SPN (Different Roads/Cazadore AU): Delighting In Your Company 1/1
SUMMARY: Different Roads/Cazadore AU. Written for the Sandy Relief exchange for auntmo9 who asked for a 1500 word minimum story featuring Cooper in a starring role. Cooper is an archangel in disguise. Falling for a mere human would be a supremely bad idea. But suddenly, he is attracted to a human woman. Too suddenly for it to be natural.
As Tuesdays go, it was a rather ordinary one in a rather ordinary place somewhere in the midwestern part of the United States. But the citizens of that town were taken aback by the sight of a heavyset, naked man walking down the street in broad daylight.
He walked into a bookstore and several women gasped, clamping hands or throwing blankets over the eyes of the children with them. He gave them a polite smile and headed toward the back of the store to the reading tables.
The woman sitting there made a disgusted noise as she stood up. "I told you to dress!"
"I forgot to do the illusion," he admitted ruefully as he closed his eyes. A few moments later, he appeared to be wearing jeans and a black t-shirt with a garish red heart on it.
"Well, it's a little better," she sighed, sitting down and waiting until he was sitting across the table from her. "I suppose you're wondering why I asked you here."
"Yeah, was wondering that...." he said with a smile.
She rolled her eyes at the echoing and said, "Because we are short on time, I will get right down to it. I need you to intensify an attraction into love."
"Why me?" he asked her. "Why can't your goddesses do it?"
She cleared her throat. "My goddesses are.... indisposed."
He cocked an eyebrow, then both shot up as his eyes widened. "Ravi and Parvati both? Don't tell me they're pregnant again!"
"Both of them," she sighed. "They seem to have gotten it into their heads that it's their duty to single-handedly double the populace of our pantheon." She waited - albeit impatiently - as her guest stopped laughing. "Are you quite finished?"
"Yes, I apologise....but the way you put that struck me as funny!" he chuckled. "But why me? Why not a lesser one of my kind?"
"Because it will take - to quote a teacher friend of mine - 'some major mojo' to work on this being."
"Being. You said being, not man. Okay, who is it?" When she told him, his eyes widened even more. ".....I see....."
"And I do not want the object of his infatuation returning his love."
He nodded slowly. "A leaden arrow, then - hatred or indifference?"
"Neither. There is already affection there - I do not want it strengthened."
"A leaden dart, then. Not an arrow. I shall do it now." He stood and kissed the back of her hand. "Alvida, Kali." And he was gone, leaving her hand cocked in mid-air.
She chuckled as she lowered it to her lap. "I hope I do not regret this, Cupid...."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was a beautiful Wednesday morning in Cazadore, Texas. The sky was overcast with the promise of much-needed rain, which was always good to see.
And therein, lay the temptation for Bill Cooper. As he walked to his car and tilted his face to the sky, his hand automatically rose, fingers touching. He caught himself and lowered his hand and his head. Father, please let it rain today. The farmers need it. Thank You. Then he got in the car and started the engine.
Sweet tea seemed like the order of the day, so he drove right to Maggie's Diner and climbed out of the car. He took two steps and frowned, hand smacking the back of his neck, where he'd felt a sharp sting. They say everything's bigger in Texas....down to the damned mosquitos, he grumbled to himself as he walked inside.
As he got settled, Garnet Peterson walked over with a coffee pot. "Your usual, Mister Cooper?"
"Sweet tea and waffles, please," he smiled.
"Just maple syrup today?"
He considered ."No, I think I'll have some butter and strawberry syrup, too."
Her smile shone like sunshine. "You got it. I'll have those out in a jiffy."
Cooper nodded and found his gaze lingering after her as she walked away. Had she always had that little sway to her hips? Had she always moved with a dancer's grace?
Had he been blind all this time? How could he have never noticed the golden sheen to her hair or the way her eyes sparkled when she smiled?
.....For that matter, why was he noticing it now?
