Chapter 54: Bad Blood
A/N: Thank you to aliengirlguy, FreedomXJustice, Insert Name Here, ofmooseandmen, SPN Mum, Krisuvial, twolittlewords, k3vin20, Dumbledore'sWisdom, and LeaderOfFallenHumanity for their reviews!
Disclaimer time: in addition to not owning the canon material that this ridiculously long fic is based off of, I also don't own Doctor Who. You'll see why I have to disclaim that in a bit.
"It's only a few days," Sam told him. "You'll be fine."
"I don't suppose you remember what happened the last time I was alone with Castiel?" Crowley asked dryly as the hunter finished packing his duffel. "I seem to recall my hand scrambling around somewhere in his intestines. I'm sure Cas remembers. Vividly."
"Crowley," Sam sighed the demon's name, zipping up his bag. Sam turned and put both of his hands on Crowley's shoulders, looking him in the eye. "You are a grown man - demon, whatever - and you are perfectly capable of being alone in the bunker with Cas while we're gone. If everything goes okay, we'll be back by tomorrow night."
"You see, you're assuming that everything is going to be okay. What show have you been watching, exactly?"
For some reason, Sam smiled at him. "You're nervous."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"You are!" Sam insisted. "You're nervous because you actually care about what Cas thinks of you."
"That's- that's not-" Crowley, for once, couldn't think of a decent comeback.
Another thing his blasted humanity had done to him; it had returned his lingering sentiment for Castiel and cranked it up to ten. Although he was still less than pleased about the angel's betrayal, he hadn't been the best to the angel over the years, either. He'd wanted to crush Castiel underneath his teeth for a long time, but really, when it came down to it... he liked the bloody feather duster.
Sam trusted and cared for him, he knew that. It's not like the giant could hide much from him, anyway. Dean tolerated him for Sam's sake and was even beginning to have perhaps a vague amount of trust in him. Bobby put up with him and they exchanged witty banter. Kevin passionately hated him but was too good of a person to kill him in cold blood.
He knew where he stood with everyone on Team Free Will... except for Cas.
"Nothing's going to go wrong, Crowley. You don't even have to be around him if you don't want to. Cas doesn't need someone to hold his hand."
"I don't want to just sit around here on my thumbs, Moose."
Before Sam could respond, Dean called for his brother. "Sammy! Come on, we're waiting on you!"
To Crowley's shock, Sam gave him a brief hug, leaning down and wrapping his arms around the demon's shoulders. "I gotta go."
Crowley wasn't used to Moose hugs except in moments of dire need. Although he was caught off-guard, he reacted quickly, putting his arms around Sam's back. "Are we going to have a good cry before you go, too?"
"Shut up, Crowley." Sam released him with an amused snort, grabbing his duffel bag.
"I'll see you out." He walked with Sam to the foyer, where Bobby and Dean were waiting with their bags.
"Be safe, all of you," Cas said. "Call when you reach Pontiac."
"Got it," Dean replied. He flicked his eyes between Cas and Crowley. "Don't kill each other, alright?"
"I have no interest in killing him," Cas deadpanned.
"Always the romantic, aren't you, Kitten?" Crowley smirked at the ex-angel, who did not seem amused by his comment. "Ditto from me. Don't get dead."
"We'll try not to," Bobby said gruffly. "Come on, daylight's wastin'."
Bobby led the way up the stairs, and Dean and Sam followed behind him. The door shut behind the three hunters, leaving Cas and Crowley quite alone in the foyer. Crowley shuffled, glancing sideways at Cas, who was staring somewhat forlornly at the door that Dean had just disappeared through.
"You're a right bastard, you know that?" Crowley asked Sam in his mind.
"I've only been gone ten seconds, Crowley. What's wrong?" Sam responded.
"What am I supposed to do with Cas for two days, exactly?"
Cas turned away with a small sigh. He made a move to head toward the library.
"I don't know. Find some common ground, or something."
"You are astoundingly unhelpful."
"Castiel," Crowley called after the ex-angel. Cas looked back at him.
"Yes?" he asked curtly.
"Have you ever watched Doctor Who?"
