BUREAUCRACY IN ACTION
Notes
Some scenes vaguely inspired by the movie Wild Orchid (mostly part two)
A small re-write – let's pretend I mentioned that the last bit of conversation from the previous chapter was not spoken in the elevator. I'll edit the chapter so this note won't mean anything for anyone who reads the story from after I post chapter 17 or just didn't notice this detail.
I'm not watching season 10 episodes until I finish this story. This should keep me motivated to complete it, right? :)
Feedback would help me so much to finish the story sooner, so... feedback please!
Disclaimer
Supernatural is a television series, created by Eric Kripke, produced by Kripke Enterprises, Wonderland Sound and Vision and Warner Bros. Television, distributed by Warner Bros. Television
Wild Orchid
Crowley was already at the bar when she walked in. He made the effort to conceal the shiver that ran through him when she entered the room. The orders he had given her for the night were simple. Pretend they're strangers. Pretend that she only speaks Portuguese. Wear the mask.
She sat at the bar, ordered a cocktail in perfect Portuguese. He could see her eyes sparkling, at the edge of tears – embarrassed to be there, in that dress, with a toy inside her, at the orders of a demon, and, worst of all, enjoying everything.
He had left their suite before she had put on the mask, and he found it intoxicating to see her like that. So close and yet so out of reach. She was supposed to be the bait of their rather rudimentary archangel trap. Then why was he the one drawn to her? Why was he itching to get close to her? Why was he feeling like their time together was running out?
The answer to the last question came in the form of the young man who approached her. Their time together was over. Their arrangement... at an end. Crowley had expected the appearance of Gabriel under some guise or other to be the end of their affair. It wasn't. It was Dean Winchester.
Dean's body language proclaimed attraction to the masked beauty, his attitude advertised that he wasn't paying attention to whatever had brought him into that room. Crowley sighed, focused his hearing and waited patiently for her sign.
He witnessed the level of her stress rise while Dean went behind her, whispering something quite spicy in her ear using such a sensual tone that Crowley was impressed. He watched as Naomi tried not to shake, not to slide off the bar stool, not to crumple. Crowley realized that she thought it part of his game for the night. He felt her skin crawling as Dean's lips almost touched her neck.
"Colt," she whispered, and in that second Crowley materialized on the bar stool next to hers.
He coughed, with malice aforethought. To his credit, Dean didn't startle. Probably because he was well aware of Crowley's presence in the room.
"Cock blocking much?" Dean asked.
"What foul language!" Crowley only half pretended to be disgusted. Somehow, despite all the things he had done to Naomi, all the things Naomi had allowed, wanted, begged him to do to her, despite all that, he still saw her as pure.
"She doesn't speak English," Dean said, but at Crowley's raised eyebrow, he looked again.
Naomi closed her eyes as Dean reached... and undid the ribbon that held her mask. She did flinch when Dean's fingertips touched her cheeks, removing the mask from her face.
"Naomi!" he exclaimed in an awed whisper.
Behind them, a theatrical clapping broke the spell. The three of them turned, to see Gabriel, looking the same as when Crowley had met him, while he pretended to be nothing more than a Trickster. The Trickster. Before Dean had outed him as being the missing archangel.
"Magnifique!" Gabriel exclaimed. "Quite the mis-en-scene!"
Crowley and Dean recovered from the surprise – one because he was expecting the archangel, the other... because he was an Winchester.
"Before you ask, I can't help you," Gabriel said. "And I can't help you because of all the stunts the two of you pulled lately. You really thought you closed Purgatory and the Leviathans are nicely dealt with, didn't you? Neeeever even crossed your mind that someone like me was going to get stuck somewhere, with his back against the door, pushing all the time so it stays closed while monsters are banging on it trying to get in!"
A few more things fell into place for Crowley. His beautiful mind made sense of a lot of inconsistencies he had noticed for the past few years. Gabriel – the being that wanted to nothing more than be carefree and have fun at the expense of the world had been forced to raise the sword and defend the gates.
Dean seemed to have reached the same conclusion because he addressed Gabriel with his usual directness.
"Ok so you're stuck here and can't come with us. But you can actually help. You're the one who told me how to close the Cage the first time. Help us put his ass back into it again!"
Gabriel's upper lip twitched a little, with distaste. Crowley wondered if this was due to the fact that Dean was talking about a being who, evil though he was, was still his brother. Or if it was simply the fact that Dean doing the talking was now a demon.
Apparently Naomi understood that she needed to interfere because she spoke, her voice sounding every bit as dry like the bureaucrat Naomi she had pretended to be for most of her life.
