disclaimer: don't own any characters etc, it would just be a car crash if a fangirl got their hands onto these guys.
He didn't know why Dean told him to leave as soon as he came back, but he didn't ask questions. He knew that Dean wouldn't have asked him to go if it wasn't important.
Two weeks later and Cas could still see the look on Dean's face clearly. His words had told him to go, but his eyes had begged him to stay. But all the same, he still left. Sam had protested and Dean had just gone off by himself in the Impala.
"It's for the best; for your safety." That's what Cas told Sam, but it wasn't for the best. It might have been safe, but it wasn't what any of them wanted or needed.
Cas was still confused and - honestly - more than a little hurt by Dean's sudden change in mood. When they spoke earlier on the phone it sounded like Dean wanted - needed - nothing more than for Castiel to be with him, and then when Cas woke up covered in blood, Dean had never looked more relieved. Now, Dean didn't even call.
Sam had made Castiel take one of their phones, so it's not like neither of them knew the number. Cas had tried calling the brothers more than once just to see that they were OK, but every time he called there was no answer. He tried to call Sam for the second time today, but again it rang out.
It wasn't as though Cas wasn't used to being cast out and ignored. But he had had enough, so as soon as Sam's voicemail started, he decided he was going to go back to the bunker whether Dean wanted him there or not.
It was like the conversation happened minutes ago. The shocked look on Cass' face when Dean told him to leave. "I just got here... but if that's what you want." Every word was said with a tone of utter disbelief. And Dean didn't blame him. He was just as confused as Castiel.
Sam had kept telling him to go and find Cas. And Dean had kept telling him he couldn't, that "It wasn't safe", that it was "better this way." But it wasn't safe. It was so, so much worse. The hunter knew that Cas had no idea about anything on earth. He couldn't even make a cup of tea when Sam got sick. He knew that sending the oblivious ex-angel out on his own might mean that he would never make it back, and that they would never see each other again. But this was Sam, his brother, his only family; the only person he cared about. If he lost Sam he didn't know what he would do. There would be nothing left. Except Castiel. But he was never coming back.
Dean was being driven to the verge of insanity with all of Sam's bitch faces, sooky tantrums and general moping. So when Cas was two weeks gone, Dean thought it was safe to go out on one of his brothers requests to search for Castiel. He had the full intention of driving, just driving, for the day and returning to the bunker once he thought Sam would be asleep.
When he told Sam he was leaving to look for Cas, he looked as though somebody had slapped him with a fish and then proceeded to ride off on a horse into the sun, naked, doing a jig. He rolled his eyes and shut the door before Sam could say he wanted to come. That was the last thing Dean wanted.
About ten minutes onto the road Dean's phone rang.
"Sammy? What's wrong?"
"I am not 'Sammy', Dean."
"Zeke?"
"Yes. You cannot do this, you cannot bring him back here. Otherwise I will leave."
"Relax, I'm just going for a drive." Dean scoffed and hung up.
Now it was just him, his baby and the road.