Where the Lines Overlap

Chapter 21: Three Little Words

Inhaling deeply and trying to calm the nervous jitters in her stomach, Ashleigh pushed the door to her apartment open, feeling anticipation twist her chest into knots. "Hey, I'm back!" she called out, wondering if Loki was even awake yet. She shrugged her jacket off and stuck her shaky hands in the pockets of her jeans, simply to have something to do with them. Was she really going to do this? Maybe it was a bad idea.

Fight for what you want, she remembered Dean saying and with his stern expression in her mind, she squared her shoulders and straightened her spine. What did she have to lose? Well, aside from her pride and her dignity, that is.

"That you are," Loki yawned and stretched out, raking a hand through his messy hair. His eyes were like syrup in the afternoon light. "How were Dumb and Dumber? Did you manage to knock any sense into them?"

"I'm not sure," she laughed nervously, feeling her heightened anxiety in the blood pounding in her ears and in her pulse fluttering in her wrist. "I answered Dean's questions as best as I could, but –" she cut herself off abruptly, irritated at how ineloquent she'd just become and scrubbed at her face with a jerky hand. "I don't know, Loki… I think something bad is coming and we're powerless to stop it. It's the most irritating thing in the world, being able to see the future but not being able to change it."

Face filled with understanding and empathy, Loki stepped towards her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. She prayed he couldn't feel goosebumps erupting wherever he touched her. "You'll be okay, kiddo. You'll be fine," he reassured her, his hand warm against her skin and his smile was almost blinding.

Licking her lips and deciding that it was now or never, Ashleigh chanced a glance over at him. "But there was one thing that Dean said to me that stuck."

His eyebrows raised, expression growing concerned. "And what was that?" Loki asked warily.

"He said to go after the things I wanted," she said, deliberately letting the sentence hang in the silence.

Loki nodded, still confused, and asked, "Okay…?" At this point, he looked genuinely concerned for her, like he was worried that she was about to tell him she'd made another soul deal or screwed something else up. She almost wanted to laugh.

"I don't know if I should tell you this or if I should keep it to myself and maybe it'd go away, but if there's a chance that you feel the same way –" she broke off, voice thick with the amount of emotion she was trying to express in so few words. "You're my friend but you feel like so much more than that to me and I don't know how to say it properly but there it is. I think I'm in love with you, Loki."

He didn't say anything. He just stood there, mouth hanging open for a few seconds that could have stretched into days for all she cared.

"Ashleigh…" Loki finally managed in a voice that was barely above a whisper and she could barely see his face through her swimming vision. Her chest felt like something heavy was pressed against it and she was struggling to breathe. He tilted his head to the side in that habitual way he always did and her heart felt raw.

Her stomach clenched and she felt winded, like she'd been hit in the gut with a sack of coins. Here she was, baring her deepest, most well-hidden emotions for him to see and he just stood there. God, she felt like such an idiot. Her heart was in his hands; he could make her and she knew he could just as easily break her with just a few careless words.

Entire body shaking, she opened her mouth to tell him that she was just being stupid, that it didn't mean anything and she was just confused. And that was when her phone chose that opportunity to interrupt the conversation, her ringtone playing at an obnoxiously loud volume and shattering the silence.

Ashleigh turned away from him, inwardly composing herself and put the phone to her ear. "Hello?" she said in a trembling voice.

"Ashleigh? Oh, thank God it's you. It's Holly –" Holly broke off, her loud panting crackling through the speaker. Ashleigh could hear the slash of a knife, someone's piercing scream and a familiar voice swearing at the top of their lungs. Yep, that was definitely Jessie. "I need your help. Jessie and I were tracking some shifters and we stumbled upon a whole – oh my God – nest of them." she continued, a little calmer, slightly more contained, but still with that same undercurrent of panic.

Heart in her throat, Ashleigh put aside her crestfallen state and focused on helping her friend. "Okay, just stay calm. Tell me where you are and I'll be there as soon as I can," she said, forcing her voice to remain calm and stable, deliberately ignoring the god standing behind her.

"I'm at 14 Bellevue Place. It's maybe ten minutes from where you –" the line went dead, static crackling in Ashleigh's ear and she shoved it in her back pocket. Shoving right past Loki, she made a beeline for her room and yanked open the doors to her closet with such ferocity that she nearly pulled them right off the hinges.

Pulling out her big coat – the one with lots of pockets – she stashed her long silver knife away in her innermost jacket pocket, stiff and robotic, not allowing herself to dwell over her apparent rejection. The words were too painful to think about and she banished all thoughts of Loki from her mind, trying her hardest to stay focused. Holly needed her. She couldn't let them down.

