Oh, yeah, everything is unbeta'd. All my mistakes are my own.

Disclaimer: Kripke owns all Supernatural characters. I'm only borrowing them.

Pairing: Dean/Castiel - very graphic. This is my first attempt at something like this because this muse wouldn't leave me alone. Please let me know what you think, constructively.

Warnings: Rated M for swearing, graphic sexual content with S and M undertones, implied forced sexual torture and other adult subject matter.

In this chapter, no smut, only swearing and adult subject matter. As much as I enjoy smut, I figured it was time to add a little plot.

Chapter 6 – The Aftermath

Dean blinked and saw he was standing outside of Bobby's house in the early morning hours. For a moment, a burned out, hollow version of this flashed in Dean's head. It seemed so real that his knees almost buckled under the misery such a sight had caused him. He shook his head in denial and to clear the image out. Luckily, it worked and Bobby's house was back in the pre-dawn light, chipped paint and all.

Dean sighed in relief then closed his eyes and actually said a long prayer on his friend's behalf because he had nothing else that he could do for Cass. He also prayed that Cass met up with the forgiving, New Testament God and not the Old, full of wrath one. He sincerely hoped that his prayers were actually heard and listened to this time. With a final heavy sigh and a heavier heart, Dean slowly made his way up the steps to Bobby's house then knocked on the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Bobby's voice growled from behind the door. Dean smiled slightly in relief that his previous unrealized fears were completely unfounded. Bobby opened the door and griped irritably, "What the hell are you doing knocking on my door for? You know you are always welcome here, son."

"I just wanted to make sure of my welcome. Last time something like this happened, you greeted me with a silver knife," Dean joked morosely.

"Well, you are going to get your normal belt of holy water. You know the drill. Now, come on in so that your idjit brother will stop trying to wear a path through my floors," Bobby answered staunchly before turning and dodging Sam who was headed straight for his brother.

Sam grabbed Dean in a huge bear hug, causing Dean's muscles to become even more sore. He pulled back and slapped Dean on the back. Sam joked, "You look like hell warmed over. What happened to you? I thought you said you were okay."

Dean slapped Sam back on the shoulder harder, just because he had to, big brother rules and all that macho stuff, then he observed laughingly, "Well, we would definitely know what hell looked like, wouldn't we? I'm pretty sure that I don't agree with you, though. My hell was a lot worse that what I look like."

"Come on into the kitchen, you idjits," Bobby called out from that room. "We still have some coffee in here."

Dean led the way to the kitchen and saw that Bobby was filling three coffee mugs. Dean called out, "I'd rather have that holy water right now, Bobby." Bobby arched an eyebrow at the unusual comment but Dean answered easily, "What? I'm really dehydrated right now. Don't think coffee will help that any AND I don't plan on staying up very long." Bobby shrugged and handed Dean his flask.

"What happened to you, Dean?" Sam pried with concern.

Dean leaned back against the kitchen countertop while Sam and Bobby stood by the kitchen table. Dean drank down several swallows of the flask before shrugging and replying, "I honestly don't know a whole lot. Most of it, I got from Cass. Apparently the demon thing we were hunting intentionally drew us out. Once it grabbed me, it subdued me by infecting me with something, and before both of you ask, no, I don't know what. I don't remember much, except waking up a little bit yesterday then passing back out. Cass said that was the first time I was actually aware of my surroundings."

"Cass," Sam spit out suspiciously.

Dean narrowed his eyes at Sam and demanded calmly, "You gonna let me finish?" Sam reluctantly nodded so Dean continued firmly, "According to Cass, I was used as bait and a distraction in a trap to get to Cass. Once Cass showed, the demon thing infected him as well and, the combination of the two, allowed Crowley and Gabriel to open Purgatory and yank all the souls out of Cass then put them all back where they belonged. I'm pretty sure that Gabriel stopped Crowley from getting them, too. So, Cass is officially denuked."

"But you don't remember any of this?" Bobby confirmed uneasily.

