Cas stood in the middle of the room, the bottom of his trenchcoat rippling slightly from the flight. "What do you want?" he demanded, glaring at Sam as if he had dragged him here against his will.
"Uh…" Sam faltered, a little caught off guard by his bluntness. "We need your help. Dean's cursed-"
"Why can't you handle that by yourselves?"
"The curse is hard to reverse. We need some things that we can't find," he explained, holding out his laptop to Cas. The angel hung back for a moment, before finally walking forward to take the laptop from him. "I think I can find the majority of the ingredients myself," Sam continued, "but the others are impossible to get. For humans, at least."
"I can get them," Cas said after scanning the page briefly. "But it will take me several hours, at the least."
"That's fine. I just want to get this whole thing cleared up. And I'm sure Dean does too, right?" For the whole of the terse conversation, Cas had been standing with his back to Dean, not even acknowledging him, while Dean stood stony-faced and frozen near the fridge, oblivious to Sam's question.
"Are you two going to keep ignoring each other?" Sam asked. "I mean, it's fine if you are, I'd just like to know in advance. I might pick up a crossword book or something, just to keep me occupied during the awkward silences."
Cas turned reluctantly. "Hello, Dean," he mumbled, not looking him in the eye.
"Hey, Cas." As predicted, there was a long, rather painful silence before Dean spoke again. "Thanks for doing this."
"I'm not doing it for you," Cas clarified, sharply. "Sam asked for my help."
"Well I appreciate it anyway," Dean retorted evenly. Sam watched their cold conversation, both bemused and curious.
"What the hell happened with you two?" Sam asked. It was a mostly rhetorical question, but nevertheless they both looked away, neither willing to answer.
"I'll collect the ingredients," Cas said, and with a rustle of wings, he had vanished. Sam looked at Dean questioningly.
"Well?"
"I'll get the rest," he muttered, and almost as quickly, he had vanished too.
Dean had driven off before Sam could catch up to him. Without a car, stuck in a remote motel on the edge of town, Sam had nothing else to do except sit and think about Dean and Cas, while he picked holes in the bloated wallpaper to reveal the drywall beneath.
As soon as Dean returned with the various herbs and a couple of minerals for the spell, Sam started observing him, but it was only when Cas returned that things got really interesting. It was as if Dean had completely forgotten how to behave like a normal human. Whenever he caught Cas's eye he would look away hurriedly, which looked just as suspicious as if he'd allowed the gaze to linger. He kept starting sentences then trailing off like he had decided against it, and stood unnaturally far from both him and Cas, as though he couldn't remember what was an acceptable distance.
"Okay, so all that's left is the Water of the Deluge," Sam said, balancing his laptop on his hand and scrolling down the list of ingredients, checking it against the pile of materials on the table. "Are you sure you can get it, Cas?"
"Yes, I'll just need a little extra time; I need to go through the proper channels. The Noachian flood is a very important point in history. We aren't supposed to tamper with any Biblical event; I'll have to clear it with an archangel."
"Why aren't you allowed to go back there?" asked Sam.
"Any alteration to events like that could have a knock on effect, changing details of Christianity, even changing the course of history."
"But it's doable, right?" Cas seemed to tense at the sound of Dean's voice.
"Yes," he supplied, answering Dean's question but stubbornly addressing Sam.
"So, when are you going to get it?" Dean asked.
"Dean!" Sam warned, feeling like a parent scolding his surly teenager.
"What? I'm just asking."
Cas's expression hardened. "What exactly happens if you don't break the curse?" he asked.
"Most likely Dean will reveal one of his deepest secrets. Something huge and life-altering, if the other victims are anything to go by," Sam said. Cas seemed to contemplate this for a moment, frowning as he looked out of the grubby window with its thinning yellow curtains.
"Damn it, Cas," Dean snapped, apparently concerned that Cas might go back on his word and leave him cursed.
"That would be refreshing," Cas said. "For you to be honest about something for once." Dean sighed, and Sam's thin patience finally wore out.
"For the love of God, would you two just have it out already? I'm getting sick of all this passive aggression!" He exclaimed, dropping his laptop down with more force than he intended, and the unsteady metal table rattled on the linoleum.
Once again, Sam thought he was going to be subjected to a long and awkward silence, but then Cas spoke, quietly, and with his blue eyes fixed on the ground somewhere in the region of Dean's left shoe.
"I still don't understand why you left," he said softly. "It was the first time in months that none of us were in mortal danger; we were happy. For once, we had a little peace…And I know I don't always understand human nuances…I know I get things wrong, but I really thought…the way you looked at me…I…" He trailed off, and Dean reddened.
