It's been a few hours into her first day taking the Roadhouse for Lou and Lizzy's feeling pretty good. She's gotten to know the three regulars well. Pete, Ray, and Ernie are good guys that just want to play cribbage and slowly down a few beers. They're retired and they have a routine.
Plus, they tip well. Bring it.
"You guys good over there?" Lizzy shouts over to the men as they start up a new game.
"We're good, Lizzy," Ray answers and waves over his head mid-shuffle.
"You just yell when you want another round, boys," she smiles wide at them, knowing they already love her. She's taken a few shifts before, they aren't strangers to her, but they've all gotten along well. In fact, they've told her to teach her sister how to be a little more kind if she can. Lizzy just laughed at the idea.
"Will do," Ernie promises and they concentrate on their game again.
This is perfect. Small number of customers early on before the possible night rush. Plenty of time to look up some info for Jackson. Lou handed her a list of inquiries she had to do as soon as she could in order of priority. First up for today: a mystery monster that's been killing young men around a campus in Florida. Their bodies are left completely drained. Not of blood. They still have blood. They just appear shriveled and empty. Very odd.
Laptop open as she sits on a stool behind the bar, she gets to work. She knows she's heard of this before. There's an odd recollection in her mind of Bobby dealing with something like this during one of her and Lou's many visits. He was looking into it and… she just can't remember what it was that he found on the matter.
Damn it.
"Mommy!"
Lizzy's eyes whip up to the front door. Her little man comes flying through it with his bright, happy green eyes, his feet pounding across the old wooden floor of the bar.
"Hey, kiddo!" Lizzy brightens up immediately when she sees him and runs to meet him. No matter what, even if she saw him just a few hours ago, that voice and that smile will always get her to drop everything in favor of hugs.
When she's on the other side of the bar she crouches down and opens her arms. Her son slams into her with a massive hug and her life couldn't be much better than this.
"He's been asking about visiting you since you left," Dean is heard saying and she meets his eyes when she looks up. Oh yeah. Life can get better.
"Thanks for coming by," she says to them both, letting the hug go to look at Sammy. "I was missing you boys!"
"We miss you, too," Sammy tells her. "We bringed lunch!"
"You did!?" she gets excited of the thoughtfulness. "That's so sweet of you guys!"
"Even went to the good sub place a town over," Dean smirks, knowing she'll be excited.
"Italian?" Lizzy's eyes light up as she stands, Sammy on her hip.
"With hot peppers and pickles," Dean adds on and she grins so wide he knows the drive was worth it.
"We get you a cookie too!" Sammy says with glee, proud that he could help his daddy get mommy lunch. He always likes helping out. It makes him happy.
"I love cookies," Lizzy grins while looking at her boy. "You guys are so nice. Thank you."
"Hey, lunch date with momma sounded better than hanging around the house anyways," Dean admits and he knows she'll get it. He just wanted to come see her. Two months since they've been back as a unit and neither of them have eased up. They've been together every day, every moment possible, and there's no slowing that down in sight. He just wants to be near her.
"Is that Sammy-boy!?"
When the family of three turn to look at the corner table all three of the regulars there are looking at them.
"Hi!" Sammy says and waves to them.
"You come to kick my butt in go fish?" Pete asks him as the men clear the cribbage board for now and gather up their cards. "Because I'm not sure I'm ready to lose to you again, kid."
"I winned last time, mommy," Sammy informs her of what they're talking about. "And Pete was so mad! He say I'm shark!"
"Card shark," Pete corrects him.
"Oh, are you?" Lizzy asks with wide eyes.
"You in, kid?" Ernie asks as they deal out cards for a new game, more than happy to entertain the boy.
"You guys sure you want him messing with your card time?" Dean asks them. "I'm here. I can watch him…."
"Shut up, Dean," Ray stops him right there, knowing it hasn't been an easy year for the younger man. "You just enjoy your little lunch date with your girlfriend."
Dean rolls his eyes, now feeling bad about the lies. Back when the bar was fairly new and the three men started going there almost daily, Dean was a mess. It was obvious to all when he'd take a rare shift at the bar for Lou that he was deeply saddened by something. The three men got him drunk one night after closing and he confessed to losing his wife, the devastation crushing him.
But now he clearly has a girl that's taken the pain away. Lou's sister showed up and made Dean a happier, healthier man. Hell, Dean's kid calls the new girl mommy even. The three men are willing to help Dean make this work no matter what.
It's a shame Dean can't explain that Lizzy's his wife that actually isn't dead and she's Sammy's real mom. Awkward. And unbelievable to the civilians out there.
"Thanks, boys," Lizzy grins. "Next round of cheap beer on me."
Lizzy puts Sammy on his feet and he runs to the three men. He finds a seat on Pete's lap and he shares a hand with him, the group getting going on a game of go fish.
"Wow… they're, like, seriously nice dudes," Lizzy comments as she walks around the bar to sit behind her laptop again.
"They definitely are," Dean agrees, remembering the times they'd been so kind to him in the past year. "I like them."
