Chapter 9
Hibah woke up and stretched in the big bed that she had been put in. She was pleased that Boomer, her stuffed dog, was still there and squeezed it as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Looking around she saw that someone was in hers and Ima's room. She sat up and looked at him.
He had dark hair and had the bluest eyes she had ever seen. He was dressed in a suit like the kind Abba and Amitz would wear when they went to work and he had a coat. It was really big and looked baggy to her but it seemed to suit the man. Hibah stared at him as he stared back with his hands to his side… like a stiff poker.
Climbing out of bed and rubbing Cerebus on the head, Hibah hugged Boomer to her chest and walked forward. She wasn't afraid of him but she felt like she knew him and he wouldn't hurt her. She looked up at him and he looked down at her. Finally she said, "What's your name?"
If Castiel thought the question was odd, he ignored it for the moment. He knew he was not dealing with a normal human child and it was awkward in general. He replied, "My name is Castiel. I'm an angel of the Lord."
Hibah looked up at Castiel, not grasping the significance of what he was and it simply didn't matter. She replied, "I'm Hibah." She held out her hand like she had seen Abba do.
Castiel didn't betray his confusion at the actions of the child but followed through and extended his hand out and engulfed the tiny one in his. He said nothing though even though it was customary to do so for humans.
"You know Ima," Hibah stated as a matter of fact.
Castiel continued to look at Hibah. He was well aware of the circumstances regarding the child's choice of names for her caretaker and guardian. He replied, "Yes, I know Angela, the Malachi of Absolution."
Hibah gave a slight giggle. When the angel looked to her she explained, "Ima said you were a stiff poker. That's funny." She started walking around and examined the angel, gently touching the trench coat and running her fingers on the fabric. She studied him as if looking for something and was aware that he was very familiar to her but she couldn't understand why at the moment and it didn't matter in the least. When she was finished she said, "Casteel is good."
Castiel wasn't sure of what to make of the child's assessment or even the mispronunciation of his name. He replied, "I don't understand the significance of your assessment. I am here to watch you as a promise to the Malachi."
Hibah frowned a bit puzzled. Castiel was speaking in words she didn't understand but she liked him nevertheless. She smiled and said, "Ima likes you. I like you. Casteel like Hibah?"
It was a bizarre conversation and yet Castiel couldn't help but answer. He was asked a question so he could answer. "I… I like you."
He didn't get further since the little girl wrapped her arms around his body to give him a hug. It was like enduring a spontaneous hug from Angela. "I see the propensity for showing emotion you get from Angela."
Hibah released the angel and smiled at him. "Betfust?" She held out her hand and waited expectantly.
Castiel wasn't sure where this was going. He had no need to eat or sleep. Yet Hibah was looking at him unexpectantly. He relented and took the hand and let her lead him out of the room and towards the stairs followed by Cerebus. He was impressed by the strong grip the child had on his hand and could sense that she had reserves of strength that could be an asset for when she was older.
They went down the stairs towards the kitchen only to find that the room leading to the kitchen had three bodies on the floor and one on the couch and no one was in the kitchen. Castiel looked around and said, "No one is awake."
"Ima is awake." Hibah released Castiel's hand and began looking around. She stopped at the window and pointed, "Ima with Abba."
"That is a likely scenario. Angela trained Sam in combat…"
Hibah shook her head, "Ima with Abba."
That sentence had a lot of connotations within it and while Castiel was familiar with human pair bonding, the dynamics as well as the cultural idioms were way beyond him at times. He decided with, "I see. What do you want to do?"
"Betfust," Hibah replied immediately. "Make something for Ima and Abba and Amitz."
Castiel wasn't sure who she was referring to with that last name. He looked at the kitchen and then at the child like she had just asked him to turn the place into a giant bubble bath. "I don't know how," he admitted.
"Casteel make oatmeal. Easy," Hibah countered. She pulled the angel into the kitchen and put Boomer on a chair. She went to the pantry and opened it with her abilities. She pointed at the tin of oatmeal. "Easy."
Castiel looked around almost praying that Angela or even Bobby would come to rescue him from this. He had no idea what he was getting into and decided that there were things that were less worse than what the child was asking him to do. Seeing that there was no other recourse, he went to the pantry and picked up the tin and started to read.
"Oatmeal?"
