Chapter 17: Sword and Shield

Sam rubbed a wet cloth across a table slowly. He let it drag and smear more than it was actually helping clean anything. His large shoulders drooped forward and he could barely keep himself from collapsing into the booth. The anger had seeped out of him, at least for the moment, over his brother. He'd intended on getting into another row with him but when he'd gotten home Dean had been gone. The silence in the apartment had helped temper him down. The only down side was that once the wrath had burned away it left an empty vacuum that Sam all too easily filled with sadness. He hadn't dared look at Jess' picture again but now, more than ever, it was heavy on his mind.

What had Dean been thinking? Had he honestly thought that Sam could make it through everything by himself? More so, they were living in an entire different area right now. There wasn't anything that remotely even reminded him of Oklahoma or "home". He had no support network. It had been his brother's idea to move and Sam's mind baffled at why in the world Dean would move knowing he had a massive bill coming due. There was no way that Dean's debt for the price of a life would be something simple. Lucifer's ilk, especially the major factions, were damn efficient business men. They traded favors and lives like collector's cards and they always won out in the end. Sam was especially concerned since Dean's deal had been off the record. (A lot of Lucifer's Children were well established businessmen and lawyers. While equally as destructive they seemed safer; being in the public light.) What his brother had done had no public constraints. Yes; they had a code but Sam wasn't about to bank on it being a list of any moral value.

He felt suffocated. There was nothing he could do, at least, not using any of the legal circuits. He still had pull, power, in shadier networks but he'd more or less promised Dean not to abuse that again. If he ever wanted to be able to practice law legally he needed to keep his nose clean. The more he scrubbed the same table the more he became convinced that there was very little he could do. It wasn't like he could go to anyone either. What his brother had done had been shady as hell and illegal. Sam also didn't want to accidentally incite the wrath of the group by overstepping unseen boundaries.

If only that was even the tip of the iceberg.

He really should've been more worried about the fact that they were being watched, that they knew where they'd moved to and lived. They had access. Someone had been at their apartment door.

He should've been concerned for himself. Azazel may have been dead but the cryptic video remained. They could be there for him too.

"You okay?"

Sam's head snapped up and he turned around to, Lindsey, staring at him; eyes filled with concern as she cradled a coffee pot in her hand.

"Huh? Yeah. I'm fine."

"You've been scrubbing that same spot for ten minutes. There's not even any water left in the rag."

Sam looked down and frowned. He winced a little at having been caught in his thoughts. Despite the crisis that was going on he was getting paid for a job. They needed the money; he needed the money. He couldn't start slacking now. "Sorry, guess I just zoned out a bit."

"Rough night?" she asked, kindly.

"You could say that." Sam gave her a shaky smile.

"Well, if you need to take your break early you can. Re-group a little but that's up to you."

"No, I'm good. Thank you though."

Lindsey walked off, leaving him to his thoughts. He still couldn't find the energy in him to be chipper but at the very least he could pay attention to properly doing his job. The motions were at least mechanical enough for him let his minder wander into blankness.

He could figure out what to do about his brother when he wasn't at work. Besides, Dean was on a case anyway so he had free time to think.

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"We're going hiking?"

Dean looked at the map for their next crime scene briefly before putting it down and re-adjusting his grip on the seat. There was a tenseness in his back and he clung to the armrest in a way he hoped wasn't noticeable. He'd taken the initiative to change where he sat. It was a little closer to the window but it was also closer to Cas. No one had mentioned anything and Cas had only raised an eyebrow at him; Dean had promptly ignored that. He spent most of the flights staring at Cas anyway; this way at least he could subtly enjoy his closeness and maybe spend more time looking at the paper work than his boss. Of course his eyes still trailed constantly after Cas. In a perfect world, he could've slid up closer to him and had physical touch ground him. Since no such thing existed; this would have to do.

And it was hard to do.

In his head Dean had started calling their little outing the day before a 'fake-date'. His brain had supplied helpful images of how he would've viewed it outside of the context it was set in. Which was really stupid. Dates had to be agreed to by both parties and made aware of it; otherwise it was just down right creepy. His brain had still decided to put a buff job on the memory and make it glow. It made his tummy feel like a swarm of butterflies were having a party and he couldn't help feeling the fluttering. When he'd gone to bed he'd let himself drift off to the play-by-play of the evening; to the touch of Cas' hand. His palms felt safe. (He craved it now, thousands of feet up in the air.) He'd then spent the entire morning trying to curse his dick down and attempting to calm himself. He had enough to worry about with his brother; he didn't need fantasies to stress him out any more. Of course, the second he'd seen Cas again at the office the flutters had come back with a vengeance and he'd resigned to letting himself slip a little. After all it was only in his head, no one else would know. Besides, the entire time he'd spent yelling at himself compromised his work. You couldn't exactly focus on murderers if you were panicking about having too friendly feelings over someone you were working with. It threw off the dynamic and he had a job to do. Personal shit had to be left at the door.

"I don't think this counts as hiking," Bobby said looking at his own map. "Maybe rock climbing."

"The terrains not that bad. Says that the elevation changes are pretty smooth compared to most of the Colorado wilderness areas."

"I'm afraid that won't make it any easier to navigate," Cas mumbled as he dolled out more of the case sheets.

"We're still going in though, right?" Dean asked, eyes following Cas as he settled further into his seat, arms held loosely over his knees. He wished the sleeves would be rolled up.

"We may very well have to."

"That sounds like a job for the park rangers. We've had forest hunts before but it's not exactly something we're equipped for." Ellen shuffled through the images of what had been found of the victims. "There's very little to go on here. We sure these aren't bears?"

Castiel shook his head pulled out a missing persons list. "The only bear native to the area is the American Black Bear. They're generally not very violent. There's some bobcats in the area but they tend to stick to their own game."

"They can scavenge though," Dean pointed out as he cringed. The pictures held nearly indistinguishable shapes on cold metal trays.

"It still wouldn't explain this."

"Are these the only ones? Three-" Bobby glanced through the file again. They had for sure identified three different sets of remnants but there were a few pieces that they couldn't identify, "- and maybe four-ish isn't much to go on. The dates they tossed out stretch years."

"Yes, that is true. Most of the sheriffs and rangers are convinced this is an animal attack but the pattern holds. Every few years two people go missing from the trail or the surrounding area. Of course there's the usual missing persons, it can't be helped, but there is a pattern that sticks out too much to be organic. A different location every time as far as they can tell, so that makes it more difficult. Not that they have much to judge that on, the Lost Creek policy is very strict on how human visitors may interact with the environment."

"That doesn't seem like enough to warrant us though, does it?" Dean asked.

Castiel pulled out close ups of some of the flesh lumps they'd retrieved. "There's at least two Pathologists that swear up and down that some of these marks did not come from any animal teeth or natures doing."

The rest of them paled a little. "Wonderful, a forest cannibal." Dean rubbed his palm against his forehead. "Well fuck me. I figured that didn't actually really happen like that, at least not anymore. Good only for psycho thrillers and scaring little kids."

