Chapter 2 - Bargain Basement
Dean was sitting at the library table, but his head was on his chest and he was dozing. He'd tried to wait up for them, Gail thought. How sweet.
She disengaged her hand from Cas's and said, "Go to the bedroom and get in bed. I'll be there in a minute."
He just stood there, looking at her. Why was she sending him away? Did she want to be alone with Dean?
Gail was exasperated. She'd just been through the ordeal from Hell, literally, and she was in no mood. "Go," she ordered him. She saw him looking at Dean. "If you start that crap right now, I swear I'm going to smack you. Just go. I'll be in in a minute."
He frowned but turned and went down the hallway. She watched him go, then put her hand on Dean's shoulder, gently shaking him awake.
"Dean," she said. "Dean!"
He started awake, then looked at her. "What time is it?" he asked her.
"How the hell should I know?" Gail retorted. "I've just been in the land of eternal torment, where there are no clocks, and the fun just never stops."
Dean jumped up from his chair. "Where's Cas?"
She was happy to see he looked alarmed. So, he did still care about what happened to Cas. Good. She was going to need him to stay on board. Lord only knew what Rowena was going to require next.
"I sent him to bed," she answered. "I need you to do me a favour, and I don't want him knowing about it. Does he know the combination to the safe?"
Dean thought for a moment. "I don't remember. I might have given it to him."
"Well, change it. Then give Sam whatever number you decide on, and Bobby, if you want. But that's it," she told him sternly. She showed him the vial. "I want you to put this in it and keep it safe until we have everything we need for the cure."
Dean looked at it, wide-eyed. "You got them?"
Gail sighed. "Yes, I got them, and we will never speak of it again." She grabbed Dean's hand and put the vial in it, smiling grimly. "Keep it away from him, and from me, too. It cost us too much to have anything happen to it."
Dean looked at her suspiciously. "What do you mean, keep it away from you? What did it cost you?"
Gail frowned. "Another dose of Crowley, for one thing. And don't look at me like that," she snapped. "I found out just how high that price was tonight. But I couldn't get in without it. You can tell Sam if you need to, but maybe not Frank. He'd heard enough bad crap about me recently."
Dean's heart sank. Her stubbornness and single-mindedness was condemning her, bit by bit. At what point did they decide that enough was enough? But he nodded. "OK, I'll put it in the safe. I can't believe you actually got it, though."
Gail tried to smile. "Me neither. I can't wait to see what's next." She rolled her eyes.
"We'll call Oliver tomorrow," Dean said.
Gail started to turn away, but Dean caught her arm. "You didn't answer my question. What did you mean when you said to keep it away from both of you?"
She felt sad. "Isn't it obvious? We might smash it. The Demon part of Cas doesn't want to be cured, and now I'm feeling like a part of me might not want it, either. You'll have to help us, Dean."
She kissed him on the cheek, then turned and walked down the hall as he looked after her in dismay.
Gail let herself into the bedroom. Cas was sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for her.
"Where's the vial?" he asked her.
"Never mind," she told him. "Someplace safe."
He frowned, but merely said, "Are you coming to bed?"
Gail looked down at the Devil's Trap. "In a minute," she said. "I wanted to ask you something first."
"What's that?" he asked. He was agitated. Why wasn't she coming to bed, or even approaching him?
"Do you really not trust me?" Gail said. Out of all the things she'd heard tonight, that was the one that had bothered her the most.
"No," Cas said. He'd known she would be angry about that. "I was being ridiculous. Come to bed, please."
"Do you mean that, or are you just saying that to get me to come to bed?" she persisted.
"I mean it," Cas said sincerely. "I'm sorry."
"Well, you'd better be. Otherwise, I don't even know what I'm doing here, Cas. If we can't trust each other, what do we have left?"
He was getting scared now. Once again, she had one foot out the door, he could tell. And he had been pushing on the other one. "I do trust you, Gail. How could I not? You've given me everything."
"Yes, I have," she agreed. She could feel Crowley's blood rising in her now. She turned abruptly and left the room.
Cas was panicked now. He jumped off the bed and went to the edge of the Devil's Trap, but of course, he couldn't follow her. Was she coming back? What had he done?
But a minute or two later, she let herself back into the room, closing the door quietly behind her. She stood and looked at him for another moment.
"Do you love me?" she asked him calmly.
"Yes, I do, more than anything," Cas replied quickly.
"And do you believe I love you?" she said.
"Yes," he answered immediately. He'd better not hesitate or equivocate. It was obvious from the way she was speaking that hearing that was very important to her. It could even be a deal-breaker now. "I know you do, Gail. Please come to bed. I love you. Please, don't leave me here alone. Please."
She nodded then, moving into the Devil's Trap. He put his arms around her, but gently, remembering her injuries.
"OK, Cas. I just wanted to be sure," she said to him.
"Please don't leave me," he repeated, looking at her face. He still wasn't sure how she was feeling right now. Was she still angry? And why had she left the room, only to come back a few moments later?
"I don't think I could now, even if I wanted to," she said wryly, looking down at the Devil's Trap. "Let's find out, shall we?" She disengaged herself from Cas's arms and tried to step back outside the circle. She felt the resistance, just like outside the metal door, when she'd tried to enter the corridor that led to Lucifer's cage.
"I thought so," she said, half-sad and half-amused. She reached into her pants pocket and pulled out the cell phone she had put there. "I stole this from the kitchen table. We're both going to need help getting out of here in the morning."
Cas looked at her, dismayed. Another thing their visit to Lucifer's cage had cost her.
"Don't worry about it," Gail said to him, taking his hand. "We'll figure something out. Time to enjoy the fringe benefits."
She put her arms around Cas and kissed him, using her tongue. He responded immediately, pulling her tightly to him.
"Let's go to bed," she said.
Now Gail was the aggressor, at least as far as what she needed was concerned. She took off her own clothes, making sure they were at the end of the bed within the Devil's Trap, so that they'd be within reach for her when they would have to call for rescue.
She laid down on the bed, and Cas was on top of her immediately. She brought his hand down to stroke her, and she was stroking him, and then she guided him into her. He was ready, of course, but Cas wondered if she was. But she was making her sounds, urging him to go faster, and he wasn't about to argue. She had her legs around him, pulling him forward, and Cas buried himself in her, crying out. It had been a stressful night for him too, and he was grateful for the release. But he had been too quick, and she wasn't even close to being satisfied yet. So Cas moved down her body and opened her legs, using his tongue. It took a moment because of the pain she was feeling there, but then she got to the good place, and she was crying out his name.
