Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, its characters, or anything else recognizable in the following. This is a piece of fanfiction that I had fun writing, but otherwise gained nothing from :)

Warnings/Spoilers: Violence; This is a GenFic, however there are some very vaguely non-gen parts. It is still Gen; Spoilers through 5x22, the rest is just speculation. I started writing this before the first spoilers came out for season 6, so any possible resemblance to anything after 5x22 is purely coincidental... however, I somehow don't think this will be a problem.

Beta: This is not betaed. I wish it were, but it's not. I have proof read it however, and it even passed spell check. If you have the time or inclination, please let me know if you find anything that needs to be corrected. Thanks :)

Characters: Sam; Castiel; Some mentions of Dean and even smaller mentions of other familiar characters.

Summary: Sam and Castiel go on a road trip. It doesn't go as Sam expected.

A/N: This story is complete in 8 parts totalling 19000 words. It will be updated regularly, but probably not on days when I have a stretch of more than one 12 hour shift in front of me in a row. In that case, I just go home, eat, sleep, then go back to work.

Somewhere on the Road

What a roadtrip stands for is hope. Hope, that somewhere, anywhere is better than here...

-Ira Glass

Prologue

Dusk fell slowly over the oceanside park and Sam felt like a shadow standing in the fading light. Tall, dark, formless, like he had lost some all important part of himself that made him belong in the world. He was detached and weary and empty, and the hole that he realized must have always been within him had finally swallowed him up. Somehow he knew that this was the end and he found he was actually ready for it. When his cell phone rang, he had dutifully given his location, and waited.

"Of course I came myself, Sam," Castiel said. "I could never send another... not for you."

The voice was even deeper, more gravelly than usual. Sam thought fancifully that it might have been laced with regret, if he didn't know better. Castiel had a job to do, and his sense of Heavenly duty seemed to have returned tenfold with his reinstatement to the Host. No longer lost, saddened, angry as he had been when he was separated from his kin, the angel was just calm and serene once again. As if nothing had ever happened.

As Sam watched, Castiel's tan trench coat undulated in the light September breeze. His hair was as messy as Sam had ever remembered it, maybe more so. Some things never changed, Castiel's appearance least of all. Always the same dark suit, the same loosely knotted tie, perpetually dry cleaned and in perfect repair, but equally rumpled and lived in. Sam dropped his eyes from the angel's intense blue, wide-eyed gaze. It was sincere, saddened, but completely resolute.

As comforting as Castiel's presence could be, there was something about him that Sam couldn't help but find disturbing. Although he had nothing against the angel personally, even thought of him as a friend, Sam had hoped that perhaps Castiel's vessel, Jimmy Novak, had finally been allowed to go home to his family, but it appeared this was not the case. He would continue to be a prisoner to Castiel's consciousness until the angels were finally gone again from the Earth, and from the looks of things, that would be awhile.

Even though they had finally stopped Lucifer and the Apocalypse, the world today was as lawless as it had ever been, even more so. There seemed to be no plan, just desperate demons, angels, and everything between. The angels would remain until some semblance of order was restored. That is, until they imposed the kind of order that satisfied them. At least, he was pretty sure that's how it was supposed to go, and to Sam this was a nagging reminder of Heaven's control over the destiny of mere mortals. He was painfully aware that despite everything he was definitely mortal, just like Jimmy and everyone else who had suffered under the juggernaut of Heaven's agenda.

Ultimately it was all another pile of crap in a whole big long line of the same that just pissed Sam off. He brushed it away into a corner of his mind, hoping to forget it like all the other things he tried to forget. And all the people he tried to forget too, himself included.

As a distraction from this morose line of thought, Sam decided to look around. He noted that he and Castiel were standing in the center of a killing field, the fallen littered haphazardly around them as if they were the epicenter of a blast. More than twenty corpses lay where the demons possessing them had been burned from their host vessels. Demons didn't take care of their vessels. Their hosts had probably been long dead. There were no survivors.

"I could have taken care of them myself," Sam muttered. "After all, you must know what I've become."

"Perhaps." Castiel replied, finally dropping his own eyes to survey the damage. "But it never hurts to have assistance. I do not wish to see you injured."

"What does it matter, Cas?" Sam's eyes flashed up sharply, but the only thing that glowed there was resignation.

