Chapter 3 - To Sir, With Love

A couple of months passed, and Cas and Gail were still working long hours in Heaven.

The latest poll results were in, and both of their campaign teams were over the moon. After the debacle with the Heavenly Hostesses, Gail, Liz and Scott decided to concentrate on younger, more progressive groups, and her poll numbers had risen accordingly.

In addition, Cas's numbers were soaring, both with males and females, alike. They were higher than Patricia's and Bobby's in every demographic. Riley was thrilled, but he was working Cas twice as hard, as a result. "We've got to strike while the iron is hot," his young campaign manager had advised, and the all-too-rare times Cas had been able to spend any time with Gail, she had agreed.

Patricia was growing very concerned. Her own numbers were fairly steady, but Castiel's increasing numbers were worrying her a great deal. She had some potentially explosive information on all three of her rivals, courtesy of big-mouth Becky, but there was only one problem: it was all hearsay. If she couldn't produce any proof of their wrongdoing, it would be just her word against theirs. And Castiel was so popular now that she didn't dare accuse him of anything without incontrovertible proof.

Pamela was sitting in the chair opposite Patricia's desk, and her boss was glaring at her. Like it was somehow Pamela's fault that Castiel's numbers were so high. Frankly, Pamela could understand why. She was totally besotted with Cas now. She'd been in his class for two months, and she was loving every minute of it. She wished class could last all day long. Pamela showed up early for class every morning, and she'd fallen into the routine of helping Riley set up. If Cas was already there, which he frequently was, she would engage him in conversation. At first, she had restricted her talk to the curriculum only, but as he'd become more and more used to her early-morning presence, she had tentatively begun asking him about the campaign, then about Earth, and then, about Gail. After a time, he had started to open up. She was a good listener, and because Riley was there as a buffer, it had never occurred to Cas that Pamela was anything but just an avid student.

But there had been nothing controversial to report, and Patricia was becoming more and more frustrated. Pamela could tell that her boss was having an internal struggle now, so the young Angel decided to take the bull by the horns, as it were.

"You know, a big part of why he polls so well with women is because of his devotion to that wife of his," Pamela said with disdain.

Patricia was still glaring. "So?" she said tersely. It was bad enough that she was losing this badly to Castiel without having Gail thrown in her face, too. Gail's numbers were also a little too healthy for Patricia's liking.

Pamela let out a breath. "So, if you want to screw Cas, so to speak, why don't you arrange to have him caught red-handed making improper advances to one of his students?"

Patricia's glare was icy now. "I know what you're getting at, Pamela, and you can just forget it. As much as it pains me to admit it, Castiel would never do anything like that. His little slut of a wife keeps him well taken care of in that area. You'd just be wasting your time."

Pamela grinned. Wow. If only the Angels could see Patricia like this, with her mask of propriety cast aside. She didn't know what Cas and Gail had ever done to piss Patricia off, but Pamela wouldn't want to be them. Well, actually, she wouldn't mind being Gail for a while. A week or two ought to do it, until Pamela wore Cas out. Or, by the look of him in class, it could well turn out to be the other way around.

"Well, it's my time to waste, isn't it?" she said to Patricia. "And besides, even if I'm not totally successful, if there's even a perception of impropriety, we can use that. Perception is key. Riley says that all the time."

Patricia shrugged. She thought it was highly doubtful that Castiel would be stupid enough to take the bait. But if it worked, it could be just the break she needed. So she gave Pamela the green light, and dismissed her.

Several more days passed, and Pamela was growing agitated. She had been hoping for the opportunity to get Cas alone, and in a compromising position, but Riley was always around. Now Pamela was the one who was getting frustrated. She hadn't intended to seduce Cas, not really, just get him in trouble. But the longer she was stymied from getting physically close to him, the more she started to really want to do it. God, he was sexy. He moved around the room like a caged tiger, springing into action when he saw a technique that he felt needed refinement. Frequently, he would jump in there himself, to demonstrate. He wore a jacket and tie in his office, and when he gave them written tests out in the gym. But when the mats came down, the blazer and tie came off, and Cas got sweaty with the rest of them. It was a good thing that Pamela was an Angel, or she would have lost a lot of sleep thinking about the droplets of sweat that she had frequently seen beading at the base of his neck. Then, after class was finished, Riley would hand Cas a towel and he would wipe his face and his neck with it, messing up his hair in the process. What Pamela wouldn't give to mess up his hair like that. She had become obsessed now. She didn't give a damn what Patricia thought. It was going to happen.

She had noticed that, when Cas went into his office after class, Riley would remain behind in the gymnasium area, putting up the mats and locking the weapons away. They had begun to use simulated weapons in class now, and Cas had advised that soon, the more advanced cadets would be graduating to real ones.

Pamela's opportunity came the day the students got their latest written tests back. Cas had quizzed them on defense techniques and strategies, as well as various weapons and their usage. Pamela was a smart girl, but she had made sure to answer many of the practical questions very tentatively. She'd known she wasn't going to score very well on that part of the test, but that had been by design, of course.

So when Cas had Riley hand out the tests after class, Pamela had flipped hers over to see a mark of C-. There was a notation below that read: "Fair, but needs improvement." She had suppressed a smile. That was just the opening she'd been looking for.

She waited until Riley started with the mats, and then Pamela went to Cas's office. She tapped lightly on the open door. "Can I see you for a minute?"

Cas looked up. "Yes, certainly, Pamela. Is it about your test?"

"Yes." She frowned. "Do you mind if I close the door, so we can talk privately?"

"Go ahead," Cas said. He put his pen down and looked at her expectantly. Pamela closed the door and sat down in the chair across the desk from him. "I remember you said if I needed assistance, I could come and talk to you." She smiled wryly, and put her test on the desk, facing him. "Clearly, I do."

Cas sat back in his chair. "I hope you don't think I'm being too hard on you," he said to her. "I just want to make sure you're all trained properly when you graduate. You seem very unsure of some of the basic self-defense techniques, and that concerns me."

"Can you go over some of the questions with me?" Pamela asked him.

"Sure," he agreed. He looked down at the paper. "Here, for instance: I had asked what the five best ways are to incapacitate an attacker without using a weapon. Basic self-defense. But you didn't answer the question correctly." He pointed to her answer.

"Just a minute, Cas. I can't read upside down," Patricia said, smiling. She rose from her chair and moved around to his side of the desk.

Cas gave her a smile in return. After a time, he had encouraged his students to call him Cas. It made him nervous to have that many young people calling him "Sir". It had been bad enough when Riley was doing it all the time. But Pamela was one of the few students who used the diminutive of his name, calling him Cas instead of Castiel, and he liked that. He liked her, too. She was an extremely avid student, who was always eager to lend a hand around the gym. He wondered if she might be interested in Riley. But regardless, she was very pleasant to be around, and Cas was aware that it was more of a struggle for a woman to learn how to fight. Look how long it had taken Gail to get the proper techniques down. So he was willing to give Pamela any extra attention she might require.

She came around to his side of the desk, leaning over his shoulder to look at the question he was pointing to.

"See, here," Cas said. "You missed the pressure point on the wrist. Also, and I hesitate to say this because I'm a man, but you omitted the blow to the crotch. Extremely painful, but highly effective." His lips twitched.

He was joking now. Pamela loved it when he did that. Cas was a fairly stern taskmaster in class, but every now and then he would say something humorous, and his lips would twitch like this. She thought it was adorable.

She laughed, touching his arm lightly. "That was a good one, Cas." Then she leaned down a little closer. "And, yes, you're right. I missed those. Where else did I mess up?"

Cas glanced at her, and he suddenly realized that he could see right down her top. He quickly averted his eyes. He had noticed that many young females wore them that way and of course, he encouraged his students to wear loose-fitting, casual clothing to class. She was probably unaware that she was exposing as much skin as she was. Should he say something? No, that would only embarrass her, and she was just here trying to learn. So he ignored the sight and kept his eyes focused on the paper.

It was funny, really. When Cas had first opened the Academy, he'd thought that they would just do mat work, like he'd done with the designated Angels at the bunker. But Gail had asked him how he could possibly gauge the progress of that many students at once. He couldn't be everywhere and see everything, and the group at the bunker had been a lot smaller. If he were to give them written tests every now and then, which she and Sam had called "pop quizzes", he would be able to tell how much of what he was telling the students was actually sinking in, and which students would need further coaching.

That had made sense to Cas, so he and Gail had popped down to the bunker one day when the brothers had come home from the road to ask Sam for his opinion on how the tests should be worded.

Dean had been there, and Gail and Cas had been pleasantly surprised to see Frank, as well. He'd dropped over to have a beer with the brothers, and when Sam had advised Frank that the Angels were coming, Gail's brother had hung around to see them.

Gail had run over to Frank as soon as she and Cas got there, squealing with delight. She hugged him fiercely. "How are you? How's Jody? Is she still eating weird food? Is she getting a big tummy now? How's Rob? Did he get a summer job?"

Frank hugged her back. "Geez, if you'd shut up for a minute, maybe I could answer some of your questions," he grumbled good-naturedly. "Or, if you want to write them all down, like one of your tests, I'll just take it home and have Jody fill it out. How would that be?"

Gail pulled out of the embrace, hitting her brother on the arm. "Oh, how I've missed that sparkling wit of yours," she said dryly.

Cas came forward to shake Frank's hand. "Hello, Frank. It's good to see you. How are things at home?"

Frank shook his brother-in-law's hand, and then he looked at Gail. "See, now THAT'S how you ask a question."

"He's going to be God soon. He won't have a lot of time for chit-chat," Sam said, grinning.

Dean looked at his brother, then did a double-take. "Chit-chat?" he asked Sam, raising his eyebrows. "Who ARE you?"

Frank ignored the men as he continued to look at his sister. "Or YOU could be God. A thought which both impresses me and terrifies me, at the same time. Do you know you could make history by being the world's first female God? That's huge, kiddo."

"Hey, if Gail becomes the first female God, what would that make Cas?" Sam asked the group.

Cas's forehead wrinkled. "What do you mean, Sam?"

"Well, the President's wife is called the First Lady," Sam explained, "so, would that make you the First Man?"

"No, that was my father," Cas deadpanned.

They all looked at him for a moment. "Oh, I get it. Because your father was Adam! Good one, Cas!" Frank said heartily. He leaned forward. "Up top, bro."

Cas high-fived Frank, smiling widely. He had received the coveted high-five of approval from Gail's brother, and he was proud of himself. Perhaps Gail and Frank's talent for quick quips was finally rubbing off on him. Sam and Dean offered him high-fives then too, and Gail gave him a big kiss on the cheek, congratulating him on his wit.

"But, to get back to your original question, everything's good at home," Frank responded. "I talked Sam and Dean into helping me build a crib."

"Really? That's a three-person job?" Gail said skeptically.

"Zip it, kiddo," Frank said hastily. "What I didn't tell them is that I'm luring them over for beer and pizza, so that I can actually rope them into helping me build an extra room for the house. I wanna get the nursery built before Jody's due."

Miraculously, Dean didn't grumble. "We can do that," he said, taking a sip of his beer.

Sam was looking at his brother incredulously. "We can? I don't know how to build an extension to a house, Dean. And neither do you."

"So? Google it, Smart Guy. We'll figure it out. Right, Frank?" Dean toasted Gail's brother with his beer bottle.

Frank clinked his bottle against Dean's. "Right," he agreed. He looked at Cas. "Hey, in keeping with the Biblical humour, I don't suppose you could put us in touch with God's other kid? He was a carpenter, wasn't he?"