Before he had a chance to pursue the not-quite-rightness of that thought, she was back with his tea. "Joe'll have your pancakes up as soon as they--" She shook her head. "Pancakes - listen to me. That was what the table here before you ordered! Joe'll have your waffles up as soon as the bird sings!"
It was an old joke - the waffle maker had a disconcerting habit of whistling when the batter was fully cooked, and the staff and patrons often called it the bird singing. Cooper had heard it a million times before.
But he found himself laughing like it was the first time she had told it. "Thank you, Garnet," he chuckled. "Hey, I'm free after four.... you got anything planned this afternoon?"
---Hold on. Where had that come from?
Garnet looked at him a little strangely. Before she could reply, a distinct whistle came from the kitchen. "And there goes the bird." She spun, heading back to the kitchen.
Leaving behind one very confused Archangel.
She was back all too soon, setting a plate of piping hot waffles and two syrups in front of him. She stood there for a second, thinking over her words. Then she softly said, "I'm going to be with my mother this afternoon. Sorry."
He smiled at her. "That's fine. Say hello to Julie for me, will you?"
And her smile was back, as though the uncomfortable exchange had never happened. Garnet was forgiving that way, and it was something that charmed Cooper even more. "I sure will. Enjoy your meal, Mister Cooper." She put his bill down and left him to eat, knowing he only had a little while before he had to be at work.
"Thank you, Garnet. I will." He turned his attention to drowning the waffles in butter and syrup and then decimating them with inhuman efficiency.
After paying his bill, Cooper headed to his car, whistling. Suddenly he stopped and tilted his face toward the sky, laughing joyfully.
It had begun to rain.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So who is she?"
Startled, Cooper looked up from his desk. "What?"
Dean grinned from where he was leaning against the door. "Who is she?"
"Who is who?"
"The lady who's got your heart."
Cooper frowned. "What?" he gasped. "My heart? Nobody's got my heart!"
"Uh-huh," Dean chuckled. "That's why you've spent the last five minutes staring at that paper."
"It's.... It's got some good points! I'm savouring!"
"It's a multiple-choice quiz."
Cooper groaned aloud and dropped his face into his hands. "........Dean, I think I'm going insane."
"Considering the lemon drops are now candy corn...."
Cooper looked over at the candy jar on his desk. He snapped his fingers and the jar was suddenly filled with sour ribbons. Dean instantly pulled a few out, grinning broadly. Cooper looked at his friend's sparkling eyes, and suddenly knew half those ribbons would end up in little brother's mouth and the other half would be divided between John and Michelle.
"So," Dean sighed as he settled into a desk in front of Cooper's. "You're going insane? Is that possible?"
Cooper looked incredulously at him, then began to chuckle. "My family would say I went insane centuries ago," he teased. Then he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "It's just.... there's this girl...."
"And thus begins every good story...."
"Shut up," Cooper snapped, but there was no real heat, and he found himself grinning as Dean's quip broke the tension that was trying to form.
Dean spread his hands, then used them. You said there girl....
Cooper nodded. "We weren't ever more than friends - and I swear, we're still not - but all of a sudden I'm... well, I'm noticing things. How she moves, how she smiles, how she smells-- It don't make a lick of sense, Dean!"
Never in love before?
"Of course I've been in love before. I know how it feels. This feels nothing like it. This is too sudden, too overwhelming...."
Dean nodded slowly. Manipulated?
Cooper stared at him, eyes going wide. ".......possibly."
"Could you be manipulated? I mean, is it even possible?"
"Oh, it's possible. It would take a hell of a lot of power, but it's poss---" He trailed off, eyes widening further before narrowing dangerously.
"Should I run?" Dean asked calmly.
"Might be a good idea to leave me alone for awhile," Cooper said in a voice that promised trouble.
Dean nodded, standing up. "Just don't destroy the school," he said, passing behind Cooper on his way out of the room and resting a supportive hand on his shoulder for a few moments before leaving.
Cooper waited five minutes, then stood and grabbed his jacket, stalking out of the room.
