Firstly, Thank You to all who are reading, favourited and reviewed my story – It's wonderful to know that it's being enjoyed! :-)

I apologise for the long delay since my last update; I work on this story virtually everyday, but sometimes finding the time to upload it is difficult, Please forgive me.

Here is the next chapter – hope y'all enjoy it and if you have the time, Please leave a review, good or bad they do fuel me to write more ;-)

Chapter 14

Bobby had discovered what looked like a possible hunt – which couldn't have come at a better time for Ava and the boys. Bobby had promised Rufus a hand, so for now it was just the four of them, including Castiel.

It didn't take long for the last bag to be packed into the Impala, and Sam, Dean, Ava and Cas were ready to make the trip to Storm Lane in Iowa. It was only going to be about a two hour car journey and with Dean behind the wheel, it would probably be less time than that.

Sam had almost forced Ava to ride shotgun with his brother, while he took the back seat next to Cas. He was well aware of Ava's discomfort around the angel, so the more Sam kept them apart, the better, well for Ava anyway.

The Sail Inn Motel was Dean's choice of accommodation. The rooms were basic – the purple carpet was a surprise to the foursome. They had managed to book a room with three small beds.

As soon as a meal had been consumed, Sam and Dean began to research what had bought them to the town . So far, three women had died in less than a week. They were all young, fit and healthy, which what had flagged up as 'suspicious' to the hunters.

After several hours of trawling the internet and local papers, the majority of which had been done by Sam, they had discovered that all the women had lived pretty close to each other, and they had all visited their Doctor just before meeting the end of their lives. Dr Baker was from a practice on 1525 West 5th Street.

"I say we pop by to Dr Baker's place of work, wait till it's closed and get the records of the deceased." Dean said.

"It's almost seven now, they can't be open much longer. We should get going now." Sam replied, stretching his legs from the chair he was currently occupying.

The Surgery looked like any other Surgery. Dean parked the Impala up across the street, opposite the building. There was only one light on inside that they could see and the Secretary looked as if she was packing up, ready to leave for the evening.

"You just need the records of these women, right?" Ava was first to speak, after a few silent minutes in the car.

"Yep." Came Dean's reply.

"So, let me and...Cas go in." She still struggled with her emotion when saying his name.

"Excuse me?" Dean's head jerked around to the pair currently occupying the back-seat.

"It's only getting a couple of files – at least let me be useful." Ava said.

Dean looked to his brother, who in turn, looked back.

"I can pick locks and I'll keep her safe." Castiel's voice broke the uncomfortable silence.

Ava quietly Thanked him, but still found it difficult to look at him.

"I guess so." Dean replied, feeling apprehensive until Cas had spoke up.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" The younger Winchester added.

"Sam Please, let me do this. It's a simple job that I 'can' do and I pretty much feel helpless most of the time."

Sam sighed with both anxiety and frustration. Although,he knew that Castiel would protect her – the angel didn't take his eyes off her anyway.

"I promise we'll call if we get into trouble, and you are literally seconds away from us." Ava continued.

"Okay, but you call if you need us and if you're in there for longer than you should be, we're coming in." Sam looked to both Ava and Castiel, who both nodded in agreement.

Castiel and Ava made the short walk from the car to the building, shortly after they had watched the Secretary lock up and leave. They each had a torch, but had decided that Ava would follow Cas in, thus using the one source of light between them, at least until they located the files.

As the angel picked the lock, he made sure that Ava stood in-front of him.

The Winchesters had done their job in teaching the angel how to pick locks, Cas had the door open in mere moments. The pair waited for an alarm to sound, and when there wasn't one they proceeded into the darkness of the building. Cas entered first and Ava closed the door shut behind her. As Cas switched the torch on he reached behind him for Ava's hand and found it easily. He Felt her reluctance to accept his hand, but he persisted and she allowed him to wrap his large fingers around her small, slender hand. As the pair continued to look around for a cabinet of some sort, Ava realised that she felt no fear at all. She felt protected with Cas holding her hand. His grasp was strong and she felt that right now her safety was his priority and right there and then, that's all that mattered to her.

"There it is." Castiel interrupted her thoughts. She was Thankful for the darkness, as she was sure that her cheeks were a bright shade of red.

