Chapter 12: And Faerie Dreams

Dean hadn't realized how much stress he was carrying until he emerged from his bedroom for supper with Cas in tow. The Faerie had returned to his suit and trench coat, but the constant hostility was gone from his stance, and even his blue eyes seemed warmer than before. Mary greeted them at the table as if the fight had not happened, serving both of them some of the stir fry that Benny and John had made and some of the rice that she had made (with a rice cooker, of course). Cas thanked her politely and picked up his chopsticks, staring at them curiously.

Dean chuckled and reached for Cas's hands, putting his fingers in the correct position to use the new eating utensils. Cas had never seen chopsticks before, let alone used them, but there was a rule in the Winchester household that stir-fry night meant chopsticks. "Like this, Cas. See, the bottom one doesn't move, so all of your control is in the top one. If you hold them like this, you can scoop up rice pretty easily."

Cas tried to do as Dean showed him, getting better at it each time. "This is not that difficult, I suppose. Do you eat with these implements often?"

"Only when Dad makes stir-fry," Sam answered, scooping some into Gabe's bowl. The blond's wings were still healing, so Mary had found him a stool to use instead of the chairs that usually ringed the table. His wings did look a lot better, as did most of Alfie's skin. His face, chest, and upper arms were healed, but his lower arms and hands were still bandaged. Alfie's fingers were still stiff, and his movements were jerky, but he had been spending time with Adam on the range to get himself back into fighting shape. He was determined to defeat Lucifer the next time they went up against the rogue Faerie.

"Did you boys decide what to do about that witch?"

"We're going to go see Rowena tomorrow. She may be able to identify the woman or tell us something about her coven. She was using some pretty powerful war magic, not something that Rowena has ever dabbled in herself, but she's pretty old and knows most of the covens in the world. She has agreed to help if she can."

"I also need to gather the ingredients for another tracking spell," Gabe added, looking from his empty bowl back to the pot as he waited the polite amount of time before going for seconds. "It'll be a few more days before I'm strong enough to try again. We also need a new plan."

"I'm surprised that all three of you attacking at once didn't work."

"He countered us each individually, Benny. My power, Cas's strength, and Alfie's stealth were each just an obstacle to him. I don't often like my brother, but he is a warrior in his own right back in the Faerie Lands. We have to think of something that his background wouldn't let him anticipate. Unfortunately, that means that one of you humans has to come up with the plan."

"No pressure," Adam chuckled. "I'm sure we can come up with something creative. We're not going to let some half-insane Faerie and his power-hungry witch beat us."

Sam opened his mouth to comment, but Dean pointed his chopsticks at his brother as if they were a knife. "You say that dumbass 'Lose-chesters' thing I swear to God I will stab you."

Sam raised his hands in defeat, and Cas chuckled. All of the humans turned to face him, shock coloring their scents. Cas tilted his head curiously, looking around the table to see what had gotten their attention. "What?"

"You laughed. I haven't heard you laugh before."

Cas shrugged and turned back to his meal. "Maybe you haven't been funny before."

"I'm hilarious," Dean replied, stabbing at his rice. "I am glad you've relaxed enough to open up around us, though."

Cas smiled and returned to his meal. "Hmmm, I suppose I do feel a little more relaxed. So, we are planning to visit Rowena tomorrow? Is she expecting us?"

"Of course. She even agreed to help Gabe get more of his ingredients. Eat up; you're going to need your energy."

Gabriel sighed gratefully as he stretched himself out on Sam's bed, heavy wings blanketing him. "I really want these bandages off, Sammykins."

"Your wings are almost healed, Gabe. It should only be a couple more days." Sam reached out and ran his fingers through the smaller, fluffier feathers on the wing elbow joints, some of the first ones that had grown back. "You should avoid using your wings as shields when Lucifer blasts you with his power. That was kind of reckless."