They lay together for a moment and he was cuddling her, but incredibly, she wanted to go again, right away. Cas thought this must be the influence of Crowley's blood being freshly introduced into her, and while he didn't especially mind, it was unlike her. He was usually the aggressive one, the one who pushed and pushed until she was hurt and bleeding. Now she was requesting it, demanding it, even. But she was already so marked up; how much more could she take?
She was laying on her stomach now, and the Demon in him took over. He grabbed her hips and pushed into her roughly, and she made a noise that was half-pleasure, half-pain. He reached around to stroke her as she rose up to meet him, and she was moaning, urging him to go harder, still. So he did, because that was what she said she wanted, and that was what the Demon wanted to do, too. It had been bad enough when Demon Cas had not known when to ease off; now Gail had too much Demon in her to know when to tell him to do so. She cried out into the pillows as he drove deep into her, and it was a good thing the pillows muffled the sound, as the men would have run into the room immediately if they'd heard her sound like that. Cas was hurting her now, but she was moving with him, urging him to do it.
They both cried out, and then Demon Cas was roughly caressing her body, using curse words. He leaned down to lick her back. How he wished he had that razor blade right now.
But Gail had a surprise for him. When they lay down again to catch their breath, Cas pulled Gail to him to kiss her. She winced in pain, and he found himself saying, "Maybe we should stop for a while."
She frowned. "I don't want to stop. You said you loved me; maybe I need you to prove it."
Cas was studying her face. Her eyes were the darkest brown he'd ever seen them, almost black. Now he knew she was still angry about what he'd said about her and Dean at Lucifer's cage, and probably about many other things, as well. She was doing what he'd been doing for most of his existence; suppressing his feelings, not expressing them. And her way of dealing with her anger at him was to have him hurt her, instead of the other way around. How messed up was that? Even as a Demon, she was so good at heart that she couldn't raise a finger to harm him, even though it was what he deserved. So she was encouraging him to hurt her, instead.
"I can prove to you how much I love YOU," Gail continued. She squirmed out of Cas's arms and limped off the bed, moving towards where she'd left her pants on the floor. She picked them up and reached gingerly into the pocket. She got what she'd been looking for and came back to the end of the bed, crawling slowly back up to him.
"I love you this much," she told him, showing him the razor blade.
Cas's mouth dropped open. He hadn't pleaded with her, he hadn't even asked; she'd just gone and gotten it. That must have been where she had gone when she'd left the room to get the cell phone.
He had mixed feelings now. He was touched that she loved him so much that she was willing to let him do that to her, and the hunger was rising in him now. He couldn't bring himself to make her take his diseased blood any more, but he could certainly take hers. He loved her, and he loved experiencing the blood bond with her.
But he had never been able to control himself once he started, either, and it seemed as if Gail was in no condition to set limits right now. He'd better make sure he didn't hurt her too badly.
She handed him the razor blade, kissing him. "I love you, Cas," she said softly.
His arms went around her and he opened her mouth with his tongue. He was feeding off her aggressiveness, and her willingness to submit. He was very excited now. He'd think about the consequences later.
He laid her down and moved down her body immediately, cutting her stomach several times in rapid succession. She hissed but bore the pain stoically. Cas lowered his head and drank her blood, sighing contentedly.
Gail held his head as she watched him do it. He looked so happy now. She didn't particularly enjoy the pain, and the sight of blood had never excited her, but the sight of Cas licking her body always had, and she loved to make him happy. And she hadn't forgotten how happy he had made her the last time she had let him do this.
The memory excited her now, and she said, "Cas, please. I need you there." He smiled and moved down her body. He made small cuts on either side of her abdomen, letting the blood run down between her legs, and then he brought her to his mouth, lapping it up eagerly. He put the razor blade down and grabbed her hips, holding her as steady as he could. She was moving with his tongue, saying his name, and he was glad to be making her so happy.
When she was still, Cas grabbed the razor blade and brought it with him as he entered her, cutting her neck and licking her blood as he drove into her. She was holding the back of his head, and then she brought his mouth to hers.
"I love you so much," Cas breathed, "and I know you love me." Then he closed his eyes, giving himself over to the feeling, and then he was done.
He rolled himself off of her, spent for the moment. He saw the razor blade by the pillow and picked it up, putting it on the nightstand. Then he turned to Gail, intending to take her in his arms, but the shock of the sight of her stopped him cold. Now that the Demon had been sated, the sight of her scared him, badly.
She was smeared with blood from the neck down, and a few of the cuts he'd made were still bleeding. She had all of the bruises and marks he'd inflicted on her from before, and some new ones as well, and he now saw what appeared to be bite marks on her stomach. When had he done that?
She was looking at him, reaching out to him, but he was afraid to touch her now. How could she stand it? It was no wonder Sam and Dean and Frank all wanted to kill him.
Cas leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. He knew what he had to do now, and he had to do it immediately, before the Demon got hungry again. He got out of the bed and grabbed his shirt and pants from the floor, quickly putting them on.
"What are you doing, Cas?" Gail asked him, puzzled.
"What I should have done a long time ago," he said sadly, turning around to look at her. The men wouldn't have to kill him; what he was about to do would probably take care of that. But he had been claiming that he loved her all this time. Now it was time for him to finally prove it.
Cas walked back to the bed, but instead of laying down with her, which he still wanted so badly to do, he snatched up the cell phone and pushed a button on it.
"Dean," he said, "you and Sam have to come and get me. Please try not to wake Frank." He listened for a moment, then said, "No, Dean, it has to be right now. Please. Before I change my mind." He hit End Call and put the phone back down on the nightstand. "I'll leave this here for you in case you need it," he said to Gail.
"Where are you going?" she asked him, wide-eyed. A short while ago, he was begging her not to leave him, and now he was going to leave her. It was indicative of the way she felt at the moment that she didn't beg him to stay, herself. She was actually afraid to try to move right now. Given free rein and her encouragement, the Demon had crossed the line, and then he had looked at it in the rearview mirror. And Gail had fanned the flames on purpose. After her confession outside Lucifer's cage, she had realized that something had to give. They couldn't keep on going like this. She had been starting to resent Demon Cas, and the glimpses of the old Cas that she had seen tonight had served as a reminder of just how much he had changed, and how much she had put up with from him. But because of their blood bond, she couldn't just up and leave him, and despite it all, she didn't really want to. So Gail had given Demon Cas all the rope he needed, either to hang her, or to hang himself. She looked at him gratefully now. It seemed that he was actually going to take the high road, for a change. Better him than her; with Crowley's new blood racing through her veins, she was no longer capable.