Behind him, the candy jar on the corner of his desk emptied itself - and then shattered.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cooper drove straight to Maggie's Diner and sat in his truck for a second, collecting himself and praying for strength.
Taking a deep, fortifying breath, Cooper walked into the diner and made certain to sit at Garnet's section.
She came from the kitchen, saw him, and froze. Cooper winced, suddenly realising what he must have acted like.
But Garnet was nothing if not professional. She drew her pad from her apron pocket as she walked over and asked, "What can I get you, Mister Cooper?"
'Mister Cooper.' Not 'Bill'. He sighed. "Some sweet tea, Garnet. And... And I need to talk to you."
"I am on duty--"
"And it will be right here. In public. Please, Garnet. Just five minutes."
She studied his eyes and said, "I'll get your tea."
Moments later, she returned with his tea and sat across from him. "You got five minutes."
"Thank you." He smiled at her, then grew serious. "I'm real sorry, Garnet. I've been acting a fool and - obviously - making you very uncomfortable. I just want you to know, I know what's going on now."
"I'm listening."
"Dean figured it out. I'm under a love spell."
Living in Cazadore, surrounded by hunters, meant she understood what that meant. Her eyes widened and she slowly nodded. "That.... That makes sense. And apparently I'm the one you--"
"Fixated on, yes," Cooper finished with a sigh.
Her head tilted slightly, reminding him crazily of his trenchcoated little brother. "Do you know who cast it?"
"I have my suspicions," he replied. "And I'm on my way to talk to her. But I needed to let you know what was going on--"
She nodded abruptly, cutting him off. "Because if you are, your behaviour is going to shift again, and you didn't want me to be in the dark and even more confused."
"Exactly."
She patted his hand and stood up. "Bill - you're a good friend. Nothing more. I hope you can break this - for both our sakes."
With a sad little smile, he watched her swaying walk as she returned to the kitchen. There was something catlike in the way the Peterson sisters moved - Amber used it predatorily, but Garnet seemed to have no idea that those hips wiggled in just the right way to---
Cooper lurched to his feet and ran his hands through his sandy hair, blowing out the air in his cheeks and staggering out of the diner as if he'd been a mortal who had over-imbibed. "....me, too, Garnet," he whispered, visibly pulling himself together. "Me, too."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cooper drove straight to one of the safest places in Cazadore - the communal back yard of the brothers Winchester, with its wards upon wards upon wards. He checked to make certain both houses were empty, just in case - which they were - before he closed his eyes and called out:
"Carol! I'm home - and you got some 'splainin' to do!"
He sensed her before he saw her. There was a shift in energies, a swirl of exotic spice - and then she was walking toward him, a large smile on her face. "Gabriel."
"Kali," he answered in kind, though his voice held a few more degrees of ice.
Noting this, her smile faltered slightly. "I take it you noticed my gift."
"Thought it was you," he said. "You're the only one around here with enough power to affect me. So - was it Ravi or Parvati?"
"Neither. Both are with child."
His eyes widened, even as his lips quirked at the thought of both vain ladies huge with child and bickering like the sisters they were. "Then--"
"Cupid," she said. "I gave him some of my power so his arrow would work."
"Did you have him shoot Garnet, too?" At her headshake, he visibly relaxed. "Good. Now for the big question -- why?"
She gestured toward the low brick wall surrounding the devil's trap masonry patio with the firepit in the centre, and he nodded. Once they were seated there, she said, "It was supposed to be a gift."
"Okay - what made you think making me fall in love with Garnet was in any way appropriate?"
"It wasn't," she smiled, lacing her fingers around her crossed knee. "That was the whole point!"
Cooper felt a headache begin to build. "Kali - make some sense."
"You're Loki," she pointed out. "The Trickster god. So I gave you a trick as a present! You would fall for her via the spell - she would fall for you on her own - then when the spell lifted, you would have a bride!"
Cooper sighed and shook his head. "What you did almost ruined one of the best friendships I've ever had!"
