Author's Note: The one where Sam finds out.

"He's hiding something from me."

Gabe cringed, the rag he had been cleaning with accidentally slipping out of his fingers. He had been waiting for something like this to happen. Honestly, he was surprised it hadn't happened sooner.

"I'm sure he hides a lot of things from you," Gabe chuckled weakly, glancing up into Sam's narrowed eyes, "your brother sure as hell isn't an open book."

"Yeah, you can say that again," Sam muttered, taking another sip from his cappuccino.

Although Gabe liked Cas, when he really thought about it, Sam had a right to be suspicious and upset. For the past several weeks, Dean would make sure that he had left the coffee shop before his younger brother showed up. Of course, Sam knew that Dean and Cas were friends and that they regularly talked, but the little kiss his older brother would place on Cas's cheek before leaving would certainly raise some red flags.

"What do you think his deal is?" Gabe asked, leaning against the counter, "you think he's found a girl or something?"

Sam titled his head to the side, his brow furrowed. He set his cappuccino down and sighed heavily.

"He's definitely found someone," Sam agreed, "I'm just starting to wonder if it's actually a girl."

Okay, definitely not good.

"Whoa, you think Dean-o's found himself a dude?" Gabe cried, laughing as if it were the craziest thing he'd ever heard.

"Oh yeah," Sam continued, nodding his head, "I heard him on the phone the other night, and the voice on the other end was definitely too deep to be a woman's."

Gabe swallowed nervously, picking the rag back up and resuming his cleaning. This was exactly what he'd been afraid of. The two lovebirds thought they were so clever, tiptoeing around behind Sam's back, but the guy wasn't stupid. He had gone to Stanford for Christ's sake!

"Wow," Gabe drawled, "I didn't see that one coming."

Sam acknowledged him with a slight nod, peering down at the black lid of his coffee cup. A couple minutes of silence passed before he spoke again, his tone sharper than before.

"Actually, I'm not all that surprised," he admitted, aimlessly running his pointer finger around the perimeter of the cup's lid, avoiding Gabe's look of confusion.

"What?" Gabe squeaked, his bewilderment quickly changing to horror. Please don't know, please don't know, he silently begged, biting his lip anxiously.

"Gabriel…" he began softly, sending a shiver down the shorter man's spine at the sound of his full name, "this is going to sound crazy, I know, but I'm pretty sure I have an idea of who Dean's been seeing."

Not Cas, just don't fucking say Cas.

"I think… I think he's dating Cas."

Dean couldn't listen to this anymore. He needed to get away, to go anywhere that Sam wasn't.

"Dean, please hear me out," Sam called, frantically chasing after Dean as he hurried towards his car.

"Just leave me the fuck alone, Sammy," Dean snapped, throwing open the driver's side door, "it's none of your damn business."

"Of course it is!" Sam cried, shoving his body between Dean and the car. He rested his hands on his older brother's chest, pushing him back, struggling against his surprising strength.

"My love life is my problem," Dean growled, "you never see me trying to interfere with your perfect little relationships. Even though most of the chicks you date are uptight-"

"Oh, shut up!" Sam interjected, his scowling face only inches away from Dean's, "you just never take the time to get to know any of them!"

Dean scoffed, taking a step back. He crossed his arms, leaning all of his weight on his left leg, fixing Sam with an icy glare.

"I remember one that I got to know pretty well," Dean snarled, "except that it was a 'he', and I didn't know you guys were like that until-"

Sam rushed at him, grabbing the lapels of his suit jacket and slamming him up against the side of his car. Dean was strong, but there was only so much he could do to fight off a 6'4" wall of muscle.

"I told you to never bring that fucking night up again," he hissed, "that was a mistake, and, for all I care, it didn't happen. Do you understand?"

There weren't many occasions when Dean found himself afraid of his younger brother. But this definitely qualified as one of those occasions.

"Yeah," he muttered, turning his head away, uncomfortable with the lack of personal space, "I understand."

Sam held him in place for several more seconds before reluctantly loosening his grip. He stepped back, his chest heaving, eyes still wild with fury.

"Good," he mumbled, looking down at the ground, "good."

Silence filled the air, thick with tension. Dean hesitantly moved away from his car, turning as if to climb in, his fingers shaking as he reached into his pocket for his keys.

"Dean…"

He froze, turning back to face Sam. To his relief, some of the anger had seemed to leave his younger brother's face.

"Yeah?" he asked softly, attempting to hold back all of his frustration from earlier. He hated that Sam was trying to end he and Cas's relationship, the only romantic relationship that he'd ever really had. And the only relationship in general that felt meaningful.

"I'm just trying to help you," Sam insisted, "you have to know that."

"Dammit, Sammy-"

"No, just, please," he begged, his voice thick with desperation, "you didn't let me finish. Can I just say one thing?"

The last thing Dean wanted to do was say "yes", to give in to his brother and listen to the bullshit kind of advice he wanted to offer him. But he also didn't want to find himself slammed up against the harsh, cold metal of his BMW again.

"Fine," he snapped, rolling his eyes, "but make it quick."

"Great," Sam replied with a weak smile, "one thing, that's it."

This should be interesting, Dean thought with a bitter chuckle. There wasn't a single thing he could think of that would persuade him to break it off with Cas.

