Chapter 21: Ye of Little Faith

"Ye of little faith, why are you so afraid?"~Matthew verse

"So this plan is gonna work- right?" Sam asked Balthazar as he stared at the angel's back.

Balthazar glanced over his shoulder briefly to wink, "Of course, darling. It'll work."

"What if it doesn't?" Sam asked. "I mean, we keep running into walls here, Balthazar. I don't think Dean's gonna cave any time soon."

Balthazar shrugged, "it can't hurt to try, now can it?"

The angel finally turned around and revealed the angelic summoning ritual he had created on Bobby's desk. Sam dully thought that Bobby wasn't going to appreciate all that crap on his desk when he got back.

"Now, I'm going to have to use a bit of blood, Sam." Balthazar said brandishing a knife.

Sam frowned, taking the handle. "You know, these blood rituals suck."

"Actually, I think they're kind of easy." Balthazar commented drily.

Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he cut the inside of his palm, his face pinching in brief pain as he bled into the bowl on the table.

"Perfect," Balthazar said eyeing the bowl. He quickly waved a hand over Sam's palm, healing him. Sam could never get over that weird tingling sensation whenever he was healed. He flexed his fingers as the blood and wound vanished.

"Now- I'm off to entrap a hunter. Call Cas in two minutes." Balthazar instructed.

"Two minutes exactly?" Sam asked sarcastically.

Balthazar smirked, narrowing his eyes at him. "Ye of little faith, Sam."

"I guess I'm more of a realist."

"More like a pessimist." When Sam's frown didn't decrease Balthazar let out a long sigh. "Do you want Cas to live or not?"

"I do, you know that. He's my friend. But that doesn't change how this going to turn out, Balthazar."

Balthazar opened his mouth to retort but Sam interrupted, "Look- I know what we have is special, but not everyone has this. Or wants this."

"You don't know that, Sam. You're brother is a complicated man."

Sam crossed his arms, unconvinced.

Balthazar stepped towards him, soothing out the wrinkles in Sam's plaid shirt. He decided then that when this was over he was buying his hunter a new wardrobe and burning anything with stripes. "Dean is like an old bottle of wine. You really can't do much with him. Storing him is a bitch. And figuring out what grand occasion you'd like to use him in is just as difficult. But luckily for us, his cork has been popped." Sam now frowned in confusion. Balthazar continued, "Cas told him his feelings. He can't un-know that. And we've given him his proper time to breathe. So it's time to bloody drink this bitch, or drain it. Now I for one- do not believe in wasting a good bottle of wine. Or any other kind for that matter. So- time for the show, yeah?"

Sam sighed, "You know- you have some of the worse, yet best analogies ever."

Balthazar grinned sheepishly, "I know. Again, brilliant. I'll be back in two, love." Balthazar gave Sam a quick peck on the cheek and vanished.

Sam let out another sigh. He really hoped Balthazar's plan would work. He couldn't imagine loosing Cas again. It was hard enough the first time.

He ranked a hand through his hair, took a deep breath and glanced at the clock. Dean had half a day left to tell Cas the truth. Once the clock struck midnight- Cas would be gone. And nothing could stop the Fates from taking his life.

Dean, oiled slicked and greasy, wiped his hands on the car towel. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and snagged his cold beer off the counter. Bobby's garage was perfect. It always had what he needed to give his baby the proper tune up. With the amount of driving Sam and him did, his black beast of a machine needed a little TLC every now and again.

Besides that, working on the Impala made him forget all about the world outside. When his face was buried underneath the hood, everything else faded away. Except Dean wasn't very focused today. His mind kept going back to the same thing over and over… Cas- dead. Gone for good. And he was the only one on the whole friggin planet that could save him.

Dean all of a sudden couldn't breathe. Hand trembling, he set down his beer and ranked a hand through his hair and knuckle gripped the edge of the counter, his whole body feeling physically weak. He took a deep breath, but it didn't help. Nothing could help him.

He swallowed the pain lodged in his throat.

Castiel deserved someone special. Someone who knew how to handle their emotions- not him. He was some stressed out, exhausted, worn-out, bullet riddled hunter with more daddy issues than the Jackson family. Yeah, he was a real catch. Why the hell did the Fates think Dean could save Cas? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Cas needed better. He needed someone else. Dean was not the savior in this story. No, he felt more like the pathetic damsel in distress.

"Hello, sweetheart," Balthazar said arrogantly from behind him.

Dean let out a breath before lifting his gaze to face the angel. "Balthazar… what do you want? I'm busy."

"Oh yes, I can see that." He arched a suspicious eyebrow, surveying Dean's hunched form, still gripping the counter ledge. "Real busy."

Dean flung away from the table and stalked over to the Impala. "You mind telling me why you're here?"

"I was just wondering if you were done moping around. Clearly, you're not."

Dean shot him a hard look. Balthazar seemed unaffected as he continued on, his tone flippant yet firm. "You know- you're not the only man on this planet who's got complicated 'feelings', honey. I mean, it took me forever to figure out what the hell I was doing with Sam."

