Chapter 12: A Family Affair

Hi everyone! Thank you so so so much for those of you who have read my story thus far. I really appreciate your taking the time. Especially to those of you who have left notes and ideas – constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Special shout out to VegasGranny and ButterflyAlley. Although this chapter is pretty plot intensive, there is some fluff mixed in.

This is my family. I found it, all on my own. It's little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good. - Lilo & Stitch

Sam had spent his night cooped up in the library, just as Dean had said. Cas had not reappeared as he was now on the hunt for a potential earth-bound angel, so Riley and Dean had played video games and drank beer for the rest of the night, then headed to their separate beds.

Riley had slept fairly well until the early hours of the morning when she'd woken, chilled. It had been unseasonably warm until this point. But apparently fall had decided it was finally here, and the bunker was having a hard time catching up. She had dragged what flimsy covers there were on her bed over her, cocooned herself up and tried to sleep for a few more hours.

When she finally dragged herself out of bed and entered the kitchen in her pjs, pink pants and black tank top with the words 'angel' done in rhinestones (Riley thought this pair oddly fitting), she found Sam and Dean, both fully dressed. It was surprisingly early for them to be so put together, but maybe they were cold too. She shivered again, 'so cold.'

They'd both muttered good mornings, though Sam's was much more upbeat. "You found something?" She asked, figuring it had to be the reason he was happy.

Sam gave her his half jerky smile, "Yes and no. I think there's a way to communicate with Michael."

"That's a last resort." Dean frowned down at his cereal, voice still gruff from sleep. So they hadn't been awake long, but got ready quickly. A hunt maybe?

"But we I found something better. According to the lore, there's a tracking spell we can try. Much like Dean's amulet."

"Amulet?" Riley asked, voice muffled by the fridge as she rooted around for the milk.

"Something I've had forever, it was a gift from Sammy." Dean answered, hand touching something through his shirt.

"I thought it was protective charm." Sam offered. "But we found out later it was super powerful charm that was supposed to burn hot in God's presence. We still have no idea why it could do that. But it eventually did, once Chuck allowed himself to be found."

Dean mumbled something around a bite of his food. It was probably something unpleasant, based on Sam's glare.

"So, you can use this amulet to find the prophet?" Riley asked.

"Not that one." Sam answered, "But I think something like it can be made. With some assistance. We need ingredients, and then we need a powerful witch."

Dean snorted, "Luckily, or unluckily, we know one of those."

Sam went on to inform Riley that they had called a powwow for that afternoon to discuss what they needed, and how to get those things. In the meantime, they were calling in reinforcements. So the morning was meant to research and get ready, while they waited for their friends arrival.

It was still cold by the time Riley had gotten ready and headed to the main room. Still a few hours left before Sam said the others were scheduled to arrive. It had given her a nice excuse for a long hot shower. At least the water heater in the bunker was large and strong, so she didn't have to worry about running out. This was especially important considering the amount of time she'd realized it took Sam to get ready in the morning. That boy spent so much time washing his hair. And Riley was envious of the sheer number of products he had.

Riley ran a hand through her own hair. Unless she was meeting clients or going to court, she spent very little time doing anything with it. Mostly it just air dried into soft waves. It gave her an effortless look. Which was in right now, or so she reasoned. Mostly she didn't want to take the time to worry about. Preferring to focus more on other things.

Based on the temperature, Riley had dressed in layers. Dark jeans, a blue flannel shirt with a crimson colored hoody over it, zipped most of the way up. She'd also donned fuzzy socks, with allowed her to pad silently down the halls. Thus the boys didn't notice her at first when Riley wandered out, laptop under her arm. "Is it just me or is it freezing in here?" Their heads jerked up at her voice, slightly startled.

Sam and Jack were at the table. Both looking at her for a moment before Sam gathered his wits to respond. "It is an old building, sometimes takes time to warm up."

It took her a moment for Riley to realize Sam and Jack weren't the only ones present, and her gaze landed on Gabriel, who was sitting in a chair against the wall, legs thrown over the side. Their gazes met for a moment and Riley blushed. She hadn't seen him since her apartment. Her fingers absently rubbed the mark on her wrist. His eyes dropped to her wrist and he gave her lopsided smile.

"How are you all not wearing anything heavier?" She asked, turning her attention to the others. Gabriel was the only one in a jacket, but he normally wore it, so it probably had nothing to do with the temperature. She glanced again at the angel, wishing she could steal his jacket. She could still remember the feeling of waking up and finding it wrapped around her.

"I don't get cold." Jack said pleasantly. Sam just shrugged.

"Mm. Well, I'm hoping it warms up soon." She shivered. "Otherwise I'm gonna need to get a winter coat. And it's only the beginning of October." She sat down at the table across of Sam. "Where are Dean and Cas?"

