AUTHOR'S NOTES: So this chapter was just a look at a couple ideas and notions I decided to put all together into a cohesive chapter. And just because I know that someone down the line is going to make the assumption (Especially given the first part of this story) this story contains NO SLASH!
Okay….
As for this story and the end of season 6 of SPN and the start of season 7 that will be covered in the next chapter which will also be the wrap up for this story. (I am continuing the storyline in a following sequel—the title for which I have no idea on at this time. Ideas are welcome.)
Onward, loyal readers!
Partnerships
Samuel Campbell and Rufus Turner
Hunting had changed from when Samuel Campbell used to do it.
He hadn't really trusted other hunters all that much when he used to do the job so he mostly relied on his wife, Deanna, and his daughter, Mary, to back him up when necessary.
Faking his way into a crime scene was also easier years ago. It used to be that all you needed was a fake badge and an attitude. Most cops were more than willing to defer to a fed on the weird and freaky cases so it was easy to bluff your way into a closed off crime scene.
That mistake was why Samuel was now sitting in a holding cell in the local police station.
Two days ago, he had picked up hunter chatter about a possible witch in Valen, Utah who was killing off some locals under the guise of getting rid of so-called 'bad seeds'.
After badging his way past the rookie cop guarding the outside, Samuel had gone inside the house where the latest murder had taken place. That was when things started to go down hill.
The lead cop was one of those old 'I've seen it all' veterans who didn't take lightly to some FBI guy taking over the case. So when Samuel claimed to be from the local FBI office, the cop had called, checking on the story.
"Special Agent Connors?"
Samuel looked up in surprise when he heard his alias's name. "Yeah?"
The cop who'd arrested him unlocked the door, looking a bit apologetic. "Sorry about that. Just got a call back from the local FBI field office—they said your transfer paperwork got lost but they sent over Agent Williams to vouch for you."
Samuel looked even more confused as a black man with close-cropped hair with a mustache and goatee stepped into view. The man seemed to be trying to suppress a smile as Samuel slowly walked out of the jail cell. "Thanks for covering my butt," Samuel said, trying to sound less confused than he was.
"Don't mention it," Agent Williams replied, grinning as he led Samuel out of the police station and to the parking lot. "So… how's hunting solo workin' out for you, Campbell?"
The other hunter stopped dead, fixing the other man with a look. "I beg your pardon?"
"Rufus Turner," the black guy said, still grinning. "Friend of Bobby Singer's. I also know your two grandsons." Samuel was only slightly less confused as Rufus explained his history with Bobby and the Winchesters as they sat in a diner just outside of town. "Anyway, Bobby picked up word that you'd been arrested and sent me to help you out."
"He keeps an ear out for that kinda thing?" Samuel asked, sipping his coffee.
"You should see the network he's got," Rufus replied, clearly sounding impressed. "Health department, Federal Marshals, FBI, you name it. Of course when it comes to NCIS, we've got the benefit of having an actual NCIS Special Agent to cover."
The two just sat in silence for a few minutes as they finished their coffee and lunches. Samuel thought for a moment as something had started occurring to him. Something he didn't particularly like… "Look, clearly you're up-to-date on how hunting works these days," Samuel said, after a while. "And obviously I'm not."
"Oh, you think so?" Rufus said, sarcasm practically dripping from his tone. After a second or two, he grinned. "Are you asking to partner up, Campbell?"
"Yeah…" Samuel nodded after finishing his coffee and signaling the waitress for a refill. "Yeah, I am."
Rufus's expression went stony for a moment, but eventually, he broke into a grin. "Well, alrighty then. So what're you hunting out here, anyway?"
Once the waitress had refilled the two coffee cups and headed off, Samuel filled Rufus in on the case. "Hex work was obvious and the witch is using vengeance as a cover."
"It's always somethin'," Rufus muttered, finishing his lunch and pushing the plate away. "So where is she?"
"That's what I can't figure out," Samuel confessed as he finished his own plate. "Victims aren't connected and they don't seem to have anything in common."
Rufus nodded, pensively, and then tossed some bills down on the table to cover lunch before standing. "Then it looks like we've got some canvassing to do. Let's get to it, Campbell."
Samuel frowned at Rufus treating him like a rookie, but sighed and stood, following his new partner out of the diner and out to the car.
Tony DiNozzo and Celeste
"So what's an angel like you doing in a place like this?" Tony asked as he walked into the bar and sat at the counter.
