I Know You Feel Like The Walls Are Closing In On You:
"Okay… We'll see you in a bit then… Thanks again for staying behind."
Toni hung up her phone as she made the last turn to put her on the driveway to the cabin that had become a makeshift home base for herself and the Winchesters. She one again tried to remind herself that she had nothing to feel guilty about right now. She had volunteered to stay behind with the maid that Bobby's ghost had possessed at the hospital because her face had never been plastered all over every media outlet available in the free world with the headline 'Serial Killer Still at Large' and the maid also didn't seem to be as freaked out to be around her as she was with the brothers. The Winchesters still needed to maintain a somewhat low profile, so she was more than happy to be the 'public face' of their trio when the need ever arose, although she secretly hoped that that role wouldn't be all that popular for her to play in the near future. True she wasn't a huge fan of hospitals (but let's be honest, was there anyone who could honestly say that they liked having to go to the hospital?) but she figured that it would be the least awkward place to be since she was sure that the fallout from the brothers finding out that Bobby wasn't just well on his way to becoming a full blown vengeful spirit, but that his single minded hatred for Dick Roman was so severe that he had no qualms with forcing an innocent civilian into the thick of things and he seems oblivious to the fact that he would be putting them in harm's way just to try to satisfy his own bloodlust.
A quick shudder ran through Toni's body as she parked her truck at the thought of being possessed. She absentmindedly scratched at the tattoo on her right shoulder blade and she still felt like ice water had been flushed through her veins because her ink was only effective against demon possession. As far as she had learned so far angels had to ask for your permission to take you on a vessel (and that was only if you so happened to have been born into a family of the proper bloodline, which Toni thanked God that she wasn't, so she didn't have to worry about that as far as she knew), demons could possess anyone that they chose, but they were barred from doing that with the right charm (or tattoo) but she had yet to find anything written about something that could prevent a spirit from taking over a human's body. Well salt and iron could expel them from one's body, but how could that knowledge translate into helping her to keep them from entering her body in the first place?
Pure iron jewelry? Toni thought to herself as she got out of her truck. After a second or two, she shook her head and admonished herself for allowing herself to be preoccupied with such selfish thoughts (even if it was just a momentary lapse in judgment). How 'bout you focus on killing these uber-monsters first Toni? Then after all of us have lived through that… Well then we can contemplate tackling the next life and death issue.
When Toni finally reached the front door to the cabin, she hesitated with her hand on the door knob because all that she could hear was Dean's angry voice through the door. She pressed her ear to the wooden door in an attempt to better listen in to the latest argument between the brothers but was somewhat surprised to learn that it wasn't Sam with whom Dean was currently fighting when she overheard, "… So you don't get to make a sandwich. You don't get a damned cat! Nobody cares that you're broken Cas! Clean up your mess!"
Oh… Oh no… Not good… Not good at all… Toni thought as she entered the cabin as silently as was humanly possible.
"You know… We should play Twister," Castiel replied before he disappeared from the room at the blink of an eye.
Toni kept her back plastered to the door while also shaking her head against it. So not the way to deal with this situation… Shit… Shit… And double shit!
"…Every one of those things was in Cas?" The demon questioned bringing Toni out of her own faraway thoughts. "He can see past the meat suits."
Sam turned from looking at Meg to face his brother after a thought came to him while he scrutinized the space that the angel had just vacated saying, "So, he'll be able to spot the real… fake Dick Roman."
"Goldstar Sugar pants," Meg praised with a condescending tone. "Too bad he's Fruit Loops. You might have had a chance."
Toni found herself glaring at the demon in the room who was looking all too comfortable as she leaned against a wall while nursing her bottle of beer. For some reason Toni couldn't take her eyes off the other woman in the room as she approached her boyfriend's side. In fact she was so distracted by the dark haired demon that she didn't even hear the loud noise that caused both of the Winchesters to turn and look at a spot on the floor behind her.
Meg pushed herself off the wall with a quick thrust of her hip so that she could move to sit on the couch, so Toni finally forced herself to focus her gaze in Sam's direction. When she noticed that he had his attention focused on something behind her, Toni allowed herself to turn around to find out what was so fascinating. She almost sputtered out a laugh at seeing Castiel sitting on a large Twister game board on the floor because she had almost forgotten how literal the angel could be sometimes.
"Great!" Dean nearly shouted while staring at Castiel with a look of pure rage and contempt. "I need a damn drink before I deal with… with… THAT!"
Dean finished with a wave of the hand in Castiel's direction a fraction of a second before he turned on his heel and stomped towards the fridge. Sam sighed heavily but was stopped from following his brother into the kitchen area by his girlfriend placing a firm grip on his forearm. She made sure to have a sympathetic look on her face when he turned his eyes towards her because she knew that he would look confused and lost about everything that was going on and she wanted him to know that she wasn't trying to place yet another burden on his shoulders.
"Can I maybe talk to you for a minute? Umm… Alone?" Toni asked quietly as she motioned with her head towards the door that she had just come through.
Sam stole a glance at his brother who had his angry eyes laser focused on the angel who was still sitting on the floor. He then looked over at Castiel ad that sight caused his face to completely drop. It appeared that those two men had retreated to their "corners" for the time being and Meg was happily drinking her beer in silence on the couch, so Sam saw no harm in letting his girlfriend to lead him out of the cabin for a private conference. He had no idea how he might even being to find any sort of starting point to remedy the situation between any of them and he was more than willing to hear out any theories or insights that Toni might be able to share with him. At times like these he sometimes wondered if he was too close to the situation to find a solution and maybe just maybe Toni was far enough removed from everything that she would be able to think more clearly in order to see through all the crap he found himself wading through when it came to his brother and their celestial ally.
They ended up sitting on the front door step with Toni tucked up tight against Sam's side and his arms wrapped protectively around her shoulders. For a few minutes Toni allowed herself to just forget everything that was happening in their lives outside of being held in Sam's arms. Right then there was no Leviathans, no vengeful spirits that had been a beloved friend and there was absolutely no reason not to just enjoy a quiet moment together on the porch of their vacation cottage in the woods. Except this place wasn't their vacation cottage, no this was a place left behind to no one in particular after the owner was killed by some strange monster that none of them had ever heard of before his death (or since for that matter).
With that last thought at the forefront of her mind, Toni gave Sam's waist a tight squeeze one last time before she forced herself to push out of his embrace so that she wouldn't lose her nerve. When he felt Toni trying to push herself away from his body, Sam's first instinct was to flex his muscular arm around her shoulders to try to keep her as close as possible to his body. Much to his surprise Toni didn't just cease her movements when she felt Sam do just that, he also felt every single muscle in her body instantly stiffen up completely. Thankfully he understood that her reaction wasn't a form of rejection of his display of affection and that it was her trying to show him her fears that he might think that she was trying to emotionally close herself off from him like she had been prone to do in the past which she had vowed on more than one occasion not to do anymore.
Sam quickly loosened his grip on his girlfriend without completely removing his arm from her body, but Toni showed no signs of relaxing at all. With everything that was going on in the last little while the two of them hadn't had much time to be alone together, like 'together together', and that fact suddenly hit her. She should be feeling that tell-tale itch under her skin and yet that wasn't on her mind at all. Should that worry her or was it a good thing that she kept the job at the forefront of her thoughts? Would Sam think that she didn't really care about him if she wasn't trying to get into his pants like she usually did whenever they had down time together? Well not that this was really 'down time' so maybe he'd understand why she was focused more on the job than on their relationship.