"You would be more or less correct. Of course we have our Albert Fish's and our Dahmer's but most cases of documented cannibalism in our time happen under stress of disaster; famine's, accidents were the people are stranded. We have our odd cases where after a murder a piece is eaten, or a biting fixation is what initiated the event. It is rare to see it serial like this."

"There are cases around the world o' course, but they'd be outliers for trying to figure out a correlation in our own backyard," Bobby added with a nod to Cas. "So it's a pretty good reason to come down. Three people is a lot too and especially with hints of them being spread out like this..."

"Where'd they find the remains anyway?" Ellen let a brief shudder pass through her. She hadn't enjoyed studying past cases at the academy,that were murder cannibalistic, and she wasn't enjoying the idea of having to deal with one now. "I figure if I was hunting for snacks in the woods I wouldn't leave this all out in the open."

"The small parts that they're unable to identify washed up on the edge of a river. It's probably why it's in such bad shape. Campers found it and called it in. A few rangers hiked a little further down and saw the rest scattered. While most of them are not on board with the cannibalism theory, they are open to the suggestion that whoever murdered these people had his dump site ransacked by animals." Castiel pointed to some of the highlighted areas on one of the images. There were sharp teeth marks from smaller animals.

"How are the locals feeling about this?" Dean asked, fingers tightening around the seat again as the jet bounced in an air pocket.

"It will be a mixed reception. I believe we're meeting with Ranger Wilkinson first, he's heading one of the access points into Lost Creek."

"Okay cool, now one more question," Cas gave Dean a patient look, "this is all good reason to come down but these remains were found a few years ago. I mean it kinda looks like we could have a reason to be pulled in awhile ago, but the area's open all year round. We don't seem to have a stable outline."

Cas slid a page with the images of three different young men to the center of the table. "Some of the rangers, and the Collins family, believe these people to have gone missing."

"Works for me."

The conversation lulled into silence as they respectively went back over the information that had been handed out. Dean himself had read enough of the file. Obsessively going over little black letters on a bright white page made his eyes hurt. He was better in action anyway. They had a little over half an hour before they would hit Colorado airspace anyway so if the itch hit him, he would have time to re-read. Dean wasn't looking forward to it; the prospect of the case was already grossing him out a little bit.

He focused his gaze on Cas. Much more pleasant than pictures of mutilated bodies. His brows were furrowed and his lips were pinched a little in a contemplative frown. Warmth thrummed through Dean's veins as he watched him flip through the pages like he could stare the answer to the case out of them. It was endearing. As the plane lurched he closed his eyes briefly but tightly. There was no reason to call attention to his issue with flying, even if they already knew about it and at least hadn't teased him mercilessly like Sammy had when he'd found out.

The jet didn't even have to do any strange bounces in the air for his stomach to drop.

He'd briefly considered, in his morning panic, knocking on Sam's door but he'd overslept. Not one of his best traits but he liked his bed and his soft sheets. One of the few luxuries he'd let himself have in his adult life. Regardless, it hadn't really been an issue and he hadn't even really cared before. Seeing Sammy in the morning had never been much of a priority.

He felt guilty. Not for the argument or how the conversation had ended. He still wasn't going to back down and was going to make sure as hell that Sam stayed out of it. No; that wasn't what he felt guilty over. He felt guilty over the pain that had crossed his brother's face and for acting like a coward. For leaving Sam alone like that.

He just prayed that by the time the case was over that he'd have figured out something to say and that Sam would've cooled down a little. He let out a soundless sigh and gripped his knee tightly. He pushed a little more into it to distract himself with the pressure.

His eyes found Cas again. It was really turning into a problem. Instead of averting his eyes like he knew he should have, he dared a brief glance around the cabin to make sure the rest of the team was distracted. Seeing Pam, Ellen, and Bobby buried in their files he gently touched his boot to Cas' foot. He made the touch brief, accidental. Something he could blame on turbulence or stretching too far. Dean let some of his anxiety fade as he relished in the small bit of contact. He pulled away when Cas looked up, turning to his own set of papers, embarrassed.

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They landed at Yampa Valley Regional Airport without much fanfare. (The wilderness reserve was about half an hour drive away, which wasn't that far, but the local office didn't have many officers to spare. The case was shifty enough not to be on anyone's priority list.) Castiel watched, only slightly amused, as Dean's whole body language changed. The tenseness in his shoulders eased away and his energy bounded back. When they'd touched down on the strip, wheels bouncing, Cas had almost reached over to grab his hand. He let go of the idea as soon as it had entered his head. It would be very unprofessional. He'd been surprised when Dean had changed seats to a more singular one next to his. He was usually very happy sprawled on one of the booth seats, hiding from the edges of the plane.

The seats even shook a little worse on his side.

Cas speculated that it had something to do with their outing. Perhaps some sign of gratitude for being an ear to listen to.

It had been endearing watching Dean try and brave his way through the small change. Though it really wasn't worth the panic. He would have to speak to Dean and inform him that he didn't have to make such grand gestures for him. A simple 'thank you' would've sufficed. As they gathered their go-bags and started walking towards the van, Bobby pulled up his elbow. He felt a gentle touch on his arm and turned a little, quirking his eyebrow.

"Is there something wrong?"

Bobby shook his head as he subtly slowed his walk. Castiel followed suite while keeping an eye on the other team mates. They were a good few feet ahead of them, and from the looks of it, bickering over something in a friendly matter. Cas' gut felt a strange twitch as he watched Dean wink at Pamela who responded in kind. He fought the frown that attempted to creep its way onto his expression.

"No, not really. Not yet at least," Bobby responded, staring at Dean with curiosity and looking back to Cas.

"You know I have very little patience for crypitcs," Cas sighed. He rolled his shoulders and yelled at the little voice in his head to stop talking. While it had stopped clarifying for him that what he'd felt was jealousy, it had decided to start substituting that with the times they'd been alone and 'not to fret' because Dean flirted with him too. Equal opportunity flirt-er.

"Coming from the man with sealed records and a penchant for secrets." Cas gave Bobby a look. "It's not my business really. Dean seems like a good kid. Last I heard from John Winchester back in the day he was. Spent a lot of time talking about his kids. "

"I didn't know this." It seemed like Bobby knew him more than just from paperwork.

"It wasn't that big of a deal. Most people knew John Winchester."

"You sound like you did more than just know about him."

Bobby huffed, feeling like he was being sidetracked. "Rufus did too, and that's where I'm leaving it at. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about." Castiel made a go-on motion with his hand. "You and Dean."

Castiel felt himself go rigid. He prided himself on professionalism and thought that he'd kept himself very well in check. He'd admitted to himself to finding the other man painfully attractive and charming. The next step had been admitting to himself that he craved Dean's warmth like a cat bathing in the sun. He'd been stunning and charming even the first time that Cas had laid eyes on him, and Dean had been bruised and cut up with drips and tubes attached to him. Still, he was sure that he'd kept it well under wraps. Perhaps Bobby was speaking of something else.

