On to chapter three! I'm glad you are all enjoying this story :)

Chapter Three

Meg somehow managed to get through the rest of the day without losing Castiel anywhere, as he was surprisingly occupied in the dayroom, learning how to play Monopoly from the schizophrenic Mrs. Cleary and then there was group therapy before dinner where Meg had to force him to eat again. But she had gotten the time that afternoon to check the whole hospital for any signs of demons, or possessions. So far all the doctors and nurses were clean, and she was pretty sure the same went for the patients. She was able to finish checking up on them during dinner time. That being said, it didn't make her feel much better about seeing the demon in the gardens that morning. She knew he wasn't going to leave her alone and kind of regretted not killing him when she had the chance.

Castiel offered her a dorky smile as she met up with him at dinner, seeming pleased to see her as if she had been gone for a lot longer than a couple hours.

"What are you so happy about? Can't be the mystery meat casserole." She wrinkled her nose at the unidentifiable slop on the angel's plate.

"Did you have a pleasant day, Meg?" he asked her, motioning for her to sit beside him, which she didn't. "I learned how to play a new game. I wasn't very good at it, but I'm still learning. Oh! I also got to paint today. I tried to put the flowers onto the paper but they were not so beautiful as they are outside."

"That's nice, Clarence," Meg said, feeling like a mother who had just picked up a child from kindergarten. "Maybe we can send the picture to Sam and Dean and they can put it on their fridge."

"They do not have a refrigerator of their own, just an icebox," Cas frowned thoughtfully. "I don't think Dean appreciates flowers in the same way I do."

"Well, they never really had the chance to stop and smell the roses," Meg told him.

"I think they should, it is a very informative venture," Castiel said as he poked cautiously at his meal. "Must I eat this?"

Meg almost smirked but refrained. "I guess it might possibly do you more harm than good. Maybe you should skip it." She checked her watch. "My shift ends in fifteen minutes. Be good and let the night nurse tuck you in and I'll be back later."

His face fell slightly, but he nodded. "Can you tell me a story tonight?" he asked hopefully.

Meg huffed. "I already told you I wasn't going to tell you a story, Clarence. Why don't you get a book and read for yourself? Now I have to go."

She turned around before she could see the disappointment on his face. Hell, that angel was worse than a puppy with those eyes. Trying her best to ignore him, she went to grab her stuff from the break room and Dawn waved goodbye to her as Meg fished her keys out of her bag.

She looked around cautiously as she got out to the parking lot, making sure no one was waiting there, ready to jump her, but made it to her truck successfully. She usually drove down to the local gas station in town to pick up a newspaper to check up on what Dick Roman was getting himself into. Try to spot anything the Winchesters might have had a hand in. Unfortunately, they hadn't ganked the daddy bigmouth yet but she was still hoping it would be sooner rather than later.

She chuckled as she sat in her truck and read the paper while she waited for all the shift nurses to leave and trade places with the fewer night nurses and hall guards. It looked like the FBI were still looking for Sam and Dean's doppelgangers. Well, at least that meant they hadn't been caught yet. She wondered vaguely why no one was looking for Castiel. He'd killed more than the Winchesters' Levi twins when he had gone on his "Godstiel" rampage. But then, she figured that corrupt leaders and motivational speakers weren't exactly on anyone's priority list and had been forgotten once Dick's people had started killing more innocent bystanders.

Still, that was another thing she had to worry about. Which is why she only hoped Cas would keep a low profile. The last thing they needed was the FBI showing up on top of all their other problems.

She checked the time and drove back to the hospital where she parked out back and went in a side entrance that was closer to the rooms. The hospital was always quiet at night (when the more vocal inmates weren't screaming, that was) but tonight something just seemed too quiet. A shiver went unbidden down her spine as she locked the door behind her and headed toward Castiel's room.

When she got there it didn't help her unease any to see that the door was ajar.

"Castiel?" Meg called, peeking in the door. She frowned as she saw the room was empty. Where had that idiot gotten to now? She sighed tiredly as she turned around.

"Castiel?" she called quietly down the hall so as not to wake the other patients. She made her way to the day room where she figured she was most likely to find the angel, but stopped before she reached the door. Something was definitely wrong. She slipped her hand into her jacket and grasped the hilt of the angel blade she kept there at all times.

The sound of muffled voices was coming from the room and Meg crept forward cautiously, wondering if maybe one of the other nurses on night duty had found Cas first. But no, she realized soon enough that they weren't going to be that lucky.

As she reached the door and peeked into the window she knew she had been right.

Three large demons—one of which was her friend from the garden and the other two wearing the night nurses—had Castiel backed against the wall. One had a hand wrapped around his arm, and the one she had met before had an angel blade of his own, gesturing threateningly toward the angel with it. And for some reason Cas wasn't smiting or fighting back at all, the idiot.

"Damn," Meg breathed as the lead demon raised his voice.

