Chapter Thirty-Four
"Son of a bitch!" Dean roared. He swung around and looked at Amie. "What the hell was that?" He knew he was yelling at her, but at the moment, he didn't care. He was too concerned with what had just happened to Cas.
"She showed up back there next to me. Said she'd been watching me because she knew I'd eventually lead her to Castiel. She told me to remind you guys that she promised not to hurt him. Then she poofed her ass up here and took him." Amie explained as she ran a hand across her face. "I'm sorry. She found him because of me. I shouldn't have come with you to see him. I didn't even think about it. And now he's gone. This is all my fault."
"It's not your fault," Sam told her.
Dean interrupted them. "Enough. Discuss it later, not now." He needed to take charge of this or these two would stand here talking about their feelings all day. They needed to get the situation under control and fast. "We need to figure out where Cas is, or try to anyway. And people are going to start asking questions." He looked at Amie. "Do you have your FBI badge?"
"I think so," she answered, checking her pockets. The badge was inside her jacket. "Why?"
"Sam and I are going out to the car. You talk to the other employee, tell him Cas is a material witness in some case and he had to go with us. Be at the car in less than 5 minutes or I'm coming back in here after you. With my gun drawn. Got it?" Dean waited for Amie to nod at him before opening the door and going out, Sam close behind.
"Dean?" Sam hurried to keep pace with him.
"Great, here it comes. What, Sam?" he asked, rolling his eyes.
Sam grabbed Dean's arm, forcing him to stop. His irritation with his older brother was clear on his face. Dean could always tell when Sam was pissed at him, his little brother was like an open book when it came to being angry with him.
"You don't think this is Amie's fault, do you?" Sam asked.
"What? No!" Dean replied. He started to walk again, hurrying toward the Impala. He did not want to talk about this.
"Dammit, Dean, wait!" Sam yelled at him.
Dean stopped, the keys to the car in his hand. He leaned on Baby's roof, his head in his hands. Sam came up next to him, mirroring his position against the car. Dean looked at his brother, trying to decide if he should talk to him or not. The need to explain himself was overwhelming.
"Okay, ever since she came along, I've been different. Off my game. Christ, she's always distracted me, ever since we met her. Her looks, her body, shit, everything about her. I've always just been very aware of her, you know. That's why I didn't want to work with her before, I felt like I couldn't concentrate when she was around, because I was too busy watching her, always a little worried about her. And it just kept getting harder and harder." Dean took a deep breath and looked at Sam out of the corner of his eye. Sam wasn't looking at him, just listening. "And now, since I told her I lo…since I admitted how I feel about her, it's worse. I am constantly worrying about her, more than I ever did before. So now I'm trying to watch out for you and watch out for her, my emotions are all over the goddamn place, and I'm more distracted than I think I've ever been. I'm know I'm not thinking straight. Like this," Dean gestured behind him, "this is because I couldn't see past the end of my dick to realize that bringing Amie here would also bring Katarina and cause all kinds of trouble for Cas. So yeah, I guess in a way, I do think this is her fault."
Dean stopped talking, his hand nervously running over his hair. He checked his watch. Amie's time was up, she better be on her way out. He turned around to find her standing behind them.
She was looking at him, a strange expression on her face. She stood there for a second before speaking. "Um, I talked to the other guy. His name's Phil. Told him Castiel was with us and we didn't know how long it would be, but we'd bring him back as soon as we could," she quickly explained.
Dean noticed she was wringing her hands, a sure sign that she was nervous or upset. How much of what he'd just said to Sam had she heard? Shit, this day just kept getting better and better. He took a step toward her, but she put her head down and walked past him around the car to the other side. She pulled open the door and slid in the back, grabbing her sunglasses off of her backpack and putting them on as she did.
Sam looked at Dean, a pained expression on his face. He went around the car to the passenger side and pulled open the door. Dean got in as well and looked at Amie over the back of the seat. He couldn't see her eyes behind her sunglasses. She wouldn't look at him, instead staring out the window, her chin resting on her hand.
He turned around. He'd have to talk to her about it later. They needed to figure out what to do about Cas before they worried about anything else. Dean put the car in gear and backed out. He caught a glimpse of Amie in the rearview mirror. He was pretty sure he saw a tear run down her face.