Drawing in a deep breath, she stalked past a motionless Loki and made her way to the fire escape stairs – they'd be quicker than taking the regular stairs. Out of nowhere, his hand wrapped around her forearm and he seemed to have found his voice.

"W-where are you going?" he asked, still looking completely stunned.

Ashleigh shrugged his hand off of her, too hurt and mortified to say much other than, "None of your business. I'll be back, but it's not like it matters to you though. Don't wait up." Maybe it was immature and dumb of her to be acting like this, but she couldn't keep the spite out of her voice as she stalked away from him, dashing hot tears off her cheeks.

She couldn't let him see her cry; Ashleigh needed to protect what little dignity she had left. God, that had been such a dumb idea. She never should have listened to Dean. Of course he could preach all that crap about fighting for what you want – he looked like a Greek god, for crying out loud. Ashleigh, however, didn't. Racing down the fire escape, taking two stairs at a time, she ground her teeth and mentally began to map out the quickest path to Holly.

Ashleigh hit the ground running, still dashing tears off her cheeks and feeling like such an idiot. Of course he wouldn't say anything back – he was a god, she was just another human. Why did she think it was ever going to be a good idea to open herself up emotionally? It never ended well, but she'd thought he would be different. She'd had a feeling about him, hoped he'd be different.

He'd actually been worse.

Well, it wasn't his fault, another part of her mind argued. He's not obligated to say it back to you. Besides, wouldn't it be horrible if he'd said 'I love you too' and didn't actually mean it?

But what if this whole relationship was a joke and I just missed the punchline? The thought made her stop in her tracks, feeling like she'd just been punched in the stomach. What if she'd been right all along? She was such an idiot, such a clueless idiot.

Taking a moment to try and compose herself, a small voice reminded, you're probably overthinking the whole thing. You do that a lot – you spend too much time mulling things over, reading too deeply into innocent gestures and actions and then come to the wrong conclusions. Leave it. Focus on helping your friends and exorcising the demons.

Coming to a halt just outside the door to the large, mostly abandoned hall, she noted that it was oddly quiet. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled with nerves and she fumbled around in her pocket for her knife, holding it in front of her with a surprising amount of bravado. Before opening the door, she took a second to banish all thoughts of Loki from her mind. She needed to focus.

A loud crash, a howl and a colourful string of curses jolted her out of her thoughts and without hesitation, Ashleigh shoved the door open and into absolute chaos.

…

Gabriel blinked. And blinked again. Ashleigh's words still played over and over again in his head and he could still see her vulnerable expression every time he closed his eyes. I think I'm falling in love with you, she'd said with a trembling voice, conviction making her big green eyes shine. Something tightened in his chest and he scrubbed a hand across his face.

This wasn't good. She loved him and if she found out he'd been lying to her about his true identity, his past and his connection to Heaven then he'd probably lose her forever. She'd never trust him again, their relationship would never be the same. Gabriel didn't think he could handle losing someone else that mattered as much as she did, that made him feel the way that she did. He'd lost Lucifer to the Cage, he'd lost Michael and by deserting his home, he'd lost the rest of his family.

He sunk down into a chair, still staring blankly at the wall in front of him. One of Ashleigh's paintings stared right back at him. She was talented and brave and strong and he couldn't do this to her. He couldn't confess his own feelings and then break her heart by revealing that he wasn't who he said he was.

Besides, he was an archangel and she was a human. Ashleigh would become even more of a target than she already was. She'd be used against him, put in danger because of him and Gabriel had seen first-hand the destruction that had occurred after a human-angel relationship. Heaven had been beyond furious, had stripped the angel of their wings and damned the human for their so-called 'crime'.

He couldn't put her in danger; he couldn't break her heart by lying to her. He loved her and maybe this was the only way he could protect her.

Pulled out of his surprisingly deep and emotional train of thought by a sudden pop, Gabriel whirled around in his seat to come face to face with a positively furious Aphrodite.

"Okay," she snapped, voice trembling with irritation, "what in Tartarus was that?!"

His eyebrows furrowed and he moved to stand up from his chair. "Aph, I–"

The goddess flashed him a completely incredulous glower that would have made pretty much anyone crumble where they stood. "No. Don't even think about it. Sit down, right now." she ordered and with a mixture of fear and awe, Gabriel took a seat cautiously. "Do you know how downright painful it's been to watch the two of you dance around each other like teenagers trying to ask each other to prom? Huh?"

