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Chapter One - White Lips, Pale Face, Breathing In The Snow Flakes.

Cold.

Cold and damp.

Those were the first things he noticed when he came too. He didn't know how long they had been driving before he was dumped on the side of the road like some piece of trash. His mind was still fuzzy with whatever they had given him, but it was clearing enough so the full extent of his injures were quickly becoming apparent.

He still had no idea what had set the Alpha off, but it didn't matter. He tried not to think about the beating he had received, but it was hard when his ribs crackled uncomfortably every time he breathed in too deeply. He rubbed listlessly at the raw marks on his wrists, glad he was out of those godforsaken shackles. It had been a long time since he had been outside, and he thanked whatever absent gods there were that his dumpers were worried about being seen, and had dumped him at night.

He looked around, gathering his bearings and cataloguing what he had with him. They had left him in his ratty old clothes, and they had been kind enough to leave him a tatty old trench coat. It was covered in blood, his blood, he realised. He must have an injury somewhere, ah, there. There was a deep gash on the side of his head, the blood had dribbled down and soaked into his clothes.

Fantastic.

He started walking along the road, thankful it was what looked like a main road. He would have hated to have been lost on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.

It felt like hours before he saw the lights of a town, a small town, it looked like, but a town none the less.

It was threatening to snow, so it must have been winter. If it was snowing, that meant he was somewhere in the north, maybe north east. The bright, green and red lights strung up in shop windows and between street lamps indicated it might have been Christmas, either soon or maybe a few days ago.

It didn't take long to find the Omega shelter, but the line surprised him. At least those that were here weren't where he had been. They were safe, at least. The line shuffled forwards, and he clutched his jacket tighter around his shoulders, in a fruitless effort to stave off the chill.

A woman held a clipboard; she had short hair and a compassionate smile. She smelled like a Beta, but she had an Alpha air about her. She looked up when he reached the front of the line, a sad frown marring her features.

"I'm sorry, we're full. Is there anywhere else you can go?" He raised his eyebrows. He couldn't help the way his body was trembling. It was an automatic response in the presence of an Alpha, even if the woman before him wasn't one.

"Why would I be here, if I had somewhere else to go?" She looked at him in surprise, but blinked it away quickly. He cursed himself for his behaviour. No matter how many times they had beaten him, he never had learnt his place.

"Come by the soup kitchen tomorrow, I'll make sure there's a place for you." She looked him up and down, taking in his grimy appearance and blood soaked clothes. "Please."

He bit his lip, weighing his options. It didn't appear to be snowing yet, but that could change at any time. He would find a sheltered place and bed down for the night, hoping the woman, Jody, kept her word.

"Alright. I'll be there." He turned to walk away, wondering where the safest place in the small town was. He heard Jody call to him, so he turned back slowly.

"What's your name, hun?" She sounded like a lovely woman, but he of all people knew people lied. Smells, not that he could sense any in the state he was in, didn't lie. He knew how to act around Alphas, to keep them happy, to keep himself unharmed. Small, scared, quiet. That was what they liked. Submissive little bitches to use however they wanted.

He hated his biology most of the time, particularly the part which made him crave the touch of an Alpha. It infuriated him to no end that he had to depend on physical contact to keep his body in sync. It was one of the incentives they had used on him.

What he had to decide, was whether to give her his real name, one he hadn't been called in years, or his fake name, that carried with it his soiled past and all the memories he wished to leave in the hell hole he had been ejected from.

He closed his eyes briefly, before turning back to Jody.

"Castiel."

"Sammy! You ready?" Dean was running late, thanks to the goddamn traffic, it was freakin Lawrence for fuck sake, not New York City. He heard his great lump of a brother lumbering around in his room, so he changed his work boots and grabbed a different jacket. He didn't have enough time to shower, but he didn't think it would matter much where they were headed. Sam practically fell over his feet in his haste, pulling on a jacket.