"And you don't like everyone." He huffs a laugh.
"Hey, I like people," Dean weakly fights back as he starts to open up their lunch.
"You barely talk to anyone outside of our family," Lizzy reminds.
"Shut up," Dean offhandedly says to her as he unwraps her sub and slides the white butcher paper it had been in across the bar to her.
She grins when she sees it. "Awesome."
Dean laughs quietly at her choice in words. They've been together a long time now. She's picked up things from him that show now and then. It makes him oddly happy.
"Mm!" Lizzy starts to speak after taking a huge bite. She looks right at him. "Hey!" she says around her food. "You remember Bobby hunting anything that would leave dudes all shriveled up about nine years back?"
Dean peers at her with wide eyes. "You want me to remember something Bobby looked up a decade ago? I can't remember what I did this morning."
"Think hard," Lizzy tells him, needing a lead. She swallows down her first bite. "It was back when Lou and I were first starting out. We'd been on hunts for a few months and when we came to stop in for a bit he was digging deep for something that was leaving young men drained. But not of blood. It was of… I don't know, maybe energy. Their life force or something."
Dean thinks hard. Back then he was hunting with his dad while Sam was at school. They did run into something like this. It just sounds so familiar. "Uh… were the dudes left pruned up?"
"Yes!" Lizzy gets excited.
"Yeah, uh… I think he was looking that up for me and dad," Dean struggles to remember as he opens up a smaller sandwich and pulls a little milk carton from the take-out bag. "That was our hunt."
"What was it!?"
"Shit… something weird. It was a female creature with a weird long neck… the name… something like…." He sighs, wishing he had his dad's journal with him. "Ro-karaoke?"
Lizzy's face drops with impatient disappointment. "Ro-karaoke? That's what you think it was called?"
"Not exactly. It sounded like that though," Dean tells her, sure of it. "Maybe Goggle can figure it out for you. Type that in."
"Jesus," Lizzy shakes her head at his lack of recall as she tries the odd term that just can't be right.
Dean leaves her for a second to bring the sandwich and milk over to Sammy. "Hey guys. Mind if he eats during the game?"
"Not at all," Pete promises as he moves his beer over to make room for Sammy's lunch.
"Yeah, maybe it'll help distract him so I might beat him for once," Ray grins. "Your kid's a card shark."
"That's because he's like his dad," Dean jokes a little and sets Sammy up. "You good?"
"I good," Sammy simply answers and picks up a sandwich half to take a massive bite.
"Whoa, easy kid!" Ernie laughs when Sammy's cheeks fill up chipmunk style.
"Slow down, Sammy," Dean warns and Sammy nods as she chews furiously, knowing he took on too much. He then looks to the group. "If he gets to be too much you send him my way, you hear?"
"Will do," Ray nods and Dean heads back to his wife.
When he sits down on his bar stool and lifts his sub to take a bite Lizzy interrupts him. "Rokurokubi!"
Dean snaps and points at her. "Bingo. That." He nods to confirm that the name is right.
"Oh, this totally sounds right," Lizzy tells him while reading on. "Thank god! Jackson was getting super frustrated trying to figure this one out."
"That the guy you two met when you were still rookies?" Dean wonders, pulling his own sandwich out finally. He knows that name sounds familiar.
"Yeah. He was helping us out with a really weird ghost hunt. Bobby sent him to meet us when we told him we couldn't figure it out. Jackson's a good dude." She stops typing to pick up her phone. "Great dude."
There's something in her voice. "Isn't he, like… old?"
"Older," Lizzy corrects, brushing the very idea off as she calls him up. Yes, Jackson is old enough to be either of their fathers but still... he's not that old.
"Hello?" a male voice greets on the other end and Lizzy places her phone onto the bar top, it already on speaker.
"Jackson!" she lovingly grins as she answers him.
"Oh, my dear Lizzy. How are you, kid?" Jackson very fondly answers as Dean takes a bite of his lunch, ears perked and listening closely.
"I'm great. How are you, handsome?" Lizzy says in a flirty tone, Dean's eyes wide on her. Is she flirting with him?
"Stop with the flattery, girl. You're too young for me," Jackson jokes right away, clearly all too happy to hear from her.
"Too young!?" she asks with insult, her elbows on the bar as she leans down and grins ear to ear. "I think I'm still old enough for you."
"You're making me sound like a dirty old man over there, Elizabeth," he scolds her playfully. "You watch it, young lady."
"You know I love when you talk to me like that," she plays right back and they both laugh over the phone.
And Dean's face of horror is not lost on her. She rolls her eyes at him.
"I think I found your monster of the week," Lizzy tells him, getting down to business.
"Did you now?"
"Yes. It's a rokurokubi."
There's a pause. "You might want to try me again on that one."
Lizzy laughs some more. "A rokurokubi. It's a female creature. It sucks the life right out of men, usually young men. She hunts at night. And the way she leaves her victims sounds exactly like what you're dealing with."
"You sure?"
"Damn sure," Lizzy makes it clear she's confident.
