Chapter 4 - Only In The Movies

"Hey, Cas, why'd you hang up on me?" Dean asked his friend. Cas and Gail had popped directly down to the bunker from Heaven. It was morning at the bunker now, and Sam and Dean were sitting at the kitchen table, having coffee.

Cas explained to Dean what he had interrupted as Gail plopped down at the table. "Boy, Gabriel was right," Gail groused. "She really DOES need a good snuggle."

Sam laughed. "I still don't understand what her problem is," he said to the Angels. "What's she got against you guys?"

Cas sighed. Sam had already taken the seat beside Gail, so Cas sat beside Dean. "I wish I knew, Sam," he remarked. "Apparently, she thinks we're too permissive."

"And we're 'human-lovers', too," Gail added, rolling her eyes.

"Shhh, Cas wasn't supposed to find out about us," Dean joked, smirking.

"Go ahead, laugh it up," she said, making a face. "If Ms. Tight-Ass wins, you guys may never see us again."

Dean frowned momentarily. Then his expression brightened. "But hey, glass half-full. Nicole invited us all to the movie premiere in Hollywood this weekend. Unless you guys are too busy to go..."

Cas was conflicted. They probably shouldn't. They hadn't even been in Heaven a full day. Wouldn't they only be proving Patricia's point if they went away again? But a large part of him really wanted to see the movie. He was extremely curious about how it would look on the big screen, and also how it would be received by the public.

Gail was already shaking her head. "No, we're not too busy. There's no way we're missing that."

"Great," Dean enthused. "So, if you guys wanna go home and pack a bag, you can zap us over there in...what? About half an hour?"

"Now?" Cas asked him, puzzled. "I thought you said the premiere was this weekend."

"Yeah, but I figured we'd spend a couple of days doing some sightseeing, first," Dean told him. "How long's it been since just the four of us were on holidays together? Ages."

Cas was frowning. "I don't know, Dean. We've got duties in Heaven."

"Aaaah, duties," Dean scoffed. "Come on, Cas, don't be a dick. Remember how much you missed me when I was dead? Besides, Nicole's gonna be there this afternoon."

Gail shook her head slowly, open-mouthed. "Wow. I can't believe how low you'll sink to get what you want," she said to Dean.

He shrugged, taking a sip of coffee. "Hey, I blame you. That's what you get for doing dark magic. Blackmail." He nudged Cas. "Let's go, Cas. Chop chop."

Cas started to smile. "All right, Dean. We'll meet you back here in an hour, then."

"An hour?" Dean complained. "Why so long?"

Cas looked at Gail. "There's something that Gail and I were discussing earlier that we have to get done before we can leave," he said, his lips twitching. "Isn't that right, my love?"

She caught his meaning. "That's right," she said to the brothers. "Confidential Heaven business."

"Yeah, OK. Whatever. Hurry back," Dean said.

Cas rose from his chair and met Gail halfway, coming around the table from the other direction. They linked hands and then winked over to their house.

A very hot and sweaty half an hour later, they were trying to catch their breath. Gail was laying with her head on Cas's chest, smiling. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again," she said to her husband. "I think you could teach a class on how to do THAT."

Cas was smiling, too. He gave her a squeeze. "And, as I believe I've said before, you would have to be the only student in the class, then."

"I fail to see a problem with that," she said pertly. "Screw everybody else. We'll just lock the doors and make it a private school." She started to kiss his chest.

"Don't start that, or I'll have to call Dean and tell him that we need more time," Cas said, caressing her.

"Screw him, too," she said airily. "He's got his nerve, using emotional blackmail on us like that."

"It worked, though, didn't it?" Cas remarked.

She sighed. "Yeah. It did. Okay, I'd better get in the shower, then. I have to admit, I'm really glad Nicole forgave him. You must have worked your usual magic on her."

Cas smiled again. "When you love someone, forgiveness is easy."

"Oh, believe me, I'm aware," she said mischievously.

"I thought you said you were going to have your shower," Cas said, lifting an eyebrow. She looked up at him, smiling. Boy, did she love that eyebrow. Damn Dean and his damn blackmail. She could spend the next two hours in bed with her husband based on that eyebrow raise alone. She sighed heavily. "I am." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then got out of bed before she could change her mind.

While his wife was in the shower, Cas sent a message to Riley over Angel Radio, advising that he and Gail would be gone from Heaven until after the weekend.

"But you just got back," Riley protested. "And I've already received a bunch of applications for the Academy. People have been dropping them off here at your campaign office."

"Oh? How many?" Cas asked curiously.

"About 20," Riley replied. "Maybe even 25."

"That many, already?" Cas said, surprised.

"We've been spreading the word," Riley said proudly. "We might have to put a cap on it soon. What number did you have in mind?"

Cas was at a loss. He had no idea. He'd been wondering if they would get anyone wanting to sign up at all. Now, he felt a frisson of self-doubt. "What do YOU think, Riley?" he stalled.

Riley was thrilled. Not only was Cas asking his opinion about such an important issue, but he was leaving Riley in charge while he was gone. "I think probably 30, or 35, at the most," he said to Cas now. "Any more than that and it would probably be hard for you to give them enough personal attention."

Cas thought about that. "You're probably right," he said to his assistant, "but I'm hoping you'll be able to help me in the classroom, too. Maybe I'll find out if Ethan can help us as well, once we get going, or if you're too busy to attend."

"Sounds good," Riley agreed. "Can I ask why you're going to be away?"

Cas told him, and Riley smiled. "Oh, well, that's a good reason, then," he said. Then his smile faded. "Maybe we won't tell a lot of people here about that, though," he added. "We'll just say you're on another mission. Patricia's been on her high horse, telling the Angels you always put humans ahead of Heaven."

Cas sighed. "Yes, I know. That's what she said to us, when we went to see her."

"You went to see her? Why?" Riley asked him sharply.

Cas was a little taken aback by his assistant's tone, but he answered Riley's question. "We were trying to be diplomatic with her. But she didn't appear to be interested in diplomacy."

"Do me a favour and stay away from her, as much as you can," Riley said. He may have a case of hero worship for Castiel, but Riley was also a realist. If Castiel and Patricia were in the same room together, all there would be was fireworks, especially if Patricia insulted Gail. Riley had heard what Patricia and her team had been saying about the couple, and it would be guaranteed to make Cas mad. As Castiel's self-appointed campaign manager, Riley wanted the Angels to focus on Cas's heroism, not his temper.

