Come in With the Rain

Dean decided not to drive since Mabel probably didn't go far in the time span of her leaving her apartment. So he hoofed it. He'd dodge people and look into buildings hoping he'd get a glimpse of her. Since she's more street savvy than him she knew all the right places to hide.

“Mabel?” He called looking down an alley. No one was there. He curses loudly then continues to run down the street.

“We came as soon as you called,” Balthazar says showing up at Castiel's apartment.

Gabriel frowns, “Did Mabel really do this?” Castiel's siblings looked all around his apartment.

“I never said she did,” Castiel protests. “She just let in the wrong people and this happened.” Then he frowns.”And now she's gone.”

Sam states, “She didn't leave not too long ago. My little brother's already out there looking for her. We need someone to stay here to wait for Mabel in case she comes back.”

Ana raises a hand, “I'll do it. She needs a woman here and not a man after what she's been through.” She moves past the group to the living room.

“Okay come on,” Michael calls. “We can't let Dean go out there on his own.”

It was surprisingly cold for September. And all Mabel had on was this thin crocheted sweater. She stretches it out to cover her bare legs. She pulls her arms inside in hope to stay warm.

“Are you okay child?”

She looks up shivering slightly at the sudden cold rushing through the hole around her neck.

“Oh,” She calls. “I remember you.” It was that old man she helped that one raining day. “How are you?”

“Better,” He smiles seating himself next to her. “But I asked you something first.”

Mabel frowns and rests her chin on her knees, “I did a stupid thing earlier and now my father is mad at me.”

“Father's tend to get mad,” The man states. “But they usually do it for the right reasons.”

“Well my stupid thing really made him mad,” She murmurs.

“And what is this stupid thing?”

“I let in an old friend and his friends into our home and they stole everything,” She states. “And slapped me.”

The man gasps, “That is a stupid thing. Are you okay?”

“No,” Mabel says her voice sounding as if she were on the verge of tears. “I'm not. I'm scared. I'm afraid he doesn't want me anymore.”

“He would never,” The man says. He rests a hand on her back. “I'm sure he loves you.”

“He's going to send me back to foster care,” She sobs. “I won't see him again.”

“He wouldn't,” The man continues. “Something tells me he's out there looking for you.”

Castiel runs down the street, “Excuse me?” A couple stops in front of him. “Have you seen a girl come past here? She has short strawberry blonde hair?” The couple shakes their heads and apologizes. He thanks them and moves on.

“Mabel!” Gabriel shouts from his car window. “Mabel! Are you out there!”

Luke shouts, “Have any of you seen a young girl running around?” He'll get a few head shakes and no's then sits back. “Gabriel head over towards the edge of town.”

Michael was going around stores asking if they've seen Mabel and hoping they'd keep an eye out for her.

“Hey I got new recruits,” Balthazar calls to his brother. Ellen and Jo were standing behind him.

“So what happened?” Ellen asks walking up to Michael. “All your brother told us was that Mabel ran off.”

Dean hunched over gripping his knees. He's been looking for over an hour now. Mabel sure can hide. He feels so angry right now. Angry at the people who did that to Mabel, angry with Castiel for yelling at her making her run, and angry at himself for being in a fight with her. He likes Mabel and yet he can't seem to make that work for him at all.

“You better be okay Mabel,” He breathes before running down the street again.

“Here,” The man says taking his coat off and draping it over Mabel's shoulders.

“Thank you but I think you should keep it on,” She suggests.

“I'll be fine,” He chuckles. “An old man like me can handle a little September chill.” Mabel smiles and pulls the coat more around her. “I'm Joshua by the way.”

“Mabel,” She greets. At least she wasn't lonely. But the person she wants wasn't there. “Joshua?” He looks at her. “Should I still be mad at my friend?”

“Depends,” He starts. “What did he do?”

“He was with this girl and he told me he was dating her when in reality they were just having sex,” She explains with a grimace on her face. “He kept the charade up for two months until I found out a few days ago.”

Joshua puts a hand to his chin to think. Mabel waits patiently for an answer. “No.”

“No?”

“Did he apologize?”

