A/N: I had planned on spanning this out a bit longer but it was a natural break at the end and I need to work on another fic, so I hope you enjoy this Chapter. I find I enjoy writing crazy-cas.
Dean's hands shook by his sides and his body twitched with anxiety. Sam kept staring at him every so often as they walked through the halls of the institution. Thankfully, there was hardly any staff at that time of day and no one really paid them much attention. It was a little surprising considering they weren't exactly inconspicuous.
As they rounded the jam of the door to Cas' room, the first thing Dean saw was the back of Meg's head from where she was seated in the chair facing the man in white sat there on the edge of the bad. Dark brown hair – disheveled; blue eyes – cast downwards to his lap. It was Cas, alright.
Except something was off. He seemed distant.
"Meg." Dean announced and Sam nodded as she turned to face them.
"Hey boys. So I take it you've done something apocalyptic. Again." Her voice was laced with boredom. Just another life and death situation, totally boring. Dean rolled his eyes.
"What's wrong with him?" Dean asked, ignoring her question. He couldn't take his eyes off the way Cas was acting. His eyes staring down and his fingers fiddling with each other in his lap. The whole picture appeared so child-like.
"Well… see for yourself." Meg said as she swept an arm in Cas' direction.
"Clarence?" She said to get his attention. Cas looked up quickly in her direction and finally his eyes shifted over to him and Sam.
"You remember Sam and Dean, right?" Meg said as Cas just stared at them. There was amusement in his eyes but Dean wasn't sure if it was happiness at seeing them or just down-right crazy.
"Dean." Cas' voice seemed lighter, less deep than normal, and his eyes focused in on Dean.
The way Cas was staring him forced him to take a deep breath. The angel observed him like he wanted to learn him… as if he were a subject in school. Cas studiously let his blue eyes travel up and down his body… more than once; taking everything in.
In the blink of an eye and with a subtle flutter of wings, Cas was standing less than a foot in front of him.
Dean could feel the heat from his body flare at his own skin through his clothes. It was a relief to see Cas doing anything. Especially considering the last time he'd seen him, but this was just … weird. Dean had no idea what to make of it.
Cas tilted his head and the gesture was so reminiscent of the first time they met… that is of course until Cas opened his mouth.
"I like it when you moan." The angel's words were monotonous – totally matter-of-fact - but highly damaging.
There was a beat of silence and then the only sound was Dean choking on his lungs. He turned to see Sam's jaw touching linoleum and in turning to look back at Cas he caught sight of Meg's evil smirk – it was a knowing smirk. Dean blinked nervously wondering what the hell Cas might have been saying before they'd arrived.
"Uhh.. yeah. Umm, Cas?" He nodded. Good. Great. "What do you remember?" Before Dean could even finish the last word, Cas was wildly shaking his head, muttering no, no, no…
Finally Dean reached out to hold him still, "Hey buddy. Hey? It's okay. No worries. Don't think about that."
Dean sent a wary look at his brother and Sam's concerned face was front and center.
He's just as stumped as me… awesome.
Since Cas seemed to be okay with focusing on Dean, that's what Dean does.
"So… you, uhh, miss me?" He asked, moving his hands from Cas' head to grasp his shoulders.
He'd been so furious with Cas when they came to this place the first time. But as Dean looked at the broken, innocent angel in front him he could only feel the tightness in his chest. It burned and scratched no matter how much he tried to still be mad… he just couldn't. He was worried and scared.
Mostly, he wanted to run from Cas because he had no idea how to handle the angel in this state of mind. All that worry over not being able to have a relationship became moot.
Besides, Cas had done a lot for him and his brother, he owed it to him to be there. Cas needed him and it had been eating away at him knowing Meg had been taking care of his angel. Well, no more.
"No," Cas said and Dean frowned as he remembered the question he had asked. Cas scrunched his face and then added, "yes. I mean yes."
"Me too." Dean said, taking a step back to stretch down towards the floor for the duffel that he had dropped when they entered the room.
He unzipped the bag and pulled out the bundle of his coat that held the rock with chicken scratches on it.
When he stood up, he reached out to squeeze Cas' shoulder with his free hand. "Come sit with me?" Dean asked and made his way over to the bed.
He sat down and Cas plunked down beside him… directly beside him. Dean turned to look at Cas before continuing, worried at how much this might freak him out. Who knows what this thing could do to an angel?
Dean was blindsided by the sheer sincerity of the beaming smile that Cas was throwing his way. He tried to return the smile but the gesture only made his face hurt and he knew it must have looked all sorts of wrong.
Dean could feel Sam's bitch face directed at him and he knew Sam thought this was a bad idea, but regardless of how much he wanted to protect Cas the whole world was going to the crapper and they needed all the help they could get.
Dean started unfolding the layers of the jacket but stopped just short of last bit of sleeve covering the ancient stone.
