Chapter 21.

At the bunker, Dean watched Anael park her Camaro next to the Impala, then he said, "Okay, I'll deal with any questions. You go dump those clothes with the laundry and then go to the armoury and clean those blades."

"I could wash the clothes." she said.

"I'll do them later." he said. He didn't want her starting to do chores for him out of misplaced guilt or mistaken affection. "When the blades are clean, put them back in the trunk of the Impala and then come and join the rest of us and say nothing about last night unless you have to. Then, keep it simple. We're decided to stay in the motel so I could get some sleep. Nothing else."

"I understand." she said, "Have you forgotten the vampire in the trunk?"

"No, I have not." he said, "I'll deal with that, too."

"You think they need to see a corpse?"

"I hope not, but if they do ... "

Sam, Cas and Charlie were in the library. "Did you lose Anael?" said Charlie.

"No," he said, "She's around. Sorry we're so late. I just felt tired and it felt like a good idea to fall asleep in a bed, rather than at the wheel."

"You could have sent Anael back alone." said Cas.

Dean looked at him, trying to make out whether he suspected anything. "She was in a new car, Cas and knowing how bad angels can be at repairing cars, I figured we should travel home in convoy."

"Oh." said Cas, "And the car worked well?"

"Perfectly. It's a very good car. She can now have some independence, which I think will be great for all of us."

Cas seemed happier at that thought. "Thanks for helping her to find it." he said, "I know taking care of Anael has been difficult at times."

"Well, you know me and angels, but some of you are worth the effort." He had to tread a fine line here. Seem too cold to Anael and they would worry that there was friction between them, seem too happy to have her around and they might speculate about other kinds of friction.

"It sounds like you had a good day." said Sam.

"What do you mean?" said Dean, too defensive, too alert. He knew even as he said it that Sam and Charlie were now speculating wildly.

Charlie stood. "Have you had breakfast, Dean?"

"No, we were in a hurry to get home before any of you worried." he said, glancing at Cas. He was afraid to look at Sam.

"We knew it was all fine." said Cas.

"Good. It was all fine." said Dean, "Where's Eileen?"

"Food run with Jules." said Sam, "Don't worry. They have orders to return with apple pie." His eyes were asking questions that Dean was worried his own face might be answering.

"I'll go get you something to eat." said Charlie and she left the room.

"Dean," said Sam, "Did you sleep with Anael?"

Cas was surprised by that, his eyes were suddenly fixed on Dean.

"Of course not." said Dean.

Sam watched his face and then said, "Oh, wow, you did."

"First, angels don't sleep ... "

"Okay, did you have sex with Anael?" said Sam.

"Nothing happened. Ask her yourself." said Dean.

Even Cas was not buying it. "You and Anael?"

Anael unfortunately picked that moment to come into the library. She looked at Dean. "I thought we weren't going to tell anyone." she said.

"Oh crap." said Dean, "Okay, look, we had a fight last night and we yelled and things were said that we both regret and we agreed to put it behind us and not say anything about it, ever, to anyone."

"What was the fight about?" said Sam.

"It doesn't matter. It was my fault. I've apologised. Anael knows I didn't mean it."

"True." she said, "I know that everything that happened last night meant absolutely nothing." It was honest and accurate and it tore him apart to hear it, but for a moment, they believed it.

They believed it because she said it so certainly and angels were not good at lying, but then Sam looked at him and Sam knew him far too well. Whether it was the look of shame in his eyes or the way he seemed to hate what she had said or just that the rhythm of his lies was just a little off, he said, "Did you have sex with her, Dean?"

"It was a mistake." said Dean.

"It was my fault." said Anael.

"It was not her fault." said Dean.

Cas was furious. "How could you do this to me?"

"I didn't do anything to you!" said Dean, "I would have remembered."

"Yes, you would." said Cas coldly.

Sam seemed to be struggling not to laugh. "Are you two listening to yourselves. You sound like a Destiel fanfic!"

"He Winchestered another frickin' angel!" said Cas.

"He did what?" said Sam.

"She's never going back to Heaven now!" said Cas.

"She never was anyway," said Anael, "It's not for Dean that I want to be human. Anyway, weren't you fine with me choosing my own life?"

"Yes, I was." said Cas, "But I wanted you to do it with a clear head."

"My head is perfectly clear. Nothing clears the mind like accidentally having sex with someone who doesn't care."

"You don't even care and you had sex with her?" said Cas, "You used Anael for sex?"

"This is really not a discussion I need to have with you or Sam." said Dean.

"Fine." said Cas and disappeared.

"Great!" said Sam, "Do you know how long I spent last night trying to stop him feeling anxious about all this?"

"You knew last night?"

"All we knew was that you were late. I'll talk to him later. We need to clear a few things up."

"I told you, none of your business."

"Dean, I don't care if you and Anael get together. I think you could be great together and it's about time you got to have a life of your own."

"As I said, it was a mistake. We've agreed that it won't happen again."

"Yes, we agreed." said Anael, "I think I'll go bury the vampire, as nobody seems to doubt that part of the story."

"Anael, are you okay?" said Dean.

"I'm fine."

"And we're still friends?" he said.

"That's what we agreed."

"Good. We have a good thing here. We just have to keep it platonic."

"Of course. Trust me, it wasn't so good that I can't live without it." She left. He couldn't blame her for that parting shot.

Sam was still looking at him. "Was it just sex?"

"Yes. I know what you're gonna say and you're right, but you can't be as disgusted with me as I am with myself."

"Why would I be disgusted?" said Sam, "I've been waiting for you to find someone."

"Anael isn't someone." said Dean.

"There's clearly chemistry between you."

"Yeah, chemistry, but not biology. Sam, she isn't human. She isn't even a she! Junkless, remember?"

Sam smirked. "Well, you had sex with her last night, so clearly she had all the right junk in all the right places at the time."

"A vessel, who did not, by the way, consent to any of this."

"The owner of the vessel is dead." said Sam, as if that made it okay.

"Which makes it necrophilia, never one of my kinks." said Dean.

"What are you doing, Dean?"

"I don't understand the question."

"It's like you're trying to turn this into something terrible and saying this kind of stuff can only hurt Anael. Is that what you want?"

"I hurt her when I had sex with her." he said, "There was no way not to hurt her then. I should just have sent her home and picked up some chick in a bar."

"And if you wanted a casual hook-up, that's exactly what you would have done." said Sam, "It wasn't meaningless, was it?"

"It was a disaster." said Dean.

"Because she's an angel or because she's sparking off feelings you thought you'd shut down years ago?"

"The angel thing, mostly." he said.

"Problem solved. Soon, she won't be an angel."

"Which is another reason why we have to forget the whole thing." said Dean.

"Okay, you lost me there." said Sam.

"No more angels are gonna fall because of me." said Dean and whatever other conflicting fears and desires ran around his head, he meant that.