There was little time to wonder why demons had entered the room while Castiel was present, since he had one overwhelming agenda on his mind: Protect the Winchesters. He was… yes, pleased to be there. The angel was there to help this time and it was satisfying. Cas' form seemingly disintegrated and then was re-built in the next moment in front of the nearest demon with a flap of wings, forcing his palm against the unfamiliar man's forehead and pushing the demon out with all his holy might.
As Sam watched the orifices of the man's face burst with purifying light, he felt a soft push at his middle and then was promptly thrust through the air, slamming against the hotel wall and making the entire room shudder, as big as he was. He panicked and writhed against the force but it would not shift.
The demon holding Sam up was the cute waitress, with murder flaming in her abyssal eyes. Dean's gut wrenched with an inner emotional turmoil at the sight of his brother in pain and he sprinted towards her, arm outstretched to tackle her to the ground as an invisible knife cut across Sam's left cheek. Sam was groaning through gritted teeth, defying the stinging sensation as much as he could.
In some ways, Dean's tackle was successful. It certainly stopped the demon from carving into his little brother, but the spawn of Satan had managed to brace herself against it, meaning that she was only buffeted slightly to the left. Frustrated, Dean swung a punch but it barely connected and, if truth be told, stung his knuckles a little. He also thought he broke a nail.
The Winchester's new female form was nowhere near as athletically built or as muscular as his male form and so his usual brute strength was now a pretty useless tactic. The demon threw Dean onto the ground as if he was nothing and stood over him, one arm still stretching out towards Sam so that he was immobile. The bitch sneered. She actually fucking sneered.
"Shifters did a number on you… at least we know we can rely on those abominations to get rid of… lesser abominations for us." She spat at the ground next to Dean's head.
Dean tried to bark his response, but his female vocal range rendered it into more of a screech "So that's it, demons working with monsters. That's a new low, even for a bitch like you."
The demon's face wrinkled up. Obviously she was more hot-tempered than some of the demons they had come across before. She raised a hand and clenched it in front of her. Dean's gut began writhing in pain and he clawed desperately at his stomach, as though his hands alone would protect it. Then of course, Castiel was there, between her and Dean, fury written all across his features.
"You were foolish to believe that you could harm Sam and Dean with an angel present," he advised her, as if she would learn her lesson for next time, whereas in reality, she would never see a "next time".
Without any kind of warning, Dean picked himself up with considerable agility and charged at Castiel, his second try at a tackle. Sam called out in shock as Castiel tumbled to the floor, landing in a rather compromising position, with Dean's curvy legs straddling over his thighs. The calm, collected angel of the Lord actually blushed. Dean didn't think much of it, since he'd witnessed what Castiel had acted like when he'd taken him for some female intimacy before the end-of-the-world at that stripper joint. Sam, however, knew the reason behind his awkward expression as Dean huffily explained that they should question the demon instead of killing it without answers, before climbing off him.
The demon, in complete confusion and thinking that Dean had turned against his own, had stood there boasting merrily while the angel was knocked to the floor, not listening to anything past the sound of her gloating voice. When Castiel's hand was reapplied to her forehead and she was rather rudely (in her own opinion) tied up and placed in a demon trap, however, her mouth miraculously remained closed.
Sam was now self-treating his wound since Castiel was playing the part of the interrogator that evening. He was used to this procedure, having encountered more than cuts and scrapes while hunting in the past, so he had no problems with the fact that Castiel was a little too preoccupied to help this time.
He absent-mindedly listened to Dean's intense questioning and saw small bursts of light accompanied with the demon's screams and hasty willingness to answer anything the pair wanted to know. It had taken Sam some adjusting to the idea that angels would so readily murder and torture to achieve an end. It had taken him maybe even longer to adjust to the fact that angels could fall in love, especially with humans. Yet, in the next room was living proof of it.
The younger Winchester wasn't certain exactly when he had come to understand that Castiel was in love with his brother, just that it had come to be one of those passive facts in his life, such as that strawberries tasted good and that you could scare ghosts away using rock salt bullets. It had been glaringly obvious on many occasions too and Sam had often been amused by the fact that Dean's thick skull and carefully placed stony emotions had blinded him to this. The natures of Dean's emotions were also the very reason why it had taken Sam so long to realise that Dean returned Castiel's love, but he'd figured it out.
Sam did remember the exact moment when he had understood Dean's emotions for the angel of the Lord. It was the end of the world and Lucifer and Michael were about to wreak all havoc through the apocalypse. Sam had just announced his plan to say yes to being Lucifer's vessel in order to force him into his own cage in the pits of hell. Dean was extremely distraught, of course, but had agreed to let Sammy be a man and make his own decision.
It was the night that Sam had made his older brother promise to try and live a normal life while he was locked away in the cage. He'd suggested that Dean live with Lisa Braeden, someone he knew Dean held very dear and could live a normal life with.
"Lisa and Ben?" Dean had asked in response, which immediately perplexed Sam since his tone was fairly disapproving.
"Yeah, I mean, you could have a normal life and have a family."
"Oh and forget all about my real family, you and Bobby and Cas? I'm going to do everything to spring you, Sammy. I don't care how long it takes, I'm going to find a way." He had tapped on the steering wheel of the Impala to finalise his word even more.
"No Dean, you're going to forget all of this and you're going to live as normal a life as possible. Promise me".
