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Entering Seraphville station house, anticipation bubbled under Castiel's skin. His eyes shot round the small lobby area, desk unmanned. He spied Nancy through the glass partition as the young secretary pulled a manila file from one of a long line of cabinets. He raised his hand to wave. It seemed redundant to press the buzzer when he had clearly been spotted. Nancy smiled and cocked her head to her left, just as Victor and his partner Calvin emerged. Deputy Reidy held the access door open, letting the were-advocate put his foot across the threshold.

"He's inside," Victor explained tersely, "Skittish as a scared cat. Donna's taken him into her cubby hole."

Castiel's brows rose. If Donna had taken the pup under her wing then it was unlikely he had been arrested. "No charges pending?"

"Caught him rootin' in The Pumpernickel Bakery's dumpsters. Half-eaten squashed knish in his hand. Kid crumbled and freaked started weeping as if we'd killed a family pet when he saw us." Reidy began.

Victor adjusted his service weapon in its holster, adding "Came along nice and easy though. No-one's pressing any charges. He only looks twelve, says he's seventeen, if you can believe it?"

Castiel shrugged, reserving judgment. "Did he invoke his pack status straight away?"

With a chuff of annoyance, Victor spoke over his shoulder as he and his partner made to depart. "Wouldn't even tell us his name, between all his gulping and apologizing. Told Donna he didn't have any parents when she asked if she could call his Mom, and that got Nancy pulling out one of her embroidered hankies which made him even worse, and he let it slip about his pack."

"We gotta run, Castiel." Reidy concluded, "Donna'll give you the 411."

With a nod of farewell, Castiel turned round to Nancy who was placing a couple of files on one of the three open plan desks. She pointed towards the cubicle opposite Sheriff Mills' blind pulled glass-walled office.

"Jodi not here?" Castiel lowered his voice.

"She's off duty today." Nancy confirmed.

Three taupe toned cubicle panels offered Donna Hanscum a semblance of privacy. Castiel peered around the open side of her work space.

An empty donut box from The Pumpernickel, along with crumpled powered sugar dusted napkins, revealed how Victor had happened on the pup, and that their foundling had eaten something.

The pup sat on Donna's lap, legs dangling, with his head resting on her shoulder. In the moment before he was noticed, Castiel observed how innocent the teen looked with short dark hair just curling around his ears and a sweet young face. He was dressed in a plain brown crew-neck tee and ill-fitting pale blue jeans which looked too large and too long for his small frame. Castiel could not see any pack emblem or emblem of his designation, but he had no idea if the closest pack to his county undertook those traditions. He supposed the pup could have discarded either or both. He may not have presented yet, and if he had lost his parents, could he possibly have been exiled? When Donna looked up and greeted him, he put aside any wild speculations.

"And here is Castiel now." She spoke cheerily to the wary looking pup, "He's on your side, remember I told you, hey?"

Wide frightened eyes looked up at him. Before Castiel could offer reassurance, the teen turned his face back to Donna's shoulder. She stroked his back while mouthing to Castiel 'chair'.

Being on the same level as the nervous lupine was a good idea. As he ducked back round the cubicle to steal a chair, Castiel's brain pinged. Hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

The pup might not be a pup.

Tempering a geyser of excitement with professional decorum was a difficult task. Need for touch, neural pathways wired so that gentle continued touch soothes, the natural protective response of surrounding people, could he be in the presence of a young omega? How, and more importantly, why would a treasured sheltered omega flee his pack?

Sitting on the edge of his chair, leaning forward elbows on knees, Castiel attempted to establish communication. "Hello. My name is Castiel Novak. I'm an advocate. I don't know if you've heard of us?"

There was no verbal reply but the teen untangled a little from Donna's embrace.

"I'm human, but my role is to defend and protect lupines in need of my assistance. I'm on your side… It would be nice if I knew your name." Castiel paused, knowing he was being heard. "You don't have to call me Mr. Novak, or even Castiel…," Willing to bear an annoying nickname to make progress he offered, "My best friend calls me Cassie."

"Alfie."

"Nice to meet you, Alfie." Castiel beamed.

Donna echoed his words.

Alfie uncurled to reveal his face once more. "My friends call me Alfie." He picked at the hem of his tee, "My name's Samandriel Milt… I mean Samandriel of the Kripke's Hollow Pack."

"Well I think we'll stick to Alfie, if that's okay with you?"

"Okay, Castiel." Alfie fluttered his eyelashes shyly before looking down again.

"How'd you end up downtown, Alfie?" Donna asked gently, addressing the possibility that Alfie had been coerced away from his home "Did you want to come here?"

"Yeah, I kinda snuck out and hid in Beta Chambers' pickup on Farmer's Market day in Cannon."

"But that was two days ago, and Cannon's six miles from here." Donna pointed out with a note of worry.