"What of Dean and I?"

Bobby gave him a long look before shaking his head. He looked back up to where the others had already stopped by the car. "The kid seems fond of you. Maybe it's hero worship for saving his life and all but-"

The conversation cut off abruptly as they made it to the van. In the wake of Bobby's few words Cas found himself more so attuned to Dean. It wasn't much, but perhaps Bobby had been right. When Dean turned his face away from Pamela, his eyes warmed a fraction, and the wink that Dean sent his way felt different than the one he'd witnessed. Castiel felt knots forming in his stomach as he looked away again and crowded into the back of the car. The warmth was probably just from the friendship they shared. One that Castiel was relatively sure Dean didn't share with any of the other members of the team. It eased his jealousy. Still, if someone decided to give Dean trouble for the extra affection, they could. Although the world was becoming a better place, Castiel felt relatively confident that while his flirting with his female colleagues would be over looked as charming if he continued to mix flirting and affection towards Cas it would become an issue. At the very least, he felt that his bosses would be harsher for it. It would probably lead to an office wide sexual harassment seminar.

Castiel would just have to be more vigilant from now on. He only hoped Dean would understand the need for separation. People, especially in law enforcement, could be vicious and their superiors weren't of the most tolerant regime that the FBI had witnessed.

He climbed into the driver's seat, "Agent Harvelle, could you inform them that we're on our way?"

"Already on it," Ellen said as she cradled her phone to her ear.

The location they went to was one of the ranger stations. Since Lost Creek was a wilderness reserve they didn't exactly have their own police force past the rangers. The police stations from both Jefferson and Park counties had still agreed to lend them some officers and help set up a central location of operations. It was small but workable.

"You're the FBI guys?"

Castiel stepped forward and extended his hand, "Ranger Wilkinson I presume."

"Yes, sir." The man stepped back to allow them all room to file in. He led them past a few tables, that had been set up for their needs, into a medium sized office with case information pinned to a board. "I really don't think there's anything to be worried about. Their permit gives 'em a few more days before we'd start looking."

"It can't hurt to be cautious," Ellen remarked as she looked at the map they'd pinned up. The local rangers had tacked on information and outlined the major trails and side trails. They'd also circled popular camps. While it wasn't an enforced rule they tended to prefer it if the guests who camped along the trail used preexisting clearings.

Ranger Wilkinson only grunted in response. It was clear that he would remain skeptical until they found concrete proof of a crime. It wasn't necessarily that he was being obstinate but his type never really helped during investigations. Claiming to remain 'grounded' in realism didn't always help catch the bad guy. Especially if he found a speaking platform there was always the risk of even supporters of a theory losing steam and losing focus themselves.

"The newest disappearances; is there someone nearby that we can talk to? Family members?"

"Here's the address," Ranger Wilkinson said holding out a square piece of paper. He'd already been writing it out wanting them out of what little hair he had left as soon as possible. "Haley Collins. She came up here throwing a fit. Her causin' a fuss is why we've really opened the investigation in the first place. Maybe you can talk more sense into her than I can."

"I'm sure we'll do our best," Pamela muttered out of ear shot.

"Agent Barnes, Agent Winchester, you're with me," Castiel spoke as they walked out of the office. "We'll be going to interview the families."

"What? Not going solo you two?" Pamela teased. Dean fidgeted a little. No one paid it any particular mind.

"It would be beneficial for Agent Winchester to see other methods for interviewing than just mine." He wasn't going to rise to the bait. Though, if Bobby hadn't said anything he wouldn't have even read in to it. The type of tease was something that Pamela had always employed, even before the Oklahoma explosion. Castiel cursed Bobby for his veiled messages. It made him uncomfortable and paranoid.

"Makes sense," Bobby said stepping in. "Ellen and I are gonna get together with the rangers and the guides they've brought in for questioning. We're gonna see if we can get ourselves a narrow enough area to wade through. We don't have the man power or substantial evidence to comb the entire damn reserve."

"We'll return as soon as we can."

Castiel led Pamela and Dean back to the van and they headed back towards the city. Tommy Collins, one of the 'missing' boys, had two siblings. Haley Collins and a younger brother, Ben Collins. The other two 'victims' families were located too far away for a quick drive. They would have to ask for them to come in or call them, but the Collins family was priority. The Collins' were the only people suspecting foul play. Haley had at least raised an alarm and had been interviewed briefly for more information. It was clear from Ranger Wilkinson behavior that they hadn't taken her concerns seriously. They'd been told by the law enforcement they'd been lent, that there had been no follow up questions with the new light of foul play and a possible serial killer.

They missing man's family was ready to have dinner when they arrived. She asked them in regardless.

"Miss Collins-" Pamela began.

"Haley's fine."

Pamela smiled at her and walked a little further into the room. The younger brother gave them a sullen look before going back to his laptop. "Now, I'm sure you are aware that your brother's back country permit doesn't expire for a few days. Yet, you went to the rangers station convinced something was wrong?"

Haley sighed a little. From the stiffness in her shoulders they could tell she'd had to go over this before and wasn't expecting them to believe her anymore than the rangers had. "He checks in every night. Stupid videos and pictures. Let's us know he's safe. We haven't heard from him in three days."

Dean looked around the little house for a moment. Most of the pictures were of the three siblings. "Maybe he's lost reception?"

"No." Haley arranged two plates onto the table. "He's got a satellite phone, and before you ask he's got a solar powered charger even if he were to run out of battery."

"Perhaps he's gotten wrapped up, forgotten?" Castiel suggested carefully.

"He wouldn't do that," Ben snapped. His expression stayed dark as he turned his head.

Haley gave them a small apologetic smile. "It's just us. Our parents are gone."

"It's okay," Dean stepped forward glancing at Cas and Pamela; he was surprised when they let him take the lead. "No one knows him better than you two. I bet you guys are pretty close." Ben shrugged a little but seemed to ease up. If there was something that Dean could relate to it was not having anyone left. "Would you guys have anything we could take a look at? Maybe his last broadcast?"

Haley nodded and grabbed her laptop, she set it on the edge of the table and pulled up a list. They glanced through a few pictures that she showed them followed by a video.

"If I give you an e-mail could you forward this to us? It would be much easier for you than us having to confiscate the laptop," Pamela said as she idly flipped through a few more pictures.

"Sure, no problem. Anything to help. Glad someone's at least taking this a little seriously."

"No worries, we're getting everything set up and we're going to start canvasing tomorrow," Dean said as they started walking back towards the foyer.

"Then I might see you there."

They froze. "Excuse me?" Castiel asked, perplexed.

"I hired a guide. Rangers won't take me seriously, so I got someone. The trails still open as far as I know."

"That's probably not such a good idea," Pamela said, frowning. She'd figured that at least with their presence there would be some restriction on entering the forest. It was technically a crime scene. Then again, it was the 'technically' that kept them from keeping the usual rights to the scene.

