Title: Lost and Found

Chapter: 20

~~~~~~~~~~~

Uzziel returned in minutes and slapped a nametag on Castiel’s chest. “Okay, here you go, though I think everyone up here knows who you are by now. You’re recognizable; quite a good face for new Heaven.”

Cas looked down at it. ‘Hello, my name is…’ was written in red and in black was ‘Castiel’. He looked at the packet and brochure. “I’ve been putting heaven to rights and you’ve been,” he sought the correct phrase for what he thought was happening here, “organizing a convention?”

“Yes.” Uzziel’s chest seemed to puff up. “It’s to kick off the new mentor program, really get everyone excited for it. My vessel has years of experience organizing large groups of people. I studied his methods and began to figure out how to implement them up here. I think I’m on to something.” He gestured at the envelope. “Open your schedule and class packet. I’m excited by this, aren’t you?”

Excited wasn’t exactly the word he’d use. He drew out the rest of the pages, glancing at the ten page schedule typed, front and back, in font so small Castiel had to raise the paper close and squint to read it. It read like Castiel’s to-do list had, items laid out with military precision, though heaven’s military ran far smoother than any human military ever had as a whole. There were more events than a human convention could handle, but he had no doubt that Uzziel would make sure each scheduled event began and ended precisely on time. For all of his denials that he was good at these things, Uzziel was quite proficient and possibly suffering from OCD.

“Look at the class list,” Uzziel urged, a gleam in his eyes that made the wariness inside Castiel surge to higher levels.

He shuffled the papers to find the class packet. His curiosity on the matter was growing. What sort of classes could these possibly be? Uzziel stepped closer and to the side, looking over Castiel’s shoulder to read. Cas skimmed the first page.

Clothing: Blending in is a skill and one that can depend largely upon clothing. Join us to look into the sorts of clothing worn to a variety of events for both men and women.

Food and Drink: How not to appear gluttonous when dining with human companions. We will cover the etiquette of ordering meals and the complete dining process, including the appropriateness of belching in certain situations. There will be five field trips included: casual dining, fast food, sporting event, an evening at a bar, and fine dining.

Human Social Rituals: The puzzling, the peculiar. Join us in decoding some of their most anomalous behaviors.

Noxious chemicals: The smells that come from the human body and what causes them.

Personal Space: How to maintain the proper distance in situations that could prove challenging. We will split into pairs to practice.

Powers: The etiquette of where and when not to use them so as not to appear suspicious.

Riding in Cars: Slow, yet necessary transportation. We will study the necessity of them and a brief history of human transportation methods throughout time. There will be several field trips.

Riding in Cars II: In the continuation of Riding in Cars, we will cover the driving of vehicles and the importance of following human vehicular laws.

Slang: The odd way humans choose to converse. American vernacular will be addressed. Positive comments on this class may result in an expanded curriculum.

Castiel glanced at Uzziel. “Are you insane?”

“I’m attempting to impart an appreciation for humanity to my siblings. Just try it. That’s all I ask. If my method produces little results, then we’ll go on to your ideas. What were those again? Ah, yes, you had none.”

“We’re holy beings, Uzziel. If we were meant to be human we’d be human.”

“But we’re sorely lacking an understanding of them as a whole. Admit that. We’ve been dragging our feet and now, we’re behind in the times. When we should have been attempting to understand and appreciate them, we were too busy being jealous and hating them. It’s time we all learn the way.”

“You want to drink the Kool-Aid.”

“Huh?”

His lips twitched. “It’s an expression Dean Winchester uses.” Just one of many he’d learned from Dean and one Dean had used often enough that he understood it.

“Oh, Is that…slang? Talk to Asriel, make sure that’s included in the handouts for her class.”

Cas suppressed a sigh. “Very well. We’ll try this. Tell me about these classes you’ve organized.”

Uzziel smiled. “Well, I studied the places we’re lacking in understanding and decided we should fill those places. I searched for angels who could give answers and sat down with them to create a curriculum that would be beneficial to all.”

“I see.”

“Even Balthazar has offered to teach a class -- an American dancing class.”

