22nd of November, 2009
Pineview Hotel, Vermilion, Ohio
"Did Chuck even tell you what was so important that we had to haul ass here in the middle of the night?" Beth questioned, clinging to the seat for dear life as Dean raced around the corner into the parking lot of the Pineview Hotel. Jesse wasn't so lucky and he was sent, face first, onto the floor of the backseat.
"No, he just texted Sam and told us to get here ASAP," Dean replied shortly. Beth rolled her eyes at his tone and reached down to help Jesse back into his seat.
The second the car was parked and the key had been taken out of the ignition, the four of them scrambled out of the Impala and started jogging in the direction of the hotel's entrance. Dean stopped briefly, taking in the line of familiar impala's with confused eyes.
"Dean, come on!" Sam's sudden call snapped him out of it and he rushed to catch up with his family.
"Hey Chuck!" Beth shouted happily at the sight of the prophet. Chuck spun around, eyes going wide in shock at the sight of them.
"G-Guys?" he stuttered out.
"What's going on?" Dean asked, semi-polite after he received an elbow to the ribs from Beth.
"Uh, nothing really," Chuck replied hesitantly. "Just kinda hanging… what are you guys doing here?"
"You told us to come, Chuck," Dean explained shortly.
"I didn't tell you to come here," Chuck said as he raised an eyebrow.
Beth reached into Sam's pocket and pulled out his phone, flipping it open and holding it out to Chuck the moment she found the text. The Prophet took the phone and skimmed through the text that said: Pineview Hotel. Vermilion, Ohio. Life or death situation, get here ASAP.
"I-I didn't send you this text, Sam," Chuck told him honestly. He passed the phone back to Beth who tossed it to her brother.
"We drove here as fast as we could. We drove all night," Dean growled, a dark note creeping into his voice as he bore down on the prophet with his anger and exhaustion.
"I'm sorry that you've wasted your time," Chuck started, taking a wary step back. "But I didn't send that text and it's not a life or death situation. I honestly don't know how…" Chuck cut off abruptly and made a noise of understanding. "Oh no…"
"What's wrong?" Beth asked, meeting Chuck's wary gaze.
"Sam? You made it!" A familiar, high pitched voice exclaimed. The five of them all turned at once to find Becky Rosen standing at the top of the steps, staring down at them with wide eyes.
"Uh… Becky, right?" Sam said hesitantly, unsure if he'd gotten her name right. Becky all but hopped down the steps and stopped between Sam and Chuck.
"Oh my, you remembered. You've been thinking about me," Becky replied, excitement filling her voice. Jesse turned his head up to look at Beth, giving her a look that said 'what the hell?' Beth bit back a chuckle and ruffled Jesse's hair in response. Sam paled a little and he was in the middle of struggling to think of a reply when Becky waved her hand at him. "It's okay. I've been thinking of you too."
"Becky, did you take my phone?" Chuck interrupted, glancing between Becky and Sam with narrowed eyes.
"I just borrowed it from your pants," Becky replied innocently.
"Becky!"
"What?" The blonde said defensively. "They're gonna want to see it."
"See what?" Sam and Dean questioned in unison.
"Wow. I love it when they talk at the same time!" Becky yelped, grinning up at them.
"Hey, Chuck! It's show time!" A man wearing a pale yellow shirt called down to them, a clipboard was clutched tightly in his hands and he glanced at it every few seconds, marking something down with his pen.
"What the hell is going on?" Beth queried, and her sudden question had Becky shrieking again as she all but threw herself at Beth and hugged her tightly around the neck. "Woah, hey Becky," Beth choked out, stumbling back a few steps at the tackle-hug. She patted Becky's back awkwardly until the hyperactive blonde released her and set her sights on Jesse instead.
"Oh my God, is that—" Becky stopped abruptly. "Is that Jesse? The half human, half demon child you saved from Castiel?"
"Yeah, this is Jesse Turner," Beth introduced, nodding at Jesse to come forward, which he did so reluctantly. "Jesse, this is Becky."
"It is so cool to meet you," Becky said quickly as she grabbed their arms and hauled them up the stairs towards the hotel, leaving Sam and Dean to talk to Chuck.
