A/N: Based on a request from BrokenKestral about a ghost who looked tired of haunting. I know you'd asked for TFW, but this case fic felt better suited to just Cas and Jack. Hope you still enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Thanks to 29Pieces for beta reading!

"Haunt Me"

Castiel finished unpacking the groceries and putting them in their proper places. The refrigerator was full to the brim now, as was the pantry. It took a lot to keep a band of refugees from an alternate world housed and fed properly.

He folded up the last shopping bag and set it on the counter, pausing as Jack came into the kitchen carrying his laptop.

"I found us a case. That is, if it's still okay for us to…go on a hunt." Jack shifted uncertainly.

"Of course," Castiel replied. He'd mentioned it to Sam and Dean, and while neither of them had been very keen on the idea, Castiel had advocated for it. Plus, he felt he owed Jack some more attention, now that things had calmed down a little with Dean back. "Let's see what you've got."

A smile broke out on Jack's face, and he turned the laptop around to show the screen. "A burglar was found dead in the home he'd broken into. Apparently the chandelier fell on his head and killed him."

Castiel frowned. "That…sounds like very bad luck—or karma. What makes you think it's a case?"

"That's not the only weird thing reported at the house," Jack hurriedly went on, clicking to another tab in the web browser. "The owner has hired several repair workers for things, and they've all quit after nearly being injured by random fuses shorting out, gutters falling off, even a tree branch going through a window. They think the place is haunted."

Castiel held back his initial response of skepticism. A house in disrepair didn't equal a ghost. But, Jack's instincts had proven spot on with the witch's aging curse. However, he was also eager to prove himself, and might be jumping at monsters that weren't actually there.

"No other deaths?" Castiel asked.

"Not yet."

Right. Well, Castiel hated to take Jack on a wild goose chase, but the boy was learning to become a hunter, and part of the process was to hone his gut. Which involved sometimes pursuing leads that turned out to be false.

"Alright," Castiel said. "Let's go."

While Jack went to retrieve his go-bag, Castiel let the Winchesters know where they'd be going. Both of them seemed just as doubting of the case's validity as Castiel, but that seemed to make it okay with them for the two to go. No case meant no actual danger to Jack. Castiel wished they'd tone down on some of that overprotectiveness and give the boy some of the encouragement he desperately needed.

Castiel grabbed the keys to one of the vehicles in the bunker's garage and waited for Jack. It didn't take long for him to come jogging out, and then they piled into the car and got on the road.

Most of the drive was silent. Castiel wanted to break it, but wasn't sure how. His attempts to ask Jack how he was holding up with the loss of his grace had more often than not been rebuffed. Castiel had tried his best to impart some wisdom; he just wasn't sure it had made much of a difference. Hopefully this would be a real case and could help restore some of Jack's confidence.

A couple of hours later, Castiel pulled the car alongside the curb outside an average looking home—nondescript off-white paint, gray trim, gutters packed with last autumn's leaves save for the one on the side that had fallen on the ground, and a yard of neglected lawn with bald patches of dirt. From the outside, all seemed quiet.

Castiel turned off the engine. "What do we know about the owner?"

"Lilah Sorenson," Jack replied. "Has lived here three years. The previous owner passed away and the house was sold under market value. Maybe the ghost is him."

"Let's see what we find," Castiel said, not wanting to jump to conclusions. Even though it could have taken the former owner a few years to gain enough strength as a ghost to become vengeful.

They exited the car and made their way up the drive to the front door. Castiel knocked three times, then dug out his FBI badge to have ready.

A few moments later there was the sound of the lock turning and the door opened. A young woman with long brown hair pulled into a ponytail looked out at them. She wore a pale cardigan sweater that looked much too big for her.

"Miss Sorenson?" Castiel asked.

"Yes. Who are you?"

"Agents Doherty and Nickels." Castiel lifted his badge. "FBI. We're here about the burglar that broke into your home."

Lilah Sorenson frowned in confusion. "Why would the FBI care about a burglar? He didn't even get away with anything."

"We have some open cases we believe might be attributed to him. Even though he's now dead, we'd still like to close our cases. May we come in?"

Lilah shrugged and held the door all the way open. "Okay."

