Guardian Angel

It took a week exactly for me to break. Exactly. Down to the hour, down to the minute. A week exactly. I'd had contact with Sam and Dean, so I knew that they'd made it out alive and that Gabriel had spirited them all away rather than fake his death. Lucifer was now aware of his brother being alive, but that couldn't be helped.

There was no need for me to contact Gabriel to make sure everything had worked, but…

I just couldn't help myself.

I twisted my engagement ring off my finger and prayed.

Gabriel, I – I just wanted to make sure you were alright, I thought, my heart pounding a feverish tattoo against my chest. If you could just give me a sign, or-

"You ditched me again," he said lightly, and I whirled around, nearly tripping over myself, he'd startled me so badly.

For all his easy stance, he looked imposing, even with his golden wings tucked comfortably against him, some feathers so long they almost skimmed across the ground like trickling water ablaze with the light of dawn.

He noticed my eyes fixed over his shoulder, knew what I was looking at, and shot me a knowing look that was oddly gentle despite the mischief there.

"Hello, Gabriel," I greeted him, fidgeting anxiously under his gaze as I tore my eyes away from his wings to meet the soft honey ones of his vessel. "I'm glad to see you're okay."

The corners of his mouth turned up in an impish smile that made me feel warm.

"I should say the same to you, missy, considering the company you keep," he said meaningfully, and my blood ran cold. "Shacking up with a demon, really, sugar?"

I took a step back.

"It's not what you think," I told him nervously. "I'm not working with them or anything, I just-"

Something in me was burning to tell him the truth but my intuition was screaming that he wouldn't take it well. And I had promised Crowley that he didn't know anything, that it would be totally safe. Safe for him, that he wouldn't have an angel (an archangel, though I didn't mention that) on his tail. I'd promised. How – how had he found out?

"I'm safe there. I don't have to take sides or anything, and I'm never asked for information past what I am willing to offer, and all I offer is just enough to keep the demon from harm. He's against the apocalypse anyway because he knows what L-Lucifer will do to demons in the end. So, I'm really not causing any trouble. Really, I'm not."

I tripped over his brother's name because I was so used to hearing it from Crowley and Sam and Dean and Bobby, but I wasn't sure if it was – irreverent or inappropriate or something to actually say it instead of 'Satan' or 'the devil' or 'your brother' or something.

"I believe you, honey bunch," he said easily, throwing an arm around my shoulder. "Well, I believe you, that you aren't causing any trouble. Your demon buddy, though – he's knows his stuff."

He grinned, savagely, dangerously, and yet somehow I still felt safer than I did at home in the mansion under my husband's protection.

"Even though I knew where it was, courtesy of those chuckleheads, I couldn't get in. Got some serious anti-angel mojo going there, sugar." He was so close. "But that's not all, is it. How'd you drop off the radar like that?"

I shivered at his nearness, intending to keep mum on the subject but something in me compelled me to talk despite my better judgement.

"My rings. They're not rings just, they're carved up with sigils on the inside of the band," I explained, shyly holding up my engagement ring so that he could inspect the tiny, tiny laser-cut sigils etched into the band. They weren't even distinguishable to me but I was sure an angel would have better eyesight than me anyway.

He took in from me and my heart seized up because what if he-

He simply turned it over, eyes narrowing at the etchings I knew then that he could see quite clearly and then handed it back.

"What about the other one?" He asked me easily – had his voice always been so smooth, so warm?

"Protects me from demons. Like possession," I clarified, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. "I'm too wimpy to get a tattoo."

He let out a short huff of laughter.

"Don't make those two muttonheads your standard, sweetheart," he advised me in an almost teasing tone. "They kind of take going to ridiculous lengths to a whole new level."

The night sky was clear and moonless, just stars shining brightly overhead, shining everywhere. I wanted to walk under the stars with him forever and nearly tripped in surprise wondering where the hell the thought had come from.