The light of the torch led them to the gun metal grey coloured cabinet. Just as the pair reached their destination, Cas heard footsteps – they were outside, but they were close. Not letting go of Ava's hand, he switched the torch off.

"There's someone coming." With that, he glanced around the dimly lit room for somewhere to hide, before seeing a cupboard. He ran to the cupboard, not letting go of the hand inside his, he found the handle and secretly prayed the door opened – it did. He ushered Ava in first and closed the door shut behind him. It was literally just a cupboard, with just about enough room for the two of them. Ava wasn't sure what the cupboards purpose was – maybe a place to store coats and bags? The pair stood as still as they could. A light appeared through the small slit of the door opening – giving enough light for Ava and Cas to see each other. Ava looked up at Cas, to find his eyes already on her. He nodded and attempted a half smile, to try and reassure her that they were going to be okay. Of course, he had no idea if they would be, but if what they were looking to hunt had entered the building, then he would fight with all he had to keep Ava safe.

It was a woman's voice that was heard next.

"Yeah. I left my phone here, came back and thought, hell why not call you from work – saves me paying."

Ava's panic eased a little, but she guessed that the woman on the other side of the door was going to be there for a while.

Once Cas realised the arrival of the woman wasn't a threat, he also relaxed a little. He was also aware that Ava's breathing was less erratic, so her worry had subsided a little also. He now realised it was a waiting game for the two of them in the cupboard.

Fifteen minutes later and the phone conversation showed no sign of ending any time soon.

Dean and Sam could see the Secretary from the window and they guessed that Cas and Ava had found somewhere to hide.

Meanwhile, Ava and Cas stood side by side in the small confines. As Cas began to focus more of his attention on the girl beside him, he was quick to realise that she was shivering slightly. The small space was cold, he didn't really feel the cold, but then again he had a lot more layers on. Her top did have have long sleeves, but wasn't all that thick. He could not bear the thought that she was cold, so he did the only only thing that he could think of; he turned to face her, albeit with a little difficulty, due to the space issues. He leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"You're cold. I'm going to move myself towards you – use my heat."

Ava wasn't surprised at the gesture – Jimmy would have done the same in a heartbeat. Although it wasn't Jimmy, or at least 'all' of him and she had to keep that in the fore front of her mind.

She shook her head and whispered a reply.

"No, I'll be okay."

Cas' jaw tightened. She was stubborn, he knew that, but he would not let her be physically affected by their current situation.

"I'm not taking no for an answer." He replied, and he immediately moved himself against her trembling form. He almost forced her back against the side of the cupboard. Castiel then wrapped each side of his trench coat around each side of her, his arms automatically wrapped around the small of her back. Ava immediately placed her hands flat, against the angels shirt covered chest, but he was too strong and determined for her to be able to push him away. Within seconds his body was flush against hers. Castiel was warm and Ava did stop shivering in moments. This was the closest that that the pair had been since they had been re-introduced, as it were. She had thought that the small enclosure of where they were was going to be close enough – but now, close physical contact – and she had no way of escaping the situation. It was then that she caught it in the air – Jimmy's scent. It was hard to describe but to her easily recognisable. To Ava, it was a perfect mixture of clean cotton, fresh air and his individual scent, to which was incomparable to anything else. She felt his fingertips tapping slightly against her back – did he not know that just his presence reassured her?

She again tried to push herself away from him, but he was far too strong and his grasp didn't falter.

Maybe it was the intimacy of the situation or that they were alone, but she gave up trying to escape the angels grasp, and lay her head against his chest. Her hands fisted his shirt and she felt tears stinging the back of her eyes. She wanted to punch and kick Castiel for taking Jimmy away from her, from ruining the one thing that she had. But, she couldn't. She knew that Jimmy was a part of Castiel – how was she supposed to walk away from him and leave that part of Jimmy behind when it was time? She couldn't afford to build any kind of 'relationship' with Castiel, not when this was a temporary situation. There was so much on her mind, she felt mentally dizzy.

"Ssshhh." She heard Cas say aloud, as he gently stroked her hair, holding her head against him. He had feelings for this woman in his arms, regardless of if he was thinking as Jimmy or Cas. It scared him to think of not seeing her any more.

It was a familiar voice that separated the two of them.

"Cas...Ava?" It was Dean.

