Notes: Okay, here we go on episode 12! Only two more episodes to go after this and then we're on to "season 2". As it is, this story is based off of The Message and I do hope that people like the choice I made for who will fill in for Tracey! :D

leahelisabeth: Oooo! I'm excited then! Gonna have to do a lot of 'research' to get my stuff right though XD

ship. me: Yay! So glad you likey! :D Hopefully you enjoy this next one! I'm having fun so far writing it as it has a few more happy moments.

otex: Gah! You picked out my favorite line! So many hearts and huggles for that XD

Eri: Ah! Apologies for the typos. It's one of the hazards of updating everyday. Editing kinda goes out the window when I'm rushing to post, but I'll be sure to look into the beta thing. Hopefully I can find one who is willing to do editing every day XD

Disclaimer: Not until I finish my homework...pfft, like that will ever happen. I've got to finish writing the next chapter first.

CHAPTER 1

There was always a happy and somewhat nervous energy whenever the crew was preparing for an outing. The excitement of getting off the ship, tasting fresh air, shopping around for a bit, it all got everyone worked into a tizzy. And today was no different because in the next hour they were scheduled to dock at one of the bigger ports on an outer planet.

Their last job had paid off so well, especially since they had gotten to keep Bela's take as well, leaving each of them with a satisfying jingle of coins in their pockets. Now, as they prepared to dock at the port, everyone was discussing the many ways that they wanted to spend their cash. To Dean they all sounded like a group of teen-aged girls talking sales and wouldn't be surprised if the next time he walked in the dining area each of them would be painting their nails, talking about their split-ends and their most recent diet.

Balthazar had been gushing non-stop about how excited he was to be able to buy some new clothes to replace the ones that had gone through countless forms of torture according to him. "Dress has always been my strongest suit! I have no other defenses unlike the rest of you. Little Cassy can dress like he stole clothes from Big and Tall, but I don't have the ability to gain respect by telling the future," he had defended when Dean teased him for his desperate need of silk boxers.

Meanwhile Gabriel was going through withdrawal as his last chocolate bar met a lusty end a few days earlier. The only words that he had uttered in the last few hours were brand names of his favorite candies. Of course Sam was incredibly supportive and had been rubbing his back soothingly as the pilot guided the ship to the next port.

The younger Winchester was just looking forward to the fresh air, and maybe he was hoping to pick up some real food for a change.

Anna had plans to peruse the clothing booths with Balthazar, knowing that there were always hidden treasures in silk and cashmere lurking around that she would love to add to her endless wardrobe. This of course just made Meg roll her eyes and start going over in her head where she might find the black market weapons dealers at the port.

Bobby and Chuck were a bit more on the practical side and were busy getting down a list of all the tools and parts that they wanted. More than half of it was a wish list, but you never knew what you might find in ports like this.

Then there was Dean and Cas. Sam had been watching them closely since their little caper with Bela, and he was more than pleased with what he saw. He couldn't remember ever seeing Dean smile so much. Hell, just yesterday he heard him humming in the control room. Of course it was one of his brother's favorite band songs of all time, but those melodies were just not meant to be hummed. They were just and clunky and old as the Impala, classics in Dean's eyes.

It might just have been Sam thinking too hard, but he bet that one thing Dean liked so much about Cas was his rough and gravelly voice, a voice so much like the singers in his favorite bands.

As far as Sam knew, the two didn't have any special plans or desires for when they arrived, but it just went to show how much they had grown that there wasn't even a moment of doubt or conversation as to whether Cas would be coming with them.

It didn't really matter much though, because between all of the lingering looks across rooms, less than subtle touches of the shoulder, stolen kisses in doorways…it was obvious that the whole thing with Bela was indeed just an act and things were better than ever. Even Cas had seemed to wake up a little bit more from his foggy existence and was more stable than they had ever seen him before. Not that he was back to normal, according to Balthazar, but he wasn't cutting up his arm and finger painting with blood anymore.

Although...as sore a subject as Bela was, they did feel the need to check up on her. So Sam had taken it upon himself to look up the police report that was filed. Only nothing was ever filed. At first he thought that maybe she had escaped, but further searching didn't even turn up an incident report about it. Not even reports of her arriving. It was like she had ceased to exist as soon as she got to the station.

After hesistating a little bit, and some urging from Gabriel, Sam had finally told Dean about what he had found out, and Dean was just as skeeved about the whole thing as both pilots. It had that nasty taste of Host written all over it, but there was nothing to do about it now. Thy had resigned themselves to just turn their heads the other way for now.