"Cas, I know you're confused and I don't want to upset you but I need you to look at something for me okay?" He asked, hoping his voice sounded comforting.
"Of course." Cas sounded so much like his old self that Dean fazed for a second but then proceeded to remove the last piece of green cloth and held up the rock so Cas could see.
"Do you know what this is?" He asked slowly.
"It is a tablet." Dean breathed a sigh of relief that Cas hadn't freaked or evaporated. He was tempted to give a smug look in Sammy's direction but thought better of it.
"Can you tell me what it says?" Dean was hopeful given the way Cas was looking at the hunk of solid dirt.
"Apples. Sex… Bondage?" Cas shrugged, winking in Dean's direction at the last word and everyone in the room traded looks with one another not sure whether to be worried about Cas, or worried that he was actually reading the damn tablet.
"I'm sorry?" Dean pushed and reached out to pull the tablet back but Cas moved away from him.
"I don't know what it says." Cas admitted holding the thing up in front of his face. "It is the word of God. I don't speak God. Do I look like God to you?" He asked Dean and then smiled.
"Well… you did ask me once if I was God, I suppose that is why you are confused. You find me God-like." Cas rambled amusingly until Dean placed a hand on his knee to get his attention.
"Right… so you have no idea what this says then?" Dean needed to know for sure and so his tone may have been a little sharp. His patience was waning. "'Cause we could really use your help on this."
"I'm sorry I am so useless to you." Cas replied stonily and then vanished, the tablet dropping in pieces to the floor.
"Fuck." Dean said, his patience disappearing as fast as the angel had.
He didn't know how to handle Cas like this. He wanted to get mad for the angel acting so 'not-Cas' but he knew it wouldn't help the matter. It was probably why he was getting so angry in the first place. He had sped to this damn hospital hoping to find the person that he'd been missing, and instead he got… whoever that guy was.
"Dean, what the hell are we gonna do now?" Sam asked, staring at the broken "Word-of-God" in frustration and clearly a little pissed at Dean.
"I don't friggin' know! Meg – where the hell did he go?" He asked praying that Cas wasn't half-way around the world.
"Best guess – the day room downstairs. It's where he's been flying to anytime he gets upset." She clarified and Dean took off, leaving Sam and the demon to stew in the stale room.
When he found Cas, the angel was seated at a small table with a large stack of games next to him. Dean approached slowly and felt stupid that he felt the need to tip-toe around someone who'd always been so fierce and monumental to him.
"Hi." He smiled as he sat down and Cas watched the movement with wide eyes.
"I'm sorry, okay? You're not useless to me… you know that." Dean hoped he was being reassuring but realized he sounded vaguely condescending.
They stared at each other quietly and then Cas smiled, breaking the weird tension and Dean sighed.
"I am sorry too, Dean." Cas spoke while rummaging through a cardboard box with a boatload of colours on the front.
"For what?" Dean's forehead wrinkled wondering what Cas might be apologizing for.
"I know what I did. I'm sorry." He then started arranging the contents of the box, a board game of some sort.
"Play with me." Cas instructed and passed him the dice.
Dean had no clue what game this was and didn't really care, he rolled the dice but maintained his focus on Cas.
"How do you feel?" He ventured as Cas moved some of the pawns around.
"Light and fluffy." Cas replied and then laughed.
Okay…
"Riiight.. I don't know how much of you is still you. I don't know what to say, and there is a lot going on right now so I'm sorry if I'm hard on you." Dean was given the dice as he spoke and he rolled again automatically.
"I don't like the world right now…but I like you." Cas wiggled his eyebrows and pushed the dice back towards Dean.
"Yeah.. the world sucks right now, but I need you to be strong okay?" Dean reached across the board-game and grabbed Cas' hand, trying to be supportive.
"Can't we just leave here together and forget it all?" Cas asked him and the solemn look Dean was given tore at him.
"You can leave with me, of course, but you know we can't ignore what's happening out there. I wouldn't let anything happen to you. You know that, right?" Dean said.
Cas had been tracing patterns on the back of his hand and it was almost too much. How could he protect Cas like this? Cas was being sweet towards him and if everything had been normal, Dean would have pushed him away because he knew better, but this Cas needed him, not Meg or Sam.
He felt stuck between a rock and a hard place –worried that no matter what decision he made – it would be the wrong one.
"Yes." Cas agreed quietly.
Between one breath and the next, Dean found himself arms-full of angel. Cas had transported himself directly into Dean's lap, arms wrapped around his neck, his face looking down into Dean's eyes.
Dean was having a hard time getting a grip on the sudden warring moods of the new Cas. The sweet, touchy-feely stuff he liked. He hated himself for liking it, but he did all the same. It was the skittish, childish crap that annoyed him.
"Hey." Dean smiled up at him.
