CHAPTER 8

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Dean asked suspiciously. "Was it an angel or something else?"

"I was… upstairs. It was an angel."

"That's no longer a guarantee." Dean growled, "What did it look like?"

Castiel looked at Dean. "What did it look like?" Castiel asked, confused. "It…looked… like an angel – it was an angel. You cannot comprehend what an angel looks like, so my describing him would serve no purpose." Dean gave him a look. "All I know is I've never seen him before."

Sam was trying to understand this. "There are a lot of angels. Is it possible that you've never had the opportunity to meet all of them?"

"There may be a lot of angels, but we've been around awhile, so we know each other," Castiel told him. "We always worked more with the angels in our garrison than with others, but we still recognize each other." Castiel let out a breath and walked over to the window. "But I can say with certainty, I've never seen this one before."

Sam was standing in front of the couch that Lily was laying on when he heard a sound outside. A car pulled up and young Sam and Dean came running for the front door, their scout leader was following them.

Sam moved to the door and unlocked it for them. "Hey, hey, hey," he said quickly, stopping the boys from running into the living room and instead pulled them into the dining room. "Come here." Dean followed them as well. The doctor came with them.

"What's wrong? Where's our mom?" demanded Sam Remington.

"Is she okay?" asked his brother tightly.

"She's fine," Sam assured them. "She had a bad asthma attack, but she's fine."

Upon hearing this, the doctor moved back into the living room.

"She's asleep on the couch," Dean added quietly. "Why are you here?"

"Dr. Williams heard about the two boys that went missing and he figured he'd better bring us into town so our mom could see it wasn't us," Sam Remington told him. "As we were driving in, we heard the radio announcement."

"Why didn't you just call?" Dean asked.

"Cell phone reception is crappy out there. He couldn't get a call through. By the time he got bars we were almost here anyway."

Just then Bobby came into the room. He was looking at the two younger boys. "Your mom is awake and is starting to panic again. Will you go in there and let her see you? By the way, Castiel is in there, too. Don't be surprised if he makes her sleep again."

"What do you mean, makes her sleep?" Sam Remington asked, glaring at him.

"It's just to keep her calm," Bobby told him gently. "If she looks like she's about to pass out, he'll put her back to sleep." The young boy looked unsure, but left the room, his brother close behind him.

Young Dean paused for a moment, "Why is Cas here? Did one of you call him?"

"Well," said Bobby, "that's a mystery for later, I guess. Come on."

Lily was sitting up on the couch and she opened her arms. The boys rushed into them and they sat there quietly and just held each other.

After a moment, they started to talk in low whispers. Then, Lily looked up at the doctor, "Thank you for bringing them here."

Dr. Williams had a serious look on his face. He pulled keys out of his pocket and said, "Dean, will you go out to the trunk of my car and get my medical bag?"

Dean Remington nodded, taking the keys and heading outside.

"Lily, what happened?" Dr. Williams asked quietly.

Lily looked at her oldest son, "Sam, would you get me a glass of ice water from the kitchen?"

Bobby, Sam and Dean came back into the room and Lily was aware that there was another man standing in her living room, but she did not understand why he was there. She looked at the men and pointed to the stranger.

"Is that Castiel?" They nodded. "Did you call him?" They shook their heads.

Dr. Williams was watching this exchange, puzzled and trying to figure out what was going on. Dean Remington came back in with the doctor's bag and his brother entered from the other direction with the ice water.

"Lily, let me listen to your lungs," Dr. William said quietly, taking a seat on the edge of the couch. He removed a stethoscope from his bag and proceeded to give her a quick overall examination. As he checked her over, his face got more and more perplexed. "Alright, I don't understand this. I'm not a Pulmonologist, but I do know there should be lingering sounds in your lungs after an asthma attack. Yours sound perfectly clear." He turned to the other men and asked, "Why wasn't an ambulance called?"

At that point, Castiel, who had just been standing there, looked at him and said, "It wasn't necessary, I fixed the problem."

Dean gave him an exasperated look, and then turned to the doctor. "He's a…Holistic Healer. He stopped the attack."

"Oh, bullshit!" said the doctor.

Gesturing to Lily, Dean replied, "Well you can see the results. What more do you want?"

