Dean rubbed viciously at his eyes, trying to wake himself up. What he needed, was coffee. He raised his arms above his head, stretching out the tense, wound up muscles. He had lain awake for the greater part of the night last night, wondering when this stalemate between him and Castiel would end. It had been six days and nine hours since Cas had shown him his dream. Part of him want to pray to Cas, and ask him to explain why he was so horrified at Dean's dreams, it wasn't like he could control whether he had them or not. The other part was much too proud to do that, wanting to wait for the angel to come to him. Not that Cas would give in that easily.

The case he and Sammy were working on wasn't helping. They were in Creston, Iowa, where in the past two weeks, seven people had been brutally killed, with stakes. At first Dean had thought, or wanted to think, that the victims were just a coincidence, whoever had been in the right place at the right time. But Sam had spent an hour doing research on his computer, which was a big surprise, and it turns out all seven belonged to the same church. As always, Castiel and the rest of the bible characters followed him everywhere he went.

"Dean, get out of bed you have to go to church." Dean slammed his eyes shut, groaning.

"I have to? Can't you?" Dean sat up, still surrounded by a sea of sheets.

"No, I have to go to the coroners. And no, we can't switch because you already told the coroner you were a journalist. He thinks I'm FBI." Rather than responding, Dean swore under his breath. "What's up with you lately? You're sulking around all the time. Is it because of Cas?"

"What? N-No… Why would you think that?" Dean tried to stand up normally, to appear as if everything was normal. He swayed forward, his tired legs unable to support him. At that, Sam snorted.

"I'm not dumb Dean. We're having a talk about this tonight. Now, get your Sunday best on and go to church."

Cas sat in an old and worn, yet loved armchair. He was in his garrison's library, with Uriel and Anna. He drew his knees up, and wrapped his arms around his shins. He was trying to work, to help Uriel, but couldn't concentrate. His friend was having trouble with his new charge, as he was an atheist. The three of them were trying to come up with a foolproof way to show this man that God existed, but was absent from His post. Where was He? Castiel wished he had someone to confide in about his troubles with his Father, but the only person who he could think of that he could talk to was Dean, or at least had been. He wanted desperately to go to Dean, and demand to know why he was disgusted at his own dream. But something held him back, not wanting to know. He was afraid that if he knew, the slightest hope of a chance of the possibility of them, his candle, would be extinguished. A voice brought Cas out of his trance.

"Why don't you just show him your wings? He can hardly say that you're that guy from X-men." The voice belonged to Gabriel.

"Ya, 'cause that's a good idea," snapped Anna.

"Jeez, sorry. Someone's touchy."

"Anna is tired Gabriel," said Uriel. "What is your business with us?"

"Actually, it's with Cas." Gabe turned to face his brother, still curled up in the chair. "Come with me, I need to talk to you. Alone."

Reluctantly, Cas emerged from the comfort of his oversized chair. Gabriel touched his arm, and they flew to Gabe's room. It was set up like a lounge, with huge leather couches, and it had a bar. Castiel's favorite part however was the old record player. Today, it was playing Elton John. Gabe shuffled over to one of the brown couches, and sunk down into it, Cas not far behind. The way Gabe was acting made Cas think that a major 'heart to heart' was about to happen.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about brother?" Cas was surprised that his voice sounded normal, no dips or cracks. Maybe his mask was more seamless than he thought.

"Your charges, the Winchesters. More specifically, you're interesting way of dealing with Dean Winchester." Nope, my mask is not close to adequate.

"What makes you think I'm dealing with him interestingly?"

"Well, for one, you're in love with him." Cas' eyes widened at that. As he opened his mouth to respond but Gabriel cut him off. "Don't play me for a fool Castiel, even if none of the others are observant enough, I know what I see. I also know something big went down recently because you haven't visited those two pesky, vexatious brothers in nearly a week. Where as before, you followed them around to give them a Band-Aid when they got a paper cut."

"I-I… Well…"

"Witty response, as expected. Do you want to explain to me what happened? Or am I going to have to go talk to Dean, and be your personal love maker? One or the other Cas, either one works with me. However if you make me cupid, keep in mind I can't help but be strikingly theatrical." Gabe raised his eyebrows, taunting Cas. "Seriously though, I can't just leave you like this."

"Gabe, I…. I can't. He isn't interested, end of story. Please, just leave it alone, okay?"

"Was he an asshole to you Cas?" Gabriel got the wrong idea from Cas, and clenched his fists, his knuckles whitening.

"No, not at all. I just… I was foolish."

"Come on Cas, your going to have to tell him how you feel sometime. Its not like the world will end. If you really need it, I can get Michael to switch the angel on the case, but you at least have to try first."

"What if he… what if he laughs at me Gabe?" He looked over to his closest brother, eyes wide and child-like.

"Then he's a fool, and not worth the trouble he's brought. But if he doesn't, won't it be worth the risk?"