Kali frowned. "So - she didn't fall in love?"
"No - most definitely not. I'm not her type."
"....girls?"
"Nobody."
Kali's eyes went wide and her mouth pursed into an "O" of surprise, though she made no sound.
Cooper crossed his arms. "So - lift it."
Kali stood and waved her hand. A silver barb - immaterial as air - shimmered into visibility, sticking out of his chest. She closed one hand over it and another over his shoulder. Then a hand firmly gripped his other shoulder and three others grabbed hold of the shaft.
Cooper groaned as the arrow was slowly pulled out of his heart. He held out a hand, and Kali surrendered the silver barb.
It made a noise like a thunderclap when Cooper snapped it over his knee.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Garnet Peterson sat in her cozy living room, with her cat Nesmith purring at her feet, when "Shave And A Haircut" tapped on her door.
She smiled as she set aside the denim jacket she was embroidering for Sam to wear as a chaperone to the 70s dance at the school, and headed to open the door.
"Tell me you have good news," she said to the figure on the other side.
For answer, Cooper held up a broken silver arrow. "One Cupid love spell - history."
Garnet nodded slightly. "Residuals?"
"Nothing I can't handle and nothing that won't fade in a few days." He returned her weary smile. "I do think it might be a good idea if I went to my brother Mike's house for the weekend, though - give it a chance to completely clear my system."
Garnet nodded. "I'll set back an extra brownie for you Monday."
He laughed softly. "Thanks, Garnet. May I?"
She stepped into his arms and they shared a hug. He brushed a kiss to her forehead as they parted. "See you later, my friend."
"Take care, Bill." Smiling, she stepped back into her apartment and closed the door.
Seconds later, the hallway was empty, with only the slight echo of snapping fingers remaining.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Monday morning found everything once more as it should have been in Cazadore - down to the restored candy jar on the corner of Cooper's desk.
He and Garnet resumed their good - if somewhat bantering - friendship, and the botched love spell became a "Do you remember the time--" story that, with the distance and perspective of passing time, amused both of them.
Garnet still occasionally snuck an extra serving of something sweet into Cooper's meals, without putting it on the bill.
Cooper always paid for it anyway.
END
As Tuesdays go, it was a rather ordinary one in a rather ordinary place somewhere in the midwestern part of the United States. But the citizens of that town were taken aback by the sight of a heavyset, naked man walking down the street in broad daylight.
He walked into a bookstore and several women gasped, clamping hands or throwing blankets over the eyes of the children with them. He gave them a polite smile and headed toward the back of the store to the reading tables.
The woman sitting there made a disgusted noise as she stood up. "I told you to dress!"
"I forgot to do the illusion," he admitted ruefully as he closed his eyes. A few moments later, he appeared to be wearing jeans and a black t-shirt with a garish red heart on it.
"Well, it's a little better," she sighed, sitting down and waiting until he was sitting across the table from her. "I suppose you're wondering why I asked you here."
"Yeah, was wondering that...." he said with a smile.
She rolled her eyes at the echoing and said, "Because we are short on time, I will get right down to it. I need you to intensify an attraction into love."
"Why me?" he asked her. "Why can't your goddesses do it?"
She cleared her throat. "My goddesses are.... indisposed."
He cocked an eyebrow, then both shot up as his eyes widened. "Ravi and Parvati both? Don't tell me they're pregnant again!"
"Both of them," she sighed. "They seem to have gotten it into their heads that it's their duty to single-handedly double the populace of our pantheon." She waited - albeit impatiently - as her guest stopped laughing. "Are you quite finished?"
"Yes, I apologise....but the way you put that struck me as funny!" he chuckled. "But why me? Why not a lesser one of my kind?"
"Because it will take - to quote a teacher friend of mine - 'some major mojo' to work on this being."
"Being. You said being, not man. Okay, who is it?" When she told him, his eyes widened even more. ".....I see....."
"And I do not want the object of his infatuation returning his love."
