Supernatural

Family Ties – Ep4

Castiel watched helplessly as Sam took his last breath. He'd done all this research, come all this way, done this unspeakable act…and for what? To kill a dear friend at the same time as losing his grace? He placed his hand atop Sam's forehead again and strained to make his power come forth. Again, nothing happened.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I don't understand what happened," Castiel whispered.

People stood by and offered verbal advice, checked Sam's pulse, yelled for help, but all Castiel could do was just sit there. Sam's lifeless body stared back at him, bloodied and broken. Castiel felt himself bumped off balance as a young looking girl shoved him aside.

"For heaven's sake, why weren't you looking where you were going, you idiot?" the girl yelped at him.

All Castiel could do was just stare back at her in disbelief. He very well couldn't tell her why. The human race wasn't ready for this kind of revelation. The girl gawked at him with eyes caked in eyeliner. Her face was pale with bitterness and loneliness. Castiel concluded she was one of those females Dean would always refer to as "emo" or "goth." She wore a black hoodie, khaki pants, and a burgundy shirt, but Castiel thought she looked very out of place and out of her element. She shifted her stance to kneel next to Sam, and the front of her hoodie fell to the side revealing a coffee shop logo.

At once, Castiel snapped out of his stupor. He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You can heal him, can't you?" he asked.

The girl stared back at him, dumbfounded. Without replying, she grabbed Sam's hand and held it gently in her own. She closed her eyes and hummed a sweet melody, but Castiel couldn't put his finger on the tune even though he knew what it was.

Sam's eyes popped open, and his lungs swelled with air. Onlookers shrieked and guffawed as Sam's wounds healed right before their eyes. Some even backed away, even ran. Castiel sat there in amazement. In the many times he had healed or resurrected someone, it had never been this beautiful, this serene.

"Sam? Are you ok?" Castiel said hesitantly.

The girl turned and looked at him, a rage burning behind her eyes, "You know this guy?"

Sam sat up and wiped his brow. When he stared down at it, he must've realized where he was and what had happened.

"Cas, I…I don't understand. I thought you -," Sam replied breathily.

Sam turned to the female crouched next to him that was still holding his hand, "You. You healed me?"

Castiel could see the gears turning in the girl's head. He figured she would start to put two and two together and realize that she'd been set up. She snatched her hand away from Sam and jolted up.

"Do you realize what you've done? You've exposed me!" she hissed.

As Sam tried to get up, a mob of people surrounded him and tried to get a good look at him, talk to him about what happened, how he felt. Castiel could see the girl begin to take a few steps back to try to get away unnoticed, so he took off after her while Sam was overwhelmed with onlookers.

"Wait a second. We came a long way to find you. We know who you are," he called out to her.

"Well, it's people like you that have kept me in the shadows. How dare you? Do you realize what you've done? I'll be dead soon thanks to this. So many people saw what I did, and it'll get back to them," she spat back venomously.

He grabbed her arm to restrain her, "Get back to whom? We're here to help you."

At the exact moment of his touch, she flinched. Fear replaced the look of anger on her face. Her muscles were rigid with fright as he grasped her tightly.

Her mouth slowly opened with a whisper, "You're not one of them. You're…you're different. Not evil. What are you?"

Castiel relaxed his grip on her, not seeing her as a flight risk, "I'm an angel. I promise, I'm not here to hurt you. I…we need your help."

He could feel her relax, and the fear subsided from her face. They stood on the sidewalk staring at each other with thickening silence between them. Castiel hoped she would say something instead of gawk at him. It was starting to make him feel very uncomfortable. Noticing the awkwardness, she spoke up finally.

"I didn't believe in angels, but here you stand. But why? Why do you need me?" she said.

"You see that guy standing there?" Castiel pointed to Sam, who was still trying to wade out of the crowd of bewildered spectators. "We have reason to believe he's your brother. But Sam's not what I need help with. It's your other brother who's in trouble. Your twin brother."

"My what? Oh no, no, no. I don't have any brothers. I grew up in Chicago with my parents as an only child. They would've mentioned me being adopted or having other family. I'm sorry, but you've got the wrong chick."

Castiel had anticipated this reaction. He was prepared to offer a rebuttal if it came to it. He gently placed his hand on her shoulder again, hoping it would settle her nerves and relax her paranoia.

"Your birth parents tried to protect you from those people, those…demons…you've been running from your whole life. Your parents knew you were special, so they hid you to protect you. If your adopted parents knew where you came from, I doubt they would've taken you in. The demon who came for you, came for your brother Sam instead…because, he, too, is special like you, but in a different way. I would only ask that you allow us to prove it to you. If it comes out as bunk, then you are free to keep running and hiding. We'll never contact you again and never speak of your existence. Will you at least allow us that?"

She appeared to be mulling it over in her head, but Castiel would not pressure her. They'd come too far and too long for this moment just to spook her off.

Her original personality returned, "Ok fine, whatever. But after it comes back no, I'm gone. No thanks to you."

