AN: Thank you Elian, The Impala has my fez, FlynnLivesandIwillbuildtheGrid, goanago, and HappyGoddess2003 for leaving lovely reviews! And thank you new followers for following - this story just reached 100 followers! Ah! Thank you!
Sorry about the longer wait… Even now, I really should be doing putting my writing time and efforts into classwork (university finals season, hooray)…But I feel bad for not getting back to this sooner. Also - HUGE oversight on my part last chapter…I don't know how I forgot that they don't have the impala, Sam does…My bad. I'll have to go back in and fix that at some point…
I hope you enjoy!
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Mel, Bobby, and Dean drove back to the motel to meet up with Sam and switch seating arrangements before they drove back to Bobby's. Surprisingly for Mel, she ended up riding with Sam in the impala, while Dean rode with Bobby. She had been sure that he would want to drive his car, but a situation where he didn't have to be alone with either Mel or Sam seemed to be his preferred option.
And left Mel to explain to Sam what had happened.
"You all seriously went after that thing without me?" Sam said as he drove. "Seriously? What the hell were you thinking?"
"To be fair, we weren't going after it, we were summoning it. I mean, there's a difference," said Mel.
"Okay, sure, fine. Whatever. But how exactly did you picture this going down? Are you insane?"
"Well that's still up for debate,"
"Funny," said Sam. He gripped the steering wheel tightly and sighed. "I'm on your side you know."
Mel slouched into the seat and crossed her arms. "Yeah I know… uh…thanks."
"What exactly happened?" Sam asked.
"Exactly what was supposed to happen. We drew every time of trap and sigil just about everywhere, laid out an arsenal of weaponry, and none of it did a thing. After Bobby summoned him, Castiel just walked right in." Mel paused. She remembered that Sam hadn't met Cas, so she should probably give some description. "He's uh, about six feet tall, black hair, blue eyes, wears a suit and a loose tie and a trench coat. I mean, his vessel is six feet tall, I guess."
"His vessel?" asked Sam.
"He's an angel, like I was trying to tell everyone. So, yay for me. But angels need vessels, a lot like a demon needs a meat suit, except angels need permission. Someone can't be a vessel unless they say yes."
"But they're possessing someone?" Sam asked.
"Technically," said Mel, "Yeah."
"But I mean… angels… wow. There's actually angels?"
"Yeah Sam," said Mel, a little sad. "There's angels." She did not add the very important sad tidbit that they're going to ruin everything. He looked so excited. It would be like kicking a puppy.
"Anyway," she kept saying, "I wasn't actually in the room when Castiel and Dean talked, and Bobby was passed out on the floor…"
"Wait, Bobby was what?"
"Oh, yeah. Angel thing. Cas just touched him and he went right to sleep."
"Cas?"
"Short for Castiel. So. I left, they talked, then I got the chance to talk with an angel."
"What did he say?" said Sam. "What did you ask?"
"They don't know why I'm here either, and if I'm not helpful, it's game over for me." The more times Mel said it, the less it bothered her to say it out loud. It was somehow easier to distance herself from it. "So… how'd your night go? Saw what I meant when I was saving Pam with the blind thing didn't ya? You're welcome."
Sam cleared his throat, uncomfortable. "So you know where I was?"
"With Ruby, of course. And thinking of the time line, you don't have a whole lot of time left to tell Dean about that until he finds out on his own."
"I'll be more careful," said Sam.
"Dean's not stupid," said Mel. "Well," she paused, thinking of a few rather stupid decisions, and her own currently predicament, "most of the time. The point is, you have maybe days, not weeks. So get it together, will you?"
Sam looked like he was getting angry and wanted to defend himself, but he stopped short of doing just that. Instead he let Mel keep talking.
"You're doing a good thing, by helping people. It's the way that you're doing it… it's going to cause a lot of problems, Sam."
"Well what exactly do you suggest?" he said, not really expecting an answer. "What I'm doing saves more people than I could have done before! And I'm only getting stronger. Maybe, maybe this is what I'm supposed to be doing."
"It's…" Telling him it's not, to stop, would go in circles at this point, she just needed him to at least tell Dean. "It's at least something you need to tell your brother."
Mel moved the conversation away from more serious subject matter after a long fifteen minutes of silence and managed to enjoy the rest of the car ride with Sam, catching him up on her life since she'd been gone. She didn't get a lot of details from his side, but that was alright. His time hadn't been particularly pleasant, and she knew the main details anyways. But he stayed interested and asked questions, and it was a good way to pass the time.
In Sioux Falls, she set Bobby onto the task of finding a way to banish the witnesses, and what they would need to do it. Then she excused herself to take a shower and change, both having been put off for too long. The hot water stung on her shallow cuts from the glass in the hotel room. She enjoys the space alone, a place to not think. She still had clothes at Bobby's, left her old room, so she was able put on a pair of jeans and green flannel shirt, glad that they still fit.
Her short blonde hair was practically still dripping when she walked downstairs. She found Bobby still at work, but Sam and Dean arguing about angels. She went over to Bobby instead.
"Find anything?" she asked.
"Yeah, actually," said Bobby. "But I hope you're not actually saying this is happening now."
"Why's that?"
"Because it's a sign of the damned apocalypse!" He kept his voice low enough to avoid disturbing the boys in the kitchen. "I don't know what it is you're getting us into now, kid. But, if we need it, I've got a spell right here."
"Good! Oh thank god. I mean, well, you know what I mean. Make sure you've got all the supplies you need, and keep them together. As soon as we know we need it, I want to be ready." Mel didn't want to jump the gun. If she was too early, and the seal hadn't been broken, what good would the spell do?
"Not that I don't take your word or nothin," said Bobby, "But I'm gonna check the lore for angels. See what I actually can find."
"Yeah," said Mel, "That's probably a good idea. Hey Sam?"
Sam looked over. "Yeah?"
"What do you say you and I go make a food run, huh?"
"Uh… yeah. Sure."
"Dean," said Bobby, plopping a pile a of books on the table, "You're with me. Time to get started on some research."
Dean looked at the books with dread. Before Sam could walk out the door with Mel, Dean pointed at them. "You two are gonna get me some pie."
"You got it, Dean," said Mel.