Gabriel opened his mouth to try and defend himself, but found that he literally couldn't speak. Great.

Aphrodite continued her angry tirade, "Gods almighty, you two are such idiots." she cocked her hip and folded her arms across her chest, regarding him like a mother scolding a toddler. "Well, you especially. As soon as Ashleigh finally decides to tell you how she feels about you, you don't say anything!" The goddess laughed hysterically but at the same time looked as if she was about to cry from complete and utter frustration.

Annoyed because she wasn't seeing it from his perspective, Gabriel cut in, "It's not like that."

Aphrodite raised a slow, challenging eyebrow at him. "Oh, really? Well then, Loki, riddle me this: she loves you, you clearly feel the same way – no, don't deny it. I'm the goddess of love, it's my job to know this kind of stuff," she cut over him as he once again opened his mouth to try and defend himself. "Why don't you just pull your head out of your butt and tell her?"

She took a minute to take a breath so she could continue her rant, but Gabriel seized his opportunity. "It's not that, Aph. I don't want to put Ashleigh in even more danger than she already is, I mean, for crying out loud, she just had her damn soul forcibly removed and thrown in the frying pan. Demons are on her ass left and right, she doesn't need to be dealing with anything else!"

Aphrodite still looked thoroughly unimpressed with him. She was quiet for a minute, her exhaustion showing through on her face. "She thinks you don't even like her all that much. She thinks you're just playing with her," the goddess said, disappointment curling through her tone. "She's thought that from the beginning. She never understood why you ever even bothered with her."

Gabriel opened his mouth to try and explain that it was because she could see his wings, but then realised that he couldn't exactly say that without giving everything away. Dimly, he wondered if she could still see them. He'd put extra cloaking spells on them just to make sure they were completely hidden, but he really had no idea what else she was capable of. Maybe the heavy-weight spells were the cause of his slow loss of power.

Unaware that he'd fallen into silence, he was pulled out of his thoughts by Aphrodite saying softly, "She probably thinks that this is another one of your tricks."

Completely shell-shocked, he just looked up at her, desperately searching for something, anything to say. "But – I never – I didn't mean for her –"

"I'm not the one you need to convince," Aphrodite reminded him. "You're losing her, Loki. What's more important to you: Ashleigh or your own reservations?" Her large eyes were imploring, trying to get him to understand. "Don't you remember when she was in Hell? How you thought you'd never see her again? Remember how horrible that was? You need to tell her, you need to let her know before something else happens and you lose her again." She warned

Gabriel stayed silent, not wanting to admit that Aphrodite was right.

"Anyways," she continued, "I've got to go – couples to match up, relationships to watch over, you know the drill," the goddess rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. "It's exhausting, really."

"Bye, Aph," Gabriel waved, a fond smile tugging at his mouth.

"See you, Loki. Don't forget what I said," she warned, mock-intimidating before vanishing in a cloud of expensive-smelling perfume.

…

Ashleigh scrambled to grab her knife and pushed herself up onto her feet, holding the weapon out in front of her defensively. The shifter lunged. She narrowly dodged his strike and elbowed him in the face. As he crouched down, groaning and holding his nose, Ashleigh sprang forwards and drove her knife into his chest. He collapsed to the ground and she felt that horribly familiar twinge of guilt in the back of her mind. The shifter looked so human and for a second, she could picture him as one of the customers at her diner, someone in her apartment building.

"Ashleigh – head in the game!" Jessie called out to her, tackling her own shifter, a blade in each hand.

She'd entered the building to be immediately jumped by a small, female shifter. She had been easy enough to kill; her movements were sloppy and uncoordinated. Her lack of ability made Ashleigh wonder how she must look to highly trained hunters like Holly and Jessie. Feeling embarrassment flush up her neck, she bit down on her lip, still wary of her surroundings. Then there had been another shifter that she hadn't seen, who she'd punched. They'd retreated into the shadows with a yelp and she was acutely aware of the fact that the creature was probably circling her right now.

Strong arms wrapped tightly around her from behind and slowly closed in on her neck. Struggling for breath, Ashleigh began kicking and lashing out desperately as black spots began to cloud her vision.

There was the sharp cling of a knife, a strangled yelp and Ashleigh was abruptly released. She took a deep, shuddering breath and jerked around to see Holly grabbing her knife. The shifter's head rolled to the side and Ashleigh grimaced. That was never going to get any less gross.

