Chapter 6 - Season Of The Witch

Gabriel popped back over to Frank's house, but he was alone.

"Where are Becky and the baby?" Liz asked him.

"She told me she wasn't ready yet," he replied, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "What's to get ready? It's summertime, and he's a baby. Diaper, bib, done. Same with her," he added, smirking.

"Well, did she say how much longer she was going to be?" Gail said, annoyed. "The guys are going to be here soon, and Dean said he's starving. You know what that means, right? It means if Frank doesn't get that grill fired up and shove some food in Dean's face ASAP, we're all going to have to listen to him whine and complain. Sometimes I think HE should be the one wearing the diaper."

Gabe shrugged. "Dunno. She said she'd call Cas when she was ready for pickup."

Becky was rushing around now, putting the ingredients in a bowl. She couldn't believe it. Not only did the book have an Aging spell, but it was simple, and she already had all the ingredients for it in the house! How lucky was that?

But there was no way she was even going to think about using it on Brian right now. Not without some kind of a test run, first. Rowena had two versions of the spell here in the book: one that was temporary, and another one that was permanent. Becky would try the temporary version out first, and if that worked, she could proceed. The only problem was, if it did work, she would need to come up with some kind of explanation for the result. She had decided that Brian should be about 8 years old. Young enough to still be cute, but old enough to be able to do things with. But obviously, Sam couldn't just come over one day and discover that his baby son was suddenly old enough to be in Grade 3 at the local elementary school, could he?

But first of all, she had to find out if she could even pull it off. She had messed up on the love potion she had tried to give to Sam, and Vincent had made the other one, the one that had worked. So she studied the book intently, determined to get this one right. And she almost did. There were only two more ingredients to add, but they had to be measured very precisely. Then Becky's cell phone rang.

"How much longer are you going to be?" Gail said irritably. "We've been waiting for quite a while now. Do you want us to just start without you?"

"No, don't do that," Becky said hastily. "I'm almost finished."

"Finished WHAT?" Gail said, exasperated.

"Uh...I had to change Brian's diaper, and then he spit up on his shirt, and so I had to change THAT, and..."

"Look, I don't need to hear all that stuff, I just need to know: are you coming, or not?" Gail persisted.

Becky's eyes narrowed. What a bitch. SHE should try having a baby, sometime. See how easy it was, Becky thought sarcastically. Well, Rowena's book said that the spell would work on anybody. Humans, Demons, even Angels. Terrific. Gail was going to be the lucky guinea pig, then.

"Is she coming, or what?" Gabriel said grumpily in the background. "I'm not Yellow Cab, here."

Becky rolled her eyes. Fine. Gabriel had just volunteered, too. "Give me ten minutes," she pled with Gail.

Cas's wife sighed. "All right. Ten minutes."

So Becky hung up her phone, but she was so rattled now that she mixed up the last two ingredients. Then, when she said the incantation, she got one of the words wrong. Such things sometimes happened when an ancient and powerful spell was rushed through. She was oblivious, of course. She poured the potion into the flask, spilling some in the sink. Oh, well. This would have to do. But this should be plenty. She just hoped that Gabriel would be having something to drink that she could slip some of this potion into. Gail almost certainly would be. She was always boozing it up. She was lucky; with all those empty calories she consumed, if Gail was a human, she would weigh two hundred pounds by now. Becky herself had been as big as a house when she'd been expecting Brian, but now she was her old, skinny self again. All those women who whined about pregnancy pounds were just using that as an excuse, Becky thought spitefully. Too bad this potion wouldn't make Gail really, really fat, too. See how attracted to her Cas would be, then. But the potion would make her and Gabriel old, and it would be hilarious. But it was only going to be temporary. It was just a test, and Becky didn't quite have the nerve to do anything that overtly terrible when there was a slim possibility that she could be found out. Cas had always been really nice to Becky, but if he ever found out that she'd done something that mean to Gail, even though it would only be temporary, Becky was a little scared of what he would do.

But because she had both mixed up the ingredients and their measurements, and erred in the incantation, the potion Becky was about to administer to the unsuspecting Angels would have quite a different effect than she had intended. And, without an antidote, the change would also be permanent.

They were all sitting around in the back yard chatting after dinner, and Dean was patting his stomach. "That was really good," he commented. "I may razz you about some things, Frank, but I can't deny you've got some mad skills when it comes to barbecuing steaks."

"'Mad skills'?" Sam said with a grin. "When did Rob and Eric get here?"

"I wish they WERE here," Frank said with a brief smile. "Then, we wouldn't have to get our own beers." He was quiet for a moment, and then he looked at Cas and Gail. "I've got a question for you: how would you guys feel if I sold this house?"

Gail's forehead wrinkled. "What are you asking US for?"

"I don't know, exactly," Frank admitted. "It's just...you built the extension for the boys, Cas, and I know how sentimental you guys get, sometimes. But I don't really need all this space any more. There's just me and Angela, really. The boys are on the road a fair amount these days, and they've been feeling me out about getting their own place. I think they've been holding off because they're worried they'll be deserting me, or something. But when they get back, I'm going to sit them down and tell them to go. They don't need to be living with their old man, not at their age. And I've decided to send Angela to school in the fall. She's gotta start interacting with kids her own age. She's a little too introverted for my liking. All she does is read, and talk to those stuffed animals."

"Wow," Gail said, taking a sip of her wine. "Don't sugarcoat it. What you're saying is that she's becoming a little too much like I was."

Frank sighed. He'd been afraid that she was going to take it like that. "Yes, and no," he said to his sister. "It used to hurt me when I would see you just sitting there by yourself, all the time. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with reading, or anything. Or even talking to stuffed animals, if that's what helps you get through. But she needs to make some real-life friends, Gail. Like you and Liz."

Gail was the one to sigh, now. "You're right. I know you are. It was great when Liz and I found each other."

"Well, I'll tell you what: she's been terrific to me, too," Frank said. "Now I'm almost sorry I tormented you guys so much when we were kids. Almost."

As the siblings smiled at each other, Gabriel came out of the house. "I don't know how Liz does it," he remarked, shaking his head. "She's changing Brian's diaper with one hand, and reading to Angela with the other. Give her a few more arms, and she could be OctoMom." He looked pointedly at Becky, but she just sat there, drinking her cocktail. He let out a breath. Boy, talk about oblivious. Gabe walked by where Cas and Gail were sitting. Cas had a bottle of wine in his hand, and he'd been about to replenish Gail's glass. Gabriel yoinked the bottle out of Cas's hand and snapped his fingers. A glass appeared in his other hand. He poured himself a glass of the wine, then handed the bottle back to Cas.

Gabriel took a seat, taking a sip from his glass. Becky smiled to herself. Good. Now all she needed was a distraction of some kind, and she could dose both Gail and Gabriel. But how was she supposed to get the potion into their glasses of wine without anybody seeing?

But then, the opportunity presented itself when Cas went to replenish Gail's glass, and it only filled halfway. He peered at the bottle. "It's empty," he said.

"I'll get another bottle," Becky offered, starting to rise from her chair. "I have to go to the washroom, anyway." She got up before anyone could object, or before Gabriel decided to just snap his fingers again. But the Archangel was putting his feet up on a second chair now and drinking his wine, ignoring her.

So she rushed into the kitchen and got the bottle of wine out of the fridge, opening it. There was no time to lose. She took the flask out of her purse, looking around nervously. Nobody in sight. She poured some of the wine down the sink to make room for the potion, added it to the bottle, then wiped the bottle and put the cap back on. Luckily, when Gail drank, she drank cheap wine, so there was no cork to have to replace. Then Becky brought the bottle back outside, giving it to Cas.

He thanked Becky, and as she moved to sit back down, Cas looked at Frank and said, "It's your decision, of course, but since you asked for our opinion, I will give you mine. I wish you wouldn't sell this house, Frank. You are probably thinking that there are some sad feelings connected with it right now, and I can certainly understand that. But there are a lot of good memories here, too. We've had many good days here, with you and the rest of the family. You were living here when Angela was born."

"Yeah. We strained some muscles helping you build that nursery for her, remember? All Cas did was wave his hand, but me and Sam sweated and strained helping you and Rob build the nursery," Dean pointed out.

Frank grinned. "I remember. I think that was the only time in all the time I've known you that I've seen you do any actual work."

Dean pretended to scratch his face using just the one finger, and Frank continued to smile. "Actually, Cas, you could have a point," Gail's brother said. "Maybe I'll think about it some more."

"That's what Nicole did," Dean said, his expression growing more serious. "She's in Ottawa at her Grandpa's house now for the summer. Now that Chuck's gone, they have to figure out what they're gonna do about the show, going forward. She said they might not make any more movies. They might just go back to the TV format. So until they decide, everything's on hold. She's been going through all the old stuff her grandfather had at the house. She said she found a bunch of old pictures, and things. So now, she's thinking she might keep the house. Fix it up a bit. Sammy told her he thinks she could turn it into a Bed and Breakfast place, or something like that."

"It's big enough, and there are lots of rooms," Sam said with a half-shrug.

"Maybe you should have left the ghost in the place," Frank joked. "Use it as a marketing tool. A lot of people like junk like that, because they have no idea what it's really like, dealing with a vengeful spirit. Right, guys?"

As Sam and Dean were lifting their beers, toasting Frank's statement, Nicole was also talking about her plans for the house. She was on the phone with a friend of hers from Vancouver, talking about the possibility of doing what Sam had suggested.

"Isn't that a little crazy?" Anna said, and Nicole sighed. She liked Anna, but her friend was so negative about so many things. She was always pointing out the potential problems with...well, anything and everything. The reasons why something shouldn't be done, rather than why it should.

"I don't know," Nicole replied. "I think it's something to think about."

