AN: Thank for the reviews and constructive feedback. A big thank you to sheyanne lynn for catching my "slip." Thanks also to Master's daughter for liking M a little too. And Mummabro, I know, poor Dean huh:) Really, poor Cas. To my new followers, welcome to the story. Now on with the show.

Cas came back to the office ready to work. He needed a distraction from all that his brain was processing. On the one hand he was exceedingly happy that Dean wanted to spend yet another weekend with him. On the other hand, he was exceedingly uncomfortable with the idea that he had to tamp down his growing affection for Dean because this Bobby character might be uncomfortable.

Truth be told, part of him wanted to get out of this weekend now. He didn't want to spend a single chaste night sleeping alone in Sam's childhood bedroom. It went against all that he wanted and he didn't know if he could be so close to Dean without being so close to Dean.

When he came back into his office he had found Sam at his conference table while M was stretched out on the couch. "You two acceptably bonded now?" Cas asked as he hung his coat on the door.

"Yep, Sam and I are two peas in a pod now. How 'bout you and Dean-o. Did you make with the sucky face?" M tipped her head over the arm of the couch to stare at him.

"M, I can't wait for you to meet Gabe." Cas joined Sam at the table. "So, Sam, does this all look like something that you want in on?"

"What, Cas, you already bringing in the cavalry?" M sat up a bit. "Guess I am going to have to start reading that dossier on Sammy here."

"I think that I could offer up some help on this." He pushed over some files in a red folder. Cas had not gotten to those yet.

"What are those?" Cas flipped open the cover and peered down at the unusual papers inside. they were unusual because the color was an odd, sickly greenish hue, and they had a texture that made them hard to read.

"This is the data on the vaccines. It is the details of the human trials all broken down." Sam spread them out a little.

"How long can we keep these for?" Cas asked over to M.

"You can't. You can only use them when I am here. They come and go with me. They are even on that special paper there so that you can't copy them, photograph them or anything. You'll run across a few things in there that we use the security paper for."

"It's a lot to read. You planning on spending a fair amount of time here?" Cas asked.

"Seems so." M huffed out. "I don't see why those stacks are so important to you. You really only need to establish that the FDA gave us more permission to move forward than they didn't. Plus, don't forget, you aren't that important."

"Yeah, you already said that, M. We still plan to do our job,." Cas said as he swept some of the files closer to him.

They fell into silence again as they each read through the folders that were spread out in front of them. M didn't really read them, so much as she just sort of shuffled them around and occasionally got up to walk to the window then back. Time passed leisurely that afternoon, and none of them seemed to notice when the evening light had passed into full night.

"What's the Alpha Strain?" Sam broke through the silence.

"Hmm?" M shook her head seeming to give her attention to Sam, "What was that?"

"The Alpha Strain. What is it?" Sam repeated.

"Where did you see that?" She got up then and loomed over the table.

Sam pointed down at a passage on the document that he had been reading. "Here."

"That won't pertain to the case." She began scooping up the documents, even the ones that were in Cas' hands. "I gotta get going boys. You gotta take me out on more than one date before I'll stay the whole night with you." She laughed at her own joke, while Cas and Sam slowly stood up from the table.

"'Till tomorrow then?" Cas asked as he walked her to the door.

"Yeah. I'll check with R and see if she wants to meet with wonderboy there." She slipped out the door and briskly walked to the elevator. Cas returned to the room and thought about debriefing with Sam, but he worried that he didn't have the energy left to process anymore.

Sam didn't try to talk about the research though. Instead, he plunked down on the couch. Cas joined him. "So, did things go alright with Dean? I haven't really gotten to talk with you much about things since Ezra's party. Things seemed good at lunch, though, so I guess things are okay."

"Really, Sam? As if you haven't already grilled Dean and failed to learn a thing. You are just trying to find another avenue for information." Cas threw a tired smile over at him.

"Okay, you got me. I swear though, it is like pulling teeth getting him to talk. Well, I'm sure you've already noticed." Sam leaned back into the couch, stretching out his long legs in front of him.

"Funny, I have had the opposite experience. He has shared quite a bit given our very brief acquaintance. It has been nice getting to know him." Cas was determined to not share too much. He was fairly certain that this would be viewed as a breach of trust with Dean.

"Well, I am glad that you two worked out the little differences that you were having at the party. I felt pretty bad about that." Sam cocked his head a little to take in Cas' reaction.

"Hmm, I am glad that you feel better."

"So, would it be safe for me to assume that you and my brother are dating?"

"What did Dean say when you asked him?" Cas had to assume that this conversation had occurred with Dean already and that Sam did not get any details. He did want to know what Dean had said though.

"Umm, he may have told me to shut-up." Sam shifted in his seat a little. "So, are you two dating?"

"Shut-up." Cas gave Sam a mischievous grin. "You aren't getting anything out of me."

"Seriously, there should be a compromise here."

