A/N: Sorry for the late chapter. Inspiration and energy eluded me for a while there, then as someone suggested, I just knuckled down at 2am with a pen and paper, and wrote this.

Fear not, they will soon return to their regularly scheduled schmoop and schmut. :)

Cas put the sword back in its scabbard and took out the EMF meter. He pointed it at the empty painting in its coarse wooden frame. The meter whined rhythmically but weakly. "There is some kind of residual energy here."

Dean prodded gingerly, with a crayon from Sophie's desk, at the strings of clear slime hanging down the wall from the picture. "That's not the only residue. What is this stuff?"

Cas stood beside him and leaned in for a closer look, sniffing it carefully. Dean turned to stare at him. Cas raised his eyebrows quizzically. "What?"

"Sometimes I forget how different you are. And then you remind me." He smiled and rested a hand on Cas' back to take any sting from the comment. Cas stared back at him for a moment before turning back to inspect the goo. "You like it," he accused. Dean continued to smile to himself and made no comment.

Cas put out a finger and poked the goop.

"Dude! Don't touch it! Jeez! That could be anything! It could be acid! It could be… alive and steal your shape -"

Cas straightened up and wiped his finger on Dean's jacket with a deceptively mild expression.

"It's ectoplasm, Dean."

"Like ghost goobers?" Dean glared at him and tried to brush the residue off, but only succeeded in smearing it around. Dean frowned thoughtfully at the empty picture. He turned the frame over. "Well, would you look at that." There was a vaguely familiar symbol drawn on the back in thick, black marker. Dean pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the symbol, sending it to Sam. "I think I've seen this before." Dean was pretty sure it was the same as the one he and Sam had found in that haunted house they'd had to burn down in Texas. The spirit had kept changing, because the symbol had made whatever people believed in, come true, and people had believed whatever was written on that crazy Ghost-Chasers' website, or whatever it was called.

"It's Sanskrit," Cas supplied. "It's a symbol for focussing psychic energy into a physical manifestation."

If anyone else had said those words, Dean would have assumed they were showing off, but with Cas it was just sharing of knowledge. He squeezed Cas' shoulder. "I love it when you talk nerdy, Cas."

Dean was distracted by the ringing of his phone. "Yeah?"

"Tulpa, Dean. You could be dealing with a tulpa. A physical manif-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I have the walking wikipedia with me." He glanced at Cas with a half smile.

"Well, here's something you may not know." Sam continued. "I've been talking to Sophie and she says the picture was a gift to her mom from a local kid who baby-sits for her sometimes. His name is Travis. Wait…. Sophie says he has a crush on her mom."

"Well, that might explain the ladies' under-things all over the bedroom. If he's been here … sleazy - but natural for a teenaged boy. I have to go, Sam. Cas has that look. Either he needs to poop or he's had an epiphany."

Sam smiled even as Dean hung up in his ear. Only Cas could have Dean using words like 'epiphany'.

"We need to follow where these footprints lead, Dean. I think I know what happened, but I'm not sure how a mere boy managed it."

-oOo-

They followed the increasingly muddy footprints through hallways and down stairwells. When they reached the gloomy basement of the old building Dean just groaned. "Of course," he whispered to Cas "Its always a basement or a warehouse."

Cas half-smiled and shrugged. He tried to never assume anything. He was used to being surprised by people.

They heard a clang up ahead. Dean nodded towards the sound and led the way. Cas stalked behind him, sword in hand. They could hear a male voice ahead, then a hesitant female answer.

Dean peered carefully around the doorway into what looked like the furnace room of the old building.

Cas joined him. They saw a strange tableau.

A woman in a clingy evening dress was seated on a crate. Some more crates were piled into a table under a white table cloth. There was a lit red candle on the table and two dinner settings of plates, cutlery and glasses. There was an unopened bottle of red wine next to the candle.

The woman picked daintily and nervously at the pasta on her plate. Dean could see the resemblance to Sophie in her hair colour, nose and eyes. Opposite her was a tall, lanky teen in a cheap suit and tie. Dean cringed at the grey polyester jacket.