Dean paused thoughtfully then admitted readily, "No, not really."

"He's playing you, Dean," Sam snapped irritably, unable to keep quiet anymore and amazed at his brother's gullibility. "And is this a totally honest 'I don't remember a thing' thing or a lying-through-your-teeth-right-back-from-Hell's 'I don't remember a thing' thing?"

"Okay, first of all, Cass is not playing me. He doesn't have the souls anymore. I can tell. He's not power tripping, or god tripping, at all. Second, I. Do. Not. Remember. I was infected with something that even Gabriel, an archangel, couldn't clean out of Cass, an angel. Cass was just as infected as I was which means it was some serious stuff so pardon me if I don't have the energy to join you on your witch hunt, Sam," Dean finished harshly.

"Well, what do you expect, Deano, when you expend all your energy in dubious, vigorous activities instead of resting and healing like you were supposed to?" Gabriel taunted lightly from his position standing beside Sam all of the sudden.

"Gabriel," Dean hissed with intense dislike. "What the hell would you know of it? You weren't even there, dickhead."

"How do you know that?" Gabriel pointed out skeptically. "That is, if you don't remember anything."

Dean growled menacingly, "Don't you have someone else to annoy to death?"

"Why, Dean," Gabriel exclaimed with injured shock. "I thought you wanted to see me. That you were, in fact, waiting on me, even."

Dean tensed immediately and stared meaningfully at Gabriel. In fact, Dean's eyes expressed so much emotion that Gabriel couldn't consciously take advantage of this particular power play. His shoulders dropped slightly and shook his head once.

Dean slumped against the countertop again and ran a hand over his face before he asked reluctantly, "Then why are you here?"

"On orders, Deano," Gabriel quickly fell into taunting again. He touched two fingers to Sam's temple and Sam jerked slightly then stared at Gabriel in wonder.

"Oh, please," Gabriel protested with totally insincere modesty. "Thank Cass. He begged to be able to rectify the wrongs he did while he starred as the 'little engine that could'. But he doesn't have that kind of power anymore so I'm subbing for him."

"What did you do to him?" Dean demanded menacingly.

"Who?" Gabriel prodded vaguely, irritating Dean to no end. "Cassie or Sammy?"

"Either," Dean snapped back irrationally then amended with some confusion. "Both."

"Well, Cassie, nothing. In fact, haven't seen him since our last talk. But Sammy . . . For Sammy, we, and I mean the royal We, really didn't want to put the wall back up because it could fall again so it was decided to put a screen, or filter, so that Sam can tell the difference between hallucination and reality. Now the Lucy hallucinations cannot torment him as much as they used to. He actually now views his sauna trip down under pretty much the same as you, thanks to little ol' me, but with a lot less guilt because Sam is, well, Sam and you are . . . you."

Dean processed slowly then verified uneasily, "Lucy hallucinations? Lucy?"

"As in Lucifer," Gabriel clarified easily.

"You are having Lucifer hallucinations, Sam?"

"Dean," Sam started slowly with a heavy sigh but Dean already knew the truth and interrupted tightly, "How long?"

Sam sighed and reluctantly admitted, "Since the wall fell."

Dean compressed his lips tightly then acknowledged sarcastically, "Of course. Of course, you are." Dean glanced at Bobby and saw that he hadn't known, either. Dean sighed and shook his head then mumbled to himself sarcastically, "That's great, just great. Just like old times."

"Dean," Sam started again but Dean waved him away and focused on Gabriel.

Dean verified through Gabriel, "Did all the souls go back into Purgatory or did Crowley get them?"

"That douchebag," Gabriel insulted lightly. "As if." Gabriel snapped his fingers and Crowley appeared while in the midst of yelling at someone, or something.

Crowley's mouth snapped shut as he viewed his changed surroundings and found Bobby then Sam and Gabriel. "Oh, for the love of all that's evil, can't you people just leave . . ." Crowley trailed off when his eyes spotted Dean then he smirked evilly and Dean straightened up to prepare for the assault he could tell was coming.