"Just come quietly, angel, and we won't hurt you…much."

"I don't want to fight you. I don't fight anymore." Castiel tried to explain to them, his hands held out in front of him. "But I don't want to leave with you, I like it here. I think it would be better if we all sat down and played a game of Monopoly, don't you? It's a very fun game; I can teach you to play if you don't know how."

Meg wanted to smack her head against the wall. He really was cracked. However, this remark caused the demon to lose patience with Cas and he hit him across the face with the pommel of the angel blade. Cas' surprised yelp of pain made something burn deep inside Meg and she finally thrust the door open, striding in.

"Hey, what part of my angel did you not understand, jackass?" she demanded.

The three demons turned around to look at her. The lead demon smiled as the other two manhandled Castiel into a chair and forced him to sit still. One held an angel blade to his throat.

"Meg," Cas said, looking desperate. "I don't want to go with them."

"Don't worry, Cas, you're not going anywhere," Meg told him, her eyes never leaving the demon in front of her. His grin widened.

"She's lying to you, Cas," he sneered. "You'll be coming with us, as soon as Nursey here is dead."

Castiel's eyes blazed, and he struggled in the demons' grip. "No! Do not hurt Meg!" He cried out as the angel blade cut into the side of his neck as the demons forced him back in his chair.

"I can take care of myself," Meg growled at him, now that it looked like Castiel had decided he was a noncombatant. She squared up to the demon in front of her. "Like I said, beefcake, the angel's mine, and you're not going to take him anywhere, 'kay?"

"And you think you can stop me? You, against the three of us?"

Meg smiled, cocking an eyebrow. "Please, I've had way worse odds and come out on top." She lashed out at him without warning, slicing the angel blade across the demon's ribs. He staggered back with a surprised shout, and Meg took the opportunity to force him back further.

"Come on," Meg cajoled. "He's just one little angel. There's hundreds more where he comes from, ones without their brains scrambled. Besides," she ducked a swipe of the other demon's blade and thrust again with her own. "You take the Winchesters' pet angel and they'll be on your ass before you can smoke out—and you know the track record they have with demons."

The demon sneered. "I'll take my chances. Crowley has offered many rewards to whoever brings him Castiel."

Meg laughed in his face, locking their blades before she kicked him away from her. "Right. Because Crowley always makes good on his promises."

"You know," the demon commented, as he snaked past her defenses and grabbed her wrist so that her blade was immobilized. "I bet he wouldn't mind having you to sweeten the pot too. Then you can have front row seats when Crowley tortures your poor little lovebird."

He twisted Meg's wrist until she was forced to drop the blade with a snarl, then grabbed her around the throat instead, slamming her against the wall. Meg met his eyes with a smile, even though she was getting more an more anxious. Crowley was the last person she wanted to cross paths with right now, knowing well enough what would happen to both her and Castiel if they were to fall into his clutches. She could hear Cas struggling against the other demons, but she wasn't going to look over at him and get distracted.

"I'm sure Crowley would be tickled pink to see me too, but it ain't gonna happen, hot stuff."

The demon leered. "Well, then, I suppose there's no reason to keep you alive, is there?"

Before he could raise his blade, there were two sudden screams and a loud sparking sound. Meg, surprised, looked over to see Cas standing over the two demons who were now lying burned out on the floor.

The one who held Meg, hesitated only a second before he made to put the blade through Meg's throat.

He never got the change though, because Castiel was suddenly across the room and grabbing the blade with his bare hands to force it away from Meg.

"Don't hurt her!" he shouted, pushing the demon backward and slamming a bloody hand against his forehead to smite him. The demon screamed and burned out, slumping to the ground, lifeless.

Castiel swayed slightly after that and Meg hurried forward to steady him. He turned to her with nothing but concern in his eyes.

"Meg, did he hurt you?" he asked, touching her throat gently but only resulted in getting his own blood on her. "Oh," he said, frowning, as if just realizing he was injured.

She batted his hand away. "I'm fine, get off me." She bent to retrieve both dropped angel blades and stowed them in her coat. "What the hell were you thinking running off with demons?"

He looked more indignant than chastened. "They took me out of the room. When I said I didn't want to go, they threatened me. I do not want to see Crowley. He would not be very happy that I betrayed him."

"Don't worry, I don't want to see him either," Meg assured him then looked at the bodies with a sigh. "Come on, you need to get back to your room before anyone sees you here. It wouldn't do for them to think you're a murderer on top of a crazy delusional angel."

Castiel complied, allowing her to lead him back by his elbow. "I did not mean to kill those nurses. They were not bad men."

"They were demons when you killed them, you couldn't help that," Meg said as they reached his door. She pushed him inside and made him sit down on the cot. "Now shut up about the killing stuff. I'll get rid of the bodies and be back as soon as I can."

