One Another's Angels, Part 24

Chapter 24: Judge, Jury, and Executioner

"She has to die, Cas!"

"It's against nature for her to exist!"

"She's a prophet! We can't touch her!"

"God chose her! He must want her to be alive!"

"She's unnatural!"

"Enough!" Cas shouted, silencing everyone in front of him. There had to be at least fifty angels there. Elizabeth's garrison was there, Nathaniel, too, as well as several other garrisons. They all wanted to weigh in.

"Cas, please," Nathaniel stepped forward. "You've met Trea! You know she's harmless! You know, unless you're a monster."

"Oh, you mean like she is?" another angel stepped forward. Nate knew her, too. Her name was Annabelle. "And I'm not even sure why you're allowed to weigh in on this! You ditched us, remember?"

"So did he!" Nate gestured to Cas. "And you are following his every order! So did Gabriel! Hell, Gabriel left with me! And if he were still alive, you can't tell me you wouldn't listen to him! So, sorry, Annabelle, your argument is invalid!"

"I said enough, both of you!" Cas interrupted. "Annabelle, whether or not I consider Nathaniel's point of view in my decision is none of your concern. Nathaniel is still our brother. Our Father still created him, and he is still our family."

Annabelle fell silent, but she didn't look happy about it.

"Cas," Nate's former garrison-mate turned to look at him. "Please. She's a sweet girl. You know that. She cares about people; she could never be a threat to anything that wasn't evil. Please, I am begging you. Don't blame her for my mistake."

Cas was quiet for a long moment, seeming to deliberate in his head. Nathaniel's heart raced. He could barely breathe. The silence was crushing him.

"Trea has done nothing to make me consider her a threat to anyone," Cas said at last. Nathaniel felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his chest. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Until that fact changes, despite her lineage, she is not to be harmed. She is to be treated as a prophet before anything else. Understood?"

Annabelle looked like she just bit into a lemon. So did several other angels who held the same point of view as her. Without a word, they disappeared. Cas let out a sigh.

"Cas," Nate spoke up, his voice soft. The older angel turned and looked at him. "What about me?"

Again, Cas hesitated. "I can't penalize you for leaving without being a hypocrite," Cas told him. "To be honest, I don't blame you for leaving. But Abigail?"

"I won't apologize for what I did," Nathaniel said firmly. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Jeremiah. I was happier in the twenty-three years I spent with my family than I was in several thousand years of existence. I will never apologize for Abigail."

Cas let out a long, weary sigh, studying the angel before him. "I served with you, Nathaniel. I know what kind of angel you really are. Despite some errors in judgment," at these words, Nate's jaw clenched, and his hands quickly formed fists, but he was silent, "I believe you are still that angel. It is for this reason that I welcome you home."

Nathaniel didn't hide the shock that he felt upon hearing the decision. Behind him, several angels smiled, coming up to their brother to congratulate him. Nate smiled, accepting the kind words from his siblings. But still, he couldn't help but think that it could not be that easy...

**********

"Cas is delusional," Annabelle growled bitterly, pacing back and forth in front of the nine or ten angels who shared her belief. Not even her whole garrison agreed with her on this, a fact that she found offensive.

"Prophet or not, that girl is dangerous," she continued. She heard murmurs of agreement from those before her. "She's not natural. She's powerful. And if the demons get to her, they could destroy everything. It's like Jesse all over again, only even more dangerous. She can't be allowed to live."

"But, Annabelle," Annabelle stopped pacing and looked at the angel who stepped forward. It was her little sister, Amalia. "You heard Cas. We can't touch her. She's a prophet before anything else."

"Cas' judgment is clouded," Annabelle growled. "He's close with the girl's father and uncle. He's too close to this to think objectively. We have to do that for him."

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" This time, it was Annabelle's brother, Anthony, who spoke up.

"Yes," Annabelle said adamantly. "And after we take care of her, Nathaniel has to go, too."

"Annabelle!" Amalia sounded horrified. "The girl, sure, she's unnatural, and she shouldn't be alive, but Nathaniel is our brother! How can you even say that?"

"He's the reason she exists!" Annabelle sounded frustrated. "He has to be held accountable. If you want to back out, fine, I don't blame you. But whether or not any of you help me, I'm taking both of them out. Who's going to help me?"

