Chapter 3 - Moonlight Drive
The next morning, the group gathered in the dining room again for breakfast, and to talk about their strategy going forward.
After the server brought them all coffee and orange juice, Cas said, "As this is one of the possible locations that we have identified as a place where the Tablet might be, we'll start looking here, of course."
"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Frank asked him.
"I don't really know, Frank," Cas said. That was troubling him, too. In the past, they'd had more specific information to go on. Now, they had multiple possible locations, and absolutely no clues as to how or where to start.
"I think we're wasting our time here," Sam said, pouring himself another glass of juice. It was nice to have something with fruit in it, for a change. He had really enjoyed last night's dinner, too. Usually, when he and Dean went on the road, they ate in bars and greasy spoons. "I think it's going to be in the castle," Sam opined.
"Well, we're here now, so we're gonna look here, first," Bobby said irritably. He took a couple of gulps of coffee. It was hot, rich and strong, and he needed it to clear his head. Damn Dean and his damn tuica.
Klara approached the table. "Good morning, everyone," she said to the group. "I have taken the liberty to request the girls to serve you family-style this morning. We have coddled eggs, ham, bacon, sausages, potatoes, peppers, and pancakes."
"There goes my cholesterol," Bobby said, throwing up his hands. But he was looking forward to getting some food in his stomach. Next to hair of the dog, a hearty breakfast was the best thing for you if you were feeling a little rough in the morning.
"What do you say, Cas? Ready to strap on the feedbag again?" Dean joked, reaching for the sugar for his coffee.
Cas smiled. "No, I don't think so, Dean." He patted his stomach. "I had a little bit too much to eat last night."
Frank nudged Gail. "You're lucky he's not a human man. That wouldn't have been pretty."
"Don't be gross," Jody chided her husband. She looked at Gail, lips twitching. "He's not wrong, though."
Gail rolled her eyes. "You're not telling me anything I don't already know. Remember, I shared motel rooms with this guy for years." She jerked her thumb towards Frank.
"Preaching to the choir," Dean said, smirking. He looked at Sam.
"That's one thing I don't miss," Chuck said. He gave his orange juice a tentative sip, then made a face at the strong citrus taste. Gail looked at him and laughed, and he put the glass down, giving her a sheepish grin.
"What are you guys going to do when Klara comes back and sees that you're not eating?" Sam asked the Angels. Then he grinned. "Especially you, Gail. I think she's on a campaign to fatten you and Cas up."
"Lucky your names aren't Hansel and Gretel," Frank quipped. "Then we'd have to question her motives."
Sure enough, when the food arrived, Klara hovered over their table, making sure everyone loaded up their plates. The Angels had no choice but to eat a bit of food from time to time, when they saw her looking their way.
"Oh my God, Cas," Gail said to him after a bit. "I can't eat any more. I'm out of practice."
He thought for a minute. Truthfully, he didn't want to eat any more, either. But he didn't want to offend Klara, either. What could they do?
"Psst," Frank said, gesturing, and Cas leaned forward, across Gail. "In every sitcom I've ever seen, when somebody doesn't want to eat something, they dump the food somewhere. Why don't you just put it in a napkin and take it to the bathroom? Then you can flush it, and nobody has to know."
Cas looked at Gail's brother, impressed. "That's brilliant," he told Frank. "You're brilliant!"
As Frank puffed out his chest, Gail said, "Boy, that's a sentence you don't hear every day."
Frank glared at her. "Hey, I can be just as smart as you, Miss Smarty-Pants," he told her.
Gail smiled. "That's MRS. Smarty-Pants. And, yes, I suppose if they taught Koko the gorilla how to speak sign language, anything's possible."
Frank looked at Cas again. "When we go into the Weapons Museum, you'd better stand in front of her," Gail's brother said. Then he resumed eating.
Gail laughed delightedly as Cas smiled. He was used to their brand of humour by now. "Give me your plate, please," he said to her. She slid it over to him and he dumped the contents into his napkin, then he tied up the napkin and put it in his inside jacket pocket. Then he repeated the process with his own plate.
"You'd better not go outside with those, in case there are any dogs around," Sam said, pouring some syrup on a pancake. He liked to eat healthy whenever he could, but you had to live a little, too.
"Yeah, that's another sitcom cliche," Dean said, loading up his plate with bacon. "They smell the food in your clothes and chase you around. On second thought, do that. It'd be hilarious."
Cas gave the Winchester brothers an indulgent smile, then he rose to dispose of the food. After a minute, Chuck did the same with his.
Klara came back a few minutes later, and she was pleased to see everyone eating enthusiastically. She looked down at Cas and Gail's plates and smiled. "Did you enjoy your breakfast?" she asked them.
"Yes, it was very good, thank you," Gail told the woman.
"Well then, have some more," Klara said to them. "I have some fresh tomatoes that I picked from my garden only yesterday. I'll have the girls bring some out."
"I'll get in on those," Sam said enthusiastically.
Cas smiled up at Klara. "Would you mind telling me what time your museum opens?" he asked her politely.
She dimpled. "I'm the proprietor," she replied. "It opens whenever I open it."
"We're very interested in seeing it," Chuck said.
Klara nodded. "We get a lot of men who are interested in it," she remarked. "Ever since that Game Of Thrones television show came on, there has been a lot more interest im medieval weaponry. And then, of course, there's that vampire nonsense."
"You think it's nonsense? Really?" Dean asked her.
Klara nodded vigorously. "I know it is," she told him. "But those weapons we have here are all real, and there is a lot of history attached to each and every piece. I think you men will really enjoy it." She looked at Gail and Jody. "I don't know how the ladies will feel about it, though. There are a lot of very violent stories and images there."
"Ooh, finish up, Frank," Jody said eagerly. "Now we have to go." Klara frowned, but Jody didn't care. She hated being stereotyped like that.
So did Gail, but she'd never really been that into weapons, either. Maybe it was because Jody had been a cop, or maybe because, deep down, Gail didn't really care that much for violence. That was probably why she hadn't been pestering Cas for a tune-up on her fighting skills. But there was safety in numbers, so she was glad that they had a large enough group now.
"Come see me when you finish breakfast, and I'll open the museum for you," Klara said, smiling warmly at Cas. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Now eat, eat." Then she walked away from the table.
"Wow," Dean said, around a mouthful of food. "I'd watch her around those weapons, Gail. I think she wants to take your place."
Gail looked at him, bemused. "Do you want to try that again, without the entire breakfast menu in your mouth?"
Sam banged his coffee cup down on the table and sat back in his chair. "Thank you!" he exclaimed. "At last, somebody else says it! I've been trying to talk to him about that for years, and he just calls me a girl!"
"Well then, I guess I'm a girl, too, cause I think it's disgusting," Bobby said. "Were you raised in a barn?"
"Practically," Dean said sharply, looking at Bobby. "I'm surprised you of all people would say something like that."
Everyone at the table fell silent. Sometimes they all forgot that Sam and Dean hadn't had the best upbringing in the world, or the best role model for a father.
"Sorry," Bobby said gruffly, and Sam and Dean exchanged glances. Wow. A kick-ass breakfast, a weapons museum, and an apology from Bobby. This was shaping up to be a great day.
The weapons museum had turned out to be a lot of fun, and very educational. The men had been like kids in a candy store. Jody, too. Gail and Chuck hung back while the others rushed excitedly from exhibit to exhibit.
"I like these broadswords," Frank commented approvingly. "Says here it's a two-edged blade. Twice as efficient."
"Definitely," Cas confirmed, nodding. "I believe that's what's known as 'multi-tasking'."
Frank clapped him on the shoulder, grinning. "Good one, Cas. You ever use one of those before?"
"Oh, yes. Many times," Cas replied. "It's especially useful for stupid enemies. You can just swing it back and forth, and they'll run right into it."
"If I was an old-time gal, I'd put one of those stilettos in my garter belt," Jody said, admiring a short knife with a sharp point. "That's be one of the very few advantages to being a woman, back in the day. Nobody'd be expecting it."
Frank put his arms around her waist. "I have never been more turned on by a woman in my life," he said to her.
"Okay, relax, 'Cas'," Dean teased Frank, elbowing him. Then he looked at Jody. "I guess stilettos are fine, if you like girly weapons."
"They're not just for females, Dean," Cas told him. "They're very useful. Because they're small, they're easily concealed. They're sharp, so they can pierce chain mail, and they can find gaps in body armour."
"The only chain mail I ever got was a letter telling me to send a dollar to everyone on the list or I'd have bad luck," Chuck said to Gail, and she giggled.