Castiel and Jack stepped inside, then waited for her to lead them into the kitchen.

Lilah gestured toward the dining room. "He died in there. The chandelier just broke, I guess."

"Were you home?" Castiel asked.

She wrapped her arms around herself. "Yeah. I was upstairs asleep. I heard the crash."

Castiel surveyed the room, furrowing his brow at the dining table pressed into the corner, rather than in the center of the room as was standard. Yet there were indents in the carpet where the table should have been—under the chandelier fixture.

"Did someone move the table?" he asked.

Lilah shifted her weight. "Um, I assume the burglar did."

"Why would he move the table?" Jack spoke up.

"How should I know?"

"Have you experienced anything strange going on?" Jack continued. "Other pieces of furniture moving? Cold spots?"

Lilah glanced between them. "Cold spots? What kind of FBI are you?"

Castiel turned to try to deflect, but Jack was already barreling on.

"We've heard the reports of the repair workers who've been injured while working on your house. Freak accidents."

Lilah hugged herself tighter. "Since when does the FBI investigate freak accidents? Is someone pressing charges?"

"No," Castiel quickly assured her. "But we want to make sure one of those handymen wasn't an inside accomplice to the burglar."

She frowned at him as though trying to make sense of that.

"Could you get us their contact information?" he asked.

Lilah continued to regard them warily, but after a moment nodded. "Sure, uh, let me see if I can find it."

Castiel gave her a nod of gratitude and waited until she'd left the room to turn to Jack. "Try not to make questions sound accusatory. It puts people on the defensive."

Jack's mouth turned down. "I wasn't trying to accuse her. I thought she'd think the accidents strange."

"Humans are very good at not seeing things their rational brains can't make sense of," Castiel replied. "The EMF reader?"

Jack hurried to pull the device out of his pocket and flipped it on. The counter immediately started beeping into the red. Jack's eyes widened with excitement. "Definitely a ghost."

Castiel tensed as he felt the air pressure shift, and he turned toward the back of the dining room where the air began to fritz and a grayed-out figure appeared. He was wearing army fatigues and his face was smeared with charcoal and grime.

Castiel instantly prepared for an attack, but instead of the ghost skewering them with a hateful glare, the specter merely lifted his head wearily, his eyes deep and pained. He had the look of a ghost tired of haunting.

Castiel was so struck by the image that he didn't know how to react. And then the apparition vanished, and the temperature in the room returned to normal.

Jack came up next to him. "I don't think that was the previous owner," he commented. "He was much older than this ghost looked."

"Ghost?"

Castiel turned abruptly to find Lilah had returned, and was gaping at them. He exchanged a look with Jack.

"Did you say ghost?" she pressed.

Castiel supposed the time for subterfuge was over. "Yes. You have a ghost haunting you."

He'd been concerned she'd respond with denial or demand they get out, and so was stunned when Lilah inhaled sharply.

"I knew it," she breathed.

Castiel blinked. "You knew?"

"The cold spots, like you mentioned. Furniture and things getting misplaced when I'm not looking. The freak accidents…" She shook her head. "And I've felt this…presence."

"Why didn't you say anything when we asked?" Jack asked.

Lilah let out a strangled laugh. "Because it sounds crazy." She gave herself a small shake. "So, you're not really FBI, are you?"

"We're hunters," Jack said proudly. "We save people from monsters like ghosts."

"Has anyone you know died in the past few years?" Castiel asked. "Or are you aware of any deaths on the property?"

Lilah's eyes darkened, and her fingers clutched at her cardigan. "My fiancé died in Iraq eight months ago. It's him, right? He's the ghost?"

Castiel's heart gave a pang of sympathy. The ghost's attire fit. "Do you have a picture of him?"

She turned and hurried from the room, returning a few moments later with a picture frame. She handed it to Castiel, who knew with one look who the ghost was.

"That is who we saw."

"You actually saw him?" Lily demanded. "Why haven't I ever seen him?"

"Ghosts can't often manifest themselves," Castiel explained. "It takes a lot of energy. He didn't stay here long."

"Oh." She looked disappointed.

"Where was he buried?" Jack asked.

