever this is, Dean."

Said human nodded as he stopped the car in front of a (pretty stereotypical) wooden house which had a number eleven painted onto the side of its mailbox. "The sooner the better. And if it's Miss Barbie-Doll we saw out front? All the better."

"I sensed no abnormal aura radiating from her. I believe she was human if... Slightly disturbing." Castiel informed him as they both climbed out of the car and grabbed up a box each from the back seat. The boxes had been filled by Dean and Sam the night before with whatever they could find in charity shops just so it looked like they were actually a couple. Dean knew, however, that many of the boxes were mostly empty and were only there for show.

"Yeah, well, I bet she still has some part of this." Dean muttered as he waved to somebody across the street. Keeping the smile on his face, he added out of the corner of his mouth to Castiel. "Oh God, I think she's coming over to talk to us."

"Language, Dean, and we're supposed to play along." the Angel reminded him as the woman all but skipped across the road towards them.

"Hey, I'm Rachel. I live just across the road. I take it you're just moving in?" she asked. Her red hair was tied back from her face and she had bright blue eyes set into a tanned face. Gay, Dean reminded himself. You're meant to be gay, and if that was something Dean had ever thought he'd hear himself think, he'd paint the Impala bright yellow. It wasn't helped by the fact that she was wearing shorts and a tank top like she was about to go jogging that didn't leave much about her figure to the imagination.

"Yeah, I'm Dean and this is Cas. It's nice to meet you." he gave a grin that could melt butter.

"Oh, you'll have to come over and meet the rest of this part of the neighbourhood! Me and my husband are having a barbecue this weekend and we've invited practically everyone from here to Maple Road." she giggled. Husband? Well damn.

"That sounds delightful." Castiel said.

"Well, I'm gonna have to go but I'll see you around to tell you the details, 'kay?" she smiled before jogging off to their right and down the street.

"Really? You want to go to a barbecue?" Dean turned to him.

The Angel gave a small tilt of his head that could have been his version of a shrug. "It seemed like an easy way to get to know the people and assess how many other couples there are and if we can tell who will be next."

The elder Winchester did shrug. "Okay. Well, lead the way, babe ." he smirked.

Just because it was complicated didn't mean he wasn't going to have fun.