Sweet Child of Mine

Waking up, Cadence gave a scream as she found the face of a man leaning over her. Reaching under her pillow, she gripped the hilt of the dagger she had and swung it at the intruder. A hand gripped her wrist stopping her. She looked into the eyes of the man looking down at her and she sank into her pillow. “Jesus Christ, Castiel.”

“I need your help again.”

She sighed, “What?”

“I need you to deal with Dean.”

“Deal with Dean?”

Castiel nodded, “Yes.”

Cadence sighed then looked at the clock on her cell phone, “Dude… it’s eleven. I’ve only had an hour of sleep. Does Bobby know you’re here?”

“Dean is still in Ohio.”

“Yeah, so?”

“You need to go with him.”

“Dude, you’re not making any sense.”

Castiel held out two of his fingers and placed them on her forehead. The next thing Cadence knew she was lying in a motel bed with Dean Winchester lying next to her.

Dean jumped up, “What the hell!”

Castiel pointed to Cadence and said, “She’s going to join you to Maine.”

Dean looked from Castiel to Cadence who had moved to a seated position and said, “Does she get to stay in my bed?”

Cadence frowned and stood up, “Castiel, where are you go-” looking over to where the angel stood she found him gone, “ing.”

“You get use to that.” Said Dean.

Cadence nodded, “I know.”

Dean nodded as well, “How was the God hunt?”

“Um… we didn’t find him.”

Dean nodded again, “Did you um… have fund with Cas?”

Cadence gave Dean a cautious look then said, “Yeah… he knows a lot about the Middle East.”

Dean nodded and moved to the open bag that sat on the other bed, the movement putting him very close to Cadence, trapping her where she stood. Pulling out a knife he handed it to her and said, “I take it all your stuff is at Bobby’s.”

She nodded, “Yeah. That’s probably one thing Castiel is not good at.”

Dean shrugged, “What?”

“Being human.”

A smirk formed on Dean’s face and he moved closer to her, Cadence not moving back any for lack of room between her and the bedside table. “You know,” said Dean, “I’m pretty good at being human.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively at her, but stopped when the tip of the blade he gave her found its way to the skin under his chin.

“Trust me, if I needed that I would rather chase down the sociopath angel than be with you.”

Dean frowned, “Is that a confession?”

Cadence held the point in place for a moment before dropping the hilt further into her hand. “Get packed… if we want to reach Main while driving through the hellhole that is Pennsylvania, we’ll have to leave now.”

“I haven’t slept yet.”

“I’ll drive.” Cadence held out her hand for the keys, but Dean backed away, “Dean I like the idea of living until I’m at least twenty five…. I’m not going to let you falling asleep at the wheel be my deciding factor.”

Dean pulled the keys out of his jean pocket, looked at them for a moment, then handed them over. “One wrong bump… and I’m taking over.”

Closing her fist around the bullet key chain, she gave a sweet smile and said, “I’m sure with the way that baby glides, you’ll fall asleep in no time. No worries, mate, I’ve got this one.”

Dean gave a shocked look, “Did you just call me mate?”

“Yeah… it means friend.”

“I know what it means.”

Cadence smiled, “Good… now hurry up. Where ever the hell Castiel went, he won’t be long.”

Dean turned away and silently mocked Cadence as she stood on the bed to reach the other side. As she landed on the floor, she threw a pillow at her partner and said, “Don’t mock me.”

Dean turned around, shocked. He didn’t think she could see him, but apparently he was wrong. Turning back he continued packing as he realized that he had mocked her in his thoughts. Turning around again he said, “How did you know I was mocking you?”

“I could hear you.”

Dean pointed at himself and said, “I didn’t say anything.”

Cadence scoffed and replied, “That you know of.”

Dean thought about it, and turned around accepting the fact that he had probably messed up and said what he was thinking out loud. His mind momentarily flashed back to when his brother, Sam, had been experiencing psychic phenomenon. Never once had they come across anyone who could read minds. Looking over his shoulder he watched Cadence walk out the front door and shook his head. She was too young to be apart of Azazel’s freak army. She was no where near Sam’s age, nor was she five years old. Unless old Yellow Eyes had been busier than they had thought, there was no way she could ever be like them. Plus her mother had recently died.

Dean paused for a moment to remember the night on November 2 1983 when his mother, Mary Winchester, died in a fire. The Yellow Eyed Demon killed her, causing their father to take up a hunting lifestyle, determined to kill the monster. Dean and Sam watched the demon die, realizing that the horrible nightmare - part one - was over, and that no more families would be put in his care ever again.