"I'll just tell you the basic gist of what I'm getting at. So, I'm sure you remember the last time you let yourself get close to someone. It was a while ago, but after everything that happened, I can't imagine you'd-"

"Get to the fucking point," Dean interrupted, glaring at Sam in hopes of stopping him from saying anything he may regret.

"Right, right," Sam muttered, nodding his head, "the point. Okay, well, here's the thing, Dean. I… I don't want you to get hurt again."

Dean flinched, his eyes widening. Was he talking about…? No.

"How could you even compare Cas to… him?" he cried, taking a step forward, "He's nothing like him! Nothing!"

"I know, I know," Sam soothed, gesturing for his older brother to calm down, "I'm sorry, that's not what I-"

"You were talking about that son of a bitch when we were inside, too, and that's exactly the kind of shit I don't need to think about right now!"

Sam looked as if he had been kicked, his face contorting with pain. He began to slowly back away, his hands raised in surrender, fear in his eyes.

"I didn't mean that, Dean, I swear-"

"I need to go," Dean whispered, turning back to his car, throwing himself into the driver's seat, "I-I can't do this right now."

"Fuck, Dean-"

"I'll see you at work," he growled and slammed the door shut. He started the car faster than he ever had before, jamming the keys into the ignition, pressing his foot to the gas pedal as if his life depended on it.

As he drove away, he didn't dare look back. He knew that Sam would be standing in the driveway, a wounded puppy left to suffer its injuries alone. But there was no possible way he would allow himself to feel sorry for him.

Who the fuck did he think he was? They hadn't talked about that incident since the day after it had happened. It was completely off limits, the one conversation Dean refused to repeat, the one thing he absolutely had to forget if he wanted to move on with his life.

He couldn't believe Sam would even compare Cas to that bastard. There wasn't a single thing that they had in common. They were polar opposites, two different sides of the coin Dean held closest to his heart. He hated the thought of them being similar, the thought of them being joined in any way. But it was true. There was only one other person he had ever let in like he had let in Cas.

And that last thought was what finally pushed him to break down, tears streaming down his face as he drove to meet up with the one person he was most afraid of seeing right now.

Castiel sighed contentedly, leaning against the counter, a warm Americano in his hand. This had quickly become his favorite time of the day. The time right before Dean would stride through the door, that cocky smirk and intimidating black suit.

Ever since his talk with Jo, he found that he was much happier. It felt good to know that there was someone else other than Gabe who believed he and Dean would last. Before, he had been constantly worrying that Dean would change his mind one day, see the real Castiel Novak and recoil with disgust.

But he still hadn't yet. He still seemed to care about Cas, no matter what flaws he had, no matter what weight he probably placed on the other man's shoulders. As a matter of fact, based on everything Dean had said to him and everything he'd done for him, he was beginning to wonder whether Dean might…

No, Cas scolded himself, stop that. Dean cares about you, but you can't expect that from him.

Suddenly, the familiar ding of the bell above the door sounded. Castiel's head shot up, excitement pumping through his veins as he looked towards the door. But that excitement quickly faded when he saw Dean's face.

It was nothing like the Dean he had imagined would walk into the shop. No playful grin, no gleaming emerald eyes, no jump in his step. Instead, his cheeks were red and covered with wet streaks, his eyes swollen, his eyelashes fluttering frantically in an attempt to brush away fresh tears. Cas had never seen him look so upset, so hurt and downtrodden. And he definitely had never seen him cry.

"Dean!" Castiel gasped, coming around the counter, desperately weaving his way through tables to get to the other man. He needed to reach out to him, to hold him and wipe away his tears, to bring back that trademark mischievous grin he so loved.

Dean practically threw himself at Cas, wrapping his arms around the younger man's neck, burying his face in the soft skin of his collarbone. Castiel immediately returned the gesture, crushing Dean's shaking body against his chest, burying his fingers in the short strands of his golden brown hair.

"What's wrong?" Cas whispered, his throat tightening, struggling to hold back his own sobs.

Dean didn't answer right away, responding instead with a weak whimper. He tightened his arms around Castiel's neck, burying his nose in the space above the collar of the younger man's shirt.

"Don't leave me," he cried, his voice cracking on the final word.

What? Where had this come from?

"I would never leave you," Cas soothed, pressing his lips to Dean's forehead, whispering against his skin, "never."

But Dean continued to plead as if he hadn't heard him, begging him not to leave.

"Please, Cas, don't leave me. Don't ever leave," he whined, his body shuddering as he let out a particularly loud sob.

Castiel felt as if his heart was shattering into a thousand jagged pieces. What had happened to make Dean believe he would leave him? There wasn't a single thing in the entire universe that would make him want to leave the comfort and compassion of Dean's affection.

"Shhh," he soothed, "it's okay. I'm right here, I'll always be right here. I promise. Okay?"

Dean nodded, another little sob slipping past his lips. He was slowly beginning to calm down, his body only shaking slightly, somewhat better than the awful shuddering from before.

"Let's go get you cleaned up," Cas encouraged, turning so that he could wrap his one arm around Dean's waist, "before any of the other customers get here."

Dean nodded his approval once again, unraveling his arms from around Castiel's neck. He secured one of his arms around the younger man's waist and pulled their bodies closer together.

"Wouldn't wanna ruin my public image," Dean chuckled weakly, glancing over at Cas with a small smile on his face.

Now that was the Dean that Castiel knew.