"But you live here, in B.C.," Anna went on.

"I never said that I would run the place," Nicole pointed out. "But if the business does well, it could be a good investment for me. Things are so up in the air with the show right now. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be employed."

"Well then, that's all the more reason not to do it," Anna insisted. "Do you know how much that would cost? If you think you're going to be out of a job soon, you should be saving your money."

Nicole pursed her lips tightly together, but she said nothing. Because, as negative as Anna was being, she had a point about that.

"I guess I'm going to have to think about it a bit more," she told her friend. Then she hung up, sitting back in her chair. Should she even bother doing the research, then? Should she maybe call Dean, and ask him what he thought? No. No. She was a strong, independent woman. She wasn't going to fall into the bad habit of calling her boyfriend every time she needed to make a decision about something. Or was he even her boyfriend, anymore? She supposed not, in a way. She had rejected his proposal, right here at this kitchen table, and told him to feel free to see other women. Maybe she'd even meant it at the time. It really wasn't fair to ask him to hang around twiddling his thumbs, waiting for her to sort out her life. Neither of them was getting any younger. But they kept gravitating together anyway, or maybe it had just been due to circumstances. Nicole had wanted to be there for Dean when Jody had died, of course. And they'd Skyped a couple of times since then. But Nicole didn't want to start depending on Dean emotionally. That had been her whole point, in the first place. The only question she couldn't seem to answer was why. Was it because what he did for a living was so dangerous? No; that didn't really make sense. What about all those people in the military who were married, and all the cops, and firefighters? Arguably, their jobs were even more dangerous; or at least, they were equally so. No, it was because there was some part of her that was reluctant to open herself up to that extent. Maybe she should see someone about that.

Victoria watched Nicole now, as she always did, ever since Nicole had come here after Evgenyi had died. The ghost was calm at the moment. It was nice to see a family member here again, she thought. Nicole's grandparents and parents had all moved on now, but Victoria had remained. She had unfinished business here on Earth, and besides, she'd always loved to watch over the children.

Nicole thought her grandmother was Victoria Buxhoveden, which was the true spelling of the name. But, she wasn't. Victoria was the spirit who was actually occupying the house. "Haunting" it, they said, although Victoria wasn't sure how she felt about that term. She'd gotten very agitated when Nicole had brought those Hunters and the Angels here. They had no business poking around, handling the family's things. And if they thought they were going to make Victoria leave before she was ready to go, they were wrong. So she had sent the little boy to tell them his sad story. Every word of it had been the truth, and at the end, he had been able to move on from the spirit world, the Hunters had left, and Victoria had stayed. She had been a little surprised that such experienced men would have accepted the red herring of the boy so easily. She'd thought that maybe the male Angel would have been able to sense the malevolence around her, since he was an ancient being, himself. How on earth would such a small, inexperienced boy have been able to stand the cedar chest on its end like that? Ghosts were not bound by human limitations, of course, but they still had a pecking order, like every other kind of entity.

But the investigators had left, and then Nicole had, too. Then she had come back, and it had done Victoria's spectral heart good to see the girl looking through some of her family photos. Would she be able to piece it together, or would Victoria have to make another showing? The ghost didn't like the idea of turning this place into a Bed and Breakfast. All those strangers, trampling around. Victoria might have to do something about that too, if it came to pass. But right now it looked as though Nicole was reconsidering the notion, so Victoria would just bide her time for now and see what transpired.

Gail was quiet and thoughtful now, so much so that Frank had to speak to her a couple of times before she registered.

"Sorry; what?" she asked her brother.

"I just wanted to know what YOU think of this whole to-sell-or-not-to-sell thing," Frank said. "You didn't really say."

Oh. Yeah. She guessed she hadn't. "I guess, if you really want to know, I'm with Cas," she said. "And I see you rolling your eyes over there, Dean. But I'm not just agreeing with Cas because he's Cas. I really do agree with his point. A house is just a building, but it's the memories you have about it that make it special. Like our place." She took Cas's hand. "We don't spend a lot of time at our house in the grand scheme of things, but I couldn't imagine ever getting rid of that place. Yes, some bad things have happened while we were living there, but how about the wonderful family Christmases we've had there? That's what I always think of when I look around our house." Well, that, and a lot of very romantic times with Cas, she said to him over their frequency now, and he smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. Before they'd come here earlier in the afternoon to help with the food preparation, Gail had been putting on some shorts and a T-shirt inside, while Cas had been checking on his garden in the back yard. Then she had come out to admire the flowers that he was growing there, and he had been asking her if she thought he needed a couple more varieties. So she had stepped closer to take a look, and to smell some of the blooms, and she'd gotten a scratch from one of the other plants he'd put there for aesthetic purposes. The scratch had drawn blood, and Cas had apologized to her, waving his hand and making the offending plant disappear immediately. He usually gardened the human way, saying that there was something eminently more satisfying about that. But no plant that had hurt his wife would ever be allowed to flourish in his garden, he'd said to Gail, making her smile. Then he'd gotten down on one knee to heal the scratch on her thigh, and then he'd kissed the spot, and one thing had led to another, and a half hour later, they'd both had to shower and change again. No, there was no way that Gail could ever sell that house. She and Cas had made love in every nook and cranny of that place. But that was something they didn't necessarily need to share with the others.

"Anyway, that's not what I was thinking about," Gail told her brother. "I was thinking about what you said earlier, about me reading all the time when I was a kid. It was funny, too, because I did all that horror and fantasy reading when I was little, and do you remember what the only book that REALLY scared me was?"

Frank nodded. "Actually, yeah, I do. 'Odd Planet'. It's silly now, but there were a couple of stories in there that even freaked ME out. Of course, that was before Dad took me down to the basement and told me our little family secret. I'm sure all that stuff would seem really tame, now."

"Like what?" Sam said with interest. "What kind of stories?"

"I'll tell you the freakiest one," Gail said eagerly. "I remember it so well because it was so eerie. There was a small town in Indiana, I can't remember the name...anyway, the citizens there were puzzled one winter morning, when they found a cryptic message painted in huge letters on the sidewalk in front of the public grade school. The message said: 'Remember Pearl Harbour'."

"So? What's so freaky about that?" Dean asked her.

Gail smiled. "I'm not finished. All the people who saw it commented on the strange message. But they never knew who put it there, or why. And it was really nothing to get excited about at the time it occurred. Because the infamous attack on Pearl Harbour didn't take place until two years later. To the day. Da-dun-da!" she added dramatically.

"OK, I have to admit, that's pretty eerie," Sam remarked.

"I thought of that book because you guys were talking about Nicole's house in Ottawa. That reminded me of it, because of that cedar chest she's got. Remember? All three of you guys had to set it back down on the floor, from where it was standing on its end in the corner. There was a story in the book about a crypt in Barbados, way back in the day, where the coffins were all standing on end like that, in the middle of the room. I don't remember all the details any more, I just remember that it creeped me out," Gail said.

"Seriously?" Dean scoffed. "That Pearl Harbour thing was obviously a psychic thing, and that coffin thing sounds like a restless spirit."

Gail let out a frustrated breath. "I was just a kid, Dean. A little kid. It's easy for us to say now, but those kinds of things can be very scary to a kid who doesn't have any idea that those kinds of things really exist."

They were all quiet for a moment, and then Gabriel said, "Hey, Frankster, I've gotta tell you, I'm kind of liking this wine. Is this a different brand than you usually get?"

"No, it's the same cheap plonk Gail always drinks," Frank said affably.

Gail made a face at her brother, but Cas grabbed the bottle from the table and looked at it.

"Come on, Brother, have a snort. Live a little," Gabriel said. He snapped his fingers, and a glass appeared on the table next to Cas. Cas smiled a little, gave a half-shrug, and let go of Gail's hand long enough to pour himself a glass.

"Well, he may not be drinking very much, but I know he's been gambling," Frank said to Gabriel. "I've been volunteering at the Cops For Cancer donations office, and a little birdie told me their donations have increased exponentially. They've been finding envelopes of money shoved under the door, every few days. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Cas?"

"Now why on earth would you think that I would know anything about that, Frank?" Cas said innocently. He sampled the wine, attempting to change the subject. "This IS good."

Oh, crap, Becky thought. She hadn't meant for Cas to have any of the potion. Besides Sam, he had been the only one who'd been nice to her throughout this whole thing. Well, him and Bobby, but she hardly saw Bobby any more. But it was too late, now. She kept watching Gabriel and Gail out of the corner of her eye. How long would the stuff take to work? That was the one thing that was missing from that spell book: if it was really like a recipe book, at least you would know that it took, say, two hours to take effect. Like when you were making a cake, and it told you when it should be done.

Angela came running outside, the ever-present Poochie and Ralph in her arms. "Daddy! It's my bedtime!" she announced.

He was bemused. "Ummmm...OK. What do you want ME to do about it?"

He was kidding, of course. Angela obviously knew that, because she looked around at everyone. "I want Story Time, and I want Uncle Cas today," she said matter-of-factly.

"Your wish is my command, My Lady," Cas said, bowing his head. Angela giggled. "OK. See you guys in a minute," she said pertly, running back into the house.

Liz passed the little girl on her way out of the house. "Brian is fed, dry, and down for the count," she told Becky.

"Have a seat," Frank said to their Angel friend. "Every time I see you, you're working. Take a load off."

"Do you want a glass of wine?" Gabriel asked her, motioning to Cas for the bottle.

"No, thanks," Liz said. "I think I just want to rest, for a minute."

"We were going to go inside and do Story Time for Angela," Cas said, offering his hand to Gail. "If you change your mind, have some. It's really very good."

"I think I'll stay out here with Liz," Gabriel said to the others. "You guys go ahead."

