Chapter 2 - Call Me
Castiel moved quickly down Heaven's corridors in an effort to get to the boardroom on time. He nearly made it. He was just rounding the final corner when he bumped into Laurel. Literally.
She made an "oof" sound, and dropped the files she'd been carrying. They scattered all over the floor. Laurel got down to her hands and knees immediately, apologizing profusely.
Technically, Castiel had bumped into HER, but he had been in a hurry to get to the meeting. He felt no urge to apologize, though. He was a member of the Upper Echelon.
But he was still a gentleman at heart, so Castiel felt torn between his desire to make the meeting on time and his innate upbringing, which told him that he should help her.
"Go ahead, Castiel. They're all waiting for you. I'll send a message that I delayed you," Laurel said, straightening up with the files gathered in her arms.
"Good. Do that," he said, frowning. Then he continued down the hall. As the Head of the board, he hated being late. It set a bad example.
Castiel had never gone to Earth. Nor had he ever met anyone named Dean, Sam, Bobby, Gail, or Frank. He had stayed here in Heaven and done his duty as the Senior ranking Angel. He was the Chairman of the Upper Echelon board, and they had important things on the agenda.
Laurel stared after them. Castiel was an arrogant jerk, but he was her boss, second only to God Himself. Laurel had served the Father faithfully for years and years, but God was frequently absent from the Office, and when He was gone, it was Castiel who was in charge. If she could find him, that was.
She was a timid, hard-working woman, much like the kind of person she'd been before she'd met Gail, and fallen in love with Chuck. But in this timeline, both Gail and Chuck were humans, living on Earth, and they would never meet. Therefore, Laurel was doomed to endure the rest of her existence as a shrinking violet who suffered from a burning, unrequited crush on the Angel Castiel.
Yes, Laurel was Aurielle, 2.0 in this particular reality. But because she was a mousy little thing, she would not become aggressively crazy, and she would never act on the way she felt. All she would do was daydream at her desk while she was doing mindless work like filing, or collating. Visions of knocking on the door of the High Office, and hearing Castiel's voice, telling her to come in. So she would, and he would be sitting in the big chair behind the desk, signing off on permission slips for Angels who had requested to do special projects around Heaven. There had been rumbles amongst some of them for a while now to allow visits to Earth, but Castiel was adamantly opposed to the idea. And since he was the de facto God when the Father was absent, his word was The Word.
Laurel would approach him timidly, and he would tell her to come and take the signed permission slips. His voice would be gruff and impatient; off-putting and sexy, at the same time. So Laurel would hurry. She would stand in front of the desk, and after a moment, Castiel would look up. "Come HERE," he would instruct her, so Laurel would walk around the desk to where he sat. Castiel would regard her for a moment, and then he would pull her onto his lap, and they would be kissing. It was amazing. After all this time of looking right through her, Castiel was finally kissing her. Then he would push back the chair, undo his pants, and ask her, "Would you worship me?"
"Laurel! Has the meeting started yet?" Metatron said, scurrying down the hallway towards her.
He had broken into her daydream, and it was probably just as well, because Laurel was so overheated now that she probably shouldn't be seen in public. Would Castiel really act and talk like that? Laurel had no idea, but in her fantasies, he was always arrogant and masterful. And she could very well be right about that. The current version of Castiel was a lot of things, but he wasn't necessarily a very enlightened individual. This was the Castiel that had come to be, following God's punishment for His Son's defiance. This was where God had decided to start. He had been too curious not to see what would have happened, and this was His show, after all. He didn't have a problem with the way that Castiel was comporting himself right now, though. His Son might be overcompensating just a tad, but the bottom line was that Heaven was running like a well-oiled machine.
"Castiel has just gone to the boardroom," Laurel informed the Scribe. "You're late."
Oh, no. He'd been afraid of that. Metatron hurried towards the meeting room, clutching his papers to his chest. He'd lost track of time, as usual. He threaded his way through Angels who were walking in the opposite direction, like a stressed-out salmon swimming against the current. Finally, he got to the boardroom and yanked the door open, accidentally slamming it behind him.
"I'm sorry, Castiel," Metatron said meekly. "I was working on a project for the Father, and I lost track of time."
Castiel sighed. No matter what time the meeting was, or how much notice was given, Metatron could never seem to get here on time. Maybe he should consider some sort of punishment for latecomers, going forward.