"Excellent," he half-smiled and coaxed her to follow him. As they made their way to the front of the car, Castiel reached out and yanked Sam out of the crowd, "Come on, Sam. We're leaving."

Sam jumped in the passenger seat as Castiel and the girl climbed in on the driver's side. Castiel cranked the engine and sped off down the road, leaving the bewildered mob to suck up their exhaust fumes.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked.

"To get a DNA test. Only a third party can convince her that you're her family. Unfortunately, it's going to take two days to get the results back so we're going to have to hang low and out of sight till then," Castiel said.

Sam turned and looked at the pale girl who sat in the back. She glared at him, and all he could do was smile back.

"Hi, I'm Sam. This is Cas. That was really amazing what you did back there. Thank you. I feel like a million bucks. I never feel this good when Cas heals me," Sam playfully smacked Castiel in the arm. Castiel didn't respond. He continued to focus on the drive back down the road to the pharmacy.

"You're both idiots. You could've died. Why did you let him hit you like that?" she muttered.

"Well, it was the only thing we could think of to get you to come out of hiding. See, we've been researching your movements across the country. You can't resist helping people and we had to exploit that. I'm sorry we had to do it this way, but I really need your help. We think you can help our brother."

"And how's that?" she sneered.

"Your…gift. You can exercise demons, heal, and resurrect people. He needs all of those. It's a long story, but he's a demon now but he's not possessed. His soul has evolved into something evil because he took on the Mark of Cain."

"Mark of Cain?" she asked sarcastically.

"Like I said, long story," Sam sighed.

Castiel pulled up next to the drug store and jumped out. He left Sam to tell his sister the backstory while he went inside to buy the DNA test. He walked up and down aisles grazing over products marketed to men, women, and the general public. After thumbing through multiple brands, he picked one out and headed to the counter to pay for it. The guy behind the counter gave him an odd look.

"Let me guess, your baby momma trying to hit you up with child support, huh?" he smirked.

Perplexed, Castiel responded, "Baby momma? I'm sorry, I don't have a child that is a mother."

The clerk mouthed a long "ok" and took Castiel's money and returned with change.

"I hope it works out in your favor, Brotha," the clerk laughed.

"Um, me too," Castiel replied quizzically. He still wasn't used to human communication after all of these years in his vessel.

As he got back in the car, Sam was finishing up with the story nutshell.

"And that's why we need your help. Only you can do this," Sam sighed.

"So why doesn't your angel boyfriend here do it? I mean, come on, he's an angel. That's what they do," she said.

"Well, Castiel here is pretty much out of grace, uh, heavenly power. The other angels would just assume kill Dean and be done with him because of how powerful he is. He's the enemy now."

She was quiet for a few moments as they sat there in the car. Castiel opened the DNA box and read the instructions for what they needed to do.

"The test says you need to swab the inside of your mouth with this applicator thing, and send it off to this laboratory. You can call in and get the results two days later. Since we don't want you thinking we tampered with it, you're fully responsible for doing this. We'll just sit and wait…for two days," Castiel said.

"Well, I'm not hanging with two strangers in the meantime. You two could be rapists or something. I'm not an idiot, and especially not an idiot that mows down their friend in the middle of the street," she chortled.

Castiel turned and looked at her, nonchalantly, "I can assure you that Sam and I are not rapists, idiots maybe, but not rapists. We can meet back in two days at the place of your choosing if that would make you feel better."

"But what if she runs, Cas? We'll never find her again," Sam interjected.

"Sam, we can't make her help us. She has to do this of her own free will, and we have to give her a reason to trust us. For all she knows, we're just like the people hunting her down," Castiel said.

"I'm sitting right here, ya know," she barked. "Don't answer for me. You don't know me. Look, if this thing comes back negative or whatever, which we all know it won't, then you won't ever see me again. But, if it comes back as a match, I'll need to think about it. You might be my brother and all, but blood doesn't always make you family."

Sam laughed heartily.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"My brother Dean used to say that. He said you had to earn it."

"Well, he sounds like he's the smart one in the family," she retorted.

Castiel was getting tired of the small chat. They needed to hurry because the longer Dean had the First Blade, the more devastation he could reap. He handed the box to her.

"Where do you want to meet?" Sam asked.

"Let's meet at the coffee shop. Hopefully, I still have a job if I choose to go back there. Who knows, I might have to vanish after today no matter what the test says."

Castiel didn't want to beg, and he didn't want Sam to get his hopes up either.

"Fine. We'll meet you at the coffee shop in two days. Please reconsider if it comes back positive. I know it will, but you have to see it. Sam, give her a swab of your mouth and let's get going."

She opened the box and handed him one of the applicator swabs. He rang it along the inside of his mouth and stuck it back in the casing. After placing it back in the box, she got out of the car and threw the lid of her hoodie over her face.

She leaned back in the car before shutting the door and said, "Oh, and my name's Hannah."