Mary's not happy about the conditions in that death trap. But she is happy to be back with her family. When they need her most.
The sear of the chamber's lights caused tears to well in the corners of her dark adjusted eyes, but Mary blinked away the majority of the pain prompted moisture and turned her attention to the one responsible for keeping her boy in such barbaric conditions. Face going hard when a pang from her tender knuckles reminded her just how unbelievably, hellishly inhospitable that 'Room' behind her really was.
Then, when her ire didn't cause the blurry warden to back away like his immediate safety depended on it, she took two firm steps forward, lifted an accusatory finger, and let the indifferent figure have it.
"You left him in there for a month? Without checking on him? I barely recognized him with all the weight he's lost! And no furniture? No basic human comforts? No decency? He doesn't even have a nightlight," Mary finished on a hiss. Supremely unhappy look firmly in place as she glowered up at her towering, scruffy, negligent, quite possibly alcoholic excuse for a-
Then her vision cleared that last bit and suddenly it wasn't her husband she was giving a piece of her mind. It was her grownup son she was... gawking at.
"Oh my god. I-I'm sorry, Sam, I don't know what- Wow." At the wounded, though worryingly 'I deserved that' look her youngest gave her, Mary regrouped and started over.
"For a second, I thought I was talking to your father," she explained, self-admonishing grimace firmly in place. "I know we haven't really talked about it all that much, but, even though he cared plenty, John wasn't always the most attentive parent, even way back, and-" Again, Mary cut herself off. After giving the bridge of her nose a firm squeeze though, she'd gathered her thoughts well enough to go on. "When Dean was a toddler, he needed a nightlight to sleep and your father was trying to 'wean him off of it'. Right before..."
"Huh," Sam said on a confused huff, "I never would've pegged Dean as the 'afraid of the dark' type."
"He was a baby, Sam. Both of you were when I- when I left. And now the two of you are taller than John ever was and almost as good at hunting as me." Mary let herself smile when her observations won her a chuckle.
"I know it's been a few years, but it's still hard to wrap my head around you two not being half my height and swaddled," Mary said as she took her son's hand and gave it a bolstering, apologetic squeeze.
"I get it," Sam said as he gave a squeeze back. "Sometimes... I forget I have a mom. Old habits die hard, I guess."
"Yes, indeed. I often have to remind myself that there is no garrison to return to. And that my heavenly father's chosen name is 'Chuck'."
At that, Mary turned to the angel she'd once again forgotten was there and just studied him for a moment. Surprised that she'd never once wondered whether he might have parents of his own.
After a beat, the hunter with the perpetually rumpled appearance gave a look of realization and averted his gaze.
"Ah, this was a private conversation. Apologies. I'll take my leave."
"No, Castiel," Mary said with a start when he moved to do just that. "You're part of this family too," the words that got the walking, talking miracle to stop in his tracks. "And from what I've heard; what I've seen? You've earned that spot a dozen times over."
Making no attempt at a rebuttal, Castiel averted his eyes once again and shifted his feet. Unwittingly allowing a rosy hue to sneak its way on his face. Which turned out one of the most endearing things Mary'd seen the guy do. Right up next to him arguing with a pigeon over whether the 'five second rule' should apply to soft serve ice cream.
"Yeah, Cas, Dean and me, we've thought of you as one of our own for- for a long damn time," Sam assured with a serious chuckle. "Not a whole lot we'd want to keep private from you."
"Except porn," the angel said, a tiny smile turning the edges of his mouth up. Improved mood intact when he looked to Mary to add, "We're not supposed to talk about it."
"Understandable," Mary said, punctuating the acknowledgment with a pair of brows raised in her son's direction.
"Don't look at me," Sam said, hands up in a defensive posture. "That's his and Dean's thing."
"Not talking about porn?" Mary asked, more confused than she'd been a second before.
"Yes," Castiel confirmed with a nod. "Dean says that it's natural- healthy even, for adults to watch, but that we don't talk about it. Ever."
"Yep, good ol' Dean, always talking about porn," Sam said in a very 'next subject' sort of way.
"Never talking about porn," Cas corrected with a 'you should know better by now' shake of his head.
To which, Sam looked every inch as at a loss as Mary felt. Before he shook himself out of it and turned his attention back to the crux of the matter.
"So, what do you think?" Sam asked her with a wave over at the terrifying cube in the middle of the chamber. "A-aside from everything you said earlier, of course. Which is all stuff we can improve on now that Dean's getting out and-"
"What I think," Mary started with a pensive look, cutting off the quickening ramble before Sam could hurt himself, "is that that boy needs all the help he can get. All of you do," she finished with a pointed raise of her brow.
"I take it this means you'll be staying with us? For the foreseeable future. For Dean," Castiel asked, tone and posture far closer to pleading than Mary'd thought she'd ever see from the stoic angel.
"How could I stay away?"
The smiles she got in return both made her heart feel lighter and deepened the shades of guilt pooling near her heart at the knowledge that, from the start, they'd had to go through all of this without her.
She wasn't about to make her family go through that again. Not if she could help it.
So I decided that since Mary's probably a ways older than either of her kids, her night vision isn't quite as keen as the rest of the team's. Then I had a little fun with that. :D
The 'we're not supposed to talk about it' bit is in reference to a scene, from S6 Ep10 Caged Heat, which is one of the show's jokes that's stuck with me best. So I had a laugh out of that and sincerely hope y'all did too! XD
Also, just so's y'all know, next chapter is going to center around Sam and Dean! Which I'm looking forward to because the two haven't had much screen time together in a good long while!