Sam lead Charlie all the way up to Cas and his room. He knew that Dean would make sure the angel would be well taken care of.

By the time they made it back to the room Charlie was practically bouncing in excitement.

"What are you so happy about?" Sam asked her, not knowing what could possibly be making her so happy with all the weirdness of the day.

"Dean is totally going to get it now! I could see it on his face! We are so close to victory!" She even struck a superhero pose that said she could feel success on the horizon.

The hunter chuckled a little at her ridiculousness.

"I've said way more than that before and Dean has found a way to fall back into denial about the whole thing." He shrugged because that was just the way that things were right now. He hadn't even said much.

"Yes, but last night I may have insinuated that I thought the same." Her grin nearly split her face. "We spent too much time trying to make him admit his own feelings! We should have started with Castiel's feelings for him! How could I have been so stupid?" She looked genuinely confused then.

Sam couldn't suppress the surprise he knew was etched across his face. He didn't know how he could have been so stupid either.

It wasn't like Dean didn't already know how he felt about the angel. He might not be very good at expressing his feelings, but that didn't mean he didn't know they were there. Sam had spent so much time and effort trying to get his brother to admit his feelings for Castiel he had forgotten exactly who he had been dealing with. Dean was so much more likely to be okay with admitting his affections out loud if he believed that the angel felt the same way.

Sam spent too much time worrying that it wasn't his place to tell them that the other felt the same way that he had ended up missing the point that could really bring it all together. He hadn't even thought much about the remark as he was making it. It would only figure that the effortless offhand comment would be the thing that actually broke down his brother's walls.

"What did you say to him?" He asked her because he was actually kind of worried that she had crossed a line in her effort to get her point across.

"I may have suggested that he wasn't the only one miserable about things being the way they were." She looked proud as hell, and Sam smiled down at her. At least she hadn't gotten carried away in her mission. They might actually be getting somewhere.

"Nice work." He was actually pretty proud too.

Charlie threw up her hand, and Sam clapped his to it gently even though her excitement and battle stance said she was expecting a much more aggressive high five.

She frowned a little at his lackluster involvement, but brushed it off a second later as she started plotting.

"So now that Dean is finally going to get his head out of his ass, how long do you think it will take for him to do something about it?"

Sam thought about it for a moment, but the answer came easily enough. "Dean's not really a subtle guy. He's the kind that jumps in with both feet and hopes for the best."

"I hope he really did get it figured out." Charlie sighed as she plopped onto the end of the bed. "I don't want my efforts to go to waste."

"I know what you mean." Sam arranged himself onto the nearest barstool. "I feel like this has been building for so long. It's about time."

"I hate to say it, but Cas getting attacked might actually be the push they needed."

They both contemplated that turn of events and what it could possibly mean for Dean and Castiel. Would the threat of losing the angel be enough to force Dean to finally confront the thing between them? Coupled with the thought that both Sam and Charlie thought there was something there, it might actually be push he needed.

"Thank god we had True Love's Kiss to bring him back around. Who knows what would have happened if Dean hadn't been there?" Charlie grinned sideways at Sam as she said it, and he couldn't help the bark of laughter at her interpretation of the CPR his brother had been quick to administer.

"I'd like to go ahead and call it True Love's Kiss from now on." Sam told her through his chuckles.

"Oh, I am certainly okay with that." She looked like she honestly wouldn't have it any other way. "I can't even wait to see how much Dean likes it." The look on her face at that was easily interpreted as evil.

"Yeah, he'll be ecstatic." Sam chuckled a bit more at the thought. God. His brother was more likely to kill them.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind Dean and Castiel, the angel made a startling announcement.

"I believe I know what is happening here."

All movement in the room stopped as everyone's attention turned to the angel. There was a pregnant pause as they waited for elaboration. Realizing that Castiel was not going to continue without prompting, Sam finally spoke up.

"Well, what's happening?"

"The smoke we've been seeing is not smoke at all. It is the air of heaven." The angel sat gingerly on the edge of the bed by Charlie. "I assume it looks different because it is on the human plane right now. In heaven it doesn't look like smoke."