"Um." Lilah looked away, eyes glistening. "He wasn't. There- there wasn't…his unit was hit by an IED."

Jack quirked a confused brow.

"A bomb," Castiel said quietly to him, then turned to Lilah. "I'm sorry. Do you have anything that belonged to your fiancé, something that was very important to him?"

She rubbed at her eyes. "Um, the military sent me his dog tags, and…and they'd recovered his father's ring. I have that."

"That may be the object his ghost is attached to," Castiel said. "Burning it will release his spirit. Can you go get it?"

Lilah went still, eyes narrowing. "Burn it?" she repeated.

"It's the only way to stop the haunting," Jack said.

Lilah shook her head and took a sharp step backward. "I don't want him to leave."

Castiel blinked, taken aback. "What?"

"Darren was taken from me, but now you're telling me he's back. Why would I lose him again?"

"His ghost is here, not him," Castiel explained slowly. "And he's hurting people."

Lilah continued to shake her head adamantly. "He's never hurt me. That burglar tried to rob me. Who knows what he would have done if he'd found me upstairs."

"And the handymen? They hadn't done anything wrong."

"Darren must have had his reasons," she persisted. "I'm not going to let you take him away from me. Get out."

Castiel held his hands up. "Lilah, please…"

"Get out!"

He pressed his mouth into a tight line, but nodded to Jack that they should leave. Lilah followed them to the door and shut it roughly behind them. Castiel heard the deadbolt slide into place.

"That was…unexpected," Jack said. "What do we do now? We can't just leave the ghost, right?"

"No," Castiel agreed. "The longer a spirit stays on this plane, the more violent they become. Maybe he hasn't hurt Lilah yet, but it's only a matter of time."

"So what do we do?" Jack asked again.

Castiel cast a look back at the house and gestured for them to get going. "I'm afraid we'll have to come back later and try to find the ring on our own."

Jack's mouth turned down. "You mean break in?"

Castiel sighed. Unfortunately, that was exactly what they would have to do.

They waited until that night after all the lights in the house had turned off and Lilah had probably gone to bed. Jack was eager to practice his lock picking—which Castiel knew was an important skill for a hunter, yet it somehow felt inappropriate to be encouraging it under these circumstances. However, Castiel's own skills at picking locks weren't very practiced, either; he was much more used to breaking down doors.

Stealth was required here, though, and so Castiel waited patiently while Jack worked at the lock. He wasn't as quick as Sam and Dean, and he started to get frustrated. Castiel put a gentle hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Just take your time. Focus," he encouraged.

Jack stilled his hands, took a deep breath, and started again. It took another ten minutes before the lock finally clicked, and Jack looked up with a beaming grin.

Castiel turned the knob and eased the door open. The two of them crept into the house carefully. Everything was dark and quiet.

Castiel led the way upstairs toward the bedroom. Lilah was asleep within, and before she could wake, Castiel swiftly went over and pressed two fingers to her forehead, ensuring she would remain in deep sleep. He then whispered to Jack, "Check the jewelry box on the bookcase for the ring."

While Jack did that, Castiel went to rifle through the dresser drawers.

His breath suddenly puffed out white as the temperature in the room plummeted. Castiel spun around as the ghost of Lilah's fiancé flickered into view. Darren probably knew what they were looking for, that they were trying to salt and burn him.

But instead of attacking in a rage to stop them, the ghost simply stood there, sorrowful eyes drifting toward Lilah asleep in the bed.

"Can you really vanquish me?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

Castiel hesitated; he'd never encountered a ghost this calm before.

Jack was the one who answered. "Yes… You'd be able to move on. Is- is that what you want?"

Darren stared at his fiancee, and in an eye blink, he was suddenly beside the bed, reaching out a translucent hand to hover above her face. "I want to be able to hold her again," he said, voice taut with emotion. He curled his fingers and moved his hand away. "But I can't." He looked up at them. "So what I want is for her to be able to move on."

Castiel narrowed his eyes. "Move on…with you?"

Darren shook his head. "With her life. She only bought this house because we were getting married. And now she doesn't leave it. It's becoming her tomb and I can't stand watching that happen to her."

"The burglar," Jack spoke up. "You were protecting her."

Darren nodded.

