Note: Just a few changes. First off, I am now co-writing this story with my friend Moira Starsong and all the Nick POV scenes are written by her. Also, note that I added another short Nice POV chapter as the new Chapter two. Just want to let people know so as not to confuse anyone.

Nick pulled down his baseball cap and flipped up the collar of his denim jacket. It didn't do much against the chilly Montana air, but he didn't care. He was hovering behind a strand of trees in a small park, ice cold blue eyes focused intently on the motel across the street.

Nick had been right; Caroline had led him straight to Castiel. The Nephilim boy, Lucifer's son, Jack, was with them too, although he was nowhere to be seen right now. Castiel and Caroline were alone in the motel room.

There was a strange and foreign slither that might have been jealousy in Nick's gut at the thought cold and clammy. The more rational part of his brain was aware that it made absolutely no sense. Perhaps it was because Caroline's life had already been so damaged by angels, so destroyed beyond hope of repair, that the thought of Castiel riding in and playing the hero, pretending to be the white knight, made Nick nauseous. Nick was fully aware that he was not a good man, and was in all likelihood the villain of this piece. He wasn't entirely self-deluded.

But that didn't make Castiel the good guy. He was just as bad as Nick was; worse, even. Nick had researched Jimmy Novak's family, had found out all about Amelia's death and Claire's trouble with the law, going in and out of foster homes, stealing and fighting, ultimately becoming a hunter, an underage hunter. Talk about a dead-end job. A hunter's life expectancy was what, two years? Three? A decade, maybe, for the good ones. The Winchesters didn't count, they got more lives than a cat, more second chances than a just universe should allow. No, Claire Novak was going to die a miserable, bloody death in only a few years, Nick was certain. The blame for that rested squarely on Castiel's angelic shoulders. Angels didn't care about the damage they did. After all, angels made him. If angels weren't good, who was? There weren't any real heroes in the world.

It had been years since Nick had smoked, he had given it up when Sarah had gotten pregnant, but right now all he wanted was a long, deep drag from a cigarette and the satisfying hit of nicotine afterwards. Seemed like the thing one should do on a stake out.

Nick spotted Jack heading up the sidewalk towards the motel, actually whistling a jaunty tune. God, Nick hated people like him. The only reason the boy's innocence could have lasted in the face of all he had seen was because he was half-angel, he was sure. Nick didn't know if he should hate Jack or feel sorry for him. Nick had plans for Castiel, but he hadn't yet figured out how Jack would feature in those plans.

The Nephilim boy entered Castiel's motel room. Nick tensed when only a few moments later the door opened again and Caroline came running out. She was wearing the new clothes that Castiel and Jack had bought her with their stolen credit cards, which hugged her slightly skinny - but still attractive - form. She raced across the street, auburn-brown hair flying behind her. A car swerved to avoid hitting her, honking its protest, and she just flipped the driver the bird. Nick chuckled at that, but his amusement was cut off when he realized that she was heading for the park. She came to a stop not far from the copse of trees that Nick was hiding in.

God, she was beautiful, even while crying. Her dark hair was windswept and tangled, cheeks flushed, giving her a distinctly post-coital look. Nick could feel his heart hammering in his chest, so loudly he could swear she'd hear it too. Lately only killing had given him a feeling this intense.

She was distracted, she was upset, she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. Nick could have snuck up behind her and knocked her out, taken her back to the abandoned building on the outside of town that he had set up in preparation. Nick made an impulsive decision instead.

He stepped out of the shadows, giving her a good deal of space between them. The monster inside of him, the angry thing that hungered for blood and death and chaos, protested, but Nick squashed it down.

"Hey, lady, you okay?"

She startled at the sound of his voice, jumping, her eyes wide with fear. There was small part of Nick that was pleased with that response. He was surprised that it is smaller than it should be, considering he's been hunting her. Considering what he was planning to do to her, like he had the other empty vessels.