"Well, well, well, you, Mister Elder Winchester, have looked much better and did look perfectly delectable last time we all viewed you. All of you," Crowley crowed with delight, knowing he'd gotten to the man as Dean's face flushed lightly.

"Whatever, dickhead. At least, I'm not short and fat with an obnoxious over inflated ego," Dean replied angrily, knowing his mind was way too tired for this conversation.

Crowley frowned slightly before Gabriel chimed in helpfully, "Unfortunately, the boy toy here doesn't remember a thing from that night. Sad, isn't it?"

Crowley chuckled lightly then taunted with undisguised relish, "Definitely. Oh, that's too rich for words. I must find the best way to enjoy this for maximum torture. Some things are meant to be more memorable. Poor Cassie. You know, as his older brother, it's up to you to educate the man. Or, even both of them, if necessary."

"True," Gabriel allowed easily, playing along just to get under Dean's skin, then sighed with a heavily put upon air. "I must plan the best revenge, oh, oops, I meant, lesson for this. After all, cherries are too good to be wasted on unappreciative gluttons."

Luckily for Dean, Sam and Bobby didn't seem to be following the conversation but he knew his own face was probably beet red. God knew, it felt hot enough for it. He decided to play it off as anger instead of the completely uncomfortable embarrassment that it was. He tried to storm out of the room, grumbling, "Whatever, asshats. I'm going to bed."

"Didn't you just leave there?" Gabriel called out tauntingly.

"Oh, hey, TMI, featherbrains," Crowley objected with obvious annoyance before continuing to insult Dean, "It must be hell to be so old and yet so young. In fact, I have to tell you that you are the youngest grumpy old man I've ever seen but, hey, at least, we all now know a trade that you are smashingly good at. I'm sure you learned quite a few of those tricks from -"

"That's it," Dean cut off Crowley viciously and snarled, "Where the hell is my sawed off, Sam?" His eyes swiftly searched the kitchen for the nearest available salt container.

"Temper, temper, temper, tiger," Crowley admonished easily. "You seem awfully tense. Aren't you getting any? Or was it just not that good? Why one would have thought it would have been an almost ang-"

"Son of a bitch," Dean cursed then got a clue and realized he still had some holy water in the flask so he splashed it in Crowley's direction but the bugger disappeared with his laughter ringing in the air. Dean slammed the flask down on the table and stormed into the study, yanking up a bottle of whiskey on his way through, so that he could get smashed beforehand. He stormed up the stairs and made it to the guest room before he encountered Gabriel.

"Buzz off, chuckles," Dean growled irately, beyond pissed at the moment.

Gabriel shook his head slightly and snapped his fingers. Dean's bottle disappeared instantly which caused Dean to curse, charge and swing at the archangel. Gabriel caught his fist easily and ordered abruptly, "Stop that. Cassie will be upset if you damage yourself this way. You are plenty tired already and the last thing you need right now is alcohol."

Gabriel paused then determinedly cut Dean off when he attempted to snarl. Gabriel vowed softly, "I will let you know about Castiel as soon as I can. I promise, Dean."

Dean stopped fighting once he realized he was talking to Gabriel, the archangel and older brother, and not the cosmically annoying trickster. He slumped and sighed wearily, "Yeah. Okay. Just. . . help him, Gabriel. . . please. Just help him."

Gabriel promised solemnly, "I will do my best. Now sleep." Gabriel ordered as he quickly pressed two fingers to Dean's forehead then caught the exhausted, passed out hunter easily and laid him on the bed. He had just straightened up when Sam and Bobby came into the room to check on them. Gabriel motioned them out and they all headed back down to the study.

Once in the study, Sam demanded aggressively, "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's okay, Sam," Gabriel assured him. "He's just exhausted. The . . . infection took a lot out of him. Even though he slept, he didn't really rest. Just give him a day or so in bed. Make sure he eats and drinks lots of water. He should be good to go."