"I'm dead anyway, Right?" His face twitched into a mockery of a smile. "No, I'm worse than dead. There's no Heaven for me, and the angels sure as hell won't send me back to... well, Hell. I obviously know how to get out now anyway. And... lets be honest Cas, Heaven doesn't need a liability like me out there. You know that better than anybody. Even if I don't need the demon blood anymore, there's no going back for me now."

Castiel looked away, seemingly shamed, and Sam just sighed.

"Look Cas... It's okay. I get it, I really do. It's not your fault anyway."

Sam turned and led them away from the grizzly clearing. Even the dead did not need to bear witness to what was to come next. When they were safely hidden in a small grove of evergreens, Sam steeled himself. He stood a little straighter, hands jerked into involuntary fists.

"I'm ready." He held his breath, closed his eyes, and waited.

When nothing happened after what seemed like forever, Sam's eyes flickered open... and fell on Castiel's smiling face. Well, it was more like a minute quirk at the corner of the angel's mouth, but for Castiel, this was close to full-on amusement. Sam glared at him.

"I'm not ready, Sam," he said. The sort-of smile fell from his face, but the sparkle in his eyes remained.

"I said it was okay," Sam said. "Really, I just want to get this over with. I can't do the job... not like you can, not as completely...or I probably would." He shook his head to clear it and closed his eyes again.

"But you're not finished here." Castiel said slowly, drawing Sam from his tense finality. "After all, you've only just embarked on this journey."

"You're going to allow that?"

"Of course. How could we deny you this. Your... last request." Castiel's eyes turned down again, even as he stood statue-like in the falling darkness.

"But it'll take days... weeks probably."

"That will be fine, Sam. We are patient."

"Well, that's a first. Patient angels. Hold on while I mark this down in my calendar."

"Sarcasm." Castiel shook his head and looked thoughtful. "That was completely unexpected."

And then Sam was laughing. Not just a hey-that-was-kinda-funny laugh, but a full-throated guffaw that he thought would knock him on his ass. Far more laughter than the conversation probably deserved, but it was just what he needed.

"Okay..." Sam finally wheezed out after most of his long spent mirth had subsided. "Are you sure that the angels will be fine with this? That they'll wait?"

"I'll make sure of it," Castiel assured him. "I have patience for us all."

The resulting smile on Sam's face practically lit up the falling gloom, and then he started to talk very, very fast.

"So, the trip starts here in Vancouver... but then I'll head south and eventually pick up the 101, then Highway One all the way down to San Diego. I realize I'm still hidden from you guys and everything, but since I'll be dropping by most of the tourist sites on the way down, I shouldn't be too hard to find... if your patience starts to wear thin that is. Don't worry, I won't try to skip out. And I don't think that..."

"Sam," Castiel interrupted, eyes boring into him as if he were looking through to the back of Sam's skull, "you won't be hard to find at all. Because I'll be going with you."

"I guess I kinda figured."

"I'm sorry." Castiel fidgeted a little, not looking at Sam again for the umpteenth time in the last fifteen minutes. "I will of course be as unobtrusive as possible. You'll hardly know I'm there."

He looked back up at Sam, a slight frown on his face as if awaiting an explosion. Instead, Sam just smiled warmly.

"Actually, I was hoping you might want to come along," Sam said, hand falling on Castiel's shoulder in a friendly gesture. Castiel started a little, but otherwise didn't move. Sam pulled his hand back. Of course Castiel would be a little jumpy in close proximity to him, tainted as he was, it was hardly the angel's fault. He cleared his throat. "Most of the places I'm planning to go would be better with company... and I'd really rather not be alone, okay?"

"Okay, Sam," Castiel said as he turned to follow him out of the park. Then he paused to glance back momentarily.

"If I may ask," Castiel said, "what was your reason for coming to this place?"

"The black squirrels," Sam said, stopping, turning back as well.

"You came here for squirrels?" It was barely a question. More a statement of incredulity.

"Yeah... black squirrels with red eyes. I'd heard about them. Wondered if they were possessed."

"They're not," Castiel said simply. "The people were though."

"Yeah. I suppose. Evil-looking squirrels. Normal. Normal-looking people. Evil. Who would've guessed?"

"It's to be expected. Looks can be deceiving."

Sam glanced down briefly at his own hands before starting back toward the parking lot. Then, so quiet that Castiel nearly missed it, even with angelic hearing...

"Yeah, they can be."