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The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.
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A Wandering Boy
Chapter 31
Back Home
From Chapter 30
As he strained inside the vison it became clear to him that he knew this person. This man striding forward was someone he had once known and forgotten; a fragment from a different life. Just as the vision began to fade away he realized the man was a guy named Danny Tower that he had known at Stanford. The man had been part of Sam's study group and had tried to make friends with Sam.
At the time Sam had been making up his mind that he was leaving school and he pretty much snubbed the guy's advances. Now here the man was again; inside Sam's vision, standing at the entrance to Bobby's house.
The vision faded and Sam's headache began to go away, leaving behind a definite tenderness above his eyes. He could hear Castiel opening the rear door and the groceries going on to the back seat. Castiel opened the driver's door and got into the car. The Angel turned to Sam and put one hand on the man's shoulder and with the other cupped Sam's face. With cool fingers he soothed the tenderness from above Sam's eyes.
"The vision is over, right?' Castiel asked. "You should sleep now. Don't worry about anything. I'll get us home. "
Chapter 31
Sam slept all the way back to Bobby's place. Back at Bobby's Cas carried in the groceries then went back to help Sam negotiate the stairs. Sam smiled at the solicitous Angel.
"It's alright, Cas. Don't worry." Sam held on to the railing and climbed the stairs. Bobby had raised his eyebrows at the sight of Cas leading Sam to the kitchen table holding on to an elbow but he just went on making coffee.
"Hey, Sam," the Hunter said. "You need some coffee? You look a little ragged. What's up with you?"
"That would be nice, Bobby. I had one of my headaches hit while we were in the grocery store. It's a good thing Cas was there or you might have had the Manager call you to come scrape me up off the floor." Bobby handed Sam a cup of steaming brew. "That hasn't happened in quite a while, has it?" Bobby asked.
Castiel sat at the table staring into his cup of black coffee. This was another one of those 'taste' adventures that Sam was urging him to experience. This coffee substance was one of the more difficult one for the angel to grasp. From what he could perceive this hot drink was more of a drug than a food.
"Tell Bobby about your vision, Sam." Castiel said casually.
Bobby Singer's head snapped up. "A vision? What vision is he talking about Sam? I don't know anything about you having visions."
Sam spun his cup back and forth between his hands and stared at it, avoiding Bobby's eyes. "Sorry, Bobby, I should have told you a long time ago. Those headaches of mine? Sometimes they end with a vision of some other place, some other time."
"Is this going to be a problem Bobby? " Sam continued. "You've worked with psychics before. You've learned to trust them. What about Pam Barnes? What about the one in Lawrence; Missouri Mosley? You don't have problems with them, do you? You even recommended Pam to other Hunters. I've heard you."
"Well, boy, you're right there. But they don't try to hide their gift. I should have been told that a psychic was living under my roof. What else haven't you told me?" Bobby was defensive.
Sam put his hands up. 'Nothing, Bobby. I swear; just the visions. I don't know when one is going to hit. There's no warning. I know that some of them have come true and some of them are things that happened in the past. Some of them have never happened. I can't control them. The one I just had at the store bothered me more than most. I saw someone in it I used to know, a guy from Stanford called Danny Tower. I saw him walking up the driveway right outside and if didn't feel right."
"Well I haven't seen any strangers around today," Bobby said. "We'll just have to wait and see how this 'vision' of yours pans out won't we?"
Castiel spoke up. "I thought you knew about the visions, Bobby. You knew about the headaches. I could help perhaps by searching for this man, Danny Tower. I can at least discover if he is here in Sioux Falls."
Cas extended his hand. "If you let me, Sam, I can see the image of this man in your mind. It will aid my search greatly." Sam nodded yes, Castiel touched his forehead and the angel disappeared.
Bobby put his cup down. "Damn, when he says he's going to go he don't waste any time, does he?"
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The group In Principal Angelus's office broke up. Ray Bernstein went back to his class; Mrs. Jeloke went back to her office. The final decision was left in Gabriel's lap. What, if anything, should he do about the tattooed Winchester boy? He stood at his window and stared out over the playground. It was a hard call. All of Sioux Falls knew about the 'heroes' who had rescued a little boy from a child molester.
Gabriel didn't want to create problems for the Winchester family. He remembered the couple coming in for the Parent-Teacher conference. It had all seemed so clear then. He truly believed he had handled Dean's problem effectively. Now he had to wonder. Was there something else behind Dean's occasional violent episodes?
Gabriel felt he had a responsibility to both the school and to Dean's welfare. It also didn't hurt that Dean's dad was gorgeous. Maybe a personal visit out to Singer Salvage was in order; just to cover the school's liability, of course.
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Crowley sat on his wooden throne, his mother hanging around behind and to the side. In his hands was the agreement with the Angel. He rubbed his thumb meditatively over Castiel's name, humming to himself.
"Mother," he said "come closer."
Rowena smiled and fawned over him, leaning on the arm of his chair. "Yes, my darling boy. What do you want your mother to do, dear?"
"Shutting your mouth would be nice, you're drooling on my sleeve. " Rowena did that annoying motherly thing of using a spit dampened finger to smooth his eyebrow.