"You wanted to talk alone?" Sam questioned quietly into Toni's ear.
Toni had been staring out at nothing and jumped at the sound of Sam's soft voice against her hair. A bright blush quickly spread across her cheeks as she chuckled to try to cover up her embarrassment. Sam had a soft smile on his face at her reaction but he didn't draw any attention to it and just sat back a comfortable distance and held one of her hands in both of his against one of his thighs.
"Yeah… I did," she started with her eyes staring fixedly at his hands. She then forced her eyes to move up Sam's body until she was looking at his face as she continued more confidently, "I mean… Yes I did. You see it's Castiel…"
"I know," he jumped in before she could try to complete her thought. "I know he isn't your favorite person… well 'being' on the planet right now, but I… I can't just abandon him. If it wasn't for him I would probably be dead right now… or worse. So I'm sorry if him being here makes you uncomfortable, but like it or not he's a part of the team… Well at least he should be because he can really be of a lot of help to us."
Toni raised to free hand to pet Sam's cheek as she replied, "I know that he is Sam. I… I wasn't lying back when I told you that I accepted your theory about it being the Leviathans possessing Castiel and not the angel himself that broke Death's dam in your head to… you know…" She let her hand drop to cover both of his once again as a sad look spread across her face. "But that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about. Castiel… he… I…"
"What is it Toni?" Sam asked in a soft, concerned voice as he took his turn to hold one of her cheeks in an effort to make it easier for the two of them to look each other in the eye. He was hoping that the eye contact would help Toni to focus and therefore finish her thoughts about Castiel.
Toni cast her eyes to their laps again as she answered just over a whisper, "I… Castiel… All this stuff that's happening with him, it… umm… It kind of looks sort of familiar to me."
"It does?" Sam exclaimed quietly. Toni let him continue to hold her face, but she did close her eyes as she slowly nodded her head in response. Sam's other hand found the other side of Toni's face and he quickly pecked her lips before saying, "That's great Toni… What…? Wait… Why don't you look like this is a good thing? Toni… Seriously… What's wrong? Why does his behavior look familiar to you? Recognizing it is a good thing, isn't it?"
While Toni formulated her response, she took both of Sam's hands off of her face and held them tightly against one of his thighs. "Sam… I… I think Castiel… I mean I'm pretty sure that he's suffering from PTSD or PTSS, however you want to label it… Or whatever you'd call it for an angel… But yeah…"
"What? Really?"
"Yeah…" She answered almost cautiously. "I know we've all been thinking that he's been acting really weird… you know even weirder than he usually does, but… well after his reaction to Dean's outburst I'm more than certain that that's what's going on with him. I… Uhh some of Will and Alex's… Hell even mom and dad's friends exhibited some of the same behavior after they returned home from combat… But it's not like I'm an expert or anything, it just seemed to make the most sense to me."
"Oh… crap…" Sam replied as what Toni had just explained to him started to fully sink in. "I guess… shit I guess that means that Dean yelling at him like that didn't help things, right? That will only make him recoil into himself or something, right?"
"Not necessarily," Toni countered as soon as he was finished speaking. Sam gave her a skeptical look causing Toni to shrug and start to run her fingertips back and forth gently over the backside of Sam's hand. She kept her eyes on her fingers that maintained their slow, deliberate movements as she said, "You see just like there isn't any one way for PTSD to manifest, there also isn't any one 'proper' way to treat it either. Sure there are a few things like going to therapy or support groups that are common place for each patient, but doesn't mean that it always works every time or in the same way for everyone, you know?"
Sam found himself staring at the back and forth motion of Toni's fingers while slowly responding, "So… if I'm hearing you right… What Dean did back there….? It…? It could have actually worked? I mean that it could have helped to get Cas to snap out of this… whatever he's in?"
"That's exactly what I mean. I've seen it in the past where being given a fairly simple but direct order has caused a soldier to get over their feelings of self-loathing or self-doubt or… well whatever you want to call it almost immediately. It can be effective sometimes… I don't really know or even pretend to understand any or all of the reasons why it works, but from what I can tell… I don't know but it's like the simple directive speaks to something like a base instinct that makes the person a good soldier to begin with…" Sam hummed out a sound of understanding that Toni took as a go-ahead to continue speaking. "Which kind of got me thinking about what's happening with Castiel…? He… He isn't acting like… I mean he didn't react like 'the perfect little soldier' like Dean used to accuse him of being, so it kind of got me… you know I was just sort of thinking…"
Toni trailed off there because she wasn't quite sure how to put the rest of her thoughts into words. Hell she wasn't even sure that she actually knew where that train of thought was going to lead to when Sam had the 'audacity' to ask (in an effort to prompt his girlfriend to continue on her current train of thought), "Okay so Cas doesn't have the same stick up his ass that he did when we first met him… I'm not really getting how that has anything to do with what you saw happening here today."
"Well…" Toni started as she pulled a napkin out of Sam's jacket pocket that she saw poking out behind the cloth. He watched her with an almost concerned eye as she sat back and away from him. He finally allowed himself to relax in his spot away from his girlfriend's touch when Toni started to tear the napkin haphazardly into long strips. He tried his best not to smile when she started to methodically shred each long length of paper into smaller bits of confetti, but his facial expression didn't much matter because Toni got so lost in the act of turning the napkin into imperceptible pieces that she bare noticed his face as she spoke. "Well I think that it shows that he really isn't the same Castiel anymore. He isn't the man… Err… Uhh… I mean he isn't the angel that we met all that time ago, so we have to change our way of thinking when it comes to him."
"Umm… Okay… Sorry Toni… May… Maybe I'm slow, but didn't we know that already?"
Sam's question forced Toni out of her own thoughts and then she stared down at the mess of paper in her lap for a silent moment. Feeling like she had been caught in an unsavory, compromising position in front of the man she loved, Toni jumped up to her feet and started to pace in front of him on the overgrown pathway to the cabin. The small shards of paper fell to the ground off her legs and jacket as she moved back and forth on the ground. Sam nearly stood up to try to comfort his girlfriend when he saw her start to wring her hands together as her pacing became faster and faster, but her held off in order to allow her the time she needed to put all of her thoughts together in her own time.
"Yeah we did," she answered while staring at the invisible path that she was walking and sounding somewhat guilty. "Fuck I don't think that I'm explaining this properly… Fuck… Or what I mean to say… Dammit!"
Sam could see the frustration mounting on Toni's face causing him to jump up onto his feet. He took a couple of tentative steps towards her, but he stopped himself from getting close enough to actually touch her. She was trying to work out what she needed to say and he knew that his trying to wrap her in a hug right now wouldn't be of much help to accomplish that. He instead remained cemented in his spot, just out of arms reach of Toni, and called out softly "No rush Toni… Seriously just take your time."
Toni stopped pacing and looked over at where Sam was now standing with his hand grasps securely behind his back. She smiled warmly and then looked more relaxed himself to try to ease some of the tension between them. "Okay… So we sort of know that he isn't this one dimensional character anymore… If that makes any sense…" Sam didn't know if she wanted him to reply or not, but he still nodded his head in the affirmative none the less. "From what you've told me, Dean… and yourself to an extent… You guys could just yell at him or whatever and he'd react to it… not always the way you wanted him to, but sometimes it would make him tell you more about what was going on because he needed you to understand so you'd do what he wanted… Not like you he was manipulating you, but you know so that stuff would happen…"
Although Sam agreed with what Toni was saying, he couldn't really tell where this current train of thought was leading up to and how it might possibly help them in the near future, so he gently tried to prompt her asking, "Okay… That all may be true, but that helps us because…?"
