They were passing a semi with a bright purple cab when Cas finally opened his eyes and gave a mighty stretch and hardy yawn. He hadn't meant to fall asleep but it seemed the longer this went on, the harder it was to stay in the present. He didn't like admitting that the voices in his head were defeating him, but it was a fact. He was afraid that soon he wouldn't be able to hold them at bay.

He was just about to reach up and turn the radio down when the lyrics of the song playing caught his attention. A man was proclaiming to be going off the rails on a crazy train.

Mental wounds not healing

Driving me insane

I'm going off the rails of a Crazy train

Cas couldn't help but see how amazingly appropriate those words were. That's what he was doing – going off the rails of a crazy train and the harder he fought, the more it felt like a losing battle.

He closed his eyes again and took a deep breath, bringing the stuffy air of the car's interior into his lungs and letting himself get lost in the song.

When it was over, it was Meg that turned the radio down. "I wouldn't have pegged you for a fan of Ozzie," she commented drily.

He smiled whimsically. "It just seemed to fit the situation I guess."

She chuckled in response. "I suppose it does. How are things in your head?"

"Loud, and getting louder by the minute," was the only answer he could give her. "Where are we?"

"Allentown, Pennsylvania. I was thinking about finding us a place to pitch our tent for the night, metaphorically speaking. It's cold out there. I have no intention of actually pitching a tent."

"Are you sure we can afford to stop? The demons that have Abornazine already have a week long head start on us."

"Whether we can or not, I've been driving for seven hours now and I'm exhausted. If we want to get where we're going in one piece, we have to stop," she answered.

"If you would teach me to drive, I could take over and let you get some sleep," he commented, not for the first time.

"I thought we already talked about this. I appreciate the control you seem to have over the things in your head. But I don't want to risk you losing that control while were cradled in the middle of a couple of semis at seventy miles an hour. Do you?"

"No, that probably wouldn't be a good idea."

"And anyway with a week long head start, the demons could be anywhere. The few hours we spend sleeping isn't going to change that. In all likelihood they've already gotten where they're going. We just have to figure out where they got to."

"And you think this man in New Orleans might know?" he asked, still skeptical of this plan but seeing no other option.

"I think if anyone knows about the whereabouts of a group of rogue demons, it'll be Mickey. Most of us on the run end up on Mickey's doorstep sooner or later."

"So he's like your leader?" Cas said, sitting up a little straighter in his seat and stretching again.

"No, not having a leader is sort of the point, but his place is like a safe haven. It's a good place to go when there is no other place to go and..." she trailed off for a moment as if she were remembering something far back in the distance of her memories. "he owes me one or two."

"Is this guy an old boyfriend?" Cas asked after a handful of long moments threatened to lead to awkward silence.

She threw him a sideways glance as she popped on the blinker and slid over into the next lane of traffic smoothly. "What would you say if he was?"

He thought about that for a minute, trying to figure out exactly how he would feel. He gave her the only answer he could come up with. "I wouldn't like it."

"Well, you can relax. He wasn't an old boyfriend."

She pulled off the interstate into the parking lot of a Denny's.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I getting tired of pancakes," he said as they made their way back to the car half an hour later.

"I think I am, too. I guess if we stay this way, one of us will have to learn to cook."

He glanced at her in surprise. "I guess it'll have to be me."

"Why you?"

"Well, I think we all remember the hamburger attempt back in Indiana," he smiled teasingly.

She got into the car, waiting for him, then pulled out of the lot. "It was edible."

"Barely," he acknowledged, grudgingly.

She gave him a huff. "Next time tell your little friend he needs to leave instruction manuals along with suddenly human bodies."

"I still don't understand how Chuck made all this happen. I was told he was a prophet. But it would take the powers of an Arch Angel to pull this off."

"You think he's an Arch Angel?"

Cas shook his head. "He can't be. I knew all of them."

"So he's something with the power of an Arch Angel, but not an Arch Angel. Like a DemiGod?

"Maybe, but I'm not sure they have the power to turn us into humans. Besides the Arch Angel came to his aid just like they would if he were a prophet."

Meg had just pulled into the parking lot of another cheesy, sleezy motel and turned off the engine. Then she turned to him slowly with an odd look on her face. "You don't think...?" she trailed off as if she didn't want to finish the sentence.

"I don't think what?" he prompted.

"It's nothing." She shook her head. "I'm just really tired."

He met her at the front of the car with their minimal bags over his shoulder. He eyed her closely for a few minutes with narrowed eyes before he pulled the bags from his shoulders and handed them over to her. "Take these upstairs and get comfortable. I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" she asked, suddenly concerned.

"Not far. I'll be fine. I'm in complete control," he assured her.

"You just said it was getting louder in there. Are you sure you'll be okay? If something happens and it causes a scene, the Angels and the Demons both will hear about it. They'll be on us before we know what to do."

"I won't let that happen. I swear. I'm a grown man. I can go across the street by myself," He was actually getting irritated now. He knew her concern was for his well-being but a little faith in him would have been nice as well.

She raised her hand as if to hold back his anger. "I didn't mean it like that. I know you're a grown man. It's not that I don't trust you." She stopped like she wasn't sure where she was going with her protests. Then she raised her eyes to his. "I worry about you."

He leaned into her and gave her a quick kiss to assure her that he wasn't angry. "I know, but I'll be fine. I'll be five minutes and it will be worth it. I promise." Then he turned to leave and she grabbed his sleeve to stop him. When he turned back to her she had a wad of money in her hand. "You'll need this."

