The Scandal: Part 7

Meanwhile, Castiel has come to see Gabriel. Castiel pulled up his jeep in front of a house and glanced around to make sure no one was watching; nobody seemed to be paying attention, he unlocked the doors and then got out of the car. Walking up to the front door, - he rang the bell. There was no answer. He rang again but received no answer. Castiel rang a third time but still no reply. He pressed the button and stood there for a moment, debating if maybe he should call someone else when Gabriel finally answered himself.

"Dude, what are you doing here?" he said in greeting. Castiel could hear some shuffling from the other end of the line. It sounded like Gabriel was moving.

"Uh... I have a question for you," Castiel responded.

"Okay, shoot," Gabriel replied, sounding annoyed. "Why can't you just message me or something."

"I tried, Gabriel. I sent you a message, but you never responded," Castiel explained.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Well, I don't exactly receive any messages." Gabe replied, almost seeming disappointed.

"Well, it wasn't my fault that you blocked me!" Castiel protested.

Moreover, you never picked up your phone, Castiel replied apologetically. There was a short pause before Gabe spoke again.

"Look... I just woke up dude," Gabriel sighed, clearly frustrated "I haven't had any coffee or anything. Can this wait until tomorrow?"

Castiel shook his head, "No.!"

Gabriel groaned and muttered some curse words. "Seriously dude. You didn't have to drive out here just to ask me what the fuck is this. I can take care of myself. I don't need help," he said irritated.

"Gabriel, that isn't true," Castiel argued, though he was unsure how much he meant by that statement. "There was something very unusual about the attacks. Something you're not telling us. What if-"

Gabriel interrupted him. "Just drop it!" he snapped. "If you wanted to help, you wouldn't be asking questions and trying to get information out of me."

"That's not-"

"Whatever, whatever..." Gabriel cut off Castiel.

"The issue is that I've read this thing about a group of teenage girls being attacked because they went home with a stranger. That doesn't sound very healthy. Especially since those women aren't your friends." Castiel replied.

"What makes you say that?" Gabriel asked suspiciously. Castiel hesitated for a moment before replying.

"Because there wasn't any mention of you or Kenny in there... I mean, even though there are a lot of pictures, Kenny isn't mentioned either. I just want to help you, Gabe." Castiel insisted.

"Fine. Tell me your question," Gabriel said sarcastically. "But this better is good," he added as an afterthought.

"I'm afraid you'll have to sit down and listen to what I have to tell you."

Castiel began slowly as he sat on the step. "There are some children who were abused by people called 'bad people' and are targeted by them sometimes."

"Really?" Gabriel scoffed at him. Wondering why Cas hasn't figured out that his father was the real perpetrator of that crime.

"Yeah. They're usually only found dead in certain places. So I just thought I'd come and talk to you about it," Castiel finished.

A pause followed. Then another.

"Do you know how old these kids are? Do they have families?" Gabriel asked.

"Well..." Castiel replied honestly. "Maybe they're too young to remember what happened. Or perhaps... Someone took their memories away so they couldn't identify anyone."

"So I guess that's one mystery solved." He said sarcastically.

"What do you mean?" Castiel asked.

"Nothing," Gabriel responded, but the tone of his voice was different. It was less harsh than before.

Another silence followed. This one stretched awkwardly.

"I wanted to tell you that we think our dads did it," Castiel started calmly. He could barely believe he was saying this. It felt weird, yet liberating. "And we want you to know that we love you," he added.

Silence.

Then, "So what do you want?" Gabe spat bitterly. He sounded hurt. Angry. He sounded broken. But most importantly, he sounded angry.

Castiel didn't respond right away. Instead, he tried thinking of how best to explain himself. How best to reassure Gabriel that everything will be fine and that nothing happened. He had been wanting to talk to Gabriel, and now that he's found him, he might as well start talking.