My Home Is Always With You {10}

Chapter 20: "Angel Heart"

Liz and the boys go meet with Castiel outside the hospital because Claire's in the hospital. Castiel says, "Thanks for coming." Liz softly says, "Yeah, of course." Dean says, "Cass, look, we're always glad to help, but Claire and I aren't exactly on the best of terms. I mean, should I even be here?" Castiel says, "I need help from the three of you. You three were troubled teens. You speak her language." Liz says, "All right. How is she?" Castiel says, "Well, I-I haven't gone in yet. I was waiting for backup." Dean says, "B-backup? Three men and a woman and a teen girl. Let's do this." They walk up to Claire's room, and she says, "What are you doing here? And why the hell did you bring him?" Dean sarcastically says, "Awesome." Castiel says, "Um, the-- the police found my number in your emergency contact list." Claire says, "Yeah, well... that was a mistake. You can go now." Castiel says, "Claire... why were you at a bar?" Claire says, "I wasn't." Sam says, "Claire, what were you doing in an alley outside of a bar?" Claire says, "Wrong place, wrong time. Story of my life." Sam says, "Look, we're not leaving until you tell us what the hell really happened. So, if you want us gone... talk." Claire says, "I was looking for my mom. I wanna find my mom and tell her she ruined my life." Castiel says, "Your mom didn't--" Claire cuts Castiel off and says, "She left me, and so did my dad. But Jimmy's gone, right? Has it easy up in heaven. So... mom's the only one left I can tell off." Liz softly says, "When's the last anybody heard from your mom?" Claire says, "Um... when I was living with my grandmother, she used to send me postcards. This is the last one." Claire hands it to Liz and she continues to say, "I got it just before my grandma died. Two years ago. Nobody's heard from her since. It was sent from a motel here in town. That's where I've been crashing. I was at Susie's Bar looking for a loser named Ronnie Cartwright. Mom's diary said she was gonna meet him around the time she disappeared. Before he knocked me down, he remembered her name. He knows something." Castiel says, "Why was Amelia looking for him?" Claire says, "She went looking for miracles. She went looking for you." The four of them walk out the room and Castiel says, "This is all my fault." Sam says, "You know, Cass, say it is. What can you do about it?" Castiel says, "Find Amelia." Dean says, "She did disappear trying to hunt down an angel. Might be a case." Sam says, "Yeah, but we don't know that." Dean says, "Close enough. Come on, give me something to punch already." The three of them looking at him worriedly and Dean notices and he continues to say, "I'm kidding. I'm fine. I'm just... I'm fine. Why don't we go back to the bar, see if we can track down this Ronnie guy, huh?" Liz sighs and says, "Yeah. We should let Claire know where we're going first." Dean says, "Perfect." Dean walks away and they follow after him to Claire's room to find her gone. Dean says, "Well, she either went looking for Ronnie again or, uh--" Liz cuts Dean off and says, "Yeah, or she went to go grab her stuff before taking off again." Dean says, "Well, she's got a concussion. Maybe that'll slow her down." Liz says, "All right. I'll head to the motel. You three check out the bar." Later, Liz is waiting in Claire's motel when she walks in and Liz says, "Took you long enough." Claire turns the lights on to see Liz and she says, "How did you..." Liz holds the postcard out and Liz continues to say, "Also, you checked in under the name "Claire Novak." A little pro-tip? Use an alias." Claire says, "Okay." Claire grabs her stuff from the closet and Liz says, "Claire, we just wanna help." Claire says, "I didn't ask for your help." Liz points at Claire's bulletin board to look for her mom and she says, "You know, this is good. I was impressed. How did you get the information that..." Claire tosses a book at Liz and Claire says, "It's mostly empty promises and regret, but... there were enough breadcrumbs to get me here." Liz looks through the diary and she says, "How did you get your mom's diary?" Claire sighs and says, "The motel manager sent mom's stuff to her last known address after she disappeared. It bounced around, eventually found its way to me at one of the foster homes." Liz says, "You came all this way just to tell her off?" Claire says, "You always get along with your mom?" Liz says, "No, because my real mom abandoned me. But, my adopted mother was killed in front of me when I was 2." Claire says, "I'm-- I'm sorry. I didn't--" Liz cuts Claire off and she says, "It's okay. I've moved past it. I actually got to know her later in life. We got along great, and I was content and happy, but recently I did just relink with my real mom, and I got to know what kind of person she is." Claire says, "What kind of person is she?" Liz sighs and says, "Someone who only