VIGNETTE - UNJUST

The Angels reappeared in a small room that looked like an office, and Gail's head felt a little dizzy from the rapid change in location, time, and circumstance. Cas reached out to steady her.

"I realize it's a bit disconcerting," he said to his wife. "Take a moment."

The first thing she noticed was that he was dressed in a single-breasted suit, and he had a fedora hat on his head. Then Gail looked down at herself. She was in a floral print dress, she had a string of pearls around her neck, and she was wearing a fur stole around her shoulders, of all things. What the - ?

Cas smiled faintly at the look on her face. "We're a wealthy couple," he said, by way of explanation. "My name is Viktor, and you are Trudy. I picked that name because it means 'adored warrior'. And our last name is Schafer, which means 'shepherd'."

Okie-dokie. She looked around. "Where are we?"

Cas took Gail by the shoulders and gently turned her around. She could see that there was a plate-glass window there, so she moved to it and saw that the window overlooked a factory floor. There were men and women working on various machines, and bustling up and down the aisles between work stations.

"We own this factory, and those are our employees," Cas said from behind her.

Gail turned back around to look at him. "What's going on here, Cas?"

He sighed. "When I was here before, I was a single man, of course. You and I hadn't met, yet. But since you're here with me this time, I've made up an identity for you, too. Do you remember when Henri made his comment about going back in time, right before we left for Saqqara?"

Gail was totally thrown, now. Cas had been evasive before, but now he was taking it to a whole new level. What the hell was he - She gasped. Now, she did remember. Cas had been pretty upset about it at the time. "He was talking about going back in time, and killing Hitler," she said, shocked. "Is that what we're here to do?"

"No," Cas replied, frowning. "That's what I'm here NOT to do."

Gail shook her head vigorously. "What?!" she exclaimed. "I must have heard you wrong."

"I'm sorry to say that you didn't," Cas told her grimly. "When I was here before, I DID kill Hitler. But, I was not supposed to."

She was appalled. "What do you mean, you weren't supposed to?"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, there was a ghost of a smile playing on Cas's lips. "That's what I said too, at the time," he told his wife. "How could killing the most evil mass murderer in history not be the right thing to do? But, regardless, I was not supposed to do it, but I did it, anyway, and history was completely altered."

Gail was stunned. She had no idea what to say. This sounded like the plot of a really bad movie. If she didn't know better, she would almost swear that he was making this up. But now it was starting to dawn on her why Death was so sour-faced every time he saw Cas.

She felt nauseous. They had come back in time, not to kill Hitler, but to let him live?

"Please sit down, my love," Cas said quietly. "I'll explain."

She sat in the chair opposite Cas as he sank into the chair behind the desk. After a moment, he tossed his hat on the desktop, and then he began:

"Because I took it upon myself to kill Hitler when I did, it was the United States and Russia who ended up going to war with each other. Nuclear war."

Gail's mouth dropped open. "Cas!" she said. "Are you serious?"

"Do you think that I would joke about such a thing?" he said, his eyes flashing bright blue for a moment. Then he sighed again. "I'm sorry, Gail. I know this must be very difficult for you. But you must understand that it's very difficult for me, as well. I defied our Father's instructions, and I made the situation worse. Much, much worse."

Cas took a deep breath. "Because World War II was aborted due to Hitler's sudden death, the USA and Russia engaged in a hot war, not a cold one. There was no United Nations formed, nor a European Common Market. Because there were no allies, there was no harmony. No cooperation. The entire world was at war. Because England hadn't suffered the protracted hostilities with Germany that they were supposed to have, that country flourished economically. But their people were adamant that they wanted no part of war, so Great Britain held itself completely neutral from any conflict. There was no International Human Rights Agreement, forged as a consequence of Hitler's atrocities during the war. Therefore, when the rest of Europe and Asia went to war with each other, there were countless war crimes committed, and no way to check the perpetrators. The level of carnage and violent crimes were unparalleled. This went on and on, for years afterwards. There are many qualities to treasure when it comes to human beings, but their appetite for war and cruelty should never be underestimated."