"Are we there yet?" came the whine from Meg where they were all gathered in the control room, all eager and looking out the window to see where they were.

"If I went any faster I'd burn a hole through their planet when we landed," Gabriel whined back, clearly fed up with the laws of physics holding him back.

"Not the best welcome, I suppose," Bobby huffed.

Dean chuckled from where he stood in front of Cas, both of them tucked away in the back of the room, "We can wait a few more minutes. Cas isn't ready yet," he tossed over his shoulder and turned his attention back to his partner where the Captain was adjusting his clothes.

And he smirked at the confused frown that Cas wore as he looked down at what Dean had dressed him in, "Um, is it customary to wear a blanket?"

Dean tugged on the poncho that he had tossed over Cas after the long and difficult task of getting the trench coat off, "It's a serape, and it's going to help you blend in and also keep you warm. No offense, but that coat of yours has shown up in the last few wanted signals and is becoming somewhat of a trademark."

"I feel very uncomfortable."

Dean placed a quick kiss upon the pouting lips and gave the serape another tug, "It'll be fine, I promise. I'm not letting you walk around with a target literally on your back."

Cas gave in as he watched the sea green eyes pierce him with meaning. They said that they would be watching out for him, "Very well. I'll wear it, but I won't have pockets, so you will need to carry the books I plan on buying."

"It's a deal."

The descended the ramp into a bustling market of people, salesmen, food booths, freak shows, odd objects and treasures. The smell of the mix of food and so many bodies in one place made Sam wonder why he thought he would be getting any fresh air on their little visit in the first place. The place itself was about a square mile of one giant circus tent, ships landing along the edges and entering into the enormous room filled with little booths that Dean could only describe in his head as a flea market-food court-carnival-bar-post office-whatever-the-hell-anybody-needs-out-in-the-black-station.

Cas had never been to a port like this before and it showed plainly on his face as he stared, wide eyed at everything around him. It was like he couldn't decide what to focus on and his gaze darted around enough to make Dean dizzy watching him.

The Captain had been nervous about bringing Cas here, to the place where the low-lives and unfortunates gathered, but he wasn't about to lock him up after everything. Gotta let him fly and all that…But not too far away, and he reached out to latch his hand in Cas', their eyes meeting briefly and he saw the understanding pass over his features. He squeezed back and didn't let go.

"Ooh, Cassy! Look here! Wouldn't these make a wonderful dinner!" Balthazar called over to them and they made their way over to see what the middle Novak was looking at.

He and Bobby were leaned over a large tank that held about a hundred lobsters all crawling all over each other. Cas fell to his knees by the tank and stared into its depths.

"It would be plenty nice if they weren't ten platinum a piece," grouched Bobby looking at the price tag and shaking his head, "You want 'em, you're gonna have to sneak 'em out in your pants cause even you don't have enough to pay for these. You'd think they were fed on gold or sumthin'."

"Not sure if I want to risk the family jewels like that, right Cassy?" Balthazar nudged his little brother and winked, but Cas didn't look up at him, he continued to stare into the tank, trailing his other hand in the water where some of the antenna poked out of the water and brushed at his fingers.

"Poor little creatures, heading towards the most tragic fate of being boiled alive….Dean, I wish to use my money from the heist to buy these lobsters. They can live in the shower," Cas declared

"Uh…don't think you have enough cash there, man," Dean winced, half at telling Cas 'no', and the other half at having to shower with sea bugs.

"Then I will buy as many as I can afford."

Meg came up from behind and peered into the tank, "Oh man, we gonna have ourselves a lobster roast? Can I be the one to put them in the pot?"

Cas threw her a dirty look, but before anything else could be said, Dean pulled Cas to his feet and pointed to a random booth, "Look Cas! I think I see some nice old and dusty looking books. Let's check it out, huh?"

After that the crew held together for a while before they broke off as something shiny caught there eye here and there, but they didn't stray too far apart, everyone deciding to pair off instead.

After picking out a couple books, Dean and Cas were simply strolling past the different tables, glancing at anything that caught their eyes, well, at least Cas was. For Dean his eyes were more focused on everyone around them. He made sure to memorize each and every face of a person who even accidentally brushed by Cas, let alone look at him. But that didn't mean that he wasn't having a good time, because actually…he was still grinning like an idiot even though he had to carry all of Cas' books.

