Lewis and Clark Lake, South Dakota

Dean walks down the lakefront, feeling like an idiot with his heavily laced boots on. Other people run through, into, and out of the water screaming excitedly and he just feels very out of place in his hunter gear. A woman in a bikini walks past and eyes Dean suspiciously and, well, he can't blame her. I do look like a creep.

He walks back up the lakefront and sits at a bench away from all the people frolicking in the ocean. Growing increasingly impatient, he taps his fingers and looks around nervously. Where the hell is Sammy? The woman eyeing him pulls out her phone and Dean rolls his eyes. Some people just don't understand the difference between actual danger and the danger society invents for them.

"Hey," Sam says, finally coming up behind him. Dean breathes a sigh of relief and jumps up from the bench. "Finally, man. I swear, that paranoid chick over there was about to call the cops on me for lurking. Whatcha got?"

Sam raises his eyebrows and glances at the suddenly not so attractive woman who's still sending them strange glances. Sam just smiles, annoying the hell out of Dean. Sammy didn't have to sit here with her judging eyes on him. Moving on, Sam answers, "Uh, well there isn't much, just a bunch of eyewitness accounts that don't match up. We're gonna need to go check the house out for ourselves tonight."

"What do you think it is?" Dean asks as he turns his full body toward Sam, ignoring the woman and focusing on the hunt.

Sam brushes his hair from his face and hands Dean a list of people's names and addresses that Sammy must have checked up on. Dean pretends to study it as Sammy says, "Well, after talking to all the witnesses, I think it's probably a vampire. I mean, none of them told the same story, but from what I gathered, that seems to be the most likely option."

Dean nods. "Alright, let's get something to eat and then we'll go check it out."

Sammy nods, and leads the way to the Impala. He's had her for most of the day and Dean's missed his baby. Sammy throws him the keys and Dean climbs in happily just as a cop pulls into the lakefront parking lot.

Dean grips the wheel and mutters angrily as Sam says wonderingly, "She actually called the cops." He turns and studies Dean with squinted eyes, "Mmm, you do look like a stalker."

"Shut up, Bitch."

Sammy laughs, "Jerk"

Dean walks through the hotel room and falls right onto the bed, letting his head hit the pillow face down. The hunt had ended up being three vamps living at some old beach house. It was obvious they were new, just accidents that had been tossed out. They were easy to take out but he's still exhausted. His clothes are bloody and stick to him in a way that makes his stomach churn. He would have liked to jump right in the shower but he knew Sammy is more of a girl about these things. So, he lets him go first while he lays there and lets the hunt evaporate off of him.

A few minutes in and the smell gets to be too much so Dean drags his sorry butt to a sitting position and peels off the soaked shirt. He tosses it across the room, and notices that his jeans are covered as well. With an exaggerated sigh, he stands up and slides his jeans off. He tosses them across the room and grabs a pair of sweat pants. Just as he is about to put them on, one foot raised to step into them, he hears a familiar sound. A flap of wings rings in his ears and Cas is standing before him, very closely before him.

"Cas." Dean yelps, stepping back quickly to create some space between them. The dude is practically on top of me, still having no idea what personal space is.

The angel takes one look at the almost naked Dean and his eyes grow wide. "My apologies," he squeaks; just as soon as he'd come, he's gone. Dean curses under his breath as he pulls on the sweatpants. Then he rolls his eyes and prays to the empty room, "Okay, Cas, you can come back, man."

This time he shows up in a corner of the room and his eyes won't meet Dean's. "I should have checked first, Dean. I am-"

Dean feels his face grow warm and cuts him off, "Shut up, Cas. Just tell me what you're doing here?"

After a few silent seconds, Castiel finally meets Dean's gaze and step out from his corner. "I came to see that you were alright. I didn't mean to-"

Dean holds his hands up, "Seriously, forget it. What's going on? Any angel crap you wanna warn us about?"

His brows furrow, "I am not sure what you mean by that."

Dean laughs and starts to explain when Sammy walks out of the bathroom, fully dressed and toweling at his stupidly long hair. He stops in his tracks when he notices Castiel. "Oh, hey, Cas. What's up?," he asks happily just before realizing the awkwardness in the air. The look on Castiel's face is close to horrified and Sammy almost asks, but doesn't. He has a feeling it involves a certain brainless hunter who looks like he's trying to cover up a blush.

Castiel ignores Sam's hello and looks between the two brothers, "You just returned from a hunt?"

Dean turns back to Cas and nods. "Yeah, but like that's anything new. What's happening in Heaven?"

Castiel looks down and then at Sam, shyly avoiding eye contact with Dean. "Nothing, really. I have not been to heaven recently."

Dean notices the way Cas averts his eyes as if he is hiding something and Dean steps forward, suspicious. At his proximity change, Cas's eyes dart up to Deans nervously and Dean knows he's got him. He takes another step to seal it and says, "What happened, Cas?"

The angel's eyes dart back and forth between the brothers and suddenly he is gone. The flap of wings rings in Dean's ears and he curses. Dean had forgotten the difference between interrogating a monster and interrogating an angel: an angel can run away, especially when you aren't expecting them to. And Dean knows that it isn't an interrogation, he does. He just can't help the hunter instinct that comes out, especially with the heaven crap. If something is going on, Dean would like to know that sooner rather than later.

"What do you think that's about?" Sam asks, looking from where Cas stood to Dean. He notices the look on Dean's face, the look he gets when he's pretending to be pissed and is really just hurt.

Dean shrugs and walks toward the bathroom. "Whatever it is, Cas won't tell us until it's good for him… Selfish bastard." Dean slams the bathroom door and a few seconds later Sam hears the shower turn on.

Sam frowns, trying to understand why the poor guy couldn't just tell them. We're his friends. He should be able to trust us.