"What do you mean, no time traveling?! Uncle Balthazar did it once!"
Charlie was sitting at the dinner table with her family.
"Yes, and Uncle Balthazar also un-sank the Titanic," Dean said without looking at his feistiest daughter. Charlie paused in the middle of her complaining. A look of confusion passed over her features as she tried to work out the puzzle in her head.
"Why would he do that?" Dean smiled at the memory as he set down his fork.
"He has issues with Celine Dion." Charlie rolled her eyes and stabbed her meat angrily.
She had always wanted to time travel. She's heard the stories with Balthazar and Dean and Uncle Sammy.
Unfortunately, Cassie was on a date with Cole and couldn't help with her case.
"Dad! Tell, Dad that he's being completely unreasonable!" Castiel locked his blue eyes with Charlie's green ones. He used his Angel Mojo, as she had dubbed it, to show her the scenes of time travel gone horribly wrong. Charlie just stuck out her lower lip and widened her eyes.
She perfectly mimicked Cas's puppy eyes look. Dean looked at Charlie and shook his head, not swayed by her look. She groaned dramatically, dropping her silverware and almost falling out of her chair.
"What did you do to the poor girl this time, Dean?" someone asked. Charlie perked up immediately.
"Uncle Balthazar!" She shot out of her chair to go and hug her favorite uncle.
"Oh, he's your favorite uncle?" Castiel sighed wearily. The angels had invaded his home (and his family's thoughts) twice that month.
"Of course not, Gabe! He's my second favorite," Charlie said without thinking. Dean snorted.
"Wow, Charlie, if you dig this hole any deeper, you can bury yourself in it." Charlie rolled her eyes. Sometimes, Dean forgot that he was talking to his daughter and not a friend. She would just snap back with another witty comment that would almost get her grounded.
"Keep calm guys. There's always Cassie." A devilish idea popped into Charlie's head.
"But… while Cassie's gone…" Charlie leaned forward and whispered into Balthazar's ear.
"Balthazar, no," Dean said sternly.
"Calm down, dad. It's not time travel. It's a trip to Heaven!"
Charlie and the angels poofed out before either of the men could react.
Oh, god, that's so cliché.
Charlie thought that because the first thing she saw was white. There wasn't anything, just an endless vortex of white. Within seconds, it morphed into a scene of a ballroom. There where couples whirling about dressed in Victorian era clothing.
"Where are we?" Charlie asked.
"The heaven of Queen Victoria," Balthazar said. Charlie looked around the magnificent ballroom.
"I… I thought that heaven was just one place…"
"No, actually, there's a heaven for every person. Sometimes it is very small: one room or one moment. Other times, it's very big: a town or a state." Charlie looked down at her clothes.
She was clothed in something that felt like silk. It was a dark purple color with trimming of white. It puffed out behind her and her white gloves reached up to her elbows. Everything was historically accurate.
"This is awesome!" Charlie reached a gloved hand up to touch her hair. It was pinned up in curls with one piece hanging down by her cheek.
Charlie tore her gaze away from the scene before her to look at the angel that brought her there. Balthazar was also dressed in Victorian era clothing. He offered a hand.
"Care to dance?" Charlie started to say that she didn't know how.
"I think you'll find that you do know how." Charlie took his hand and walked to the crowd of people. Balthazar was right; waltzing came effortlessly to her. They danced for quite a while before a question nagged at the back of Charlie's mind.
"It's Queen Victoria's heaven. Anyone who enters has the ability to join in the party." Charlie looked around once more. There were people who were drinking, eating, laughing, talking. It did seem like a party.
"What's the party for?" Balthazar shrugged his shoulders.
"How should I know? This is Her Majesty's subconscious of course. I think that you may enjoy the next one better."
In another bright flash of light, Charlie was longer waltzing with Balthazar or conversing about the Queen's mind. It was a busy restaurant. There was an older woman at the bar serving drinks and a young lady taking orders. She noticed that two of the people sitting at the bar were very familiar.
"See something familiar, chubby cheeks?" Charlie scoffed and turned to see Gabriel setting down a drink.
"Very funny, Gabe. Is that Dad?" Gabe nodded and stood up from his table.