"I think I'll stay here, too," Becky said. She was enjoying having a couple of drinks, and having somebody else take care of Brian, for a change.

Gabriel shot her a look. He'd been hoping to make out with Liz a little. Or a lot. She'd been spending a lot of time here, and he'd been doing Heavenly stuff with Castiel.

But Becky didn't care. Gail was trying not to smirk at the expression on Gabe's face. "Come on," she said to Sam and Dean. "We need actors."

The brothers rose obediently and followed Gail, Cas and Frank into the house and down the hall to Angela's room. She was sitting up in bed, waiting. Poochie and Ralph were on either side of her, as always.

Cas drew up a chair beside the bed, and the others gathered around him. He thought for a moment, and then he began:

VIGNETTE - GUARDIANS OF THE NURSERY

"Once upon a time," Cas said to Angela, because all of the really good stories started that way, "there was a group of ragtag space adventurers, called the Guardians of the Nursery."

Frank smiled. The last time they had all been together, Cas had seen the movie he was referring to now for the first time ever, and he had liked it a lot. So it wasn't particularly surprising that he was drawing on it now.

"The Captain of the starship was a man named...Sun Prince," Cas continued. He glanced at Gail. "Sun Prince is supposed to be the hero of the story, but he makes lots of mistakes along the way. Luckily, he has a beautiful female partner, who is the one who actually runs the ship. She's really the boss, of course, because everyone knows that women are the smarter people. Right?" He booped Angela on the nose, and she laughed. "Right, Uncle Cas!" the little girl exclaimed pertly.

Gail was smiling. Jody had always liked her daughter to hear stories about strong females. "Up top," Cas said to his niece, and she slapped his open palm. Now everyone was smiling. They couldn't help it. Cas and Angela were just so darn cute together.

"So, Sun Prince and Gailora are in love," Cas went on, as Angela listened with great interest. She knew which movie he was talking about, of course. But Uncle Cas always put on his own unique version of these stories, and they were always even better to Angela than the original ones, because they always predominantly featured love, and the characters were the people she loved the most in the whole world.

But Dean was rolling his eyes. "Gailora?" Cas needed to be a little more creative. He guessed "Sun Prince" was not too bad, but Cas always used a version of "Gail" in every story he told. It was like he couldn't stand the idea of being in love with a different woman even in a made-up story. And, of course the characters were in love. Every time Cas saw any kind of a couple in the movies, they were automatically him and Gail. The two robots in that cartoon movie where nobody even talked for the first half hour, the two dogs that shared that plate of spaghetti and meatballs...they didn't even have to be people, for crying out loud.

"Hey, Cas," Dean interrupted. "Have you and 'Gailora' ever ordered a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, just so you could push the last meatball over to her with your nose?"

Angela giggled. She didn't mind these tangents, because they were always really funny, even if she didn't always get the joke. "That's silly, Uncle Dean," she told him. "Angels don't eat. Well, except for at Christmastime."

"But if we did, we would totally do that," Gail said happily. "And we would eat the same strand of spaghetti, too, so we would be kissing at the end of it."

"I would give your Aunt Gail the last meatball, each and every time," Cas assured the little girl.

"Oh, so you would give her all your balls; is that what you're saying?" Dean said, smirking.

"Of course I would, Dean, if that was what she wanted," Cas said mildly.

Now Dean and Sam were grinning at Frank, and Gail's brother was grinning back. "OK, who's gonna say it?" Dean joked. "Any takers?"

"Settle down, Egbert," Gail said sharply, pulling out the name she used for Dean when she wanted to get his attention. Men were so juvenile, sometimes. She looked at Cas. "Back to your story, Sun Prince."

Cas smiled warmly at her, and then he looked at Frank. It was so good to see him smiling. Cas knew better than anyone how badly it hurt to have your spouse taken away from you so cruelly. He ought to; it had happened to him over and over again, for centuries now. He just hoped it wasn't about to happen again.

"There is a big, strong man travelling with Sun Prince and Gailora through the galaxy," Cas said now. "He's very tough on the outside, but he's very kind on the inside, and he's also very, very funny."

Then, Cas took a bit of a risk. He wanted to make a point. So he said, "That character is trying to cope with the loss of his wife, on Earth. He looks forward to the time when he can be reunited with her, and they can be together again." He was saying this in part for the little girl's benefit. Frank had advised that Angela, although very smart, had been asking many puzzled questions about her mother. She was still too young to understand all the ins and outs of the Afterlife. Cas was as old as time itself, and even he had trouble understanding it all, sometimes. But he wanted to try to provide some kind of comfort for his niece, even if it was pure conjecture. The adults in Jody's life had no such comfort, though. Bobby had reported back that Jody had not been in the Garden. He'd checked every corner of the place, every day since she had died, and there had not been a trace of her.

"The team will help that man every way they can, because they all love him very much," Cas continued, "and because that's what families do. Right?" He booped Angela on the nose again. She had the cutest little button nose, just like her Aunt Gail's, Cas thought. Much of the time, it was easy to forget that Frank and Gail were not actually related by blood. Not that that kind of thing had ever mattered in their family.

And again, Angela responded, "Right!"

Frank's eyes were prickling now, and there was a lump in his throat. Cas was so good with her, and even though what he'd said had been a little hard for Frank to hear, he was touched by what Cas was saying, and by Angela's reaction to it.

"And they have another member of the team," Cas said now. "He's a very clever marsupial. Do you know what a marsupial is?" he asked Angela.

"Uh, Cas..." Sam piped up. "A racoon isn't actually a marsupial, or even a rodent, as many people seem to think. It's actually a member of the Carnivora order of mammals."

"Well, I guess we've found our know-it-all racoon," Dean wisecracked.

"He's always helping the team by doing research, and figuring things out," Cas continued, smiling at Sam. "And then, there's a tall, strong 'tree man', who's a man of few words," Cas added, looking pointedly at Dean. "He can only say 'I am Dean'. That's ALL he is able to say." He was smiling at Dean now, and Gail's lips were twitching furiously. She had to hand it to Cas. That was certainly one way to shut Dean up.

"But he's very brave, and very kind-hearted," Cas went on, "even though he likes to tease his family, sometimes. Maybe a little bit more than he should." Cas's eyes were twinkling now.

Dean couldn't let that stand, of course. "Hey, look at me," he wisecracked. "I'm a big, strong, hard piece of wood."

"You're about as smart as one, anyway," Gail said, rolling her eyes. "But I see what you're getting at, and may I remind you, Story Time is PG, only. So, cool it,...Galoot." She looked at Angela. "What your Uncle Cas forgot to tell you is that the tree man's name is 'Galoot'. Okay, carry on, sweetie."

Cas was smiling. "Oh, yes. You're quite right, my love. The tree man's name is Galoot. He's a Big Galoot."

Frank reached underneath one of Angela's nightstands now, taking out one of her toys. It was a figurine of the tree man from the movie. She'd had it beside her bed for a couple of weeks after Rob had bought it for her, and as children will do, she had played it, and played it, over and over, until Frank said he was gonna grab that tree man and plant him in the backyard if he heard that stupid tune one more time. So the figurine had been sidelined. But now, Frank wound it up as far as it would go and placed it on top of the nightstand. The thing danced as it played its little tune, and Frank looked at Dean.

"Dance, tree man," Gail's brother said to Dean now, and the elder Winchester looked at him. Yeah. Like hell he would.

But then, Angela gave Dean The Face. That cute, little, pleading face. Like her Aunt's doe eyes, on steroids. Like that stupid cat in that kids' movie, with the great big eyes and the trembling lip. Aw, geez.

So Dean started to dance like the figurine, much to Angela's delight. She laughed and laughed, and when Dean wiggled his butt, she laughed even louder, clapping her hands excitedly.

Gail was shaking her head, but she was smiling widely. Angela loved her Uncle Dean, and Gail knew that Dean had an extremely soft spot for Angela, too. That was sweet, but now that she thought about it, it was also a bit sad. Angela was the little girl that Dean should have had, had things worked out differently for him. Sam had a son now, and regardless of how Gail felt about Becky, she thought it would have been really neat for the brothers to have kids who could have grown up together. But it didn't seem to be in the cards.

They were all laughing at Dean's dance performance. He was really hamming it up now, going to town, wiggling his rear end in exaggerated movements. Then all too soon the music ended, and the figurine stopped dancing, so Dean did, too. Angela stretched and yawned, smiling happily at her Uncle Dean.

He was pointing his finger at all the adults. "What you just saw never leaves this room," Dean warned them.

"Oh, so I should delete the video I just put on YouTube?" Sam wisecracked.

Angela yawned again, and she got under the covers, pulling Poochie and Ralph in close beside her. "I love all of my Guardians," she told the group. "Can you tuck us in, please?"

The adults all moved forward for hugs and kisses, and after the last one was received from her father, Angela promptly fell asleep. They all exited the room quietly.

"Hey, 'Galoot'," Gail said to Dean as they moved on down the hall. "I've never seen a tree who could move like that. Come here, and give me some maple syrup." She pointed to her cheek, and Dean gave her a hug and a kiss. She hugged and kissed all the men, and then she said, "Out of all the guys I'd love to be on a starship with, having space adventures, I'd pick you guys, every time." Then she laughed softly. "As long as I didn't have to paint my body green." She linked arms with Cas and Sam. "Come on, fellas. Gailora's thirsty."

Becky had been trying to think of stuff to say to Liz and Gabriel this whole time, because she'd wanted to keep her eye on Gabriel. But the potion didn't seem to be affecting him at all. Was it because he was an Archangel, maybe?

Then the group came back from Story Time, and all three Angels had one more glass of wine each. Cas would normally not have had a second, but he was so pleased about how well Story Time had gone that he thought that he would indulge.

