CHAPTER 4

When Castiel woke up the next morning, he couldn't help a strange feeling he had in the pit of his stomach. He thought for a moment, trying to remember what had happened the day before and when he remembered himself looking at Dean walking down the corridor completely naked he blushed, involuntarily. As he washed up, he thought about what he had said; that he liked Castiel. Or maybe not liked, but he had said he thought he was 'quiet nice'. Castiel smiled to himself, Dean seemed like a nice guy, but he and Harry together were a bad mix.

When he came down to breakfast, he was surprised to find Dean already there. As they ate, he kept looking at Castiel and smiling at him, no doubt thinking about their conversation the night before. He had soft green eyes and when Castiel lingered, looking into them, he felt a softening in his stomach. It made him relaxed, looking at Dean.

After breakfast, the two younger girls wanted to go riding and Castiel decided to join them. Their two brothers and Dean also went. Harry said he wasn't in the mood. He looked after them as they rode off. Castiel hoped he wanted to stay home because he was finally going to speak to his father.

They rode down the meadow and through the forest. The girls wanted to go to an old ruined castle to explore. They had heard it was haunted and they were determined to find the ghost. Dean said that if they did find a ghost they would be too scared to do anything and would probably run away screaming. The girls denied it, being very offended. Dean just laughed at them.

The ruin turned out to be a very spooky place indeed, even in the middle of the day. It was surrounded by tall trees and some parts of the old walls were overgrown with ivy. They tethered the horses and went inside what used to be the great hall. Castiel could see that it had been a very grand place once. The girls ran off to one side and their brothers had trouble keeping up with them, trying to make sure they didn't get into trouble. That left Castiel and Dean to go exploring together. Somehow Castiel didn't mind.

They went to the back of the house to where the old drawing room had been. There was an old fireplace so big, Castiel could stand upright inside it. He imagined the big fires that had burned in here. It would have been a nice house once, he thought. He stood in his own thoughts for a moment, then he became aware that Dean had joined him.

"This is a nice fireplace," he said.

"Mmm," Castiel said.

Dean went over and stood in front of him. He raised his hand and almost, almost, ran it down Castiel's side. The movement made Castiel withdraw.

"Don't!" he exclaimed, looking at Dean, fear in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Dean said, retreating a little. "I guess I just got caught up in the moment."

They could hear the girls call out for them. It sounded like they had found a closed up room and they wanted to show them.

"We're here," Castiel called out. Before he left the fireplace, Dean kissed him quickly and tenderly. It was very unexpected, after all, Castiel had just told him not to touch him, and just then the others found them so he couldn't really tell Dean off. Castiel left Dean standing in the fireplace as he went with the others to see the room they'd found. He was angry inside. How dare he! He had to let it go for now, though. He didn't want the others to know something had happened.

The room the girls had found was completely intact and had a solid oak door that had a big lock on it. If they were to get it open , they would need an axe or some other big and solid tool. They rode off home again, and the girls were determined to talk to their game keeper. Maybe he knew how to open the door.

While Castiel was changing out of his riding gear there was a knock on the door. "Yes," he called. The door opened to reveal Dean's head. Castiel , who had calmed down a little on the ride home, went from anger to nervousness to joy all in one second. He was angry at Dean for taking liberties but, to Castiel's discomfort, he was happy to see him. He felt he should be revolted by the kiss, but he wasn't. It had been soft and chaste and Castiel hadn't kissed anyone since the time he was 15 and had managed to persuade the grocer's daughter to give him a kiss at the harvest festival.

Dean came in and looked very ashamed of himself.

"Umm, I, ah, I didn't know if you wanted to see me, but I wanted to apologize for kissing you," he said, after closing the door behind him.

Castiel sighed. "It was wrong of you," he said.

"I know, but...I couldn't help myself. We were all alone and ...well..."

"And I was there?" Castiel asked.

Dean could hear he wasn't as mad as he'd expected. "Well, yes," he said and tried a smile.

Castiel looked at him. "Dean, I don't want to get involved in anything that can cause a scandal," he said.

"I know."

Right then, the gong rang for lunch and they made their way to the door. Before Dean opened it he pulled Castiel in for a hard kiss. It took a few seconds for Castiel to realize what was happening and when he did he tried with all his strength to wrestle out of Dean's grasp. But Dean was stronger than him and he had a firm grip at the back of Castiel's neck. "Mmmm", Castiel said, panicking. His hands were on Dean's chest, nails digging into his coat. Then Dean finally let him go and Castiel pushed him away so he slammed against the door.

"Don't you ever do that again!" he said angrily. Then he left to go downstairs. Dean ran after him. Castiel was expecting him to apologize and he really didn't want to hear it, but Dean didn't say anything. Castiel was trying to calm himself down enough that the others wouldn't ask what was wrong.

He was silent for most of the meal, he could feel Dean's eyes on him all the time but he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of looking back. He was just going to ignore him.

After lunch, he withdrew, to his room, saying he had a headache. He went to lie down on his bed, thinking about the day. This stupid day, where Dean had taken liberties he had no right to take. He stayed in his room until dinner and spent the evening playing cards with the girls. Dean had enough sense to stay away from him.