Celeste smiled at him and put one hand on her hip before raising an eyebrow and asking, "And how long exactly have you been sitting on that line?" she asked with a sassy smile.
"Not long," Tony replied, watching the angel pour a beer for one of the waitresses before doing a sweet bit of bottle twirling before pouring two mixed drinks and three shots. The waitress put all the drinks on her tray and hurried off to her customers. "So I was wondering when I'd be seeing you tonight."
Immediately Celeste shifted from fun and flirty to withdrawn and professional. "I don't know if that's such a good idea," she said, quickly, wiping out a glass before replacing it on the shelf below the counter.
Tony didn't know what to say to that. In his mind, he and Celeste had been getting along great the past few weeks. They'd gone on dates and had laughed at bad movies and a few times had made it back to the bedroom for the most incredible sex.
But the last time they had made love, Celeste had been on top and in an intensely passionate moment she'd surprised both herself and Tony when her wings suddenly popped out.
Unlike most of her brother and sister angels, Celeste's wings were white, tinged ever so slightly with a whole rainbow of colors.
It had taken a moment for the couple to recover from the surprise and even longer for Celeste to get the wings to go away. Afterwards, she'd quickly gathered her clothes and had left the bedroom and Tony hadn't seen her again until now.
"If this is about what happened the other night…" Tony began but stopped when he caught Celeste's look. "I really like you, Celeste. And if you just want to take it slow for a while, I understand."
Celeste just stared at Tony for the longest time. She knew that he was a good man and he deserved to know why she couldn't be with him. "We're too different, Tony. You know that. And the other night was just another example of that. It's just not going to work out."
xxxxxxx
"You know, I never figured you for being a bloody idiot," Balthazar said when he popped in on Celeste later that night as she was closing up the bar. Grabbing a clean glass and one of the liquor bottles that had been sitting on top of the counter, he poured himself a glass of the private stock tequila, sipping it and nodding his approval at the flavor.
"And why am I an idiot?" Celeste asked, putting the tequila back behind the bar.
"Because there is a wonderful member of the human species who obviously cares deeply about you and you essentially told him to piss off," Balthazar replied, sipping his drink while studying the older angel.
Celeste finished wiping the bar down and let out a deep sigh before she replied, "It's more complicated than that."
The other angel raised an eyebrow and shrugged casually. "Well, isn't it usually? Humans make everything so difficult."
"My wings came out while we were having sex," Celeste explained, the words just coming out suddenly. "I was on top of Tony, we were having fun and suddenly there they were!" she went on, miming the event. "I just wanted to have a wonderful night with a man I… and instead I once again emphasize the fact that Tony DiNozzo is human and I'm not."
Balthazar silently finished off the rest of his drink and after a few moments he sat on one of the bar stools. "And?"
"And it kinda killed the romance," Celeste snapped.
"And?" Balthazar prompted again, as Celeste refilled his glass, this time with scotch.
"And I realized that it just wouldn't work between the two of us," Celeste finished, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice.
"Or—and this is just thinking outside the box, of course—you and Mr. DiNozzo could have a wonderful future together," the other angel countered. "I mean, do you really think that you're the first one to… come out during sex?"
Celeste looked surprised at that and after a moment, she said, "I just wish I knew what to do. I mean I do like Tony, but…"
"But what?" Balthazar asked, still not sure what was keeping Celeste from being with the NCIS agent. "You are allowed to be happy, you know."
xxxxxx
The rain was coming down steadily as Celeste walked towards Gibbs' home. It was late, but the angel wasn't bothered by the hour or the rain as she headed down the road. She just wanted to walk and try to get her head around things.
Of all the issues she had about being with Tony, the immortality thing had never been one of them. It was strange—one would have thought that the issue would be heavier, but it wasn't.
"Just tell me what to do, Dad," Celeste said as she stopped walking, tears sliding down her cheeks. "I love Tony. And damnit, why can't I just be happy for once? Why can't I have everything I want?" Winging over to Tony's apartment, she stood in front of the door for the longest time until she realized that she was soaking the carpet beneath her feet. Finally, she reached up and knocked on the door.
Abby Scuito and Gabriel
The small red envelope was sitting on her keyboard when Abby got into her lab the next morning. Her name was written on the front in an elegant script and there was the odd scent of gummy bears and chocolate when Abby opened the envelope and withdrew a card that said "Got Caff-Pow? No? Check beneath the sheet! G."