"We have a new records keeper," Castiel announced, wasting no time on preliminaries. "His name is Stu." He nodded his head towards the newly-appointed Angel, who had been invited to the meeting for the purposes of introduction to Heaven's lawmakers.
"A records keeper?" Ignatius echoed. "Isn't that what Metatron does?"
Castiel eyed him coolly. "I wasn't aware that our Father had to justify His decisions to you, Brother Ignatius."
"I was merely inquiring - " Ignatius started to say, but Castiel held up his hand. "Moving on," the Chairman said, and Ignatius pressed his lips together in frustration. How he wished that God the Father would chair more of these meetings. But God didn't seem very interested in Heaven or its daily goings-on any more.
"Where is Raguel?" Metatron asked now. "Shouldn't he be here?" Castiel gave him a look, but the Scribe was holding his quill high, taking the minutes of the meeting, so Castiel relented. Besides, he didn't mind talking about Raguel. He didn't mind that at all.
"I'm afraid our poor Brother Raguel is ill," Castiel told the assembled men.
"Ill?" Luke repeated, puzzled.
Castiel's smile was cold. "Yes. Apparently, the multiple stab wounds he suffered at the end of my blade did not agree with him."
Jason snickered. Since neither he nor Castiel had ever been around humans, they would be unfamiliar with the Earth ritual known as the high-five. But Castiel's lieutenant nodded his approval. The two of them had long suspected that Brother Raguel had been going behind their backs, reporting to the Father about some of the more dubious practices being employed by the Elite Forces. There had been no proof of Raguel's betrayal, but men like Castiel and Jason didn't let a little detail like that get in the way. Anyone who wasn't with them was against them, and could not be trusted.
None of the others around the table commented any further, lest they be the ones to "fall ill", next. But as God continued to watch the proceedings, He felt uneasy. Was this who He'd really wanted Castiel to become? His Son was much more than the bloodthirsty schemer He saw before Him now.
It was time for a change of scenery. Maybe God would see how His Daughter was doing on Earth.
Gail and her friends were all gathered in the basement, waiting for Christina to tack the poster onto the wall.
"OK, now, settle down," Frank and Gail's mother said. Her daughter and her daughter's classmates were lined up on the opposite side of the room, holding pieces of paper of varying bright colours.
"Whoever gets their tail closest to the donkey's rear end is the winner," Frank said to the assembled group of children.
"Well, hold still, then," Gail quipped, and all the kids laughed.
Frank smirked. "That's OK, birthday girl. I'll get my revenge on you when you least expect it."
"Don't be mean, Frank," Aurielle said, nudging her friend's brother shyly. She and Gail liked to tease Frank, but truthfully, Aurielle had been thrilled to see him here. She had a bit of a crush on Frank, but because he was older and because he was a boy, she hadn't thought he would be here.
Frank had thought that the party was decidedly lame, but his mom had asked for his help, slipping him a little extra allowance money. There were seventeen kids here, plus his sister. There could even have been more, but his mom had told Gail that she had to draw the line somewhere. If Gail had had her way, she would have invited the whole school. She was a bubbly, precocious child, who was just edging into her teen years. God had decided that He had been a bit harsh with Gail at Kilimanjaro. She had simply been supporting her husband. It was Castiel who had committed the offenses. And God was taking Castiel away from his Daughter, after all. So He had decided to give Gail the ultimate do-over. He had changed her circumstance in a number of significant ways. Jim and Christina were alive and well, and they were Gail's biological parents. Jim was an insurance salesman, who had never hunted anything in his life. As a result, Frank and Gail had had a normal suburban upbringing, and because there were no evil forces in their lives, Gail was growing up to be an outgoing, gregarious young woman.
"Birthday girl first," Christina said. She bent down to wind the blindfold around Gail's forehead. "No cheating," Frank teased his sister.
Gail giggled as her mother spun her around gently by the shoulders, making the girl dizzy. Then she was released, and she walked towards where she'd thought the poster of the donkey was hanging. The other kids laughed as they watched Gail walk crookedly and tentatively, holding the brightly coloured piece of paper that was supposed to represent the donkey's tail in front of her.
But then, a moment later, Gail started to feel really weird. Really, really weird. She had been kidnapped by men with black eyes. Actually, both she and Frank had been, and they were in the back of a truck right now, being taken to...
"Frank! Frank!" Gail shouted. She was panicking now, flailing her arms wildly. Somehow, it had never occurred to her that she could simply take the blindfold off. But when those Demons had abducted her and her brother, Gail's hands had been tightly bound behind her back.
