Sophia Holmes and the Empty Hearse (Sherlock's Daughter Fanfic) *Completed*

After getting as much as I can from the crime scene - which isn't a lot considering the body has been crushed - we head back to the motel and work through the night. Dean uses Sam's computer while Cas looks through the journal that Dean was looking at earlier.

"Your father..." Cas says after an hour or so of silence, "beautiful handwriting."

"How you feeling, Cas?" Dean asks.

"I'm fine," Cas replies, but he's lying.

"Well, I just – I – I know that when... I got puked out of Purgatory, it took me a few weeks to... find my sea legs." I continue to focus on the computer, but did he say Purgatory? What have I missed in this past year? No wonder Dean was so worried about me.

"I'm fine."

"Don't get me wrong. I'm – I’m happy you're back. I'm – I’m freaking thrilled. It's just this whole mysterious-resurrection thing – it always has one mother of a downside."

Cas closes the journal, realising there's no escaping Dean's interrogations. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"Maybe take a trip upstairs."

"To Heaven?"

"Yeah," Dean nods, "poke around, see if the God squad can't tell us how you got out."

"No," Cas replies flatly.

"Look, man, I – I hate those flying-ass monkeys just as much as you do, but –"

"Dean!" Cas says forcefully. "I said no!"

Wanting to break the awkward silence which hangs in a long pause, I close my laptop, walk over and sit on the edge of the other bed, facing Cas. "Talk to me."

"Sophie, I... Don't know how to explain it," he starts in a low voice after sighing reluctantly. "I was... bad... and I had all those things – the... the leviathans... writhing inside me... I caused a lot of suffering on earth, but I devastated Heaven. I vaporised thousands of my own kind, and I – I – I can't go back." We encountered Leviathans a few years ago, when the Doctor first met the Winchesters. I had no idea what else they'd done, however.

"Because if you do, the angels will kill you?" I confirm.

"Because if I see what Heaven's become – what I –" he sighs, "what I made of it... I'm afraid I might kill myself." I don't know what to reply with, so just put my hand on his shoulder in solidarity. I know the feeling.

Fortunately, any further discussion is stopped by Sam arriving. "Hey. Got something."

"Good," Cas says, standing up. "Excellent. What?"

"So this black-hole guy – before he tried the bank, he robbed a house across from the park where Gary blew a gasket."

"So, uh, what – you think the house heist and Gary's corpse are connected?" Dean asks.

"According to the file, they happened at pretty much the exact same time. Here. Check this out." He heads over to the table and spreads out a map on which 'X''s are marked in three clusters. "Okay. Here's the house, and Gary died across the street here. And that building from this morning – right there. The black hole hit that, too."

"Let me guess – where, uh, what's his name took a swan dive," Dean says, and Sam nods. "All right. I'll bite. What about the others?"

"Well, those are the places that stuff got stolen. But nobody got dead. Take away the graffiti, and these all look like just normal smash-and-grabs. But I made a few phone calls..." Sam holds out a file, which I take, before he continues, "...talked to some people who are nearby – neighbors and whatnot – and they reported a whole lot of crazy."

"Like?"

"Like a jogger bumping his head and sprouting a four-inch lump. Or a kid walking into a wall and hearing birdies. Basically, for 50 yards around each robbery, people were living in a cartoon. But it didn't last long – I mean five, ten minutes at each place."

"About the length of time it would take a thief to get in and out," I say.

"Exactly," Sam nods. "But whatever power he's using, it's – it's – it’s not targeted. I mean, it's – it's kind of like an area of effect. I mean, picture him in a – in a bubble of weird, and anything that touches it gets daffy."

"So," Dean says, "this Animaniac can step through walls, can toss an anvil?"

"Yeah, but he's warping reality to do it," I realise. "So if someone happens to be nearby meeting the girl of his dreams..."

"His heart makes a break for it," Dean finishes, and Sam raises a hand in agreement. "Okay, so smashing the, uh – the rent-a-cop – that – that was on purpose, but the rest of them – what, is that just collateral weird?"

"Maybe," Sam replies.

"So we're looking for a thief," Cas confirms.

"And the deposit box he was after," I add and Sam nods.

"Now, the house, the office – every place he's hit belonged to someone living at the Sunset Fields retirement home."

"So you think our guy's there?" Dean asks.

"Worth a shot."

"All right," Dean says, shutting his computer down. "Well, let's gear up. It's wabbit season."

I roll my eyes and Sam smiles, but Cas frowns. "I don't think you pronounced that correctly."