"I should go," I said abruptly, pulling away him despite – despite the odd urge. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, that you – that you were whole and healthy and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second, honey bunch, go? You gonna ditch me again?" He asked playfully, but there was something serious behind his voice that made my breath catch in my throat.

"Sorry to cut things short," I apologised, thinking that – surely I had it wrong. He hadn't meant-

"You can't go back there, sugar," he said gently, making me take another step away from him. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but it's just not safe. You're meant for something real special. You don't know it yet, I know, but trust me, your place isn't over there."

I swallowed hard, torn between believing him on some base, instinctual level and listening to the rational part of my mind that said my place was with Crowley, who I trusted, that we had a deal.

"That's my home. I'm safe there," I told him, keeping an eye on his face as the first flicker of frustration touched upon it. "I'm sorry, Gabriel, and I'm grateful that you're trying to help me, but I'm really, really fine."

I slipped my engagement ring back on surreptitiously, wanting nothing more than to beg for Crowley to pick me up because this had been a mistake (no matter how right it felt).

"There are things you need to know, Mary Anne," he entreated, his fingers twitching at his sides as though he were itching to reach out. "Things I'm thinking are a little too heavy for you right now, but they're important. It's not safe for you there, sugar. It's only a matter of time before your demon figures out that something is different – and it won't be pretty when he finds out what."

A chill ran down my spine.

"Even so," I said, shifting anxiously from one foot to the other. "It's my home. And I would like it very much if you would let me go without any trouble."

For a moment, I thought he was going to just, take me away.

"Mary Anne, this is a mistake," he said at last. "Going back there is a mistake. Trust me, sweetheart."

I did. More than I should have knowing what he was and what he had done, despite my loyalty to the demon I had married.

"Please let me go," I begged, surprised that it had come to that. I was surprised that I was asking in the first place, but then… I wanted to do as he said not because I didn't believe that I was safe but because something in me said to go with him, to follow Gabriel.

He looked torn, perplexed, and almost hurt all at once. Like he couldn't understand why I wanted to go back so badly, as though he had hard evidence that I wanted to stay. I wondered if he could tell by looking at me that part of me wanted to follow him, to go with him anywhere he might lead. He took in my pleading expression with a sharp grimace.

"I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do, sweetheart," he began, his wings ruffling in reaction to something I couldn't quite read in his face. Something like agitation, I thought, but not exactly that. "I just – Alright, how about this?"

He made me promise him that I would call him again, that I would see him again. I couldn't have stopped the words from coming out of my mouth had I tried. Of course I'd promised him that. In that second, seeing him again was everything I wanted.

"And you listen to me, sister," he'd said before he disappeared in a flurry of wings. "If you ever need me, you call me. I'm serious. Promise me that too, Mary Anne. If you ever need me, you'll call me. You ever need my help, one little prayer and I'll come running. Flying. You know what I mean."

I'd laughed then, even though it felt like I was being torn away from him by something out of our control rather than by me, because I wanted to go home. I'd laughed even though, ridiculously, it felt like I was losing something precious.

I felt that keen sense of loss but didn't dare give in to the temptation of calling him until demons attacked the mansion and everything was chaos.

"Time to go, Annie," Crowley said sharply, looking quite ruffled, with-

"Are those pins?" I asked, perplexed. "Were you having your jacket fitted?"

He took my arm and started pulling me down the hall to one of our secret passages, cursing as we went. I never got an answer although the uneven length of the sleeves told me all I needed to know. He'd been having a home fitting – if he was running now, there was a good chance that we were under attack and… that his tailor had been eaten, I thought nauseously.

I hear shouts coming from right around the corner and, with a sinking heart, wondered if we would manage escaping. It was possible that Crowley, who had barely escaped with his life originally, might have been too long delayed in retrieving me to-

"Are we going to make it?" I asked quietly, trembling because I just didn't know.

He said nothing, looking quite put out with the whole situation and… beneath the veneer of a businessman having to manage a disastrous setback looked quite apprehensive.

"Crowley," I murmured, huddling closer to him until the noise subsided and he started pulling me along again. "If we can get outside… I could call him."