Liz abstained, though. In fact, she said she thought she should go back to Heaven in a minute. She had some papers to grade.

"No fair," Gabriel said, and incredibly, he was pouting. "You never want to play with us."

Liz looked at him incredulously. What the hell? Did he think he was being funny with this? "Uh...I love kids, but I'd like to have some adult conversation, right now," she said dryly.

Another voice piped up: "Yeah, Gabriel. What SHE said."

They all looked at Cas. Had they been hearing things? Had that been Cas's voice, saying that?

"Cas...has...a...girlfriend," Gabriel said in a singsong voice. He laughed, covering his mouth with his hands. "Castiel and Gail, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Then he looked at Gail. "Did you know your name rhymes with jail? Snail? Pail?"

Gail's lower lip trembled, and she burst into tears. "You're mean!" she exclaimed. She hit Cas on his arm with her open hand, much like a child will when they're trying to get someone's attention. "Caaaas!" she whined. "He's being mean to me!"

"You're not 'apposed to pick on girls," Cas said to Gabriel. "Everybody knows that."

"Cas has a girlfriend," Gabriel sang out again.

"So what? So do you!" Cas said brattily. Then he stuck his tongue out at Gabriel.

Becky was wide-eyed. What the hell was this? The Angels were supposed to be older, not younger. What had she done?

Predictably, Dean thought that this was hilarious; although he knew that there was obviously something wrong with the Angels, seeing Cas like this was just so damn funny.

"There's got to be some kind of spell on them," Sam said. He rose from his chair, looking around suspiciously. "They were fine a couple of minutes ago." He looked at Liz with narrowed eyes. "Was Gabriel acting like that before we came out of the house?"

"No," she said, bewildered.

Dean grabbed the bottle of wine they'd been drinking from, sniffing at it suspiciously. Fortunately for Becky, the potion was odourless. But, still...it was the only common denominator. Maybe they were just drunk? But Dean realized how ridiculous that sounded as soon as he'd thought it. Cas could drink much more than he had tonight and not even be close to being drunk, and Gabe was an Archangel, with a reputation for drinking and carousing. And Gail was no slouch, either. So, no. That couldn't be it.

"It's gotta be some kind of spell," Dean said, echoing Sam's statement. Now Gabriel was making kissy-face sounds at Cas and Gail, and Dean rolled his eyes. Like normal Gabriel wasn't annoying enough.

"Do you have any idea what this could be?" Frank asked Sam, but the younger Winchester was shaking his head. "I've never seen anything like this before," Sam remarked.

"Despite the obvious hilariousness of it all, I guess we'd better call Bobby," Dean said, taking out his cell phone. "Maybe he'll know what to do." He pushed the Speed Dial for Bobby's number. "Sammy, can you get this on video? You know, for science?" he said, smirking.

"Send me a copy of whatever you record," Frank said quickly. "You know, for blackmail."

Bobby popped down immediately, and he stared open-mouthed as Gail said to Gabriel, "You're funny-looking," and Gabe retorted, "Oh, yeah? I know you are, but what am I?" Then Cas said, "Stop fighting, you guys. We're gonna get in trouble."

"What in Sam Hill is going ON, here?" Bobby said, astonished.

"We were hoping YOU could tell US," Sam said to him. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?"

"No," Bobby said, mystified.

"See? God's here, now. I told'ja you would get us in trouble," Cas said to Gabriel. He looked at Bobby. "HE started it," Cas added, pointing at Gabriel.

Bobby didn't know if he should be amused, or alarmed. He asked the others to describe what had happened, and his forehead wrinkled. "It definitely sounds like some kind of a spell, but I've never seen anything like it before." He looked at the Angels again. Now they were making funny faces at each other, and Bobby had to resist the urge to laugh. "I'll take Spanky, Darla and Alfalfa here over to the bunker," he said dryly. "Liz, if you could bring Sam and Dean..." He looked at Becky. "Is Brian in the house?"

"Yeah, he's asleep," Becky said in a small voice. She was a little bit scared of what she'd done. Bobby did NOT look happy. "I should probably get him home."

"OK," Bobby said. "Come with me, then. I'll be right back," he told the others. "Think you can babysit the Little Rascals here for a minute?"

Frank smacked himself on the forehead. "THAT'S who I was trying to think of!" he exclaimed. "Hey, too bad Henri wasn't here. Then, we could have a Buckwheat."

Bobby opened his mouth, then closed it again. He'd been considering what to say, but he'd better not say much of anything, because Cas was sticking his tongue out at Gabriel again, Gabriel was still making funny faces, and Gail was swinging her legs back and forth, giggling at the two of them. If Bobby opened his mouth right now, he was going to laugh, and that wouldn't be very nice, would it?

Cas looked at Gail now. "I like you," he said to her shyly. "Do you like me?"

Gabriel grabbed a plastic cup from the picnic table and pegged it at the side of Cas's head, hard. "Owwww!" Cas yelled, rubbing the spot where it had hit him.

"That's it! You're in time out," Liz admonished Gabriel, and the Archangel hung his head. "Sor-ry," he said sheepishly.

"I think he gave me a boo-boo," Cas said to Bobby, and that was it. "Excuse me a second," Bobby said hastily. He popped into the house, and an instant later, they could hear him braying with laughter.

"You're in trouble, now," Gail said sassily to Gabriel. "I'm telling on you."

"Tattle-tale," he said to her, pouting.

Bobby was back a minute later, wiping his eyes with his hands. "All right, Becky, let's go," he said briskly. Then he looked at Sam and Dean. "Liz might as well take you guys to the bunker now, so you can get started looking in those books for a cure. I'll take Becky and Brian home, and then I'll zap the Impala back to the bunker." His beard twitched again. "You got this, Frank?" he said, gesturing to the Angels.

"Well, they're a handful, but I'll try my best," Frank replied with a grin.

"Hey, you guys, are we too late for the party?" Rob said, out of the blue. He came outside from the house. "Eric's parking the car. Oh, hey, Gramps. How're you doing?"

"Uhhh, fine, but we're kinda in the middle of something, here," Bobby replied. He opened his mouth again, but then he realized that he had no idea how to describe what they were currently in the middle OF. So he said, "Come on, dear," and Becky followed him into the house just as Eric was coming out.

"How's it going, you guys?" Eric said, and he nodded in Gabriel's direction. "Hey, Uncle Gabe." Eric sat down beside the Archangel. "Can you pass me a couple of beers from that cooler under the table?"

"I'm not allowed to touch alcohol," Gabriel said in a subdued voice. "I'm not old enough, and I'm already in trouble."

Eric looked at him, nonplussed. Gabriel was weird sometimes, and sometimes, he cracked jokes that only he seemed to think were funny. But Eric didn't get it.

"Serves you right for calling me a tattle-tale," Gail said to Gabriel.

"You ARE a tattle-tale, and so is your boyfriend, Cas," Gabriel retorted. "Cas is an ass. Cas-is-an-ass, Cas-is-an-ass," he started to sing.

"Yeah, well...you're smelly," Cas said, making a face. Dean was gonna pee himself in a minute. Liz was hovering uncertainly. A teeny-tiny part of her was amused by the show, as well. But they'd better get to the bunker and get working on the cure, because this was going to get really old, really fast. She grabbed Dean and Sam by the arm. "Let's go, fellas," she said quickly, and then she popped them out without another word.

"Uhhh...Dad? What's going on, here?" Rob said uneasily. Frank filled the young men in on what they knew, which wasn't a whole lot. He was still amused, but Frank was starting to get worried now, too. He looked at the bottle of wine that the Angels had been drinking from. That had to be it. But how the hell could somebody have gotten a potion into a sealed bottle that had been in his fridge? Unless...Becky had brought it out here from the kitchen, hadn't she? Had it been sealed when Cas had poured it? Frank hadn't been paying attention. But Becky was gone now, and there was no sense asking Cas at the moment. Currently, his brother-in-law had the mentality of a little boy. Cas was sitting beside Gail, and he was stealing glances at her, but when she looked his way, he would turn his head as if he hadn't been looking at her. Frank decided to find it cute, for now. As long as they could find a cure soon.

"Can you stay here with your sister?" Frank asked Rob and Eric. "I want to go to the bunker and make sure these guys are all right."

"Go ahead, Dad. We'll hold down the fort here," Eric replied, and then he smiled slyly. "All we ask for as repayment is a copy of whatever video you guys took of whatever this is."

Frank laughed. "Deal." When Bobby came back to get them a minute or so later, Frank grabbed the bottle of wine the Angels had been drinking from, and Bobby winked them all to the bunker.

Rob and Eric stared at each other for a minute. Okay, THAT had been weird. Even for their family. "Grab me a beer?" Rob asked his brother.

"I can't. I'm not allowed to touch alcohol," Eric said in a little-boy voice, imitating Gabriel.

"Oh, yeah? Well...you're smelly," Rob retorted, imitating his Uncle Cas.

Then the young men burst into laughter, as Eric moved over to the cooler.

They'd all been at the bunker for a while, and the five of them were reaching the end of their rope, and the end of their patience. Bobby, Sam, Dean, Liz and Frank had all been looking through the books in the library, and Sam had double-checked online. But they could find nothing about...what would you call it, exactly? Dean had asked the others. A regression spell?

In any event, as Liz had predicted, what had once been hilarious was now becoming at best annoying, and at its worst, very concerning. The Angels who Bobby had dubbed the Little Rascals had been bored to distraction when they'd gotten to the bunker. The "adults" were hitting the books and not paying any attention to them. So, after being poked by Gabriel's finger for about the millionth time, Sam had let out an exasperated breath and taken them all over to the living room area, telling them to sit on the couch and watch TV quietly while the grownups were working.

