That night, Cas experience a most wonderful dream. He was back home, his old house that he had built in the Valley. He lay in his nest with his arms and legs entwined with Dean's. He could smell his musk so strongly through the dream that it felt impossibly real.

Kisses touched his neck as Dean squeezed his body close and whispered, "I miss you, Cas."

"I miss you, too, Dean…I miss this. I miss us." He fingers stroked along Dean's spine and he smiled to himself contentedly. "I love you, Dean."

"I love you, Cas."

"Are you…dead, Dean?"

The alpha moved back just enough that he could look Cas in the eyes. Lush green forests flickered back at him. He smiled, ever so softly, and said, "I don't know, am I?" There was a hint of humor in his voice.

"I wish I knew," Cas admitted, pulling Dean close again, tugging him down into the crook of his neck. He inhaled his intoxicating aroma. "I wish I could find you…"

"It's okay," Dean reassured him.

Cas felt Dean's thick rod push against his rear. He gasped at the sensation.

"Enjoy this," Dean whispered. "Enjoy us."

Cas clung to Dean's torso as he began to press inside him, filling his emptiness with a long missed company.

"Take care of the egg," Dean said. "Just…just take care of the egg."

Cas startled awake.

Though it had been amazing to dream, now that the fantasy was over, Cas felt empty again. It hurt more than before.

The forest was still dark. Cas sat up and looked around then noticed that Charlie was gone. Only soft bulbs of light from various ground flowers illuminated the forest floor.

"Charlie?" Cas called out. His voice was muffled by the density of the trees. "Charlie?!"

He heard a soft rustle and suddenly his fairy companion came pouncing to the ground. She was wearing her leather tunic once more and had a broad smile on her face.

"Where have you been?!" Cas asked.

"I said fairies still to sleep, but that doesn't mean we have to sleep all that much!" She giggled.

She straightened up her tunic and looked around as if she were smelling or detecting something.

"What is it? The unicorn?"

Charlie narrowed her eyes. It was difficult for Cas to see exactly what she was doing since the forest was still dark.

"Maybe," Charlie pondered.

She took several steps around Cas, bending over occasionally then also standing up on her toes.

"It's weird though," she commented. "Do you smell it? A strange scent that I've never noticed anywhere before."

Cas sniffed.

"No, I don't think so. But maybe my nose isn't as good as yours?"

"Maybe."

Cas recognized that he wasn't going to get more sleep so he got up, strapped his egg to his chest and brought out some nuts from his bags to give him a burst of energy.

"I'm gonna find some water," Charlie announced. "You stay here and let me know if you smell that."

"I will," Cas told her as he watched her dance away with a hollowed out gourd under her arm, wings fluttering.

He stood up and decided to give Charlie the benefit of the doubt. He paced around their makeshift campsite, inhaling deeply to pick up on whatever nuanced smell she may or may not have picked up on. He inhaled, and soon found himself preoccupied with scent-tracing.

Before he knew it, he was walking all around and sniffing the air. No doubt that flowers and grass, soil and bark and morning dew painted the majority of the forest's canvas of smells, but he did eventually notice a different scent.

There was a soft musk floating around in the air. He followed it and followed it but to no avail—it was very faint.

By then, Charlie returned with the gourd full of water and Cas told her what he had noticed.

"Yes!" Charlie agreed, over enthused that Cas had proven her at least partially sane. "Exactly! It's not an animal, and I know that—every animal smell in the forest has been smelled by me. Unless it…the unicorn. I wouldn't know what that smells like."

"I'm not sure," said Cas.

Charlie offered him a drink of water and he gratefully took it. Wiping his mouth, he handed the gourd back to her and continued. "I feel like I've smelled it before."

Charlie gasped. "Is it your mate?"

As painful as it might seem, Cas shook his head.

"No, of course I've considered it. But I know his scent all too well. I would recognize it immediately in any situation."

They couldn't get too hung up on the smell as they started their day, but since there was a possibility that it was the unicorn that was emanating it, they had to follow through as much as possible. Once they were ready to head out, they both got back on the horse and took up a small toe path that had been traced in the dirt.

"Probably from deer," Charlie stated as she pointed to it.

Cas saw that it opened up to many like it. There was a network of trails not unlike ant or groundhog holes but above ground and through grass.

"Deer do that."

"Or unicorns," Cas followed.

This made Charlie laugh loudly.

"Weren't you the one doubting the unicorn's existence yesterday?"

"I was and I still stand by that," said Cas. "But I have no reason not to believe you. If something seems true or possible, I'll pursue it to an appropriate degree."

"Oooh," Charlie hooted after several more minutes of following the deer path. The musky scent was no closer or further than before, but they kept on going. "I just realized!"

"What?"

"Me looking for the unicorn is just like you looking for your mate."

"But I know that Dean is real," Cas muttered.

"Well, yeah, but—I mean this in the kindest of ways, but you don't know if he's out there."

Cas held his breath momentarily. Charlie was, of course, right. The likelihood of him finding Dean was very similar to finding the unicorn. Maybe that's why he believed in her, and why he was taking such a detour.