I'd told him about the angel that offered me a life debt. Because I'd saved Gabriel's life and he'd offered the same back. (What else could he have meant?) He knew exactly who I was talking about.

"And get roasted in my meat suit?" He asked sarcastically, but his voice was hushed too, highlighting the danger. "Don't think so, darling."

Whatever words I would have said in response were ripped away from me screaming when something grabbed my arm and yanked me back in the direction we had come. I cried out for help – it felt as though the demons dragging me away from Crowley were trying to tear it clean off.

Crowley swore and took hold of a nearby candelabra and bashed it into the head of the demon clawing at my arm, at my shoulder, at my throat-

He hauled me along at double speed, looking quite harassed as he checked behind us a few times with a grimace of well-justified paranoia. I tried my best to hurry along with him but I was hardly the most fit girl in the universe and I was quite out of breath. Out of breath and bleeding from numerous mostly superficial scratches. My arm, I knew, would be black and blue by the time I woke up in the morning. If I woke up, I thought grimly, picking up the pace.

The sound of heavy footsteps – a multitude of them – chased us faster, further.

"Call him," Crowley snapped, far past being put out. "Have your angel hold them off."

Hearing him call Gabriel my angel made blood rush to my face. Not for the presumption – but because I liked it.

"Okay," I said breathlessly, and wondered if he knew, if he could hear how my heart was thudding in anticipation now, not fear and exertion.

He fumbled at the keys as he tried to unlock the heavy wooden door that marked the end of the tunnel. Almost there, I thought desperately, fingering my ring anxiously as I waited to get clear of the property boundary.

He got it open and before I took a first, greedy gulp of fresh air I took off my engagement ring, dropping it onto the grass by accident in my haste, and prayed.

Gabriel, I thought desperately, there are demons, I don't know how many, and if you're not busy and don't mind smiting the fuck out of them so that we can get away that would-

The world lit up in brilliant white.

"He's here," I murmured, lost in the beauty of what I was seeing. White light so bright it was blinding, beautiful, searing, like life-giving flame that touched the soul.

Crowley took a hasty step back.

"Time to go," he said forcefully, a touch of panic giving the words sharper meaning as he raised his arm to shield his eyes.

Archangels were fierce.

The light around us grew brighter and brighter, like a brightly burning star manifesting right in front of us, blazing, breathtaking white.

Archangels were absolute.

I distantly felt Crowley's hand grab my arm and start tugging me away, distantly, because I was completely, utterly transfixed.

Archangels were heaven's most terrifying weapon.

A weapon that Gabriel had put in my hand to wield against danger like a sword when he'd told me to call him if I needed him. He'd promised me his aid, had offered me the wrath of one of the oldest beings in existence as my own defence.

I had been attacked and I had called him, like he'd asked me to.

And he came.

I was still watching, captivated until the very moment Crowley teleported us, and even then, my captivation lingered.

When my husband teleported us away, I'd felt as though something had been gouged out of me, almost losing my balance when we appeared somewhere – elsewhere – I wasn't sure where. All I could think of was how badly I'd wanted to see Gabriel, how badly I needed him there with me. I was afraid, I was hurt – even if not badly, even if the scratches and bruising were something the Winchesters would just shrug off – and I wanted Gabriel even more than I wanted to be in the safe embrace of my husband.

I wondered what the mansion that had been my home for five years looked like now. It was no doubt completely in ruins. I wondered if there would be anything left, if Gabriel tore it down, if he killed every one inside or just scared them off as he fought the demons that had stumbled into the courtyard and turned to flee when he first began to take shape.

We had been attacked by demons. And Gabriel – though he could have just arrived in front of me with a snap of his fingers, had come in his true form to smite the fuck out of everything threatening me. He came. I'd called and just like he had said that night, had promised – he came.

A demon had attacked me, and in the words of Castiel, the most fearsome wrath of heaven had rained down upon that demon. The very thought made me shiver in something I couldn't name.

