Fame Crazy (Sequel to Strings Attached)

Chapter 35

Holy shit.

That the first thing that goes through Castiel's mind when Anna finally comes home. She's so... Wow. Her crop top shows her overly prominent hipbones, her long legs smaller than what Castiel thought humanly possible. Her skin is pale, and her hair is looking... unhealthy, for lack of a more descriptive word.

"Hey, Castiel!" She says it with excitement, but she isn't as energetic as she usually is. Ordinarily, he'd brush it off, assuming it's a summer-just-started-why-would-I-sleep type of thing, but with everything else, he finds himself doubting that.

"Hey, kiddo," he replies, giving her a hug. He can feel her ribs through her shirt.

Should he talk to her about this? He told Michael he would, but he meant if he saw the behavior over a few days, not just how obvious her appearance makes it. Should he wait a little while and talk to her later, instead of coming in all know-it-all-like? Probably. Or maybe tonight, so she can sleep on it. Decisions, decisions.

"How're things going?" she asks him. "Are you super busy and stuff?"

He shakes his head. "Nope, actually. I don't really have to do anything for another month."

"So you're stuck with us for a month?" she surmises. "Awesome!"

He chuckles. "You say that now, but I'm sure you'll be begging me to leave in a couple weeks," he jokes.

"Probably," Samandriel says, flying squirrel-ing into the room. How do people do that? That shouldn't be possible. Claire follows, laughing at his ridiculousness. "We don't need no authority figure!"

"Samandriel speaks the truth!" Claire shouts.

"You two speak loudly!" Michael calls from somewhere that is probably his room but who really knows where Michael goes?

"Speaking loudly is fun!" They both call back at once. Laughing, they share a high five.

Michael walks over to join them all by the front door. "I was wondering why Lucifer wasn't yelling, too," he says, looking around.

"Yeah, where'd he go?" Castiel asks. "I swear he was just here less than an hour ago."

"He's been disappearing a lot," Anna tells him.

"Do you know why?" Castiel asks.

"Not a clue," Samandriel replies.

Looking over at his eldest brother, Castiel asks, "Why didn't you mention that?"

"He's twenty-five years old," Michael replies. "I'm not policing him. He probably just has a secret girlfriend. He never comes home with any injuries, so I don't think there's any reason to be concerned."

"I hope not," Castiel replies, but he isn't sure he believes it. Between the lack of Bee Movie and sneaking out — though it's more like just leaving because he's an adult, even if he doesn't act like one — there's definitely something going on with him. If only he could find out what...

~~

Gabriel returns about half an hour later with Sam, being all cute and stuff. They have their brief reintroduction, which isn't very entertaining but whatever.

"Hey, Castiel, guess what's happening tomorrow?" Gabriel says with a grin.

"What?" Castiel asks cautiously, unsure if he wants to hear this. Knowing Gabriel, it's likely to be fairly stupid.

"Deano's coming back tomorrow!"

"Cool," Castiel replies, his energy level not matching that of his brother's.