When Dean and Castiel finally emerged from the hotel room Sam was sitting on the hood of the Impala drinking a beer from the cooler. He was just glaring at Dean with the bitchiest face he could muster. Which just caused Dean to return a smug look.
"Bitch."
"Jerk."
Dean moved to get in the driver's seat as Castiel tried to be daring enough to steal shotgun from Sam.
"Oh, hell no," Sam huffed, quickly walking between Cas and the door, "absolutely not."
"Oh, come on, Sammy. If you ask me, I'd say he earned it," Dean said giving his brother a cheeky grin and winking at him.
Sam opened the door, sliding inside, "I swear, I am this close to killing you."
Dean couldn't help but laugh at all the discomfort he was causing his brother as he turned the key and his Baby purred to life.
Castiel got in the back seat, "we did learn something new."
Sam screamed, positive he was experiencing a panic attack. The problem was Dean would spout of innuendos to make Sam uncomfortable, but Castiel would take it as serious and continue the conversation. Sam shook his hands in front of him, wishing he could throttle someone's neck.
"Both of you stop it!"
Castiel tilted his head in confusion, "what?"
Dean laughed so hard his vision crossed. Probably not the best thing as he was currently driving. He eased off the accelerator until he could contain himself. He didn't want to damage Baby.
"No he means about his mojo." Dean leaned over the bench seat to get one last jab in, "in bed."
Sam landed a hard punch squarely on his brother's shoulder.
"Ow!" Dean whined playfully.
"You deserve it."
Castiel couldn't help but smile at the levity between the two brothers.
"No, the part of my Grace fused in Dean's soul, it quickened the rate at which I felt, human, things," Castiel stated, clearing the confusion.
"Oh," Sam breathed, "well that's handy."
"Yes," Castiel nodded, "indeed it is handy." Castiel said the last word curiously. Dean couldn't help but smile. It was a strange thing, to watch Castiel's vocabulary expand almost backwards. He remembered back to when they first met, and he didn't understand half of what Castiel said because the words he chose.
Dean pulled into the parking lot of the address Charlie had given them before they left. The restaurant was a brick building sandwiched between a laundromat and a bank. It only had one window where a neon open sign hung.
"Hole in the wall, I like it," Dean aid as he turned off the engine and got out. Castiel followed after, then Sam, who was still mad and not talking to his brother.
When they walked inside Castiel immediately saw Ariel and walked to her. Her and Charlie were sitting in a corner booth. Sam slid in first as he greeted the girls followed by Cas and Dean.
"Hey," Charlie said to everyone but couldn't take her eyes off Castiel who sat across from her.
Castiel felt nerves wash over him as he began to feel uncomfortable under her gaze, "Hello," he choked out before adverting his eyes.
Dean noticed and sighed, "Everything, OK, Charlie?" he asked trying to break her trance.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," she looked up at him and smiled.
Dean couldn't help but give her a side eye as the waitress came up.
"How is everyone?" She looked over at the girls, "know what you want?"
It was standard bar food. Charlie had ordered a club sandwich with a soda. Ariel had decided on a dozen buffalo wings (she also ordered a beer.) That made Castiel state that he didn't understand, buffaloes don't have wings. Dean just shook his head suppressing a laugh as everyone else tried to explain it to him all at once. He was going to stay out of that conversation. As usual Sam ordered a salad; and told Dean he could drink if he wanted, offering to be the DD. As much as Dean was driving him crazy, he knew his brother. He knew Dean had been inappropriately hiding his emotions in bad jokes to make him seem like he was handling everything better.
Dean nodded a small thanks to his brother and ordered a bacon cheeseburger and whiskey on the rocks.
"You hungry, Cas?" Dean asked as he handed the waitress the menus.
"No, thank you. I'll have a drink though," he paused for a second trying to figure out what he wanted but couldn't think of anything. He really didn't think they tasted much different from each other, "I guess I'll have some whiskey too."
The waitress nodded and walked away.
The bar was starting to fill as the night went on. Dean was on his third drink and Ariel was matching him. Sam cut Castiel off at six after the waitress made a comment of his ability to hold liquor.
"Excuse me a second," Charlie said as she got up, walking toward the back to go to the bathroom.
"Dean, let us out," Sam asked nudging him, "come on, Cas, help me pick some music."
"But, I don't care for this music," Cas protested as Sam pulled him off to the jukebox anyways.
Sam started to push the button on the old style jukebox to switch through the albums, "I don't care. Dean isn't going to talk at all if you're there sitting next to him."
Castiel's head cocked to the side, "Why not? We've been better at talking about things."
Sam sighed, "I know. But Dean is still an idiot, and doesn't want help and thinks he can do things on his own," he said, settling on Foreigner to listen to, "he just, needs to hear it from Ariel directly, or he's going to kill himself over this."