"I told you before," Dean said, exasperation growing in his voice, "I left because I wanted a normal life. Is that so much to ask? Just to be normal?" But the words seemed to ignite something within Cas, and he was suddenly ablaze with fury, his fists clenched by his sides as he took a step towards Dean.
"I told you that I loved you and the next day you packed your things and left!" Cas yelled, his deep voice filling the small room and reverberating slightly in the silence that followed. Sam stared at Dean in disbelief, waiting for him to say something to deny it, or to extricate himself with a reasonable explanation, but none came. Instead, all the emotion seemed to drain from his eyes.
"What do you want me to say, Cas?"
"How could you run away?" he asked. "I thought at the very least we were friends." Dean rolled his eyes, and before Sam knew what was happening, Cas had thrown himself at Dean, punching him hard across the face. Dean's careless expression changed rapidly to shock as Cas's fist collided with his jaw. Sam stood immobile, so shocked by Cas's admission that he let him land a hit on his brother. Dean stumbled slightly, grabbing the kitchen counter to keep himself upright. Cas drew his fist back a second time, but even though he saw it coming, Dean didn't fight back; he didn't even try to move out of the way as the angel hit him again, sending him staggering, his face lowered against his shoulder. When he looked back at Cas, his green eyes were shining with pain, and Cas hit him a third time, then a fourth, and there was blood on his lips before Sam snapped out of his shocked stupor. He pulled Cas away from Dean, but not before Cas's fist had collided with Dean's face one last time.
"Cas, that's enough," Sam said, but he couldn't find it in himself to sound angry. Cas resisted him for a second before pulling his arms away from him forcefully. Dean lifted his head to look at the furious angel, and there were tears on his bruised and bloodied face.
They remained in silence for several moments, the cheap plastic clock on the wall counting each second loudly. No one so much as moved. Cas stood breathing heavily; Sam hovered nearby, poised to grab the angel if he made another lunge. Dean pressed his sleeve to his bleeding lip, his eyes never leaving Cas. Sam couldn't tell what his brother was feeling. Regret? Guilt? Anger? The tears of pain that had made it to his jaw mingled with the blood from his mouth, forming a watery red stream that ran down his neck, soaking into his shirt.
Before any of them could speak, there was a knock at the door, and all three men turned to look at it. After a moment of hesitation, Dean crossed the room, hastily wiping away the fresh blood on his lips and chin before opening the door.
"Anna."
"Hey, I saw your car on my way to see a patient, you left this –" she started, holding out his thick brown jacket, but stopped abruptly. "What happened to your face?"
"It was nothing," Dean said abruptly. Annabelle looked over his shoulder into the motel room and her eyes fell on Sam, and then Cas.
"Who's that?" she asked. Dean seemed to freeze for a second before he stepped back, opening the door further.
"Anna, this is Cas. Cas, Annabelle," he introduced resignedly. Annabelle entered the room, reaching out to shake his hand, and Cas returned the gesture.
"I've heard a lot about you," said Cas, his voice convincingly level.
"I wish I could say the same," Annabelle replied. They stood there, face to face, hand in hand, for just slightly longer than necessary, as though evaluating each other. At last Annabelle turned back to Dean, handing him the jacket and using her now free hands to examine his face that was already swollen and darkening around the eyes. "I'm not even going to ask," she said. Dean couldn't help a sharp intake of breath as her thumbs pressed gently under his eye. "Suck it up," she said. "Nothing's broken." She looked around at the group of men standing silently and awkwardly in the dank motel room and shook her head, making her brown hair shimmer in the sunlight filtering through the window.
"You boys enjoy…whatever the hell this is," she said, wearily. "I'll see you at home, Dean." Everything about her was distinctly cooler today, as though she were distancing herself from the possibility of getting hurt. Sam couldn't help but wonder how much more of this uncertainty and secrecy she would be willing to put up with.
"Anna, wait," Dean sighed, pulling her back by the hand before she could reach the door. Sam saw it; it was only fleeting, the tiniest glance, but it was there. As Dean pulled Annabelle into a kiss, he threw a sideways look at Cas, as though making sure he was watching. Cas's expression barely changed as he watched Dean kissing her, but Sam saw his jaw quiver minutely and his eyes harden. Dean tucked Annabelle's hair behind her ears and said,
"Thanks for the jacket. I really appreciate it." Clearly against her will and better judgment, Annabelle smiled.
"You're welcome," she said with a weary sigh. "I'll see you in a day or two. Please be careful." And then she added, "I love you."
"You too," he replied, and Sam felt the air beside him shift. Without a backwards glance, Dean put his arm around Annabelle and walked her out to her car, pressing his lips against her temple.
A moment later he re-entered to see that Cas had vanished. Only Sam remained, watching his brother coldly.
"You're a lot of things, Dean," he said, slowly. "But I never thought you were cruel."