"I'm not sitting around here waiting. He's our brother," Haley responded, squaring her shoulders. "I'm glad you guys are here but I can't trust that. I'm not leaving him out there if something's happened."

Cas and Pamela got ready to protest. "I can understand that," Dean mumbled with a kind look towards her. Her anger seemed to deflate a little and she gave a small smile back. Dean let his hand drop warmly onto her shoulder. "We'll show ourselves out." He ushered Pam and Cas ahead of him.

Neither spoke until the screen door and the front door had slammed shut.

"So this is going to get complicated," Pamela muttered as she pulled the car door open and slid into the back seat.

Before Dean could slide into the front Castiel grabbed a hold of his arm. "What did you think you were doing?" he asked, voice stern. He'd watched the proceedings with interest, a little impressed in how Dean had calmed them. But practically condoning them to stop around a crime scene? That wasn't proper.

"Comforting her?" Dean said pulling his arm out of Cas' grip. He gave a small smirk."It's okay Cas, no need to be jealous." Castiel felt his neck heat up and snapped down on the small part of him that was making a bigger fuss. He hadn't been jealous of the warmness Dean had shared. No; he was concerned about Miss Colllins walking around with her younger brother. They'd contaminate the crime scene.

"Agent Winchester," Castiel stepped back and yanked every emotion out of his eyes. "Why did you placate them wanting to go off on their own?"

Dean frowned and glanced down at Pam. The window was rolled up and they weren't speaking very loudly, but it didn't ease his feeling of being watched. "I don't think I did."

"Telling that you understood?"

"It's called empathy," Dean huffed, scooting a little around Cas so that he could get to the door. "I didn't tell her she could go. Besides, don't we have legal say so in that? When she shows up tomorrow morning we can ask the Ranger not to permit anyone to enter. It's no yellow tape but I'm sure we can get it done."

Castiel reeled himself in a little. He supposed Dean was right.

It took him until they had all gone their separate ways in the evening to realize exactly how empathetical Dean's response had been. He felt cruel for forgetting that Dean and Sam had lost both of their parents. Besides, empathy made them better profilers. Better agents.

He'd expected to be the one doing the teaching, but perhaps he had much to learn from Dean as well.

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During the evening they'd received a little more information on the case. Charlie had tracked down accident reports and survivors of attacks at the reserve. Most of them were basic accidents, only a few animal attacks. Bobby and Ellen had had checked it out the night before. A man named Shaw had been in a lodge with his parents some twenty years ago when they'd been attacked. He'd been young and tired but he could've sworn a man wrapped in skins, bear skin, had crept into their lodge and slaughtered his parents. It had been relatively quick so he hadn't had time to react. He'd been ten and left to bleed on the floor as he' tried to get out of the cabin in a hurry. The scars on his chest, meant to cut through his jugular, had been decided on to be done by bear claws. Shaw's fears had been dismissed as an elaborate hoax caused by trauma.

"Well, I mean they are warm," Dean offered as they gathered for breakfast at the outpost.

"Huh?" Charlie asked through the speaker.

"Well, if this nut job stays in the woods all the time he's gotta keep warm somehow right? Bear skins?"

"I think we would've noticed if someone had been poaching the black bears," Ranger Wilkinson defended. His stance was upset and his hands were crossed sternly across his chest.

"It's only illegal to hunt Black Bears in Mexico," Charlie added. There was a small crackle in the audio. "There's restrictions in the states but it's not illegal."

Castiel fought to sigh and roll his eyes. The information was helpful and necessary but there could've been a better time to deliver it than with one of their biggest opponents in the room.

"You need a permit to carry a gun in," Wilkinson barked.

"Anyway," Bobby spoke, "it's a good theory. I don't exactly see this guy making trips down the trails to go grocery shopping. Could've gotten himself used to the the terrain and how to survive. Especially if it's the same thing that happened to Shaw; twenty years is a long time. He's gotta know every nook and cranny of this damn reserve."

"What attacked and killed his family was a bear," Wilkinson argued.

"Bears don't unlock doors." Dean stood a little closer to the ranger. He had a little bit of height on the man and couldn't help his alpha male feeling elated when Wilkinson backed down.

"As it stands, we're going to go through some of the trails. I trust you've closed off the-"

"What do you mean we can't go in!?"

The group turned from the table. There was an officer already stepping outside to help one of his colleagues. The woman's voice echoed again, asking the same question.

"Miss Collins I presume," Castiel muttered with a glance at Dean. It was his mess, he should clean it up.

Dean frowned at him, visibly put off by the small look that Cas had given him. Castiel recoiled a little but kept his composure. He hadn't meant anything by the comment but hadn't exactly mentioned that he'd realized why Dean had reacted the way he did. Although Dean's sullen disposition bothered Cas, he was determined to keep himself at a distance. Still, he relented and indicated with a head nod and movement towards the door that they should adjourn for the moment and deal with it. He tried not to let his chest flutter too lightly as Dean smiled at him. Dealing with hysteric civilians was never fun to begin with, having to deal with them directly with the incident the night before would be more difficult.

Castiel also tried to ignore the soft touch to the edge of his elbow as Dean passed him, squaring his shoulders and marching forward to take care of the situation. Cas trailed behind silently.

"Agent!"

Dean stepped forward and politely waved off the two officers that were standing outside. They looked at Castiel and he nodded his head in dismissal. The younger boy was there too and an older man that he assumed was their guide.

"Miss Collins." Dean smiled at her.

"Haley," she reminded him with a relieved expression. Castiel fidgeted a little in his shoes.

"Haley," Dean responded. There was that soft, comforting charm to his voice. More than likely this conversation wouldn't last long and hopefully not escalate too far. At the very least, he'd always felt calmed by that tone in Dean's voice. "I guess you were serious about coming up here."

"I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't." She indicated to the man standing next to her. "Roy, our guide."

Dean nodded his head in a brief hello. "I'm afraid we can't let you in."

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't hear of any official restrictions," Roy piped in and Castiel could see Dean's shoulders tighten in annoyance.

"We're considering this a crime scene," Dean said evenly. They hadn't shared any of their findings or information with the locals yet. There was no need to stir up stories and fantasies with what little they'd found. They had enough to justify a decent sized search party, different trails and different woods, but so far they hadn't received any federal authorization to shut down the reserve yet. Lost Creek was almost a 120,000km area. It'd be nearly impossible to shut down all points of access on only circumstantial evidence. That call would be left up to the individual posts and rangers. Wilkinson hadn't officially agreed to close his.

"So something did happen to him?" Haley asked, eyes wide. She reached her arm out to tug Ben closer to her.

Castiel stepped forward to save Dean from the interrogation. He might've been a people person but there was a certain side-stepping with words that was required with civilians; especially ones that were trying to come into a crime scene. They didn't even have any barriers to keep them to the side lines. He touched Dean's shoulder and ignored the way his fingers tingled after he'd let go. "Miss Collins." She didn't correct him on the name usage. "We're leading an investigation and while not all of the paperwork has reached the right desks, there will be official search and rescue teams going through the forest. We've advised the local rangers to discontinue allowing visitors to enter the reserve."