"I didn't have a choice," Gabe replied into his pillow, his tone soft and noncombative. They'd already argued about this multiple times since the attack, and now Gabe was just resigned to the familiarity of the dispute. "My wings are the only Faerie part of me that I can bring into this realm, and I was able to focus my shielding power through them. That much raw energy would have torn my human vessel to shreds and there's no guarantee that I would have been able to protect you if I tried it that way. My wings have been damaged before, but Faerie have some very impressive healing abilities."

"I'll give you that," Sam murmured, checking the largest bandage on Gabe's right wing, nodding at the progress of the injury. "This burn looks pretty good, actually; in a couple of days it'll just be healthy pink flesh waiting for the feathers to grow back. We'll use the x-ray in the basement to check the break in your left one when we get back."

"That one doesn't hurt anymore, so it may be done. It itches under the cast, though, so I know that I have pin feathers under there."

Sam ran his hands down Gabe's back, gently massaging the tight muscles where wings met human skin. Mary had converted a couple of shirts for Gabe to wear while he was recovering, shirts that fastened in the back above, below, and between his wings, but the Faerie had chosen to go shirtless today. Gabe twitched a little before relaxing into the massage, groaning as his wings fluffed up. He wanted to stretch them out, to fully enjoy his master's touch, but one was still heavily bandaged and the other was splinted and immobilized so he couldn't move them very much. His scent sweetened as Sam pressed harder, slowly changing from happy to horny as he canted his hips up in an invitation.

Sam chuckled, running his hands over the omega's ass before giving it a light swat. "None of that, now. You can wait two more days to have sex safely."

Gabe turned his head and glared at Sam over his shoulder. "I don't think I've been celibate for such a long time while on Earth before. You're killing me here, Samoose."

Sam grinned and leaned over Gabe, kissing him between his shoulder blades and running his fingers through his fluffy gold feathers. "I won't risk hurting you more. When the bandages are off and you can hide your wings again, I will do whatever you want."

"Oooh, promise?"

"Of course, Gabe."

Alfie gritted his teeth as he dropped his knife again, his bandaged fingers still too clumsy. Gabe was going to ask Rowena for some medicinal herbs that would help the last of his brother's burns finish healing, but he wasn't willing to wait to start working on his potions again. Taking his knife in his left hand, the Faerie use his right hand to carefully sprinkle his latest concoction on the blade, watching it glow blue before fading. Putting that blade to the side, Alfie pulled his box of poison components close, looking around for the Moonlight Whisper pollen that he had harvested specifically during what passed for winter in the northern Faerie mountains. They only grew in the dark, generally preferring foggy areas, and only the best assassins knew how to harvest them safely. Cas kept a grove specifically for Alfie, always willing to do anything to keep his few friends happy.

"So all of your poisons only work when you handle them?"

"Something like that." Alfie looked up as Adam entered the basement, the alpha smart enough to stay far away from the work area. "My grace keeps the poisons active, otherwise they would become inert and useless. Most of these ingredients are actually harmless to humans, but Faeries are bound together by the powers of nature, so we can be injured differently. They won't do any good, of course, if we can't get close to Lucifer."

Adam leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, sighing as he stared at the ceiling. The bunker was old, but oddly clean for its age, and the Winchesters had taken a lot of time to categorize the supplies that the Men of Letters had spent generations gathering. One of those carefully labeled drawers caught his attention, and the alpha leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowed. "You know, Gabriel has a lot of power but no fighting ability and his stealth skills are sadly lacking. Castiel is a great warrior, but more of a heavy sword than a knife, and he can't overpower Lucifer on his own. You're a fine assassin, but Lucifer is physically and magically stronger than you, so you can't get close enough to use your skills correctly."

"Those are all true things."

"What if you could give Cas your stealth and poison ability and Gabe could give him his power to break through Lucifer's shields and force him back through the Veil?"

Alfie looked up from his work, tilting his head. "What are you suggesting? You want us to combine our powers? Faeries can't do that."

"Witches can. Rowena has told us stories of her glory days when she and her coven would create these elaborate spells by combining their powers and channeling the magic through their strongest member, usually her. Castiel is your greatest warrior, but he needs magic and stealth to get through to Lucifer. There has to be a way to do it."