Twelve hours later...
"You remind me of Captain Jack," Cas said through a mouthful of pizza. Although Crowley much preferred finer foods when he chose to eat, pizza was a bit of a guilty pleasure for him. He'd ordered two larges, both with pepperoni, sausage, and extra cheese for their dinner.
"Is that so?" Crowley asked, adjusting his feet on Cas's lap. The ex-angel had yet to complain about the position, so he didn't have any intention of moving in the near future.
At present, he and Cas were watching the series one finale of the Doctor Who reboot, and luckily, Cas seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Though things had been tense at first after the Winchesters and Bobby departed, the ice that had built up between the two of them had finally started to thaw over the course of their day together.
They'd almost been friends, once upon a time. Loathe as he was to admit it, he missed that.
"Mmm, yes," Cas said, swallowing the last of his crust. "Omnisexual. Irreverent. Out for himself, but slowly changing his nature."
"Don't forget charming and devastatingly handsome," Crowley tacked on, running a hand down Aziraphale's spine (the plump cat was napping on his stomach) as he took another piece of pizza from the box on the coffee table. "That John Barrowman. Phew."
"He is handsome," Cas commented. "He has a very strong chin."
Crowley snorted in amusement. "Well, if I'm Jack, then you're the Doctor."
Cas furrowed his brow. "I fail to see the resemblance."
"He just screwed over his entire species and ran off with a human. Sound familiar?" Crowley arched an eyebrow at him. "Plus, you've both got the intense blue-eyed stare going on. You should try v-necks and leather, you know."
"I prefer what I wear now. Does that make Dean Rose, as he was the one I 'ran off' with?" Cas asked, utilizing air quotes.
"Obviously. She's got the same fire as him, the stubbornness, and she's the only one who can save the Doctor's ass when he needs it. Not to mention the goo-goo eyes she's always making at him."
"Dean doesn't make... goo-goo eyes at me."
"Are you literally blind? Of course he does. Almost as often as you do it to him," Crowley said dismissively. Was the former angel really that oblivious?
"I don't-"
"I could always see right through you, Cas. I've been telling you that you're barmy for Squirrel for years, haven't I?"
When they'd worked together for those two years, Crowley had often teased Cas about his obvious feelings for Dean. Cas had eventually given up on arguing with him about it and just started throwing him dirty looks whenever he brought it up.
"There is nothing between Dean and I. He is my best friend, yes, but nothing more than that," Cas said, averting his eyes. His tell - it was an obvious one, too. Not to mention the fact that it sounded like Cas had said that line more than once.
"Yeah, that's why you snuggle up with him every night. Nothing dodgy going on there, right?"
Cas's cheeks turned a brilliant shade of pink in response. "I have difficulties sleeping on my own, there's nothing more to it than that."
"Difficulties," Crowley echoed. Dean had said that the ex-angel had nightmares when he caught the two of them in bed together. Would Cas tell him the same thing?
Cas's lips thinned. "Since I lost my Grace, I've been troubled by nightmares," Cas informed him reluctantly. "If I sleep by myself, they are... infinitely worse."
Well, that was something he could empathize with, at the very least.
"So, that's it, eh?" Crowley decided not to dwell on the topic of Cas's night terrors, as the subject seemed to make Cas incredibly uncomfortable. He didn't want to jeapoardize the fragile peace between the two of them. "There's nothing there at all, no butterflies, no... spark? Just friends?"
"Yes," Cas answered forcefully.
Lie, Crowley thought. "Lying to yourself is the worst sin of all, darling."
Cas glared at Crowley.
"You do realize that you can't actually pierce me with your stares?" Crowley asked, smirking at the ex-angel.
"Why don't we talk about you and Sam?" Cas inquired, his tone one of false innocence. "You've been very... attached, lately."
"Oh-ho, turning this around on me now, are you? You've done me proud," Crowley chuckled. "Please. We're practically sharing a brain at the moment. We're attached to each other whether we like it or not."
"So, you don't have romantic feelings for Sam?"
Crowley promptly ignored him and pointed at the screen. "Oh, look at that. The Doctor and Rose are snogging. Let's hope life imitates art, shall we?"
