"Your brother… he seems worried about you," Cas sat down on the carpeted floor and stared at the swirly pink wallpaper.
Dean grunted quietly. "He shouldn't be… It's my job to worry about him."
Cas' eyebrows knitted together and he tried to understand. "Sam's your brother… It shouldn't be your job…" he was barely audible as he muddled through his own confusing thoughts.
There was a knock on the door and both boys froze.
Castiel pushed himself to his feet. He jumped to the other side of the door and found himself standing behind a small group of demons. He could see their faces. Their real faces, not just those of the innocent people they were possessing. They were hideous. Castiel still felt slightly nauseated every time he looked at one. Cas went back to Dean. "We have to leave," he said.
"But Dad isn't back…"
"That is not of import. We must go get your brother and get far, far away from here," Cas vanished for a few seconds and was suddenly walking out of a bedroom, flinging two suitcases onto the couch.
"No, Cas! If I leave without telling Dad, he will be so… angry," Dean's face twitched at the massive understatement.
"Dean… if we stay here, you are going to get killed. I can't be here all the time and when I'm not here, they will get you."
Dean bit his lip. It took everything he had to not open his mouth and argue that his life wasn't important. He only managed it because he thought about what would happen to Sammy if he died. He would be alone… and it wouldn't be too long before he got himself into trouble. Dean just nodded and let the angel zap him to Sam's school. "They won't go for Sam yet… will they?"
"No, probably not… not yet, anyway," Cas tugged on the bottom of his jacket before wrapping it around him though he could not feel the cold.
"Then let's pick him up at the end of the day? For now can we just… I don't know… " Dean looked down at his feet. "Can we go to like, a park or something? Somewhere outside?"
Castiel raised his eyebrows and looked around him. As long as they were far enough away, a park should be okay. He sighed and dumped the suitcases in a place he could easily retrieve them. Then he returned, surprising Dean as he placed a hand on the other boy's shoulder. He knew of a nice, quiet little park, almost completely blocked off from footpaths and roads. There was one little rocky path that cut through the middle, leading to a small, bubbling stream. The trees over-head leaned inwards so only the smallest flashes of blue could be seen through the leaves. It was quiet and secret and safe. So that's were Castiel took Dean.
Dean stumbled slightly as shook his head, rubbing at his temples momentarily. "Am I ever going to get used to that?" he grumbled and then he blinked up at his surroundings. His eyes widened and he stood up straight. A shiver ran up his spine and not a bad one. He shivered because he felt like this place and jumped right out of some Disney movie.
Castiel leant back against one of the moss covered trees and examined the green grass.
Dean sighed in relief and sat down, lying back and staring at the leaves above him. It was a relief to be relatively alone. No Sam, no dad, no demons and no fighting for his life. He didn't know why these demons were suddenly all after him, but he really didn't feel like fighting right now. He liked it sometimes, but not all the time… and he hated his father's secrets and he hated being left behind.
They were quiet for hours, just lying or sitting and listening to the birds and the trickle of the stream.
Dean was the one who started talking. "When I was nine… you said that you trusted your father…. Did you mean… God?"
Cas nodded and dug his hands into his pockets.
"God's real? Actual proper, God? He exists?" Dean pushed himself up onto his elbows. He would inevitably stain the sleeves of the blue, plaid shirt. "Wow… well, I don't know what he has against my family, but he hasn't really been a big help…"
"God has never meant to be kind," Cas rested his head back and looked at the small diamond of blue sky that he could see through the trees.
Dean started chewing on his lip. "And he tells you what to do? I mean… he gives you orders and you do what he says?" It was a guess, but it seemed likely.
Cas straightened up, jaw clenching and eyes growing wider. "I shouldn't be here," he said, voice low and gravelly. "I should have taken you to your father and left," he sounded panicked as he walked over to Dean and grabbed him roughly by the arm. "I was never meant to be your friend," he huffed as he took them to Sam's school.
The kids were all outside, eating or just mucking around.
Sam was sitting cross-legged in the shade of a tree, nibbling on an apple. He looked up as he heard Castiel approach. "What's wrong…?"
Cas didn't answer, just took the boy and went back to Dean.
"Cas, man, don't do this. You were doing a great job of keeping us safe," Dean didn't want to be taken to their father. John Winchester would be all kinds of angry and Dean hated it when he got like that, when he got so angry that it was dangerous to be around him.
"It was never part of the plan… so now you must go. I know where your father is. I'll take you to him…" Cas shuffled his feet and sighed sadly. "I'm sorry, Dean…"
Then that weird feeling of leaving your stomach behind came again and Sam and Dean were falling to their hands and knees in front of their father, who stumble back, eyes wide, dropping the bear that had been in his hand.
