Chapter Three: Run

Gadreel's mind is reeling. Thousands of years of silence, pain and disgust from his brethren finds him staring through holy fire at a human who is looking at him as if he can help her. Even when Dean Winchester was asking him for his help to save Sam, there was a cautiousness about him. But Addison Weaver has no caution, no doubt. She believes him when he says he won't hurt her, she trusts him enough to break the holy fire ring and release him.

This is his second chance. He can not erase the things he did but he can certainly try to make up for them. Protecting the anchor, being the hero she thought he was, is a good place to start. He just wishes it could be done in another way other than holding an angel blade to her throat and feel her stiffen in fear even though this was her idea. He had been designed for protection, not for the violence he had been committing.

The Winchesters and Castiel are not the ones he's concerned with driving away so he makes eye contact with Jael. He remembers the Rit Ziens from his times with Thaddeus. His tormentor would sometimes have one on hand when he decided to get artistic. He had begged one to smite him once, to end it all but she had refused. They were the more compassionate of angels but staring down Jael, he could only see a bully determined to have her way.

Until she sees the blade against Addison's throat.

"Stop!" she shouts and all the angels she brought with her do as they're told.

Castiel and the Winchesters turn to see what has caused Jael's change of mind and it is Dean that sums up their expressions with an exasperated "sonofabitch."

"What do you want, Gadreel?" Jael asks.

Hearing his name from another angel takes him by surprise. But he realizes that she is a healer, of course she would have known who he was if she had spent any time in Heaven's prison. "I want you to leave."

Dean bristles. "Not happening, pal."

"I wasn't talking to you," Gadreel glances at Dean before turning back to Jael. "I was talking to her. You and your followers need to leave now."

Jael frowns but motions for her group to leave. Reluctantly, they retreat out of the garage.

"Now you need to go."

Jael shakes her head. "I can't do that."

Gadreel takes a deep breath and tightens his grip on Addison, who lets out a whimper. He clenches his jaw to keep the disgust he feels about his actions from showing. But Addison must be playing her part convincingly because Jael starts to look panicked.

"Wait! Just wait," she cries desperately. "I made her, alright. I made her the anchor. I know what that means for her, the things that she's going to experience. She needs guidance, I can offer that."

Addison emits another strained noise but Gadreel can hear the true emotion behind it: fear. Castiel and Winchesters look unconvinced but Addison taps his arm, a request to let her go now.

"I'll give you the angel blade," he whispers to her and she nods.

Her hand opens and he places the handle in her palm before stepping away from her, his hands raised. Sam and Dean don't hesitate to back him into the fire ring and close the gap with more holy oil. Addison stands where he left her, her grip half hearted on the angel blade. It is the best he can do for her, letting her hold a weapon even if she didn't know how to use it. However, all it takes is Jael's quick approach and Addison tightens her grip and points the blade in the angel's direction.

"I want answers, alright?" Addison says. "But I need a chance to digest some of these things. I need some time to myself."

"We can't let you go out there by yourself," Jael insists.

"Fine." Addison points to Gadreel. "He can come with me."

Dean scoffs. "What part of 'bad guy' did you not understand?"

She glares at Dean. "What part of him holding a knife to my neck and not hurting me did you fail to see? I told him to do that to clear the place. Right now, he's been the only one here who's had the opportunity to harm me and hasn't. I'm going home for a few hours to shower and wrap my head around this. You want me to have a babysitter, fine. I get to pick who it is."

Gadreel watches as Addison kicks the wooden board back down into the fire, giving him a way of escape again. But Dean is looking murderous and Addison is scared and tired so he stays where he is. Sometimes a cage is the safest place. But it is Sam that provides a third choice and breaks the standoff.

"Here, take these." He hands Addison a set of handcuffs and a key. "They have angel traps engraved in the metal. It'll protect you from him in case his motives are...not the best."

"Sam-" Dean starts but Sam cuts off his brother with a frown.

"Well, your way wasn't getting us anywhere." He looks down at Addison. "She wants to know she can trust us. So let's give her reason to."

Addison takes the cuffs from Sam and turns towards Gadreel. He can see it in her eyes the worry and the apology. She really doesn't want to do this. She does trust him. And its because of that he willingly steps out of the fire and puts his arms out towards her, letting her snap the cuffs around his wrists. Suddenly he's cut off from angel radio again. His power is tempered immensely to the point of making him feel ill. It's like being in Heaven's prison all over again.

Addison lays her jacket over his hands to hide the cuffs. "I'm sorry."

That takes him aback more than the cuffs. He had apologized for thousands of years, screamed it at the top of his lungs and no one listened. No one believe him. Having someone apologize to him has never happened before. And he refuses to do what everyone else had done to him: he answers her.

"It's okay." He tries to smile but the sick feeling of being cut off from all the angels makes it difficult.

Castiel steps forward. "You really should have one other person go with you. Someone that can actually defend you if needed."

Addison glances over to him before addressing Castiel. "Are you volunteering?"

"Yes."

"Fine. But that's it, no one else."

The sun is just starting to come up by the time Addy opens the front door of her home. She still struggles with the idea of living in the home that was actually her parents but she has no place else to go. She is thankful no one sold it while she languished for three years in a hospital bed. It was Matt and his family that maintained it for whatever the future held. Even though she is grateful for that, another part of her wishes for a completely fresh start.