"You're going to be staying with the old coot for the foreseeable future," Crowley decided, breaking me from the thought of Gabriel that threatened to swallow me whole, annoyance still written on his features. "I'm going to have a little chat with the Hardy Boys…"

I almost pitied Sam and Dean because my husband looked right spitting furious about having his home ransacked and his tailor eaten. He was also disgruntled at having to walk around in an unfinished suit jacket and unhemmed trousers. Displeased didn't cover it.

Bobby was surprised to see me. And by surprised I mean he had no idea I was going to randomly knock on his door in the middle of the night having been abandoned in his salvage yard with simply the expectation that he'd take me in – not my expectation, of course, but Crowley was simply that sure Bobby wouldn't turn me out.

He didn't.

I'd thought… I'd thought that Gabriel would come to me afterwards. To visit, I mean, not… to me to me. I just thought that I would see him. After. At least to thank him.

But he didn't come. Even though I was without my ring and on his radar again. Crowley came back before Gabriel came and made a deal with Bobby for his soul.

I stayed with Bobby despite desperately wanting to go with my husband, to go back to safety and comfort, to his attention and my books. Bobby had been very kind in taking me in and I wasn't ungrateful – of course I wasn't. I did my best to pay him back in any way I could, mostly by cooking and doing housework. I felt guilty for mooching off of him like I was, but I hardly had any other options. He wouldn't take the wad of cash Crowley had given me for my expenses, so being handy around the house was more or less all I could do.

I think he could tell that I was getting rather stir-crazy because he lent me the keys to a truck and asked me if I would pick up the groceries. The prospect of getting to leave the salvage yard was like an early Christmas, not that it was so bad there. I'd just missed the freedom I had at home.

"Get out of here, kid," he said, waving his had dismissively. "Pick me up a six pack and whatever you need for dinner."

There was plenty of food in the fridge and I knew he wasn't out of beer. The gesture wasn't lost on me even as my heart skipped a beat in excitement.

"Are you sure?" I asked, feeling a bit ridiculous. He wasn't my father – but I still felt like I needed permission, which was just silly. I was a grown woman, not even counting the experience from my other world life.

"Yes, I'm sure," he grumbled, rolling his eyes. "Idjit. It's just a run to town."

It meant so much more to me than that.

"Thank you, Bobby," I said earnestly, accepting the keys from him with a bounce to my step. "I was thinking of making pie tonight. Have a preference?"

He thought for a moment before deciding on blueberry, mainly because he had liked it the last time I made it with that sweet cream stuff for pouring over it.

"You got it!" I said enthusiastically, beaming at him.

So I went to town by myself and of course everything went to hell.

"Father," someone simpered – somewhere. Everything was so groggy… "We have the girl. Snatched her right from under Crowley's nose. She reeks of angel."

I fought to open my eyes, the barely discernible voices growing clearer with each passing moment. Wherever I was, it was goddamn freezing.

I touched my fingers to the back of my head and was alarmed to feel something sticky and wet.

"Bring her to me."

When I drew back my fingers, they were covered in dark, deep red.

"Get up," someone commanded, kicking my side. "We know you're awake, so get up."

Pulling myself together was easier said than done. I shook as I forced myself to my knees and the up on wobbly legs.

I panicked when I remembered that I'd lost my engagement ring, and with it the ability to summon Crowley.

I was shoved forward down a narrow hall and then-

And then I saw wings of brilliant, brilliant light, the fairest, the most beautiful wings in all creation, damaged as they were. A sight that took my breath away.

And if the sight of only his wings was breath-taking, then there were no words for the way his grace was clear and present in his face, transcending the deteriorating body of Nick with terrible beauty and radiant might.

"Well isn't this a surprise," he murmured, his eyes fixed on me in a pensive manner. "You did well to bring her to me."

I couldn't look away.

"Leave us."

My breath hitched in my throat as I took a step back.