"And Sammy. That woman over there is…"
"Ellen." Charlie recognized the woman from old photos.
"And that's…"
"Joanna Beth Harvelle. This is the heaven she shares with her mother." Jo and Ellen looked happy. Ellen slid a drink over to Dean and Jo set a plate down in front of Sam.
Charlie knew that this scene should mean more to her. She just had a sense of detachment and interruption.
She was intruding on someone's heaven. Someone that her dad knew.
Charlie had heard the stories about Jo and Ellen and how brave they were. It took years of persuading to get the story out of Dean and he could barely hold it together throughout the story. Charlie looked down at her outfit.
"This is what Jo wears in all of her pictures," Charlie said a quiet amazement.
A green jacket, gray shirt, and jeans.
"I want to go." Charlie's outburst startled the archangel.
"Where do you…"
"I don't care! Just get me out of here!"
"Are you okay, miss?" A warm hand grasped Charlie's and hauled her to her feet. Charlie opened her eyes and was faced with the warmest blue eyes she'd ever seen. It was probably the first time that Charlie had ever been truly struck speechless.
"Um… hi." She was close enough to this boy that their breaths mingled.
"Hi." Charlie took a step back and looked anywhere but at the boy.
She was on a stone sidewalk with people all around her. Floats went down the street, beaded necklaces were everywhere, and something smelled really good.
"Where am I?"
"New Orleans, 1925, Mardi Gras." Charlie looked at the boy who helped her up. He had blue eyes, brown hair, and a little smile on his face.
"I'm Samandriel, by the way."
"I'm…"
"Charlotte Winchester," Samandriel said immediately. Charlie smiled a little.
"So, now, why don't we go and enjoy Mardi Gras?" Samandriel asked, holding his arm out. Charlie took it, noticing the way that her dress swirled around her thighs. Charlie paused in front of a storefront. There was a mirror in the window.
Charlie could see that her dress was white with a lacy pattern and tassels on the end. Once again, she had long white gloves. Her black hair was bundled up on one side of her head, equal with her jaw and she had a white flower in her hair.
"Hm. I like it." Samandriel stood politely behind her waiting for her to finish. Charlie turned suddenly and almost fell again. Samandriel caught her, supporting her body with his. Samandriel smiled and Charlie turned the brightest shade of red.
"Let's go find some food," Charlie mumbled.
After what seemed like forever, Samandriel said that he had to get back to do angel stuff. He kissed Charlie's hand and vanished.
Charlie was back in her dining room, still in 1920s attire, just as Cassie walked in.
"Charlie? Why are you dressed like that?" Charlie stuttered something about heaven and Queen Victoria and Samandriel and ran upstairs. She quickly changed back into her old clothes and hung up her new ones.
She pulled the flower out of her hair and studied it.
It was nothing special but didn't seem to wilt any time soon. Charlie put it in front of her mirror, on the vanity.
She went to sleep with a big smile on her face and dreamt of Mardi Gras.
The next morning, an angel appeared with a message for Castiel.
Charlie walked in, clad in a sports bra and sweat pants and munching on a PopTart.
"Charlie, I don't believe you've met Samandriel." Charlie froze in eating her PopTart. Samandriel stood at the kitchen counter with Castiel.
"He and I will being working together for the next few weeks."
Charlie gasped, forgetting that she had food in her mouth, and started coughing. Samandriel turned red and stared intently at the ground. Cassie walked into the kitchen.
"Oh, who's…" Samandriel slid past Cassie, red as a tomato and deliberately avoiding eye contact.
"What's going…" Charlie shoved past her sister, trying to stifle her coughs.
Castiel went to the bedroom to wake Dean and alert him of their new housemate. Cassie, utterly confused, was left alone in the kitchen.
"Good morning?"
I AM SO SORRY IF I CAN'T WRITE SAMANDRIEL VERY WELL HE'S JUST A BIG SWEETIE AND I JUST
So, yes, this is an actual story now. Yay! My friend urged me to continue this and now the plot thickens and we have love interests! (And an awkward Samandriel but that's just a bonus.)
If you want anyone included, more drama, comedy, etc. let me know. I can always use ideas and prompts.
Remember, I live on reviews and I'm starving right now.
~Warrior