"But it's not working anymore," Toni finished when Sam trailed off. "So maybe we need to try something else. You know, tackle this problem from a new angle… so to speak."
Toni motioned to the stairs where the couple had started their conversation with her chin to indicate that they should both return to that safe haven. Sam and Toni then once again made themselves comfortable on the top step at the front of the cabin. Sam opened his mouth to speak, but Toni quickly silenced him with a sharp shake of her head. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples as if she was trying to soothe away a tension headache. Sam watched her with a worried eyes but he refrained from speaking or moving to keep from disturbing her thought process in any way.
Toni kept her eyes closed and her head cradled in her hands as she shook her head saying in a tone that didn't even attempt to hide her disbelief, "I can't believe that these words are actually going to pass through my lips, but here goes…" She took a deep breath and let her hands fall to her sides and forced herself to sit up straight in her seat. After re-establishing eye contact with Sam, she finally finished, "I think we… err… or I mean I think that I should try to use a kinder, gentler approach with him. He still seems to feel super guilty about what he did to you and he hasn't' seemed to be able to get past that just yet. And Dean… Well Dean is obviously frustrated with all this shit… and I don't blame him! But as we've already seen, yelling at Castiel like he's a misbehaving child isn't going to work right now… well at least not yet."
Right, so what would your suggestion be to get through to him right now? I mean… What plan have you cooked up in that beautiful brain of yours?"
With a quick shrug of her obviously tired shoulders Toni replied, "Fuck if I know… I guess I'll try talking to him… You know, make him feel somewhat safe and comfortable with all of us so that we can get him to actually help us." Sam opened his mouth, but was once again silenced by Toni simply raising her hand as if she was asking him to let her finish. "We NEED his help Sam to find the actual Dick Roman that you guys have to kill with that nifty little weapon that the Profit helped you discover, but he isn't ready to do that just yet. He keeps saying that he doesn't want to fight, so we HAVE to ease him back into all of this so that he will know that we don't necessarily want him to engage in combat… You know to show him that he can still help us without compromising his new vow of passivity or whatever… and we really have to help him come to this realization soon than later or we are truly and royally fucked."
"Huh… okay… I think I see where you're coming from now… Okay… Is there anything that I can do to help you?"
Toni wrapped Sam in a tight hug and then quietly answered, "Try to explain my theory to your brother and keep Dean out of my way no matter how stupid I sound or look while 'dealing' with Castiel… well at least just for a couple of hours while I try to get through to your guys' angel."
Sam barked out a quick, familiar to Toni laugh and squeezed her tightly in his arms, "The first one I'm not so sure that I can accomplish, but I can definitely… well most probably keep him out of your hair for a while. Good luck to you with Cas."
The couple then gave each other one last comforting embrace and then they walked into the cabin hand in hand. Sam looked down at Toni, unsure of how he was going to proceed from there but still trying to let her know that he was backing her plan. Toni's gaze immediately found the angel of the moment, Castiel. He was still on the floor with his body contorted onto more than one colored dot on the board effectively playing a solo game of Twister. A small smile spread across her face unwittingly and without taking her eyes off of the angel in the room she squeezed Sam's hand before releasing it and walking towards Castiel.
Sam watched Toni for a brief moment and then he followed her lead and moved towards the kitchen. After retrieving a fresh round of drinks for him and his brother, Sam sat across from the older male at the table asking, "So once we figure out which Dick Roman is the one we have to stab what's the plan to actually get in to execute him?"
Dean gave his brother an indignant look and for a moment Sam thought that he wasn't going to answer him. "You mean IF we ever figure out which one of those evil bastards is the one we need to use the magic bone on?" He gestured towards the spot where Toni was cautiously approaching Castiel and scoffed. "As much as I hate to admit it, Meg's right. So long as Cas is acting like a reject patient from 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest' I don't hold much hope for us figuring out which Dick is which on our own."
"We'll get to that part soon enough," Sam replied with a shrug. "But until then, it couldn't really hurt anything to try to come up with a plan for how we're going to get into Richard Roman Enterprises, right?"
Dean raised a skeptical eyebrow and pointed in Toni's direction with his bottle of beer and asked, "You really think she's THAT good?" Sam shrugged and forced himself not to roll his eyes. Dean then shook his head and didn't attempt to hide the contempt in his voice when he said, "Okay fine, I guess that we should start by going over the blue prints and floor plan for the place. Best way to figure out a way in is to know the lay of the land better… Even if it's pretty much useless…"
Toni slowly approached Castiel still wondering how she had gotten herself into this mess. Why had she volunteered to be the one who would try to talk the angel on their side off the ledge? She quickly stole a glance at the brothers on one side of the room and then the demon on the other side of the cabin and shook her head. Sadly she still thought that she was the best candidate for the job. Even if she had no clue what to say right now and had no personal connection with the celestial being that she desperately needed to reach out to right now.
"Right hand green."
Toni shook her head and startled out of her daze at the sound of Castiel's unnaturally deep voice and managed to ask, "What? I… I mean, I'm sorry Castiel, I think I missed what you just said… Uhh… do you mind repeating that?"
"Right hand green," he repeated very matter-of-factly as he pointed to the small cardboard game board with a moving black plastic arrow on it. "When I spun this piece that is what the arrow landed on. You were coming over here to join me in playing this classic American game, were you not Antonia?"
Toni couldn't help but smile at the open, expectant look that the angel was wearing. He looked so innocent in that moment that she almost wanted to say 'yes' and join him to keep from crushing his fragile heart and causing him to lose that look on his face. But she knew it would be worse to indulge him right now even if the truth was going to be somewhat painful, so she forced herself to remain on task and to tell him the truth.
"No… Sorry Castiel," she answered, crouching down so that she was closer to being eye level with him. She kept her voice soft as she explained in a soft, careful tone, "I was never really into playing this until… Well…" Toni hated it, but she couldn't help or stop the blush that spread darkly across her cheeks and neck at the memories this game evoked. "Uhh… until I got to college and… well the rules… they sort of changed for us then."
Castiel looked intrigued as he sat up straight on the large playing board, effectively abandoning his game. After crossing his legs, Castiel folded his hands in his lap and asked, "I wasn't aware that there was a separate set of rules for adults or college aged students. I mean, I didn't see one in the box that I have here… Would you explain the difference to me so that I will be sure that I'm playing it properly?"
Toni laughed as she sat down on the floor, mirroring the angel's current position. "It's not really like there's 'officially' a different set of rules once you reach a certain age Castiel, it's just… Uhh… It's something that sort of happens on its own." She picked up the board with the spinner on it and flicked the plastic arrow absentmindedly to keep herself from having to look into his earnest face while she tried to finish her awkward explanation. "See Castiel… When you… Well us humans… when we hit our teen years, pretty much all of us try to pretend that we're too cool to do things like play the same games we did when we were kids…"
Kid's games? Shit! What the hell am I even talking about? Toni asked herself silently without taking her eyes off her hands.
Castiel looked down at the sheet that he was sitting on and then he fixed his gaze on the woman sitting in front of him. She seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him. Castiel cocked his head to one side as if he was trying to study Toni's reaction as he stated rather than asked, "And this is a kid's game." Toni's whole body stiffened at that comment prompting Castiel to quickly add, "Oh… I think I understand why you did not want to join me. I'll retract my invitation. My apologies."
