Title: Into The Woods
Chapter 6

~~~~~~~~~~

Fishing was actually Dean’s thing. While Sam liked fishing and enjoyed it when he had the chance, it was Dean who really loved the whole process. Sam didn’t mind guarding the cooler and keeping Jack out of trouble. The boy sat on the cooler and played a game on the phone. Sam didn’t even mind taking hooks from Jael’s thumbs or helping Uzziel retrieve the pole from the tree. He enjoyed watching Gwen and Dean chatting and Castiel being a babysitter. All in all, it was honestly a relaxing moment and he was glad, because his first thought when the angels had shown up was that they were in for trouble, since that was normally the case.

It was kind of fun to relax with them when nothing was going on. No event or being they were trying to stop. No crisis brewing. Just talking and trying to teach them how to camp. Sam thought it was a good thing to really get to know the angels. They already knew Castiel and Abigael, but as Uzziel was the other big administrator in heaven with Castiel, it was nice to chat with him as well.

His attention slid to Gwen. He considered himself lucky to have her and Sean both. The love he felt for them, while quite different from what he felt for Dean, was just as intense. They were his and he’d protect them no matter what. He and Dean had had that conversation just the previous week, discussing plans on how to keep their families safe. It was a monthly discussion now, as the boys were growing fast and Dean and Jo would have another child in months. They were always revising their plans and taking the ages of their children into account. Being proactive, Gwen had called it when he’d admitted the talks to her. They even planned for Dean’s panic attacks and they had a good reason to plan.

Crowley had reared his head again and set his newest pet at them. They’d known they’d have to deal with him eventually, though Sam had hoped Crowley would ignore them. The demon Crowley had loosed had proven that she was definitely someone they had met before. Not Meg, but another demon. She’d challenged them to figure it out, even suggested that she had been a human they’d once met. That didn’t make sense to him because the demons they’d had that conversation with had all insisted it took centuries to twist a human soul into a demon. Sam supposed maybe Crowley had stepped up the process if he’d thought she’d be a good opponent for them, especially if he had information that indicated she hated them already before she’d gotten to hell. He’d definitely have a team working on her to get her changed as fast as possible and it’d explain why he’d left them alone as long as he had.

He frowned. How soon until she launched another attack on them? That thought remained in the back of his mind and he knew it was on the rest of theirs as well. Jo thought the demon was connected to Heather’s papers somehow and Sam wondered if she might be right. The demon seemed inordinately focused on Artie Holt’s papers and that side business he’d had of dealing in cursed objects.

“I hear Angry Birds,” Gwen called out without turning her head to look at them.

The words snapped him from his solemn contemplation of Crowley’s pet demon and Sam reached out, took the phone from Jack, and paused the game, receiving an annoyed stare from the boy. “Sorry, Gwen. We’ll mute it.” He’d grown bored with the game long ago, but as Jack liked it, he’d kept it. They had one phone that had no service anymore, just games. Sam kept it charged for Jack to play with.

Dean looked over at him with a slow, easygoing grin. “No, don’t. Just because it’s scaring all the fish off.”

“I forgot.” He hadn’t. He’d just thought the volume was low enough they couldn’t hear it over at their chairs. The volume bar was already at one. Sam had forgotten Gwen’s bionic mom hearing though.

Ellen said that every mom developed the ability to hear the quietest noise out of fear for their child. He’d noticed Jo had it, too. They’d all be downstairs, with Jack upstairs playing in his room, when she’d suddenly get up, go to the stairs and yell, “Jack, stop that! I can hear you! Don’t make me come up there!”

Muting it, he handed it back. Jack took the phone and went to Jael, climbing up on his lap and settling down to play the game. If Jael had been human, that knee to his groin would have had him doubled over in pain.

“No big deal.” Dean yawned. “We’re not really expecting to catch anything with the angel brigade hanging around.”

It wasn’t the quietest with them there, true. Jael had hooked his thumb twice and Sam had yet to figure out how, while Uzziel’s enthusiastic cast had somehow landed Sam’s pole up in a tree. He’d apologized and decided he was a visual learner rather than a hands-on learner. Uzziel was content to watch Dean and Gwen and ask the occasional question, while Jael consented to learn how to play Angry Birds instead of fishing.

“Piggies.” Jack shook his head. “They mock me.”

It was almost exactly what Jo said when she played the game and couldn’t get past a level, only hers was usually punctuated by ‘crapsticks’ or other assorted not so nice words at least once.

“How are they mocking,” Jael inquired, shoving his glasses back up his nose. He had some idea that, as an assistant, he needed to wear glasses. Sam wasn’t sure where he’d gotten that idea.

“They go ‘oink, oink, oink’.”

“Oh. So, the object of the game is to hit them all?”

“Yup. Kill the piggies.” He shoved the phone into Jael’s hands. “You try.”

As he played, Jael caught his tongue between his teeth. “Hey, uh, Uz? We need an angelic version of this game. I think the librarians would really like it.”

