How Deals End

Before night fell, they only stopped for gas and food. Then, they ended up stopping to sleep at a roadside motel. Cas looked like he didn't really want to, but there was really no choice.

Dean was still kind of freaked out by it. Castiel had almost fallen asleep at the wheel. It was only because he had been paying attention and staring at the back of his head that he had noticed it, shouted, and prevented Cas from swerving into the other lane. The incident had shaken everyone up, and when Dean offered to drive them to the nearest motel, Cas had agreed.

The moment they got to the motel and into their room, Cas shrugged off his trenchcoat and dropped on the bed. Unlike last time, he didn't even bother to take off his shoes. He curled up and he was out like a light. It was like his Grace was going to go out soon.

Dean gulped at the thought as he looked at the slumbering angel. There was something so wrong about Cas being weak enough to need sleep. He wasn't supposed to vulnerable like this.

Hannah picked up his trenchcoat from where it lay at the end of the bed and gently tucked it around Castiel. Dean could see the worry in her eyes as she looked at him. As he watched, he saw a spark enter her eyes.

Hannah had an idea to save Cas. He just knew it.

She looked up and met his eyes. Her eyes narrowed at him in dislike.

"I'll stay in the car." She said, tuning on her heel towards the door.

Dean went up to her and caught her elbow. She looked back at him. "Whatever you're planning." He glanced back at Cas. "Don't do it without me."

She blinked in surprise. She nodded slightly and left.

Dean looked after her. It confused him a moment. Why would she be so surprised that I want to go with her?

He turned back to Bobby and Sam. Sam was giving him a bitch face.

"What?"

"Really?" Sam asked, incredulous. "Are you trying to get in an angel's pants?"

It took Dean a moment to process what Sam said. "What? No!"

"Uh-huh." Bobby didn't seem any more convinced than Sam was.

Dean rubbed his forehead. "Don't you think we've got a few more important problems than that?"

The two of them grew serious.

"Yeah…" Sam's voice trailed off and he sat down at the rickety table the room offered. "A demon." He sounded depressed.

"Never thought it would come to that." Bobby admitted, going over to the mini bar and grabbing a beer.

"I know!" Dean said. "What the hell was I thinking? Getting the Mark of Cain in the first place? Listening to Crowley? I should know better!"

"Well, we can't really judge him." Sam started to say.

"We sure as hell can!" Dean countered.

"We can't." Bobby interrupted before it could turn into a full-blown fight. The other two turned to him. "We don't know the exact circumstances, so we can't judge his decisions."

"Wow, deep. Now," they whirled around at the sound of the new voice, "will you extend that courtesy to Cassie?"

Gabriel sat on the bed, looking down at his little brother. Dean blinked a bit. Gabriel actually looked worry. As they watched, Gabriel laid a gentle hand on Cas's head and stroked his hair.

Cas sighed in his sleep.

"So you decide to pop up now?" Dean asked, angry. "You know, we haven't seen you at all. Where the hell are you in all this?"

Gabriel looked up and his expression hardened. "Sometimes we can't interfere with things. You should know that." His gaze returned to Castiel. "No matter how much we want to."

"Alright." Dean bit his tongue as Sam agreed with the archangel/trickster. However, as he looked at his brother, he saw understanding in his eyes. How did Sam get this?

"What do you mean, we can't judge him?" Dean asked, feeling defensive.

Gabriel squinted at him. "Do you brats ever listen?"

"They don't." Bobby said seriously. "That's why it's better for you to tell me so I can explain it in small words." The older man ignored the brothers indignant sputtering. "Then, again," he shrugged, "I already get what you're trying to say."

Gabriel blinked. "You must be the real brains here." Suddenly, he was up and patting Sam on the shoulder. "Sorry, Samsquatch, looks like you've been replaced."

Sam took a step back from the archangel, looking slightly confused.

"No wonder the Winchester's have gotten so far off the beaten path." Gabriel continued, turning to Bobby. "You were no longer around to hit them upside the head when they were about to do stupid things."

Bobby paused. "I guess I'll take that as a compliment." He finally, begrudgingly, said.

