Love Is Like a Torch (It's Burning Bright)
By: TheFifthCharmedOne
Disclaimer: Nope. Kripke owns the characters, the show just owns my soul.
Summary: [Sequel to When They Think of Me (They Think of You)] Six months later, nobody expected this to happen. "What did you think? We were all going to live happily ever after? Please. Spare me your sparkly bullshit." – Destiel, Sabriel, Anna/Charlie/Jo, Jess/Garth, and others.
-X-X-X-
Chapter Two: Making Amends
Armed with a full basket of dirty clothes, Gabriel stampeded down the steps of his duplex, headed toward the basement laundry room.
He heard the door open behind him.
"Anna?" he questioned, and when she didn't answer immediately, dread shot down his spine like an electric current.
"Not quite."
Gabriel whirled around and the laundry basket clattered to the floor, the clothes spilling across the linoleum.
"What are you doing here?" the second youngest Novak demanded, his mouth suddenly as dry as sandpaper. He couldn't stop himself from staring at the newcomer, taking in his changed appearance.
Dirty blond hair arched upward over a medium-sized forehead, accompanied by a diamon-shaped face, long neck, and thinly muscled frame. His height hovered between 6'1 and 6'2. In Gabriel's mind, the invader had blood red eyes to match his evil personality.
"It's been a long time." Lucifer Novak crooned.
"Eighteen years since you tried to burn your family to a crisp." Gabriel said bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest. "What are you doing here?" he repeated. "How did you even get in?"
"You need to be sneakier about hiding your spares." Lucifer held up the small bronze key, which glinted glaringly in the fluorescent lights. "It's cute that you check to see who's coming in."
"Go fuck yourself."
"So fresh." Lucifer tsked. "Aren't you at least a little bit happy to see me?"
"Why should I be?"
Lucifer's head tilted, his chin jutting out. The striking similarity to Cas made Gabriel's stomach clench.
"We're family, Gabriel. Blood."
"You're nothing to me." Gabriel growled. "Now get out before I beat the shit out of you."
A shadow passed over Lucifer's face. If Gabriel didn't know any better, he would almost categorize it as regret.
"I knew that you wouldn't be rolling out the red carpet for me, but threats are a bit excessive. You won't even let me explain myself."
"What's there to explain?"
"Gabe?" A new voice called.
"Anna, can you come down here please?"
Whether it was the use of the word please, or just the eerily calm to Gabriel's voice when he said it, the two brothers heard something hit the ground before Anna came stomping down the steps. She stopped in the doorway and her face drained of color.
"Luke?" she asked faintly.
"Hey, baby sis." Lucifer put his hand up as if to wave and then thought better of it. Anna blinked rapidly, as though she was trying to shake herself out of a dream.
Or in this case, a nightmare.
-X-X-X-
"Hey Cas, could you hand me that socket wrench?" Cas knelt down beside his boyfriend and gave him what he thought was the requested tool. Dean rolled out from under the car, smiling bemusedly.
"This isn't a socket wrench." Dean dropped the tool into the box and picked up the right one.
"In my defense, they all look similar." Cas told him, and Dean just shook his head in bemusdement. "I'm a scholar, not a mechanic." he continued sulkily, and Dean interlocked their fingers, kissing Cas's knuckles.
"You okay?" Dean asked, watching as Cas's expressive blue eyes darkened guiltily. "Something seems off."
"I just…" Cas shrugged. "I want to get away. Go somewhere else." Dean waited for him to continue. "I spent most of my formative years on the move, so staying in one place has never worked for me."
"So you want to go on vacation?" Dean asked. "Where do you want to go?"
Cas's heart thumped painfully in his chest – maybe he'd been wrong not to tell Dean about Columbia. If he was this open about traveling…
"Dean, I…I have to tell you something." Cas said, and the other man's eyebrows furrowed.
"Castiel."
Cas turned, and the color disappeared from his face so fast that Dean thought he'd pass out right there. His shoulders hunched in defensively, but his eyes never left the stranger's face.
