Chapter Text
It’s a typical autumn’s Monday morning. Leaves littered the ground underfoot, all golden and red. There’s a chill in the air, winters on its way. The alarm bleeps on the shelf and sunlight peeps thought gaps in the curtains. Angie leaned over, with a grunt, and mashed the buttons on the clock in the hope it would stop. The beeping fades and there was silence. She rolled over, back to the warm spot in the bed and pulled the covers over her face. Five more minutes she thought. But her lie-in was short, shift started in 40 minutes and she couldn’t be late again. She forced herself out of bed and shuffled towards the kitchen. Grabbing a bowl from the cupboard, Angie poured out a large helping of sugary cereal followed by milk. After pulling a spoon out of the draw, she walked over to the sofa and parked herself, cross-legged, in the middle. Still silent. She hated it more than anything. The apartment hadn’t been the same since her room-mate and best friend left. She missed the noise and the fuss she bought to the flat, she missed Nina. She turned the TV on, but she paid little attention to it, just for something to cover up the noiselessness. Nina would be in a new apartment, in a University the other side of the country. Angie shoved cereal into her mouth, awkwardly. She needed a new room-mate, she couldn’t bear the quiet, and she really needed someone to share the rent with. Angie finished her breakfast, dropped the bowl into the sink and walk back towards her bedroom. She rummaged through the pile of clothes on her desk, looking for her uniform. Angie worked at a little coffee and cake shop a few blocks away. She found her shirt, shook out the creases and gave it the sniff test. The smell of coffee was permanently ingrained in the material. She tugged on her shirt and matching pants and did up the buttons. She pencilled in some eyeliner and swept her light pink hair off her face. She pulled up her coat, stepped into her boots and hopped out the door tying her laces.
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The combination of both the Heaven and Hell trials and the elimination of Angels from Heaven had been hard on the hunters. They’d been left broken and scattered but they rebuilt and carried on, like always. Things were starting to look up. Sam’s health was improving. He was eating better, he was up and about a lot more and he had stopped coughing up blood. His cuts and bruises had pretty much healed now. He was still sleeping a lot but his bitch faces had returned Dean knew he’d be fine.
Kevin looked energised. He’d had a stupid amount of sleep and food, and the bags had disappeared from under his eyes. They colour returned to his cheeks, he looked more like the guy Dean remembered when they first met.
Castiel said he was fine, but Dean knew he was just saying that to keep him happy. He could still see the hurt in his eyes. he couldn’t get over what had happened, what he had done to Heaven, to his family. Since Cas’ grace had been taken, his face was cold and lines were permanently etched into his brow. Dean knew it would take time to adjust to his new ‘human’ lifestyle. He tried to keep him occupied with things around the Men of Letters’ HQ. They cleared more rooms across the bunker. They started with two bedrooms; one for Kevin and one for Cas. But Cas was still very quiet; he would spend most of his time in his room. Or sat on the roof of the bunker and would stare blankly at the sky. Dean would drive about a lot, to get groceries or trying to help Angels that had fallen locally. He knew he couldn’t help them all but he did his best.
Sam had continued to read through the mountains of books, boxes and files in search of a way to reverse the trials. He thought to himself, There must be something in here that could help.
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After a few minutes’ walk, Angie arrived at The Coffee Pot. It was a little shop, sandwiched between a hair salon and a Chinese take-away. It looked like it had been there for years, older than the rest of the street. The bricks were a different colour and didn’t match the other shops. Angie liked her job, she liked talking to new people and watching the world go by and the people she worked. Angie opened the front door with a key that looked as ancient as the rest of the store and picked up the mail that had been pushed through the letter box. People drifted in and out of the shop all day, just like any other day. It was just before she was about to leave when Angie noticed the straggly young man in the corner of the room. He’d been sitting in the same place for hours, she remembered serving him earlier in the morning. How can he still be sitting there? she thought, His coffee must be stone cold by now. Her shift was over for today, she grabbed her bag from behind the counter and said bye to the other baristas. She glanced back in his direction, still the same. Strange.