"Good. 'Cause it was." Gabriel said flippantly. Then he grew serious. "You guys have no clue what brought Cas to make a deal with Crowley. You guys have never really asked about the war, or seemed to really care unless it somehow affected you. Seriously, I say it again, you guys treat him like crap." Gabriel sighed and looked over at his brother with pity in his eyes. "But he still comes when you call." His gaze turned thoughtful. "He's like one of those puppies in the commercials. The owner kicks it over and over, but the puppy comes back because it still loves the owner." He turned back to the hunters. He continued dryly, "If you aren't getting the analogy, you're the owners."

"You make it sound like we never do anything for Cas!" Dean felt himself growing defensive. "After all, we've nearly died for him before!"

"Really?" Gabriel raised a condescending eyebrow. "When?" There was silence. "Any time you can think of?"

Dean cast his thoughts back, knowing that surely there must have been a time, but nothing was coming to mind. That thought from the other night was back, saying that Gabriel was right.

"That's what I thought." Gabriel finally said. "He risks everything for you, but you really do nothing in return. Anytime he's been saved, it's been due to himself doing something, or someone other than you saving him. He's actually died for you. Multiple times. That's not something that you can claim, since Castiel is always there to make sure you guys don't die." He snorted. "And as if almost dying is a big deal for you all. It's how you freaking operate. So you can't use it as an excuse."

Dean was stunned speechless. He couldn't deny what Gabriel had said. Something inside twisted up at the thought that Gabriel might be right.

"This is just a check-in." Gabriel continued. "The lesson's not over yet, so you might want to prepare yourselves." With a familiar rustle of wings, Gabriel was gone.

The three of them stared where the archangel had vanished. The only sound in the room was from Castiel's steady breathing.

"I don't like this." Bobby broke the silence. "I don't like this at all."

Dean couldn't help but agree.

Morning broke once more. Bobby and Sam were yawning and quickly fell asleep once they got underway. The two of them had commandeered Cas's laptop and held a powwow all night trying to figure out what might be next in this future and how they might prepare. Dean, on the other hand, took over the other bed and slept soundly.

It was more obvious than ever that something was wrong with Cas. Despite the sleep he had gotten the night before, he was still obviously exhausted. He didn't protest as Hannah offered to drive and took the keys from him. Castiel didn't want a repeat of the night before.

That's why soon the backseat of the Pimpmobile was filled with the sounds of sleep.

After checking that they were really asleep, Dean turned to Hannah from where he sat in the shotgun seat. "I saw the look in your eyes." He told her. "You've got an idea to save Cas."

"Yes." She said, glancing in the rearview mirror. "He won't like it though. It will cause a delay."

"I say, do it," Dean said. "After all, it looks like he's not going to do anything about it."

Hannah's lips became a thin line. She didn't seem to want to agree with Dean, but he could live with that as long as she helped Cas. Finally, she spoke, "You're very different."

Dean didn't know what to make of that, as Hannah turned the wheel, heading for the new destination.

"So what is your plan?" He asked.

"Not all of Castiel's original Grace may be gone." She told him. "And if any still exists, there is one person who will know." She paused. "That's why I'll go ask him."

"I'll go with you." He offered.

Hannah shook her head. "This is not a place where mortals are meant to go."

Dean wondered where exactly they were going.

A playground was not what he was expecting.

Hannah parked and told him to wait with the others. She quickly walked over towards the equipment and gave a nod to a woman sitting on a bench. There was a ripple of blue light and then she was gone.

Dean blinked at that, but there had been weirder things that he had seen. He wondered where she ended up. Since he couldn't help but be bored though, since there was really nothing to do. He ended up slipping Cas's cell phone from the angel's coat pocket and started playing around with it.

Not ever ten minutes after Hannah left, Cas woke up. He looked around in confusion. "Hannah?"

"Uh, she went over there and disappeared." Dean gestured over to where she had gone.