Cas touched his elbow and gestured with his chin to the other, darker end of the room. Standing in the dark, unmoving, was what looked like an unbaked terracotta statue of a body builder with a clown's head.

It reminded Dean of the kid's flip books that let you mix and match the different body parts, so you could have ballerina legs, with a doctor's torso and a fire-fighter's head. Only this one had a huge body builder's legs and torso, with a tiny clown's head. There was definitely a bulky body under the ruffled, clay, clown suit.

"What the hell is that?" Dean whispered raising his brows.

"It's a golem."

Cas' explanation was no explanation to Dean. "A what?"

"A servant made of clay, animated by the creator's force of will. I think he used the picture as a focal point, making the golem manifest in their home, then used it to bring the woman here. "

"Well, that's just creepy. He's one messed up wizard."

"Dean," Cas whispered, "he's just a child. Maybe we can talk to him."

Dean shook his head. "Sure, he looks like a kid, but so did Lilith at first, and how does a kid know how to make a goalie… a golly… a clay robot?" At the look on Cas' face, Dean modified his approach. "Okay. I promise to ask questions first and shoot later." Cas nodded at the compromise. Dean rubbed Cas' back for a brief second. "Don't lower your guard, Cas." Cas nodded again. "You either, Dean." Dean smiled, reading between the lines. "Okay."

Dean took a breath and stepped out into the candlelight.

"Hey, this looks real cosy," Dean drawled

The boy jumped from his seat. "Sit down," Cas continued "we're not here to harm you."

The woman stared at them with fear. Dean held his hands up. "Its okay. Sam sent us." She looked relieved at the explanation. "Is Sophie okay?"

"She is fine. She is with Sam right now." Cas replied.

The boy stood again and raised his voice turning to the massive statue of wet clay "Seize them!"

He pointed at Cas and Dean.

The slurping noise the statue made as it moved was obscene. It took a slow step towards them and ponderously swung a massive arm at them. "Is that all you've got?" Dean smirked. He aimed a kick at one of the massive clay legs. His foot stuck. A brief flicker of a childhood story ran through his mind, something about a tar baby. "Oh crap."

The huge arm connected with his head, slapping against it wetly, then wrapped around it and engulfed it. It was like being buried alive in a clay pit. It smelled kind of fresh and earthy, which wasn't completely unpleasant - except for the lack of oxygen. Everything was muffled and he lashed out, his fists hitting wet mud. It didn't feel like he was doing any damage.

"Dean!" He heard Cas' muffled cry. Suddenly his head could move, although it was still encased in clay. He reached up and clawed the clay away from his face, taking a huge, clean breath. He saw Cas hacking pieces from the golem as he backed it into the corner that housed the glowing red furnace. There was a hissing, sizzling sound as the golem backed right up against the furnace.

"No!" Dean turned towards the cry and saw the boy make an aborted reach towards Cas and the golem, but he stopped, as Sophie's mom trained Dean's shotgun at his chest. "Just give me one more reason, Travis. I swear I will shoot you."

Every time the golem made a move, Cas hacked another piece away. Finally, it took a step forwards, only for its leg to snap at the knee, dried from the heat of the furnace. The same happened when it tried to move its arm. Then all at once, cracks appeared all over it and it cascaded to the ground in a heap of clay rubble.

Cas poked the rubble with his boot, and jumped back, when it instantly dissolved into clear slime.

"Ugh!" The clay covering Dean had also turned to clear, slimy ectoplasm.

He tried to wipe the disgusting material from his eyes. He looked up to see Cas limping a little and bleeding from his thigh. He hurried over and put his slimy shoulder under Cas' arm to take some of the weight.

"Cas! What happened? Sit down. Is it deep? Should I call Sam?"

Cas shook his head, grimacing. "Dean. Its just superficial."

"You sure?" Dean's steadying arm around Cas' back tightened. Cas looked into his eyes and answered very seriously. "Yes."

