Notes: So here we are in the next story! As I mentioned before, I'm using this episode as a set up for the rest of the series, so there will be a bit more original script than usual. Hopefully it all goes well. Anyway, enjoy!

leahelisabeth: LOL! Omagosh that is way too funny! I was hanging with my best bro Daniel when I was writing that chapter. It must have just slipped in while I was talking to him! Tragically I don't think if him that way at all, but I'm sure he'll get a kick out of it when I tell him XD But I fixed it so that others ain't confused in the future! *still laughing my ass off*

Disclaimer: I'm just gonna go cry in the corner. You guys understand.

CHAPTER 1

It had been two months since they had left Benny on his home planet, and Dean couldn't remember ever going anymore than a few weeks without some catastrophe or another. Sure, the first month was damned relaxing, hell, practically a vacation for them after what they had gone through in the last year, but the second month was what got Dean's skin itching. As much as he loved the quiet, he just knew that something was lurking behind a corner somewhere waiting for them to drop their guard.

And whatever monsters awaited them, it started about two weeks before the one year anniversary of their new crew members...

It was interesting for everyone to finally get a chance to see how their fellow crew members handled boredom as they didn't remember a time that they had ever had a break long enough to actually get bored. Around the first month, they all started to see less and less of his Sam and Gabriel. Now the reason for their disappearance was not something that they really wanted to think about particularly, but it was an unspoken procedure to avoid the crew quarters whenever both pilots were missing from the rest of the ship. A fact that greatly pleased and amused Gabriel to no end.

Gabriel, however, also feels that he might be going a bit soft, domestic even. For the five years he spent on the Impala before his brothers arrived, he had never really settled. It always felt like his muscled remained coiled, ready to spring him away at a moment's notice. At that point, he had found a haven. A place that he could hide and feel safe. Not that had all changed. Now he felt like he had really found a home, and he was pretty sure that his brothers felt the exact same way.

Without a catastrophe to distract them, he and Sam had started to become more and more creative in how they spent their time, but all that creativity could only last them so long. They had some great stamina that Gabriel was damned proud of, but damn, there was only so many times they could go in a row. This of course didn't stop him from forcing Sam to study pilot's books with him in their room, just because he knew that the rest of the crew would believe that they were actually still going at it. It was all worth it to see their faces at the dinner table when they emerged from eight hours holed up in their room together.

Sam of course would roll his eyes, and try to duck away whenever he tried to mess up his mane of hair to really sell the crew on the whole sex thing, but Gabriel could see how happy the younger Winchester was. It still gave him tinglies whenever he thought about Sam happy. Happy about life, happy about his home, happy about him. Who would have ever thought that Sam would actually love someone like him.

Gabriel might be all smiles and jokes, but he had his dark side that even he didn't feel comfortable with. Nobody really brought it up, and he didn't mind in the least because he didn't even let himself think about his time at the Host. He had done such a good job at keeping what had happened to him a secret that now he was pretty sure that at least half of his memories had become repressed in one way or another.

Sam had tried, oh how he had tried to make Gabriel share those memories on those quiet nights when it was dark and he woke in a cold sweat, but he truthfully didn't remember those dreams and even if he did…why bring up those dark memories? For all they knew, bringing up what had happened to him might just make him as unstable as Castiel.

His blatant refusal to even think about the Host had so many reasons behind it, but first and foremost was that he had been so afraid of Sam and the others thinking that he was some kind of freak that he had even taken on a whole new identity for five years.

But here he was accepted, here he was home. Here he could grab Sam at almost any hour and take them to their room for some "tango lessons".

But even those two needed to take a break from…whatever it was they were doing down there and Gabriel split his time in between piloting lessons with Sam and being with his own brothers.

He had forgotten how good it felt to just be near them without any threats or danger looming around their heads. He had lost count of how many times he would just seek out Castiel, finding him reading a book, or tending his plant, or just sitting around with Dean while the captain cleaned his guns or did inventory. And of course Balthazar was never too far away whenever Dean was occupied, just taking a nap or trying to make Castiel lose his place while reading, just like when they were kids. These times that he found them behaving like how he remembered from all those years ago, they were golden and warmed him to the core.

