Little Lies and Secrets

Highway to Hell

        Emmy stumbled down the stairs at around four that morning, not able to sleep the entire night with her mind racing. She almost ran into the door that led to the kitchen when she noticed the lowered voices talking and paused sleepily, listening in on the private conversation.

        "Cas I'm tired of this grade school bullshit. You two have been beating around the bush since the werewolf incident and now that she's dying you STILL don't have the guts to confess to her." Bobby's pissed off tone of voice carried lazily over to Emmy. She heard what sounded like snickering before Bobby's ire was turned upon the the person who was snickering in amusement.

        "Don't even get me started on you Dean!" Bobby snapped. "You need to man up and tell Emmy you love her before she loses her Goddamn mind boy." The oldest hunter warned darkly before there was an awkward cough from the person who had been laughing at Cas. Emmy's heart skipped a beat before speeding up dramatically. Dean...loved her? She shook her head, deciding she needed coffee more desperately than she had originally thought. She must have misheard Bobby or her mind misinterpreted the sentence. She nodded to herself confidently. Yeah that was it! Emmy stumbled across the kitchen threshold while rubbing her eyes before she bashed her foot on the kitchen table. She cursed with the straightest poker face ever before she continued on towards the coffee maker and slipped on a damn dirty t-shirt! Only the damn Winchester brothers could leave a dirty, bloody shirt laying on the kitchen floor in Bobby's house. Emmy fell backwards and shut her eyes tightly, waiting to hit the ground. Instead she heard someone laughing and cracked open one eye slightly. Dean had caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground and Emmy felt herself full on blush. She was a freaking light house at this point in time.

        "I knew you were falling for me!" Dean chuckled in that really attractive way that Em adored and just...was she dead? Yeah she was probably dead. Dean Winchester was flirting with her and being SUPER obvious about it too. Emmy open and closed her mouth like a beached fish as she tried to get her brain to function enough to say anything at this point. She couldn't even remember how to move correctly to untangle herself from Dean's arms and holy shit his face was so close to hers. Emmy mumbled something under her breath and oh Lord help her Dean actually moved closer to her face.

        "Could you say that again?" He rumbled out deliciously and Emmy could feel the vibrations of his voice from his chest. Em's breath hitched in her chest as she tried to ignore how sexy that just was. If he was any closer they would be kissing. Dean saw Emmy's face turn a cherry red and he almost laughed, instead compromising and just grinning in amusement at her, lust clearly intermingled with it.
        
        "HeycoffeepleaseDean!" Came the adorable squeak Emmy gave before she shut her mouth firmly, completely giving up on words. Her mashed up speak only made Dean laugh again and she practically melted at the sound. Emmy almost didn't notice Pippin drag herself past the two and when she made eye contact with the woman she shot her a pleading, desperate look. Pippin looked directly at her before shrugging and starting back out the way she came.

        "As your wing man I refuse to help you. Remember to use protection." Pip said casually as she dragged her ass back out of the kitchen only to get ambushed by Castiel in the living room. Emmy didn't even know if the shade of red she was even existed and Dean had an adorable pink dusted across his cheeks as well. He pulled her upright, refusing to let go of his hold on her before he back her up into the table firmly, his head dipping down until his lips brushed Emmy's ear. She squeaked again before managing to duck away from Dean's arms and crawl under the table to freedom.

        "POTTY BREAK!" She screeched in embarrassment as she scuttled towards the living room, only looking back once to see Dean's smirk and hear his growl of disappointment. She didn't look back after that.



        Pippin ran forward, Angelblade in hand, towards the flames before jumping through them. The flames licked at her skin and she screamed, what sounded like a battle cry but was actually a scream of terror as the heat ripped into her skin. She landed on the other side and with a surprising lunge, she reached out with searching fingers before finding their target and she ripped Rigel's tank top towards her while she brought her blade up sharply. Rigel hardly realized what happened as she looked down at her chest, the angel blade drove into her flesh to the hilt. Pippin's hand and the blade started to drip blood and Rigel could only look at the sight as Pippin leaned in close. "I told you not to touch my family." She muttered darkly before twisting the blade sharply and Rigel instantly went limp in Pippin's arms. She threw the witch away from her violently after jerking the blade out of her chest as she took deep, steadying breaths, her hands shaking.

        Pippin jolted awake and tumbled off of the couch, a cold sweat peppered her face and neck causing her hair to stick to her skin. She looked around wildly before slowly relaxing as she recognized her surroundings. She was on Bobby's couch in Bobby's house. She took a few more steadying breaths as she fully relaxed onto the hard wood floor. There was no why it was comfortable but she hardly noticed it as she tenderly checked her still healing wound from a few hunts previously. She frowned at the scabbed up wound and growled to herself before getting to her feet and slowly stumbling towards the kitchen where Emmy and Dean were. Pip was fully aware of Castiel's eyes on her back, making her skin crawl uncomfortably as she crossed the threshold of the kitchen and she tried her hardest to ignore the feeling. She sleepily rubbed one eye as she ran her hand through her fluffed up hair and stumbled to a stop, feeling like someone was looking at her. Pip turned to meet Emmy's pleading eyes and she had to smile slightly at the scene. Bobby must have finally knocked something resembling common sense into Dean. She simply shrugged slightly before responding to the unspoken plea.