"Oh goodness! No Castiel," Toni recanted with a chuckle. "It isn't like that… Shit… Okay… Let me try that again, okay? Alright, so what I just said is true, but that isn't the whole story. Now I'm sorry if this doesn't all make sense right away because it's kind of hard to explain, so just bear with me, okay? I swear I don't mean to make this sound so convoluted."
"Alright Antonia, I'll 'bear with you' until you have finished what you are trying to tell me," Castiel confirmed sounding like he had just made a vow that was of grave importance with her.
"Thanks… And you can call me Toni." She paused and shook her head because she knew deep down that it didn't matter if the angel used her nickname or not, but she still felt compelled to make the comment and let him know that he was free to use it at any time for some reason. "Alright… so when you get older… like out of your teens, something sort of weird happens and you get really nostalgic for your youth. Well not all of the time and not every single human, but a lot of people do… especially when they're in a group of people of the same age and if they've been drinking… because when people get drunk, college students in particular, they'll use these kid's games to… Uhh… to try to… umm… to make a move on someone they might have a crush on… You know, use them as an excuse to get close to someone and all?"
The angel scowled and let what Toni had just said sink in for a bit. Still not looking like he fully understood her explanation, he questioned, "Games… like this… they're used… in your mating rituals?"
Toni laughed but quickly stopped herself at the look that spread across Castiel's face. She then very earnestly apologized saying, "I'm sorry Castiel that was extremely rude of me, but… Well I've never heard it put that way before and it's kind of funny because that is pretty much the truth. So yeah… I mean… What better way is there to cop a feel without getting into 'trouble' than by having to reach out under someone you've got your eye on so that you can put your right hand on green?"
Toni maintained steadfast eye contact with Castiel, willing him to cat onto what she was trying to explain to him because she was feeling too embarrassed to spell it out any more than she already had. They continued to stare at each other until suddenly Castiel's face started to twitch as understanding began to wash over him. Instinctively Toni reached out to him but she let her hand drop back into her lap when she saw the angel nearly jump to his feet and away from his previous spot so that he would be out of reach from her touch.
"I do not wish to grope you!" Castiel exclaimed with abject horror as he took a step back, distancing himself even farther away from Toni.
Toni was on her feet in an instant and she fixed the two Winchesters with a withering glare. Although Dean continued to look like he was thoroughly amused, he wisely remained silent. Sam looked back at her with a look that conveyed both confusion and concern causing Toni to guiltily cast her eyes to her feet. She knew that if Dean was finding her predicament to be oh so humorous that the demon must have also been finding her conversation with the angel to be quite funny as well, so she let her eyes drift over to the direction where she had last remembered that Meg had been seated. Much to her surprise and relief, the demon was nowhere to be seen and thankfully wasn't in any position to make this situation any worse than it already had become.
Toni then forced herself to take in a slow, deep breath as she tried to center herself before attempting to continue her discussion with Castiel. When she next spoke, she made sure to keep her voice steady and calm even though she felt like her nerves were going to get the best of her. "I know that you don't Castiel… and… and the feeling is mutual. Plus we're both completely sober, so that takes some of the fun out of it because it isn't like either of can pretend that any inappropriate touching is totally accidental."
Castiel narrowed his eyes and asked, "The last part of your statement… Did you mean for that to sound like it was a joke?"
"Yes I did," Toni admitted somewhat sheepishly. "Look… Castiel when I'm feeling uncomfortable I have this really bad habit of trying to crack jokes to try to ease the tension I'm feeling. I'm sorry, it's… I… I didn't mean to sound disrespectful or anything it's… it's just…"
"What you do," Castiel finished for her without sound like he fully understood what she meant to tell him.
"Right… But getting back to the game of Twister… the Colonel… Uhh… my dad… he really didn't let the three of us play many games like this when we were kids. He felt that our spare time would be better spent on studying or working out… You know to me sure we kept our minds and bodies in top form," Toni awkwardly explained. She forced herself not to pace while she spoke with the angel, so he opted to stare at her hands while her fingers picked at the cuff of her hoody. "So the first time I ever played Twister was when I was at a party when I was in high school… After a few beers that translated into Pete McDougal putting his hand down my shirt instead of on a blue circle and… well…then one thing led to another and we sort of ended up…"
Toni fell silent when she felt a hand touch her forearm. When she finally lifted her eyes, she was mildly surprised to see Castiel standing in front of her even though she really couldn't think of anyone else that should be standing there. He looked more lucid than he had during any other part of their interactions and Toni couldn't take her eyes off his face for some reason. He smiled serenely and for the first time Toni actually felt like she was looking into the face of an angel.
"He lied to you Antonia, you were actually his first as well," Castiel said in a soft, compassionate tone. "He should never have said those ugly words to you, especially since they weren't even close to being the truth."
Toni smiled, albeit sadly, and shrugged while replying, "Yeah… well… You know it isn't exactly polite to read someone's mind without their permission either Castiel."
"Right… Of course," he recanted as he snatched his hand away from her arm. "I didn't mean… That wasn't my intention. I do apologize."
This time Toni took a step forward and placed a gentle hand on Castiel's arm to try to show him that she wasn't upset with him. Her voice remained soft while she said, "It's alright Castiel, but I hope that that means that you understand now where I'm coming from when I say that I like you, but not enough to play Twister with you… You know since in the past it always seemed to be a precursor to…"
"Yes, I understand," Castiel interrupted looking somewhat embarrassed. "But you said that your father 'didn't really let you three play games'… but… were there any that you, Alexander and William were permitted to play at all? I've found that 'Sorry' can bring up some very interesting parallels to real life."
Toni shook her head and then took a moment to give Castiel's question some serious thought. "Well he didn't really get all that mad when we were playing 'Stratego' or 'Battleship'…"
Shaking his head forlornly Castiel backed away from Toni saying, "No, I… I don't wish to engage in any battles… I don't… I can't fight anymore…' He then turned his face up so that Toni could see it. The sad, lost look that he was wearing caused Toni's breath to hitch slightly. "War…? Was that the only diversion that your father allowed his children to indulge in?"
"No…" Toni replied slowly. "No… He umm… God this is so stupid, but he would also look the other ways when my brothers and I were playing 'Clue'. He mumbled something once about it helping with our deductive reasoning or something."
Castiel hummed out a thoughtful noise before he said, "Yes… 'Clue'… I believe that could…"
That thought was never finished because the angel disappeared from the room. Toni sighed heavily in defeat because she thought that she had once again said the wrong thing and had upset him. She had never been good at talking about her feelings despite the breakthroughs that she had managed to make with Sam and her dad. Sam knew her intimately like no other man on the planet would ever get a chance to. He found her stumbling over her words endearing and was infinitely patient with her when she struggled to find the words to describe how she was feeling. In the case of the Colonel they usually did their most difficult soul searching in his counsellor's office. Spence, their counsellor, had been integral in keeping the peace between the McNamaras whenever the father or daughter became frustrated any time they struggled to find the right words to describe their feelings. Now she was attempting to navigate through a mine field of unfamiliar topics without any sort of buffer and she couldn't really remember when she had ever done something that stupid and reckless.
Sighing again in defeat, Toni shook her head and slowly made her way to the table where Sam and Dean were still seated. Dean had gotten up to retrieve a couple of fresh beers from the fridge and offered one to Toni. She shook her head and just barely breathed lout a 'no thank you' because she was so lost in her own self-deprecating thoughts. Dean just shrugged and placed the unopened bottle in front of his brother. Sam didn't acknowledge Dean at all because he kept his eyes securely fixed on his girlfriend.