"Okay. How do I kill her then?" Jackson gets serious.
"Sounds like you have to catch her feeding… like a shtriga."
"Any weapon I need specifically?"
"Nope. I would try ventilating her," Lizzy smirks. "Don't know much that can handle that."
"I'll use some silver bullets just in case."
"Good call."
She pauses as Jackson clearly writes everything down.
"You know, if you let me just email you all this information it's be a lot easier."
"You know I'm set in my ways," Jackson tells her when he finishes writing down his notes. "I ain't changed my ways for three decades… why start now?"
"Fair enough."
"You figure this out on your own or did Lou help you out?"
"Actually… it was Bobby," Lizzy tells him, her face dropping. "I remembered him figuring out a case just like this when I was barely starting out. And Dean helped me recall the name so I could look it up."
"How is that Dean?" Jackson asks with honest inquiry. "He still treating you right?"
"Always," Lizzy answers while smiling across the bar at her husband. "He's great."
Dean grins back.
"You sure? I don't mind putting the fear of god in that boy if he ain't doing right by my girl."
An angry face makes its way into Dean's expression. Lizzy just laughs.
"I think I put the fear of god in him enough. You don't need to worry."
Dean nods in agreement.
"Jackson, if you're ever near Kansas I expect you to come by," Lizzy lets him know. "It's been a long time."
"It has… but dear, I'm no booty call these days," Jackson lets her know. "That ship has sailed."
"I'm a married woman, you dirty old man," Lizzy flirts right back, Dean getting agitated a little.
"You know I'll stop in next time I'm around. I haven't seen you girls in so long… and I've never met that little boy of yours. Still can't believe little Lizzy is a mom."
"Better believe it," Lizzy laughs at him. "We'd be happy to have you. Beers on us and we got a room with your name on it."
"Well, how could I pass that deal up?"
"You can't," Lizzy grins. "You call me if anything goes wrong?"
"I'll call you when the bitch is dead. You take care of yourself, my dear."
"You too, old man."
She hangs up and smiles nostalgically at her phone for a second before closing up her laptop. When she reaches to pick up her sandwich again she notices the way Dean's looking at her with suspicious and narrow eyes.
"What?" she asks.
"You banged him."
"What!?" Lizzy questions with shock at the accusation.
"You did. You've totally had sex with him." He's sure of it.
She pauses, ready to lie, but then decides against it. "That obvious, huh?"
"You're a window," Dean tells her grouchily. "What is it with you and old guys?"
"What do you mean?" she wonders what the hell he's talking about.
"Jackson, that guy you told me about in Idaho… you absolutely had a thing for dad when you met him…."
"You look like him. What was I supposed to think?" she argues back.
"I just think you have a thing for old guys."
"I married you, didn't I?" she smirks and winks.
"I'm not old!" Dean denies her.
"Older than me. That makes you at least an older guy."
"Shut up," Dean gets agitated. "Just saying, you get on me for my little fetishes. I think you got one of your own."
She shrugs. "Eh. Maybe I do."
"You totally do," he corrects quickly.
"Hey, older men know what's going on," Lizzy tells him, taking a bite of sandwich before pulling a lined notebook out from under the bar. "I've never been disappointed by a guy that was older than me. They take their time. They care. They know."
Dean nods, getting it. He wasn't one to turn down an older woman looking his way when he was younger. Older chicks always did seem to love him.
"Alright. Next case," Lizzy says, looking at the list Lou left her. "Ugh, seriously!?"
"What?" Dean asks.
Lizzy looks up at him with an angry face. "Mari. She's having Lou do her research again. She's so fucking lazy sometimes…."
She stops mid-rant when her eyes slide just past Dean. She clearly locks onto something and her face pales.
"L?" Dean says her name but instead of answer she's off.
Lizzy sprints out from behind the bar and bursts through the main door.
"She okay, man?" Ernie calls over to Dean.
When Dean looks at them as he gets up, the entire table is staring at him. Even Sammy. "Lizzy's fine. I'm just gonna check on her. You good with him for now?" he asks, pointing at Sammy.
"He's good," Pete nods and Dean bolts outside.
Once in the daytime sun, Dean squints and looks around the parking lot. Nothing. No Lizzy. Then he realizes that if Lizzy was looking past where he was sitting in the bar she must have been looking out one of the side windows.
Once around the corner of the building, he finds his wife standing there with hands on her hips. She looks terribly confused. "L? You okay?"
She whips her sights onto him with wide eyes. "I, uh… no. Fuck. I'm not alright."
He walks closer to her, seriously worried. "Why are we outside right now?"
Lizzy sighs heavily as she shakes her head. "You're gonna think I'm nuts."
"I already think you're a little nuts," Dean jokes lightly, just trying to bring down the clear alarm she's feeling. He stands a little closer, grabbing one of her hands, and asks, "Just tell me what's happening."
"I saw him again," Lizzy tells her husband. "I swear I saw him."
"Who? Cass?" Dean worries a bit about her.
