So...Snippets are the little conversations and moments Kate is having with her family since returning from Uriel's curse. I strongly feel they need to be shared, but they had no place tagged on to the end of Quantum AU. It would've been a series of dangling epilogues. Consider this a bridge story between Quantum AU and the sequel, Mesh, will should start appearing sometime in December.
ALSO - for anyone at the Chicago Supernatural Convention - I'd love to say meet you! PM me if you're here, or look for the awkward chick with a pencil stuck in her hair.
John stood at the back door, coffee mug in hand, watching his daughter stare at the yard from her perch on the Impala. He wished the coffee was beer, or at least spiked with something stronger than half-and-half, but it was barely seven in the morning, and justifying the drink was a bit of a stretch.
Even for him.
Bobby joined him, solemnly watching the scene outside. "What's she doin' now?"
John shrugs with one shoulder, taking a sip before answering. "I dunno...looking at something, but I don't know what. She's been there a couple hours."
Bobby's eyebrows shot up. "A couple hours? She was up at three when I went to the bathroom. When the fuck's she sleepin'?"
Another shrug, and a sigh. "I don't know, Bob. I'm...I dunno." He dropped his eyes to the swirling cream in his mug. "I don't think she is, and I don't know what to do to help her...some days she's just so fucking lost. She looks at me like…" He huffed, pissed that his eyes are tearing up. "She looks like she's afraid of me. Other times it's like she can't believe I'm here, like I've been gone for years."
Bobby put a hand on his shoulder. "Because you were."
John sniffed, nodding. "I know...I know, and that just...the fact that someone decided to take her from us like this...to take us from her...I just…" His grip on the mug tightened, and he felt his chest do the same.
Bobby shoved his hands in his pocket, rocking back on his heels. "I feel the same way."
John's gaze darted to his old friend. "I know you do...she's as much yours as she is mine. Hell...probably more."
That was the first time John openly acknowledged the major role Bobby played in his daughter's life, and it caught the old hunter off guard. "She's still your daughter, John." John shrugged. "Any case, I'm gettin' the same looks. She wanders around, leaving little post-it notes everywhere...to remind her where she is, she said. How fucked up is that?" Bobby choked up a little, but cleared his throat and continued. "I don't know what to do for her either, other than what we're already doin'. Reminding her we're here...not push…"
John took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, nodding. "I still wanna know what this is, though." He gestures at Kate with his mug, still sitting on the car, head tilted, staring at the empty field.
"She's afraid."
Both men jump, as Castiel appeared on the back porch, hands in his pocket, eyes also staring at her...at the human he loved.
"Afraid of what, Cas?" John's tone left no room for question - he was ready to start killing things.
"It's unclear." Castiel's eyes swivel to the worried men. "But that's why she isn't sleeping. I can...talk with her, if you'd like."
John raised an eyebrow, wiping his mouth with the back of one hand. "Why're you even asking?"
Bobby squinted at him. "If you can help, do it. You don't need to ask, son."
Castiel marveled at how they insist on referring to him as 'son' or 'boy', when in fact, he's a millennia older than them. He sighed. "Actually, I do need to ask. Normally I would just …" He sighed again, turning away from their confused looks. "I'll speak with her. Don't worry." He blinked. "Well, don't worry more."
Then, he disappeared.
xxxxx
Kate sat, cross-legged on the Impala, watching the grass before her. Castiel took care to keep himself hidden as he studied her. She was exhausted, but wired, as if waiting for something...or someone.
The sight of her wounded him, and in that moment, he relaxed his guard just a little...but just enough.
"I have to be careful," she whispered, eyes still riveted on the ground, but he knew she addressed him.
Castiel tilted his head at her. "For what, Kate?"
Her eyes slid to him. "Lucifer."
His eyebrows rose.
She resumed watching the field, continuing in that broken whisper. "I have to be careful because...because I know the spell to open the Cage. What if I...what if I say it in my sleep? What if I accidentally do something to set him free?"
The urge to comfort her fueled him to take a step closer. "Without the Horsemen's rings, the spell is useless."
She shook her head, a bitter laugh escaping. "That's the rule over there. But I'm not there anymore, I'm here, and the rules could be different here." Wild, eyes turned to him. "I can't take that chance."
He stepped even closer. "Kate…"
"You don't understand!" Her face contorts in agony, tears filling her eyes. Her voice breaks as she yells, and Castiel had to mentally warn her distraught fathers to stay inside. "If he gets out, he'll go for Sam. I can't…" She broke off sobbing, covering her mouth with the back of one hand. "I can't let that happen. He...I have to protect him. I have to. I have to."
Castiel's close enough to touch her, but he kept his hands tucked in his coat, not wanting to scare her, not wanting to cause more trouble. "The prophecies were altered, Kate."
She snorted bitterly there, hastily wiping at her eyes and returning to stare at the field. "That's on me, too."
He let that one go for now. "We don't know that Sam is his vessel. Nothing is certain."
"Then it's even more important that I keep him safe." She shuddered as she slid off the car and onto her knees in the grass. "I saw him, Cas. I saw him in Sam. It was...beyond any horror I could imagine. He got Sam there, and it killed him. I can't...I won't...take that chance here. I won't…"
He knelt next to her. "You cannot live like this…"
She threaded her fingers through the grass, squeezing handfuls in her fists. "What do I do?" The plea was barely a whisper, tears now flowing freely down her face, her breathing erratic, her entire being on edge.
Slowly, Castiel slid an angel blade from inside his coat and laid it on the ground before her. For a second, her eyes glinted as she gazed on the weapon that could give her what she needed more than anything: hope.
"Speak the spell, Kate."
She looked over sharply. "What?"
"Speak it." He pulled a second blade. "And we'll deal with what happens. Together."
There wasn't anything else he could offer her. He knew the spell wouldn't work, but she needed that knowledge, not him.
Her tongue darted across her lips, her hand inched close to the blade's hilt, until it was firmly grasped. "Cas…"
"We'll handle it...together. Now, do it."
She leaned forward, one hand gripping the blade, the other holding the grass tight. "Bvtmon Tabges Babalon."
For a second, Castiel held his breath.
Nothing happened.
Kate seemed to deflate, sinking to the ground, until she lie there, quietly crying in relief.
Biting his lip, Cas laid down next to her.
He extended a long, black wing, still stiff and singed from his journey to Hell. Some feathers wire missing, others dangled awkwardly. Reaching toward her, it gently brushed the hair off her face, dried her tears, caressing her cheek.
They stayed there, until she fell asleep.