The doctor turned to Lily and said, "I want you to see your doctor on Monday. Your bp and pulse are also okay, so I guess there's no reason to go to the hospital right now."

Lily nodded at him, turning back to her two sons. "I want you to go on back out to the camp. I'll be okay and I want you to finish this trip. I want you to have fun. Okay?"

"Mom," Sam Remington protested.

"I'll be fine," she insisted. "Please." The boys paused before they both nodded and gave her a hug. Then they got up and left with the doctor.

Lily watched them go and then turned to Bobby, a pained look on her face. "Did I die?" she whispered.

"No, no of course not," Bobby assured her. "You stopped breathing and I was giving you mouth to mouth when Castiel arrived."

Lily nodded. "I'm…oddly hungry." She got up to go to the kitchen. She paused and turned to Castiel. Barely looking at him, she muttered, "Thank you," and then walked away. Castiel watched her for a moment with a surprised look on his face. He looked over at Dean for a moment and he was gone a second later.

Lily made the boys breakfast and Bobby made the coffee. The kitchen was quiet while they ate, the only sounds being the clinking of dishes and the occasional request for salt or butter. After the breakfast dishes were cleared away, Lily looked at Bobby. "We need to talk." Bobby tensed and nodded his head. He followed her as she led the way to her bedroom.

"Before…." She took a breath. "Before the attack, I was looking at you and I could tell you were feeling – I don't know – guilty, maybe?" Bobby nodded. "I was telling you that I didn't regret what happened. I really don't. I really hope you don't either."

Bobby was still looking at the floor, but then he looked at her. "I regret the timing, but…not what happened."

Lily nodded. "That's fine; I think that's… the same for me." She slowly sat on the edge of the bed. "I told you last night that I've never felt that way before. It's true. Obviously I was with my husband, but I thought there was something wrong with me. I never felt like that with him or anyone else." She smiled and blushed, "Oh, that didn't sound right. It's not like I've slept around…I – I mean not that I've slept with a lot of…." She cut herself off, pursing her lips.

Bobby smiled at her. "I haven't been with that many women either."

She smiled back. "I think the problem here is timing. I'm not ready for you. I want to be. I thought I was, but I'm clearly not."

Bobby nodded again. "Yeah."

Lily took a deep breath. "I think you and Sam and Dean have to go. Oh…god, I wish you could stay…." Tears started to form on her eyelids. "Chuck told me to treat them like brothers. He…but he told me not to treat you like that. Do you…do you understand?"

Bobby sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and turned her face into his neck.

"When did he come here?"

"He… didn't, actually," Lily murmured. "It was a dream, but… it wasn't like any dream I've ever had. I was sleeping, or… I don't know – dreaming I was sleeping and the room became lighter. Suddenly, Chuck was at the end of my bed. It's weird; it was like he was the light. He was smiling at me…

"Hello Lily," Chuck smiled at her.

"Chuck?"

He nodded, "Three men are coming."

Lily rubbed her face, "Okay."

"They will be very important to you. When you meet them, you will know who they are."

She nodded, "Okay." She repeated.

"Treat the younger two men as if they were your brothers. Don't treat the older man that way." Chuck smiled a little. "He won't like it." He paused a moment, "You can trust these men with your life and the lives of your boys. They are good men and will be there for you whenever you need them."."

She just looked at him and nodded.

Chuck moved to the side of the bed and took Lily's hand in his. "'He's trying to put things right."

"Then he just…disappeared." Lily wasn't sobbing, but tears were pouring from her eyes and her breath hitched.

Bobby sat beside her, holding her, for a while. Eventually she stopped crying and they just hugged, then he sighed and got up. He grabbed his bag and looked at her. "Come on, say goodbye to the boys."

She followed him down the stairs where Sam and Dean were waiting. They had already gotten their bags.

Sam was looking at her with pity and affection. She preferred the affection. He handed her a piece of paper. "This is our contact information. I included Bobby's and my email addresses." She looked at the paper and nodded. Sam reached over and pulled her into a hug. Then he left the house.

Dean gave her a hug also. "Keep in touch. I've got a feeling we'll be seeing you again." He kissed her forehead and followed his brother out the door.

Lily turned to Bobby. "Goodbye" she whispered, her eyes swimming with tears.

Bobby kissed her hard once, nodded and left.

END OF PART ONE