"Yes," she nods big while gripping his hand tight. "He was standing right here, in front of the window. He was looking right at me and… I felt him. Baby, I swear… he was right here." She points to the ground below her feet, making it clear she means it.
Dean isn't sure how to answer this. He's just standing there, brow wrinkled with concern, and staring at her.
"Dean, I know I sound crazy but I promise I saw…."
"I know," Dean assures her and steps into her, hugging her tightly. She immediately hugs him back. "I know, L."
"Am I losing it?" she worries aloud, knowing Purgatory might just have made her crack over time.
"I don't know," Dean tells her, truly unsure. "But I think your mind is just screwing with you a little because you're carrying so much guilt."
"I left him there…"
"No you didn't," Dean tells her once more, this being a topic of serious concern in their house for months now. He pulls back and holds her shoulders, looking her in the eyes. "You didn't let him down. You tried your best to get him out."
"I failed. After everything he did for me I left him there."
"You didn't leave him there!" Dean tries again with more emphasis. "You didn't! L, you would never do that. He knows that. Cass can take care of himself. You gotta let this go or it's gonna kill you."
Closing her eyes tightly, she sighs shakily. "I think I just miss him maybe. I really, really miss him."
"We all do," Dean understands.
"Maybe that's all it is," Lizzy hopes as she blows out a hard lungful of air. "Probably, right?"
"I'd say so," Dean goes ahead and agrees despite knowing better. Something's happening with his wife and it's internally scaring the crap out of him. He won't say so aloud but he's very nervous about her seeing Cass like this.
"Shit," Lizzy shakes off the moment as her eyes scan around the empty lot to the side of the bar, just in case. "Okay. I'm good. I need to keep getting some research done anyways."
"You sure you don't need another minute?" Dean makes sure.
"Nah," Lizzy answers with a small smile. She reaches up and pulls Dean down a little with a hand to his shoulder, kissing his cheek sweetly. "Thanks for not thinking I'm crazy."
He huffs a laugh. "Not this time, at least."
"How you doing, big guy?" Lizzy asks as she starts to empty the dishwasher filled with pint glasses.
"I good."
When she pulls a stacked up tower of clean glasses out and looks up she sees Sammy a few feet away at a table. Once more, his crayons and blank white paper are out and scattered about as he lets his imagination fly. Dean brought him home for a nap and dinner and now he hangs out in his pajamas doing his usual nightly thing while Lizzy meanders around, keeping busy on a very quiet weeknight.
"You making anything special?" Lizzy questions, putting the glasses in their place under the bar where Lou likes them. Her sister is very particular. She likes things a certain way. Lizzy's going to prove she's worthy of watching over and properly running Lou's bar if it kills her.
"I drawed a doggie," Sammy tells her and picks up a picture he put to the side. He holds it up high for her to see from the other side of the bar.
On it is a large brown scribble of indistinguishable shape with a line of red scribble that could maybe be a collar.
"Is that Rooster?" Lizzy questions, thinking the red collar paired with brown fur might make up their neighbor's dog that loves Sammy to no end.
"Yeah!" he says. "He got red collar on."
"I can see that. You love Rooster, don't you?"
"I love him," Sammy says easily and puts that paper back down on the table to continue on the currently unfinished artwork in front of him.
"You wanna stop by and give that to Missus Glover tomorrow?" Lizzy suggests. Missus Glover is the older woman a few houses down that owns Rooster, the furry brown mutt that gets out now and then. He always ends up on their front porch waiting for Sammy to come pet him. "I bet she'd love it."
"Okay," Sammy answers, a tan crayon in his hand now as he scribbles away.
Lizzy pauses to look over at him working away, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth with concentration. He loves drawing. It can occupy him for hours a day. It's amazing how wild a child's imagination can run. "What you making now?"
"My friend."
"You're friend?" she questions, Sammy only having a handful of kids on the street he ever plays with. "Which one?"
"Cassie."
Her back stiffens when he says this. Cassie. "Who's Cassie?"
"He my friend." Sammy says it was nonchalance and keeps drawing.
"Where did you meet this friend?"
"When I sleep."
Heart pounding, Lizzy rubs her face. With Dean missing this conversation while he checks on the back rooms, she sighs. Maybe she thought she was losing it before but now? She can't be. "What did Cassie say to you?"
"He say I good boy and I take care a' you," he explains breezily.
"He told you to take care of me?" Lizzy questions, feeling the lump in her throat appear. That's absolutely something her angel would say.
"Yeah. I take care a' you," Sammy tells her while still drawing, grabbing a black crayon to make a black scribble on top of the tan scribble.
"Aren't I supposed to take care of you?" Lizzy questions, trying to not seem freaked out by all this. She takes a second and turns away from her boy. She grips the back edge of the wooden top displaying all the bottle of booze behind the bar and bows her head, breathing deeply. What the hell is going on?
And then she feels it. That deep in her chest feeling. It shows up for just a split second before she hears the rush of wind disturbed by invisible wings. She freezes with intense shock, knowing that the presence now felt behind her is real. Without looking she knows he's there.
