Sam drove around for nearly an hour before he found what he was looking for. After all, he didn't really know where they were going when they left; he just knew he had to get Cas out of that damn bunker for a little while.

He'd been wandering around the bunker like a ghost, caught between trying to get Dean's attention and trying to stay out of Dean's way, not sure what to do or say – or apparently if he was even there at all, judging by the spacy, distant look that sometimes filled his eyes when he'd been quiet and ignored for a little too long.

Dean wasn't exactly ihelping/i matters, either, with the way he was treating Cas as if he was Enemy Number One, and Dean just happened to be forced to be roomies with him.

Maybe it was just that Sam wasn't used to seeing Cas show so much facial expression, but Sam couldn't get over how miserable the newly human ex-angel looked these days, sadder and more bereft than Sam had ever seen him in the entire time he'd known him.

It was time to do something about it.

"I don't see how this is supposed to help anything," Cas grumbled as they stepped into the line that had formed along the side of the white van parked at the side of the road. "It's not helpful. It's not going to make Dean…"

"Forget about Dean for a little while, okay?" Sam sighed, trying his best not to let Cas see his frustration; the last thing Cas needed right now was to think that both Winchesters were pissed off at him. "This isn't for Dean. This is for iyou/i."

"I don't see how it's supposed to help ime/i, either." Cas eyed the colored signs adorning the van with suspicion as Sam led him a little further down the line. There were only a couple of people ahead of them now.

"Oh, it'll help," Sam assured him with smiling certainty. "Trust me."

"How will it help?" Cas snapped, clearly losing patience himself, and glancing back toward the car, his mind still clearly back in the bunker with Dean.

"Because," Sam explained, reaching out to touch Cas's arm and draw his dubious gaze back to Sam's face, leaning in to conclude in a conspiratorial stage whisper, "ice cream has special powers."

Cas's eyes were suddenly as wide as saucers, as he stared between Sam's face and the white truck, back and forth a couple of times, before leaning in close himself, a deep frown creasing his brow. His voice was a little louder than was comfortable, as he replied incredulously.

"And they just… let ianyone/i buy it, on the istreet/i like this?"

"iHarmless/i special powers," Sam assured him with a dismissive hand wave as he reached the front of the line and pointed out two different items to the man standing in the window. "We'll have one of those, and… one of those. Thanks."

Cas shook his head, confused. "How does… milk and ice and sugar in any combination possess any type of magical properties? It's not possible…"

"iCas/i." Sam's voice was firm, but patient, as he peeled off the paper and placed the small wooden stick in Cas's hand, suppressing a laugh when Cas eyed the thing as if it might bite him. "Just… try it."

It took a minute for Cas to work up his courage, and the look he gave Sam was almost fearful as he took a tiny, tiny bite off the corner of the frozen treat. But then… ithen/i, his eyes went wide, and he stared down at the thing in something resembling wonder. He took another bite, alarmingly large, and then closed his eyes, savoring the flavor of the chocolate coated creamy sweetness.

And then… Sam saw it.

It started slow, at the corner of Cas's mouth, and then bloomed across his face, turning his mouth up, relaxing the worried lines that had been there since the moment he'd arrived at the bunker, and Sam was certain, far longer than that. When Cas opened his eyes, they were bright and happy in a way Sam hadn't seen in – well, he couldn't remember Cas iever/i looking like that before.

For just a few moments, Cas seemed to have forgotten that he was human again, and weak, and exhausted, and a failure at everything he put his hand to, as he'd put it the morning after he'd arrived. He seemed to have forgotten that Dean was currently freezing him out completely, refusing to speak to him unless he found some reason to yell at him, treating him as if the worrisome state of the world at the moment rested entirely on his shoulders.

None of it mattered right now, as for just a few moments, Cas lost himself in one of the simplest, sweetest pleasures of his new human existence, and seemed to realize, possibly for the very first time, that maybe, just imaybe/i… it wasn't all, always, going to ihurt/i.

And ithat/i, Sam decided, with a delighted smile of satisfaction – that made the whole trip worth it.