"You're evading the question, Crowley."
"I have absolutely no unclean thoughts directed towards Jolly Green whatsover. Happy?" No, everything was perfectly clean inside of his mind. Especially the shower fantasies. Those were extra-clean.
"You're lying," Castiel said, a knowing glint in his eye.
"Am I? And how would you know?"
"The corners of your lips twitch," Cas informed him in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Do not."
"And now you're being defensive. That's interesting." Cas smirked at him. Crowley felt a vein throbbing in his forehead. "What is it? Do you not like me making assumptions about your personal thoughts and feelings? Or am I simply getting too close to the truth for comfort?"
Cas really had been spending too much time around the lot of them. He was getting far too good at being a sarcastic ass.
Crowley gave Cas a withering look, then threw a piece of sausage at the ex-angel. It hit him square on the forehead, leaving a small mark of marinara sauce in its place. Cas, disgruntled, plucked it from where it had fallen on his shirt and chucked it at Crowley's face. He dodged it nimbly, but his movement sent Aziraphale to the floor with a plaintive meow.
"Very mature, Cas."
"You threw it first!" he protested. Crowley, unable to help himself, laughed at Cas's petulance.
"Shut up and watch the bloody show, Kitten."
"Lucky thing that they still live in the same town," Bobby commented. "I'd thought that they would've moved on by now."
"Hiding in plain sight, I guess," Sam said. "At least they switched houses." They'd tracked the Novaks from their bill of sale on their old house, and found that they had moved to a suburb on the opposite side of the city. A house which they were currently parked in front of.
"They are not going to like seeing us." Dean cut the Impala's engine. "Last time they saw us, they had to watch Jimmy bleed out. Amelia got possessed... Cas rode around in Claire. Really, it was just a bad couple of days."
"Time heals all wounds," Bobby said with a frown. "We ain't got a choice, so here's hoping they don't slam the door in our faces."
Bobby climbed out of the backseat, and Dean and Sam followed him. He led the way up to the doorway, and neither of the Winchesters stopped him from taking the lead. The Novaks wouldn't recognize Bobby, so maybe they wouldn't immediately associate them with their lost husband/father.
Once they reached the Novaks front porch, Bobby knocked on the door. They waited for a few minutes, but heard no sound from within the house. Bobby tried again, knocking harder. Dean rang the doorbell.
"Maybe they're not home," Sam suggested.
"Car's in the driveway," Dean and Bobby chorused.
The three of them froze as they heard the sound of several dead bolts unlocking on the other side of the door. After a few moments, the front door peaked open, and a young woman's head was visible through the crack. She had dirty blonde hair down to her mid-back, and familiar eyes the color of clear blue sky. Eyes which widened in horror when she saw Sam, Dean, and Bobby.
"Oh, hell no," she said immediately.
"I guess that means you remember us?" Dean asked, giving her a winning smile. She glared at him.
"I've spent every day for seven years trying to forget," she snapped out in response. "MOM!" she yelled over her shoulder. Mere seconds later, Amelia Novak materialized next to her daughter, looking harried and holding a spray bottle of what he would guess to be holy water.
"We're not demons, Mrs. Novak," Sam chimed from next to him.
"Funnily enough, I think that's what a demon would say," the woman responded. "What do you want?"
"Believe it or not, we need a favor," Dean said. "From you, Claire."
"Let me guess," Claire growled. "Castiel needs a new meat suit, and I'm the only one on the rack."
Geez. Claire had really gained some fire since the last time he'd seen her. "Cas's wings got clipped – it's a long story. Point is, we're not asking you to be an angel puppet. It's a little more complicated than that."
"Hell of a lot more complicated," Bobby tacked on. "If you'll let us past the doorway, we can explain what happened."
"Holy water first," Amelia commanded, gently pushing her daughter behind her.
"Fine. Hit me with it." Dean tapped his cheek. Amelia promptly sprayed him in the face. He spluttered slightly before drying up the moisture with his sleeve. She then repeated the process with Sam and Bobby. Once she saw that none of them had any reaction to the holy water, she sighed heavily.
