A/N: set in late Season 6 (somewhere between The French Mistake and My Heart Will Go On).
Underneath the Skin
Okay, Dean will admit, he couldn't really see crap but what he could see made even his blood run cold: and it was for him it was happening.
How did they end up here?
Castiel was striding forward, that damn trench flaring behind him, as his blade fell from his sleeve and into his hand.
What had happened again?
That silver slashed and one of the faceless creatures slumped to the floor, black blood splattering across the wooden floor and the Angel's figure.
Why were they here?
Castiel's eyes glowed white as some monster was burned from inside its own body at the Angel's touch.
When had his vision become so dark?
A distant voice was saying his name... At least, it was his name, right? He knew that voice...
Who was it? Who was he again?
He... He had something important to do...
Dean's vision went completely black then and he fell to the hard floor.
~x~x~x~
"Wait, what? Run that by me one more time." Dean said, sitting opposite his brother at the small, motel table.
Sam sighed. "Three couples, in the past week alone, have gone missing from this, uh... 'Springdale Fields' town. If it's anything like the two couples who went missing last month, one member of each couple will show up with their skin peeled off and their heart ripped out."
"Well, that definitely sounds like our sort of thing so how long will it take to get there?" the older brother sighed, draining the last of his beer.
"I don't think we should rush into this, Dean. Bobby sent this one over and he says the whole place was pretty cut off and guarded when he went in as FBI." Sam said, closing the laptop.
"So... What, we go undercover or something?" Dean sensed something caught between amusement and actual annoyance in his brother's tone.
"I guess, yeah, but whatever this is... Well, it's only going after couples." he held up his hands at his brother's glare. "Hey, don't give me that look! And I can't play house with you, anyway; Bobby said this place has a town hall that's wired like Fort Knox – you'll need me in there." Sam finished quickly, smirking slightly at his brother.
"So... What? How do we find this thing?" the green-eyed man stood up and stretched his arms, avoiding looking at his brother because he could practically taste where this was going...
"I thought, maybe, you and Cas could-"
"Ooh, no. No way, Sammy. He's busy in Heaven fighting this war or whatever – we'll deal with this ourselves." Dean turned on his brother (who was decent enough to bite his lip to hide his smile).
Once again, the younger brother sighed. "It's a relatively big case, Dean, it won't hurt to at least ask him."
"You ask him, it's your idea." Dean grumbled, lying down on the closest bed. No way was he going to be pretend-whatever with Cas; he had no idea how he felt about the Angel who had saved him too many damn times. Sure, it could be classified as 'friendship' in some weird way, but then the dreams of Hell had started to change to ones about the person who had saved him in settings that Dean was trying his best to ignore. He couldn't risk being in close-quarters with Cas until he'd got all of this – whatever the 'this' was – bottled up and hidden away.
The elder brother didn't want to risk things getting awkward or any more complicated, especially with Sam around. Dean wasn't going to lie, he'd lusted after the same sex before but had not taken any real action on it since coming back from Hell: his dad had never known and Sam didn't know and that's just how Dean wanted to keep things.
Nice. And. Simple.
"He probably won't listen to me: 'profound bond', remember?" And there was that shit-eating grin that Dean had been waiting for as he looked over at his Sasquatch of a brother.
There was a few moments of glaring at that grin and then Dean caved. "Okay, fine, but you owe me big time, bitch." he pointed as Sam as he sat up on the bed.
"Whatever, jerk." Sam snorted.
Ignoring him, Dean began his 'prayer'. "As I start off this day of doing another crappy job, I pray that Castiel is able to get his feathery ass down here and help with this." he opened his green eyes and looked around; he was about to tell his brother 'I told you so' when he heard wing beats behind him.
"Hello, Dean. Sam." came the gruff voice that normally signalled Castiel's arrival.
Sam's grin only got wider - his 'I told you so' - before opening the laptop again and turning it to face the Angel, who had moved to the foot of the bed. "We were wondering if you'd be able to help on a case: it's a pretty closed of community, couples have been disappearing and then one half of the couple will show up with no skin and their heart pulled out of their chests."
Castiel tilted his head - having now come to stand in front of the table and the laptop – as if considering the case and listening to something far away.
"We understand if you can't, what with Raphael and everythi-" Dean began.
"I can assist. Balthazar is currently holding the ranks and Raphael seems unwilling to make another move after Balthazar joined my ranks so I believe I will have time to help." the Angel spoke in that gravely voice before standing up poker-straight again.
"Brilliant. Just brilliant. You can fill him on the details, Sammy: I need a drink." Dean said before grabbing his jacket and leaving the dingy motel room in a huff.
This was going to be a long... However long it took them to finish this case.
A/N: cross posting from my AO3! :)