Beth's mouth dropped open in disbelief as a tall brunette walked past her, dressed exactly like Sam was, he even had the same haircut as her brother. "What the actual hell?" she whispered, meeting Jesse's confused eyes, and then she spotted a guy across the room dressed like Dean, complete with dark blonde hair, Dean's thick army boots and the leather jacket she'd seen him wear on multiple occasions. "What's going on? Why is that guy dressed like Dean? And why are there clowns and scarecrows here?"
To the left of them, was two or three tables pushed together that was holding a whole bunch of merchandise with the word 'Supernatural' on it, there were a few mugs with the Impala on them, a couple with 'Route 66' printed on them in big, bold letters and a couple stacks of books lined the tables too.
"Becky, what is this?" Sam asked, his tone suggesting he really didn't want to know the answer.
"It's awesome!" Becky sung giddily. "The first ever Supernatural convention."
Beth looked around her, doing a double take as she caught sight of a guy with yellow eyes and another guy dressed as Bobby. Dean seemed to have the same reaction as her as he quickly looked away from the yellow-eyed man.
The man wearing the yellow shirt from before walked up on stage, still clutching his clipboard in a tight fist. "Hello everybody, welcome to the first annual Supernatural convention. At 3:45 in the Magnolia room, we have the panel—Frightened Little Boy: The Secret Life of Dean. And at 4:30, we have the Homoerotic Subtext of Supernatural." Beth snorted at that, her cheeks flushing slightly as a few on the people sitting down glanced back at her in annoyance. "And of course, the big hunt starts at 7:00pm sharp." When the man finished talking, a round of cheers went up amongst the crowd and a few of them even clapped enthusiastically too. "Right now, I'd like to introduce the man himself. The creator and writer of the Supernatural books, the one, the only Carver Edlund!"
The cheering and clapping started up again as Chuck tentatively stepped up onto the stage, peeking out at the attendees with wide, slightly nervous eyes. Chuck muttered under his breath for a minute before he grabbed a water bottle and took a long gulp from it.
"Um, so, uh… any questions?" Chuck asked awkwardly. A few hands went up and Chuck pointed towards a tall man dressed as Sam.
"Hey, Mr Edlund, big fan," the man started, referring to himself. "I was just wondering, where did you come up with Sam and Dean in the first place?"
"Oh… I… it just came to me," Chuck excused pathetically, taking note of the tense expressions on the Winchester family's faces. Dean pursed his lips, irritated but remained silent as he stood in between Beth and Sam. Jesse was standing on a chair in front of Beth so he could see too. "Okay, hook man," Chuck said, gesturing for the hook man to stand up.
"Why in every fight scene, Sam and Dean are having their knife or gun knocked away by the bad guys?" the hook man asked loudly, his strong accent filling the room. "Why don't they keep it on some kind of bungee?"
"That's kind of a good idea," Beth murmured thoughtfully to Sam, who tilted his head to the side in agreement.
"Uh, follow up," the hook man interrupted as Chuck attempted to answer his first question. "Why can't Sam and Dean be telling Ruby is evil? I mean, she is clearly manipulating Sam in some kind of moral lapse. It's obvious, nein?"
"Another good point," Beth whispered and both Sam and Dean elbowed her at once, causing her to let out a quiet 'ouch!' as she rubbed her aching sides.
"Hey! If you don't like the books, don't read them, Fritz!" Becky shouted, marching towards the shell-shocked hook man. Beth quickly went after the blonde and grabbed her arm, successfully stopping her from doing something she might later regret.
"Okay, just calm down," Chuck said into the microphone, meeting Becky's infuriated eyes. "It's okay. So, what's the next question?"
Another man dressed like Sam stood up and smiled nervously up at Chuck. "At the end of the last book, Dean goes to hell. What happens next?"
"Well, there lies an announcement, actually," Chuck explained. "You're all gonna find out, thanks to a wealthy Scandinavian investor, we're going to start publishing again."
The crowd erupted into excited cheers at Chuck's news, whilst Sam and Dean shared an angry look before they called Beth back over and Sam plucked Jesse off the chair before herding the younger two out the door.
"Dean, you need to take a chill pill," Beth told her brother as he marched towards where Chuck and Becky were sitting and talking.
"Excuse us," Dean barked, ignoring Beth's words. "In case you haven't noticed, our plates are kinda full, okay? Finding the Colt. Hunting the Devil. Trying to help those two control their powers," Dean jerked his thumb at Beth and Jesse who immediately felt uncomfortable as all eyes flickered to them and away again. "We don't have time for this crap."