Mabel nods, “Yes, but it still hurt that he kept it from me.”

Joshua nods, “No. You shouldn't. He is his own man and can do what he pleases.”

“But what if I have feelings for him?” Mabel almost whispers fear that people would hear her.

“Still no,” He smiles. “Even if you do have feelings for him, he was a good friend and realized his error in apologizing. Plus, there has to be a reason as to why he kept it from you.”

“I believe it's because he thinks I couldn't handle the idea of it,” She pouts.

“Well yeah,” Joshua sighs. “Look at what happened between you and him.” He felt bad when he saw the girl frown. “If you look at it from his perspective, he obviously didn't want to hurt you because he really cares about you.”

Mabel hugs her knees, “I feel awful about being mad at him. I don't wish to be mad at him, but it just hurts when I see him.”

“That's love for you.”

Castiel thanks a few people at a bar then heads back out onto the streets. Sam runs up to him.

“Well?” He asks the man.

Sam huffs, “I asked and a few people have seen her but they couldn't remember which way she ran off to.”

Castiel groans,”This is all my fault!”

“Cas...”

“I never should have yelled at her. I blamed her for what happened,” He puts a hand to his face and squeezed his eyes shut. Sam put a hand on his neighbor's shoulder.

“Cas, it's okay,” He says. “We're going to find her. Even if it takes all night.”

Dean thanks a few people passing by and walks quickly down the street. Why? Why did he have to lie to her? If he didn't then Mabel wouldn't be missing right now. Maybe if he'd just told her right away how he felt about her then she'd be safe at home.

“Come on Mabel,” He breathes to himself. “Please, where are you?”

Mabel hisses when she touched her cheek. The slap was starting to really hurt. Joshua wet a rag and had her place it on her cheek just so it wouldn't swell.

“Do you have any family?” Mabel asks looking at the kind man.

“I do,” He hums. “But they are far away.”

“Why don't you go visit them?”

“They don't want nothing to do with this old man,” He chuckles.

She frowns, “That's not good. Family is family no matter what.”

“That is true,” He smiles. “But family can be cruel.” He sees her look down. “What about you? How's your family?”

“Well, my father, the one I’ve been telling you about,” She starts. “Is actually my adoptive father.” Joshua's brows arched. “I barely remember what my real parents look like but I’ll always remember the day they didn't want me.”

“You poor thing,” Joshua says. “Well, too bad for them.” She looks at the man, who was smiling. “They missed out on raising such a sweet and kind girl like yourself.” Mabel blushes at the man's compliment.

“Mabel!”

She looks up recognizing the voice. Dean was standing by the alleyway entrance staring at her. His shoulders were heaving up and down as he breathed harshly. The look of worry was prominent but washed away with the look of relief. He ran over to her and dropped to his knees to hug her.

“Thank god,” He said into her shoulder. “I'm so glad I found you.”

Mabel just stared at the side of her friend's face in disbelief, “Dean?”

He pulled back to look at her, “Are you okay?” Mabel nods. He breathes a sigh of relief as he sits back on his heels. He notices the wet rag she was holding to her face. He goes to remove it but she moves away from his touch.

Mabel readjusts the way she was sitting, “Why are you here?”

Dean looks at her stupefied, “Really? I was out here looking everywhere for you!” Mabel ducks her head to hide her happiness. “You didn't want me to find you?”

She shoots her head up still holding the rag to her cheek, “No! Of course I wanted you to find me!” She blushes when he just stared at her. “I-I mean... I wouldn't know what to do if anyone else found me.”

Joshua clears his throat, “Before this gets anymore sentimental.” Dean looks at the man sitting next to his friend. “I believe you young man should take her home. It is very late.” Mabel sees him stand and takes his coat off her shoulders. “Thank you. It was nice meeting you again Mabel.” He puts on his coat and walks further down the alley disappearing into the dark.

Dean helps Mabel up, “Who was that?”

“I helped him out a while ago,” She replied standing. Together they walked out of the damp alley into the busy street.

“You want to talk about what happened?” He asks.