Gail couldn't get over it. Frank and Dean were actually competing for Cas's attention now, like kids wanting to get their father's approval. It obviously excited them to be here with someone who had actually used the weapons displayed here.
They were looking at the clubs and maces now. "I never cared for these," Cas remarked with a touch of disdain. "Too crude."
"Hey, here's something called a Holy Water Sprinkler!" Sam exclaimed, but then he peered closer. "I don't see why it's called that, though. It looks like just another club."
"It is," Cas told him. "The name's a misnomer. It's a weapon for poor people. Those who couldn't afford the higher-grade materials would fashion a club out of wood. The head of the club was made of metal, with radiating spikes. It was nicknamed a Holy Water Sprinkler because it kind of looks like one, that's all."
"Oh. Too bad," Sam said. He thought about Linda for a moment. She would have enjoyed being here with the group, fantasizing about killing multiple Demons with a Holy Water Sprinkler. He felt sad that she was stuck by herself in the Netherworld.
"How about those crossbows?" Dean said. "Pretty cool. Just like the one that guy on the zombie show has."
"Good for hunting, or for stealth attacks," Cas said, nodding approvingly.
"They're fairly recent innovations, though, aren't they?" Jody asked him.
"Oh, no, not at all," Cas replied. "Crossbows date back to Roman times. They were widely used as weapons until Pope Innocent banned them in 1139."
Gail shook her head. 1139. That was a year Cas was talking about, not a time of day, and he could speak about it with authority because he'd been there, not because he'd seen it on the History Channel. Sometimes that was hard for her to wrap her head around. Her husband had been around since, literally, the beginning of time.
"These throwing axes date back to the early Middle Ages," Cas was saying now. "They can also be very handy, if you have good aim."
"Wow," Chuck said softly. "So many things, designed for the specific purpose of harming humans. Makes me feel sad."
"Yeah, I feel the same way," Gail said to him. "Which is kind of funny, considering I'm married to Mr. Weapons Expert over there."
Chuck shrugged. "I'm glad Cas taught me how to fight, but I'd just as soon leave it to the professionals," he said. "I'm a writer, not a fighter."
"Cute," Gail retorted. "Are you sure you're not a poet?" She and Chuck laughed.
Cas came over to where they were standing. "I'm sorry, my love. I've been neglecting you," he said to Gail, putting his arm around her waist.
She smiled. "Not at all. You've got a class to teach," she teased.
He looked at her, puzzled, and then he smiled. "I guess I did sound a little like a teacher, didn't I?"
Gail kissed him on the cheek. "I think it's adorable, even if the subject matter isn't."
"Cas! Come here, look at this!" Dean called out, and Gail looked at her husband, smiling again. "Go," she said to him. He gave her a squeeze and walked over to Dean.
As Gail watched Cas now, she had an idea. A very, very good idea. Once they dealt with Lucifer, she thought she knew exactly what Cas should be doing next.
They'd concluded their tour of the museum, and the group fanned out now to begin looking around the hotel and the adjoining restaurant.
Cas and Gail decided that they would search the kitchen and dining room of the restaurant. It had appeared to them that Klara spent a lot of time there, and since she was so charmed by Cas, they thought she might allow him access to areas that the guests might not be ordinarily able to enter. If worse came to worst, he could always use the two-finger system on her.
Sure enough, when they entered the dining room, Klara was there, supervising the changeover between the breakfast and lunch services. She smiled when she saw the two of them walk in, hand in hand.
"Are you looking to be fed?" Klara asked them.
"No!" Gail exclaimed. Then she hastily added, "I'm still full from your delicious breakfast. The tomatoes were wonderful."
Klara was pleased by the compliment. "Then, how may I help you?"
Cas smiled. "I wonder if we could take a peek at your kitchen?" he asked her. "Maybe we could get the recipe for your drob de miel, so we can make it at home."
"We don't normally allow guests in the kitchen, but for you, I'll make an exception," Klara told him. She reached up and patted his cheek. "It's nice to see a man who appreciates the fine art of home cooking." She looked at Gail. "You're a lucky woman."
Gail smiled. "I know."
Klara brought the couple into the kitchen. She led Cas around and showed him some of the ingredients that were used in the preparation of the local dish, and then she went into a cabinet and took out a recipe box.
"I have a few recipes here that I can give you," Klara told them, leafing through the index cards.
Gail made eye contact with Cas. "I need to go to the washroom," she said, making a motion with her head. Cas gave her a nod, and she walked back out to the dining room.
As she'd been hoping, the place was deserted now. She walked quickly around the room, looking at the walls. She had Benoit's office in the back of her mind. She peeked behind a couple of the paintings that hung on the walls, but truthfully, she was fairly convinced that Sam was right. The hotel's restaurant was a bustling place, from what she'd seen, and she highly doubted that something like a Tablet would have remained here undiscovered for so long. In fact, like Sam, Gail also believed that the Tablet would be located somewhere in Bran Castle. But she agreed that they did have to look around here too, of course.
She edged closer to the front of the dining room. There was a darkened alcove there, with a thick set of drapes that were drawn against the wall. She would have a peek behind the drapes, just to be on the safe side. Then, if there was nothing there, she'd call it, and go back to the kitchen.
Gail pulled back the drapes with one hand, and that was when Jason grabbed her other arm.
"I've been preparing some chicken and dumplings for lunch," Klara said to Cas, taking the lid off of a huge pot. "Tell me what you think." She dipped a big spoon into the pot and gave it to him to try. Not wanting to be rude, Cas took it from her and tasted from it.
"It's delicious," he told her sincerely.
Klara beamed. "I'll make sure you get an extra-big helping, then."
Cas almost groaned. He knew this woman was trying to be kind, but he was going to have to figure out a way to refuse all the food she was pushing on him without being rude. He had enjoyed last night's meal, but he couldn't continue to eat like that.
He reached out and touched her forehead, and she froze in place. Cas did a quick search of the kitchen, but he didn't see anything that could be a likely hiding place for the Tablet. He came back to Klara and reanimated her.
"Thank you," Cas said, putting the recipe cards she'd given him into his jacket pocket. "Let me go find Gail, and then we'll see you later."
"I'll look forward to seeing all of you for the lunch seating," Klara said to him.
Cas shuddered inwardly. They had to get away from Klara and her constant feedings, otherwise, he would soon explode. He left the kitchen and walked through the dining room.
Gail was there, but curiously, she was sitting down at one of the tables with her head in her hands. Cas rushed over to her. "Are you all right?" he asked her.
She shook her head vigorously. "Yeah, I'm OK, Cas. I just felt light-headed there, for a minute."
He stared at her. That was odd.
Gail rose from her chair. "I'm fine now, Cas. I take it you didn't find anything?"
He frowned. "No."
"Me neither," Gail said. "I don't think it's here, Cas."
"Same here," he replied. He took her hand. "Let's go see how the others are doing. If they all come up empty, I think we'll head to the castle." He gave her a brief smile and lowered his voice. "If we plan it right, we can miss the lunch service here. Maybe dinner, as well. Otherwise, I'll need to buy bigger pants."
Gail laughed. The Angels walked hand in hand out to the lobby of the hotel.
Frank and Jody were there. They had been assigned to check the hallways and the lobby, but they had come up empty, as well.
"We were just coming to see you," Frank told the couple. "Nothing doing."
"Same here," Sam said. He and Dean had searched the salon, the bar, and the office, taking the opportunity to slip the lock while Cas had Klara occupied in the kitchen. "I'm not going to say I told you so, but I totally did," Sam said, grinning.
"Where are Bobby and Chuck?" Frank asked.
"They were going to go down to the basement, where the vampire exhibit is," Cas replied.
"Damn it! Why didn't you send ME there?" Frank asked him. He'd forgotten about that.
"Probably because he knows you would do more fooling around than looking around," Jody said.
Frank shrugged, grinning now. She was likely right about that. But still: "I just want to see it for a second," Frank said. "Maybe get just one picture, for Robbie."
"Oh, for ROBBIE," Jody said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"We might as well go down there, then," Cas said. "If they have come up empty, we'll proceed to Bran Castle, next."
They all walked single file down the winding staircase. It emptied out into a hallway. There was a sign stating "No Admittance" on one side of the corridor, and a sign that read "This Way To Dracula's Lair" on the other side, with an arrow pointing in the direction they were expected to go.
"Cool," Dean said.
Suddenly, they heard a crash, and a yell. What the hell? They all hurried down the corridor into a large room that was made up to look like a crypt.
