Sam received the text message from his brother right in the nick of time. He and Castiel had nearly searched the entire hotel. He hadn't even tried to call his brother until almost five, which meant he hadn't actually heard from his brother in almost seven hours by the time he got the text.

It wasn't like they were not allowed to have time to themselves, but they had spent the better part of their lives with only each other to rely on. It was reflex to always know where the other was and what they were doing. If Dean had been captured it wouldn't be that strange. It wasn't like it would be the first time, and certainly wouldn't be the last. But the longer he was missing, the greater the chance that something horrible was happening to him.

It always seemed that Sam had to rescue his brother right before something awful happened. Up to and including his imminent demise. Dean seemed to find himself in those situations much more often than anyone should. Somehow, it had become Sam's job to save his crazy ass.

It didn't help matters that Castiel was not handling it well. He had been a giant pain from the moment they had realized that Dean was missing until the moment they found out he was safe. He had gone so far as to bribe a copy of the key to the other room. When they still hadn't found anything on the missing pair, he had almost broken into the Impala to get the FBI badges. Sam hadn't let him blow their cover, but it had been a close call.

The second they had confirmation that the other couple was safe the angel had relaxed. Although he didn't unwind fully until Dean actually stepped into the bedroom, confirming that he was alive and well for their own eyes to see.

The argument about Dean and Charlie spending the day at the spa lasted throughout the time it took them to eat the sandwiches the cook had kindly allowed them to make out of the leftovers from dinner.

Dean looked more guilty every time Sam mentioned how upset Castiel had been, so he made sure to bring it up as often as possible. Every time he mentioned the angel, Dean would glance over and cringe at the look on Castiel's face. The angel didn't say much, but he didn't have to. He could guilt trip like the sweetest of kicked puppies with his big blue eyes alone.

Charlie didn't seem to fare much better with the look, although she seemed to be more bothered by the fact that Dean was distressed about it. Like she knew how Dean felt about the angel and she was only upset that she had been party to getting Dean in trouble with him.

Her knowledge of Dean's fondness was information that Sam had not been privy to before. It might actually come in handy with his efforts to make Castiel and Dean realize their affection for each other. If he and Charlie could get together and work on making Dean acknowledge his feelings, they might actually be able to get somewhere. Castiel clearly had less reservations about recognizing his emotion for the hunter, so he would only have to be convinced of Dean's returned feelings.

The more Sam thought about Dean and Charlie ditching their post, the less mad he became. It was seriously irritating that they hadn't told Sam where they were, and left him to worry about them. But it turned out it was actually really nice to see his brother put his self proclaimed duty aside to have a little fun. It wasn't like it was a habit, and Sam was sure it wouldn't become one either. Dean took the family business too seriously.

"It's fine. Whatever, Dean." Sam sighed, letting his brother and their friend off the hook. "Did you learn anything while you were there, at least?"

The look on Dean's face clearly said they had not. "I learned that the spa is fucking boring."

Charlie cringed before she answered. "I learned that a bored Dean is a dangerous thing."

"That is very helpful. Thank you." Sam drawled sarcastically and rolled his eyes. "Well, at least we'll get something accomplished tomorrow." He turned his laptop so that the other occupants of the room could see what he had been working on.

"I found locations for all of the employees that left after people started falling into a coma. We can head out in the morning and do some interviews."

Sam was surprised at six in the morning when there was a knock at the door. Gently prying the angel glued to his side off of himself, he went to check it out. Through the peephole he saw his brother. He frowned as he opened it.

Dean was already decked out in his fake FBI suit, and looked like he had been up for some time already.

"What the hell are you doing up so early?" He asked, stepping aside to let his brother into the room, and shutting the door softly behind him. He saw no reason to force Castiel to give up on his unneeded sleep quite so early.

"I've been sleeping like a baby for days." Dean glanced around the room for a moment before his eyes landed on the lump still laying in the bed. "I guess I'm finally caught up or something. Couldn't sleep passed five." He shrugged his shoulders as if it didn't really matter. "Is Cas sleeping?"

Sam glanced toward the bed he had recently vacated. "I think he's pretending to sleep."

