In Which Ben gets Kidnapped... again...

[mini_dean]

He waited until Anna got into the shower that he pulled out the piece of paper that Jake had given him. He looked at the symbol and pulled up a website about pagan symbols that Alec had shown him a few months ago. He cross referenced it with angels, and found that the symbol was used to banish angels and bar them from certain places. Something

Comments

[hitchhiker_girl]

In a few hours, Anna was really starting to get worried. It wasn't like Ben to not pick up his phone when it was her, and if he was going to be longer than he thought, he would have called to begin with. Period. After the fifth time his phone went to voicemail, she decided that she was done with sitting around and waiting because something was seriously wrong. She grabbed her jacket and started walking, deciding to head to the gas station first and figure things out from there.

When she spotted Layla, abandoned in the parking lot, her heart sank to her stomach. That was when the hunter in her kicked in, looking for whatever clues she could find. There was no sulfur, so it wasn't a demon, but that meant it could have been any other number of things, and given the fresh tire tracks that made it look like someone peeled out of there real fast, faster than they would if they were just filling up. Ben's jacket and phone were still in the car, and when she reached into his pocket and found the symbol resting there, something she knew he didn't have before, she knew this was a clue. But she could only do so much where she was. She needed help.

She sat down sideways in the driver's seat of the car, letting the door stay open while she dialed her phone, hoping that Ben was the only Winchester not answering his phone, and in the meantime closing her eyes and sending up what could only be described as a prayer -- that was the way you got in touch with angels, right?

I really don't want to bother you, but I need your help ...

[smart_alec494]

Alec was sprawled out in the shade of the roof of the hospital with a Stephen King novel he'd stolen from one of the hospital's lounge areas. House had showed him the spot when he'd needed to make himself scarce for a while. Occasionally House did need to do his job.

So Alec stayed in a quiet place and read. Jinx had his front paws on the ledge and waswatching traffic. Alec thought that maybe he'd get a frisbee and come back up here later. Jinx would love that.

So given that he was succesfully not thinking about his own life at the moment he was startled by his phone rining. Still he managed to fumble it from his pocket, only to blink at the caller ID for a second. Anna? He liked her, he really really did. He considered her part of the family. But. . . she didn't call him. Feeling unsure he flipped his phone open and answered. "Anna?"

[hitchhiker_girl]

"Hi" or "Hey, Alec" would usually be a normal way to start a conversation, but she'd been stewing too long to really start off a conversation a normal way. She wanted to get someone to come and help her find him before Ben got himself into some serious trouble.

"Ben's gone."

It fell out before she could find out a simpler way to say it, but once it was out she wasn't exactly regretting it. It was what happened after all.

[smart_alec494]

Alec sat up. "What." Gone was a very broad term. His mind was scrambling and scrabling to pull itself together.

[hitchhiker_girl]

"I don't know what happened," she said slowly, trying not to sound panicked because she knew that when she started to panic it made her harder to understand. "He just went out to get gas and get a few things, but a couple hours went by and when he didn't come back I went out looking for him. He's been acting weird ever since whatever happened with your dad went down, so, you know, I was kind of expecting him to take off on me at some point, but -- "

Her voice trailed off for a moment as she tried to pull herself together to make a little more sense and get to the real point of the whole thing. "Taking off on me, I expected. But he wouldn't leave his car behind, or his phone."

[smart_alec494]

She would have heard a thud which was the sound of his head being thumped back onto the wall that made up the ledge of the roof. Ben disapearing on him had only been tollerable because he had at least thought his brother was safe. But this? He couldn't handle this. "Where are you." It was almost a whisper.

[hitchhiker_girl]

"Texas," she said rubbing her eyes softly, and it took her a minute before she produced the town. "Mountain area, lots of open space, and I've got tire tracks heading back towards the highway, but he could be anywhere by now."

[smart_alec494]

To far away. To far. "I'm. . . I can't get there in time." He swallowed hard. "Jinx can though." The massive dog had already given up his traffic watching and was sitting by Alec watching and listening. Alec reached out and ran a loving hand over the the dog's head. "He can help. He'll help you look."