Chuck was lying on the floor beside an empty prop coffin. "Look out!" he yelled.
A Demon attached Sam from the side, blasting him into the opposite wall. Frank reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a Demon knife, stabbing Sam's assailant.
Meanwhile, a vampire had Bobby pinned up against the coffin. His hand was on Bobby's throat, and their friend was struggling to get free.
Sam bounced up from the floor. "Good reflexes," he called out to Frank, who grinned. "I was a boy scout," Frank responses. "'Always be prepared'."
Jody tackled the vampire who held Bobby by the throat. Or at least, she tried. The vampire extended his free hand and pushed her away, and she went flying over the coffin to where Chuck lay, on the other side. He was getting to his feet, and he helped her to do the same.
Now they saw another vampire approaching, and Cas flung out his arm, repelling it. But as soon as he did that, another Demon attacked Sam, again. This time Sam was ready, though. He'd gotten his Demon knife out of his boot. He stabbed the Demon and let its vessel drop to the floor.
"Wow, Demons really don't like you, do they?" Jody quipped to Sam, who shrugged.
Frank had rushed over to where the vampire was still choking Bobby. He was slashing at the vampire with his knife. He knew that wouldn't really harm the thing, but he just wanted to get it off poor Bobby. Their friend's face was turning blue now. Finally, the vamp released Bobby and turned on Frank, grabbing him and throwing him across the room.
The other vampire that Cas had repelled grabbed Gail from behind, and she cried out in surprise. She was trying to get into her pants pocket for her blade, thinking she could use it to make the vamp let go of her.
Jody saw Gail's struggles, but her sister=in-law was fighting with two Demons now. Cas was tangling with the vampire who had attacked Frank, and Dean was nowhere in sight. "Sam!" Jody yelled, and Sam punched the vampire who was holding Gail in the face. It staggered back, loosening its grip on Gail. She was able to wriggle out of its arms, and Sam pushed her behind him.
"We need something to decapitate these sons of bitches!" Bobby yelled in a hoarse voice. He was rubbing his neck, in the spot where the vampire had been choking him.
On cue, Dean came running back into the room. He had an armload of weapons from the museum. He handed Frank a broadsword, then tossed a throwing axe to Cas, who caught it neatly.
"Thanks," Cas said tersely. He hacked the vampire's head off with the axe, then tossed the axe to Sam, who did the same thing to the other vampire. "And thanks to you, too," Cas said to Sam with a brief smile, nodding towards Gail. Sam smiled back.
Gail was starting to get mad now. She was always the one being bailed out. "Give me your Demon knife," she said to Frank. He offered it to her. She snatched it out of his hand and ran over to where Jody was. Gail stabbed one of the Demons, and Jody stabbed the other.
"Chicks rule!" Jody exclaimed, and the two women high-fived.
Another monster attacked Bobby, but he knocked it to the ground and stabbed it. "Where the hell did all of these things come from, all of a sudden?!" he exclaimed.
Suddenly, Dean swore loudly. "Oh, no. No way," he said.
"It can't be," Sam chipped in.
"What? What are you guys talking about?" Jody said sharply.
Gail turned around to look where the brothers were looking. There was a man entering the room. He was walking with a slow saunter, like he didn't have a care in the world.
"Man," Sam lamented. "I thought those guys were all in Purgatory."
"They are," Dean replied. "They're supposed to be, anyway."
"Surprise," the man said softly.
Gail was looking at the Winchesters' faces, and she was puzzled. She'd never seen them looking this stricken before. Then she looked at Cas. He was also staring at the man, an incredulous look on his face. What was she missing, here?
"Friggin' Leviathan," Bobby said with disgust.
Jody gasped. She remembered the boys having told her about the Leviathans. They were arguably the worst sort of monsters there were, at least when it came to getting rid of them, anyway.
"What's a Leviathan?" Chuck asked Cas.
"It's an abomination," Castiel replied. "Our Father's worst creation."
"I thought that was you, Castiel," the Leviathan sneered.
"Where did you come from?" Sam asked it. "Why aren't you in Purgatory?"
"I was, until our mutual acquaintance Lucifer left the Portal ajar," it replied.
"Son of a bitch!" Dean swore. "How many of you guys got out?"
"I think I'll just let you find that out for yourselves," the Leviathan retorted. "Well, those of you I don't eat, of course."
"Yeah, whatever," Frank said. He stepped forward and chopped the Leviathan's head off with his broadsword. "There," he said. "I was getting sick of listening to him, anyway."
"That's too bad, because you're gonna be listening to him again, in a second," Sam remarked.
Frank looked at him. What? Then, an instant later, he saw what Sam was talking about. The Leviathan's head started to wobble. It had landed on the floor and rolled over to where Cas and Gail stood. Cas had been edging over to Gail ever since the Leviathan had appeared. Neither she nor Frank would know anything about this particular breed of monster, he was sure. That was why Frank had beheaded it, thinking that that would be enough to kill it.
The head flew through the air and reattached itself to the Leviathan's body. Then it stood, and fixed Frank with a baleful stare. "You must be new here," it said to him.
Frank looked at Sam and Dean. "You've gotta be kidding me with this," he said to them.
"I wish we were, Frank," Sam said.
Castiel was very angry now, and he was also afraid. Lucifer had opened the Portal to Purgatory? That explained why they had been set upon by both Demons and vampires here. It was highly unusual for those two types of entities to attack in concert with one another. How many creatures had been loosed? And how many Leviathans?
"So how do we kill these bastards?" Frank asked the men, eyeing the Leviathan nervously.
"There is a way, but it involves some preparation," Cas said. He was also watching it warily.
"Yeah, so would you mind maybe coming back in, like, a year or two?" Dean quipped.
The Leviathan regarded him with a sour expression. Then it grabbed Dean and flung him across the room. Cas extended his arm, and the ray of blue light shot out from his fingertips. But the Leviathan dodged it. It looked at Cas speculatively. "Well, at least that's new," the Leviathan said conversationally.
Gail grabbed her blade and spoke in Enochian, and the beam of golden light shone from its tip. She aimed it at the monster. It put up its hand, and the beam burned a hole in the palm.
The Leviathan looked at the hole in its hand, and then it looked at Gail. "Well, aren't you cute. You're obviously new, too," it said to her. It shook its hand out, and the hole repaired itself. Crap, Gail thought.
Cas moved in front of Gail, shielding her with his body. The Leviathan raised an eyebrow to him. "Interesting," it said. "There were rumours, but we're a little out of the loop in Purgatory. It's a dog-eat-dog world there, as you know, Castiel. So, this is your little wife. It'll be a pleasure eating her, even though she is only a tiny morsel."
"I'll kill you before I'll let you near her," Cas said angrily.
"Good luck with that," the Leviathan said casually. "Unless you've been promoted to the status of Archangel, the only way to do that is with the bone."
"The bone?" Chuck blurted out.
"Prophet, right?" the Leviathan said, looking at Chuck. It looked back at Castiel. "Why is it that these guys can never tell you anything you really need to know?" the Leviathan asked Cas. "If he'd been able to tell you we were coming, you could have brought a bone." It turned back to Chuck. "That's the bone of a righteous mortal man, soaked in the blood of the Fallen. See? I don't just eat; I like to educate, too."
"Is that the only way to kill these things?" Frank said, exasperated. This guy almost made him long for Crowley. He certainly scored just as high on the Snark-o-Meter.
"No. There's another way."
They all turned to look at the doorway. A woman was standing there, smiling at them all.
"What are YOU doing here?" the male Leviathan said to her.
"The same thing as you are," she replied calmly. "Just looking for a meal."
He let out a frustrated breath. "Fine. We'll split them."
"Fairly?" she asked skeptically.
He smirked. "Of course. In fact, why don't you take the humans, and I'll take the Angels. You'll get five, I'll only get three."
"How magnanimous of you," the female Leviathan said sarcastically. "There's only one problem with your math. One Angel is worth at least a hundred humans, and Castiel would be worth thousands. Maybe even millions. You know that. You're just looking to be the Alpha."
He frowned. "So what if I am? I'll share the spoils."
"No, I think I'll be the one sharing the spoils," she remarked. Her mouth opened wide, revealing rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth. She pounced on the male Leviathan and began to eat him.
"Chuck, Gail," Cas said quickly. "Take the others outside, now." He jerked the broadsword out of Frank's hand. "NOW!" he shouted. Gail grabbed Frank's and Dean's hands, Chuck grabbed Jody's and Sam's, and at the last minute, Sam grabbed Bobby's arm. In his fear and panic, Chuck had forgotten that Bobby wasn't an Angel any more. They all dropped their weapons as they winked out of the basement.