Mabel wrapped an arm around herself while the other held onto the wet rag on her cheek, “I was so stupid. I can't believe I trusted him. I just wanted to do what Castiel did for me and change a life but all I did was ruin Castiel's.”

“So you know the guys who ransacked your house?”

She nods, “I'm the one who brought them there.”

Dean groans, “Mabel. You have to be careful about that. There are literally people out there that are willing to manipulate you into doing whatever they want.”

Mabel rubs her eyes to clear the tears away, “I'm so stupid.” Dean pulls her in for a hug. “Castiel's mad at me. And now he doesn't want me, just like my parents!”

Dean hugs her tighter, “No he doesn't. He still wants you. I know this.”

“How?” She cries.

“He's out there looking for you. He panicked when he saw that you ran off and needed to find you.”

Mabel cries more feeling relieved that she still has a family. That she wasn't going back to foster care. And that she has Dean there with her.

They walked back slowly only to make sure Mabel was calm enough to go home. Dean put his jacket around her shoulders when he saw her shivering. She pulled it on tight around her and leaned into her friend as they walked. They made it back to the apartment building and got into the elevator.

“I don't know if Cas or Sam are upstairs waiting for you,” Dean brings up. “If not we'll just wait for one of them to show up.”

Mabel looks down, “I don't want to go home.” Dean looks at her concerned. “I'm afraid to go back after tonight.” She looks at him frightened. “Can't I just stay the night with you?”

He swallows hard and nods knowing full well that he needed to be there for her. If she needed anything he'd get it for her. After all he...

“Sure,” He replied. “It'll be fine.”

Mabel had ducked her head when they passed her apartment almost like she was hiding from her mistake. Dean only threw an arm around her and guided her into his home. She looked around the apartment as if it were new to her. Well, she hadn't been over in a long time. She followed Dean to his room.

He sighed, “Sorry about the mess. I was looking for something before.” He tossed a shirt over his shoulder and some jeans into a hamper in the corner that was piled with clothes. Mabel hunched over to help pick up but Dean stopped her and made her sit while he got his room in order.

Mabel slipped Dean's jacket off her shoulders and put it neatly to the side. She watched him scramble around his room cleaning. She looked around the once familiar room and noticed the stack of music sitting on his desk. She gets up and moves across the room to the desk. She picks up one and realized it was the CD's and tapes she bought for him.

“Thanks by the way,” She heard Dean say behind her. She watched him move from behind her to take the CD in her hand. “Sure, you need a little educating on what I like and what crap is.” He smiles making her giggle.

“Hey, um, I've been meaning to ask,” He mentions catching her attention. He points to his cheek. “Why are you holding that rag on your face?”

Mabel clutches her cheek lightly, “Um....i-it's nothing.”

“Mabel,” Dean calls unsure. “Is there something I should know?” When Mabel avoided his gaze he reached over slowly. He moved her hand away and peeled the rag off.

There was a large swollen red mark on the left side of her face. Mabel had her eyes shut as Dean looked at the mark on her face.

“Where did you get this?” He asked in a low growl.

“One of the men that Ray brought over pushed me down on the couch and slapped me,” She said quiet enough Dean could barely hear her.

Dean gritted his teeth and wanted to seriously hunt these guys down. Who slaps a defenseless girl in the face? Let alone push her down onto her couch. He opened his door and left his room.

“Dean?” Mabel called concerned. She started to get really nervous and panicky that he might be mad at her as well.

When he comes back he's holding a bag of frozen peas. He moves her to his bed, sits next to her, and places it softly on her cheek.

“Feel better?” He asks softly.

She nods, “Much. Thank you.”

“If anyone ever hits you,” He starts. “You come straight to me. I'll kick their asses before they can even think about doing it again.”

Mabel smiles. She liked it when Dean got protective of her. Liked it when he'd think of her safety first before his own. After all she...

They sat on his bed and talked. They talked as if they were old friends catching up. Both of them secretly missing it. But neither will admit to it. Dean being to proud and to manly to say it to her. Mabel to shy and confused to tell him. Hopefully after tonight they wouldn't have to miss talking to each other.

Mabel looked at the digital clock on Dean's bed side table and noticed how late it was. It was practically the next morning.