He nodded slowly. "A leaden arrow, then - hatred or indifference?"
"Neither. There is already affection there - I do not want it strengthened."
"A leaden dart, then. Not an arrow. I shall do it now." He stood and kissed the back of her hand. "Alvida, Kali." And he was gone, leaving her hand cocked in mid-air.
She chuckled as she lowered it to her lap. "I hope I do not regret this, Cupid...."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was a beautiful Wednesday morning in Cazadore, Texas. The sky was overcast with the promise of much-needed rain, which was always good to see.
And therein, lay the temptation for Bill Cooper. As he walked to his car and tilted his face to the sky, his hand automatically rose, fingers touching. He caught himself and lowered his hand and his head. Father, please let it rain today. The farmers need it. Thank You. Then he got in the car and started the engine.
Sweet tea seemed like the order of the day, so he drove right to Maggie's Diner and climbed out of the car. He took two steps and frowned, hand smacking the back of his neck, where he'd felt a sharp sting. They say everything's bigger in Texas....down to the damned mosquitos, he grumbled to himself as he walked inside.
As he got settled, Garnet Peterson walked over with a coffee pot. "Your usual, Mister Cooper?"
"Sweet tea and waffles, please," he smiled.
"Just maple syrup today?"
He considered ."No, I think I'll have some butter and strawberry syrup, too."
Her smile shone like sunshine. "You got it. I'll have those out in a jiffy."
Cooper nodded and found his gaze lingering after her as she walked away. Had she always had that little sway to her hips? Had she always moved with a dancer's grace?
Had he been blind all this time? How could he have never noticed the golden sheen to her hair or the way her eyes sparkled when she smiled?
.....For that matter, why was he noticing it now?
Before he had a chance to pursue the not-quite-rightness of that thought, she was back with his tea. "Joe'll have your pancakes up as soon as they--" She shook her head. "Pancakes - listen to me. That was what the table here before you ordered! Joe'll have your waffles up as soon as the bird sings!"
It was an old joke - the waffle maker had a disconcerting habit of whistling when the batter was fully cooked, and the staff and patrons often called it the bird singing. Cooper had heard it a million times before.
But he found himself laughing like it was the first time she had told it. "Thank you, Garnet," he chuckled. "Hey, I'm free after four.... you got anything planned this afternoon?"
---Hold on. Where had that come from?
Garnet looked at him a little strangely. Before she could reply, a distinct whistle came from the kitchen. "And there goes the bird." She spun, heading back to the kitchen.
Leaving behind one very confused Archangel.
She was back all too soon, setting a plate of piping hot waffles and two syrups in front of him. She stood there for a second, thinking over her words. Then she softly said, "I'm going to be with my mother this afternoon. Sorry."
He smiled at her. "That's fine. Say hello to Julie for me, will you?"
And her smile was back, as though the uncomfortable exchange had never happened. Garnet was forgiving that way, and it was something that charmed Cooper even more. "I sure will. Enjoy your meal, Mister Cooper." She put his bill down and left him to eat, knowing he only had a little while before he had to be at work.
"Thank you, Garnet. I will." He turned his attention to drowning the waffles in butter and syrup and then decimating them with inhuman efficiency.
After paying his bill, Cooper headed to his car, whistling. Suddenly he stopped and tilted his face toward the sky, laughing joyfully.
It had begun to rain.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So who is she?"
Startled, Cooper looked up from his desk. "What?"
Dean grinned from where he was leaning against the door. "Who is she?"
"Who is who?"
"The lady who's got your heart."
Cooper frowned. "What?" he gasped. "My heart? Nobody's got my heart!"
"Uh-huh," Dean chuckled. "That's why you've spent the last five minutes staring at that paper."
"It's.... It's got some good points! I'm savouring!"
"It's a multiple-choice quiz."
Cooper groaned aloud and dropped his face into his hands. "........Dean, I think I'm going insane."
"Considering the lemon drops are now candy corn...."