"I walked. I wanted to find the bus station." Alfie bit his lip, before leaning back in for more closeness, demonstrating just how difficult he must have found spending those couple of days and nights alone.

"Oh darlin', we don't have a bus station, just a ticket desk in their offices and a bus stop near the community college." Donna sighed.

"Where were you headed, Alfie? Do you have friends or family elsewhere?" Castiel asked in hope that he could unite his new charge with an aunt or uncle, avoiding putting him into the system.

"No family." Alfie gulped. "One of the new beta guys, he's like way intelligent, he's out, permitted out, y'know, at college. I could find him."

"Do you have an address? Cell number?" Castiel pulled an index card from his pocket to jot it down.

"No, but I was going to Boston to find him."

Refraining from revealing Boston's sheer size and population, Castiel asked, "What about your close family?"

Alfie muttered, "Don't got any…. Not anymore."

"Is there somebody who will be worried about you? Someone you'd like me to call? Someone whose mind we can put at rest about your wellbeing?"

"'Dreel," Alfie sobbed, "But you can't call him… you can't call anyone…. 'cause you can't… and my friends… they helped me, but I don't want to get them in any trouble."

"And would there be trouble?" Castiel's concern meter was hitting red, "Are you worried about them?"

With a shaky nod, the teen slid from Donna's knees, dug his fingers into his back pocket and produced a triangle of red and white check cotton. He blinked at Castiel.

With trepidation the advocate asked, "Is that your pack emblem?"

A head motion in the negative, then Alfie tied the material as a headscarf with in a knot at the nape of his neck, letting a scrap of hair peep at his forehead. With soft tones and a quiet dignity he explained, "It's for omegas, like alpha's and beta's pendants. I'm Omega. Since the first snows, since the days darkened, since my family… Since I left pup-hood behind, and now I am seventeen and mature and our Alpha is seeking a suitable match for me…"

"And you do not want this?" Castiel enquired with an encouraging nod. The reveal of his secondary gender confirmed, any awe at meeting a pack omega was suspended. He was worried about what could have happened to Alfie's family but he focused on one reveal at a time, while treading carefully so not as to upset or overwhelm the teen.

"It is our way. It is Alpha's duty to find my mate, but I don't want to leave my home, and Alpha is talking to other packs, so…" Alfie gave a self-mocking chuckle, "I didn't want to leave so I ran."

"And you do not wish to go back?" Castiel imbued this important query with gravity. This answer would color how he would proceed on the young omega's behalf.

"I don't know. It's scary out here, but it's scary to go back too. What would happen to me?"

Deciding to address the human world half of Alfie's almost rhetorical question, Castiel explained that he could find somewhere for him to stay while decisions were made on his future. He could try to find a lupine family, or at least a foster family with lupine pups, but at seventeen he could also perhaps assist Alfie to live independently.

"Alone?" Alfie quivered. "No. Not alone, not with strangers, I don't want to alone." In an almost inaudible whisper there was a hushed postscript, "want 'Dreel."

"How's about Alfie comes home with me tonight? Hey?" Donna chipped in.

Both lupine and human looked at her in relief.

"Me and Jods, my boss," She added for Alfie's benefit, "We've sometimes taken a stray home for a night. Castiel will tell you. Things go down after dark when shelters are closed, when a cell in the station isn't a suitable overnight. I think you could swing it with your head honcho, hey, Castiel?"

"I need to call it in, but I believe that is a very acceptable solution."

"You betchya. I'm going make it my aim to get some nutritious food in our pretty waif." She winked at the omega, eliciting a blush from the teen.

"Alfie, would you like to go home with Donna?"

While Alfie accepted and Donna began enquires as to what home cooked meal she could whip up for the omega, Castiel moved to a free interrogation room.

He flipped the lights and closed the door to call Naomi in private. His superior, on her way home, stamped her approval on Donna Hanscum as overnight caretaker of their charge. Then she stoked up such fury that Castiel's grip almost crushed his cell phone casing. He was to appear in her office at precisely nine the following morning to report on the case. She wanted his input following her phone call to Kripke's Hollow and John Winchester's demand to return his wayward pack member.

When the call had gone dead, Castiel remained frozen in place. He could not react while he still needed to see Alfie safely off to Donna's home. In law, Naomi had done nothing wrong. In human law, 17 year old Alfie was a minor. In lupine regulations, his pack alpha was entitled to be appraised of his location. Castiel closed his eyes wishing that Naomi possessed a little more compassion, more humanity. He considered it his duty to go above and beyond, to use the weft and weave of regulations to do his utmost for those in his care. He had a sinking feeling that his department had already failed the young omega, but he vowed to do his damnedest to rectify any damage Naomi had caused.

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A/N:

Holds hands up. I know, no Sam or Dean yet, but we are getting there. In my draft, this was only the midpoint of chapter two, but it seemed a good place to stop and post this. Thank you very much for reading and following. I always appreciate it.

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