"Dammit!" Sam cursed, kicking the dead end in front of him, with one angry foot, scowl decorating his face and pulling it deep into taut lines of frustration. "It's a dead end."
"Are you sure? It said on the map there was a way through," Castiel replied, running his hand gently over the rock fall, and dusty, choking coal dust and mud in front of them.
Sam sighed, kicked the rock fall uselessly, before falling back, hands upraised in a useless gesture of submission.
"The map's gotta be at least twenty years old, Cas. Anything could have happened to the mines since then. Anything has," Sam said, voice dead and devoid of all emotion. "I guess this place is more unstable than we were led to believe. Did you hear that rock fall just now? Sounded pretty rough."
"Yes, Sam. I heard it," Castiel replied, rubbing his hand clean on the hem of his trenchcoat, darkness covering the majority of his disgusted expression.
He picked his way slowly back through the shaft they were currently standing in, eyes scanning the darkness, in confusion, eyes coming up each time with a count of two bodies - Sam's and his own.
"Sam, where's Dean? He was here just a minute ago, wasn't he?" Castiel asked, gruff voice bouncing harshly against the walls, echoing back in deadened sounds to his own ears.
"Dean? He was right behind - Dean? Dean, where are you? Dean," Sam said, sharply, pushing past the angel in the confined space and heading back the way they had come, flashlight bobbling in front of his body as he sought the familiar shape of his brother.
Castiel followed in the younger hunter's wake, brows furrowed with concern over Dean's whereabouts, wondering where he could have gotten to in the short time they'd been on the tributary to the main mine shaft.
"Dean?" he called, gruff voice joining Sam's, sounding a little more desperate than the hunter's, hands reaching blindly in front of his own body when Sam's flashlight was directed elsewhere.
"Can't you locate him? You're an angel, do your magic," Sam demanded, when the search still yielded nothing in the shape of Dean.
"I can't, Sam. He's protected by the sigils I carved into his ribs - you know that. I can't find him, and I wish that I could," Castiel replied, voice sounding harsher the more desperate he became.
Sam glanced at Castiel in surprise, unused to seeing, or rather hearing, that much emotion coming from the angel, all too used to him being emotionless, withdrawn, unreadable at the best of times. It sounded to Sam as though Castiel was genuinely worried about Dean, love shining through the angel's words and warming them, deadening the concern just a little. He turned his gaze away from the angel, tension over being trapped with the angel apparent in every line of his body. He didn't see the mirroring tension in Castiel's face whenever he glanced Sam's way.
A sudden rumbling, grumbling sound came from overhead, sounding like many cracks appearing in the roof overhead, accompanied by the ominous sounds of the first stirrings of soot, dust, rocks pattering against the floor beneath their feet.
"Sam, watch out," Castiel said, sharply, yanking Sam back and out of the way of a fresh rock fall pounding down from the ceiling, drenching them in billowing clouds of dust and rocks, threatening to choke them both in its cloying embrace.
He shielded Sam's body as best as he could with a thrown out arm, a hastily unfolded wing, bearing the brunt of the dust and odd ping of a bouncing pebble and rock from the ceiling and sparing Sam the worst. The hunter huddled beneath the angel's wing, heard the sounds of the ceiling caving in behind him, coughing in the choking dust that managed to escape the folds of Castiel's shelter. Finally, the ceiling stopped falling, and the dust stopped shifting, settled down finally until the air was a little clearer, easier to breathe and to see in.
He straightened, saw Castiel slowly ease his wing back into the confines of his vessel, eyes seeming too large and all consuming in his slim, usually serene face.
"Hey, thanks, Cas," Sam said, tried to smile gratefully at the angel, but failed to make his tension against the angel fade.
His smile faltered, failed into a blank expression, before his attention was diverted by the passage back being blocked by a floor to ceiling drift of rubble and dirt.
"You're welcome," came Castiel's stoic reply, voice calm, unreadable, gruff once more, distant towards Sam.
He fell into silence, watched as Sam tried to shift the rubble, raised choking clouds of dust and drifting trapped coal dust instead. He watched as the hunter reluctantly gave up, relegated to just standing, staring at the obstruction, as though the rocks would move by the ferocity of his glare alone.