"It can't be that official if you guys aren't yanking people out that are already in," Roy replied, eyes suspicious.

"We've sent an informational broadcast out but are aware that not campers and hikers can be reached. One of the other reasons that we are advising against more people entering the forest. We already have a handful of people to extract."

"Who are you guys anyway?" Roy asked and Castiel look down. None of them were wearing any of their vests or any identifying markers that they were FBI. Truth be told, he himself looked more like a bureaucrat carrying a gun than a law enforcement officer.

He dug his ID out of his coat pocket and flipped it over to show him. Roy read over the information and both he and Dean were startled a little as he barked out a laugh. "BAU? They brought head shrinks to find missing people?" He let out another laugh at which Castiel frowned. "What are you gonna do, commune with the trees?"

Dean huffed a little and Castiel moved his foot subtly in front of Dean. He would've held out a hand to stop him but that seemed a little excessive. He also wasn't sure if he could've handled that much touching. Luckily for him they seemed to be very well in tune with each other's bodies already and Dean eased up. "We're analysts, Roy. We go over evidence and separate them into patterns and use a scientific method to eliminate probabilities until we find the most plausible and believable ones to go with. While I'm sure we have a specialist team for the occasion we were the team sent through the NCAVC."

"A damn bunch of psychologists," Roy grumbled, smug smirk still on his face.

"No one likes a skeptic, Roy," Dean spoke up.

"Hate to interrupt this dancing around but Charlie's got something she's wanting us to look at."

They turned to see Pamela sticking her head out from behind the door. She jerked her thumb towards the interior of the room. With only a brief glance back, a warning and apology to the two Collins' he led them back into the meeting room. They'd managed to map out a few areas that were their best probabilities to search first. They would split up into small teams, each with an experienced guide, a ranger, and one or two officers. From the five areas they'd circled out a few of them dipped too far into unmarked territory for them to be qualified to walk through by themselves.

It had started out as a well put together plan until they'd found Haley Collins, Ben Collins, and Roy a few hours down the trail.

"What the hell do you guys think you're doing here?" Dean snapped a little. Castiel held himself in check but found himself irritated and for once not wanting to reprimand Dean on harsh language or behavior. It was a well deserved rebuke and despite the bug spray he'd put on the mosquitoes were having a field day with him. His patience was running dangerously short and he'd been very expressive over them staying at the station or going home.

"It wasn't legally closed off, we asked." Ben's angry eyes searched theirs; daring them to fight back. Haley laid a gentle hand on his shoulder to pull him back but didn't argue.

"Didn't we go over this earlier?" Dean groused as he signaled the rest of their troop to stop. They were spread out every feet feet from each other, marching in a forward line.

"Yes we did but-"

"Haley!"

Their heads snapped towards Roy's voice deep in the woods. They hadn't even noticed him sneak off. Irritated, Castiel called to the other members of their party and told them to stay put so that they could be found, then angrily stepped through the rough terrain towards the voice. Haley and Ben took off in front of them. Castiel cursed again trying keep pace while keeping his hand near his weapon. A branch from a low bush snapped him painfully across the thigh and he held in a hiss. An amused chuckle came from behind him and he turned around to momentarily glare. Dean gave him a shrug and a lopsided smile.

For a moment Castiel felt himself suddenly out of breath. The trees were letting in just enough light to play gently under the canopy of branches. They flitted over Dean's arms and face and gave him a gold flecked glow. As if noticing the change in mood, he saw the other man swallow, adam's apple bobbing, and take a tentative step forward. Castiel frowned and tried to move but felt his pant leg snagged by the same branch that had assaulted him before. Leaves and twigs crunched underneath Dean's boots as he came closer and sank to the ground a little. Cas watched with a halted breath as nimble fingers yanked the offending piece of greenery out of his pants.

"Do I need to go first?" came the soft, almost hushed tease. Dean's eyes twinkled as he let himself rise up.

Castiel bit his lip and let his eyes grow cold. He'd been distracted again and had nearly forgotten why they were even there. They were really too close to be respectable and anyone could come looking for them at any minute. "I'm quite capable of handling myself. I've yet to be felled by branches before. I don't intend to start now." He ignored the frown and confused, almost pinched, look that Dean gave him as he turned around. He waved his hand forward to indicate that Dean should follow and hoped that he wouldn't notice the ridging flexing of his arms.

They exited the brush to find a camp site filled with destroyed supplies.

"Shit."

Castiel didn't acknowledge Dean's curse as they looked around the clearing. Every thing had been smashed to pieces and sliced apart. The tent was in tatters and there were large splashes of blood everywhere. Even Roy didn't have anything smug to say. They'd dropped their packs to the ground and the two Collins siblings were trying to keep each other up with trembling legs. Haley had a hand over her mouth and she looked like she was trying not to vomit. Whatever Cas had intended to say was drowned out by a loud, ragged cry for help. They immediately drew out their firearms.

"Okay, everyone stay pu-" Roy took off, Haley and Ben following him "- fuckin' civilians!" Dean cursed.

Despite his earlier frigidness, Castiel was relieved to see that Dean had forgotten about it enough to focus. Dean waited a split second for orders on whether to chase after them as Castiel pulled out their own satellite phone. He nodded to Dean and he took off. After relaying their location to the central outpost and making sure the coordinates had been received, he ran after them. He caught up with three of the group not too far way. Dean had tucked away his weapon and was holding tightly onto the siblings. Roy was nowhere to be seen.

"I can't find him." Dean panted and scanned the wooded area a little more.

"Haley, Ben," Castiel said, hoping that the use of their names would make them more attuned to him. "I don't doubt you understand that you will be walked back to the outpost."

"But-"

"Hey, listen to him." Dean eased up his grip on her and let her turn around to face him. "Look, I know what it's like. The whole all you have thing?" Castiel watched as Dean bit his lip, tensing up a little. It was understandingly hard to talk about. "Trust me, I do. But I can promise you this, you're not gonna help anything by wandering around here tracking your foot prints all over the site." If it hadn't been such a dire situation Castiel might have laughed. He could still remember holding in Meg's organs as Dean took off in the van, hell bent on finding his brother.

Haley looked for a moment as if she was going to protest but something in the look in Dean's eye made her give. For a moment Castiel felt that rumble of jealousy attempt to inch back forward. This was bad. He shouldn't be becoming greedy over Dean's expressions. They weren't only his to possess.

"Okay."

Ben looked up at his older sister's soft mumble. "What?!"

"Listen to your sister, kid," Dean said letting go of him too, trusting that she would make sure he didn't take off. They already had one runaway, they didn't need two.