The other angels looked at each other. Finally, it looked like a decision was made. Most of them vanished. Three remained: Lucas, Sofia, and Paul.

"Ok," Annabelle nodded. "Let's get started."

**********

Dean sat at the kitchen island, his eyes alert and searching, glancing at the mirror in front of him every so often so that he could see behind him. In his right hand was an angelic blade. In his left was a container of holy water, just in case a demon managed to get inside the house. Sam had a similar set up outside the attic door, except he had Ruby's knife. Trea had heard the angels talking about her, deciding her fate, and Dean didn't want to take any chances with her. The attic was angel-proofed, so not even Daniel could get to her. Just in case, Trea was also equipped with a blade and holy water.

Dean saw the girl in the mirror too late to react. She grabbed his shoulders and threw him, hard, into the wall behind him, pinning him there by his throat. He kept his grip on the silver blade, but the holy water went flying. Dean lashed out with the angelic blade—angel or demon, it would do something—but someone grabbed his arm. It was a man. Suddenly, there were four people, other than him, in the room. The girl pinning him had shoulder-length, layered strawberry blonde hair and green eyes, and appeared to be in her twenties. The man holding his arm had sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, and freckles. The other man in the room was a tall African American with an eager look on his face. The remaining girl was a brunette with hazel eyes.

"Where's the girl?" the strawberry blonde growled viciously in the hunter's face.

"Go to hell," Dean snapped.

The girl smirked, and the others in the room laughed softly. "Unlikely," she grinned. "Now where is she?"

Before Dean could shoot back a retort, there was a blinding white light, and the pressure on his neck vanished, along with the angels who had been applying it. Dean looked around for something to explain what happened. He was shocked when he found Alex with his bloody hand still pressed against the banishing sigil he painted on the wall. The knife he used to get the blood was on the floor by his feet, and there was a red spot blooming on his shirt from the gash on his lower left side that supplied the blood.

"Alex," Dean didn't bother to hide his surprise.

"Heya, Dean," Alex said, forcing a smile, his bloody right hand moving to cover his bleeding injury. It was then that Dean noticed the cast on his left arm. "Did I miss anything important?"

Before the older man could respond, two more people appeared in the room. The hunters tensed, ready to fight, but relaxed when they recognized one of their faces. Well, Alex relaxed. Dean was still on edge.

"What the hell, Cas?" Dean growled. "My daughter? She's no threat to you! Just leave her alone!"

"Dean, what are you talking about?" the trench coated angel sounded genuinely confused.

"Where's Trea?" the angel beside him asked, sounding urgent.

"Who are you?" Dean snapped.

"Dean, this is Nathaniel," Cas introduced them.

"Nathaniel..." Alex mused, making his way over to the kitchen sink and grabbing a towel to stop the blood from ruining his clothes any more. "Not...I mean I know it's impossible, but...Not Nathaniel Porter...?"

"Guilty," Nate admitted.

"But...you're like...what, eighteen?" Alex protested.

"Actually, I'm several thousand years old, but yeah, at this point in time, I appear to be about eighteen," Nate said with a smile. "I know, it's complicated, and I'll explain later, but it's nice to finally meet you, Alex. I'm sure that if Jen knew I was here, she'd want me to tell you that she says hi."

Alex was stunned into silence, but, except for the part about him being alive, this wasn't news to Dean.

"Yeah, nice to meet you, now why did you put a hit out on my daughter?" Dean demanded of his angelic friend.

"Dean, I didn't...I told them that Trea was off limits," Cas informed him.

"It's true," Nate spoke up. "I was there."

"Well then why did a bunch of angels come here looking for her?" Dean snapped.

"What?" Nate sounded alarmed. "Who?"

"Well I don't know," Dean's voice had its usual snarky tone. "We didn't exactly stop and introduce ourselves!"

"What did they look like?" Cas stepped in.

Dean sighed, calming down a little. "One was a strawberry blonde, about five-foot-six, and she seemed to be in charge...there was a guy with dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and freckles who would fit in on a farm...a tall black guy who looked like he either wanted to eat me or play with me..." at this, both Alex and Nate chuckled softly, but Cas looked as serious and confused as ever, "and the last one was a girl with wavy brunette hair and hazel eyes."

