The Price of Freedom

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

"Castiel, may I speak with you?" Anna asked.

"Of course." He stepped nearer to her, then frowned and looked around. "Where is Tabitha?"

"She's with Ezekiel. Actually, it is Tabitha I wish to speak to you about."

He nodded calmly, although terrified she had been discovered.

"She is asking many questions about our sister Rachel. Rachel passed many years before Tabitha was even born; how does she know?"

He relaxed. She was close to revealing herself, but she hadn't outright said it. "I have been telling her about our brothers and sisters. Rachel and I were very close; I mentioned her once and Tabitha has been curious about her since."

"In that case," Anna smiled, "I will tell her everything she desires to know. Did she ever meet Gabriel?"

"Yes."

*Flashback*

Farrah sat in the backseat of the Impala with Dean, who hadn't let go of her since seeing her alive two hours ago. Cas was in the front seat by Sam.

"How did you survive anyway?" Sam asked.

"The blade didn't hit my heart, so my human side was still alive, and the curse was just so off, so my demon side was still alive. Both of those resurrected my angel side."

Suddenly Cas got a very strange look on his face, then turned back to face Farrah. "Gabriel has heard that his angels are trying to kill you, Farrah, and wants to meet with you."

"Sure," she said at the same time as Dean and Sam denied it. "What? You guys can be there too."

"I'm not letting any angel except Cas near you again," Dean said, tightening his grip on her shoulder. She smiled.

"You don't have to. Just put him in a ring of holy fire and I'll stand behind you and your angel blades," she said to Dean and Sam.

The brothers shared looks and sat in silence for over a minute. Finally Sam just sighed. "I'm okay with that. And it's not like Gabriel has ever actually hurt us or wanted to hurt us."

"Fine. But I pick where," Dean begrudgingly agreed.

The next day, the Impala roared to a stop in the middle of a field. Dean spun and looked at Farrah. "You stay behind me, no matter what happens or what he says." Cas and Farrah had been able to convince the boys not to put him in holy fire, so he was taking extra precautions.

"Yes, Sir," she said with a nod.

Everyone unloaded from the car, and they walked only a few steps before the trickster appeared. "Well, isn't this a sight. My brother, Castiel, with the Winchesters, all three of them. I can sense the power radiating off of you, Farrah."

"Nice to meet you too, Gabriel." she said stiffly, standing slightly to the side of her father to be able to see him.

"Oh, right. The angels tried to kill you yesterday."

"They almost succeeded," Castiel said, his voice tight.

"Right. And I'm going to try to get them to lay off. But you know how they are. Ever since the Man stepped out all those years ago, they've been frantic for free will and leadership. Ironic really. So I can't promise anything."

"That's not good enough," said Dean, walking forward to him with his hand on the blade.

"What do you want from me?" he asked exasperatedly. "They're their own entities. I can't control them any more than Castiel or you!"

"My daughter almost dies, and all you can say is you'll have a word with them, slap them on the back of the hand?"

"Well, I was planning to do something a bit worse than a slap, obviously. Relax. Farrah, you gotta know that I'm not an enemy." He turned to her for confirmation, to make her father stand down.

She shrugged. "I want to trust you, but I've had too many angels try to kill me to be handing out friendships that easily."

He rolled his eyes. "Cassie, come on. You trust me, right?"

"I do. But these are difficult times, Gabriel. People will need more than one man's trust to be assured."

He sighed dramatically. "I just wanted to apologize. You guys don't think I would've allowed this, do you? Come on. You and I are like besties! I would never condemn any of my friends or their loved ones to death! I want to protect people! Farrah lived sixteen years of her life more or less human, which means she's under my protection."

Farrah nodded. "Okay." He gestured to her in an over-dramatized "thank you" sweeping motion.

"Okay?" Sam, who had been very quiet up until then, asked her. "What does that mean?"

"It means that I can see that Gabriel truly means me no harm and actually wants to protect me, and Castiel trusts him, which means that I do too." Ignoring Dean's earlier instruction, she walked forward and stood a few feet from the trickster.

She stuck out her hand, halving the space between them. "If you shake my hand, that means you swear you will protect me against any imminent, life-threatening danger you have knowledge of. If you don't want to swear that, leave. You'll be leaving us on good terms and I will consider you trustworthy and honest, a good angel to be ruling heaven."

"Farrah!" Dean exclaimed.

"Relax, Winchester," Gabriel said with a little smile. "Sure thing, Farrah." He clasped her hand in his own. "What else are archangels for?" And then he was gone.

*End Flashback*

Castiel smiled. "Tabitha and Gabriel were not close, but I believe that they were friends."