"I swear Mother. If you do that one more time I'm going to have your fingers baked into a pie and fed to the dogs." Crowley growled.
Rowena tossed her red hair coquettishly although who she was trying to attract was a question too unpleasant to think about. "Do we have dogs, now, Wee Sausage? I've never seen dogs."
"Shut up, Mother." He said again, dropping his head against the chair back and closing his eyes. "Come here, you witch." He held out Castiel's agreement. "What do you smell here?"
"Oh, darling," Rowena sharply withdrew from the contract thrust under her nose. "Where did you get that filthy thing? It stinks of sanctity and heaven. Burn it, burn it now." She held her hand in front of her face and backed away.
"Come now, Mother." Crowley sneered. "You're a three hundred year old witch. Not only have you smelled worse things in all those centuries, I'm willing to bet a lot of them have ended up in your mouth." He snickered at the way she glared back at him.
"Now, tell me, Mother. This is the blood of the vessel of an Angel. Surely, somewhere in all those years you must have come across a use for such a thing?" Crowley glared at her. "I know you used the spell of Titania to follow me above ground. I know a lot you don't think I know. I know about Gerald. I know about Godfrey. Now, Mother Dear," he sneered. "I need you to be of some use to me. I have tolerated your little plots and schemes. I know what kind of a creature I am harboring. I am the son of a Witch, not an idiot."
"What is my darling?" Rowena mewled. "What can I do to aid you my son? I am your mother; I'll do anything for you." Rowena curtsied, sweeping her dress back and lowering her head.
"Oh for Satan's sake," Crowley swore. "I want to know what this vessel knows. I want to know where this vessel goes. I want him watched. Use your abilities woman. Watch him and get your eyes off my throne. "
Crowley twisted away from her in his chair then turned back again. "And stand up straight. You look ridiculous."
"I am giving my King his proper obeisance," Rowena huffed back.
"I'm not the damn Rose Queen," Crowley replied. "I'm the King of Hell and I'm telling you to watch where you put your delicate foot, Mother. If you're not careful I'll introduce you to the rack room and poor Alistair's replacement, Astaroth, a prince of Thrones and an artist in his own right."
"Now, here, take this," he shook the contract in her face. "Do whatever you need to do to make me happy but be very, very sure you don't destroy that document. I need it back."
Rowena took the contract from her son's hand and swept out of the room, pushing demons out of her way, her head held high.
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Bobby and Sam were still at the kitchen table, drinking beer. Castiel had left some time ago and Sam was wondering where his Angel had gone. Castiel could search the world in a moment if he so desired. Why was the search for Danny Tower taking so long?
There was a scrabbling at the front door and Rumsfeld was barking her 'look what I found' bark. She sounded happy. The door slammed open and Dean shouted out "I'm home."
A moment later the pre-teen was in the kitchen, dropping his back pack by the door. Rumsfeld was rubbing herself against his legs and he was scratching her ears. She was so happy her rear end was quivering. Her tongue was flapping and dripping. To Sam's surprise Castiel followed behind the boy and dog.
"Damn it dog," Bobby snapped. "Stop drooling on my kitchen floor." Rumsfeld's eyes fasten on the man's face and she shut her mouth. "Good idea, dog." Bobby grumbled. "That's right. You know who has the kibble around here, don't you?" Now Bobby was rubbing the Rottie's big head. Rumsfeld version of heaven was Bobby's kitchen, complete with her favorite humans and her food bowl.
"So how was school today, Dean?" Sam asked. He also waved at Castiel and nodded to the chair beside him. When the Angel sat down Sam pulled another beer out of the six pack on the counter and handed it to the Angel.
"It was OK," Dean answered Sam's question slowly. "I might have screwed up a little bit."
"Oh and how was that?" Sam asked as he took another swallow of beer.
"I was showing my tattoo to Kerman and some other kids saw it. Then the gym teacher came over and he saw it too."
"Damn it Dean," Bobby cut in. "You were supposed to keep that to yourself."
"I know," Dean traced a pattern on the table with a thumb nail, "It's going to be alright though. Mr. Bernstein said he'd tell Principal Angelus about it so I wouldn't have to. He said they'd just make a note in my file that it had something to do with my religion. That was it. Nobody else said anything else to me all day."
Bobby murmured, 'We'll have to see how that works out. Lots of stuff coming isn't there? Hey, Feathers," he turned to Castiel. "Did you find what you were looking for? Is this guy Tower around anyplace?"
Castiel glanced at Sam. "Yes, he's here in Sioux Falls. I found out something about him." The Angel hesitated. "We can talk about it after dinner, I think." Castiel slid his eyes sideways and looked at Dean, obviously not wanting to speak in front of the boy.
Catching on, Bobby rose up from his chair. "About dinner, if I don't get a move one we're all going to be eating with the dog. How about chili and cornbread?"
"Bobby," Sam remarked. "We can't live on chili; especially your five alarm stuff. We're all going to end up with holes burned in our stomachs."
"Shut up kid," Bobby snarked back. "I've been eating it all my life and I'm still good."
"Not all of us are born with lead lined guts, Bobby." Sam shot back.