The angel groaned and then coughed as he wrestled with the pain. "Crowley is right. You should go." His neck curved backward when another wave of pain wracked his body. He heard Dean huff and knew that the task of getting him to leave would be difficult. Why didn't he understand? Castiel was dying. Anyone could see that.

"Cass, come on." Dean refused to let Cass sacrifice himself yet again. He had to believe that the angel would make it. Cass always pulled through, but this time seemed different. Dean had seen Cass give up before, but there was a sadness in his eyes that he had never seen before. It was something that made Dean feel like this wasn't like any of the other close calls.

"No, you listen to me." The angel demanded. "You-- Look, thank you. Thank you. Knowing you, it--" Castiel grimaced in pain. "It has been the best part of my life. And the things that--" He inhaled sharply. "The things we have shared together, they have changed me." He groaned and then met Dean's eyes which were brimming with stubbornly unshed tears.

"You are my family". At that, Dean choked back a sob, tears finally starting to stream down his cheeks. It shocked Castiel that Dean would show so much emotion in front of anyone.

"I love you." He willed Dean to meet his gaze. He did, but turned away quickly, trying to hide his tears. Before anyone else noticed the exchange, Castiel continued. "I love all of you." He made eye contact with everyone else in the room, including Crowley who was wearing an expression that Catiel couldn't read.

"Just please, please, don't make my last moments be spent watching you die. Just run. Save yourselves. I will hold off Ramiel as long as I can." He pleaded and then coughed painfully.

"Cass, no." Dean protests, his voice cracking.

"Yes." The angel insists. "You need to keep fighting."

"We are fighting." Dean gestures to the others. "We're fighting for you, Cass. Like you said, you're family. And we don't leave family behind." Cass had finally given up. Dean could feel it. He looked to the one person who he knew could make everything better.

"Mom?" Mary looked at her son, his eyes bloodshot and weeping. He was biting his lip slightly to keep it together. "What's the play?"

She put on her mom face and said "We hit him with everything we've got".

As soon as Ramiel walked into the barn, Dean dropped the lighter, igniting the ring of holy oil that the Prince of Hell had unknowingly stepped into. Ramiel glanced at the ring of fire surrounding him with interest.

"Toasty."

Dean stepped forward, the fire illuminating his face which held an expression of pure rage. "You stabbed one of our friends."

Ramiel shrugged. "Your friend was trespassing."

"Tell us how to cure him." Dean demanded.

"There is no cure." The Prince of Hell relished the look of hopelessness on the man's face.

"Do you have any idea who we are?" Dean exploded.

"I don't care. I don't care who you are. I don't care why you're here. I don't care about Heaven or Hell or anything. I don't even care that Lucifer's got a bun in the oven." Ramiel countered. By the look on Dean's face when he mentioned Lucifer's child, he could tell he was interested.

"You know about that? My sister Dagon, she's taken an interest. But me? Eh."

Dean's eyes narrowed. "Let me guess. You don't care."

Ramiel nodded. "All I wanted was to be left alone. But then you come. You steal from me. And that? Oooh. That I cannot abide. Give me back what's mine or I take it off your lifeless bodies. You've got 30 seconds."

Dean loads a bullet into the Colt. "Obviously, we've got no idea what you're talking about."

"20 seconds."

Dean chuckles nervously and aims the gun. "Have it your way." Before he is able to squeeze the trigger, the circle of holy fire disappears and he is thrown against the wall. Sam makes a grab for the Colt which had fallen out of Dean's hand, but is also thrown against the wall and knocked unconscious. Cass groans loudly and Dean clumsily gets to his feet.

"Cass." Dean makes his way over to the angel while Ramiel just watches, intrigued by the way Dean says "Cass".

"Hey, buddy." Dean grips the angel's arm tightly. Sam wakes up and makes his way over, kneeling next to Dean.

"Hey, we're here, Cass." Sam says, keeping a little more distance than Dean.