"The air of heaven? What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked, looking unsettled by the news. Sam couldn't fathom why. They'd had to deal with way worse things than the air of heaven before.

"The air in heaven is different. It is meant to be breathed by gods and angels."

Sam knew his confusion was evident on his face, and he could see the same reaction from Dean and Charlie.

"So where is the air coming from? And why is it putting people into a coma?"

Castiel seemed annoyed by the question. "The air is meant to be breathed by the beings of heaven . The humans that have breathed it recently were not equipped to handle it."

Realization spiked through Sam and his confusion cleared."They are being suffocated."

Dean and Charlie showed only surprise at Sam's deduction.

"It makes perfect sense! Their bodies aren't equipped to breathe the air. It's replacing the air they are supposed to be breathing." Sam dropped off his chair and walked to his side of the bed to scoop up his laptop from the nightstand.

"If they are not breathing oxygen for a certain amount of time it would be like suffocation." He plopped down into one of the much shorter chairs and opened the computer, booting it up immediately. "I bet it was just long enough to cause their bodies to slip into a coma, but not long enough to actually kill them."

Sam's excitement on the break in the case was clearly not rubbing off. When he looked back up only Castiel seemed satisfied with his explanation. Dean and Charlie were looking at him as if he'd lost his mind.

"But what the hell does that mean ?"

Castiel sighed in that awkward way that said he was trying out a new human reaction to something. "It is also the reason why I didn't feel any hostility. This god is not trying to hurt these people. I believe he is trying to help them."

Sam continued his internet search, trying to figure out how long someone could be without air before they might suffer long term effects. Belatedly, he hoped that no one ever looked at his search history and got the wrong impression.

"Help them?" Charlie sounded just as confused as Dean. Luckily, Sam was already off on his next inquiry. He might actually have the rest of the case figured out by the time Castiel got the other two on the same page with them.

"Yes. Do you remember what I said right before I was attacked?"

The lightbulb went off behind his brother's eyes, and Sam barely contained his snort.

"You said you needed some air…" Dean looked amazed at the realization.

"And the god provided some air for me." Castiel looked satisfied.

"And you didn't fall into a coma…" Charlie questioned without asking the question.

"Because I am an angel. I can process the air."

"But you did pass out. And you stopped breathing!" Dean's voice was a little higher of a pitch than normal. Probably not enough for anyone else to hear the fear that was still there about the whole thing. Sam had been around long enough to be able to detect it though.

"My human vessel was reacting to the air. Usually, if I am to travel to heaven, I make sure that this vessel doesn't breathe the air there. It is also not equipped to handle it. I did not have time to prepare in this case."

It all made sense. That's why the victims were all the ones that had walked out on their significant others. It was less of a case of a god that punished you for running from your problems, and more of a god that answered the prayer for air. When were people most likely to say they needed some air? When they were upset about something and needed time to think.

"Did What's-his-face say he needed some air before his attack?" Sam asked the only two people in the room that had actually been there.

A look of wonder crossed Charlie's face before she answered excitedly. "He did!" She sounded surprised and Sam chuckled. It was always a good feeling when a case started coming together.

There was a sudden shift in the air.

"So you say it was only your vessel that was reacting?" Dean asked softly.

Sam's head snapped straight back to his research and he saw Charlie shift uncomfortably and look away in his peripheral.

"Yes, that's right." Castiel nodded as he answered, seeming confused by the change in atmosphere. Sam could only guess where Dean's mind had gone, but he was probably at least close.

"But you were still conscious." His brother's voice was quiet, but as everyone else in the room was holding their breath, it was loud in the silence.

Sam couldn't help turning his eyes from his laptop, surreptitiously. The angel was avoiding eye contact with Dean. As if that wasn't suspicious enough, the barely visible cheekbones were tinted a darker color than usual.

"Yes." Castiel admitted. He seemed to steel his resolve and looked up to meet Dean's eyes.

It was the hunter's turn to be embarrassed. He looked away from Castiel and rubbed the back of his neck. "And I'm the idiot giving CPR to an angel." He rolled his eyes and looked back at the angel with a small smile on his face.

