The three of them were kneeling beside Cas when he opened his eyes. Nobody said a word, and Sam was pretty sure Dean and Ethan stopped breathing for a moment.

Cas's eyes darted from face to face, from Sam then Dean and finally Ethan, and then he frowned, his eyebrows scrunching; the younger Winchester imagined that if the angel wasn't lying down right now he might have tilted his head in confusion. "I'm… alive…" he said, a half-statement and half-question.

Ethan instantly smiled and placed a hand on Cas's temple, rubbing it affectionately. "Yes you are. You alright?"

Dean frowned at the gesture, but he didn't say anything, although he looked like he wanted to. Sam almost laughed, but he managed to disguise it as a cough at the last moment.

"I… think so," Castiel said as he pushed himself off the ground and stood up. He didn't seem to realize he wasn't wearing anything, so the shirt covering his junk slid off into the ground.

Sam quickly stood up and looked away, because really, a front seat viewing of an angel's genitals was definitely not something he wanted right now. Dean did the same, although his cheeks were a bit flushed. Plus his brother seemed to think he was being subtle, but the way his eyes were constantly darting around between Cas and anywhere that isn't Cas was a dead giveaway.

The younger Winchester filed that away for later on his mental folder of 'useful things to tease Dean with'.

Ethan didn't seem to be bothered with the angel's nakedness; he just picked up the fallen shirt, gave it to Cas and said, "Might wanna put a shirt on. Don't want to make your friends uncomfortable." He then smirked at Dean, who only replied with a strangled cough.

"I'm gonna grab some pants for you, okay?" Ethan said. When Cas nodded his assent, the hunter ran back towards his car. The angel then slowly put his shirt on. (Sam was glad the shirt was long enough it covered Cas's junk.)

Cas suddenly spoke. "Sam… Dean…"

Sam smiled. "Hey Cas." Dean smiled too, but he didn't say anything.

"You're here."

It was Dean then who spoke. "Course we are. Why shouldn't we be?"

"Because you didn't… want me…" Cas stated like an irrefutable fact, paired with a confused frown and a slight tilt of the head. Sam noticed his brother's face falter at that. He was still probably beating himself up over it, and while Sam still hadn't forgiven Dean for what he did, he really should just focus on the fact that Cas was okay (Although he did seem pretty out of it, not that Sam can blame him. He did almost die).

"But we're here now," Sam said, and he patted Cas on the shoulders.

Ethan arrived, clothes in hand. "Okay, underwear—" He gave Cas plain black boxer-briefs, which the angel put on without fanfare. On the corner of his eye Sam saw Dean's expression, his eyes wide and his mouth partly open from… well, Sam didn't want to know. "—and pants." Ethan passed him a pair of faded, well-worn denim and the angel put that on too.

It's weird, seeing Cas without his usual suit and trench coat. It's still a bit disorienting, really, even if it wasn't the first time Sam had seen the angel without his usual getup. And with Cas's hair longer and even more unruly than before, if the younger Winchester didn't know Cas was an angel Sam wouldn't have suspected he was anything but human.

"Ah crap, I forgot the shoes…" the hunter said, but a mischievous smile played across his lips. "Want me to carry you?" he asked Cas.

The angel huffed, but he smiled in amusement as he shook his head. "No, I'm f—" he started, but before he could finish he promptly passed out.

Dean and Ethan were on him in a flash, his brother on one side and Ethan on the other, propping the angel up before he crashed into the ground. "What the fuck?" Dean said. "Cas? Cas!"

"He's sleeping… I think," Sam said.

"Well he did almost die. Then there's the weird lights, and the flowers and trees and shit… What's up with that, anyway?" Ethan asked.

"No idea. But… well, it might be angel grace…" said Sam.

Dean (who was staring at the angel's face the whole time he was passed out) turned to look at Sam and said, "He's human now. Cas said Metatron took his grace."

Sam shrugged. "I know, but… remember Anna? There was a giant tree where her grace was, and this one's kinda similar… but the color of the lights were different, so I'm not really sure."

"Huh. Figures angel grace can grow plants and stuff… although it's kinda ironic most of them are assholes," Ethan said with a huff. "But anyway, Cas needs to rest, so I'm gonna get him to my car and we'll—"

"No. We're taking him back to the bunker," Dean growled.