"Better still, why don't you just wait until one of us is God, or Bobby is?" Gail asked her brother. "Then you wouldn't have to do all that work. I could probably just fold my arms and blink, or something."

Frank grinned. "As cool as that would be to see, I don't think we've got that kind of time. Jody's due in November."

"I'm sorry I'll be unable to help you, Frank," Cas said ruefully.

"That's OK, Cas. I know you're busy teaching, and with all of that election stuff," Frank said. He sighed, looking at Gail. "You too, I guess. Too bad. I'd love to get you hammering nails and painting walls, though. It'd probably be the most actual work you've done in a long time."

"Hey!" she objected. But then she smirked. "I have to admit, I'd love to chase you guys around holding a wet paint brush, though."

"Never mind that, me and the guys are gonna have a nail gun fight," Frank said, smiling wickedly. "That's how Hunters goof around." Sam and Dean looked at him suspiciously, hoping he was joking.

"As it is, we've got Barry and Tommy's wedding in July," Cas said, taking Gail's hand. "But we couldn't possibly skip that; we're standing up for them."

"We'll probably have to talk about that, closer to the date," Gail chipped in. "Normally, we'd take you to Vancouver ourselves, but since we're standing up, we'll have additional duties. They're inviting the usual Angel suspects, though, so we'll just have a couple of them pick all you guys up." She sighed. "I wish Bobby could be there. But he's stuck in Heaven till the election. Boy, will I ever be glad when all that stuff is over." Then she poked Frank. "Oh, by the way, before I forget, you'll never guess who's running my campaign." She told her about her encounter with Liz in Heaven.

Frank was astonished. But while it was a shame that Liz had died so young, he was thrilled that Gail and her childhood friend had been reunited. Not that he was going to tell his little sister that, of course. "Boy, am I glad SHE can't come down here," Frank said, rolling his eyes. "You kids used to drive me nuts."

"Ahhh, you liked it," Gail teased him. "Hey, speaking of kids, did Rob get a job?"

Frank shook his head. "Nah. Jody and I decided to ease up on him about that. He's been helping his mom out around the house a bit more, and his attitude's improved. I told him if he helps us with the home renos, I'd pay him an hourly wage for it, and then pay him for babysitting, when the baby comes. I opened a savings account for him to manage. I put a thousand bucks in there to get him started, and told him he'll have to learn how to save money. He wants a car, of course, and he still likes video games, too. So I told him he'll have to figure out his priorities, and start socking it away."

"Didn't these guys give you a whole whack of money not too long ago?" Dean asked Frank, nodding toward the Angels.

"Yeah, but that's not what being a good parent is all about, Dean," Frank told him. "I'm not gonna just hand him a bunch of money and tell him to buy whatever he wants. He's got to learn the value of a dollar, and of an honest day's work."

"Well said, Frank," Cas told Gail's brother. "And, speaking of a work ethic, we'd better get working on those tests. Have you got any ideas, Sam?"

"I do, Cas. Let's brainstorm," Sam replied, taking out a pad of paper and a pen. But then he hesitated, tapping the pen on the paper. Paper. Paper. What was he forgetting?

"You and Jody are going to be amazing parents," Gail said to Frank, and then it occurred to Sam what he'd been forgetting. "Hey, Gail," Sam said. "I almost forgot. I've got something for you. Hold on." He left the library area and hurried down the hall to his room. A minute later, he was back, holding the pages of Oliver's journal that Thane had given him. He explained to her what had happened to the journal, and that they were working on getting more pages.

"I didn't read it," Sam told her. "I felt like it wasn't really mine to read. But Thane told me he did, and he seems to think you might want to give it a look." He looked at Dean, who shrugged. The brothers had been debating whether or not to tell Gail their suspicions that Oliver was her uncle, and Vincent, the psycho brother, was her father. But wasn't that her business? Besides, she had so much on her plate right now, and all they had were suspicions. "Read it, and if you want, we can go to Quinn's to talk to Oliver, after," Sam said to Gail now.

"OK, Sam," she replied. She handed the pages to Cas, who stashed them in his jacket pocket. "Thanks," Gail continued, "but right now, we'd better get working on those tests. Cas and I have to get back soon."

So Sam and Cas and Gail had brainstormed ideas for written quizzes on weapons and self-defense techniques, with Frank and Dean throwing a suggestion in here and there.

"Written tests on fighting," Frank said, smirking. "Now I've seen everything."

Dean laughed. "Only Sammy could nerd up something as cool as weaponry," he wisecracked.

"These tests are very important," Cas admonished the men. "They could mean the difference between life and death."

They were all silent for a moment, and then Dean said, "Way to go, Professor Buzzkill." He and Frank high-fived, and Gail rolled her eyes. "Smartasses," she muttered.

Cas's cheek tickled, bringing him back to the present. He reached up to touch his face, startled. Pamela's hair had come out of the ponytail she wore to train, and it was hanging over her shoulder.

Pamela laughed at his reaction. "I'm sorry, Cas," she said, sweeping her hair away from his face. She inadvertently touched his cheek as she did so, and Cas flinched. He had a momentary flashback of Aurielle, touching his face in his jail cell during the tribunal. But he shook it off. He was being ridiculous. The situations were totally different. Still, he slid his chair away from her just a bit. But then, when they went over the next question on the test, she moved closer to him again. He could smell a scent coming from her. Perfume? No, that couldn't be right. Surely she wouldn't wear perfume to a training class. Unless she was wearing it for Riley, maybe? It was a lovely and delicate scent. Gail never wore perfume, although the shampoo his wife used smelled very nice. He missed Gail. The two of them were working so hard that they hadn't had any alone time together in a while.

Cas was so distracted daydreaming about his wife that he didn't move away this time when Pamela edged even closer to him. And, of course, that was the moment that Gail picked to come breezing through his closed office door.

Gail's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. What was this, now? She'd just assumed that Cas had closed the door for a little peace and quiet. Riley was rattling around in the gym, putting things away. He'd smiled and told her that Cas was in his office, so she had gone straight through.

Gail cleared her throat, and both Pamela and Cas looked up. Crap, Pamela thought. She would pick now to barge in here.

Cas slid his chair away from Pamela again. Now he felt guilty, as though he'd been doing something wrong. Gail did not look happy.

"Should I come back later?" Gail said. Her face held no expression, and her voice had no inflection, so Cas couldn't tell if she was angry or not. But his startled reaction couldn't have helped.

Pamela moved away from Cas immediately. "Oh, hi, Gail. It's good to see you," the young Angel said pleasantly. "We were just going over the answers on the quiz." She gave Gail a cat-ate-the-canary kind of smile and said, "I'll get going, now. Thank you for your help, Cas. I'll do better, next time. See you tomorrow." Then Pamela walked past Gail, out of the office.

"She needed help with her test," Cas told his wife. "I was helping her."

Hmm. More like she was trying to help herself, Gail thought. But she was being ridiculous now, wasn't she? She couldn't lose it every time she saw another woman standing a little close to Cas, or she'd go crazy.

So she smiled at her husband. "Hi, sweetie. How's it going?"

They talked for a few minutes, and then she said, "I had a couple of seconds to rub together, so I looked online for that song we were talking about."

Cas looked at her blankly for a moment, and then he brightened. "Oh, yes. The wedding song."

"Yes, and I found it! So I thought I'd try to rewrite the lyrics a bit for Barry and Tommy, and I came here to see if you could spare a couple of minutes to look at my new lyrics, and tell me what you think."

"New lyrics?" Cas asked her, puzzled. "Why new lyrics?"

"The song's written for a man and a woman, Cas," she replied pointedly.

"Oh," Cas said. Then he smiled. "That will be a nice surprise for them. Very romantic."

"That's what I'm hoping," Gail responded. She took the piece of paper with the reworked lyrics out of her pants pocket, then walked around to his side of the desk. She put the page in front of him, then leaned down over his shoulder, as Pamela had been doing a few minutes prior. Then she sniffed loudly.

Cas looked at her. "What are you doing?" he asked his wife.

"Oh, nothing," she said innocently. "I was just curious if you were wearing some of your lady-killer cologne today. Then that might explain why Pamela was standing so close to you, and why her top apparently fell open while she was doing it."

Cas's heart sank. He had been hoping she was just going to let that slide. "I'm sorry about that, my love," he told his wife. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap. "You're right; she was standing a little close," Cas admitted. "If that happens again, I will advise her it's inappropriate. And as far as her top is concerned, I'm sure she was unaware that it was so revealing."

Really? Gail thought. Based on that phony smile she gave me, I wouldn't be so sure. But she was doing it again, now. "OK, Cas," she said patiently. She put her arms around his neck. "I'm trying not to feel jealous, here," she told him softly, "but it's difficult when your students are seeing more of you these days than I am."

Cas kissed her on the mouth. "I know, my darling. I feel the same way. I stop in class sometimes, or in campaign meetings, and I wonder what you're doing, or if you're thinking of me, too," he said.

Gail smiled. "Only all the time," she said, and she kissed him back. His arms tightened around her, and he opened her lips with his tongue. It had been so long since they'd been alone together, and able to kiss like this.

"Knock, knock," Riley said, tapping at Cas's door.

They broke the kiss and looked at each other. "I don't know whether to laugh, or cry," Gail said softly, and Cas smiled wryly. "I suggest we do both," he quipped.

"I'm really sorry, you guys, but Cas has an appearance with the Junior Seraphs in fifteen minutes," Riley said apologetically.

Cas sighed, as Gail got off his lap. She looked down at the piece of paper she'd laid on top of Pamela's test. That hadn't been exactly intentional, but the symbolism gave her a moment's satisfaction. Then she also sighed, taking the paper back and putting it in her pants pocket again. She'd have to show it to him another time.

But Cas was looking downcast now, so Gail smiled. "Oh, the Junior Seraphs. I talked to them a few days ago. They're so young, it's unbelievable. They reminded me of those minions we saw at Universal Studios. There's a whole bunch of them, and they looked at me with big, wide eyes. I can't even believe they're old enough to vote." She looked at Cas and laughed. "You're going to terrify them. Make sure you talk softly, like you're telling them a bedtime story, or something. Otherwise, they'll probably all faint from fear."

"I was a Junior Seraph, just a couple of years ago," Riley remarked.

Gail smirked. "Thank you for proving my point, Riley." She and Cas laughed together as Riley looked at them uncertainly. Were they making fun of him, or not? Then Gail kissed her husband on the cheek, he gave her a squeeze, and she left his office.

It was the second weekend of July now, and Gail was standing beside Barry in front of a flower bed in Stanley Park, waiting for Cas to escort Tommy to the spot.

Why did people insist on having summer weddings outdoors? she thought crankily. It was hot as the dickens, and there were bees buzzing around, attracted by the flowers. But as she looked at Barry's face, Gail realized that her temporary discomfort didn't matter. Just look at his happy expression.

Barry's smile widened as Cas escorted Tommy to the place where they were standing. In a touching gesture, Cas embraced each man and kissed them both on the cheek. Then he stepped back as they faced the officiant.

"I have a bit of a surprise for you guys," Gail told the couple. "I hope you'll like it." She walked back to the chairs where the guests were seated, nodding to Frank. He reached under his folding chair for the guitar he had been keeping there. Years ago, he had taught himself how to play acoustic guitar as a way to pass the time in all those motel rooms, and when she'd called him to tell him her idea, he had downloaded the sheet music for The Wedding Song and taught himself the chords.

