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Neither Doom (movie) nor Supernatural (series) are mine; the characters created for these works remain the property of those who thought them up.
‘Okay, I’ll get your paperwork and documents ready – it will take a day or two, but you guys can hang out here in the meantime. Figure out what you want to do. I’d recommend staying here in Lebanon, because so many of us are either Vets or active Hunters or ex-hunters. It’s really the best place you could be, besides someplace like New York, where you could get lost in the crowds.’
Charlie turned away from them for a moment, then turned back.
‘I assume you’ll want to get the lay of the land before you get some rest. And don’t roll your eyes at me, John Grimm. That C24 in your system did a lot of work healing your body, and you haven’t let it rest and recuperate. Come on in to the kitchen with me, I’ll take you around the yard. Getting a look around town will have to wait until we have your lives completely in place.’
Charlie headed for the dining and kitchen area, and disappeared through the doorway. John, Samantha, and Castiel followed her. Charlie set the dishes in the sink and headed towards the back door on the other side of the room. She stepped out onto the wraparound porch and went to the railing. The kitchen let out on the back corner of the house, and everyone followed Charlie as she walked around to the north side of the house. Charlie’s yard was decent sized for being in town, about a quarter of an acre on a corner lot. John scanned the yard, but didn’t see much. A shed tucked into the northwest corner of the yard, with a couple of gnarled Post Oaks and a riot of bushes and perennials littering the yard. John had no doubt that most of the plants in her yard would serve double duty and be useful in some way. John nodded and made his way along the porch, heading for the east side of the house. The west and south sides of the house faced the street. John strolled along the east side of the porch, watching the neighbor’s yard and house. It all seemed to be quiet.
‘John and Marlene travel a lot since John retired last year. Pity, though. They were good nosy neighbors. I end up house sitting for them when I can.’
John nodded at this and followed the porch back around to the south, watching the neighbors across the street.
‘Ed and Shirley have adult kids that live here in town. They are usually pretty busy, taking the grandkids places and helping out.’
John nodded again and re-entered the house through the front door. He moved into the living room and everyone followed him in. Charlie headed towards the kitchen again; John thought maybe to do the dishes she’d left in the sink.
‘There are three other bedrooms besides mine. There’s one bedroom just over there,’ Charlie nodded off to her right, past John. ‘The downstairs bathroom is this door right here, and there is a connecting door to it from this bedroom.’ Charlie looked at Castiel.
‘Castiel, I know you’ll take care of John and make sure he sleeps. I think that C24 that healed him is going to do some serious damage to his liver and kidneys if he doesn’t rest soon.’ Castiel nodded and soon they heard Charlie doing dishes in the kitchen.
The trio made their way upstairs; John poked his head into the bedroom immediately on their left, which was clearly the master bedroom, and Charlie’s. He poked his head into the door directly across from the stairs, which turned out to be the upstairs bathroom. Then he hooked right and into a hallway, heading for the front corner bedroom Charlie had described. John leaned in the doorway and looked around the small room; barely 12 feet if an inch. There were two windows, one on the south wall and one on the east wall. John could see why Dean had liked the room. It gave an unimpeded view of the street outside, and because the house was the only two story in the neighborhood, it also gave a decent view of the area around the house.
Samantha stood at John’s shoulder, looking around the room with him. She turned to him, and they both spoke at once, again.
‘Will you sit up with me?’
‘Want me to sit up with you?’
They both shook their heads and grimaced.
‘I hate it when this happens.’ Again, spoken as one.
Samantha scooted past John and wasted no time shucking off her shoes and jacket and crawling under the covers. John shook his head and followed suit, though his boots took a bit longer to take off. He crawled under the covers with Samantha, and she laid her head on his chest as he laid back. John pillowed his head on his arms and took a deep breath. If he looked too his left he could just make out a few stars starting to come out.
The stars were so different here than Mars. He felt a twinge of homesickness for a place and people that didn’t exist anymore, and then pushed it from his thoughts. Absently, his hand drifted down to sift through Sam’s hair. Sam was already asleep beside him, her breathing deep and even. She must have been exhausted. John knew he needed to sleep, but he was still wound up from the firefight that Castiel had pulled them from not more than an hour ago.
John glanced over at Castiel sitting in a comfortable wing back chair in corner of the room. Castiel faced the bed, but he could still see out either window if he leaned forward a little. His face was placid as he watched John, but John could tell that not much got past Castiel without being noticed. His hand continued to drift gently through Sam’s hair as he watched Castiel.