"Dude, we're going to a soup kitchen, not to the friggen ball." Dean raked his eyes over his brother's appearance, from his actually brushed long brown hair, to his clean jeans and shirt. He wrinkled his nose, the strong scent of aftershave and deodorant irritating his sensitive senses. Sam blushed, and then everything clicked into place. "Ah, it see. He's gonna be there, isn't he?" Dean took every opportunity to rib his brother, and the fact that he had a major crush on one of the other volunteers, well, that was just too easy.

"Seriously, Dean, don't." Sam grabbed his own boots and jacket, shrugging into both. "Why would he even want a fuck up like me?" Dean stopped them both by grabbing Sam's shoulder, maybe a little too forcefully.

"Dude, really? You're awesome." Dean grinned at Sam's frown. "What's no to like?"

"Yeah, thanks. But what if he finds out about –" He really didn't want them going down that road, especially with how late they already were.

"Stop, seriously, Sam. When and if you want to tell him, you can. Until then, just go with it." Dean released his brother, and clapped him on the back. "Come on, Jody will be pissed if we're late again. It'll be busy as all hell."

Dean was right, of course. It was the weekend before Christmas and it was threatening to snow. At least during the car ride over, Sam had calmed down. Dean had quickly figured out the reason for Sam's excessive use of body products. The guy Sam liked, and yes, Dean had explained how much of a twelve year old girl that made him, didn't know how Sam felt. Apparently, he wasn't ready for him to know either, so he had doused himself in pretty much every body product either of them owned. It had irritated Dean to no end, but he could see Sam's point.

Don't want to scare off your mate, especially if they didn't know they were it.

"Has he said anything about it?" Dean thought Sam should just hurry the hell up and talk to the guy about it, but Sam was more diplomatic than that. Sam shook his head.

"Nah, but I'm building up to it." Why on earth was he masking his scent then? His mate had to smell the real Sam to know he was the one, right? Wasn't that how it worked?

"So, you're smothering yourself in the entire body isle at the supermarket, but you want him to figure out himself that you guys are mates?" Sam's reasoning was giving him a head ache, so thank Christ they were at their destination. His brother just shrugged.

"I don't want to scare him off, man. We hardly know each other." His brother gave him a tentative smile as they exited the car and made their way inside the old warehouse. "It'll be fine, Dean." He really wished he could believe that. Despite what he'd said to Sam, his brother had some pretty intense demons in the closet. Mates or not, Gadreel would have to be a pretty amazing dude to accept all of Sam's shit.

Dean steeled himself for what they were about to do. He always went with Sammy to the soup kitchen, but for some reason, doing it around the holidays made everything he saw there about one hundred times worse. He owed Jody more than his life for what she did for them, so he would help her with whatever she wanted.

Didn't mean he had to like it though.

"Nice of you boys to finally show up." Jody quirked an eyebrow at the sheepish brothers, but smiled eventually. She motioned for them to follow her out the back, to where the food was prepared. "Dean, you're on the pumpkin pie, and if I catch you eating any this year, I swear I will make you eat so much it'll make you sick." Dean grinned at her, because hell yes.

"It'd take a shit ton of pie to make me sick, Jody." He only just dodged the punch she threw to his shoulder.

"You watch your language, young man. There are children present." And didn't that just make Dean even chirpier. The fact that there were children without food and probably a home, made Deans blood boil. It didn't matter about their biology in a place like that, Alpha, Beta, Omega, made no difference. If you didn't have a job, you didn't have a home. The economic down turn had hit Lawrence hard, especially when they closed the old mill.

"Yes, ma'am." Dean left them both to go to his station but smiled when he heard Jody direct Sam to where Gadreel was serving soup. Yeah, she knew what was up.

People started filing in, brushing snow off their worn clothes and trying to look happier than they actually felt. Dean could smell the unhappiness in the air, though he tried to ignore it. No point in dwelling on something he alone couldn't change.