Dean nodded his head in understanding, but the look on his face showed that he was not happy. "You guys are sharing the bed?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah. If the guy wants to rest up at night, who am I to tell him he can't be comfortable." Although Sam had anticipated his brother's reaction to finding out they had been sharing a bed, he didn't see a reason to antagonize him about it.

Dean hummed and turned his gaze away from the slumbering angel.

"Just give me like twenty and I'll be ready." Sam told him, grabbing his FBI suit out of the closet and heading for the shower.

When he came out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later he found his brother seated on one of the bar stools watching the lump in the comforter that was Castiel. The only visible part of the angel was the mess of black hair poking out from the top of the blankets. He decided not to mention the fact that Dean had probably been staring the entire time he'd been gone.

He dropped his sleep clothes into the slowly growing pile of dirty laundry in the corner, and grabbed his dress shoes out of the closet, setting them on his place in the bed. He then pulled a pair of black socks out of the drawer where he had stored them. He didn't miss the look his brother threw at him upon discovering that he had bothered to unpack. He chose to ignore it.

Sam grabbed his shoes and sat on his side of the bed to put them on, barely missing the angel still in bed.

"Cas, geeze! I almost sat on you. Get back to your side of the bed!" He huffed a small laugh at the irritated grunt he received as he shoved at the lump over so he didn't risk squashing any body parts.

"This side is warmer." Castiel had a grumpy tone and refused to budge.

The hunter shook his head as he finished putting his socks and shoes on. He glanced up to share his amusement with his brother and was greeted by a scowl.

Sam then realized his mistake. The angel was clearly seeking Sam's body heat. There was no way that Dean wasn't going to put two and two together. It wasn't as if his brother had never been forced to suffer through sharing a bed with him, and all that it entailed.

Sam took a deep breath and forced the amused smile to remain on his lips. The best way to handle Dean most of the time was to pretend that you had no idea he was even upset about something. He had no illusions that before the end of the day he would be questioned about the situation. He also knew that it wouldn't be anytime soon.

"Alright let's get this party started."

He headed toward the door, hearing Dean hop off his stool and follow him. Before they left an idea struck him.

"Cas, you better get up soon. You don't want to leave Charlie down at breakfast by herself do you?"

There was a noise of supreme irritation from the bed in response.

"I guess now we know why angels shouldn't sleep." Sam commented as they stepped out. There was the soft sound of a pillow hitting the door behind them.

It wasn't until the drive to the third witness's house that Dean finally got around to asking him about the sleeping arrangements in their room.

"So, you guys are sharing the bed, huh?" Once again the question seemed offhand, but it wasn't fooling Sam at all.

"Yep." He watched Dean's eyebrow twitch.

"So, I guess he knows about your little problem , then?" Sam hoped he was talking about his cuddling. The way he said it made it sound like Sam murdered people in his sleep instead.

"Yeah, I think he's gotten that bit figured out." He didn't see any reason to mention that the angel seemed to quite enjoy that part of sharing a bed.

"He's not weirded out by it?" Dean seemed to be trying to choose his words wisely, and Sam decided not to mention it.

"Nope." He sighed a bit when his brother's shoulders tensed at the word. "Dean, you know that Cas doesn't have all the hang ups that come with growing up human. He's not bothered by sharing a bed with another man."

"Sam, he's an angel. His vessel is a man. Isn't it a sin for a man to lay with another man?" Dean hadn't removed his eyes from the road since they had begun this conversation and Sam was under the impression that it was his way of distancing himself from it.

He honestly didn't know how to answer this question. He felt like an opportunity was being laid out for him, but he knew if he didn't handle it the right way his brother would be spooked off.

"I'm not sure that is exactly what the bible was talking about." He tried not to make it sound like he was now the one choosing his words carefully. "Besides, Cas said that most of the stuff from the bible was wrong."

That comment got a quick glance from Dean before his eyes snapped back to the road ahead of them. Sam waited patiently, hoping that he hadn't fucked everything up already.

"You don't think Cas has a problem with that kind of thing?"

"Dude. Do you really think he would pretend to be engaged to a guy for a week if he did? Even for the sake of a case, I don't think he'd put aside all of his views. I don't think he cares one way or the other about sexual orientation."

