Chapter 7
Learning that something existed when you previously thought they didn't was something that needed time to absorb. Angela knew how that felt. Heck she was trained in the supernatural and yet to meet and talk to an angel was a bit of a shock. Augusta needed a bit of time to process that and to contact Suriyel's father and let him know the situation. It was one thing she insisted on and for reasons that she gave only the barest of hints.
Janis took it very well and went into her researcher mode to learn everything she wanted to know about the Grigori. It amused Angela, once she got over her need to shut people out and lock them in a bubble mode, that the two go to people were getting along. She had picked up on the fact that Janis was attracted to Bobby and Bobby was sort of showing a liking for her. At least it was better than her love life… if it could be called that.
She was sitting on a stone bench that doubled as an altar. She wasn't overly thrilled that the house once belonged to a family that more than dabbled in the supernatural arts but at least they weren't the kind of family to lay doom and gloom on innocent people. They were the kind that really lived up to the whole Wiccan creed of doing as they willed but not harming anyone. And she didn't have a problem with witches or warlocks since she was friends with them; the ones that didn't hurt anyone of course.
The altar/bench was from the pantheon her family of gods came from and she wasn't overly surprised at their inclusion. She had found other tributes to the different pantheons present throughout the place. She was surprised to find one attributed to Ares since he was an asshole but then again he came through when he did but still…
This particular one was dedicated to Thoth, the god of wisdom and scholars. She had the faintest of memories of spotting that particular god when she lived at Karnak during her drying out and recovery but she had never met him face to face. That he had wisdom was probably why he had an altar here at the Whitmore house and he probably had been summoned for advice on occasion. It was something she could use now since she had to plan this…
"Ya better not be moping."
Angela hummed at that and turned to see Bobby wheeling himself towards her. She gave a slight smile and replied, "No, just thinking."
Bobby sighed, hoping not to get into another session where he ended up telling her that she was an idjit and slap her upside the head for being stupid. "Listen, you said it yourself that Gus needed to let Suri's father know what happened."
"Yeah because he is a parent though I question the timing." Angela turned to look at nothing in particular and continued, "If he is on a hunt, he needs his A-game. There is nothing more distracting that when you have a child missing and you are stuck and can't do anything about it."
"Yer right on that but he can pick up and come over. It's his daughter and from what I've heard, he barely sees her sufficiently. They both do." Bobby cleared his throat. It reminded him too much of how often the Winchesters were left in his care while John went off on another hunt and would be gone for sometimes weeks at a time.
"I know." Angela cleared her throat and took a breath. "I dropped a hunt and came back towards the Roadhouse. Jo had gotten into some trouble of the serious kind. I couldn't let anything happen to her and the way Ellen sounded over the phone…" She shook her head at the memory before looking at Bobby and continuing, "The point is that I get what Suri's father would do but if he is compromised and slips up and dies… my fault."
"No it ain't. Yer not the one that pulls the trigger."
"But I'm the one that insisted that he know." Angela looked at Bobby with a look. She made a slight clicking sound with her tongue on her teeth before saying, "My father… he gave his life to bring me back. My mother had died as humans are wont to do before that. My carelessness drove him to that choice."
"And he did it cause he loved ya idjit," Bobby countered, "Why do ya think I said no to using your powers when I was in the hospital?"
Angela looked at the grizzled hunter. She knew that they cared about each other. Her affection extended to love like she had for her father. She wanted to tell him but refrained from it since she wasn't good with the whole feeling thing and she didn't want him to feel awkward. It was sad that she was more comfortable showing her feelings towards the grizzled hunter than she was with Sam and the tiny step they made was progress! She gave a smile, "Yeah I do and it's nice to hear. I love ya too."
"Don't start or I'll grow lady parts and then I'll have something to get on ya about."
"Fine old fart," Angela replied using one of the various nicknames that she had for the grizzled hunter. She gave a grin and sighed looking out. "Well…"
"So… what are we going to do?" Bobby looked at her, getting down to business. Now that they had their moment, they needed to get to work. She worked like Dean when faced with a tough situation and things looked dire.
Angela knew what Bobby was up to and was grateful for it. Back in the old days, she would not have been this close and sailed in doing what she did without thought about her person. Now that she opened more and more of herself up, she started caring more and more and her heart was now aflutter with her feelings. Knowing that it was time to get to work, she sighed and said, "Well you and I both know that there are only two ways to kill angels, the angel blade and Absolution. That leaves few options in terms of fighting."
