Summary: Kind of Cas/OC, very slight romantic undertones. Starts out with strong violence. No smut again, I'm all smutted out as I'm struggling to finish a collection of erotica at the moment. But, have no fear the smut will return eventually; I just have to find some more. I'm on holiday for awhile from tomorrow, but will post again soon. As always, let me know what you think.

Author note: EDITED. Thanks to a review, I've realised that this was more holey than swiss cheese.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Supernatural related. Katie is mine.

DOPPELGANGER

Katie was surprised how little pain there was. Sure, the first punch had hurt, and the second, and the third, but now all she felt were the vibrations as bone met bone. A flourish, a starburst of red and white shot across her eyelids, swelling them closed for good. A sharp jolt of pain as she felt her nose wetly snap and click into an unnatural position. All her senses were limited now, only the salty, metallic taste of blood running down her throat and the dull thud as each punch connected, told her that he was still hitting her. Of course, she'd cried at first, asked why he was doing it; but now everything felt a million miles away. As she let her head slump back against the damp brickwork, she was distantly aware of another dull thudding echoing in her ears. She thought that maybe he'd started kicking her instead; maybe his hands were tired. Just before the mist of unconsciousness mercifully shut down her last connections with the waking world, she heard a voice.

"Cas, you son of a bitch, what have you done?" Dean barely recognised her, he knelt in front of the girl, unsure whether to touch her. Her face, God, her face. "Cas, miracle now!" He pointed at her, staring at the man behind him.

"I can't." Dean glared at the monosyllabic angel.

"Excuse me? Yes, you fucking can, you dick. She's dying. You turned her fucking face to hamburger. Sort it out!" He was face to face with the trench-coated man now, but the angel wasn't looking at him.

He was contemplating his hands, clenching them and watching the blood shine and pool in the ridges of his knuckles. Even more fascinating to him was the sharp piece of enamel sticking out of the soft flesh on the side of his hand. He picked the pearl-like body part out of his skin and flicked it aside.

Dean stared at him, stunned. What the fuck just happened? He thought. Shaking his head he knelt and gingerly picked up the comatose girl. He winced as her shredded face fell against his shoulder. "Screw you then, I'll find someone else who can help her."

He left the alley, jogging slowly back to the Impala. People around him, pedestrians and casual Christmas shoppers, gasped as they saw her. A child wailed as a drop of sticky dark blood landed in a fat ruby blob by his feet. Feeling concerned for the car seats, and then feeling sick for being such a prick, Dean carefully eased Katie into the front seat. As he did her seat belt up her head lolled horribly forwards, gore dripping into her lap.

He almost, almost screamed when he heard her groan. No, God, please don't let her wake up now. Not when she looks like this. He stabilised himself against the driver's side door, struggling to keep the bile in his stomach, before jumping in and gunning the engine, heading for the nearest hospital.

"So, where are you going with the girl tonight, Dean". The ingratiating, smarmy voice pierced Dean's eardrums like a pneumatic drill. He stared at Zachariah in the rear-view mirror.

"I'm taking her to a hospital."

"Well, I could help, you know." Zachariah's smile was wide.

"If you're going to help then just cut the foreplay." Dean snapped.

The angel spread his arms and shrugged, "You know the deal, Dean; all you have to do is say yes to Michael and we can sort this little incident out right now." Leaning forward on his seat and peering at the girl he smiled, "It would be a real shame not to, wouldn't it? She was very pretty, for a human."

Something clicked into place in Dean's mind, something he hadn't wanted to think about, "This was your plan from the start, wasn't it? Cas's still working for you. You got him to do this, so you could bribe me."

"You give him too much credit, Dean. Castiel is an outcast, when we find him, we'll kill him. Fortunately for us, his little indiscretion has presented us with a wonderful opportunity." He smirked, horribly, leaning back against the leather.

"Answer's no". Dean pulled into the hospital grounds, swerving the car to the right and towards the ER.

"Now Dean, don't be too hasty. Do you really think they're going to be able to help her?"

The hunter threw his door open, before turning back to the angel, "You'd better hope they can, you douche. The answer's no, asshole."

Hooked up to several machines, Katie couldn't breathe, eat or piss for herself. Things were looking just peachy. Dean buried his face in his hands; it meant he didn't have to look at her. Her face looked worse; now, it was just a mass of swelling, features barely discernible amongst the rainbow of colours that had claimed the territory of her skin. Very slowly, Dean was coming to terms with the fact that Katie would not be leaving the hospital without some kind of angelic assistance. It's just a shame that none of the bastards are willing to help.

"Word has it that you're in need of some healing hands."

Dean turned and immediately hid his face again, mumbling, "Just what I need." Finally, looking up he met the newcomer's eyes, "Hello, Gabriel."

"Hello Dean. Woah!" the archangel mimed heaving into a bucket, "not so pretty now." He pointed at Katie.