Getting everything into his father’s old marine bag, Dean walked out of the motel room to find his car waiting by the front office, engine running. Walking the length of the parking lot, Dean checked out quickly and got into his car, tossing his bag in the back seat. Turning around front he found the stupid iPod jack that had been lying on the floor of his car since the night he got back from Hell. Giving a sigh, he took it out of the cigarette lighter receptacle and replaced it, sending it flying into the back seat of the Impala.

“Hey,” exclaimed Cadence, “I was using that.”

“I said you could drive her, not douche her up.”

Cadence rolled her eyes, “Well excuse me for not having any cassette tapes on my person.”

Dean reached down into the space by his feet and produced a box of old cassette tapes, “Take your pick.”

Frowning she looked at the titles of the music and sighed. Reaching back, her fingers grasped the iPod jack and she plugged it back in along with her iPod.

“Hey-”

“Just give me a second, will ya?”

Dean watched as Cadence maneuvered through her iPod’s play list, selecting one called ‘Truly Awesome Music’ and hit shuffle, allowing the sound of Rush to escape the speakers of the classic car.

Dean looked at Cadence and asked, “Tom Sawyer? Really?”

“Yeah… see I have this general rule with cars. Driver gets to pick the music; passenger can shut his face and suck it.”

Dean looked pleasantly surprised by the rule and nodded, “Away to Maine.”

Halfway through Pennsylvania, Cadence stopped as Dean insisted on eating. Pulling into a fast food parking lot, Cadence gasped as she found the face of Castiel in the rear view mirror.

“Why are you stopping?” asked the angel.

“I’m starving.” Answered Dean.

“Where have you been?” asked Cadence.

Castiel held up her duffle bag, “I informed Bobby of where you are.”

Cadence nodded then turned to Dean, “Get me a bacon cheese burger and fries.”

His jaw dropped, “Really?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded and smiled, “Okay.”

No less than thirty minutes later, the trio were on the road again, this time with Dean in the back using the bags of clothing and other things as pillows. Castiel say in the front with Cadence, not saying anything.

~

The first thing the group did was get a motel room. They arrived in Maine in the middle of the morning, but sadly, Dean and Cadence had no time to sleep. Cadence put on the business suit she brought with her and grabbed the ‘FBI in training’ badge that she had made. Holding the small item in her hand she remembered the last time it was used – the last time she ever saw her mother.

Dean and Castiel watched from the other side of the room as she pushed back her tears and stood up, “I’m ready.”

“Perhaps you should not come,” said Castiel.

“Yeah… I wouldn’t want you to break down or something.” Agreed Dean.

Cadence frowned, “I’m not going to cry, Dean.”

Dean looked sternly at Cadence and she shrugged. Looking at her tag he raised an eye brow, “FBI in training? What, do you really think it’s going to work?”

“It’s never failed in the past.”

Dean looked at her again and said, “No. you’re not going.”

Cadence’s jaw dropped, “Dean!”

“I’m not your mother, Cadence…. I’ve never worked with you…. I’m not Bobby, I’m not Ellen, I’m not Jo. I don’t know you. I don’t know if you’ll be able to handle this job. We’re talking to a man who might have seen Raphael. I need you in there with a sound mind, not thinking about your dead mother.”

Cadence stopped. She stopped trying to argue, instead letting her face blank out. She nodded and took off the tag in a very trance like way, then sat down on one of the beds. Tears brimmed her eyes and it took a few times swallowing before she could say, “Um… you two should go…. I’m going to um… call Bobby.”

Dean felt guilt course through his being as he watched the young woman struggle to hold in her emotions. He knew damn well the moment he let the door click behind him she would let everything go. Looking at his angelic friend he said solemnly, “Let’s go, Cas.”

Cadence fumbled with her cell phone, her vision entirely blurred by tears. Once she managed to send the call to Bobby Singer she thought she was going to explode.

“Hello?”

Cadence couldn’t hold it in any longer and allowed herself to choke on a sob, “Bobby?”

“Cadence? What’s wrong?”

Another sob escaped the young girl and she couldn’t stop the others that followed. “Sh-She’s g-gone, Bobby. She’s gone.”

Dean and Castiel looked at each other with sorrowful faces on the other side of the motel door. Castiel placed his hand on Dean’s should and the two left to the police station.