Castiel strode forward and cut the female Leviathan's head clean off with the broadsword. He caught the head in his arms and winked out of the cellar. He reappeared in Antarctica and buried the head in the snow, then winked himself back to the hotel grounds. The humans and the Angels were all standing out back of the hotel, in the forest. As soon as she and Chuck had winked everyone outside, Gail had suggested that they hide themselves. Every one of them had blood on them. While they had been waiting for Cas, she had been moving from person to person, cleaning their clothes, and their faces and hands.
When Cas appeared, she did the same thing for him. He looked at her gratefully.
"I took care of the situation, but it'll buy us some time, only," he told everyone. "We'll have to be very vigilant from now on." He looked down at Gail. "I'm sorry to ask this of you, but could you please help me to restore the basement to its original condition?" he asked her. "We can't have the hotel staff or any of the human guests seeing what's down there."
Gail nodded. He was right, of course. There was blood all over the basement, and they would have to get rid of the bodies, too. Hopefully, no one had heard any of the noise and gone downstairs to investigate.
"I'll come, too," Chuck volunteered.
Cas put his hand on Chuck's shoulder. Gail finished cleaning everyone, and Cas said, "I'll bring the weapons back out here, after I collect them from the basement. Then I'll modify Klara's memory, so that she's unaware that they're missing. We will have to be able to defend ourselves properly if there are more attacks."
"Good stuff," Dean said, nodding. "As long as we don't see any more of those Leviathan asshats, we should be able to take care of anything else."
Cas frowned. That worried him, too. But he could only take care of one thing at a time. He and Gail and Chuck popped back into the basement. It was a bloody mess.
"Please gather up the weapons, and we'll bring them outside," Cas said to Chuck. Gail was walking around the room, cleaning up the blood and repairing broken objects.
"We'll be back in just a moment to start removing the dead," Cas told her. "Will you be all right alone here, for a moment?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure if there were any more, we would have seen them by now," she replied. Then she handed him Frank's Demon knife, which she still held in her hand. "Here, can you give this back to my brother, sweetie?" Cas took the knife, and Gail withdrew her own blade from her pants pocket. "I'll keep this out, just in case," she told him.
Cas gave her a quick smile. She was so good, and so brave. "I'm so proud of you," he told her.
"Just get those weapons, and get them outside," she said, gesturing to him and Chuck. "I don't want those guys to be unarmed, just in case." Then she smiled. "And, thank you."
Cas and Chuck winked out, and an instant later, Jason rushed out of the shadows of the basement. He had been watching the entire fracas, highly amused. He'd figured that the group should easily be able to handle the garden-variety creatures, and he had enjoyed watching the way that they had used those ancient weapons. Castiel the Warrior was always fun to watch, and apparently, he had trained his people well. Even the women had dispatched two of the Demons very efficiently. But, when the Leviathan had shown up, Jason had seen the expression on the men's faces, and he had smiled. Jason may hate Castiel, but he knew his former compatriot was no fool. Then, once the others had been taken to safety, Jason had watched as Castiel had beheaded the female Leviathan after she'd eaten the male, removing the head from the vicinity. Smart, but it was only a temporary solution, of course. A moment or two after Castiel had left the basement, the Leviathan's headless body had gotten up and left the basement, seeking its head. Castiel had only slowed down the unification process. Still, it had bought his group some time, until the bone that could kill it could be obtained.
The instant that Gail saw Jason, she instinctively raised her blade. But once they made eye contact, she slowly out it back in her pocket. He came to her and pulled the neck of her sweater down, exposing her throat. She made a noise as if in protest, but she turned her head slowly to the side, to afford him access.
Jason smiled. Being an Alpha definitely had its privileges. He had her mesmerized now. Whenever they made eye contact, she would be quiet and docile. He wished he'd been able to do this during the tribunal, Jason thought with a smile. As it was, if he cared to help Lucifer, Jason could tell him about this. Finally, an effective way to shut her up.
But he'd better be quick now. Castiel would be back at any moment. Jason was extremely excited by what he was doing. He had never really cared about such matters, but now he could appreciate why humans had clandestine affairs. It was very satisfying to Jason to be standing here feeding on Castiel's wife while his enemy was just steps away, oblivious. And with every bite, Gail was becoming more dependent on Jason, just as he was becoming more and more addicted to her blood. Soon she would be finding excuses to go places alone, just to make herself available to Jason. And she would have no idea why, because she would have no recollection of ever even having seen him.
He fed quickly, and then left the basement before Castiel came back.
When Cas and Chuck returned to the basement, Gail had resumed cleaning the room. The men disposed of the bodies, and then they moved the prop coffin back to its original position.
The Angels looked around the room. "What do you think?" Cas asked them. Gail and Chuck exchanged glances. "I think it looks exactly like it did when we first got here," Chuck remarked. "Good job, Gail," he added, smiling at her.
"I will go upstairs and modify Klara's memory," Castiel told them. "Will you please wait with the group?" Chuck nodded, taking Gail's hand, and they winked outside.
"What's happening?" Frank asked the Angels. They filled everybody in, and a minute or two later, Cas reappeared.
"I modified Klara's memory, and now she is under the impression that she has lent us some of the weapons from the museum, and that the museum is temporarily closed for renovations." He gave Chuck and Gail a quick smile. "And she is also under the impression that she has already fed us a big lunch. I thought we could use a break."
The Angels smiled with relief, and Cas continued, "I think we should set out for the castle as soon as possible. I don't know how many creatures Lucifer has loosed from Purgatory, but the sooner we get our hands on that Tablet, the better."
"We should be able to take care of nearly everything that could have come out of there," Dean told him. "But what about the Leviathans? We haven't got anything to kill those sons of bitches with."
Cas frowned. "I'm still working on that."
Gail had been standing beside Cas, listening to his and Dean's exchange, when suddenly, she felt very light-headed. She stumbled and fell against Cas, who grunted in surprise. He and Dean both reached out to steady her.
"What the hell, Gail?" Dean exclaimed.
She shook her head, trying to clear the dizziness. "I don't know," Gail replied dazedly.
Cas put his arm around her waist. "I'm sorry, Gail," he said softly.
"What's wrong with her?" Frank demanded.
"Obviously, the strain of cleaning all of you, plus the entire basement area, was too much for her," Cas said, tight-lipped.
"Well, excuuuse me," Frank said sarcastically. "I don't see any blood on you, either!"
Dean winced, but Cas's heart sank. Frank was right. Gail had actually cleaned Cas twice; once, when they'd first gotten out here, and again, when he had gotten back from Antarctica. And she had cleaned up all of the blood in the basement, and there had been a lot of it.
"I'm sorry, Frank. You're right," Cas said in a quiet voice. He had both of his arms around Gail now. "Are you all right?" he asked her.
"Just...give me a minute, Cas," she said, but she was starting to feel better already. Maybe she had kind of overdone it. She had used her powers to clean and to repair things before, but she couldn't recall ever having done that much all in one sitting. Maybe it was like a muscle; maybe you had to use it more often to make it stronger, or something.
Gail opened her eyes. "I'm fine now. Sorry, everybody. I guess I'm just not used to using that much juice all at once."
"Well, next time, we can just wash up," Frank said. He approached her, scrutinizing her face.
"But then your clothes would still have been all bloody," she said tartly. "And don't yell at Cas. Of course everything had to be cleaned up. We don't want anybody here at the hotel freaking out."
Frank started to smile. "She's fine, everybody. If she can smart off to me like that, she's gonna be OK."
Cas looked at Frank, and his expression was so distressed that Frank relented and clapped his hand on Cas's shoulder.
"How are we going to get to the castle?" Sam asked Cas.
"I'll tell you what," Cas replied. "I wanted to examine our blades, just on the off chance that I can see anything on them that would help with the Leviathans. And I'd like Gail to be able to rest up for a bit. I was initially just going to wink us all over there, but now I think you'll get your wish, Dean. Here, can you help me?" Cas gave Gail to Dean. She had still been leaning against him for support, despite her protestations that she was fine. Then Cas said, "I'll be right back." Then he disappeared.
As soon as Cas was gone, Gail pulled away from Dean. "I'm fine, Dean. You don't have to prop me up," she said sharply. Then her expression softened as she saw the look on his face. "I'm sorry, Dean. I'm just annoyed with myself," she apologized. And it was true. Even though she wasn't dizzy any more, Gail was feeling very tired now. Was it just because she'd used her powers so much? But if that was the case, why didn't Cas ever seem to get tired?