"And why you want to go solo like an idjit?"
"Well for one thing, the only way to get an angel blade is to 'borrow' one. And I doubt there are any who would want to lend me them." Angela had a thought. She wondered if it was possible but then it would go against the fact that Dean assumed all angels were dicks. For the most part they were but there were exceptions. "Unless…"
Bobby blinked when Angela sprang to her feet and raced to the out building and disappeared into it. She was back with a few odds and ends that ranged in various weapons and things that involved working metals like a blow torch and other metalworking tools. "What in the hell are ya up to?"
"There's one way I can help especially if Augie and her… whatever he is… is going to help." Angela dumped everything on the ground and looked at it. She knew what she needed and what else was needed but that would require an extra step.
"And that is?"
"Making weapons that can kill angels… or at least seriously wound them." Angela started going through what she had found and sifted out what would work and what wouldn't.
"Making weapons?" Bobby looked at her confused at what she was doing and saying. He frowned, "What are ya a blacksmith?"
"At one point… yes," Angela replied as she picked up an Egyptian weapon. She looked at it, surprised at the shape it was in before twirling it in her hand. She hadn't seen a khopesh in years but she supposed she shouldn't be surprised. "Khopesh, good shape."
"Yeah if you were in the desert and wore a skirt and a headdress."
"Still use them in Karnark."
Bobby knew that the conversation was going to go down a path of crazy. It usually did but the crazy was that it ended up making sense to the point that it worked. He knew his weaponry so he could follow her but she still wasn't making sense. "Fine but what are you up to and what has ya playing blacksmith?"
Angela was still looking at the khopesh. It was an interesting weapon and good memories tied up in learning how to use one. She ran her finger along the edge and found it sharp. She wondered… "Just trying to even out the odds a bit." She looked at Bobby while holding up the khopesh and noted his confusion and sighed, knowing that she was going to have to explain a few things. "I know a few tricks in how to really weaponized weapons."
Bobby frowned at her and inched forward. He knew that she had a few ideas that were archaic but they worked. "I'm listening."
"I learned a bit of weapon's forging through the centuries. Mostly it was repairing gear since blacksmithing is expensive…"
"Get to the point Angie."
"The point is that I learned how to forge and part of it was spent learning how to make weapons designed to kill specific beings. Most are the usual variety like a silver blade for shifters… my silver bullets." Angela stood up still holding the weapon in her hand. She brought it up to finger the edge slightly. "Basically I learned how to make things like the Colt and one of them was to make something to hurt angels."
Bobby frowned at that as he processed what she was saying, "Wait a minute. Now the only way you would be able to make something like that…"
"Is to have an angel teach me."
"Exactly," Bobby pointed out, "Now I know Cas wouldn't have done it unless you corrupted him to that."
Angela couldn't help but chuckle as she put down the khopesh in the keep pile and picked up a throwing stick that was lined with salted iron on the bands. It was a weak weapon to fight with but it came in handy at times. Maybe… It went on the keep pile. "I corrupted Cas in terms of human expressions but no. Cas wouldn't be the one to teach me how to make something strong enough to hurt an angel or kill one."
"Well ya had to learn somewhere."
Angela found a knife that was very nice and a good one to practice on. "I did and let's just say that this particular angel tended to be a bit of an ass but his assistant was much nicer."
Bobby was curious about what kind of company she kept but it did explain why she was less hostile with Cas than Dean and had been insistent on a few things regarding the angel. And it explained why she always had a humorous expression when Kesset was around. "And you can do this?"
"Been awhile but…" Angela looked at their stores. She shrugged her shoulder at the pile. She had her work cut out for her but she remembered how to do it. She made a slight face, "I can make it work. I just need…"
Bobby watched as she picked up the ones she didn't want and put them back into the out building. He noticed she had left the torch and a few other odds and ends of metalworking. He raised his brow since they had weapons so the question remained what the hell was she going to do with all the other stuff.
As if she knew he was going to ask, Angela answered his unspoken question, "I do have to do a little bit of work. Some of these pieces need silver added to it and a little bit of working for it to work." She picked up a tool to etch. "Since I am not technically an angel, I need a different way."
"So this is a bit of an art project."