Dean looked at what was on the stove and at Jo who was finishing and making sure that it wasn't burning. He had been hoping Angela would make bacon, eggs and pancakes; that is if she wasn't too tired from the night before. Instead he woke up to find Jo already awake and showing Hibah how to stir the oatmeal. Castiel had left after being reassured by Jo that she would watch Hibah.
Hibah turned and upon seeing Dean she said, "Easy, Amitz," and pointed at the concoction she was making.
Jo heard the name and asked, "Amitz?"
Dean shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really know why Hibah called him that and Angela just smiled and said to humor the girl. He got the feeling though that she knew exactly why and was going to use it to torment him. "Just a name she calls me aside from…"
"Uncle Dean," Hibah piped up. She beamed as she stirred the oatmeal. She looked at it and said, "Finished Jo." She put the spoon down and jumped down to get out of the way.
Dean watched as she went over to the two sleeping on the floor and poke them awake. He was surprised that she wasn't even scare of them. Then again she seemed to think that it was a game in terms of waking them up. He knew that firsthand when she woke him up by squeezing his nose shut. He had been scared of the possibility that he might have reacted like he would have if she was one of the fuglies that they took on and figured that Sam might have been too when she did it the first time.
Hibah managed to poke Salmoneus awake and was now working on Joxer. She had taken his helmet and was wearing it. To Dean it looked ridiculous since she was obviously too small for it and chuckled at the sight while fishing out his phone to take a picture. He watched as Hibah poked the sleeping man and said, "Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey."
Her face had been really close to Joxer's so when he woke up and saw her face, he gave a scream. When she screamed it was Dean's first reaction to jump in and pull her away. He had her over his shoulder and he had his Taurus pointed at Joxer who was still screaming and more so at the fact that he was faced with a Dean who looked ready to kill.
"What the hell is going on down here?"
Hibah looked up from her position to see Bobby. She said, "My fault. Tin man gets scared easy."
Bobby took in the scene. Jo was watching with Salmoneus who had learned quickly to not interfere when the actual violence was going to start. Joxer had his hands up and Dean was ready to kill as he had the little four year old over his shoulder and looked like he was going to beat a hasty retreat. He surmised that Dean was acting upon what Angela said was guard dog mode in the extreme which occurred once before and she warned was not a good thing if you didn't talk him down. "Dean, put that thing down."
Dean knew that it was just screaming but it was more like a reflex reaction. Call it a result of his and Sam refusing to let Angela go solo and hide in a hole with Hibah. He disarmed his gun and put it away. He warned, "Don't scare her again."
"Not his fault, Amitz," Hibah said as she swung her legs, kicking Dean to indicate that she wanted to be put down. "I scared him."
"Now that's settled will someone tell me why there is a racket before someone brings the whole damn house down?" Bobby was more than satisfied and chalked this up as to Dean overreacting, which was somewhat understandable. He decided to stop the train of thought since it was obvious that Dean was still high-strung about it and he needed time to cool down. He hadn't seen him act that way since Sam was a kid.
"Making betfust," Hibah explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Since Dean finally put her down, she trotted up to the grizzled hunter and started tugging on his hand. "Come on Bobby. Betfust is ready."
Bobby allowed himself to be dragged by the eager little girl and gave a warning glance when he walked right by Dean. It was rather awkward since there were two strangers from a different time and place and he had three idjit hunters and Ellen's girl along with a four year old. What wasn't there to get excited about?
Hibah was either happily ignoring the trouble, or she was just blind to it as she tugged Bobby into the kitchen where a large pot of oatmeal was waiting to be eaten. She pointed and said, "Oatmeal."
"Health food? Angie's definitely turning her into Sam," Dean muttered. "At least is there coffee?"
Jo was on that. She suspected that Hibah was a focal point that Sam and Dean obeyed and gave in to, which made Angela the disciplinarian. Of course she had noticed that Hibah followed a set of rules she had been taught and she obeyed the boys when the occasion called for it. At least she could see how far Dean would go to protect that little girl and she had no doubts that Angela would top that. "Black," she said as she held out a mug.
"What's coffee?"
Dean hadn't had his morning coffee yet and already he was getting stupid questions. He looked at Joxer who was noisier than the Impala when she got a tick in her engine. He asked, "You don't know what coffee is?"
"Probably because it doesn't grow in their part of the world," Jo said. She handed a small cup to Joxer. "Just a taste black. Won't kill you." She then turned to see Bobby dishing up a bowl and telling Hibah to sit down.
