A/N: Well, everyone, here we are. Welcome to The Taking of Frankie Pearce, the continuation of the Two and a Half Winchesters story. I am unbelievably excited to share this next installment with you guys! There's so much to share, and I hope you all enjoy it. Thank you to everyone who has stuck around and waited so patiently for this sequel to post.
For those who may not have been aware, there is a miniseries that takes place between TaaHW and TToFP called The Secret Life of Frankie. The series includes information that will become important in the duration of this story, so if you haven't read that yet, I would encourage you to check it out. If you're determined to dive in headfirst, I say hoorah.
It feels good to be back, friends. It really does. I have been waiting to post this sequel for years. Yes, years. Back when I first started writing TaaHW. I hope y'all are as excited as I am.
Love ~ ya girl, Frankie Winchester
"Hey! Steady, steady…"
"This-… is an abysmal idea."
"It wouldn't be if you kept your feet apart!"
Frankie hissed in a quick breath before lunging the string of tinsel towards the nail jutting from the wall. The sharp movement caused Cas to jerk forward to stable himself, taking her with him.
"Easy!" Even just barely catching his face over her shoulder, she could see the scowl on it. Frankie couldn't keep from smiling if she tried. "Take me to the other side," she chuckled.
Cas' hold on her legs tightened before he heaved her body to the opposite side of the wall where the other nail was waiting to be decorated. He lifted her the extra few inches she needed to reach it before gently setting her feet on the floor.
"There. Doesn't that just fill you with Christmas cheer?"
Cas shifted his gaze from her beaming cheeks to the tinsel stretched across the wall above the TV. The multicolored string lights sprinkled throughout the room shimmered against its metallic fibers. His head tilted, eyes narrowing.
"No."
Frankie nudged him with her elbow. "Least you're honest," she mumbled through a smirk.
She turned to hop merrily into the kitchen. She bobbed to the beat of the current song playing from the Frank Sinatra Christmas Hits CD on the stereo. Cas watched her go, amusement reaching his eyes. He had never seen her so chipper. She poured hot water into two mugs and prepared scoops of hot coco powder to stir into them, all the while swishing her hips from side-to-side in tune with Sinatra.
"I don't understand your infatuation with this holiday."
Frankie pointed her jolly grin towards her friend as she stirred. "What's not to like? It's warm and cheery, people sing all the time, everyone's happy and spending time with their loved ones, and there's hot chocolate!" She walked gently on the balls of her feet towards the coffee table, trying to avoid spilling the mug of scalding chocolate.
"Christmas was always my favorite time of the year. Mom got to stay home for a whole two days, and she was always smiling. No one-word responses, no dozing off when I was telling a story… just… us. Happy." She walked back to the kitchen to fetch the other mug, eyes pointing to the floor. "We'd watch the holiday flicks on the TV and drink hot chocolate… suck on candy canes. Of course, they were the small, broken ones left over from the bar, but it wasn't like I could demand for much from her."
She set the mug on the coffee table. Her eyes landed on the small, plastic display of the nativity scene set in the center. She smiled softly at the bowing figurines, her eyes focusing on the statuette of the Virgin Mary. She sighed lengthily through her nose, turning her head away.
"Course that could just be my nostalgia acting up. But the way I see it, if I can manage to find happiness in the midst of the Apocalypse, then bring on the cheer!" She strutted over to the two-foot-tall Christmas tree and adjusted the tiny bobbles barely clinging to the wire branches. "Do you not like Christmas?"
"I am indifferent."
"I'd think you of all beings would praise it."
"And why is that?"
Frankie arched a brow and gestured Cas up and down. "Angel? Christ-mas?"
Cas dipped his head and gave his own quirked brow. "Christmas has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ."
"Oh yeah?" Frankie leaned against the wall. "'Christ' is literally in the name. How do you explain that?"
Cas sighed as if he'd given this very speech a million times before. "It was originally a pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice and surviving the harsh climate that came with it. The date of the Roman festival Saturnalia was adopted by Pope Julius I in an effort to overpower the popularity from a pagan celebration to a catholic one. Your merry holiday is nothing but the celebration of cultural appropriation."
Frankie arched her other brow, fixing him with an amused gape. "Encyclopedia Cas over here," she teased.
