Notes: Okay, here's a little bit more fluff for y'all. There will be one more chapter up for this story, hopefully tomorrow. And hopefully on the same day I'll post the first chapter of the "short" holiday fic. Then once that is finished I'll be posting the next episode of the series! Wooo!

Disclaimer: Sigh….all that you see here, all that the light touches…does not belong to me.

CHAPTER 11

"Okay, so is everyone set on the plan?...alright, then we're ready to move on my signal. Gabriel's the diversion…"

"Did you ever see such a lazy crew!?" Dean shouts as the enters the hold, interrupting Sam's pre-diversion pep talk. Everyone looks up from where they are, seeking out Dean after hearing his voice. For the crew, as each person laid eyes on him, they smiled relived, or in Megs case, a shrug and smirk.

Crowley's crew on the other hand, all scowled, disappointed that they wouldn't get to play with their guns today. They all sadly placed their weapons back in their holsters.

Dean took a deep breath in as he arrived home. He saw that his crew was safe and unharmed. Sam looked particularly relieved and was smirking in Crowley's direction. The Captain was about to head over to Crowley himself for a little "talk" when from the other end of the room Castiel appears out of nowhere. Dean was very happy to see that Cas got back safely, but then a little stab of panic set in when he realized that Crowley was here as well and might have discovered the flightiest member of the Impala crew.

"Dean!" Cas says happily and practically skips forward to great his Captain, a beatific smile on his face. Everyone else follows his example and rushes the flustered Captian.

Though upon reaching Dean, Cas catches sight of the blood and a deeply troubled look falls on his previously happy face, "You're hurt." He states in a horrified whisper and he reaches forward to inspect, only to have Dean still his hands. Dean met his eyes before pushing Cas' now trembling hands back. Letting Cas heal him in front of Crowley was definitely not a good idea. There was no way that Dean would let the criminal king see what Cas was capable of.

"Not now Cas. Let me deal with Crowley first." He said softly. Dean moved in front of the young man, blocking Crowley's sight of Cas as the sleezy man came up to meet Dean. It was time to scrape off the dirt that had lodged itself in his ship. He wanted to get Crowley off as soon as possible.

"So, did you get the deal?" Crowley asks, completely ignoring the fact that Dean was barely standing and bleeding. But Dean was happy to skip "pleasantries" if it meant getting rid of Crowley and his crew faster.

"Yes, I got the deal, Crowley, now get you and your men off of my ship."Dean grunted out.

That was all the dealer had to hear and he gestures to his men and leaves. He looked to be a happy man. "Ta then all! I had a lovely night." He says as he walks out, but then he sees Castiel there standing by the ramp, his face downcast and adds, "And it was a special pleasure meeting you." Castiel follows him out with a dirty look, not at all returning the pleasure of meeting the king of crime.

He snapped out of his heated glare as soon as the slimy man was gone, immediately zoning in on Dean and his injuries. But the crew was leading Dean away to one of the crates to sit down, grunting in pain as he has to move his torso too much. Hastily Cas moves after the migrating crowd, trying to catch up.

"Dean…"Cas tries to get access to the Captain, but so many bodies were in his way in some sort of barrier between Cas and the Captian.

Sam cuts him off while pulling up Dean's shirt to get a look at the wound, "We were just about to spring into action. But it seems that you got out of trouble…again," the younger Winchester reported, sounding pissed and happy at the same time.

Dean snorted and smiled wryly, "Barely." Sam hit a tender spot on Dean's ribs, and he pushed his younger brother's hands away, looking around and trying to see past the excited crew to see where Castiel had gotten too. He would really like to be healed about now….

"Oh yeah, it was a complicated escape and rescue op," said Meg sarcastically, leaning casually against one of the Impala's support beams.

Then Gabriel chimed in, "I was going to be the distraction," he said proudly, lifting his chin higher.

"Dean…," Cas tries again to get past the excited crew, but unable to penetrate the seemingly unmovable wall of people.

"I…I was going to watch. It was really exciting! I want to be a part of the plans more often! Great material for my book!" Says Chuck, practically bouncing.

"I can't believe you took Cassy to a fancy party and didn't even think to invite me!" Balthazar whined.

Behind the bunch with Cas, Bobby shakes his head at the attention whores. "Hey! Idgits! In case you didn't notice, the good Captain is injured and you won't let the one person who can fix him up proper through! So unless you want him to bleed out while listening to your silly comments, I suggest you get the hell out of the way." He huffs out. Next to him Castiel huffs as well, he was starting to get frustrated.

Finally everyone backs off, but they were all still smiling, very happy to see their captain more or less in one piece. Cas moves forward slowly, eyes looking nowhere except the wounds. His aura was different from not too long ago. Castiel's apparent concern was now looking like something else. A horrified guilt. Everyone seemed to pick up on his serious mood, and backed off a bit, but didn't leave the room and no one took their eyes off of Cas and the Captain. Dean was a little too distracted by pain to take notice.

Cas laid his warm hands on the side wound first, and Dean could swear he felt Cas' hands shake a little. It took a few silent minutes to finish up the healing, but Dean was too busy enjoying the ebbing pain to worry too much about it. Then Cas moved on to the cut on his arm and finished it up quickly, withdrawing his hand quickly when nothing was left but some pink skin. With all the pain gone, Dean opened his eyes, unsure when he had closed them to begin with.

He expected to see Cas smiling brightly, perhaps a little tired, but he didn't expect to open his eyes to see Cas' retreating form as he practically ran from the hold.

