After Sam had his fill of laughter, he began to take the situation seriously enough to try to be of some help. "Must be a witch, right?" Sam wondered aloud.

"I hate witches," Dean grumbled, pressing his face into his pillows, his entire body buried beneath the blankets while Cas sat on top of them, unable to move more than a foot away from the hunter.

"Pissed anyone off lately?"

"Screw you," came the muted, gravel reply.

"Hey, just trying to figure out who we might need to investigate to solve this."

"It wasn't a witch."

"How do you figure, Cas?"

"Because if it was a witch's curse, I could easily break out of it." He held the same type of confidence the Winchesters remembered from the early days. Lately, the no-nonsense, "I'm an angel, you dick", attitude was far in between. It had been hard for the angel to too highly of himself as of late.

"Yea, well, you haven't exactly been at full power recently," Sam winced at Dean's snark, irritated that his brother couldn't be more sensitive.

The deep blue eyes of the angel glared down at the bundle at his side, and Sam knew that if Dean had been aware of the stare, he'd be shrinking back. "I may not be at full power," Cas replied heatedly, and yet with so much ice, "but it's still more power than a mere witch could be capable of, and certainly more powerful than you."

Dean only scoffed. "Then what do you think it is?" Sam asked. He had noticed that since regaining control of his vessel from Lucifer, Cas was more susceptible to anger and annoyance, and he wasn't looking forward to Dean causing the angel to lose his temper at the moment.

There was a pause, that Sam was sure that meant Cas knew at least something, but then the angel replied in monotone. "I do not know."

"Thanks buddy," Dean grumbled once again. "Real helpful."

"Like you're being?" Sam retorted. A part of him did feel a little bad for his brother to be on a leash like some pet, but a larger part was simply irritated. "Look," he stood from the chair near the bed, "I'm going to do some research, and pay for another day. Then, when it gets dark, we'll head back to the bunker." He began to make his way to the door, but paused as his hand gripped around the knob, "Please behave until then."

Minutes passed after Sam left the room with neither of them moving or speaking. The atmosphere was tense. Too tense for Castiel, who had enough of being on the edge of his nerves. For six weeks he had felt useless and miserable without knowing where the Winchesters were, blaming himself for their disappearances. Then, when he had finally had them in his sights, with Dean less than an inch away from him in the car, Billy had informed them that one of the Winchesters had to die. And of course, if given his way, that Winchester would have been Dean. If it were to be anyone but Dean, then the hunter would have been as good as dead anyways. So Cas did the only thing he could think of. He killed Billie, and for that he had spent the last few days in a hostile disagreement with Dean. It was all too much for Cas to handle, especially after having Lucifer's mind waging war against his own, that the encounter with Isham had left him too drained to do anything.

"Dean," he tried to speak to the hunter gently, "do you wish to watch TV?"

The hunter huffed, and Cas could barely make out a shrug beneath the blankets. Trying not to sigh in exasperation and make things worse between them, Cas reached for the remote with his left hand. For hours they just sat there, Cas watching some mundane Lifetime movie and Dean insistent that his place was hiding. At on point Sam snuck in quietly to deposit food for them.

Upon realizing that Dean had fallen asleep, Sam set the bag of burgers on the bedside table next to Cas. "I know you don't eat, but just in case, I bought you some."

"Thank you."

Sam stayed there for a moment, looking at the tired angel. "How are you holdin up?"

"I am not the one on a leash," he answered in his graveled, monotone. For the past couple of hours that he had been stuck here, he had tried to keep that in perspective. As much as he would have liked to be doing something else, to not have a chain around his wrist, he had no room to complain. Dean was the one in the unfavorable situation, and Cas would try to remember that.

"Yea, but you are tied to my brother. That's got to be a headache."

A small lift of soft lips appeared, but Cas said nothing. "Thank you for the food Sam. You should go before Dean wakes up again. He will not approve of being seen like this any longer than need be."

"Right." Sam sighed. "Cas, you know, if you ever need to talk to someone, to vent, you can come to me."

Cas cocked an eyebrow. "I certainly can't do that in this situation,"

"I mean, with everything that's happened, I know how hard it must be," he tried not to mention Lucifer directly, but Cas knew that was where Sam's thoughts were leading him. "And I know it's not always easy being able to process something as painful as that with Dean around. He's got a way of repressing everything, and seems to think those around him should do the same."

Speaking of Dean, he was twitching at the angel's side, close to watching himself up. "Thank you Sam. I appreciate the offer." He gave his gratitude in a way that left no room to say anything more, and Sam dutifully left to do more research.

Hours later, the sun was just beginning to set and Dean began to shuffle restlessly. The hunter had been awake for awhile now, but, upon realizing that the leash hadn't been a horrible nightmare, pretended to still be asleep. Cas allowed him to keep the illusion. But now that Dean was tossing and turning, it was clear that even the hunter was done trying to lie to himself.

"Did you sleep well?"

