Contains dialogue from the episode In The Beginning, it belongs to Eric Kripke and Jeremy Carver.
Part of my Deleted Scenes series. Full list of fics in reading order available on my profile page. They will make more sense if read in order. :)
"We have an assignment for you."
Castiel looks up and to his left, into the wide green eyes of the man playing host to Zachariah, and nods obediently. "What is it?"
"You're going to send the Winchester boy to 1973. To Lawrence."
"Can I ask why?"
"Because Sam must be stopped. What he's doing with that demon is unnatural."
"So then let me stop him."
Zachariah fixes him with a long look, and Castiel immediately regrets his words. When he speaks, Zachariah's words are slow and deliberate, as if speaking to someone extremely unintelligent. "Dean needs to trust you, Castiel. He needs to think you're on his side. If you harm his brother, Dean will never speak to you again, you know that. We will stop Sam, if it comes to that. But we give Dean a chance first. Sam might listen to him."
"He's different, you know," Castiel points out. "He isn't the same as he was, before Hell."
He knows Dean remembers every moment of his years in Hell, even if he won't admit it, and the damage it caused shines out of him like a lighthouse.
"That's to be expected. He's human. They're weak."
"Dean is not weak," Castiel says, and he's rewarded for it with another scowl. He needs to learn to, as people say, keep his mouth shut. He doesn't know where the urge to defend Dean came from anyway. "What is the purpose of this plan? He doesn't know about Mary. He worships her memory. I doubt it will be welcome news."
"If you told him about Sam, about the deal Mary made, he might not believe you. He needs to see it for himself, to understand why what Sam's doing has to end."
Castiel nods again, understanding that his orders have been relayed and the conversation is over, and stands.
"And Castiel?" Zachariah adds, just before he disappears. "He'll have questions. They always do. You know what you can and can't tell him. Don't mess this up."
Castiel goes to him immediately. Dean is asleep, lying on his side on the bed closer to the door, covered partially by John's leather jacket. He's twitching, and a small, frightened sound escapes his throat before his eyes open. Castiel sits on the opposite side of the bed and waits to be noticed. It still feels strange and unfamiliar to be showing himself this way. Dean has been Castiel's subject of study, his responsibility, for a long time. Not long when compared to the history of the universe, but long enough that Castiel had become comfortable with his role as the witness. He was surprised when he was given the order to reveal himself to Dean after raising him from Hell. He supposes he isn't quite used to it yet. Also, he gets the distinct impression that Dean doesn't like him very much. Castiel wonders if that would change if Dean knew how long they've been together.
"Hello, Dean," Castiel says after a moment, and Dean gasps softly quickly turns around to face him. "What were you dreaming about?"
Dean closes his eyes and sighs. He's annoyed, but Dean is often annoyed. That, Castiel is used to.
"You get your freak on by watching other people sleep?" Dean grumbles. Castiel doesn't understand the reference. "What do you want?"
"Listen to me. You have to stop it."
"Stop what?"
Castiel doesn't answer. He's learned, over the years, that it's better to show Dean things than to explain them to him. He touches two fingers to Dean's forehead, and sends him to the year in which he was instructed.
Castiel watches it all, like he always does. Dean meets John in a coffee shop, and follows him out of it. Castiel doesn't like how confused and lost Dean looks, and he wants to help, but when they speak Dean asks questions that Castiel can't answer. Not yet. Dean needs to wait, to see how the next few days play out, like Zachariah said. To watch the fabric of his own history unfold so he'll understand what must be done. Castiel watches as Dean puts the pieces together, as he figures out Azazel is nearby and thinks it's the reason for the mission he's been sent on. Castiel wondered if that would happen, although he was hoping it wouldn't. Dean can be very singularly focused sometimes, and it will be harder now to convince him of the truth. He won't easily accept that Azazel is not the one who needs to be stopped. That's another thing Castiel has learned about Dean over the years – that he never takes bad news well when it's regarding Sam.
Castiel attempts to step in, to set him on the right path. He joins Dean in the car, startling him as he always seems to.
"So what, God's my co-pilot? Is that is?" Dean asks, and Castiel doesn't answer. He doesn't like the casual, almost disdainful way Dean speaks of their Father. "Well you're a regular Chatty Cathy. Tell me something. Sam would've wanted in on this, why not bring him back?"
"You had to do this alone, Dean."
"And you don't care that he's tearin' up the future lookin' for me right now?"
Castiel can tell how much Dean wishes that was true. He doesn't enjoy having to contradict it. "Sam is not looking for you."
Dean ignores him. Perhaps it's too painful to think about. "Alright, if I do this, then the family curse breaks, right? Mom and Dad live happily ever after, Sam and I grow up … playing little-league and chasing tail?"
"You realize, if you do alter the future, your father, you and Sam, you'll never become hunters," Castiel points out, trying to push Dean in the right direction without breaking the rules. "And all those people you saved, they'll die."