cares about themselves. Claire, you may not realize this, but we are alike in some ways. Both of are moms abandoned us and we have built up anger over her leaving. There was a time where I wanted to kill her and now, I just could care less about her. But you, you have a chance to reunite with your mom again and be a family again. Sometimes death isn't always good-bye." Claire says, "I can't." Liz sighs and says, "I know you want to be somewhere far away from all of us but let me get my laptop. I'll teach you how to hack into your mom's credit records and that can lead us to her last location." Claire says, "Show me, but then I'm gone." Liz nods and gets her laptop out and starts looking and then Liz says, "There we go." Claire says, "Seriously? It's that easy?" Liz chuckles and says, "Yes. I can also show you how to set up fake credit cards. They will make life on the road a lot easier." Claire says, "You guys are credit card scammers, too?" Liz says, "Yeah. Hunting monsters doesn't exactly pay the bills." Claire says, "Then why do you do it?" Liz says, "To help people, make a difference." Claire says, "That's it?" Liz says, "That's not enough?" There's a knock on the door and Claire opens the door and it's the boys. Castiel says, "Are you all, right?" Claire sighs and says, "Yeah, I will be when nobody ever asks me that again." Liz says, "You guys find Ronnie?" Sam says, "Yeah. Yeah, he gave up a name-- Peter Holloway. Said he was a faith healer." Liz says, "So, you guys thinking angel?" Dean says, "Maybe, but it sounded like he has healed some people, but he may have fed off others." Liz says, "Yeah, that's weird. All right, let's look into this Peter Holloway guy." Liz looks him up and she hears Castiel say, "Clarie, um... happy birthday." Liz looks over to see Castiel got Claire at stuffed cat and he continues to say, "I got it at the hot topical." Liz softly chuckles and says, "Cass, it's Hot Topic." Castiel says, "Oh. Thanks." Liz nods and continues to search Peter Holloway. Claire says, "Right. Um... thanks, I guess." Liz finds something and says, "Whoa. Just got an alert from local P.D. Ronnie's body was just found outside of Suzie's bar." Claire looks at Dean and says, "You were just supposed to talk to Ronnie. What did you do to him?" Dean says, "I didn't lay a hand on him." Sam says, "Dean, that isn't exactly true." Dean says, "I didn't kill the guy. All right, I'm gonna get suited up and head back over there." Castiel and Claire both say, "I'm coming with you." Dean looks at Liz and Sam and says, "Either of you want to get on this?" Liz says, "No, I should probably stay here and research Peter Holloway." Sam says, "I'll go with you guys." Dean nods and says, "Great." The four of them walk out the room, but Liz stops Castiel and says, "Hey, Cass? What happened at the bar?" Castiel says, "Dean snapped. He's getting worse." Castiel walks out the room and Liz sighs thinking that Rowena needs to hurry the hell up. Later, Liz gets a lead on Peter Holloway and writes down an address when Dean, Castiel, Claire and Sam walk in. Liz says, "Hey. I got a lead on Peter Holloway." Dean says, "Oh, good, 'cause he's probably about to split town. Ronnie made a few phone calls before he got shish kebabbed." Liz says, "You think to give Holloway a heads up?" Sam says, "If he did, that's probably what got him killed. So... we gotta track him down before he bails." Liz says, "Great. Well, according to county records, Holloway owns a farmhouse about 30 or 40 miles from here, so I crossed-referenced it with Amelia's credit card receipts. The house is about right there, and she's been hitting up Biggerson's and gas 'n' sips all around the area." Dean says, "Probably staking the place out." Liz says, "Exactly." Claire says, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go." Castiel says, "Claire, you are not going out there." Claire says, "She's, my mother." Castiel says, "That house could be empty and it could be a trap. It's too dangerous. I can't let anything happen to you." Claire says, "Anything else, you mean." Dean says, "Claire, you're not going." Castiel looks at Dean and says, "You're not either, Dean." Dean's confused and says, "What?" Castiel says, "Back at the bar with Ronnie?" Dean says, "Oh, come on, Cass. He wasn't gonna talk. I just... helped him talk." Liz says, "Dean, Cass is right. We need to keep the Mark in check. And we don't know what's out there. You know maybe you should stay here." Dean says, "So, you wanna bench me again? All right. Fine. I'll stay and babysit. But if anything happens, anything at all..." Castiel says, "Yeah, we'll call you. No fighting." Dean scoffs and says, "Yeah, tell her that." Castiel says, "Both of you." Dean's offended and Liz, Sam, and Castiel leave. As Liz, Castiel, and Sam are on the road, Castiel says, "When this is over, should I... should I leave Claire alone?" Liz says, "What? No. She's family. Well, I