Here you go ^.^ another chapter.

I struggled a little with this one too

AND I CHANGED THINGS IN CHAPTERS 8 AND 11!

You might wanna go back and check but basically, Cas stole the angel tablet back from Crowley while he was in Hell and took it to Kevin. I literally only added in a sentence or two :P but it's important, otherwise the story makes no sense.

This one is dedicated to jdluvva, thanks again for your review :D

I own nothing :(

Enjoy ^.^

Castiel appeared in the park, where he had left. Metatron was fuming

'She's gone!' He yelled as soon as Castiel touched down 'She realised she was being followed and she just upped and left! It'll take us weeks to find her again! Maybe longer now she knows we're after her! We could have ended it last night but no! You, just had to go because the Winchesters wanted to chat!'

Castiel let him rant, the scribe had a right to be angry after all, he had just left him in the middle of a trial and now he was further away from closing the gates of Heaven.

'You let Heaven down Castiel' he continued 'Don't you want you family to sort things out? Do you want the Earth to burn as collateral?'

'I'm sorry' Castiel said sincerely. 'But the Winchesters needed me and I am still their guardian.'

'The world is bigger than the Winchesters' Metatron snapped back 'Thanks to them, we have to start over and find the abomination, quickly' He turned and began to stride away

'I'm afraid I can't' Metatron stopped dead in his tracks and turned slowly to face his brother

'What?' he said, in a low voice

'The Winchesters are about to complete the final demon trial' Castiel explained earnestly 'They could use my help. Once the demons are out of the way it will be easier to close the gates of Heaven with the Winchesters helping us' Metatron sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

'Castiel, the sooner we do this the better. Leave the Winchesters to sort out the demons whilst we sort out the angels. When both gates are closed, it will be over and we can clean up the mess dad left us in. That is what we want, right?' there was a pause

'Of course' Castiel said slowly. He was thinking back over his argument with Dean. The hunter had been right 'But we are on the same side as the Winchesters. We're working towards the same goal and we will achieve more together.' Metatron shook his head

'We work faster by ourselves, Castiel, they cannot move as we can, they will only slow us down.' Castiel frowned.

'I understand' he said. 'But I don't agree. I will aid the Winchesters. If you want the angel trials done sooner, find another angel.'

Metatron held up his hands

'Very well. But when more of our brothers and sisters die, don't blame me! Come and find me when you change your mind' and he was gone.

Castiel hung his head. Maybe he was dooming his family by not completing the trials. But the Winchesters needed him too. He and Dean needed to figure out what the mark on his soul could mean as well as shut the gates of Hell forever. After all, if they helped him and Metatron complete the angel trials, it may very well be the last thing they ever do together. That thought did not bring Castiel joy.

Especially as he knew what Dean's reaction would be to the first trial. He wandered around aimlessly for a while, just thinking. A bee buzzed from a flowerbed near him and he stopped to watch, sitting on a nearby bench. He laced his fingers together and hunched forwards, using his clasped hands to rest his chin. He watched the bee collect nectar and move on. He wished his own life was as simple.

Dean was a bit like a bee, he mused. Take out the confusing thought processes and words Dean had a goal, or several goals at any one time, and one by one he would achieve them all, but he would set more goals for himself, surrealistically high ones, and he would still achieve them. But he would shove aside his personal goal for his underlying mission of family and the protection of that family. Although he would feel like a failure for not achieving his goals as well, or if anything went wrong at all. . . Maybe Dean wasn't really like a bee after all.

He didn't know how long he sat there, a long time, maybe hours. Lost in thought of the Winchesters and the angel trials. And how Sam would need help with the final one. And how worried Dean was about Sam being the one to do it.

They would need him to help them through. Both of them. And Kevin would have to keep the tablets safe. They didn't really need the angel tablet translated, not with Metatron having memorised it, but better Kevin had it than Crowley. If he was still alive of course. Somehow, he thought so. Crowley just kept coming back. He was resilient if nothing else. Castiel would compare him to a cockroach if he didn't think that doing so would insult his fathers creation.

He should go back to Sam and Dean, the sooner the likes of Crowley were locked downstairs the better.

He was surprised when he appeared in the impala, not in Lebanon, Kansas as expected. Dean swerved the steering wheel slightly

'Sonova-' he said 'Cas, I warned you not to do that! You're gonna make me crash some day.' He glanced over at the angel 'did Sam call you?'

'No' Castiel looked out of the window, confused 'where are we?'

