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Chapter title is from song by Led Zepplin.
77
Stairway to Heaven – Led Zepplin
They left Crowley to look after Hannah and the Scoobies. Because Crowley promised to, at least as long as the angel blood lasted, and strangely enough, Dean believed him. He couldn't say exactly why—and if he stopped to think about it, it would give him a headache, so he didn't think about it.
They hit up Vegas, because it was right there. Sam bowed resignedly to tradition, because it was tradition, even if tradition came a bit early this year. On the other hand, he was really starting to have second thoughts about introducing Cas to Vegas buffets. Castiel, Angel of the Lord, would have cared less. Cas, on the other hand, was on his third trip to the dessert bar.
"I thought Gabriel was the only one with the sweet tooth." Sam said, watching Cas pile an unlikely combination of burritos and chocolate and pies onto his plate. "I think that's making me a little sick."
Dean shrugged. Hannah said to "feed him", and well, food was food. He figured if Cas managed to hold down yesterday's pickled beets and cotton candy, then burritos with chocolate sauce wasn't going to kill him.
"Hmph." was Zee's only comment as Cas stopped in front a green jello monument. She picked up her coffee cup and stood. "Refill?"
Sam shook his head. Dean handed her his cup. If he was aware when their fingers brushed, he was aware of everything she did. He watched her go, and Sam watched him watching.
"You know, I was going to ask Jess to marry me." Sam volunteered out of nowhere.
Dean spun in his seat. The vinyl beneath his butt squeaked, because "Here?"
He'd already been through one of Sam's shotgun Vegas weddings, and one Vegas wedding was enough. He looked around skeptically at all the gilt and the gold then back at Sam, because Vegas didn't seem like it'd be Jess' Smurf-ette style at all.
Sam huffed. "No. Not here." Sam gazed off into his memories. "I had a place picked out. The Berthoud Pass in Colorado, up there on 40? You remember, up in the Rockies, on the Continental Divide."
He did remember, but he was surprised Sam did. Getting up there had been a white knuckled hour working to keep Baby on the road; ice and hairpin turns did not mix well. But Dad had wanted him to track down a Chenoo, so they went. He thought that Sam had slept the entire way up.
"We were going to hike the Continental Divide trail the summer after graduation. The trail starts in New Mexico, but Jess liked the Rockies section the best." Sam mused into his beer. "She got into med school, you know."
He did not know. Sam never talked about it. And he never asked.
"So we figured, one last hurrah, before life got real."
Dean winced, because life had gotten real, but just not the way Sam had been expecting. Med school and law school and then 2.5 kids, that was what Sam had been expecting. Dean closed his fingers around nothing, missing a coffee cup to hold on to. He latched onto his water glass instead. "You never said."
Sam was peeling the label on his dewy beer bottle. "No." Sam looked up, tentative. "But I thought, you know, maybe I should. Talk about it."
Huh. This was new. For all that Sam did talk, those four years were near blanks. He had always thought it was because Sam figured he wouldn't get it, or that he'd poke fun at it, which, okay, maybe he'd done once or three times. Dean leaned back in his seat, stretching to ease the knot that had formed between his shoulder and his neck. "So you got the ring and everything?"
That earned him a flicker, nearly a smile—which meant not only had Sam got the ring, but Sam still had the ring—somewhere, and wasn't that interesting. He tried to imagine his kid brother, on one knee on the snowy ground, asking the most important question of his life. It seemed like something he should be able to do, should have done before, and not something he had to think so hard about.
Sam darted a glance out over the floor, automatically tracking Cas and tracking Zee, a hunter's habit, before Sam looked back at him again. "Yeah, well. I'd have to have gotten us up there first. Would've been a trick, in the Geo."
"The what now?"
"My Geo."
He stared at Sam like Sam was an alien.
"You owned a Geo."
Sam shrugged. "Bought it used. It was all I could afford."
"You bought a Geo."
He felt the point needed reiterating. He wanted to put his hands over Baby's ears, even at this distance, because this—this was a betrayal of the ultimate kind.
"It wasn't like I needed to get anywhere in a hurry."