He looked to his crew, as if asking them what they made of it all. All he got as answers were shakes of the head and blank looks of confusion.

Cas crawls into his nest, and greats Fern upon his arrival by humming his favorite octave that the ship taught him. He pets at the vines for a moment, trying to distract himself, but failing miserably.

Humming it a little louder, he moves to his suit from the party, hanging on the wall. He started to run his fingers over the folds, feeling the soft silk and cotton slide over his fingers. He came to the inside the pocket where Dean had placed the invitation the day before. Reaching in slowly he pulled forth a small flower from the party. It had sung back to Cas while he was interrogating the other plantae, and he had to bring it back to show his plant. He grabs a cup from the dresser and fills it with water. Next he cuts off the last inch of stem and quickly places it in the water glass. Satisfied that the flower was settled, he placed it next to Fern and he hummed to them both for a moment, a welcoming song.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the suit again, with the tie draped over one of the shoulders. He moves over to it, still humming. He runs his hands along the length of the tie, feeling the silk slip through his fingers. He remembers Dean putting this on him, telling Cas that he was safest with him.

His heart clenches painfully and Cas' hum becomes a whine.

Cas had seemingly disappeared to wherever on the ship, but Dean wasn't able to really look for him because, as promised, Harrow had his cargo delivered quickly and that kept Dean and the rest of the crew very busy for a while.

He finally gets a chance to breath and takes the moment to just sit on the catwalk, overlooking the hold. He reflects on the day, smiling when he thinks of the look on Zach's face as he walked away, and then wincing as he remembers the pain of being stabbed in the side.

At the memory of the pain, he reaches to his side where the wound was, as if testing to make sure everything was holding up well.

"Does it still pain you? Did I not heal it completely?" a soft voice from the end of the catwalk…

Dean turns to see a hesitant and worried Cas, peeking out from behind one of the pillars, like he wanted to go to Dean, but was scared of Dean at the same time.

"No, it's fine. I just…memories I guess. They tend to stick with you, don't they?" Dean joked, a friendly smile on his face.

"God gave us memory that we might have roses in winter," mumbled Cas quietly, not looking at Dean's face.

"So you're saying that I gotta take the good with the bad so that I at least get some good?"Dean asked skeptically. Well wasn't that spectacular, thought Dean.

"Something like that." Came the mumbled and shy response, not meeting Dean's eyes.

Dean frowned at Cas' behavior. Cas was acting like he had done something wrong, like he was feeling guilty about something.

"Hey Cas, come sit with me." He gestures to the open spot next to him on the catwalk. Cas moves forward hesitantly and daintily sits down a good six inches away from Dean. A whole four inches further than Castiel usually did. The Captain was pretty sure that it wasn't because Castiel had finally decided to listen to Dean's lectures on personal space. Sighing, the Captain decided now would be a good time to pull out Bobby's latest gift.

He hands the bottle of whiskey to Cas and motions for him to take a swig when all he receives is a blank look and the other man holding the bottle awkwardly. When he finally does take a sip and he screws up his face in distaste, but then forces down a second sip.

A small gasp of distaste, "I thought this stuff was supposed to make you feel good," he choked out.

Dean chuckled softly at that, but gave Cas a sympathetic look, "Nah, it's supposed to make you feel nothing."

Castiel nods, understanding a little better, "Thank you," he says politely, handing back the bottle.

Dean laughs, "Don't thank me for sending your liver into hiding. Bobby's got some strong tastes for a Sheppard."

A small silence falls.

"Are you sure you're not in pain?"

Dean scoffs, "I'm fine. You fixed me up real well. But I gotta say, it may be a while before we go to another party. They're too rough these days." Cas looks guilty again.

"I'm…I'm sorry that I failed you, Dean." Cas says softly. Dean turns to Cas so fast that he practically gets whiplash.

"What are you talking about?" Dean couldn't see why Cas was sorry for anything. The guy had practically saved Dean's life that day. But Cas' face crumpled as he tried to explain it to the Captain.

"I gave you all of the paint and taught you the strokes to use on your canvas, but in the end you made a finger painting and got the red all over your shirt." He says sadly, sounding like the whole situation was causing him physical pain.

Sigh. He wasn't sure, but it sounded like Cas was blaming himself for not preparing Dean well enough before the fight.

"Cas, it's not your fault I got hurt, that's on Zach and me. But I should be on my knees kissing your feet in thanks, cause without those moves you taught me…I would have been a shish kabob by now, or a new taxidermy on Zach's wall. So…thanks, for having my back." Dean finishes awkwardly.

Cas nods, trying to accept what Dean was telling him.

"And it wasn't an entire disaster. I got us a job lined up, and I learned to fence…sort of."

Cas smiles softly. Looks like Dean really was trying to take the good out of this. "Your father would have been proud. You were fighting for what you believed in and fought like a warrior as Anna tells me," he mentioned casually.

Dean's smile faltered, but didn't go completely away. "Yeah, I'm sure he would have loved to see a guy like Zachariah go down too. But I think I'm done with sword duels for a while now. I think I'll just stay outta that world."

"I agree. The best world I have ever visited by far is yours." Says Cas seriously. Dean turns to regard him, as if gauging the truth in his statement.

"Can't argue with ya there." And he hands the bottle to Cas to take another sip. "Can't imagine wanting to be anywhere else." He finished softly to himself, but Cas heard him anyway.

The pair turn their attention to the hold below them, where two hundred cows now mill around. Dean takes another healthy sip. Harrow had never mentioned that his cargo happened to be friggin livestock.

One more Chappie to go!