He smiled when the kids came up to get some extra pie, and he indulged them even if he wasn't meant to. Those kids deserved some happiness at Christmas, even if their parents couldn't afford to give it to them. It wasn't their fault, a lot of the time, but Dean couldn't help his protective nature creeping out of its cave.

"Excuse me." Dean shook his head, blinking at the bundle of rags and dirty hair peeking out from under a ridiculous woollen hat. Well, at least it looked like it'd keep his ears warm. "May I have some pie?"

"Well yeah, Oliver Twist." Dean grinned at the guys bemused frown. Who hasn't heard of Oliver Twist? He picked out the biggest piece to give him, because even though he was covered in mismatched clothes and filth, Dean could tell he was unhealthily skinny. A little pie would do him some good.

"Thank you." The guy smiled, well, attempted to smile, but it came across as more of a pained twitch than anything else. Impossibly bright blue eyes peeked out at him, burning with a fire that belied his appearance and behaviour. Dean's heart twinged when he thought about how hard the guy's life must be, that he couldn't even summon up a smile. Dean sniffed, he was so not getting emotional over some random stranger, but when he did, he caught a whiff of something.

Nah, just the pie.

His stomach must have taken over his brain, because all he could think about was pie. He wasn't even allowed to eat any.

Awesome.

His random Oliver Twist had disappeared to the back of the hall, but Dean could see him sitting by himself against the far wall. There was something about him, something that Dean couldn't place. He put it down to his pie brain and the fact that Sam was smiling his ass off with Gadreel. It made him real happy to see his brother like that, especially after all the shit they went through to get there.

"I hope your keeping your hands to yourself, Winchester." Dean jumped when Jody appeared behind him, narrow eyes and hand on hips. She was only a Beta, but damn was she scary. Even being an Alpha didn't help him when he did something she didn't agree with.

"You really think id risk that, Jody?" Dean smirked, a smile that had been known to get him out of his fair share of speeding tickets. Jody just rolled her eyes; she knew his game, inside and out. "Uh, you keep records, right?" Jody nodded; she liked to know who was a frequent flyer, who needed to go to the Omega shelter, that kind of stuff. She would know who the little guy was. "Do you know who that is?" Dean pointed over to Oliver Twist, who was eating his pie in small, almost savouring bites.

"Yeah, I know him." Jody frowned, and she actually looked pretty worried. It unsettled Dean, who was used to seeing her certain and in control. "He turned up yesterday at the Omega Shelter. We were full, always are, over the holidays. I had to turn him away. I don't know where he spent the night, but I told him to come here and obviously he did." Dean gritted his teeth and growled low in his chest, immensely unhappy that the poor guy had been out in the cold last night. Then something clicked.

"He's an Omega?" Male Omega's weren't really rare, but they were uncommon enough that it surprised him. Gadreel was an Omega, much to Sam's happiness, but he was the only one he knew personally.

"Yup. He's not mated, as far as I can tell. Quiet as all hell and skinny as a rake." She looked at Dean then, pursing her lips. Dean knew that look, she was really worried, but she didn't know what to do. "I'm ninety percent sure he's on something, but I needed him to come here today, so I didn't risk asking." She sighed and ran a hand through her short hair. "I'm worried about him; he's got nowhere to go, and probably an addiction to feed."

"What do you want to do?" Dean asked, not taking his eyes off Oliver. He didn't know the guy's name, so what the hell else was he gonna call him? He probably gave Jody a fake name anyway, so he could damn well make his own up if he wanted to.

"What I want to do is take him to the shelter, lock him in a room and make him sweat out his withdrawal." Dean closed his eyes and willed back the sick feeling that had come over him. He was all too aware of sweating through withdrawals, and what it did to a person. "But I can't do that, because the shelter's full and I don't have a spare detox room." Dean looked over at Sam, laughing and smiling at Gadreel. They looked pretty damn good together, and it would never have happened if Dean hadn't refused to give up. He looked back to his Oliver Twist, the tiny scrap of a guy sitting alone and probably scared, cradling his pie like it was Jesus fucking Christ returned.

