Hello readers! Welcome to another chapter! I've had a lot going on lately, but I won't bore you with excused. I finally got some time to edit and post this! Thank you all so much for continuing to read, favorite, follow, and review. It honestly means so much to me. Keep an eye out at the end of this chapter for a note and a question!
Disclaimer: In no way do I have any rights to Supernatural or any of the characters you are familiar with. I only own Amriel and any OCs that pop up along the way.
Thirty Five: Boundaries
Three weeks after leaving the bunker the angels were still on the road, finding those that were reluctant to go back to Heaven and convincing them to return. Amriel didn't exactly agree with it, but she went along with Hannah and Cas anyways.
She and Castiel had fully reconciled when he took her on a date in Portland, where they had dinner and went to a movie she had wanted to go see. But mostly, they really just needed the alone time. Hannah was with them constantly, and Amriel found it suffocating at times.
They didn't have the money for separate motel rooms, so the three shared a room, and Hannah wasn't shy about anything whatsoever. She had undressed in front of the pair before, and Amriel had to tell her that was inappropriate to do with others around.
"Cas, I can't take much more of this," Amriel said quietly. Hannah was in the shower, something she did a lot, and the blonde took this as her opportunity to voice her complaints. "She said she was going to be gone for a few hours. She was gone for 45 minutes!"
She pulled at the hem of her dress, upset that she didn't get the chance to reveal the lacy undergarments she was wearing to Cas. Since they started traveling with Hannah, they had only been intimate once, having sex in the back of the car after their date in Portland, and she was finding it more and more difficult to restrain herself around him.
Glancing up at the large map that covered the wall, Amriel looked at all of the photographs with faces staring back at her. This mission was consuming all of their time and efforts, and she wasn't sure if it was worth it.
"I miss being alone with you," she said, taking his right hand in both of hers, "It's hard to get time to ourselves when Hannah has no sense of personal space."
"Once we find all of the angels that need to return to Heaven we'll have time," Cas told her, setting his free hand on top of hers in response. "I know how you're feeling, though."
"How do you know that Hannah won't have some other task for us to complete? It'll be one thing after the other unless we put an end to it ourselves," Amriel frowned. "I don't want to be at her beck and call."
"Once we find these angels, we'll talk with Hannah, I promise," he said reassuringly as he let go of her hands and grabbed their laptop. "Here. This is Christopher Sherman, a pastor. A local paper in Tennessee says he's working miracles in his parish."
Amriel looked at the webpage, inspecting the photo and skimming through the article.
"Maybe we should check it out," she said as the bathroom door opened and Hannah appeared. "What harm could it do?"
"What are you two discussing?" Hannah asked, and Amriel saw her gaze narrow in their direction.
"Just a potential lead. Are you ready to get back on the road?" Cas spoke, and Amriel wondered if he had sensed the tension between herself and the brunette.
"Yes, let's go. Castiel, will you retrieve the car while Amriel and I pay for the room?" Hannah asked, grabbing her bag and making her way to the door.
Amriel shot Cas a look and shrugged, confused as to why Hannah wanted her to come along. She picked up her own bag and did a quick scan of the room, making sure she had everything.
"Don't forget your socks, Cas," Amriel said, nodding towards the pair of socks on the ground near the foot of the bed. "Okay, let's go pay."
The pair walked down to the front desk and Hannah opened her wallet, pulling out a credit card and setting it down for the attendant. Amriel watched from her spot by the travel brochures as a man approached them and he grabbed Hannah's hand, a look of surprise written all over his face.
"Caroline," the sandy haired man said, relief in his voice.
"Uh…" Hannah mumbled, and Amriel raised an eyebrow. This man must've known her vessel.
"I— I put an alert on your credit card. I saw a charge here and I drove all night," he said, and Amriel watched a disappointed look cross Hannah's face.
Amriel made a move to leave, but Hannah pinned her with a look that stopped her from going anywhere.
"Caroline, you've been gone a year. You just disappeared," he said. "I don't know what's gotten into your head, but something's going on, and I'm not walking away until I know what."