"You requested the truth, and you have received it."
Frankie rolled her eyes and shook her head at her friend. "I suppose that's my Christmas gift this year. And after I got you something so special." Cas tilted his head, his brows descending over his eyes. Frankie sheepishly dropped her eyes and bit her lip. She reached for something behind the miniature tree. "I, uh… I did get you something. See, my mom and I always opened one gift on Christmas Eve, and I thought… I dunno." She revealed a small box enveloped in green and silver wrapping paper. She walked across the room and sat down on the couch. "If you don't like it, don't sweat it. I mean… just… here." She held out the gift to Cas, not meeting his eye.
The song changed on the radio, switching to Frankie's favorite Christmas song. Sinatra's voice filled the room as Cas took the gift from her hand. "Have yourself a merry little Christmas…"
Cas sat on the cushion next to Frankie. She hiked up her legs and restrained from biting her nails as the angel observed the box, turning it in his hands. His eyes traced every curl of the bow, every sparkle in the glitter ribbon. He lingered his eyes on every crease of the packaging at the corners.
"Hey, I'm dying here. Go on and open it!" Frankie hurried. Cas glanced her way, curious of the anxiousness in her voice, but relaxed at the hopeful gleam in her eyes.
He tore the wrapping, revealing a blank, black box underneath. Frankie swallowed, wondering if she should take the box back and avoid any possibility of embarrassment. Cas tilted the lid back and stared down at its contents, his brows furrowing. Frankie's heart jumped in her chest.
Inside the box was a circular, silver pendant dangling from a silver chain, elevated by a tiny display within the box. On the pendant were words etched into the metal spelling out, "You're my best ZORGE".
Cas' cheeks folded into a rare grin. Frankie's eyes widened. She sat a little straighter. The angel lightly nodded his head. "'Zorge'," he read. The Enochian word trilled so satisfyingly off his tongue, like the word belonged there. He turned his head, looking at her with warm eyes. "Friend."
"You didn't think I'd forgotten our little game, did you?" she jested, playfully tapping him with the back of her hand.
"If I remember correctly, it was several games. And you didn't enjoy them."
A flash of indignation morphed Frankie's expression. "I never said that!"
"It was in your voice. Merely a failed attempt that was rectified at the discovery of your love for 'I Love Lucy'. Ease yourself; I don't harbor any dismay." Frankie curled her lips in an unsure smile. Cas gestured with the open box in his hand. "Your gift is proof enough that it at least made a lasting effect." His eyes returned to the pendant, rereading the inscription. His grin swelled. "I love it."
Frankie's eyes glistened. "You do?"
"Yes. I do." Cas took the tiny display out of the box and made quick, precise work of removing the necklace from its packaging. Excited panic flared in Frankie's chest at the realization that he wanted to wear it, right then and there. The long chain was freed from its bonds, and he lowered the necklace over his head and released it, the pendant lightly bouncing against his tie.
Frankie's grin mirrored his own. "It looks good on you," she gaudily praised. Cas quietly snorted, his smile never failing.
Frankie noticed that the pendant wasn't centered. She leaned forward, taking the circular ornament into her fingers. Cas lowered his head to watch her pull it until it dangled at the correct angle. When it was just right, she lightly patted it against his chest. "There."
She looked up. Cas' face was a few inches from her own, made even closer when he raised his head, too, to meet her eyes. The blinking Christmas lights adorned around the room sparkled beautifully against the light blue in his irises. Her cheeks warmed and dusted a light pink. Her eyes flicked down to his lips.
She sharply inhaled, flinching like she was burned. She slowly leaned back and brushed her bangs behind her ear. She cleared her throat and gave a brief glance back at the necklace. "I'm glad you like it."
Cas tilted his head in the corner of her eye, and Frankie had to push down the urge to curse like a sailor.
"I got you a gift, too."
Her face blanked, and that pink in her cheeks flared just a bit more. She turned back to Cas, her brows rising high on her face. "You got me a gift? But-But what about all that mess about not liking Christmas?"
Cas turned his head away. Frankie wanted to believe he was nervous, too, but it was probably more innocent than that. "Well," he spoke, his gravelly voice taking up a lighter tone, "Saturnalia or Christmas, it's still your favorite holiday. And I wanted to reward you for making such excellent progress since being raised from Hell. And… for being a trusted friend."