mean, she's not exactly family, but she's close enough. I mean, you two have history. Simple as that." Castiel says, "So, do you don't think she's better off on her own?" Sam says, "Cass, she just turned 18." Castiel looks back at Sam who's in the backseat and he says, "Sam, you were alone when you left for college at that age, weren't you?" Sam says, "Yeah, but that's different." Castiel says, "How, Sam?" Sam says, "Here's all I know-- going it alone, that's no way to live." Liz nods and says, "You being there for her, even if she thinks she doesn't want you to be there for her, that's good for both of you." Castiel says, "Maybe, in the end." Liz softly says, "In the end." Later, they arrive and Castiel says, "It looks abandoned." Sam says, "Only one way to find out." They get out of the car and Liz says, "Okay, you two take the barn, I'll take the house." The boys nod and they split up. Liz walks into the house and takes out her angel blade and looks around. Liz then feels her phone vibrate and she sees it's Dean calling her when she hears a floor creak and she turns around, but then she gets knocked out. A few moments later, Liz wakes up tied to a chair with warded ropes and she looks over to see a man and she says, "You must be Holloway." Holloway nods and says, "For the last 50 years or so, yes. Before that, I was a Jenkins. And before that, a Miller. My real name is Tamiel. I'm a Grigori. A watcher angel." Liz says, "Since when do angels feed on humans?" Tamiel says, "Since the dawn of man." Liz says, "What are you talking about?" Tamiel points at her and says, "Your souls... are little slices of heaven that are, if properly kept, delicious meals that can last for years, decades even." Liz says, "You're not an angel. You're a monster." Tamiel laughs and says, "I prefer to think of myself as a gourmand. I make heaven a place on earth. Keeps me alive and hidden from the rest of the failures that call themselves angels." Liz scoffs and says, "Oh, they are failures? Yeah, 'cause you're living so large in your own life." Tamiel takes out a sword and points it at Liz and he says, "There were hundreds of us, but now... each of our names inscribed in our swords. A brotherhood of perfectly crafted, engineered beings sent to protect you pathetic, bottom-feeding disasters." While Tamiel was talking, Liz pulled a nail from the chair and broke free from the chair and she blasts Tamiel away and but then Tamiel then disappears and Liz tries to look for him, but then she bumps into Dean, Sam, and Castiel. Dean looks at Liz and says, "What the hell happened?" Liz says, "Listen Holloway is a.... Grigori." Dean says it the same time as Liz and Castiel says, "Grigori?" Liz says, "Yes." Castiel says, "No. They were some of the first angels on earth. It was an elite unit that went bad. But they're-- they're extinct. They were destroyed." Liz says, "Well, no, some survived. And they've been hunting humans, making them create heavens in their minds and feeding off them." Castiel says, "Where is this abomination?" Liz says, "Well, after I escaped, I blasted him away and then I tried looking for him, but he must've left." Then Dean, Castiel, and Sam all look at each other thinking about Claire and they run out the room with Liz behind them. They run into the barn to see Taimel about to kill Claire until, Castiel jumps him and starts fighting with him. Liz then grabs Tamiel from behind and Dean starts beating him up until Tamiel kicks Dean away and tosses Liz away. Sam picks up an angel blade and as he goes to stab Tamiel, Tamiel punches Sam and then tosses him away. Then Castiel goes after Tamiel again and as Tamiel gets the upper hand and goes to kill Castiel, Clare stabs Tamiel in the back with an angel blade and she kills him. Claire then goes over to her mom and tries to wake her up and her voice breaks when she says, "Mom? Mommy, please stay with me, okay? Mom? Mom. Mom. Mom." Everyone sadly watches Claire cry over her dead mom and Claire says, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The next day, everyone's outside the motel and Claire and Liz are leaned against the Impala and Liz tells Claire that she'll be staying with Jody and Claire says, "So, what? Is this some sort of halfway house for Wayward girls?" Liz chuckles and says, "No. Not at all. Jody Mills is good people, and she'll give you a place to crash until you get back on your feet. It's not forever, right?" Claire says, "You said sometimes death isn't always good-bye, right? So, good-byes aren't always forever." Liz nods and says, "Right. Take care of yourself, Claire." Liz rubs Claire's shoulder and Claire nods and Liz walks over to Castiel. A few moments later, Claire's cab is here and Lis softly smiles when Claire hugs Castiel goodbye and everyone watches Claire drive away. Castiel says, "Someone just tell me she's gonna be okay." Sam says, "Yeah, Cass. Of course. She'll be okay. So, will you."