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Gabriel walked up to Rowena and slid his arm around her waist. “You ready, babe?” he whispered, his lips brushing her temple.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said. “There’s no talking you out of this, is there?”
“N- well, I mean, if you don’t want to be involved that’s fine. I’ll ask someone else. No hard feelings.” He kissed the tip of her nose.
Rowena rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get out of here, Feather-brain.” Gabriel tightened his hold around her waist and snapped his fingers.
They appeared in the parking lot of the grocery store. It was shortly before dusk and the heat of the day had dissipated. The parking lot was crowded, the store filled with after-work grocery shoppers. The cart corrals were mostly empty, just a handful of carts still outside.
“Aw crap, I guess all the actual children have them,” Gabriel said glumly.
“Shall I go tip some brat out of his ride and nab it for ye?” Rowena offered. Gabriel’s eyes widened.
“Uh… no, sweetie, let’s not… let’s not traumatize any children today, okay?” Gabriel patted her arm. “We can just come back another day. Let’s go do something else…”
“There’s one!” she exclaimed. Sure enough, all the way across the parking lot, a lone kiddie cart sat in the corral. They hurried over and Rowena seized it. It was a blue plastic race car, with two child-sized seats at the top. At the bottom, the shopping cart portion stuck out in front. Rowena gave it a little push back and forth, making sure the wheels moved freely.
“Hold it still so I can climb in,” Gabriel whined. He scaled the side of the cart portion, then swung around and settled his bottom in the seat, legs hanging into the cart.
“That was well worth the trip,” Rowena purred appreciatively as his lovely backside swung into the seat.
“Yeah except this is not very comfortable,” he groused, wiggling around. He wedged himself further into the seat until his legs were sticking up in front of him. “How did Jack manage to make this look so fun?”
“It’s all in the attitude, darling,” Rowena said. She started wheeling him towards the store.
“Wait!” he exclaimed. “I can’t fasten my seat belt.”
Rowena rolled her eyes. “You’re a fully powered archangel in a plastic kiddie cart at the supermarket. You don’t need a seat belt!” she snapped irritably, her accent thickening with frustration.
“Okay fine,” he sighed. “But I- I look stupid. You can’t take me in the store like this.”
“What are you suggesting we do, then? I put tennis shoes on for this!”
“Well there’s a bike path through the woods back there. Probably there won’t be anyone around. Just take me for a spin through there.”
Rowena grumbled and wheeled him toward the path. At the edge of the parking lot pavement, a well-worn path cut through the forested area, just wide enough for a bicycle or two, or a baby carriage. Or an archangel in a shopping cart.
The first part of it went up a slope, and Rowena struggled to push the cart up it. “How- do- you- weigh- so- much,” she huffed, her hair plastered to her sweaty, flushed face. “You’re no that big a fellow!”
Gabriel snorted. “My true form is enormous. I’d love to show you, but I can’t always tell who can see it without… well, it’s pretty unfortunate if it turns out they can’t. And even if they can… you’re all like ‘don’t be afraid’ and they’re all like ‘aaaaaaaahhhh!’. It’s kind of… well it gets to you after a while.”
They reached the crest of the hill, and there was a short downhill bit and then the terrain flattened out. “Well next time you ask someone to shove your celestial magnificence up a hill, you might warn a girl about that.”
“Mm,” Gabriel said noncommittally. He thought that Sam probably wouldn’t have complained as much, but he had at least enough wisdom not to voice that thought. “Do you think we can go faster?”
Rowena sighed, but picked up the pace. She was soon at a brisk jog, her white tennis shoes flying up and down, red curls fluttering behind her. Gabriel threw his hands in the air and shouted with glee, and she laughed, a girlish giggle of delight. Gabriel’s joy was infectious, worth the sweat and the indignity of running when no one was even trying to kill her.
They sped down the path until it started to slope upward again, and she could see that it would drop off soon into another parking lot. “Time to turn around, love,” she said, swinging the cart in as wide an arc as she could manage. It just cleared a a tree root, and they started back down the path.