"I don't know one, but Gabe might. He is really good at shielding, and part of that power could help us here. We can ask him when he gets back from Crowley's." Alfie used a tiny blade to prick the inside of his arm, above his bandages, and watched as a single drop of grace dripped into his bowl, ready for his next poison. "It's a good idea, Adam."

Gabe rolled his shoulders and glared at his brother. "You could be a little gentler when you're carrying passengers, especially me."

Cas rolled his eyes and headed toward the windows, nodding politely at Crowley sitting behind his desk. Rowena had a chair of her own next to her son, an ancient spell book opened on the desk in front of her. "At least you came through with all of your feathers. I'm still upset that you sent Dean to find me in your condition; you aren't flying again until all of those bandages and splints are gone."

Rowena looked up, eyes widening when she spotted Gabriel. "Oh, dear, look how magnificent your wings are! I begged for weeks but you would never let me see them."

"I got them a bit injured protecting the boys from Lucifer," Gabe replied, turning so Rowena could see the bandages. "Cas has basically grounded me until they completely heal. Alfie had burns over most of his body, but he's also pretty much healed. I was hoping you might have some herbs that would help him get the rest of the way there."

"Of course, dear, let me check." Rowena grabbed another spell book from her bag, thumbing through it quickly as she reached a section she was used to reading. "Here are spells that should work on anyone, human or supernatural being, and I have the more exotic of these herbs in stock. I also have quite a bit on the tracking spell you asked me about."

"What about fighting the witch?"

Crowley leaned forward, pushing a small Necronomicon toward Dean as he joined Sam on the other side of the desk. "This is from one of Mother's more aggressive friends. There are some offensive spells to help break through shields, a few disabling and paralyzing spells, and one recipe for improved witch-killing bullets that may or may not work."

"What do you mean?"

"She never tested it, but she says in here that it should work."

Rowena passed her healing book over to Gabe, pointing at a couple of pages that could help him. "My friend who lent us the book fought the witch hunters four hundred years ago in Europe before coming to the colonies to help evacuate the women accused of witchcraft. Well, I helped with the evacuations and she punished those hunting us. Most of them were human men, but there were a few rival witches, mostly men, who disliked the power of our coven. They thought we were taking the women to recruit them, and some of them were violent. She used the spell in that book on some of her bullets, and she says that she killed three or four male witches that were hunting us. I had forgotten about it because I found the entire situation distasteful."

"These are better than normal witch-killing bullets?"

Rowena nodded. "You do have to make the bullets yourselves; normal bullets won't work. The instructions are for muskets, but I think you can adjust them for a modern gun."

"You never tried creating them?"

"No, dear, I'm not a fighter. I wish you luck with that, though."

Gabe handed Rowena her book back, having memorized the parts he needed. "Yeah, if you have some of these herbs, the bunker is pretty lacking in anything useful in healing spells. What do you have for a better tracking spell? The witch is certainly shielding better now."

"Hmm, yes, and I did identify her based on the description that Dean sent over. Her name is Lilith, and she is a disgraced witch kicked out of the Grand Coven almost two hundred years ago. She practices blood magic, which we do not approve of, and there are three or four other witches who left with her. Obviously, she did not summon Lucifer, but whatever she has done to bind him must be broken before he can be pushed back through the Veil."

Gabriel shuffled his wings, groaning. "Yeah, I noticed that myself. I thought I could force it when they knocked Lilith out, but her bonds were too strong."

"Blood bonds, then. You can break it, especially with this book here." Rowena pointed at the older book that she had been studying when they arrived, the spells written in old Gaelic with ink that had to be somewhat magic in order to have survived for hundreds of years. "This book was passed down to me from my mentor when I was young, and this locator spell is significantly more complicated than the one you used before. It hasn't been used in four or five hundred years, so Lilith will not know how to defend against it."

"Does it still use Faerie grace?" Gabe leaned over Rowena's shoulder and read through her spell, familiar with the language from some of his previous summonings. "Ah, here, I see that it does. Why is this more powerful?"