"I can do it, Jody. I can take him." Dean had no idea what it was about the guy, probably nothing at all apart from the fact that he reminded him so much of Sammy. Scared and alone, skinny as hell and addicted to god knows what. He knew Jody trusted him with the job, so that was one thing he didn't have to worry about. He would have to ask Sam if he was ok with it, of course. Jody nodded, a thankful smile spreading across her face.

"You'll have to ask him, of course. You can't just force him to go home with you." She raised her eye brows when Dean smirked, even though he was nervous as hell.

"Jody, since when has anyone said no to this pretty face?" Jody just laughed, and clapped him on the back.

"Alright, but talk to your brother first." She went to walk away, but turned back. "And tell me before you leave, if he's leaving with you." Dean nodded, and then remembered a fairly important question.

"Jody!" She turned back with her eyes wide in an exasperated look. "What's his name?" She shook her head at his behaviour. Yeah, he was a goof, so what?

"Castiel."

Yeah, beats Oliver Twist any day.

He found Sam flirting shamelessly with Gadreel over by their station.

"Hey guys, uh, Gad, can I borrow Sammy for a bit?" His brother narrowed his eyes at Dean for the use of his childhood nickname, but Dean just grinned. Gadreel didn't seem to mind.

"Not at all, Dean." He liked Gadreel. He was a man of few words, and even if he and his brother were dancing around the burning bush, he treated Sam right.

Dean led them over to an empty table, but he didn't expect what he had to say to take very long. Sam would understand the situation, better than anyone, really.

"So, I was talking to Jody." Sam was watching him intently, all of his focus on his brother. "There's an Omega here, guy called Castiel, that's in some trouble." Sam nodded, mouth thinning and his brows drawing together in a frown. "Jody doesn't have any room at the Omega shelter, and she, um…" Dean faltered, because his next words would be the make or break of the whole situation.

"What, Dean?" He knew Sam wouldn't turn the guy away, so he took a breath and hoped like hell.

"The guys on something, but he's got no money or anything. Jody's worried he might do something to get a fix." Dean inwardly cringed; it wasn't like they needed a reminder.

"Of course, Dean. I mean, if it hadn't been for Jody taking me in…" Sam trailed off, looking away. Dean hated seeing his little brother down, so he clapped him on the shoulder and smiled.

"You're the best, Sam. I guess I better go and ask the guy in question, yeah?" Dean rose from the table, and headed over to where Castiel was still nursing his pie. As Dean got nearer, all he could smell was stale piss, grotty clothes, blood and nothing of the guy's actual scent. It was beyond weird.

"Hi," Dean smiled softly, not wanting to scare the poor guy. Castiel looked up, blinking his big blue eyes as if trying to figure out why Dean was talking to him. "Can I sit?" Castiel nodded, so Dean took a place next to him, a safe distance away. He had taken that ridiculous hat off, which revealed dark brown, almost black hair. It was lank and dirty, like the rest of him, and he wondered what the guy's story was. If he had family worried about him somewhere, where he was from, what he'd done to survive. He didn't look very old, maybe twenty, twenty three at a stretch. "I'm Dean, by the way. You're Castiel, right?"

The Omega's eyes widened, but he just nodded, picking slightly at his food.

"So, Jody tells me you don't have anywhere to go tonight." Dean hoped he sounded non-threatening, and that his scent was doing the same. Everyone had a hard time smelling themselves, which made sense, otherwise people would go round getting real mixed up and confused. Castiel kept his eyes down, which confused Dean, but he didn't let it bother him.

"Um, no, I ah, don't." Castiel sounded scared, like he was waiting for Dean to yell at him or something.

"Where did you sleep last night?" Damn he wished he could take that question back, regretting it instantly, just by Castiel's reaction.