"Cassie!" she hears her son call out excitedly behind her so she looks into the mirror behind the bottles.
"Fuck," she whispers to herself when she sees Castiel's bearded and dirty face looking back at her with a blank expression. She sharply turns back around and looks at him face to face.
There's a couple seconds that hang in the air between them as they just look at one another for the first time since she got out of Purgatory. She's shocked beyond words and he's appearing just so relieved to see her alive and well.
"Hello, Elizabeth," Castiel says in his usual low, deadpan tone.
"Mommy, dat's Cassie!" Sammy tells her, excited as he stands on his feet on the chair. He's so happy to see his new friend again. "Dat's my friend!"
Without a word said, Lizzy runs around the bar and plows into the dirty, tired looking angel with all her weight. She locks her arms around his neck and hugs him as hard as she can manage, pure relief filling her soul to see him alive. As she feels two tentative arms finally come around her back she exhales a sob.
"You're alive," she whispers to him, not loosening her hold at all.
"It appears that I am," Castiel says in his usual, flat way. His arms tighten a little and he closes his eyes when he can hear the slightest inhale from Lizzy, knowing she's that emotionally affected by him being there. It's good to be loved like that, even an angel can admit that.
"How!?" Lizzy asks, backing up a little. "How are you here?"
"Cassie!" Sammy calls over to him from his chair, still standing on it.
Castiel ignores Lizzy's question in order to look at the little savior. He's so big these days, talking and having original thoughts and being a fully developed personality of his own. "Hello, Samuel."
"I Sammy!" he giggles while pointing to himself, clearly having had this conversation before with the angel. "You call me Samuel!"
"That is your name," Castiel slightly smiles and walks to the young boy.
"It Uncle Sam name too! We the same!" Sammy tells him with much excitement.
Lizzy watches on with pure surprise as Castiel reaches his arms out to her son, Sammy accepting the invitation as if it's second nature.
"I know," Castiel explains as he pulls the child onto his hip and holds him there, looking lighter of mind already. "Your mother wanted to give you a proper name that would reflect how strong she hoped you'd be. Your Uncle Sam is one of the stronger men I've ever met. I think they made a wise choice."
Sammy just keeps looking at him for a moment when he's unsure of all that Castiel just said to him. "I maked you a picture."
"Did you?" he asks happily.
"It right 'dere," Sammy points to the table.
Castiel picks up the page with the tan blob topped with a smaller black blob. "I believe you were attempting to draw me."
"It you," Sammy points at it. "That you hair."
"I can see it," Castiel placates the child, having learned through time with the humans in his charge that sometimes honesty is not the best policy. He's thinking this would be one of them since Sammy is just so happy to share his work. "It's beautiful."
Sammy grins wide on that compliment, feeling the pride in himself that Castiel tries to give.
"That washer out back is crap," they all hear Dean say before he makes it into the main bar. He walks out from the back room with a filled laundry sack. "I'm taking the sheets home to wash since no one's here toni…." He pauses mid-sentence and his body stops mid-stride when he gets a look at the person holding his son.
Blinking a few times, brain trying to catch up, Dean's eyes shift from the angel to his wife and back again a couples times.
"Hello, Dean," Castiel greets with another small smile, always happy to see the hunter.
"Cass?" Dean asks but is immediately overshadowed by his son's loud voice.
"Daddy! Dis my friend, Cassie! He come to say hi!"
Dean's mouth hangs open for a moment as he tries to get his brain to figure out what's happening. Castiel is in their bar. Standing there. Holding their son. He's back, he's alive, he's….
"Jesus," is all he manages to get out at first, the shock too great. He looks to Lizzy and sees a very similar shock all over her.
"No. It's just me," Castiel simply responds in a half-joking manner. When he feels a little hand come up under his beard and pull a little, the angel looks right at Sammy.
"You got hair," Sammy tells him, his fingers still tangled in the beard Castiel has grown.
"I suppose I look a bit different than the last time I've seen you in person. Maybe I should clean up." He places Sammy down on his chair and turns to Lizzy with a questioning face.
"Right through that door," Lizzy tells him, pointing to the bathroom as she knows that's what he's asking for.
Castiel nods cordially and heads for the bathroom. When he disappears behind the door Lizzy and Dean's wide eyes find each other.
"What the hell?" Dean asks quickly.
"I have no idea," Lizzy harshly whispers back and grabs for Dean's arm, pulling him to the bar to speak quietly away from the angel in the bathroom. "I… I don't know what's happening."
"Maybe he got out like you did," Dean suggests.
"No way. That's a human portal," she denies, shaking her head.
"He's riding a human vessel still."
"Doesn't matter. Has to be a real human, soul and all, to open that door. That's why I knew he couldn't get out if he didn't come with me. He doesn't have a soul… just grace." She closes her eyes a second and sighs. "What the fuck is happening?"
"At least we know you aren't going crazy," Dean bright sides it. "You've been seeing him because he was around."
