Watch Your Back, Mother

Chapter 5: Into Thin Air

   Dean awoke to the sound of his stomach growling. Groaning at the hollow feeling in his gut, the Hunter glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand beside his bed- eight o'clock. Lazily pulling the blankets off of his body and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, Dean sniffed at the air. He smelled something different... and delicious. Already feeling himself salivate, the Hunter stood, ready to beg for whatever was causing the sweet aroma. The Winchester turned around to see Sam and Castiel sitting at a small table, laughing happily.
   Dean grinned despite himself. Castiel's smile always brightened Dean's day and, though he was no longer an irresponsible child that need to be looked after and protected, Dean felt it was his responsibility to keep Sammy happy and smiling. Seeing their companion staring at them, Sam waved Dean over as Cas pulled out a chair for his beloved. As Dean headed for the table, he was caught off guard by an impossibly straight waterfall of fiery orange hair in front of the small stove in their makeshift motel-room kitchen. The hair swayed as Nora turned around, greeting him with a friendly smile of perfect white teeth.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty." She said, her Irish lilt giving her voice a permanent singsong tone.
"Mornin'," Dean returned as he stood next to his husband, "D'you sleep here last night?"
"Nowhere else to go, green eyes," Nora answered plainly. Motioning to the chair Cas has pulled out for Dean, the redhead ordered, "Sit."
   Dean obeyed. As soon as he did so, Nora sat a plate of food in front of him. Dean stared at the food as Nora brought three more plates to the table; one for Sam, one for Cas, and one for herself. On Dean's plate were four bacon strips, three fluffy pancakes, and a fairly large amount of scrambled eggs.
"My favorite." Dean smiled.
"I know," Nora replied, "Cas told me."
   As Nora walked to the fridge and examined the inside, Dean called after her, "You cook?"
"I do a lot of things, Dean." After rummaging around for a second, Nora asked, "You guys have anything to drink other than beer?"
"Nope." Sam replied through a mouthful of bacon.
"Alrighty then."
   Nora withdrew from the fridge with four beers in her hand.
   Wondering if he should let her drink, Dean questioned Nora as she passed out the beers, "How old are you?"
"That, my friend," the redhead responded as she sat down in the chair opposite Dean and twisted the cap off of her drink, "is a loaded question." Her Irish accent paired strangely with her casual tone.
"How so?"
"I age differently than other people. When I was one, I looked two. When I was seven, I looked fourteen. I developed- physically and mentally- twice as fast as normal people."
"So, you're...?" Dean urged her on.
   Sighing, the woman explained, "Developmentally: I'm twenty-two. According to my birth certificate: I'm eleven."
"Then," Sam interrupted, "why do you look so young?"
"I stopped growing on my ninth birthday. By then, to the other nine year-olds in my town, I was touching the sky.
"So," Castiel butted in, grinning, "I guess you could say you're stuck on... cloud nine?"
   His face serious, Dean leaned forward on his elbows, looked disappointedly at Cas, and said, "Cas... I thought we agreed you wouldn't make puns anymore."
"I'm sorry, Dean." Castiel apologized, though he continued to grin.
"So," Nora interrupted, "if was wondering if-"
"No." Dean cut her off.
   Scoffing in protest, the redhead insisted, "You don't even know what I was going to say!"
"Yes, I do. You were gonna ask if we could go check out that little boy's house." Dean said.
"Well, why can't we?" Nora asked indignantly.
"Nora," Sam replied gently, "we've been Hunting since Dean was four and I was in pull-ups. We're used to seeing this stuff, but you..." the giant trailed off.
   Nora sat up challengingly, despite being over eight inches shorter than her opponent, and said, "What's that supposed to mean?"
   Dean flinched at Nora's tone. Though she was seven years younger than Dean (eighteen, if you went by er birth certificate), Nora's angry voice threw him- it was full of buried anger, which destroyed her peaceful Irish lilt, but magnified her Irish accent.
"Sahm, I said: wot's that suppoosed to mean?"
"They're afraid the guilt and sadness you feel towards the boy's death will compromise your ability to participate." Cas answered flatly.
   Noticing Sam and Deans angry glares, the Angel blinked and asked, "What? She's been through enough, you could at least be honest with her."
"Thank you, Castiel," Nora said, her voice returning to it's usual smooth melody.
   He wasn't sure why, but Dean absolutely loved the sound of Nora's voice. It was strangely soothing, like a mother's lullaby or a cat purring- like it was letting him know he was doing something right. Dean refocused, realizing he'd spaced out, to find Nora's waiting glance. She'd clearly asked him something and was waiting for an answer.
"Well," Nora asked, "can we go, or what?"
   Tilting his head reluctantly, Dean gave a defeated groan, rolled his eyes, and submitted, "Alright, fine. If it'll quiet you down." Dean shoved the rest of is food in his mouth and stood.
   Nora clapped her hands once in triumph, then stood as well. The redhead headed for the door, but Dean stopped her.
"Hold on, Red." The Hunter said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"What is it?" Nora asked.
   Dean looked to his brother and the pair smirked as Dean explained, "If you're gonna be a Hunter, you gotta look the part."
"Huh?" the ginger mumbled confusedly.
   Sam chuckled from behind her and said, "Time to suit up, blue eyes."