"What happened to Michael?" she asked.
It was Dean's turn to betray emotion with a twitch of his mouth. The boy was pretty fast at connecting dots and he had probably guessed that Naomi knowing that something was wrong with Michael meant that the she had worked with Crowley for quite a while. And with that, because the terms of Naomi's deal stated that if anyone found out, she would be free, Crowley lost her.
Crowley's dark and twisted soul was hurting. He had lost her. Again. It was hurting so much he almost missed the look that went between the two angels. Almost missed the brief humming in the air that betrayed a blast of information exchanged between the feathery bastards.
Naomi hung her head for a second. Crowley realized that he hated to see her defeated. Naomi submitting to him was beautiful. Naomi being defeated by events... unbearable.
"The Cage can't be re-made," Gabriel answered Dean. "You will have to take him into Hell. Chain him there. And make sure he stays where you're putting him."
Crowley felt Naomi shiver before the archangel's next words.
"Which means... someone will have to guard him all the time. Like Gadreel was supposed to keep the Garden safe," Gabriel went on.
"Like you're stuck here keeping Purgatory closed," Dean said.
"What can bound Lucifer? Even in Hell," Crowley asked, fully aware of the vulnerabilities of his Kingdom.
"A righteous man," Naomi whispered.
Crowley had become so in tune with her body that he knew she wanted to reach for Dean's arm. She wanted to cover the Mark of Cain, to try to heal it despite knowing that she could not.
"Oh, great!" Dean exclaimed.
"Do you know any?" Gabriel asked, with a tone close to disgust again.
For a being as close to certifiably insane as the Trickster, Crowley found it almost insulting to see him so obviously disgusted to talk to a couple of demons. As if to confirm the Archangel's distaste, Gabriel spoke again, this time directly to Naomi.
"Dark paths you've been treading, little sister. Dark and unsavoury company you're keeping."
Dean broke the silence with a wise crack about Gabriel sounding like Yoda. But in that silence, Crowley cherished Naomi's reaction. Shame. A deep shame that pushed her even more into darkness. Pushed her towards him. He was going to enjoy so much ensnaring this angel. He couldn't believe that he could almost see her fall. So completely delightful to have help from one of the highest angels.
Gabriel simply disappeared.
"Well, that was helpful!" Dean said.
"It was," Naomi said, her tone quite calm.
"So... you guys have a plan?" Dean asked.
"Part of a plan," Naomi answered.
Crowley almost smiled at the words. His very own Gamora. Then the realization that he lost her hit him again.
"I still have some things to settle with Crowley. Please go back and take care of Michael. I'll be there soon and everything will be all right. He is very vulnerable now and he needs protection until I can fix... this."
"What's wrong with him?"
Dean's question went unanswered. Naomi looked into the boy's eyes, her "son's" eyes, and only said one word.
"Please."
"Ok. When are you coming?"
Naomi's gaze ran to Dean's arm, to the spot where the Mark was hidden by clothes.
"Soon," she said. "Tomorrow."
Crowley was feeling forgotten in this exchange, but didn't interfere. He felt that he owed Naomi to allow her to talk to the being that she considered to be her son.
When Dean left, she turned to Crowley, her gaze down, on the mask she was twirling in her fingers.
"This is the first time I feel I'm doing something selfish. But now that our deal is off, there is something I have to do. For me. For you."
Crowley watched her, without saying anything, guessing what she was going to say and almost not daring to believe. If she was willing to spend precious hours with him... she had fallen further than he had thought.
"This is the first time both of us are truly free. Free to refuse and free to accept. I want to share my body with you one last time. I don't know if either of us will survive. And even if we do, we'll be on opposite sides again. I want to be yours one last time. If you would have me."
He forced himself not to shudder. She was saying all the things he wanted to hear. And only one that he hated to hear. One. Last. Time. The power of these three little words was almost crushing him.
He did the stupidest, most romantic thing he had ever done, unable to stop himself. He took her in his arms and whispered in her ear.
"I very much would."
They walked toward the elevator, and Crowley realized that they could have teleported to their suite, but he wanted to make these moments last as long as possible. All of a sudden, time had become precious to him, as it was for the poor humans with their limited lives.
Author's note
OK, so I loved Guardians of the Galaxy! Don't sue me :)
No kidding, please don't!
Tbh, I don't remember very well if they said much about how Purgatory got nicely closed, with Dean in it. After that... the big bad Leviathans just stayed nicely put in Purgatory, but when they had to the Winchesters and Castiel went in and out. So... I'm just using it as a device for keeping Gabriel out of the thick of the action because the story is meant to be focused on Crowley and Naomi.