"You alright there?" Holly asked, a little breathless. "You've got to focus, you're slipping. Come on."

Wiping sweat off her brow, Ashleigh nodded silently and kept an eye out for the shifter she'd missed.

And that was when she heard it.

It was the most disorientating thing to hear your own voice, or something suspiciously like it call out to you in unfamiliar and totally wrong speech patterns. "Hey Ashleigh," the shifter smirked and it looked so wrong and cold and unfamiliar on her face.

Realisation struck Ashleigh like an electric shock. The shifter had grabbed her, it had touched her and then morphed into her. So that meant that it could read her thoughts. How lovely.

Shifter-Ashleigh stalked closer, a menacing smile on her face then paused. She cocked her head to the side, seemingly very interested in something. "Huh. That's funny," she laughed.

Ashleigh furrowed her eyebrows warily, "What's funny?"

The shifter snickered. "Just replaying your dramatic declaration of love in my head – it's astounding how one person can be so… pathetic." Although pissed off by the jab, Ashleigh forced herself to remain calm and keep her guard up. Her doppelganger continued to circle her tauntingly. "I mean – really. Come on. Have a little backbone. Maybe you're just too weak to cope with it all – your dreams, Hell, all of that stuff."

So angry that she was seeing red, Ashleigh lunged, without even thinking about it. In hindsight, it was a seriously dumb move. The shifter blocked the knife easily and punched her straight in the throat, hard. Wheezing, dizzy and barely able to breathe, Ashleigh tried to lower herself into a defensive position and grab her knife, but the shifter was one step ahead of her. Her doppelganger blocked her weak swing, grabbed her wrist and twisted it, still managing to look nonchalant and blasé about the whole thing. Ashleigh cried out, still dizzy and unable to breathe and that was when the shifter delivered the final blow – a knife to the stomach.

With a sharp yank, the shifter pulled the knife out of her stomach and dazed and confused, she stumbled backwards, mind working sluggishly to understand what happened. Ruby red began to stain her shirt, spreading faster and faster and just looking at it reminded her of Hell. Drawing in short, panicky breaths, she managed a small cry, "Jessie!"

Jessie whipped around, the pale blue ends of her hair at a sharp contrast to the darkness in the building and she immediately moved behind the shifter. Through a swimming vision, Ashleigh could make out Holly rushing towards her, mouth parted in a distressed yell.

Unable to hold herself up anymore, dizzy and disorientated, Ashleigh collapsed.

…

Something was wrong.

Gabriel could sense it, the faint niggling sensation of something being completely, horribly wrong. Drained and exhausted, he closed his eyes, trying to figure out where she was and what had happened. The feeling of urgency hit him again and he understood. Ashleigh was in trouble.

Something had happened to her. His instinctual reaction was to grab his jacket, squeeze his eyes shut and tried to visualise where she was. Heart hammering in his chest, Gabriel tried to calm down. It's okay, she's going to be fine, I just need to find out where she is, he thought desperately. His grace was seriously depleted seeing as he was cut off from Heaven's power and had been overusing it for the past couple months. He figured the time loop had probably used most of it up. But she needed him and he had to be there for her.

Finally locating her, in a ramshackle house about ten minutes outside of town, Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut and with all the power he could muster, vanished into thin air.

As soon as he landed, Gabriel stumbled and nearly fell over, completely exhausted and unable to do much else. Something was dribbling down his chin and the realisation that it was blood hit soon after. Great.

"Jessie," he heard someone yell. "Get the first aid kit from the car!" That had to be Holly.

And through the darkness, he saw a familiar head of blonde hair. Ashleigh was clutching at her stomach, blood seeping through her fingers. There were hand-shaped purple bruises flowering across her throat and her wrist. Other smaller cuts littered her skin.

He ran over to Holly, who jolted away from him. "Who the hell are you?" she managed in a hostile voice, still trying to support Ashleigh and keep pressure on her stomach. Then she sighed in realisation, "So you're Loki. Right."

Only one thing on his mind, he ignored her. "Lie her down," he snapped and when Holly didn't respond, he grabbed Ashleigh with gentle hands and helped her into a more comfortable position. Her blonde hair fanned out across the building's dirty floor, her skin pale and clammy, eyelids fluttering. "Hey, kiddo," he said, trying to sound as comforting and reassuring as possible.

Her green eyes opened slowly and she furrowed her brows. "Loki? What are you doing here?"

He managed a wan chuckle, craning his head to see Jessie dashing towards them with the first-aid supplies. "You were stabbed."