Frank began to play, and Gail cleared her throat nervously. She began to sing the retooled lyrics to the song. Instead of referring to a man and a woman, or a husband and wife, she had rewritten the lyrics to refer specifically to two men.

As soon as Gail sang the first line: "He is now to be among you/at the calling of your hearts," tears started to stream down Barry's face. Tommy looked at him inquiringly. "That's the song they played at my parents' wedding," Barry said softly. "My Dad told me. I can't believe she remembered that. I told her that the year we first met."

Gail sang: "The union of your spirits here has caused Him to remain/For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name/There is love."

Now Tommy started tearing up too, and he gave Barry's hand a squeeze. This was their wedding day. It was finally here. He and Barry had been through so much together, but their relationship had remained strong. And now, they were going to take their vows, in front of their friends and extended family.

Barry was looking warmly at Gail. His little Angel friend. Either she or Cas might be God, in the fall. It was hard to wrap his head around the concept. But for now, she was singing in a beautiful, lilting voice for him and Tommy, and he felt so honoured. But at its heart, he knew the song was about a man and a woman, and its lyrics said as much. Oh well, you couldn't have everything.

Gail smiled as she sang: "For a man shall leave his family, and another leave his home/They shall travel on to where the two shall be as one."

Barry and Tommy broke into grins, and Gail gave the couple a head nod of acknowledgement. Then she continued:

"As it was in the beginning, is now until the end/A person draws his life from you, and gives it back again/And there's love.

"Well then, what's to be the reason for entering married life?/Is it love that brings you here, or love that brings you life?/For if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?/Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?

"All is love.

"He is love."

The song ended, and Gail smiled at Frank. "Good job," she mouthed. Then she moved up to stand beside Barry again. Cas had been standing beside Tommy this whole time, and he looked lovingly at his wife. "That was beautiful," he told her, and now he and Gail had tears in their eyes, too. The four of them looked at each other, and then they laughed.

The officiant was a registered Minister who also happened to belong to the gay community. He smiled. "That was just lovely," Rory commented. "While we all take a moment to wipe our eyes, I feel compelled to say that I'm delighted to be here on this joyous occasion. And I'm very happy to see so many people out here to support you both. We're lucky to live in a country that allows freedom of expression, and the ability to actually marry the one you love. Period. Love is love, and as that wonderful reworking of the classic song reminds us, God is all about love. And while I'm not here to get all preachy on you, I firmly believe that when we all get to the Gates of Heaven, as long as we've lived our lives right, we'll be welcomed with open arms."

"Hear, hear," Cas murmured, and they all smiled again.

The ceremony was brief due to the heat of the afternoon, and the fact that Barry and Tommy had written their own vows. They did the exchange of rings, and when Rory blessed their union and invited them to kiss, the men embraced and then kissed each other on the mouth in a prolonged kiss that went on for a minute or three.

"Hey! 'Cas and Gail'! Wrap it up!" Dean catcalled, and their friends all laughed. So did Barry and Tommy. "Please excuse our friend," Tommy said to the guests. "He's overdue for his first beer of the day."

"That's all right, so am I," Rory quipped. "Thank you for coming, everyone."

The guests all rushed forward to congratulate the couple. A youngish woman tapped Tommy on the shoulder, and when he turned around, he exclaimed, "Carolyn!" He hugged the girl tightly to him as Barry's jaw dropped open.

"Carolyn?" Barry said in a hushed voice. "Your sister?"

Carolyn came out of the embrace, looking at Barry. "Yes, I'm Tommy's youngest sister," she told Tommy's new husband. "Someone called on me and told me that he was getting married today, so I flew in from Indiana to be here."

"Indiana?" Barry echoed, puzzled. "But aren't you from Vancouver?"

"Yes, but I moved down there to be with my husband a few years ago," she told him.

"How is he? Is he here?" Tommy asked his sister.

Carolyn grimaced. "I didn't want to bring that up on your wedding day, but, we got divorced."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Barry said sympathetically.

"Thanks, Barry," she said sadly. "But, we'll talk about that some other time."

"I'd love for you to meet our friends," Tommy said, taking his sister's hand. "Will you come back to our place for the reception?"

"I'd like that," Carolyn said. "I took a cab here, but..."

"We can give you a ride, if you want," Frank said. He and Jody and Rob had just approached the newly married couple to add their congratulations. "So, you're Tommy's sister, huh?" Frank said. "It's obvious that you got all the good looks in the family."

Carolyn was a little taken aback by that, but Tommy laughed and then he and Frank hugged, so she relaxed. Tommy introduced them all to each other, and Frank said, "Come on, Carolyn. We've got a rental car parked at the Lookout Point back there."

"I'm surprised you wouldn't just take the usual mode of transportation," Barry chipped in discreetly, giving Rob a hug.

Frank shrugged. "Well, it's summer, and we wanted to see some sights. So we flew into YVR and rented a car. We're driving up to Whistler, tomorrow."

"Oh, you'll love that. It's a very scenic route," Carolyn said. She was looking at Jody now, whose pregnancy was becoming obvious. "Thanks. I'll definitely take you up on that ride," she said to them.

"Let's go, already," Gail said, poking Barry. "It's gotta be, like, two hundred degrees out here! Why couldn't you guys have gotten married in December, or something?"

Barry threw back his head and laughed. Gail and her hatred of the heat. It was good to know that some things never changed. But, he was glad that some things did: he and Tommy were married now. Married. He still couldn't believe it.

"So we'll meet you back at your place, then," Frank said. "I've got the directions, so it shouldn't take us too long. How are you and Tommy getting there?"

"Cas and Gail are giving us a lift," Barry told Gail's brother, giving him a quick wink. Barry took Tommy's hand. "Take good care of my new sister-in-law, Frank," he said, nodding his head towards Carolyn.

"Of course I will," Frank responded. "Any sister of Tommy's is - well, nothing to us, but you know what I mean."

Gail hit her brother on the arm. "Stop joking around like that. Carolyn's going to think you're a whacko."

Frank looked at Jody. "Do you want to take a crack at that?" he asked his wife.

"Nahhh. Way too easy," Jody said. She touched Carolyn's arm. "Come on, let's go. I need to sit down and rest my feet. Plus, I'm starving."

They began to walk away, and as Carolyn passed Cas, she gave him a smile. He smiled back, but no words were exchanged.

"Let's go!" Gail urged again, and the Angels took the newlyweds' hands and started to lead them towards the parking lot. They didn't have a car, of course, but there were guests here from the casino and from the newspaper, as well as others from the gay community, who had no idea that they and some of the other guests were otherworldly beings. But as soon as they walked past the trees and were out of sight, they vanished.

"I can't get over how beautiful that song was," Barry was saying to Gail. He had a glass of wine in his hand and was waving it around. Gail was amused. He was getting pretty tipsy now. But it was his wedding reception, so he was certainly entitled. "But I thought you were scared of singing in public," Barry added.

"I am," she replied. "As it was, I nearly chickened out. But Cas encouraged me, and I knew how much it would mean to you." She looked around the room. "It's neat that you have so many people from the casino here. A couple of them remembered me and Cas, from back at that time. But I am curious about one thing: I thought you guys were going to go for a fancier reception. What changed your minds?"

Cas approached the two of them with a glass of wine in his hand. He gave it to Gail, then put his arms around her waist from behind and gave her a squeeze. She smiled, thanking him for the wine.

"Yes, I was curious about that, as well," Cas remarked.

Barry was silent for a moment. Then he glanced across the room at Tommy, who was introducing his sister to a group of his former colleagues from the newspaper staff.

"We used the money we were going to spend on a splashy reception to buy a grave and a headstone for Wyatt," Barry told the Angels. "His body was sitting in the hospital morgue unclaimed, and it was eating Tommy alive. He knows first-hand what it's like to be rejected by your own family due to your sexual preference. And, let's face it, they did have a relationship for a number of years. They were just going to dump the poor guy in an unmarked pauper's grave. So we discussed it, and we decided that compassion was far more important than a fancy-ass venue, or a chocolate fountain. I hope you guys don't mind."

"Mind?!" Gail exclaimed. "That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

"That's just another example of why men like you and Tommy deserve to go to Heaven," Cas said softly. He moved out from behind Gail, and the two of them exchanged a look. They weren't going to say anything to their friends about it, especially not today, but the latest rhetoric coming from Patricia's camp was that she was considering reinstating the same ban on homosexuals being able to ascend to Heaven that Xavier had been trying to push through back in the days of the tribunal.

"His headstone inscription was a bit of a head-scratcher, but eventually, we came up with the simple: 'Loved By Many'," Barry told the couple, smiling. "Wyatt would have liked that, I bet."

"Yes, I think he would have," Cas agreed.

"Do you think he'll make it to Heaven?" Barry asked the couple.

Cas still had a hold of Gail's free hand, and she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. How could they answer a question like that? The disposition of Wyatt's soul would be a moral dilemma, which would have to be dealt with in November.

"I'm very happy to see Tommy's sister here," Cas said, changing the subject.

"What a surprise that was," Barry said. He raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't have had anything to do with that, would you?"

"Me?" Cas said innocently. "Why would you think that I had anything to do with it?"

But he had, of course. When Cas had attended the men's stag party a week prior to the ceremony, Tommy had confessed that he was very sad that none of his family members would ever get to know and love Barry. Tommy's family had basically disowned him quite a few years ago because of the fact that he was gay, Tommy had told Cas, but Tommy still held out hope for his youngest sister, Carolyn. She had been a lot more open-minded than the rest of his family, but she had also been under their thumb. Now, she would be all grown up, but Tommy had no idea where she was, or if she would even want anything to do with him.

That had put a bee in Cas's bonnet, so when he'd gone back to Heaven, he had asked Kevin to do a computer search on Carolyn, to see if he could locate Tommy's sister. Kevin had found Felicia for Ignatius way back when, hadn't he? And Kevin had come through. Luckily, Carolyn had gone back to her maiden name after the divorce.

So Cas had popped over to Indiana and knocked on Carolyn's door, telling her about the upcoming nuptials. She had cried happy tears, telling Cas she would love to reconnect with her brother, and she would be very glad to attend the wedding. She had something to tell him anyway, she'd told Cas shyly.

Tommy brought Carolyn over to where Barry and the Angels were standing, and he grabbed Cas, giving him a big bear hug. "Thank you, Cas," Tommy said in a thick voice. "Thank you so much."

Cas hugged him back as Carolyn said, "I may have let it slip who it was that came to see me," she said, smiling.

"That's all right," Cas said mildly, patting Tommy on the back. "As long as the two of you are happy."

"Happy?!" Tommy exclaimed. "Are you kidding?" He came out of the embrace. "My little sister is pregnant!"

"No way," Barry said, astonished.

"Way," Carolyn quipped. She put one arm around Tommy and the other around Barry.

"And...because she's divorced now and all alone, I was kind of sort of hoping you could open up that big heart of yours and say that it's okay for Carolyn to move in with us and stay in the spare bedroom that Rob was going to be in," Tommy said to his husband hesitantly.

"But only if it's really OK with you," Carolyn said to Barry. "The two of you just got married. The last thing I want to do is cause any problems between you. I know that a pregnancy is a big deal. That's why my husband and I split up. I wanted a baby, and he didn't." She looked down at her stomach. "But I guess God had other plans," she continued in a wry voice. "Pete and I hooked up one night a couple of months ago, when we were talking reconciliation. But when I found out I was pregnant with his baby and I told him, he told me to lose his number and slammed the phone down."

"That's terrible!" Barry exclaimed. "Of course you'll stay with us. As long as you're OK with the occasional display of affection between two guys, that is."