"No, Sam. How can I forget everything? There will still be freaking angels walking the earth and you want me to pretend that everything is absolutely normal, that monsters don't exist?"
"You don't have to be the one to fight them. You've done more than enough. You could escape angels, demons… everything."
"I don't want to escape everything." Dean let slip in an angry burst of truth. Might as well elaborate. "I want… I need Cas around, when you're gone, I mean. He's all that I got to hang on to. I couldn't make Bobby come hunting with me, he needs his rest. He's getting old." Dean gave a half-hearted grin.
That little sentence had told Sam Winchester absolutely everything. His brother never ever ever admitted to needing anyone, let alone wanting them. This was when Sam knew that Dean's feelings for the angel stretched far beyond family. He'd never admitted that, of course, but Sam knew.
Yet of course, when Sam had thrown himself into the cage, Castiel abandoned Dean too. As much as the angel did not want to leave and felt that he could have enjoyed some time with Dean alone, he understood that it probably would be best for Dean to reside with Lisa and spend time in a calm surrounding. Then there was, of course, the pressing matter of heaven being under threat of chaos.
He had returned, for a short while, after Sam had come back, but swiftly left again and Sam could hear Dean praying to him more and more often in his absence, though whether it was because Dean missed the angel or that events were becoming increasingly dire without the aid of heaven, he wasn't sure.
Splashing his face with some freezing cold water from the tap bought Sam's thoughts back to the present day. Castiel was back and only because Dean was in danger. That much was obvious. It was damn about time that Dean and Castiel either admitted their feelings, even if to themselves, or gave up on each other completely. Watching the two of them angst and frustrate over each other was terribly gut-wrenching and something had to be done.
Then it hit Sam.
Dean was female and they didn't know if he would ever return to being male. He certainly couldn't continue hunting for a long time, not until he could get his new form to adjust to holding and firing guns, tone up the muscles and generally familiarise himself to hunting as a female. That could take years. So here was Dean's opportunity to get out of it all.
It was no secret that Dean wished he could have had a normal life since he was very small. The only thing that kept him hunting was that it kept other people safe and that it kept him close to his brother, but this way Sam could still be close to Dean and Sam would keep the people safe while Dean spent the rest of his life earning a well-deserved rest, to say the least.
Sam knew what he was going to suggest to Dean before the whole idea properly formulated in his mind. He just had to bring the pieces together.
It was simple; Dean could remain a woman and could have her own family. That way Dean wouldn't be so inclined to side-line it in order to hunt demons. Since Dean would be a sitting duck for any demonic forces that wanted to get revenge for some past hunting he and Sam may or may not have had a part in, Castiel could hang around as their protector. If Cas was not going to hang around, which could prove a huge hindrance to his plan, Sam would always be there on call to aid in any exorcisms. He hoped Castiel would stick around this time, though, since if he disappeared again, he didn't know what it would do to his brother.
Therefore, he silently vowed to himself to suggest this to his brother later, when Castiel was a little out of earshot. It was a long shot to imagine that Dean would warm to it straight away, but with the promise of Castiel being there always, he might just bite.
Sam's idea was interrupted by a ear-piercing scream and a curse, louder than the previous ones. An almighty eruption of light burst through the crack under the bathroom door and stunned the younger Winchester as a flash from a camera would. He hastily opened the door to find the girl slumped in the chair, with no demon left inside. Castiel was standing intimidatingly over her still, breathing heavily with his shoulders heaving.
Dean was standing slightly behind the angel, looking fairly confused but satisfied.
"What happened? Did she tell you anything?" Sam asked, approaching the pair slowly.
"Yes." Castiel said, apparently calming down a lot faster than any human would. "The location you identified as to the Shape shifter's whereabouts was confirmed."
"Oh, well that's great." Sam said, not yet wanting to reveal his suggestion that Dean remain a woman.
"The demon also told us that the demons and the shape shifters have formed some sort of alliance. They are planning something." Castiel added, and Sam noticed that he would not look over at Dean, yet Dean was staring intently at him, with an inquisitive gaze.
"It's definitely somethin' to do with me being a chick. We just don't know what they want beyond that." Dean concluded.
"She would give us no more information, so I felt it was appropriate to exorcise the demon."
"Hear that, Sammy? Felt! Castiel felt something! Crazy or what?" Dean said, pointing at the angel and shrugging her slender shoulders. "And you should have heard what the demon said right before he jumped into action and exorcised the bitch."
Castiel opened his mouth to object, but Dean's mouth carried on like a steam train. "She said 'I know what you feel Castiel, all the demons are laughing at you. You are weak because you feel strong affection for dirty, pitiful …' and then Cas here just went right ahead and killed her. But hey, what was that about Cas? You actually feel, now?" Dean gave a small and sarcastic chuckle "Who is dirty and pitiful? It sure isn't us or else you would've come back and helped us when we asked."
Sam couldn't help but note that there was some heartbreak in Dean's revelation that Castiel was in love with someone, or at least had strong affection for them. Sam rolled his eyes at the fact that Dean still hadn't gathered that this person was him.
Castiel bent his head low and shook it. They heard the familiar swoosh of Castiel opening his wings to fly away, but then another, completely unfamiliar sound when he closed them again. No, he wasn't going to run away this time. He was going to stand his ground and protect them.
"I am here now." Castiel said simply. "I am going to stay."
Sam had all he needed to confirm that his plan for Dean to remain a woman under Castiel's guardianship was one worth putting out there.