"Annabelle," Nate sighed, sounding hurt and disappointed. Cas nodded.

"Listen," Nate continued, addressing Dean. "I've waited thirteen years to see my granddaughter again. Can I please go see her?"

Dean hesitated, then nodded. "She's in the panic room. But, just so you know, Sam's up there, ready to shoot anything that moves, so Alex, you should go with him."

Alex nodded, and he and the angel began to make their way towards the stairs.

"And Alex," Dean stopped the teen in his tracks. "I suggest you apologize for everything you put her through."

Alex let out a soft sigh, and nodded knowingly. Then he and Nate started walking again.

Nate seemed especially eager to get up to the attic. The first bedroom he came to, he pulled the door open and made a b-line for the closet. Alex had a hard time keeping up as Nate pulled open the closet's hidden door and dashed through the secret hallway to the door that led to the attic stairs. He didn't hesitate before throwing it open. Dean wasn't lying about Sam. He was sitting there with a silver angelic blade in one hand and Ruby's knife in the other. Upon seeing the angel, he stood up, ready to fight off an attack if it came.

"Who are you?" Sam demanded.

"Is Trea in there?" Nate asked eagerly, taking a few steps forward.

"Stay the hell back!" Sam growled, raising the angelic blade threateningly.

At that moment, Alex appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Sam, it's ok," he assured the older hunter.

"Alex?" Sam sounded shocked, but at the same time, pleasantly surprised. "Who is this?"

"Sam, Nathaniel Porter, Trea's grandpa, the angel, and yes, he's alive, Nate Porter, Sam Winchester," Alex introduced them with a little more detail than Cas did earlier.

"Actually, I go by Nate Carter, now," Nate corrected. "And I'm actually Alex's sister's best friend."

"But...you're..." Sam sounded just as confused as Alex was.

"I know, I look fantastic," Nate joked, flashing a smile. "Look, Sam, it's a long story, and I will explain later, but right now, I haven't seen my granddaughter since she was a week old."

Before Sam could respond, they heard the door's deadbolt system retract, and the door opened. Trea, wide eyed, stood in the doorway.

Nate let out a shaky breath, smiling slightly. "Hey, Trea," he said softly, his eyes sparkling with happiness.

Trea didn't say anything, she just ran down the stairs, past Sam, who jumped out of her way, and threw her arms around him. Nate hugged her tightly, not wanting to let her go.

When they finally pulled away, Nate held her at arm's length, looking her over, pride in his eyes. "You look so much like your mother...almost exactly like her..." he said softly. "Except you have my Abigail's eyes..."

Trea smiled, but didn't say anything. It was then that she saw Alex. She looked shocked to see him.

"Alex?" she gasped, unsure if what she was seeing was true.

"Hey, Trey," Alex grinned. Trea smiled, then ran to her friend, hugging him as well. After a moment, she noticed the cast on his arm.

"What happened to your arm?" she asked, pulling away to look at the fiberglass cast.

"I broke it that night that I went to go find Jen," Alex told her.

"It looks new," Trea commented. "There's no dirt or blood on it, no scratches like you were in a fight..." she sighed. "How long did you wait?"

Alex grinned sheepishly. "I got it yesterday."

Trea rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Hey, I can't complain I guess," she sighed. "At least you went to a doctor...what happened to your neck?"

"Yeah, doctor...not exactly..." Alex said with a forced laugh. "And funny story about that..." the teen turned to the angel. "I think we both have some explaining to do."

"Yeah, I think so, too," Nate agreed. "Hey, Cas wants us downstairs. Let's go."

With that, the four of them made their way back to the living room. They found Dean sitting on the couch, drinking yet another beer, and Cas standing by the window, looking out at the yard.

"Cas," Nate said with a sigh, causing the higher-ranking angel to turn. "Thanks for taking me here, but I can take it from here." Cas nodded, and then he was gone.

Sam and Trea took a seat on the couch next to Dean, but Alex and Nate remained standing.

"Alright, Alex, you go first," Trea said with a sigh.

Alex sighed, hesitating. "Where do I begin...?"

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