Cas came back a few minutes later, and he asked Gail how she was feeling. She fibbed and said she was fine, so he looked at Dean.
"I have a nice surprise for you, Dean," Cas told his friend. "I popped over to a car rental agency in town and told them we wanted to rent a couple of European sports cars. They had one for rent immediately, and they were checking on the availability of the other." He took a set of keys out of his pants pocket and handed them over.
Dean's face lit up. "What did you get?" he asked eagerly.
"It's called a Triumph," Cas replied.
Dean and Frank exchanged glances. "British," Gail's brother remarked. "Cool. You can pretend you're James Bond. What make is it, Cas?"
"They called it a TR7," Cas replied, smiling.
Frank burst out laughing, and Dean's smile disappeared. "You've gotta be kidding me," he said to Cas.
"Why? What's the matter, Dean?" Cas asked, puzzled.
"Cas, that's one of the worst cars you could ever get," Dean fumed. "It's on every Lemon List there is."
Frank was still laughing. "Oh, man, I've got to get a picture of you driving that," he said to Dean.
"Send it to my phone, and I'll forward it to all our friends," Sam said, grinning. Truthfully, Sam didn't know much about the subject. But based on both Frank's and Dean's reactions, it had to be pretty bad.
"But they told me it was a classic car," Cas said, his brow furrowed.
"It's a bucket of bolts," Dean said angrily. "The damn thing probably won't even make it up the road to the castle. I hope you didn't pay too much for it. They should have paid you, just to take it off their hands!"
"Didn't you say they were checking on another car, Cas?" Frank said, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes with the back of his hand. Too funny. "What was that one, an Edsel?"
"I will punch you right now," Dean said to Frank.
"No, it was something called an Aston Martin," Cas replied. He was frowning now. He was thinking he probably should have brought Dean or Frank with him to the car rental agency. "The man said it was due to be returned in a few minutes, and they were just going to have it cleaned, and then it would be available. I told them we would take that one, too, because we had eight people. Should I not have done that?"
Dean's jaw dropped open. "An Aston Martin? Really, Cas?"
Cas sighed. "Yes, Dean. Is that one a lemon, too?"
Dean looked at Frank. "An Aston Martin," he repeated in a hushed voice, then he yelled, "Yahtzee!"
"I'll fight you for it," Frank said hopefully.
Dean pressed the car keys Cas had given him into Frank's hand. "Go with God, Frank," he said smirking.
"Who said YOU get it?" Frank protested.
"I've known Cas longer," Dean said. "I'm his best friend."
"Yeah, well...I'm his brother-in-law," Frank retorted.
"Gail was adopted," Dean shot back.
"Oh my God, you guys," Chuck said suddenly. He walked up to Frank and extended his hand. "Give them to me. I'll drive the other one. I don't care."
"Are you sure, Chuck?" Frank said doubtfully.
"Yeah, Frank, I'm sure," Chuck replied. "Anything to get this settled."
Dean grinned. "Way to take one for the team, Chuck," he said. Then he looked at Frank, who was grinning now. "What are you grinning at?" Dean said to Gail's brother. "Who says Sammy and I are taking you? We're taking Cas and Gail. He needs to see what a good car looks like."
Frank opened his mouth to call Dean a word that probably shouldn't be said in the presence of Angels, but Cas held up his hand. "If it means that much to you, Frank, why don't you and Jody go with Sam and Dean?" Cas suggested. He looked at Gail. "If that's all right with you, Gail."
She shrugged. She was too tired to care. "Hey, if it'll make the Bickersons happy, it's fine with me," she said.
Frank and Dean were beaming, but now Bobby was frowning. Maybe he would have liked to have a ride in a James Bond car. But he wasn't going to pout about it, or they'd be here all day.
"Then, it's settled," Cas said happily. "I'll go back to the car rental agency. Dean and Chuck, you can come with me, and then we'll drive back here to pick everyone up. Please leave your weapons here. Frank, Sam, can you please take the weapons? If there is any trouble, Gail can call me on Angel Radio, and I'll come right back. Okay?"
"OK, Cas," she replied.
"I'll hurry back," Cas told her. He put his arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze, and a kiss on the cheek. Then he and Chuck took Dean by his arms, and they winked out.
A minute or two later, Gail began to shiver.
"What's wrong?" Frank asked her sharply. He'd been keeping half an eye on her ever since she'd stumbled against Cas.
"Believe it or not, I'm chilly," she told him. "I'm going to go up to my room and put on a thicker sweater."
"I'll come with," Frank said, gripping his sword tighter. He looked at Jody. "Will you guys be all right here for a minute?"
Sam brandished his axe. "Please," he said sarcastically. "We've got this. Bobby and I know how to kill monsters, and your wife can kick some major ass."
"Why don't you just stay here with them?" Gail said to her brother. "I'll just wink straight into our room, and I'll be right back."
But she couldn't do it. "Wow, my batteries must really be dead," she remarked. "Looks like I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way."
"Well then, I'm coming with you," Frank told her. "Cas would kill me if anything attacked you on the way. If you're that low on juice, you might not be able to protect yourself."
Gail was annoyed, but she didn't protest, mainly because he was right. She was done right now.
They walked into the front door of the hotel. Frank was holding the sword behind his back, but thankfully, the lobby was deserted.
"Let's hurry, before anyone sees us," Gail said, and they crossed the lobby and hurried up the stairs. Gail opened the door to her and Cas's room with the key she had in her pants pocket. She went to the dresser and took out a thick wool sweater. "Be right back," she told her brother. She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
She took off the sweater she had on and looked at herself in the mirror. She could still see the red spot on her neck that Cas had remarked on the night before. It looked a bit more pronounced now, as if she had been scratching at it, or something. Could it be a bug bite, maybe? Oh, well. She'd worry about it later. She ran the taps and splashed some water on her face. Hopefully, that would perk her up a bit. Then she dried off with a towel, put on the thicker sweater, and came back out, tossing her other sweater on the bed.
Frank was at the window. "I closed the door," he told her. "I know you like it cool, but you'd better keep it locked at all times, unless Cas is here. Actually, with those Leviathan guys - and girls - running around, you should probably keep it closed and locked at all times, just on general principles."
Gail hated to admit it, but her brother was right. "I know! What the hell was up with those?" she said, putting her hand on his arm.
"I don't know," he replied. "Give me a nice, normal monster, any day."
They both laughed, and then Frank's expression grew serious. "Are you OK, kiddo?" he asked her. "Really?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, Frank. I just need to recharge for a bit. I'm not used to using my powers that much, I guess. Usually Cas is in front of me, fighting all the bad guys for me. Or you, or Sam and Dean," she said with a wry smile.
"And thank God he is, too," her brother said. "You married a good guy there."
Gail looked up at her brother and smiled. "Thanks, Frank. I think so, too. And you didn't do so bad, yourself."
He cleared his throat. "While we're having a moment here, can I ask you something, Gail?"
Her eyes widened. This must be serious. He almost never called her by her given name. "Sure. What is it, Frank?"
He told her about Jody, and the lump in her breast. "I know you're an Angel now, but you're also a woman," Frank said to her. "So do you know how those things work?"
She shrugged. "Not really. But it sounds like SHE does, if she's had them before. I wouldn't worry too much about it. We'll just have to make sure she gets it looked at, as soon as we get back."
Frank nodded. "Yeah. OK. OK, then. We'd better go back downstairs now."
"Where's your sword?" she asked him, curious.
He grinned. "I shoved it down my pants leg. Too bad you can't just wink me outside. I'll just have to walk downstairs very, very carefully."
Gail opened her mouth, then closed it again. "I have so many jokes running around in my head right now, you've actually rendered me speechless," she said to him.
"You're speechless, and I'm going to get into an Aston Martin in a few minutes," Frank said cheerfully. "Aside from that whole monster thing, this is turning out to be one of the best days of my life."
A short time later, Cas reappeared in front of the group. "Dean's about a half-mile away," he told them. "I just wanted to make sure that everything was all right here."
"It's been quiet, Cas," Bobby told him.
"Good," Cas said. He looked at Gail. "Why are you wearing a different sweater?" he asked her, puzzled.
"Believe it or not, I got chilly," she replied, "so I changed into a thicker sweater. Actually, do you think we could make a quick stop on our way to the castle to buy me a winter jacket?"
Cas frowned momentarily, but then he relented. He certainly didn't want her to be cold. They had been talking about getting her one for a while, after all, but they had never gotten around to it. And the people at the car rental agency had told him that the forecast called for light snow.