Toni sat in a chair beside Sam with her hands clasped tightly together on the table. Her face remained scrunched up into a deep scowl that Sam immediately recognized prompting him to reach over and place a comforting hand on her knee under the table. He knew that she didn't like to be interrupted when she was so deep in thought, so he didn't speak but he wanted her to know that he was there and would support her in any way that he could, all she had to do was ask. Toni gave him a small grateful smile and was just about to voice her gratitude when she was kept from being able to by someone else speaking.
"Here it is Antonia," Castiel announced while standing to Toni's left hand side. He placed the box he was holding on the table directly in front of Toni while slipping into the chair across from her, putting him directly beside Dean. "I believe it says here that up to six people can play, so it should be simple enough for us to set everything up for the four of us to play the game together."
Toni grinned but was once again unable to voice her thoughts because Dean scoffed loudly then said, "Clue? Yeah like that's really going to help us kill Dick." He then pushed his chair back, stood up and walked away from the table towards the couch adding, "When the rest of you decide to grow up and act you age… well at least like adults, please feel free to join me over here to do research and try to find a way to actually kill the things that are working at completely destroying our planet."
Sam watched his brother and his facial expression quickly shifted from shock at what Dean had just said to anger at how terse and unhelpful those words were to helping them accomplish their goal. As he opened his mouth to reply to his brother's tirade, Toni stopped him by squeezing his thigh out of sight of the other two men in the room. She then leaned in close to Sam's side and whispered in his ear, "Leave him be for the time being Sam. We're all frustrated and scared right now, but fighting amongst ourselves won't really help us any either."
Sam nodded then she quietly added, "Plus I think I've figured out a way to get those two talking again, but first I have to deal with him." She motioned with her head towards Castiel who was pulling out the game board and other pieces to set everything up to play as if Dean's heated words had never happened. She then turned towards Castiel and said in an overly cheerful tone, "Well it's not as exciting, but I think you should deal out the cards just for the two of us to play. Will and I used to do this all the time, so I think we can make it work."
Castiel shot a worried glance at Sam but then quickly returned his gaze to his hands that were shuffling a deck of cards. He nodded quickly and just kept his eyes on his task of shuffling. Toni picked up a stack of pads of paper and a couple of pencils from the box. She carefully placed a pad and pencil in front of Castiel and froze mid-motion as she moved to place the same items at her place when she saw Sam reach across the table to pick up a second deck of cards.
When he saw the look on the other two people's faces at the table, Sam shrugged and commented, "I could use a break from staring at the surveillance videos because I think they're making me go cross eyed… Plus I'm sure that this game has to be more fun with three people than it would be with just the two of you."
Toni wanted to throw her arms around Sam's neck and to kiss him passionately because she was so relieved that he had agreed to join them, but she restrained herself to keep from making anyone feel too uncomfortable. She even smothered her cheerful smile into her left shoulder because she wasn't sure that she could explain why she was so happy right at that moment, especially considering all of the obstacles they all still had to overcome. Maybe it was just her nervousness coming through in the form of a coy smile because heaven knew that she had every reason to feel worried and ill at ease with all of the Leviathans running amok. Dean was so frustrated that he was barely speaking to any of them. Castiel seemed to have gone so far into the deep-end that the chances of rescuing him looked slimmer and slimmer every day. And Sam… Well Sam seemed conflicted to her. She knew that he wanted to keep her happy but in order to do that he seemed to be annoying his brother to no end. That of course was something that he always strove to avoid doing, but in order to keep on his brother's good side he most often landed himself on the wrong side of his girlfriend. Toni knew that he was walking an invisible tight rope between her and Dean and she was trying her best to help him keep his balance by trying not to always demand that he choose her side. That being said, Toni always felt giddy when Sam ended up baking her without her having to prompt or guilt him into doing so in anyway.
While the three others played their board game, Dean got up more than once to get himself a fresh beer or some food. He studiously tried to ignore the small group at the table, but both Sam and Toni caught him looking at them on separate occasions. Neither one of them knew what to make of the look in Dean's eye, but they both decided to put those thoughts on the back burner. Right now they needed to get through to Castiel, so they remained focused on him especially since their recent efforts seemed to actually be paying off.
Castiel was gearing up to deal out the cards for another game when Toni noticed how quiet the cabin had become. During their previous rounds there had been a murmur of background noise coming from Dean's laptop, but now the whole room was completely silent. She looked over to check on Dean, but she could no longer see him seated on the couch. After sharing a look with Sam Toni got up to check if Dean was in fact sleeping or if something else was going on.
Sam watched Toni put a blanket over Dean's sleeping form. She then proceeded to close Dean's laptop and straighten out some of his research and other paperwork on the coffee table. Sam saw her yawn a couple of times so he figured that she would be wanting to turn in for the night once she had made sure that Dean was as comfortable as he could be sleeping on the couch. Castiel continued to shuffle a deck of cards with a nervous look on his face as he watched Toni move around the coffee table and couch as well as the sleeping Winchester brother.
"So look Cas…" Sam started quietly, jostling the angel out of his thoughts. "It's getting pretty late and Toni is looking pretty tired… So… I was thinking that we should probably call it a night… Is…? Uhh… Would that be okay?"
Castiel nodded and started putting the game's pieces back into the box. He kept his eyes focused on his hands as he replied, "Yes, of course… You and Antonia need your rest in order to be of aid to Dean… I… I'll go out and gather together supplies for your breakfast so that you will have them once you wake."
Toni had returned to Sam's side just in time to catch the tail end of Castiel's comment. She then leaned into Sam's side and innocently said, "Hmm… 'Gather supplies', that's kind of an odd way of saying 'get us breakfast', but thank you for thinking of us none the less."
"Oh… Well…" Castiel attempted to try to explain as his cheeks started to flush with an embarrassed pink tinge. He turned away and made a couple of other noises that almost sounded like he was still trying to find the right words to explain his previous statement.
Toni looked up at Sam to give him a pleading look because she hadn't meant to say the wrong thing. Sam smiled down at her and shook his head as if to say that she had nothing to apologize for before answering, "Well since we have to be so careful about staying away from anything containing high fructose corn syrup because of the nasty side effects we'll encounter, Cas has been making sure to find us purely organic food to eat. He made us a pretty great ham sandwich earlier today and see…? No ill side-effects like Roman and company have been wanting."
Castiel turned around and smiled uncertainly. Toni's eyes moved from one man to the other and she just barely caught the look that the two of them shared. It then didn't take her long to understand what Sam was doing. Since shouting orders or ultimatums hadn't seemed to have worked with the angel, he was going to try using positive re-enforcements with him instead. Show Castiel that he could help them, no matter how small or insignificant the aid might seem and then maybe they could transition that into the angel helping them with more complex things, which actually gave Toni an idea. Of course she'd have to run it by Sam first, but she was more than certain that it would work to get them all on the same track and hopefully well on their way to kill Dick Roman.
"So no more paying out the ass for overpriced organic food, huh? That's awesome," Toni praised as she took Sam's hand to lead him to the bedroom. Castiel's smile looked more at ease until she asked, "Any chance you can source us some flour, bacon, butter, milk and maple syrup before tomorrow morning?" Castiel's face dropped so Toni quickly added, "I was just thinking that if you did all of the hard work that I could whip us up some pancakes and bacon for breakfast."
"Yes, of course," Castiel replied with a bright, some might say eager, smile on his face. "I do believe that I should be able to gather all of that together before you wake."