"Hello, Michael."
Dean glanced between his boyfriend and the newcomer, barely able to believe his eyes.
The eldest Novak sibling was tall and lean, probably around 6'2, with dark hair and a square shaped face. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a hoodie, and jeans.
"Michael Novak," the dark-haired man said to Dean, offering his hand for a handshake. "You are?"
"Dean Winchester." the mechanic said, still watching Cas in concern. "Is there something I can help you with?" he asked reflexively, as though suddenly remembering he was still at work.
"Perhaps. I wish to have a family reunion of sorts. My twin is currently with Gabriel and Anna, and I am here, hoping to convince my youngest brother to have dinner with us. However, if he doesn't want to talk to me, I'm willing to leave the address of the establishment where we have reservations."
Cas said nothing, his fists clenched tightly against his thighs.
"Cas, can I talk to you for a second?" When the brown-haired man didn't respond, Dean wrapped a firm hand around the other's elbow and pulled him toward the back office.
"I always knew this day would come. I just thought I would be more prepared when it did."
"What do you want to do?" Dean asked. He had never seen Cas this way.
"Dean! We got a 1957 Studebaker here that needs a state inspection!" Bobby's voice called from the garage. Something sparked in the back of Dean's mind, a memory, but it wasn't strong enough to distract him from Cas.
"Go ahead. I'll be fine. I just need to get myself together." Cas told Dean, and after some hesitation, the other man walked out into the garage.
A few minutes later, Cas came out, and found a handwritten note sitting on the hood of the car Dean had been working on a few minutes ago. Michael was nowhere to be seen.
Harvelle's Roadhouse
Reservation at 6pm
Hope to see you there, little brother.
-M
-X-X-X-
6:00 PM came far too quickly for Castiel's liking. He and Dean had agreed to come together, especially after talking with Gabriel and Anna. Gabriel had suggested Charlie come, but Anna reminded him that she was going to pick up Jo from the airport. (Never mind that she and Charlie hadn't spoken since their last disagreement.)
Gabe hadn't wanted to come to dinner at all, but the combined efforts of Anna and Sam were enough to at the very least get him to agree to drinks.
"I'm going to need something stronger than whiskey for this." Gabe grumbled.
The Roadhouse was empty except for two men, seated at the centermost table. An uncomfortable chill shot down Dean's spine at the complete silence – he was used to music and chatter filling the air of the restaurant. He felt the wrongness of it like heartburn and acid reflux, all at once.
Ellen leaned casually against the bar, drying an already pristine beer mug. Clearly, she was keeping watch to make sure that things didn't go south. Bobby probably wasn't far away either. For that, Dean was thankful.
Michael looked exactly the same as he had a few hours before, and Cas grabbed Dean's hand reflexively. The latter's heart did a happy little squirm, but he quashed it before it could come to full fruition.
Lucifer had sandy blond hair and similar bone structure to his brother, but that was where the similarities ended. Dean knew that twins could be identical or fraternal – but these two didn't even look like they had the same parents.
"Hello." Lucifer said quietly. "Let's just get straight to the point." The blond sat on the table with his hands folded. "I didn't want to hurt any of you."
Gabriel snorted and Sam squeezed his knee to keep him from objecting. Gabe glared at Sam, who was watching Lucifer and not paying attention. Cas blew out a long breath, resting his elbows against his knees. Anna kept her face carefully neutral.
"I was just so angry…Father was gone, Raphael was lashing out, Anna was getting ready to leave…" he bowed his head dejectedly. "I realize what I did was unforgivable, but…I got help. I went to a therapist and a psychiatrist and…" Lucifer let out a shaky sigh. "I've been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It explains everything. The manic episodes, the months of depression afterward…the…destructive behavior…"
"You mean to tell us that, after all these years, you have a mental illness, and that's why you nearly killed us all?" Gabriel shot out of his chair. "That's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard."
"Gabe, give him a chance." Sam said, and Gabe narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend.
