So Fell the Angels - Supernatural Fanfic/Fanfiction (Castiel Fan Fiction)

Chapter 16: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Chapter 16: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

"I need your help."

Shawn surreptitiously scoots past his door into the hallway, carefully shutting his apartment up behind him while placing himself almost protectively in front of it. "What are you doing here and how did you even find me?" he demands in a hushed whisper.

When she gets her first good look at the boy, she can't help pulling back and blurting out, "Did you lose a fight with a jar of ink?"

With narrowed eyes, he hisses, "Ha ha. Funny. What do you want?"

She spares a last appraisal of his new look: black clothes, dyed black hair, and even black mascara and nail polish. Somehow, all the black seems more surprising than the large nose ring he now sports, filling out his startling new look.

After shaking her head, Tabitha looks up and down the hallway, but sees no one that might overhear them.

"Whatever," she says, dismissing his radically changed appearance from all-star preppy boy to all-out gothic punk. "Like I said, I need your help. I could use your particular set of skills."

His black outlined eyes narrow accusingly. "And I asked how you found me."

She rolls her eyes in annoyance, bracing her hand against the doorframe into his apartment and leaning against it as she inches closer. "I'm the one who introduced you to your ID forger, remember? I went to Neal and asked him to give me the last few aliases the two of you created. Wasn't too hard once I had the new names you were using. And I do still have a few tricks up my sleeve for finding people, even if I'm not a Fed anymore."

Shawn deflates slightly, absently scratching his slightly longer, and much shaggier dyed locks. She can't help but wonder if his dye job is still fresh. "Oh, yeah. I forgot you knew Neal, first." Puffing back up again as he remembers his indignation, he asks, "I thought you were gonna leave me alone until I was ready?"

The accusation is enough for her to be chagrined. "I was trying to," she regretfully explains, wishing she could have given him more time to come to grips with the truth about the creepy crawlies in the night. "But I need your help, kid. So I was hoping you'd overlook me breaking my word to you this one time. You've got to know it's important if I'm actually breaking a promise to you." She sighs and reminds him, "You know I always keep my word."

He stares at her for a moment, seeming to weigh whether or not he believes her. Then, he sighs and reaches behind him for the doorknob.

"I probably don't have any choice, do I? You want to come in because if I don't let you in, someone's gonna end up dead, right?"

She frowns at his bitterness.

"Well, with any luck, if you give me what I need, it won't be you. I'm looking for someone." She tries lighthearted, sarcastic banter to brighten his bitterness, but she's afraid she just doesn't have enough lightness in her own heart to pull it off.

The door suddenly whips backwards out of Shawn's hand, the barrel of a shotgun rushing out towards Tabitha's face.

On instinct, she steps forward, raising an arm to deflect the cold metal barrel from aiming at her, griping it and trying to push it from the hands of its owner.

She has only the passing impression that she's fighting a young woman a little shorter than herself, a redhead dressed all in black to match Shawn.

"What the hell?!" she can hear Shawn screech. "Stop it!" She doesn't pause to decipher which of them he's yelling at.

Both women ignore his frantic protests and desperate arm flapping.