Castiel looked back over at the table, understanding that Dean wanted to talk to Ariel alone, "He is indeed an idiot." Cas mumbled to himself as he walked to the bar to order another drink hoping maybe the alcohol would start effecting him soon.
Dean took a long sip of the warm liquid, finishing it off.
"Can I ask you something?" Dean asked.
Ariel looked up from her beer, surprised Dean even cared to talk to her.
"Sure."
The off hand comment Sam made about God earlier in the afternoon kept eating at him. He licked his lips, as if it would help the words leave his mouth easier. "Do you know who took your Grace?" He finally squeezed out.
She nodded, "it was a sentencing, Dean, of course I do."
"Was it God?"
Ariel's eyes widened a bit before shaking her head, "No, it was an angel-"
Dean cut her off in disbelief, "Angels can do that to each other?"
She chuckled, "Only one, Raguel, the Angel of Justice."
Dean looked down into his empty glass, rattling the ice around in it, "Raguel, huh?" he repeated his name, tasting it on his lips, "Could he be the one doing this to Cas?"
Ariel shrugged, "It's possible if Castiel's crimes were too great," she picked up Dean's glass, "you look like you could need another."
Dean watched her get out of the booth, muttering a thanks as she walked over to the bar. His eyes scanned the rest of the room. Sam and Castiel were now sitting at a different table with Charlie. He made a mental note to thank Sam later. Or maybe he wouldn't tease him for a day. Dean chuckled, that sounded like a good "thanks."
"What's so funny?" Ariel asked, handing a full drink to Dean.
"Oh? Uh," he stuttered taking the drink and nodding, "nothing."
The table fell silent again. Dean was nearly half gone before Ariel spoke, "Castiel told me what happened in heaven."
Dean groaned and rolled his eyes, "Did he tell you he didn't really have another choice?"
"N-no, uh," Ariel stuttered, "but if you're thinking someone is doing this to him, it may be Justice being served."
Dean looked down at his hands. If that was the case, why would he have been brought back again. And why would he have had all his mojo. Dean ran his fingers through his hair and took another sip. The warm liquid cracked and burned all the way down his throat.
"Great, so how do I summon him or whatever?" Dean asked, finishing the glass. He was starting to feel dizzy and couldn't feel his face or fingers.
"You don't," Ariel said, her voice was serious and deep, "Raguel never leaves heaven. And besides, I told you, you cannot stop this."
Dean smirked. He was mad, sure. All angels did was tell him he couldn't do something, but right now he felt the whiskey settle into his bloodstream and he didn't care, "you don't know me, sister," he said getting up and walking over to his brother.
Castiel frowned when he saw Dean walk over to them. His cheeks felt hot and his eyes were half lidded. He didn't drink that much more, but he felt like he had. He suspected his Grace was breaking again. But he still didn't feel any of the pain Ariel was talking about.
"What did you talk about?" Castiel asked, hiccuping between words.
Dean's eyes narrowed on him, "nothing. We're going."
Sam sighed almost in relief, "Good. Your boyfriend is a handful when he drinks," Sam teased his brother.
Dean's eyes widened staring straight at Sam. Castiel playfully hit Sam's shoulder, "I told you, Sam. Dean isn't my boyfriend, he won't let me use that word. We're just 'us'," Cas said using air quotes around us.
Dean rolled his eyes, "Are we going to go?"
Sam nodded, "Do you need help taking him to the car or?"
Dean shook his head, "No, I've got him," he slipped his arm around the angel's middle to stabilize him, "Com'n, Cas."
Sam smiled at Charlie, "Hey, sorry to bail, but when Dean gets in one of his moods," Sam tried explaining without calling his brother a dramatic queen.
"No, don't worry," She reached out giving Sam a half hug, "if you guys need anything, call."
Sam nodded, not knowing if they'd be staying in town or not, "yeah, for sure. Good seeing you."
Ariel had joined the two of them once Dean left the bar, "Your brother is stubborn."
Sam chuckled, "Yeah, well, he is a Winchester," he stated with a shrug, "it was nice to meet you, by the way. Thanks for helping Cas."
Ariel nodded, "You guys too. Sam watch them closely, it really hasn't started yet."
"Alright, thanks for the heads up." He hugged them both one last time before exiting the bar to drive drunk and drunker back to the motel.
AN: ugh, okay. Can we please just ignore this chapter. It's such a mess but I can't do anything else with it. I promise it's going to get better soon. Anyways, please review. I am feeling like the flu hit me and I don't know when I'll get around to Ch 5, but I think we're finally going to get into some actual action here. So yeah.
I love you all. Thanks for everything 3