"We're trapped, aren't we?" Sam asked, voice sounding so small, so lonely in that instant, Castiel was surprised.
He'd never known Sam could sound so young, so alone as he did in that one instant, was reminded once more of the massive age gap between himself and the human. Thousands of years separated their ages, and only in instants such as this was the angel forcefully reminded of that gap. He sighed, crouched by the floor, stared grimly at the obstructing wall of messy rocks, before sighing again.
"I'm afraid we are, Sam," he said, quietly, voice steady, calm, despite the inner tension stiffening his body.
He wouldn't let his worry over being trapped be detected by Sam, would not let even his concern, his love for Dean leak past his guards, to be laid bare for Dean's brother to dissect, to perhaps make fun of. He started laboriously shifting the obstruction, piece by careful piece, not wanting to shift the wrong piece at the wrong time and bring a slide of suffocating rocks and rubble down upon his head, upon Sam's head. He felt Sam's gaze resting heavily upon him, tension hanging thick in the air between them, almost touchable in its intensity.
"What's the matter, Sam? You seem as though you have something to say," he said, refusing to look at the hunter, didn't even stop carefully moving the rocks from the blockage and piling them up behind him, creating a dam behind them both.
"Nothing," Sam replied, voice sounding petulant, distant, unwilling to talk to the angel.
"I may be an angel, Sam, but that does not make me stupid," Castiel replied, pausing in his efforts in shifting the stones, to level an intense stare at Dean's younger brother. "Ever since this hunt started, you've been quieter than usual, and have been throwing both your brother and me some pretty strange looks. I wouldn't mind knowing at least why, for Dean's sake, rather than mine. He is your brother after all."
Sam pushed his hands deep within the recesses of his back pockets, lips pursed, face narrowed down into a patented Sam Winchester bitch face of doom. Castiel waited, eyebrows raised slightly, expression patient and serene as he settled down against the rock slide behind him, trenchcoat billowing around his legs as he settled the fabric around his slender frame. Sam could see that the angel would wait an eternity for his reply, if an eternity was how long he would be required to wait. He sighed, shuffled moodily over to where Castiel was sitting, before slumping down heavily beside him. Castiel moved slightly, to make a little more space for the larger man, still staring at him intently.
Sam met his intense blue gaze, surprised at the knowledge, the age held deep within those intense blue depths, swallowing slightly when he remembered that this was not a human he was looking at, at least not internally. Jimmy was but a vessel, a shell for a much more powerful being and sometimes Sam found that he forgot that. He sighed, rubbed the back of his neck wearily, before brushing his hand through his hair with a sigh blasting loudly from his nose.
He considered remaining silent, not saying anything at all to the angel, but knew that there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run to get away from the angel's ever watchful scrutiny, and infinite patience. He sighed, shoulders slumped in acquiescence, realized that things couldn't go on indefinitely between them the way they were.
"I saw you," he said, quietly, uncertain as to how to carry on with his own words, when his own train of thought was so muddled, so confused and tangled within his own head.
"Yes," Castiel replied, head tilted to the side, expression one of confusion, not really understanding Sam's words.
"You're an angel," Sam said, awkwardly, mouth opening and closing uselessly, eyes staring blankly in the darkness, thoughtful expression under lit by the torch he still held in his hands.
"I am," Castiel replied, still staring at Sam, still not understanding just where the hunter was going with his seemingly unconnected statements.
"My brother's human, Cas," Sam said, words rushed, embarrassed, tumbling from his mouth on a rapid fire exhalation of breath that stirred the dust from his shirt in little puffs.
"He is," Castiel said, slowly, understanding slowly creeping into his voice as he closed his eyes, guessing where this conversation was about to lead.
Sam stood, stretched his long legs before him and paced the small space where they were trapped, hands pushing desperately through his hair while he thought, mind obviously racing, thoughts jumbled, not quite connecting while he sorted through them for the right words to say.
"I saw him kiss you, Cas. I saw you touch him. I never thought that my brother would - " and Sam broke off, walked away from the angel, shoulders hunched, back rigid, as he kicked moodily at the pile of rubble Castiel had pulled from the rock fall moments before.
"What, Sam? Fall in love?" Castiel asked, quietly, voice tight, dark, brows pulled down as he watched Sam pacing.
