Ketch Me as I Fall

I looked up from the cold glass filled with sweet amber liquid as the sickly sweet smell of pomegranates filled the room. I was confused when I saw Elly enter the dimly lit room, the scent flowing through my nose like wind through a flower field. It was so intoxicating, I swear I could see it radiating off of her.

It covered her wrists, neck, and even her chest. I thought at first that maybe it was just some new perfume. But then I noticed that it was coming from between her legs as well. That caught me off guard. I had known of perfumes that you put behind your knees, but never between your thighs.

And then I didn't need a mental picture to know what had happened, but they still came. Lips over pulses, wrists, and necks. Teeth that grazed down her chest as hands held hers above her head. Gasps, moans, swearing, names said as prayers. It seemed appropriate that Lucifer would smell like pomegranates. It was almost poetic.

"Did you have fun?" I asked, a smirk falling across my lips. Her cheeks blushed a deep pink.

"Shut up," Elly whispered, taking a seat next to me. She took up my glass and finished it before reaching for the bottle and pouring another.

"It was that good?" I teased, elbowing her gently. "Do I need to go get some cigarettes?"

"I said, shut up." Her blush deepened as she downed the second glass. "Where's Ketch?"

"He's out," I said, taking the glass from her and filling it again.

"And you're not worried?" She asked as I sipped on the smooth warm liquid. "He's been gone a lot recently."

I shook my head. "I'm not worried."

She looked over the documents I had strewn out in front of me. "What are you doing?"

"I thought about what you said over the phone the other day. I want to call in other hunters and see if they've noticed any other swarms like this." I explained, shutting the document closest to me. "But most of them are probably asleep right now. So then I thought maybe I could find some lore about these things, something I missed."

"Any luck so far?" Elly asked.

I sighed and shook my head, leaning back in the chair and closing my eyes. "Nothing." I lifted the glass to my lips again and swallowed more of the alcohol, its burn was welcome even if it didn't affect me anymore. "Care to explain what happened again?"

"Sure. Luci and I had been out on a small hunt, just a ghoul in Lebanon, and when we came back, the power was out and there was no sign of Ally or Cael." That puzzled me. The angel was supposed to keep the girl here at all times and keep her safe. I'd have to ask him about it later. 

"Once we got inside, we started to hear loud banging and shouts from outside. Lucifer ran back outside to figure out what was going on, and I ran down the hall looking for Cael. I knocked on his door and he answered, told him what was going on and to find Ally and get out before I went outside." Elly shrugged, "We fought off the coven of vampires and then came in before the storm. Cael brought Ally back and I haven't seen much of her since." She got to her feet and walked behind me, headed for the kitchen. "Do you want anything?"

"I don't eat." I reminded her, looking back down at the files. 

I opened it again and skimmed the pages as I waited for her to return. She wandered back in a few moments later with a bowl of cereal in hand. She sat beside me again, crossing her legs in the chair.

"Don't tell Sam I stole his cereal." She said, munching happily.

I laughed lightly. "It's nice to have them moving back in while we figure everything out. It's going to take all of us."

Elly nodded in silent agreement as she ate another large spoonful of 'Krunch Cookie Crunch'. "This reminds me of Cookie Crisp."

"What's that?" I asked, taking a moment to look away from the documents to look at her. I had never heard of that.

"Just a very similar cereal back in my universe. It's not important." She took another large bite.

"We should make you Winchester Surprise at some point," I said absentmindedly. "You would love it. Mary made it up."

"I know," Elly said through a mouthful. "It was in the show, the only thing she knew how to cook." She swallowed and turned to me, a more serious look on her face. "Have you heard from her at all since…?"

"No," I said quickly. "As far as I'm aware, she doesn't even know I'm alive again. And that's probably for the best."

It didn't matter to me if she knew or not. Mary had never been a mother to me. She had never even managed to be much of a mother to Dean or Sam either. She had died when Dean was four, and even when she was brought back to life, she had decided to disappear one day and never say anything to us. She had come back to help us with apocalypse world and Michael, but now she was in the wind again. Dean maybe heard from her once or twice a month. And it was never anything more than 'I'm doing well. I love you. I miss you'.

I jumped a little when Elly's hand touched mine, and I realized I had been gripping a paper between my hands a little harder than I should have. It crinkled as I released my grip on it.

"So about the vampires," Elly said, pulling me further from the thoughts. "They seemed to be immune to chopping their heads off. The only thing that did the job was either a head full or a heart full of silver."

"You mentioned something about Michael doing that." I reminded her, somewhat nervously. He had died that day. I was sure of that. But it still worried me.

