Thank you for the reviews, favs and alerts. The story is mostly AU, it doesn't follow the episodes.

Chapter 9

I come in peace

"So…" Mia started after an awkward silence. Sam and Dean had just left and she was now alone with the angel who was standing next to the sofa, calmly observing her. "I guess you don't want something to eat?"

"I don't eat," he replied.

"Right, I remember. And you don't sleep either. That must save you a lot of time."

"Yes."

They were both quiet again, but the angel didn't seem in any way uncomfortable, he simply kept looking at her.

"Right then… I'll just go and wash the dishes."

He followed her to the kitchen and sat at the table when she started washing the dishes.

"I hope it's nothing serious," she said after a moment of silence. Even though her back was turned, she still felt the need to start some kind of conversation. "I mean Sam's and Dean's friend."

"He was stabbed a while ago," Castiel replied. "He lost his ability to walk."

Mia turned to look at him.

"That's terrible. Did..did they find the person who attacked him?"

"He stabbed himself. He was possessed by a demon."

"Oh… Naturally," she muttered and turned back to the sink. "I guess you know a lot about demons."

"Yes."

She hesitated for a moment before turning to look at him again.

"Listen… Can I ask you something?"

He looked at her calmly.

"Go ahead."

She bit her bottom lip and hesitated again, unsure of how to form her question.

"If…if I would be some kind of demon, could you see that?"

"Yes," he replied. "You're not a demon."

"Yeah, Sam said that, but…" She paused and sighed. "Okay, I'm going to be honest with you because I think that you're not going to sugar coat things."

He looked confused.

"I don't know what that means."

"Oh, it means that you're not going to lie or say things "the nice way" to spare my feelings."

She walked over to the table and sat down opposite him.

"The truth is that I'm scared," she said quietly. "I've tried not to show it to Sam and Dean, they've been great and everything, but…" She paused and took a deep breath. "I would like to hear your honest opinion. What do you think the devil wants with me?"

The angel looked at her calmly with his bright blue eyes. There was something strangely soothing about his look.

"I don't know the answer to that. What I can tell you is that you're not a demon, but you're not completely a human either. There is something hidden inside of you."

Her eyes widened.

"What?" she gasped. "What something?"

"That I don't know. You are very well protected; I can't look inside of you."

Mia tried to understand what he was saying, but it didn't make much sense to her.

"Protected by whom?"

"By Lucifer, I assume."

"Right…Right… The devil wants to protect me. Why would he…"

She didn't finish her sentence; she didn't think that she wanted to hear the answer to that.

"You have his mark, which indicates that you are valuable property to him. None of the archangels would mark an object that wouldn't be valuable…"

"Woah, woah," she cut in. "Property?"

"Yes."

Mia had no idea what to think, she was shaking her head.

"No, no, I'm not anyone's property." She paused and glared at Castiel tensely. "I'm not an object."

"I didn't mean to offend you," he replied. "I simply told you what the mark means."

"Uh huh…" she murmured and stood up. "I'm just going to…"

She felt that she couldn't breathe; she needed to get some fresh air. The night air felt a little chilly when she opened the front door and stepped out into the porch. She was only wearing the t-shirt and the pajama pants, but the coldness didn't bother her. For a moment she simply took deep breaths and looked at the starry sky. It looked nice when there was no light pollution. She startled when something was suddenly wrapped around her shoulders. A blanket.

"Thank you," she muttered.

"You're welcome," Castiel replied.

They were both quiet for a long while before she spoke.

"So…what was it you wanted to ask me earlier?"

"I need more information about your family," he responded. "Especially about your father. I was able to track down your mother's bloodline and as far as I can tell, she was completely a human."

"I don't know anything about my father," she muttered. "Not even his name. My mom refused to tell me anything about him."

"Is there anyone else who might know something?"

Mia thought about it for a moment.

"I don't think so; my mom didn't really have friends. But maybe…"

"Yes?"

"My grandma. I've never actually met her; she was very religious so she kicked my mom out when she became pregnant. Mom was 17 back then, she never forgave her mom and I really can't blame her. Maybe grandma knew who my dad was, but I have no idea if she's even alive…"

"She is," Castiel cut in. "I know where she lives."

Mia really wasn't sure how to react to that. She had never considered her grandmother as her family and she was pretty sure that the feeling was mutual. According to Mia's mom, her grandmother had been far from a warm and loving woman, she hadn't even come to her own daughter's funeral. Mia hadn't wanted to have anything to do with someone like that.

"You need to talk to her in case she has any useful information," Castiel stated. "When Sam and Dean return. She doesn't live very far."

"I highly doubt that she wants to talk with me," Mia huffed. "And after how she treated my mom…"

"I understand, but this is important."

Mia sighed and gave up.

"Fine."

Why not, it wasn't like things could get much worse. Apparently she was the devil's property and she wasn't really a human. Her life was just freaking perfect.

Sam acted immediately; he had the knife in his hand before Dean had stopped the Impala. Unfortunately Crowley was gone before Sam managed to get to him.

"Where did that bastard go…" Dean started when someone knocked on the window. Crowley was smiling and waving at him.

"Son of a…"

"Easy," Crowley said as soon as Dean opened the door. "I come in…" He disappeared again when Sam tried to stab him. "…peace," he finished while appearing behind them. "Oh come on," he huffed when Sam tried again. "Just hear me out, I think you boys owe me that much."

"Oh really?" Dean snorted. "You think we owe you for setting us up?"

"I didn't set you up… Could you stop that?"

Crowley kept dodging Sam's attempts to stab him, Dean could see how angry his brother was.

"Sammy."

"No, I'm not going to listen to anything he has to say," Sam snapped. "This bastard tricked us!"

"No, I didn't. I gave you the Colt; it wasn't my fault that it didn't work. Do you honestly think that I would have purposely arranged myself on the top of Lucifer's 'people to torture for all the eternity' list?"

"Sam," Dean said and crossed his arms. "What do you want, Crowley?"

The demon smiled.

"I want to make a deal with you. The word on the street is that you boys have been very naughty. You stole something from the big guy himself and he's certainly not pleased."

"How sad," Dean huffed. "Is that all?"

"No, as I said, I want to make a deal. I want to buy what you stole. You know I can give you whatever you want, just like that. The best part is that there won't be any timeline; you can keep your souls. I'll even throw in a brand new pair of legs for the good old Bobby. Hell, I'm feeling generous, new legs for everyone! Extra long for the Moose, of course."

"I think we'll pass," Dean snorted. "But thanks for the offer."

Crowley frowned.

"Come on…"

"We're leaving now."

Crowley was gone before Sam managed to stab him.

"Damn it," Sam muttered.

"Yeah, he seemed pretty desperate."

Dean was too distracted to ponder about the whole thing more; all he cared about was getting to Bobby as quickly as possible. It didn't take long when they arrived at the hospital where Bobby was supposed to be, but it turned out that he wasn't there.

"Yeah?" Bobby's voice answered when Dean called one of his cells.

"Bobby, where are you?"

"At home. Where else, idjit, I can't walk remember?"

What…

"Sam and I are at the hospital in Sioux Falls; this nurse called me and said that you've had some complications or something."

"No, I've been at home the whole time."

"Right… It's looks like we've been screwed."