CW: HUGE content warning for this chapter. A character attempts suicide – it's the section that starts with Kelly being in a basement. (The second scene of this chapter.) If this will trigger you in anyway, please feel free to skip to the next section. I will summarize what happened in the end notes. Please, please, please, take care of yourself first.
Unfound
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sam, Dean, Ron, and Hermione sat around a table in the Bunker at an utter and complete loss. The week benchmark had passed. They had lost Kelly. They hadn't heard a word from Cas or Gabriel. Crowley had no information. Mick Davies had gone dark – Hermione hadn't heard from him in far too long. Draco Malfoy had had to return to England on urgent business and Charlie and Luna were desperately working to try and figure out a way to track Harry, or failing that, the demon who had him, but so far, they hadn't come up with anything.
Honestly, it was like they had lost Harry all over again.
Hermione heard her name being called from her pocket. Everyone looked up at her. She took her mirror out.
"Minister!" Came a female voice from the other end.
"Yes, Melissa?" Hermione asked of her Director of the DMLE. The woman sounded out of breath.
"You need to return to Britain immediately," she said. "It's the Wizengamot. Something is happening. Something big, I don't know…"
That caught Hermione's attention. "I can't come back," she said, realizing the truth in that statement. "I have to…"
"Minister, please, it's about giving the Men of Letters independent status from the DMLE to remove any ministry oversight from their organization."
Hermione's face went ashen. "No, we had years…"
"It's been moved up. Please – you have to…"
"I'll do what I can," she said and she ended the conversation.
Everyone was looking at her with interest.
"Hermione, that's big you have to…" Ron started.
"I can't," Hermione said desperately. "I can't leave, not when Harry could be…not when he could be…" she started to cry.
"Not much we can do about Harry," Ron said. "But this…"
"I'll resign. It doesn't matter. It's just politics, it…"
"Hermione this is everything. You have to…"
"Go," Sam said.
Everyone turned to him.
"What?" Dean asked. "How can you say that, when Harry…"
"As Ron said, we don't know what is happening with Harry. There is nothing that Hermione can do for him. But I know about this law. I know how important this fight is. You have to go, Hermione, it's what Harry would want…"
Dean slammed his hand down on the table. "You are all talking about him like he's already dead!"
"Dean…" Sam said.
"No! I refuse to believe that. He's not gone. He can't be – not again. I'm not going to give up on him. Never again. I promised him. I promised myself and I swear to God if…" instead of finishing what he was going to say, Dean abruptly stood and stomped out of the room.
Sam rubbed his temples. "I'm sorry about him," he said. "This – it's bringing up bad memories."
"And you don't think it's doing the same to us?" Ron snapped.
"No, no, of course. It's just – he always blamed himself. And now Cas is also missing and… it doesn't matter. Hermione. You have to go. Ron, go with her."
"Fuck no," Ron said. "Hermione can go. I'll stay here and…"
"And what? Oversee Charlie and Luna? They are already doing everything they can. It would be odd if you didn't return with Hermione. It might signal something to the British Men of Letters. You need to go, Ron. We'll let you know the second we know more."
Neither of them could deny the logic of Sam's words as much as they wanted to.
"The second we can do any tiny thing to help…" Hermione said.
"We'll call. I promise," Sam said, mostly meaning it.
"You better," Ron said. "Or I don't care what Harry has to say, I will kill you."
Sam nodded at the threat. "The same on your end. If someone in your world turns up anything…"
"We'll be in touch," Hermione agreed. They left.
Sam went to go find Dean, who was at the kitchen table, drinking a beer. "Dean, I think it's time that we call…"
"No," Dean said. The last thing he wanted to do was to tell their mother that he had fucked up again. It was his job to keep his younger brothers safe. And he had already failed Harry over and over again.
"Come on, Dean, she'd want to know. She's going to be furious if she finds out that we're keeping this from her."
"Maybe she doesn't have to find out at all," Dean said stubbornly.
Sam gave him a bitchface.
"I mean it, we'll find him, or he'll escape and we can all put this behind us. I'm sure, wherever he is he doesn't want to worry Mom."
"She has the right to know."
"Does she? When is the last time that you had a conversation with her? That she returned a text in less than a day? She left us."
"She's spying, Dean."
Dean scoffed and got up from the table. Presumably to get more beer.
"I'm going to text her," Sam called after him, pulling out his phone.
Dean didn't respond.
Sam thought carefully.
Sam 1:34pm
Mom, something has happened. Please come home as soon as possible.
He clicked his phone off. Now they had more than just Kelly and Harry to try and find. It was time to get to work to try and find Dagon.
III
Kelly was sitting in a dank basement, chained to the wall while sitting on a bed. The demon, who she came to learn was called Dagon, approached her.
"Hey. Vitamin time," the woman said. She had been very vigilant to make sure that Kelly was getting the nutrients she needed to keep the baby alive. Kelly supposed that was one good thing, in all this mess.
Shortly after she had been captured, she felt like she had lost her connection to Jack. When, before, she had felt love, where she had thought she had understood him, that was all gone. Dagon had told her things. That all those feelings she had been having were coming from Lucifer himself. That the baby didn't love her at all.
She slapped Dagon's hand away, not wanting the pills.
"Don't," Dagon warned before shoving the pills into Kelly's mouth.
"No," Kelly tried to protest.
"Be a good girl," Dagon responded.
Kelly tried to fight it, she tried to spit what was in her mouth out, but the demon held her neck tight until she had no choice but to swallow.
"There," Dagon said. "Really, Kel? Not taking your pills, picking at your food, refusing to bathe?"
Kelly just coughed at her.
"Stop disrespecting the God inside you."
"He's going to kill me," Kelly whispered. It was something that Harry had told her, ages ago. For the first time, she felt the full weight of that. She had been willing to give her life to allow her son to live, but she was beginning to question it all.
"Yeah," Dagon agreed. "And he's not gonna stop there. Every sad, weak human, every tight-ass angel, every sniveling demon they'll all be consumed. So go ahead. Play your games. But whether you're healthy or sick, filthy or clean, He will be born. Good times. But until then," she unlocked Kelly's cuffed arms. "Do us both a favor? Take a bath."
