"So he spoke to the darkness?"

Cas sat down at one of the library tables across from Sam before answering. "He did." He looked thoughtful for a second. "Or at least that's what he said. Though I don't know why he'd lie."

Sam frowned. "And he was just laying there? Waiting for you?"

By the time Sam had gotten to the bunker, Dean had been locked down for hours. He walked in to find Charlie and Kevin in the library, leafing through stacks of books.

Cas nodded. "He was unconscious when I arrived. When he woke up he claimed she had pulled him from the cabin, and that he had not run."

"And then he teleported you both back here." Sam concluded.

"I informed him you were heading back to check on everyone, and he sent us here."

Charlie pulled a face. "Scared me half to death. I'm sewing up Kevin's arm and then bam, demon Dean."

Sam shook his head. "Where'd you learn how to do stitches, anyway?"

"Youtube." Charlie admitted.

"Youtube?" Sam repeated, incredulous.

"Yeah, we can't all learn from our marine father in the back of a muscle car." She shot back.

"Touche." He supposed none of them had gotten any real medical training. "But you two are okay?"

"Yeah." Kevin sighed. "Cas healed us when he got here."

"Good." Sam said absently.

Kevin sighed. "What now?"

"We cure him. What else can we do?"

"I meant about the Darkness."

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. "One problem at a time. We cure Dean. We'll sort out the rest later."

"Sam, if-"

"Later." Sam's tone left no room for argument.

Charlie stepped in, trying to diffuse some of the tension. "Alrighty then." She grabbed a book, sliding it into the middle of the table. "We've been looking through the books, trying to figure out what it means that the mark has been removed."

Sam frowned. "He is just a normal demon now, right?"

Castiel leaned forward. "He is without the mark, yes, but he is still a knight of hell."

"So…"

Charlie absently flipped the pages through her fingers. "He isn't as strong. Like, I mean he's a demon, so he has that, but he isn't stronger than a normal demon, physically."

"But he still cannot be killed. Or hurt." Cas concluded. "Though, a devil's trap should be sufficient to contain him without the mark feeding him extra power."

"Except Abbadon got out of a devil's trap bullet." Kevin pointed out.

"As did Crowley." Cas continued calmly, remembering Sam's description of events taking down Abbadon. "But a devil's trap bullet is temporary in nature. It does not completely entrap a demon to begin with."

"Right. I knew that." He hadn't.

Sam pushed back in his chair. "But it doesn't matter anyway." He said firmly. "Because we're about to cure him."

Charlie took the book back and set it aside. "We were just wondering if…"

"If?"

"Last time. He was so strong while you cured him." She said softly, the implication not lost on anyone in the room.

Last time Dean had almost killed Kevin.

Cas sighed. "He should be weaker this time, yes."

"Still." Sam concluded. "We'll take more precautions."

"We'll need to procure the blood."

Sam looked over at the angel. "I actually… uh stopped on the way here. I didn't want to risk waiting."

Charlie took a deep breath. "Well, I guess this is it then."

.

Cas pushed open the door to 7b, knowing Dean was locked down but still somehow feeling relief at finding him thus.

"Hello sweetie." Dean purred, a slightly mocking smirk on his lips. "How was your day?"

"Uneventful." Cas answered sincerely, not picking up the sarcasm. "Sam will be in shortly."

"Hospital packaged, or is Sam going to get personal this time?"

"Sam stopped at a medical clinic on the way here."

"He pay them off or what? And how does he convince a priest to bless a cooler of stolen blood?"

"I believe he convinced them he was representing a religious person in their recovery."

"Lying to the clergy. That sinner."

Cas managed a small smile. "I think relations with an angel might lend weight to the idea you believe in religious figures."

"Screwing an angel doesn't mean I'm a Christian."

Cas merely shrugged. "In either case, Sam has the blood prepared."

Both of them looked up as Sam walked into the room, a cooler in hand. He set it down on the table, nodding to both of them. "Cas." He greeted. He paused. "Dean."

"Sammy." Dean smiled. "Oh look, you brought a gift."

Sam set his shoulders, pointedly ignoring the nickname. "We have to do this."

"Oh, just do it." Dean said, stare flat as he faced his brother.

"Really?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

Dean glared up at him incredulously. "Yes Sam. I'd do just about anything to get off lockdown."

Sam raised his hands. "Yeah, alright."

Cas caught his eye. "Charlie and Kevin-?"