Dean just followed, hoping that by ignoring the two annoying strangers he could go about a normal day. He even managed to suck it up and accept a bowl of oatmeal. If Sam said a word he'd… Dean looked around and noticed something. "Where's Angie and Sam?"
"You mean Xena and Hercules?" Joxer asked the question but was elbowed for his troubles. He looked at Salmoneus and said, "Hey!"
"Ex-nay," Salmoneus replied as he motioned towards Dean. To the others he said, "The last I saw… Angela, she was out in the middle of the er…" He motioned towards the junkyard.
"Ima is with Abba," Hibah said as she took a bite. She pushed Boomer to a better spot on the table. "They are together. Ima is happy."
Dean looked at Hibah who was eating quietly after she spoke. A few thoughts crossed his mind. The first was that if Sam got his head out of his ass about his feelings then that was cool. The second was the fact that Hibah spoke as if she knew that was what was going on. He asked, "How do you know that?"
"Ima is always happy with Abba and Amitz."
"You sure about this?"
Angela looked at Sam as they walked through the streets of town with a slight frown, "We need to make our guests a little less conspicuous."
"That's not what I meant," Sam replied as he handed her the cup of coffee that he had bought. Having spent the night in the woodshed was an experience that he knew wasn't going to wash away with coffee.
The shed/house was where he and Angela had ended up after their nightly stroll and she explained a few things especially about that maelstrom thing that she had been cursing about the night before. They had tea of all things and talked on the battered couch she had put in there and that was where they fell asleep.
It had been an awkward fit but it was comfortable. It was the warm feeling one got and they didn't want to get up. He was up first though and would have snuck out except she woke up. She came up with the idea to go for a supply run for their visitor since she assumed that they would have to look for the oracle and their visitors needed to blend in. So they left in the Camaro since Dean would have thrown a bitch fit about the Impala and went to town.
Angela looked at Sam after accepting her coffee. He had gotten her a latte, similar to his with all the girly stuff as Dean would say. She never really had the fancy coffees even when they became popular. She was straight up black since it was how she learned to drink the stuff and the strength of it depended on how tired she was. Of course the boys didn't know that and on occasion when Sam went on a coffee run, he would bring one back for her. She admitted that the iced coffees were good with a hint of chocolate and caramel. Calories in a cup. The latte was her first and she tasted it. Knowing that Sam was waiting for a reply, she said, "I am sure."
"Hibah will be okay?"
Angela resisted the urge to smile. First Sam was a worrywart over her when she did grade- A stupid and got hurt and now he was worried over Hibah. It was a pleasant thing to see. Too many times had she seen hunters lose their compassion. At least Sam wasn't in danger of losing his and by extension Dean. "Of course," she replied. "What's wrong Sam?"
Sam felt the warmth of his latte in his hands and looked at it for a moment before replying, "It's just that you were so insistent about protecting Hibah and…"
"I trust you and Dean, right?" Angela replied giving a slight smile. She switched her coffee to her left and continued, "Sam, I know you and Dean will look after Hibah. Cas, I trust with my life. He's had my back even when I wasn't looking and you know Jo and Bobby."
Sam was agreeable to that. Still there were some apprehensions. "Are you this trusting with your… strays?"
Angela looked before crossing the street to a secondhand store that would have clothes for their guests. "We would watch each other's sixes but anything more than that… Consider that you are part of an exclusive club."
That had Sam relax a little about leaving Hibah and it wasn't like she wasn't with someone trustworthy like Dean and Bobby and Jo. The trust in the angel was a bit on the fence since angels, at least the ones he had met weren't exactly the BFF type and Castiel tended to have a stick up his ass. Considering her words, it was much said about her when she said that he and Dean were one of the few people that she trusted more than she would a partner. In his view it was her way of making an ultimate confession. He asked, "An exclusive club of how many years?"
"A few years," Angela replied thoughtfully. "It became full-fledged about a year ago. Most of the time it was if I got lucky and if someone decided that I needed mothering and wouldn't take no for an answer." She couldn't help but smile at that last bit since that was pretty much how Ellen had been when they first met.
Sam gave a slight smile, "Ellen is like that. I'm surprised you let her get away with it."
"I humor her," Angela corrected with a smile. "And if you dare tell her that, I will do something that may or may not include your precious laptop."
"No arguments there," Sam replied raising his hands slightly in mock surrender. He knew that she was capable and could do it if she set her mind to it. "And I'm not going to pull Dean out it if he gets in trouble."