"Okay…" Abby said, looking around and spotting something covered in the far corner of her lab. Walking over, she pulled the sheet off and for a few minutes, simply stared in wonder at the sight before her.
It was her own Caff-Pow machine with a bow on the top, complete with a cabinet for storing cups and straws.
"You like it?" Said a voice behind Abby.
Turning, the forensic scientist saw the archangel-turned-trickster sitting on the chair near her computers and eating a candy bar. "I love it!" Abby exclaimed, happily, as she loaded up one of the cups and went to her computers and started booting them up.
"Hold that thought," Gabriel said, giving his girl a smirk before snapping his fingers and transporting the two of them onto a top-of-the-line private jet with larger windows than usual.
As Abby looked out at the scenery below, she felt her jaw drop as she recognized the Hawaiian coastline.
"How about you forget work for a couple hours first?" Gabriel said as the jet started to land.
xx
An hour later, Abby thought for certain that she had died and gone to Heaven.
It had started with a tour of Hawaii's cocoa processing plants.
Then the romantic lunch beachside…
Followed by the state's only heavy rock band performing just for her and Gabriel.
It wasn't as if Abby wasn't used to romantic gestures but never before had anyone gone to such extreme lengths to impress her.
Gabriel seemed to be an endless supply of gestures and gifts and every single time Abby thanked him, the archangel always had that damned 'Oh, it was nothing at all' smirk that made the forensic scientist swoon like she was a teenager again. Not that she'd swooned even as a teenager…
xxxxxx
As he entered the bar, whistling Michael Buble's 'Come Fly With Me' as he walked, Gabriel sat at the counter and waited until his sister angel turned to greet him. "So how is NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo doing anyway?"
"Funny," Celeste replied, fixing Gabriel the fruitiest, sweetest cocktail in her repertoire. "How's Miss Abby Scuito?"
"On a lunch break and getting a Thai massage in Thailand, actually," Gabriel replied, sipping his drink. "So… You and DiNozzo…"
Celeste was thoughtful for a moment and then shrugged. "We're working it out. You and Abby, though… Man, the two of you are on a roll, aren't you?"
Gabriel sipped his drink again and shrugged. "You know, after Fiona and Sam got back together and tied the knot, I wondered if I'd find someone I liked as much as good old Fi. And Abby…Whew!" His smile faded, though, as he added, "I have never met anyone with so much love in their heart before. She's passionate, she's caring… protective, brazen… She's the perfect woman."
"And the fact that she's got you matched on the sweet-tooth thing has nothing to do with it?" Celeste asked with a knowing smirk.
"Certainly doesn't hurt," Gabriel replied with a grin.
Tim McGee and Jo Harvelle
McGee's history with women—particularly since joining NCIS—had tended to suck.
The girls he dated tended to either be nuts or murderers or otherwise totally out of his league.
And then Joanna Beth Harvelle had come along, bringing what sometimes seemed like the whole supernatural world with her.
Murders were never clear these days as there was always the question of whether or not the killers were just normal people or something far more sinister.
But even with all that to consider, McGee had to admit that he was feeling happier than ever.
Jo Harvelle looked sweet and innocent on the outside but once you got to know her she was anything but. She was tough and tough-talking and could handle a gun or a knife just as well as Ziva—if not better.
Most people who saw Jo and McGee together rarely gave the couple a second glance but every now and then, someone really looked at the two and wondered how a straight-laced computer guy like McGee had ended up with a hottie like Jo.
xx
"God, I love your girlfriend, McGee," DiNozzo exclaimed as the other agent entered the squad room one morning.
McGee started to glare at Tony but stopped when he saw the container of cookies on Tony's desk. "Jo brought cookies?" McGee said, sounding a bit surprised.
"She is downstairs with Abby," Ziva explained, taking a cookie from the container before snatching the whole thing from Tony.
"Hey!" Tony said, annoyed that his goodies were being taken away.
"Tony, I am pregnant," Ziva reminded him as she went back to her own desk. "I need cookies far more than you."
McGee had tuned out the conversation, however, as he left the two agents bickering over baked goods. Going down to Abby's lab, he found the young hunter and the forensic scientist in the deeper part of the lab talking in low tones as they looked over… Oh, fuck, McGee said to himself as he recognized the notebook where he kept his writing notes. Even worse, he realized too late that he'd fully entered Abby's lab and before he could make a run for it, McGee heard the door close and lock.
