With Understanding

by apokteino

Supposed serial killer Dean Winchester kidnaps his soulmate, FBI Agent Castiel Novak. What ensues is a battle of wills – one determined to be loved, and one determined to be free.

26. Chapter 26

Warnings (spoilers!): Violence and grossness on par with show. Discussion of rape, kidnapping, trauma, and serial killing.

A/N: Thank you to Letzi and LolaRuns for beta'ing. Letzi, you were super thorough about every single word, and made me face my silly phrasing choices - I can't thank you enough. LolaRuns, you have my super duper thanks for going through this chapter three times, checking for pacing and story stuff. 3 to you both!
A/N2: The extended author's note will be up in about a week. I haven't finished it yet, but didn't want to delay the final chapter any longer. :)
A/N3: Thank you to all the readers who have read, commented, and kudo'ed this story. I'm quite sure I wouldn't have made it through this monster without you! I hope you enjoy the very last chapter to With Understanding.

Feedback is loved!

---

SSA Hotchner sits alone in his office, staring at the report before him.

He had hoped this day would never come. It's why he gave Castiel a recommendation, even though he forced him out of the BAU. In order for Castiel's behavior to change and to fully separate himself from Dean Winchester, he needed consequences for his actions, and Hotchner saw no better way of doing that than taking away the prime appointment of Castiel's career. But instead of that hit balancing Castiel out, warning Castiel away from possible communication with Winchester and off-duty investigations into other cases, it just made it worse.

Hotchner never saw this murder coming.

When Castiel came back, literally walking away from Dean Winchester, he hugged Hotchner and said, Thank you for looking for me.

In that moment Hotchner thought the battle was over. Maybe not the war, that would only end with Winchester's capture, but certainly that battle.

Hotchner goes through his desk drawers, which are neatly organized, until he finds what he's looking for: a photo album. It has team photos with every member who's ever been in the BAU, typically taken once a year. Castiel was in it twice. So was Elle Greenway, the agent who also committed a murder but didn't get caught, resigning instead.

Castiel ran.

Most of the people who know Hotchner as acquaintances or just as work colleagues think he has little to no emotion because he expresses almost nothing. But that isn't true, as his friends in the BAU know. And so it hurts to sit here and see how far Castiel has fallen. He called Castiel a friend, and to lose that so violently brings Hotchner a quiet ache. He was losing that friendship – the entire BAU was losing it – by degrees anyway, but this was not how he anticipated things to end.

Putting the photos of a faintly smiling, professional Castiel away, Hotchner tidies up the report he printed out just to have the physical copy on hand, and heads to the conference room. There's a briefing due.

His team files in, one by one. Morgan first, taking a comfortable seat. He, like the others, still thinks this is about the Hitchenberg case, and it is, but Hotchner will have something else to address first. JJ comes next, followed by Rossi and Reid, in the middle of discussing some crime statistics. Penelope is last, carrying her folder and tablet, ready to give the briefing on their next case. She stops before the head of the table, laying out her things, and Hotchner takes the opportunity to interrupt her.

"Garcia, I have something to tell the team before we begin."

Penelope freezes. "Uh, okay." Hesitantly, she takes a seat.

Morgan looks up curiously, and so do the others.

"Yesterday morning," Hotchner starts with a sigh, "an arrest warrant was issued for Castiel Novak, and a search warrant for his home. He was missing when the FBI arrived, as were cash and sentimental items."

Penelope gasps out, "What?"

"An arrest warrant for doing what?" Morgan asks, leaning forward.

"For the murder of Weston Bower, a lieutenant of the mob family Agent Novak's organized crime team was investigating."

They all start asking questions at once, while Penelope alone just sits there in shock.

Hotchner raises a hand and they quiet. "I have a report which I'll email to all of you and that will answer your questions." He pauses. "Most of them. But in sum, it appears that Agent Novak killed Bower in order to save the life of his partner, Agent Roger Stein, though how he accomplished the latter is not known at this point. When the murder was discovered, Agent Novak was ordered to investigate it, so it appears he may have buried evidence. His superior got suspicious, had him taken off of it, and they uncovered evidence linking Agent Novak directly to the crime."

"Castiel loves the law," JJ says quietly, breaking the silence.

"He loves people more," Morgan says.

"There's another element," Hotchner goes on. "There was an occult scene that Agent Novak led them to during the investigation, and he said it appeared that Bower was attempting to cast a spell. It's unknown at this point if Agent Novak believed the spell to be a real danger, but given his relationship with Dean Winchester, who believes wholeheartedly in the occult, that possibility cannot be set aside."

Morgan makes a faint, hurt sound.

Hotchner knows they were close, closer after Castiel's captivity than before it. "We'll be waiting for the FBI internal affairs team to finish their investigation. Once that's done, we're to provide as much of a non-biased profile as we can on Agent Novak, assuming he hasn't been captured by then." He hates to say his next words, but the team needs to know. "The director isn't happy about this. He wants Novak captured, and quickly, before this becomes an embarrassment."

Morgan snorts and rubs his eyes.

"Start setting up interviews with everyone Novak knew," Hotchner finishes. "A month from now. In person if possible, by phone if not. Until then, do your best to keep this out of your minds. There's nothing we can do at this point." He nods at Penelope. "You can begin your presentation, Garcia. I apologize for the distraction."

There's a pregnant silence, filled with worry, fear and regret.

Penelope grabs her tablet, then drops it noisily on the floor. "Sorry, sorry, I'm just, um, a little unnerved."

"Take your time," Hotchner says gently.

He means it for everyone.

---

The team doesn't discuss Castiel. They can't. Not because they have been ordered not to, but because none of them know what to say.

Even as an entire team of ten people, FBI agents chosen by the deputy director, dedicates itself to looking over every single case Castiel ever worked on, they can't seem to talk about it.

Only Morgan doesn't seem at a loss. He looks contemplative, as well as sorrowful, but there isn't surprise there the way there is for the rest of the team. Hotchner knows that Morgan had his suspicions about Castiel's recovery from Stockholm Syndrome from the very beginning, but those suspicions had appeared to have been put to rest.

Hotchner watches Morgan, and wonders what happened between the two of them.

---

Three weeks later, the internal investigation is finished, and the case sent off to the federal prosecutor's office. A copy is sent to Hotchner, to be perused by the team and added to the profile they have been ordered to attempt. The upper echelons of the FBI are desperate to have Castiel caught, because Castiel committing murder is an embarrassment that makes the entire bureau look bad. And as biased as the BAU is, they are probably the only ones capable of unraveling Castiel's mind enough to capture him.

They haven't started that process – interviews haven't even started – when they are sent a video tape.

Hotchner sits at his usual place at the conference table, as do the others. "Shall we begin, Garcia?"

Penelope nods, a little shaky. "So, a cop was reviewing some footage from the day before a robbery, and he found something interesting." She coughs. "I mean, he found Castiel and Winchester visiting the gas station. Together." She pauses. "Very … very together." She taps her tablet, and the conference screen begins to play a video.

The image of a gas station appears on screen, in full color, though the resolution is poor. A black '67 Chevy Impala drives up and stops next to a pump. Castiel gets out first, stretching. Dean follows, poking at the pump, and then getting it started. There's no conflict there. Castiel moves out of Dean's way when Dean needs to get to the pump, and they appear to be calmly conversing.

Then Castiel leans in for a kiss. Dean gives it, and Castiel settles against the car. When the tank is full, they nod at each other, exchange a few words, and then get into the car and leave at a leisurely pace.

JJ breaks the silence. "This changes everything."

"Yes, it does," Rossi agrees, slumping into his seat.

"Reversion to Stockholm Syndrome after more than three years is unheard of," Reid says. "I can only surmise he didn't recover. Not really."

"Worse than that," JJ says, rubbing her eyebrow, a sign of stress. "I bet he's bought into Winchester's psychosis. It would explain his reaction to Weston Bower's occult behavior."

Morgan abruptly stands up. "I can't do this." He looks at Hotch, a pleading look in his eyes, and then states firmly, "I can't do this. I'm sorry." And he simply walks out.

After a moment, Rossi also stands. "Hotch, if you wouldn't mind …"

"Go ahead. I'll update you later."

Rossi follows Morgan out.

The silence is very uncomfortable. Hotchner breaks it, because it's his duty to do so. "We have a job to do, no matter how difficult."

"This is Elle all over again," JJ says, almost too soft to hear.

"This is worse," Reid says flatly. "Why didn't we see this coming?" There's no accusation in his voice. Just grief.

"Castiel was adept at hiding it," Hotchner answers simply. "Morgan and I had our suspicions about Castiel's captivity before Castiel came back to work – that he had not told us the whole truth – but there was nothing to substantiate those feelings."

JJ stares at Hotchner. "You didn't tell us about it."

"Before we get to that, we need to clear the air between us," Hotchner answers. "I'll speak with Rossi and Morgan privately, but I think we all need to say what we think about this situation honestly in order to effectively profile this case." Face implacable, Hotchner finally sits. He doesn't let his exhaustion show.

Penelope, surprisingly, is the first to speak. "This whole thing is so – so wrong." Her eyes are wet with tears. She glances at the blank screen. "How could this happen? I – I was so angry when Castiel tried to throw Hotch under the bus, but this?" Penelope swallows. "I just want him to come home, and for that that thing, that whole story to have just never happened."

JJ leans across the table to take Penelope's hand. "I think we all feel that way," she says, the carefully soothing tone of her voice closer to when she comforts a family member of a victim than a friend. Hotchner has an inkling that she started seeing flaws in Castiel's behavior a long time ago. He wonders how long she's known this is where things would lead.

"This job breaks people," Reid says.

"Our work didn't break Castiel. Dean Winchester did," JJ says without compromise.

Reid gives Hotchner an apologetic look. "I don't know if I can hunt him, Hotch."

"We won't be," Hotchner says. "We're too biased to do so effectively. I've already informed the higher ups that if we come across Winchester or Castiel, we're turning the case over to the local field office. If you feel you can't profile him objectively - if anyone feels that way – you are welcome to step away from the case."

Reid doesn't give a yes or no. No one does.

JJ taps a pen restlessly. Reid sits perfectly still, hands forming an arch as he thinks. Penelope is almost talking to herself. Hotchner watches them all, wondering how long it will take them to heal. But he knows from all that has happened to them as a team, that they will.

It's clear that Castiel won't.

If he didn't separate from Dean after his escape from that motel, he won't ever do so.

Penelope asks, subdued, "He's going to prison, isn't he?"

"I don't know," Hotchner says. And it's the truth. "I don't know how compos mentis he is."

"That's assuming he even gets caught," Reid says. "Winchester evaded us for a decade. He only went to prison because he turned himself in."

The conference door opens and Rossi slips in.

"Is Morgan okay?" JJ asks.

"Yeah, he's fine." Rossi directs his next words at Hotchner. "He's going home, Savannah has a cold anyway, and he'll take care of her and the baby."

Hotchner accepts that with a nod. If Rossi has more details, he'll give them later. "We were talking about Castiel. Clearing the air."

Rossi sits down before speaking. His age shows on his face, as it so rarely does – Rossi is a lively man, but there's nothing lively in him now. "I think I have too many questions to say a word, Hotch." There's a bit of anger stirred in his sorrow.

It's Penelope that breaks that impasse, once again. Not out of a recognition it's needed, precisely, but more because her words overflow from her heart, as they always have. "When I showed Castiel all the precautions I took around his digital information so Dean couldn't find him again, he hugged me." Penelope's smile is heartbroken.

JJ mirrors that expression. "He made me smoothies whenever I came over. In the beginning he said he'd forgotten how to make eggs, and he liked that he could just do something different. Move on."

"He told me Sam Winchester read my books," Rossi offers in turn. "Made a joke about how Dean needed to."

"He let me tease him about driving over a curb, while he was practicing for his license," Reid says. "He told me it made his freedom real."

"He swore to me he'd never let anyone hold him prisoner again," is Hotchner's addition.

They spend the next hour offering each other random bits of Castiel. Not just about the bits that are, in hindsight, worrying but the good bits, too, where Castiel seemed healing and healthy. Castiel returned to bringing donuts into the office, but other routines changed – he'd previously preferred to have his own hotel room, but after he came back he never minded sharing, and would usually volunteer to share if there were an uneven number of men. He and Morgan would do movie nights, Penelope tells them. He was, in some respects, even sharper on cases than he was before. He analyzed every detail in a way he didn't previously, occasionally leading to breaks in the case.

He played with JJ's kids. He got Penelope a new set of fluffy pens. He met Rossi's daughter, and had dinner with them. He took over paperwork for Hotchner so Hotchner could go home early and spend more time with his son. He wouldn't stop blushing when he took his boyfriend to a dinner, to meet them.

It feels like a wake.

They all wish that they could talk to Castiel now and convince himself to surrender. Or that he would have spoken to them earlier, while all this was happening – talk to them about Dean. All of it. Maybe they wouldn't be here like this.

"I don't know whether to feel betrayed, or to grieve for the man that we lost," Reid says at last.

That truth stings. "Perhaps both," Hotchner admits.

It's an odd thing to have to go from looking at a friend – even a former friend – and seeing only that, to looking at the same person now as a criminal. Even if Castiel is acting out of psychological damage and not free will, they must still catch him and bring it to be tried in a court of law, even if the end result is not guilty by reason of insanity.

Castiel never acted insane. Not once, in all the months since they got him back. Sketchy, perhaps, but always fully cognizant and consistent.

Hotchner can tell the others are thinking the same thing, or close enough. But it's Rossi who takes the first, necessary step. Rossi leans forward in his chair and asks, "So where do we start?"

JJ nods her agreement, and so does Reid. They aren't stepping away. Hotchner is proud of them for that.

He takes just a moment. "I think we need to go backwards," Hotchner says.

"To?" Reid asks.

"To the real beginning. Dean Winchester," JJ says, remaining zeroed in on the real focus here. Castiel, no matter how much it disgusts Hotchner to think it, will forever be associated with Winchester, instead of being considered on his own. The perception he fought for three years has now come full circle.

Reid, mind clearly buzzing, offers, "We do have the notes his psychologist took. And all of the potential causes of Castiel's behavior do start with his imprisonment by Winchester."

"We all agree then?" Hotchner asks.

They all look at each other. Friends. Family. Castiel was one of them, once.

"Yeah, I think we are," Rossi says, and he says it for all of them.

Penelope looks down, and asks to be released to her office. Hotchner agrees. She doesn't need to be here for this, though her thoughts on Castiel will be necessary when the time comes.

Profiling Dean Winchester is a bit like following the white rabbit down the rabbit hole. Nothing quite makes sense, but you are left with the continual impression that the people who live down there at the bottom of it – Winchester himself – to them, it all makes perfect sense.

Hotchner quietly edits his thoughts: Dean. "Call him Dean, like Castiel always did."

The original profile pictured Dean as a weird mix of a mission-oriented and visionary killer. Mission-oriented serial killers are very rarely psychotic, but they see themselves as ridding the world of troublesome people who 'need' to be eliminated for society's sake. In that, Dean fits perfectly: he is a hunter, killing monsters, saving the world, and there are indications that those he kills are criminals themselves in some way. The family business, as it were, since John Winchester started Dean's killing spree. And yet, the monsters that Dean kills aren't human in his mind – they are supernatural creatures. Visionary killers think they are sent by God or the Devil, and usually are psychotic. But Dean doesn't have an external source telling him what to do; he chooses his victims, based on some belief about what kind of creature they are. The theory didn't make complete sense, however, because Dean's signature changed constantly. Circumstances were always different. Dean never committed a crime the same way twice, even if the act of murder itself was similar.

Serial killers have signatures of some kind, even if they evolve. Dean's signature is unique to whatever he thinks he's hunting, though how he makes those determinations is still mostly a mystery. The vampire cultists that Dean killed in the dozens all had the same signature: beheading. But that's fairly rare in his victimology.

Castiel's perspective after he escaped added another layer of complexity to the profile. He claimed Dean to be a vigilante killer, which explained why witnesses would, approximately a third of the time, obfuscate important information or outright refuse to cooperate while claiming Dean's innocence. They were indebted.

But how did monsters and vigilantism coexist in Dean's mind?

That Castiel never fully explained, which he got away with simply by refusing to be involved in the case. The FBI doesn't force victims to testify except in extreme circumstances, and Castiel never visibly withheld information. Hotchner, even at the time, thought that Castiel understood a lot more of Dean's thinking than he would admit. Morgan confirmed that by telling Hotchner that Castiel said, quite confidently, that no one alive knew Dean as well as he did.

So they were left with a puzzle, more complicated than the one they started out with. Dean Winchester, mission oriented, psychotic vigilante serial killer.

And after that, it all flowers outward.

To Castiel.

Castiel called it bride kidnapping, though that term omits Dean's other crimes and psychosis. A pattern that would hold true, unfortunately. Whenever he discussed Dean, Castiel completely ignored Dean's other crimes, and Hotchner knows it was not out of a lack of compassion. It puzzled Hotchner at the time, though now suspicions are turning into theories.

But how does the profile of Dean change in the presence of Castiel? The two men are now inexorably linked, and they cannot profile one without the other.

It's certainly true that Dean was always a caregiver. That much was clear both from Dean's background and Castiel's description of Dean's behavior during his captivity. He thrives on having someone to 'care for' even if that person is there unwillingly, as he probably did with Sam Winchester at some point (particularly during childhood, though he also likely served a protector against their father) and was very obviously the case with Castiel. Dean's psychological state demands having company.

From the few police reports they got about Dean's activities before and after his escape, he was coping, if not always very well. Officers described him as tired and depressed, though focused on his 'case.' It's likely that a large portion of why Dean turned himself in was related to not having a partner to bolster his self-esteem and keep him relatively stable.

They always thought this relationship that Dean was attempting to form was purely parasitic. But was it?

"I keep thinking about the letter and phone call to Castiel's brother," Reid says. "We profiled at the time that it meant Dean was deeply emotionally involved in Castiel. Do you think it could have been less calculating than that, an act of compassion for someone he loved?"

"If it was, that could have served as way to coddle Castiel, and it could have developed their relationship further, increasing the development of Stockholm Syndrome. Though whether that was intentional …" JJ shrugs. "It's possible that Dean is only capable of compassion when it comes to Castiel, just like he was only interested in his brother's well-being until Sam's death."

"Castiel is a replacement for Sam," Rossi agrees.

"It seems likely to me," Reid offers, "that now that Dean has Castiel, he'll return to the way he behaved with Sam."

"I agree," Hotchner says. "But that doesn't make him easier to catch. Sam and Dean roamed the entire countryside, but Dean when he had Castiel captive was more selective."

"Dean is actually more dangerous now, more than ever. If Castiel is truly Dean's partner, we have a serial killer who evaded law enforcement for over a decade with one of the best agents in the FBI."

"If," Reid stresses. He frowns. "Need is a powerful thing. Dean needed Castiel."

JJ writes something down before adding, "Did Castiel respond to that need, absent of moral considerations? Is that what he's doing now, serving Dean's need while ignoring Dean's crimes?"

"Killing people that Dean thinks are monsters?" Reid asks.

It's a horrible thought. Even after eighteen months, and having profiled what Dean wanted from Castiel, no one on the team ever gave a second thought on Castiel's recovery. They certainly never thought that Castiel would, in time, fully break and commit crimes with Dean as an active participant.

They toy with the idea for a while, comparing Castiel's mental state to what they know of Dean's. Captivity was never Dean's end goal. His true desire was to have Castiel with him, on the road, hunting monsters and continuing his delusional, mission-oriented serial killings. Only Castiel's noncooperation kept that from happening. He no longer, it would appear, has that lack of cooperation. Castiel had to be allowing Dean's crimes, at the very least.

"Do you think that's what Castiel is doing now? Hunting monsters that only Dean can perceive?" JJ asks.

"Possibly," Rossi says. "But while Castiel is a replacement for Sam in Dean's mind, I'm not so sure about Castiel's mind, and that may have affected their relationship and Dean's perception of him. Dean and Castiel may not hunt like Dean and Sam at all. I think we should find out how Dean viewed Castiel."

"You want us to talk to the psychologist who saw him in prison," JJ says. "You think she'd have anything else to add? Her notes showed a huge obsession and the presence of guilt over his actions, but I still have my doubts about the veracity of the latter."

Dr. Merris, Dean's psychologist in prison – who, in return for studying him as a serial killer, provided some counseling – easily gave them her notes, which were extensive when referring to Dean's childhood and killings. Her therapy notes were there, but far less detailed. She had tried to give him privacy of a sort, and Hotchner can't help but wonder if she saw something in Dean that made her want to do that. The same thing that Castiel saw.

"We're due to interview her in a few days," Hotchner says. "I didn't think it was necessary after Dean's escape, but now I think it is. If we want to catch them both."

"You know," Rossi begins, then stops.

"What is it?" Hotchner asks.

"Dean turned himself in because he didn't have a partner. Then why did he escape?"

JJ hisses her exhale. "Because he had a partner. Castiel managed to pass him a message, forgave him – Morgan said that Castiel forgave Dean in prison – there must have been some kind of interaction that gave Dean hope. Eventually, that hope became real. Dean's escape wasn't random. That's how far back this goes."

Reid shakes his head. "No. This goes back to before Castiel's escape. We keep thinking as if something changed after Castiel escaped, but I think we're framing this whole situation wrong. Something changed during Castiel's captivity. And Castiel never came back from that."

The team sits in silence, not out of discomfort, but because they're all thinking. Analyzing. It's getting easier to see Castiel as a profiling subject.

"What if," Rossi says, "during Castiel's captivity, he became convinced that Dean was telling him the truth about the supernatural being real?"

"You think Castiel was psychotic?"

"Not necessarily," Rossi says. "It could be more like group delusion or a mass hallucination. Victims of a cult can be starved, beaten, or drugged into having what appears to be a religious experience, but is in fact the result of dehydration, sleep deprivation –"

"Or drugs," Reid finishes. "Dean proved capable of using prescription drugs to knock Castiel out, like Propofol. It's possible he was smart enough to find a drug he could use to manipulate Castiel's perceptions. Given that and Stockholm Syndrome, he could have had Castiel convinced."

"There's no evidence of that," Hotchner says, pointing out the massive hole in the theory. "Castiel said he was only given sedatives, and there were no scars or tracks on his arms to suggest he was drugged frequently."

"No, but we do know as a fact that Castiel's interest in the occult increased substantially after his imprisonment."

Hotchner sighs. "Castiel got a tattoo," he tells the others, "an occult symbol meant to make the wearer invisible to the eyes of supernatural creatures."

JJ raises her eyebrows and then blinks rapidly. "Interesting. If a bit horrifying."

"How many cases did we have that had killers with belief in the occult?" Rossi asks.

Reid, of course, knows the answer. "Thirty-two, if you include consults."

JJ shakes her head, not in denial, but more to clear her thoughts. "We've profiled on less," she points out. "I'm not saying it's even something we should put in the profile right now, but it's an avenue we should explore." She sighs. "I wish Balthazar would talk to us. He thinks he's helping Castiel by not cooperating, that Castiel is better off running, but he isn't."