Cas nodded. "Yes, of course. We'll stop by a shop on the way." He smiled thinly at Frank. "It looks like you might have a few moments to buy a souvenir or two, after all."
Frank broke into a grin. "This day just keeps getting better and better." His head snapped up. "I think I hear our ride," he said excitedly. He grabbed Jody's hand and led her around to the front of the hotel, where Dean was just pulling up in the Aston Martin. Sam followed, smiling.
Cas looked at Bobby and Gail, then he sent a message to Chuck on Angel Radio, asking where he was. Chuck was nursing the car along as best he could, but it didn't have the speed of Dean's car, of course. According to the GPS system, he should be there in about 15 minutes or so, he sent back.
The others walked to the front of the hotel, where Dean and Sam and Frank and Jody were all standing beside the Aston Martin. Frank and Dean were walking around it, talking excitedly.
"Pretty cool," Bobby said, surprising them all. He approached the vehicle, staring admiringly at it.
Cas took Gail's hand, smiling at her. "I'm glad that Frank and Dean are so excited," he said to his wife. "What do you think?"
She shrugged. "Truthfully? I don't see what's so great about it. The only thing I usually notice about a car is what's playing on the radio." She answered his smile. "But don't tell Frank that; I think he'd disown me."
Cas gave her hand a squeeze. He had never really understood the distinction between a "cool" car, and a "lemon". As long as it had four wheels and an engine, he didn't really see the difference. That was probably because he teleported everywhere. But it pleased him to see them so happy.
"When's Chuck gonna be here?" Dean called out to Cas, fighting not to grin too widely. Poor Chuck. Oh, well. Too bad for him. He had volunteered.
"About fifteen minutes," Cas told him.
"I'll tell you what," Dean said. "I've already got the castle programmed into the GPS. Frank said you need to stop and get Gail a jacket, anyway. So how about if we just meet you up there? Frank can get his souvenirs on the way, and by the time you guys get there, we'll be ready to take the tour."
"That's if that piece of junk Chuck is driving ever makes it up the pass," Frank chipped in. He wasn't bothering to suppress his grin. "You may have to wink over to the castle and get a couple of us burly guys to give you a push."
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Cas said absently. If the car they were looking to ride in failed, the Angels could always wink over to the castle, and work something out later. He was thinking about the Leviathans. "Go ahead if you want, Dean."
The humans all piled into the car. Frank was having a little trouble folding his tall frame into the back seat, and so was Sam in the front, but neither of them complained. Then they sped off.
When Chuck got there, Bobby got in the front seat, and Cas and Gail got in the back. Cas asked her for her blade, and she handed it over. Then she slumped against him, resting her head on his shoulder. He looked at her, surprised. "I just need to recharge for a bit," she told him. "Go ahead and look at the blades. Let us know if you see anything interesting," Gail said to him.
Cas looked at her with concern. But she had advised that she was all right, just a little tired, and he had the Leviathans on his mind. It was only a matter of time before the one they'd seen back at the hotel caught up with them, and from what they had said, there could be others. There were only two ways to kill a Leviathan, as far as he knew. The first way had been demonstrated at the hotel, when the female had eaten the male. But with every Leviathan she ate, she would become stronger and stronger. The only other way he knew of to kill one was to soak the bone of a righteous mortal man in the blood of the Fallen. The latter would be no problem, as Cas himself could be considered one of the Fallen. The instant his Father had made Cas a human in order to punish him, he had become one. He shared that dubious distinction with Crowley, and with Lucifer. But, obtaining the bone of a righteous mortal man? That might be a little trickier. According to the lore, the bone had to be fresh, and the blood had to coat it at the same moment it was obtained; the implication being that the bone had to come from a freshly dead human, and the human had to be a righteous one. How on earth was Castiel supposed to arrange that?
He began to examine their blades, to see if there were any clues there. He and Gail had only had a couple of informational sessions with Crowley about the markings on their blades, and the powers they denoted. Now that Crowley had turned against them, he had ceased to be a resource. If only Cas were stronger in the ancient language. As intently as he studied the markings, he could only make out a few words and phrases here and there. He recognized his own and Crowley's original Biblical names on his own blade, and on Gail's, the word "ark". Really? Did their Father think He was being funny with that one? Cas had let it go, but that was still a bit of a sensitive subject for him. The phrase "the beasts of the Earth" was also on her blade. And the word "Archangel" was etched on his. Curious, because he didn't recall ever seeing that particular marking there before, when he'd examined it previously.
But he was growing frustrated now. What good were these fragmented words and phrases, if he couldn't put them in context with anything? He needed to study them further, in more depth, when he had more time. Maybe Metatron would agree to help, if he truly wanted to turn over a new leaf.
For now, though, he didn't see anything about Leviathans, so he put his blade back in his pocket. He'd been about to give Gail hers, but as he looked down at her face, he noticed that her eyes were closed, and he didn't want to disturb her rest. So Cas put her blade in his pocket too, and then he slipped his arm around her. She smiled, but kept her eyes closed.
They had been driving in silence, but now Cas saw another opportunity to obtain corroboration of Metatron's assertion that the Demon period had never happened. When he had seen the word "ark" on Gail's blade, Cas's mind had taken him back to the day they'd had the strategy meeting in the bunker, when Lucifer and Metatron had first gotten free. Many other things could possibly be explained away, but Cas couldn't wrap his head around the conversation he had overheard that day between Crowley and Bobby. Crowley had called Bobby into the hallway, railing about Castiel having "gotten away with it". He could only have been referring to Cas having been a Demon. The two of them seemed to be under the impression that they were speaking outside of Cas's earshot. But they must have forgotten that he had better-than-average hearing, both as a celestial being, and as an Original. He had heard the entire thing, but he hadn't let on, because it would have called attention to the subject. At that time, everyone else had been in the dark about the incident. But if it had never happened, then how could Bobby and Crowley have been talking about it?
Cas asked Bobby if he remembered that day.
"Of course I do," Bobby replied. "What about it?"
"I have a confession to make," Cas said. "When Crowley took you into the hallway to talk to you privately, I may have overheard more of that conversation than you would have liked me to."
Bobby shrugged. "OK, so you heard him telling me to handle you and your temper. Big deal. I guess he didn't want to sound so whiny in front of Sam and Dean," Bobby said dryly. "I've always thought he had a bit of a crush on those two."
"So he didn't say anything else? That was all?" Cas persisted.
"Yeah, that was pretty much it, Cas. So I told him to stop it with the sarcasm, and get his royal keister back to the library."
Cas was astonished. That was it? Had his guilty conscience manufactured a conversation that had never taken place? Had Metatron's modification been that pervasive?
"Chuck, do you remember a time when you and I and Bobby were alone in the bunker, and Frank stopped by?" Cas said casually.
Chuck thought for a moment. "No, Cas, I can't say as I do. When would that have been?"
Cas had to be careful here. So far, it was just idle conversation. But, he had to hear it for himself. "I don't know, Chuck. I had a crazy vision, I guess," Cas told him.
"Hey, visions are my job," Chuck said lightly. But he smiled to show that he was joking. "What of?" he asked.
"Believe it or not, of me, killing Frank in the training room at the bunker," Cas responded, pasting a thin smile on his face.
Gail's eyes flew open. Now she understood what Cas was getting at, and now, she was very interested in Chuck's answer. That had, arguably, been one of the worst things that Demon Cas had ever done, or so they'd thought at the time. He had allegedly killed her brother when she'd been at Oliver's with Sam and Dean. But recently, they had received confirmation that she had not been at Oliver's with Sam and Dean, making everything else that had happened around that time extremely suspect. Crowley had supposedly revived Frank, and then, all of the men in this car had allegedly covered it up. In retrospect, she supposed they should have found the purported fact that Crowley had revived Frank to be highly suspicious. Crowley detested Frank, and the feeling was entirely mutual. Would Crowley really have used his powers to revive one guy he hated to bail out another guy he hated?
She sat up straight and looked towards the front seat. Chuck took his eyes off the road long enough to glance at Bobby, and the two men broke into grins.
"Well, I don't know what you've been smoking, Cas, but I'd lay off for a while," Bobby quipped.
"Find out what kind of herbs Klara grows in her garden," Chuck chipped in. "You? Killing Frank? That's a riot. Wait until I tell him. Even if for some crazy reason you tried to do that, Jody would kick your ass. Or, Gail would. I wouldn't like your chances."