He wasn't angry at her comment and he made sure that she knew that, but nevertheless they were silent for the remainder of the day. It wasn't until dusk that they both suddenly noticed that smell had grown stronger.

"Where is it coming from?" Cas asked.

They both sniffed the air.

"I don't know," Charlie said. Her speech was interrupted with the sound of her nostrils taking in quick bursts of air.

Cas stopped the horse. In the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he just saw something. Enough light from the sunset was still bleeding in through the trees and combined with the luminous flowers here and there it certainly wasn't impossible to isolate movement.

"Did you see that?" Cas whispered back to Charlie. She tightened her pale arms around his waist.

"I think so…but…was it?"

"I don't know. Let's go on foot. It'll be quieter."

Careful to keep his egg safe, Cas dismounted the horse, as did Charlie, and they pursued the strange movement by squatting very cautiously. When they paused to listen, they heard the unmistakable sound of horse hooves treading over soft ground.

"Maybe that's it?" Charlie whispered. Excitement bubbled up in her chest and she had to fight hard to keep herself from giving her hopes up.

They crawled through the brush, hiding up against trees as they heard the horse approaching. Cas felt his heart beating in his throat. My, had his life changed!

Around a tree there came the animal in question.

"Just a horse?" Charlie stated, louder than anyone tracking an animal ever should. She frowned in disappointment, practically kicking herself for being too hopeful.

"Well, yes, but," Cas interrupted, "Why would a horse be here by itself? Also…"

He pointed to its back. It was equipped with supplies and a saddle. Obviously it wasn't wild.

Then, the hairs on Cas' neck stood up and he froze the moment a cold blade touched his flesh.

"Who are you and who are you talking to?" A cool, familiar female voice asked him.

He slowly turned his fear-stricken head around and saw that the holder of the terrifying long blade pressed to his neck, was none other than Meg.

"Cas?!"

She immediately withdrew her blade and stared at the beta. She was beside herself.

"Why—who—why are you here? And who are you talking to? Where's Dean?"

Through the assault of reasonable questions, Cas darted his eyes over to Charlie, who was also petrified with fear, and winced.

"You can…tell…her…"

Charlie hesitated to say. Meg was unable to see fairies, of course, without the fairy touch.

"I'm here with a fairy."

"A fairy, huh?" Meg asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She's right here. You can't see her."

"But you can? Now I really want to know what you're up to. And where in the Great Land is Dean?"

"I…"

Cas took a deep breath and let it blow out of him slowly as he collected his thoughts.

"After you left, a storm like the one that hurt your pack, came through the valley." Meg's face turned white.

"But, Dean—"

"I don't know!" Cas moaned. "I thought him dead, the river overflowed and…carried him away as he was saving members of my herd. But then I saw a sign, and I came this way to find Dean. I think, I hope, I believe he's alive."

"Oh, Cas, I'm sorry!" Meg cried. "We all really, really cared about Dean, and I know he loved you. I hope he's out there, too."

"If you don't mind me asking…why are you here?"

"I'm looking for the unicorn."

This made Charlie ecstatic for Chuck only knows what reason. Wings fluttering, she lunged at Meg and toppled her over onto her back. It certainly surprised the hunter! Without giving her the chance to choose, Charlie planted her lips right onto Meg's.

"Whaa—haah—Cas?!"

Meg could only feel Charlie against her. Hoping it was the fairy, she swatted her arms around but soon grew dizzy from the fairy touch. Watching it on someone else was very funny, Cas realized. Much better of an experience than living it.

Meg sat up on her hands and shook her head, clearly adjusting to the fading dizziness. Her eyes fell to Charlie's and she narrowed them.

"What—the hell—just happened?"

"I let you see the fairies!" Charlie beamed, quite proud of herself. "Now you can see me, and the others, and we can, well, we can find the unicorn together! Makes sense, right?"

"I guess," Meg hummed, slowly adjusting. "Then you're all looking for the unicorn…"

"Yes!" Charlie said. "And I feel better about it now. What's your heart's desire?"

"Heart's desire?" Meg asked, scoffing. "What're you talking about?"

"Your heart's desire? It's…it's what you get when you find the unicorn?"

Charlies wings fell sadly.

"I don't know about that, but I'm looking for unicorn hair," said Meg.

"Unicorn hair?" Cas and Charlie asked in unison. Meg nodded.

"It's an ingredient in a three-part potion I need to make."

"For what?" asked Cas.

Meg suddenly looked tragically sad. She glanced down.

"Cain," she muttered.

"What happened?" Cas asked, holding his hand to his face.

"He grew sick," Meg explained dismally. "Very, very sick. The only thing that we think can cure him is that three-part potion. I need two handfuls of white sage, ten leaves of silverwood and a hair from a unicorn."

"White sage? Silverwood?" Charlie asked.

"Mm."

"They aren't around here."

"That's okay, I know where to find them. But the unicorn hair is only in these woods, so I'm not leaving until I get one."

Cas nodded.

"Very well," he said. "Then we will work together until we find that unicorn. It seems that many fates now rest in doing so."