Cas had been just about to make some kind of a retort when Gail came into the bedroom, fresh from her shower. "I'll pack a couple of bags for us while you're showering," she said to her husband. "Do you have any idea what we're going to wear to the premiere? Is it fancy dress?"

Cas smiled. She was excited, he could tell. Truthfully, he was, too. "I've got to go, Riley," he told the young Angel, and then he disconnected. He looked at Gail as he slid out of bed. "It will probably be dressy," Cas mused. "Perhaps Sam and Dean and I should rent tuxedos."

Gail smiled back. If she loved the sight of Cas in a suit, she could just imagine how fantastic he would look in a tuxedo. Now, she was really hoping the premiere was going to be a fancy-dress event. But she'd better talk to Nicole once they got there. Fancy dress for women was sometimes a tricky proposition. She went to the closet and took out their travel bags.

Cas went to his wife and embraced her. "I'm looking forward to our vacation," he told Gail.

"Me too," she said, nodding. She stretched up to kiss him lightly on the lips. "This is a good time for it, too, before we get really busy in Heaven."

Cas's arms tightened around her. He was looking forward to his work at the Academy, but he also felt a sense of foreboding about the election. Hopefully, things wouldn't get too unpleasant. But if their recent visit with Patricia was any indication, that was a false hope, indeed.

But now, it was time to have a little fun with their friends. He gave Gail another kiss, and then headed off to the shower.

Sam had made reservations at a four-star hotel, the same one that Nicole was staying at. He and Dean and their Angel friends were waiting in line in the lobby to check in.

"I looked up a few places we might want to see here, since we have a couple of days before the premiere," Sam was telling them. He smiled. "It was kind of weird doing Internet research on a city without Tommy there."

"We'll have to tell him that, the next time we see him," Cas said.

"Anyway, one thing we could do is go see the Hollywood sign," Sam continued. "I looked up a bit of the history behind it, and it's kind of interesting."

"You're such a nerd," Dean said to his brother. "History. Gimme a break. Only you could find that interesting. And what do you mean, 'go see' the sign? We saw it on our way in. You look up the mountain, and there it is."

"Why do you always have to crap all over everything, Dean?" Sam said, frustrated. "What do you want to do, go to some dark bar?"

Cas and Gail smiled at each other. In a strange way, it made them happy to see the brothers sniping at each other like this. That meant that things were back to normal. There was a time, and it hadn't been too long ago, when all of them would have given anything they owned to be able to argue with Dean again.

"We won't be doing that," Nicole said. She had just entered the lobby and come up behind the group, having spotted them in line.

Dean's face lit up and he put his arm around her waist, pulling her to him. "I thought you weren't going to be here till this afternoon," he said to her.

Nicole smiled. "That was the original plan, but when you guys told me you were all coming today, I went to the airport and got an earlier flight."

"You were that eager to see me?" Dean asked her, and Nicole made a face. "You?" she joked. "Meh. I was just looking forward to seeing some tourist attractions." She looked at Sam. "I think I'd like to see the Hollywood sign."

"Well, good, 'cause we were just talking about that," Dean said quickly. "We can go right after we check in, if you want."

"You were just saying - " Sam started to say, and then he stopped. He got what was going on here. Dean was sucking up to Nicole. He supposed he could let it slide. Sam had been happy for his brother when Nicole had called, telling Dean she had forgiven him. Dean had been walking around on a cloud ever since.

"Sounds good," Nicole said brightly. "Let's all meet down here in, say, half an hour." She looked at Dean. "That's if it's not, you know, too nerdy for you," she teased him. But then she laughed and kissed him on the cheek, and he smiled.

"Hey, Sam, is it true that somebody changed the sign to 'Hollyweed' recently?" Nicole asked Dean's brother. "All of my B.C. friends were joking about that."

"Why?" Cas asked her, curious.

Nicole's lips twitched. "Weed? B.C.?"

But Cas was still puzzled. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

Gail's lips were twitching now, too. "There are still a few gaps in my husband's education, apparently," she said to Dean's girlfriend.

As they moved up the line, Nicole said, "Do you remember those funny-smelling cigarettes that some of the crew members were smoking?" she asked Cas.

"Oh, yes. Marijuana," Cas said mildly. "I see. It's because one of the slang expressions for marijuana is 'weed'. Correct?"

"Well, look who just caught up," Dean said to Cas. "Attaboy, Captain Obvious."

"You should be nicer to Cas," Nicole admonished him.

"Thank you!" Gail exclaimed. "I've been trying to tell him that for years!"

But Cas was smiling. "I like it when Dean calls me Captain Obvious," he said, looking at his friend warmly.

"You do?" Nicole said incredulously.

"Yes, I do," Cas replied. "It certainly beats the alternative."

They were all silent for a moment as the implication of what Cas had said sunk in. Then Sam turned to Nicole. "And now, you can see why Dean calls Cas Major Buzzkill," Sam said.

That broke the mood, and they all laughed. "Imagine how excited I was when I found out that I was Mrs. Buzzkill," Gail said dryly. "And I don't even get a rank."

"You might be getting quite the jump in rank soon, from what I hear," Nicole said, lowering her voice. "Or YOU might, Cas."

Gail was a little taken aback for a moment. Cas looked at her sheepishly. "I told Nicole that you and I and Bobby are in the running, along with one other female Angel," he told his wife.

"I can't believe it," Nicole remarked, making sure to keep her voice low. "An election for God."

"Yeah, it's too bad humans can't vote," Sam chipped in. "Then we could run around to all the churches and stuff the ballot boxes."

"That's a good one, Sam," Cas said, smiling gently.

They'd gotten to the head of the line by now, and they all checked in, then went up to the 16th Floor, where all of their rooms were. They arranged to meet back in the lobby in 15 minutes' time, to decide what they wanted to do first.

Once they had reassembled in the lobby, Dean said, "Let's go for a drink to celebrate our holiday. Then we can decide what kind of tourist-y stuff we want to do."

Sam sighed. "We may as well; otherwise, we're gonna hear about it all afternoon."

"Just one drink, Lieutenant Buzzkill," Dean said, nudging his brother.

"And the army keeps on growing," Gail said, grinning. She looked at Cas. "I think we'll promote you to General. Then you can be in charge of all of us other Buzzkills. It'll give you some good practice."

