On the way back to his house, Cas eyes keep wandering to the sickly Omega standing beside him. It felt wrong for him to be standing when he was so ill. But it was customary that Omegas stand in the Public Transport to let Alphas and Betas sit, so stand the Omega did. Every couple of minutes Dean coughed, and every time Cas would look at him to make sure he was okay. A couple times he almost fell, but before Cas could help, he just caught himself on the side of the transport. After about three times of this happening, Cas offered for Dean to take his place. He declined though, almost looking scared at the thought.

"Oh no, Alpha Castiel, I appreciate the offer, really I do, but it is against the rules. I'm sorry." He really did look sorry, and he gazed at the seat wistfully for a couple seconds before staring vacantly ahead. Cas said nothing, but he knew that the Omega could smell his discomfort, so he tried to soothe himself so that Dean wouldn't be scared. What happened to him?, Cas thought, but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of soft sniffling coming from Dean. He looked over to see that the Omega was trying (and failing) to stifle tears that had started to spill over.

"Hey, Dean, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Cas asked, turning to face him, "Do your ribs hurt?"

"No, I just…," Dean coughed, then cleared his throat, "I didn't know you would be so… nice. Alpha, the Betas at the center… they did things…" It seemed that at this point he was beyond words, so Cas stepped in.

"Dean, whatever they did, that is in your past now. You're with me now, understand? You don't have to tell me what they did. You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to. But I will be here." At this point other passengers on the transport are staring, and Cas is very aware of Alastair from the Omega Center eyeing Dean's outburst with a look that resembled disgust. Ignoring them, Cas turned back to Dean, who was taking short bursts of breath. "There is only a couple more minutes until we are home. Can you make it that long?"

"Yes, of course I can, Alpha." Dean wiped his eyes and grabbed back onto the handholds hanging from the ceiling, apparently holding it together for now.

As the transport slowed to a stop, Dean let out a breath of relief. After his outburst in front of Alpha, Dean was absolutely terrified that he would be punished like he was in the Center. But, again, Alpha surprised him in the best way. Dean was happy, but he was also confused, as he had been taught that Alphas were supposed to be worse than Betas, and the few Alphas he met in the Center while they were doing Alpha Scent Training had only enforced that belief. But Alpha Castiel was different, Dean could see that.

"Alright buddy, I have to put the lead on you now, are you ready?" Dean nodded, although he thought it funny that Alpha was asking for permission to do something to an Omega.

"Alpha Castiel?"

"Yes Dean?"

"Could you… help me walk to the house?" Without saying anything, Alpha simply turns, picks Dean up like he did before, and carries him down to the front door.

"Thank you, Alpha."

"There is no need to thank me Dean. Now, let me show you your new house."

There was only one word running through Dean's head as they toured the house. Awesome. It wasn't a particularly big house, compared to other Alpha's homes, nor was it very fancy, but it was clean, a thing that was practically unheard of in the Omega Center. There was no stench of blood or feces, no questionable stains on the wall. It was just a normal house. But in Dean's eyes, it was perfect. And, not that it mattered, but it smells like Alpha Castiel, and that made Dean feel content. It was when they were touring the kitchen that it happened. There was a knife block sitting innocently on the counter and all of a sudden Dean it slipping back to where he would give anything to never see again.

It's bright, too bright, and I am on the floor. I can't remember what happened, and then I do. We were practicing cooking. I knocked the knife block onto the ground, breaking it in two. I cringe, remembering what I did and the punishment that will surely come now.

"Get up, you filthy Omega." It's the voice of a female named Abbadon. She's vicious, more so than the rest of the Betas, and she's angry. "I said get up!" She yanks me up by my arm, dislocating my shoulder in the process. "I guess we're gonna have to teach you a lesson, huh?" She kicks me so hard in the knee that I drop, and this time she leaves me there, grabbing one of the knives off of the floor where the block broke.

"Please…" I beg, but I know that it will do no good. She violently pulls my shirt up and carves something into my side. I scream, but that makes her go slower. I'm afraid, so afraid. It feels like an hour, but after what was probably only a couple minutes she stands and yells for another Instructor to take me away, as I'm distracting the other Omegas. They pick me up by the shoulders, yanking my already dislocating shoulder and causing more droplets of blood to leak onto the floor. They half carry, half drag me down the hall to my cage and throw me in. They take a moment to laugh at me, then lock the cage and leave me alone.

I gingerly pull my shirt up to see what she carved into me. When I see it, I immediately vomit, hit by the evil and truth of it. Carved into my skin, deep enough that the scars will never go away, are the words, "You are nothing, Omega."

Cas didn't know what was happening. All he knew was that after they entered the kitchen, Dean collapsed. Thinking it was caused by his weakness and sickness, Cas moved closer to make sure he was okay, but then he saw that Dean was still awake, and he froze. He heard Dean muttering incomprehensibly and twitching, but his eyes were wide open. He stayed like this for a couple minutes, and Cas had no idea what to do. Finally, Dean jerks himself back to reality, and he immediately stands up.

"I am so sorry Alpha, I'm s-so sorry. P-please don't hurt me. Please." He looked so scared and so lost that Cas didn't say anything, just placed a hand on Dean's shoulder quietly and looked into his eyes. They stayed like that until Dean's breathing slowed down and his eyes didn't hold as much panic as they did before.

"Are you okay?" Cas asked.

"Yes Alpha. I am now." Dean coughed again, a fit that lasted about a full minute. Cas's worry spiked again when he realized that Dean's eyes were glazed over and his face burned with fever.

"No, you're not. I'm taking you to a doctor. That cough sounds really bad, and I'm pretty sure you have a fever."

"Oh, Alpha, that's very kind, but I will be okay. What I have is a common illness in the center."

"That may be so, but from what I've seen, I don't trust anything in that place." Dean still looked deeply uncomfortable, so Cas relented, "Look, tell you what, if the cough is still this bad a week from now, I'll take you in, okay?" Dean nodded, so Cas relaxed and leaned against the counter.

"Are you tired, Alpha?"

"Yeah, a little bit. Why don't we go to bed?"

"Okay." Cas leads Dean up to the bedroom, and they climb into the bed.

"Goodnight Dean."

"Night Alpha"