"Let them in, Claire," she said quietly. Claire undid the remainder of the locks. She and her mother both stepped back, allowing them entry.
The three of them filed in. The house was neatly kept and smelled like vanilla scented candles. Amelia and Claire walked down the hallway, not looking to see if Dean, Sam, and Bobby were following behind them. They trailed them into a cozy kitchen, where Claire sat down at the table and crossed her arms, looking up expectantly at them. Amelia, meanwhile, went to the coffee maker and flicked it on.
"First things first," Claire said in a firm tone. "Where is my dad?"
Dean exchanged a glance with his little brother as the three of them sat down at the kitchen table. They hadn't really discussed how to break the news to Amelia and Claire that Jimmy was long gone. "Well..."
"He's dead, isn't he?" she cut him off. He could see tears in her eyes. "I knew it."
"Cas has been through a lot in the past couple years. He died a few times, actually. Somewhere around... uh, death number three or so... Jimmy's soul moved on. We figure he's up in Heaven, now," Dean explained, trying to be gentle.
"And that angel is still in his body?" Amelia asked, a tremble in her voice. Her eyes were downcast, and she gripped the edge of the counter, as if holding onto it for support. "Castiel..."
"Yes," Sam said. "Cas is alive, and he's in Jimmy's body. He's not an angel anymore, though. He's human."
"He's human?" Claire asked. "How is that even possible?"
"Heaven's been having problems for awhile," Dean told them. "One of the angels got uppity and did a spell that kicked all of the angels out and sent 'em down to Earth. One of the ingredients was Cas's Grace. He got it ripped out of him, and now he's full-on human. Eating, sleeping, mortal... human."
"And now, all of the angels are running around the planet, picking fights with the demons," Bobby added. "And they're wrecking the world in the process."
"Is that why everything's been falling apart around the world?" Claire asked. "The attack on Cleveland, Tampa getting leveled, all the riots in London... is that because of the fighting?"
"Hit the nail on the head, kid," Dean told her. "Everything's going downhill, and we've been trying to figure out a way to stop it."
"And this is the part where my daughter comes in," Amelia said, lips thinning. The coffee maker dinged, and she scrounged in the cupboards for several mugs. "God only knows what you want with her."
"Right now, the angels are locked out of Heaven," Sam said. "We need to get them back home and stop the evil angel that's riled up the demons. The only way to do that is to perform a set of trials that will reopen the gates. Cas has taken on the trials. We already finished the first one, but now we're on the second task."
"Which is?" Claire asked.
"Create an angel," Dean informed her as Amelia sat a mug of hot coffee down in front of him. "Like, take a human... and turn them into an angel. The reverse of what happened to Cas. The problem is, we don't really know for sure how to get that done."
"I don't like where this is going," Claire told them as she accepted a cup from her mother, who sat down next to her.
"Neither do we," Bobby replied.
"Claire... we think that the only way to 'make' an angel is to implant the Grace of an already living angel inside of a vessel. Turn an angel human, and then turn a human into an angel with their Grace," Sam explained in what Dean imagined was intended to be a calming tone.
Claire did not react calmly.
"You want to cut me open, put Grace inside of me, and turn me into an angel?" she exclaimed. "I hate those bastards! Why the hell would I want to be one?"
"I know this is the last thing on the planet that you even want to consider-" Sam began, raising his hands in a placating gesture. Sam was always better at handling hysterical folks than he was, so Dean allowed his brother to work his magic.
"Damn straight."
"-but you have to understand that the world is at war. Hundreds of angels are dying, and thousands of humans are getting caught in the crossfire. The only way we can stop this is if we perform the trials and put the angels back where they belong. We don't want to force anyone to do anything, and we don't want anyone walking into this who doesn't fully understand what they're signing up for. You know what's out there. You've seen it firsthand. You're the only person we know that can make an informed choice," Sam continued steadily.
"Informed choice, huh?" Claire nodded. She put her hands on the edge of the table and pushed herself up. "Well, you know what my choice is?" She flicked her eyes between the three of them. "Screw. You."