“What would that be?” Cas didn’t know Balthazar was even interested in dancing and from what he’d observed, American dancing was largely either jerking ones body back and forth or two people rubbing up against each other in time to the music.

“Something called the horizontal mambo.”

He quirked a brow. Uzziel had to be putting him on. Had to be. Surely he knew what that meant? Even Castiel knew what that meant.

But no, Uzziel was serious, pointing at the listing in the papers. “Funny though, he requested only angels in female vessels….”

“It doesn’t refer to a dance, Uzziel. The ‘horizontal mambo’ is a reference to sexual intercourse.”

Uzziel blinked, then blinked again, frowning. “That explains a lot. More slang, right?” He shook his head. “I should strike that from the list immediately.”

“I’d be suspicious of anything Balthazar wants to teach.”

“I really need to go downstairs and observe, don’t I?”

“It would be helpful. Perhaps you should take some of these classes yourself?”

Jael hurried up. “You’re on in five, Uz. You told Castiel yet? He should be prepared.”

“Prepared for what?” Castiel’s innocent question caused a cackle of laughter from Jael.

“Oh, this should be interesting,” Jael remarked as he walked up the steps onto the platform where the throne was and adjusted what looked like a microphone.

Cas took a closer look. It was a microphone. He rolled his eyes. Uzziel was taking appearances a little too far. They didn’t need microphones and certainly not in the throne room. The acoustics in the room were great. “Tell me what, Uzziel?”

“Didn’t I tell you about the field part of the program?”

“No.”

“Oh. I thought I had.” In order to hear him, as Uzziel was deliberately speaking softer, Castiel had to follow him up the steps onto the platform. The angels in the room began to move towards them. “I’ve set it up for you to be the first mentor. I’ve already drawn the name of your pupil --”

“No. And let me repeat that: no. I hardly have the patience to babysit --”

“Huh? What was that? I can’t hear you….” He cupped a hand at his ear and reached for the fake microphone, grinning. “Hello, hello! Is this thing on?”

Half the angels in the room laughed, the others simply looked confused.

“Uzziel,” Castiel hissed, but Uzziel wasn’t paying any attention to him now.

“The moment you’ve been waiting for has arrived!” There was applause. “I think we all know Castiel, right? Give him a warm welcome!”

The applause grew louder and from the back came a catcall and a voice Cas identified as Balthazar’s, “Take it off! Take it all off,” followed by an amused snicker.

“Stop this at once!” Castiel kept his voice low, making a mental note to have words with Balthazar later about the his inappropriate jokes.

“Can’t . It’s already in motion,” Uzziel said out of the corner of his mouth. “Everyone have your stubs?” Hands raised, each one grasping paper. “Excellent. And the winner of the first spot in the program and of Castiel’s sole attention for the duration of this maiden session of our new training program is….” The paper in his hand was thrust at Castiel, who had no choice but to either take it or have it shoved up his nose.

There was silence, Castiel staring out at the expectant faces, a sinking sensation growing in his stomach. He cleared his throat. Of all the stupid ideas…. Like he had time to do this. “Abigael,” he said. “The name is Abigael.”

There were disappointed grumbles, some of the angels tossing their papers on the floor and leaving, but from the back of the throne room came a pleased shout. “Yes!” He saw a fist shoot up in the air. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! You all lose!” The angel, petite and in a blond vessel, began to dance. “Go you, go you!” She pointed at the angel beside her, who seemed rather embarrassed by the display.

Castiel concluded the enthusiastic one was likely one of the angels who’d fled to earth and returned. The angel beside her had his full sympathies. He stepped down from the podium and across the room to them. “Abigael,” he asked the dancing one, who stopped long enough to shake her head.

“I’m Abigael,” the angel in the dark haired vessel told him in a soft voice. Her vessel was of medium height, with shoulder-length dark hair and what Dean would have referred to as an exotic air. She met his gaze for approximately one-eighth of a second before looking to the floor.

“Lucky,” her friend told her sotto voce.

“I can still hear you.” Castiel mentioned that, thinking perhaps it would stop her. It didn’t.

“I know!”

“And you are?”