The partygoers were exchanging puzzled looks now, and Christina had gone upstairs to take the punch out of the fridge. But Frank realized that his sister wasn't fooling around. She was genuinely scared. He rushed to her, taking the blindfold off of her head.
"What's the matter, kiddo?" Frank asked Gail, bending down to look at her face.
Gail looked around for a second, disoriented. "I don't know," she said in a small voice. "I got scared."
Frank gazed down at his sister, frowning. Gail was turning thirteen on Monday, but right now, she sounded like she was around nine or ten. He loved his mom, of course, but Frank thought that Christina was going about this all wrong. Gail was going to be a young teenager now, but their parents treated her like she was much, much younger. This party was a prime example. Punch, and Pin The Tail On The Donkey? Lame-o. But Gail was so popular with her classmates that the kids her age were rolling with it. That was one reason that Frank had agreed to stick around. If things got a little too Sesame Street, he'd been prepared to step in. But it was strange: it almost seemed like their parents were trying to prevent Gail from growing up, or something.
Following punch and cake, most of Gail's classmates started to leave, but a few of her closest girlfriends stayed, including Aurielle, of course. God had thought that Aurielle deserved a do-over, as well. The Angel was starting out as a human girl in a far more modern era, and she was going to grow up to be a good person. The Father congratulated Himself on the added touch of bringing Gail and Aurielle together as friends.
But the incident with the blindfold had taken Him by surprise. Even the Almighty wasn't perfect, God had thought with humour. Humans were under the impression that He was, or that He should be. But as the old saying went, He had created humans in His own image. If the child was flawed, why shouldn't the parent also be?
Gail had behaved strangely when she had been unable to see, and that evening, when she, Aurielle, Holly and Mona had had their pajama party, Gail had surprised God again. She'd waited until they were alone, and then Gail had slid the Ouija board out from under her bed. The girls were giggling as they put their hands on the oddly-shaped indicator.
"You're the birthday girl, so you get to ask the first question," Aurielle said to Gail, nudging her friend.
"OK," Gail said eagerly. "What's my future husband's name, and what will he look like?"
They all waited, and then the letters started to come. Holly wrote them down on a pad of paper. "AN ANCIENT BEING," she read out loud.
Mona was laughing. "Oh, my God! You're going to marry an old guy!" she teased Gail.
The birthday girl wasn't pleased. "OK, whoever is moving that, I'll get you back, when it's your turn." The girls all swore that they hadn't been fooling around, so Gail sighed and said, "Let's try another question. Maybe something a bit more general. What's in my future?"
"Oh, my God," Holly breathed. The pointer was flying around the board now, and she was scrambling to write down the letters. Finally, it stopped.
"What did it say?" Aurielle asked.
Holly turned the pad of paper around so that they could all see.
"THE CYCLE OF DEATH?!" Gail exclaimed angrily. "What the hell? What's THAT supposed to mean?"
"I think we'd better quit playing, now," Mona said nervously. She took her hand off the pointer, and so did Holly. But Gail and Aurielle still had their hands on it, and now it began to move rapidly again, spelling out a few names in quick succession: AZAZEL. LUCIFER. VINCENT. CROWLEY. And then, finally: CASTIEL.
The girls were all terrified now. Gail seized the board and threw it across the room. "What was THAT all about?!" Aurielle exclaimed.
"I don't know, but I'm never doing THAT again," Gail said, trembling.
Frank knocked on Gail's bedroom door. "Everybody OK in there? I hear a lot of squealing. I think you guys woke up all the dogs in the neighbourhood."
Despite her fear of a moment ago, Aurielle giggled, sounding eerily like a different school chum, one that Gail would never meet in this reality. God still thought that He was being merciful. If Gail had never met Liz, Gail would not have had to mourn her.
"Your brother's so funny," Aurielle told Gail. Her friend rolled her eyes. "Oh my God, Aurielle," Gail said. "Do you want me to tell him you like him?"
"Noooo!" Aurielle wailed, and the girls started to giggle again, the Ouija board forgotten. This was much safer ground now.
"Maybe you should ask him out on a date," Holly teased Aurielle, and the latter was blushing furiously. "Shut up, Holly!"
Frank stood on the other side of the door, smirking. He knew exactly what was going on, of course. He wasn't deaf, or blind, or stupid. Whenever Aurielle would come over, she would look at him like he was the world's greatest hero, or something. It was annoying, but it felt kind of good, too. But his sister and her friends were just kids, and Frank had plans for his life. He was going to go out there and experience things, travel the world, and date lots and lots of women.