It just sucked that there were no bugs to be found on the ship, otherwise it could really be like old times. Hell, he was bored enough at this point to go back to the classics. He was pretty sure that he still had a whoopi cushion somewhere…

Balthazar had also been splitting his time in between his brothers and the others. And when he meant others, he meant the incredible amount of time he found himself slipping into Anna's shuttle to just get a small feel for luxury again…and hygiene. Anna might have been the only one on the ship that had any desire to talk fashion and the social gossip around the 'verse, and he truly was afraid of falling behind in the times and showing up on some hot spot planet wearing last season's shoes.

Being a fugitive would at least give him that bad boy vibe that might win over the high society ladies anyway. He had told Dean and Cassy this, and both of them had rolled their eyes in unison.

If he wasn't in Anna's shuttle, he was usually bothering Cassy, trying to keep an eye on him for Dean or just enjoying the feel of having him close. So often he would just sprawl out on the couch next to his little brother, head placed in his lap and just taken naps to pass the time. Cassy had this wonderful quiet nature about him that had thankfully remained even after his mind had been altered that had always soothed Balthazar, centered him. Being able to use Cassy like a pillow again like he had done so many times as children, just made him feel at home. He never thought that he would come to think of the Impala as home, but somehow it had.

However, as it was, at this point his hair had been gelled to here absolutely every hair was in place, his nails buffed until he could see his reflection in them, and toenails groomed to the point where he felt it a shame that he had to wear shoes. All dressed up and nowhere to go, and one could only take so many naps before they became a cat.

He hoped that they would at least find a job soon because he was about two days out from letting Anna paint his nails to just pass the time.

Bobby hated sitting idle. Hated it.

He was one of those kinds of people who couldn't sit still while there was even one thing that could be gotten done. He had been trying to occupy his time by cooking like he usually did, and fixing little things here and there, but gorramnit, there were fewer and fewer things that he could fix up. Hell, he had even fixed that crooked cupboard door and stitched up that rip in the couch cushion.

Then of course he had raided Castiel's library. The boy had acquired a healthy amount of books, enough that Bobby was pleased that he could justify spending a few hours making the kid a new bookshelf. Most of the books were from the dust ball of a planet where they had first met Bela, the classic classics from Earth that Was. Others were just little dollar novels that the crew, especially Dean, had just bought on a whim and given to Castiel not even caring at the content as they knew that the kid would be all big eyed and grateful even if it turned out to be an outdated instruction manual. However, even with his ever growing collection, Bobby had blown through each one already and was down to borrowing some of Gabriel's pilot manuals and reading all that he could from the cortex at this point.

So he had decided that it was time to learn all that he could from Chuck about mechanics. He had his own fairly good understanding of a lot of parts, but it wouldn't hurt to maybe soak up a bit more knowledge.

It was almost two months into their little break from the last adventure when Dean had appeared in the engine room while he worked with Chuck, jaw clenched and eyes scared and asking for his help.

He had not been prepared for it at all. When he thought of disaster and catastrophe, he expected explosions and proximity alarms, not walking into his room after a relatively normal and boring day to find something that made his blood run cold.

Bobby had warned him about this, but not even he had expected it to happen this quickly. They all had assumed that they would at least have a year before something like this happened, but when had anything ever gone their way?

Dean had just finished up in the cargo bay where he had been working on the transcar, making sure that it was in tip-top shape for whatever their next job was. It had felt good to get his hands nice and greasy as he worked on replacing some old cylinders, so good that he didn't even notice how much time had passed since he had started working. He rolled himself out from under the frame of the transcar and glanced around the empty hold. He was only mildly surprised to not see Cas anywhere. Usually the other man like to sit nearby with a book while Dean worked, but every once in a while he would find something else to do, like spending time with his brothers as of late.

Speaking of brothers, he just happened to spot Sam walking through one of the hallways and greeted him.

"Oh, hey, Dean," Sam said, sounding mildly distracted and Dean took notice of how he was bouncing from foot to foot.

"Uh, what are you up to, Sammy?"

His little brother looked a little uncomfortable when he met Dean's eyes, "Uh, well...I guess that you deserve some sort of heads-up. Um, you see...Gabe's kinda gotten bored and-"

Dean held his hand up to stop him, already knowing exactly what that meant and groaning internally already, "Right. I'll start looking at my chair before I sit down. He doesn't have laundry duty this week, does he? I don't know if we will survive Bobby getting itching powder in his priest collar again. And I'm pretty sure that Meg will literally start shooting up the place if he tries to bleach her hair again."