"Oh you've got a place? Cool. I'm coming with."

"Let me spell it out for you. When I said 'we' I meant me and Sam. You go and do whatever. You're not coming with us."

Sam groaned. It was kinda funny at first, Dean getting all pissy and possessive of Cas, but now it's just a pain in the ass. "Dean, it's fine, he can—"

"Damn it Sammy, we don't even fucking know who this guy actually is!"

Ethan's eyes narrowed. "I'm a friend of Cas."

"Cas is family, so you're not going anywhere near him."

The hunter scoffed, and his voice had gone cold. "If he's really family to you, what the hell was he doing all alone when he was newly human then?" Dean's jaw tightened in anger and guilt. Ethan, if he noticed, didn't seem to care and continued. "Oh wait, that's right, Cas mentioned some friend who kicked him out and didn't explain anything why he was kicked out. He thinks it's his fault by the way, because angels have it out for him and staying with you would put your sorry ass in danger. He's family, you say? You wanna take Cas? Fine. But wherever he's going I'm going, so you can go fuck yourself and stop telling me what to do."

The venom on the hunter's voice was so palpable Sam visibly flinched. His brother looked like he's just a moment away from swinging a fist, and the only thing that was stopping him from doing so was the fact that he was holding on to Cas. Sam didn't really want this day to end in bloodshed, so he had to intervene, fast.

He grabbed the unconscious angel on the waist and hauled him up his shoulders. Dean and Ethan was surprised enough from Sam's sudden movement they let go, so there wasn't much resistance from the two. Cas was lighter than he expected; Sam always thought he'd be heavier, but considering that he was human now the younger Winchester should have guessed otherwise.

"Okay, so here's what we're gonna do. Me and Cas will be riding your car—" Sam said, pointing at Ethan, "—while you two go ride in the Impala." When Dean looked like he was about to protest, Sam quickly cut him off. "No, look. When Cas wakes up he'll just ask about Ethan anyway, 'cause he's the last person he was with. It'll be a lot easier for all of us if he comes. Anyway, we good?"

"Fine by me. Keys are in the ignition," Ethan said while shrugging. It was amazing (and just a little bit unnerving) how fast his tone changed.

Dean however, while calming down somewhat, still seemed to be in a disagreeing mood. "Why the hell am I stuck with him?"

Sam rolled his eyes. He started walking towards Ethan's car and said, with a smirk, "Go play nice with each other."

"Not gonna fucking happen," Dean said through gritted teeth.

"Great!" Ethan said. "Where are we going?"

"Kansas."

The atmosphere inside the Impala was, to put it lightly, excruciatingly tense.

Infuriatingly enough, it seems Dean was the only one feeling it. Ethan was on the passenger seat all relaxed, looking out the car window while his hand tapped in rhythm to the loud blaring of the radio. It only made Dean's foul mood even fouler.

He knew why he was getting pissed; and as much as he tried to force it down and repress it like he always did when it came to emotions he didn't want to deal with, it reared its ugly head, poking and prodding and toying with his mind.

Dean was jealous.

His feelings for Cas shifted somewhere along the way. He didn't know what the hell it was, he just knew it changed. If Dean had to guess, it might have been in Purgatory. Then again, it could be earlier than that, and it was only then that he was comfortable enough to acknowledge that the angel didn't fit in his life like before. Before he was family—a brother like Sam. But now, well… Dean would rather let the Apocalypse happen again than think of Sam just like the way he thinks of Cas right now.

Dean jerked in surprise as the sudden image of Cas naked came unbidden on his mind. The Impala swerved a little, and it was fortunate the highway was empty except for his baby.

Ethan gave him a questioning look which Dean returned with a glare. "What?"

"Nothing," the other hunter replied with a shrug. He broke his gaze and continued staring out the window. A moment later, he spoke. "This wasn't the first time, you know."

Dean froze. "What?"

"This is the… third time—well, second technically. A month back he got caught by a faction of angels. They were torturing him for info I think. He taught me this tracking spell so I was able to find him quickly, but by the time I arrived Cas was gone and there were dead angels everywhere." Ethan bowed his head down, his face crumpling in anger. "Apparently a rival faction infiltrated the place to 'rescue' Cas, but they just did the same to him."

Dean didn't know what to say. He could only wallow in guilt because there was nothing he could do to say or make it so that those things never happened to Cas.