"Right," he smiled, shyly as he took the bills.

"Okay, I'm going to get out of these shoes." She told him as she turned towards the stairs.

"If they hurt your feet, why do you wear them?" he asked as he watched her go. He really enjoyed watching her go. It was one of his favorite things, watching her leave. The stairs were adding a whole new angle to the sport and it was one he was in favor of.

She paused and turned back towards him. His angle on her now gave him a perfect view. Her legs were encased to the knee in a pair of black suede, silver studded boots with a heel at least three inches high.

God, he loved those boots. She wore them often and every time she complained about her feet hurting in them, but he was a fan.

"I like watching you watch me walk around in these," she answered before continuing her trek up the stairs to the third floor landing and leaving him with a sassy, sexy tone in her voice that begged him to return to her quickly.

He did just that, hurrying through the drug store for the items he needed and getting back to her in record time. He hadn't wanted to find her asleep when he arrived.

Luckily, he found her sitting on the foot of the bed, wearing nothing but the soft, over-sized black t-shirt she'd been wearing all day, with the remote in her hand, watching an old black and white movie and talking on the phone.

"That's why we're going where we're going. I have a contact there. I think he might be able to tell us where they went," she was saying.

Cas moved silently into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Meg had no idea what Cas was doing and at the moment she had a bigger problem on her hands so she didn't bother stopping him to ask.

"So tell us where you are and we can join up with you, or tell us where to meet you?" Sam suggested, helpfully.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," she answered, firmly.

"You won't tell us where you're taking Cas?" he pushed with a bit of an edge to his voice.

"No, I'm not. You'll just have to trust me. I have a contact. I have no intention of telling you where this contact is or even what he is. You are the Winchesters. You like to stab pointy things into my kind of crowd."

"You're taking him to a demon?" he demanded, suddenly very loudly.

"I'm taking him to a friend. He will be fine. I promise not one hair on his precious little head will be hurt. You have my word."

"That's not good enough," he replied.

She sighed as if she really, truly regretted their impasse. Actually she could care less what the Winchesters thought of her. "It's going to have to be good enough because that's all I can give you. I wasn't calling for your permission. I was calling to keep you updated. But I can stop doing that if you want."

She hung up before he could say anything else then she turned off the phone. She could be on the run from the Winchesters as well if it meant making Cas whole again.

The bathroom door opened and with it came the heavenly aroma of lavender bubble bath and rose scented candles. Cas stepped out of the doorway's amber glow, completely naked and held out his hand for her. "I was thinking about taking a bath. Want to join me?"

She snatched off the T.V., gave the remote a toss on the bed behind her and took his hand in hers. He pulled her to her feet slowly, then held her there with his hands on her hips as he kissed her. It was a long, languid kiss, completely lazy and unhurried. It wasn't full of passion, or fire or fury. It was softer than that, filled with something deeper and even more powerful.

While he kissed her, his fingertips found the hem of her shirt and he broke away long enough to pull it over her head. Then he was kissing her again while his nimble, clever, quick-learning fingers made short work of her bra.

She sighed into him causing her breasts to push into his chest and he gave a little inward groan before pulling her in tighter. Then he swooped down and lifted her into his arms. Normally she wasn't the kind of girl that let herself get swept off her feet, but as he moved them towards the bathroom she was reminded once again of how completely screwed she was when it came to him.

As the nearly scalding hot water hit her, very muscle in her body seemed to relax at once and she closed her eyes and let the candlelight, intoxicating aroma and caressing bubbles take her. She thought of the ridiculous Calgon commercials from the eighties and nearly laughed out loud. Something must have escaped because Cas picked his head up from the back of the tub and look down at her. She was lying directly over him, front to back, his inner thighs circled her outer ones and his arms were crossed on her chest.

"What's funny?" he asked, his voice gruff from lack of use. Neither of them had said anything in nearly an hour. Once, she'd sat up and refreshed the hot water, but other than that, neither had moved in that long, either.

"I was just thinking about how perfect this was. How did you know?"

"I know things," he answered evasively as he took a body sponge, dipped it into the water and ran it over her shoulder which was out of the water. The warm water hit her skin and caused an instant rush of goose bumps to course down her arm. He followed in their waking, using the warmth of the water to chase them away. Then he leaned his head down and softly kissed the place on her shoulder he'd just cleaned.

"I know things, too." she said, shifting, turning over until she was facing him.

"Like what?" he asked, watching intently as he continued to move the sponge up and down her arm.

"I know that all this was really just a rouse to get you laid."

He cocked an eyebrow at her and the gesture looked so good on him she couldn't help but smile appreciatively. "I'm pretty sure I don't have to resort to using a rouse to get laid."

"I hate how much that's true," she huffed.

"You would rather I not know how much you want me, too?" he asked, truly curious now.

She looked away for a moment to gather her thoughts before looking back. "I don't like knowing that you are aware of how much power you have over me."

"I don't have power over you. No more than you have over me."

"How does that not scare the hell out of you? Cause it scares the hell out of me."

He sat up and drew her against him, sloughing water as he went. "It doesn't scare me because I trust you. It shouldn't scare you because you can trust me."

How many times had she heard those words? How many voices haunted that sentence in her mind? She couldn't even remember them all. But she could remember how many times it was true. None was an easy number to remember.

The difference was she had never wanted to believe it more than she did when he said it.