Of all the weird and supernatural crap people could turn into, of course they turn into friggin' animals.

It's not that Dean was afraid of animals, c'mon, he's seen scarier crap in his days; it's just that him and animals didn't always seem to cooperate.

Take dogs, for example.

To the average Joe with a white picket fence and an apple pie life, dogs are a man's best friend. They are a companion to bring you your mail and do all the little things you're too lazy to do. But to Dean, dogs were once a friend, but now they were nothing more than a reminder. A cold, harsh reminder of the hounds that dragged him into the Pit, a year after he sold his soul to save Sam.

Cats were no better.

Dean probably would have been a cat person since he respected their free will and whatnot. He would have loved a pet cat, if he wasn't allergic to them. Whenever he came within a few feet of a cat, he started pitching a fit of ridiculous coughs and sneezes. His eyes watered from the fur and he could feel his manhood slowly slip down a peg or two from all the crying.

These were only a few of the reasons why he didn't want to do this case.

But of course, actual boy scout Sam Winchester dragged him into it pointing out how "innocent people were suffering" and all that jazz.

Dean was not having it.

He just wanted to finish this case up without any problems and whack crazy-ville back into order as soon as possible. So there they were, in the middle of their cheap motel room sitting across from each other at a rickety table. Sam was tap tap taping away at his laptop trying to look for clues on how to reverse such an animal curse, and Dean was desperately trying to salvage what was left of his pie (although he was really just scraping at crumbs) while skimming through a chapter of 17 of Animal Enchantments and You all the while.

"What kind of a town knows that its residents are turning into adorable woodland creatures," Sam asked as he clicked onto the next page of the online newspaper, "but neglects to make it the headline of the paper?" They had found out about the case from another hunter who had been working it, who then became hospitalized. Sam promised the fellow hunter that they would finish what he started and was determined to keep that promise. However, small as that town might have been, it surely cast a blind eye whenever anything out of the usual tried to rear its ugly head.

"I dunno. Maybe the kind of town that doesn't want a bunch of common folk forming a riot after hearing that their neighbor didn't go on vacation to Florida by plane, but really just sprouted wings and migrated there. Think about it Sammy." Dean's words were dripping in sarcasm, and Sam could tell he was in one of his moods.

Sam racked his brain for things that could have set Dean off this time. He had thousands of possibilities, but only one that seemed fit.

"Dude," Sam started, "I know you're upset about Cas, I get that, but that's no reason to-,"

"What's there to be upset about?" Dean retorted. He had had it up to here with his brother assuming that there is touchy feely emotional crap underneath his surface that is just dying to be discussed when there just wasn't. "Cas wasn't being controlled by Naomi when he decided to leave. He could have stayed, and he didn't and that was his own decision. He is a grown freakin' angel and can make his own decisions! Now, what makes you think I'm upset?"

Sam simply stared at his brother, pity and understanding engulfing his face. Dean, feeling as though Sam was somehow staring right through him and could see just how upset he really was, shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Truth be told, Dean did miss Cas, maybe even more so than he was willing to admit. Not including Sam, who didn't really count since they were brothers, Cas was his best friend. His partner in crime. Many a time had him and Dean fought off monsters side by side. They were always there to catch the other if they happened to fall.

Over the years, Cas, who was suppose to be this other worldy, supernatural thing whom Dean was destined to hate, managed to worm his way under Dean's skin and form a weird kind of friendship with him. No one would have guessed that this unlikely pair, both of whom were lost souls, who happened to meet in the Pit, would end up being each other's other halves. Memories of Cas and possibilities of where he might be flashed through Dean's head and jeez, when did it get so hot in here?

I need to get some air, Dean thought, then I'll be fine.

He got up, gave Sam an "I'll be back soon" with no hint to where he was going, grabbed his car keys and headed for the door.

"Dean," said Sam, making Dean turn around and meet his gaze, "Just, don't do anything stupid, alright?"

Still looking at Sam, Dean opened the door. He appreciated his little bro caring about his well being, but what did he take him for?