"Hey! I didn't call you," Chuck shot back defensively.
"He means the books, Chuck," Sam explained in a more polite tone than his brother. "Why are you publishing more books?"
"For food and shelter," Chuck replied in a 'duh' tone.
"Who gave you the rights to our life story?" Dean demanded, leaning over Chuck.
"An Archangel and I didn't exactly ask for it," Chuck snapped, growing sick of Dean trying to bully him.
"Look, the deal's off. No more books," Sam interrupted. "Our lives are not for public consumption."
"Becky, would you excuse us for a second?" Chuck asked politely. Becky let out a quick 'Uh-huh' before she stood up and gestured for Beth to follow her over to the bar. Beth headed after the blonde woman slowly, waiting for Jesse to catch up. Sam, Dean and Chuck left the room, heading out into the deserted corridor so they could talk in private.
A few hours later, Beth was wandering through the old hotel with Jesse trailing along beside her. Beth's brothers were still downstairs, talking to Chuck or having a few beers, Beth didn't know… or really care. She was more interested in finding out if any of the ghost crap the event coordinator and the 'maid' had been talking about was true or not. So far, she'd found nothing.
"Beth?" Jesse asked quietly. Beth glanced down at the kid immediately.
"What's up?"
"What you said to your dad… or whatever it was the trickster conjured, did you mean it?" he asked her curiously.
Beth looked down, a sigh escaping. She knew one of them was bound to ask at some point, she was just a little surprised it was Jesse that finally built up the courage to ask her outright.
"I've spent the last few months bottling up how I really feel about my dad," she explained. "Part of me absolutely, 100% hates him for putting my family in danger and for what he did to Sam and Dean, forcing them to grow up in this life… and the other part is telling me that he did the best that he could, that he never meant to get my mom, Adam and I involved in his other life but it was bound to happen eventually…" Beth trailed off uncomfortably, rubbing the back of her neck as she started walking again. "I don't know how I feel about him, Jesse. Until I figure it out for myself, I'd rather not talk about it."
"Dean's not gonna let it go," Jesse pointed out before he dropped the subject and walked ahead of Beth.
"I know. That's what I'm afraid of."
A little while later, Jesse wandered back to the convention to find Sam and Dean, leaving Beth alone with her thoughts. She'd just turned the corner when she suddenly ran straight into another person, causing them both to fall in a tangled heap to the floor.
"Wow. I'm so sorry," the guy in front of her said quickly, scrambling to his feet and leaning down to help her up.
"God dude, where's the fire?" Beth asked as she straightened out her clothes and rubbed her sore elbow.
"I didn't mean to run into you. There was this kid and he looked freaked out and then he just… he just vanished into thin air," he explained enthusiastically, his hands gesturing wildly as he recalled what had happened only moments before.
"Wait, wait, wait. This kid, he vanished?" Beth cut in, interrupting the man's unintelligible babble. He nodded eagerly in confirmation. There was a few moments of silence in which Beth blinked in surprise before coming to the sudden realization that it was a ghost the guy had seen as she was suddenly sent flying through the air into some glass cabinet doors. She hit the ground with a thud, clutching her arm tightly as she rolled over to see the other guy upside down in mid-air and being thrown about the room.
"Naughty. Naughty. Naughty!" a deathly pale woman wearing an old fashioned dress appeared suddenly, an inhuman sneer tugging at her lips. The ghost went to attack the man and Beth immediately rose to help him.
"Hey! Leave him alone!" Beth shouted, still clutching her arm as she wobbled unsteadily on her feet.
The ghost's attention was drawn to Beth and her crazed eyes seemed to widen and the manic look bled from her dark brown orbs as she gazed at Beth in what seemed like awe.
"What are you?" the ghost whispered as she extended a hand out towards her. Beth took a quick step backwards. "The light—it's beautiful." The crazed look returned to the ghost's face and she let out an ear piercing wail as she charged at Beth. The half human, half angel cried out in pain as the woman collided with her, evaporating into grey mist but leaving behind the sensation that Beth's internal organs were freezing over. Beth dropped like a sack of potatoes, her head cracking against the wooden floorboards with a sickening smack. Her body began shaking uncontrollably as tremor after tremor shot through her.