Nick spread his hands wide, to show he wasn't a threat. Ha! What a lie! "Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Ni … Noah." Castiel had probably told her about him. "I'm Noah."

"What are you doing here?" She shrank back just slightly, posture guarded, shoulders tense. Ready for a fight, or to run. This woman had already been hurt, and badly. Her hard, suspicious eyes reminded Nick of his last victim, the young girl that he had given the mercy of a quick death. Nick had a sudden urge to hunt down and torture whoever had hurt Caroline the way he had tortured that last girl's pimp.

He scrambled for an explanation that wouldn't make a woman alone in a park with a strange man suspicious. "I-I...I'm looking for my dog. She got lost somewhere around here. I've been looking for hours and I haven't found her, so I doubled back."

"Oh." A bit of sympathy crept into her expression, and Nick was exaltant. He had her. He could close the distance between them now, overpower her before she knew what was happening. He didn't.

"I'll get her, sooner or later," Nick tried not to let the threat slip back into his voice, a habit after so many years of being feared as the symbol of supreme evil. His eyes drifted down Caroline's body, and a different kind of hunger, one that he hadn't fed in a long time, started to stir in his lower abdomen. His last memory of having sex had been raping Rowena, when Lucifer still had control of his body. Even with the archangel gone, Nick hadn't been able to bring himself to be intimate with anyone since. The memory was just too awful. Never mind the fact that he was now torturing empty vessels to death, and enjoying it; Nick wasn't a rapist. Even someone as evil as he was had to have some standards. Nick swallowed thickly and forced his eyes back up to her face. Thankfully, she was too emotional to notice where his eyes had just momentially lingered.

"What happened?" Nick wasn't feigning interest. For some reason, he genuinely wanted to know.

For some reason that defied logic, she answered his admittedly invasive question.

"I just …" her eyes darted around, looking like a frightened deer. It somehow simultaneously bought out the predatory instinct left behind from Lucifer, and a protectiveness at the same time. Nick struggled against the conflicting emotions that threatened to pull him under like a great tide. "I just did something I shouldn't have. Kissed someone I shouldn't …."

Nick's eyes narrowed. She had kissed him. She had kissed Castiel! The rage that boiled up inside of him, the sheer possessiveness surprised him. Castiel and his kind had been the ones to do this to her in the first place! Castiel didn't deserve Caroline's affection!

"Doesn't matter." Caroline laughed nervously. "He rejected me, he's too good for a girl like me."

The unexpected jealousy instantly calmed at the added information. But the beast inside Nick was fully awake now, and growling. "Sounds to me like he's the one who doesn't deserve you," He kept his voice even and his face carefully controlled, even as his fingernails were digging into his palm from the fist he was suddenly making.

"Caroline!" Voices were calling for her, Castiel's and Jack's, and Nick's chest tightened at the concern in the angel's voice.

"I-I should go," Caroline chewed her bottom lip as she looked at him.

Nick didn't want to let her. He wanted to grab Caroline and shove her against the nearest tree. He wanted to kiss her like she'd never been kissed before, deep and hard and desperate. He wanted to hike her legs up around his waist and drive himself into her. He wanted to show her that she needed a man, not an angel. He wanted to ravish her right there and make her like it, make her scream his name. Instead he let her go with just a curt nod, not trusting his traitorous voice to make the sounds he would command it to. Nick had come here to torture and kill Caroline, and the intensity with which he now wanted to claim her and fuck her and make her his confused and terrified him.

Nick slunk back into the shadows as he watched her join Castiel and the Nephilim boy, and a voice at the back of his head that sounded distinctly like Lucifer laughed at him. What do you think is going to happen here, you idiot? That she'll forgive you and you'll live happily ever after in a cute little house with a white picket fence? Or maybe she'll actually be as bad as you, pick up a knife herself and join you in your work? Nick was ashamed to admit that the thought of Caroline covered in splatters of a blood with a scalpel twirling in her delicate fingers was arousing. The voice sneered at him. That's never going to happen, and you know it. You were made to be alone. There is only one entity in the universe who can understand you, and he's gone.