"This is a lovely home."

Addy turns to see it was Cas who had spoken. "Well, it's certainly not Heaven."

He shrugs slightly. "No. It's much warmer than Heaven. More comfortable."

Addy looks at the other angel, Gadreel is what Jael called him, who is still cuffed. "Really?"

He shakes his head slightly as if he doesn't have an answer for her so she turns back to Cas who continues in his chatty mood.

"Heaven for humans is perfect, peaceful. Not so much for the angels."

Addy pulls out a pitcher of orange juice from the refrigerator and pours herself a glass. "Place of business for you guys?"

"Yes, very much so."

"Do you want anything to eat or drink?"

They both shake their heads.

"Okay then. Can you play nicely while I take a shower?"

Cas frowns at her. "Play what?"

"Monopoly."

"I've never played that game before."

Addy doesn't know whether to laugh or cry at the two confused looks she is getting. "Can you two get along while I take a shower?"

"Yes, we can," Cas agrees. "Though, do you have a basement?"

"Why?"

Cas' words seem to dry up so the other angel speaks up. "For my own safety. Dean and Sam Winchester are not very...forgiving towards things that I've done."

Addy narrows her eyes. "What did you do?"

Cas finds his words again. "He killed the Prophet."

"The prophet? Why?" She has no idea who "the prophet" is but she isn't sure what an angel anchor is either.

Gadreel shifts uncomfortably, the cuffs clinking against each other. "I was told he was a threat and needed to be eliminated."

"Who told you that?" Cas demands.

"Metatron."

Addy waves her hands. "Alright. I'm starting to get overwhelmed again. Yes, I have a basement. If it's in everyone's best interest, go ahead and take him down there but no pushing him down the stairs or beating him up or anything like that."

Cas frowns but nods. "Very well."

Addy opens the door that leads downstairs to the basement and waits just in case Cas decides to not abide by his promise to play nicely. It sounds fairly quiet so she goes up stairs and closes the door to her room, locking it. After a second thought, she takes her desk chair and lodges it underneath the doorknob.

She hadn't been lying when she said she needed time to sort these things out for herself but the questions just kept piling up. She goes to her closet and grabs a duffle bag, throwing clothes into it as quickly as possible. Once that task was done, she retrieves another bag from the back of her closet. This one is well-worn canvas and held even more questions for her.

When the family attorneys had been going over the will after she woke up, there were special instructions surrounding what was in the bag. She had been reeling from the discovery that her family was all gone that she couldn't remember what they had told her concerning the bag's contents. She had looked in it once but quickly closed it again as it all looked like junk tossed in there: containers of salt, lighters, knives and a bunch of old leather bound books. It was mostly like crap from a yard sale but the lawyers had handled it with care. Now, with two angels in her home and more on the way, she wondered if it contained more than she thought.

She also isn't prepared to head out on her own. She goes into the bathroom and turns on the shower so Cas won't get suspicious as to why she has barricaded herself in her room. Micah's room is on the other side of the bathroom and she slips in there. She tries not to think about her brother as she gathers up some his clothes and shoves them into his backpack he would take when he hiked. She doesn't know if the clothes will fit the angel in the basement but she takes them anyway.

With the three bags ready to go, she opens Micah's window which faces the back of the house. She drops all three into the bushes and hopes no one noticed. After no one comes to investigate, she climbs out of the window and climbs down the trellis as she had done hundreds of times in high school. When she drops to the ground, she's directly outside the basement window. Peering in, she sees that Gadreel is alone, sitting on one of the spare dining room chairs and still handcuffed.

Addy lifts the window and breathes a sigh of relief at finding it unlocked. But when she pokes her head through, Gadreel looks ready to shout so she puts her finger to her lips and he closes his mouth. She slips through the window and pulls the handcuff keys out of her pocket. She unlocks the cuffs and catches them before they fall to the ground. She motions over to the window and Gadreel, confused at the entire course of events, does as she wants and moves towards the window. Addy leaves the cuffs and key on the chair and goes back out the window. She hands him her brother's backpack and her bag of clothes before picking up the mysterious bag and slipping through the privacy fencing along the side of the house. Once they were a block away from her home, Addy finally speaks to him.

"I don't suppose you have a car by any chance."

"I do."

"Really?" She doesn't know why that surprises her but it does.

"It is parked over by the cemetery."

At least they were headed in the right direction. "Cemetery it is."

They make it back to his car, an older black sedan of some sort that is parked alongside the road. He opens the trunk and they drop all the bags in before getting into the car itself.

"Where are we going?"

Addy snaps her seatbelt on. It's the first time she's been in a car since Matt drove her home from the hospital and she tries not to throw up. "We're on the run, Gadreel. It doesn't matter where we go just as long as its far away from here."

He turns the key and the car starts but he doesn't put it into gear. "The Winchesters are good men. They can and will help you if you let them. And Jael seems to know all about what it means to be an angel anchor. I'm afraid I'm less…informed on these matters."

"I have an angel who's on the other side that can explain things to me when I pass out or go into a deep sleep." She twists her hands around the nylon strap. "And I have you to protect me, right?"

He nods slowly. "Yes, you have me to protect you."

"Then let's go."

Reluctantly, he puts the car into drive and they start driving in a Northern direction. Addy presses her cheek against the glass and gives in to her tears until she falls asleep.