Kelly groaned as she got to her feet. She never should have left Gabriel's, she realized now. She headed towards the bathroom and she talked to Jack, as she always had. Dagon had told her things. About how Lucifer was a genius – a master manipulator. That the two of them had plotted to plant feelings from "the baby" in her mind and body so that she would leave her safe haven. Dagon had even, somehow, gotten Lucifer to replicate it again, just so that there was no question in Kelly's mind that she had been manipulated. That the baby that she loved so deeply wasn't even capable of reciprocating that love.
"I love you," she said to him as she started to fill the tub. "But we won't ever be together. There is no happy ending for either of us. And if what she said is true and if this is what you really are – what you'll do to the world, all the pain, all the death, I can't let that happen. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
She got in the tub and sliced her arm open.
III
Sam had gotten no response from Mary, but he had had some success with his research. He was currently writing on the map table with a dry-erase marker while he tried to figure out some math.
Dean came in. "What's up, Beautiful Mind?" He asked when he saw what Sam was up to. Their earlier argument seemed forgotten.
"Guess I just figured we can't exactly track Dagon, so I've been reading up on Nephilim, trying to figure out how much time we have before – "
"'Lil Lucifer pops?"
"Yeah. Ok, so we know Kelly got pregnant sometime in early December. According to the lore, Nephilim don't need nine months to get to full term, so I think she will be giving birth around May 18th. Which means – "
"We have less than a month to find her."
"Yeah, and have exactly no idea where to start."
"Then we should start with Harry," Dean said, stubbornly. "He could always find her."
"Dean…"
"I know, I know. But he's got to be tough to kill now."
"He's always been tough to kill, it didn't stop him from dying."
The door to the Bunker opened.
Both brothers looked up in surprise.
"Cas," Sam said, wonderment in his voice.
"Hello," Cas responded as he came down the stairs, as if he had just stepped out for a couple of minutes.
"Hey. You're alright. Um – where have you been?"
Dean looked pissed. "Let me rephrase that for Sam. Where the hell have you been? And why have you ignored our calls? And prayers."
Cas didn't wince – he didn't do that, but Dean knew him well enough to recognize that he would've if he were human.
"I have been…out of network," he said.
"Where's Gabriel?" Sam demanded.
Cas looked at him with surprise. "Gabriel? I have no idea. I was in Heaven."
"Yeah. We guessed as much," Dean said harshly. "Which is why we sent him to go and find you and bring you home. We need all-hands-on-deck right now."
"Gabriel went to Heaven?" Cas asked, sounding surprised.
"You better not be lying to us, Cas," Dean warned. "We have exactly zero patience for any sort of bullshit from you."
"I was working with the angels. I am sure that if Gabriel had come, I would have been aware. When I failed to find Kelly, I – I thought they could help."
"And?" Sam asked.
"Nothing," Cas said, a sad look on his face.
"Well, at least you're back. We're glad you're back."
Dean looked at Sam like he had grown a second head. "Really? No, I'm sorry. Ok, 'cause while you were striking out in Heaven, a Prince of Hell got a hold of Harry. And we had a shot at Dagon, and we lost."
Castiel sighed. "I know. I received your messages. I'm sorry about Harry."
"Oh, you did – you did receive the messages? Ok, that's good."
"What did you mean that you are sorry about Harry?" Sam asked, his heart beating quickly. "What do you know?"
Cas shook his head. "Not much. Just that he was taken by Asmodeus."
"Do you know if he's still alive?" Sam asked, fearing the answer.
Cas gave him a confused head tilt. "Of course, he is," he said. "His life force is so strong that, if he were to die, it would not go unnoticed. Not on Earth or in Heaven."
Sam let out a breath that he didn't even know he had been holding. He slumped in his chair. He had accepted that his brother was dead. Again. He hadn't dealt with it – there was too much going on but in the back of his mind…
Dean sent him a smug look, which, for once, Sam didn't mind. "I told you!"
Sam nodded in acknowledgment.
"This doesn't mean you're forgiven," Dean hissed at Cas. "You ditched us. You ignored us. All when we really could've used the backup."
"Dean, I – "
"What the hell is wrong with you, man? You know, whatever. That's…" he laughed darkly. "Yeah. Welcome back." He walked away.
III
Asmodeus contemplated Harry.
The angel was slumped on the floor, covered, head to toe in bruises and abrasions. His skin was deathly pale and he had lost a great deal of weight in the time that he had been held captive.
As it turned out, having his grace slowly siphoned out was turning him into less of an angel and more of a human. This meant that he needed to sleep, which he was regularly denied, and he needed to eat, although food was very rarely given to him.
This wasn't Asmodeus' first angel. It wasn't even his first Nephilim, although he wasn't sure that the young man in front of him could be classified as such.
Now that he had consumed grace from this strange angel/human hybrid he felt that he understood his powers on a different level.
Where angels were hard-wired for obedience this one didn't seem to have the same operating system. Which, if Asmodeus hadn't had a chance to play with Nephilim in the past, he might have placed the blame on the boy's human side.
But it wasn't that.
Angel's power came from faith. In service. Sometimes that service was to Heaven or God or one of the Archangels. But not this one. It wasn't that Harry lacked faith. He believed in his brothers something strong. And, to a less astute demon, his blind belief that the lives of his loved ones ranked far above his own life may appear to be the same as other angels who fought and died for their brethren. But this was something different. Something he didn't understand. Something that he didn't feel like he'd be able to understand until the damn boy gave up his grace willingly.
Stolen grace wasn't unsatisfying. He was feeling more powerful already and he knew that it would fuel him for quite some time. But it wasn't what he wanted.
He wanted submission. He wanted subservience. All he had gotten so far was a couple of tears, shouts of pain, and some whimpers. No begging for it all to stop. No fear. He wanted to break this being down and reshape him in whatever way he chose.
And this abomination wouldn't give him. What. He. Wanted. With each thought, he delivered kicks to the already injured angel.
He started to cough, shattering the illusion that he was unconscious.
"Feel better?" The boy croaked out, as if he just had a cold, not that his throat was ripped to shreds from screaming in pain.
Asmodeus had left his mouth ungagged because he had wanted – no, needed to hear his screams earlier in the day and had forgotten to put it back in.
" 'Cause you know, if torture isn't doing it for you anymore, I'm sure we can come up with…"
With as much force as he could, which was a significant amount more because of the grace racing through his veins, Asmodeus bodily lifted Harry as far up as the chain would allow (which wasn't very far) and then slammed him to the ground, both restricting his breathing and knocking the wind out of him at the same time.