The silence that descended after that comment wasn't uncomfortable, but it wasn't entirely comfortable either. There was an unfinished quality to the conversation, but Sam could wait it out as long as he needed to.

It was a little weird trying to hook his brother up with his best friend. It wasn't really any of his business what his brother did with his love life. That is until it started interrupting Sam's life.

When they were just staring longingly at each other it had been annoying, but ultimately it hadn't affected Sam at all. He would just roll his eyes and ignore it. When it had progressed to staring contests between the two of them, he had taken it upon himself to distract them. He would practically yell one of their names, or edge his way into their line of sight. It wasn't really until the effects of ignoring their feelings started to take hold that Sam got really bothered at all.

It wasn't long before their attraction had become a kind of depression. With both of them denying the way they felt and no resolution in sight. That's when Sam started to really pay attention. It was becoming clearer as the months went by that what Dean felt for the angel went quite a bit deeper than simple attraction. And you'd have to be blind not to see that the feeling that Castiel had for the hunter went much deeper than just protecting his charge. Especially as he had chosen to follow the Winchesters even when it went against the will of heaven.

If his brother wanted to pretend like he wasn't attracted to another dude, that was fine, but when it became clear that his feelings ran a lot deeper, Sam couldn't just stand idly by any longer. They had spent so much time dancing around each other and refusing to acknowledge the attraction they both felt, and Sam just wanted to see them happy. This case was turning into the perfect opportunity to finally do something to change it.

Dean finally found something to say. "Why don't you have a problem with it? You were raised with all those human hang ups that you say Cas doesn't have."

"It doesn't bother me either way. I like to think I am pretty open minded about these things." Sam shrugged as if it didn't really matter, mostly because it really didn't.

"It's different being open minded about that stuff and actively participating in it." Dean finally turned to look at him. He seemed to be trying to gauge Sam's reaction.

"I think you might be the only person that thinks that cuddling is sexual. I have cuddled with plenty of people that I had no sexual interest in." Sam rolled his eyes at his brother to let him know he was an idiot.

Dean turned back to the road before he asked the question. "Like Cas?"

"Yeah, like Cas. Do you really think there is something going on between us just because we chose to share a bed on this case?" Sam allowed his disbelief to be heard in his voice.

"No, not really. I just think its weird is all." He said it like he couldn't care less either way.

"What's so weird about it?"

"It's two fully grown dudes, Sam. What's not weird about that?"

Sam's frustrations with his brother almost took hold of him. Dean was having such a hard time getting over his issues, he couldn't even accept that they were not things that mattered to everyone. If he couldn't get passed even that, how the hell was Sam going to convince him to give them up long enough to figure out the happiness that could be had with his angel?

"What difference does that make? It's not gay to share a bed with another guy. And if I was gay, would it still be weird?"

"But you're not gay, Sam."

"How do you know?" Dean actually turned away from his staring contest with the windshield at that. He quickly turned back, and was lost in thought for a moment.

"Are you gay? You've never said anything before." Dean looked uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going, but Sam hoped it was more discomfort at the idea that there was a huge part of Sam's life that he knew nothing about rather than at the idea that Sam might be involved in that lifestyle.

"I don't know." He shrugged and turned away from his brother. He knew in this part of the conversation it would be difficult to hide his reactions.

"How can you not know?"

"How can I say I don't like something if I've never tried it?" He was immediately glad of his foresight to turn away from his brother's gaze. He cringed as he said that. It sounded like a line you gave to someone who didn't want to try something new.

"I don't think that's quite how it works with sexual orientation." Dean huffed a relieved sounding breath.

"Well, I'd like to think that if I found myself falling in love with a guy, I'd be able to put up all the bullshit and give it a shot. Is it really worth missing out on something great, just because you think you like things a certain way?" Sam didn't even realize at first that he had switched to referring to what his brother should do rather than himself.

His eyes met his brother's and he could see that Dean understood that they had never really been talking about Sam. The look on was a mixture of relief, horror, and realization that looked almost painful. The mask of indifference quickly replaced it, but it wasn't quick enough.

The car was filled with silence again as they pulled in front of the last witness's house. Dean didn't say a word as he removed himself from the situation, roughly slamming the door behind himself in finality. That conversation was apparently over.