Cas was silent for another moment, and then, he made himself continue. "There was no Vietnam War, because Asia was too busy licking their wounds and rebuilding, after the lengthy hostilities with Europe. So, a young man named John Winchester never joined the Marine Corps, and he never went to war there. He stayed in Normal, Illinois. And yes, that was actually the name of the town where he was born," Cas added, a touch of humour in his voice. He knew his wife. "You can see where this narrative is leading, I'm sure. John Winchester married a woman, and they had children, but he never went to Kansas, he never met Mary Campbell, and Sam and Dean Winchester were never born."

So, that was it. Gail was nodding now. Finally, they were getting to the bottom line. Her head was spinning. She was right; they were in a really bad science fiction movie. But unfortunately, that bad movie was their life.

A lot of things were becoming clear to Gail now. This was why Cas was so prickly about time travel. This was why he always felt as if he was being punished. It was because he WAS being punished. Cas had rebelled against Heaven a number of times before, in a number of different ways, but seemingly, he had really gone off book on this one. But who could ever say that his decision had been the wrong one?

Cas wasn't done yet, though. Gail could tell by the look on his face that there was more bad news. "Let me guess," she said, as calmly as she could. "That means I was never born, either."

"Oh, no. You were," Cas said. He sat back in his chair, sighing heavily. "You were," he repeated.

Then Cas lapsed into silence, as Gail waited for him to continue. But when he did, he said something odd.

"When you were angry with me back at the motel, I was speaking about the Rom woman, who read our cards in Romania. Rupa. Do you remember?" Cas asked his wife.

"Do I remember what?" Gail countered dryly. "Being mad at you, or the Rom woman?"

Cas's lips twitched. She really needed to stop doing that to him. While he blessed her for it, Gail had no idea of the gravity of the situation they were discussing right now. She thought she did, but she didn't.

"Among her other remarks, Rupa stated that I can often make things worse, by doing what it is that I think is the right thing to do," Cas forged on. "Knowing what you know now, would you say that is a fair assessment?"

Gail sighed. "I guess so, if you want to paint things in such broad strokes," she replied. "But - "

"You WERE born, to Vincent and Placida," Cas blurted out. "You were still one of a set of twins, but your brother was Raymond, their only son together in the present timeline. When the two of you had reached a mature enough age, your parents were going to have you perform the ritual that would make you both immortal, thereby cementing the lineage in perpetuity."

Gail was appalled. "But...we were brother and sister," she remarked, with a sickened expression on her face. It was funny that she just accepted what Cas was telling her now as a matter of routine. She guessed the revelation that she had been Rowena and Vincent's daughter and Crowley's twin sister back in the Old World had inured her to this kind of thing, to a certain extent. But, thankfully, she and Crowley had never - Yuk.

"Do you think that matters to a man like Vincent?" Cas said sharply. Then, he instantly regretted his tone. It wasn't Gail's fault. None of this was Gail's fault.

But before he could apologize again, Gail held up her hand. "Please finish your story, so that I can go somewhere and throw up," she said dryly.

Cas nodded. "Before the ritual could be performed, Raymond killed you, so that he would be the sole heir."

Of course. Of course that was what had happened. The bile rose even higher in Gail's throat now. Instead of being angry, Vincent had probably put a bucket underneath his daughter to catch her blood, then clapped Raymond on the back. Maybe even given his son a cigar. What a sweet, father-son bonding moment that would have been for them.

"Well, I guess the silver lining is that you and I have something else in common now," Gail said after a moment. "We've both been murdered by our own brother."

Cas let out a breath. That much was true, in a way, but: "There is one difference. We're here to make sure that never happens. All of the employees in this factory we own are Jewish, and you and I are members in good standing of the Nazi party. And as abhorrent as that may be, there is worse to come. In a short while, officers from the SS will descend upon us here, and they will try to round up the workers on the floor. I will prevent them from doing so, saying that the workers are making weapons for the Reich. That's a lie, of course, but we have some sample bombs and other munitions in various spots on the factory floor. That should be enough to convince them. In fact, I will tell them that I have to hire even more employees, because business is so good."