Carolyn smiled. "Don't worry. I'm not like the rest of our family, Barry. I think it's wonderful. Truthfully, I think it's a miracle that Tommy found somebody who could stand him long enough to commit to him, though." She poked her brother playfully.

"You sound like me, when I'm teasing Frank," Gail said delightedly. "Welcome to our extended family, Carolyn. It's going to be great to have another baby. Maybe you and Jody can correspond by e-mail, or on Facebook."

"I'm way ahead of you," Carolyn said affably. "She and I talked about it all the way here. And your brother is a really funny guy."

"Did he tell you that?" Gail said, smirking. "Ahhh, he's all right. Just don't tell him I said that."

"What about your family, Barry?" Carolyn asked her new brother-in-law. "Are they as closed-minded as ours?"

"No, they're all dead," Barry said sadly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said in a small voice.

Barry gave her a squeeze. "That's all right," he said. "I'm sure we'll all be reunited in Heaven one day. Tommy and I are looking forward to that."

Cas and Gail exchanged another glance. It was their responsibility to make sure that those reunions could take place, by ensuring that Patricia was not able to restrict Barry and Tommy's access to Heaven.

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Buzzkill, let me buy you a drink," Dean said, draping his arms around their shoulders.

Gail smiled. "Are you drunk?" she asked him.

"Getting there," he said cheerfully.

"Excuse us," Tommy said. "I want to take Carolyn to meet some more of our friends."

"I'll go with you," Barry said.

"How's the election going?" Dean asked his Angel friends.

Gail sighed. "It's going. I can't wait for November, though. I'm tired of giving speeches. Blah, blah, blah. It's all b.s. No wonder people hate politicians so much."

Dean grinned. "I'm not sure who I'm rooting for. It's a good thing we can't vote, 'cause I think I'd have to go for Bobby, or Cas. I get the feeling that Cas would be a way more compassionate God than you."

The Angels looked around quickly, but fortunately, there was no one listening. So Gail poked Dean and said, "Oh, yeah? Why is that, Mister Smartass?"

"Hey, I've seen that iron fist you rule with, first-hand," Dean retorted.

"OK, well, you know what? Laugh it up, Dean," she shot back. "Come November, Cas and I will find you, and we'll continue this conversation."

Now, he was looking a little disconcerted. "Sammy and I will just go out on the road, then," Dean told her.

"God sees everyone, everywhere, Dean," Cas chipped in, his lips twitching with amusement.

"Awww, crap," Dean groaned. "Well, I'll still take my chances with you, Cas."

Gail rolled her eyes. "Are you sure? According to Patricia, Cas is going to start a Holy War with Crowley the instant his butt hits the chair in the High Office."

Dean smirked. "She's kidding, right?"

"No, she's not," Cas responded. "Our poll numbers are not to her liking, so she has been making outrageous statements like that, hoping to change peoples' minds about us." His lips twitched. "Besides, if I wanted to start a Holy War with Hell, I would just summon Crowley and cut his throat."

"I'd keep statements like that to a minimum, during the campaign process," Sam said, approaching the group.

"Speaking of which, have you heard from Crowley lately?" Dean asked Cas.

"No, it's been blessedly quiet," Cas said happily. Then he frowned. "Maybe too quiet. Have either of you heard from him, or seen any Demons?"

"No, and no," Sam replied. "Just garden-variety monsters. Now that you mention it, it's been very quiet. I wonder what he's up to."

"Let's let sleeping dogs lie," Cas said to the brothers. He grabbed Gail's hand. "But for now, we'd better get back. I have an early class in the morning."

Sam grinned. "They grow up so fast," he said to Dean, who shook his head. "You're weird, you know that?" he said to his brother.

A few minutes later, after a round of hugs and kisses, Cas and Gail joined hands and popped out of the condo. She'd expected to see their suite in Heaven, but instead, he'd winked them over to their house on Earth.

"I thought we would take a little time for ourselves," Cas said, smiling at her surprised expression. "It's so seldom these days that we get to be alone together for more than five minutes at a time."

Gail began to smile then, too. "Finally, a Riley-free zone," she quipped. She put her arms around Cas's neck. "What a nice surprise. Give me a kiss."

Cas gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Can you give me about half an hour?" he asked his wife. "I wasn't joking about the early class. I've agreed to give a handful of students some extra training. I need to finish my lesson plan in preparation for that." He gestured to the small table that stood at one end of the living room. There were some papers strewn around on it.

Gail sighed. "OK, sweetie. I'll slip into something more comfortable, as the saying goes, and read for a bit."

"Thank you for understanding, my love," he said. "I won't be long." He headed towards the table, shrugging off his suit jacket as he went. Then he took off his tie, and unbuttoned the top couple of buttons of his shirt. And then, Lord help her, he started to roll his shirt sleeves up to the elbow.

He sat down and picked up a pen, and Gail took a deep breath. Have mercy. It had been way too long. Just the sight of her husband sitting there with his sleeves rolled up like that was making her weak in the knees.

She went into the bedroom and changed into a nightshirt, and then she came back out to the living room. Cas was still working quietly, so she selected a book from the bookcase and took it over to the couch. She lay down facing him and started to read. Or at least, she was trying to read, but it was hard to concentrate. This reminded her of the stretch of time between the night that she and Cas had become engaged, and their wedding day. Their abstinence back then had been due to an old-fashioned tradition. But now, it was simply due to the fact that she and Cas were so busy working and campaigning in Heaven that they were never together in one place for long enough to be intimate. She told herself that the situation was only temporary, and reminded herself that they were eternal beings. But why did he have to roll up his sleeves like that? She kept looking at him instead of looking at the book she was supposed to be reading. His forehead was wrinkled in concentration, and a lock of hair had fallen forward, over his eye. He had stuck a pencil behind his ear, and once he'd finished reading something and appeared to want to make a notation, he looked around on the tabletop. She realized he was searching for the pencil he'd put behind his ear, and that was so cute that she thought she was going to slide right off the couch.

Gail waited for as long as she could stand, and then she closed the book. She walked over to the table and stood behind him, leaning down to kiss him on the cheek. "I'm going to watch some TV in the bedroom, in case you're interested," she said softly into his ear. Then she kissed his earlobe.

"Fine," Cas said absently, waving his hand.

Gail looked at him incredulously. The hand wave? He was giving her the hand wave? Me? she thought. After what I just said, and the way I said it? This was unbelievable.

She dropped the book she'd been holding on the table, and stalked angrily towards the bedroom. So much for their night of romance. She guessed she couldn't blame him for doing his job, but it was disappointing, and it hurt her feelings a little. She obviously wasn't alluring enough to take his attention away from his paperwork. "Let's face it, Ralph. I guess the bloom is off the rose," she said sadly. As usual, he had no answer for her.

Meanwhile, Cas continued to work for another couple of minutes, and then the light slowly dawned. He put his pen down immediately as his heart sank. What had he just done? He'd been concentrating so hard on his lesson plan that he hadn't even spoken to her. No wonder she was upset.

He popped into the bedroom. Gail was sitting on the end of the bed with the remote in her hand, but the TV wasn't even on. The expression on her face was so sad that Cas's heart broke a little. How could he have been so insensitive?

Cas took the remote from her hand as she looked up at him. He threw it on the nightstand, where it landed with a crash.

"You may have just broken that," she commented, and Cas shrugged. "Who cares?" he replied. "We may never watch TV in this room again." He pulled her to her feet and kissed her on the mouth. His tongue parted her lips immediately, and he pressed her body against his. She touched him through his pants, and he moaned against her mouth. "You are the most important person in the world to me, and it's been way too long," Cas murmured. "I humbly apologize." He undid his pants with one hand and pulled up her nightshirt with the other. Then he lifted her up and entered her immediately, as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"I couldn't wait any longer," Cas breathed. He wrapped his arms around her and pushed into her aggressively. "I love you, Gail. I need you," he told her. "Always."

"Cas," she said, and then his mouth came down on hers again. They both whimpered, and then he was still.

He lay her down on the bed and quickly took his clothes off, tossing them across the room. Then he lifted her by the hips and his tongue was between her legs.

"Cas!" she cried out. Her hands flew to his head, and she pushed him closer to her, threading her fingers through his hair. "I love you! Please, don't stop!"

As if he would. He would do this all night, if she wanted. He loved her so much. He vowed never to let it go this long again, even if he had to march into her office, lock the door, close the blinds, and take her over to the couch. Maybe they wouldn't even make it over to the couch. Maybe he'd just sweep everything off her desk. The idea excited him so much that he waited until she was still, and then he moved on top of her, entering her again.

Afterwards, he rolled off of her and pulled her close. "I am so sorry, my love," Cas told her, once he got his breath back. "I vow to you that I will never ignore you like that again."

Gail was gasping for air, but she was smiling contentedly. "Feel free to ignore me more often, if that'll be the result," she said happily.

"Thank you for forgiving me," he said softly. He smoothed the hair away from her face and kissed her gently on the forehead.

"Are you kidding? I think I just forgave you six or seven times," she quipped.

"I think I got so carried away because I just want to do a good job as an instructor so badly," Cas told her. "I don't want to let anyone down. All of those young Angels, looking up to me. Trusting me. You and Bobby, having enough confidence in me to set up the Academy in the first place."

"You're a wonderful teacher, Cas," Gail reassured him. "Even the fact that you care this much about it speaks volumes. I've seen you teach, and I've been taught by you, remember? And I can kick ass. Your students will do fine. Trust me."

She was so sweet. Her support meant the world to him, and so did her love. She was still smiling at him, but her gaze was penetrating now. "Go," she said.

Cas sighed. She knew him so well. "Are you sure you don't mind?" he asked her hesitantly.

"No, I don't mind," Gail said warmly. She kissed him softly on the cheek. "Maybe I actually will watch some TV, now. That's if you haven't broken the remote, that is."

"You are the sweetest, most understanding woman I have ever met," Cas said, cuddling her.

"I know," she said, smiling. "Now go and do your homework. The sooner you finish out there, the sooner you can come back and see me here."

So Cas got out of bed and put his shorts on, and then he popped back out to the table to finish his lesson plans. Gail shook her head slowly, still smiling. Working on lesson plans, dressed only in his shorts. Give her strength. She'd better stay in here, because if she went out there and saw that, she would never be able to let him finish.

She reached for the remote, and then, on impulse, she reached over to the other nightstand and grabbed Ralph. "He still loves us, Ralph," she said happily, hugging the stuffed penguin to her. "Let's watch some TV."

"I was at the Junior Seraphs' meeting yesterday, when Patricia spoke," Efram said to Cas.

They were both toweling off after doing some extracurricular mat work during the scheduled break. Efram was the young, red-haired cadet who had considered leaving the Academy that first day. Bobby had intimidated him into staying at the time, but after that first session, Cas had sat Efram down and had a private chat with him, and the young Angel had thought so highly of Castiel for that gesture that he'd decided to stay. Now, Efram felt the same way about Cas that Riley and many of the other cadets did. Cas was their teacher, their mentor, and their father, at least, metaphorically speaking. Efram hoped the definition would become literal, come November.

"Oh? Were you?" Cas said noncommittally.

"Yeah, and she was saying a lot of crazy things," Efram replied. "She was saying that if she wins the election, no Angel will be allowed to go to Earth anymore."

Cas frowned. "Unfortunately, that is part of her platform, yes."

"She also said that humans are harmful to Angels, and that she's just trying to protect us," Efram continued. "She said that humans want to kill Angels."