But it did not wipe the smirk on his face. He spat a tooth out on the floor.
"That's six, in case you lost count," Harry said. "I notice that they disappear from the floor when I wake up – are you making some sort of weird necklace? Because I have to say, mate…"
Asmodeus reached out and tore more feathers off of the angel's wings, making him cry out in pain rather than finish what he was saying. The wings were looking quite sparse now – he briefly considered what he would do when they ran out. He didn't let it worry him too much. As usual, he stuffed as many as he could as far down the boy's throat as possible.
Inspiration struck him before he used a cloth to keep the feathers in. Maybe the boy would think twice about sassing him if he added something…extra to the gag. Cloth was too soft. He conjured some barbed wired and cruelly wound it tightly around the angel's head, doubling and tripling it up so that it kept everything in.
That made the waterworks start, much to Asmodeus' satisfaction. It wasn't submission, but it was something. He leaned in close to the boy's face and licked the tears off his face as they started to fall.
"Now, I didn't bring my special needles with me today, so that will have to wait. But I could use a little pick me up…"
III
Sam was in the library, again. Dean came in.
"Hey, come on, man. Get some sleep, alright? You're not gonna find Dagon or Harry tonight." Dean was worried about Sam. He wasn't sleeping much – and spending hours upon hours with his nose stuck in books.
Sam had a realization. "Dean, what if we've been going about this whole thing the wrong way, you know? I – I mean, we – we can't track Dagon, right? We know that. We've tried. But – but what if we can track the Nephilim?"
"How?"
"Well, ok, the baby's half-angel, right? So, remember Gadreel?"
"The psycho angel who took your body for a test drive? Yeah, what about him?"
"Alright, well, there was this, uh, there was this spell – Cas and I were working on it to – to find him."
"Yeah, but it didn't work."
"Yeah," Sam agreed.
"You needed Gadreel's grace, and he couldn't yank enough out of you."
"Of course," Sam chuckled.
"Of course, what?" Perpetually three steps behind his genius younger brother.
"Of course, I am an idiot!"
"Well, there's no argument there," Dean quipped.
"No, stop," Sam said. "Dean – the grace extraction. The tracking spell was a bust, right? But the extraction worked."
"So?"
"So, what if Cas used it on Kelly's kid? I mean, a Nephilim's just a human soul with angelic grace, right? So, you remove the grace – "
"Kid's just a kid," Dean finally understood.
"Kid's just a kid. Or, worst case, we leave a little in and he's a wizard. Probably a strong one, but…that way, Kelly wouldn't have to die, and – and then we wouldn't have to worry about killing him might do to Harry."
Harry. Of course.
"What would it do to Harry? 'Cause of the whole…connection thing?"
Sam shook his head. "There's no lore on that. We have no way of knowing."
"But it's better than killing him? And, if he's just a wizard, we could keep him under control?"
"I think so."
"Hot damn."
"Hot damn," Sam agreed. He laughed. He couldn't believe it. There might be a way out of this whole mess. "I mean, we still obviously have to find Kelly in the first place. And it's just a theory, but – "
Dean had no doubt in Sam's abilities. "No, no, no. No. That's – this is it. This is it, Sam," he said. "I'll go get Cas."
Dean practically skipped over to the room that Cas had been staying in and knocked on the door. "Cas? Yo, Cas?" When the angel didn't answer, Dean opened the door. He flicked on the light. The room was empty. Castiel was gone.
III
"Did you really think that was gonna work?" Dagon as Kelly as she chained the woman back up to the wall. "You get the chance to be Mary of Nazareth, Part 2, Evil Jesus Edition."
Kelly looked down at her belly with wonderment. "He's not," she said.
"Excuse me?"
"He's not. My baby's not evil. He saved me," she couldn't believe it. But she could feel him. And she was sure that it was him, not Lucifer tricking her this time. She felt light and love and baby giggles. She wondered if this is what Harry had been able to sense.
"That's what you think happened?" Dagon laughed. "Uh, he saved himself. He doesn't care about you. Nothing's changed. He's born, you die. But don't worry. I'll be there, right by his side, to nurture him, to love him, to help him to kill everything. You know, like a mother should."
Kelly tuned her out. It wasn't true. This baby – her Jack, he was light. He was good. She smiled to herself.
III
Castiel got out of his truck and sighed. He had to remember that he was doing this for the right reasons.
"Hello, brother," Kelvin greeted him. "Is it done?"
"Yes," Castiel said, handing him the Colt.
"Bullets?"
"There were only two in the chamber, and I couldn't exactly ask for more."
"It's enough. One for Dagon."
"Yeah. And one for Kelly." He didn't like it. But he didn't think that Sam and Dean had it in them to kill her. He had failed to prevent so many bad things from happening to them. He hoped that he could spare them this one act.
"They're close. The celestial pulse we felt, Joshua, tracked it to a house nearby."
Cas' phone rang. He looked down to see that Dean was calling. With a heavy heart, he rejected the call. He could talk to his friend when this was all over.
"And Joshua is still keeping Gabriel occupied?" The last thing they needed was the Archangel here to screw up the plan. He had lied to Sam and Dean. Again.
Currently, Joshua was working with him and a battalion of angels to try and find Harry. They were earnestly looking, but he made sure that Gabriel's attention was focused solely on the missing angel. Castiel was a little concerned that there was something more sinister behind it, but he couldn't worry about too many things at once. When Kelly was taken care of, he would personally help lead the search for Harry.
Sam and Dean would have their brother. There would be no more threat from the Nephilim child of Lucifer. All steps in the right direction. With Gabriel in Heaven, he even had hope that the Archangel could be convinced to help lock Lucifer away, or better yet, kill him once and for all. Gabriel and Harry's power should be a strong enough match to take on the Devil.
"Yes, of course, brother," Kelvin said. "And having an archangel back in Heaven – it just feels right, doesn't it?"
Castiel didn't care one way or another, but he nodded anyway.
"You're doing the right thing, you know," Kelvin tried to reassure him. "Committing to Joshua's plan, putting angelkind above the Winchesters. I mean, your reputation in Heaven is – "
"This has nothing to do with my reputation. I am doing this for the Winchesters."
Another angel appeared.
"Hozai," Cas greeted.
"Castiel. Dagon, the girl, they're in the house."
"Showtime," Kelvin said.