"Anyway I… I like him, okay. That's why I wanted to come with. Make sure he's doing fine."

Ethan's tone and his words jerked Dean out of his reverie and the unpleasantness clawing his insides intensified. "You… like him?"

The hunter frowned. "Well, yeah. He's nice. And very knowledgeable with lore and stuff."

"No, I mean… are you interested in him?"

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "What's it to you?"

And wasn't that the million-dollar question.

There was movement on the rear-view mirror that caught Sam's eye.

Cas stirred, although it didn't seem like he was awake yet. The younger Winchester sighed with relief; he couldn't actually tell before if the angel was alright until that moment. Well, as alright as he can be, he supposed. They didn't know if Cas's unexpected recovery would have any consequences, but Sam pushed the thought away and focused on their blessings.

The angel was fine, and safe, and looking very much alive.

There was a groan, and Cas, while trying to sit up, said, "Ethan?" His voice was rougher than usual (Sam managed to convinced himself it was from lack of use, not because of the angel screaming himself hoarse from torture.)

"Nope, it's Sam."

"Oh." Cas blinked: once, twice, three times, chasing the last hints of unconsciousness away. "Where is he?" he asked.

"In the Impala with Dean," Sam replied.

"…Why?"

"Uh…" Sam didn't know what to say—well, he did actually, but he didn't really want to elaborate on Dean's newfound jealousy as of yet. So he just answered the first thing that came to mind: "They both lost on rock-paper-scissors."

Cas frowned and did his head-tilting thing. "I don't understand."

Sam grinned. "Don't worry about it. We're going back to the bunker, alright?"

"Oh," the angel said before he fell silent, although it wasn't long before he spoke up again. "Is that… okay? Dean said I couldn't stay."

The younger Winchester sighed. He quickly debated with himself on whether to wait when they get to the bunker to explain things, but decided it would be best if the matter was cleared as soon as possible.

"You can stay, okay? As long as you want. Look—you know how the trials were messing with me, right?"

Cas nodded. "You were dying."

"Yeah… but of course Dean wasn't having any of that." Sam's voice turned slightly bitter as he remembered.

"So he let this angel Ezekiel trick me into getting possessed—"

"What?" The shock in Cas's face was almost comforting.

"For three months, without me even knowing. He did heal me, so I guess I should be grateful but…" Sam trailed off, lost on the feeling of being violated, but he quickly shook it off. "Anyway, he revived you too, but he said if you stayed at the bunker he would leave, so… Dean chose."

"Are you okay, Sam?" the angel quietly asked, his face etched with concern.

Leave it to Cas to worry about whether Sam's okay, never mind the fact that the younger Winchester wasn't the one that just got tortured and almost died. The hunter smiled in reassurance. "I've had better days, but yeah… I'm good. I'm still mad at Dean for pulling that shit though. Fucking furious, actually."

"I'm sorry it happened that way but… I'm glad you're alive. And… well, at least it was Ezekiel. He was a good soldier, and he never did have the dislike for humanity most angels have. Although… I'm curious why he helped you at all."

Sam snorted. "I'm not. And he's still a dick for giving that ultimatum."

The angel shrugged and said, "I don't blame him. It was my fault my brothers and sisters Fell…"

"Cas…" Sam considered telling him it wasn't his fault (and it really wasn't, if anybody's at fault it's Metatron), but it'll probably just fall to deaf ears. The one disadvantage of having the Winchesters as an angel's main point of reference for human behavior was that, once they feel guilty and blame themselves for shit they have no control over, it was almost impossible to convince them otherwise.

The hunter let it go, for now, and decided to change the topic instead.

"So you and Ethan, huh?"

Cas smiled—nearly grinned actually, with teeth and all—and said, "Yes. He's very nice. And a good hunter. The sex is—"

"Alright Cas, I don't need to know about your sex life," Sam interrupted while laughing.

"Right, of course." Cas said, his tone all grave and serious, but he was smiling a little.

The angel suddenly yawned. "I think… I'm going to sleep for a bit more." He scooted over to the side and rested his head against the window. As he closed his eyes Sam turned on the radio. The warm, soothing voice of a cello escaped from the speakers, and the hunter lowered the volume so as to not disturb Cas.

Sam hummed along for a bit as he traveled through the rest of the highway, back to the bunker.

Back home.