"A bit but gotta go with what works right?" Angela looked at Bobby as she picked up the knife she had picked and examined it. She frowned as she decided what she was going to do with it. She gave a slight smile at Bobby. "If you like I can make you something. You know I have rule about always carrying a knife."
Bobby made a face at her, "Blow it out your rear, Angie." It then turned into a slight smirk, "But I ain't gonna turn down good craftsmanship. What do ya need?"
Angela gave a slight smile as she held the etcher in one hand and the knife in another. "Well I do need a few supplies of the more spell like variety."
"Dean."
"What?"
Sam made a slight gesture with his head towards the back seat. Dean craned to look in the rearview mirror and heard the telltale sound. Giving a slight eye roll, he pulled over to the side of the road. He got out and went to the rear passenger door and opened it saying, "Alright you little bastards. Hurry up."
Out popped Xander and he was followed by Moira and Zeppelin looking happy and yet relieved that they stopped. Dean watched as they went to go to their business and marveled that at least that part was in sync. He was a little annoyed though and looked at Sam who was standing on his side. "This is just perfect."
Sam knew Dean was anxious and annoyed having been used to going longer before a dog needed a bathroom break. He sighed, "Dean, they're puppies, not adults. They don't have the… bladder capacity of Cerebus yet."
Dean shot a look at his brother, annoyed that Sam was right as usual. "Yeah well at least they know not to chew the seats."
Sam gave a slight smile. He knew his brother liked the puppies though he would never admit it to him or to anyone. "They know. Angie more or less told them."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah." Sam didn't know for sure but given the fact that Angela was like Dean when it came to the Impala though not as grossly obscene, he figured she would have warned the dogs that if they did anything beyond sitting or lying down, there was bound to be problems. So far they had been good about that though there were a few other things.
Sam noticed it and he assumed that Angela did too that the puppies had a hell streak and he didn't mean that because of their hellhound blood. Though it could be because of that a little. They were almost a month old and already they knew exactly which person they could push limits with and that fell mostly to Dean. Sam couldn't tell how many times he had to defend the puppies from Dean's wrath because they messed with him. It was harmless, mostly stealing his keys or wallet or the wet nose in his ear but it always had Dean up in arms; like they were little kids that figured out what to make him tick.
It was enough to make anyone tired but Sam kind of enjoyed it and occasionally they roped him into it as well but he saw it for what it was and when he said enough, they stopped. He tried telling Dean that but his brother preferred chasing and yelling at them until they hid behind Angela looking pitiful or their mother. It was hilarious and certainly made him feel better the past few weeks.
Dean knew that Sam was right about Angela since they had both seen her 'talk' to Cerebus. He murmured, "Well that's the reason they can stay."
"They're only staying because they refused to."
Despite the fact that Augusta said things were okay, Sam finding out that there was nothing unusual going on in Grand Junction, Colorado was enough to make Dean antsy. He knew Satan wanted to ride his brother's ass to the prom but he also knew that the devil considered his girl and if she was put in the right position… It wasn't that he doubted her to stay firm against the devil; he knew that if push came to shove and nothing was left, she would say yes in order to save them all. That was the long and the short of it. The whole thing had his spidey senses tingling.
Not arguing and quietly admitting that something was off, Sam agreed to taking off and looking for her. That they knew which town was a good thing. The exact whereabouts was another thing to worry about but one that they would deal with when they got there. The only thing was that they were not to go alone.
Sam could never put his finger on it but he got the distinct feeling that the puppies were like Sasha; they understood the gist of what was going on. It made him regret that he didn't learn more about Wilders in general but he did recall Angela mentioning offhand that they were bred to understand and carry out complex orders. It certainly explained why Sasha always gave him the reproving looks before… He figured that was what was coming into play when the puppies followed him and Dean out to the Impala and jumped in, sat in the middle and looked like they were going for a car ride with Xander waiting to be let in the back.
Dean protested and immediately plucked them out and put them on the ground. Then the whimpering and protests started. That was followed by the Impala being chased by them and that was after they managed to get in the car once or twice more. Sam was more than ready to let them come since tying them up would probably have the neighbors call them out on being cruel to animals. It also didn't help that Kesset didn't do much except to say that they had chosen.