III
Gabriel wasn't dumb. He knew that the other angels thought that he was – but he was used to being underestimated. Which was, quite frankly, a slap in the face. They had all practically worshipped Michael and then Raphael. Even Castiel had been treated like God when he had demanded it, but not Gabriel-the-screwup.
He knew that Castiel was up to something and that Joshua was trying to keep him occupied. Focused on Lucifer rather than Kelly or Harry. Really, it was ridiculous. He had known Joshua since his creation. He was one of the first non-archangels created. His father had always liked chatting with the guy. Which was enough to make Gabriel's blood boil.
But his priorities had to be straight.
Harry had been missing for over a week.
Over a week at the hands of Asmodeus. He had no reason to believe that the demon had actually sold Harry to the highest bidder. In some ways, that would have been ideal, because it might have made him easier to find.
Gabriel was familiar with Asmodeus. In fact, he had believed that he had been the one who had struck the killing blow to the Prince of Hell. What the demon had done to angels. To Nephilim was enough to make even Gabriel feel sick. The thought that he had Harry in his clutches made him red with fury and desperately worried about what they would find when they finally located his friend.
There was also humiliation in believing that he had killed the monster, when he, in fact, had not. The only thing that made him feel better about that was the fact that his brothers had obviously failed in their attempts to wipe out all the Princes of Hell. Four had survived far longer than any of them had ever had any idea.
They had hidden well.
And that was the problem. Asmodeus was a master at hiding from archangels. He had been off the radar for millennia.
But Gabriel could feel Harry. They were connected. His pulling Harry down from Heaven wasn't unlike how Castiel had pulled Dean up from Hell. And the deal he had made with his father had connected them further.
He knew that Harry was alive. But that was it. He had no idea what kind of state he was in. And he was beginning to get desperate. Which led his thinking to change. It was clear to him that Heaven was going to be no help in the search. These angels couldn't find their own assholes if a demon had hidden them.
So, Gabriel was going to have to change what he was doing. The definition of insanity, after all, was trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Although this course of action could also be classified as insane.
Clearly, Lucifer was somewhere on the Earth. He wasn't in the Cage. But he couldn't be free either. Gabriel wasn't fool enough to think that his warding would have kept his older brother away from where he was hiding Kelly. Or rather, where he was hiding his unborn child.
He couldn't find Kelly himself. He couldn't find Harry either. Both Dagon and Asmodeus were managing to evade him and all of Heaven. But if Lucifer was free, it was likely that he could find both. It was risky.
And there was really only one person, or rather, demon, that he thought would be able to hold his brother for any length of time. The skeevy asshole might creep him out, but he did owe him one. After all, he hadn't been able to keep Harry safe when he had promised he would.
Now, to figure out how to leave Heaven without the angels realizing it.
That, he was an old pro at, at least.
Gabriel would find Crowley. And Lucifer. From there, he would get his Winchester back and the rest they could deal with later. Maybe he'd find a sequestered place just for the two of them. Where there were no more threats. No brothers. No annoying Devil babies.
He'd need a long, hot, shower, to get the stink of Heaven off him, but after that, all bets were off.
III
"This is my voicemail," the message said. "Make your voice…a mail."
Sam sighed and hung up the phone.
"Let me guess – no answer."
"I mean, how did Cas even get the Colt out of the safe in the first place?" Sam asked.
Dean looked embarrassed. Sam raised his eyebrow.
"Dean, you – you put the Colt back in the safe, right? Dean?"
"It was under my pillow," Dean admitted. "It – I liked to keep it close. He came into my room and he played me."
"Yeah, he played us both. Again," Sam said.
That snapped Dean's attention. "Do you think it's like when…"
Sam shook his head. "Not really. But remember the last time he acted this cagey?"
"No – he wouldn't. He promised. He – Harry trusts him now."
"Harry doesn't always have the best judgment," Sam said. "And Cas has changed. I know that. I want to believe that he wouldn't hurt Harry but at the same time…"
Dean's face hardened. "Well, I say we find him and we kick his feathered ass."
"He wouldn't have taken the Colt if he wasn't going up against something big."
"Ok. I say we find him, figure out what's going on, and then we kick his feathered ass."
III
"What's wrong, babe?" Charlie asked Luna. The two of them had been working around the clock, so it was a bit of a stupid question to ask, but the blonde woman looked particularly upset. "We'll find him. And, you know, he's Harry Potter."
"Everything's in chaos," Luna said. "Can't you feel it, swirling around us?"
Charlie sighed. She knew Luna was tired when she started talking like Yoda. Her girlfriend was kickass, but that didn't mean that she wasn't also a little odd.
"You know I can't," she said.
Luna looked down, forlornly. "I've not spoken much to you about it – but my family has a special connection to angels. I can…feel them. Sometimes, they choose to hide from me. Or they are hidden by others, but I have a sense. Losing Harry was hard for all of us, but, even though he was in Heaven, I was still connected. I prayed to him. And I knew he was listening. But now – I can't feel him."
Charlie froze. "Do you think that he's dead?"
The witch shook her head. "No. I would know. This is something different. I feel like he needs my help but I can't hear him. I just want to help him. He's my friend and needs me."
Charlie gathered Luna into a hug, to try and comfort her. She knew that Luna felt the same way about Harry that she did about Dean.
But there was something pinging her in the back of her mind. "Luna – did you say that you have a connection to the angels? And it's genetic?"
Luna pulled away a little. "Yes. It's in my blood."
"In your blood," Charlie repeated. "Could – you know I was reading this book the other day and…" Charlie ran out of the room. There was a lot of rustling and what sounded like a stack of books falling over. 'Ouch,' came from the distance. But before Luna could go to help, Charlie was back in the room, holding a large tome.
"I've got a theory," she said. "We may want to call Sam. We're gonna need another set of eyes on this and he's pretty good at this witchcraft stuff."
"He's a wizard," Luna pointed out.
Charlie waved her off. "Yeah, yeah, I know, but he's been studying this for some time."
She already had her phone out.
"Sam," she said, as the hunter answered. She put him on speaker.
"Charlie, is everything alright?" He asked, sounding concerned. She supposed that she didn't call him very often.
"Yeah, but I think I've figured something out. A key, of sorts, are you familiar with Maria Bertoletti Toldini's Grimoire?"
"Yeah. I read that a couple weeks back, but wasn't she insane? Cerebral, unproven, mind magic. The Earth magic equivalent of occlumency. No one has ever gotten it to work."