Gail continued to stare at her husband. That didn't sound so bad, but she knew Cas. He was just softening her up for the blow that was yet to come.

And then, it came: "The SS men will bring us some more workers, and they will be bruised, and emaciated. There will be women who have been violated by Hitler's men, and children who have been beaten, for non-existent transgressions. I'll tell the soldiers that I will take them all, because I can put them all to use. I can make a tidy profit by using such cheap labour. I don't even have to pay them, or feed them very much. And if any of them should die of starvation - " His voice broke for a moment. Then he cleared his throat, and then he went on, "If any of them should die of starvation, well, they're only cattle, aren't they? Eminently replaceable. Then the officers will smile, and we will smile, and then we will be issued an invitation to an exclusive soiree. It is a fund-raiser for the Reich, which Hitler himself is going to attend, to thank us for all of our hard work."

Cas had vomited that last part out, in a torrent of words. Then he was mute, but the expression on his face made it very evident how repulsed he was feeling by the entire scenario. So was she, of course. "That voodoo ritual is starting to look better and better all the time," she quipped.

Cas didn't smile, but his face relaxed a bit. "When I was here before, I was a single man," he told her. "Other than that, everything I just described to you actually did occur. I went to the fund-raiser, and I ate and drank and made small talk with every high-ranking Nazi official who was there. I even shook Adolf Hitler's hand when we were introduced, and I praised him and the Reich effusively. And then later on, when he went into the restroom, there were two armed guards posted outside the door. He was a very paranoid man. Not that he didn't have reason to be: there had already been several attempts on his life before that day. But the armed guards were no problem for me. I had already made up my mind. To kill a dragon, you have to cut off its head, as the saying goes. So I popped into the restroom and took him by surprise. I severed his vocal cords first, so he couldn't cry out. Then, I dispatched him quickly. He was a cowardly little man, who mounted no defense whatsoever. Much like all of those poor unfortunates whose deaths were his responsibility. Then I left him there for his so-called security detail to find. And then, I had to face God's wrath."

Gail had thought that her capacity to be shocked was practically non-existent by now, but she had been wrong. "What did He do?" she asked him in a hushed voice.

"You don't need to hear the details," her husband answered evasively. "Suffice it to say that 'the wrath of God' is not just an expression. So, He put it all back, the way it was supposed to be. Then He admonished me, saying that I couldn't just go ahead and do anything I wanted. I had been instructed to save the lives of those people who worked in the factory. Nothing more. I told Father that I was aware of my instructions, but what that man was doing, and what he stood for, was the worst sort of pure Evil in existence. I was an Angel of the Lord, a humble servant for Good. Hitler represented all that was wrong with the human race. Wasn't eradicating that evil my duty? But, Father was angry. He said that He knew what kind of individual Hitler was. Of course He did. But some events had to be allowed to take their course, in order to enable subsequent events to fall into place. I didn't understand, so He picked me up by the scruff of my neck, and then He showed me. God showed me everything that happened following that event. Every death. Every atrocity. Hitler's war had been aborted, but the deaths were only just beginning. And now, here we are. When Henri brought up the subject of going back in time and killing Hitler, he inadvertently touched a nerve. I didn't ever want anyone to find out about these events."

"But, Cas..." Gail felt so badly for her husband that she could barely form a coherent sentence. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. You did what any decent person with a conscience would do. How were you supposed to know how things would turn out? I would think that our Father could have cut you some slack on that one. I mean, come on!"

"He DID cut me some slack," Cas assured her. "That first time."

Gail's heart sank. Oh, no. He couldn't possibly mean...

