The sun was setting, giving the landscape a bright orange hue that melted into a magnificent purple and blue shade. The stretch of road went on for miles and was almost empty, give or take a few cars. All of them were moving at a slower pace in an effort to soak in as much scenery as possible. One car in particular, a 67' Chevy Impala, was not going as slow as the other cars, as if the driver had somewhere important to be.

Their surroundings were a thing of beauty that Dean could appreciate, but it was not the right time to enjoy nature. He could almost feel how tense Cas was in the passenger seat, and this only made him want to go faster. Before they had set off, he had explained to Cas his plan. Granted packing all of their clothes, bagged blood, and toiletries and running like the wind away from their problems wasn't exactly a good plan, but it was their only option and he didn't hear Cas complaining.

He wondered what it could be that was making Cas so distracted to a point that his eyes were glued to the window, when earlier, on their way to the drugstore, Dean had caught Cas staring at him several times (not that he was constantly looking at him or anything). He would stare back for as long as one could as one drove a car, but Cas always won.

But that was then. Now Dean didn't feel the heat of eyes staring holes into the sides of his cheeks, but it wasn't like he missed it or anything. He looked over to Cas again, just to make sure, and felt only disappointment in his gut as he saw his friend continue to dramatically stare out of the window.

Wow, he thought, those vampire movies weren't kidding when they said vampires were moody.

Feeling bored, Dean reached out and cranked the radio up, something he should've done ages ago now that he thought about it.

This seemed to get Cas' attention and he looked at him, for a split second, before turning back to the window.

Something in Dean snapped.

"Alright!" he said, startling his passenger, "What's up with you?" Usually Dean didn't vouch for heart-to-heart, touchy-feely, "chick flick moments," but Cas was starting to tick him off with his loud silence. And besides, he had already been cuddled with that day, so really, how much more of a girl could he possibly get?

Cas looked at him with his regular perplexed gaze. "Nothing."

"Don't give me that crap," Dean spat at him. "I told you that we're gonna be fine. Why don't you trust me?"

"I do trust you," Cas said with full honesty. He couldn't help but trust Dean, despite the short time they'd known each other. "I'm just skeptical about your so-called plan."

Dean wanted to say things. He wanted to say things such as "everything will be fine," or "I won't let them hurt you," or some kind of reassuring bullcrap that would give his friend some optimism, but all he managed to do was click his tongue and turn his attention back towards the road.

Cas stared at the side of Dean's face for a bit, feeling guilty. It was obvious that he had hurt Dean's feelings in some way, probably from the lack of faith in his plan, but he couldn't help his caution. Being a vampire also called for being cautious, having strategic movements and well thought out game plans. Putting a certain amount of blind faith into something was one thing Cas was not familiar with.

However, as he continued to look at Dean, only to have Dean return his gaze, Cas decided that having faith, along with using sunscreen, drinking refrigerated blood, and trying on new clothes, would just be another thing he was willing to try for his new human friend. With this realization he gave Dean a real smile, which made Dean's lips twitch and turned his attention back towards the road. Cas then said, "So, Dean, what's the next step in this great plan of yours?"

After a cough to clear his throat, Dean said, "Well, after we get to a motel by Sammy's house, we'll crash there for a day or two, just to throw those bloodsuckers off your scent. Then, um, we can, uh-" Dean paused and thought for a second. "Go somewhere else I guess. I haven't really thought that far into it yet."

"Well take your time," Cas said, trying to be helpful. "We have a long drive ahead of us... Should we do something to pass the time?"

"Like what?"

"... I don't know."

"No," Dean said, jerking his head to the side to look at him, "You hesitated. You have something in mind."

"Perhaps we can play a game?"

"What kind of game?" For a thousand year old vampire he sure enjoys childish things. "Do you know any good car games?"

Cas stared out the window while he thought. "Um... 20 questions? Is that a game we can play?"

"Yeah ok," Dean said, "Tell me when you've thought of something."

A beat of silence passed and then "Ok. I'm ready. Begin your inquiries."

"Ok. Uh, is it an animal?"

"No it is not an animal, Dean."

"A place?"

"No it is not a place, Dean."

"A person?"

"No it is not a person, Dean."

Dean couldn't help but chuckle a little bit at the absolute intensity Cas brought to the game. His staring before the game was nothing compared to what he was doing now. He wasn't blinking, wasn't moving for anything except to say No it is not [insert what you just guessed here], Dean. The weirdest thing, however, was how absolutely unfazed Dean was by the staring. He just kept firing out questions, only to have them shot down by Cas, and not once did he remind him about how impolite staring was. Social graces and all that crap.

By the time Dean was on his last question to whatever the freakin' heck Cas was thinking of, he was borderline desperate. The only hints he had was that the thing was famous and loud. If he hadn't already ruled out that it wasn't a person, the answer could've fit about 95% of the celebrities he knew of, but it wasn't a person, and he really should've just said his wrong answer a while ago to save them both the trouble.

"Is your thing... I dunno one of the original Star Trek movies?" Dean guessed with an exasperated sigh.

Cas looked at him curiously. "I'm sorry but I don't know what you are referring to."

"You haven't seen the Trek movies? Now that's a freakin' shame. As soon as we get to the motel, we're having a marathon. But seriously dude, what were you thinking of?"

"The thought I had in mind was of Beethoven's ninth symphony." Dean's long bit of silence made Cas wonder if now he was the one who didn't understand the reference, and so he went on. "It happens to be one of my favorite works by him. Did you know that while he conducted it, he was completely deaf?"

"Dude! You said it was a classic!" Dean was a sore loser. "As in, you know, classic movies!"

"No, Dean, I said it was classical."

Dean snickered. "Cas."

"Hm?"

