Thanks so much for the reviews and those of you who have added this to your alerts, etc. You're all so kind! Hope you are enjoying the story. Thanks for reading.
Disclaimer: Only the idea is mine. Supernatural and the characters therein belong to the actors, writers, directors, producers, and technicians that bring it to life. Rated T, just in case.
Thirty minutes later, everyone was standing in the living room of the house. Dinner had been taken out of the oven, but was sitting uneaten on the counter. Sam and Dean both wore multiple weapons garnered from the stash in the garage safe. Sam had pulled on a hoodie, and Dean grabbed his army jacket. Lisa had gone upstairs to talk to Ben while they were in the garage, then brought him downstairs to say goodbye. The young boy was now next to his mother, openly staring at Castiel. She and Dean were talking. Sam noticed that every once in a while, when he thought no one was looking, Ben would reach out and touch the trench coat. He didn't say anything to Ben, understanding the motivation to see if the angel were real. There sure were some days when I didn't believe any of it was real. Days I still wish that. Lisa finally noticed though, and pushed Ben's hand away with a frown and a look. He looked guilty for a moment, but then caught Sam's eye, who shrugged and smiled a bit at him. Ben grinned.
"Cas, why don't you shake Ben's hand? Introduce yourself," Sam suggested.
"What? Yes, of course. Benjamin Isaac Braeden, I am very pleased to make your acquaintance. I am an angel of the Lord. You may call me Castiel." Castiel held his hand out.
Ben reached out and took it, grasping it firmly, the way Dean had showed him. He kept grinning.
"This is so cool!"
Dean narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.
"How come Dean and Sam get to call you Cas?" The intrepid eleven year old asked.
No one spoke for a moment, watching Cas struggle to answer that question. Finally Lisa took pity on him and said to her son, "Because they're grown-ups, Ben."
"That's what adults always say when they don't want you to do something. It's lame." He complained.
Dean took over. "Yep. It is lame. So. Here you go. I call him Cas because I can be a disrespectful jerk sometimes, especially about stuff like this. It's called a defense mechanism. Sam does because the nickname stuck. Your mother wants you to be more respectful."
Everyone looked at Dean in shock. "What?" he asked.
Finally, Sam answered, "Nothing. Just surprised, you know?"
"I can read. I have evolved." Dean griped.
"Yeah. Yeah, you have." The two brothers gazed at each other, silently acknowledging the changes time had wrought upon them both.
Castiel broke the moment. "We need to go."
"Alright already. Give it a rest, would you?" Dean swallowed hard and looked at Ben.
"Behave for your mother. Take out the trash for me. Do your homework. I'll be back soon." He nodded, already expecting agreement.
"Okay. Have a good time. Be careful. You too, Sam." Ben returned Dean's nod, then looked at Sam.
Dean turned to look at Lisa. She kissed him softly and quickly. "Stay safe." She said. "Sam." She looked in his direction and smiled.
"I'll keep him safe, Lisa." Sam told her. Dean shot him a look, but said nothing.
Dean sighed, then looked at Castiel. "Can we take the car?"
"No. There is no time. We need to leave now, and get to her tonight."
Dean groaned. "This is going to suck. I hate wild goose chases."
Castiel sort of shrugged, and said, "We don't have time for that." He reached out and tapped both Dean and Sam on the forehead. Instantly there was a familiar swirling sensation, then blackness.
A second later that were standing in a nearly empty parking lot. The sign on the window read "Charlie's Pub" in green neon. Castiel headed for the entrance to the pub. Dean hurried after him.
"Dammit, Cas! I hate traveling angel express. Okay, Lisa and Ben are gone. Why are we really here? What's going on? Where is here anyway? Hang on a second." Dean caught the sleeve of Castiel's trench coat and swung the angel around to face him.
"She is here. We need to go inside." Castiel entered the pub.
Dean sighed and looked over at Sam, who had walked over to stand beside him. Sam shrugged his shoulders and said, "I guess we go inside."
"Yeah. I guess so. Be ready for anything though." Dean waited for Sam's nod, then pushed open the door. Inside, the place seemed pretty stereotypical. A few stools lined the bar, a few booths pressed close to the wall. At the far end of the bar a small stage was set up with a piano and a guitar on a stand. The bartender was an older man, grey-haired and buzz-cut. He looked fit for an older man, and the Marine Corps tattoo on his arm gave Dean an idea why. There were only a few customers scattered between the booths and the barstools so it was easy to locate Castiel settling into a booth. Dean and Sam headed for the booth and slid into a seat just as a young man came over with menus in hand.
"Hey guys, welcome to Charlie's. We have a short menu, but the food is good and we actually have some great entertainment tonight. Can I start you off with anything?"
"Beer. Something on tap. Thanks." Dean flipped open the menu.
"The same, please," Sam said.
Castiel looked at the waiter. "I would like a glass of water please. We are looking for Alexa. Is she working?"
The waiter smiled and nodded. "Like I said, fantastic entertainment today. She'll be on soon."
Castiel nodded and watched the waiter walk away, then turned to Sam and Dean.
"What does he mean?"