Castiel waited until they had walked past him, following a trail of broken brush to the campsite, before giving Dean a slightly impressed expression. He saw the other man blush a little and shrug. Dean paused for a moment as he passed. There was flicker of something in his green eyes and Castiel briefly caught a small aborted movement of his arm. He'd almost reached out but then the light drifted out of Dean's eyes again and he looked a little ashamed. With hunched shoulders he marched forward after the Collin's family.

Perhaps Castiel needed to ease up with abruptness. The case had picked up steam rather well and he still hadn't had the time to explain. Of course he was still hoping against hope that Dean understood. That this wasn't a blow off,hat... whatever it was that was happening, that he was interested in preserving their friendship. The softness of their interaction simply wasn't fit for the field, and maybe, Castiel thought guiltily, not even for friendship. He could barely remember the last time he'd had a crush. Even the word made him cringe as he followed back to the site. It wasn't appropriate and it was doubly inappropriate to realize it, with a steadily growing horror, at a crime scene.

Trying to shake himself out of it, he switched the tactics in his brain. Castiel simply admired the man. He was impressive in the field, had been since their first adventure. Dean continued to astound him with his rather sharp learning curve. He hadn't even been in Virginia for more than three, now almost four weeks and he was as good as any of his other agents. Dean had a penchant for empathy and dealt with civilians much better than Castiel had expected. Perhaps he should've considered letting him take the lead earlier.

Admiration.

That's all it was. His strange feelings existed because hand-in-hand with his admiration and their closeness, Dean happened to be a very attractive male. It was understandable that he would be momentarily confused. Satisfied with his conclusion he nodded to himself and cleared the last of the branches to find Dean, the two Collins', and another officer staring around, lost.

"What's wro-" The sentence died in Castiel's throat as he noticed that the supplies that the Collin's and Roy had brought were no longer at the site. He gathered from the equally perplexed look on the rangers face that they hadn't been acquired by anyone on their team.

They were being watched, and not by someone with kindness in mind.

"Have you already-?"

"Yeah, radioed it in," Dean spoke. He kept a protective hand around the two. "We've got a handful of guys scrounging around the perimeter. We didn't run off far and these guys were right next to us. Whoever nicked all this shit couldn't have gotten far, and not with all the stuff he was carrying."

"What did they say?" Castiel asked as he contemplated on whether or not he needed to tuck his firearm away.

"Told us to stay put for a moment. They're gonna put more agents out in the woods. We're waiting on Widas and Neuman to get back and they're gonna escort these two to the station. They didn't say anything about Roy."

"Makes sense," Castiel murmured as he carefully stepped around the blood stains on the ground; it wouldn't help to step on evidence.

His frustration at Roy eased a little later.

The Collins' had been safely extracted and placed under the care of Ranger Wilkinson, who had finally agreed to cut off access to Lost Creek. He'd also ordered an extraction of all remaining campers mandatory until the issues was solved.

They'd expected foul play after an hour or so without Roy checking in with them. He'd been an experienced hunter and trapper; there shouldn't have been a reason for him not to come back or check in. Making sure they still had daylight left, it was unwise to go out in the dark, they'd set out in a much larger team. Now that they had a solid starting point they could continue. They'd brought forensics out to the site and had followed a trail from there. The forest seemed unearthly still as they each followed behind an armed guide.

After an hour of searching, Roy had been discovered hanging upside down from a collection of low hanging branches. Bled out like slaughter.

Time was running out on daylight but they'd still stopped to make sure that forensics found the body first before they moved further.

"He wasn't that bad of a guy," Dean muttered next to Cas as they watched forensics untangle him from the branches and organize him into a body bag to be carried out.

"No, no, he wasn't." Castiel's voice was barely above a whisper as the body was carted out.

With sunlight fading fast they pushed on with their efforts, trying to at least find something to work with before night fall. In a forest a trail could go cold within hours. There was no way of telling just how much damage and ground they would loose by night fall. The more time passed the worse off the missing boys were as well. Despite odds, their team had a tendency to assume people alive unless substantial evidence indicated otherwise. Most of the officers and rangers were convinced that they were butchered already; somewhere in chunks or as some of them joked with dark humor, in someone's stew.

Why they hadn't gone straight for the abandoned mine would be something that Castiel would question for a long time to come. After, of course, he came to terms with how panicked he'd been over Dean.

They'd separated into teams to gain more ground and after finding one of the boys alive (Tommy Collins to everyone's great relief) separated further to explore the mine. They'd had to wait for clearance on the status of the crumbling structure but the second they'd had clearance Dean had taken off with vigor. Whether it was because Dean was tired of stepping into loose strips of flesh and piles of intestines on the ground or he wanted to get the man responsible, Castiel would have to ask him later. Whenever he was done imagining the ways to skin Dean for his recklessness.

It hadn't really been Dean's fault. Bad things happened out in the field.

There'd been a yelp from Dean and a clunk followed by the sound of a weapon's discharge. They'd ran down the mines to find Dean's gun lying on metal tracks.

Dean had been cornered in a dead end tunnel with a red flare brandished against his attacker.

Castiel hadn't thought twice before telling Dean to duck and firing two shots into the assailants shoulder, and then two to each knee.

The last time his heart had thumped this loudly had been when he'd found Dean kneeling on the ground with Azazel's gun pointed to his forehead. It had taken more self control than he cared to admit not to have gone for a kill shot in the mine.

Dean had given him a boyish grin as he'd gotten up, and pulled out a pair of cuffs. The killer was bleeding from four different wounds but that didn't mean that he wouldn't be able to move to attack again. Castiel hadn't even taken a look at the killers face before he turned around and marched out of the cave. Dean was safe, and he wanted out of that suffocating humid air. It was making his head spin.

No, this was not admiration.

… … … … … … … … … … … .. .. .. .. .. . . . . . . . . .

The case had wrapped up rather well but it didn't help it sit well with Dean. He'd attempted again to sit where he had on the flight coming in but noticed a different atmosphere on the plane. Not from any of the others. It was actually pretty damn subtle but Cas felt different. He'd felt different all case long. Dean of course had tried not to let it bother him but he liked Cas, a lot, and it would've been nice to know what the hell he'd done to piss him off. Where had he crossed the boundaries? His worry over what was going on with Cas kept him preoccupied the entire flight. It had come as a complete surprise when they'd touched down back home. He'd lingered for a moment, as he and Cas usually did, only for Castiel to have packed all of his stuff and marched off of the plane first.

No one else seemed to mind.

He wasn't going to let himself pout, that was undignified, but he was getting a little tired of the cold shoulder treatment. Dean out-waited the rest of the team leaving. It didn't take long. They were aware of the usual after-case ritual. Except, the longer that Dean waited and the more lights were turned off the more agitated he was becoming. Was Cas blowing him off? With an angry huff and ready for a fight (anger was the best remedy for heart ache) he marched up the small set of stairs and straight into Cas' office. He hadn't even given him the courtesy of a knock.

"Wha-?" Castiel's face quickly schooled itself out of shock and into a frown. "Can I help you?"