'Not in Kansas any more'

'I understood that reference'

'Yeah, I would expect so after Sam roped you down and forced you to watch Wizard of Oz'

'If I recall correctly, you were the one who was mouthing along to all of Dorothy's lines' Dean shifted uncomfortably

'Whatever, dude. It's a good movie'

'Uh-huh' Was all Cas said. He didn't really understand movies. He and the brothers had made him watch some horror films that they had jumped at, but Castiel had remained unmoved. Their actual lives were much more intense than those of the characters. Plus, wasn't watching people die for entertainment kind of … demonic? Sam and Dean had tried to explain but he was still unconvinced.

'So where are we?'

'I'm not telling you, Cas, you'll only run back and tell Sam and he'll come after me.' he said, right as they passed a sign that read

'Welcome to Grenada, Mississippi, please drive carefully'

'Dammit' Dean cursed. 'Well, I'm not staying here anyway, so. . .' he trailed off

'Isn't Grenada …' Castiel paused to calculate 'around twelve hours away from Lebanon by vehicle?'

'I made it in ten'

'Why are you here Dean? And why isn't Sam?'

'Because I'm putting a stop to him doing these trials, okay? I just... I don't want Sam to die on me, is that such a bad thing?'

'But the gates -'

'Screw the gates! I'll shut them myself' he said. 'And if you tell Sam, any of this, I'll rip your wings off, understood?'

'I – I think so.'

'I'm going to do the trials, Cas' Dean explained 'Me, not Sam. I won't kill him. He doesn't deserve to go out like that?'

'And you do?'

'I'm a hunter. It's all I've ever been. I'm gonna die a hunter. And that's cool, I'm good with that. But Sammy ... Sam just deserves more.'

Castiel was silent

'How'd you find me anyway? You said Sam didn't call. You thought I'd be back at the bunker with Sam.'

'I don't know' Cas said seriously 'I was as surprised as you were.' Dean spared another glance at the angel. He was frowning, his brow was creased and he looked pensive.

'So, uh ... what then? Could it be ... this ... soul mark thing?'

'Maybe, I'm not sure.'

'Huh'

There was a pause

'Where are you going Dean?'

'To find and gank a hell hound, Cas. That's where'

'You have the incantation?' Dean pulled the paper out of his pocket

'Stole it from Sammy's jacket' he said, with a proud smile. 'That boy's getting rusty'

Castiel took the paper and looked at it, looking at the Enochian words

'I made copies' Dean said 'So don't bother ripping it up or whatever'

'You really are determined to do this, aren't you?' he said sadly, placing the paper down.

'Damn straight'

'Why?'

'Why?' Dean looked at him with his are you stupid? face. 'I just told you why. So Sammy doesn't have to.'

'And what do you think he'd say to that, Dean?'

'That I shouldn't, that I'm an idiot and I'm being selfish and that he doesn't want that for me either, but I don't care, Cas!' his voice rose 'I don't care! I know I'm being selfish and stupid but I don't care because I'm the big brother here. And I protect Sam. Not the other way around.' he took a deep breath and continued, in a calmer tone

'He moved on when we were in Purgatory, Cas' he said. 'and I might have been pissed at him for not looking for me but he made a life for himself. And he was happy. And he could do it again. I want that for him, Cas. I want that for him more than anything. And as much as he denies it, he wants it too. He spent his whole life fighting for it, a normal life.' Dean blinked hard. 'Now tell me, is wanting that for him so wrong?'

Castiel shook his head

'No'

'So you won't tell Sam where I am?'

'I guess not.'

'Or what I'm doing?'

'Fine'

'Thank you'

'But I will be back Dean. To check on you. And help'

'You wanna help?' he sounded disbelieving; the angel shrugged

'You'll do it whether I help or not, I just want to give you a better chance of survival' Dean raised an eyebrow

'Thanks Cas' he said, slightly sarcastically

'You're welcome' he said

And the passenger seat was empty again

'Frigging angels' Dean muttered to himself with a small smile on his face.

So ... opinions? Any and all mistakes are my own because I'm really tired and for some reason my spell check decided to not work, but it should be okay, I checked it.

Let me know if you have any questions/problems/praises/insults

I'm always happy to get feedback ^.^

Oh and btw. I used Google maps for the places and times. I know absolutely NOTHING about American geography seeing as I'm English so please forgive any geographical errors. Or blame google :P

Love Tibbins xx