They went into the hotel bar and sat down, and Nicole grabbed the drinks menu. "Wow," she marveled. "And I thought the drinks were expensive in Vancouver."

"Allow me," Cas said. "What would you like?"

"Thanks, Cas," Nicole said, telling him what she wanted. "But the next one will be on me."

"You're wasting your time. He doesn't drink," Dean told his girlfriend.

"Well, I do, and I'll take a glass of wine," Gail said to her husband.

"Certainly, my love," Cas said, rising from his chair. He started towards the bar.

"Hey! What about us?" Dean exclaimed.

Cas turned around. "I'm buying drinks for the ladies," he advised Dean calmly. "Men have to buy their own."

Nicole rolled her eyes comically. "I wish all men had that attitude. I'd have a lot more money in my savings account."

"Actually, Dean, you should be buying Nicole her drink," Cas gently admonished his friend.

"OK, number one, you didn't give me the chance to offer. And, number two, your wife is always pleading poverty. Every time she and I go out, it's always the same: 'I don't have any money, Dean. I don't carry a purse, Dean.' The way I see it, you guys owe me about five years' worth of drinks."

Gail poked him. "Hey, I brought you back to life," she said quietly. "The way I see it, you should be elbowing Cas out of the way, and serving it to me on your knees."

Sam and Nicole laughed, and Dean's girlfriend put her hand on his arm. "She's got you, there," Nicole told Dean. She kissed him on the cheek and added, "Actually, by that reasoning, so should I. I'm sorry, Gail. I guess I never really thanked you properly for what you did."

Gail smiled. "There's no need. We like to give him a hard time, but we're all very happy he's here. Give him another smooch from me, will you? And one from Cas, too."

Nicole gave Dean a couple of big, smacking kisses on the cheek. "If you can wait till later tonight, I'm hoping to get a bit more thanks than that," Dean said, smirking. "Gail and Cas can fend for themselves."

"We certainly can," Gail said, smiling warmly at her husband. He was bringing the drinks to the table now. Then he went back to the bar and came right back, bringing a bottle of beer each for Sam and Dean. The brothers smiled. Cas was such a soft touch.

"Here's to Hollywood," Nicole said, raising her glass in a toast. Everyone toasted, except for Cas, of course, who hadn't gotten a drink. "I'm really glad you guys were able to come," Nicole went on. "You're going to love the movie. From everything I've heard, it's epic."

Cas smiled crookedly. "I'm sure it is," he said. He and Gail exchanged glances. They'd gotten a look at some advance script pages for the next installment when they'd gone on their last errand in Vancouver, and what was to come would be even more exciting.

"Have you got a date for the premiere, Sam?" Nicole asked Dean's brother. "I can fix you up with one of the crew girls, if you'd like."

"Why do you think we have to save on drinks? Poor Sammy. Those Hollywood hookers are expensive," Dean quipped.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Very funny. Yeah, Nicole. I asked Quinn if she would come. I was actually going to ask if one of you would mind popping up to get her on Saturday afternoon," he added, looking at the Angels.

"Sure, Sam. But why didn't you ask her to come today?" Gail inquired. "We could have gotten her for you today, if you wanted."

He was thoughtful. "Because I don't think we're there yet, Gail. We've only had a few dates."

"Oh," she said in a subdued voice. "Sorry."

The group chatted for a few more minutes, finishing their drinks. They had decided against the visit to the Hollywood sign, opting instead to just walk around for a while, and look at the sights. Nicole had expressed an interest in seeing the Walk of Fame, so Sam had looked it up on his phone, and they slowly started heading that way.

"Wow, this place should be called 'Hollyweird'," Dean commented, looking at the wild outfits and hairstyles of some of the passers-by.

"They're probably thinking the same thing about us," Sam said, grinning. "I haven't seen one other flannel shirt since we got here."

Gail tapped Sam on the arm. "Hey, even though we're not going up there, I'd like to hear about some of the history of the Hollywood sign," she said to him.

"Actually, so would I," Nicole agreed.

Sam gave Dean a quick smirk. Then he said, "The sign was originally created in 1923. It wasn't supposed to stay there for too long. It originally read 'Hollywoodland', and its purpose was to advertise a new housing development, believe it or not. But it garnered attention, so they kept it. Funny story: sometime in the early 1940s, the sign's caretaker got drunk and lost control of his car up there, destroying the 'H'."
"Why is that funny, Sam?" Cas asked him.

Sam sighed. "OK, I don't know if it's actually funny, so much as ironic."

"What kind of car was it?" Dean asked his brother, who shrugged. "I don't know, Dean. How the hell should I know?" Sam said irritably. "What does that have to do with the story?"

"So what you're saying is the sign was both cockeyed and Cockney there, for a while," Gail commented.

Sam smiled. "Thank you!" he exclaimed. He looked at the other men. "Now THERE'S somebody who knows how to appreciate a good story."

Dean looked puzzled, so Nicole nudged him. "Because the 'H' was dropped?" she said to Dean, raising her eyebrows. Then she smiled at Gail. "That was pretty clever."

"Thank you, I'm here all weekend," Gail quipped. "Try the veal."

"Anyway, in 1949, they rebuilt the sign, leaving the 'land' part off, to reflect the district of Hollywood instead. But by the 1970s, it had severely deteriorated again, so Hugh Hefner started a campaign to restore it, and several celebrities, including Hef himself, bought or sponsored letters."

"Did he buy the two Os?" Dean inquired. The others looked at him, puzzled. "Boobies," he said innocently.

Gail and Nicole looked at each other, and then, they burst out laughing. "Oh my God, you're such a child," Nicole said to Dean.

"But you thought it was funny, didn't you?" Dean retorted, and Nicole nodded. He had her, there.

"Somebody should totally go up there and do that," Dean went on, but Sam shook his head. "They'd be arrested if they did," his brother said. "There's a motion detector, and a closed-circuit camera that alerts the cops if the zone around the sign is breached."

"Well, so much for that," Nicole said to Dean. "I don't want to be passing the hat for your bail money before the movie premiere." She and Dean smiled at each other, and Dean took her hand.