The three of them had found and agreed on that cartoon Aladdin movie, and they were loving it. "I could be as funny as that genie guy," Gabriel was bragging, with a big grin on his face.

"I'll bet I could fly to Mars on that magic carpet," Cas said, stretching his arms out at his sides to simulate flying. He looked shyly at Gail. "You could come with me, if you want."

So the TV-as-babysitter thing had worked for a while, but eventually, the situation deteriorated. "Ewww! Stop touching me!" Gail berated Gabriel.

"I'm not touching you," he protested, but he was sticking his poking finger in her face, now.

Gail shrank back from Gabriel and against a smiling Cas, who may currently have the mentality of a little boy, but still, he knew what he liked. "Ewwww! Stop touching meeee!" Gail wailed, and Dean got up abruptly from the dining room table. "OK, that's it," he said irascibly. "Pipe down in there!"

Everything was quiet for a moment, and Dean looked mollified. But then, as he started to sit back down, the squabbling started again. "Don't make me come in there, 'cause you won't like what happens if I do!" Dean shouted.

Liz and Frank looked at each other, and then they burst into laughter. "You should hear how you sound!" Liz said to Dean.

"If those three were in the back seat of the Impala, he'd be threatening to 'turn this car around'," Bobby said absently, over the pages of a book on witchcraft. Everyone fell silent, and he looked up. "What? I'm not allowed to make jokes, too?" Then he sighed, sitting back in his chair. "I've got nothing. Zilch. Nada. None of these books have anything like we're seeing here."

"I hate to say this, Sam, but Becky was the one who gave Cas that bottle of wine," Frank said, nodding towards Exhibit A. He'd brought it along and placed it further down the table, just in case...in case what? He really didn't know. Too bad the potion didn't knock a few years off physically, instead of just emotionally. Then maybe Frank could have a tipple, and then maybe his knees wouldn't be so sore when he stood up in the morning.

"So...what? What's your point, Frank?" Sam said, frowning. "You think she dosed them, or something?"

Frank shrugged. "I'm just trying to figure out what happened, that's all."

"Even if it was the wine, Becky wouldn't know how to do a spell like that," Sam protested. He gestured to all the books. "And, as of now, we don't have any evidence that such a spell even exists."

Gail came running into the room like Angela would, Frank noted with faint amusement. She went straight to Bobby, looking at him with wide eyes. "What is it, dear?" he said, trying to keep a straight face.

"They're playing swords, and I don't like violence," Gail replied matter-of-factly.

The men looked at each other, and then they bolted from their chairs as Gail looked at Liz. "Gabriel is a big poopyhead," Gail told her friend, and Liz smiled. Yes, he was, sometimes, she thought.

Sam got to the living room first, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Cas and Gabriel were playing swords, all right, but they just had rolled-up magazines in their hands, thrusting at and parrying with each other. Whew. For a minute there, they'd been afraid...

Bobby was thinking along those same lines. "Cas, Gabriel, come here for a second," God said authoritatively, and the Angels obediently walked over to where he and the other men were standing.

"Are we in trouble again?" Gabriel wanted to know. "We were only playing."

"No, we just wanna check something. Put your arms up in the air. You too, Cas," Bobby said. The Angels did as they were told, and Bobby nodded to Dean. "Now, stand still," Bobby instructed them, and he began to frisk Gabriel. Dean followed suit, with Cas. It was a good idea, Frank thought. If either man had an Angel blade on him, playtime might not turn out to be very much fun.

Cas giggled, doubling over. "That tickles," he told Dean, who was fighting to keep a straight face. Castiel, the warrior Angel, giggling. Now Dean could truly say he'd seen it all. He looked at Bobby. "He's clean," Bobby said about Gabriel. "So is Mister Gigglepants, here," Dean responded.

"'Mister Gigglepants'?" Frank said, laughing. He hadn't laughed this much in ages. There had been quite a few times after Jody died, and even before that, when he swore he would never be able to laugh at anything, ever again. He should give whoever had done this a medal, in a way. "I dare you to call him that when he's back to normal," Frank challenged Dean.

But Bobby was sighing again. "Look, guys. I hate to tell ya this, but I think we're gonna have to get some expert help on this," he told them.

Fortunately, Bobby knew what the ingredients were for the summoning spell, because Gabriel had known what they were as soon as he'd seen them, without Crowley having had to tell him. But there was only one problem, of course. To top the spell off, there were supposed to be five drops of Crowley's blood, and five drops of Gail's.

He sighed heavily. "I'll leave it up to you guys to decide who's gonna assemble the ingredients, and who's gonna have to be the meanie who gets to take the blood from little Shirley Temple over there." Bobby gestured to Gail, who was attempting to sing the song from the Aladdin movie for an audience of two man/boy Angels, who were sitting cross-legged on the floor, watching her intently.

"Do you want some backup?" Dean asked Bobby, who levelled him with a withering glare. "I'm God, Boy. I think I can handle it," he said dryly. "Just make sure you have everything ready to go when I get back."

He disappeared, and reappeared at the crossroads a moment later.

"A Summit meeting?" Crowley said, a moment after Bobby thought his name. God didn't need to resort to any other method. They'd had that Hotline in his office in Heaven, but that had just been for convenience. Neither Cas nor Bobby had bothered replacing it after Patricia'd had it taken out. Both men preferred face-to-face dealings with the King of Hell.

"Should I bring along a stenographer to take notes?" Crowley said to Bobby pleasantly. "I've got some really cute ones in the typing pool. And the best part is, because they're low-ranking Demons, you never have to worry about them crying and whining, making sexual harassment allegations."

"I don't have the time right now to tell you everything that's wrong with what you just said," Bobby said sarcastically. "I'll have Gail drop by and do that later." He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I need five drops of your blood."

Crowley was amused. "Oh, you do, do you?" he said. "Sure. No problem. Would you like Bigfoot to deliver it, or just the winged pigs it would take for me to say yes to that request?"

Bobby let out another breath. He'd known that this was going to be the reaction. But he didn't see a choice. "I would consider it a personal favour," he said reluctantly.

The King's eyes glittered. "A personal favour? For God? Well, why didn't you just say so? Those are worth - what would you say - at least ten favours in return, wouldn't you think?"

"Why don't we just burn that bridge when we get to it?" Bobby said wearily.

"What do you want it for?" Crowley inquired.

"Nothing that'll affect you adversely," Bobby replied. "You have my word."

Crowley nodded. Whatever else he might feel about the God Squad, he knew that Bobby Singer's word was his bond. Out of all the Gods he had dealt with, Crowley much preferred Bobby's straight-shooting style. Still, he couldn't appear too easy. So he stood looking at Bobby speculatively for another moment. Bobby just stared at Crowley calmly. This was another reason why the King preferred to deal with him. Bobby wasn't scared of or intimidated by Crowley, but neither did he lord it over Crowley that he was the Almighty, and Crowley wasn't. Pun definitely intended. And, as an added bonus, a blade wasn't being waved in his face every time he uttered a syllable.

Crowley snapped his fingers, and a blade appeared in his hand. He pricked his finger and bled a few drops into a vial that suddenly appeared in his other hand, then capped it and gave it to Bobby. "Say hello to my dear mother," the King said calmly. "Oh, and if the two of you are going to get a divorce, let me know. I'll send a fruit basket. And I definitely vote for your side in the custody battle." He snapped his fingers again, and disappeared.

Bobby shook his head slowly. Well, that had sure been easier than he'd thought it was going to be. Maybe Crowley was hoping that one of them would kill Rowena once they'd summoned her. His lack of curiosity was somewhat curious in and of itself, but Bobby was glad that they hadn't had to have that conversation.

When Bobby got back to the bunker, he was glad to see that they had everything all ready to go. Frank held up the vial with Gail's blood in it. "Don't ask how I got this," he told their friend. "Suffice to say that it involved a lot of wriggling, high-pitched wailing, and the full strength of four adults."

"And one bruised ankle, where Cas kicked me, hard," Sam said, wincing.

"Where ARE the Katzenjammer Kids?" Bobby asked, looking around.

"I thought we should separate them, so Gabriel's in the living room watching TV, Gail's in the kitchen having a chocolate milkshake with a big bandage on her finger, and Cas is in his and Gail's old room on a time out, for kicking Sam," Liz informed Bobby.

Bobby's beard twitched briefly. "OK. I'm gonna go out back and summon Rowena. Then she and I are gonna have a little chat. I think it's better if we don't gang up on her all at once. I'm pretty sure I can persuade her to help us. If she can, that is. But if anybody'll know about this spell, it'll be her."

He popped outside with the bowl of ingredients and the blood vials. Bobby stood there for a minute, taking a deep breath. He hadn't seen Rowena in a long time. But he was encouraged by the fact that she had recently assisted the Angels by taking the cloaking spell off of Raguel. He combined the ingredients and lit the match.

A few moments later, Rowena stood in front of Bobby in the back yard of the bunker, and she was smiling. "It's good to see you, Bobby," she said. She had been extremely upset when she had started to feel the tingle that had announced the onset of the summoning spell. What did they want from her NOW? Why couldn't they just leave her be? But now that she'd seen who it was who had called her here, Rowena couldn't stay angry.

Unbeknownst to Bobby, because Cas had not shared Chuck's letter containing the Prophecies with him any more than he'd shared it with Gail, this was another of the things that Chuck had seen in his visions, now come true.

Despite everything that had happened between Rowena and his family, Bobby's expression softened when he saw her. There was just something about her that made him feel nostalgic for the old days, when Bobby had been in his prime as a human man, large and in charge of the Hunters' network and tinkering with old cars in the scrapyard. Life had been far from perfect, but it hadn't been half bad, either. Of course, he supposed he didn't have much to complain about in his current situation. Now he ran the show in Heaven instead, he still got to hang around with the boys from time to time, and he sure as hell didn't have to worry about aching limbs or hangovers. And if his romantic life was non-existent now, well, that was just the way it went.