Toni opened her mouth to thank the angel, but he had already disappeared. She then followed Sam into their bedroom where they both struggled to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. When Toni woke up to the new morning's light, she found herself wrapped tightly in Sam's arms. She loathed having to move, let alone leave the comforting warmth of the bed and Sam's embrace, but she knew the y couldn't ignore their next job for much longer. They had to get up and start the day so that they could find the 'real' Dick Roman and kill him. If they could ever figure out who the original clone was and if they could actually get Castiel to break out of his funk, which meant that they had to get Dean on board with her insane idea to reconcile the two of them. It seemed like such a hopeless impossibility that she wondered if there was any point in even trying some days.
No… No she refused to let that negativity to infiltrate her thoughts this early in the morning. Sure the big picture was too large to focus on, but any task seemed less scary if she followed her family's advice of worrying about one task at a time. (Well everyone but her brother Alex. He never liked to talk about the obstacles Toni knew that he must have had to have overcome to earn such a prestigious position within his platoon. Instead he would just boast about his conquests off the battlefield or the women he bedded until he had grossed his little sister out so much that she stopped asking him anymore overly personal questions.) To get to 'c' you had to complete 'a' then 'b' and attempting to get there by any other means would just end in disaster. So with that in mind, Toni extracted herself form Sam's grasp so that she could get out of bed and start her day. Sam let out a quiet, unhappy noise and shifted in his spot so much that Toni almost thought that he was going to wake up for a brief moment despite her best efforts not to disturb him.
Toni held her breath and remained still in her spot until Sam completely settled back into a deep sleep once again. While she watched him, her mind started racing until it settled on one thought: breakfast. That was the answer to her previous question. First she could make them all a filling and delicious breakfast with the supplies that she was certain that Castiel would have been able to obtain. She knew that she was always less cranky on a full stomach, so she hope that the same could be said for Dean. Maybe he would be more receptive to hearing out her theories and options for battle plans and that he might even off some useful insights as well if he had something other than whiskey in his gut.
She was smiling to herself and felt so content that she had almost left the room wearing only the clothes that she had slept in. Well 'clothes' was a generous term since she was so tired the night before that she had simply just stripped down to her sports bra and boy-cut briefs. She hadn't worried about being too cold during the night because she had expected Sam to hold her tight while they were sleeping. As she retrieved a t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants from her duffle bag, Toni smiled to herself thinking that she was actually grateful that the two of them had been too tired for any 'extracurricular activities'. Had that transpired she would have been liable to have stepped out of the room in her distracted, euphoric state in nothing but her birthday suit and that could have made the rest of the day nothing but all sorts of awkward.
Dodged that bullet Toni though to herself after she had gotten fully dressed. She pulled her hair into a tight ponytail while she watched Sam continue his deep slumber. His naked torso was completely bare as the sheets had pooled around his waist after he had settled back into the bed after she had gotten up for the day. She knew that all he was wearing under there was a pair of loose fitting cotton boxers. They would have been so easy to slip down past his knees not that he was laying spread eagle on the mattress and that she could very easily crawl up to the spot between his legs and just lower her mouth down to…
BREAKFAST! She screamed at herself silently. Toni shook her head to force herself to look away from Sam's enticing, half-naked body so that she could make herself leave the room. Once she was out of the bedroom and free from the temptation to molest her sleeping boyfriend Toni once again silently instructed herself Breakfast. Right now just be laser focused on putting together a hearty breakfast. The rest can… No the rest will have to wait. Sam won't want to… 'celebrate' until this job is done. Come on Toni, get your head on straight damn it!
Breakfast seemed like a simple enough task to complete for now, especially since she found everything that she would need to cook a hearty meal just sitting and waiting for her on the countertop beside the stove. Toni couldn't help but grin at the good that had been carefully laid out by the only angel that she had ever gotten to know personally. As she quickly took stock of her supplies, Toni suppressed a quick laugh because Castiel had seemingly placed all of the ingredients that she had 'ordered' in the exact sequence that Toni had listed them in. But the angel had also included some fresh spinach, tomatoes and onions (Sam's favorite vegetables to put into an omelet) along with a basket of blackberries and another small basket of strawberries (Toni's favorite berries to make a sauce for crêpes or pancakes). How the angel knew her favorite foods was almost beyond her, but then Toni mentally kicked herself when the answer hit her like a freight train. Who know us better than God? Oh… Shit… Now I'm starting to sound like one of dad's A.A. counsellors or something… Must start breakfast soon.
Toni started to open the packet of bacon because she knew that it would take the longest too cook, especially to get it as crispy as she liked it, but she stopped mid-motion. While she started at her hands she silently reminded herself God is in control… He has a plan… Damn it Toni, don't focus on that right now! Bacon, pancakes, sauce… You can control those things. If they aren't edible that's your fault so get your fucking head in the game!
While she continued to work Toni tried to be as quiet as possible, but every step she took sounded like a herd of elephants in the too silent cabin. She smiled to herself as she stirred the pancake batter because both Sam and Dean were still sleeping. Usually it was Toni that indulged and stayed in bed for as long as possible and she couldn't feel anything but happy that the Winchester brothers were finally doing the same thing she usually did. They all had be through enough rough times to destroy the possibility of a good night's sleep and with the Winchesters' track record she was even more shocked that they were both still sound asleep, let alone the fact that they were still capable of such a feat.
While Toni flipped the strips of bacon in the pan and turned her attention to pouring out the pancake batter on the heated pan she heard a soft groan coming from the direction of the couch. She opened her mouth to call out a sarcastic or comical morning greeting, but stopped herself before she could utter a single sound. Today was about working together for a common goal, so starting a fight with Dean would definitely be viewed as counterproductive by all parties involved. Part of the reason she was fussing so much about their breakfast was to try to make amends, so she once again wisely kept her mouth shut and her eyes focused on the meal she was currently preparing.
The second moan was easier to ignore, but she did jump slightly in her spot when she heard a confused sound and somewhat annoyed voice asking, "Bacon…? Who the hell…? Why…?" The previously muffled voice suddenly sounded completely clear as it inquired, "Why would someone be cruel enough to let the bacon burn?"
Toni didn't completely hear Dean's question at first but once her brain registered the humor he had used she jumped once again and then check the pan to which he had referred. When she saw that his claim was actually an exaggeration of what was currently happening, she retorted with her own humorous tone, "It's called 'crispy Dean, not 'burnt'. No one like it when their bacon is floppy, so they just need another minute or two to be perfect."
During her response Toni had moved her first batch of bacon from the pan onto a paper towel lined plate so that it would absorb the excess grease. Dean swiftly plucked a piece off of the plate and bit half of it off in one bite while Toni watched with her mouth gaping open in astonishment.
"Mmm… you're right, it is pretty close to being perfect," he stated with a cheeky grin. Toni continued to watch him with a look of disbelief as he finished off the piece of bacon that he had pilfered so he jutted his chin in the direction of the pan that was still on the stove. "The bacon might be fine, but I'm pretty sure that those pancakes are well on their way to becoming beyond hope."
Toni continued to stare at Dean so he more forcefully pointed his chin and then right index finger in the direction of the stove as he pulled another strip of bacon off the plate on the counter. She then slowly turned around to look in the direction to which Dean was pointing. She seemed shocked for a brief moment to find out that Dean's comment was in fact true and was slow to respond to what she was seeing.
"Oh shit!" Toni exclaimed as she literally jumped into action.