Gabriel, Gabriel, Gabriel, I chanted to myself, needing to contact him before whatever was about to happen that would no doubt end in my death. I'm so sorry. I wanted to thank you so badly and I wasn't brave enough to call you to do it. I'm sorry. I'm with your brother now. I don't think-

"There's no need for fear… Mary Anne," he hummed thoughtfully, moving closer in slow, languid steps, like that of a predator at ease. "That is your name, correct? Mary Anne Matthews."

Fuck.

"Such language," he murmured, even as my back hit the wall and I had nowhere to run.

I wasn't sure what it was I had done to appear on his radar, but it couldn't end well.

I'm so sorry, Gabriel, I thought desperately. I wished I could have seen him one last time.

"He won't come," he said softly, so close to me now that he was able to lift his had to brush his fingers across my cheek curiously. "My little brother won't come. He won't even know you're here."

I wanted to turn my head to avoid looking at him but I couldn't. I couldn't look away.

"Nothing to say?" His gaze was thoughtful still, not offended, just… scrutinising.

"I don't even know why I'm here," I said after a moment, shivering at his touch. "And no amount of begging will save my life. What is there for me to say?"

His brow furrowed, expression growing sombre, pensive. I wondered what I had said that had prompted the change – I literally hadn't done anything to hinder whatever he was doing, short of letting Crowley know some things like 'the apocalypse is coming' and 'you need to build a safe house because the mansion will be attacked I don't know when but we'll be overrun.' Nothing that would have truly crossed him.

"Has my brother so poisoned you against me?" He asked after a moment, his silky tone fraught through with the first warning signs of… displeasure. "You have nothing to fear from me, Mary Anne. In fact… there is nowhere on earth where you could be safer than you are here with me."

I managed to turn my head then, a short laugh bubbling up in my throat.

"Forgive me if I find that hard to believe." I couldn't believe the words had come out of my mouth but it was too late to take them back. In for a penny, in for a pound, I thought. "If I have nothing to fear from you, then, please let me go."

If anything, his curiosity and disappointment seemed to intensify.

"You truly fear my presence," he murmured, the corners of his mouth turning downwards in displeasure. "You wish to leave."

"Gabriel has nothing to do with that," I blurted out, wishing to God that he would take three steps back and keep going, until he wasn't nearly pressed against me (until I wasn't torn between wanting to run and wanting to stay precisely where I was). "I told him not to fight you. He's never spoken of you otherwise. I don't understand what you want from me, but it's not Gabriel's fault."

He abruptly frowned, tilting my face to the side and-

His fingers gently skimmed over the place where the demon that had mugged me had hit me and, like mine, came away with dark, semi-coagulated blood.

The level of calm that settled over him was eerie – downright terrifying. He simply snapped his wrist and then – nothing hurt anymore. Not the ache in my side from being kicked nor the throbbing headache and tender, bruised and bloody scalp.

"Thank you," I uttered so quietly that even him standing so close would have barely been able to hear me. "I – thank you."

His head lowered so that his mouth was angled over mine and my heart was fit to burst out of my chest at the sudden realisation of how unthinkable the current situation was.

"Are you this opposed to my brother?" He questioned aloud, the words so calmly and curiously delivered that I wasn't actually sure I was supposed to answer it. "So… resistant?"

I fought the urge to squirm where I stood, desperate to get away from his body a scant few inches from mine, his face so near to mine I could feel how cool he was down to the very air he exhaled.

"Please," I begged, even though I said I wouldn't, even though I knew there was no point. "I won't cross you and I'm of no use to you. If you're not going to kill me, just let me go."

"Let you go?" He repeated, sounding almost amused, as though he found the idea quaint. "There is no place left on this earth for you save for here now that you have been found. You won't be going anywhere, but you can take comfort in the knowledge that I will be merciful to those that have cared for you until now. My wayward brother included, provided he does not stand against me."

He turned his head so that his lips skimmed over mine and for a moment my heart stopped.

"No… with you here I don't think he'll be a problem, do you?"

To be continued in Guardian Angel II.