"Yeah, taken care of." Sam cut him off, trying to play it casually.

Dean smirked. "Aw, that's no fun."

Sam didn't let himself respond, instead heading out through the file room and door, shutting it behind him.

"Aw, did I offend him?" Dean asked.

Cas glared down at him. "He is merely gathering the remaining supplies."

Dean rolled his eyes.

Cas sighed, taking a few steps back to lean against the metal table. "And you're really alright with this?"

"I need out, man. I don't have the mark. I can't go back to a cage."

"Last time you were adamant we stop."

"Last time I didn't know my only other option was prison." Dean was quiet for a moment. "Last time I thought becoming human was going to drive me insane."

"What changed?"

"You got me through it."

.

This time felt different. Not least of all because Dean chose to be fairly quiet during the process. No scathing comments, no targeted remarks. Only a half-hearted protest during each injection.

Sam wished that made it any less stressful.

Even without the struggle, it felt like it was taking forever. As he pulled the seventh needle from his brother's arm, he felt his hand shaking, his nerves getting the best of him as they approached the finish line.

"What's got your panties in a twist?"

"Shut up." Sam replied weakly. He gave Dean a once-over, making sure the restraints were tight before giving Cas a subtle head nod towards the door. He let the angel pass him before he closed and locked the false file cabinet, afterwards locking the door itself just in case.

"What-?"

"Kitchen." He said simply, wishing to be far enough away they could talk without risk of being overheard. He felt the exhaustion set in as soon as they reached their destination and he sank down onto one of the kitchen stools. He didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"What is it?" Cas tried again.

"You talked to him before I got here, right?"

"Only a little."

"What was he like?"

Cas thought for a moment. "Not very different from the cabin. Somewhat annoyed at being confined again, but he was fairly resigned to that fact. I believe he was putting up a fight for show more than anything."

Sam gave a weak smile. "That sounds about right." His expression fell.

"Sam?"

"What do we do after?"

Cas looked away. "We do what we can."

"Without the mark… do you think he'll have to finally process Eastham?"

"I don't know."

"And in the cabin… hurting you."

Cas winced. "He'll pull through." He tilted his head. "Even Dean believes he will pull through."

Sam nodded, but he didn't look convinced in the slightest.

"He will have our support." Cas tried to assure him.

"What if that's not enough?"

"What do you think is the worst that could happen?"

"Honestly?" Sam shifted slightly. "Dean has never been outright suicidal, but opportunistically?"

"You think he'd-"

"I don't know." Sam said softly. "Dean's been through some real rough patches… he has a hard time with it." He ran a hand over his mouth. "Having something to focus on helps. He'll latch onto this whole darkness thing to try to anchor himself."

"It is a fairly large problem to tackle." Cas agreed.

"God, Cas. What did I do?"

"You did what you thought was best."

"For me." Sam leaned his head back. "How many times is the apocalypse going to be my fault?"

Cas' expression relaxed into one of sympathy. "Dean was a danger to the world all on his own."

"The lesser of two evils."

"You had only roughly thirty eight minutes warning between Dean telling you it caged the darkness and the spell being enacted."

"Yeah and a few hours before that, after he said I should stop until I heard him out. And I didn't."

"Were the roles reversed, Dean would not have even driven out to meet you. He would have supervised the spell being finished personally."

Sam closed his mouth on whatever he was going to say next. He felt a stirring of something not unlike comfort. "Oh." He said simply.

Cas knew he had struck a chord. He knew he wasn't wrong. "We few were enough to stop the apocalypse before on more than one occasion."

"Yeah, cleaning up our own messes." Sam said bitterly.

"Then we will clean up one more mess." Cas replied wisely.

Sam gave a small snort, unable to argue but unwilling to relent.

"First we get Dean back. Then we tackle the darkness." He raised his hand in a small shrug. "What choice do we have?"

"Yeah." Sam hesitated. "Does it seem like it's going weird to you?"

"In what way?"

"Nothing. I mean, there's nothing happening."

"You said with Crowley it was not dramatic." Cas pointed out. "He no longer has the mark so perhaps it does not cause him physical harm as it did last time."

"Yeah." Sam said softly. "But Crowley at least seemed different by now."

Cas hesitated. "When we cured him last time he did not return to himself until after the last injection. Perhaps though the pain has been removed he is still a knight and that is preventing him from showing the incremental progress Crowley displayed."