Sam managed to find them a motel on the outskirts of Rexburg, but they only had one room available. Dean wasn't too happy about that, it wouldn't give him a chance to be alone with Amie. He knew he needed to try to talk to her, he just didn't know what he was going to say.
Once they were settled, Dean immediately started giving orders. "Sam, get on your laptop, see if you can find any signs of angels in the area—mysterious deaths, eyes burned out, stuff like that. Amie, you get to check out the Reverend Buddy Boyle, find out everything you can, especially if it pertains to this area," he instructed them. "I'm going to call Kevin, see if there's anything on the tablet that can help us."
Dean pulled his cell phone from his pocket and threw himself down on the bed next to Amie. She sat quietly next to him, all of her attention on her laptop, but after just a few minutes she got up and moved to the table across from Sam. Dean watched her while he talked to Kevin, but she still wouldn't look at him. She and Sam talked back and forth, Amie occasionally turning her laptop to show Sam something or to ask him a question.
Just as he was wrapping up his phone call with Kevin, Amie stood up and said something to Sam. She grabbed her jacket and headed to the door. Just before she walked out, she reached down and checked the gun in her boot. Dean stood up to follow her, his hand on his own jacket. He was only a few steps from the door when Sam's voice stopped him.
"Let her go, Dean," he said, his voice low.
Dean stopped, his shoulders tensing. "Where's she going?"
"She said she was going for a walk, that she needed some air. Asked me not to let you follow her," he replied, not looking up from the work he was doing. "I agreed."
"What if I don't listen? What if I follow her anyway?" Dean asked, his anger growing.
Sam finally looked up from what he was doing. "Seriously, Dean, just let her go. She's hurt and angry and she feels responsible for what happened to Cas. She needs a minute. Or ten or fifteen. She'll be back." He stopped, waiting to see what Dean would do.
Dean threw his jacket on the end of the bed. He'd let her go for now, but if she wasn't back in an hour he would go after her. He looked at his brother, a question on his lips. "Did she hear what I said, back at the store?" he finally asked.
Sam looked at him and reluctantly nodded. "I think so, at least some of it. She didn't say for sure. But you have to assume she probably did. Look, why don't you come help me go over this stuff, so we can see if we can find anything. If she's not back in an hour, I'll help you look for her."
Dean couldn't help but smile, it was like Sam always knew exactly what he was thinking. He crossed to the table and sat in the chair Amie had just vacated. He pulled her laptop over, it was still open to the Reverend Buddy Boyle's web page. He would see what he could find while he waited for her to come back.
Dean kept a close eye on his watch, but it ended up being unnecessary. Amie came through the motel door after being gone about thirty-five minutes. She was carrying a shopping bag and a 6-pack of beer. She put everything on the table and took off her jacket. She grabbed a bottle of beer and dug through the shopping bag until she found a box of Advil. She took it and her beer and went into the bathroom, not saying a word to either him or Sam.
Dean's phone rang, Led Zeppelin's Ramble On echoing around the room. He picked it up, anxious to talk to the prophet on the other end. "Kev, what do you got for me?" He spent several minutes on the phone, jotting notes on a napkin.
By the time he hung up, Amie had come out of the bathroom. She'd put a clean bandage on her neck and pulled her hair into a ponytail that hung halfway down her back. The marks on her face from the werewolf stood out starkly against her pale skin. She sat at the end of the bed and kicked off her boots.
"Okay, Kevin said there seems to be something on the tablet that might explain why Katarina wants Cas," Dean explained. "It's a spell and it says something about needing to find and help an angel get his grace back. Which would be Cas, an angel without his grace. So maybe, Katarina knows what this spell is and that's why she wants him. Hopefully that means she's not going to hurt him."
"Alright, so we know why she wants Cas, but that doesn't help us find him," Sam said. "What's next?"
Dean shrugged his shoulders. "We wait. See if Cas shows up or gets in touch with us. I don't know if there's anything else we can do."
Sam nodded. "Okay, I guess we wait." He pulled his laptop over and starting typing.
Dean looked at Amie; she hadn't said a word since she got back. He was worried about her, she looked tired and in pain. She was pale with dark circles under eyes. With everything that had happened in the last few hours, he'd forgotten that she was still recovering from some very serious wounds. He crossed the room to sit next to her on the bed. He put his hand on her back, rubbing small circles between her shoulder blades.