"I've heard about in-law problems, but this is ridiculous," Bobby said. "Gail would make you sleep on the couch for the rest of your existence, if you ever did anything like that. OK, well, you know what I mean."
Cas and Gail looked at each other. Her heart was in her throat. "Why were we living in Vancouver, Bobby?" she said quietly.
"What did you say, Gail?" Bobby said, raising his voice. They were driving up an incline now, on the way to the mountain pass, and the car's engine had grown louder, as if in protest of the hard work Chuck was forcing it to do. He could just bet that Aston Martin had purred all the way up the mountain. The four of them were probably already standing in the castle, tapping their toes impatiently.
"Why were Cas and I living in Vancouver, when we got back together?" Gail repeated in a louder voice.
"You weren't," Bobby said, puzzled. "Only Cas was."
"Don't tell me you guys are finally ready to tell us why you and Cas broke up, after you got back from the cabin," Chuck said, "'cause I will pull over for that."
Cas grabbed Gail's hand and held it tightly. "You don't know why we broke up, Chuck?" he said, tensing for their friend's answer.
"No, Cas. No one knows," Chuck replied. "As far as I know, neither of you ever told anyone, and we figured it was none of our business if you didn't want to talk about it."
"Well, it wasn't any of our business," Bobby said bluntly. "It still isn't."
"That didn't stop me from trying to ask you, though, Gail," Chuck added, grinning. "Don't you remember? You told me I should bloody well know, and then you stormed out of the boardroom."
"You weren't living in Vancouver with Cas, you and the boys went there on a holiday," Bobby continued. "But we all thought the two of you seemed on the verge of getting back together by then, and then, you did. I don't mind telling you that we were all really happy when that happened. Even me. I know I give you both a hard time, but I've gotta say, I was ready to stick my nose in if the two of you hadn't gotten back together on that trip."
"So, are you going to tell us?" Chuck prodded them. "I want to finally have a piece of information that Dean doesn't. As it is, he's gonna be laughing his ass off when we sputter up to the castle in this piece of crap." He changed gears, nursing the car up the hill. "That's if we get there at all, of course."
"Never mind, Chuck," Cas said, smiling gently. "It doesn't matter anymore. None of that matters." He brought Gail's hand up to his lips and kissed it softly. "Does it, my love?"
"No, I don't think it does," she replied, smiling at him. "Sorry, Bobby, but I think we're going to have to make out back here, for a minute or three."
Bobby rolled his eyes. "I missed out on a ride in James Bond's car, and now I have to watch the two of you do that?"
"Then don't look," Cas said, quite logically. He leaned forward and kissed Gail on the mouth, and she kissed him back, touching his face with both of her hands. She looked into his beautiful blue eyes. They had never been purple, because it had never happened. Cas wrapped his arms around her, holding her more tightly. He could do that because her body had no marks on it, because it had never happened.
"All right, you two," Bobby said sternly. "According to the GPS, there's a shopping centre up ahead. We'll stop in there and get Gail a jacket, and give this bucket of bolts a rest. The thing's starting to sound like a lawn mower with an asthma problem."
They parked in the parking lot and walked into the mall. Chuck was bemused. He was so used to popping around now that it felt strange to be driving a car again. Not that it was much of a car, but, still. Unfortunately, Dean had been absolutely right when he'd called it a lemon. Chuck looked apprehensively up at the mountain pass on the horizon. He hoped the car would be able to make it up there.
"I'm sorry, guys, I'll be as quick as I can," Gail said to the men as they entered the concourse.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Cas asked her.
"No, it'll probably be faster if I go by myself," she told him. Then she smiled. "I will need some money, though. Have you got any on you?"
"Sure. How much do you need?" Cas asked her, taking his wallet out of his pants pocket.
Gail frowned. "I'm not sure. I haven't bought a jacket or a coat in ages. How much have you got?"
He looked in his wallet and handed her a sheaf of bills. "I exchanged our American money for local currency when I rented the cars," he told her. "Here, why don't you just take it all?"
"Now, THAT'S the kind of married people I'm used to seeing," Bobby quipped, as Gail took the money from Cas. "The wife goes shopping, and the husband foots the bill." Gail looked at Bobby, trying to be angry. But his beard was twitching, and she couldn't help but smile. He hadn't had a whole lot to joke around about, lately.
Gail put her hand on Cas's arm. "Take Bobby to the Food Court and get him a cinnamon bun and a coffee," she said to her husband. "He's obviously cranky when he's hungry." She handed Cas back one of the bills he'd just given to her and then turned around to go into the store as the men laughed.
A short while later, Gail had her new winter jacket. She had been relieved to find out that it had cost a lot less than Cas had given her. But then, on her way out of the store, she had walked by the cosmetics counter and stopped, looking at the skin cream. Maybe, since she had quite a bit of money left, she should buy some, and try to take care of that mark on her neck. So she purchased a jar of the cream and put it in the pocket of her jacket. Then she met up with the men in the Food Court. Bobby was just finishing up his coffee, and he looked on, surprised, as Gail handed Cas back the change from her purchases.
"Okay, THAT, I've never seen," Bobby remarked, his beard twitching again.
Gail laughed. His sense of humour had definitely improved since he'd been turned back into a human; at least, in her opinion. But she'd better not tell him that, or he would probably get crabby again. She wondered how Sam and Dean had dealt with him all those years. It was funny, really; it seemed like the Winchesters were almost scared of Bobby, sometimes. Whenever he spoke in that authoritarian voice that he had, they snapped to, that was for sure. From what she'd been able to discern, once their birth father had died, Bobby had taken over as a father figure to them. Actually, he was a father figure to them all, now. She wished he was still God. A lot of their current problems would probably be non-existent if that were still the case.
"What?" Bobby said to Gail.
"Nothing," she responded. "I just wanted to tell you that we all love you, Bobby." She gave him a hug, and he looked at her strangely. "What else did you buy at that store?" he asked her. "Happy pills?"
"No, but if you think that would help your attitude, I'll go back and get some," she said pertly.
Bobby shook his head slowly. "Let's go," he said to his small group. "We'd better try to get there before it gets dark. It'll be a lot easier to push that rust-bucket up the hill if we can actually see the hill."
They did make it up the mountain pass, but just barely. Chuck had been nervous, so he had asked Bobby if he would mind taking over the driving once they got to the foot of the pass. So they had switched places, and Bobby had nursed and cursed the car up the incline to the public parking lot at the foot of the castle.
He shut off the engine and they all got out of the car, weak-kneed.
"Wow," Chuck said dazedly. "A couple of times there I thought for sure we were just going to have to wink Bobby out of the thing and let it roll down the hill."
"That's probably just what the car rental place had in mind," Bobby fumed. "Save them the towing fees to come haul it away."
"I must say, you used a couple of expressions I've never heard before," Gail quipped. "I think I even saw Cas blush a couple of times."
Bobby frowned. "I'm sorry, dear. I don't usually say things like that in the presence of ladies. But I was afraid the son of a whore was gonna fall right off the mountain."
Gail looked at Chuck, and the two of them burst out laughing. Cas smiled absently, but he was looking up at the castle now. It was a splendid structure, the very picture of a classic palace. He could see why it was a popular tourist attraction. He felt very strongly that the Tablet was in there somewhere.
Cas took Gail's hand, and the four of them walked up the hill and into the castle. Their four friends were waiting for them in the vestibule.
"Finally!" Dean said, smirking. "We were about to call Triple A!"
"Very funny," Bobby said grumpily. "Damn car nearly took five years off me, just trying to get up that hill."
"We've been here for quite a while," Frank said enthusiastically. "Look at all the stuff I got." He started opening the bags he was holding, to show them.
"He's still trying to claim the stuff's for Robbie," Jody said, rolling her eyes. Then she smiled at Cas and Gail. "But I do have to thank you for giving up your seats. That was one sweet ride."
"In retrospect, it was just as well I had the three Angels with me," Bobby said. "Since I'm not one any more myself, with that car, I needed all the divine intervention I could get."
Sam and Dean exchanged glances. "Now I feel a little bit guilty about sticking you with that piece of crap," Dean said.
"Good, 'cause we're switching cars on the way back," Bobby said. "I'm gonna go ask what time the next tour starts."
He brushed past the Winchesters, and Gail giggled at the look on their faces. "Yeah, Dean," she said sassily.
Bobby came back to get them, advising that the next tour was due to start in twenty minutes. "I'm not sure if we really need it, though," he told everyone.
Cas nodded. He sighed. "Since we don't really know exactly what we're looking for, why don't we just walk around for a bit and get a sense of the layout of the place? We'll have to come back after hours to mount a proper search, anyway."