"We're right here, buddy." Cass gags on some invisible substance and blows a puff of air from between his lips.

"Ah, the magic." Ramiel looks at Castiel, admiring the work of the lance he holds. "It's all in the runework." He runs his fingers along the intricate patterns in the wood. "The craftsmanship." Only Crowley was listening to the Prince of Hell at this point.

"Hang in there, all right?" Dean squeezes the angel's arm even tighter and then turns to Sam. "What do we do?" Suddenly there was a snap and a whoosh, and everyone turns away from Cass to see Crowley holding the staff which was now in two pieces. Crowley shrugs.

"The magic's in the craftsmanship." He states, like it was completely obvious. Sam and Dean turn back to the angel.

"Cass?" Dean sees Cass patting himself down, checking for any sign of injury. Cass looks up at Dean and they make eye contact.

"You're welcome." Crowley says, a smug smile on his face, but no one pays attention. The lance clatters to the floor.

"So you're good?" Sam addresses Cass. The angel nods and looks away from Dean.

"Yes. I--I think so." Cass looks back at Dean. There was something in his eyes that made Cass worry. He had never seen that look on his face before. "Dean? Are you--".

Before Cass could finish, Dean smashed his smooth lips into the angel's chapped ones, roughly pushing him into one of the barn's wooden supports. Before Cass could react, Dean let go, a calloused hand resting on the angel's chest. The two stare at each other for a second as the others in the room share a moment of shocked silence. Dean coughs awkwardly.

"Let's head back to the bunker. We need to plan what our next move is gonna be." He orders gruffly, cheeks flushed.

"Dean, wait. What just--" Cass starts in confusion.

"Let's go, Cass." Dean grabs the angel's arm and pulls on it. Castiel, even knowing that he could just teleport to the bunker, follows obediently, hoping that Dean will explain what happened in that barn. The two brothers, Mary, and Castiel head back to the cars.

Mary gets in her car and drives away while the boys continue walking to their car. When they reach Baby, Sam opens the passenger door to get in but Dean puts his arm out to stop him. "Get in the back, Sammy." Sam looks at Dean in confusion.

"Dean?"

"I said get in the back, Sammy." Sam raises his eyebrows and opens the back passenger door.

"Dean, that's not necessary." A gravely voice protests.

Sam looks out the window to see Dean trying to help Cass into the car. Cass finally gives in and lets Dean buckle his seatbelt.

"You all good?" Dean asks, checking if the seatbelt is latched properly. Sam could almost hear the eye roll when Cass replied.

"I'm fine, Dean."

"Good." Dean nods in approval, patting the angel's thigh as he stands up and makes his way to the driver's side.

As they merge onto the freeway, Cass decides to address the situation again. "Dean?"

"Yeah, Cass?"

"What happened back there in that barn?"

"We had a fight with a Prince of Hell and you almost died. You feelin' okay?" Dean turns briefly to look at Cass, concern etched into his features. The angel sighed in annoyance.

"No, Dean. I mean't after that."

Dean was the one who sighed this time. "We'll talk about it later Cass."

"But, Dean--"

"I swear we'll talk about it, okay."

"But--"

"Or pinky-promise. Does that work for you?" Dean thought he was in the clear when he got no response after a minute or two, but then Cass spoke.

"Dean, I don't understand."

Great. Dean thought. Just great.

"How can two people promise with their pinkies?"

"Cass." Dean pulled the car over to the side of the road.

"But--"

"Cass." He repeated.

"But--"

"Cass." Dean unbuckled his seatbelt. Cass finally stopped talking, although the gears were still turning in his head. "Please stop talking." Dean leaned over and kissed the angel, this time more deeply and heartfelt than the last. He pulled away after hearing a cough from the back seat.

"Guys? Could you maybe do that later? Like, when I'm not sitting in the back seat?"

"Shut up, Sammy." Dean's cheeks warmed and he put his seatbelt on. Both Cass and Sam were silent the rest of the drive home.