"Why would she – " Castiel's voice broke off as realization bloomed in his widening eyes. Then he was scrambling out of the car, jarring Bobby and Sam awake. He hurried over to the same spot Hannah had vanished from, not even noticing Dean putting the phone back in his pocket with a single difference.

"What? What's going on?" Sam asked. Dean put a hand over his mouth and shook his head to tell him he should be quiet. He held up his own phone, which was currently in the middle of being connected to Cas's phone.

Something told him that they needed to hear what was going on wherever the angels had gone.

At first all they heard was the sound Cas's footsteps. Then, there was a murmur of voices steadily getting louder. The first clear thing they heard was some guy with a sleazy voice saying, "So, do we have a deal?"

A chill ran up all of their spines. Those words never seemed to end a situation well.

"No." Castiel's voice came in loud and clear, resolute. "What are you doing?"

"Ugh." That sleazy voice was back. Something about this guy simultaneously gave Dean the creeps and made him want to stab the guy in the face. "You know perfectly well what she's doing, ass-tiel."

"I had to. You are dying." Hannah didn't and did sound like she was begging.

"She's right. You totally are." The voice was now condescending.

"You shut up!" Cas obviously hated this guy. The hunters had never heard him use that tone in regards to anyone, not even Raphael or a demon.

"He said your Grace – it's still out there." Hannah was trying to make Cas understand why she was doing this. Dean felt a bit of hope himself. If Cas got his real Grace back, he could live.

"He's lying." Castiel was saying this like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He is a liar." He obviously wanted Hannah to understand this.

Suddenly, it hit Dean who the mysterious voice was. After all, who else would know where Castiel's Grace was but the person who took it? This was Metatron.

Dean suddenly understood Cas's reluctance to trust him. After all, this angel had apparently tricked him before and his Grace had been stolen as a result.

"Hey, words hurt." Metatron whined, sounding like some crappy actress trying to win sympathy points in a movie but was unable to pull it off. It was really just grating.

"Listen to me, Hannah. You don't want this." Cas was seemed to be speaking from experience. "I have seen what – " There was a slight hesitation, and his voice came back over the phone even more pained. "I've made deals born of desperation, and they always end in blood and tears – always."

Dean's heart stopped. Something clicked into place.

How desperate was Cas to turn to Crowley in the first place?

He had never really considered how bad the civil war in Heaven must be. After all, Cas was the reliable one, the one he didn't have to worry about, especially when things with Sam were so bad. He guessed he just couldn't really comprehend it, just like when they first met and Cas had told him that his brothers were dying and fighting battles that Dean wasn't even aware of.

A slight curl of guilt hit him at that moment, but he shoved it away. This wasn't the time.

Still, Cas's words also made him wonder how badly his deal with Crowley had turned out.

"So I'm supposed to let you…" Hannah's voice trailed off, sadness tinting it.

"Yes." Dean was surprised at how sure and calm Castiel sounded. How he could so easily accept that he was dying. "It's my life and it's my choice." Something cold filled Dean at the fact that it wasn't just Cas accepting to die, but choosing to die. Were things really that bad? He was jolted from his thoughts as Castiel's voice hardened. "And I don't want this."

"I…" Hannah's voice grew quiet. "You're right. I'm sorry." She accepted his decision. Her bid to save Cas had failed.

Dean hit the button to end the call. They had probably heard all that they needed to. He exchanged looks with his brother and surrogate father.

None of them could deny the truth in Cas's words. And Dean could see that they were wondering the same thing as him.

Whose blood and tears were shed by the end of Castiel and Crowley's deal?

AN: So, no Castiel interacting with children, which is such a shame because it's always so adorable. I love that sort of thing, but I didn't want him to crash with more passengers in the car. On another note, I seriously hate Metatron. I can't even really begin. I would choose to have him die a horrible death even more than Naomi, and I really hate her. Actually, the characters I hate most are angels (how odd). On the plus side, Dean and the others are beginning to wise up. I really do think that things have gone wrong because Bobby wasn't there to slap sense into them. There's a reason Bobby is my third favorite. Castiel, of course, is my favorite. Crowley is number 2 only because he's so deliciously evil and devious. Still, onward and upward.