Dean noticed a glass on the table and a corked bottle of scotch sitting next to it. "Drinking at work? I hear that's pretty illegal."

Castiel's frown deepened and he pushed the bottle out of the way. "It's after hours. Now what did you need?"

"Need?" Dean stepped forward and Cas backed away a little. It was at least good to know that he was intimidating. "What the hell did I do?"

"Do?" Cas' expression became pinched with confusion.

"You've been treating me like shit since the case started. So what the hell did I do?" Dean told himself that he wouldn't let his voice crack, but while he'd been waiting for Cas his mind had run through too many dark thoughts. Mainly about having to come face to face with his brother again. He couldn't loose Cas. Even if he hadn't craved the man's attention, the man's touch; he couldn't loose the only support he had. Dean didn't think he could do it alone.

"I wasn't." Castiel sighed and crossed his arms. A stubborn look flitted over his face. "Dean, the only thing I have done is remind you of work standards."

"Work standards? What fuckin' work standards?"

"Cussing at me will not help, Agent Winchester."

Dean nearly spat on the ground. "It's after hours, remember? I can do whatever the fuck I want" Dean stepped forward again but kept a relatively far distance. If he got too close he was worried he'd do something rash. At the moment his meter was bouncing between a fist in the face or a rather violent kiss. Both seemed like very bad ideas. "So what the hell did I do? 'Cause everything seemed fine."

"Everything was not fine." Castiel grit his teeth and Dean swore he could hear them squeak underneath the pressure. "You can't be so lax with yourself while we're on a case."

"Lax? Lax with myself?" Now Dean was confused.

"Your behavior, it bordered on inappropriately affectionate," Castiel bit out and there and there was strange flush sneaking over his cheeks. Dean ignored it.

"Affectionate? I flirt with everyone all the time and no one cares."

An aborted sound tried to tumble past Cas' lips. He snapped his mouth shut tightly and Dean tried to recall just exactly what he'd done. On previous cases he had flirted left and right with both Pam and Ellen and other officers they came in contact with. He was pretty sure Pamela only humored him and Ellen usually just shut him down with an eye roll. It had never been a problem before.

"It needs to be kept out of the work place." Castiel shifted awkwardly against his desk, leaning back behind it and settling his hands on the edge.

Slowly it felt like a light was dawning in Dean's brain. He might've been new to profiling but that didn't mean he was a stranger to body language. The only thing he'd done different during this case had been to take more liberties with Cas. Horror shocked through him for a moment. Castiel had noticed his crush and didn't reciprocate. More than that found it inappropriate. He was about to apologize and never come back to the office again when he realized just exactly what Cas had said. 'kept out of the workplace.'

"Cas."

The man in question stared at him for a moment before biting his lip and refusing to look up. The blush tinted Cas' ears momentarily. Dean's breathing sped up and his heart hammered. A rush of heat spread from the top of his head, down his back, and to his groin were it pooled and settled. He swallowed thickly and made an aborted movement towards the other man. If he was right, and so far he'd never been wrong about this type of thing, then there were good things in his future. Very good things. Hot, damn near scandalous, good things. He licked his lips and didn't miss the way Cas focused on the movement, trying to subtly look out of the corner of his eye. Dean repeated the motion and sucked his lower lip in, canting his stance a little. The subtle movement dropped Cas' eyes momentarily further down and Dean felt his pulse speed at the implication.

"It's okay."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," Castiel bit back. His voice sounded rough and a little breathy, like he'd been running.

"Cas- do you? It's never a problem when I've flirted with someone." Dean closed his hands in fists to keep from moving forward and reaching out. "'Cause I..." Silence consumed the room. They stared at each other. It felt like electrical wire had been stretched between them and it was lighting up with violent sparks.

"Dean...Is there something we need to talk about?" Cas whispered. He sounded nervous and judging by the tapping of his foot, a little anxious.

Dean watched as Castiel's chest rose and fell, slowly. If the grip on the desk was anything to go by, he was having just as much trouble as him keeping away. Instead of moving forward Dean glanced behind him and at the closed door. The hallway light and the small lamp on Cas' desk were all that remained on. There was a sliver of moonlight coming in through the blinds but that didn't provide a lot of illumination; just enough to set a tone to the night.

"If we don't talk about it, then there's no problem. Right?" His voice came out huskier than he'd intended but it wasn't something he could help.

He watched Cas look guiltily to the side and bite his lip again. Dean took a tentative step forward, and then another, suddenly made confident by lust. He kept looking at Cas as he approached, stopping less than an arm length away from him. He traced the outline of the man's lips with his eyes and hummed a little noise to himself. "You should take better care of those lips."

"I wasn't aware there was anything wrong with them," Castiel mumbled. He brought up a hand to his mouth and traced around it with the tips of his fingers.

"It's nothing bad," Dean said shaking his head. It was taking all of his self-control not to step forward and shove the the other man against the desk. It had been way too long and he'd held in too many fantasies. "Maybe a few dabs of chapstick, a little less biting." Castiel bit his lip on reflex and Dean felt a groan try and rumble its way out of his chest. "Okay maybe keep the biting."

Cas' pupils darkened, spreading out and consuming the blue of his eyes. "Agent Winchester."

"For the last time, it's Dean." He stepped forward the last few inches into his boss' personal space. The anger at Cas had been stripped away and reformed into fire. A heated pulse underneath his skin. He kept his hands to himself like a good boy but let out a breathy sigh as their hips brushed against each other. A rush of satisfaction and pride swept through his veins as he felt a swelling tenting in Cas' slacks.

"Dean," Castiel whispered, tilting his head up, eyes wide. There was a stutter in his breath and despite the anger in them Cas didn't react much more. Dean nearly smirked. It was easy to forget that he was taller, it tended to even the playing field when dealing with other alpha male types.

He canted his head a little and let his lips hover right above Cas' ear, "Yeah Cas?"

A low whine vibrated in Cas' throat as the grip on his desk turned his knuckles white. There was an involuntary twitch of his hips to which Dean responded to in kind.

"I'm your superior," Cas managed to bite out as they stood in the near dark, panting into each other.

"No, not right now. After hours, remember? Right now, you're my Cas." Dean leaned forward enough to let his lips brush across the sensitive edge of Castiel's ear.

Cas huffed and tilted his head in for more contact. Their stubble brushed against each other and Dean let a tentative hand trail down Cas' upper arm, cup his elbow, and then trace down to where he was clutching onto the table tightly. As Cas relented, relaxing a little, the phone started ringing. Castiel cursed but couldn't move as Dean turned his attention to Cas' neck. He mouthed at the pulse point and followed a line all the way down, until he touched the collar of the shirt; licked his way back up, only to kiss his way back down. He ghosted and nosed his way back up until he could nibble at a spot right underneath Cas' ear. Dean breathed in deeply and started the same trail down, leaving gentle nips and bites, this time nudging Castiel's head up so that he could follow the strong edge of his chin; finally hovering at the edge of Castiel's lips.

