Sam followed Alora out into the oppressive heat of the humid summer air but gave her some space while she leaned on the car a wad of cloth pressed against the cut on her forehead. He tilted his head looking her over. They'd been traveling together for a few days but he'd never bothered to really look at her, there was something compelling about her that made him have to look at her more closely, she was pretty but he'd seen a lot of pretty in his life so he went with his gut and looked beyond the pretty.
She had stood up to his brother which for a woman who wasn't a hunter or a monster was pretty rare. She'd thrown hard truths at Dean and been eloquent with it so she was educated but she dressed in vintage third and fourth hand clothes that had seen better days so not well off, the studio apartment that she'd been sharing with Cas was in a run down section of town too but she hadn't seemed out of place or uncomfortable so she was used to living poor.
"If you keep staring at me I'm gonna start charging you." She said irritably.
"You know you've told us how you met Cas, you've given us lots of details about your life right up to about ten months ago but nothing personal any further back." He said shoving his hands in his pockets.
She shrugged. "It's not important. This is about Cas and finding him."
"I think it is important. It could be why Cas is missing, after all that Angel back there said he was waiting for you to call out for Cas so what if this is just a ploy to get you." Sam replied with a shrug.
"It's not. I'm nobody special, never was, never will be." She replied shortly and winced when her frown pulled on the cut on her forehead.
"You're special to Cas." He pointed out.
"And he's the only part of my life that is special in any way." She sighed.
"Who were you a year ago?" Sam asked and watched emotions chase across her face, sadness, anger, fear, shame; that last one surprised him.
"I…" She started then stopped and closed her eyes taking a deep breath. "I was a screw up. Ran away from home when I was 16 because I thought I knew everything and then started running around with the wrong people. I got in trouble, got sent to juvie then got out and just kept screwing up.I stole, I did drugs, I drank and I just kept choosing to do the wrong thing."
He waited and after a few minutes she kept going. "I finally hit rock bottom, I got caught holding a boyfriends crack and went to jail for a year and then when I got out I couldn't get a job so I ended up homeless. It was absolute rock bottom, I had nothing and nobody. I started hooking just to eat and I felt so shitty, I decided I was going to kill myself and I climbed out onto the overpass ledge." She leaned heavily on the side of the car her free hand shaking.
"I was going to jump, I really was and then I just… couldn't. I was so mad at myself for wanting to die so I climbed down and started trying to figure a way out. It wasn't easy and I slipped up a lot. I was still homeless and I still had to eat so I kept hooking but I started being smarter about it. I had gotten my GED in juvie so I started taking online community college courses at the library and while I was there some snot nosed little kid taught me how to hack into computer systems. I hacked my file and erased all the jail time so I could get a decent job and then started saving every cent so I could get an apartment. It took me five years but I finally got off the street."
They stood in silence for a few minutes before Sam spoke again. "So there's no reason anything supernatural would be after you?"
Alora threw her hands up letting the wad of cloth flutter in her hand. "Like I said, none."
Sam was staring at her and she frowned. "What?"
"You're not bleeding anymore." He said slowly.
"Well thank God for something." She muttered.
"No I mean, the cut is gone. Like it never happened." He said and walked over taking the rag.
There was blood staining the dirty fabric and some on Aloras fingers as she reached up to touch the smooth skin but there was no cut. Sam gave her a worried look and motioned for her to follow him back into the safe house. She followed him her mind whirling with the implications. 'What is happening to me?' She thought as Sam walked Dean through the revelation.
Two Months Ago:
Castiel sat on the edge of the bed and watched Alora, she'd complained of a headache all day and had spiked a fever shortly after dinner, he'd noticed that she got sick easily and when he'd asked her about it she'd said she'd been that way since she was a child. 'I'll catch every flu bug and cold that walks by. I was born early so my immune system isn't the best and I screwed it up worse with the drugs.'
He had handed her the fever reducers she'd asked for and considered healing her of the illness with his power but he was conserving his strength for his plan. The plan to keep her safe forever. He was so close to having everything he would need. Just a few more ingredients and he'd be ready. He stroked her hair as she slept, her skin was hot and dry and the heat worried him but she had assured him she'd be alright.
She shifted a little in her sleep and whimpered and he leaned down to kiss her cheek. When she relaxed he smiled a little then checked the clock, he didn't have to be back at the bunker for a while. He slipped out of his coat and shoes before sliding under the blanket and pulled her in against his chest. She felt so frail now that he had his grace back but he knew she was stronger than he would ever be. She had picked him up piece by piece and helped put him back together. His hand traced the delicate bones of her hand where it lay on his chest and he smiled at the long digits that danced on the keyboard as she typed. He remembered watching her bake bread and the way the long clever fingers had squeezed and shaped the pale rich dough.
Hs body stirred as he thought of other things she'd done with those clever fingers, he'd had sex before but somehow every prior experience paled beside the nights spent with Alora. He pushed those memories aside and looked down at her face as she nuzzled in against his chest. He could hear Sam and Dean somewhere in the cacophony of voices that filled his every waking moment once his Grace had returned. So many people still prayed even though it was ridiculously apparent that God had abandoned this world and the myriad beings that dwelled upon it. Sam and Dean weren't praying but he always heard them anyway, he sought out their voices just to reassure himself that they were ok.
He wanted to introduce Alora to Sam and Dean but he was afraid of what would happen. Too many times he'd seen the two men find happiness only to have it stolen from them by the life they led. It was as if they were cursed, they were only given moments of happiness, of contentment and then the brutality of their lives, their destiny would rise up and crash down on them and leave wreckage in its wake. He couldn't bear the idea of that happening to his relationship with Alora so he kept those two halves of his life compartmentalized. He kept Alora safe and did his best to do the same for Sam and Dean while he pushed away the guilt of lying to Sam and Dean about his whereabouts when he vanished for days or weeks at a time. They were seasoned hunters who had told him time and again they could manage without him, so for the time being he contented himself to hold Alora while she struggled through the illness that gripped her.