"Because two of the ingredients are extinct," Rowena replied, passing a sealed plastic bag over to the Faerie, two smaller bags inside it. "They were used thousands of years ago for Faerie spells but fell out of favor as the plants became more difficult to obtain. There's also a crystal in here that I tuned decades ago to find the thin spots in the Veil where a Faerie could slip through. I think that will help you, as well."

"Thanks, Rowena. Can we call you if we have issues with your witch friend?"

The witch chuckled. "Of course, dear, though of course you know that Lilith and I were never friends, just barely passing acquaintances. I'm not a warrior witch, but I will do everything I can to help you defeat her." Rowena pushed herself out of her chair and stretched, walking over to the windows where Castiel was staring into the heart of D.C.

"Hello, Rowena."

"You seem calmer, more centered," she replied softly, placing a hand on his lower arm. The Faerie looked down and smiled, reaching up to cover her hand with his significantly larger one. "What happened?"

"Dean and I came to an understanding."

Rowena tilted her head and reached up, glancing at Cas for permission before touching the back of his neck. She could feel the tiny scars there where an alpha's teeth had sunk in, blemishes that the omega had chosen not to heal. More than the collar, those marked him as belonging to Dean. Cas offered a half-smile and shrugged, adjusting his trench coat collar when Rowena pulled away. "How long have you been looking for this, Castiel?"

"Hundreds of thousands of years," Castiel whispered. He didn't know why he was comfortable speaking with the tiny witch, but something about her presence calmed him greatly. "I never knew how much I needed an alpha. Gabe knew; he could see the conflict in me. I don't think Father ever considered what turning an omega into a warrior with no support system and no pack would do to him. To me. There's no way I could build that kind of support system at home; I have to stay strong. The Faerie Army needs me, and I am good at what I do."

"But?"

Cas nodded. "Yes, but. But I have always wanted an equal, an alpha who would never threaten my position as General of the Army."

"There's no shame in submitting, young omega," Rowena cooed.

"Young? I'm like a million times your age. Maybe more."

"You're an omega who never had a place in a pack, one who couldn't even find refuge in his own family. Faeries aren't good at packs, that's why they come to humans. We can offer a type of stability that you don't find at home, and that feeling can last you for thousands of years."

"What if . . . what if I don't want it to have to last me for thousands of years? What if I don't ever want to give this warmth up? I've never felt so . . . wanted before. And yet, even though I submitted to Dean, I feel like I'm in control."

Rowena chuckled and reached up to pat Cas's scruffy cheek. "Oh my dear tweetie pie, don't you understand? The submissive is always the one in control."

"Okay, well, that particular moniker makes no sense. And you have adroitly avoided answering my original question. What if I don't want to give this up?"

"It's simple; don't give it up." Rowena offered one last pat before walking away, leaving Cas alone with his thoughts. He repeated her words in his head: the submissive is always the one in control and don't give it up over and over again, mulling that over until Dean called him back to return the group to Kansas.

Lilith shuffled slowly toward the window, one hand on the bandages over her stab wound. The knife had been poisoned, but it was not fatal to a witch. She still hadn't been able to completely cure it, but she could keep the more debilitating symptoms at bay. Lucifer would try to heal it a few times a day, but he was just delaying the damage, not actually repairing anything. She had sent a message to one of her coven members who had actual healing abilities, but she hadn't heard anything back yet.

Lucifer entered the room and carefully placed a plastic container of blood that he had gotten from the butcher on the table, either pig or cow. "Will this help?"

"Yes, Lucifer, thank you. Do you have the herbs?" The Faerie placed a handful of plants on the table, clearly having grabbed them quickly. He also hadn't sorted them, but Lilith could deal with that. "Alright, it's going to take me a couple of hours to prepare this spell, but I think it will fix the broken bits of your bond. How do you feel?"

Lucifer shook his head and twitched, rubbing his arm and then the back of his neck. "Not good. Itchy, hungry . . . the bond is too weak to sustain me right now." At least that explained why he had been so messy when he gathered the herbs; he was having issues focusing.