"About as well as could be," Dean grumbled, sitting up. He rubbed his neck, both out of embarrassment and from his skin being irritable from the chain that was around it. Cas ignored the jostle of chains against his wrist.

"Are you in any pain? I am sure I could still alleviate any aches you are feeling."

For a moment Cas thought Dean would agree, but then he scoffed and said it was nothing. Best save the angel mojo for when they actually needed it.

"Sam come by yet with any news on how this happened?"

"No."

There must have been something in the angel's voice that alerted Dean that something was amiss. He stared intently at Cas, trying to read between the stoic expression. Suspicion clear in his own gravel tone, Dean questioned, "You come up with any bright ideas while doing nothing?" The accusation was clear too.

Cas wanted to point out that he couldn't have possibly been doing anything during the day with being tied to Dean as much as Dean was tied to him, but he refrained from getting on the hunter's nerves any more than what he already was.

Dean shook his head, again rattling the chain that was linked to Cas' wrist. "Damnit Cas. You know what this is, don't you? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I am not certain that I know what caused."

"But you're pretty damned certain." Green eyes were hard and narrowed, and Cas, though he wasn't looking straight rather than at his friend, could feel the heated stare. When Cas still didn't speak, Dean's anger rose even higher and he practically growled. "Well, what do you think?"

"Ishim." The answer was said softly.

Despite giving Dean what he had wanted - answers - he was still in a rage. Sometimes it frustrated Cas that he could never seem to appease Dean and calm him down. "Why would Ishim," he spat the word like it was a curse, "put a leash on me?"

Now this Cas really didn't want to explain to Dean, because he knew for a fact that it would only enrage him further. So he stared ahead and ignored the furious green eyes.

"Cas!"

"Before you came in, he said he wanted to help me." The words came out slowly and cautiously.

"And putting me on a leash was his idea of helping you?" Cas didn't reply, didn't move. His frozen state fueled the flames of Dean's anger. "Cas! Why would Ishim think this would be helping you? What did you say to him?"

"I said nothing to him," Cas denied, hurt and a little bit peeved that Dean would think it was something that Cas had said that would give Ishim the idea to do this. Dean stared, waiting impatiently for him to continue. Sighing dramatically for Dean's sake, Cas recounted his conversation with Ishim, word for word.

At the end Dean was as frozen as the angel. The anger seemed to have stifled for the moment to give room for surprise and hurt, but it didn't last long. "Pet? I treat you like a pet?!"

"From Ishim's point of view." Cas clarified, though to be honest that was the point of view many had. How many times had Cas heard himself be called the Winchester's pet angel or something akin to a pet, like an attack dog? Crowley. Balthazar. Rowena. Cain. Mick. And almost every brother and sister he had encountered since denying the Host for the brothers' mission.

Thankfully, Dean didn't seem to have the need to question any further, or to take his frustration out on Cas, and he quieted down as he turned his attention to the drama that was now playing. Cas knew that Dean was still furious, but could also tell that his rage was now being split in different directions. For one, he now had an actual source to direct his revenge against once they found a way to get of the chains. Two, probably still mad at Cas for whatever the angel had done to irritate the hunter so perpetually. And, as always, Dean himself. The green-eyed hunter was nothing if not as self-loathing as he was temperamental, if not more so.

They spent the rest of the evening in silence, much like the first part of the day, with Dean consistently twitching or pulling at the leash. Cas tried to ignore him as best as possible, but it was getting hard to keep his own agitation at bay. A few years ago, staying in the same spot doing nothing wouldn't have bothered the angel at all. In fact, he had spent many nights during the apocalypse standing guard over the eldest Winchester, never once wavering from his stance. However, since having his grace drained, mutated by Leviathan souls, becoming human, taking upon another angel's grace, having Lucifer possess his vessel...Cas hadn't been able to maintain all of his angelic posturing. Staying still was no longer something that Cas could do so easily.

Finally, Sam came back into the room, his own bags packed. Grumbling, Dean tried to rearrange his coat to hide the leash around his neck. Then, because there was no way to hide the chain that linked Dean's neck to Cas' wrist, the two had to stand hand in hand as they walked to the impala as if they were a couple. The night shift worker smiled as she saw them pass.

The parking lot as empty, which Dean counted as a small blessing. He dropped Cas' hand and tried to get as much distance as the leash would allow. "What the hell are you doing Sam?"

Sam stared at him pointedly. "Driving. Get in the back seat with Cas."

The angel could tell that Dean was about to argue, but Cas was getting tired as was, and didn't think he could put up with any more of Dean's arguments. Appearing as if simply obeying Sam's command, Cas got into the back seat of the car, forcing Dean to follow.

"Didn't have to tug on the leash," Dean muttered as Sam tried to his hide his smile in the rear view mirror.

"I apologize. I didn't think much about the leash. I was simply sitting in the same place I always do."

"Whatever." Dean crossed his arms across his chest, and glared out the window.