"Well, maybe we can do an information swap. What do you say?" Cas pulled his legs up underneath him on the couch and turned to face Sam.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if you answer me a Dean question, I'll answer you a Dean question. Sound fair?" Cas masked his face in a way that seemed completely trustworthy.

"Okay, who goes first?" Sam asked.

"I do. I want to know about how Dean got shot." Cas didn't even have to think about his question. This little Dean tidbit had been worrying away in his mind since he first saw the scar.

"Hmm, how did you find out about that? I can't imagine that he shared that with you. Did you somehow end up in a situation where the scar was visible?" Sam smirked over at him.

"Just answer the question." Cas felt his cheeks warm with embarrassment as Sam stared over at him.

Sam laughed at him. "You are so easy to read." He pressed his palms together then and rested them in front of his knees. "Well, he was working…" Sam paused as if considering the path that he needed to go down. "He was attempting to gain information, and it went wrong."

"What kind of information?" Cas interrupted.

"You don't get to ask follow-up questions," Sam said.

"Well, you aren't really telling me anything particularly new."

"Let's just say that Dean use to be a bit more reckless. He has gotten better. He tries not to die now. I think that he use to be pretty miserable. What with mom dying and with dad being dad, Dean seemed to feel like everything that mattered to him could just get snatched away at any moment." Sam shifted a little and looked up at Cas. "I think that it would be hard to live in a world where the people you love get taken from you and nothing is ever done about it. It's why he doesn't date or show much interest in people. I think that he is really afraid that they will get taken from him too."

"What do you mean when you say, 'nothing is ever done about it?'" Cas felt like Sam was hiding something. "I thought that your mom died in a house fire."

"She did. The cause, though, is another issue. It is my turn to ask a question now, since you have asked several."

"You didn't really tell me much, and you ended on a cliff-hanger. Kind of unfair." However, Cas waited for the question and wondered how hard it would be to avoid answering.

"So, did Dean sleep in your bed this weekend? A simple yes or no will be sufficient. I don't need details." Sam practically laughed at Cas' expression.

"Um, Dean did not sleep in my bed." Cas answered with complete honesty. After all Dean did not actually sleep in Cas' bed. There were plenty of other activities there, but sleep was not one of them.

"Hmm, I have underestimated you. So, when I said sleep, I didn't mean sleep, you know." Sam scrutinized Cas' face for a tell.

"I stand by my answer. Besides, I don't think that you get a follow-up question."

"You don't play fair. Do you want to know what he said about you the other night?"

"Tell." Cas was definitely intrigued.

"You first. Answer my question."

"I did."

"No, you evaded. Now spill."

Cas really wanted to know what Dean said about him. It was a primal desire. So he answered, sort of, "I kissed him. It was amazing."

"Well, now, that wasn't so hard was it? Did he go along with this kissing or was it one-sided?"

"Definitely reciprocal." Cas felt relieved and also as though he had completely betrayed Dean. He couldn't dwell on that though. He wanted to know what Dean had said. "Now, tell."

"Mind you, I had to pester and prod to get any information out of him. Mostly he just avoided me, but eventually I wore him down."

"Come on, Sam. Just tell me." Cas was starting to feel like Sam was just dragging him through some twisted tale for his own amusement.

"Geesh, impatient much? I asked him whether or not he was going to see you again and he said 'sure'. I asked him if he liked you and he said 'sure'. I asked him if he found you attractive and he nearly stormed out of the room."

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" Cas asked.

"Just wait. When I left the room, Jess asked him what he thought of you, and got a different answer. I guess that I wore him down."

"For the love of God, Sam, what did he say?" Cas was growing more exasperated by the second.

"He said that if he could only look at one thing for the rest of his life, he hoped that it would be you. To Jess' credit, she did not tell him just how sappy he sounded. I would have. Maybe that is why he didn't share with me. Anyway, I think that he might be a little interested in you, Cas. Just saying." Sam was grinning like a fool and Cas couldn't help but feel an equal smile spread across his face.

Cas rose from his seat. "I am going to head home now. I don't think that I can handle any more of this information sharing." Cas wished that he knew where Dean lived. He wanted to drive out there.

"Well, I guess that we'll talk more later." Sam rose from his seat now too..

"I need a full night's sleep to process even half of what you have told me." Cas pointed at the door and Sam moved toward it.

The two of them headed out into the dark office, the glow of lights in the elevator lobby beckoning them. Sam said, "I have some stuff to gather from my office. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Sam." With that Cas walked off toward the elevator and Sam made his way to his own office through the dark.

Review, Fav., Follow. This chapter was a royal pain. I rewrote it last night. I had every intention of doing my usual publish in the morning thing, but I just couldn't do it. It was going all stupid, bad tone, bad dialogue, bad science. So, I did what I could to fix that by deleting the original and that is why I am late with this. So, sorry :( This may lead to me having to take a couple of days to fix the future chapters. I am currently working on Ch. 35, but what I changed here will trickle into the other chapters. Hopefully you all don't mind me taking an occasional extra day to fix my mess. As always, thanks for reading.