"Do you need to go feed the old way?"

"No, I got a couple of animal hearts from the butcher. I'm going to try that. Sex might help."

Lilith sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I can manage it if you give me a little while. I'll cast a cleanse on my wound that should give me an hour or two of freedom from the pain. Go eat your hearts and I'll be ready for you in twenty minutes."

Lucifer nodded and grabbed the paper bag holding his grisly meal off the floor and headed into the bathroom to eat. Lilith might practice blood magic, but she didn't like watching the Faerie eating hearts on the rare occasion that the bond wasn't strong enough to hold him. She knew that sexual intercourse would help push back Lucifer's insanity, but she was in too much pain from whatever poison those hunters had used to even consider that option without preparation. She knew a spell that would ease it for long enough, but she really needed to find a cure.

Another sharp wave of pain lanced through her and she scrambled for her spell book, eager to get some relief. If she ever saw those hunters again, she would kill them.

Gabriel slowly opened his wings, shaking them carefully before trying a quick flap. It ached a little, but there was no stabbing pain. "Yeah, it feels alright. I guess those herbs that Rowena handed over were the real deal."

Alfie flexed the fingers of his right hand as Mary finished removing the bandages from the left one, glad to find that his skin wasn't tight or scarred at all. "They're alright, I suppose. I'll need to go out for weapons practice and make sure everything still works correctly."

Benny, who had been sitting at the library table reading a pregnancy book with his mate, looked up sharply at that comment and slammed the book closed. "Gad and I are going into town to buy some baby stuff. It could take us a few hours, so feel free to enjoy your weapons practice!"

Sam snorted from his chair against the wall as he closed the old Faerie lore book he had been perusing. "Yeah, we might all want to steer clear of the range while Alfie and Adam are out there 'practicing'. Anyway, the shopping options in this town are pretty slim, so you may have to drive to an actual normal-sized town for that."

Mary rolled her eyes as she put away the medical supplies. "Sam has a point, Benny. We have to do most of our shopping online. If you're trying to get out of the house, John and I can take you somewhere. This is our date night, anyway, and we usually have to go pretty far to find any decent restaurant options. Usually we make a big night of it, get a hotel and everything."

"Dad wants to move back to Lawrence one day," Dean chimed in. "Maybe we can consider it if the monster load ever drops and we don't need constant access to the lore and all of the rare spell ingredients stored here."

Cas, who had helped with the healing spells for his brother and fledgling, cleared his throat in what could be described as a nervous manner if he wasn't a Faerie. "I could send you anywhere you want, as long as you can visualize it. And, uh, I could bless a crystal that will let you call me for a 'ride' back home in the morning. If you want."

"Yes, Cas, that would be wonderful. Can you teleport cars, too?"

"Yes, Mary, I can. Do you know where you want to go?"

"Chicago," John answered from the doorway. "I've been promising my girl a trip to the big city for years, and we've never even had a hunt there."

Mary chuckled. "Chicago would be great, but we have to have a visual to give Cas. How can he transport us somewhere that we have never been?"

"Google maps," Sam offered, exchanging his book for his laptop. He opened google maps and scrolled to the edge of Chicago, picking a road out of the way and dropping the yellow man into the middle of it. He turned the screen so Cas could see the street view, handing over the laptop to the Faerie. "Can you use that?"

"Yes, this is sufficient for a teleport. I even have coordinates here relative to the planet's poles to ensure that the drop is accurate. When would you like to go to this Chicago place?"

Mary tucked the medical kit back into its drawer against the back wall, turning toward the bedroom wing of the bunker. "Two hours will be fine. John, go ahead and start getting ready; you take longer than I do."

"Please," John scoffed, following his wife. "I am never the reason we are late."

Benny looked up at Cas, smiling at the tall omega. "Sam thinks there aren't any useful stores in Lebanon; do you think you could send me and Gadreel to Kansas City so we can find some baby supplies? He's getting very nesty and the trip would do him good."