‘You need to sleep, John. Your body needs to heal.’
John huffed and looked out the window, watching the faint stars.
‘Can’t you just heal me or something? Can Angels do that, heal people?’
‘Yes we can heal people, but no I cannot heal you. The damage to your body goes down nearly to an atomic level. I cannot heal you without changing what the C24 has done to you, and I cannot predict the effect removing the C24 will have on your body.’
Castiel stood with a rustle of trenchcoat and dress shoes, making his way over to John’s side of the bed. He towered over John, but John didn’t feel threatened; instead he felt oddly reassured of Castiel’s strength and determination. Castiel really had beautiful eyes – a deep sapphire blue that really caught your breath. John felt Castiel’s voice rumble through his bones as he spoke, and wondered if the Angel did it on purpose. Castiel’s voice somehow soothed him.
‘I will watch over you, John, just as I watched over Dean. I will watch over Sam, too. You will be safe, and she will be safe. If anything happens, I will wake you up.’
Castiel crossed his arms and stepped over to the south window, standing just so he didn’t impede John’s view.
John huffed again.
Right. Sleep.
He hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in well over a decade. Even then he’d only managed to sleep a couple hours at a time, and only if Sam, and later on Sarge, was there next to him, ever since their parents died in that freak landslide… John shook the thought from his head and next to him Sam fretted in her sleep. His hand picked up its gentle sifting through her hair and they both sighed deeply after a moment.
‘How old are you, Castiel?’
John didn’t know what possessed him to ask that.
Well, yeah he did - a desire to distract himself from his thoughts.
Castiel kept his gaze out the window, his blue eyes thoughtful. John found himself watching the Angel’s face, just looking at those blue eyes…. Blue like a sunny day, bright, when there were barely any clouds in the sky and the air felt clean and fresh.
‘As you understand time, I am several million years old. The body I inhabit belonged to a devout family man named Jimmy Novak. Jimmy’s body is 30 years old.’
Castiel turned his blue eyes on John and tilted his head. The way he tilted it suggested this was a behavior his friends would be familiar with.
‘Is this the information you seek? Time as humans understand it is so limited and linear, I find it difficult to reconcile with what I know to be true.’
Blue eyes were earnest on his, and for a moment John lost his place in the world.
‘So you’ve seen probably every battle there is to see, then?’
Castiel straightened and nodded to himself, turning his intense blue gaze back to the window and off of John. John felt like he could breathe again.
‘I have fought many battles beside my brothers and sisters, watched many of my brothers and sisters meet the Big Empty – death, as you call it. I have watched mankind wage countless wars, and even fought beside men in some of them.’
Castiel looked over at John and twitched up an eyebrow. John held his breath; blue eyes dominated his vision.
‘Men are some of the bravest, most courageous fighters I have had the privilege to do battle alongside.’
Castiel turned his gaze back to the window again, and John watched his face. He looked weary for a moment, in a way John knew he would never understand.
‘I will watch over you, John Grimm, and I will watch over your sister.’
Castiel turned from the window and stepped over to kneel by the bed. His eyes were honest and blue and endless, and John couldn’t figure out why he kept getting lost in them.
‘If I could heal you, I would, John. Your mind needs time to adjust and heal, too. I sense that it has been a very long time since you have been able to sleep for any length of time, but I am concerned that the changes the C24 have made in your body will not allow me to use ‘Angel Mojo’ to knock you out.’
John turned away from Castiel, burying his nose in Sam’s hair for a moment. He was so tired – so far beyond exhausted it continually surprised him that his body could still function. But sleep eluded him, despite that. He could feel it like a monster lurking at the edge of his vision, and it made him wary. He turned back to Castiel, his eyes full of the weariness he felt.
‘I know, Castiel. I know – believe me. Talk to me for a while, tell me about some of the battles you’ve fought, but not the ones with Dean and Ellen – tell me about your life.’
So Castiel knelt there next to John and talked about his life. He talked about ancient battles that happened before mankind was even a glimmer in the ocean. He talked about watching the progress of mankind, from ocean to land to cave to plain. John listened, captivated in spite of himself. He never really realized it when he finally slipped off to sleep, Castiel’s voice rumbling soothingly in his ears.
Some time later, Samantha awoke to a dark room, quiet like only a rural Midwestern town could be at what was probably the wee small hours of the morning. All she heard was a deep rumbling voice, barely audible, speaking in a language she couldn’t decipher.
