Thanks again for the reviews and new followers! I can't express my pleasure at that enough.
Also, happy to know that one of the many twists in this story has been well received.
It wasn't that Catherine didn't like Kevin. He was an okay kind of guy, really. She just couldn't handle how... weird he was.
She had initially attempted to set up a small work space for herself in the Winchester's library, but Kevin murmuring to his little rock was beginning to get way too creepy for her. Between that and Balthazar amusing himself by trying to spark a one sided conversation with the kid, she realized that the library just wasn't going to do it for her.
After finding one of the many vacant bedrooms in the base, she brought all of the books and notes, along with Sam's computer and the angel, to the small room to pour over things there with one of the Winchester's extra phones incredibly close by. She learned a lot in the next five hours – asking Balthazar about any questions she had concerning Heaven, the angels, Michael, or the apocalypse. He was informative, but couldn't always answer everything and continued time and again to convince her that asking Crowley anything more was only going to go badly.
A sudden far off sound jostled Cat from her studies and her hand flew to the gun at her side - next to the phone and angel sword, of course - when she stopped to listen for where the noise came from, but Balthazar's voice interrupted. "Even I know that was the heat turning on."
She glanced over to find him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and she groaned when it hit her that he was right. Catherine was highly aware that he wasn't enjoying watching her jump at shadows when her head wasn't stuck in a book while he could probably be doing more productive things against this whole resurrection business, but she was wary to let him out of her sight with his murderer walking around.
For now, she just tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes, when he spoke up again to reveal how obvious her tiredness was. "You need to sleep."
Cat groaned louder and looked down to all of the books around her. "I can't. This is too important and I don't know enough about it-"
"And nothing's going to happen for another eight hours, at least," he interrupted. "Those two aren't popping out of the ground tomorrow. We have time."
"Not enough of it!" she burst out, but anger was something that was very far from her plethora of emotions swimming in her head. "We only have a couple of days to stop this and I'm not even out there doing anything. I got stuck on phone duty!"
"I know," he stressed, "and you've been in a constant state of panic about it since the boys left." She groaned again and rubbed at her face while he pushed off of the wall to move closer and sit beside her, effectively blocking her view of about a quarter of the books she had lying around. "For once, I'm not just saying this to get what I want," he admitted, "but you really won't be of any use to anyone if you're a freaked out zombie."
It took a second, but Catherine chuckled at that. "And here I thought you've been sincere the whole time." He allowed himself a smile while she wasn't looking, but it washed away as quickly as it came when she continued. "I can't sleep now. Here. This is-"
He interrupted her again, "I'll keep an eye on everything. Make sure that babbling lunatic doesn't come in here and stares at you or something. I'll even listen for the phones." He shot down each of her arguments before she could voice them.
Finally, she huffed a sigh and seriously looked up to him. "What about Castiel?"
Balthazar's expression didn't change, as he had expected the question, but it still took him a second to speak while he battled over different responses. "Are you worried about me or him?" She tilted her head and gave him a sarcastic look which caused him to go back over his response and try again. "I'll keep an eye out for him, too." When that didn't seem to help all that much, he also added, "Let's just say that no one is going to die tonight. We're safe here, including Castiel. There's too much at stake for either of us to consider something so drastic right now."
She sighed and rubbed her eyes again. "I guess that helps," she told him halfheartedly. "You're not going to just follow those two around, are you?"
"No, no," he said in thought. "Actually, I was thinking that I might go and get a little praying in. Couldn't hurt... probably."
Catherine knew he was referring to Gabriel, but wasn't so sure that prayers would work right now, even for an archangel. "Do you think he knows?"
Bal was quiet for a beat, until he just out and admitted it. "Yes... He's been knowing, but likely too scared to face it until it was out in the open."
"Can he help?" She looked up to him seriously again, a little worried, but he liked that little flash of trust in her eyes a little too much than he cared to admit.
He still tried not to show it best to his abilities and decided to focus on the question instead. "Gabriel isn't as strong as Michael or Lucifer, but he's creative and knowledgeable... but this is assuming he hasn't immediately gone underground after realizing his suspicions were right." She looked confused, so Balthazar shrugged. "He's done it before. Both archangels want him on their team and he's died once already for choosing the wrong side."
Her shoulders sagged from that news. "Reassuring."
"But I'm going to try anyway," he said with a smile, standing up again, but looked back down to her as he started moving away to the door. "Sleep. Please. For me, at least, otherwise you're going to drive to insanity."
Catherine smiled again, but a thought came to her mind just as his hand fell on the door. "How do angels pray?"