There was a knock on the door. "Cas?" Dean's voice, speaking softly.
Cas glanced down at Gail, making sure she was fully covered by the sheet. She had automatically drawn it up over herself as soon as she had heard him summon the brothers. It sickened him to see now that the sheet was bloodstained. But there was nothing he could do about it now. The razor blade was on the nightstand, and he made no effort to conceal it. This was his cry for help, and Sam and Dean needed to see for themselves the extent of the damage.
"Just a minute," Cas said softly. He went to lift the sheet to heal Gail's wounds, then stopped himself. No. He could offer to heal her before they took him away from her, but he would not cover up his evil any more.
"Come in," Cas said. He gave Gail one more sorrowful look, then he moved to the edge of the Devil's Trap to await the brothers.
Dean opened the door, and Sam was right behind him. They saw Cas standing there, and the first thing they saw was the blood on his face and on his hands. Then they looked over and saw Gail laying under the bloodstained sheet, and the shock hit them both like a wave. Had Cas killed her?
Gail saw the look on their faces. "I'm OK, guys," she called out weakly. "Well, relatively speaking. I'm just trying to stay decent."
"What the hell, Cas?" Dean said, trying to keep his voice down so he wouldn't wake Frank.
"You need to take me out of here and put me in the chair," Cas said, "while I'm still willing to go." He gave them a grim smile. "Please."
Sam rushed past him and stood beside the bed. "Gail?" he said to her. "What happened?" But then he saw the razor blade on the nightstand, and he knew. He looked at her in horror. He could see the fresh blooms of blood on the sheet.
"I'm sorry, Sam," she told him, attempting a smile. "I'll have to do a laundry, when I can move again. But don't blame Cas. I did this on purpose."
Cas wheeled on her. "What do you mean, YOU did it?" he exclaimed. "I did it! Don't make excuses for me, Gail!"
"Who handed you the razor blade, Cas?" she asked.
Dean's eyes went wide. "What?" he yelled. "Gail! What the hell is wrong with you?"
Gail had known Dean was going to react like that, of course, but his rebuke still stung.
"I told you when we got back, didn't I, Dean?" she shot back, and the anger strengthened her voice. Maybe she could even try to sit up, in a minute. "I told you, I'm not myself anymore." She looked at Cas. "I guess I was trying to force the issue. And, since this seems to be a night for confessions...a part of me didn't mind what you were doing."
Cas walked back to the side of the bed, looking at her. "Dean, Sam, could you turn your heads for a moment?" he said.
Sam glared at him. "Why?"
Cas sighed. He supposed that when you were a monster, people were suspicious of you for a good reason. "So I can heal her. I have to put my hands on her body, and I think she's been humiliated enough for one night."
Sam thought about that, then he moved back to stand beside Dean, and they both turned around.
Cas lifted the sheet from Gail's body, sickened again by the sight. But he was also starting to weaken now. He'd better make this quick. It was taking all the self-control he had not to climb back into bed with her, take off his clothes, and do it all over again.
He touched her, healing the open cuts he had inflicted on her. The many other marks, he could do nothing about, but at least she wouldn't bleed any more.
When he was done, Gail grabbed his hand and kissed it. "Thank you," she said, and her eyes had now lightened to their familiar warm brown colour.
"I have to go now," Cas told her softly. He tried to smile. "I don't want to, but I have to."
Gail smiled sadly. "And thank you for that, too." She pulled the sheet back up over herself.
Cas turned around and walked to the edge of the Devil's Trap. "Let's go. Now. Please," he said to the brothers.
Dean crouched down and scratched the edge of the paint with the knife he'd brought, and when Cas was able to exit, they escorted him out of the room. He didn't look back.
Gail looked at the floor where the Devil's Trap had been sprung. She was free now, too. But, free to do what? Go where?
She was still in tremendous pain, even though her cuts had been healed. Maybe she'd just lie here for a while and try to regroup.
She closed her eyes, and promptly fell asleep.
Sam and Dean installed Cas in the chair, chaining him to it just for good measure. No more sigil handcuffs; they knew those wouldn't work on him anymore. The chains were a special kind; they had pentagrams carved into them, and they were guaranteed to hold any Demon. Just one of the little tricks they'd learned over the years. Sigils. Pentagrams. When you got right down to it, Angels and Demons were pretty much the same. Neither of them seemed to care when humanity got in the way of their conflicts.
They just stood there, looking at him. None of them knew what to say to the other now. The brothers had just witnessed the most shocking scene they'd ever seen, and that was saying a lot from their point of view. For his part, Cas was fighting the Demon with everything he had. But at least Gail was safe from him now, and so were Sam and Dean, and Frank.
"Need anything?" Dean asked sarcastically. "Coffee? A sandwich, maybe?"
Cas tried to smile. "How about the cure? That would be nice."
"Well, apparently, Gail's ruining herself so you can have your cure," Sam spat out.
That hit Cas like a blow to the gut. "I know, Sam," he said sadly.
"Then why are you letting her do it?" Sam asked him angrily.
The Demon was trying to get Cas to lose his temper, but instead, Cas smiled. "Have you ever tried to tell her what to do? It's not that easy, Sam. Believe me. I've tried, many times."
Sam let out a breath. He supposed Cas was right, about that, anyway. But he and Gail would be talking about this.
"Get some sleep," Cas said to them. "But if you want to make sure I'm still here in the morning, I suggest you repair the Devil's Trap in our bedroom. Oh, and change the code to the door outside here, while you're at it."
Dean looked at him, startled. Then he thought about the last time they'd had Cas here in this chair. Gail had freed him then, and she might do it again if given the opportunity. "OK, Cas," he said soberly. He paused at the door. "Light on, or off?"
"Might as well turn it off," Cas said. "Save electricity."
Sam looked at him. Did Cas just make a Cas joke? What was going on here? But, look at what Cas had just done. Sam had just barely restrained himself from taking a Demon knife from the weapons room and making Cas bleed a little, or maybe a lot, so he would finally get it. Vampire poison or not, Sam was fed up with seeing Gail bleeding and in pain. But now Cas was sitting there, talking mildly, and acting pretty much like his old self. And now Gail was the one with the dark eyes, and saying she'd handed Cas the razor blade. What in the holy hell was going on?