"Ya. In the show, Michael didn't die. He hijacked Dean and then Jack killed him after her created some hybrid monsters." Elly nodded. "They were almost unstoppable. He took vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, and djinn and had them drink a mixture of blood and his grace. It made them all only killable by decapitation. He tried to turn all of Chicago into a monster pit, but Dean trapped him and then Jack killed him."

"And Cael killed him here," I said confidently. "I watched it happen."

"Cael did it?" Elly asked curiously, slurping the milk from the bottom of her bowl.

"Ya." I nodded absentmindedly. "Elly, what else could be doing it? There aren't arch angels besides Lucifer, Gabe, and Adam who is delusional in the cage. And the angels in Heaven are just that. In Heaven. There aren't many of them left. Who else could be doing this?"

She shrugged. "I can tell you what happened in the show…" Elly trailed off in the middle of the thought.

"What else happened in the show?" I asked hesitantly.

Elly opened her mouth and closed it again, looking away from me. "I will tell you if it becomes necessary." She finally found an answer.

"So it's bad?" I asked.

"It's bad." She nodded.

"How many seasons were there again?" 

"Fifteen." 

"And…" I sighed, running my finger over the edge of my glass, not looking at her either. "What season would you say we are on?"

"Fourteen." That was not what I wanted to hear.

My chest tightened unpleasantly. What did that mean for us now? How did it all end? What was so bad she wouldn't tell me about it?

"Why did the show end?" I asked next.

"The actors wanted to end on a good note," Elly said softly.

"How did it end?" I pushed.

"I can't ruin that." She almost whispered. "I'm…I'm going to go back to bed for a few more hours. I'm sure Luci will be wondering where I went."

"Right." It was all I could think to say as she picked up her bowl and went back to the kitchen. I watched her quietly as she walked back down the hallway after.

I was left wondering what it was she wasn't telling me. What was so bad that she wasn't willing to tell me? I lowered my head onto the cool table gently and exhaled deeply. What was I supposed to do? She hadn't given me any hints.

A flutter of several wings had me sitting up. I blinked several times, trying to dry the tears that had crept up on me, and did my best to smile.

"Hey, Kid," I said as Ally came into view, freshly back from flight training with Cael.

She nodded in acknowledgment. "Are my mom and dad here?"

"Still asleep," I answered. Without a word, Ally turned towards the hall. I got to my feet as Cael stepped closer to me. "She seems a little…stiff."

"She seems to be fine, just a tad shaken up. She took on a fair bit of the vampires before we left. Any hunter who wasn't fully trained for something like that would be on edge." Cael folded his arms over his chest.

"She took on the coven herself?" I was impressed.

"What else could she do? She was fighting like you wanted her to." Cael stated, turning to look at me. It was then that I noticed the small bruise on his neck. I smirked a little.

"And how is she doing otherwise?" I asked. "Any injuries from the fight?" 

"Not that I am aware of." Cael rubbed at the back of his neck. "She did very well for herself. Would've made you proud."

"I'm sure she made someone proud." I joked, pointing at the space on my neck where the bruise was on his.

"I…" Cael cleared his and looked away from me, a blush coming to his cheeks.

I smiled a little and changed the subject. "Did she get all powered up in the fight?"

Cael cleared his throat again, "Yes. The mismatched eyes, the uncontrolled anger, all of it."

I bit my lip in thought. "Right. Stay here for a second, I'm gonna go find Cas. We should talk about this." 

I jogged easily down the hall to the room Dean shared with the angel and knocked lightly on the door. There were a few quiet shuffles and groans before the door opened and Castiel opened the door. He looked to be wearing one of Dean's old shirts and nothing else but a pair of boxers. I looked past him and into the room to find my brother face down on the bed, his face hidden in the pillows and body draped with the clean sheets. 

I looked back at the angel. "Thank you for staying with him at night." I couldn't even do that for Ketch.

Cas nodded. "What did you need?"

"I want to talk to you and Cael about Ally," I said bluntly. "Do you have a minute?"

Cas looked over his shoulder, watched Dean for a second, and nodded after deciding he was ok enough to leave. "I should have a bit of time, yes." He pushed quietly through the door before closing it gently behind him. "What specifically about the girl?"

"Her abilities and the losing her soul," I replied, leading him back to where Cael waited in the front room. He had taken a seat at the map table, surrounded by the warm glow of lanterns. "Alright. We need to figure this out."

"Has she gotten worse?" Cas asked as he took a seat as well.

I stood at the end of the table, the thought of taking a seat myself not comforting right now.