"Why should I? News flash, Sam; not everyone is as unhealthily codependent as you and the squirrel here." He gestured to Dean. "If you think I'm going to forgive him because he's sick, you're crazier than he is." Before Sam could say anything else, Gabe stomped out of the restaurant back to his apartment.
Sam got up and follow him, but Anna puts a gentle hand on his arm, causing him to turn to her. "Let him cool down first. When he gets like this, he says things he doesn't mean."
Meanwhile, Cas is resting his elbows on his knees and breathing heavily. Dean is rubbing his back and trying to keep him calm, all while glaring menacingly at Luke.
-X-X-X-
Later that night, Charlie Bradbury sat at Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport with one leg crossed over the other, scrolling through Tumblr on her phone. She snorted at some of the posts and laughed at others, earning some strange looks from the people around her.
"Charlie!"
Jo Harvelle jogged toward the redhead, pulling a suitcase behind her and adjusting the backpack on her back.
"Jo!" Charlie pocketed her phone and went over to hug the blonde. The student's hair was pulled into a messy top bun, her face pale and tired, but her smile radiated happiness. She wore a dark purple hoodie with gold letters spelling UALBANY across the chest. "How were your flights?"
"Not bad. I slept most of the way from Albany to Chicago."
"I could never sleep on planes. Cars, sure. Trains, maybe. But definitely not planes."
"I sold my soul to the devil known as finals." Jo joked. "I guess I needed to rest." Charlie smiled, though the expression felt strange on her face, and she realized in that moment that she hadn't been happy enough to smile in months.
The two girls started walking toward the airport exit, and as soon as the winds of Wichita hit their cheeks, Jo shivered.
"I forgot how cold Kansas can get," she said in embarrassment.
"My car isn't far; and Dean just put in a new heater for me."
"Ooh nice." Jo smiled, and the pink of her cheeks made Charlie's breath catch. Jo's brown eyes seemed to sparkle like the Kansas stars, and her stomach flipped uncomfortably. "Hello? Charlie? Do I have something on my face?"
"No, sorry about that." Charlie replied.
It wasn't until much later that Charlie realized she hadn't thought about Anna at all after she met up with Jo.
-X-X-X-
"Attention library patrons, the Pontiac Public Library will be closing in thirty minutes. Please bring any items you wish to borrow to the circulation desk."
The city library of Pontiac, Illinois was mostly empty, except for one young woman, who was sitting at computer #2, typing furiously.
I want to meet you. Where are you?
She hesitated before pressing enter, her heart thudding in her chest. Breathing in deeply, and let it out with a sigh and sent the message.
I want to meet you too, Claire. The return message said after a few torturous minutes. Currently I'm in Lawrence, Kansas, trying to reconnect with my – our – family.
Family. Claire thought, a smile gracing her face despite herself. Her hand instantly grabbed at the locket she never took off – it had her mother's picture inside and had once belonged to her grandfather.
Claire clicked open a new tab and looked up airline prices. Her heart sunk as she perused the options – the cheapest was almost $200. Not to mention getting to the airport…and what she would do once she got to Lawrence…
That's farther than I can afford.
Don't worry about the cost. I will take care of it.
Claire sat back in her chair, unable to believe the words before her. He was offering to cover her travel costs?
Another message popped onto the screen: I will e-mail you my credit card information. I'm looking forward to meeting you.
"Miss?" A security guard approached Claire, and she jumped slightly. "Sorry to disturb you but the library is about to close for the evening. Do you have any items you wish to borrow?"
"N-No." Claire stammered. "Uh, thanks."
She gathered her things and closed out her browser, her stomach turning with nervous and excited butterflies. She practically ran from the library to the local bus stop, where she slid her transit pass and went to the far back of the vehicle, resolving to listen to music for the entire ride to her job at the diner.
Claire Novak was twenty – old enough to be an adult, but not to drink in a bar. Her mother, Amelia, had died five years before from breast cancer, and Claire had lived with her grandparents until she was eighteen.