As if reading Sam's mind, Cas said, "And don't go too hard on her. I'm the bad guy here. This was my cry for help. I suppose that was hers."
"But she was the one to bleed, not you, right?" Sam said sarcastically.
Now the Demon began to rise up. "Fine, Sam. You're right. But if you don't think I'll be going through plenty of hell soon, you're wrong. And just because you treat her like a princess, it doesn't mean you'll be her king," Cas shot back.
"No. Crowley's the King, and now, thanks to you, she's got even more of his blood in her!" Sam yelled.
Cas dipped his head in acknowledgement of the truth of Sam's statement. "And that will be one of those torments that I'll have to live with. Goodnight." He closed his eyes, dismissing them. He couldn't allow the Demon to make him angry. Then it would take over, and he had too much thinking to do.
Sam and Dean looked at each other, then Dean turned off the light and pulled the door closed. And then he changed the code on the panel outside.
"Gail? Gail." Sam's voice, coming from somewhere inside her dream.
She had fallen asleep, but it had not been a restful sleep. Nightmares plagued her. Crowley. Cas. Lucifer. Metatron. At one point, Bobby pushed her into the cage and said she didn't deserve to come out, and then Lucifer grabbed her, putting his hands all over her body. Then, at another point, she was back in Crowley's den, having a glass of red wine with him and Rowena. And then, she was stabbing Sam and Dean and Frank to death, then fighting with Cas and stabbing him, too.
She opened her eyes to see Sam standing over her, and she looked around, trying to orient herself. Oh. Right. Night from hell. Bloody sheets. Good times.
"You were sleeping," Sam said, trying to maintain a light tone. Even though he knew full well what that meant. "I haven't seen you do that in a long time."
She HAD been sleeping, too. How about that? Too bad she couldn't have enjoyed the experience more.
Gail tried to move, and although her whole body was extremely sore, she wanted to sit up. But she was still naked under the sheet.
"Can I get some clothes, Sam?" she asked him. "I want to try to sit up."
He walked to the end of the bed and grabbed one of her tops and pair of pants from the floor, then came back and handed them to her. He hadn't seen any underwear there, and he didn't really want to ask her about that. He guessed he already knew. He felt a flush creep up to his cheeks.
Sam turned around as Gail slowly put her top on. Then she tried to put her pants on while still laying down, but it was too painful. She looked at Sam's back. She really didn't want to ask him to help her, because she knew it would upset him too much to look at her, as bad as she was. Too bad Crowley wasn't here; he'd seen her like that before.
Then she had an idea. "I really need a shower, Sam. Do you think I could borrow one of your shirts to put on after?"
He turned back around. "Sure, Gail. I'll go get one. Wait for me here." He left the room.
She was faintly amused. As if she was able to go anywhere. But then she looked down at the floor and saw that the Devil's Trap was still open. The brothers had come back here last night, but seeing that she was sleeping soundly, they had let it be. They'd been too exhausted themselves. Gail had mixed feelings now. She could have gone to see Cas. But, maybe it was just as well. She wanted to get cleaned up, anyway.
Gail looked down at herself. There was no way she was going out to the shower with no pants, but it was too painful to put them on. Then it occurred to her. She wrapped the sheet around herself twice, like a skirt. There. The bedding was going to have to be changed anyway. It was bloodstained.
Sam ran into Dean while he was on his way to his room to get a shirt for Gail.
"Frank's up," Dean said, "and he doesn't know anything about last night."
"I can't believe he didn't hear anything," Sam said. "And he calls himself a Hunter." Frank and Gail's black humour was becoming contagious, and if Sam didn't have a light moment every now and then, he was going to lose his mind.
But Dean wasn't smiling. "He wears earphones and turns up the music so he doesn't have to hear Gail and Cas," he told Sam. "I told him we should consider that, too."
Sam was looking thoughtful. "We may not have to worry about that anymore."
Dean made a face. "We'll see. With those two, you never know. I put on some coffee. You coming?"
"In a minute," Sam said. "Gail wants to take a shower, so I'm getting her a shirt to put on after. It looks like all her clothes are dirty; maybe I'll do a wash after breakfast. I guess I'll have to do the sheets, too."
"Don't," Dean said, frowning. "Take them out back and burn them."
They exchanged a look that said volumes. This was going to be a hard one to get over, if they ever got over it.
"Maybe try to keep Frank in the kitchen for a bit while I help Gail get to the shower," Sam said to his brother. "I don't want Frank to see her until she's cleaned up."
Dean nodded, and he went back to the kitchen as Sam ducked into his room and grabbed a shirt for Gail.
She had just made it to the side of the bed when he returned, and she was sitting on the edge with the sheet wrapped around her waist, as if she were waiting on the examination table in a doctor's office. She looked up when he entered the room. She'd been looking at her photo. It had been propped up against the lamp on the nightstand since they'd gotten here, and she'd wanted to make sure it hadn't gotten any blood on it when Cas had put the bloody razor blade on the nightstand. Fortunately, the photo was fine. But Gail wanted the razor blade gone.
"Can you please get rid of that for me, Sam?" she appealed to him, pointing to it.
He picked it up delicately. The thought of what it had been used for made him nauseous, and he wiped it on the blanket, then put it in his shirt pocket.
Gail was still looking at her photo. "What the hell happened to us, Sam?" she asked sadly.
He had no answer for that. He'd been wondering the same thing. It was like God had tossed them all into a blender and hit Puree, just to see what would happen. None of this made any sense, and none of it was fair to any of them.
"Let's get you cleaned up," he said gently, putting his arm around Gail's shoulders and helping her off the bed. She looked at her picture once more, then did something that Sam found both very sweet and very sad. She put the picture to her mouth and kissed it gently, then she touched Cas's face in the photo and then propped it back up on the nightstand.
"Is Frank up?" Gail asked Sam, as they slowly made their way to the door. She'd slipped her arm around Sam's waist, grateful for the support.
"Yeah, but he doesn't know anything about last night," Sam assured her.
Good, Gail thought. This situation was bad enough, without Frank going on the warpath again.
Frank wasn't on the warpath at the moment, but he was getting a little suspicious. Dean was acting strange. At one point, Frank had risen to go to the bathroom, and Dean had grabbed his arm, asking Frank to come with him to the fridge to see if any of the leftovers still looked like they were edible.
"I need to take a leak," Frank had protested, but Dean had insisted. He was hungry now, he said. Frank didn't want him to die of food poisoning, did he? So Frank had rolled his eyes and accompanied his friend to the fridge. They did the sniff test on a few things, then Frank said, "Sorry, Dean. I've really gotta go."