Uzziel stepped over and peered over Jael’s shoulder. “They’d probably imagine me as the pigs,” he murmured, then glanced at Sam. “I have a tiny war going with the librarians at present.”

“Why is that,” Sam asked, reaching over and getting a bottle of water out of the cooler.

He crossed his arms. “There’s a slight possibility I may have skipped actually doing a proper drawing for the first mentorship in the program and just chose Abigael primarily because I knew who she was. It wasn’t the only criteria, of course. I’d observed her a few times back when I worked with Michael and accompanied him to the library and I’d decided long ago that if I could ever have her promoted from the library into the army, that I would. The Guardian program is just as good. The librarians ignore all of that and focus on the first part. They weren’t pleased to discover it and are insisting we test each librarian again despite most of them attempting to go through the program a few times already and failing.”

Sam thought about that a moment. “They’re mad about that? Still? That was years.”

“Surely you’ve realized by now that angels know how to hold grudges, Sam.”

“Yes, but…. Seriously?”

Jael paused the game and looked up. “Librarians aren’t the angels you want to be on the bad side of, Sam. With all the access they have to information? No, thank you. They’re dangerous. Abigael is a prime example of that. I did warn you, Uz., remember?”

“I do and thank you, Jael.”

“You’re welcome. We need this game.”

Sam smothered a grin as Uzziel rolled his eyes. He was about to say something when he saw Abigael punch thin air beside her.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dean’s wish for a good doze didn’t come true. That was okay. Maybe when he took Jack back to the tent for his nap he’d lie down too, maybe even convince Jo to lie down. Not that Jack would willingly take a nap. Getting him to rest when he started to get cranky in the afternoon was like pulling teeth. Jo usually went with the whole ‘you can play quietly in your room’ tactic while Dean went straight for telling him to lie down and go to sleep or he’d be in trouble.

He yawned and glanced over at Castiel and Abigael. It looked like they were having an intimate conversation, when Abigael suddenly pulled back an arm and punched thin air. Dean sat up. “What the hell was that?”

Gwen leaned over, flicking her forefinger in their direction. “Is she having a seizure?”

He shrugged. “Hell if I know. Can angels have seizures?”

Abigael continued to enact a fight with thin air, punching, kicking, and getting thrown around. Dean wasn’t sure what to think because, while Castiel cast a glance at the sky, he didn’t appear worried. In fact, he began to ignore her fight with an invisible foe completely, looking down and making faces that had Sean giggling. Only once did he take a few steps to the right out of the way.

Dean looked at Sam, who seemed as baffled as he and Gwen were. Jack didn’t appear to notice the fight, nor did Jael, and Uzziel had a bored air about him. “Hey, uh, someone in the know want to fill the rest of us in here? What’s going on?”

Jack glanced up from the phone. “It’s a drill, daddy.”

“A drill? Someone explain with a bit more detail.”

Uzziel joined them at the water. “A drill. See, attack can come at any time, especially in calm moments such as these. As a Guardian, Abigael must remain at the top of her game. Castiel and I arrange for random surprise attacks performed by members of the angelic army. They stalk the children so their Guardian will react, and when the testing is complete, we review the data, assess the skills used, confer with the soldiers on what the Guardian should improve upon, and Castiel gives his review. Many a Guardian has stepped up his game because of this program.”

Abigael appeared, a fierce scowl on her face. She grabbed Uzziel by his shirtfront. They both disappeared and a moment later there was a loud splash from the center of the lake. Uzziel reappeared within seconds, soaking wet.

He spit water onto the rocks. “Abigael is not what you’d call a fan of these tests.”

She reappeared beside Castiel, pointing a finger at him. Her voice carried over to them. “You’re lucky you’re holding Sean or you’d be in the lake, too. I’m telling you for the last time, Castiel, stop testing me!”

He merely took another glance at the sky and didn’t answer her. By that, Dean concluded he was far from done testing her.

“Is this what you meant earlier? You fake something --”

Though it looked like she was still shouting, Dean could no longer hear her voice. He wiggled a finger in his ear. “Did I just lose my hearing?” As he could hear himself, he concluded he hadn’t.

“If you did, I did,” Gwen replied. “Did you know they could do that? Mute themselves so we can’t hear them?”

“I didn’t know, but it makes sense with everything else they can do.”

With a frown, Uzziel reached into his shirt, removing a small flopping object. “I doubt it’s big enough for a meal, but…here.” He held out the fish that had been in his shirt. “My first successful fishing attempt.”

How could Uzziel have not caught a fish while dunked in the lake? “There is never a dull moment around here.”

“Nope.” Gwen shifted in her chair. “I don’t think we’re going to catch anything.”

“Getting that feeling myself. Hey, Sam? When is a vacation not a vacation?”

“When a Winchester tries to take one,” he replied without hesitation.

“Ain’t that the truth?” He glanced at his watch. “Watch my pole for me? Time for Jack’s nap.”

This time, Jack didn’t object.