Hotchner frowns. "My order remains the same. Leave his brother alone. Balthazar is too fragile to help us. If we pushed, I doubt we'd get anything of substance – Castiel would never give Balthazar anything he had to keep from us, he's too smart for that – and it would only cause Balthazar to break down."

JJ lifts her hands from the desk, as if to say, have it your way.

"Balthazar isn't exactly the most stable person to begin with," Rossi says with a grimace.

JJ looks sad at that. Hotchner knows she spent a good amount of time with Balthazar while Castiel was gone, talking to him over the phone and reassuring him. She might think Balthazar has more strength than he does just because of that; or her drive to catch Castiel – in some respect, to save him from himself – is overpowering her concern for Balthazar, who Hotchner doesn't doubt is innocent in all of this.

"Assuming that Castiel began to share Dean's delusion, why did we not see that?" JJ asks.

"Dean is capable of acting very normal. He's fooled countless victims, witnesses and law enforcement into thinking he is who says he is that day. He certainly doesn't mention monsters in public. Castiel could have learned the skill from him," Rossi points out.

"Then why escape, if he believed Dean's delusions?"

"The desire to be free," Hotchner says simply. "Castiel never lost that. When he was found, I told the police officer who interviewed him that if Castiel attempted to leave, he was to stop that by arresting Castiel and holding him as long as possible. Castiel found out, and his reaction was … strong. He made Morgan swear that would never happen."

Morgan, who right now is home with his wife and child.

"Do you think … that they'll be partners now, in Dean's criminal activities?" JJ asks.

"Over a fifth of serial killers work in teams," Reid says.

"Let's not go there yet, when there's no evidence for it," Rossi says. "For Castiel to go from law enforcement to serial killing is a leap I'm not willing to make, just yet. Killing Bower, as far as we can currently tell, was a defensive action to protect Agent Stein."

Often when the team profiles, they fill each other's weak spaces, striking down one theory while offering another. It's never competitive, and it's not now. Instead of different voices joining together to create a profile, they speak with one voice: a voice of confusion and loss. It will take time for them to get their balance and perspective back. Only then will they have a chance of catching Castiel and Dean Winchester. "We have a lot to think on," Hotchner concludes. "I think we should let our ideas percolate until we can speak to Dr. Merris. We have the time, we should take it." He pauses. "Go home, everyone."

No one leaves immediately. JJ gathers her things and starts talking to Reid about her kids, which is sweet. Though there's nothing romantic between the two of them, Reid has always been protective of JJ. Rossi joins the conversation for a few minutes, then meanders out.

Hotchner doesn't stay to chat with them. That night, hours after their meeting as he's putting his son to bed, he wonders when and where the BAU will see Castiel again.

---

JJ is driving home, until she isn't.

Morgan has been on her mind since he abruptly left the meeting. That in and of itself isn't really a concern beyond a concern for his emotional well-being, but ever since Castiel murdered a man and became a fugitive, or rather, before that, when Castiel accused Hotchner of improper investigative tactics and bias against him to save his own career - their close-knit team began to splinter. Oh, just at the edges, in the cracks between their strong bonds of friendship.

The thing is, JJ knows that the destruction of a friendship, of a person, is no small matter to those around him. Castiel didn't simply destroy his own life; the implosion of Castiel's mental health has exploded into those around him. His brother Balthazar was nearly put on leave. Morgan can't get enough distance to investigate. Everyone is heartbroken that Castiel has gone so, so far from the person he once was.

JJ has always considered herself a compassionate person. Even after years of speaking to family members and victims of horrible crimes, she didn't let her heart be hardened. Those people needed her to feel for them, and so she did.

The BAU needs the truth to remain whole. To move on.

The others may go after Castiel half-hearted. She won't. She has to ferret any information out, any seeds of doubt and fear that Castiel may have placed.

She loves her team – her second family – too much to do anything less.

The little, quaint house that Morgan calls home is dark in the night. Even the sunny blue that Savannah chose for it seems darker than normal, though JJ is sure that's just her own mental space interpreting it. When she turns off the car, she texts Will to let him know she'll be a little late. He'll understand, though she'll have to give him a full explanation later.

When she knocks at the door, it takes Morgan a moment to answer. "Hey," he says, slouched and casual, but there's a hint of wariness in his eyes. He's dressed in sweats already, and there appears to be a spit up stain on his left shoulder.

"Hey," JJ says gently. "Can I come in? I promise I won't take too much of your time at home, I know Savannah isn't feeling well."

Morgan hesitates, then steps aside. "Savannah is asleep, and so is our son, so we'll have to keep it down."

"Sure." JJ smiles. "I know how much it sucks to have a baby peacefully sleeping and then get woken up."

Morgan snorts. "I bet you do. How are your boys? You put their dad on babysitting duty?"

"Will's at home, yeah." JJ steps into the living room and sits on the couch. She's been here before, of course. They all have. Not long after Morgan's son was born, they had a potluck here, half to socialize and half to bring the exhausted parents some food. She found Castiel here once, she remembers, already sitting on the couch, relaxed with Morgan's son in his arms.

Only Penelope cut all ties to Castiel after the investigation was concluded. The rest kept in contact with Castiel in some form, including Morgan.

JJ takes a spot on that same couch, watching Morgan. "You doing okay?"

Morgan collapses into an armchair. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm doing okay. Just tired."

JJ nods. "This whole mess with Castiel …"

"It's worse than Elle," Morgan says quietly.

"You were the closest to him after the kidnapping," JJ says. "I'm not saying you should have seen something, but did you?"

Morgan's jaw clenches. "No." He looks away. "No, I didn't."

Looking away is a common sign of lying. Of course, it could also just be a sign of discomfort.

"Really, Morgan?"

He doesn't cover his mouth, shuffle his feet, or make a significant pause. He answers directly and immediately. "I didn't see this coming. Do you think I would have let this happen to Castiel – let Castiel do this – if I had?"

He isn't lying. But he's not telling the whole truth either, so JJ offers a lie of her own. "I believe you. I just – was there anything there that we should know?"

Morgan sighs. "I'm stepping back from this profile. I've already sent Hotch an email. I'm too close to it. If you have a specific question, then sure. But I don't want to drive myself crazy going over every conversation and every road not taken."

JJ rubs her eyebrow, smiling wanly. "I understand that." And that's the whole truth.

"I've got some casserole from one of Savannah's friends. You want some?"

It's been a long day. "I'd love some."

They spend the rest of dinner talking about their kids. JJ doesn't see another slip.

---

Dr. Merris is a woman in her fifties, with blond hair mixed with gray. Her suit is sharp and tailored, and the glasses that sit on her nose aren't decorative, though JJ is willing to bet they were expensive. She very much looks like what she is – a professional woman dedicated to her career, and determined to make her appearance match. She sits in an office JJ commandeered for this interview, legs crossed but relaxed.

JJ puts a recorder on the desk and takes her seat, not opposite, but diagonal. She doesn't want to appear confrontational when there's no need to be. "Hello," JJ says. "Thanks for coming." She holds out her hand to shake.

Dr. Merris leans over and shakes her hand firmly, giving her a pleased smile. "Of course. Anything I can do to help."

"I've actually read a fair number of your papers," JJ says as she flips on the recorder. "People glamorize what I do, but your work is just as important."

"Thank you. Fortunately I didn't get into this field for the public recognition. My peers know." Dr. Merris shrugs lightly. "So you want to ask about Dean? Was anything missing in my notes?"

"I wanted to know more about Dean's therapy. But before I get to that, what was your initial impression of Dean?"

"Depressed," Dr. Merris replies. "Very depressed." She pauses, head tilted. "But incredibly intelligent and focused."

That matches the BAU's own perspective on Dean. "What made you think that?"

"He had no desire to play a game with me. He knew that I wanted to talk to him for a specific purpose and he knew what he wanted from me in turn. But his affect was muted, his body language curled in and exhausted." Dr. Merris folds her hands. "You know, he asked me what I thought the goal of prison was. I've never had a subject ask me that. But he wanted to know if it was possible to be rehabilitated."

"Do you think it was possible? Do you think he accomplished that, in some sense?" JJ asks.

"In some sense, yes. Dean's delusions never faltered, of course. But his ways of forming relationships and coping – he had tremendous gains in those skills."

"You don't think he was faking it? You did say he was intelligent."

"Intelligent, but not a sociopath." Dr. Merris smiles a little, a small pleased one like an intellectual curiosity has taken root. "I would say he's not even a psychopath, though he has tendencies towards that, as well as psychosis. His explanation to me when he asked for therapy was that he believed there was a decent chance he would see Castiel Novak in heaven, and he wanted to be a better person for that eventuality. He was very fatalistic about his upcoming trial. He believed, wholeheartedly, that he would be found guilty, even as he proclaimed his innocence. When he was – well, coming from someone on death row, I don't think he was lying. He never slipped up and mentioned seeing Castiel in this life. He always directed his energy towards seeing Castiel in heaven."

JJ raises an eyebrow. "He thinks he'll go to heaven?"

"Well," Dr. Merris says, shrugging, "I'm an atheist. I believed that giving Dean therapy was useful in allowing him to come to terms with his life choices. I do believe in peace, whenever it is possible. My impression of Dean's view on the afterlife is that he believed in it absolutely. He claimed to have died more than once, only to be revived, and implied several times he'd been to heaven previously. This fit into his other psychoses, of course."

"Can you explain what you mean by that?"

"Dean believes he and his brother saved the world from Lucifer and the archangel Michael fighting. He claimed that such a fight would have resulted in half the world or more being destroyed, because of how powerful archangels are. He also stated that after his brother Sam sacrificed himself – falling into hell – to do this, they had to stop the archangel Raphael from restarting the apocalypse. Then there were leviathans and plots of angels and demons to fight against. Dean had no problem admitting to his crimes against Castiel, as well as financial fraud, but the rest he believed he was on the side of right and just."

All of that is, of course, in Dr. Merris's notes. All of Dean's pre-prison activities are there. Dean really spared no detail in explaining his delusional thinking and the killings he was on trial for. "So you would say that while Dean was delusional, those delusions were consistent?"

"Very consistent. I'd have to say the most consistent I've ever seen."

"Consistent enough to fool someone else?"

Dr. Merris pauses for a second before answering. "You are referring to Castiel Novak. I heard what happened. You think he's developed psychosis as well?"

"That's what I'm trying to determine," JJ says. "What did Dean say about Castiel?"

"Quite a bit, though I tried to limit my notes on him for privacy's sake."

JJ nods. "Of course. But based on memory?"

"Dean never mentioned Castiel fighting him on the issue of Dean's delusions. It was as if those conversations never happened. Whether they actually did, I cannot say."

An interesting absence, as interesting as Castiel ignoring Dean's other crimes after the fact. "Did he say anything about Castiel? Anything would be useful."

"He spoke at length about Castiel's admirable attributes, but I don't think that's what you mean."

"Not exactly, no."

Dr. Merris takes a moment to consider. "Dean believed he had a mystical connection to Castiel, because Castiel was his soulmate."

JJ remembers that Castiel claimed to 'feel' Dean nearby in Wyoming, three weeks before his kidnapping.

Dr. Merris continues, "As far as their relationship, Dean was able to recognize the destructiveness of imprisoning Castiel. He told me that Castiel experienced a deep depression after his third escape attempt failed, and he became concerned that Castiel would commit suicide. Dean remained in the bunker with him until Castiel appeared to recover, which Dean described as Castiel accepting his circumstances. I believe he was referring to Castiel being a prisoner, though it is possible he was also referring to Castiel believing Dean's psychoses. If Castiel did come to believe him, then I think he did so out of immense psychological pressure to conform in order to be happy."

JJ blinks. "You think that's possible?"

"I think it highly unlikely, considering Castiel's age, sex, and career. It would be the first case of its kind for that reason alone. But it is possible. Isolation is one of the purest forms of psychological torture."

If that was the case, how did Castiel hide his belief in Dean's delusions for so long? "Dean never indicated he was communicating with Castiel before or after prison?"

"Not directly."

"Not directly?" JJ asks.

Dr. Merris leans forward. "I gave Dean moral reconation therapy, as I felt it fit his goals best, though I'm not sure I'd call long-term kidnapping the same as domestic abuse. However, when Dean came to me, he was far more aware of the psychological extent of his crimes than I would expect, given the crimes involved. When I asked him if he had seen a professional, his response was 'not a professional.' That implies to me he did speak to someone at length."

"And you think that was Castiel?"

"Well, not necessarily. But it certainly could have been. BAU members are students of psychology. All pure speculation on my part, you understand. I'm merely offering that Dean did speak to someone with some degree of knowledge about the subject matter."

She knows she has the recorder, but JJ starts writing notes down anyway. Did Castiel speak to Dean after his escape? she writes. "Did Dean ever mention drugging Castiel?"

"Sedation, yes."

"Nothing else?"

"No."

"We theorized that it was possible Dean drugged Castiel so he would hallucinate, in order to bring him over to Dean's thinking. Do you think it's possible that happened?"

"Possible, but I'd wager unlikely. Dean wanted Castiel as a partner. He really did believe, in the beginning, that he would eventually let Castiel go. That he would respect boundaries. And he continued to possess that certainty in his beliefs until after Castiel escaped. I'm not sure Dean was capable of that kind of planning, because it wouldn't be a true partnership in his own mind, in that case, in addition to the fact that Dean absolutely believes that the supernatural is real. He might be actively hallucinating and expect Castiel to see it, but I don't think he'd 'fake' it."

JJ writes that down, too. "You said your therapy with Dean was in some sense successful. Do you think that Dean loved Castiel?"

"There is no doubt in my mind that Dean loved Castiel."

JJ looks up. "None?"

"None. It was not a healthy love, and dangerous for them both, but I would call it love all the same."

That's startling. Yes, Dr. Merris said that Dean wasn't a sociopath or psychopath, but the BAU never really considered the Winchesters capable of love. Not real love. That requires empathy which is hard to see Dean having with the extent of his criminal activities. "Why?"

"Dean changed so much of himself out of the simple hope that he would be good for Castiel. I would call that love," Dr. Merris says, very simply.

"Do you think Castiel loved Dean?"

That takes longer. "In some sense, perhaps? Though that's purely from Dean's perspective on the matter, since I never interviewed Castiel. At the same time, Dean was convinced that Castiel did not love him, however. He believed Castiel suffered from Stockholm Syndrome, and that Castiel 'loved' him out of the necessity of keeping his own mind intact, which is the more likely scenario. That also indicated to me he had spoken to someone at length about what he did to Castiel."

"Okay. You've given me a lot to think about. Would you mind going over Dean's criminal history?"

"Of course."

They spend the next hour dissecting it, JJ trying to see things from Dean's point of view, and how Castiel could possibly perceive Dean's actions in the same light as Dean. Ghosts, monsters, demons and angels manipulating two brothers to end the world – all classic signs of schizophrenia, but even with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, Dean and Sam Winchester were too high functioning and too cognizant of how their thoughts appeared to others. As always, the Winchesters are a mystery.

"Do you have anything else to add?" JJ finishes off with.

"I'll say this. Dean never once belittled me, tried to find out personal details to manipulate me, or made a sexual advance. I've seen all three a lot in the years I've been interviewing serial killers. And he showed me nothing but the highest respect for Castiel. He would attack anyone who belittled Castiel and what Dean put him through. You say that Castiel has been recorded with Dean recently."

JJ nods.

"No serial killing partners truly have a stable relationship. We know that. It devolves with killing, or the balance is upset because the submissive partner objects to the dominant partner's control – something always goes wrong. Usually under stress from law enforcement."

"Yes," JJ agrees.

"I don't think you'll see that in this case. Don't depend on it. That's my advice."

JJ taps her handwritten notes. "Because they love each other?"

"Through everything … Yes. I think so." Dr. Merris unexpectedly smiles. "Dean Winchester is a very strange case."

"I'll keep that in mind," JJ says, meaning it. "Thank you so much for your help and flying over here."

"Let me know if you need anything else," Dr. Merris says. "I have to admit, this is shaping up to be one of the most interesting cases of the century. A kidnapped FBI agent who escaped, then returned to his captor and turned into a new kind of serial killer? Interesting indeed."

JJ smiles a bit painfully. "Yeah. I just wish it didn't involve one of us."

Dr. Merris dips her head in acknowledgement. "Yes."

And the interview ends.

---

Rossi and JJ next interview is with Stephen Bailey.

Stephen was a high-level stock broker when he met Castiel in a gay bar, roughly four months or so after Castiel's escape. His blond hair is going gray, matching his gray eyes. He's very different from Dean Winchester, though on a superficial level they are similar. Both are attractive and charming. JJ remembers that from the single dinner that Castiel brought Stephen to, when he wanted his boyfriend to meet the team. Castiel, shy and laughing, was a joy to witness back then. JJ heard about the breakup well after it happened, though that was probably partially because Morgan's son was born around the same time.

Stephen sits down in Hotchner's office, while Hotchner is gone for the day. No one sits behind the desk.

"Thanks for coming," JJ says, taking a seat herself and opening up her notes.

"We appreciate it," Rossi adds.

"Yeah, it's not a problem. I moved, but I still have a lot of friends here to see, so." Stephen shrugs, and taps the arm of the chair while not even appearing to notice he was doing it.

Rossi responds by leaning forward, though his body language is open, inviting intimacy and empathy. "I want you to know you're not in trouble."

Stephen winces. "That's good." And he relaxes, just a bit.

"We mostly want to interview you for your perspective on Castiel, and anything you can tell us about Castiel and Dean Winchester," JJ says, copying Rossi's posture and smiling. Interview techniques are less fakery and manipulation than altering certain details in order to allow openness, when not dealing with a potential criminal.

Stephen sighs. "Did Dean call Castiel 'Cas'?"

JJ blinks. "Yes, he did."

"I always thought it was odd that the first name Castiel gave me wasn't the one he went by," Stephen continues. "That would explain it."

Interesting bit of Castiel's psychology. After he escaped, he still thought of himself on Dean's terms, at least for a while.

"Can you tell us how you met, and about your relationship?" JJ asks. Open ended questions are best at this stage of an interview.

Stephen nods. Castiel, according to Stephen, was very intelligent and responsive. He put his whole focus on Stephen when they were together, very consciously so. At the same time, Castiel was very vulnerable and that showed. Stephen calls them 'tics,' but JJ knows them as triggers. 'A match made in heaven' was a trigger. Being touched in certain ways was a trigger. Words and events were triggers, often random ones that Stephen never had context for. Their relationship was built on a mutual attraction to each other, sexually and emotionally, but Stephen was the caregiver. In Stephen's words, Castiel needed someone to take care of him and to have a healthy relationship with. In Castiel's words, he needed someone who wouldn't psychoanalyze him.

Rossi glances at JJ when Stephen says that, and the look on his face speaks volumes. It's natural on one hand to be wary of people who can't help but see the psychology of your situation, but the team never formally 'psychoanalyzed' Castiel, and wouldn't have out of respect for his privacy. What did Castiel fear that they would see?

As Castiel recovered, he needed less emotional support, though Stephen doesn't attribute that to the breakup.

JJ can't help but wonder if Stephen was a Dean replacement. Rossi asks the question.

"No, I don't think so. He liked that we weren't very similar. I mean, being with me was definitely a result of what happened to him – when he first came on to me, he admitted it was a test for himself because he'd never been with a man previously."

"Would you mind telling us why he ended the relationship?" JJ asks.

"It wasn't really him that ended it, honestly. I mean, it was mutual, but I think it was mostly my fault. I knew going in that Castiel was a guy who loved his work, just like I did – even though our work was, well, very different – and Castiel was very clear about that being respected." Stephen pauses, and there's a bit of old grief in his next words. "I didn't want him getting hurt. He was really –" Stephen stops.

"We need to know everything you can tell us," JJ says gently. "Everything is relevant."

"He was really fucked up about sex. And I couldn't help but link his kidnapping to his work, you know? And then he'd come home all scraped up and bruised, or limping – it was always something. And I hated that. I wanted him safe. And then my mom got ill, and I realized I really wanted … really wanted a safe life, and a family to go with it."

"Did Castiel initiate the breakup or did you?"

"Like I said, it was mutual, but he brought it up. We were fighting a lot, and I just didn't want to let go. He told me that I deserved better than him, which hurt to hear, and I told him that wasn't true. Because it wasn't." Stephen shakes his head. "I don't know what happened, if he really murdered that guy, but Castiel – Castiel was good. At his heart. That much I know."

JJ nods. "If it helps, it looks like the murder was to save an innocent man."

Stephen lets out a rough breath. "Yeah, it does."

"What did Castiel say about Dean?" Rossi asks.

Stephen's mouth twists. "Lots of things, really, but he never really offered many details. He loved and hated the guy, though."

"Could you explain what you mean by that?"

"Well." Stephen shifts uncomfortably. "One of the first times –" He straightens. "One of the first times we got intimate, I felt all these scars on his hip. He told me he'd done them to himself when he lost hope of escape, and it was – sad, I guess. There was hate there, too, but then he said, he said that he loved Dean, past tense. Things like that. And then he'd tell me that he couldn't talk to you guys about Dean because of everything you knew, but he was upset about Dean's capture. He had a panic attack in front of me after Dean turned himself in. And he said that Dean wasn't an evil person."

"He said Dean wasn't an evil person?" Rossi asks, raising an eyebrow.

Stephen nods. "Yeah." He looks briefly thoughtful, and then says, "You know, first time that Castiel explained Dean to me, not even using his name, he said that Dean was an abusive ex."

"He specifically framed it as relationship?" JJ asks.

"And he said that's not the term the FBI would use."

"Did you ever feel like he was communicating with Dean during your relationship?" Rossi asks.

"No. Definitely not. Dean was completely in the past. Castiel's feelings for him were fucked up, but he had no desire to see Dean at all, from what I could tell. And he was really cautious about even letting me know where he lived."

Castiel's relationship with Stephen mostly occurred during the time period before Dean turned himself in. JJ wrote down Dr. Merris's suspicions about Castiel being the one to provide 'not professional' help to Dean. It would fit, in a sense. Castiel believed Dean was not pure evil, even framing Dean's murders as vigilante killings, which are far more palatable than the killing of innocents, regardless of legality. If Castiel did talk to Dean therapeutically – which sounds insane, but so much of this is – then its possible he did so out of altruism and the fucked up bond they possessed, rather than a desire to restart the relationship. Morgan believed that Castiel forgiving Dean in prison was really, truly the end of it between them.

What Morgan thinks now, who knows.

Rossi asks, "I know you were asked this before, but when was the last time Castiel contacted you?"

"About two months ago. We've exchanged a few emails here and there since we broke up. We wanted to stay friends." Stephen clears his throat. "I'm seeing someone. He was happy for me."

"He never mentioned Dean?"

"Not since we broke up, no."