"OK, whatever," Frank called out to the girls. "Goodnight."
"We'd better turn out the lights, before my mom and dad come," Gail said to her friends. "I don't want to get in trouble."
The girls bedded down a few minutes later, and as Gail lay there with her eyes closed, trying to get to sleep, those weird names echoed in her head. Everybody knew who Lucifer was, and that was scary. But it was the last name the Ouija board had spelled out that kept resonating in Gail's head, for some reason. While all of those other names had sounded ominous and evil, when she thought of that last one, it felt different to her. Warm and comforting, like the soft blanket she was wrapped in right now. Castiel. The name sounded noble. Regal, almost. Gail had always had a vivid imagination, and she was using it now, trying to envision the man who would own such a wonderful name. He would be tall, with dark hair, and a beautiful smile. Gail could see him riding a horse, with a suit of armour on, carrying a sword. Maybe a dragon would be menacing Gail's town, and Castiel had come there to slay it. Hey, if she was going to be fanciful, she might as well go big. Castiel would kill the dragon, and then he would take off his helmet, smiling as Gail thanked him. He would have the brightest, most sparkling blue eyes she had ever seen. Then he would alight gracefully from his horse, take her hand, and...what? What would he do? Gail had no idea. She was twelve years old. Well, thirteen, on Monday. Practically a woman. But she had no idea what men and women actually did together. She knew there was a lot more to it than that, but exactly what that entailed? She had no idea, and she had no idea where to get the information. You couldn't just run around asking people about stuff like that. They would think you were some kind of pervert, or something. Gail had thought about asking her mother, but Christina was always admonishing her to act like a lady, and Gail wasn't sure her questions would qualify. Besides, her mom was always so reluctant to talk about anything the slightest bit...uncomfortable. Christina had finally forced herself to have that talk with her daughter this past summer, the one about the feminine hygiene products she had to use once a month. And it was a good thing she had, too, because Gail had discovered the need for those products just a few short weeks later. But the expression on her mom's face during that whole conversation had been so sour that it had discouraged Gail from any follow-up. Her mother would probably have a cow if Gail asked her about sex. There had been a few whispered, giggly conversations with some of her closest girlfriends, but those had only served to heighten the confusion. It seemed as if a consensus could not be reached. Apparently, the man did something to the woman with their bodies which may or may not result in a baby, depending on how they did it. Well, that was very helpful, wasn't it? Gail had thought sarcastically. She giggled into her pillow now. She probably wouldn't mind it if Castiel did something to her body. Oh, wow. She'd better stop it. Imagination was one thing, but she didn't want to be one of those weird girls, obsessing over some make-believe guy.
She yawned widely, and a minute later, Gail was sound asleep.
Gabriel stood at the bar, surveying the room. Why did the women always seem to travel in packs at these kinds of places? At least, the prettier, younger ones did, anyway. Maybe that was shallow, or sexist, or whatever. But Gabriel was from a whole different era. When men were men, and women were...well, suffice it to say that Gabe had a lot to learn about womens' rights in the age of enlightenment.
But right now, he was much more interested in a female's companionship than in her politics. The problem was, how did you split one off from the pack? Hoo, boy. He'd better not say THAT out loud. Women of the modern era did not appreciate language like that. He had found that out the hard way.
Then he noticed a woman who was, blessedly, sitting at a corner table by herself. She was an attractive enough woman, but Gabriel could tell right away that she was different from the kind he usually went for. She had short, dark hair, and she was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. It had been really hard for Gabriel to get used to women wearing pants. He liked it when they worse skirts, or dresses. It just seemed more feminine. He'd made the mistake of voicing that opinion out loud when he'd first been stationed here on Earth, and Gabe had learned quickly enough that it was an unpopular one. Well, amongst the ladies, anyway.
Castiel had finally come to the conclusion that they should have a representative on Earth, to gather intel on the humans and their activities. Humans were a mystery to Heaven's current regime, and with God being absent so often, certain higher-ranking individuals had been lobbying for the annexation of Earth. Others on the board wanted no part of humans, and still others were of the opinion that God alone should decide.