"Beer run." Jack supplied.

"It's early, even for Dean."

Sam smiled, "He's prepping for Charlie." At Riley's odd look his smile grew into a grin, "He and our Charlie used to be really close. He's hoping alt world Charlie will be enough like ours that they can be friends. Beer is supposed to butter her up."

"I liked Charlie." Jack piped up. "She was a good fighter."

"In the other world." Sam murmured, answering Riley's unspoken question. Changing gears Sam motion to the books in front of him, "We've made good progress with the spell and I think I've gotten the ingredient list. With Jack back, we've got the whole hunter network working on this. Ketch and Charlie are heading this way to help us. Cas and Gabriel are going to get Jody and her crew. Plus mom's coming back. Rowena's on standby for when we get everything together."

"Dean thought we would need more beer, and pie." Jack added. "He likes pie. I like apple pie. I have not tried other flavors."

"We can fix that, Jack." Riley murmured, "Slowly."

"Everyone should be here within the next four hours." Sam said, a half laugh at Jack's enthusiasm over pie. Which seemed to almost match Dean's.

"Ah. So what's our game plan?"

"Hang out, read up on the leads on ingredients. Map out travel routes."

"Where do you want me?" Riley asked. Gabriel made a sound of amusement from his perch. Riley sighed, knowing that he was thinking something dirty.

Sam glared at him assuming the same, "You don't have to be here yet." Gabriel only shrugged in response. "Riley, if you want to look for articles and things on this." He slid her a piece of paper with a couple things on it.

She raised a brow, "These are ingredients…." She trailed off her question.

"Yeah." Sam said, offhandedly, no longer paying her any attention as he was engrossed in his own laptop again. Sam had a habit of falling into the lore and forgetting about the world around him. Jack just smiled and turned back to his computer, though from the look of it, the kid was playing some sort of game and not researching.

"Okay." She opened her laptop. She pulled up several news sites and google. Because google was a girl's best friend. Her list was weird. Apparently, water from where a rainbow falls was a thing. And the water of the four rivers – both waters needed to be blessed by a holy man. Riley glanced over at the much longer list in front of Sam: a human baby's first laugh, fire which has been cried by the Earth, wax which has been made from bees that have gathered pollen from the Garden of Eden, a quill made of feathers from five angels (given freely), various herbs and flowers, and a scroll- with papyrus gathered in the Holy land and wood from an ancient tree. No blood at least….. oh wait, blood of a prior prophet made into ink. Ick. Riley turned to her search, wondering how all the ingredients would be put together into a spell. Clearly some form of writing on the scroll, but how did that then turn into an amulet? Not her department, she decided.

Quiet settled over the room.

Riley continued to shiver, though it was hardly noticeable. But it was distracting to her. About five minutes into her search she considered getting up to get a blanket. But before she could actually move she felt something warm drape over her shoulders.

Riley swung her gaze up to find Gabriel settling into the chair next to her, kicking his feet up on the table, leaning back, eyes closed. His obvious movements were a good distraction, because neither Sam or Jack noticed that Gabriel was no longer wearing his jacket, and that it now was settled over Riley's shoulders. Instead they'd zeroed in on him for a moment before letting their gazes drop back to their respective laptops.

The jacket was warm and still smelled like him. As the boys were currently not paying her any mind, Riley took a moment to raise her hands and bring the jacket fuller around herself. It also gave her the opportunity to breath in the scent that lingered.

For some reason, Riley had become oddly attached to the jacket. It was probably because Gabriel seemed to always offer it as a form of comfort. A thoughtful act meant that he was aware of her and was actively interested in seeing to her needs. It was really nice and gave Riley this tummy turning feeling of happiness.

In her head, Riley sent him a quiet thank you, and turned back to her computer. 'You're getting better at that, sugar.' She startled a bit at the voice in her head. Hoping he hadn't heard anything she'd been thinking before. No need for him to know her crush was growing.

'So it does work this way.' She thought back at him. Because she was definitely not going to call it praying. That was just too weird.

'Bet I could make you pray to me. I'd be happy to fly us somewhere and prove it.' His eyes were still closed, he was still leaning back, not giving any sign of movement except for the smirk on his lips.

'Stop it. I'm supposed to be working.' She thought back. 'And who's to say you wouldn't be praying my name.' This was getting dangerously close to flirting.

Who was she kidding, this was definitely flirting.

'I'm willing to take that bet.'

'Not tonight fly-boy.'

'Does that mean some other night?'

"Oh shut up." She replied, out loud. Both Jack and Sam turned to stare at her. "Sorry. Internal monologue." They gave her odd looks but turned back to their computers.

'Very believable, tootsie pop.'