"I realize," Dean says quietly.
"And you don't care?"
"Oh, I care. I care a lot. But these are my parents. I'm not gonna let them die again. I can't."
Dean doesn't take the hint. Maybe Castiel was too subtle. But he's done all he can, for now. He goes, and leaves Dean to figure the rest out on his own. Dean is going to be inconsolable when he finds out Azazel bled into Sam's mouth. It's one of the more unfortunate aspects of his job that Castiel can't prevent that from happening.
When it's over, Castiel takes Dean back to the motel room; puts him back into the bed where he'd been earlier. He waits maybe five minutes before Dean awakes with a start.
"I couldn't stop any of it," he whispers, dejection and failure in his voice and on his face. Dean never has been good at accepting his own shortcomings. But then, Castiel wonders if any human is. God created them that way. "She still made the deal. She still died in the nursery, didn't she?"
"Don't be too hard on yourself. You couldn't have stopped it."
Dean stands up. "What?"
"Destiny can't be changed, Dean." Castiel turns to face him. "All roads lead to the same destination."
"Then why'd you send me back?"
"For the truth. Now you know everything we do."
"What the hell are you talkin' about?" Dean hisses.
Instead of answering, Castiel looks over toward the tidy, empty bed Sam never slept in.
Dean understands almost instantly. "Where's Sam?"
"We know what Azazel did to your brother. What we don't know is why. What his endgame is. He went to great lengths to cover that up."
"Where's Sam?" Dean asks again, angrier this time.
"425 Waterman."
With a menacing scowl in Castiel's direction, Dean walks around the bed and puts on his jacket.
"Your brother is headed down a dangerous road, Dean, and we're not sure where it leads. So stop it. Or we will."
Dean turns around and glares at him for a moment. Then he inhales and slowly says, "What does that mean?"
Castiel blinks and hesitates. He isn't supposed to elaborate.
"No, no, no," Dean warns, somehow sensing what Castiel had been thinking. "Don't even think about it, douchebag. You zapped me back in time, I saw my grandparents die, you made me watch my mom make the deal that's gonna kill her and ruin my little brother's life! You put me through all that just to tell me a freakin' bedtime story about how fucked up my family is, you owe me an explanation! Tell me what that means!"
He knows he shouldn't, but after watching over Dean for so long, perhaps Castiel has a bit of what humans call a weak spot for him. He needs to get it under control. He was assigned to observe Dean Winchester, not care for him. Castiel worries it's going to get them both in trouble. "Sam's powers. His psychic abilities. They've evolved."
Dean narrows his eyes. "Evolved how?"
"The girl. The one who was with him in the motel room, when you were reunited," Castiel continues gravely. "She isn't who Sam said. She's helping him. You need to stop them."
"What girl?" Dean asks, and then his eyes widen. "Wait, you were there? You've been watching us?!"
Careful, Castiel, Zachariah's voice sounds in his head.
"I can't say any more, Dean. I'm sorry." He truly is, and the feeling is odd and relatively new. After almost three decades of watching this human from a distance, Castiel finds himself wishing he could intervene more than he is allowed.
Dean opens his mouth to say something else, but Zachariah shouts Castiel!, and he's said too much already so Castiel makes himself invisible. He doesn't leave, though. Not yet. His job is to watch, after all. Dean glances around the room, clearly upset at Castiel's sudden departure, and then he growls and rubs his hands through his hair. He does that when he's experiencing emotions Castiel has come to recognize as frustration and uneasiness. He does it a lot when Sam is attempting to discuss something that Dean is reluctant to talk about.
"Friggin' angels," Dean mumbles, and then he takes the keys to his car from his pocket, and storms out of the room.
Castiel follows him. He doesn't understand much of human interaction, is often baffled by the intimate and complex nature of the relationship Dean has with his brother - a relationship that should not exist between brothers but the Winchesters are a special case, and no one in heaven seems to mind too much - but he knows what he sees, and he knows Dean is not going to be happy about what he finds Sam doing with that abomination. Dean looks upset as he drives, several miles-per-hour above the posted limit. He doesn't turn the radio on, either, and Castiel knows that isn't a good sign. Dean listens to very loud, unpleasant-sounding music when he's happy. Or when he'd like Sam to stop talking.
Sam and the demon are almost done by the time Dean arrives, but he sees enough. He sees Sam hold his hand out, he sees the black smoke spill from the helpless human's mouth and melt into the ground. Castiel looks on silently as Dean confronts them, and wonders whether Dean will still love his brother now that he knows what Sam is. What he's done, what courses through his veins.
There's more at play here than Castiel is privy to. A bigger picture; a larger plan. Castiel wishes he knew what it was. He's become protective of Dean over the years, and he'd like to be able to warn him of what's coming. But it isn't his place. So for now, he just watches.