"You know about the deal. And how she's losing her soul rapidly instead of gradually." I ran a hand through my hair, and then over my tired eyes. I needed a haircut. "And we've seen how that causes her to act."

"How is she acting?" Cas asked, folding his hands neatly and placing them on top of the table.

"She gets worked up easily. She too easily sometimes and almost loses control of who she is. Like she's…" I waved my hand around, looking for the right words.

"Like she becomes some out-of-control monster," Cael finished, his tone serious. "It's like the archangel side of her takes over and you almost can not stop it. It's getting harder to calm her down."

"It sounds like Sam." Cas mused.

I tipped my head to the side in question. Cas rolled his eyes and I smiled at the action. He rarely did human things like that.

"When he didn't have a soul." He corrected.

"How do you know about that? We hadn't met then." I pointed out.

"I was still Dean's guardian." Cas puffed. "I was always listening. He was lucky he didn't get a second one. I almost quit."

"A second one?" This was news to me. "You can have more than one guardian angel?"

"You did." Cas shrugged.

I looked to Cael, who stared across the table at his celestial brother. "Why do I have two?"

"You had one before me. I simply replaced him." Cael looked from the table and to me. It seemed like this was information he had not deemed important enough for me to know. "You Winchesters are so fucked that I am your second angel."

"Who was my first?" I asked, now invested in this.

"Zachariah." Ah.

"The asshole that tried to have Dean killed?" Why would he have been assigned to me if he just wanted us dead?

"Yes. Him." Cael nodded, then his face turned to one of confusion. "Am I an asshole?"

"Yes, but one I can deal with." I teased. It was true that he was a difficult angel to get along with at times, but Cael had saved my ass many times now and had more than paid for our rough friendship. A small smile flickered across my lips again. "If we're so 'fucked', what does that say about you?"

"Why do you think I avoided all of you as much as I could?" Cael shot back, a teasing grin now on his face as well.

I gave a short laugh. "Fair enough."

"Can we get back to the topic at hand now?" Cas asked politely. "She has no soul, and now her grace is running wild?"

"That's what it seems like," I replied.

"She does seem to be becoming more and more one noted every day." Cael agreed.

"What did you do to her?" A new voice growled from behind me. I turned in time to face Lucifer as his hand closed around my neck and shoved me onto the table.

There was an angel blade under his chin in seconds. "You hurt her, and I will kill you," Cael said, his voice dark and the threat true.

Elly's hand took his shoulder then, and Lucifer backed away, letting me go. He was still fuming, but at least now I could breathe and give him the response he deserved.

"You fucked up my daughter!" Lucifer yelled. "I knew I should've fucking killed you when I had the chance." Cael pushed between us as Lucifer tried to come at me again. He shoved at the archangel, pushing him back again. "I went easy on you the last time, doll. I won't let that happen again. I will torture you in ways no one has ever thought of!"

"You know I did what I had to. I saved your wife." I defended myself.

I could see Elly behind him, trying to quietly reason with him. Though there was no reasoning with the devil when his eyes were already so red. 

"Fuck you." He tried to step forward again, but Cael was swift to grab and twist Lucifer's arm behind his back, angel blade at his throat again.

"Don't hurt him." Elly squeaked out, one of her hands on Lucifer's free arm.

"She's unbalanced!" Lucifer growled.

"Elly would be dead without her sacrifice!" Had I erased too much from him? He should know that.

"You should've found another way!" This was going nowhere fast.

Lucifer tried again to get to me like he was forgetting the easy hold Cael had on him. Which Cael reinforced the second Lucifer moved, forcing the fallen archangel to his knees. But we all knew how easily he could break that hold if he chose to.

"That's the only thing you Winchesters are good for huh?" He exclaimed. "Fucking up other people's families."

"It was her idea." I shot at him.

I watched Elly take a step away from him, understanding that he was too explosive in this state to deal with. But this was Lucifer. This was the man she had fallen in love with. This was the fallen angel that had created Hell and its demons. I wouldn't let him hurt her if he did blow up. However, I doubted I would get a chance to hurt him in the state I was in.

"Bullshit!" Lucifer breathed.

"I will not take responsibility for a child who can make her own decisions!" I yelled at him, the room grew still. "And I would do it again. I know you'd have me do it, too. You would do anything for Elizabeth or that girl. Including stealing a thousand souls for her. So don't pin this shit on me, bastard."

"Alex…" Elly warned softly from behind him. 

I had to blink several times to register her voice, and realize I had been gripping the table hard enough to splinter it. I released my hold on it and watched as the side crumbled to the floor.

