There was a knock at the door. She looked at her watch, it was . Not that she'd been sleeping but still, it was kind of late. She got up and opened the door. A familiar pair of inky blue eyes stared back at her.
"Can I come in?" He asked in his polite, formal way.
She opened the door, and sat down on the bed. She was surprised when he walked past the chair and sat next to her.
"I can't sleep."
"You've never had to. You'll get the hang of it, promise"
"You were also not sleeping?"
"Yeah. I, well I haven't slept by myself since…." She replied, trailing off at the end.
He moved from the edge of the bed, and positioned himself next to where she'd been lying down.
"You don't…" She began, touched by the simple gesture.
"I know." He replied, eyes fixed on her.
She moved, laying back down where she'd been trying to sleep. Even him just being there, it seemed to help.
"Lay down. You cant fall asleep sat up you know"
He followed her instruction, and lay down on his side, facing her. She let out a small laugh, remembering the first time he'd slept next to her. He hadn't shared a bed with anyone else, and she had to explain that most people wouldn't sleep facing their partner, as it was hard trying to sleep knowing someone was looking at you.
"Am I doing it wrong?" He asked.
"No" she replied, turning on to her other side. She became aware that he had moved closer, and his hand was touching her hair, stroking it lightly. It made her shiver slightly, and her mind flooded with memories of all the times they'd laid down just like this. She suddenly then became aware that he'd stopped.
"Why did you stop?"
"Dean tells me I do not observe the rules of personal space very well. I thought I was breaking the rule. I didn't want to upset you"
"It's fine, I actually like it."
As he resumed stroking her hair, tiredness set in and soon, they were both asleep.
"What the hell Cas?"
An angry Dean bursting in to her room awakened her from her sleep. For a second she forgot where she was and had no idea why he'd be in here. Then it hit her. Last night.
"Dean, it's fine- Cas was having trouble sleeping so he came to talk…"
"Yeah looks like a lot of talking went on here!"
"Nothing happened and even if it did I'm twenty eight years old!" She replied, heading out of the room and down the hall. He looked at Cas, who looked as confused as ever, before deciding to leave it. He followed her down the hall to the kitchen where Sam had just made coffee.
"Dean, everything ok?" Sam asked, knowing full well it wasn't.
"It's fine" he replied.
"Ok then" Sam replied, not really wanting to get in to a fight this early In the morning. He watched as the two of them poured coffee, they even did that exactly the same, both opting to drink it black. He smiled, it was kind of sweet.
"Whats so funny?" Dean replied.
"Nothing" Sam smiled, taking a sip of his own coffee.
"Morning" Cas spoke, walking in to the kitchen taking a seat next to Sam.
The silence was interrupted by the dropping of a coffee mug.
"Sorry, I'll clean that up" She muttered, rubbing her arms.
"Wait" Cas instructed, and she did.
"There's a demon nearby, isn't there"? He asked.
"How could you know that, you're not an angel anymore" Dean replied.
"I am aware. But Celeste's markings seem to give her a warning when a demon is nearby, that is why she dropped the mug"
"Is that true?"
"Yes, they get kind of….. I don't know how to describe it. " She replied, protectively crossing her arms across her chest.
"We should check it out" Sam said.
"You two stay here, ok?" Dean replied, grabbing the demon knife off the kitchen side.
"Fine" she said, sweeping up the broken ceramic mug into the trash can.
As they exited the bunker, it didn't take them long to run into a demon.
"Sam and Dean Winchester…the early years!" He laughed. "God you're just as sorry a sight in this timeline as you are in hers. Now, just hand her over and we'll be on our way"
"So, demons are just as stupid in the future as they are now!" Dean replied. "I'm not handing her over to you, now or ever!"
"How sweet, your paternal instincts have kicked in. Too bad it wont be enough to save her"
"Why do you want her anyway? Why her?"
"That's a closely guarded secret. Im on orders not to tell you"
"Orders, from who?"
"That would be telling. I'll tell you this much though… She's the final piece of the puzzle" He smiled. "Tell you what, I'll give you boys a head start, see if you can't figure a little something out. I'd personally start by asking why that angel is so enamoured with her. I'll be back, don't think I won't" He replied, before disappearing.
"Ok, that was weird" Sam spoke. "He could have attacked us, tormented us….. but he gives us time to figure stuff out?"