“We should go to bed,” She murmurs turning back to her friend. “It's really late.”

Dean nods, “Yeah. Sam'll have my ass if he catches me up this late.” He gets off his bed. “You should leave a note for Cas to let him know you're over here. So he doesn't have to be worried about looking for you in the morning.” Mabel bites her lower lip then nods. She goes to his desk to get a pen and paper and starts writing her apology note to Castiel. Dean takes it from her telling her to get ready for bed while he slips the note under the door.

He leaves the room and goes out his front door to his neighbor's door. He kneels slightly and slips the note under the door and goes back to his home.

Everyone regrouped outside the Roadhouse. Castiel looking just miserable. He scared Mabel off. He didn't mean to get mad at her for letting people in. She did say she wanted to be like him and help someone.

Balthazar frowns, “Cassi, it's really late. We should just look for her tomorrow.” His brothers nod along with him.

“I'm down here all day, I can keep an eye out for her,” Ellen says gesturing her thumb to her restaurant. “Jo can help out too.”

Sam sighs, “Plus I don't even know if Dean went home or not. He left his phone in his room. I need to go check if he's there.”

Castiel rubs a hand over his face, “I'm sorry for making you all do this.”

Suddenly Michael's phone started to ring and he answered, “Ana?”

Everyone looked at him anticipating something. He looks to them surprised and hangs up.

Mabel had on an old beaten up band shirt and some gym shorts that touched to her knees. She neatly folded her clothes and placed them on Dean's desk.

Dean had rolled out an old camping bag to sleep in but Mabel wanted him to sleep in the bed with her.

“I feel like I’m imposing,” She says with a small frown. “It is your bed after all.”

He only waves a hand, “Nah, it's fine. Guests take the bed, hosts grabs some floor.”

“Please,” Mabel breathes. “Dean.”

Dean looks at his friend and can see the fear behind her eyes. He can understand. She was afraid that maybe that man will come back and hurt her again. He ignored the bag on the floor and got in under the covers with his friend. He jumped a little feeling Mabel slide up next to him and curling into the comfort of his chest. He put an arm out for her to rest her head on his bicep and the other to drape over her protectively.

Even in the dark room he can see the reddish pink mark on her cheek. Unconsciously, he lightly grazed the wound.

“Dean,” Mabel hummed her eyes closed as if she were asleep. “I'm sorry. For getting mad at you.” He wasn't really sure how to reply. He wasn't mad at her so couldn't really say 'me too'.

“I'm sorry that I lied to you,” He said in a whisper. “I shouldn't have.”

“It's fine,” She hushed. He watched her nuzzle closer to him and relax.

If anyone saw this he would deny it quicker than a blink of an eye saying it was too much of a chick flick moment for him, but he wouldn't.

The search group went up to Castiel's apartment. Ana was sitting at the island with a piece of paper in her hands.

“Ana,” Castiel breathed as he walked over to his sister. She handed him the note. “What's this?” He looks down and recognized the hand writing.

Castiel, I'm so sorry that I made a horrible mistake. I never should have let Ray and his friend's come in. I'm sorry they took your stuff. Please, don't send me back to foster care. I like living with you. It makes me happy to have a family. Please don't get rid of me. I'll be staying the night with Dean. He told me to tell you where I am. -Mabel

Castiel put the note down on the counter, “She's with Dean.” The group let out a long breath of relief. He turned to Sam, “Your brother's home, if you don't mind I’d like to check on Mabel.”

Sam shook his head, “I don't mind.” Castiel said his good nights to his siblings and thank you's to the Harvelle's before following Sam to his apartment. His neighbor guided him through the apartment to Dean's room. It sounded like they were asleep so Sam slowly opened the door.

Castiel let out a quiet sigh of relief seeing Mabel asleep in Dean's bed. Surely he should be alarmed of her sleeping in a boy's bed but seeing as nothing happened he'll let it slide. He carefully maneuvered through the mess and stood by Mabel.

He bent over petting her hair, “Good night Mabel.” He placed a soft kiss on the side of her temple. He took Mabel's stack of clothes off Dean's desk then left the room.