This man seemed determined, Amriel noticed. They weren't going to be able to leave unless Hannah came up with something.
"Well… There is a reason, an answer for all of this," she stumbled over her words.
"Then tell me," he said, a desperation in his voice that tugged on Amriel's heartstrings.
"I can't. You wouldn't understand," Hannah answered quickly. "Look… Joe, this is Amy. Amy, this is my husband."
Amriel suppressed a groan, not thrilled to be brought into this. She turned so that she was no longer facing the brochures that advertised hikes and horseback riding, and now looked at Hannah and Joe.
"Oh… Hi," Amriel waved slightly, unsure of what she was supposed to do.
"Who is this?" Joe asked, looking between the two women.
"She, um," Hannah struggled to find something to say, and Amriel held her breath, hoping she'd come up with something.
"Are you saying you're together?" Joe filled in the blank, making the blonde's eyes widen.
"What? Yes," Hannah answered quickly, taking Amriel's hand in hers and pulling her into her side. "I left you, for her. She's the reason."
"No, I don't believe it," Joe's voice was raising by the second. "This girl? You're not- you're not that kind of person, you wouldn't do that. You couldn't do that."
Amriel wasn't sure if he meant that she wasn't the type to cheat or the type to be with someone that was the same gender, but she really didn't care to find out. She wanted to get out of this situation as fast as possible.
Before Amriel could say anything to placate the human, Hannah had turned and kissed her deeply. Amriel closed her eyes and went along with it, setting one of her hands on Hannah's shoulder, hoping that this would work to convince Joe.
Hannah pulled away and peeked at the man, who had a devastated look on his face.
"I'm sorry," the brunette said, picking up her credit card and pulling Amriel out of the lobby into the parking lot, where Cas was leaning up against the side of the car, gazing down at a map.
"Get in the car," Hannah told them both as she got into the back seat, and Amriel quickly obliged, wanting to leave the motel as soon as possible.
Amriel was silent for half an hour, still trying to process what had happened. When they stopped at a gas station, all three angels stood outside of the car as Cas handled filling up the car.
"What was that all about?" Amriel asked Hannah before turning to Cas to explain what had happened. "She told her vessel's husband that we were together. He didn't believe her, so she kissed me."
"Wait, what?" Cas blurted, looking between the two.
"He wouldn't listen," Hannah merely shrugged. "He wouldn't let me go, and I didn't want to hurt him. I could've erased his memory, but it didn't feel right. I thought if he truly believed Amriel and I were together, he'd give up. It worked, so why does it feel so bad?"
"You did the right thing," Cas finally said. and Amriel sent him a glare. "You hurt him, but you gave him something he could use to move forward and make sense of his loss. I had to take my vessel from his family— twice, actually. Jimmy Novak was a good man. He was married and had a daughter, Claire…"
"And?" Hannah asked, but Amriel already knew how the story went, so she headed over to the tub of water to get the squeegee to clean the windshield.
"And it was difficult, but necessary," he told her sadly. "The mission comes first, always."
The gas nozzle clicked off and Cas turned away to return the nozzle to the pump. When he looked up, Hannah was gone.
"Elle, did you see her leave?" he asked, confusion in his voice as he looked around.
"No.. I was cleaning the windshield," Amriel answered, throwing away the paper towel as she spoke. "Where could she have gone?"
"I don't know. Let's just get in the car and try and find her… She can't have gone far."
They got into the car and Cas took off down the road, and after fifteen minutes of driving they found her standing on a wood bridge over a stream.
"I'll go talk to her. You stay here, okay?" he told her as he turned the car off.
"Are you sure? Amriel asked, and Cas nodded, getting out of the car and telling her that he'd be back soon.
Castiel approached Hannah, standing beside her and gazing down at the stream.
"What's going on?" he asked her, staring at the running water beneath them as well.
"I'm sorry, Castiel. I'm not going with the two of you. I'm done," Hannah told him, and the two headed towards a path that went along the stream, as Hannah explained why she wasn't going to continue with them. "It's hard letting go of a story, a mission. But what of the humans whose lives we sacrifice in the name of that mission?"