Dean panicked, but just then, Gail came into the kitchen. Dean let out the breath he'd been holding. "Bathroom's free," she said. Her hair was wet and she had Sam's shirt on and nothing else. Once again, Gail blessed the fact that Sam was so tall; the shirt was able to hide almost all of the damage that had been done to her body.
Frank looked at her. "How are you feeling this morning?" he asked.
"Okie-dokie," she told him. Lying through her teeth, of course. Once she'd found out that Frank was up, she figured she'd better clean up first, before he saw her. So she'd showered and washed her hair as quickly as she could, but her aching body was now paying the price.
"I've gotta go to the bathroom," Frank told her. "Stay here; I want to hear about what happened last night."
No, he didn't, Gail thought wryly, but she nodded. "OK."
On impulse, her brother reached out and gave her a hug. She nearly cried out in pain, but Gail bit her lip and put her arms around him in return.
"Go," she said. "I'll be here."
Frank left the room and Gail looked and Dean, wincing. "Ow," she said, slowly making her way to the kitchen table and sinking into the nearest chair. She sighed. "Thanks, Dean."
"What for?" he said. He poured a cup of coffee and came to sit at the table. He took the chair beside her instead of across from her. She looked at him curiously. "In case Frank decides to express his brotherly affection again," he said with a smirk.
Gail put her hand on his arm. "And thanks for that, too. And you know what I'm thanking you for. A whole bunch of things. How's Cas?"
"Dunno," Dean said, taking a sip of coffee. "I got up to make this, and then Frank got up, so I haven't had the chance to check on him yet."
"I'd like to see him," she told Dean.
He frowned. "OK, but one of us will have to take you. I changed the code on the door."
"Why?" she asked him, and he raised an eyebrow. Then she got it. "Oh. Probably not a bad idea," she said sheepishly.
Frank came back into the room, helped himself to a cup of coffee, and sat across from Gail. "How did it go last night?" he asked his sister.
She made a face. "It went. You don't want the gross details, believe me. Suffice it to say that we got what we went there for."
Frank was staring at her. "Where's Cas?" He had seen that their bedroom door was open when he had come out of the bathroom, and Frank had peeked inside. No Cas, and Frank noticed that the bedding had been stripped off the bed, and the Devil's Trap was sprung.
Gail sighed. She had known he was going to ask. "He's here, Frank, he's just..." She looked at Dean and he gave her a half-shrug. Your call, his look said. She looked back at Frank. "We're going to take a bit of a break for a while. And don't look so happy," she said sharply. "We're not breaking up." But even as she said that, Gail wondered. What were the two of them supposed to do now? She hadn't even received the first ingredient for the cure yet. Was he just going to stay locked away like a prisoner the whole time, in a room she couldn't even enter now? Did she even want to stay in that bedroom without him?
Frank was looking a little shamefaced. He had been hoping they were breaking up, or at least that Cas had left the bunker. Frank had had a problem with Cas ever since he'd tried to get to know him, and Gail was damn lucky that her boyfriend was still alive now. Sam and Dean had had to talk Frank out of kicking Cas's ass several times since Frank had found out that Cas was a Demon who had been abusing his sister. So he wasn't going to apologize for caring about Gail's well-being, but he didn't want to fight with her, either. They'd fought about Cas enough.
"So what are you going to do now?" Frank asked Gail.
"Nothing else TO do but go back to Oliver and start finding out what the rest of the ingredients are," Gail said in reply, shrugging.
Dean said nothing, but he was wondering about that. Would the extra blood dose that Gail had gotten from Crowley be picked up on by Oliver? He had freaked out when Cas had tried to come into his house, and he had been on the fence about Gail then. How about now? But Frank didn't know about the additional dose that Gail had received last night, and none of them wanted to tell him about that.
Gail looked at Dean. "Can I see Cas now?" she asked him. Frank frowned at that, and Dean rolled his eyes. It was a good thing Frank didn't play poker; his face was an open book. They could have gotten Cas to teach Frank a few things about maintaining a poker face, if Frank didn't want to kill Cas every time he looked at him, that was.
Gail ignored Frank, which was just as well, because when she turned away from her brother, her eyes were very dark. While she appreciated that her brother cared about her well-being, Gail knew that Frank hated Cas, and she just didn't want to look at her brother's stupid face any more. She was experiencing mixed emotions about Cas herself at the moment, but it was OK for her to think about Cas in a less-than-flattering way, but it was not OK for anyone else. Once again, Gail was wondering where they all went from here, even if the cure were to be obtained. Could they all co-exist happily with each other again, as they had before? Would they even want to? And what about her and Cas?
But, mainly because she didn't know what else to do, Gail was determined to soldier on. She did want to see Cas, though, and to make sure he was OK. He had done a very honourable thing for her last night, and she appreciated it.
"Where's Sam?" Gail asked Dean, as they walked to the room where Cas was being held.
Dean shrugged. Sammy had said that he was going to wash some clothes, and he would probably have taken the bedsheets out back and burned them. But Dean didn't really want to say this to her; the whole subject was uncomfortable enough as it was.
Instead, he said, "Have you thought about what you're going to do if Oliver won't let you into his house now?"
Gail stopped walking and looked at him, startled. She grabbed his arm. "Do you think that'll happen?" she asked him, wide-eyed. The thought had not occurred to her, but it panicked her now. Oliver had just barely accepted her at the table the last time, and she was another part Demon now.
Dean cursed himself. All she needed was something else to worry about now. "Sorry, Gail," he said to her. "Let's just burn that bridge when we get to it."
Gail laughed. Dean. She may have Demonlike feelings inside her now, but she still knew a good one when she heard it. And quite honestly, a large part of her felt like burning all kinds of bridges right now.
"I hate to do this to you, but you'd better turn your back," Dean said sardonically when they reached the control panel that opened the door to the safe room.
Gail sighed, but she could see his point. It wasn't as if she hadn't pulled that on them before, when Cas had been in that room the last time. She turned around.
Dean pulled the door open and turned on the light. Cas blinked, then his face lit up when he saw Gail. But then his face fell when he saw that she had Sam's shirt on, and that was all. No pants.