"I need to ask you for a favour, Ro," Bobby said softly.

He brought Rowena into the bunker, and as she came into the library area, the witch stared at the brothers impassively. She didn't know Liz, so the red-haired witch looked at the tall blonde Angel with some interest. And then she stopped short, looking up at Frank. There was a tense moment as the two sized each other up. The animosity between them dated back to the time that Frank had been a Knight of Hell, at Crowley's right hand, and Rowena had been plotting against her son. Then, the witch hadn't helped matters years later, when she'd sent that teddy bear with the hex bag in it to Frank's house. He'd never found out what that thing would have done to them because it had been destroyed shortly after it had arrived, but Frank didn't care. They had been planning to put that bear in Angela's nursery. In his newborn daughter's nursery.

Rowena looked up at Frank. He was heavier now, and his face was more wrinkled. Before Bobby had brought her inside, he had informed her of Frank's loss, and he'd asked Rowena to be decent about it. She'd been a little taken aback by that, but then the witch had realized that she'd had very little to do with any of them in recent years, nor they with her. They had no way of knowing that she'd been sincere in her resolve to change. Maybe the expression "turning over a new leaf" was going a little overboard, but Rowena had realized that it was pointless to run around concocting plots and schemes that had no purpose. When Raguel had shown her how she might end up if the Book of Life was used in a certain way, that had given Rowena a bit of a wake-up call. She planned on living a long, long time, but she couldn't keep on poking the hornet's nest or else her existence was going to be a miserable one, filled with bitterness and regret. She had thought for a while that revenge was the answer, but when she had decided to just let that go, life had suddenly been much more enjoyable.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Rowena said to Frank now, and they all exchanged astonished glances.

"Thanks," Frank said tersely. But that had still been the most civilized exchange the two of them had ever had.

Bobby winked Cas, Gail and Gabriel to the library area, and Rowena was absolutely gobsmacked at the way they were behaving. And more than a little amused, as well. Gabriel was excitedly telling the other two about a magic show he had seen on TV. Gail had brought her milkshake with her, announcing she wanted to share, and she'd given both Cas and Gabriel sips from her cup. Cas was looking at her hand, and it looked like he was trying to work up the courage to take it in his. For the moment, the three of them were back to being cute. Maybe the separation had worked. It was certainly a lot more peaceful when the three of them were getting along.

"So? Can you fix them?" Bobby asked Rowena.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I've never seen this before. It looks like an Aging spell, gone wrong."

"An Aging spell?" Sam exclaimed. "Is there such a thing?"

"Yes, of course there is, Samuel. I should know. I perfected it, myself. Whoever cast this spell on the Angels clearly has no idea what they're doing. Though I must say, the results are fascinating. Are you sure we can't just leave them like this? They're simply adorable."

Cas was going for it. His hand was moving toward Gail's. She had been watching Gabriel as he tried to figure out the disappearing act he'd just seen on TV. He was waving his hand over the milkshake cup, saying "Abra cadabra", but it wasn't working. Gail giggled, and she looked at Cas to see if he was watching the magic show. She saw his hand moving slowly and bashfully towards hers, and Cas looked terrified when he saw that she had noticed. But then Gail took his hand in hers, and Cas's face lit up like a hundred Christmas trees.

"Look at the wee things," Rowena said, smirking. "That's the best-behaved I've ever seen them."

"OK, Ro, we've all had our fun," Bobby said, sighing wearily. "But, I need them back. Can ya reverse the spell, or not?"

She picked up the bottle of wine that Frank had brought from the house. "Is this what they drank?" When the others confirmed that it was, she gave it a sniff. Then she upended the bottle to her own lips and took a sip. Liz gasped, but Rowena smiled at the Angel indulgently. "I'm over three hundred years old, dearie. The most a couple of wee sips of that would do to ME would be to remove a laugh-line or two. If I had any. Which I don't." She took another small sip, swished the liquid around in her mouth, and then nodded. "Aye. I can mix up a cure. I'll just need a few basic ingredients, if you have them handy."

She told Sam and Dean what was required. They had everything on hand except for a fairy's tear, so Bobby winked himself over to their local occult shop and lifted one from their back room shelves. He guessed he wasn't setting a very good example, Bobby thought wryly, stealing from people the Hunters did business with. But this was an emergency, and fairies' tears were a son of a bitch to obtain.

Rowena mixed up the potion, and when it was ready, she remarked, "Now, I have to warn you: this will not taste very pleasant. And there is only enough for a few sips each, so we have to make sure they drink it, and not spit it out." She made a face. "Fergus used to spit out the goat's milk I got from one of the local farmers. Said it tasted like warm piss." She rolled her eyes. "Not that he was wrong, but still..."

Frank had to avert his face, because he was picturing Crowley like the Angels were now, pouting and calling Gabriel "smelly". Man, how he would have loved to have put the King of Hell in a time out, in the storage room where the Devil's Trap was.

But Sam had a solution for the dilemma about the taste of the potion. "Who wants more milkshakes?" he said to the Angels.

"Yayyyy!" Gail cheered, hopping off her chair.

"I'll race you," Cas said, nudging Gabriel.

"You're gonna lose!" Gabe said gleefully, and he started jostling with Cas.

"Ladies first!" Gail said, pushing both of them out of the way. Frank snickered as his adult sister, her husband the warrior, and an Archangel of the Lord all ran excitedly down the hall to get their chocolate milkshakes.

The cure had worked fairly quickly. By the time the Angels had reached the bottom of their cups, sucking loudly on the straws, they started to come around.

"Uh...what just happened?" Gabriel asked Sam warily.

"What do you remember?" Sam countered with.

Gabe looked curiously at his cup, then put it down on the table. "We were at the Frankster's place, drinking wine."

"So you don't remember anything about..." Dean started to say, and then he started to grin as Cas said, "What are you talking about? Why are we here, at the bunker?"

"And why am I drinking a chocolate milkshake?" Gail added, puzzled.

As the Winchesters were in the kitchen, pondering how much or how little they wanted to tell the Angels about their little adventure, or if they should just save the video Dean had surreptitiously shot for a special occasion, Bobby, Liz, Frank and Rowena were talking in the library area. After a bit of discussion, the brothers had decided that it might be a bit overwhelming for the Angels, who had still basically been children when they'd gone into the kitchen, to be stared at by all those people. So the four others had agreed to wait out in the library while the brothers administered the cure.

Liz was eyeing Rowena. She knew that the witch had been Gail's mother back in the Old World, and she also knew that there was no love lost between Rowena and Frank. They all had a bit of a strange history with Rowena, and Liz couldn't quite figure the woman out. She'd always thought that Rowena was evil. Yet, here she was, helping her so-called enemies so soon after she had helped the Angels by taking the cloaking spell off of Raguel. And the way she was looking at Bobby was interesting, too. Gail had told Liz in confidence that the two of them used to have "a thing", years ago.

"Crisis over," Sam announced. He and Dean emerged from the hallway with three slightly puzzled Angels trailing behind. The brothers had given them a thumbnail sketch of what had just transpired, making sure to tell them that Rowena was here, and that she had made the antidote.

"Thank you for helping us," Gail said to the redheaded witch.

Rowena was a wee bit surprised, to say the least. She looked at the three of them, waiting for a nasty comment, or a threat. But, none was forthcoming. She started to smile. Maybe they were turning the corner, as far as trusting her went. Maybe she and her daughter could have a civil relationship, going forward.

And that was when Frank slapped the handcuffs on her.

As soon as Rowena's name had been bandied about, the wheels in Frank's head had started to turn. Despite his and Jody's pact to leave things be, Frank had honestly thought that his wife would be in the Garden, waiting to ascend. After all, where the hell else would she have gone? No way would Jody have gone to Hell, or to Purgatory. No way. And as far as he knew, Limbo was only used by Death as a kind of parking lot, while he was deciding where to put somebody. But, what would there be to decide, in Jody's case?

But when Bobby had announced that Jody had been nowhere to be found in the Garden, Frank had started to panic a bit. And then, he had started to get angry.

He had called Liz's office number in Heaven, and when she'd answered, Frank had told her to find Gail, and ask Frank's sister to come see him at the house, and to come alone.

When she had, Frank had asked her if there was a way they could find out if Jody had gone to the Netherworld. Her forehead had wrinkled, and she'd said that she didn't think there was. Only Death would know for sure. But why wasn't Frank asking Cas about this?

There were a couple of reasons, Frank had told his sister. One was that he was under the impression that Cas wasn't exactly Death's favourite individual. Frank knew how Cas got, sometimes. He didn't want to rile Cas up by asking him about that.

Gail said that she guessed she could understand that, and what was the other reason?

Then Frank had told her what he really had in mind, and Gail had been floored. Absolutely floored. But, who was she to tell him he couldn't do it? Or, more to the point, who was she to tell him he SHOULDN'T do it? She'd done it once herself, and she would have done it a second time, too, if she'd just been able to find the damn book in the spot where it was supposed to have been. Oh, and to somehow come up with her dead husband's bones, which no longer existed. But Rowena's spell book was gone, and none of them knew where it was now. She'd reminded Frank of that fact.

So Gail had been under the impression that Frank had given up on the idea of doing the revival spell, just as she'd had to do when she had been frantically trying to find it to revive Cas, when he had died in Egypt. But as her brother put the cuffs on Rowena now, Gail got it. He had just been biding his time. They may not be blood relations, but she and Frank were brother and sister, all right. Just like Gail had refused to let a little thing like a missing spell book stand in her way when it came to reviving Cas, apparently, Frank wasn't going to let that deter him, either. She had to hand it to him; in a way, this was a stroke of brilliance.