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In the short time that Jack had been gone, he had managed to arrange an elaborate upscale experience that certainly surprised both Castiel and Caroline. It was clear that the Nephilim had gone out of his way to put everything together.

Caroline hurried away from the mysterious man in the park. Somehow, talking to him, a complete stranger had made her feel a little better. She didn't want them to know she had been crying. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment over what she had tried to do. She didn't know how to feel about Castiel's rejection either. After all, he wouldn't have rejected Hannah, would he? She wasn't sure if he would have, but it made her angry. If Castiel thought her body was good enough even if she was being used by Hannah, then why wasn't she good enough for him when she was just herself?

Of course, she knew somewhere that she was being irrational. Castiel wasn't like that. He wasn't one to give in to the heat of the moment. She remembered that about him. He may not have been aware, but when Hannah was inside her, she could still see, feel, sense everything around her, and she thought she understood Castiel somehow. Even when Hannah used her mouth to speak, her hands to touch, her body and her mind, she was still in there, quietly observing.

Thankfully, Jack didn't seem to pick up on what he had almost walked in on much. Other than innocent curiosity, which Caroline gathered Castiel had probably explained to him in her absence, he said nothing. And Castiel didn't bring it up either. Instead, the young Nephilim insisted that they get ready. Even though she didn't feel like dressing up anymore, she really just wanted to slink silently away, she couldn't bear to disappoint Jack. There was something about the boy that made her feel somewhat protective of him. Of his happiness.

Caroline didn't remember the last time she had felt beautiful. But as she looked at herself in the mirror, at the shimmering black evening dress she had changed into, the matching heels, the faux pearl necklace, and the makeup that painted her pale face with a little color on her cheeks, a simple red shade of lipstick, and an icy blue eyeshadow, she felt transformed. Her hair was left loose; bangs swept to one side, the dark waves danced around her as she moved her head.

She didn't miss the look on Castiel's face when she had emerged from the motel bathroom. And she knew there was a blush on her face as well as her eyes fell on the sleek formal suit he was wearing. His handsome features and those deep blue eyes which certainly had not gone unnoticed from the start were brought out by the way his dark hair was combed back. For a fleeting moment, she regretted that her earlier advances had not succeeded, and she wondered if he felt the same.

And of course, there was Jack. The young Nephilim beamed eagerly as he stood there in his tan colored suit, his sandy blonde hair combed back as well. That promising gleam in his eye told Caroline that he had this evening in his control. It also made her a little suspicious that she was being set up. Jack seemed to have picked up on the idea that she and Cas- or at least Hannah and Cas- had been close and he seemed eager to encourage whatever he thought was between them, misguided as he might be about the whole concept. The Nephilim's matchmaking attempts were certainly not going unnoticed.

The restaurant- inside the tiny town's only decent hotel- matched their wardrobe — a white tablecloth sort of place with dimmed lights and soft jazz music giving it a cozy, romantic atmosphere. Caroline didn't remember the last time she had been in such a formal place. It was almost enough to make her forget she had been homeless for the past three years. Almost. It felt as though she didn't belong here like she was intruding somehow.

"How exactly have you managed to arrange this?" Castiel asked Jack as he and the Nephilim slipped into the booth while Caroline quietly settled in across the table. "And how are you paying for it?"

"I called Sam," Jack said, clearly pleased with himself. "He looked it up on the yelp. Oh and there's this." Jack pulled out a card and handed it to Castiel. Castiel recognized the name as one of Dean's false aliases and sighed.

"Of course," he said, taking the card.

Caroline had to smile at how Jack referred to it as 'the yelp.' The subtle nuances that stood out to her about him. Pushing aside her earlier embarrassment and the old wounds this whole encounter had brought up for her, she turned her focus to Jack.

"So Jack, what do you like to study in school?" she asked curiously as the waiter handed them their menus. Jack looked to Castiel for guidance, unsure how to respond.