Now Gail and Cas smiled at each other. They had been holding hands this whole time, of course, but it was sweet to see Dean and Nicole doing it. Gail considered taunting him about it, but then she decided to leave it be. Nicole and Dean had just made up, and Gail didn't want to say anything to make Nicole feel skittish. She hoped to get to know Dean's girlfriend a little better on this trip. Some people were a little disconcerted by Gail's sense of humour. She blamed Frank for it, Gail thought with some amusement.

They got to the sidewalk where the Walk of Fame began. There were quite a few people meandering about, calling out the names of famous peoples' stars to their companions. And there were the inevitable gift shops, of course.

"I'd like to get a little something for Frank," Gail said to Cas. "You know how much he likes his souvenirs. Remember all the stuff he bought in Romania, claiming it was for Rob?"

Cas smiled. "By all means, let's get something for him, then."

"Too bad he wasn't here in person," Sam remarked. "He could get a tattoo or get Jody some lingerie. Is it just me, or do there seem to be a preponderance of those kinds of places here?"

Dean did a double-take, and then he smirked. "Well, Professor, Frank might get a tattoo, but I doubt Jody would want some lingerie right now. Not unless it comes in XXXL."

Nicole looked at him, puzzled. "What?"

Then they realized: she didn't know. "Jody's pregnant," Gail told her. "Isn't that great?"

"That's fantastic!" Nicole exclaimed. She hit Dean on the arm. "Why didn't you tell me about that?"

"Ow!" he said. "I was too busy worrying about whether you were ever gonna talk to me again to even think about that."

"Why don't you guys go on ahead, then?" Gail said to the others. "Cas and I will duck into one of these gift shops, and we'll catch up to you."

"Maybe I'd better go with you, instead," Dean said to Gail. "If we let you go in one of these dimly-lit stores with him, we might not see you guys again for an hour." He grabbed Gail's arm, pulling her away from Cas and towards the store. "Go ahead, you guys."

Dean propelled Gail into the store, closing the door behind them. She was looking at him with wide eyes. "What the hell, Dean?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something," he told her.

"No kidding," she said, bemused. "That was about as subtle as a sledgehammer. What's up?"

"I want to ask your opinion," Dean said.

Gail stood there expectantly, but Dean didn't say anything further. Her eyebrows raised, and then she gestured at him. "Well? What is it?" she said impatiently.

Dean looked uncomfortable. "I wanna know what you think about...room protocol," he replied hesitantly. Gail's forehead wrinkled. She peered closer at him. Was he turning red?

"What the hell are you talking about, Dean?" she asked him.

Dean cleared his throat. "I kind of thought that Nicole and I would be sharing a room," he told her, "but she already had hers booked."

Gail's lips twitched. Dean Winchester, ladies' man, asking her for advice on how to..."Quit smirking," he said grumpily. "Maybe I should have asked Cas, instead."

Now she grinned. "Go right ahead, if you want to stay celibate for the rest of your life. When you look up 'suave' in the dictionary, you won't find his picture there. When we first got together, I had to practically put out a neon Welcome mat."

Dean laughed. "You're pretty funny, sometimes. Not exactly Angelic, but damn funny. OK, Mrs. Awesome, how do I tell her I want in? So to speak."

Gail made a face. "OK, first of all, ewww. I would definitely rephrase that before you say it to her. But the short answer is: you don't. She just forgave you. Don't rush things. Some people like their space, Dean. She's obviously really independent. I thought you liked that."

"I do, but..." Dean gave up. He didn't really know what his problem was. Nicole had forgiven him, and she had invited them all to the premiere. He should just be satisfied with that. "Yeah, OK. I guess you're right, Gail," he sighed.

She was smiling again. "I think you're cute," she told him.

"Oh, boy," Dean said dryly. "Imagine my excitement. OK, let's go."

"Just a minute. We've got to get something for Frank, first," Gail said. She headed off down one of the aisles.

Dean let out a frustrated breath, then followed her. "Can't you and Cas do that?" he asked her.

She was picking up trinkets now, respecting them. "Sure, if you want Nicole asking what you and I were doing in here, if we didn't buy anything."

As Dean thought about that, Gail looked up at him. "Oh, and you'll have to pay," she said pertly, flashing him a wicked grin. "You know I never have any money." She selected a couple of items and headed towards the cash register as Dean threw his hands up in surrender.

Nicole was standing on the sidewalk outside the store, waiting for them. "Cas and Sam went up ahead, to another store," she said. "I told them I'd wait here, so you wouldn't be wondering where we were."

Gail was squinting now. She hadn't realized how bright the midday sun was until she'd come out into it from inside the store. It was getting a little warm for her, too. Fortunately, it was spring, or she'd be roasting.

They walked a little further along the sidewalk and then they saw Sam and Cas emerging from a store up ahead. Gail stared at her husband, and then her face broke into a smile. "You look like a movie star," she said to him.

"Those are designer sunglasses he's wearing," Sam told Gail, when she and the others caught up to them. "Expensive ones, too. But hey, it's not my money."

Gail's eyes narrowed. "How expensive, exactly?"

Cas told her, and she gasped. "Oh, come on!" she exclaimed. "For a pair of sunglasses?"

Sam grinned. "They sure saw him coming."

"Of course they saw me coming," Cas said. "I walked right in the front door, and it had a bell on it."

Gail rolled her eyes as the others smiled. She had to admit that Cas looked pretty cool, for lack of a better term. He took her hand. "You said you wanted to see me wearing glasses, and they said these were the best," he told his wife.

She could just bet they did, Gail thought. But the sun was getting brighter, the purchase had already been made, and she wasn't about to stand here and try to articulate how designer sunglasses weren't the same as the kind of glasses she'd been talking about in Heaven. So she grabbed his hand and said, "OK, let's go, Mr. Movie Star."

They walked a little further, and then Nicole said, "Oh, look. There's the Dolby Theatre. That's where the premiere is going to be."

"The Dolby Theatre?" Sam said, startled. "Isn't that where they have the Oscars every year?"

"Yup," Nicole said proudly. "We've really hit the big time. I think Richard has some connections here."

Dean whistled. "The Oscars, huh? We'd better bring our 'A' game, then." He looked at his brother and Cas. "We'll have to find a tux rental place."

Gail looked at Nicole. "Actually, I'm glad that came up. What are you wearing?"

"Shouldn't that be 'who' am I wearing?" Nicole quipped.

Gail smiled. "Not bad," she remarked.

"Believe it or not, I was wondering the same thing," Nicole replied. "I Googled a place that rents gowns. I think we'd better do that."