Cas pursed his lips angrily, throwing his towel across the room. "That's ridiculous," he snapped. "I've spent years and years on Earth with humans, and the only entities that have tried to kill me in all that time have been Angels." His eyes flashed. "She's just showing her prejudice."

"She also said that she's going to take the document with the new laws that your wife and the board wrote, and set fire to it," Efram went on.

Cas had picked up the wooden knife he'd been using from the mat, and he was holding it in his hands. This statement of Efram's made him so angry that he snapped the knife in two. The nerve of Patricia. All of that hard work down the drain, and for what? There was nothing wrong with the new laws as written, nothing at all.

"She will throw us back into the Dark Ages," Cas said through gritted teeth.

"She also said that she plans on instituting morals laws," Efram persisted. "Any public displays of affection will be prohibited, up to and including holding hands. And she singled you and Gail out as examples of the worst offenders. Her words, not mine," Efram added hastily when he saw the expression on Cas's face.

Cas's eyes flashed again, brighter this time. "She did, did she?" He flung the broken knife to the ground. "Well, I have some words of my own. You go out there and tell all of your friends that if they vote for Patricia, they will be voting for a dictator. She will systematically take away our Free Will and our choices, until we are no better than slaves. If you never want another moment's happiness, vote for Patricia. But if you want love, happiness, and freedom, vote for myself, or my wife, or Bobby."

"I will, Cas. Thanks," Efram said, smiling. "I'll see you after break."

So Efram spread the word, and it didn't take very long for Patricia to hear about what Cas had said. Predictably, she was livid. How dare he call her a dictator? She was merely trying to uphold the standards of morality to which all Angels should adhere. Just because Castiel strutted around Heaven like he was Lord and Master of all he surveyed didn't mean he wasn't a sinner, himself. But his poll numbers were incredibly high, and she was starting to feel like she was running out of time to turn things around. So she had begun to make increasingly inflammatory statements, hoping to make Castiel lose his temper and do something to sabotage his own campaign. But it wasn't happening. And Pamela and Scott had both talked a big game, but neither of the young Angels had been able to compromise either candidate.

It was time to escalate. She buzzed Velma. "Can you ask Alan to step into my office, please?" Patricia asked her secretary.

Alan entered a couple of minutes later, closing the door behind him. He grinned. "Does this mean that you're ready to deploy me out into the field?" he asked her.

Patricia frowned. "I don't see that we have a choice. We have to find the smoking gun. I can make all of the accusations I want, but I need more information, and hopefully, proof of wrongdoing. When Bobby and I went down to Earth, there were rumours that Castiel had done something horrendous in Egypt. I'm hoping to obtain the details on that. Then, if you visit the other places where the Tablets were obtained, I'm looking for anything he did, or was involved in, that we could use to turn public opinion against him."

Alan was still grinning. "Leave it to me. I was a private investigator when I was alive. I specialized in cases where people were cheating on their spouses. But no matter how much people try to hide something, it always comes to light, if you know how to dig. If there's any dirt, I'll find it."

"Oh, there's dirt. I'm sure of it," Patricia responded confidently. She wrote down the names of the cities where the Tablets had been obtained and handed Alan the piece of paper. "Please report back to me if you find anything I can use. I'm writing my notes for the debate on October 31st, and I'd love to have a few more bombshells to drop."

"Yes, Ma'am," Alan said cheerfully. He took the piece of paper and winked out of her office.

Class was done for the day, and Pamela and Cas were alone in the gym. Riley had apologetically advised that Scott had called him from Gail's campaign office. She was due to speak to the Ladies Of The Lord first thing in the morning, and Scott and Liz wanted to make sure their candidate was well prepared. Could Riley give them some advice? After the fiasco with the Heavenly Hostesses, they'd wanted to be sure she was better equipped to speak to conservative women's groups.

Cas had been pleased that the spirit of cooperation was still alive and well between their teams, and he was happy that Scott had reached out to Riley to help Gail. It was funny, though; after all this time, he had still not met Gail's co-campaign manager. Cas made a mental note to arrange an introduction as soon as possible.

But for now, because Riley had to leave, Pamela had volunteered to stay behind to help Cas pack up for the night. She smiled inwardly. Finally, the opening she'd been looking for. Scott hadn't really needed Riley's help, of course. The brother and sister team had been brainstorming, trying to figure out how to isolate their targets. Scott's request to Riley had simply been a way to buy his sister some alone time with Castiel. Then, she had promised to return the favour, enabling Scott to be alone with Gail in the future.

Pamela and Cas put the weapons away in the cabinet, making small talk while they were doing it. Then he said, "You don't have to help me with the mats, Pamela. It's been a long enough day for you as it is. We'll just leave them down until tomorrow."

"Actually, Cas, can you do me a favour?" Pamela asked him shyly. "I'm still having trouble with attacks from the flank. If you're not too tired, do you think you could work with me a bit on that?"

Cas smiled wearily. He was tired, but he couldn't refuse a student in need. Besides: "Gail had a lot of trouble with that move, too," he told her. "Maybe it's a female thing."

Pamela laughed softly. She knew by now that Cas liked to be rewarded when he said something that was even slightly humourous. He gestured to one of the mats, and then he said, "I'm going to attack you from behind, and then we'll go from there." He started to move behind her, but suddenly, he attacked her from the side. She hadn't been expecting that, so he knocked her down easily. Then he helped her up as she smiled wryly. "I know, I know," Pamela said. "An assailant won't give you any warning."

"Well, it's good to know that you're paying attention to what I'm saying, at least," Cas said to her. "Now, let's try it again."

They worked out for fifteen more minutes or so, and then Pamela decided it was time. So she grabbed Cas when he attacked her from her flank, and judo-flipped him down to the mat. And then, because he was always telling them to follow through, she jumped on top of him.

Pamela smiled. "I'm holding a knife to your throat right now, following through, as you've said."

Cas smiled thinly. "Very good. But, what will you do when I do this?" He seized her and flipped her on her back, straddling her.

"Yes, I'm very curious about that, too," Gail said, entering the gym. "What WILL you do?"

Oh, no, Pamela thought. Not again. Damn Scott. Either her brother was slipping, or he'd sabotaged her on purpose. Either way, she was going to have to have a little chat with him.

Cas bounced to his feet immediately, whirling around to look at his wife. He had no idea why he was feeling so self-conscious. If this had been a male underneath him, he wouldn't feel this way, would he? But he could understand how Gail might be feeling now. Twice, she had walked in on her husband and this young female student, in very close proximity to each other.

"I was just helping Pamela brush up on her technique," Cas said awkwardly.

Pamela was picking herself up from off the mat now, and she was growing angrier by the second. Damn it! Did the woman have some kind of super-sensor planted on her husband which alerted her to the presence of another female? When Cas had been above her after he had flipped her over, Pamela had been so excited by that move of his that she had nearly given herself away, right then and there. She wondered what would have happened if she had reached around his muscular thigh and undone the zipper of his pants. She could then have touched him, or done anything for him that he'd wanted, at that point. Patricia kept saying that Castiel was a sinner, who only cared about his own pleasure. If that was true, how would he have reacted to that? She and Scott had had a few recent conversations in which her brother had advised that Gail was working such long hours that she'd confessed to Liz that she and Cas hadn't been intimate with each other in ages. She hadn't been aware that Scott had been eavesdropping, of course, but when Gail and Liz got together to talk about personal things, their voices carried. So Scott had shared this little tidbit with Pamela, and because Patricia had characterized the couple as sex-crazed hedonists, the siblings had thought of Cas and Gail as easy pickings.

Gail was looking at Pamela coolly now. This was starting to look more than a little fishy to her. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, and you're a scheming little tramp. Yeah, Pamela was working on her technique, all right. Gail hadn't forgotten the extremely phony smile the young girl had given her the last time she'd walked in on Pamela, taking up too much of Cas's personal space.

"Which maneuver were you practicing?" Gail asked casually, moving forward.

"The attack from the flank," Cas told her. "The one you always had trouble with."

"Oh," she said, nodding. "You mean this one, here?" She grabbed him, and flipped him to the ground. "Lucky I don't have trouble with that one any more, isn't it, sweetie?" Then she looked at Pamela, giving the girl the most insincere-looking smile she could muster. "THAT'S how that's supposed to be done, dear," she told Pamela. "And, if you'll excuse us now, I need to talk to my husband in private. You'll probably want to take a shower, anyway," Gail added tartly.

Pamela turned on her heel and left the gymnasium as Cas picked himself up off the mat. "I'm sorry, my love," he said automatically.

"Don't be," Gail said to him. "I know you're not doing anything wrong. But you've gotta know that she's got a huge crush on you. Be careful with that one, sweetie."

He frowned. That hadn't honestly occurred to him. Was he that oblivious? But Cas trusted his wife, and he didn't want her to think that there was any funny business going on. How could there possibly be? Cas was totally and completely in love with his wife. The very thought of anything improper occurring between him and Pamela, or him and anyone, was ridiculous.

"I'll tell you what," Cas told Gail, taking her hand. "If she asks for any additional assistance in the future, I'll have Riley help her."

Gail smiled, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. "There you go," she said to her husband. "Problem solved."

VIGNETTE - MONSTERS LEAD SUCH INTERESTING LIVES

It was late August now, and Gail was helping Frank and Rob throw a baby shower for Jody. But, because it was for Jody, it wasn't going to be the traditional kind.

The first thing that Cas and Gail did when they got to the bunker was to set things up the way that they had discussed. They had drafted the services of the individuals that Gail called "the usual suspects". Even Riley had agreed to put business matters aside for a few hours in order to help make it a success.

How Gail wished that they could have brought Bobby with them, and Liz, too. But until the election was held, none of the non-designated Angels could leave Heaven. Since Bobby's status had been subject to a reset when he had died, he was no longer a designate. And, since Liz had never been to Earth as an Angel, she also didn't qualify.

But there was plenty of food, and liquor for the adult, non-pregnant humans, and Gail had planned what she hoped would be a fun game for Jody. Since she wasn't a stereotypical pregnant lady, Gail had thought her sister-in-law would enjoy a Hunter-themed murder mystery game. So she'd had the Angels pop down to the bunker, working with Sam and Dean to make preparations for the game, while she and Cas retrieved the other human guests.

When Gail had first come up with the idea, Dean had grumbled about having a baby shower at the bunker. "I don't wanna have to listen to a bunch of female stuff," he'd told Gail. She and Cas were sitting on the couch in her office, with Cas's cell phone on speaker on the coffee table.

Gail had rolled her eyes. "'Female stuff'?" she'd echoed. "What would that even be?"

"I don't know," Dean had responded uneasily. "Women get really weird when it comes to babies."

"OK, well, I don't even know where to begin to tell you everything that's wrong with what you're saying," Gail had retorted. Then, she reconsidered. "Actually, yes, I do. Number one: a baby isn't just a woman thing, you know. That kid is half Frank's. And you can call my brother a lot of things, and Lord knows I have, but a woman is not one of them. And secondly, you know that Jody is not your stereotypical female, so I'm not planning a tea-drinking, doily-making party. Trust me. It'll be fun. And the bunker is a way better setting for what I have in mind." Then she had grinned. "But your nervousness about so-called 'female stuff' amuses me. Maybe, if I win the election, I'll establish a gynocracy."

"What's that about guys?" Dean had asked, making Gail laugh.

So, once they were all gathered in the bunker for the party, Frank and Rob brought Jody there, and they all yelled, "Surprise!"

Jody grinned. "You got me, you guys. I never expected to have a baby shower here at Testosterone Town."