"He doesn't go to school," Castiel spoke for him. "Being half angel, he already possesses much of the knowledge of the cosmos. As for human experiences… that is coming in time."

Caroline frowned, thinking back about what she once was, long ago. Castiel seemed to pick up on her thoughts as he prompted her.

"What did you do before… Hannah?" Castiel wanted to know. Caroline had almost forgotten the woman she once was; she had to think about it, it seemed so long ago, a lifetime ago.

"I was a history teacher at a university," Caroline replied. "A small college, really. But I taught medieval studies and ancient civilizations."

Castiel raised a brow. "I had no idea," he said, a small smile spreading across his lips. Jack seemed especially interested.

"What is history?" Jack wanted to know. At that moment their waiter interrupted them, and Caroline turned her attention to her menu long enough to order seafood linguine while Castiel chose the penne ragu. He made a point to explain to their waiter that calling pasta 'angel hair' was inappropriate as angels in their pure form did not have hair. The confused waiter tried to muddle through an appropriate response before turning to Jack who ordered a pizza with extra sausage and cheese. Jack insisted that they enjoy a bottle of champagne and Caroline began to get the distinct impression that Jack had ulterior motives for this whole venture.

"History is the study of the past," Caroline explained, smiling as the Nephilim ordered himself a cherry Italian soda with whip cream and a cherry on top. "It's important to learn the lessons of the past to prepare for a proper future. At least that is what I used to believe. I was very passionate about my work."

She sighed as she thought of how true that was. She had been passionate about her work. She was sure she had, she really enjoyed learning about the past. She used to indulge in period dramas and books about the past, and she had loved to dress up as a woman from yesteryear back in her youth, but had that been the only career choice for her? Had there been a chance for adventure that she had missed because she took the easier route? She'd worked hard, went to college, but then, she had begun to wonder why she had ever said yes to Hannah in the first place, and the thought that she may not have been all that content with her previous life had crossed her mind. She loved Joe, but did she say yes to him a little too easily too? Yes to her chosen career path because her parents had been teachers and because teaching meant that she wouldn't have to leave Montana, even if she yearned to see the world? Had her whole life been one giant 'yes' all along? Did she even know how to say no?

"It is interesting that you have chosen that course of study," Castiel spoke up. "As you probably know, Hannah had never been to Earth before the fall. But Humans have always fascinated me, I have observed some aspects of human history."

Caroline's thoughts of her life were momentarily pushed aside as her heart fluttered, if only a little, as she did remember that old spark of life, slight though it was. "Tell me what you have seen," she asked eagerly. "I've studied history all my life but to actually see it. I've often imagined what it would be like to wear a beautiful renaissance gown or to visit the Greek oracles."

Castiel shrugged. "What would you like to know?" he asked as Jack shuffled about in his seat, glancing eagerly between Castiel and Caroline as if expecting some kind of spark to ignite between them.

"Well… tell me about the middle ages," she responded. "I studied that period the most. I used to be fluent in Latin and Old English among others."

"Well, it was dark," Castiel replied with a smirk as their waiter brought them their meals. Caroline couldn't help but feel her mouth water at the sight of chunks of lobster, clams, shrimp, and calamari. She couldn't remember the last time she had been able to partake in such a fancy meal. Jack grinned ear to ear as she closed her eyes on that first bite of lobster, savoring it.

Castiel chuckled at her expression before continuing. "The Middle Ages in Europe. People smelled. They were close-minded, primitive, and violent. But they paved the way for much that humans have achieved now. Of course, they always seemed to be dying of a disease. The black plague was particularly hard to watch. I remember walking through a town that had been completely wiped out. Only a few months prior, I had walked through the streets, sampled the market, and had a rather alarming encounter with a monk who tried to accuse me of blasphemy when I informed him that Gabriel had, as the humans say, 'flown the coop' in heaven."