        "As your wing man I refuse to help you. Remember to use protection." Pippin answered. She wheeled around on her heel and tried not to snicker at Emmy's predicament as she limped back out of the kitchen slowly. Of course it was just her luck that karma had to come around and bite her in the ass; she just wouldn't realize it until a little later after she had borne witness to Emmy fleeing, like a wild Pokemon, from Dean. The hunter just laid on the couch, staring blankly at the ceiling as she contemplated the meaning of life and why the Cupids were assholes when Gabriel sauntered into the room looking for a specific hunter. He flopped down on top of her legs and she craned her head to look at him.

        "Yes?" She asked bluntly as Gabriel smirked in her direction.

        "Ready for some Angel training kiddo!?" He said happily, causing Pippin to wilt dramatically. Shit. She was hoping that he wouldn't force her into more training but it seemed like she was sorely mistaken.

        "Fine." She spat out before kicking her legs out from under Gabe and stalking outside to Bobby's salvage yard.


         "Parry! Counter! Attack! Parry! Come ON, Pippin, you're not fast enough!" Gabriel shouted. Pippin and Gabriel were exchanging fast blows with their Angelblades in the middle of the salvage yard, while Dean, Sam, Emmy, Castiel, and Bobby were sitting on the porch doing their own separate thing, occasionally looking up at the archangel and young hunter with raised eyebrows but otherwise not saying a word about the situation. So far, Pippin wasn't doing well at all. She hadn't told anyone about her Grace not healing her like it normally would have by now and now she was paying severely for it. The wound in her side had mostly healed but still ached and pained her when she moved too quickly, or lunged too far, and soon her spare arm that she had been using for balance and punches was wrapped around her injured torso in protection. Gabriel, however, wasn't letting up. He sped up the action of the blades and metal clashed against metal, Pippin strained to hold back the blade coming down on her with her one arm, when Gabriel was using both. Suddenly Gabriel disarmed the hunter and aimed a sharp kick to her stomach, which sent Pip sprawling out onto the ground. She curled up into a ball while her chest heaved painfully Lord help her she felt like she was on fire, her leg screaming at her and her previously dislocated shoulder practically giving out from the abuse.

        "Come on, Pippin, you weren't even trying!" Gabriel snapped, absolutely no humor or playfulness in his tone. Instead he looked and acted like a commander and trainer, exactly what he was supposed to be. "Get up and fight me again!"

        "I can't," Pip gasped out from the ground. Her legs were refusing to work and she knew for a fact that she wouldn't be able to support her weight.

        "Don't I can't me!" Gabriel growled. "I said -"

        "I heard you," Pippin said stiffly. " I can't get my body to work and I think you tore open my healing wound. I'm bleeding." The crimson liquid was very slowly appearing to stain her shirt and she tucked her free hand against the wound.

        "It's barely a scratch," Gabriel dismissed quickly. "If you can't defend yourself then how are you planning on fighting against Vela? You can't even hold your own against one Angel!" He insulted and Pippin flinched away slightly, her throat closing up at the mention of fighting Vela. She had been avoiding thinking about it at all.

        "Give the kid a break, Gabriel," Bobby called from the porch. "She ain't up to it today. Let 'er heal first."

        "She needs to be able to fight in whatever condition she is in," Gabriel snapped. "Pippin, I said get up!"

        "Screw you!" Pippin yelled back, genuine frustration and anger in her voice. Distress immediately flared out in her grace as it called to Castiel, causing the Angel to turn around and briskly start walking across the yard to help her with worry clearly etched across his face. 

        "Is that how your parents and the Winchesters taught you to fight?" Gabriel demanded, leering. "It's pathetic Pippin! Your fighting methods are useless and you're never going to able to win a battle like this! How did you even become a hunter if you can't fight," He continued on. "You'd be better off tending to Joshua's flowers." And suddenly Pippin was standing again while the words struck her down, a fiery blade through her heart and Grace. Finally the tears of self-loathing, shame, and humiliation sprung to her eyes and she refused to hold them back anymore...because she was pathetic. She was useless. Her injured side was throbbing and shooting rivets of pain and agony throughout her body but she ignored in favor of  slowly walking closer to Gabriel while wobbling and staggering as one hand clutched her wound tightly in an attempt to try and stem the new blood flow. She was visibly shaking and Castiel was practically running the rest of the distance, both brothers, Emmy, and Bobby behind him when Gabriel finally seemed to realize the hunter's condition.

        "Aw hell, Pippin-" He started weakly.
        
        "Because I'm weak." Pip cut in, still trembling. "And I'm useless and I can't fight. I can't control my Grace correctly. I mess up everything and I can't even complete a simple hunt. I'm a burden." She admitted, still shaking, fists clenched as the oh so obvious, hurt, distress, and pure anger pulsed from her Grace. Castiel reached her and immediately enveloped her in a comforting hug while the others continued toward the distressed Pippin.

        "This is why I'm going to hell after this hunt! I'm not worth saving, isn't that right Gabriel!?" She demanded, voice rising in volume.

        "Pippin, no," Gabriel said desperately. "Of course not! How could you even think -"

        But the Archangel was cut off suddenly by Emmy's fist swinging around and connecting violently with the side of his face. Sam barely managed to reach over and pull Emmy back from beating the shit out of the Archangel. There had been more tension and fighting than the Winchester brothers remembered. Neither brother blamed Emmy for her lack of self control but they were pretty ticked off at this point. Something had to be done.