Dazed, Ashleigh snorted weakly and rolled her eyes. "Duh, I know that. I was there," she managed and her head dropped to the side.

Jessie dropped by her knees at Ashleigh's side, big dark eyes meeting his with unconcealed urgency. "Can you heal her?" she demanded, voice tight with worry.

Closing his eyes and begging internally for one last boost of power, Gabriel placed his hand on Ashleigh's bloody stomach. Nothing happened, except for him nearly passing out. He was pretty much useless at this point. Dammit. Panic flared up in him again. No no no, come on, Ashleigh, he thought frantically. I can't lose you again.

The hunter rolled her eyes and shoved him out of the way. "Move. I've got this." Seeing that he wasn't exactly sure what he should be doing, his hands fluttering around Ashleigh's pale and clammy form, she ordered, "Go prop her head up. Keep her awake, don't let her pass out. Talk to her – stitching this up is going to hurt like a bitch."

Gabriel did what he was told for once in his life, shifted around and cradled her head in both his hands. Her face was cold and damp with sweat, her hair plastered to her forehead and her face twisted in pain and discomfort. Heart twisting with worry, he hastened to find something to say, "How are you doing, Ashie?"

She lifted her head up a little, her face twisted in confusion and anxiety. "There's so much blood," she stammered, face paling.

Holly hastened to reassure her, "Don't worry. You're going to be okay. You've only lost maybe –" the redhead cut herself off to have a quick look at the stab, "two to three pints of blood. It's going to suck, but you'll live."

Nodding, Ashleigh grimaced and lay back down. There was a small crease between her brows and she was obviously thinking something over. "Why are you here?" she asked abruptly, her green eyes wide.

A little hurt, Gabriel frowned. "You're hurt. I felt that something was wrong and I came as soon as I could." She looked like she was going to say something else so he quickly cut over the top. "The last time I felt this, you had your soul removed and thrown into Hell. I'm not risking it," he said firmly, stroking her hair off her face. She drew in a sharp breath between her teeth and Gabriel noticed that Jessie was busy cleaning up the wound. "What happened? You've got a bruise on your throat… your wrist looks pretty sore."

Ashleigh wrinkled her nose and her fingers clenched into fists as Jessie kept dabbing at the cut. "There were more shifters than expected. They're all dead now, so it's okay."

Gabriel couldn't fight off a proud smile. "You're a real trooper, Ashleigh."

Her shoulders shook in a weak laugh and she smiled up at him, a pale flush climbing across her cheeks. Still chuckling, she looked down and the tops of her lashes brushed her cheeks. "I'd hope so."

Her face contorted in pain and a little cry escaped her mouth. They'd started stitching already, he noticed and without even thinking about it, he shifted one of his hands to interlace her fingers with his. "Are you doing okay?" he asked again, seriously hating the fact that she was in pain and that there wasn't much else he could do about it.

She grimaced and exhaled heavily. "Just peachy." Ashleigh sucked in another deep breath, wincing as the needle dove in and out, stitching her skin back together again.

Gabriel smirked down at her again fondly, "That's the spirit."

Her hand tightened in a vice grip around his, the skin around her knuckles was completely white and her forehead was wrinkled in pain. "Not much longer, right?" she asked, eyes squeezed shut.

He heard the crinkle of a bandage and peered over at the wound. Not were Jessie's stitches perfect, but she'd taken barely any time to do them. "How'd you do that?" he asked, in mild awe of her ability.

Jessie flashed an uncertain, wary look at her sister, who mouthed, it's okay. You can tell them. She then shrugged briefly, letting her dark eyes flicker across his face. "It's a child of Aphrodite thing. We –" she indicated both herself and Holly with her free hand "—both have some slightly enhanced abilities. Mostly things like sight, strength, speed – that kind of stuff. We're not full-blooded demigods. Our ancestors were. We're legacies. Aphrodite's power has been diluted by the human blood over the years. Holly and I are, what, fourth cousins or something? But she's my sister in pretty much every other way."

Gabriel nodded to himself. He'd have to ask Aphrodite about this sometime. "How much more do you have to do?" he asked, his thumb rubbing a reassuring circle across Ashleigh's temple.

Jessie took the bandages from Holly's outstretched hand. "Not much. I'm just applying dressing now and bandaging it up. Should only take another couple of minutes."

"I'm going to have one gross scar from this, aren't I?" Ashleigh grumbled to herself.

"Badass scar, you mean." Gabriel corrected with a playful smile and gently ruffled her long blonde hair.