"Hopefully, that's not the only pleasant surprise," Gail said to her sister-in-law. "I know you can't drink right now, but we've got lots of food, and presents for you. But first, we're going to play a game. There's going to be a murder here at the bunker that we have to solve. I have a bag here that we're all going to pick from, that gives us each an identity. Then, I'm going to go around the room and whisper something in everyone's ear. I'll tell the victim that he or she is the victim, and I'll tell the killer that he or she is the killer. One of those could be me, too. Then, after our victim is dead, we'll have to solve the mystery using our deductive powers. It should be a breeze for you Hunters, but even for the non-Hunters, we'll have clues."

"Man, can't we just drink?" Dean whined.

"Normally, I would agree with Dean, but this sounds like it'll be kind of fun," Sam said.

"Oh, of course YOU would think so," Dean said, rolling his eyes. "I like to drink at parties, Sammy likes to think at parties."

"I see no reason I can't do both," Sam said, grinning.

"Yeah, but Dean's only got about one brain cell rattling around in his head," Frank chipped in, smirking. "And while I would usually be of the opinion that a murder mystery might be a bit lame, I'll bet you I can solve it twice as fast as you Lose-chesters. See what I did there?"

"OK, that's it. It's on," Dean said. "Gimme that bag."

Jody snickered. "'Lose-chesters.' That's pretty funny, actually."

Everyone drew their identities from the bag, and then, as the humans helped themselves to food and drinks, Gail went around the room, saying, "Now, I'm going to send everybody to wander around. Go to different rooms, and when you hear me scream, come to the kitchen and we'll find our victim."

"I thought you said that YOU could be the victim," Sam pointed out.

"OK, Sammy. Nobody likes a smartass," Gail said, imitating Dean. Everyone laughed. "Fine," she continued. "I'm not the victim. But pay attention, 'cause I could be the murderer." She circulated around the room, whispering in everyone's ear, and they all began to disperse.

"Maybe Nicole and I will just go to my room," Dean half-joked.

"Fine, but just remember that any number of us Angels can pop into your room at any time," Gail pointed out.

Nicole elbowed Dean. "Come on, it sounds like fun," she told him.

Gail waited until everyone had gone in different directions, and then she popped the designated victim over to the kitchen. "Wait here," she instructed the victim. Then she found the designated murderer, and did the same. They pretended that the murderer had killed the victim, and then Gail popped the killer back out, went back to the kitchen, and then she screamed: "Murder! Murder most foul!"

Frank had been in the garage, so he was the first one to get there. "'Murder most foul'? Really?" he said to her.

Gail shrugged. "You know how much I like old-time murder books. I've just always wanted to say that."

Frank looked down at the floor. "Poor Barry. And he's a newlywed, too. Or, he WAS."

Barry was laying spread-eagled on the floor. Gail had grabbed the ketchup from the fridge and squirted it onto his neck, his chest, and the side of his head.

Frank bent down on one knee, looking at the "corpse", and sniffing the air. "What are you doing?" Gail asked her brother.

"Checking for wounds, and to see if he evacuated his bowels when he died," Frank wisecracked.

Barry wrinkled his nose. "Ewww," he said.

"Shhh. You're supposed to be dead," Gail admonished him.

"For how long?" the victim asked her. "I wanted to put in some of those sausage rolls that I know Jody likes."

"Just until everybody finds your body," Gail told him. "Now, shut up."

When everyone was gathered in the kitchen, Gail said, "As everybody can see, Barry is our unfortunate murder victim. He's a human chef, who was minding his own business, cooking like crazy for the lady of the hour, when someone, or someTHING, took him by surprise. Note the bloodstains, signifying the site of his wounds." After a moment, she said, "OK, Barry, you can get up now." She waved her hands over him, cleaning the ketchup off of his shirt.

"How come he gets to get up, if he's dead?" Rob asked.

"A logical question, young Sherlock," Gail said cheerfully. "The short answer: because your mom likes sausage rolls."

"Huh?" Rob said, confused. Frank grabbed his son and tousled his hair. "Never mind, kiddo," Gail's brother said. "Just concentrate on the dastardly murder. And he was so young, too. Are you gonna remarry, Tommy?"

"You're a laugh a minute, aren't you, Frank?" Tommy said dryly.

"Thank you, I'm here all night. Try the sausage rolls," Frank quipped.

"Speaking of which, the dead chef needs some elbow room, here," Barry said good-naturedly. "Is there any way you can take this investigation to another room, Inspector Gail?"

"Yeah, like the room with the bar, maybe?" Dean added optimistically.

"OK, Mister One-Track Mind," Gail said, shaking her head. They all trooped down the hall to the library area. Dean and Frank helped themselves to drinks, and Jody and Carolyn fixed plates of food for themselves. Out of necessity, Barry and Tommy had filled Tommy's sister in on the fact that half of the individuals attending the party would be Angels, and that Cas and Gail were currently in the running for the position of God. After she had checked the tap water in their Vancouver condo for hallucinogenics, the men had called Chuck on his cell phone, who had popped down for a quick demonstration. They hadn't wanted to bother Cas or Gail at that point. They knew their friends were extremely busy these days. So Carolyn was in the loop now, although she kept on looking at the Angels curiously, as if she still couldn't quite believe it.

"So, who wants to go first?" Cas said to everyone now.

"I will, just to get the ball rolling," Gail said. "I'm a ghoul."

"Yes, and I'm a boy," Sam wisecracked.

Carolyn laughed around a mouthful of food, spraying Dean with some crumbs. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she apologized, grabbing a napkin to wipe his arm.

"Are you kidding? You and I are gonna get along just great," Dean told her, grinning.

"What's the point?" Becky said, a little irritably. On the one hand, she was happy to have been included. She had even wrapped up a couple of kids' books she had enjoyed when she'd been a little girl that Chuck had given her, telling her she could give them as a present. By now, they had all found out that Jody was expecting a girl. But Becky was annoyed to see Gail and Sam standing so close together. They were practically touching each other, for goodness sakes. Gail already had Cas; what was she trying to prove?

But Gail misunderstood the tone of Becky's voice. Maybe their friend was having trouble following the game. "I'm sorry, I guess I didn't explain the rules well enough," Gail said.
"No, I think it's pretty straight-ahead," Kevin commented, prompting a dirty look from Becky. Yeah, sure. Mister Smarty-Pants would know. He was just trying to embarrass Becky because he'd never forgiven her for breaking up with him.

"Yeah. We've all got an identity of a different entity. If we identify ourselves, we can ask each other questions, to determine if we could have killed Barry," Chuck piped up.

Now Becky was glaring at Chuck. Obviously, he also hadn't forgiven her for dumping him in favour of Sam. She was going to have to get Sam soon, before her list of vindictive ex-boyfriends grew much longer.

"Correct," Gail said, nodding at Chuck. "And, as an added bonus, we've included a special power for some of you, and a way you can be killed. You know, just for fun."

"Coolest baby shower ever," Riley remarked.

"I agree," Nicole said, smiling.

"Me, too," Jody added. "Especially since my paper says I'm a Hunter. And, since it's my party, I'm going to do a lot of killing."

"I knew I should have cleaned up my room this morning," Rob quipped, and Tommy said, "Up top." He and the boy high-fived, and Frank said, "Hey, you're supposed to be a grief-stricken widower, aren't you?"

Tommy shrugged. "I'll learn to love again," he joked. He and Frank laughed.

"You'd better not let Barry hear you say that, or you'll be the next murder victim," Ethan said to Tommy, and they all laughed.

"I'm afraid I don't know very much about monsters, only ghosts," Quinn piped up.

"Don't worry. Sammy and I will help you," Dean told her.

"I won't," Frank said, his mouth full of food. "I wanna win this thing."

"Dad, you're so competitive," Rob remarked.

"Well, so am I, so let's get back to the game," Nicole said. "So, Gail's a ghoul. Try saying that five times, fast. What are you, Becky?"

Becky looked down at her piece of paper. "I'm a human," she replied.

"Well, that's disappointing," Jody said. "I guess I can't kill you, then."

"Tell that to the LAPD," Ethan wisecracked. Jody looked at him curiously. Sometimes he had a really weird sense of humour. And she was married to Frank, so that was saying a lot.

"We wanted to mix it up a bit," Gail said to Becky. "Most of us are monsters, but we wanted a bit of variety, too."

"I think it's really fun," Quinn commented. "Can we playact? I'm a werewolf. Ruff."

"So am I!" Riley exclaimed. "Rowr."

"Oh, good. We'll be a werewolf couple, then," Quinn joked. "Here, I'll put a little extra meat on my plate. They like that, right?" she asked Sam.

He grinned. "At this point, I would usually try to ward you off with something silver, but seeing as it's you, I guess I won't."

"I'm something called a 'djinn'," Tommy said. "There's a bit of a description here, but you guys are going to have to help me out with my character," he said, nudging Dean.

"I'm a banshee," Carolyn piped up now. "Seems fairly self-explanatory."

"And I'm a human," Cas commented. He smiled. "It's been a while since that's been the case. I suppose I should eat some food, then."

"Awww, man, I'm an Angel," Chuck whined. "I was looking forward to stretching my acting skills."

"Sorry, Chuck. Luck of the draw," Kevin said to his friend. Then he smiled. "I'm a Demon. This should be fun. A license to behave badly."

"I'm a wraith," Rob said, looking at his piece of paper. "Interesting."

"And I'm a Wendigo, which is pretty coincidental, actually," Nicole said. Dean looked at her, startled, and she laughed. "I just meant because I'm interested in Native culture," she told her boyfriend.

"OK, well, I'm actually a serial killer, so at least I'm a scary human," Becky said hesitantly. She still thought the game was kind of dumb, but she knew this was the kind of thing that Sam liked. Becky had better play along, or they wouldn't invite her to stuff anymore.

"So, I take it that any one of us could have killed Chef Barry," Kevin remarked now. "Was there supposed to be a murder weapon, or is that part of the mystery?"

"It's part of the mystery," Cas told him. "You saw that there were 'wounds' on his head, and his torso. You or I or Becky could have killed him with just an ordinary kitchen knife. Or you could have used a Demon knife, or Chuck, an Angel blade. I think we need to find out more about the monsters in the room, to see if they could have inflicted those injuries, as well."

Riley played along. "Well, I guess Quinn and I could have gotten tired of waiting for those sausage rolls, and taken a bite or two out of the chef, instead."

As if on cue, Barry came out to the library with a couple of trays of hot hors d'oeuvres.

"Hey, Barry, who killed you?" Dean asked their friend, and Barry smiled. "Gail told me you would probably try that," he said to Dean. "You can forget it. I'm not that easy."

"Come on, Dean, quit trying to cheat," Gail admonished him. "Play the game. What are you?"

"I'm a djinn, too, apparently," Dean responded.

"What is that, exactly?" Carolyn inquired.

"It's a creature whose person leaves its victims in a comatose state," Sam explained to her. "People think djinns are genies who grant wishes - "

" - I have so many jokes running around in my head right now," Frank interrupted, smirking.

" - But they aren't, and they don't," Sam continued. "What they do is cause hallucinations that are so powerful that the victim thinks they're reality. The victim has to commit suicide in the fantasy in order to escape the fantasy."

There was silence for a moment. "Way to bring down the room, Sam," Tommy said dryly. But then, he smiled. "I prefer to stick with the illusion of granting wishes, if it's all the same to you guys."

"Just remember that sentiment, for later tonight," Barry said, winking at his husband, blowing him a kiss. "Eat up, everyone. I've got more food coming."