~~~~~~~~~~

When Jo woke from an unplanned nap, Jack was asleep beside her. He’d either laid down himself or Dean had tucked him in. He was clutching the teddy bear Castiel had brought for him when he was barely a year old. Jack rarely slept without it. It was an ugly thing, so much so that it was cute, and Jo had mended it several times already.

Outside, she heard Dean, Sam, and Gwen talking. There were no other voices. If the angels had returned to camp with them, they weren’t talking at present.

The scent of cooking food reached her. Though Jo waited for her stomach to rebel, it didn’t. She sighed, rolled over onto her back, and gasped to find Abigael crouched by the tent flap. “Abby,” she whispered. “What are you --”

The angel put a finger to her lips. “Don’t move. I need to listen.”

She looked around the tent, waiting for an answer as to why Abigael was there.

Abigael shifted position and launched herself against the loose flap. Conversation went silent outside and Jo heard Balthazar’s voice.

“Why Abby, I didn’t think you cared. Mind getting off of me? Atropos has something of a jealous streak.”

Carefully, so as not to disturb Jack, Jo crawled to the opening and left the tent. She found Balthazar flat on the ground by the fire, so close that his hair was in danger of singeing, and Abigael straddling him, a knife against his chest. The tip had something attached to it. “What’s going on?”

Dean looked over from the food containers. “Well, for the past couple hours, Abigael has been undergoing a round of testing.”

“Testing?”

Sam moved around foil packets on the grill over the fire. “Random soldier angels pop out at her and engage her in hand-to-hand combat to test her skills.”

“What are you doing here, Balthazar?” With a glare, Abigael pulled the tip from her knife and held the knife to Balthazar’s throat. “The truth.”

“He’s not here to try to kill you,” came Castiel’s voice from across the camp as he stepped from the woods. He still had Sean strapped to him and the baby appeared to be asleep. “I wouldn’t ask him to assist in this task. You know that.”

“Why not?” Jo checked to make sure the tent flap was closed and moved to one chair.

It was Balthazar who replied. “Because they’re all afraid I might really try to kill her.”

“The trust building exercises are going well, I see.”

“They’re right to suspect that, Jo. I might take a pot shot at her if given the chance.”

Abigael put the tip back on her knife and stood. “Just so you know, Castiel, this isn’t making me trust anyone.”

Balthazar got up from the ground. “I’ll be going.” He disappeared.

Dean slapped a hand to Castiel’s back. “Here’s some management advice, take it or leave it, but next time? You might not want to schedule this sort of testing during a team building exercise. Defeats the purpose.”

“I’m aware of that, Dean. There was an unfortunate scheduling mishap that couldn’t be corrected.”