Angela couldn't help but laugh as they came to the secondhand store. She paused before going in. She looked at Sam and said, "But seriously, had I had Hibah five years ago, I would think twice before leaving her with a fellow hunter. Maybe I would have considered the princess but it would have been like waiting for an eighty year old grandma to cross the street with a walker. And honestly I never thought I would be here now. So… Hibah will be fine. How much trouble could she get into?"
Sam took her speech silently. She had changed from the pain in the ass, her words, she was when they first met and he wouldn't deny that. He ended up replying to her question saying, "She's four years old."
"And?"
"That usually means trouble."
"And yet she is so well behaved," Angela countered as she opened the door. "Better than another four year I remember especially when he gave his brother a hard time over going to bed." She gave a slight smile before heading to the men's clothing.
Sam wisely stayed quiet while she perused for clothing. She had an eye for sizes and he was confident that she would find something. He just followed her occasionally serving as a packhorse, remembering how she did the same when they were in Sheridan. There was something restful about it and it was almost normal.
It continued until she found something for each of their guests and paid for it with cash. He didn't ask where she got the money since that was a can of worms and one he wasn't anxious to pay a visit to. He suggested stopping for breakfast after putting the bags into the Camaro. She agreed to it and headed towards the diner they ate in the night before.
They were about there when they noticed the crime scene tape and the cops walking about doing their job. It immediately had Angela tense up and Sam was afraid she might vamp out and freak out people. She didn't though and immediately started forward to take a look and he followed.
Angela managed to get close enough not to be noticed and looked around. She couldn't see actually inside except through the door and he could make out the mess on the floor. She could see the detectives going through the diner doing whatever it is that they do and the crime scene unit was around. She found an officer and asked, "What happened?"
"Robbery gone bad," he replied. "Some guy came in and killed the chef and nearly did in the waitress."
Angela looked up to see the ambulance. The EMTs were finishing loading up the patient. It was the waitress from the night before. While it was the possibility that it could have been a robbery but she knew this diner well. Bobby introduced her to it when she showed up on his doorstep and stayed for those three months.
The diner was one of many that dotted the roadside of America's highways. It wasn't of the high end quality in terms of appearance but the food was pretty decent. The nice thing was that the people that came in didn't ask questions… well they weren't nosy. It was typical diner talk and people did mind their own business and they made a fairly decent cup of coffee.
The other benefit was that it was frequented by hunters on the road. She found that aside from manning the phones, Bobby would meet with hunters especially if they needed something. She figured it was more along the lines that few people were graced with the privilege of being at his house and she wasn't talking about the junkers he towed for money. When she was with him she frequented the place when he had an early day and on occasion would meet with a hunter and pass information on.
She was brought out of memory lane when she spotted Sheriff Jodie Mills coming. She moved away since she didn't want to cross her at the moment. She knew that Bobby wasn't the most popular fellow with Sheriff Mills and that consisted of Bobby being considered a disruptive and disgraceful drunk. Angela wasn't even sure the sheriff knew about her and her relationship to Bobby so she would just rather not get into that mess. She turned and walked back to where Sam was looking for her.
It was reflexive to grab his hand as she said, "We need to go." She pulled him by the hand and led him down a back way to have a discussion.
Sam was wise enough not to say anything until they were a distance away. It was then he asked, "Something up?"
"Not sure but knowing this place, I don't think it's a simple robbery gone bad. Not for a place like that… and they had decent cup of coffee," Angela replied as they walked down a street that looked more like an alleyway.
Sam felt his lip twitch. He knew she had a thing for coffee and wouldn't pass up a good cup of it. He sobered though and replied, "You thinking…?"
"No idea but somehow I get the feeling that it has something to do with our two visitors. Jo did mention that there were several occurrences of lightning storms. Perhaps more than one…" She made a slight face at that.
"Meaning that probably Ares…"
"Yep." Angela pursed her lips at that thought. "That means a lot of fun," she added with the sarcasm heavy on her tongue.
Before Sam could say anything, they were surrounded. He recognized them from the night before. They were the same guys that Angela beat up and they weren't looking very happy at all. They surrounded them and the leader said, "Did you think that we would forget about last night so easily little bitch?"
A/N: Morning has come and it looks like things are getting a little rough. Looks like Sam and Angie have gotten into trouble again. Stay tuned for next time on 'I Get That A Lot'...