"On a bench in the park. I – I don't know the city well. It was… difficult, sleeping." Dean tried to hide his shock, physically forcing himself not to reach out and touch the Omega. If he thought Cas was scared before, he was damn near frantic now. He was shaking and breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating. He kept mumbling apologies, food totally ignored, and rocked back on his ass, head in his hands. Dean took a moment to brace himself, before asking the golden question.

"No, hey, it's ok. I don't mind." Dean had to physically hold himself back from putting a comforting hand on the other man. "I was wondering if you wana come home with me and my brother." Dean smiled when Cas peeked out from his hands, and looked at him with wide eyes.

"You – you want me in your home?" Castiel blinking at him and frowning was distracting Dean from what he was trying to talk about. He nodded.

"Yeah man, that's what Christmas is about, right?" He'd use that excuse, but in reality Cas reminded him so much of Sammy that he couldn't just leave the guy out in the cold. Castiel seemed to be mulling over what Dean had said, before he came to a decision. He fixed Dean with his intense gaze and tried to smile.

"I would like that, Dean, very much."

After Dean managed to drag Sam away from Gadreel, and told Jody they were on their way home with Castiel, they finally managed to pile into the Impala.

"This is – this is your car?" Castiel sounded like, well he sounded in awe of the fact that Dean owned such a beast of machinery. The Impala was pretty damn majestic, in all of her black roaring beauty. Deans inner Alpha preened at the compliment.

"Yup, she's all mine. My old man gave her to me for my 18th birthday." Dean wasn't used to filling awkward silences, so he just rambled until Sam gave him a look. Right, he didn't need to, ok.

Dean breathed a sigh of relief when they finally reached their apartment. It was on the first floor; thank Christ, so no stairs and no nosy neighbours. Castiel stunk something fierce, so the last thing they needed was one of their upstairs neighbours finding a stinking homeless man on their doorstep.

Castiel inhaled sharply when Dean let them all inside. Sam said his goodnights and headed off to his room. Castiel was standing stock still, wide eyed, just inside the door.

"Are you – are you sure you want me here, Dean?" Castiel asked quietly.

"Yeah man. Of course." Dean hung his jacket up and toed off his shoes. He should offer Cas a shower, maybe wash his clothes. The rancid things looked like they would fall apart if he washed them. "You can have a shower if you'd like one."

"Are you sure?" Goddamnit, Castiel sounded so unsure whenever Dean talked to him. What the hell had happened to the guy?

"Yup, it's right through here." Dean led the way back to the bathroom, switching the light on. It was a small space, hell, it was lucky Sam wasn't any taller. "Just leave your clothes outside the door; I'll wash them for you." Cas clutched the ragged clothes to his chest. "No no, it's ok. I'll grab you some of my sweats." Cas still looked uncertain, but at least he wasn't in withdrawal yet, if he was even on anything. Maybe he wasn't, and Jody was wrong. Dean shook his head, no, Jody was pretty much always right.

"Alright, thank you, Dean." Cas gave him a small smile, and it warmed his heart. He left the Omega to it, and went to the kitchen to make some coffee. While that was getting ready, he went to his room and gathered up some clothes for Castiel to wear. He found his smallest tee shirt and sweat pants. He wandered back to the bathroom and found Castiel's rags piled up outside the door.

Damn, I need gloves or something.

Castiel's clothes were nasty; fuck knows what they were coated with. Was that, oh god, that was definitely blood. Dean shivered, all he wanted to do was wrap the Omega up in a big fluffy towel and take care of him, it was what his basic biology demanded. Usually he hated what his Alpha did to him, how it made him feel and act sometimes. At that moment though, him and his Alpha were in complete agreement. They needed to protect the Omega in their house, for however long or short he was with them.