"Yes, of course, Benny. I will make you a crystal, also, if you want."

"Thanks, Cas. I really appreciate it. And, uh, we might find a hotel and enjoy some time alone, too, since privacy is a precious commodity here."

"Of course."

A couple of hours later, after Cas had teleported both pairs to their destinations, Adam and Alfie headed out to the range to practice some knife work. The Faerie was concerned that he may have some loss of dexterity after the injuries he sustained, but Dean was pretty sure that he just wanted some alone time with his lover. The eldest Winchester son could see that same urge to be alone in Gabe's eyes, the High Prince finally able to hide his wings again, so he tapped Cas on the shoulder and pulled him to the side.

"With everyone else out for a nice evening, do you want to go to your grove? I thought I could make a little picnic supper and we could eat it under the stars."

Cas grinned, his entire face lighting up with his joy, and Dean was momentarily floored. He had never seen such happiness from the Faerie, and his alpha needed to maintain that for as long as possible. "Yes, Dean, I would like that. Do you think we could go swimming again?"

"Anything you want, buddy. Come on, I'll grab the campfire food and you can get the towels and blankets. Grab the big camping ones from the supplies in the basement. Oh, if you see some folding chairs, we could use those, too."

As soon as Cas and Dean vanished off the grove, Gabe headed off into the depths of the bunker, letting the faintest hint of arousal color his scent. Sam, who had buried himself in research as his parents were getting ready to leave on their date, looked up at the scent and grinned. He had promised the omega sex when his wings were healed, and they were alone in the bunker for the next few hours, at least. Closing his book, Sam stood up and headed off in search of his lover.

"This is camping?"

"Yeah, isn't it great? Dad used to take all three of us boys out once or twice a year when we were younger. We'd fish up our supper and cook it over the fire."

Cas glanced at the floppy meat cylinder on the end of his roasting fork, carefully holding it just the right distance above the fire to cook it without turning it to charcoal. He had failed the first two times, but this one looked much better. "This is not fish."

Dean chuckled as he grabbed the hotdog buns and paper plates, putting a couple on each and placing them on the table between the two camping chairs. He wasn't sure where Cas had found that old thing, but it didn't tip over so it would do. They had decided to skip the swimming and go straight to the fire and eating, but Cas would probably want to take a dip at dawn. "Hotdogs are the next best thing. It can take hours to catch enough fish for a meal, and we normally start early in the morning when they're hungry. Pull your hotdog out now; it looks done."

Cas nodded and extracted his processed meat from the fire, carefully placing it sideways in the bun just like Dean was doing and using the bread like an oven mitt to pull it off. Dean pointed at the tiny basket of condiments on the table and grabbed the ketchup, squirting a generous line of the red stuff on both of his hotdogs. "Ok, just try everything you think smells good at first and whatever you don't like you can scrape off. Don't forget the cheese."

"Sam said that we should have vegetables with every meal. Is this 'ketchup' a vegetable?"

"Yeah, sure, absolutely! And look, we have relish and that's pickles so it must count, too. I'm pretty sure he told me once that mustard is some sort of plant or seed or something, so we have plenty of vegetables here. Do you like onions?"

Cas sniffed the container of chopped onions and shook his head. "I do not like that smell."

"Ok, skip that. If we were at home, I'd have chili for you, too, but this should be good. Don't forget the cheese."

Once Cas had decorated his hotdog to Dean's satisfaction, he carefully lifted it and took a big bite, watching the alpha for clues about proper hotdog etiquette. He actually kind of liked the hotdog, though he didn't need to eat human food, and he was learning to taste past the molecules to absorb the flavors that Dean told him about. "This hotdog is pretty good."

"Heh, awesome. Do you want to try another one?"

"Yes, I think I do."