Sam shrugged helplessly, "Maybe it'll help to break up the monotony? We used to do the same thing as kids."

Dean regarded his brother with a dull look, he saw that familiar twinkle in his little brother's eye and knew without a doubt that he was thinking up some choice pranks of his own. He sighed, "You know...I would tell you to act your age and not your shoe size, but we all know that you are the semi-hairless Big Foot. Just make sure that we survive this prank war."

Sam smirked and nodded before he headed off in the other direction, probably to go find Gabriel.

As Sam moved out of sight, Dean felt a sudden chill go through his bones, but he didn't pay it much mind as he absently tried to wipe away as much of the smudge from his fingers. He just slowly made his way up the stairs to the common area, peeking inside to see if Cas was stuck with a sleeping Balthazar on him again, but he wasn't there. Next he walked down the corridor and passed the control room, glancing in to see if he was maybe watching the stars with Gabriel again, but no one was there.

He knew that he wouldn't be in the engine room today because Bobby had told him that he and Chuck were doing some serious work in there and didn't want him to get hurt in the metallic chaos, and Cas hated the infirmary for obvious reasons and wouldn't be in there unless he had to, so his last thought was that Cas was probably hanging around the Nest or his room.

He went to the Nest first and saw that the hatch was half open and the lights were on inside. Bingo. Must be working of Fern again.

Deftly, Dean made his way down the ladder, eyes still focused on his dirty hands as he entered the room.

"Hey, Cas. Looks like it's almost time for dinner. Don't suppose you want to help me get cleaned up?" he suggested slyly over his shoulder, already getting excited at the idea of another shower adventure with Cas, but his smirk slowly fell as he didn't get an answer. He glanced up curiously and his stomach dropped.

Cas was sitting at the head of their bed, his eyes cloudy and not focused on anything. For a horrible moment, Dean thought he looked like a corpse, but then he saw the shallow rise and fall of his chest under the thin and wet with sweat, shirt.

"Cas!"

Dean shouted and ran up to him, hands roaming all over to try and find anything that would tell him what was wrong, but in his haste he accidentally bumped into Cas' hand where a pill bottle fell to the floor with a rattle.

He picked it up and read the label. It was the special muscle relaxant pain killer that they gave Cas every day and there were four fewer in this bottle than there should have been. Cursing softly, he chucked it across the room and started to shake the thin shoulders.

"Snap out of it man, wake up!"

The eyes didn't close or focus at all. It was all too much like that time that Cas had been drugged to the gills by that bitch Bela, and it scared him as much as back then.

He knew that he couldn't handle this alone, so he tore himself away from Cas' side and ran to the engine room to find Bobby, heart doing it's best to lodge itself in his throat.

"How long has he been like this?" Bobby asked as soon as they got back to the room. Dean ran a shaking hand through his hair.

"I dunno. I just came down here to clean up for dinner. I haven't seen him for hours," he hissed the last part, angry that he hadn't thought to check up on him sooner.

Bobby first listened to Cas' breathing, then checked his far too slow pulse as he went over his medical training in his head. Overdoses were never pretty, but this one wasn't too bad. All they had to do was get Cas awake and moving and his ridiculous drug metabolism should be able to take care of it soon enough.

"Help me get him in the shower. Water might wake him up and get him going," Bobby ordered gently and the two men pulled the limp form from the bed and carried him into the stall, flipping on the water.

As the frigid water rained down on Dean, the shock of what might have happened hit him like a slap in the face. Why the hell did Cas take those meds? It couldn't have been attempted suicide. He was happy, right? Why would he do this though?

He hardly noticed nor cared that his clothes were now completely soaked and his skin was raised in goosebumps, Dean was too focused on watching Cas' slack face as water pelted down on it and plastered his usually wild hair to his head.

Gently he stroked the soggy bangs back, relief flooding him as he noticed Cas' eyes finally flutter a small bit and his blown out iris' contract as the shower light hit them. He had wanted to take a shower with Cas, but this was not at all what he had in mind.

As soon as Cas started to flex his fingers and his feet, Bobby and he had pulled him out of the shower, dried him off and put him in some dry clothes before they forced him to his feet.

He may have been about as steady as a new foal, but he remained upright.