"Now there's a guy who commits to a part," Frank quipped. "Well, I'm a boring old ghost. Nothing fancy. Maybe I killed the chef because he refused to serve spirits in his restaurant."

"Good Lord, Frank," Chuck said, rolling his eyes. "I don't know if that's the worst pun you've ever made, or the best."

"Well, guess what? I'm a cannibal," Ethan chipped in. "There's got to be a really good joke in there about a chef and a cannibal, right, Frank?"

"Give me a second," Frank said, frowning in concentration. "I'm thinking, I'm thinking."

"Wow, a cannibal, eh?" Quinn said slyly. "You must be partial to finger foods, then."

Frank looked at her. "This could be the start of a beautiful friendship," he said to Sam's girlfriend.

"OK, who don't we have, yet?" Jody asked everyone. "I'm the Hunter. I'm taking names now, so I can kick some metaphorical ass, later." She looked at Sam. "What are you?"

"I'm a shapeshifter," Sam told her. "So it'll be hard for you to kill me, because I can take the form of anyone here."

"Yeah, he could turn into one of you women any time, now. In fact, you could argue that he already has," Dean wisecracked.

"OK, so, now that we all know what we are, the game can continue," Gail said. "Chef Barry was overpowered and killed, with wounds to the head and chest, and he didn't or couldn't fight back. Each of us has a special quality or two that makes us fully capable of doing the dastardly deed. For instance, I'm a ghoul, and I feed on humans. So, I came to a restaurant filled with people. Turnabout is fair play, right?"

Frank smirked. "Right. But the chef wasn't eaten. So, that eliminates you as a suspect. And I'm a ghost. All I could do is scare him to death. So, I'm not the murderer, either. There. I said it. Now my wife doesn't have to kill the father of her child, and I can bartend. Win-win."

Rob was reading from his piece of paper. "I'm a wraith, so I feed on human brain fluids. Cool."

"OK, not cool. Yucky," Becky said, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, but highly effective. I'm willing to rule Frank out as a suspect, although Dean and I have seen vengeful ghosts do some pretty violent stuff over the years. But, I also wouldn't mind having a bartender," Sam added, grinning. He drained his drink. "I don't think we can eliminate Gail as a suspect, though. Ghouls can take over human forms. Therefore, she could have inhabited one of us to do it."

"This is getting kind of complicated," Nicole remarked.

"I guess I'm out," Ethan said aloud. "I'm just a cannibal, not an otherworldly being. Therefore, since he wasn't eaten, it can't be me." Then he looked at Sam. "And with all due respect to your deductive reasoning, Sherlock, I think you're making things unnecessarily complex. I'm ruling Gail out as a suspect."

"Isn't Ethan the head of the Law Enforcement Department in Heaven?" Quinn asked Sam. "So, I think we've gotta defer to his expertise and give him this one."

"Yeah, 'cause we've got so many monsters in Heaven," Riley said, smirking.

"You're being kind of rude to your werewolf wife, there, aren't you, Riley?" Sam joked. "Well, that's OK. You're both eliminated, anyway. Chef Barry didn't have a bite taken out of him. So if Inspector Angel over there will agree, Riley and Quinn are off the board, too." Ethan grinned, giving Sam a brief salute.

"And, even though I get mad at him sometimes when he leaves the cap off the toothpaste, I still love him far too much to murder him," Tommy said.

"This is pretend, remember?" Jody said around a mouthful of sausage roll. "You could totally have done it."

"I live with them, so I agree," Carolyn quipped, poking her brother in the ribs.

"Well, I'm a human food critic, so I suppose I could have done it, if his food was truly awful," Cas said, smiling. He thought this was a lot of fun. He was enjoying all the interaction between their family and friends.

"Fine. I won't give you any, then," Barry sniffed, pretending to be offended. He had just come out of the kitchen bearing more plates of food.

"You realize what a hollow threat that is, right?" Chuck said to Barry. He grinned. "Here, I'll help you. Even though I suppose I can't be eliminated as a suspect, because most Angels are dicks, right, Dean?"

"Some more than others, Chuck," Dean called out, and everyone laughed, even Chuck. He had learned to take Dean's insults as a sign of forgiveness. Well, that was the premise he was going with, anyway.

"Well, I'm a Demon, so I could totally have done it," Kevin said gleefully. "And I wouldn't even need a reason, 'cause I'm a Demon! We know THEY'RE all dicks!"

"Well, the subjects do tend to take on the personality of their leader," Cas quipped.

"Anyway, back to the game," Sam said, trying to focus everyone. Frank and Dean rolled their eyes. He was so into this. What a nerd. Sam continued, "Since I'm a shapeshifter, I have superhuman strength, speed, and agility - "

"What is this, a murder mystery, or a monster job application?" Nicole quipped, and Dean high-fived her smartly.

"Yeah, but don't you have to shed your skin to become whoever you want, sort of like a snake?" Chuck asked Sam, who looked at him in surprise. Chuck shrugged. "Not that I'm super-eager to remind you guys, but I did write those books, you know, and I did do research for them."

"So that would eliminate Sam as a suspect, because there was no skin shed at the site of the murder," Cas said, nodding. "Who are we left with, then?"

Gail looked at her husband. "I'm with Becky on that visual image: ewwww. But, Cas is right. That leaves us with him, Dean, Rob, Nicole, Becky, Chuck, Kevin, Tommy, and Carolyn, as suspects."

"Me and Tommy are djinns. Our eyes or hands glow blue when we access our power, and we have the ability to go into peoples' dreams," Dean advised everyone.

Tommy grinned. "At the risk of being a little off-colour, I confess that my fellow djinn here has probably made at least one appearance in the murder victim's dreams. I know he has in mine," he said, raising an eyebrow. Dean did a double-take as Tommy drained his drink and asked Frank for another.

"Blue glow? Sounds more like Cas," Kevin commented.

Gail smirked. "Too bad I don't sleep, because I could use that line about Cas being in my dreams, too," she quipped. Then she looked at Tommy. "And you can keep any additional comments about Cas to yourself, Mister." The two of them laughed.

"But Barry was dead, not comatose, so Dean and Tommy are off the list," Frank said.

"That was very astute, Frank," Quinn complimented him.

"I agree," Ethan said, nodding his head in approval. He looked at Rob. "Tell me more about your character. A wraith, you said?"

"Yup. I can suck a person's brain dry," Rob said proudly.

"I can think of a couple of men in this room Rob's been at already," Jody said dryly, and the women all laughed.

"I can induce insanity," Rob continued. "One of my favourite places to hang out would be at an asylum, 'cause of all those crazy peoples' brains, I guess. Oh, and my true form will show itself if a person looks at me in a mirror. Sounds pretty cool. I might write a story about that sometime."

Sam and Dean exchanged glances. It sounded like Rob thought that these monsters were just too cool for school, but the reality was always a lot more horrifying. Hopefully, Frank was giving him some perspective on the subject at home. When Frank had dropped in for a beer the last time, he'd advised the brothers that he'd finally given in to Rob's pleas and had started training the boy in the basement of their house, like his father had done with him. Frank had asked Sam and Dean for their permission to use the bunker's training room when they were out on the road, and they'd given him their blessing. Frank still had the key they'd given him way back when, and he'd promised that he would always check first, before just barging in.

"Wait a minute," Becky said suddenly. "So you mean that if a person looks at you in a mirror, they'll see that you're a monster?" she asked Rob.

Rob glanced at the paper again, just to make sure. "Yeah, that's what it says here."

"Then I don't think it could be you," she said. "Isn't there a reflecting strip on the top of the stove?"

"That's brilliant, Becky," Tommy stated. "So we can eliminate Rob now, too."

In one brief, shining moment, everyone looked at Becky with admiration. Even Sam. Truthfully, she'd even surprised herself with that one.

"I'm a banshee, who uses my screaming voice to drive people insane," Carolyn said, her lips twitching.

"And if you've ever heard her calling to us that breakfast is ready, you know that's the truth," Tommy quipped.

Carolyn elbowed her brother in the side, smiling. "It sounds like Rob and I should team up," she remarked. "I can drive 'em nuts, and he can eat their brains." She paused, then grinned. "That's a sentence I never thought I'd hear myself utter. Shut up, Tommy."

"Yeah, but insanity isn't death, so you should be eliminated, too," Riley said, quite logically.

"You guys are getting really good at this," Gail remarked, smiling. "But I have to say, we should have made a side bet, 'cause I think the Angels have made more deductions than the Hunters, so far."

"That's because they don't have the distraction of all this great food. Thanks for doing all of this, Barry," Sam said. Chuck and Barry had just brought out more platters of hot hors d'oeuvres, and now, some desserts had made their appearance. Sam grinned. "This is starting to remind me of Christmas at Cas and Gail's house," he went on. "Are you sure you're not the killer, Chuck? Maybe you're trying to make us so full we'll forget all about trying to solve the crime."

Becky was growing impatient now. This was starting to drag on. "I'm sure Jody wants to open her presents, so I'll confess right now," she said. "I'm not the killer."

"Uhhh, I don't think that's how confessions are supposed to work," Chuck said dryly. "But, having said that, neither am I." He actually kind of agreed with Becky. It was all fine for the humans, who got to eat and drink. But then, he chided himself. If Laurel was here, she'd be telling him to be quiet. This wasn't all about him; it was Jody's day. Chuck wished Laurel could be here with him, but since everybody was in stasis in Heaven right now, she was unable to come to Earth. If Bobby or Cas or Gail became God, Chuck was going to ask them for permission to bring Laurel with him to Earth in the future.

"You guys are so impatient," Dean remarked, and Gail stared at him incredulously. Wasn't he the one who'd been grousing about this whole thing in the first place? But it seemed like his competitive instincts had been awakened now. "OK, lemme sum this puppy up," Dean continued. "Cas is a human, and he's a food critic. He coulda done it. But my girlfriend here is a Wendigo. She can lure her victims by imitating human voices. Then, when she gets them, she can feed on them for long periods of time."

"That's how I got YOUR attention, in the first place," Nicole joked. She reached out to put her plate on the library table. Unfortunately, she was smiling at Dean so she missed, and it fell to the floor with a clatter, spilling the remnants of food on the floor. "Oh, crap. Sorry about that," she said, crouching to pick up the mess. "Too bad I don't have those elongated limbs the Wendigo's got. I could have used them a second ago."

"What's 'Wendigo' mean, anyway?" Ethan asked curiously.

"It's Cree for 'evil that devours'," Nicole said automatically. She was down on her knees, picking the food up off the floor.

"Better be careful not to piss her off, Dean," Frank wisecracked.

"Here, let me help you," Quinn said to Nicole. She got down on her knees beside Dean's girlfriend and started picking up bits of food too, putting them on the plate that Nicole was holding. Her hand accidentally brushed Nicole's arm and suddenly, Quinn had a vision of Nicole and Dean, naked and in bed. She nearly laughed. Fortunately, those kinds of visions didn't happen often. Who the heck wanted to be seeing things like that about your friends all the time? Quinn really liked Nicole, and the psychic was dating Dean's brother. What if she were to see something really kinky? She would never be able to look them in the face again. But, just as Quinn moved her hand away so she wouldn't be in contact with Nicole any more, Nicole reached out and touched Quinn's arm. "Thanks for helping," she said to Sam's girlfriend. "That was clumsy of me."

And that additional touch was enough to do it. Now, Quinn was seeing Nicole on top of Dean, straddling him. But this time, she plunged her hand into his chest and ripped out his heart.