Dean grinned and grabbed the pack of hotdogs, glad that his Faerie was beginning to enjoy simple human things like a spontaneous camping trip and hotdogs lightly burned over an open fire. He watched the omega carefully extract a hotdog and skewer it on his metal fork, azure eyes intense as he carefully held it out to the fire. He felt something shift inside him, some feeling that he couldn't name, and Dean could honestly say he would be happy watching Cas struggle to roast hotdogs for the rest of his life. He chose not to look any closer at that feeling, smiling as he grabbed another one for himself.

Gabriel grinned as he watched Sam stalk into the room, already divesting himself of his clothes. The omega had saved time and was already naked, his erection curling enticingly against his pale belly. "You notice that I put my wings away, did you, Samwich?"

"Of course I did. How do they feel?"

"There is still some ache. I think a little enthusiastic feeding will finish the healing process."

"Is that your code phrase for me fucking you into the mattress?"

Gabe tilted his head, giving his lover a quick once-over before licking his lips and letting his eyes flash bright gold. "Have I mentioned how much I appreciate all of the work you do with the running and the gym stuff? You are a scrumptious morsel."

Sam crawled onto the bead, holding himself over the Faerie with one arm and running his free hand down Gabe's side. "You're pretty well put together yourself. What do you want?"

"Can we take off the collar again?"

"You said that's dangerous, Gabe. If it's off long enough for you to finish your enthusiastic feeding, won't your fertility powers explode out or something?"

"Well, yes, but I'm not affected by my own powers and everyone else is gone. The sigils that are built into this bunker plus the ones that Cas and I added will keep my magic from leaving this box. There's no chance that I will send anyone into heat or rut, I promise." Gabe took Sam's free hand and pulled it to his collar, holding it against the cool metal as he locked eyes with the alpha. "Being free will help me heal quickly, in one burst, and I really like when you can hear my thoughts. I like being in sync with you."

Sam sighed and nodded. "As long as you're sure nothing bad will happen."

"I promise." Gabe helped Sam's fingers wrap around the clasp of his necklace, releasing it and placing the collar on the table beside the bed. "Now, let's do that 'fuck into the mattress' thing you mentioned earlier."

"Man, this is almost perfect."

"Why 'almost'?" Cas sat up from where he and Dean had stretched out on blankets beside the fire to watch the stars. A trio of bats that had joined Cas by hooking their tiny claws into his hair and the heavy material of his trench coat shrieked a protest at the movement, but he whistled a soothing song and calmed them back down. They were protecting him from bugs near the fire, and he reiterated his gratitude for their guardianship. "What is missing?"

"Well, when I used to go camping with my family, we would cook some fish or hotdogs for supper, then we'd get to make dessert. S'mores are the best part of camping but I forgot to look for any of the ingredients."

"What are the ingredients?"

"Uh, Hershey's chocolate bars, graham crackers, and marshmallows."

"Do you have those in your pantry?"

Dean shrugged. "Not sure, exactly. Do you think you could bring them here if I knew where they were?"

Cas furrowed his brow. "It's easier to pull things to me if I have an exact visual or some sort of connection. I could bring you from anywhere in the world, but if you only have vague idea where they are, I can't focus enough to do it. I could go back to the bunker and find these three things in the pantry if you can show me what they look like."

"Yeah, sure." Dean sat up, watching Cas as the Faerie reached out and placed two fingers on the human's forehead, concentrating on quick supermarket type images of the three ingredients. Cas carefully transferred his three bats to Dean's arm, asking them to be polite for the human, and vanished a moment later.

Cas arrived in the bunker's kitchen and looked around, quickly finding his bearings and heading for the pantry. The place was empty, though he could feel his brother's presence deeper in the building. He felt Gabe's lust and closed his mind, never one to intrude on another's private time if he could help it, turning back to his search. The graham crackers were easy to find, and there were some jumbo marshmallows behind the cereal (Dean had explicitly sent an image with that size and not the mini ones used for hot chocolate), but Cas couldn't find any chocolate bars.