"Future demons. Stupid and weird. C'mon, lets get back inside"
As they headed back inside, Dean saw the two of them sat at the table, drinking what was left of the coffee. Even from this distance they looked like a couple, even though they weren't together. They just looked…. Right somehow, however much he didn't want to acknowledge it.
"Are you ok?" She asked.
"Yeah. We're fine"
"The demon, what did he look like?"
"Tall, long black coat- British"
"Azrael. That bastard has been after me since forever but he's sly, never gets his hands dirty. He knows why they're all after me, but he never tells. Believe me, I've tried to get it out of him."
"He said something, about…. You two."
"What?"
"He said we should start by figuring out why Cas is so enamoured with you, his words, not mine"
"That's just low, typical demon. What's Cas got to do with any of this? This happened before we got together"
"Well he seems to think, or at least wants us to think it's connected somehow"
"I don't see how"
Dean wasn't exactly one for believing what came out of the mouth of a demon. But Azrael, what he'd said… he couldn't shake the feeling that something was there.
"Look, lets just check the books, in case we missed something, Ok?"
"Ok" She replied.
An hour in, and as she predicted they'd found nothing. She was just about to head to the kitchen to grab some beers when Cas spoke up.
"I believe I have found something"
"Ok?" Dean replied. "What?"
Cas took her arm, and pushed her sleeve up. He looked up and down for a few moments, until he found the symbol he was looking for.
"There, you see?"
He pointed to two stars, one normal and one inverted. They were positioned one above the other, with the inverted one on the bottom. Joining them was a small circle.
"It's one of the earliest depictions of Heaven, Earth and Hell in balance. It say's here that this symbol was created when things were, in alignment, so to speak, with Heavens doors opened, and the gates of Hell closed. It represents things as they should be"
"But, wasn't that all kinda dealt with by the tablets, the trials? I mean, I know things didn't go to plan but if they had….What I mean is, things had been screwed up for a long time when Celeste was born, and she comes in to the world bearing a symbol that supposedly means everythings ok?" Dean replied.
"Or a symbol that makes everything Ok…" She added.
"What, so one little symbol is gonna fix this mess? And what about the rest?"
"Maybe, who knows? I have no idea, but we have a starting point which is more than I had before"
"I'm gonna see if I can find it online anywhere, check if anyone else has ever seen it, Ok?" Sam said, heading to the table where the laptop was sat.
"Can I talk to you?" Dean questioned, looking right at her.
"Sure" She replied, heading away from the kitchen and down the hall. They entered one of the main libraries.
"Listen. I'm glad we got one of those symbols figured out, but I don't want you getting your hopes up that one symbol is gonna fix this mess?"
"But what is it does? What if I'm the key to fixing everything?"
"No, that's not gonna happen. Sammy nearly died because he thought he was the key to fixing things with the demon trials, I'm not gonna let you do the same!"
"So you'd rather what, sweep the mess under the carpet and forget about it? Bit late for that!"
"There's always another way. I've done this long enough to know that"
"This is not some demon problem you make go away Dean! This is Heaven, Earth and Hell- it's everything! There are fallen angels walking the earth, Demons taking over every vessel they can find and souls…..well who knows what's happening to peoples souls anymore! If I have even the slightest chance of fixing things, I'm doing it!" She replied angrily, heading back down the hallway.
"You realise what'll happen if you fix everything, right?" He replied, making her stop dead in her tracks.
No.
She hadn't thought about that, until now. Shit.
She could feel her eyes beginning to sting. She raced past Sam and Cas and headed outside.
"Wait!" Dean shouted, hearing the door slam.
As she left the bunker and headed up the road, she stopped once again. She rubbed her eyes, and turned.
"Azrael" She began.
"Celeste" He replied. "My my, whats wrong, fight with daddy dearest?"
"Screw you!" She replied, taking angry steps toward him.
"So, I take it you and the boys have made some headway?"
"Nothing you couldn't have told me years ago Azrael. Why make me wait, come here to this time, to figure out one little symbol?"
"Because, this timeline is the whole point. It wouldn't have been nearly as fun for you to discover this in our time Celeste"
"Why?"
He'd gone. Typical demon, skipping out at the most inconvenient of times.
"Bastard!" She shouted angrily at the sky.
She headed back inside.
