Chapter 5: Home Sweet Bunker
It had been a long drive, though she had to give it up to the boys, they'd made good time. They had stopped only once, staying in a motel very much like the one she'd met them in. This one was cleaner.
Riley had curled up on one of the two little beds while Dean took the other, and Sam the couch. She'd been surprised by the arrangement, given Sam's obscene height, but he'd fallen right to sleep. So had Dean.
She'd lain awake long into the night, her mind whirling through everything she'd learned, and her new situation. She'd finally dozed off and slept deep until the early morning hours when Sam pressed a hand to her shoulder and told her it was her turn in the shower.
Riley wished Gabriel hadn't absconded with her bags. She had little in the way of toiletries in her backpack, but she made due – finger combing her hair and glazing her lips with lip gloss.
The morning was quick. Diner breakfast and the road again. Today's conversation centered around the angels. "They're a bunch of dicks." Dean told her. "Except Cas."
"Gabriel didn't seem…."
Sam groaned, "He killed Dean."
"Over and over and over again." Dean added helpfully.
"You don't remember." Sam muttered, "I do."
Riley frowned, "I like him." Dean made a sound between a curse and disbelieve. "Not like that." Riley amended. "I meant, he helped me. He brought me to you two, didn't he? Though whether that's help is still up in the air."
"Easy sweetheart." Dean said, eyes sweeping to her and then back to the road. "Don't get your panties in a bunch."
Sam made an unhappy sound. "Dean…."
"She's not offended." Dean responded.
"I'm not." Riley assured. She sighed, "I'll take your opinions under advisement, but I think I'll form my own opinions. Especially since I'm one of those 'dicks' you mentioned."
Dean gave a half laugh, "See, she's good." He sent a look to Sam.
Sam turn the subject to the other angel's they knew were left, and stories about those that he'd met previously. Riley was enraptured, and was torn between laughter and terror through most of it.
Kansas was actually prettier than Riley had imagined it. Which would have been a bright spot if her new abode hadn't been underground and with no windows.
The entrance led to a balcony and a staircase down to an open area that looked like it belonged in a government building. The room almost ornate, with a large table and illuminated map. It led right into a library, where the walls were lined with bookcases and filing cabinets. The furniture was old and didn't look very comfortable, but it was nice-looking. There was even a telescope.
"Welcome to the batcave. Go on kid, wander around. Not much off limits." Dean said, heading down the stairs.
"Gabriel probably dropped your stuff in one of the empty rooms, but feel free to grab a different one if you want. Not that there's much difference." Sam smiled. "I'm going to go grab a shower, then do some reading.
"Okay."
Riley watched the two walk away and began to wander. Beyond the library there was a room with old computers and machines. She found a hall of bedrooms, including one with her stuff just inside. Sam was right, the rooms were almost identical. So this was hers, room number 33. Right next to a second bathroom. And next to a room with a lot of strange symbols on the wall.
She'd wandered past one bathroom which had to be the one Sam used, because the sound of water running could be heard from within. It was near Room 21. "That's Sammy's room." Dean said, voice carrying down the hall. He was standing in the doorway of room number 11. "15 is Mom's. 22 is Jack's. Kitchen is down that way…" He pointed.
Riley nodded her thanks and continued to wander, finding a garage, a shoot range, an electrical room, an archive which connected to a…. dungeon (that was a little freaky), a medical looking room, and a nice kitchen. There was also a sweet room with tv and couches, the most modern looking room of the bunch. It was surprisingly comfy looking.
"You hungry, kid?" Dean was behind her again.
"Yeah, I could eat."
"Follow me." He led back to the kitchen. "You can be my sous-chef."
"Sure." Riley grinned. "What are we making?"
"Don't have much, so mac and cheese." He dug into the fridge pulling out several cheeses and placed them before her. He obtained a shredder from one of the drawers. "You good?"
"No problem." And she set to work shredding the cheese while Dean started the pasta cooking.
Sam found them, twenty minutes later, drinking beers and watching the timer as the mac & cheese baked in the oven. "Special occasion?" He asked.
Dean grumbled something under his breath.
"He doesn't cook that often." Sam supplied. "Though he's surprisingly good at it." He wandered over to the fridge and pulled out a beer for himself. "So, we ought to talk about the elephant, or angel, in the room."
Riley scoffed at the lame joke. "Uh huh."
"We need to do some research on if something like this has ever happened before. And what sort of things we can expect from your potential powers."
"I really want don't want to think about powers." She sighed.
"Eh. Not tonight Sammy. Relax, we've been on the road for days. We'll probably be back on the road again soon. Still need to find our rouge boy wonder." He tipped his beer, "So let's just eat, drink, and play some poker."
Which was exactly what they did.