Gail nodded. "Sounds good. How about you and I go there tomorrow, while the guys are getting their tuxedos?" She pointed a finger at Sam and Dean. "Make sure the guys at the store don't try to sell Cas an Armani tuxedo with diamond cufflinks, or something," she instructed them, and they laughed.

Cas's eyes narrowed. "I'm not that gullible," he protested.

Dean was smirking. "No? Who was it that took out his wallet when we went to buy that engagement ring your wife's got on, and told the guy to take all his money?" He nudged Gail. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. We'll make sure."

"But don't cheap out, either," she said, nudging him back. "You guys might have to sign some autographs. After all, you're all in the movie," she joked.

The group kept on walking. Gail was craning her neck, looking at the palm trees that lined the boulevard. "Wow," she marveled. "I think we've finally found some living things that are taller than Sam."

"Hey, there's the Capitol Records Building," Nicole said, pointing at the uniquely shaped structure. "Every show I've ever seen that's based in Hollywood uses that building as a stock shot."

"I can see why. It looks very distinctive," Cas remarked. He had seen the place on TV himself; he was sure of it.

"It looks like a stack of records," Dean chipped in.

Sam grinned. "You know what? If you said that to somebody like Riley, he wouldn't even know what you were talking about."

"Yeah, I know," Dean agreed. "Holy crap, are you ever old, Sammy."

"No, that would be me," Cas said absently. He was smiling, looking around them at all the tourists, and the never-ending stream of cars on the boulevard. Gail gave his hand a squeeze in appreciation of his quip.

A few minutes later, Sam said, "Oh, there's the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. There are a lot of movie stars buried there. Actually, I kind of wanted to go see it."

Dean rolled his eyes. Well, at least it wasn't serial killers, which was another fascination of Sam's, besides history. But maybe, if the others were OK with it, they could accommodate Sammy, for a change. "I'll tell you what," Dean said. "Unless anybody's got any objections, let's find someplace to eat. Then after we're done, we can walk over there and have a look."

"Sounds good to me," Gail said, relieved. "The sun's a little warm for me. Maybe it'll be gone, by the time you guys finish eating dinner." She smiled. "Besides, it'll be spookier to visit a cemetery at night."

"If we meet a vengeful ghost, we'll just stand back and let you and Sam do your thing," Nicole said to Dean.

They found a restaurant and had dinner, and the humans had a couple of drinks. The group took their time, laughing and chatting, and when they came out, the sun was setting over the Hollywood sign.

"Wow, look at that," Nicole said, pointing. "Just like in the movies."

As they walked to the corner to cross the boulevard at the stoplight, Sam said, "Actually, I don't know for sure if the gates to the cemetery will even still be open. But maybe they will, 'cause the place is kind of a tourist attraction. A lot of old-time movie stars are buried there. Rudolph Valentino, for instance."

"Who?" Dean asked.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Rudolph Valentino. He was THE movie star, back in the day. The original sex symbol."

The light changed, and they began to cross the boulevard. "What day would that be?" Dean persisted.

"The silent movie era," Sam replied. "I know, it's a long time ago, but it's kind of cool, really. He had thousands and thousands of female fans. There have been rumours that he was actually gay, but he was married twice, and he dated a lot of women, so it's hard to say. Movie stars had morals clauses back in those days, so they had to toe the studio's line."

"Who said he was gay?" Gail piped up. "Probably just a bunch of husbands, jealous because their wives were swooning all over the guy." She smiled at Cas. "I might be one of those jealous people, after the movie premiere," she joked.

"You realize our faces aren't gonna be on the big screen, right?" Dean said to her. "If you see us at all, it'll probably just be from behind."

Gail shrugged. "That's OK, my husband looks just as good from the back end," she said, waggling an eyebrow comically.

"And this is the woman who's trying to be the next God," Dean said, shaking his head.

Nicole grinned. "Hey, I'm all for it," she said. "It's about time we objectified you guys, for a change."

"I'll try to make that a Commandment," Gail wisecracked, and the women laughed. "Thou shalt take thy shirt off when requested. Or something like that." Gail snickered, then she put a hand on her mouth. "I can't believe I just said that. It's a good thing Patricia can't hear me." She looked at Cas again. "Sorry, sweetie. I may have just crossed the line, there."

He smiled faintly. "That's all right. I've made a mental note to admonish you about it, later."

Dean looked at the two of them, and then he did a double-take, but the sun had nearly set now, and he couldn't quite make out the expression on Cas's face. On second thought, he was probably better off if he never, ever thought about it.

Apparently, Sam felt the same way, because he cleared his throat now. "Anyway, Valentino died young. He was only 31 years old."

"What did he die of?" Dean asked his brother. Hey, anything to change the subject. He was pretty sure he'd figured out what Cas had been alluding to, and now, he was trying to keep the visual images out of his head. Damn Angels. Why couldn't they just act like a normal married couple?

"Appendicitis," Sam replied, in answer to Dean's question. "Then he developed peritonitis, then pleuritis in his lung." He held up his hand in anticipation of the inevitable. "Yeah, I know, that's a lot of 'itis-es'. But the bottom line is, he was dead a week later. There were hundreds of thousands of people at his funeral in Manhattan. Women were hysterical, throwing themselves at the coffin. Then they put his body on a train and shipped it out here to California, and then they had a whole other funeral. But because he was so young when he died, he hadn't made any arrangements. So his ex-wife offered to bury him in her crypt here. That must have been a friendly divorce. Weirdly enough, she died the next year. So now, they're buried side by side."

"That's very romantic," Cas commented. "They were obviously meant to be together, then."

Sam looked at their Angel friend. "Really? That's kind of funny, coming from you. I thought that you of all people would say that their bodies were only vessels," he remarked.

Cas brought Gail's hand to his lips and kissed it. "I probably WOULD have said that, a number of years ago," he said softly. "But now, I have a different point of view."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Tell me this boneyard is haunted, Sammy," he pleaded. "Anything to distract us from Mr. and Mrs. Kissyface, here."

"Out of all the nicknames you've given us, that's far and away my favourite," Gail said, smirking.