Caroline laughed. It was a genuine laugh, and she couldn't believe how good it felt rolling through her body like a wave. She tried to imagine Castiel in the middle ages. "Did you take a vessel back then?" she wondered. "In order to interact with people?"

Castiel nodded. "It was a woman," he said. "I was only part of her existence for a short time, but the next time I returned to the village, in my true form and invisible, she and everyone else around her were all dead. All that was left alive in that village were the rats and a few stray dogs."

"I'd love to learn more," Caroline heard herself say. Where did this all come from? They had stumbled onto some sort of gold mine here. She hadn't felt this alive in so very long. But the moment would be fleeting. Castiel happily complied with her request, and she spent the next half hour listening intently to his stories. He had seen so much, and she was hungry to know everything. It was at that moment that Jack spoke up, as he looked between them.

"I think I have to go somewhere that is away now," he said bluntly. Caroline turned her attention to him and was suddenly suspicious that this whole evening might have been a setup. The Nephilim wasn't fooling her with his coy attempts at trying to exit the scene whenever it seemed she and Castiel were engaged in a close repertoire.

"Jack," Castiel began, but the Nephilim was already getting out of his seat.

"Don't forget dessert," he reminded them before scampering away.

Caroline sighed and glanced at Castiel once they were alone. Castiel only shrugged apologetically. "I think I know what he is trying to do," he replied.

"Yeah…" Caroline glanced down at her hands. For a moment, there was an uncomfortable silence. There was suddenly less to talk about, but Caroline found she had enjoyed this evening. It had been so long since she had felt this way. Laughing over jokes, listening endlessly to Castiel's stories, eating food that she hadn't enjoyed in decades, it all seemed surreal. As if it must be an illusion, a dream. She didn't know if she could trust these feelings.

"Caroline," Castiel's tone told her he seemed to sense her feelings. "I want you to know-"

"It's fine," she cut off, looking at him. "I know. I'm sorry for the way I behaved earlier. I shouldn't have… I know I'm not her."

"Is that what it was about?" Castiel sighed. He quickly picked up the check and paid before standing up and reaching for her hand. "Caroline. Come with me."

Caroline took his hand, letting him lead her out of the restaurant. They found a bench across the street in the park. It was a chilly night, but the cold somehow felt good as she sat down, pivoting her torso to face him.

"I miss her," Caroline offered. And it was true. She missed Hannah. "I think about her every day."

"I miss her too," Castiel agreed. "But don't think Hannah has anything to do with what happened earlier. I just don't want to take advantage of you, Caroline. I came here to protect you from Nick, not to use you like that."

Caroline lowered her eyes, feeling that familiar lump in her throat. She should be touched by his words, by his refusal to use her as other men had. But it only made her feel worse. Like he was refusing to be the source of affection she so desperately craved.

She felt his hand brush against her chin, gently prompting her to look back at him. When one lone tear slipped from her eye, he used his thumb to wipe it from her cheek. His deep blue eyes were pensive and empathetic. "I'm not saying no to it," he reiterated. "And… this… is a good start. This evening. I had a good time and I enjoyed your company, I hope you enjoyed mine. But… after what you told me, what you've had to do to survive…" She cringed as she thought about what she had told him. "I don't want to be one of those men."

She closed her eyes, savoring his touch. She had to resist every urge in her body, as his touch was electrifying. She desperately wanted him to keep touching her. She needed him to keep touching her. But he wasn't going to. He moved his hand away, and she opened her eyes to look at him.

"I can see why she cared for you," Caroline said softly, her voice low with contemplative emotion as she smiled. "Why you moved her."

Castiel smiled, thoughtfully glancing up at the sky as if to reach the heavens with his thoughts. "Hannah was someone I wish I had more time to know," he said. "She was confident, brave, strong-willed, and passionate. But she was impulsive, and she followed the 'angel code' a little too rigidly sometimes. She was my friend. And she was caring and kind and compassionate. Her actions in giving you up inspired me to look into the life of my own vessel. To care about him and the people I took him away from."

