#handprints-in-hell

Finally finished! And posted with ten minutes to spare! handprints-in-hell, thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy the conclusion :)

Thank you for everyone who played 1k1h with me this week to help me get this done! powerfulweak, metatron-the-transformer, trekchik, winjennster, inthebackoftheimpala , clotpoleofthelord, grumpyfeathers, meangreenlimabean - you are all gems! 

The days continued to pass and Cas felt himself growing more and more comfortable in the space he had carved out in Dean’s life. Jody still hadn’t found any information on who he was prior to his appearance in the snow in Dean’s front yard.  It frustrated the sheriff to no end.

“People don’t just come out of nowhere,” she said in exasperation as she sat on a stool at the bar in the Roadhouse. “Trust me, something will come up, it has to. Everybody exists somewhere. These days, it’s basically impossible to not show up on the grid.” She seemed to take the lack of results personally.

Cas was growing more confident that she wouldn’t succeed, and he found it made him extraordinarily happy. He no longer had any desire for any life other than the one he was making with Dean. Once every few days, a voice in the back of his head would remind him that he still had a mission to complete, but he was finding it easier to ignore it as time went on.

Now, as they approached Christmas Eve, the large tree standing in front of the window facing the street was brightly lit, with colorful packages stacked beneath it.

Dean would have been lying if the last kid’s request hadn’t been hard for him. He could still remember his own mother holding him close in front of the fireplace, tree lit up in the corner, while she stroked his forehead and sang that song to him.

He also knew how much the kids here really needed to believe the message of the lyrics. So he’d put as much of himself into it as he could. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Cas while he played, refusing to admit how much he needed to believe the message too.

He had glanced over at him a couple of times during the show, trying to get an idea of what Cas thought of his music. It was nerve wracking, trying to keep his attention on the kids, but also trying to determine how Cas reacted to this part of Dean.

And the man had been damn near unreadable.

Dean hadn’t seen him crack a smile the whole show, but his gaze had been intense, never seeming to leave Dean. At one point, Dean was positive he’d seen Cas’s eyes almost glowing, the blue giving way to a bright white, but he’d chided himself for being silly. The nurses were taking pictures and Cas’s eyes had undoubtedly caught the glare of a flash.

Cas found he enjoyed the physical exertion of unloading the shipment for the Roadhouse. According to Ellen, he was stronger than he looked. He took her word for it. All he knew was that he didn’t seem to tire easily and it was satisfying to see the physical evidence of the progress they made. And he could tell Ellen was grateful for the extra hands.

“Well, son, I reckon we got that knocked out in half the time it would have taken us without you. I think that’s the fastest we’ve ever finished with that,” she said, wiping a sleeve of her flanneled shirt across her brow. There was a smudge of dirt from the boxes along one of her cheekbones, but she had a vitalized look about her. “That’ll give us plenty of time to see what you can do with the books. Now that I’ve tested your brawn, it’s time to test your brain.”

Cas followed her into a back office and the two stayed there until Dean arrived at one to pick him up.

“Dean, your mystery friend here is a God-send,” Ellen said when they looked up to see him walk through the door.

Dean had known at some point the roads were going to clear and he was going to have to venture out into the real world again. It was stupid, but he liked the way Cas thought of him, untarnished by everyone else’s opinion. Cas didn’t know him very well yet, and he looked at Dean as though he was someone worthy of admiration rather than someone who was nothing more than a high school dropout who had never made anything of his life. Once Cas saw him in context of other people, he knew that would change pretty quickly.  

Sam had been the first. While Dean couldn’t help the sense of gratitude he felt towards Cas for defending him to his brother, he knew the other man would soon see that Sam was hardly alone. If enough people thought of him as nothing more than an uneducated grunt, there had to be a reason. Cas would see that too.

Maybe that was why he’d told Cas about his parents. Let Cas know from the get go how messed up Dean was. Not even his own Dad had wanted him. Dean wasn’t sure if he was trying to push Cas away now, by showing him his ugly past, or testing the man to see if he would stay anyway. Dean had never told anyone else before. The only people that knew about how he’d moved around as a kid were Bobby and Sam. Bobby had passed away two years ago - shot in a robbery gone bad - and Sam never talked about their early childhood. Dean was never sure if he just didn’t remember enough or if he was ashamed. He’d never asked.

To his surprise, Cas had only seemed grateful that he Dean wasn’t going to kick him out. He didn’t seem to care about the rest. Maybe Dean had a chance after all. Really, there was only one way to find out. It was time to face the music.  

Clapping his hands together, he raised his eyebrows at Cas, “You ready to go see Jody now?”

Cas looked at him a little sheepishly, “I was actually hoping maybe I could eat some breakfast first?”

It took another two days for the plows to reach Dean’s street.

“Usually it doesn’t take this long. It’s Kansas after all, we’re used to snow,” Dean told Cas. “It’s just this is really early in the season and it’s back to back storms. Plows weren’t ready yet. ‘Sides, we’re hardly on a main road. Low priority.”

Cas just nodded. He supposed it made sense. It didn’t really matter to him one way or the other. Despite the gnawing anxiety about a mission he still could remember, He was perfectly content to stayed snowed in with Dean. The more he learned about the man, the more he admired him.  

In addition to being kind, smart, funny, and an excellent cook, Dean was clearly devoted to his family. Not only was it obvious in how he doted on Sarah as though she were his own, but he never wasted an opportunity to brag about his brother as well.

