Notes: Woooo! Now we get to check in on the rest of the crew!
RhioTre: You are so sweet! Stay shiny lovey!
Disclaimer: Sigh…..not mine…..
CHAPTER 9
Dean had finally shooed Cas out of the room as dawn drew near, saying that he needed to get back to the Impala to make sure the rest of the crew knew what was happening. They were probably frantic with worry over Cas….and maybe they were a little worried over Dean too.
Cas left reluctantly, saying the slimy one was still there, but Dean was adamant that he go back.
Meanwhile, the crew were all still seated in the hold after a very long night of worry and shot down plans of action.
Each crew member was playing a very unenthusiastic game of poker while exchanging whispers and meaningful glances. Sam was about to pull out his hair as he thought about what might be happening to his brother. He and Gabe had been taking turns comforting each other over the absence of their respective brother.
Balthazar was sending dark looks at Crowley periodically, with a stern Bobby doing the same. Crowley, however, was paying them no mind and was prowling around the hold looking quite calm, his men however looked bored out of their minds and eager to shoot something.
"Maybe we don't need an escape plan. I mean, it's Dean. He'll just won the duel and then come back." Said Chuck. The trigger happy men in the room were starting to make the mechanic uncomfortable.
"And if he doesn't win?" mumbled Meg, slapping down her cards in frustration, she was starting to feel a little trigger happy herself.
Sam sighed, "I'll feel a lot better if we have a contingency plan, Chuck. I have faith in Dean, but he may have finally gotten in over his head, and he doesn't even have us there to back him up."Sam rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration as he barely focused on his cards.
"Well, since we're all unarmed, we should go with the idea that we should take them all at once, but it has to be a surprise." Suggested Balthazar, organizing the cards in his hand.
"That, or we could lure one or two of them away to…the infirmary or something. Then we can take them out then be on Crowley before he even knows what happened." Meg added. She sounded eager to take out the men, or at least be violent in some way.
"Only if his attention was elsewhere. We need a diversion," mumbled Bobby while glancing subtly around the hold for something that could create such a distraction.
"I say I get naked," Meg smirked at her own suggestion.
"No." Said Sam firmly, slapping down his hand of cards. He won that hand it seems and everyone else folded. Meg was still looking at Sam.
"Chuck could get naked?"
"No!" Everyone whispered loudly. Chuck simply looked horrified at the suggestion, and then even more horrified that he lost yet another hand.
Gabriel shook his head and out of the corner of his eyes he saw something that made his heart drop into his stomach.
Castiel had appeared in the opening of the ramp. Gabriel was incredibly happy to see that he was well and looked completely unharmed, but this was not the time to walk into a room with trigger happy thugs.
He practically glides forward into the hold with a blank and aimless air about him. Gabriel punches Balthazar's arm next to him to alert him to Castiel's appearance. The posh man winces, but he kept his reaction small enough so that none of the thugs took notice. Getting up casually, he makes his way over to Castiel who was walking the perimeter of the room, trailing his hands on the walls. It almost looked like a caress or a welcoming touch.
Sam noticed Balthazar's movement and glanced over to see what had drawn his attention. Bobby also takes note and tenses up next to Sam. The game is completely forgotten now.
"Oh no, not now," moaned Sam softly.
"Balthazar will try to get him out before he spots Cas," Gabriel whispered back, but he was grabbing Sam's knee with an almost painful grip. Perhaps he wasn't as convinced as he sounded. But Crowley had yet to look up, and his men were all falling asleep through the room, their hands still on their guns.
Balthazar finally reaches Cas and places a hand on his arm.
"Cassy. You can't be here…" he whispered lowly.
"I'm home! The walls aren't slimy yet," he tells Balthazar, his voice a little too loud. Balthazar quickly looks around to make sure that no one heard. He was pleased to see that they had not drawn any gazes besides those of the crew.
"Come on…you need to leave here before they see you." Balthazar urges and tries to push him towards the nearest exit. He was frantic to get his little brother out of sight from the sketchy criminals. Castiel seems to think it is some kind of game and he pushes back gently.
"Do you have candy? Dean couldn't produce any it seems, he got better you see." Castiel said, getting louder.
"Castiel, please!" Balthazar begged, almost whined, but it was too late. Crowley and his men had all taken notice or finally woken up by now and Crowley was coming closer, ready to inspect the newcomer.
He looked Castiel up and down as he approached, "Who is this, then?"
Castiel immediately cowers and avoids Crowley's gaze at his presence and turns himself to hide behind his brother, now seeming very uncomfortable.
Crowley seems to be amused and offended at the same time by this, "Hey now, why don't you look at me? What's your story, luv?"
Castiel looks around the room, unfocused, "So slimy, my eyes want to slip and slide away," he mumbles to no one in particular.
"He's just a passenger," says Balthazar calmly, hold Castiel a little bit closer to him and starts to back up, ready to bolt.
Crowley looked at Cas with raised eyebrows, "Yeah? But stay, why don't you. There's really nowhere to run." He leaned in close to the young man, so close that Cas could smell the scotch on his breath.
"That's enough," Balthazar warned.
"It's enough when I say that it's enough. I came here to help you, and I find out you've been lying to me, harboring this poor sod! Now what do you have to say for yourself?" Crowley turned back to Castiel, demanding that the blue eyed man answer him.
Castiel stumbled through his answer, unable to make eye contact with anyone. "Well, I'm still, uh, honing my communication strategy. I haven't been back to the ship yet. I..I keep thinking there are no insects here, but out there are…trillions. You know, they're making honey, and silk and…miracles really. And eating away at the wooden bed frames as well, I suppose. Not much of a miracle there."
"What are you…are you…you're off your rocker. He's off his rocker!" He directed the last part to Balthazar who only shrugged. "Where has he been this whole time? Do you have a secret you'd like to share?"
Castiel snaps his head up and looks at Crowley with a hard gaze.
Castiel adopts Crowley's accent as he stares at the man before him, his eyes looking as if they might be glowing, but it was hard to tell in the well light room.
"Sure, I got a secret. More than one. Don't seem likely that I'd tell them to you, does it? Anyone off Dyton Colony knows better than to talk to strangers." He pauses there, he sounds a little pissed off and moves to pick something off of Crowley's suit, wipes at it and then stared back at him, meeting his eyes unafraid.
"You're talking loud enough for the both of us, though, aren't you? So many secrets being held in a crystal ball that's always cloudy except for when you look into the past. I've known a dozen like you. Skipped off home early, minor graft jobs here and there. Spent some time in lock-down, but less than you claim. Now you're what, a petty thief with delusions of higher standing? Sad little king of a sad little hill…." He trails off looking sad and guilty about something.
Everyone in the room is completely silent for a beat, not sure what was happening.
"Well….nice to see someone from the old homestead," says Crowley awkwardly.
Castiel shrugs before turning to walk out of the hold and deeper into the ship, probably to head towards his nest. "Not really. Call me if anyone interesting shows up," he says to Balthazar before drifting off, his head slightly tilted to one side like he was listening to something in the distance.
The people in the hold watch him go, the crew sags with relief.
Crowley turns to Balthazar, "See, now normally I would have him skinned alive for talking to me like that, but where's the fun in clobbering a ball of wet fur. Tell me when Sparkles there retrieves his marble's though. I think we may have some fun together."
Balthazar only looks at him darkly before walking back to the others gathered around the table. Once he arrives Meg bends forward over the table and hisses at the crew, "Did you see that there? That's exactly the kind of diversion we could have used."
Oh, Crazy Cas. You so cute…..