It's been a nice morning, one of the best Dean can remember, but when Dean finished his cup of coffee he figures they should get to business. "So, uh, artefact. Lilith. What are we going to do about those?."

Sam almost wanted to kick Dean for breaking the mood. He hasn't felt this happy, or relaxed, in a long time. Instead, though, he brought up his laptop, "What information can you give me on it, Cas?"

Cas looked at the two, amazed how just one second ago they were lighthearted, and goofy, as Dean would say, but now they were all business. He sighed, "It's an ancient ring from Egypt with a hieroglyph of Anubis, the god who helped the dead to the underworld. Apparently it belonged to Tutankhamen, and some even believe it was cursed and led to his death, and those of the archaeologists who found the tomb."

"Damn, I knew I should've paid more attention to that mummy unit in fifth grade." Dean leaned forward. "So that was what was giving the ghost chick the extra juice?"

Cas took a sip from his coffee, and found that he likes it, as sweet as it is, and nodded. "Yes. The ancient Egyptians believed that one of the earlier pharaohs made a deal with Anubis to avoid death, and the curse was placed on the ring to ensure the pharaoh's demise eventually. Later, King Tutankhamen wore it as a symbol and well, you know the rest, he died at 18, a boy king."

Dean flinched at the phrase, as it was definitely not one of his favorites, and deliberately doesn't glance at Sam. Grimly, "huh, can't say that doesn't sound familiar. Crowley might've mentioned something about it."

"Why were you talking to Crowley about King Tut?" asked Sam, who wondered if Dean didn't mean the 'boy king' bit.

"I dunno, he probably has a fetish. Dude, I was a bit busy with the ghost fucking with my car."

"Wait... so he said this to you yesterday? You don't find that, I don't know weird at all?" Damn... Dean's inner alarm must need tweaking.

Dean was instantly a bit defensive. "No, I think it's a lot weird, which is why I brought it up."

Cas broke in. "So Crowley mentioned this ring to you? Why did you still go in and touch it?" He tried not to sound stern, but Dean acted like a child if all this was true.
"He didn't mention the ring, okay, I had no idea what the fuck it was. He called Sam... the 'Boy King'." Damn but Dean didn't want to say that, wanted to ask Cas about the threat to his little brother later, preferably way out of Sam's earshot.

"It's not the first time he's called me that, Dean, why are you so worked up about it now?"

"Cause I heard it too many times in Hell!." Dean snapped, and instantly regretted it.

Sam looked to the floor immediately, not knowing that Dean would snap the way he did.

Cas did a very similar move, except he leaned in and put his hand on Dean's shoulder, right where the scar he left is.

For a minute, Dean is very tempted to shake Cas off, not wanting to be touched. He tried to calm down, the few deep breaths he takes sounding loud in the sudden silence.

Sam suddenly felt like the third wheel and quietly sneaked out the door. He headed back down to his room and delves into the depths of the internet, intent to find out everything he can about this ring.

Cas can feel Dean's breaths, and as soon as Sam's out of the room, he grabbed Dean's hand and pulls him to the bed, and into a deep hug. Hugs for Dean were rare and far between, so Castiel tried to put all his emotions into it, the love he felt for Dean, the worry about the outburst, and the pride Cas feels for Dean.

Dean hated this, hated that he's triggered by a stupid jumble of words, hated that his reactions feel beyond his control. He's tried to hide most of the damage from Sam, especially from Sam, but. The torture wasn't just physical. Hell finds your weaknesses, all of them, and exploits them, and Sam's the biggest one he's got. He kept breathing, feeling Castiel warm around him, and slowly, incrementally, felt himself calm down.

Cas can feel Dean calm down, and slowly pulled Dean's face to his, in a soft kiss, not meant to be anything more than a comfort.

Dean pressed into it, taking the comfort for what it is.

Slowly, Castiel pushed Dean to the bed, what started out as a small thing, leads to more, as most of they're kisses do... After they finished, Cas found himself lying on the bed, wearing sweat pants, borrowed from Dean, of course, and with Dean's head on his chest. Dean was fast asleep, a sign that the stress had gotten to him more than Dean knew. Cas made sure to help Dean have some good dreams, the outburst about hell had worried him, Dean had never talked about Hell and Cas worried that bottling it up would just create a problem down the road for them.

Sam found himself pacing around the room. All he'd found so far was pretty much what Cas had told them. He'd found some information about the mummy's curse, but it didn't say anything about how it connected to the boy king dying. There was that phrase again... what Crowley had taken to calling him, aside from Moosey. Sam rolled his eyes and sat down again, looking at links on the 256th page on Google.