The phone continued ringing as they panted, Castiel clenching and unclenching his hands on the table; fighting morality and professionalism over wanting a taste. "De-ean," he whined, trying to figure out a way to successfully separate himself and answer the phone.

"Leave it for voice mail," Dean responded, pulling back a little and whispering it against his lips.

"It-it could be important," Castiel protested, grinding his hips forward a little and making Dean break contact to drop his head on Cas' shoulder; breathing hot air into the crevice of his neck and collarbone.

"You're not even supposed to be here," Dean panted. "Supposed to be at home." The ringing stopped, "See."

"You're far too smug for your own good," Cas bit back. It didn't have quite the authoritative tone he'd wanted. It was hard to be reprimanding when you were having trouble breathing.

"You like me smug," Dean chuckled before wrapping his lips around an exposed piece of Castiel's neck, right above the adam's apple, and sucking.

Cas' arms flew off of the desk and around Dean's biceps. He spread his legs against the table and let Dean sink between them. A sharp exhalation burst from him as Dean pulled off, lapping at the spot and nibbling his way back up to his mouth. Dean chuckled, pleased with his handy work and Castiel reacted to the burning in him. He stood up, pushing Dean away before whirling him around to slam against the office wall. Dean grunted and let out a moan, gladly letting Cas take the lead. He enjoyed his dominance but it wasn't any fun if the other person just rolled over without playing a little.

He was eternally thankful that Cas liked to play.

Whatever thoughts he'd had, bordering on arrogance, were swept away when he finally felt lips on his. Dean opened his mouth and inhaled in a quick bursts. Cas' tongue darted in after the inhale and Dean moaned into the slick slide of their tongues. He let Castiel control the kiss for a moment, just trying to hold on for dear life, before surging forward and tugging Cas' lower lip between his teeth. Gently he nibbled on it, listening to Castiel groan, before licking his way into the other mans mouth. Their hips moved against each other, cocks hard, as Dean's hand slipped to the edge of Cas' slacks. He tugged out an end of the crisp and clean button up shirt. He felt Castiel's control over the situation slipping a little as he inched his hand underneath the shirt, finger tips dancing across the heated skin there.

The phone started ringing again but neither of them noticed. Dean ran his other hand up along Castiel's back before letting it tangle up in the strands of hair. He was glad it was long enough to grab; Dean liked a little leverage when he fucked.

"Dean," Castiel huffed out, breathing heavily.

His name sounded good panted out like that.

Cas moved to nip at Dean's exposed collarbone; when his top few buttons had become undone neither of them could tell. It didn't even matter that much once Cas set to work suckling and mouthing at the dip of the collarbone. Dean groaned as he felt Cas bring in a hint of teeth, grazing them across his skin before going back to the same spot. He was going to have one hell of a hickey in the morning.

They rutted against each other and Dean slipped his hands away from Cas' hair and his hip to bring them to his ass. He let his fingers massage the soft flesh leisurely before pulling. They both let out a soft moan as their cocks lined up with each other; scorching hot through even their slacks.

"We-we can't," Castiel mumbled out, grinding forward again. "Work."

Dean nearly laughed. He'd have to work harder if Cas was still able to make coherent words. "After hours, remember? Different rules?" He nipped at the lobe of Cas' ear as the man looked at his desk where the bottle of scotch was still sitting out.

And they probably would've continued until they were naked and panting in after glow except looking at the desk had called Cas' attention back to the phone. He'd intended to let it be a momentary distraction until the answering machine clicked on, playing the message out loud as it was being recorded.

"Agent Novak."

Zachariah's voice washed over Castiel like a cold bucket. Dean only frowned, not knowing who it was. For a moment he'd tried to continue but even thrumming with heat, he could notice that his partner had gone stiff, and not in a good way.

"It's Adler. This is my second time trying this number. I attempted to call your home phone as well as your cellphone. I assume your an in commute or otherwise unavailable. I have left a message on both your cellphone and your home phone and ask that you call me back immediately. You've been summoned."

The answering machine beeped loudly indicating that the message had been successfully recorded.

Dean sighed and let his head lean back, closing his eyes to try and regain some composure. He felt Cas lean into him a little bit, probably trying to do the same. He glanced down and noticed the rather sullen expression on the other man's face. "Not after hours after all then?" He tried for a joke.

Castiel sighed and straightened himself, cheeks still flushed and hair mussed. "I'm afraid not." He moved away from Dean stiffly and towards the desk, adjusting his clothing as he did.

Dean felt cold and nervous. Now that they were cooling down... He gulped and straightened out his own clothing as well. He sure as hell didn't regret what had happened and was looking forward to more explosions of passions (who'd known all he would've had to have done since day one was to get into an argument with the guy), but that didn't mean that Cas felt the same.

"I'm sorry Dean, I-"

"Hey, no worries. Sucks being the boss right?" Dean joked, a painful smile on his face. His chest ached. "Listen, I'll ah... leave you to it then." His knees shook a little as he headed for the door. He really should've learned a long time ago not to be impulsive.

He wasn't expecting to be stopped by a hand at his elbow.

"You have awful bedside manner," Castiel groused and then pulled him gently down for a quick peck of the lips.

Dean only let himself remain baffled for a moment before pulling Cas in, arms around his waist and giving him a proper kiss. "I wasn't sure-"

"Dean. I do not regret what happened," Castiel said pulling back and straightening his tie. Back to business. "It's something we'll have to talk about but not now."

"Yeah, I get that. So, tomorrow then?" Dean tried not to let his voice carry too much hope. It was ridiculous. Of course they would see each other tomorrow. They had work.

Castiel gave him a wavering smile. It ended up barely counting as a twitch of lips. "Perhaps a little later. Meetings with him usually require at least quick flight."

Dean cringed and stepped forward again. "That sucks." He smirked as he fixed Castiel's tie for him. He'd noticed on multiple occasions that it was sometimes always a little rumpled. He'd found it endearing but now that he had could touch him, Dean would make sure to find every excuse to. "Good luck I guess, with the flying thing then."

Castiel's smile was a little more genuine this time. "I'm not the one with the issue Dean."

"Excuse me for trying to be nice," Dean teased. He gave Castiel one last quick peck before taking in a deep breath and opening the door. "Don't stay up too late."

Dean barely heard the soft 'I'll try' as he closed the door to give him some privacy.

He'd been lucky not to hit anything in the parking garage as he'd headed home, elated and buzz drunk with endorphins.

Despite the lights being off and still feeling uneasy about his brother; Dean slept fitfully that night.

A/N: -goes into the corner of shame- My second try at something smutty. And I know I said I'd introduce a new character the next chapter but once I saw this hit 15 pages and I still wasn't done with the first case and bit it wasn't going to happen. Next week then? (Also I'm participating in GISHWHES. I've outlined the chapter, so I may be able to make a short update, but remember that I'll be running around doing stuff!) Still unbeta'd since my beta is busy. :)