"Yeah." Sam said. "Okay." He stood. "We still have forty five minutes until his last injection. I'm going to get some air."

"Of course." Cas dismissed. "I'll keep an eye on him."

"Thanks, man."

.

"Cas." Dean greeted casually when the angel returned alone. "Sam off sulking?"

He saw no point in lying. "Your brother wished to clear his head while he waited for the next stage."

"Leaving you on babysitting duty."

Cas bowed his head slightly in agreement.

"Mmh." A grin settled on Dean's lips. "Well, if we have to find some way of passing the time-"

"Dean."

"Come on honey, I'm already in chains." Dean enticed seductively. "What's stopping you?"

"We'll revisit this topic after you are fully cured."

"You're no fun."

"So you keep saying."

Dean resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. "So what are your plans?" At Cas' blank expression, "You and Sam had to have talked plans, for after. About what you're going to do to me to make sure I don't go off the deep end."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit. Don't fuck with me Castiel, I deserve to know what I'm in for."

Cas sighed, pulling the chair out from behind the metal table and letting himself settle down a little closer to Dean. "Honestly, we don't have one." He admitted. "We've planned to simply respond to whatever comes up after you are human again."

"Wait and react." Dean said incredulously. "Seriously?"

"Dean, we have no idea what this is going to look like." Cas said, sincerely. "It is impossible to make a plan for every possible scenario."

"Great." Dean said bitterly. After a moment he took a deep breath. "It's going to be bad."

Cas looked down. "I know."

"I had the mark last time. Even right after I was cured of being a demon, I still wasn't me. Not entirely."

"You were more yourself than you think."

"No. I wasn't." Dean said firmly. "I was covering, but Cas, I barely kept it together."

"You did." Cas pointed out.

"Yeah, we'll see." Dean shifted, chains rattling. "I've seen some shit in my life-"

"I know."

Dean continued as if Cas hadn't spoken. "It gets harder to bounce back every time. Even before hell, and after… The hits keep on coming."

Cas felt a sharp stab of sorrow. "Dean-"

"I need you to know… it's going to be so much worse."

"Even you believed you could come out on the other end of this. I'll be here with you. Sam will be here with you."

Dean pulled a face.

Cas' eyes narrowed a bit. "You'll care about that again once you're cured."

"Yeah, yeah." He stopped before dropping his voice. "I am starting to care already."

Cas looked up, a bit of hope working its way into his expression.

"Not since the blood." Dean explained, dashing those hopes immediately. "Since the mark was gone though. Things are better… I feel… the rage is gone. And Sam is my brother. I can feel that again. Everything is… different."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Dean considered for a second. "Good, I think." He looked off. "I care about things. More than just you. It feels better to just feel again. Which is what's about to bite me in the ass."

"We'll get through this."

"Yeah, yeah." Dean shifted again, casually trying to reposition himself into a more relaxed pose. "So… you sure I can't convince you to grant a demon one last wish?"

Cas' glare sharpened. "Dean."

Dean huffed in unconcealed disappointment.

.

"Well fellas. This is it." Dean quipped, watching Sam pull out the final prepared syringe. "Any last words?"

"You're not dying." Sam rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." Dean rolled his to match. "Just get on with it."

Cas crossed the room, taking position behind Dean. He gently placed his hand on Dean's shoulder, extra insurance against anything that could go wrong. He didn't fully trust Dean not to pull one last defiant stunt.

As soon as Sam reached out with the needle, Dean lunged forward slightly, reveling in the speed at which Sam jumped backwards and the stumble that followed. "Boo."

The hand clamped down immediately, fingers digging into his flesh.

Dean tried unsuccessfully to squirm out of the way. "Jesus, Cas. Lighten up."

Instead of replying, Cas just brought up his other hand, firmly grasping Dean's bicep, holding it perfectly still for Sam to attempt again.

This time was a success.

Sam fully emptied the syringe before pulling it out and taking a few hasty steps backwards.

Cas let go, moving out from behind the chair and keeping a careful watch on the soon to be human.

Dean simply looked back at them, waiting for it to kick in.

A minute passed.

"Dean?" Sam asked, cautiously.

The tension in the room was palpable. No one moved for what felt like an eternity.

Green eyes flicked black. "No dice."

Sam paled, a heavy dread crashing down on him. "What-"

"Sorry, Sammy." Dean split into a wide grin. "Looks like you're stuck with me."