Hello and welcome to this new story of mine. Straight off I gotta warn you all that this is sort of a sequel of my story True Colors, but aside from Sam and Juls and Dean and Sarah, this will focus a bit on their friendly angel Castiel and will explain his lack of presence in the prequel. We will see the new dynamic of the group as well, as they try and solve this case.

Curious Case of Castiel

Chapter 1: Family roadtrip

Maybe I should give Cas a call, Dean thought driving all four of them to Baltimore to check out Julia's case. She hasn't told them much, just that her friend was in trouble. Soon after they took off towards their new destination, both her and Sammy fell asleep instantly, her wrapped in his arms, both sprawled in the back seat. That put a smile on Dean's face. Sarah was next to him in the passenger seat looking out the window, but ever so often glancing at him with a smile. Yeah, everything was perfect.

Dean wouldn't admit it as such, but he was missing Cas a bit. Last time they spoke to him was just before they met Juls and Sarah, and even then, Dean hasn't spoken to him, just Sam. He really should reach out and talk, but every time he would pick up the phone, some strange sense of pride wouldn't let him dial, a part of him felt a bit angry at Cas. Or hurt. With Dean it is one in the same sometimes. Cas left to help Jack maintain Heaven. Cas left. And Dean missed his friend.

But there was new development, Sam has found someone to care for and Dean... Well, Dean did too. He glanced at Sarah once again, and smiled, a warm fuzzy feeling swelling in his chest. And he wanted to share it with his best friend. So finally he picked up that phone and dialed. He waited, listening to the tone that indicated it was ringing, and then it went straight to voice mail. There was a sting in his heart at that, but he pushed past that and left a message for Cas to call him back. He tried to sound cheery, saying he had news, and then hung up the phone and sighed.

Dean flinched and looked at Sarah when she set her slightly cold hand on his shoulder and gave him a comforting smile. Yeah, right, she could sense his feelings. Talk about the irony. Dean, who always hid his feelings from the world, especially the bad ones, burring them deep and leaving them there, he was now an open book to Sarah. She could tell each thing he felt an any given moment, there was nothing he could hide from her. And somehow... He didn't want to.

He felt so safe with her, safer then he ever felt, and not just physically, but emotionally as well. He felt like he could show her everything, and despite the darkness that consumed him sometimes, she would still see the beauty in it all.

Dean groaned to himself. He is turning into such a chick it was getting ridiculous. OK, no more thinking. Focus on the road. They still had a long way to go. Maybe some music would set him mind in the drive mood. For a brief second he contemplated telling Sarah to put something on, just to see what song would pop up, but decided against it and instead put on his Bon Jovi cassette. Now, the whole song might not speak his lyrics like Sarah's does, but that one line sure did send tingles thought Dean's body as he imagined laying Sarah down in the Bed Of Roses.

Sarah suddenly turned to him with slight shock on her face and immediately Dean blushed. Yeah, right. She could feel that too. Must be the proximity and the fact that they were almost alone, not counting the two sleeping soundly in the back. Sarah averted her eyes downward with a blushing smile of her own and Dean took a deep breath, trying to shake those feelings away. At least until they reach their motel...

A few hours later, Dean was settled in, singing the songs and really focusing on the road, Sarah still seated beside him, looking out the window. It would be strange thinking why she hadn't dozed off like the two in the back, but considering Sarah didn't need much sleep, Dean didn't pay much attention. Still, he did notice when she reached with her right hand and started rubbing at her left shoulder, and even though Dean was no psychic/empath, he could still feel something was off. Sarah was almost hugging herself, her eyes glued to the window, her look distant, lost.

"Hey... You ok?" Dean asked setting his hand on her knee. She looked down on it and smiled before raising her bright blue eyes to meet his. Only for a moment, Dean was reminded of his friend who had almost the same eye color, and he couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with the angelic part of them, with the lingering grace inside of them.

"Yeah. I guess, I am just a bit nervous..." She replied with a forces smile. It isn't that she was all that good in hiding her feelings, which she wasn't, but Dean was a trained hunter that could spot this kind of lie a mile away. Still, he knew it was just an attempt on her part not to make him worry, so he went along.

"Nervous? About what?" Dean asked, really trying to think of a reason why would she be... Scared, because that was definitely not nerves. Was she sensing something, or was it...

"About the hunt... If you don't count what happened in Miami, this would be... My very first hunt..." She spoke barely above a whisper and Dean mentally rolled his eyes at himself. He felt like such an idiot. A part of him knew Sarah only went along with this because of him. And even thought this is yet to be declared as an actual hunt, there was definitely something odd happening, something their type of strange. And Dean was excited for the first time in a while to go out and figure it out, but he was torn, because he knew Sarah didn't want this. So he tried to reason it, not just to ease her mind, but to ease his guilt over making her be a part of it.

Dean reached and pulled her close, slugging his arm over her shoulders, trying to muster as much warmth and comfort in that embrace before he spoke. "This isn't technically a hunt, you know. All we know is that Julia's friend is in trouble and we are going to help her. We aren't even sure it was our kind of thing..." He lied. And she knew it. But appreciated it nonetheless. At least they weren't going after vampires or werewolves or whatever. At least there weren't any dead bodies involved. As much as she knew.