"Do you know how often women ahead of their time were called crazy?" Charlie asked more harshly than she normally would.
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry. What do you think you've found?"
"A concrete way to track supernatural beings."
There was a hesitation on the other end. "Really? Finally?"
"Yeah. I think so. How quickly can you get here?"
"I'm on the road with Dean. Cas is up to something."
"Castiel is back? Way to bury the lead, dude!"
"It was quick. He took off real quick. But I managed to put a tracker on his phone so he couldn't disappear again. At least not on Earth."
"I'll e-mail you the deets then. Take a look at them? Sam – I'm really worried about Harry," she looked up at Luna.
Sam sighed. "Join the club. I'll take a look."
"Thanks." Charlie hung up.
"How good is your theoretical knowledge of Earth blood magic?" She asked Luna.
Luna raised an eyebrow. "Passing. Do you have some books for me to read?"
"Of course. Let me grab 'em for you. Luna – I really think I might have it now. But I'm going to have to do some calculating. Are you alright if we hunker down for a bit longer?"
Luna's eyes shined. "Of course not. This is to help Harry, right?"
Charlie nodded. "Yeah. I'll get the books and some snacks. You brew some coffee."
Luna smiled and nodded.
III
"Crowley," Gabriel said when he appeared in the King of Hell's self-described throne room.
The demon looked up with surprise. It took a lot to surprise him and the last person he expected to show up was Gabriel. A bevy of emotions circled through him – fear, surprise, excitement. He, of course, kept his face as blank as possible. But from the smirk on the Archangel's face, he knew that he hadn't been successful. "Halo," he greeted as evenly as possible. "What brings you to my humble abode?"
Gabriel snorted. "You have something that I need," he said. "And last I recall, you owe me one so…I'm here to collect."
Crowley feigned innocence. "Oh? And what might that be?"
With a quick flick of Gabriel's hand, Crowley was forcefully thrown back and fell hard on the floor. The archangel was on him in a second, lifting him by the lapels of his Armony suit. "Don't fuck around with me," he said, with fierce intensity. "Did you really think that you could hide the fact that you have my last remaining brother held captive? And not in his cage, where he should be."
"I haven't the foggiest of what you could be referring to," Crowley said, "now if you could kindly unhand me, this suit cost more than every piece of clothing the Winchesters have ever bought. In their entire lives."
Gabriel had no patience for this. Sure, the little weasel held a certain…entertainment value, but it had long since gotten old. And he was no longer so powerful that he held any sort of usefulness that he might have. He raised his hand to smite the smarmy son-of-a-bitch.
"Wait," Crowley said, knowing what was coming. "If you kill me, you'll not be able to reason with him."
Gabriel was not convinced. He didn't think that Lucifer was someone who could be reasoned with.
"No, really, more than that," Crowley started to beg. "I already owe you. You own me. I can help."
It was cowardly, but Gabriel sensed that the demon was telling the truth. That he truly did have something to offer him. He dropped him. "Well?"
"Lucifer. He's not just my prisoner. He's my slave. He has bowed to my authority and I have him under my complete and total control."
Gabriel was almost unable to hide his amusement. "Is that so?"
"Yes," Crowley said, standing upright and brushing off the imaginary dirt on his suit. "I could transfer that control to you. You could do whatever you'd like with him. Then we'd be even."
"What makes you think that I want my own brother as a slave?" Gabriel asked, slightly horrified at the thought. Lucifer was a big old bag of dicks and he wanted him caged. Possibly dead for what his demon was doing to Harry, but he couldn't imagine for a second that Lucifer was actually cowed in any way nor that anyone could keep him that way.
"If I had a brother, I'd happily take this kind of control over him," Crowley said. "My enchantments are quite advanced. I'll hand it all over to you. Just leave me be."
"Or, I could just smite you here and now and take what I want," Gabriel pointed out, but without any real heat in his voice. Crowley was low-balling him and he knew it.
"Please," Crowley drawled, knowing that he had caught the archangel's interest. "If you were going to smite me you would have done so already." He walked away from where he was standing and went to sit back on his throne. "You're curious."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed. "Say I was. Lucifer would negate what you owe me, but it's not enough to justify your continued existence."
"What I have is too big for you to have both," Crowley said. "I'll allow you to…speak to him. If you let me keep him subjugated, let him stay under my thumb, I can give you something you want more. Something life-changing. Far more valuable than your brother, who is already taken care of."
Gabriel was…intrigued. Crowley certainly had a silver tongue and he wasn't blinded by that fact. "Alright. Tell me."
Crowley did.
Gabriel whistled. "That's a mighty large offering."
"I know," Crowley said with a smug smile. "Really, you're coming out on top, and you know, I'm never this altruistic. Take it or leave it."
Gabriel thought quickly. Talking to Lucifer was tricky. His brother was slippery and might somehow weasel out of giving him the information he wanted. But he could do that even if Gabriel had him in his custody. And, honestly, he didn't want to the responsibility of dealing with the dick. This might actually have him coming out on top.
"Ok, Crowley. It's a deal. Now, let me talk with my brother," he looked at the demon expectantly.
"Not so fast," Crowley said. "I think you're forgetting something."
Gabriel quirked an eyebrow. "You want an official deal?"
"Naturally. It's my love language, darling. And quite simple."
Signing something official didn't matter to Gabriel. If Crowley didn't hold up his end of things, he could just kill him. And, honestly, he had had very little fun in his life since Harry was taken, and this was interesting. A great story to tell his friend when they finally rescued him.
Negotiations ensued as Crowley laid out a comically long piece of parchment. The two of them bickered, tried to undercut each other, and played tricks, until finally, with subsection 32b, Gabriel was confident that he had the upper hand.
It didn't show on his face, but the relief that Crowley felt when they had both signed it was palpable. He really thought that he was dead.
"Sealed the regular way?" He asked when they were all done.
"You're not the sexy Brit of my dreams, but why the hell not? You've made enough deals – I would hope that you would be a decent enough kisser."
Crowley stood from his throne and moved in front of Gabriel. Leaning down just slightly, he planted one straight on Gabriel's lips.
Gabriel wasn't one to be outdone, so he grabbed the side of Crowley's face and really leaned into it. He had been right – Crowley was quite talented at this, and he may have allowed the kiss to linger a little longer than strictly necessary.
III
It had been an agonizingly long time since Asmodeus had been to the room where Harry was being kept.