"Is this funny to you?" Dean knew he couldn't take on an archangel in a fist fight, but he was getting to the point where he'd be willing to give it a go.

"You're so melodramatic Dean. I mean, all I have to do is work a bit of magic and she'll be back to normal. No harm done." Keeping his eyes on the hunter, Gabriel moved to the bedside, hand hovering over Katie's forehead.

Dean closed his eyes again and rested his head on his hand.

"Although," inwardly, Dean groaned, "how much thought have you given to this whole Michael thing? How bad could it be, really?"

"How about very bad." Dean mumbled.

"I don't think so. I mean, you say yes to Mikey, right, and then Lucifer's gonna be in a real rush trying to find a vessel. Sam will say no, meaning Lucifer will pick a weaker vessel. They fight, Michael wins, the end."

Dean stared at the archangel.

"Dean, where have you been? I've been trying to locate you for hours. I need to speak to Katie urgently."

The hunter stared incredulously at the man who was now standing in the doorway. Castiel looked confused, and not even slightly repentant. He looked like everything was normal. Dean felt the anger start to rise, like bile, from his stomach. "You're a real piece of work, Cas. Do you need to speak to her like you did earlier?" He pointed at the bed, "She's right there, where you put her."

The angel glanced at the bed and the figure lying in it, "What happened?"

"What happened?" Dean repeated. "You're kidding, right?"

Cas continued to look confused.

"You happened, you miserable bastard, did you forget?"

"Woah, boys, boys. There's no need for this. Remember this can all be sorted out, just say the word." Gabriel had maintained his position by the bed.

Dean sighed turning his back on Cas, "Yeah, go ahead. Do it."

"With the greatest respect, it's not me you need to say yes to, Dean."

"Cut the Michael bullshit, Gabe. Just do it." When the archangel did nothing, Dean narrowed his eyes, slowly turning to walk back to his seat, "Gabriel, where were you earlier on this evening? I mean, how did you even know about this?" He regarded the man carefully.

Gabriel raised his hands in mock surrender, "Hey, I'm just here to help, remember. I can go if you want me to."

"Just answer the question, Gabe."

The archangel tilted his head, a small smile slowly spreading across his face, "Fine, you got me." Swiftly he changed; morphing into a good approximation of the other angel in the room; his eyes were slightly the wrong colour and the tan trench-coat was more crumpled than it was in reality; and then changed back again. And then again, the man shimmered, vibrating the air around him as Dean watched, stunned. The man standing in front of them was very familiar; and Dean scowled at the bald headed, sharp suited bastard.

" I'm hurt that you don't look surprised that it's me." Zachariah shrugged and looked down at the girl. " Of course. This was never about her; I didn't enjoy doing that. It was the only way we could think of to make you take some damn responsibility, Dean. Luckily for you both, this ends here." He placed his hands on Katie's forehead and instantly the swelling started to go down and the bruising started to retreat across her face like the tide going out. Zachariah looked at the two men, "There, all back to normal. No harm done."

Quickly he stepped up to a shocked Castiel and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Although, I guess this is going to make things a little tricky for you. After all, the last memory she has is of you stoving her face in with your bare hands. We''ll be seeing you again soon, Cas." Shrugging, he laughed, before swiftly exiting the room.

(later)

She knew he was standing behind her; and despite knowing the facts she felt the familiar tingle of fear ease down her spine. It had been two months since she came out of hospital and he had kept a low profile since then, only talking to the boys and giving her space. She thanked him for that quietly. She hadn't really expected him to stay away today. Slowly, she folded the last top and closed her suitcase, turning to face him.

"You don't have to go, Katie. I can understand that this is difficult for you, but you know the truth and you'll find that this will get better with time."

Katie smiled at him, "Cas, I spoke to Dean, I do know the truth. I know it wasn't you. But, it's not getting better…" She swallowed heavily, a lump was forming in her throat and she knew the tears would soon follow. "I still have nightmares about it Cas, and even though I know it wasn't you, it's your face I see everytime. You can't understand what that's like. "

He stared at her, unblinking, "It wasn't me."

"The truth is Cas, I don't care. I'm just so tired of all of this. I nearly died, and I'm sick of being used as a pawn in whatever game you guys are playing. That's why I'm going."

He looked at her with that wounded, down-cast, puppy dog look he did, or his vessel did, so well. She'd always been a sucker for that kind of look, but as she ruefully thought back over her recent past she knew that her weakness where men were concerned had caused most of her problems. First Dean, because he looked so cute when he pouted and then Cas, with that damn look of his.

Grabbing her bag and stepping forwards she stopped just in front of him, "Please, move out of the way, Cas."

He did, without a second thought, keeping his eyes firmly fixed to the ground, "Don't go." His voice cracked slightly and she found herself surprised again by how human he had become in the time she had known him.

Standing on tip-toes she placed a kiss on his cheek, smiling at him, "Cas, please don't take this the wrong way. I love you, but I hope I never see you again."