"I'm not crazy." Cas said suddenly as if reading his mind, his voice returning to its normal timbre.
"Seriously, are you okay? What's wrong?" Dean tried to figure it out. Cas was himself one second, the next he was all sweet-as-pie, the next he was just vamoose! It made his head spin.
"I'm… it's strange, Dean. I don't know. I feel lost." Cas frowned and it was obvious that he was having a hard time figuring himself out and it worried him.
Dean automatically started rubbing his back. The action just seemed like the right thing to do. They were so very far from the night that began in the alley. What began as something so desperate and twisted had mutated into anger and distrust and now they were suddenly in some make-believe land of happy bunnies of sweetness.
Cas was suddenly sniggering and his head was dipped low against Dean's neck. The breath against the thin skin made Dean's blood shoot up several degrees.
"What's so funny?" Dean asked, trying not to react to Cas like this. So … happy.
Ignorant and heedless for sure… but happy.
"Your thoughts. They were amusing. Do you prefer me throwing you up against a wall and having my way with you, or seated complacently on your lap?" Cas asked and literally wiggled his ass against Dean's crotch.
"Uhm! Stop that." Dean blurted. It wasn't that he didn't want Cas, but they just couldn't do this. He'd stupidly assumed that Cas being 'Crazy-Cas' wouldn't create a problem anywhere in the realm of relationship-territory. Clearly this was not the case.
"Deeaannn…"Cas friggin' whined and repeated the action.
Ok, now this was getting weird, thought Dean. How the fuck was he supposed to destroy an entire population of monsters, and deal with the evidently horny juvenile sitting on his lap.
He groaned in frustration and ran a hand over his face in an attempt to wipe away the crazy that was coming at him from all sides.
"Cas let's just take you home, okay?" He said pushing Cas up off of him, but grabbing his hand to lead him back upstairs.
When they turned the corner on the upper floor and noticed a flickering of lights, Dean was instantly on red-alert.
He ran down the hall, pulling the gun from its spot tucked into the back of his jeans, and got ready for anything.
He bolted into the room gun first, aiming chest height, but found he was poised to fire at absolutely nothing.
Cas was still beside him but looking about ready to bolt.
"Cas.. c'mon, stay with me buddy." He squeezed the angel's hand reassuringly. "Do you know where Sam went?" He asked softly.
"He's outside chasing the prophet." Cas replied, his eyes darting all around.
"Can you take me there?" Dean asked and was doubting Cas would even do it when he found himself appearing a few paces behind his behemoth brother chasing down some scrawny Asian kid.
Cas wasn't with him anymore and he was worried, but that would have to wait.
When they finally managed to tackle Kevin – "Advanced Placement" – to the ground and realized they found the one person who could actually read the stupid rock, the decided it was time to get moving.
Rounding up Kevin, the rock (now miraculously whole again), and Cas (who Dean found playing Twister…by himself), they were ready to go. Meg was with them and after a heated debate between him and Sam, it was Cas who had made the final decision of whether she could come.
"She's my caretaker." Cas stated resolutely. "She comes too." And since there was no arguing with the angel, they were all crammed into the Impala.
Dean and Sam in the front, Cas, Meg, and Kevin in the back. Dean watched in amusement as Cas repeatedly annoyed Kevin, and occasionally Sam.
It was a long drive back to Rufus' cabin, and Dean was proud to say that only three times was he tempted to kick anyone out of the car.
Once was for Meg who threatened to kill Sam because he was tall and left no room for her in the backseat. The other two times were both because Cas was saying really inappropriate things, such as:
Dean you have a wonderful flavour.
Dean had almost driven the car into oncoming traffic on that one. Or…
Our sexual encounter was really one-sided. I feel cheated.
Meg had laughed, whereas Sam looked as though he might barf. Kevin had simply freaked at that point: "Who the hell are you people?!"
All in all… it was a loooong drive. When they finally made it back to the small cabin, it was decided that Sam would have the couch, Meg didn't sleep, and Kevin was in the back room (door locked cause "advanced placement" was a definite flight risk), and finally Cas and Dean in the only remaining bedroom.
Cas didn't sleep of course but that didn't stop him from pushing his way under the covers to join Dean.
Dean sighed and tried to ignore the angel staring at him out of the corner of his eye.
After what felt like an hour of convincing Cas to just close his eyes and lay there quietly, Dean finally found himself starting to drift off to sleep. His thoughts as his brain shut down for the night were borderline positive.
Maybe it was because Cas was beside him in bed and Dean could keep him safe there… or maybe it was the full house, or having his brother with him, or the adopted kid in the back bedroom… whatever it was… it felt nice.
Then again, there was still a demon guarding the front door… Dean smiled in his sleep dreaming of a demon at the door and an angel under the sheets.
A/N: Almost Friday! Next chapter will revolve around strategy and going after Dick Roman.