Sam slowly came to, grunting and mumbling, feeling tense. Without opening his eyes, he stretched his leg that was beginning to cramp up, the shake of a car speeding down the road trying to lull him back to sleep. But he fought against it, feeling like he has gotten enough of rest. He really needed to stretch out. Somewhere in his foggy mind, he expected to hear Dean's "Rise and shine, Sammy.", but instead there was a polite female voice saying "Good morning." Took him a moment to remember who the voice belong to, as he tried to focus his still sleepy eyes.

"I want to ask if you slept well, but somehow I doubt that, considering how much your joints crack when you stretch out." Sarah said with a polite smile in her voice. Sam finally blinked his eyes open without the fog over his vision and frowned in complete confusion. His mouth parted and dangled open in slight shock as he gawked at Sarah, at the back of her head more precisely, at her blond ponytail.

"Sa... Sarah? Are you... Are you driving?" Sam finally managed to utter, and Sarah opened her mouth to say something, but paused. And then huffed a laugh.

"Yeah, Dean was tired and he didn't want to wake you up so he offered me to drive, since I hardly sleep. But between you and me, I think he was just trying to distract me from thinking to much about this... Case." Sarah explained, not wanting to call it a hunt.

"But, he... He offered?" was all Sam got from what she said, somewhere in the back of his mind he did register the way Sarah spoke about the reason they were headed to Baltimore. He was much more interested in how the heck would Dean trust her with his Baby, girlfriend or not. Or whatever they were. He threw a glance at his brother sleeping form in the passenger seat, becoming even more baffled as to how he could just... Sleep. While someone else was driving his Baby.

Sarah huffed another laugh, glancing at Sam's bewildered face in the rear-view mirror.

"How do you think he got from Miami to the bunker with a broken leg?" Sarah asked, her lips quirking into a smirk. It was so amusing to see Sam like this, without his usual cool and composure.

"You... You... He... You drove baby then too?" Sam was even more confused. That was before her and Dean even got together and he... He let her drive? "I... I need to... Is there a stop, a gas station or something? I need air." What Sam needed was to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Actually, we are just entering Baltimore and I saw a sign for a motel about a two miles ahead. Would it be ok to stop there?" Sarah asked, sensing some of Sam's distress. It was the same when Tej and Roman saw her driving Uncle Dom's Dodge. They thought they were imagining things. Sam just nodded, and tried to process the situation, but as soon as Julia steered in his arms, he looked down at her, some warm feeling washed over him, and he felt himself relax just a bit. She didn't wake and Sam focused on Sarah again, watching her drive. Nothing special about it, she didn't caress the car like Dean would, but there was some feeling of respect in the way she handled the car. And in the end, if Dean let her, then who was Sam to question it.

A smile cracked over his face as a thought came to his mind. Dean cared about this girl. Deeply. So much so that he would sleep so peacefully knowing someone else, knowing she is driving his Baby. Damn, Sarah really must be special. And Sam couldn't be more happier for his brother. Dean deserved this. He deserved to be happy.

A mile in, both Julia and Dean started to wake. Julia frowned seeing Sarah in the drivers seat, but didn't say anything about it, instead opting to ask "Where are we?" She was surprised to hear they were already in Baltimore and that she actually slept throughout the whole trip. After looking over Sarah, Dean turned towards the back and laughed.

"You too are just made for each other, you know?"

Sam huffed a slight blush smile and Julia frowned asking "Why?"

"You both have the same morning hairstyles. Like you have been electrocuted... - he said and suddenly turned serious - you didn't do anything kinky while I slept, right?"

"Shut up, Dean." Sam said without any malice, knowing he was just teasing and laughed when Julia stuck her tongue out to him. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She asked and Dean drew his hands up in surrender, an amused smile on his face as he turned back to look at the road ahead.

"Just a mile to the motel." Sarah informed and Dean nodded, then turned back around.

"So, wanna fill us in?" he said glancing at Julia. She frowned at Dean, slight mistrust lashing upon her eyes. She was not used to sharing and all this... Joint hunting and everything, but she cared about Sam, she cared about him a lot, so she had to make this work. And maybe... It was her friend that was in trouble and she needed to focus on that, she needed to find a way to help her. So a few extra set of eyes and hands on this shouldn't be a bad thing, right?

"A mutual friend tried to reach me while I was... While we were stuck there... My friend, Diana, something happened to her. She met a guy in a bar and apparently slept with him, and when she woke up in the morning, he was dead. In her bed. She called it in, not touching the body except to check his pulse. But when the cops came and turned him around, suddenly she screamed and... She passed out. She has been completely catatonic ever since. She just... Stares and doesn't move much."

Others remained quiet, waiting for her to say more, only Sam took her hand in his and caressed it, his warm half-smile and comforting look in his eyes assuring her they will do whatever they can to help her friend out. She nodded at him and kept talking.

"They guy didn't have any ID on him, so I don't know who he was yet, but we should know once we reach the coroner. I do know that there were no signs of foul play, and that they have no idea how he died. I have known Diana for a while now and she... She knew about the kind of work I did. She knew about supernatural. She was also a police detective, close to retirement. I know she didn't do anything to this guy."