After a couple more minutes, Jessie rocked back onto her heels and began packing away all the dressing. She beamed over at the two of them. "We're all done! Just be careful when you're sitting up," she cautioned, placing one hand on Ashleigh's back and the other just above the cut. "You'll pop the stitches if you do anything too fast."

Gabriel helped her up gently and supported her with an arm around her waist. She batted his arm away, face flushing in embarrassment. "I can walk," she mumbled, not looking at him and instead inspecting the floor.

"I know," he said, turned her around to face him and pulled her into a hug, careful not to hurt her. After her momentary surprise faded, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder, not saying anything. He rested his chin on top of her head, breathing in the scent of her lemony shampoo. "I'm so glad you're okay, kiddo." he mumbled into her hair, his voice laced with uncharacteristic vulnerability.

Ashleigh nodded. "Me too." She pulled back after a couple more seconds, looking up at him with a small grin playing on her lips. "You look like such a dweeb," she giggled fondly.

Confused, Gabriel looked down at her. "What?" he asked, frowning a little. At her smile, he felt warmth bubble up inside him, twisting his chest into knots.

Reaching up on her tiptoes, she smoothed his hair down with a hand. "Your hair was sticking up everywhere. It was kinda cute," she shrugged, still smiling at him widely. He could see little golden flecks in her eyes, that was how close she was.

Barely able to think straight because of how close to him she was, he managed, "You're… kinda cute…"

She shrugged. "I know," she laughed and that was when he realised what he said. God, when did he become this dumb?

"Shut up," he rolled his eyes playfully, unable to focus on anything but her and how glad he was that she was okay, she was safe and she was right there next to him.

"Make me." she countered, green eyes sparkling with mischief. She was so close, she was all he could see, the warmth of her body and the overwhelming feelings it was giving him were the only thing he could focus on and subconsciously, he felt himself dipping his head down. Breath caught in his throat, heart hammering in his chest, Gabriel seized the opportunity that was presented to him and kissed her, full on the mouth. Ashleigh responded hesitantly, mouth moving softly and carefully against his, arms reaching up to twine around his neck, one hand cupping his jaw gently.

They both pulled back, breathless and smiling at each other like total idiots. Resting his forehead against hers gently, arms still twined around her waist, he copied her words from earlier. "I think I'm falling in love with you too, Ashleigh Waldenberg."

Blushing all the way up to her hairline, Ashleigh rolled her eyes teasingly and fisted a hand in his jacket. "Shut up and kiss me again, you huge dork," she giggled.

When she put it like that, he was more than willing to oblige.

Author's Note: Well…. THEY'RE FINALLY TOGETHER! AAAHHHH! This was my all-time favourite chapter to write. Next chapter, there's the introduction of another canon character and TONS of Loki/Ashleigh fluff.

Review Responses:

FanaticomaticSuperTokienLover: Aw, thank you! It took me a while to get Dean right, I couldn't really write him without it sounding completely weird and off. I agree, she kinda like Jo, except she's quite introverted, shy and guarded. Oh trust me, Gabriel's real name will definitely be a major thing in the future ;)

Novalunni: Me too… *sighs wistfully*

Queen Martha Pond: Dude, I know right! He was all like to Sam in season 2 'Sammy no you can't die, I'll have to bury you then' and then season 4 happens. JFC DEAN. Gabriel's exhausted at the moment – he's cut off from Heaven as well, which pretty problematic too :/ Thank you!

YXE: YOUR COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK MAKE MY DAY. SHOUT OUT TO YXE FOR BEING THE BEST BETA EVER! Yup, sounds like Loki!

Telsa424: Dean and Ash bonding was something I'd been wanting to write for so long. Next up: Sam and Ashleigh bonding! Yay! It's going to be so heartbreaking you guys omg I can't wait to write it!

Angel of Randomosity: SHE FINALLY DID IT! GO ASHLEIGH! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU BBY.

TierneyMacDonald: Loki/Ashleigh is the simultaneously the cutest and hardest thing to write because there's all this adorable banter but then neither of them ever really want to admit their feelings. Ashleigh because she's insecure and shy, Gabriel because I kind of headcanon him having commitment issues and the whole 'archangel/human' thing. Thank you!

Fezbowties: Thank you! That's so flattering, I'm blushing like crazy! I won't ever forget to update, I'm just really slow at it :( But I'm aiming to have the story done by the end of the year, so hopefully I'll get faster!

Sarah Katie Smith: So much suspense! I hope you enjoyed it!

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