Cas had been struggling against the Demon all night and into the morning, and he thought he now understood the concept of multiple personalities. For every thought that Castiel had had, Demon Cas had weighed in with an opposing thought. And it seemed now that there was a third personality to be heard from, as well: Human Cas, who was in the middle of the two. Human Cas seemed to embody the best qualities of the Angel and the Demon combined, but his voice was weak, and his influence negligible. All three of these entities loved Gail, but in different ways. Angel Castiel loved her spirit and her personality, and he wanted to be equal partners with her in everything. Demon Cas wanted to bend her to his will. The Demon fed on Castiel's insecurities and self-loathing, telling him that she would never stay with someone like him willingly, not when she had so many other, better alternatives. Sam, Dean, Chuck...everyone loved her. Even Crowley. He'd tried to establish the blood bond and chain her to the bedroom, where she touched him and allowed him to touch her, saying she loved it, and loved him. But that hadn't been enough for the Demon side of Cas, and he kept pushing and pushing her, always looking for more, until she had cracked under the strain. Human Cas knew what the right way was to love her, and in a rare show of will, he had been able to suppress Demon Cas after his reprehensible behaviour of last night. It was Human Cas who had joined forces with the Angel to have Sam and Dean bring him here, safely away from Gail.
Seeing her in Sam's shirt reminded him of the dream he'd had, and Castiel was trying to remind himself of the horrifying potential future the dream had foretold. But Demon Cas's temper rose.
"So, it didn't take him long, did it?" he said to Gail.
"What are you talking about?" she asked him, approaching the edge of the Devil's Trap.
"Did Sam get a good look before he put his shirt on you? Did he put his hands on you, too?" Cas said angrily.
Gail was angry also. "I came here to see how you were, and that's what you've got to say to me? I had to wash all the blood off me, and I didn't have anything clean to wear. That's all," she snapped.
"I know he loves you," Cas said resentfully.
"I'm not going to go through this with you again," Gail shot back. "Now you're on about Sam. Last night, I was sleeping with - " She suddenly remembered they weren't alone. She'd been about to say Dean's name, and he was standing right behind her. She turned to Dean. "Could you leave us alone for a moment?" she asked him.
He shook his head. "Not gonna happen. Sorry, Gail."
She sighed, turning back to Cas. "Never mind," she said. "Anyway, I just wanted to see if you were OK. But I don't need to hear any of that nonsense. So if that's all you've got to say to me, I guess I'll go."
She started to turn around. Cas said, "I'm not OK. I'm terrible."
Gail turned back around.
"I've been fighting him all night, Gail," Cas said. "Sometimes, I'm winning; sometimes, he is. And now, there seems to be a third one. Maybe I shouldn't have watched 'Sybil' the other night."
Gail broke into a wide smile. This was the Cas she loved.
"Never mind me, how are you?" he asked her, looking anxious.
"Sore," she answered honestly, "but at least I'm clean now. That's why I'm wearing this shirt. Sam's washing our clothes right now," she added pointedly.
Cas looked ashamed. "I'm sorry I said that. I don't really believe it. That's him talking."
"I know, Cas." Suddenly it seemed really important to Gail that Cas have a chance to get cleaned up, too. There was just something about cleaning your body that helped you to feel better about yourself. And he looked like a mess.
"Can he please take a shower?" Gail appealed to Dean.
Dean thought about it. It would be less sickening to have to look at him without that dried blood all over him. Gail's blood. It was a good thing Dean hadn't eaten breakfast yet; he wouldn't have much in his stomach when he needed to throw up later.
"I'd like that, Dean," Cas appealed to him.
Dean sighed, then he approached Cas with the key to the padlock in his hand. He bent to unlock the chains, then froze. Was this a trick? Could he trust Cas not to freak out? He looked at Gail. And what about her?
Gail saw Dean looking at her. "I just want him to be clean, that's all," she said, holding up her hands. "It's not a trick, and I'm clearly unarmed here."
Cas's pulse quickened. Whether or not she was wearing another man's shirt, he knew what was underneath that shirt, and he was the only one who did. Suddenly, he wanted to be free for a different reason. He looked at Gail and smiled, and she smiled back. Was she thinking the same thing he was thinking? But he did have to get clean. He couldn't kiss her looking like this.
"Please, Dean," Cas said to him. "I mean no harm. I swear."
Dean relented and unlocked the chains. Being in such proximity to Cas now, he could see the dried blood up close, and Dean could even swear he smelled it. The coffee was threatening to come up now. Yeah, they had to get that off of him before Dean lost it and started to punch Cas out again.
Cas was free from the chains and he stood up now, stretching his muscles. He looked Dean in the eyes. Dean took the Demon knife out of his pocket and held it up, saying nothing. He didn't need to; the implication was clear. If Cas tried anything, Dean wouldn't hesitate to use the knife on him. Cas nodded. He understood.
Dean moved to the edge of the Devil's Trap and bent down to scrape the paint with his knife, keeping an eye on the both of them as he did it. He and Sam would have to lay in a supply of paint with these two around, he thought sardonically.
Gail and Cas were staring at each other. She moved to the edge of the Devil's Trap, and so did he. Dean looked up, knife at the ready, but Gail looked down at him and rolled her eyes. "We just want a moment here, okay? Relax," she said.
Dean frowned, bending his head again. He saw them kissing out of the corner of his eye, and he shook his head. After what he and Sam had seen last night, she was kissing him. When they started to use their tongues, Dean stood up abruptly. "Let's go," he said to Cas. Dean grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away from Gail, propelling him forward. With one last look of disgust for Gail, Dean escorted Cas out of the room.
Dean sat in the hallway outside the bathroom door, the knife in his lap. Cas was inside showering, but Dean wasn't going to drop his guard for a minute. Gail had gone to the laundry room to get fresh clothes for Cas, courtesy of Sam, and she brought them to Dean now. Then she looked at him, and then she turned and headed towards the kitchen, presumably to talk to Frank. Good, Dean thought. It was better that she stayed away from Cas for the moment.
But Gail couldn't stay away from him. She couldn't remember the last time that she and Cas had spent a night apart. Oh, yeah; actually, she could. The stupid tribunal. It had been torture then, and it was torture now. She had to feel his touch again.
So she looked back to make sure Dean wasn't watching her, and then she popped into the bathroom.
Cas was startled, but he wasn't really surprised. They'd been doing their non-verbal communication thing back in the safe room. He had just finished showering, and he left the water on as he stepped out of the tub. He put his arms around her and kissed her, his tongue tracing her lips and then opening her mouth.
"I missed you," he said softly, between kisses.
"I missed you, too," Gail replied. She was touching his neck, his shoulders, and his chest. He was clean, and he smelled so good.
