#archangles

Dean was glad to find the two hanging out together. Cas was starting to stay at the Bunker more and more often, mostly to keep an eye on Jane when the boys had to leave. Dean hated keeping Jane locked away like some prisoner but he was pleased, a bit surprised, to find Cas made good company. He felt a little less guilty keeping her here now that he knew she wasn’t completely bored out of her mind.

“Hey guys!” Jane called, maintaining intense eye contact with the angel in an attempt to intimidate him, but she was starting to think Cas wasn’t capable of being anything but neutral.

“Hey, Jane.” Sam said as he shrugged off his coat. “How’s the game going?” He asked as Dean walked behind Cas, trying to communicate to Jane what cards Cas had in his hand.

“I’d say pretty good.” Jane replied as she laid down her cards, three aces and two queens. Cas showed his hand, all miscellaneous cards.  

“I don’t think I understand the rules of this game.” Cas admitted as Jane started to shuffle once more.

“Deal me in.” Dean said taking a seat at the head of the table.

“Don’t you think we have more important things to be doing?” Sam asked. They still had so much work left to do regarding the disappearances, they didn’t have time to waste playing poker.

“Right.” Dean muttered reluctantly, getting up out of his chair.

“Is something going on?” Jane asked hesitantly. She was always suspicious that the boys were talking about her situation. Every time they wanted to talk privately she was sure they were talking about her and what they could possibly do with her. Part of her felt she deserved to be part of the conversation, to hear everything upfront. The other part of her, however, thought she was better off not knowing.

Dean sensed Jane’s fear immediately. “Don’t worry, kid. We’re working on a case from a few towns over. We’re still trying to get to the bottom of everything.” He explained.

Sam glared at his brother. They decided that they would keep Jane away from anything and everything paranormal. Sam made Dean promise just days ago that they wouldn’t tell her anything about their cases and only involve her with the Michael/Lucifer situation if it was absolutely necessary for her safety. He thought it was best if Jane was distanced as far as possible from the world of supernatural creatures.

“Need any help?” She asked.

This was exactly why Sam didn’t want Jane to know anything about their cases, not even that one was going on. That girl was curious, which Sam admired. Jane was always trying to learn more and educate herself. But that can prove to be dangerous as her curiosity leads her to being involved in some seriously unsafe situations.

“I think we’ve got it covered.” Sam interjected before Dean could say anything stupid.

“C’mon, I have nothing better to do. Beating Cas gets boring after the thirty-somethingth time.” Jane joked. “Besides, if you’re stuck maybe you could use a fresh perspective.” She said, beginning to pack away that cards as she stood up.

“We appreciate it, Jane, but we’re all set.” Sam said, practically dragging Dean away.

Jane slumped back into her chair as she watched the brothers retreat.

Turning to Cas she said, “Wanna play go fish?”

Hours passed and so did card games. Cas was actually surprisingly good at go fish. After Jane explained the rules and that they would in fact not be going outside to fish, he caught on fast. He was even able to beat her a few times. War and Blackjack were different stories, however.  

Sam and Dean were still in the library, trying to find anything that would help them in their case. Even from this far away, Jane could make out little exasperated sighs and the slamming of books being closed and tossed around when deemed unuseful.  

After a particularly loud grumble, Jane saw the brothers emerge from the library.

The boys looked like they aged ten years in the few hours they’d been in there. Sam’s hair was a little messy, probably because he ran his fingers through it every time he got frustrated.

“Any progress?” Jane called. She didn’t mean anything by it, well maybe only as a little jab. She was certain that if they just let her help, they’d be able to get to the bottom of whatever this case was. Jane didn’t doubt that the Winchesters knew what they were doing, they were professionals after all, but she’s helped before and she could do it again.

Sam sent her an annoyed look but Jane chose to think that he was more annoyed with the case than her asking. He wiped away his crabby expression quickly, though, forcing a pleasant one instead as he explained, “We’re getting there”.

“Cas, we’re gonna head out for a little bit, check out the town’s library to get more info.” Dean called, throwing on his jacket.

“I could use some fresh air, I’ll come too.” Jane said, hopping out of her seat.

“No!” The Winchesters yelled in unison.

Realizing that was a little too aggressive, Dean tried to recover by saying, “I just mean uh- you don’t want to go to some boring old library, right?”

“That actually sounds like fun, I could borrow a good book.”

“We can check something out for you.” Sam said.

“Or I could just come with you. I don’t see what the big deal is.” Jane said.

She could understand that the boys wanted to keep her safe, she wasn’t arguing that. It’s just the way they tried to do it that bothered her. Keeping her locked away wasn’t going to do anything besides drive her mad. And it angered her even more because they were pretending that that's not exactly what they’re doing.

The boys couldn’t think of anything to say. Jane just rolled her eyes and let a defeated sigh out. There was no use in arguing.