But, in another way, Gail wondered if her brother might not have been better off just talking to Rowena first, rather than just slapping those handcuffs on her like that. Rowena's eyes flashed in anger, and then they narrowed.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, looking around the room at all of them. "I came here to help you, and I did!"

"Yeah, and then you were going to leave," Frank said to her. "I couldn't let that happen. Not until you write down the revival spell for me, and tell me how to do it."

Everybody was staring incredulously at Frank now, except for Gail, who was trying not to let on that she'd already kind of known. After her private conversation with Frank, Gail had thought that the subject was closed, so she had seen no reason to bring it up to Cas.

"What?!" Rowena sputtered. She shook the manacles in anger and frustration. "Why don't you just march over there to those shelves, and look it up yourself?"

"The book went missing from here a while back, and we don't know where it is," Sam replied.

Rowena was open-mouthed. "Are you telling me that my precious spells, my life's work..." She was so overcome with emotion that she had to collect herself for a moment. Then she looked angrily at Bobby. "That was a personal gift, from me to you."

"I know," Bobby said uncomfortably. "But at the time I opened it, Xavier was looking for any excuse to lynch me, or Cas, so I couldn't be seen with something like that."

"What you mean is that you couldn't have been seen with something like ME," Rowena said bitterly.

"Awww, now, Ro..." Bobby said uneasily. But he didn't correct her, either.

"Look, I'm not trying to piss you off," Frank said to the witch. "If I thought you would have helped me voluntarily, I might have done this differently. But you've always hated me. I couldn't afford to take that chance."

"What makes you think I'll help you NOW?" Rowena exclaimed indignantly. "A slave, in chains? Why SHOULD I help you? I feel nothing for you, only contempt! I saw what type of individual you became when you were at my son's right hand. I don't owe any of you anything. And even if I were inclined to help you, you would just kill me afterwards, wouldn't you? Most of you in this room have threatened to kill me numerous times, haven't you? Even my own daughter killed me, years ago!" Rowena let out a frustrated breath. "Just when I thought I could extend the olive branch," she said aloud, but it was as if she was talking to herself now. "Just when I thought that I was finally able to be regarded as a person with actual feelings, and not just some...witch, who is to be hated, and vilified..." She would not cry. She would not give them the satisfaction.

Rowena's eyes blazed as she looked at Gail. "You know, I really thought that you, of all people, would understand. Were you not burned at the stake by the hand of my son, simply because you fell in love? Were you not sentenced to death for witchcraft, because you were trying to hold onto that love? Don't you see that if we don't stand up for ourselves, this kind of thing is going to keep on happening, time and time again?" She looked up at Frank defiantly. "Set me free."

"I need the spell, first," he insisted stubbornly.

Rowena looked at Gail again, and her expression was furious. "I am your mother, and this man is no blood relation to you," she said to Gail. "None whatsoever. How would you feel if it was YOU who was shackled? What would YOU do?"

Gail's lips tightened, but she said, "Frank raised me all those years, and kept me safe. And the fact that he did all that for me when it turns out that we weren't even related, and the fact that he KNEW we weren't...That will always make me choose him. Always. Maybe if you hadn't plotted and schemed against me and my family for all those years...and, by the way, how DARE you appeal to me on the basis that we've both been oppressed? I've been oppressed plenty, but I never sent anybody a teddy bear with a cursed object in it that was meant to harm a little baby!"

"Do you know what was in that bag? Potpourri!" Rowena blurted out. "That was all! I admit that I thought about cursing you and your family, Frank. Look at the history we have. To me, you were just one more man who was looking to subjugate me. I was the King of Hell's own mother, but it was you who he wanted at his right hand. It was the 'Old Boys' Club'. Just like everywhere. No matter where I went, no matter what the era, it was always the same. I had so much to offer, but because I had breasts and a vagina, I was always pushed aside. Marginalized. Ill-used. Fergus. Lucifer. Raguel. Vincent. And, you lot. You were the only one who showed me any sort of human affection, Bobby. But, you're quite right. You're God now, and I'm just a wicked witch." She glared up at Frank again. "Why should I help you get your love back? Where's MY love? Everyone was so ready to take you back from Hell and welcome you with open arms, despite all the horrible things you'd done. And, I'll admit, you do appear to have turned yourself around. But then why is it that when I try to do the same thing, no one will even give me the benefit of the doubt? I just cured three very powerful Angels, any one of whom could kill me without batting an eye, and yet, you all look at me as if I were a disease. Now release me, immediately!"

Suddenly, they were all standing in the storeroom, where the Devil's Trap chair was. Rowena was handcuffed to the chair, and she screamed and stamped her feet in a frustrated rage. "Why are you doing this to me?" she asked them. "On second thought, you know what? It doesn't even matter. You had better kill me now, because if you don't, you will regret it. I'll curse you all so badly you'll wish that you had heeded my warning."

"Calm down, Ro," Bobby said, frowning deeply. "We just need to talk for a minute, in private."

He popped them all back out into the library area. "What are ya doing, Frank?" he asked Gail's brother.

"What the hell do you think?" Frank retorted. "We're going to hold her here until she agrees to give us the revival spell, we'll use it, and then as soon as we get Jody back, we'll let her go. I'm not suggesting we actually kill her."

"You're not?" Bobby said skeptically.

"No, I'm not," Frank said earnestly. He sighed. "Look, Bobby. I don't know if I believe that 'potpourri' stuff or not. But I have to admit, a couple of the things she said hit home to me. I didn't used to be a very nice individual back then, to say the least. So I shouldn't be going around telling anybody they can't change, if they're really sincere about it. I'll tell you what, Bobby. Let me go in there and talk to her for a minute, human being to human being. I realize now that I shouldn't have been so heavy-handed. I just want to see if I can persuade her to help me. Please, Bobby. I can't stand it without Jody. We need her back. I need her back. We got Dean back the same way, didn't we? We could be a family again, Bobby. Please. Angela asks me every night where her Mommy is. Why isn't she an Angel, like her Auntie Gail, and her Uncle Cas? Like YOU?"

Bobby's stomach clenched. That poor little girl. If there was a chance that Rowena could help them get Jody back, shouldn't they explore that? If she would help them willingly, without anybody getting hurt, why would Bobby want to stand in the way of that? He missed Jody, too.

Bobby sighed. "OK, Frank. Go talk to her. But let me give you a free piece of advice: don't threaten her. Just talk. She'll respond way better that way. Oh, and Frank?"

"Yeah, Bobby?" Gail's brother said.

"Raise your arms."

Patricia had decided to take a chance once more. Hopefully, the red file would be back in its rightful place by now. Bobby had always been a fairly efficient administrator, and Jody's funeral had been a couple of months ago.

She popped into the executive wing, near where Gail and Castiel's offices were. The area was deserted now, as she had suspected that it would be. But it was a good vantage point from where to check the reception area for the High Office. She was pleased to see that Laurel wasn't at her desk. Patricia hoped that meant that Laurel was getting on with things, now that Chuck was gone. She moved quickly over to the cabinet where the red files were kept and put her hand on the security panel. It opened up, right away. Either no one knew that anyone who had held the High Office could access the cabinet, or they had just decided to leave the system in place. The panel swung open, and she sifted through the files that were there. It wasn't here! Unbelievable. It still wasn't here. Patricia let out a frustrated breath. Raguel had been concerned that Castiel might have the file, but Patricia didn't think he did. If he had it, the Angels would have changed the status quo by now. Patricia was sure of it. Castiel had done so many terrible things in his past. He'd made so many mistakes. There was no way he would be able to resist.

"Patricia?!" Laurel exclaimed. "What are YOU doing here?"

Everyone was exchanging nervous glances, but Bobby told Frank that he would give him his chance. He had frisked Gail's brother from head to toe, just to be on the safe side. Frank was unarmed. So he was in the storeroom talking to Rowena right now, and the fifteen-minute limit that Bobby had given him was almost up.

Gail was feeling extremely ambivalent right now. Although she was firmly in her brother's corner, she realized that Rowena had made some valid points, as well. Gail could certainly relate to the feeling of being marginalized simply because she was a female. It had taken her quite some time to wade through the Old Boys' Club in Heaven, and even once they'd gotten rid of the Upper Echelon, she had still had to deal with others, who didn't seem to think she had the right to be where she was right now. Even some of her peers, like the Heavenly Hostesses, had felt that way.

But womens' rights aside, there was one other thing that was especially bothering Gail about this situation. Her brother had lied to Bobby. Out-and-out lied. Angela didn't ask where her mother was, or why Jody wasn't an Angel. Gail knew she didn't. Frank had deliberately manipulated Bobby by playing on his emotions, and his love for his de facto granddaughter. That wasn't like Frank. But then again, this was uncharted territory for them, and Gail knew from first-hand experience that losing the love of your life could cause you to say and do crazy things. She herself had voluntarily gone to Hell to try to convince Crowley to bring Cas back, and if that wasn't Crazy Town, she didn't know what was. At least Frank wasn't doing something like THAT.

Bobby sighed heavily. Frank's fifteen minutes were up, and there was no sense in prolonging things. If Rowena had been inclined to help them, she would have said so by now. But, as bad as Frank and the rest of them wanted Jody back, as bad as Bobby himself wanted her back, he was not going to be a party to holding Rowena prisoner, or worse, to force her cooperation.

But just as Bobby was about to wink himself over to the storeroom, Frank emerged from the hallway, and Rowena was with him.

"We've made a deal," Frank announced.

"How are you here?" Laurel asked Patricia in a shaky voice. "You're not an Angel anymore."