'Those names are getting worse and worse. Can't you just settle on one?'

'I find myself with a fondness for Rye. Especially when you call me Whiskey.' She glanced up and found his eyes half lidded, watching her. There was something in his gaze she couldn't name, but it caused her toes to curl. Riley dropped her gaze and blushed, eyes staring straight down at her keyboard, refusing to engage further. She might say something she'd regret. Scratch that, no she'd probably not regret it. But it was way to soon to be admitting feelings.

'Come on sugar, not going to say anything?' There was amusement behind the thought. 'Trickster got your tongue?'

'Trying to decide how serious you are.' She sent back. Then she closed her eyes and thought of what it would be like to kiss him. She pictured it clearly in her mind, painting the taste of his lips and the feel of her fingers tracing the smoothness of his cheek. She may not want to put words to her feelings yet, but that didn't mean she couldn't hint at it.

Though she wondered if visuals were actual able to transfer through this form of link. Maybe not, as she found silence when she finally let the vision of them fade away.

It took him a full minute to reply, 'Oh Rye, you are playing a dangerous game.' His thoughts were no longer amused, there was something deliciously dangerous and heated now.

Riley jerked at the sound of the door. Almost guilty. Though she had nothing to feel guilty for.

Still, it appeared that their little game was over, as the arrival of Dean and Castiel with the beer stopped further thought of flirting. "Aren't you a sad looking bunch?" Dean said descending the stairs. "Let's drink." He hoisted a six pack.

Gabriel's eyes were still on her, though they were once again crinkled with amusement. But he made no move to reengage.

Despite Dean's declaration, they did not turn away from their research.

Instead they kept going, with Dean grabbing a chair and a book. And it was sooner than later that the Bunker began to fill with people Riley had only heard about.

First came Ketch and Charlie. Ketch was exactly what Riley expected. Charlie was…. Not. Riley knew this was not the same Charlie from the brother's stories, but it was hard not to compare the two. She thought it must be like meeting identical twins. Then Mary Winchester arrived. Surprisingly Mary threw her arms around Riley in a hug. "Hi." Riley said, voice muffled against Mary's shoulder. Mary pulled back, and farmed Riley's face with her hands. "You're a cute thing. Dean's told me all about you." Mary was more affectionate that Riley had thought her to be. But then, Mary was a mother.

"I hope good things?" Riley chuckled. Mary just smiled and went on to hug her boys, though Riley thought it strange that Sam seemed to somewhat avoid contact with Mary. And only hugged her long enough not to appear odd. Riley wondered what the full story was. She hadn't gotten that yet.

There was general chitchat all around, as both Castiel and Gabriel left, returning with Jody, another woman, and three younger girls. The other woman smiled widely, and hugged Riley. "Donna." She introduced herself, "Sherriff Donna Hanscum." The other girls were introduced as Alex, Claire, and Patience. They were not the huggy type.

Jody hugged her though, and this hug Riley was expecting, and looking forward too. Jody was a friend, and Riley's first real lifeline in this world. "I'm so glad to see you." Jody said warmly.

Eventually Sam cleared his throat and drew everyone's attention. He motioned the table and everyone took seat, turning to him. "Okay, so think we can find the new prophet with a spell. But the ingredients are not exactly run of the mill."

"When are they ever?" Ketch murmured, his accent strong with his derision.

Sam continued like he hadn't heard Ketch, "We're spitting the list up by area. And we'll split off into groups, go get what we can, come back, and if we need to regroup, we'll regroup." Sam started handing out list he'd been making. "Let's talk about two of these first. Hawaii." Everyone perked up at that. Usually the team went to small towns and dark alleys, not tropical islands. "So the water from where rainbows fall is actually a misnomer, it's literally rainbow falls. A waterfall in Hilo, Hawaii called Waiānuenue, which translates to rainbow falls. It falls into a small pool that flows over a natural lava cave." He nodded to Riley as the information had come from her, "According to the lore," he added, "the lava cave is the mythological home to Hina, an ancient Hawaiian goddess. So, whoever goes, be careful. We've met pagan gods before, not all of them nice."

Dean sent a pointed glare at Gabriel, who waved his hand dismissively.

Sam continued, "As to the tears of the earth, the lore actually says this refers to Volcanos. In ancient times, Volcanos were thought to be caused by the earth crying. And in fact, in Hawaii there are small bits of molten lava that cool quickly and solidify into glass particles shaped like tear drops. They're referred to as Pele's tears, who is the goddess of volcanos."

"So whoever goes to Hawaii might have to face off with two pagan goddesses." Charlie said thoughtfully. "Could be fun."

"Some of the others are simple. A baby's first laugh."

"I can get that." Alex said, "From the hospital."