"Alright then." Dean lowered him gingerly onto one of the crates. Then turned to Sophie's mom and snatched his shot gun back, adding belatedly, "I'll have my gun back now, thanks." He turned his attention to the boy. "You. Have a lot of explaining to do. And if I don't like the answers - you have some dying to do."

The boy sighed melodramatically and threw his arms up. "What's the point? Just shoot me. I'm going to die a virgin either way."

Dean scrunched his brow. "Seriously? That's what this is about? How was kidnapping the nice lady working out for you?"

"Fine! You saw! She was here. We were having dinner…"

Sophie's mom made a scornful noise at the back of her throat.

"She finally respected me!"

"Kid, that is so fu- " Cas cut Dean off. "Dean. Let me." Dean hesitated, but finally nodded. "Okay, but one false move and I perforate him." Cas smiled "Perforate?"

He turned back to the boy who sat slumped on one of the crates. "She didn't respect you. She feared you. Trust me. I know what I'm talking about." Dean's heart clenched a little and he felt the urge to comfort Cas, but now wasn't the time. Cas was like some kind of magnet for chick-flick moments.

"So? Isn't it the same thing?" The boy raised his head and glared at Castiel challengingly.

"No. It is very different. Fear can never become love. Respect, on the other hand, might one day grow into love." Dean felt a small flare of pride at Cas' words.

The boy sneered, "Pff! Love? I just want to get laid!"

Dean groaned. "Oh for Christ's sake! Save up some money and hire a hooker, you moron!"

Cas frowned in thought. "That brings me to another question. How did you manifest a golem?"

"I bought a book on the internet and I practised."

Cas, Dean and Sophie's mom all had their eyebrows raised towards their hairlines.

"Just like that? With practise?" Dean asked.

"Sure. I figured, if I can learn algebra and quadratic equations, then I can learn to concentrate my thoughts and do this." He shrugged. "All you need is concentration and absolute intent. Oh, and the right incantation on a piece of paper that you put into the golem's mouth - kind of like a start-up program."

Dean ran a hand over his face, then wiped the slippery goo from it onto his jeans. "Here's the thing, kid. You're young, you still have a chance. You're smart so you can be anything, do anything, that you want to. Don't become a super villain. You'll never get laid. Become rich. That's my advice. And then get a vasectomy if you don't want every little gold digger claiming you're her child's daddy."

Sophie's mom had her mouth open in an O of horror. "Oh my god! That is so cynical."

Cas quirked a brow at Dean, who lifted a hand in a gesture that meant they'd discuss it later.

The boy grinned. "Alright! That sounds like awesome advice!"

"I'll go one better, kid. I will take you to a party right now, where you can meet a whole gaggle of model-types. Maybe one of them will think you're cute and take pity on you."

"Sweet!"

"And if you ever try something like this again - I will kill you. Stone cold. Got it?"

Travis nodded his head energetically. "Where's this party at?"

-oOo-

Cas leaned heavily against Dean as Dean helped him take the stairs. "Dean, I'm not sure turning him into a greedy, money-grubbing, lothario was the best idea. "

Dean shrugged. "Still better than a magic-wielding psycho-rapist, wouldn't you say?"

Cas sighed loudly. "I suppose."

"You can't turn him into a responsible adult overnight, Cas. Baby steps. Today he aims to get laid. One day he will, and he'll wonder why he was so hung up on it. In the meantime, his intelligence and energy need to be focussed on less damaging pursuits than building clay soldier's and kidnapping his neighbours for his own nefarious purposes."

Cas' hand strayed into Dean's back pocket. "Mmm. Nefarious. Four syllables."

Dean quirked a brow at Cas. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Positive reinforcement."

Dean tried not to smile. "You're not allowed to stay up late and discuss psychology with Sam any more. You already tried to use 'removal of privileges' on me."

"Ah, yes. Threatening to sleep on the couch…it worked. I promise positive reinforcement will be much more fun."