A noise startled him from where he was finishing loading Castiel's clothes into the washer. He turned to see the Omega standing in the doorway, clutching the towel to his skinny hips, looking unsure. That wasn't why Dean's breath caught in his throat. Castiel was beyond skinny, yeah, his ribs stuck out like some horrible African child commercial. But the bruises, god the bruises were the worst. Deans shocked eyes raked over Castiel's wrecked body, cataloguing the myriad of purple, black, blue and yellow marks. Some were obviously new, while others, like the one that spread from Castiel's right hip all the up one side, was yellowed around the edges.

Dean knew better than to draw attention to certain things, so he forced a smile and held up the clothes he had for him.

"Here ya go, sorry that they're a bit big." He kept his smile as Cas timidly crept forward to take the clothes, holding them like Dobby getting his goddamn sock.

"Thank you, Dean. I – I really appreciate all of this." Cas smiled at him, and Dean was sort of happy to see, under all the grime, was a young man who looked salvageable, not like some of the guys that had been on Sammy's rehab course. His smiled fell when Castiel moved the towel and inadvertently showed the inside of his arms. Dean could see the track marks, dotted up and down his arms.

Ah, so into the heavy stuff.

He had rough, raw marks, around his wrists and ankles, which was pretty weird. Dean left it, it wasn't important in the grand scheme of things. What he did need to sort out, was where Castiel was going to sleep. He hadn't really thought about that.

"So, is the couch ok? I mean, you can have my bed, if you want, but the sheets aren't clean so…" Dean trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. He wasn't any good at this kinda stuff. Sam was the talker, not him.

"The couch is fine, Dean, thank you." Cas smiled and disappeared into the bathroom to get changed. Dean made them both a coffee, but he was pretty tired. He was used enough to coffee for it not to get him wired, but he was a little worried about a stranger sleeping on his couch. He didn't think that the Omega would stab him and his brother in their sleep, but you couldn't be too careful. The coffee would keep him from a deep sleep, to protect himself from random, stabby attacks.

He grabbed some blankets and a pillow from the hall closet, setting them down on the couch. The guy deserved to be comfortable. Fuck knows when the guy last slept in a proper bed.

Castiel appeared from the bathroom, looking fresh and clean. His dark hair was mussed and sticking up everywhere, and Dean found it endearing as hell. He was beginning to find the Omega pretty attractive, minus the grime and homelessness. Actually, who was he kidding, Castiel was a fucking god. Blue eyes, dark hair, tanned skin, fucking hell he was objectifying some poor guy who looked like he'd been hit by a bus.

He took the other coffee cup off the table and sat down on the couch gingerly, like it was going to bite him in the ass. They were quiet while drinking their coffees, but Dean could see Castiel sneaking glances at him every now and then. His eyes stayed downcast the rest of the time, though. Dean couldn't fight the yawn that crawled up this throat.

"Sorry, man, I am beat." Dean stretched his arms above his head, shivering when his back cracked and popped. Castiel just nodded at him. The Omega rose from the couch and timidly crossed the room towards him, and that confused Dean for a second before he remembered something he'd read about Omegas. They thrived on touch and scent, and Dean hoped against all hell that Castiel found his scent comforting. Just the fact that the Omega wanted contact with him meant he was beginning to trust him.

"Dean, um, may I?" Castiel was hovering just out of arms reach, so Dean held his arms out and twitched his fingers.

"Yeah man, come here." He almost flinched when he realised that sounded like an order, but it didn't seem to matter to Castiel. The Omega practically melted into his embrace. Castiel hummed happily, and Dean couldn't help but lean down and gently rest his face in the crook of Castiel's neck. He inhaled lightly, and caught that strange scent again, of pie and leather and –

And home.

Every crushing reality fell down around him, then. The fact that he didn't believe in that True Mate bullshit, why he would even deserve one when he'd been the one to –

No, fuck no, the frail scrap of skin in front of him deserved better than him. He swallowed, trying to unstick his dry throat, while his Alpha was roaring in happiness that it had finally found its other half. Dean's arms tightened around Castiel's thin body, while their heartbeats settled into one rhythm.

Mate

Mate

Mate.