Cas was nodding. His darling Gail knew him so well. "The Father was merciful. He restored everything to to the way it had been, and He allowed me to return to the factory. As the expression goes, God had hit the re-set button. He left me with strict instructions to do my duty, and I assured Him that I would. And then I went to the party, and then I killed Hitler anyway, because any scenario in which he was allowed to live while millions died was unacceptable to me." Cas smiled grimly. "That's what I said to our Father, when He showed up a moment later. And this time, He came prepared. He told me that I had just sealed the fate of anyone who would ever have the misfortune of caring about me, at any point in my future existence. I fell to my knees and begged His forgiveness, but He was unmoved. I told Him I had learned my lesson, and that I would obey His Word without question, from that date on. So He told me that I most certainly would, and then He took me back to Heaven and conscripted me to the Army, under a taskmaster by the name of General Santorum. None of us ever did learn his first name, if he even had one. He made Hitler look like an amateur. His methods were cruel and sadistic, and he employed torture for those who did not fall into line. Rumour had it that Santorum had been present at every major battle that history had ever seen, making note of the strategies that both sides employed. It was he who indoctrinated me. He shaped and conditioned me to be the cruel, emotionless warrior that I became. That was the crux of our Father's punishment."

Gail bolted from her chair and ran around the desk. "Oh, sweetie," she said, opening her arms to embrace him.

Cas remained seated as Gail pulled him to her. He put his arms around her waist and she cradled his head, comforting him. She'd never heard something so horribly heartbreaking in her entire existence. It was no wonder that Cas was the way he was. How could God be so cruel?

Cas took his wife's comfort, soaking it up like a sponge. It had been very difficult for him to talk about this, even after all these years. There were so many emotions surrounding what had happened that had remained unexpressed, or that had been beaten and tortured out of him. Castiel had been molded to conform, and he'd had no one to blame but himself. He had been stubborn and recalcitrant. Did he presume to think he knew better than the Almighty Father?

So he had felt ashamed, bowing his head to the punishment God had meted out as his due. But there had always been that one little spark of independent thought that they had never been able to completely extinguish. That spark was who Cas really was, when he was with the ones he loved.

Cas allowed himself a few minutes more, and then he gently disengaged himself from Gail's embrace. "So now, you know the whole story," he said to her.

Gail couldn't believe it. She just couldn't believe it. She took his hands in hers and held them tightly. "I have a lot to say about what you just told me, but I'll save most of it for another time. However, I want to go on record right now by saying that what our Father did to you really stinks." Cas said nothing, but he drew in a sharp breath. "I don't care, Cas. Somebody has to say it," Gail continued. "What the hell? It might as well be me. Hey, I'm a Voodoo Princess, aren't I? Vincent's daughter. That's some pair of fathers we have, aren't they? At the moment, I'm not sure which one of them is worse."

She took a deep, shaky breath. "But at least you're going to be able to save some lives, here at the factory. At least that's something. Dean once said to me that there's one thing he had to accept: You can't save them all. How many is enough? What you were sent here to do feels like it pales in comparison, I know, but it's still going to be a success, Cas. Who knows who those people out there will be, when they grow up? Generations from now, there may be one child born who will change the world for the better. It's not a numbers game, sweetie. Every life is important; even just one. And, as a side note, I've never loved you more, or been prouder of you, than I am right now."

Cas stood abruptly and took her in his arms. She had no idea how much her loving words of support meant to him. "The soldiers will be here in just a few minutes," Cas told his wife softly. "If you like, you can wait here in the office. I will still be required to attend the party tonight, but I can tell them you are ill." He looked into her eyes. "There's no reason you should have to deal with these reprehensible individuals. That's my responsibility."

"No, Cas. We're married. That means it's OUR responsibility," Gail said soberly. "How much of MY crap have you had to nurse me through, over the years? How many times have you held me while I've cried about all the piddly little things that have gone wrong in my life? Ohhh, nobody loved me in school. Waaah, Frank's mom threw away my stuffed animals. And here you were, all this time, dealing with..." She couldn't continue. Now she was getting mad at herself, because she was on the verge of crying again. But this time, the tears were for him.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Gail sniffled back her tears. She nodded at her husband.

"Come," Cas said tersely.

A short, middle-aged woman opened the door. "Excuse me, Herr Schafer, Frau Schafer. There are officers from the Reich here to see the owner."

Gail gave Cas's hand a gentle squeeze. "Tell them we'll be right there," she answered for her husband.

The Angels drew in deep breaths, composed themselves, and left the office to speak to Hitler's men.