"I was saving the best for last," Sam said to Dean, as they approached the cemetery gate, which was standing open. "It's been reported that a mysterious woman in black brought a red rose to his crypt every year. Rumour had it that she'd been hired by the studio to do that, as a publicity stunt. But, years later, a woman by the pretty cool of Ditra Flame came forward, saying that she was the original Lady in Black. When she was very sick as a child, Valentino came to visit her in the hospital. He brought her a single red rose and told her she would get better, even though her prognosis wasn't good. So she went to his grave for years and years after his death, every year, to bring him a rose in return. Then other women started to imitate her, so she stopped. She was in her '70s when she died."

"That's a sweet story," Nicole said, as they walked through the cemetery. Incredibly, the place was still open, even though it was nearly full dark now. In a lot of places, there would be vandals, defacing the gravestones, or young people partying. But the place was quiet, and obviously well maintained. Maybe the caretaker just hadn't gotten around to closing the gates yet, Sam thought.

Nicole was starting to feel a little bit creeped out. As night fell, lights came on automatically along the main path, but the lighting was still very dim. Maybe they shouldn't have dawdled so long over dinner. Then she admonished herself. There was nothing to be scared of. She was with two Hunters and two Angels. It was one helluva security team.

"There's the crypt, up ahead," Sam said suddenly. "And look, there's someone there. Someone in black."

Nicole peered into the darkness. He was right, there was a figure there. She stopped walking. "You guys had better not be setting me up," she said angrily, "or I'll never speak to you again."

"No, we're not setting you up," Dean replied. "Although, that would have been awesome."

"Watch it, Winchester," Nicole said, but he could hear the smile in her voice. "You just got out of the doghouse, but you could just as easily go back in."

"That does it; we're keeping you and Gail apart from now on," Dean quipped. "You're starting to sound like her."

"I always knew you were an intelligent woman," Gail said to Nicole, smirking.

They approached the crypt, and the woman who had been kneeling there rose quietly to her feet and regarded the group.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to startle you," Sam said to her. "We're tourists."

"Yes, but that's not all you are," the woman in the black dress said. "Let me tell you something. Movies are wonderful. They provide escapist entertainment for the masses. But you have a higher calling. Don't lose sight of that. Humanity is depending on you."

"Who are you?" Cas said, stepping forward. "Why are you saying that?"

"There is imminent danger coming, Castiel," the woman said sharply. "First, it will come from underneath the ground, and then it will come from the sky. Be sure the power does not consume you, as it did before. This will be your test."

Cas opened his mouth to speak again, to demand to know who she was, and what she was talking about. But before he could utter a word, the woman vanished.

There was silence for a moment, and then Gail said, "OK, what the hell was THAT?" She was angry, and she was also scared. Too many times, she and Cas had gone places only to be confronted by a stranger giving them dire warnings about vague things.

"Boy, Cas, we can't take you anywhere," Sam said, as if reading Gail's mind. That broke the tension a little, but Cas was frowning deeply. The disappearance of the woman in black hadn't fazed him one bit, nor had the fact that she had known his identity and spoken to him directly. As Dean or Bobby would probably say, this wasn't his first rodeo. But what did distress him was that she was warning him of imminent danger. And the wording of the warning was what he was concentrating on, now. A threat from underneath the ground? He spoke that aloud now.

Nicole shook herself out of the momentary feeling of shock she had felt. "Hell?" she ventured.

Cas shook his head. "No. Most humans assume that Hell is down below us, and that Heaven is up above," he told her. "That's not the case. They're in...how can I put this? Alternative planes of being."

"Wow," Nicole quipped. "I did not understand a word of what you just said."

"Don't worry, I've been to Heaven hundreds of times, and I still don't understand it," Gail said to her.

"Hey, what do you say we get out of here?" Dean suggested. "It's too dark now. I can't even see any of your faces. If you want, we can go back to the hotel and have a drink and talk about it."

So Gail and Cas winked them all back to the hotel, and Nicole bought drinks for herself, Sam, and Dean. Cas and Gail declined her offer.

"Danger from underneath the ground, and from the sky," Dean mused aloud.

"Could it be earthquakes, maybe?" Gail speculated. "They have a lot of those in California, don't they?"

"But then, what danger would be coming from the sky?" Nicole asked.

As the others were tossing around ideas as to what the dangers could potentially be, Cas was concentrating on the latter part of the message. The woman in black had advised that he was going to undergo some sort of a test. Again, this statement did not faze him in the slightest. His Father had been testing him for aeons. But she had also warned Castiel about not letting power consume him, and this part of the warning concerned him a great deal. It was no secret that he had struggled with that same issue in the past. Cas interpreted the spirit's warning to mean that he would be given some kind of test shortly to see if he would be able to handle the type of power that he would receive if he were to be elected to the High Office. That was totally understandable, and in fact, he was eager to prove to his Father that he would be equal to the challenge. He had improved himself in very many ways, both as an Angel, and as a man. Cas was confident that having that much power would no longer corrupt him.

So, he was strangely serene as the others debated about increasingly more far-fetched perils that could befall them. "Let's not worry about it right now," Cas said, surprising his friends. He was usually the one who fretted the most about things. Cas looked at Gail, taking her hand. "I think we'll call it a night. What are we going to do tomorrow?" He looked at Nicole, then back at his wife. "What would you ladies like to do?"

Nicole glanced at Gail. "I don't know about you, but I'd love to do a studio tour," Dean's girlfriend said.

Gail shrugged. "Sounds good to me. Whatever anyone else wants to do is fine. I'm just happy to be here."

Cas smiled. "Then it's settled. That's what we'll do tomorrow."

Dean nodded. "We'll meet downstairs in the restaurant at...what? Eight?"

Everyone agreed to that, and Cas and Gail stood, wishing their friends a good night. Dean gave Sam a glance, and Sam stood as well. "I'm going to our room," Sam told the Angels. "I'll walk up with you."

Once they'd gone, Dean looked at Nicole. He reached out and took her hand across the table. "Do you want another drink?" Dean asked her.

Nicole yawned. "I don't think so. I think I just want to get some rest. We got a lot of sun today, and tomorrow is going to be a long day, too. Should be fun, though."

Dean found himself tongue-tied now. It was frustrating, really. This was uncharted territory for him. In the past, all he'd had to do to get a girl to go to bed with him was look at her in a certain way. But Nicole was different. She was in the driver's seat here, and she'd been casually affectionate with him, but he still sensed a coolness between them.