"What of them?" Cas asked, glancing up at her as they walked.
"We always said that humans were our original mission. Maybe it's time to put them first," she said quietly.
"Where is all this coming from?" he continued his line of questions, trying to figure out where this was coming from.
"Being on Earth, working with you two, I've felt things. Human things— passions, hungers. To shower, and feel water on my skin.. To get closer to you. Jealousy, of the love you share with Amriel," Hannah said, avoiding eye contact with him as she spoke. "But all of that was nothing compared to what I felt when I saw him. Her husband— his anger and his grief.. And Caroline was inside of me, screaming out for him, for her life back. These feelings aren't for me. They belong to her, and I know it's time to step aside. Goodbye, Castiel."
Hannah leaned her head back and a familiar bluish white light came from her mouth, rising into the air. She collapsed into Castiel before standing up again, looking down at her hands, confused.
"Caroline, I'm—"
"Castiel," she interrupted him. "I know."
"Let's get you to the car. I think your husband is probably still at the motel. You can call him once we're on the way," Cas told her, leading the way back to Amriel and their car.
When they got back to the car, Amriel was leaning against the door, staring down at the water. She looked up and saw that the girl with Cas was definitely not Hannah, and she wondered what had happened.
"Caroline, right?" Amriel asked, pushing herself away from the car to open the door to the back seat.
"Yes," the brunette answered. "You're Amriel. I'm sorry for everything Hannah did to you… She was trying to sort through her jealousy and took it out on you."
Amriel stared at Caroline, unsure of how to answer the human.
"Thank you, Caroline," she finally said. "Let's get you back to Joe, okay?"
On the drive back to the motel, Caroline called her husband and told him to meet her in the parking lot. She asked Amriel to come with her to wait, and the blonde obliged, telling Cas to sit tight.
"I saw a lot of things when Hannah was in control of me," Caroline said thoughtfully as they walked through the lot, looking around for Joe's black sedan. "She respected you greatly, but she developed feelings for Castiel that were obviously unrequited. I'm sorry she constantly pushed boundaries and made the two of you uncomfortable."
"Caroline, you don't owe me any explanations for Hannah's actions. Just… Just live your life with your husband. Be happy, and forget about all of this," Amriel told her. "But if there's anything you ever need, don't hesitate to call either of us."
A black car rolled up to them and judging by the way Caroline's eyes lit up, Amriel knew it must've been Joe. The man got out of the car and Caroline hugged him tightly, saying that she was ready to go home.
Joe looked over Caroline's shoulder to Amriel, who sent him a small smile.
"She was just going through a rough time. Take her home, make her dinner, and show her just how much you love her," Amriel told him, "She truly missed you."
The blonde watched as Caroline got into the car, followed by Joe, and Hannah's former vessel sent her a wave as the car left the parking lot. Amriel watched until she couldn't see the car any more before walking back to Castiel, who was waiting patiently just where she had left him.
"I'm glad we could reunite her with her husband. It doesn't always go well when an angel inhabits a vessel for long periods of time," Amriel told him as she got into the car and buckled her seatbelt.
"Caroline is a strong person, she's going to be just fine," Cas said as he turned on the car. "So, where do you want to go next?"
Amriel turned to look at him, furrowing her brows as she thought, "I've read that Yellowstone is nice this time of year."
"Yellowstone it is," Castiel smiled, and they left the parking lot, heading for Wyoming.
A/N: Hi! I'm kind of relieved to be rid of Hannah for now. She was really cramping Cas and Amriel's style. But I do have a question! I have a ton written for later in season 10 and some of season 13 (though I started writing that before the season aired), and I'm wondering if people prefer following along with the show in terms of some dialogue and scenes, or if you like different scenes that don't involve stuff seen in the show. I don't want to make it seem like people are just re-reading the show. Ultimately, I'm going to do what I think works best, which is hopefully a mix of the two, but I'd like to hear back from readers! Leave a comment or shoot me a PM. Thanks!