Jack furrowed his brow in confusion. "But why the handymen?"

"I wanted her to give up on the house, to sell it and move on. I'm trapped here, so the only way for her to do that is to leave."

"But if she takes your father's ring with her, you'll go too," Castiel said.

Darren frowned, gaze drifting to the small writing desk along the opposite wall. On a hunch, Castiel went over and opened the single drawer in the middle. He pulled out a signet ring and held it up, immediately feeling the psychic tether to Darren's spirit.

"Then destroy it," Darren said. He flicked a pained gaze back to Lilah.

Castiel's heart gave a sympathetic pang for them, and he closed his fist around the ring. "We can do that."

"Wait," Jack said. "Castiel, can I talk to you?"

Frowning, Castiel followed Jack into the hallway. "What is it?"

"We have to help them."

"We are helping them…"

Jack shook his head. "No. They need to be together. They deserve to be together. There must be some way we can bring him back."

Castiel gave Jack a sad look. "There isn't."

"No," Jack snapped. "I brought you back."

"That was when you had your powers." Castiel reached out to grasp the boy's shoulder. "And that was different. You managed to wake me up while I was in the Empty, but you didn't bring me back. Jack, I know you want to take their pain away. But…sometimes there are things in life we just can't change."

Jack just stared at him with something akin to betrayal. "It's not fair."

Castiel nodded. "No, it's not. But we can help them. We can help them both find some closure and have the chance to say goodbye."

Jack's expression was pinched, but after a moment of pulling himself together, he nodded soberly.

Castiel gave him a reassuring squeeze before heading back into the bedroom. He went over to Lilah and set two fingers to her forehead to wake her up.

Her eyelids fluttered, and then she was bolting upright in bed and pressing herself back against the headboard.

Castiel raised his palms non-threateningly. "We're not here to hurt you. There's someone who'd like to talk to you." He turned to the side, and Lilah's gaze followed. He heard her suck in a sharp breath.

"Darren?"

"Lilah," the ghost replied, choking up.

"I knew it." She scrambled off the bed, looking as though she wanted to hug him, but realizing he wasn't corporeal. "I knew you were still with me."

"Lilah, baby…" Darren swallowed hard. "You have to move on. You have to let me go."

"Let you go? Why? No! We can still be together."

"Not like this."

"Lilah," Castiel interjected. "Souls don't belong on Earth. If Darren stays, he will eventually become a vengeful spirit."

"No, he won't!" she exclaimed. "I know him. He's strong and he'd never hurt me. And you say he doesn't belong here, but he is here. Which means it's for a reason."

"Ghosts who die violently are often stranded," Castiel tried to explain. "They're too traumatized from the act of their death that they sometimes hide from the reaper sent to take them to Heaven. That's where Darren belongs, Lilah."

"I belong with him." She whirled toward her fiancé. "Darren, make them leave."

He gazed at her sadly. "Lilah, I want you to move on. I want you to live a full life, not one trapped with a ghost of what we could have been."

Her expression turned devastated. "Why are you saying that?"

"Lilah," Castiel tried again. "You have a rare chance here, a chance to say goodbye. To find closure."

"Stop telling me what to do!"

"You love him," Jack spoke up.

Everyone turned toward him.

"You love him, and you don't want to be without him. He makes you feel safe, and loved. And you're afraid you won't find that again." Jack paused. "After my mother—and father—died, I felt the same. It seemed like everyone hated me. Some- some blamed me for my father's death."

Castiel's heart constricted.

"But…" Jack flicked a look at Castiel before quickly looking away, back to Lilah. "But I eventually found an adoptive family, one who did care about me, who wants to protect me. And I want to do the same for them. My mother…she left me a video before she died, telling me how much she loved me, how proud she was of me." His eyes took on a bright sheen. "I've wanted so badly to talk to her, to tell her I loved her too. She- she never knew that."

"Jack," Castiel breathed, wanting to reach out and tell him of course Kelly knew.

"But you have that chance," Jack barreled on, refocusing on Lilah and Darren. "You have the chance to say everything you wished you had, to know how much you love each other." He dropped his gaze. "Life isn't fair. Death isn't fair." Jack raised his head again. "But sometimes we get mercies to help us through it."