Castiel and Stephen's relationship broke up several months before Dean's escape. JJ wonders if Castiel was preparing for Dean's escape in that sense – getting rid of his current relationship in hope of having another.

Stephen speaks into their thoughtful pause. "I don't regret my relationship with Castiel. Even now. He helped me understand a lot about what I wanted, and I think I did the same for him. He needed a healthy relationship as contrast, I think. And I was happy to provide that, for however long it lasted."

JJ hides her wince. Stephen doesn't know that Castiel has, to all appearances, returned to Dean. She decides not to mention it.

Rossi doesn't bring it up either, as they ask more questions about specific time periods in their relationship, any suspicious behavior, and so on.

When the interview draws to an end, Stephen sighs. "I wish – I hope … I don't know. I hope this works out for the best, whatever that is. Castiel deserves that."

---

The other people they interview were peripheral rather than central to Castiel's life. His neighbor when he worked in the BAU was an elderly gentlemen that took care of Castiel's dog Aditi, and ended up training her to be a service dog. Right before Castiel moved, he helped his neighbor get a mutt from the pound, to be trained as a service dog in Aditi's place. The neighbor wasn't able to tell them much about Castiel – he was a polite young man who always tried to be helpful, but he was quiet and often gone at odd hours, or for long periods. He had no distinct memory of what those odd hours were due to his age.

Kirsten, the leader of the kidnapping survivor's group that Dr. Katz sent him to – this one took a lot of digging to find – merely told them that Castiel helped out another survivor, pointing out why she should put the blame on who took her, and not her inability to fight her kidnapper off.

It was an interesting comment. Castiel told another survivor that he was stronger, bigger, and better trained than her – and still he lost to his attacker. How did he go from acknowledging that to leaving with the same man who choked him unconscious?

His neighbor in Detroit had almost nothing to say. She barely remembered him, and they only shared a wall.

Balthazar hung up on them, again.

His boss in Detroit said Castiel was a hard worker and very conscientious towards his colleagues. He only got suspicious after a car matching Castiel's was found near the victim's place of employment the day before he was murdered. Well after the fact, they were able to recover one video showing Castiel coming into the victim's place of employment, the victim hitting Castiel's car, and then Castiel leaving. Forensic evidence at the building set on fire, the murder scene, linked Castiel conclusively to the murder – a fragment of a fingerprint was found on a pair of handcuffs that had somehow been broken apart. The arson investigators questioned why an FBI agent would be at an arson, which linked the cases. The blood that remained after the fire was too degraded for a DNA test, but matched Bower's type.

Castiel's car was caught on a surveillance feed on the way to Ottawa National Forest, where the body was ultimately found. No forensics were found at the burial site, but Agent Anders was convinced by that point.

Agent Stein they interviewed by phone. He only said that he never saw any strange behavior from Castiel.

Castiel's home gave little. Most of the pink items that Balthazar would gift to his brother were missing, as was cash. There were occult symbols on the walls, hidden behind hung pictures, and two bags presumably filled with spell ingredients hidden in potpourri.

After Castiel's escape from Dean they set up surveillance around Castiel's apartment. Castiel kept that up even after he left the BAU, but the digital records were thoroughly wiped with a professional program that corporations use to completely erase data. Penelope is trying to get it back, but isn't hopeful.

The deletion is telling. Dean was, at least once, in Castiel's apartment. Of course it could have been merely to disguise his own coming and going, but why be so thorough with something so circumstantial?

They have all the information they are going to get. It is time to process it and turn it into a profile.

---

Monday morning, Hotchner watches the BAU – including Morgan, though he's said he may step out – gather in the conference room, ready to do battle.

Everyone has reviewed the interviews and accompanying notes, but what they hear from witnesses, what they know personally, and what fits in prior patterns with serial killers are all in conflict. Considering that Castiel was their friend and they are now going to attempt to determine his psychological state, it's going to be contentious.

Hotchner waits for everyone to sit down. It's harder to fight from a sitting position, which is why people stand when they get angry. "I know this isn't going to be easy."

Morgan sighs, just barely audible. He looks like he desperately doesn't want to be here.

"But it is necessary. I know that our personal experience with Castiel as a coworker will make it hard to view him objectively, but remember that we have interviewed a great many witnesses in our position, and a great majority of them didn't see their friend either. But facts are facts, and facts override what we believe, we must in turn change our beliefs to fit the facts." Hotchner turns to JJ. "Would you like to begin? I know you interviewed most of our witnesses personally, and we've all reviewed your notes and transcripts."

JJ nods, and keeps it formal. "I've been trying to consider this case, Castiel, chronologically. There is no suspicious behavior from Castiel during his initial time here at the BAU. None. Nor is there sign of belief in the occult, unusual sympathy or hatred towards suspects, or behavioral abnormality in his records or in the memory of his various superiors. I have to conclude that before his kidnapping on October 10th, 2012, Castiel Novak was a regular, law abiding citizen."

"Anyone disagree with that assessment?" Hotchner asks, looking around the room.

None do.

"Go on," Hotchner says.

"Exactly what happened when Castiel was kidnapped, well, we can only go based on what Castiel told us, and speculate on the rest. He was taken from his apartment after he came home from work, and woke up two days later in the bunker that Dean Winchester called home. Castiel claimed that Dean was nice to him, and offered him anything he asked for, except for his freedom. Food, clothing, entertainment, and other comforts."

"That much I think is true," Reid says. "Regardless of what we end up profiling, Dean brought Castiel to his side, and it would make sense for Dean to choose that method. In a study of over five hundred serial killing teams, each and every single one had a psychologically dominating partner, while the other was submissive. And all partner killers gain the submissive partner by first giving them love, affection and affirmation, and then using violence and the threat of removing all traces of that initial peaceful period to manipulate their partner into cooperating."

"You really think Castiel is Dean's partner?" Rossi asks, skeptical. "Look, I know everything we've seen makes it look like Castiel's gone off the deep end, and maybe he has. But I have a hard time buying he'd go from catching serial killers, as a completely stable individual, to helping one commit serial killings. Especially not over a period of eighteen months. For an adult man nearing forty? His personality is unlikely to bend at that point."

"No, I'm not saying that," Reid says. "Merely that regardless of whether we decide Castiel is with Dean passively or actively, Dean acquired that loyalty through manipulation."

JJ shakes her head. "I see what you're saying," she says to Rossi, "but also consider that for a stable man nearing forty, the instances of Stockholm Syndrome to the degree Castiel was subjected to it are nearly unheard of. I can think of one case?" She looks at Reid.

Reid nods.

"The typical victims of Stockholm Syndrome are young girls. So we've already got an unusual case with Castiel, in that he succumbed to it as an adult man who works in law enforcement and is already familiar with it. Does anyone disagree that Castiel had or has Stockholm Syndrome?"

"I don't disagree," Morgan says quietly. "Don't know if he has it now, but he did. I saw that clearly enough."

"No, you're right," Rossi admits. "But still, there's a long way to go to murderer."

"We know he killed Bower," JJ points out. "Perhaps to save Agent Stein, but he still did it. If he believes in Dean's delusions, could he do the same with others?"

Hotchner interjects immediately. "Let's not go there yet, we haven't established that."

"Well," Rossi says after a moment of silence, "was there anything that indicated Castiel believed Dean's version of the world?"

"Only in absence," JJ says. "You noted," she nods at Hotchner and Morgan, "that he ignored Dean's previous crimes whenever he talked about Dean, as if they did not exist. While it's possible he focused on his own trauma, that could also mean he no longer considered Dean's past actions as crimes, only those actions committed against him personally."

"That's probably the strongest evidence we have for that," Rossi points out. "It's circumstantial."

"Castiel isn't just smart. He's clever," Reid says. "He knew, from the beginning, exactly what we would look for. We've never profiled someone as skilled in profiling as Castiel is."

"I take your point, but the truth does come out eventually."

"And I think it will. But we don't have all the data we need in this case. If Castiel had simply fled, we could profile what he would do. But he didn't. He went to Dean Winchester. That complicates things immensely, because we don't know the full extent of their past and current relationship. Is Castiel a passive partner, looking away while Dean commits his crimes, or is he actively participating?" Reid shrugs. "There's no way to know at this point."

"If," Hotchner says, picking up a pen, "Castiel had simply fled, what would we have profiled? Put Dean Winchester away for the moment."

It's not an easy thing to do. Dean Winchester, in his various forms – suspect, serial killer, kidnapper of a friend, enigma – has been in the minds of the BAU for over a decade. He didn't haunt them, not until Castiel disappeared, but his profile has been gone over so many times, even if only in brief after another police report, that he would even pop up in discussions about other killers. Even then, he never was quite like any other. And after Castiel came back, Dean was wrapped up in so much of what Castiel did and how he acted that it's hard to separate him from this case. That kind of effect is natural, for a victim in recovery, but they are somewhere different now. Have been for six weeks.

Reid speaks up first. "Castiel committed the murder to save his colleague. His friend. He ran because he doesn't believe he should go to prison for that. That suggests at some point that his belief in the law and the criminal justice system was compromised."

"Regardless of the rest, that much is true," Morgan adds.

Reid doesn't acknowledge the comment, though not out of rudeness. He's just focusing on the profile he's putting together. "He would not be likely to commit another crime. He would run, not wildly, but to evade pursuit, and then ultimately to find a new home. He would maintain contact with his brother, even if one way, and he would live out the rest of his life with his new set of morals. He would only commit murder in a similar, extreme scenario to his first murder, though he would likely find the second time, and third if it happened, much easier. But I would think that unlikely. The average person doesn't come across people who 'deserve' to be murdered all that often, and Castiel wouldn't kill for thrills or even for self-esteem, nor would he seek such people out."

Hotchner imagines it. Castiel dragging Bower to the crime scene, shooting him and then beheading him. Setting the building on fire. Pulling the body to his car, and driving hours to the dump site, where he spent at least half an hour digging the bullets out of Bower's corpse with a knife, then digging the grave and rolling the body in. Driving home, taking a shower, and going to work like nothing happened.

He must have hated himself, for a time. And yet, he must have moved beyond that, because he took the step of fleeing the consequences of his actions. He felt he didn't deserve prison. Hotchner cannot help but think that was a conscious choice.

Reid makes an arch with his hands, a sign he's pulling something out of his memory to put this together. "If he did commit more murders, he would eventually devolve and self-destruct, as his conscience and his belief he's saving others would inevitably begin to spar, because eventually something would go wrong, and he wouldn't be capable of handling the guilt. This first murder indicates his moral sense is compromised, but not broken."

It's clarifying to hear Castiel's profile and his crimes this way. Hotchner can see it in the body language of everyone here, even Morgan. Castiel, when seen by himself, is a simple case to profile.

"Castiel would know that," JJ says quietly. "How each successive murder would affect him."

Rossi frowns. "He'd avoid it if at all possible."

"In the absence of Dean Winchester," JJ adds.

Although Hotchner was the one to ask the question, Reid's analysis is edifying but not necessarily correct. They have to consider that, while wrapping their minds around this. "Has Castiel ever truly been without him? Dean stalked the area Castiel lived to see him, and according to Dean's psychologist Dr. Merris, it's possible Castiel was communicating with Dean. Then we have Dean turning himself in, which is unlikely in the absence of another force, emotional or otherwise."

"Plus," JJ says, "Morgan noted that Dean said 'Don't ask her' when Castiel saw him prison, presumably referring to the redhead who helped him escape – at least twice – who we still haven't identified. That indicates Castiel knows who she was and could communicate with her at will, and that Dean knew that. That's connection through a third person."

"So can we agree that Castiel began communicating with Dean sometime after Dean found him on a walk?" Assuming Castiel told the truth about that. Hotchner thinks Castiel, generally speaking, mostly told the truth. Castiel never intended for his life to go this direction, he's certain of that.

"If Castiel told the truth of that encounter," Reid says.

"If we doubt every word Castiel has said, I think we'll go in circles," Rossi says dryly. "Castiel's story was too consistent to be a pure lie. I think we can assume that most of the time he was truthful."

JJ nods. Morgan leans back in his chair, frowning, but he nods as well.

"Agreed, then," Hotchner says. "Why then did Castiel keep in contact? Did he never recover from Stockholm Syndrome?"

"I know Castiel's psychologist can't give us details, but did she ever express any concern over his ability to do his work?" JJ asks Hotchner.

"No, she didn't."

JJ's reply is matter of fact. "Then we have only his behavior in front of us to go on."

So they pick the Castiel of the past three years apart. His behavior immediately post-escape was within the bounds of what they would expect – PTSD and mixed, but intense, feelings about his captor. Morgan, before Castiel left the BAU, had compiled a list of concerns about Castiel's behavior with Hotchner, and they use that. Castiel knew that his ambivalence about Dean's capture wasn't totally appropriate, but he still expressed those feelings in private, as he did to Stephen. After Dean's incarceration, he seemed to completely stabilize. He had a strong romantic relationship, his interactions with the team were relaxed, friendly, and occasionally intimate, where he would express personal feelings about life. The subject of Dean was put aside if brought up – almost like disinterest. Morgan said that in the notes, too.

"He was trying to put Dean away, mentally," Rossi proposes. "He wasn't there yet, but he was trying."

"If he was trying, why did he help Dean escape?" JJ asks.

"The evidence for that is circumstantial," Reid says.

JJ shrugs lightly. "A lot of our profiles are based on circumstantial information. Our evidence that Castiel helped Dean escape from prison is circumstantial, and yet we still believe knew the red-headed woman caught on security cameras. Or, at least, he had some method of contacting her."

"Someone who he chose not to use," Reid says, then pauses. "At least, not until nine months had passed."

"So what triggered his reversal?" Hotchner asks. "The occult case?"

"The so-called vampires?" Rossi snorts. "It was a major case, but you can't suggest Castiel actually thought they were vampires."

"If he did, going to Dean for help would make sense," JJ argues.

"But that still includes a huge leap." Rossi starts going through the reports in front of him. "I've looked through our cases and while he was more aware of occult aspects to a case, that's nothing unusual – Dean likely serenaded him with details that those in that community believe in. Nothing I remember him saying suggested he thought the psychoses of our various unsubs were real."

"He argued against just that several times," Reid adds. "Four, that I can recall."

"So four in your presence," JJ says dryly.

Reid gives her a little smile.

"No, he was careful if he did buy into Dean's delusions."

"We keep going back to that," Rossi says. "But there's no evidence –"

"He once called a grave desecration a 'salt and burn,'" Hotchner recalls.

Rossi's not buying it. "It would be natural for him to use Dean's terminology after eighteen months, if for no other reason than not to aggravate Dean's psychosis."

"If he didn't believe in Dean's delusions, why go to him?" JJ asks.

"It's possible," Reid says, "that Castiel is trying to regain the sense of love that he had while imprisoned, false or not. Castiel could be with Dean because the rest of his life has fallen apart – he is a fugitive, and has the entire BAU looking for him – and he wants that sense of security that Dean provided. There's little doubt that Dean would welcome him with open arms, and do what he could to please Castiel while still continuing his killings."

"But you said yourself that Castiel's sense of morality is not yet broken," JJ points out.

"Not all partners of serial killers are active in their partner's crimes. Castiel could be passively looking the other way."

Rossi grimaces. "I hate to think that of him."

"It would explain his behavior," Reid says, shrugging, "but at the same time, I have a hard time believing that of Castiel."

"Profiling is based on circumstantial information," Hotchner nods at JJ, "but I don't think we can include something as radically different from Castiel's previous personality as delusional beliefs. I think Reid's analysis fits better, given what we currently know."

JJ sighs. "You're right. It's just that there are missing pieces, and Castiel believing Dean's delusions seems to fit. If this wasn't Castiel we were talking about, would we go as far as to say the suspect is delusional?"

"This isn't another case," Rossi objects.

"We might, but every profiling case is different," Hotchner replies to JJ. "While I think it was good to see Castiel separate from Dean, we can't separate Castiel from Castiel Novak, Special Agent."

JJ tilts her head a bit, and then nods. "True enough."

"Do we somewhat agree, then?" Reid asks. "Castiel is probably not delusional?"

"Probably not," JJ allows.

"Then the question is whether Castiel is passive in allowing Dean's crimes, or actively involved," Hotchner says. "Given that we don't think he's delusional, or don't have the evidence for it, I can't see him being active."

Reid frowns for a moment. "Possibly. But wouldn't Dean want him active? And Castiel would have to be the submissive one in the partnership, because there's no way that Dean is."

"Every known case of partners seems to follow that," Rossi agrees. "But I have a hard time seeing Castiel as the submissive partner. While the typical victim of Stockholm Syndrome is a young girl, when it comes to submissive partners of serial killers it's more typical to have a middle aged woman with a history of sexual or physical abuse, that the dominating partner spends time manipulating. Castiel doesn't fit any of those criteria, in either case."

"Dean doesn't fit any of any criteria," JJ says. "Why would Castiel?"

"But that aside," Reid says, "Dean did follow the pattern of a dominating partner in some respects. Typically the dominating partner will be very loving and caring towards the person they are trying to bend to their will, and then they will withdraw that love when the person they are targeting is emotionally dependent on them. For the submissive partner, acting out crimes is partly out of a lack of moral sense about other people, but also to please the dominant partner and regain that feeling of love, affection, and security."

"Castiel said to Morgan that Dean provided him with a sense of love and security," JJ says.

Morgan winces, but nods. He reluctantly says, "From what I was told, Dean was very rarely physically violent. We saw evidence of Castiel being beaten. The photographs and video from Dean's camera showed bruises and lacerations inflicted during his captivity, but Castiel was very firm in that those violent encounters only happened three times, each during an escape attempt."

"But that does show that as soon as Castiel became dangerously independent, Dean would respond violently. He could be doing that now, for all we know," JJ says. "Castiel says he doesn't want to participate in, say, killing a vampire, how would Dean respond? By chaining him up? Removing love and affection? Drugging him? He could do all of those things, and given that Castiel has PTSD and is more psychologically fragile – well, I could see Castiel being beaten down enough to look the other way. Especially," she adds, "if I try not to think that this is Castiel we're talking about. He has the triggers necessary to be manipulated."

"Agreed," Hotchner says. "Rossi? Reid?" Pause. "Morgan?"

"That's as close as we're going to get with the information we have," Reid says.

Rossi shakes his head. "Maybe I'm hoping for the best, though. I'm not unbiased here."

Morgan is silent, but the others wait. Finally he says, "No relationship with Dean could be healthy. I just wish we could all see Castiel a little more clearly."

Hotchner knows Morgan was hit hard by losing Castiel. It surprised him when Morgan said he was coming to this meeting, after having said he wanted nothing to do with profiling Castiel. Still, Hotchner hopes this will help provide some kind of closure, not just for Morgan, but for everyone. Making Castiel 'make sense' is the only way to move on. "I agree," Hotchner says simply. "I'll write up the profile. You can all go home, and get some rest. We have a lot of work to do."

They still haven't replaced Castiel, though had a temporary agent for a few months. Hotchner is still trying to decide on a permanent new member.

Morgan's the first to stand, and he leaves alone. The others linger a bit, talk about life and family as they gather their things, and then they go home.

Hotchner writes the profile, which is sent out similarly to how Dean Winchester's was when Castiel was his prisoner. The first time Castiel was his prisoner. They hear nothing back, and the team assembled to investigate all of Castiel's cases finds nothing untoward in any of them. Defense attorneys have a field day, but most of the cases are not overturned by the courts. What few are, will be retried.

The deputy director gives Hotchner a very angry phone call, but Hotchner isn't worried about his career. He's done this too long.

The team picks up and drops the profile a few times, trying to find new information when they have a break from cases, but there is nothing new to find.

A year passes.

---

It's not often that Hotchner will call the team in on a weekend without a case.

Well, this is a case that isn't exactly theirs, but it is still a case.

Hotchner got the phone call, but Penelope was the one to follow up and get all the information from the local law enforcement agencies. There's hours of video tape and written statements from four officers.

In them, Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak are speaking to witnesses and stalking their eventual victim. Cynthia Dernwood was a young mother of a five year old boy, and on June 16th, she was murdered in a ritualistic fashion in the basement of her home. Her son was sent to live with his father, a state away. On June 21st, Dean and Castiel were positively identified by the local police department. They had posed as reporters investigating a series of murders spanning six months previous, which the police had not identified as being connected because although the murders – six in all – were all similar in MO, they were committed in different, nearby cities, and appeared to be burglaries gone wrong, with one exception.

In each, one fingernail and a chunk of hair were missing.

And then Dean and Castiel murdered Cynthia Dernwood, and left the area.

The case is laid out in photographs, detective notes and interviews, two drawings from sketch artists based on witness testimony, and security camera footage. Hotchner sent all of it to each member of the team, and requested their presence. And it was a request. Hotchner isn't going to force anyone to profile a former friend if they don't feel up to it. Only Morgan took that out.

The rest file in. JJ looks like she was pulled from the park – her hair is in a ponytail and although she threw a suit jacket on, she's wearing a t-shirt underneath. Rossi looks as put together as usual, as does Reid, except Reid's hair is even more unruly than usual, and he has dark circles under his eyes.

"I'm sorry for pulling everyone away from their time off," Hotchner begins.

JJ rubs her eyebrow, mouth pinched. "I didn't look over everything before I got here, but Hotch … this looks bad."

"Very bad," Reid says. "I took a cab and looked over the files you sent."

Rossi snorts as he gets more comfortable in his chair. "Wish I'd thought of that, I drove in. How bad are we talking?"

Reid answers from his perfect memory. "Dean and Castiel were seen together, posing as reporters, seven times. They both asked questions of various witnesses, drove in the same car – Dean's '67 Impala – and in surveillance footage they appeared at ease with each other, though they were not visibly affectionate. Witnesses, likewise, also described them as friendly towards each other, and after they were identified, the detectives went back and asked questions to ascertain if Castiel was being held against his will, and as far as they could tell he was not. Castiel interviewed neighbors at several crime scenes by himself, and Dean did not appear concerned when he left Castiel alone, either. There is also footage of Dean's Impala driving to the victim's home shortly before her death, and there was a passenger inside. Boot sizes, of which there were two at the crime scene, match Dean and Castiel."

"Garcia is checking for more footage and any other electronic means of tracing their activity," Hotchner adds.

After a moment, JJ says, "I know I've fought hard for the idea that Castiel is complicit, because it made sense to me. But I didn't want it to be true."

Over the past year, Castiel has gone from a taboo topic to simply a quiet, sad one. The suddenness of losing him wasn't quite as strong as it could have been, because Castiel left the BAU before he completely self destructed. There was a period of separation without that much anxiety or sense of grief. Elle Greenway's self destruction was far more abrupt, but also less severe. Hotchner knows JJ thinks about the similarities between her and Castiel – both victims who couldn't handle what happened to them. And yet, they diverge there, because while both committed a murder, Castiel then returned to the person who had so grievously harmed him.

Rossi puts his hand on the physical copy of the file Hotchner put on the conference table. "None of us did."

Reid clears his throat and sits up. "But it's our job to figure this out now."