Amie pulled away from him and crawled up the bed until she was stretched out, her head on the pillow. She pulled the blankets over herself and closed her eyes. Dean watched her, regret coursing through him. He was positive she had heard what he said and he knew he had hurt her. Again. He was so bad at this relationship shit. He wasn't sure he would ever figure it out.
He decided it was probably best to leave her alone for now. He sat next to her, but he didn't touch her. He picked up the television remote, hoping he could distract himself. It didn't really work though; he couldn't think about anything other than how he was going to fix things this time.
The pounding was insistent, getting louder and louder. At first, Dean thought it was the television. Without opening his eyes, he picked up the remote and turned it off. But the pounding continued. He forced himself awake, his hand sliding under his pillow to grab his gun. He sat up, noticing that both Sam and Amie were also awake, both armed—Sam with Ruby's knife and Amie with an angel blade.
Dean moved quietly across the room. He pulled back the curtains on the window by the door, trying to see who was outside. When he saw who it was, he tucked his gun in the waistband of his pants.
"It's Cas," he said over his shoulder as he threw open the door. "Jesus Christ, Cas, are you okay?" Dean looked him over, checking his friend for any injuries.
"I'm fine," he replied. "May I come in?" Cas was noticeably shivering.
Dean stepped back from the door, feeling like an idiot. It was freezing outside and Cas didn't have a jacket. "Shit, yeah, sorry," he apologized.
Cas stepped into the room, looking around. He was rubbing his arms, trying to warm up. Dean was going to throw him a jacket when Amie walked past him with the bedspread from their bed and put it around Cas's shoulders. He smiled gratefully at her. Amie returned the smile and sat back down on the bed.
"So what happened?" Dean asked. "How'd you get away?"
"I didn't 'get away' Dean, Katarina let me go," Castiel explained. "She wants to help me." He sat in one of the chairs at the table, his hands fiddling with the empty bottles and candy wrappers piled there, refusing to meet Dean's eyes.
Dean heard the subtle accusation in Cas's voice, but he decided to ignore it. He couldn't change what had already happened and he wasn't about to try. He straightened his shoulders. "What does that mean? How is she going to help you?"
"If we can get my grace back from Metatron, Katarina knows of a spell that might re-open the gates of Heaven," Cas explained. "She's never actually seen it, just heard rumors of it, a lot of conjecture. But, she thinks it's on the angel tablet. The angel tablet you have in your bunker."
Dean looked at Sam over the top of Cas's head. He knew what Sam was thinking, because he was thinking the same thing. Sam shook his head slightly, his face serious.
"No," Dean said, a bit too forcefully. "She can't have the tablet. And she's not getting in the bunker. Period." Dean looked pointedly at Amie. "I don't trust her. Not after what she's done. The things she's done." He would never trust the angel, not after what she did to Amie.
Castiel looked at Amie. "Katarina told me what she did to you." He turned to Dean. "And she knew this would be your reaction. Hence the reason she's not here with me." Cas sat forward, his arms resting on his legs. "But maybe I can go to the bunker, look at the tablet. Maybe I can find the spell, figure it out."
Dean sighed. "Kevin's already found the spell. He's working on it."
Castiel looked shocked. "You knew about this and you didn't tell me?"
Dean couldn't believe Cas would think that he wouldn't tell him something that important. "No! He just found it. While you were missing, apparently off having your little world peace conference with the angel, we had Kevin going over the tablet, looking for anything that would help us find you. That's when he found it. He hasn't gotten much off of it, pretty much the same stuff you just said."
The wheels were turning in Dean's head. Maybe bringing Cas back to the bunker was a good idea. There was no reason he couldn't be there anymore and he might be helpful. Kevin could certainly use a little bit of help. Not only that, but he would be a lot safer at the bunker, where Dean could protect him. "Sammy, can I talk to you for a minute?" He stood up and moved to the door, slipping his jacket on.
"Yeah," Sam replied. He grabbed his jacket and followed his brother outside.
Dean heard Cas saying something to Amie as he pulled the door closed but he didn't catch what it was. He turned to Sam, anxious to get his opinion.
He and Sam stood outside talking for several minutes. Sam seemed okay with Cas going back to the bunker with them, as long as they kept the bunker properly warded.
Dean was about go back in the motel room, when Sam stopped him. "How long are we going to let him stay at the bunker, Dean? A week? A month? Indefinitely?"
Dean shrugged his shoulders and opened the door. "I don't know. I guess as long as necessary."