Lizzy just nods, her head a mess with all this. The bathroom door opens after a minute or two and out walks the Castiel they all know well. Freshly shaven, clean trench coat, and his old suit and tie back instead of the institute white scrubs.
Standing in front of them, wiping his hands on a paper towel, Castiel holds his hands out to the side in presentation.
When no one reacts positively he knows this is not a fully happy reunion.
"I can see my presence is a bit disturbing for you both," Castiel says with a flat tone.
"Not disturbing," Lizzy promises him. "Just… um. Shit. I need a drink."
Lizzy heads for the bar and gets behind it. She pulls out a shot glass and pours some Jameson swiftly into it.
Dean and Castiel watch as she drinks the liquor down to calm her nerves. Neither knows what to do in this odd situation. Luckily Lizzy speaks up first.
"Well, get your asses over and here and sit."
"Mommy! Bad word!" Sammy scolds her when he pays attention and doesn't like what she says.
"I know, baby. I messed up," Lizzy says to him, forcing a smile. "I'm trying though."
"I know you tryin', mommy. You no say bad words," Sammy tells her anyways.
"Sorry, Sammy," Lizzy says absently as she pours her own shot.
Dean walks for a bar stool next to Castiel, eyeing him suspiciously the entire time. He knows what Lizzy's told him about their time in Purgatory. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't easy. And she was so sure that Castiel was gone, locked away in the wasteland. So what's happening right now… this is crazy.
Once the two settle, Lizzy places two more shot glasses on the bar and fills all three. "Drink up."
Lizzy's shot is gone in a flash once more and Dean has no problem following her. He downs his own as Castiel sits and contemplates the golden liquid offered to him.
"Cass," Lizzy says his name and nods at the shot.
"I would need much more than that to even make a dent, Elizabeth. I can't see the point."
"Just do it to make me happy then," she says with annoyance and Castiel easily decides to appease her. He drinks it down in one go, just like Ellen Harvell had showed him years back.
When done, small glass back on the bar, Castiel looks at both of them briefly, observing their state. Both look very good. They're happy, he can just sense it past the confusion and surprise, and they're in a very good place together. "You both seem to be enjoying life these days."
With upset in her eyes, Lizzy stares at him a moment before saying, "Are you trying to deflect or something?"
"Deflect?" Castiel wonders, honestly having been delighted to see them looking so good.
"She's wondering what's going on, Cass," Dean jumps in to help.
"Yes, well… I've been trying to reach out, but for whatever reason, I wasn't at full power. So I couldn't connect with you," he tells him while eyeing Lizzy again.
"Explains why you've been seeing him everywhere," Dean adds in, making sure Lizzy understands that she's not going crazy at all.
"Yeah. I guess," Lizzy nods, her brow furrowed as she stares at Castiel with still running disbelief. "I just… Cass, man, how did you get outta there? You and me, I was with you. I know that place. I know what it took to find that portal to get out. We… we almost died trying to leave so I gotta know… how the fuck are you sitting here right now?"
"Lizzy, everything you just said is completely true," the angel assures her. "And that's the strange part. I... have no idea. I remember endlessly running and hiding from Leviathan and then I was on the side of the road in Illinois. And... that was it." He shrugs to show he means it. He's as confused as she is.
"That's it!?" Lizzy nearly shouts. "Come on, Cass! You know I'm not that stupid."
"I do. And I would never lie to you about it. I was there… and then I wasn't. I wish I knew what happened but I just don't."
Something about the way he says it makes her understand. He's being very truthful. He's as lost as she is on it. "Well, then… we're in trouble. Because if it took everything to get me and Benny out then whatever yanked your ass out is damn powerful."
"And might be after you," Dean adds on, glancing at Sammy working away on another picture behind them. Sammy's safety always comes first.
"I do not think I am sought after," Castiel honestly tells him.
"How would you know?" Dean challenges.
"I went right for you. The prophesized pair and the Second Coming. If anything was truly after me it would have made its presence know much before now."
"Comforting," Dean very sarcastically complains.
"You must know by now that I'd never put Samuel in danger. Ever."
"We know, Cass," Lizzy nods, assuring him when he needs it.
There's a silence that comes over them as Lizzy's mind flashes back to their escape from Purgatory. She was right there, the wind and energy from the open portal pulling her and tossing them around as they neared it. Climbing up that cliff after barely getting away from the Leviathan that tried to block their path. Reaching for Cass, grabbing his hand to pull him up into the portal with her… and her grip slipping. Watching him slide back down the cliff as he yelled her name, pleaded for her help… and she couldn't.
Nothing feels right here. And the memory of letting him down has haunted her ever since it happened.
"Shit, no. Cass, come on," Lizzy speaks up when she can't hold back any longer. She needs to understand and she needs to say her peace about what happened. "What the hell happened?"
"What do you mean?" Castiel asks her, confused.
"I swore to you I'd get you out," she gets very serious, eyes hard on his as she pours her heart out. "We were right there, right about to leave… and I let you down." Her voice cracks at the end with the truth of the memory.
