AN: Thanks all for the reviews. Mummabro glad you are still interested in the outcome. Taytay127 thanks for liking my style. It surprises me every time someone throws those kinds of compliments. TamsinWinchester :) Too close. eiralu I still have some story left, so I am not stopping yet. I keep checking to see if you have started writing yet. :) Sorry I made you maybe cry LittleFangirl1. I did give you a kind of warning title for that chapter huh? Lastly, smalls907, gotta love the drama, huh. There is worse to come, unless I go crazy and dive down a different rabbit hole. It has happened already a couple of times. I keep stretching out scenes over multiple chapters when they should have been in only one. Usually, it is the Dean and Cas interactions, so I think that most don't mind.

Cas sat at his desk, pretending to work, but he was accomplishing nothing. M was doodling on a legal pad at the conference table, ignoring him. He was looking at a document that essentially said that the case was being dropped. He had read it five times. Actually, he had read the first paragraph five times. It was sudden. "Why would the they drop the case? I just don't get what had changed in this situation."

"Not my concern. Just be happy about it. Less work for you. I guess all of your preliminary work was enough."

"I only sent over the one letter. I hardly think that that had anything to do with this." Cas got up and walked over to the table.

"I think that they saw where this was heading and decided that you would be able to handle this case. You are actually better at this than I had realized before. Niveus was right to hire you. I guess now, there's just the clean up, and then maybe they'll move you into a new case." M was scrutinizing his reaction with a raised brow. "So, why so glum, chum? You seem like somebody just killed your favorite puppy."

Cas cocked his head to the side and replied, "Do I seem that bad? I thought that I was covering quite well."

M laughed. "Yeah, you were totally not looking depressed at all. Really, though, why are you upset?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Chalk it up to relationship problems, and fill in the gaps of this story with whatever you choose to imagine. It will likely be more amusing than anything I can share."

"Ah, bummer. Trouble in Dean-o paradise. And here I was holding out hope for you two reckless kids. Well, that will likely make it awkward for you with Sam, huh?"

"I hope not." Cas wanted to redirect, but he realized that it was important to share with M that there would be distance now between himself and Dean. This information may need to get back to the appropriate parties one day and this was a way to set that in motion. He also needed to fix the Sam issue too. "I think that I am going to replace Sam anyway."

M looked at him like she doubted him. "Really?"

"Really."

"So, things are really bad with you and Dean? So bad that you can't even work with his brother?" M waited for his answer with her fingers tented in front of her.

"No, that is just a coincidence. Sam has too much on his plate. I was going to replace him with Gabe anyway. The timing is just, well, awkward. I'm hoping that he doesn't think that the two situations are connected." Cas hoped that his explanation would be enough. He really wanted to high tail it away from all talk of the Winchesters. He felt like he could make some statement at any moment that would ruin everything.

Instead M just rolled her lip into a half smile and said, "Well, now I guess that you'll have more time for morning bar crawls with yours truly."

"Wow, morning bar crawls, huh? Way to cheer a guy up. Nothing says totally happy, functioning, and stable like a guy that goes on morning bar crawls with his corporate handler." Cas had to laugh a little at the image that his mind created of he and M dragging each other from one dive to the next.

"Hey, I thought that we were friends now. What's with this corporate handler business?"

"Still, nothing says future alcoholic like the scenario that you just painted. And yes, you get the friend status, I didn't mean to demote you." Cas smiled at her and figured that it was now safe for a redirection. "So, what's for dinner tonight? I think that I was promised burnt mac-n-cheese?"

"Oh, we call that blackened mac-n-cheese or cajun mac-n-cheese at my house. It makes it sound planned." She started scooping up piles of papers and files. "I am going to cut out early, so that I can get a head start on the burning of your dinner. Here." She passed a slip of paper over to him with an address. "You can show up around sixish. Bring wine."

"Red or White?" Cas asked.

"Surprise me." She slipped the pile of work into her satchel and headed for the door. "Later, sugar."

Cas just laughed at her, and said, "See you at six with a wine to complement the finest cajun cuisine." Cas watched her as she closed the door and decided to pick out his next task. Should I talk to Sam first or Zach? He wondered if this whole mess could be avoided now. If the case had been dropped, how much more would Niveus really need from them? Maybe he could just keep moving ahead like nothing ever happened. Maybe I could fix things with Dean, pretend things didn't go all wrong yesterday. Regardless, he knew that he had to get Sam off of any future case that Niveus might come up with for them.

With his decision made, Cas picked up the phone to call Zach and set his plans in motion. By the end of the day he would have Sam out and Gabe in. Hopefully, this was the right thing to do.

The email came through a couple of hours later. It was from Gabe. The subject line read: Miss me, said every baby panda ever…

Cas opened the attachment, which was a video. It was from the night that he had met Dean. They were carrying Cas down the hall to his condo. Uriel was doing most of the lifting along with Sam. Cas looked like dead weight. Dean was walking along behind, looking concerned. "Do you think that we should maybe take him to the hospital? He might have a concussion."

Then Gabe piped in from somewhere behind his camera, "No, he is just a bit drunk. Next time try to be a bit more gentle with my drunk friend, Dean." Gabe sounded like he was joking, but Cas could see the look on Dean's face. It was a look that spoke of discomfort.

"I didn't do this to him. He just stood up too fast and cracked his head on my chin."

"Well, try not to let that happen again. Cas is a delicate flower. We gotta look out for him." Gabe turned the camera to his face and smirked. The scene cut out then, and Cas was left wondering what the point was.

Then he noticed that there was a second email from Gabe. The subject line merely read: Part II. There was another attachment. Of course, Cas opened this one too.

The scene was from inside of his condo. Dean was not in the scene and neither was Cas. Gabe, Anna, Uriel, and Sam sat at the kitchen table. Gabe had set the camera to record from his countertop. "Now let us convene the first ever meeting of the Awesome-People-Who-Set-Up-Their-Friend-With-A-Romantic-Partner Club." Gabe used his fist as a gavel and the others hooted with laughter.

"I swear that this is either brilliant, or I am really drunk." Uriel proclaimed.

"Or both." Sam added. Everyone laughed.

"So, I will send Cas one video per day. They will remind him of all the fun that he had with your brother, and you will start operation talk to your brother incessantly about his feelings for our friend here." Gabe directed at Sam.

Anna laughed at them and said, "I will make sure to get Cas thinking about Dean in a less than platonic way. We can talk over lunch or something."

"I'll just do what I always do, which involves not talking about Cas' feelings or anything of that sort. I will however, have fun watching this play out." Uriel offered. They all laughed again. "Are we sure that they are really interested in each other?"

"Oh, yeah. That is not an issue." Sam threw out there. "You should have seen what I walked in on out in the alley. They were all up in each other's personal space. Too bad I didn't get a memo on that. I could have given them a few more minutes of privacy. Instead, I go banging my way on out there, and Cas ends up with a concussion or something. Not my best moment, I tell you."

Gabe chimed in again, "So, I heard Dean offer to come back to Cas' place next weekend to fix a motorcycle. We need to make sure that this happens. That is going to fall on you Sam. Get him here with Cas for the whole weekend. This can't fail." Gabe cast his glance around at each of them at the table and proclaimed, "Cupid has nothing on us. We are the only love gods." Gabe was feeling quite proud of himself. Cas had to smile at his friends and their meddling.

"Shut the video off. He's coming back." Anna said as the sound of the door rattled in the background. Gabe swooped in, and the video ended. Cas had to wonder how Gabe would feel now if he knew just how complicated everything had become.

Fav., Follow, Review. Next up is dinner with M and Lil. 'Till then.