"Holy shit," the other victim gasped out. He was bleeding from his hairline and his ear, but he rushed across the room and awkwardly lifted Beth up into his arms and raced for the door. Beth's head hung limply in the crook of his elbow, her hair swaying from side to side as he moved. "It's gonna be okay. I-I'll find those two guys you were with, they'll help."
Beth's only response was a ragged sigh that crawled past her lips, her whole body felt like it was frozen and she couldn't even move a muscle.
"Help!" Beth was jarred roughly as the guy carrying her pushed the door open and struggled to manoeuvre them both through it. He eventually managed and staggered into the bar area. "Help us!" He dropped to his knees, still cradling Beth closely.
"What the hell? Beth!" Dean shouted frantically, shoving people aside as he ran over. He also knelt down beside them, transferring Beth to his own arms and cupping her face gently. Her body was still shaking and her skin was paper white, her lips tinted a light blue. "What happened?" Dean demanded, grabbing the guy—he now knew as Alex, thanks to the girl he'd been flirting with—and yanking him closer by the lapel of his jacket. A small crowd had gathered around the trio, watching the scene with obvious concern.
"That woman, Leticia Gore? She's freaking real! She went bat-shit crazy and beat the crap out us," Alex explained rapidly, his hands shaking from shock. "She collided with Beth and disappeared then Beth just collapsed and started shaking."
"What's going on here?" Chuck broke through the crowd with Sam, Jesse and Becky right behind him.
"Chuck, is there somewhere private I can take Beth?" Dean asked, picking Beth up and standing with some help from Alex.
"Uh yeah, there's a study. Follow me," Chuck said quickly, already hurrying off in the direction of the study and Dean wasted no time following the prophet. Sam, Jesse and Becky all shared a glance before they too chased after the others.
"Beth, can you tell me what happened?" Dean asked softly, sitting by Beth's head as he held her hand. His sister was still pale and freezing cold but the shaking had gone down quite a bit.
Beth's earthy brown and green eyes weakly flickered up to meet his and she nodded slowly. "Leticia, she ran right into me and the feeling she left behind was so cold. I-I couldn't move it hurt so bad. Dean, she's so angry. I could feel it when she passed through me."
"It's okay," Dean assured her quietly, squeezing her fingers gently. "We're gonna gank her and no one else will get hurt."
"I-I wanna help," Beth murmured and then she was struggling to get off the couch. Dean immediately reached out and grabbed her arms as she stumbled and fell into him with a weak groan.
"Wow. Hey, take it easy," Dean exclaimed. He pushed her back down carefully until the backs of her knees hit the edge of the couch and she had no choice but to sit back down. "You aren't going anywhere," he said firmly. "Sam and I will deal with the ghost, okay?"
"I'm not useless, Dean, I can do something to help get rid of her," Beth argued. Dean caught on to the displeasure in her voice and he exhaled harshly.
"I know you're not useless Beth," he said. "And the only thing you can do right now that's going to help anyone is if you stay right here and get better."
"Fine." Beth grumbled a few times under her breath, causing Dean to roll his eyes as he reached out to ruffle Beth's hair.
"I'll call Cas," Dean said a few seconds later as he stood back up and looked down at her. "He'll make sure you stay where you are."
"I'm not a baby, Dean. I don't need anyone to babysit me. Besides, if Cas is watching me, then who's watching Jesse?"
"That crazy lady Becky is with him, so is Chuck. Jesse will be fine," Dean explained before he tilted his head back to look at the ceiling. "Hey, Castiel!" He called out, ignoring his sister's protests. "I need a favour man!"
Castiel appeared by the door, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Beth's pale face and Dean's worried expression. Beth stared back at him, her cheeks growing warm at the intensity of his gaze.
"Cas," Dean spoke up, interrupting the angel and Beth's rather intimate moment. "I need you to keep an eye on Beth, make sure she doesn't leave this room."
"Of course, how long is she to be held here?"
"Until Sam and I have ganked the ghost bitch that tried to kill her," Dean replied. Castiel's eyes darkened as he returned his stare to Beth's face. The angel nodded firmly, assuring Dean he would watch Beth. "See ya in a couple hours," Dean said to his sister, winking as he departed from the room, closing the door behind him and leaving Beth and Castiel alone together.