He looked back to her, not expecting that question, but smirked anyway. "It usually includes a lot of cursing at the sky."
She smiled once again so he decided to take his leave. It was a nice enough moment to leave on... When he stepped out of the doorway, however, he saw the back of someone who had just passed by and wasn't altogether unexpected.
"Castiel," Balthazar called after him after firmly shutting the door. The other stopped walking and slowly turned back to the speaker, not daring to speak. He looked sad and tired, eyes filled with emotion at finally looking to his brother again face to face. Bal had heard about the other angel's grace, so was not surprised at seeing his haggard state. For a long moment, a silence passed between the two of them as they both waited for the other to do something. Eventually, Balthazar pointed to where he came. "Don't come near this door again," he finally said, turning away and leaving while the other only watched after him.
While he may have acted otherwise, Balthazar felt just as tense as Catherine seemed to be, if not more so. He remembered the whole business with the apocalypse as well as any other angel who lived during the time. Most willingly helped Michael spur it on, some rebelled completely, and others helped Michael either unwillingly or for simply nothing better to do, like himself.
That was before he had first come to Earth, though. A lot of things had changed in that time and he didn't want the archangels rescheduling their grand battle. He was officially on Team Human, like it or not, but at least they could probably snuff things out before it turned completely overwhelming.
Balthazar walked outside in the night air, realizing that the light breeze and stillness of life was nice yet still didn't affect him as much as it did for humans. Catherine even demanded they let a window or two down in the car on some nights simply to let fresh air in. He didn't really get it, but eventually stopped arguing about it.
He tried taking a calming breath of the crisp air like she had done some times before and was annoyed by the fact that it didn't help.
"Gabriel," he spoke out, voice firm and carrying through the trees, but at least he wasn't shouting yet. "You were right," Bal continued, "Abbadon's opening the cage."
He waited a moment for a reply. Of course, Gabriel already knew he was right. He said he would know by the way the group reacted. Sam and Dean speeding away to Maryland sure wasn't an indicator of anything. But he still looked pleading to the stars above in the silence.
"What do I do?" he finally outright asked.
Surely the Winchesters could handle Abbadon, what with their element of surprise and all, but what if they couldn't? What if Michael and Lucifer rose again to resume their war or, worse, destroy anyone who had previously gotten in their way? Obviously that included the boys, but it included himself as well. Stealing the weapons of Heaven and giving them to Castiel for the sole purpose of overthrowing Raphael was a direct offense to them since the archangel wanted the war back on from the start.
It wasn't only his life that he worried about. He had gotten someone who was previously innocent wrapped up in all of this mess and she would be killed indiscriminately with the rest of their troupe because of him. He didn't care for the taste of that.
Yet, the world remained quiet and Gabriel was not going to show himself, if he was even there at all. It was more than likely that he had either gone with the Winchesters or hid himself, that's assuming that an archangel's wings burn the same way Bal's had, of course.
"Gabriel," he called out again and continued to wait a little while longer.
Balthazar quietly shut the main entrance door as he returned a bit forlorn. Really, he didn't expect any answers, but one would have been really nice anyway. He trotted down the stairs, noticing that Kevin was still hanging over the angel tablet. Out of a more serious curiosity, he approached the young man again.
It took a moment, but eventually Kevin glanced up from his readings to see the angel standing over him. He hadn't heard him come in, though that wasn't really surprising. "You need something?" he asked, trying to seem annoyed rather than intimidated.
"No, no," Bal shook his head, looking at the tablet before looking back to the boy. "Just wondering what good, if any, can come out of that rock of yours."
With a grimace, Tran glanced back to the tablet and then to Balthazar before going back to his work. "Not a lot so far, to be honest." After a second, he paused and looked back up. "Can you read Enochian?"
Bal arched an eyebrow. "Yes, but not that," he pointed, "I'm not exactly high enough on the food chain for that sort of formal speak."
"Great," Kevin sighed, but bit his lip in thought and looked behind the angel for a moment. "Um. I couldn't help but notice that Sam and Dean know you but not... uh... Miss... Hunter Lady..."
"I think she prefers to be called Miss Catherine Hunter Lady," he smirked in return, "but no, they wouldn't. I met her after your friend's great fall of Heaven and she had never heard of the Winchesters until Abbadon came after us."
The young prophet tried swallowing a lump in his throat while he gave an awkward shrug. "You know, it's... not really Cas' fault... Metatron was playing him. He didn't know."
Balthazar was already laughing before he was done talking. "He only aided in the near destruction of Heaven. Of course, he's not at fault."
Playing with his pen now, Kevin became a little more fidgety. "When you two showed up, Dean said that you guys have a... complicated truce relationship going on." Bal scoffed, but the boy continued. "What happened?"