Cooper looked over at the candy jar on his desk. He snapped his fingers and the jar was suddenly filled with sour ribbons. Dean instantly pulled a few out, grinning broadly. Cooper looked at his friend's sparkling eyes, and suddenly knew half those ribbons would end up in little brother's mouth and the other half would be divided between John and Michelle.
"So," Dean sighed as he settled into a desk in front of Cooper's. "You're going insane? Is that possible?"
Cooper looked incredulously at him, then began to chuckle. "My family would say I went insane centuries ago," he teased. Then he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "It's just.... there's this girl...."
"And thus begins every good story...."
"Shut up," Cooper snapped, but there was no real heat, and he found himself grinning as Dean's quip broke the tension that was trying to form.
Dean spread his hands, then used them. You said there girl....
Cooper nodded. "We weren't ever more than friends - and I swear, we're still not - but all of a sudden I'm... well, I'm noticing things. How she moves, how she smiles, how she smells-- It don't make a lick of sense, Dean!"
Never in love before?
"Of course I've been in love before. I know how it feels. This feels nothing like it. This is too sudden, too overwhelming...."
Dean nodded slowly. Manipulated?
Cooper stared at him, eyes going wide. ".......possibly."
"Could you be manipulated? I mean, is it even possible?"
"Oh, it's possible. It would take a hell of a lot of power, but it's poss---" He trailed off, eyes widening further before narrowing dangerously.
"Should I run?" Dean asked calmly.
"Might be a good idea to leave me alone for awhile," Cooper said in a voice that promised trouble.
Dean nodded, standing up. "Just don't destroy the school," he said, passing behind Cooper on his way out of the room and resting a supportive hand on his shoulder for a few moments before leaving.
Cooper waited five minutes, then stood and grabbed his jacket, stalking out of the room.
Behind him, the candy jar on the corner of his desk emptied itself - and then shattered.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cooper drove straight to Maggie's Diner and sat in his truck for a second, collecting himself and praying for strength.
Taking a deep, fortifying breath, Cooper walked into the diner and made certain to sit at Garnet's section.
She came from the kitchen, saw him, and froze. Cooper winced, suddenly realising what he must have acted like.
But Garnet was nothing if not professional. She drew her pad from her apron pocket as she walked over and asked, "What can I get you, Mister Cooper?"
'Mister Cooper.' Not 'Bill'. He sighed. "Some sweet tea, Garnet. And... And I need to talk to you."
"I am on duty--"
"And it will be right here. In public. Please, Garnet. Just five minutes."
She studied his eyes and said, "I'll get your tea."
Moments later, she returned with his tea and sat across from him. "You got five minutes."
"Thank you." He smiled at her, then grew serious. "I'm real sorry, Garnet. I've been acting a fool and - obviously - making you very uncomfortable. I just want you to know, I know what's going on now."
"I'm listening."
"Dean figured it out. I'm under a love spell."
Living in Cazadore, surrounded by hunters, meant she understood what that meant. Her eyes widened and she slowly nodded. "That.... That makes sense. And apparently I'm the one you--"
"Fixated on, yes," Cooper finished with a sigh.
Her head tilted slightly, reminding him crazily of his trenchcoated little brother. "Do you know who cast it?"
"I have my suspicions," he replied. "And I'm on my way to talk to her. But I needed to let you know what was going on--"
She nodded abruptly, cutting him off. "Because if you are, your behaviour is going to shift again, and you didn't want me to be in the dark and even more confused."
"Exactly."
She patted his hand and stood up. "Bill - you're a good friend. Nothing more. I hope you can break this - for both our sakes."
With a sad little smile, he watched her swaying walk as she returned to the kitchen. There was something catlike in the way the Peterson sisters moved - Amber used it predatorily, but Garnet seemed to have no idea that those hips wiggled in just the right way to---
Cooper lurched to his feet and ran his hands through his sandy hair, blowing out the air in his cheeks and staggering out of the diner as if he'd been a mortal who had over-imbibed. "....me, too, Garnet," he whispered, visibly pulling himself together. "Me, too."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cooper drove straight to one of the safest places in Cazadore - the communal back yard of the brothers Winchester, with its wards upon wards upon wards. He checked to make certain both houses were empty, just in case - which they were - before he closed his eyes and called out:
"Carol! I'm home - and you got some 'splainin' to do!"