“That’s Ariel.” Abigael looked at her friend with a pleading gaze.

“See, Abby, I told you if you just asked Uzziel --”

“I didn’t!” She was mortified now, eyes widening. “You did.”

Amused blue eyes flicked to him and back to Abigael. “Have fun and remember everything I told you.”

Abigael closed her eyes for a moment with an expression of extreme humiliation.

“Perhaps we should go somewhere and talk,” Castiel suggested. He led her towards the garden and they sat on one of the benches at the edge of it. “Tell me a bit about yourself.”

Her vessel was named Risa St. James and she turned out to be more average in life than Jimmy. It had taken even less time for Abigael to convince her to be a vessel than it had Cas to convince Jimmy. As for Abigael, she was a librarian and had been in the library for centuries. Perhaps he’d even see her there before.

“Have you been on earth before,” he inquired, very aware that others were watching them. Probably Uzziel’s spies, he thought.

“Only long enough to speak with Risa and take her as a vessel.”

“I see.” This was very awkward. He decided right then to discourage Uzziel in continuing this part of the program when he had the time again. Castiel thought back to what the brochure had said about the program. If he understood his role correctly, he was simply to guide her in how to behave with humans and how to deal with them as she worked her first assignments. “Have you your first assignment?”

She shook her head. “No. We were told that whoever was picked would receive their assignment from you.”

He glared off towards the throne room. “I see,” he repeated. “Perhaps we should assess your strengths first. Come with me.” He left heaven, not waiting to see if she followed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ellen was glad to have some time coming up to watch Bobby’s house and consider her life. As she, Jo, and Gwen had been working together, Ellen had become aware of an uncomfortable fact. Two facts, rather.

The first was that she’d grown as attached to Gwen as she was to Jo, her motherly instincts rising when either one was the least bit sick or hurt. One had the flu, she wanted to swoop in with medicine and care. The other got hurt, she was afraid it was life-threatening until she saw the injury.

She thought she’d grown to understand John Winchester a bit more than she had. There was no doubt in her mind that he’d loved and worried for both his boys.

The second was the fact that her shoulder wasn’t healing as fast as she’d hoped it would. She hadn’t exactly told Jo and Gwen that it was sprained, but they’d gotten that idea when she’d come back with it all taped up and refused to discuss what the doctor had told her. All she’d needed was to keep it fairly immobile for awhile. Still, that injury had weakened it.

Getting old sucks, Ellen thought.

As much as she hated to admit it, maybe she should retire from active hunting and go back to being a spotter and resource. At times she almost felt like she was holding Jo and Gwen back. They claimed otherwise, but Ellen knew she’d slowed down. It was amazing what the difference of a couple years made physically in the life of a hunter.

She pulled up the calendar on her phone and looked at it. It had taken nearly five months for her to decide that Jo and Gwen worked well together. At times it was like they were on the same wavelength. Their methods of working jobs were similar and their temperaments meshed. Ellen wouldn’t feel terrible about leaving them to work as a team, though she would miss being with them all the time. Maybe it was time for that, to cut the last of the apron strings.

Ellen thought she’d take the time house sitting at Bobby’s to fully think over the matter.

Her attention turned to the date and she pursed her lips in thought. What was Dean up to? While he’d called Jo on the day of what the two considered their six month anniversary and said a few things that had caused Jo to flush bright red and smile goofily, he’d apparently made no mention of that fact, which had put Jo in something of a slump for a few days. Jo thought he’d forgotten it had been six months.

He had to know the date meant something to Jo. Six months was the longest relationship she’d had. Or at least that Ellen knew about. Jo had been vague on what had happened from the time she’d initially left the Roadhouse to the time Ellen had found her. Ellen hoped he was planning something spectacular or even something at all. Maybe she’d give him a call and suggest he make some plans.

~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was rising when Gwen returned from her run and took a shower. She was nearly dressed when her phone rang.

“Gwen? Hi, it’s Arlene.”