With the first two ingredients in hand, Cas reached out to touch Dean's mind, replaying the image of the chocolate bars and realizing that there was another place he could look. Turning toward the fridge, Cas stumbled as a wave of . . . something passed through him. He fell to his knees as a second and third one overwhelmed him, the taste of lust and joy in the magic. It ended a moment later, the Faerie struggling to his feet and finishing his journey to the fridge. He found a couple of chocolate bars and grabbed them, vanishing as he sensed another wave of that magic coming at him. He never noticed the sigils in the ceiling of the kitchen glow, preventing that power from escaping to the outside world.

Dean looked up as he reappeared at the campsite, smiling a greeting. "You found everything. Is something wrong?"

"Uh, no. Something weird happened when I got there, but it was probably just an aftershock from the fight with Lucifer."

Dean took the supplies and placed his hand on Cas's cheek, staring into the Faerie's eyes as if he could see what had happened. "Yeah, okay, you sure you're alright?"

"I'm good. Show me these s'mores."

Dean grinned and led Cas back to the chairs on the other side of the fire, waiting for the Faerie to reclaim his bats before setting out the supplies. "Okay, so first you need to burn off any hotdog residue on your stick and clean it. You don't want that flavor in your s'mores."

"Ok."

"And now we skewer a marshmallow and roast it; generally, I let mine catch on fire and blow it out because once it goes black on the outside it's perfectly gooey on the inside."

Cas mimicked his actions, pulling his marshmallow out of the fire and blowing on it. He took a half of a graham cracker and half of a chocolate bar and grabbed the marshmallow between them, pulling it off the skewer and staring at the tiny sandwich he had made. He took a tentative bite, chewing slowly and smiling at the result. "I like this s'more thing."

"Great! Here; we have enough for you to make a couple more if you want."

"What do we do when we run out of chocolate and graham crackers?"

"Then we just roast the marshmallows and eat them. It's very messy."

"That is alright; I am getting used to your human mess." Cas offered a soft smile to take any sting from his words, but Dean was getting used to his brand of humor.

"Good; the messiest food is the best." When they were done eating their dessert and Dean had cleaned everything up, the two returned to their blankets, pillows supporting their heads as they stared at the stars again. Cas bid his three friends farewell as they rejoined their family in the sky, hunting the last of the dusk insects before the more cunning night prey arrived.

"Tell me about the stars, Cas."

"And then what?"

Dean took a chance and pulled Cas closer, helping the omega tuck up against his side. They were the same basic size and shape, so the position was a little awkward, but the Faerie didn't seem to mind. As a matter of fact, he squeezed closer to the alpha, scenting the human's neck. Something inside him was writhing and tingling, but Cas couldn't identify it, he just knew that being near Dean made it calm down. "Then we fall asleep under the stars and hope that your new bat friends will keep the bugs from eating us alive before morning."

Cas smiled and raised one hand, pointing at the constellation that Dean had called the Big Dipper earlier that evening. "Do you see those stars there, in what you would call the handle of the Big Dipper? The second star from the end is actually a double system. Mizar is the brighter one and Alcor is that tiny dot next to it. In ancient human history, the ability to see Alcor distinctly was used as an eye test for soldiers, though it took your astronomers thousands of years to realize that Mizar is a four-star system and Alcor is two."

"Wait, that's six stars there? I can only see two."

"A human's eye cannot separate the individual stars of the two clusters, Dean. They are there, however, and move together as do the rest of the stars in that general area of space."

"Do Faeries travel amongst the stars?"

Cas chuckled. "No, Dean, but we do watch them from our realm. I wish I could show you the stars from the Faerie Realm; they are spectacular."

Dean smiled and ran his fingers through Cas's hair, sensing that the man needed his touch to keep him calm. "That would be nice, Cas, but humans can't step foot in your realm. But hey, you can keep telling me about the ones we can see. What does Sirius look like for your realm? It's pretty bright here."

Cas smiled and returned to talking about the stars, deciding that he could like this camping thing, as long as Dean was with him. He felt a slight rise in his body temperature, but he contained and reversed it, unwilling to move away from the alpha furnace he was cuddled against. They slowly lapsed into silence and stared at the sky, letting themselves fall asleep to the sound of a crackling fire and hunting bats.