Quinn gave her head a shake. No. That couldn't be a vision, obviously. She was just channeling all this monster stuff. They had just been talking about an evil entity that devours. That had to be it. Ever since the night of the movie premiere, Quinn and Nicole had gotten along so wonderfully then that they'd been corresponding regularly. And, as girlfriends do, they had shared some personal details with each other about their relationships. Quinn knew that Nicole and Dean hadn't been to bed together since right before Dean and their group had gone to Madagascar, and that Nicole felt kind of bad about keeping Dean at arm's length in Hollywood. So Quinn was sure that her vision had been a garbled version of these things. Her gift had never been an exact science.

"But if what you are telling us is that you keep your victims alive so that you can feed on them, then you can't be the murderer," Cas said to Nicole. He looked at Sam and Dean for confirmation, and they nodded.

"Cas is right," Nicole agreed. "It's not me."

"Remember, everybody, I'm a Demon," Kevin piped up cheerfully.

"I think you're a little too happy about being a Demon, personally," Carolyn said, bemused. Once she'd gotten over the initial shock of Tommy and Barry telling her that half of their extended family were Angels and the other half were Hunters, she had been able to accept what they were saying with a fair amount of equanimity. Of course, she and Tommy knew all about Good vs. Evil. They'd grown up in an extremely religious atmosphere. Unfortunately, their parents had been so fanatical that they had disowned Tommy once he'd confessed to them that he was gay. As if that was a sin, or something. Carolyn herself didn't believe that it was, despite her upbringing. She was younger than Tommy, so she had been stuck at home with those people after her brother had left. But as soon as she'd been old enough, Carolyn had gotten out of there. That was probably why her marriage to Pete hadn't worked out. She had been in such a hurry to get out of that place that she hadn't taken the time to consider whether she was going from the frying pan straight into the fire. But at least she had gotten the baby she'd wanted, and in a few months, the next baby shower would be for her.

Kevin grinned at her comment. And why shouldn't he be happy? Coming to the bunker and seeing Sam here finally no longer traumatized him, and he was glad to be included in this group when it came to social occasions. He was back on the board that was helping to make important decisions for all of the Angels, and he'd been helping the campaign teams for all three of his friends. Just think: soon he was going to be friends with God. There was no way Patricia was going to win.

"Oh, yeah? How'd you kill Barry, Kevin?" Jody said skeptically, licking chocolate from her fingers. Kevin opened his mouth to retort, but he was slow in doing so, and Jody made a buzzing sound. "Too slow," she said, putting her plate down on the table. "So, guess what?" She strolled over to Cas and pointed her finger at him. "It's you. You're the killer."

"Very good, Jody," Cas said, nodding his head. "I am."

"Awww, man," Rob groused. "So we had all these cool monster suspects, and the killer turns out to be a human?"

"Cas, I thought you were my friend," Tommy quipped.

Jody looked at her son. "Here's the cool part," she said. She walked over to Gail. "It's my shower, so I get to kill all the monsters, right?" she asked Frank's sister.

Gail smiled. "Of course. That's one of your presents."

"Fantastic," Jody said. She looked at Rob. "Watch and learn," she told her son. Then she looked at Gail again. "So, since you're a ghoul, I'm going to take this extremely sharp butter knife and decapitate you." Jody moved on to Sam. "And, since my magic knife is also silver, I'm going to stab this shapeshifter right in the heart." She looked at Dean. "Oh, and I dipped it in lamb's blood, too, so that takes care of you and Tommy, the djinns. I snuck out of here while you guys were all babbling and burned my husband the ghost's bones. Now, I'm gonna stab my son the wraith in the heart with this same all-purpose silver knife. Aren't I just the best mom in the world?" she said, her lips twitching furiously. "And then, because silver can kill just about anything we've got here, I'm going to ask the werewolf husband-and-wife team of Riley and Quinn to stand close together so I can run them both through at once with my trusty knife. I'm pregnant, and I'm getting tired now. As for our friend Nicole the Wendigo, she's going to require a bit more special treatment. She saw me cutting a swath through everyone else and it scared her, so she ran into the kitchen, where Kevin the Demon was setting fire to the place, just because he's a snotty little Demon brat. Nicole burnt to death in the fire, and then Chuck the Angel helped me out by killing Kevin the Demon with the Demon knife he always carries in case of emergency. And while that was going on, I grabbed that candlestick over there and killed Carolyn the banshee with it, because banshees can be killed by weapons of gold. Then, I arrested Becky and Cas."

"Me? Why me?" Becky exclaimed.

"Because you're a self-confessed serial killer," Jody said with a smirk. "You made that admission yourself, earlier. So, I arrest you and Cas, and cart you both off to jail."

"What about me?" Ethan asked her.

"Isn't it obvious?" Jody said, shrugging. "You're a cannibal, so you'll stay behind and eat all the bodies, removing all traces that we were ever here."

"Oh, my God," Rob said, open-mouthed. "You're, like, the coolest mom ever."

"My wife, ladies and gentlemen," Frank said proudly. "Mother of my child, and total badass."

"And that's a Hunter baby shower," Gail announced, and she and her brother high-fived.

"I have to admit, that was pretty good," Dean said grudgingly.

"That's why it's just as cool to study the lore as it is to run around shooting stuff," Sam said to Rob.

Frank and Dean smirked at each other. "Don't look at me, he's your brother," Frank said.

"I'm just trying to tell Rob how important it is to educate yourself," Sam protested. Then he grinned. "And then, you can go in there and kick ass, like your mom did." He looked at Jody. "Way to go, Jodes."

"Thanks, Sam. Now I need to sit down, again," Jody said, easing into a chair. "And if it's not too crass to ask, can I open my presents now?"

As they all gathered around to watch her do so, Carolyn asked Jody, "Are you going to use a midwife, or a doula?"

Jody laughed shortly. "Screw all that trendy nonsense. I'm gonna have my baby the old-fashioned way: in the hospital, dead from the waist down, and stuffed to the gills with every legal drug known to medical science. In fact, I might even get one of my former cop buddies to raid the evidence locker and get me a couple of illegal ones," she joked.

"Doulas," Frank scoffed. "It's all New Age b.s." He smiled slyly. "I'll bet you doulas to doughnuts a man thought of that."

Their friends groaned at the pun. Then Gail said, "Hey, speaking of trends, I heard of something called a 'push present'."

Jody perked up. "Oh? What's that?"

"I'm not really clear, but I think it's an extra present the woman gets for having to go through all that labour," Gail replied.

"Then again, I'm always willing to embrace new concepts," Jody quipped.

"Have you given any thought to names yet?" Cas asked her.

Jody gave him a half-shrug. "Not really. We talked about just waiting till she comes out, and seeing what she looks like."

Cas's forehead wrinkled. Didn't babies all look pretty much the same, especially when they were newborns?

"Well, not to steal your thunder, but the Ultrasound showed I'm having a boy," Carolyn said to Jody and Frank.

"Hey, congrats," Frank said. "So we'll have one of each flavour, then. Good stuff."

"I was thinking of Zachariah; Zach, for short," Carolyn remarked. "What do you think, Cas? I guess I wanted a nice, Biblical-sounding name."

Cas's lips twitched. "I knew an Angel named Zachariah once," he commented, looking at Dean. His best friend grinned. "We had a bit of a...contentious relationship," Cas continued, and Dean gave him a nod of acknowledgement. Yep. That was a bit of an understatement, to say the least. Cas had had to kill Zachariah to protect Dean from the Angel. That was one of the many times that Cas had saved Dean's bacon from those dicks who had been running Heaven at the time. But soon, Cas might be the one in charge of the whole deal. They would have to have one hell of a party when that happened.

After Jody opened her gifts, she thanked everyone, then stifled a yawn. "Well, it's been great, but I think I have to call it a night," she told them all. "The bigger I get, the more tired I get." She hugged Gail. "Thanks for the murder mystery. It was nice to live vicariously, for a little while."

"I'm glad," Gail said, hugging her back. Jody wasn't normally very demonstrative, so Gail was touched by her gesture.

"Before everybody leaves, I have an announcement to make," Chuck said. "Richard called me a couple of days ago, and he offered me the job. I've started writing the script about our heroes going to Romania, to get the Hell Tablet. It's going to be a real blockbuster."

"Chuck, that's wonderful news," Cas enthused, shaking his hand.

Gail rushed over to hug her friend. "Congratulations, Chuck!" she exclaimed.

"And it's all thanks to you," he told her warmly. "If you hadn't pushed me into it, I would never have shown him my work in the first place. Don't worry; you'll be the smartest, cutest, strongest woman the show's ever had."

"Standing right here," Jody quipped, and everybody laughed.

Frank elbowed Sam and Dean. "Come on, you guys, make yourselves useful. Help me take the baby loot out to the car."

"What about me?" Rob asked Frank. "What do you want me to do?"

"You're gonna help clean up in here, until we get the car loaded," Frank said to the teen. "You're still a bit too young to hear some of the jokes I want to tell these guys."

Rob sighed, but he started to pick up the dirty dishes. He knew how much his dad hated it when he complained. Now that Rob was maturing a bit, he'd started to realize that helping out a little wasn't the end of the world. All of the men helped out around here, pretty much. And Rob was getting what he had wanted from his dad now, too. Frank had finally agreed to train Rob as a Hunter. All Rob had to do was meet his parents halfway, and he found that they were all getting along much better.

"I'll help, too," Cas told Frank eagerly. "It's the least I can do, seeing as Gail and I have been around so infrequently, lately." He grabbed a couple of presents, following the Winchesters down the hall towards the garage.

"Damn it," Frank cursed. "Now I can't tell that great election joke I had about his caucus," he wisecracked. He picked up a couple of gifts and followed the men down the hall as Gail and Jody looked at each other and burst into laughter.

"Geez, if he doesn't consider THAT too adult for you, I'm really curious to hear what you're missing," Tommy said to Rob. "Maybe I should help out with the presents, too."

"I'll help clean up the kitchen," Gail volunteered. "If I use my powers, we'll be done in a couple of minutes."

"Well then, by all means, use 'em," Barry said, letting out a breath. He plopped down in the chair beside Jody. "We deserve a rest." He looked down at her legs. "Foot massage?" Barry offered.

"Gail, I'm divorcing your brother for Barry," Jody called down the hall.

Barry smirked. "I can see a couple of problems with that."

"Only a couple?" Jody quipped. He started to rub her feet, and she moaned loudly. "And I'm willing to overlook them."

"He gives wonderful foot rubs," Carolyn said, smiling warmly at her brother-in-law. "He and Tommy take very good care of me."

"Keep this up, and I'm moving to Canada," Jody rhapsodized.

A few minutes later, everyone was ready to do their separate ways. "We may not be able to come to Earth again for a while," Cas told their human friends and family. "Our schedules are extremely heavy from now until November. But please don't hesitate to call my cell phone if anything urgent comes up. I have it with me at all times. Even if I'm working out with my cadets at the Academy, I will turn up the ringer and leave it on the table."

"The only occasion I can think of coming up is Gail's birthday," Frank said. He looked at his sister. "That is, if you still want to celebrate it on October 3rd."

Gail was taken aback. She hadn't really thought about it, one way or the other. She shrugged. "Let's not worry about it this year. Like Cas said, we're so booked right now it's ridiculous. But it's not that big of a deal. We've only got 2 more months, pretty much, and then it'll be over." She looked at Jody. "You're not due till the end of November, right?"

Jody nodded. "That's right."

Hugs and kisses were exchanged, and then the Angels all went back to Heaven.