The room was tense and still, as I turned back to the devil at my feet. "Lucifer…"

"I don't want to hear it." He hissed.

"We talked about this Dad…" her voice was calm as it came from the hallway.

I looked up and found Ally standing in the archway with Jack at her side. The boy looked alarmed at the situation before him, but she almost seemed to know it was going to happen. Too calm. 

Ally stepped forward and took Cael's arm, tugging on him gently. The angel looked down at her, his eyes softening as they met hers, and nodded silently before releasing the devil. They took a few steps back until it was just Lucifer and I in the center.

"I sold my soul to help Mom," Ally said as she left Cael's side and went to help Lucifer from the floor. "You know how hurt she was. She was going to die and there was no other way to save her. Alex did nothing wrong." Her voice was so neutral, so emotionless.

"We can always call Rowena," Jack suggested. "She might be able to help."

"No. I am not letting her near my family again." Lucifer said flatly.

"Because you killed her the last time?" I shot at him. There was no reason for me to keep spitting fire at him now. But it felt too good ot see the way his fist clenched at his side not to.

"I think we can all agree that we have all done some things we're not proud of." Lucifer hissed through his teeth. "But that doesn't change the fact that she used me and I don't like her."

"She's been helping us with a lot of hunts lately." Sam yawned from the hallway, pushing his way into the room with an exhausted-looking Dean behind him. Our fighting must have woken them. "It might be the best thing we have to find out how to fix her. Unless you can just magically put her soul back?

"Not if it's already gone," I said, shrugging.

"Then that's settled. We'll call her." Dean said, his voice rough and deep. "Trust us, pitchforks, the rest of us aren't happy about the situation either. But it needs to be taken care of as soon as possible and with the best chance of success we've got."

"And she's the best you've got?" Lucifer judged.

"Luci…" Elly sighed, stepping over to him now and taking his arm. "You know it's the best way forward. Even if you don't like it."

Lucifer exhaled deeply and ran a hand up his arm until it was over hers. He didn't say anything else. Just squeezed Elly's hand gently before pulling from her and walking out of the room.

"I'll call her," Sam said, taking his phone from the pocket of his sweatpants.

"Anyone up for breakfast?" Dean asked, heading for the kitchen. "French toast sound good?" He didn't wait for a reply before disappearing into the room.

I sighed. What a nice foot we just started this morning on. But this fight was bound to happen. It was all natural by now and needed to happen. Every family fought. It just kind of happened.

"Jack, can I talk to you?" Elly asked quietly.

I glanced over at the two as she pulled him across the room a ways. I kept my eyes on Cas and Cael as they started to discuss methods of trying to contain a soulless Nephilim, but listened to whatever Elly was talking to Jack about instead.

"What is it Elizabeth?" Jack questioned.

"I wanted to thank you for being so kind to my daughter," Elly said softly.

"Of course," Jack stated, the smile evident in his voice. "She is my sister after all."

"About that…" Elly sounded nervous. "Would you want to go on a hunt with me? Just the two of us?"

"Just us?" Jack asked.

"Yes. I feel like I haven't gotten to know you that well. And with being with your father and all…I thought it would be nice to…" Elly trailed off. "Is that too forward?"

"Not at all," Jack reassured. "I would enjoy getting to know you very much."

I smiled a bit. It was nice to hear that she was willing to try with Jack. I knew that it scared her. She hadn't even been ready to have Ally, so having another kid almost forced on you had to be difficult. I was proud of her. She wasn't that kid I had been forced into the head of anymore. She was a mom and a Hell of a good one at that.

"Right," Elly said, a little more joy in her voice now. "You can find one and we'll head out as soon as we know what's going on with Ally."

"Ok." Jack sounded just as excited as she did. I could practically see the smile on his face.

I pushed off the table and followed the smell of warm cinnamon into the kitchen. It made my stomach growl. And I bit my tongue. What was wrong with me? I almost wanted to call Crowley and ask him to explain. I felt like I would accept even the basic of answers. Just to know if this was normal for demons or not. Because as far as I knew, it wasn't.

"You don't feel anything." I could hear Sam say as I got closer. "It's honestly horrible. You just stop caring."

"It sounds kinda nice to me." Ally laughed as I entered the room. I smiled as Dean smacked her lightly upside the head with a plate. "Ow." She rubbed at the sore spot, glaring at him.

"It is not 'nice'," Dean said pointedly, setting the plate on the small table in front of her. "You have no moral compass. It's not a good thing."