[hitchhiker_girl]

"Okay," she said softly, swallowing for a moment, before responding. "Look, I don't know what went down with Dean beyond the fact that he's Michael, whatever that means. But you guys who have a lot of angelic friends, and they could probably help too, couldn't they?"

A beat.

"Not that I'm saying no to Jinx's help, but I figure we could use all the help we can get."

[smart_alec494]

Alec didn't take offence. He looked up. "It means. . .Dean is Michael. Always had been, just.. .hidden from him. Michael isn't using Dad as a host the way Cas is using Jimmy. Or any of the others. Dean and Michael are one in the same." He paused, licking his lips and trying to think of a way to explain. And to explain why Ben didn't understand. "Dad's been.. . he's been nothing but Dean for fourty years. And before that he was nothing but Michael for as long as. . ." He tried to think of a comparison that would help Anna really understand. "As long as Amy's been alive."

"And he has to figure out how to be both. Like he had amnisia and made himself a whole new life that was nothing like his last one. Now he wants both. But the Michael part is older. He needs to have time to stretch and breath. All Ben saw was Michael." Alec sniffled, upset, remembering the whole mess. "He needs time and Ben wouldn't.. . " He paused. That wasn't right. Ben wasn't like that. He didn't hurt people by choice. "Ben couldn't give him the time. He needed Dean and Dean alone."

Alec palmed a couple of tears off his face. "I'll send Jinx. If he can't find Ben, I'll get Dad. Or if he can't help. . .I'll ask Gabriel." Throw himself at Gabriel's mercy is more like. Do what ever it took to get help for Ben. He'd have to face the angel again at some point anyway. They wouldn't let him walk around unprotected. And God had better things to do than baby-sit Her fucked up prophet.

[hitchhiker_girl]

"Oh." Now she got it. She'd heard from Amy about angels falling and becoming human, but she'd gotten the impression that was when angels wanted to get away from the garrison, but not wanting to defy them completely. Amy saw it as a cop out, but Michael, if it was the Michael that she thought Alec was referring to, didn't seem like the top to cop out. There had to be more to the story, but they didn't have time for that now. "Now I get it."

"Okay," she sighed, before leaning into the driver's seat a little more. She heard the crinkle of paper behind her, and she pulled out the symbol she'd found in Ben's jacket pocket. "Hey, Alec, how familiar are you with iconography?" Then another pause as she tilted her head to the side slightly. "Where is Amy?" Then a pause as she remembered what happened. "Is she ... ?"

[smart_alec494]

"If I've seen it I know it." Meaning he was pretty good.

"Amy doesn't. . " Doesn't want him? Care? He wasn't sure how he wanted to end that sentence. So he let it go. "I don't know where she is."

[hitchhiker_girl]

"Okay," she sighed, before pulling the phone away from her ear and taking a picture of the symbol in front of her, before texting it to Alec. "I'm sending you a picture of something that I found with Ben's stuff. I've never seen it before but maybe you have."

[smart_alec494]

Alec looked at it and then put the phone back to his ear. "Some of it seemed familiar, and part of the way it was set up, but. . ." He pulled the image up in his mind, "and I think it's angelic script. And a symbal for fire. . it should be written in red I think. So I bet what you found isn't supposed to work. It's just a diagram for the real deal. I'll figure out what it is while you and Jinx try and find him." He stood and made his way inside. He'd barrow House's computer.

[hitchhiker_girl]

"Okay. I'll wait here for Jinx, and I'll let you know as soon as I find something."

[smart_alec494]

"Okay. He'll be there real soon." He ended the call and knelt in the stair well in front of Jinx and put a hand on either side of the dog's head. "Go to where Anna is and help her find Ben, okay." Jinx whines and looked unhappy. "I know, but I don't want him hurt. Anna wont keep you longer than she absolutely has to. I promise I'll stay with House until you get back. I'll be careful." Jinx sighed. Alec leaned forward and kissed him on the forhead and then took his hands away. Jinx linked his wrist and then disapeared.