Julia fell silent, hoping they believe her. She knew the detective for a while, Diana saved her life on a ghost case she worked on. After a few minutes of silence, it was Dean that finally spoke up.

"And we don't know anything about the guy? Just that she met him at a bar and that they probably slept together?" He asked, just looking for more information. Julia was just a bit relieved not to hear any accusation in his voice, any uncertainty and that he, along with Sam believed her.

"Nothing yet, but we should get more information once we get to the body. That's why I suggest we head to the coroner's office first. Should be closer to the motel and we could fish out some information before we head to the precinct." Julia responded and Dean seemed a bit doubtful, but it was Sam who voiced those doubts.

"Cops don't usually like it when he don't give them the courtesy of introduction before we go and see the body. And coroners do give information more easily if they know we spoke to the head detective on the case."

"That shouldn't be a problem. We definitely need to go check out the body first, because I just know the head detective will cock-block us from the start." If Dean was drinking anything he would spit it out in spray hearing Julia's vocabulary. The words were nothing knew to him, but to her a woman say it like that... Julia just kept talking and ignored Dean slight choke on thin air. "Michael is an asshole."

"WHAT?!" Both Sam and Dean jumped up at those words and Julia flinched at their shouts. "Michael Lang. The head detective on the case..." Sam and Dean exchanged looks and both huffed a laugh. Of course she didn't mean that Michael, how could she? That Michael was long gone and the other is in the wind as far as they know and... Yeah.

"Sorry, go on." Sam assured, shaking his head to his and Dean's sudden outburst. He glanced at Sarah, but couldn't see anything as she was facing forward. But Sarah felt that sudden fear that washed over both of them, Dean especially.

"Mike Lang is the lead on the case and he also hates Diana. She was a better detective then he was, and then she turned him down after he chased her and asked her out a few times. She hurt his male ego and he thought the whole precinct make a mockery of him, even though nobody really cared. He is a dick. And we need to be bigger dicks." Juls finished, fishing out her FBI badge out of her bag.

"Don't think that's going to be a problem." Dean mussed lowering his head too look at his crotch and then at Sam's and at the same time Sam yelled "Dean!" completely appalled, Sarah burst laughing. Even Julia laughed, and Sam pouted, feeling like the only adult in the car. "Just saying. Sammy. We are so much better endowed in these kinds of matters." Sam just shook his head.

"Amen to that." Julia said and Sam looked at her almost mortified as the rest of the car burst laughing one again.

"Two Queens." Dean said and the receptionist gave him a half confused, half disgusted look as she peered behind him and towards the other three and their bags. Sam cleared his throat and called out to Dean, raising his brow. Dean turned back to the receptionist with one of his charming smiles and spoke up again. "Oops. My bad. Forgot about... Yeah, we'll take two rooms... - he glanced back at the group and flashed a genuine smile to the receptionist - Two rooms with one king bed each."

"Right..." The receptionist rolled her eyes at him, typed something at her computer and him then gave him two room keys. He flashed her a wide smile and grabbed the keys. Sam too rolled his eyes, Julia mimicked Dean's smile and Sarah had her eyes darting the ground shyly, slightly blushing, but smiling nonetheless. Dean tossed one set of keys to Sam and took Sarah's hand, leading her to their room.

"We head out in an hour. Think that would be enough time, hey Sammy?" Dean shouted over his shoulder and Sam just shook his head at his brother's antics, but still smiled at him. He hasn't seen him this goofy in almost a decade and was so glad to see a bit of that boyish charm and happiness return.

"Better make it two!" Sam's eyes widened at Julia's retort and he glared at her completely confused. She didn't think that... Dean was just joking, she must have known that. Oh, she was shooting back a retort. Right. Sam hoped.

Glancing back at his brother as he skipped (?) beside Sarah, Sam had to smile again. She really was good for him. But deep down Sam couldn't help but worry. Sarah had some powers and she had angel blood in her system. What could that mean for them? Will it mean anything? Their lives weren't written by Chuck anymore, so all bets are off.

Could be something, could be nothing. Could be just that Sarah is strong enough to protect herself and Dean, and Sam would really like it if it is so. Dean needed someone strong to back him up and to take care of him, and Sarah certainly fit the bill.

But he needed to know for sure. He needed to know if his brother will be alright, and only then he could let go. Maybe Cas could provide some answers? And before he knew it, Sam was pulling out his phone and dialing that familiar number, huffing a laugh at Cas's "I don't understand, why... Why do you want me to say my name?" followed by dialing tones and finally a beep. Sam should really help him change that.

"Hey, Cas, it's Sam. Just checking in. We are in Baltimore, helping out... A friend. Listen, we ran into something, nothing serious, no big deal, but I just wanted to pick your brain and... No, not, um... I wanted to ask you a few questions about that. Call me when you get this. Again, nothing urgent, just... Yeah... Just, um... Call me, ok?"

And as he hung up the phone, a strange familiar feeling washed over him and Sam turned, but didn't see the short overweight man that turned the corner and a drop of ice-cream down on the ground.