God was aware of the debate, of course, but He had decided to stay out of it, for the time being. The only thing He had done was to leave Castiel a note on the desk in the High Office, stating that He wanted Gabriel to be Heaven's representative on Earth. Castiel hadn't cared. As an Archangel, Gabriel merited his place on the board, of course, but on those rare occasions he deigned to attend the meetings, he contributed nothing. And for Gabriel's part, he had been only too glad to remove himself from that room of stuffy dinosaurs. If Dad wanted him to go down to Earth and mingle with the humans, that was fine by him. Last he'd checked, there were lots and lots of beautiful women there, and lots of alcohol, too. And he wouldn't have to look at Castiel's stony, disapproving face all the time. That was all kinds of winning, right there.
He picked up his drink and walked to the table where the brunette was sitting. "Hey, I'm Gabe."
Jody eyed the newcomer with suspicion. She'd been hit on three times in the past twenty minutes. If she'd known this place was such a meat market, she would have picked another bar.
But before she had the chance to decide if she wanted to exchange pleasantries with this new guy, he put a hand to his forehead, like he'd developed a sudden headache. As a pick-up move, it was decidedly different, Jody thought, bemused. Especially since this guy had a pained look on his face now.
Gabriel put his drink down on her table. "Sorry; gotta go," he said, walking away quickly. OK, that had been weird. Jody was trying to decide if she should take it personally. Then she shrugged. Oh, well. She went back to watching the game on TV.
"What are you yelling about?" Gabe asked Castiel, as soon as he'd popped himself up to the High Office.
"Matthew and I were having a little chat, and he told me that you're doing nothing on Earth but drinking and womanizing," Castiel replied.
Snitch, Gabriel thought, but he countered with a question of his own: "What are you doing, listening to those schmos? You know they're all jealous, because I'm an Archangel, and they're just glorified ghostwriters."
Castiel nodded curtly. Gabriel had a point, there. But the Archangel wasn't finished yet. "Not only that, but I'd be very careful around guys like Xavier, too, if I were you. It's the sycophants that have the sharpest knives, sometimes."
Castiel sat back in his chair, putting a hand to his chin. "That's a very astute observation, Brother." Then, he frowned. "You know, you could be of great assistance to me, Brother Gabriel," he remarked.
Gabe rolled his eyes. "As what? Your narc?"
Castiel's forehead wrinkled. "'Schmos'? 'Narc'? What sorts of words are those?"
The Archangel smirked. "You should come with me to Earth, sometime. They have all kinds of colourful expressions for things, there."
"No, thank you," Castiel said indifferently. "I'll leave the colour to you."
Gabe leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the corner of the big oak desk. Castiel's frown deepened, if that was even possible. Gabriel regarded him calmly, as if daring his Brother to admonish him. Cas might be God's lieutenant right now, but Gabriel was an Archangel. Castiel wasn't Gabe's boss, or his superior. Actually, Castiel was a real ass-hat, which was another one of those colourful expressions that humans used.
But the thing was, Castiel didn't HAVE to be an ass-hat. Gabriel was an excellent judge of people, and he knew that Cas was a different sort of person, deep down. OK; maybe deep, deep down. He just had to get out of Heaven and live a little. So to speak.
"Why don't you come back to the bar with me, Cas? You look like you could use a break," Gabe remarked. "When was the last time you had any fun?"
"Fun?" Castiel echoed. He still had that lemon-sucking expression on his face.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Fun. Surely you know what THAT word means."
"I'm not here to have fun, I'm here to do my duty," Castiel replied.
"Many people manage to do both, Cas," Gabriel said. "Humans work all day, but then they have this thing called 'Happy Hour' at the bar, afterwards. The drinks are inexpensive, and people go there to unwind, and talk to each other. You could get yourself a woman, Cas. Take that stick out of your butt."
Castiel regarded Gabriel dubiously, and now Gabe was really worried that his Brother was going to ask him what THAT meant. But what Cas said instead was, "I am not a suitable mate."
Gabe regarded him for a moment. If Castiel meant what the Archangel thought he meant, that statement actually contained a lot of self-reflection on Cas's part. It was things like that, right there, that made Gabe think that his Brother was not beyond reaching. But, being who he was, Gabriel smirked. "I'm not necessarily talking about becoming someone's mate," he said mischievously. "How about just mate-ING, then?"
Castiel's expression was dour. "Are you talking about fornication?"
"Oh. My. Dad," Gabe said, shaking his head. "If that stick gets any higher, it'll be coming out of your mouth, in a minute. You don't have to look at it like that. Look at it this way: you might meet a nice, sweet, pliable girl." Cas looked at him sharply. "OK, fine. You might meet your future wife. The love of your life. How's that?"