Jo breathed in the scent of the cooking food and savored the fact that she wasn’t having trouble with nausea.

~~~~~~~~~~

The conversation between Abigael and Castiel went on as Gwen headed for the pee pit and Jo went to wake up Jack for dinner.

“You need to stop them.”

Sam saw Castiel avoid Abigael’s gaze and look around the camp instead. “That may prove difficult.”

“Why?”

“Yeah, why, Cas?” Dean moved the foil packets onto plates.

Castiel’s answer was directed to Dean. “The assignments are sent to the garrisons and are worked out within each. The angels are then dispatched with their various assignments for certain periods. They have full authority to go about their tasks as they see fit. For these tests, they must operate within the guidelines that Uzziel and I put forth.”

“Which are?”

“No danger to humans, blunt tips on all swords, and once the soldier is defeated, he can’t mount a secondary attack unlike a real enemy.”

“She only has to worry about just one attack per soldier, then.”

“Yes. Per soldier.”

Something glinted in Castiel’s eyes right then and Sam had the feeling he wasn’t telling the full truth in some way. It was in the way he said the last two words.

“That’s not too bad, Abby.”

She ignored Dean’s encouraging tone and crossed her arms. “How many more attacks can I expect today, Castiel? Two? Five? Five hundred?”

Castiel turned his attention to the sky. “I’m uncertain the exact number. This is your big test, the one where we assess whether or not it’s necessary to assign a secondary Guardian to assist you in watching over the Winchester children or simply assign you to them full time. I gave the garrison assigned to your tests carte blanche for this test.”

“Our kids must really be handfuls if you’re contemplating a second Guardian,” Dean commented. “I know mine can be.”

“Full time?” Sam edged closer. “Why would our kids need a Guardian full time right now? Jack’s a toddler, Sean’s not even a year, and Jo and Dean’s second baby isn’t even born yet. Have they been targeted?”

“There’ve been no specific threats,” Abigael assured him. “Merely the usual.”

Castiel rubbed Sean’s back with a hand. “Though Crowley is, as always, one to keep an eye on. Just keep watch, Abigael, and you’ll do well.”

“You planned it for this weekend. This weekend. I can’t believe you didn’t reschedule.”

“I did try to reschedule as soon as it was obvious the camping plans were moving forward. Orders had gone out, Abigael. There was and is nothing I can do.” The words had the ring of a lie to them.

“Bull. You can stop this with a single word right now.” She waited, resignation dawning on her face. “But you won’t, will you? You’re going to let them come. You won’t stop them.”

“No, I won’t. You’re correct.” His shoulders shifted beneath his coat and he stood up a bit straighter as an assessing stare passed between them.

Sam had to admit that he was fascinated by this glimpse of Castiel in his work environment. He was all angelic supervisor now despite Sean still strapped to his chest. He stood confident, focused, and was not going to give a single inch.

“Attacks are never convenient. The enemy doesn’t care if they are all on vacation or you are on the other side of the world. The enemy will attack wherever and whenever he finds an opening. Logic dictates that your testing should be the same.”

Her lips parted. “You suck.”

“Dean sometimes also shares that opinion.” He raised a hand, pointing a finger at the sky. “Incoming.”

She whirled, “I will so get you back for this,” and disappeared.

Castiel sighed. “I’m well aware of that fact.”

“Then why do you do this?” Sam decided it might be a good idea to take Sean back from him. “Hand me my kid back. No more using him as a human shield so Abby won’t retaliate.”

Dean chuckled.

“You understand the reasons, Sam.” He began to undo the straps keeping Sean in the backpack. “Don’t pretend you don’t. Even you four train when you’re not working. You do so to keep your skills intact and not only do you train, but you set about learning new skills. We do as well.”

“I think Abby’s proven herself.”

With a shake of his head, he finished unbuckling Sean and handed him to Sam. “All remaining angels need to keep proving themselves to be capable and faithful. We failed before. We fell into petty disagreements and ended up in a civil war. We fell asleep, Sam, and that can’t happen again. We must keep our skills sharp. Our Father demands it and we are accountable.”

He cradled Sean to him and studied the angel. “How is heaven these days? I mean, we haven’t really talked about it. We talk about everything else and around everything else, but never about heaven.”

“Heaven is organized and running as smoothly as we can make it. It’d only run smoother if Michael was in place, but as that won’t happen, we’re as good as we can be. The departments are back in efficient working relationships with each other --”

“I mean the whole thing with Death, Castiel. How’s that going?”

“Oh, him.”

That one inflection told Sam a ton of things, like that Castiel would just as soon forget Death was running around topside without someone holding a leash on him.

Castiel shoved his hands in his coat pockets. “We ignore each other. At my last meeting with God, he told me I wasn’t to accept any more of Death’s invitations to attend the weekly balance meetings and to let him know if Death did extend an invitation.”

“God stepped in?”

“He’s in the world, Sam, just…observing how we handle everything at present. Like with humans.”

He adjusted Sean in his arms and glanced towards the direction of the angel camp. “Does he…you know…hear our prayers?”

“Always. He hears every prayer that’s spoken, thought, or whispered on the wind. He sees, Sam, and some day you will see him and know him for himself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to prepare the next wave of attacks on Abigael before she returns from this one.”

“Man, Cas.” Dean shook his head. “Remind me never to go on a team building exercise with you.”

Sam saw a slight quirk of Castiel’s lips in an amused smile before he was gone.