They all fanned out to look around. Aside from the inevitable gift shop in the front, the castle seemed more like a museum than a tourist trap. It was a large, magnificent structure, with multiple rooms and exhibits. Parts of the rooms were roped off, and there were some doors marked "Authorized Personnel Only", in several languages.
"If there is a Tablet here, it may very well be in those areas," Cas remarked to the group quietly. "They would be unaware of its significance. Or, it could be in a secret passageway, or in the sub-basement as the Heaven Tablet was, in Rome." He smiled at Gail, and she smiled back. That had been the best Tablet quest, as far as they were concerned. "We'll have to come back at night-time."
"Unless we can sneak into one of those places," Dean said. "Why wait until dark? I'm pretty sure I can get into the basement right now." He headed towards a staircase at the side of the salon, grabbing the velvet rope and unhooking it. Suddenly, a hand came down on his arm, and Dean swung his head around to behold a massive security guard. Dean's eyes widened. The guy was taller than Sam, and he had to run at least 375 pounds.
"You're not allowed to go down there, Sir," the security guard said to him. "That's why the rope is there."
"Oh, THAT'S why the rope is there," Dean said good-naturedly. He'd better make nice with this guy, before he smacked him into next week. "Sorry. I'm an American. We're kind of stupid, sometimes." He smiled ingratiatingly.
"So I've noticed," the guard said, frowning. He pulled on Dean's arm.
"Hey, you don't have to be so rough - " Dean peered up at the guard's name tag, on the chest of his uniform " - 'Ass-Laugh'?"
"My name is Aslaf," the man growled.
"Sorry," Dean said quickly, with a sheepish grin.
The security guard let go of him, but he continued to stand in front of the staircase with his massive arms folded, almost as if he expected Dean to challenge him.
Dean moved away from the guard. "Geez, with a name like 'Ass-Laugh', you'd think the guy would have a sense of humour," he mumbled.
Everyone was quiet, and then Gail started to laugh. She'd felt giggly ever since the car ride. Maybe it was because she'd been so happy to receive the additional confirmation that Cas had never been a Demon, or maybe it was just because she felt light-headed from Jason's feedings. Or maybe she was just happy to be here with all of the people that she loved the most. In any event, once she started to laugh, she couldn't stop. Every time her giggles started to subside, she would look at Dean, and then she would go off again. It was so stupid, but so funny, and so freeing, all at the same time. She laughed so hard that she snorted, which made her laugh even more.
As soon as Gail snorted, Dean started to laugh, too. Then he snorted, and tears were streaming from her eyes as she kept on laughing. Sam was grinning. He'd seen the two of them trading quips before, but he had never seen Gail like this, and it was extremely rare to see Dean laugh like that.
"I guess this is where the expression 'gales of laughter' comes from," Sam said affably, still grinning.
Gail continued to laugh, and her stomach was starting to hurt now. She was leaning on Dean for support. His laughter had tapered off, but he was still smiling widely, looking very pleased with himself. Just as it appeared that she was finally getting herself under control, Dean looked at her with a serious expression.
"Gail?" he said.
"Yeah, Dean?" she said, wiping her eyes with her hands.
"Ass-Laugh," he said gravely.
She burst into laughter again. By now, all of the other tourists were giving her dirty looks, but she was oblivious. Dean saw, but he didn't care. He was having too much fun winding her up.
Sam made eye contact with Cas. They'd better separate these two, before they got thrown out. "Here: you take yours, and I'll take mine," Sam said. He grabbed his brother by the arm and pulled him away from Gail. Cas put his arm around Gail's waist and gently steered her away from Dean.
Cas leaned down to Gail, and Dean grinned. Finally. Finally, she was going to be the one to get hell from Cas. This, he had to see.
Cas kissed Gail on the cheek, and then he looked up at Dean. "Please try to conduct yourself properly, Dean," Castiel chided him.
Dean nearly choked. "Me?!" he exclaimed indignantly. "But - she's - " Then he threw his hands up in frustration. "Man..." he whined, and then he gave up. Cas was shaking his head at Dean disapprovingly. Dean couldn't believe it. "Sammy - " he appealed to his brother, but all Sam could do was grin. "She misbehaves, Cas sticks up for her, and it's always me who gets the crap for it," Dean complained.
He looked over at Cas and Gail again. She had stopped laughing, but now she was smirking, and she stuck her tongue out at Dean as Cas led her away.
Dean sighed. "Sisters," he fumed out loud.
"Preach," Frank said, rolling his eyes. He extended his arm, and he and Dean high-fived smartly.
Cas led Gail out of the castle's front entrance, seating her on a bench outside. She was no longer laughing, but her breath was hitching, and she was wiping her eyes. He waited patiently while she collected herself.
Finally, she looked at him and said, "I'm sorry I made such a fool of myself. I don't know what got into me. I hope I didn't embarrass you too badly."
"You could never embarrass me," Cas told her. "It's wonderful to see you laugh, and it was wonderful to see Dean laughing like that, too. I give him a hard time sometimes because it's fun to do so, just the same as he does with me. But I would much rather see my wife and my best friend laughing together than crying." Then he looked stricken. "I'm sorry. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings by calling Dean my best friend. He's my best MALE friend. YOU'RE my best, best friend."
"With benefits," she added, smiling mischievously.
He looked puzzled for a moment. "But there are benefits to having Dean as a fri-" he started to say. Then, he got it. "Ohhh," Cas said, nodding. He smiled. "That is certainly true. And I hope to avail myself of some of those benefits when we get back home, once we get this Tablet." He squinted up at the sky. It had become more overcast, and a light snow had begun to fall. "I don't think there is much point in taking the formal tour of the castle," he continued. "But we'll have to wait until it closes to the public."
"Well, let's at least walk around a little, since we have some time to kill," she said, putting her hand on his arm. "I promise I'll behave. It's out of my system now. You know how it gets sometimes, when you start laughing, and you just can't stop."
"No, I don't," he said simply.
Gail looked at him sadly. Maybe he didn't. Come to think of it, she couldn't recall a time when she had seen him laugh like that. "Sweetie..." she started to say, but then she realized that she didn't know what to say. She reached out and touched his face, cupping his cheek with her hand. He nuzzled her hand for a moment, closing his eyes. Then he opened them and looked directly into her eyes.
"Up until I met you, I didn't really have much to be happy about," Cas told her. "But ever since you and I became one, I have never smiled, or laughed, as much as I do now. Even if I don't laugh out loud, please know that every moment I spend with you is the happiest I have ever been, and the happiest of my existence." He leaned forward to kiss her.
"Oh, you're kissing. What a shock," Bobby said dryly. He had come outside to find them. "The tour's about to start."
Cas took Gail's hand. "I think we'll pass, Bobby," he said to their friend. "If the rest of you want to go ahead, please do so. We'll meet you back in the vestibule in about an hour. OK?"
Bobby rolled his eyes. These two. They probably wanted to go somewhere and make out for an hour. Just like a couple of teenagers. But, it was really none of his business. They'd always been like this. That was why it had been such a mystery to everyone when they had broken up, shortly after their ordeal in the cabin. From what Bobby understood, Gail had told Cas to get lost, and that was why Cas had moved to Canada for a while. But he could tell the breakup wasn't going to stick. You could just see it in their eyes whenever they saw the other one, or even when the other's name was mentioned. Bobby didn't usually engage in gossip, but he had talked to the boys about it, and they'd had no clue, either. All Gail did back then was cry, and Cas wasn't talking. Everyone had thought it was really weird. Dean thought that Cas had said or done something to really piss Gail off, and she was making him do some penance before allowing him to come back. Sam had seemed to think it ran deeper than that, and he'd had a bit of a hopeful look in his eyes when he'd said that. But then the car accident had happened, Cas had sent Sam and Gail back in time, and then Cas and Gail had eventually gravitated back together. And Bobby had been glad. If ever a couple was supposed to be together, it was Cas and Gail. Bobby loved Sam like he was his own son, but he knew that Sam and Gail could never be a couple, not really. Everyone thought that Bobby was an old curmudgeon, and in a lot of ways, he was. But he also had a big heart, and he cared about them all, very much. Even Cas, though they were frequently at loggerheads with each other. Bobby loved little Gail as he would his own daughter, if he'd ever been lucky enough to have one, and he'd been a little angry at Cas for whatever it was he might have done to make Gail so upset. But it had all worked out in the end, and now the two of them were happily married.
"OK, we'll see you in about an hour, then," Bobby said without further comment, and he headed back inside.
