Lawrence, Kansas. 1983.
:
John's arms tightened around his children.
In the space of a few hours, their lives had been turned upside down.
Not only that, what he had witnessed when he entered Sam's nursery had nothing of normality.
His wife, glued to the ceiling, surrounded by blazing flames. What kind of nightmare had they been subjected to?
The baby fussed in his arms but John was too devastated to notice. What he had witnessed would live with him forever but he swore that he'd find an explanation for what had happened to Mary, or die trying.
John was completely unaware of the being, clad in a trench coat, who stood among the public. But while the eyes of the onlookers were concentrated on the firemen's efforts to douse the flames, Castiel's were focused on the little boys held tightly in their father's arms.
:
As the days passed, Castiel kept vigil on the little family, waiting for the right moment to snatch the younger child but the opportunities were few and far between.
John, although he yet knew nothing of the supernatural, had become ultra-protective of his sons, rarely letting them out of his sight.
However, Castiel was in no rush. He had plenty of time.
Even if it took months, sooner or later an opportunity would present itself.
It had to be when both John and Dean were absent. Sam's disappearance needed to fall on the shoulders of someone outside of the family. Only then would Dean grow up without blaming himself for his baby brother's disappearance and be open to friendships with others, including, of course, Castiel.
:
Unfortunately for the angel, the day he managed to take Sam was when John had left him with a woman called Missouri Mosely.
John had paid her a visit a few weeks ago and Castiel had been watching when the human exited her house.
The expression on John's face was a mix of disbelief and determination.
John had received bad news of some kind but he must have trusted the woman because he returned with his kids. For whatever reason, John had left Sam with her while he and Dean had climbed into the Impala and driven off.
:
"Finally," Castiel murmured to himself. This was the moment. It would only take him seconds to flash in and out of the house and grab Sam, leaving Missouri to take the blame for losing the child.
"Who's there," Missouri called as she sensed a faint presence. But it was too late. The toddler was no longer in his buggy. He had vanished.
Missouri's traditional calm disappeared as she called John, overwrought by Sam's disappearance. How could someone have entered and kidnapped the child? John had told her to keep all the windows closed and the doors locked, and to make him happy, she had done just that.
As she told the distraught father, she had felt a presence in the house right before Sam vanished. Whatever had taken him had to have been something supernatural.
But for all her powers, Missouri was unable to uncover anything more about the mysterious thing that had taken Sam.
Dean had been just as distressed as his father. The six-year-old couldn't believe someone had kidnapped his baby brother and that he might never see him again.
While John, Dean, and Missouri were frantic about what had happened, Castiel was in London, England, depositing Sam inside the children's ward of a hospital in the middle of the bustling capital city.
He watched unseen as a nurse picked Sam up and informed the administration that a young child had been found wandering around without an adult.
Satisfied that Sam would be well looked after, he transported back to Lawrence to wait.
Soon Dean would be an adult and Castel was determined that this time he would be the one sitting in the passenger seat of the Impala, a valuable and loving friend and co-hunter to Dean Winchester.
TBC
