"Be up in a jiff."
Piper was in the booth next to Dean, silently leaning into his warmth. They were in a booth in a dimly lit diner, near the hospital where Pamela had been taken. The events of the séance had shaken Piper, and she couldn't get warm.
Dean seemed to notice her shivering and wrapped his arm around her. "How you holdin' up, kitten?"
She tried on a smile for him, but it felt awkward. "I'm not."
He looked like he was trying to think of something to say when Sam walked back through the diner door, on the phone with Bobby. "You bet." He flipped his phone shut and sat across from them.
Dean flicked his eyes to Piper, but turned to Sam. "What'd Bobby say?"
"Pam's stable. And out of I.C.U."
"And blind, because of us," Piper muttered, misery coursing through her.
Sam met her eyes, but didn't object. "And we still have no clue who we're dealing with."
Dean tightened his hold on Piper and shook his head. "That's not entirely true."
Piper looked up at him. "No?"
"We got a name. Castiel, or whatever. With the right mumbo jumbo we could summon him, bring him right to us."
Sam's eyebrows rose. "You're crazy. Absolutely not."
Dean was nodding, though. "We'll work him over. I mean, after what he did?"
Sam leaned forward. "Pam took a peek at him and her eyes burned out of her skull, and you want to have a face to face?"
Dean glared at him. "You got a better idea?"
Piper sighed. She had always hated it when they fought… Which was always.
"Yeah," Sam was saying, "As a matter of fact I do. I followed some demons to town, right?"
"Okay."
"So, we go find them. Someone's gotta know something about something."
The waitress came back with the brothers' orders. She set two plates of pie on the table.
"Thanks," Sam said, turning back to Dean.
Instead of leaving, the waitress pulled a chair over and sat at the end of the table. Piper frowned, her body tensing.
Dean was frowning, too. "You angling for a tip?"
The woman pretended to be surprised. "I'm sorry. Thought you were looking for us."
She blinked and her eyes were black. Piper's blood ran cold as she watched another customer and the cook blink, too, turning their eyes the same soulless color. The customer stood and locked the door.
The waitress blinked and her eyes went back to normal. She surveyed Dean. "Dean. To hell and back. Aren't you a lucky duck."
Dean smiled, exuding cockiness. "That's me."
The waitress was practically snarling. "So you get to just stroll out of the pit, huh? Tell me. What makes you so special?"
Dean grinned. "I like to think it's because of my perky nipples. I don't know. Wasn't my doing, I don't know who pulled me out."
"Right. You don't." The waitress didn't believe him. Piper's mind started racing.
"No. I don't."
"Lying's a sin, you know." They're scared shitless, Piper realized.
Dean was shaking his head. "I'm not lying. But I'd like to find out, so if you wouldn't mind enlightening me, Flo…"
"Mind your tone with me, boy. I'll drag you back to hell myself." She was snarling now.
Sam sat up to attack, but Piper's hand stayed him. "No, you won't," she said evenly, looking into the demon's eyes.
The woman cocked an eyebrow. "No?" But Piper saw fear there. The part of her that was a hunter, a predator, celebrated.
"No. Because if you were, you would have done it already. The fact is you have no idea who let him go. And you're just as spooked as we are. And you're looking for answers. Maybe it was some powerful spirit. Or some big bad boss demon. I'm guessing at your pay grade that they don't tell you much. Because whoever it was, they want him out. And they're a lot stronger than you. So go ahead. Send him back. But don't come crawling to us when they show up on your front doorstep with some Vaseline and a fire hose."
The waitress leaned forward. "I'm going to reach down your throat and rip out your lungs. No one cares if you're in hell, bitch."
Dean leaned forward and threw a punch at the demon, who took it almost passively. He did it again, and she did nothing again. "That's what I thought," he snapped. "Let's go, Pipes, Sam."
They stood, pausing when Dean stopped to pull out a wad of cash. He peeled off a ten dollar bill and dropped it on the table dismissively. "For the pie."
They walked out with their heads held high, until they saw Baby. They all tensed and hurried to the car. "Holy crap, that was close," Dean said as he fished the keys out of his pocket. He looked at Piper appreciatively. "And hot."
She smiled wanly. She was too tired to banter with him tonight.
Sam, however, was not. "We're not just going to leave them in there, are we, Dean?"
"Well yeah, there's three of them, probably more, and we've only got one knife between us."
"I've been killing a lot more demons than that lately." Sam scoffed. Piper frowned. What?
Dean didn't miss a beat. "Not anymore. The smarter brother's back in town."
Sam didn't move as Dean opened the door for Piper, who slid into the backseat gratefully. "Dean, we've got to take 'em. They're dangerous."
Dean shook his head as he got into the car. "They're scared. Okay? Scared of whatever had the juice to yank me out. We're dealing with a bad mofo here. One job at a time."
xxxxx
Piper was curled against Dean on their bed when the TV turned on.
He had brought a book under the pretense of research, but he had ended up just holding her silently. She had been mostly silent the way home, knowing that it was making him worried, but unable to think of the words. She knew their job was dangerous, and had consequences, but she had liked Pamela a lot, and now she was blind forever because of them.
The sound of static startled her awake, though Dean slept through it. She shoved him. "Dean," she whispered, starting to get nervous, as the radio turned on and started to whine. He woke up with a start. "What the hell?"
Piper had already stood and grabbed the shotgun next to the bed when the loud, high-pitched noise started. She didn't know where to point it, but it quickly became moot when the noise started. She gasped, trying to cover her ear with her free hand while still holding onto the gun.
It was too much. She dropped the gun and dropped to her knees, starting to scream. Dean made his way to her pushed her roughly to the ground, covering her body with his. She didn't understand until glass started shattering. She was screaming, and could hear him yelling above her.