"It was thoughtful, nonetheless." Castiel gave him a small smile in return.

Sam realized that he had been watching for too long and turned away, just as his 'pretend to be researching' scroll passed a page about the air of heaven. He quickly scrolled back up and clicked the link.

"Cas, what do you think about this?" He asked automatically after reading enough to know the lead had merritt. He immediately regretted it as the angel's attention snapped to him. Castiel came closer to get a better view of the mythology essay Sam had found.

The hunter threw an apologetic look at his brother. Dean just shrugged as if he and Cas hadn't been having a moment. Or maybe it had more to do with the fact that they were having a moment in front of too many other people.

"Aether, of the upper air. He does seem to be the one we are dealing with. Good work, Sam." The angel began scrolling down the page to find out more information even as Sam tried to pretend the words of praise hadn't made him puff up in pride. So he didn't get a lot of praise. If anyone had a problem with him enjoying it when he did get it, they could kiss his genius ass.

"How will we find him?" Castiel asked. Apparently he was as clueless about that part as everyone else was.

"Let me do a couple more searches and see if I can't figure anything out." Sam said, regaining control of his laptop.

"What are we going to do when we do find him?" Charlie asked as Dean took Castiel's previous spot on the end of the bed. "Ask him politely to knock it off?"

They discovered a symbol that was fairly prominent in all of the lore about Aether. It was a snake wrapped around an egg, which was actually associated with some even weirder lore about how the earth was formed. As if God and angels weren't weird enough.

The symbol seemed familiar to all of them, and they concluded that they had probably seen it somewhere in the hotel. The next step was finding the thing so they could figure out how to make the god stop accidently almost killing guests.

By the time they had gotten to that conclusion it was late enough to explore without having to worry about being interrupted by the other guests. As a matter of fact it was probably late enough that all of the other guests were already tucked into bed.

They spent a significant amount of time searching the room that the groups had been held. The two attacks that happened since they had been there had both occurred in that room. Not that it seemed to mean anything. When they didn't find anything with the symbol they consoled themselves that the attacks had happened all over the hotel. It was less of a consolation when they realized it meant the damn thing could be literally anywhere.

"But I know I've seen it before!" Charlie said for the hundredth time.

"I feel like I have heard this story before." Dean rolled his eyes as he fell into one of the chairs.

"I mean, if we've seen it before it means it has to be somewhere we've been. So we only have to check the public spaces, and I guess our rooms, right?" Charlie looked hopeful that they wouldn't force her to check every damn room of the hotel.

"Well we can certainly start there. You guys have spent less time in your room. Why don't you go check it out, just in case? Then we can start working on some more of the public places." Sam was trying to be reasonable. It was starting to get late, but they only had half a day tomorrow before they were supposed to check out. They would have to try to cover as much ground as possible while the other couples were out of the way.

"Maybe I go check out my room, take a little nap, and then come back down to help you?" Charlie looked so hopeful, and she broke into a yawn almost immediately after she was done talking.

Dean sighed, probably at the display of weakness by their friend. She was used to getting her eight hours, though. Just because the Winchesters could live on four hours, and the angel didn't need to sleep at all, didn't mean that she was used to that kind of life. Sam could understand where she was coming from.

"Alright, Charlie. You can head to bed…"

He didn't even get to finish his sentence before she exclaimed, "Thank fuck for that!" She was up and headed to her room before he could blink.

"Hey! Don't forget to check the room first! Let us know if you find anything!" He yelled at her retreating form. She threw up a wave of acknowledgement as she turned the corner toward the elevators.

He saw Dean shoot a grin his direction as they watched her walk away. One of those 'what can you do?' looks.

"Well, I guess it's just the three of us."

Sam, being the awesome brother that he was, offered to distract the night manager as Dean and Castiel investigated the buffet room. They certainly wouldn't get the chance to do that once the other couples were up. There wasn't much in there when food wasn't being served, so after a good ten minutes of asking the most inane questions he could think of he thanked the manager and headed back to find his brother and the angel.

"...don't really know what we would have done if you'd really been in a coma." He overheard Dean say, and paused before he stepped into the room.