Castiel reluctantly let go of Ava and opened the door of the cupboard, to find the hunter grasping a torch and standing in the centre of the room. The secretary had gone – neither Cas or Ava had heard her leave – they had been too distracted with each other.

"I wondered where the hell you two were?" Dean said.

"The files are over here." Ava said first, moving hurriedly passed Cas, not wanting Dean to ask any questions regarding their time in the cupboard.

Within minutes the threesome were back in the safe confines of the Impala – files included. Sam drove back to the motel, where the files were studied.

After several hours of Sam researching and Dean consuming as much beer as he could, Sam finally came up with a theory.

"Okay – we have a woman who choked, a woman who was found with her wrists slit and supposedly a woman, who had eat herself to death. I'm going with a witch.

"You're kidding? A freaking witch!" Dean said incredulously.

"Why, what's up with witches?" Ava joined in, relieving her eyes from the book she had been reading. Cas had been resting on the couch. Ava was sure that the angel had fallen asleep a couple of times, although he was now wide awake, fully alert and appeared to be concentrating on Sam's statement.

"I hate witches. They're skeevy things, no matter what gorgeous woman they may be posing as." Dean replied, thoroughly repulsed at what they had to eliminate.

"I'm pretty certain Dr Baker is the witch. I've got her address, but haven't a clue how to handle this."

"We'll sleep on it Sam." Dean replied to his brother. Clearly his alcohol intake had begun to take effect.

Ava dreaded the word 'sleep' – to her it may as well have been a 'nightmare' – she would lie awake for hours, listening to the soft snores in the room. It was then that she was left with nothing but her memories. The memories she held so dear to her, of her and Jimmy and the life that she 'should' be living. Sleep did not come easily for her and nor was it for long periods.

Sam nodded at his brother and shut the laptop down, making his way over to the bed. Dean had already thrown his tired body down on the other bed and Ava followed suit, put her book on the floor beside the bed and pulled the thin sheet over herself.

Castiel hadn't moved from the sofa, but when Sam switched the lamp off, Ava heard the angel shifting, and she guessed that he was attempting to get himself into a more comfortable position.

Ava wasn't sure how long she lay in the uncomfortable bed for and how long sleep actually took her for, but she awoke with a start. Her heart raced with un-known fear for several minutes. It was still dark and she could hear Dean snoring in the bed closest to her. He always snored when he had drunk alcohol.

She continued to lay silent for a few minutes, before she began to feel hot and claustrophobic. As quietly as she could, she slid her legs off the side of the bed and tip toed across the dark room. She need a few minutes of fresh air. As she arrived at the door, she saw that it was open slightly – glancing to the sofa, which was empty, she was correct in guessing that Castiel had already beat her to it. As she opened the door enough for her to be able to slip through, she discovered him sitting on the curb, just outside the room.

She wasn't sure if Cas had heard her, but she made her way over to him. The cool night air chilled her arms, but it felt better than the too hot confines of the room. She sat down next to the angel. She caught his glance and found his expression comforting, as she sat wrapping her arms around herself.

"Do you want my coat?" Cas asked, sensing her chill.

"No, I'm fine Thank You. I just came out for some fresh air. Couldn't you sleep?" She asked.

She surprised herself by how comfortable she felt in his presence.

"No, I couldn't." Came the angels gravelly reply.

The pair stayed silent for a while.

"Do you think Sam and Dean will be able to kill the witch?" Ava eventually broke the silence. She felt fearful for the day dawning. She worried for the brothers' and Castiel's safety.

"No doubt they will have a plan." Cas replied. He turned to face her, his blue eyes mesmerised her as she nodded her head to his reply.

"I will help if I can." She said.

"We will be able to manage it between the three of us." Cas said. "I don't want you injured." His concern for her safety was palpable.

"Cas, I 'will' help if I can. I can't just sit back when there is something that I could do." She was surprised at how easy she spoke his name.

Castiel wasn't surprised by her reply. She had always offered her help to anyone – putting her own needs and safety behind others. He knew at that moment that her safety was paramount to him. It felt strange for him to think this way, as up until recent events his life had involved just the Winchesters, who he had grown close to. He would have died to protect the two brothers, but now his priority was Ava – and he was more than determined to protect her with everything that he was and had. Although, at the back of his mind he wondered how he was going to walk away from her when she no longer needed protecting and something told him that his real struggle hadn't even begun...