“Hey, what’s up? You okay?” She kept her voice low, managing to conceal her surprise at hearing Arlene’s voice. Gwen hadn’t exactly kept in touch with any of the Campbell clan. She glanced at Jo, who seemed to be still asleep. While she was an early bird, Jo wasn’t quite as much of one. Gwen stepped to the connecting door and peered through it. Ellen was in the shower, she could hear the water running and the soft sound of Ellen singing off-key.

“No, actually, I’m not. It’s my mom.”

“Uh-oh. What’s wrong?” Arlene’s mother had been having health problems for awhile now.

“Early onset Alzheimer’s and it’s hitting her hard. Um…. Look, I’ve had the archives cluttering up my attic, basement, and spare room for years now. Christian loved having them in the house, though I don’t think he ever looked at any of it. He just liked that everyone had to come to us for the information if they wanted it. Anyway….”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I’m sitting here outside your motel with a truck full of archive boxes and if you don’t want the damn things, I’m going to put a torch to it all.”

She opened the curtains.

Jo made a loud noise of protest. “Ahh! Bright! Early!”

“Pull the covers up over your head and go back to sleep,” she told Jo.

Arlene was leaning against the hood of a truck that had a U-Haul trailer attached to the back. Gwen held up a hand in a half wave. So that was why Dean had texted her that trouble was coming her way. Arlene must have contacted Dean and Sam first to find out where they were, since Gwen had long ago changed her phone number and ‘forgotten’ to add several old contacts, Arlene included. She had a twinge of guilt from that. Arlene had always been nice to her.

“Uh…. Come in, I guess.”

Arlene greeted her with a hug. Her hair was pulled back in a French braid and her clothes looked quite a bit looser on her than they’d been the last time Gwen had seen her. “You look well, Gwen. Getting out from under the family thumb suits you.”

“I think so. Now, why are you bringing this to me? Why not drop them off at the compound?”

Her gaze turned hard and she snorted. “Because with Christian dead, I’m not a Campbell anymore and according to his will, whatever was his is mine, including those boxes as they were on our property.”

Gwen didn’t think it worked out that way since the boxes were only stored there, but Arlene appeared firm on that matter. She wondered who it was who’d pissed her off. Had someone gone there and tried to take the boxes from her? Had Samuel maybe? “Oh.”

“I’ve no ties to them anymore. You’re gone, Mark’s dead, Samuel turned out to be a dick…. I’d rather be in Maine taking care of mom. I want you to have the archives, Gwen. You’re the only one of them left I give a damn about and I think if you start looking through them, you might learn a few interesting things about your family.”

The way she said it made Gwen wary. ‘A few interesting things about your family.’ “Arlene --”

“No, if you don’t want them, I’ll just take them and burn them. It’d be better for all.”

What was she talking about? Burn them? Better if they were ashes? Wasn’t it all genealogical papers? “Did you read some of the papers?”

“Do you want them or not?” Her tone was brisk and Gwen realized that Arlene was frightened by something. Whether it had anything to do with the archives was another matter.

“Sure.” Though where she was going to store them she didn’t know.

Arlene smiled. “Thank God. They’re all yours.” She handed her a set of keys. “These will unlock the back.”

“You want to stay? Have breakfast? You can meet Ellen and Jo.”

“No, but thanks. I’m glad to see you’ve found people to trust. I never admitted it to Christian, but I like Dean and Sam.”

When the door was closed and Arlene gone, Jo’s voice came from one bed. “Was I half asleep and dreaming, or did you just become the sole owner of a crap load of musty boxes that detail the history of your family?”

“I did become sole owner of a crap load of musty boxes, but they may or may not contain the history of my family. I have no idea what’s in them. I wasn’t ever allowed to look as a kid. None of us were and then when I got to be an adult, I was too busy working to care about family history except in the ‘family pride, woo-hoo, go-team’ way.”

Jo sat up and yawned. “Hmm. What are you going to do with them?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Do with what?” Ellen looked through the doorway between their rooms. She was in her robe, toweling her hair dry.

Gwen and Jo both pointed at the window and the trailer.

Ellen followed their gesture and frowned. “Huh. Let me get dressed, then we can have breakfast and see what’s in the back of that bad boy.”

Three hours later, Gwen had made her first decision regarding the boxes and dialed Bobby singer’s number.