Most of Harry's existence had become agony, though, so in the grand scheme of things he supposed that this wasn't entirely shocking.
He had no idea how long he had been here. The days and hours blended together. There was no light other than the holy fire that surrounded him, keeping him prisoner.
However, after each time his grace was forcefully taken, he noticed something. The fire got less…hot. Sure, it was still fire but it wasn't irritating his skin the same way. It was rather more like he was too close to a campfire, not that his whole body was on fire.
At first, it had been a very small relief. Except when the pain of being burned all day every day faded, the thirst and hunger pangs replaced that pain.
Hunger was something that he was used to. It had been ingrained in him from an early age.
The Dursleys hadn't precisely starved him. With the exception of the summer between his first and second years, he hadn't feared starving to death. And then, it was mostly because he fed as much of his food as possible to Hedwig.
Granted, the food he had been given had been…not great. The burnt ends of toast. Overcooked, soggy, vegetables that Dudley had refused to eat.
Harry knew that many (including his brothers as well as Ron and Hermione) believed that he had been abused as a child. And, sure, his childhood hadn't been ideal. He hadn't felt loved. Or accepted. But his very basic needs had been met. Sometimes, he wondered if the Horcrux planted in his famous scar is what turned the Dursleys particularly nasty. After all, after wearing one for only a couple of months, the Horcrux locket had turned his best friend against him. What had a decade of exposure to him done to his aunt and uncle?
(He had once told his mind healer this argument and the man had not been impressed. Said that Harry had had plenty of friends at Hogwarts who spent far more time in direct contact with him over the years and none of them abused him. Harry had protested being called abused and refused to talk about it ever again.)
Harry hadn't thought about the Dursleys in…well, honestly, hundreds of years. He had completely forgotten about them during his time in Heaven and he hadn't even thought of looking Dudley up to tell him that he was alive when he returned.
He wondered what Dudley would think about his brothers.
Harry laughed to himself. He couldn't see that meeting going well.
Laughing hurt. Harry started coughing so hard that he couldn't stop. If he had had any food in his system, or even water, he would have thrown it up.
Water.
He was parched. The fire made the room hot and dry. He was sure that, under the barbed wire that covered his mouth, his lips were chapped raw.
Harry hated the wire. Worse, he had somehow indicated that hatred to Asmodeus so the demon was sure to keep it on him.
He tried to give nothing to the bastard, but he could only control so much.
He shook his head a little. The dehydration must be getting to him because he felt like he was losing his mind. If only he could have some water…
It started to rain.
For a couple of seconds, Harry wondered if he was hallucinating. But no. He could feel the coolness of the water as it hit his scorched skin. It took a couple of moments after that for him to attempt to tilt his head back to try and catch the falling water, only to be thwarted by the chain around his neck. So, he twisted his head to the side, at an awkward angle, to catch as much of the miraculous water as he could.
After drinking his fill three times over, Harry was feeling better than he had since he was first taken by Asmodeus.
Which gave him the ability to realize that he had just done wish magic. And it hadn't hurt. At least – he did a quick inventory of what he was feeling. No, it was not like the burning that spread through his veins when he used his grace.
The rain was still falling. It hadn't extinguished the flames that kept him prisoner, but they had lessened. Harry tried again – an alohomora on the collar around his neck. It clicked open. Still no pain.
Gingerly, he moved from his forced position on his aching knees to sitting flat on his bum.
He let a sigh of relief.
Harry rolled his shoulders and neck, which was painful but glorious at the same time. His muscles cried out in protest but it felt so good. Next, he got the manacles around his ankles released and he shifted position again to move his legs around.
Lastly, he tried to get the handcuffs off. With his hands, he'd be able to carefully remove the wire that encircled his head.
'Alohomora,' he thought. Nothing.
Hmmm.
'ALOHOMORA,' he said as loudly as he could manage with the gag still in his mouth.
That time he tried to put a little extra oomph into the spell and ended up crying out in pain as the grace, which he thought had been completely drained from him, burned in his body.
'Too much,' he thought, cursing himself and panting while he recovered from an attempt to use enough grace to be angelic rather than just magical. He could practically hear Sam's questions about how this was possible, when wizarding magic was made from the remnants of angelic grace, but honestly, he didn't really care why. He just cared that it worked.
After he had recovered and concluded that the handcuffs must have something special on them, he used magic to loosen the barbed wire. Carefully and using as little power as possible, he was able to get it completely removed and spit the feathers that had been stuffed in his mouth out on the floor.
After that, he did raise his head to the ceiling and just drank and drank and drank and drank. The water filled his empty stomach and soothed his skin.
Risking a little, he made the rain come down harder. It was like he was getting a proper shower. The water wiped away the blood and grime that had been built up…well everywhere. A couple of low magic healing spells better, Harry finally took his chances with standing.
With his hands still chained behind his back and his knees sore and tired from kneeling for what must have been weeks at this point, it was a difficult task and he fell several times in the attempt.
But finally, with great determination, he was able to get up.
And, to his surprise, in that time, the hard rain that he had brought down just to feel a little clean again, had drowned out the flames entirely.
He canceled the spell so that he could look around more properly. His glasses were long gone, so he was blind as a bat (he also didn't have the time to contemplate how he could have become an angel and yet still have the eyesight of James Potter), but even without 20/20 vision, he could see the long table near a door.
On the table were all the instruments that had been used to torture him.
It made him shiver a little, looking at the whips and knives and other implements that had caused him so much pain, but he quickly pushed the trauma of that down like a proper Winchester and focused on what he had at his disposal.
He spotted the pen knife that Asmodeus had used at some point to make about a hundred tiny cuts all over his body, still covered in his blood, and thought, 'perfect.'
Harry turned his back to the table to be able to grip the knife in his hands. This was particularly difficult because he had to navigate around the physical presence of his wings. It took him several minutes, but it felt like he was working with muscle memories from that summer when he and Dean had picked lock after lock after lock, trying to one-up each other with their abilities. Harry had never felt this grateful that he and Dean had disliked each other so much as children.
The lock clicked open and the cuffs fell to the ground.
With a great groan, Harry let his arms fall to his sides for the first time in what felt like years.
He allowed himself approximately two minutes to flex his muscles and do some stretches before he turned to his next task.
The door.
He touched the handle.
And got blasted back to the far side of the room. Straight into the air until he hit the opposite wall with a sickening crack and crumbled to the ground.