"Oh, but I am," Patricia said calmly. She wasn't happy to have been discovered here, but it could have been worse. It could have been Bobby, or Castiel. Laurel, she could handle. "Raguel made me an Angel again," Patricia continued.

"I didn't know Archangels could do that," Laurel said, astonished.

"Archangels can do many things," Patricia said to the girl. "You just haven't seen a good example of one. Gabriel is a disgrace to the Exalted status of Archangel. He is a drunken and depraved ne'er-do-well, with the morals of a gutter rat."

Laurel's eyes widened. "But, he seems so nice."

"Of course he's nice," Patricia said slyly. "All of the best con men are."

"Well, it doesn't matter. You shouldn't be here," Laurel stated matter-of-factly. "And what are you doing at the Confidential file cabinet?" She moved forward. "I'm calling Bobby."

"No, wait," Patricia said hastily. "Let me ask you something, Laurel. Where IS Bobby right now?"

"He's on Earth. He got an emergency call from Frank," Laurel responded. She wasn't sure why she was telling Patricia this. It was really none of her business. But Laurel had worked for the occupants of the High Office for years now, Patricia had once been God, and old habits died hard.

"Of course. Of course he did," the older Angel said, nodding slowly. She was very careful with her tone, though, because she knew that Laurel had quite a bit of affection for Bobby. But Patricia had an idea now. She could see it in Laurel's face. "Let me ask you something else, Laurel. Did Bobby ever offer to revive Chuck, before he stuck him away in the alcove, to be forgotten?"

Laurel was shocked. "No, but..."

"Yet, Dean Winchester was killed in the battle to defeat Lucifer, and now, he lives," Patricia said, pressing her point. "And so does Castiel, even though he died in Egypt. So how do you suppose it's possible that the two of them live, but your husband does not?"

It had been a calculated risk, but it seemed to be paying off. Laurel started to cry.

"I don't know," she said after a moment. "Everybody always talks about Jody. Jody, Jody, Jody. And don't get me wrong, I liked Jody, and I feel badly for them, I really do, but...nobody even mentions Chuck anymore! It's like he never even existed! Bobby told me he wasn't in the Garden, but that wasn't particularly surprising, because he'd been in Hell, years ago. And that broke my heart, but I had no choice but to understand, because it was true. But then, I thought about it. Dean Winchester was in Hell, too, and Father sent Castiel to get him! I know that Chuck wasn't a saint. I know that. But, neither are any of the others! Frank was a Knight of Hell. Dean tortured people when he was there. And, Castiel..." But then Laurel closed her mouth with a snap. Maybe she was feeling as if she'd gone too far, Patricia thought with amusement. But, this was perfect. Just perfect.

Patricia laughed contemptuously. "Let me educate you about some home truths, my girl. If they had wanted to, they could have saved Chuck. Castiel has made those kinds of back-room deals before, many times. The simple, unvarnished truth is that they all hated Chuck. Do you think they ever really forgave him for everything he did in the past? Do you? When Castiel was in prison and I gave him a truth serum to get him to confess to his crimes, he told me that he would never, ever forgive Chuck for the past." Patricia was lying through her teeth now, but she also saw an opportunity, and she intended to take it.

Laurel was regarding Patricia dubiously, but the older Angel knew that she was making inroads with Chuck's widow. Planting the seeds of doubt. If Laurel had truly wanted to, she would have called Bobby or Castiel to come here by now. But, Laurel herself still needed a bit of convincing. "But...Bobby's God, now," Laurel said hesitantly, "not Castiel."

Patricia gave her an indulgent look. "Wake up, Laurel. I know that you and Bobby have an affectionate relationship, and I agree that Bobby is a good man. But he is no better than Castiel's puppet. He always has been. If Castiel does not want Chuck back, he will not come back. It's as simple as that. They don't care how you feel about it. If you're not in their precious inner circle, you don't matter. Why do you think that Lucifer was able to rape me, right there in that office? Because I prayed to Castiel, begging him for help, and he turned a deaf ear to my pleas. But I promise you this, Laurel: If Raguel is able to obtain the Book of Life, he will shape Heaven in our Father's image, the way it should be. Without all of these liars, and fornicators, and Sinners. I was here to look for the red file that is labelled 'The Book Of Life'. If we can obtain the Book, we are determined to make that happen, for the benefit of us all. They have been playing by their own rules for far too long, Laurel, and it is all of us who have suffered for it."

"Raguel is the one who murdered Chuck!" Laurel exclaimed, horrified at what Patricia was saying now.

Patricia gambled again. "Who told you that? Castiel? Perhaps he told you that so you would not suspect the truth."

"The truth?" Laurel echoed, alarmed. "What do you mean? What are you saying?"

"Let's see if we can figure it out," Patricia said, with a touch of sarcasm. The idea had just occurred to her, but if it worked, it would be a stroke of genius. And if not, well, Patricia was not making any direct allegations, was she? She was merely hypothesizing, she could claim. It was Laurel who was going to reach her own conclusions. The girl was obviously gullible. After all, Chuck had persuaded her to marry him, hadn't he?

Patricia went on: "The only two supposed eyewitnesses to 'Raguel's' murder of Chuck were Paul and Gail. Correct?"

"Yes," Laurel said hesitantly.

"Paul was once a Demon, in Lucifer's employ," Patricia pointed out. "Yet here he is, in Heaven, going on missions with Exalted Angels. He is the beneficiary of one of Castiel's back-room deals. He will say whatever Castiel directs him to say, in order to be allowed to stay in Heaven. And, as for Gail? Well, what do YOU think?"

Laurel wanted to stand there and tell Patricia that she was a liar, that Laurel and Chuck's friends would never...But then, she thought back to that night. She had been in shock, but she seemed to recall that Bobby and Castiel had already been outside when she'd gotten there, and hadn't they all been exchanging furtive glances? No; that was ridiculous. "Why would Castiel murder Chuck?" she asked Patricia now.

"Chuck was a Prophet, was he not?" Patricia said by way of a reply. "Perhaps he knew something that Castiel did not want known." She was reaching now, but to Patricia's delight, Laurel's mouth fell open. "The letter," Chuck's widow said, dazed.

"What's that, dear?" Patricia asked her. Laurel told her about the envelope that Chuck had said she should deliver to Cas. Laurel had never read its contents.

Patricia nodded, as if she had suspected that all along. "So, you see? Chuck must have trusted Castiel with whatever he saw would happen in the future, and Castiel must not have liked what he read."

"But, Cas didn't receive the envelope until after Chuck was already dead," Laurel pointed out.

Patricia's lips tightened. She had overreached a bit, there. She tried to do some damage control. "Fine. But we don't know what other conversations they may have had, do we? Or maybe Chuck said something to Gail, or to Paul. Didn't Chuck and Paul celebrate their bachelor party on Earth together? Perhaps Chuck said something to Paul then. In any event, it would appear that you have been placing your trust in the wrong people, Laurel. I have seen much over the centuries, and I have been heartbroken to see Heaven deteriorate into what it has become. Bobby means well, but he is too soft-hearted and trusting when it comes to Castiel and Gail. And now, we have the likes of Gabriel and Paul, pulling the wool over his eyes, too. Think about it, Laurel. Paul was a Demon, working for Lucifer. Your poor husband was sent to Hell on a misunderstanding, mainly because the Father took Castiel's word over his. It was Bobby who was good enough to bring Chuck back here where he belonged, after our Father retired. But Castiel never forgave, and he never forgot about any of the perceived slights he had received from Chuck. But there was nothing he could do about it at the time. Meanwhile, Chuck thought that they were his friends. He took up for Castiel when he was being tried for his war crimes, and how did they repay him? By casting him aside, and abandoning you. Isn't that true, Laurel?"

The younger Angel was astonished. That had been quite the speech that Patricia had just made. But it had had the desired effect. The point that Patricia had made about Paul had been an especially sharp one. Laurel couldn't help but contrast the two men. It was as Patricia had said: Chuck hadn't been in Hell for that long in the grand scheme of things, had he? If Bobby had seen fit to ascend him, then that had to count for something, because Bobby was an extremely good, honourable man. Laurel was glad that Patricia wasn't saying anything bad about Bobby, because she wouldn't stand for that. But Patricia was hammering the point home: Castiel, Castiel, Castiel. It all came down to Cas. And there was something else that Laurel knew, which Patricia hadn't mentioned: when Bobby had ascended Chuck, way back when, Laurel remembered that Castiel had stormed into the High Office with Gail traipsing behind him, seething mad that Bobby had done that. That certainly added more credence to what Patricia was saying, didn't it? And Patricia hadn't been here that day; only Laurel had been.

Castiel, Castiel, Castiel. When he had taken the Office, he had told Laurel that he didn't need a receptionist. Why? Had he been plotting against Chuck even back then, and had he not wanted Chuck's girlfriend around because of that? Had he been hiding other things, as well? And how complicit was Gail in all of this? She had supposedly been Chuck's friend too, but was Gail a schemer also, or was she just too intimidated by and attracted to her husband's power and position to speak up for what was right?

Patricia went in for the kill. "If Raguel and I can obtain the Book of Life, we can make everything right again. If you will help us, Laurel, I vow to you that the first thing we will do is to ascend Chuck, to be the One True Prophet again. As he should be. Then the two of you can have the marriage that you deserve. The one that you were denied. All I need is that red file. Will you help me?"

Laurel approached Patricia slowly, scrutinizing the woman's face. She moved past Patricia to stand behind the reception desk. Her hand hovered. The drawer, or the telephone? Shouldn't she call Bobby right now, and let him decide what to do? But, Bobby was with Castiel.

Laurel got the keys to Bobby's office out of the drawer, unlocking the door to the High Office.

- END OF BOOK 40. -