Dean pointed at the stage as Sam answered, "I think she'll be on the stage."
"Oh." Castiel looked at the stage intently.
Sam smiled and shook his head a little. Dean snapped his fingers at Castiel to get his attention. When the angel failed to respond, Dean gave up and read the menu a second time instead. He didn't notice as first Castiel, then Sam, went still as a figure stepped on to the stage and took a seat at the piano. It was only when the first chords were struck that he turned toward the stage and noticed her.
The woman was tall, judging from her height sitting at the piano, probably close to six feet. Dean thought she might be about Sam's age. Her hair was long and amber colored, a deep golden with glints of red when she shifted under the lights. It was wavy, and brushed back over her shoulders. Her skin was pale, almost paper white pale. She was beautiful, but not in a 'hot chick' kind of way. Dean just realized the more he looked at her, the more he wanted to look at her. He glanced at Castiel and saw the angel was literally gaping at the girl. Sam appeared mesmerized as well, but he did manage to stop staring long enough to say to Dean, "I think I know her. She looks so familiar."
Dean nodded, and looked back at her just as she began to speak, "Hi everyone. Thanks for coming tonight. This first one is an old folk song about love and what happens with the choices we make. Hope you enjoy it." Then she started singing. Her voice was quiet, but powerful, easily filling the small pub, but seeming so intimate you could imagine she was singing just to you.
The song was slow and eerie, the type of thing Dean normally would have immediately tuned out on the radio, but there was something that he couldn't put his finger on, something that made him want to hear the end of the story she was singing.
As she began a second verse, Sam shifted uncomfortably in his seat. There was something... He could feel the emotions she was singing of. The pain, the desperation, the fear in the story were all naked and exposed in her voice as she begged and unknown power for the life of her lover. Painful memories flashed through his mind, of Jessica, of watching Dean die, of fighting Lucifer and being in the Pit, and the pain that never quite healed was suddenly there, as fresh as the day all of it happened. He struggled to hold it inside, not sure why a simple song was affecting him so strongly. He felt the muscles in his back go bowstring tight as he tried to hold himself still.
The song wound to a close, and the melancholy plea for her lover brought with it a feeling of resignation, acceptance, and understanding. His tension eased and the pain of memory, so fresh only moments before, now felt almost peaceful, as if some measure of relief had been received. Sam unconsciously placed a hand over his heart as the song ended and looked over at Dean, who was rubbing his hand over his chin.
"That was... wow. Intense. Cas, did you get anything from that? Can you tell anything about her?" Dean asked.
Castiel turned back toward the table and faced the Winchester brothers. Tears streamed down his face.
Startled, Sam leaned forward, asking, "Cas, are you okay?"
Dean shoved a few of the napkins from the dispenser at the angel.
Castiel nodded, ignoring the napkins. His blue eyes seemed to brighten for a moment as he said, "It was like my Grace," in a voice filled with awe. "What I lost when I rebelled, I felt the pain of losing it, then the joy of gaining it again. How it felt to be whole, complete. I think she..." he stopped speaking as the girl began to sing again. The young man came over to take their order, but Dean waved him off. Castiel stood slowly and walked toward the stage. The girl didn't seem to notice at first, absorbed as she was in the music. When she did see him, her fingers faltered on the piano keys, then recovered. Her face seemed to pale even more, and her body adopted a sense of stillness it hadn't possessed before. She watched him step closer, until he finally stopped at the edge of the stage. They continued to stare at one another until her voice faded to a hushed whisper at the end of the song.
Castiel moved first, stepping onto the stage and sitting on the bench beside her. He took her hand between both of his.
"Thank you. Thank you for that wonderful gift."
"Hello, Castiel. You're welcome."
"You know who I am. You know what I am." The way he said it wasn't really a question.
"Yes. And I know why you're here, as well." She looked over at the table where Dean and Sam were seated. Dean raised his hand and shook it a few times in greeting. Alexa looked dubiously at him and turned back to Castiel.
"Why don't we step outside to talk?" She rose, gently pulling her hand from Castiel's grip. First she put the guitar in a case and latched it shut. She carried it with her as she walked off the stage and paused at the bar, next to the bartender. "Charlie, I'm sorry, but a family matter has come up. I'm going to need some time off."
"Like we talked about before? That kind of family matter?"
"Yeah, Charlie. Just like we talked about." Sam, watching from the booth, thought her answering smile to Charlie seemed a little sad.
"Sure thing, Alexa. It's not like we're that busy anyway." He made a gesture at the near empty bar.
"Thanks, Charlie. I appreciate it." She reached behind the bar and grabbed a bag.
Charlie put his hand on her arm. "Hey, you stay safe, okay? Come back if you can."
Dean started to slide out of the booth, but Castiel waved him back. "Not yet, please. I would like to speak to Alexa alone first. There are things I wish to ask her." He followed her out the door of the pub as Dean shifted to the other side of the booth, so he was facing Sam.
"He was so gung ho about how we had to meet her immediately, and now he wants us to wait? This is so weird." He waved to the waiter, then said to Sam, "I'm hungry and since we didn't get dinner we may as well get something to eat. Who knows how long they'll be?"