"Yeah, not somethin' I really wanna hear about, Balthazar."

"Sorry," he muttered. "Point is- that I know you have feelings for Cas. Hell, we all know. It's time you just came out of the closet with it and man up."

Dean's clenched his teeth angrily, "screw you."

"Uhm, you're brother has that covered."

Dean blindly reached out and grabbed the first thing he could on the counter. It was a rusted crowbar. With one hard, seething swing- he struck Balthazar across the face. The angel barely flinched and Dean's hand vibrated painfully as he dropped the crowbar, holding his injured wrist. Balthazar chuckled, "You're impossible." He let out a dramatic sigh, "Fine- be difficult, Dean." He shrugged, walking out of the garage, looking upwards to the darkening sky. "I guess I outta say my good-byes to dear ol'Cassie now."

Dean hesitated, eyes searching Balthazar's unreadable expression, "what do you mean? He's still got time."

Balthazar frowned, "Didn't you hear? Oh- no, of course not. Well, Cas is being taken early. The Fates sent word a few hours ago. They know you won't do anything to save him. So they fast-tracked his sentence." He gave his watch a cool glance, "he's got under an hour before the Fates sink their teeth into him and rip his wings off for good." His eyes turned cold to Dean, "I suggest you at least be a friend to him in his final moment and say your condolences. He deserves that much at the very least, don't you think?"

"Where is he?" Dean asked, a horrible fear taking hold in his stomach, he thought he was going to be physically sick.

"Inside," Balthazar said with a wave of his hand. "Be there, or be square, Dean."

Balthazar vanished.

Dean, without thinking, moved. He full on sprinted to Bobby's house, his heart in his throat and his world collapsing around him.

Sam spoke the Latin prayer that summoned angels. Before he realized it, Cas appeared in front of him in Bobby's living room, a soft kick of air brushing Sam's cheek.

Cas just stood in front of him, eyes painfully detached and dead. Sam's heart went out to him. He could only imagine what Cas was going through. The idea of being rejected from the very person you gave your whole heart to was painful, no matter who experienced it. Sam had the sudden urge to throttle his brother.

"Hey," Sam said automatically. "I wanted to talk to you."

"You could've prayed," Cas commented. "I can still hear you, Sam."

"Yeah, well- I wasn't sure you'd actually come. You respond better when Dean prays for you…" he said absently, and then regretted the moment Cas's chin lifted slightly, as though Sam had just sucker punched him. Sam cringed at his stupidity. "Sorry- I mean, I just wanted to…"

"Yes, talk- what about Sam?" Cas asked impatient now. Cas glanced around the room, as though tired of being in this house all the time.

"What were you doing?" Sam asked momentarily curiously.

Cas shifted his shoulders indifferently, "I was visiting all the places in the world I've always wanted to go."

Sam tilted his head sideways, kind of amazed by the angel. He didn't have much time left being alive, it made sense to things one always wanted to do. He never considered what angels might want to do. "Like where?"

"Well… when you summoned me I was on top of Mount Everest."

Sam tried not to gape.

"It was rather windy up there. I imagine that being human and climbing such a mountain would be a difficult feet."

"Yeah," Sam said with a small smile. He was going to miss Cas. He had the best sense of humor only because he didn't understand humans very well. Maybe that's why Dean liked him so much. He was so opposite of him and Sam. And Dean always seemed to be attracted to people that were completely different from them on every level. Cas definitely met that requirement.

"I would like to visit China. I heard the wall there is suppose to be great. I would like to see this. So why have you summoned me, Sam?"

"Actually," Balthazar's voice rang out in the room. Cas turned to him. "I asked Sam to get you here."

"Why?" Cas asked.

"For this," He said in a smirking grin as he lit a match and tossed it on the floor.

A blaze of fire erupted around Cas, encircling him- trapping him.

"Holly fire!" Cas yelled furiously.

"Of course, sweetie." Balthazar said, stepping close to the edge of the knee high flames. "How else was I suppose to save you."

"Holly fire won't save me." Cas's eyes burned like the fire. "Nothing will."

Balthazar pursed his lips, still smiling, "you never know."

Sam heard fast footsteps outside the house. Dean was on his way. Balthazar had managed to convince him.

"Balthazar…" Sam said urgently, eyes surveying the windows, waiting to see Dean rounding the corner any minute now.

"Why are you doing this?" Cas asked seething.

"Because I still consider you my friend, you bloody idiot. And I'm not letting you die so easily."

"But why? I killed you! I deserve my fate, Balthazar. You know this better than me."

"Cas," Balthazar said, his face softening. "The one sure thing in this world that I do know is that the Winchester boys are made of stronger stuff than you and I. We're lucky to have them. We're even luckier to have their love."

Cas's eyes narrowed, his anger overshadowing the pain in his expression.

"I hope to see you soon, dear- dear friend." And with that, Balthazar wrapped an arm around Sam's waist and they vanished, leaving Cas in the fire circle.

The moment they vanished, the door crashed opened.

TBC