"I don't think you really get the concept of 20 questions." Dean risked a look at the confused vampire. "You gotta think of something that's kinda obvious. Like, not something that's so obvious that it's easy to guess, but just something that everyone knows, you know?"

Cas thought about this for a second. "Alright. I think I understand what you mean."

"Ok," Dean said, trying to get back to the distraction, "But anyway, I'm thinking of something."

Several rounds of 20 questions later, Dean pulled into the parking lot of a motel about a mile or so away from Sam's place. They would need to go to his place in the morning, since, in their hasty exit, Dean had neglected to take a fair amount of money with them. He hoped his brother wasn't still sore about having to had helped Dean's new trenchcoart wearing companion, which more or less put his girlfriend's job in jeopardy, and would even be willing to spot him a few several dollars.

"Hey, do you mind going in and booking us a room while I park?" Cas said he didn't mind and took the money Dean offered him. Once Dean had his baby nicely parked, he went inside the motel. Cas gave him the keys to their room and Dean dragged his feet towards their temporary living space, the exhaution of drving for 10+ hours just now hitting him. He unlocked the door, did a quick survey of the room, and once he deemed it free of any unwanted vamps, demons, or other undesirables, Dean kicked off his shoes and collapsed onto the cheap bed. After his eyes were closed for awhile, he realized something.

He had fallen onto the bed. As in, the bed. Bed was singular.

There was only one bed.

Why was there only one bed? There were two of them, no couch, and just the thought of the millions of different bacteria on the room's floor made his stomach do a flip, so either of them sleeping on the floor was not an option. Why would Cas order a room with one bed? Dean's heart started to race as he thought of several reasons why. Perhaps Cas wanted them to trade off sleeping; one sleeps while the other keeps guard. Or maybe this was one of his more elaborate schemes to guarantee that Dean would sleep with him, which would allow him to do as much cuddling as his heart's desire.

Or maybe he just didn't think to check how many beds there were when he made the reservation, probably the first motel reservation he ever made. Dean marked this as the only reasonable answer and decided to stick with it.

The lack of noise Cas was making unnerved him. By now he would have already tuned into one of his childish shows or some lifetime movie. Dean dared to open one eye to see what he was up to.

Cas was pacing around the room, hands behind his back, with an expression on his face that Dean could only describe as "constipated."

"Cas?"

Cas abruptely stopped pacing to answer. "Yes Dean?"

"What the crap are you doing?" Dean pushed himself up until he was in an upright position. "What's wrong?"

Cas stared at him for an extended period of time, unsure of how to answer, until he released a sigh. "I'm... hungry, Dean."

This was a bit of a suprise to Dean. They had literally just eaten some drive-thru cheesburgers not even a half hour ago. "Still? Do you want me to order some pizza or somethin'?"

Cas vigorously shook his head. "No, no that's fine. It's not that kind of hunger. Forget I said anything."

"No tell me. What are you hungry for? We can literally get anything. Chicken, chinese, ribs-" The desperate look in Cas' eyes made what he was craving dawn on Dean.

Blood.

Of course.

Why hadn't he thought of that sooner? Why hadn't he actually planned ahead to make sure Sam had a pack of blood or so ready to go by the time they got there? Was it really that easy for him to forget what Cas really was?

"I'm sorry man, we're fresh out of blood."

"Oh no Dean it's perfectly fine, I didn't mean to-"

"But we're not fresh out of fresh blood." Dean hopped off the bed and moved into Cas' proximity, adrennaline from his not fully thought out plan coarsing through him.

"Dean, I don't understand." This was what Cas said, but Dean could tell by the way his face went pale that he could sense what was about to happen next.

Dean grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked it down, exposing most of his neck and thick, blue veins. Cas' mouth filled with saliva so quickly that he had to look away.

"Cas," Dean whispered, "Bite me." He didn't know what exactly fueled his brash decision, besides the fact that he felt the need to help his friend out. He wasn't sure what happened when vampires went to long without the proper blood doseage, but he did know he didin't want the pleasure of finding out.

"D-Dean," Cas said, backing away, "No. Please, no." Dean followed his steps until Cas' back was against the wall. "I-I won't be able to s-s-stop."

Cautiously tilting his head up to force him to meet his gaze, Dean said, "Do you trust me?"

Cas, dumbfounded by the randomness of the question, answered truthfully. "Yes, of course."

"Well, I trust you too. I trust that you're not gonna go all blood crazy on me, so maybe you should learn to trust yourself more. Now Cas, please just shut up and bite me." Cas' eyes looked as though they were absolutely pleading for a way to escape the inevitable.

Finally, he surrendered with a sigh. His eyes focused on the veins inside Dean's succulent neck, and he could just hear the blood pumping, louder and louder. The longer he stared, the louder the blood became until he could hear nothing else but Dean's heart, beating over and over, as if it was calling out to him. Perhaps it was. Cas tried to be rational. He attempted to weigh the pros and cons of biting Dean and letting his rich, crimson insides fill his mouth, but his brain could only focus on the pros, and thus further convinced himself of how much of a great idea it was, and so he leaned in. His mouth opened slowly while he involuntarily grabbed Dean. He could feel Dean tense under his grasp, so he loosened it, but still did not let him go. His fangs, the eager little traitors, shot out of his gums as he leaned in closer to Dean. Before he would allow himself to take the first bite, however, he looked up to Dean's eyes one last time, as if searching for permission.

Dean had been watching him the whole time, and he found the whole ordeal extremely fascinating. Cas' eyes told him how crazy they were with blood lust, but his contradicting movements showed high amounts of self control. When he saw Cas look back up to him, similar to how a puppy would when begging for a treat, Dean had to remind himself that that moment was an extremely inappropriate time to laugh at his over-politeness. So, Dean gave him slight nod and a mental go for it, and Cas did not have to be told twice.