"I imagine you would have figured something out. You always do." Castiel's voice was nonchalant. As if he truly believed that the brothers would have figured it out even if he hadn't woken from his attack. It spoke to how much trust the angel constantly placed in the Winchesters.

"You are missing the point, Cas." Dean sighed and moved as if to make his way closer to the angel.

As much as Sam really wanted them to have that big talk where they hashed out all the feelings they had for each other, he couldn't help but be irritated that Dean apparently planned to have it now . They didn't have the time, and this probably wasn't the place for it either. He stepped into the room before his brother could make another comment.

"Is this room clear yet? We still have four more rooms to investigate before everyone starts waking up. The night manager went on his rounds, so we should check out the lobby first and work our way toward the spa."

Dean sent him a disgruntled look, but didn't comment on the interruption. They followed Sam back out of the room, and Dean headed for the lobby while Castiel paused at some of the vases, tables, and art decorating the hallway. Sam took the opposite side of the room and began his search while heading toward Dean. They would meet in the middle and then likely head to the next location. There really wasn't much by way of decor in the lobby besides the comfortable looking chairs and couches set up in case you had to wait to be checked in.

"I don't see anything with the symbol in the hallway." Castiel said as he rejoined them and began checking out the vases and fake fruit set up on the ornate standing desk the employees used.

"Can I help you guys?" A head popped out from an open doorway, and he scanned the three of them.

"Nah, man. We're guests here. We couldn't sleep so we're just wandering around." Dean shot the man one of those charming smiles that seemed to make people think he was innocent. It worked, like it always did.

"Oh, uh, alright." His face still seemed a bit suspicious, probably because there were three of them, but he popped back into the office without farther comment.

"This is a dead end anyway. Let's get out of here before this guy decides to that Netflix isn't more important than his job."

They made their way quickly through the other public rooms, and didn't hit a snag until they got to the spa. They should have known that this section was likely to be locked up for the night. Luckily, Dean always had his lockpick on hand and made fairly quick work of the lock.

As soon as they were in, they split up. There were a lot of small rooms to cover. Sam took off to the right, and found the rooms were almost bare. Very minimalist. There were a couple of urns, and a few pots with plants in them to check out, but not a lot. He made it through the five rooms down the hallway he had taken, and headed back to the main room.

As he came around the corner he spotted his brother and Castiel were already there. Dean seemed to be just walking out of his own self-assigned rooms. Sam did not like the look of determination on his face. His brother couldn't see him from the area he came from, and Sam could tell by the look on his face that he was once again planning to take advantage of being alone with the angel.

"Listen, Cas…" His brother started, and Sam cut in before that could go any farther. Seriously? Dean wanted to do this now? Yeah, Sam had even predicted that his brother would be ready to jump off the cliff without looking. But was this really how he wanted to do it? Jesus.

"Alright, looks like this place is clear too. I really thought we wouldn't have to search the rooms, but it looks like we are going to be busy tomorrow. Stalking the cleaning lady, probably." Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I just don't get how we all could have recognized the symbol if we hadn't seen it."

Dean was glaring at him again, but Sam ignored it completely.

"Perhaps it was somewhere visible, but has been moved since we have been here?" Castiel suggested.

"Yeah, maybe."

Sam glanced around the room at the giant recliners all lined up.

"Well, we've done all we can tonight anyway. I think we should probably head to bed and work out the rest tomorrow."

Dean's glare followed him all the way up to their floor, where they would have to part ways.

"Goodnight, Dean." The angel said, heading in the direction of their room with no idea that Dean wanted nothing more than to speak to him.

"Goodnight , Dean." Sam repeated, smirking a little at his brother's frustration.

"Seriously, Sam?" He knew that Dean didn't understand why he was not allowing him the chance to talk to the angel after all the time he spent trying to get things moving in that direction.

"Seriously, Dean?" He rolled his eyes at his brother. He huffed an irritated breath before he turned on his heel and headed for their room. Castiel was standing in the doorway, staring back at them quizzically.

"Come on, Cas." He said, pushing the other man into the room in front of him. "I've got to get at least four hours before we finish this thing tomorrow."