'Oh, god dammit, this angel's gunna make me cry.'
Frankie's face burned, but not with embarrassment. Her smile couldn't get any larger. The light in her eyes could not be extinguished. "You big sap," she teased.
He flashed a quick smile before lifting a lapel of his coat. "I'm afraid it doesn't have the ornamental presentation that you adorned yours with."
"Oh, that's okay! I don't mind at all!"
Cas reached into an inner pocket of his coat and pulled out something small, square, and thin. Without a word, he held the flappy rectangle out to her. Frankie smiled and took it in her fingers.
The breath left her lungs. Her eyes slowly widened the longer she looked at it. Her face paled.
In her hand was a photograph, but not just any photograph. What she was seeing with her own eyes was the very photo they took the night before they traveled to Carthage. The photo of her, Cas, Sam and Dean, Ellen and Jo, and Bobby. A small lump clogged her throat as she lingered her eyes on the blonde girl standing next to Dean.
"H-How?" she whispered through a tight throat. "How did you get this?"
"After the failure of Carthage, Bobby was determined to burn it. But… he realized that it was the only photo they had of you. So, he kept it in his desk drawer."
Frankie weakly smirked. "You stole it from him?"
Cas averted his eyes guiltily. "I believed that you needed it more than him."
Frankie sighed passed a tight smile and returned her gaze to the black and white photograph.
The faces she looked at tightened her chest until her eyes pooled over. The images of her brothers were more familiar – seeing as she had a near reunion with them only a couple weeks ago – but even then, seeing their faces so clearly, so like how she remembered them, lured her tears into falling.
The sight of Bobby was surreal. She had never forgotten him, but though she recalled his attitude and occasional kindness, the memory of his face had met the bad end of her years in Hell, nearly erased from her mind. But right here in her hand was him, the way he used to appear to her. The same for Ellen.
Though Jo had been dangled in front of her by Gamigin for a decade, it had always been the Jo of that day in Carthage. But this Jo was the Jo she longed to remember. The Jo that sat her down to encourage her at her lowest, who tried to fix a bond between three people that was sure to never be mended. This was the Jo that saved her life.
Then she realized just what kind of gift Cas had given her. He had given Frankie her family.
In her hand was everyone left that she loved. Her brothers, her best friend, her father figure, the woman that lifted her spirits at her lowest, and the girl that saved her life.
Her lip quivered, and she dropped her head as a breath stuttered in and out. Cas shuffled anxiously next to her. "Uh," he nervously uttered. "I-"
Frankie whipped her head to him, tears streaming down her pink cheeks. "Thank you," she whispered. Cas looked stunned, frozen mid-speech. She contained a chuckle behind wet lips. "I love it."
Cas' shoulders drooped slightly, proving enough the nervousness he had been harboring. Frankie looked back at the photograph, a smile cracking through her puffy features. She scooted closer to Cas and leaned into his side, grinning down at the picture in her fingers.
"Our family," she sighed, tucking into the angel, still stiff with surprise. Her eyes flicked between each face, and as they did, the cavity in her chest grew dense. Her smile slowly dimmed as the pressure swelled. She sipped a small breath, and the voice that carried off her lips was soft. "I'm ready."
Cas was still and quiet for a few moments, processing her words. "Ready for what?"
Frankie tilted her head up, catching his gaze. "To see them. To be with them. I… I'm ready."
Cas' eyes were severe, searching for assurance. "You're sure?"
The girl nodded, her smile returning. "Yes."
He lingered his intense gaze, then nodded once. Frankie lowered the picture into her lap. She leaned her head on Cas' shoulder and closed her eyes. "You know, this just might be my favorite Christmas yet."
"Really? This is what you would consider perfection?"
She lifted off her friend and looked him in the eye. "It will be. Once we watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas." She reached over to the coffee table and picked up the remote to flick to the right channel. She snatched her mug of hot – more like tepid – chocolate, and Cas did the same, in spirit of course. Frankie reclined back on the couch, lightly forcing herself into the crook of Cas' arm as she sipped merrily on her holiday beverage with a smile.
"And have yourself a merry little Christmas now!"