"Okay, you can come out now." Nora called.
   The boys piled out of the bathroom, muttering about the lack of space. Standing in a line shoulder-to-shoulder, the Winchesters surveyed Nora with care. Dressed in a black business suit that Cas had "borrowed" from a local clothing store with the employees' knowledge (he intended to return it, as he always did), Nora really looked the part. With neutral makeup and eyeshadow under her eyes to create the illusion of exhaustion, she looked at least twenty-five. That, and the tight bun behind her head into which Nora had wound her flaming hair, gave the redhead a peculiar aura- authority seemed to flow around her like water circling a drain.
"Well?" she asked expectantly.
"You did good." Sam replied, clearly impressed.
"Yeah, not bad." Dean nodded.
"Not quite." Castiel objected.
   The Angel took a step forward, ignoring the confused faces of his peer, his own face stern and judgemental.
"Like Dean said," the Fallen Angel said, meeting Nora's nervous gaze, "if you're going to be a Hunter, you've got to look the part.." Castiel grinned, pulled a wallet out of his pocket, and held it out to the girl, finishing, "Down to the last detail."
   Her eyes wide, Nora opened the wallet and smiled wide, her white teeth practically sparkling. Gasping at what she saw, the friendly stranger help up an FBI badge- fit with her picture and the name "Agent Kara Slash"- like a proud child posing for a picture on Christmas morning. "How'd you do this so fahst?" Nora asked giddily, her Irish accent slipping through in her excitement.
"I called in a favor from Gabriel." Cas shrugged nonchalantly, though he was visibly relieved to see the joy on Nora's face.
"Oh, so he'll answer Cas." Dean heard his brother mumble under his breath.
"Okay," Dean announced, clapping his hands together once for attention, let's get going before the little torch spontaneously combusts or something."
   The tension settled, Nora skipped after Sam- who was already walking through the doorway- and shouted happily, "Shotgun!"
"No way, Nora, I get shotgun!" Castiel called after her laughingly.
"I called it!" the redhead replied indignantly.
"I get shotgun!" Cas turned to his husband, "Dean, tell her I get shotgun."
   Dean chuckled; every once in a while, Castiel rather reminded Dean of a child- something he found adorable at times. Complying, Dean laughed and yelled, "Driver says Cas gets to sit up front!" The Winchester laughed again at the faint disappointed "awww" from the parking lot.
"You're only saying that because you're in love with him!" Nora hollered as an afterthought as Cas walked away to grab his suitcase.
"How'd you know that?" Dean asked a little more quietly.
   Dean jumped when Nora appeared by the doorframe. After giggling about the Hunter not seeing him coming, the redhead answered, "Because I have eyes."
"What do you mean?"
"The way you look at him... people don't get that kind of spark in their eyes unless they're in love. You can't fake that kind of look." Nora smiled, then headed back to the car.
   When Castiel returned to Dean's side, the former amnesiac asked, "Hey, Cas, we still don't know much about Nora... why are you so nice to her? Why am I?"
   His expression sobering, Castiel answered, "Dean, you seem to have some strange abilities now. You knew, without an explanation, that we would still be safe if we let Nora in. Even I was not sure, but I trusted you. She shows genuine despair in an amount that you can't fake. I sense a great sadness in Noreen, she's been through enough hardship, and I know you can see it, too." Dropping his gaze to the floor, the Angel added quietly, "Everyone deserves to have something to believe in."
   Sensing his lover's upset, Dean nodded in agreement, deciding to ask about the last sentence another time.
"Okay, Cas." Dean smiled lovingly at his husband, "C'mon, let's get in the car before Nora takes your spot."

   Dean kept his eyes on the road as Sam and Nora sang along to "Sing for the Moment" by Aerosmith duet-style from the backseat, using Castiel as backup vocals.
"Dean," Nora leaned forward, "Can we stop at a gas station?"
"Why?" Dean inquired, "We've still got half a tank of gas left."
"I have to go to the bathroom." Nora objected.
"Can't you hold it 'til we get there?"
"I could, but it seems unprofessional to use someone's bathroom while investigating their child's death."
"It'll be fine, Nora." Dean snapped.
"Sorry." Nora mumbled apologetically, sitting back.
   Sighing regretfully, dean said, "Look, I'm sorry I just... it's a little kid, Nora. He was just a child. I want to get this over with. I wanna get there now."
   The second he finished the sentence, Dean vanished from the car.