Meg hurried back to the day room and groaned at the work ahead of her. At least with the smiting there was no blood to clean up apart from a little that Cas dripped onto the floor from his hands. That idiot; grabbing a blade barehanded to save her. Not that she wasn't a little grateful, she supposed.

After Meg had finished disposing of the demons' bodies—wrapped in a tarp in the back of her truck; she could deal with them better later—she came back to Cas' room to see him sitting right where she had left him on the bed. He was staring down at his bleeding palms, watching the blood drip onto the floor. She cursed, hurrying into the room.

"Cas, why aren't you healing yourself?" she demanded.

He looked up at her almost apologetically. "Angel blade wounds take longer to heal. And my grace is all wobbly, sometimes it doesn't do what I tell it to."

"You just smote three demons!"

Cas shrugged but didn't offer an explanation. He watched more blood drip onto the floor before he returned his gaze to her. "It's rather uncomfortable."

Meg sighed and felt some of the frustration leave her. "Alright, sit tight. I'll get some bandages." She rummaged through the medical supply closet and found some gauze and medical tape, hoping that would be enough to stop the bleeding until he was able to heal himself.

He was still in the same position when she got back but looked grateful and offered her a small smile.

"I should thank you for saving me," he said quietly.

Meg swallowed hard. "Well, you returned the favor. I guess that makes us even. Scoot." She pushed him to one side and he sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed while she draped a towel over his lap to rest his hands on. She took her position beside him, taking one of his hands and cleaning the blood from it. The wounds were deeper than she had thought, but hopefully he would still heal faster than a human and she wouldn't need to add stitches. Still, she closed the wound with a couple butterfly bandages.

Cas hissed and tried to pull away. "Stop squirming," she snapped.

"It hurts," he said miserably looking like a freaking five-year-old.

"Well, you're the one who thought it was a good idea to grab an angel blade with your bare hands."

"That demon would have killed you," Cas said matter-of-factly. "I would have missed you if you were killed."

Meg felt that strange warmth well up inside of her again but she hid any warm fuzzies with a derisive smile. "You sure know how to make a girl feel special, Clarence."

Cas smiled gently at her as she finished bandaging one hand and went on to the other. She cleaned the cut to his neck last, but it was only superficial and was already scabbing over. By the time they were done, Castiel was starting to look exhausted, his shoulders slumping and his eyes tired. Maybe the smiting had taken more out of him in his 'wobbly' state than she had thought.

"Alright, bedtime for little angels," Meg told him as she cleaned up the medical supplies and made to get up.

Castiel grabbed her hand though, as well as he could with his bandaged mitt, and stopped her. "Please don't leave."

She stared down at him with some annoyance. "Castiel, we've been through this. I'll be back in a minute." But of course she wasn't going to leave him alone tonight. Not when there could be more demons out to nab him.

He still pulled insistently. "Stay on the bed. Your presence is very comforting."

"Oh hell," Meg groaned as she looked down at his pleading eyes and finally consented if only because she was sick to death of sitting in that horribly uncomfortable chair. Not that the rickety old cot was any better. She shoved the medical supplies under the bed and pulled herself up to rest against the headboard. She reached over to grab one of her magazines from the chair to pass the time and sighed. "Alright, I'm here, now go to sleep."

Cas lay down on his side, facing her and closed his eyes. She tried to ignore the wiggling he was doing until it seemed like he was only getting closer to her. Meg looked down at him and raised an eyebrow, but he obviously wasn't satisfied yet, as he then curled up flush against her, resting his cheek against her stomach. Meg stiffened, unsure of what to do with this.

"Seriously?" she demanded. "You're going to cuddle me all night whether I like it or not?"

The blue eyes slit open to stare up at her. "Are you uncomfortable? Am I violating your personal space?" he asked, a worried frown appearing between his brows. "I know it's important to avoid that, but you are soft and warm, and having you here makes me feel safe. I would rather not have the bad dreams come tonight."

That admission softened her a bit. It was hard to refuse the angel seemingly turned kitten when he wasn't really asking for much. She had to admit that she didn't really mind this kind of physical contact, even if it were sickeningly sweet and kind of made her want to vomit at the same time. Still, Cas had gone through a traumatic experience that night and in his condition, maybe this is what he needed to feel safe.

"Whatever, Clarence," she told him and slumped further down into the bed so she could wrap an arm around his shoulders. This close to him, she could feel his grace, a life force that was the exact opposite of hers, and yet for some reason, he trusted her this close to him. She swallowed hard.

"Are you comfortable?" Castiel asked her.

Meg huffed in contrived annoyance. "Just shut up and go to sleep."

Cas snuggled against her more, a smile on his lips. "Goodnight, Meg."

He was asleep almost instantly after that, and Meg cautiously brought a hand up and stroked it through his dark, tussled hair.

"Goodnight, Clarence."

Meg didn't get any rest though. She had way too much on her mind. She knew the demons had only been the beginning. Now she just wondered what would be coming next.