Ally stayed quiet for a second. "Is Rowena the Irish witch?"

"Scottish." Sam corrected. "How do you know about her?"

"Same way I know you listened to 'Night Moves' when you lost your virginity for the second time," Ally said, smirk on her face.

I laughed out loud as Dean choked on the beer he had just grabbed from the fridge. Sam dropped the fork he had been raising to his mouth, the plate beneath it letting off a shrill clink as it hit. Dean started coughing into his elbow and I stepped closer to him, clapping a hand against his back.

"She watched the show," I explained. "You better not need the Heimlich."

"That was in the show?" Dean choked out before taking a deep breath.

"Oh ya. I've seen things that you could never dream anyone would know." Ally teased, her smile devilish. "Like the time Dean had the dream about the angel and devil strippers."

"That is private!" My older brother hissed out, pointing at her. 

I laughed as she smiled more. Cas came sauntering into the room a little after, a confused look on his face. 

"It was before us." Dean defended.

"And Sam ripped his pants once while trying to dig up a grace." Ally continued the shame train.

And now Dean laughed, embarrassment forgotten for the moment. "I forgot about that!"

"Oh please. Like you haven't done anything embarrassing before." Sam grumbled, shoveling a piece of french toast into his mouth.

"Oh, he does." Ally snickered. "Like his Taylor Swift obsession."

Dean's smile fell as Sam and I began to laugh.

"Oh you do, do you?" I asked, smiling at the pink in my brother's cheeks. "I didn't know that."

"I do not!" Dean tried to defend, walking over to sit next to Sam, frowning.

"Country Taylor?" I asked Ally, moving to the table as Cael came into the room now as well. I took a seat next to him as he sat beside Ally.

"'Shake it off' Taylor," Ally explained, taking a bite of her food now.

"What else do I not know about either of you?" I questioned, resting my head on my hands.

"If you needed to know, we would've told you," Dean said.

"Ya, ya." I nodded, still laughing. But there were more important things to discuss than what music my brothers listened to in their free time. "When will Rowena be here?"

"Later tonight or early tomorrow," Sam answered.

"Do we have time to see your client?" I asked hopefully.

Sam sighed and scratched his head. "It won't be easy. He barely talks to me. It's like he wants to be processed as guilty."

"Well, he did do it, didn't he?' I said curiously.

"Well, ya. I'm almost positive he did. But I'm sure I can get him off on insanity charges." Sam continued. "Normal people don't hear voices."

"We hear voices." I reminded him.

"You're gonna let him get slapped with such a light sentence?" Dean asked now.

"It's kinda his job," Ally spoke up. "He's working for this man. His job is to prove he is innocent, even if he's not. No one ever said it was going to be easy. That's why lawyers don't ask their clients if they've done the crime. It'd just keep them up at night." Ally stood from her seat then and began to pick up the dishes that were no longer in use.

"She's right." Sam agreed. "I don't get to pick if my client is guilty or not, I just have to prove that he's not. Like it or not, everyone is innocent until proven guilty."

"He's more working on trying to get a lighter sentence than proving he didn't do it." Ally continued from where she was now washing the dishes at the sink. She was a smart kid. Elly had done a good job of raising her. "He was found with the murder weapon, with the bodies, and covered in the victim's blood. It's pretty clear that he did it."

"How…how did you know that?" Sam questioned, his eyebrows furrowing together. "Was that in the show too?'

"No. You're not a lawyer in the show, just a hunter." Ally said as she returned to the table, wiping her damp hands on her pants.

I tipped my head to the side, wondering myself how she knew. The boxes of files Sam had brought with him when he'd moved back in would've had the files in them, but they were all in his room.

"I read the case files," Ally said nonchalantly. 

"When?" Sam sounded as flabbergasted as I felt. Dean was smirking between bites though, as if he had known.

"The last two nights. I don't need to sleep." Ally shrugged. "I'm a fast reader. I could only be in the study at home while my parents were out or asleep. I had to get through the books as quickly as possible."

"Those are confidential." Sam objected.

"Then don't leave them out in the open." Ally shrugged again.

"They were in my room!"

I laughed. "What the outside room doesn't know won't hurt them."

"They'll be public records soon enough anyway," Dean added through a mouthful of food.

"Sam, I need to talk to him." I pushed, steering the conversation back on target again. "I need a new lead. I need answers. None of my demons can seem to figure it out." Dean grumbled at the words, but I ignored him "Please, Sammy."

"It's 'Sam'." He sighed.

"For your big sister?" I pressed.

Sam groaned. "Fine. What excuse are you going to use?"