He sensed her before he saw her. There was a shift in energies, a swirl of exotic spice - and then she was walking toward him, a large smile on her face. "Gabriel."
"Kali," he answered in kind, though his voice held a few more degrees of ice.
Noting this, her smile faltered slightly. "I take it you noticed my gift."
"Thought it was you," he said. "You're the only one around here with enough power to affect me. So - was it Ravi or Parvati?"
"Neither. Both are with child."
His eyes widened, even as his lips quirked at the thought of both vain ladies huge with child and bickering like the sisters they were. "Then--"
"Cupid," she said. "I gave him some of my power so his arrow would work."
"Did you have him shoot Garnet, too?" At her headshake, he visibly relaxed. "Good. Now for the big question -- why?"
She gestured toward the low brick wall surrounding the devil's trap masonry patio with the firepit in the centre, and he nodded. Once they were seated there, she said, "It was supposed to be a gift."
"Okay - what made you think making me fall in love with Garnet was in any way appropriate?"
"It wasn't," she smiled, lacing her fingers around her crossed knee. "That was the whole point!"
Cooper felt a headache begin to build. "Kali - make some sense."
"You're Loki," she pointed out. "The Trickster god. So I gave you a trick as a present! You would fall for her via the spell - she would fall for you on her own - then when the spell lifted, you would have a bride!"
Cooper sighed and shook his head. "What you did almost ruined one of the best friendships I've ever had!"
Kali frowned. "So - she didn't fall in love?"
"No - most definitely not. I'm not her type."
"....girls?"
"Nobody."
Kali's eyes went wide and her mouth pursed into an "O" of surprise, though she made no sound.
Cooper crossed his arms. "So - lift it."
Kali stood and waved her hand. A silver barb - immaterial as air - shimmered into visibility, sticking out of his chest. She closed one hand over it and another over his shoulder. Then a hand firmly gripped his other shoulder and three others grabbed hold of the shaft.
Cooper groaned as the arrow was slowly pulled out of his heart. He held out a hand, and Kali surrendered the silver barb.
It made a noise like a thunderclap when Cooper snapped it over his knee.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Garnet Peterson sat in her cozy living room, with her cat Nesmith purring at her feet, when "Shave And A Haircut" tapped on her door.
She smiled as she set aside the denim jacket she was embroidering for Sam to wear as a chaperone to the 70s dance at the school, and headed to open the door.
"Tell me you have good news," she said to the figure on the other side.
For answer, Cooper held up a broken silver arrow. "One Cupid love spell - history."
Garnet nodded slightly. "Residuals?"
"Nothing I can't handle and nothing that won't fade in a few days." He returned her weary smile. "I do think it might be a good idea if I went to my brother Mike's house for the weekend, though - give it a chance to completely clear my system."
Garnet nodded. "I'll set back an extra brownie for you Monday."
He laughed softly. "Thanks, Garnet. May I?"
She stepped into his arms and they shared a hug. He brushed a kiss to her forehead as they parted. "See you later, my friend."
"Take care, Bill." Smiling, she stepped back into her apartment and closed the door.
Seconds later, the hallway was empty, with only the slight echo of snapping fingers remaining.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Monday morning found everything once more as it should have been in Cazadore - down to the restored candy jar on the corner of Cooper's desk.
He and Garnet resumed their good - if somewhat bantering - friendship, and the botched love spell became a "Do you remember the time--" story that, with the distance and perspective of passing time, amused both of them.
Garnet still occasionally snuck an extra serving of something sweet into Cooper's meals, without putting it on the bill.
Cooper always paid for it anyway.
END