Chapter 14: Hindsight

(Castiel's Perspective)

"Hello, Charlie. Can I talk to you?" the stranger asked in a hesitant, soft voice. Charlie just nodded with wide eyes. It seemed she was unable to take her eyes off of the pretty female standing before them. Castiel could sense that this woman was not a human. He narrowed his eyes, staring at her nearly as hard as Charlie. Her aura did not belong to this world. She was a fairy.

"Yes," Charlie managed in a squeaky voice. She was smiling so widely it made Castiel want to smile as well. She looked so happy, like she was seeing the source of all light and happiness. Her face reminded Cass of something which he could not really place.

Charlie stood, and hurried after the fairy. Sam, Dean, and Castiel watched the two women leave the diner, or rather, Sam and Castiel watched. Dean was watching Castiel. That seemed to be the way things were going lately. Cass turned to Dean and gave him a small, sad smile.

Dean grinned back, and Castiel realized just what it was that Charlie's glee had reminded him of. It was the way that he felt when he was around Dean. Of course, Dean would claim to feel the same about Cass right now, but that didn't mean very much. It could not mean very much because it was not real.

Cass had fallen for the same manipulation that so many humans had fallen for in this town. How foolish he felt. Sam and Charlie must hate him for his idiocy, and surely Dean would hate him as well when he realized the truth. He hated himself for what he had done.

Of course he felt horrible for manipulating Dean, but it was so much worse than that. He saw the truth now with painful clarity. His experiences on earth seemed to be that way. It was easy to see how awful a mistake was only once it was made. He saw what he had done, and what he had ruined now, yes he saw it perfectly, because there was one part of this that was not fake. He really was in love with Dean Winchester, and now he had ruined any chance he had ever had of Dean feeling the same.

Maybe it was for the best. Maybe this was the closest he could ever hope to come to having Dean for his own. True love belonged to humans, to humanity, and he was an angel, and he could not have it for himself. He couldn't believe he had ever thought he could have it.

Now he would lose Dean even as a friend when this was all over. How could Dean forgive him for this? How could anyone? He would probably never see the Winchesters again once they had solved this case and Dean was back to normal.

"Was that...Gilda?" Sam asked, interrupting Castiel's painful reverie.

"Yeah, I think it was," Dean replied. He was distracted by stroking Castiel's hand under the table, but Cass could tell he was genuinely stumped by the strange female that he himself had almost forgotten already.

"How did she get back here?" Sam wondered.

"Who knows," Dean replied, becoming more and more distracted by his hand's activity beneath the table.

"Do you think it could have anything to do with what's been going on lately?" Sam asked.

"It is obvious that people are being drawn to those they are attracted to around here," Castiel said. "I mean more than usual. Perhaps there is more than just the love potion causing people to behave particularly um..." he trailed off, not sure exactly what word he was looking for.

"Horny?" Sam suggested with a snort.

"I...um...yes?" Castiel said. Sam and Dean were chuckling, and Cass felt his face growing warm. He coughed pointedly. "Moving on," Cass said gruffly. "Do you suppose that something more is going on?"

"More than this freaky witchy crap?" Dean asked. His hand had moved from Cass' hand to his inner thigh, and Cass gently pushed Dean's hand forward to his knee. As soon as Cass put his hand back on top of the table, Dean's hand was creeping forwards again.

"Yes," Castiel replied, sitting up stiffly, because he was feeling a bit stiff in more sense than one. "Or, at least, in a different form. It is possible the same suspect applies."

"Which reminds me," Sam said. "We need to find her."

"I agree," Castiel said, trying to hide the strain in his voice.

"I say we try the bar where you met her, Cass," Sam said. "Maybe you can help us look."

"Perhaps we should wait for Charlie?" Castiel suggested, looking for an excuse to sit down a moment longer, or at least whisper into Dean's ear and ask what he could do about this situation without drawing attention from Sam. He hadn't been in many relationships in his human vessel, and still was not sure how to deal with certain situations.

"Nah, she'll be awhile," Dean said with a chuckle. "I'm sure her and Gilda have a lot of catching up to do, if you know what I mean," he nudged Cass in the side, and Castiel did know what Dean meant, but he was growing steadily more annoyed.

"Dean!" he hissed into Dean's ear. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" He glanced down and Dean looked down as well, without any hint at subtlety, and laughed loudly. Sam coughed.

"Hey Sam, we'll catch up with you in a minute," Dean said. "Go ahead out and warm up the car." Sam rolled his eyes and hurried out.

"Dean, how do I-" Cass began, but Dean was already yanking Cass out of the booth and towards the men's restroom.

"Nice view," Cass heard a female voice say as he passed.

"Screw off slut," Dean muttered as he pulled Cass towards the bathroom. He wrapped his arms around Castiel's waist right before he opened the door, and spun him around so they were facing, their faces inches apart. "I can't deny that it was probably a nice view, though, hindsight's always twenty twenty when its you walking away Cass" Dean said in his deep voice that was doing the opposite of helping Castiel with his situation.

Author's Note:

Hello lovelies! I'm going to write a second part to this little scene, and WARNING ALERT: It is going to be super duper smutty, sooo...that's happening ;) Just an fyi though, it won't contribute to the plot, so you do have the option of skipping that chapter if it would make you uncomfortable. I'm just explaining, of course I do want people to read it. That's going to be my next chapter, and I'll be posting that tomorrow if all goes as planned (so no promises, but probably.) After that (probably tomorrow and possibly the next day) I'll do a very Charlie/Gilda centric chapter. Alright, please let me know what you all think of this chapter, and that plan. Let me know if you like it or not, or whatever. I always want to know what readers are thinking, so please please please let me know! A special thank you/shout out for Oneofthepoisoned. Her username used to be ThePoisonedOne, so yeah, it's different now! I've recommended her before, but now she has a new username. OK peace out, stay gay, love y'all XD