The Price of Freedom

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

As soon as Farrah rounded the corner away from her family, she took a deep breath and changed her eye color, hair color, face shape, height, and clothes. She was a completely different person.

Walking inside, she didn't look around at the white walls, the polished floor, the potted plants, or any of the obviously not human people in there. She immediately went to the receptionist. Leviathan, she recognized immediately. "I'm here to see Dick Roman," she said, trying to sound nice.

"Who's asking?" the leviathan snapped without looking at her.

"Farrah Winchester."

At the name every voice in the lobby fell silent, and the receptionist looked up. "He's been waiting for you, Miss Winchester. Go right up."

"Thank you." Farrah sent a sly grin her way and walked out, fighting the very strong urge to send her back to purgatory.

In the alley, Sam and Dean were anxiously waiting for Cas to find Farrah. "I do not see her," he said.

The brothers exchanged a glance. "You don't see her? What do you mean?"

"I can see inside, but there is no one there who even resembles Farrah."

Castiel, I changed my appearance. He closed his eyes again to focus. I'm in the elevator.

I see you.

"I found her," he said with a quiet release of breath. "She is going up to meet him."

"Good," Sam nodded.

Why did you change how you looked?

Can we talk about this later? I'm terrified in here, and it's hard enough already to focus.

Of course.

Farrah stepped out of the elevator and walked forward to the end of the long hall, which was marked with many different offices. At the end though was one with glass doors, behind which sat Dick Roman.

He looked up from his work and folded his hands on the desk, smiling delightedly at her. "Farrah. Took you a while to find me. And you look different from when we met."

Say the right thing, say the right thing..."You aren't the man I met in purgatory that called himself Dick Roman."

"No, sorry. That was my comrade, Timothy." He gestured with a sweeping motion to the others in the office. "I have a lot of friends. Thank you for letting us out."

"Wouldn't have needed to if you let me pass," she said, and instantly regretted it. But he merely grinned.

"Well, yes. But then we wouldn't be here. So really, it's a win-win situation."

She glanced over and saw that Timothy had paused his work as well and was watching them. "Could I speak privately with Dick-sorry, Timothy?"

"Sure. I don't see why not. Timothy," he waved over the man, and he walked at a relaxed pace. "Show Farrah to the conference room. She wants to talk to you."

"Of course. I've been dying to see her again."

He grinned a sickly looking grin that made her blood run cold. Keeping up the calm façade, she smiled back and followed him out of Roman's office.

"Why did you change bodies?" Timothy asked as they walked.

Change bodies, is that what he thinks? Oh, well. That's fantastic. I can do a lot with that, Farrah thought slyly.

"What you saw in Purgatory was my first body, the way it would've looked at this age had I kept it. But, as is the case with many angels, one vessel can't hold me forever."

"Reasonable."

She gave a curt nod.

Dean looked at Cas impatiently. "What's going on?"

"She is walking to a conference room with a leviathan."

"Alone?"

"No. Two men are following her." Farrah, you're being followed.

I'm well aware. What should I do?

"Cas," Sam said, "can you get a message to Farrah?"

"Yes," he answered, his mind running rampant. She could ditch, but they didn't have their information. She could stay, but she would probably be eaten, and that's not easy to return from. Or she could tell Timothy she thought that they were being followed, and she'd probably be eaten.

"Do we want to chance her death to get the information?" Cas asked.

"What? No!" Sam said immediately.

"If she's in danger, she needs to get out," said Dean.

Cas nodded. Abandon it, Farrah. Get out.

No.

Farrah, this is an emergency! Get out of there! Those leviathans-

I know the risk. Just calm down and let me do my job.

Dean watched Cas, waiting for the answer. "She heard me, but she is not coming."

"Then go in and get her!" Dean exclaimed.

"I can't. Right now there is only a possibility of her dying. If I disrupt this, then it is certain. We will just need to trust her." He felt an uncomfortable ache in his chest as his heart pounded against his ribs.

Farrah stepped inside an empty conference room and hastily took a seat; her legs were nearly shaking. She knew the consequences of her decision. When Timothy closed the door behind them, but didn't lock it, she felt her heart rate go down again.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Timothy asked pleasantly.

"I don't know very much about you guys, but, do you sleep?"

"Yes," he chuckled. "Yes, we sleep."

"And do you ever have...nightmares about purgatory?"

"I don't. Us leviathans are the kings of purgatory."

She nodded. "Okay." Vulnerability right then would reveal just what he thought of her, so she looked down at her hands and forced a tear to fall.

Smiling sadly, Timothy reached out and took her hands. "You just need to relax. Take some time to readjust."

"My dad and uncle aren't really on board with that," she chuckled dryly.

"Why?"

"They're worried about you guys."

He nodded. "Well, as I understand it we are not planning anything in the near future. Take your time."

"Thanks, Timothy." Castiel, call my cell phone.

"Of course."

Her phone started to ring, so she smiled and answered. After a moment, she stood up. "Sorry. My friend needs my help. I gotta go."

"Okay. Tell Castiel I said hi." He grinned, but this one was more evil. She smiled uncomfortably and flew out.

The short walk back to the alley gave her time to calm down. Because of the adrenaline rush and her actions before going inside, she was now exhausted and barely had enough energy to make her look like herself again.

"Farrah," Sam said, leaping to the mouth of the alley.

"How'd it go?" Dean asked.

"Ask me later. I need to take a nap." Slipping inside the Impala, Farrah kicked off her shoes and lifted her feet into Castiel's lap. She often did this, so he just rested his arms on top of her legs.

"Goodnight, Farrah."

"Night, Castiel."