He didn't have time to right himself or even shake off the dizziness before the door came flying open.
Looking more furious than Harry had ever seen him (although, to be sure, he had rarely been able to see the whole demon) was Asmodeus, his eyes bright yellow.
Harry flinched.
To his surprise, the anger melted off Asmodeus' face and was replaced with an extremely unpleasant smile.
"What do we have here?" He asked, walking forward. Harry tried to scuttle to the wall, away from him. If he could get his body to move, he might be able to get up and run out the now, wide-open door. "I've been waitin' for this moment, boy," he drawled. "I knew that you still had fight in you and you have not disappointed."
With a held-out clenched first, Harry felt his windpipe being crushed. The little progress he had made to get to his feet was lost as he fell to the ground again, gasping for air.
Asmodeus walked slowly and deliberately towards him, keeping the pressure on his throat. When he got close enough, he released the demon magic and wrapped his hand around Harry's neck.
"Now the real fun can begin," he said.
He dropped Harry. And the angel knew no more.
III
Dean knocked on the door.
After a couple of seconds it opened, and to his relief, although he definitely did not let that show on his face, Cas was on the other side.
Cas was pointing the Colt at him.
Dean gave him a hard look. "Yeah, that's mine," he said, taking it out of Cas's hands before shoving the angel against the wall. "What the hell are you thinking, huh?"
"Dean!" Sam, who had entered behind his brother, called out.
"What?"
He looked up. Kelly was standing at the entrance of the bathroom.
"Kelly?" He asked.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," Sam said back.
"How'd you find us?" Cas demanded.
"Well, while you were scamming me for the Colt, Sam put a tracking app on your phone."
Castiel shot a betrayed look at Sam.
"Cas, when you came back, you didn't even look us in the eye," Sam said by way of explanation. "You wanna explain what's going on here?"
"Yeah. I found Dagon," he said.
"And?"
"Did you kill her?"
Cas sighed. "No." At the look that the brothers gave him, he added, "She's difficult to kill, ok?"
"Yeah. You think?" Dean asked.
"Alright, so what are you doing here, then?"
"I," he sighed, "My truck broke down."
"Then – then why didn't you call us? Cas, we could've helped you," Sam asked, his voice etched with hurt.
"I know," Castiel admitted. "I wanted to keep you out of this. I – I was trying to keep you safe."
"You're not our babysitter," Dean said harshly. "That is not your job. And when in our whole loves have we ever been safe?"
"This is my responsibility because it is my plan," he insisted.
"Your plan?"
"He's taking me to Heaven," Kelly said.
"You – you're taking her to the sandbox?" Dean asked.
"Yes, I'm ending this, once and for all. Kelly and her baby have to die."
"NO!" Sam and Dean spoke with one voice.
Cas looked a little taken aback by the intensity of that response. The two of them shared one of those infuriating looks where they talked without words and he could never interpret.
They seemed to be arguing.
Sam spoke first. "They don't have to die," he said. "Listen, we found another way."
"And you would know that if you would answer your phone."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Cas asked.
"What you did with me, with – with Gadreel, remember? The – the grace extraction. We take the grace from the baby, from the Nephilim, and then the baby just becomes…"
"Human," Cas finished for him.
"Human," Sam agreed.
"Wait a minute," Cas said. "That extraction, it nearly killed you."
"Yeah, but it didn't," Sam argued.
"Because we didn't finish it. We don't even know if this would work."
"What's the worst case, here?" Sam asked. "If we can't extract it all, maybe we can just extract enough so that he's not an angel, but rather, a wizard. Like Gabriel created."
Cas looked at him sharply. "That's not how it worked."
"There are kinks, yes, but it's a plan," Dean said, not wanting to get into a deep philosophical discussion. "And it beats the hell out of certain death. Am I right?"
"No," Kelly said, as she started storming out of the room.
"Hey, Kelly," Sam tried to stop her. "Hey, wait, wait. Wait a second, look. We – we can't imagine what you've been through, ok? But we promised we'd find another way, and we did. We found a better way. This can work," he was pleading with her. He almost said that his brother's life depended on it, but he wasn't sure if that would make the situation better or worse. From their silent argument earlier, Dean thought it was best not to tell the two of them. And Sam was on the fence enough to go along with it.
"I'm going with Castiel," she said stubbornly.
"No, Kelly, if you go with Cas, you die. Your baby dies," 'Harry dies,' he thought.
"I go with you, you take away the thing that makes him special," she said.
"How does that matter if you're both dead?"
"That's the only thing that matters," she insisted.
"Ok, this girl has lost her mind," Dean said.
"Hey, Dean," Cas reprimanded.
"Meanwhile, can we take this conversation elsewhere, guys?" Sam frowned. "We're kind of sitting ducks out here."
"Sam's right," Dean said. "Dagon is after Kelly. Your truck broke down. Why don't we get in the Impala, we'll head back to the Bunker, and we'll talk? We'll figure it out."
"Right," Sam said.
"Ok, we'll talk," Cas agreed.
They all left the motel room. Castiel and Kelly headed towards the Impala.
"Great," Dean said. "It's like herding cats," he muttered at Sam.
"Yeah. Ok, so what? We – we go back to the Bunker and we just try to convince them to stay there forever? Don't you think that if we told them about Harry…"
Dean shook his head. But then considered.
"Dean!" Cas called from the Impala, annoyed. He gestured to the door. "Locked!"
Dean tossed him the keys.
"You might be right," he said, grudgingly. "We'll tell them on the way to the Bunker. Kelly knows Harry right?"
"Pretty sure," Sam agreed. He was pleased that Dean had come around so quickly. He wondered if having seen Harry listening to him made Dean think about it more seriously. "And we still don't know if this will work. How connected the two of them are."
"It might make her feel better."
That surprised Sam. He was the one who usually thought about feelings. "Huh?"
"If we say that whatever we do to the baby also happens to Harry, she'll know that we don't want to hurt it."
"Him," Sam corrected.
"Right, him, and…" he stopped short. The Impala was moving. Someone else was driving his car!
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" Dean called out.
"Hey, hey!" Sam joined in with the yelling. The tires squealed and Dean winced.
All they could do was stare as Kelly sped the car away from them.
"Son of a bitch!"