“You know, never mind. I’ll find something to do here, I guess.”

“Don’t sound so sad, kid.” Dean said, reaching out an arm to pull Jane into a side hug, but she dodged him.

“See you when you get back.” She spoke, plopping down in a seat, her back to them. She was sure to make her tone even sadder than before.

Jane didn’t need to turn around to know the brothers’ faces were filled with guilt.

They both stared at her for a moment, again trying to think of something to say to ease the tension, but nothing came to mind.

Dean gave Cas a pat on the shoulder before heading out.

“You know, they do care about you.” Cas said as he heard the Impala retreating down the road. “They’re only trying to protect you.”

“If by protected you mean locked away like a princess in a tower,” Jane mumbled under her breath, but Cas heard her.

“They’re doing the best they can, you have to understand that.”

Jane knew Cas was right and just trying to help but she wasn’t ready to listen to it. She wanted to yell at Cas for trying to be the voice of reason, for being on their side. She almost did. But looking into his soft eyes, Jane couldn’t bring herself to yell. It wasn’t Cas she was mad at, hell it wasn’t even the Winchesters she was really mad at either. It was whoever got her into this mess in the first place.

“Can I just be left alone for a little while?”

Cas nodded. “If you need me, just call.”

And then he was gone.

Without wasting a single second, Jane was out of her seat and running into the library. She wasn’t about to sit around a mope while she waited for the Winchesters to come back. Maybe they could keep her from going outside, but they weren’t going to keep her from doing what she wanted inside the Bunker. Seems like a fair trade.

In the library, Jane could see a table covered in papers and books. Taking a closer look, she could see reports printed out, detailing missing persons cases as well as short biographies of the men who had gone missing.

Jane could assume that the men weren’t just missing, something much more sinister must have happened.

In skimming through the articles and biographies written about the men, the only similarities Jane could find were that they were all married and lived in the town. No wonder the boys were so stressed out, there was nothing.

Jane wasn’t going to give up, though. Maybe if she helped with this case and got to the bottom of things, the Winchesters would let her help out on more cases, let her go beyond the walls of the bunker. Okay, maybe that was pushing it, but at the very least they’d probably see her as less of a little girl and more of an asset to the team.

Thankfully, Sam left his laptop on and open, so Jane opened a tab and started searching. She thought to check for monsters that only target men, not anticipating how many man-hating monsters were out there. She found a pad of paper and a pencil and got to work, writing down each monster that fit the very broad criteria. She took to Wikipedia and countless conspiracy theory websites, but she couldn’t be sure if anything she was reading was too credible. Cross-referencing with some pretty legit looking mythology websites, Jane collected notes about each monster, trying to narrow down which could be taking these men. Her list alone almost took up two pages and her notes added at least another seven.

She could tell this was going to be a grueling process, but she remained determined.

Unfortunately, Jane was cut short when she heard a voice calling, “Cas? Jane?”

Sam and Dean were home.

Quickly, Jane exited every tab she’d opened on Sam’s laptop, frantically erasing the search history as to not leave a single trace of her sleuthing. She put papers back in the order she thought they were in earlier, not having time to second guess herself. Scrambling to gather her notes, Jane ran out of the library sure to grab a book from the shelf Sam dedicated to non-lore-related books.

Jane shoved her notes in between the pages of the book just in time to run into the boys.

Both brothers looked relieved to see Jane turn the corner, but it was soon replaced by agitation.

“We’ve been calling your name for like three minutes.” Sam started.

“When you weren’t answering and Cas wasn’t here,” Dean sighed. “We got worried, kid.” “Sorry,” Jane said, showing them the book she grabbed. “I was just in the library-”

Jane noticed the way Sam’s face contorted as she revealed where she was.

“Promise I didn’t mess with your stuff, I was only trying to find a book to read or something to do since I couldn’t come to the library with you guys.” She said, taking them on a full guilt trip as a way to distract Sam from his anger.

“Right,” Dean said after a moment. “Well, we uh- we better get back to work.”

The two retreated into the library where they would spend almost the rest of the night.

Jane spent the night going through the rest of her list.

He didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t believe it. It didn’t seem plausible, and yet part of him knew it was true. Though he didn’t know exactly what it would mean for Jane, he knew it couldn’t be good.

Dean only assumed Cas would have more information.

Speak of the devil - or angel, rather - Cas appeared beside Dean.

“This is very urgent, Dean.” He said, startling the oldest Winchester.

Dean looked down the hall at Sam and Jane; they were both oblivious to Cas’s arrival. The two kept walking while Dean and Cas stayed behind.

“I know, I just-” Dean paused, unsure of what he was even trying to say. “What’s even going on, Cas?” He asked. “So she’s got their blood but we- they can’t get to her right? I mean Lucifer? Michael? They’re not coming back.”