“Bobby? Hi, it’s Gwen…. No, nothing’s wrong….No, I’m not calling to ask you to dig up info. It’s just, I’ve recently come into possession of the Campbell family archives,” she parted the curtain and looked out at the parking lot, where the small U-Haul trailer was parked, “and was wondering if you’d be interested in them.”

At the table, Jo chewed a slice of apple and gave her a thumbs-up before cutting another slice.

“No, it’s a lot of genealogical information I think. No one was ever very clear about what was in the boxes and to be honest, I never looked. The only one who looked somewhat recently was Samuel. There’s probably more in them, I’m not really sure.” She vaguely remembered her own parents going through a box or two before taping them back up and returning them to storage. “File boxes and archive boxes, all in a small U-Haul. Ellen thinks there’s probably about fifty boxes total, maybe more, all sealed with tape….Yeah, I agree. Seems a low number if the Campbells have been in the game as long as Samuel said.”

Why had Arlene brought them to Gwen? It was a puzzle to her. Arlene seemed sure something in them would be of interest to Gwen, but if it wasn’t information on a current case, she didn’t want to deal with it. Better if she gave it all to someone who’d actually want to look at each and every paper, like Bobby Singer.

Bobby dithered, as Jo and Ellen had said he would, yet in the end, he told her to bring them and put them in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Gwen would take the trailer to Bobby’s, turn it in, and meet Ellen and Jo in Illinois.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Where are you boys?”

Dean looked over the roof of the Impala and waved at Sam to hurry up. “In the cultural mecca that is Lacon, Illinois. Why?”

“What are you doing there?”

“Investigating a phantom dog sighting. They’re all over here. Lacon, Sparland, Henry…Chillicothe. Though to tell you the truth, I think it’s less phantom dog than pink elephants, if you catch my drift.”

Ellen laughed. “Make sure you catch lunch at Willies Tamales on 29. Truckers that go up 29 love it.”

“Way ahead of you. Ate there yesterday.” Sam had balked at eating there, so Dean had gone by himself and thoroughly enjoyed it.

“Look, Gwen had to run to Bobby’s. She’s meeting up with us in Bloomington-Normal. If your case is a bust, maybe you could take the one a friend of mine just bumped my way a couple hours ago?”

“Tell me about it.”

“It’s down in Jacksonville, Illinois. My friend, her daughter Emily goes to college down there. Big news is that there’s a ghost scaring the crap out of people in the administration building. Something triggered it, because it wasn’t there before. Previous school year was fine, yet this one began with a bang of activity. The school is trying to keep it quiet, but students and staff are spooked. Emily works in the building putting out the literary magazine. The office she’s in is in the basement and she’s both heard and seen the spook. Soon as she realized what was going on, she called home to mom and dad and had them put the word out.”

He got the particulars and hung up as Sam approached the car. “Come on, Sammy. Ellen passed us a fresh job.”

“Tell me it’s not more phantom dogs. I’ve had about all of that I can take.”

“No dogs, just a ghost on a college campus.” He waggled his brows. “Think about it. College girls. We could find you a wild one.”

Sam laughed, “Right. Okay,” and got into the car.

“I’m holding you to that,” he replied. As they drove, he thought about the tentative plans he’d been making for that all-important six month anniversary with Jo. He hadn’t said a word to anyone, but his idea was to take Jo off for a week or two when Ellen went to housesit for Bobby. He figured Sam and Gwen could either stay there with her or work a few cases while he and Jo went on a vacation of their own.

Maybe it’d finally feel like the right time to ask Jo to marry him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Out of all the dangerous situations to be in, this was what got one of them hurt?

Jo’s hands shook as she dialed her mother’s number. She felt like she was going to throw up. “Crap, oh crap, this isn’t happening.” It didn’t take long for Ellen to answer. “Mom, Gwen’s hurt. I’m going in the ambulance with her. Meet us…um…at…uh… Bromenn. Yeah, Bromenn. That’s where they’re taking her.”

“Jo, what happened?”

“Just come please. I’ll explain when you get there.”

She hung up and climbed in the back of the ambulance, reaching for Gwen’s hand