Chapter 9

Dean

"Winchester Auto, this is Dean," I said, answering the shop's phone on the fifth ring, since none of my employees thought it was important to answer it. "How can I help you?"

"Hello, Dean," his voice seemed far away and I almost didn't recognize him.

"Cas?" I whispered, standing up from my place at my desk, surrounded by paperwork. "Is that you?"

He breathed into the speaker of the phone, almost distracted. "Yes," Cas replied. "It's me. Why didn't you answer your phone?"

I glanced down and felt the pocket of my jeans for where my phone should have been. It wasn't there, so I started picking up piles of papers that flooded my desk looking for it. "I, uh, I've been busy, man. I'm trying to run a business here. Where the hell have you been?"

"I can't tell you that right now, but I needed to speak with you."

"What's going on, Cas? We haven't even heard from you in six months," I said, forcing myself to speak quietly. Lib had turned from her place on the carpet of my office and was watching me carefully. "What's happening?"

He sighed quietly. "Too many things to get into over the phone," he said, keeping his voice hushed. "I need to know that you would be on board with a plan that I am putting together."

I stared blindly towards my daughter as I asked, my voice almost a whisper. "What kind of a plan?"

Cas paused before he answered me which told me that he didn't want to reveal something that he shouldn't too soon, but the anxiety rose in my chest in anticipation. Finally, he said, "A plan that would put your family back together and keep Everett whole."

"Cas, please," I began, shaking my head and turning away from Liberty. "What's going on?"

"Do you trust me, Dean?" he pressed.

"You gotta give me something, man," I said, still hesitating.

Speaking with finality, Castiel finally said, "Dean, do you trust me?"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, nodding. "Yeah, Cas. Of course I trust you."

With that, the phone clicked and he was gone. I turned back towards Liberty and shrugged. "Uncle Cas says hi," I said quietly.

Libby shook her head with her eyebrows raised. "No, he didn't," she said.

Pressing my lips together, I nodded. "Yeah, you're right, Meatloaf. He didn't."

"Uncle Cas has a plan," she continued mysteriously.

I stared at my daughter and raised my eyebrows. "Do you know what his plan is? Could you hear his thoughts?"

Liberty smiled at me.

I crouched low, getting eyelevel with Liberty. "What did you hear, kiddo?"

She turned back to her Hot Wheels on the ground and began driving them in the imaginary road she had created. I sat next to her, staring. Lib was just like Grace; she would take her time answering, making sure she gave me as much information as she could in a few detailed sentences. Finally, taking a breath, she looked up at me with those greens eyes and said, "Uncle Cas is looking for baby Faith. She is a Lost Soul in Heaven and he has a plan to make her safe again."

The air left my lungs and I held my breath, struggling to wrap my head around what Liberty had said. "Are you sure, Lib? That's what Cas was thinking about?"

She nodded at me and smiled. "Do you think I'll be able to play with her before I turn five?"

I had nothing to say. I only stared at my daughter, wondering how this could be true. The average parents didn't tend to trust their four-year-old kid on something this big, but Lib…well, the whole Winchester Clan was a bit different. I wanted to trust Liberty. I wanted it to be true, more than anything else.

Liberty drove her toy car over my knee and I disappeared into my own head. Right now, there were more questions than answers.