Castiel's own eyes felt wet, and his heart swelled with pride.

Tears were streaming down Lilah's cheeks as she turned back to Darren. "It's not fair," she repeated.

He reached out a phantom arm and held his hand a mere breadth's from her face. "I love you, so much."

"I love you too," she choked.

"I know. You have an amazing heart. Which is why I want you to find love again, Lilah. Someone out there deserves it, and you deserve to find it again."

She shook her head vehemently. "How can you say that?"

"If our roles were reversed, would you have me lock myself away and never find someone else, but spend the rest of my life alone?"

Lilah stared at him, lip trembling, and then she broke down into sobs. "No."

"Then don't do that." Darren clenched his fists. "God, I wish I could hug you."

"Here," Castiel said, stepping forward. He reached out to take Darren's upper arm.

The specter flickered and morphed from sickly gray to flush color as he became corporeal. The grime and shadows left his skin, giving him a healthy glow.

Darren and Lilah gazed at Castiel in astonishment.

"H-how?"

Castiel tried to think of a response on the spot, but Jack answered first.

"He's an angel."

There was a brief glimmer of disbelief, but apparently that wasn't too hard to accept with a ghost standing in the room. Castiel kept his hand touching Darren's arm in order to maintain his corporeal state.

"It's only temporary," he warned.

Darren nodded gratefully and spread his arms, enveloping Lilah in a fierce embrace. "I love you," he repeated. "You are so brave and strong. You'll heal. And being happy is not a betrayal."

Lilah let out a hiccoughed sob.

Darren glanced at Castiel. "Just like my being in Heaven and happy won't be a betrayal," he added with a tentative look.

Castiel nodded. He may not be a reaper, but he could see the mark on the man's soul and where he was destined to end up.

The couple remained like that for several long moments, with Castiel and Jack standing as awkward witnesses. Finally, Lilah seemed ready to let go, and when Darren stepped back, Castiel released his arm. His form shimmered back into a ghost's.

"Can we do this now?" he asked.

Castiel nodded, still holding the ring. He opened his palm, the ring resting in it, and covered it with his other hand. With a spurt of grace, fire burst between his hands, aided with the hot glory of Heaven's smiting power. The ring compressed into a disfigured lump of metal.

Darren tilted his head back and let out a long breath of relief. A faint glow surrounded his spirit, and then it melted into blue vapor and floated up through the ceiling to disappear.

Lilah sniffed. "So, he's gone." She looked toward them. "He's in Heaven, right?"

"Yes," Castiel replied. He pocketed the remains of the ring. She didn't need the reminder.

Lilah huffed and ran her hands down her night shirt. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Castiel shrugged. "I think Darren wanted you to sell the house. You have to start over now; maybe a new place will help you do that."

She wiped at her eyes. "Yeah. Um…I guess I should thank you." Her mouth turned down. "But…how did you get in here?"

Castiel grimaced. "Um, that's a… We're glad we could help. We'll leave you alone now." He nodded to Jack for them to beat a hasty retreat.

As they were swiftly exiting the room, Lilah's soft voice followed on their wake,

"Thank you."

They left the house, locking up behind them, and returned to the car.

"Jack, listen," Castiel said, stopping at the driver's door and looking at Jack over the roof of the car. "Kelly knew how good you were from the start. She knew you would love her."

Jack didn't meet his gaze for a moment, but then finally lifted his head. "Do you know?"

Castiel blinked. "What?"

"I just realized I never said it," Jack went on somberly. "But I do love you, Castiel. You, Sam, and Dean are my family. I love all of you."

Castiel's expression softened, his heart warmed. "We do know that. And know that we love you, too."

A small smile tugged at Jack's lips. "I know."

"And I'm proud of you," Castiel added, because that was another thing that was too often not said. "The way you connected with them in there to help them find peace."

"I felt like a fraud," Jack admitted. "Because I got my father back."

Castiel's chest was feeling tight again. "They might see each other again someday. If they're true soulmates. And you weren't a fraud, Jack. Your grief was real. Your loss was real. We just…all find our own happy endings, one way or another."

Jack gave him a soft smile and nod. And then they climbed into the car to make their way home.