Cas was excited now, and he knew she would have nothing on underneath the shirt she was wearing. Could they risk it? The water was still running, and it would help provide a cover.
He reached underneath the shirt to stroke her, and Gail moved closer to him, closing her hand around him. "We'll have to be very quiet," he said. He was trying to be serious, but he was smiling. She was touching him, making him feel amazing, and he sped up his fingers. A sound escaped her, and she put her other hand over her mouth, but she was smiling, too.
When she was ready, he moved forward, switching places with her so that her back was against the wall. He lifted her onto him and she wrapped her legs around his waist, urging him into her. He buried his face in her chest, kissing and licking her there, and she held his head. But when it got to be too good, she raised his head up so she could look into his eyes. "Shh," he said, smiling, moving slowly in and out of her. He was teasing them both now. Gail was whimpering, and she was getting louder now. He loved hearing her, but Dean was liable to come in here any minute. Cas didn't particularly care at the moment, but he knew that Gail would. So he stood up straighter and pushed into her, speeding up his motion, and he brought her head down against his chest to muffle her sounds. She was kissing and licking him there, and a loud groan escaped from his lips. Uh-oh. He'd been thinking so much about Gail and her sounds that he'd forgotten about his. But it was too late to stop now. He continued to stroke her, and she was saying his name into his chest. He moved forward again, pushing himself deeper into her, and then he was done.
Cas brought her face up to his and kissed her, trying to catch his breath. "That was fantastic," he said, and she nodded. It had been.
"I can't believe Dean didn't hear us, though," she whispered. Cas agreed, and although he was glad, he was wondering why. He took another moment to caress her under the shirt, and then he reluctantly lifted her back down to the floor.
Cas went to the door. "Dean?" he called out softly. Nothing. "Dean?" he said a bit more loudly. Still nothing.
He looked at Gail and she shrugged. Cas opened the door quietly and peered outside. So, that explained it. Dean's head was on his chest, and he was dozing. He hadn't had a lot of sleep the previous night, and as soon as he'd closed his eyes once, that had been it.
Cas closed the door and looked back at Gail. "He's taking a nap," Cas said, smiling. She smiled, too. She went to Cas and put her arms around him, inhaling his clean, soapy smell. "I love you," she said to him, and he said it back to her. It didn't matter to him whose shirt she was wearing at that moment; she had come to him, and that meant that she still loved him.
"Dean!" Sam's voice, outside in the hall. "Dean! Wake up!"
Cas and Gail smiled at each other. I'd better go, she said to him with her eyes. He nodded, kissing her one more time, long and slow. That would have to hold them for now. Then she popped out of the bathroom. Cas stared off into space for a moment, smiling, and then he opened the door a crack, peeking out.
"Can I have my clothes, please?" he said, and Dean rose, handing them to him.
Gail was sitting in the kitchen when Sam came in. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down across from her.
"So, what's new?" he quipped.
She laughed. "Hey, that's my line," she said.
They looked at each other for a moment, then Gail said, "Can you call Oliver? I'd like to get going on those ingredients."
"I already did," he said. "He said we can see him in an hour."
"Good." Then she frowned. "I don't know if we should leave Cas and Frank alone together here, though."
"That's OK, Gail." Frank's voice, coming from the hall. He walked into the kitchen, carrying his bag, and came over to where she sat. "Don't get up," he said to her, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead.
"I'm going back on the road for a while," Frank told Gail.
She looked up at him, dismayed. "Why?"
Frank looked at Sam, who gave him a brief nod of encouragement.
"You really want to know?" Frank asked his sister.
"Yes," she said. But didn't she already know?
Frank frowned. "OK, I'll tell you, then. I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but...it's too hard to be here with you and Cas right now."
Gail's heart sank, but she nodded. Yeah, she knew. And her brother didn't even know the full story. What could she say? "I'm sorry, Frank," she said, putting her hand on his arm.
"Yeah, I know, kiddo," Frank said sadly. He walked around the table to shake Sam's hand. "Take care of her for me, will you?" Frank said to Sam.
"We will, Frank. You know we will," Sam responded. If she'll let us, he thought.
Dean had called Bobby to come down and stay with Cas while they went to Oliver's, and after a bit of conversation on the subject, Dean had agreed to let Cas stay in the library area with Bobby.
"I'm God, Dean," Bobby had said dryly. "He's not gonna try anything with me. Besides, I want to have a talk with him, man-to-man."
Dean was silent, and Bobby scowled. "Well, you know what I mean," Bobby added.
Sam and Gail came out from the kitchen. "Hey, Bobby," Sam said to him, but Bobby was looking at Gail. He hadn't seen her for a while; but Sam and Dean had been keeping him in the loop, so he knew what had happened the night before. Bobby couldn't believe she had elected to go to Lucifer's cage again, and that she had agreed to take another dose of Crowley's blood to do it.
"How are you, Gail?" Bobby asked her, frowning.
"About as well as can be expected, considering I'm a Demon trying to cure another Demon who's got God for a babysitter," she retorted. She was still stinging over what Frank had said before he'd left, and Gail was using black humour to cover her hurt.
Bobby did a double-take. "Is that supposed to be funny?" he asked her uncertainly.
Gail sighed. "No, I guess not."
Dean brought Cas out, and Gail walked over to him. "I'll see you in a little while," she said, touching his face.
Cas tried to smile. "I'll be here," he said. He looked at Bobby. He wanted to kiss her, but he felt strange doing it in front of Bobby for some reason. Bobby was staring at the two of them, and he didn't look happy. Cas supposed Sam and Dean had told him about what happened last night. And now Gail was leaving with the brothers and leaving him alone with God. This might finally be the time for Bobby to accomplish his first smiting.
"Hurry back," Cas said to her. Then he did put his arms around her, and she kissed him softly on the lips.
"Let's go, Gail," Dean said irritably. He'd been wanting to kick Cas's ass ever since last night; now he was contemplating kicking hers, as well. He still couldn't believe she was even speaking to Cas now, let alone being this affectionate with him. He hadn't puked yet today, but Dean still wasn't ruling it out.
Once Gail and the Winchesters had gone, Bobby looked at Cas and said, "What are you doing, Cas?"
Cas was avoiding his eyes. "What do you mean?"
Bobby was doing the slow burn, but Dean had also told him that Cas had had a sudden attack of conscience last night, and Bobby wanted to see if it had held.