"Was the infection really that bad?" Bobby asked with concern. "Do we need to watch for any symptoms or side effects? Are you sure that he's over it? Because he really looked like something the cat hacked up and dragged in."

Gabriel frowned thoughtfully then answered honestly, "Really don't know. Never encountered this before which is part of the reason we didn't want to risk infecting you two. Just pray to me if anything seems off or unusual and I'll come check it out. Later, chuckleheads." Gabriel snapped his fingers and left.

Sam threw up his hands in exasperation and rounded onto Bobby, questioning impatiently, "What the hell was that all about, Bobby?"

"Do I look like I know, boy?" Bobby snapped irritably at the unsolicited attack. After almost a week of Sam's prissy mood swings, he'd had enough. "What makes you think I know more now than I did twenty minutes ago? We both heard and saw the same thing, didn't we?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sam relented remorsefully. "Sorry, it's just . . . I don't know. After Cass, then the Trickster and Crowley, I don't know. Seems like there's a lot more going on than they are saying. I hate not knowing, especially if it's something that happened to Dean, you know."

"Yeah, I get that, Sam," Bobby admitted honestly. "But what do you think it is that's got you so hot and bothered?"

"I don't know," Sam countered with frustration. "That's the problem. All of it seems highly unlikely, almost . . . I don't know. I just can't buy it all." Sam ran his hands through his hair irritably.

"Well, knowing is half the battle," Bobby sighed as he leaned back against his desk. "Pick it apart like any other case. Start at the beginning and figure out where it doesn't make sense." Sam nodded willingly but didn't say anything so Bobby started, "Okay, first off, why set you boys up to get Dean? Why Dean? What does Dean have to do with Cass?"

Sam paced slightly while he thought and related aloud, "I tried to get hold of Cass for over a year after I came back from the box but he never responded until Dean called him on that Staff of Moses case. Cass really came down because that was one of Heaven's weapons but he did say that he and Dean shared a 'profound bond', whatever the hell that meant. He also implied that he didn't think Dean wanted me to know about it."

Bobby looked at him with disbelief and confusion. "What the hell is a 'profound bond'?"

"I don't know and Dean didn't look like he did, either, at the time. He just shook it off and we continued the case," Sam remembered succinctly. They both stared at each other a moment, mulling it over.

Bobby shrugged then suggested, "Okay, so say this bond thing was why they used Dean."

"Plus, I really think that they were friends," Sam added thoughtfully. "He was really devastated when he found out what Cass was up to."

"So they used Dean to get him there," Bobby continued. "Why drug him so badly that he doesn't remember? It's pretty easy for a demon to hold a human at bay, especially one as powerful as they are implying."

Sam arched his eyebrows in agreement and agreed, "True." He couldn't help but add, "Do you believe that he doesn't remember?"

Bobby stared hard at Sam and answered honestly, "Yeah, Sam, I do."

Sam's shoulders slightly in relief before he also admitted, "Yeah, I do too. With the Hell thing, I could tell he wasn't being totally honest but here, yeah, I think he was."

"Good, now, do we believe that Cass has been powered down?" Bobby carried on to the next subject.

"Do we?" Sam countered. After a moment, they agreed together that they both believed it. Sam interjected openly, "And Crowley obviously doesn't have them so . . ."

"So . . .," Bobby prompted. "So what?"

Sam frowned and wondered at a loss, "So what exactly do we need to work on?"

Bobby gave a small smirk but responded easily enough, "Getting your idjit brother well again and hunting that demon down, you idjit?" Bobby shook his head as he wondered around to his chair to sit down. He added, "It's a wonder sometimes that you are considered the brains of you two."

Sam smirked at the insult but couldn't resist a deflection. "So what does that say about Dean?" Bobby rolled his eyes and they got back to work researching the demon.

Thank you for taking the time to read my fantasy. Please review. Dean's in the shower next chapter. Currently it is G-Rated because I've never written one of those scenes that way before. Do I need to be more descriptive? What would you like?