"Let me… Elizabeth," he shakes his head, his face showing the horror he feels over her thinking this way. "You have never once, not since your birth, let me down."
"I dropped the ball and you know it," she says with certainty as a tear slips from her eye. She harshly and quickly wipes it away.
"How do you figure you dropped the ball?" the angel needs to know.
Smiling a little through the now pouring tears, she shakes her head. "I tried. So hard. And… I failed. I couldn't get you out. I let you down and of all people…." She stops there and bows her head with pure shame.
With a wrinkled face, Castiel looks at her with shock. "You think my staying behind in Purgatory was your fault?"
"I didn't want to let you down," Lizzy cries quietly. "I did everything I could to get you out of there…."
"I know that," Castiel says strongly, hoping she gets that he holds no animosity towards her. He reaches across the bar and gently places a hand over hers. She looks back up at him. "You've never given up on me. Not really. Even when you've wanted to. I know you tried everything."
"But I couldn't hold on," she rebuts. "And who else's fault would that be?"
"It's not about fault. It's about will. You… you really don't remember, do you?"
"I remember it like it was yesterday," Lizzy swears.
"No, I don't think that you do," Castiel tells her, reaching for her forehead. "Look at it. What really happened?"
He presses his fingers to her head and the flashback hits her hard.
They're running up the cliff, climbing and scrambling with Lizzy leading the way to the open portal. Lizzy makes it to the top.
Turning around, she looks down at Castiel barely holding on. "Grab my hand!" she leans down and reaches for him.
"Get in first!" Castiel shouts back to her, still clawing his way upwards.
She listens. Lizzy steps into the portal and reaches over the edge again on her hands and knees. One hand still gripping her weapon, she managed to grasp his hand as hard as she can. She starts to pull. "Hurry! Cass, it's closing!"
"Elizabeth!" he yells her name, trying harder but still failing.
"Cassie, please!" she starts to fear as their grip loosen. She's losing him.
"Elizabeth!" he yells her name again and lets go of her hand, shoving it back to her. "Go!"
Lizzy just watches in deep horror as he lets go and tells her to leave. Before she knows it the portal closes and takes only her with it, the terror in his eyes the last Lizzy sees of her guardian angel.
When Castiel takes back his hand Lizzy returns to the present. She blinks a few times before peering at him with alarm. "What the fuck?" she whispers, hurt and so lost by what she just saw.
"You were remembering it the way you needed to," Castiel explains. "But it wasn't about you being too weak or letting me down. I was strong. I pulled away from you. Nothing you could have done would have saved me because… I didn't want to be saved."
"But why?" Lizzy questions, not understanding anything.
"It was where I belonged," he honestly tells her. "I needed to do penance. After the things I did on earth and in heaven I didn't deserve to be out. And I saw that clearly when I was there. I... I planned to stay all along. I just didn't know how to tell you when you had been so adamant about saving me. But you can't save everyone, Elizabeth... though, you try."
Speechless, Lizzy just shakes her head at him. She blinks once and the last of her tears fall, understanding that Castiel gets all the wrong he's done in the past. He knows how badly he's messed up and he wants to make up for it. And she never let him down.
When the bar phone rings she's shaken out of the moment. She sighs deeply, knowing she has to answer it as it may be someone needing her help, Lizzy wipes her face with her long sleeves and walks for the phone hanging on the wall.
"Hello?" she answers after sniffling once.
"Good, you're there."
"Lou, Jesus," Lizzy rolls her eyes. "Off course I'm here. I'm supposed to be here. Been here all day."
"And you got Jackson's case figured out."
"Rokurakubi," she answers. "Called him back and let him know. Told him to stop by sometime soon."
"You just want to flirt with him."
"Shut up. What do you need?"
"Well, we have a list of names of all the taken people around the world and we can't figure it out," Lou explains. "We checked with Aaron's people and they were clean and as confused as us."
"Well, give me the list," Lizzy says as she grabs a pen and paper. "Maybe we can figure it out on our end."
"Okay…"
Lou starts to list off the names one at a time and as Lizzy writes them she repeats them aloud. "Luigi Bianchi, Justin Griffin, Aaron Hagar, Maria…"
"Maria Diaz, Dennis Reynolds, Krista Woods, Sven Nilsson."
With wide eyes Lizzy and Dean both stare at Castiel with real shock.
"Louie, hold on a moment. Might be onto something," Lizzy says and covers over the receiver of the handset so Lou can't hear what's happening. "Cass, why did you know those names?"
"They're prophets." It's stated simply.
"Prophets?" Dean asks for clarification.
"Yes. Angels instinctively know the names of every prophet. Past, present, and future."
"So this list is the name of every prophet that currently exists?" Lizzy wants to be sure, tapping the paper she'd been writing on with her pen.
"Yes, until the next generation is born. Plus Kevin Tran, of course. The other seven are future prophets, since only one can exist at a time."
"But then how is Kevin a prophet? What about Chuck?" Dean checks, confused.