For a second, there was no answer while the angel thought it over. Eventually, he answered, "I helped the Winchesters and Castiel killed me for it." Kevin turned wide-eyed and speechless, not that anyone could place blame on the boy. Bal just gave another shrug and turned to leave. "It's quite the story. They should tell you about it some time."
Kevin didn't stop him from walking away, which he was more than happy about. It had only been several hours and he was done with thinking of Castiel. Though, the angel came to mind again as Balthazar walked down the halls. He had last seen him hovering close to Catherine's door and, try as he might to think otherwise, that didn't sit too well with him.
He checked the surrounding area first, telling himself he was just taking a better look around at their very temporary dwelling, before finally arriving at her door again. Quietly, he cracked it open and was relieved to see her finally sleeping. Whether it was to his request or because she finally passed out was up for debate, but he was pleased nonetheless.
He entered and the door closed behind him just as quietly before he sighed. He felt much better in here than exploring the rest of this place. It just wasn't sitting right with him, yet. Not really just the place, but the situation as well. His nerves hadn't quieted down and when he was free to not act like everything was fine was when it seemed to effect him worse. On a normal day, he probably would have tried to wake Catherine up just to annoy her and have something else on his mind, but she needed all of the rest, focus, and strength she could get for this.
What strength did a human have against two very angry archangels, though?
Balthazar scrubbed at his eyes and looked over to her in serious consideration. It would have been better to have just left in her in Sioux Falls. She could have perfectly handled herself against a couple of demons that would have only bothered her until they realized she was no longer attached to an angel, he hoped. But, that was in the past and nothing could be done about it, especially since he lacked any means of time travel now. He had to focus on the present state and what the future could hold.
That made him want scrub at his face harder, but he didn't. Balthazar hardly moved as his eyes – somewhere between softness and anger – stayed on her sleeping form. This wasn't fair. Why a human? Why her? He was just going to lose her anyway in some sort of fashion. Caring for people had recently turned into an incredible annoyance for him. Either they died or stabbed you in the back. There was no longer a point to it all.
… Yet, the primary reason that his murder still stung was because he still cared for his brother. At least he was alive. While he never suspected Castiel to do such a thing, he knew that Catherine was even less likely do so. That only left one other route for her to take out of his life and he felt it coming to pass far too quickly with the oncoming storm. They had spent such a short time together and he wasn't ready to let go yet.
Surely, those boys could stop it. They could handle it just as before, especially with Gabriel's help, if the archangel was lending it. It would be fine, but no amount of reassurances eased the dread eating at him.
After another moment of silence, Balthazar quietly moved over to her and knelt down next to the bed without much thought. There wasn't a whole lot he could do against archangels or the apocalypse in his current state, nor could he really help against the fallen angel crisis or Hell's supremacy battle. If he was being honest with himself, he couldn't really stop anything bad from happening to his new treasured friend, but he wanted to think differently for just a moment.
His hand slowly reached out and gently glided from the edge of her face to melt into her hair. The least he could do was try to protect her. Angels have done so before with humans, obviously. One doesn't have to look far to find an example. There was a striking difference between Castiel's methods and his own, though. His brother knew loss, but not in the same ways. He always had something looking out for him in some way, whether it be God or a Winchester. He didn't know – really know – what it was like to lose everything. Balthazar didn't want to be at a loss again.
He didn't know if he had decided this a long time ago or not, but he at least now consciously recognized her as his charge. She was to be his to protect. His to keep safe. His human. His Catherine. Perhaps he wasn't ready to face the full implications of those thoughts, but he was no longer trying to keep himself blind for his own safety, either. He had to keep her safe and that meant facing reality.
Balthazar slowly leaned closer and placed a light kiss to her temple. His contact was short lived, however, before she gave a slight shift beneath the touch. He inched hardly a hair away so that only his breath brushed against her skin now, but she must have recognized some sort of comfort in his closeness as Catherine quickly fell back to sleep again. Daring not to move any closer or further, he stayed where he was for a long time to watch over her as she slept.
As said, updates are gonna be a little slower again. I'm sorry, folks, but senior year in college would eat anyone's life, I'd imagine. Also, I hope everyone's happy to know that I finally figured out a way to end this puppy, so that means there's a much better chance of me actually finishing something this long. We're not even a third of the way done, guys. It's crazy.
This chapter was sort of a lull, but a much needed introspection to Balthazar's thoughts on this whole relationship business. We'll be going quick again in the next chapter!
Thanks for reading/following/reviewing/all that awesome stuff. I love you guys. :)