Author's Note:
Hey guys, sorry for the delay. Been having some trouble with my computer. Anyway I got some time on a different computer so here's chapter 86! Wow so many o.o and you're still here! You guys rock
Their team stood together facing the officer at the front desk, his eyebrow raised and, behind him, his superior officer's brow furrowed. Dean nudged Castiel who careful removed his trench coat and spread his wings as proof of their claims. Desirae let go of Jet's hand and took off her over-sized hoodie, quickly taking up Jet's hand again as soon as she could.
Everyone in the vicinity was staring, Dean touched Cas' arm just in case his boyfriend was getting uncomfortable. It didn't seem to be necessary though, Cas smiled confidently at him and looked ahead waiting for a verdict of some kind.
"So," Dean smiled as convincingly as he could, "Can we tell our story?"
"I seriously can't believe it," the man at the desk scoffed light-heartedly and looked back at his superior.
"I'd heard rumours about sightings of a winged-man and cat child but…" she looked between Cas and Rae a few times, "Okay, well we're gonna need to get some rooms set up. And some officers to take down your stories, would you all mind taking a seat in our waiting area?"
"Yeah, totally." Dean took charge and looked at the others who all started over to the seating space. Cas' wings folded back down and as he fell in line beside Dean Cas looked at him curiously.
"What are we supposed to say, exactly? I mean I get that there's the basic story but-"
"Everything you think is important," Dean didn't want Cas to worry himself by going in circles, Dean could sense a downhill prattling coming on.
Cas' eyes scanned his for a moment and then nodded, "Okay, important. I can do that."
"Don't be so nervous," Dean nudged Cas' arm and watched the way Castiel looked down shyly.
"I've never really spoken to the police… I guess I'm just scared."
"They're on our side, don't worry about it." Dean reassured him and heard a soft scoffing sound from Jet. "Most of the time," he added with a glance to his friend.
"The good ones are on our side," Jet reiterated with a comforting look at Cas and Desirae, "Should be fine here, don't worry about it."
Cas shared another look with Dean, his shoulders lowering a little in relaxation. "I think I can handle this," Cas uttered and sat down. Dean could see the ways Castiel shifted and glanced around while they waited, even going so far as to bounce one leg up and down.
"Cas," Dean touched Cas' knee and saw a small flash of blue light. "Babe, it's okay."
Castiel's face calmed almost instantly but the stress didn't seem to leave him. "I can't help it," he whispered and leaned forward, closing in on himself. "I keep thinking that… what if something goes wrong? What if they kidnap me like they do in the movies? What if the government wants to do more experiments on me?"
"They won't," Sam got up from his seat and knelt down next to Castiel, "You're a citizen, Michael has your birth certificate with him, and there are people here who can attest that you are human. All of our stories dictate that you're a victim, not a monster. They can't treat you like that, there are laws in place to protect you so don't worry."
Dean smiled and watched the exchange between his family members, there were subtle changes in expression and eye contact that Dean wasn't part of but he understood it. Cas took Sam's hand and squeezed it, a teary eyed smile had taken over his features.
"Thank you, Sam."
"Anytime," Sam smiled wide and held Cas' hand firmly, clasping the other hand over top.
"We've got you," Michael touched Cas' shoulder gently and Cas dropped his head against his brother's hand.
"I appreciate it, thank you."
"It'll be okay," Desirae hopped into his lap and hugged him, "If I can do it so can you!"
Cas laughed softly, "But you're so much tougher than me."
"Yeah, but I'm little. You got this."
"There you are!" A familiar voice sent a jolt down Dean's spine and he looked up to see Jet's mom stalking over to their group from the door. He immediately looked over at Bobby who shrugged sheepishly.
"She called me this morning, I told her where we'd be."
Dean didn't really blame her for being mad, or Bobby for telling her where they were. Nikki Tull could be a very intimidating woman, even over the phone. It was even worse for Bobby, she was his neighbour, she knew where he lived.
Jet flinched, took a deep breath and stood up as she reached him. "Hey," he said timidly, trying to sound confident and failing.
Nikki's anger faded fast as soon as she saw his state and her expression fell, she looked him up and down a few times without the ability to speak again. "What… what happened to you?" She reached up but stopped before touching his arm, "Oh my god…"
"Well, it's a long story," Jet looked down at it too and grimaced, "Uhm…"
"Oh…. My baby," Nikki covered her mouth as the realization really started to settle in. Dean looked away and down at Sam who was also keeping his eyes down. They'd known Jet and his mom for the same amount of time, she was tough on them just like she was with her own son and Dean really started to regret not telling her anything. He'd told Bobby but that was all he'd thought to do.
"Mom," Jet's voice was gentle and trying to be reassuring. Dean heard a few steps and a soft grunt from his friend; he glanced back to see Nikki with her arms around her boy and face pressed against his shirt. Dean could see by the impression her arms left on Jet's torso that her grip was strong. Jet put his arm around her and left the moment as it was for several long-lasting moments. It was heavy; Dean could feel it and he didn't know what to say.
Castiel stepped up to them after a minute or two had gone by. He was quiet for a few seconds, watching them and sharing a look with Jet. "Ms. Tull?" He started hesitantly and she stepped back from Jet to see who was addressing her.
Her eyes widened a little when she saw him, scanning Castiel a few times and trying to make sense of him.
"Ma'am, I'm very sorry," Cas continued regardless of what she might've been thinking.