‘Castiel?’
Samantha was afraid John would wake up if he heard her voice, so she tried thinking about Castiel instead. It had worked for John during the firefight, anyway. It felt a little odd, though. The tone of the deep voice never changed, never ceased it’s rumbling in foreign tongue, but she felt Castiel in her mind.
‘Yes, Samantha?’
Castiel’s mental voice was as calm as the sun on a summer day and deep as the Marianas Trench; his mind felt immeasurable – endless and eternal, like it was the source of light and life itself – deep incomprehensible strength and time beyond understanding; it made the universe itself feel small.
Samantha felt Castiel smile gently, and a door in his mind gently closed, and she was left with the manageable warmth and intelligence and capability and certainty of the Castiel she knew.
‘I-‘
Samantha had lost her train of thought. She wanted to go back through that door, to just be there again. She felt Castiel’s sad refusal.
‘Not yet, Samantha. You have much to do yet in this life. When it is time.’
A part of Samantha grieved the loss of that place, wherever it was.
‘Was that… heaven?’ Samantha felt Castiel’s smile, in her mind and in the soft bass voice rumbling in the dark near the bed.
‘That was part of my True Form. You are one of a very few humans who can perceive it without insanity and death. Heaven is much more than you can understand.’
‘Is that where John is now?’
Samantha was afraid to know the answer.
‘No. John is sleeping deeply of his own accord. He wanted to listen to me tell stories; I think he finds the sound of my voice soothing. As long as he sleeps, I will keep talking to him.’
‘Can you-‘ Samantha couldn’t finish. Surely if Castiel could heal John, he would have?
‘No, I cannot heal John; the damage is on too deep a level, and the C24 has created too many changes for me to know reliably what effect I will have. He will have to heal naturally. I am sorry, Samantha.’
Samantha huffed quietly in the dark. He was already a miracle worker as far as she was concerned.
‘You got him to sleep more so far than he has at any one time in the last two decades. I can’t remember the last time John slept for more than two hours at a time. As far as I can see, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for.’
Samantha rustled in the dark, and John stirred on the bed. Castiel’s voice became audible, the foreign tongue flowing from his lips in soft, reassuring sentences. As John settled, Samantha realized she couldn’t quite make out the language, despite how familiar it seemed.
‘What language is that?’
‘Enochian. It is the tongue of my brothers and sisters. It is older than any language you know.’
Samantha mentally huffed to herself. She knew Martian languages that pre-dated human civilization on Earth.
‘Even the Martian languages you know have their root in Enochian, Samantha.’
Castiel’s voice in her head was gentle and unjudging. Samantha felt herself at sea; this changed so many things. If Angels knew about the Martians, they could help piece together the culture, help them figure out what happened, and how much C24 had to do with it. She didn’t realize Castiel could pick up on her thoughts until she felt his smile.
‘Now you begin to understand why Angels have kept themselves hidden for so long. Mankind cannot seem to resist the temptation to explore far beyond his own capacities.’
‘But how can you keep that from us? It could help so many people, Castiel!’
‘And how long would it take your governments to find a way to turn it into a weapon? You are not ready.’
‘So people should suffer and die because you think mankind isn’t ready for more knowledge?’
Samantha couldn’t keep the disdain from her mind as she hurled these words at the Angel beside the bed. His voice never faltered from its strange tongue, however; his tone never altered, and she never felt the wrath and anger she feared once the words left her mind.
‘There are worse things than death, Samantha. John and Dean and Ellen have seen that. Death is a part of life, Samantha; death is the door to the next part of the journey, but your minds are not complex enough to comprehend that.’
There was no arrogance in Castiel’s words, only patience beyond time and experience. Samantha nodded to herself. It still frustrated her beyond words, but there was a time and place for that discussion – this was not it. She shook the thoughts from her head.
‘Castiel, I hate to impose but I have to take care of certain things. I know John needs to sleep as long as he will, and if I get out of bed I’ll wake him up.’
‘Certainly, Samantha; it is no imposition at all. Touch my hand and I will transport you to stand at the edge of the bed.’
Samantha touched his hand, and before she knew it, she was standing at the foot of the bed. She rounded the bed and came to stand behind Castiel. John muttered again in his sleep and Castiel’s voice became audible again. John settled down and Samantha caught herself before she brushed a stray hair from his face.