After that, she became a drifter, never staying anywhere longer than six months. Eventually she ended up back in Pontiac, but her grandparents had both passed away and left her nothing – she supposed telling them that she wanted nothing to do with them the last night she saw them could lead to disinheritance.
That was when she'd gotten the message from Luke Novak, her biological father. Her mother had been trying to adopt for years, but ultimately decided on being inseminated with a stranger's sperm, and from there, Claire was born. After discovering the truth about her parentage, she'd spent most of her teenage years searching for her father whenever she could sneak onto her grandfather's computer without her grandmother looking over her shoulder.
Six months ago, she finally got a response, and they began chatting constantly. They had even Skyped more than once, but the connection was always so grainy that she never got a clear view of his face.
Her phone vibrated with a mail alert – she only had service because she'd signed up for one of those cheap monthly plans and the company never ended her trial – even though it was long past the expiration date.
She opened the new email from Luke – her dad – and saw the promised credit card information. She sent him a quick response and went back to her musing until the bus arrived at the stop for Randy's Diner.
"Hey, C." Alex, her one and only friend, greeted from the server's podium. "Salinger from the Health Department is here, be on your best behavior."
"Aren't I always?" Claire replied with her usual sarcasm, only for her expression to turn serious. "Can I talk to you about something?
"For sure." Alex answered. "Want a ride home?"
To Alex, home meant the group shelter that Claire slept in and where they had met. Claire, personally, didn't see that grungy cesspool as home, but she wasn't going to tell Alex that. Celia, the director, and her legion of vampires (as Claire had dubbed them, to Alex's annoyance) had practically raised Alex after her drug addict mother had left her there as a baby.
"Yeah." Claire said finally, and continued walking back to the locker area without another word to her friend.
-X-X-X-
After their shift, Alex and Claire walked out to the group home's rusty sedan and got inside, only for Alex to start interrogating Claire.
"Okay, you've been acting weird all night. I want to know what's up now."
Claire sighed.
"You know how I've been talking to my dad for the last few months, right?"
"Yeah…" Alex prompted.
"Well, he wants to meet me. In person."
Alex's eyes widened.
"For real?" she asked, and Claire nodded. "Why don't you seem stoked?"
"Because he's in Lawrence, Kansas. It's too far for me to afford on a waitress's salary."
"I'm sure he wouldn't have offered if he didn't have a plan."
"I mean he sent me his credit card information but-"
"And you haven't scheduled your flight why?" Alex cut Claire off, and the latter narrowed her eyes. "Sorry."
"I just…what if he's a total creep? Or like not my real dad?"
"He sent you a picture of himself, didn't he?" Alex asked. "You two couldn't look more alike if you tried; and the response to that is simple: DNA test ASAP."
"But…what about you? And Randy?"
"I'll be fine. Just make sure you keep in touch." Alex told her, turning around to start the car's ignition, seemingly satisfied with the outcome of her interrogation. "And Randy is a big boy. He can handle himself."
-X-X-X-
Randy Critchlow's bruised and broken body fell to the concrete with a wet thud. The restaurant owner groaned in pain.
"I've been keeping you out of bankruptcy too long, Critchlow." Salinger, the dark-haired and mysterious loan shark growled, kicking Randy in the stomach for good measure. "It's time it started benefiting me."
Salinger looked up as headlights passed the alley behind the restaurant, and he caught side of the blonde waitress he'd seen earlier. "Starting…with her."
-X-X-X-
A/N: Hey guys, long time no update! So sorry about that – grad school and looking for a new job took over my life for the last few months, but now I'm done for the semester and settling in at my new place, so I should be able to update more often now! Key word being should – I'm still working with an incomplete outline, so we'll see what happens with that.
That said, I know this is a little shorter than the first chapter but that's because everything happened that was supposed to happen so adding much more would have just been stupid fluff. So I'm posting it now, and I hope you guys like it!
Please let me know what you think!
-Charmy