Sam got the feeling that meant more than what Dean took it to mean. He liked Moira yes but he was well aware that he didn't have the means or ability to take care of a dog even though he liked them. Dean, on the other hand, said, that they could come along this one time and that, Sam sensed, opened up a can of worms. So they took the puppies along with Xander with them, leaving Kesset to look after the other two dogs and the cat. Now this was like the second or third bathroom break Sam could tell Dean was getting a little impatient and in truth he was too.
Before they had left, Sam called Augusta and again she was very evasive with the questions he posed her. He had heard Dean talk to her and decided to rephrase his questions to try and get more out of her. While she did answer his questions, he was less than satisfied. It occurred to him to call Angela, which he did but only got her voicemail and he left a message. That was followed by a text from her saying that she was working on something for Augusta and Bobby was helping her.
It was the same thing as her note and while somewhat reassuring, he couldn't help but think that she was only telling him what she could because she couldn't tell him anything else. He knew it wasn't malicious on her part since that was never her intention and he got the feeling that if she was going to be mean, he'd know it. She was doing what she usually did and that was protecting him and it had him feel a little frustrated, with the frustration knowing that if he were able to help her out he couldn't because he didn't have the first damn clue where to start.
It wasn't like she did it on purpose. Her thoughts were always centered on looking out for others. It was a quality he admired about her but it always worried him that she did it to the point where it seemed like she overdid it. It was like taking what lengths he and Dean did for each other to the extreme and at times it scared him. It scared him because there was that possibility that he could lose her before telling her his feelings, which he was being a 6'4" coward about and it scared him that he might be the cause of it.
Fiona had made it sound easy when she encouraged him after they rescued Angela. It wasn't. He had an easier time facing Lucifer and his taunting dreams using Jess than looking at the woman he had grown to care for the last few years. Yes, he cared for her but when he put his feelings into perspective… it made things clearer but harder. He certainly had a hard time keeping his hands to himself but at least there were other things going on to give the excuse of touching her. And it was an encouragement when she didn't protest. So he was with Dean that something was up and it had to be major if she had Bobby with her but also it occurred to him that this was along the lines of asking for forgiveness with what happened with Ellen and Jo.
Sam was distracted from his thoughts when he felt a paw touch his calf. Looking down, he saw Moira looking up at him with a curious expression. He bent over and picked her up to rub her head. She was large yes but she was small, the runt of the two pup litter but he was smitten with her. Looking over he saw Dean trying to dance out of the way, no doubt Zeppelin was trying to solicit being picked up. He said, "Just pick him up Dean."
Dean scowled at his brother before defiantly bending over and picking up Zeppelin. While holding the puppy like a football, he opened the back door and told Xander to get in before slightly tossing the puppy in. It wasn't a hard toss but a gentle one and Dean gave the puppy a biscuit from his jacket pocket and rubbed his head.
Sam shook his before getting in with Moira. She was small enough to sit on his lap and frankly he was in the mood to be a pain to Dean. It also gave him time to study the collar and tags that were on the dog. The collar was nothing special, it was one of those collars that adjusted with puppyhood but he did notice that there were some etchings in the band, sigils and such. Some were warding symbols; he knew because Xander had the same on his collar. What caught his attention was the tag.
It was made to look like a regular dog tag since on one side was the usual if lost call this number and the dog's name. On the other side were some symbols that he wasn't sure of. He fingered the solder work and noted the silver work attention to detail. Without looking, he figured Zeppelin had the same thing.
"You gonna pay more attention to the mutt or the road?"
Sam looked up and made a face at Dean, "Just looking at Moria's collar."
"So?"
"Nothing much. Just curious." Sam rubbed Moira's head as she settled down on his lap to snooze. "Looks like we might get there before midnight maybe."
"Yeah provided they can hold their bladders until then."
"They're only puppies."
"And you had to insist that they come."
Sam sighed thinking Dean was being ridiculous. "It was either that or they get accidentally run over because they are persistent little bastards. And that would bring worse wrath than a hellhound." He looked at Moira and then glanced in the back before adding, "Besides, I think they understand and wanted to come."
Dean shot a look at his brother. "Now I know that is crazy even for you. They're puppies."
Sam wasn't going to say anything about that. Sasha was still technically a puppy when they had her and she understood a lot more than she was given credit for. "Alright well, it can't hurt. They can sniff out evil ass shit."
Dean hummed at that as he turned onto the highway.
A/N: A Bobby/Angie talk about what to do and Sam and Dean hit the road towards Colorado. Stay tuned for next time on Asmodeus...