"Is that all she was?" Caroline asked. "Just a friend? She was more than that to me." Caroline knew the angel that Hannah was. Although she deeply resented the angel for what she had been put through, she also felt a closeness to the angel that she could never really put into words.

"Perhaps not," Castiel admitted. "We'll never know what might have been. She was taken from me far too soon."

A reflective silence spread between them as they both reflected on the angel that had left an impression on both of them. Although she had been only an observer in Hannah's thoughts and actions as she shared her body, there was something about her that Caroline admired- that she wished she had. Confidence. Self-worth. Value. Hannah had commanded others, that was something Caroline could never do.

"Come on," Castiel took her hand and placed it under his forearm. She stood up, and the two of them began to meander slowly back toward the motel.

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Nick continued to watch from the shadows. He had followed them to the restaurant, trailing behind a safe pace so Caroline - and more importantly Castiel - wouldn't notice him. He discarded his baseball cap and denim jacket in a trash can along the way, leaving him in a simple long-sleeve pullover. He wasn't exactly up to the hotel restaurant's usual dress code, but a few hundred dollar bills to the maître'd took care of that.

If Caroline had been beautiful before, she was absolutely breathtaking in the black evening gown that slinked down her body, hair swept to the side in waves. For a moment, Nick allowed himself to imagine that she had dressed this way for him.

Even from across the restaurant, it was clear that Jack was trying to set up Castiel and Caroline. That alone should make Nick hate him. But he couldn't. The boy radiated sweetness and innocence, and while Nick normally hated people with that relentless cheerfulness, somehow he wanted to protect Jack from the darkness of the world. YOU are the darkness in this world …. the voice at the back of his head taunted him. Nick squashed it down. Only someone who really understood evil could predict it, could protect someone from it, he reasoned to himself.

Jack wasn't his son, he was Lucifer's, and more to the point, he didn't come from Nick's body. The Nephilim boy had been conceived when the archangel was possessing another vessel … But after eight years of being possessed by Lucifer, it was hard to not think of something of Lucifer's as being his as boy was even blond-haired, like Nick. He couldn't help but wonder if Teddy would have looked like him, if he had been allowed to grow up, instead of being murdered in his crib. And now Castiel was raising his son …. Lucifer's son, Nick corrected himself, forcing his fist to unclench under the table.

As the night wore on, Nick had to watch Castiel laugh and enjoy himself with Jack and Caroline at his side. Nick's anger grew. He couldn't help but imagine himself in Castiel's place, basking in the warm center of Jack's obvious adoration and Caroline's enthusiastic affection. Nick couldn't hear what they were talking about from where he was sitting, but it was her complete and total engagement with whatever the seraph was saying was obvious.

Caroline should be looking at him like that! Only he could understand what she had been through. And he wouldn't judge her for what she had done to survive while homeless, as the holier-than-thou angel clearly had. Nick would treasure her, and protect her, and make sure that no other man ever touched her again.

Some small part of Nick's psyche was laughing at him, was aware he was projecting his grief over his slaughtered family and the life he'd never be able to have with them, that Caroline wasn't Sarah and Jack wasn't Teddy. Some part of himself knew that they weren't his family and they didn't know him from Adam, that Nick didn't deserve them. But then Castiel would make a joke and Caroline would laugh, and the boiling primal rage would eclipse all reason. Castiel didn't deserve them either. Jack was Lucifer's, that made him his son, Caroline was his …. Well, just his.

The delicate stem of the wineglass snapped from Nick gripping it too hard.

"It appears I've been stood up," Nick told the waiter when he thought he had sent too many side-glances his way. That bought a sympathetic look and seemed to assuage any suspicious thoughts the server may have had about him dining alone. That would also be a legitimate reason for his jealousy over Castiel and Caroline's excellently-proceeding date, if he had let too much of his emotions show on his face. They were lighting up the entire restaurant. Who wouldn't be jealous of that?

Nick was going to have to move quickly if he wanted to save Caroline from the angel's mind games.