Rowena was able to gain even more speed on the return trip. It was going well and they were nearly to the end when she saw something moving at the side of the path ahead.
“Rat! RAT!” she shrieked. Something furry and brown was rustling in the weeds just inches from her shoes. Fear seized her, the memories of dozens of rat bites, bleeding, terrified of being eaten alive, shut off from her powers, chained to a wall, helpless. All she could see was a monstrous beast intent on destroying her. Her vision went black and it felt like she was being strangled, which then brought up a whole slew of other unpleasant memories. And that voice, that voice mocking her the whole time. Choking, burning, dying.
“No, hon, it’s just a- WHOA!” In her fright, Rowena had let go of the cart handle and dove off into the weeds on the opposite side, scampering up the bank to get as far away as possible. The cart, with considerable momentum, kept rolling. The ground sloped upward gently here, but Gabriel was still picking up speed. “Crap crap crap!” he shouted as the cart rounded the crest of the hill and he really began to speed up. Rowena ran after him, though the tall weeds slowed her down considerably. She watched in horror as the cart wheel struck a rock, throwing it sideways, and it rolled over and over down the embankment, skidding on its side across the pavement.
Rowena finally reached the now-still shopping cart. Gabriel was still wedged into the plastic car, lying sideways on the pavement. A small crowd was gathering around the scene. “Bollocks,” Rowena muttered. Onlookers meant there was no way they could get away with using magic to get out of this.
“Gabriel, darling, are you alright?” she called in a sweet, concerned voice, pushing her way through the crowd to kneel at his side. “Your poor face must look like hamburger after that. And you’ve probably broken an arm and a leg, at least.”
“Uhh… yeah, probably,” said Gabriel, adjusting his injuries accordingly. When he lifted his head to look around, there was indeed a terrible road rash on face, the skin missing from his temple down to his chin, as well as the tip of his nose. His leg was bent at an awkward angle, and he cradled his wrist against his chest. The back of his head was matted down with blood.
“We should call you an ambulance, man,” said a guy in a backwards baseball cap and jean shorts.
“Ah, no, that won’t be necessary,” said Rowena. “You see… I’m a nurse, and I can help him. We’ll be calling my brother in law to come pick us up and take us for treatment. Thank you so kindly.” She pulled a small paisley-printed scarf from her pocket and tied it around his wrist, adding a bow with a flourish. Then she took a Snoopy bandaid from another pocket and stuck it across the wound on the side of his face, though the wound was many times the size of the bandaid.
“You’ll be fine, darling. Hope you enjoy singing under the Paris opera house,” she said patting his good cheek.
“Yeah, maybe you could… get me out of this freaking cart?” he replied irritably. “I’m kind of stuck.”
“Hmph.” She grabbed Gabriel’s uninjured arm and leg and yanked. Nothing. She braced her foot on the bottom of the cart and yanked some more, but he didn’t budge. Finally, with a string of filthy curses in Gaelic and her arms wedged under his armpits, she managed to free him from the cart. Gabriel tumbled onto the pavement face-first, rolling across his injured side. The crowd gasped.
“Fine, I’m fine,” he said, struggling to sit up. “Just a little sore, that’s all. Uh… Ro, sweetie, can I walk like this?”
“No, no a person cannot walk with a broken leg, not without something to support-”
“Well can I lean on you?” he interrupted. “Get me out of here? Now?”
“I’m not hauling your heavy arse all the way back to the- back home!” she said. “We’ll have to call Dean for a ride.”
“Dean and I are already here.” Rowena looked over and saw a pair of shiny black shoes standing next to her. She glanced up at black trouser legs, and a tan trench coat flapping in the breeze. She looked all the way up and saw Castiel’s face haloed in the sunset, surrounded by pinks and oranges. “I had a… hunch… that my brother needed some help, so I asked Dean to stop here.” He exchanged a look with Gabriel.
