059. Food

"Don't you need to eat something?" Meg asked.

"No," Castiel replied sharply.

It had been a few days since she had gotten him out of the reservoir and one word answers had become the norm. It was hard for her to form an alliance with him when he seemed to be determined to pretend that she didn't exist. Meg hadn't even received a "thank you" for her efforts, and she always had to hold her tongue before reminding him who saved his ass.

Pushing the envelope wasn't the smartest thing to do in case he decided to turn around and smite her one day. But she would probably need to start pushing the envelope if he didn't get any more vocal with her. She was only helping him for her own insurance and a monosyllabic angel wasn't much insurance to go on.

"Well, maybe you don't need to," Meg said. "But do you want to?"

He looked at her from across the hotel room and they held each other's gaze for a few moments before he darted his eyes away.

"Why would I want to eat?" he asked.

Meg sat up straighter in her armchair. She was finally getting a complete sentence out of him.

"Because you just want to," she shrugged. "It's not like you need a reason to eat, Clarence."

"Exactly, there's no reason for me to eat," he said, frustration growing in his voice. "So, why would I want to?"

"Because food tastes good?" she suggested.

Castiel didn't reply after that and she didn't have the patience to stick around for him to speak up. Standing up, she grabbed one of the hotel keycards before heading toward the hotel room door.

"You want anything at the breakfast bar?" she asked.

She took his lack of response as a "no" and headed out into the hotel hallway. The hall was only occupied by a maid knocking on doors for housekeeping. The maid smiled in greeting to Meg who ignored her in response. She was halfway down the hallway when the maid called out to her.

"Do you and your husband need any extra towels in your room?" she asked.

Meg turned around and looked the maid up and down. The urge to rip someone's head off was started to itch up on her, but she resisted. Besides, it didn't look like the woman had five more years left on her.

"No, we don't," Meg responded before making her way to the elevator at the end of the hall.

With her mind off of extra towels, Meg started to think of the "husband" remark. An angel being the husband to a demon? It sounded like the beginning of one hell of a bad joke. She wasn't playing house with Castiel, just getting him back on his feet so that she could add him to her contact list.

The elevator eventually made its way to the floor and the doors slid open. Stepping inside, Meg applauded herself on her hotel choice. She wasn't going to stay in some dinky motel like a Winchester and she sure wasn't taking Clarence to the Taj Mahal either. A generic hotel that was part of a hotel chain with a free breakfast in the morning was enough for her.

A dinging noise signified that she had reached the lobby. Exiting the elevator, Meg spotted the breakfast nook to the side and headed over. After grabbing an apple and a danish, she sat down at a vacant table in front of the TV.

The morning news usually had decent leads on to where demons might be hiding out. Of course sometimes it actually was just a human murdering spree, but most of the time it was one of her ex-pals getting bored. Sinking her teeth into the apple, Meg continued to watch the news with all of the people buzzing around her. All of those vacant humans, not even knowing that a demon was within five feet of them.

After finishing her breakfast, Meg headed back to the counter to get a few more danishes to bring up to the room. Maybe if she dangled one in front of him he would take it.

Once again in the elevator, Meg leaned against the back wall and thought of her next move. She needed to get some new clothes, for her and Clarence. He was still wearing that same suit and it was definitely time to retire it. She also needed to steal a car and get some cash. Meg groaned as the list seemed to weigh on her, it was so much easier when she could just get someone to do all of this for her.

The elevator ride was short and Meg headed down the hallway and back to their room. She swiped the keycard and opened the door to find that Castiel hadn't moved an inch. After closing the door behind her, Meg made her way to Castiel, placing the danishes on the table next to his chair.

"I don't care how pretty you look on the outside, your meatsuit is probably starving," Meg said, pointing toward the pastries. "Now eat before I shove those down your esophagus."

Castiel eyed the danishes before taking a cream cheese one and biting into it. Meg let out a sigh as she sunk into the armchair across from him. She waited until he had finished the first danish before starting with her questions.

"So, what happened to you?" she asked.

He looked at her, contemplated her question, and shook his head. "I'd like to ask you my questions before I answer yours."

Meg fought back an aggravated sigh before replying. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"Why did you save my life?" he asked.

"Insurance," she shrugged, examining her fingernails in hopes that it looked like this was all no big deal.

"Insurance for what?" he pressed.

"For my safety," she said. "I already told you, you owe me. I get a get out of jail free card for my good deed."

"I thought you hated angels," he said.

"Oh, I do," she confirmed. "I just happen to have a soft spot for the fallen variety of angel."

That was probably the worst thing to say though. Castiel's eyes flickered to her immediately and there was pure anger behind those blue irises.

"Don't compare me to him," he all but growled.

"Come on, Clarence, there's obviously a connection there," she said nonchalantly. "There's no need to get your panties in a bunch."

This also seemed to be another completely wrong thing to say. Castiel stood up quickly, took two long strides across the room to her, and roughly grabbed the front of her shirt.

"I am nothing like him," he said. "Nothing."

"Okay, okay," Meg said, holding her hands up in defeat. "I take it back. Just calm down, I don't want you blowing a blood vessel or something."

"Why are you helping me?" he asked suddenly, the grip on her shirt tightening.

"I told you- insurance," she repeated.

"No, the insurance was saving me," he said testily. "Why are you still here? Giving me food? Taking care of me?"

She opened and closed her mouth as she tried to think of a lie. His patience was growing thin though, and the truth was going to come out eventually.

"I'm being hunted, okay?" she confessed, standing up and throwing her arms up in the air. "All of my contacts are giving me the cold shoulder and I've got nobody. So, I thought that-."

"That I would stay with you?" he finished for her, his face a mixture of disgust and amusement. "Why would I stay with an abomination like you?"

"Because, baby, you're just as much of an abomination as me," she said, not even trying to suppress her smirk.

Meg expected him to hit her, to storm out of the room and never look back, or for him to laugh in her face. The last thing she expected was for him to let go of her shirt and back away from her. His legs hit the back of his armchair and he sat back down.

Continuing to watch him, Meg was even more surprised when he grabbed another danish from the table next to him and started to eat again. It was like their conversation had never even happened.