"Well," and JJ looks like she's pulling herself together mentally, "then I think we should start with the crime committed, it will tell us the most."

As it always does. Hotchner nods. "I agree."

They all spend the next thirty minutes familiarizing themselves with all the different pieces of evidence. Reid goes over it with them, though it's not really necessary in his case.

"First thought," JJ says, "is that Castiel, when he escaped, said that Dean was a vigilante killer. To our eyes, Cynthia Dernwood and the six victims of what appeared to be burglaries gone wrong are unrelated. But something made both of them think that they were related, and then they concluded – I believe – that Cynthia was the perpetrator, and then they killed her."

Reid adds, "Ritualistically. They cut out her heart and burned it, and mutilated some of her skin. Dean must have believed her to be a supernatural creature that he had to kill to prevent more murders."

Rossi grimaces. "Did Castiel believe that?"

"He must have," Reid says. "All evidence points to him being a full participant."

It's laid out in black and white, really. Literally in some cases, as the security cameras were often old or cheap. Castiel and Dean were videotaped entering and leaving areas together, and they got one motel room instead of two. The police found some fingerprints in the motel room but nothing else of any substance. When a traffic cam caught the black Impala heading towards the victim's home, there was clearly a passenger. Boot prints matching Dean and Castiel's respective sizes were found in and around the home. It's one thing to drag Castiel along to motels while Dean commits his murders, but to take Castiel to actual crime scene? That would require some degree of cooperation.

"I think that's pretty clear," JJ says. "But the signature of the crime is all Dean Winchester."

"Dean kills in a ritualistic fashion most of the time," Rossi says, adding to her point. "They used his car – Castiel likely would have ditched something visible for a stolen vehicle, harder to trace – and they didn't destroy the home. We know that Castiel took extreme measures previously in order to remain undetected, including burning a building down, deleting security footage, and hiding the body. Dean doesn't usually bother with that, and they don't here."

"Dean's crimes always have a twisted logic. What was it here?" Reid asks.

"Sometimes the supernatural element he believes to be present is obvious, but it isn't in this case, though I think he definitely thought Cynthia wasn't human. Or he had to kill her in some specific fashion for a spell, perhaps," JJ says.

"Yes, but where's the link between Cynthia and the other six murder victims? They all lived in different towns from her – nearby, certainly, but not that close – and how did Dean even choose to focus on her?" Hotchner asks. Weird details are Dean Winchester's forte, and it's better for profiling to understand that.

Reid taps the file with his forefinger. "Cynthia's neighbors were asked about her behavior by both Dean and Castiel. They reported she had a major personality shift six months before – exactly when the murders started."

Hotchner frowns. "I don't recall there being a reason for that in her file, though we can ask Garcia if there was a change in her life around that point."

"There's not one listed, no," Reid says.

"So coincidence, or more?" JJ asks. "We know that in some cases, witnesses or victims felt indebted to Dean rather than frightened of him. Is it possible Cynthia was actually involved with these previous murders?"

"Possible, but highly unlikely," Rossi says, shaking his head. "Her life and personality just don't fit that kind of model, and nothing matching her was found at any of the crime scenes."

JJ turns to Reid. "How did they describe the personality change?"

"She became colder, and in one neighbor's words, 'She took care of that boy like he lived across the street, not in her home.'"

"So her behavior towards her son changed," JJ concludes. "Could Dean have thought he was saving the boy?"

"He usually does," Rossi says dryly.

JJ raises an eyebrow. "Did Castiel?"

"I think psychosis is a kinder thing to think about Castiel, rather than seeing him as someone ruthless enough to murder a single mother of a five year old boy just to satisfy his partner," Reid says quietly.

Hotchner thinks it hits home for him; Reid was raised by his mother alone, and they have always been close, despite her schizophrenia. "I think it's fair to conclude he is sharing Dean's delusions, even if he isn't actively psychotic himself."

No one asks the obvious question, because no one has the answer: how did Castiel come to such a psychological state that he could be bent to see Dean's version of the world? Certainly Castiel was traumatized after he escaped, but he never exhibited delusional or psychotic thinking while under tremendous stress at work, and if that underlying problem exists, stress almost always will bring it to the surface. Castiel appeared very stable, with the one exception of dealing with anything relating to Dean. He was clearly conflicted when it came to Dean's capture, and the capture of those around him, like 'Charlie,' the hacker who helped Dean previously.

"We know now," Reid says slowly, "that Castiel is delusional. I can only conclude that the initial break from reality occurred during his captivity."

"Drugs?" JJ suggests. "Psychological pressure combined with extreme isolation?"

Reid nods. "So he broke, but not completely. He tried to put the fractured pieces of himself together –"

"And then," JJ says, "Dean came back. I bet Dean did pass on a way for them to communicate. He must have, if Dean talked to someone who 'wasn't a professional,' and Morgan's theory about Dean knowing about Castiel's sprained ankle is true." Referring, of course, to Dean seeming to know personal details about Castiel's life, when they were supposedly not in contact.

"Dean continued to apply psychological pressure," Hotchner says. "And at some point, Castiel snapped."

"Before or after Dean escaped from prison?" Reid asks.

JJ grimaces. "I wish I knew, but I'm not sure it matters to the profile."

"Unless Castiel helped Dean escape, as would appear to be the case. If he did, then he was capable of appearing normal for a prolonged period while actually incredibly mentally ill. What if Weston Bower isn't the first crime Castiel committed?"

Reid's question is a horrifying one, and not one Hotchner ever seriously considered. The FBI team that went over all of Castiel's cases found nothing. "We've looked at Castiel's history with the BAU in order to determine his psychological state. Did anyone ever notice mysterious disappearances, on Castiel's part or any witnesses or victims?"

JJ shakes her head, as does Rossi. "Not offhand," Rossi adds.

"Nothing unexplainable," Reid says, "but I did see him leave with a flimsy excuse every once in a while." Pause. "Three times over a year."

"We'll look at those cases and any surrounding murders more closely," Hotchner says. "In the meantime, let's not speculate about that, and go on with what we have."

"What we have is a serial killing team," JJ says, "using supernatural forces as their reasoning."

"That's pretty undeniable at this point," Rossi agrees. "But I have a hard time seeing either Dean or Castiel as the submissive partner, which suggests to me that this isn't a normal partnership."

JJ sighs heavily. "Castiel makes more sense, though I see what you mean. Castiel was … timid, when he came back, but that changed quickly and he became as assertive as he normally was. Remember, he left his family, who shunned him, to pursue a career in law enforcement. He was hardly a man inclined to change his life just to please others, and he regained all of that despite what Dean put him through."

Additionally, Reid says, "Castiel isn't young, insecure, possessing of low intelligence, or needy – all typical traits of a submissive partner. Debatable if we could call him mentally ill. He might be, through an externally applied force."

Dean, that is.

"If he's sharing Dean's delusions, he could be so psychologically broken he's willing to take orders," Rossi suggests. "Thus becoming insecure and needy, which would be what Dean would need to maintain control. Also consider the fact that Dean kept Castiel prisoner for a long time, speaking to his own need to have company. Castiel, out of damage caused by Dean, comes to need him and even feel he 'loves' Dean, and Dean in return feels validated. That kind of unhealthy relationship is well documented in serial killing pairs."

Reid nods. "Dean inflicts pain, mostly psychological, then comfort. Castiel breaks, at some point, and comes to need that comfort, and will cope with the pain in order to get it. Usually the dominating partner is slow to introduce their partner to violence and sadism. Once the submissive partner complies with outrageous demands, the dominating partner knows they've struck gold."

JJ shakes her head after a moment. "Then why not return to Dean sooner? He waited three years."

"They could have been hunting victims together," Reid says. "I don't think it's likely, we never saw Dean in Detroit and I know there were no cases that would match Dean's MO near Castiel, but it's possible."

"If they were, it was with difficulty, considering Castiel's work. He was often working weekends and taking shifts for Agent Stein. And then why kill Weston Bower, who Dean couldn't care less about, in order to save Agent Stein? You all saw my notes from Dr. Merris. She specifically said we should not consider Dean and Castiel a normal serial killing pair. That Dean did not, in her opinion, fit the psychological mold we're familiar with."

Reid sits back. "She also told you that their relationship would not devolve normally. In other cases of serial killing partners, the submissive partner is always the one to fall apart – often when they realized that the dominating partner was just using them, and was not in fact even capable of loving them, combined with an outside stressor like law enforcement closing in." Reid frowns and recites a quote from Dr. Merris: "'There is no doubt in my mind that Dean loved Castiel. It was not a healthy love, and dangerous for them both, but I would call it love all the same.'"

Hotchner recognizes that he pieced together two quotes, but the impact remains the same. "She's the only psychologist Dean ever cooperated with."

JJ nods. "I'm not sure I know how she got to her assessment, even after our interview – it flies so much in the face of Dean's other behaviors – but we can't discount it."

Rossi leans back and chuckles. "We've been stupid."

"Oh?" Reid asks, not at all offended.

"Sam and Dean Winchester. Our original profile. We had such a hard time determining if Sam or Dean was the dominating partner. Remember? We eventually concluded Dean was, but Sam strayed from Dean several times, acted independently with no problems, and even hunted his own victims alone, although rarely. Castiel is Sam's replacement." Rossi spreads his hands, as if to indicate that says it all.

And he's not wrong. Hotchner has focused the team on Dean and Castiel as a team, but Dean's history with Sam is incredibly relevant. How had he missed that? He shakes his head ruefully and says, "We've been trying to untangle Castiel for so long that we forgot he's more than someone we knew, he's a parallel for Sam."

"Castiel said that Dean respected his intelligence and stubbornness, and his career in law enforcement." JJ pauses. "Dean wasn't lying. He wanted another Sam, and he got one."

"Castiel took the LSAT," Reid adds randomly. "He got a 173."

"Sam Winchester also took the LSAT and got a high score, since he was intending to be a lawyer before Dean got him from Stanford," Rossi adds. "Though I don't recall it offhand."

"174." Reid, of course.

No serial killer is exactly the same as another. But there are distinct patterns, or the BAU would be useless. Hotchner knows that; the team depends on them as a guideline. "The Winchesters have never properly fit our categories. Do we think that Castiel and Dean are unlike essentially all other serial killing pairs?"

"Perhaps not essentially different," Reid replies. "But in this respect, I think it's possible," he says to Hotchner.

"If the shoe fits," Rossi says with a shrug. "Like you said, the Winchesters have never made sense."

"Castiel might be partly submissive, considering he's living Dean's lifestyle – same car, hunting victims in mostly the same way, living on the road," JJ says. "But I think we have to consider Sam as key to understanding them. Sam, like you said, didn't entirely fit being the submissive partner either. And then Castiel didn't leave his work to join Dean in hunting victims, which would typically be demanded of a submissive partner – handing over complete control." She pauses. "Half psychological manipulation, half genuine seduction. That's why Castiel didn't leave his work. Dean just waited for Castiel to come to him."

After a moment of silence, Reid sighs and says, "I wish he'd spoken to one of us. Said something. Asked for help."

JJ rubs her eyebrow. "Maybe he did. To Morgan."

"It would explain why Morgan isn't here," Reid says. "I know –"

Hotchner cuts him off. "I don't think we should judge each other for being involved or not being involved in this. I have no doubt Morgan did the best he could to support Castiel and keep him away from Dean."

JJ nods. "You're right. I know that. I just …"

"We should try to finish the profile," Hotchner says gently.

"Finish the profile," Rossi says, "and then I say those of who can should get a drink. I think we're due."

JJ smiles at him, hiding it with her hand. "I'm with you there."

"Did you know that beer is generally put into three categories? Bottom fermentation –"

"Save it for when we drink," Rossi says dryly, cutting Reid off.

"Let's finish this, then, yes, let's go have a drink," Hotchner says, smiling at them both. Despite everything they have been through, their core friendships have remained strong. Hotchner is proud of them for that.

The profile they arrive to is not neat and elegant. Hotchner takes all the ideas and conclusions the team came to, types it up and sends it to the FBI team attempting to track down and capture Dean and Castiel.

In plain words, all that they didn't want to say:

Castiel Novak and Dean Winchester are a serial killing pair, which means they will work together for the shared goal of a murder. They are sexually involved, and they are mission oriented, though their mission is one steeped in Winchester's psychosis and belief in the supernatural. Regardless of this fact, they are extremely organized and will be difficult to apprehend. Although most serial killing pairs have a dominant partner and a submissive partner, Winchester and Novak largely do not fit this type. Winchester is probably the more dominant and Novak more submissive, but Novak is highly dangerous by himself and will not be broken by separation from his partner. He will also not break down in interrogation as is typical for the submissive partner.

Dean Winchester began committing murders under the auspices of his father, John Winchester. He likely experienced severe abuse and brainwashing as a child, which in combination made him psychotic and cemented his belief in his father's view of the world: supernatural creatures exist, and are out there killing people. Only Winchester can save them, and thus Winchester places himself in the role of savior, perhaps explaining his reticence in killing law enforcement personnel. Winchester's killings likely started sometime in his early teen years. Sometime in 2010, he lost his partner, Sam Winchester, who was his brother; they were not sexually involved. Winchester continued to commit murders. He is highly intelligent, charming, and manipulative. In October 2012, he kidnapped then FBI Agent Castiel Novak.

Novak was held prisoner for eighteen months, until he escaped by walking away from a motel room where Winchester was holding him; Winchester did not restrain Novak up because he did not believe Novak would attempt escape. Although Novak desired freedom, at some point during his captivity he became convinced Winchester's version of the world was correct, possibly through a combination of psychosis-inducing drugs, extreme isolation, and abuse, including rape. For three years Novak maintained an appearance of normality and returned to work, so he is highly capable of hiding his delusional thinking, just like Winchester. At some point during this period, he reestablished contact with Winchester, including a romantic relationship, and fully broke from reality. In March 2017, Novak murdered a criminal his FBI team was investigating as a person of interest, related to the poisoning of his partner in the FBI. In May 2017, he fled from his home, a mere twenty four hours before he was due to be arrested.

Winchester and Novak make an extremely dangerous team. Given Novak's law enforcement history, he is possibly even more dangerous than his partner when it comes to apprehension. Winchester has more than eighty known victims, while Novak has only one confirmed thus far. Novak is intelligent, well educated, and experienced. He will be able to lead law enforcement astray when he desires to do so, forensically and psychologically.

Their crimes committed together will often have a ritualistic element as part of Winchester's psychosis. The recent murder of Cynthia Dernwood, whose heart was excised and then burned, shows that Winchester and Novak together will maintain Winchester's previous pattern of behavior. Winchester has no signature. It is unknown if Novak has a signature. However, since Winchester initially kidnapped Novak in order to gain a partner as a stabilizing force, Dean is less likely to be reckless, and he will have Novak's law enforcement experience to draw on. Unlike typical serial killing pairs, they are strong together and apart. Psychological dividing tactics are unlikely to be effective.

In conclusion, Winchester and Novak will continue serially murdering those they believe to be literal monsters. It is likely they will remain organized and unlikely they will devolve or turn on each other. Though they may have brief uneventful periods of six months to a year, they will always return to serial killing, as it is mission oriented. They will not stop until arrested or killed, even if separated.

The team makes the following recommendations for capture:

1. Spread photos of Winchester and Novak nationwide. Inform all news media who will cooperate. Create a tip line if financially feasible.
2. Inform local law enforcement across the country to be on the lookout for Winchester and Novak when any case appears to have a supernatural element, particularly if that crime is reported as weird, unusual, or ritualistic in the news media. They will often pose as law enforcement, government officials, or reporters. Inform local law enforcement to double check all credentials.
3. Wherever Winchester is, Novak will be there, and vice versa. They most likely drive one vehicle, a black 1967 Chevrolet Impala. Plates will vary. Capture plans must take this into account. They will attempt to rescue each other if one is caught, so traps will be effective in this scenario.
4. Both are armed and have extensive martial arts experience, but will avoid murdering local law enforcement if possible. Overwhelming force is recommended. Waiting to have overwhelming force, even if capture is rendered less likely, is also recommended. They will inflict grievous bodily harm in order to escape.
5. If logistically possible, search the news media for crimes that would fit Winchester and Novak's profile and gain their interest. Call those local law enforcement officials and have them issue a BOLO. If either is seen, have the local law enforcement wait until the FBI team arrives or overwhelming force can be used for capture.
6. If capture is not possible, lethal force should be authorized for Novak in addition to the current order on Winchester.

Item number six Hotchner adds on his own. That is his responsibility alone.

---

Penelope, wearing a black and white polka dot dress with a bright pink sash, practically stumbles into the conference room, holding a stack of papers and her tablet. She dumps everything she's holding onto the end of the conference table and then digs out her tablet, frantically tapping on it with her finger.

JJ winces. She knows why Penelope looks so harried, because Penelope came to her for help, since JJ used to handle this part.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Penelope says as a gruesome crime scene photo appears on the large screen behind her. "Sorry." She takes a deep breath and nods at JJ, who nods back. "So. I don't know exactly what happened, but the Ventura police department has requested the help of the BAU no less than three times in the last week, and somehow I also got several requests saying they didn't want our help, and they just wanted profiling services from a distance, and I got one that, I, frankly, don't even. I just don't even."

"Start at the beginning," Hotchner advises.

"Take your time, sweetheart," Morgan says, winking at Penelope. It's been a year since they delivered the profile on Castiel and Dean, and beyond some random reports from after the fact, spread across the country, they have heard nothing. The FBI manhunt has been scaled down drastically to a part time effort, and all the higher ups are eager to forget they exist.

The BAU hasn't. But they have moved on. Morgan, perhaps, most of all, considering where he started. He spends his time taking joy in his toddler, and JJ is glad to see it.

Penelope sends Morgan a kiss. "Okay. So, three months ago a series of murders occurred in Ventura, California. Ten known victims so far. Seven of the ten had their hearts cut out, pretty brutally – I kinda threw up in my mouth a bit when I saw some of the photos, I won't lie - and then another three, which were initially seen as unconnected, where the victims throats were slashed almost like an animal attack." Pictures appear on the conference screen.

"Is there any pattern to the deaths, time wise?" Reid asks.

"No. Not that they could tell. First thing they thought was full moon and it being some kind of freak, but it doesn't quite line up." Penelope clears her throat. "But the deaths are speeding up. Two victims last week. That's when they decided to call us. Send a request. And then a take back. And so on and so on and so on …"

Well, it wouldn't be the first time some red tape confused the beginning of a case. Some police departments are very opposed to asking for help, thinking the federal agency will just take over and then take credit. "How did they connect the other three murders?" JJ asks. "Forensically?"

"Yep," Penelope says, popping the 'p.' "Same hair found in eight of the ten, including two of the three." Penelope pauses. "You know what I mean."

"We do," Rossi assures her.

"If the pattern holds, they'll have another murder in two or three days, so – they're pretty anxious to have us help," Penelope finishes. "I've sent details to all of you."

An urgent case, then. Hotchner says, as he always does, "Wheels up in two hours."

---

The case unfolds.

All ten victims were killed violently and savagely. In some cases, the victims had injuries not related to subduing or killing them, indicating the unsub enjoyed the act. The hair found in eight of the crime scenes is short, brown, and likely from a male; there were no skin tags, so it fell naturally and was not pulled by the victim. A second set of longer, blond hair was also found, indicating the killer might have a partner, female. They were able to tell the sex, but not get a full DNA sample. No hits in any system.

It doesn't take long to come up with a profile. The dominant partner is the one killing, and he is a hedonistic, thrill seeking serial killer. He will continue to kill, rapidly, as he is unorganized and acting purely on the pleasure of killing. Once his crimes attract too much attention, he is likely to move on. The team profiles him as having a job that allows this, like long-haul trucking. The taking of the heart is symbolic of taking the victim's life, and is kept as a trophy. The submissive partner is likely passive, not actively engaging in crimes, and has been abused to the point of a complete lack of resistance to her partner's kills. It is possible the dominant partner is bringing the submissive partner as a witness, so he can reminiscence about his kills later.

He's also experienced. His first kill shows a well-developed signature. From that, the BAU concludes he likely did some prison time or he had prior victims in another area, as they have no evidence of escalation Penelope is going through records, trying to find any 'escalation' victims in California. After that, she will search surrounding states. If she can find any, it will give them a common point where they can start looking at prison records, work records, and so on. The BAU combs over every detail, trying to find more clues to the unsub's job or identity.

On their first day at the scene, another victim showed up. A woman on her way home from work was dragged into an alleyway and murdered. No sign of sexual assault. Her body was found the next morning. Either they will have another victim, or he will disappear to avoid capture.

Early on the third morning of the case, the lieutenant in charge of the investigation, Lieutenant Waller, walks into the room they set aside for the BAU and clears his throat. "Tip line got an interesting call."

JJ raises an eyebrow. They're all desperate to get some new info, and sure enough, Reid perks up. "Can we hear it?"

Five minutes later, the team assembles and listens. JJ, at least, is hoping for something useful instead of just interesting.

"Tip line, can I ask your name?"

A moment of heavy breathing, then a rough male voice."Listen. They're going to run. I see them all the time, and I know. A Dodge truck, they're using a Dodge truck, light blue, I don't know the plates. Heading for Nevada. I can't say anything else, they'll kill me."

"Can you tell me anything else? What are their names?"

"Uh, brown hair? A guy. And a blond woman. Shit. Fuck. I got to go."

The call ends.

"You think it's real?" Waller asks.

"Send out an APB," Hotchner says. "It might be real, it might not, but we can't take that chance."

Waller flags down an officer.

"It's unlikely to be someone looking for attention, or to be part of a famous case, since they didn't leave a name," Rossi says.

Reid nods. "People that try to inject themselves into the investigation typically are either the perpetrator or a innocent person looking for attention." He turns to JJ. "But we didn't release the information on the hair we found. Brown headed people account for seventy-five percent of the population. Natural blonds are much rarer at two percent, but that's still pretty specific."

"Do we know where the tipper called from?" Hotchner asks.

Waller shakes his head. "No. The tip line doesn't record that, to encourage people to call anonymously."

"Could be a neighbor or family member," Reid suggests.

Rossi hums, then says, "Or someone who doesn't want law enforcement attention for reasons of his own."

"Can we start on the information we have?" JJ asks Lieutenant Waller.

"If that truck exists, we'll find it," he promises.

Ventura PD gets in contact with neighboring cities and begins a massive search for the vehicle. In the meantime, the BAU tries to narrow down their profile. For two days. The blue truck leads nowhere.

It's Reid who notices what breaks the case, of course. Four of the ten crime scene locations were within three to five miles of a construction site. Not entirely statistically significant, but unusual. Penelope goes through employee lists looking for prior convictions that would show the escalation of crimes they expect to find, but ultimately comes up with nothing. Two of the companies who work in the area have no online records, and one of them demands a search warrant before handing it over. Then JJ suggests looking at commutes. All the victims were killed in the evening, which could imply that the male partner is finding victims on his way home. That's how JJ finds the pattern of the victims being along commute paths. The last construction company to send it's employee information is what allows Penelope to link the pattern to one Jordan Smithwood who has a history of robbery.

