Family Business

Chapter 6: A Godmother's Warning

It wasn't usual for the little family to leave Beretta with Kevin, but she had already gone down for her nap, and everyone was pulled away for work. Jody and Donna had taken the girls out for some fresh air, Dean and Cas were getting lunch together - an attempt at normalcy after their big fight - and Crowley had gone to collect some of his personal affects in his various crypts.

Sam, who up until a couple minutes ago had been bouncing Beretta in his arms, was called away - Garth, in all his glorious Garth-ness, needed a quick jump on his car, and he was only an hour away.

"Kev?" The lights flickered in response. "Retta should be down for the next 2 hours, and Jody just texted me saying she'll be back in the next 30, so can you watch her for a half hour?"

The lights flickered hard, and then the figure of Kevin Tran glitched into the room. "I got it, Sam. You said she'll sleep, right?"

"She should, yeah."

"Then I'll keep an eye on things. No worries."

Sam gave Kevin a thankful smile, then headed out, his boots thudding down the hall as he jogged to the garage. Kevin smiled to himself as he wandered down to the baby's room. It wasn't all that different being a ghost as it was being alive, but moments like these - Kevin stepped through a wall to cut through another room and get to Beretta's room quicker - that he actually preferred being dead. At least he could take shortcuts.

Beretta was asleep, but she scrunched up her face a little when Kevin came in - the lights flickered again, and Kevin silently cursed his lifelessness. In times like these, he missed being a living person. He wanted to watch Beretta without scaring her. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to play with her.

"You're just a little angel," Kevin whispered, then thought better of that nickname. "Well, no. You're nothing like Cas or the other wing-heads. You're a little princess. Like Dean."

Kevin was so interested in the way Beretta clutched her teddy bear close, and the way her nose was wrinkled, and the way her wispy hair was laying across her head, that he didn't even notice when the bunker's doors slid open with a clang.

"And what do we have here? A ghost!"

Kevin spun around, then relaxed a little. It was just Rowena.

"How did you get in?" Kevin asked, putting his hands on his hips.

"The front door, dear, something you would know very little about. How are you holding up in your state?"

"Fine," Kevin said, drawing out the word just enough to stall as he moved his body between Beretta and the witch. "I'm getting used to it."

Rowena took a look around the room, noting the light purple walls and the small, delicate furniture. Kevin was suddenly much more worried - wasn't this the woman who had traded her son for a pig?

"Well, I see what all the fuss has been about. A baby! When I heard the new prophet had been kidnapped by the little winged trench coat and his human pets, I had a feeling it would be something like this. How many of you are there?"

Kevin pursed his lips for a second before replying. "There's the boys, and Jody, Donna, and the girls came in for a visit a few weeks ago."

"And my son?" Rowena feigned disinterest, but suddenly it was all making sense.

Kevin snorted. "So you're just looking for a ticket downstairs? Or do you need some demon juice behind a spell?"

"Neither!" Rowena said, a hand over her heart. "I wanted to see the little girl my son adopted."

In a flurry of long skirts, Rowena was behind Kevin, looking down at the sleeping child with something like love-adjacent on her face. Kevin smiled a little himself.

"Her name is Beretta."

Rowena scoffed. "Of course she's named for a gun. Come here, sweet thing," Rowena cooed, pulling the baby up from the bed and into her arms. "Let's get a look at you, aye? Oh, you have such beautiful eyes, my darling."

Beretta was blinking sleepily, her eyes still crusted with sleep in the corners. "Keev'n?"

"Right here, Retta."

The girl had taken a little while to heat up to the ghost, but after spending time with her and the others, and Kevin putting on a spectacularly inaccurate one-man play of Cinderella, she was now a big fan.

"Hello, sweetheart," Rowena cooed again, pulling Beretta's attention back to her. The little girl was watching the witch with fascination, tiny hands running over Rowena's glittered cheeks. "I'm your grandma Rowena."

"Ro-weea!"

"That's right! Very good, Beretta!"

"It's her nap time," Kevin said. "She really shouldn't be up."

"That's right, mother, she needs her rest."

At the sound of Crowley's voice, the ghost and the witch both jumped and looked back at Crowley in the doorway. He was leaned up against the wood, his suit pressed and clean.

"Jody called and said she would be late, I knew you were here alone so I cut my travels short," Crowley explained to Kevin before turning back to Beretta. "I see the princess was woken up. She'll be a terror to put back down now."

"Crow!" Beretta screeched. Crowley didn't even flinch, he just put his arms out and kneeled. Beretta kicked her little legs for Rowena to put her down, and after a particularly well aimed kick to Rowena's stomach, the witch set the girl down. She was off like a shot, plowing into Crowley's arms as he grabbed her around the middle and swung her up and around.

"Wee lass has a kick," Rowena complained, a hand placed over her stomach protectively.

"She gets that from me," Crowley said dryly. "Now, mother. Why are you here?"

"What, can't a concerned and loving mother come to visit her son and new granddaughter?"

Crowley raised an eyebrow. "Bollocks. What do you want?"

Rowena deflated a little, her eyebrows arching up in that sad, concerned look. "I came because... because..."

"Oh, spit it out," Crowley barked, carefully bouncing Beretta in his arms.

"There's an army of angels coming to take the newest prophet, and they're hell-bent on killing every one of you here."