III
Gabriel wished it wasn't the case, but instead of the glee he expected to feel seeing his evil brother trussed up in chains, he felt a pang of…he wasn't sure what. But not happiness. It wasn't funny. It was pathetic.
He did get a tiny, little bit of pleasure from the look of utter and complete shock on his brother's face.
"Gabriel?" He mumbled through a bit gag in his mouth.
"Surprised?" Gabriel asked.
He didn't respond to that.
"Crowley – get lost," Gabrel ordered the King of Hell.
"That wasn't part of our deal," Crowley growled. "Whatever you need to ask your brother dear you can ask him in front of me."
"Have it your way then," Gabriel said. He snapped his fingers and Crowley found himself without hearing or sight.
"HEY!" He shouted loudly.
Gabriel also cut off his ability to speak before ignoring the demon altogether. He also vanished the gag in his brother's mouth.
"This isn't a social visit, then?" Lucifer asked as he flexed his jaw. "I have to say, Gabe, you're lookin' better than I thought you would. Tan. Rested."
"Cut the crap, Lucifer," Gabriel snapped.
"No, really," he kept talking. He always kept talking. "I mean, your little pet has been in the hands of my strongest demons for what…two, two and a half weeks now? I'd think you'd be showing a little more strain and stress."
Gabriel swooped in and put his face directly in from of Lucifer's. "Tell. Me. Where. He. Is."
Lucifer laughed. "Now, why would I do that?"
"Because if you don't, I'll tell this asshole," he indicated to Crowley who was currently gripping at the walls and silently calling out, "how far you've gotten in disassembling the work he's done to keep you here. And whatever pathetic scheme you have going to get yourself free will be foiled. And I imagine it will take you ages to get this far again. Perhaps too long – your son will be born and in the clutches of your enemies."
Lucifer jerked at his chains in anger. "He won't be in their hands for long," he hissed. "Dagon's on it."
"Oh, right, Dagon, the demon that couldn't even find Kelly for months and managed to lose her almost as soon as she had her."
To Gabriel's annoyance, Lucifer didn't get angry again. He smirked in the infuriating, condescending way that only older brothers could to piss off their younger siblings.
"I knew you had her. But, honestly, Gabe, we're brothers, we could work together here. You see, Asmodeus has no intention of letting your little…experiment go. Ever. In fact, I've been getting the most interesting progress reports from him. Did you know that he created a serum that brings an angel's wings to the physical plane? Not only does it make using grace so painful that death would be preferable, but he also has a certain…wing kink, and he really enjoys stripping those feathers from young Harry. The sounds he makes, you know…"
Lucifer was unable to finish that thought because Gabriel punched him straight in the face, forcing his head in the other direction.
"Owie," the Devil said sarcastically. "Really though, you're missing an opportunity here. We want the same things, at the end of the day. I want my son. You want your…I don't know, pet freak. Kind of ironic that they need each other to live, no? Reminds me of that prophecy that hung over your boy's head."
"Are you comparing your child to Voldemort?"
Lucifer let out a loud laugh. "That puny failure? Absolutely not. Unlike you – I expect and demand greatness from my creations. Which is why yours is slowly having the life drained out of him by one of mine."
Gabriel punched him again.
"Woah!" Lucifer called out.
"Tell me, Lucifer. Now."
Lucifer grinned again. "I could. I do happen to know where Asmodeus is keeping your little project, but I think that you have a more pressing issue to deal with it."
"There is no more pressing issue. Cut the crap."
"Oh? So, Castiel and the Winchesters taking Kelly and the baby to Heaven – which will kill both of them, isn't your concern? Because, if my intel is right, and it always is, they are currently approaching what they charmingly call 'the sandbox,' right now."
"Fuck," Gabriel said. He quickly gave Crowley his senses back and flew off.
Lucifer couldn't help but chuckle. Dagon may not be reliable but there would be no stopping Gabriel. Until he was able to get out of this prison – which would be soon, no one would protect his son better. Not while he and his had the Potter boy. This couldn't have worked better than if he had planned it himself.
III
With an outstretched arm and golden-tinged eyes, Castiel smote Dagon out of existence. Or rather, Jack, the child within Kelly, had used Cas's physical body to rid them of the threat.
Sam stumbled forward, still dazed from the fight. "Cas? What was that?"
"It was, um, it was me. But it was also – " he looked at Kelly, is meaning clear. "You're hurt," he said to Dean, whose arm was broken. He healed it. "Thank you for coming to fight for us," he said sincerely to his friends.
"Are you ok?" Dean asked.
"I am. I've been so lost. I'm not lost anymore. And I know now that this child must be born with all his power."
"You can't actually mean that," Sam said. "Born, yes, I won't argue the point there but…"
"Yes," Cas cut him off. "I do. I have faith we have to go."
"Hey, Cas, wait a second. We have to tell you about Harry and…"
"You just have to trust me."
"No, no, no," Dean cut in. "Wait. Ok, whatever that thing did to you, we're not just gonna let you walk away."
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," Sam agreed.
"Yes, it is," Cas reached out and touched Sam's forehead. The large man went down. He turned to Dean.
"Don't," Dean inhaled sharply. Castiel ignored him and knocked him out.
"I'm sorry," Cas said.
He and Kelly walked away.
Leaning on his truck was Gabriel.
"Hey there, little brother. Kelly. Long time no see."
AN – Oi. This one turned into a long one. When I first pulled it to start editing at the beginning of the week, this was about 2,000 words shorter, lol.
Quick summary of the scene with Kelly for those of you who didn't want to read it: Dagon tells her that Lucifer has been manipulating her this whole time and that she has never actually felt anything from the baby. Kelly is then convinced that the baby is evil and she decided to attempt suicide rather than go through with having him. The scene was taken from the show directly, but it's still a bit brutal.
Otherwise, I hope y'all enjoyed. Harry is losing it a little bit, clearly, but Charlie and Luna are on the case. Please know that I do what you to feel horror at the fact that Sam and Dean want to do to Kelly's child what is currently being done to Harry.
I believe that I am going to finish writing this part of the fic really soon! Possibly even this weekend, which is very exciting. I think it will, sadly, end on 26 chapters instead of 25 because I don't think any of you want to read a 20k long chapter, which is what 25 became.
As always, thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of you that are commenting and reviewing. I love hearing your theories, your questions, and your takes. As someone who very rarely comments on anything and reads all the time, I know that this takes special effort on your part and I truly appreciate it.
See you next Friday. 😊