It bothered Cas that such adulation was almost always in conjunction with some praise or compliment he had given Dean. If Cas commented on how well informed Dean was while they watched the news, the response would inevitably be, “Nah, that’s Sammy. I just pick up the things he won’t shut up about.” Or when they briefly lost power and Dean had the generator up and running in less than ten minutes and Cas expressed how glad he was to have wound up snowed in with someone clearly well prepared, Dean just shrugged, “It’s just common sense, Sam’s the one you’d really want to be snowed in with. He’d be prepared and be a good conversationalist.”

Cas found Dean to be a more than adequate conversationalist, but he quickly learned not to argue the point.

I finally posted my Secret Santa fic! At least part of it. This is written for handprints-in-hell who was a fabulous Santee this year. 

The argument was old, stretching back at least a millenia. At least this round of it. The core of contention went back much further, it’s beginnings found with Lucifer and his followers before they were banished from Heaven.  Now Michael had taken up the mantle, arguing against humanity; against their Father’s clear favoritism for creatures that caused, to Michael’s mind, nothing but war and chaos.

“They want nothing more than to destroy each other. The more creatively, the better,” he argued passionately.

“But they have such great capacity for good in them as well,” Anael countered.

“A teaspoon of goodness, the only purpose served by which to give them means to assuage their guilt over their crimes. And they aren’t content just to annihilate each other. They’re taking the rest of our Father’s creations along with them. How many more species have to die out before they’re satisfied?”

“The platypus is still doing fine,” Gabriel said as he leaned casually against a tall white pillar, ankles crossed and smirk evident. He rarely seemed to take these debates seriously, but he always participated nonetheless.

Michael sucked in a breath and closed his eyes, taking a full ten seconds before turning to face his fellow archangel. “I’m glad that Father’s little indulgence to your whim is surviving the onslaught of humanity, but I think you’re failing to see the bigger picture, my brother.”

Michael took a deep breath, closing his eyes again and stiffened his shoulders, as though fortifying himself against the response to what he would say next.

“Humans have clearly squandered the gift our Father has given them. They have proved to be unworthy of free will. This little experiment must come to an end. I think it is time we move forward with our Father’s prophecy.”

Anael and several of the other angels in attendance gasped, a few shaking their heads in denial that such a proposal had even been suggested.

Gabriel stood up, all traces of his smirk wiped clear from his face. “What prophecy is this, brother?” he said, his voice flattened and void of the general amusement he was so well known for.

“You know very well the prophecy I speak of, Gabriel.”

Gabriel raised his eyebrow, cocking his head slightly at his older brother, “If you’re referring to the Apocalypse, then I don’t know that it was so much of a prophecy as a contingency plan. I don’t believe humanity is as so far gone as you would like everyone to believe. So long as there is hope, I think they deserve a second chance.”

Rule 1: Always post the rules.

Rule 2: Answer the questions the person who tagged you has written and write 10 new ones.

Rule 3: Tag 10 people and link them to your post.

Rule 4: Let them know you tagged them.

Tagged by: superwhoavengerslocked and deadlyhandsomepsycho

  Superwhoavengerlocked ’s questions:

1. If you had to live on 1 food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Bread with sprinkles, yes definitely!

2. If you could be best friends with any fictional character, who would you pick?

The Doctor, obviously.

3. What is your OTP?

So many, but gotta go with Destiel.

4. The last TV show you cried at?

That’d be Doctor Who.

5. Favourite actor?

Is this a serious question, how am I supposed to choose ? euh, David Tennant.

6. Favourite actress?

Ehm……. Katie McGrath.

7. Are you in school/college?

Yes

8. Favourite band?

Jonas Brothers.

9. First gig?

Never had one

10. Best present you got for Christmas this year?

My presents where pretty lame, but I got Gaga’s Fame.

  Deadlyhandsomepsycho ‘s questions:

1. Your top 5 fandoms?

I’m just going to make a difference in series and movies because it’s to many to combine.

Supernatural, Doctor Who, Sherlock, the Vampire Diaries and Merlin.

The Avengers, Twilight, LOTR/the Hobbit, Pirates of the Caribbean and the 10th kingdom.

2. What is your favorite OTP?

Answered above, but still gotta go with Destiel.

3. Have you ever written fanfiction? If yes, what kind of fanfiction?

Nope, I tried tho. But I guess that was just for fun during class and it was something lame about Dean and the Doctor.

4. What fictional character do you identify with and why?

Is it really stupid if I say the Doctor? Like, I have the feeling I lose everything. And it drives me fucking mad.

5. Do you believe in extraterrestrial life?

Yes, I do. I mean, there must be more, right ?

6. What would you do if your favorite fictional character came to your home? What fictional character were you thinking about?

Probably just scream and have the weirdest look on my face. I so thought about Cas…

      7. What tvshow would you love to rewatch right now and why?

Well, that’d be Doctor Who. Because, ehm, I haven’t had enough Eccleston and Tennant.

8. Top 5 favourite fictional ladies?

Elena Gilbert, Donna Noble, Natasha Romanoff, Kate Beckett and Kensi Blye

9. A fandom you’re in but have no ships from?

Grimm

10. Your first ever fandom?

Eh, I don’t know if I can count Twilight. But then it would be the Vampire Diaries.

11. What would you do if the doctor asked you to come with him?

Just freak out and run along.

  My questions:

1. Scariest horror movie you ever saw?

2. Hunter or Companion?

3. Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you?

4. What is your earliest memory?

5. What are your plans for the future?

6. What would you do if they cast you for the series you like the most?

7. The Doctor, Castiel and Sherlock > Date, Kiss, Marry?

8. Who’s your background of your phone at the moment?

9. Would you rather live in another country? Where?