Robbery doesn't quite fit their profile, but one thing does: he previously lived in South Carolina, during which time there were two violent deaths in the state, where the hearts of the victims were removed. Completely different otherwise, but signatures do develop. What Smithwood calls homes is a ramshackle house that borders an empty warehouse in a poor neighborhood outside of Ventura. According to DMV records he doesn't drive a blue pickup, instead a rusted, white one. There are missing pieces, but they have a reasonable certainty and enough for a search warrant.

A patrol car is sent on by, and the officers report that the house is boarded up, with the door shut and locked. On the second 'random' patrol by the house, it becomes apparent that an immediate entry is necessary.

Though now closed, the door had been kicked open. The lock is hanging uselessly.

The SWAT team, already in the process of assembling, suits up faster. They load up the SWAT van with BAU members accompanying them. Four silent patrol cars follow the van. JJ, loaded up in the back, can't see anything, but she hears the SWAT team members talking about the plan to breach the house.

The van slams to a stop, and everyone tumbles out in perfect order.

"Go!" yells the SWAT leader, and JJ and the other BAU members follow. SWAT enters the house. Decaying walls are the first things JJ sees when the SWAT team breaks off into three groups of two, spreading out. There are couches and coffee tables – several of them – that are slightly less dilapidated. Heavy dust lies in the corners of the room. Past the living room and into the kitchen, behind a table, they find a body.

A blond woman, blood smeared all over her mouth, a bullet wound in her chest. The blood from the wound glistens and is spreading.

"We've got a body," JJ hears over the radio. "Consider the suspect armed and dangerous. He's likely still on the property."

"There's bloody handprints," Morgan says. "Larger than a woman's." The rotting newspaper that litters the ground is smeared with blood, but the walls have distinct outlines of hands.

"Could be running from a third person," Reid suggests. "Another member of the serial killing team?"

Hotchner nods. "Captain, I recommend assuming there is a third person here, potentially here to kill the other two, possibly to eliminate evidence as the dominant killer."

"Got it." The captain relays more orders to his team members, who change from teams up of two to teams of three, the appropriate way to deal with a higher number of suspects. It looks like a well choreographed dance.

The one story house is cleared in a matter of about ten minutes. The only oddity is in the basement, which has two large cages, large enough to hold a human being, though they are empty. Then they head to the back.

Where the backyard fence should be, there's a gaping hole leading to the neighboring warehouse. It looks old, with the edges worn and bits of rebar sticking out, rusted. They'll have to be cautious. JJ nods at Hotchner, her partner for this particular bit. Morgan and Reid make the other pair. All twelve SWAT team members move towards it with JJ, Morgan, Hotchner and Reid in the rear.

The warehouse is dimly lit and full of decaying crates that make half a maze. There are two more bloody handprints.

A gunshot suddenly echoes in the warehouse, then silence falls.

The SWAT team literally bursts through, triangulating where the shot came from and just barreling through rotten crates to get there.

Dean Winchester looks up from a body, an antique gun in hand. "Well, shit."

And not five feet away, Castiel Novak stands in a mirror of his serial killing partner, holding another old gun. For a fraction of a second, Castiel meets JJ's eyes. The former friend, one of many, pointing a gun at him.

"Freeze!" "Hands on the ground!" "Stop!" All at once.

Then Castiel looks at Dean and shouts, "Red!"

Dean bolts left, and Castiel bolts right.

"Open fire!" Hotchner orders. JJ hesitates for a second even as she hears gunshots – is Castiel an immediate threat to others? She knows Dean is, but whether Castiel fulfills the requirements for shooting a fleeing suspect –

Castiel is out of sight, and so is Dean, the second that it took to Hotchner to give his order and the officers to react. Morgan and Reid join the SWAT officers going after Dean, and by default JJ and Hotchner join the officers pursuing Castiel. Castiel runs through the warehouse like he knows where he's going, dodging around crates and avoiding giving them a clear line of fire. When he bolts out into the open – into the commercial district – he sprints for the nearby road lined with trucks and a few personal vehicles.

A succession of quick orders fill's JJ's earpiece, so she doesn't even realize there's uniformed officers on the scene until the squad car shows up, which is a serious sign of how dangerously distracted she is by Castiel's presence.

Castiel almost hits the patrol car, he's going so fast, and then he tries to skirt around the backend of the car, but the officer in the passenger seat rolls out and is pointing a gun in his face within seconds.

There's a moment JJ thinks he'll raise his gun and try to get the officers to shoot him to end it all, but Castiel doesn't do any of that. He stops, takes his finger away from the trigger on his gun, and raises his hands above his head.

"Put the gun down on the ground!" the patrol officer orders.

The order Castiel was waiting for, so the action of putting the gun on the ground won't be misconstrued. JJ knows that, because she knows him. The cop's partner grabs Castiel's gun, then Castiel silently cooperates as the cop orders him to place his hands on his head, kicks his legs wider apart, and then leans him against the hood of the patrol car. Last, the cop puts handcuffs on and asks, "Do you have anything sharp on you? Any weapons?"

Castiel doesn't answer.

The other patrol officer says, "You have the right to remain –"

JJ holsters her gun. How could he be here? How could we not know?

"Anything you say can be used in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney –"

He's killing with Dean.

"If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before –"

Castiel is a killer.

"Do you understand your rights as I have explained -"

"JJ." Hotchner's voice.

Castiel is dressed much like Dean, wearing jeans that are worn by work and not as a fashion statement, a black t-shirt and a dark jacket over that, though he's not wearing any plaid. Scuffed, steel-tipped boots. He looks calm and collected as various weapons are removed from his ankle, waist and wrists. When he sees JJ looking at him, he offers a sad smile.

"JJ, we'll let them handle Castiel. Dean Winchester got away," Hotchner says, very evenly.

JJ blinks a few times and looks at Hotchner. "He got away?"

"We'll call the FBI manhunt team. They may be able to trap Dean when he attempts to rescue Castiel." Hotchner is all business, and for a moment JJ envies his detachment.

She nods. "Right. We're not supposed to be involved." She laughs, though it's not happy. "Not supposed to be."

Hotchner gives her a gentle expression as Castiel is placed in the back of the patrol car. Castiel doesn't look their way, not that it would have been easy with the officer guiding his head. JJ can't help that her attention keeps wandering to him. It's unnerving to see him like this, in this context. Mentally she's been here for over a year, but emotionally she apparently still has to adapt.

"I have a feeling they ended our case for us," JJ says as the patrol car drives away.

"At what cost?"

"A high one," JJ says, thinking that even if Dean and Castiel only killed their unsubs, the loss of Castiel is high enough.

---

"This feels weird," Rossi confesses. He was the only one not to go on the raid ("I'm too old, running around with guns is a young man's game." Hotchner gave him a funny look when he said that). "I thought they'd stay away from our cases, out of self preservation if nothing else."

"And you didn't even see them," Reid replies. "Castiel's hair was six centimeters longer than average."

JJ blinks at Reid. So does Penelope through the conference room's screen.

Rossi bursts out laughing. "That's what you noticed?"

"I remember everything! And that was different."

"More different than the body they were standing over?" Rossi asks.

Reid shrugs. "We see a lot of bodies in this job."

Some of the amusement in the room fades, though not all of it. JJ can see Hotchner eyeing everyone in his quiet, nondescript way. Hotchner has been careful to notice the team's emotional state when it comes to Castiel – more so than other cases. JJ knows it's needed, and that it comes from a place of caring, so she doesn't mind that focused attention. The fractures JJ saw when Castiel became a murderer have mostly healed over with time, as they've all accepted one truth of the matter: that Castiel is no longer the person they once knew, and that it's okay to grieve the death of their friend.

JJ still wishes they had the whole truth.

Their profile on Castiel is as complete as they could make it, but how Castiel changed from an FBI agent, an adult man with a stable personality, to someone that Dean Winchester could manipulate so effectively that Castiel even maintained normal behavior – that he maintains some of that normal behavior now is a mystery. JJ can't help but remember that Castiel was the one to give the code word; he gave the order, and Dean obeyed.

"So what happens now?" Penelope asks. "I mean, does he – like, go to prison now?"

"Eventually," Hotchner replies. "But that's a good question, Garcia. Dean Winchester is still loose, and he will try to rescue his partner. The FBI team assigned to Dean and Castiel's case is on their way, and they've already begun coordinating with local law enforcement to bait a trap."

"Will they want our help?" Morgan asks.

Hotchner pauses. "Possibly in profiling."

"So what do we know?" JJ asks, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Penelope says,"If we're getting into bad guys' heads – I mean, Castiel – wait. You know what I mean. Then I think I prefer my head to be in my head."

"Take a break, Penelope," Morgan advises. "Treat yourself to a mocha for me, okay?"

"Absolutely, sweetheart. I'll send you the bill." Penelope says, and the screen goes black.

Hotchner taps a folder in front of him. "In terms of our suspects, both were killed with a single bullet to the heart. Autopsies are being performed. The house yielded blood matching blood types to our victims; DNA analysis will take more time. Based on that, though, I think we found our killers. No hearts were discovered, but blood was found in the fridge. It's possible they were eating the hearts."

"No sign of any others involved?" Rossi asks.

Hotchner shakes his head. "That said, I wanted to check base with everyone. It's possible we will be asked to consult on Dean and Castiel, since we're here. Is anyone uncomfortable with that and would like to take a step back?"

"I'm ready," JJ says.

Rossi nods in agreement and so does Reid.

Hotchner looks at Morgan. "And you?"

Morgan sighs. "I'm fine." He shakes his head, but not in denial. "I hate this, but I'll get through it. I've got your back."

Hotchner nods, accepting that without comment. "I've gotten a report on what we know so far when it comes to Castiel and Dean. Dean's car hasn't been found. They apparently stole a car and used that to get to Jordan Smithwood's house. It was probably an extra layer of protection that Castiel insisted upon, since they must have known we were here. Castiel's gun has been fired at least once, but no matches have been made yet – the techs are still working on that. Local PD has put out an APB on Dean's car. Penelope is running aliases that have cultural references, based on Reid's suggestions, but no hits for any hotels or motels."

Rossi grabs a pen and starts fiddling with it. "I think it would probably be a good idea to go through what we know again. See if there's anything we can do. I know this appears to be over –"

Morgan shakes his head. "It's not over. Dean hasn't been captured."

"And Dean has proved himself capable of escaping a high security prison," JJ says.

"Then let's see if there's anything we've missed," Hotchner concludes. "If we are asked to consult on Castiel, I want us to be ready."

The entire team goes through Castiel's profile, again. They have no significant new information since they last assembled it, but that doesn't really matter. The key is familiarity, understanding, and new insight. For the last, they go to the little bit of new info they have: Dean and Castiel's involvement in this case.

"From the start, we thought the unsubs were not acting like the theatrical take on werewolves," Rossi points out. "The timeline doesn't match up. But given that the suspects probably were eating the hearts, that's probably what Dean and Castiel think they are."

"From the softness of the metal, the forensic techs think that it is possible that the bullets in Castiel's gun are silver. Tests haven't been done, so they can't confirm that, but they are certain that the bullets were handmade," Reid says, pointing out the detail that Hotchner forgot.

"It wouldn't be the first time details didn't match mythology, but Dean Winchester was convinced of supernatural elements anyway," JJ says with a shrug. "Though how Castiel could overlook that, I'm not sure."

"Castiel's been willing to overlook a great deal to stay with Dean," Hotchner replies.

JJ grimaces. "True."

"Their code word was interesting," Reid says. "'Red.' Previously, Sam and Dean Winchester always used references to classic rock and film."

"Red has the benefit of being short," Morgan says. "Perhaps Castiel insisted on it for that reason. It's more practical."

"And Castiel is not entirely submissive," Rossi agrees. "We're dealing with a partnership here that is more equal than most."

"Their body language when we burst through was trusting. Side by side. Dean wasn't keeping Castiel in view, which indicates he didn't need to in order to have Castiel's cooperation," JJ says. "We also don't know which one of them killed our unsubs yet, though it's likely Castiel did kill at least one, given that his gun was fired."

Hotchner nods. "Castiel was also the one to give the code word, and Dean responded immediately. Without hesitation. That's trust."

Rossi looks thoughtful. "We profiled it, but I think we have some confirmation of that now. Castiel won't break through interrogation or separation."

"No," JJ says slowly. "The only reason to talk to us is because he wants to, not because he feels cornered."

"Strategically, the interrogator should start from that. He might want to explain himself to us, if he still values our opinions," Reid says. "And we could use all the information we can get. Not just for trial, but to better our understanding so we can capture Dean as well."

Hotchner interjects. "SSA Dudell is preparing a bait operation, where officers will let slip when Castiel is being transferred. That's the mostly likely point of attempted rescue. If Dean tries for it, he'll be met with overwhelming force."

"Good," JJ says. "But if all of that doesn't work, how would an interrogator approach Castiel?"

After a moment, Reid answers. "His psychological weak point is his belief in Dean. It must be immense, for Castiel to have given himself over to Dean's delusions and psychosis."

"Poking holes in that will be difficult," Morgan warns.

Hotchner dips his head in acknowledgement of that fact. "Do we have any other suggestions?"

It takes a minute, but they all eventually say no. They don't disperse after that, though. Instead they leave the PD building and go get lunch. They don't mention the case. They talk about their kids, their spouses, and their hobbies. JJ's boys are getting bigger and more rambunctious, and they're talking about getting them involved in sports and outdoor programs. Morgan's son is toddling and the intense task of baby proofing the house is never ending. Hotchner's son is the star player of his soccer team. Rossi talks about his daughter's career in journalism. Reid mentions the last fifteen books he read, and quotes the best parts until they politely ask him to stop.

Very deliberately, they de-stress.

And after that, they go to their hotel to sleep for the night.

JJ is so tired she only stays up fifteen minutes wondering what Castiel is thinking.

---

Sleep and coffee in the morning make JJ feel like a new human being.

Morgan seems to feel the same way. Yesterday he'd looked bone tired – particularly after the incident with Castiel – but now his shoulders are relaxed and his head held high. They meet over the rather nice continental breakfast the hotel offers, JJ stirring sugar into her coffee.

"Coffee's not bad," Morgan notes.

"Starbuck's is better." JJ looks up. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Feels good that things are happening. That things are getting resolved."

JJ nods. "I know what you mean. I just wish I knew why – why Castiel has done all this. I know what we profiled, but it doesn't feel like enough. It doesn't feel complete."

Morgan shrugs lightly. "It isn't. But I don't know you'll ever get the answers you're looking for. Or if you really want them."

JJ looks away for a moment. "I want the truth."

Arriving at the station, JJ finds it full of the FBI manhunt team. While the BAU's work is ending, theirs is just beginning. Dean Winchester is dangerous.

When SSA Dudell, an older black man with gray in his hair and steel in his eyes, walks into the conference room the BAU used during the case and demands one of them interview Castiel – he's refusing to speak to his agents – JJ is there, helping pack their equipment.

And when she volunteers, "I'll do it," she's thinking of finding the truth.

---

Interrogating a suspect is no simple matter. Especially this one.

Normally, the team comes together before an interrogation, re-examines the profile, and determines how the profile can be used to gain answers from the suspect. Interviewing witnesses is easier, and usually revolves around making sure the witness or victim is comfortable and feels safe. An interrogation is about finding a psychological weak point and exploiting it. The BAU did that and Hotchner wrote down the team's recommendations. JJ knows them as well as anyone else.

Executing those recommendations is another matter.

"You can't just walk in there blind," Rossi reminds her.

"We should have a strategy, a new one, given that now the interrogator has a personal relationship with Castiel," Reid says. "You might be the one asking him the questions, but you won't be alone, JJ."

"Your personal connection will be key," Hotchner says.

Reid sits back. "I don't believe Castiel will tell us anything of value regardless."

JJ takes that in. "But he might want to explain himself. He still sees himself as doing what's right, wouldn't he want us to see it the same way?"

Reid pauses to think about that. "Possibly."

"Belief in Dean is still his psychological weak point," Hotchner says. "JJ will just have to approach the topic differently."

JJ nods. "I agree."

JJ comes equipped with the best weapon she could have: information.

She knows Castiel's already signed a waiver to talk to the FBI. He must want to explain himself. To justify to those that hunted him why his reasoning was correct and his choices moral. Psychologically, the need to explain oneself is usually tied to the attempt to rationalize actions by convincing others they were acceptable. If Castiel can get another person to justify it, it becomes far easier to do that himself. The fact that he's willing to try says two things: he's fairly certain of himself, though doubt must remain for the need to explain to exist, and he wants something of the personal connection that they all once had with him. Perhaps there's a need for confession as well, for whatever parts he does hold himself accountable for. That's good. JJ can use all of that.

She wants more than the FBI manhunt team wants; she wants the truth, so they can finally and completely move on.

In a way, it will be difficult. Profilers are not 'trained.' JJ learned on the job, just like all profilers do. Unlike most, she learned from active profilers, whereas most profilers first gain experience in their own field of expertise – Morgan in understanding not just bombs, but those who make them, for instance. Castiel was the same way. He worked in organized crime in the FBI for years before he transferred permanently to the BAU. Castiel is smart, and moreover, he's clever. He has his psychological needs like anyone else, but he's far more aware of his, especially in this context. His justifications will be complex and thought out.

His belief in Dean firm.

JJ knows what she needs to do. Accomplishing it? Now, faced with it, she's nervous. Nerves are a part of life with such a stressful, important job, and JJ is trained and experienced in putting that aside. But even profilers are not emotionless robots.

Still, she thinks she's the best for the job, besides Hotchner – because she wants this. Morgan, she knows, would find it difficult to peel back the layers and pry at the edges hard enough. Reid, perhaps. Rossi, the same.

JJ can remind herself that this isn't about her, not solely. It's about all of them. And with her team in mind, she's ready.

---

Castiel has been in police custody for twenty four hours by the time JJ interviews him.

She takes her seat first. The interview is being recorded, but JJ isn't taking any notes and doesn't have a binder in front of her. Papers and binders, flipped over or closed, can be used as intimidating tactic during an interrogation. JJ doesn't see the point in this case. For one, Castiel knows the technique, and for another, he's already fled from a murder and joined forces with a serial killer. She doesn't think she's going to get resistance against those facts. In fact, she expects Castiel to confess to them easily. The resistance will come only in his belief in Dean's delusions.

Or so she expects.

She looks up when the door opens. Castiel is dressed in a jail jumpsuit, which in this case happens to be gray. It makes his skin look paler than it probably is. He's got dark circles under his eyes, and there's a bruise and scrape on his cheekbone that she didn't see yesterday. JJ wasn't close enough to Castiel to see that kind of detail, though. She kept away.

Castiel offers her that same, sad smile as he's brought in. The ankle cuffs are removed, and his wrist cuffs are placed on a ring on the table, instead of being kept at his waist. He complies with the guard's instructions calmly and without much thought. He's focused on her.

"Hello, JJ." Soft, simple.

JJ smiles at him, and it's not fake. "Where'd you get the bruise?"

Castiel shrugs. "Not Dean."

Interesting thing to jump to. Normally that would imply that's probably where he got it, but in this case he's likely profiling her. Analyzing her. No doubt he's made his own version of the BAU's profile, in order to more effectively evade pursuit. "Dean doesn't hit you? He used to."

"No. He doesn't." And Castiel waits.

JJ knows what she needs to do here. The questions to ask. But all she can do, right now, is stare at him. The bruise on his cheek. The picture of the gold band in his things, confiscated on arrest. The quiet regard he's giving her. She takes a deep breath. "Will you tell me the truth?"

"Of course. That's what you need."

JJ blinks twice, a tell she tries to suppress, but Castiel always was a perceptive one. He'd have to be, to be a permanent member of the BAU. But if their profile of him is correct, his ability to care for the mental state of anyone besides Dean should be limited. "Does that matter to you?"

"All of you will always matter to me."

Truth or lie? "So you will tell me only the truth?"

"Yes." Unequivocal.

JJ decides to leave that there. "You have to admit you've left us in quite a state of confusion."

Castiel nods. "I did kill Weston Bower, but I did it only to save Agent Stein's life. With no foreknowledge on his part or anyone else's, of course."

"How did you save his life?"

Castiel takes a moment to reply. "I know you'll think I'm crazy, but Bower was using a spell to drain Agent Stein's life force. The only way I could stop it was to kill him."

JJ considers that. She doesn't want to say a word that isn't carefully thought through. Castiel's confessed to the murder. She should probably move on. "When did you come to believe in supernatural capabilities like spells?"

"Asking about Dean at last?"

"If you will."

"Forty days into being imprisoned, Dean put a magical cuff on me, that would not let me pass boundaries he chose." Castiel smiles almost bashfully and admits, "I thought he was nuts. A magical cuff? So I knocked him out and ran for it. Only to fall flat on my face, literally. I couldn't figure out what was tripping me up. How was the cuff working? Magnets?" Castiel shrugs. "That was the beginning, though it took me far longer to believe everything Dean told me about the true nature of the world."

JJ's throat tightens. "And the whole time – the whole time, you believed that? While you were with us?"

"Yes. Because it was the truth, as is what I'm telling you now."

"Castiel. Why didn't you ask for help? You have to know –"

Castiel leans in. "I asked for help with what I needed. I didn't need you to pop my delusions because I wasn't and am not delusional."

"Yes, you are! Spells, Castiel? And what about Dean? Do you believe all his stories about how he saved people –"

"JJ," Castiel says softly.

Now is not the time to get emotional or personally involved, regardless of the fact that that same emotional connection is why she volunteered. "Do you believe?"

"I believe what I have seen with my own eyes, not because he told me to."

"So you've seen supernatural creatures yourself?" JJ asks.

"Yes, on multiple occasions." Castiel tilts his head. "I can practically see you ticking off 'psychosis.'"

"Can you blame me?" JJ asks dryly.

Slight smile. "No."

JJ takes a moment to observe Castiel's affect. Unlike what she would expect to see, he's sensitive to her emotional state, enough to want to reassure her, and capable of predicting her assumptions. She would expect nothing less from Agent Castiel Novak, but the Castiel on the run with a psychotic serial killer? Less so. Her expectation would be to see Castiel stressed, both from his relationship with Dean, who is dangerously violent (though not typically to his partners, true enough) and therefore unpredictable. People who have to cope with random behavior are often high strung, easily stressed even if not verbally so, and constantly looking for a shift in tone, purely as a survival skill. Even as Castiel was profiled as being less submissive, JJ would expect to see some of that, and potentially some aggression of his own, practiced to counter Dean's.

But Castiel's affect is calm, even, and confident. He has no doubts about his life, while simultaneously is capable of understanding the doubts of others.

"I'd like to go through this chronologically, if you don't mind."

Castiel spreads his hands as much as he is able, with them cuffed. A gesture of welcome.

"So Dean used a magical cuff on you?"