'We're not alone!"

The bark of the man's voice rang out over the crowd. He was one of many salesman calling out the wonders of his product, but for whatever reason, this guy caught both his and Cas' attention.

He stood on a box outside a small curtained off closet in the side of the wall, gesticulating with his arms and his eyes wide with excitement, "Forget what you think you know! Forget what your mother told you when she tucked you in at night, forget the lies of our oppressive, cabalistic Garrison governments! Behind this curtain is the very secret they do not want you to see…"

Cas' eyebrows rose before coming back down in a deep frown. Did this man know?

"…The most astounding scientific find in the history of humanity. Proof of alien life!"

Around them they heard the scoffs and muttered comments of his audience, but it didn't seem to bother the man, "That's right, go ahead and laugh, but what you see inside this room will change your life forever! It will haunt your dreams and harrow—Yes!—your very soul!"

Cas was standing, staring at booth with a skeptical look, but he felt Dean tug on his hand.

"Let's check it out! I would love to rub it in Sam's face if it's real. I've always told him that aliens were real!"

And before Cas could protest, he was pulled forward and handing over his lobster rescue fund to enter the curtained off area.

"It's a cow fetus, Dean."

Cas' deadpan did nothing to deter Dean's fascination with what was before them. The curtain had led them into a dark closet, no lights save for the glow of the big jar in the center of the room. The jar held a murky yellowish liquid that suspended one nasty looking sonuvabitch. It was like they took the 'alien' and tried to turn it into a pickle.

"I dunno, Cas. This sucker does seem to have a lot of limbs...but cow? How do you figure?"

"It's upside down, and it suffered from genetic mutations that sprouted several new limbs."

Dean squinted and turned his head a bit and then he saw it and nodded sagely, "Yeah…cow," he mumbled sadly. He had really been looking forward to bragging to Sam about being right.

"Sigh…and now we're out six bits. I really know how to show you a good time, huh?" he smirked sadly and Cas imedietely felt Dean's loss echoed in him.

He gripped Dean's shoulder firmly and waved to the thing in the jar again, "It's not all bad. The fetus may have never seen the light of day, but now it's in show business. That's a lot more than some of us can say."

That got a soft chuckle out of Dean, "Yeah, I guess there's that. Makes my day better knowing that this pickled cow fetus makes more money than Meg."

Then Cas rounded in front of him, fingers latching on to the straps of his suspenders and pulling him close enough that his hot breath wafted over Dean's mouth, "Also…we have this dark room to ourselves…."

"We're not alone, remember," Dean smirked, glancing at the jar, but Cas continued to move closer.

"I promise you, he will not talk, I asked him not too…"

"Wait…it talks!" Dean glanced at the jar again waiting for one of it's many limbs to move, but Cas chuckled before pulling Dean's face back towards him for a forceful kiss.

I've created a monster, Dean thought to himself, but he couldn't bring himself to care as Cas' tongue started to probe past his lips, demanding entry and Dean was only so happy to comply.

In the semi-darkness they continued the embrace, Dean's fingers finding their way under the serape and rubbing along Cas' shoulders and effectively pulling him even closer against his chest, while Cas hands trailed from behind Dean's neck, lower, and lower….

"Oh my god, it's grotesque!"

The sudden shout had Dean and Cas practically launching off from each other and wiping sleeves over their lips like school kids found making out in the janitors closet and they both looked to where Gabriel had just entered the curtained area, a smirking Sam behind him.

The pilot winked at Cas as he ran forward, "Oh, and there's something in a jar," he joked and started to ogle the fetus as Sam sauntered up to the blushing Dean and Cas.

"You two do know that there are actual rooms offered here for stuff like that," Sam informed them with a knowing grin, and Dean stuck his tongue out at him.

"Well you know me, I like it when people watch and Bessie here wasn't arguing. Cas asked."

Castiel frowned, "If you like people watching, then why did you panic when Sam and Gabriel arrived?"

The brothers chuckled, but were cut off as Gabriel's voice rang out in the room, loud and clear as spoke to the jar, "Do not fear me! Ours is a peaceful race, and we must live in harmony….We have many wondrous things! Have you ever tried chocolate?"

The three of them sighed.

Yay! Cute little start to the story. Plot in the next chapter, but for now...I must go save the lobsters. The store just got in a new shipment and I must buy them all. My roommate has agreed that they can live in the bathtub. I can't wait to name them.