"What's the hurry to leave, McGee?" Abby said, sharply as she narrowed her eyes at the NCIS field agent.
"Maybe there's something in here he doesn't want us to know about," Jo said, holding up the notebook and narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend. "Like, say… my whole fucking life's story!" Jo slammed the notebook down on the desk and started towards McGee, hurt and anger in her eyes. "How could you, Tim?"
McGee backed up quickly but Jo was still on the war path. "Look, I-I-I-I was just writing what I was thinking. It doesn't mean I'm actually going to put it in the book!" But as soon as the words left his mouth he immediately wished he'd kept his mouth shut because Jo's expression was practically homicidal as she launched herself at McGee, hitting him over and over until she was finally pulled off by Abby and Ziva who had just come into the lab through the back way.
"Jo, I'm sorry, really," McGee insisted, getting to his feet.
"Just go, McGee," Ziva snapped at her coworker.
McGee knew better than to try to talk his way out of the situation and quickly left the lab, hurrying back upstairs to the squad room where he found DiNozzo looking worried.
"Something wrong, McLover?" Tony asked, taking in McGee's worried expression. "Jo's not pregnant, is she?"
"No," McGee muttered as he sat down at his desk. After a long sigh, he said, "I started rewriting 'Rock Hollow' last year. You know—putting in some of that supernatural stuff. Last month… I wrote Jo into it."
DiNozzo wanted headslap McGee into the next century. How in the HELL could the MIT graduate be that stupid? "Let me guess," Tony said, with a mirthless laugh. "She found out that you put her life into your book."
"I didn't even think anything of it at the time," McGee argued. "I was just thinking about Jo and before I knew it I'd done several pages. Then I just kept going…"
"McGee, McGee, McGee…" DiNozzo said, shaking his head. "You are an idiot."
"I'm a dead idiot," McGee muttered as he went to work, trying not to think about the consequences of his book writing.
xxxxxxxx
That night, Ziva temporarily kicked Dean out of the house so that she could have a girls' night in with Jo, Abby, and Fiona.
"I should have known," Jo muttered as Abby poured her another drink. "My track record with guys sucks. I should have known better."
"It is not your fault," Ziva insisted. "Abby and I have also been subjects of McGee's writing. I know he did not mean anything personal by putting you into his book."
"You don't get it," Jo said, tossing back the rest of her drink. "I told McGee everything. About when I was a kid, about hunting… About why I dropped out of college."
"Where'd you go?" Fiona asked, filling Jo's empty glass with straight bourbon.
Jo blushed a bit and then replied, "The Pennsylvania Culinary School. I was one of the best students and my instructors thought I was on the way to being one of the best pastry chefs out there."
"So what happened?" Fiona wanted to know. She knew very little about Jo as a hunter and was curious to know what kind of life the kid had had before being pulled back into the supernatural world.
"My roommate found my knife collection," Jo explained. "And I'm not talking about kitchen knives. She found all my knives, charms, and stuff and she told the rest of the school about it. I left school a couple weeks later."
xxxxx
"So, for the record," Dean asked as he sat at a table in the bar with McGee, Tony, and Sam. "—after Jo kills you do you want just a standard burial or do you want your corpse salted and burned?"
"I was hoping you could help me figure out how to get Jo to forgive me," McGee replied, sipping his beer.
"And why would we do that?" Dean added, narrowing his eyes. "Ziva showed me what you wrote about what Jo said about her life and hunting. And honestly, I don't care if you write about monsters and demons. But Jo is like a sister to me. And the crap she's been through is something that shouldn't just be passed off as fictional. You get me?"
"I hear you," McGee said, nodding. He did understand what the older hunter was trying to say but he also knew that his writing wasn't just about telling a story any more. He wanted the public to know about the Winchesters and their friends and the angels. They were all out there every day trying to fight off dark forces and no one even knew what was really out there.
As for telling Jo Harvelle's story, that was McGee's way of telling the world about his incredible girlfriend who was practically the embodiment of girl power while still maintaining something of a feminine side.
"You wrote yourself into this mess," Sam threw in as he sipped his beer. "You want my advice? Write yourself out of it."
"How the Hell do I do that?" McGee asked, thoroughly confused.
"Figure it out," Dean replied, simply.