"A spelled one. Yes. He then told me the story of his history – him and Sam, that is, explaining the crimes the BAU wanted him for from his perspective, and in the context of the supernatural being real."

"Did you believe everything he told you?" Surely not. At least not then.

"I was highly skeptical, but I could no longer completely deny the possibility. Seeing Anna was very convincing."

JJ frowns. "Who is Anna?"

"Anna is the woman – well, not woman – who Dean was referring to when he said 'don't ask her,' as well as the person who rescued him from prison. She is an angel. The first time I met her, she healed my injuries instantaneously."

JJ raises her eyebrows. High. "How does Dean know an angel?"

"She's resurrected him a few times. It's a long story."

"I bet," JJ says, rather unprofessionally.

"I can tell you that story," Castiel offers, unfazed.

"I'd like that, later," JJ says, though she realizes she knows most of it from Dean's psychologist. "What else convinced you?"

Castiel looks upward, clearly going through his memory. Not the body language of someone lying. "I used a spell to temporarily disable the cuff. My second escape attempt. And months later, a tulpa attacked us in the bunker. Followed Dean home, actually."

Home. Interesting word usage. "Do you live with Dean?"

Castiel shakes his head firmly. "I don't live in the bunker. I refuse to go back there."

That implies Castiel still views his kidnapping as a crime, even if the rest of Dean's actions he considers necessary or correct. He also didn't actually answer her question, so she'll take that as a yes. "And Dean agreed to that?"

"He did, yes."

"So this whole time … you believed in Dean?"

Castiel pauses. "Not in Dean, not exactly. In the world he showed me, yes."

If Castiel's weak point doesn't hinge on Dean, but on the belief in the supernatural, then their relationship isn't what they profiled. But it supports the idea that Dean and Castiel are equals, if that's the case. "But you helped Dean escape. Anna, you called her."

Castiel meets JJ's eyes. "Yes. I needed his help, so I told her to get him out."

"Help for what?"

"The vampire case," Castiel says. "I wouldn't tell you, but it's not like you arrested anyone important anyway. Hunters killed those responsible. The vampires responsible, that is."

"So you were working with Dean that far back?" JJ asks, unable to hide how appalled she is.

Castiel just nods.

"Dean raped you."

"Yes." Castiel pauses. "He did. He did that, but that's not – " Castiel stops for a moment. He smiles, very gently, but not directed at her. "That was something he did, but that's not who he is. Dean has done evil things, but he's not evil. And I love who he is."

"You don't think we know each other by our fruit? By our actions?"

"I do. Yes. And Dean's – Dean's was to turn himself in."

"Dean has murdered more than eighty people that we know of. He kidnapped you, held you prisoner for eighteen months, and raped you. He confessed to thirty-three different rapes of you. How can you say that's not who he is?"

Castiel doesn't answer JJ's anger with any of his own. "Consider reality. My reality," he amends. "From my point of view. Dean has done horrible things, yes, but if you consider that he's also been killing monsters since he was literally a child, then he has also saved countless lives. And because he's been doing this since he was a child, he's – he's damaged. Emotionally and psychologically, Dean has scars, far worse than any physical ones. I wouldn't call it impaired judgment, but if we can offer sympathy – even if no less prison time – for someone horrifically abused who then lashes out against others, why can't I offer that for Dean? If I choose to? Why can't I forgive him, when I was the one wronged?"

JJ resists the urge to say 'bullshit.' There are things in this world that you can't come back from, and rape is one of them. As is the murder of innocents. It seems that Castiel has forgotten both of those. "We have a video of you kissing in a gas station. And your … wedding ring."

Castiel blinks, for the first time surprised. "Ah. Well, we did reinitiate our relationship. Or rather, I did. Dean was very resistant to the idea. He didn't want to hurt me."

Dr. Merris said Dean wanted to 'get better' for Castiel's sake, in heaven. Dean wanted a healthy relationship. Dean loved Castiel. And she believed that in some way, Castiel loved him in return. JJ considers not Castiel's version of reality, but the reality she knows: Castiel never stopped loving Dean, even if manipulation was the root cause. He never recovered from Stockholm Syndrome, and he certainly never recovered from his belief in Dean's delusions, going so far as to convince himself he sees what Dean sees – to stay with the man he believes he loves. That he does love, JJ supposes, in the most twisted and unhealthy of ways. Enough to sacrifice pieces of himself, and it would appear not out of fear. This time.

The first time, Castiel sacrificed pieces of himself for survival. Perhaps he never got those pieces back.

Dean's psychologist also said that Castiel wouldn't be a typical serial killing partner. And the BAU profiled Castiel's submissiveness would be limited, and an ineffective tool.

JJ is honestly curious. Afraid of the answer, but wanting to know Castiel's words, even if she can't bring herself to believe them. "He doesn't hurt you?"

"No. He's so, so careful, JJ. I don't know if this is what you want to hear, but we're happy."

It's crushing in that all their worst fears are confirmed. Castiel is firmly in Dean's camp, settled in Dean's version of reality. Castiel has completely, and likely irrevocably, lost his way. And yet he's happy, and JJ wonders if that is some small blessing for a broken man.

She has the truth she wanted.

The rest of this is just for the record. "Did you have contact with Dean before he broke out of prison?"

"No. He had nothing to do with any cases before that point, and only the vampires after that," Castiel says. He must know that all his cases are under review, and any information of how badly he compromised those cases is helpful.

"When did your relationship with him start?"

"Three or four months after his escape, I suppose? It was a gradual process."

"You saw him a lot," JJ observes.

"As much as I felt I safely could," Castiel agrees. "For closure, in the beginning. And then I remembered all the good parts of Dean. Or I finally allowed myself to. And since he'd done so much to change himself … I saw a way forward, for both of us." Castiel looks upward a moment. "It was a lot messier than that, of course."

Literally messy? That's what JJ wonders. How many bodies. "Did you kill anyone together?"

"No. We're not serial killers."

"You kill people," JJ insists.

"We kill monsters," Castiel corrects. "Dean has killed humans in the process, but not innocent ones."

"For instance?"

"Witches, demon summoners, that kind of thing. He has killed people possessed by demons, it's far easier than exorcising them with the right weapon – if in combat – but those were unavoidable deaths."

How easily Castiel puts aside the deaths of innocents. JJ looks down at her hands, wishing she had notes so she could pretend to be busy while she regains her composure.

"I'm sorry."

JJ looks up. "For what?"

"I know this is hard. It's not as hard as it would have to be, if you believed the truth, but I know why you don't."

Get the information, JJ. "And the murders? Jordan Smithwood and his girlfriend, Adenna Jackson?"

"They were werewolves. We killed them with silver bullets." Castiel pauses. "Silver with a lead core. Silver's a pretty soft metal for bullets."

"Castiel, that doesn't even make sense," she says, unable to help herself. "They weren't killing people on the full moon."

But Castiel just nods. "Countermeasure. Not against you, the police, but against hunters like Dean and me. They were locking themselves up during the full moon, hunting in the few days surrounding it so they could fulfill the urge to eat human hearts during the same general time period. We're not sure why they sped up. Maybe to stock up for when they left the area?" Castiel shrugs. "Fortunately we had time."

That's when it hits JJ: Castiel knew the BAU was coming to this case. Before they ever arrived. "It was you." Disbelief colors her words, but it's rapidly turning into certainty.

"I'm sorry?"

"You withdrew the Ventura PD's requests for help."

Castiel tilts his head, squinting as if puzzled. But he isn't.

JJ is on to him. "No. You gave the first request, thereby legitimizing all the requests and take backs that came after. The blue truck – was that you, too? Throwing us off so you could get to them first and kill them?"

Castiel eyes her for a long moment. Denials do not spill from his lips. "Our other theory was that they were making a pack. The three deaths that were caused by slashing – those may have been attempted infection by bite. If that was the case, we had to handle it ourselves. Even if you caught just the two we knew of, there could have been more – we couldn't take that risk."

They profiled it. He will be able to lead law enforcement astray when he desires to do so, forensically and psychologically. They didn't include themselves in that, but they should have. "So you admit it."

"I admit to messing with your paperwork."

"And to killing two people."

"Not people, and not innocent," Castiel replies.

"That doesn't justify murder."

Castiel looks down. "I feel guilty about Bower. Dean thinks it's … silly. But JJ, I didn't do any of this lightly."

"And Cynthia Dernwood? What did she do to deserve being horrifically murdered?" JJ demands.

"Cynthia Dernwood died six months before we arrived."

JJ leans back, trying to regain her calm. This is more unnerving than she thought it would be. "Can you explain?"

"Of course. The monster that killed Cynthia Dernwood was a cyntis. Not something I had ever heard of in mythology, mind you. It took a lot of research to figure out what it was. We were attracted to the robbery deaths first. A chunk of hair and a nail – well, those are common spell ingredients, so at first we thought she was a witch. But when we interviewed her neighbors, there was a personality change. We wanted to be sure we knew what we were dealing with, so we researched and waited until we got a match: a cyntis is a hybrid creature of two other monsters. They typically drain life force through a ritual because the methods of feeding are often mixed because of parentage, so it doesn't take either parents' method. But in order to do so it needs a part of the person's body. The nail and hair were removed before death, and then she killed them. It used Cynthia Dernwood as a cover, against hunters. Took her form – one of its parents was a shape shifter – and even took care of her son, in order to remain undetected."

It. It. Over and over, Castiel couldn't call her human. "That doesn't explain how you found her."

"We followed it back from a crime scene. Took us a while to piece the rest of it together."

"Right after the act of murder?" JJ asks, not sure she's believing this part.

"Yes. Our appearance threw the police off, I think, and it wasn't matched with the other murders. 1166 Oak Street, Vaxville. I was the one to find the pattern. A new city every month, deep in the suburbs, close to a highway, and each house was marked with blood a week before. The blood was wiped away, but I used infrared with a camera and found it." Castiel pauses in his recitation and shrugs. "Not sure why that part was necessary. But we started searching neighborhoods and found it."

JJ nods slowly. "I see. And based on that, you left her son without a mother?"

"Cynthia Dernwood died far before we ever found the case," Castiel insists. "What we killed – that wasn't human. Before it died, it screamed like a banshee. An inhuman scream, I mean. And part of its skin melted."

JJ represses her shudder out of years of practice. "I see."

Castiel sighs. "No, you don't. You think I'm crazy."

"Think about how you sound, Castiel. Five years ago, you would have thought you were crazy," JJ says gently.

"People who suffer from psychosis," Castiel begins slowly, "are inconsistent. Dean's always been consistent in his rationale. And so have I."

"And so I should be convinced?"

Castiel's mouth twitches, then smoothes out. "No. I wouldn't have been in your place. But in case you ever are in my place, I wanted to tell you the truth."

JJ doesn't say anything. Then, "What about other cases since you've been gone? What else has convinced you?"

"And provide you with geographical data? No, I don't think so."

"So there's nothing you'd like to confess to while we're here?"

Castiel smiles. "Not specifically, no."

There's a knock at the door, then it cracks open. Castiel can't see it from this angle, but Hotchner is there. That's all he needs to do – JJ smiles at Castiel, because it can't hurt, and says, "It was good to talk to you, Castiel."

The look Castiel gives her suggests he knows she's lying.

Then she's out the door.

---

Hotchner doesn't commonly interrupt an interrogation. One of the only reasons he will do so is because there is new information and the interrogator needs to know it to properly do their job. Only twice in thirteen years has he interrupted an interrogation by a member of his team because he wanted to take over.

"What is it?" JJ asks when the door closes.

"I want to talk to him," Hotchner says. "I have questions, based on what I heard."

JJ nods slowly. "Are you sure you don't want me to ask those questions? I have a rapport with him."

"I'm sure. You did a good job, JJ. We got the information that the FBI and prosecutors needed."

Something seems to settle in JJ. Relax. Hotchner can imagine how difficult that interview was for her – as it would have been for any of them, hearing Castiel confess to so many horrific crimes, some of which occurred on their watch. To know that Castiel was that far gone while appearing so normal to his friends is a shock.

"Take a break," Hotchner says. "Why don't you call your family?"

"I will," JJ says. "You, too, when this is all over."

Hotchner nods at her, and then knocks on the door, so Castiel knows he's coming. Then he enters. It's the first time Hotchner has seen Castiel in person since his capture. JJ asked about the bruise, and Hotchner already confirmed it was not given to him in jail, so that's not a surprise. What's more surprising is how Castiel reacts to Hotchner's presence.

He straightens, almost like Hotchner is still his superior. And then he gives Hotchner a little nod. "Hotch," Castiel says simply. "Do you mind me calling you that?"

Hotchner shakes his head and takes JJ's former seat. "I have a question for you. Perhaps more than one."

"Then ask."

"If all of what you have told us is objectively true and real, why not come to me? Why not come to any one of us, and demonstrate it?"

Castiel sighs. "Partly selfish survival and partly the law of unintended consequences." Castiel doesn't say anything further for a long moment, and Hotchner recognizes the look on his face as Castiel making a decision. Castiel used to do just that when he'd recommend something bold.

Hotchner waits, and Castiel does not disappoint.

"If I had attempted to do so while in the BAU, my failure would have meant the end of my career and a possible psych eval, ending in possible temporary hospitalization. Magic is – it works. But not always incredibly visibly, as it did with the cuff Dean used on me, and I'm no warlock. The only true magical spell I've ever used, took me over a dozen tries to succeed. Similarly, a great deal of supernatural events can be rationalized away, as you did with the vampire case. You easily assumed that over a hundred people had extensive, identical surgery to their teeth, that their strength was a result of PCP or some similar drug, and that being shot and not stopping meant they were wearing body armor. In this day and age, it's often easy to come up with a non-supernatural explanation."

"The simplest explanation is usually the correct one."

"I'd say 'vampire' is simpler than all of what I just named."

Hotchner has to give him that one. "Simpler, but we might as well assume the sun circles the earth based on the cycle of a day, ignoring evidence for everything else."

"Point," Castiel says wryly.

"Law of unintended consequences?" Hotchner asks.

"I did my best to keep what I knew separate from my job. But you and Morgan were suspicious nonetheless. And I eventually lost my place at the BAU – which I don't blame you for, by the way. I attacked you to save myself, and I'm sorry for that. And then when Weston Bower tried to kill Roger Stein …" Castiel pauses. "Let's say I convinced one of you, even two of you. Those people would be completely alone, double checking everything for supernatural elements, and having the rest of the team – highly skilled at analyzing behavior – watch them. How long until they are under suspicion with the rest of the team?"

Hotchner opens his mouth.

"And if you all knew, if I convinced all of you, then you'd have the danger of the rest of the FBI looking at you, and potentially altering reports."

"And lying, like you?"

Castiel shrugs. "Yes."

"Then why tell me this now?"

Castiel leans in. "For one thing, if I gave you this warning by some other means, you'd report it anyway."

True.

"I had a lot to lose. That isn't the case now, and you're unprotected from the supernatural. I'm telling you this because I know how your mind works, and you don't have Reid's memory, Hotch, but you remember everything that matters. And if one day you look at what I've said and what's before your own eyes and realize the truth, I want you to know that I'm here for you. And if you ever find that truth, you'll know how to find me."

It's so earnest that it engenders sadness instead of pity. "You want so desperately to save me, but you're the one who needs to be saved."

"Just – remember. Please."

At last, Hotchner nods. "Goodbye, Castiel."

---

The details of Castiel's transfer are kept secret, though his destination isn't in order to bait Dean: the airport, to be extradited to Michigan. California wasn't keen on the idea, but Michigan won the day, though it took a week of legal battles, something that angered SSA Dudell because it gave Dean Winchester more time to plan his rescue.

JJ wishes she and the others were kept in the loop – she feels like the BAU could help hone down when Dean would attempt to rescue his partner – but only Hotchner is told anything of substance. Agent Dudell is determined not to lose this opportunity to catch Dean Winchester, the man they've been hunting off and on for ten years. If they fail now, JJ knows, then they will have to dog Castiel's heels during his trial, and that will be difficult, time consuming, and expensive.

Not to mention the potential of Dean's success. That would be a huge embarrassment for Dudell and the FBI.

Over thirty police officers are recruited to be the 'overwhelming force' recommended by the BAU. Since Hotchner isn't leaving until Dudell makes his first bait/capture attempt, the rest of the team is staying as well. They decide to remain in the PD building and listen in using equipment Ventura PD kindly provides, in case they can help somehow.

JJ and Morgan sit in the conference room they used during the case, though it's been completely emptied. Now it's just a meeting place, and somewhere for them to have some coffee in silence. JJ gulps down coffee, making a face when she realizes it doesn't have enough sugar.

Morgan slides a packet of sugar on the table in her direction.

JJ smiles at him. "You know me too well."

"I was puzzled to see you taking coffee with your sugar."

In response, JJ flicks the empty packet at him.

Reid pops his head in. "They've just started the transfer."

Morgan and JJ look at each other, and then leave for the control room. This station has a technical room with security cameras for the area, as well as the ability to show other feeds. The station captain and others use it routinely for things like security details for politicians and political events, as well as local events. In this case most of their feeds are just audio. Morgan manages to find a comfortable seat, but gives it up to JJ when she can't do the same.

Reid stands, staring at the monitors. He says, "I can't imagine Dean not trying to rescue Castiel. This is his best opportunity, and he must know that."

"He does," Morgan says. "He's too smart not to."

"I do wonder how much he'll prepare for us," JJ says, "considering he thinks we're too stupid to see the world as he does."

Morgan raises an eyebrow. "I wouldn't bet on that."

At first, everything appears normal. The officers being used to transfer Castiel to the airport are calm and experienced, talking lingo as they put Castiel into a guard van, presumably escorted by police cars, and trailed by officers in plain clothes. "10-59 complete, everything looks good. 10-14, we're taking off."

Then all the windows rattle. "What was that?" Reid demands.

"Bomb," Morgan answers grimly, and is out the door, shouting, "Get your gear!"

And a second later, over the secured radio,"10-24! Suspect with a gun!" and "We've got smoke bombs! Secure the prisoner and take cover!" And then more garbled messages, numerous officers talking over each other. "What was that?" "Get civilians away!" "He attacked the station?"

JJ grabs her bullet proof vest with FBI lettering, hearing,"The van! Check the van!" from the radio, takes an earpiece, and then she's following Morgan and a stream of officers at the station out the front. Reid and Rossi are behind her; Hotchner, she knows, is with Agent Dudell.

The first thing she sees is a wrecked, burning car on the street opposite the station. The van is right next to it, surrounded by two squad cars and officers using said cars as cover. The van appears to still be secure.

Morgan isn't going for it, though – he's checking other cars on the street, which makes sense since he's the team's bomb expert. Police officers are lining up in a square around the van like Roman soldiers ready to beat back the invaders, all for one man.

Then a deep fog – smoke, it must be smoke to be so sudden – enters a cloudy Ventura day, and JJ loses all visibility. She can't see more than five feet in front of her. She lowers her gun, worried about hitting an officer, and continues forward. She hopes to find the squad cars and provide backup, but stops when she hears grunts of pain, and then a half strangled, "10-10!" She can't tell the direction.

Fight in progress.

Dean is here.

"Winchester is here!" JJ shouts.

Hotchner's voice comes over the radio: "Winchester is alone, start talking to each other – if you know someone is nearby and they aren't identifying themselves, arrest them."

"Hold the van!" Agent Dudell orders. "Don't leave for any reason, backup is literally a dozen feet away."

Bang. Not gunfire, but another, smaller explosion. A flashbang. And another, and another.

JJ runs towards where she thinks the van is, shouting, "FBI, FBI," the whole way. She nearly flattens an officer, who first points his gun at her – she raises hers, identifies herself, "Agent Jareau!"

The officer lowers his gun, eyes scanning the area. As much as the fog/smoke allows.

"Do you still have the prisoner?" JJ demands.

The officer looks to his left. "Over there!"

"Area is being locked down," Agent Dudell says. "Streets, sidewalks, don't let anyone pass – not anyone – without being frisked and questioned."

JJ jogs to the van, and in a matter of a minute her range of visibility allows her to see two police officers laying on the ground. Dead flashbangs litter the area, and she sees more officers slowly getting to their feet, dazed. The back of the van is open. Castiel isn't there. "He's gone. Winchester got Novak." Then she checks the breathing and pulse of the two downed officers, scanning her surroundings all the while. She would run, she would look, but she can't see anything.

"10-31!" another officer shouts, coming onto the scene a second after JJ. The two officers are fine. One groans and begins shifting around.

JJ stares at the empty van, breathing hard.

Dean planned this. Dean planned this very, very carefully, and he chose to strike in a way that they would never have predicted – right outside the police station. A bomb to distract. Smoke and fog to cover his attack and exit with Castiel. Flashbangs to add to the confusion and further disorient anyone guarding Castiel. And he must have a hiding place now, a plan to get out from under the eyes of dozens of police officers.

JJ looks around, but her vision is no better. They need to be in pursuit, and quickly.

But it takes a whole five minutes before literal lines of police officers organize and begin walking through the area. The fog/smoke clears in half an hour, but there's no sign of Dean and Castiel. JJ and the others get debriefed on what the plan was, and where they expected Dean to strike – not here, of course, but on a highway with lots of room to run and a suburban area to hide in.

Dudell was well prepared. He had additional squad cars and officers at every other likely point of attack. But Dean, as usual, did the unpredictable. Dudell, she finds out, had officers line up in a square around the area as soon as the bomb exploded, but despite that, Dean and Castiel must have slipped through in the confusion, helped by the lack of visibility. However, Dudell's instant reaction to lock down the area helps – Hotchner, JJ and the rest of the BAU conclude Dean and Castiel didn't have the time to flee the area before that lockdown occurred. They must be still be in a few square blocks, hiding. Waiting.

Morgan tells her the bomb was designed to be loud, and set the car on fire, but it didn't contain shrapnel. Presumably Dean didn't want bystanders hurt.

The BAU helps the station coordinate the search, knocking on every door and questioning everyone in the locked down area, which leads to nothing. They expand the search, but that also gets them nowhere. They examine every detail of Dean's plan to rescue Castiel, from finding video footage of Dean planting the car (plus bomb), scoping out the area, and apparently making measurements of some kind. Motels are searched. There are checkpoints for cars for two weeks, searching for Dean's Impala.

But Dean and Castiel are never found.

---

Two months later, JJ's in Quantico.

There was a large shakeup when Agent Dudell's effort to capture Dean along with Castiel turned out to be such a dismal failure. Dudell was removed from his position. The BAU catches surprisingly little flack, at least as far as JJ can tell. Hotchner has always done his best to protect them from political infighting, so JJ can admit that it's possible threats were made and they're simply not aware. But Hotchner told them not to worry, and he's not a liar, so JJ doesn't think that's the case. The BAU's part in this is over, unless they randomly happen upon Castiel and Dean again.