"Let's start him up to the infirmary," Bobby said quietly, "Hopefully we won't run into anyone along the way."

They didn't speak, none of them, as they maneuvered the slight man onto the medical bed in the center of the room. Bobby just went about checking vitals with the more accurate machines, taking a blood sample, and finding a blanket to put over the shivering young man.

As he had thought, the blood sample showed already a decreased amount of the drug that was slowly going back to the safe levels, and it showed in Cas' face as well. His eyes were no longer clouded over and he seemed well aware of his surroundings…as well as how upset Dean was. Bobby wasn't psychic like Cas was, but even he could feel the guilt pouring off of both of them.

It was almost like as Cas became more aware, Dean did the opposite as he stared at the same spot on Cas' blanket for the last five minutes, not moving, barely blinking.

The preacher sighed and glanced over to the cabinet that they locked Cas' drugs in, seeing that the small metal door had easily been torn from its hinges. It made him wonder why they bothered locking it in the first place if Cas could tear through it like paper.

On the bed, Cas started to fidget, rolling his shoulders and trying to adjust quietly, but he let out a small groan that made Dean's head snap up and glance at him in concern.

Castiel met his gaze with guilty eyes, "Oh, I'm sorry. I've interrupted a deep thought, haven't I? Already I can see it growing smaller in your eyes…"

Dean shook his head and looked up at Bobby, eyes falling on the ripped off cabinet door, "Well, that answers how Cas got his hands on them in the first place," he commented dryly and he turned to Cas who was guiltily looking down at his hands.

He was about start demanding answers, but several startled gasps suddenly came from the doorway where Gabriel, Sam and Balthazar all appeared.

"Cassy!?"

"Jesus, what happened?"

Both older Novaks ran to their little brother's side, Gabriel placing his hand to Cas' forehead to feel for injury, but he didn't find anything like that. All he could make out were some wonky stuff here and there.

Sam watched the panic play over their faces, and winced at the terror that he saw there. Gabriel had just been telling him and Balthazar about his master plan to sneak a whoopi cushion under Cas' chair that night at dinner and they had walked by the infirmary to see Dean and Bobby standing over a limp Castiel in bed. There was nothing okay with that.

Balthazar was about to hyperventilate and had gone completely pale, "What's wrong with him?" he asked his older brother first, then glanced at Dean, and finally Bobby, but they didn't really have an answer.

All eyes turned to Castiel who shrank back on the bed.

"What the hell was that, Cas?" Dean asked quietly, the pain evident in his voice.

"I…it hurt, Dean. I know Bobby said it shouldn't, but it did. I didn't want to upset the castle of cards, so I thought I would take from the deck and no one would notice."

Dean sighed and rubbed a clammy hand over his face. So they were back to riddles it seemed.

"It hurt? Are you talking about your back, Cas" he tried to clarify.

Cas nodded, shame clouding his features.

Everyone in the room flinched. They thought they had longer than this before the delicate equilibrium they had established was upset.

"And are you still hurting?" Bobby asked gently. Another hesitant nod.

Dean was fuming though. He couldn't have been more angry at himself, and maybe a little bit at Cas too for not coming to him sooner, to share his thoughts. Not all of them were psychic after all. It was just so careless…so childlike that Cas thought he could handle something as big as this on his own.

The preacher turned to the others, "I'll see what I can do about coming up with a new drug regimen that could help, and I think I'll take a break from mechanics and start looking over those old scans from Ariel. Until then we're going to have to do what he did before, back massages and try to keep him comfortable."

Bobby wasn't sure, but this was maybe either Cas' drug metabolism adapting too quickly to the pain killers, or whatever those things were, those shadows in the images, were changing again. Could even be a mix of the two.

"And how long is that going to last this time around?" Balthazar said bitterly.

Bobby shrugged, "We'll just have to wait and see, but I'll find a balanced regimen soon enough, next day or two. He'll be back to, uh, normal before week's out," he said as a promise to his brothers and Dean, but the words were only temporary comfort.

Just like the last two months had only been a temporary comfort.

"We'll just have to keep our eyes open."

Yeah, I totally quoted Harry Potter in there cause Luna reminds me so much of crazy Cas it hurts. Speaking of hurt...so many sad faces...ANyway, next chapter up tomorrow! See ya then!