"You know what I mean," Bobby retorted. "We all know what you've been doing to her physically. But how about what you're doing to her emotionally?"
Cas looked at him then, and the Demon was annoyed. "I'm not doing anything," he protested sharply.
"Don't hand me that, Cas," Bobby shot back. "I know how relationships like yours go. All too well, unfortunately. And I know how they usually end."
Cas was alarmed. What did Bobby mean by that?
Bobby sighed. Cas did seem calmer than expected after his actions of last night, but Bobby knew it fit the pattern. His father had been the same way. In-between bouts of violence, his father would be contrite, and very loving, with Bobby's mother. That was one reason why women were able to stay with their abusers for so long. There was usually genuine love there, and the man would prey on that, either consciously or subconsciously. Dean might be amazed by the affection between the couple this morning, but Bobby wasn't. That didn't make it right, though.
"You've gotta leave her alone, Cas," Bobby said grimly.
"I have," Cas protested again. "I had Sam and Dean put me in the chair last night."
Bobby raised an eyebrow. "And you haven't been alone with her since?"
Cas looked sharply at him.
"Yeah, I saw," Bobby said sarcastically. "And, no, I didn't watch. But I saw." And he had, too. Bobby had been looking in on the two of them regularly, ever since they'd found out how bad it had gotten. Most of what he'd seen had been extremely personal, including that little scene in the bathroom this morning. But that had been enough to confirm to Bobby that Cas still didn't get it.
"She came to see me," Cas said defensively.
"I know that, Cas," Bobby said, frowning. "But that just proves my point. There's a saying: 'Don't keep her waiting just because you know she will'."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cas asked him.
"You're a smart guy, or at least, you used to be," Bobby retorted. "You figure it out."
Cas sat quietly, lost in thought. Truthfully, he knew very well what Bobby was getting at, and Bobby was right. Cas was ruining Gail's life by being in it, and if he were to prove he truly loved her, he knew what he had to do now.
The instant Gail crossed Oliver's threshold, he moved closer to her, peering at her face. "No," he said.
"No, what?" she said to him. Though she was pretty sure she knew.
"I'm not sitting at the table with you," Oliver said bluntly. "Why don't you slink home to your Demon boyfriend and leave me in peace? I haven't had a restful night's sleep since I met Sam Winchester, and since YOU came, all I can see now when I read the cards is the Devil."
Gail was annoyed. If this guy only knew. So he "saw" the Devil, so what? Oliver should try speaking to him in person sometime; he'd never sleep again. But she also felt panic now. Oliver may hate her, but she needed him.
"Please, you have to help me," she said to him. She put her hand on his arm, but he gave her a look of revulsion and shook it off.
"I don't HAVE to do anything," Oliver said to her. "Why don't you get your friend, the King of Hell, to help you?"
Gail looked at Sam, appealing to him for help.
"We'll double your fee," Sam said to Oliver.
"No," Oliver said. "Now get out of my house."
"We'll triple it," Dean told him.
Oliver looked at each of them, shaking his head. "This isn't about money. It's about self-respect."
Gail laughed shortly. "Self-respect? I remember when I used to have that. But it's become a luxury I can't afford these days."
"Well, that's unfortunate for you, but I still have some, and I'm not going to commune with a Demon," Oliver insisted. He threw the front door open and pointed outside. "Now, go."
Gail was frustrated and angry. She wished she knew what all of her Original powers were, so she could use them on this guy, either to persuade him, or to punish him. Lucky for him he didn't have a pet that she could sic on him. She glared at Oliver. What could she use as leverage, to get him to cooperate? Too bad she couldn't spring Lucifer from his cage for about an hour; that would really put the fear of holy hell into Oliver. He had no idea who he was dealing with here. She hadn't gone through all this and gotten this close only to be turned away by the likes of him.
Then she had an idea. She didn't have access to Lucifer, but she did have access to the next best thing.
"Let's go, guys," she said to the Winchesters. But before she walked out the door, Gail approached Oliver and stared him down. "I'll be back soon," she said evenly.
"Don't bother, I won't let you in," Oliver said defiantly.
"You may not have to," she said enigmatically. Then she smiled. "Keep reading those cards, Oliver. Your future could go either way right now." She reached out her hand to touch his face, relishing the look of horror on his face as he shrank back. Her eyes must be really dark now. Good. If she had to be a Demon, she might as well be scary.
When she got outside with Sam and Dean, Gail was shaking with anger.
"What was that, Gail?" Sam asked her.
She looked at him. He and Dean had been so good to her, but they were of no use to her in this situation, and she knew they wouldn't approve of what she was thinking. But it wasn't their call to make.
"Nothing, Sam, I was just frustrated," she told him.
They got in the car and Dean drove them back to the bunker. After a couple of attempts to engage Gail in conversation, Sam gave up. She was looking out the window with a thoughtful expression on her face. He could understand how disappointed she must feel, but truthfully, Sam was a little relieved. Maybe she would have no choice but to give up now. Sam had been afraid to find out what the remaining ingredients were, and what would have to be done in order to get them. Look at what the first one had already cost her. And Sam was pretty much done with Cas, anyway. He had left him alone for Gail's sake, but Sam felt hate for Cas now. Unwitting victim or not, every time Sam looked at his former Angel friend now, all he could see was Gail, hurt and bleeding.
Dean could understand how Sam must feel, and a large part of him felt the same way. But Dean still wasn't ready to give up on Cas, or on Gail, either. In the past, it had been Sam who had been relentless. Sammy had done a lot of questionable things in his efforts to rid Dean of the Mark of Cain, and even though Dean had told him to stand down, Sam hadn't. And Dean now appreciated that. But now, Sam was letting whatever feelings he had for Gail cloud his judgment. Maybe he thought that Cas was just going to go away quietly, leaving Gail with them and Sam with the opportunity. But Sam seemed to be forgetting that Gail had Cas's diseased blood in her too, or at least some of it, not to mention a double dose of Crowley's now. Dean had been looking at her face back there when she'd been talking to Oliver, and he'd seen her eyes darken. She wasn't the same woman now, just as Cas wasn't the same man they'd known all these years. Dean wasn't prepared to give up on the cure. But how were they going to contact Rowena now?
Gail didn't want to talk, she just wanted to think. Could she get Crowley to help her contact his mother somehow? If Death could give her his permission to contact her in the Netherworld, as he had done in this case, did Crowley maybe know another way to do it? What the hell. She'd sunk this low; might as well go down another couple of rungs.
But in the meantime, what was she going to do about Cas?