Nicole looked at him, amused. She wondered if Dean knew what an open book he was. "We'll get there again," she assured him in a soft voice. She gave his hand a squeeze, then released it. "I'll see you in the morning." She stood up and left the bar as Dean gazed after her.

He ordered another beer.

Quinn was rooting through her closet when Sam called. Where was that gown that she'd worn to her aunt's wedding? Oh, there it was. It was pushed to the side, still wrapped in the dry cleaners' bag.

She'd been just about to take it out and put it on to make sure it still fit when suddenly, Oliver appeared in the chair by the bed, startling her.

"What the hell are you doing, Oliver?!" she exclaimed. "You know you're not supposed to be in here! We talked about that, remember? Boundaries."

"I know, but I saw that you were packing," he said, agitated. "Where are you going?"

"I'm only going away for the weekend," Quinn told him. She sighed. "I'm going to Hollywood. I've been invited to a movie premiere with Sam and his friends."

Predictably enough, Oliver perked up. "What about my journal?" he asked her. "Have they found it yet?"

"I doubt it," Quinn answered, as patiently as she could. Oliver and that damn journal. It was a shame he didn't have an actual, solid body, because once they finally found the darn thing, she would love to whack him upside the head with it. Quinn liked Sam a lot, and she was looking forward to getting to know his brother and their friends better. But she couldn't deny that a large part of her was just happy to be getting away from Oliver for a bit. She sighed again. "I'll ask."

On cue, Quinn's cell phone rang. She went over to the dresser to answer it. "Hi, Sam," she said. "How are you? How's Hollywood?"

"So far, so good," he told her. "I just thought I'd call to make sure we were still on for Saturday."

"Yes, of course," Quinn told him. She'd been about to add that she was in the process of packing right now when Oliver piped up, "What about the journal?"

Quinn gestured impatiently. "Oliver, would you just - " she started to say.

But Sam grinned. "Let me guess. Your roommate wants you to ask me about his journal," he said.

"It's not funny, Sam," Quinn fumed.

"Actually, it kind of is," he told her.

"Oh, yeah?" she retorted. "You try being harassed about one subject, all day, every day, and see how you like it."

Sam had the urge to tell her what it was like to live with Dean sometimes, but he checked himself. He chose to live with his brother. Quinn had not chosen to have her house haunted by the Ghost Who Wouldn't Leave. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I'll tell you what; as soon as we get home, I'll call my guy and follow up. Okay?"

Quinn told Oliver what Sam was saying. The spirit let out a frustrated breath, but he popped out of her room.

"Anyway, I was just calling to tell you something," Sam continued. "I don't know if you were wondering what to bring to wear for the premiere, so I thought I'd tell you that Nicole and Gail are going to rent gowns. Apparently, Nicole Googled a place. So if you want, you can probably go with them on Saturday morning, after you get here."

Quinn smiled. This was one reason she liked Sam so much. How many guys would be considerate enough to think of such things? She opened her mouth to tell him that she already had a gown, but then she stopped. She'd been wanting to get to know his friends better. "Thanks, Sam," Quinn said. "I think I will tag along with them, if they're OK with that."

"I'm sure they will be, but I'll tell them tomorrow," Sam replied. He and Quinn chatted for a few more minutes, and then they hung up. Quinn resumed packing.

Gail had gotten undressed, and she was sitting on the edge of the bed in her nightshirt, watching Cas undress. "I don't know why it is that everywhere we go, strange people are giving us dire warnings," she remarked wryly.

Cas smiled. "I guess I just bring that out in them," he said mildly. He was unbuttoning his shirt, then undid his pants.

Gail's forehead wrinkled. "Why aren't you more worried about this?"

Cas was bemused. "Do you WANT me to be more worried?" he asked her.

"No, of course not," she said, "but it's not like you."

He had taken off his jeans now and folded them over his blazer on the chair. He came over to the bed and sat beside her, taking her hands in his. "Do you remember when we were separated, and we thought that I had done all of those terrible things?" Cas asked her rhetorically. "I told you about going to the fair with the crew and receiving God's punishments there."

Gail nodded. Of course she remembered. She hadn't found out about that until much later, of course. That had been before Cas had had to send her and Sam back in time to reverse the car accident that had left Sam in the coma. But she and Cas had barely been on speaking terms at the time, and when he had sent her and Sam back, she and Cas had to build their relationship back up a second time. Tears sprang to her eyes. All that time wasted, when she and Cas should have been together. All that heartbreak, for no reason. She felt a wave of resentment towards Metatron. But there was no point in dwelling on it now.

Cas went on to explain to her his assumption that God was lining up a test for him, to see if Cas would be fit to take the Office. "You know that I haven't done well with too much power in the past, and I've paid a heavy price for my shortcomings," Cas told her sincerely. "But now, with your help and the support of our family, I feel as if I'm ready." Then he smiled. "Unless you're going to win the election, instead."

Gail made a face. "You and I both know I'm not going to win the election," she told him, shaking her head. "But, that's okay. I'll support you when YOU do. And don't worry: if I feel like you're getting carried away, you know I won't hesitate to let you know." Now she was grinning.

"I know, and I'll look forward to that," Cas responded, his lips twitching. "But right now, I feel that we have another problem."

"What's that?" she asked him.

"We're wearing too much clothing," he quipped.

Gail laughed. "Well, I think we can figure out what to do about that." She reached up and slid the shirt off of his shoulders. He took it the rest of the way off and discarded it on the floor. "Finally, I've gotten what I wanted," she said to him, caressing his chest and arms. "You, with your shirt off."

Cas put his arms around her. "If you like, I'll add that as a Commandment once I take the Office," he murmured, smiling. He kissed her on the mouth.

She looked down at his shorts. "Let's negotiate some more," she quipped.

The next morning after breakfast, the group walked to the movie studio and amusement park.

"I don't know what to do first," Nicole said excitedly. She picked up a brochure from the ticket kiosk as Cas and Sam paid admission. "There are animal acts here, too," she continued. "This isn't just a movie studio, it's a whole theme park. Special effects shows, family stuff, all kinds of things."

"We'll do it all," Dean said, putting his arm around her. "Whatever you want."

Gail was looking over Nicole's shoulder at the brochure. "Oh, boy. Minions, Simpsons, Shrek...too bad Frank isn't here."

"Don't you mean Rob?" Sam said, smiling.

"No," Gail answered pertly, and they all laughed.