“We should discuss a few things with Sam first.” Cas said, avoiding Dean’s questions.

With the roll of his eyes, Dean pushed past Cas to go interrupt Sam and Jane’s fun.

They were in the war room, Jane sitting in a chair with her back to Dean with Sam opposite her. Dean watched as Sam laughed at something she said. It was nice to see them getting along, joking around, but Dean had to be the bearer of bad news.

Sam made eye contact with his brother and knew something was wrong. He noticed the angel behind Dean and his suspicions were confirmed.

Jane noticed Sam was staring over her shoulder and turned around to find Dean with an expression she couldn’t exactly read. His face was rather stoic but his eyes were emoting so many different feelings. Something was wrong, she knew it.

“Sammy,” Dean called, nodding his head back to Cas.

Sam got up, “I’ll be right back.” He said to Jane.

“What’s going on?” Jane asked, spinning in her chair to face the boys.

“Don’t worry about it right now.” Dean said, his tone warning.

“I am worried about it.” She retorted, getting out of her seat.

The three men turned to look at her.

“It’s best if you were to just-” Cas started, but Jane didn’t want to hear him out.

“No, this is about me, isn’t it? This is about what that demon said about me, about my blood.”

“Jane...”

“I want to know what’s going on. I have a right to if it’s about me.”

“That you do, but I first need to explain to the Winchesters the implications before I can involve you.” Cas said. “I will tell you everything in time.”

“But-”

“No buts.” Dean said curtly. “Let us deal with whatever’s going on.”

“Dean-”

“Trust me, kid, you don’t want to be a part of this.”

With that warning, Jane shut her mouth and let the boys walk off to go talk about what her fate had in store.

“I don’t understand why it’s even relevant.” Sam started. “So she has ‘the blood of Cain and Abel’ but there’s no significance. There’s no apocalypse anymore. Michael and Lucifer are in the cage.”

“It’s not impossible to escape the cage, Sam.”

“So who’s coming out?” Dean asked. “And when? And what the hell do they need with Jane?”

“There’s no telling. I’m not as connected to heaven as I used to be, you know, I can’t tell exactly what’s going on.”

“How helpful.” Dean said, flashing Cas a sarcastic smile before rolling his eyes.

“It doesn’t matter who's coming, we need to figure out how to keep Jane away from them.” Sam said, bringing attention back to the discussion at hand rather than Dean’s sarcastic outbursts.

“Is there any point?” Dean said, pushing his chair away from the table.

“What?” Sam asks as Dean reaches into a cabinet to take out a bottle of whiskey, filling up a glass and gulping it down in one go. He fills the glass again.

“What’s the point? There’s nothing we can do. If demons want Jane they’re going to get her.”

“Dean.” Sam warned.

“No, really, Sammy. When do we ever get to save people we care about? Jane’s gonna turn out like all our other friends - dead.” He says, taking another swig.

“Dean-”

“No, it’s not going to matter. Nothing we do matters, it always turns out the same.”

“Are you even listening to yourself right now?” Sam said, going to follow his brother. “Since when are you one to just give up, especially on the people who need us. I don’t give a shit about the odds, we’re going to help her.”

Dean stands up abruptly, his glass flying through the air before it smashes against the wall.

“I’m so fucking sick of it Sam.” He yelled, a mixture of emotions in his voice. He sounded exhausted, defeated, angry. “Every time something positive happens in our life, it gets fucked up. I thought we were doing Jane a favor by taking her with us, but now she’s getting dragged into our bullshit. I mean she could be a vessel for some of the most powerful angels and demons there are and as hard as we try we aren’t going to be able to save her from that.” His voice starts to waver. “I am so fucking sick of not being able to save people. Jane doesn’t deserve any of this but this is all anyone around us gets and there’s not a single god damned thing we can do about it.”

Sam was shocked, Cas too. They stood for a moment, staring at Dean as he sunk back into his chair with his head in his hands. It almost broke Sam’s heart. He knew exactly how Dean felt.

“Well instead of bitching, why don’t we at least try to do something about it.”

Dean sniffles, unable to look up at Sam and Cas. He’s disgusted, with himself, with their situation, with where his life brought him.

“I’m sorry.” Dean said, realizing everything he just let out.

Sam gave him a hard pat on the back, slightly angry but there was an underlying feeling of comfort underneath it. They all knew Dean didn’t mean he didn’t want to help. He was overwhelmed, he felt helpless, hopeless, a feeling not well accepted by the Winchesters. They all understood that things were more complicated now, but they’ll be damned if they don’t try their hardest to change what fate has decided. Sometimes, their job is worth every second, and other times, it feels like they should just quit it all and leave it to be somebody else's problem. No matter how rough things got, though, Team Free Will knows they will make it to a day where the job is worth it all.