"The feathers." Sam said.

Dean looked over at Castiel. "Cas, can you get several of the angels to give them?"

"Angel's feathers are very precious. It is not a simple as it sounds." Castiel said. "But I will ask."

"Rowena's probably got access to most of the herbs." Sam added, "But we ought to get fresh, just in case."

"That sounds like a job for us." Jody offered, indicating herself and Donna. "So we don't have to go too far afield."

"The scroll is harder." Sam said, "We need to make papyrus. It's time consuming, but we need the reeds first."

"Cas?" Dean asked.

"I will get them."

"If you do, I can work on making the scroll." Mary offered.

"The ancient tree refers to redwoods."

"Oooh. Cali." Claire said. "I'll volunteer for that."

"The blood." Sam sighed, "Won't be hard to get, just unpleasant."

"I will do it." Ketch offered. Not surprisingly, no one else volunteered.

"Now the other water. It's a biblical reference. In Genesis, the Bible talks about four rivers flowing out of the garden. The first two are the Tigris and the Euphrates. No one can agree on the other two."

"They don't exist on any maps." Gabriel said. "But you get water from the riverhead in Eden."

"Which goes along with the wax." Sam added.

"I can go." Gabriel offered.

"Modern day Syria." Castiel said. "I obtained fruit from there recently. There are djinn."

"Eh." Gabriel said, "No problem."

"Then we need that water and the other blessed." Sam said.

"Father Luca might be willing." Dean said.

"A quick trip to Malta." Sam said sarcastically. "But yes, he'd probably bless it for us."

"What did you guys do before angels?" Claire said half sarcastically.

"We drove." Dean muttered.

With the lists split up, the team started to discuss routes and travel plans. Dean broke out the beer and snacks.

The angels took off after the list had been divided up. Riley had felt a moment's sadness as Gabriel departed, but knew they all had things they needed to do. Still, she wished they could talk. They hadn't had a chance to spend any time together since Boston. And she hoped she hadn't taken the whole mental flirting thing too far.

Everyone else had stayed at the bunker overnight, and in the morning they'd all headed out to start collecting the ingredients.

Castiel had popped back in the morning to grab and then drop off Mary and Charlie in Hawaii, Jody, Donna and Alex at their homes. Then he headed to heaven to ask about the feathers and on to get the papyrus. Claire and Patience headed to California by car. Ketch had headed to get the blood.

Sam and Dean were going to hold down the fort.

Finding herself useless at this point, Riley went shopping with Jack. The kid kind of loved shopping. There were lots of distracting things. And families. He really liked to watch the families. So she'd taken him to the mall.

He needed clothes anyway. He didn't quite fit in Sam or Dean's hand-me-downs. And the boys didn't know much about fashion other than suits and flannel, so she didn't trust them to take Jack shopping. She giggled, 'okay, have to retract that. I should give them more credit. Sam and Dean can dress up pretty damn well when they want to. And Dean could probably make a paper bag look good….. but not the point.'

While Jack was trying on a few pairs of pants and shirt, she was looking through the beauty section. Sighing, Riley popped the top on allegedly coconut scented shampoo and sniffed. She'd been running low on some of her toiletries and took the opportunity to try something new. The department store she was in had a decent variety of things.

The coconut stuff was placed back on the shelf as she moved on. She grabbed one that didn't have a scent name but seemed to be a salon shampoo with a green label. She opened it and sniffed, grinning. It smelled like skittles. Gabriel would love it. "Not that I'm shopping with him in mind or anything." She muttered to herself. Yet she found herself putting the skittled shampoo into her basket.

After checking on the kid and changing out one size shirt for another for him, she wandered through the women's clothing. Spying a rack of tank tops, Riley began perusing. She laughed when she came across a cute black one. It read 'sweet as sugar' in gold lettering, with lollipops on either side. Grabbing her size, she shoved in into her basket before she could think about it too hard.

'I'm going a bit overboard.' She sighed. But she didn't put it back.

Jack finished by the time she wandered back the men's section. He added two pairs of pants and a couple of the shirts to the basket. "Can we look at video games." He sounded so excited that Riley caved.

"I'll meet you at the game store." She said with a smile. He hugged her quick, then turned and hurried off toward the mall entrance. Riley felt a wave of affection, Jack was like a little brother. She had come to care for him. And seeing him acting like a normal kid made her heart happy. Sometimes, secretly, she'd wish he and the Winchesters could just be happy for once. She'd come to care for them all so much and for the rest of the team.

Standing in the middle of the store, she thought of the speech from Lilo & Stitch: 'This is my family. I found it, all on my own. It's little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.'

It took her a moment to shake the feels away. But she did and paid for her basket worth of things, and then headed to meet Jack.