She knows Hotchner meets with the new agent in charge of capturing Castiel and Dean. She also knows that they both now appear on the list of the most wanted criminals. Dean's kill size warrants it, Castiel's less so, but Castiel is an embarrassment along with being the most capable of screwing with the FBI. The deputy director wants Castiel's head on a platter.

As always, the case goes cold.

A few weeks later, JJ comes into work early. Her sons are both sick and have been keeping her up all night, and she looks like a walking disaster, but Will took over in the morning – he had the sniffles, and JJ wanted to make sure he recovered – and she figures that as long as they don't get a new case, she can leisurely do some paperwork and guilt anyone without young children into covering for her.

Morgan used to be good for that, but his son is three now.

She grabs a donut from a pink box and heads for her desk.

"Morning," Morgan calls.

JJ looks up, blinking. "Morning."

"You look like hell."

"Then I look how I feel."

"Sick kids? I know the look."

JJ collapses at her desk. "Yeah."

"The new agent in charge of Winchester and Novak want to meet with us."

"What for?" JJ asks. "There's nothing new to add to the profile."

"He thinks his predecessor missed something."

JJ shakes her head. "I wish it were that simple."

"We didn't miss anything," Morgan agrees. "There's things we don't know, but nothing we missed. It does make me wonder, though. What they're up to. What their life is like. If Castiel really is Dean's equal in this whole mess. Or is that just me?" Morgan sits at the edge of her desk.

JJ finishes off her donut before replying. "No. I wonder that, too. The happiness of partner serial killers is never something I've really questioned. By the psychological nature of it, it's parasitic and destructive. But Dr. Merris seemed so convinced they loved each other, or at least that Dean loved Castiel. I wonder – I wonder if Castiel really is happy, killing people or not."

"Castiel gave up a lot for Dean."

JJ shrugs. "Yeah. Including his sanity."

Morgan snorts.

"I mean, magic?" JJ persists.

"Maybe all those Wiccans casting love potions are on to something."

"You cast spells, you ingest potions," JJ says.

"Sounds like we have an expert."

JJ laughs, but it fades. "What do you think? Do you think they love each other?"

Morgan gives the answer the seriousness it deserves. "I don't know. In a way, I'm not sure I want to know. Because if they are? What does that say?" After a moment Morgan adds, "You know, they found the blue truck guy. I checked. He was a registered pedophile."

"So if Castiel wanted us going in guns blazing, he picked someone not innocent," JJ muses. "Dean's sense of morality always was odd. And spotty."

"Spotty. Yeah." Morgan gets up and steals a donut. "But what do you think? Do they love each other?"

It takes JJ a long minute to formulate her answer. Dean and Castiel are wrapped up in memory, pain, and determination. She no longer views them objectively, if she ever did, and she knows it. But she saw truth in Castiel's words to her. Not the truth she wanted, and not objectively real, but a truth all the same; true to Castiel, that is.

"I always picture love as a positive thing," JJ says at last. "I can't imagine it's real love when the ends of it are evil."

Morgan has nothing to say to that.

---

But JJ wonders. Castiel seemed so convinced. What was there, that it turned a stable FBI agent, a hunter, into one of the hunted?

One night before she goes to bed, JJ looks up online sources for witchcraft and the occult. Most are fanciful, and a fair bit write as if they expect no result from their spells. But then she comes along one, a simple text website, that says, I offer this as a guide for understanding, not as a teaching text. Real spells with real results hurt real people. If you have been targeted …

And JJ reads on.

---

It's a dark night, moonless, but Morgan isn't staying outside. He walks along a silent street, making random turns here and there to expose or lose anyone trailing him.

Castiel vetted their meeting place, an empty warehouse in a commercial district. Vetted it very thoroughly, because he knows just how much Morgan risks by meeting him in person. It was Morgan who insisted, though. It's been over two years since Castiel fled after the murder of Bower, and since Morgan has seen his friend. They've communicated off and on by email, but it's not the same, and in some ways Castiel has become more reticent than ever. It's not out of distrust. Morgan thinks that Castiel believes his new life is incompatible with holding onto to anything – and anyone – outside of it, excepting his brother.

That isn't true.

Morgan was pissed as hell when he found out about the murder of Weston Bower. Not, he realized with a small bit of horror, at the murder itself but because Castiel didn't ask him for help. Whether Morgan could have provided any is debatable. But he would have liked to have the chance, risks or no risks. Or even to make the argument against it. Maybe that's part of it, too. Castiel doesn't want to put Morgan in danger, and any communication carries some possibility of that.

Dean, surprisingly, always emails Morgan back. Including the first one Morgan sent after Castiel fled. Castiel doesn't love you. He's confused caring with love, and it's because you fucked him up.

Dean's reply was two words: I know.

Nothing changed.

Morgan ducks into an alleyway, goes through a door which he locks behind himself, and meanders through an empty building until he reaches the other side. Then, at last, he finds himself at the warehouse Castiel specified. It's smaller, somewhat broken down but Morgan still sees a lock hanging loose on the metal side door. He opens it without making a sound, and closes it the same. The empty space shows signs of homeless living here previously – cardboard houses and piles of clothes.

Castiel is there already, sitting on a broken down crate and looking up at the ceiling. He looks a little older to Morgan's eyes. No gray in his hair yet, though he detects a little in his stubble. Otherwise, he looks the same. Perhaps even healthier.

In a way, seeing Castiel like this now reminds Morgan of when he saw Castiel for the first time after his captivity. Breathing. Alive.

"Castiel."

His response to Morgan is immediate. He turns, smiles, and rises to his feet. "Hello, Morgan." He tilts his head. "Fatherhood suits you. You haven't aged a day."

"I feel about a decade older, so I'm not too sure about that."

Castiel laughs.

Then Morgan walks into Castiel's space and pulls him into a hug, which Castiel returns, holding on just as tight. Castiel's breath hitches. "It's good to see you," Morgan says quietly. He means it. For a long time now, Castiel has seemed like a shadow, or like someone who died – Morgan remembers him, but he doesn't know him. He pulls back. "How have you been?"

"Good. No, really," Castiel says to the look of skepticism on Morgan's face. "All things considered, I'm doing very well."

"All things considered?"

Castiel waves a hand. "Nothing to do with Dean. Just the different lifestyle."

Morgan eyes him. "Like being hunted and captured by the FBI?"

Castiel winces. "Yes, like that. I wasn't sure Dean could get me out." Castiel gestures for Morgan to take a seat, which he does. "Thanks for giving Dean all that info, by the way. Saved my ass."

"I made him promise not to allow anyone to get hurt. Seriously hurt," Morgan amends, because he knows a few guys got concussions, a few blown out ear drums, and bruises. The guilt over that had been immense, and he'd quietly checked on everyone injured during Castiel's escape. All of them recovered. "Dean said something about his angel not being around to get you?"

"Yes. She and her kin are leaving Earth alone for a few millennia." Castiel smiles. "I know it sounds bad, I can see the look on your face, but it's a good thing. Now that hell is closed off, and heaven has retreated, this world is ours. Humanity's."

"It still sounds weird to talk about things that way."

Castiel nods. "Your last case, it went well? Dean mentioned you asked about the fae. They're dangerous."

"Yeah," Morgan says. "As it turned out, I didn't have to do anything. The woman made a deal, and when the deal was completed, she died. No more people got hurt."

Castiel doesn't say anything for a long moment, now that their introductory chitchat has concluded. "Morgan, why did you insist I meet you in person?"

The answer to that is both simple and complex. At its basic level, Morgan worries about Castiel staying with Dean in a romantic relationship. All the history between them – kidnapping, rape, Stockholm Syndrome, trauma – is enough to make Morgan believe that Castiel's best path is to be on his own, or work with another hunter, or frankly do anything except be anywhere near Dean Winchester's orbit.

It's complex in that Morgan knows that isn't going to happen, and therefore what Morgan does in response is a delicate line to walk, and an important one. Their friendship only deepened after Morgan discovered that the supernatural was real.

"Because you're like a brother to me," Morgan says simply, and waits.

Castiel stops breathing for a moment, and his head drops. Then, very quietly, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm fucking sure. What the hell is wrong with you?"

And like he expected, Castiel laughs. "Because I'm a murderer? Because I went back to Dean Winchester, of all people? I threw Hotch under the bus to save my career, and I –"

"You took every risk in my stead. You took all the risks, so I'd have my wife, child, and career safe." Morgan pauses. "I'm part of why you're here, in this situation. And I know why you did it."

Castiel breathes raggedly for a few moments. "Thank you, Morgan."

"I know you saw Balthazar. Well, the manhunt team is fairly certain. And Balthazar looks like he's doing better. Don't I get a turn?" he asks lightly.

Castiel tilts his head, smiling. "Okay."

"How are you doing? How are you really doing?"

There's a long moment Castiel doesn't answer, which tells Morgan that Castiel is taking the question seriously. "I'm good," he says at last.

"Are you?" Morgan presses. "You can't lie to my face."

Castiel doesn't look offended. "You saw JJ interview me. I didn't lie."

"I did, and yes, you told the truth to her. But you didn't tell her everything. She didn't know the right questions to ask."

"Interview, take two?"

"Castiel –"

"No, it's all right," Castiel says. "No one understands this, me, and I understand why you want to. For my sake, right? To see if there's anything you need to do, anything you can do?"

Morgan searches Castiel's face for any hesitation. Then he asks, "Did you ever really recover?"

Castiel meets Morgan's gaze. "If the vampire case hadn't come up, if things had settled down with the supernatural, I think I would have left Dean in prison permanently."

Morgan exhales. "I wish you had. Maybe we wouldn't be meeting in secret."

"Or I would be in prison for something else." Castiel shrugs. "'What if' isn't a useful exercise for me. I have what I have, and I accept that."

"So that's why you're with Dean?"

"No." Castiel's mouth twists, and then he chuckles. "I left him for four months and hunted on my own, because I wanted to be sure I was with him completely of my own free will. And I discovered that I don't need Dean to survive. But I do want him."

Perhaps that's the best Morgan can hope for. Because if Castiel speaks the truth, then if Dean ever does turn on Castiel – and Morgan believes it is possible that he hasn't, and actually has been respecting Castiel – then Castiel could walk away. "Tell me."

"Are you sure you want me to? If they ever find out we met, then you would have to make the decision to protect me or yourself, and I don't –"

"I'm not giving you up, Castiel. I'll lose my job before that happens." His freedom? His life? He never intends to be in that position.

Castiel seems to realize it. "As long as you let me take all the risks, then. I have a lot less to lose," he adds wryly.

It's logical, so Morgan nods.

Sitting in a warehouse, hiding from the world, Castiel starts at his second beginning: running from the FBI instead of towards them. He talks about making the decision to run, and how he had briefly flirted with the idea of allowing himself to be convicted, because he had committed a murder. Morgan knows from Dean that Weston Bower was a vampire, but Castiel went into the murder not knowing that for sure. He had made the decision to kill a human being, and that decision itself – even if the act was not human murder – was enough to cause guilt. Morgan understands.

Castiel talks about staying with Dean in a house owned by some old friends of Dean's, taking the time to recover and remember how to be happy.

That's how he phrases it: remembering how to be happy. Not getting over all that he lost, not accepting it, really, but remembering how to be. It makes Morgan think of how Castiel changed himself, cutting off pieces and adding others, to remain sane in Dean's prison. He can't help but think that Castiel is doing the same thing now, but Castiel insists that isn't true. It's not the same. Castiel has choices, if not all the choices he could want; he could leave. He did leave, so he could be certain he wanted to stay. Four long months of hunting alone taught him that.

Castiel says Morgan's letter caused that decision, and Castiel thanks him for it. Morgan can't take say 'You're welcome,' not when his goal failed.

And then Castiel tells Morgan about the house. Their home, built with their own two hands, with every room having two windows.

That detail nearly breaks Morgan's heart, though he says nothing. Castiel might want to pretend otherwise, but scars still litter his mind. But Dean agreed to it. Dean agreed to everything Castiel demanded, or so Castiel says.

In a way, Morgan does want to believe that Dean is a changed man. It would mean that Castiel is relatively safe where he is, psychologically, and at least physically where Dean himself is concerned. But Morgan also knows that the chances of eliminating his toxic behavior are extremely small. Men like that simply don't change, statistically speaking.

Dr. Merris, Morgan remembers, believed Dean had.

Morgan takes note of Castiel's affect, too, when he talks about his life with Dean. Well, more than that. Affect is something profilers look for. Morgan's depending on his instinct, on how well he knows Castiel personally. There's happiness there, which he recognizes from before the kidnapping. It looks genuine, unafraid. There's the edges of sadness to that happiness, but like trying to look at a crystal head on, those facets disappear every time Castiel shifts.

Dean skewed Castiel's sense of morality a long time ago. Not in the way the BAU believes, in murdering innocent people, delusional in his need to follow Dean's psychosis. But skewed certainly in that what was once black and white – real crimes with real people – have shifted for him. Even when that crime was against Castiel himself. The BAU didn't have it entirely wrong when they profiled that Castiel came out of his captivity irreparably damaged.

But Castiel is a free man, free to stay with Dean if that's what he wants. Morgan can hate it, and does, but he can't pull them apart. If that was ever possible, it's not now, not with the circumstances in which Castiel lives. At some point, he has to respect Castiel's choice, even if in the smallest of ways by no longer actively trying to destroy the relationship.

He will remain as an out, though. In case Castiel ever does change his mind. Morgan rubs the back of his neck. "I feel like you're a drug addict and I'm trying to tell you that I care about you, but your decisions are shit."

Castiel bursts out laughing.

Morgan smiles, but that's all he manages. "If you ever want out, man, you know I'll help you."

The humor on Castiel's face fades to seriousness. "I know. And I appreciate that. I don't think it's likely, but having that – it does make me feel safe. Knowing you're out here."

That eases something in Morgan. "Good."

Castiel eyes him. "We shouldn't do this again, not until it's necessary."

Morgan leans back with a sigh. "Like a case?"

"A hunt. Yes. I think I'm living proof that every meeting is a risk."

True enough. That first meeting with Castiel and Dean, post Dean's escape from prison, was a risk in that Castiel was exposing himself to someone who had hurt him. Every meeting after that dug Castiel deeper and deeper back into the life Dean wanted for them both. It was horrifying to watch, knowing he could do nothing. Morgan knows that for the rest of his life, the horror he feels at Castiel returning to Dean will never go away.

At least Castiel appears fine. Castiel tilts his head and asks, "How is your family? Your boy walking now?"

"Yeah, Joseph's running now. Kind of badly," Morgan admits with a laugh, "his accuracy is awful but his speed is great."

"Sprinter? They run in straight lines." Castiel smirks.

"Man, what I think he'll be changes every day. One second he's running like an Olympic athlete –"

"In the 100 meter sprint," Castiel murmurs.

"And the next he's examining the baby gate and figuring out how to open it like a little engineer. Or dancing to a song on the radio." Morgan knows he's grinning, and doesn't stop. "He's an amazing little kid."

"Children that age are bundles of potential, aren't they?"

"And joy. And frustration." Morgan takes a moment to consider if he should say his next words, and then goes ahead. "For what it's worth, I think you would have made a great dad."

He manages to startle Castiel, who blinks wide-eyed for a second. His brows turn inward, and then he says slowly, "I can be a good husband."

"Yeah. I don't suppose you have a backup wedding ring?"

Castiel's expression turns embarrassed. "Dean did think of that, actually. Quite a long story about various Winchester family jewelry being lost -"

"Oh, God. I don't think I want to hear about it."

"Them. There are several. And probably not." Castiel waves a hand. "It sounds crazy enough to me, much less to you. An amulet that senses the presence of God?" He shakes his head.

"I thought God was everywhere. Wait, God's real?"

Castiel shrugs. "Angels are."

Morgan winces. "Let's not go there."

"Sorry, couldn't help myself with that little tidbit."

Morgan snorts, and a comfortable silence follows. It's easy to just sit here and be together. It reminds Morgan of before Castiel had to flee the law, before he was forced out of the BAU, and when everything was back to normal. When Castiel was just – just home. Morgan looks at Castiel carefully one last time. "How can you – how can you be happy?" Morgan asks. "With all that's happened?"

Castiel doesn't snap off an easy response. He considers the question. "I don't know how to put it into words."

"Let me know when you do."

Something in those words seems to make Castiel come to a decision. He stands up, straight and tall. "I will. We should both get going, it's been several hours. Be careful, Morgan."

"I think I should be the one saying that. If you're captured again, my information might not be enough to get you out a second time. Not without potentially killing innocent people, and I won't be party to that." Morgan knows Castiel is aware of that, but it can't hurt to say it out loud.

Castiel simply nods. "Oh, I have plans to avoid anything like that."

"Going to tell me what they are?"

"You'll know when you see it," Castiel says, laugh lines around his eyes crinkling. "I won't spoil the surprise."

Morgan sighs. "Just try not to give me a heart attack, is all I ask."

That makes Castiel laugh. He reaches over and hugs Morgan, who hugs him back and thumps him on the back.

"Take care of yourself," Morgan says, as ready to leave as he'll ever be.

The expression on Castiel's face at that is hard to define. But he shows no amusement, instead certainty. "I am."

---

Getting all the information in a case is crucial, but it's rarely easy.

Even after all the years since Rossi first saw the BAU created and the famous serial killer cases that resulted, witnesses will still lie, obfuscate, or ignorantly dismiss something they consider irrelevant, despite assurances that every detail matters. It's human nature, but human nature is frustrating.

"I'm used to witnesses leaving out facts they shouldn't," Rossi muses, watching while JJ follows the GPS and makes a turn. "Odd behavior like Joan Fourk displayed is usually the first thing people think of. Jane was her friend, I wonder why she didn't mention it."

JJ frowns at the road, eyeing the numbers on the houses as she passes. "I agree. Though I suppose it's possible that she knew the reason why Joan was acting oddly and, because of that, didn't think it was relevant to her death."

"I wish witnesses would let us make that call."

"We're here," JJ says, though it's unnecessary. She's already parked the car.

Rossi gets out of the passenger side, taking a look at Jane Silway's home. It's very cheery. It has a white picket fence and the light blue paint on the house itself is barely peeling, giving it a rustic feel. The yard is well cared for, and there's a small food garden in a raised box. Her car is parked in front. Rossi opens the gate and takes a few steps forward, and then he sees a blur of movement by the side of the house. He puts his hand on his gun, holding up his other hand to halt JJ.

JJ takes out her gun and looks around. "Do we need –"

Castiel steps out of a corner, and Rossi unholsters his weapon, but Castiel runs at him before he can pull the trigger in a rush attack, face determined. JJ shouts, and Rossi knows that Dean must be attacking her, but he has his hands full with Castiel, who dislodges his weapon from his hand and then kicks the back of his knee before shoving him forward until Rossi hits the ground face first. It stuns him, and Castiel handcuffs him and drags him back to his feet. His gun, which should be lying on the ground, is already gone. Castiel must have it.

JJ is slung over Dean Winchester's shoulder, mostly limp like she got the breath knocked out of her. That stops Rossi's instinctual need to run and cry for help; he can't leave JJ.

It all happened in less than a minute.

Rossi feels fear, of course. But somehow, having Castiel be here, not just Dean, is reassuring. But it shouldn't be, since Castiel has shown an incredible amount of loyalty to Dean and Dean is more than violent enough to cause them harm. Rossi tests his handcuffs, but there's no give and not enough room to manipulate his hands out. If a physical escape isn't possible, they'll have to go for psychological tactics and hope Dean and Castiel slip up.

"Don't scream," Castiel warns. Looking exhausted rather than angry, Castiel drags Rossi down the side of the house, to what looks like a cellar door. "Three steps," Castiel says curtly, and then he's being shoved forward and down.

Rossi manages to stumble without falling, although the steps are steep. Dean follows with JJ, who is now kicking madly, but her petite frame isn't a match for Dean, who stands over six feet. Her hands are cuffed behind her back.

The cellar sits under the house, and is probably about twenty feet by twenty feet. Some barrels are stuffed in a corner, along with various root vegetables in large quantities. A few clear, plastic boxes of Christmas decorations are pressed against the far wall. A single light dangles from the low ceiling.

Castiel puts a hand on Rossi's shoulder and applies force until Rossi sits. Dean rather carefully – especially for all of JJ's struggling – puts her down next to him, which is when Rossi sees that Dean somehow, in all of that, managed to gag her with a cloth. Rossi scoots closer, just in case they need to help each other.

Dean backs up until he's standing next to Castiel. They're slightly turned towards each other in the way that romantic couples and close friends tend to do, and are well within the other's personal space. Castiel's dressed similarly to Dean, wearing beat up jeans and a t-shirt under a jacket that probably hides a gun. Castiel's tee looks like it came out of Dean's closet – it looks like an old tour shirt from a Metallica concert. Rossi wonders if they share clothes, or if that's Dean's way of marking his territory. How much control does Dean have over Castiel's appearance? What does that say about their relationship?

Castiel puts Rossi's gun on a half crumpled box. Dean does the same with JJ's.

The team profiled that Dean and Castiel wouldn't fall apart under stress the way typical serial killing partners would. There's not a lot to exploit here, so they'll have to be careful.

"Fancy seeing you here," Rossi says. "Would you mind taking off JJ's gag?"

Dean is wary.

"I doubt anyone would hear you, but I'll need your word you won't scream," Castiel says, directing his words at JJ. Apparently he's the one who gets to make this decision, not Dean.

She nods.

Castiel steps forward, bends, and unties the gag before returning to Dean's side in what Rossi suspects is habit.

"Thank you," JJ says, but it's full of sarcasm rather than gratitude.

"Why are you here?" Dean asks.

"They won't answer, or they'll lie," Castiel replies. He sends a remorseful look their way. He knows exactly what Rossi and JJ are trained to do in this situation: delay, delay, delay. "We only have thirty to sixty minutes before their disappearance is discovered. Whatever they were sent here for, it can't have taken longer than that. And if someone tries to call and get a hold of either of them and can't, we might have less than thirty minutes."

Dean checks his watch and sighs. "We need forty. Cas, do you have some kind of BAU magnet? I swear, I always finished the job before the real FBI came to town."

"Are you saying I slow you down?" Castiel asks, raising an eyebrow.

Dean pauses. Then, very carefully, he says, "No? No. Definitely not."

Castiel smacks Dean's ass, grinning. "Go scout and make sure no one heard anything, then."

The teasing now obvious, Dean's response is to jauntily flip him off and then head for the cellar door. Rossi blinks after him. A slap to the ass has a more masculine or dominant connotation. He'd have thought Dean would do that to Castiel, not vice versa. Of course, Dean's nonchalant reaction – doing something offensive in return – doesn't fit being submissive, either. What's also interesting is that Castiel was willing to be playful with Dean in front of them.

It's natural for people to have several faces – different 'masks' for different people. This one is for Dean, but Castiel displayed in front of the BAU. There's confidence there, in his choices and his relationship with Dean in particular.

"No screaming," Castiel reminds them as Dean quickly opens the door, climbs out, and shuts it again.

"So," JJ says evenly, "what is it this time? Faeries?"