John's eyes flickered up to Castiel and his jaw dropped. "Who are you?" His voice came out as a breath.
"My name is Castiel. I'm an Angel of the Lord… and I am returning your sons to you. They were not safe where they were."
John frowned. "An angel…." He scoffed and reached out to pull Dean to his feet. "Come on boys… I've finished the job. Let's just get out of here."
"Can't Cas come too?" Sam asked. He seemed to switch a lot between your typical ten year old and a very serious and intelligent young boy who really acted older than he was.
Cas' mouth twitched into a smile. He almost wanted to reach out and ruffle the boy's hair as he had seen Dean do a few times. He just shook his head. "I cannot come with you Sam."
"But you can help us… fight monsters and things." Sam's eyes were huge shining orbs that nearly took up the entirety of his face. His stuck his bottom lip out and glared up at the angel. "You can keep Dean safe!"
Castiel glanced at Dean and felt a strange pang in his heart. He knelt down so that he was looking up at Sam. He didn't really know what he was doing… he didn't know how to deal with children, but Jimmy knew and Jimmy was guiding him now. "Sam… I will always be with you, keeping you safe. If I don't go with you now, even if you can't see me, I will be looking after you and your brother." Cas smiled and Sam frowned down at him. Castiel got to his feet and turned to Dean. "If any of you ever need me, just pray."
John huffed and gently pushed the boys forwards.
They walked away from Cas, who dug his hands into his pockets and smiled sadly.
Dean twisted his head around and lifted a hand to wave a goodbye.
John reached out and tugged Dean around, starting to move faster.
"I told you that he was an angel," Dean muttered under his breath.
"Yes, you did… good for you. I don't trust him."
"That was sweet, Castiel," Uriel sounded disgusted.
Cas ignored him and squinted up at the clouds that had gathered. Castiel often found himself ignoring his brothers and sisters.
"You're not going to go back to him, are you?"
Cas looked down at his hands as he clasped them together. "Not yet."
5 years later -
Dean tossed to shovel aside and wiped his forehead. "You know, you could have helped me," he glared up at Sam as he hoisted himself up and out of the grave.
"Just burn the bones already," Sam shivered and blew on his hands to warm them.
Dean grabbed the salt and oil they had… acquired from some friendly folk down the road and emptied what was left of each thing over the skeleton. He let the empty containers fall to the ground and pulled his lighter out of his pocket. He flicked the flame into life and let it fall onto the bones.
The resulting flames warmed the air around them and Sam held his hands out above them. "So, now that that's over can we go back to the hotel?"
Dean didn't answer. He didn't move, either. He stood there and waited until the flames died down so that he could reach in with a covered hand and pull out his lighter. He picked up the shovel from beside him and tossed it at his brother.
Sam groaned and started filling the grave in.
Back at the hotel both Dean and Sam announced that they needed sleep and went to their respective beds.
Their father was out again. He hadn't told them where he'd gone, only that he would be back in about a week.
Dean stared up at the ceiling as he waited for Sammy's breathing to even out. Then, he sat up and closed his eyes, clasping his hands under his chin as he started whispering. "Hey, Cas… It's Dean... I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm prayin'… I thought you might like to know that me and Sam are okay… Sam's being a bit difficult at the moment, but we're safe… It would be nice to see you though," Dean opened his eyes and quickly checked to see if he'd woken up Sam. He'd never been one for praying, but Castiel had been gone for five years and praying helped Dean to remember him. It was a sort of ritual he had. Twice a month, Dean would let the angel know that he was safe and he would say that it would be nice to see him, though there really wasn't a point. Dean wriggled down under the covers and closed his eyes, wishing that sleep would come sooner rather than later.
In the morning, everything started off as it usually did. Dean went down the street to buy some pie for his breakfast and to buy something that Sam would push away in disgust. He came back, scoffed down his food and watched Sam as he pulled out that morning's newspaper and looked for any jobs.
"I heard you last night, you know," Sam said without looking up.
Dean nearly choked on his pie, but managed to swallow the food before any real damage was done. "I have no idea what you're talking about…"
"You were praying to Castiel."
Dean grimaced and put his fork down.
"You know, Dean… if you really want to see him that bad, all you have to do is pretend it's an emergency," Sam put the newspaper down and stared at his brother.
"I don't know, man… I'd feel like a waste of his time if I did that…" he felt his ears grow warm and frowned at himself.
Sam smiled. "You don't need to do it," he chuckled.
There was the thudding beat of wings and a deep voice saying, "Dean."
Sam's smile got wider. "I did it for you."
Dean stood up, his chair tipping over behind him as he whirled around to face the man who had suddenly appeared. "Cas," he said, voice a shaky whisper as the blue eyes staring back at him intensely bored holes into him.
"What happened?"