"I'm not sure what happened to Chuck, but... he must be dead," Castiel sadly informs them
"So, the next one comes off the bench if Kevin goes down?" Dean keeps prying.
"Exactly," the angel nods. "And they have no idea who they are, of course."
"Shit," Lizzy complains. "It's definitely got to be Crowley."
Dean nods. "Insurance. Boy, he's getting desperate."
"Explains all the weird phenomena for sure. Lower-level demons nabbing heavy-duty bargaining chips."
"I get the feeling something's going on," Castiel looks between them with narrowed eyes.
"Most definitely," Lizzy nods. "Are you in any shape to help them out?"
"Sam and Lou?" Castiel asks.
"Yeah. They're off looking into the missing prophets while on the hunt for Kevin Tran… since he's disappeared. We're hoping Crowley doesn't have him."
"Of course," Castiel nods and disappears from the bar stool he'd just been on.
"Crap," Lizzy worried aloud and pulls the receiver back to her ear quickly. "Lou! Hey! Uh, I just sent help your way…."
"Help? Who…. Fuck!" she suddenly shouts on the other end and Lizzy knows he's just arrived.
"Cass knows what's up and he's still got some juice. And yeah, he's somehow out of Purgatory."
"God damn it," Lou huffs out with shock and anger. "Guess I'll talk to you later then."
"Love you."
"You too."
Lou hangs up and Lizzy puts the receiver back. When she turns back around Dean's just sitting there looking at her.
"You alright?" he asks her.
"If by alright you mean freaked out and shaking… then I'm great," she smiles sarcastically and runs her hands through her hair with stress. The bar is now quiet and it seems like nothing occurred at all. "Did that really just happen?"
"Where my friend go?" Sammy asks from his place at the table.
"He had to go do something real quick," Dean jumps in and answers swiftly. "He'll be back to see us though."
"Cassie come back?" Sammy wonders, hoping to see Castiel again soon.
"He'll come back. Promise," Dean tells him, walking over to Sammy and picking him up from his seat. "You really like him? That Cassie?"
"Yeah. He nice and he play games with me," Sammy answers easily as he reaches out to grab the necklace that's always around Dean's neck. He fiddles with the gold pendant on a black cord as he explains, "We talk 'bout mommy and you and I telled him about the zoo. And he laugh when I roar like King did."
"He laughed?" Lizzy asks incredulously.
"Yeah."
"Cassie… the guy that was just here… he laughed!?" she has to make sure.
"Yeah, mommy. He laughed. Cassie laughs with me."
"It's like I don't even know the guy," Dean comments, also disbelieving the very idea of Castiel laughing. "I'd actually pay good money to see that."
Lizzy smiles but he can see how fake it is quite easily.
"You think he's okay enough to help them out?" Dean wonders with deep concern for the state Castiel might be in.
"I have no clue. I hope so but after everything… I just hope so," she answers with a voice that's obviously uncertain. "I… I don't know what in hell is happening right now."
Pressing his luck, Dean knows they should close down early for the night for her benefit. "Hey, no one's gonna come in tonight. It's a Wednesday. Why don't we close up shop and head home, huh?"
"Why?" Lizzy wonders.
"Are you gonna be effective if we keep this place open tonight?"
Thinking for a moment, Lizzy sadly answers with a, "No."
"Okay, then screw it. We close early. Lou won't know, it'll be fine," Dean assures her. "And I'll change the message on the phone so if any hunters need us they can call my cell."
It doesn't take more than a couple seconds for Lizzy to nod in the affirmative. "That's a good idea."
"Alright. Let's just go home and tuck this dude in," Dean tries for something far more fun. "And we can check in with Lou and Sam from there."
With nothing short of total love in her eyes, Lizzy smiles small as she pulls him down by the back of the neck. A quick kiss to the cheek and she tells her husband, "Thank you."
"Anytime," he shrugs and heads back to the table Sammy was working at. Together the clean up his stuff as Lizzy closes down for the night, no new customers ever coming through the door.
Author's Note: I want to start off by saying THANK YOU! Every person that reviewed/commented with words of encouragement and love after that last chapter, THANK YOU! I really needed to know that you all would be there if I took a break. Which I think I need to do. For right now until my kiddo decides to pop out in roughly two months I am done with this series. I need to walk away, recharge, and let my life take over for a little bit. I will be exhausted and in shock and totally frazzled very soon. After I get past that phase I hope to be back at it. I have a long term plan that I just cannot give up on with this series. I can't. I have a vision and to lose it now would be totally devastating for me personally. I just hope that you all can be patient and put me on alerts/subscribe to me so that when I return to this series then so will you.
I am also playing around with a prompt-based idea just to keep my creativity flowing in the mean time. I want to write. It's fun and it keeps my brain sparking. I will figure out what the guidelines are and open it up to all readers that would like to give my brain a little challenge at the end of this story... which will be the next chapter. Get thinking, people!
Again, thank you so much for hanging in there with me and being such positive forces in my life. The love was amazing. Truly. Thank you!