Well. No. Sam had Gone To College. Out of the life, Sam had no need to cross the country in a hurry, and a toy car with a top speed of maybe 80 was fine. Of course it was.
"I could've sent you money."
Another flicker, another barely there smile. "It was fine, Dean. I managed. Got a job at a coffee place and everything. I made enough to get by."
Because yeah, Sam had never wanted money. What Sam had wanted was freedom, and to find his own way. A way that got sideswiped and stepped all over when he had knocked on Sam's Palo Alto door—ok, he'd actually broken in—but the end result was the same.
"Sam."
Sam looked up. "It's fine, Dean." Sam said firmly, redirecting his attention firmly out over the floor again. Whether that 'fine' was for then or for now, he couldn't really tell, except Sam said, "Azazeal would have caught up with me eventually. If you hadn't been there—" Sam paused. "Just. You were there. You always are. So you know," Sam smiled. "I'm glad you are."
"I've been thinking." Cas announced when he came back to the table, setting down his plate.
Dean twitched, and stared. Not at the chocolate sauce covered burrito, he was over that, but at the mini quiche-Lucky Charms-pudding heap that was topped off, improbably, with cheese sauce.
He didn't even want to know.
"If you were going to hide the Book of Life," Cas continued, ignoring the fact they were all staring at his plate. "Why wouldn't you hide it in Heaven?"
"Because the other angels would find it." Sam answered automatically, eyes still stuck on Cas' pudding and cheese monstrosity—before Sam snapped back to business. "But then where would Metatron have put it?"
"Last place Ramiel would ever look, was what Inias said." Zee said, turning her mug between her hands. Her elbow bumped his, and she was warm by his side. He settled more deeply into his seat.
"Yeah, but where's that?" He groused, cranky, because Metatron was a smug, snobby bastard. "The only thing we know about Ramiel is he thinks he's the new Big Cheese, and the only real thing we know about Metatron is that bug up his butt about angels never picking up a book." He gestured at Cas, and Cas' fresh new download of everything.
Sam froze in the middle of picking up his beer. "Ramiel would never pick up a book."
Dean cocked his head and scoffed. "Why would he? I mean, the douche-nozzle obviously thinks he knows everything already."
Sam and Zee traded a glance.
"Not a library." Zee mused. "Someone would notice."
"Not a bookstore." Sam frowned. "Warehouse?"
Cas swallowed a mini-quiche. "The Book is rather large."
"Yeah." Dean sipped at his coffee. "Couldn't be any place people would look, because…" he tilted his cup at Cas. "I mean, Anna's grace grew an oak tree overnight when it fell to Earth. That kind of thing attracts attention."
"Not if the warehouse is abandoned." Sam said slowly. "Not if the warehouse is abandoned, and full of old textbooks."
He squinted at Sam, and Sam's giant noggin, because Sam knew some odd ass things. Sam read for fun.
"There's an abandoned textbook warehouse in Detroit. Hasn't been used in years. It's big enough you probably could grow a tree in it and no one would really pay attention. I mean, think about it, textbooks. Ramiel would never look there."
Dean raised both eyebrows, because again, odd ass things. Sam waved him off. "I ran across it years ago looking into a weird body that might've been a case, but it turned out it wasn't. The thought of all those books lying around and rotting just kinda stuck with me."
Yeah. He could see that. There were days when he seriously thought Sam might go all Gollum on him for "mishandling" some of the bunker's older books. In retrospect, they probably shouldn't have left Sam alone in so many libraries, but someone had to do the research.
"Dean." Sam started in, all serious-like, and he waved Sam off, because he knew what Sam was about to say.
"I've got this, Sam." He said firmly, because closing the Book was something they had to do. There was no other choice. Sam's face puckered, still worrying at it, when by his side Zee moved, her hand on his arm as she reached across him, ostensibly for a napkin. And Sam tracked that telltale movement with an eagle eye, before swallowing the rest of his words and settling back into his seat.
"So, Detroit?" He asked, knowing what memories Sam had. Sam never went back to Detroit unless he absolutely had to.
Sam sighed. "Yeah. Looks like we're going to Detroit."