"Not their MO," Castiel says evasively. "And yes, they do exist." He leans against a wall and starts rolling his shoulders, like he's got a pain his neck.

"Get that from digging a grave?" JJ inquires.

Rossi gives her a warning look. Castiel might not want to hurt them, but that's no reason to antagonize him, especially given that he has Dean with him.

Castiel seems amused. "Not this time. Though grave digging is back-breaking work."

"So why are you here?" Rossi asks.

Castiel rubs the back of his neck, his expression almost apologetic. "I'd rather not say, since we're not finished with the case," he says, like his declining is impolite.

"This is a case?"

"They're all cases," Castiel replies, straightening a little. "We're not killing monsters for thrills. We're doing it to save lives, to prevent more people from being killed."

"You could achieve that nicely by surrendering," JJ says.

Castiel tilts his head at her. "You are a lot more sarcastic than I remember. But then sarcasm is a more appropriate form of trying to poke holes in my delusions, right? Because I would see the gentle act as pure mockery."

He's not wrong. JJ is half attempting to use a more subtle – though more dangerous – method at unraveling Castiel's certainty. Rossi waits to see what else JJ will do. He doesn't think this method will work, but even failure can be informative.

"You're smart," JJ says. "Smart enough to know that this honeymoon period with Dean won't last. By nature he's violent and he's beaten you before –"

Castiel rolls his eyes and interrupts. "Stop. Do you really think that will work?"

JJ exhales quietly. "Well, it was worth a try."

None of the BAU's recommendations included what to do if captured by Dean and Castiel. It simply wasn't a scenario they predicted, since Dean and Sam, historically, rarely took hostages, and not at all in the last few years the brothers were active. They can search for a weak point, but there's certainly not an obvious one, especially if they're together, and Dean will be coming back shortly unless something went wrong up there, which is unlikely. Dean is a skilled killer and manipulator, and that includes skills like going unnoticed and observing small details that mean the difference between freedom and capture. Castiel is quite possibly even more skilled in that, since he knows it from the law enforcement side of things, so him ordering Dean away is interesting. Perhaps that is a weak point: the desire to speak with JJ and Rossi privately.

Rossi needs more information. "I notice Dean takes your orders," he says.

Castiel shrugs. "He takes mine when it's my field of expertise, and vice versa. No, I'm not the submissive. And neither is Dean. We don't fit the partner serial killer pattern because we're not serial killers."

Astute, but of course Castiel would guess large parts of their profile. And that's the most obvious part. Rossi considers Castiel for a moment. Physically, Castiel is well. He has a tan, he's muscled like he works out regularly, and there's a healthy flush to his face. Behaviorally, he's shown himself to be relaxed around Dean, expressing clear trust and affection which Dean returned. If they weren't holding two FBI agents hostage, Rossi would have thought Castiel was in a non-stressful situation. It fits, but doesn't fit, the BAU's assessment.

Actually, Castiel's acting a lot like he would when he was with the BAU and they had captured an unsub, and were ready to interrogate. He's focusing on the subject – Rossi and JJ this time – and depending on Dean to have his back and notice any problems. "Dean's profile never made any sense. Neither does yours."

Castiel's expression is rueful, but he doesn't reply. Instead he double checks JJ and Rossi's guns, empties the clips and throws the bullets in the corner, and pats them down for a backup piece, which both of them have. Then he starts trying to crack Rossi's phone password.

"How have you been?" Rossi asks, refusing to be fazed.

"That's not a profiling question," Castiel says, not looking up.

"You don't think we wonder about you? About your welfare?" Rossi pauses. "I wish you weren't doing this. I wish you had come to us, said something, asked for help. But now that it's too late for that, I'd like to know how you are."

Castiel softens and raises his eyes. "I'm good. I know you can't believe that, given Dean's history, but I'm doing really well."

"Not well enough," JJ mutters.

Castiel hears it, glancing at her, but otherwise doesn't react.

"Dean isn't hurting you?"

It's quite likely Castiel knows the double nature of the question, but he answers anyway. "No. I never would have reinitiated anything with Dean at all if I thought he would."

"Abusers don't change," Rossi says.

"Not statistically speaking, no. But Dean isn't a normal guy, and he doesn't live a normal life, either." Castiel's look is a challenge.

Rossi decides to accept that as truth for now. "Are you happy? With him, with this life of hunting monsters?"

A flicker of uneasy shock comes over Castiel's face, gone almost as soon as it appears, which is startling since that's nowhere near what Rossi was expecting. Castiel shakes his head as if to clear it, and says, "I am, if that matters to you. It's not quite what I had in mind, but my choices had consequences and I accept that."

Castiel's choices. Did that include believing Dean, or was that not a choice but something that seemed more like accepting reality? Or does he mean the choice to remain in contact with Dean throughout his years of freedom, ending in this – a prison of just the two of them, in the bunker and on the road. But something else always bothered Rossi, ever since Castiel fled after the murder of Bower. "Why didn't you come to us, Castiel? You didn't want to go back to Dean, not when you walked away from that motel room over five years ago. Why didn't you ask us for help? If it was monsters, if it was psychosis – no matter what it was, we would have helped you, and helped you keep your career."

"Because I'm not crazy," Castiel whispers, but he doesn't break his gaze and stares Rossi down.

"You must have doubted. Even if just –"

"No. Do you doubt the rising of the sun in the morning? The fact that your car starts when you turn your key? I saw magic after Dean, not just when I was imprisoned by him. I never had room for doubt, as easier as that would have been."

Rossi needs to try a different tack.

But it's JJ who speaks. "I recognized the ritualistic element in this case. From a source I think you would recognize – run by someone with the username wtchnet. Am I right?"

That does seem to surprise Castiel. "You've been doing research. I doubt you came upon that just during this case, it's too obscure."

"Just seeing how consistent you are."

"Am I inconsistent in my craziness yet?"

JJ doesn't reply for a long second. "No. Though there's a lot of different opinions and theories, yours and Dean's always follow one set."

Rossi mutes his own surprise.

Instead of satisfaction, there's worry on Castiel's face. But why? JJ just confirmed his delusions, probably in part to gain his confidence. Wariness would be an appropriate response, but not worry.

However, JJ has managed to break his confidence, somehow. They can use that.

That's when Dean comes back. His hand on his gun when he goes down the stairs, but he relaxes when he sees Castiel just where he left him. "Goin' good," Dean says shortly. "I'd say fifteen minutes and we can get out of here."

The BAU never had the opportunity to observe Dean and Castiel together, not really. The footage from a few security cameras isn't the same. Perhaps if they remain quiet, Dean and Castiel will talk to the fill the silence and reveal something. Rossi tries to catch JJ's eye.

She nods at him and sits back, shifting her arms to get comfortable. Good, she knows what he's thinking.

Sure enough, Dean gets antsy. "I hate waiting," he mutters.

"You hate inactivity," Castiel replies.

"Same thing," Dean says, rolling his eyes. "And we can't talk much with the FBI's little earpieces sitting here with us."

Castiel gives him an amused look, expression patient.

Dean sidles closer.

"You do realize they want us to talk, right?" Castiel asks.

Dean responds by groaning and letting his head fall on Castiel's shoulder. "You know, we should be planning how to avoid the FBI, local PD, and wrath of God."

"We will. Once it's done."

Though Castiel didn't say anything unusual, his response seems to temporarily pacify Dean. After a minute of silence, however, Dean uses his closeness to bump into Castiel's hip, gaining his attention. Once Dean has it, he pulls Castiel to his side. Castiel relaxes into the half-embrace. Rossi sees Dean give them a look when he does it, but instead of the triumph Rossi would have expected, there's a defensiveness there.

A he's mine, but also a I'll keep him safe from you.

Protectiveness, which is a facet of some sort of love.

Castiel allows it, much in the same way he allowed it from the members of the BAU after his escape from Dean over five years ago. Rossi doesn't like to make the comparison, because even the idea of Dean being able to care for Castiel in a sincere way is unnerving. Not because it means Castiel is suffering less, that part is a relief even after all that Castiel has done, but because the idea of two serial killers having that says something disturbing about the human condition. JJ called Dean's actions half manipulation and half genuine seduction. Rossi supposes this is the genuine part.

After perhaps five minutes of quiet, Castiel leans over and whispers something in Dean's ear. Dean listens attentively, and then nods in what looks like agreement.

Castiel giving orders again, maybe.

Whenever Castiel shifts to get more comfortable, Dean follows it, not allowing their physical connection to break. That speaks of some insecurity on Dean's part, possibly because Rossi and JJ represent Castiel's past life. That might be a weakness, or it might not; even if Rossi is interpreting what he sees accurately, that doesn't mean it's a vulnerability he can exploit. So he watches, and as he does so, he sees that Castiel gives reassurance in small ways. A touch to Dean's hand here, or letting his leg touch Dean's. Dean is reaching out with need, and Castiel is responding to that need.

In a normal scenario, Rossi would have called it touching.

After a while of that, Dean seems reassured enough and stops, instead getting antsy again.

"You wanna – you know, check?" Dean asks Castiel. He waves a hand above his head, presumably referring to whatever is happening in the house.

Castiel glances at Rossi and JJ. "I think –"

"I promise I won't spill any embarrassing stories."

Castiel shoots him an irritated look. "As if you have any." He pauses and amends, "That many."

"We'll be fine."

It looks like a deliberate attempt to get Castiel to leave. Curious, and not a little foreboding. If Castiel is in control, or has any degree of control over Dean's behavior, then Dean's unlikely to hurt them directly, but it's possible. Rossi watches as Castiel reluctantly climbs out of the cellar, giving Rossi one last unreadable look before exiting.

Dean stops casually leaning against the wall. "I want you to tell me something," he says, tone all business. "Telling me the truth makes this go easier for everyone."

Rossi waits.

"Does Castiel have a kill order on his head?"

JJ twitches, probably not perceptible to Dean. Rossi is taken aback, but it's an intelligent question. The BAU and SWAT team opened fire when Dean and Castiel ran from the warehouse, back in California. Shooting at running suspects isn't usually done unless the suspects are a direct threat to someone if they escape. After the fact, Hotchner admitted to the team he'd recommended deadly force be used against Castiel – as well as Dean, already placed – in that scenario. He'd thought it would be difficult for the team and hadn't anticipated the team running into Dean and Castiel, so he'd not quite kept it a secret as failed to inform them. JJ glances at Rossi, a question on her face.

"He does," Dean says flatly. "Shit. Fuck."

"Worried?" Rossi asks, genuinely curious.

"Of course I fucking am! I mean, me, that's one thing. But you guys doing that to Cas?" Dean shakes his head. "This'll hurt him."

"He probably knows," JJ points out. "He was law enforcement for twenty years, he knows under what circumstances that order is given."

"Guessing is different from confirmation." Dean starts pacing, doing less than ten circuits before he visibly calms himself.

Castiel returns just a minute later. Dean must have known exactly how long he had to question them. That Dean can almost subconsciously do so is an unsurprising sign of how closely they've been working together. The BAU has only officially been given notice of a few Dean and Castiel cases, but there could be countless others that haven't attracted attention. They both seem very comfortable with each other, in fact. Rossi imagines that the trust between them must be immense for that. Dr. Merris predicted it, but it's still odd to see such an unusual relationship between partner serial killers. And Dean is showing behavior that indicates he not only has that trust, but also that he cares about Castiel's psychological well being.

That's certainly something he didn't seem to care about before, judging from how broken Castiel was when he escaped Dean. Though it's true Castiel always claimed Dean did care, just not enough to actually let Castiel go.

Castiel seems to sense the tension in the room, because he asks, "What happened?"

"Nothing," Dean replies immediately. He picks up JJ's cell and starts guessing at the password.

"You're just going to lock it," Castiel says mildly, taking it away. But instead of putting it back down, he considers it. Then he exchanges JJ's for Rossi's and tries on that phone.

Rossi suddenly realizes that Castiel may, in fact, be able to guess his password.

Castiel looks up and grins. "Your daughter's birthday." He swipes through a few things, and then starts typing. Rossi sighs.

Dean leans in to look. "Ah, good idea."

No doubt Castiel's giving some kind of reason for their delay. Forty minutes. Rossi would guess twenty to thirty minutes has passed since being dragged down here. That means that when forty minutes is up, they're still likely to be in the hands of Castiel and Dean. They stated they had no intention of harming Rossi and JJ, but he can't trust in that. In addition, who knows what Dean and Castiel need those forty minutes for. Bleeding someone out? Committing a murder? Setting the house on fire? It could be anything. But the cuffs are tight, and he doesn't have anything capable of picking them, even if he had any kind of real skill at doing so.

Castiel puts the phone down. Dean grabs it, along with JJ's, and throws it in a Christmas box, which he puts another box on, just to make it difficult for them to reach it.

"All right, we'll check things out upstairs and then leave." Castiel turns to Rossi and JJ. "You shouldn't be down here too long. Even with my text, they'll start looking for you in a few hours."

Rossi can detect no trace of a lie. He can feel JJ relax a little next to him.

"Anything you have to add?" JJ asks. "Before you take off and we give chase?"

Dean eyes them both. "For the record?"

JJ hesitates.

Castiel tilts his head and then looks at Dean, like he wants to know what Dean has to say.

"Yes, for the record," JJ finally says, deciding to be honest. This entire ordeal is on the record, after all.

"I really, really fucking love Castiel Novak." Then Dean takes Castiel by the arm, pulls him in, and kisses him hard. Castiel resists for just a second, but even though Rossi wishes he could see it as some part of the true Castiel coming out, he suspects Castiel was just startled. After that second, Castiel returns the kiss, far gentler. Dean responds to that by softening the kiss, one hand coming to rest at Castiel's waist and with the other he caresses Castiel's arm.

Then he withdraws and smirks at Rossi, jangling the cuff keys he took earlier. "Later. Hopefully never."

There's a lightness in Castiel's eyes when he turns to face them, as well as a sorrow that Rossi recognizes from JJ's interview. "Have a good life," he says, and Rossi can tell he means it.

Then they go up the cellar stairs and are gone.

After a moment, JJ says, "Well, that was the last thing I was expecting to happen when I woke up this morning."

Rossi's cell buzzes, barely discernible through the plastic box. "Time to get free."

It takes them almost forty-five minutes, but they reach the cell and, with Rossi holding the phone and JJ dialing with her nose, manage to make a call to Hotchner using speed dial. Five minutes later, police arrive and swarm over the house and cellar. Both were locked and the doors had to be broken down, so Dean and Castiel took precautions. They also find Jane Silway tied up in a bedroom, as well as a ritual site in her living room. She claims that the tied her up, performed some kind of spell, and then said it had to 'cook' so it would work, though she says she doesn't know what it does – or what they thought it would do. She can't explain why Dean and Castiel chose her house, and reacts defensively when pushed.

The series of murders the BAU was sent to help investigate stop completely. The team puts it down to another vigilante killing, and wait for a body to show up. Rossi changes his lock screen password. Dean and Castiel disappear.

JJ and Rossi add bits and pieces to the profile, along with a recommendation for the scenario in which they found themselves – being held hostage.

Castiel Novak and Dean Winchester can be convinced that law enforcement personnel are not involved and should be freed. This will not work with civilians, as it's likely they will consider them to be part of the supernatural 'case' they are attempting to solve. If civilians are taken hostage, determining if they are innocent or guilty in the eyes of Novak and Winchester is critical. In the case of being innocent, going along with the particular psychoses Novak and Winchester display at the time is the most effective …

They find a journal in the hotel room Dean and Castiel had to abandon, along with some weapons, clothes, and other necessities. One of the beds had semen stains, but no blood was found. Dean and Castiel's connection to the murders is still unknown, as they checked in well after the murders began. The journal is in code, so it is no immediate help. After a thorough forensic examination, Reid takes the journal to begin decrypting it.

Rossi thinks of Castiel's last words as they fly back to Virginia. Have a good life. He has the feeling that Castiel meant it in the sense that what Castiel lost, he wants his former friends to keep.

---

Morgan has approximately half an hour to get this done.

Half of the BAU is at the local police station, hunting down details and refining the profile, and the other half are sleeping. Morgan was supposed to be in the latter half. He told the others he was going out for some real food, which is true, and that he'd be back as soon as he got it so he could eat and sleep, which wasn't true. Instead he's going to go find a very specific dark alley with no cameras to view his exit or entrance – Castiel did the checking, and Morgan trusts him with his life– and spend about twenty minutes there doing something that would horrify the entire BAU. Five minutes to get to the spot, and five back.

Safety first, Castiel said. It was the details of such meetings that tripped Castiel up and started his fall.

A brush-pass would have been safer, but Morgan hasn't been alone long enough to type up the important things that haven't made it into the files yet, like the team's profile. It would also leave a more substantial digital trace, if the copying of the files is discovered. Morgan took the copy from police records, not the BAU, so Penelope is unlikely to find it, but it never hurts to take precautions.

Morgan has to duck through several alleys and a crisscross of small roads before he finds them.

Dean, Castiel, and a hunter Morgan has not met are there. Dean leans against a dumpster. There's a bulge at his hip, so he's armed. That's not terribly surprising. Morgan is sure all three are armed with guns and knives, but it still makes him prickly to see Dean that way and not go for his handcuffs. He doubts he'll ever see Dean as anything other than a monster, no matter what kind words Castiel has for him. Dean gives Morgan a wary nod, but doesn't move from his spot, probably knowing that.

Castiel looks good. Healthy. And Morgan is glad to see him working with people besides Dean. Castiel relaxes when he sees Morgan arrive.

The unnamed hunter is there with Morgan's permission. Morgan eyes him warily. The hunter is almost completely bald, but makes up for it with bushy eyebrows and a mustache from the eighties. He doesn't look like much, but then hunters rarely do; Dean's looks and charisma are a rarity. Castiel suggested his presence, so in case Castiel and Dean can't take a call (because of prison, death, or other reasons), Morgan will still have someone to go to.

"Hello, Morgan," Castiel says. "This is Dave. He's the hunter I mentioned."

Morgan walks up to Dave and holds out his hand.

Dave looks surprised, but he shakes Morgan's hand anyway.

"Thanks for coming out," Morgan says.

Dave shrugs. "I was staying at Castiel's place anyway. Took some heat in Nevada, stole a car, dumped a body, you know how it goes. Needed a place to lay low for a week."

"I see," Morgan says, like he's not an FBI agent willingly ignoring several crimes.

Dave scratches behind his ear. "I hear you need another go-to guy in case one of these fellows kicks it."

"That's more or less correct."

Dave raises a bushy eyebrow. "Takin' quite a risk being out here, talking to us, Special Agent Morgan. I mean, I did the whole pinkie-pinkie-kill-you swear and all, but still."

"You're risking your lives so I don't risk mine," Morgan says, meaning both his life and his career. "I think I owe you that much."

Dave looks like he's trying not to look impressed. Castiel notices and coughs into his hand. Dean actually rolls his eyes.

Morgan digs the thumb drive out of his pocket, and hands it to Castiel. "Team's at the local PD and at Rimmerside Hotel. I couldn't put down anything else, no time, so I'll give you a rundown about where the BAU's head is at." Strange, to refer to his team as the BAU instead of 'us.' "You should be able to predict the rest as the case plays out."

Castiel nods. "Thank you. What are the details?"

Morgan tries to be as complete and yet brief as possible. He lays out the case from the BAU's perspective based on the available evidence. Castiel listens closely. Dave does as well, surprisingly, and is able to ask brief, pointed questions, most of which have answers in the thumb drive. The questions manage to impress Morgan; Dave's isn't an idiot, and if he's not law enforcement, he's got the mind of a detective on a case. Dean is also paying attention, but says nothing. Morgan checks his watch. Five minutes until he has to go.

Of course, Castiel notices. "We've got enough. We can fill in the blanks." Which is probably true. Castiel did work in the BAU for long enough. "You should head back."

But Morgan hesitates. "BAU's still going in circles with the thing in Illinois."

Castiel's smile is smug. "I bet."

"How long did you spend making that journal?"

"Over a year."

"And you just left it in any hotel you were at, just in case the FBI happened by and you had to run?"

"Or local law enforcement, it'd get to them one way or another." Castiel tilts his head. "How long do you think it will keep the BAU off our backs?"

"At least that long, if we keep having cases in the meantime. Reid will figure out that most of it is fake eventually, but since you matched it with real, unsolved crimes, it'll take a lot of attention to detail and time." Not to mention the illusive mentions of a plan, regarding a good portion of those, written in code that actually took Reid almost two weeks to break.

Castiel shrugs. "Reid would be the one. He's mostly why I included real cases Dean and I were on, though nothing that would provide a real pattern – or that they weren't likely to know about at some point anyway." He pauses. "Watch JJ, okay?"

"Why?" Morgan asks.

"Just a feeling. She's doing independent research, and got at least one solid source."

"A real one?"

Castiel nods.

"All right, I'll keep an eye out."

That relaxes Castiel. "All right, then. Dean and I are fine. As safe as we can be, under the circumstances. We'll keep far away from the BAU."

"Don't take risks," Morgan warns.

"We won't take any more risks," Castiel corrects. "Go on. I'll email you later and let you know how the case really turned out."

It feels odd to leave. Or maybe just to leave like this, handing off a case – an FBI case – to a team of people seen as criminals, and washing his hands of it.

Dean, he has no doubt can handle it. He's been doing it for two decades. Castiel is smart, but given his current situation, also likely to take risks when he thinks it's appropriate, risks that Morgan would rather he not take. Dave – Dave just looks like a guy doing a job. Morgan doubts the BAU will look twice at him.

It has to be enough.

There's nothing else for him to do. Taking this on himself would likely just end his career, and possibly end in criminal court. Giving all the information the police has to Castiel is important, and not something hunters would necessarily get their hands on otherwise. Morgan is serving a useful purpose. Just not an active one, gun in hand, team behind him, and saving lives himself. The longer he provides it, the better. His last act, really, is to do nothing. To let them handle it.

Morgan nods at Castiel, a man hunted for doing the right thing. Castiel smiles back.

And then Morgan walks away.

---

Five months later, Morgan gets a postcard.

It's of sunny Ventura Beach, a typical tourist postcard you could find in a hundred stores. There's no from address on it, but when Morgan flips it over, there's text written in all capital letters to make handwriting analysis harder.

A life of great joys and sorrows still has great joys.

Unsigned, of course. It's not quite a reminder to have faith, and more a reminder to have hope. Despite all the horrors that Castiel suffered and all the pain he endured, he took his moments of happiness and enjoyed them. He still is. Even though Morgan knows Castiel will be forever marked by what Dean did to him, that mark isn't enough to end him, or his ability to have happiness. Castiel hoped for a better future and found it, and still is finding it, every single day. Morgan saw pieces of that through Castiel's words, and this final note completes it.

He worries the edge of the postcard, knowing that it will soften over the years. Then he puts it in a book in his bookcase, hidden, and goes downstairs to his wife and child.

"Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil." – Friedrich Nietzsche

THE END