"I'll be fine Sammy. I just need to-,"

Dean hadn't stepped two feet outside before running into the man at their door. The man seemed to have lost his footing, and the impact of a sudden Dean sent them both tumbling backwards. Cursing under his breath and sneezing once or twice, Dean got up quickly. He was in no hurry to be sued for probably breaking the poor sucker's spine and he was especially not about to be seen on top of some man.

When he was on his feet, his first instinct was to apologize and help the guy up, but when he took another look at him, he froze in his tracks.

Trenchcoat.

A long, tan trenchcoat was wrapped all around the man's frame, practically swallowing him.

It was the same trenchcoat that belonged to the person who had pulled Dean out of countless sticky situations; the same trenchcoat that Dean himself had stabbed all those years ago when they first met; it was the same trenchcoat that Sam and Dean had grown accustomed to, and jeez, it felt good to see it again.

Dean's eyes flicked to the man's hair, expecting a mess of unruly dark brown hair, and being greeted with the expected. So much excitement was filling up inside of him that he felt like a balloon. All of the adrenaline made him fail to notice the fairly covered ears sticking up out of the hair.

Dean was now eager to see the man's welcoming blue eyes so he carefully rolled him over so that he was on his back, but instead he saw them closed. This caused a wave of panic to shoot through Dean as he tried to shake the man awake.

"Cas? Cas wake up!"

Maybe he had hit him so hard that he knocked him out. But how was that possible? The dude was an angel for crying out loud. Fighting an army of demons would barely put a scratch on him, but bumping heads with a human could knock him out? Dean didn't think so. Something was wrong.

"Dean?" Sam heard the commotion and was on his way to make sure his brother was okay. He stepped outside to see Dean on the ground frantically shaking a man that had a strikingly close resemblance to Castiel and wait, was that Cas?

"Cas!" Dean was getting hysterical now. Sam ran back inside, grabbed the first cup he saw, and then filled it up with water. He rushed back outside and hastily threw the cup's contents all over Cas' face. Instantly, Cas sprang up and started coughing in an attempt to get the water out of him.

Saying that Dean was relieved would have been a terrible understatement. Before he could think about his actions, Dean pulled Cas into a firm hug as he continued to aggressively cough. He couldn't believe his luck. Not only was Cas safe and all in one piece, but he was back.

"Where have you been man?!" Dean said as his hand involuntarily started to run through Cas' surprisingly super soft hair. He didn't think Cas would've had the extra time to condition his hair, but perhaps all angels kept their vessels in mint condition. "Samantha here has been worried sick about you."

Sam clucked his tongue in annoyance at the nickname. He knew Dean was only using it as a method to direct the attention off of him (since he was the one cuddling Cas like a newborn puppy and not him) so he let it slide.

Cas' coughing had finally subsided. Slowly, he moved his arms up and around Dean's waist to hug him back. Dean's hands continued to travel through Cas' hair, which Cas did not mind in the least bit, until they reached his ears. Not his regular human ears, however, but his new, unacknowledged feline ears that had sprouted on top of his head.

"Who are you?" Dean shouted as he roughly shoved Cas off of him, a mixture of furious and horrified. He was upset with himself that he had so easily believed that this Cas was the actual Cas, when it was now clear that this one was a fraud. More than that, he was also frightened because that meant that this shifter, or whatever the imposter was, had somehow gotten to the original Cas. Cas was in danger. Cas needed him.

Sam watched in confusion as he saw his brother go from being engulfed in bliss to being utterly pissed without so much as a reason for the change. He saw the look of confusion, but mostly hurt, on Cas' face and felt the need to protect his friend from his hormonal brother.

"Dean-"

"Shut it Sam! This isn't the real Cas!" Dean had his gun that he always kept in his back pocket in his hand in a matter of seconds. He pointed it at the Cas look-alike. "There is only one thing keeping me from shooting you right now." He tried to sound as antagonizing as possible, but the sadness in the Cas' big blue eyes made him falter. His expression dropped from lethal to sympathetic and he lowered the gun. "Tell us where Cas is."