Come in With the Rain

Ana swung by that morning. She decided it was time to take Mabel shopping. Sure Jo had great taste when she was younger but Mabel needed an outfit that fit her pretty face. Mabel once again said goodbye to Castiel as she left the apartment with Ana.

Castiel had the day off. Well Michael had him take the day off as they processed his promotion. He looked up the address to the Social Security's office so he could pick up Mabel's paperwork. Once it was found he gathered up his essentials and left his apartment.

The drive was pretty far. The office wasn't too crowded but it sort of gave off a very depressing look. Castiel could see social workers walking kids up to the doors. He frowns thinking at one point in time that child was once Mabel. He climbs out of his car and walks to the bleak office.

“Can I help you?” The woman at the desk ask him. She had a smile on her face but her eyes read 'this place is so damn sad'.

He clears his throat, “Um, yes. I called a few days ago about a file on a child.”

“Sir, we get many calls like that,” The woman sighs. “Can you be a bit specific?”

“I spoke to a Pamela Barnes,” He explains. “Is she in?”

“I'll go see if she is,” The woman states getting up from her swivel chair.

Castiel stands by the desk and looked around the interior. There were kids who looked far too sad than they should.

“Yes?”

An African American woman with a very kind face but strong demeanor approached him.

Castiel extended his hand, “Hello, I'm Castiel Tippins. I called the other day about a file on Mabel.”

“Hello, Mr. Tippins,” She greeted shaking his hand. “I'm Missouri Mosely. Pamela is busy with another client at the moment so if you'd follow me to my desk I'll fetch the file for you.”

Castiel was guided through desks lined up parallel to each other leaving a walkway in the middle. Papers were stacked on each desk, little plastic figurines decorate the desks to give it a more happier feeling but no matter what, it still looks depressing.

Missouri sat at her desk and Castiel sat at one of the guest seats across from her. She starts typing on her keyboard as she looks at her screen.

“Is this the girl you were talking about?” Missouri asks after a few minutes. She turns her screen to show Castiel. There on the screen is a young, sad looking Mabel. Her hair longer than it was now.

Castiel nods, “Yes. That's her.”

Missouri sighs a sad breath, “Oh, I remember her. I was the one that did her paperwork.”

Her parents came into the office a couple years ago.

“Can I help you?” The receptionist asks looking at the unhappy couple. She sees the woman tugging harshly at a sad looking little girl. The little girl was babbling incoherent sentences to her mother as she tugged her hand.

Her father leans on the counter looking a little miserable, “C-can I talk to someone?”

Missouri walks over to the desk after hearing the loud wailing coming from the front, “Is there a problem?”

The man looks up to her and scrambles frantically in front of her, “Please! Help us!”

Missouri looks at the man alarmed. She sees the woman walking over while dragging a little girl by her wrist.

“We can't take it anymore!” The woman pleads. “She just won't stop!”

Missouri puts her hands up attempting to calm the parents down, “Okay, okay. Ma'am, if you'd please let go of her like that?”

The woman does so and the little girl only attaches her to her mother's hip crying uncontrollably.

“Please mama! I promise I won't do it anymore! Please!” The girl cries tugging at the hem of her mother's shirt. Her mother only pushes her away.

“Child, would you please come over here?” Missouri calls kneeling down to her level. The little girl puts her hands to her face crying. She walks over to Missouri. Missouri takes the little girl's hands away from her face. “Now, what is the problem?”

The child hiccups, “Mama, got mad at me because I spilled my milk on the table again.”

Missouri furrows her brow. There's nothing wrong with that. Children spill their milk all the time. Missouri stands taking the little girl's hand and motions for the family to follow her. The parents sit in the guest chairs while the child stands quietly sobbing next to her mother.

“Would you stop crying?” Her mother hisses in a low tone. The girl sucks in a breathe and holds in her sobs. It barely works, since any person could see the poor thing was miserable.

Missouri frowns, “So, may I ask your names before we get started?”

The man leans forward, “I'm David and this is my wife Laura.”

Missouri types in their names with a nod, “Last name?”