"Why are you sorry?" Jet furrowed his brow before Nikki could say anything, "Cas, you didn't do shit, what are you talking about?"
Cas faltered and he shook his head, "I feel like it's my fault, those things were… well they have part of me in them, so I thought-"
"Shut up," Jet said sternly and walked away from his mom to face Castiel. "Are you trying to say that the part of you in them is what made them try to eat me?"
"No."
"Are you saying you think that you're a monster?"
Cas shook his head again.
"Look, I get you feel you need to take some control and responsibility for all this shit. I get it, really. But what happened to me was all me, no one else is going to take any sort of shit for that." Jet's voice had a harsh edge to it but he wasn't attacking anybody. "I'm the one that messed up and scared Rae. I'm the one who went into the basement without getting medical help first. I decided to keep going when I saw part of the basement was open and it was me that put my fucking arm into that thing's mouth."
"We're not going to blame you," Cas tried to retaliate but Jet didn't back off.
"If you guys don't want to blame me for this then point fingers at MacLeod and leave it alone." He looked around at the rest of the room, mostly at the ones who tried to take the blame for him at one point or another
"Why did you put your arm into some thing's mouth?!" Nikki found the words to respond, her tone was somewhere between baffled and angry.
"To save me," Desirae put her hand up and Nikki saw her for the first time.
Jet smiled sheepishly as his mom stared at Desirae and then him again. "We're sorta… adopting her." He admitted and Dean wasn't sure Nikki could process half the things she was hearing anymore.
"We?" Nikki managed and glanced over at the next person's raised hand, Sam smiled at her the same way Jet did.
"We're dating now," Sam added and Nikki had to take a moment and stare at them all.
"I'm Desirae," she hopped up and went to take Jet's hand, still a bit nervous about a new face but comfortable with her dad nearby.
Nikki couldn't help but smile and wipe away forming tears. "Hello sweetheart," she was captured by the look of the little feline child, her heart melting more the longer she looked. "Has my idiot been taking care of you okay?"
"Yeah," Desirae smiled fondly and kicked at the ground a little, "Dad's been really amazing."
That was enough to make Nikki go over to see Desirae a bit closer, she knelt down and looked the little girl in the eyes. "You can call me grandma."
Desirae lit up and looked up at Jet who could only grin back at her. She let go of his hand and went to hug her new grandmother, Dean could tell Jet was extremely proud of his mom for that move. Sam looked relieved too, Dean was pretty sure that Sam wasn't looking forward to arguing with Nikki about anything involving Desirae. It was a relief to know that he wouldn't have to, Nikki was very accepting of such a strange little girl as her grandchild.
"You can come with me, mom." Jet said after the two were done getting acquainted for the moment. "They're going to question us all about what happened, so if you wanna hear my part of the story then-"
"Oh you better believe I'm gonna hear your part of the story, and then some." Nikki wagged her finger at him and Jet shrunk a little out of respect.
Dean made the mistake of laughing and Nikki turned that same finger on him, "You too, young man. Don't you dare think you're getting out of this one."
"No ma'am," Dean straightened up, wishing he could glare at Jet for the snickering he heard.
A man in uniform about Dean's height walked over to them, he looked up from a clipboard with steely eyes and scanned them. "You must be the ones," he said decidedly and lowered the board, "I'm Captain Grant Stevens, we'll be taking a few of you at a time so if Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Jethro Tull and Castiel Novak could come with me."
"We'll be in different rooms?" Cas asked and Grant nodded.
"My name's Nikki Tull, I'll be joining my son." Nikki stepped forward and Stevens agreed to let her, Dean wasn't too surprised by that either.
Jet looked at Desirae, "Stay here, kiddo. We'll be right back."
"It'll be my turn soon," She stated proudly, "So don't tell my parts, okay?"
Jet chuckled and kissed the top of her head, "Sure thing."
Dean took Cas' hand and caught his boyfriend's eye, "You going to be okay?"
Cas shrugged with a less than convincing smile, "We'll see I guess."
"C'mon," Dean pulled Cas into a hug and kissed his cheek, "It'll be fine, I swear."
Cas sighed heavily and nodded, "Yeah, you're right." He held tightly to Dean and kissed him back, "I love you."
"I love you too." Dean ruffled Cas' hair and started to lead him after the Captain. He watched Cas go into one of the four rooms, his stomach twisted and he tried to calm it again. He knew it'd be okay, there was nothing they could do legally. Part of him expected every similar movie plot to kick him in the face at once, maybe there'd be a high speed car chase as he tried to catch the armored truck that held Cas inside or something.
But the rest of him held onto logic and the hope of good will. He didn't want any of that to happen, he just wanted to tell his story and give the reigns to the police. He didn't want to go into that basement again. He didn't want to deal with those things and he definitely didn't want Castiel to have to fight anymore.
"Mr. Winchester," another officer smiled kindly at him, "Name's Donna Hanscum, nice to meetcha."
Dean felt his nerves slowly letting go as he sat down, Grant had closed the door behind him. "Hey Donna," he felt his chest tighten and quickly went for his inhaler, the last thing he wanted was to experience how bad it could get if he didn't take any medication.
"So, I hear you've got quite the story to tell," she was chipper and getting her notepad ready, a pen in hand.
"I do," Dean took a deep breath to calm himself down, starting to understand why Cas had been so antsy. He hadn't really had extensive talks with the police either. "Where do you want me to start?"
"Whatever you'd say the beginning was."