Castiel stood by the closed door, following Beth with his eyes as she slowly stood up and walked over to the mirror above the fireplace. Beth pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and looked in the mirror—her hair was a tangled mess around her pale face, she'd gotten a little colour back in her cheeks and her lips had lost the blue-bint to them but there were dark circles under her eyes, which made the black eye she'd received during Gabriel's tv-land prank, even darker and the cut at her eyebrow was beginning to scab over.
"I look like crap," she mumbled and proceeded to comb her fingers through her hair the best she could without tugging any strands out or pulling at the roots.
"I think you look nice." Beth jumped at the sudden voice, which resulted in her getting her fingers caught in her hair and yanking it roughly. She let out a yelp of pain and tried to free her fingers but only ended up getting them even more tangled in the hair. "Stop struggling," Cas said as he stopped behind her. Beth's head snapped up and their eyes met through the mirror. Beth stopped moving and Castiel raised his hands, carefully untangling her hair with quick fingers. The second she was free, Beth turned around and looked up at the angel with a soft smile.
"Thank you," she whispered, and they both knew she wasn't talking about him helping her with her hair. Castiel nodded in response. Beth reached out and took his hand, curling her fingers around it. An unfamiliar feeling twisted and turned in Castiel's stomach as they stared at each other, just content to stand there silently, holding hands. "I know I've never told you this, but I am glad that I met you and that you sacrificed yourself for us. It's a lot more than we deserve."
"I would do it again if the need arose," Castiel murmured, absentmindedly brushing his thumb back and forth across the back of Beth's hand. Beth curled the fingers of her free hand around the back of his neck and they came together for a soft, gentle kiss.
"I know." She smiled up at him as she pulled away for air briefly before they kissed again. The door flew open seconds later and Becky appeared in the entrance of the room.
"Hey, Beth—" the blonde woman cut off abruptly, her eyes widening in shock at the sight of Castiel and Beth in mid-kiss. The two broke apart quickly at the interruption. "I am so sorry. I-I'll leave you two alone." Becky retreated from the room and slammed the door behind her. Beth's cheeks darkened at being caught having such an intimate moment with Castiel, and the angel looked down at her in concern once again.
"What is it?"
There was a brief pause and then Beth shrugged pathetically, refusing to meet his gaze. "Is this wrong?"
"Is what wrong?" Castiel asked, completely confused as her sudden question.
"Us. I-I mean, whatever it is that's going on between us," Beth clarified softly as she twisted her fingers together.
"I… don't know," Castiel replied finally, the concern in his eyes morphing into cluelessness. "I don't know much about a lot of things, it seems."
"What do you feel, in here?" Beth raised her hand slowly and set it over his heart. "About… About me?"
Castiel glanced down at the spot where Beth's hand rested and he frowned. His eyes flickered back up to meet hers and he closed his larger hand around hers. "I feel warm and happy when I see your face," he admitted, though he looked as though he didn't understand it.
"I… I feel that way too… about you," Beth admitted softly. "It shouldn't happen though, should it? You're an angel and I'm—I'm a freak. I shouldn't even exist."
"Don't ever say that again," Castiel said gruffly, looking surprisingly angered at her words. Beth blinked in surprise. Castiel exhaled harshly as he raised his free hand and cupped her cheek. "I've never had the best opinion on Nephilim, neither have any of my brothers or sisters. The half-angel, half-humans were violent and bloodthirsty. They were completely out of control. But you are different. I'd never met a Nephil like you before—you're not a freak, Bethany. You're good and you'll always be good."
Tears were in Beth's eyes by the end of Castiel's speech and her bottom lip was trembling slightly. She took a step closer to him and slipped her arms around his mid-riff. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.
The next day, the Winchesters, Jesse and Castiel were preparing to leave after Sam and Dean had helped two of the convention goers get rid of the ghost of Leticia Gore, though it turned out it was the kid ghosts that were the problem and so they were taken care of as well.
Sam and Dean were standing with Chuck and Becky and Beth, Castiel and Jesse were in the backseat of the Impala with the brown haired woman in between the angel and the child.
"Hey, Cas…" Beth said lowly so as to not distract Jesse who was busy reading through a comic book Dean had given him. "Thank you for cheering me up last night."
Castiel nodded without saying anything, and he didn't need to, Beth already knew that he would always be prepared to help her feel better and she would do the same for him, if he ever needed her to.