After depositing the burnt food into the trash, Toni then turned her attention to Dean and quipped, "Which is why I made the bacon first. You sit and enjoy that while I painstakingly finish making us all a wonderful and nourishing breakfast."
"Uh huh," Dean replied clearly not believing any part of the lie Toni tried to feed him to cover up her mistake. As she turned back to pour a fresh batch of bacon and pancakes, Dean tentatively asked, "Any chance that a guy might be able to make a request in regards to this pending breakfast?"
Without taking her attention off the food on the stove (because she already knew that taking her eyes off it for a second could turn out to be disastrous), Toni shrugged then replied, "The request can be made, but I make no promises that it will be granted."
"Alright… Fair enough…" Dean started slowly as he cautiously approached her side. "Would there be any chance that a guy could talk a… Uhh… ahem… chef into using that unused bacon grease to fry up a couple of eggs? You know, I've heard that it's a sure fire way to cure a hangover and all…"
Toni chuckled softly then answered, "I'd be more than happy to do that, but I don't think…"
Before she could finish her thought, Dean shoved a bowlful of large brown eggs under her nose eagerly saying, "Cas said that they were free range chickens that were treated with the utmost kindness."
Toni stared awkwardly down at the bowl then shoved it out her way so that she could make sure that she didn't let this batch of pancakes burn to an inedible crisp. By this time Sam had awoken and gotten fully dressed, so he nearly spoke up to intervene to keep things from becoming uncomfortably intense between his girlfriend and his brother. In the end he remained quiet when he noticed Toni actually chuckling at Dean's teasing and he realized that she had everything well in hand and didn't need him to ride in to her rescue.
After she plated the finished pancakes and dropped down a new batch into the pan Toni laughed a little too loudly then said, "Okay… Fine… Fine, I'll fry you up some eggs in this nasty ass, artery clogging, ulcer inducing, gross bacon grease… IF…."
"If what?" Dean jumped in hastily when Toni didn't seem like she was going to finish her thought.
Toni smiled at the two pans on the stove as she tended to them and then answered through a chuckle, "IF… You leave me the fuck alone so I don't burn anything else since my supplies are dwindling quickly. I mean, I have Sam fooled into believing that I can actually cook and shit, so I really need to shush so I can concentrate."
"Oh… right… of course! I'll leave you alone to complete your masterpiece, Chef," Dean replied with a tone of contrition as he moved to find a seat at the table. As he retreated to his spot with the plate of bacon well in hand he caught Sam's eye and winked as he gave his brother the thumbs up sign.
Sam smiled and shook his head as if he was laughing, but he didn't actually utter a single sound. As he entered the room he managed to briefly also catch Toni's eye while she continued to try to focus solely on her cooking. He still looked somewhat apprehensive about how everyone was going to act at their breakfast, so Toni flashed him a bright, disarming smile that Sam correctly interpreted as her way of telling him that he had nothing to worry about right now. He then walked behind his brother to pick up the last piece of bacon from Toni's first batch from the plate on the table by his brother just before he moved over to Toni's side to kiss her on the cheek.
"Can I help you with anything?" Sam whispered against Toni's ear too quietly for Dean to overhear.
She shivered at the sensation of Sam's hot breath brushing over her sensitive skin. Before she could even try to formulate a coherent reply Dean called out, "Dude! Toni has breakfast totally under control! Leave the woman the hell alone so that she can finish cooking for us!"
Sam smiled down at Toni, pecked her quickly on the lips and then whispered quickly into her ear, "And thanks… Love you."
Toni's only answer was a dark blush that spread from her cheeks down to her chest because Sam turned away from her back to say to Dean, "Fine, fine… I'm leaving Toni alone to do her thing. But speaking of… Dean I have something that I wanted to run by you, so maybe I could do that while we wait?"
Sam then moved over to the table to sit with his brother so that he could continue the conversation that he was trying to start with Dean. Toni smiled to herself and somehow managed to keep her attention on the meal that she was trying to complete for the three of them. She and Sam had already discussed, in detail, her insane idea to try to reconcile Dean and Castiel, but it was Toni that had suggested that Sam approach Dean with the proposal in the hopes that he would actually give it a fighting chance. Alone, at least that had originally been her preference, so Toni sincerely hoped that Sam was taking advantage of the opportunity for relative privacy that was being present to him right now.
Toni smothered a cheerful smile into her shoulder when she heard Sam say, "So Dean…? Toni and I were talking and we think that we've figured out a way to finally get Cas on board with the whole 'let's kill Dick Roman' scheme… I mean we think that we do if you're up for hearing it out."
Dean nodded then answered while he kept his eyes on Toni's back (and the food that she was making), "So long as she doesn't go back on her promise to make me some greasy eggs than I'm game to hear whatever you two have come up with."
As she reached over to pick up the bowl of eggs Toni called out, "Give it another minute and this batch of bacon will be done so that I can make you your disgusting bacon grease cooked eggs."
While they ate breakfast, Toni and Sam hesitantly explained their plan that they thought would help bridge the rather large gap that had grown between Dean and Castiel. Much to their surprise Dean not only didn't dismiss their ideas, he actually seemed to embrace them. Toni and Sam shared more than one look of uncertainty, but they both refrained from voicing those negative thoughts because in this battle they were winning, so why should they question it? There definitely was the possibility that he would completely change his mind once his stomach had digested all of the delicious, greasy, homemade food, but for now he was on board with the plan, so they decided just to roll with it.
While they finished packing some more weapons and supplies to take with them to fight Dick Roman and his merry band of monsters, Sam and Toni tried their best not to look over their shoulder at Dean as he approached Castiel. He still seemed to be taking their suggestions to heart, so Toni reminded herself that they just had to let what was going to happen to just play out without any more of their interventions. With that in mind she took Sam by the hand and led him towards the bedroom just as she heard Dean say, "Cas… I need a wingman."
"So that seems to be going well," Sam commented almost as if he was asking a question.
Before he could continue Toni quickly answered, "Yeah it does, but that's not why I brought you in here." Sam lifted an eyebrow and then his eyes started to widen in near shock when he thought that he had figured out why his girlfriend had pulled him into the bedroom. Toni immediately felt a warm blush spreading across her cheeks when she realized he had misinterpreted her actions and hastily added, "No, no… As much as I wish I could climb into that bed to make slow, passionate love to you before we head out to our certain death, but we don't have time for that… at least not for us to do it properly… I… Look do we really have to bring Meg along with us? I mean we still don't know if Crowley has screwed us over with his blood and all, do we really want to bring a demon with us?"
"Toni…" Sam started with an almost apologetic tone as he scooped her into a comforting hug. After kissing the top of her head, he pressed Toni's body against his own and finished, "Want? No… But our plan won't work without at least one person that can teleport. Hell it might not even work with two, so yeah I think we need her. I can't say that I like it, but I think we need it. I'm sorry."
Toni wrapped her arms around Sam's waist and squeezed him as tightly as she could then said into his chest, "I know, I know. I really hate that you're right, but I know…" She then pushed herself out of his embrace then went up onto her tip-toes to place a soft kiss on his lips. "And since we can't have any pre-monster hunt sex, you better believe that I'll be expecting a very enthusiastic round of victory sex."
Sam chuckled lowly then lifted Toni off the ground so that he could kiss her lips more easily. "You better believe that I 'm going to be holding you to that."