"Yes. No. You know what I mean, Cas," Sam replied, sounding as frustrated as he looked at that moment, kicking out and chasing an extra large pebble with a scuffed boot.
"I'm not a guy, if that's what you are worried about, Sam. I am an angel. We do not recognize gender in the same way that humans do," Castiel explained, picking up a fallen rock and twisting it through slender fingers as he spoke.
"You're possessing some poor bastard, Cas! Jimmy's a guy," Sam pointed out, whirling on Castiel, who remained steady, unflinching, staring up at the hunter with a steady gaze.
"Jimmy is not me," Castiel reminded him, patiently. "True, I am in Jimmy's body, but it is not Jimmy that Dean is in love with."
"This is not what I expected of Dean," Sam said, throwing his hands in the air, helplessly, looking fragile despite his size, weary, worn down, all tension slowly fading away beneath the weight of Castiel's logic.
"You cannot choose who Dean loves, Sam. You should be happy for your brother," Castiel said, finally standing, brushing his coat clean of dust, of dirt, handprints smeared in grubby lines against the light fabric.
"I am. It's just - " and Sam whirled away, hands bunched in his hair, a great sigh easing past his lips, shoulders slumping still further. "I didn't expect him to go gay for an angel."
"I told you - I am neither male nor female, not in my true form at any rate. I am an angel. Would it matter so very much if your brother was gay, Sam?" Castiel asked, head tilted to the side as he regarded Dean's brother closely. "I think the human term for what Dean is might be bisexual, anyway."
Sam turned, faced Castiel finally, eyes blazing, before his body finally sagged and he seemed to grow smaller, weary.
"No, it doesn't matter. He's Dean, he's my brother, he's always looked out for me. I should be happy for him," he said, voice sounding automatic, almost robotic. "Do you love him, Cas? And don't give me any of that crap about loving all of humanity. You know what I meant by that."
"Of course I do," Castiel replied, immediately, without hesitation. "I love Dean more than the rest of humanity put together."
Sam stared at the angel, saw that Castiel was serious and meant his words, gaze never dropping from Sam's, expression grave, serious, unrelenting.
"Fine. So you love him," he said. "Just don't hurt him."
"I don't intend to," Castiel vowed. "Just the same as he would never hurt me."
Sam raised his hand, before he nodded, eyes clearing at Castiel's words.
"You know, I think you have a point. He wouldn't hurt you. I've never seen him so happy with another as he is with you," he said, slowly.
"And?" Castiel asked, shoulders rising and falling in an expansive shrug, gesture more indicative than his words as asking what the fuss was all about.
"I don't know, Cas. I guess I'm just having a hard time dealing with your - package," Sam said, awkwardly pointing to Jimmy's face, Jimmy's body with one large hand.
"You'll get used to it," Castiel said, confidently. "I think you'll have to. You don't want Dean to be unhappy, do you? Because he will be, if you try to stop us from being together."
Sam remained silent at that, brow furrowing when he heard faint sounds coming from the other side of the rock fall, scrabbling and scrambling as though someone was trying desperately to get through.
"Dean?" Sam yelled through the obstruction, choking back a mouthful of dust, hand covering his mouth in a balled fist as he coughed. "Dean!"
"Sammy? Cas!" Dean's voice filtered through the rubble, sounding tired, relieved, as shifting scree announced the fact that Dean was at least trying to get through to them.
"Dean? Thank God," Sam said, scrabbling at the rock fall from his side with impatient hands.
"God had nothing to do with it, Sam," Castiel said, in disapproval, shifting rocks beside the hunter, lips pressed down in a tight frown.
Sam acted as though he hadn't heard what the angel had said, scowling gaze intent on shifting rocks, sliding, choking mud and dust. Castiel smiled to himself, but remained silent. He may have Sam's grudging acceptance now, but it didn't mean to say that he had his complete approval right now. He remained silent, as did Sam, and they both clearly heard the snarls from outside, snarls that didn't come from Dean himself.
Sam and Castiel stared at one another, shared shock and horror reflected in each other's eyes, before they started scrabbling faster at the fall before them, shouting Dean's name loudly. Dean didn't reply, just shouted aimlessly at something on the other side of the obstruction, shouts and screams interspersed with vicious grunting, growling, grumbling that came from something not human ....
-tbc-