Now Castiel's look was incredulous. "Are you suggesting that I should marry a human? An inferior?"
Aww, geez. Gabe really wished he hadn't said that. The Archangel swung his legs off the desk and stood from his chair. "You know what, Cas? Fine. I thought there was hope for you, but if you're gonna talk like that, I'm done trying. Good luck with your loveless, friendless, useless existence."
Then Gabe snapped his fingers, and he was gone. Cas stared at the empty space where the Archangel had been for a minute or two, and then he picked up his quill pen once again.
Three down, one to go, for the first section of the Book of Life. God had been very specific about the way He had wanted to set everything up. Castiel had defied His orders one too many times, so his Father had forced the issue. Sent him back to Heaven to apprentice for the High Office. But God wasn't very pleased about the way Castiel was going about his business. The arrogant, elitist attitude, the underhanded and violent tactics that were being employed to deal with upstarts...Castiel had become the very sort of man he had stood against, at the time of his tribunal. His Son hadn't smiled in weeks, unless it was to demonstrate his satisfaction at having slain yet another one of the board members. Castiel hadn't liked the expression he had seen on Luke's face when the subject of Raguel had come up at the last board meeting. Then, following his discussion with Gabriel about jealousy, Castiel had decided to do something about it. Deciding that Gabriel had brought up a very good point, Castiel had thought that he would pay Luke a visit, and make an example of him. So when he'd left Luke's little apartment in Heaven, the Gospel writer had been pinned to the wall with his own Angel blade, and there was a terse note impaled by the knife, which simply read: "Betrayers, beware." Castiel had smiled then, as he'd been washing Luke's blood from his hands. He felt that the point had been made.
But it was that sort of smile which concerned God the most. He didn't necessarily object to his Son having dispatched either Raguel or Luke, because both men HAD been conspiring to usurp the Office. However, where was the line to be drawn? It was a slippery slope, wasn't it? Soon, Castiel might be seeing enemies everywhere. Soon, his Son might become another Mao, or a Mussolini. Or even a Hitler. And wouldn't THAT be ironic?
God had dealt with Gabriel the way He had for several reasons. The hedonistic Archangel had been dealt a harsh blow with Liz's death, and God had wanted to make that up to his Son. In that particular instance, Gabriel had merely been collateral damage. God had been looking to punish Castiel this time around, not Gabriel, or Gail. But since those Angels were all so close now, it seemed as though anything that affected one, affected the others. It had hurt God when Liz had been killed, too. She was truly one of His most pure creations. But, sometimes, sacrifices had to be made, in view of the bigger picture. Maybe He would canonize the poor girl, in the future. If anyone would deserve it, Liz would.
So Gabriel was on Earth, drinking and skirt-chasing again, as happy as a bug in a rug because he had never made Liz's acquaintance. But God had an ulterior motive behind Gabriel's cushy assignment. He'd hoped his Archangel Son would be able to shake Castiel out of the downward spiral His other Son seemed to be in. But the attempt had been a failure. In this reality, the two men didn't have the type of convivial relationship that they'd had at the time their Father had pulled the trigger on this whole thing. He would have to think about that particular dynamic a bit more.
Similarly, the revision of Gail's situation had at first seemed ideal, but a re-think might be in order there, too. Gail had always been one sharp individual, but the Father had been taken aback by the fact that even this heavily revised version of his Daughter seemed to have some sense memories about her other existence. Or, she just had a really overactive imagination. In any event, adolescent Gail seemed restless and unsatisfied with her circumstance, and since she wasn't going to be with Castiel in this new reality, maybe God should accelerate her development a bit. He was sure that an outgoing and gregarious Gail would have no difficulty finding a number of young men to date.
And, finally, he had a do-over for one more individual. God had really wanted to see what sort of person Abigail would have turned out to be had she never had the misfortune to either meet Vincent or give birth to Gail, because both of those occurrences were viewed as equally unfortunate, in Abigail's eyes.
Abigail was a young, single woman now, working as a personal assistant for a record company executive who was the most successful woman the music business had ever seen. The woman was mentoring her young aide in the recording arts, and in the care and feeding of the singers they had contracts with. Abigail was soaking up the knowledge with a sponge. She was a bit of a meek woman, but her boss was helping Abby to come out of her shell. Soon, she should be able to handle clients on her own, and schmooze others in the industry with as much success as her mentor. Of course, there was a wee bit of training still to be done, Rowena realized. Abigail had never actually made a hex bag before.