The light changed, which was Piper's only indicator that Bobby had opened the door.
xxxxx
Piper was really, really tired of abandoned warehouses.
They were setting up to summon Castiel, whatever the hell that was. Dean had refused to let Sam come. Piper knew he had his suspicions about what Sam had been doing in the four months he'd been gone, and she kicked herself again for not following Sam around like a lost puppy until he told her what was going on.
She turned back to her work, drawing another symbol with white spray paint on the floor. The entire building was covered in symbols in multi-colored spray paint. White if the color didn't matter, the required hue when it did.
Dean was at a table, setting up equipment. He looked over his shoulder at her. "That's a hell of an art project you've got going there."
She didn't stop her work when Bobby answered for her. "Traps and talismans from every faith on the globe. How you doing?"
Dean shrugged. "Stakes, iron, silver, salt, knife. I mean, we're pretty much set to catch and kill anything I've ever heard of."
"This is still a bad idea," Piper muttered as she finished her symbol and stood up.
"Yeah, Pipes, I heard you the first ten times." He looked at Bobby. "What do you say we ring the dinner bell?"
Piper put her things away and went to stand next to Dean, unsure of what weapon to grab. Her stomach was in knots as Bobby took a pinch of powder, sprinkled it into the bowl, and started chanting in Latin.
xxxxx
Fifteen minutes later, nothing had happened.
Piper was standing next to Dean, who was sitting on the table, swinging his legs. His hand was on the back of her head, running his fingers through her hair nervously. He looked at Bobby. "Are you sure you did the ritual right?" Piper elbowed him in the ribs as Bobby gave him a look. "Sorry. Touchy, touchy, huh?"
A loud rattling shook the roof. They all grabbed shotguns and swivelled.
"Wishful thinking, but maybe it's just the wind," Dean said quietly.
Piper swallowed her scream as the doors burst open. A man walked in wearing a trench coat over what looked like a business suit. As he stalked towards them, light bulbs above them started to shatter
Dean and Bobby started to open fire, but Piper held back. Did something about him seem familiar?
As the man got close, Dean took out the magic knife. "Who are you?"
The man looked at him curiously, tilting his head a little. In a deep, gravelly voice, he answered. "I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition."
"Yeah. Thanks for that." Dean plunged the knife into the man's chest. He looked down, unconcerned, and pulled it out before dropping it onto the floor.
Bobby flung himself at the man. Without looking back, he grabbed the weapon Bobby had and swung him around. He touched Bobby on the forehead with two fingers, and Bobby crumpled.
"Bobby!" Piper cried, starting to move forward until she realized that she had drawn the man's attention.
He started forward with the same two fingers raised, and Piper felt her heart stop. Dean stood in front of her, his arm sweeping her behind him as he glared at the man in the trench coat. "You don't touch her," he growled.
The man frowned. "We need to talk, Dean. Alone."
"No dice, dick. The girl stays alive."
The man frowned harder. "Your friend's alive."
Dean stepped forward to check Bobby's pulse, and Piper stepped back when the man's piercing blue eyes looked at her. "Piper Finley," he stated.
She nodded, even though it wasn't a question. "Yes. Have we met?"
He ignored her question. "Why are you here?"
She frowned. "I'm here with Dean."
"You're not supposed to be here. You're not in the plan."
"Enough with small talk," Dean snapped, taking up post again in front of Piper, blocking her from view. "Who are you?"
"Castiel."
Piper rolled her eyes as Dean responded. "Yeah, I figured that much, I mean what are you?"
"I'm an Angel of the Lord."
"Oh, jeeze…" Piper gasped.
Dean wasn't impressed. "Get the hell out of here. There's no such thing."
"This is your problem, Dean. You have no faith." He peered around Dean's shoulder. "But you do, Piper Finley." She blinked, unsure of what to say.
Lightning flashed again, and huge shadowy wings appeared, sprouting out of Castiel's back. They flexed slowly, powerfully. Piper couldn't hold back her sharp inhale.
Dean, again, wasn't impressed. "Some angel you are. You burned out that poor woman's eyes."
Castiel had the good grace to look ashamed. "I warned her not to spy on my true form. It can be... Overwhelming to humans, and so can my real voice. But you already knew that."
"You mean at the motel? That was you talking?" Piper asked. Castiel nodded. Dean glared. "Buddy, next time, lower the volume," he snarled.
"That was my mistake. Certain people, special people, can perceive my true visage. I thought you would be one of them. I was wrong."
"And what visage are you in now, huh? What, holy tax accountant?" Piper groaned internally. Must he antagonize everyone he met?
Castiel looked down. "This? This is... A vessel."
Piper frowned. "You're possessing someone? Angels possess people? That's messed up."
Castiel peered around Dean's shoulder again to address her. "He's a devout man, he actually prayed for this."
Dean scoffed and moved again, blocking her. "Well, I'm not buying what you're selling, so who are you really?"
"I told you."
"Right. And why would an angel rescue me from Hell?"
"Good things do happen, Dean."
"Exactly one good thing has ever just happened to me, and she's standing behind me. So no, they don't, not in my experience." Something in Piper's chest fluttered, but she squelched it. Later, Finley.
Castiel tilted his head. "What's the matter? You don't think you deserve to be saved?"
Dean was starting to get upset. "Why'd you do it?"
Castiel's next words made Piper a little dizzy. "Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you."
xxxxx
xxxxx
Hi, everyone! Here's my notes:
I own only Piper Finley, the original character. I don't own Supernatural or the characters. (heartbroken)
Reviews and comments give me the warm fuzzies and keep me going.
If there are any mistakes in continuity, canon, or geography, blame me.