"They also have a tram ride that takes us through a bunch of different movie and TV worlds," Nicole went on. "King Kong, Jurassic Park, Jaws, the Grinch, Bates Motel, The Walking Dead..."

"Uh-oh," Gail said, looking at the brothers. "Did you guys bring your weapons?"

"Sounds pretty scary," Sam said affably.

"Are you kidding? It sounds great," Dean enthused. "Give me action movies any day. Sammy's always trying to get me to watch movies with subtitles, or movies that are supposed to make you think. I don't wanna think, I want to see explosions."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dean doesn't do too well with complex plots," he retorted. "He once watched Jaws with me and asked, 'Which one's the shark, again?""

Gail burst out laughing. "That's probably the funniest thing I've ever heard you say, and you've said a lot of funny things," she told Sam. "Bend down here, so I can give you a high-five."

"Can I see that for a minute?" Dean asked Nicole, gesturing to Nicole for the brochure. She handed it to him, and he whacked Sam with it. "Hey, there's a horror exhibit here we've gotta check out," Dean told the group. "It looks pretty cool. They've got all the scariest bad guys here. Hey, Gail, maybe your dad's there."

She gave him a baleful look. "Har, har. Very funny."

"Dean, you shouldn't say things like that," Cas admonished his friend.

"It's OK," Gail said. "If Frank was here, he'd be saying the same thing. It's probably better just to joke about it. Then it doesn't seem so scary."

"What are you guys talking about?" Nicole asked them, puzzled.

"It's a long story, and we don't even know the full story yet," Gail told her. "But, from everything we've heard, he sounds like a real piece of work."

"They've got Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Darth Vader, Dr. Evil, some guy named...Noss-fur-at-you?" Dean said, reading from the brochure.

Sam made a face. "You mean Nosferatu," he said, shaking his head. "Come on, Dean. You should know who that is. He was the first movie vampire. We even watched that movie that was based on the original silent film. Shadow Of The Vampire, remember?"

Dean thought about it, and then his expression brightened. "Oh, yeah! I remember. That movie was a comedy, though."

"Yeah, to us it was, because it was schlocky," Sam agreed. "But for its day, the original movie was really scary."

"I've gotta admit that guy looked pretty creepy," Dean agreed. He looked at Gail. "Maybe your dad looks like that. Wait till you see this Nosferatu guy. Holy crap."

"That wouldn't surprise me," Gail said with a calm she didn't feel. She had seen photos of the Nosferatu character from the original movie, and the image had disturbed her.

"All right, you've had your fun, but I want you to stop, now," Cas said sternly to Dean. "We're here to have fun, and you're going to make Gail feel badly."

"OK, Dad," Dean quipped, but he put an arm around Gail and gave her an apologetic squeeze.

"You sound like the voice of authority already," Gail said, looking warmly at her husband. She poked Dean. "You'd better stay on his good side." Then she grinned. "And mine, for that matter." Then, suddenly, she blinked her eyes.

"If you're trying to wink, you need some lessons," Dean told her, smirking.

"No, I felt something in my eye," Gail responded. She dabbed her cheek with her finger, then looked up at the sky. "Was that...?"

"Snow," Nicole said, holding out her hand. "At the risk of feeding a stereotype, I'm Canadian. I know snow when I see it. Look." She captured a snowflake on her palm, showing it to the group.

"Snow, in Hollywood? In April?" Sam said curiously.

"Hey, Cas, maybe that's your danger from the sky," Dean said, elbowing his friend.

But Cas was doubtful. "I don't see what danger a few snowflakes would pose, Dean."

A moment later, as quickly as it had started, the snow stopped. Nicole shrugged. "Oh, well. No harm done. Let's go, you guys." She took Dean's hand, and they proceeded to the first exhibit.

Adrian sat still in the chair, looking down at his desk. Well, that was it, then. Wyatt's doctor had just called Adrian on his private line with the news: HIV positive. Game over. As General Tanaka's people might say, Sayonara, Baby.

And he had nobody to blame but himself, really. Most of the time when he and Wyatt had gotten together, they had used protection. Most of the time. But on a couple of occasions, when the pressures of his job had gotten to be too much and he had needed the release, Adrian had picked up a different young man on a dimly lit street for a quick one, and he hadn't been careful about it. And Wyatt had been no choir boy, either. Adrian had known that he was seeing other men, of course. Sometimes, the feeling had come upon Wyatt so strong that he'd brought one of the closet cases home from the club, had a few too many drinks, and if the guy didn't have a condom, they'd proceeded anyway. All it took was one time. Just like getting pregnant.

So, Adrian and Wyatt had both played Russian roulette with their lives, and now, they had both lost. But there was the domino effect to be considered. In Wyatt's world, promiscuity usually led to promiscuity. And there was Adrian's own wife to think of, too. Most of the time Adrian had been able to plead exhaustion from overwork, but every once in a while, Sandra had complained about it, and he'd had to take her to bed just to shut her up for a while.

He couldn't tell her, of course. She would find out when he died, and then, she could get herself tested. Even as Adrian thought about it like that, he realized how cold-blooded he was being. But he had a chance now to go down in history as being something other than just a closet case, and he intended to take his shot.

Adrian reached for the pad of paper he kept on the top of his desk. He organized his thoughts, wrote down his terms, and then picked up the phone.

Minutes later, Generals Sizemore and Tanaka and Dr. Exeter were gathered in Adrian's office. He passed around the notes he had made to all three of them. "If we can agree on my terms, I'll have this typed up and notarized," General Greene told his colleagues.

General Tanaka looked at him curiously. "Why would you want to do this, Adrian?"

"I believe that's my business," General Greene responded. "But the bottom line is that we've taken the generic testing as far as we can. We all know that the next logical step is to test the formula on a person."

"We have no idea what that stuff could do to you," Dr. Exeter protested.

Adrian was nodding. "Which is why I've written that." He gestured to the pad of paper. "I'll sign a waiver of liability if you'll agree to provide my wife and daughter with the annuities I have requested."

The other men exchanged glances. Then General Tanaka smiled grimly. "Done," he said. "Let's fast-track this. Once we all sign the agreement and have it notarized, we'll begin injecting you this afternoon. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Adrian said tersely. He stood from his desk, accepting the notepad back. "Dismissed." He was still the ranking Officer, and he was determined to follow protocol until the bitter end.

The men saluted him and exited the office.