Between Rowena and Castiel, they were able to help Gabriel limp to the Impala and get him situated in the backseat. The crowd of onlookers wandered away once it seemed that the situation was under control.
“I’m sure Sam would have forgiven you using your powers to keep the cart from crashing in the first place,” Cas said, turning to look over the backseat at them. Gabriel was still bloodied and bruised, willing himself to remain unhealed until they left the populated area.
“Where’s Dean?” Gabriel asked.
“He went into the store for beef jerky and pork rinds, I believe,” said Castiel. “Since we were here. He should be back momentarily.”
“So, you two were having a private drive, were you?” Rowena asked.
“Uh… I guess so,” Castiel said. Rowena and Gabriel exchanged a look. “He wasn’t extremely pleased about interrupting it to rescue you, but I insisted,” Castiel added.
“Sorry, bro,” Gabriel said. “Hopefully you can get back to it just as soon as you get us out of here.”
Dean emerged from the store and walked across the parking lot, a plastic bag in his hand. It had just gotten dark enough that streetlights were beginning to blink on. Dean slid into the driver’s seat and turned to look at them. “Whoa! Look at you, Gabe. Heard you ate some pavement out there.”
“Yeah… thanks for picking me up.” He touched his face self consciously. “Is it that hideous?”
“Well for you, it’s an improvement,” Dean said. “Ryan Reynolds wore it better, though. Does it hurt?”
“Yeah, actually. As long as I remain unhealed, it hurts a normal human amount. How about we ditch this place so I can make myself pretty again?”
Dean snorted and drove out of the parking lot. Once they reached the edge of town, Gabriel patted Castiel on the shoulder. “Have a good time, you two.” With that, he grabbed Rowena’s hand and disappeared.
They reappeared in Sam’s bedroom in the bunker. Gabriel’s injuries were all gone, even his hair and clothing were neat and perfect again. He’d cleaned Rowena up as well, gone was the sweat, the clinging bits of weeds, the dirt and blood ground into her clothing. They sat on the edge of the bed, hands still clasped.
“It was a woodchuck,” Gabriel said.
“What?”
“It wasn’t a rat. That’s what I was trying to tell you. It was a woodchuck. He wouldn’t have hurt you.”
Rowena shuddered. “I just… I cannot abide rats. I’ve been chained up too many times, left as rat food…” she choked back a sob. “I’m sorry I let you go.”
“Shh, it’s okay.” He turned toward her and smoothed her hair back from her face, petting her hair over and over with both hands. “Sweetie, it’s okay. I get it. You panicked. I’m sorry that you even had anything to panic over.”
“There are so many things!” she exclaimed, bursting into tears. “So many things now. So many stupid things, I- I’m quite a mess, and I don’t blame you if it’s more than you care to-”
“Oh now stop that,” he scolded, stroking her soothingly. “Like I’m not a mess? Like Sam’s not? Babe, we’ll get through it. We’ll all figure out how to deal with each other’s messes. That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?” He tenderly brushed her cheek with his thumb, wiping away tears, then leaned in to kiss her softly.
“I suppose,” she sighed, leaning against him. She’d stopped sobbing but she still shook violently. Gabriel put his arms around her and held her.
“Besides, I’ll bet I looked hilarious rolling down that hill.”
“I was terrified I’d broken ya! Sometimes I forget you’re no human.” She chuckled. “In retrospect, it kind of was though.”
Gabriel sighed. “Wish I could have seen myself.”
“You probably can. I believe one of the young men standing about was filming it for the YouTube.”
He groaned. “Great. So this is how I go viral. Well, Sam did say he wanted the whole story later…”
“Any regrets?” she asked, tracing one glossy red fingernail in patterns on his chest.
“Nah, not a bit. Buuuuut I think next time we should just go to the go kart track.”
“Oh, you’re on, Angel Boy,” she exclaimed sitting up.
“You want to race go karts with me?” he said incredulously.
“I will kick your pretty arse!” she declared, her eyes sparkling with glee.
“It’s a date,” he agreed, leaning in to kiss her again.