Now that they had their final battle plan of attack figured out, Dean, Sam, Castiel, Meg and Toni set out to put it into action. Toni still wasn't overly enthusiastic about having a demon fighting on their team, but Castiel had assured her that Meg's motives were true and that she wouldn't double-cross them, so she resigned herself just to go along with the flow. She had finally been able to put her animosity towards the angel aside while she helped get him through his episode of PTSD at the cabin and now she actually considered him to be somewhat of a friend. Sam had also reminded her that they had no idea how many Leviathans they would be running into at Sucrocorp so he thought that it might be nice to have someone with superhuman strength on their side that was more clear-minded than the angel on their side. Toni could see the practicality of Sam's reasoning, but she still didn't like the feeling of dread that settled in the pit of her stomach at having to be so close to the demon for such a long time.
Once they got inside, Cas and Dean split off to track down the 'real' Dick Roman so that Dean could stake him while Sam and Toni went in search of the abducted prophet, Kevin Tran. That mission suited Toni just fine because she was in no rush to have a run in with one of those things that had rendered her nearly catatonic back in Indiana.
Since the building was so big, Toni had somehow convinced Sam that they could cover more ground if they split up. Sam wasn't overly excited about parting ways from Toni's side without knowing exactly how many other of the Purgatory monsters they might encounter inside the building, but the sooner that they found Kevin, the sooner the two of them could get out of there to wait for Dean and Castiel. That too hopefully meant that all of this would be over and done with once and for all as well.
Toni completely abandoned the idea of trying to be completely stealthy, but she still tried to be as quiet as the situation would allow as she moved down the corridor checking each of the rooms she encountered for any signs of the teenager. After she opened the third door, Toni immediately cussed herself out mentally for not even attempting to be more covert because she was immediately met by a man in a lab coat who moved too fast for her to slam the door she had opened in his face. She didn't even have enough time to panic before he grabbed her by the front of her jacket and slammed her up against a wall.
"And who might you be?" He asked as he pressed her a little harder into the plaster of the wall.
Toni tried not to wince, but she truly couldn't help it as she replied through a strained voice, "I'm… I'm new… I was supposed to check… check that the prophet ate something… and to… to see if he… needed anything else to be… comfortable."
He leaned in way too close for Toni's comfort and took in a deep breath with his nose tucked in behind her ear before he stood up straight and looked her in the eye to reply, "I don't think so, you smell a little too human to be anything but a nice, light snack for my brothers and sisters or me."
"Well in that case…" Toni started as sarcastically as she could while she kicked her right foot as hard as she could into the monster's groin. Much to Toni's dismay that action actually caught the Leviathan by surprise and he released his grasp on her jacket. She hit the ground hard but regained her faculties quickly so that she could roll away from him before attempting to get up onto her feet when she thought that she was far enough away from him to be safely out of his reach.
She sprinted a few steps towards the still open door but was stopped from making her escape when the formerly downed Leviathan stepped directly in the middle of her path to freedom. He slowly backed her up farther into the room with one hand raised to wag his finger at her as if was scolding a small child. She was grateful that he maintained direct eye contact with her because she hoped that meant that he wasn't noticing that she was trying to unlatch the clasp on the sheath of her machete at the back of her right hip. She was fairly confident that she was going to be able to get close enough for her to get in a fatal blow, but that wouldn't matter unless she could get her damned machete out with her hands shaking as badly as they were right now.
Just as she unhooked the snap on the sheath, his eyes travelled down to her still shaking had that was tucked behind her back. He cocked his head to one side as he reared his arm back to punch her squarely in the gut. Toni doubled over immediately but couldn't cry out in pain because all of the air got knocked out of her lungs. The impact of the blow also caused her to stumble back a few feet until she hit the edge of a counter she didn't remember being near. She tried to use it to help keep herself upright while she also tried to increase the space between the two of them, but the pain in her abdomen was so severe that she let out a silent cry of agony as she finally crumpled into a ball on her knees with her arms wrapped tightly around her mid-section.
When she landed on the floor, a bottle of industrial cleaner fell out of her jacket pocket and rolled towards the Leviathan's feet. He stepped closer to it and bent down pick the bottle up which gave Toni the opening that she had been hoping for in order to decapitate him. The muscles of her arms were still quaking softly from the trauma her body had just endured, but Toni forced herself to ignore the pain radiating from the middle of her body as she raise the machete over her head and put her whole body weight into her downward strike. Once the metal of the blade hit the ground after slicing through the monster's neck, Toni fell to the floor and nearly passed out from exhaustion. The pain in her gut was still so severe that she remained conscious of it even though her mind wanted to do nothing more than to shut off so that it could try to heal the injuries that had been inflicted on her body.
While she remained in the fetal position on the floor, writhing slightly in pain, Toni noticed that the Leviathan's head was trying to move closer to its body. She vaguely remembered Sam saying something about keeping the head away from the body or they would be able to put themselves back together, so she gathered every last ounce of energy that she had in her body to pick up the head and toss it out the doorway into the hallway beyond with a pain-filled grunt.
Toni had no idea how far away she had thrown the head because she immediately doubled over under another burst of pain running through her mid-section. Then as soon as her head hit the hard, linoleum floor, everything around her went completely black and she finally did pass out like her mind had been trying to do.
SAM was still reeling from watching Crowley disappear with Kevin after Dean and Castiel had done the same once Dick Roman had been vanquished, but he did manage to heed the young prophet's warnings and destroyed the cases of 'creamer' that he found in the warehouse. The sprinkler system had yet to catch up with the burning cargo by the time that Sam was rushing down the hallway to find his girlfriend so that they could get the hell out of this factory. Sam wanted nothing more than to start to work at figuring out where his brother had disappeared to after killing the head Leviathan, but first her had to find Toni.
He was sprinting down his fifth empty corridor shouting Toni's name when he saw the first signs of any live since the five other men disappeared. As he got closer to it, he realized that 'life' probably wasn't the best word to use since he was actually approaching was a decapitated head. A head that was moving towards an open door. He immediately recognized the head for what it was and Sam kicked it down the hallway with enough for and accuracy that it would have made any of his childhood soccer coaches proud.
With the head still rolling away from its body, Sam let out a sigh of relief and thence kept moving to the open door. Toni had to be in that room or close to the room because there was no one else left that could have cause that much damage to a Leviathan, so Sam kept his focus trained solely on that room.
"Toni!" He called out letting his relief be heard in his voice when he convinced himself that she was playing somewhere within the four walls of this room. "Toni it's safe to come out! Toni! Toni come on! We've gotta go!"
When he received nothing but silence in response to his shouting, Sam poked his head just inside the door to double check if the room was in fact empty or not. The first thing he noticed on the floor was the body that belonged to the head that he had kicked down the hall sprawled out near a table. Sam felt the corner of his lips pull back in a smile because he knew how much these monsters scared his girlfriend and yet she had seemingly been able to overcome that fear to stop at least one of them. At first glance there didn't seem to be anything else of interest, so Sam prepared himself to continue his search elsewhere within the building.
Sam was just about to turn around and check for Toni elsewhere when he caught a glimpse of something just on the other side of the bulky corpse of the Leviathan. Even though he didn't want to waste time checking on anything that wasn't a clue to find his brother or girlfriend, Sam still stepped farther inside the room to satisfy his curiosity. As he got closer to the unknown object, Sam felt his breath catch because now he could see that it was another body and the jacket that the body was wearing looked heart-breakingly familiar.
"TONI!" He shouted with an anguished cry as he fell down to his knees hard beside her limp form.
"Toni," he nearly whispered as he reached out to grab her shoulder. "No Toni… not you too."
The End...?