“Ho-”

“Daddy! Please! I don't want to be here!” Their daughter cries interrupting her dad. Laura grabs her daughters arm and shakes her a bit telling her not to interrupt. “Can't we just go home!”

David sighs propping his elbow on Missouri's desk and rubs his forehead, “She just won't stop. Please, you have to do something about it.”

“Sir, I can't really do anything if I don't understand the problem,” Missouri sighs.

Laura leans forward, “The problem is her in general! She just won't stop doing the opposite of what we want.”

“Ma'am, sir, should I tell you, that children tend to do what they want,” Missouri explains. “It's what they do.”

“Please!” Laura begs “We don't want her anymore! So just take her!”

Missouri looks at the parents appalled. What kind of parents say that to their child? Before she could comment they were already getting up. Their daughter tugging and pulling at her mother's shirt but having no success when her mother tears her hands away and just leaves.

“Ma'am! Sir! You can't just leave!” Missouri shouts to them. They just kept walking fast. “Ma'am! Sir!”

And then they were just gone.

Castiel stares at the woman wide eyed.

Mabel's parents literally just abandoned her. They tricked her into coming there, made a huge scene and just left her there without a word, except 'we don't want her anymore, so just take her'. Like she was just an object that could be returned.

“What happened next?” Castiel asks nervously.

Missouri looks to the man sitting across from her.

Nothing good.

The little girl just stood where her parents once sat crying her little heart out.

“Mama! Papa!” She cries rubbing her eyes furiously with her hands! “I want my mama and papa!”

Missouri angrily goes around her desk and kneels to the child. Carefully she puts her hands on the girl's little shoulders, “Child, what is your name?”

“M-my...m-my...” The girl kept hiccuping. “...m-my ...n-na-name... is...is.. Mabel!”

Missouri picked her up and started to rock her just so she would calm down.

“How old are you Mabel?” She asks looking at the crying child.

“F-f-four!”

Missouri squeezes her eyes and purses her lips. They barely had the poor thing for four years and couldn't put up with her for that long?

Missouri walks away from her desk still trying to calm the poor girl down. She walks through double doors. Mabel's cries echoed through the hall. They passed rooms with kids sitting in them. At the end of the hall there was an empty room. There was a make-shift spring bed, a toilet, a sink and a window with bars on them.

One look inside, Mabel cried even louder.

“No! No!” She cries. “I want to go home to mama and papa! I want to go home to mama and papa! I want to go home to mama and papa!”

I want to go home to mama and papa!

“She just kept saying that the whole time I tucked her in,” Missouri frowned. “It was the most saddest case I had dealt with.”

Castiel had his hands in fists. Mabel was tormented since the start. From the way her parents treated her as a child, it was clearly obvious she was being abused.

“After I had her paperwork filled out it took a year until one of our foster care programs opened up,” Missouri went on. “She stayed in that foster care for a year. She had to be transferred to another foster care then after that she just went missing.”

Castiel rubbed a hand over his face, “Is there any chance for me to still adopt her?”

Mabel sat at a diner with Ana. Shopping bags seated on the bench next to her.

“Thank you for taking me shopping Ana,” Mabel smiled after taking a sip of her soda.

“Auntie Ana,” Ana corrected. “And you're welcome Mabel.”

Mabel played with her fries, swirling them in her ketchup. Ana could feel that something was wrong.

“Is something wrong sweetie?” Ana asks putting her hand on top of Mabel's to keep her from playing with her fries.

Mabel looks up, “I don't think there is.”

Ana sighs, “I know something is wrong. Talk to me.”

Mabel shifts in her seat, “Castiel's supposed to be getting my paperwork today. He told me himself.” Ana nods understanding. “I'm worried that when he finds out about me, he won't adopt me.”

Ana gasps, “Why wouldn't he? You're just the sweetest, nicest girl I’ve ever met!”

Mabel smiles, “Thank you, but what if he doesn't like what he sees? Like he realizes how broken I am and tells me to leave or makes me go back to foster care?”

Ana grips Mabel's hand, “He won't. I know Cas. He won't do any of that. He adores you, I’m sure of it.”

Mabel smiles at her new aunt, “Thank you, Auntie Ana.”